Tap- tap-.
Cheon Seong moved his injured left leg here and there.
He lifted it into the air and shook it hard or slamd it on the floor, but now he no longer felt any particular pain.
'It doesn't hurt at all.'
To think that his leg was completely healed in just a fortnight, just as Cheon Myeong had said.
Do wounds normally heal this quickly?
Cheon Seong even had that thought as he looked at his perfectly fine left leg.
"How is it?"
"It's fine. I feel like it's even stronger than before."
Cheon Seong replied to Cheon Myeong's question.
"Really? That's great. Now we can start practicing the sword technique in earnest here."
"Uh... but, Hyung-nim."
"Why?"
"May I ask you one thing?"
"What is it now?"
"It's good to practice the sword technique, but why are we training in a place like this..."
The place where the two were currently was a shabby training ground inside the Demonic dical Hall.
Compared to the Red Demon Training Ground, it was small, and as if it was not used at all, a musty sll pricked his nose as soon as he entered.
Why on earth were they training in a place like this, leaving a better training ground aside?
Moreover, Cheon Seong could not understand why he was not allowed to leave the hospital room even though his leg was already completely healed.
"Ah, did I not tell you?"
"...?"
As Cheon Myeong said that, Cheon Seong looked at him with a bewildered face.
Co to think of it, because there had been a lot of things going on recently, he hadn't had a chance to tell Cheon Seong the detailed circumstances.
It seed that he would have to tell him what had happened at the leader's palace before they started training.
"The truth is..."
Cheon Myeong told Cheon Seong everything that Cheon Jin had said to him at the leader's palace.
Cheon Seong's expression, which changed subtly as he listened to the story.
Finally, when Cheon Myeong's words were all finished, Cheon Seong muttered with a complicated face.
"So... you're saying that if I can't perform the sword technique at your level, Hyung-nim, you will be punished by the Leader?"
"Yeah."
"And by punishnt, you an..."
"I'll die."
"..."
"You should know what the price of lying to the Leader is, right?"
Cheon Seong knew that part well.
But to die, no matter how much lying was a capital cri, would he really kill his own flesh and blood?
Moreover, for so reason, his hyung-nim seed to be saying the word 'die' too easily.
Perhaps because of that, those words did not hit Cheon Seong hard.
"But Hyung-nim... for to perform the sword technique at your level. That's absolutely impossible."
Cheon Seong still could not forget Cheon Myeong's sword technique that had cut down Hwang Dongyeong in one blow.
That's why he knew that he could not beco like Cheon Myeong.
There was too great a gap between him and Cheon Myeong.
No matter how much he had co to admire Cheon Myeong's sword technique, wasn't there a difference that could not be overco with admiration alone?
Recently, perhaps because he had felt a trendous demonic ki from Cheon Myeong, Cheon Seong could not easily gain confidence.
"And would the Leader really kill you, Hyung-nim?"
"..."
"This doesn't make sense in the first place. It would be better to tell the Leader the truth now..."
"Why do you think the Leader won't kill ?"
"That's... because you're his son, Hyung-nim..."
"Then why have you never called the Leader 'father'?"
"...!"
Cheon Seong's eyes widened at Cheon Myeong's words.
Cheon Myeong said to such a Cheon Seong with an expressionless face.
"I don't know what you think, but I don't think the Leader will give us any favors or show favoritism just because we are his sons."
"..."
"That's why I don't think of the Leader as my father in the first place. Isn't it the sa for you?"
"I..."
Cheon Seong could not easily deny those words to Cheon Myeong's question.
'Hyung-nim is right.'
Had he ever felt that Cheon Jin was his father?
Perhaps he had, a long ti ago.
But as he got older, the thought that ca to him was that he was just a tool.
Just a tool to inherit Cheon Jin's martial arts.
In particular, Cheon Jin no longer paid any attention to a broken tool.
And that was the sa for a useless tool.
He and Cheon Myeong must have been tornted by Cheon Jin like that... why on earth had he forgotten that fact?
Especially when he had accepted the people of the Five Great Demonic Families as his disciples, the ntal anguish he had suffered was beyond words.
"It would be better not to trust the Leader so much."
"...You are right, Hyung-nim."
At that mont, Cheon Seong's gaze changed.
The words that Cheon Myeong had said to him earlier.
The thought that if he didn't co to his senses, Cheon Myeong might die at Cheon Jin's hands hit him hard.
"But I'm still worried. If it's a month, there won't be even ten days left... can I perform the sword technique at your level by then, Hyung-nim?"
"To be precise, there's a month and ten days more. And the only move you have to master by then is just one."
"..."
"Mad Dragon Single Strike Slash. Isn't that the move you're most confident in?"
As Cheon Myeong had said, that was the move he was most confident in.
But that didn't an that he was confident in performing it at the sa level as Cheon Myeong.
"Are you going to keep making that face?"
At Cheon Myeong's words, Cheon Seong realized that he had been bowing his head.
At that mont, Cheon Seong hurriedly raised his head. Then, in front of him, Cheon Myeong was looking straight at him with a straight gaze.
"Do you know? The result of everything cos from the expression."
"..."
"Never bow your head. Even if your opponent is much stronger than you, if you just don't bow your head, you have a chance of winning. But from the mont you bow your head, you are eliminating your own chance of winning."
"...!"
"If you don't raise your head, you can't move forward."
"Ah...!"
An exclamation that flowed from Cheon Seong's mouth.
Since when had he started bowing his head so often?
He probably hadn't from the beginning. But from so point on, bowing his head had beco a habit, as if it had naturally beco ingrained in his body.
'Hyung-nim's gaze is always looking forward.'
The gaze that was directed at him now was also the sa.
A gaze that did not feel any fear or the feeling of failure at all.
On the other hand, in his own gaze, only fear and failure were full.
'I can't swing my sword like hyung-nim right away.'
However, he could also raise his head.
Before admiring Cheon Myeong's sword, Cheon Seong first vowed to resemble that part.
"You are right, Hyung-nim."
"..."
"I'm sorry. I will never bow my head first again."
Cheon Seong said, looking straight at him.
Looking at him, it seed that no more sermons were needed.
'I still had more words prepared.'
Although it was a little regrettable that he could not say them until the end... still, it was a relief that he had realized it on his own.
"Good. Then shall we start with the sword technique first?"
"The sword technique right away?"
"Yes, I have to see what state you are in first to find the problems and fix them."
"Ah... I see."
As if he had understood, Cheon Seong grabbed the sword he was wearing on his waist.
"..."
It was the first ti he had drawn his sword in over a fortnight.
Since it was almost the first ti he had kept his sword at a distance for so long, Cheon Seong felt a little nervous for no reason.
Clang-.
With a clear sound, the sword ca out of its scabbard.
Although he could draw it as familiarly as before, the problem was from now on.
'Can I perform it properly?'
Even if it wasn't now, but before he was injured, he wouldn't be able to perform a sword technique that would satisfy Cheon Myeong's eyes, but still, Cheon Seong wanted to perform the sword technique properly if possible.
That's why Cheon Seong took a stance as carefully as possible, and after composing his breath, he stepped forward.
Swish-
Cheon Seong's figure, which was heading forward at a rather fast speed, kicking off the floor. And as he swung his sword, a rather heavy sound echoed inside the training ground.
"..."
Cheon Seong's two eyes, which had swung the sword, widened.
Although he had thought that his posture would be much more disturbed than before because it was the first ti he had swung the sword in a long ti.
When he actually perford the sword technique, he felt that his body was lighter than before, and the speed of his steps or the swing of his sword also felt sowhat faster than before.
'Is it just my imagination...?'
Why did his movents seem to have improved after he had rested?
Since it generally didn't make sense, he had first thought that it was his own illusion, but to pass it off as an illusion, he could not forget that one move just now.
That one move just now could be said to be the cleanest among the Mad Dragon Single Strike Slashes he had perford so far.
'As expected, the effect is showing right away.'
Although Cheon Seong did not know the reason why his movents had improved more than before, Cheon Myeong, who was watching him, knew the reason.
Just by the fact that his internal energy was flowing smoothly, Cheon Seong's movents had improved.
Generally, in cases where the internal energy did not flow smoothly like Cheon Seong, the body would naturally not move as one wished, and because of that, there would have been many restrictions on the movent itself.
But now, the restrictions on the internal energy flowing to each part had disappeared.
That was directly connected to the improvent of his physical ability, and it was just that his movents had simply improved.
'That is probably the ability that Cheon Seong originally has.'
Compared to before, the difference would be quite large.
Even if others could see the difference, how much would Cheon Seong himself feel that difference?
Although Cheon Myeong smiled slightly as he looked at Cheon Seong, who was looking at his own body with a bewildered look, he imdiately wiped the smile from his lips as he saw Cheon Seong running towards him.
"Hyung-nim! How was my movent just now!"
Cheon Seong asked, looking quite excited.
Even if he thought about it himself, since that move just now had improved much more than before, he was thinking that he would be able to receive a rather good evaluation from Cheon Myeong.
"Hmm, that's right."
Cheon Myeong, who opened his mouth as if he were indifferent. And Cheon Seong looked at him with an expectant gaze.
"It's all a problem."
"...What?"
"I'll have to fix it all from beginning to end."
"..."
He was a fool to have expected it for no reason.
However, looking at Cheon Myeong, who was saying that to him with an indifferent tone, Cheon Seong could not hide his slight disappointnt.
"For now, yes, we'll have to build up your body first."
"My body?"
As Cheon Myeong said that, Cheon Seong looked at Cheon Myeong with a rather dumbfounded face.
"Hyung-nim, even if I look like this, I have been continuously training my body since a long ti ago."
"So you don't need to train?"
"That's not it, but... since we don't have much ti, wouldn't it be better to focus on training the sword technique?"
"Haha."
Cheon Myeong, who suddenly showed his teeth and laughed at him.
Looking at him, Cheon Seong felt a sowhat ominous feeling.
"Then we can just check it."
"What?"
"Whether the training you're talking about and the training I'm talking about are the sa or not."
"..."
"If, as you say, you have been training enough, you will be able to follow the training I do, right?"
Saying that, Cheon Myeong suddenly began to take off his upper garnt.
"H-hyung-nim?"
As Cheon Myeong suddenly took off his clothes, Cheon Seong looked at Cheon Myeong with a flustered look, and at so point, Cheon Myeong was standing with his upper body bare.
"It's a good thing. From now on, I'll have to watch your training too, so we can do the basic training together here."
"..."
"What are you doing? Not taking it off."
As Cheon Myeong said that, Cheon Seong had no choice but to take off his upper garnt.
And Cheon Seong looked at his and Cheon Myeong's bodies alternately with a sidelong glance.
'Hyung-nim's body also seems quite solid...'
He was by no ans behind.
With that much, wouldn't he be able to follow the training that Cheon Myeong was talking about?
Thinking so, Cheon Seong said with a confident voice.
"Good! Then let's start with a warm-up!"
"..."
A warm-up?
At that mont, a aningful smile appeared on Cheon Myeong's lips.
"Yes, a warm-up."
A cute guy.
For now... shall we start with the lower body?
(End of Chapter)
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