A multistory tower sits in the middle of the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy.
The tower was called the Martial Tower.
Inside it was an old man sitting on the topmost level and sipping alcohol from the bottle itself.
The gaze of the old man, who seemed to be in his 70s, was at the place where the second and third tests were being conducted.
“Right, right. That’s it.”
The old man kept nodding his head.
It wasn’t something an ordinary person could do, but this old man could see the faces of everyone below.
“The kids this time seem a lot more interesting than the last batch, right?” (1)
A middle-aged man in a purple robe appeared behind the old man.
This middle-aged man, who seemed strong, was handsome despite his mustache.
“I was looking for you everywhere, but you were here?”
“How could I let myself miss such a great spectacle?”
"Wouldn't it be better if you watched it from down there?"
“Why? I like watching from here. And I wouldn’t do anything but waste the young people’s time.”
‘He’s a nuisance like always.’
How hard did he search for the old man?
And it took a lot of time.
Despite thinking that, the middle-aged man bowed and spoke politely.
"There will be a dinner with the finalists soon, so please join us at that time. The kids are eager to meet you, and if you stay here..."
As the middle-aged spoke, the old man frowned and held out his palm.
It was a sign for the other person to stay silent.
The old man was staring intently at the second test location, where the Light Body Method was evaluated.
‘Can he really see that far?’
As the middle-aged man wasn’t on the same level as the old man, all he saw was blurred images.
Seeing that, he knew how great the old man was.
Curious, the middle-aged man asked.
“Is there a problem, sir?”
“Huhu.”
At that, the old man chuckled and then drank from the bottle again.
“Interesting, interesting.”
“Sorry?”
“Hmm! That child must be very nervous to be around the other children.”
“What are you implying?”
At the middle-aged man’s question, the old man shook his head with a playful expression.
"It's no fun if you find out right away. You'll find out later."
Said the old man with the eyes of a young boy.
‘Did I overdo it?’
Mumu scratched his head.
Five people, including Ha-ryun, saw Mumu cross the lake.
And since Mumu wasn’t confident in crossing the lake using the rods and not letting his pants get wet, he jumped over it.
Because he thought it was a simpler answer.
‘It’s the first time I reduced the dials on my ankles, so refreshing.’
Mumu lowered himself and then turned the dials on his ankles back to normal.
And people couldn’t see his muscles as the pants he was wearing were baggy.
After turning the dials, Mumu pulled his feet out of the ground and stepped to the side.
“I passed?”
Supervisor Ka Yu-hang, who was speechless because of what she witnessed, was taken aback by Mumu's question.
“What did you just do?”
“I crossed the lake.”
“Without stepping on the wooden rods?”
“Yes.”
Mumu smiled casually and answered.
It was evident that he hadn’t learned any martial arts.
Not a single step he took was graceful, so she predicted that he would be completely drenched in the water, but she was wrong.
She didn’t expect such a result.
Supervisor Ka Yu-hang gulped and then looked at Mumu.
“Who’s your teacher?”
She wondered who taught Mumu.
“Teacher?”
Mumu tilted his head confused.
He didn’t call anyone teacher or master.
“No one.”
“I beg your pardon?”
How could he be that strong without a teacher?
She couldn’t understand it.
“Then you’re saying that you reached the level of Flying Above Water by yourself?”
“Su-Supervisor!”
Tang So-so couldn’t help but be shocked by those words.
Flying Above Water literally means flying over water, and it was something that only a few people who mastered the Light Body Method and Light Footwork could do.
There was also Light Movement Across Water, which was similar, but it was done when someone crossed a body of water by stepping on it; it was like walking on water.
In any case, this was not something that people of Mumu's age could achieve.
“Supervisor, is that true?”
“Didn’t you see it?”
Ka Yu-hang pointed to the lake.
Mumu jumping over the lake had caused the calm water to flood sideways due to the wind pressure.
Thanks to that, the lake's water level, which was on the verge of overflowing before, was now reduced to two-thirds of its previous level.
‘He really did that.’
What they saw wasn’t an illusion.
Tang So-so looked at Mumu in admiration.
‘What are they talking about?’
All Mumu did was a long jump.
But the people in front of him were talking about things he had never heard about before.
“What do you mean…. Uh? Nosebleed.”
“Ugh!”
At Mumu’s words, Tang So-so covered her nose with a handkerchief.
For a brief moment, she was too enthralled by what she saw before gazing at his gorgeous face, which made her lose control.
‘Ah! Embarrassing!’
It was difficult to live with a body that suffered from nosebleeds if there was even a smidgeon of uncontrolled excitement.
Supervisor Ka Yu-hang sighed and said.
“It will be difficult to proceed with the test now. Go to the superintendent and ask him to send some manpower to fill this lake.”
“Ah! Right!”
As she was too excited, she didn’t notice it.
But the lowered water level was very advantageous to the next test takers.
So the lake would have to be filled.
“Hurry up.”
And with that, Tang So-so had no choice but to rush to the main building.
Still, she was embarrassed that she had a nosebleed in front of a good-looking boy.
She hurried into the main building.
“Even if you’re in a hurry, do it with elegance.”
“Yes yes.”
“You can’t do one thing right, sigh.”
Supervisor Ka Yu-hang sighed and spoke to Mumu.
“So you don’t have a teacher?”
“Yes.”
At that response, she asked another question,
“What is your name?”
“Mumu.”
“Mumu? Is Mu your family name?”
“My father’s family name is Yu so I guess it’s Yu Mumu.”
“Yu Mumu? Then, do you have a brother named Yu Jin-sung?”
“Yeah, how did you know? The supervisor of the first test couldn't figure it out at first, so how did you get it right so quickly?”
Mumu was shocked by how fast she figured it out.
However, Ka Yu-hang just bit her tongue.
‘Right. I see.’
When she heard that Yu Jin-sung's brother had ripped the gates open, she thought Hak-gyu was exaggerating.
How could one person tear gates?
But now, after this kid showed great movement right in front of her, she believed it.
'When a tiger-like brother is around, there are no dog-like brothers.'
With a tiger-like brother, there was no way the younger ones could be dogs.
Indeed, he was the younger brother of the tiger-like graduate.
Supervisor Ka Yu-hang smiled and said,
“Amazing. There was definitely a lack of elegance, but that can be fixed later."
“Ugh? Then I passed?”
“Right. Congratulations on passing.”
At her words, Mumu cheered with both hands above his head.
“I passeeeddddd!”
‘It’s nice seeing bright kids.’
Seeing how innocent Mumu looked, Ka Yu-hang covered her mouth and smiled.
She found a kid who could make others smile.
For the sake of elegance, she decided that she would teach the boy to be a little more careful.
Meanwhile, Jin-hyuk, who took Hak-gyu’s impromptu test, passed.
According to the supervisor’s words, Jin-hyuk could open three gates with his internal energy.
And Jin-hyuk, too, knew what that meant.
His three teachers had opened his sealed blood vessels, and his internal energy was at its peak, but he still felt lacking.
‘I need to work hard.’
Through the first test alone, he realized that there were a lot of people stronger than him.
To catch up to them, his current efforts weren’t enough.
Jin-hyuk, who was in thought, waited for Mo Il-hwa.
Because he was following his father's request.
“What? Did you wait?”
He waited for so long that he was annoyed.
Jin-hyuk sighed and said.
“Hurry up. By now he must be at the second test and taking it too.”
“Right! Mumu, that jerk! I have something to say to him!”
She was angry.
Even if they were ignorant of his super strength, Mumu should have at least waited and taken care of his party.
The two hurried through the gate and walked down the path to the second test.
Not long after, they saw an artificial lake with wooden rods spanning across it.
“Why is the ground so muddy?”
The lake’s water seemed to have spilled out.
Jin-hyuk frowned.
‘What is this? This anxious feeling?’
Oddly enough, the anxiousness he was feeling felt the same as when Mumu tore the gates off.
But, the long wooden rods spanning across the lake were unscathed, and nothing seemed to be wrong.
Maybe he was concerned over nothing.
So the two walked around the lake, trying to find someone.
And then they saw a woman with a stern expression sitting near an incense burner.
“Supervisor?”
“You’re late.”
She stood up and then changed her words.
“No. It’s better if the others come even later.”
“Sorry?”
The supervisor pointed to the artificial lake and spoke to the two puzzled ones.
“Thanks to one test taker, the water in the lake overflowed. Unfortunately for you two, you will have to wait.”
“Sorry?”
“We have to wait again?”
They got to the second test, and they were asked to wait again.
However, rather than asking, ‘How long will we have to wait?’ or something similar, Jin-hyuk looked at the lake as he heard the words, one test taker.
So he asked out of curiosity.
“Supervisor…. Was that test taker Mumu by any chance?”
To that, she answered.
“How did you know that?”
‘!!!’
Both Jin-hyuk and Mo Il-hwa’s faces crumbled at that.
Mumu was behind this again!
At the same time, Mumu followed the signs and headed to the third test.
However, someone was waiting for Mumu in the middle of the path.
It was, Ha-ryun.
Mumu, who looked at him, waved his hand.
“We meet again, I passed too!”
Ha-ryun clenched his teeth and smiled.
It was terrifying that the boy was hiding behind that innocent face.
There was something that his teachers in the White Valley always told him.
Always watch out for people who have smiling faces; they’re snakes who are waiting to strike.
‘They were referring to people like him.’
Btw, which descendants is it referring to?
So now he had to be wary of not just the descendants but also Mumu. (2)
It was impossible to predict his internal energy level, so he had to be cautious of it.
‘For the time being, I’ll let him play.’
Ha-ryun hid his emotions and raised his hand with a smile on his face.
“Congratulations. I didn’t know you were that strong.”
Mumu asked, puzzled.
“Thanks. But why are you holding your hand up?”
“This is a trend in the city these days.”
“City?”
“It’s said that westerners raise their hands like this and then slap them together when one passes something, it’s a form of congratulations.”
With those words, Ha-ryun’s eyes twinkled.
Mumu couldn’t see it, but there was a thin layer of saliva between Ha-ryun’s fingers.
The saliva was poisonous, and it was going to poison and slowly bring Mumu to his knees.
“Ah, is that so? Then I’ll have to follow the trend.”
Without any concern, Mumu swung his palm.
Clap!
‘!?’
At that moment, a shock traveled through Ha-ryun's palm all the way down to his toes, making his eyes go wide.
And his body fell to the ground.
Thud!
He heavily breathed through his mouth.
And then he slowly looked at his palm, which was red and purple.
Not only was his palm bruised, but some of the bones in it were cracked.
‘This… this… dog… bastard…’
This ignorant bastard!
Shouldn’t he have done it in moderation?
In an instant, he jumped up to hit Mumu.
The only thing that made him feel better was knowing that the poison would have touched Mumu...
‘This?’
The poisonous saliva had crept into his own palm.
‘!!!!’
Editor’s Note -
(1) - The old man asks this.
(2) - ‘Descendants’ meaning the descendants of the Four Strongest Warriors, the author cut it down again. And the ‘they’ in the previous line, ‘They were referring to people like him,’ refers to Ha-ryun’s teachers.