“How could this…?!”

As the steam scattered, what was revealed was Zhuge Cheonwu standing leisurely and a formation teacher on one knee, gasping for breath.

A flustered voice echoed through the hall.

“I can’t believe it! To think that the third young master would win so overwhelmingly.”

“Did he borrow the power of an artifact?”

“Is it a skill and energy that can be achieved with just an artifact? Besides, the way he snatched the initiative in the last move was no ordinary feat.”

The formation teachers, who began to murmur among themselves at the unexpected result. It was an attitude that showed the unique temperament of scholars who were crazy about exploration and analysis.

But now was not a time for experimentation, but a real battle situation.

Since I had no intention of delaying the schedule with their interest-based activities, I moved my gaze.

The formation teachers who flinched for a moment as my gaze reached them.

“So what’s the result?”

“Hut! Th-that is, it’s Zhuge Cheonwu’s victory.”

“Gaga! Amazing!”

Although he said that, there were still a few formation teachers who showed a look of disbelief.

Come to think of it, for a dunce from the family who had barely obtained a third-class formation master qualification to suddenly win overwhelmingly against a second-class formation master, they couldn’t help but doubt its authenticity.

In that case, there was only one thing I had to do.

‘There’s nothing like this to clear up the suspicion.’

I pointed to one of them and said.

“Next.”

Since it had come to this, I had no choice but to prove it with my skills.

* * *

Rustle-

The flower petals that had filled the model garden scattered, and the inside of the pillar made of a phantom body exploded due to the electric shock.

The opponent, who had been staggering from the backlash of the formation being cut off in an instant, let out a groan.

“Keuk! I’ve lost.”

As the formation teacher staggered and declared his defeat, the murmuring of the surroundings grew louder.

“That’s the third one already…!”

“And he’s doing it consecutively! What in the world is that mental strength?”

But I, who was at the center of the controversy, just called out calmly.

“Next.”

The face of the guy who was pointed out turned white for a moment, but I had no intention of stopping.

‘My goal is to become a first-class formation master.’

Even in the Zhuge family, which was famous for its formations, the number of first-class formation masters was not large.

If I, who had barely obtained a third-class formation master qualification with the help of my bloodline until now, were to become a first-class formation master, my position within the family would also rise a little.

‘To do that, I have to crush them for sure in this dojo challenge. So that there won’t be any back talk.’

“How long are you going to make me wait?”

I glared at one of the hesitating formation teachers and pressured him.

“All the skilled ones among us have already been defeated…”

“But there’s such a thing as compatibility, isn’t there? You won’t know until you fight.”

As I said that and approached, the formation teachers who were backing away.

‘Anyone would think I’m bullying them.’

Just as I was about to reluctantly use the power of the family to urge a formation battle.

“Sometimes, there are things you can know without facing them.”

A soft but somewhat turbid voice was heard from behind.

“Director Jo Wihye!”

Then the other formation teachers exclaimed with a pleased look.

A woman who looked to be in her early to mid-30s was staring this way.

“A precious person has come all this way.”

Jo Wihye said, walking this way.

“I heard. You came to do a dojo challenge?”

With that, she went to the seat opposite the model garden and stood.

As Jo Wihye raised her hand with a ring on it, the phantom body and qi that had been generated on the model garden scattered with a faint wind.

“Your skills are considerable.”

Jo Wihye expressed her admiration as if surprised.

Just as a master could guess the opponent’s realm just by looking at the sword marks, she also knew this side’s realm just by the traces of the formation.

“You also have the skills befitting a director.”

No matter how much I hadn’t interfered, to get rid of that in an instant, her level was different from the other formation masters.

‘A first-class formation master.’

It was a realm that could not be reached without a talent for formations.

“If I defeat you here, can I even take the first-class formation master exam?”

“As expected, you came aiming for that.”

Jo Wihye said, infusing qi into the jade stone she had taken out from her bosom.

“There’s nothing else.”

“That’s a shame. I heard you’ve changed recently, so I thought you had heard something about your mother.”

Jo Wihye who muttered with a somewhat dark expression.

At the incomprehensible remark, I gently narrowed my brow.

What did she mean by Dang Hujeong’s remark, to what extent was she involved without me knowing?

“What did Dang Hujeong say?”

“It’s not her.”

“What?”

At this side’s question, Jo Wihye, who had been looking this way with a serious gaze for a moment, continued.

“I’m talking about the remark that your mother, Yu Sia, left behind.”

At the sudden story, I fell into thought, unable to find a suitable reply.

‘Yu Sia?’

I couldn’t understand why the name of the second wife, who had passed away after giving birth to Zhuge Cheonwu because she had become weak, was coming out here.

“There was something that Yu Sia-nim entrusted to me someday. Because I was once her escort.”

Jo Wihye answered even what she hadn’t been asked and then dropped the jade stone in her hand onto the model garden. Then, a transparent film that covered the model garden was generated, protecting the onlookers like a protective shield.

“If I win, please forget what I just said. But if the young master has really changed… I will tell you everything I know. Of course, I will also cooperate so that you can take the formation certification exam.”

“Let’s do that.”

It was a proposal that had no loss for me. Although I was flustered because my mother was suddenly mentioned, that was it.

Because what I had to do was already decided.

“Then let’s begin the formation battle.”

Along with Jo Wihye’s declaration, we dropped our jade stones without anyone going first.

Crackle!

An electric shock flew behind the stone wall that had risen in front of my eyes in an instant.

‘Lightning?’

She came out aggressively, unlike a first move. To think she would rush in instead of starting by laying a foundation.

‘What kind of trick is this?’

I dropped a jade stone, sensing the energy beyond the wall. In the meantime, the lightning stopped, and instead, a wave rushed beyond the dirt wall.

‘Is this the real thing?’

I added more earth attribute and grew the dirt wall. The dirt castle that had surrounded me like a fortress before I knew it. Beyond it, the wave that Jo Wihye had created was crashing with a spark.

‘She’s not a first-class formation master for nothing.’

It’s difficult to control the lightning attribute itself, but to come at me with the water attribute as well.

On the contrary, I added more earth attribute and maximized the size of the dirt castle. No matter how much of a wave it was that contained lightning, it was fine as long as it didn’t reach.

But Jo Wihye was pushing the wave as if to have a power struggle with this side.

‘She’s quite good.’

Since I had basically responded to the other side’s fluid attack with a static hardness, it was not easy to find the opponent’s opening.

And most of all, lightning and water, it was a combination where the harmony of yin and yang went well together. It was just difficult to handle.

‘But the five elements that have become heavy due to synthesis are bound to sink.’

I added the wind attribute to the formation and created a wind beyond the dirt wall.

Whoosh-

The wind grew stronger and became a gust, crossing over the wave. Towards Jo Wihye, who was beyond it.

‘She’s in the middle of showing a strengthening synthesis of water and electricity. Can she really defend as well?’

Although Jo Wihye belatedly tried to block my offensive by creating a wave, the whirlwind did not stop.

It just slowed down.

Swish-

As Jo Wihye had intended, the water began to be sucked up by the updraft created by the whirlwind.

But unlike Jo Wihye, who had to handle both water and electricity at the same time, this side, which only handled the wind, was bound to have the upper hand within the whirlwind.

“…This is!?”

Jo Wihye who showed a flustered reaction for a moment.

At the same time, my whirlwind, which had sucked up the water in the area, turned into a stream of water that soared like a waterspout and rushed to cover her.

“Haap!”

Along with Jo Wihye’s shout, the water was sucked up from her feet, and a phantom body of a tree soared.

And the stream of water that fell on top of it.

Crash!

Along with a loud noise, the wave of the stream of water exploded.

The stream of water scattered, and what was revealed was Jo Wihye. The tree, which was broken and shattered here and there, was sucking up the water and gradually growing in size.

“Still, it seems you managed to block it somehow.”

“…I’ve been hit. I thought I was pressuring you, but it was a considerable breakthrough.”

Jo Wihye said with a tired gaze.

Unlike the previous formation battle, now it was a formation battle with the fate of the dojo at stake. It wouldn’t end unless one side surrendered or collapsed.

“But sometimes, it’s difficult to overcome a crisis with just a battle of wits. Sometimes in life, you face an overwhelming power.”

With that, Jo Wihye grew the tree. Before she knew it, her surroundings were surrounded by a forest.

She had succeeded in converting all the energy of the water attribute, which had been rushing in like a lake, to the wood attribute.

‘Did she consume the electricity attribute in the process? She’s certainly skilled.’

She had switched the attribute of the formation with a minimum consumption of energy.

To knock down my dirt castle.

Before I knew it, the roots of the tree were digging into the dirt castle. In the midst of that, Jo Wihye expressed her admiration for the duel as if she were impressed.

“You’ve certainly prepared a lot for this. I thought you were just playing around like a loafer… I was surprised.”

‘It’s true that I played around.’

Although I wanted to say that, I didn’t bother to mention it. Whether she thought it was an affirmation, Jo Wihye’s words continued for a while.

“You might be able to defeat me. You got the top student position at the academy, and you must have prepared many moves, including your achievement in formations. But the logic of the martial world is ultimately power. Just like that dirt castle or the model garden, no matter how hard you prepare, you can be destroyed in an instant by an irresistible flow.”

Rustle-

And soon, as the erosion of the roots continued, the dirt castle began to crack little by little. Jo Wihye said to me as if worried.

“It seems your energy to maintain the formation is running out. Still, it was an excellent skill. More so than any fledgling first-class formation master. If I hadn’t pushed like this with the energy I had accumulated through decades of training, I would have been completely defeated by that blow earlier.”

A voice that was somewhat evaluating. It was quite annoying. To the point where I wanted to shoot back a remark.

“I don’t know what you’ve been talking about from a while ago.”

I added, looking at Jo Wihye beyond the crack in the dirt wall.

“It seems you’re worried about this and that, but it doesn’t resonate with me.”

If she had watched Zhuge Cheonwu’s scoundrel-like appearance, she would also know how he had lived.

Zhuge Cheonwu was a being who had lived in a floating state in the family after losing his biological mother at birth.

But to be worried. I thought it was not something to be heard now.

“It’s not like a person who has hardly shown their face to say something now.”

“That’s…!”

Although Jo Wihye tried to make an excuse in a hurry, I just shook my head without a word.

Since she was close to my mother, perhaps in his childhood, Jo Wihye had come to teach me several times, thinking of her old affection.

But when she saw that there was no potential, she must have given up. Because as far as I knew, there was actually no one by Zhuge Cheonwu’s side.

Just the shell of a family called the Zhuge family. Among its members, there was not a single person who truly accepted him.

Until Zhuge Cheonwu was destroyed by Baek Hasin.

‘Even if it was set as a debuff and was additionally applied, the previous Zhuge Cheonwu’s energy veins and physical abilities were also weak.’

A direct blood relative who was treated as an illegitimate child with no place to belong, and the youngest who was abandoned without talent, unlike his outstanding older brothers. That was Zhuge Cheonwu.

The Zhuge family was a family that was thoroughly ability-oriented.

So from the beginning, there were no expectations for Zhuge Cheonwu, who had no talent, and no opportunities either.

Although he had had opportunities as the son of a prestigious family, there would have been no further expectations or encouragement.

So he must have been decided as a son-in-law to be married into another family, and had lived as a scoundrel in despair.

“It doesn’t matter what you say.”

Just as not all who are frustrated turn into villains, Zhuge Cheonwu was also the same.

It’s not that he did well. Even if he had no talent, even if he wasn’t expected of, even if the people around him left because they were disappointed in him, he could have lived, keeping his own line.

But he didn’t, and in the end, the responsibility fell entirely on Zhuge Cheonwu.

So I can say it.

That I don’t need advice that is added as if paying a debt now that I’ve finally shown my skills.

“Because I’ve already changed.”

And at the same time, the dirt castle completely collapsed.

“What…!”

At the sight that was revealed in an instant, Jo Wihye’s expression was colored with bewilderment.

Because what was inside the collapsed dirt castle was a huge thorny vine of a reddish color.

“If you can block it, then try.”

Swish-

The thorny vine covered the roots of the tree that were approaching, climbed up the trunk, and broke the stems and leaves.

The vines began to advance, overturning the forest like a wave.

“The trees aren’t listening? This… what in the world? It should be the same attribute.”

“It’s not the same.”

I added a remark to her, who was flustered.

“Because I’m stronger.”

In fact, it was the result of incorporating the Blood River Art into the formation. I had given a wild nature to the wood attribute with my blood as a medium. Since both were the same sorcery, there was room for application.

Of course, since I had used it secretly, there was no fear of being caught.

‘I guess you could call it a kind of bestialization.’

It was a good experiment.

Of course, for Jo Wihye, who didn’t know this inside story, it would be a matter that she couldn’t possibly understand.

I looked down at Jo Wihye, who was surrounded by the thorny blood vines before I knew it, and sneered.

“Now the person to worry about has changed.”

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep