Chapter 34
Geuk-gwan: the first trial of the Five Trials of True Sound.
There, one’s resolve to endure without faltering was put to the test against towering, snow-capped peaks.
The second, Seon-gwan, had been bypassed since it remained incomplete, though its purpose had been to weigh the goodness of one’s character.
The third trial, Eum-gwan, probed one’s mastery of musical rhythm, while the fourth, the Martial Pavilion, was a gateway quite literally impassable to anyone lacking martial talent.
Which left one question.
What quality did Eumhu wish to draw out from a disciple in this fifth and final trial?
The answer came without hesitation.
Plink, pling-pling~
Without his realizing it, an exquisite melody had begun to drift past his ears.
Far from merely pleasing the ear, the cadence burrowed straight into the depths of his mind.
‘And that’s not all.’
An artificial current of Qi pulsed from every direction.
He stood at the heart of a Formation Array far more potent than the one that had forged the snowy expanse in the first trial.
Slowly, the artificial ebb and flow of Qi locked into perfect rhythm with the lingering tune.
As the harmony took hold, a painfully familiar sight unfolded before him—the final moments of his previous life, burned into his memory forever.
Before he knew it, Yang-hwi stood once again in the center of that desolate canyon alongside his sworn brother, Chu-dal.
“Brother, what’s with that look?”
He looked upon the otter-like face of his sworn brother, Baekri Chu-dal.
