Chapter 14 The Arena

Throughout that Evening, Taeyang under the guidance and training of Swordmaster Wolseong, His sword technique upgraded rapidly, and his body movement also saw tremendous changes

Taeyang did not even relax in the slightest. He did not even sleep. Instead, he used cultivation as a replacement.

He found that after practising, he was full of energy and did not need to sleep at all.

Even when he was eating, he was familiarizing himself with the control of his Sword sense and practising the Great Diffraction sword Technique.

Despite everything, he still felt that his progress was too slow.

"If I had resonance, I would atleast say I have a chance to fight.” Taeyang complained the next morning after a last minute drill.

Wolseong slapped his shoulder hard, jolting him up, he winced immediately rubbing the spot he'd hitting.

“You need to wake up boy, I'm not teaching you all this, to go and waste away on stage. You have to make me proud today, do you hear?”

“Yes sir.” Taeyang answered back humbly.

“Good. Let's go!”

They walked out of the royal courtyard together and headed towards the fighting arena. It was finally the day for the competition.

They were almost at the Arena gate showing their admission tally, when Soohyun, Baekho and Yohan rushed over. Taeyang glanced curiously at them, taking in the worry and anxiety in their face in one look.

“What is it?” Taeyang asked.

Soohyun shook his head sadly, “That's the problem.”

“Huh?”

“We know, Junho is up to something but we don't know what exactly, we couldn't find out anything.” Baekho said, bowing his head sadly.

Taeyang thought of the information for a while before he shrugged, “okay, let's just go— come, on.”

They walked through the giant wooden gates into the fighting arena.

The arena was an open air ground enclosed by several low stone walls and sturdy palisades. The combat area was packed with earth, worn on the surface from countless combat contests.

Taeyang, Baekho, Soohyun and Yohan joined the rest of the contestants lined up in front of the arena, waiting anxiously for the contest to commence.

Several weapons were displayed on racks near the arena entrance, for the contestants to pick from.

A raised pavilion with curved tiled roofs stood at the extreme, it was painted in rich reds, greens and golds. From there, the judges and the court officials sat to observe the match.

Several wooden viewing platforms surrounded the arena, This was where the audience and civilians were allowed to watch from.

Not long after a bronze gong boomed through the arena, the entire arena fell silent, thousands of faces turned toward the raised pavilion where the Emperor and the Queen were seated. Emperor Sunjong rose up from the Dragon Throne and walked forward. The Generals and officials lowered their heads in a bow.

Someone dropped a ceremonial banner from the pavilion roof, waving it back and forth in the air, the fabric cascaded toward the stone terrace below, briefly revealing golden characters carefully inscribed into it. Emperor Sunjong lifted a hand. The flag stopped flowing in the air at once and went still.

Three bronze gongs thundered across the arena, causing a deafening roar across the yard.

"My People," Emperor Sunjong began, when the noise had died down. "I am pleased to welcome you to this memorial event, the first of its kind in the entire Goryeo history." He paused and smiled at the crowd. Taeyang felt a heavy weight press onto him, hearing those words. He clenched his fists tightly.

"By the authority of Heaven and Earth, I declare this memorial event open. Brave Warriors of Goryeo, fight to prove your bravery and strength, your fearlessness and courage. The winner and finest warrior amongst you all will be rewarded commensurately by the heavens and the Kingdom. I have no further words to say, let the contest begin.”

Another thunderous gong sounded, the crowd erupted into several boos and oohs and Sunjong turned back to his seat on the throne.

An Elder walked down from the pavilion and climbed up to the arena stage, he carried with him a scroll, which he unfurled the moment he stepped onto the stage and began calling out the names, in order.

"Ye Sieoyun, from the Feng yang Pavilion."

"Tae chi."

"Ju mong Kon."

"Taeyang, from the Sunjong Dynasty."

Taeyang's heartbeat doubled, Baekho patted and swatted him playfully on the shoulders "Come on, man — you've got this."

He nodded solemnly. But at that moment, his eyes locked with his stepbrother, Prince Junho and the victorious smile the latter had on his face made Taeyang's dread worsen. He clenched his jaw in determination and walked up to the stage, ignoring the jeering and taunting from all around the arena.

Baekho was right, he could do this!

He jumped up onto the arena behind the waiting Elder who was refereeing the contest.

"What is your name?" The Elder asked, pretending not to recognize him.

"I am Taeyang of the Sunjong dynasty." Taeyang replied firmly, even though his heart was beating too fast.

"Taeyang, you say?" The Elder eyed him suspiciously and glanced down at his scroll. He looked at Taeyang again with a stern expression on his face. "Are you sure you're ready for this, your Highness?"

Taeyang swallowed, a tight knot knotted in his stomach, churning and protesting — but he nodded anyway. "I am ready."

"Good." The Elder nodded. "Your contestant for today is Tae chi."

Taeyang's heart lurched one fast beat against his chest.

"Tae chi?" He repeated the name, with a shaky voice.

Tae chi was a famous bandit, notorious and known for his bloodlust and recklessness, everyone feared Tae chi in the Empire.

"Tae chi even registered for this contest?" Someone asked from the participants' stand.

"Prince Taeyang is done for—"

"He does not even have any resonance, this is going to be a clean loss."

"Relax and enjoy the show!" Junho's voice rang out above the murmurs causing everyone, including the Elders and many officials to break into laughter.

Taeyang's face turned red from the humiliation.

A minute later Tae Chi stepped out from the contestants stands and jumped on to the survivor stage, smiling smugly.

“Are you getting cold feet already Your Highness?” He mocked and did a perfunctory bow that earned him more laughter from the crowd.

Taeyang unsheathed his sword without saying anything to him, letting the clatter of the falling sheath tell everyone his answer.

“Why is he acting all tough?” Someone yelled from the crowd.

“He's just too proud!” Another voice joined in. “A useless prince with no worth.”

Taeyang scowled at the audience and instead took a fighting stance, ready to pounce on his opponent in any minute, The Emperor nodded his approval silently by his defiance but said nothing.

“You still have one more chance to back out.” Tae Chi taunted again.

“Fight!” Taeyang hissed. “If you can't fight you back off.”

“You actually dare to say that?” Tae Chi flared up, drawing his sword.

“Gentlemen now,” The Elder refereeing the fight began. “This is a duel to the death, if anyone of you wishes to back out. You have just one chance to do so, if you dare to fight then I'll have to activate the formation.”

“Activate it.” Taeyang snapped.

“Activate.” Tae Chi echoed.

“Very well then.” The Elder leaped into the air almost immediately, and as though he was working on the barefloor, he began working from one end of the stage to another in the air, souring and muttering protective charms, till a golden bubble shimmered over the fighting space enclosing it.

“The fight can commence now!” The Elder announced.

Taeyang lifted his sword and strengthened his stance.

Taechi gripped the hilt of his weapon with two hands and smiled a deadly smile, the one he usually wore when he was about to commit a grave deal.