“Well, well, who do we have here? Isn’t this the esteemed daughter of Hwaeom Sect?”
Ak Seowon recognized Cheon Soyak and spoke as if he knew her.
Eunsong frowned.
“How do you know this child?”
“I was a member of the Thirteenth Squad when this child’s father was beheaded for blasphemy.”
So, it was Yeom Doje Ak Jupa who punished Hwaeom Sect for blasphemy.
The enemy of both master and disciple turned out to be the same person.
What a cruel and mysterious fate this was.
“Do you remember me?”
Cheon Soyak narrowed her eyes.
Ak Seowon smirked slyly and nodded.
“How could I forget? Those dark eyes.”
Her small lips twisted slightly.
Her tiny hand, gripping the sword hilt, tightened.
The young girl’s mind turned cold.
Now was not the time.
Cheon Soyak instinctively knew this.
“Anyway, step aside. These people must all die.”
“Simply because they are the family of Yeokcheonhoe?”
“Exactly.”
Eunsong let out a hollow laugh.
When had things become so ruthless?
“I recall that collective punishment wasn’t applied before.”
“It wasn’t. But starting this year, it is.”
“Why?”
“Because when we spared them, they began climbing back up, speaking of revenge for their friends and family.”
Ak Seowon stared intently at Cheon Soyak.
A silent message in his gaze.
Despite her young age, she understood.
It meant: Don’t even dream of revenge.
“The decree is not being retroactively applied to past cases. Our Lord is merciful.”
Cheon Soyak averted her gaze.
She bit her lower lip, but that was all she could do.
For now, she could endure.
For now.
“But who knows? If more vermin start crawling up, the decree might be applied retroactively. So you’d better behave, Lady Cheon.”
“That’s enough.”
“Enough of what? You wouldn’t want to end up like your father, would you? Your pretty little head rolling on the ground? You should grow up into a beautiful lady instead, don’t you think?”
Her lips, clenched in anger, split open, and blood dripped.
Ak Seowon grinned, enjoying himself.
It was Eunsong who stopped him.
“What are you doing? Taunting a child who lost her family?”
“She’s from the household of a blasphemer. Should we pity her?”
“Enough.”
“Very well. I’ll stop here. Now, will you step aside? I have work to do.”
Clang.
Ak Seowon drew his sword.
A large weapon, its blade engraved with flames.
It wasn’t as magnificent as his father’s Fire Dragon Blade, but it was still well-crafted.
Behind Eunsong and Cheon Soyak, the survivors trembled.
An old village chief, and a handful of remaining villagers.
If the two of them stepped aside, those people would be thrown back into the flames.
“Well now, that’s a problem.”
Eunsong massaged his forehead and shook his head.
“As a Daoist, how could I stand by and watch the slaughter of innocent people? That’s not what Mount Hua taught me.”
“Are you saying you will interfere with the execution of blasphemers by the Tianxia Elite Army?”
“No. I am saying I will stop the reckless butchery of a single bandit.”
“Ha. Ridiculous.”
Ak Seowon’s grip on his sword tightened.
The once-cold blade turned red-hot in an instant.
Flames coiled around the steel.
“Are you planning to fight me?”
“Do you think you can win against me?”
“No. How could I, still in the mid Perfection Stage, possibly defeat a master who has stepped into the early Transcendence Stage?
“But then again, I don’t really have a choice here, do I?”
Eunsong’s brow twitched.
This bastard wasn’t immensely talented, but his cunning was sharp.
“So, will you let me go unharmed? Answer me, Eunsong.”
“Ha. You already knew, didn’t you?”
“If I return, my report will state that you interfered with the execution of blasphemers. You wouldn’t just let me live, would you?”
Eunsong drew his Plum Blossom Sword.
A blade, pale and cold, carrying a faint breeze.
In the middle of this smoke-filled village, the scent of plum blossoms bloomed.
“Soyak. Draw your sword.”
“Yes, sir.”
Eunsong rubbed his forehead, deep in thought.
If he used his full martial arts ability, his identity would be exposed.
The Nine Heavens Plum Blossom Sword was too well-known.
With just the wounds left on corpses, people could deduce who wielded it.
‘Ak Seowon must have anticipated this.’
There were two choices.
If he used the Nine Heavens Plum Blossom Sword, he could kill Ak Seowon—but would be hunted for the rest of his life.
If he didn’t, then Ak Seowon, wielding Flame Dragon Swordsmanship, could either defeat him or force a draw.
A dead end.
Until Cheon Soyak entered the equation.
‘No one has ever seen Falling Plum Blossom Technique fully executed before.’
It required three conditions:
Heaven-Slaying Star Essence
Merging Fire Realm
Falling Plum Blossom Technique
A martial art that had never before surfaced in the central martial world.
That wouldn’t put him on the run.
“Ha. Where did the pride of a Transcendence Stage master go, Eunsong? Are you really planning to fight alongside a little girl?”
“Why wouldn’t I? She’s my disciple.”
Eunsong smirked.
Ak Seowon didn’t fully know Cheon Soyak’s skills.
His sharp eyes might have guessed her inner strength level, but that was all.
“Soyak.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Use as little inner strength as possible.”
To prevent another incident of her coughing up blood.
She seemed to understand his reasoning, nodding without a word.
Eunsong gestured at Ak Seowon with his fingers.
“As your senior, I should give you a few free moves. Come at me first.”
“For someone using a two-on-one strategy, that’s quite a thing to say. But fine, I won’t refuse.”
Despite wielding such a large, heavy blade, Ak Seowon closed the distance in an instant.
Eunsong narrowed his eyes and moved his sword.
Clang!
The heavy sword and the delicate blade clashed, sparks flying.
And Cheon Soyak did not miss the moment.
She let go of the scabbard and thrust the long blade that shot out without hesitation.
It was not a specific sword technique, nor was it a conventional form of swordsmanship.
Just a stab.
But Ak Seowon saw it.
The tip of that sword, slicing through the air as unwaveringly as the girl’s dark, empty pupils.
“Hup!”
He gasped sharply, twisting his arm.
The flaming saber struck away Cheon Soyak’s Falling Blossom Sword, its trajectory turning back to fall directly toward her crown.
“Hah!”
But the one who blocked and deflected it was Eunsong.
Only then did Ak Seowon realize Eunsong’s scheme.
Eunsong had no intention of killing with his own hands.
If he did, his sword techniques would be exposed.
He planned to have his disciple do it instead.
“You didn’t learn the martial arts of Mount Hua?”
Logically, that was what he concluded, but his senses denied it.
Because every time Cheon Soyak moved her sword, a thick fragrance of plum blossoms filled the air.
Even more than Eunsong, who was on the threshold of the Absolute Peak.
‘But I have never seen such swordsmanship before…!’
Clang—!
This time, Cheon Soyak’s blade came flying in a vertical strike.
Though the force behind it was light, it was a fierce blow.
Every time that small girl sharply thrust in between breaths, it became harder to breathe.
‘If this drags on, I will be overwhelmed.’
Having made his decision, Ak Seowon gritted his teeth and struck the ground.
Boom! Whoosh—!
Wild and scorching flames burst forth in every direction.
“Back!”
Eunsong pulled Soyak away, who had not anticipated this move.
As a result, only the edge of her sleeve was slightly singed.
“…Thank you, Master.”
“Stay sharp. It begins now.”
Ak Seowon steadied his breathing.
What he was preparing was the ultimate technique of the Flame Dragon Saber Art.
Reverse Scale Ignition (逆鱗發火).
“Try receiving this as well.”
As he gripped the saber with both hands, the flames that coiled around the blade slowly took the shape of a dragon.
The scorching heat made the skin tingle painfully.
“Get ready, Soyak.”
Instead of responding, Cheon Soyak raised her sword.
Her master, Eunsong, would deflect that technique.
What was needed was a single killing stroke to pierce through the opening left behind.
A single lethal strike.
For that, she required an attack that could neither be dodged nor blocked.
Because her own strength alone could not break through his defense.
She already knew the technique she needed.
With Ak Seowon’s battle cry, the dragon of flames roared and surged forward.
But Cheon Soyak closed her eyes.
She cast aside the heat, the shouts, even the crackling of burning houses…
And focused solely on the weight in her hands.
When she opened her eyes, Eunsong was shouting at her.
“Soyak! Now!”
His sword path, filled with blooming plum blossoms, split the half-grown flame dragon apart.
Amidst the sundered flames.
Right in the middle.
A black plum blossom bloomed.
First technique of Falling Plum Blossom Sword.
Falling Flower’s Fleeting Glory (落花一日榮).
The raised sword descended.
A strike that captivated all who witnessed it.
Seemingly slow at a glance…
Yet containing a profound mystery that made it impossible to avoid or block.
Slash—!
From the chest, a deep cut split open, and blood gushed forth like a fountain.
Ak Seowon stared at Cheon Soyak in disbelief.
“This is, at minimum, an Absolute Peak-level…”
Cheon Soyak gazed silently at her blood-drenched blade.
Regrettably…
She felt neither fear nor guilt for taking a life.
Why was that?
“…Perhaps because you are not human.”
“Kh… What, are you… saying…?”
“The reason killing you feels no different to me than stepping on an ant.”
Eunsong silently watched as Cheon Soyak experienced her first kill.
What choice would she make?
Cheon Soyak slowly walked toward the fallen Ak Seowon.
He was already on his knees, his saber abandoned.
Blood spilled uncontrollably from his mouth.
Death was an inevitable conclusion.
“…Master.”
Before him, the disciple called out to her teacher.
“Yes.”
“I have heard that Jianghu is a place where grudges are clearly settled.”
Eunsong already knew what Cheon Soyak was about to say.
And he had no intention of stopping her.
Ak Jupa of the Flaming demon Sect had killed her father—her family.
“This enmity must be repaid. If I take this man’s head as payment, would it be justified?”
He too had taken a life and must now lose his own.
“Do as you wish.”