Chapter 240: Yeop Bihwa (1)
A cold floor.
Warmth was returning to his body below the knees.
Fingertips, toes.
Sensation traveled up and down his spine, awakening each extremity one by one, pushing away the dawn's chill.
Light spread beyond his eyelids.
"Huuuu-"
He opened his eyes with a shallow, deep breath.
Light cut diagonally through the window, dividing the room in two.
The side where Dong Bongsu sat was dark, while the table was in the light.
A cold meal and neatly placed utensils received the morning sun.
As he looked at the food, something caught the edge of his vision.
The afterimage of the UI in Kim Rae-won's memory.
Its color still lingered but couldn't hold on for long, turning to white, and then back to nothingness.
'That was-.'
From the abyss of Kim Rae-won's memory.
'Was that Lumina?'
What should have been an 'it' stood as if it were a 'she'.
It was part of the System, yet it had a form, a proper voice, and even an unidentifiable human-like quality.
"Interesting."
But there was no immediate rush.
However, it was clear that this What is Hero System was changing on its own, and that Evolution was possible.
It was worth noting.
In the place where the afterimage disappeared, the meal, bathed in the long morning sunlight, came into view.
He rose and sat before the table.
The meal Jeon Rahwa had left was completely cold, but it didn't matter.
As he lifted his spoon and began his meal, a process of organization started in his mind.
The task of dividing what he had dredged up from the Archive into two.
Things he could use.
In the Upper Realm, there certainly exist cultivators, and perhaps even beings beyond them called Immortals.
A separate world, distinct from the Lower Realm.
Since the pattern of energy that had crushed Kim Rae-won and thrown him into despair was based on Spiritual Roots....
In many ways, they were different from ordinary Martial Artists.
And Kim Rae-won had failed to cross that boundary.
It seemed he had made an effort in his own way, but it was due to his lack of innate talent and his unintelligent use of the system.
'He must have gone to that place to overcome it.'
Some nameless academy.
He didn't know exactly what kind of place it was, but.
— .... ..Karma Root... they said there are records....
Piecing together the faint memories, it seemed that he, for his part, had realized he was of the Karma Root Tribe and had attempted to develop it further.
Or perhaps it was a simple act born of a desire to feel he wasn't alone.
In any case, whether it was rejection, disqualification, or failure to pass some sort of test, the data was so fragmented that he couldn't know the reason, but Kim Rae-won ultimately failed to enter that place.
— I heard that members of the Karma Root Tribe can even share data and systems.
The memory of Kim Rae-won that had been imprinted when he first obtained the Karma Root of What is Hero
'Sharing data or systems.'
If that academy held information about the Karma Root or the Karma Root Tribe... it was bound to be a clue to becoming stronger.
[Unexplored Point — Partial Coordinates
Sifting through the hazy memories, he couldn't pinpoint the exact location, but he grasped the general direction of the partially restored area.
He immediately turned on the Minimap and left a 'pin' in that direction.
'I'll have to pay a visit soon.'
That was the extent of the useful memories.
'Things he couldn't use'
Kim Rae-won's futile worries-the countless disappointments in people who didn't change despite his endless righteous deeds performed as quests.
Having squandered his energy, time, and effort on such worries, his already scarce talent lost its luster even more.
It was all because of that that he, despite possessing an excellent system like What is Hero, had died in a place like the Boundary Realm.
Re-evaluating him, Kim Rae-won was a man who deserved to die.
Even if he had survived then, he would have eventually died and scattered into dust.
And also....
The friendships with other Martial Artists, especially with the Three Monsters, and the warmth that came with it.
A grain of rice paused in his throat.
Very briefly.
But he just swallowed it.
It was a useless memory, a useless recollection anyway.
Scraps of emotion that were of no help in becoming stronger, not even worth a single thought.
He took his next spoonful.
The unlock conditions for locked skills and memories that were more than 80% shattered were all evaporated.
He left nothing behind anywhere in his synapses, perfectly.
Soon, he finished his meal.
He pushed the bowl aside and unfolded his Super True Qi Field.
The net of energy spread beyond the room's walls, extending throughout the Hero's Sect like spreading ink.
People were moving about busily.
Shouts erupted from the Training Ground, and the sound of hammers came from the construction area to the west.
The sound of a cart passing, the presence of a few children running around somewhere.
As expected, the Hero's Sect was running just as he had hoped.
He opened the door and went outside.
The pouring morning sunlight was the first thing to hit him.
Upon the Super True Qi Field that had already enveloped the entire Hero's Sect, a familiar sound was layered.
"Swords up! Don't lower them! Hey! You, mister over there? Mister! I said hands up! No, not your feet, your hands, hands!"
It was Hoae's command.
It came over the wall from the direction of the Training Ground.
It was rough and unbroken.
Beneath it, the sound of wooden swords clashing and feet stamping the ground laid a chaotic rhythm.
Dong Bongsu, with an almost imperceptible nod, walked slowly forward.
The first thing he saw was the newly completed Training Ground.
There were three lines.
The sword tips in the front line were neat, while they became more disordered toward the back.
The change was in the third line.
Though their trajectories were still off, the hesitation in raising their swords had considerably disappeared.
Their bodies had grown accustomed to standing in this Training Ground.
Whether it was thanks to Hoae or Jeon Rahwa, he couldn't tell, but from the perspective of a normal Murim sect, it was running properly.
At the end of the line.
Seok Gyeong.
He was a step out of line.
Not following Hoae's command, but at his own pace.
He was a beat slower.
Spirit Step Slash.
Hoae had said he created a move by placing a sword upon the breath of the Spirit Step; he supposed that was it.
Phat-, spaphat-!
Seok Gyeong was repeating that one move over and over again.
Then, by chance, his eyes met Seok Gyeong's.
Seok Gyeong quickly stopped his sword and bowed.
After a moment's hesitation, he approached quickly and opened his mouth.
"Sect Leader. May I ask you about Martial Arts?"
"Go ahead."
"I want to properly learn the Spirit Step Slash... but every time I swing the sword to cut, my body leans forward, and I lose my balance. Should I put my whole body's weight into the sword first, or should I stand my body upright and keep it still, then send my qi only to my hands and sword?"
It was a question organized in his own words, about a problem he had encountered while repeating it alone for some time.
He had probably asked Hoae as well, but hadn't understood.
The breath and footwork of the Spirit Step were ingrained in his body, but the moment the sword was added, the weight shift became unstable, and as a result, nothing went as he wished.
However, Dong Bongsu knew that the fundamental problem with Seok Gyeong's movements was not what he had just asked.
"No martial art, no move, is ever set in stone. That's why sometimes, being off-balance is the right way."
"...Pardon?"
"The eyes come first."
"..!!!"
"Read the opponent with your eyes, then the move follows to match."
"Ah!"
Seok Gyeong nodded.
Of course, his face didn't show complete understanding.
His lips moved silently, mouthing the words.
"If we're talking about practicing without an opponent, then the latter would be more desirable."
A brief pause.
"I know well that I am not yet at a level to ask such things, but..."
"If you are a martial artist, discard the extraneous words."
"Pardon?"
"Ask. Directly."
"Ah, yes, sir!"
Seok Gyeong answered vigorously, then asked again.
"When an opponent is stronger than me, how should I fight?"
"You have to consider whether it's a spar or a life and death battle."
"What if it's a spar?"
"You'd have to devise a way to win as if your life depended on it."
"What if it's a life and death battle?"
"If you don't want to die, you'd have to run."
"...What if I am in a situation where I cannot escape?"
Dong Bongsu smiled in a Kim Rae-won-like way.
"If you don't want to die, you'd have to devise a way to win."
"What if I can ultimately find no way to win or escape?"
"You'd die."
The corners of Kim Rae-won's mouth deepened.
"But the one who killed you will die too."
"...."
"As long as you are in the Hero's Sect, I will-."
He lightly looked around.
The sound of commands, the clash of swords, and the presence of a few children running around somewhere.
"[color=rgb(255, 255, 255)]-[/color] Protect you all."
Seok Gyeong's back bent again.
Deeply, deeply.
"Thank you for your teachings."
Then he raised his sword again.
He returned to the Spirit Step Slash stance and continued his repetitions.
Kim Rae-won took a step closer
He returned to the Spirit Step Slash stance and continued his repetitions.
Kim Rae-won took a step closer.
He placed a hand on Seok Gyeong's elbow.
With one finger, he pushed slightly inward.
That was all.
The tip of the sword changed.
What had been wavering was now steady, and the path of strength and the meridian of qi flowed naturally from shoulder to wrist.
Seok Gyeong's sword stopped.
"I will... certainly live up to your expectations."
Just one sentence.
Kim Rae-won turned away.
"Sect Leader!"
Two children ran over as if they had been waiting.
One of them tugged at Kim Rae-won's hem and looked up.
"My sister said you cut off a mountain peak near the lake a while ago. Is that true?"
Kim Rae-won bent his waist slightly to meet the child's eye level.
"Yes."
"Really?"
"I cut it."
The children exclaimed in unison.
A sound of 'Woooow-' spread to the end of the Training Ground.
"Can we do it too?"
"Yes, of course."
"Really?"
"But when can we become like that?"
Kim Rae-won's eyebrows rose into an inverted 'V'.
"If you train like you are now..."
It was a mischievous look.
"It will probably take about a thousand years."
"Wow! A thousand years!"
"I'm gonna train! A thousand years, a thousand years!"
"You idiot, how can a person live for a thousand years? The Sect Leader, no, the mister is teasing us! Right, mister?"
The children clamored and clung to him more.
The questions were endless, and Kim Rae-won smiled and answered each one.
Just then, Jeon Rahwa was walking this way, holding a written letter.
Seeing the scene from across the Training Ground, Jeon Rahwa's feet paused for a moment, then she chuckled and started moving again.
"Excuse me."
It was Jeon Rahwa.
In her hand was a written letter.
"Branch Leader Bae is in the main hall."
Usually, her expression would have come with a word or two more.
But seeing as she said nothing else, it was clearly urgent.
Kim Rae-won immediately took the letter and walked off without even opening it.
Jeon Rahwa quickly ruffled the children's hair in turn and immediately followed.
"The group from the Formation Tower hasn't returned yet. I don't know if it's reconnaissance or what, but it seems to be taking longer than expected."
"I see."
Soon, they reached the main hall, where Bae Dal-pae was standing near the door.
His clothes were dusty, and he was scratching his temple, looking somewhat anxious.
Kim Rae-won gestured with his chin for him to sit.
But Bae Dal-pae did not sit.
"They are moving from three places at once."
Then he immediately poured out the information.
The Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect.
A new group was said to be coming down from the main sect towards the River Capital.
The stated reason was to confirm the missing Patrol Sword Corps.
The number was unconfirmed.
The Dark Rakshasa Way.
A small unit was heading south from the Nirvanic Extinction Mountain area.
It had the character of an advance party.
The Formation Tower.
This was a different case.
They weren't coming directly, but a few Formation Masters had been spotted near the southern border.
It was almost certain that contact would soon be made with the Trigram Masters in the Hero's Sect.
Kim Rae-won nodded.
In contrast, Jeon Rahwa, standing beside him, had her shoulders tensed.
It was only natural; for a fledgling sect that had just opened its gates, the simultaneous approach of one of the Ten Great Sects, one of the Seven Great Demonic Sects, and one of the Three Powers Beyond the Heavens was something that only a truly strange person could be indifferent to.
After staring squarely at each of them once, Bae Dal-pae lowered his voice.
"And among the group coming down from the Vast Heaven main sect, a special title was included."
He paused for a moment.
"The Iron-Faced Lady. A Sword Master of the Elder rank, one of the best in Vast Heaven, is said to be moving personally."
"The Iron-Faced Lady?"
"The title Iron-Faced was given to her because of her nature to never back down once she has set a course. And.."
"She is one of the Three Monsters."
Kim Rae-won's nose crinkled slightly with an exhale.
"Ah, those Three Monsters?"
"Yes, those Three Monsters."
"When?"
Bae Dal-pae scratched his temple.
4G
"At the earliest, we should consider it to be within a few days. If she were to travel alone, it would not be strange at all to encounter her in the River Capital right now."
"Enough."
Vast Heaven had lost its entire Patrol Sword Corps.
On top of that, a branch and allied forces had been largely destroyed.
They would already know that the remnants of those forces were in the Hero's Sect.
They were coming to find them.
Dark Rakshasa had lost contact with its Rakshasa Monk Corps.
They could be coming to check, or they could already know more or less what happened and be coming to clean up.
The Formation Tower has three Trigram Masters here.
Dongmun Mutoe had visited before, and if they knew a rapidly developing situation had broken out in this direction, it was in some ways very natural for them to come down in a hurry.
All three had different reasons, but their direction was the same.
The River Capital.
And among all places.
This Hero's Sect stood at the very center of this stage.
The issue of one of the Three Monsters was nothing more than a single stone on such a board.
At that moment.
The edge of his Qi Field trembled.
Something had been caught at the edge of Dong Bongsu's sensory net, which enveloped the entire Hero's Sect.
A single aura.
It was approaching.
Fast.
Swift.
It was certainly a fast Lightness Skill.
He first felt it from 10 li away.....
9, 7, 4, 1 li.
Dong Bongsu stopped.
Then he slowly began to walk towards the main gate.
"Suddenly... where are you going?"
At Jeon Rahwa's words, Dong Bongsu replied without stopping his steps.
"She's here."
"Yes, who?"
"Who else?"
"..."
"The woman you just mentioned."
...
The mountain path ended.
The walls of the River Capital were a single leap.
Spat.
Sss-paaat.
The roofs trembled a couple of times, and only the wind remained.
The orderly buildings and roads turned into lines of various colors.
And those lines receded behind her with incredible speed.
The moment her steps stopped, the scenery returned to its proper form.
Beyond the mountain fortress, a large gate was visible on a hill.
On the plaque hanging above it, three characters were written magnificently.
"Hero's Sect.."
The scale, the layout, the defense line.
She scanned it all at once, but there was nothing particularly noteworthy.
Hwiiiii-.
The spring breeze swept Yeop Bihwa's long bangs aside.
Shabak, shabak.
She slowly approached the gate, briefly contemplating.
Whether to open it and enter, cut it down and enter, or just leap over it.
But the contemplation was futile.
Because the wind blew, and the gate opened.
The morning sun, which had risen behind the Hero's Sect, shone from inside the gate.
Light poured out.
In the middle of that light, a man stood, looking this way.
The width of his shoulders, his stance, the angle of his head.
It overlapped with the one from twenty years ago.
It overlapped, yet it was different.
The outline seemed similar, but something was very different.
Yeop Bihwa's feet stopped as soon as she crossed the threshold of the gate.
In that state, she stared intently at the man.
His pupils were unreadable, devoid of any discernible emotion.
As if there was nothing to be read in the first place.
And yet, the man was smiling.
"Kim Rae-won...?"
-x-X-x-
Yeop Bihwa had been narrow since she was young.
It went without saying that her figure was slender and swift, but so were her shoulders, her voice, and the footprints she left when she walked.
Even the sword she used.
The Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle.
A sword uniquely thin and long in the Murim.
So much so that it was even named 'Needle'.
In particular, her relationships with people were even more narrow.
Her parents had left her as a newborn at the gates of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect.
Thus, what she could call family never existed from the start.
Even among her master and fellow disciples, there was little that could be called interaction.
She only spoke when necessary, and even those necessary words were short.
The problem was that the sword of Vast Heaven was not meant to be narrow.
The sword principle of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect lies in breadth.
One person's sword covers the opening of the person next to them, and the person next to them covers another.
Fundamentally, they pursued a sword art that could form a formation, a sword formation.
That was one of the reasons why Vast Heaven reigned as the strongest sword sect in the Murim.
Yeop Bihwa's sword, her martial arts, temperamentally did not allow anyone by her side.
She trained her martial arts by only looking ahead, cutting, and advancing.
Her master scolded her and tried to correct her, but the more he did, the narrower and more constricted her sword path and martial arts became.
But strangely, the more it became so, the stronger she grew.
A sword that was strong but not harmonious.
A 'wench' who could not be harmonious.
A master of eccentric and stubborn sword arts.
She continued to grow stronger, and the stronger she became, the narrower her world grew.
Perhaps because of this, or thanks to it, Vast Heaven did not cast her out.
Instead, they did not deeply accept her either.
A sword that could not enter the formation had no choice but to stand outside it.
Yeop Bihwa naturally took on Vast Heaven's external affairs.
Tasks to be done alone.
Problems to be solved alone.
She went forth into the Murim under the name of Vast Heaven, but there was never anyone standing beside her.
If you were to ask if she was dissatisfied, the answer would be no. She had never had anyone beside her in the first place, so their absence was natural.
Thus, whenever there was an order from Vast Heaven, she would set out into the Murim alone and swing her sword without rest.
She single-handedly struck the Night Bandit Fortress in the Nanha area.
Naturally, after everything was over, she stood alone.
There was a time she tracked Nine Paths King Pung Sa-geol near the Northern Yan border for three months.
His method of escape was so bizarre that he earned the infamous name for seeming to scatter in nine directions, causing incidents and accidents.
The entire nearby Orthodox Faction had given up, and Vast Heaven had sent a subjugation team three times, all returning empty-handed.
Yeop Bihwa chased such a man for three whole months.
The day she found him, she drew her sword once, and it ended in one stroke.
There was also a time she went around and wiped out the three halls of the Red Snake Union.
The lowest rungs of human trafficking and poison distribution had taken root in three places along the Nanha basin.
They were people who even gathered and trafficked children.
For several months, the blood on her clothes never had a chance to dry.
Having traveled alone for so long, a name naturally came to be attached to her.
Whether she wanted it or not.
When you cut down a person, rumors spread.
Rumors create a name, and a name in the Murim becomes a title.
The Iron-Faced Lady.
A disposition that does not bend once a direction is set.
The Murim called it an iron face.
She didn't particularly like the 'Lady' part, but with 'Iron-Faced' preceding it, it wasn't too bad.
Then, a strange order was given.
It was a very easy command: to participate in the Orthodox Assembly Gathering and enhance the sect's honor.
A place where the martial artists of the Ten Great Sects of the Orthodox Faction gathered to compete.
For Yeop Bihwa, it was not much different from cutting people down.
All she had to do was cut down each person who stood before her.
The only difference was whether to kill them or not.
Strike them down one by one.
And repeat.
However...
At that gathering, which she thought was the easiest of all the orders she had ever received, she suffered her first defeat.
-Your sword is good.
Although it was the finals, she had lost to a young man in strange attire.
She had never heard his name, seen his face, or witnessed such clothing before.
A man who said he was from a sect she had never heard of, called 'High School'.
-I'm Kim Rae-won.
Monster.
That was another nickname he acquired, for having a peculiar sword that could never have come from Vast Heaven.
Just like that man, Kim Rae-won.
-Last time I saw, there was another fellow called 'Monster'. If you count you, me, and that guy... then we're the Three Monsters, huh?
She did not answer.
It wasn't that she was ignoring him; she just didn't want to reply.
Not only had she lost to someone her age, but she also disliked the young man's chatter.
The Three Monsters.
It was a title close to a derogatory nickname that they had acquired somehow, but the three of them became quite close naturally and spent years together.
The only person who had widened her exceedingly narrow relationships, Kim Rae-won.
Now, a person presumed to be that Kim Rae-won stood before her after several years.
With a completely different face.
"Kim Rae-won...?"
No, in the first place, he might not be that Kim Rae-won at all.
She would have to confirm it now.
The man was smiling.
He stood with his back to the morning sun pouring in from inside the gate.
Because of the backlight, only his silhouette was visible at first.
The width of his shoulders, his stance, the habit of slightly tilting his head.
They were things that overlapped with the Kim
Rae-won in her memory
But his smile was different.
There was warmth in Kim Rae-won's smile.
In this man's smile... there was even more warmth.
There was no answer from him.
He was still just smiling.
Yeop Bihwa took another step inside.
As the backlight cleared, the man's face was revealed.
Mid-twenties.
If he were Kim Rae-won, he should have been over forty.
"Who are you?"
It was a voice similar in tone to Kim Rae-won's.
But what it contained was different.
It was the voice of someone who did not recognize her.
Yeop Bihwa's eyes narrowed.
"...You do not know who I am?"
"Should I?"
"I asked if you do not know."
"You must be the Iron-Faced Lady of the Three Monsters."
He was not wrong.
But if he were Kim Rae-won, he would not have answered that way.
He would have called her by her name, not her title.
Yeop Bihwa's gaze traveled down from the man's face to his feet and back up.
"Your face is different from the one I remember."
"...."
"It must be one of two things. You have recovered your original body, or-"
Her fingers rested on the hilt of her sword.
One by one.
In sequence.
"You are a follower of a different Karma Root."
"...."
The man's smile deepened.
"I must confirm."
"Confirm what?"
Instead of answering, Yeop Bihwa gripped the hilt of her sword tightly.
"Whether you are real or not."
Just then, a commotion was heard from behind.
The sound of many footsteps.
One of them approached quickly.
"Sect Leader!"
A man dressed in Vast Heaven's martial robe was running towards the main gate.
Yeop Bihwa's eyes briefly flickered toward him.
Jin Hagyeong.
It was a face she knew.
"Stop. The matter of your residing here instead of returning, despite being able to move, will be dealt with after I have checked this man."
As expected, Jin Hagyeong, who received her autumn-frost-like gaze and stern warning, stopped in his tracks.
Any disciple of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect knew just how unparalleled her status was.
Yeop Bihwa's gaze returned to the man, Kim Rae-won.
"Did you do this knowing you might become an enemy of Vast Heaven?"
"What did I do?"
Yeop Bihwa's cold eyes swept over Jin Hagyeong and the other Vast Heaven branch members who had followed him before returning.
"Are you planning to feign ignorance?"
"No, what did I do and what am I feigning ignorance about, huh?"
"...."
"Those who needed help came to me-"
A deep smile still hung on Kim Rae-won's sly face.
"And I simply helped."
And right after he said that, the smile vanished from his face.
"If that means becoming an enemy of Vast Heaven and feigning ignorance, then fine."
"....."
"I won't stop you."
"What do you mean?"
"What do I mean?"
Kim Rae-won took a step to the side and stood in front of Jin Hagyeong.
"If you want to die, come at me anytime. I'll kill you all. Whether it's Vast Heaven or Vast Heaven's, grandpa."
The strength in Yeop Bihwa's hand gripping the sword hilt loosened slightly.
That... what should she call it?
It was something Kim Rae-won would so typically say.
Taking in the weak and, because of that, making an enemy of the stronger.
Kim Rae-won was always like that.
And so, he was always hurt.
Yet, he always performed righteous deeds again and put himself in danger again.
"Why... why do you go to such lengths?"
"Didn't you see when you came in here?"
"..."
"A hero ought to be that way. That's what a hero is, and-"
A grin, the smile that had been erased, reappeared on his face.
"That's how one can become strong."
-Why do you cling to righteousness so much?
-It's simple. That's what a hero is, and that's... the only way someone like me can become strong.
It was the same.
The way he spoke, his logic, and even that smile.
Taking in the weak and baring his teeth at the strong.
The insane logic that this was what a hero was, and this was the path to becoming stronger, which did not fit this rotten Murim world at all.
"Those words."
"Hm?"
"Those words you just said... where did you pick them up?"
"That's funny."
"..."
"I may have no memory, but I don't think such classy lines are common in this Murim."
This part was similar, too.
Kim Rae-won, the Kim Rae-won of the past, had also often mocked the Murim in that manner.
"You have no memory?"
"Yeah. I don't."
A direct answer.
It was impossible to tell if it was true or false.
"Are you being sincere?"
"If not sincere, what, you think I'd be telling a lie?"
Yeop Bihwa's mouth closed.
There was nothing more to ask.
No, there was nothing she could find out by asking.
Words could be fabricated, and memories could be lost.
But a sword cannot tell a lie.
Yeop Bihwa's hand gripped the hilt of her sword.
No, it wasn't that she gripped it.
The sword had already begun its movement toward the target.
There was no sound.
It did not part the wind.
The moment the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle slipped from its sheath, the air slid away instead of splitting.
A straight line.
Yeop Bihwa's sword was always a straight line.
Towards Dong Bongsu's neck, a single line.
As she thrust, Yeop Bihwa was already calculating the next move.
The straight line of the One-Line Sword Art was simple, yet fast.
If the first move was blocked, she would push straight in without bending the sword in a Swift Forward Thrust.
If he dodged, she would pull back half a beat faster and stab the empty space in a Preemptive Forward Thrust.
If he was foolish enough to block the sword, she just had to twist and cut his wrist.
Whatever his response, the next move was ready.
However...
There was no response.
He did not dodge, block, or retreat.
Just before the tip of the sword touched his neck, the man's hand came up.
A bare hand.
Over the blade, imbued with the aura of the One-Line Sword, an unprotected palm rested.
Clang.
The Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle stopped.
The sword, which had been wildly stirring the air, was now stuck in it.
All the prepared follow-up moves lost their light.
She could not bend it.
She could not twist it.
It could not be pulled back.
It was as if the palm on the sword had not just caught the sword, but had erased its very path.
Yeop Bihwa's calculations regarding her sword path, sword moves, and sword forms came to a halt.
Only then did she look up to see the man's face, still wearing a smile.
"You've prepared to die, haven't you?"
-x-X-x-
He did not answer.
4G
It would be more accurate to say he could not answer.
The tip of the sword was stopped before the man's throat.
To be precise, it had not stopped, but had been forced to stop.
The palm gripping the blade had completely erased the sword's path, so all Yeop Bihwa could do was stand there, holding the hilt.
She already knew that neither the Swift Forward Thrust, the Preemptive Forward Thrust, nor a twist would work.
She needed to pull her sword back, but it wouldn't budge.
She tried to raise her Internal Energy, but the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle remained motionless, as if embedded in a ten-thousand-year-old rock.
A smile still hung on the man's face.
...Why are you smiling?"
"To kill or not to kill. Let's just say it's a dilemma I have as Kim Rae-won."
At his words, Yeop Bihwa's fingertips twitched.
That was her answer.
If she could not pull it out, she would change its path.
She reversed the flow of her Sword Aura.
The power that had been flowing forward was completely overturned.
The thin aura of the One-Line Sword coating the blade began to seethe from within, swelling outwards.
Vroooom-.
The Sword Aura expanded to the very limit that the slender blade of the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle could endure.
A tremor just before the air was torn apart.
The vibration traveled up to the very bones of Yeop Bihwa's wrist, which gripped the hilt.
And then.
As if a snake shedding its skin, the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle cast off its Sword Aura and shot backward.
Shwiiiiing-!
A Retreating Strike.
The man's palm, holding the blade, collided head-on with the Sword Aura.
Clang-!
The sound of the air splitting from the impact resounded around the main gate.
From the sword's tip, dust on the ground and all the surrounding air were pushed back in a circle, and cracks appeared on the pillars on both sides of the gate.
Rumble-!
The aftershock shook the entire area.
The members of the Hero's Sect and the warriors of Vast Heaven who had gathered near the main gate swallowed their screams and were pushed back in a wave.
Jin Hagyeong spread his arms to block the people behind him, but even he was pushed back, his martial robes flapping wildly.
Along with them, trees dozens of zhang away were shaken to their roots, and the wall next to the main gate caved in, spilling dirt.
Kim Rae-won also retreated several zhang.
"That's an interesting technique you use."
Dusting himself off lightly, Kim Rae-won spoke.
'To take a Sword Explosion Qi head-on and be completely unharmed...!
With his bare body, no less.
Inwardly, Yeop Bihwa was greatly surprised, but her expression remained impassive.
The Iron-Faced Lady, Yeop Bihwa, had always been that way.
"Draw your weapon. I do not fight those who have not drawn theirs."
Whoosh-.
A faint gust of wind blew through the area.
At the same time, dozens of leaves that had been scattered by the earlier impact fluttered into the Hero's Sect grounds.
Kim Rae-won nonchalantly opened his palm and raised one corner of his mouth.
"I already have."
The tips of Yeop Bihwa's sharp eyebrows quivered silently.
Kim Rae-won's hands were still empty.
Moreover, no energy could be felt from them.
"Are you mocking me, the Iron-Faced Lady, Yeop Bihwa?"
Just then, a fluttering leaf landed on Kim Rae-won's open palm.
He held it up and crinkled his nose.
"See? I've drawn it."
"...The original Kim Rae-won uses a sword. Your words and actions now are an admission that you are an impostor."
"Ah, is that so?"
"
..."
"If we go by that, it makes more sense. What should I do?"
This time, too, instead of answering, Yeop Bihwa kicked off the ground.
A straight line.
It was just after she had poured out all her Sword Aura with the retreating move.
To coat the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle with Sword Aura again, she would have to draw Internal Energy and Spiritual Energy from her inner core root.
It didn't matter.
Even without Sword Aura, there was no one under the heavens who could take Yeop Bihwa's vertical strike with their bare hands.
Just as the tip of Yeop Bihwa's sword, which had closed several zhang in what seemed like a single leap, was about to pierce through the man's solar plexus.
Clang-!
The Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle stopped once again.
Something hard.
The sensation transmitted through the sword's tip was undoubtedly like striking a lump of iron.
However...
That iron was 'green'.
Yeop Bihwa's eyes looked beyond her sword.
In the man's hand were the leaves that had just blown in on the wind.
Dozens of them.
The dozens of leaves had somehow joined together to form the shape of a sword.
The veins formed a pattern, and the stems interlocked, as if they had been one from the beginning.
A sword made of leaves had blocked the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle, which was imbued with Sword Qi.
"See. I'm holding it, right?"
Yeop Bihwa's wrist turned.
She twisted the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle to cut through the grain of the leaf sword.
A mere leaf, if twisted, would tear...
"?!"
...It did not tear.
Instead, the surface of the leaves slid over her blade in an instant, as if enveloping it.
Screeeech-.
A sound like steel scraping against steel.
'Is Qi embedded in every single leaf vein?'
Thinly and evenly.
Without a single gap.
Swish-.
Yeop Bihwa hastily retreated a dozen zhang, pulling her sword back to her waist.
In that same posture, she began to coat the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle with Sword Aura once again.
Qi adhered to the slender blade.
Thinly and quickly.
Like boiling bubbles, the aura of the One-Line Sword quickly coated the entire blade of the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle.
Kim Rae-won simply stood there, the leaf sword hanging loosely at his side.
He did not pursue or launch another attack.
Whether it was out of leisure or for some other reason, Yeop Bihwa had no way of knowing.
But one thing was clear.
'He really... made a sword out of leaves.'
And with it, he blocked Sword Aura.
There were many classic tales in the Jianghu.
And one of the most famous among them.
— When one becomes the greatest Sword Master of all time, one can defeat all swords under heaven with a single blade of grass.
Yeop Bihwa had also believed that saying to some extent, and had pursued it.
A realm where wielding a brush turned it into a sword, and holding a branch turned it into a sword.
Yeop Bihwa had also personally encountered masters who had reached such a realm to a certain degree.
However, all those masters had one thing in common.
They always chose one thing.
A single brush, a single branch, a single weapon.
In any case, it was a method of choosing a single object and imbuing it with one's own Qi.
But this man was different.
He had simultaneously grasped scattered things, dozens of mere leaves, and joined them, each with a different grain, into a single sword.
What connected them was purely the man's Qi.
It was not that the medium had become a weapon, but that the Qi itself had taken the form of a weapon.
It did not belong to any sword art Yeop Bihwa knew.
It was not a Qi Art.
It was not a technique.
It was the act of infusing surrounding objects with Qi to transform them into weapons.
Perhaps, without any leaves, that man... could still create a sword?
The Formless Sword.
Such a thing was only possible when one's control of Qi surpassed the realm of Immortals.
'A domain I thought only possible in legends...!
The aura of the One-Line Sword once again settled completely upon the blade.
Despite keenly feeling her opponent's strength, Yeop Bihwa raised her sword.
No, precisely because of it, she had to raise it even more.
It no longer mattered whether her opponent was Kim Rae-won or not.
As a Sword Master, she wanted to confirm it for herself.
Swish-!
A straight line again.
The Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle pierced the air.
Towards Kim Rae-won's shoulder.
Swift Forward Thrust.
The fastest advancing form of the One Line Sword Art.
The tip of the sword always reaches the opponent before their eyes can track it.
But the straight wave of Qi curved as it advanced.
It was subtle, but it was definitely curved.
Yeop Bihwa had not bent it.
The wave of sword energy had found its own path.
It was because the thickness of the air and the density of the medium were different around the spot where the man stood.
Every point in space had thick and thin spots, and the tip of the sword found and passed through the thinnest path between them.
'A Qi Field?'
The man's entire surroundings were filled with his Qi.
The entire main gate of the Hero's Sect.
No, the entire Hero's Sect... Perhaps even the whole of the River Capital was like this.
The man before her was that powerful.
However, the distribution of his Qi was not uniform.
Because it was not uniform, there was a path where the medium was thin, and the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle shot through that thin path.
Just like how light bends and creates a heat haze in the summer heat.
The One Line Sword Art was not a straight line.
It simply followed the fastest path.
Normally, that path just happened to be a straight line.
Rip-.
The very tip of the sword grazed the cloth on the man's forearm.
It did not cut the flesh.
The man had tilted his upper body by half a chi to deflect the sword.
And then.
Maintaining his tilted posture, Kim Rae-won positioned the leaf sword at his waist.
A sword-drawing stance, as if he had a scabbard.
Swoosh-Phat-.
The leaves cut through the air.
Exactly like Yeop Bihwa's.
It seemed to thrust in a straight line, but curved ever so slightly.
Following the thin path in the air.
Towards Yeop Bihwa's chest.
Riiip-!
Yeop Bihwa hastily leaned back to dodge, but the front of her martial robes was completely sliced off.
Her cleavage was exposed, but she paid it no mind.
She couldn't.
"Is this how you do it?"
Kim Rae-won's voice was laced with laughter.
Because that... was the Swift Forward Thrust.
"Just now... what did you do? How could you?!"
"I was imitating you."
"..."
"I'm naturally good at copying things. Anyone, anything, anytime."
Yeop Bihwa stomped her foot hard once more.
Flash Step.
A rapid footwork technique Yeop Bihwa had created herself to properly execute the One Line Sword Art.
One step equaled the distance of one thrust.
It was a step that closed the distance in a single flash to match the sword that extended in a single line.
An advancing strike.
A straight line again.
But this time, it was two, three times towards a single point.
She aimed for the same spot consecutively.
A chain of moves.
A form like digging into the same hole with a needle.
If once was not enough, then twice; if twice was not enough, then three times.
It was Yeop Bihwa's unyielding nature itself.
Swish-!
Swish-!
Swish-!
The leaf sword rose.
All three strikes were easily blocked.
Sword Aura?
Sword Qi?
They were brushed aside as easily as a radish being cut by a sword.
But.
'Every time... the grain is different?'
The first block was deflected as if flowing.
The second parried head-on and repelled.
The third turned the blade's surface and struck it aside.
All three times, it was the same leaf sword.
But all three times, it was a different sword art.
'This is not the sword of a single person.'
"Hah, hah."
Yeop Bihwa retreated a dozen zhang and caught her breath.
There were multiple Sword Masters within that one body.
The flowing move was the sword of a soft practitioner, the parrying move was the sword of a hard practitioner, and the striking move was the sword of a deft practitioner.
Three completely different sword arts were contained within a single breath, yet they were not chaotic.
They did not fall apart.
They were melted together.
Fragments of different sword arts had melted into one, becoming that single man's sword.
And among those fragments.
'The last one.
Yeop Bihwa's eyebrow twitched minutely.
The grain overlapped.
With a sword from a distant memory.
The same, yet not the same.
Overlapping, yet different.
It was definitely Kim Rae-won's sword.
The very sword of Kim Rae-won that she knew.
'A sword cannot tell a lie.'
That had been Yeop Bihwa's lifelong belief.
However.
This man's sword was telling neither lies nor truths.
It was Kim Rae-won's sword, but not his alone.
It overlapped but was not the same; it was the same but not one.
A martial artist who could not be answered even with a sword.
It was a first in Yeop Bihwa's life.
Yeop Bihwa let the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle hang down.
Then, she slowly raised it again.
Into a stance she had never taken before.
The tip of the sword, no, the needle, was aimed precisely at the man's glabella.
All the Internal Energy in her body began to gather in the two hands gripping the hilt.
If the sword could not provide an answer, then she had no choice but to push the sword to its very end and draw the answer out.
The aura of the One-Line Sword that had coated the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle slowly receded from the blade.
It did not disappear but gathered into a single point.
A single chi at the sword's tip.
There, the Sword Principle of her entire life converged.
"I will see this to the end."
Yeop Bihwa let out a long breath.
Whether it is my end.
Or yours.
-x-X-x-
The air within the Hero's Sect came to a standstill.
Jin Hagyeong stood frozen, unable to lower his outstretched arms.
He remained in the same stance he had taken to shield those behind him; his sleeves fluttered once in the wind, then stilled.
He had not stepped back into his spot, nor had he even decided to stand his ground.
His body had simply frozen in place.
A dozen zhang ahead, the two were still facing each other.
The Sword Aura that had enveloped Yeop Bihwa's Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle was slowly receding from the blade, being drawn into a single point at its tip.
The gathering Sword Aura did not remain still.
As it converged into a single point, it began to pull the surrounding Qi towards itself.
The air around the sword tip could not escape, instead bending and flowing into that one point.
Jin Hagyeong clearly saw a fallen leaf on the ground roll for a moment before defying the wind and being dragged toward the sword tip.
Sunlight naturally passed over that point, yet the light could not reach that one spot.
Or rather, it reached it but could not escape.
It was neither reflection nor absorption.
It was a convergence into a single point in the middle of the scenery.
The Sword Aura continued to be whittled down.
The thick Sword Aura that had covered the entire blade was now being compressed into a single chi at the tip.
The compression showed no signs of stopping.
It continued until it became a point invisible to the eye, and even that point was whittled down further into itself.
For a moment, the roof tiles of the Hero's Sect, the walls, the lines of the distant tree branches-all seemed to bend toward that single point.
It was not an illusion on Jin Hagyeong's retina; the air itself had warped.
The moment that point is unleashed.
"One Point Whittling Aura..."
A sound escaped Jin Hagyeong's lips, indistinguishable between a lament and a warning.
Even for someone like Kim Rae-won, this would be dangerous.
So Jin Hagyeong thought.
4G
Though it was barely known in the Jianghu, this was the reason why the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect was not overly concerned, despite being attacked and pushed back by the Dark Rakshasa Way recently.
One Point Whittling Aura.
A move that condensed a lifetime of the sword into a single point by shrinking the 'One Line' into 'One Point'-the 'One Point Flash'.
That was the new type of Sword Aura the Iron-Faced Lady had finally perfected in recent years to realize this technique.
It was a Sword Principle so powerful that the Sword Venerate, after witnessing it, had remarked, "This has rewritten the very definition of the sword. From this moment on, any sword that dares to oppose Vast Heaven, whatever it may be, shall be erased."
But Kim Rae-won still stood with the green sword woven from leaves hanging loosely at his side.
His arms were relaxed, his shoulders were relaxed.
Even as the lifelong sword of Yeop Bihwa, the greatest sword master of Vast Heaven, was aimed at him, his posture held not a sliver of tension.
"Sect Leader! That sword is...!"
Jin Hagyeong's cry was cut short.
The sound certainly vibrated the air as it moved forward, across the center of the training ground, toward the back of the unmoving man.
But the shout never reached the man's ears.
It was not that there was no time for it to reach him; in the process of reaching its destination, the sound waves were distorted, torn apart, and disintegrated in the air.
By Yeop Bihwa's sword art...
Naturally, Kim Rae-won did not turn his head.
The green sword hanging at his side, the slope of his shoulders, the direction of his toes-all remained unchanged.
Yeop Bihwa, staring intently at such a Kim Rae-won, took a long breath.
Whoo-.
The long exhale could not travel straight through the air.
As soon as she breathed out, the space seemed to tilt, and her breath was sucked toward the tip of her sword.
The breath she exhaled was returning to her own sword.
Ssssk.
Yeop Bihwa's two hands, resting on the hilt, were not gripping the sword but were being held by it.
The single chi at the sword's tip was pulling on her elbows, her shoulders, her waist, all the way down to the soles of her feet.
Tuk, tuk.
The dirt on the ground rolled in fine particles toward that single point on the sword tip.
A strand of hair that had been stuck to her cheek floated up into the air, but instead of settling back down, it remained tilted toward the sword tip, frozen.
Everything in the vicinity gathered into that single point at the sword's tip.
Yeop Bihwa finished her exhale.
The moment that final breath ended.
The tip of the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle moved forward first.
The blade followed behind it.
Goooooooh-.
Where the sword passed, no path was left.
The very space where a path should have been had vanished.
The air of the training ground, the morning sunlight, even a speck of dust drifting before the wall-all were erased along that line.
The Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle had not cut through anything.
There was no mark of being cut.
Space itself was missing where it had passed.
A thin line, the thickness of a finger, was embedded in the middle of the scenery, black.
No.
It wasn't even black.
For black to exist, space must first exist.
There was no space there.
In the place where something should have been, nothingness resided.
It was a type of sword strike never seen before.
No, it wasn't even a strike.
It was not in the form of hitting something.
Huduk.
Along that line, at a single point at its end, somewhere in front of Kim Rae-won, sound momentarily gathered.
Yeop Bihwa's footsteps, the breathing of everyone in the Hero's Sect, including herself, and the rustling of tree branches in the wind outside the training ground.
All the sounds rising from all directions pulled themselves in and were sucked into that single point.
And then.
"..."
The sound vanished.
All the sounds of the world were trapped in that one point.
All that remained in Yeop Bihwa's ears was every kind of pulse from her own body.
Her heart, various organs, her pulse, and the minute tremors of her skin.
But even those were sounds that resonated from deep within her body, heard not from the outside but only from within.
One beat.
Two beats.
Swaaaaa-.
4G
All the trapped sounds were released at once.
The sound of the wind, the tree branches, the distant cry of a bird, someone's breath, another's breath.
The sounds returning simultaneously from all directions collided with each other, tearing the air.
It was a world that had arrived a fraction of a second late.
But in the space before Kim Rae-won, that 'nothingness' was still embedded.
Kim Rae-won moved his wrist ever so slightly.
His arm remained hanging at his side, and his elbow didn't move.
Just a flick of the wrist.
That was all.
But as his wrist moved, a layer of the training ground's air moved with it.
The hanging green sword rose about a chi from his side.
The sword's trajectory was slow, but wherever that slow trajectory passed, the air minutely receded.
Only the speed was slow.
The sword tip was tilting toward a single, precise direction.
Toward the very point where the end of the line from Yeop Bihwa's One Point Whittling Aura-that 'Nothingness'-was embedded.
As the leaf sword drew closer to that point, the sword's appearance began to look strange.
The green of the leaves was slowly draining from the tip of the sword.
A deep green still remained near the hilt, but the color faded toward the tip.
A navy blue was overlaid on the green, and a darker shade covered the navy blue.
It was the same sword, yet it bore different colors in different places.
That wasn't all.
The sword's length seemed a little longer.
Yeop Bihwa couldn't tell if it had actually grown longer or if it just appeared that way because the surrounding air was subtly warped around the sword.
The line of the wall behind the sword bent once near the sword before straightening again.
The wall should still have been standing in its place
But to Yeop Bihwa's eyes, the wall seemed to tremble slightly where the sword passed.
And the sword's movement became even slower.
The closer the sword tip got to the point, the more its speed decreased compared to when it first started to tilt.
It was as if that single point was stealing the movement itself, layer by layer.
Yeop Bihwa felt the interval of her own breath growing longer than the remaining distance to the sword tip.
One chi.
Half a chi.
That half chi was not shrinking.
It felt as if the sword would never reach that point.
Before that illusion could end.
The leaf sword touched the 'Nothingness'.
Nothing happened at the point of contact.
No sparks flew, no explosion sounded, the air did not tremble.
In the place where two objects should have met and exchanged something, the exchange itself did not exist.
However.
The leaf sword, which had been floating a chi from his wrist, vanished.
The green sword, woven from dozens of leaves, disappeared without leaving a single leaf vein or a speck of ash. It simply ceased to exist.
It was there, and then it was not.
A single breath before, a sword had clearly been in that spot; a single breath later, it had been erased from the world
The very evidence that the sword had been there was erased along with it.
Kim Rae-won's hand was now gripping empty air.
"Interesting, very interesting. You've certainly brought an interesting move, you have."
Kim Rae-won's empty hand clenched lightly once.
There was nothing to grip.
His fingers simply wrapped around the air.
Yet, the moment his fingers closed, a sword appeared in his hand.
What had not existed a moment ago now 'existed'.
There was no time in between.
There was no stance of drawing a sword, no sound of cutting the air, no place where a scabbard should have been.
Yeop Bihwa's pupils trembled.
The light turned strange for a moment.
4G
Even though the morning sun was descending, no sunlight rested on that sword.
It wasn't that it landed and slid off.
The moment it touched, it disappeared.
It wasn't that the blade didn't reflect the light; the sword ate the light.
The sword was dark, and dark, and darker still.
A material never seen before.
No iron from any mine in the entire Murim was cloaked in such darkness.
Like adding pitch blackness to something already pitch black...
A line of weight from the sword pressed down on the air.
It was a completely different weight from the green sword woven from leaves.
The air in the training ground sank a layer, centering on the sword.
Yeop Bihwa heard a silent pressure drop from the spot where the sword had appeared.
And that sword was held upright toward the space where Yeop Bihwa's One Point Whittling Aura still held, unraveled-toward the edge of that 'Nothingness'.
The jet-black sword, held upright towards the edge of the 'Nothingness', began to spin.
It wasn't his hand that turned it.
Kim Rae-won's wrist was still in the pose of gripping the hilt, and his elbow and shoulder remained still.
The sword itself was spinning.
The hilt and blade, acting as a single axis, began to rotate on their own within his palm.
At first, she could see it.
The flat of the blade was visible for a moment, and the next moment, the thin line of the cutting edge was visible.
Then the flat side again, then the thin line again.
Each time the sword completed a full rotation, it presented a different face to Yeop Bihwa's eyes.
She could see it.
She could still see it.
She could not see it.
4G
At some point, the rotation surpassed the speed her eyes could follow.
The flat side and the thin line chased each other, chased each other, and finally swallowed one another.
The shape of the sword blade dissolved.
The dissolved shape spread into the air as an afterimage.
The afterimages overlapped, and a single mass began to take shape in the air.
What had been a sword now left a single shape in the air.
A long, vertical, gray pillar that spanned from top to bottom the length of the sword, and extended beyond its width.
That gray pillar stood embedded in Kim Rae-won's hand.
Kim Rae-won did not move. He did not raise the sword, nor did he lift his arm, nor did he shift his feet.
He was simply holding what was in his hand.
But what extended up from his hand had already become something other than a sword.
In some ways, it looked similar to her own One Point Whittling Aura...
That thought had not even finished forming in Yeop Bihwa's mind.
The 'Nothingness' gathered at the tip of the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle touched the edge of the gray pillar.
It was drawn in.
Her One Point Whittling Aura was not reflected, nor was it deflected or neutralized.
The single point that touched the surface of the pillar was sucked into the pillar's interior.
The single move she had forged through a lifetime of training was simply swallowed by something much larger.
A brief vibration.
That vibration traveled back up Yeop Bihwa's hilt.
It was the sensation of the sword she had unleashed returning to her own hand.
However, nowhere in that sensation was there any trace of the 'Nothingness' she had just released.
Hwiiiiryuuuuruuuu-.
The rotation of the gray pillar... stopped.
The afterimage dissipated, and the dissolved shape found its place again.
The flat side and the thin line separated once more.
The vertically long pillar standing in the air disappeared, and in its place stood the original jet-black sword.
There was not a single mark on the blade.
No cut marks, no scrapes, not even a sign that something had touched it.
As if nothing had happened at all.
The culmination of the Sword Principle Yeop Bihwa had polished her entire life was gone without a trace.
".....Hah, hah."
It was then.
A light spread from Kim Rae-won, who stood with his sword lowered.
The air itself brightened as if something had descended from the heavens.
The texture of the surrounding air shifted towards the light with a rush, so Yeop Bihwa, panting, didn't even need to raise her head.
That light spread towards Yeop Bihwa.
Swaaaaaaaah-.
The light soon reached the Falling Flower Flying Leaf Needle.
The moment it touched, Yeop Bihwa felt the energy that should have been coating her sword dissipate.
Even the faint remnants of Sword Aura on the sword were swept away by the light.
It wasn't a feeling of being attacked, but of something that was there being cleared away.
The next thing, naturally...
The light touched Yeop Bihwa's body.
The light seeped into her empty Inner Core Root, which had been depleted from unleashing the One Point Whittling Aura.
It was not an infiltration.
It wasn't breaking through.
Like an empty vessel being filled with water, she had the illusion that a space that should be filled was being filled.
It was warm.
It was an attack, yet it was warm.
It touched her, but it didn't hurt.
It seeped in, but she couldn't push it out.
...What is this?'
Yeop Bihwa's breath caught in her throat.
It was not an attack, nor was it a normal infiltration of martial arts.
'It's not a Sword Principle either.'
Before long, the light that had assaulted her body disappeared into her.
It wasn't that the light outside diminished, but the light that had entered her dispersed from within.
It was at that moment.
Behind Kim Rae-won, over his shoulder, the light formed a great, round circle.
A circular pattern of light spreading through the morning dust, looking like the sun, yet not the sun.
A single-layered halo that seemed to support Kim Rae-won's head and shoulders from behind.
It wasn't just Yeop Bihwa.
Everyone in the training ground witnessed it clearly.
But the sphere of light vanished even faster than it had appeared, like a mirage.
In its place, there was only sunlight and dust.
'The light....'
Yeop Bihwa could not put a name to what that light was.
All that remained in the center of her chest was the sensation that just a moment ago, something round had been there.