“Hah-ha! Our Senior Brother is here~”
“You devilish bastard!”
Sama Hyeon leaped into the air, his movements possessing the exaggerated grace of a classic opera performer.
His senior brother, Geum Chi-jeok, ground his teeth at the sight. This was the maddening reality of engaging Sama Hyeon: every technique was a lie wrapped in a feint. Analyzing his combat style felt less like a duel and more like watching a performance on a Beijing stage. Every action was fluid, brimming with playful malice, yet undeniably elegant.
Veteran actors moved like this. And so did he.
Whether he was aiming for your shoulder or merely mocking it was impossible to discern until his hand actually made contact. Even now, drenched in the gore of battle, that devilish bastard was laughing.
“Dear Customer~ Why are you like this? If you came to play, you should play properly.”
Crunch.
Sama Hyeon laughed merrily as he crushed a man’s skull with a casual flick of his wrist.
“I’m blooming flowers solely for you, Senior Brother. Is running away your only response to such generosity?”
“Flowers?”
Snap!
He tore the shoulder off a second victim. Arteries burst, and blood sprayed into the air like ink from a madman’s brush.
“Blood Blossoms are flowers too. Senior Brother~ Aren’t they pretty?”
The lives of his subordinates and the Demonic Cultists were being extinguished one by one. Geum Chi-jeok scanned the chaos, desperation clawing at his throat.
Damn it. Is Dark Cloud not here yet?
In this chaotic melee, was this the limit of his reliance on that giant? Sama Hyeon acted nonchalant, but surely he was exhausted from slaughtering so many subordinates. If one considered even these exaggerated gestures as a ploy to conceal fatigue, it made sense.
“Do you intend to face my Diamond Evil Demonic Art with that body, Hyeon?!”
“This maiden would be delighted to face you.”
Sama Hyeon’s voice shifted instantly, adopting a feminine lilt. He stood on one leg, bobbing his body like a crane in a mockery of grace.
Geum Chi-jeok’s cultivation wasn’t so shallow that he would fall for such a blatant provocation.
His Thousand Changes Sword, Ten Thousand Skills cannot defeat my Diamond Evil Demonic Art. If we face each other head-on, I cannot lose.
The Diamond Evil Demonic Art. It was a type of External Art—neither strictly demonic nor orthodox, but a Heterodox Art. While not as impenetrable as Shaolin’s Indestructible Diamond Physique, it was tough enough to survive a direct hit from Hardened Qi. Once mastered and supported by over two cycles of internal energy, it became a supreme External Art capable of withstanding at least ten strikes of Hardened Qi.
Add to this the Golden Hand, personally taught by the Golden King, and it created a perfect synergy of offense and defense.
Geum Chi-jeok’s hands began to shimmer with a metallic golden hue. In that state, he lowered his stance and planted both palms on the ground.
“Wow~ Our Senior Brother. Where did you learn the Toad Stance? That’s not the trend these days.”
Trend? I don’t know what you’re talking about… but die!
The Toad Stance. It required crouching low like a toad, then leaping upward to strike down with double palms in a single, catastrophic burst. The posture was bizarre, but the flow of true qi within the body was so violent that an ordinary martial artist would rupture their meridians attempting it. Classified as a Demonic Art because practitioners risked instant death from Qi Deviation, its destructive power nevertheless ranked among the highest of divine arts.
Geum Chi-jeok had learned this art to withstand internal damage with his near-indestructible body and annihilate opponents in a single strike. Almost everyone who knew he possessed this technique was already dead.
In short, it was his ultimate killing move.
Boom!
He leaped like a toad, stretching his body in mid-air and thrusting his double palms forward. The Hardened Qi imbued in those palms held terrifying power.
“Senior Brother~ I told you, no. Don’t you know the trends? That technique was deciphered ages ago.”
However.
Sama Hyeon, who had been bobbing like a crane, suddenly crouched and sprang upward.
Rabbit Form Step—Six Jang Leap.
A footwork technique designed purely for verticality and distance. Moreover, his speed was peerless, allowing him to escape the lethal radius of the Toad Stance instantly.
Bang!
The strike of the Toad Stance pulverized the ground where Sama Hyeon had stood moments before. Geum Chi-jeok’s expression twisted. The attack boasted power that even an Indestructible Diamond Physique couldn’t withstand, and its speed was such that mere retreat should have been insufficient.
To think he would jump that high into the air to evade it!
“Your back is wide open, Senior Brother.”
Thousand Changes Sword, Ten Thousand Skills—Face-Flaying Art!
Soaring high in the air, Sama Hyeon unleashed a palm strike of Hardened Qi. The supreme technique of the Thousand Changes Sword crashed down, augmented by the borrowed power of the Golden Hand, slamming directly into Geum Chi-jeok’s exposed back.
Squelch!
“Kuh-heuk!”
The Hardened Qi, which should have exploded on impact, instead gripped his back muscles as if tearing them from the bone before detonating with a delayed blast. His back skin, tough as diamond, was flayed open, blood gushing forth. Then the Hardened Qi fully ignited, flattening his body against the ground like a squashed frog.
As he vomited blood and trembled, Sama Hyeon’s feet prepared to land.
Rabbit Form Step—Moon Rabbit Kick.
A martial art modeled after the rabbit in the moon, mixed with the gravity-amplifying technique of the Thousand Pound Weight. Sama Hyeon descended with force far exceeding his ascent, his feet smashing into Geum Chi-jeok’s spine.
With a sickening crunch, the vertebrae shattered, and Geum Chi-jeok died instantly.
“Hoi~! This is why you shouldn’t fall behind the trends. In the blink of an eye, you become an outdated old man. Yep~ Hyung is getting a bit old now too.”
Where on earth did he learn such language?!
Terrified by the spectacle, Geum Chi-jeok’s remaining subordinates began to flee in droves. The Golden Blood Chamber wasn’t a proper sect, nor was it a noble Daoist clan; with their paymaster dead, there was no loyalty to bind them.
Sama Hyeon laughed, his voice ringing clear over the carnage.
“Oh my? Where are you going, dear customers? The fun is just starting.”
“Hyeon-ah… Let’s keep it moderate.”
Turning toward the voice, he saw Jin Cheon-hee walking out of the workshop, his face pale. Seeing him carrying a giant in black clothes on his back amidst the chaos, Sama Hyeon thought, Truly, he is my Hyung.
***
The night that seemed like it would last forever finally ended.
“You broke less than I expected?”
“Yeah. This hyung tried hard.”
The frost covering the workshop floor refused to melt, still radiating a stubborn chill. Although Sama Hyeon couldn’t know the details of the battle inside, he could guess it had been brutal. Dark Cloud lay unconscious with his acupoints sealed, and Jin Cheon-hee—face pale and drawn—sat on the roof keeping watch, puffing on a long pipe.
“That’s a painkiller, isn’t it?”
“You noticed right away. Anyway, step back. Secondhand smoke is bad for your health.”
Sama Hyeon was dumbfounded. They had just been wading through marrow and entrails, deciding who lived and died, and now his brother was worried about secondhand smoke? Sama Hyeon cleanly ignored the warning.
“Does Hyung’s left arm have something to do with that?”
“It’ll be solved if I undergo Bone-Transforming and Embryo-Seizing Metamorphosis.”
But that was like winning the lottery. All martial artists lived their lives struggling to experience the Metamorphosis just once. Moreover, Sama Hyeon had heard that Jin Cheon-hee had already experienced it once before.
For his left arm to be in tatters despite that meant he had fought battles intense enough to exceed his limits. It demonstrated the sheer cliff-face difficulty of transcending the qualities one was born with.
“Because Hyung’s body isn’t a true martial constitution?”
“You figured that out too. Hyeon-ah.”
“It’s obvious. You’re the shortest among the siblings, your limb shape isn’t suited for combat, and you don’t build muscle easily. Anyone can see you don’t have a true martial constitution.”
“Hmm… I think I still look pretty decent if I put insoles in my shoes, you know?”
Saying it made Jin Cheon-hee feel a slight sense of shame. His goal had been 180cm, but his growth plates had closed before he could reach it. Of course, in this era, a male martial artist being over 180cm was itself a sign of a natural martial constitution. Being taller didn’t necessarily equate to more talent, nor did being shorter mean less, but by modern standards, one had to be over 180.
All martial arts were naturally created with a practitioner possessing a martial constitution in mind. The founders themselves would have been physical specimens of perfection.
“You figure out too much in too short a time.”
“And Hyung sacrifices too much in too short a time.”
He didn’t lose a single word.
“…….”
Sama Hyeon watched his hyung’s profile as the older boy swallowed the medicinal smoke.
“The pain doesn’t stop even with acupoint sealing, does it?”
“It’s pain coming from the Qi points. It’s the same principle as a patient feeling continuous phantom pain unless you press the mute point during Qi Deviation.”
He didn’t fully understand the medical jargon, but he grasped the reality of it. Sama Hyeon astutely absorbed and understood everything.
“Is that pipe Yeo Ha-ryoon’s?”
“Yeah. Your second brother.”
“Looks like a Demonic Cult artifact.”
“Right. Hey, don’t get jealous of a pipe.”
He struck first. Just as Sama Hyeon figured out his hyung, Jin Cheon-hee figured out his younger brother.
“Hyung.”
“Hmm?”
“There’s something you’re worried about, right?”
“…….”
Jin Cheon-hee looked up at the sky. He seemed to be debating whether to tell Sama Hyeon or not. That meant the content was something Sama Hyeon would worry about greatly if he knew.
He’s going to hide it.
No sooner had Sama Hyeon predicted it than Jin Cheon-hee answered, “I think the chicken soup I boiled for breakfast is ruined.”
“Hyung.”
“It’s a disaster. Hey, I need to check if I can at least salvage the broth. If the broth is alive, I can resurrect it into another dish.”
Saying that, he hopped down from the roof.
Running away as expected~ Our Hyung.
In the empty space Jin Cheon-hee left behind, there was a faint smell of snow. And the smell of poison.
Ah, I remember.
The smell of melting snow.
On a winter morning, snow that had already turned to slush and mud created this specific scent. Snow that was no longer white became black mud and melted… melting into what?
A moment later, a voice shouted from below.
“Hyeon-aaaaah! Is it okay if it’s a bit spicy?! I’m going to try to save it as spicy chicken soup! Let’s add eggs and noodles! Ah, can Hye-ah eat spicy food?”
At those words, Sama Hyeon burst into laughter.
Melting snow often becomes the sprout of spring. If it melts in the field, it wakes the frozen earth; if it melts in the alley, it grows weeds.
“Hyuuuung! Make the dessert something sweeeet!”
“Where did you learn to talk like that again… Ah… never mind…”
Jin Cheon-hee tapped his own head and headed toward the kitchen, ladle in hand. His left arm, hidden by the long sleeve, showed no discoloration on the surface. He must have treated it somehow in that short time.
But I wish it wouldn’t melt. And I just wish spring wouldn’t come, Sama Hyeon thought.