Chapter 5

Shenyang. Near the collapsed fortress wall.

This was the primary rallying point for the Grand Young Master’s forces, and it was currently a vision of hell.

Screeeech!

Accompanied by the shrieking of wind and rain, a massive boulder hurtled through the night air, smashing into the fortress wall with apocalyptic force.

Kaboom!

Masonry exploded. It was a stroke of immense luck that the troops stationed atop the ramparts managed to retreat moments before impact, sparing them from catastrophic casualties.

“Siege weapons…?”

“They’re insane… They’ve lost their minds!”

Even greater luck was the signal flare fired thanks to the Grand Young Master’s rapid and precise judgment. Had it not been for that retreat order, the soldiers would have been floundering in confusion, caught between the collapsing wall and the charging enemy, suffering horrific losses.

Crash!

Struck once more, another section of Shenyang’s wall crumbled, cascading down with a terrestrial rumble that shook the teeth of every man present.

Rumble-crash!

“Ah…”

The Grand Young Master’s forces, having pulled back, trembled at the overwhelming vibration and the deafening roar of destruction.

“Is this really war…?”

“A war…”

Morale was hitting rock bottom. This was inevitable, as the majority of these forces were not hardened soldiers, but government troops—the local constabulary.

“Even if it is the order of the Great General Regent…”

A military officer of the constabulary, his face pale with fear, shouted out. He was terrified.

“Is this not, strictly speaking, a civil war within the Moyong Clan?! It will be trouble if we set a precedent of mobilizing government troops for such internal matters!”

An executive from the Moyong Clan scowled deeply. “That is exactly why the constabulary was only assigned to perimeter security, was it not?!”

“But in the end, government forces are being mobilized for a clan’s civil war!”

“No, listen to me!” The Moyong executive, unable to hold back, shouted in frustration. “Isn’t the defense of the Shenyang fortress walls the jurisdiction of the constabulary?! Are you denying even that?!”

“Of course, I am not denying that!”

Even as he denied it, the officer, desperate to escape this perilous situation, clung to his bureaucratic logic like a lifeline.

“However! This fight is a civil war within a single family. If the government fails to maintain neutrality, there will be serious problems later…”

Listening to the endless repetition of the same excuse, the Moyong executive clutched his head.

Damn it. If only we weren’t so critically short on manpower…

Even as the executive sighed, the officer ignored him and brazenly continued his spiel.

“Therefore, for the time being, our constabulary should retreat toward the central government office to secure the defense there—”

“Ha.”

Unable to endure it any longer, a voice cut in.

It belonged to a young female martial artist.

“I’ve stood by and watched, but there is truly no end to this nonsense.”

Despite being a woman, she was tall and built larger than most adult men. The only notable thing about her appearance was the single, ancient-looking sword strapped to her back. She looked incredibly austere for someone standing on a battlefield, stripped of all ornamentation.

“W-Who are you…?”

“Unbelievable.”

Instead of answering the officer’s question regarding her identity, she spat on the muddy ground.

“Fuck, you stupid bastard. Can you not grasp the situation?”

She was the individual the Grand Young Master had personally deployed to reinforce the government troops near the wall, where martial artists were scarce.

“What did you say?!”

The officer’s face turned beet red at being sworn at by a stranger upon their first meeting.

“Who the hell are you to dare speak to a military officer of the Central Plains Empire like—”

“Military officer, my ass.”

In a flash, she wrapped her arm around the officer’s neck and yanked him close.

“Gah…?!”

The officer, a martial artist who possessed internal energy himself, tried to resist, but it was futile. The level of her grappling technique was in a different dimension entirely; she handled his armored bulk as if he were made of straw.

“Look over there. Look.”

With her large hand, she forcibly grabbed the officer’s head and cranked it toward the city.

“Do you know the Huashan Sect? Mount Hua?”

Black smoke was still rising from various points within the city, mixing with the rain.

“Do those martial artists running around with plum blossom crests on their sleeves look like Moyong Clan people to your eyes?”

This time, she spun him around to point outside the walls. The officer was forced to move like a ragdoll in her grip.

“Ugh…!”

“Or…”

Naturally, everyone’s attention focused on the sight of her handling the heavily armored officer like a toy.

“Do those black uniforms of the Wudang Sect, encamped beyond that rocky mountain, look like Moyong Clan uniforms to you?”

“B-But…”

She tightened the arm wrapped around his neck as he tried to spout more nonsense.

“Hiek—?!”

The sound of air being squeezed out of his lungs was audible. It felt as though his neck would snap instantly under her unprecedented, transcendent strength.

“Or does getting hit by siege weapons from outside the city look like a family civil war to you?!”

She roared into his ear like a growling tiger.

“It seems you want to use the excuse of a civil war to wriggle your way out of this, but this is no civil war.”

Her eyes shone with a ferocious blue light.

“This is a situation where bastards with too much power in their own territories have come to tear the Northern lands apart and devour them piece by piece!”

She demanded, “Do you have no pride as a Northerner, you bastard?!”

“…T-That!”

Whether her words struck something deep within him, or he was simply terrified by her knee-buckling aura, the officer finally gave up resisting and clamped his mouth shut.

“……”

Once the officer fell silent, she shouted to the terrified government soldiers.

“You lot, listen up as well!”

Rumble.

Thunder rolled across the night sky as the rain thickened.

Crash!

The sound of another section of the wall crumbling was deafening, but her voice was not drowned out in the slightest.

“The internal situation of the Moyong Clan is chaotic, but that doesn’t matter! Those people are outside invaders!”

It wasn’t just her profound internal energy carrying her voice.

“Are you fine with foreign invaders taking over your home! This Shenyang?!”

She possessed an innate charisma, a forceful presence that grabbed the attention of the crowd and compelled them to listen.

“Are you fine with them stealing the land your families plowed! Burning the crops your families grew! Destroying the foundation of the lives your families live?!”

The sounds of thunder and bombardment faded from the ears of the soldiers, replaced by the ringing truth of her words.

“……!”

Strength returned to the hands gripping their weapons.

[Moyong rebels are rapidly approaching the collapsed wall!]

The first to rush toward the escape route were the rebels whose stronghold was closest to the breach.

[Enemy is lightly armed! Numbers estimated at one hundred and fifty!]

[Martial artists assessed to be few or none!]

A Moyong Clan executive, receiving the intel from a Crescent Moon agent, shouted urgently.

“Enemy! The vanguard is the rebel force! They are coming this way!”

The female martial artist shouted to the government troops without a hint of agitation.

“Do you intend to let the bastards who turned your home into this mess leave as they please?!”

This time, the soldiers shouted back.

“No!”

“Do you intend to let them survive, escape, and laugh at you?!”

“No!”

Seemingly pleased by the soldiers’ thunderous voices, she flashed a characteristic, refreshing smile.

“Good!”

She drew the sword from her back. Even in the darkness, the sharp aura flowing along the blade was extraordinary.

“Show those bastards the power of the Shenyang Constabulary!”

***

“Front!”

Piercing through the darkness and rain, the lead scout of the rebel forces running at the very front shouted.

“Shenyang government troops confirmed on the path!”

Government troops.

At those words, the rebels running along the rain-slicked main road bared their teeth. Even if they were common soldiers with no talent for internal energy, they were the elite troops of the Great Moyong Clan. In terms of armament, combat experience, and training volume, they were fundamentally in a different league than mere constabulary guards.

“A forced breakthrough is fastest!”

The commander leading the one hundred and fifty rebels shouted. He had no intention of being stalled by the likes of the constabulary.

“Once we break through the constabulary, we have the fastest route out!”

The Grand Young Master’s forces, having pulled back to avoid being surrounded, were still regrouping. Changing course to avoid battle could easily become the worst possible choice.

Fifty paces to impact.

“Assume assault formation!”

The commander, a martial artist, drew his sword. He surged his internal energy and sprang to the very front in a single bound.

“They are nothing but constabulary guards! If we ride our momentum and smash through, they will scatter instantly!”

Twenty paces.

He could clearly see the raindrops splashing off the blades of the long spears held up by the enemy. Between their wall of spears, he saw a large woman stepping forward.

A martial artist from the Grand Young Master’s side?

It didn’t matter.

The commander shouted, channeling his internal energy.

“Charge!”

The rebels, leading with short spears and puffing out white breaths, squeezed out every ounce of their strength and began their assault.

“Charge forwa—!”

Slice.

“……!”

Why isn’t my voice coming out?

At first, he didn’t understand. He felt that the rain soaking his lower body was unusually warm.

What is this?

Something poured out of his abdomen, and his body suddenly felt lighter. His body was lighter, yet strangely, he wasn’t gaining speed. For some reason, though he was running forward, the ground was getting closer.

Thud!

Only when his head slammed into the muddy ground, splashing dirty water, did he realize.

His torso had been severed, and his lower body was far behind him.

When… who…?

That was the last thought of his life.

And so, the first charge of the rebels, having lost their leader, was blocked by the government troops with futile ease.

***

The Huashan Sect had been the first to move, but the rebels, whose stronghold was closer to the collapsed wall, had arrived faster.

“What?!”

Gam Woo-hyeon, the Vanguard Captain of Mount Hua, grimaced as he looked ahead.

“What is happening?!”

“T-The road is completely blocked!”

The main road ahead, which they needed to cross for the shortest route, was packed with rebels.

“Damn it!”

He clenched his teeth. Even if they had poured out all at once, and even if the majority were common soldiers, this congestion was incomprehensible.

[To the roofs…!]

He wanted to avoid the rooftops due to enemy snipers, but there was no choice. Using Mount Hua’s sublime movement technique, Scent of Dark Fragrance Drifting, the survivors of the vanguard leaped up the walls and onto the roofs.

[Ignore the rebels and run!]

They had a grudge to settle, but now was not the time. If they caused infighting at this critical moment of escape, the only one laughing would be the Grand Young Master.

Dash!

The survivors of the Huashan Vanguard cut across the rooftops at terrifying speed, piercing through the wind and rain. Below on the main road, the long column of rebels was giving up on the road and beginning to split up, leaking into the alleyways.

[Squeeze out every last drop of strength!]

The collapsed wall grew close enough to touch in Gam Woo-hyeon’s eyes.

If we just keep running like this…!

Then.

Chill.

Gam Woo-hyeon felt every hair on his rain-soaked body stand on end.

[Leader!]

A disciple’s report rang in his ear.

[I see a single figure, presumed to be hostile, on our path!]

***

The Grand Young Master’s Temporary Command Tent.

“Grand Young Master.”

Moyong Ho, the adjutant to the Great General Regent, reported while pointing at the tactical map.

“Our retreated forces are rapidly regrouping, but it seems we will have to let the enemy’s very front line slip through.”

“I see.”

Despite the report, the Grand Young Master looked somewhat relaxed.

“Grand Young Master…?”

“Do not worry about that. Focus only on regrouping our forces.”

The Grand Young Master spoke calmly to the puzzled Moyong Ho.

“But the enemy’s vanguard is—”

The Grand Young Master cut him off.

“The right person for the job has already been dispatched to that side.”

***

“Dodge…!”

Gam Woo-hyeon shouted a warning to his disciples as he drew his sword and swung.

Clang!

It was a brilliant judgment. Had his reaction been even a fraction of a second slower, the lead disciple would have been torn apart in mid-air as he ran.

“……!”

The disciples, who hadn’t even seen the sword strike clash from a distance, turned pale with shock and hurriedly ground to a halt.

“Oh?”

A young woman sheathed her sword and smiled brightly.

“As expected. Are you the renowned Mount Hua Sword Dragon?”

Just as she recognized Gam Woo-hyeon instantly despite meeting him for the first time…

Gam Woo-hyeon could not fail to recognize her, even though it was their first encounter.

“…You are?!”

A tall stature and a large frame. Yet, a physique that was abnormally elastic, looking not the least bit sluggish. And decisively, the ancient, dignified sword held in her hand.

“Seamless Heavenly Robe…!”

Yeon So-hyeon’s hidden card.

Yeon So-hyeon’s second older sister, and the most famous figure among the young geniuses of the world. A rising star who had transcended the level of a rising star.

Yeon Seo-rin, the Seamless Heavenly Robe.

She smiled in the rain.

“The Sword of Mount Hua. Let’s see what it’s really made of today.”