Clang!
A shower of sparks erupted where steel met steel. It was a contest of pure physical force against force, devoid of trickery.
“Not enough!”
Yeon Seo-rin, her disheveled hair plastered to her face by the rain, bared her teeth like a rakshasa.
“Is this the extent of the Great Huashan Sect’s power?! Answer me, Sword Dragon!”
Did the woman never tire?
A spirit-like pressure radiated from her eyes, while the muscles wrapping her colossal frame—honed to the absolute limit—exuded an overwhelming density.
Craaack!
The flagstones beneath Gam Woo-hyeon’s back foot pulverized, sinking under the sheer weight of the deadlock.
“Kugh…!”
A groan leaked involuntarily through his gritted teeth. It felt less like clashing with a human being and more like wrestling a spiritual beast of an incomparable weight class.
What kind of human possesses this strength…?!
They were both superhumans who had crossed the Wall, yet she dwarfed him in every metric—mass, height, and leverage. To this woman, ripping the horns off a charging bull would likely not even count as light exercise. It was sheer, insane power.
I’ll be crushed to death at this rate…!
This wasn’t a force he could withstand simply by enduring.
“Hup…!”
Summoning every ounce of his focus, Gam Woo-hyeon twisted his wrists, angling his blade away from the crushing centerline.
Grit!
Simultaneously, his sword bent pliably like an illusion, utilizing the soft principles of Transferring Flowers to Join the Trees to reverse Yeon Seo-rin’s force against her.
Huashan Sect. Falling Flower Willow Sword. Secret Art: Primordial Chaotic Torrent.
It was the ultimate technique of Mount Hua’s Willow Sword, a decisive strike exceptionally effective against opponents who relied solely on brute force.
But.
“Oho!”
Even as her own force was redirected back at her, an exclamation of delight burst from Yeon Seo-rin’s lips.
“So this is the Falling Flower Willow Sword!”
Her genuine admiration made Gam Woo-hyeon’s eyebrows twitch in displeasure.
She must be feigning composure…!
Judging so, he channeled even more internal energy into the deflection.
“Haaap…!”
Under the immense transfer of force, Yeon Seo-rin’s spine bent backward at an extreme angle. Just as Gam Woo-hyeon prepared to suppress her in one go, convinced she was on the verge of snapping…
He felt something wrong.
What is this…?
Grind—screeech.
Amidst the screaming of their locked blades.
For some reason.
Yeon Seo-rin’s waist, which had bent as if to break, and her stance, which seemed on the brink of collapse, were no longer yielding.
“……!”
Gam Woo-hyeon’s face contorted in horror.
She’s deflecting the force of the Willow Sword with pure physical elasticity…?!
What kind of nonsensical biology was this?
Grind! Grit!
“However.”
Gradually.
Yeon Seo-rin began to push the Willow Sword back, using her transcendent muscle density to pull her bent torso upright against the laws of leverage.
“If… this… is all… then Mount Hua’s… Falling Flower Willow Sword… isn’t… much to look at…!”
Speaking in disjointed gasps, veins bulging like serpents across her face, Yeon Seo-rin slowly straightened her body.
Indeed.
Possessing transcendent physical conditions, she was overpowering the technique of the Sword Dragon with nothing but her innate frame.
“Ugh, ugh…!”
Gam Woo-hyeon, who was pressing down yet being forced back, grimaced openly.
***
The Past. Training Grounds of the Luoyang Sword Clan.
“What is this?”
Young Yeon Seo-rin looked around the sandy arena and smirked.
“Are you all tired already?”
The strongmen of the Sword Clan, who had been tasked with teaching her close-quarters combat, lay sprawled across the sand like broken dolls. Far from teaching her, they had been utterly dismantled by her strength and stamina.
“Huff, huff…!”
“This… makes no sense…!”
Breathing raggedly, they stared at the girl with wide eyes, as if gazing upon a monster. They were helpless. If they used strength, they were overpowered. If they tried to use flexibility born of muscle power, she proved overwhelmingly more elastic. There was simply no way to handle Yeon Seo-rin.
“Tsk tsk.”
The young girl clicked her tongue as she brushed the sand from her hands.
“Is this the limit of the renowned strongmen of the Sword Clan? The title of ‘strongman’ is wasted on you.”
“Young Lady.”
At that moment, her personal maid approached and bowed.
“As you ordered, we have brought the most famous strongman in Luoyang.”
“Oho.”
At those words, young Yeon Seo-rin smiled and smacked her lips.
“I hope this one is actually worth fighting.”
***
I am Gam Woo-hyeon…!
It couldn’t end like this.
I am the Mount Hua Sword Dragon…!
He couldn’t fall here.
If the sword won’t work…!
Unable to withstand the immense pressure boiling within his blood vessels, capillaries in his eyes burst, flooding his vision with red.
“Kuaaaap—!”
With a shout squeezed from the depths of his gut, Gam Woo-hyeon desperately deflected their locked swords, abandoning the clash.
Huashan Sect. Seven Star Creation. Star of Literature: Seclusion.
K-Clang!
The ancient Taoist technique, aiming for mutual disarmament, struck true. As their swords spun away and embedded themselves into the half-collapsed ceiling, the duel instantly transitioned into unarmed combat.
Thwack!
Yeon Seo-rin’s rock-like fist instantly smashed into Gam Woo-hyeon’s head, matting his hair with blood.
“Ugh…!”
But in the midst of the concussive blow, Gam Woo-hyeon bit down on his loosened teeth and planted his double palms firmly against Yeon Seo-rin’s abdomen.
Huashan Sect. Seven Star Creation. Star of Destruction: Eruption.
In the history of Mount Hua, the sword is merely one of many weapons.
A massive palm force erupted from his hands.
Boom!
With a sound like a hundred leather drums being struck in unison, fresh blood sprayed from Yeon Seo-rin’s mouth.
“Heh…!”
However.
There was ease in her bloody laughter.
In that split second, she had channeled the vast majority of the impact through her body and into the earth via her back foot. It was a technique of Dissolving Force that had reached a profound realm.
“Tch…!”
Just as Gam Woo-hyeon clicked his tongue, attempting to transition to his next move, his neck was suddenly seized.
“You dare fight me bare-handed?”
Was this how the Monkey King felt when the Golden Fillet tightened around his skull? Before he could even resist the crushing pressure, his vision flashed white.
Smack!
Yeon Seo-rin, pulling his head down with both hands, drove her knee straight into his face.
“……!”
At the impact that felt as though it would shatter his skull, he reflexively tried to cover his face with his arms. But Yeon Seo-rin, hugging his head tight, had already wrapped up his shoulders, pinning his arms in a vice-like clinch.
Thwack! Crunch! Thwack!
Left knee. Right knee. Left knee again.
Every time they crossed like lightning to strike him, Gam Woo-hyeon’s body convulsed pitifully. It was a barrage of destruction with no space or time to absorb the shock.
“……!”
There wasn’t even a gap for a groan to escape.
Crack!
Teeth broke and scattered across the mud.
Splat!
Eyelids and lips tore open, weeping blood.
Crunch!
His orbital bones collapsed, and his nose bridge shattered into fragments.
Thud!
The only reason he didn’t die instantly was the unimaginably durable body of a master who had crossed the Wall.
Thud!
The only reason he didn’t lose consciousness was the Violet Haze Divine Art (Jaha Singong), hailed as a supreme martial art, holding his mind together.
“Kuh…!”
Gam Woo-hyeon wasn’t just taking the beating helplessly. He countered at every possible interval, utilizing every technique available to him.
Huashan Sect. Ten Thousand Plum Blossom Sutra. Chapter Six, Verse Twenty-Seven. Unyielding Iron Head.
He aimed for the precise moment her knee flew in, slamming his forehead into the strike.
Thump!
But her knee joint flexibly absorbed the impact like a sponge. Moreover, the energy imbued in her limb contained a Soaking Penetration Force, bypassing his defense entirely.
What is this…?!
Huashan Sect. Precious Avian Fire-Ox Pepper. Reverse: Heavenly Eagle Claw.
His pinned shoulder joint and elbow bent grotesquely beyond their natural range of motion, allowing his hand to claw deep into Yeon Seo-rin’s arm.
Rip!
Yeon Seo-rin’s tough skin tore, spraying blood. But he couldn’t damage the wire-like muscles beneath, protected by her powerful Rebounding Energy.
What in the world is she…?!
She seemed to push with brutish strength, yet profound techniques flowed out of her as naturally as breathing. She appeared to apply sophisticated arts, yet she crushed him with overwhelming, primitive force.
Where did such a monster come from…!
Whatever method or technique he employed, Yeon Seo-rin countered it as if dealing with a child’s tantrum. He couldn’t distinguish where her knowledge of martial arts ended and her improvisational genius began.
Who raised such a beast…?!
***
“Young Lady Yeon Seo-rin.”
A warrior swinging his sword in the training grounds had asked her when she was a child.
“So, you mean I should hold the sword like this?”
How could a warrior who had reached the Wall hold his sword according to the opinion of a mere child?
“…Oho.”
“…Hmm.”
But no one present found the scene strange.
“Yes. If you hold it like that, the move you were practicing will become easier.”
“Thank you, Young Lady!”
Joy filled the warriors’ faces. They bowed repeatedly to her as she left the grounds.
“Thank you!”
Though young Yeon Seo-rin waved to the warriors with her characteristic refreshing smile…
Inside, as always, she felt a gnawing question.
Why?
She tilted her head.
Why can’t they know such obvious things on their own?
What they couldn’t realize no matter how much they studied, she knew as naturally as breathing. What they couldn’t reach no matter how hard they tried, she already possessed.
That was young Yeon Seo-rin’s greatest question.
“Young Lady. Where shall we go this time?”
Her answer was always the same.
“The Wongakjeong.”
The only existence she couldn’t know, yet could understand, was there.
Her younger brother.
The Grand Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Clan.
Only the young and frail Yeon So-hyeon was her Wall, her goal, and simultaneously, her de facto teacher.
***
I’ll die at this rate.
In his fading consciousness, Gam Woo-hyeon sensed the end. Amidst a daze where he couldn’t even distinguish time, he thought he heard Yeon Seo-rin click her tongue.
“Tch.”
Yeon Seo-rin, holding the ragdoll-like Gam Woo-hyeon by the neck, looked up at the void.
“Has the tide of battle changed?”
With no visible information, she muttered to herself.
“The color of the air has shifted.”
It was a statement neither Gam Woo-hyeon nor anyone else in the Central Plains could understand. Even Yeon So-hyeon admired her god-like talent to intuit and understand entire tactical situations through a kind of super-sense.
“Indeed. Seamless Heavenly Robe.”
The answer came from the gaping hole in the ceiling.
“So, it would be best if you obediently let the Mount Hua Sword Dragon go.”
Revealing themselves were warriors in black uniforms with drawn swords, their aura extraordinary.
Yeon Seo-rin immediately recognized their identity.
“…The Wudang Sect.”
Behind the Wudang warriors, she saw the exhausted, hopeful faces of the surviving Mount Hua disciples.
“Master…!”
“Vanguard Captain…!”
Yeon Seo-rin smirked and released the hand holding Gam Woo-hyeon. She could have snapped his neck right there, but her super-sense was sending a sharp warning against it.
Thud—.
The half-dead Gam Woo-hyeon crumpled onto the muddy floor like a wet rag, but Yeon Seo-rin, having already lost interest in him, kept her gaze fixed above.
“You.”
The one who had spoken to her.
Yeon Seo-rin bared her teeth in a smile at the young warrior standing tall, looking down at her with wide eyes.
“You must be the Steel Dragon Fang of Wudang, Baek Cheong.”
Baek Cheong, the disciple of the former Wudang Sect Leader, answered her with a face boiling with rage.
“Correct. I am Baek Cheong.”