Chapter 210: Arrival (8)

Jang Dugil was completely confident in what he was doing.

A woman had dared to impersonate someone involved in the disgraceful affair of the heir’s defeat.

If he captured her and brought her in, he was certain he would receive a handsome reward.

And yet there was something strange about the woman’s attitude.

She seemed almost to be telling him to go ahead and try it if he wanted.

You’ll be on your knees begging soon enough. What a brazen woman...

The Namgung Household estate was not far away.

Cheongak followed behind Soyak, snickering all the way.

Tang Uwon watched him uneasily and muttered,

“Are you sure this is all right?”

“I told you, it’s fine. I’ve never once heard my junior sister boast about something she couldn’t do.”

Soyak had clearly said the words “Transformation Realm.”

That alone was enough for Cheongak.

No matter how badly things went awry, who here could possibly do anything to a Transformation Realm master?

And besides, what was the problem?

His junior sister really was Cheon Soyak.

Cheongak followed along behind her with an irrepressible grin.

At last, they reached the massive gates of the Namgung Household estate.

Jang Dugil strode confidently toward the main gate with Cheon Soyak in tow.

But he was not the first to speak.

“Did you find yourself a decent inn?”

It was one of the warriors guarding the Namgung Household gates.

The same man who had advised Soyak to look for a place with a blue lantern.

Soyak gave him a cupped-fist salute.

“Thanks to you, I found a good inn and have been staying there comfortably. Thank you.”

“Good. So why are you back? And you’ve even brought that Dugil brat with you.”

Jang Dugil and the gatekeeper seemed to know each other.

More precisely...

the gatekeeper appeared to be his senior.

“...You know each other?”

“Not really. She asked me for an inn worth staying at. Judging by her martial uniform, I figured she was a young talent here for the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, so I gave her some advice on choosing a place and sent her on her way.”

Jang Dugil’s face lit up.

Then he launched into a full account of everything that had happened.

From the tavern all the way to their arrival here.

“...That’s what happened. What do you think? She’s lying, isn’t she?”

“Lying, you say.”

The gatekeeper looked down at Soyak.

Soyak did not avert her gaze.

He too was only at the very end of the Apex realm.

Certainly higher than Jang Dugil, who was merely around the early stage of Apex, but still nowhere near capable of reading the presence of a Transformation Realm master.

“Then why not simply cross swords with her?”

“What?”

He offered a remarkably straightforward solution.

“If two martial artists disagree and still refuse to draw their swords, why carry them in the first place?”

“But against a little girl like this...”

“Have you forgotten that the people you should be most careful of in the martial world are women, children, and the elderly?”

Jang Dugil glanced at Soyak.

Soyak lightly rested her left hand on the hilt of her sword.

Then she looked calmly up at him.

“May I prove it by drawing my sword?”

“...What?”

“I asked whether I may draw my sword and prove it.”

The problem was that there was no real justification for telling her not to.

Jang Dugil frowned.

Then he said exactly what he should not have said.

“Fine. Go ahead!”

Soyak had no desire to repeat this entire tedious ordeal twice.

And she knew perfectly well that Cheongak was effectively the cause of all of it.

So when Soyak’s narrowed eyes slid toward him, Cheongak could only keep grinning as he hid behind Tang Uwon.

“Yes.”

With that answer, the Falling Blossom Tranquil Edge slid free in a burst of brilliant light.

Sword Light.

Jang Dugil was startled to realize that the small, delicate-looking girl before him had reached the Apex realm.

But that was only the beginning.

The brilliant light spread outward, then seemed to harden like ice, extending the blade itself.

Sword Qi.

By the time he saw what was practically proof of the Transcendent Apex realm, Jang Dugil’s face had already gone pale.

But even that was not the end.

Layer after layer of Sword Qi overlapped, gathering into a fierce current that seemed to burn.

Then that current solidified into an intangible blade blazing with even greater brilliance.

Sword Force.

The symbol of the Transformation Realm, forged by compressing an amount of internal energy that should have been impossible by ordinary standards.

“...Good heavens.”

Jang Dugil was already collapsing beneath the sheer presence Soyak was unleashing.

The gatekeeper stood dumbfounded as the storm of pressure whipped in every direction...

and the tremendous presence erupting outside the estate finally caused the main gates to fly open with a thunderous crash.

“Who dares cause such a disturbance!”

“Good to see you, heir.”

“...Cheon Soyak?”

The one who threw open the gates was Namgung Seon.

He had simply happened to be the closest person to the main entrance.

Incomplete Sword Force flickered like flame along his drawn blade.

“...What exactly are you doing?”

“This gentleman said that when I claimed to be Cheon Soyak, I was a liar insulting the heir’s honor.”

Soyak pointed the Falling Blossom Tranquil Edge, still coated in Sword Force, at Jang Dugil.

A Transformation Realm master had a blade of condensed Sword Force aimed straight at his throat...

Jang Dugil could no longer endure the pressure.

His eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Only then did Soyak withdraw the Sword Force and return the Falling Blossom Tranquil Edge to its sheath.

The savage pressure and presence that had clawed and thrashed at the surroundings like a wild beast vanished.

The gatekeeper promptly collapsed to the ground as well.

“Even so, how could you do something like this...?”

“They were the ones who told me to draw my sword and prove it.”

“Is that true?”

To tell a martial artist to draw their sword...

was essentially to declare that you would accept responsibility for whatever followed.

But Jang Dugil was already unconscious.

And the gatekeeper’s face had gone so pale that he hardly seemed fit for a proper conversation.

More importantly—

someone with an immense presence was approaching from behind Namgung Seon.

A long white beard flowed down from his chin.

Yet his broad frame remained ramrod straight, his eyes sharp.

A longsword hung at his waist over the Namgung Household’s blue martial uniform.

The moment everyone present recognized him, they sucked in a breath.

The number one martial artist under heaven.

Sword Sovereign Namgung Ak.

“What is the meaning of this commotion?”

His low voice dominated the entire gathering.

Soyak slowly looked up at Namgung Ak.

A man who had reached the very end of the Transformation Realm.

Perhaps even the strongest swordsman alive, rumored to have taken his first steps into the Mysterious Realm.

And her Adversary.

He was the root cause of everything.

A man who had once been a hero to the entire martial world had become intoxicated with his own power.

He had tried to gild the entire sky and create a world that belonged to him alone.

And...

he had succeeded.

“It’s nothing, Grandfather.”

Namgung Seon bowed his head quietly toward him.

Namgung Ak surveyed those gathered.

No one moved.

Not a single person.

He was not even deliberately releasing his presence.

It was simply the bearing of an emperor.

A man whose mere appearance seemed to demand that the entire world seek his permission before so much as taking a step.

Yet Soyak could keep herself from being crushed before him.

Ironically...

because of the very “power” she possessed.

Barring special circumstances, a Transformation Realm master could only truly be confronted by another Transformation Realm master.

No matter how vast the difference between them—

if they stood within the same realm, the weaker one could at least struggle.

In other words, at this distance, Cheon Soyak was effectively the only person present who even possessed the right to struggle against the Sword Sovereign.

And Soyak made no effort to conceal that fact.

Her presence slowly unfurled, strand by strand, pushing back against Namgung Ak’s.

“...Oh?”

There was no chance Namgung Ak would fail to notice.

The slender, delicate girl before him.

And the pressure flowing from that small frame.

Namgung Ak met the black eyes staring up at him.

“You reached the Transformation Realm at your age. I know who you are now.”

“...You know me?”

“Yes. Cheon Soyak, third-generation disciple of Mount Hua. The surviving child of the Flower-Halo Sect... and the rival of my eldest grandson.”

The rival of his eldest grandson.

Cheon Soyak quietly bit the inside of her mouth.

Even after reaching the middle stage of the Transformation Realm, the Sword Sovereign did not so much as regard Soyak as his Adversary.

But perhaps that was fortunate.

“...Yes. That’s right.”

“It seems the rumors were badly distorted. I heard you were a towering heroine eight feet tall.”

“I am not.”

An awkward, murderous silence followed.

No one dared be the first to break it.

Then Namgung Ak narrowed his eyes and sent Soyak a voice transmission meant for her alone.

—Do you resent me?