Chapter 577

I did not know much about Hyo Yeonri.

She had never been someone I cared to watch. As I had said, I wanted to avoid getting tangled up with anyone who possessed a romantic calamity whenever possible.

What I did know was this.

The eldest daughter of the Demon Heaven Hyo Family.

The Demon Heaven Hyo Family was one of the families in Xinjiang. She was its eldest daughter, and people said she was beautiful enough to be called the greatest beauty in Xinjiang.

I could not deny it. She was beautiful.

People born with romantic calamity were all beautiful by nature. The simplest manifestation of that karma was exceptional looks.

With that much romantic calamity, it would have been stranger if she were not beautiful.

If anyone is strange, it is the others.

Yu Yeon and Yeongsun, for example.

Yu Yeon and Yeongsun...

It was more accurate to say that the karmic burdens they carried left no room for a romantic calamity.

In any case.

I did not know what sort of family the Demon Heaven Hyo Family was, but Hyo Yeonri herself struck me as—

Someone I do not want to get involved with.

She seemed to know how to make good use of her romantic calamity, and she looked fully capable of abusing it.

In other words, she was exactly the sort of person best avoided.

Yet she had gone out of her way to challenge me to a spar.

And she had even brought up the Office of Justice.

There is clearly a reason for this fight.

Was she much stronger than I realized?

She did not look that way, at least.

Tap.

Hyo Yeonri stepped onto the sparring ground.

Her clothes swayed softly around her, a fan resting in one hand.

She appeared to be a fan-wielding martial artist.

It suited her.

“Thank you for accepting my proposal.”

“No need. I was simply curious about why you wanted to spar with me so badly.”

“Oh my. Is wanting to exchange a few moves with a handsome man not reason enough?”

“You do not strike me as the sort who is drawn to that.”

“Then you have misjudged me.”

She smiled as she spoke.

A few longing sighs rose around us.

Men really were simple creatures.

“I truly like that sort of thing.”

“...Then I suppose we are not much of a match.”

CLINK.

I placed my hand on my sword.

“I happen to dislike it.”

“What a shame.”

“I will give you the opening attack.”

“I will not refuse such consideration. Thank you.”

There did not seem to be any signal to begin the spar.

Fights had already broken out all around us.

I thought the instructors might act as referees, but none of them seemed interested in moving.

Apparently, when they said to handle things ourselves, they meant it.

“I am coming.”

A sharp presence flared from her, wholly at odds with her gentle voice.

SHIIIK—!

I shifted half a step aside.

CRACK!

The ground gouged inward.

It looked as though something sharp had sliced through it.

Hard aura.

She was using hard aura from the first exchange.

A martial art that would become troublesome if I gave it distance.

It seemed specialized for long-range attacks.

SHIIIK—!

The attacks came faster.

I watched the condensed wind rush toward me.

Then I hooked a fragment off the ground with my foot and kicked it forward.

CRACK! CRAAACK!

The fragment collided with the incoming wind and burst apart.

I had packed it with hard aura to reinforce it.

At the same time, I disrupted the concentration of the wind and amplified the sound.

BOOM!

“Ugh.”

The loud explosion made Hyo Yeonri flinch.

I did not let the opening pass.

I closed the distance until our noses could nearly touch.

She hesitated.

I reached out.

CRACK!

“...!”

My palm drove into her abdomen.

She did not even manage to scream.

Her body creaked as it rose slightly off the ground.

That was how much force had gone into the strike.

“Urgh...!”

Hyo Yeonri barely stopped herself from vomiting.

Apparently, she could not bring herself to throw up on the sparring ground.

Impressive.

I was honestly impressed.

I had struck her fairly hard, yet she had endured it.

Her mental strength was not bad.

“Hah... Haaah...”

“Do you want to continue—”

WHOOSH!

Just as I was about to speak, wind grazed my cheek.

She was still attacking?

That caught me off guard.

“Oh my. It did not work.”

Hyo Yeonri wiped the saliva at the corner of her mouth as she spoke.

That was when I realized it.

Her reaction earlier had probably been fake too.

Well, well.

That was more unexpected than expected.

It felt as though I had taken a hit myself.

A grin spread across my face.

Interesting woman.

I drew the sword the Holy Cult had issued me.

SHING.

Hyo Yeonri’s expression changed when she saw the blade leave its sheath.

“I am coming.”

“Good.”

With a flutter, a second fan appeared in her hands.

Apparently, she had been using two all along and had only shown me one.

Hyo Yeonri’s expression tightened as she sent streams of wind flying toward me again and again.

There were far more of them than before.

I watched them, then swung my sword.

SHRRRRK—!

Every gust of wind split apart.

The hard aura was weak.

Now I understood.

It was a feint.

A means of blocking my vision.

As though proving it, Hyo Yeonri’s body vanished from in front of me.

By the time I sensed her presence, she was directly behind me.

CLANG!

The impact struck from behind.

I had known she would aim for my back, so I blocked with my sword.

Even so, my body slid back slightly.

But my feet never left the ground.

I held firm and prepared to thrust my sword forward.

“...!”

A face suddenly appeared right in front of me.

Hyo Yeonri.

What?

Why was she so close?

Before I could even question it—

Smack.

Something touched my lips.

Hyo Yeonri’s lips.

What the hell was she doing?

Coldness swept through me as I whipped my foot into her abdomen.

CRACK!

“Ghk!”

Hyo Yeonri’s body rolled across the ground.

She did not fly off the sparring ground.

I wiped my lips with my sleeve.

The wet sensation still lingered.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?”

I could not help sounding disgusted.

Hyo Yeonri groaned as she pushed herself up.

I had kicked her properly. Her insides had to be shaking.

Yet she was smiling at me.

What was with that irritating smile?

WOOOOONG.

“...”

Something stirred inside me.

A sensation that shook my soul.

Well, well.

So that was why she had come close and pulled that ridiculous stunt.

Annoying little thing.

I had known she could make use of romantic calamity.

But she could go this far?

As I felt something twisting within my soul, I looked at Hyo Yeonri.

She smiled at me, apparently expecting something.

Ha.

What was winding itself around my soul was Hyo Yeonri’s romantic calamity.

The moment it swallowed my soul, I would become little different from her servant.

The nerve.

There had been someone in my past life who did this sort of thing too.

As I had said, there had been a woman with a romantic calamity at least twice as potent as Hyo Yeonri’s.

That woman had tried this on me as well.

That was why I found women with romantic calamity so detestable.

She seems to know how to use it instinctively.

The difference between Hyo Yeonri and that woman was that Hyo Yeonri did not properly understand what karma was and was using this power on instinct.

That woman knew exactly what she was doing.

She knew what kind of karma she possessed.

She even knew how to move a soul, and she used that knowledge deliberately.

Do you understand what that meant?

We were in completely different leagues.

Compared to a woman who understood and exploited every part of it, Hyo Yeonri’s soul was laughably weak.

Could Hyo Yeonri accomplish what that woman could not?

Not a chance.

I immediately exerted strength through my soul.

SZZZZT—!

I seized the energy of romantic calamity trying to cling to me and tore it away.

Even if I had left it alone, it would never have broken through.

My soul was not weak enough to be pierced by something at this level.

“...”

“Hm.”

Since I remained still, Hyo Yeonri looked at me as though it had worked.

Then she said—

“Come here.”

I slowly walked toward her.

As though I had truly fallen under her control.

When I reached her, she tilted her head as she looked at me.

“Kneel. Then kiss my feet.”

“And then... why should I?”

“What?”

CRACK!

I seized Hyo Yeonri by the throat.

“You presumptuous thing. Where do you get off ordering me around?”

“Ghk! Cough...! H-How...!”

“Annoying. I was willing to play along for a moment, and you pull some pathetic stunt like this.”

I had wondered what she wanted from me.

What intentions she had approached me with.

And this was what she tried.

“Kiss your feet? Why would I kiss your filthy feet?”

“Hah... Haaah...!”

Hyo Yeonri struggled.

Her body was already hanging slightly off the ground.

Squeeze.

“Ghk...”

I tightened my grip.

I made it so she could barely breathe.

Then I stared into her eyes.

“Say it. Say you lost. Beg me to spare you.”

“Hah... Cough...”

Her eyes had gone bloodshot.

Her body could barely move.

Just as it became harder to restrain my irritation, Hyo Yeonri’s lips moved.

“I... lost... Please... spare me...”

Tears streamed down her cheeks and fell onto the hand around her throat.

Only then did I loosen my grip.

THUD!

“Cough! Hah...!”

Hyo Yeonri collapsed to the ground, kneeling as she dragged in breath after breath.

I watched her for a moment, then reached down.

“Hey.”

I caught her chin and raised her face.

Her face was streaked with tears and snot, yet absurdly enough, she was still beautiful.

“I do not know how you have lived your life until now. But try that on me and you will die. Understand?”

“...”

I spoke with killing intent in my voice.

“The only reason you are alive is because there are so many eyes on us.”

If there had been no one watching, she would have died.

I meant that.

“There will not be a second time. Try the same thing on me or my companions, and I will cut out your tongue and grind it beneath my heel. Understand?”

“...”

“Answer me.”

“Y-Yes. I understand.”

“Tch.”

I rose and left Hyo Yeonri behind.

“You had better deal with the Office of Justice properly. They made the first move, so I sent them a little gift as well.”

“...What? What do you mean by that...?”

She looked confused, but she would understand soon enough.

I had arranged it that way.

“Ptui.”

I spat.

The sensation on my lips still felt disgusting.

As I forced myself to calm down and stepped off the sparring ground—

CRAAASH—!

“...?”

An explosion rang out.

I turned toward the sound.

“I will kill you, you bastard!”

“...”

Peng Dojun was fighting Heavenly Sword, wrapped in black energy.

“I like that spirit.”

Heavenly Sword was fighting him head-on.

But the energy wrapped around Heavenly Sword’s body was strange.

That—

Is that not the Peng Family’s secret technique?

It was the same secret technique Peng Dojun used.

But something was different.

If anything—

It looks better than Peng Dojun’s.

Far better, in fact.