Back to the Frontline
As I walked toward him, I had already drawn upon the twenty years of internal energy dwelling in my body, preparing to strike.
Then, the moment his gaze tilted upward, I launched my ambush.
At the sudden turn of events, his underlings screamed in shock.
"W-what?!"
"B-boss!"
But instead of screaming, they should have attacked.
Because I had no intention of stopping there.
Leaving the sword buried in Magu-sam's chest, I spun around, drew the dao from my back, and slashed.
Shhhk!
A streak of blade light sliced horizontally through the air, and the bandit beside him lost his head in a single stroke.
Splurt!
"Uwaaagh!"
"Jang-oh!"
Only then, as blood sprayed everywhere, did the others cry out.
"It's an ambush!"
"Stop him!"
Swish!
"Gyaaahh!"
Covered head to toe in blood, I cleaved another from groin to shoulder, thinking:
Not "stop him." You should have shouted "kill him."
Fools.
Splurt!
"Guuhhhk!"
By the time I cut the third one's chest diagonally, the rest were finally pointing their blades at me.
"Y-you bastard!"
"How dare you?!"
I sneered.
Too slow.
At their trembling, frightened stance, I hurled the dao straight at them.
The spinning blade whirred through the air, and the startled fools barely managed to block.
"Uwaaaah!"
Clang!
But by then, I had already ripped my sword from Magu-sam's chest and was charging.
And in a single instant—
Like wings of light unfurling, sword flashes scattered through the air.
Shhhwaaaak!
"Guaaahh!"
"Kyyaaaagh!"
For the first time across two lifetimes, I unleashed the Seonu Thirteen Swords' first form—Shining Flight of the Swift Response.
By then, the wanderers who came with me finally moved.
Late by my standards, but for them, it was as quick as they could muster.
"Charge! Support Young Master Seonu!"
"Uwaaaahhh!"
The bandits had no choice but to collapse into chaos.
Without Magu-sam, their leader, the rest were nothing but third-rate thugs without inner energy. With no rallying point, none were willing to risk death.
"Sp-spare us! He's a butcher!"
"Run! Scatter!"
As they turned their backs in the middle of battle, I slaughtered them, laughing savagely.
My soul rejoiced—it was glad to be back in the air of the battlefield.
The fight didn't last long.
With only six of us, there was no way to chase down every fleeing bandit. Of the thirty or so, seventeen bodies littered the field, while about fifteen had escaped.
Only then did the tension leave me. Tossing away even my sword, I collapsed onto the ground, groaning.
"Gods, I'm spent!"
But the eyes of the wanderers were no longer filled with contempt.
Instead, what I saw clearly in them was astonishment—and fear.
Warrior Jang hesitated, then asked,
"Young Master Seonu… could you be a rejuvenated elder in disguise?"
At such an absurd, unexpected question, I laughed even through my exhaustion.
"Come now, there's no such thing. And even if there were, would a rejuvenated master collapse like this after a mere fight?"
He shook his head slowly.
"Of course, that's true… but at your age, to kill so decisively, without hesitation—it isn't normal. And also…"
He glanced around at the corpses.
"To see you lying down, resting so comfortably in a place filled with bodies… it makes one wonder such things."
I looked around and realized he was right—everywhere was drenched in blood and corpses.
In truth, my body was more blood-soaked than the surroundings.
But the sight was so familiar to me that I had relaxed without realizing it.
Of course, I couldn't say that out loud. So I gave an awkward laugh and made an excuse.
"I must've been too tired to notice. Let's rest a bit more, then move."
The wanderers gave me odd looks—astonished that I still wanted to rest here of all places.
While I rested, the wanderers collected loot and took Magu-sam's head.
There was probably a bounty on it. Handing it to the authorities would fetch a decent reward.
Only after moving to a new spot and sitting down to eat could we talk again.
Warrior Jang glanced at me carefully and asked,
"By chance… are you a first-rate martial artist, Young Master?"
I smiled and shook my head.
"No. Still second-rate. I only have about twenty years of inner energy."
"But earlier… when I saw your sword, it seemed hazy. Was that sword qi?"
"It was the opening form of the Seonu Thirteen Swords. It belongs to the illusory sword lineage, so the afterimages must have made it look that way."
The wanderers listening in pricked their ears and exclaimed in awe.
"Ahhh, the famous Seonu Thirteen Swords?!"
"As expected of a technique said to represent Guizhou!"
Warrior Jang said with a trace of envy,
"Indeed, a noble clan's sword art is different. For such power to be shown at second-rate… Once you reach the first-rate stage, you will be even greater."
I only smiled faintly in reply.
But inwardly, I was excited.
At the first-rate stage, when one could release sword qi, the illusory Seonu Thirteen Swords would display its true power.
But that's still far away.
I sighed inwardly.
To release sword qi, one needed at least thirty years of inner energy—half a lifetime's worth.
A second-rate martial artist with over thirty years of inner energy was said to be at the "sword-qi merchant" stage. When one could release qi to wound with understanding, that was when they were called first-rate.
In my case, I already had the understanding. But the inner energy—thirty years' worth—I couldn't skip that.
To reach it, I had no choice but to keep building patiently.
Warrior Jang let out a sigh.
"At forty, I've barely accumulated twenty years of inner energy. Yet you, still in your early twenties, already have twenty years… I feel ashamed, regretful I didn't live more diligently."
I gave only a bitter smile.
It wasn't something I could tell him, but the truth was that even those twenty years I owed to the elixir Father had given me the night before.
Without it, I wouldn't even have ten.
Father had also given me two more of the same kind.
But he had sternly warned me never to take them yet.
I understood why.
Half of my current energy was not cultivated but forcibly infused from outside.
In other words, I was ripe for deviation.
So for now, I had to cultivate steadily, refine the foreign energy, and build up my own.
That thought made me suddenly ask,
"Warrior Jang, may I ask—what inner art do you practice?"
The wanderer was unlikely to have learned a proper inner art, but I asked anyway.
Looking embarrassed, he cleared his throat and answered.
"Well… just the Six Harmonies Method. It was the only thing I could get my hands on… hmph."
"Ah, the Six Harmonies Method."
My gaze softened with pity.
I hadn't expected him to have mastered a profound art, but of all things, the Six Harmonies Method? How unfortunate.
That was nothing more than a third-rate technique, the kind you could find even in secondhand book stalls in the marketplace.
To think he managed to build twenty years of inner energy with just the Six Harmonies Method—that's the impressive part.
I didn't say it lightly; I truly meant it.
It was an achievement only possible through relentless effort.
As my gaze turned pitying, he avoided my eyes, dusted himself off, and stood.
"Come on now, let's get moving! If we don't cover more ground before nightfall, we won't reach the front even in three days."
There was nothing more I could say to him.
If I told him that in the past I too had once lacked techniques and been forced to copy and beg for others' arts, he would only take it as pity.
My eyes grew heavier as I looked at him.
The remnants of the Green Tiger Stronghold, scattered in all directions, only regrouped long after Seonu Jin's party had passed.
When they returned to the site, they found the corpses of their boss and comrades piled together, and fury erupted.
"Those heartless bastards! Not even burying the dead!"
"Look! They even took all the belongings! Filthy thieves!"
"Damn them! May they all be devoured by the demons of the Blood Sect!"
While venting their rage with curses, one of them suddenly broke the silence by bringing up the reality they had avoided facing.
"So… what do we do now?"
"What else? We go back to Green Tiger Stronghold and pick a new boss."
"…But can we keep operating like that? Our boss was the only second-rate martial artist among us."
The cold truth silenced them all.
Then, from down the road, someone approached on horseback.
Just one horse. Just one rider.
All of them instinctively turned to look.
One of them, who had the keenest eyes, swallowed hard and whispered,
"It's a woman."
His startled comrades quickly whispered back.
"What?!"
"A woman?!"
"Alone?!"
"Is she pretty?!"
Raising his palm to quiet them, he squinted, then whispered again, eyes gleaming.
"Her bangs cover her face, so I can't see clearly, but… she's probably pretty. She's got a good figure. Looks like she's in her late teens."
Then he swallowed again and asked his comrades,
"What do we do?"
They exchanged tense looks until one of them spoke cautiously.
"A woman walking alone, bold as that… what if she's a master?"
The words doused their burning excitement.
Beware women and old men.
An old adage of the martial world.
Fear flickered in their eyes.
They remembered vividly what had happened just earlier with Seonu Jin.
A shiver ran down their spines.
"M-maybe we shouldn't…"
As one of them muttered in fear, the sharp-eyed one peeked at her again.
Though her bangs hid her eyes, the soft, oval jawline beneath them was unmistakable—she had to be beautiful.
The thought of letting such a beauty slip away pained him. Then, an idea struck, and he said,
"But… could a girl in her late teens really be a master? She's too young."
That rekindled the fire in the others' eyes.
True.
Even if she were alone, how strong could a teenage girl really be?
Of course, there were exceptions—disciples of the Nine Great Sects, heirs of the Five Great Clans, or the children of the supreme figures known as the First Emperor, the Three Kings, the Four Fiends, and the Five Monsters.
But why would someone like that be here?
Reaching their conclusion, they boldly rushed at her.
"Stop right there, girl! How dare you pass through our territory without permission?!"
"Get off that horse! Strip down right now! Hahaha!"
"No, no—strip while still on the horse! Hahaha!"
They jeered, laughing at their own words.
The girl looked at them quietly, then suddenly asked,
"Has a man named Seonu Jin, third son of the Seonu Clan, passed through here?"
The moment they heard the name, the bandits' laughter died.
They were so shocked one even hiccupped.
"H-how do you know that bastard…?"
"Y-you… are you with that butcher?"
Her lips curled in satisfaction.
"So he's passed by. How long ago?"
The memory of that dreadful encounter made them falter in fear, but soon their faces hardened again.
He had already gone, after all, and the fact remained: this girl was alone.
"Better yet! We'll take the debt for the boss's life from this wench!"
"Yeah! That bastard won't be coming back anyway!"
While the bandits rekindled their courage, Ha Cheongyeon had already gotten the information she wanted.
"So he passed earlier. That means I'll meet him soon."
Then, lightly, she leapt from the saddle.
Whoosh!
The bandits stared, dumbstruck, as she soared gracefully into the air.
Her form was dazzling, almost divine.
With a graceful spin midair, she descended upon them like a thunderbolt.
Shhhk!
…
They didn't even have time to scream.
In an instant, her sword light spread like a spider's web, filling the space. The bandits, wide-eyed, were split open, blood gushing like fountains.
Splurt!
As blood sprayed everywhere, she had already vaulted back into the saddle.
In a single second, releasing sword qi, she had slaughtered all fifteen.
With a casual flick, she shook the blood from her blade, sheathed it, and resumed her ride forward as though nothing had happened.