Poison Forest
"There was such a space deep within the Poison Forest… how intriguing."
Stepping onto the solid island-like ground within the swampy depths, Demon General of Bloodthirst, Ji Gwangok, surveyed his surroundings.
Other than the narrow path that served as the entrance, and the secluded hut with its small yard, everything around them was nothing but swamp.
And strangely enough, though no wall had been built, the snakes and insects that swarmed throughout the Poison Forest did not venture into this area. It seemed the entire space had been infused with the scent of herbs and incense that venomous creatures abhorred.
"This is the work of someone deeply versed in both poisons and medicinal herbs."
From the words of the enthralled Miao child, Ji Gwangok had already guessed who awaited him here. A vicious smile twisted his lips.
"At last, we meet again… Elder Seok."
But when he reached the hut and the door opened, it was not the old half-paralyzed man he expected. Instead, a young man and woman stepped out.
The man bowed with clasped fists.
"I am Seolpung, Captain of the Seventh Division of the Flying Dragon Thirteen. May I ask where the elder before me hails from?"
"Oh? The Flying Dragon Unit, you say?"
Ji Gwangok's mouth curled into a cruel grin.
His subordinates, meanwhile, had already taken notice of Hae Cheongyeon at Seolpung's side. Their voices erupted in vulgar excitement.
"A woman! A young one!"
"Ha ha! Look at that body!"
"She's hiding her face, but I bet it's a beauty!"
"What's the problem? We'll strip her ourselves, ha ha ha!"
But Ji Gwangok replied first to Seolpung's words.
"I am Ji Gwangok of the Blood Sect. I have business with the old cripple said to dwell here. Do you mean to stand in my way?"
Seolpung once again bowed respectfully.
"So it is Senior Ji Gwangok, Demon General of Bloodthirst. Your reputation precedes you. How could I dare to block your way? Yet, this place is a safehouse used by us of the Flying Dragon Unit. Unless you mean to defy the non-aggression pact signed personally by the Alliance Leader of the Martial Alliance and the Blood Demon himself, would you not do well to withdraw?"
At the mention of the Blood Demon, Ji Gwangok's eyes twitched. His legendary loyalty to the Blood Demon was well-known, and he could not so easily dismiss the name.
Just as Seolpung had calculated.
The grin slipped from Ji Gwangok's face, replaced by a low growl.
"A safehouse of the Flying Dragon Unit, you say? Hmph. I think not."
Quickly, Seolpung pressed further.
"It is true! Look there—you can see the insignia of the Flying Dragon Unit carved into the wall."
"Hm?"
As Ji Gwangok turned his head in the direction Seolpung pointed, Seolpung's figure blurred into motion.
Fwssh!
He had known it would come to this.
From the start, Seolpung's respectful, even fearful demeanor had been nothing more than bait, to draw out a single moment of carelessness.
And in that fleeting instant, he unleashed the hidden trump card he had concealed all this time.
Between his tightly shut eyelids, a crimson glow flickered.
His fist, the Savage Beast Strike, smashed down toward Ji Gwangok's exposed skull.
The true essence of his art, hidden behind the façade of "Fierce Tiger Fist" he had shown his comrades. This was the Beast King Fist.
Kwaaaang!
"Tch!"
Ji Gwangok's arm snapped up, intercepting the blow at the last instant. The shock drove him back a step, his balance wavering.
Seolpung pressed the attack immediately, his arms lashing like wild beasts, his body spinning into savage whirlwind kicks and blows.
He had but half a quarter of an hour at best to sustain this state. The fight had to end within that time.
At the same moment, Hae Cheongyeon launched forward, exactly as they had planned.
Her target was not Ji Gwangok himself, but the subordinates at his back.
Shhhk!
"Haap!"
Her sword blazed forth in a flurry of piercing thrusts.
The ultimate technique taught by her father, equal to the Celestial Sword Sect's famed Meteor Sword— the Comet Black-Pierce.
Like a comet streaking through darkness, her blade pierced the heart of a Blood Sect disciple before he even realized she had moved.
Puk!
"Ghhhk!"
One down. Four left.
Her eyes, cold as steel, swept across the survivors.
But their surprise quickly hardened into readiness. Her ambush had succeeded only once. Now she faced four top-tier first-class experts, prepared and furious.
They charged her at once, shouting vile threats.
"You bitch!"
"Grab her!"
"Don't kill her—keep her limbs intact!"
"Don't mar her face—I want it untouched!"
Any ordinary martial woman would have flushed with rage at such lewd mockery.
But Hae Cheongyeon only smiled faintly.
So long as they sought to keep her body intact and face unscarred, that was only to her advantage.
While she engaged her foes, Seolpung's own struggle worsened.
Ji Gwangok, though shaken by the ambush, quickly steadied himself. The old warhound's composure returned, his power surging back as he shifted from defense to offense.
The cost of Seolpung's ruse had been high, but now Ji Gwangok's true strength was unleashed.
With a thunderous roar, his palm crashed forth.
Boom!
The Exploding Thunder Blood Palm— one of the Blood Sect's deadliest secret arts.
Baaang!
"Kuhhhk!"
Seolpung blocked with crossed arms, but the sheer force hurled him backward. He barely landed on his feet when Ji Gwangok came barreling after him, his twin palms wrapped in crimson aura like monstrous hammers.
"Kuahahaha!"
Boom!
Seolpung twisted, body shrinking into a coiled spin, letting the blow glance past by a hair. His movement was wild yet precise, beast-like in its grace.
And in that spin, he lashed out with a savage kick.
Slash!
Blood spattered.
Ji Gwangok's cheek split open, a line of crimson trailing down his jaw.
The Demon General licked the blood from his hand and chuckled low.
"Uhhuhuhu… splendid. That the Flying Dragon Unit harbors such a cub… fortunate I can kill you before you grow any further."
And with a predator's roar, he leapt again.
Within the hut, Elder Seok Gyeongdal had not fled.
He thrust his notes and records into Dakam's hands, urging him urgently.
"Take your siblings and hide in that place. You know the way. And not a word, not a step outside for six months, do you hear?"
Tears welled in Dakam's eyes.
"Tokno! You must come with us!"
But the old man only smiled faintly and shook his head.
"My life is already forfeit. Better to spend it with some worth."
He shoved the children into the hidden passage and straightened his body.
For years, his limbs had been paralyzed. But now, sensation returned.
For in truth, his half-paralysis had been self-inflicted— a seal upon his own demonic arts.
Watching his old friend Jeon Mugwang slowly consumed by demonic qi, he had chosen to cripple himself, to resist the same fate.
Only by constantly restraining his own power could he keep the mad demonic energy from devouring his mind.
And now, he released that seal.
The demonic energy, surging through his body for the first time in years, set Elder Seok Gyeongdal's heart ablaze with a violent fury.
It meant the demonic qi was beginning to gnaw at his mind again—yet, for a short while, it was tolerable.
He would not need it for long anyway.
A savage smile split his face as he prepared to charge out the door.
But suddenly, a hand clutched his shoulder.
The old man's expression twisted as he turned back with a shout.
"Dakam! You brat, you're still here?!"
Hae Cheongyeon was still holding out against the four top-tier first-class opponents who had surrounded her.
But it was less her strength than the Blood Sect disciples' perverse amusement that kept her unscathed.
"Ohhh, yes!"
"Kihaha! Her thigh's skin is smooth as silk!"
"Next, let's try her chest!"
"Ha, that's a tough target, though!"
Instead of aiming to kill, they were slicing only at her clothes—her arms, thighs, calves—exposing pale skin bit by bit, laughing as though this were sport.
Any martial woman would have trembled with rage at such humiliation.
But Cheongyeon allowed it, deliberately.
Because just a few paces away, Seolpung's fight against Ji Gwangok was deteriorating fast.
Ji Gwangok's onslaught was overwhelming, and Seolpung was barely enduring, his resistance praiseworthy only because he had not yet fallen.
Cheongyeon judged it pointless to expend her strength recklessly. Alone, she could not overcome the four men. And if she were caught, Seolpung's doom would be sealed.
So she endured, feigning weakness, drawing out their arrogance.
Then—her ears pricked.
Beneath the curtain of hair veiling her face, her lips curved faintly upward.
"My turn!"
One of the leering disciples lunged eagerly, blade poised to cut across her chest.
But at that instant, Cheongyeon's sword blazed to life.
Shhhk!
A shimmering arc of sword-light scattered like a river of stars across the night.
The ultimate strike of the Stellar Sword Art— Galaxy Cascades Across the Heavens .
"W-what?!"
The disciple scrambled to defend, but far too late.
Clangcl-clangclangclash!Shhhhk!
"Aaaghhh!"
The interwoven net of sword-light sliced past his guard, carving his flesh apart like cracked porcelain.
Blood gushed forth in a fountain.
Splaaash!
"Gyaaaahh!"
Only then did the others realize she had been toying with them—her weakness a deliberate ruse.
Their eyes hardened with fury.
"You bitch!"
"All together—kill her!"
"Forget the limbs, just break her down!"
Three men attacked in unison.
Three top-class first-rate experts in earnest—it was beyond even Cheongyeon's ability to withstand.
And yet, she only smiled coolly.
Because behind her, two streaks of light suddenly burst forth.
"You've held long enough, lady!"
"Die, you bastards!"
At last, Seonu Jin and Bi Sayoung had finished their cultivation.
Power coursed through every fiber of my body.
At last, my senses and my memories of my past life aligned.
My internal energy had nearly reached one full cycle—sixty years' worth.
From just half a pill, I had gained thirty years of cultivation. Elder Seok had been far too modest calling it merely the equivalent of a Small Return Pill.
With that power behind me, my speed was intoxicating.
The Blood Sect disciple's face loomed before me, his shock frozen on his features.
"Haap!"
Shhhhk!
From the eleventh stance onward, the Seonu Thirteen Swords required the strength of a true first-class expert.
I had never once attempted it—ignorant in my past life, underpowered in this one.
But now—at last—I unleashed the Eleventh Form: Roc Soars Ten Thousand Li .
Brilliant wings of sword-light unfurled, engulfing my foe.
Panicked, he swung wildly.
"Uwaaaahhh!"
But the wings were illusion—phantom blades.
From their center, a single thread of light pierced forward, grazing his throat.
Splurt!
His movements froze. Blood geysered from his half-severed neck even as I was already striking down the disciple crossing blades with Lady Cheongyeon.
She had been holding her ground, simply waiting for me.
Her foe's eyes widened as he saw me descending like a hawk. And in that same instant, Cheongyeon's sword flicked, a razor line of steel.
Shhhk!
Our blades cut past simultaneously.
The man's chest and throat split open, blood pouring as he toppled.
I grinned and asked her lightly:
"I trust I wasn't intruding?"
She smiled back—rare, beautiful beneath her hair.
"It was a welcome intrusion."
Then Bi Sayoung's voice rang out, half furious, half desperate.
"What the hell are you doing?! Help me here!"
He was struggling against the last disciple.
Sayoung's inner strength had reached nearly forty years, but he had yet to step into the first-class realm. Against a top-tier first-class opponent, he could only hold on with the Heavenly Wind Steps of the Flying Peak Sect, slipping away from killing blows.
I laughed as I sprang toward him.
"You don't even look in danger—stop whining!"
"Whining?! You—!"
My blade blurred, splitting into five streams of light.
Shhhk-shhhk-shhhk-shhhk!
The disciple gritted his teeth, blocking frantically.
He was skilled—clearly the strongest of the four. Even my feints failed to break him completely.
"Haap!"
Clang!
Not bad at all.
I almost wanted to test how long he could last.
But time was short.
As he strained to block, I suddenly grinned—then released my sword entirely.
"What—what?!"
His guard collapsed for an instant.
I surged inside, headbutting him full in the face.
Crunch!
"Gyaaaahhh!"
My skull, tempered like stone through external training, smashed his face flat.
While he reeled, I caught my falling sword and slashed his throat.
Shhhk!
Blood spurted high as I flipped back out of reach.
The thrill surged through me—I had nearly regained the level of mastery from my previous life.
I brushed back my hair, grinning.
"Heh. Hardly worth the trouble."
Bi Sayoung, aghast at my headbutt, shouted furiously.
"Don't act cool, you thick-headed brute!"
Heh. Clearly, he had no idea he was built just like me.
And when I turned again, Elder Seok Gyeongdal was already hurling himself into the fray—his sealed demonic power clashing with Ji Gwangok.