Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Fire Dog
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Fire Dog
Squad Leader. According to the beggar called the Wind Path Beggar, the Blood Chase Squad Leader.
Even in a desperate situation, he didn't let go of his killing intent, staking his life to seize any chance of victory. His tenacity was quite admirable.
However, in terms of skill and technique, the man fell short.
He had a solid foundation in swordsmanship, but he relied too heavily on tricky maneuvers infused with internal energy, leaving his depth shallow.
The only impressive part was that final thrust he showed at the end.
"Hah!"
This one was different.
A handsome appearance wrapped in heroic attire, neat clothing.
True to his model-student looks, the youth's swordsmanship was orthodox.
He kept his body's center firm, with the sword orbiting precisely around him.
He covered any gaps in movement with footwork.
He responded to irregular attacks without flinching.
"Urk!"
Being orthodox meant his swordsmanship had depth.
Not someone who only trained in a dojo.
Not a beast swinging a weapon based on a few street-smart flashes of insight.
A true martial artist who climbed the golden tower built by the sages and honed their senses through real combat.
They were rare in So-hyang's era.
Her heart pounded fiercely, cheeks flushing red. Dopamine surged with excitement.
She could control her endocrine glands to calm down, but right now, she wanted to fully savor this joy.
Until now, she hadn't truly felt it, but the world So-hyang lived in was the perilous jianghu of blade mountains and sword forests.
The martial world.
"Ahaha!"
The youth clashing swords with her read her excitement as well.
Excitement inevitably led to openings, so he should exploit them... but...
"Grgh!"
The monster before him had no gaps.
The sword slashing down diagonally twisted along the blade and was pulled from inside to outside.
As he tried to regain his shaken balance, the attached sword was flicked away. His center shook again.
Then the opponent spun her body to gather power. The motion was large, the distance close.
An opening.
He closed in with short steps and boldly slashed down—
"—Damn."
—but couldn't.
She spun like a top and retreated half a step.
The sword didn't reach, followed by an upward slash from the spin.
"Kuh!"
The counterstrike carried weight.
Enough to lift his body while blocking.
His body floated in the air. A fatal opening.
But the monster before him didn't exploit it.
"—Why?"
The traits of one consumed by a demon blade's killing intent were extreme aggression and amplified physical power from demonic energy.
Even if the wielder was ordinary, it injected proficient handling methods to fight.
But that was beastly combat from instinct. Not refined martial arts.
Yet the girl before him neither bulldozed with brute force nor displayed veteran techniques beyond her own gauge.
Even now, as if urging him to regain his stance, she wasn't attacking but waiting.
Above all, her sword lacked vivid killing intent.
"...Senior Wind Path Beggar. Is this girl really possessed by the Demon Blade?"
-----
So-hyang felt like a child savoring cotton candy.
She hadn't used the Blood Curse's blood qi except to tinge her eyes, and she kept her physical abilities moderately restricted.
She also suppressed to the max the near-prophetic intuition and Spirit Eye gained from opening her Upper Dantian.
Only then could she somewhat enjoy it.
How long had it been since she felt the thrill of crossing swords and exchanging moves?
Around the time she was confident in perfecting her techniques and obsessed with surpassing bodily limits, So-hyang's challenges expanded beyond humans.
For instance, nature.
Hunting beasts like bears, tigers, rhinos, elephants, even blue whales with a single sword.
For instance, civilization.
Slicing steel or titanium alloys, cutting flying bullets, raiding and exterminating gang syndicates.
Of course, those were immensely powerful, enjoyable challenges.
But there were things only satisfied by clashing with humans who had cultivated martial prowess.
"—I don't sense killing intent from her sword. Is she really possessed by the Demon Blade?"
Moreover, a martial artist who could discern the true intent behind movements!
So-hyang's excitement was building, but she felt the need to clear the misunderstanding here.
The opponent struck first due to a misconception, and rather than correcting it, she'd fanned the flames.
So-hyang pursued strength but had no desire to become a monster abandoning her humanity.
Fortunately, the youth realized she held no hostility, so persuasion seemed easy.
"Hey, Namgung... are you insane?"
Apparently not.
"Yeah. She wields advanced swordsmanship without succumbing to instinct. She shows patience instead of lunging at visible openings... Don't you get what that means?"
"Senior, what are you—"
"She's on the verge of awakening her spirituality! Damn it! Even more dangerous!"
"But I didn't sense killing intent from her sword—"
The Wind Path Beggar snarled, twisting his face and cutting off the youth called Namgung.
"Hah, mature enough to even hide her killing intent?"
Clearing the misunderstanding seemed harder than expected, so So-hyang tried to add something—
"—If you're pretending to be young, at least fake an update to your speech!"
—but shut her mouth, recalling the Blood Chase Squad Leader's words.
An archaic old man's speech from a young girl's mouth... It would unmistakably look like a yokai possessing her body.
Mimicking the original So-hyang's lively, innocent tone would seem forced too—
In the end, So-hyang dredged up memories from her body, recalling the courtesans' speech from Bright Mystery Pavilion.
"...Um, there seems to be a misunderstanding."
What So-hyang had forgotten was that she was infused with yokai blood qi without suppressing it.
Her pupils changed color, exuding an ominous aura, every action including her voice thick with yokai energy.
"Damn, spit! Using seduction arts too!? From now on, I'm joining! Tang girl! Cover me!"
To human ears, it was unmistakably sorcery.
"Ah, shoot."
Realizing the anomaly, So-hyang tried to snap her fingers against the Blood Curse to suppress the blood qi like before—but
"—Not on my watch!"
A silently flying needle blocked it.
"Trying to form hand seals! I won't let you!"
"That's not—"
A being evolved into a yokai inevitably used yokai spells. The girl called Tang flicked her sleeves, firing hidden weapons in succession.
Four projectiles: thin needles, long needles, darts, and a ring-sized chakram.
Tang clan secret technique closing in with different trajectories and speeds, hard to evade.
So-hyang countered in sequence.
She caught a thin needle with her fingers and flung it at the long needle to deflect it, grabbed the dart and stabbed it into the chakram's center.
Sparks flew in that instant mid-air, and So-hyang judged suppressing the Demon Blade impossible in this situation.
Striking with intent through the Upper Dantian required some focus time.
"This is getting messy."
But she wasn't without options.
"Knock 'em out first, think later."
By So-hyang's experience, a clear solution in most situations.
-----
Even for So-hyang, she didn't have much experience against thrown weapons.
Most who called themselves ninjas in killer work used guns anyway.
Melee cold weapons had declined but not vanished; ranged cold weapons had lost all meaning in her past life.
True hidden weapon throwing arts piqued her interest, but—
"Prioritize suppression."
No time for leisurely observation. She might end up killing innocents at this rate.
She stopped restricting her physical abilities and leaped at the girl like a feline predator springing.
To the girl, the approach seemed instantaneous, movement cut short.
"—Where!"
The youth blocked her path.
As So-hyang's previously passive stance shifted aggressively, he got serious too; his sword qi glowed brighter.
Like her holding back, he had hidden aces.
She felt curiosity at the crackling electricity on his sword, but gave him no leeway this time.
She bent her leaping body to touch ground again, then shot forward anew.
The double acceleration on already swift movement made the youth lose sight of her briefly—
"—Gahk!"
—and offered his jaw to So-hyang's flying fist.
Commonly called Superman punch, deemed impractical.
But executed with superhuman physique, it was different.
Behind the crumpling youth, the Tang girl, unwilling to just watch, launched a palm strike wrapped in fierce energy.
Ominous, but easy to avoid if it didn't hit.
Without slowing her airborne momentum, So-hyang leaped over the girl, grabbed her nape, spun, and struck her temple with the Blood Curse's pommel end.
Crack. The girl's body crumpled too.
She subdued both in an instant. Left was the beggar called Wind Path Beggar.
"Damn it all, peak and first-rate falling this easily?"
The Wind Path Beggar looked flustered but didn't think victory lost.
"—Still, the spell is complete."
Because brilliant yellow flames bloomed from his club.
Wind Path Beggar.
Six Knot Beggar of the Beggars' Sect, risen to hall leader rank young.
Martial prowess merely first-rate, but excelled in sect's core info gathering and tracking, rich jianghu experience—
And a high-level sorcerer.
"—Svaha!"
⟨ Fire Dog ⟩
With the incantation, his soul vibrated, Upper Dantian flung open, projecting will onto the world.
The club struck air, spreading flames coalesced into form.
"...Dog?"
—A massive beast shape charged at So-hyang.
-----
The emotion So-hyang felt went beyond wonder to absurdity.
A clear mystery incomparable to superhuman physique or glowing swords.
From her past life's view, pure magic.
However.
"...Impressive, but."
The dog-shaped flames aside, she had plenty of experience against fire itself.
Flamethrowers spewing flames or trap-induced fires.
Fluid attacks like fire, acid, sound waves were well-known counters from her past life.
"Compared to that, it's not even that hot or fast...?"
She was dodging the pursuing dog for now.
The heat on her skin wasn't intense, speed just a bit faster than an average wolf.
Above all, her awakened spiritual intuition from the Upper Dantian said this flame couldn't harm her.
"H-how can it move!?"
The Fire Dog was Dharma Flame. Flames of purification suppressing all evil and incinerating impurities.
A body dominated by Demon Blade's blood qi would tremble in terror and kneel.
But So-hyang was infused with blood qi without being dominated.
"Ah, now that I hear it, that guy's energy seems a bit wilted...?"
Hearing the Wind Path Beggar, So-hyang gained certainty the pursuing dog wasn't threatening and stopped fleeing.
Up close, the dog's size rivaled a mid-sized car, yet no threat from such a fireball was the real marvel.
"Suck in... Feels like it'll work..."
Like flicking the Blood Curse before, she infused will into her voice.
"Sit."
Hek.
The flame beast yielded to So-hyang's mental pressure, obeying like a tame pup.
"Down."
Hek hek.
Its fierce chase-face softened, wagging tail; its huge bulk lost all intimidation.
"Paw."
She touched the proffered forepaw—warm, pleasant, not hot.
"Lie down."
It flopped belly-up, tongue lolling; So-hyang chuckled softly.
"...Haha, cute."
Past-life So-hyang hadn't kept dogs or cats, felt nothing special, but this body differed.
Not bad at all, she thought, stroking its fluffy belly and chin.
"Still, time to go back. Your master's struggling."
As a spell from a sorcerer, it continuously drained mana; the Wind Path Beggar's complexion worsened.
"Bang."
At So-hyang's command word, despite no release from the caster, the dog dispersed, flames fading.
"So, Hero Wind Path Beggar?"
So-hyang addressed the beggar standing dazed, expression indescribable.
"There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding between us?"
The Wind Path Beggar started to reply, swallowed it, sighed deeply, looked skyward, and covered his face with both hands.
What the hell is this situation?
"Fuuuuck..."