Yeon's Heart (2)
Jo Yeon’s eyes widened.
BAM!
‘She’ had burst his defensive art with a single strike.
‘Excellent.’
He laughed and stood against her.
They were identical in their void-shaped consciousness domains, yet the ways they used them were worlds apart.
She read the flow of air, the flow of spiritual energy, and the flow of arts to destroy them.
Then she unleashed a fluid, graceful fist and hurled it at him.
Jo Yeon fired countless arts, but nothing landed.
‘He’s reading me!’
He felt it.
She read the hue of his thoughts and dodged every attack.
‘Shall I try the incomplete art I’m forging?’
Jo Yeon hesitated for a moment.
Then he gave up.
‘That’s not finished yet… it’ll take a long time to complete. I can’t use something half-done.’
Instead, he chose the orthodox method that had always let a mortal defeat a swordsman.
CRACK! With overwhelming power he shattered her fist! BOOM! One wall of the grand hall shattered. At the same time Jo Yeon’s art struck her directly and she flew off into the distance.
‘She’s a bit excited. I’ll save her. If she falls from this height…’
But his eyes widened.
PAPA! She had stepped on air and risen.
“No…!”
His disciple Wol-bi could never do that.
No, he had heard that if she poured time into it, she could.
But he had only answered that he didn’t want to spend time getting used to flying techniques.
Yet she looked far younger than Wol-bi.
Barely in her twenties, radiating vitality.
How could someone of that age reach the same realm as Wol-bi? And Wol-bi himself needed time to master Void Step? Jo Yeon realized her talent was beyond imagination and smiled gently.
“Haha, ahahaha!”
‘Good. Wol-bi.’
TATAT! He kicked off the grand hall and leaped onto his flight artifact, pouring his arts at her.
She wielded two short spears with spiritual energy and repelled his arts while gliding closer.
‘I’ve raised a truly wonderful disciple.’
“Is that it?!?!”
BOOM! Jo Yeon unleashed the art of the Fiery Dragon at her and shouted.
“Wol-bi didn’t stop there! That boy was the one who launched arts in the sky! A disciple who only learns little tricks like Void Step and doesn’t truly master them?!”
“Kuu…”
“Show me more! Show me everything Wol-bi taught you!!!”
He pulled out his own spiritual artifact.
The Fiery Dragon shape spewed scorching heat as it struck her.
BOOM! She wrapped her body in protective spiritual energy and swung her twin spears.
But it wasn’t easy.
Jo Yeon remembered Wol-bi’s spear forms and evaded her attacks while pressing harder.
Soon they were fighting in the sky and had reached a remote forest far from the upper floors of the pavilion where the first battle had begun.
“Wood!”
When Jo Yeon completed his seal, trees shot up rapidly like tentacles and charged at her.
She danced with her spears and sliced through the branches in mid-air.
‘Her energy is depleting…’
Jo Yeon smiled as he watched her.
Not quite at peak Wol-bi level, but very strong.
But at her age, that… If she continued practicing, perhaps she would surpass Wol-bi one day.
He was truly happy.
His disciple remained.
In the form of martial arts!
Gradually they drew closer.
At first she had approached to wound him; now he approached her.
‘Just a little more…’
Even a little more.
Wol-bi.
So he could feel the trace of his first disciple…
BOOM! Jo Yeon swung the Fiery Dragon and shot a flaming bird at her, then closed in.
No danger.
Unlike when Wol-bi was at the very beginning of Foundation Establishment, he had grown a lot.
Now he had formed the Innate Spiritual Energy of the Primordial Void and the Seven Spiritual Beads of the Heart.
The pure spiritual energy filled his body completely; he had no fear of being wounded by spiritual energy.
He entered within her spear realm to feel it more.
At last he had entered her innermost realm.
Shiver! Jo Yeon felt a chill down his spine as he sensed her will beyond the mask.
‘Wait, what is this…?’
The spear changed.
Wol-bi’s Flying Spear began to evolve.
“No…!”
He was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out.
She had evolved the Flying Spear under extreme pressure.
The form changed.
No, it evolved!
KWA-AANG! Her spiritual energy struck Jo Yeon’s protective spiritual energy.
He was so shocked his heart felt like it would burst, yet he smiled with delight.
A disciple with talent to surpass Wol-bi.
Wol-bi no longer existed in this world, but Jo Yeon felt he understood how Wol-bi had felt when he died.
‘She entrusted everything to this child and left with no regrets…’
With that talent she must have departed light-hearted.
His disciple had the strength to repay every debt.
“Excellent!”
Jo Yeon shouted.
Beyond the mask he sensed her panting.
Her spiritual energy was almost exhausted.
Jo Yeon laughed heartily.
“Wol-bi has not only inherited everything perfectly but has evolved beyond it. You are…”
And.
Shiver! ‘Wait, what will…’
“It is not yet over!”
She steadied her spear form.
Crackle! For an instant Jo Yeon felt her consciousness domain compress.
PAPA! “…Eh?”
He stared blankly at his own chest.
A hole the size of a finger had appeared in Jo Yeon’s chest.
“K-Kuh…”
Jo Yeon vomited blood.
“W-What… a moment…”
He understood what she had done.
Spiritual energy from an ordinary martial artist could not pierce a swordsman’s protective spiritual energy.
So… She compressed spiritual energy into a thread and maximized its power for an instant to pierce his heart.
‘The… the pulmonary artery is torn…!’
His heart was not crushed, but he felt the pulmonary artery had been severed.
“Kuh!”
He lost concentration and fell from the flight artifact.
And, unbelievably, she was also falling, having exhausted all her energy.
‘What a reckless…! Both of us are in the air… what now…?’
Jo Yeon forced himself to stay conscious and grabbed a handful of emergency pills from his artifact and swallowed them.
Then he pressed the emergency spiritual art and the emergency part against his chest.
Then he pulled her toward him and hugged her, casting the float technique.
Cough! ‘Damn it! Because of the pain the technique…’
Yet because of her attack the technique had wavered and Jo Yeon’s float technique was incomplete.
‘D-Dying…’
Images flashed through Jo Yeon’s mind.
BOOM! He fell onto an old tree beside a trail in the forest.
CLANG! The branches snapped and dead leaves fluttered down.
Yet with Cheon-un’s help they could survive.
“Hah… huh…”
Jo Yeon broke into a sweat and looked around.
They were on a tree.
CRACK! And the instant he realized, the branch they had fallen from snapped and they dropped back to the ground.
“Kuh! Ack!”
Jo Yeon vomited blood, swallowed two more pills with trembling hands, and barely stood to circulate qi.
Chiii— Even a Foundation Establishment swordsman’s heart was a dangerous area.
Until he reached Core Formation his life was still bound by human frailty.
‘I came so close to dying.’
If her spear tip had aimed even a little closer to his heart, he would have died.
He had escaped death.
Looking at the old tree with pink flowers, Jo Yeon gave thanks.
“Thank you…”
He leaned against the trunk and caught his breath.
And he began to laugh.
“Ha, hahaha! Ahahaha!”
Jo Yeon cried.
He cried hard.
My disciple.
Do you see?
‘The disciple who inherited your will has already surpassed you.
The gift I wanted to give you, giving it to him will cause no regret…’
He took out the short spear he had intended for Wol-bi from his artifact and placed it beside her unconscious body, then examined her meridians.
She still lived.
Jo Yeon looked at her face.
The mask had vanished somewhere during the fall.
Her face showed pockmarks as if she had once suffered from a childhood illness.
And a large scar covered one eye.
A while later she opened her eyes.
“Eh, ehah!”
She met Jo Yeon’s eyes, panicked, covered her face, and looked around until she found her mask.
She hurriedly put on the mask before facing him.
“Um, first I’ve treated your injuries. Using my emergency part I’ve also healed other wounds, so your body is fine. Just… you’ve exhausted all your spiritual energy, so be careful with your qi. And…”
Jo Yeon pointed to the short spear beside her.
“You won. That is now your weapon.”
At those words she looked back and forth between the spear and Jo Yeon and asked.
“…Forgive me, but may I hear your honorable name? Are you acquainted with Master?”
Jo Yeon smiled faintly.
“Before I tell you my name… unfold the Flying Spear with that spear. Then tell me.”
“…Understood.”
She nodded, picked up Jo Yeon’s spear, and took a stance.
And a dance-like Flying Spear unfolded from her hands.
Jo Yeon watched it.
Similar to Wol-bi’s, but different.
Even more outstanding, yet the will of Wol-bi never ceased.
He felt as if he had returned to the time when Wol-bi had unfolded martial arts before him with the weapon he had forged and explained them.
Drip, drip… Jo Yeon smiled again, tears welling.
“Perfect. Wol-bi will surely be happy in the afterlife…”
“…Thank you, senior.”
“My name is Jo Yeon. What is your name?”
“Ah… I’ve heard it.”
She bowed.
“I am Wol-bi’s disciple and adopted daughter. My name is Wol-ha-eun. It is my first greeting to Master’s friend… ugh!”
Wol-ha-eun, in greeting Jo Yeon, collapsed again from her seat.
Jo Yeon laughed.
“Sorry. You were already exhausted and you forced yourself to unfold the spear.”
“…Yes. I am ashamed.”
“No… I asked too much of you.”
When he finished Jo Yeon leaned against the trunk and looked up at the tree that had saved them.
“…Do you know what tree this is?”
“Looking at the flowers, it must be a quince tree. The quince flowers are in season, but they’re not blooming much, so it’s an old tree.”
“This tree saved us.”
Jo Yeon looked at the tree for a moment then told Ha-eun.
“Where is Wol-bi’s body?”
“…She asked to cremate it. After revenge is complete, scatter the ashes at that place.”
She took out a small wooden box from her bosom.
Jo Yeon pointed at the quince tree.
“Then let’s scatter them here. After all, scattering them where the pavilion of the pavilion is would mean martial sects would still come and trample it. Instead, scatter them at the tree that saved our lives after revenge is complete. If I ask, I’m sure that friend will agree.”
“Um… yes.”
Ha-eun picked up the ash box and scattered it with Jo Yeon beneath the quince tree.
On a spring day.
Wol-ha-eun and Jo Yeon spoke for the first time beneath the quince tree.