Chapter 4 (5)
Chapter 4 (5)
Jeongmumae Seoanbu Branch.
In that place, which was also the largest building in Chang'an, there was a woman wielding a crude spear that didn't match her beauty.
It was Hong Seol-rin, who had arrived in Chang'an with Jin Cheon.
"Hah! Heup!"
She created an imaginary enemy, attacking and defending against the empty air, smoothly continuing her stance.
'In the past, my internal energy was lacking, so I would have had to stop here, but...'
"Haat!"
Finally, she slashed at the imaginary enemy's neck with the spear blade, regulated her internal energy, and retracted the spear.
'I've reached the 4th star of the Hong Family Spear Technique now. I think I can reach the 5th star with a little more effort.'
Hong Seol-rin wiped away her sweat, picked up her family's spear, and headed toward the garden.
She did this to rest there, as she didn't know who might use the training ground next.
Just then, she encountered two men chatting, gave a short nod in greeting, and the men greeted her back briefly.
As she passed by and the distance grew, the two men's topic of conversation shifted to Hong Seol-rin.
"Hey, what did they say the name of that sole direct descendant of the Hong Family Estate was?"
"I know it as Hong Seol-rin."
"Ah, right. Hong Seol-rin. She's been acting strange every time I see her lately."
"What is?"
The man who said Hong Seol-rin was strange, perhaps due to his frivolous personality, made a bigger fuss than necessary.
"Do you remember when she arrived at the Seoanbu branch to catch Chuihwa-eumryeong back in the day?"
"Yeah."
"She stayed at the branch for a while to rest and resupply. Back then, I admired her appearance, thinking it was worthy of the title Jade Phoenix, but I felt it was a shame that such a beautiful woman didn't dress up at all."
"So?"
"But these days, I strangely feel a sense of sex appeal from her."
"But she hasn't put on any makeup or anything, right?"
"It's not about makeup, it's the vibe. I can feel femininity in her face and the way she walks."
"Damn it, I'm the idiot for listening seriously. Stop going to brothels so much, you jerk."
"No, I'm serious!"
They didn't expect it.
That thanks to her internal energy becoming purer and greater than before, she, having caught a glimpse of her name, was listening to their conversation.
'They feel sex appeal from me?'
She had never tried makeup, nor had she ever adorned herself.
But suddenly, why this sex appeal...
"Ugh..."
For a moment, Jin Cheon's image flashed through her mind.
But she shook her head immediately.
'I abandoned being a woman the moment I decided to rebuild the Hong Family Estate. Get a grip, Hong Seol-rin. That was just a contract.'
She is not a woman. She is a warrior.
That guy just panted over her because he liked it, even though she had already discarded her womanhood anyway.
'But... why won't his face leave my mind?'
And,
'Why does my lower body throb every time I think of that guy!'
The two weeks she spent with Jin Cheon could truly be called a chain of pleasure.
Whenever there was a spare moment, he enjoyed Hong Seol-rin's body and made it so she could feel pleasure.
Having learned the pleasure of being a woman, she actually felt empty in the days without that pleasure.
'Calm down, calm down. The reason I keep thinking about him is because, whatever trick he used, I experienced the strange phenomenon of my internal energy becoming purer and larger every time I mixed bodies with him.'
Thanks to that, she reached the 4th star of the Hong Family Spear Technique and is on the verge of the 5th.
'Let's just think of it as a momentary stroke of luck and forget it. A practitioner of the righteous path cannot rely on shortcuts.'
Recalling the teachings left by her late father, she headed to the garden.
There, several female warriors were gathered in little cliques.
Hong Seol-rin, sensing they were talking, tried to rest quietly in a corner.
Until she heard their lines.
"That Hong girl, isn't she really annoying?"
"Exactly. People around her keep hyping her up as the Jade Phoenix or whatever, so she thinks she's all that, right?"
There is a saying called "Bo-jeok-bo."
It's a derogatory remark meaning "a cunt's enemy is a cunt," which means a woman's enemy is a woman.
Earlier, one of the Jeongmumae warriors had remarked that Hong Seol-rin was oozing sex appeal.
His friend had lightly dismissed it, but the women thought the same thing.
In the past, she was just pretty but acted like a tough guy, so the female warriors took her lightly, but now that her aura had changed after mixing bodies with Jin Cheon, she had become a being that caught men's eyes.
Because she captured the gazes of other men, the female warriors, feeling jealous, were busy badmouthing Hong Seol-rin whenever they gathered.
"But isn't it strange? That the Jade Phoenix, who was so much like a tough guy, suddenly changed like that?"
"It's definitely strange."
"Maybe she was raped by Chuihwa-eumryeong? If you think about it, she could have launched a surprise attack while being raped and taken down the off-guard Chuihwa-eumryeong, right?"
"True. Considering she returned alive alone while over 30 members of the Vermilion Bird Unit died, that's a possibility."
"Right, right. That fits perfectly!"
"......."
Their gossip was starting to cross the line.
Just as Hong Seol-rin was about to explode in anger at the sight of the female warriors dismissing her as a lucky person who succeeded in a surprise attack while being raped by Chuihwa-eumryeong,
"Listening to you quietly, my ears feel like they're rotting."
From one side, a woman appeared, wearing snow-white clothes that looked like they were made by wrapping thin fabric, without a single speck of dirt.
"Who are you to dare...!"
"Ah...?! That sword is...!"
"Wh...who could it be...!"
The female warriors, who were initially bristling, recognized who she was through her attire and appearance.
Snow-white clothes without a single stain, long black hair reaching down to her waist, a noble atmosphere, excessively voluminous breasts, a face that looked to be in her 30s, and a scabbard with geometric patterns plated in gold.
"Sw...Sword Empress-nim...!?"
As soon as someone realized her identity, they let out a scream-like sound.
"To think that warriors of the righteous path are insulting others by gossiping about unverified facts. I'll have to consider whether I should scold the Seoanbu branch leader or take it up with the Alliance Leader."
"I... I'm sorry!"
"Please, anything but that!"
"Please forgive us!"
The female warriors hurriedly knelt and begged for forgiveness, rubbing their hands together toward the Sword Empress.
If others did it, people might think, "Just because you have a little fame, do you think the Alliance Leader meets just anyone?" but the Sword Empress was a figure that even the Alliance Leader of the Jeongmumae couldn't treat lightly.
She is the current sect leader of the Tae-eul Sword Sect, a sect famous for its single-person transmission.
Although the Tae-eul Sword Sect is a single-person transmission, it has appeared whenever a crisis arose in the Murim world since ancient times, displaying its might, and even though it is a single-person sect, it is accepted as an orthodox sect.
However, the Tae-eul Sword Sect is not a single-person transmission sect by design; rather, because the martial arts are so difficult and complex and require so many conditions, they barely find one person per generation, so it became known as a single-person transmission unintentionally.
Having mastered all of the Tae-eul Thirteen Forms, the unique sword technique of the Tae-eul Sword Sect, she made great contributions in the fight against the Demonic Cult as soon as she entered the Murim world, receiving the title of Sword Empress and becoming a renowned warrior throughout the world.
Furthermore, if the Sword Empress, one of the strongest warriors in the righteous path who continued her training even after the war ended, were to protest to the Alliance Leader with a straight face, whose side would the Alliance Leader take?
"The person you should be apologizing to is not me, but the one behind you."
"Pardon?"
As the Sword Empress's gaze turned to the garden exit, the eyes of the kneeling female warriors followed her and became stained with shock.
"Eek!?"
"Th...that is..."
They tried to make some excuse, but the Sword Empress ignored the female warriors and opened her mouth toward Hong Seol-rin.
"I will leave the disposal of these children to your choice. If you say punish, I will punish, and if you say forgive, I will forgive."
"Please forgive them."
Hong Seol-rin answered immediately to the Sword Empress's words.
'Her resolve is firm and there is strength in her eyes, so she chose without hesitation.'
The Sword Empress confirmed that she didn't forgive them because she was weak-hearted.
"Did you hear? If you do this again, I will not forgive you then."
"Yes, yes!"
The female warriors hurriedly escaped out of the garden as if fleeing.
"Phew..."
As they disappeared, Hong Seol-rin let out a deep sigh as if she felt stifled.
"Thank you for your help, Sword Empress-nim."
"I have heard such gossip many times myself. So I couldn't just consider it someone else's business and let it slide."
'Come to think of it...'
She had heard that when the Sword Empress was young, she took a spiritual medicine given by the previous Tae-eul Sword Sect leader, but something went wrong, and only her breasts grew abnormally large.
Now that she is famous, no one dares to gossip about her, but in the past, she must have suffered a lot of heartache.
"Honestly, it was hard for me to let it slide too... but I want to punish them with strength I gained solely through my own power, not with your help, Sword Empress-nim."
"Hehe, I like you. Leeches who use being a woman to cling to men are unworthy of the name warrior."
The Sword Empress, who became one of the best in the righteous Murim world with a woman's body, without any background, and solely through the power of her martial arts, nodded calmly, as if she liked Hong Seol-rin, who was trying to stand on her own power.
"Um... but why are you here suddenly, Sword Empress-nim..."
"That is... I'm sorry. You will know by tomorrow, so just keep that in mind."
Even though she liked Hong Seol-rin, the Sword Empress couldn't leak important information, so she kept her mouth shut.
'If the Sword Empress has kept her mouth shut, there must be a reason for it.'
Hong Seol-rin, who knew how tight-lipped the Sword Empress was, nodded, thinking she would find out tomorrow anyway.
"By the way, I heard about you. You intend to rebuild the destroyed Hong Family Estate, right?"
"Yes. And I will find out the identities of those who attacked my parents and take revenge."
"I like those who try to stand on their own and prove themselves. Since I have some time and am bored, I will teach you a few moves."
"Th...thank you!"
The Sword Empress hasn't formally learned the spear, but she has accumulated countless experiences.
Among them, there are plenty of people who wielded spears.
If she spars with such a person, she will get the opportunity to improve by several levels.
Although it was only for a day, while sparring with the Sword Empress, Hong Seol-rin was able to identify the parts she lacked as a spearman and present to herself the direction she should move forward.