The Little Immortal's Rampage
The slashing strike fell like a guillotine, cleaving the air. At the very moment Jang Yu unleashed his all-out internal energy into the ultimate technique of the Breaking Mountain Blade Art, Great Collapse Mountain Slash, aiming to split So Seon-ha in two.
So Seon-ha raised her hand.
"You crazy bitch! Master and disciple both gone mad! If I cleave you like th—!"
Jang Yu swung his blade with ferocious bravado, but—
Clack.
As if it had never carried any power to begin with, Jang Yu's treasured blade was sucked straight into So Seon-ha's palm. The love blade that should have effortlessly sliced through her hand and severed her arm came to a halt.
Disbelief darkened Jang Yu's face.
"Wha...?"
"Is that your full power?"
Crackkkle.
A white crack spiderwebbed across the treasured blade—a weapon that had never chipped or dulled in Jang Yu's forty years roaming the jianghu.
And in an instant, it enveloped the entire blade.
Shatter.
The blade crumbled into shards of metal, raining down. Beyond them, So Seon-ha's eyes gleamed with a chilling coldness, like a frozen lake.
"Then, it's over?"
Did she harbor a poisonous heart? Crunch.
A bare fist, infused solely with internal energy, tore through the air. As Jang Yu twisted to dodge the brutally straightforward punch, So Seon-ha's fist blurred into afterimages.
One fist became two.
Jang Yu hastily raised his hands to block, but So Seon-ha's fist unraveled his guard with effortless grace—like delicately loosening knotted ropes.
His hands, caught in her grasp, dropped naturally, and her following punch rocketed upward into his jaw.
'Wha...?'
Pain exploded as if his jaw had shattered. His body floated, tumbling backward—a bonus to the agony.
Jang Yu couldn't believe it. Blood flooded his mouth. With his broken jaw mangling his speech, the bandit roared incoherently.
"Grraaah!!"
How could this happen? Even if he'd blocked in haste, for this master of the bandit stronghold Gu Ryong Stronghold to be toyed with like this? It made no sense.
'This goddamn—!'
The curse swirled in his mind, unspoken due to his ruined mouth. Overwhelmed by the excruciating pain from his shattered jaw, Jang Yu staggered, unable to focus.
He barely righted himself when he saw So Seon-ha kicking off the ground. The distance he'd thought he'd gained vanished in a heartbeat.
Seeing her palm hurtling toward him, Jang Yu gathered his internal energy into his hands.
'I'll turn you into mincemeat!!'
Unable to speak with his broken jaw, he poured his rage into a guttural bellow.
"GRRAAAAH!!"
His hands morphed into wolf-like claws, raking across So Seon-ha's front. Internal energy clung to his nails like hooks, turning into blades that whipped up a storm.
Losing his blade didn't mean his combat prowess plummeted—true masters were rarer than that. A weapon was merely an extension of the body; martial arts extended from there. It only shortened his effective range.
The ultimate technique of the Wolf Fang Crushing Claw, Wolf Fang Remnant Gale, engulfed So Seon-ha.
Jang Yu's eyes flashed triumphantly.
'No matter how suddenly you got strong, you're still a greenhorn! Think you can handle this body?!'
The moment he was certain she'd been caught in the all-devouring Wolf Fang Remnant Gale—
So Seon-ha vanished from his sight.
Simultaneously, the gale's fierce winds died as if seized by the hands of a wind god.
Horrified, Jang Yu tried to retreat—but So Seon-ha's kick slammed into his chest.
"GURK!!"
The spiraling force sent his body flying. Twisting midair, Jang Yu looked ahead. Somehow, she'd already caught up. Her hand followed relentlessly.
Infused strikes clashed with metallic rings, then Jang Yu's body spun skyward.
The powerful spin hurled him crashing into the ground, blood erupting from his mouth.
"Gr... uh...."
He glared at So Seon-ha in utter disbelief. This kid, who moments ago had only faint internal energy, now wielded the prowess of a master overwhelming him? How?
Even heaven-sent talent required time to control a sudden surge of power.
'What kind of monster is she...'
Feeling strength drain from his body, Jang Yu let out a hollow laugh.
'No power left...'
That final blow was the culprit. Since then, his body refused to respond. Whatever stubborn threads had clung to his life were severed.
His meridians, blood vessels, even his qi flow—all frayed and erratic.
"Gr... ugh...."
So Seon-ha turned her eyes from Jang Yu, but her hands didn't stop.
Slash.
Without mercy, an energy-infused strike severed the dying bandit's neck, slicing through the stronghold building behind him and collapsing it.
The bandits watching cried out in horror.
"Stronghold Lord!!"
"That crazy—!"
"Grab that little shit!!"
"But Bang Soran!"
"Forget her! Avenge the Lord first!"
The bandits charged with terrifying momentum, but So Seon-ha's eyes—resolved to the end—burned like azure flames.
Whoosh.
Bang Soran's treasured sword, lying beside her, spun through the air as if answering a call.
"B-Behi—! Behind! The sword!!"
"What?!"
"Crazy, why's it flying t—!"
Before "chaos" could escape their lips—
Five bandits' heads vanished from their shoulders, blood fountains erupting. The severed heads hit the ground with gruesome thuds as Bang Soran's sword, spinning like a whirling blade, naturally settled into So Seon-ha's hand.
"Seon-ha...?"
Bang Soran looked up dazedly as her disciple's voice reached her ear.
"I'll finish quick, Master."
Words barely out, blood sprayed.
The bandits' belated screams rose.
"Gasp!"
"Crazy, why's that kid so fast?!"
"Group up! Dammit, form the array—! Argh!"
A bandit's throat tore out like mauled by a tiger as he tried to command.
Bang Soran recognized it. The fiercest sword art among those she'd taught her.
Tiger Bite Sword Art.
'Chae Young Divine Step paired with Tiger Bite Sword Art's Tiger Bite Kill...'
All techniques she'd lectured So Seon-ha on—their names, forms, executions. And now, So Seon-ha wielded them flawlessly.
Like swirling petals, like blooming white cherry blossoms, sword energy soared into the Gu Ryong Stronghold skies.
"Thousand Blades Dancing Snow..."
Sword qi rained like sleet—beautifully, cruelly shredding the bandits' lives.
Bang Soran witnessed it: the pinnacle of her signature art, Thousand Heroes Sword Art.
Slumped on the ground, Bang Soran watched So Seon-ha charge toward her.
"Seon-ha..."
"Master!"
"Incredible. You've finally grasped the trigger."
Bang Soran smiled faintly, stroking her head. Though bloodstained hands, So Seon-ha didn't flinch.
Bang Soran spoke.
"Cloudy Sky Rainbow Divine Art. It suits you. Just like the heart method from Little Immortal Hero Chronicles..."
The protagonist of Little Immortal Hero Chronicles, So Yu-hyeon, named the heart method she'd unwittingly mastered Cloudy Sky Rainbow Divine Art. Born from a flash of enlightenment—like a rainbow piercing cloudy skies, saving her from peril.
So Seon-ha nodded at her master's words.
"Yeah..."
"Not too hard on you?"
At that, Seon-ha glanced at her hands. Clean now, but moments ago drenched in blood. The scent lingered.
"I... killed people..."
Her first kill. To murim folk, practically a rite of passage—but to rookies, always a shattering shock. A brutal reminder: the jianghu was merciless.
Whether from clashing emotions or self-defense gone wrong, taking a life hit hard.
Bang Soran knew. She'd endured it too.
She grasped her disciple's hand.
"You saved me, Seon-ha."
"I... did...?"
"Yes. Without you, I..."
Only then did So Seon-ha seem to register her master's state. She cried out in alarm.
"St-Stop the bleeding! Golden Wound Ointment—where is it...?!"
"Heh..."
Watching her frantically loot the dead bandits for ointment and clothes, Bang Soran closed her eyes. Deep fatigue washed over her.
"Master! Don't pass out!!"
After staunching the wounds, So Seon-ha hoisted her up. First, find the official road. Follow it to Seo-hyeop County.
Changing her unconscious master's clothes, So Seon-ha dashed with lightness skill. Above her head, the sun shone brightly—as if blessing the steps of the future Yeui Niangniang, the Little Immortal.