Demon Yin Blood Shadow (4)
Bang Soran smiled as she watched her disciple. Who could imagine this was the same So Seon-ha who'd once been dismissed as talentless? Among the children she'd sheltered at her bandit stronghold, none had grown stronger at such an incomprehensible speed. But she still lacked experience in the jianghu. As her master, Bang Soran knew she'd have to guide her much further.
Where the hell did this monster come from...
White Cat Immortal Wolf? She'd never heard the moniker before. That meant she was a rising star who'd only recently made a name for herself. Yet she wielded the sword of the Moonlit Night Cat—a relic from ancient times—and with a blade that barely seemed sharp, she carved through Blood Cult warriors like butter.
"Urk!"
"Damn it, our regeneration's slowing! Watch out for that sword—don't let it touch you!"
The warriors of the Blood Vanguard's First Platoon could only grit their teeth at the swordsmanship of the young swordmaster blocking their path. At this level, she should have been listed among the Thirteen Elites, the pinnacle of the Central Plains' later-generation talents. But So Seon-ha's name was nowhere to be found.
And the woman standing beside her, Bang Soran, was just as unnerving.
The Thousand Sword Heroine's her master?
Bang Soran might have reached the peak, but So Seon-ha's prowess far exceeded anything she could teach. Who would guess that So Seon-ha revered a single novel as her second master, cultivating its techniques as her manual? Especially since it was the Heavenly Escape Sword Method, So Yu-hyeon's signature style. The Blood Cult warriors knew of Wudang Sword Hero but not Little Immortal Hero Chronicles—no wonder they couldn't trace its origins.
"Damn it!"
They couldn't cross the line So Seon-ha guarded. Any approach brought a slash of sword energy. And it was as if the sword possessed some demon-sealing power—even mere exposure to its energy slowed their regeneration. It nullified the attrition war their regenerative edge was meant to force.
The other fighters, excluding So Seon-ha, were struggling hard enough. But at this rate, they couldn't even target Baek Su-gyeong behind her.
"Break through!"
The platoon leader shouted, pulling thunderbolt bombs from his bosom. The other Blood Cult warriors followed suit. Each had been issued two. If they unleashed them all, no martial artist, however skilled, could survive the inferno.
"Throw them!"
"Th-there!"
"Blood Cult's hurling thunderbolt bombs!"
"Scatter!!"
The righteous faction warriors fled in panic. Having witnessed the bombs' power firsthand, they unleashed lightness skills to disperse. Amid them, only So Seon-ha and Bang Soran remained unfazed.
But the bombs didn't target the pair—they sailed past, landing behind.
"...!!"
As the Blood Cult warriors turned to charge So Seon-ha, Bang Soran stepped in front. Swords clashed in a frenzy of metallic rings.
"Seon-ha, go!"
"Master, but—!"
"Hurry!"
Bang Soran's blade traced a savage arc, severing one warrior's throat. It was the Tiger Protection Sword's first stance, as So Seon-ha had shown in the bandit stronghold—like a tiger ripping out a throat, fierce and unrelenting. The Blood Cult warriors scowled.
"Thousand Sword Heroine!"
"You dare disrupt our cult's ritual?!"
"Who crashed our party first?!"
With Bang Soran's sharp cry, sword energy lanced out. It danced wildly through the air like brushstrokes on canvas, powerful sweeps making it seem as if words were being inscribed in the sky.
Brushwork unleashed as swordsmanship.
"Eternal Character Brush Method?"
"Swordplay mimicking calligraphy?"
As the Blood Cult warriors recoiled from Bang Soran's sword momentum, their divided comrades pursued the fleeing foes, screams rising. Using thunderbolt bombs to shift the tide was a solid choice.
"It's Baek Su-gyeong!"
"Found him! He's got women with him!"
"Two women!"
"Doesn't matter! Anyone with a woman is a target—kill them all!"
Their gazes locked on Baek Su-gyeong, trying to escape with Namgung So-min and So Ssaang-a. Blood-red sword energy poured toward them—not at Baek Su-gyeong, but the women. It was cold murderous intent, faithfully executing the cult's order: everyone but Baek Su-gyeong was expendable.
As Namgung So-min drew her sword against the hail of energy, So Seon-ha vaulted overhead. Her blade scattered azure light, dispersing every strand.
Clang.
So Seon-ha landed before Baek Su-gyeong and swung her ancient sword. Clear sword energy flowed along its dull edge like crystalline beads, pure and transparent as autumn frost, supported by the Lake Heaven Crimson Divine Art sustaining the Heavenly Escape Sword.
Chilling clarity, like frost-kissed autumn air.
Baek Su-gyeong's voice trembled. Was this a legend reborn? She'd manifested one passage from his novel—a mere flight of fancy—with perfect clarity. The Autumn Frost Sword Energy, one of the ten sword techniques and energies he'd named in the Heavenly Escape Ten Swords. His head throbbed.
"Damn it all!"
The Blood Cult warriors retreated, grinding their teeth. So Seon-ha's pursuing blade bore Autumn Frost Sword Energy, sweeping in like an autumn gale. It sliced horizontally through the air, dividing heaven from earth.
A horizontal cleave separating sky from ground.
Terrified warriors recoiled, only for her sword to chase and bisect them at the waist. Amid their screams, So Seon-ha reversed her grip on the spotless ancient blade, turned to Baek Su-gyeong, and offered a formal fist salute.
"...So Seon-ha pays respects to the Grandmaster."
Baek Su-gyeong's face crumpled. Countless eyes fixed on them. The very situation he dreaded most unfolded before him.
Thick bewilderment clouded his features.
"D-Disciple? You're Bang Heroine's student...?"
"Yes!"
The solemnity vanished; she replied with a bright, childlike voice. Baek Su-gyeong clutched his forehead. Learned martial arts from a book? How does that even work? Not my novel, please... His inner turmoil erupted like a volcano. But the situation was dire.
The bisected Blood Cult warriors weren't dying—they rose again. Their lifeless eyes reignited with blood-red glow.
"Kuaaaagh!"
With monstrous roars, the Blood Cult's Tenth Great Demonic Art, Corpse Summoning Demonic Art, awakened.
Reviving the dead as shambling horrors.
So Seon-ha blocked their path.
"I'll hold them—get to safety!"
"Disciple!"
"Hurry!"
The Moonlit Night Cat atop So Seon-ha's shoulder howled fiercely. Its sudden fury signaled an impending Ghost Tribulation. A heaven-defying sorcery resurrecting the dead. Was it martial art or dark magic?
Her ancient sword trembled in her grasp, as if refusing to forgive the evil ghosts before them.
"Kraaaah!"
The living corpses—corpse ghouls, craving the warmth of the living—lurched toward So Seon-ha at terrifying speed. Her ancient blade, infused with Autumn Frost Sword Energy, flashed through the air.
Boom—!
A belated explosion rocked the unmarked dueling ground.
"Tch. Failed, huh."
The man with five spears strapped to his back clicked his tongue lightly. He'd already thrown his spare; he hadn't expected her to shatter an inner force-charged spear with aura.
He'd prepared from fifty zhang away, masking his presence to snipe Ju Geum-ye. Who knew she'd intercept it?
"The imperial clan's forbidden treasure... not some helpless princess, I see."
He'd assumed the palace-raised girl would lack combat experience or presence sense. But Ju Geum-ye was no pushover.
"Emperor Myeongjeong must've pulled out all stops to protect his daughter..."
The man's lips twisted. Twenty-odd years ago, the humiliation. Palace elites had razed their Tianshan headquarters, costing years to recover. Kidnapping a promising woman from the jianghu, only to learn she was the empress—absurd in hindsight, but the grudge against the palace remained.
A subordinate asked, "Do we advance?"
"What kind of question is that?"
He drew a spear from his back.
"Wipe them out."
"Yes, sir!"
"Princess!"
Jin Yeong-ban's voice held horror. A fragment from the shattering spear had grazed Ju Geum-ye's cheek. A wound on imperial blood—on the crown princess's sacred body!!
"Kill them!!"
"...I'm fine."
Ju Geum-ye calmly wiped the blood trailing down her cheek. Blood Cult again. Her gentle face hardened. The warmth she showed Baek Su-gyeong was gone, replaced by the imperial clan's rightful daughter's icy rage.
Mother's enemies...
Her mother, the Little Sage Empress Tang, had died because the Blood Cult slaughtered her Tang Clan escorts from Sacheon and abducted her on her way from her maternal home. Rescued in tatters, her state unspeakable. Emperor Myeongjeong had nearly razed the martial world; ministers kowtowed till their foreheads bled, staining the throne room red—a stain not fully gone.
And now, they'd returned to the Central Plains.
"Protect the princess!"
Jin Yeong-ban drew his sword, centering the formation as Imperial Guard warriors rallied, unleashing killing intent on the invading Blood Cult foes. Screams and blood sprayed everywhere as they poured in.
"The princess is there!"
"Kill her!"
"Wash our cult's grudge in her blood!"
Blood-soaked hatred for lost comrades met a child's piercing resentment for her sole mother's loss. They collided here.
Ju Geum-ye's eyes flashed coldly.
"Grudge and resentment are one—they can't be torn apart."
A faintly hollow mutter. She extended her hand to the Imperial Guards.
"Your sword."
"Princess!"
"Now."
This wasn't her usual warmth. Here, she was a child bereft of parents. The girl who once couldn't grasp the emperor's words stood as Nakbong Gunju Ju Geum-ye—same roots. If there was grudge, there was resentment.
"Tighten the formation!"
At Jin Yeong-ban's shout, she snatched a sword from a hesitant guard and vaulted over the Imperial Guard's tight ranks.
One of the palace's sealed lightness skills—like a shooting star crossing the heavens.
Her form shot like a star traversing the sky, crimson aura coalescing on her seized blade.
"Princess!"
Using Jin Yeong-ban's belated cry as a springboard, the massive blade of crimson aura cleaved the air sternly, crashing down on the Blood Cult warriors.