The Water Knows the Answer
The water knows the answer. Paeng Cho-ryo’s massive saber moved in a chaotic blur. A sinister violet hue seeped into the fishermen’s true qi. Purple qi was the signature of poison arts. In truth, very few actual poisons were purple, but true qi was shaped by mental imagery, so there was no helping it. When people thought of poison, they pictured purple, and the qi of poison arts naturally followed that image.
An opponent who wielded poison arts was incredibly troublesome. Even the smallest scratch could lead to fatal poisoning, so one instinctively focused on defense and couldn’t maintain an offensive rhythm, quickly falling into a passive position.
“Sister, look out!”
With an oddly adorable beep-beep sound, something round flew past Paeng Cho-ryo. The result, however, was anything but cute. The opponent struck by the curved hidden weapon immediately burst into tears, blinded and staggering helplessly.
It was the Tang Clan’s Flying Lotus Dart—an irregularly shaped lotus petal of a projectile known for the vicious noise it made, its erratic trajectory, and its fearsome reputation. Handling it was no easy feat, which spoke to just how impressive Dang Nan-a’s skill had become as a martial artist.
Paeng Cho-ryo didn’t miss the opening. Her qi-laden greatsword came crashing down, splitting one fisherman clean in half horizontally. She flowed into a spin, the blade continuing its arc to bisect another man at the waist before settling protectively behind her. It was the ready stance of the famous Five Tiger Severing Gate Saber.
A Paeng Clan hereditary art that pursued extreme speed with a giant blade. At its peak, the rushing saber carried the ferocity of five tigers. A supreme saber technique that combined the weight of a heavy weapon with blinding speed.
When the saber extended, it split a man in two. The fishermen, horrified by the gruesome display, faltered and widened the distance. Then they began hurling hidden weapons.
Paeng Cho-ryo’s greatsword drew a dense web of lines, forming a net-like barrier. This was the defensive skill known as a curtain. With a sword it would be called a sword curtain; with a saber, naturally, a saber curtain. Heavy projectiles clanged off the blade and bounced away, while lighter ones were swept aside by the wind generated by the swings.
The fishermen grew excited and doubled their barrage. A curtain consumed a great deal of stamina and internal energy, after all. They clearly believed she couldn’t maintain it forever and were trying to overwhelm her while she was vulnerable.
Unfortunately for them, showing off hidden weapons in front of the Sichuan Tang Clan was a fatal mistake.
Dang Nan-a pulled a large bamboo cylinder from her sleeve. One of the defining traits of Tang Clan members was that dangerous things never stopped coming out of their clothes. And the reason the Tang Clan was so feared was precisely what they kept hidden in those sleeves.
The fishermen’s faces drained of all color.
“Rainstorm Lotus Flower Needles! Scatter!”
Someone shouted a warning, but it was already too late.
BOOM!!!
The sound of an explosion. Thousands of fine needles sprayed forward like a deadly shower. Each one had been coated in poison, dried, and sharpened to a lethal point. Once they pierced flesh, the dried venom dissolved in blood, and soon the victims were foaming at the mouth and collapsing.
Paeng Cho-ryo took a quick breath and scanned for Cheong. After Cheong and the old man had rushed ahead, the two women had been left to handle the rear. Now that the fighting had momentarily died down, she wanted to check on her.
“Ha. Good grief……”
At that exact moment, Cheong was gripping a fisherman by the ankle and spinning him like a windmill, using him as both shield and weapon. Paeng Cho-ryo’s eyes sparkled with admiration. That was true physical strength.
Finally Cheong gave a great heave and hurled her makeshift club. At the same time—
Ding—!
A deep Buddhist temple bell tolled. Everyone’s heads snapped toward the sound in shock.
The round object held high was unmistakably a severed head. Does our Cheong enjoy reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms? The thought flickered through Paeng Cho-ryo’s mind, but dealing with the remaining fishermen took priority.
“Senior Brother!”
One man screamed in grief while another completely lost his will to fight and stumbled backward. Right on cue, Cheong’s voice rang out again, loud and clear.
It was a threat no one in the martial world had ever heard before. No matter what they chose, they died. Even a lowly rat would bite if cornered, yet this only provoked the enemy further. Or so Paeng Cho-ryo thought.
Before she could even sigh, the enemies scattered in every direction and fled for their lives.
Paeng Cho-ryo let out an impressed whistle. If they were going to die anyway, better to split up so at least one might survive. Perhaps it really had been part of Cheong’s scheme……
Then the voice rang out again.
Paeng Cho-ryo reconsidered. Scheme… right?
There were times one won the battle but lost the war. This was exactly that kind of situation.
“Ah. The five-yang zeuks……”
The fish farm was completely empty. The nets tied to the stakes had been cut, and every last one of the valuable fish had escaped into the Yangtze River.
Still, it wasn’t a total loss. At least they had learned the fishermen’s true identity.
“Yunnan Poison Man, Ja Cheol-ju. He’s the senior disciple of the Five Poisons Sect.”
Cheong tilted her head. “Why is his nickname Yunnan Poison Man? Does that mean the Tang Clan’s senior disciple is called Sichuan Poison Heaven? Or does the Tang family not even have a senior disciple because it’s a clan?”
Come to think of it, Sichuan Poison Heaven sounded pretty cool.
“But how did you win? Ja Cheol-ju should be at the late stage of Transcendent. Aren’t you only late-stage Peak? How did you beat him?”
“He wasn’t all that strong. Compared to the Cannibal Demon Army, the difference was night and day.”
Of course, Cheong was already in a completely different league compared to back then. Her internal energy and every physical stat had long since surpassed human limits. But the real reason lay elsewhere.
“Our Cheong must have gotten lucky. He probably couldn’t release his poison properly out of fear for the woman you were swinging around.”
Poison art practitioners condensed their venom into a poison core in their dantian, wrapped and sealed with internal energy. The stronger the practitioner, the more vicious the core became. If it wasn’t properly contained, the poison would leak and harm its owner instead.
That was why, if you excluded their poison techniques, poison art experts were essentially half-crippled compared to martial artists of the same realm. The energy they could use while protecting the core was limited, and the attention required slowed both their reaction speed and power output.
Not only that, forming a poison core required studying countless toxins and absorbing them into the body. Naturally, they spent far less time training weapon techniques, making them half-baked in pure martial skill as well. If their dantian was injured mid-fight, they could easily die from their own poison.
“Ugh, Sister. When you put it like that……”
Dang Nan-a couldn’t hide her hurt expression. The way she phrased it made poison arts sound like complete garbage.
“I mean, of course, excluding the poison itself. Poison doesn’t distinguish between friend and foe, so he got stupidly caught by a single hostage. But originally, they’re very difficult opponents to face.”
Qi mixed with poison could infect you just by clashing or even brushing past. And that wasn’t all. They could silently release poison and drive it into you with empty palm techniques, use bizarre hidden weapons, spit venom, spray blood—the risk of poisoning was so high that even engaging them was dangerous. Cheong roughly summed it up in her head.
So basically, poison users are pushovers. Which meant the Sichuan Tang Clan wasn’t actually that impressive either.
It was right when Cheong was thinking this that Paeng Cho-ryo gave her a meaningful look.
“By the way, Cheong?”
“Yes?”
“I watched you fight earlier. Hmm. This isn’t meant in any strange way, so please don’t take offense and just hear me out.”
“What is it?”
Paeng Cho-ryo’s face grew serious.
“Cheong. You suit a saber far more than a sword.”
“Huh? Me?”
Paeng Cho-ryo answered with absolute confidence.
“Yes. And not just any saber—a truly massive one.”
Living as a freeloader was pure paradise. If only Senior Sister Ho So-in were here, it would be perfect. She could attend to my baths, do the laundry, dress me every morning……
Then a sudden thought struck her.
Have I become completely rotten lately?
Before heading to the Demonic Cult, she had spent every day excitedly crossing blades with her sword friend. The Seomun Cheong of that time had burned with a shining desire to become stronger.
So why had she fallen so far?
It was all the fault of her supporters. Never walking on her own, never washing or dressing herself—the person had gone completely soft. Come to think of it, that had probably been the Demonic Cult’s evil scheme all along.
When had she started finding the act of sweating unpleasant?
Cheong reflected deeply. Starting tomorrow, I should visit the Underground Death Match Arena again. I need practice fighting Transcendents too.
So for today, she would rest a little longer.
As she lay back down, one more thing suddenly occurred to her.
Ah. Yeo Hang-jeok. She had completely forgotten again.
As a result of this realization, Cheong finally confessed the whole story of her unintentional impersonation to Paeng Cho-ryo.
“So our Cheong was the Yeo Hang-jeok from the Underground Death Match Arena? I heard that Yeo Hang-jeok also uses a greatsword.”
“It was annoying to carry around, so I left it there. Besides, when I cover my face and go out, carrying a giant saber would immediately give away who I am.”
Cheong sneaked a glance at Paeng Cho-ryo’s expression. Rather than anger, the tall woman looked delighted.
“Then it sounds like our Cheong already has experience with a saber technique. And one that uses a greatsword, at that.”
“Well… I did pick one up on the way. It’s called the Blood Shadow Lightning Saber Technique.”
A martial art from the Demon King Saber Sect.
“Oh? From the Demon King Saber Sect?”
“Ah! You know it!”
“Is there any sect in the world that uses greatswords that I wouldn’t know about?”
In the first place, there weren’t many sects that wielded greatswords.
“Still, it’s fascinating how it connects to that wicked Demonic Cult martial art.”
“I killed their young sect leader and took it.”
“Excellent!!” Paeng Cho-ryo boomed. “I happen to have a spare greatsword. How about we spar? I’ll overlook the matter of you borrowing my nickname. What do you say?”
“Then I’d be more than happy to.”
After sweating to her heart’s content, she felt refreshed. It even brought back memories of the old days. Besides, Paeng Cho-ryo turned out to be an excellent instructor. Her proficiency with the Blood Shadow Lightning Saber Technique shot up rapidly.
That was why the sound of steel clashing rang out inside the Tang Clan residence every single day.
“Cheong, shall we explore the dao together?”
“I’d love to!”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Do you know what the largest and most beautiful weapon among all armaments is? It is the greatsword.”
“The greatsword!”
Clang! Clang!
“Isn’t the name ‘dao’ wonderful? It means to walk the path. Among daos, the one that follows the greatest principle is called the great dao. Therefore, the greatsword is the greatest among weapons.”
“Then let’s go cultivate the dao.”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Ah. Is there no one willing to share the dao with me?”
“Right here~”
As the two of them stuck together like glue, a certain woman watched the scene with tears in her eyes.
“That vixen. This cannot continue.”
Dang Nan-a’s gaze turned positively venomous.