Always Beware of Fire, Even After It's Extinguished
Whether sleeping or awake, always beware of fire. Even an extinguished flame must be checked again. Yet right after that thought, Yeon Pa let out a genuine gasp of admiration.
When in the world had she learned that technique and started using it? For a girl to possess such heavenly talent that she could master a manual the moment she skimmed through it… Ah, that’s right. She was the same one who had learned and put the Wave-Treading Micro-Steps to use, so what else was there to say? She truly was a once-in-a-generation genius.
But her admiration lasted only a moment. An imperial guard targeting the cartwheel came sprinting up alongside them. Killing intent exploded from Yeon Pa’s eyes.
The rotating demonic art spins the user's qi like a chainsaw, turning a slender blade into a merciless spinning saw of condensed energy.
How dare they! The royal carriage graced by His Highness’s own body!
A royal carriage originally meant the vehicle a king rode in. This one was far too shabby to deserve the name—nothing more than a sturdy military supply cart—but anything that carried a precious person became a treasure by definition.
Yeon Pa thrust out her slender sword. A blade no thicker than a finger yet exceptionally long. It looked as if it would snap on contact, yet once infused with the Jeonryun Mageop it became a demonic rotating saw whose spinning ring of sword qi could shred anything in its path.
The guard who had raised his qi-infused blade high was ripped open from armpit to heart by that very saw. His life ended in an instant.
One might call it too trivial a death for a Transcendent expert, but what martial artist in the world had any experience fighting a running rickshaw while running themselves? In that sense, the Golden Guards were carving a new chapter in the history of martial combat. As with most first attempts in human endeavor, however, the result was incredibly awkward.
The fundamental direction of martial arts is a straight line. Techniques extend in the direction the body moves; it is such an obvious truth that it hardly needs explaining.
But what about a rickshaw? Striking from behind did little damage. To destroy the wheels or attack the puller, one first had to match pace from the side and thrust the weapon laterally. On top of that, the cart was careening wildly down a steep slope. A clumsy chase would never catch up. Therefore, even delivering a single blow required a full-power sprint and every ounce of light-footwork technique just to get within range.
“Die!”
One guard shouted from Cheong’s left. She took a single step right. The qi-laden blade sliced cleanly through the innocent right shaft instead.
A miss! If you miss, you should at least hit something!
Deng!
The legendary palm strike slams into the guard's thigh with the weight of a temple bell, twisting the leg at an unnatural angle.
The guard’s leg crumpled. He landed headfirst, face planted against the ground in a perfect handstand, then scraped along for three full jangs before his neck gave out and he crashed onto his back.
Another guard leaped over the fallen man and closed in on Cheong again. A slender sword suddenly jutted out and sank deep into his shoulder. He spun violently and tumbled away.
It was Yeon Pa’s rotating saw blade.
At the same time, a scream came from the right. A man wearing a pigeon-shaped helmet clung to the carriage wheel, blade raised high. A shining edge—clearly a user of condensed qi. Ignoring the axe hammering his head and shoulder, he swung down with his right hand—
Whoosh. The blade cut only empty air.
Running at full speed with light footwork while trying to slash the left wheel with the right hand simply didn’t produce the right angle. What? A guy who’s at least Transcendent can’t even manage that? Were all the Golden Guards a little… off?
But the Jayu Cheong was protecting was the absolute king of being off, so it balanced out. They simply had to escape.
In the meantime, several guards who had kept their distance on both sides overtook the cart entirely and raced ahead. Far in front they skidded to a stop and turned to face her. Cheong leaped backward and planted herself upright on the driver’s seat.
The animal’s chest harness was tied to its breast, and since the chest of an ox or horse sits directly behind its head, the length had to be generous. It looked as if the draft animal had stepped off its axle and onto the driver’s seat itself. Naturally the cart pitched forward.
Thud! The support brace began scraping the ground with a horrible grinding noise.
Cheong gripped her Wolgwang Greatsword with both hands, stood it straight up, lifted one leg, twisted her waist—it hurt—then unleashed the coiled power in a full-power swing.
The attempt to block by overtaking her had been smart, but the result was a head sailing through the air and over the bushes.
“Diiie!”
Another guard who had pulled ahead on the left. Cheong stomped hard. The front of the cart bounced from the recoil, and the left shaft—its edge sharpened by sword qi—ripped violently into the guard’s stomach.
“Aaaaaagh!”
The impaled guard was slammed onto the driver’s seat, belly pressed against Cheong’s.
“How dare you board without permission! Death penalty!”
Cheong’s verdict crashed down on the guard. An extraordinarily harsh sentence for the crime, but when the esteemed imperial granddaughter Princess Yeon-sul was already playing the part of the mare, climbing aboard and pressing bellies could only warrant such a ruling.
The moment Cheong grabbed the chest harness again to rip it free, the view suddenly opened wide. The road at the bottom of the slope curved along the ridge, and the opposite mountain face came into clear view. Height unknown, but it was definitely a cliff. A sheer cliff.
The fact that the path had been strangely straight until now was the anomaly; mountain roads were supposed to wind. And if the chest harness was cut, the rickshaw would lose all control.
“Aish, seriously!”
Cheong leaped forward again to run in front of the cart.
“You wench!”
Apparently displeased with the verdict, the captain had caught up and roared. It wasn’t just a shout.
Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!
Three earth-shaking stomps slammed the ground. With terrifying speed he launched himself into the sky, then kicked off an invisible platform and shot forward like an arrow.
The captain’s elbow pulled back to his waist before thrusting upward. In a pose that somehow made one want to shout “Sorry!” the man flew like a living arrow.
Suddenly a flaming dragon shape surged up, wrapping around his arm and driving toward her with an open palm.
What the hell is that? Why does it look so cool! It couldn’t be a long flame, right? It had to be a Fire Dragon, a Fire Dragon!
But Cheong was the one who had sealed a white dragon in her own arm. She quickly switched the Wolgwang Sword to her left hand. From her right shoulder came the sound of scattering ice shards as an ice-eyed white dragon coiled around her arm.
Cheong thrust her palm forward without hesitation.
Ice and fire clash in a legendary showdown—except Cheong has no intention of actually meeting it head-on.
A magnificent battle straight out of legend! The captain gritted his teeth, eyes blazing with the resolve to end it with this single strike.
Of course Cheong couldn’t see his expression.
And at the moment of impact—
Cheong kicked the ground and hurled herself left, dodging completely.
Are you insane? Why would I take that head-on?
The enemies were many, but Cheong had only one life. In gaming terms, she was the mob. It was profitable for them to scratch her and die; for her it was pure loss. That was the truth she had always kept in mind while enjoying her hobby back home.
The captain’s full-powered strike sliced through empty air in vain because Cheong had feinted as if she would meet it, then dodged at the last instant. It could have been a magnificent clash to make one’s chest swell with pride, but since Cheong already possessed a magnificent chest, she saw no need to make it any larger.
Still, since she had already summoned the Frost Dragon, Cheong’s palm slammed down on the captain’s back. Because of his ridiculous speed, however, she missed the intended target and smacked his buttocks with a resounding smack!
A human flaming arrow—literally a human fire arrow—no, a palm wrapped in flames? Am I the Flame Palm now!?
The captain, properly struck on the rear hard enough to leave a massive bruise, crashed to the ground, slid, and shot straight underneath the supply cart.
Then the curving path appeared right before them—
Cheong urgently stretched out her arms, planted both feet, and leaned all the way back.
Thud. Back pressed against the driver’s seat, she dragged her feet with a long ziiiiip! Gritting her teeth, she fought to slow the cart.
The soles of the stolen fur shoes felt as if they were on fire. Then came a sudden flash of liberation, and a raw scream tore from Cheong’s throat. My soles!
According to the law that true pain leaves one unable to scream, the fact that she could still scream meant it was bearable. Human foot skin is tough to begin with, and Cheong’s transcendent foot skin was even tougher.
As the cart slowed, the guards closed the distance in a rush.
“The wheels!” Yeon Pa shouted.
Blades flashed on both sides of the axle at once. Cheong gritted her teeth and leaped forward again. The cart, having accelerated as if it had jumped, bounced with heavy thuds and scattered sparks.
Then another curve!
Once more the cart slid sideways in a spectacular acrobatic spin. Cheong’s expression hardened.
It was a hellish mountain pass shaped like a bow, continuing all the way down the steep slope below.
I’m going crazy. For real.
Since she couldn’t actually lose her mind, she would simply have to turn. Cheong frowned fiercely and gripped the cart’s intact shaft tightly. Adding any more speed would make the coming sharp turn impossible to handle. Even for Cheong, attempting a 180-degree turn at full speed would send the entire cart flying into the sky.
“Catch her! Catch her and kill her!”
Enraged shouts chased from behind. With every step the toe of her sole-less shoe slapped against the top of her foot. The tightly tied ankle strap kept it from flying off.
Each stride brought the pain of bare soles tearing against the road and the simultaneous sting of being whipped across the tops of her feet. Cheong gritted her teeth through the first turn!
The cart spun, yanking the chest harness. Cheong leaned almost completely forward, teeth clenched. A sudden crack—a fracture spread through her ribs. Ugh.
Her eyes rolled upward. The mentally checked-out Cheong was immediately overtaken by the cart behind her. The driver’s seat footrest slammed into the back of her knee while the sharp corner of the seat dug into her back.
“Aack!”
The pain felt as if her spine had folded in half. Her rolled-up eyes snapped back into place instantly.
What? It feels like I blacked out for a second.
Hoo, huk, heup— I can’t breathe.
Rickshaw or not, Cheong sat on the driver’s seat and desperately tried to catch her breath. The front support scraped along the ground with a long graaate, then finally snapped under the load with a loud crack.
The suddenly sinking cart provided recoil. Cheong used it to leap clear. Tears flooded her eyes, blurring her already unfocused vision, yet she could still see the line of enemies blocking the path ahead.
A rickshaw was supposed to follow the winding mountain road obediently, but true experts could simply jump straight down.
Could she break through them? And even if she did, could this body endure another turn on the mountain path?
Cheong glanced left, down the slope, then bellowed.
“Hold on tight! We’re falling!”
She abruptly changed direction midway down the pass. Following the bow-shaped road was no solution. Therefore—straight down like a funeral staff! Now it was truly a straight line, a straight line!
The moment the cart entered the cliff-like slope, Cheong ripped the chest harness free and threw herself onto the rickshaw.
Only then did Yeon Pa, now able to see ahead, cry out in horror.
“What madness is this!”
“It’s already too late anyway! Where’s Jayu!”
“Here, here.”
Cheong wrapped her arm around the horizontal bar, tucking it under her armpit, then pulled Yeon Pa and Jayu close, hugging them tightly. The cart shook as though it would shatter. The ride quality was the absolute worst.
The tremendous acceleration rattled through their bones. Thud! Impact against the ground. And now—was this the weightlessness she had only ever heard about?
Cheong’s body floated upward and caught on the bar. The two people she hugged rose with her. A beautiful hand groped around, grabbed a soldier, and dragged him behind her back, pulling him into the gap between the floating carriage and the three of them.
Immediately—
THUD!!!
Crack. The soldier’s ribs, acting as a cushion, shattered all at once.
“Ack!”
“Ugh!”
“Keuk!”
Screams burst from Cheong, Yeon Pa, and Jayu. There was no time to ask if they were all right. Once again the body floated up with a whoosh as the cart flew through the air.
“Aaaaaaaa……!”
One soldier left a trailing scream as he was bounced away. Flying, thud! Flying again, thud! Flying again, thud!
Since Cheong was facing the sky while hugging the other two, every time the carriage fell she took the full weight of two people on her own body. It was a good thing she had one cushion; otherwise she would have fainted long ago. In other words, it hurt just enough not to knock her unconscious.
Cheong clenched her teeth. Had she not possessed transcendent dental strength, they would have all shattered by now.
And finally the cart flew once more—
----
The guards stared at the cart in blank amazement.
The road having been carved in a bow shape meant it was originally a slope no person could climb. Running it in a straight line—no, people usually did not call such a sight “running.” They called it falling. Or consecutive falling.
So the guards stopped in their tracks and simply watched the supply cart’s flight, a sight rarely seen twice in a lifetime.
Had the captain been conscious he would have roared at them to give chase, but having slammed into the ground at full speed, he had yet to regain his senses. When he finally did, he would discover that one buttock had swollen enormously, leaving him permanently lopsided.
“Damn… that thing is ridiculously tough……”
One guard muttered. The others nodded in agreement. Coming from the Golden Guards themselves, it was high praise. The Northern Army’s iron general could be proud.
It was a scene the grand general—who had grumbled about wasting expensive rosewood on mere carts—should have witnessed. He would have understood then that the iron general’s claim of “one cart that lasts decades is far better” had been the truth.
And so the ridiculously sturdy cart was finally seen shattering into pieces during its last flight far below. Not by breaking or splintering, but by every joint coming apart, separating neatly into its component materials.
Rosewood was ironwood—wood harder than steel forged by mediocre blacksmiths. The separated cart, its scattered parts, and its passengers all flew through the air.
Then they fell.
Only then did the Golden Guards realize their mistake with a collective “Ah!”
Loud pillars of water erupted as a wide, powerful river caught the falling figures.
The great river that flowed northward from the northern ridge in the middle of the Namryeong Mountain Range.
It was the Musu River.
