A Genius
“Say it,” Tang So-gang said coldly.
Soyeong was still lying flat on the floor.
“...Cough!”
The blow had been far too much for such a frail body to bear.
She had only just managed to gather internal energy in her dantian, and even that had been three days ago. Compared to Tang So-gang, who had trained for more than a dozen years since childhood, it was no more than dust.
Rubbing her throat, Soyeong gauged Tang So-gang’s level.
From the pressure I just felt, he’s definitely above first-class...
Above first-class.
The realm of true masters who stood beyond first-class.
The stage where the middle dantian opened, where inner energy and flesh were unified, and a human being became something greater than human.
People collectively called that realm Peak Realm.
Soyeong praised Tang So-gang inwardly.
For someone so young, he’s really something...
He looked like nothing more than a child barely past twenty.
And yet Tang So-gang was unquestionably a master of Peak Realm.
“Your martial skill is quite formidable.”
“Cut the flattery. Tell me your plan.”
Tang So-gang glared at her as he spoke.
The violent pressure from before was gone, but Soyeong could tell what he was doing.
He wasn’t easing his aura; he was suppressing it.
Keeping it bottled up, ready to explode at any moment.
If Soyeong’s proposal was absurd, that pressure would burst out like a volcano.
It had been a long time since she’d felt this kind of tension.
It’s been a while since I’ve thought I might actually die.
She had spent decades as one of the most renowned masters under heaven.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d lived with the certainty that someone else might take her life.
Every dormant cell in her body felt alive again.
Emotions she had forgotten long ago were stirring back to life.
This is fun.
She was enjoying this situation.
Thanking the heavens.
For letting her be reborn.
For allowing her to learn martial arts from the beginning all over again.
Yes, revenge and all that were really just excuses.
Soyeong wanted to fight strong opponents.
From her previous life onward, that was all she had ever known. A battle fiend through and through.
Watching Soyeong grin weakly to herself, Tang So-gang barked, “What are you smiling about!? Hurry up and tell me your plan!”
“You know I’m supposed to have a spar with Tang So-seol, right?”
“I’m not interested. Sparring among the weak is a waste of time.”
Tang So-gang meant it sincerely.
Soyeong could feel that much.
But he had said he wasn’t interested, not that he hadn’t heard.
So he knew about it.
That was enough.
“Do you think that sparring match is really such a huge deal?”
“It could be. You’re both direct blood of Father.”
Tang So-gang answered bluntly.
That reaction from him left Soyeong a little disappointed.
“You really think that’s all it is?”
“What? Then what else is there?”
Seeing his response, Soyeong let out a sigh.
She’d need to revise her assessment of him entirely.
Tang So-gang wasn’t a sturdy, straightforward martial artist. He was just dense.
“The spar between me and Tang So-seol is nothing more than a scheme by the first wife.”
“The first wife...?”
“She wants to use my spar with Tang So-seol to show the elders and the clan lord what value Tang So-seol has.”
“What? Wasn’t the first wife trying to make that girl the young clan lord?”
At that, Soyeong had to sigh again.
Even when she fed him the information bit by bit, asking him to think it through himself, he still wasn’t getting it at all.
So she decided to spell it out for him.
“The first wife wants to show Tang So-seol’s talent and make it seem like Tang So-seol stands beside the First Young Master.”
“How dare...”
Only after hearing that much did he seem to grasp how serious the situation was.
Soyeong briefly considered changing her plan on the spot.
She had meant to use Tang So-gang, but it looked difficult.
The kind of person who was easy to use was someone who thought a little for himself and was only moderately stupid.
Not someone as completely empty-headed as Tang So-gang.
“So you’re saying you have a way to twist the first wife’s plan?”
“Of course.”
“What does that have to do with teaching you martial arts?”
At last, she could get to the point.
In truth, Soyeong didn’t have many appealing options besides Tang So-gang anyway.
Even if the food set before you tasted awful, once it’s served, you have to eat it to the end, don’t you?
“Teach me one of the Tang Clan’s secret martial arts.”
“And how would that change anything?”
“It will change things.”
Soyeong pointed to her own chest and said with complete confidence, “Because I’m going to beat Tang So-seol.”
At that, Tang So-gang looked stunned.
“You’re going to beat So-seol? Impossible!”
“Why do you think that?”
“So-seol has reached first-class. She’s trained since childhood. But you haven’t even learned martial arts before, and you don’t have internal energy!”
“I do have internal energy.”
“...What?”
Soyeong held out her left arm.
Tang So-gang, still looking doubtful, checked her pulse.
It was there. Clearly... it was there.
“How is this possible?”
“I picked up a bit on my own by watching over someone’s shoulder. No one ever taught me.”
She left out the part about creating her dantian for the first time three days ago.
Even if it were true, he wouldn’t believe it anyway.
“But that’s only second-class at best. You can’t beat So-seol, who has already reached first-class.”
“Do you really think that?”
“What?”
Tang So-gang asked in obvious confusion.
Ignoring that, Soyeong asked again, “Do you really think a lower realm martial artist can’t defeat a higher realm one?”
Of course.
Tang So-gang had been about to say exactly that.
In his common sense, someone of a lower realm could never beat someone higher.
That was why every martial artist under heaven staked their life on raising their realm, wasn’t it?
But if that was true, then what were those eyes?
That unwavering certainty, as if she were saying there was a way?
“You think you can win?”
“Not absolutely. But there’s more than one way.”
“Explain.”
Tang So-gang’s pressure finally eased.
Only then did he seem willing to listen to the end.
Soyeong held up three fingers.
“There are three reasons I can beat Tang So-seol.”
“Three?”
“One. Tang So-seol is letting her guard down right now. She won’t think I’ve learned martial arts at all.”
“Mm.”
Tang So-gang nodded.
Even he hadn’t thought Soyeong had learned martial arts until just now when he checked.
“Two. Tang So-seol is under pressure. What started as a simple spar for settling a grudge has suddenly become a major event. It’ll be unexpected.”
At Soyeong’s words, Tang So-gang nodded almost dreamily.
What had started as a petty dispute had somehow become one front in the struggle for the young master’s position.
There was no way Tang So-seol wouldn’t be tense.
Before long, Tang So-gang was being swept along by Soyeong’s reasoning.
Listening to it, it had a strangely persuasive ring to it.
If there were just one more solid reason, Tang So-gang was ready to believe her.
“And three.”
Tang So-gang swallowed and waited.
Soyeong smiled brightly.
“I’m kind of a genius.”
“...What?”
Tang So-gang felt his mind go blank.
Seeing Soyeong grin at him so shamelessly only made it worse.
So, in other words...
“Your basis for beating So-seol is that you’re a genius?”
“That’s right.”
“...Ha!”
Tang So-gang let out a hollow laugh.
But his face wasn’t smiling at all.
So this was what happened when exasperation reached its limit, he realized.
He was left with one problem now.
How was he supposed to shake off this younger sibling who kept calling herself a genius?
“You don’t seem to believe me, so teach me for just ten days.”
“Ten days is too much to waste on you.”
Apparently Soyeong had gained some confidence in martial arts from learning a little on her own.
Unfortunately, there were no shortcuts in martial arts.
Only those who invested steady effort and time could climb higher.
Creating a dantian without a proper teacher was commendable.
But only to that extent.
What a waste of time.
Tang So-gang’s interest in Soyeong began to cool.
Seeing that, Soyeong gave a bitter smile and muttered, “He doesn’t believe me.”
If words weren’t enough to convince him, there was nothing for it.
She would have to show him with her own hands.
Soyeong stepped in front of Tang So-gang, who had picked up his throwing knives and was settling back into his stance.
Tang So-gang warned her in a frigid voice, “Move. You’ll get hurt.”
“You don’t seem to believe me when I say I’m a genius.”
Soyeong picked up the practice throwing knife that had fallen to the ground.
Even if it was only a practice knife, it was still one used by the Tang Clan’s direct bloodline.
It was an exceptionally well-made blade.
Tang So-gang watched her pick it up and felt puzzled.
She was just a child who had only barely reached second-class in martial arts.
On top of that, her internal energy wasn’t even Tang Clan style, and she didn’t have a single callus on her hands.
She was clearly someone who hadn’t properly learned martial arts. What could she possibly do with a throwing knife?
Throwing knives were notoriously difficult hidden weapons to master.
They didn’t necessarily fly where you wanted them to just because you threw them, and they were hard to use for killing unless you had great skill.
Only after countless throws and countless cuts could one begin to grasp their rhythm.
There was no way a beginner could use them easily.
And yet...
“Like this?”
Soyeong gripped the knife and took her stance.
Tang So-gang knew that stance.
It was the very stance he had been practicing over and over just moments ago.
It was the posture of Chasing Soul Flying Knife, one of the Tang Clan’s secret throwing-knife techniques.
More specifically, it was the Chasing Soul Chasing the Moon stance, infamous for how difficult it was.
Even he, already in Peak Realm, had practiced it endlessly and still fallen just short of perfecting it.
“You... that’s...”
Before Tang So-gang could even finish speaking, Soyeong’s wrist flicked sharply, and the knife in her hand vanished.
In an instant, it became two, then returned to one.
And then, with the target directly ahead, it became four again.
-CRACK!
The sound of the knife piercing the target rang out.
Only a single knife was embedded dead center in the bull’s-eye.
“That’s impossible...”
Tang So-gang muttered dazedly.
Perfect.
It was the most perfect Chasing Soul Chasing the Moon he had ever seen.
In his memory, there had been only one person who could display that level of mastery.
Father...?
The clan lord, Tang Cheon-ak, one of the Ten Great Masters of Murim. The shadow of his biological father seemed to overlap with Soyeong’s form.
Seeing Tang So-gang staring at her blankly, Soyeong smiled and said, “Well? Pretty talented, right?”
Tang So-gang could only nod, still dazed.
One word kept circling in his mind as he looked at Soyeong.
Genius.
That child was a genius.