The End of the Duel
As soon as the duel began, Tang So-seol charged Tang Soyeong.
Fast. Flashy. Her footwork was so light and quick that she seemed to vanish from sight for an instant between steps.
It was the secret footwork passed down to the women of the Tang Clan.
Heavenly Moon Step.
“Heavenly Moon Step!”
“The Third Young Lady’s martial achievement is remarkable!”
From the stands, loud voices rose in praise of Tang So-seol’s skill.
They were plants the First Wife had seeded there in advance.
As soon as the mood was set, the entire audience began to regard Tang So-seol’s footwork with admiration.
In response, Tang So-seol only kept circling around Soyeong.
It’s like a play.
Soyeong sneered at the situation in her heart.
In this performance, Tang So-seol was the star, the claque filled the supporting seats, and the real audience was Tang Clan Lord and the elders.
So I’m the villain, then?
That suited her just fine.
Well then. Let’s see how a villain moved.
The moment Soyeong decided that, So-seol rushed in behind her.
Then she swung her arm hard, packing it with inner energy.
The move spread hidden weapons and needles from her sleeve along the path of the strike.
Flying Swallow Mirage Hand.
If Soyeong dodged the arm strike, the hidden weapons would rain down on her.
She can’t escape!
So-seol was certain of victory.
-Paaak!
That was before Soyeong sharply knocked aside the arm So-seol had swung at her.
“Huh?”
-Clang.
The strike was deflected, and the hidden weapons that had not yet been launched rolled across the floor.
Needles, throwing stars, flying blades.
The pitiful sound of light metal bouncing on the ground rang out.
What just happened?
Tang So-seol could not understand the situation before her.
No, she understood the move itself.
Flying Swallow Mirage Hand had no way to be dodged, and no way to be blocked.
The only way to break it was either to slip behind the user’s back or to strike the arm down before the strike was fully released.
Soyeong had broken the technique using the latter method.
But how?
What So-seol could not comprehend was that Soyeong had done it at all.
She had poured in every ounce of inner energy to prevent the move from being interrupted midway.
But just before that power fully gathered and took effect, just before the strike could truly be unleashed, Soyeong had slapped her arm aside.
As a result, all that overwhelming force had been neutralized before it could even be fired.
“You look confused.”
“......!”
In that fleeting instant, the one who woke Tang So-seol from the swirl of thoughts in her head was Soyeong’s low voice.
Soyeong was smiling at her.
Like someone watching a child’s little performance.
“You’ve got to hide it a little better. If you go around telegraphing every little thing, of course I’m going to want to stop it.”
“...... How insolent!”
Tang So-seol quickly put distance between them.
Flying Swallow Mirage Hand was a technique she still had not fully mastered.
But because of its difficulty and flashiness, her mother had ordered her to use it.
That it had failed was frustrating.
Still, Soyeong’s skill was far greater than So-seol had expected.
But she’s still only second-class!
From that exchange, So-seol had confirmed that Soyeong was still only second-class.
It had surprised her that a former third-class with no inner energy at all had become second-class in such a short time.
But that was all it was.
There was no way for a second-class fighter to defeat a first-class one.
“Let’s see you block this one too!”
Keeping her distance, So-seol flung dozens of needles from her sleeves.
And with every sweep of her arms, they multiplied tenfold, until hundreds of needles were hurtling toward Soyeong.
Another of the Tang Clan’s secret arts.
Storm Rain Pear Blossom.
“Storm Rain Pear Blossom!”
“The Third Young Lady’s martial talent really is something else!”
As expected, the stooges in the stands shouted again.
At the sight, Soyeong had trouble keeping from laughing.
What kind of face would they make when that supposedly magnificent technique was broken so easily?
Hundreds of needles poured down like rain.
If every one of them landed, the wounds would certainly be fatal.
But it’s crude.
Soyeong immediately removed the long robe she was wearing and whipped it toward the incoming needles.
A normal, perfect Storm Rain Pear Blossom could not be stopped by nothing more than a flung robe.
But Tang So-seol’s Storm Rain Pear Blossom was rough and clumsy to the extreme.
The needles don’t carry enough inner energy or force.
The first few needles slammed into the robe Soyeong had swung, stopping them short.
And the little gust created by the robe subtly twisted the paths of the incoming needles.
The result was pitiful.
-Tchak, tchak, chaaang!
Following their carefully constructed trajectories, the needles racing toward Soyeong collided with one another and fell disgracefully to the floor.
In a single move, with nothing more than removing her robe and swinging it, she had broken the technique.
“......”
Silence fell over the martial arena.
Even the plants who had been shouting praise for Tang So-seol’s martial arts a moment ago shut their mouths.
The people of the Tang Clan were all familiar with martial arts.
So if they had eyes, they knew what they were looking at.
Tang Soyeong’s prowess was completely overwhelming Tang So-seol’s.
“Th-this young lady’s skill is more impressive than I expected?”
“I’d heard she had a rotten personality, but… I never knew her martial arts were this strong.”
“Looks like the Clan Lord’s blood hasn’t gone anywhere after all.”
Before long, murmurs of praise for Soyeong began to spread through the stands.
Of course, there was no way Soyeong had planted people there.
It was simply that anyone watching could see it for themselves.
Who in this duel was displaying the superior martial ability.
She had no flashy techniques, but she had already broken Tang So-seol’s attacks twice.
And both times, with terrifying ease.
“Since when has this young lady been training in martial arts?”
“She couldn’t have had a proper teacher, could she...?”
“My word! Then she learned all this by herself?”
As the standoff between Soyeong and Tang So-seol dragged on, the voices from the stands grew louder and louder.
In awe of Soyeong’s achievement, they soon arrived at a single conclusion.
“It seems this young lady’s talent is greater after all.”
“...... Tch!”
Tang So-seol’s expression collapsed when she heard that.
She could no longer focus on the duel properly.
Since when had that started?
When Soyeong broke Storm Rain Pear Blossom? Or when she broke Flying Swallow Mirage Hand?
No, not then.
Tang So-seol had been unable to focus from the very beginning, because of her mother, whose face was twisted in fury beside her father.
“What are you thinking?”
Soyeong appeared in front of Tang So-seol.
She had closed the distance while So-seol’s attention was elsewhere.
Using her index and middle fingers, Soyeong gave So-seol’s forehead a light shove.
“Ah…?”
Losing her balance, So-seol toppled backward and landed hard on her backside.
Falling meant defeat.
That was a rule accepted without question among martial artists.
Tang So-seol hurriedly looked around.
Every face in the stands was staring at her in shock.
Damn it…!
Only then did So-seol realize that she was still in the middle of a duel.
She turned her gaze back and looked up at Soyeong, who had sent her sprawling.
The look of a strong opponent, looking down from above.
Tang So-seol had seen that look before.
Her father’s look, that supreme master who had reached a realm no one could catch up to, no matter how long they trained.
Tang Cheon-ak’s look.
Soyeong was looking at her with that same gaze.
“Eek...!”
So-seol let out a groan before she could stop herself.
A sudden surge of fear.
It was an emotion she had never known as a cherished direct daughter of the Tang Clan Lord.
Seeing that, Soyeong said in a disappointed tone, “That’s it?”
“...... What?”
“That’s it. That stuff from before, and the stuff before that too—it’s not even your strongest technique, is it?”
Looking at Tang So-seol as she stared blankly at her, Soyeong smiled and went on, “So show me the real thing. The technique you’re most proud of.”
The words were arrogant, like a master speaking to an inferior.
So-seol, burning with rage, shot to her feet and put distance between them in an instant.
“...... Don’t regret this.”
At this point, Tang So-seol no longer cared about anything.
Not that this was a friendly duel, and not that her mother had told her to win as dazzlingly as possible.
I’ll kill her!
It no longer mattered.
Everything Soyeong had said was true.
Tang So-seol had not shown a single one of her own true techniques on this dueling stage.
Until now, it had all been hidden weapons.
Because the thing So-seol was most confident in was not some lowly trick like that.
“Die!”
From Tang So-seol’s sleeves, a blackish-purple poisonous mist poured out.
It moved as though it had a will of its own, crashing straight toward Soyeong.
A technique strictly forbidden by the Tang Clan during duels.
Black Lotus Flower.
Like a black lotus in bloom, the blackish-purple mist spread around Soyeong’s body.
“This is ridiculous, poison art?”
“Everyone back up! It’s dangerous!”
“Using poison in a duel? Has she lost her mind?”
In an instant, chaos broke out around the martial arena.
The spectators all cursed Tang So-seol as they hurriedly put distance between themselves and the stage.
The elders watching the duel were all stunned.
The First Wife’s face, twisted in vicious rage, was just a bonus.
Using poison during a duel was forbidden.
That was an unwritten rule circulating quietly within the Tang Clan.
The moment she ignored it and used poison, Tang So-seol had lost.
But that fact no longer mattered to her at all.
“Die… die… dieee!!”
Tang So-seol had already broken.
The tension of the duel.
The pressure her mother had placed on her.
The inferiority born from Soyeong’s overwhelming talent.
Even the fear that had bloomed from all of it.
All that pressure had ultimately led to the disaster of her using poison art.
Surely Soyeong would be screaming and dying inside that poisonous mist.
“...... Is that all?”
But what came back was Soyeong’s voice, sounding strangely disappointed.
And then two flying blades burst through the poison mist.
...... Two flying blades?
Tang So-seol saw them clearly.
Flying blades shot straight toward her through the poison mist.
It was probably a final desperate counterattack before Soyeong died.
One vanished!
But in an instant, one of the blades became one.
It hadn’t fallen to the floor either.
That meant she had simply lost sight of it.
While So-seol was still reeling from the missing blade, the flying blade multiplied into four.
Four…?
So-seol could not understand it.
Why had the two blades become one, then four again?
It was too late to block, too late to evade.
Just as the flying blades were about to pierce Tang So-seol’s forehead, she sensed her end and shut her eyes.
“...... Hah!”
What she heard, however, was Soyeong’s mocking laugh.
Tang So-seol was not dead.
She cautiously opened her eyes.
In front of her, a single flying blade had come to a stop.
Someone’s two fingers were holding the blade in place.
The person who had caught it with their fingers was someone So-seol knew very well.
“F-father?”
The Tang Clan Lord, Tang Cheon-ak.
Somehow, he had appeared on the martial stage and caught the flying blade Soyeong had thrown.
And the poisonous mist So-seol had created had vanished as well.
Did the Clan Lord do that too?
Soyeong thought as she looked at the now-spotless surroundings.
Poison was a kind of qi.
Once qi was expelled, no one else could casually remove it.
But once one surpassed a certain realm, it became possible to interfere with another’s qi.
Which meant…
“Tang Soyeong.”
“......!”
Before she realized it, the Clan Lord was standing in front of Soyeong.
He looked down at her with a cold gaze.
Without a word, he raised his right hand...
-Smack!
...and slapped Soyeong across the left cheek.
Sharp pain and the taste of blood spread through her mouth.
Soyeong glared at the Clan Lord with icy eyes, her cheek still stinging from the blow.
For a moment, killing intent flared.
Meeting that murderous stare, the Clan Lord only looked down at her impassively.
In a cold voice, he said, “You’re out of line.”
-Smack!
The Clan Lord’s hand struck Soyeong’s cheek once more.