The Great Swordmaster’s Unrivaled Palm
The palm infused with the Great Swordmaster’s earth-shattering inner power—about two percent of it, give or take—smacked the child right across the backside.
SMACK-!
The sound of wet leather being cracked echoed through the air.
Then pain exploded outward from the child’s hips, surging in an instant all the way to the head and the tips of the toes.
This wasn’t just a spanking.
The beating carried the subtlety of Naegong technique, stirring up the meridians inside the body.
"....!!"
The child’s blurred eyes, dulled by the pain shaking every meridian, snapped back into focus.
That pain had hurt more than torture at the hands of adults ever had.
A new personal worst had been set, though Geom Mujin had no idea of that fact, and his hand moved again.
There was no such thing as a spanking that ended with a single blow anywhere in the world.
Smack, smack—! Smack! Smack! Smack!
He thrashed the child’s backside in a rhythm that felt strangely uplifting, almost nation-building.
"Do you know how freaked out I was because of you!?"
"Ahh... aah...!"
The child couldn’t get the words out through the pain.
If Geom Mujin had really put his mind to it, the backside would’ve been reduced to a mess of shattered flesh and bone.
He was only controlling his strength because this was, after all, a loving beating—so it stopped at “hurts like it’s been blown to pieces” instead of actually becoming pieces.
"I told you to—!"
SMACK-!
"—stay in the room!"
SMACK-!
"Did you or did you not screw up!?"
SMACK-!
"I... I messed... up...."
The child’s suffering was so intense that the apology came out on its own.
"You know that and you still did this?!"
SMACK-!
Geom Mujin had no intention of stopping there.
As O Teacher used to say:
Once you pick up the rod, make sure you do it properly! (No taking responsibility.)
"How many hits should I make— huh?"
Just as he was about to pose the most absurd question imaginable—how many lashes the child wanted—he stopped himself.
"Kid?"
He lifted the little one tucked under his arm.
"Sowwy... bum... hurts...."
Overwhelmed by the physical and mental agony, the child sagged limply, consciousness gone.
There were no tears, but the face had clearly fallen into a pained little frown, so the hurting must have been real enough.
"Looks like the eyes are back to normal too."
When he lifted the eyelid to check, the pupils had returned to their black color.
Huh. He’d taught the child a mental cultivation method to prevent exactly this sort of disaster, and yet here they were.
Maybe spanking works better than inner cultivation?
Was a good beating really the answer, better than making someone circulate qi three meals a day?
Shiver-!
For some reason, the child, sensing danger on some primitive level, twitched unconsciously in his arms.
"Phew... anyway, glad you’re safe."
They’d caused a scene right in the middle of enemy territory, but at least he’d found the kid early and managed to get him out safely.
If he’d been even a little later, the child would’ve been in danger too.
"Still, let’s get back to the inn, yeah?"
I gave the unconscious kid a stern warning.
If he started ignoring me like this right away, things would get troublesome, so I might as well straighten him out while I had the chance.
And you too, Sodam. You too.
—Kki, kkii!?
I pointed directly at the bird, who was very obviously pretending none of this had anything to do with him.
If only I could just toss him in oil and roll him in seasoning.
—Kkiiuuu...
As Sodam’s wings weakened, crushed under the weight of the disaster he himself had caused, a sharp scream rang out from the rear of the boat.
There was no way one of the escort guards had turned into a woman, so it had to be one of our people screaming.
Tap-tat!
Geom Mujin moved his feet at once.
"Nothing ever stops. Not ever."
* * *
While Geom Mujin had been showing his back and taking care of the rear—figuratively speaking—the Dang sisters and O Naho’s group found a ferry boat.
"There’s a ferry here!"
"Everyone, push."
They shoved it out onto the river and let it float.
Sploosh!
"This old man will board first."
Without even looking back, O Naho climbed aboard the ferry.
"Miss Yulin, Miss Seorin. Please, board quickly."
"Alright. Seorin?"
Dang Yulin patted her younger sister’s shoulder, the girl still staring blankly toward the back.
"Y-yes? What did you just say...?"
Dang Seorin, startled, asked again.
At that, Dang Yulin let out a small sigh.
"Seorin. I know you’re worried about the great hero, but right now we need to focus on getting out of here."
"...But the great hero still hasn’t come back, yo..."
She glanced back again.
"Benefactor told us to get out quickly. If we keep hesitating like this, we’ll only make things harder for him."
Hayoung explained it to Dang Seorin with cold, practical logic.
Were they supposed to be shameless enough to save only themselves?
The longer the people behind them kept moving, the better the chances that the rear guard would survive.
"Exactly. On top of everything else, three Goema have appeared in this cramped place. We don’t have time to waste."
For reasons no one understood, the Goema were currently wreaking havoc across the deck.
What, had they been smuggling Goema or something?
"Three...?"
At that, Dang Seorin muttered softly.
That number—three—clung to her mind in an odd, nagging way.
Common sense said Goema wouldn’t just pop into existence out of thin air.
The ones already aboard the boat must have turned into Goema, and that excluded the Baekmun Escort Agency.
That didn’t make sense, though, since they were the ones dying the most, and the Goema didn’t look like they were built for swimming across a river.
In other words, they weren’t from outside either.
Then, by process of elimination, there was only one possibility!
The cloaked men in masks!
Dang Seorin’s mind spun furiously.
How many people did I see in total...?
She had a naturally timid personality, but she wasn’t stupid, and the memory came back quickly.
Th-there were six, including the one who looked like their leader...!
But the leader had been fighting the escort master, so the remaining five must have been the Goema.
Three of them are here, but where are the other two...?
I don’t think there were any dead Goema...
A bad feeling crawled up her spine.
Slap! Slap!
Then she heard the sharp splash of water battering the side of the boat.
In the middle of the night on a river, that kind of spray...
"...No way..."
The intuition that usually preferred napping suddenly started working overtime.
"Alright! Now we really need to go—"
"N-no way!"
Dang Seorin yanked back the two people trying to pull her forward instead.
Creaaaak-!
"Wh-what’s wrong all of a sudden?"
"We can’t go."
Dang Seorin stared into the water as she spoke.
"There might be something in there... no, there is something in there."
"What?"
Dang Yulin and Hayoung looked puzzled at the bizarre claim, but the truth was revealed almost immediately.
"You there! If you’ve got no intention of coming—"
WHOOOSH-!
With a spray of water, something shot up from beneath the ferry.
CRASH-!
"Gahhh!"
O Naho, knocked back onto the deck by the impact, rolled across the bottom of the ferry.
"Kirrreee!"
"Qurrrrreee!"
Plap! Plap!
"Another Goema!"
Two more Goema followed and climbed aboard the boat.
Fishlike heads, scales covering their entire bodies, and hands and feet webbed like a frog’s.
The fish-formed Goema howled.
In their hands were corpses that looked like they’d been taken from escort guards who had fallen into the water.
Crunch! Crunch!
The fish-formed Goema happily tore into the bodies and ate them together.
Once they finished their meal, they turned their eyes to Dang Seorin’s group.
"Kirr!"
"Qurr!"
They couldn’t even speak properly, so they charged without a single word.
Their jaws, packed with serrated teeth, yawned wide open.
"Everyone, dodge!"
At Dang Yulin’s command, the three of them threw themselves aside.
CRUNCH-!
The fish-type Goema bit down on the floor and bounced off.
But there wasn’t just one Goema—there were two.
The other one came at Dang Yulin from the side.
"Miss! Move!"
"Move where, damn it? You need to tell me that too!"
Even as she said it, Dang Yulin used her footwork to slip free.
BOOM-!
The Goema scraped past where she’d been and smashed into the wall.
"Qurrr!"
It reset its stance in an instant and attacked again.
For something that looked like a fish, its claws were sharp as blades.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Tch."
Dang Yulin clicked her tongue.
Because they’d confiscated her hidden weapons and poison when she was captured, she couldn’t use hidden-weapon techniques or poison arts.
Then this is it!
Her eyes flashed, and instead of retreating, Dang Yulin stepped forward.
She made full use of her small build, slipping straight inside the enemy’s reach.
Inner power, unsealed from her dantian, gathered into her palm.
Red Lotus Poison—
The moment her palm touched the Goema’s solar plexus.
Slippery-slick—!
"...Huh?"
Her palm slid right off.
It was because of the mucus coating the Goema’s skin.
"Qurack!"
"Damn it...!"
The Goema, its eyes curving into crescent moons, opened its mouth wide.
"Miss!"
Hayoung, who had hurriedly grabbed a sword from the floor before the Goema could bite her mistress, swung it down.
Slippery-slick—!
But even her attack slid away on the mucus.
"Qurack!"
Thud-!
Angered at being interrupted, the Goema struck Hayoung aside.
"Ungh...!"
"Hayoung!"
Dang Yulin caught Hayoung as she was sent flying.
"Krrrkkk!"
"Ahahaha...!"
"......"
Dang Seorin was busy running from the Goema, while O Naho was pretending to be dead.
It was chaos, pure and complete.
"...Hayoung, I’m going to release it."
Dang Yulin spoke in a grave voice.
"Are you serious...? That is still an unfinished technique..."
"Maybe, but we don’t have any other choice."
"......"
Hayoung had no rebuttal for that.
"If it comes to it, I’m counting on you."
"Of course."
With that, Dang Yulin pressed her thumb against a series of pressure points on her own body.
Tap-tap-tap-!
Middle Cavity.
Sea of Energy.
Grandfather’s Grandson? No, no—
She released the seal her father, the One-Thousand-Poison Sovereign, had placed on her before she entered Cheonmu Academy.
—You must never release the seal unless you are within the family, Yulin.
Her father’s warning flashed through her mind, but there was nothing for it now.
Thump-!
As the seal came undone, the organs that had been in dormancy stirred awake.
With every beat, they began producing poison, and that poison flowed through her veins.
"Huuuu...."
Dang Yulin’s skin gradually took on the color of poison, and veins rose up all over her body.
Drip, drip— sizzle—!
Dark, murky sweat oozed from the sweat glands of her palms and began to corrode the floor beneath her.
Keep calm... if I use only the minimum, I should be fine.
"Kyaaah!"
"Kirrreee!"
Just as she drew in poison to reduce the Goema clutching her sister to a handful of poisonous sludge—
Whoooosh-!
"!?"
Geom Mujin flew past over her head.
"I don’t know what kind of fish you are, but this place is already packed."
Slash-!
He struck with the side of his hand, and the Goema’s head flew off.
Mucus?
That was a joke in front of the Seven Martial Stars.
"Kh, keeeagh!?"
Freed from the Goema’s grip, Dang Seorin landed hard on her backside.
"Kirr!"
"N-no, ahhh! Please spare me...!"
O Naho, seized as a snack by a Goema while trying to fake his death and run away, screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Take him instead! Go on, march to Meongro City!"
Geom Mujin drew the broken black sword from his waist and hurled it.
Thud-!
The black blade shot through the air in a straight black line and buried itself between the Goema’s brows.
"Phew... everyone okay, no one hurt...?"
After cleaning up the situation, Geom Mujin trailed off.
"Yulin..."
Dang Yulin, having taken the severed Goema head straight to the face, was trembling all over.
"Miss Yulin...!"
"Unnie!"
And she was still expelling poison from her entire body.