Chapter 6
Chapter 6
0-Won Regression -3
So why was I suddenly robbing gambling houses blind today like a madman?
Because I was no longer in a position where I could afford to care about consequences.
Once Yeo Ilye fully digested her enlightenment, she would become a transcendent master.
And what level was transcendent?
Even if I hid in the deepest, safest room of the Wanderers’ Inn under its full protection, if Yeo Ilye drew her sword and stormed inside, she could absolutely kill me and escape afterward.
I could no longer trust the Wanderers’ Inn as a safe nest to curl up inside.
“Fold.”
My intuition hadn’t activated, so I folded.
[[Gambling Skill: Intuition] has activated.]
A groundless certainty struck me that the answer was even.
“One gold tael on even.”
[Intuition proficiency increases.]
The condition for raising Intuition proficiency was simple.
Win money by following Intuition’s guidance.
And the answer to why such a seemingly simple skill still hadn’t reached mastery until now was equally simple.
“Folded.”
[Intuition proficiency slightly decreases.]
If I lost money when Intuition didn’t activate, proficiency decreased.
Only by relying purely on Intuition to win money could the proficiency curve continue rising upward.
That was why I’d intentionally blown the game wide open tonight.
I deliberately latched onto professional gamblers and made them lose money.
So they would call even stronger gamblers.
So they would summon sacrifices capable of providing me more experience in a single night.
Was this gambler perhaps the fixer brought by Lady Sa?
My Intuition proficiency was rising visibly fast.
“Kyaah, looks like the cards are sticking together nicely.”
Outwardly, I acted completely uninterested in gambling, scratching myself lazily whenever possible.
Whenever an attractive waitress passed by, I deliberately turned my gaze toward her instead.
[Intuition proficiency 97.84%]
Right now, my life was on the line.
Every action I took was part of a strategy to provoke the gambler before me and make him lose his reason.
I needed the thought—
“Rather than avoid a direct match against trash like you, I’d sooner bite off my own tongue and die!”
—to burn so fiercely that it overwhelmed his sense of danger.
If that gambler stopped matching my seven-tael raises whenever Intuition activated, mastering the skill tonight would become impossible even if we gambled until dawn.
[Gambling Skill: Psychological Insight] whispered that the man before me would become even more aggressive if I displayed this careless attitude.
[Gambling Skill: Sleight of Hand] crafted movements guaranteed to irritate him most effectively.
[Gambling Skill: Iron Face] concealed my anxiety that Yeo Ilye might already have finished digesting enlightenment and be roaming Sichuan’s alleys searching for me.
[[Gambling Skill: Intuition] has activated.]
“One gold tael. Even.”
“Seven taels! Open it!”
[Intuition proficiency increases.]
[Intuition proficiency 98.14%]
“You bastard! Damn it all!”
“Heehit, hihihih.”
I poured every ounce of effort into controlling my opponent’s psychology.
The flow of the table was slowly shifting into my hands.
Well… rather than “flow,” it was more accurate to say luck had temporarily tilted in my favor.
Intuition was originally a skill with an extremely low activation chance.
Naturally.
Because its activation rate directly translated into increased win probability, making it an utterly broken skill.
Tonight, the goddess of fortune seemed to be smiling upon me, because those tiny odds kept triggering repeatedly.
But this wasn’t entirely good news.
Even someone blinded by rage would begin feeling alarmed if massive fortune struck repeatedly.
After losing twenty-one gold taels in an instant, the gambler’s expression finally suggested his runaway reason had returned.
‘…No choice.’
Even if it damaged my proficiency once, I’d have to let him win a little.
I needed to hand him the momentum at least once.
Otherwise, the gambler himself might collapse and leave the table.
“One gold tael on odd!”
“One gold tael on even.”
For the first time, I matched the gambler’s opening bet.
His eyes sharpened instantly.
Apparently he viewed this as an important turning point.
The gambler boldly threw down two gold taels.
Since I intended to lose anyway, I followed without hesitation.
“…Open it!”
But the result—
Odd.
What the fuck?
Weren’t you betting because you actually knew the result, you bastard?
Yeo Ilye stared blankly ahead.
Before her stood an enormous estate.
In spring, cherry blossoms once bloomed magnificently there.
In autumn, brilliant multicolored leaves filled the manor with dazzling beauty.
The estate had been large and beautiful.
And within it, Yeo Ilye spent her days cherished and loved.
That peace and warmth vanished in a single night.
When news spread that bandits were roaming nearby, her father hired wandering warriors for protection—
Only to die by their blades.
Her mother became a toy for those wanderers before eventually being murdered.
Lowering her gaze, she saw her younger self crouching inside the basement’s hidden vault.
Back then, hidden inside the vault, she could never have seen the estate burning.
But now the sight unfolded vividly before her eyes.
“Iron is only completed once cooled.”
Could she truly cast it aside?
Even now, closing her eyes summoned those memories with perfect clarity.
Could she truly escape this calamity-fire and become coldhearted?
Could she extinguish these flames?
The fire engulfing the vast estate rose endlessly toward the heavens.
It looked less like a simple blaze and more like a pillar of fire itself.
And seeing those flames exceed all limits, Yeo Ilye finally realized—
This was her inner self.
Something endlessly burning without purpose.
By the time acquaintances helped Yeo Ilye enter Mount Cang Sect, endure harsh training, and become an official disciple, all means of tracing those wanderers had long vanished.
‘Was it merely blind rage?’
Wanderers were trash.
Even while understanding she was now examining herself inwardly, Yeo Ilye did not deny that truth.
Wanderers were the sort who sometimes transformed into bandits or thieves at any moment.
And what of Sichuan?
Were they not people who willingly drenched themselves in blood and filth for money?
She felt no shame over punishing wandering warriors.
The only person she truly felt shame toward—
Was the mysterious wanderer who calmly explained martial principles to her.
That wanderer had done nothing wrong.
Yet she’d still tried to frame and kill him.
Even so, wanderers were trash.
Sewer rats who would do anything for money.
People lacking even the minimum mentality martial artists should possess.
Yet now she understood.
Or perhaps—
She had known all along.
Those people wore the appearance of wanderers.
But they likely weren’t true wanderers.
The calamity-fire that once burned down her home wrapped itself around Yeo Ilye.
And strangely—
She welcomed it.
Yes.
Let everything be tempered from the beginning again.
Iron must first be heated before taking shape.
Then let it burn completely and be forged anew.
Something melted and twisted by unbearable heat slowly straightened itself.
The horribly warped lump reshaped into something entirely new.
And alongside it, Yeo Ilye’s inner world transformed as well.
Her burned-down estate never returned to its former appearance.
But new things began stacking themselves atop the ruins.
Structures entirely different from the old manor slowly took shape inside her mindscape.
The flames gradually weakened.
Nothing remained eternal.
The calamity-fire, consumed while reshaping form, slowly lost strength.
When things reached their extreme, they reversed.
Prosperity inevitably declined.
Such was the law of the world.
The uncontrolled madness sustaining the calamity-fire finally faded according to that law.
Only then did Yeo Ilye realize something.
The reason this rage and hatred named calamity-fire had continued since childhood until now—
Was because she’d never truly used it properly.
She had twisted the limbs of wanderers beneath the name of justice.
But in truth, those actions had meant nothing at all.
Even the underground vault containing her younger self slowly disappeared.
Yeo Ilye met eyes with the child version of herself.
Inside that narrow underground space, the young girl stared back.
What filled those eyes?
Longing?
Resentment?
Hatred?
Or disappointment?
Still, Yeo Ilye calmly took in the image of her younger self one final time.
“Farewell, young me.”
All things in this world prosper and decline, changing form endlessly.
And now—
The time had come for young Yeo Ilye to transform into someone new.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself once again in the alleys of Sichuan.
“Things reverse at the extreme. Fire tempers, cold forges.”
She recalled the nameless wanderer.
Who was he?
Could he truly wield the Flying Dragon Twelve Swords?
What relationship did he have with Nangya Sword?
Perhaps he was Nangya Sword himself.
She had entered the transcendent realm.
Yeo Ilye understood that fact with perfect clarity.
The world had become incomparably vivid.
Even now, her internal energy swelled like a rolling snowball.
Once that snowball finally stopped rolling, unimaginable power beyond anything yesterday’s Yeo Ilye could conceive would rest within her grasp.
Yeo Ilye looked down at the sword in her hand.
“Ha…”
She had surpassed Jade Dragon Divine Hero Hyeok Girin, the wall she’d longed to overcome for so long.
But somehow—
She no longer cared.
Why had she wanted to surpass Hyeok Girin in the first place?
Wasn’t it simply because Hyeok Girin constantly interfered whenever she drew her sword, preventing her from unleashing her twisted killing intent freely?
Now none of that mattered anymore.
Yes.
None of it mattered.
Because Yeo Ilye had found a different goal now.