Chapter 21: Blood Sword Fragrance Ok-ryeong-2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 21: Blood Sword Fragrance Ok-ryeong-2
Blood Sword Fragrance, Ok-ryeong.
She was originally the daughter of a retired Hanlim scholar, a woman raised in a household far removed from the world of martial artists.
Though they were poor, she received a high level of education unusual for a woman of her time. Even at a young age, she possessed a natural grace and a wisdom far beyond her years, making her a rare find.
Her father was strict, yet he cherished and loved her more than anyone. Her mother always wore a benevolent smile, embracing her and showering her with selfless affection.
While their lives couldn't be called affluent, she was raised in a harmonious home and lived a life happier than anyone else in the world.
Then, one day, her happiness was shattered.
Ju-tae, the "Evil King" who was notorious as a leader of the Evil Sect at the time, saw her mother and fell in love at first sight.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ju-tae raped her. Overcome by shame, Ok-ryeong’s mother took her own life.
Ok-ryeong’s father was plunged into despair. He reported Ju-tae to the local magistrate’s office, but even the authorities could not impose any real punishment on the Evil King.
Ju-tae’s power was not something a mere local magistrate could handle.
Refusing to give up, Ok-ryeong’s father set out to appeal directly to the provincial governor to plead his grievance. A few days later, however, he was found dead.
Though everyone spoke in hushed whispers, the circumstances made it clear that the Evil King, Ju-tae, had murdered him.
Overnight, Ok-ryeong became a lone orphan with no one to turn to. Drowned in sorrow, not a day passed that she did not weep.
Her strict but dependable father and her infinitely benevolent, beautiful mother no longer existed in this world.
Then, one day, men with fierce countenances barged into her house. They thrust a promissory note in her face, demanding she pay back a debt.
The note detailed a gambling debt allegedly incurred by her deceased father, complete with his signature at the bottom.
It was an obvious forgery; her father, who had lived a life of integrity and honor, would never have gambled. She knew it was fake the moment she saw it.
However, as a powerless woman, there was no way for her to stand against these hulking men.
They grabbed her by the hair and dragged her away. Just as she was on the verge of being forcibly sold to a brothel, she was rescued by a martial artist who happened to be passing by.
That martial artist was Lee Ok-seon, the previous generation’s Heavenly Sword Empress. She made short work of the thugs who were dragging Ok-ryeong away under such absurd pretenses, sending them all to the afterlife.
After hearing Ok-ryeong’s story, Lee Ok-seon took pity on her and took her in. Thus, Ok-ryeong entered the Baekgeom Sect, a sect where techniques were passed down to only one disciple per generation.
Haunted by the memory of her parents’ horrific deaths, she ground her teeth and immersed herself in her martial arts training.
Twenty years later.
In the year she turned thirty, she made her first official debut in the Murim.
It was an age that felt somewhat late for a debut, but it didn't take long for her unconventional path to leave the world in shock.
Her journey began at an inn in a small village in Zhejiang Province.
At the time, a master of the Evil Sect named Do-gyun, known as the "Eight-Chasing Sword," was staying at the inn. He was a renowned Peak Martial Artist.
When Ok-ryeong entered the inn, Do-gyun was immediately overcome by lust.
Her elegant, beautiful features and her mature, ripe figure created a unique aura—one where seductiveness and virtue coexisted. Captivated by this atmosphere, Do-gyun attempted to violate her.
Instead, his head was severed in a single strike.
Do-gyun had been a member of the Geoak Sect, a massive Evil Sect organization where the Evil King Ju-tae served as the leader. Infuriated by Do-gyun’s death, Ju-tae issued a pursuit order against her.
And so, the war between Ok-ryeong and the Geoak Sect began.
It was a brutal conflict, one that left mountains of corpses and seas of blood in its wake. Once her sword was drawn, it knew no rest.
After cutting down hundreds of Geoak Sect members, she finally reached her parents' murderer, the Evil King Ju-tae. Though he was a master who had reached the pinnacle of the Super-Peak Realm, his head fell to her blade in a single stroke.
Even after her revenge was complete, she continued to slaughter any members of the evil and heretical sects she encountered. Because the scent of the blood of the wicked always followed whenever she drew her sword, people began to call her "Blood Sword Fragrance" out of both awe and fear.
After leaving behind a legacy of vengeance and countless acts of chivalry, she suddenly vanished.
Though she had reached the supreme Transcendent Realm at the young age of thirty, she was not satisfied. To reach the Profound Realm—the stage of a Half-Immortal—she secluded herself on White Flower Peak and redoubled her training.
Then, one day, while deep in her meditations...
While walking along White Flower Peak, Ok-ryeong discovered a strange man collapsed on the ground.
To the many villains of the Evil Sect, she was an iron-blooded woman without a drop of blood or a tear to spare. But by nature, she was kind and warm-hearted. She took the man to her residence and treated him herself. In the process, she discovered that he possessed the "Heavenly Martial Body."
The Heavenly Martial Body was a legendary constitution said to allow one to achieve high mastery in any martial art, regardless of its type.
Because someone born with the Heavenly Martial Body has their upper, middle, and lower dantians all fully opened, reaching the peak of any martial art was not difficult.
With the upper dantian open, they possessed such high comprehension that they could replicate any technique perfectly after seeing it just once.
With the middle dantian open, the limit of internal energy they could hold was incomparably vast compared to an ordinary person.
Furthermore, because their acupoints were naturally strong and wide, the amount of energy they could accumulate at once was staggering, making their training three to four times more efficient than others.
In short, it was a constitution so perfectly suited for martial arts that it was considered a fantasy among martial artists.
In the hundreds of years of Murim history, the Heavenly Martial Body had appeared only twice. Both owners had mastered their arts to the ultimate degree and were cited as candidates for the Greatest of All Time.
Ok-ryeong had confirmed the existence of this legendary body, and she felt a secret surge of ambition.
Though he was born with the Heavenly Martial Body, he had no internal energy at all, and his physical body was completely unrefined. This made her desire even stronger.
If the man before her could become the greatest under heaven—perhaps even the greatest in history—using the techniques of the Baekgeom Sect, the sect would achieve a feat that would be remembered forever.
She mentally marked the unconscious man as her disciple and waited for him to wake up.
Eventually, the man awoke and introduced himself as Lee Jae-won.
He claimed he had been a wanderer with no family or friends, had gotten lost on White Flower Peak, and had collapsed from hunger.
Hearing Lee Jae-won’s story, Ok-ryeong felt pity and relief simultaneously.
She felt pity because his situation—losing his parents at a young age—mirrored her own, and she felt relief that he did not belong to any other sect.
She encouraged Lee Jae-won to learn martial arts, and he readily agreed, performing the formal nine-kowtow rite before her.
Thus began their life together as master and disciple.
True to his Heavenly Martial Body, Lee Jae-won began to soak up Ok-ryeong’s teachings like a sponge. Within just six months of becoming her disciple, he reached the Super-Peak Realm.
Ok-ryeong was amazed by his rapid progress and cared for him with even greater affection.
Then, one day...
Lee Jae-won, who had been harboring lust for Ok-ryeong, made his move.
Having spent his days salivating over Ok-ryeong’s elegant beauty and ripe figure, he finally poisoned her with Energy-Dispersing Poison.
Of course, for someone of Ok-ryeong’s Transcendent Realm, she could have burned away such poison with her internal energy the moment she noticed it.
But Lee Jae-won was wicked and meticulous. To prevent such an outcome, he didn't poison her all at once. Instead, he secretly administered the ingredients of the poison over several days. As a result, she temporarily lost all her internal energy.
No matter how great a master of the Transcendent Realm she was, without her internal energy, Ok-ryeong was nothing more than a fragile woman before Lee Jae-won, who was now a Super-Peak master.
Her pure body, which she had protected for thirty years, was violated by Lee Jae-won’s sinister plan. She lost her virginity.
Even after that, Lee Jae-won continued to poison her periodically to prevent any retaliation and began to rape her incessantly.
In Lee Jae-won’s sexual acts, there was no affection or consideration for Ok-ryeong as a woman.
It was just a cycle of insertion, withdrawal, and ejaculation.
He violated her like a beast, treating her as if only his own satisfaction mattered.
And so, Blood Sword Fragrance Ok-ryeong lived as Lee Jae-won’s sexual outlet until he reached his desired realm.
Faced with the betrayal of the disciple she had trusted and the loss of her cherished purity, Ok-ryeong felt despair rather than anger.
Because she felt they shared a similar past, she had treated him with even more kindness and affection, yet Lee Jae-won had repaid that grace with acts worse than those of a beast.
When Lee Jae-won first violated her, she had secretly even thought of marrying him.
She had wondered if he did this because he loved her so much he couldn't help himself.
But it was all a delusion.
He never whispered words of love, nor did he treat her with tenderness. He simply discharged his lust like an animal.
Lee Jae-won did not love her; he saw her as nothing more than a tool for his sexual release.
His subhuman behavior continued until he reached his peak, and she was tormented until both her body and mind were utterly exhausted.
Once he reached his desired realm, Lee Jae-won abandoned her and left White Flower Peak, never to return.
Even later, when she heard news that he had mastered the Sage's Martial Arts, thwarted the Heavenly Demon Emperor’s plot, and saved the Murim, she still thought he might come back to ask for her forgiveness.
But Lee Jae-won never came, and the wound in her heart grew larger by the day.
When she heard the news that he had married numerous women, she felt as if her heart were being torn apart.
Though it was a forced relationship, was he not the man who had taken her purity?
She briefly imagined him calling for her, but such a thing never happened.
As if he had forgotten her entirely, Lee Jae-won never visited for the rest of his life, leaving an indelible scar on the heart of Blood Sword Fragrance Ok-ryeong.
Deeply wounded, Ok-ryeong shut herself away on White Flower Peak and never stepped foot in the Murim again.
Ok-ryeong was taking a stroll near White Flower Peak.
This was her favorite time of day.
The sound of chirping birds, the trees glowing in shades of green, and the warm sunlight enveloping her—only during these moments did she feel her past pain was slightly diluted.
Step, step.
As she walked slowly along the mountain path, a black object appeared in the distance.
'This is a secluded place. What is that?'
White Flower Peak, where she lived, was a place without bandits or slash-and-burn farmers, so her curiosity was piqued.
Tap, tap.
She utilized a movement technique and dashed there in an instant, quickly identifying the object.
A boy in a black martial arts uniform was collapsed on the ground.
He looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old.
Covered in dust from head to toe, he was a pitiful sight that naturally evoked compassion.
She approached the boy and checked his condition.
She was immediately taken aback.
The boy’s body was as hot as a fireball, and his pulse was beating at an abnormally fast rate.
'This is dangerous.'
These were the symptoms of someone who had incorrectly consumed a spirit herb containing Yang energy.
If proper measures weren't taken, the boy would lose his life.
She began to deliberate seriously.
To treat the boy’s body, she needed medicinal herbs containing Yin-cold Qi.
However, those herbs were at her residence. To save him, she would inevitably have to take him there.
This was the source of her hesitation.
Ever since she was scarred by Lee Jae-won, she had become fearful of people.
The thought of bringing a male into her home filled her with dread.
Yet, she couldn't bring herself to abandon a boy whose life was in danger. Her conflicting emotions began to clash within her.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
Just then, the boy’s ragged breathing reached her ears.
"Ah..."
Hearing that sound, Ok-ryeong’s internal conflict intensified. It felt as if the boy would die at any moment.
"I can't let that happen..."
Having finally made up her mind, she let out a long sigh and approached the boy.
"Young Master, please bear with it a little longer."
She soothed the boy with a gentle voice, lifted him up, and placed him on her back.
Then, she activated her movement technique and sped across White Flower Peak.
Tap, tap, tap.
As he hung on Ok-ryeong’s back, a smile played across the boy’s lips.