The Taegeuk Pill
...So there really was no other way?
My once-colorless internal energy began to circulate according to the mantras of the Two Extremes Limitless Divine Art, swelling in size and bulk as it shifted into black and white.
For the first time in my life, I felt power surging through every inch of my body.
Sword arts, blade arts, spear arts — in the end, they were nothing more than vessels to hold power. The true foundation of strength was internal energy itself, and that energy flowed from the cultivation of the heart and mind.
And as I operated the Two Extremes Limitless Divine Art, I came to realize something I had never understood before.
"Wait... I'd already gained this back when I copied the Taegeuk Wisdom Sword, hadn't I?"
Of all the martial arts I had copied until now, I hadn't merely taken the techniques themselves — the sword arts, the blade arts...
I had acquired the very heart-arts buried within them as well.
Simply because I had never realized it, I had never been able to use it.
Thanks to the old man before me unleashing the Three Calamities Sword Art, I had been able to focus not on the technique, but on the divine art enshrined within it.
Had it not been for that, I never would have grasped the Two Extremes Limitless Divine Art at all.
I channeled my swollen power into the tip of my blade and looked up at the blue waterfall of qi crashing down toward me.
"..."
Somehow, the momentum behind that attack felt anything but ordinary.
I'm grateful she's not using sword qi, but can I actually block that?
Careless or not, it was still a strike from a master of the Flower Realm.
I would have to burn everything I had right now.
I drew together every last drop of my internal energy without reserve and poured it into the sword.
Blending the intent of the Heaven's Thunder Sword Art into the Two Extremes Limitless Divine Art, I unleashed it from my fingertips.
Dark-cyan lightning flashed amid the swirling black and white energy.
Heavenly Flower Peak Art and Heaven's Thunder Sword Art, combined —
Heavenly Thunder Annihilation Calamity!
KWARURURUNG—!
Thunder of three colors roared as it began its ferocious descent from the very heavens.
Each time a bolt of lightning slammed into the oncoming waterfall, the cascade broke apart a little more. Shattered fragments of qi scattered in every direction.
And when the rain of thunder finally ceased, the waterfall had weakened noticeably.
With every ounce of strength left in me, I swung my depleted, unenhanced blade.
Three Calamities Sword Art, Third Form —
Crosscut of the Heavenly Host
A single slash to annihilate the armies of a thousand heavens.
That strike cleaved the remaining wave clean in two.
And the severed fragments of the wave came raining down on me.
FWOOOM—
"Ughhk...!"
Slammed by the impact, I began tumbling down the stairs.
Mid-fall, someone snatched me up firmly by the nape of my neck.
THUNK—
"Ah..."
I tried to turn and look behind me, but my body wouldn't obey. The price of meeting a Flower Realm strike head-on.
Beyond the mountain gate of the Wudang Sect, at the top of the stairs, someone was shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Unbelievable, Supreme Sect Leader! What in the world is the meaning of this?! You destroyed the Taegeuk Formation! Do you have any idea how many resources went into it?!"
"I-I'm sorry, Sect Leader... I made a mistake..."
"Sorry?! Is that supposed to fix it?!"
The last thing I saw was a middle-aged man jabbing an accusing finger at the old man who had attacked me — and then I lost consciousness entirely.
In that final moment, for some reason, I felt something soft and warm against my back.
And so, my mind sank into darkness.
"...You did well, Sihyeon."
Deep within the Wudang Sect's Medicine Hall.
Yeon Sohee's beautiful, jade-white fingers stroked the face of the young man lying pale upon the sickbed.
A mere Peak Realm cultivator — a boy barely twenty years of age — had blocked a full strike from the Taegeuk Sword Emperor himself.
"I wasn't trying to kill you, mind you... but at that level, a Peak Realm fighter could very well have died."
No — in truth, he should have died.
Yeon Sohee had simply watched in silence, trusting that Baek Sihyeon could withstand at least that much.
A deep smile blossomed at the corner of her lips.
"You truly are... more than I ever hoped for."
His talent for the martial arts was exceptional enough on its own, and there wasn't a single flaw in his appearance either.
Really, how had a boy like this ever come rolling into her life?
If someone capable of wielding the full power of the Righteous Demon Martial Sovereign had drifted into the Purple Darkness Lotus or the Heavenly Demon Cult instead...
Something truly unthinkable, something nightmarish, would surely have come to pass.
"I will stay by your side and make certain you grow up properly. So... don't even dream of running away."
She would raise Baek Sihyeon into the hope of the Orthodox Faction. That much was certain.
With that thought, Yeon Sohee's hand clasped his own tightly.
And just then, the door to the Medicine Hall burst open.
Standing beyond it was the Taegeuk Sword Emperor, Un Hyeon.
At the sight of him, Yeon Sohee's brows furrowed.
"...What is it, old man?"
"You don't even call me Senior Martial Brother anymore, you ill-mannered girl. Tch."
"And whose fault is it that my disciple has been beaten half to death? My feelings are rather raw at the moment, so kindly be understanding."
"Heh heh... So Yeon Sohee the hooligan has taken to holding a man's hand. You truly do live long enough to see anything."
"...! That — that was unintentional...!"
The instant she heard those words, Yeon Sohee yanked her hand away.
But her reaction only seemed to delight Un Hyeon further, and he began to laugh heartily.
"Ahahahaha... So many amusing things to see today. What a thoroughly enjoyable day."
Yeon Sohee glared at him, fists clenched, her whole body trembling with rage.
"Why have you come? State your business."
"What else? I came to check on the boy. Is he all right?"
"Thanks to someone, no, he is not. He'll need roughly three days of rest and recovery. This one requires rest, so would you kindly leave?"
"Then why are you still here?"
"Because the female disciples keep coming by claiming they want to gawk at him. I've told them explicitly not to, and that anyone caught doing it would be severely disciplined, and still..."
"Might as well have held the wedding already. Such obsessive behavior is unbecoming."
"That is not—!"
The Taegeuk Sword Empress, Yeon Sohee, ground her teeth.
What on earth was her senior brother saying right now?
Since when had master and disciple ever held a wedding, of all things?
Her venomous glare fixed on Un Hyeon. Meeting her gaze, he smirked, drew a small wooden box from his robe, and tossed it to her.
TOCK—
"...What is this?"
"Take it. A Taegeuk Pill. Pushing the Two Extremes Limitless Divine Art so recklessly threw the balance of yin and yang in his body out of order. It won't do much to advance his cultivation, but it will rouse him from his sleep for now."
"..."
"Rest today. Tomorrow, bring him with you to the Taegeuk Hall. Leaking the Two Extremes Limitless Divine Art and the Taegeuk Wisdom Sword to an outsider is a grave offense, one not even you can escape. Understood?"
With those parting words, Un Hyeon vanished from the Medicine Hall as if he'd never been there — as though he'd said everything he came to say.
Thanks to that, Yeon Sohee wasn't even given the chance to defend herself.
Left alone together in the inner chamber of the Medicine Hall, she muttered under her breath, sounding for all the world like someone terribly wronged.
"...Neither of those was something I taught him."
Whether anyone would believe her if she said it aloud was another matter, but the truth was simply the truth.
It was Yeon Sohee who ended up the wronged party.
"Haaah..."
Well, fine. That was a problem for tomorrow.
There was still plenty of time.
The most pressing matter at hand was feeding Baek Sihyeon the elixir and bringing him back to his senses.
She opened the wooden box, and inside lay a single pill, half white and half black, swirled together.
...Can you really get a pill down an unconscious man's throat just by stuffing it into his mouth?
Of course not.
Which meant she would have to find another way...
"...So there really is no other way, is there?"
She began to ponder, and ponder again, over the method that had surfaced in her mind.
Was it truly all right to do this?
Yeon Sohee clenched her fists tightly and bowed her head.
"It's an elixir my senior brother gave me. I have no choice but to use it."
Having finally made up her mind, Yeon Sohee sprang up from her seat, tipped the Taegeuk Pill into her own mouth, then took Baek Sihyeon's cheeks in both hands and pressed her lips over his.
"..."
Through their parted mouths, the finely crushed elixir flowed into Baek Sihyeon's mouth.
Yeon Sohee worked her tongue diligently in that position, until at last she succeeded in getting him to swallow it.
Then, guiding the elixir's energy, she began to heal his body.
"Mmnh..."
A sensation she had never once felt in her life set her mind spinning.
A hazy, dreamlike feeling, as if a fog had settled over her thoughts.
And a tingling rush coursing down her spine.
Trembling at those unfamiliar sensations, Yeon Sohee nonetheless forced herself to focus and began guiding the Taegeuk Pill's energy through his body.
How much time passed like that?
Only when the balance within his body had been fully restored did Yeon Sohee finally open her eyes.
"..."
Once his energy had settled completely, she carefully drew her lips from his and gently laid Baek Sihyeon back down.
Before long, he opened his eyes.
A faint medicinal scent wafted in from all around.
The soft feel of a comfortable sickbed wrapping around my whole body.
And... gazing up at the woman looking down at me, I opened my mouth carefully.
"...Where am I?"
"The Wudang Sect's Medicine Hall."
At Yeon Sohee's dignified gaze and voice, my body involuntarily shrank back.
"You've managed to pull through. Welcome to the Wudang Sect."
"...What about the examination?"
"The martial trial is a sparring format — those who ascended face one another, and those who distinguish themselves are selected by the Elders and the direct disciples. Now tell me — could the proceedings possibly continue if we cast out the man who blocked the Taegeuk Sword Emperor's strike from such a pool? You have already proven yourself more than sufficiently."
"The Taegeuk Sword Emperor..? Ah... then that old man was..."
Yeon Sohee looked down at me with a faint smile.
"However, it seems we will need to verify you further, given the martial arts you've acquired. The Sect Leader will summon you over that matter."
"..."
Come to think of it, that was true.
I had unleashed the Two Extremes Limitless Divine Art and the Taegeuk Wisdom Sword right in front of that old man.
I'd done it because I believed I had to give it everything I had — but I didn't particularly regret it.
The alternative was taking that hit and dying.
"Oh, right... is the examination still underway, by any chance?"
"Judging by that glint in your eye, I can guess exactly what you're thinking."
"Haha..."
"Follow me. I'll guide you to the trial grounds. Because of your bout with my senior brother, the formation has collapsed entirely — so I imagine... there will be rather a lot of people there."
"The more, the better."
"I knew you'd say that."
Yeon Sohee rose from her seat and stepped out of the Medicine Hall.
Leading my newly lightened body, I followed behind her.
"Haaah..."
Just how many martial arts can I copy?
And... just how strong can I become?
Carried along by that anticipation, hugging my heart as though it might burst from my chest, I set my feet on the long road ahead.
As I walked beside Yeon Sohee and caught a look at her face, I noticed — for some inexplicable reason — that her cheeks were flushed a deep crimson.
The reason, I could not begin to guess.