21. Don't Look Away.
"I have... no interest in men weaker than myself."
"...What was that?"
Recalling the swordsmanship the man before her had unleashed moments ago, Nok Soyun ratcheted her tension up another notch. This was the man who had subdued all four captains of the Green Forest Guard with a single move. However she looked at him, he was anything but an opponent to be taken lightly.
But... even so. This was Nok Soyun, who had studied the blade under her father, the Green Forest King, from the time she was a child. The thought of losing to the man standing before her had never once crossed her mind.
"Then allow me to demonstrate, right here and now, why one never makes an enemy of the Green Forest in the mountains."
Vmmm—
A jade-green aura shivered to life along her snow-white blade. The vitality breathed out by the surrounding trees soon became her strength, streaming in to gather at Nok Soyun's sword. A mountain was, after all, a place packed to bursting with trees — and that was precisely why no one could dare oppose a master of the Green King Divine Art, an art passed down to the Green Forest King alone. The forest itself upheld its master and lent him its power.
Faced with that staggering presence, Baek Sihyeok sharpened his focus as well.
"...Stronger than I gave you credit for, huh?"
"The price of your defeat shall be your manhood. I will be claiming it."
"...Just take my head instead."
"That is..."
The next instant, Nok Soyun's entire body was wreathed in jade-green energy, and she came hurtling at Baek Sihyeok. She looked for all the world like a tiger pouncing on its prey.
First Form — Green King's Reign
Nok Soyun's blade, charged with monstrous strength, came cleaving down with the momentum to split Baek Sihyeok's skull open. Baek Sihyeok answered with a smile, lifting his own sword — what unfolded from his fingertips was the Heavenly Thunder Sword Style. His blade fell ferociously in the shape of a heavenly thunderbolt and slammed headlong into hers.
The next moment, a tremendous detonation tore through the air.
BOOOM—!
Shattered fragments of qi sprayed in every direction.
"Ugh..."
Baek Sihyeok's face twisted as he clutched at his wrist. The joints of his sword hand ached, and his arm bones throbbed with a dull ring.
And Nok Soyun was no different.
Her face contorted with pain, Nok Soyun glared at Baek Sihyeok.
"...I was told the Wudang Sect's sword embraces softness. Yours carries the very extreme of the tyrant's path."
"Come on — meeting strength with strength on the first exchange, that's the romantic way of doing things, no?"
Of course, hard qi was the exception to that.
"Pfft."
At his answer, an amused smile crept across Nok Soyun's lips.
"...Not bad. But I would like to see your full strength."
"Yeah? Then you go right ahead and try to draw it out of me."
True, full-strength power was something that could never be unveiled in front of so many watching eyes. If she managed to force it out of him, that alone would count as her victory.
And with that, her blade came up.
"That is precisely what I intend to do."
"I like the look in your eyes."
Baek Sihyeok was thoroughly worked up — for the first time, he had laid eyes on a warrior of his own realm who could withstand one of his strikes. At the sight of his curling smirk, Nok Soyun felt gooseflesh race across her whole body, and she regripped her blade, carving deep into her heart the vow that she would never taste defeat.
Haa...
Strength flooded into my body of its own accord, and rough breaths spilled from my lips. Every time our weapons met, the force transmitted between them twisted my whole frame and left it aching — and, paradoxically, that very pain was what set my heart pounding.
Nok Soyun's blade came rushing in like the claws of a mountain tiger, out to tear its prey to ribbons. The shriek of air being ripped apart stung my ears.
FWAAASH—!
"HAAAP!"
CLAAANG— The clear ring of steel striking steel rolled out in every direction. Blade still locked against hers, I met her eyes and asked, "Thought you said you'd only be taking my manhood? Let one of my strikes land, and there won't be enough bones left to collect."
"Did you not, just moments ago, tell me to take your head instead?"
"Haha..."
She wasn't letting a single word of mine slide. Then, from behind me, Cheon Seolhyeon's bellow rang out.
"Why aren't you using the Taiji Wisdom Sword, you blockhead! Sitting on a technique that good!"
"...I was just about to."
"What...?"
Our exchange drew a deep frown from Nok Soyun. "The Taiji Wisdom Sword — the final secret art that only a handful of Wudang's elders ever master. And you claim you can use it?"
"Yep."
"That's absurd... You might as well claim the Green King Divine Art should be handed out to every rank-and-file Green Forest thug... gah."
The black-and-white energy spilling from the tip of my sword shut her mouth for her. The power of the Two Forms Limitless Divine Art, racing down every meridian in my body and cycling at breakneck speed, had manifested as sword qi and begun to trace out a taiji.
"Any more blocking like that and my arm's going to shatter. Can't have that — a man's still got to get married someday, you know. Am I right?"
"..."
The vast current of the taiji revolved. Holding it in that state, I settled into the middle guard and fixed Nok Soyun with still, quiet eyes. Sustaining that circulation demanded a monstrous degree of concentration.
"That's enough. Hurry up and come at me."
"..."
With those words as my last, I gathered my entire mind into the point of my sword. Nok Soyun seemed to say something, but it never reached my ears. And the instant she let out a breath —
FWSSH— Leaping in trailing green afterimages, Nok Soyun brought her blade pouring down across every inch of me. Each and every slash was charged with the tyrant's force, strikes that could not be turned aside with ease. Even as I etched every form concealed in her flurry into my memory, I wrung out my dwindling internal energy for all it was worth to keep the Taiji Wisdom Sword alive, letting her attacks flow past. The strikes raining down on me were all swept up in the taiji's current and swallowed whole.
The longer we traded blows, the more we both began to wear down. The taiji grew steadily dimmer, and the strength flowing into my hands kept thinning.
"So... that divine art of yours can't actually run forever, huh? From the look of it, how long it lasts depends on your mental strength."
"...I am perfectly fine. Worry about... yourself."
Even as she said it, her face was doing a terrible job of hiding its fatigue. For no good reason, the sight coaxed a laugh out of me.
"A divine art that runs on mental strength instead of internal energy, then..."
The formulas of the Green King Divine Art churned through my head alongside the memory of her blade work. The Green King Divine Art borrowed the vitality exhaled by the forest's trees and forged it into the wielder's own power. With a mountain for a battlefield and mental strength to sustain it, it was a peerless art that granted near-limitless internal energy. For something devised by mere mountain bandits, it was a genuinely ingenious, superb martial art.
"I got a good, long look at your martial art."
"...What did you say?"
The copying was already finished. Which meant, in other words, that Nok Soyun was no longer of any use to me.
The principles of the Green King Divine Art melted into the Two Forms Limitless Divine Art. The taiji, its circulation all but dead moments ago, began to whirl furiously once more as it drank in the mountain's vital energy. Into my bone-dry dantian, internal energy dyed black and white came rushing back at full speed.
Watching my strength return out of nowhere, Nok Soyun went blank with astonishment.
"...You were clearly exhausted just a moment ago. It was all an act..?"
"Who knows. Either way — good work out there."
Gripping the hilt in both hands, I hoisted the sword high above my head. Nok Soyun scraped together the last of her strength, raising her blade overhead in a final guard — and a single streak of light tore across her vision.
Shhk— With the crisp sound of something sheared cleanly apart, the halved blade thudded to the ground.
"Ah..."
"I win."
I bent down, picked up her broken blade, and ran my fingers over it with exaggerated care. Then I looked down at Nok Soyun and curled one corner of my mouth upward.
"..."
"The deal was that if I lost, I'd hand my manhood over... but I won. So what should I do with you, hmm?"
"Nnngh..."
I had already gotten everything worth taking, but simply walking away at this point felt like a waste. That woman had threatened to cut off my precious manhood if I lost — and having once watched Namgung Yerin put an end to a bandit clan's bloodline, the mere thought of it happening to me made my knees clamp shut all on their own. Which meant I couldn't very well send her on her way. And yet no fitting price came to mind.
Just as my deliberation was stretching longer and longer, Nok Soyun, as though she had reached a decision, knelt before me.
"Since I have lost... take me as yours."
Expressionless, head slightly bowed — that was how she said it.
"...You said you're the Green Forest King's heir? So, his disciple?"
"He is my father."
"Ah... so you're Hwagyeong's daughter, then?"
"That would be correct."
What was I supposed to do here? This was a development I had never seen coming.
"Hmm..."
I stole a glance back over my shoulder. Namgung Yerin was staring at me as though I were something that had crawled out of a gutter. Jin Sowol had both palms clamped over her mouth, eyes gone round as saucers. And the Drunken Hero stood slouched at the shoulders, watching me with an expression that plainly asked how anyone could be this shameless...
"...Go ahead and accept her. You're dead. For real."
My eyes met Cheon Seolhyeon's, who had spat the words in a frost-dripping voice colder than anything I had ever heard from her. Her gaze, brimming with killing intent, was fixed on Nok Soyun.
She was worried about betrayal, most likely. Warriors around the Peak realm tend to prize honor above their own lives. I had made the very heir of the Green Forest kneel before her own subordinates...
Without a doubt, a thirst for vengeance had to be burning in Nok Soyun's heart.
But I had a way to settle this.
I walked up to Nok Soyun, took her snow-white chin in my hand, and lifted it.
"Nok Soyun, was it? Soyun."
"...!"
"Don't look away."
The moment her face crinkled and she tried to tear her gaze from mine —
Grip! The hand holding her face tightened. I felt her soft skin spill between my fingers as a faint blue light settled in my eyes.
"...You won't betray me, will you?"
Nok Soyun gazed back at me with trembling eyes — then gave a small nod. "I have my honor as well. I do not say one thing with my mouth and mean another."
The Eye of Truth spoke, and it told me this was the truth.
Wearing a satisfied smile, I stroked her hair.
"Good. I'll be counting on you from here on out."
And so, I succeeded in acquiring another capable hand.