Chapter 165
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: Peng Ga-hee
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“The place where you're fighting the Peng Clan’s eldest daughter? Head out of the inn and follow the main road straight ahead—you’ll reach the sparring grounds.”
“Thanks.”
The sparring grounds, huh? That’s gotta be the spot for fights.
After wolfing down the meal the inn had prepared, I asked the two guys who’d been chatting about Peng Ga-hee where she was holding her duels with the martial artists.
“Your outfit screams martial artist. You thinking of challenging her too?”
“Come on, man. He looks like he’s not even twenty. You really think he’d take on that transcendent genius?”
“That’s exactly why he should! It’s the privilege of youth!”
I slipped out of the inn, leaving the two of them behind as they suddenly started bickering loudly over me.
A transcendent genius, huh...
I had no real gauge on her strength, but since even first-rate Hong Seo-ha had seemed pretty average, I doubted Peng Ga-hee would be dramatically stronger.
-Waaah! Waaaaah!!!
Dashing along the main road, I spotted a massive crowd gathered in one spot.
That’s gotta be it.
I shoved my way through the throng toward what looked like the sparring grounds. Right in the center stood a man and a woman crossing blades.
The woman had her grayish hair tied back in a ponytail and looked frail and delicate, while the man was a muscle-bound brute swinging a massive sword.
That’s Peng Ga-hee?
She was stunningly beautiful at first glance—maybe she was a transcendent beauty rather than just a transcendent martial artist.
Just beat her in a fight and you get to marry a woman like that...? Sounds like an insane deal.
The guy she was up against seemed to be thinking the same thing. You could tell from a mile away that he was throwing everything he had into the match.
They clashed blades a few times before the man’s footing crumbled, and he tumbled to the ground.
Thud-
“...I yield.”
The fallen man tried to scramble up right away, but Peng Ga-hee’s sword hovered right before his eyes, forcing him to concede defeat on the spot.
Unlike the sweat-drenched loser sprawled on the dirt, Peng Ga-hee sheathed her blade and strode toward a middle-aged man lounging arrogantly in a chair, wrapped in furs despite the blazing sun.
“That makes thirty-one.”
Is that guy the head of the Peng Clan?
I watched as Peng Ga-hee reported the number of warriors she’d defeated to the man seated so smugly.
“Excellent. Any more challengers?”
The Peng Clan head leaped to his feet the moment he heard her report, bellowing in a booming, hearty voice.
“I’ll give it a shot.”
I’d been mulling a challenge myself when I heard that voice, but in a flash, a man burst from the crowd and planted himself before Peng Ga-hee.
That’s how you sign up? Kinda embarrassing...
“Pleased to meet you, Lady Peng Ga-hee. As for me...”
The man launched into a lengthy introduction of himself without missing a beat. The moment he wrapped up, the duel kicked off immediately.
Peng Ga-hee, the eldest daughter of the Hebei Peng Clan.
She didn’t hate men or harbor any skepticism toward marriage.
She simply revered the current Murim Alliance Leader and Sword Queen, Nangong Yeon, aspiring to follow in her footsteps—which was why she was doing all this.
Until she reached the transcendent Enlightenment Realm, she refused any man’s temptations. She yearned to tread the same path as the woman who had carved her name into history.
Brimming with talent, she had achieved transcendent mastery at an unprecedented age among her peers. Her heart burned with the desire to ascend even further and become like Nangong Yeon.
In her twenty years of life, no man had ever pierced that resolve—not even one who piqued her interest.
Convinced she’d never meet such a man in the future, Peng Ga-hee swung her saber to cut down every challenger who came her way.
“Urk..! I-I yield.”
Unlike his bombastic introduction, this opponent was the weakest she’d faced yet.
Ignoring the man who’d crumpled in seconds, she approached her father at once.
“That makes thirty-two.”
“Hm..! Next!”
She assumed her stance, ready for the next foe, but no one stepped up right away. The sight of the last guy dropping so fast had sapped their enthusiasm.
Sigh... just eighteen more.
Once she toppled eighteen more, she could forget marriage entirely and train her martial arts to her heart’s content.
Scanning the crowd, she saw almost no one left at her level or even peak realm—they’d all been defeated already.
After crushing the remaining small fry, she too could pursue the Enlightenment Realm like the Sword Queen...
“May I have a shot?”
A challenger’s voice snapped Peng Ga-hee out of her fantasy of becoming the second Sword Queen as she gazed down at her saber.
Not the time for daydreams...
Peng Ga-hee shifted her eyes from her blade to the challenger before her.
Hm...
The newcomer was a tall, handsome young warrior who looked about her age, evoking images of the Jeon Gal Clan.
“Song In-hyeok.”
First guy to just give his name like that...
As he took his stance after the curt introduction, she noticed something off and spoke up for the first time mid-duel.
“Your stance screams swordsman, so why aren’t you holding a sword?”
He had no weapon at all, so she’d assumed fist fighter, but his form was pure sword style.
When she questioned the oddity, he scratched his cheek and answered.
“Well... I usually use a sword, but I forgot it.”
“......”
“Bare hands are fine.”
...This guy. Good looks, but total trash as a martial artist.
A supposed swordsman casually joking about forgetting his blade, clenching his fist barehanded like it was nothing.
Disgusting...
He was exactly the type Peng Ga-hee loathed most.
“Yes, do whatever you like.”
Her voice was frigid, colder than ice.
Seeing how little he cared about her weapon, he looked like third-rate trash at best, maybe second-rate. With that in mind, she channeled sword energy into her blade to teach him a lesson.
Whumm-
“Ooh..!”
“Sword energy like that at his age!”
“That’s not energy—that’s sword aura, right?”
“Gah!!!!”
The crowd erupted as blue sword energy rippled around her blade like heat haze, stunned that someone under thirty could manifest it so powerfully.
Peng Ga-hee glanced to see regret on his face...
“......”
But his expression didn’t even twitch as he stared at her sword energy.
Doesn’t even know what sword energy is? Absolute hopeless trash?
Time for a beating.
Resolved to smash him so badly he could never call himself a martial artist again, Peng Ga-hee took her stance.
“Then, let’s begin.”
Dash-
The duel started, and she charged straight in, swinging her sword at him.
Just standing there...?
He didn’t dodge at all, blankly watching her energy-wrapped sword—then thrust out his bare hand toward it.
Is he... insane?!
Shocked at the sight of him reaching barehanded for her energy-clad blade, she grew irritated at his bizarre antics and didn’t hold back her thrust.
“Wh-what’s he doing!”
“Kyaa!”
The onlookers shielded their eyes or grimaced, expecting his hand to be sliced clean off.
“....?!”
But against all expectations, Peng Ga-hee’s energy-wrapped sword didn’t cut his hand—it was caught fast in his grip.
A transcendent master’s energy-infused thrust, stopped barehanded. Everyone present—even the Peng Clan head—gaped in shock, the head bolting up from his chair to stare.
And the most stunned of all was Peng Ga-hee herself, the one who’d swung it.
H-how in the world...?
Staring in disbelief at his utterly relaxed face as he held her sword barehanded, she nearly dropped her focus before yanking it free and leaping back to create distance.
“Y-you... who are you?”
Blocking an energy-wrapped sword thrust barehanded, without a scratch, so effortlessly... it was like...
“Vajra Indestructible...”
The Peng Clan head muttered blankly, still on his feet, eyes fixed on the man.
His words sent the crowd into a frenzy.
“Vajra Indestructible... the pinnacle of external martial arts?”
“He blocked a transcendent expert’s sword energy with his bare hands—could be the real deal...”
“He looks under thirty... did he pull a Murim Alliance Leader and revert to youth through bone-shedding rebirth?”
“Why would a master like that show up here out of nowhere...? Just who the hell is he...?”
The murmurs shifted from awe to burning curiosity about his identity.
The man simply flexed his fist a few times before resuming his stance and eyeing Peng Ga-hee.
Vajra Indestructible or whatever... we’re still dueling.
Questions can wait till after.
Sigh... focus.
The energy rippling along her saber condensed ever so slightly.
Not full sword-gang, but to clash at maximum power, Peng Ga-hee began drawing on her hidden reserves—even ones her father didn’t know about.
My hand’s pretty sore from catching that barehanded without mana.
Is this what transcendent level feels like?
As I eyed my tingling fist, the crowd was buzzing about whether I had Vajra Indestructible.
Vajra Indestructible, huh... feels like I’ve become some murim high master.
Peng Ga-hee seemed to be prepping something up front, but I could probably take this duel pretty easily.
I cocked my fist to end it quick with a punch her way—then suddenly, it was like post-nut clarity hit me.
If beating Peng Ga-hee means marriage... yeah, on second thought, no thanks.
This is a world I’ll eventually leave. Getting married here would just make too many people miserable.
I’d jumped in too carelessly, blinded by thoughts of savoring a transcendent beauty’s body.
“Haaat!!!!”
Peng Ga-hee roared a ki-hap and charged me again.
Should I throw this duel... or win it?
If I say no marriage, just a physical fling...?
Yeah, that probably wouldn’t fly.