The Tyrant's Steps
Dokgo Bin observed the person standing before her through the dark crystal lenses of her glasses. Hwayeokpil had said it clearly: do not use sword gang. It was certainly not a restriction placed on her for the sake of her opponent. From the reaction the man had shown, it was obvious he too had stepped into the realm capable of wielding condensed sword energy.
'At minimum, an opponent on par with me.'
Dokgo Bin’s consciousness began to calmly and quietly assess the situation. Herself. The enemy she would fight. The surrounding environment. Among these, there was only one unknown.
'First, confirmation.'
A bleak light flashed across Dokgo Bin’s eyes. The Dokgo clan’s blade followed the principle of striking second yet seizing the initiative. The moment the opponent lifted his foot, the flow reversed and began pouring toward her.
BOOM—
His stance was heavy. He charged in aggressively. Yet his footwork left no openings whatsoever—an intensely powerful stepping method. From the tip of his toes, a force more ferocious than any footwork Dokgo Bin had ever witnessed surged upward.
But if something was only strong, it would eventually snap under its own weight.
The instant Dokgo Bin stepped forward and executed her own movement, Namgung Woo’s sword path trembled ever so slightly. It was because her form had perfectly pierced the gap within his trajectory. Though he displayed astonishing adaptability by twisting his sword path to block any chance of a counterattack, the original power contained in his blade was cut in half. In effect, his technique had been dismantled with nothing more than a single step from Dokgo Bin.
Steps taken solely for oneself. A vision art of the Dokgo clan that severs the opponent’s flow and naturally creates a situation advantageous only to the user. It unfolds perfectly in accordance with Dokgo Bin’s footsteps.
Exploiting the gap created by disrupting her opponent’s rhythm, Dokgo Bin’s blade shot forward.
CLAAAANG!
'Heavy.'
According to Hwayeokpil, the opponent was also a Transcendent Realm expert. It was true. The stinging rebound that traveled up her arm was considerable. It was proof that the density of his sword Qi surpassed her own.
'A contest of strength won’t work.'
Any shock at the opponent’s level of attainment was pushed to the back of her mind. Dokgo Bin coldly recognized the gap between them and began devising a plan. The method she arrived at was the one the people of the Dokgo clan trusted more than anyone else in the world.
No matter how the opponent approached, it did not matter. Wuiadokbo was a martial art created specifically to dismantle all forms of footwork. Whether the attack came in fiercely, pierced in quickly, or flowed softly, everything fell within the scope of Wuiadokbo.
That was not all. The Dokgo clan’s secret sword art, the Mubeopmucheon Sword Technique, was the pinnacle of improvisation that transcended the limits of formalized forms. Because of this, its pure destructive power was somewhat lower than standardized techniques that possessed fixed true energy pathways for each form. However, that shortcoming could be compensated for simply by raising the depth of one’s internal energy.
Even if the opponent currently held the advantage in internal cultivation and thus overpowered her in raw strength, the synergy with Wuiadokbo completely offset that weakness.
The World’s Greatest Sword Clan. The fame of the Dokgo clan had been earned only after crushing and toppling every other sword clan. No swordsman could raise their blade before the Dokgo clan. It had always been that way, it was that way now, and it would remain so in the future.
Or so it should have been….
'Why can’t I reach him?'
Neither the dismantling steps of Wuiadokbo nor the infinite variations of the Mubeopmucheon Sword Technique could touch that man. It felt as if he existed in an entirely different realm, like a mirage in the desert—visible yet forever out of reach. The moment she realized this, the sensation that she had seized the flow burst like a bubble.
Once every bubble had popped, what remained was a more objective reality. Dokgo Bin’s sword stopped. Even though she no longer advanced a single step, no counterattack came from her opponent. That was the final nail.
“You… are mocking me.”
When Dokgo Bin’s movements suddenly halted, Namgung Woo also stopped and straightened his posture. He remained vigilant. Even if she launched a surprise attack at any moment, he kept his internal energy circulating so he could respond at once, never relaxing the tension in his muscles.
Though he had prepared for an assault, he had not expected her to utter such words. Faced with Dokgo Bin’s sudden, anger-laced statement, Namgung Woo hid his bewilderment as best he could and thought,
'She’s a Transcendent Realm expert too. Even if she tried to hide it, crossing swords directly would have revealed it.'
In their first exchange, he had genuinely been swept up in her counterattack. There had certainly been awkward moments against an unfamiliar martial art and an unfamiliar situation. However, Namgung Woo had already experienced a martial art similar to what Dokgo Bin displayed—yet one that stood even higher.
The Ohodamundo. Compared to that time when he had been completely helpless despite giving his all, Dokgo Bin’s martial arts were at a level he could handle sufficiently with his Changnyeongmanan.
From that point on, Namgung Woo had deliberately guided her to unleash her martial arts freely. The Dokgo clan might become his greatest enemy someday. If he could observe their techniques in advance, it would prove an enormous help in the future.
However, he had not yet thought about what he would say if that intention was discovered.
The brief silence was as good as an admission. Dokgo Bin removed the glasses she had been wearing, her face cold and expressionless.
“In that case, I’ll make you use your full strength.”
With that bleak declaration, the second round began.
Dokgo Bin charged once more. This time was different. Unlike the beginning when she had waited for Namgung Woo’s first move to display the mystery of striking second yet seizing the lead, she now stepped forward with Wuiadokbo in an extremely aggressive manner, rushing in to shatter his rhythm.
CLANG!
The swords collided. The force carried on Dokgo Bin’s blade was clearly different from before. Had she been holding back as well?
Namgung Woo realized that he could no longer contend with her using momentary combinations of the Iron Sword Ten Forms and the Great Flame Sword Art. He pushed down the Thirteen Lightning Sword Forms that had almost instinctively surged forward and drew a new sword from within his heart.
'If that is the Dokgo clan’s true martial art… then I shall also…'
In truth, Namgung Woo had no connection whatsoever to the Dokgo clan. The Namgung clan merely shared the same surname. Even though the Dokgo clan had destroyed them, they were not his personal enemies.
Yet the deeper he became sincere in martial arts, the deeper his affection for the sword grew, the more he became conscious of it—the existence of the Dokgo clan that had trampled the Namgung clan and now stood tall as the World’s Greatest Sword Clan.
Therefore, Namgung Woo would also give his all.
The Thirteen Lightning Sword Forms were excellent, but if one spoke of the Namgung clan’s sword, it was undoubtedly this.
A supreme sword art that Namgung Woo had consciously refrained from using out of awareness of the Namgung clan. It finally rose into his hands. Its first form—Yucheonmujeol—shattered Dokgo Bin’s Mubeopmucheon Sword Technique alongside deep blue sword Qi.
The spar was over. The victor and the defeated were so clearly revealed that anyone could see it at a glance.
Dokgo Bin tossed her broken sword aside with a flick of her wrist, then took out the glasses she had stored in her robes and put them back on. Her head throbbed. It had been the first time since that day that she had used her eyes to this extent. And just like that day, she had been utterly defeated.
Once the spar ended, Hwayeokpil—who had been holding his breath while watching—finally let out a deep sigh and descended into the devastated front courtyard. The odds in his mind, which had started at six-to-four and later tilted to seven-to-three after seeing Wi Jiryang offer the Dragon Eye Wood, had ultimately produced an overwhelming nine-to-one result.
“I believe Lady Dokgo will also accept my decision.”
“Do as you wish. In any case, the right to decide on the Four Seasons Wine belongs to Guya Manor.”
The Four Seasons Wine was no longer an important issue to Dokgo Bin. There would be another opportunity, and her family already possessed several weapons worthy of being called divine soldiers. Postponing the creation of a blade perfectly suited only to herself was of no concern.
What dominated Dokgo Bin’s thoughts right now was none other than the man who had defeated her—Namgung Woo.
Having indifferently brushed off Hwayeokpil’s words, Dokgo Bin looked straight at Namgung Woo and spoke.
“…You asked if I remembered the Namgung clan.”
“That is correct.”
“I don’t know what answer you want, but I have nothing particular to say. By the time I was born, the Namgung clan had already entered the path of decline.”
Dokgo Bin was young. She had been born too late to witness with her own eyes how the Namgung clan had rapidly collapsed right after their family head lost the life-or-death duel against her father twenty-some years ago. Still, she had heard stories.
“My father, the family head, said this: the reason the Dokgo clan became the greatest sword clan under heaven was because we defeated the Namgung clan. Therefore, we must ensure they can never rise again to threaten us. That is all I know.”
Seeing the look on Dokgo Bin’s face that seemed to ask if that was answer enough, Namgung Woo nodded. From the beginning, there had never been a specific answer he absolutely needed to hear. He had simply been curious.
To the Dokgo clan, what exactly had the Namgung clan—which they had destroyed and even issued a pursuit order against—meant to them?
And Dokgo Bin’s answer had satisfied most of Namgung Woo’s curiosity. A bitter enemy. Their relationship could certainly be viewed that way.
“By the way, why are you asking about the Namgung clan?”
Had Dokgo Bin truly seen fragments of the Namgung clan within him? Namgung Woo tried hard to decipher the meaning behind her question. However, her face showed only extremely minute changes, as if her facial muscles had stiffened, and with her eyes hidden behind those dark crystal glasses, reading her emotions was no easy task. Her voice was almost completely flat as well. In the end, Namgung Woo gave up trying to discern her true intentions and simply copied the method she had used.
“If you want an answer, defeat me first and then ask.”
“Defeat me first and then ask….”
Her own words had come back without a single syllable changed. Yet Dokgo Bin did not seem to take it as mockery. She stroked her chin and murmured to herself. After finishing her interpretation of its meaning, she asked again.
“Does that mean you are telling me to follow you?”