The Internal Energy Duel
Yang Yang, the Divine Thief, was a righteous bandit who fleeced the nouveau riche and handed half the take to the poor.
And whenever she cleaned out a wealthy household, someone always came after her.
For that reason she had long trained an exceptional danger sense and a lightfoot technique as swift as a gale.
"Stop right there!"
A chase and flight unfolded inside the Heavenly Vault Treasure Pavilion, packed to the rafters with imperial treasures.
The moment Yang Yang began working her feet in a frenzy, that same wind-like lightfoot art—the one even Dan Mujin had once admired—unfurled in full.
"You rat-like little bitch…!"
Her movements slipped through his fingers again and again, always just out of reach. When she glanced back, a master of the Embroidered Uniform Guard—the Emperor's personal elite—was grinding his teeth as he pursued her with everything he had.
Why are the Embroidered Uniform Guard even in a treasure vault like this…!
And not just anywhere—they had been lying in wait deep inside the Heavenly Vault Treasure Pavilion, pouncing the instant she appeared.
Yang Yang bit down hard on her lip at the incomprehensible situation and poured on more speed.
"When I catch you I'll tear you limb from limb!"
A sudden chill raced down her spine. Her five senses screamed warning; she twisted her body at once.
A needle—almost certainly poisoned—skimmed past her by a hair's breadth.
"Hiiik!"
The Guard had no intention of capturing her alive for a proper trial. He meant to kill her on the spot. Yang Yang recoiled in fresh terror.
"Die, damn you!"
A sword sheathed in sword qi slashed through the air again. Yang Yang yelped a low "Euaak!" and ducked frantically.
She kicked off the floor, blurring her form until she was little more than a smear of motion, and slipped free of the danger once more.
Even at a glance her footwork was too profound, too uncanny for any ordinary thief. The Embroidered Uniform Guard master roared in pure frustration.
"Just what the hell are you?!"
In that brief window she broke free of her pursuer's grasp and flung open the entrance of the Heavenly Vault Treasure Pavilion she had quietly forced earlier.
She thought she had finally escaped this cursed mess—only for fate to play another joke.
Two Imperial Army masters stood right in front of the main gate, and she ran straight into them.
"Uh… whoops…"
The two Imperial Army experts exchanged blank looks at the suspicious figure who had practically fallen into their laps.
"The warehouse keepers are all down."
"We heard what sounded like a fight and came to check…"
They had been on patrol, heard the noise, and arrived at exactly the wrong moment.
Thud!
They kicked her legs out from under her, sealed her pressure points, and bound her in a single smooth sequence.
Yang Yang thrashed and twisted, trying to slip free. In the struggle, gold ornaments clinked out of her robes and scattered across the floor—trinkets she had lifted from fat purses during the Imperial Banquet when her fingers had grown itchy.
"Hah. A thief, then."
"Sneaking into the Imperial Palace just to steal… your guts must be hanging outside your belly."
The Imperial Army men snorted and started dragging her off, muttering that such a brazen thief needed to be locked up.
They took grim pleasure in terrifying her with talk of exemplary capital punishment as she kicked and squirmed.
"Hold it! Stop right there!"
At that moment the Embroidered Uniform Guard master burst out of the Heavenly Vault Treasure Pavilion and barked at the two men hauling their catch away.
"Let her go! That woman is a prisoner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!"
He claimed the criminal under escort was his prize and demanded they hand her over. Blue sword qi still clung to the longsword in his hand; he looked ready to take her head the instant she changed hands.
"Hmph. Nonsense. Why should we hand over a criminal we caught ourselves?"
"You think we'd just gift you a merit like this for free?"
The two Imperial Army men sneered, insisting the one who made the catch held jurisdiction.
Inside the Imperial Palace the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, and the Imperial Army regarded one another as natural enemies—dogs and monkeys that snarled over every scrap of advantage and refused to yield an inch.
"You ignorant Imperial Army dogs…"
The Embroidered Uniform Guard master ground his teeth while he sized up the situation. He quietly gauged the two men's cultivation. Both radiated solid, unyielding presence in the standoff.
One he might have handled; two would be difficult. Charging them with no regard for his life would only invite greater suspicion.
Reaching that conclusion, he decided to step back for now.
"That thieving bitch… she started spouting every kind of nonsense once she got desperate to live. Don't get tangled up in it—just deal with her."
He looked down at Yang Yang, whose mute point was sealed, and delivered a clear warning not to let her open her mouth.
"Hmph. That was the plan."
"Mind your own business and disappear."
"…Tsk."
The Guard master glared, then turned on his heel and vanished with a sour expression.
The two Imperial Army men hoisted their captive onto a shoulder again and resumed walking.
"Eup!"
Yang Yang bounced on the shoulder and tried desperately to speak. At this rate she would receive the extreme penalty before she could do anything; she needed to tell them about the thunder bombs hidden among the gifts the Son of Heaven had prepared—any scrap of a chance was better than none.
"Eupeup!"
But her mute point was sealed. No proper voice would come. Simply managing those muffled sounds was already a miracle; under normal conditions she would have been reduced to silent mouthing.
"Even with her mouth sealed she's noisy, this one."
"Good thing we sealed the mute point like the Guard said."
Oblivious to the frantic thoughts racing through her head, the Imperial Army men simply dragged her along.
And so Yang Yang was hauled away somewhere as a criminal.
"Eup! Euuuup!"
A heavy silence settled over the martial tournament grounds.
What had begun as a sparring match meant to catch the Emperor's eye had twisted into a life-and-death struggle, then exploded into a hostage situation. Countless faces now stared our way with expressions too complicated to name.
"Mujin… no, Mudong. I think we've become the bad guys here."
Jo Harang, having more or less steadied her internal injuries, cast a wary glance around and carefully offered her opinion.
"Cowardly? This is a legitimate tactic straight out of the Art of War."
"…And which passage exactly lists something like this?"
Jo Harang narrowed her eyes and shot the question right back.
"Probably the Thirty-Six Stratagems?"
I honestly had no idea. But a military classic that covered every strategy under the sun had to have it somewhere.
Jo Harang was about to heave a sigh when Jang Sak's rage-choked voice ripped across the arena.
"You cowardly bastards! Put my little brother down right now!"
He had been charging Jo Harang with murderous intent while she still nursed her injuries—until the moment his brother was seized. Only then did reason return, and now he was snarling at us.
But if we were talking cowardice, I had plenty to say myself.
"A Transcendent Realm master who can handle four or five Transcendental Peak fighters on his own, dragging in Peak Realm martial artists just so the blood relatives can split the championship privileges? You're the one who's shameless beyond belief!"
Jang Sak's face hardened. His lips twitched as if he had nothing left to answer with.
It really had been a ridiculous fight. The outcome was so obvious that the Emperor had actually granted Jang Sak's request for reinforcements "to keep things interesting." Looking back, that alone was strange.
"…Shut your mouth! The world was never fair to begin with! If you don't like it, you should have climbed the realms yourself!"
Jang Sak's belated roar rolled across the entire grounds.
I chuckled at his forced logic and answered calmly.
"I know it isn't fair. That's why I took a hostage."
"…You—!"
Jang Sak seethed, but with his brother's life on the line he could not make a reckless move. Even under the cold stares pouring in from every direction, I put forward my proposal with perfect composure.
"But that doesn't mean there isn't a fair way to settle this."
Jang Sak's eyes blazed, demanding to know what I meant.
I handed the hostage—the eldest grandson who had tried to smash the Byeok Clan—over to Jo Harang beside me, then walked out in front of Jang Sak.
"Not a contest of realms. A pure contest of the internal energy each of us has built up until now."
Jang Sak's eyes widened slightly. In the murim, an internal energy duel was the most dangerous and at the same time the purest form of competition.
No external technique, no split-second stroke of luck—only the depth of one's training and the sheer volume of inner power decided the winner.
"Hah. An internal energy duel, you say? How utterly laughable!"
He found the suggestion so absurd that he snorted and stepped forward. Clearly the conviction that he would win was already rock-solid inside him.
"Fine. I'll make you regret ever proposing this."
Jang Sak twisted his lips into a vicious smile and thrust both hands out as if inviting me to try.
But I had a scheme of my own.
Slow circulation of the Cloud Star Heart Method, hands locking firm against the enemy's
I quietly worked the Cloud Star Heart Method and clamped my hands around his with a solid grip, as if saying, Let's do this.
Commander Jang Sak twisted his lips into a mocking sneer at the young martial artist who had dared challenge him to an internal energy duel.
A greenhorn who doesn't know a damn thing.
From the moment the Imperial Army recognized his talent, he had been showered with every kind of rare elixir and had built a formidable store of internal energy.
He had consumed precious spiritual beasts and elixirs on a scale that rivaled any great orthodox sect. For a mere Transcendental Peak fighter to throw an internal energy duel at him was almost insulting.
Perhaps the boy simply wanted to avoid ending the match in a one-sided beating in front of the entire crowd.
But that choice was a fatal mistake.
Jang Sak had no intention of merely winning the internal energy contest. He planned to seize complete control of the opponent's body, burst his meridians, and snuff out his life as a martial artist entirely.
I'll crush you to death with pure internal force!
KWAANG!
The instant their internal energies collided, an invisible shockwave rocked the arena. Spectators instinctively took a step backward.
Azure energy billowed and surged from every inch of Jang Sak's body.
At first the internal power of the Chongguk Eighteen Arts poured forth like a waterfall, violently shoving Dan Mujin's energy back.
This ends it!
Certain of victory, Jang Sak poured his internal force out even harder.
Yet contrary to that certainty, time passed and Dan Mujin still refused to yield—neither in the grip of their hands nor in the contest of power.
The longer the duel stretched, the more bewilderment spread across Jang Sak's face instead.
Nngh…?!
Pure white internal force shot through their joined hands in a whirlwind and met his own power head-on.
The azure torrent that had roared like a waterfall began to split and lose its momentum against that pure white energy.
What… what is this…!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Both of Jang Sak's hands started to tremble violently. The white internal force smashed through the walls of energy he had raised, one after another, advancing like an occupying army.
"Eugh!"
This was clear proof he was losing the internal energy struggle.
Jang Sak screamed inside. It made no sense. How could a brat who had not even reached the age of thirty carry such enormous reserves of internal power?
Internal energy was, after all, something accumulated through years; age and realm could never be ignored. Yet this green youth's power was like a boundless ocean—as deep and profound as the dantian of an old master who had cultivated for a lifetime.
"Ghk… h-how is this possible…"
The word "defeat" flickered through his mind. Jang Sak glared at Dan Mujin with eyes full of disbelief.
The azure energy that had wrapped his palms was already fading.
"This body of mine… has accumulated a full fifty years of internal energy…!"
Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth—he had clearly taken internal damage—as he spat the words in incomprehension.
In answer, Dan Mujin, whose internal energy now overflowed so fiercely that pure white radiance flickered in both of his eyes, opened his mouth.
"Jang Sak. The man standing in front of you is a martial artist who has built up more than a full sixty-year cycle of internal energy."
More than one jiazi of internal power. What kind of life must a man live to amass that much at such a young age?
Feeling the strength drain from both hands, Jang Sak let out a hollow laugh.
"Impossible… for me… to lose to a bastard like you…"
White internal force blazed even more fiercely from Dan Mujin's palms.
PEONG!
The energy coiled around their hands detonated, deciding the match in an instant. The tremendous rebound hurled Jang Sak far outside the arena.
He rolled across the ground with his eyes rolled back white.
A shocking conclusion that overturned everyone's expectations from start to finish.
While the entire Imperial Banquet stared in stunned silence, a quiet voice cut through the air.
"What are you waiting for? It seems the match is decided."
Hearing the Son of Heaven's low remark, the referee jolted and shouted the winner's name.
"T-the winners are! Jaha and Mudong…!"
And so the championship of the martial tournament arranged by the Emperor became ours.
As Mudong of the Eastern Depot, I was able to ascend the dais where the Emperor sat and meet him in private audience.
Emperor Hongrak regarded Jo Harang and me in silence, the corner of his mouth twitching ever so slightly.
First the Imperial Noble Consort, and now the Emperor himself, right in front of my face. Other court officials might have considered it an honor; for me it was nothing but an extremely uncomfortable seat.
"What is your true name?"
He clearly had never believed the "Mudong of the Eastern Depot" story for a second.
Cheon Su-gong had warned me that lying to the Emperor's face could get a man flogged to death, so I had no choice but to open my mouth here.
"Dan Mujin, Your Majesty. This one is my subordinate, Jo Harang."
The fact that he had singled me out by name suggested he had already guessed a fair amount about my identity from the start.
"Dan Mujin, is it. For one so young, your internal energy is considerable. How did you accumulate such power?"
Ordinarily, asking a martial artist of the jianghu for the secret of his cultivation was a serious breach of etiquette—but this man was the Emperor of the Central Plains.
"…I did a lot of good deeds."
A thick vein bulged on Cheon Su-gong's forehead where he stood fretting nearby.
He clearly thought I was giving a flippant answer even after the Emperor himself had asked. But I had spoken nothing but the truth.
"Heh heh."
Emperor Hongrak laughed low in his throat.
Then he slowly stroked his beard.
"Not a single thing about you moves according to prediction."
Fortunately he did not hand down any severe punishment; he merely wore an expression of amusement.
According to Hwang Geolgae, the Emperor was a fox-like bear—cunning and impossible to read. He even did incomprehensible things now and then purely for entertainment.
For some reason, though, the Emperor before me did not feel quite that inscrutable today.
"Very well, Dan Mujin. I believe I promised the champion one wish of their choosing."
He spoke as if it were nothing important and told me to name what I wanted. Yet his eyes, for some reason, carried the faint sense that he was testing me.
A wish granted by the Emperor. Demanding money at a rare opportunity like this would be far too low-brow. Money was something I could earn from other commissions.
As for favors involving power, I had recently already secured the Beggar Sect's right of entry into the capital; there was no longer any particular need for influence.
So I scratched my chin, wondering what wish I should make—
"Hmm…? What's she doing over there…?"
I spotted a familiar woman being dragged away by Imperial Army soldiers, still making muffled "eupeup!" sounds.