Geum Taeyang Strips Josephina's Clothes
“Ghost… ghost… There’s a ghost right in front of me…”
She was completely naked. With her hair loose and her body bare, Josephina stood before Geum Taeyang, staring at him while muttering about ghosts over and over.
Just as I thought—sleepwalking!
Josephina was in the middle of a sleepwalking episode. That was why her master, Marianne, always left her door open at night. Whenever her beloved disciple began wandering around in a trance, she wanted to react immediately.
Her frequency must have shifted just enough for her to see me as a blurry figure.
Yet even in that state, Josephina kept pointing at Geum Taeyang and calling him a ghost. The principle of cloaking was simple: it altered one’s frequency. Skilled mages could adjust their own frequency to counter it. Josephina, however, had unconsciously aligned with the cloaking skill’s frequency because of her sleepwalking.
With a body like that, muttering nonsense while sleepwalking… damn, I’m already getting a reaction down there.
Geum Taeyang, the dopamine addict, felt no sense of crisis. Instead, a thoroughly perverted physical response stirred within him.
But I’ve got to run!
—Thud, thud, thud, thud!
He couldn’t bring himself to do anything erotic to the half-asleep Josephina.
“Oh my, Josephina! You’re having another sleepwalking episode, aren’t you?”
Soft footsteps approached. Marianne, the Sword Empress and Josephina’s master, had heard her disciple’s voice and was coming out.
“Master… a ghost… there was a ghost…”
“It was just a dream, child. There are no ghosts here.”
“A ghost… I definitely saw one…”
When her master appeared, Josephina pointed toward where Geum Taeyang had been standing and kept murmuring. Marianne knelt gently and soothed her disciple.
“Josephina, are you still showing symptoms of sleepwalking?”
“The medicine Sirke gave me has reduced it a lot, but whenever I’m stressed, it flares up like this.”
“Kaaah… hoo… hoo…”
Kesker also came out and observed Josephina’s condition. While the master and her friend spoke with concern, Josephina stood there peacefully and fell back asleep.
Ahem… what a dazzling sight.
Geum Taeyang, who had fled in a hurry the night before, ignored the situation on the third floor and went straight to bed. When he woke around eleven in the morning, warm sunlight was streaming through the window.
Hmm… just one day without sex and my symbol is already raging like this…
The first thing to greet him was his massive, erect member, screaming for him to find a woman and relieve it.
Should I use cloaking and hide in the shower to take care of it myself?
While Geum Taeyang was entertaining such absurd thoughts, a spirited voice rang out from outside.
“Hah! Hyah! Haaah!”
That’s Josephina’s voice.
Crawling on all fours, Geum Taeyang crept toward the window above his bed to peep at the source of the sounds.
Clang! Clang! Shing! Clang!
“It’s not about using force, Josephina. It’s about letting the force flow through you. Like water—entrust your body to the current.”
“Yes, yes, Master! Hah! Hyah! Haaah!”
Outside the window, Marianne was teaching her disciple with real swords. Geum Taeyang watched with genuine interest, his vulgar erection still present but his expression serious.
Sword dance. That was the visible difference between continental swordsmanship and Seolhwa Bijgeom. It was organic, like dancing. Rather than forcibly drawing power from one’s body, one treated the opponent and the sword as part of a single flowing condition.
She’s probably trying to make her understand that concept. For Josephina, who only started learning at fifteen, it won’t be easy—regardless of her B-rank awakening level.
Marianne wasn’t the type to refuse disciples outright, but her conditions were strict. First, the disciple must not damage her Nine Yin Meridians. She had also debated sword philosophy with continental swordsmen many times, only to find them difficult to teach. Josephina, however, had a special connection, so Marianne was patiently instructing her despite the time it took.
“Huh?”
While swinging her sword and sweating profusely, Josephina’s eyes widened as she looked to the side.
“Ah! Please don’t mind me and continue showing that splendid sparring. Your focused expressions are truly impressive.”
Having calmed his erection, Geum Taeyang had dressed properly and walked out to where Marianne was teaching Josephina.
“Josephina, why are you losing focus during training?”
Thwack!
“Ow!”
“If that had been the blade instead of the flat, your head would be rolling on the ground.”
“Yes… I’m sorry, Master…”
Josephina, distracted by Geum Taeyang, received a scolding.
“I was rejected when I asked to spar directly, but observing you instruct your disciple from up close should be acceptable, no?”
“Of course. Seeing how easily Josephina loses focus, it might be good for her to practice under someone’s gaze.”
Geum Taeyang sat on a nearby rock and spoke casually. The lecherous man had spouted nonsense about learning swordsmanship from the Sword Empress because he trusted his Heavenly Martial Body trait. With that divine talent, he believed he could master Seolhwa Bijgeom simply by mixing it with his own style. But he had been thoroughly rejected.
Tch. Just watching her teach has its limits. She’s not demonstrating the full techniques, only correcting Josephina’s concepts and habits.
Still, he couldn’t give up. Learning Seolhwa Bijgeom was one of the main reasons he had come to the Grace expedition. It was too important to abandon.
“Alright, let’s end today’s training here, Josephina.”
“Hwaaaah! I’m exhausted…”
—Thud!!
The morning sparring session ended, and Josephina collapsed onto the grass, drenched in sweat.
“That was magnificent training.”
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!
“You’re too kind.”
Geum Taeyang applauded and encouraged them both. Marianne gave a formal reply and silently observed him.
Geum Taeyang’s gaze… it was definitely different from ordinary swordsmen. It was as if he truly understood my movements.
Although Geum Taeyang had failed to steal the Seolhwa Bijgeom techniques as he intended, he had succeeded in drawing Marianne’s interest. She had seen many A+ rank swordsmen and even some S-rank ones, but none of them had looked at her movements with such understanding. Geum Taeyang’s eyes were filled with exclamation marks, not question marks.
“May this Marianne ask the Grand Khan a question about the sword?”
This was the very reason Marianne had invited Geum Taeyang to her home. She was curious about his extraordinary nature, and now that it had manifested again, she began to probe.
“It would be an honor. If the Sword Empress asks, I will do my utmost to give a sincere answer.”
Smirk!
Geum Taeyang smiled, recognizing the positive signal even if it wasn’t exactly what he had planned.
“When a swordsman enters battle, how many swords do you believe he possesses?”
Marianne posed a truly enigmatic question.
“Hmm… how many swords a swordsman has…”
Geum Taeyang crossed his arms, wearing a serious expression as he pondered deeply.
“I believe the number of swords begins at one and returns to one.”
His answer was just as cryptic as the question.
“Begins at one and returns to one?”
Yet it seemed to resonate deeply with Marianne. Her eyes widened slightly.
“Once you begin to understand the sword, you see only the single sword before you. When you become a master, you see the sword before you, the sword of your own heart that wields it, and the sword that is your opponent.”
Geum Taeyang continued without hesitation.
“Most people fight with those three swords. In that second stage, I dare say, the battle is decided by the sharpness of one’s mind.”
The first stage was fighting with the strength of the sword and one’s own ability. The second was deciding the outcome through strategy and psychology rather than raw power.
“If that is the second stage, then according to you, Grand Khan, does a higher realm exist beyond it?”
Marianne asked with intense focus, as if testing him.
“The state of no-self—where the distinction between oneself, the sword, and the opponent becomes meaningless. A path where the sword flows according to intuition rather than analysis or planning. I believe such a path exists. At that point, the sword is no longer three, but one.”
Geum Taeyang recited his answer like an enlightened sage playing among the clouds.
The sword of unity between self and other.
Marianne felt a great resonance. Unity of self and sword—when you swing the sword, it is not you wielding it, but you, the sword, and the opponent becoming one sword. That was the essence of Seolhwa Bijgeom that her master, Seol Yeon-ah, had taught. Naturally, the concept of unity between self and other did not exist in this world of Pangea.
“Hmm… it sounds similar to what Master usually says…”
Josephina scratched her head, murmuring.
“It might even be on a higher level. The sequence from one sword to three swords and back to one sword… even I had never considered that.”
“Really, Master?”
“Hahaha! I think the Sword Empress’s interpretation is even better! It’s the dream versus the interpretation of the dream!”
Marianne declared to her beloved disciple that Geum Taeyang’s words were of a higher dimension than her own.
Of course it is—those lines are straight from Records of World Conquest. I just added some flavor, kekeke!
The meticulous and cunning Geum Taeyang, having failed with his direct sparring request, was now trying a roundabout approach. He wanted to make Marianne see him as someone worth sparring with.
“Therefore, in my eyes, the Sword Empress’s movements resemble a dance. An integrated dance of offense and defense—shall we call it sword dance? Hahaha!”
He even used the concept of sword dance.
“My swordsmanship already contains the word ‘dance’ within its name. It seems my judgment of the Grand Khan was not mistaken.”
“That’s truly excellent interpretation, Sword Empress! Hahahaha!”
The exchange flowed smoothly between them.
“Josephina.”
Marianne turned her gaze to Josephina, who had been blankly watching the two of them.
“I think I’ll have to ask the Grand Khan to handle this afternoon’s theory lesson. His explanations will be far easier to understand than mine.”
“The Grand Khan?”
“Would it be alright for me to take on such an important task?”
“It is more than sufficient, Grand Khan.”
Perhaps hearing the same thing explained differently could create a new moment of understanding. Marianne wanted to attempt that through Geum Taeyang.
Thus, as Geum Taeyang began the afternoon theory lesson, he issued a command to Josephina.
“Take it off.”