Sohee's Triumph and Childhood Promise
Instead of taking Moyong Young's attacks head-on, Sohee deflected them one by one.
Snap of the wrist, huh? I had brute-forced my way through with raw power, but Sohee wouldn't risk snapping her wrist or having her arm tremble from the strain. After blocking over ten exchanges, even Moyong Young started showing signs of impatience.
"Quick as a rat—"
I shot her a sneer at the crude insult. If a mouse moved at Sohee's speed, it'd be animal abuse!
I clenched my fists tight and watched Sohee. She hadn't even unleashed her full speed yet—her specialty. Not only was she defending against Moyong Young's assaults, but she was occasionally striking at openings.
Even for Sohee, overpowering someone proficient with the sword using an unfamiliar wooden one might be too much, right?
Moyong Young raised her arm high and brought it down. Sohee grabbed her wrist.
"Wha—?"
Sohee yanked the wrist in the same direction as the original sword thrust, using it as a pivot to flip her over. It was a textbook shoulder throw, utilizing the opponent's weight. Moyong Young flailed on the dirt like an upturned pill bug, and before she knew it, Sohee's wooden sword tip was aimed at her throat.
"Our Sohee has won."
Cheers erupted from the spectator stands as Bi Yeon Pavilion Master declared the result.
Isn't that a judo throw? Is that okay in wooden sword sparring?
"Victory to Sohee."
Such worries bubbled up, but neither the audience nor Moyong Young herself raised any objections. Suddenly, I recalled the lineage of martial arts from my old world. I hadn't seen flashy sword styles like Emperor Sword Form or Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique yet, but grappling arts like judo, jiu-jitsu, and sambo all stemmed from the same root: ancient koryu jujutsu, the practical martial art samurai practiced alongside their katanas while clad in armor. In my era, where gunplay had evolved, grappling had converged into bare-hand fighting, but back when samurai wielded swords, it was inseparable from swordsmanship.
I didn't know what they called koryu jujutsu here in the Central Plains.
So that's why no one's complaining? Because a shoulder throw counts as swordsmanship?
I accepted the flexible judging criteria. They treated it like genre convention—no sword auras, sword beams, or lightsaber qi turning it into superpowers with brain or fire attributes.
This is reality, after all.
If it weren't, the author would've skipped the boring Tang Family Fist training long ago. Who expects fist techniques from the Sichuan Tang Clan, anyway!
Suddenly—flash!
Sohee vanished from my sight. More precisely, a man had scooped her up. Moyong Young, just getting up from the dirt, protested.
"Father! What are you doing?!"
"Hm? What else? She's impressive, isn't she?"
Proud of someone else's daughter?
"P-put... me down."
"Ah, sorry about that. Yeong likes it, so I thought you would too."
Moyong Jae set Sohee down and patted his own daughter. Anyway, after putting Sohee down, the man approached his fuming daughter.
"Surprised to lose to a younger child? You must embrace failure to become great."
Where was the doting father who'd watched me get pummeled with glee? Typical genius-parent talk.
With her ego sky-high, Moyong Young couldn't stomach her dad praising another girl. Come to think of it, scooping up Sohee might've been deliberate—to motivate his daughter.
...If that's true, he's a bit scary.
Moyong Jae clasped his hands politely toward Bi Yeon Pavilion Master.
"As expected of the Tang Clan. It seems Yeong learned more here than in Anhui Castle."
Anhui Castle—Nangong family? I blurted out in surprise.
"Uncle, your daughter beat kids from the Nangong family too?"
The Nangong family was the strongest of the Five Great Clans, a top-tier righteous sect. If Moyong Young surpassed them, then Sohee, who overwhelmed her, was top-tier among her peers?
"Not quite, but losing to a girl who's never held a sword before should give her some insights."
The Sword Venerable's granddaughter couldn't even beat Nangong kids? I clicked my tongue at Moyong Jae's response.
What a brat—turns out she's just a noisy empty cart?
No sympathy for getting beaten at the Nangong place and venting on us. As he returned his daughter's wooden sword to Bi Yeon Pavilion Master, Moyong Jae dropped a bombshell.
"The family head wields a sword skillfully too. Seems the Tang Clan has some hidden sword arts."
Family head? My dad wields a sword?
Bi Yeon Pavilion Master looked uncomfortable.
"That's just a rumor."
"A peerless beauty with the Tang surname told me not to believe such talk. My father's words."
How do you even say that? Denying it again would be like calling his father wrong—checkmate.
I glanced at Sohee. Despite beating someone two years older, she wasn't triumphant; she stood composed, but her expression was more subdued than usual.
Why?
Bi Yeon Pavilion Master noticed too.
"Then, Sohee, you should go rest."
"I'll go with her!"
Women's quarters were usually deep in the inner chambers, but Sohee's room in Bi Yeon Pavilion Master's house was more like an annex, so they arrived quickly. I'd heard pro Go player Lee Sedol had selective mutism as a kid. The stress of genius?
"Sohee, you don't have to master the sword. It was just a special event—don't sweat it!"
"Event... weird words again."
Foreign words were a modern guy's occupational hazard.
"Beating a Moyong Clan girl? Awesome! What was that technique?"
"Just... felt like it would work."
I'd only tracked Moyong Young until the sandbag kick, but Sohee's eyes were sharper.
"What? Not something from Bi Yeon Pavilion Master?"
Sohee's face soured, looking uncomfortable. What was wrong?
Opponent too boring to death? Nah.
"Why couldn't you do it, Yohwan?"
"Huh?"
"You learned Tang Family Fist before me, but you lost to that noisy sister, didn't notice the sandbag kick, and took obvious attacks."
Her point-by-point critique was brutally factual—Moyong Young's attitude had rubbed off? Even her parting shot as she hopped onto the veranda was spicy.
"You're actually an idiot, Yohwan."
Yet that sharp Sohee wasn't off-putting. Addictive, even. How frustrating must I look in a genius like her eyes?
I, Dang Yohwan, wasn't one to deny reality. Gotta own it!
"Compared to you, yeah, I'm an idiot!"
Sohee didn't even turn back.
Bam!
The sliding door slammed shut. I didn't go in, just stood dumbfounded in the hall. Couldn't leave casually. Through the slightly ajar door from the hard slam, I heard a faint whimper.
"Sohee? You crying?"
"You're a real idiot... got a fiancée, yet eyeing other girls' butts..."
Then it hit me.
Oh, mad about that earlier.
No shame in the duel, but not a move for someone betrothed.
"...And you said you'd marry me."
Sohee mumbled that, then burrowed into the blankets like a caterpillar. To her, both I and Moyong Young were dullards. How pathetic must my flailing against my crush have looked?
I dropped to my knees instantly.
"My bad! I'll reflect on it!"
"Think 'sorry' fixes everything?"
"I, Dang Yohwan, swear to the heavens: no outsider girls within ten zhang of me ever again!"
Sohee peeked out, caterpillar-style. Incredibly cute!
"Then no Dragon-Phoenix Tournament later?"
"If you hate it, of course not!"
In the harsh jianghu, follow the strong. Only then did Sohee shed her blanket cocoon and beam. The dark, unlit room lit up with her smile alone.
"Promise?"
"Pinkie swear?"
She shook her head at my offer.
"I'll seal it."
With that declaration, her lips brushed my cheek. Still blindingly fast... but this time, I'd have dodged knowing it was coming? Nah.
The onlookers who'd gathered even on the rooftops dispersed quickly after the match. To spread word of Bi Yeon Pavilion Master's new disciple defeating the Sword Venerable's granddaughter. Thus, no one noticed the last remaining pair was a covert infiltrator cloaked in invisibility cloth.
Having secretly watched the room's owner in youthful affections with a boy her age, they exchanged telepathic messages.
Why did prestigious clans distinguish direct and branch lineage? Simple: even jianghu folk bent arms inward for kin. Fifth cousins were dearer than eighth, grandchildren dearer than fifth—so elite arts transmission favored the favored.
But in the Tang Clan, it differed: direct lineage meant innate resistance to extreme poisons. Their pride in poisons even Mysterious Realm experts couldn't resist focused on enhancing innate constitutions. Marrying poison-bodies as in-laws was common; fetal training too.
They tested at ten—earlier risked non-directs fatally.
The Blood Cult had simpler methods: procure Dang Sohee's blood via Gold Merchant Group leader.
[Why the love pavilion?]
The man cut off his subordinate.
[Pardon? What do you mean?]
[Giving a five-year-old separate quarters? Even accounting for spinster generosity, it's stingy. As her master, I'd never leave such a pitiful child alone.]
They knew she was targeted from investigating the merchant, yet separate rooms screamed laxity beyond strict discipleship.
[A trap?]
[Opportunities aplenty. Abort today.]
[Bi Yeon Pavilion Master remains a thorn.]
With that, the woman leaped off the roof casually.
[Watch your step.]
Just before her toes touched ground, a trap mechanism triggered. Facing Poison Insect Dang Yeonhwa's snare, the woman panicked.
"Extreme Sovereign..."
Had the man not followed and caught her, she'd have fallen right in.
"Worms crawl the earth."
Sneering at both subordinate and house owner watching, he void-stepped upward. Under the clear sky, their figures soon vanished.