Back in My Day, It Wasn’t Like This! Back in My Day! (5)
Yu I-seol quietly studied the person standing before her.
Pang Gyeong, was it?
She couldn’t quite remember the name. She had never been especially interested in it.
Not because she was being dismissive.
What mattered was what martial arts the other person used, and what characteristics they had—not their name. Even without a name, there were countless ways to tell people apart.
Fast.
Her heart was beating a little quicker than usual. She was doing her best to stay calm, but complete composure was never easy to maintain outside the dueling platform.
Yu I-seol drew a small breath.
She steadied her racing heart and looked at Pang Gyeong’s massive blade.
Heavy. Powerful-looking.
The blade of the Peng Family was the blade of supremacy, speed, and weight.
Its greatest trait was undoubtedly that supremacy. If she met head-on the force pouring from that thick, heavy blade, the outcome would be decided in an instant.
I can’t just look at my own sword.
A sword existed through harmony.
A sword that did not consider its opponent was nothing more than a dance.
Yes. That was what he had said.
At last, with her mind completely settled, Yu I-seol slowly drew her sword.
The soft whisper of steel being drawn tickled the ear. The moment the sword settled into her hand, her mind became clear.
Ever since she had come to understand things—no, even before she had come to understand things, had there ever been a day her sword had left her hand?
“I’m Pang Gyeong of the Northern Peng Clan.”
“I’m Yu I-seol of Mount Hua.”
“Mount Hua’s accomplishments were quite impressive. Your sword must be sharp as well, young lady.”
Pang Gyeong smiled faintly and raised his blade, pointing it at Yu I-seol.
“If you can surpass me, your name will shake the world. But do you have the strength for it?”
Yu I-seol looked at Pang Gyeong in silence.
He knew nothing.
“I never wanted that.”
“Hm?”
“Fame.”
Yu I-seol slowly lowered her sword.
“...Will she be all right?”
Yoon Jong had asked the question before he realized it.
Of course, he knew it was presumptuous to worry about Yu I-seol. No matter how one measured it, she was stronger than he was.
Objectively speaking, Yu I-seol was one of Mount Hua’s two greatest experts. She was the only person who could truly be said to be on equal footing with Baek Cheon.
Hm?
Chung Myung?
He didn’t count. Not him.
No, that guy was cheating.
Yoon Jong flicked a glance toward Chung Myung, then turned back to Yu I-seol.
The difference in size is almost double.
Yu I-seol wasn’t exactly short, but Pang Gyeong was simply enormous. Looking at them from afar, they seemed like an adult and a child.
“Is this really all right?”
Before even discussing sword skill, he worried whether Yu I-seol’s sword could withstand the raw force radiating from that body.
“Chung Myung.”
“What?”
“Sago will win, right?”
Chung Myung snorted.
“Why? You think she might lose?”
“The difference is too big. If she makes one mistake and lets him land a single strike...”
“That won’t happen.”
“Huh?”
“That sword demon wouldn’t let it happen.”
Chung Myung smirked.
He remembered.
Yu I-seol had chased after him like a burr from the moment they first met.
No one in Mount Hua could match her obsession with the sword. And unlike most people, she hadn’t let that obsession remain an obsession.
She was like that even then.
Before dawn, while everyone else slept, Yu I-seol would already be on Yeonhwabong, arriving before Chung Myung, who had gone out alone to train.
Before that, and after that too.
She had never once skipped her personal training.
Even while undergoing Chung Myung’s hellish training that drove people to their limits, she had remained the same. While the other disciples collapsed in exhaustion and fell asleep wherever they dropped, she alone had always cut into her sleep to train more, and more, and more.
Chung Myung looked at Yu I-seol with a fresh sense of curiosity.
It’s not just obsession with martial arts...
He didn’t know the reason.
Why was Yu I-seol so fixated on bringing plum blossoms into bloom? No matter how much it was Chung Myung, he couldn’t see all the way into someone’s heart.
But there was one thing he could say for certain.
Even if Chung Myung had never appeared, even if Mount Hua had simply collapsed and died, Yu I-seol would have died as Mount Hua’s ghost.
Others might have chosen different paths.
Baek Cheon, who had been willing to stake everything on defeating Jin Geum-ryong, might have chosen a different sect.
Jo Gul, who had come to Mount Hua with such a light heart, would probably have returned to his family.
Yoon Jong might have stayed at Mount Hua. His only purpose had been to repay Mount Hua’s kindness, after all. Even after losing the place where he lived, he might have struggled alongside the sect leader to rebuild Mount Hua.
But Yu I-seol would have been different.
Even if Mount Hua’s disciples lost their halls and scattered down the mountain, she would have remained at Mount Hua and died there as its ghost.
She would have set up her living quarters somewhere on the mountain and walked alone, endlessly, down a path no one else had even asked her to take.
Down a lonely road where no one would guide her and no one would help her.
“If you ask whether she has the qualifications to be a strong expert, I’d say no.”
Chung Myung looked at Yu I-seol with lowered eyes.
“But if you ask whether she has the qualifications of a swordsman, she has them in spades. More than anyone in Mount Hua.”
Hearing that, Jo Gul looked at Yu I-seol anew.
Sago.
The sight of her with a sword in hand sank into his eyes like a painting.
“Hah.”
Yu I-seol let out short breaths one after another.
Having brought her breathing completely under control, she stared at Pang Gyeong with eyes emptied of all feeling.
Pang Gyeong spoke.
“I’ll let you have the first move.”
“Yes.”
She had no intention of wasting time on some pointless contest of pride. What mattered was whether she could bring her opponent down, whether she could fully unfold her sword.
Thud.
Without even a shout, she rushed at Pang Gyeong and thrust her sword straight out.
It was not, in itself, a remarkable stab. But a thrust combining speed and perfect form was no different from a supreme technique.
Whoosh!
The sword cleaved the air and flew toward Pang Gyeong’s neck.
“Hup!”
Perhaps because the speed exceeded his expectations, Pang Gyeong showed a slight flash of panic and drew his blade back to shield his neck with the broad face of the dao.
And then, in that instant—
Yu I-seol’s swiftly flying sword curved smoothly through the air, slipping past Pang Gyeong’s blade and slicing into his thigh.
Schhk.
With that chilling sound, blood burst from Pang Gyeong’s thigh. Frowning, he staggered backward.
His gaze dropped at once to the wound, already soaking through with blood. The injury itself was not as deep as he had feared. The problem was that he had been wounded in a single exchange.
What kind of sword is that...?
A sword moving at that speed changing direction without losing momentum was nearly miraculous.
A sword ghost?
Yu I-seol’s sword was nothing like the Mount Hua swords he had seen so far. Unlike Mount Hua’s swordsmanship, which carried weight beneath its brilliance, Yu I-seol’s sword was utterly concise—and utterly practical.
If I’m careless, I’ll be cut down.
Pang Gyeong threw away every trace of contempt and tightened his grip on his blade.
“I apologize for underestimating you...”
At that very moment, Yu I-seol’s sword stabbed toward his face again.
“Hup!”
Clang!
Pang Gyeong sucked in a sharp breath and lifted his dao to knock away Yu I-seol’s sword. No matter how fast it was, that frail wrist and that light blade would never pierce his dao.
The heavy dao he wielded weighed close to a hundred geun. Most swords would shatter the instant they met it head-on.
“Tahat!”
After batting away Yu I-seol’s sword, Pang Gyeong sprang after her as she created distance, releasing a surge of red blade energy.
Five-Tiger Severing Gate Dao.
Mighty Tiger Emerges from the Cave.
A slashing strike that surged forward like a leaping beast.
It was a simple form beyond compare. But once the unique weight and destructive force of a dao were added—something a sword could never replicate—that simplicity became refined efficiency.
BOOOOM!
The dao smashed into the ground.
The solid blue stone floor shattered like pottery, sending fragments flying in every direction.
“As if I’d let you go!”
As though he would never let her slip away, Pang Gyeong stomped forward and charged at Yu I-seol.
Swords were sharp and dazzling.
But a dao was simple, and destructive.
When facing a brilliant sword like Mount Hua’s, the best response was not to be dazzled by its changes but to crush it with raw force.
Pang Gyeong made full use of his strength.
Yu I-seol retreated. Pang Gyeong pressed forward.
No matter how fast Yu I-seol was, one who moved backward could never outrun one who rushed forward.
The distance between them closed in an instant.
Pang Gyeong, having brought Yu I-seol into range, planted a fierce stamp that seemed ready to shatter the floor beneath him. He poured all that force into his dao and swung as if he meant to split Yu I-seol in two at the waist.
Yu I-seol lifted her sword to the side and began blocking him with the face of the blade.
“Junior sister!”
Baek Cheon shot to his feet in alarm.
Blocking a thick dao carrying that much force and inner power with the face of a sword—not even its edge—was madness.
It looked as though Pang Gyeong’s blade would break the sword and drive straight into Yu I-seol’s waist.
But then—
Grrrk.
The moment Pang Gyeong’s dao met the sword face, Yu I-seol tilted her blade at an angle and let the strike slide away.
At the same time, her body followed the sword and spun lightly through the air.
“What?”
Pang Gyeong’s face was plainly shocked. He had never imagined that the slash would be diverted so easily.
But Yu I-seol did not stop there. Even while turning, she swept her sword and cut across Pang Gyeong’s chest.
Pang Gyeong flinched and yanked his body backward, but by then a long gash had already been carved across his chest. Fortunately, it was only a flesh wound, but it was enough to send a cold chill down his spine.
He stumbled back without meaning to, staring at Yu I-seol in disbelief.
She can divert that?
In truth, the result itself was not all that spectacular. She had simply leapt up to meet the horizontal swing.
But at the very moment sword and dao met, if she had made even the slightest mistake, that sword would have shattered. And his dao would have split her waist in half.
It was not something just anyone could attempt. And yet she had done it so naturally.
Cold sweat began to bead on Pang Gyeong’s forehead.
“...So my junior sister was that good?”
Pang Gyeong was not the only one stunned by Yu I-seol’s movements.
Baek Cheon was just as shocked, staring at her wide-eyed.
He had known she was strong. They sparred often enough for him to fully appreciate her strength.
But this was different.
Regardless of the level of martial prowess involved, Yu I-seol possessed something Baek Cheon did not. Right now, he could not even imitate the move she had just shown.
Setting aside whether he could or couldn’t do it, he couldn’t even imagine trying it. Who would dare attempt something where a single mistake could mean the difference between life and death?
Then Chung Myung’s quiet voice reached Baek Cheon’s ear.
“Training exists so it can be used in real combat.”
“...”
“And the person who understands that best is Sago.”
Chung Myung spoke in a low voice.
“A swordsman has to keep a razor-sharp mind in any situation. She’s on a different level from those stupid martial uncles and senior brothers who go running wild over nothing. That’s why Sago has to be acknowledged as a true swordsman.”
At Chung Myung’s words, Baek Cheon nodded.
Indeed, there was no denying that.
Only one thing troubled him...
“Aren’t you the one who gets most worked up and runs wild during sparring?”
“...”
Chung Myung jerked his chin toward the dueling platform.
“Quit talking nonsense and watch the match.”
“Changing the subject?”
“...”
Chung Myung did not answer.
Yu I-seol let her sword drop low.
Rough.
She had managed it more or less, but it wasn’t perfect. If it had been perfect, that chest would not merely bear a light wound—it would have been carved with a deep gash.
But that was all right.
Her sword would become even more perfect.
And someday...
Yu I-seol’s eyes sank lower.
After quickly steadying her breath, she fixed Pang Gyeong clearly in her sight and stepped forward.
Thud!
Her body kicked off the floor and shot toward Pang Gyeong like a meteor.
“You...!”
Pang Gyeong ground his teeth.
Even if he had been momentarily thrown off, a swordsman charging head-on against a dao master who was already prepared was an act of blatant contempt.
“How dare you!”
With bloodshot eyes, Pang Gyeong charged to meet the incoming Yu I-seol.
“I’ll cut you in half!”
His dao, wrapped in overwhelming blade energy, fell swiftly toward Yu I-seol’s head.
And then, in that instant—
PAAAANG!
Yu I-seol’s sword struck Pang Gyeong’s dao at a speed the eye could not even follow.
Foolish!
Pang Gyeong poured in even more inner power and forced down the sword flying toward him. In a direct contest of strength, Yu I-seol could never withstand his destructive power.
Pang Gyeong’s dao, wrapped in red blade energy, and Yu I-seol’s sword, wrapped in red sword energy, met in midair.
And then—
BOOOOOOM!
With a tremendous explosion, Yu I-seol’s sword was sent rebounding backward.
“Taaap!”
Strength surged into Pang Gyeong’s hand as he gripped his dao.
He didn’t miss the chance and brought the blade crashing down toward Yu I-seol’s head with all his might.