The Wall of the Peak

Five years had passed since that day his head had ached so fiercely.

The only things that had changed since then were how much more time So-ye spent clinging to his side, and that she had begun to learn the Ice Arts.

"Hehe... Big Brother's arms are so warm. I love it."

"If that's how So-ye feels, then that's how it is..."

Part of it was that whenever his constitution met hers, the cold that bound So-ye would recede. But it was also that So-ye simply wanted to be in his arms.

"I want to learn amazing martial arts, just like Big Brother!"

"So-ye..."

When a daughter and a little sister wanted to learn martial arts for a reason so pure, what parent or older brother could possibly refuse her? And so So-ye began learning Ice Arts from their mother — arts perfectly suited to her constitution.

"This is a heart method called the Ice-White Divine Art. You must keep an unfreezing warmth in your heart while circulating the energy of ice."

"Nngh... like this?"

"Huh? Th-this isn't supposed to come that easily. If that's the case, then all the time I spent learning this as Young Palace Master from my father..."

Above all, So-ye possessed a genuine talent for Ice Arts. She had already reached the level of taking the techniques her mother taught her and dyeing them in her own colors, until they blossomed as something uniquely hers.

"So-ye. This is the Ice-White Divine Sword... It's a sword art that flows from the Ice-White Divine Art, with noble movements like those of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a dancing maiden..."

Whoosh—!!

"Yes?"

"I... I'm sorry Mommy doesn't have any talent..."

"Darling. So-ye simply has talent to spare. Don't let it get you down."

Of course, their mother had briefly wailed at the sight of So-ye's overwhelming talent. Father spent his days comforting her, and the life that followed was the first true peace any of them had felt in a very long while.

"Sooo... is it true that Ice Arts have a beauty effect?"

"Of course it is. That's why Mommy looks younger than all the other women her age."

And the more Ja-hyeok watched So-ye and their mother swinging their swords and chatting away, the more he felt that, as her big brother, he absolutely could not afford to fall behind.

The Crimson Yang Divine Art and the Crimson Yang Divine Sword he had learned from his father. Those martial arts, he had heard from Grandfather, were techniques that used Yang energy.

"Hooo..."

Which meant that even if he had never used it consciously or directly, he had been wielding Yang energy through his sword all this time. If he could concentrate and uncover the method, he would be able to use that Yang energy to refine his sword art into something far more precise and solid. He might even be able to reach the Peak Realm that had been blocking his path.

Fwoooosh—!

He steadied his mind and drew up the Yang energy he could feel within himself. What rose was a tiny flame, slowly catching, a spark kindling into fire. He circulated that tiny flame through his entire body in place of the inner energy gathered in his lower dantian, forging his flesh with Yang energy as though tempering steel — until not even the faintest wisp of Yang energy could leak out, and his body became solid iron.

CLANG—!

And then, together with that perfectly forged body, he saw it: a wall of solid iron that looked as though it could never be crossed.

"So this is the world shown to those who seek to enter the Peak Realm."

No matter how solid that iron wall stood, holding its ground amid a warmly burning grassland...

CLANG—!

Kiiiing—!

He unleashed every form of the Crimson Yang Divine Sword he could perform.

He swung them as though they were a single continuous sequence, chaining the three forms from first to last, merging them together as he cut. Though ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this was the boundary of the mind's image, and his hands did not ache, his heart grew weary. He would never be able to protect So-ye if a wall like this stopped him.

CLANG—!!!

Crumble, crumble...

Above all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— wasn't the Wall of the Peak itself beginning to give way under his relentless assault? Besides, he was a greedy enough older brother that he had no desire to look pathetic in front of So-ye.

He gripped his sword properly once more within the mind's image. He returned to the beginning and swung lightly again, slowly reviewing which forms were receiving too little power and which were being driven too hard, correcting them as he went.

The Peak is the apex of the sword.

And I will surpass even that apex.

Rumble, crash...

And so, from that day, Ja-hyeok crossed the Wall of the Peak.

If she wanted to protect Big Brother from other people, looks would certainly help — but what she truly needed was martial arts. No matter how high Big Brother's martial accomplishments were, she couldn't assume that a female martial artist of an even higher realm wouldn't take an interest in him.

"Mother! I want to learn martial arts too, just like Big Brother!"

Unlike Father, who used a Yang-energy sword art, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mother practiced Ice Arts that used Yin energy. So while Big Brother learned from Father, So-ye would learn Ice Arts from Mother — and she would reach a realm where she could protect him to the end.

The Ice-White Divine Art and Ice-White Divine Sword she learned from Mother felt, for some reason, so natural in her hands that it was as if she had finally put on clothes that actually fit. Utterly free.

"Dance like a dancing maiden..."

A dancing maiden was someone who offered her dance to everyone. But unlike those dancers, she would dance for only one person. She began to smile as she danced the one dance that could reach Big Brother.

"Hahaha—!!"

It was a dance she never wanted anyone but Big Brother to see — a dance that held a heart of peerless, world-toppling devotion.

Dancing like that, she crossed from reality into the boundary of the mind's image. Before her eyes, something blocked the way, and a snowfield of ten-thousand-year snow began to unfold.

"Heeh... so this is the Wall of the Peak that Big Brother talked about."

The hard, unbreakable iron wall that, according to Big Brother, appeared before martial artists who reached the Wall of the Peak.

"If I get stuck in a place like this, I won't be able to protect Big Brother..."

But she had to break through even a wall like that. To protect Big Brother from everyone else. No — to claim Big Brother for herself, away from every other woman. It was something closer to destiny.

She steadied her breath and prepared to thrust her sword forward. She discarded any thought of scratching the wall with multiple forms. She poured everything into a single resolve: to cut down that hard, unyielding wall with one stroke.

The Ice-White Divine Sword was, from its very origin, a martial art that began with freezing all who stood in its path without ever being blocked — a sword art that held that very heart. The teachings of her predecessors, melted into the blade, aligned perfectly with the heart of the successor who walked that path — and she struck.

It was a sword strike of peerless, world-toppling caliber. The Wall of the Peak that had blocked her path split cleanly in two and vanished — truly, it was nothing less than the path of Ice itself.

Slash—!

"Haha..."

And the one who had performed that miracle, thinking only that she could now protect Big Brother, merely imitated that peerless sword strike as she ascended the Wall of the Peak — and collapsed.

Her memory had cut off after she sliced through the wall they called the Wall of the Peak... and then something warm and soft began to register against her head.

"...So-ye, are you all right?"

When she opened her eyes, of course it was Big Brother she saw — so she simply wrapped her arms around him tighter, holding him close.

"Yes. I think I overdid it a little."

She had pushed her body far harder than usual. After all, she had forced her way over the Wall of the Peak — a wall that should have taken a considerable amount of time to cross — by using a shortcut: cutting it down with a single stroke.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be... Big Brother."

But Big Brother seemed to think her collapse meant he wasn't reliable enough to protect his little sister, and he was blaming himself. She knew that side of him well. She had already sensed, from the energy in his lower dantian, that Big Brother had also crossed the Wall of the Peak — just like her, in order to grow stronger.

"Hehe... Big Brother."

"You're dreaming of your childhood again, just like last time."

And so, borne on a warm autumn wind, time slipped past. Ten years flew by like a loosed arrow, and the hour of her coming of age began to draw near.