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"It's been a while, Physician."
The Emei Sect Leader, Lust-Exorcising Abbess Ryu Seo-si, greeted me with Abbess Jeongjo and Abbess Jeongja flanking her.
These were women I had joined with—one directly, the other as Geom-je. The fact that I had taken both a master and her disciple, each a beautiful woman, made my lower body ache with tightness.
"The Alliance Leader spoke. You will allow my disciples to utilize their full power without regret. The Physician Mu-bung will assist. How will you do it?"
"With this."
I produced three Thousand-Hand Guanyin Rods I'd personally crafted. At the sight of the robust shapes, all three women's faces flushed crimson.
"It's not quite a Ten-Thousand Year Ice Crystal, but it's a remarkably efficacious spirit medicine. It will replenish at least three years' worth of martial power. Place it in your mouth and let it dissolve slowly."
"Three years...!"
The two sister disciples of the Emei Sect were astonished by the potency of the Thousand-Hand Guanyin Rods. The Lust-Exorcising Abbess smiled seductively at their shape.
"I understand. My disciples, take these away, consume the medicine, and then perform your Energy Circulation Breathing. So you can face the coming battles without regret."
"Yes!"
The two disciples each took a Thousand-Hand Guanyin Rod and vanished.
A woman of wholesome thought would perform Energy Circulation Breathing while leaving the phallus-shaped object untouched; a lewd woman would surely use it in that way for her cultivation.
And a lust demon of a woman...
"Physician, no. Saek-bung, I'm sorry but feed it to me directly with your mouth. My qi's been low again lately."
"As much as you want. Ah, but speaking of which..."
I pushed Seo Si, who was slowly pulling me toward her, and climbed on top.
"If there are any injured among the Emei disciples, might I be the one to tend to them?"
"You may do as you wish with Jeongjo and Jeongja, but that girl called Yoo Seol-ra... ngh?!"
Squelch. Without warning, I thrust the Thousand-Hand Guanyin Rod inside Seo Si. The rod, now inside her body, began to dissolve stickily from within.
"Th-there is...!"
"Is this not also a mouth? The lower lip."
"...Huh, I see. But if you're speaking of that child Yoo Seol-ra, she has yet to formally join the Emei Sect, so it's not my place to say anything."
She was right. The identity the Eldest Prince had fabricated for Yoo Seol-ra was that of 'a new master emerging from long seclusion to honor her deceased master's name.'
Therefore, I decided to support the plan from behind so the Eldest Prince wouldn't get suspicious.
"If she wishes to join the Emei Sect, wouldn't you, as the Sect Leader, have to formally acknowledge her?"
"That goes without saying. If that comes to pass, the Emei Sect's prosperi—oh, ho-ohk?!"
Squelch, squelch.
I'd heard all the answers I wanted. I inserted a small wooden skewer into the hole of the Thousand-Hand Guanyin Rod and thrust it back and forth wildly.
"If she is injured, you will step forward and look after her. Then send her to me. I shall persuade her well to join the Emei Sect."
"Aha-ah... Is this what they call a good deal for both sides...!"
Good for the sister, good for the brother-in-law. I gladly disrobed for the sake of laundering Yoo Seol-ra's identity.
"Seo Si, you're a woman I never get tired of savoring. Kkeu, if only I'd been born ten years earlier."
"D-don't keep saying things like that...! If you keep it up...."
With her body burning hot, Seo Si consumed the entire Thousand-Hand Guanyin Rod. Her appetite was so voracious that the honey inside nearly ended up making a sticky mess deep inside her.
- The lower lip is a mouth too, shouldn't I feed it something good?
An excellent point. I brought out the Thousand-Hand Guanyin Rod (True) in front of Seo Si.
"Right. If I keep it up?"
"...Hoho, I might just Return to Youth."
"......."
Chills.
I threw the truth at Seo Si, whose eyes were twinkling as she smiled.
"Yeah, at least a twofold difference between you and me."
In internal energy.
"M-my friend! To say that is too much— uh-heu-uhng!!"
To ruin the Eldest Prince's plan, I will perfectly infiltrate Yoo Seol-ra into the Emei Sect.
"I-I was, ahk, prettier than the current Six Phoenixes when I was young, aah-aang! Pound me harder! As if the Sex Demon is forcibly violating a Sect Leader!"
...by selling my body.
And then.
At last, the day of the Eight Strong Tournament dawned.
* * *
In the martial arts arena packed with countless spectators, the Divine Spear gnawed on dried beef and sighed involuntarily at the excited Gamchal-gwan beside him.
"Senior, who do you think will win? The Namgung? Or Emei?"
The Divine Spear couldn't answer the Gamchal-gwan's fussing question easily.
"Why are you so curious about that?"
"Because I might have an eye for seeing the causality of events, but I lack the eye for gauging the level of martial arts! Senior, you are far superior to me in that aspect, are you not? It's because you seem to know who will win."
At such a brazenly confident statement, the Divine Spear actually conceded. If one didn't know how great those two women were, explaining was the only option.
"The Namgung Clan's Namgung Yurin. Her skill is robust enough to boast roughly a thirty percent win rate against Exploding Dragon Namgung Pae."
"I don't understand at all. So Namgung Yurin wins?"
"...Wait a moment. A story has a flow to it. Among Rising Stars twenty-eight and under, she can be said to be within the top five at the very least."
"Aha. So she might be among the Six Phoenixes, might be on the edge, or might fall out? Her skill at least brushes the Six Phoenixes, then?"
At the Divine Spear's words, the Gamchal-gwan answered his own question and drew a conclusion. The Divine Spear, who had been about to elaborate fully, pursed his lips and nodded. Cutting out the middle process and jumping straight to a conclusion was the Gamchal-gwan's specialty.
"So you're saying that if she hadn't met the Black and White Two Flowers at the last Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, third place would have been certain?"
"Yes. Namgung Yurin's sword is robust. The strongest among the Eight Great Families. She simply met the Little Princess and was eliminated."
Even compared to the martial prowess of Moyong Ran and Jegal Seon, who had already ascended to the Six Phoenixes at that time, Namgung Yurin was much stronger. The sole reason Namgung Yurin didn't ascend to the Six Phoenixes was that her opponent was the Demonic Cult's Little Princess.
"The last tournament draw brought her bitter tears. I wonder how it will be this time?"
"Senior. You haven't answered my question yet. So, who wins if the top-five Namgung Yurin fights the woman called Yoo Seol-ra? The Eight Strong Tournament, first match."
"...Is it fun for you to watch a martial arts tournament already knowing the outcome?"
"Oh, doesn't that mean you know the outcome, Senior? Doesn't that mean you're certain who will win?"
Grrk. The Divine Spear ground his teeth at the Gamchal-gwan's observation. Being smart was good, but this tendency to dig up what he was deliberately trying to hide was quite burdensome.
"I know. But I can't say."
"Why? Are you perhaps not certain?"
"I am certain, but I mean I can't voice it aloud from this spot."
"Namgung!! Yurin!! Namgung!! Yurin!!"
The Divine Spear pointed at Exploding Dragon Namgung Pae, who was noisily rallying the cheering section nearby.
For his younger sister, for the Namgung Clan, as a man representing the Rising Stars of the Eight Great Families, he was actively encouraging the support for Namgung Yurin.
"Aha."
The Gamchal-gwan grinned and snarked quietly. From the subtle look in the Divine Spear's eyes, the Gamchal-gwan derived the answer the Divine Spear had found.
"The Eight Great Families' pride will be broken."
"For now, yes."
The Divine Spear spread out the tournament bracket. Given Namgung Yurin's position on the bracket, she would have to face two Emei swords.
"Looking at this, do you have any thoughts?"
"Let's see. A pride war between the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Eight Great Families?"
"Correct."
The Divine Spear began to recite the internal relationships within the Murim Alliance. The Gamchal-gwan listened for a long while, then began organizing the Divine Spear's words in his mind.
Though they joined hands together in the Murim Alliance, an indescribable pride war always existed between the clans and the sects.
That had merely burst out again this time.
It meant Namgung Yurin faced the Emei Sect, while Dokgo Yeon ended up facing Mount Hua Sect or Zhongnan Sect. The Gamchal-gwan, having concisely summarized the explanation that had stretched on for nearly an hour, nodded lifelessly.
"...In that sense, it's something I was trying not to say."
The Divine Spear glanced at the Murim Alliance Leader, who was sitting in the VIP seats and laughing heartily like an immortal, and gave a hollow laugh.
"It seems the Alliance Leader dislikes the Namgung after all."
"Nonsense. Would that be the case with the Chief Administrator being from the Namgung family?"
"But look at this bracket."
"They say the bracket was decided purely by drawing lots this time. There was no intervention from the Alliance Leader, which you're worried about, Senior."
The Divine Spear's expression hardened. Then, with a resigned face, he looked up at the sky.
"Then it seems the heavens dislike the Namgung."
Flutter, flutter.
In the clear sky, a single red-eyed hawk was soaring, wings spread wide.
* * *
Waaaahhhh------!!
The roar of the crowd resounds. Everyone is looking at me.
Namgung Yurin steadied her rising internal qi and waited only for her opponent to ascend the platform.
'Taiji Flower, the Little Princess, Yeonhui Peak, Crouching White Phoenix. Are you looking down on me from there?'
Taiji Flower, the Little Princess. Those two she could forgive for now, because they were opponents she would defeat someday.
But she could not forgive Yeonhui Peak and Crouching White Phoenix for acting so arrogantly as if they alone were the Six Phoenixes. She absolutely could not stand those weaker than her acting so haughty just because of a favorable tournament draw.
'Do you even know how I feel, violated by the Blade Demon and thrown into the abyss?!'
She would defeat everyone with her sword and climb to where they stood. Namgung Yurin pointed her sword with a confident smile toward one corner of the VIP seats, where the Six Phoenixes and the Two Flowers were seated.
'I will never die.'
Waaaahhhh-----!!
With just a single gesture of her sword, the people were electrified. For Namgung Yurin, not ascending to the Six Phoenixes was akin to death itself, and her powerful will began to radiate in all directions.
Though a woman, she displayed a fighting spirit more manly than anyone, and one by one, people began to be captivated by the spirit of the Namgung from Namgung Yurin.
'I was in really bad shape back then.'
She met the calamity called the Little Princess, was violated by the Blade Demon, and lost her jeongjo. She was even beaten to a bloody pulp and collapsed in a miserable defeat by the Little Princess.
But after meeting Physician Mu-bung, who was practically her life's benefactor, she was reborn with a more beautiful body, and her level of martial arts improved day by day, leaping far beyond First-Rate.
She hadn't revealed it to others, but Namgung Yurin's martial prowess had already transcended First-Rate to reach the Peak—
'Physician!'
In that instant, Namgung Yurin spotted a familiar face at the white medical tent set up on one side of the arena.
Wearing a white martial uniform and cotton gloves, he was chatting with the female warriors dispatched from the Murim Alliance with a tired face. A crimson armband embroidered with the character for 'Medicine' (醫) was fastened around their arms.
'My life's benefactor!'
How could she not be grateful to the person who gave her life as a woman a second birth?
He was handsome and had a good voice. Namgung Yurin had met the physician in her dreams many times over.
Imagining physician Mu-bung, unable to suppress his lust at the sight of her lying docile on the patient's bed as he forcibly violated her and desperately shook his hips, Namgung Yurin had been yearning eagerly to meet him again.
'But this time, I won't meet him as a patient.'
Meeting as a patient hurt her pride. Therefore, she would face Mu-bung not as a patient, but as one of the Six Phoenixes—the Heavenly Thunder Peak.
And with her head held high, she would request him to become one of her own husbands.
'No one can trample on my dream.'
A woman should live looking only at one husband. But looking throughout the history of the world, there were many cases of empresses recorded in history taking multiple husbands.
Namgung Yurin was dreaming of becoming the Sword Empress.
To give birth to a strong heir for the great Namgung Clan, she needed to become strong herself while also taking a strong man as a husband.
'I can't end up like that bitch.'
Namgung Yurin recalled the end of a woman who surfaced in her memory.
She knew what kind of life that woman was living now, a fellow member of the Eight Great Families—or rather, the Five Great Clans—who had been sold off because she was weak.
'I will choose my men!'
She would make multiple men jealous of each other, competing and vying for her love.
That second candidate was precisely Physician Mu-bung, and the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was merely a stepping stone for Namgung Yurin to advance toward becoming the Sword Empress.
'I am the protagonist of this Murim!'
The one who would rise to the pinnacle of the Six Phoenixes, seize the title of White Path's Number One Flower, and trample the Number One Flower of the Black Path—that was herself.
Thus, Namgung Yurin was swelling with dreams.
Clip, clop.
From the opposite side, her opponent began walking very slowly. A woman who seemed of the Central Plains yet possessed somewhat sharper and clearer features stood across the arena, her deep-set eyes composed.
"Sky Palace Unhindered Sword Art, Namgung Yurin."
Clang!
As Namgung Yurin took her starting stance, the entire audience erupted in cheers. Her overwhelming fighting spirit was so intense that even the Six Phoenixes, Moyong Ran and Jegal Seon, swallowed hard, feeling their energy suppressed by Namgung Yurin.
"Cold Soaring Jade Maiden Sword, Yoo Seol-ra."
Saaahk.
Frost settled upon her sword. The woman, known by nothing more than her three-syllable name Yoo Seol-ra, revealed her identity with a perfect starting stance.
'A master!'
Her opponent was a master of the Emei Sect. She was a far stronger existence than Abbess Jeongjo or Abbess Jeongja, whom Namgung Yurin had mentally assured victory over in hypothetical matches. The two could tell just by locking eyes—both were determined to win.
Perhaps, she might even be stronger than herself—
'No!'
You don't know until you actually fight. You don't know until you experience it firsthand. To gauge whose sword is faster and stronger, obviously you must clash swords with each other.
"I'll cede the initiative to you."
"Cede?"
Saaahk.
Yoo Seol-ra's eyes closed for a moment.
In that instant, Namgung Yurin felt as if Yoo Seol-ra's hair had turned slightly white.
"Huh. If you're going to cede the initiative, why not just cede the match too?"
"You...!"
Fire sparked in Namgung Yurin's eyes. Her entire body's internal qi began to boil, and before her eyes, she saw nothing but 'the enemy.'
"Brilliant Heaven Flash (彰天一閃)!"
I'll show you clearly how foolish it is to cede the initiative to a Namgung. Namgung Yurin lunged forward first, kicking off the ground and thrusting her sword.
"I really hate shouting out martial forms...."
Yoo Seol-ra furrowed her brow and, with a sigh, lightly swung her sword.
"Snow Flower Flurry (雪花亂影)."
"!!"
Amid the snowflakes blooming like flowers, Namgung Yurin lost her target in an instant.