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"Mm ..."
The Murim Alliance Leader, Dokgo Ja-yeong, let out a low murmur as he watched the duel between Hwangbo Hye-ji and Dokgo Yeon.
Dokgo Yeon, who had shown overwhelming swordsmanship before, was having a surprisingly hard time against Hwangbo Hye-ji. Her blade was full of distracting thoughts, and even when she could clearly win, she couldn't extend her sword easily.
'Why is she acting like that?'
His daughter was definitely hesitating. She had felled the Green Forest King's daughter, Bang Yeong-hui, with a single strike—she more than possessed the ability to finish Hwangbo Hye-ji's Thunder Divine Fist with one sword.
'Wasn't the Plum Blossom Swordwoman a more difficult opponent than Hwangbo Hye-ji?'
Dokgo Ja-yeong could not find an answer. The audience roared their approval as the bout dragged on far longer than expected, but the experts above the Peak Realm could only lament Dokgo Yeon's swordsmanship.
"Alliance Leader, please do not worry. She is a child whose sword holds too much affection."
"Ah, Sect Leader. ...Forgive me."
The Lust-Exorcising Abbess smiled and drew near to Dokgo Ja-yeong, who had been standing alone—not in the Alliance Leader's special seat, but in a quiet spot away from prying eyes.
"She is having difficulty because she's trying to subdue an old acquaintance without causing injury."
"Mm ... Isn't that pursuing perfection? To defeat the enemy without inflicting so much as a scratch."
"It is different. She could kill at any moment if she meant to. The child simply does not wish to hurt her opponent."
"Ah!"
Dokgo Ja-yeong let out an exclamation as though his eyes had been opened. His heart swelled unexpectedly at those gentle feelings, so ill-suited to the Dugu Nine Swords—feelings he himself could never have conceived.
"Yeon thinks like that ..."
Oddly, Dokgo Yeon suddenly seemed far bigger in Dokgo Ja-yeong's eyes. His daughter, who had always seemed like a young child, looked just like a swallow spreading its wings and soaring into the sky as her martial robe fluttered.
"Sect Leader, I am afraid."
"What on earth is there for the greatest sword under heaven to fear? Ha, is it because you suspect some Demonic Cult scheme?"
"No. The Demonic Cult does not frighten me. What I fear is that Yeon will simply fly away like this."
Dokgo Ja-yeong had always lived with anxiety. Just as his wife had suddenly departed the world, he worried every single day that his daughter Dokgo Yeon, too, might quietly vanish one day.
"It's well and good that she's shown improvement since meeting Doctor Mu Bung, but ... lately Yeon seems to have grown distant."
"Ha. Alliance Leader, isn't your unease because Lady Dokgo has developed a Love's Heart for Doctor Mu Bung?"
"Love's Heart?"
"Yes. He is her lifesaver, after all."
Crunch. Dokgo Ja-yeong ground his teeth. His head could understand it, but his heart could not. Yet his dead wife's image kept overlapping with Dokgo Yeon's, and he could not make a cool-headed judgment.
"Grr ..."
Recently, ever since the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle began, Dokgo Ja-yeong's mind had become unbearably tangled. Not only did a sticky, unpleasant, murky feeling fill his entire body, but a chill ran down his spine as if his back were freezing solid—enough to make him shudder.
"Are you well acquainted with Doctor Mu Bung? I hear he visited the Emei Sect a short while ago with a guard warrior."
"...Ha. Of course I am. He is a warmhearted person who heals not only bodily sickness but also sickness of the heart."
"Is that your judgment as Sect Leader?"
"It is a judgment I make as both Sect Leader and as a woman. ...If I were ten years younger, he is a young man I might consider giving my whole heart to."
At the Lust-Exorcising Abbess's regretful tone, Dokgo Ja-yeong let out a long breath. A man who had not only received high praise from the Lust-Exorcising Abbess—who held rather negative views when dealing with men—but had even earned her affection.
The Divine Doctor's disciple. On good terms with many sects. A man who was kind to everyone, as long as they didn't suffer a phobia of men. And the lifesaver who healed his daughter of an incurable disease without demanding any conditions whatsoever.
"...Hmph."
Dokgo Ja-yeong unfolded the paper in the white envelope he clutched. The letter, written in bold, orderly strokes, bore the seal of his close friend, the Namgung Clan head, and its contents needed no repeating.
"Forgive me, Sword Saint."
Whuum. The Samadhi True Fire Dokgo Ja-yeong conjured turned the letter to ash and scattered it. Looking up at the sky, he closed his eyes and gave a deep nod.
"...Once the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle is concluded successfully, I shall have to build a clinic in Xuchang."
"Heh heh. You will not regret it."
"...Hmph. But everything depends on Yeon's choice. If he ever makes tears fall from Yeon's eyes—"
"Alliance Leader!!"
A scream-like cry came from the distance. The strategist Jegal Gil came running down the corridor in a panic, his expression grave.
"We have a massive problem!!"
"What is it?"
"An abduction!!"
Dokgo Ja-yeong gripped his sword and immediately threw himself into the air.
* * *
Waaaaaah—!!
The match was decided. Dokgo Yeon's sword sliced a single strand of Hwangbo Hye-ji's bangs and stopped right before her heart.
"Haa, haa, haa."
Drenched in sweat, Hwangbo Hye-ji let out ragged breaths. Her martial uniform clung to her, and even though she should have covered up with an outer robe because of the heat boiling over, people were already murmuring about it.
"Incredible ... Thank you, Yeon. You deliberately gave me chances, didn't you? So I could challenge you again and again."
"Hye-ji, I, that's ..."
"It's all right. I think I've gained some enlightenment thanks to you! Haa, haa. Truly ... to fight without reservation against an expert above the Peak Realm."
Hwangbo Hye-ji extended her hand with meaningful, proud eyes. Dokgo Yeon set down her sword and took Hwangbo Hye-ji's hand.
"I lost this time, but I won't lose next time. Wait for me in the Second Phoenix seat. In four years, I'll pull you down and take a Phoenix seat for myself!"
"...I'll be waiting."
Waaaaahh!!
Along with a thunderous roar, the crowd praised the clean victory and defeat of the two women. Regardless of the bout's content, everyone stood and applauded the wholesome sight of a winner showing humility and a loser burning with fighting spirit.
"Dokgo Yeon, victory—!!"
Dokgo Yeon! Dokgo Yeon! Dokgo Yeon!
The birth of the Sword Phoenix. While Dokgo Yeon hesitated amid the cheers, Hwangbo Hye-ji seized Dokgo Yeon's wrist and raised it high. The roar grew even louder, and the stage celebrated the passionate friendship of the beautiful rising stars who would lead the future of the White Path Murim.
"Ah, um."
Dokgo Yeon swept her gaze around. While most people generously offered praise, sharp stares of hostility and contempt came from certain places.
The seats of the Six Phoenixes.
Some clapped like dolls; some didn't clap at all; some glared with livid faces.
It was the same among the rest of the audience, but those called Phoenixes were truly burning with jealousy toward the swallow that spread her beautiful wings.
'I'm stronger than them.'
Even if all three of them fought her at once, Dokgo Yeon was confident she would win. These people, weaker than her when she went all out despite having climbed to the rank of the Six Phoenixes, could not stop their envy and jealousy.
In contrast—
Clap, clap, clap.
Sagong Hee and Lee Si-a sincerely applauded Dokgo Yeon.
Their smiles seemed to say, 'Now you come over here too,' and Dokgo Yeon felt pleased that she was at last acknowledged.
'Where is Father?'
The man who would have been happier than anyone else at Dokgo Yeon's performance was not there. He must have had urgent business as Alliance Leader and briefly stepped away.
'It's all right. I'm used to it.'
For Dokgo Yeon, who had spent more than ten years alone, her father's absence was routine. Even now, it wasn't particularly different.
But ...
'Where is the Doctor?'
The doctor was absent. No matter how much she scanned the area where physicians stood on emergency standby, Doctor Mu Bung was nowhere to be seen. All that was there were the same quack doctors who, before Mu Bung, had only ever given her medicine that wouldn't even listen to her pulse.
Could something have happened? Why wasn't he here?
Slip.
Dokgo Yeon helplessly slid her sword back into its sheath.
"I wanted him to watch ..."
"Who?"
"Ah, my father."
Dokgo Yeon turned bright red when she realized she had spoken to herself, forgetting the woman holding her wrist right beside her.
"Is it really the Alliance Leader? Doesn't seem like it. Tell me—who were you thinking of?"
"Ah, I said it's not!"
"Oh my? I didn't say anything. The way you're denying it, looks like you were thinking of that person. Mu—"
"Hye-ji!"
The two of them left the arena hand in hand. They had to make way for the women who would take the next match.
A duel between Emei disciples. One of Jeongja and Yoo Seol-ra would inherit the title of Emei Peak.
"Hye-ji!"
"Father!"
A middle-aged martial artist with a thick beard came running urgently. His expression was serious and hurried.
"What happened? What's so urgent?"
"Hye-ji, to the Patriarch ..."
"Guardians, protect the two young ladies!"
Clink. Martial artists with grim faces surrounded Dokgo Yeon and Hwangbo Hye-ji. The Murim Alliance's key warriors gathered and began watching every direction with hard expressions.
"What on earth is going on?"
"Hye-ji. And Lady Yeon, listen carefully."
The head of the Hwangbo Clan, Hwangbo Sang, continued with a stiff face.
"Lady Yoo Seol-ra has been attacked."
* * *
A ruckus.
The Beggar Sect's beggars called it a "trashing"—but in a different sense, it was the perfect way to shatter the ugly schemes entwined with the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle.
The finalist vanishes right before the final match?
The final was ruined. The entire tournament lost its meaning.
"I- Is this really all right?"
Yoo Seol-ra, her hands and feet bound with rope, looked at me with worried eyes. Just as when she had surrendered her virginity to me, her clothes were roughly torn, and she was half-naked as she faced me.
She barely managed to cover her vitals, but anyone could see what sort of thing had been done to Yoo Seol-ra. Though she herself was more worried about whether she could act convincingly.
"I think we'll get caught ..."
"Worry not. You're a sufficiently clever woman. Even without the Ice White Divine Art, you can play the role of a woman abducted by the Sex Demon well enough. If you're truly uneasy, just circulate your internal energy to your head later."
Right now, Yoo Seol-ra's dantian was completely empty. Because I had scraped it clean through Absorption of Yin to Nourish Yang inside her, the Ice Demon was currently in a dazed state and only fretting.
"R- Really, what if someone actually comes ...!"
"Worry not. There's no danger of some other man discovering you and violating you. Didn't I leave traces of myself deliberately near that spot?"
"I- I heard the Sex Demon even violates women who've already been ravished ...!"
"...Then there's nothing to be done."
"Hiiing ..."
At my joke, the Ice Demon's face crumpled as if about to cry. I lightly pinched her nipple and laughed.
"Worry not. Everything will go according to plan. In two hours, you will be able to stand in the arena well enough."
After only a short while, she would recover to the early Peak Realm through Energy Circulation Breathing of the internal energy I had poured into her, but for now the Ice Demon was weaker than a woman who had never practiced martial arts.
"W- Well, that's a relief."
Her unease was natural, but she had to trust me completely. So long as the Ice Demon was Lee Si-a's handmaiden, letting her be violated by anyone other than my member was something that could not happen even if the sky split in two.
"Ugh ... The Eldest Prince will be suspicious. Things deviated completely from his plan."
"The Eldest Prince will never be suspicious. If you happen to face him later, just bring out something you can go along with."
"But this is a scam."
"If everyone believes it, then it becomes the truth. Just as you learned the Cold Soaring Jade Woman Sword on the Eldest Prince's orders."
That was undoubtedly a martial art of a woman the Eldest Prince had killed during his Black Flame Dragon days. Given that he'd given her a martial art that was practically a keepsake of a woman he had once shared affection with, I could see clearly what the Eldest Prince was planning with the Ice Demon.
He meant to make her his wife. Just like Dokgo Yeon.
'You could tell from the fact that he only picked women among the Ten Demons and made them his Earth Qilin Three Demons.'
He would have first recruited the female demon practitioners who would listen to him, and then tried to win over the Ice Demon. To make the Ice Demon his woman, the Eldest Prince had deliberately given her the secret manual of a woman he had once been involved with.
'But now the Ice Demon is the Flying Female Ice Demon.'
Yoo Seol-ra, the Cold Soaring Jade Woman Sword, would infiltrate deep into the Emei Sect according to the Eldest Prince's plan. She would enter not as the Earth Qilin Ice Demon, but as the Flying Female Ice Demon—but the Eldest Prince, knowing nothing, would mistake that the Ice Demon had completely become his woman.
Rumble rumble rumble.
From outside, I heard warriors moving in haste. Realizing time was about up, I pressed Yoo Seol-ra's acupoint.
"I'll be back. The Bewildering Mark Nine Palace Formation will release itself, so you needn't worry about being exposed as a demon practitioner."
"Yes. ...Ah."
Bound tightly, Yoo Seol-ra gave me a faint smile.
"Since you took all my internal energy ... when you return, you must fill it back up, all right?"
"Heh. Of course."
Tap. I extended a finger and froze Yoo Seol-ra's petals. Before she could even flinch, Yoo Seol-ra trembled and finished.
"Hhheeng ..."
Thud. Having fainted at the peak of climax, Yoo Seol-ra lost consciousness, breathing only in a steady rhythm. After withdrawing the energy of the Bewildering Mark Nine Palace Formation, I slipped out through the open warehouse door.
Crack, crackle.
My physique began to grow much larger. I wrapped myself in the loose black robe I had prepared beforehand and pulled the hood down deeply.
"Heh heh heh."
I melted into the gaps between people. Clearly, warriors frantic to find me brushed past my side, but none of them noticed my presence at all.
'Only those above the Peak Realm can sense this.'
Thud.
I stopped my steps. Far from the arena, a spacious underground area beneath it opened up—a place where an uproar could happen without others easily taking notice.
It had clearly been designed as a shelter. I walked toward the emergency exit at the opposite end of the shelter.
"Who are you?"
A deep, dignified voice came from behind me. Inside, I cheered that I had hooked a big one from the very start.
"It's been a long time, Go Ja-yeong."
"......What?"
The man closest to being the greatest under heaven was glaring at me with a ferocious aura.
"I thought you were completely absorbed in your daughter's match."
"That's why I have incurred an indelible debt to the Emei Sect. What have you done to the two young ladies?"
"I ravished them."
"......!!"
Slide. I threw back the robe I had pulled down to my forehead. The voice's owner—the Murim Alliance Leader Dokgo Ja-yeong—flinched when he saw my face.
"You bastard ...!"
"Ke ke ke, do you recognize me?"
"......Who are you?"
I hardened my expression. Dokgo Ja-yeong furrowed his brows and tilted his head.
"There is no way I would not remember a wretch like you."
"Bwa ha ha! You don't recognize me even seeing this scar?! The scar left by your Dugu Nine Swords!"
" ......"
I pointed to the sword scar slanting across my face. But Dokgo Ja-yeong still stared at me with eyes that could not comprehend.
'Of course he doesn't know.'
Because it's a complete, blazing lie.
"Ke ke ke! You don't even remember me! Ha ha, fine! Then I'll make you remember!"
Clang! I drew an iron sword. Dokgo Ja-yeong's face twisted fiercely at the sword energy, saturated with the yin energy I had just absorbed.
"Absorption of Yin to Nourish Yang?! You lecherous villain! What have you done to those two!!"
"Isn't it obvious! I've returned from hell to kill you, Go Ja-yeong!!"
"I don't know a wretch like you!!"
"Then I'll show you! Look—my power, which crossed the ten-thousand-year ice of the Northern Sea to take revenge on you!!"
The martial art I use: Ice White Divine Sword.
The internal energy I use: Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Having become a white-haired, red-eyed revenge demon, I launched sword energy full of yin energy at the still-confused Murim Alliance Leader.
"Reborn by borrowing the power of monsters and the Demonic Cult to kill you—Northern Sea Ice Roc, Ui Sa-baek!!"
"Y- You're the one!!"
"That's right!"
Raising the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, I thrust out my sword.
"I am the Sky-Soaring Ice Demon!"
The safest way to ensure Yoo Seol-ra is never suspected of being the Ice Demon.
I become the Ice Demon.
"You're the Ice Demon ...!"
Dokgo Ja-yeong blocked my sword energy with his iron sword. His eyes were still complex and puzzled.
"I'm asking you—who are you!"
"Noooo!! You dare not remember me! Do you truly not know who I am?!"
Ui Sa-baek.
A man I don't know either.