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If someone asked me whether Seon Ju-hee had always been this much of a sex-crazed maniac, I could have answered with an emphatic no.
Seon Ju-hee was never a member of the Demonic Cult, and in the future, as the Great Mother of Mount Hua, she would be a woman of unyielding mental fortitude—never once succumbing to lust, not even at the moment of her death.
So who in the world was this degenerate standing in front of me right now?
Who was this lunatic raving about her Violet Mist Finger Technique as if it were the Violet Mist Divine Art, hell-bent on charging straight at my cock?
"You wicked thing, tormenting my sister!"
"Kuh—?!"
Seon Ju-hee's Violet Mist Finger Technique targeted my manhood once again. I hurriedly pulled up my trousers and, using the subtle footwork of the Bow Body Flickering Shadow, slipped free from her grasp.
Just before she could grab hold of it, I thrust forward instead. Seon Ju-hee recoiled in horror at the thought of my member touching her body, and that gave me the opening I needed to keep widening the distance.
She has no qualms about grabbing it with her hands, but she's terrified of it touching her body?
'So she's resigned herself to using only her hands.'
Even while recoiling at the prospect of my cock making contact anywhere else, she was still hell-bent on subduing me by seizing it with her bare hands.
"You've decided only your hands need to get dirty, is that it, elder sister?"
"Sh-shut up!"
It was a clever scheme—extracting essence from me to keep me from ejaculating for Sagong Hee while also protecting her own mouth.
"Eek—! Just submit already!"
A hint of madness flickered in Seon Ju-hee's eyes. The energy raging inside her body was something she simply could not contain.
'Why is she suddenly using the Violet Mist Divine Art?'
Had the sect leader secretly taught it to her? No. The feel of her aura was subtly wrong for that.
Right now, she seemed utterly unable to control the new power she had acquired. Even Sagong Hee, who had at first merely watched with a quiet smile, began to notice something was off—her expression gradually hardening.
"Ju-hee...?"
"Sister, I promise you! I'll drain every last drop from A-bung so he can't defile you anymore!"
Seon Ju-hee lunged at me again, launching a flurry of finger strikes. I pivoted my rear foot, carving a wide circle to evade, locked strength into my lower body, and met her finger techniques with my fists.
"There!"
Since I knew exactly where she was aiming, blocking her was easier. That wicked hand kept trying to slip inside my trousers, but once I'd grasped its trajectory, deflecting it was simple.
'Why the hell has this girl suddenly turned into a pervert?'
Rampage.
Seon Ju-hee had clearly lost some of her reason. I slowly parried and redirected her attacks while observing her closely.
'Damn it all.'
I still didn't know why she had abruptly started using the Violet Mist Finger Technique, but I could make a rough guess as to why the Violet Mist Divine Art was now erupting from her.
'It's because of me!'
I had absorbed the Sword Immortal's Violet Mist Divine Art. And Seon Ju-hee had swallowed—by mouth—the ejaculate through which I had expelled that energy.
'The Violet Mist Divine Art she swallowed reacted with the Mount Hua Sect's mental cultivation already inside her body!'
In effect, Seon Ju-hee had ingested a spirit medicine imbued with the internal energy of my Violet Mist Divine Art—through her mouth. If she'd simply spat it out, her body would have just felt a bit refreshed—
—gulp.
'Sagong Hee!!'
Sagong Hee had aroused me by swallowing my essence energy right in front of my eyes, and Seon Ju-hee had followed Sagong Hee's instructions and done the same.
I had completely failed to anticipate this.
It had never once crossed my mind that the energy of the Violet Mist Divine Art would affect Seon Ju-hee like this, in this way. And why would it? It hadn't even been a full day since she'd gulped down what I had ejaculated into her mouth!
If she was going to rampage, she should have done it much sooner. Seeing her pant and gasp like someone trapped in full demonization honestly drained the fight right out of me.
'This is at the level of Fire of Lust.'
Whatever the case, the immediate priority was subduing Seon Ju-hee.
"Hup!"
I kicked off the floor and leaped upward. Instead of springing off empty air, I kicked off the wall and launched a kick straight at Seon Ju-hee.
"...! Cloud-Riding Skill?!"
I rose as lightly as if treading on clouds, then stretched my leg toward her solar plexus.
"Hmph, too slow!"
But Seon Ju-hee grabbed my ankle and yanked my leg toward her. Once again, her hand darted for my goods.
'Just as planned.'
Because she reached for my manhood, I could maneuver my body exactly as I'd intended. I twisted in midair so that her hand merely grazed the front of my trousers, then lightly entwined both legs around her arm, trapping it.
"Hrrgh!"
I channeled every ounce of strength into my lower body and flipped myself in the opposite direction. Seon Ju-hee tried to resist by flooding her arm with internal energy, but Taiji Fist is a martial art that has reached the pinnacle of turning an opponent's own force against them.
And I don't go soft on an opponent's weaknesses just because it's sparring. I slid one foot beneath her armpit.
"Hiii—?!"
The strength drained from Seon Ju-hee's arm in an instant, and as gravity pulled me downward, her arm and upper body bent forward with me.
Thud!
I landed back-first on the floor. While discreetly protecting my internal organs with internal energy, I spread the foot I'd wedged into her armpit wide and kicked her in the ribs.
Five Elements Wheel Kick.
A technique that uses the body's wheel-like rotation to kick an opponent away—I drove Seon Ju-hee back hard. Not enough to injure her, but enough to make her stagger.
"Krrgh...!"
Perhaps because I'd finally landed one clean hit, Seon Ju-hee glared at me with pain-filled eyes.
The jealousy and fury toward me were still there, but at least the madwoman who, moments ago, had been trying to grab and torment my cock under the pretense of the Violet Mist Divine Art was nowhere to be seen now.
"You—after I went easy on you...!"
"That's enough."
Sagong Hee spoke in a cold voice, calming her. She embraced Seon Ju-hee from behind, gently patting her head, trying to soothe her fury.
"Why were you using such rough hands?"
"S-Sister. That's, well..."
Because Sagong Hee was even angrier.
"Ju-hee. I told you to grab it lightly, as if just brushing past. I did not tell you to grab it as if you meant to break it."
'So that's what she was angry about.'
The direction of Sagong Hee's anger was somewhat absurd, but since she'd calmed Seon Ju-hee at just the right moment, I decided to let it pass.
[Hee, ask her for me.]
I adjusted my trousers once more, then relayed my intentions to Sagong Hee via telepathic message.
"The Violet Mist Divine Art, you said—what in the world is that?"
"...Th-that's."
Somewhat calmer now, Seon Ju-hee sat on the bed and began to speak.
"While I was looking through martial techniques for our sparring match, I sensed a strange energy inside a book..."
* * *
"Master, weren't we supposed to be entering closed-door training?"
The head disciple, Ja Woo-yang, followed the sect leader as she led him and Ja Cheong-ha to the Plum Blossom Library. The sect leader opened the closed door, lit the lamps inside, and shook her head.
"You will undergo closed-door training. But before that, I wish to give the two of you a test."
"A test?"
"Yes. It is a trial that all Plum Blossom Swordsmen must pass if they are to become sect leader."
At the sect leader's solemn words, both of them swallowed hard. Just what kind of trial could serve as the test for becoming sect leader?
"In here, you are each to select exactly seven books—whichever books you desire."
"...Pardon?"
"Seven volumes... coincidentally, the same number as the Seven Absolute Plum Blossom Sword."
Ja Woo-yang stared blankly and asked for clarification, while Ja Cheong-ha began pondering whether the number seven held some deeper connection to Mount Hua's martial arts.
In truth, there was no connection at all.
The sect leader merely laughed inwardly and nodded gravely.
"Any secret manual will do. Type does not matter. These are the books you will be reading throughout your eighty days of closed-door training."
"But are there not only basic martial arts in here?"
"We have already read every single book in this library at least once."
The two Plum Blossom Swordsmen had long since mastered the history of Mount Hua. Every book bore the traces of their having read it once or twice.
"Indeed. This is the place where the foundations of your strength are embedded. In the secluded cave, every martial art except those connected to the Violet Mist Divine Art—such as the Infinite Taiyi Sword—is stored in the secret vault. The books you choose to take from this place will determine how greatly you will have changed eighty days from now."
At the sect leader's deeply earnest words, the two strode into the library. The elder in charge of the library, the One Hundred Sixty-Fourth-Generation Elder, looked upon the two grown disciples with a proud smile.
"Mount Hua's future is truly bright. To think that two disciples are undertaking the trial of the Red Star at once."
"Indeed. ...I feel sorry for Ju-hee, that child, but a woman cannot become the sect leader of Mount Hua."
It had been that way for generations. Countless women had become disciples of Mount Hua, but none had ever mastered the sect's martial arts to their ultimate extreme.
"Sect Leader. Are you truly certain that the two of them will discover the Violet Mist Divine Art's energy hidden within the secret vault?"
"I am."
The sect leader clenched both fists.
"...Because only then can we reclaim the Violet Mist Divine Art, which has been lost for fifteen years."
The Violet Mist Divine Art.
The supreme technique of Mount Hua, passed down through the generations exclusively to the sect leader.
...Paradoxically, if a sect leader died young without naming a successor, the Violet Mist Divine Art would become nothing more than a legendary lost martial art—never to be transmitted again.
That was exactly what had happened.
Purple Mist Sword Yang Baek.
He had added the name "Jaha" to his alias—yet he had never learned the Violet Mist Divine Art. He had mastered the sword arts and martial techniques connected to it, but had never learned the most crucial element: the Violet Mist Divine Art itself.
He had merely been deceiving the world, using Supreme Purity Qi Aura to mimic the Violet Mist Divine Sword and Violet Mist Finger Technique.
A top-secret matter known only to the sect leader and an extremely small number of elders.
"Without fail... Mount Hua shall reclaim the Violet Mist Divine Art!"
The Jaha Sword, who had staked Mount Hua's future destiny on this, never once noticed the small figure hiding within the shadows of the wall.
* * *
I had been investigating the library from a distance—the very place where Seon Ju-hee had discovered the energy of the Violet Mist Divine Art—and after overhearing the sect leader's story, I was able to piece together the full picture.
'As expected of the Sword Immortal. He arranged all of this so the Violet Mist Divine Art's lineage wouldn't be severed.'
The faint energy of the Violet Mist Divine Art could still be felt within the library. Though I couldn't enter and confirm it directly, I now understood the secret method by which the Violet Mist Divine Art was transmitted, thanks to the book Seon Ju-hee had read.
'He made it so that once a Mount Hua disciple's martial arts reach a certain level, they'll automatically notice the Violet Mist Divine Art.'
The disciple would detect the foreign energy within the Plum Blossom Library, examine the book, and find the mnemonic formula of the Violet Mist Divine Art placed right there in plain sight.
—Sect Leader, what is the meaning of this?
—...It seems I must tell you an old story.
The disciple would inform their master about discovering the Violet Mist Divine Art within the library, and the master would explain the Sword Immortal's arrangements and transmit the Violet Mist Divine Art itself.
The sect leader's trial was, in essence, finding the book imbued with the Violet Mist Divine Art in this place.
If they failed to find it, they would end up like the Jaha Sword—a hollow Mount Hua Premier Sword with no substance, merely bluffing as though they had mastered the Violet Mist Divine Art.
'Leaving it hidden in such a convoluted way—no wonder Mount Hua fell to ruin.'
They'd tried to make it look profound and mysterious, and in doing so, had nearly severed the Violet Mist Divine Art's lineage entirely.
It was fortunate that the Violet Mist Divine Art was a martial art passed down solely to the sect leader. If it had been a high-level technique that even ten people could learn, the loss of the Violet Mist Divine Art would have been exposed immediately.
...And Seon Ju-hee, thanks to the yang energy of mine that she had swallowed with her own mouth, had discovered the mnemonic formula of the Violet Mist Divine Art.
Having absorbed that energy directly without ever properly learning the Violet Mist Divine Art, her mind had been thrown into disorder. There was no doubt she had lost control as a result.
'I've confirmed everything there is to confirm here.'
I left the area, deposited the secret manual of the Violet Mist Finger Technique in Seon Ju-hee's room, and returned straight to our guest quarters. Using the Body Transformation Art, I transformed into the appearance of a young child and slipped back in as if I'd just returned from the outhouse, bowing my head to the two of them.
"My apologies for being late. Have you finished your conversation?"
"Yes. Disciple, would you hear her out first?"
"Ah..."
With swollen, puffy eyes, Seon Ju-hee rose and bowed deeply at the waist toward me.
"I'm sorry, Young Hero Ah. It seems I was possessed by some sort of strange energy."
Forget strange energy—you could've told me she'd been possessed by a virgin ghost obsessed with cock and it wouldn't have been an exaggeration. But I gently took both hands of the humbly apologizing young woman and clasped them firmly as I approached her.
"Please don't apologize, elder sister. No one was hurt, were they?"
"But still..."
"If no one was hurt, that's all that matters. However... since the same thing could happen again, we'll have to call off our sparring. Please treat me comfortably, as you did before, elder sister Ju-hee."
"...Thank you, little brother."
Seon Ju-hee took my hand, then slowly knelt before me.
"......?"
"Ah, um... Hee-sister said... an apology needs sincerity."
"Of course—after doing something like that, you can't just apologize with words alone, can you."
"...I suppose not."
"In that case, Ju-hee. What did I say you're supposed to do when you fight and then make up?"
"Ah, um..."
Sagong Hee grinned slyly, and Seon Ju-hee swallowed hard before speaking to me.
"Sh-shall your elder sister... let you take a step ahead...?"
The axe-blade glare she'd aimed at me the day before had transformed into eyes glistening with tears, seeking my forgiveness. I stroked her hair, then slipped my hands under her armpits and lifted her to her feet.
"Ju-hee noona."
I smiled at her with benevolent warmth—
"I'll make you hurt just as much as I was hurt."
And before she could protest, I silenced her mouth with my own.