049
049
Day broke.
Everyone had been waiting for this day alone.
Warriors of the Orthodox Faction, warriors of the Demonic Cult, warriors of the Unorthodox Faction. On this day, the eyes and ears of everyone in the Murim with even a flicker of interest were fixed on one place.
Taiji Martial Phoenix vs. Demonic Phoenix Princess.
With the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering drawing to a close, only a single match remained.
"Alliance Leader, who do you think will win?"
Seated in the arena's special guest section, Murim Alliance Leader Dokgo Ja-yeong predicted the outcome alongside the Sect Leaders of many martial sects.
"Taiji Martial Phoenix will win. Does it even make sense for the White Path to fall to the Black Path?"
"However, the Three-Second Invincible Flower has never once been defeated. And were the sects she faced some nameless nobodies?"
"The same goes for Taiji Martial Phoenix."
"Ah, so you'd bet on the Demonic bitch winning. Is that it?"
The Sect Leaders' opinions were sharply divided. Dokgo Ja-yeong kept silent and held his tongue.
"What does the Wudang Sect Leader think?"
He deflected the question. Taoist Hyeoncheol, the only one attending as a proxy representative among the gathered Sect Leaders, answered with a confident voice.
"Taiji Martial Phoenix has an eight in ten chance of winning."
"Is that so? I do not see it that way."
The Sect Leaders' expressions stiffened at the Murim Alliance Leader's words, a direct contradiction to the man's face. As the atmosphere chilled and drew all attention, Dokgo Ja-yeong grinned and pointed forward.
"Ten in ten. There will be no upset."
"...Hahaha! Alliance Leader, your jest is too much!"
"Isn't ten in ten excessive? She is the Heavenly Demon's daughter."
"Alliance Leader, do you have a basis for this?"
Gazing at the two women ascending the arena, Dokgo Ja-yeong raised his wine cup toward the figures burning with fighting spirit.
"In a fair and square fight, is it not the natural order of things for the White Path to defeat the Black Path?"
* * *
"This is the first time I've greeted you like this, Miss Gyeon-hui."
"I'll take this chance to greet you as well, Little Princess."
The Little Princess and Sagong Hee.
The two faced each other, their internal qi flaring. From the very start, their hair rose as internal qi radiated outward, and each drew the weapons they had brought.
Clank.
The Little Princess donned leather fist gloves on her hands. They were nothing but black leather, without a single iron ornament, and her pupils began to slowly redden.
"Heavenly Demon Divine Fist."
The Little Princess used only one martial art. As a colossal demonic figure blazed up behind her, Sagong Hee's skin prickled with electricity.
It was the first time she had faced such killing intent. The first time she had encountered such pure malice.
In the days when she wore a human skin mask oozing with pus, she had been the target of contempt, but never before had she stood before a being who bore the will to kill her so directly.
Yet there was no reason to be afraid. Her body merely tensed for a moment; the opponent was simply someone on a level similar to her own.
Sagong Hee knew. She knew exactly who the supreme predator of this world was. And the time had come to proudly reveal everything she had learned from him, without missing a single day for nearly a year.
"My name is Gyeon-hui, and I use the Taiji Sword."
Shink!
Sagong Hee scattered the four swords she held in all directions. The three thrown behind her embedded themselves in the ground to form a triangle, and Sagong Hee drew the fourth sword, assuming the Starting Stance of the Taiji Sword.
"Are you confident you can win with that?"
"If this were a Life-and-Death Realm duel, I would go all-out from the start. But too many eyes are watching right now."
Sagong Hee twisted the corner of her mouth as she pointed toward the spectators, who had been stirring since the beginning.
"If I defeat the Heavenly Demon's daughter in a single second right at the start, people will curse me even if I win, you know? Fufu."
"......Wow."
The Little Princess licked her finger and clenched her fists.
"You. I will definitely defeat you."
"If you have the confidence."
The match, be-----gin!!
Along with a thunderous roar, the Little Princess was the first to kick off the arena floor and leap.
* * *
Swish!
A fist grazed past my head like a bee. If I hadn't dodged, my skull would have been crushed.
"Fast."
I tilted one of the swords I held diagonally and deflected the bastard's attack. The blade's trajectory, sliding as if drawing a semicircle, skimmed under his armpit and advanced toward his flank.
"Hmph!"
But the bastard isn't a complete idiot. As a Peak Realm expert, he immediately reeled in his extended fist, twisted his body aside, and launched the next attack.
He didn't dodge. He was certain his companion behind him would block.
"You bastard!"
A sinister light flashed beneath the armpit. I relaxed my grip and let go of the sword.
Clang! The Shadow Escape Tracking Blade precisely stabbed the middle of the blade. If I'd held on with force, my wrist would have shattered.
"What?!"
But the sword was merely knocked away by the stab of the Shadow Escape Tracking Blade. The Bandit Demon, who had been about to thrust his fist at me, froze, expression stiffening as if he hadn't expected me to discard my weapon.
"Where there is Taiji Sword, there is also Taiji Fist."
A martial art optimized for receiving and deflecting the enemy's attacks.
With both hands lowered, I crossed them and deflected the Bandit Demon's forcefully extended fist downward, then whipped one hand upward to strike his lower jaw.
"Guk!"
The Bandit Demon protected his chin with his free hand. I swept my palm across, sending him flying, then spun my body wide to the side.
"The Blade Demon wielding another man's sword."
"It doesn't matter what I use as long as I kill you!"
The Blade Demon snatched up the sword before it could be knocked away and stabbed at me. The Shadow Escape Tracking Blade's Martial Form unfolded with the Wudang sword I had been gripping moments ago.
"Die!"
Sword and blade began pressuring me from both sides. Fighting bare-handed against edged weapons is dangerous, but it's fine if I dodge everything.
Woong, woong!
I pulled my head back, dodging the sword. I twisted my waist sideways, springing away from the stabbing short blade. Then I swung my fist in a wide arc and thrust it forward.
Thwack!
A clean direct hit. But the Blade Demon's face twisted, and his body transformed into a wooden log. I immediately broke position and leaped far back.
Kwa---ang!!
The wooden log exploded, scattering sharp thorns in every direction. I twisted the corner of my mouth at the sudden intrusion of Taoist sorcery into a clash of sword and fist.
"I'm alive thanks to the Illusion Demon."
"Heok, heok."
The Blade Demon glared at me, panting. The Illusion Demon, who had grabbed the Blade Demon by the scruff of his neck and swapped him with the log, clicked his tongue at me and leveled his staff.
"Seriously, aren't you going to tell me who you really are? I'm over sixty, and I've never seen a Wudang man like you."
"I am Mubung."
"I'm telling you, there's no Taoist of that name in the Mu generation rank!!"
"You might not know me. But Illusion Demon, do you think I'm unaware of your tricks?"
Boom! I infused qi into my foot and stomped with the Quake Step. The black mist that had been seeping up from below burst apart under the extreme Yang Energy.
"How dare you try to cast an Illusion Technique on me."
"Tsk, you're a real madman."
"This is a big problem... really."
Since I didn't press the attack, the Flying Heaven Three Demons steadied their breaths and reformed their line. The one with the least leeway among them was the Blade Demon, who lagged behind in skill.
"Agh, seriously! What is your identity! Where in the entire world is there a Profound Realm Sex Demon using Wudang martial arts!!"
"Right here!!"
"Aaaaaarrgh!!"
The Blade Demon shrieked and drew a new blade. The long blade, most specialized for the Shadow Escape Tracking Blade, was a form optimized for slashing.
"Calm down. If you lose your composure, how do you expect to win against an expert?"
The Bandit Demon clenched his fists, his face cold and rational.
"Him calling himself a Lust Demon might just be an insult. Dodging all the way here with the Cloud-Riding Skill..."
The poisonous needles wedged between his fingers were venomous enough to instantly paralyze a Peak Realm expert. He had aimed them at me several times already—though I didn't know how many remained—and every attempt had failed.
"You bastard, what's your real identity?"
"Look at my martial arts and figure it out. I knew the origin of your martial arts the moment I saw them, Tang Clan."
"......!!"
The Bandit Demon's expression instantly twisted. I chuckled and pulled the sword the Blade Demon was clutching with Void Object Retrieval.
"Aack...!"
The Blade Demon clutched the sword and resisted, but it was useless. I retrieved the sword and aimed it at the Bandit Demon, Dang I-jeong.
"The Poison King would weep tears of blood if he saw this. The disciple with the most outstanding Five Stars in the clan, devoting himself to the Demonic Cult."
"If you know that much, you know what answer I'll give, don't you?"
"Of course. Silencing by murder, is it not? But do you have the confidence?"
"Kulkul, old monster. Your arrogance knows no bounds."
Thud! The Illusion Demon struck his staff downward. In an instant, the surrounding air grew turbid, and my body grew heavy.
"Did your mind turn into a brat along with your Return to Youth? You'd try to toy with the Flying Heaven Three Demons before you at only that level of realm?"
"Hoh. You're thinking of using that?"
I grasped the sword hilt tightly.
The Blade Demon, who had already skirted death several times since the start, had anger boiling to the top of his head.
The Bandit Demon, whose identity I'd exposed in an instant, was now plotting to silence me by murder.
And the Illusion Demon, who had intuited that if the Flying Heaven Three Demons didn't go all-out here, they would all die.
"Supreme Overlord!"
"Infinite Absolute!"
"Long live the Heavenly Demon!!"
The three demonic practitioners bellowed and exploded their Demonic Energy. I grew sick of the Demonic Energy flaring from all three simultaneously.
"This is why the Ten Demons piss me off."
-That Heavenly Demon isn't your average lunatic. Normally, the basic rule is that things like the Heavenly Demon Divine Art are only shared with one's own flesh and blood. But that bastard was different. Do you know how he was able to command those self-centered stray bastards, who don't have a single ounce of loyalty, as the Ten Demons?
'I know that well too, Blood Cult Leader.'
I saw it myself when I was a Demonic Cult nobody. I saw the martial art those nameless demons used with my own two eyes.
"Heavenly Demon Divine Art."
"Kuaaaaah!!"
Red glare burst from the eyes of all three demonic practitioners at once.
"He should have raised his own sons and daughters better."
Why did he have to distribute the Heavenly Demon Mind Method to the Ten Demons and make things hard for me?
"That damn bald bastard."
"We'll kill you!!"
The Flying Heaven Three Demons, having brought the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to its extreme, leaped at me all at once.
* * *
"Taiji Martial Phoenix is going to lose."
Sitting in the arena's spectator section, Namgung Yurin asserted with a resolute voice. Her bodily wounds had healed cleanly, but the wounds in her heart remained. Her face was hidden by a face veil and a gat as she murmured.
"What do you mean by that? They're equally matched."
A member of the Nine Dragons and the World's Number One Dragon, Exploding Dragon Namgung Pae, shook his head at his sister's words.
"Weren't you the one hoping for the Demonic Cult Little Princess's defeat? That's why you unpacked all the luggage you'd prepared yesterday."
"Yes. I wanted to go back because only terrible things happened here. I couldn't even get revenge myself. Still, I stayed to watch, thinking Taiji Martial Phoenix would win, but..."
Namgung Yurin bit her lip.
The Little Princess, mercilessly spewing Demonic Energy and raining fist strikes like a storm in an all-out offensive, hadn't given her body a moment's rest from the start.
The legend of finishing opponents in three seconds—the Three-Second Invincible Flower—had been broken, but the Little Princess had not rested her body for even three seconds from beginning to now.
Clang, clang, clang!!
"Look. Taiji Martial Phoenix hasn't been able to leave that spot for a while now."
The Taiji Flower, Gyeon-hui, diligently deflected the mercilessly driving attacks. Her movements, drawing circles to deflect the sharp strikes biting in from all directions, were the very crystallization of Overcoming Strength with Softness.
However, she could not transition into an offense.
"Taiji Martial Phoenix is slower than the Little Princess. Before she can shift into an attack, the Little Princess is already launching the next one."
Namgung Yurin's eyes were accurate.
Before the Taiji Sword could deflect and transition into her own attack, the Little Princess would escape the sword's radius and continue her successive strikes from the opposite side.
All-offense and all-defense. Forced unilaterally onto the defensive, Taiji Martial Phoenix could barely escape the predicament.
"For what reason? Their frames are similar."
"......."
Namgung Yurin hung her head. When it comes to moving the body violently, women possess a fatal weakness, and it weighed on both of them equally.
"How long will you just keep blocking!"
A soft sway.
Compared to the extremely light Little Princess.
"You haven't landed a single successful attack yet!!"
A heavy jiggle.
Taiji Martial Phoenix, stuck blocking, was weighed down.
'The Middle Dantian difference.'
But even with the same weakness, it tends to manifest worse for some. Namgung Yurin felt a powerful sense of defeat toward the two women heating up the arena, but she soothed her feelings and barely managed to open her mouth.
"In a race between a fox and a milk cow, who do you think would win?"
"......What are you suddenly talking about?"
"Never mind."
Namgung Yurin turned her head back to the arena. They had already exchanged nearly a hundred bouts, but the match remained undecided.
An exchange of offense and defense? To put it that way, Taiji Martial Phoenix had only been on the receiving end.
"If that's how it is... normally, the one who gets impatient first loses."
No sooner had Namgung Pae muttered this than the battle situation changed.
"Ah...!"
Namgung Yurin sighed. The one who moved first was Taiji Martial Phoenix.
"Taecheong Sword Method!"
A blue energy rippled from Taiji Martial Phoenix's sword. She wasn't just deflecting; she was attempting to clash back by infusing sword qi into the blade and swinging with force.
Grin.
Namgung Yurin saw it. In the brief moment of transition from Taiji Sword to the Taecheong Sword Method, a red glare swept downward in a diagonal line.
"Demon Dragon Ascends to Heaven!!"
Someone in the spectator section screamed and shot to his feet. At the same time, just as he had shouted, the Little Princess thrust her fist upward from below.
Kieaaaaaak!!
Black mist erupted from the Little Princess's body. As if a phoenix were spreading its wings, the Demonic Energy that sprang from her back surged from below to above, stabbing upward fiercely beneath Taiji Martial Phoenix.
"Guk...!"
Taiji Martial Phoenix brought her sword down and received the fist strike with the flat of her blade. But her body was lifted into the air by the immense Demonic Energy, and ultimately she was forced to retreat far backward.
"Kyaaak...!!"
Taiji Martial Phoenix was hurled far backward by the beating of the black mist's wings. The sight of the Little Princess, suspended briefly in the air with her Taoist robe fluttering, was like a black phoenix roaring.
"D-Demon Phoenix Ascends to Heaven...."
The man who had spiritedly shouted the technique's name shrank his shoulders and sat back down awkwardly. Namgung Pae cautiously asked his sister.
"If it's Demon Dragon Ascends to Heaven..."
"It's the Heavenly Demon's martial art."
A soft sway.
Unlike the Little Princess, who landed nonchalantly on the ground, Taiji Martial Phoenix landed with a great stagger. At her swaying, staggering figure, many men in the crowd gulped audibly.
"Th-The Little Princess is strong..."
"Brother, you're not actually cheering for the Little Princess, are you?"
"Ahem, that's not it. I just... more intense matches..."
"It's no use. Whether you realize it or not, you're conscious of it. That's why Taiji Martial Phoenix is losing."
Because of the weakness that every woman possesses. Namgung Yurin's hands trembled.
"If this keeps up—"
"Oh, over there---!!"
All the spectators jumped up and pointed at one spot. Taiji Martial Phoenix slowly rose from her spot, her chest spread wide.
"D-Dual... Swords?"
Taiji Martial Phoenix gripped a sword in each hand. And above her, two swords were spinning round and round in the air.
"Sword Control... arts...?"
Namgung Yurin genuinely felt goosebumps rise.
"It's the Taiji Wisdom Sword!!!"
Tat—!
The offensive shifted.