055
055
Lightning split the sky.
The earth overturned, and a bloody windstorm raged. Gray martial robes were soaked in dark blood, and the mountainside was painted crimson with splattered gore.
Kwaaaa!!
A beast's roar thundered through the mountain. The monster that tore apart warriors in gray robes embroidered with the Taiji emblem on their backs showed no sign of stopping, slaughtering martial artists without pause.
Screams never ceased on Wudang Mountain. Though the agony was endless, the Peak Experts of Wudang held their posts at the summit.
"Block them with your lives!! Until the Sword Empress recovers and returns!!"
At the command of the white-haired Wudang Sect Leader, Taoist Hyeonta Sa Jeong-hu, every disciple of Wudang gripped their swords with resolute will.
"If this place falls, the Yangtze will run red without end! We must hold them back!"
They knew they would die. They also knew that countless martial sects had already been slaughtered by this single freak.
They knew that even the sect leader, the strongest among those gathered here, was no match for him.
They knew that no matter how many Wudang masters assembled in one place, Kunlun Sect had already been shattered in the same manner despite preparing for annihilation.
Yet the martial artists of Wudang, knowing all of this, did not flee. Those who meant to run had already fled; those who remained stood upon the sword formation prepared to die.
To survive.
It was a paradox to face death willing to live, but buying time with death was indeed the path to survival.
"Deploy the Great Nine Palaces Sword Formation!"
Alongside Sa Jeong-hu's Lion's Roar, the Taoists drew an immense circle. Nine concentric rings unfolded from the outermost to the innermost, becoming a mighty protective barrier guarding the center.
Lines of black and white unfurled smoothly like flowing waves, and the two colors rotated as if spiraling inward from the outside.
Whoooosh.
"We become the Taiji!!"
The black and white surfaces spread across the ground began to intersect and churn. As the Taoists, all at least First-Rate Masters, began channeling the Supreme Purity Qi Aura together, the nine concentric rings formed a grand Taiji, achieving a perfect sphere.
The full might of Wudang, which even the Murim Alliance Leader or the Heavenly Demon would not dare challenge.
The Taoists, resolved to die, faced the death climbing up from the foot of the mountain.
Step, step.
The warriors' lips went dry at the sound of light footsteps. Over a thousand Wudang martial artists had descended the mountain, yet only a single figure was coming up.
"...It's coming!"
A thick scent of blood pulsed. The mere smell carried a nauseating stench and a head-spinning reek that curdled the stomach.
Shhlk, shhlk.
From below, something was dragged along the dirt path as it ascended. The warrior at the front line, face drained of color, trembled as he gripped his sword.
"The Blood Demon...!"
"Roar!!"
Taoist Hyeonta, who stood at the center of the Taiji, suppressed the unease with his Lion's Roar.
"That thing is nothing but a Blood Jiangshi! Do not fear! We have the Taiji Sword Empress!"
[I've come to kill that Taiji Sword Empress.]
Thud.
The Blood Demon, its hair disheveled, stood tall in the middle of the path to the summit and spoke. The voice that escaped between its blue-tinged lips was not the Blood Demon's own, but the frivolous voice of the one controlling it.
[Clear the way. If you hand over the Taiji Sword Empress obediently, there will be no bloodshed.]
"Shut your mouth, Blood Cult Leader! Do you think we will stand idle at your vile schemes?!"
[What am I doing?]
"Devilry!!"
Sa Jeong-hu spat even as he uttered the words. The Blood Demon, as though finding something deeply amusing, bowed its head and cackled as if choking.
That it seemed almost alive made the flesh crawl all the more.
[Devilry... Fine. Then there's no need for long words. Hand her over quickly, if you don't want to see blood.]
"Step over Wudang's blood if you will!! Fellow disciples! My junior brothers! Forgive me—I must borrow your lives!"
"There is no need."
A voice like jade beads drifted from within the Taiji. From the small storehouse the Wudang warriors had protected, a woman stepped out, a face veil bearing the Taiji symbol draped over her features, and raised her hand.
"I ask the Sect Leader and my senior brothers. Go to Hunan. And unite with the Murim Alliance Leader. It is me that filth seeks."
"Sword Empress!! Are you telling us to abandon you?!"
"I am not telling you to abandon me. I am the one who will buy time."
Clank, clank. Four swords rose from the storehouse.
From among the treasured Jabo Swords that also symbolized the sect leader, a jet-black sword revealed itself, and together with three other swords, they floated up as if guarding the Taiji Sword Empress from all sides.
"The only ones who can stop the Blood Demon are the Murim Alliance Leader and the Heavenly Demon. Unite with them and buy time. I will buy time against the Blood Demon."
She did not even say she would win. She merely said she would buy time. As everyone bit their lips in grief, the Blood Demon gripped a single sword and swayed its body idly from side to side.
[I'll give you one watch. If any being other than the Taiji Sword Empress remains on Wudang Mountain, I will go down into Hubei Province and carry out indiscriminate slaughter.]
"Such a threat...! This is a martial affair! Do not touch the common people!!"
[So what?]
"Sect Leader!!"
At the Taiji Sword Empress's harsh shout, Sa Jeong-hu clenched his fists. Blood dripped from his trembling hands.
"Wudang is not a place. Wasn't it you who taught me that, Sect Leader? Do not worry. I will not fall easily."
"Gong-hui...!"
"It's Hee. Sect Leader. ...No, Godfather. Please hear my final request."
Clank!
The four swords soared high into the sky. The Taiji Sword Empress's robe began to flutter, and all the energy of the Great Nine Palaces Sword Formation began gathering into her swords.
"I will stop the Blood Demon."
[The Taiji Wisdom Sword! Yes, that is what I was seeking!!]
The Blood Demon burst into mad laughter. The warriors could not suppress their dry heaves at the twisted visage revealed through its disheveled hair.
Kraaaaa!!
The Blood Demon exploded with killing intent, unleashing an eerie howl. The warriors began retreating one by one before the roar that burst forth like a savage beast straining against a leash.
"Go!!"
At the Taiji Sword Empress's cry, the warriors withdrew from the formation. The Taiji of the Great Nine Palaces Sword Formation, its area shrinking from the outermost circle inward as if compressed, converged at the Taiji Sword Empress's feet.
"Kuh...."
The Taiji Sword Empress pressed her veil with her hand. Sa Jeong-hu, who had been about to turn, flinched, his expression hardening. The veil was turning red.
"Sword Empress, your internal injuries...!"
"I am fine. I know my own body well. ...I can still move."
"But...!"
[10, 9, 8—]
Far less than a single watch had passed, but this was no opponent with whom one could argue time. Sa Jeong-hu gave a brief bow to the Taiji Sword Empress and withdrew.
[0. Done. Any last words?]
"Last words?"
The Taiji Sword Empress stretched a hand toward the Blood Demon with sorrowful eyes.
"I will not die, so I need no last words."
[Brave talk. Hey, are you crying?]
"......I would not."
The Taiji Sword Empress closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them.
"A pitiful person."
[Heh heh, let me make you cry and beg to be killed. Go mad, Chu Ma-gwi.]
Kraaaaa!!
Nine days later.
The Murim Alliance Leader and the Heavenly Demon, having healed their internal injuries, rushed to the summit of Wudang Mountain, but there was only a robe soaked in blood and torn, fluttering from the hilt of the Jabo Sword.
* * *
"......A dream?"
The morning sun had risen.
Usually when I woke in the morning, my manhood would be drooping, but today it stood rigid, pointing at the sky.
'If you don't drain it, you get nightmares.'
Slurp. Slurp.
The source of the nightmare was that my Yang Energy hadn't been released—because Sagong Hee, who drained my overflowing Yang Energy every morning, was still asleep.
"...Heh heh, she's beautiful even in sleep."
I gently straightened the hair of Sagong Hee, who was lovely even slumbering from exhaustion. Her eyes were a bit swollen, but it wasn't unsightly—rather, it was almost cute.
'Coming to Wudang was a good choice.'
Choosing Sagong Hee among all those women had been the best choice.
Out of all the women in the world, the Taiji Sword Empress hadn't ranked very high among my priorities before, but the Sagong Hee of now was the most precious being to me.
'I originally came for her inner energy.'
If all I wanted was to mindlessly pile up massive inner energy, I could just sleep with any woman I pleased. But that wouldn't let me accumulate pure internal energy.
To slowly build pure inner energy even if it took time, I chose Sagong Hee—to cultivate internal energy through the Yin-Yang Union.
The reason I left my base after meeting Paeng Yuwol, once my body had become capable of discharging Yang Energy, and journeyed all the way to Hubei was solely because Sagong Hee was here.
'I really chose well.'
If I had turned my steps toward some other woman even a little, if I had dawdled and arrived only after Cheonhwa had already spread everywhere, I would never have seen that jade-white skin without a single blemish. The flower that belonged only to me, unknown to the world, lifted her eyelids as if a blossom were bursting open.
"Did you sleep well, my lord?"
Crawling, Sagong Hee raised her body and leaned her head toward my groin. Even having risen late, she moved to calm my surging blood. I stroked her hair.
"Why not use your breasts like yesterday?"
"Th-that's embarrassing, so I won't do it anymore."
"That's a little disappointing."
"...I'll only do it for you at night."
"Hoho, so I can only savor your greatest charm at night? Well, a full moon hanging in the sky is only beautiful when seen late at night. That's fine. Today isn't that kind of day."
I pulled my robe closed, hiding the full moon that had vanished within my clothes. Sagong Hee rose, her disappointment clear.
"It's over now."
"That's right—Mubung's servant Gyeon-hui died yesterday. You are now the White Path's Number One Flower, Taiji Flower Sagong Hee."
"My lord, you don't mean...?"
"You may call yourself by your name."
Tears spilled from Sagong Hee's eyes. To hide her identity, I had always called her by the alias Gyeon-hui even when we were alone, and when others were present, I'd taken care never to speak her name.
"I am returning the name I took from you, so you may now become a person of the secular world. As a rising young expert leading the Wudang Sect and the master of the Taiji Wisdom Sword, go and hone your skills at Wudang."
"Yes. I will become a woman worthy of my lord. ...My lord, please indulge my willfulness one last time."
Sagong Hee rose from her spot and performed a bow to me. Once, twice, and nine times. The Nine Bows Ceremony.
"My lord cured me when I was afflicted with Cheonhwa, took me in after I lost my parents, and taught me the skills to live. You taught me the housework to make a living at home, the martial arts to live as a martial artist in Murim, and at night, the way a woman serves her husband."
"Hmph, your body was all I wanted."
"But that's not how it is now, is it? Hehe, the same goes for this maiden. My mother told me: rather than sell my body pitifully to cling to life, become a woman protected by the greatest man under heaven. To uphold that will...."
Sagong Hee walked slowly into the courtyard. Barefoot and clad in nothing but a thin robe, she raised her hand under the warm sunlight, looking as if a Celestial Maiden had descended.
"I will become a woman worthy of standing beside the world's strongest."
Four swords resting near the storehouse flew up as if dancing and began to form a sword formation. Moving with four different sword arts independently, the swords silently filled my eyes with Sagong Hee's sword dance.
Beautiful.
The sword dance was beautiful, and Sagong Hee, moving so gracefully, was beautiful. With no set martial forms, her body moved the swords according to will alone—light and fluid, like the wingbeats of a white heron hidden among splendid blades.
"You have truly reached it. Not the Peak realm I forcibly raised you to, but the Peak level you achieved on your own."
"All of this is thanks to my lord's teachings."
Sagong Hee bowed to me once again.
"I am sure my lord will also teach the Little Princess by his side. Whether it is the nights, or demonic arts. The Little Princess will surely grow strong. But I will not lose. At the next Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, I will fight the Little Princess again and seize victory."
"Heh. Is the seat of the Six Phoenixes not already too small a vessel to contain you? Heh heh."
I walked toward Sagong Hee and placed a hand atop her head.
"The transmission of the Taiji Wisdom Sword is now complete. Sagong Hee, you are my ... servant, wife, and disciple."
"Yes!"
Sagong Hee stood up with a beaming smile.
"Good grief. All my disciples are so desperate to give the Nine Bows Ceremony, as if they'll die without it."
"......Disciple...?"
In an instant, Sagong Hee's voice dropped cold.
"You don't mean... you have another disciple... do you? Right? That's how it is...?"
"......."
"Is she a better cook than me? Does she make better soup than I do? More than... my lord? My looord?? Why aren't you answering???"
Had I drained too much yin energy from Sagong Hee last night? A chill ran down my spine for no reason.