Duel
Should I quickly cut off the top and bottom of the pillar, then replace the middle section with a different tree?
The first method that came to mind was, naturally, the easiest and most convenient one. If I could simply find another tree to replace that wooden pillar, the job would be finished in comfort, without needing anyone’s permission.
But as I idly examined the pillar for a section worth cutting, I soon clicked my tongue softly.
“Tsk.”
The moment I imagined taking something without permission, I thought of my second brother’s wretched cries from the past, when he had been falsely accused of stealing an elixir because of me.
In truth, the disappearance of the elixir that the people of Neungga had been watching so closely, and the replacement of a single wooden pillar in an ignored storehouse, were entirely different matters.
And yet, once that memory surfaced, I no longer felt like doing it. It was a little disappointing that I couldn’t create a puppet right away, but there would surely be a better chance later.
With a small sigh, I set aside that thought and focused on my original purpose: making yellow talisman paper. I gathered suitable wood and dye for talisman paper and returned to the Shadow Talisman Department.
But when I got back, an unexpected guest was waiting for me there.
“Junior brother! Senior sister here has been waiting for you for a while now!”
She was still facing away from me, so I could only see her back as she examined the talismans made in the Shadow Talisman Department. Even so, her long hair, silky as fine brocade, and her slender waist were unmistakably those of a female cultivator.
A female cultivator looking for me at a time like this…
It wasn’t yet the ten days she had promised, but the face that rose in my mind at that moment was the same one that had once pressed its lips to mine. With a faint smile born of that vivid memory, my mouth opened naturally.
“Have you come to keep your promise?”
She answered without turning around.
“That’s right. A promise is a promise.”
The instant I was about to speak again, she set down the talisman she had been holding and slowly turned to face me.
“Originally, the promised time was…”
Good heavens. She was not the person I had thought she was. Realizing that the person before me was entirely different from the one I had expected, I trailed off, and she immediately picked up where I had left off.
“Fifteen days. I said that once you reached the middle stage of Qi Refining, I would take you with me for fifteen days.”
Yes. I had definitely made that promise.
But no matter how I looked at it, that agreement had been far too one-sided. The price for her taking me away for fifteen days was nothing more than calling out my second brother from within the formation.
“That’s correct. I did promise as much. However, I think that promise may have been mistaken.”
Perhaps having guessed what I was thinking, she curved her lips into a small smile and continued.
“So you think fifteen days is a little short no matter what task we’re doing? Then let’s do as you say and extend it to a month.”
Her brazen behavior left even me speechless, but I forced my voice out anyway.
“I was trying to say even fifteen days is too long! I don’t mean to break my promise, so please shorten the time a little. Besides, that promise was to be carried out ten days from now. Right now, I have work to do…”
At that moment, a powerful pressure wrapped around my body, and I slowly began to rise into the air. It felt as though a giant fist had seized me whole.
The Controlling Objects Art of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
That powerful immortal technique, which had blown apart both of White Mask’s arms and finally severed his breath, was being unleashed on me now.
But I was not White Mask, helpless before the Controlling Objects Art.
He had ultimately failed to cross the absolute gulf in realm between us as cultivators, but I possessed another power capable of bridging that gap.
Just as I was about to gather my inner energy to resist the pressure tightening around me, the force enveloping me vanished as abruptly as snow melting beneath summer heat.
Thud.
My feet, which had been lifted into the air, touched the ground. Rather than dispersing the qi I had just drawn up, I kept it circulating and glared at her.
When our eyes met, she let out a smile that had grown even deeper.
“You’re still not rattled after taking my Controlling Objects Art. So the rumor must be true after all. The one saying that even though you look like you’re only in the early stage of Qi Refining, your actual skill is at least in the middle stage. It seems you’ve learned some special cultivation method, hasn’t it?”
I was somewhat startled that news from last night had already spread this far.
It seemed some of the attackers who had survived at the very end had loose lips.
But even after hearing a rumor that I had never heard myself, I did not shrink back. Instead, I spoke with confidence.
“If you’re curious about my ability, why don’t we have a duel?”
Even if she was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, I had no desire to bow my head from the start. And conveniently enough, I had also thought of a way to make use of her difficult temperament.
Fortunately, she seemed not to have the slightest idea what I was thinking and readily accepted my proposal.
“That wouldn’t be bad. If we’re going to carry out an assignment together, it would be best to find out your ability for certain.”
I quickly replied,
“Then there’s no need to go far. Please test my ability in the open space in front of the storehouse.”
In truth, even if she used only her Controlling Objects Art, it would not be easy for me to break free of it.
But if I could somehow slip out of it and draw out just one major technique, I could bring down the storehouse with that alone. Then the wooden pillar of the storehouse, which had been made from hundred-year-old ghost wood, would not be difficult to remove either.
And yet, as if she had read my mind and seen through my intention to use her, she tossed out words that scratched at my pride.
“If I go all out, the fight will be decided before you can even move, so I’ll seal my Controlling Objects Art and fight using only two fingers and one magic tool.”
Even though there was a gap in realm between us, her condescending words stirred me more than a little.
“You’ll get hurt if you do that.”
She smirked at my words and continued.
“If you manage to leave even a single scratch on my body, I’ll shorten the promised time from fifteen days to ten. But if no injury appears on my body by the end of the duel, then you’ll follow me for a month, not fifteen days. Well? How does that sound?”
It was quite an interesting proposal. At the same time, it was a proposal I had absolutely no desire to refuse. Even if defeating her would not be easy, leaving a tiny scratch on her should not be difficult.
“I agree.”
After hearing my answer, she nodded and stepped outside, and I followed after her.
The others, who had been listening in on our conversation, quietly trailed after us as well. Everyone was eager not to miss a rare bit of entertainment.
However, the place she stopped after leading several cultivators out of the building was not the open space in front of the storehouse that I had wanted. She stopped right in front of the Shadow Talisman Department hall instead.
“It won’t take that long anyway.”
Of course, her words were not something I could accept. My goal was not simply to break her arrogance, but to use that arrogance to obtain the thing I was after.
“A little farther on, there’s a wide open space in front of the storehouse. If you’re not reluctant to give me a little distance, would you mind moving to that broader area? The other senior and junior disciples who came along to broaden their experience would probably prefer a place where they can watch our duel more comfortably.”
Just as she had provoked my pride, I now provoked hers. I even used the other disciples, who had come looking for something entertaining to watch, as a convenient excuse.
She stared at me for a moment, then started walking ahead again.
I hurried after her, and this time she spoke while walking.
“You’ve only just entered the sect and you’ve already reached the middle stage of Qi Refining, so it wouldn’t be strange for you to think rather highly of yourself. But remember this: a Qi Refining cultivator is still merely the lowest existence in the cultivation world. I’ll show you just how insignificant the power you possess really is.”
Her contempt for me remained the same, but she felt a little more sincere this time than before.
Still, that was exactly what I wanted. It wasn’t only because I thought of making a big enough disturbance to bring down the storehouse; I too was burning with the competitive spirit to face her.
Especially after the words she had spoken earlier.
“You’ll only use two fingers and one magic tool?”
“If I used my Controlling Objects Art, I wouldn’t even need the magic tool, but then there’d be nothing you could possibly do.”
Her contemptuous words, refusing to take me seriously to the very end, finally sent the competitive fire surging up through my body and out across my face. Like a child smiling at a plate of sweet rice dumplings, a deep smile settled on my lips.
And the moment the open space I had mentioned finally came into view, that smile turned into a quiet thrill that enveloped me.
“Then I’ll attack first!”
But just as I finished speaking and drew my sword like lightning, she had also produced a single magic tool at some point.
Though I had said I would attack first, the strikes themselves came almost simultaneously. That only meant she had been just as eager to teach me a lesson.
But I paid it no mind and pressed the attack.
“A single plum blossom, unbroken even by cold frost.”
I began with the Eighteen Moves of the Plum Blossom Sword.
I did not want to unleash a demonic art that bared killing intent from the start before the onlookers, who had already gathered and taken their places to watch us.
Of course, the Eighteen Moves of the Plum Blossom Sword as I now executed them, with my realm already elevated, were not the same as the version I had once displayed at the Neungga estate.
The instant my sword thrust into the air and a humming cry rang out from its blade, dozens of sword energies, thin and sharp as petals, shot forth at once.
Then, just as I was about to follow with the second form, something strange caught my eye.
The flag-shaped magic tool she had taken out blocked the air before her, and as though that alone were enough, she even crossed her arms.
Just as Jin Myeong the rogue cultivator had done in the past, she seemed to want to show me what helplessness felt like. So I decided to play along. Instead of continuing naturally into the second form, I forcibly unleashed the final two ultimate moves of the Eighteen Moves of the Plum Blossom Sword.
“As ten thousand branches of plum blossom scatter, the sword splits into thousands.”
“Though the plum falls, its fragrance shall endure forever.”
The latter half of the Eighteen Moves of the Plum Blossom Sword, unleashed in succession, sent out sword energy that filled the air densely like a net. And that was before even the sword energy from the first form had reached its target.
Of course, the hidden essence of my final form still had not fully revealed itself. That was the very move I had prepared as my decisive hand.
Clang! Clatter-clang!
The flag-shaped magic tool, which stood firm even after taking dozens of sword energies from my first form, was troubling to watch, but I was certain I could put her in a bind.
And the second attack, the source of that confidence of mine, immediately crashed into her flag-shaped magic tool.
Clang!
The flag whipped violently under the successive shockwaves, but the magic tool itself still seemed unharmed.
But the same was true on my side. Unlike the first sword energies, which vanished at the moment of impact, my second wave of sword energy, though faintly diminished by the collision, still retained its net-like shape.
And at last, it began to be understood why the final two forms of the Eighteen Moves of the Plum Blossom Sword were called “ultimate moves.”
Swish— swish— ssshhk!
The dozens of faded sword energies, having wrapped around her like a net, suddenly began to pull toward one another.
Keeeee—
Unlike the first sword energies, which burst apart the moment they met her magic tool, these faded blades did not disappear after enveloping her; instead, they slowly tightened their grip. That was possible because the dozens of sword energies shared the force of her resistance among themselves.
And in that instant, the true essence of the final ultimate move was unleashed.
Crack! Crrrk—crack!
The sword energies forming the net around her suddenly began to rotate as they tightened. Naturally, this was several times more powerful than a simple constricting attack.
In truth, this was only possible because the final essence of the Eighteen Moves of the Plum Blossom Sword imitated Controlling Sword Art.
Hidden behind the profound depths of the martial formula, the true meaning of the final line—“the fragrance of plum blossoms endures forever”—was that the sword energy I had sent forth remained connected to the sword in my hand all the way through.
But my opponent was also no ordinary cultivator, and she dealt with that troublesome attack without difficulty.
Ka-ga-ga-gak!! Ka-gak!
With a loud clash, the net-shaped sword energy that had been spinning as though it could shred her body and magic tool to pieces was torn apart.
Yet the smile at my lips did not disappear. What she had told me before the duel was that she would use only two fingers and one magic tool—but by now, she was already holding the flag-shaped magic tool with both hands.