The White Tiger's Judgment
As if to cast off the fear welling up from deep within him, Paeng Yu-heon poured every scrap of internal energy in his body into his greatblade.
KWAHHHHHH—
The greatblade across his shoulder slammed into the earth and spewed a black tide of qi across the ground.
Mountain Lord's Roar
KWA-GWANG— KWA-GWA-GWANG— KWA-GWA-GWA-GWA-GWANG—
The black wave of qi laid waste to everything around them, as if sworn to crush all that stood in its path.
Just as that black force was about to swallow Hyeonsong, who still held his half-broken sword—
SAHHHHHH—
Hand-gang bloomed in Hyeonsong's palm.
He took half a step back and wrapped the black wave of qi with that hand-force.
HWIIIIII—
His body turned in a smooth, fluid spin. With a sound like a gathering gale, every shred of Paeng Yu-heon's Mountain Lord's Roar funneled into Hyeonsong's hand.
Yeong-hwa's words flashed through his mind like a bolt of light.
You must let go of the remnants of the past now.
At those words, the final movements of the Taegeukhyekeom flowed from Hyeonsong with newfound grace. Feeling himself free at last, he looked upon Paeng Yu-heon.
"Receive this."
KWAHHHHHHHH—
The vast qi of the Mountain Lord's Roar condensed in Hyeonsong's hand and detonated back upon Paeng Yu-heon.
"This is absurd—!"
Paeng Yu-heon hastily raised his greatblade and flung saber-gang around himself.
Rushing Tigers' Chaotic Fangs
KUUUUUUNG—
The blade-curtain held Hyeonsong's counterattack—but Paeng Yu-heon was driven far back.
Pure white sword-gang bloomed from Hyeonsong's broken Songmun Ancient Sword. Gazing upon a sword-gang more radiant and infinitely keener than before, Hyeonsong murmured,
"So this is the true Guhontalbaekgeom…"
Behind him, a black ring and a white ring spun with furious speed. Feeling the energy of the Mugeoksimgong course through his body without the slightest obstruction, Hyeonsong settled into a ready stance.
"I shall show you the true sword of Wudang."
"Shut your mouth!"
With a roar of pure rage, blood sprayed from the tattoos carved deep into Paeng Yu-heon's flesh. His eyes went wholly black.
"Grrrrrr…"
As if completely drunk on demonic energy, he let the voice of a great tiger roll from his throat.
KUNG— KUNG— KUNG— KUNG—
With every step he advanced, demonic energy flooded the ground around him. Hyeonsong, by contrast, was like a fair wind. Surrendering himself wholly to softness, he slowly walked the Taiji Azure Pine Steps.
Watching Hyeonsong tread the Nine Palaces and slip the demonic energy by a single half-step, Paeng Yu-heon bit down hard on his lip.
KWAHHHHH—
He stamped his foot and charged. A razor edge of saber-gang condensed at the tip of his greatblade. With the force of a tiger falling upon its prey in a single bound, he stabbed at Hyeonsong from every direction at once.
Raging Tiger Piercing Blade
Hyeonsong stretched his left hand forward and reversed his grip on the sword.
PIIIIIIIIING—
The broken Songmun Ancient Sword carved a perfect sphere as it flayed the air in every direction. White sword-gang manifested as a full moon.
Embracing the Moon
True to its name, a vast moon wound itself about the charging tiger.
SAK— SEOK— SEUK— SAK— SEOK—
Sword-gang from Embracing the Moon grazed and cut across every inch of Paeng Yu-heon's body.
PUUUUUK—
The wounded tiger bled from head to toe—yet he seemed to feel no pain at all. When the single piercing thrust from the tip of his greatblade was stopped, he snapped the blade upright again. Black saber-gang bloomed once more along its edge, splitting into five streams. Those five streams of black force opened their jaws like living tigers.
SHU-GA-GA-GA-GA-GAK—
Paeng Yu-heon carved the air with his greatblade like lightning—above and below, left and right, forward and back. Black thunder-qi fanned out and crashed over Hyeonsong. At the same moment, the five tigers of saber-gang raced toward him.
Rushing Tigers' Chaotic Fangs — the ultimate technique
Eyes closed, Hyeonsong spread his sense of qi wide and extended his sword before him. The saber-gang racing straight at him suddenly changed course, seeking his vital points.
Paeng Yu-heon smiled a thin, cold smile and swung his greatblade.
"A fatal mistake, old man."
The five tigers looked ready to devour Hyeonsong whole. A quiet smile touched Hyeonsong's lips. His sword traced a vast circle. The five streams of saber-gang, coming from every other direction, could not pierce that slow-seeming stroke—and were drawn straight into it.
A sword-path infinitely swift, yet appearing unhurried.
It was the Taegeukhyekeom.
Hyeonsong stepped half a pace back. Gathering the five black tigers gently against the spine of his sword, he spun his body and thrust the tip forward.
"I have already seen it!"
Paeng Yu-heon's form vanished. He reappeared directly above Hyeonsong's head. It was a form Paeng Un-ro had once shown him—the sixth form of the Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade, White Tiger's Hidden Strike—meant to slip free of the Taegeukhyekeom's counter.
His greatblade, heavy with black thunder-qi, came crashing down upon Hyeonsong.
SRRRrrr—
Hyeonsong simply released the five black tigers he had gathered.
KWAHHHHHHH—
The black saber-gang streaked like lightning to the place where Paeng Yu-heon had been and exploded.
"It ends here!"
In the instant the tip of the greatblade was about to touch Hyeonsong's crown, hand-gang flared in Hyeonsong's palm and wrapped the black thunder-qi of the blade. Looking up at Paeng Yu-heon, Hyeonsong spoke with perfect calm.
"A sword is nothing more than an extension of the hand."
Paeng Yu-heon lost his grip on the greatblade and was pulled straight toward Hyeonsong.
"For Taiji knows no end!"
In the same breath Hyeonsong turned, and in his hand was Paeng Yu-heon's own greatblade.
PUUUUUK—
The greatblade drove clean through the center of Paeng Yu-heon's chest.
"Kehhh—!"
Blood poured from his mouth as he stared in disbelief.
Thud—
The white tiger fell from the empty air.
Hyeonsong traced a Taiji with his hand and brought the assault to a close.
KUNG— KUUUUNG— KUUUUUUNG—
"GAAAAAAAH!"
Paeng Yu-heon screamed and thrashed, trying to wrench the greatblade from his body. But the characters carved into every inch of his flesh swelled and burst.
PUAAAAAK—
The patterns exploded, spraying a mist of blood. Covered head to toe in gore, Paeng Yu-heon shook violently. He lifted a hand toward the empty sky.
"Ha… yeon-ah… Rin-ah…"
"KRAAAAAAANG!"
Over the Hebei Paeng Clan rose the howl of the Mountain King.
A soft white thunder-qi swept the grounds. An autumn wind that held both deep winter and high summer at once unfurled across the estate.
Freed from its seal, the White Tiger God had descended.
Hyeonsong looked upon the White Tiger God before him and dropped to one knee.
"I pay my respects to the White Tiger God."
Bloody tears ran down both cheeks of the White Tiger God. It was weeping in bitter grief. It set a forepaw upon the fallen Paeng Un-ro.
"Hwaaah—!"
Paeng Un-ro started awake in terror.
"White Tiger God!"
The moment he was on his feet he pressed his forehead to the earth.
KUNG— KUNG— KUNG— KUNG— KUNG— KUNG—
He drove his head into the ground again and again, begging.
"O White Tiger God who guards our house!"
He was shrieking.
"Please—protect our house—"
The White Tiger God's cold voice cut him short.
"Your sins are great."
"Take my life!"
Paeng Un-ro pleaded through bloody tears.
"I will pay for every crime myself!"
"Why did you do it?"
Still weeping, the White Tiger God looked upon the fallen Paeng Yu-heon.
"That child was a warrior the Jade Emperor granted me only once in a hundred years."
The god sighed toward the heavens.
"With your own hands you shattered the chance for the Paeng Clan to rise above the world."
"For the family—for Yu-heon's sake!"
"How can you call that a path for this child?"
"I wanted to give him wings."
Paeng Un-ro cried out in anguish.
"I wanted to match him with a wife from a fine house, and help him in the great work that lay ahead!"
"And that was your love?"
"What?"
"That is neither love nor care."
The White Tiger God fixed Paeng Un-ro with eyes full of wrath.
"That is your obsession—and the attempt to work out, through this child, the empty dream you yourself never achieved!"
"White Tiger God…"
Paeng Un-ro could not finish. His head sank, powerless.
The White Tiger God spoke evenly.
"I will not abandon the Paeng Clan."
It set a forepaw upon Paeng Yu-heon's corpse. At once Paeng Yu-heon's soul appeared, and with him two other souls who held him and wept without end—Seol Yeon-hwa and Seol Rin. They stroked and soothed the blood-weeping Paeng Yu-heon.
"It is because the hearts of that woman and that girl are so rare and precious."
Color flooded back into Paeng Un-ro's face.
"Then the Demonic Cult vermin who invaded our house—"
The White Tiger God cut him off without mercy.
"I will help you. I have no face left before the Wudang Sect and Hyeoncheon Sangje, who gave themselves for this house."
Yet the god's smile was infinitely cold and pitiless.
"Do you understand that a price is demanded for every matter in which a god intervenes?"
At those words Paeng Un-ro sprang up and cried,
"I will offer my life!"
The White Tiger God shook its head.
"You are already a sinner. You are not worth that much."
It closed its eyes, as if listening to some distant voice.
"The Jade Emperor and the King of Hell command me to exact a fitting price from you."
Bitterness crossed the White Tiger God's face. It raised a forepaw and pointed. The one it indicated was Paeng Un-ro's only son, Paeng Il-mok, who still stood in the family head's hall.
"I will take the one most precious to you as the price."
"No—no—no—no!"
ZZZZZZZAAANG—
A bolt of white lightning struck Paeng Il-mok.
Thud—
Paeng Il-mok collapsed where he stood, his face peaceful.
"UAAAAAAAH!"
Paeng Un-ro ran like a madman and gathered Paeng Il-mok into his arms.
"My son! My son! Please—please open your eyes."
But Paeng Il-mok's body did not stir.
The White Tiger God went on, unhurried.
"In Dangsan County of Hebei Province you will find a small hermitage."
"UAAAAAAAH—why this—why my son—!"
The White Tiger God's voice did not waver.
"There is a grandson your son hid away in that place."
Paeng Un-ro stared blankly at the god through a face drowned in tears.
"He is the last blood of the Hebei Paeng Clan. Never repeat the same mistake…"
With those words the White Tiger God gathered its body low.
KWAHHHHHH—
It leapt. Its destination was the battlefield where Gunggi and Xuanwu still fought.
Left alone, Paeng Un-ro lifted his son's corpse. He trudged over to Paeng Yu-heon and laid Paeng Il-mok's body beside him, then sank down with a look of utter desolation.
The old tiger of the Paeng Clan—who had seemed a man who would never weep—sobbed like a child begging for forgiveness.
The demons of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult raised the fallen Baek Un-geuk to his feet. They bit their thumbs until the blood ran.
"Heavenly Demon reborn! Ten thousand demons submit!"
Chanting the same words as one, they painted the character for Gung—the mark of Gunggi—upon their brows in blood.
"GAAAAAAAH!"
They screamed as their bodies withered like dried roots. Baek Un-geuk, who had been coughing blood and collapsing, rose with a smile.
"KURURURURUNG—"
Gunggi, its power restored, sank its teeth into the nape of Xuanwu, which still held its own foot in its jaws and would not let go.
"KEHHHHH—"
Xuanwu howled in agony and staggered back.
"Kh—"
Under the blow, Yeong-hwa spat blood from his mouth.
"A new phase begins, boy!"
Baek Un-geuk seized his heavy sword again and stood. As he intoned a mantra, Gunggi was drawn into his body. Yeong-hwa answered at once with a mantra of his own, and Xuanwu descended into him.
Lifting the Songmun Ancient Sword, around which a killing wind howled, Yeong-hwa settled into a ready stance. Deep blue demonic energy licked like tongues from Baek Un-geuk's heavy sword, swallowing everything around it.
Then Yeong-hwa looked at Baek Un-geuk and grinned.
"You've finally come."
In Yeong-hwa's free left hand, white lightning flickered and coiled.