Yet Another Genius
Shenyang.
Near the collapsed walls.
The Eldest Young Master's first assembly point.
Siiing—!
With a sound like wind and rain being torn apart, a flying boulder smashed into the fortifications.
Kwaang!
It was pure luck that the troops stationed atop the walls managed to fall back without suffering major casualties.
"Siege weapons…?"
"They're insane—completely insane…!"
And the signal flare the Eldest Young Master launched with that swift, precise judgment was an even greater stroke of fortune.
Without that retreat order, they would have simply milled about in confusion and taken horrific losses, trapped between the collapsed walls and the enemies charging in.
Kwaang!
Another blow hammered home, and a further section of Shenyang's walls came crashing down.
Kwarrrrrrung!
"Ahhh…"
The overwhelming vibration and roar made the Eldest Young Master's retreating forces tremble.
"Is this truly war…?"
"War, of all things…"
Their morale was low.
Most of them, after all, were government soldiers.
"Even if these are the Acting Grand General's orders…"
A government officer—a military official—cried out, his face ashen white.
He was terrified.
"This is ultimately a civil war within the Moyong Family, is it not?! Creating a precedent for deploying government troops in such affairs will cause serious trouble!"
A Moyong Family officer scowled.
"That is exactly why we only assigned the government troops to outer perimeter security in the first place, is it not?!"
"But in the end, deploying government forces in a family civil war is—!"
"No—from the start!"
Unable to hold back any longer, the Moyong Family officer roared.
"Is the defense of Shenyang's walls not under government jurisdiction?! Are you denying even that?!"
"Of course not!"
Even as he denied it—
"But still!"
Desperate to get out of this position somehow, the military officer clung to the same logic to the bitter end.
"Even so, this fight is a civil war within a single family. For the government to appear to abandon neutrality will create serious problems later…!"
Listening to the same argument loop endlessly, the Moyong Family officer clutched his head.
Damn it. If only we weren't so critically short on numbers to begin with…!
Even as he sighed, the military officer ignored him and shamelessly pressed on with his spiel.
"Therefore, for now, our government troops will withdraw toward the central government offices to fortify the defenses there—!"
"Hah…!"
Unable to take any more of it—
The one who cut in was a young female martial artist.
"I've been watching and listening, and there's no end to this."
Despite being a woman, she was taller and more powerfully built than most grown men.
What stood out was that her only weapon was a single ancient, timeworn sword strapped to her back.
She was dressed so lightly it was hard to believe she had come to a battlefield.
"Wh-who are you…?!"
"Unbelievable."
Instead of answering the officer's question about her identity, she spat on the ground and said,
"Fuck, you stupid bastard. Can't you grasp the situation?"
She was someone the Eldest Young Master had personally stationed there to reinforce the ordinary soldiers on the undermanned walls.
"What did you say?!"
The government officer's face flushed crimson at being cursed out on first meeting.
"Who the hell are you, daring to speak to a military officer of the Central Plains like that—!"
"Military officer, my ass."
In a single motion she snared his neck with her arm and yanked him close.
"Huk…?!"
The officer was also a martial artist with internal energy, so he tried to resist—but it was useless.
From the start, her grappling skill was on an entirely different level.
"Look over there. There."
With her large hand she forced his head around to face the city interior.
"You know Mount Hua Sect? Mount Hua?"
Black smoke was still rising from various points within the city.
"Do those martial artists with plum blossom patterns on their sleeves look like Moyong Family people to you?"
This time she spun him the other way and pointed outside.
The officer had no choice but to move as she directed.
"Ughk…!"
"Or."
As she handled the heavily armored officer like a toy, everyone's eyes naturally fixed on her.
"Do those black-clad martial artists of the Wudang Sect who were camped beyond that rocky mountain look like Moyong Family uniforms to you?"
"B-but—"
She tightened the arm around the neck of the man about to spout more nonsense.
"Heeek—?!"
The sound of air escaping his lungs rang out.
With a force beyond anything he had imagined, it felt as if his neck would snap in an instant.
"Or does getting bombarded by catapults from outside the city look like a family civil war to you?!"
She roared into his ear like a tiger growling.
"You're trying to use the civil war as an excuse to weasel out of this somehow, but this is no mere civil war."
Her eyes blazed blue.
"This is a situation where bastards with power to spare inside their own territories are charging in to tear the northern lands apart and devour them!"
She demanded,
"As a northerner, do you have no pride?!"
"…Th-that's—!"
Whether her words had struck something deep within him, or whether he was simply cowed by her bone-chilling presence—
At last the officer gave up resisting and fell silent.
"……"
Once the officer quieted down, she shouted toward the frightened government troops.
"You lot, listen as well!"
Kurung—!
Thunder rolled across the night sky as the rain grew heavier.
Kwarung—!
The sound of collapsing walls was deafening.
Yet her voice was not drowned out in the least.
"The Moyong Family's internal situation may be chaotic, but that doesn't matter! Those people are foreign invaders!"
It wasn't simply her profound internal energy.
"Does it not matter to you if outsiders seize your homeland—this Shenyang?!"
She possessed a natural presence that seized the attention of everyone present and compelled them to listen.
"Does it not matter if they steal the land your families tilled, burn the crops your families cultivated, and smash the homes where your families live?!"
In the ears of the government troops, the thunder and bombardment faded away.
"……!"
"……!"
Strength poured into the hands gripping their weapons.
[INTEL] Moyong Family rebel forces approaching the collapsed wall sector at high speed!
[INTEL] Enemy is lightly armed! Numbers approximately one hundred fifty!
[INTEL] Martial artists: none or very few confirmed!
A Moyong Family officer who had received the report from a Hyunwol Pavilion agent shouted,
"Enemy vanguard is the rebel forces! They're coming this way…!"
Without the slightest agitation, the female martial artist shouted at the government troops.
"Are you going to let the bastards who turned your homeland into this mess escape as they please?!"
This time the government troops roared back in answer.
"No!"
"Are you going to let them escape alive so they can mock you later?!"
"No!"
Apparently pleased by their thunderous voices, she flashed her characteristic open, refreshing smile.
"Good!"
She drew the sword from her back.
Even in the pitch darkness, the chillingly sharp edge-energy flowing along the blade was extraordinary.
"Show those bastards the strength of Shenyang's government troops!"
"Front!"
The rebel scout leading the charge through the darkness and rain shouted.
"Shenyang government troops confirmed on the path!"
Government troops.
At that word, the rebel soldiers racing along the rain-soaked main road bared their teeth.
Even if they were ordinary soldiers with no talent for internal energy—
They were still elite troops of the great Moyong Family.
In equipment, combat experience, and training volume, they were fundamentally a cut above mere government soldiers in every respect.
"A forced breakthrough is the fastest way!"
The commander leading the one hundred fifty rebels shouted.
He had no intention of wasting time against the likes of government troops.
"Once we break through the government troops, we'll be the first to escape!"
To prevent being surrounded from front and rear, the Eldest Young Master's side had pulled their forces back from the path and were still reorganizing.
Changing course to avoid combat could easily become the worst possible choice.
Fifty paces until impact.
"Assault formation!"
The commander, a martial artist himself, drew his sword.
He raised his internal energy and shot forward to the very front in a single bound.
"They're nothing but government troops! Ride the momentum and smash through in one go, and they'll scatter at once!"
Twenty paces.
Even the raindrops spraying off the raised spear tips of the enemy were vividly clear.
Through their spear wall, a large-framed woman stepped forward.
A martial artist of the Eldest Young Master's side, perhaps.
It didn't matter.
The commander poured his internal energy into his shout.
"Charge!"
The rebels, short spears thrust forward, began their charge at full power, white breath streaming from their mouths.
"Charge forwa—!"
Seogeok.
"……!"
Why had his voice suddenly stopped working?
At first he didn't understand.
He felt that the rain soaking his lower body was unusually warm.
What…?
Something slid free from his abdomen, and his body weight suddenly lightened.
His body had grown lighter, yet somehow no speed built up.
He didn't know why, but even though he had been running forward, the ground was getting closer.
Thud-splat!
Only when he slammed face-first into the muddy water did he realize.
His torso had been severed, and his lower half was still back there.
Just when, who—?
That was the last thought of his life.
And so—
The rebels' first charge, having lost their leader, was blocked by the government troops with almost pathetic ease.
Though Mount Hua Sect had been the first to start moving—
The rebels, whose base had been closer to the collapsed walls, had ultimately been faster.
"What the hell?!"
Gam Woo-hyeon, vanguard captain of Mount Hua, twisted his expression as he looked ahead.
"What in the world is going on?!"
"Th-the road is completely blocked!"
The main avenue they needed to pass through for the shortest route was clogged solid with rebels.
"Damn it!"
He clenched his teeth.
Even if the rebels had poured out all at once, and even if most of them were ordinary soldiers—
This kind of jam was incomprehensible.
[To the rooftops…!]
He had wanted to avoid the rooftops because of enemy snipers, but there was no choice.
Using Mount Hua's exquisite lightfoot technique, Dark Fragrance Drift, the surviving vanguard members kicked off the walls and vaulted onto the rooftops.
[Ignore the rebels and run!]
They had grudges to repay, but now was not the time.
Starting an internal free-for-all at this critical moment of escape would only make the Eldest Young Master's side the ones laughing.
Taat—!
The surviving members of Mount Hua's vanguard cut through the wind and rain, racing across rooftops at terrifying speed.
Below on the main road, the long column of rebels was beginning to abandon the avenue and scatter into the alleys one by one.
[Squeeze out every last bit of strength!]
In Gam Woo-hyeon's eyes, the collapsed walls drew close enough to almost touch.
If we keep running like this…!
Then—
A chill—
Gam Woo-hyeon felt every hair on his rain-soaked body stand on end.
[Captain!]
[There's a single human silhouette presumed to be an enemy on our path!]
The Eldest Young Master's side, temporary command tent.
"Eldest Young Master."
Moyong Ho, aide to the Acting Grand General, pointed at the tactical map as he reported.
"The withdrawn allied forces are rapidly reassembling, but it seems we'll have no choice but to let the enemy's absolute vanguard slip through."
"I see."
Yet even at that report, the Eldest Young Master seemed somehow at ease.
"Eldest Young Master…?"
"Don't worry about that. Focus only on reassembling our forces."
The Eldest Young Master said to the puzzled Moyong Ho.
"But the enemy's absolute vanguard—"
The Eldest Young Master cut him off.
"The right person has already been dispatched there."
"Dodge…!"
Gam Woo-hyeon shouted a warning to his disciples as he drew and swung his sword.
Kaaang!
It was an excellent judgment.
Had his reaction been even slightly slower, the leading disciple would have been torn apart midair while still running.
"……!"
The disciples, who hadn't even seen the sword strikes collide from a distance, froze in shock and hurriedly stopped.
"Oh?"
A young woman lowered her sword and flashed a refreshing smile.
"As expected. The renowned Mount Hua Sword Dragon, is it?"
Just as she had recognized Gam Woo-hyeon immediately despite it being their first meeting—
Gam Woo-hyeon could not fail to recognize her either, even on first sight.
"…You?!"
Her great height and massive frame.
Yet a body so elastically powerful it looked anything but slow.
And most decisively, the ancient treasured sword in her hand.
"Cheonui Mubong…!"
The Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon's hidden card.
Yeon So-hyeon's second older sister, and the most famous among the young geniuses under heaven.
A Rising Star who transcended Rising Stars.
Cheonui Mubong Yeon Seo-rin smiled in the rain.
"Mount Hua's sword. Let me properly take your measure today."