The Invisible Blade
The inn where the Mount Hua Sect was staying consisted of two large buildings.
The main building functioned as a tavern and restaurant, while the annex was used as a lodging for their guests.
Because businesses in Hubei were accustomed to hosting many martial artists, the buildings were constructed in such a way that one could not easily read the flow of Gi from the outside.
After all, if you gathered people capable of sensing movements through walls in one place, the noise alone would drive them mad.
'So, there is no way that boy outside could know what is happening in here.'
Faced with the sudden appearance of a visitor, Baek-geomja decided to clear the scene in a hurry.
"Seo-saeng, I will send that fellow away, so please hide yourself with Yeong-myeong for a moment."
"Hehe, very well."
The visitor was someone Baek-geomja had seen before.
"The guest that Yeong-myeong brought. It cannot be a coincidence that he showed up at a time like this."
Baek-geomja did not know the exact nature of the relationship between Yeong-myeong and Seong-jin, but he could only assume that the guest had some ulterior motive for suddenly appearing under the guise of delivering alcohol.
It made sense, too. While the Mount Hua Sect had rented out the entire annex, the person who had always delivered alcohol to the main building was Do Il-ho, the head of the Dokjak-dang.
"To think a mere brewer would get ideas just because he opened a trade route with Mount Hua."
The Sect Leader was currently in a state where he could meet no one.
Because of this, Mount Hua had to turn away all visitors who came seeking the 'Byukha-nangrang,' but while it was easy to send away an unknown martial artist like Seong-jin, it was a heavy burden to blindly turn away those of high status.
It seemed that their continued orders of Dongjeongchun, intended to send them off with a gift, had become the source of this trouble.
"Anyway."
He would deal with Do Il-ho later; for now, it was time to handle Seong-jin.
Baek-geomja confirmed that Seo-saeng had disappeared with Yeong-myeong before opening the door.
"You are late. Come in."
Baek-geomja feigned composure as he greeted Seong-jin.
Seong-jin placed the jug of alcohol he had brought into the storage room and sat down in the inn as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Are you not leaving?"
"I have to get paid before I go. It seems the boss is absent, so I suppose I will have to wait a while."
As he said this, Seong-jin pulled a small gourd from his robes and began to pour himself a drink.
"The money will be sent via messenger later, so..."
"Our boss said that credit is absolutely forbidden. He said that if you start letting things slide because business is bad, you eventually end up abandoning a shop that doesn't make money anyway, so he told me to just cut off the trade if they say they don't have the money."
Seong-jin rattled off nonsense to deflect the order to leave.
"The only brewery in this vicinity is Dokjak-dang, so if you cut ties with us, you won't last long anyway."
Baek-geomja stared at Seong-jin, who had begun drinking as if the inn were his own living room, with an expression of disbelief, but he could not bring himself to kick him out.
The Mount Hua Sect was merely renting the annex; the operation of the main building was a different matter.
Even though it was effectively closed for business as there were no guests other than the people of Mount Hua, Baek-geomja had no right to drive away the inn's suppliers.
"We have met before. I heard you met Yeong-myeong in the outer lands, and now you are working at Dokjak-dang."
"I couldn't find lodging, so I found a job. If someone had just spared me a spare room, I wouldn't have had to do that."
"When one is running a sect, one has no choice but to be mindful of security."
"Security against whom, might I ask?"
Seong-jin said, tilting his cup.
"In this land where the Murim Alliance resides, who would dare attempt wicked schemes against the Mount Hua Sect?"
Even while conversing with Yeong-myeong, Seong-jin did not look at his opponent's eyes; from the moment he entered the inn, his gaze had been fixed on one spot.
"Unless it is a rat in human skin."
When Seong-jin first arrived in Hubei and met Baek-geomja, he had felt nothing unusual.
'It was natural. Baek-geomja is not a demon.'
However, the Ho-gwi (Fox Spirit) inside the gourd could smell the scent of a demon on Baek-geomja.
-Tsk tsk, the smell is this thick, and you didn't know?
'I suppose a cat is indeed best for catching rats?'
-What did you say, you punk?
Seong-jin had his own ways of distinguishing shapeshifting arts, but he wasn't skilled enough to discern the intricate details through lingering scents. Baek-geomja hadn't been replaced by a shapeshifter; he was a human who had joined hands with a demon, making it impossible to distinguish.
However, the Ho-gwi, a beast by birth, pierced through the fact that he was with Seo-saeng with a far superior sense of smell. In the realm of identifying demons, a demon was the best judge.
According to the Ho-gwi, the scent currently led to the basement of the inn.
And the scent of Yeong-myeong was also coming from there.
"Who are you talking to?"
"……!"
Baek-geomja, who had maintained a benevolent smile even when Seong-jin mentioned rats earlier, changed his expression upon sensing the conversation with the Ho-gwi.
His senses, honed to the limit, had picked up on Seong-jin's conversation as if he were eavesdropping on a secret transmission.
'If it comes to it, I can just kill this Seong-jin in front of me and bury him. But if this happens...'
To Baek-geomja, the fact that Seong-jin was sharing the current situation with someone meant that killing him would not prevent his true colors from being exposed.
Their eyes met.
Both were men whom anyone would acknowledge as masters.
The moment the fact that they had no choice but to fight became certain, they both struck at the same time.
Seong-jin and Baek-geomja's movements intertwined like lightning.
Seong-jin's fist strike extended as sharply as a blade. Seeing this, Baek-geomja reached into the air.
Clang.
A snow-white sword was drawn from its scabbard, and a sharp ringing sound echoed.
The Plum Blossom Sword Art, named for its resemblance to a scholar painting plum blossoms. As that world-renowned sword art unfolded from Baek-geomja's hands, a white light erupted with speed akin to a flash of lightning.
A fast sword so swift that not even the afterimage of a plum blossom remained.
That was the very reason he was called Baek-geomja.
'Fast!'
Seong-jin twisted his body to avoid the path of the Plum Blossom Sword Art. Baek-geomja's eyes widened in surprise.
"You dodged it? I have never heard of anyone of your age with such skill."
As the head of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen and the leader of Mount Hua's martial force, Baek-geomja kept track of the profiles of major masters in the Jianghu.
"It seems an interrogation will be necessary."
Seong-jin did not answer and leaped again.
It was a moment where even a breath for a reply was a luxury.
Utilizing the rotational force of his twisted body, he aimed for the side of the blade.
Baek-geomja countered with Sword Qi, and Seong-jin responded with Fist Qi.
The moment of collision.
The two materialized energies clashed, and a powerful shockwave spread out with the two men at the center.
The walls and ceiling shattered, sending wood fragments and roof tiles flying.
The sharp shards flew like bullets, with enough force to pierce human skin without effort. But before the debris had even settled, the two were already exchanging their next moves.
At a glance, it looked like an evenly matched exchange. However, Seong-jin felt his losses steadily accumulating.
'The Sword Qi is sharp.'
The power of materialized Gi differs not only in density but also in form. Just as a sharpened blade cuts better than a dull one, the thinner and sharper the form of the Sword Qi, the higher its cutting power.
Therefore, if the perfection of the Sword Qi was high, one could clash with the opponent's Sword Qi and slice it apart.
It goes without saying that the Sword Qi of Baek-geomja, the head of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, boasted terrifying sharpness.
On the other hand, Seong-jin, who was using Fist Qi, could not recklessly fight against the Sword Qi. Unlike swordsmen who would only lose their sword if their Sword Qi were split, if Fist Qi were split, the next thing to go would be his own hand.
Because of this, Seong-jin had to consume more internal energy to maintain his Fist Qi, and that consumption led not only to a loss of energy but also to disadvantages in counter-attack timing and the distance of the exchange.
"Will you surrender?"
Seong-jin steadied his breathing without answering.
One second.
A time that is short if you call it short, and long if you call it long.
Seong-jin cleared his mind like a bright mirror and contemplated his inner self.
Crack!
Martial artists take in the natural energy of the world through their breathing and convert it into internal energy through their cultivation methods. The energy converted into internal energy, suited to each body, becomes a force that can be used freely, specialized for the corresponding martial arts.
Crackle!
However, if one returns that internal energy to its original form, it reverts to the state it exists in within nature.
Ban-bak-gwi-jin (Returning to the Truth).
The Fist Qi wrapping around Seong-jin's hands transformed into lightning.
The reverted Thunder Qi regained the characteristics of a thunderbolt and boiled with speed akin to a flash of lightning. Seong-jin, wrapped in lightning, accelerated, leaving behind a sound like a thunderclap.
At the moment of his leap, the pavilion behind Baek-geomja exploded.
Baek-geomja did not resist the power, instead flying backward to dissipate the recoil. But before he could even land, Seong-jin had already claimed the spot where he was to land and was launching his next attack.
"The Murim Alliance poured astronomical amounts of money into determining the greatest rising star in the world, yet the person himself is here!"
Even his own disciple, who had inherited the Purple Mist Divine Art, would not be at this level. Seong-jin's martial prowess clearly exceeded the level of his peers.
Baek-geomja changed his thinking as he saw the fist energy, shaped like lightning, cutting through his protective Gi in a split second.
The opponent in front of him was not at a level he could 'capture alive intact.'
Whoosh!
The sword he swung up in a hurry was wrapped in white flames, pushing away the lightning. Baek-geomja's Heat Yang Energy, which had also unfolded Ban-bak-gwi-jin like his opponent, burned in the shape of flames.
"To have already reached the realm of Ban-bak-gwi-jin at that age, it is truly an amazing achievement. You must have crossed the boundary of life and death many times."
But it did not end there.
"However, it seems you have no experience fighting a master of the Peak Realm."
No matter how skilled Baek-geomja was, he had no confidence in subduing Seong-jin quietly enough to avoid being noticed from the outside. So, he would use all his strength to end it in an instant.
"Shin-geom-hap-il (Unity of Body and Sword)."
If the boundary separating a second-rate martial artist from a first-rate master is Sword Qi, the boundary separating a first-rate master from a super first-rate master is Ban-bak-gwi-jin. Then, what is the boundary that separates a super first-rate master from the Peak Realm?
It is none other than Ui-nyeom (Intent).
Ui-nyeom. Gi is a force that moves in response to a person's heart. Therefore, a sufficiently powerful Ui-nyeom could move not only one's own internal energy but even the energy of heaven and earth.
The realm where one can overlay one's inner microcosm onto the macrocosm of reality. The realm where one can manifest a firm mental image into reality is called the Peak Realm.
Those who have reached the Peak Realm can use their own unique and immutable Intent Energy according to the path they have built throughout their lives.
Since the first martial artist to use Intent Energy was a swordsman, the Intent Energy used by masters of the Peak Realm is called Shin-geom-hap-il, even if they do not use a sword.
"My Shin-geom-hap-il is called the Formless Sword."
Baek-geomja revealed his technique before attacking.
"Die as peacefully as you can. So that I may have enough materials left for the shapeshifting."
At the same time, Seong-jin felt a transparent Sword Qi forming inside his throat and opened his eyes wide.