Heavenly Demon (2)
He had narrowly avoided instant death by dodging the thrust that pierced his heart. True to her word, the old woman revealed her title.
But with her sword having gouged his lungs, it was obvious he wouldn't last long. Even so, she spoke as if it were praiseworthy.
"Even peerless warriors make enduring a single strike from this sect leader their lifelong aspiration. You should consider even this an honor."
What the old woman hadn't anticipated, however, was that this was the Tower of Heaven, teeming with all sorts of cheats.
Sizzle!
Steam rose as the wound pierced by her sword began to mend. As long as the core wasn't shattered, Blood Pact could heal any injury.
The old woman showed no surprise. She merely recited bitterly,
"That's right... this is that kind of place..."
Regardless, Yun-seok cautiously closed the distance.
He'd learned enough from that one strike. The old woman was a swordmaster of absurd skill, far beyond anything he could even dream of facing.
But she seemed almost ignorant of the system.
If my guess is right... I can win this!
When the gap had narrowed to about three meters, Yun-seok exploded off the ground like lightning.
But before his sword could reach her, the old woman parried it.
Undeterred, Yun-seok pressed even closer. Such reckless closing of distance carried extreme risk of injury, but Yun-seok had his cheat skill, Blood Pact.
He could trade flesh for bone, execute mutual destruction plays endlessly without any risk.
Slash!
His left arm, gripping the shield, flew off. Yun-seok ignored it. Instead, he timed the gushing fountain of blood to obscure her vision, then swung at the old woman.
But when he came to his senses...
Thud.
Even his right hand, clutching the sword, was rolling across the ground.
He hadn't even perceived when she'd sliced it off.
And it didn't end there—her sword came flying at him again.
Yun-seok felt a chill crawl up his spine. He didn't know how she'd figured it out, but her blade was aimed straight at his lower abdomen, where his core resided.
Damn it!
Yun-seok desperately rolled across the dirt. Dirt clods stuck to his body, and grit filled his mouth, but he wouldn't have dodged otherwise.
The old woman, still standing tall and composed, spoke.
"A guy who didn't flinch when his arms were severed is fleeing like he's seen a ghost. So that really is your weak point?"
"..."
From the way she phrased it, it didn't seem like coincidence.
He was dying to know how she'd spotted it. But asking would be as good as confessing his weakness himself.
Yun-seok simply stayed silent and focused on regenerating his body first.
Sizzle!
His severed arms returned and reattached. It really was an outrageously cheat ability.
But why am I still getting pushed back?
The demon had this power too, yet its martial arts were abysmal. Even so, Yun-seok had struggled against it.
So he'd been confident. Combining his own martial prowess with this ability should make him nearly unbeatable.
Yet in an instant, his weakness had been exposed.
She didn't seem to have anti-magic resistance either. Did she have some other skill like that?
Whoosh!
The snakelike thrust coiled from the old woman's hand once more. It targeted the same spot: his heart.
He didn't know why not his core in the lower abdomen, but Yun-seok twisted his body just in time for a nimble evasion.
Having seen it once, it felt much more familiar now.
And watching him...
"Ho. You've instinctively grasped the principle? What an amusing kid... Very well, let's see your skill."
A glint sparked in the old woman's eyes.
"Come at me with everything you've got!"
* * *
How much time had passed since the duel began?
"Dead again, child."
Yun-seok bit his lip without realizing it. His injuries had healed without a trace, but the sensation of his throat being pierced lingered vividly.
He'd thought her sword was becoming familiar to his eyes...
That he'd dodge the next one...
Yet it was still just one strike.
Above the heavens lay more heavens.
"How long do you intend to rest? Pick up your sword."
Yun-seok silently gripped his blade again.
How many times was this now?
For some reason, despite her victory being assured, the old woman didn't shatter his core or take his life. She let him pick up his sword again and again, giving him chances.
But she forbade using Blood Pact for anything but healing.
"If you use that pathetic trick one more time, I'll kill you on the spot."
For Yun-seok, who had honed that "pathetic trick" through dozens of hours of agony, it felt unfair... but there was no other way.
And it didn't seem like she was toying with him. If anything, she was teaching him.
"Come on, attack first this time!"
Yun-seok obeyed. He swung with all his might, as per his efforts so far.
Yet despite having the ability to dodge and subdue him instantly, the old woman merely defended calmly. As if properly assessing his skill.
"Your fundamentals are quite solid! Have you trained with the sword before?"
Yun-seok didn't answer. He had no time for that.
He judged he could never win unless he struck when this overwhelmingly skilled opponent let her guard down.
If he could just land a thrust somehow. With that resolve, Yun-seok gritted his teeth and swung and stabbed relentlessly.
The old woman merely chuckled heartily.
"Tsk tsk! Obsession may lead to victory against beasts, but for a warrior, it's a hundredfold poison. Still, your spirit that doesn't yield even against this sect leader... that much, I like!"
As she parried Yun-seok's sword, she flicked his wrist holding it.
That was it.
The sword, descending with ferocious momentum, bounced away and buried into the ground. Seizing the opening, the old woman thrust into Yun-seok's heart.
Of course, the hole began filling with flesh the moment the blade withdrew... but.
The old woman recited calmly, just one phrase.
"Hurry and retrieve it."
Yun-seok ignored the old woman's words. He just stood there, dazed, staring at her.
He could no longer endure without asking.
"Why... why don't you kill me?"
It wasn't that she couldn't. Shatter his core in the lower abdomen and sever his neck—Yun-seok would die. She knew that.
If she'd wanted, he'd have died long ago.
The old woman laughed as if genuinely delighted.
"Hahaha! I thought you were smart enough to hold your tongue, but no—it wasn't that at all!"
Any normal person would have asked by now. Maybe even raged at being mocked.
But Yun-seok had swallowed the question down his throat, enduring over thirty defeats.
So she'd assumed he understood her intent.
To think he'd kept fighting all this time without abandoning his will to win...
On one hand, she found it foolish, yet she discovered she rather liked it about herself.
"Please answer my question."
Even this audacity felt pleasing.
"It's nothing grand. This sect leader simply has a bad habit of not passing by promising sprouts."
The old woman favored the talented. Back in Murim, regardless of righteous or demonic sects, she'd gladly teach a few moves to anyone with aptitude.
That experience had honed her eye—she could gauge potential at a glance.
"Child, you were born with a rare talent. If you properly start now, you'll bloom in no time."
"So you'll teach me, is that it?"
"If that's what you desire."
"And kill me after?"
"Tsk! This sect leader can't very well die in your place, can she?"
"... "
Yun-seok shut his mouth. He couldn't follow the conversation at all.
Meeting as duel opponents, and suddenly she's offering to teach before killing him?
Come to think of it, Nangin Cheon-ho was like that too. Were all Murim folk this unpredictable?
On the other hand, it felt like an opportunity that might never come again.
Just clashing swords briefly with her had left him with a vague sense of understanding.
"Time is finite—how long will you dawdle? You wouldn't squander this chance knowingly, would you?"
At her words, Yun-seok let everything go. Understanding their mindset was another dimension entirely.
He'd desperately wished for someone to teach him swordsmanship anyway.
As she said, this was an opportunity. One that might come once in a lifetime.
"No. Please, I ask you."
Recalling what Cheon-ho had done, Yun-seok politely cupped his fists in respect and raised his sword.
A gesture he deemed proper as a student.
"Very well."
Fortunately, the old woman seemed pleased with him.
* * *
Before proper training began, the old woman covered basic theory.
"Heart signifies enlightenment, energy refers to inner power, and body is the vessel containing them."
The harmony and perfection of heart-energy-body. Its importance couldn't be overstated.
In fact, it was the universal standard for gauging peak martial levels in Murim.
But the old woman stated flatly,
"However, here, there's no need to strive for harmony of heart-energy-body."
She added that this was her conclusion after various experiments since arriving here—don't doubt it.
...But Yun-seok had no intention of doubting anyway. He wasn't a Murim warrior and didn't even know what heart-energy-body meant.
A blank slate without preconceptions.
The old woman brushed it off, but perhaps that was Yun-seok's greatest advantage.
"What a warrior must hone here is solely the heart. Everything else can be substituted with AP."
They were challengers. Energy was mana stats, body was strength, agility, stamina, durability, and so on.
No need to meditate all day to build inner power or push the body to extremes for tempering.
It wouldn't work anyway.
"Even this sect leader must learn a technique to manifest sword energy. What a ridiculous place..."
Emptiness tinged the old woman's voice. It made sense.
Enlightenment in inner power didn't matter. With enough AP and supporting mana, challengers could wield any technique as their own.
For a warrior who'd honed martial arts her whole life, it was as if her previous existence had been utterly denied.
"What I can teach you are solely sword techniques."
Pure technique. In a place where stats and skills were everything, they were mere basics.
But...
"Any path leads from origin to end. And these fundamentals are precisely that origin."
Yun-seok flushed. Even this old woman with profound martial arts had earnestly explored this world's systems.
Yet he'd presumed her ignorant of the system...
His face burned so hot he could barely lift his head.
Well, the person herself didn't seem to care.
"Then let's begin properly."
The brief—yet long—theory lesson ended, and her true guidance began.
It was more sparring than training.
The old woman told him to attack as before, and Yun-seok complied without hesitation.
"True tempering of basics is the process of discarding."
As she blocked or counterattacked Yun-seok's strikes, she pointed out flaws and offered advice.
"Too much tension in the wrist."
His sorely lacking thrust became slightly lacking.
"Why is your shoulder so stiff?"
The slightly lacking thrust became quite decent.
"Good! Now it's worth watching!"
To reach perfection, discard countless imperfections.
Without Yun-seok's monstrous talent.
Without a transcendent's keen eye aiding him.
Such achievements would have taken decades.
But coincidences overlapped, fate meshed like gears.
"Hahaha! Excellent! Simply superb!"
And so, in the flowing river of time.
Yun-seok's sword gradually shed its superfluities.