Chapter 4: Gilded Sky (4)

“Well, well, who do we have here? Isn’t this the esteemed daughter of Hwaeom Sect?”

Ak Seowon recognized Cheon Soyak and spoke as if he knew her.

Eunsong frowned.

“How do you know this child?”

“I was a member of the Thirteenth Squad when this child’s father was beheaded for blasphemy.”

So, it was Yeom Doje Ak Jupa who punished Hwaeom Sect for blasphemy.

The enemy of both master and disciple turned out to be the same person.

What a cruel and mysterious fate this was.

“Do you remember me?”

Cheon Soyak narrowed her eyes.

Ak Seowon smirked slyly and nodded.

“How could I forget? Those dark eyes.”

Her small lips twisted slightly.

Her tiny hand, gripping the sword hilt, tightened.

The young girl’s mind turned cold.

Now was not the time.

Cheon Soyak instinctively knew this.

“Anyway, step aside. These people must all die.”

“Simply because they are the family of Yeokcheonhoe?”

“Exactly.”

Eunsong let out a hollow laugh.

When had things become so ruthless?

“I recall that collective punishment wasn’t applied before.”

“It wasn’t. But starting this year, it is.”

“Why?”

“Because when we spared them, they began climbing back up, speaking of revenge for their friends and family.”

Ak Seowon stared intently at Cheon Soyak.

A silent message in his gaze.

Despite her young age, she understood.

It meant: Don’t even dream of revenge.

“The decree is not being retroactively applied to past cases. Our Lord is merciful.”

Cheon Soyak averted her gaze.

She bit her lower lip, but that was all she could do.

For now, she could endure.

For now.

“But who knows? If more vermin start crawling up, the decree might be applied retroactively. So you’d better behave, Lady Cheon.”

“That’s enough.”

“Enough of what? You wouldn’t want to end up like your father, would you? Your pretty little head rolling on the ground? You should grow up into a beautiful lady instead, don’t you think?”

Her lips, clenched in anger, split open, and blood dripped.

Ak Seowon grinned, enjoying himself.

It was Eunsong who stopped him.

“What are you doing? Taunting a child who lost her family?”

“She’s from the household of a blasphemer. Should we pity her?”

“Enough.”

“Very well. I’ll stop here. Now, will you step aside? I have work to do.”

Clang.

Ak Seowon drew his sword.

A large weapon, its blade engraved with flames.

It wasn’t as magnificent as his father’s Fire Dragon Blade, but it was still well-crafted.

Behind Eunsong and Cheon Soyak, the survivors trembled.

An old village chief, and a handful of remaining villagers.

If the two of them stepped aside, those people would be thrown back into the flames.

“Well now, that’s a problem.”

Eunsong massaged his forehead and shook his head.

“As a Daoist, how could I stand by and watch the slaughter of innocent people? That’s not what Mount Hua taught me.”

“Are you saying you will interfere with the execution of blasphemers by the Tianxia Elite Army?”

“No. I am saying I will stop the reckless butchery of a single bandit.”

“Ha. Ridiculous.”

Ak Seowon’s grip on his sword tightened.

The once-cold blade turned red-hot in an instant.

Flames coiled around the steel.

“Are you planning to fight me?”

“Do you think you can win against me?”

“No. How could I, still in the mid Perfection Stage, possibly defeat a master who has stepped into the early Transcendence Stage?

“But then again, I don’t really have a choice here, do I?”

Eunsong’s brow twitched.

This bastard wasn’t immensely talented, but his cunning was sharp.

“So, will you let me go unharmed? Answer me, Eunsong.”

“Ha. You already knew, didn’t you?”

“If I return, my report will state that you interfered with the execution of blasphemers. You wouldn’t just let me live, would you?”

Eunsong drew his Plum Blossom Sword.

A blade, pale and cold, carrying a faint breeze.

In the middle of this smoke-filled village, the scent of plum blossoms bloomed.

“Soyak. Draw your sword.”

“Yes, sir.”

Eunsong rubbed his forehead, deep in thought.

If he used his full martial arts ability, his identity would be exposed.

The Nine Heavens Plum Blossom Sword was too well-known.

With just the wounds left on corpses, people could deduce who wielded it.

‘Ak Seowon must have anticipated this.’

There were two choices.

If he used the Nine Heavens Plum Blossom Sword, he could kill Ak Seowon—but would be hunted for the rest of his life.

If he didn’t, then Ak Seowon, wielding Flame Dragon Swordsmanship, could either defeat him or force a draw.

A dead end.

Until Cheon Soyak entered the equation.

‘No one has ever seen Falling Plum Blossom Technique fully executed before.’

It required three conditions:

Heaven-Slaying Star Essence

Merging Fire Realm

Falling Plum Blossom Technique

A martial art that had never before surfaced in the central martial world.

That wouldn’t put him on the run.

“Ha. Where did the pride of a Transcendence Stage master go, Eunsong? Are you really planning to fight alongside a little girl?”

“Why wouldn’t I? She’s my disciple.”

Eunsong smirked.

Ak Seowon didn’t fully know Cheon Soyak’s skills.

His sharp eyes might have guessed her inner strength level, but that was all.

“Soyak.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Use as little inner strength as possible.”

To prevent another incident of her coughing up blood.

She seemed to understand his reasoning, nodding without a word.

Eunsong gestured at Ak Seowon with his fingers.

“As your senior, I should give you a few free moves. Come at me first.”

“For someone using a two-on-one strategy, that’s quite a thing to say. But fine, I won’t refuse.”

Despite wielding such a large, heavy blade, Ak Seowon closed the distance in an instant.

Eunsong narrowed his eyes and moved his sword.

Clang!

The heavy sword and the delicate blade clashed, sparks flying.

And Cheon Soyak did not miss the moment.

She let go of the scabbard and thrust the long blade that shot out without hesitation.

It was not a specific sword technique, nor was it a conventional form of swordsmanship.

Just a stab.

But Ak Seowon saw it.

The tip of that sword, slicing through the air as unwaveringly as the girl’s dark, empty pupils.

“Hup!”

He gasped sharply, twisting his arm.

The flaming saber struck away Cheon Soyak’s Falling Blossom Sword, its trajectory turning back to fall directly toward her crown.

“Hah!”

But the one who blocked and deflected it was Eunsong.

Only then did Ak Seowon realize Eunsong’s scheme.

Eunsong had no intention of killing with his own hands.

If he did, his sword techniques would be exposed.

He planned to have his disciple do it instead.

“You didn’t learn the martial arts of Mount Hua?”

Logically, that was what he concluded, but his senses denied it.

Because every time Cheon Soyak moved her sword, a thick fragrance of plum blossoms filled the air.

Even more than Eunsong, who was on the threshold of the Absolute Peak.

‘But I have never seen such swordsmanship before…!’

Clang—!

This time, Cheon Soyak’s blade came flying in a vertical strike.

Though the force behind it was light, it was a fierce blow.

Every time that small girl sharply thrust in between