Bzzz—
Seo-jun woke up, feeling something tickling his face. He opened his eyes and found himself face-to-face with a godforsaken fly. He shook himself awake, jumping up instantly.
“Ugh.”
The fly hurriedly tried to escape, but Seo-jun was no longer his old self. No longer the weak Lee Seo-jun who used to let a fast fly get away.
“Gotcha.”
He aimed a flick at it, and with a burst of qi, the fly was obliterated, its limbs scattered.
“Phew.”
Will these damn insects ever go extinct? He scratched his arm, feeling a phantom itch, and looked around.
Corpses. Flies. And Chun-bong.
It seemed she had finished circulating her energy and was now asleep, leaning against the wall. She shouldn’t have fallen asleep while guarding, but at least nothing happened. That’s a relief.
“Wow, the house is completely wrecked.”
Everything was smashed to pieces. Not that it was much of a house to begin with, but now it was beyond repair. Moving might be the only option. Seo-jun filed that thought away and shook Chun-bong’s shoulder.
“Hey, Ms. Geum. Time to get to work.”
“Ugh... five more minutes...”
She must be exhausted.
Seo-jun gathered anything valuable from the surrounding corpses, stretched his stiff body, and checked the condition of his sword.
‘Is this even salvageable?’
The edge was chipped, and the blade was dull. It’s a wonder he managed to kill anyone with it.
Recalling some vague memories, he began sharpening the sword with a whetstone.
Maybe the sound of it woke her up. Chun-bong rubbed her eyes and muttered as she approached.
“Yawn... That’s not how you do it.”
“Then you do it.”
When he handed her the sword and whetstone, Chun-bong glared at him with her eyes. But she took them anyway, which was just like her—gruff but caring. She really was a cute little tsundere.
Swish— Swish—
As the sound of sharpening filled the room, Seo-jun started organizing his thoughts.
First, they definitely needed to move. And he needed to find out more about the Black Tiger Clan or whatever they were called.
“Chun-bong, there’s no way that was all of the Black Tiger Clan, right?”
“Yeah. I know about the Black Tiger Sect. They’re a pretty big group among the Black Path sects.”
“So it’s the Black Tiger Sect, huh?”
Seo-jun scratched his head and watched Chun-bong sharpen the sword. Her small hands were surprisingly skillful. He suddenly had a question.
“By the way, how old are you?”
“Took you long enough to ask.”
“So, how old?”
“Sixteen.”
“What?”
She wasn’t in elementary school? With that body? Anyone would think she was just a kid!
“Why is your expression so weird?”
“Uh... it’s nothing.”
Chun-bong sighed, put the sword aside, and turned around to sit facing him. Her expression was calm. Curious about what she was thinking, Seo-jun held her gaze until she finally spoke.
“Aren’t you going to ask me anything else? You must have a lot of questions.”
“Not really.”
“Seriously?”
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
It’s rude to ask about things people don’t want to talk about. As a young man from a country of manners, Lee Seo-jun knew better. He nodded coolly, and Chun-bong scoffed.
“Idiot.”
“What now?”
Chun-bong, looking a bit pouty, continued.
“I’m actually from the Divine Sword Geum Family.”
“Oh.”
“That’s it? You’re not surprised?”
“What’s the Divine Sword Geum Family?”
“What?”
Chun-bong stared at him, her mouth agape. She looked at him like he was some kind of primitive human.
“You’ve got some wild backstory, don’t you?”
“What backstory, you moron.”
“You’re not from the back alleys, are you? You seem like you’re from some noble family.”
What nonsense is she spouting now? Seo-jun frowned and replied.
“What noble family? I’m not from the back alleys, but...”
“Then?”
“I’m from another world.”
“Bullshit.”
Chun-bong sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. Then she clicked her tongue and looked him straight in the eyes.
“Well, if you don’t want to talk, fine. Anyway, I’m the last survivor of the Divine Sword Geum Family.”
“A survivor, huh...”
Was there some kind of accident? Seo-jun looked at her with a curious gaze, and she tossed the now-sharpened sword back to him.
Thud—
Seo-jun caught the sword and sat down on the floor.
“So, does your coughing up blood when you use martial arts have something to do with that?”
“Yeah. I got hit with a yin-cold technique while escaping.”
“A yin-cold technique? Like some kind of ice-based martial art?”
“Something like that.”
Chun-bong nodded. She didn’t know exactly what kind of yin-cold technique it was, but it was definitely not an ordinary one.
“It didn’t just cause internal injuries; it completely blocked my qi pathways. It’s like I developed a postnatal blockage.”
“Like the Nine Yin Terminal Pulse?”
“It’s not as serious as that.”
The Nine Yin Terminal Pulse is a rare condition where a strong yin force blocks the circulation of qi, leading to a short life. At least, that’s how Seo-jun remembered it from his martial arts novels.
And Chun-bong had something similar, a blockage in her qi pathways. Seo-jun asked, now more serious.
“So, do you need some kind of yang-qi-infused medicine to treat it?”
“Well... yeah.”
Wasn’t there another treatment? Since the Nine Yin Terminal Pulse was a common trope in martial arts novels, there were quite a few treatment methods.
Of course, there’s no guarantee they’d work here, but Seo-jun asked anyway, just in case.
“So you just need enough yang qi?”
“In theory, yes.”
“Then would something like this work?”
Seo-jun made a circle with one hand and moved the index finger of the other hand through it back and forth.
“What are you...?”
Chun-bong stared blankly at the gesture for a moment before her face turned bright red.
“A-are you crazy?!”
“No, seriously, would it work?”
“Of course not! How would you get yang qi from that?!”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“No, you idiot! And even if you could, it would be barely anything!”
Barely anything, huh... Seo-jun pondered for a moment before asking again.
“Then what about learning a martial art related to it? Like those dual cultivation techniques or something? Was it Harvesting Yin to Supplement Yang?”
“You’re insane...”
No, I’m asking seriously, but she keeps giving me attitude. Seo-jun frowned in annoyance.
“Want me to try it out on you?”
“Die, you idiot.”
He got smacked.
After Seo-jun declared his intentions, Chun-bong looked at him like he was an insect, then started jabbing him in the side.
“Ow...!”
“Hey.”
“What now?”
She still looked troubled. After squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again, she finally spoke.
“Would you be interested in learning a martial art other than the Three Talents Sword Technique?”
“Another martial art? Like what?”
“The Divine Cloud Sword.”
“The Divine Cloud Sword? Sounds lame.”
Chun-bong bit her lip.
“...It’s our family’s secret martial art.”
“Oh... I mean, lame... no, it’s a totally awesome name, really!”
“Please, stop talking...”
Seo-jun fell silent, and Chun-bong’s expression grew more conflicted. It was obvious she was wondering if she should really teach him this. You could practically see her thoughts written on her face.
But she seemed to have made up her mind, and her expression became serious.
“This isn’t something I’d normally say. It’s our family’s secret martial art. Only the head of the family and the heir were supposed to learn it.”
“Are you sure you should teach me that? I’m fine with just the Three Talents Sword Technique.”
“If I say it’s fine, then it’s fine. ...I’m the head of the family now, anyway.”
Chun-bong tapped the floor with a somber expression.
“The Three Talents Sword Technique is a third-rate martial art. Even if you master it, reaching first-rate would be a miracle. That’s just how far it can take you.”
“‘Ascend to the heavens’ and all that... turns out it’s not much, huh.”
“Maybe the creator was a bit of a braggart.”
Chun-bong sighed deeply, then suddenly stood up. But she must have felt dizzy, as she immediately plopped back down.
It looked kind of silly, but Seo-jun just kept his mouth shut.
“...It’s not that I trust you or anything. I just... think it would be good to have someone to protect me. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
“What if I take the knowledge and run?”
“...”
Chun-bong’s glare was sharp. Her face turned red as if she might stab him with a sword any second.
“...I’m not teaching you, you bastard!”
What a shame.
The Divine Cloud Sword could wait. First, they needed to move.
It was fine for now, but once the bodies started to rot, it would be a nightmare to deal with.
“Where are we going?”
Seo-jun kept looking around. The atmosphere was quite different from the back-alley house they had left behind. There were more people, and the streets were filled with red lanterns, giving the place a rather sleazy vibe.
“Shh. Don’t do anything that might draw attention here.”
Chun-bong kept her eyes on their surroundings.
“Half of the brothels around here are owned by the Black Tiger Sect. If you’re not careful... what the hell are you doing, you idiot...?”
Chun-bong’s mouth hung open. No matter how crazy she thought Seo-jun was, she didn’t expect him to go this far.
“Uh... Was that not okay?”
Seo-jun looked down at the woman he had just knocked to the ground with a punch to the stomach. The more shocked one, however, was Chun-bong.
“What the hell... why?”
“She suddenly clung to me.”
“Unbelievable...”
Chun-bong looked around. They had drawn a lot of attention. Thugs were rushing out of a nearby brothel, clearly affiliated with the woman on the ground.
Seo-jun tried to explain.
“Well, you never know. What if she tried to stab me? Even I...”
“Yeah, sure, you’re great.”
Chun-bong smacked the back of Seo-jun’s head and took off running.
“Run, you idiot! You’re not even a eunuch, what the hell is wrong with you!”
“I’m perfectly fine! I’m a beast every morning!”
“Agh! Shut up!”
“Geum Chun-bong, my foolish sister, you can never trust wom—”
“Shut up and run!”
They ran like hell.