Whoosh— whoosh—
Seolhwa gave the wooden sword a light swing.
The real blade gifted to her by Seop Mugwang was excellent, but she preferred the weight and balance of this wooden one.
“I said I’d show you, didn’t I? Let’s start light—with the Three Elents Sword Style.”
“Very well. Co at . The Three Elents Sword Style consists of three forms. I’ll yield three moves.”
“You’ll regret saying that.”
“I doubt it.”
Seolhwa shrugged, then took her stance.
As she inhaled slowly, her gaze sharpened in an instant.
First Form of the Three Elents Sword Style: Horizontal Slash.
Fwoosh— shwick—!
Her blade sliced out in a clean horizontal arc.
Unlike when she faced the Red Dragon Commander, this ti she didn’t strike from a distance—she charged directly at Ryeong as she swung.
Clack—!
“...!”
Ryeong instinctively inhaled sharply.
“Heavy!”
Namgoong Seolhwa’s blade carried far more weight than she’d expected.
“How can a Second-Class warrior...?”
Even without using internal energy, just parrying her sword felt like a burden.
Seolhwa pushed off Ryeong’s blade and raised her own.
Second Form: Vertical Slash.
Whoosh—!
Ryeong’s eyes wavered.
It felt as if the sky itself were crashing down on her.
She ducked instinctively and slipped toward Seolhwa’s flank, sweeping her blade in a slash aid at the girl’s abdon.
It was pure reflex.
Her sword wasn’t for practice—it was forged in real combat.
Her body reacted on instinct, flowing like water the mont it sensed a true threat to her life.
“Damn—!”
Even as her blade cut toward the opening, she rembered what she’d said.
“I said I’d yield three moves...”
She tried to pull back—but a swing already in motion is not so easily stopped.
Her blade was about to strike Seolhwa’s abdon—
Tap— swoosh—!
“...?”
Seolhwa kicked off the ground, twisted mid-air, and imdiately transitioned into the third form.
Third Form: Thrust.
Her sword stabbed straight down—aid precisely between Ryeong’s eyes.
“I’m going to die.”
It was the second ti Ryeong felt a genuine threat to her life.
At that mont, blue energy shimred around her like a heat haze.
The Red Dragon mbers watching with bated breath all gasped at once.
“Qi Blade...!”
“She’s using Qi Blade!”
The legendary extension of energy—Qi ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Blade—usable only by those who had fully mastered the Peak Realm.
Even seeing the visible aura alone was astonishing—but to actually wrap that power around a sword was another matter entirely.
Namgoong Jipyeong, an accomplished First-Class warrior, had only managed to manifest a fleeting Qi Blade. He knew better than anyone how rare this was.
Shhhk—
With her blade wrapped in shimring qi, Ryeong deflected Seolhwa’s descending strike.
CLANG—!
Energy clashed—reverberating like a low, pulsing thunder.
Using the impact as recoil, Seolhwa spun mid-air and sprang away from Ryeong.
Ryeong was left speechless.
“But I was using a Qi Blade...”
The mont she summoned it, she had been sure it would be over.
When a blade imbued with qi strikes, a wooden sword should shatter into pieces.
They should not rebound off each other like this.
...
She stared down at her sword in disbelief.
Then slowly raised her eyes to Seolhwa—who was smiling with infuriating ease.
“You said you’d give three moves, didn’t you?”
“Urgh... I apologize.”
Ryeong’s cheeks flushed faintly.
“It’s fine. Then... shall we get serious now?”
In that mont, Ryeong could hardly believe her eyes.
Red energy began to rise from Seolhwa’s body in wisps, blooming like a haze, and her sword began to gleam with the sa crimson aura.
“...Qi Blade?”
She wasn’t Second-Class?
But that couldn’t be—she had confird it herself...
“No... don’t tell ...!”
Was she concealing her cultivation all this ti? Could she really be... at the Transcendent Peak?
“No. That’s impossible. There’s no way soone could reach that level at thirteen...”
The sheer absurdity of the thought made her head spin.
Ryeong gripped her sword tightly.
“She said to see it for myself.”
Fine, then. She would see.
“From now on, I fight with everything I have.”
Vmmm—
Ryeong’s wooden sword humd with energy.
Wooden blades weren’t ant to withstand qi. Even the slightest lapse in control, and it would disintegrate into splinters.
Which ant that whoever won this dangerous duel—there could be no doubt about their ability.
Whoosh—
Ryeong charged Seolhwa.
Blue energy flickered in her eyes.
BOOM—! WHAM! BAM!
The sounds of wooden swords colliding rang out, but they weren’t the dull knocks of wood against wood.
They were strikes of energy eting energy—clashing like lightning bolts.
Seolhwa and Ryeong’s swords t at blistering speed.
The Red Dragon warriors watching could barely follow with their eyes.
“S-So fast...!”
“That pressure...”
“So this is what a Peak Realm master is like...”
Just keeping track of their footwork was overwhelming.
Even seeing the fight clearly was impossible.
Namgoong Jipyeong’s fists were clenched, his knuckles white.
His jaw tightened, eyes straining.
Even so, the mont he felt tempted to give up on following the battle—
“Watch closely! If you can’t see, you won’t gain anything!”
Seolhwa’s shout cut through the chaos.
And in that instant, the five Red Dragon warriors snapped back to their senses.
As Outer Hall warriors, chances to witness a duel between Peak Realm masters were exceedingly rare.
They all knew such martial artists existed—but having never seen one with their own eyes, it was difficult to truly imagine that level of power.
And what the mind cannot envision, the heart cannot reach. Such heights felt impossibly far away—too distant to even aspire to.
That was why this duel was a golden opportunity.
“Yes... I’ll watch. I’ll see it all...!”
If they could grasp it just by witnessing—
“This duel... I’ll make it mine!”
Namgoong Jipyeong and the four Red Dragon mbers chased after every movent with desperate intensity.
Only two were fighting on the platform—but everyone present was fighting their own battle in silence.
Ryeong’s expression tightened.
“She’s focusing on the spectators? In the middle of a duel like this?”
But there was no ti to worry about that.
Ryeong poured everything into her blade.
There was no holding back. She couldn’t afford to. Seolhwa was too strong to go easy on.
Fwwwooom...
Ryeong’s aura surged even stronger. The calm confidence Seolhwa exuded scratched at her pride.
Seolhwa noticed the change—Ryeong’s energy now sharpened and fully released.
But she herself did not draw out more.
BOOM! CRACK! BOOM!
Seolhwa handled the torrent of strikes with minimal movent, flowing with the blows rather than resisting them head-on.
Was it because her energy was relatively weaker?
Step by step, she was pushed back.
“Miss...!”
Namgoong Jipyeong and the Red Dragon warriors grew tense.
She was being overwheld. The opponent was powerful, yes—but still! She was their lady!
BOOM! CRACK! BOOM!
In the midst of those relentless strikes, Seolhwa had been pushed to the edge of the dueling platform.
One more step back, and she would lose.
“This is it!”
Ryeong poured all her power into one final slash.
And then—
Craaaaack!
“Cra... what?”
Ryeong looked down at her sword—and saw it.
CRACKK!
A long, vertical split running down her wooden blade.
It kept cracking—bit by bit—until—
BANG—!
It shattered.
Split in two, her weapon collapsed under the force she had channeled into it. The montum broke, and the strike never landed.
Staring blankly at the exploded remains of her sword, Ryeong let out a sigh and slowly lowered her arms.
“...I’ve lost.”
“Looks like it.”
Seolhwa lowered her own sword and stood upright.
No surprise in her expression. No relief, either.
“How... did you do it?”
“It’s simple,” Seolhwa said. “I let your attacks glance off and slowly infused energy into the fissure that ford in your blade.”
She pointed to Ryeong’s broken sword.
“Wooden swords have limits when it cos to holding energy. Of course, soone with incredible control might be different—but in most cases, the sword just can’t withstand it and breaks.”
From the mont Ryeong had pushed her energy, her blade had already begun to crack.
Instead of blocking head-on, Seolhwa had guided her energy into the fractures, widening them bit by bit.
It sounded simple enough when she said it.
But Ryeong knew exactly how absurd it was.
Reading the fissure mid-fight? Infusing energy into it while deflecting every strike? If their roles had been reversed, it wouldn’t even have crossed her mind.
“That’s why I lost, isn’t it.”
“...May I ask you just one thing?”
Seolhwa nodded.
“...Why do you hold back?”
...
“You have the power. You’re more than capable of defeating the Red Dragon Commander. So why do you hold back?”
Ryeong’s eyes were burning.
It was frustration—at soone who had the strength but stood silent in the face of injustice.
It was resentnt. It was helplessness.
“Why don’t you fight back, Miss?”
Seolhwa stared at her evenly, her expression calm and detached.
If Ryeong’s gaze was fire, then Seolhwa’s was the sea.
A still, bottomless ocean. Not even a breeze stirred across it.
Just by locking eyes with her, Ryeong felt as though the flas inside her were slowly smothered.
“I am fighting back.”
Her voice rippled across the air like the surface of still water disturbed.
“I’m fighting plenty,” Seolhwa said. “Just in my own way.”
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