Chapter 26

Paeng Ha-ryeong gathered her internal energy at the acupoints near her eyes and stared straight ahead.

Namgung Woo complied with Paeng Ha-ryeong’s request. As proof, Namgung Woo stood before her, holding his sword in a natural stance.

‘His aura has completely changed.’

Before and after drawing his sword.

Namgung Woo felt like a completely different person.

The natural flow of his energy alone was enough to make one’s breath catch. The aura of a peak master was such that merely existing imposed restrictions on the opponent’s movements.

Like the low-frequency roar of a tiger that makes one’s legs go numb, the energy of a master had the power to suppress the opponent’s soul.

‘He’s serious… He’s really taking me seriously.’

In Namgung Woo’s extremely solemn attitude, there was no trace of looking down on her as a novice or treating her lightly because she was a beauty.

It made Paeng Ha-ryeong feel ashamed.

‘Compared to him, I… I’m not even qualified as a martial artist.’

The reason Paeng Ha-ryeong asked Namgung Woo for a sparring match was simply because she didn’t know how to approach him.

It was like a desperate excuse because she didn’t know how to get closer to him.

Honestly, Paeng Ha-ryeong found it difficult to interact with Namgung Woo. Even if it seemed like she was approaching him with ease, it was actually a very courageous act for her.

With others, she wouldn’t have needed to take the initiative herself.

As a lady from a prestigious family, maintaining a dignified demeanor would naturally make others desperate to befriend her.

But was Paeng Ha-ryeong socially inept because she only received attention? It was hard to conclude that, as Paeng Ha-ryeong had never been one to mingle with others.

Girls born into martial arts families could break free from the conventional mold of women. If they had talent, they were gladly taught martial arts, even if they were women.

If they possessed outstanding qualities and became peak masters, even women could aspire to the position of family head.

Thus, daughters of martial arts families would freely go out and mingle with various people and peers. But Paeng Ha-ryeong was different.

She had something more precious to her than mere socializing or building connections.

Paeng Ye-ryeong.

The youngest daughter of the current Paeng family head, a late-born treasure of the Paeng family.

Paeng Ha-ryeong’s younger sister, born with a tragic fate.

Paeng Ha-ryeong stayed by her fragile sister’s side, telling her stories to keep her entertained.

She even practiced martial arts in front of Paeng Ye-ryeong to spend as much time together as possible.

And as soon as she became a peak master, she volunteered for the Paeng family’s martial force, which fought in the Ghost Gate Sealing Battle, for her sister’s sake.

She had no time to socialize or make friends.

Thus, despite her outstanding beauty and abilities, she was considered a late bloomer and didn’t receive the title of “Phoenix,” but she didn’t regret it at all.

But now, she felt a bit of regret.

‘I should have listened to my mom…!’

Her mother’s advice to go out and make friends.

How deeply maternal that advice was.

Until now, Paeng Ha-ryeong had no regrets about the path she had taken. Even if she regretted it, if she went back in time, she would live a similar life.

But even as a peak master, seeing Namgung Woo take their sparring so seriously made her feel ashamed for using it as a means to get closer to him.

“I’m sorry, Namgung Xiaoxia. I apologize for taking it lightly, and I will also give it my all.”

§

Why is she suddenly like this?

Namgung Woo wondered to himself as he watched Paeng Ha-ryeong suddenly burning with determination.

He had only taken a natural stance to allow Paeng Ha-ryeong to attack freely, given the difference in their levels.

But seeing Paeng Ha-ryeong’s intense gaze, it might have felt like a provocation.

Should he explain that it wasn’t his intention?

Even if you are significantly weaker and lower in level than me, I had no intention of ignoring that and only wanted to help you showcase your full potential—that would sound too pathetic.

Namgung Woo didn’t bother to explain.

Instead, he simply said to Paeng Ha-ryeong in his natural stance.

“There’s no need to hold back your internal energy. Give it your all.”

“…Alright!”

Paeng Ha-ryeong stomped the ground. The Paeng family’s Void Divine Step, refined to be among the top in the martial world, distorted her form.

‘Illusion Step?’

If Infinite Steps maximize the power of footwork through true understanding, Paeng Ha-ryeong’s current footwork was truly an illusionary step meant to confuse the opponent.

The faint afterimages were so blurred that it was hard to tell if they were real or fake, exuding energy.

The step, almost like a spell, was difficult even for Namgung Woo to discern without Azure Tranquility Eyes.

‘I might still lack experience, but this is indeed an impressive footwork.’

But it was still incomplete.

Though he hadn’t fully grasped the intricacies of the Void Divine Step, Namgung Woo could see the flaws in Paeng Ha-ryeong’s steps.

Thud!

While momentarily lost in thought about Paeng Ha-ryeong’s footwork, Namgung Woo deflected the incoming blade with the back of his hand.

“Again!”

Even after one attack was blocked, Paeng Ha-ryeong’s blade didn’t stop.

The blade technique Paeng Ha-ryeong had mastered, Cyclic White Escape Blade, wasn’t aimed at a single fatal strike.

The beauty of Cyclic White Escape Blade lay in its relentless, suffocating chain of attacks meant to steal the opponent’s soul.

Clang! Thud!

Two exchanges passed in an extremely short breath. The initial moves of Cyclic White Escape Blade weren’t shallow enough to be broken just because the opponent blocked or deflected them.

Moreover, Paeng Ha-ryeong’s exquisite Void Divine Step disrupted the reading of her movements, making it impossible to predict where the next attack would come from.

‘This footwork seems to mix in changes to prevent the reading of the blade’s straightforward path, which is slower than a sword. It would also pair well with a blade technique that seeks a decisive strike in a single move, not just a chain of attacks.’

Indeed, the depth of a prestigious family’s martial arts was extraordinary.

Unlike the Yang Brothers, whose internal energy techniques were top-notch but everything else was subpar, even sparring with a novice like this broadened his perspective.

While Namgung Woo leisurely blocked attacks and expanded his knowledge, Paeng Ha-ryeong swung her blade with all her might.

With each step, she moved with unwavering confidence, and with each strike, she was as fierce as a blazing flame.

She unleashed the martial arts she had learned, recalling the teachings of the Paeng family’s martial studies.

But she couldn’t reach him.

‘It’s like the sky.’

It felt like swinging a blade at the sky, no matter how far she reached.

Paeng Ha-ryeong knew the frustration of sparring with a master. The Hapbuk Paeng family was one of the top martial families in the martial world, and naturally, she had received guidance and sparring from many masters.

But Namgung Woo was different from the masters within the Paeng family.

Facing the Paeng family’s masters was like standing before a massive cliff. While it felt impossible to win, there was an insurmountable difference between the sky and a cliff.

A cliff can be climbed. You can wedge your fingers into its crevices, push yourself up with the strength of a single toe, and if you don’t give up, you’ll eventually reach the top.

But the sky?

It’s impossible.

Even the peak masters who could perform Void Treading Step hadn’t reached the end of the sky. If anyone had, they would have become immortals.

Like the sky looking down on the earth and reading all worldly affairs, Namgung Woo stood there, neutralizing Paeng Ha-ryeong’s martial arts from the root.

It would have been enough to break her will, but what Paeng Ha-ryeong felt was entirely different.

‘Freedom.’

Her opponent was a peak master far above her. It felt like he was telling her to unleash her own martial arts as he matched her moves.

She could freely display her martial arts.

For now, she could forget all her worries and pour everything into this moment.

In boundless freedom, Paeng Ha-ryeong blossomed the potential of her still-awkward new body.

She even forgot this was a sparring match. Paeng Ha-ryeong was simply immersed in her martial arts.

The true energy of the Heaven and Earth Void Divine Technique circulated through her fully opened meridians.

Then, the density of the blade’s energy increased, condensing neatly and wrapping around the blade like threads.

Sword Threads.

Proof that she had finally succeeded in materializing her energy.

Proof that she had reached the peak and now had the qualifications to glimpse beyond into a new realm.

At this moment, Paeng Ha-ryeong had stepped beyond another level.

Paeng Ha-ryeong gripped her blade even tighter. She still hadn’t seen Namgung Woo’s full strength.

He hadn’t even drawn his ultimate sword technique, which wielded Thunder Qi and severed the Soul-Stealing Ghost Phantom in a single strike.

She didn’t want to stop here.

“Not yet!”

Paeng Ha-ryeong suddenly felt as if her martial arts had fully opened up. She could now unleash the ultimate technique of Cyclic White Escape Blade.

Following her instinctive belief, the ultimate technique of Cyclic White Escape Blade, Soul-Chasing Spirit-Severing, flew towards Namgung Woo’s vital points.

In the rapid changes that made it impossible to predict which move to block, Namgung Woo pierced through all the illusions and saw the true form.

Crack!

Lightning flashed.

Namgung Woo’s single sword strike became a bolt of lightning, splitting the illusion.

The first lightning strike of the Thirteen Lightning Flash Swords, One Branch Thunder, was a flash of light impossible to evade even with Void Divine Step.

“That was fierce.”

It wasn’t a lie. That strike was so sharp that even Namgung Woo unconsciously drew upon the Thirteen Lightning Flash Swords.

Is this the end?

Paeng Ha-ryeong had sufficiently displayed her strength.

Moreover, it seemed she had gained some enlightenment during the sparring, as her movements became freer, and her level had risen.

But this was the limit of Paeng Ha-ryeong that Namgung Woo had seen.

This world wasn’t a game.

There was no blessing that restored all energy just because you leveled up.

Unless one truly transcended humanity, like reaching the realm of Transformation or Illumination, moving from the middle to the late stage of the peak was insignificant.

Paeng Ha-ryeong had almost exhausted her true energy. Though Cyclic White Escape Blade focused on chains of attacks, it still carried the fierce style of the Paeng family’s martial arts.

Firing off powerful strikes in rapid succession, how could her meridians remain intact? Only because her entire meridian system was open, making her energy usage extremely efficient, otherwise, she might have suffered minor internal injuries.

“Not yet, it’s not over yet…!”

But Paeng Ha-ryeong didn’t give up.

Stubbornness? Ego? No. She truly believed she had one more move.

‘Even if it’s the power Namgung Xiaoxia gave me… it’s on my side now.’

The Thunder Qi residing in her Middle Dantian.

Awakening the small golden dragon, Paeng Ha-ryeong envisioned her final strike.

Heaven-Sundering Blade Technique. Along with the Heaven and Earth Void Divine Technique, it was one of the Paeng family’s two great divine arts, practiced by martial artists who cultivated the Primordial Thunderbolt Divine Art.

Now, she could unleash it herself.

A blade technique that pursued the ultimate in ferocious power, far surpassing Cyclic White Escape Blade in strength!

Just as Paeng Ha-ryeong gritted her teeth and tried to draw upon the Thunder Qi in her Middle Dantian.

“Ahhh!?”

With a strange, tingling sensation in her Middle Dantian, Paeng Ha-ryeong let out a sharp cry.

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