Chapter 48 Dangga Sword Peak-4

Chapter 48: Dangga Sword Peak-4

Kwaaak!

Mayu Gyeom’s crimson sword aura and my violet sword aura collided, sending sparks flying through the air.

Mayu Gyeom, his sword locked against mine, shouted in shock.

“Peak state?! When did you reach the peak state?!”

After receiving teachings from the Sword Saint and meditating for a time, I had realized.

That sword energy isn’t about compressing the blade’s power, but about channeling it into a finer, more intense stream—like a torrent of water blasting through rock with immense pressure.

The Sword Saint had used water as an example to enlighten me.

Then, having been flung apart, we charged at each other once more, exchanging sword strikes like rays of light.

Mayu Gyeom’s sword stabbed toward me at a speed that seemed to pierce through space.

Whoosh!

It was a speed that seemed capable of piercing even the sun.

As the hyper-speed thrust created three afterimages, I desperately swung my sword and barely managed to parry it.

Clang!

“Ugh!”

While I had reached a peak level comparable to his and could block his energy, it seemed my skill as a swordsman still couldn’t match his.

“Hahahaha! Still a greenhorn! Your ki is utterly sloppy!”

Mayu Gyeom sneered as he unleashed a torrent of sword thrusts.

Shishishishish!

He was right. I was still unaccustomed to generating qi, consuming too much internal energy and lacking stability.

It was fortunate he had replenished his energy with a potion immediately after reaching the peak of his power.

“Hahahahaha! Die!”

“Guhh!”

Mayu Gyeom now seemed utterly confident in his victory.

He was too busy frantically blocking the lightning-fast thrusts to mount a proper counterattack.

He now realized that the Hwan Sword’s Thirteen Lightning Swords were poorly matched against the ultra-fast, swift-striking Four-Lightning Sword Technique.

The Whirling Sword’s Thirteen Lightning Strikes were useful against multiple opponents of similar or lower skill, but when facing a single individual of higher skill, the whirling sword itself ended up exposing its weaknesses.

Swoosh!

“Guh!”

The enemy’s sword energy swept fiercely across his left arm, blood spattering.

His clothes were already torn to shreds, and his body bore numerous cuts from the slashes of the sword energy.

“Hahahahaha! Is this your limit?! Pathetic!”

With eyes wild with madness, the enemy unleashed an increasingly rapid barrage of attacks.

Grit!

He gritted his teeth.

But the situation was dire.

The difference in skill was clear, and the immense drain on his energy meant he had no idea how much longer he could hold out.

He was barely holding on only because he had the advantage in his footwork.

Then, suddenly, one method came to mind.

One he had never unleashed before.

‘The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Moves of the Sunwoo Thirteen Swords.’

The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Strikes, discovered in the book’s hidden section, had never been unleashed.

Fundamentally, they were techniques that could only be unleashed by someone capable of wielding inner strength.

So that meant I could use them now.

But….

He hesitated.

Would it truly be meaningful to unleash a technique I only knew in theory?

Wouldn’t it just drain the last of my energy and cost me the opportunity?

On the other hand, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

‘Should I just run away?’

If I fled now, while my internal energy was still intact, Mayu Gyeom’s divine technique wouldn’t be able to pursue me.

Besides, after expending more energy here, even that would become impossible.

Of course, doing so would mean abandoning Lady Tang, but she wasn’t someone of such great significance to me anyway.

She wasn’t one of those comrades I desperately wanted to save; she was merely a Thirteenth Generation comrade whose face I recognized.

It didn’t seem worth risking my life for her.

The option of escape, once it surfaced, grew increasingly appealing in my mind.

If I returned only to die here, fighting not even a Blood Sect demon lord but a mere demonic cultivator, wouldn’t that be utterly meaningless?

That was when I was having those thoughts.

“Haah!”

Shuuuwaaah!

I noticed a slight opening appear in Mayugyeom’s relentless sword strikes.

Not enough for a counterattack, but just enough to slip through.

My eyes snapped open.

‘This is my chance!’

I instinctively tried to throw myself forward.

If I missed this chance too, I might not even be able to run away anymore.

“Yik!”

But just as I was about to leap, I froze, unable to move.

Because suddenly, Myeong Sahyeon’s face flashed through my mind. That face of his—the one that even other men found handsome, the one that approached me, apologizing for having secretly looked down on me, speaking cheerfully.

‘He’s abandoning the woman he loved enough to overcome the Soul-Capturing Technique?’

That was impossible.

My feet simply wouldn’t lift.

And surprisingly, that hesitation saved my life.

“Haah!”

Shwaaah!

Mayu-gyeom was blasting a dazzling flash of light in the direction I had intended to leap.

A sword energy like a blue beam pierced through space.

It was a single strike unleashed from the pinnacle of mastery.

Watching the spear of light pass before my eyes, I instantly grasped what had happened.

He must have anticipated my escape. He deliberately created an opening for me to flee while preparing to unleash his ultimate technique. My momentary hesitation caused his attack to miss.

“Wh-what?!”

Mayu Gyeom’s eyes filled with panic.

His all-out strike had revealed a weakness.

He gritted his teeth.

He couldn’t let this chance slip away.

“Haah!”

Sunwoo Thirteen Swords, Fourteenth Strike.

Vermilion Bird Manifestation.

Shwaaah!

My violet sword energy transformed into a phoenix of flame.

It was the first time I unleashed the Fourteenth Strike, Vermilion Bird Manifestation.

The sword energy, now in the shape of a blazing bird, swept toward Mayu Gyeom.

All my internal energy was being sucked out at once.

“Guh!”

The violet bird, wings spread wide, opened its beak, cried out, and enveloped Mayu Gyeom.

– Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

“Ugh!”

Mayu Gyeom spun his sword with all his might.

It was the Forty-Eight Swords of Whirling Winds, a defensive technique from the Piercing Blade Art.

Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa

A colossal explosion erupted, a chaotic mix of violet and crimson energy.

Watching it, I gasped for breath, my entire body filled with utter exhaustion.

“Haah, haah, haah.”

As the explosion subsided, I gritted my teeth, now completely drained of any remaining energy.

My eyes fell upon Mayu Gyeom, who still stood before me.

He looked like a storm had swept through him, his appearance a mess, but at least he didn’t appear to have suffered any major injuries.

If only my internal energy had lasted until the end, I could have finished him…

It was so frustrating.

Just now, I hadn’t been able to complete the final technique because my internal energy was insufficient.

No, it was more a matter of skill than internal energy.

But that wasn’t important now.

Mayu Gyeom gritted his teeth and said to me.

“That was quite something. I nearly died there.”

Then he grinned again, that sickening smile, and continued.

“But now it’s your turn to die.”

Damn it.

He was right.

My energy was depleted. I couldn’t fight, let alone run away.

It seemed my second life would end here too.

“Farewell, Seonwoojin.”

Just as Mayu Gyeom raised his sword to speak those words,

A voice suddenly spoke up.

“Well, I beg to differ. I think it’s you who should be saying goodbye, Mayu Gyeom.”

Startled, he whipped his head around to see Lady Dang standing tall before him, her sword pointed squarely at Mayu Gyeom.

Her cold gaze fixed on Mayu-gyeom as she spoke.

“You dared to try something filthy on me.”

A pale green sword aura, characteristic of the Tang family, flared and rose from her blade.

Moreover, the boiling hatred in her cold eyes was no less intense than the sword aura.

Now, fear was rising in Mayu Gyeom’s eyes. It was a very pleasing sight.

Just as the superiority between us was clear, the superiority between them was equally clear.

The reason he was the fourth squad leader and Tang Yueyun the third was because her skill was superior.

Moreover, having fought me, he must be greatly exhausted, making it even more impossible for him to stand against her.

“Ugh.”

Mayu Gyeom, who had been stumbling backward, suddenly leaped away and fled.

“Waaaaaah!”

Leaving only a wretched scream behind, he vanished like a flash of light.

It felt like he was moving even faster than when he was chasing me.

“Haah.”

I let out a sigh and collapsed onto the grass.

I truly thought I was going to die.

I had no inner strength, no power left, and my whole body ached.

I smiled weakly and said to Dang Ye-eun.

“Thanks to you, I’m alive. It’s a relief I came to my senses just in time…”

But I couldn’t finish the sentence.

Because Lady Dang lost consciousness right then and collapsed with a thud.

“Young Lady Tang?!”

I barely managed to run over and catch her. Her entire body was burning hot, yet she was drenched in cold sweat.

It seemed she had pushed herself too hard in an already mentally exhausting situation.

I was at a loss.

My own energy and stamina were depleted, leaving me no confidence I could carry her back.

And if Mayu Gyeom were to return while she was like this…

“Ugh!”

I barely managed to carry her and found a secluded spot nearby.

We had to hide, just in case Mayugyeom did return.

It was fortunate that there was a pouch containing a poison-repelling scent.

He found a hollowed-out spot between the trees and slipped inside. It had been where the snake lay, but it had slithered away the moment he approached, scared off by the scent of the antidote.

It felt unsettling, but there was no other choice.

I roughly covered the area with foliage and held her close. Her body began to grow cold.

His forehead was burning hot, yet his body was growing cold.

Moreover, perhaps because of the pain, he began muttering nonsense again.

“Since I was born… I’m sorry, Mother. I should have died… I’m sorry.”

Moreover, it seemed the soul-binding spell Mayu-gyeom had cast earlier hadn’t been completely broken.

“I am Dang Ye-eun. Dang Ye-eun is Mayu-gyeom’s…”

I couldn’t just leave her like this.

Suddenly, I remembered what they said: in times like this, the best thing is to undress and maintain each other’s temperature with body heat.

But he couldn’t bring himself to do that.

Instead, he held her tightly in his arms and tried to warm her body by rubbing it with his hands.

Then I kept whispering into her ear.

“Lady Tang, Tang Ye-eun, you are precious and valuable. It’s truly fortunate you were born safely. Brother Myeong Sa-hyeon would certainly think so too. Tang Ye-eun belongs to Lady Tang herself. No one else can be Tang Ye-eun’s master.”

It was an action born from a pure desire to somehow return her.

But in my two lifetimes, this was the first time I’d been pressed so close to a woman’s body.

The sensation of her body felt infinitely soft, despite being a trained warrior. Moreover, the fragrance emanating from her was so exquisite it was hard to believe it came from another human being.

Maintaining that pure heart proved difficult.

Moreover, seeing her face right up close as she lay unconscious was truly breathtakingly beautiful.

She seemed like a goddess incarnate.

I felt like I might lose my mind if I kept looking, so I closed my eyes, only to find myself opening them again unconsciously and staring at her.

Various impulses surged, but I managed to suppress them by thinking of Lady So and Myeong Sahyeon.

I had no sense of how time passed.

All night, I held her body close, trying to warm her, whispering into her ear constantly. Without practicing any breathing techniques, dawn was breaking.

Fortunately, her body temperature seemed to have returned to normal.

Finally, seeing her breathing peacefully with a relaxed expression, I carefully laid her down beside me and stretched out flat on my back next to her.

I was too exhausted to think any further.

Then I fell asleep.

In my dream, I thought I heard Lady Dang’s voice saying thank you.

And the voice of an unknown man too…

– Hmm, it seems I’ve finally found a worthy successor. Quite impressive.

It was a man’s voice I’d never heard before, but it was probably just an auditory hallucination.

He was too exhausted; it could very well be that.

He could understand that completely.

***

When I woke up, she was already awake and sitting up. As I got up, she turned her head and said awkwardly.

“Thanks… I mean.”

“Th-thank you? I should have done it anyway, heh heh heh, heh heh…”

We returned to the thirteenth floor without exchanging another word, both of us awkward.

By then, Mayu Gyeom still hadn’t returned.

I suspected he might have just left for good.

I went straight to Mayugyeom’s lodgings, broke down the locked door, and entered.

There, I found a letter left by his mother, a secret manual, and a potion.

Seeing these, I finally grasped the full picture of the situation.

The tangled web of fate involving the former head of the family, the Blood Sect, the Pointed Spear Sect, the Blood Demon, and even Mayu Gyeom’s mother.

Somehow, I felt I could understand why Mayu Gyeom had broken down.

His spiritual pillar, the Blood Demon Sect, and his father were the ones who ruined his mother. Moreover, as retribution, they had birthed the monster known as the Blood Demon of the Slaughter Sect, and that very monster was his maternal grandfather.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine how Mayu Gyeom, who hated the Blood Sect and the Blood Demon more than anyone, must have felt.

But understanding his feelings didn’t mean his actions could be tolerated.

I relayed this directly to Captain Seolpung, and an emergency executive meeting was immediately convened.

It was the first executive meeting I had ever attended.

The captains and deputy captains gathered in the meeting room were so stunned by the shocking truth that none could utter a word.

That Mayu Gyeom, who hated the Blood Sect more than anyone, was the Blood Demon’s grandson? That he had absorbed the soul of Mae Yeo-gyeong to kill her and even attempted to absorb the soul of Lady Tang?

It was utterly unbelievable.

I suddenly glanced at Tang Ye-eun.

Even as she listened to the things Mayu Gyeom had tried to do to her, she sat there with her usual cold expression, seemingly unaffected.

It was a relief to see she seemed much better.

After checking on her condition first, I was the first to speak among the squad leaders who were all silent.

“Judging by the circumstances, I suspect Team Leader Ma was corrupted by demonic energy after mastering the techniques described here. His gaze didn’t look normal. He was in a state of complete collapse from the shock, and that’s when the demonic energy corrupted him, causing him to change so suddenly.”

I could say this because I’d heard from the old man Seok Gyeong-dal before that the martial arts of the Blood Sect destroy the practitioner’s mind.

Upon hearing my words, Squad Leader Lee Sogun-il clenched his eyes shut.

As a fellow disciple of the Pointed Spear Sect like Ma Yugyeom, his sorrow seemed even deeper.

Looking at him with pity, Deputy Leader Gan Zhiyin spoke.

“Then perhaps we should keep this fact known only to us for now? It would be too great a shock not only for the members of the Fourth Squad but for all the members of the Thirteen Squads.”

The squad leaders seemed to ponder his words for a moment, but I shook my head and said firmly.

“No.”

“What?”

“If Mayu-gyeom approaches again while the squad members or members of other squads remain unaware of this fact, what do you think might happen?”

At that, everyone gasped.

He was a master at the peak of his abilities, skilled in both suction techniques and suggestion methods. If he approached other members who weren’t wary of him, it could lead to a horrific catastrophe.

“I too feel sorry for his situation, but this information must be disseminated to all fronts as quickly as possible.”

At my words, the executives in the conference room all nodded solemnly.

Ultimately, the meeting concluded with only one decision: to disseminate news of Mayu Gyeom’s situation as quickly as possible.

Thus, Mayu Gyeom was barred from ever returning to the front lines.

Suddenly, I worried about what path he would take from now on, having turned to the Blood Sect much earlier than in his past life.

I was also concerned about how the Martial Alliance’s Heavenly Brain, Zhigang, would react to this news.

If this fact became known, the old affairs between the Blood Demon and the Pointed Spear Sect would inevitably be revealed to people, and he didn’t seem to want that at all.

‘He might even resort to extreme measures. Like what he intended to do to Miss Qingyan.’

The problem was, I had no real way to stop him.

All he could do was place his hopes in the return of the Sword Saint to the Martial Alliance.

After that, the atmosphere within the Thirteenth Division remained grim.

The overall mood was gloomy, and the atmosphere in the Fourth Division, which had suddenly lost both its leader and deputy leader, was almost like a funeral home.

However, Young Master Tang, whom I had worried about, seemed to be holding up remarkably well.

In fact, word was spreading that she was even handling the duties of Ming Sha-xian, the deputy squad leader who had originally been responsible for looking after the people.

That was a relief.

A few days later, I decided to visit Lady Tang.

I needed to ask her for some Huaguan Powder because of the Iron Ghosts that would soon appear.

The bone-melting powder, used to dissolve human corpses and erase traces, had the effect of weakening the Iron Fiend’s skin.

It was something I’d come to realize after enduring countless sacrifices in my past life.

‘Back then, I had no connection to her at all, so I couldn’t ask. But now, wouldn’t it be okay? After all, I’m her savior.’

That was his reasoning.

When I went to the third squad and asked the squad members, they said she had gone to the training grounds alone.

It seemed she preferred to be alone when training.

Suddenly, the thought, ‘Is it okay to go see her while she’s training alone?’ made him hesitate.

But I decided to go anyway.

I figured it would be easier to ask her something when she was alone.

“Haah! Haa, haa, haa.”

She was swinging her sword in the training hall, breathing heavily.

Her expression remained as cold as ice, yet her swordplay conveyed an indescribable sense of desperation and sorrow.

Suddenly, it struck me.

‘She… hadn’t really gotten better after all.’

Then again, it wouldn’t make sense for someone to be fine immediately after something like that happened.

Perhaps it was only natural.

Just as she finally stopped her sword movements, perhaps a little exhausted, and gasped for breath,

I spoke cautiously.

“Um, Miss Dang.”

She turned her head and looked at me.

“Ah!”

And in that instant, her cold expression crumbled.

***

Tang Ye-eun was desperately trying to maintain her usual composure these days.

With Myeong Sahyeon gone, she couldn’t afford to break down too.

She had to pull herself together, body and mind, and show her team members a dependable face.

But that was anything but easy.

Not only for herself, but also in managing the team members, Myeong Sahyeon’s absence was too profoundly felt.

Approaching people warmly and paying attention to each one individually was incredibly difficult for her.

At times, she wanted to just collapse right there.

She wanted to burst into tears, to cry out that she couldn’t do this anymore, that she was struggling too.

But she couldn’t do that.

As he had said, she herself was the person Myeong Sahyeon had loved with his life.

Showing him her collapse would be an insult even to Myeong Sahyeon, who had loved her.

So whenever it got too hard, I repeated it like a mantra, over and over.

The words he had whispered into her ear.

‘I am a person of worth. I am a precious person. Therefore… I can do this.’

Those words Seon Woo-jin whispered to her all night were the only strength holding her up.

Words she’d never heard before in her life, words that made her want to cry.

Even now, Seon Woo-jin’s voice echoed vividly in her mind.

Leaning on that voice, she barely managed to get through each day.

But even so, there were moments she couldn’t help.

Early in the morning, when she went out to the empty training ground to begin her personal practice, seeing the barren space devoid of anything, she would suddenly realize once more.

That Myeong Sahyeon was no longer in this world.

That he had left her behind…

At times like that, I would grit my teeth and swing my sword.

Whipping myself into a frenzy, telling myself I absolutely couldn’t break down, if only for Myeong Sahyeon’s sake.

But…

It was too hard.

It was so incredibly sad and painful.

Today was no different.

I swung my sword, holding back the tears threatening to spill.

Whether I was training properly didn’t matter.

The only thing that mattered was not breaking down right now.

Because she was the one Myeongsa-hyeon loved.

For his sake, I absolutely couldn’t break down.

Then, suddenly, a voice reached her ears.

It was that voice, the one that always lingered in her mind.

“Um, Miss Dang.”

Startled, she turned her head and looked toward the source of the voice.

There he was.

Though Myeong Sahyeon wasn’t there, the one who had whispered to her all night that she was valuable, that she was precious—Seon Woo-jin—was standing there.

“Waaah!”

Dang Yeo-eun burst into tears. She didn’t even know why herself.

She simply couldn’t hold on any longer. Like a child relieved to see its mother, like someone who found a ray of light in the pitch-black darkness.

She covered her face with both hands and wept uncontrollably. She simply couldn’t stop.

“Miss Dang?!”

Sunwoo Jin rushed toward her in shock.

Gone was the cold, strong persona she usually showed; she was now a small, fragile figure, sobbing.

Her thin, trembling shoulders looked so pitifully vulnerable.

Seonwoo Jin looked at her with a pained expression, hesitating for a moment before slowly wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

For a long time after that, Dang Yeo-eun wept endlessly in Seon Woo-jin’s arms.

Then Seonwoojin whispered into her ear once more.

“Lady Dang, you are more precious and valuable than anyone else. And you are doing quite well even now.”

Those words and that voice were exactly what Dang Yeo-eun needed to hear more than anything else.