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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: cyno
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It’s Jin Gayoung’s first and last training since she came to the Wudang sect.
Whoosh-!
A colossal great axe sweeps across the sky, showcasing its might.
It spins horizontally once, then descends vertically with that momentum, striking the ground, and using the rebound to shoot high into the sky.
Jin Gayoung’s body sways like an accessory attached to the handle, and the great axe dominates the performance as if it were the master.
‘It’s going correctly.’
That’s right. One shouldn’t obstruct the path of a weapon.
For any weapon, the most important thing when performing a martial art is to let the weapon move on its own.
But that doesn’t mean letting it run wild, disregarding its owner.
Whoosh! Whoosh-!
In that sense, Jin Gayoung’s Heavenly Frost Flame Axe is truly remarkable.
Even if she had practiced the similar martial art, the Heavenly Frost Flame Sword Art, that was merely a distorted martial art.
One could even say it was a more difficult achievement since she discarded what she had and learned something new, considering she reached her current level in just a few months.
“Wow, that’s amazing. At her age, I was just being dragged around by the Moonlight Axe. She truly is my descendant.”
‘It’s been a while since we agreed on something.’
Talent.
A gift from heaven, innate from birth, allowing one to reach realms that a dullard could never achieve unless they had infinite time like me.
Though it’s a different direction from the Heavenly Flower I saw the other day, it’s definitely a great talent that can’t be said to be inferior.
However, the problem is…
“Uncle, how was I?”
“You were like the Heavenly Frost Flame Axe itself.”
“Uh… is that good?”
“It’s not good for you, young lady. You aspire to be a master.”
“Ugh…!”
Jin Gayoung shakes her head, showing her exhaustion.
Of course, I have no intention of going easy on her.
“Tomorrow the Seven Flowers War begins, so I won’t tell you to fix it immediately. But you should know what your problem is right now.”
“Ahem, what should I do then?”
“Attack me. I’ll teach you more clearly through sparring.”
As I spoke, I picked up a branch lying nearby.
It was a branch left over because a Wudang Taoist told me to leave one when cleaning.
Jin Gayoung looked at me with skeptical eyes.
“Don’t worry. Have you forgotten who I am?”
“…Ah!”
“Come on in. Think of me as a training dummy.”
“Okay, I’ll go right in!”
Swoosh-!
Jin Gayoung swung the axe a few times, then charged at me with the great axe, using its rotational force.
Sharak- Thump.
I twisted my waist to evade, and lightly pushed her side with the branch, easily breaking her move.
However, even though her move was seen through, Jin Gayoung didn’t hesitate and immediately continued with her next action.
Whoosh-!
The axe, spinning with her body, struck down vertically from the air.
This must have been a power adjustment since it wasn’t a formal sparring match, but even so, the strong momentum contained within hinted at the great axe’s destructive power.
Thump, Bang-!
But there’s still a problem.
A glaring, obvious problem.
Crackle-!
When I lightly parried the great axe, Jin Gayoung’s great axe slid backward, scraping the ground.
The power wasn’t lacking; even the stone floor was shattered.
Naturally, there was no problem with her proficiency in handling the Heavenly Frost Flame Axe. As Jin Wooyong acknowledged earlier, Jin Gayoung’s mastery of axe techniques was impeccable.
However.
“There’s nothing contained in your Heavenly Frost Flame Axe, young lady.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I don’t feel any hostility or resolve in your great axe aimed at me. Not even that common competitive spirit.”
Yes, this is the problem.
The absence of purpose.
The fundamental question about martial arts that arises from it.
Since there’s no clear reason for wielding the great axe, no will is imbued in it.
“Oh, how can I have hostility when you’re my opponent, Uncle! If it were someone else, I would have had plenty, but it’s impossible against you!”
“That’s not what I mean. What you’re performing is simply the ‘Heavenly Frost Flame Axe.’ The Heavenly Frost Flame Axe itself, without any embellishment or modification.”
“…Eh?”
Jin Gayoung looked puzzled.
Every time I see it, I feel she’s cutest when she’s like that. It’s a look she rarely shows, as she’s always quickly racking her brain to fulfill her role as the head of the Taewon Jin family.
Of course, I don’t neglect her training just to see that expression in this situation.
“You’re just performing the fixed moves of the Heavenly Frost Flame Axe. Those are certainly the most efficient movements, but they’re not your martial art.”
“Th-Then… what should I do?”
“You should perform your martial art. Your unique Heavenly Frost Flame Axe, unrivaled in the world. Finding that will be the first step in laying your path of martial arts.”
“My martial art…? Do you mean to branch out two paths from one martial art?”
“Let me explain it simply. Are the martial arts of Bodhidharma, the founder of Shaolin martial arts, and the Venerable Monk, the grandmaster of Shaolin martial arts, the same? Both of them reached the pinnacle of Shaolin, but no one who has learned martial arts even a little would say their martial arts are identical.”
“…! Ah, I think I get it!”
Jin Gayoung’s face brightened. Indeed, she’s someone who understands easily with just a little teaching.
“The pre-established Heavenly Frost Flame Axe and your Heavenly Frost Flame Axe are different. Find your own Heavenly Frost Flame Axe.”
“Hmm… I understand… I’ll think about it.”
“If I can give you one piece of advice, thinking about the purpose of learning martial arts will make it easier. That’s how I first realized it.”
“Really? What did you realize, Uncle?” “My realized martial art was the ‘Emperor’s Sword Form of Protection.’ You don’t need to be interested in anything more complex than that right now, just focus on that part for now. Then your martial arts will naturally progress.”
Jin Gayoung’s fundamentals are almost perfect.
Not only her talent but also her diligence in training, often cutting into her sleep, has brought her mastery of the Heavenly Frost Flame Axe to an impeccable level.
Perhaps, if she firmly establishes her own path of martial art, she’ll be able to join the ranks of the Seven Flowers.
“Yes! I will!”
Yoo So-eun.
Once a promising Plum Blossom Swordsman of the Mount Hua Sect and the cherished daughter of the revered master Dokgo Gupae, the Female Knight.
Now, at the age of thirty-four, she’s merely an ordinary woman spending lonely nights alone without a husband.
“Mmm…”
As usual, Yoo So-eun was squirming in her bed, clad only in her undergarments.
Sticky sweat streamed down her voluptuous body, dampening the bed, but she didn’t have time to notice it.
Even though she knew it was wrong, memories of nights with her ex-husband kept surfacing.
“Ah…”
Actually, it’s such a rare memory that it’s hard to even recall.
Yoo So-eun had relations with Sword Saint Namgoong Cheolbin only twice.
Furthermore, one time was before their marriage, so they only had relations as ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ a mere once.
Though it was only two days out of thousands in her life, Yoo So-eun still couldn’t forget those two nights.
“Haa…”
Born as the Mount Hua Sect Leader’s daughter, Yoo So-eun grew up pampered from birth.
Moreover, unlike other dissolute Taoists, she wasn’t one to seek out and read lewd books in the market, so regarding sex, she lived almost like a child, knowing nothing about it, though she knew about love.
For her, the first passionate night with Namgoong Cheolbin was naturally an unforgettable memory.
Furthermore, her body had been constantly aroused lately, so the experience, which was her only sexual reference, kept flickering before her eyes.
“What is this…”
Of course, even though she abandoned the sect and entered the mundane world, a Taoist is still a Taoist.
No matter how her lower abdomen twitched and trembled, she would not engage in the vulgar act of touching herself.
She had always been like that.
“Haa, haa…”
Instead, she merely rubbed her thighs together, trying to forcefully soothe and appease her desires.
Twitch-.
Rub, rub-.
Imagining Namgoong Cheolbin, who once filled her belly.
Imagining her ex-husband, who had embraced the pain of her first experience, which felt like her lower abdomen was tearing, with love and filled it with pleasure.
“Why, why is this happening… constantly…”
She detested Namgoong Cheolbin.
Putting aside everything else, she hated him too much for being a man who cheated on her and left her alone.
That’s why she agreed to expel him from the Namgoong family.
She didn’t want to be with a husband who didn’t love her for a single moment.
However, then and now, there was still a hint of lingering attachment.
It was natural. Namgoong Cheolbin was the man who had taken her entire body and mind.
Humans are not one-dimensional beings, so it’s impossible for the heart to lean completely in one direction.
For that reason, a tiny thought, something a person of the righteous path shouldn’t think, also resided deep within Yoo So-eun’s heart.
As a woman.
She wished he would love her and look at her, no matter if he was a cannibal or whatever.
But that was an impossible dream. Their relationship was already over long ago. Yoo So-eun was not unaware of that fact.
“Hmph…”
So, this was something unavoidable.
Rubbing her thighs, shamefully damp with sweat, beneath the covers, imagining him—this happened because he captivated her and then failed to take care of her.
At least, that’s what Yoo So-eun thought.
If she didn’t soothe her heart that way, she couldn’t bear the sight of herself, disgracefully longing for the man who cheated on her and was cast out, making him an object of her imagination.
“Hmph…”
Little by little, the bed began to be soaked not with sweat, but with tears.
“Hmph… Hmph.”
Her standing in the Namgoong family, which shrunk like a ghost as soon as Namgoong Cheolbin disappeared.
Her current situation, enduring scornful gazes and exchanging tributes with sects she once looked down upon.
Finally, herself, pathetically yearning for Namgoong Cheolbin, the culprit of all these events.
“Hmph… you, you pathetic bitch…!”
It came to her as unbearable self-loathing.
And her lower abdomen, which kept tickling without warning, made her even angrier.
But what could she do?
Yoo So-eun could do nothing but wipe away her tears with both hands and rub her thighs together.
Knock knock-.
Suddenly, a knock on the door made Yoo So-eun hastily wipe her face on the pillow and cover the tear stains with it.
A moment later, her daughter, Namgoong Su-a, quietly opened the door and entered.
“Su-a… why are you like this today…?”
As Namgoong Su-a had been asking to sleep together every night recently, Yoo So-eun carefully asked.
“I want to sleep with Mom…”
“T-Today, too…?”
“…Yes, today too.”
“O-Okay… come in.”
Yoo So-eun slowly lifted the blanket that covered her.
It was because Namgoong Su-a had only brought her single pillow.
“Hehe.”
“Mmm… you just have to sleep today, okay…? Mom’s tired lately…”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll fall asleep right away.”
Soon, Namgoong Su-a entered the blanket, which was filled with a hot warmth.
“Mmm…”
“Yawn- I’m sleepy…”
Yoo So-eun, as usual, hugged her daughter tightly and tried to sleep.
Snore, snore-.
“…”
“…I… I can’t remember anymore…”
“…”
“…The time when Dad and Mom and I were all happy together… I can’t remember it anymore…”
Even though she couldn’t sleep because Namgoong Su-a was still blabbering about Namgoong Cheolbin, burying her face between her mother’s breasts and sobbing.
Meanwhile, in the dead of night, when everyone was either asleep or trying to sleep.
There was one green-eyed girl who was wide awake…
“That’s something I just don’t understand. Should I rebuild the premise? Where should I start dissecting it?”
It was Dang So-baek, the Poison Flower of the Sichuan Tang Family, who was still observing the Heavenly Secrets today.
Her green eyes were spinning intensely, gazing at the sky, just like on any other day.
“Namgoong Clan Head, Namgoong Bin.”
Within them resided an immense curiosity.
“Why is this person’s star missing?”
Dang So-baek’s fingers moved this way and that, pointing at the night sky.
“That one in the east is definitely Sword Saint Namgoong Cheolbin’s star, and that one in the south is the Heavenly Fire Namgoong So-so’s star.”
Unlike her fingers, her gaze was fixed on only one corner of the night sky.
On the empty void where a star should be.
“Why doesn’t Namgoong Bin have a star? Is he such a minor figure that he doesn’t even have his own star?”
Of course, that couldn’t be it.
Even if it wasn’t Namgoong Bin who conspired to bring down the Sword Saint, he was a war hero who had achieved numerous accomplishments as the military strategist of the Murim Alliance before her.
Furthermore, even if his status had fallen, he was still the head of the Great Namgoong Family, the foremost family in the world. To be a minor figure to the point of not having a star was an absurd sophistry.
“In that case, it only means Namgoong Bin died and his star fell…? What is it…?”
Dang So-baek continued to ponder, her thoughts following a chain of reasoning, as always.
She liked this kind of thing.
Because it was something she didn’t know, something she didn’t understand.
Because there was joy in solving it and joy in figuring it out.
So she immersed herself.
Lost track of time, diligently building and erasing dozens, hundreds of hypotheses, drawing pictures on the canvas of her mind.
She realized that the canvas was stained with red blood about half an hour after blood began to flow from her nose.
Trickle-.
“…”
In a moment of dizziness, Dang So-baek urgently bent at the waist and head, covering her nose.
Then she faintly heard sounds she shouldn’t hear.
…Baek.
Dang So-baek.
Dang So…
“…Wait…! Just a moment!”
Dang So-baek hastily raised her hand to stop the sound.
“Damn it! Confound it…! My lifespan is already depleted?!”
She then slowly straightened her back, a look of despair on her face.
Her nose stung, but she couldn’t help it. She had to deal with the envoy from the underworld who had come for her right now.
“I learned martial arts to read more Heavenly Secrets… Damn it, was being a peak master the limit…? Even so, I haven’t even read a quarter of a quarter of it, and my lifespan is running out… It’s not like reading a little fate wears it down, why are you being so stingy…!”
Muttering to herself in annoyance, Dang So-baek’s eyes then glinted as she looked towards the grim reaper who had come to collect her.
Although she couldn’t see him since she was still in the living world, she assumed he was somewhere nearby.
“Mister Envoy!”
Even in that short and tense moment, she relied on her confidence in being the best at devising schemes.
“Let’s make a bet, you and I.”
Dang So-baek proposed a bet to the envoy to extend her lifespan. Trying to appear as nonchalant as possible, carefully concealing her pounding heart, as if she had just seen a mouse.
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