I have fought against quite a few swordsmen until now, but there has never been an absolute master like the Plum Blossom Swordsman. The sword technique Won Seo-gang showed me when we sparred with wooden swords was quite terrifying, even without the use of inner energy.
During the incident with the prefectural city lord’s grandson, Won Seo-gang used lightness arts to run across the treetops, landing between me and Gwang-hyo. If he had unleashed his sword technique with the supreme inner energy control he displayed then, I wonder if he could have competed with the Plum Blossom Swordsman.
Gwang-hyo’s martial ability seemed to surpass that of the Plum Blossom Swordsman, but he used a Buddhist saber to perform his saber technique. Though it was a realm I couldn't even dare to imitate at my current level, it was completely different from the Plum Blossom Swordsman's secret art.
As I trained in the Jade Spring Sword Technique and the Immortal's Leisurely Ten Thousand Swords, my eye for sword techniques had improved significantly. I still didn't particularly like it, but I couldn't deny that there were things to learn.
Especially the final form of the Plum Blossom Swordsman I had seen at the inn; it was worth taking the time to savor and contemplate. The detached houses were in a secluded area behind the inn, and the walls were high.
After asking for Sister Soso’s understanding, I skipped dinner and swung my long blade, replaying the martial arts the Plum Blossom Swordsman had displayed. After the surroundings were cloaked in darkness, I secretly circulated my inner energy and focused on the plum blossoms.
No matter how much inner energy I channeled or how fast I swung the long blade, the afterimages did not easily form a shape. The Plum Blossom Swordsman's realm wasn't simply about swinging a sword quickly with inner energy.
It was the result of a martial art called the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, a unique inner cultivation method optimized for it, and a dense and profound control of inner energy that made his movements impossible to follow even with eyes enhanced by inner energy. Losing myself in training, I eventually withdrew my inner energy and sheathed my long blade.
I had used up quite a bit of inner energy, but it had been a while since I'd gotten to move my body to my heart's content, and I had found some answers, so I was reasonably satisfied. As I examined my energy core, a wave of emptiness suddenly drained my strength.
Just by circulating inner energy in the forms during training, a sixth of the inner energy that had filled my energy core was gone. With a trembling hand, I reached into my clothes for a pill, then paused. Considering the amount of inner energy a single pill could replenish, it was still too early to begin circulation and breathing exercises.
"Hooooo."
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I looked up at the night sky. It was a pitch-black night without stars or a moon, so much so that my white breath felt pale. Shivering from the cold seeping through my collar, I went back into the room.
The next morning, we all gathered together and filled our stomachs with porridge from the inn. I had trained until dawn and planned to rest in the morning, but Sister Soso suddenly held out a wooden sword.
"Why?"
"Let's spar again."
I stared blankly at the wooden sword before lifting my head.
“Are you going to keep learning martial arts?”
The reason Sister Soso had taken up the sword was to avenge her dead husband. Now that she had repaid her grudge by taking the assassin's head, there was no longer a reason for her to hold a sword. Sister Soso silently averted her gaze.
She looked at her young son, who was playing with marbles in a warm, spacious corner of the detached houses, with a troubled expression. The sight of him playing quietly by himself without disturbing the adults made him seem like he had matured early from being too considerate, and it was strangely heart-wrenching.
There must have been quite a few children at the sword school, but they had all left to find their own paths, and the remaining adults were too preoccupied, so he must have been playing like that all this time. In the Western Village, there were quite a few kids around Ju-gyeong's age.
Since Gu-sam was the boss of the alley, starting next spring, he would be able to run and play with his friends all day to his heart's content.
“You can’t always be by my side, can you, Dae-cheon? I need to know how to protect myself. And Ju-gyeong, too.”
Considering the hardships my sister had faced since leaving the Western Village, it would not be easy for her to put down the sword. What would have happened if the good fortune I received had flowed to Sister Soso, and she had attained a level of martial ability similar to mine?
While the head instructor's fate might have been unavoidable, she might have been able to prevent my aunt and uncle from being killed by the thieves who had climbed over the sword school's walls. Not just in the martial world, but anywhere in the world, being powerless leads to many injustices.
Even with power, one is often defeated by a greater power, but it's better than having none at all. I took the wooden sword and went out to the rear garden.
“I won’t counterattack, so be as aggressive as you can.”
"Really? No crying if you get hit, okay?"
Sister Soso confidently assumed a sword stance. The sword technique she had learned at the Western Shadow Sword Sect was a standard martial art, perfect for beginners. The variations in its forms weren't bad, and the transitions were relatively smooth.
Sister Soso had taken up the sword after her body had fully grown. It had only been four years since she started training, so she couldn't yet produce its proper power. I appropriately parried her sword and continued to draw out her attacks.
At a glance, the flow of exchanges didn't seem bad, but the fight was one-sided. No matter how she swung her wooden sword, her attacks were blocked just like last time, and a look of frustration began to creep onto her face. Biting her lip, her momentum grew.
When I deflected her clumsy variation by wrapping my wooden sword around hers, she suddenly lowered her stance and crouched her upper body to the right. It was a form I hadn't seen before, so I decided to observe, but she flinched and stopped the sparring.
"Why did you suddenly stop?"
“Well… the next form goes like this.”
With a reluctant expression, Sister Soso turned around, lowered her stance, and crouched just as before. Pivoting on her left foot, she leaned her upper body to the right and thrust the hidden sword upwards at an angle. The tip of the sword was aimed precisely at the opponent's face.
Martial arts are ultimately techniques for killing people, but this was an exceptionally vicious form. It wasn't that the Western Shadow Sword Sect's techniques were particularly vicious. Most sword techniques were like this.
Not just the face, but the armpits, groin, and even the buttocks—if an opening was seen, they would be stabbed without hesitation. One could aim for the neck or chest, but the reason for specifically stabbing the face was because it was a feint. When a blade flies toward their face, most people flinch or retreat in fright.
It was a move designed to exploit that, but if one failed to dodge, they would be struck in the face with the sword. Getting hit in the chest or limbs with a wooden sword would result in a minor injury, but a blow to the face could cause blindness or even death.
Although she had become a martial artist out of necessity, Sister Soso seemed to have an instinctive aversion to excessively cruel methods. Moreover, her opponent was not an enemy she wanted to tear to shreds, but her younger brother from her hometown, who was like her own flesh and blood.
It was only natural for her to be reluctant, even if I was a greater master than her. Even with the blood of bandits on her face and the smell of blood on her body, her old, upright heart seemed unchanged, and for some reason, I felt a sense of relief.
"If the sword technique is a bit much, would you like to learn a saber technique?"
“A saber technique?”
In front of my tilting-headed sister, I slowly demonstrated the first eighteen forms of the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique. It was a saber technique as familiar to me as walking, something I could perform with my eyes closed right after waking up. It was not the same for Sister Soso.
After trying to perform the forms while using the proper footwork, she let out a ragged breath and shook her head from side to side. "Phew, this is too hard. The movements are big, there are many variations, and it's much more intricate than I thought.”
Since saber techniques are primarily focused on cutting, they naturally required more strength and stamina than the deceptively stabbing sword techniques. That was probably why most female warriors used swords. The daughters of the Hebei Peng Family were said to use great sabers, but that was possible because their family was renowned for their martial lineage for generations.
The Heavenly Steel Saber Technique was not a simple, brutish saber art that relied on strength. Even with the same cut, it could surge like a torrent or brush past like the wind. To properly control the tempo, one had to be able to completely control the weight and movement of the blade and play with it at will.
“I think I’m better off with the sword technique I’ve learned.”
To have a supreme saber technique that any martial artist would steal to learn be rejected was surprisingly disappointing. But I couldn't force her to learn something that didn't suit her body. Suddenly, I thought of the sword techniques I knew.
The Immortal's Leisurely Ten Thousand Swords, the supreme secret art of the Blue Mountain Sect's Sword Sect, required the circulation of inner energy and was so esoteric that even I hadn't fully mastered it yet. The basic art, the Jade Spring Sword Technique, was possible.
I had practiced it whenever I had time, so I had learned all the forms and grasped the principles of the sword to some extent. The Jade Spring Sword Technique was incomparably superior to the Western Shadow Sword Sect's technique. The problem was that I was the successor of the Saber Sect, not the Sword Sect.
Do Gwang-il, the last successor of the Sword Sect, would return to the Western Village next spring. If he saw some unfamiliar woman using his school's sword technique then, it would surely cause a big problem.
Do Gwang-il had taught me the sword technique without a second thought, but that didn't mean it was okay to carelessly leak it to an outsider.
"Alright. Let's change that form you just did to aim for the chest by lowering the tip of the sword."
I continued the sparring session, slightly modifying the Western Shadow Sword Sect's technique to suit my sister.
“Wow, Mom’s a master too?”
Ju-gyeong, who had been squatting and watching in front of the rear garden, exclaimed in admiration. Sister Soso playfully swung her wooden sword with a whoosh and grinned.
"Isn't Mom cool?"
"Yeah!"
“When you get a little bigger, Ju-gyeong, Mom will teach you the sword technique too.”
Somehow, it felt bitter. Ever since learning the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique, I had been wary of the insidiousness of swordsmen, but now, as if one sister wasn't enough, my nephew was going to be a swordsman too… My mind was in turmoil, and I was scuffing the ground with my shoe when Ju-gyeong pointed at me.
“I’m going to learn from Uncle.”
"Huh?"
As Sister Soso and I looked at him at the same time, an excited Ju-gyeong quickly stood up. He picked up a tree branch and got into a stance. It was the opening stance of the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique.
He tried his best to execute the saber technique as he had seen it, but naturally, it was a mess. Fumbling around as if he were seeing ghosts and flailing, he lost his balance and fell on his bottom. Ju-gyeong didn't cry; he got up again and took the opening stance.
It seemed he had taken a great liking to the Heavenly Steel Saber Technique. That sight completely won me over. Sister Soso, who was watching, slowly nodded her head.
“It’s true, I’m not skilled enough to teach anyone. You’d be better.”
Ten days passed quickly as I conducted training sessions and played with Ju-gyeong at the detached houses. It was about time they arrived, but there was still no news from Tang Hye-seo and Gwang-hyo. It hadn't snowed or rained in the meantime, so the roads shouldn't have been blocked.
It was also unlikely they would have just left because the sword school had fallen. They were probably going around the inns in Red Wave Village asking for information. I had already spoken to the innkeeper, so if Tang Hye-seo showed up, I would be able to meet her right away.
Feeling cooped up staying in the detached houses all the time, we all went out to see the market together. Red Wave Village was much more bustling than the Western Village.
Even in the dead of winter, merchants were shouting to sell their goods while warming their hands with their breath, workers were making deliveries, and the streets were full of life with people coming and going. We bought a new set of clothes for each of us at a cloth shop and stopped by a teahouse famous for its refreshments.
As we were leisurely enjoying the fragrant tea and sweet snacks, a commotion broke out by the window.
“Kill him!”
Three martial artists with swords ambushed two men who were drinking tea, hacking them to pieces. Tables and chairs shattered, and blood flew everywhere, instantly turning the place into a chaotic mess. The surrounding customers, terrified, fled outside.
The teahouse owner and the waiter just trembled behind the counter. Sister Soso quickly pulled Ju-gyeong into her arms and covered his eyes with her hand. I grabbed the long blade I had propped up next to me and carefully watched the situation.
The fight ended quickly. The dark path practitioners, holding their blood-stained swords, panted and looked around the spacious teahouse. The people who hadn't managed to escape cowered, avoiding their gaze.
The eyes of a dark path practitioner met mine. I stared back calmly at the man who was silently threatening me with his bloodshot eyes. When I sent a gaze mixed with a hint of killing intent, he seemed to come to his senses, flinched, and turned his head away.
Leaving two blood-soaked corpses behind, the dark path practitioners fled in a rush. Sister Soso let out a sigh and removed her hand from Ju-gyeong's eyes. Brawls involving dark path practitioners were a common occurrence anywhere in the Central Plains, but Sister Soso thought differently.
“It was a bit noisy before, but not to this extent. There are dark path practitioners in Red Wave Village, but when the Western Shadow Sword Sect was still strong, they all kept their heads down…”
After the former sect leader was murdered, the sword school had slowly crumbled. Conversely, the dark path practitioners, who had been suppressed by the sword school, had been growing their power and slowly raising their heads. After the sword school was closed, they began to run rampant openly.
It would have been better if a single faction had taken control of Red Wave Village, but instead, several gangs of scoundrels were fiercely fighting amongst themselves over various interests.
“Let’s go back to the inn.”
“I suppose we should.”
We wrapped the remaining snacks in a cloth and went outside.
"Excuse me, may I ask you something."
I turned around to see a middle-aged man wearing a long robe and a bamboo hat pulled down low. I stepped in front of Sister Soso and Ju-gyeong, my left hand gripping the hilt of my sword.
"What is it?"
The middle-aged man took something from his robes and unfolded it.
"Have you ever seen a man like this?"
What the man showed me was a portrait. The name was unfamiliar, but the face was familiar. The black-robed figure who sold the spiritual wine to Baek Cha-hyeon and was killed while fighting him.
The middle-aged man was looking for that demonic sect warrior.