“Red Bamboo Swordswoman!”
“Ten Prodigies have appeared!”
People who had been anxiously trying to get close to Ho Cheon-an and the Black Cat quickly withdrew. There wasn’t a single person in the entire Sacheon Martial World who didn’t know of Yeo Il-ye’s reputation, and it was equally well-known that she had an extreme dislike for Outcasts.
Watching a fight between experts truly is the most entertaining spectacle in the world, but nobody wants to lose their life to a blind sword.
“[If they are truly a wicked sorcerer, breaking their hands would be insufficient.]”
– Honorable Person, it would be best for you to withdraw for now.
The Six Harmonies Manifestation involved resonating one’s inner power to process it into a sound form. There was no need to actually move one’s mouth. However, Yeo Il-ye was subtly moving her lips, trying to disguise the fact that she was sending signals.
“[That is how it should be, but I cannot shed blood in front of the Hwang Gold Clan, my long-time friend, so you should retreat.]”
– It’s unclear what this lady is aiming for, but she seems to have already achieved sufficient results, so it’s wise to plan for the future.
Ho Cheon-an thought.
‘It looks like she really sees me as a benefactor.’
He knew that Yeo Il-ye’s parents had lost their lives to the hands of Outcasts. But if you were to ask if he fully understood her circumstances, the answer would be no.
To Ho Cheon-an, the current Yeo Il-ye was an unfathomable entity.
‘Tsk, maybe by just giving her a realization and running away, I triggered something incomprehensible…’
As an Outcast from Sacheon, he had only given a realization to Yeo Il-ye and fled. Even Ho Cheon-an, who had played through the Martial World for over ten years and seen the ending over a thousand times, found this an uncharted action.
‘There can’t be any downside to being friendly, right…’
Yeo Il-ye was a complete bundle of variables that the veterans loathed. However, such variables were desperately needed by Ho Cheon-an. Years of accumulated knowledge and know-how offered no help in ridding him of the entanglement of blood. It was precisely the unknown situations led by new variables that could guide him beyond the experiences he had amassed over the past ten years in the Martial World.
And somewhere beyond that, there had to be information and solutions regarding that entanglement of blood.
‘While Yeo Il-ye has scenarios she could get caught up in, she isn’t exactly a pivotal character to begin with.’
Someone with Yeo Il-ye’s level of power wasn’t common, but that was only after she had pulled through her limits by gaining a realization. Fundamentally, she was a peak-level martial artist fueled by rage, making it difficult to get embroiled in the larger narrative.
‘Even when she hit the peak stage, she didn’t play a significant role in any major story, so this should be fine.’
However, one thing Ho Cheon-an overlooked was that among the stories he had mostly experienced, Yeo Il-ye, one of the Ten Prodigies, had a high likelihood of taking on a significant role in the stories he hadn’t encountered.
Of course, as a mere veteran and not a deity, it might be too much to expect him to predict such details. After all, Ho Cheon-an was human, and had often found himself in unexpected situations.
Just like the chemical reaction that was about to unfold between the Black Cat and Yeo Il-ye right now.
Just as he finished his thoughts and nodded to himself, trying to withdraw from the situation, the Black Cat stepped forward.
“What makes you think you can give orders to me?”
“…What?”
Yeo Il-ye’s aura surged momentarily. The crowds around them gasped and stepped back at her ferocity.
Yet the Black Cat seemed completely unfazed, obnoxiously leaning back on her leg.
“Who do you think you are, telling the Outcast what to do, Miss Red Bamboo Swordswoman?”
The Black Cat looked at Yeo Il-ye and then glanced back at the Hwang Gold Clan.
‘In the end, am I steadily approaching the true nature of my enemy?’
Yeo Il-ye’s visit to the Hwang Gold Clan made the Black Cat ponder many things. Moreover, now that Yeo Il-ye was actively protecting Ho Cheon-an…
‘Sorry, but you and Senior Ho can’t keep any ties.’
The Black Cat didn’t know who burned down the Yeo-ga Mountain Villa, but she could sketch out a likely suspect from circumstantial evidence and intuition. If she was even half-right about any of it, a bloody storm would sweep through Sacheon, and it would involve not just Yeo Il-ye but those around her as well.
But to show mercy and show Outcasts getting hurt in such a public place?
Who were Yeo Il-ye’s [enemies]? They were the ones who slaughtered an entire villa and set it ablaze. Would those enemies spare her when she began her revenge?
As Yeo Il-ye lingered around Ho Cheon-an, showing him goodwill, the more he would be exposed to threats from those seeking vengeance.
‘It’s time for a fight.’
Only then could Yeo Il-ye’s friendliness towards Ho Cheon-an be hidden. If she voluntarily sent the Outcasts away, it would be strange and suspicious, but if she fought the Outcasts, it would be completely normal.
Yeo Il-ye’s skills also needed to be gauged. After gaining her realization, how far had she climbed? Had she truly reached a level capable of avenging herself against her enemies? The closer the balance of power became between the forces of her enemies and Yeo Il-ye’s, the more intense the bloody storm in Sacheon would be.
If he could get a read on Yeo Il-ye’s abilities, he could make a reasonable estimate of the ramifications of her actions. Confirming her strength was essential.
The Black Cat wasn’t overflowing with confidence that she could defeat Yeo Il-ye in martial arts, but Yeo Il-ye was currently an unarmed swordswoman.
With this much, could she gauge her potential?
“Hey, hey!”
“Senior, just hold still.”
“Senior?”
Yeo Il-ye’s eyebrows twitched. The girl surrounded by mysterious inner power.
In an effort to see through that inner power, Yeo Il-ye enhanced her awareness.
‘Beautiful.’
At that moment, the energy that shrouded her body revealed the silhouette of the Black Cat. Even from a fellow woman’s perspective, it was a stunning figure, but aside from that physique, she was suspiciously daunting. The fact that even with peak-stage awareness, she couldn’t catch a glimpse inside the Black Cat’s shadowy aura was proof that she was using martial arts sought after by those who mingle in darkness.
Thief. Assassin. Spy.
Yeo Il-ye, who had loathed the Outcasts more than anyone, knew them very well. The Black Cat’s shadow was not used to genuinely prevent personal information from leaking out. It was utilized to conceal one’s personal characteristics from being exposed during work.
What would the people of Sacheon think if it was exposed that Yeo Jin-sang, the whale sword, lost to Iryu at Gyeongsu Market? Given how sensitive the Sacheon people are regarding manipulated incidents, how would they accept that reality?
They used shadow precisely to avoid such disasters. They weren’t using it out of fear of their name and identity getting revealed.
But here was an Outcast using inner power to disguise both her body and face.
That could be permissible.
‘Strong.’
The reason Outcasts operated as Outcasts in Sacheon was for money and advancement in power. Yeo Il-ye estimated that the girl in front of her was at least in the later stages of peak or early stage of peak prime. A martial artist of that caliber could not raise their level through Outcast activities, and they could earn freely regardless of being an Outcast.
The fact that someone who had no reason to act as an Outcast was doing so was extremely suspicious.
‘Could it be related to the Honorable Person?’
Watching Ho Cheon-an gesture for the Black Cat to retreat while simultaneously making a hand signal, Yeo Il-ye couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
‘While she called him Senior, her attitude seems quite presumptuous.’
If she were a junior, she should follow the orders of her seniors; however, the Black Cat ignored Ho Cheon-an’s intentions and provoked Yeo Il-ye instead.
With that, Yeo Il-ye thought about simply giving the Black Cat a light slap to make her back off and began to wield her inner power.
Swoosh-!
Amidst the crowd struggling to contain their tension, Yeo Il-ye thrust her hand forward, compressing three streams of energy into a single strike.
Hand Sword.
Though it merely seemed like she raised her hand straight, the mindset of a martial artist believing that hand edge to be a sword combined with her peak-level mastery and inner power transformed her blunt hand into a sharp blade.
One Step Three Swords.
That was the legendary technique boasted by Gang Jun, showcased through Yeo Il-ye’s hand. In the blink of an eye, three strikes converged, yet her hand split even that blink into three.
Swoosh-Whack!
“Hoh.”
Had it been Ho Cheon-an, he would have been pierced thrice by that One Step Three Swords, but it was easily blocked by the Black Cat’s footwork. Observing the shadows cast by her hand technique, Yeo Il-ye thought, “This one has some skills.”
The core of hand techniques lies in expelling inner power with the palm to seize the space. It wasn’t as solid as a fist, nor as compact as foot techniques, nor as destructive as a sword, yet despite that, it had managed to survive due to how freely the palm could disperse inner power into the space.
That was why the level of hand techniques revolved around how many shadows one could emit and how efficiently and quickly they could do so.
With that perspective, the Black Cat’s hand technique was indeed quite extraordinary.
‘How utterly deceptive.’
Instead of meticulously emitting shadows, it appeared as if gaps were widely open; however, after witnessing some shadows concealed by her shadowy energy, Yeo Il-ye couldn’t be certain if those openings were genuine empty spots.
‘As expected, you’re not an Outcast.’
If anyone familiar with Jeomchang had seen such a disgraceful response, they would have acted very differently.
Yeo Il-ye was one of the Ten Prodigies.
An arrow shot cannot pause or retreat.
It only burns itself up to obliterate its enemies.
No flimsy curtain could ensnare even the shoelaces of the Ten Prodigies.
What could only be considered a finger-formed blade of energy blossomed from the fingertips of Yeo Il-ye. The tempest-like momentum that swept through everything disregarded the illusion and reality of shadows as it pierced towards the Black Cat.
‘Let’s tear that facade and see your face.’
The Black Cat’s hands moved desperately, layers of shadows overlapping to block Yeo Il-ye’s hand sword, but it was futile. The world’s sharpest techniques and sword arts belonged to Yeo Il-ye—an expert from the Jeomchang Faction—shot forth toward the Black Cat’s face.
And then it deflected.
Wham!
With a jolt, Yeo Il-ye contained a painful sensation rising from her hand as she looked down at it. Observing the area around her wrist, she found that a part had sunk about half a palm’s width deep.
Footwork.
There flowed a rich energy from the Black Cat’s outstretched finger. Faintly shimmering energy was a symbol of peak-stage mastery, the penultimate step before reaching the ultimate state.
‘Did I miscalculate?’
Cold sweat trickled down the Black Cat’s brow as she raised her finger. The location of their clash was right in front of the Hwang Gold Clan, and Yeo Il-ye stood there unarmed.
Had Yeo Il-ye truly gained a realization from Ho Cheon-an? If so, how far had her power increased?
The Black Cat had regarded this as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to satisfy her curiosity and taken action, but…
She was stronger than even Ho Cheon-an had realized. Is this truly the power of someone who had only recently reached peak stage?
Boom!
Thunder-like sounds erupted from Yeo Il-ye’s body. The enormous inner power contained within her flooded out instantaneously, creating a phenomenon. That powerful wave made her body quiver against her will.
‘How could one without consuming spiritual medicine possess such inner power?’
The Black Cat firmly grasped one thing.
The realization Yeo Il-ye had gained was remarkably more incredible than she had anticipated.
‘This might strip me of my foundation…’
The Black Cat assumed an extremely low stance, lower than a typical one, almost as if she was trying to attach herself to the ground.
Seeing her posture, Yeo Il-ye pulled her thrust back closer to her chest. The opponent employed peculiar inner power to obstruct her line of sight. In such a low posture, if she managed to block her view at the right moment, it would create an illusion as if she vanished.
‘Should I have brought a sword?’
Yeo Il-ye clicked her tongue as she stared at her hand swirling with energy. The particles of powerful energy were on the verge of forming yet hadn’t fully materialized. While she could extract powerful energy with a sword, her insufficient training with a hand sword meant she could not extract it.
With only powerful energy available, she could’ve subdued her in one go.
No matter how abundant her inner power may be, without accessing powerful energy, she couldn’t leverage her overwhelming gap in strength.
Persistence might favor Yeo Il-ye, but the one-shot output they could each muster was comparably equal. With the potential for Yeo Il-ye to get caught in the Black Cat’s bizarre tricks and be turned around, she had to stay on her toes.
Boom! Crash!
Yeo Il-ye and the Black Cat collided multiple times. The rapid-fire techniques of Yeo Il-ye charged forward with extreme speed, while the Black Cat dodged those assaults with a grotesque maneuver, lashing out winds and energies in all directions.
Even the eyes of common people and the elite warriors of the Hwang Gold Clan struggled to grasp the swift dynamics between the two.
“Phew…”
As the rapid conflict continued, finally, it was the Black Cat that withdrew first. Unlike Yeo Il-ye, whose inner power was immense, the Black Cat only had inner power commensurate with her level, causing her to step back for breath.
While Yeo Il-ye steadied her breath to ready her next strike—
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
“Excellent! Truly excellent!”
What now?
Ho Cheon-an, watching the fierce battle with wide eyes, the out-of-breath Black Cat, and Yeo Il-ye preparing to attack, all turned their gaze towards the source of clapping.
Standing there was a man wearing the attire of the Tang Clan.
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