## Chapter 196 – (8)
“Haaap!”
The proud second disciple of the Mo Yong Clan, her own brother, had lunged at him.
“Hmm.”
The man simply tilted his head slightly.
A sword grazed past where his head had been a moment before.
Even though his brother’s full-force attack had missed, he didn’t stop.
He twisted his waist sharply and swung his sword diagonally.
Again, the man didn’t move much.
This time, he lightly shifted his body to evade the sword.
Just watching him dodge with such ease made the difference in skill levels obvious.
“What…”
His brother didn’t seem to notice, but he could see it clearly.
“He moved in advance…”
As if predicting the attack, the moment his brother launched his strike, he had already turned his head and body a step ahead.
No matter how skilled someone was, it should be impossible to evade an attack beforehand.
Yet, that impossible feat was unfolding right before his eyes.
“You, come out.”
A low voice disturbed his thoughts from the front.
He had only been lost in thought for a moment, but his brother was already lying on the ground.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
He could understand losing to Mo Yong-yeon.
Even when she was in the Mo Yong Clan, Mo Yong-yeon had been a monster who easily subdued disciples four or five years older than her at a young age.
But for his two brothers to be defeated by her disciple without even putting up a fight…
“Fine. I’ll face you myself.”
Gritting his teeth, he drew his sword.
Shing.
The chilling sound of the sword echoed.
“Don’t blame me.”
He regulated his breathing and immediately kicked off the ground, rushing toward them.
The distance closed in an instant, and their swords clashed.
Clang!
“Hmph!”
He tried to push his sword forward in a battle of strength, but it felt like he was fighting against a wall.
Creeeak!
He poured in his internal energy and tried to push, but he was the one being pushed back instead.
He had no choice but to retreat.
‘So, he’s Mo Yong-yeon’s disciple…’
He glanced down at his reddened palm.
His palm was throbbing.
That monstrous strength was similar to Mo Yong-yeon’s.
‘This might be for the best.’
Even after Mo Yong-yeon left, he was always compared to her.
Every time, the elders and seniors of the clan would say similar things.
‘…If Yeon were here…’
Each time he heard those words, he would bite his lower lip hard and think.
He would surpass Mo Yong-yeon someday, and then, he would make sure that her name would never be mentioned in front of him again.
Perhaps it was thanks to training with that thought in mind.
His swordsmanship had begun to take on a form that could counter Mo Yong-yeon.
“…Let’s see if it works on you.”
“Huk…”
“Sword energy! Are you serious?!”
As he swung his sword and slowly infused it with internal energy, coating it with sword energy, exclamations and criticisms erupted from the onlookers.
It was the commotion he had expected.
However, the man before him was not an easy opponent who could be defeated without using sword energy.
He forgot about the onlookers’ criticisms and the aftermath of fighting in a merchant guild run by the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Right now, he was focusing all his attention on the man before him.
“Hoo…”
The core of the Mo Yong Clan’s swordsmanship was to wield the sword in response to the opponent.
‘I’m at a disadvantage in terms of strength and speed. What about Illusionary Sword?’
Their gazes met.
The man was still standing in place, simply waiting for him.
As if to say, ‘Go ahead and try.’
Even so, he no longer felt that the man was being arrogant.
Arrogance with a basis only appeared as confidence.
“Hup!”
He took a deep breath and threw himself toward the man.
The distance closed in an instant, and his footprints were deeply etched into the courtyard.
The swung sword split into two, heading toward the man.
The man didn’t distinguish between the illusion and the real, and blocked both of them.
Even though his attack was immediately blocked, he smirked.
‘Got him!’
He could tell from that movement.
The man had no countermeasure against Illusionary Sword.
If it were Mo Yong-yeon, she would have identified the illusion and only blocked the real attack, but the man before him didn’t seem to have reached that level.
This time, he increased the number of illusions even more and slowly pressured the man.
Clang! Kang!
Swords clashed, and sparks flew.
The opponent was still mindlessly cutting down all the illusions and blocking the real attack.
That speed and composure were astounding.
Even—
“Ugh…”
Crimson blood was flowing from his shoulder.
In the midst of cutting down all those attacks, he had aimed for his shoulder.
‘I can’t drag this out.’
Ambiguous attacks would only allow for counterattacks.
Ignoring the pain from his shoulder, he gripped his sword tightly and charged again.
A last-ditch effort.
Even if it didn’t reach the level of the Mount Hua Sect’s, he was confident in his Illusionary Sword as well.
Countless sword strikes poured down on the man.
Like a torrential downpour.
“…Is he… smiling…?”
Smirk.
Seeing the corners of the man’s lips turn up, a chill ran down his spine.
The man coated his sword with sword energy.
The rough sword energy made a buzzing sound, and at the same time, the sword was swung.
The sword energy that spread out while cutting down all the sword strikes devastated the surrounding area.
The dirt in the courtyard was split by the sword energy, and the colliding sword was ground down by the rough sword energy, completely dulling the blade.
Fragments of the man’s sword energy and the broken sword flew, creating shallow scratches on his skin.
He wore a blank expression as he watched his desperate attack being easily nullified.
“Uh…”
“So easily…”
“Hey, the sword energy came right up to my face…!”
“I’ve never seen swordsmanship like that before…”
The onlookers were now certain of the direction of the match.
And he, too, had no choice but to admit it.
“…I lost…”
“Yes, I know.”
***
[Victory against a Peak Expert]
[The level of Spirit Severing Sword Technique has increased.]
[Spirit Severing Sword Technique has reached LV.3]
“It’s over?”
“Yes.”
As soon as the first disciple declared his defeat, Mo Yong-yeon, who had been watching, walked out.
Then, she looked at the man slumped on the ground and tilted her head.
“It’s not over yet.”
“Yes?”
Then, Mo Yong-yeon kicked the man’s abdomen hard with her foot.
Thwack!
“Ugh…”
He was kicked so hard that he clutched his stomach and fainted, making a gasping sound.
For a martial artist of that level to faint from an abdominal strike…
That was impossible with an ordinary impact.
It looked painful just watching.
It was a kick filled with emotion.
“Your brother…”
“He received treatment.”
Mo Yong-yeon answered as if to say not to worry, then approached him slightly and patted him on the back.
“You worked hard.”
“No, it’s nothing.”
At first, he had reluctantly started the fight because he thought his master, Mo Yong-yeon, was going to cause trouble.
But he had learned quite a few things from this battle.
Unlike weapon skills, obtaining a proper swordsmanship as a skill made him feel differently about handling a sword than before.
The sword became faster with each swing, and the slight fear of the sword that he had naturally felt whenever he held it had now completely disappeared.
The sword felt a little bit like his own body.
“And… thank you.”
Words of gratitude flowed from Mo Yong-yeon’s mouth.
He turned his head slightly at that weak voice and looked down, seeing Mo Yong-yeon with her ears slightly reddened, as if she was embarrassed.
A master with a weak voice.
It was quite a rare moment.
“Answer.”
“Ah, yes, it’s okay.”
“Leave your brother to the doctor, and let’s go.”
That embarrassed appearance was only temporary, and she quickly returned to her original self.
But he could feel it.
The distance between them had definitely narrowed compared to before.
They bought several types of alcohol from the market and inns and brought them back to their lodgings.
It would have been nice if it was to relax with a drink after the events of the day, but she said it was also part of training.
“Here.”
“…What did you put in it?”
Mo Yong-yeon put some liquid and alcohol into his glass, stirred it with her little finger, and handed it to him.
When he pointed at the glass with a suspicious expression, Mo Yong-yeon chuckled and said.
“Poison.”
“…I don’t want to drink it…”
“Why, do you not like it because my finger went in?”
He shook his head and chuckled.
That was obviously not a problem at all.
The problem was the poison.
He had to drink it without knowing what kind of poison it was.
It was impossible without trust in Mo Yong-yeon.
“Most poisons become worse when they meet alcohol.”
So she recommended it to him, saying it would be more helpful for training.
It was not helpful at all.
Thinking that he would receive healing if necessary, he closed his eyes and gulped it down.
‘It’s better than I thought…’
A surprising floral scent entered amidst the musty taste of alcohol.
It was different from what he had expected, that the poison would be bitter and painful.
Was this poison obtained from flowers or poisonous herbs?
“Some experts even eat poison because of the taste.”
Saying that, Mo Yong-yeon also put poison in her alcohol and drank it all at once.
Then, she spread out the jerky that she had bought with the alcohol on the table.
His thoughts were wrong.
He thought they would be training even on a day like this.
Perhaps it was a drinking party disguised as training.
They weren’t getting drunk on the alcohol, but they were properly enjoying the atmosphere.
They began to share questions they had been curious about, questions that were usually asked at drinking parties.
“Family?”
“I don’t have any now.”
“I see…”
“Master seems to like your brother a lot.”
“…I do like him.”
“As much as you like me?”
“What?”
When he asked shamelessly, Mo Yong-yeon laughed as if she was dumbfounded.
“Yes, as much as our disciple.”
He smiled at Mo Yong-yeon’s bright smile, which he had never seen before.
As they shared questions with each other, the drinking party became longer.
So long that the prepared alcohol and poison ran out.
