Book 4 Chapter 3

Befriending Na Yerin

Na Yerin is a star in the night sky.

With her mysterious, beautiful eyes half-hidden, she said.

I was sitting under a tree, deep in meditation.

It's clear that God's artistry was at its best, and her

It was always full of mystery and holiness.

The wind and the light seemed to mingle with her, dwelling in harmony. None of the sensations around her failed to stir her. If they had succeeded, her meditation would have been broken. But her meditation was never broken.

What is she waiting for now?

The pre-dawn sunlight was not yet strong enough to lift the glistening early morning dew from the leaves. Unable to rise to the sky, the dew slowly gathered together using their own cohesion, and soon the weight was too much for them to bear and they dripped down the groove in the center of the leaf. As the dew gathered the dawn's regular energy, a sword was drawn from her scabbard, and a dazzling sword qi like a sunburst erupted in an illusion. The sharp sword Qi left two strands of traces in the dew as it fell to the ground. It was not a single strand, but two strands, and there would be no need for me to tell you what a high-level and difficult skill it was to divide a drop of dew into thirds by leaving a two-stranded trace with your eyes closed. She did it without a care in the world.

"Bam!"

After an eternity of meditation, her eyes, like the Milky Way in the night sky, opened at the sound of applause. Into her mysterious eyes, which seemed to contain the universe in miniature, a woman stepped, and, unexpectedly for her, a hint of pleasure flickered in and out of her eyes. It was a remarkable display of emotion, one that others might not recognize, but that she rarely exhibited.

"Excellent. It's a smooth and beautiful sword, Samae, beyond reproach."

The left eye of the woman who had so casually called herself Samae was hidden by a black eye patch. She was, to everyone's surprise, single-eyed. She was the same Poison Eye Peak, the one who had appeared out of nowhere during Bi Ryuyeon's first visit to the Ascetic Society a week ago, causing the men to flee in terror. She was beautiful. Even the permanent absence of Xu An had not done enough to fade her beauty and strength.

"Welcome, Sarge."

Na Yerin and Dok Goryeong were alumni of the same school, having studied the same martial arts and teachings under the same master. He smiled at her modest greeting. She was as frightening as an asura to perverted men, but there was a part of him that couldn't help but smile at his beloved sister-in-law, Na Yerin.

"What are you doing up this early, practicing your sword? That hasn't happened in a while. Is there something you need to work on?"

Refining one's sword qi refers to the act of gathering one's thoughts and focusing one's mind when there is a special occasion. There are many ways to do this, but as an alumnus, Dok Anfeng was well aware of what her earlier behavior was referring to.

"I have a promise to keep."

"Promise?"

Dokgo-ryung, who had assumed that Na Yerin's sociability meant that she had no business making appointments with others, asked curiously.

"With whom?"

"It's a man."

"What? A man!"

Dokgo Ling nearly collapsed from shock. He couldn't believe that Bingbai Peak Na Yerin had made a promise to a man. He knew better than anyone that she had lived her entire life, and he knew that her misogyny was quite severe. What kind of child would make a promise to a man?

Unconsciously, I looked up at the sky where the dawn sun was hanging. It was definitely a daylight sky.

"You're not Wei Zichen, are you?"

Dokgo-ryung asked, cautiously.

"No."

Dokgo-ryung was dumbfounded.

"Wei Zichen, that guy let a man other than himself near her?

It can't be. No matter how you look at it, it's a very unlikely scenario, and even though I didn't like the guy, I tolerated his presence as a shield. It's an uneasy shield, but without it, there's no telling what else might happen. Just like old times…….

"Not him?"

"Yes, I promised I wouldn't make a mistake next time."

"……?"

Dokan Feng didn't understand her words for a moment.

Perhaps she still hadn't gotten over the incident with Bi Ryuyeon a week ago. The presence of the opposite sex stirred her heart for the first time in years. Her unusual sensitivity didn't react much to Bi Ryuyeon's rudeness, but she wasn't willing to let it go.

A promise not to make a mistake next time, a promise she would keep.

"I'm not sure what the appointment is, but it must be a very important one, since you're up at the crack of dawn honing your sword skills. Who is this appointment with? It's not like you're going to do anything untoward……."

Refining and polishing one's swordsmanship was a pre-martial preparation, though not everyone does it every day.

"I have an appointment."

"What promise?"

Dokgo-ryung couldn't believe that his in-laws, who could be described as having the worst interpersonal relationships, had made a promise to someone.

"It's an appointment with someone out of my sight."

"What?"

Her lone right eye opened in surprise. Today had been one surprise after another.

"I have escaped the eyes of the Four Sisters? The Dragon Eye of the Four Sisters is something that not even I can completely escape, and yet there is someone who has escaped it?"

Being caught off guard means that either she didn't read her opponent's movements or her attack was deflected. Neither of which is easily believable. If there was one person who knew Na Yerin's true skill better than anyone else, it was Poisonous Fang, who would not hesitate to choose her.

"Yes, sir."

Still, her response was limited. He had always pitied it, and he pitied more than anyone else her misfortune in having to close her heart to the beauty of a goddess who could thrill even a woman.

"Okay, so can we find out what he promised to do?"

She brought her beautiful fingers, carved from white jade, to her red lips. A trace of agitation swirled in her calm eyes. Even for her, it was not something she could easily forget. Her mind said no, but her body certainly remembered the touch.

"He said there would be no second time around."

"……?"

She still couldn't understand her own words.

"Uh, sir."

A voice interrupted their mood, which could have turned serious. Dok'anfeng turned her head to look at the source of the voice, and there stood someone she knew well, a bright smile on his cute little face. Dok'anfeng's head was pounding.

Her arrival brought their conversation to an end. Dokgoryeong regretted that she could no longer probe for the truth of the matter, for if she spoke, the story might turn into a rumor that would circulate within the academy. She could not risk that.

The woman who called to them in a cheerful voice, like the chirping of a bird waking the dawn, was a girl who had not yet fully shed her girlhood.

What's so good about it? Her bright face was stretched into a smile that would have made anyone happy to see it. Two twin swords were strapped to her little vicar's back.

Dokgo Ling greeted her with a smile. The girl was a junior she had always favored, a handsome young woman from the Yi family of Zhenzhou who was renowned for her twin sword skills. She was the one who would later be known as the "Twin Swordsman" in the Heavenly Martial Academy and in the martial arts world, attracting the attention and expectations of all men.

"Seol-ah, I wonder what brings you here, and what joy keeps the smile from leaving your face?"

In response to Dokgo-ryong's question, Lee Jin-sul approached her with a lively, lighthearted movement reminiscent of a doe, the excitement still lingering in her starry eyes.

The cause of the excitement was also something Dokgo-ryong was curious about.

"I did it, sis, I finally did it."

Dokgo-ryong had to calm down his crush, who was jumping up and down like a child, otherwise she would be too frenetic to have a proper conversation. Lee Jin-sul's over-the-top exuberance was sometimes overwhelming to her, a polar opposite of the always serene Nay-lin.

But he didn't mind being around the girl who always brightened up his surroundings, and it seemed the same was true of his sisters-in-law, who didn't like to talk much, but whose silent beauty could easily topple a country or two. She didn't say it out loud, but you could tell.

"Now, calm down and tell me what you've accomplished. It's going to be hard for me to understand you unless your feet are on the ground for a long time."

Her feet touched the ground, never leaving the ground for more than a moment, constantly trying to escape the air. Then she spoke, her voice rising with excitement.

"I did it, I did it, I did it."

"Seol, you still haven't told me what you succeeded at."

When he realized that he had skipped back and forth in his excitement, leaving out the object, he quickly corrected his mistake.

"I mean, I finally did it."

But she still felt like she hadn't gotten the situation under control. At this point, even the most nervous of us can get fed up. But she decided to be patient once again.

"So you still haven't told me what it is, so calm down."

"I'm talking about the Twin Sword Twelve Strike, which I finally managed to pull off late last night. I did well!"

"What?"

For a moment, Dok'anfeng doubted his ears. But when he looked into her eyes, which shone with life, he realized she wasn't lying. Calming himself, he honestly congratulated her on her success. It was still a difficult and challenging skill for her. To succeed with a skill that she still lacked was worthy of ten carts of praise.

Even Na Yerin's eyes, which had been listening quietly beside her, widened slightly in surprise.

"Are you telling me you actually pulled that off?"

Still in disbelief, Dokgo-ryong asked again.

"Of course!"

Lee Jin-sul nodded hesitantly. Poisonous Anvil's astonishment was understandable. The Twin Sword Strike was an extremely difficult ascension technique that utilized a tremendous divine acceleration to unleash a total of twenty-four sword qi, twelve from each of the two split bodies.

It was the gateway skill for a twin-sworded martial artist to become a peak master, and it was not a skill that a first-year inductee into the Heavenly Pavilion would use. If she succeeded, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a genius. It would prove that her talent was not uncommon.

"Congratulations, master, you've been working on that technique for so long, and you've finally succeeded. I admire your tenacity in the pursuit of martial arts every time."

Dok'an Feng sincerely congratulated her on her realization.

"Congratulations, sir."

Na Yerin, who had always kept her red lips closed and quiet, also congratulated Yi Yun. Her unexpected praise surprised not only Yi Yun, but even Dokgo Ling, who seemed more surprised to be congratulated by her than he was to realize the meaning of the Twin Swords.

To Na Yerin, it was a courtesy to a nobody who had been enlightened to the power of the One Oath today. Today, Iinseul deserved it.

"So you went to the trouble of coming all the way here to show it off."

"That too, but……."

It appeared that Yi Jinxue had another purpose besides self-congratulatory boasting. A hint of mischief flickered in her starry eyes, and the poisoned blade twitched. She felt a shiver of foreboding run down her smooth back. She'd known Iinsul for a long time, and she knew what that look meant. It was a look that had cost her quite a few measles cases in the past.

"You can't…… you can't……."

Unperturbed by her stuttering, Lee Jin-sul nodded vigorously, her neck slender as white jade.

"Yes. Of course, sister, you wouldn't say no, would you?"

Her ominous premonition was apparently unfortunate. Dokgo Ling felt a headache, which she hadn't had in a while, suddenly overtake her. She rubbed her jade hand across her forehead, feeling the unpleasant sensation of a throbbing headache.

"Why not?"

I gave it a shot, but the chances were slim.

"No!"

Lee flatly refused.

"If it's not my sister, who's going to take me up on this!"

As if on cue, her hunch was right on the center of the ominous target board.

Ever since she was a child, whenever she learned a new skill, she would use a poisonous spirit as a test of that skill. Of course, there was no one else her age who could take up her sword; her talent was so exceptional that there was no one else in the family who could learn her skills. The only exception to this was the old man, Dokgoryeong, who occasionally visited her home. Whenever she visited, from the days before she became a Dok'an, when she still had her eyes, Yi Yun would unleash against her all the martial arts formulas she had painstakingly mastered over the years. If her talents were as ordinary as everyone else's, she might have ended the game with a single defeat, but that was not the case.

Dokgoryeong's talent rivaled or exceeded that of Yi Yun, and Yi Yun had never been able to break through her walls. Three years of equal or greater talent, plus three more years of experience, and her twin swords had never been able to corner her. Yi Yun had come to her whenever he had a misstep and learned a new skill. She had never refused, for it was not malicious, but rather stimulating and helpful to her own martial arts training, and her challenge was as pure as they come. This time, however, things were a little different.

The twin sword strike was a different technique from what you were used to. It was a technique that could be dangerous if done incorrectly. Of course, with her current skill, she would be able to block it, but this time, she would have to take a certain amount of risk.

"Can we pass on this one, it seems a bit risky."

She was unusually weak for a poisonous eyeball, aka the Devil's Grandmother.

"No!"

Lee said firmly. She had no intention of reversing her decision. The challenge of being alone was one of her most enjoyable pastimes, and she couldn't just give it up.

"She can avoid my skills anyway."

He seemed to recognize, even as a binary, that his skills could not yet overcome the barrier of her martial arts. Her lack of pride in her abilities was a commendable attitude for a martial artist.

When Lee Jin-sul came to this conclusion, Dokgo-ryung was stumped. Then an idea popped into her head.

"Okay."

Unable to hide the look on her face, she suddenly nodded in agreement.

"Really, really, sister, you're accepting my skills again this time?"

She was thrilled with the approval of the poisonous baton, an unusual taste.

"Instead, it's not me."

"Eh? What does that mean all of a sudden, you're not dating my sister or who?"

As a woman, I didn't say, "Is that some kind of ghostly gibberish?" and I used more tame language, but it didn't change the meaning behind it.

"Here am I, Samae, to test your sword skills."

As surprised as Iinsul was by the unexpected proposal, Na Yerin looked at the party who had made it with as much surprise as she could muster.

"Wow, really, do you really think I can compete in a sword fight with big sister Lin, a master of the mind-eye sword called the Bing Bai Feng?"

Like a boy, Yi Jinxue was excited; her martial greed was a little too much.

"Yes, of course! I hear you've been refining your sword skills lately, and it would be great if the cheeky tomboy swordswoman could add a little more aura to your sword. What do you think, Nana?"

The pleading look in Dok'anfeng's eyes gave Na Yerin pause for thought. Yi Yun was looking at her with a longing in his eyes that was almost too much to refuse. His clear, puppy-like eyes were taking away Na Yerin's will to refuse.

Along with Poisonous Eye, Na Yerin was the senior female swordswoman she admired, and as a follower with her sights set on her, the urge to cross swords with her at least once was understandable.

"Good."

After thinking about it for a while, Na Yerin came to a conclusion.

"Hurrah!"

Like a child, Lee was excited. She finally had a chance to test her sword skills. It was against Na Yerin, the first ranked female swordswoman of the Seven Peaks, one of the most promising swordswomen in the Samsung Sword Tournament. She could feel a pleasant rush of excitement coursing through her body.

No matter how big the goal, no matter how strong the opponent, she would not be deterred. She had fought long and hard against Dao Anfeng Dao Goling, one of the Seven Heavenly Immortals and reputedly the fiercest and strongest of them all. She had not accumulated such shallow cultivation that most opponents would shrink in fear before her. Such was her pride.

But when it came to Na Yerin, the poisoned blade was far, far wrong. Now that he had her in front of him, a strange sensation coursed through his entire body. It was, in a word, foreign.

A sense of strangeness, as if her every move was being watched and she couldn't escape it. It piqued her interest, making it impossible for her to be careless.

"That's great, now I'm not ashamed to be a one-man swordsman."

This was the opinion of the elder Daoist watching from the sidelines. The fact that he had been able to sense the dragon eyes of Na Yerin in front of him was an indication that her skill was now beyond the norm.

But not even the loud cautionary tale of Lee's instincts could stifle her desire strongly enough to deny her the stage and opportunity to test her new trick.

Lee could see that the rumors about Na Yerin were as much about her martial arts prowess as they were about her beauty.

"Be careful. Swords don't have eyes."

Even in the face of Na Yerin's presence, Iseult still seemed confident, and that was to her advantage. As long as the oversupply of confidence didn't allow it to fester and become arrogance.

"Don't worry. Your sword may not have eyes, but my saber polearms do. Be careful."

Dok Go-ryung was there to put Lee's worries to rest.

Lee Jin-sul stood and bowed. Na Yerin bowed in return. This was the beginning. The first to attack was, of course, the challenger.

"Here we go."

Yi Yun's twin swords swung, scattering colorful sword flowers.

The first blow came from Yin Xue's unarmed, untethered sword. Because it was unarmed, Yi Yun swung her sword to announce her attack. Her herbivory was unleashed on her.

"No way!"

You can't just go in with a big move. Only a fool would try to use a secret technique from the start against someone with a clear advantage over him. Despite his young age, Lee Jin-sul knew this and practiced it.

For now, her priority tactic was to induce a chink in the armor of her impossibly perfect and thorough defenses. Even if she had learned the art of misdirection, it would be a dangerous and rash move to barge right in.

At this point, she had forgotten her original purpose, which was a test of will, and had truly raised it to deal with her. If it was a test of skill, it wouldn't have mattered if she had used a trick from the start. In fact, it would have been preferable. However, when faced with Bing Bai Peak Na Yerin's deep-eyed sword, Yi Yun was not even a boy, and she seemed to be favorably impressed.

Dokgo-ryung was puzzled by the careful way Lee Jin-sul had laid out his plan, leading to a loophole. Doubt pierced through the net of his mind.

"No, that kid?

Something was amiss. It would be abnormal if she didn't see something strange in the way she carefully laid out her plan, one bite at a time, as if she were facing a formidable foe. It was a risky endeavor that could easily lead to an accident. Once a master of a certain level has crossed swords, exuded sword qi, and exchanged herbs, the aftermath of invisible forces often creates a situation where their careers become intertwined and they cannot easily stop, even if they want to. It's a situation that doesn't happen often, but the two women Dokgo-ryung knew were capable of it. Moreover, the final trick that Lee Jin-sul is preparing to demonstrate today is a twin sword attack. It's not an easy skill to master.

Her clenched white hands were drenched in sweat as she began to tense up. She watched the situation unfold with intense concentration, oblivious to the sweat pooling in her grip. If she had to, she'd jump in and see what happened. Her thoughts were just as dangerous.

'I'll never be a test for Seol's sword skills again. It's all on me. I know her character so well, and yet I pit her against Na Yerin. I'm crazy, I'm crazy. She's not the kind of girl who'll end up losing. Besides, I'm not going to let this opportunity slip through my fingers and wash my hands of it.

Dokgo Ling blamed himself. It was too late to regret it; the spilled water had soaked into the dirt and sand and could not be recaptured.

She forced herself to calm her pounding heart, resolving, 'I will never again play along with a child's antics.

"Please, please, please……, honey, don't forget what degrees and cases are!

As she watched the situation, desperately hoping that nothing unexpected would happen, a fierce sword qi once again shot out from Yin Yixue's twin swords and attacked towards Na Yerin. The fierceness and sharpness of the sword qi was enough to make even the poisonous lord forget about the situation for a moment and admire it. Meanwhile, Na Yerin's evasion under the fierce twin swords of Yi Yun was also worthy of applause: with a few graceful movements, she was able to sweep away Yi Yun's sword qi.

However, undeterred and undaunted, Yi Yun continued to draw pure white sword Qi from her twin swords. As the sword Qi emanating from her swords grew more and more exquisite, the heart of the Poisonous Old Man watching seemed to burn with worry.

Perhaps tired from her succession of sharp attacks, a slight weakness appeared in Na Yerin's body. Yi Yun's eyes did not miss it. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for since the beginning. Boldly, as if she had nothing left to lose, she proudly took out her achievement of the day, the test object. Wholeheartedly!

"Twin swords strike!"

A jade tone, like the sound of a clear silver bell, rang out, vibrating the atmosphere slightly.

The next moment, something incredible happened. As she rushed forward, her body seemed to split into two separate entities, each attacking Na Yerin's left and right sides simultaneously. Twenty-four sword qi, twelve of them each, stretched out from each of the split bodies and attacked Na Yerin's entire body. All twenty-four sword qi were real! There was nothing false about them, they were all real attacks. None of them could be neglected. The tension in the room reached its peak at this moment.

Twenty-four dazzling sword qi stretched out, intertwining and searing in one place. In the aftermath, a cloud of dust rose up and swirled around the struggling pair. As a spectator, Deng Xiaolong could do nothing but stomp his feet and wait for the outcome to unfold, wishing he could call upon the wind gods to clear away the clouds of dust blocking his view.

Just as Dokgo-ryeong's chest was burning so fast with worry that it was almost reduced to ashes, the cloud of dust around her cleared, revealing a clearer picture of the situation. Her tense shoulders sank with relief at the same time.

"Phew, that's good."

Iinsul couldn't believe her eyes and senses. She cast her best aura, clearly looking for a loophole, and before she knew it, Na Yerin had lyingly dodged all of Yin Yin's sword energy and leisurely moved behind her back, pressing her sword pole against the back of her neck, the same spot that had been all over the place after she'd cast her bijutsu.

"I didn't even see any movement."

"The bigger the technology, the bigger the holes in it when it fails. We need to be more careful."

It was a silent but poignant warning. I was well aware of the fact that big techs have big loopholes after casting them, but I hadn't expected to be so inexcusably and completely beaten. It was a perfect defeat.

"Whoops! I lost……. Ho-ho-ho!"

A cheerful smile quickly appeared on her face, as if a serious face didn't suit her. The seriousness of a moment ago was gone, and in its place was a lively girl.

"Beans!"

"Uh-oh!"

"What's an Irma, what's an Irma. I didn't even realize it was dangerous……."

It was the angry hand of an elderly man that smacked her cute little face. As if the dozens of smacks weren't enough to make her heart skip a beat, when I raised my hand to slap her, there was nowhere else on her cute little body that I could see to touch. In binary terms, she's lucky.

"I knew it would be like this, but it's a lot more."

Her praise was directed at Iinsul. It made her heart skip a beat and her stomach clench with nervousness, but Lee's growth was remarkable. She could tell without looking how much he'd practiced in her absence.

I was nervous, but also proud of myself.

"Hehehe."

At Dokgoryeong's praise, Yi Jinxue laughed heartily. He knew better than anyone how stingy the poisonous bird's praise was.

"Don't get me wrong. But your energy is still leaking out instead of being concentrated in the sword qi path. Wasting energy unnecessarily is a sign of inadequacy and inexperience, as evidenced by the clouds of dust. Don't be satisfied with this, and work harder."

Like a big sister, Dokgo-ryeong didn't just give praise, she also gave advice.

"Sure. I haven't even leveled the playing field yet, let alone surpassed my sister, so I'll settle for this, don't worry."

Lee nodded in agreement.

"I'm going to have to pass on that one……."

Hearing her lucid answer, he couldn't shake the unpleasant premonition that he would become an even more troublesome burden to himself if he concentrated on his training. Suddenly, she felt as if the ground on which she stood had cracked open through an invisible fissure of anxiety and she was falling into a dark abyss, and she felt a terrible chill.