“Clan heaaaad!!”
“Clan head!!”
Someone screamed, almost like a shriek. At the same time—
“You bastard!”
Gwak Pungdo dashed toward me using the Gwak Clan’s signature gliding footwork. Well, “dashed” wasn’t quite the word. One blink, and he was suddenly right in front of me.
“How dare you!”
My body, annoyingly sensitive to incoming attacks, clearly registered Gwak Pungdo’s palm flying toward me. In the past, I wouldn’t have been able to react, but at this point, I was past the point of panic—I stared back with wide eyes, ready for whatever would come.
Because—
Kwaaang—!
A small figure stepped in between us and blocked him.
Saweol had moved in front of me.
“Step aside, girl!”
Gwak Pungdo shouted, irritated, and spun his body like a top. As he gained momentum, he kicked off the ground and shot past Saweol toward me like a projectile.
But Saweol wasn’t just standing around, either. If the Gwak Clan’s movement technique glided forward like silk, Saweol’s footwork fractured space itself, shifting like folds.
Sssut!
She emerged from below and slashed her dagger at Gwak Pungdo’s ankle. Clicking his tongue, he struck his own instep with his foot.
That made his body rise once again in the air.
Step-Leap Ascension—a martial technique.
Of course, it completely ignored the laws of physics, but when you’ve seen old men breathe fire, there’s no point complaining.
The real issue was this man clearly intended to strike me no matter what.
Just like Gwak Riyeon, Gwak Pungdo’s hands glowed with violet energy. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but then—
Wuuung!
The energy swirling around his hand began to intensify. It looked obvious: he was going to fire that energy directly at me.
Being a Transcendent Peak master, it’d be nothing for him to launch energy blasts like a swordsman using sword energy.
And just as expected, he launched it. A violet projectile shot toward me like a cannonball. The condensed energy aura flew too fast—Saweol couldn’t block it in time.
I need to use Blink!
I could activate the Blink Orb with willpower alone. But the timing had to be perfect to avoid it cleanly.
Blood was leaking from my tongue as I gritted my teeth and braced to activate the orb—but then:
“Stop, Elder Gwak.”
Gwak Riyeon’s voice rang out.
I held my ground, eyes wide open.
Ssskat!
The energy veered at the last moment, grazing my cheek. It stung—like a razorblade had skimmed my skin.
A master at the Transcendent Peak could control their aura with that level of precision. No doubt, it had been a warning shot.
‘So he was just testing me...’
To me, it felt like life or death. But neither Saweol nor Gwak Pungdo had truly revealed their full strength. No use of intent, no activation of mental domain, just a simple exchange of techniques.
“What kind of disgraceful display is this, Elder Gwak?”
Gwak Riyeon spoke sternly.
“But Clan Head, this man attempted to harm you.”
“No. I simply failed to block his strike properly. Elder Gwak, stand down.”
Gwak Pungdo snorted, grumbled, and left. Unlike the mess that was the Sado Clan, the Gwak Clan clearly gave their clan head proper authority.
Only then could I get a good look at Gwak Riyeon’s condition.
It was gruesome enough to make one grimace. To summarize—his left arm was torn open to the bone. Though there was almost no bleeding, likely due to acupoint suppression.
The man was absurdly tough. For a normal person, that injury wouldn’t just make them cry—it would knock them out cold.
“Amazing, Clan Head of Sado. If the power behind your sword had been even slightly stronger, my arm would have been severed entirely.”
I couldn’t speak.
Thanks to the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, I was healing quickly, but my tongue wasn’t back to normal yet. If I tried to talk now, I’d sound like I had a speech impediment. That would completely ruin my earlier act of spitting blood to fake internal injuries.
“You really did take internal damage, didn’t you? Well, considering the power you poured into that one strike, it makes sense.”
Thankfully, he bought the performance.
If I’d delivered a clean blow to Gwak Riyeon and stood there looking completely fine, that would have been even more suspicious. It would’ve upset the cult’s power hierarchy.
But since I needed to maintain the status quo, this was the best possible outcome.
“Let’s say I lost this spar. Don’t you dare claim otherwise, or you’ll be insulting my pride even further.”
I nodded silently.
Old-fashioned he might be, but at least he wasn’t the petty type.
“Father…”
Only now did Gwak Jeong run up with a worried expression. Gwak Riyeon smiled warmly and ruffled his son’s hair with his uninjured arm.
“Don’t worry, my son. This is hardly a serious wound.”
“But still, Father...”
“More importantly, be grateful to have such an exceptional martial artist as your teacher.”
A heartwarming scene, really.
“I apologize for Elder Gwak’s sudden attack. His son is Gwak Jin, you see.”
Gwak Jin…
‘Head of the Taeryeong Prefecture branch of the Heavenly Demon Cult.’
That explained it. Back in Taeryeong, I had taken the token of the Silver Crescent Treasury from Gwak Jin and leveraged it to mobilize a massive sum of funds. From my perspective, it was necessary—but for Gwak Jin, it must have been a disaster.
‘So I unknowingly made an enemy of yet another Transcendent Peak master.’
I really needed to be careful with each move I made. Still, I didn’t regret it—that had been the best choice at the time.
As I rolled my tongue around, I found it had almost healed. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s recovery rate was truly astonishing.
“I am unbothered.”
“You seem to have recovered quickly. Honestly, I’d like to celebrate your becoming my son’s master with a drink, but… well, with this arm, that’s not happening.”
“That too, is fine. Shouldn’t you head to the Demon Medical Hall soon?”
At my words, Gwak Riyeon nodded.
“Indeed. The Medical Demon should be able to treat it without lasting effects. But what about you? Don’t you need treatment for your internal injuries?”
“Because of my relationship with the Poison Demon, it would be difficult for me to receive treatment there.”
“Ah, yes. You and he are more than just rivals—complete opposites. Understood. Then I’ll send the seal through Jeong.”
“Very well.”
I reached out my hand. Skybreaker, still embedded deep in the ground where it had pierced both Gwak Riyeon’s arm and the earth, flew back into my grasp.
[...My apologies. I got too excited and failed to control my strength.]
Skybreaker sounded sheepish.
“No, it worked out better this way. Besides, we confirmed your power.”
It goes without saying—between a bare-handed man and someone with a weapon, the one with the weapon has the advantage. Even among martial artists, it's the same.
But the power balance shifts the moment one can wield qi.
Most fist-based martial arts don’t sharpen qi for offense but use it for defense. Once you reach that level, bare hands can even withstand sword energy.
And if you’re talking about energy aura?
It becomes so strong that it can crush weapons instead.
Even though I invoked “tradition,” the reason Gwak Riyeon agreed so readily to a single exchange was because he believed his aura armor could block my attack.
[Truly shocking. Even though we used the same combination—Spiral Flow with Supreme Reign—like before, it actually cut through his aura. I didn’t even do anything different this time.]
That meant, at the very least, my offensive power was confirmed—as long as I could land a hit.
‘Giving up the Flame Crystal Orb was definitely the right move.’
At best, the Flame Crystal Orb’s firepower would’ve been Peak level. Fire-based attacks wouldn’t have worked on someone at Transcendent Peak.
Being able to land even one hit on a Transcendent Peak was far more valuable.
Having achieved the best possible result for today, I returned home in high spirits.
***
After Sado Hwan left, Gwak Riyeon headed to the Demon Medical Hall.
Normally, even with a reservation, it was hard to get treatment there—but not when you were the head of the most powerful family in the cult. On top of that, he had a personal relationship with the Medical Demon.
“So this is the wound Sado Hwan gave you?”
The Medical Demon looked every bit the grumpy middle-aged man he resembled. In truth, he was much older, though he just looked middle-aged.
“Yes.”
“This is absurd.”
“I’m telling you, it’s true.”
“You mean he not only cut through your Nine Yin Aura Armor, but actually injured you? If it had gone in just a hair deeper, your arm would’ve been severed.”
“So you're saying he applied that much force precisely, with not an inch wasted...?”
The Medical Demon shook his head in disbelief.
“Impossible. I treated that brat back when he was still a snot-nosed kid.”
“And?”
“For some reason, every one of his meridians was completely blocked.”
“You mean... severed meridians? The cursed affliction that supposedly cannot be cured?”
“Exactly. As soon as I diagnosed him, that older brother of his snatched him away and I never saw him again.”
“Maybe it was a misdiagnosis?”
The Medical Demon looked like he’d just heard blasphemy.
“Do you know who I am? I’m The Medical Demon. Are you saying I was wrong?”
“You weren’t wrong at the time, surely.”
“Still, it doesn’t change anything. Besides... almost every doctor who examined Sado Hwan is now either missing or dead.”
“Eliminated to silence them, huh? That alone confirms it was a case of severed meridians.”
But that only made things more mysterious.
“And yet, that can't be.”
“Why not?”
“The martial technique Sado Hwan used today was the fully realized form of an insight I’ve only recently begun to grasp.”
“An insight?”
Gwak Riyeon nodded.
“Rotating qi to exponentially amplify destructive power. But controlling such spinning qi is extremely difficult—I've been struggling with it myself. There’s no way someone with severed meridians could do that.”
“There is one possibility.”
“What is it?”
“If, by some miracle, his severed meridians were healed.”
It was a shocking claim.
Severed meridians were a curse—a congenital defect in one’s qi pathways, believed to be impossible to fix. That’s why people called it a cursed destiny.
But if not, there was no other explanation.
“Those born with severed meridians lose all access to martial arts, gaining incredible talent instead—almost as if it's the price for that potential.”
“But if that person recovered their meridians, then that would explain Sado Hwan’s explosive growth.”
“Exactly. Sado Hwan may have found a way to heal severed meridians.”
That would be a groundbreaking discovery.
To any martial artist—or martial family—severed meridians were a curse. Especially within the cult, where strength determined everything.
Sado Hwan might hold the key to curing it.
“I’d drag him in and make him spill the truth right now if I could... but unfortunately, he just had to be close with that Poison Demon bastard. How infuriating.”
The Medical Demon and the Poison Demon were the worst of enemies. Which meant he couldn’t just summon Sado Hwan and interrogate him.
“Is your pride really that important? If he can cure severed meridians, wouldn’t that be of immense value to you too?”
“Gguh... True, but how am I supposed to persuade someone who’s already chummy with the Poison Demon?”
“Tsk tsk. And what good is your brilliant mind, then?”
“You little punk. You’ve got no respect for your elders.”
“That’s how frustrated I am. The answer’s simple.”
“What is it?”
“Sado Hwan has a low ranking and is relatively young, which means he lacks a solid support base. Especially outside his clan.”
Gwak Riyeon continued.
“So all you need to do is bring a few gifts, say a few words of support—and just like that, he’ll be yours.”