Looking into the woman's eyes, Seo-jun had a single thought:

Is she about to pull a knife on me?

He couldn’t figure out why she was so furious. Sure, he had kneed her in the face, but was that really enough to make her react this way?

“Excuse me,” he started.

“…”

“Did I do something wrong? We were both victims, so why are you acting like this?”

“Wrong? Ha, wrong! You’re seriously asking that?”

The woman’s eyes burned with hatred as she glared at him. She grabbed the collar of her clothing and pulled it down, revealing her pale skin. Seo-jun paused for a moment, but then his eyes locked onto the blue and red bruises covering her body, and his eyebrows shot up.

The bruises were clearly from a severe beating. These weren’t just the marks of someone who had been hit a few times; these were the kind of bruises that suggested she had barely escaped death.

“You smashed my face…! My tendons were severed, and I had to take on the kind of clients even cheap prostitutes wouldn’t accept! My body is ruined, my face destroyed! If it weren’t for you…! If my face had been fine, I wouldn’t be in this situation!”

It was a harsh truth, but in a back-alley brothel, beauty was one of the most important assets.

If a courtesan was beautiful, she was treated better, even within the same brothel. Take Maewol, who was rumored to be the most beautiful courtesan here. Her tendons hadn’t been cut; she was just kept under tighter surveillance.

It was better for the brothel owners to keep a prized courtesan under close watch than to let the lower-ranked ones suffer.

Not that such surveillance was necessarily a bad thing—it also meant there were many eyes watching, which translated to protection. Beautiful courtesans were selective about their clients, and if any client became violent, the guards would intervene immediately.

The woman’s situation was the complete opposite. Her tendons had been severed, making it difficult for her to walk, and instead of stopping violent clients, the brothel encouraged them, charging extra for the abuse.

To make matters worse, the woman barely earned any money from this ordeal. It was a struggle just to get by, and at this rate, it wouldn’t be long before she died.

“And you ask if you did something wrong?”

Her gaze, filled with murderous intent, bored into Seo-jun, who scratched his head.

“Well… I didn’t hit you that hard.”

Honestly, saying her face was ruined seemed like an exaggeration. It had probably just been swollen for a while.

“Besides, it’s not like you were all that pretty to begin with. If you had been, they would’ve waited for your face to heal.”

“…What?”

There was a moment of stunned silence. Even Maewol, who had been listening from a distance, blinked in shock and covered her mouth.

“And if you’re going to blame someone, blame those Black Tiger Sect thugs. Why are you coming at me? I almost got gutted, you know.”

“You… did you really just say that?”

“Yes.”

Seo-jun nodded, and the woman’s face turned bright red. Her already furious expression now looked like she was about to explode.

Just as she took a step toward him, eyes blazing with anger, Chun-bong stepped in front of her.

“That’s enough. Don’t direct your anger at the wrong person.”

“Hah… Haha… What is this?”

The woman let out a hollow laugh, her eyes gleaming dangerously, as if a knife fight was imminent.

But Chun-bong wasn’t the least bit intimidated. She drew her sword and pointed it at the woman’s neck, the blade biting just enough to draw a bead of blood.

“Know your place. This person isn’t someone you can treat lightly. There’s a limit to how much you can push the blame.”

“You…”

A trickle of blood ran down the woman’s neck as the sword dug deeper. Chun-bong’s eyes were sharp, and her reaction was intense enough to surprise even Seo-jun.

“Hey, hey. It’s fine. I’m not bothered by it.”

After all, the reason Seo-jun had sought out the woman wasn’t out of guilt—it was pure curiosity about what had happened to her.

Whether she resented him or not didn’t matter. If she did try to attack him, he’d deal with it then.

“Our Chun-bong is such a good girl, isn’t she?”

“…You’re such a pain, even when I’m on your side.”

With a snort, Chun-bong sheathed her sword. Seo-jun patted her head and then looked over at Maewol, who was standing quietly in the background.

“Let’s meet again sometime.”

“Oh my, I’ll be sure to welcome you warmly then,” Maewol replied with a flirtatious smile that Seo-jun found more than a little uncomfortable. He subtly positioned Chun-bong in front of him to maintain a safe distance from Maewol.

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

As they left, the bruised woman glared after them with a look that could kill.

•  

On the way home, Seo-jun decided to cheer up the slightly sulking Chun-bong by giving her a piggyback ride.

“Hey! Stop it! I told you to stop!”

Despite her protests, Seo-jun knew she secretly enjoyed it.

With Chun-bong on his back, they finally arrived home, where he gently set her down in their room.

“Oh, our Chun-bong has gotten a bit heavier.”

“…I’m going to kill you.”

“Ah, my bad.”

Waving his hands in apology, Seo-jun plopped down on the floor, staring at her.

Chun-bong stared back, unflinching.

Thus began an impromptu staring contest. Seo-jun won.

“Ugh… Cheating bastard. You used your internal energy for a staring contest?”

“If you don’t like it, you can use it too.”

Seo-jun chuckled, coating his hand with the golden internal energy unique to the Golden Cloud Divine Art.

He hadn’t seen many martial arts techniques yet, but he knew that the Golden Cloud Divine Art was quite distinctive.

“So, continuing from earlier—yeah, I get that copying other people’s martial arts too obviously will get me into trouble.”

“But?”

“Yeah, but is it okay to use this? The Golden Cloud Divine Art.”

It sounded like nonsense at first, but Chun-bong understood perfectly, and she let out a bitter laugh while shaking her head.

“No, you can’t use it. Not outside.”

“Outside? You mean outside the back alleys?”

“Yeah. Honestly, it doesn’t matter much around here. The Divine Sword Gold Clan wasn’t very active outside, so hardly anyone around here would recognize it.”

But if they were to leave this area and head to a major city, it would be a different story.

“Anyone who’s seen our clan’s members even a few times would recognize it immediately.”

“I see…”

Seo-jun fell into thought.

The reason it would be troublesome if someone recognized the Golden Cloud Divine Art wasn’t particularly complicated. They still didn’t know which group had destroyed the Divine Sword Gold Clan.

Since they didn’t know how the culprits might react upon discovering a survivor, it was better to be cautious.

As Seo-jun pondered, Chun-bong watched him closely before speaking again.

“I mentioned before that the ones who destroyed the Divine Sword Gold Clan might have been from the righteous sects, but that’s not entirely true.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I sensed an evil energy. It’s likely the work of demonic sects.”

Their eyes met. Even as Chun-bong spoke about the demonic sects, her gaze still held a shadow of doubt.

Seo-jun, now more attuned to Chun-bong’s reactions, could tell she had more to say.

“And?”

He scooped her up and sat her between his legs, her back facing him. She didn’t even resist, confirming that she really was feeling down.

Feeling sorry for her, he gently stroked her soft cheeks as she continued.

“But the righteous sects are still suspicious. Those demonic sect bastards… they knew too much about the Divine Sword Gold Clan’s situation. And the righteous sects should have had enough time to send reinforcements, but no one showed up.”

“Are you saying there was a traitor?”

“Probably. Whether it was someone inside the Divine Sword Gold Clan or within the Murim Alliance, I don’t know. Or maybe they just didn’t like our clan.”

Bitter anger and deep resignation. These were heavy emotions for such a small girl to carry.

Seo-jun leaned forward, resting his chin on the top of her head. She whined about the weight but didn’t seem to mind otherwise.

It was strange how she had been so drawn to him from the start. Maybe they had met each other at a time when neither had the strength to keep their guard up, and they just clicked.

“That’s why I hate them too. Maybe the Murim Alliance’s response was delayed due to a traitor, but the other sects must have known what was happening. They usually act like they’d do anything for us, but when it mattered, they just ignored us. Those hypocrites. They pretend to be noble but are nothing more than selfish cowards.”

“Yeah, they’re bastards.”

“Right? Those bastards. They all deserve to be wiped out.”

“That sounds good. Should I go and take care of them for you?”

“No, I’ll be the one to cut their throats.”

Chun-bong chuckled and leaned back against him. She really was adorable in her own way.

When Seo-jun playfully nibbled on her head, she grumbled in a way that reminded him of a small, feisty dog. Despite her tough exterior, she had a side to her that was endearing, almost like a tiny hamster in her demeanor.

“Well, anyway… Should we pay a visit to the Cheongha Sect tomorrow?”

“Cheongha Sect? You mean the Cheongha Sect you mentioned earlier?”

“Oh, right, Cheongha Sect.”

The Cheongha name he’d used earlier was actually the name of a sword technique.

“Why would you go there? You know it’s going to lead to a fight.”

“I have my reasons.”

The mention of reasons reminded Seo-jun of something he had almost forgotten. With all the chaos lately, it had completely slipped his mind.

“Actually, never mind the Cheongha Sect for now. We should visit the Black Tiger Sect first.”

“Why would we go there?”

“We need to move.”

“Move there? What about the bodies? And that place is way too big.”

“Hey, trust me, I’ve got a plan.”

As for the bodies, they could just raid another Black Path sect for manpower to clean things up. And there was something else Seo-jun had been wanting to try.

“Alright, Chun-bong, shall we get ready for bed?”

“…Can you stop talking like that? It’s creepy.”

“Hehe, I think I’ll just hold you while we sleep.”

“It’s too hot. No thanks.”

So cold-hearted.

•  

The next morning, Seo-jun woke up to find Chun-bong curled up in his arms.

She was like a little squirrel, snug and warm, nestled against him. When he tried to get up, she grumbled in her sleep, so he held her close again and continued his thoughts from the night before.

‘A martial art to replace the Golden Cloud Divine Art.’

Chun-bong had said it didn’t matter around here, but he knew it was better to be prepared. It couldn’t hurt to have something ready just in case.

And just because he stopped using the Golden Cloud Divine Art didn’t mean he would lose the insights he had gained from it, so it wasn’t a major loss.

‘For now, I’ll keep the foundation of the Golden Cloud Divine Art…’

On top of that, he would blend in the Celestial Cloud Art. The two techniques were a natural pair, with the Celestial Cloud Art focusing on balancing the yin and yang energies, making it a perfect complement to the Golden Cloud Divine Art. Mixing the two wasn’t difficult.

‘I could also incorporate the essence of the Clear Flowing Sword… Maybe even adapt its style.’

The Clear Flowing Sword was surprisingly powerful, more like a raging river than a gentle stream.

A raging river and a sky that alternates between light and dark.

While there were still gaps in his understanding, he was starting to get a feel for it.

‘Eventually, I’ll learn other martial arts and blend them together. If I mix enough good techniques, I’ll come up with something unique.’

Normally, this would be considered madness, but Seo-jun had confidence.

When it came to anything involving qi, he could shape it to his will.

One day, when his martial art was complete, it would be truly his own. Though it was still too early to decide, he already had a name in mind…

‘The Merged Origin Divine Art.’

That seemed like the right name for it.