Crash!

Lightning bolts struck down from all directions.

The electric current that swept across the ground left behind searing traces, burning everything in its path.

Were they being fired from the sky?
No, it wasn’t real lightning.

These were bolts shaped by inner energy.
The level of concentration was so high that the gathered energy was visible to the naked eye.

In just a fraction of a second, dozens of energy strands
took the form of lightning and shot forward.

‘What is this…?’

Jang Sun-yeon took a step back,
drawing his sword with a sharp hiss.

Wooong—

The sword's hum resonated.
Jang Sun-yeon had grown much stronger, having surpassed a critical wall in his family's unique sword technique.

He swung his sword through the descending energy.

Wooong—!

The sword's hum spread out, amplifying the force around him.
His swordsmanship succeeded in cutting through a few strands of lightning.

Crack!

“Ugh…!”

But it wasn’t enough to erase all of them,
and the remaining lightning tore through the surrounding area.

Jang Sun-yeon dodged the attacks by using his footwork technique,
and immediately cut down another bolt of lightning.

As he parried, a question formed in his mind.

‘What’s going on?’

Even as he wondered, the barrage of lightning didn’t stop.

He had no choice but to continuously swing his sword to fend them off.

‘How did she change so much?’

Something was wrong.

The woman he faced now, commanding the lightning,
was not the same woman he had met during the Yongbong Assembly.

The difference in their levels was staggering.

Back then, he had already considered her swordsmanship impressive.
Though her sword was crude and cold,
her movements flowed as gracefully as a dance.

That was how she had earned the nickname Sword Dancer.
Her swordsmanship resembled a dancer’s fluid movements, synchronized with an instrument.

Some had even said that if Gu Hui-bi, the Sword Peak’s daughter, hadn’t existed,
Namgung Bia might have taken the Sword Peak title instead.

Jang Sun-yeon had dismissed it as nonsense.
But now...

Could he still say that after seeing her now?

‘How did she change so much?’

At the time, Namgung Bia was at the edge of first-class martial artists,
but now she had surpassed that wall, just like Jang Sun-yeon.

He could understand that.
Their levels had been similar, and he too had crossed the threshold.

But even among those at the same level,
there was always a difference.

Such was the case between Namgung Bia and Jang Sun-yeon.

‘Why…!’

The more lightning he cut down, the more surged forward.
As he swung his sword, using his footwork to weave through the onslaught,
Namgung Bia hadn’t moved an inch from her original position.

Her expression remained calm.

To control such immense power would require extreme precision,
yet all she showed were slight movements of her fingers and eyes.

It was as if…

As if she were arrogantly suggesting that this was more than enough to handle him.

‘How dare she…!’

Jang Sun-yeon gritted his teeth.

This was the same woman who had once lost to him in the martial tournament.
His goal was to surpass figures like Dormant Dragon, Sword Dragon, and Sword Peak.

Lastly...

‘The True Dragon.’

He had thought all that remained were a few lowly scoundrels who showed him nothing but malice.
Namgung Bia wasn’t someone he had accounted for.

He had only intended to show her his superiority
because she had slighted him in the past.

‘She was also associated with that guy.’

Why was it that everyone related to that man
always seemed to provoke his temper?

‘I can’t accept this.’

Especially not struggling against someone he had once defeated.

Jang Sun-yeon couldn’t accept it.

Wooong!

He amplified his sword energy even further,
focusing his footwork to dodge the barrage of lightning.

“...”

Namgung Bia, watching him closely, tilted her head slightly,
and then moved her fingers delicately, tracing something in the air.

Crackle—!

“…!”

The strands of lightning suddenly split apart,
doubling in number as they shot toward Jang Sun-yeon.

In that brief moment,
she had managed to refine and adjust the energy she had already released.

Her level of control over her inner energy was absurd.

The bolts of lightning split into even more strands,
raining down on him in every direction.

Having already committed to his footwork,
Jang Sun-yeon couldn’t change direction to avoid them.
He halted his sword’s hum and summoned his qi barrier,
using his sword energy to block the lightning.

Unable to dodge the attack,
he had no choice but to endure it with his barrier.

Crack!

“…Guh…!”

The moment the lightning struck his barrier,
he felt an intense shock, and his barrier trembled violently.

The energy in each bolt was incredibly dense.
Countless bolts continued to pour down on him,
eventually landing directly on his body.

Boom!

A thunderous explosion echoed as dust and debris filled the air.
Dozens of lightning bolts struck the ground simultaneously,
spreading residual electric energy and causing tremors.

Amidst the cloud of dust that spread in all directions,
there was only a tense silence.

Wooong…

The low hum of a sword broke the quiet.

Whoosh!

The blast of wind scattered the dust, revealing the scorched ground below.
The charred earth made it clear just how powerful the lightning had been.

“…Huff…”

At the center of the destruction, Jang Sun-yeon stood,
breathing heavily, with shallow cuts covering his body.

‘I blocked it.’

Everything outside the radius of his qi barrier had been blackened,
but the area he had defended remained relatively intact.

It had been a hastily formed barrier,
but he had somehow managed to hold it.

Jang Sun-yeon’s eyes glinted as he gathered his energy.

‘If she’s unleashed this much, she must be out of energy by now.’

After such an intense barrage of lightning,
he assumed that Namgung Bia’s reserves would be nearly depleted.

If he had blocked it all,
then now was his time to strike.

He was certain of it.

But then…

Step.

He heard a soft footstep behind him,
and the air suddenly grew heavy.

“…What?”

Panicking, he jerked his head up to search for Namgung Bia,
but she was no longer where she had been standing.

Had she fled?

He quickly extended his senses to locate her.

He sent his qi outward like a spiderweb,
and before long, he found her.

She was behind him.

Namgung Bia stood directly behind him.

“…!”

Swallowing his shock, Jang Sun-yeon tried to swing his sword.
No, he tried to.

Rumble!

“Guh…!”

The moment he moved,
his body was seized by a crushing pressure, freezing him in place.

‘…No way…!’

It was a familiar sensation.

During the martial tournament,
he had felt the same force while fighting Namgung Bia.

It was the secret technique of the Namgung Clan,
a martial art known as Emperor Sword Form.

To turn inner energy into pure pressure,
and shape that pressure into a martial form—
it was the expression of the presence of a king.

This was the true Emperor Sword Form,
something he hadn’t experienced in their fight against the Thunder Dragon.

Thud.

His knee hit the ground as his body involuntarily knelt.
He couldn’t withstand the crushing force.

“Ugh…”

Sweat soaked his back,
and his inner energy couldn’t move under the pressure.

The Emperor Sword Form Namgung Bia had used before
was nothing like the one she was displaying now.

Back then, it had merely made movements difficult,
but now…

“Huff… Huff…”

Now, he couldn’t even control his inner energy.

The problem was…

‘Even after unleashing all that lightning, she still has this much energy left?’

At most, a year or two had passed since their last encounter.
How had she changed so much in such a short time?

It seemed as though her energy hadn’t diminished at all.

To project energy into forms like lightning or fire
required an enormous amount of inner strength.
Even a martial artist who had unlocked their middle dantian
and broadened their energy reservoir would struggle to sustain such power for long.

The fact that her energy hadn’t faltered
was a testament to how finely she controlled it.

This ultimately revealed the vast difference in their skill levels.

‘This is impossible…!’

She hadn’t even drawn her sword yet,
and here he was, unable to defeat not only the True Dragon
but even the woman standing by his side?

It was unthinkable.

“Huff… Huff…”

His veins bulged as he struggled to move.
The pressure was so intense that it felt as though his body would break.

Jang Sun-yeon tried to stand up.
He couldn’t just kneel here.

Just then…

As he flailed, a slender white hand reached toward him and…

Pluck!

“…!”

Snatched the sash from his belt.

The moment it was taken,
the overwhelming pressure on his body disappeared.

“Gasp…!”

The suffocating weight of the Emperor Sword Form vanished,
and Jang Sun-yeon finally caught his breath.

But only for a moment.

He quickly turned to look for Namgung Bia,
unsure of what she would do next.

However…

She simply looked at him with the same expression,
then turned to leave, as if the fight was already over.

“…Namgung Bia…”

Jang Sun-yeon called out to her,
but she only glanced back at him before resuming her steps,
as if she had finished her business.

The match had already been decided.

“…Where are you going…?!”

Unable to hold back, Jang Sun-yeon shouted.

Namgung Bia paused in her steps and looked back at him.

“We haven’t crossed swords yet.”

Jang Sun-yeon knew.
He knew that this woman was far stronger than he had anticipated.
He knew that even if they crossed swords now,
he had little chance of victory.

But his pride wouldn’t allow him to back down.

Jang Sun-yeon had always been the victor.
Even now.
Even at the very end.

“I haven’t even shown you my true strength…”

“I’m not interested.”

Namgung Bia’s cold voice interrupted him.
He was left speechless.

Her tone was icy, devoid of any emotion.

“No matter what strength you possess,
I’m not interested in your sword.”

The only reason she had drawn her sword was out of courtesy for the duel.
Namgung Bia had no interest in the man standing exhausted before her.

“Your sword is boring.”

Even disregarding the foul stench
and the unpleasant look in his eyes,
his sword held no appeal.

Not even a little.

“I remember now who you are.”

The moment she had drawn her sword,
Namgung Bia had recalled who he was.

She couldn’t remember his name,
but she remembered the duel they had once fought.

“But I’ll forget again.”

And that was all.

“Your sword is worse than before. I have no interest.”

“…What?”

Jang Sun-yeon’s eyes widened at her words.

Worse than before?

That couldn’t be.
He had surpassed the wall and reached the pinnacle.
His martial arts had grown to a level incomparable to what they had been.

What nonsense was she spouting?

“Are you insulting me…?”

That was the only way Jang Sun-yeon could take it.
It was a blow to his pride, an insult.

Hearing such words from someone he hadn’t even considered a rival only made it worse.
How dare she speak to him like that.

But Namgung Bia didn’t respond to his question.
She simply walked away,
as if the victory she had claimed meant nothing to her.

As she grew more distant,
Jang Sun-yeon wrestled with his thoughts.

‘Should I use the divine artifact…?’

The divine artifact that lay dormant within his body…

He had been warned not to use it carelessly before fully synchronizing with it.
He had refrained from using it unless it was absolutely necessary.

But now…

Should he use it?

‘If I use it, I’ll be able to show her…’

I’ll show her that I’m not someone to be looked down upon.
That I’m the one who should be looking down from above.

‘…’

As his thoughts churned,
Jang Sun-yeon bit down hard on his lip,
causing blood to spill.

His bloodshot eyes were filled with pressure.

Even his trembling shoulders ached from holding back his rage.

Eventually…

Jang Sun-yeon suppressed the urge.

Watching Namgung Bia disappear into the distance,
he could do nothing but breathe heavily.

‘I must endure.’

I can’t ruin everything over this.
The humiliation, the anger…
I’ll deal with it all later.

Jang Sun-yeon forced a smile.

If he started smiling now,
maybe by the time he met with others,
he’d be able to produce a natural smile.

‘…Sword Dancer.’

She irritated him just as much as the True Dragon,
if not more.

No, perhaps she irritated him even more than the True Dragon.

‘I need to find him faster.’

The descendant of Zhuge,
Zhuge Jinsun.

He was said to be here.

Was he in Group 1, like Jang Sun-yeon, or in Group 2?

He had already received the description.

There was no way Zhuge Jinsun had failed the entrance test.
If he had hidden his identity and survived until now,
he must have the strength to back it up.

As Jang Sun-yeon tried to calm his breathing and suppress his emotions,
he slowly rose to his feet.

‘Wait for me.’

This humiliation, this anger, this disgrace…
I’ll remember it all, and when the time comes,
I’ll repay them in full.

Wiping away the blood,
Jang Sun-yeon dragged his exhausted body forward.

He still needed to collect two more sashes before it was too late.

   
   ******************
   

After Namgung Bia took the sash from Jang Sun-yeon and left,
someone had been watching the entire scene from afar.

“...”

The observer watched until Jang Sun-yeon headed off in a different direction,
only then closing their eyes.
The sword in their hand was also quietly sheathed.

• Why didn’t you intervene?

 

A voice echoed in her mind.
Upon hearing it, Wi Seol-ah opened her eyes.

She whispered softly in response.

“If I had stepped in, she would have been angry.”

If she had interfered in the duel,
Namgung Bia would have been upset.

That’s why Wi Seol-ah didn’t step in.
And just as she had believed,
Namgung Bia overcame the challenge with ease.

She hadn’t even seemed to consider it a real threat.

‘...She’s strong.’

As always, Namgung Bia was strong.
She had been back then, and now was no different.

Her martial arts and her unwavering convictions—
her belief in her heart and in herself remained steadfast.

Of course, if at the very last moment,
Jang Sun-yeon had gathered his energy and launched a surprise attack,
Wi Seol-ah would have stepped in.

Even if Namgung Bia would have been angry.

As Wi Seol-ah stood quietly in the shade, watching the sunlight,
a question she had long wondered about came to mind.

‘Sister... Do you hate Bia unnie?’

Whenever she thought of Namgung Bia,
a strange, indescribable feeling stirred inside her.

• ...

 

Wi Seol-ah knew that this feeling came from the other presence within her.
She just couldn’t tell if it was hatred or some other emotion.

• No... I don’t hate her.

 

That was unexpected.
Wi Seol-ah had always thought she harbored hatred for Namgung Bia.

‘Then what is this feeling?’

• Guilt.

 

Wi Seol-ah’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer.
It wasn’t what she had anticipated.

She had occasionally dreamt of her experiences,
but she could never fully grasp them.

She didn’t know if they were visions of her own future or something else entirely.
That too was unclear.

All she knew was that these stories were related to her.

But guilt?

‘...You feel guilty toward Bia unnie?’

• ...

Why?

Wi Seol-ah was curious, but she received no answer.
There was only a faint recollection.

Not of the current Namgung Bia,
but of the day she had faced the Demon Sword Queen.