Unlike Gongbok, Akbulhwi wasn’t capable of completely ignoring my attacks.

In the vision of the future I had seen, I had severed one of his arms.

Gongbok was stronger than Akbulhwi.

It could be a matter of compatibility, but at least in the context of my own battles, Gongbok was a far more difficult opponent.

That didn’t mean Akbulhwi would be easy to defeat.

The violet sword energy emanating from his blade was all too real.

No matter how strong I was, it posed a significant threat.

Just as my claws could cut through his arm, his sword could do the same to mine.

To defeat Akbulhwi, I would have to give everything I had.

“What are you thinking about?” he said. “I’ve shown you my strength. Isn’t it only natural for you to reveal the power you’re hiding?”

He had already realized I was holding back.

My feelings toward him went beyond simple anger.

If I failed to stop him, my precious followers would perish, and everyone connected to me would suffer.

No matter what, I had to kill him.

The ace up my sleeve was enlargement.

Over the past month, I had been practicing miniaturization, but if I released it now, I could expand to a size rivaling Gongbok.

But this technique was meant for Gongbok.

Even if I killed Akbulhwi, it wouldn’t be the end.

To end this war, Gongbok had to fall too.

The Snake Queen and Bird King were holding Gongbok at bay, but they weren’t inflicting serious damage.

They were merely preventing him from advancing with constant attacks.

While their strikes couldn’t pierce his thick skin, they were able to push his massive body back.

The Rock Serpents, presumably his minions, were crushed by the collateral damage.

However, if the battle dragged on, Gongbok would likely withstand their attacks and close the distance.

I needed to take Akbulhwi down without using enlargement.

Only then could I save everyone.

“Grrr…”

I planted my feet firmly on the ground and wrapped my claws in sword energy.

If my sword energy clashed with his sword aura, the outcome was obvious.

Which meant avoiding direct clashes was key.

I had to dodge all his attacks with the fastest movements possible.

And every one of my strikes had to land.

“If severing one of my arms will allow you to fight at your best, so be it,” Akbulhwi said as he walked toward me, his pace slow but deliberate.

“I will respect your decision.”

His movement was unhurried, yet there wasn’t a single opening in his stance.

This was the strength of a sect leader and one of the ten great martial artists under Heaven.

My whole body trembled, but I forced myself to push through the fear.

Paaat!

Just as I was about to charge at him—

Fwoooosh!

Kwaaaang!

A tremendous wave of fire erupted between me and Akbulhwi.

A blazing flame shaped like the character for “big.”

I immediately recognized whose flames these were.

“I wanted to tell the kid to stop being so stubborn,” Red Dragon said, walking toward me in her human form. “How did you know I swallowed the poison and prepared for this?”

Tang Soyeong’s poison had completely neutralized the poison that once consumed her.

“It’s been so long… since I’ve felt anything like this. No, maybe I’ve never felt this way before.”

Fwoooosh!

Once again, flames roared, rising higher.

Suaaak!

Akbulhwi’s sword slashed through the flames.

“Red Dragon. Have you finally betrayed us?” Akbulhwi said, glaring coldly at her.

“Betrayed? How ridiculous,” she replied, her blazing eyes locked onto him.

“Hey, kid.”

She addressed me as if holding back emotions that were about to burst forth.

“No, my divine beast.”

Fwoooosh.

“I’ll handle this.”

Was she really planning to face Akbulhwi alone?

Her intervention had certainly shifted the tide in our favor, but this was too dangerous.

Akbulhwi’s sword could easily pierce Red Dragon’s scales.

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t lose anyone?” she said with her usual smile.

“I’ll deal with Akbulhwi. You do what a divine beast is supposed to do.”

Even for Red Dragon, defeating Akbulhwi wasn’t a certainty.

But when our eyes met, I couldn’t argue.

In her gaze, I saw an unwavering resolve—a belief that she could face anyone, no matter how powerful.

“Geggek.”

As the divine beast of Gae Gak, I issued a command to my follower.

Don’t die.

And take responsibility for stopping him.

***

Akbulhwi stood still, staring at Red Dragon.

Red Dragon had betrayed them.

This meant she had neutralized the poison within her, something previously thought impossible.

Akbulhwi had verified multiple times that even Red Dragon's flames couldn’t destroy the poison. So, how had this happened?

Even if betrayal was a possibility, they had assumed that they would still stand to gain more from her actions and had not prepared an extensive countermeasure.

If she lost control and died, they could claim her neidan. Additionally, if she displayed such instability, it could shake Gomodo’s resolve.

“Was it all an act from the beginning? There’s no way she would’ve devised such a plan without confidence that the poison could be destroyed,” Akbulhwi murmured, finding the situation both amusing and frustrating.

He had let the leader of their enemies slip away.

To be precise, Akbulhwi hadn’t pursued him.

He hadn’t actively stopped Gomodo because there was no chance Gongbok would lose to him. And with Red Dragon before him, Akbulhwi couldn’t afford to divert his attention elsewhere.

Rather than chasing after Gomodo, fighting Red Dragon himself would bring them closer to victory.

After all, from what Akbulhwi knew, Red Dragon was a more troublesome opponent than Gomodo for Gongbok.

“Well, I did want to test my strength against you at least once,” he admitted.

Deep inside, a competitive spirit burned within him.

It wasn’t a mindset befitting the leader of a sect, but Akbulhwi was a martial artist before anything else.

“But do you think you can manage it?”

Akbulhwi spoke coldly.

“Will you dare to face my sword?”

Red Dragon, after staring for a long moment in the direction Gomodo had disappeared, bent down and picked up a random sword lying on the ground.

“You’re right. If I want to fight you, I’ll need to reduce my size.”

Fwoooosh.

Flames ignited around the sword in her hand.

“A sword? Do you think you can beat me with a sword?”

Without a word, Red Dragon assumed a stance.

Akbulhwi mirrored her movements, waiting for her to make the first move.

Taang!

Red Dragon struck first.

With swift movements, she swung her sword horizontally. Akbulhwi easily parried the attack with his own blade.

Kaaaang!

Flames and plum blossoms collided.

“You’ve learned a few tricks, haven’t you?”

The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Style unfolded in Akbulhwi’s hands.

A solitary plum blossom attracted a swarm of butterflies, and a subtle yet deadly aura began to radiate from it.

Kagagagak!

His profound inner energy manifested as faint, visible plum blossoms with each swing of his sword.

Red Dragon countered with her own interpretation of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Style.

Hers wasn’t flower (花) but fire (火).

Her fiery energy gathered around her sword, roaring as though it would incinerate Akbulhwi’s plum blossoms.

Suaaak!
Fwoooosh!

However, in terms of pure swordsmanship, Akbulhwi was the superior fighter.

The disparity in their weapons only widened the gap.

Once sword energy and sword aura came into play, the quality of the weapon might not seem significant.

But in a duel between masters of equal strength, even the smallest detail could decide the outcome.

While Akbulhwi wielded a treasured blade forged from volcanic steel, Red Dragon had picked up an unremarkable, nameless sword from the battlefield.

Kagak!
Fwoosh!

A plum blossom’s petal slashed across Red Dragon’s thigh.

Momentarily losing her balance, she staggered before regaining her composure and swinging her sword fiercely.

Fwoooosh!
Kwaaaang!

Akbulhwi moved swiftly, widening the gap between them again.

“Your spirit is commendable, but thinking you can beat me with a sword is sheer arrogance.”

Red Dragon exhaled heavily.

Though she had destroyed the poison within her, it wasn’t without cost.

A portion of her inner energy had been consumed, leaving her weaker than her usual self.

“You sure talk a lot!” she snapped.

Fwoooosh!

A rain of flames poured down, and pillars of fire erupted from the ground.

Kwaaaaang!

“Arghhh!”
“Ughhh!”

The plum blossom swordsmen fighting nearby suffered massive damage from her flames.

Baekrang dashed across the battlefield, imbuing Gomodo’s followers with icy energy, shielding them from the flames.

Her destructive power was overwhelming.

As a mid-level dragon species, Red Dragon’s strength rivaled that of the leader of Mount Hwasan.

But in a duel, her skills fell short of Akbulhwi’s.

As time passed, her flames began to weaken, while the scent of Akbulhwi’s plum blossoms grew stronger.

“Is this really all you’ve got? Why not return to your dragon form?”

Kaaaang!

“Haaah…”

Akbulhwi was undoubtedly powerful.

Her flames had failed to inflict significant damage, yet his sword repeatedly pierced her hardened scales.

The longer the battle dragged on, the more the scales tipped against her.

But Red Dragon didn’t give up.

Gritting her teeth, she lifted her sword once more.

“Still clinging to that sword, are you?”

Akbulhwi frowned.

Her swordsmanship was several levels below his.

After all, Red Dragon wasn’t human; she was a mystical being.

She couldn’t have truly mastered human swordsmanship.

Akbulhwi had once tried to teach her, but she had only shown a passing interest, never delving deeply into the techniques.

In other words, she was fighting Akbulhwi with skills she wasn’t even proficient in.

“What do you think you’re going to achieve with such half-baked swordsmanship?”

He was puzzled.

Why did she persist in using the sword?

He was the leader of Mount Hwasan.

Challenging him with a sword—his own domain—was absurd.

Moreover, her technique couldn’t even be called the Plum Blossom Sword Style.

“Half-baked, you say? That’s a little harsh,” she replied.

“If you don’t even understand the essence of the Hwasan sword, what else could you be?”

Red Dragon was eccentric.

She had joined Hwasan not to understand it, but because she liked its name.

A dragon who climbed the volcanic mountain simply because it suited her fancy.

Calling her fiery swordsmanship Plum Blossom Sword Style seemed like a mockery of Hwasan.

Suaaak!

This time, Akbulhwi struck first.

Each swing of his sword carried a faint scent of plum blossoms.

Plum Blossom Roadside, Plum Blossom Dance of Butterflies, Plum Blossom Radiance, Plum Blossom Guiding Path, Plum Blossom Falling Sickle, Plum Blossom in Droves, Plum Blossom in Chaos, Plum Blossom Bloody Rain, Plum Blossom Nine Variations.

Nine consecutive techniques aimed for Red Dragon’s neck.

Fwoosh!

Though she blocked them, her body accrued countless minor wounds.

Then came the tenth technique of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Style:

Plum Blossom in Full Bloom (梅花滿開).

Fwoooosh!

Akbulhwi’s sword slashed deeply into Red Dragon’s left shoulder.

Even Red Dragon couldn’t defend against this strike.

“Foolish. Destroying the poison must have weakened your body. It’s no wonder you can’t withstand my blade.”

Indeed, purging the poison had consumed a portion of her inner energy.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have suffered such a critical blow.

Fwoosh!

Without a word, Red Dragon cauterized her wound with flames, the acrid smell of burning flesh filling the air.

Suppressing her pain, she charged at Akbulhwi again.

Akbulhwi couldn’t understand her determination.

The difference in their skill was undeniable.

Strength-wise, they were nearly equal.

Even with her injuries, Red Dragon, as a mid-level dragon, was far stronger than any human.

Her raw power rivaled even Akbulhwi’s as one of the Ten Great Martial Artists.

In terms of sheer firepower, she surpassed him.

The only reason she was losing was her insistence on fighting sword-to-sword.

If she abandoned the sword and fought differently, she might stand a chance.

And yet, she stubbornly clung to the blade.

Kaaaang!

Their swords clashed once more.

Akbulhwi decided it was time to end this fight.

As he prepared to unleash Plum Blossom in Full Bloom again—

Fwoosh!

A deep wound opened on Akbulhwi’s thigh.

“Urgh!”

Instinctively, he swung his sword to create distance and retreated quickly.

“What… what just happened?”

Red Dragon smirked slightly.

Akbulhwi couldn’t comprehend what had just occurred.

Red Dragon’s swordsmanship was like a flame—wild, powerful, but predictable.

Her movements were far too exaggerated to land a decisive blow on someone of Akbulhwi’s caliber.

And yet, she had wounded him.

Had he let his guard down?

No, that wasn’t it.

“It seems a little pain helped me refocus. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, you know,” Red Dragon quipped, her words laced with a bitter smile.

Akbulhwi’s eyes narrowed, not because of her words but because of the technique she had just used.

The move she had performed was one he knew well.

A perfectly natural strike, like a plum blossom falling to the ground.

An attack so seamless, it was almost impossible to anticipate.

“…What sorcery is this?”

The technique was unmistakably part of the Plum Blossom Sword Style.

“Did you… just bloom a plum blossom?”

Red Dragon couldn’t possibly wield such a technique.

Not her.

Not the dragon who had mocked the very essence of Hwasan.

“You don’t even understand the nature of the plum blossom. How dare you show such a thing before me!”

For the first time, Akbulhwi was visibly enraged.

The Red Dragon he knew could never bloom a plum blossom.

The thought was unfathomable to him.

Ignoring his injuries, Akbulhwi surged forward, his sword moving with lightning speed.

Falling petals filled the air.

Plum Blossom in Chaos (梅花紛紛).

The killing blow, aimed squarely at Red Dragon’s neck.

What is a plum blossom?

Is it only a flower that blooms red?

Then why does Hwasan strive to bloom plum blossoms at all?

Hwasan is barren, a mountain of rock with no fertile soil for flowers.

The plum blossoms of Hwasan do not bloom from trees but from the indomitable will to create beauty in the harshest of conditions.

What Red Dragon had created—after surviving a brutal winter and standing tall into the spring—was no less worthy of the name.

Fwoooosh.

The technique she used, the essence she poured into her sword, bloomed a plum blossom unlike any other.

Plum Blossom Fragrance Across Ten Thousand Miles (梅花萬里香).

Fwoooosh!

A dragon who sought to reach the pinnacle of flame (火) had now ascended to bloom (花), filling the battlefield with the essence of plum blossoms.