Chapter 43: Chapter 43
Four days had passed since training began at the Seventh Small Palace.
Jang I-seo was mired in a serious dilemma.
The cause was Mao’s talent exceeding all expectations.
“I am a genius-! Hahaha-?”
FWOOM, THWACK! Mao sprinted toward the main building and was struck by the iron weight before he could count to one, sent tumbling across the ground.
“Huu.”
Jang I-seo’s sigh radiated profound irritation. He’d expected at least middling progress, but this level suggested no aptitude whatsoever. Instincts were hopeless. The weight of his steps had decreased by perhaps one don, roughly four grams at best.
Naturally, he could guess the reason.
“In my book, he’s a lost cause.”
At the voice beside him, he turned to find Sixth Young Master Maeng Hwi standing there, wiping cold sweat from his neck with a towel.
“So let me be honest with you, Adjutant Jang. I’ve been watching this whole time. Your skills are excellent. He doesn’t deserve you. So forget him and work with me instead, and…”
“Stupid bastard.”
“Huh… what?”
Jang I-seo blurted out his inner thoughts in a flash of irritation, then waved his hand at the startled boy, indicating it wasn’t directed at him.
“Ah, the Sixth Young Master should go to the annex and do personal training. Also, I noticed you keep tapping your index finger while thrusting your spear. That’s a bad habit. I’d have broken it by now.”
“Break? Wh-what?”
When Maeng Hwi asked, Jang I-seo strode forward and shouted.
“Seventh Young Master! How many times do I have to say it before you understand! Drop the weight! Ah, apologies. Go do your business, Sixth Young Master.”
“O-oh. Right. Good luck.”
Maeng Hwi swallowed dry and headed for the annex. Adjutant Jang absolutely despised the index finger tapping. One more observation to add to his file.
Meanwhile, Jang I-seo approached the sprawled Mao, crossed his arms, and spoke.
“Less than a month remains. Can you dodge with this?”
“Hey! I’m working my ass off, okay? Don’t you see these wounds?”
No, he didn’t. Clk! Mao pushed off the ground with both palms and sprang upright. From his pouty expression, he meant it. And Jang I-seo knew he was trying hard. That was precisely the problem.
“I’ll be blunt. The Seventh Young Master cannot dodge the Cult Leader’s finger wind. Absolutely not.”
“Why!”
“Why, he asks. Is that something to say right now?”
“Hey! I can do it!”
“No. You can’t.”
“That’s informally speaking!”
Jang I-seo turned away smoothly.
To others it might seem different, but Jang I-seo was a man whose five senses had reached the pinnacle.
Four days was enough to calculate the answer.
The conclusion, repeated for emphasis: impossible.
And the reason.
‘It’s not that he lacks talent. This bastard’s overwhelming internal energy is actually dulling his senses.’
That was it.
Senses arose from stimuli. To sharpen them, continuous crisis was necessary.
But Mao’s infinite extreme yang power didn’t heighten his senses in response to danger. It simply adapted.
Simply put.
“URYAAAAAH!”
Mao charged toward the main building again. Click. The ceiling opened. The iron weight plummeted.
FWOOM, THWACK!
“Kagh!”
Mao bounced out and tumbled across the ground. Normally, someone would writhe in agony and groan for a long while. Not him.
“Damn it!”
He sprang up as if nothing had happened and charged again. And hit the floor again. And rose unscathed once more.
This was exactly the problem.
‘Every time he’s struck, the extreme yang power instinctively burrows into the wound site. And each time, his bones and muscles grow denser, recovery accelerates. It even pools energy where it anticipates impact, bracing against the blow. This is similar to… a novice monk just beginning to learn Shaolin’s Indestructible Vajra Body.’
Indeed. His internal energy wasn’t teaching him to avoid danger. It was teaching him to endure it.
As a result, the agility he needed to develop never improved, no matter what.
Poking a fire-stoker into the sun. Would that produce any sensation? He might not even notice a fly passing by.
Meanwhile, his toughness only hardened. What should have been one attempt became dozens, easily. Not that it produced results.
“Jang I-seo. Am I really going to die by Father’s hand? You said I could do it. Huh? Tell me again. Really can’t?”
“…Dodging is impossible.”
“What?!”
As long as Mao possessed his extreme yang power, developing enough agility within a month to evade the Heavenly Demon’s finger wind was sheer fantasy.
But,
Jang I-seo looked down with steady eyes and spoke.
“Surviving is possible.”
“How?!”
“Just endure it with your body. Don’t fall.”
“Endure…?”
“Yes. That’s all it takes.”
Jang I-seo surveyed the main building, latrine, and entrance in a sweeping glance.
If agility wouldn’t work, they’d win with durability.
“From now on, endure unconditionally. The only way the Seventh Young Master survives is to keep his eyes wide open and withstand it.”
“But… that’s just telling me to take a beating. No way. It’s uncool. Teach me something proper. Footwork, blade techniques, anything!”
As Mao erupted, Jang I-seo shook his head with a calm expression.
“Well, can’t be helped then. But what a shame. This is something only Lord Mao can do.”
“Only me…?”
Mao’s gullible ears perked up. Jang I-seo caught this and replied dismissively.
“Yes. Because it’s not simply enduring. But never mind. No need to explain since you don’t want to learn.”
“What is it? Ah, what is it? Tell me. What.”
“Hmm… Keep your eyes wide open and endure.”
“Hey, you shit! How’s that different from just taking a beating!”
“Counterattack.”
THUMP! At Jang I-seo’s single word, Mao’s eyes shook. Jang I-seo spoke as if reciting a secret formula.
“Endure the attack while watching your opponent squarely. Then, before they can respond, drive one clean hit home. We call that a counterattack.”
“Fuck… that sounds convincing. Continue.”
“The Seventh Young Master’s More-the-Better Fist. If it connects, no one withstands it easily. But what good is it if they dodge? So aim for the moment they can’t dodge. Then it becomes the Seventh Young Master’s own ultimate technique.”
“My own ultimate technique…?! Something that incredible… can I really learn it? Jang I-seo, answer me.”
“Yes, well… you’re a genius.”
“A genius… heu heu, hahahaha! I am a genius! Genius! Fine. I’ll endure everything!”
“Great, go.”
“I’m going-!”
As Jang I-seo waved him off as if shooing a fly, Mao bolted toward the main building with eyes blazing.
Easy to handle, as always. Leave him be for now. Getting hit would reveal the answer.
“Hm?”
After solving one problem, he turned to find a familiar silhouette at the entrance. A woman whose curves made the narrow passage look even tighter.
“You’ve done something interesting to the palace.”
Her name for now was Jin-san, wearing a skin disguise. In reality, Third Young Lady Sa Hae-ryeong.
Jang I-seo smirked and studied her. His eyebrows rose slightly. He’d been curious how she’d handle the traps at the entrance.
‘Block or dodge?’
Her padded disguise left little room for maneuvering.
But,
Shff, shff.
Her choice defied expectation. She walked forward in a straight line with no visible evasion whatsoever. Jang I-seo’s eyes widened marginally.
STAB, STAB, STAB!
The iron bars shooting from both sides struck nothing but empty air, as if piercing an illusion. Despite the fact that she had clearly been standing right there.
‘The Phantom Shadow Steps…!’
The very footwork technique gifted to her by the Cult Leader. Jang I-seo instantly identified the light-body technique she’d employed.
The martial art so refined that merely walking could sever necks and fell trees, giving rise to ghost stories.
Not widely known, but it was one of the reasons Sa Hae-ryeong had earned the title Ice-Fire Sword Empress. A footwork technique that pushed the principle of illusion to its absolute limit, performing two movements simultaneously.
‘She dodged while walking. They say you can’t separate elegance from the Third Young Lady. To think she’d deploy the supreme art Phantom Shadow Steps just to walk in.’
Jang I-seo swallowed hard, flashed his best social smile, and waved.
“Hey. What brings you here?”
Sa Hae-ryeong approached with an impassive expression.
At her appearance, Mao turned to look and got smacked by the iron weight, bouncing out. Maeng Hwi, who’d been peeking through a cracked door, recoiled so hard he pitched forward.
“N-no. Why…”
Jang I-seo stole a sideways glance. Maeng Hwi had apparently recognized her skin disguise as well.
‘What is this? There’s nobody who doesn’t know. At this point, isn’t she basically asking me to see through it?’
As Jang I-seo feigned ignorance and turned his head, Sa Hae-ryeong regarded Maeng Hwi with cold eyes and spoke.
“I heard you opened the doors of the Heavenly Demon Palace, so I came to offer congratulations. But I didn’t expect guests.”
“Well, this side also has an uninvited guest.”
At his shrug, Sa Hae-ryeong fell silent and studied Maeng Hwi. The boy’s expression changed moment by moment. First surprise, then draining to white.
From the atmosphere, she was definitely using sound transmission…
“Um, hey. Mao. W-want to go to the latrine with your brother?”
“What are you, a kid? Why would I go the… oh. Let’s go. Let’s hurry, brother.”
“O-okay.”
This time even Mao’s face went pale. The two linked shoulders and marched off toward the latrine together. Two boys differing by a full head in height.
‘What on earth did you say to those kids?’
Jang I-seo let out a hollow laugh and looked at her. She feigned total innocence and said this.
“Got time?”
*
“Come in.”
Jang I-seo held the annex door open and gestured her in. The excessive courtesy made her pause briefly before entering.
“Do you enjoy doing unnecessary things?”
“Hmm. Occasionally, when I want extra credit?”
“Minus points. Drop it. I can’t stand it.”
“You don’t like special treatment, huh. Good. Then sit anywhere. No chairs yet. Haven’t brought them in. And the tea you just drank? Let’s call it on the house. Gotta be frugal.”
As Jang I-seo plopped down in the center of the floor with a bright smile, Sa Hae-ryeong wore the expression of someone encountering an alien species.
Was there truly no middle ground between kind and unkind in his head? This was a first for the Third Young Lady. The more she saw him, the stranger he got. A man with no predictable angle whatsoever.
Sa Hae-ryeong leaned against a pillar and offered a light greeting.
“Jegal Gwi-ryong’s handiwork? I’d heard whispers.”
Smirk. Naturally she’d heard. Jegal Gwi-ryong was her agent. He’d have reported long ago. But Jang I-seo shrugged with sly nonchalance.
“Oh, so you meet the old man too?”
“Occasionally.”
“Vile temper, but skilled.”
Of course. She’d told him to take good care of things. Sa Hae-ryeong nodded with satisfaction. Then changed the subject.
“Opening the doors of the Heavenly Demon Palace can’t have been easy. What method did you use?”
Was that why she’d come?
Jang I-seo’s lips curved upward.