The next day.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve stood in this spot.”

Standing atop the platform, Yeon Hojeong looked down at the training ground.

The Evil-Smiting Corps was lined up there in formation. In private, they were close enough to trade blood-chilling jokes, but right now, not a single person even let out a breath.

Yeon Hojeong looked at Je Gal Ahyeon beside him.

“Did you rest well?”

With a face still not free of fatigue, Je Gal Ahyeon muttered quietly,

“I slept for two straight days.”

“Feeling a little better now?”

“Do I look better?”

“No.”

“Then why ask when you know?”

“I know, but I wanted to wake you up a little. Looks like hidden weapons are about to start pouring out of your eyes.”

“Hmph.”

Well, this really was the first time in a while that every member of the Evil-Smiting Corps had gathered in one place. It wasn’t the kind of setting where anyone could openly show they were tired.

Yeon Hojeong spoke to the soldiers standing in formation.

“You all ate, right?”

“Yes!”

The thunderous response rang out, spread past the training ground, and echoed in every direction. It was so loud that even Yeon Hojeong instinctively shrank his neck.

What the hell is with these bastards?

He could feel all kinds of emotions in that one shout.

The one that came through most directly was anticipation.

While Yeon Hojeong had been gone, they had continued their flesh-chilling training with Mookbi. They had not simply trained in the yard. They had ridden horses through mountain paths, split into sides, and fought mountain warfare.

The training had been so fierce that people came away with serious injuries. Even after taking those wounds, they spent the nights discussing what each of them had done well and what they had done poorly, then drilled it thoroughly into themselves so they would not make the same mistakes in the next session.

Mookbi’s choice had been excellent.

She was strong, but her understanding of the martial arts of the Central Plains was not all that deep. Thanks to the principle that all streams eventually return to one source, the insight she occasionally showed was exceptional, but she could not examine the martial arts of this many soldiers one by one.

In other words, there had only been one way for her to properly train the Evil-Smiting Corps.

Real combat and unity.

They’ve been tempered well.

If Yeon Hojeong himself had suffered through a flesh-chilling mission, then the Evil-Smiting Corps had also trained with their lives on the line.

Now they finally look like a single body.

Because they had worked together so much, they now knew what the others had to do even without speaking.

But before they left for the mission, they had not possessed this degree of military aura.

“Vice Commander Mook.”

Mookbi, standing at the very front of the soldiers, raised her head.

“Yes.”

“You really worked hard.”

“Yes.”

Their military discipline was absolute, but Mookbi was still Mookbi. Even in front of everyone, she did not treat Yeon Hojeong as anyone special.

That was the Evil-Smiting Corps. It was not some awkward halfway measure. You could call it one of the Evil-Smiting Corps’ own distinctive traits.

“Well, it’s been a while since we all gathered, but the sunlight’s too good today to sit around drinking liquor with fancy snacks, isn’t it? So today, let’s take a look at how much your individual martial skill has grown.”

Color returned to the soldiers’ faces.

Their group capability had improved through training that resembled real battle, but even they themselves did not know how much their individual skill had grown.

And now their commander, a Transcendent Peak master who had long since far surpassed the level of the younger generation, was going to examine their martial arts in person. It was exactly what they had been hoping for.

“Peng Manho, step forward first!”

“Hm. The heat here is considerable.”

As he neared the Evil-Smiting Corps’ dedicated training ground, it felt as if the frigid winter air itself had turned hot.

Je Gal Munho smiled.

“It really is different when the commander shows up. A commander truly isn’t just something anyone can be.”

Walking along with his hands clasped behind his back, Je Gal Munho suddenly realized that something about the air in the area was strange.

Hm?

HOOOOOOONG.

The wind blowing past carried a fierce Killing Intent.

Je Gal Munho’s face hardened.

Killing Intent? Here, of all places, inside the Alliance of the Martial World?

PAAAAAK!

In an instant, Je Gal Munho unleashed his movement technique and shot toward the training ground.

Just then—

BOOM!

“Kraaaagh!”

With a monstrous explosion, a swordsman flew through the air and slammed into the training-ground wall.

THUD!

There had been no chance to use a safe landing technique. The swordsman crashed straight to the ground and could only writhe there without getting up.

“What in the world...”

Mouth hanging open as he stared at the swordsman, Je Gal Munho turned toward the training yard.

There stood a young man with a gigantic axe resting on his shoulder.

“Your sword technique got insanely sharper, so why do you have this many more openings than before?”

“Ughhh!”

Wriggling on the ground, Yunho finally managed to force himself upright and lean against the wall. His complexion was pale, and his breathing was terribly ragged. It looked like he was in no state to stand.

“And now, lastly.”

Yeon Hojeong looked at Okcheong, who had been seated off to one side.

A tense-faced Okcheong rose to his feet.

“I ask for your guidance.”

“Good.”

Shiiing.

Drawing his sword smoothly, Okcheong raised his True Qi.

WOOOOOOONG.

A blue light shimmered over the Pine-Pattern Ancient Sword, the blade that represented the Wudang Sect.

A strange light flashed in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

Oh?

Okcheong was looking at him with a tense face, but his gaze was markedly clearer and deeper than before.

He was tense, but there was no excessive force in his body. At the same time, he had not relaxed completely either. It was, in truth, an ideal state of tension.

Would you look at this bastard?

The Mixed-Origin Qi rising from the Pine-Pattern Ancient Sword gave off the vast and profound feeling of a calm sea. It felt similar to the past, yet at its root, the True Qi was fundamentally different somehow.

Qi moved according to intent, and depending on one’s concentration, even its very nature could change.

Okcheong’s Mixed-Origin Qi was the same. In the past, his Mixed-Origin Qi had been wholly directed toward the pursuit of the Way, grounded in an endlessly profound principle. But now, that same Mixed-Origin Qi was honed with savage sharpness for the sake of complete martial pursuit.

The corner of Yeon Hojeong’s mouth curled upward.

I didn’t expect this at all.

In truth, if one had to pick a member of the Evil-Smiting Corps whose skill had not lived up to his reputation, the prime example would have been Okcheong.

As the disciple of Takmuja, the Sword Immortal and one of the Thirteen Seats of the Supreme Heavens, his seniority alone was enough to make people across the martial world treat him with respect. And yet, with all that status and all that martial art, he had been unable to receive even a single move from Yeon Hojeong. He had been style without substance, through and through.

The current Okcheong was no longer the Okcheong of back then.

He changed the very nature of his True Qi just by changing his purpose. If that’s the case...

Yeon Hojeong nodded.

“Come.”

Whoosh!

Before the word had even fully left his mouth, Okcheong closed in.

The movement at the tip of the foot that kicked off the ground was astonishingly light. At the same time, the flexibility of his joints was exceptional.

Relaxation!

Okcheong swung his sword.

Flash!

For an instant, it seemed to draw a smooth circle, but before the eye could catch it, it had already turned into a straight line and cut through the front.

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed.

JJEOOOOOEONG!

The vibration traveling through the shaft of Mad Dragon was tremendous.

Okcheong was not disappointed. Yeon Hojeong’s martial arts were outside all standards to begin with. He was never someone who would be taken from the opening move.

Thump! Thud-thump!

Leaving afterimages behind, Okcheong’s body appeared off Yeon Hojeong’s rear flank.

It was a movement that disrupted the eye, an outstanding set of footwork. The springlike elasticity of it was something he had not shown two or three months ago, and it drew fresh admiration.

It’s not just that the nature of his True Qi changed. He’s trained his lower body and abdomen like mad.

Yeon Hojeong swung Mad Dragon without even looking back.

KIIIIING!

It was a remarkable move.

The incomparable heavy weapon Mad Dragon was being naturally flicked aside along the taiji pattern traced by [N O V E L I G H T] the Pine-Pattern Ancient Sword.

It was a marvelous application of redirection. It was on an entirely different level from the sword strikes of the past, when he had been bound by form and only the motions had looked convincing.

At last, Okcheong had begun to use a sword art worthy of being called a true sword art, not just sword technique. This was the Wudang Sect’s representative supreme art, the Taiji Wisdom Sword.

HOOOOONG!

Even after redirecting Mad Dragon, he did not use the sword again at once.

If he tried to swing the sword a second time, an opening in his movement would inevitably appear. Blue radiance burst from Okcheong’s left hand.

BOOM!

A violent explosion rang out.

It was one of the Wudang Sect’s palm arts, the Four-Symbol Wind-Thunder Palm. A palm strike that, unlike what one might expect from Wudang martial arts, possessed overwhelming firepower and aimed for a one-hit kill had unfolded in the blink of an eye.

“Good.”

Of course, Yeon Hojeong was not struck by the Wind-Thunder Palm.

He caught the deflected Mad Dragon in his left hand, blocked the Wind-Thunder Palm with his right, and at the same time tightly seized Okcheong’s hand.

“You’ve really improved a lot.”

Then Yeon Hojeong snapped his head forward.

PUK!

“Kh!”

Blood burst from Okcheong’s forehead.

At point-blank range, with their hands locked together, he had used a headbutt. It was the kind of savage move that even street thugs hardly used these days.

No one would ever have imagined that the famed Green Mountain Tiger Commander would use such a barbaric method. But Okcheong did not panic.

Swaaaak!

When Yeon Hojeong moved to strike his forehead again, he quickly released his grip and withdrew. By then, Okcheong’s sword was already rising toward his crotch.

Slice!

The sharp ancient sword cut away the hem of his robe.

Fire blazed in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

BOOM!

Retreating at the same time, he launched into an explosive charge. Rushing forward at terrifying speed, Yeon Hojeong slammed his entire body into Okcheong.

BOOM!

“Ghk!”

It was a tremendous blow.

It felt like a head-on collision with a rolling boulder. Flung back a full three zhang, Okcheong hurriedly used Cloud-Ladder Leap to steady himself.

Whoosh!

By then, Yeon Hojeong had already leaped into the air with Mad Dragon gripped in both hands and brought it crashing down on the place where Okcheong stood.

Okcheong’s eyes turned blue.

KWA-BOOOOM!

The floor of the training ground split beneath the crushing blow.

Fssssss.

The thick dust cloud slowly began to settle.

Drip.

The Pine-Pattern Ancient Sword, which had been raised high overhead, came down diagonally. Whether from the aftershock of the sword blade and Mad Dragon’s force, Okcheong’s left shoulder had been dyed red with blood.

But he had saved his life. He had redirected Mad Dragon, which had been brought down with the intent to split him in half, using the Taiji Wisdom Sword.

Yeon Hojeong smiled.

Rip!

Pulling Mad Dragon free from the ground, Yeon Hojeong spoke.

“That’s enough.”

“Huff!”

Okcheong drew in ragged breaths.

“Thank you... for the spar.”

His injuries were quite severe, but there was no tremor in his voice. The blood flowing from his shoulder was even gradually slowing. He had already begun stanching the bleeding with surging Mixed-Origin Qi.

From the start of the spar to the finish, he had displayed the bearing of a martial artist as naturally as flowing water.

Looking around, Yeon Hojeong said,

“Did you all watch carefully?”

The soldiers stared blankly at Okcheong. Even though they had trained with him all this time, they had never realized his skill had improved to this extent.

Yeon Hojeong clicked his tongue.

“They say that in order to gain one thing, you have to give up another. But in your effort to gain the subtleties of real combat, forgetting the essence of the martial arts you learned can only be called putting the cart before the horse.”

“...”

“You all use extremely practical martial arts. But that also means you all made a great many mistakes. Okcheong was different. He took the foundation of Wudang martial arts and layered real-combat sense over it, completing a martial path of his own.”

“...”

“This is the union of training and real combat. I know all of you worked hard, but forgetting your essence is something you should be deeply ashamed of.”

The soldiers all lowered their heads. They had nothing to say.

Yeon Hojeong looked at Okcheong.

“Okcheong.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“You did well. That was genuinely impressive. If you keep doing it like that, I have no doubt a moment of explosive growth will come before long.”

Okcheong smiled.

“It’s thanks to you, Commander.”

Yeon Hojeong snorted.

“How is the hard work you did thanks to me?”

Then he said to Mookbi,

“Let the kids rest for a bit.”

“Yes. Hm? But where are you going?”

“Yeah.”

Yeon Hojeong looked toward the main gate beyond the training ground.

Je Gal Munho was standing there, watching this place with a face full of admiration.

“Looks like he came because of the case of the crazy delinquent. I figured the time was about right, but I didn’t think it would be this soon.”