“Try this. I’m telling you, it’s really good.”

Huaeum County of Shaanxi Province lies inland.

Seafood is especially precious here.

Even fish must be salted and preserved—eating it raw is unthinkable.

And yet what Namgung Seon offered was a dumpling filled with minced shrimp.

“…All right.”

Soyak sighed and accepted the dumpling he held out.

The moment she bit into it, a savory saltiness and rich umami spread through her mouth.

Her eyes couldn’t help but grow round.

“See? Good, right? Cheonjeong, you try one too. Yeah?”

“All right, all right. Please. I’ll eat at my own pace.”

On the way here, Namgung Seon had unilaterally started speaking informally.

And he had even pressured Cheonjeong into doing the same.

His momentum was overwhelming; even Cheonjeong had been swept along.

“Man, to meet kids my age out here! My luck’s great today.”

“Yeah… sure…”

Just when they’d barely escaped Cheongu and his father—

Now they had fallen into the hands of the boisterous eldest grandson of the Namgung Clan.

Even Cheonjeong let out a deep sigh.

But the dumplings were impeccable.

A feast in a luxurious private room for the three of them.

He hadn’t intended to treat them to something this extravagant.

‘…Still, she’s eating well.’

Cheonjeong quietly watched Soyak eat.

She cautiously picked things up, sampling them one bite at a time and blinking.

It was pleasing to watch.

But not without a degree of unease.

‘Why is he treating us this well?’

Cheonjeong glanced sideways at Namgung Seon.

The boy was eating with an expression that could only be described as “harmless.”

Whenever Soyak ignored a dish, he would portion it out and offer it to her.

“Your name was Seon, wasn’t it.”

“Yeah, I’m Namgung Seon. Call me however you like.”

“…I doubt you’re doing all this for us without wanting something.”

Cheonjeong cut straight to the point.

His counterpart was the Namgung Clan’s eldest grandson.

The family of the Sword Sovereign, Namgung Ak.

The greatest martial clan that reigns over the world.

“Heh.”

Namgung Seon smiled faintly at Cheonjeong.

He swallowed the food in his mouth and pointed his chopsticks at Soyak.

“I want her.”

“…You keep saying weird things. My junior sister is a Daoist of Mount Hua—”

“What are you thinking? I want to fight her.”

At that moment, Soyak’s chopsticks stopped.

She lifted her gaze, those black eyes fixing on Namgung Seon.

Perhaps he felt that stare—

His hand instinctively drifted toward his waist… then stopped.

And he broke out laughing.

“Wow… really… amazing! Was that killing intent just now?”

“…I won’t answer that.”

Cheonjeong felt nothing.

Which meant Soyak had precisely directed killing intent at a single target.

That was not a matter of martial technique.

It was the realm of controlling one’s heart and gaze.

A human realm.

“Interesting. Fascinating. My eyes never lie, I’m telling you.”

He stood from his seat and walked around behind Cheonjeong.

He grabbed the back of Cheonjeong’s chair and pointed at Soyak.

“Hey, Cheonjeong. Look closely. Your junior sister—those eyes. See it?”

“I’ve always seen them; nothing strange to me.”

“No, no. Inside. Can you see that?”

Cheonjeong glanced at him.

Then shook his head.

Soyak was already back to eating dumplings with a calm expression.

“Right? You don’t see it?”

“…Is that not obvious.”

“It may be to you. But not to me.”

Namgung Seon drew his sword.

So smoothly that not even the sound of steel leaving the scabbard was heard.

Cheonjeong had no time to stop him.

“…I do not wish to fight here.”

Soyak spoke in an even tone, not even looking at the sword tip.

Cheonjeong could do nothing.

Because Namgung Seon’s hand was gripping his shoulder.

No—not just his hand.

His aura was crushing Cheonjeong’s entire body.

As if forbidding him even to open his mouth.

Overwhelming presence and pressure.

“Release my senior brother.”

And it seemed Soyak could see that aura.

She set down her chopsticks and stared straight at the sword tip aimed at her.

Even with that sharp edge about to pierce her eye—

Her cold, pitch-black eyes did not blink.

When Soyak’s killing intent surged toward him—

Only then did Cheonjeong understand what Namgung Seon had said earlier.

A killing intent so intense it made him dizzy and sent chills racing down his spine.

Something a fourteen-year-old girl should not be able to harbor.

“If you promise to fight me, I’ll let him go.”

“As a disciple of Mount Hua, how could I cross blades with an outsider without permission.”

“Then your senior brother’s going to faint, you know?”

It was no joke.

Crushed by overwhelming aura, Cheonjeong felt his consciousness blurring.

But if he showed weakness here—

He would be placing a burden on his junior sister.

A stain a Head Senior must never commit.

Then, an immense aura surged from Soyak’s body.

Like Namgung Seon, she stirred and gathered her inner strength.

It was so intense that her triple-tied black hair wavered.

Cheonjeong’s complexion turned pale.

And despite being in no condition to speak—

He grit his teeth and forced out sound.

“…No… Soyak…”

“You can talk? Wow… impressive.”

This was the aura of one at the brink of the Apex realm.

To speak under that overwhelming pressure—

Cheonjeong immediately clamped his mouth shut and raised his inner strength.

Another word would make him cough blood.

“You said it earlier. The winner of the One-Branch Gathering gets a spar.”

“Right. Oh? You’re going to promise that?”

“Yes. I will climb to the top and face you with swords. So…”

A flash of brilliant light.

Soyak’s sword was suddenly at Namgung Seon’s chin.

The whole white blade glowed.

Sword-light.

The mark of an Apex master.

Drawn up in this brief moment without a single breath out of place.

“…Good. I’ll see you then.”

Namgung Seon withdrew his sword and aura.

Only then could Cheonjeong breathe properly.

He gasped raggedly and grabbed a cup of water with trembling hands.

A pure survival instinct.

“Senior brother…”

Soyak quietly sheathed her sword and looked at him.

She approached, laid a hand on his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

She began adjusting the disrupted meridians crushed by the aura.

Cheonjeong’s eyes widened.

“Stay still. Do not make a sound.”

Eunsong had once done this for her.

If the inner strength of Harmonizing Calm Scripture could soothe a turbulent meridian—

Then the opposite must also hold, since both stemmed from the same root.

A cool, shimmering inner force gently tickled inside his body.

Cheonjeong closed his eyes and accepted it.

Something entering him calmed the rampaging energies, like a living creature.

With each gentle tap, everything cooled, settled—

And returned to his control.

It did not take long.

Perhaps half a tea’s time.

Soyak removed her hand from his back.

Namgung Seon had been watching everything with interest.

“You even learned a fun little trick?”

“My master once used it to calm my own rampaging inner strength.”

“Huh?”

Which meant she had learned it perfectly after experiencing it only once—and applied it to another.

A technique even Namgung Seon himself couldn’t perform.

Of course, he had learned the Namgung Clan’s Azure Sky Scripture.

But to adjust another Namgung practitioner’s meridians…

Given his talent, he could learn it.

But not in a single glance.

One needed several failures and guidance from elders.

Even the Heaven-Forged Body couldn’t instantly absorb this sort of technique.

“I get why I couldn’t see anything.”

“I do not know what you mean.”

Soyak quietly helped Cheonjeong up.

He pushed her hand aside to show he was fine.

He straightened himself and patted his own head.

“…Truly vigorous inner strength.”

“I am the Namgung Clan’s eldest grandson.”

“But this is Huaeum County of Shaanxi. The foot of Mount Hua.”

Cheonjeong rested his hand lightly on the hilt at his waist.

“So I would prefer if you never again point your sword at my junior sister in front of me.”

“What can you do about it?”

Strength is everything.

The Namgung Clan teaches the Sovereign’s Strong Sword, the Kingly path of tyrannical might.

They had succeeded in uniting ferocity with unshakable solidity.

The sword of a ruler.

And Namgung Seon—trained in the Azure Sky Scripture and Sovereign Sword Types—was no exception.

Arrogance is not arrogance when wielded by one with the quality of One-Under-Heaven, Absolute.

We call that the stature of the strong.

“What can I do, you ask?”

Cheonjeong drew his sword.

To someone like Namgung Seon, it was not a threat at all.

But his resolve was genuine.

Aura and killing intent rose straight from his firm posture.

His radiant eyes locked on Namgung Seon.

“If I give up my life to take even one of your fingers—

That will be enough.”

Chapter 24

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