WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Order
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◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈
Chapter 35: Chapter Five - Dragon-Phoenix Assembly (8)
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‘I’ll end this in an instant.’
That was what both women had resolved, yet the match did not conclude so easily.
Naturally.
One stood at the very end of first-rate, while the other had only just entered peak. Their gap was not so vast that the outcome could be decided at once.
More than that, they were two martial artists who knew each other far too well.
Thump!
Hye-un’s thrusting sword bounced off Dang Hwa-seo’s fist.
She had struck the flat of the blade.
Dang Hwa-seo followed up with her claw technique.
Hye-un threw herself far backward to evade the hand flying for her throat.
Both women had the same thought.
‘Just as I thought...’
What a troublesome opponent.
Dang Hwa-seo’s martial arts were frighteningly precise.
It was an art she had mastered to survive after suffering pain throughout her life while controlling Poisonous Qi.
She had constantly refined her body so that not even a wisp of Poisonous Qi could flow astray. Her control over inner power was as meticulous as her temperament.
That did not mean Hye-un was at a disadvantage.
She, too, was a genius who had received the name of a phoenix.
Unpleasant rumors always trailed behind her, but her talent was precisely why she could represent the Emei Sect. She was an exceptional sword practitioner.
Her sword art came in swift flurries, then scattered like a mirage.
To Dang Hwa-seo, it was a calamity.
Thunk!
The sword was deflected again.
Poisonous Qi spread across the sparring ground.
Hye-un gritted her teeth.
‘This is damn irritating.’
There was a wall between peak and first-rate.
A wall an ordinary martial artist could never breach.
Still, martial arts were ultimately about using one’s body.
A spar was not decided by realm alone. Compatibility had to be considered as well.
Fighting Dang Hwa-seo was fundamentally different from facing a sword practitioner.
That woman, glaring venomously at her, had a true weapon that was not her claw technique, but poison.
It was that invisible hand, sending a numbing sensation through Hye-un’s body with every breath.
‘Paralysis poison, and qi-dispersing poison.’
Her movements were slowing.
Her inner energy was also dispersing faster with every passing moment.
If this became a drawn-out battle, defeat was certain.
Yet Dang Hwa-seo’s defense was too solid to force a quick conclusion.
“You’re troublesome.”
“Not as troublesome as your personality, Nun.”
“What vulgar speech.”
“The vulgar one is your body.”
The veins in Dang Hwa-seo’s eyes reddened.
Certainly, anger and irritation played a part, but it was mainly the effect of fully releasing her Poisonous Qi.
“Draw it. Your sword qi.”
“Are you saying you want to lose?”
“What pleasure is there in defeating someone who has not gone all out? It only leaves the loser with an excuse.”
Hye-un gave a small laugh.
“If you insist.”
Saaa...
A white glow settled over Hye-un’s sword.
It was still faint, not yet fully formed.
It was her sword qi.
‘It’s a provocation.’
Hye-un knew.
Those words were a ploy to make her burn through her inner energy faster.
Still, that was no reason not to rise to it.
Her inner energy would scatter no matter how carefully she conserved it.
Forcing the issue and ending the match sooner was the right choice for her as well.
“Here I come.”
Dang Hwa-seo tensed further.
‘Now I can’t touch the sword.’
It was sword qi, even if it was faint.
If she tried to slap aside the blade as before, the Qi Waves would damage her inner energy.
That left only one opening.
‘I’ll close the distance.’
Faint, dark-green Qi Waves rose around Dang Hwa-seo.
She had not reached peak, so they were only an imitation of Qi Waves.
As the Poisonous Qi was released, pain like her entire body being torn apart coursed through her. It was an agony she knew too well, so Dang Hwa-seo ignored it.
Then she activated her martial arts.
Ssssss...
Black Heaven Poison Net Art.
The secret art of the Tang Clan’s direct line, raised to its fourth level, surged from her body.
Dang Hwa-seo’s figure blurred.
Slip.
Serpent-Shadow Step.
Using the footwork she had practiced at the Tang Clan until the soles of her feet blistered, she shot forward as though gliding.
Her hand swept broadly from low to high.
The movement left an obvious opening, but Hye-un chose to retreat instead of exploiting it.
She had sensed the vicious Poisonous Qi within the faint Qi Waves flowing from Dang Hwa-seo’s entire body.
“Tch. Sharp as ever.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Hye-un swung her sword.
The Poisonous Qi gathering around her was swept away by the sword wind.
For an instant, the air became clear. Hye-un drew in a deep breath and charged again.
The spar was reaching its climax.
* * *
It was something that had happened in the past.
Hye-un had just turned fourteen, the age at which she had earned the right to attend the Dragon Phoenix Gathering.
Back then, Hye-un had liked her very much.
It would have been more fitting to call that feeling admiration.
“Greetings. You are the Poison Phoenix, are you not?”
“Who are you?”
“Ah! I am Hye-un of Emei. I’ve always wanted to meet you...”
“Ah... Emei Sect. A pleasure. But I don’t have the leisure to exchange greetings at the moment. Could we speak another time?”
“Ah, yes!”
A woman who had attended the Dragon Phoenix Gathering a year before her.
A heroine who had earned the byname Poison Phoenix at only fourteen.
To the young Hye-un, Dang Hwa-seo had been someone who shone that brightly.
“How was that? Isn’t she amazing?”
“I think she ignored me...”
“So what? Maybe that’s true for now, but it’ll be different once I reach the main tournament. Even if not this time, it’ll change if I keep growing. Isn’t that a good thing? It means watching that expression change will be entertaining.”
Even being ignored delighted her.
Dang Hwa-seo spent the entire Dragon Phoenix Gathering alone, yet even that solitude became part of her charm. She was that proud and lofty.
Fourteen-year-old Hye-un admired everything about her.
If Dang Hwa-seo had no interest in her, Hye-un simply had to prove herself through martial arts.
There was no other gifted heroine capable of standing on equal ground with Dang Hwa-seo.
She was sure of it.
“I have confidence. The Poison Phoenix will definitely acknowledge me.”
Hye-un proved those words.
At the Dragon Phoenix Gathering the following year, when she was fifteen.
“So you received the byname White Phoenix.”
“It is more than I deserve.”
“You needn’t pretend to be humble.”
“Was it that obvious?”
Hye-un was happy.
She had finally risen to the same level as Dang Hwa-seo. Her name had finally been carved into Dang Hwa-seo’s mind.
Perhaps that was why she had provoked her.
“I hear that I will surpass Lady Dang.”
“I told you not to feign humility, not to be arrogant.”
“Do you lack confidence?”
“You truly do not know your place, Nun.”
“We’ll find out when we step onto the sparring ground.”
“As it happens, our match is next. I can offer a little help to your Buddhist faith.”
That year, Hye-un lost to Dang Hwa-seo.
It was a one-sided match that ended in three exchanges, yet she was still happy.
Only she and Namgung Jin-cheon had lasted beyond three exchanges against Dang Hwa-seo that year.
At sixteen, Dang Hwa-seo remained someone Hye-un could admire.
“Lady Dang! Next time, I’ll work hard so that I can definitely win...”
“You need not.”
“What?”
“...Just remember that. Ah, and indulge your lust in moderation. It doesn’t seem a particularly good habit. You may only be sharing meals now, but once you cross the line, it won’t be easy to return.”
“Ugh...!”
That was why.
Because she had admired her so deeply.
Hye-un hated Dang Hwa-seo.
“...You mean she ran away?”
“Yes. The Tang Clan denies it, but she surely fled. Otherwise, why would the Poison Phoenix, whom the Tang Clan had been so eager to show off, remain in seclusion for half a year?”
After their last meeting at the Dragon Phoenix Gathering when Hye-un was fifteen, all traces of Dang Hwa-seo vanished.
Hye-un had barely reached the group finals and earned the name White Phoenix. Just when the Martial World had begun to recognize her as Dang Hwa-seo’s rival, it had all become meaningless.
That day, Hye-un felt as if the world had collapsed.
The woman who had always been so proud, the idol who seemed incapable of falling, had crumbled. Hye-un wandered like a child who had lost a treasure she desperately wanted to hold. In the end, she came to a single conclusion.
“She was only that sort of woman.”
As was often the case with feelings that went unanswered, she turned her admiration into anger.
She gathered the ashes of that burned-out admiration and used them as fuel to kindle a flame.
“Idiot.”
And so she grew stronger.
“Sword Qi Injures the Person! Amazing! How did you manage it already...”
“Don’t make such a fuss. I still have a long way to go.”
“What?”
“Time wasn’t given only to me. The Poison Phoenix may be at an even higher place by now.”
“Oh, come on. It’s been five years already. The Martial World still loves arguing over you and the Poison Phoenix, Senior Sister, but how could a woman who only ran away possibly stand alongside Senior Brother...”
“Junior Sister.”
“Y-yes!”
“There is no proof anywhere that she ran away. Neither the Tang Clan, the Nine Sects, nor the Noble Clans, not one of them has said that story is true.”
Perhaps it had been obstinacy.
Maybe Hye-un had only wanted to tell Dang Hwa-seo her name, to prove herself to the woman who had disappeared before she could do so.
It was only natural. Her admiration had run so deep that she wanted to piece back together something already shattered, even if only that way.
The wait was long.
Her admiration became resentment, its warped colors growing darker and darker.
Then, on the day of the banquet, Hye-un came face-to-face with her while carrying an emotion she no longer knew how to name.
“Will you really be all right in those clothes?”
There stood a woman laughing beside some foppish pretty boy.
There stood Dang Hwa-seo before her, showing a side of herself she should never have shown.
It was a disappointing sight beyond anything Hye-un had imagined.
This should have been the moment her distorted admiration finally ended. Her expression should have reflected that.
Yet Hye-un felt something other than disappointment.
“Hm? Miss, what is it?”
“Nothing. I saw a face I disliked.”
It was ridiculous.
For all the resentment she had harbored, the mere fact that Dang Hwa-seo remembered her made the light of those childhood days rise within her again.
Without realizing it, she smiled.
‘I’ve surpassed her in martial arts.’
She found herself pleased over such a thought.
Everything that followed was simply an extension of that.
What should she do to make the Poison Phoenix become serious?
That was the question behind her actions.
“Six years have passed, yet you do not seem to have changed much.”
That was why she disparaged Dang Hwa-seo’s martial attainment.
“The benefactor standing behind you appears to be someone I have not met before. May I have an introduction?”
That was why she deliberately showed interest in Mok Ri-won, provoking Dang Hwa-seo.
“Lady Dang likely dislikes me. With how competitive you are, perhaps you resent being placed on equal footing with someone like me.”
That was why she relayed such divisive words through Mok Ri-won.
‘Well, it wasn’t entirely without selfish motives.’
That interest had cooled completely, so it was beside the point. In any event, Dang Hwa-seo had become serious.
Hye-un simply wanted to show her how much she had grown during those five years without her.
She also wanted to confirm whether the heroine called Dang Hwa-seo was still as formidable as ever.
Crack!
That was why, the instant a fist struck her solar plexus, Hye-un could smile despite the agony of losing her breath.
* * *
It was a blow that seized a momentary opening.
Dang Hwa-seo smiled, pleased by the satisfying feel of the blow against her fist.
Clang.
As the sword struck the ground with a clear ring and Hye-un coughed, the announcer declared.
[Poison Phoenix! Victory!]
“Waaaaah!”
Only then did Dang Hwa-seo realize she had won and lower her fist.
Hye-un knelt on the ground, gasping for breath, yet she spoke with a smile.
“What kind of underhanded move is qi-dispersing poison?”
“Underhanded? You should have expected it.”
“Wow, you’re shameless.”
“I don’t want to hear that from you, Nun.”
Dang Hwa-seo furrowed her brow as she looked down at Hye-un.
‘Honestly...’
Even after all these years, Hye-un still had no manners.
She did not speak like a Buddhist nun, and her obsession with lust was even less fitting for one.
‘I even gave her advice before I left.’
Why was she so obsessed with that sort of thing?
It would not be wrong to say that this was why Dang Hwa-seo found Hye-un displeasing.
Still, there was something even Dang Hwa-seo acknowledged.
“Your martial arts have become passable. Though you’re still no match for me.”
Hye-un lifted her head.
Her eyes widened for a moment, then she burst out laughing.
“If I had only prepared for qi-dispersing poison, I would have won.”
She said that, then flopped facedown onto the ground.
Despite losing, a bright smile rested on her face.
“Ah, what a shame.”
It was not even convincing whining.
Hye-un muttered such things as she savored her delight.
The spar had been brief, but its result was sweet.
Hye-un’s admiration, stained and twisted over the long years, had finally returned to its proper place through a single fist to the solar plexus.
Footnotes:
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