Chapter 166: Red Flag

The most grueling training known to mankind had begun!

—or so Seojun had thought until the day before.

“Hup…! Haap…!”

He’d definitely planned to work Hwangbo Hyeji to the bone and reform her mindset completely, but…

“I can… do more…!”

Whether breaking the rock the night before had been some kind of catalyst, her training made even him think, shouldn’t we stop this?

“Maybe… you should take it a bit easier?”

Seojun asked as he attached iron balls to her arms.

These weren’t even ordinary iron balls. They were iron balls he’d enhanced with techniques, heavy enough to physically tear off a normal person’s arms.

“I’m… fine!”

But Hwangbo Hyeji kept throwing punches with iron balls dangling from her arms.

Her crimson face looked ready to explode, and the blood vessels bulging at her temples seemed like they’d burst with a single poke.

Alarmed, Seojun quickly sent a qi transmission to Hwangbo Jun.

[Hey, hey! She’s gonna die! You stop her!]

[She’s fine. Hyeji often trained like that. I did too.]

What if she becomes disabled doing this? Sure, Seojun could detach and reattach arms, but he was pretty sure normal people couldn’t…

[Can you reattach your head if it falls off?]

[…What kind of bullshit is that? You wouldn’t be human if you could do that.]

Seojun’s eyebrows shot up.

“What the hell, you bastard?”

“H-Hey stop! What did I do!?”

Hwangbo Jun got beaten up.

“Jeez… She trains pretty intensely.”

In the end, Seojun helped Chunbong and Namgung Suah with their training while keeping an eye on Hwangbo Hyeji.

He’d originally planned to work her like crazy, but honestly, even if he pushed her, he probably couldn’t do it better than this.

“Big sis, just keep doing what you’re doing.”

He placed his hand on Namgung Suah’s lower abdomen and examined her internal state.

In Namgung Suah’s case, she was embodying her enlightenment and growing stronger by the day. At this rate, she’d be able to attempt Transcendant Realm by the time the Dragon Phoenix Tournament ended.

“Don’t I need to do anything else?”

“Nope. Just stabilizing your realm should be enough to steamroll pretty much everyone.”

“Fufu, really?”

Namgung Suah smiled gently and pressed closer to him.

“I’m grateful. It’s all thanks to you.”

“…No, I mean. It’s because big sis worked hard.”

“I couldn’t have gotten this far through that alone. By the way…”

Fufu. Her quiet laughter tickled his nape.

“About that arm wrestling victory from before, when will you use your wish?”

“Oh, right.”

He’d forgotten.

When Seojun’s eyes widened, Namgung Suah pouted.

“I’ve been waiting to see when you’d use it. You forgot, didn’t you?”

“…I’ve been busy lately.”

Namgung Suah stared at him intently, then chuckled and poked his ribs.

“Then I’ll be waiting, so let me know once you’ve decided on your wish, okay?”

“I will.”

The Namgung bloodline was known for their compassion throughout the generations. Seojun was quite fond of that tale.

Seojun had safely survived, now sighing in relief and standing before Chunbong.

“My Chunbong…”

Chunbong, who had been looking around, subtly stuck out her stomach. She seemed to be copying what she’d seen him do with Namgung Suah, but his Chunbong didn’t need to do that.

“I don’t need to check your dantian to know everything.”

“…You’re so annoying.”

She was currently slightly behind Namgung Suah. While Namgung Suah was catching her breath at the threshold of Transcendant Realm, Chunbong still had about half a step left to go.

Chunbong knew it too.

After training with Namgung Suah these past few days, she keenly felt herself falling behind.

Time to use my secret weapon…

Tsk. Chunbong swallowed the humiliating feeling and tugged on Seojun’s sleeve.

“Hey, follow me.”

“Huh? What for?”

Seojun followed her lead without suspicion, and the two entered an empty room nearby. Chunbong shut the door with a click.

Huu. Haah. Watching her steady her breathing, he asked.

“What is it?”

“B-big brother…”

“What.”

Hearing Geum Chunbong call him “big brother” for the first time in ages… Seojun covered his mouth.

Chunbong didn’t stop there. She firmly gripped Seojun’s sleeve, looked up at him, and pouted her lips.

“…Chunbubbie wants to win the Dragon Phoenix Tournament.”

Chunbong had steeled herself and decided to resort to emotional manipulation…!

Seojun couldn’t keep his wits about him faced with the never-seen-before Geum Chunbong high-level aegyo.

“…Right! My Chunbong should win!”

“So you’ll teach me how to beat Big sis Suah?”

“Hmm. That seems a bit too underhanded…”

“Waaah…”

“No!”

In the end, Seojun spilled the beans on how to beat Namgung Suah.

Having easily achieved her goal, Chunbong grinned wickedly.

“Easy.”

“You tricked me, Geum Chunbong…!”

“Yeah, yeah, like you didn’t know all along. Since when did you think you weren’t being fooled?”

“I won’t let this slide!”

“Try it. Think you can hit me?”

Chunbong stood proudly with her chest out. Faced with that confident stance, Seojun had no choice but to admit defeat.

“Kugh, kill me!”

“Nope, now stop messing around.”

Chunbong then asked seriously.

“If I do this… would my win rate be about 50%?”

Seojun also stopped joking around and answered seriously.

“Yeah. About that much. The gap is pretty big, so it can’t be helped.”

“Ugh…”

“Hey now, that’s as far as I can help. Big sis Suah would be hurt if she knew.”

“I know. I’m not planning to ask for more than this.”

Chunbong’s eyes gleamed brightly.

If I just win…!

The Divine Sword Geum Clan’s honor and a present from her big brother would be in her hands at once. And it’s not just any present, but the Greater Rejuvenation Pill.

With a present like that… maybe…?

Hehehe.

Chunbong’s grand ambition had taken its first step.

Though Hwangbo Hyeji trained excessively hard, Seojun hadn’t completely neglected her.

Training was training, but she needed mental discipline.

“You’ve probably heard it. To reach higher realms, you need confidence in yourself.”

“Yes, everyone says that…”

“You have two choices.”

Seojun held up two fingers.

“First, do whatever you want. Second, don’t doubt a single thing your mother says and worship her fanatically.”

It sounded pretty obviously leading, but it wasn’t entirely wrong either.

Using the Demonic Cult as an example, Hwangbo Hyeji nodded with a gloomy expression.

“What does ‘do whatever you want’ mean…?”

“Exactly what it says. I’m not telling you to commit unfilial acts.”

It would feel satisfying to bash Hwangbo Seorin in the head if her daughter didn’t want to, but even that wouldn’t be the right answer.

“I’m not saying to abandon your mother or ignore everything she says. Of course, I’m not telling you to become a mother slayer either.”

“Pardon…?”

“Follow your heart. But to do that, you need to know what your heart is pointing toward, right?”

That’s why Seojun had planned to work Hwangbo Hyeji to the bone. Survival instinct. When that intense instinct kicked in, her heart and thoughts would clearly align.

However, the hellish training plan was scrapped before he could even try it. If he made her train even harder here, Hwangbo Hyeji would die before any enlightenment could happen.

So what other situation could trigger survival instincts?

Only one thing came to mind.

If someone threatens her with a sword, survival instincts and everything else will come pouring out.

Of course. In terms of efficiency, there was no better method.

So who should do it?

Lee Seojun, Baek Seojun, Heavenly Seojun, Zhuge Seojun…

No wait, should I create a whole new training identity?

Chunbong watched him ponder with a strange look.

That bastard’s thinking something weird again.

She was right.

That night, Hwangbo Hyeji continued training alone.

The Mount Tai Thunderous Divine Fist without the thunder. Practicing the fist technique she’d arbitrarily named Mount Tai Divine Fist, she suddenly realized the night breeze was particularly cold.

Why is it so chilly when summer’s almost here?

After briefly wondering, Hwangbo Hyeji didn’t worry about it and continued training. If she was cold, she just had to move her body.

Attaching the iron balls that Senior Heaven-reaching True Qi had enhanced with techniques to both wrists, she threw her fists with vigor.

Boom!

A quiet but heavy sound echoed softly.

So did the clap clap of applause.

“Who’s there…?”

Hwangbo Hyeji turned her head. A masked figure in black stood behind her at some point.

Normally she would have been very startled, but staying at the Namgung Clan’s villa had taught her that unusual things often happened here. She asked calmly.

“Are you from the Namgung Clan?”

The figure in black—Seojun—was slightly flustered.

Wouldn’t she normally think I’m an assassin…?

Though it would be strange for an assassin to appear in the middle of Henan at this time…

—but hadn’t they appeared several times already? The Blood Crow Sect’s assassins, and even Baek Seojun.

Does she have no sense of danger?

Swallowing his confusion, Seojun bent his fingers. Crack! Murky qi swirled around his ten fingers.

It wasn’t anything special, just something he’d roughly made by adding various qi to evil qi. Anyone who saw it would only be able to guess it was Black Serpent inner qi.

“Enough talk!”

Seojun’s hand moved quickly, only fast enough for her to barely react.

Whoosh!

Hwangbo Hyeji’s eyes widened as she hastily turned her head to dodge.

“An assassin…!?”

She sensed a murky qi from the figure. She’d never seen a Black Serpent martial artist so she wasn’t sure, but she could guess it was probably evil qi.

I need to alert everyone quickly!

If they had allies, the others would be in danger.

“Haap!”

Hwangbo Hyeji unleashed her Mount Tai Thunderous Divine Art with a loud battle cry.

BOOOOOOM────────!!!

A tremendous sound echoed through the Namgung Clan’s villa. Loud enough to startle and wake even ordinary people who hadn’t learned martial arts.

Yet the figure in black remained calm.

“I’ve already set up a qi barrier. Struggling is futile.”

“That’s impossible…”

How could such a thing be possible when there were several Transcendant Realm experts in this villa? More than a few people should be able to detect a qi barrier being set up.

No, wait…

A master superior to even those people…?

Hwangbo Hyeji’s mind raced. The General’s assassination incident. The Black Serpent assassin who had assassinated a Transcendant Realm master in the middle of Henan without being detected by anyone.

Her face went pale.

“Now then, play with me for a while until the job is done.”