Chapter 44
"I am Namgung Suhyeon! It's an honor to fight against the disciple of the renowned Ice Dragon!"
"...This time it's not a fake."
At the main tournament of the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, Bi Wol sneered as she looked at the black-haired man who bowed to her.
She had seen someone pretending to be from the Namgung Family to lure her before. But this time, no matter how she looked at him, he was different from the illusion she had seen in the incubus's dream.
"Fake...? It seems you've encountered an impostor pretending to be me."
"Indeed, I have."
Shing─.
As Bi Wol drew her sword from its scabbard, she felt confident. After all, this was a weapon gifted to her by her master, Bing Yeon.
"That's a fine sword. Even at a glance, one can tell how much care the person who chose it put into it!"
The blade was entirely black, like Bi Wol's hair. Seeing this, Namgung Suhyeon's eyes sparkled with interest in the sword Bi Wol held.
"Hehe, you have a better eye than I expected."
Bi Wol couldn't hide her smile as she watched Namgung Suhyeon's undisguised amazement.
This sword was a gift from her master, Bing Yeon. She could still vividly remember his face when he had awkwardly presented it to her, hiding it behind his back and fumbling with his words.
A man who seemed naive and pure, as if he knew nothing about women his entire life. Someone she admired so much that she wanted to paint everything in his color.
"This was a gift from my master."
"How could a child of a family famous for swords not have an eye for them!"
Namgung Suhyeon swallowed hard as he observed Bi Wol. From her stance alone, he could see glimpses of an incredibly strong fighter.
His opponent was the disciple of Ice Dragon, who had gained fame during the Great War between righteousness and evil. She was an evil faction member acknowledged by the Infinite Sword Emperor, the great elder of his family, and he had heard that it was Ice Dragon who had saved him from being kidnapped as a child.
'Can I win against the disciple of such a person?'
Moreover, rumors had circulated that Bi Wol possessed the Heavenly Martial Body, known for her incredible talent in martial arts since childhood.
It would have been stranger not to be interested in such an incredible figure suddenly appearing at this year's martial arts tournament after not showing her face for so long.
'I'll definitely lose. But...'
Despite knowing he would lose, Namgung Suhyeon drew his sword, feeling a strange sense of competitiveness and pride burning within him.
"I, Namgung Suhyeon, the youngest of the Namgung Family! I swear on this sword to show you a fight without regrets!"
It was respect and courtesy towards his opponent. Age or face didn't matter when asking for guidance from someone more skilled than oneself.
"Your fighting spirit is admirable. Your hand trembles slightly, but your eyes and feet don't back down."
Bi Wol smiled slightly as she looked at Namgung Suhyeon's solemn expression. She had thought that children of famous families were all ill-mannered ruffians who hadn't received proper home education.
"...I won't fight you twice. Come at me properly."
"Understood!"
Seeing such a proper late bloomer, Bi Wol felt relieved that there would be no problem even if Bing Yeon stepped down from his position as the sect's master.
'If there are many people like this child, there shouldn't be any problem if our master leaves the martial world and starts a family with me...'
In a remote and quiet countryside village where no one knew their identity, even the taboo of a disciple desiring her master wouldn't be an obstacle.
She began to happily imagine leaving annoying matters like the peace of the martial world to such good people, while she lived happily with Bing Yeon.
'If it's a son, I'll name him Bing Bi Wol, and if it's a daughter, Bing Bi Yeon.'
Bi Wol was already thinking of names for their future children, combining her name with her master's.
While Bing Yeon was thinking of ways to defeat the other participants in the main tournament, there was another person strategizing in the same way.
"Our opponent in the main tournament is the Four Heavens Party, famous for their poison techniques and hidden weapons. You might easily let your guard down thinking they'll have no effect on you since you've mastered the Indestructible Diamond Body, but..."
Bing Seolhwa spoke as she placed black stones on a Go board. She began placing the stones one by one as if directly foreseeing the battle situation.
Tok, took─.
As clear and crisp sounds echoed, the black stones on the Go board were soon surrounded by white stones.
"Anyway, weapons won't pierce my body, so is there anything dangerous?"
"Unless you've mastered immunity to all poisons, you'll inevitably fall victim to poison inhaled through breathing."
Bing Seolhwa nodded at Kim Hyul's question. She had noticed that the opponent, knowing he had mastered the Indestructible Diamond Body from their previous fight, would choose a different strategy.
Originally, in the final part of the original work, the person called Poison Dragon from the Four Heavens Party had a narrative where he tried to use a formless poison with no shape, color, smell, or taste.
A poison created solely to kill Bi Wol, the Heavenly Demon, although it was never actually used.
"At first, fight while holding your breath. You need to be careful from the moment you enter the arena."
Creating a poison that travels through the air would be easy enough to teach to disciples.
Bing Seolhwa, who knew this fact as well as the original author, told Kim Hyul the countermeasure, but he shook his head in disagreement.
"That's not a good method. If the opponent focuses on defense or it becomes a war of attrition with just running away, you'll naturally start breathing."
The opponent would have anticipated holding breath to this extent. Even if they were late bloomers with little experience, they were still the talents boasted by each famous family.
Like the cliché in recent new wuxia novels, there might be some who grew up like ruffians, but there weren't any strong enough to send to such a martial arts tournament.
After all, the strike of someone who has swung a sword a million times with dull talent is more fearsome than someone gifted by heaven but with no interest in swords.
"Then, how about covering your nose and mouth with cloth at the start? If we use it wet, it should be able to block the poison to some extent."
"That won't do. If we do that, the opponent might not use poison and switch to something else. I think it's better to lure the opponent out instead."
At that moment, Sieghart raised his hand and voiced an opposing opinion.
Originally, it would have been better for these master and disciples not to disagree with what Bing Seolhwa said, but the protagonists of the original work were strangely showing an attitude of not wanting to follow her opinion.
"I think it's safer to show that we're affected by the poison in the first round, and have me and Kang Si-woo win."
It was a lack of proper justification. The protagonists, once full of vengeful poison, had lost their reason to face the final bosses due to Bing Yeon's activities.
"Our goal is ultimately not the finals, is it? The purpose is to create an opportunity to fight that man called Bing Yeon..."
"That's right."
Bing Seolhwa sighed deeply. The inconvenience of not being able to properly control her own body was no small matter.
Not only was every move monitored by the Outer God Shub-Niggurath, but Han Do-hyeon, her lover from her past life, was trying to instill hatred in her to make him want to kill her.
'I wonder if Do-hyeon understood my true feelings.'
Seolhwa thought, biting her lower lip hard. The times when she could maintain her sanity were getting shorter and shorter. It was as if she was disappearing from within her own body.
Yu Seolhwa had something she hated more than dying in this world.
As someone who had already experienced death once, there was a moment when she thought ending her life would end everything, but.
'I miss you...'
The fact that she could never meet her lover Han Do-hyeon again hurt her even more.
More than the approaching death, more than the cold breath that seemed to dig into her bones, more than the lukewarm sensation mixed with blood and pain.
But she didn't have the luxury to voice it or even think about it in her mind. The only part of her body she was allowed to move freely was her left eye.
'...Was it pointless to come back to life?'
Yu Seolhwa had accepted the Outer God Shub-Niggurath's proposal out of her own selfish desire. There was no way to restore herself, already crushed beyond recognition.
She didn't mind even if she became just a source of amusement. Even if she became a toy for the Outer God, she wanted to meet that person one more time.
Despite frequently experiencing unconsciousness, Seolhwa's spirit was struggling not to break.
"I feel like I could beat anyone right now. Why don't we just kill Azazel?"
At that moment, Kang Si-woo spoke up, showing his smartphone.
Unlike a few days ago, Seolhwa realized something was wrong as she saw him revealing killing intent towards Azazel.
"What? Why suddenly like that?"
"The situation has changed now. Did you forget after giving us power?"
Kang Si-woo's mind was now filled with the thought that if he couldn't have something, he would destroy it.
"If we can't kill her, it would be good to make her half-crippled."
He gritted his teeth as he recalled Azazel mocking him along with the white-haired man, Bing Yeon.
To Kang Si-woo, Azazel was just a common game character. A virtual character he could control and manipulate.
The reason he couldn't stand being disrespected by such a trivial existence was what made him so heated.
"Do you really think that's the right way to go about this?"
"I'm against it. I'll win all the matches so your turn doesn't come."
In response to this shocking statement, Kim Hyul and Sieghart also voiced their opposition and moved to stop Kang Si-woo.
They couldn't kill an innocent person even if their family, lovers, or friends were held hostage.
The protagonists written by Han Do-hyeon were all acting differently from the original work now, and
"......"
Seeing this, Seolhwa hung her head in disappointment.
It felt like watching sons who wouldn't listen during puberty.