A bone-chilling cold surged through Seol Ri-hyang's meridians.
The Glacier True Energy she had cultivated was a martial art created solely to accept and control Yin-Cold True Energy.
It wasn't earth-shatteringly powerful, nor did it possess any mysterious functions.
Instead, the sheer output of internal energy it could unleash in a single burst was second to none.
This was the one area where Seol Ri-hyang—lacking in stamina, internal energy, and even years of training—surpassed Wi Ji-suryeon.
'I have to end this in a single decisive exchange.'
Seol Ri-hyang threw herself without hesitation down the only path that offered a chance of victory.
Thwack!
She advanced. That honest footwork, faithful to the fundamentals, unfolded from Seol Ri-hyang.
It was basic training that, under normal circumstances, one would practice for a few years before switching to a different footwork technique. Seeing this, Wi Ji-suryeon's brow twitched.
To come all the way to the Dragon Phoenix Gathering and pull out basic training. As a first-rate martial artist, she couldn't possibly be unaware of the gap between herself and her opponent.
If that were the case, then deliberately pulling out basic training could only mean she was anticipating defeat and preparing an excuse in advance.
"What is the meaning of this…!"
Wi Ji-suryeon had been about to say something, but seeing the look in Seol Ri-hyang's eyes as she prepared to wield her whip, she could only fall silent.
Eyes wide open, as if she would not miss a single thing. Lips pressed tightly shut, as if even the breath needed to shout was too precious to waste. And a thin frost settling over the whip.
That aura was devoid of killing intent, yet it was as fierce as any martial artist facing a life-and-death duel.
That same intensity carried over into Seol Ri-hyang's technique.
Her arm, which had been drawn back past her shoulder, swung down in a wide arc, cutting vertically through the air.
Whiiiiish—!
Despite wielding a whip, Seol Ri-hyang chose a simple trajectory stripped of all embellishment.
That was not to say there was no change within it.
Her shoulder, her elbow, her wrist each traced their own circles, accelerating in turn. And what ultimately received that momentum was the whip, now coated in a thin layer of white frost.
By the time the long whip had traced its long arc, its tip had become so fast that even Wi Ji-suryeon's eyes struggled to follow it.
Wi Ji-suryeon's reaction was entirely the fruit of the training she had accumulated over the years.
THWANG!
Seol Ri-hyang's whip lashed out, striking the sword that had been raised half a beat earlier. However, though she managed to block it, she could neither fully deflect it nor cut through it.
The whip's trajectory was blocked, but the force that had been building toward a circle remained, so it was only natural that it coiled around the sword several times.
The moment she realized her opponent's sword and her own whip were firmly connected, Seol Ri-hyang's mouth opened for the first time, and a rough battle cry burst forth.
"Haaah!"
She activated the Glacier True Energy. At the maximum output she could manage. No—even pushing herself a little beyond her usual limits, she slammed in internal energy that surpassed her normal boundaries.
Responding to that intense will, Seol Ri-hyang's internal energy concentrated into the whip, and from the whip, already covered in frost, something like white smoke began to rise.
Though inferior to the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, the Pure Yin Constitution was also a constitution of the ages.
The pure Yin energy Seol Ri-hyang was born with, following the Oral Formula of the Glacier True Energy, accumulated in her Dantian as dense Yin-Cold True Energy.
This became internal energy purer than anything else.
If one failed to respond properly, even Wi Ji-suryeon would not easily push it back, and once she allowed it in, she would suffer an internal injury and collapse.
However, it was a well-known story that those who had mastered the Blazing Yang Art or the Yin Cold Arts, while pressing their weapons against an opponent's, would push their internal energy into the opponent and gain the upper hand through its peculiar nature.
Moreover, Seol Ri-hyang had already shown this technique in the preliminaries.
"So you intended this from the start! But I won't be beaten so easily!"
Wi Ji-suryeon, with a delighted or pleased expression, raised her internal energy at the sight of Seol Ri-hyang charging with all her might.
It was true that Seol Ri-hyang could skillfully wield far more internal energy than her realm should allow, thanks to her Glacier True Energy and the pure Yin Energy she carried within her body…
But that was only true when comparing her to martial artists of the same level.
Wi Ji-suryeon was a martial artist who already had one foot in the Peak Realm. It would be difficult to regard her as an ordinary first-rate martial artist.
"Hup!"
With a short breath held in, Wi Ji-suryeon's sword began to glow with a faint pink light.
It was too weak to be called Sword Qi, yet too dense to be dismissed as a common technique of surging energy.
Seol Ri-hyang's internal energy was so pure that even Tang Jincheon, who had reached the Harmony Realm, had marveled at it—but the martial arts of Mount Hua Sect were second to none in purity as well.
Wooong-
As their internal energies collided, the whip and the sword blade bound to it began to vibrate finely.
Neither of them had fully materialized their internal energy, so that quiet struggle would have been invisible to the eye.
But the two standing close to Seol Ri-hyang's intense Yin-Cold True Energy could see the shape of the internal energy battle with their own eyes.
The frost that had flowed through the whip and dyed more than half the blade white. Yet that boundary was slowly creeping upward.
The frost on the side where internal energy had been pushed back melted away in the sweltering heat before long, and the remaining droplets were shaken off by the vibrating blade.
As if nothing had happened, the sword regained its original form—no, a faint pink glow spread over it, the area growing wider and wider.
It was clear enough to know without watching what would happen if Wi Ji-suryeon's internal energy pushed out all of hers.
Yet Seol Ri-hyang's gaze remained calmly settled.
'I had a feeling it might come to this.'
Seol Ri-hyang steadied herself, hardening her resolve. Normally, she would have unleashed her Yin Art here to disrupt her opponent's concentration.
But that was a method she had already shown in the preliminaries. And unlike the careless examiner back then, Wi Ji-suryeon had not let her guard down from start to finish.
Even if she tried to shake Wi Ji-suryeon with her Yin Art now, it likely wouldn't work properly—she would only waste her internal energy.
Since internal energy was the one thing Seol Ri-hyang had the advantage in, recklessly throwing it away would be foolish.
That was why Seol Ri-hyang gambled on a faint possibility.
Grit.
Seol Ri-hyang clenched her teeth. At the same time, her deeply sunken gaze began to blaze fiercely, as if set aflame.
With both weapons already locked together and neither able to move, the whip was too long for them to fight with the Golden Capture Technique or Leg Technique—their hands and feet couldn't reach each other.
In that situation, what Seol Ri-hyang chose instead of a Yin Art was… the Hidden Weapon Art she had learned from her master, the Deputy Commander of the Dark Soul Unit.
A whip is swung not with strength but with flexibility and the wide range of motion of its joints. That is why most whip techniques are based on swinging with one hand rather than both.
Naturally, Seol Ri-hyang's other arm was free, and the moment her white hand slipped into her bosom and came out again, two small steel beads were caught between her fingers.
"Hidden weapons?!"
Wi Ji-suryeon's eyes flew open. If she had been able to prepare in advance because Seol Ri-hyang had been talked about since the preliminaries for her rare ice arts—
This time, having known beforehand, she must have been greatly startled by the unexpected means.
"Take this!"
The deliberately raised voice. The arm swinging with a flourish.
Every move Seol Ri-hyang made carried the intent to threaten, and the hidden weapon she actually launched was flying straight toward both of Wi Ji-suryeon's eyes.
For any ordinary person, flinching reflexively would be the normal reaction. But martial artists are people who train their whole lives to control such reflexive weaknesses.
Wi Ji-suryeon, who had been born and raised at Mount Hua Sect since childhood, might have been startled, but she was not the type to lose her composure over something like this.
Staring straight at the steel bead flying toward her eyes, Wi Ji-suryeon jerked her head aside.
Of course, twisting only her head without turning her body couldn't dodge it completely, so one steel bead grazed past her forehead.
Thud!
Because it was a steel bead and not a blade, her skin wasn't cut. It was just that the impact shook her head, and her disheveled bangs fell over one of her eyes.
Regardless, being struck by a steel bead must have been quite painful. But Wi Ji-suryeon, her long hair covering one eye, wasn't frowning at all — she was smiling brightly.
As if admiring Seol Ri-hyang's move, or perhaps as if looking forward to what was about to happen.
"Well done, female hero. You've shown me something good, so I should show you something worthy of it in return."
With those words, the tip of Seol Ri-hyang's whip, which had been holding Wi Ji-suryeon's sword, fell limply to the ground.
Thud.
"…What?"
Seol Ri-hyang's eyes wavered, deflated that none of the moves she had prepared had worked.
Wi Ji-suryeon, who had been pushing back Seol Ri-hyang's internal energy even as the hidden weapon flew toward her, had finally reclaimed her sword intact.
It wasn't quite Sword Qi, but the light that cleaved through Seol Ri-hyang's whip was more than powerful enough.
At the same time, Wi Ji-suryeon unleashed Mount Hua's footwork.
Her steps were light and gentle, yet each one closed the distance between them rapidly.
A reckless aura, as if she intended to end the fight before Seol Ri-hyang could even retrieve her whip, which now lay limp on the ground.
And indeed, she was charging in with exactly that intent—something Seol Ri-hyang, now on the receiving end, could feel all too keenly.
'If I try to retrieve the whip, I'll be too late…!'
Seol Ri-hyang prioritized dodging over recovering her weapon. The moment she threw herself backward, Wi Ji-suryeon's sword swung.
Sweep.
She had widened the distance in time, so the sword was not yet within reach. However, what Wi Ji-suryeon had severed was not Seol Ri-hyang, but her whip.
"Ugh!"
Seol Ri-hyang let out a grunt, her brow furrowing deeply. The remaining length of the whip was barely a little longer than an ordinary sword.
At this rate, no matter how she swung it, she could hardly bring out its full power.
…Not that she even had time to swing it anymore.
Wi Ji-suryeon, having cut the whip, charged without pause and swung her sword.
The connection between each movement was fluid, and the tip of the sword wavered, tracing an unpredictable path.
The trail of pale pink afterimages painted a line resembling a flower bud, but Seol Ri-hyang had no leisure to appreciate it.
The whip, now meaningless, had been released from her hand long ago. She was given no time to draw a hidden weapon, and even if she somehow managed to throw one, it would be shot down all too easily.
Her gamble had failed—was it now time to pay the price?
Seol Ri-hyang was being pushed back helplessly, unable to do anything.
'No.'
Every time Wi Ji-suryeon swung her sword, a small wound appeared on Seol Ri-hyang's body. They stung slightly, but didn't hurt much. The bleeding wasn't severe either.
But that was only because Wi Ji-suryeon was deliberately holding back. This was a sparring match, after all. The gap in skill was clear.
For that reason, she was showing mercy.
In fact, since entering Wi Ji-suryeon's range, Seol Ri-hyang hadn't been able to mount a proper response at all.
'This can't go on.'
With every step she advanced, I took a step back. Each time her sword swung, a thin red line appeared on my forearm, and I had almost no hidden weapons left—and even those wouldn't reach her.
There was no room for any trickery here. Wi Ji-suryeon was strong, and Seol Ri-hyang was weak. That was all there was to it.
'I…'
Of course, no one would fault me for it.
Wi Ji-suryeon had long been known as a rising talent, and Seol Ri-hyang was a Murim Debut appearing for the first time.
Even if I was slowly pushed back and surrendered, or even if I was knocked out of the training ground and lost by disqualification, everyone would applaud and say I fought well.
But.
'This isn't enough.'
Winning or losing didn't matter.
There was a different reason she was standing here.
A chill seeped out with Seol Ri-hyang's breath.