The cave was thick with smoke. Tears streaming from our eyes (it was quite acrid), Seomun Hwa-rin and I simply walked out. Naturally, we cleared away the brush that had been placed there to hide the entrance.
"Senior Seomun Hwa-rin. I did ask you to kidnap me, it's true, but if you're going to go about taking my life as well, that's a bit of a problem."
"O-oh, you misunderstand! This one merely thought the cave floor was cold and wished to warm your body!"
Seomun Hwa-rin shook her head frantically in a panic. Perhaps it was because I had dreamed of the old days for the first time in a while. The sight of her white hair flying left and right felt rather welcome.
Had I been staring at her without realizing it? Seomun Hwa-rin began to stomp her feet anxiously, a worried expression on her face.
"You must not misunderstand! This one had not the slightest intention of harming you!"
"I know. More to the point, you're no longer hiding that 'this one' way of speaking, are you."
"You seem to know everything already, so why would I bother hiding it? …But how did you know that I refer to myself as 'this one'?"
"I'm from Zhejiang Province, so I heard plenty of rumors about Baekbal Nachal when I was young."
Even before reaching the Harmony Realm. From the time she was a Transcendent Peak martial artist, she had sent one enemy after another to their graves with that arrogant way of speaking, so it was only natural she'd become famous.
Still, it seemed a different part of what Seomun Hwa-rin said had struck her.
"Young… It feels like it was only a few years ago, but it's already been that long?"
"At least a decade or more must have passed. And I haven't even reached the Age of Twenty yet."
"…!"
Seomun Hwa-rin stiffened, as if she were being forced to witness a truth she didn't want to face.
Of course, that didn't last long.
"Now that I think of it, there is much I wish to ask you."
Seomun Hwa-rin erased the fussy atmosphere and looked up at me with a serious expression.
Her face, having undergone Bone-Exchange Rebirth and then Rejuvenation, was youthful and adorable… yet the aura that permitted no falsehood, and the presence of a Harmony Realm martial artist revealed without reservation.
These two things were enough to completely transform my impression of Seomun Hwa-rin.
She wasn't showing hostility. I was simply overwhelmed by her presence.
There was a difference in degree and nature, but every Harmony Realm martial artist I had encountered so far possessed something inhuman, and resisting it was no easy task.
Before I knew it, I found myself gulping. Finally, Seomun Hwa-rin's small lips parted.
"It is astonishing even to me that you reached the edge of the Peak Realm before the age of twenty. But it is not beyond my understanding. The martial world is vast, and geniuses are many, are they not? And one must be at least that capable to become the live-in son-in-law of the Sichuan Tang Clan."
This was something she could say only because she herself had begun training in earnest late in life and still risen to the Harmony Realm.
"However, there is one thing I simply cannot understand. Until now, I dismissed it as my imagination, but seeing you in person has made it clear."
Seomun Hwa-rin's eyes looked straight into mine, as if trying to see what lay within.
"That familiar disposition. The footwork that, though heavily altered, is unmistakably the Thunder Step. And the killing intent—not directed at me, but thick enough to furrow one's brow."
Listing each source of her unease one by one, Seomun Hwa-rin took a step closer.
A distance so close that, if she wished, she could count the number of my eyelashes. She spoke at the interval of a fist, not a sword.
"Cheon Hwi. What is your connection to the Seomun Clan?"
"…"
I couldn't say anything. More precisely, I was still weighing what to say.
The story of my regression couldn't be told due to a certain seal. So I couldn't claim that Seomun Hwa-rin had taught me how to fight, or the Thunder Step.
But to Seomun Hwa-rin, the matter of the Seomun Clan was not something she could simply brush aside. Unless I gave her some explanation she could accept, she wouldn't let this go easily.
After a brief moment of deliberation, I slowly opened my mouth.
"I cannot tell you the details."
"…What?"
Seomun Hwa-rin's brow twitched, revealing her displeasure.
But if Seomun Hwa-rin was someone who was sensitive about this topic and wouldn't let even a single suspicious point slide, then…
In that case, even if it wasn't convincing, I had no choice but to answer as honestly as I could.
"I have my own circumstances, so I cannot explain in detail. However, it's not as if I learned it through some underhanded method as you, Senior Seomun, seem to be concerned about."
"…"
Seomun Hwa-rin narrowed her eyes and stared at me. Even though she was clearly a head shorter than me and had to look up, the pressure she exuded was considerable.
As I held her gaze without averting my eyes for a long while, she soon let out a deep sigh.
Then, as if trying to strike a threatening pose, she shifted her weight onto one leg at an angle and continued speaking.
"Haa… If this goes on, there will be no end to it. For now, why don't you show me again, slowly? I'll make my judgment after that."
"Should I unfold it as I normally would?"
"I would have you unfold it with your full strength."
"Understood."
The reason Seomun Hwa-rin reacted this way was simple. The martial arts of the Seomun Clan had already fallen into the hands of the Unorthodox Sects once before.
No matter how extraordinary one's talent, unless one had regressed like me, becoming stronger required time.
Seomun Hwa-rin had only been able to achieve her revenge after a considerable amount of time had passed, and during that period, there was no way she had simply left the martial arts of the prestigious Seomun Clan untouched.
The martial arts of the Seomun Clan had been scattered among the various Unorthodox Sects, where they were thoroughly analyzed.
To such an extent that there were those who handled the Seomun Clan's martial arts more skillfully than Seomun Hwa-rin herself, who, in her youth, had shown no interest in martial arts and had only learned basic self-defense Fist and Leg Art.
So if someone was using the martial arts of the Seomun Clan, it had to be one of two things: either a survivor of the clan like Seomun Hwa-rin herself, or someone connected to those who had brought about the Clan Extermination.
That was probably what Seomun Hwa-rin was looking for in me.
She had taken the basic Fist and Leg Art, torn it apart and reworked it until she reached a new level, and after recovering all of the Seomun Clan's martial arts, she had studied them anew and risen to the Harmony Realm.
She might not know much else, but her eye for who had learned what, and from whom, would be sharp.
I had just stepped out of the cave, so I put some distance between us and settled into a stance.
I placed one foot half a step forward and bent my knee slightly. My heel was lifted just enough that it hovered at the very edge of touching the ground.
It was a posture designed to make the most of the Thunder Step's greatest strength—sudden acceleration.
There were plenty of footwork techniques that focused internal energy into the Yongcheonhyeol, but most of them were merely auxiliary methods meant to create precise movements or unexpected variables.
That was only natural—recklessly unleashing internal energy was a simple waste, and if the backlash was enough to send the body flying, the soles of the feet would hardly remain intact.
But the Thunder Step was a footwork technique that carefully balanced all of this: it placed no burden on the body, kept internal energy consumption at a reasonable level, and properly seized the acceleration from the recoil without missing it.
Unlike other footwork techniques, it did not dazzle the eyes with flashy movements, nor did it use mystical motions to deflect the opponent's sword.
It was simply a straight-line movement that struck in fast during a moment of disbelief.
…Or so I had thought. After seeing Seomun Hwa-rin's Thunder Step this time, my opinion had shifted somewhat.
It was probably because, unlike before my regression, my level had risen and my perception had changed, and I had come to understand a little of the name of this footwork and the true intent contained within it from Gwiyeong Sin-tu.
Seomun Hwa-rin's Thunder Step was not merely fast—it was a dazzling footwork that surged forward with speed and overwhelmed the opponent.
However, since she had said she wanted the method I usually employed, that was what I would do.
Though I appeared to be standing perfectly still, I lowered my stance further, ready to burst into motion at any moment.
The sword had always been my main weapon. With a blade that traced the exact trajectory at the exact moment, I would gradually gain the upper hand, and the instant my opponent crumbled, I would sever their neck and pierce their heart in a single breath.
So the method Seomun Hwa-rin had taught me was far more aggressive and headlong… rather than pressing the attack in a continuous flurry, it was a technique that staked everything on a single step.
"Hah… hoo…"
The breath I drew in scorched my lungs. At the same time, the faint Natural Qi I swallowed along with my breath was swept into the flow of the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art and began racing through my Meridians.
In an instant, the internal energy dyed with the killing intent inherent in the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art reached its end—the moment it touched my Dantian.
The vast internal energy surging up from my Dantian coursed through my Meridians according to the mystery of the Thunder Step. And then—
KWANG!
With a clamorous boom, internal energy burst forth from the Yongcheonhyeol at the center of my sole, tracing a bizarre trajectory.
A sensation as if a platform of internal energy was pushing me off. The edges of my vision stretched into lines, and a fierce wind blew from straight ahead.
My body, having kicked off the ground with that much force, shot toward Seomun Hwa-rin—but.
"Hmph."
Seomun Hwa-rin lightly waved her hand at me as I charged. The moment that small hand touched my shoulder, my body spun around, and before I knew it, I had come to a stop beside her.
Just as I had wrapped my sword around the Flying Dagger and sent it back, Seomun Hwa-rin had rotated me—the one charging at her—and brought me to a halt.
Originally, I had planned to brush past her side.
As I blinked rapidly to shake off the slight dizziness, Seomun Hwa-rin's expression—which had been dead serious ever since she brought up the topic of footwork—softened into a gentle smile.
"It suits the fierce killing intent you showed a moment ago—your combative nature has grown stronger… but I sense no trace of a grudge. If anything, you feel familiar."
"Is that so."
Of course—Seomun Hwa-rin had personally refined and passed down this technique, so it was only natural. Unable to say that, I merely nodded calmly.
"More than anything, I don't sense that you're still in the process of adapting it to your own martial art. A master of your level must have modified the Thunder Step for a single person from the very beginning. Am I right?"
"Close enough."
"Then that is a relief. Whoever it may be, it means another survivor of the Seomun Clan exists besides myself. The very fact that they are alive is something to be grateful for. …Would it be alright if I asked who it is? Perhaps it is someone I know."
"I'm afraid I can't say. As I mentioned earlier, there are circumstances involved."
"I see…"
Seomun Hwa-rin looked a bit deflated and nodded, but before long, her expression twisted into a mischievous smile.
"Setting aside the matter of your master, the fact remains that you have learned the martial arts of the Seomun Clan. And I am the rightful head of the Seomun Clan. Is that not so?"
"That is true, but what are you getting at all of a sudden?"
From experience, every time she smiled like that, she had caused some kind of trouble.
At the learned unease that made me flinch, Seomun Hwa-rin placed her hands on her hips with a confident expression.
Then, puffing out her chest—which was hardly a burden thanks to the Rejuvenation—she continued.
"How about calling me 'Mother'?"
"…?"
Shouldn't the clan head come out first at a time like this?