Vol. 1 Chapter 2.7

Recognizing familiar faces, Yeon stopped walking. It was Namgung Ji-hyun, her lackeys, and Tang Xiao-xiao of the Sichuan Tang Clan. Fortunately, they hadn’t noticed her yet, so Yeon assessed the situation first.

The bully gang led by Namgung Ji-hyun was surrounding Tang Xiao-xiao as if threatening her. Xiao-xiao, completely intimidated, looked exactly like a victim of school violence. The Tang Clan twins were nowhere to be seen.

So such atrocities happened here too. It seemed that wherever people lived, things were the same.

The sight of a weaker person being persecuted by a group was nauseating no matter when you saw it. And now, the victim was someone she knew. Yeon didn’t hesitate, she raided the scene of the bullying.

“Hey, you! What do you think you’re doing?”

At Yeon’s appearance, complete with an impression of a student/teacher from her school days Namgung Ji-hyun and her followers blankly turned their heads.

“Is it okay to pick on a weaker friend, or is it not? Answer me. Student Namgung Ji-hyun.”

When people encounter a situation they can’t understand, they often can’t react. That was exactly the case with Namgung Ji-hyun right now.

“…What? You… Hwangbo Yeon?”

Watching her fluster, Yeon shook her head left and right. With a very firm expression.

“That won’t do. Everyone needs to get along. Come on, repeat after me. School violence, stop!”

Yeon extended one hand forward. For a moment, silence fell. Then Namgung Ji-hyun said,

“Wow, you’re really insane.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“She was sick for a long time… I guess she’s gone crazy.”

Voices of agreement poured out. Yeon nodded as if she had expected it, then said to Namgung Ji-hyun,

“Good thing we ran into each other, right? There’s no single-log bridge around here, even though there are plenty of trees.”

Spouting more nonsense, Yeon took advantage of the confusion to gesture to Tang Xiao-xiao.

“Come here, Xiao-xiao.”

“Oh, unni?”

“Quickly.”

Hesitating for a moment, Tang Xiao-xiao came toward Yeon as if drawn by something. Having separated the perpetrator from the victim, Yeon looked at Namgung Ji-hyun.

“I think we still have unfinished business between us, don’t we?”

“Ha.”

Namgung Ji-hyun stepped forward as if dumbfounded. One of her henchmen, who had been attending her, grabbed her arm as if to stop the fight.

“Ji-hyun, calm down. Don’t engage with her kind-”

“Let go. Let go!”

After a dramatic shake-off dance, Namgung Ji-hyun came right up to Yeon. She seemed to have taken to heart the fact that she had been momentarily scared the day before.

“Hwangbo. Yeon.”

Imitating her brother, Yeon chuckled.

“Namgung. Ji. Hyun.”

“What makes you so cocky?”

“I don’t like talking much, Ji-hyun.”

“So?”

“So what… Let’s not use words. Let’s do something else. You know what.”

As Yeon playfully spun her fist, Namgung Ji-hyun’s expression hardened.

Ji-hyun seemed unable to believe the situation. That was understandable. There probably wasn’t anyone her age who would stand up to her like this. In her words, she was probably wondering what on earth the “insignificant” Hwangbo Clan’s successor was thinking.

“I believe in myself, Ji-hyun. What do you believe in?”

Having answered her earlier question, Yeon took a step back. Not a retreat, she was creating distance, preparing for a fight.

This time, Ji-hyun’s response was the same as before.

“Crazy bitch.”

At the same time, Namgung Ji-hyun’s form moved.

Swoosh.

A movement like skating on ice unfolded. Her unfamiliar gestures made even Yeon’s playful expression vanish.

Here it comes.

This was the first time Yeon had witnessed actual martial arts. Technically, it was just a footwork technique, but it was still sufficiently mysterious. The sense of distance, one of the most important elements in a fight, seemed erratic. She couldn’t understand the mechanism behind Ji-hyun’s movement at all.

Yeon instinctively moved with familiar steps. But the moment she stepped back, Ji-hyun’s form rushed in like the wind. A fleeting movement.

Thwack!

A fist struck her raised guard and passed by. The only reason Yeon could block the attack was pure luck. Without her natural instincts, it would have been impossible.

If that had landed, it might have been over…

“What’s this? Is that all you’ve got?”

After a single exchange, the balance had tipped. A triumphant smile hung at the corner of Namgung Ji-hyun’s lips.

“I heard you beat Peng Dong-hu. How? With skills like that?”

Having regained her composure, Ji-hyun spun her fist just as Yeon had done earlier.

“Not that it matters.. he was probably just as pathetic. As expected of insignificant families…”

Amidst the pouring mockery, Yeon’s mind raced. She recalled the Hwangbo Clan’s martial arts, which she had been organizing in her spare time. Her steps had also come to a stop.

It’s time to abandon the modern ways.

Two martial arts surfaced from the messy surface of her consciousness. First, a footwork technique to catch that strange movement. And second, a fist technique that felt most familiar among the Hwangbo Clan’s many martial arts.

The Heavenly King’s Step and the Thunderclap Divine Fist.

Watching Namgung Ji-hyun prepare her next attack, Yeon drew up her internal energy. The majestic energy of the Heavenly King Divine Art spread in all directions.

Rumble.

“Now I’ll show you.”

As her aura changed, Ji-hyun’s eyes narrowed. Yeon curled her lips and completed the remaining sentence.

“What the Hwangbo Clan’s martial arts…the ones you mock…are really like.”

Reborn, Yeon pushed off the ground. As if a bell signaling the start of the second round, a loud sound echoed through the forest.

Yeon had chosen the Thunderclap Divine Fist because she was accustomed to using her fists. Sword techniques, which required a blade, or palm techniques, which used open hands, still felt awkward to her.

And more importantly… the reason was.

“The best part of a beating is throwing a fist!”

SWISH!

Yeon’s powerful fist flew toward Namgung Ji-hyun. Their hands tangled chaotically for a moment, then separated.

FWOOSH!

Having created distance again, Yeon’s pupils slowly dilated, and her closed lips parted slightly. A habit of hers when she was intensely focused.

The more she focused, the more actively her brain worked. Her innate talent for understanding combat was dissecting the martial arts of the Central Plains piece by piece.

So this is how it’s done.

Namgung Ji-hyun’s footwork was no longer a threat. Moving with the Heavenly King’s Step, Yeon had regained her sense of distance long ago. The steps of the Heavenly King had caught up to Ji-hyun’s wind-like footwork.

“Tch!”

Not wanting to lose the initiative, Ji-hyun extended her fist. Though the Namgung Clan was famous for swordsmanship, that didn’t mean they lacked in fist techniques. Her sharp strike aimed for Yeon’s solar plexus at close range.

At this distance, a straight-line attack meant a head-on confrontation. Yeon didn’t hesitate to respond. She met Ji-hyun’s fist head-on.