Episode 235
After Sun Woo-jin lured away the members of the Pasan Fourth Squad, Ha Won-dal’s disciple, Yeon Tae-jin, threw herself into battle against the Pasan Seventh Squad with everything she had.
The man she had been counting on—Inparang—had absurdly fled, but at least Yeon Tae-jin, who dreamed of succeeding the Yeoryeong Seokma, refused to run away in front of her enemies.
Still, sheer willpower alone wasn’t enough to overcome the overwhelming power of the Six-Combination Sword Formation.
“Haah!”
A crimson aura burst forth as Yeon Tae-jin’s enlarged fist slammed hard into the center of the sword formation.
KWAANG!
It was a strike fueled by every ounce of her strength.
Yet the two swordsmen who blocked her attack were only lightly knocked back.
Without missing a beat, they switched positions and lunged forward, thrusting their blades at her.
This was a scene that had repeated itself over and over.
Gritting her teeth, Yeon Tae-jin couldn’t understand what was happening.
No matter how she looked at it, these weren’t warriors who had surpassed the ultimate level.
They seemed to have only about eighty years of internal energy cultivation, yet they effortlessly blocked her all-out punch.
“Damn it!”
She cursed under her breath, twisting her body to parry the incoming blades.
Clang!
But the next attack came immediately.
This time, a sword strike shot up from between the two swordsmen at her feet.
Gritting her teeth, Yeon Tae-jin kicked the blade away.
It was an astonishing move—using her foot to deflect a blade that stabbed at her like a ray of light.
Thud!
Even though she blocked the attack, she was sinking deeper into a trap.
The two swordsmen who had initially stepped back had now surrounded her from behind, swinging their swords.
Along with the two in front, attacks came from all four directions.
“Ugh!”
Yeon Tae-jin realized she simply couldn’t defend against them all.
There was only one option left.
“Haah!”
With a shout, a crimson protective aura burst from her entire body.
Tututut-tung!
The four swords struck the aura, bouncing off harmlessly.
Yet even in that moment, the sword formation remained unbroken.
The four swordsmen moved as one, circling around the formation’s core—the commander, Un-gyeong.
There wasn’t even the slightest opening.
‘Is this… the Martial Arts of the Hyeongsan Sect?’
Despair washed over Yeon Tae-jin.
She had already used her protective aura three times; one more use would drain all her energy.
And then, it would all be over.
Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind.
‘Should I run?’
After all, Inparang had fled.
His comrades had vanished as if by agreement.
No one would blame her if she ran.
Besides…
If she ran now, it might be her last chance.
If she faced that dreadful sword formation again, she wouldn’t escape without using her protective aura.
But as she stared at the advancing formation, she clenched her fists and shouted.
“I am Ha Won-dal’s disciple, Yeon Tae-jin!”
Years ago, when the bloodthirsty demon Yoon Sak disappeared, Yeon Tae-jin had felt a deep loss.
She had heard of his evil deeds and vowed to one day defeat him.
Back then, she hesitated despite hearing of his atrocities.
She lacked the confidence to win.
Just a little stronger… just a little more…
But in the end, she missed her chance forever.
‘And now, I’m supposed to run away? No! I refuse to live like that!’
With her resolve hardened, Yeon Tae-jin focused all her spirit.
This was her one and only chance.
If she failed, her life would end here.
Calming herself, she watched the sword formation approach.
Five swordsmen, spinning like tops around their commander.
Their weakness was glaringly obvious.
The commander at the center.
If she could take him down, she could break the formation.
But biting her lip, Yeon Tae-jin reminded herself.
‘Charging straight at him got me into this mess before.’
Maybe the central swordsman was a trap.
If she rushed him, she’d be surrounded from all sides.
This time, she had to try something different.
‘Maybe the answer isn’t the center, but the edges.’
Perhaps she should have taken them down one by one from the outside.
If only she’d tried earlier.
But there was only one chance now.
‘No choice.’
Yeon Tae-jin began lightly bouncing on the spot.
This was a tactic she’d used often when fighting stronger opponents, relying on agility over strength.
She hadn’t needed it in a long time, but now she finally accepted that her enemies could be stronger.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Bouncing lightly, she suddenly charged as the formation closed in.
Smack!
Her speed was similar to before, but her movements were much lighter.
Two swordsmen stepped forward to block her.
‘Just as I thought!’
Using her momentum, Yeon Tae-jin struck out with both fists.
Bang!
But instead of trying to knock them down, she aimed to push them back.
As the two retreated, two others swung their blades in a rotating attack.
Yeon Tae-jin used the recoil from her fists to step back lightly.
Swish!
The blades whistled just inches past her.
Then, the moment she’d been waiting for arrived.
Swoosh!
One swordsman suddenly launched a surprise attack from above the two.
If she’d met it head-on before, she wouldn’t have been able to respond.
But now, having lightly clashed earlier, she had the strength to react.
She focused on the stabbing blade and spun her body, kicking it away.
Bang!
Her foot struck the blade’s flat edge perfectly, deflecting it.
It was a difficult move—one that could have led to disaster if failed—but her razor-sharp focus made it succeed.
‘Got it!’
Clenching her fist, Yeon Tae-jin spun once more.
Whirl!
She unleashed a whirlwind strike at the swordsman.
Fwoosh!
“Ugh!”
The satisfying impact of her foot connecting with his torso sent the swordsman flying backward, blood splattering from the strike.
She had finally broken one pillar of the sword formation.
‘Yes…!’
But at that moment, horror struck.
Yeon Tae-jin realized she was surrounded by four swordsmen.
It was as if they had anticipated this.
Swoosh!
They all thrust their blades at once.
The attack came at a point where she couldn’t defend.
It even seemed too late to release her protective aura.
“Ugh!”
Her vision blurred as she sensed the end.
Then—
Shuah!
Four crimson energy orbs shot toward the swordsmen from somewhere.
Their speed was so great that if the swordsmen hadn’t already pulled back, they wouldn’t have been able to block.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground shook under the barrage.
But the swordsmen had already retreated.
Un-gyeong, leader of the Pasan Seventh Squad, wasn’t about to sacrifice his men just to catch one opponent.
As the swordsmen reformed the sword formation, circling around Un-gyeong, he shouted forward.
“Who dares interfere with the Hyeongsan Sect’s event?!”
As the dust settled, it was clear who had arrived.
A young man with a sturdy build and a masculine face, dressed in red martial robes, stood beside Yeon Tae-jin.
It was Seol Poong, who had been hiding nearby, watching her fight before stepping in.
Earlier, before Sun Woo-jin took the Pasan Fourth Squad away, he had sent a message to Son Dae-su to lead his group toward him if he retreated.
To Seol Poong, he sent word to watch over Yeon Tae-jin and help if she was in danger, since Seol Poong had no group of his own.
He didn’t want her to die because of him, especially since her reputation wasn’t bad.
Ignoring Un-gyeong’s words, Seol Poong bowed respectfully to Yeon Tae-jin.
“Apologies for the intrusion, Lady. I am Seon… the sworn brother of Inparang. At the request of the master, I intend to deal with them. May I take them on?”
Having resolved to face his fate and no longer afraid in front of a woman, Seol Poong’s confident yet polite demeanor surprised Yeon Tae-jin, who had just been ready to accept death.
She nodded, still a bit dazed.
“Yes? Ah, yes.”
Seol Poong smiled warmly.
“Thank you, Lady. Then I shall.”
Cracking his neck, he strode toward the Six-Combination Swordsmen.
His smile grew fiercer, more like a predator’s.
Having watched them for some time, Seol Poong admired the power of the sword formation.
At the same time, he was itching to fight them.
Now, the moment had come.
With eyes like a wild beast, Seol Poong licked his lips and muttered,
“Let’s see what you’ve got…”
In the next instant, Seol Poong’s form lunged at them like a fierce tiger.
Bang!
KWAANG!
His powerful strike slammed into one of the Six-Combination Swordsmen.
With a sensation as if striking a soft, yielding surface, the man was flung backward.
“Hooh!”
As Seolpung let out an impressed exclamation at the feeling, two sword masters suddenly launched a fierce assault from both sides, swapping places with the one who had just been repelled.
Sshhhk!
The strikes came like lightning bolts.
Seolpung quickly extended both arms, pushing the two attackers away.
Bang!
From the sidelines, Yeon Taejin cried out in frustration.
“No! If you push them away…!”
At that moment, two more sword masters launched a rapid counterattack, one from beneath the feet and another from above the heads of the repelled foes.
Their assault was even faster than before—exactly the same tactic Yeon Taejin had faced repeatedly.
Shuhaaak!
Yet a smile reappeared on Seolpung’s face.
Without retreating, he spun his body in a full circle, executing a flawless chain strike that precisely kicked the swords of the two attackers aside.
Pafang!
“!”
Yeon Taejin stared in astonishment.
Seolpung had elevated the technique Yeon Taejin had just managed to pull off to an entirely new level—and succeeded.
Still, the sticky, suffocating grip of the Demon-Slaying Six-Combination Sword Formation seemed to have completely enveloped Seolpung now.
Three sword masters had already positioned themselves behind him, stabbing from three sides.
Sshhhiiik!
Their attacks came from completely outside Seolpung’s line of sight.
“Ugh!”
Yeon Taejin gritted his teeth as if he himself were under attack.
Like before, he thought Seolpung would have no choice but to defend with his protective energy.
But Seolpung did not.
With a faint smile, he murmured, “So this is what it feels like.”
Then, in an instant, he spun his body like a top.
Shuhaaak!
Tatatatat!
“!”
The three swords that had pierced toward Seolpung were effortlessly deflected.
Both Yeon Taejin and Woonkyung of the Hyungsan Sect were stunned by this astonishing display of effortless defense.
Seolpung had repelled the entire assault without even using his protective energy.
The next two attacks aimed at him met the same fate—unable to break through his furious spinning defense, they bounced off.
Thud!
The Six-Combination Sword Masters, unable to attack the whirling Seolpung, retreated and circled back, tightening their defense.
Seolpung slowly ceased his rotation.
Back when Sunwoo Jin was mastering the Southern Cross Sword, Seolpung and Jeungchil hadn’t been idle either.
Thanks to the secret martial arts Sunwoo Jin had passed on to them—received from a celestial being in a dream—each had learned a different technique.
Among these, Seolpung had been taught the “Jeonlunbak” technique, alongside the “Hwangryong Musang Ganggi” of the Martial Emperor, which had also been passed to Bisa-yeong.
Though unspoken, this technique was the foundation of the legendary “Pungnoebak” of the Thunder God, a martial art once rivaled only by the Sword God himself.
Seolpung grinned fiercely.
“Well then, now that you’ve all had your show, shall we finish this?”
“Hmph…”
Woonkyung scoffed, as if to say the previous fight had been nothing but a warm-up.
Yet no further words came.
Seolpung’s slow lowering of his stance felt like a massive tiger preparing to leap.
The prickling energy radiating from him and his suddenly imposing presence made it clear he was a completely different force than before.
Without thinking, Woonkyung shouted, “Everyone, prepare yourselves!”
At that moment, Seolpung launched himself forward.
Paaang!
A lightning-fast assault, enhanced by his explosive “Pokjinbo” technique.
Kwaaaang!
“Kraaaah!”
“Uaaah!”
His charge, as if compressing space itself, sent two sword masters flying like cannonballs, their screams piercing the air.
For the first time, the inhuman Six-Combination Sword Masters let out truly human cries.
“Ugh?!”
Woonkyung, caught off guard, shouted in alarm.
He felt the energy link they shared through the Demon-Slaying Six-Combination Sword Formation shatter.
The overwhelming impact had destroyed the formation.
It was the first time since completing the formation that he had experienced this.
Seolpung didn’t stop there.
Spinning like a whirlwind during his charge, his relentless strikes pummeled the two sword masters attacking from both sides.
Babababababak!
“Kraaaah!”
“Uaaah!”
Woonkyung watched in stunned silence.
With a powerful blow like a tiger’s swipe, Seolpung crushed the two sword masters, and the last remaining Six-Combination Sword Master before him was sent flying like a scarecrow.
“How…?”
He muttered in disbelief.
At that moment—
Pook!
Seolpung’s spear pierced Woonkyung’s chest like tofu.
“Gahk!”
In his fading consciousness, Woonkyung heard the opponent’s voice one last time.
“Good formation, but the operator’s skill is too lacking. What a pity.”
That was the last thing he heard.
Seolpung withdrew his spear from Woonkyung’s chest and glanced around with a detached expression.
Thanks to the powerful strike that shattered the formation, all its members lay dead.
He muttered, “Was that too much? I’ll need to get more accustomed to Jeonlunbak.”
Watching him, Ha Won Dalki Yeon Taejin stared blankly.
It was the most exhilarating and overwhelming fight she had ever witnessed.
A short while later, Sunwoo Jin, accompanied by the Six-Combination Sword Masters, met with the others before returning immediately to the scene where Seolpung was fighting.
“Brother! What about the Six-Combination Sword Masters…?”
Sunwoo Jin was about to say that only the formation’s leader, the squad chief, needed to be dealt with.
But seeing the bodies of the Six-Combination Sword Masters scattered everywhere, he was left speechless.
He looked at Seolpung with a strangely hollow expression.
At that moment, Seolpung—who had recently overcome his fear of women—looked just as flustered as he had back then.
It was because Ha Won Dalki Yeon Taejin was clinging closely to him.
“Eun-gong, I’m Yeon Taejin. People call me Ha Won Dalki. I guess I’m as pretty as a Dalki, hohoho!”
“Ah, y-yes. I, I see.”
“Oh my! Eun-gong, you think so too, don’t you? In that case, shall we properly introduce ourselves? I’ve already told you my name, so what about yours…?”
“Y-yes? Ah, my name is a bit… difficult to say…”
Indeed.
Sunwoo Jin, who had just moments ago seemed more manly than any man, now watched her with a mixture of surprise and amusement as she smiled with a feminine charm and playful coyness.
Silently, he apologized in his heart to Naseoyu.
“I’m sorry, Lady Na. I should have asked Brother Jeung to handle this instead.”