Chapter 265

The two of them quickly flew over to Yong Wooshin, the head of the Bokgeon Yong family, who was watching the fight up close.

Among the Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars, he was one of the top-ranked fighters—a formidable swordsman known as a “dogae.” His expression was grave as he observed the battle between the Saintess and Makyeong.

“Master Yong!” Sunwoo Jin and Jeung Chil approached, and immediately his serious demeanor softened into a warm welcome.

“Jeung Daehyup! And you must be Young Master Sunwoo! Earlier, I was too preoccupied to properly greet you or thank you. Truly, I am grateful. Without you, the Yong family would have been in grave danger. Those six-combination sword masters, the Pa Cheonjo—they’re no easy opponents.”

Every word he spoke carried genuine consideration, not the kind of forced politeness you might expect from someone like Jin Taedo. He was a middle-aged warrior with a gentle nature that radiated sincerity.

Sunwoo Jin bowed once in thanks, then got straight to the point.

“Thank you, but I think it’s better to discuss that later. Master Yong, what’s your take on how this fight will end?”

At that, his face darkened as he glanced toward the Saintess and Makyeong.

The Saintess was currently being forced backward, helplessly retreating from Makyeong’s reckless body charge, powered by his defensive armor.

He answered with a heavy tone.

“Skill-wise, it’s a close match. But…”

“Precisely because of that, it’s difficult to counter such brute force attacks relying on physical strength, isn’t it? You must have thought the same, Master Yong.”

Sunwoo Jin’s question was met with a solemn nod.

“That’s right. You must have felt it too.”

“Yes. That’s why I’m saying we need to prepare for the worst.”

“Prepare for the worst… You don’t mean to interfere in their duel, do you?”

Yong Wooshin’s face stiffened at the suggestion.

His expression clearly said such a thing was absolutely unacceptable.

Sunwoo Jin understood perfectly.

Interfering in a one-on-one duel was an unspoken rule in the martial world. Though sometimes broken depending on the time and people involved, for the head of the Bokgeon Yong family—a symbol of honor—it was a rule not to be broken lightly.

He might even consider the very suggestion an insult.

Yet, despite knowing all this, Sunwoo Jin did not back down.

Looking Yong Wooshin straight in the eye, he spoke firmly.

“It’s natural you’d be reluctant. If I were to intervene, the Saintess herself would be displeased. But even so, I believe I must step in. To me, the lives of those here, and the Saintess’s life above all, are more important than honor.”

Yong Wooshin sighed deeply.

“Hmmm.”

His gaze returned to the fight, troubled.

The battle continued with Makyeong recklessly charging forward, and the Saintess steadily retreating.

Makyeong, clad in his defensive armor, kept pushing the Saintess with his body, while she tried desperately to pierce through his armor with powerful sword techniques enveloped in her sword energy.

Swish! Swish! Thud!

But it wasn’t easy.

Though Makyeong appeared to be blindly charging with just his armor, he was carefully watching the Saintess’s sword strikes, constantly adjusting his hands.

He wasn’t just blocking her attacks; he was manipulating his armor to focus on the points of impact.

Because of this, the Saintess’s sword energy couldn’t fully penetrate Makyeong’s armor and was deflected.

With her sword effectively neutralized, the Saintess had no clear way to attack Makyeong.

She could try to clash armor-to-armor, but with Makyeong’s superior size and weight, she would inevitably be overpowered.

It was a difficult situation for her.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Makyeong’s armored body slammed into the Saintess, sending her flying backward toward a large rock.

With nowhere else to retreat, she planted her foot against the rock and managed to stop herself.

But at that moment, Makyeong charged at her like a cannonball, his ferocity threatening to crush her against the stone.

Crash!

The massive rock shattered into pieces with a tremendous roar.

The Saintess, barely escaping Makyeong’s charge, exhaled deeply.

‘I thought I could wait for his internal energy to drain from using the armor, but he’s still perfectly fine. His internal energy is truly immense. If this keeps up, I might be the one in danger first.’

Namhae Saintess Siseo was honestly a bit flustered.

Since reaching her peak, she had never faced an opponent who fought so recklessly.

In terms of years, it had been decades since she’d encountered such a brute-force fighting style.

At first, she had decided to wait it out.

Though her opponent was also a master of the Fire Realm, she assumed that using the defensive armor like that would exhaust his internal energy.

But now, she wasn’t so sure.

Since entering the Fire Realm herself, she had never experienced internal energy depletion from using defensive armor.

So assuming he wouldn’t last long in that state might be a mistake.

If that was the case, she needed another approach.

‘I have to try something. Not just wait for him to tire, but take the initiative myself…’

She steadied her breath and focused.

The problem was Makyeong’s defensive armor.

Simply put, if she could break through that, she could win.

‘But he’s probably thinking the same thing. Maybe he’s even waiting for that moment.’

Besides, his armor was no joke.

Though it looked crude, it was operated with incredible precision, focusing on the exact points of impact.

Breaking through it would be a grueling task.

As she pondered this, her face twisted briefly—not in pain, but in a faint smile.

To an outsider, it might have looked like a grimace, but she was actually smiling.

She thought, ‘If he’s waiting, I can’t avoid it. And I don’t have any other options right now.’

With her mind made up, the Saintess suddenly retreated at full speed, putting distance between them.

She pulled her arm back, sword tip forward, preparing to thrust with all her might.

To the onlookers, her figure began to fade from view.

Only the sword remained, poised to strike at any moment.

She had reached the state of sword and self becoming one—the divine unity of sword and spirit.

Meanwhile, seeing this, Makyeong slowed his charge.

He brought both fists up in front of his chest, ready to defend against her attack.

‘Got you now!’

In truth, Makyeong was running low on internal energy.

Maintaining the defensive armor was taxing.

His confident appearance was just a bluff to lure the Saintess in.

‘Come on, come on, bring it on.’

Earlier, during their exchanges, Makyeong had clearly sensed that her sword was slightly superior to his fists.

In fact, he had known this for some time.

The reason he hadn’t faced her head-on and instead holed up on Daenam Island was because he lacked confidence in beating her.

The excuse about fighting at sea being a stalemate was just that—an excuse.

If he had wanted to fight on land, he could have found a way.

But he hadn’t.

He had spent a long time training and contemplating on Daenam Island, thinking about how to face the Saintess again.

And this was the plan he came up with.

To turn the fight into a battle of raw power and physique, not swordsmanship or fist skill.

To pressure her into making a desperate strike aimed at breaking his defensive armor.

And now, it seemed the situation was unfolding exactly as Makyeong had intended.

‘If I can just endure this one strike…’

While maintaining his armor, he focused most of his energy into his palms.

His clenched left palm began to glow white.

It was the Baekoksoo—Jade White Hand—he had prepared for this moment.

Then, in an instant, the Saintess’s sword burst into a flash of light.

The Seventh Strike of the Shiyeon Sword Technique.

A brilliant beam.

The light pierced through Makyeong’s defensive armor as if space itself had been skipped.

It even went through his extended white left palm.

His carefully prepared Baekoksoo couldn’t stop her sword.

Gritting his teeth, Makyeong twisted his pierced left hand and grabbed the Saintess’s sword blade with his right hand as it lunged toward his heart.

In the next moment, her sword pierced through Makyeong’s chest.

Thrust!

“Heh heh heh!”

Makyeong let out a bitter laugh.

The sword had pierced his right chest.

Though his left palm was pierced and his right hand was covered in blood, he had managed to evade the fatal blow.

“!”

The Saintess hurried to pull her sword free.

But Makyeong’s grip on his wounded left hand was tight, and the sword stuck fast.

She couldn’t move it.

In sheer strength, she was no match for him.

“Farewell!”

Makyeong, holding her sword captive, swung his right hand toward the Saintess’s head.

Whoosh!

Her eyes darkened with despair.

To avoid the blow, she had no choice but to drop her sword.

But as a sword specialist, facing Makyeong—a fist specialist—without her sword was impossible.

The tide of battle could have turned in an instant.

But even knowing that, there was nothing else he could do.

At last, the Saintess dropped her sword and stepped back.

No—at the very moment she was about to do so—

“Haah!”

Sun Woo-jin suddenly leapt behind Ma-gyeong, bringing his blade down toward him.

“Hmph!”

Ma-gyeong had already sensed someone attacking from behind.

But he paid it no mind.

There was no one left who could pierce his personal defense technique here.

So his priority was to capture the Saintess, not some small fry like this.

Ignoring the attack, he swung his arm toward the Saintess.

Then—

Sun Woo-jin’s sword sliced through Ma-gyeong’s defense.

Mukrang Sword Technique, First Move: Gaechun.

A slash that cleaves through space itself—Gaechun.

Sssshhhhhh!

“!”

Ma-gyeong was horrified by the chilling sensation of his defense being cut through without resistance.

“How?!”

It was impossible.

Even if he hadn’t focused much energy on his defense, this shouldn’t have happened.

“Ugh!”

Ma-gyeong hastily stopped his attack on the Saintess and concentrated his energy on his back.

Sssshhh!

A burning sensation swept across his back.

Though his defense was completely split, fortunately, the blade hadn’t cut deeply into his body.

Relief surged through him, quickly followed by anger.

He needed to finish off the Saintess first, then deal with this guy.

“Damn it…!”

But at that moment—

Another figure leapt onto his back, right after Sun Woo-jin.

“Haah!”

It was Cheon Eui-hyeop, head of the Bok Geon-yong family, also a Dragon Warrior.

His sword strike, one of the top thirty-six techniques in the world, sliced through the gap in Ma-gyeong’s defense that Sun Woo-jin had just created.

Sssshhh!

“Ughhh!”

Ma-gyeong staggered, his back deeply cut.

Even so, he quickly restored his defense to block Cheon Eui-hyeop’s follow-up strike.

Though his back was deeply wounded, it hadn’t been completely severed—a testament to his quick reflexes.

Gritting his teeth, Ma-gyeong looked back.

Sun Woo-jin and Cheon Eui-hyeop, having each landed a blow, were already retreating swiftly to put distance between them.

They knew well that despite wounding him, it was still impossible to take Ma-gyeong on with their combined strength.

Ma-gyeong turned his gaze back to the Saintess.

She had drawn her sword again and was watching Cheon Eui-hyeop with a complicated expression.

With a sigh, she spoke.

“I have lost, Ma-gyeong. Thanks to the others’ intervention, I have preserved my life, so this match is already yours.”

Cheon Eui-hyeop’s face darkened.

He had joined the fight, persuaded by Sun Woo-jin’s words that the Saintess’s life was more important than honor.

But the dishonor of interfering in a one-on-one duel wasn’t his alone to bear.

The moment he stepped into the Saintess’s fight, he sullied her honor as well.

He couldn’t bear to look at her.

Hearing the Saintess’s words, Ma-gyeong scoffed.

“Hmph! At least you know shame. Fine, if you admit defeat, then get lost. If you back down now…”

But he couldn’t finish his sentence.

The Saintess shook her head firmly.

“I have clearly been defeated by you. I swear that after today, I will personally inform everyone that the Saintess has lost to Ma-gyeong. And that truth will never be overturned.”

Though she said this, the icy determination with which she raised her sword again left Ma-gyeong no choice but to retch.

He realized she had no intention of letting him live, even if she admitted defeat.

“Saintess? Ha ha ha! What a joke! I thought you were just ugly on the outside, but you’re just as foul inside! You hypocrite. Why is it that all those righteous types have no shame? Why not just admit it honestly? That you’re too scared to ever face me again! Ha ha ha!”

His words were harsh.

But Ma-gyeong knew the truth.

If the roles were reversed, he wouldn’t spare the Saintess either.

No, if it were him, he wouldn’t even admit defeat.

So this was just a desperate attempt to shake her composure, to increase his own chances of survival.

But his efforts were in vain.

The Saintess remained unshaken, calmly acknowledging his words.

“That’s true. A hypocrite like me doesn’t deserve the title of Saintess. I’ve always thought so myself. And you’re right—I truly fear you. That’s why I cannot let you live.”