Chapter 45 : Breaking the Egg (5)

The Five-Colored Flower had excellent medicinal properties, as much as it was difficult to grow.

It was very good for minor ailments that could occur in daily life, such as when one felt depressed, when fatigue did not go away, when one suffered from insomnia.

There was no need to pick the flower to treat an illness. The scent of the Five-Colored Flower was the medicine. Just by smelling it, one’s mind would be relieved, and one’s spirit would be refreshed. One could also sleep well at night.

Drip! Drip! Drip!

Mongseol watered it very little by little.

While watering, she did not forget to occasionally raise her head and look at the garden master’s office.

It was decided that she would be notified when the meeting was over.

Since she had returned from an assassination, she had to pay her respects, but the morning meeting today was getting quite long.

‘Is something wrong?’

She didn’t pay much attention.

Most of the things that happened in the Drunken Flower Garden were trivial. Things like a road being broken, an embankment collapsing, or having to pull out the weeds growing in the training ground.

She would pay her respects to the garden master, go to her residence, clean her room, take a bath, and sleep soundly in a soft bed for the first time in a long time… she had returned to a truly comfortable place.

Yes, this was home.

Mongseol smiled brightly. There was nothing to laugh about, but she was happy for no reason. It was good not to have to be tense about when a sword might fly, and it was good not to have to worry about pursuers. But,

Swoosh!

Something appeared behind her back.

It had crossed from roof to roof and had lightly landed behind her.

No presence was felt at all. She didn’t even feel that something had moved. But it was clear. Someone had landed behind her. Wasn’t her whole body trembling with tension?

‘Who?’

Mongseol did not ask who it was. She did not commit the foolish act of turning around carelessly.

The opponent had not come with good intentions. Then what? Were they going to kill her? That’s right. They had come with that intention. They were now looking for an opportunity to strike with a killing sword from behind.

Swoosh!

She took half a step back with her right foot.

She could turn her body at any time. There was no need to turn completely. Half a turn was enough to deliver a blow.

Drip! Drip! Drip!

The water can was almost empty. Now, even if she wanted to water, there was no water. Then she had to move.

‘What should I do?’

She had trained in how to assassinate efficiently, and had even accumulated training in how to counterattack in preparation for an assassination. But now, no technique came to mind. The opponent was so skilled that she didn’t know what to do.

‘I don’t feel anything.’

If the opponent had used a killing move, she would have already been struck down. There was no way to block it. She knew that someone was behind her, but she didn’t know where they were or what they were doing.

‘Calm! Let’s be calm!’

Mongseol told herself.

Three Ices! Three kinds of ice!

A mind as cold as ice, a body as firm as ice, and eyes as calm as ice.

In the Drunken Flower Garden, they taught to think of the Three Ices at least once when in a crisis, whether it worked or not.

If you could use the Three Ices freely, it was needless to say. At that time, you could overcome any crisis. Even if you couldn’t use the Three Ices, it was good to think of the Three Ices. The moment you thought of the Three Ices, your mind would calm down.

She places a cold lump of ice on her heart. Her mind cools down like ice.

Her body does not waver. She has the mindset to accept it even if she dies without being able to block a surprise attack.

And finally, the Ice Eye… she observes the opponent with eyes like ice.

A sword is flying! A feeling arises! A definite attack!

Mongseol immediately twisted her body.

Shugak!

The sound of something tearing through the air occurred behind her head. And it passed under her ear.

If her response had been even a moment late, her head would have been pierced.

Whirik!

Mongseol attacked the one who had ambushed her with the water can she was holding. As soon as she dodged the sword, she turned around. And she struck down hard with the water can at the place where she guessed the ambusher would be.

Shwaek!

The water can struck empty air.

‘Huh?’

There was no ambusher. She had turned around, but she couldn’t see anything. It seemed that there had been no one there from the beginning.

No. There definitely was. She had clearly seen the blade that had passed under her ear. The sharp energy that the sword had shed still shook her cheek. The feel of the sword remained tingling.

A mind as cold as ice! The Heart of Ice!

She observed her surroundings without any wavering. She did not panic or become impatient. She observed calmly.

‘Ugh!’

Mongseol quickly bent her waist forward.

Shwaek!

The sound of something cutting through the air burst from her back.

The ambusher was not missing Mongseol’s back. When Mongseol turned, he also turned. And he continued to aim for her back.

Whirik!

Mongseol lowered the water can and swept the ground as if sweeping it. She aimed for the opponent’s legs.

But this time too, the water can did not touch anything.

She had looked behind her while swinging the water can, but there was nothing. Not even a person’s shadow was visible.

Then what was the sword wind that had swept past her back?

Hiding its form and breath as if it were there and not there, always standing behind her, attacking only once, and hiding its form immediately after the attack… the Ghost Shadow Step!

The Ghost Shadow Step was a martial art of the Ghost Gate, which was called one of the two great killing veins along with the Drunken Flower Garden.

A Ghost Gate assassin had infiltrated the Drunken Flower Garden’s main garden.

Sreung!

Mongseol calmly released her sword.

If the opponent was a Ghost Gate assassin, she could not face them with improvisation. She had to use all her strength… and to do that, she had to use the forbidden demonic art, the Blood Sword.

But why was there no one around?

The movement she had made was not a small noise, so why was no one showing themselves?

She put aside her questions for a moment and initiated the study recorded in the lower volume of the Blood Sword Sutra, the Blood Sword Heart Sutra.

‘Reverse Blood Sliding Flow, Mud Pill One Sword…’

Hwirureung!

When she initiated the heart technique, the circulation of her blood spun fiercely, as if it had become three times faster than usual.

No one felt the flow of blood in their body. But Mongseol sensed it. And it was three, four times faster than usual. The blood that had flowed from her heart instantly spun around her legs and gathered again in her head.

The Blood Sword Heart Qi had arisen.

The Blood Sword Heart Qi was spinning, and it felt as if it were the flow of blood. In fact, the Blood Sword Heart Qi spun along the blood vessels. The blood vessels and the true energy vessels were on the same path. That was why it felt as if the blood was spinning.

The Blood Sword Heart Qi that had spun around her entire body shot up and gathered in the Mud Pill Palace.

It was a study quite far from the internal energy heart techniques where true energy generally gathered in the dantian.

The Mud Pill Palace referred to the upper dantian.

It was the brain that the Taoists talked about.

There were nine palaces in the head, and the Mud Pill Palace was located at the very center. It was in the middle of the head.

That’s right. The Blood Sword Sutra was rooted in Taoism. It was a Taoist sword art. It was not known when or who had created it because the upper volume was missing, but it was certain that it was the number one Taoist sword art.

What would happen if the Blood Sword Divine Qi gathered in the Mud Pill Palace?

The true energy gathered in the Mud Pill Palace would create a Heart Sword.

This was the Mud Pill One Sword.

The Mud Pill One Sword was connected to all the senses of the body. The five senses surrounded the Mud Pill One Sword. The five senses moved as the faithful hands and feet of the Mud Pill One Sword.

The sword sutra recorded in the middle volume of the Blood Sword Sutra was controlled by the Mud Pill One Sword.

Only at this time did the ordinary iron sword transform into the formidable Blood Sword that had given a mere nameless person the martial name of the Blood Sea Sword Saint.

The Blood Sword executed with the Mud Pill One Sword and the Blood Sword executed with the dantian true energy showed a huge difference, as much as the sky and the earth. The change in the sword forms, the speed, the destructive power… they showed a difference that could not even be compared in every aspect.

Churureung!

The Mud Pill One Sword revealed its form.

A single sword floated in her head. A blood-colored Blood Sword looked around in all directions.

At this moment, Mongseol realized something.

If you trained in the Blood Sword Sutra, the Three Ices were given as a bonus.

There was no need to train in the Ice Eye. The Mud Pill One Sword observed the surroundings with eyes colder than the Ice Eye. There was no need to initiate the Ice Heart. If you concentrated on the Mud Pill One Sword, it would naturally become the Ice Heart.

Mongseol had no experience using the Blood Sword Heart Qi in real combat.

Naturally, she did not know what the Blood Sword Divine Qi was. She was in a state where she did not even know what she could do with the Blood Sword Divine Qi. She did not even know the extent of her own martial arts.

Shoot!

A sword flew.

This time, it was not a vague feeling like before. She had clearly grasped the sight of the sword flying.

Swoosh! Shwaaaek!

Mongseol calmly turned around.

She saw the sword flying. She also knew the speed at which the sword was flying and what kind of change it was drawing.

There was nothing to be flustered about. She could be calm because she was seeing through the opponent’s movements. She didn’t even need to think about how to strike down the sword form that the opponent had executed.

Kaang!

The ambushing sword was flung up into the air. And the sword that was shot in succession struck the opponent. At that moment!

“Stop!”

A familiar voice was heard.

A voice she knew too well, a voice that had always warmly enveloped her heart!

‘Garden Master!’

Mongseol stopped her sword.

She did not know how fast she had used her sword. She also did not know that it was a sword that could not be stopped with a single word. When the voice ‘Stop!’ was uttered, the sword had already reached the neck. So even if she stopped the sword, it would be after she had already killed.

And yet, the sword stopped right in front of the neck.

“Garden Master!”

Mongseol’s face brightened.

The Drunken Flower Garden master looked at the sword with a pale face and let out a rough breath.

‘This child has completely obtained the Blood Sword Sutra!’

The Drunken Flower Garden master was convinced.

Her martial arts were very strong. If she even added her killing techniques, she was confident that she could even kill the Ten Lesser Swords.

Just now, Mongseol had broken her killing technique.

She had destroyed the Dark Shadow Sword. And she had pushed the master of the Dark Shadow Sword to the threshold of the afterlife.

The Dark Shadow Sword was the number one ultimate technique of the Drunken Flower Garden.

The Ghost Gate, which was called one of the two great killing veins along with the Drunken Flower Garden, had created the Ghost Shadow Step by imitating the Dark Shadow Sword.

The Ghost Shadow Step was a fake of the Dark Shadow Sword.

Mongseol had broken such an ultimate technique in a single move.

It was also surprising that she had stopped the attack. She had thought that she was dead for sure, but the sword had stopped at a distance where it was impossible to stop. She had stopped the acceleration attached to the sword in an instant.

It was the same phenomenon as a horse that had been running vigorously suddenly stopping in its tracks.

Was this possible?

“Hoho! Our Mongseol… has grown up?”

The Drunken Flower Garden master raised her hand and stroked Mongseol’s head.

She had thought she was still a child. Although she had gone out on assassinations as an assassin, she had only faced third-rate opponents. The biggest achievement was infiltrating the Living Sword Sect and killing Kang Jo this time.

So, wasn’t her view of the world also shallow?

No. Mongseol was by no means young. From a mother’s perspective, she could only be a child. But when viewed coldly as the Drunken Flower Garden master, she was a child who could do the work of ten assassins.

“You’ve obtained the lower volume of the Blood Sword Sutra.”

“Ah, it’s really you, Garden Master. How did you know? My sword has changed, right?”

Mongseol said excitedly.

Mongseol had been sparing with her words about Ah Geol to the prison master. But she would not hide it from the garden master.

“That person, Ah Geol, what was he like when you saw him?”

“What? Ah Geol… you know him?”

“Ah Geol’s name is Heun. He has two surnames. Heo and Seori. Heo Heun, Seori Heun. Your fiancé.”

“What? Garden Master, what are you talking about right now…? Ah Geol is my… fiancé?”

“Your name is not Mongseol, but Oh Bia. The surname Oh, and Bia. Oh Bia. The daughter born between my older sister Namjo and the Single-Instant Sect Master.”

The Drunken Flower Garden master brought out a piece of the past.

It was a fact that she had originally intended to hide, but seeing Mongseol’s sword, she felt that it was right to tell her the truth.

She tells her all the facts.

She leaves the judgment to Mongseol. Whatever judgment she makes, whatever action she takes, Mongseol had to choose.

(End of Chapter)