A rchant caravan was making its way through a rough mountain path.
"Pant, pant, pant."
"Damn it. This road is incredibly rough!"
"It can't be helped. If we want to avoid their eyes."
The na of the caravan was Yanghwi, a small rchant group that did business in Anhui.
In a chaotic era where famine and plagues were not uncommon, just maintaining an ordinary rchant caravan was a decent life.
But sothing that could be called a stroke of heavenly luck happened to such a caravan.
The son of the caravan leader, who had been digging for dicinal herbs as a side job, had dug up a thousand-year-old fleeceflower root.
A spiritual dicine was sothing that would make any martial artist who had learned martial arts and accumulated internal energy's eyes flip, and the caravan leader thought of this as a heavenly fortune.
But it didn't take long for that heavenly fortune to turn into misfortune.
The only places where they could sell the spiritual dicine were places with a certain amount of capital, and the place the caravan leader chose to sell it was the Namgung family.
The caravan leader thought that since the Namgung family had originally beco a martial arts family from a military family, they would be able to trade without any trouble.
-I will speak well of you to my family head, so offer it as a tribute for a smooth relationship with the Namgung family in the future.
-A tribute? You an just give it to the Namgung family?
-Not just give it, the Namgung family will not forget this favor and will maintain a close relationship with the Yanghwi caravan in the future.
-Nonsense!
The caravan leader was indignant and returned to the caravan with the thousand-year-old fleeceflower root.
And from that day on, the tragedy began.
The inside of the caravan was turned into a ss by the attack of so unknown assailant.
-My son!!
In the process, the caravan leader's son also lost his life in the assailant's attack.
The caravan leader was enraged and searched for the culprit, but could not find him.
Then, he heard a piece of news through a beggar.
That a person similar to the culprit had disappeared near the Namgung family.
The caravan leader's mind went cold.
He had a guess as to what had happened, but he had no proof.
Moreover, there was nothing a diocre rchant caravan could do against the Namgung family, which held the highest power in Anhui.
The caravan leader fell into thought, looking at the thousand-year-old fleeceflower root with a heavy heart.
It couldn't end like this.
The scale of the damage afterwards was unimaginable.
But he didn't want to kneel to his son's enemy.
-Co to think of it, didn't they say there was a land far away in the north where you don't have to fear the exploitation of the governnt or the blades of the martial world?
And so, the caravan leader led the family mbers who followed him and headed for the Heavenly Mountains.
A long procession disguised as a rchant caravan.
Fearing that the Namgung family's culprit might attack, they took a long detour and arrived at a naless mountain in the Sichuan region.
It was then.
-Found you!
The culprit had reached this place.
He was disguised in a bandit-like attire, but looking at the state of his armant, he was definitely not a re mountain bandit.
The caravan leader looked at the sky for a mont and uttered words of resentnt.
-The heavens are so heartless.
That feeling of resentnt was brief.
In an unavoidable situation, the caravan leader gritted his teeth.
They couldn't get help in this naless forest, but it was also a situation where the enemy could hardly hope for reinforcents.
The caravan leader made a big decision.
-Strike!
-Waaaaaah!!
The caravan and the culprit clashed.
* * *
Baek Sowol was racing through the mountains with her lightness skill.
'This is easier than I thought?'
Thanks to her proficient lightness skill, moving itself wasn't difficult.
'Still, I don't know what might happen, so let's not be careless.'
Nevertheless, carelessness was forbidden.
It was what her master always emphasized.
The mont you go down the mountain, the first thing to be careful of is carelessness, and the second is also carelessness.
"Grrr!"
"Heeik!"
In fact, Baek Sowol also encountered mountain animals such as wild dogs while moving.
There was no problem because Baek Sowol's lightness skill was much faster, but if her lightness skill achievent had been low, she might have been attacked.
As Baek Sowol moved with relative ease, she beca quite relaxed and looked around.
"Phew, how far have I co?"
Baek Sowol stopped her lightness skill and slowly observed her surroundings.
The village she had seen earlier was quite far away, so it wasn't caught in her senses, and she could sense grass, trees, and small mountain animals.
'The village must still be far away, huh?'
The village was not in sight, contrary to her expectations, but Baek Sowol was confident.
'I have my lightness skill and heart thod that I'm used to now, so it'll be fine.'
And in the case of her house, the energy was so large that it could be felt from afar, so she wasn't worried about returning either.
Having gained more confidence, Baek Sowol moved forward without hesitation and spread her senses.
The village was still not in sight.
'I think I've co too far.'
She had co quite far from ho, but except for the village from before, she couldn't see a single human shadow.
Baek Sowol asured the distance she had co based on the feeling of her house.
It was at least the distance of crossing a small town.
Clang! Clang!
As Baek Sowol was looking around, she heard the sound of tal clashing from afar.
-Hand over the goods quietly!
-Block them! We have not a single penny to give to them!
-If you had just handed over the goods quietly, you would have at least saved your lives, but you insist on choosing punishnt!
When she focused on the sound of weapons, she seed to hear people's voices faintly.
'To know more clearly, I'll have to spread my senses.'
Baek Sowol spread her senses as her master had taught her.
'Hmm, I'm not sure?'
But it didn't work well.
When her master had demonstrated, he had caught even a single ant nearby, but all Baek Sowol could feel in her senses was the presence of sothing busily entangled and moving.
'Normally, it would be right to avoid it, but it's frustrating that I can't figure out what's going on for sure...'
After hesitating for a mont, Baek Sowol, out of frustration, carefully moved her steps towards the source of the sound.
-You dirty bastards! Are you not afraid of the heavens?
-If we were afraid of the heavens, we would have quit this business long ago!
The sound gradually reached her ears, and in the distance, people were clashing their weapons against each other.
Baek Sowol quickly hid herself in the bushes and observed the situation.
One side looked like mountain bandits no matter how you looked at it, and the other side looked like a rchant caravan.
Baek Sowol was confused about what to do, when,
Snap.
She had stepped on a branch without realizing it and made a sound.
Then, the people who looked like mountain bandits from the other side reacted imdiately.
"Who's there!"
"Damn it!"
In a mont of panic, the bandits closed the distance in an instant as if using a lightness skill and surrounded Baek Sowol.
"......!"
A thick killing intent emanated from the bandits who surrounded her.
Baek Sowol stumbled backwards.
"D-don't co!"
"Who does this little brat think she's ordering around!"
"Don't leave any witnesses alive!"
The bandits rushed at Baek Sowol at once.
At that mont, Baek Sowol took out the Chinese cleaver from her waist and swung it wildly.
Slice.
"K-keoheok!"
"My arm! My arm!!"
"Th-this brat, what the hell did she do?!"
She had swung it wildly in her own way, but the sword strike, filled with the mysteries of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art that contained the traces of her training so far, was more than enough to dismber the bandits who had underestimated Baek Sowol's young age and rushed at her defenselessly.
"Huh?"
Baek Sowol's eyes widened at the sight.
Of course, she knew how powerful her master's martial arts were.
But Baek Sowol had no idea that she herself could do such a thing.
It was a grueso sight for a child's eyes, but Baek Sowol, who had seen even more grueso sights before, was more surprised by the unexpected level of her martial arts than the sight itself.
Having gained confidence, Baek Sowol this ti jumped into the midst of the bandits who were wary of her.
"She's no ordinary brat! Don't let your guard down!!"
"Keuk!! How can such a small body have such a sword strike?!"
Even a randomly swung sword strike had easily cut through the group of bandits, but Baek Sowol's sword, swung with a proper resolve, was not sothing that ordinary bandits could block.
Of course, if they weren't ordinary bandits.
"This bitch! Where do you think you're interfering with the business of the mountain heroes!!"
"Keuk!"
It ant they could block it.
Baek Sowol's advance was blocked by the saber of a well-built bandit.
From his physique, his gaze, to his equipnt, everything was different, and he seed to be the leader of the bandits.
Baek Sowol felt her hand holding the Chinese cleaver ache.
'It's a saber as big as his body, but it's fast and heavy.'
Baek Sowol frowned as she struggled to parry the saber that was aiming for her one after another with her Chinese cleaver.
An image of the saber, bigger than herself, rcilessly splitting her body flashed in Baek Sowol's mind.
'At this rate, it's a certain defeat!'
Baek Sowol desperately tried to erase that scene from her mind and racked her brain to find a way to overco the current situation.
In Baek Sowol's mind, the scene of her training with Baek Yoonjun ca to mind.
-This footwork consists of a total of seven steps.
The footwork of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art that her master had created for her.
It was a very unconventional footwork that had only 7 steps, even though footwork generally assisted in attack, defense, and movent.
-However, in my estimation, no matter how much you develop with your martial talent, you probably won't be able to take more than three steps.
Baek Sowol was offended by her master's words, but she couldn't say anything.
Because she knew how outstanding her master was, and yet how humble he was, unbefitting of his powerful martial arts.
-Well, you probably can't even take one step right now.
At those words, she felt offended again, but that wasn't the problem right now.
If she didn't concentrate, she would die. If she didn't make a move, she would die.
But besides the footwork, she had no other ans to use.
She hadn't even achieved the footwork, and it was obvious that using the martial arts she had learned without a proper foundation wouldn't bring out its full power.
Baek Sowol hardened her resolve and took a step.
It wasn't just taking a step.
It was a single step that contained the mysteries of the footwork she had learned, while operating the internal energy operation thod she had learned from her master.
In that single mont.
Baek Sowol beca a being that reigned in that place.
The aftermath of Baek Sowol's step spread in all directions.
"Keuk!! Is it an earthquake?!"
"No! The ground isn't shaking at all!"
There was no vibration in the ground, but as if an earthquake had occurred, the people closest to Baek Sowol lost their balance and fell to the ground.
The bandit who had rushed at Baek Sowol didn't fall because his martial arts were quite powerful, but he froze in place for a mont.
A once-in-a-lifeti opportunity.
But Baek Sowol couldn't seize that opportunity.
'My internal energy...'
With just one step, her internal energy had been drained in an instant.
It wasn't this bad when she practiced with her master, but Baek Sowol couldn't tell if her control of internal energy had failed or if she had made a mistake due to nervousness in her first real battle.
"Where do you think you're using such a wicked art!! As a price, I'll have to take one of your arms!!"
The saber of the bandit leader, who had regained his posture at so point, was flying towards Baek Sowol's right arm.
Baek Sowol, whose internal energy was depleted, could do nothing but squeeze her eyes shut.
Slice.
A cool cutting sound echoed in all directions.
(End of Chapter)
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