Chapter 121 – Growth (2)

Crack-

The yellow-tinted hand, imbued with the power of the Cheonryeomyeolhonshingong (Heavenly Thunder Soul-Annihilating Divine Technique), cut through the darkness and shot towards Salsoo’s chest, who had rushed forward first.

Thump.

It was so fast that it was barely visible, but it landed lightly as if to say “here I am,” with just one palm strike.

However, the power was not the most important thing.

The inner energy, filled with a lot of mental energy, dug into Salsoo’s body.

“Ugh…!”

Sama Sae-ga’s Jeolgi, which combined the nature of sexual arousal and electrical discharge.

Even though his nerves were numb and his organs were burning, Salsoo didn’t even scream properly.

“Perhaps he couldn’t scream because of Salgok’s brutal training… no, brainwashing.”

Sama Yeoryeong, who confirmed Salsoo’s death by bursting his heart, which convulsed and spewed out dead blood, calmly prepared for the next attack.

Perhaps they had come with a clear intention, as about 30 elite Salsus were targeting only the Sama mother and daughter.

“Still, this much is worth a try.”

When Salsoo revealed himself, his danger level dropped significantly because most of his learned skills were based on ambushes.

In addition, due to the nature of Salsoo, where failure leads to death, the proportion of high-level experts who exceed the climax is low.

To overcome this, he mainly learned martial arts that were fast in early growth but difficult to overcome the wall, so the overall level could not help but be low.

As a result, he goes through a negative cycle structure that depends more on ambushes, and the weakness in head-on confrontation is similar to Salsoo’s structural weakness.

In fact, even if they were called elite Salsus, they were all either at the end of the first-class or at the climax of the leader.

No matter how many first-class martial artists there are, they cannot defeat climax martial artists by conventional means.

“Let alone Salsoo.”

What needs to be careful is the climax-level leaders hiding among the members.

If you are ambushed during the melee, even Sama Yeoryeong, who is called Sahwa, can be dangerous.

Sama Yeoryeong, who was on high alert, swung her hand again.

Kwang-!

It was fast, but unlike just a moment ago, it was a noisy punch accompanied by thunder. The two Salsoos who were running from both sides stopped.

Although Sama Sae-ga is a family with no connection to Yin Gong, Sama Yeoryeong’s genius allowed her to mix some spells into martial arts, allowing her to imitate them poorly.

Thus was born the Talhon Gungumgwang-eumkwon (Soul-Annihilating Grand Sound Fist).

At best, it only stops someone weaker than herself for a very short time, but that was enough.

Sama Yeoryeong’s eyes, which had turned red without her realizing it, were staring straight at Salsoo’s emotionless eyes.

“……”

“……”

That was the end of it.

The two Salsoos, frozen with their mineral-like pupils, were proof that they had seen an illusion due to Sama Yeoryeong’s Hwanhwan Maryeongan (Soul-Annihilating Demon Eye), which competed with her mental energy even inside her body.

Sama Yeoryeong, who had destroyed the heads of the two Salsoos, who had been instantly paralyzed, with a brain strike, spoke with a confident voice.

“Hmph! Is this all you’ve got? Trying to catch me with amateurs like you… I guess even Salgok is past his prime now?”

As colleagues who had just lost three people in the blink of an eye, the Salsoos could only show a momentary hesitation.

But there was a bit of bluff mixed in here.

Sama Yeoryeong was an undisputed genius. Not only had she reached her climax at a young age just after passing the entrance exam, but she also showed outstanding talent in other fields besides martial arts.

The problem was that there was a lack of support to properly cultivate such talents.

Sama Sae-ga’s martial arts were extremely biased.

She had to convert natural energy into brain energy, so her charging speed was slow, and the internal energy consumed each time she used it was considerable.

On the other hand, the power was undoubtedly one of the best in the world… But due to the unbalanced nature, Sama Yeoryeong had never even seen an elixir.

In other words, she was suffering from chronic internal energy deficiency.

At this rate, she would not have enough power to face a climax-level Salsoo hiding somewhere.

However, the reason why Sama Yeoryeong judged that it was worth a try was that she was not alone.

‘Weren’t they just rushing in with great momentum until a moment ago… What are they doing now?!’

The Salsoos were circling around Sama Yeoryeong, either aiming for the gaps in her defense or waiting for her to tire.

Sama Yeoryeong, who looked through the darkness with a slight resentment, did not last long.

“Ha-a-a-a-at!”

Crack- Clang!

A huge sound of impact, a fierce aura, and even a bright white sword energy that illuminated the night sky.

Jin So-chan’s momentum was like a storm, as he had not noticed it due to his focus on the fight.

The Salsoos caught in his sword energy either fell into the river with their weapons or withered away, and only Jo Jang, a climax-level Salsoo, was barely holding his sword with the help of his subordinates.

“Wow….”

The sword energy that he pulled out recklessly, as if he was going to throw it on the street, wasting his internal energy.

Muscles wriggling under the white light that was brighter than most streetlights.

And even the gentle eyes that were usually there were gone, replaced by sharp, piercing pupils that didn’t go out.

Sama Yeoryeong couldn’t take her eyes off the sight.

She had always fought in a calculated way, focusing on her lack of strength and internal energy, so was she drawn to Jin So-chan’s opposite way of fighting?

“What kind of internal energy is this?! And those muscles! They weren’t like that when I glanced at him earlier?!”

The Salsoos took advantage of her momentary distraction and rushed towards her, but they couldn’t achieve their goal.

Sama Yeoryeong reflexively spun around in place, and in the process, her fluttering sleeves carved a single character in all directions with the appropriate speed and trajectory.

Pah-bo.

The swollen air instantly swept the surroundings like waves.

Bang!

Of course, it was just a makeshift technique, so it wasn’t that powerful. But as always, Sama Yeoryeong didn’t miss a moment of opportunity.

Knowing that Jin So-chan was facing the leader, she pulled out all her internal energy without hesitation.

Pajijik.

At the same time as a bright yellow spark flew from her foot, a small new moon became blurry.

The speed was too fast for the Salsoos, who were only first-class.

“Ugh….”

“Cough!”

“Click….”

The Salsoos who fell one by one with suppressed groans and convulsions didn’t last long. Soon, all eighteen of the black-clad men breathed their last.

It was an overwhelming victory, even if there was a difference between climax and first-class.

However, Sama Yeoryeong didn’t pay any attention to the spectacle she had created and only looked towards Jin So-chan.

“That’s… different. I don’t know what it is, but it’s definitely different!”

In Sapa, there was also martial arts that valued external energy. In fact, Sama Yeoryeong had encountered such an opponent in Heukcheonje and defeated them.

But she had never left such a vivid impression on her mind.

Of course, it was natural because Jin So-chan’s body had reached a level that couldn’t be reached with ordinary external energy.

First of all, Jin So-chan didn’t practice external energy separately but trained his body to the limit by swinging his sword.

In addition, he had the Pangga’s Ho-wang-gong, which forcibly opened the physical limitations that the brain unconsciously sets, and the Muryeong Shin-gong, which led all of this to a higher level.

Jin So-chan himself might be used to it, so he might not feel anything special, but his body had already begun to break free from the framework of being human.

Naturally, it was on a different level than most external energy experts.

Of course, Sama Yeoryeong didn’t know about all of this, so she just stared at the densely packed muscles with a trance-like feeling.

“Hmph! External energy is important, but the higher you reach, the more important internal energy becomes….”

The sword energy that shone so brightly in the middle of the night that even the movements of his muscles were clearly visible.

If Sama Yeoryeong tried to imitate that, she would swing her sword a few times and pass out from exhaustion.

“…Quantity of internal energy is important, but isn’t quality even more important?”

The more refined the internal energy, the stronger its cohesion, the easier it is to handle, and the more powerful it becomes.

And Jin So-chan’s sword energy was boasting a level of refinement that Sama Yeoryeong had never seen before, as if he had extracted the starlight from the night sky and embedded it into his sword.

“If it’s at that level, isn’t it comparable to the brain technique of the Cheonryeomyeolhon Sin-gong…?”

“Yiik!”

But Sama Yeoryeong is not someone who can just admire all of this without any reservations.

For ten years, she had acted like the best person in the world and had worked hard to make it a reality.

Now, her massive ego, which had become a part of her identity, forcibly found a gap in Jin So-chan.

“It’s just a show of strength in the end. In martial arts, what’s important is the efficient use of power!”

Sama Yeoryeong, who had natural strength, was lacking in talent compared to her accumulated internal energy.

She was a rare hermit who was just as obsessed with efficiency.

While embracing her dark expectations, Sama Yeoryeong had to feel like she had been hit in the back of the head.

“This is… unbelievable….”

At first glance, it seemed like simple swordsmanship, but that made it even more chilling.

Feet, shoulders, wrists, breathing, and everything else.

Jin So-chan’s every move drew the optimal movement for the situation, and each sword strike that followed was immaculate.

Sama Yeoryeong wasn’t well-versed in swords like Jo Ye, but she could clearly see that there was nothing to add or subtract from it.

“This guy… his swordsmanship isn’t simple. He’s pursuing extreme efficiency, so it’s inevitable that his movements are simplified…!”

“If I had to find a flaw, it would be the distribution of his internal energy, which he recklessly expels. But it’s natural for someone with a lot of internal energy to use a lot of it. Considering the consumption of mental strength, using it little by little is actually inefficient.”

“And he still couldn’t win the Yongbongji Society…? That’s impossible. Did he hide his skills? Or did he grow during that time?”

Of course, this was a misunderstanding that occurred because the situation of Jin So-chan’s ignorance of the Muryeong Shin-gong and his reliance solely on the Samjae Geombeop coincidentally matched the abilities of the Muryeong Shin-gong.

But there was no one in Sama Yeoryeong’s head to correct this.

It was just a jumbled mess of envy, inferiority, ego, guilt, shame, and obsession.

Even when the top-level Salsoos lost all their subordinates and couldn’t last ten seconds, Sama Yeoryeong just stood there, staring at Jin So-chan.

Finally, with a somewhat proud smile, Sama Yeoryeong turned around and met Jin So-chan’s gaze.

Her overloaded brain gave up on thinking, and she blurted out the most familiar words she knew.

“This shoddy sword energy! I would have been done for a long time ago, why is it taking so long? Stop daydreaming and let’s go help mom!”

***

Why is he acting like that again…?