Chapter 187 – Meeting

Sama Yeoryeong lost consciousness several times and woke up repeatedly.

During her recovery, Sama Mang would flip her body over and ride on top of the unconscious Sama Yeoryeong.

She said that if there was no response, he could hit her.

How many times did they repeat this back and forth? After a long affair, the three of us lay down side by side and breathed heavily.

Of course, the one who looked the most tired was naturally Sama Yeoryeong.

As she was sandwiched between me and Sama Mang, I brushed aside her wet hair that was swaying and laughed.

“You’re so good at provoking, but you can’t even last long.”

“Heuk… Haeuk… Don’t talk… It’s noisy…”

While saying that, Sama Yeoryeong, who was naked, kept shaking her head against my shoulder.

Sama Mang, who saw his daughter’s appearance, smiled slyly.

“Huhu. Look at that, Yeoryeong. Wasn’t Mom right? You can do it all day long.”

“I thought it was an exaggeration.”

Sama Yeoryeong sighed as she looked out the window, covered in the bluish darkness of dawn.

Half-closed eyes, with a deep shadow underneath.

It was a face that seemed to collapse and fall asleep for three days and nights if touched.

Poking Sama Yeoryeong’s smooth abdomen for no reason, I asked.

“Now, who’s the weak one? You, who fainted five times? Or me, who can still handle both of you at the same time? Which one is weak? Huh?”

“Ugh!”

Sama Yeoryeong, who was disassembling for a moment, soon made a characteristic sly expression.

“Pathetic♡ Erectile dysfunction♡”

“No, you’re still making that sound in this situation?”

“I don’t know! I can’t admit it! If you’re annoyed… you know?”

“What?”

Sama Yeoryeong leaned her head slightly and whispered in my ear.

“Let’s prove it again next time. Perverted Prince.”

“……”

Such a demanding request.

I wanted to prove it now, but Sama Yeoryeong looked too tired for that.

After kissing Sama Yeoryeong’s lips briefly as she approached, I stretched my arm behind my head to make a pillow.

Then, as if waiting, Sama Mang put his arm around Sama Yeoryeong’s belly and stuck to her.

Sama Yeoryeong, who had become a natural shape hugging me and Sama Mang, seemed embarrassed and kept fidgeting.

“What, what’s going on all of a sudden….”

“Let’s follow Sama Gong’s words. You’ve overdone it today.”

“Ugh… but this is a bit embarrassing….”

“Still, let’s sleep. There’s a lot to do when you wake up.”

“Ah.”

“Ah.”

Simultaneously, both I and Sama Yeoryeong were making foolish noises.

As expected, it wasn’t as simple as sleeping and waking up and telling Hong Yeonhwa and Peng Soso. We needed their permission, and that wasn’t going to be easy.

As I and Sama Yeoryeong were whining, Sama Mang comforted us with his soft smile.

“Don’t worry, Sama Gong. Everything will be fine.”

***

“You…did you really think it would work out this time?”

“Uh, how…could it not?”

Instead of the speechless Sama Yeoryeong, Peng Soso sighed.

“Ha…how many more people are you going to add to the mix?”

How many more people? We didn’t intentionally add anyone; it just happened.

Of course, we didn’t say that out loud. We were aware of the situation.

After a short nap and some quick tidying up, I went straight to Hong Yeonhwa and told her everything.

And this was the result.

“Hmm. I heard the rumors that something like this might happen with Sama Mang, but I never thought it would actually happen… Sister…Mother…Aunt…Grandmother…ugh, it’s complicated.”

Peng Soso tilted her head, wondering if it was because of the territorial marking incident from before. She must have given a warning beforehand. That’s why Sama Mang was so calm. He had been aware of it all along.

When I turned my head slightly, Sama Mang responded with a sly smile, as if he could feel my gaze.

Sama Mang had a plan all along…

Sama Yeoryeong seemed to have the same thought as me, and she made a bewildered expression.

“Anyway, I understand what you’re saying. I want to talk to Sahwa now, so you can leave for a while.”

“Uh, okay. Then I’ll be in the training ground for a while.”

“When we’re done, come over there.”

Nodding my head, I left the room.

***

My training was primarily focused on sparring. It was quite brutal, like a real fight.

It was also the direction that Hong Yeonhwa suggested, knowing that I didn’t have any exceptional talent. And it had been effective so far.

However, now I didn’t have anyone to spar with.

Hong Yeonhwa was in the middle of a conversation, and Peng Ojin was busy meeting with other martial arts experts or officials from the royal family.

There were probably a lot of things to coordinate.

As for sparring with the elders of the Peng family, they were all out on a trip and hadn’t returned yet.

For this reason, I swung my sword alone for the first time in a while…I think I understand why the martial artists who have reached the highest level don’t spar with others but train alone.

Perhaps they, like me, didn’t have anyone to spar with.

Most martial artists never surpass the peak and end their lives as ordinary practitioners.

Even the peak is difficult to achieve, so what about the super-peak? There are said to be less than 100 people in this vast martial arts world who have reached that level.

If you combine retired martial artists who have reached the peak, reclusive masters, and royal masters, would it be more than 100?

Anyway, the probability of such super-peak masters meeting each other by chance and forming a friendly relationship where they don’t aim for each other’s lives and show each other their martial arts is infinitely low.

But we can’t stop training, so we inevitably trained alone.

After reaching the super-peak, I realized how amazing it was to have someone who could spar with me in a guided match.

I should do better when Hong Yeonhwa comes out.

Anyway, while I was continuing my training alone, I suddenly felt uncomfortable.

“You move too well?”

It was natural since I had achieved the Divine Sword Union and received assistance from the Ghostless Divine Art.

However, I had never thought deeply about what it meant for my body to move as I thought.

I just stabbed when I saw a gap and dodged or blocked when an attack came.

It wasn’t until I moved my body carefully that I realized that I no longer needed repetitive practice.

What was the point of practicing the same movement over and over again? Wasn’t it to perform that movement cleanly when necessary?

If it was either the Divine Sword Union or the Ghostless Divine Art, I could swing my sword with the highest level of skill anywhere and anytime, so there was no point in repetition.

I even tried to repeat the practice like a habit, even though I had performed unfamiliar movements several times during a real battle.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t used to the Divine Realm. I just got used to someone else teaching me how to train, so I didn’t think for myself.

It was because I didn’t have a sparring partner, and I couldn’t grasp the pace of the super-peak training, and I relied too much on Hong Yeonhwa.

I sighed inwardly and straightened my posture.

Repeating the best movements I had done so far to engrave them in my body was meaningless.

What I needed now was to raise the area I thought was the best to a higher level.

I spread my legs shoulder-width apart, aimed the tip of my sword straight ahead, and took a step forward, striking a vertical cut.

Hooong!

With a fierce sound of the sword cutting through the air, my Taesananbjeong strike landed like a beam of light.

This is my most frequently used and confident basic strike as a swordsman.

Although I can apply the same technique to vertical cuts even at the peak, this downward strike is the most powerful in terms of sheer force.

But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. It’s just that I consider it to be my best form.

I adjusted my posture again and unfolded Taesananbjeong once more.

I spread my legs a little further than before and put more strength into my wrist.

Hooong!

The strike was considerably stronger than before with just a slight change in posture. But as I swung it myself, I realized it wasn’t enough.

It was good to dig deeper and strike harder, but there was no follow-up.

It was difficult for me to get out of the strike, and it required a lot of strength in my wrist to continue with the next strike. So this kind of swing could only be used for the final blow.

Wait, doesn’t that mean it can be used in limited situations where there’s no need to worry about the aftermath?

I continued to repeat Taesananbjeong, of course, in slightly different ways.

The amount of force in the lower body, the speed of internal energy, the use of Yongcheon blood for explosive movements, the rotation angle of the wrist and ankle, the strength in the elbow, and so on.

I dismantled the technique into small movements and tested how each part produced an effect and how it could be applied in different postures.

In doing so, I gradually broke down the framework of Taesananbjeong that I knew and improved accordingly.

Since I could move my body as I intended, this was a training method that allowed me to reproduce the strike anytime through the Ghostless Divine Art.

Although the middle gate was still firmly closed no matter how much I knocked on it…it wasn’t as frustrating as before.

I felt the realization that I was slowly but surely making progress, even if it was slow.

How many times did I repeat swinging the sword in the dark surroundings like this?

Suddenly, I stopped and heard a small clapping sound from behind.

Clap, clap, clap.

“Congratulations. You have reached the level of reinterpreting the technique.”

“Oh, were you watching me?”

Hong Yeonhwa was clapping with a big smile in the empty training ground.

I felt a little embarrassed and scratched the back of my head, but for some reason, the clapping didn’t stop.

“And I sincerely congratulate you on achieving the integration of Jeong, Sa, and Ma with just one lower-level technique.”

“….”

Is she teasing me?