Chapter 30 – The Eighth Dragon (4)

Ran rose to her feet, parted Eun Seol-rin’s thighs, and buried her face between them, lapping at her flower with her tongue. Startled, Eun Seol-rin cried out urgently.

But Ran ignored Eun Seol-rin’s words, continuing to lick her petals until they glistened with a dew-like nectar.

“Hnngh!”

As her disciple’s tongue entered her, Eun Seol-rin’s back arched like a bow. Watching their act with a pleased expression, Yu-jin parted Ran’s legs and slipped a finger into her flower.

At first, her petals resisted the foreign object, but as her juices flowed, it soon slid in easily.

“Ahhhk!”

As Yu-jin moved his finger in and out, even Ran, who usually maintained a stoic expression, was overcome by waves of pleasure.

The disciple pleasured the master, and he, in turn, pleasured the disciple.

It was an incredibly stimulating thought. However, unable to be away for too long, Yu-jin lowered his trousers and thrust his massive member into Ran’s flower.

“R-Ran!”

Watching her master’s huge member plunge into her disciple’s flower, Eun Seol-rin grew even more aroused and licked his exposed shaft. Yu-jin kissed Ran while moving his hips, then laid Eun Seol-rin down and thrust his member into her flower.

“It feels good, Master! So good!”

“Haaaah!”

Only when both master and disciple were completely exhausted did Yu-jin spray his white seed onto their faces. The two then embraced each other again, licking away his seed, and Yu-jin watched the scene with a satisfied smile.

* * *

Dang Geon-woo, the heir of the Sichuan Dang Clan, stood with the hem of his dark green martial arts uniform fluttering in the wind.

The dark green robes, especially those embroidered with the characters for ‘Sichuan’, were garments permitted only to the direct family of the Sichuan Dang Clan. Naturally, Dang Geon-woo wore such attire.

In contrast, Yu-jin wore a simple black martial arts uniform embroidered with a black dragon, his personal preference. A black dragon on a black uniform should have been inconspicuous, but for some reason, Dang Geon-woo didn’t feel that way at all.

‘It feels like a real dragon is watching me. Is this his true form? He might even be superior to Brother Namgung or Brother Kang.’

With that thought, Dang Geon-woo faced Yu-jin and clasped his hands in a formal martial arts salute.

“It is an honor to face you, Brother Kang.”

“I, too, am pleased to fight the heir of the Sichuan Dang Clan. I hope this will be an enjoyable match.”

Yu-jin returned the salute, responding to Dang Geon-woo’s polite demeanor. As Yu-jin was older, he spoke informally to Dang Geon-woo, who accepted it as a matter of course.

Meanwhile, the martial artists and common folk watching them could not hide their tension.

Dang Geon-woo, who had long enjoyed a high reputation, and Kang Yu-jin, who had revealed his skills for the first time in this tournament.

Two of the best rising stars of the younger generation were clashing at the very start of the main tournament. The audience couldn’t help but be tense, not wanting to miss a single moment.

“Let the match begin!”

The referee shouted, and Dang Geon-woo immediately threw three steel balls at Yu-jin. The three steel balls flew toward Yu-jin, whirling erratically, one after the other.

They were thrown with staggered timing, a difficult technique to counter. This alone demonstrated how skilled Dang Geon-woo was with hidden weapons.

Well, it wasn’t something that could work on Yu-jin.

*Flash!*

Yu-jin’s sword was drawn, creating a silver flash of light. The flash shifted positions rapidly, deflecting all three incoming steel balls in an instant.

“As expected, an attack of this level is not enough to trouble you, Brother Kang.”

It was merely a probing attack, so Dang Geon-woo wasn’t surprised at all. In fact, he would have been disappointed if Yu-jin had been hit by it.

“Now, I’m getting serious!”

With that cry, Dang Geon-woo took a butterfly-shaped hidden weapon from his pouch and threw it forcefully.

The butterfly-shaped weapon, imbued with immense internal energy, flew toward Yu-jin with a combination of grace and speed. It was a weapon known for the ‘Soul-Chasing Butterfly’ technique, a pride of the Sichuan Dang Clan, said to never stop until it pierced its target.

*Clang!*

“S-such a crude method!”

Dang Geon-woo was speechless with bewilderment. Yu-jin had lifted his leg vertically and simply stomped on the butterfly-shaped weapon with his foot, breaking the Soul-Chasing Butterfly technique.

Dang Geon-woo was at a loss for words at this brutish counter. But he had no time to stand there dumbfounded. Yu-jin had closed the distance at high speed and swung his sword.

“You shouldn’t underestimate the direct line of the Sichuan Dang Clan!”

The Sichuan Dang Clan was known to excel at mid- to long-range combat, and that was true. However, that alone wasn’t enough to allow them to reign as the hegemon of the Sichuan region for hundreds of years.

Dang Geon-woo drew a dagger and formed a blade aura, deflecting Yu-jin’s attack. But the difference in length was unavoidable; Yu-jin’s sword lightly grazed Dang Geon-woo’s left shoulder.

“Kuh!”

Because it had made contact with the blade aura, even a light cut caused Dang Geon-woo intense pain, but he gritted his teeth and threw several hidden weapons from his pouch. Yu-jin didn’t press his advantage and retreated.

‘Oh, not bad.’

To think he could block a sword strike that no one had managed to parry until now. Dang Geon-woo wasn’t called one of the Seven Dragons for nothing.

“So the direct line of the Sichuan Dang Clan is indeed skilled in close combat. My horizons have been broadened today. Let’s go again.”

Yu-jin smiled and charged at Dang Geon-woo again.

Hitting a fast-moving opponent with hidden weapons was an incredibly difficult task, so the martial artists of the Sichuan Dang Clan had to train their visual acuity through immense effort.

But that wasn’t all. Opponents didn’t just run away; they could counterattack, so the Dang Clan’s martial artists also needed to move in response.

For that reason, the Sichuan Dang Clan strived to develop efficient movement and lightness techniques. And their efforts had borne fruit.

‘I see it.’

Having grasped Yu-jin’s formidable speed with his highly trained eyes, Dang Geon-woo calmly used his own confident movement technique to evade the attack. Or so he thought.

“Kuh!”

Fresh blood was already flowing from a cut on his chest, and Dang Geon-woo felt a sharp pain. Yu-jin’s sword had been much faster than he’d anticipated. But with his keen eyes, Dang Geon-woo realized that Yu-jin’s sword wasn’t just fast.

‘He reacts to his opponent’s slightest movements and corrects the trajectory of his sword!’

Yu-jin had instantly moved his arm to adjust the trajectory and swung his sword again toward his evading opponent.

The speed of his sword was already incredible, but by reacting to every one of his opponent’s movements, most people would be utterly helpless against him.

Only then did Dang Geon-woo, frowning, understand why Yu-jin’s opponents in the preliminaries had been defeated in a single blow.

‘Is he really the same age as us?’

This wasn’t just a matter of having a lot of internal energy or high martial skill. It was a level that could only be displayed by someone who had completely grasped the esoteric principles of the sword and embodied them.

“I misjudged you, Brother Kang. You are much stronger than I thought. I will use my full strength to defeat you.”

Saying so, Dang Geon-woo took out ten throwing knives from his pouch. These knives were unique, with round rings on their hilts, and Dang Geon-woo slipped his fingers through them.

“What remarkable spirit. I, too, shall do my best.”

Dang Geon-woo smiled at Yu-jin’s words, crossed his arms, pulled them back, and then spread them wide. Ten throwing knives shot toward Yu-jin like flashes of light.

Yu-jin quickly swung his sword, deflecting all ten knives. But even though his attack was parried, Dang Geon-woo was smiling.

With a movement of Dang Geon-woo’s arms, the deflected knives flew toward Yu-jin once more. The crowd couldn’t hide their astonishment at this technique, which resembled the Sword Control Art used by masters of the Transformation Realm. Paeng Won-jun and Mo Yong-jin were no exception.

“Did that fellow have such an ability?”

“I thought he had a hidden card up his sleeve, but I didn’t expect it to be something like this.”

Mo Yong-jin looked at Dang Geon-woo with admiration. Yu-jin continued to parry Dang Geon-woo’s attacks, but every time Dang Geon-woo moved his hands, the deflected knives would cut through the air and rain down on Yu-jin again.

It seemed that even someone like Yu-jin would be helpless against this. Thinking so, Mo Yong-jin looked at Yu-jin and was startled.

‘What’s with that composure?’

No matter how many times Yu-jin deflected them, the knives kept coming at him. The attacks, stabbing from all directions and blind spots, were threatening enough on their own, but since the knives were constantly being recalled for another assault, even someone as great as Yu-jin was bound to show an opening.

And yet, Yu-jin wore a relaxed expression. It was a composure that Mo Yong-jin couldn’t comprehend. And Dang Geon-woo felt the same way.

‘What? I’m clearly overwhelming him!’

Yu-jin was on the defensive. The one pressing the attack was Dang Geon-woo himself. So why was it that *he* was the one feeling anxious? Dang Geon-woo couldn’t understand his own feelings. But he knew he couldn’t let this continue.

“In that case!”

The ten knives shot high into the sky. Dang Geon-woo infused them with a massive amount of internal energy and sent them plunging down toward Yu-jin.

They weren’t just falling. Each of the ten knives became a bolt of lightning as it descended upon Yu-jin.

‘Ten Thunders Penetrating Strike.’

It was the ultimate secret technique of his new hidden weapon art, the ‘Thread Sword Art’.

“I was almost fooled. It’s a truly magnificent technique, almost comparable to the Sword Control Art. But once you figure out the trick, it’s nothing.”

Yu-jin swung his sword powerfully, and dozens of silver sword energies flew toward the ten bolts of lightning. But the sword energies were not aimed at the knives.

*Swish!*

Others might not have noticed, but Dang Geon-woo could tell that the most crucial part of his Thread Sword Art, the ‘Formless Threads’, had been severed. As the threads were cut, the ten lightning bolts lost their power and fell to the ground.

“Impossible!”

Dang Geon-woo couldn’t hide his bewilderment at how his self-developed hidden weapon art had been so easily broken, and Yu-jin did not miss the opening.

Realizing his mistake, Dang Geon-woo threw all the remaining hidden weapons in his pouch. The weapons became a storm, pouring down on Yu-jin. It was an incomplete ‘Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers’, but its power was still ferocious.

“Hup!”

With a short cry, Yu-jin swung his sword at incredible speed, deflecting all the hidden weapons. Closing the distance, he accelerated one last time and pointed his sword at Dang Geon-woo’s neck. With his Thread Sword Art and the flower rain both broken, Dang Geon-woo had no choice but to admit defeat. But there was something he wanted to ask.

“How did you know?”