Surviving as a Rival in a Martial Arts Novel

Chapter 10 – Penetrating the Limb and Artery (02)

“I need to slow down. It’s not something I should be messing with unless I reach an extraordinary level of skill in the Lim-Dok Yangmaek…!”

In the actual novel, this scene takes place in the second half. After Han Soso fights against Bangyuseong and acts independently, she helps him and attempts to form a connection with the chief of the Black Veil organization. It is only after she acquires a connection and reaches a new level of skill that she breaks through the Lim-Dok Yangmaek.

Although she was only halfway there, unable to fully achieve the state of complete transformation before dying, she had reached such a high level that she could be considered one of the strongest until the latter part of the story.

Right now, it was correct that she couldn’t break through with just the level of skill she obtained by sharing a meal with Gyeon.

“Sa-Mae is in danger…!”

Once again, a shock that made her body tremble entered the back of her neck. This time, the impact was so great that her mind became dizzy, as if she had been hit on the head with a hammer.

“Damn it… This is dangerous…!”

Her nose started to bleed, and it felt like her face was about to burst. If she were alone, she would have given up on using her skills, prepared for the injury, and forcibly stopped the flow of energy.

But she couldn’t do that because of Sa-Mae.

“Is Sa-Mae okay?”

I opened my eyes to check on Sa-Mae’s condition while I was injured, but Sa-Mae’s smooth back remained unchanged, and she didn’t bleed or show any signs of pain like me.

“How… is that possible?”

Even in the midst of the pain inflicted on her by the Lim-Dok Yangmaek, I focused my mind to check Sa-Mae’s condition, and after a moment, I realized why this abnormally fast and intense flow of energy had occurred.

“Sa-Mae… Is the Lim-Dok Yangmaek flowing freely?”

It was a bloodline that my master had polished by depleting his own vital energy from the moment of my birth, so that impurities wouldn’t accumulate.

In practical terms, it meant that the successors of the Mu-Ga, by undergoing a similar transformation to the pseudo-hwagol-taltae during their childhood when the Lim-Dok Yangmaek was not blocked, could possess superior martial arts skills compared to ordinary people.

“But I’m not ready yet!”

Splat!

As blood burst out, the bloodline began to rupture slowly.

I had gone too deep.

The flow of Sa-Mae and my energy was attempting to synchronize due to my excessive resonance with Sa-Mae’s current. However, Sa-Mae, with its unique disruptive energy flow, was forcibly compelling my body to follow its smoother energy flow, inevitably leading to such side effects.

When my mentor conducted the Chugung-Hwa ritual, incidents like these didn’t occur because I, having the same background, didn’t resonate with Sa-Mae. But how could I undo what had already happened? To survive, I had to desperately break through the impurities accumulated in my body and pierce through the disruptive energy flow.

‘Remember Sa-Mae’s flow.’

Suddenly, being told to pierce through the disruptive energy flow felt daunting, but fortunately, there was a good textbook right in front of me. I had been controlling the flow of energy to avoid colliding with the disruptive energy flow by following Sa-Mae’s current. However, as I tried to stop this and go against the flow, the familiar current slowed down just before colliding with the disruptive energy flow, transmitting only shock without breaking through.

‘Darn!’

I had described my state as not knowing whether I was strong or weak, like a flea trapped in a cup. Yet, even I, setting limits to myself and not thinking that the energy flow could pierce through the disruptive energy flow, found myself confined by my own limitations.

‘My power… is insufficient…!’

I lacked strength. Though I was supposed to break through the disruptive energy flow later, with the help of the thousand-year-old Ice Crystal hidden in nature, guided by the scent of the Scarlet Flower that came with the request, my current power was insufficient to break through.

‘As expected… should I give up?’

It was not the time yet. There was an order in things, and even now, in my role as a rival character assigned to request, I was strong enough to the point of not causing significant disruptions to the novel’s plot.

Even if I suffered injuries and lost inner strength, it wouldn’t lead to significant issues.

‘Maybe I’m too strong, and that’s causing the plot to twist… Perhaps a god-like entity shaping this world’s narrative is intervening to reduce my power.’

With such thoughts, I willingly accepted my injuries and tried to regain the energy that was harmonizing with Sa-Mae as much as possible, attempting to withstand this runaway situation alone.

“Kkuuuh…!”

It was agonizing. As I withdrew my hand from Sa-Mae’s back, attempting to contain this runaway alone, the energy flow, previously guided by Sa-Mae’s current, lost its direction and became chaotic, causing my entire body to convulse.

“This… If I mess up, it could be a real disaster…!”

It was a truly dangerous situation.

If it weren’t for the flow of Sa-mae’s inner strength through my back, it would’ve been a different story.

As if guiding me, Sa-mae’s inner strength flowed in, filling in the lack of output.

“That’s it…! That’s how it works!”

If my inner strength is lacking, I can borrow Sa-mae’s inner strength.

Sa-mae’s inner strength is slightly higher than mine, so a simple calculation would mean I could gather almost twice the amount of my current inner strength.

“I can… do it…!”

Kuung!

It felt like the end of Im-maek was breaking, just like a siege hammer breaking down a castle gate.

However, breaking through this thick wall of debris with just one collision is impossible. It will still take dozens, even hundreds of hits before a crack forms.

“But what if… I repeatedly hit it like a digging machine?”

Rather than hitting it forcefully while making a full rotation, like a digging machine drilling holes during road construction, what if I break the wall with a series of small, rapid strikes?

With Sa-mae’s inner strength as a support behind me, I used all the inner strength I could muster to start hitting the wall blocking Im-maek.

It’s like repeatedly hitting a solid wall in a game where you throw a ball to break blocks. I raised Sa-mae’s inner strength to create a support, and used the rotating inner strength to grind away at the wall in small increments.

It was as agonizing as performing a nerve treatment on a tooth without anesthesia, but every time my inner strength made a full rotation, I could feel the wall of Im-maek being pierced little by little.

“It’s cracking!”

The wall of Im-maek started to crack. It didn’t break like a digging machine as I had imagined, but rather, it turned into a spinning saw blade, grinding away at the wall due to the nature of the energy flow. However, the important thing is that it doesn’t matter which way it goes, as long as it breaks through.

Pyeok!

“Kuhek!”

I spat out a thick clot of blood from my mouth, but strangely, I felt better. If I had broken through Lim-Maek, it wouldn’t have been long before I reached Dok-Maek.

Similarly, using the power of Sa-Mae as a support, I rotated the power inside and ground down the wall as if the saw blade was being worn away. The speed at which my power was being consumed increased as I broke through the wall of Dok-Maek, and soon my power was almost depleted.

“No, I can’t go on like this…!”

It had to be now.

If I couldn’t cross in one go, the flow of energy would return to its original state, and then the unused section, Lim-Dok-Yang-Maek, would accumulate impurities and would inevitably revert to its original state within a few days.

If I’m going to break through, it has to be now.

“Just a little more!”

My power was exhausted, but there was only one thin wall left blocking the way.

Ignoring the feeling of blood rising in my mouth and the snot flowing from my nose, I gathered the power of Sa-Mae and prepared for one last strike.

The final blow to break this wall!

“Ah!”

I broke through.

I smashed through the walls of Lim-Maek, Dok-Maek, and Lim-Dok-Yang-Maek, which blocked the flow of my power, as if pulling out a toothache.

The wall of Lim-Dok-Yang-Maek, which seemed bigger and thicker than the Great Wall of China, turned out to be nothing more than a thin film.

Feeling the energy rushing back through my entire body, like a bursting water fountain, I felt a sense of joy that I had evolved one step further.

“Ugh.”

And then, like a power outage, I fainted.

* * *

I feel refreshed.

If before, the flow of energy throughout my body felt like it flowed only from my neck to my lower abdomen, now it felt like the energy was flowing in every nook and cranny from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

“Is this the feeling of drinking Imdokyangmaek?”

It’s like wearing a cooling vest on my body and then taking a shower in cold water and feeling refreshed as I stand naked, letting the air conditioning breeze blow over my whole body.

“Is this a similar sensation to Hwangoltaltae?”

Because I am still young and in my prime, I don’t need to undergo Hwangoltaltae, so my body remains the same, but with a slight enhancement in sensitivity, allowing me to feel the current temperature keenly, although I don’t feel the sensation of being hot or cold.

“Sohyeop. Sohyeop? Are you okay?”

“Ugh…?”

A woman who was next to me suddenly called out to me.

For a moment, I thought, “Who…?” But I could tell from her eyes and slightly slender hands that she was Jegal Yeonji’s twin sister, who had changed her clothes.

“Darn it… I should have asked for her proper name… I can’t keep calling her the Dark Jegal Yeonji forever.”

“I tried to help Sa-Mae, but I ended up receiving help instead.”

“What are you talking about?”

It seemed that she didn’t know what had happened here. I explained to her about Sa-Mae’s background, how it helped me break through the Imdokyangmaek, and how as a result, I had been unconscious for a long time, but had reached a state close to Hwangoltaltae.

“That’s what happened.”

I tried to get up, but there was a piece of cloth stuck halfway into my chest, so I obediently lay back down and covered myself with a blanket.

Just to be sure, I felt my lower body, and it was also naked.

“It’s okay, Sohyeop.”

“It’s not okay at all!”

At least, it seemed that everything was revealed to this Jegal Yeonji.

It’s understandable that I was undressed while I was unconscious, but still, I can’t help but feel embarrassed.

“Ugh… How long was I unconscious?”

It seems like it has been at least a day since the weather got significantly colder.

“About two weeks. Sohyeob.”

“Ah, two weeks… Two weeks?”

“Yes. The day of the fainting spell is two weeks ago, and today is the day of the eclipse.”

At the mention of “two weeks,” my mind momentarily didn’t register, but when I heard “eclipse,” I quickly regained my senses.

“Come to think of it, isn’t today the day?”

Seeing Yeoncheong suffering from her injuries, the nun who had never seen such a sight before went to the port secretly to steal medicine to heal her wounds, but she was caught by the owner of the inn.

“Fortunately, I didn’t get injured, so the nun wouldn’t have been kidnapped… but…”

“If Sohyeob’s sister goes to the port to find medicine for her injuries, she will come back soon if nothing happens.”

“… What did you say?”

“Sohyeob’s sister went to the port to find a good medicine for her injuries…”

Wait a minute. The story goes like this?

Originally, after the death of Sohyeob, I was lost in despair, and while wandering, I met a nun who was supposed to be kidnapped today, but now it’s progressing as if two separate incidents are happening today, with Sohyeob being harmed?

Snap!

I quickly pulled my spare clothes with the help of my martial arts skills, changed quickly, and immediately opened the window and jumped out.

“Sohyeob?”

“It’s dangerous outside, so please wait inside!”

“Sohyeob should have taken care of all those guys last time… Besides, the people from Jegalsega who currently reside in Sachon are monitoring suspicious movements at the port, so there’s no need to worry…”

I knew.

I knew that those people from Jegalsega were the warriors of the Black Cloak organization wearing the masks of the Taemongwi.

“Explanations can wait; come here for now!”

“Please. We shouldn’t be too late.”

The crescent moon was already hanging in the mid-sky.