Fwoooosh...

The energies of two Peak Realm martial masters converged.

In an instant, their auras stirred the air, generating a wind powerful enough to lift dust.

Papapapak—!

Without any signal or declaration, the duel began.

Palm clashed against palm, inner energy collided with inner energy.

Wind swirled. Dust billowed. The Black Dragon Division soldiers shielded their faces and gripped the tents tightly.

Fortunately, the two combatants drifted farther from the camp as the fight progressed.

“I heard the sword of Mount Hua was quite refined—yet your palms seem rather plain.”

“Do not belittle the martial arts of Mount Hua!”

Papak—Pak!

Yu Pyo’s palm technique moved like plum blossoms carried on the breeze—soft, flowing, yet unyielding.

It was the Plum Blossom Drifting Wind Palm—Maehwa Pyopyeongjang—a signature technique of Mount Hua. Not ostentatious, but cultivated and firm.

In contrast, the Black Dragon Commander’s palm technique struck with condensed weight in each blow.

It was as though the Namgoong Clan’s sword art had been transposed into palm strikes—the Grand Evolution Palm, Daeyeonjang.

Pak—Papapak!

“I have long heard tales of the Plum Swallow Sword. I had hoped to one day cross swords with Mount Hua. But now that we trade palms, I find myself even more eager for that day!”

Pwak—!

A strike, infused with blue inner energy, flew straight at Yu Pyo’s chest.

“!”

Papapak!

Yu Pyo met the strike head-on, unleashing a palm empowered with qi to counter it.

Then, without pause, he unleashed a flurry of dozens more.

“!”

The Black Dragon Commander twisted his body just in time, realizing it would be impossible to deflect them all. He retaliated mid-motion, meeting the storm with his own surge of power.

Though both were Peak Realm experts, Yu Pyo was one of the martial world’s Top 100 masters—an opponent not easily overwhelmed.

Boom! Crack! Boom!

Trees behind the commander, where he had just evaded, either splintered or fell, carved by the force of Yu Pyo’s palms.

Witnessing that sheer destructive power, the commander swallowed dryly.

His hand throbbed from absorbing the blow.

It was Seolhwa who had suggested provoking Yu Pyo, to compel him to use his inner force.

She had said it would be even better if it came to direct contact rather than swords.

When Yu Pyo had come to her earlier, full of indignation, she had thought only that it was fortunate—he would now complete his task before reaching Mount Hua.

This...

The commander’s lips curled faintly.

I must treat him seriously.

A sharp gleam flickered in his eyes.

Fwoooo...

Inner energy gathered at his palm. A deep azure aura rose from his dantian and coiled around his right hand.

“...”

Yu Pyo, too, summoned his full strength.

One palm.

It would end with this single exchange.

Namgoong Hyeok, Martial Commander of the Namgoong Clan.

Yu Pyo had heard of him as well.

Though overshadowed by the clan’s prestige and lacking renown in the wider martial world, he was reputed to be a true expert—one simply not given proper recognition.

Yu Pyo had once hoped for the chance to exchange swords with him...

At this level...

His cultivation was comparable, perhaps even superior.

In experience, the commander might hold the advantage.

This must be what my seniors meant—never grow arrogant just because your name is known.

There were too many unknown experts in the world. Even being named among the Top 100 meant little.

Yu Pyo himself was proof that not all among the 100 were truly strong.

This man—if he begins to reveal his strength in the open world, it is only a matter of time before his name joins that list.

For that reason, Yu Pyo wished to take this duel seriously. With all his might.

Fwoosh—

Crimson-tinged energy, like the essence of a plum blossom, surged and concentrated into his hand.

Inner strength against inner strength. Power against power.

This was nothing less than the manifestation of their lifetimes of cultivation.

A contest of all the blood and sweat they had shed.

Kwaaaa—!

Fwoooooosh—!

Two martial forces—cultivated in different sects, through different paths—hurtled toward each other.

And in that electric instant, when two evenly matched warriors met... the hilts of a sword interrupted the space between them.

Bwoooom—!

“Ghhk!”

“...?!”

In an instant, both warriors’ inner forces scattered, neutralized, and the backlash from their incomplete releases sent them flying.

Thud—! Thud!

They crashed nearly simultaneously into nearby trees, then hit the ground.

Yu Gang and Seolhwa, who had rushed after them during the battle, arrived just then.

“Senior Brother!”

Yu Gang ran to Yu Pyo, while Seolhwa approached the Black Dragon Commander.

Fortunately, both fighters had withdrawn their energy at the moment of impact. Neither was seriously injured.

Yu Pyo, breathing through the dull pain, turned his eyes toward the one who had intervened.

The Sword Emperor...!

Namgoong Mucheon.

He neutralized my Tenfold Qi with such ease...

How vast must the gap in their inner strength be, to produce such an overwhelming difference with a single movement?

In that fleeting clash, Yu Pyo was made to feel a distant, almost unreachable gulf. His lips grew dry.

“Dojang.”

“...!”

Yu Pyo stiffened and bowed his head.

He recalled the tales of even senior elders trembling before the Sword Emperor.

He had forgotten that Namgoong Mucheon was present. He had let his temper flare at the Black Dragon Commander’s provocation—a grave mistake.

“Stand up.”

A calloused, steady hand reached out to him.

Yu Pyo looked up at Namgoong Mucheon in shock. Namgoong Mucheon gave a brief nod.

With tension coursing through his entire body, Yu Pyo took the offered hand—a hand he would not have dared to touch otherwise—and stood.

Then, at once, he brought his fists together in a martial salute.

“I apologize for causing a disturbance.”

“I understand well what it is you are concerned about. It was my oversight not to seek your understanding in advance. There is a reason we have not informed Mount Hua of our arrival, and I ask that you try to understand.”

“...Are you unable to share that reason with me?”

“You will know before we reach Mount Hua. I swear on my name that no harm will come to the sect.”

“!”

A vow upon the name of the Sword Emperor.

Even if the only witnesses were himself, Yu Gang, and the members of the Namgoong Clan—it was far from an empty promise.

Only then did Yu Pyo finally take a step back.

“Understood.”

Namgoong Mucheon lightly patted him on the shoulder.

“Now go and rest.”

Yu Gang and Yu Pyo gave their farewells and returned to their quarters.

Once their presence had faded into the distance, Namgoong Mucheon approached Seolhwa and the Black Dragon Commander.

A sound-blocking formation was raised around them.

The commander lowered his head deeply.

“My apologies, Clan Head. Young Lady. I did not intend to cause such a commotion...”

“It is fine. Thanks to it, we were able to confirm something.”

Namgoong Mucheon looked at Seolhwa.

“You were right. There was something unusual interlaced within that disciple’s inner energy.”

The commander looked up, startled.

“I did not sense anything.”

“It was not ordinary qi. More accurate to say the flow was unstable.”

Only someone at the Flowing Realm like Namgoong Mucheon could have noticed such a subtle disturbance.

I had only wondered, but for him to truly discern it...

Seolhwa had been the one to request he observe Yu Pyo—but she was just as surprised as the commander.

“What was it?”

“Hypnosis.”

“...Hypnosis?”

Confusion flickered across Namgoong Mucheon and the commander’s faces.

It was only natural.

Suggestion, hypnosis, parasite poison, soul-capturing techniques, corpse puppetry...

All such vile arts of mind control originated from the Blood Demon Cult.

And they had played a crucial role in the cult’s near-total domination of the Central Plains, catching orthodox factions off-guard before they could react.

“It is similar to suggestion, but not quite the same. With suggestion, someone must directly control the subject. Hypnosis does not require that. Once hypnotized, a person can be triggered by a specific stimulus.”

A flute being played, a certain gesture, the scent of a specific incense, a particular image shown—any of these could activate it.

“Though it is weaker in direct control compared to suggestion, and can be broken with a strong enough shock to the vital meridians, the problem is...”

This was exactly why Mount Hua had fallen.

“It takes very little energy to cast—so dozens, even hundreds can be hypnotized at once.”

That was how the disaster occurred—disciples of Mount Hua, under hypnosis, turned on one another in a massacre.

Those who fell under hypnosis attacked their senior and junior brothers.

Those who were not affected, unable to understand why, died by their hands.

No matter how many times they were ordered to stop, no matter how they were shouted at, the tragedy continued.

In a single day, Mount Hua crumbled into ruin.

And the orthodox factions realized far too late what had happened—most never even grasped the full truth.

If only we had realized the cult’s hand in it back then...

If they had known, they might have been able to prepare.

This time, it must be stopped.

Mount Hua’s fall had marked a turning point, consolidating the Blood Demon Cult’s influence.

It was the first sacrifice in a slow collapse of the Central Plains’ martial world.

“This is the reason we are going to Mount Hua.”

At the end of Seolhwa’s explanation, Namgoong Mucheon and the Black Dragon Commander were at a loss for words.

A sorcery that could control the human mind...

“...This is no simple matter.”

The hypnosis must be broken.

But first, they would have to identify who had been affected.

And above all, they could not let the infiltrators within Mount Hua discover that the truth had been uncovered.

If the hypnosis were triggered before it could be unraveled, Mount Hua would fall in a single day.

“What are we even supposed to do...?”

Where to start? What to do first?

With a headache beginning ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) to throb, Namgoong Mucheon pressed his fingers to his temple.

As if she had anticipated this very response, Seolhwa spoke in a calm, steady voice:

“First, we need an ally inside Mount Hua who can help us.”