Chapter 54: Seolyoung, Ascends

Jo Pae led Lee Jaseung and Baek Seolyoung to the largest and most luxurious guest hall in the Great Eagle Clan.

He had originally intended to receive Baek Seolyoung in his office, but her cold attitude made him realize that would not be appropriate.

The guards of the Northern Sky Clan stepped forward and pushed back the warriors of the Great Eagle Clan. Since they were the direct escorts of Lord Baek, the Great Eagle Clan warriors couldn’t intervene.

They were not allowed to approach at all.

Once the Northern Sky warriors completely surrounded the guest hall, Jo Pae nervously swallowed.

But he couldn’t raise the issue of escorts while dealing with Northern Sky. Judging by Baek Seolyoung’s attitude, doing so would likely make things worse.

‘This isn’t how it was supposed to go.’

Baek Seolyoung sat in the grand seat. The Northern Sky Four Dragons lined up behind her, and Lee Jaseung stood beside her.

Faced with such overwhelming dignity, Jo Pae couldn’t even make eye contact.

‘This really isn’t how it was supposed to go.’

Jo Pae cautiously looked up at Baek Seolyoung. He had only seen her a few times from afar during the martial arts tournament.

But the feeling now was entirely different. She exuded elegance and authority, and had become a completely different person.

“Lord Yang.”

“Yes, Lord Baek.”

“You’re a busy man, so I’ll get straight to the point.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“You called me all the way here, so it must be something very important.”

She deliberately mixed casual speech to emphasize again how rude it was to summon her here. She continued to hit Jo Pae where it hurt.

“Of course.”

Calling her here wasn’t a crime. But if she chose to take issue with it, it could certainly be seen as an extremely rude act.

Baek Seolyoung didn’t wait for his answer.

“Is it that you want to join forces with us?”

She asked bluntly, and Jo Pae was flustered. He had planned to build up to it gradually and be the one to suggest it.

“Yes, of course.”

“So my guess was right. That’s a relief.”

At her signal, Chu Sanggi pulled out a scroll and handed it to Jo Pae.

“This is the contract. It was drafted to commemorate the joining of our clans. It’s nothing major, so please don’t take it too seriously.”

As Jo Pae unrolled and read it, his expression hardened.

The contract did indeed state cooperation between the two parties, just like the one he had prepared.

But the details were completely different. It was extremely disadvantageous to the Great Eagle Clan.

Once the contract was signed, the Great Eagle Clan would be in a subordinate position, obligated to carry out Baek Seolyoung’s orders immediately. If she said die, they would die. If she said live, they would live. In short, it was like handing the Great Eagle Clan over to the Northern Sky Clan.

Jo Pae passed the scroll to Beom Yu. After reading it quickly, Beom Yu shouted without thinking.

“This is outrageous!”

In the next instant, Lee Jaseung flew through the air.

Thud! Crack! Wham!

Beom Yu was punched repeatedly in the face and stomach and rolled across the floor.

“How dare you speak like that in front of her?”

Lee Jaseung roared. The killing intent in his voice made Jo Pae swallow back the protest that had been rising in his throat.

Lee Jaseung looked at him coldly and spoke.”

“Do you think my future wife is someone to be taken lightly?”

By saying that, he made it clear this was a personal matter, not something done by the Northern Sky Clan.

“No, absolutely not.”

“Then why?”

Just then, Lee Jaseung picked up something that had fallen from Beom Yu’s robe. It was the contract they had prepared earlier. As he took it, a small medicine bottle rolled out with it.

In truth, Lee Jaseung had already sent Mook Young ahead to eavesdrop on their conversation. He had expected a pre-prepared contract, but upon hearing that they also had an aphrodisiac ready, he had curled his lip in cold disdain.

When he hit Beom Yu earlier, he had intentionally made sure the items slipped out of his clothing. For Lee Jaseung, it was easy to do.

Now that both the contract and the aphrodisiac were exposed, Jo Pae was utterly shocked.

“That’s-!”

He blurted out accidentally, then quickly clamped his mouth shut. If he couldn’t recover the aphrodisiac, he should have acted like he had no connection to it.

“…What is that?”

His acting was painfully awkward.

Lee Jaseung first skimmed the contract.

After glancing through it, he stared at Jo Pae with a terrifying look. With guilt weighing on him, Jo Pae lowered his head.

“This seems similar to the terms we proposed. Go ahead and sign it.”

Jo Pae hesitated. The loss would be massive. If this contract was executed, the Great Eagle Clan would soon be completely absorbed by the Northern Sky Clan.

At that moment, Baek Seolyoung smiled and asked,

“Are the terms unsatisfactory?”

Jo Pae hesitated again. No matter the threat, he couldn’t hand over his entire clan.

Lee Jaseung examined the medicine bottle. Jo Pae tensed and gulped.

Lee Jaseung sniffed the bottle and walked straight toward the fallen Beom Yu.

Without hesitation, he stomped on Beom Yu’s ribcage.

Crack!

With the sound of bones shattering, Beom Yu died instantly.

Even Baek Seolyoung was startled, as was Jo Pae.

“To prepare an aphrodisiac along with a contract! What kind of vile act is this?”

Lee Jaseung glared fiercely at Jo Pae. His murderous gaze made Jo Pae’s legs tremble.

“I had nothing to do with that.”

“Really?”

“Please believe me! He must have been trying to show excessive loyalty.”

Lee Jaseung stared at him with a sharp look.

Jo Pae stamped the seal first. He had to survive for now.

“It’s a very satisfactory agreement.”

Baek Seolyoung smiled as she took the signed contract.

“I’m glad the misunderstanding is resolved. I’ll be leaving now.”

She no longer saw any reason to stay. The fact that they had prepared an aphrodisiac completely disgusted her.

She exited first, followed by the Northern Sky Four Dragons.

The last one remaining was Lee Jaseung.

His silent stare made Jo Pae break into a cold sweat. It was a different feeling from when everyone else was around.

‘He’s cold. Truly cold and terrifying like a snake.’

Jo Pae couldn’t meet his eyes and slightly bowed his head as he said,

“Please take care on your way.”

“You tried to pull this disgusting stunt, and you think I’ll just walk away?”

The moment Jo Pae looked up in shock,

Thud!

Lee Jaseung’s fist slammed into his stomach.

With a single strike, Jo Pae’s Dantian was shattered. From this point, he couldn’t use his inner Qi anymore.  

“Aaaaargh!”

As Jo Pae writhed in agony, Lee Jaseung looked down on him coldly.

Lee Jaseung knew people like Jo Pae very well. The moment he left, this man would start plotting revenge.

He looked at Jo Pae, who was glaring at him with resentment, and spoke coldly.

“What do you think will happen if word spreads that you lost your inner Qi?”

Fear filled Jo Pae’s face. Given the enemies he’d made in life, countless foes would come for him.

And they wouldn’t kill him quickly. Just as he had done to others’ families, he would die a truly miserable death.

Jo Pae lowered his head and pleaded.

“I’ll stay quiet and do only what I’m told. Please keep it a secret.”

Tears welled up in Jo Pae’s eyes as he begged.

Without a word, Lee Jaseung turned and left. He didn’t trust the promise of a villain. He trusted the situation. At the very least, Jo Pae wouldn’t be able to pull anything against Baek Seolyoung for now.

After Lee Jaseung left, Jo Pae finally relaxed. He felt dazed, as if waking from a dream.

But once he realized everything that had happened wasn’t a dream, rage exploded.

“You damn bastard!”

He jumped up and violently kicked Beom Yu’s corpse. He dumped all the blame on him.

“You useless, idiotic fool!”

He kept stomping on the corpse, but it was already too late for regrets. The mountain he had thought was unclaimed turned out to have a terrifying owner.

On the way back in the carriage, Baek Seolyoung looked down at the contract.

It was perfect. No, even calling it perfect was not enough. The terms were so favorable that even the highest praise would fall short.

She truly never imagined things would turn out this well when she first went to see them.

With a trembling voice, she said,

“How can I ever thank you…”

“You’re the one who did it. Why are you thanking me?”

At Lee Jaseung’s indifferent response, Baek Seolyoung smiled. It was a smile filled with gratitude, because she knew it would’ve been impossible without him.

“How do you know how to handle things like this?”

“I learned.”

“From whom?”

From all the villains of Jianghu.

But Lee Jaseung gave a different answer.

“My grandfather.”

“I see.”

Nodding, she thought of her father. It wasn’t the time to question his words. She felt regret that she hadn’t learned these things from her father.

But she was grateful to be learning now, even if it was late.

“There could be many approaches. But the most important thing is…”

The next words came from her. The same line that had first started to change her.

“Look carefully at where you stand and who you are dealing with!”

He hadn’t meant to say exactly that, but it carried the same message, so he nodded.

Baek Seolyoung’s heart swelled.

She felt like she was finally beginning to understand.

And with that, another emotion quietly slipped in.

She was so deeply grateful to him.

* * *

Time passed again, and now the wedding was just ten days away.

During that time, Baek Seolyoung had not missed a single day of training. Once she made up her mind, she was relentless.

A month and a half had passed, and the intensity of her training steadily increased.

By now, the level of training she endured each day had gone far beyond what could be described as simple self-discipline.

But she never once complained and carried on with her training.

As usual, she was about to finish and leave, but Lee Jaseung called her.

“Wait. Show me the martial arts you’ve learned.”

Surprised by his words, Baek Seolyoung took a deep breath with a serious expression.

The swordsmanship she had learned was the Northern Sky Sword Art, passed down through her clan.

Though she had practiced it since childhood, her progress had stalled at the seventh rank. Even after years of additional training, she had never broken through to eighth rank.

She took the sword standing beside her and fastened it to her waist.

Because she had just finished intense training, she worried she might not be able to demonstrate the techniques properly.

Slowly, she drew the sword. Her arm trembled slightly from fatigue. She gripped the hilt tightly.

Swish! Ssshhk! Swish! Ssshhk!

Her form swept through the air.

At first, her movements felt a little awkward since it had been so long since she last performed the full techniques, but soon her body moved fluidly with practiced grace.

When she finished performing all the techniques, she stood there in a bit of a daze.

“Sorry. I was too tired to do it properly.”

Thinking she hadn’t executed it well, she quickly spoke with an embarrassed expression.

But Lee Jaseung’s response was completely unexpected.

“Your martial arts have entered the next stage.”

Baek Seolyoung opened her eyes wide in shock.

“What?”

“You’ve moved from seventh rank to eighth.”

When he stated the exact level where she had been stuck, she was even more astonished.

“How did you know?”

It also meant that it was true. Her martial arts had advanced a level.

“Is it really true?”

“Try again.”

Without hesitation, Baek Seolyoung performed the techniques once more. From start to finish, she executed them carefully and with full effort, but she still couldn’t quite feel what was different.

“I don’t feel any change.”

“Nothing at all?”

“It actually feels like I’ve taken a step back. I feel slower.”

“You’re not slower.”

Baek Seolyoung was shocked by his response.

“Could it be…?”

Lee Jaseung nodded.

“You’ve reached the next level. It’s not that you’re slower, it’s that your movements have become more precise. You just haven’t fully adjusted yet, so it feels slower.”

Baek Seolyoung looked like she couldn’t believe it.

After staring at him for a moment, she suddenly let out a joyful cry.

“Ah!”

She realized his words were true.

“It’s real!”

A bright smile appeared on her face.

“But how?”

“What do you mean, how? Didn’t I tell you on the first day? Both the vessel that holds inner Qi and the tool used for external martial arts are ultimately the human body. That’s why you must strengthen the vessel.”

“You’re saying I reached eighth rank just from training? From that alone?”

“Just from that? You almost cried, didn’t you?”

“I never cried! That never happened!”

She strongly denied it but soon admitted the truth.

“It was hard. But…”

“But what? You didn’t have any kind of mental breakthrough?”

She nodded, and Lee Jaseung calmly replied.

“Breakthroughs come in many forms. Personally, most of the insights I’ve gained came from physical training like this.”

“Like now?”

“Yes, exactly like now. How can you have such preconceptions when you’ve never truly experienced a breakthrough before?”

She smiled brightly.

‘You really didn’t have to say that last part, but you did anyway.’

Still, she felt so good that she could accept anything he said with a smile right now.

An indescribable joy filled her hand holding the sword.

Lee Jaseung shared her happiness. He remembered the first time he reaped the results of genuine hard work, and her joy reminded him of that.

“You’re at eighth rank now, but once you reach the ninth, you’ll be able to unleash its true power.”

Baek Seolyoung gazed at Lee Jaseung in silence.

The more she looked at him, the more he seemed like someone she couldn’t figure out. Every time she uncovered something, there was more hidden beneath.

“You’ve worked hard.”

With those parting words marking the end of her training, Lee Jaseung turned away.

Then, came Baek Seolyoung’s voice from behind him.

“I want to keep training.”

He didn’t answer right away, with his back still on her.

Finally, Lee Jaseung spoke.

“It’ll get even harder.”

“I still won’t cry.”

At her joke, Lee Jaseung chuckled. If it had been any other request, he might have refused, but he gave extra points to those who wanted to work harder.

“If you insist.”

Lee Jaseung walked away again. Watching his back, Baek Seolyoung moved her lips softly and said,

Thank you.

Her eyes turned once more to the sky. This time, a new excitement began to fill her heart.

The wedding was just ten days away.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep