“Again.”

“Hup!”

This time, he swung his sword even faster.

The swishing sounds sliced through the air.

Yet, once again, Ilhwa effortlessly deflected his attack.

After several more exchanges of blows, Ilhwa’s wooden sword slipped through a gap in his sword path and struck the Red Dragon Squad Leader’s forearm.

“Argh!”

As he clutched his throbbing forearm, he heard the young voice once again.

“Putting in too much strength doesn’t make an attack good. Use only as much strength as you can control.”

Excessiveness is as bad as deficiency.

Putting excessive force into a sword won’t let it cut through stone.

If you attempt to split the stone with brute force, the blade will dull or even break.

A stone yields only when precise strength and speed are applied to its small fractures.

The Red Dragon Squad Leader was in this exact situation.

His reckless, forceful strikes were powerful but lacked any real threat.

“When you try to use too much force, your body stiffens. If your body stiffens, you lose the ability to wield your sword as you wish.”

“Ugh…!”

The Red Dragon Squad Leader swung his sword low, aiming horizontally.

It was a strike intended to take advantage of Ilhwa’s small stature, but she effortlessly stepped back to avoid it.

Then, she crouched even lower, instantly slipping under his guard.

“…!”

He twisted his body to alter his sword’s path, but—

Smack—!

Ilhwa’s wooden sword struck his ankle with precision.

“Arghhh!”

The Squad Leader collapsed onto the ground as he twisted mid-motion. Though he managed to prop himself up with his wooden sword and avoid an embarrassing face-first fall, it was a narrow escape.

Ilhwa stood before him.

“Lacking lower body strength means your balance collapses. And when your balance collapses, you keep falling.”

“You….”

Ilhwa’s wooden sword was now pointed at his throat.

Feeling the cool edge of the blade, the Squad Leader instinctively sucked in his breath and looked up.

“The ground doesn’t shake. Not as long as you stand firm upon it.”

Her gaze, unwavering and devoid of even a trace of labored breathing, was cold and sharp.

It was an utter and complete victory for Ilhwa.

Not a fierce battle, but a one-sided triumph.

No—calling it a contest was meaningless, as Ilhwa had never considered it one to begin with.

“This should suffice.”

The rest was up to him now.

Would he dismiss a child’s words or reflect on his flaws?

Ilhwa turned away from the demoralized Squad Leader and glanced down at her own hand.

It was the first time she had held a sword since expelling her internal energy.

Her fingertips tingled slightly and trembled faintly, a sign that she was still unaccustomed to her weakened body.

“I’m in no position to offer advice. I can’t control my own strength either.”

Ilhwa let out a short sigh.

For now, she needed to adapt to her diminished power.

Meanwhile, the Red Dragon Squad Leader couldn’t believe the situation. He had given his all to defeat a single child, yet she hadn’t even broken a sweat.

On top of that, she had critiqued his swordsmanship.

All her criticisms struck at weaknesses he had always suspected about himself.

“Who is she…?”

Who could she be?

Who could have such skill, walk freely through the Namgung family’s training grounds, and display such high-level martial prowess?

As he watched the child’s retreating figure, realization suddenly struck him.

“Could it be…!”

She might not be a mere child…?

After the bout with the Red Dragon Squad Leader, Ilhwa exited the training ground.

The commotion had drawn too much attention, making it impossible to practice in peace.

“I’ll go to the guest training grounds.”

She would have ended up training there anyway; now all she had done was draw unnecessary attention to herself.

Although it hadn’t been a completely fruitless time, the thought that this would inevitably reach the Namgung family head left her with a tinge of regret.

She should have gone to the guest training grounds from the start.

“…!”

As she retraced her steps and walked onward, her vision suddenly wavered.

Having expelled her internal energy, not rested properly, and exerted herself unexpectedly, her young body was finally beginning to feel the strain.

As her strength drained, her body wavered and stumbled.

I’m falling! That thought flashed through her mind.

Grab!

“What the—?”

Someone caught her just as her body tilted.

“Hey, kid. You okay?”

She shook her head, trying to regain focus, and looked up at her rescuer.

It was Seop Mu-Gwang, the leader of the Wind Sword Unit.

“Your complexion doesn’t look good, kid.”

Her palms were sweaty, and cold perspiration was forming on her brow.

Ilhwa quickly wiped her hands on her pants.

“I’m fine. I just got a little dizzy—ah!”

Before she could finish her sentence, her vision shifted sharply upward.

A shrill cry escaped her lips as she suddenly found herself in Seop Mu-Gwang’s arms.

Ilhwa frowned deeply.

“Put me down.”

“Let’s go.”

Seop Mu-Gwang immediately used light-footed martial arts to head somewhere. With the familiar sound of the wind brushing past her ears, Ilhwa asked,

“Where are we going?”

Seop Mu-Gwang chuckled.

“You’ll know when we get there.”

---

The place Seop Mu-Gwang took her to was the Medical Hall.

The head of Namgung’s Medical Hall was someone Ilhwa had not encountered in her past life.

Though she hadn’t heard any news of the Medical Hall head fleeing, when she infiltrated Namgung in the past, they were no longer there.

‘They must have abandoned Namgung and escaped.’

Typically, the head of a Medical Hall was someone skilled and not part of the clan. This person likely wasn’t a member of Namgung either.

Someone who had no reason to remain in Namgung during its downfall.

Therefore, Ilhwa bore no grudge against the previous head for fleeing. In this life, she had no intention of creating a situation where they would need to flee.

“We’re here.”

Seop Mu-Gwang set Ilhwa down on the ground.

Ilhwa took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of medicinal herbs wafting into her nose.

The smell of herbs was always comforting.

‘The scent of life.’

Even during her time in the Blood Sect, she would often visit the Medical Hall, sitting there for a long time.

Perhaps it was because the scent of medicinal herbs provided a rare sense of life amidst the stench of blood and death that permeated the Blood Sect. Whenever she was in the Medical Hall, her mind felt at ease.

Feeling her unsettled emotions calming down, Ilhwa stepped into the Medical Hall.

“What the… not here again?”

Seop Mu-Gwang scanned the interior of the Medical Hall and rang the bell at the entrance.

But the Medical Hall head was nowhere to be seen.

“Aish—where did they run off to this time? I told them to stay put properly…. Kiddo, wait here for a bit.”

Seop Mu-Gwang grumbled as he went outside to search for the Medical Hall head.

After staring briefly at the door through which he exited, Ilhwa began inspecting the medicinal herbs scattered around the Medical Hall.

‘White ginger, black cohosh, heavenly pulse grass… and this… licorice?’

Most of them were common herbs with versatile uses.

‘As expected of Namgung. The quality is certainly good.’

While examining a piece of licorice in her hand,

“Well, what a cute young lady we have here!”

Startled, Ilhwa turned around.

But upon seeing the person behind the voice, her expression hardened further.

“Oh my, my!”

A soft, ticklish voice accompanied by a laugh.

The woman wore high heels and a luxurious white robe adorned with intricate blue embroidery. She walked delicately toward Ilhwa and knelt down before her.

Her long eyelashes fluttered beneath deep, clear eyes as she gazed at Ilhwa.

When she raised her hand, Ilhwa instinctively flinched.

The woman burst into a gentle laugh.

“My, you’re just like a little kitten.”

The woman’s long eyelashes curved playfully as her eyes narrowed with a grin.

Her raised hand softly patted Ilhwa’s head.

“How adorable.”

The woman’s clear indigo eyes were filled with nothing but fondness for Ilhwa.

There was not a trace of hostility in her expression—only pure goodwill.

Ilhwa could sense that this woman had no intention of harming her. But that didn’t mean Ilhwa could let her guard down.

‘Why is this woman… here?’

The head of the Blood Sect’s Medical Hall, who always greeted Ilhwa with a smile whenever she visited.

A skilled assassin who used poison to carry out cruel killings behind that smiling façade.

The Blood Sect’s Medical Hall head, Dokwol.

That was the name Ilhwa knew for this woman in her previous life.

Faced with such an unexpected reunion, Ilhwa’s mind raced.

The first thing to determine was this:

‘Is she from the Blood Sect or from Namgung?’

If she was a spy from the Blood Sect, Ilhwa would have to kill her. But if she had been in Namgung before joining the Blood Sect, Ilhwa needed to keep observing her.

In either case, she couldn’t afford to lower her guard.

“Did you come to check your pulse? Hey, can you see how many fingers I’m holding up?”

When Ilhwa didn’t respond for a long time, the Medical Hall head tilted her head and waved her fingers in front of Ilhwa’s face.

Just then, Seop Mu-Gwang returned.

“Seriously, people are so annoying. I told you they’d be here somewhere! When did you sneak back in?”

He had gone out looking for the Medical Hall head, only to find her back in the Hall upon his return.

“Why, is it strange for me to be in my own place? As for you, Lord, you’re as grumpy as ever. But you look healthy, which is good.”

“Tch. Stop talking nonsense.”

“Hmm… so our strong Lord doesn’t seem to have any visible ailments. Is it this little kitten that brought you here?”

“Kitten… what…?”

Seop Mu-Gwang’s expression twisted in irritation.

The Medical Hall head swiftly turned her attention back to Ilhwa, crouching down to meet her eye level.

“Where does it hurt, little one?”

“Cut the useless chatter and just check her pulse.”

“Ah, so you don’t even know what’s wrong? Poor thing.”

The Medical Hall head’s eyebrows lowered with feigned pity.

Her slender hand reached out toward Ilhwa.

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