Chapter 118
Until the envoy from Mount Hua arrived, Seolhwa spent every day training under Seop Mugwang from morning to night.
Knowing that she would soon depart for Mount Hua, he raised the intensity of their training.
Each day began the same way: running up to the training ground halfway up Mount Huang, weighted down with shackles and without using light footwork. What began with stepping over scattered pebbles evolved into traversing the entire mountain range with footwork alone.
Shshk—shshk—
As she ran toward the destination through a forest thick with undergrowth and towering trees, Seop Mugwang’s sword would strike like a sudden bolt of lightning.
Kaang! Kakang! Kaang!
Seolhwa used only the Sword of Wind and Thunder to counter his attacks.
Sometimes his blade shot out from the brush, sometimes from the treetops, and other times from beneath her feet.
Tap—tatap! Tap!
In those fleeting moments, any surface that could bear her weight became a platform. Her movement technique—Thunder Shadow Step—relied on placing just the right force on whatever footing was available, allowing her to dodge even sudden ambushes with fluid precision.
Shwaa—
“Haa... Haaah... Haa...”