A few days later, the sun hung high above the clearing, burning straight down. No clouds. No wind. Just heat and the sound of Gaon's hammer striking metal.
He worked at his makeshift furnace, sweat dripping from his chin. In front of him, a small clay mold sat on the flat stone. He had melted down some of the gold coins not all, just a portion and was pouring the liquid metal carefully into the mold. Once it cooled, he would have a gold bar. Easier to store. Easier to hide. Easier to trade without someone asking where a guy from the mountains got so many coins.
The rest of the gold remained buried in a clay jar beneath the floor of the hut.
***
Jin-ah crouched low in the tall grass at the edge of the clearing, her curved sword in hand. The blade was clean, polished, wrapped at the grip with fresh cloth. Her eyes tracked a small rabbit nibbling on clover twenty paces ahead.
Quiet, she told herself. Slow. Don't rush.
She took a step. Then another. The rabbit's ears twitched.
She lunged.
The sword swung. Too slow. The rabbit bolted a flash of brown fur and white tail and disappeared into the bushes.
Jin-ah's blade cut nothing but air.
She stood there, breathing hard, the sword still raised. Then she lowered it and let out an annoyed groan through her teeth.
"Stupid rabbit."
She kicked at the grass and walked back toward the clearing, dragging the tip of her sword behind her. Her shadow stretched long on the ground, even in the noon heat. Her cheeks were flushed, and not just from the sun.
Gaon glanced up from his mold but said nothing. He just went back to his work, a small smile hidden behind the rim of his water jar.
He finished the last pour and set the clay mold aside to cool. The gold inside shimmered, soft and yellow, slowly hardening into a solid bar.
Gaon straightened his back and wiped his forehead with his sleeve.
"Phew..."
The wind picked up for a moment, rustling the leaves above. Then it died.
Silence.
***
Up in the branches of a tall oak at the edge of the clearing, a woman crouched low, hidden by the canopy. Her robes were dark blue, neat even after days of travel. A veil of light silk covered the lower half of her face. Her eyes watched the guy below.
Seo Yerin.
She was older now. Twenty-three, maybe twenty-four. Her hair was longer, tied back in a simple knot. The emblem of the Crimson Bamboo Sect still hung from her belt, but she no longer wore the robes of a patrol disciple. Her rank had risen. Her duties had changed.
She had been tracking a group of bandits for three days. The trail led here. To this clearing. To this guy.
Her eyes moved from the gold bar cooling in its mold to the sword leaning against the woodpile to the small figure of a girl practicing in the grass.
The last step of the trail ends here. So this is the one I'm supposed to find?
She studied Gaon's face. Young. Lean. Ordinary.
He has gold. Melted gold. That much gold doesn't come from honest work. He might be the bandit. Or he might be working with them.
She waited. Her breathing slowed. Her body stilled.
The wind stopped.
The clearing fell into complete silence.
Seo Yerin's fingers tightened around her sword grip. She watched Gaon stand there, unaware, his back turned to her tree.
One moment. Just one moment of stillness. Then I move.
Crack!
He was cracking his neck opening side after long work.
NOW! She moved.
Her sword shot toward his neck the blade aimed to stop just short of skin.
Clank! A clank. Metal hitting metal. Her blade skidded sideways as if slapped by an invisible force.
She backed away two steps, eyes wide behind her veil.
Gaon turned around slowly with his hand empty had no weapon. shield. Just his palm, slightly red where he had struck the flat of her blade.
"Oh… Who are you here?"
Seo Yerin's grip tightened on her sword. "That's what I'm supposed to say. How and where did you get that gold?"
Gaon lifted both arms slightly, palms open.
"None of your business."
Seo Yerin stared at him. Her mind raced. She had struck fast faster than most martial artists could react. And he had deflected her blade As if he had known exactly where the sword would be before she even swung.
How?
Gaon kept his body low, knees bent, weight balanced. His eyes did not leave her.
She looks familiar...
But he could not place her. The veil. The years. The darkness of the forest that night. It was just a feeling. Nothing more.
"Put the sword down… Before someone gets hurt."
Seo Yerin did not move. Neither did he.
The wind picked up again, rustling the leaves between them.
Swoosh! She lunged.
The thrust aimed for his stomach.
Then the sword tip hit his stomach.
It did not go in.
The blade pressed against the fabric of his tunic, but beneath the cloth, the muscle was dense—too dense. The tip scraped against his skin but did not break it. It was like stabbing a tree trunk wrapped in leather.
Seo Yerin's eyes widened behind her veil.
What—
Gaon's hand moved. Slowly. Almost lazily. But she could not pull back in time. His fingers closed around her wrist.
She tried to yank free. He held.
Then he pulled her forward, spun her around, and locked his arm around her neck from behind. Her back pressed against his chest. Her sword arm was pinned. Her free hand clawed at his forearm, but the muscle there was just as dense.
"Ack!" She grunted, her breath cut short.
Gaon did not squeeze harder. He just held her there, steady, his voice calm near her ear.
"I said put the sword down."
Her veil had slipped slightly, revealing the edge of her jaw. She stopped struggling.
This guy...
Gaon tightened his arm slightly around her neck. Not enough to crush. Enough to warn.
"Who are you? And who sent you? Tell me before I do something bad to you."
Seo Yerin could not move. Her sword arm was pinned. Her legs were off balance. The guy arm was like iron across her throat.
She closed her eyes and unleashed her qi.
A wave of energy exploded from her body loud, visible, a pulse of blue light that should have sent him flying backward. The leaves on the trees shook. The grass flattened. Jin-ah, still in the clearing, stumbled and covered her face.
But Gaon did not move.
The qi washed over him like water over stone. His grip did not loosen. His breathing did not change.
She's trying to use her energy, he thought. But I'm at ten times scale right now. That's not enough.
Seo Yerin's eyes flew open. Her own qi had never failed her like this. She could feel it pushing against him, but his body absorbed everything she threw. No flinch. No stagger. Nothing.
What is he?
Gaon exhaled slowly. Then he pushed back.
All the external life force he had the power he had been storing, the energy he used to heal and strengthen he released it at once As an aura to pressure that surrounded his body and expanded outward.
Seo Yerin felt it hit her like a mountain falling.
Her qi collapsed. Her lungs emptied. Her vision blurred. A warm, wet sensation dripped from the corner of her mouth.
She tasted copper.
Blood? No...
Foam. White foam, mixed with thin streaks of red, bubbled from her lips. Her body went limp in his hold.
Gaon felt her stop struggling. He loosened his arm slightly and looked down at her face. Her eyes were half-closed. Her breathing was shallow.
"Hey," he said. "Don't pass out yet. I still have questions."
She did not answer. Her head lolled forward.
Gaon reached up and pulled the veil from her face.
The silk slipped away, revealing pale skin, a sharp jaw, and lips stained with foam and blood. Her eyes were still half-closed, consciousness fading.
Then he saw her clearly.
Oh.
You are that girl.
The one from the forest. The patrol disciple who had lifted him with both arms and flown him over Hwagok. Seo Yerin. Older now, but the same sharp eyes. The same short hair tucked behind her ears.
"The one who saved me. When I was a kid."
His arm loosened further. He shifted her weight, keeping her from collapsing entirely.
***
Jin-ah ran back into the clearing, her curved sword still in her hand. She had felt the pulse of energy from the trees—two of them, clashing—and had come running as fast as her small legs could carry her.
She stopped at the edge of the clearing.
Gaon stood in the center, holding an unconscious woman in a dark blue robe. The woman's head hung limp. Her sword lay on the grass a few feet away.
But that was not what made Jin-ah stop.
It was the aura.
Gaon's body was surrounded by something she had never seen before. Not the faint glow of external force he used for healing or strengthening plants. This was different. Dense. Heavy. A pressure that made the air feel thick and her chest feel tight.
His external life force poured out of him like steam from a boiling pot. She could see it. Not clearly, but enough. A shimmering haze that bent the light around his shoulders and arms.
Her eyes widened.
She had known he was strong. She had seen him punch a wolf's head off. She had seen him shatter a carriage and throw bodies into a lake. But this this aura pressing against her skin from twenty paces away was something else entirely.
Jin-ah lowered her sword. Her lips parted.
"Gaon..." she whispered.
He looked up at her. The aura did not fade. His face was calm, but his eyes were tired.
"She's not dead. Just... asleep."
To Be Continued.