‘By the way, what is UR? And what does system activation mean?’
[Ding! The host’s question has been detected. Beginning system explanation.]
[A UR (Ultra Rare) grade card refers to a being possessing immense energy and the potential to influence the very flow of the world.]
[The probability of obtaining a card of this grade is merely one in ten thousand.]
Yunseo’s eyes narrowed.
A UR grade card.
It did not take him long to understand its value.
[The current card is not in a fully unlocked state.]
[Due to the low bond value between the host and the target, only a portion of its abilities and rewards have been activated.]
[As the bond deepens, additional abilities and rewards will be unlocked in sequence.]
As if confirming that all of this was not a dream, the mechanical voice rang out once more.
Yunseo slowly raised his gaze and looked at Wolhwa.
Her rain-soaked hem, the lingering aftereffects of the poison, her face as she endured the pain while steadying her breath.
To think that she was a core UR grade card.
The life-risking treatment from moments ago came back to him.
The heat of skin that had touched for the harmony of yin and yang, the distance so close their breaths had mingled, the body heat and pulse that had entwined until reason grew hazy.
Even though it had been contact for treatment in a perilous situation, it had been a strangely intense moment.
By the system’s standards, that must have clearly counted as “the formation of a deep bond and mutual interest.”
‘Don’t tell me… bonds build up in this kind of way?’
Yunseo muttered inwardly, while outwardly maintaining his composure as though nothing had happened.
A single flow naturally completed itself in his mind.
The secret art of the Yuk clan that he had only been imitating until now.
Why each movement connected the way it did, where he had to put his strength. Now, even without explanation, his body knew first.
“……Your energy has changed.”
Wolhwa spoke in a low voice. She looked at Yunseo and frowned faintly.
Ice Heart Poison was a deadly poison that cut off one’s breath within an hour. Even if one held on to life through the harmony of yin and yang, normally, it should have amounted to no more than prolonging one’s life.
But the current Yunseo was different. His wounds had healed cleanly, and vital energy overflowed throughout his entire body.
It was a recovery that completely defied common sense.
Feeling her gaze, Yunseo quietly opened his mouth. His voice was far steadier than before.
“My condition… has improved greatly. Your Majesty saved my life.”
He deliberately did not bring up that “treatment method.”
But the air between the two of them had already grown strangely taut.
Wolhwa gave a short nod.
Beneath the lowered corners of her eyes as she avoided his gaze, a faint blush spread.
She felt it as well. The heat of the Fire Heart Poison that had been tearing her heart apart until just a moment ago had noticeably subsided.
Then—one thought flashed through Yunseo’s mind.
‘Attribute distribution.’
When he gave the command inwardly, a translucent window appeared before his eyes.
[Martial Force]
[Agility]
[Stamina]
[Internal Energy]
[Strategy]
And beneath them.
[Free Attribute Points: 20]
Yunseo pondered for a moment. Through this incident, he had realized something keenly.
To survive, his body had to endure above all else.
Without hesitation, he invested 10 points into Stamina.
Then 5 into Internal Energy. Since he had just risen to a higher realm, he needed to firmly stabilize his unstable inner power.
He allocated the remaining 5 to Agility. In the world of martial arts, speed overwhelmed all things.
The moment the attribute points were applied, heat surged from deep within his body.
His muscles were tempered firmly, and vitality rose from the depths of his body.
The internal energy gathered in his dantian became incomparably clearer and thicker than before. The growth was palpable.
Yunseo let out a short breath and suppressed his excitement. Now was not the time to be intoxicated by the system.
The danger was not yet over.
“We must leave this place.”
Yunseo stood and loosened his body.
He could vividly feel the power surging through his entire body, down to his fingertips.
He picked up the Yuk clan blade that had fallen to the floor, long like a longsword.
His hand and the blade connected naturally, as though it were a weapon he had carried for ages. It was a sensation as if his bloodline were resonating.
Wolhwa quietly watched his back.
The line of his back was much straighter than before. Just that back alone gave off a sense of stability, as though she could entrust everything to him.
It was a feeling she had experienced for the first time in this chaotic age.
She gritted her teeth and raised herself. She had not fully recovered yet, but her eyes had once again become those of an empress.
“Good.”
Yunseo turned his head and looked at her.
The system, the cards—all of it was merely a means to survive.
And the beginning of it was one thing.
Surviving together with the empress whose beauty was overwhelming enough to shake this nation.
He had to engrave it clearly into her.
At this moment, the only one capable of protecting her life was him.
That dependence was the beginning of all domination.
It was then.
“Bang!”
The door of the ruined temple, already half-collapsed, was violently smashed apart and sent flying inward.
A dozen or so rebels rushed into the temple all at once, brandishing sharpened weapons.
Bloodshot eyes. Twisted faces. Breaths filled with killing intent filled the ruins.
From outside the temple doors, the rough laughter of their leader rang out.
“Brothers, charge! If you capture Gang Wolhwa alive, it’s a thousand taels of gold!”
“Don’t kill her right away. Have your fun with her first, then kill her! We have to avenge the dead, don’t we?”
Yunseo’s gaze sank coldly. He stepped forward and firmly shielded Wolhwa behind his back.
“Kill him!”
The two rebels at the front charged at him simultaneously.
Two sharpened blades swung in from the left and right, tearing through the air.
Those following behind rushed in as one.
At that moment—
Yunseo’s blade flashed.
Fast, precise, and without hesitation.
Swish—!
“Kuaaaagh!”
Blood scattered through the air. Screams filled the ruined temple.
Not even a minute had passed.
Half of the rebels who had surged forward lay collapsed on the floor. The remaining men froze as though they had seen a ghost.
Amid the blood-soaked corpses, Yunseo stood without retreating a single step.
At that brutal and cold-blooded slaughter, the rebels’ charge came to a halt.
Expressions of disbelief appeared on every face.
“Impossible… The spy definitely said it. That bastard was afflicted with Ice Heart Poison and would stop breathing soon…!”
“He can still move? Is he even human? That bastard… he must be possessed by a ghost!”
Looking at the floor where the corpses had not even lost their warmth, someone instinctively took a step back.
Yunseo did not even have the leisure to care about their agitation.
The hand gripping his blade did not tremble. Every flow of the Yuk clan’s secret art was connecting on its own inside his mind.
“Under the blade of the Yuk clan—”
Yunseo spoke in a low voice.
“No one has ever returned alive.”
The tip of his blade slowly rose.
“If any of you still wish to come.”
“Come.”
At that moment.
“Move!”
A shout like a violent explosion shook the temple entrance.
The rebel leader finally revealed himself.
A massive build. A deep sword scar crossing his face. His gaze looked down at Yunseo as if piercing through him.
From outside the door, he had seen everything.
Yunseo’s movements were not those of a man dying from poison.
A sharp aura and abundant strength flowed from him, and every movement was precise.
But he could not retreat now. Before his eyes lay an official post and a thousand taels of gold.
“You cowards!”
The leader roared.
“The spy’s words cannot be wrong. Ice Heart Poison can’t be cured even if an immortal comes. Right now, that bastard is just forcing himself to endure with the internal energy he has left.”
“He is alone, and behind him is a burden poisoned by Fire Heart Poison! He won’t last long! Everyone, attack! Cut him to pieces and drag Gang Wolhwa here alive! It’s a thousand taels of gold!”
A thousand taels of gold.
At that single phrase, the rebels’ eyes changed once more. No matter how strong he looked, they believed a man struck by Ice Heart Poison could not possibly last long.
Fear turned back into cruel killing intent.
More than a dozen men exchanged glances. Some scattered to either side to circle around, while those in front interlocked blades and swords, forming a joint-attack formation.
“Kiiill hiiim!”
Killing intent surged in from every direction.
Behind Yunseo’s back, Wolhwa held her breath.
A dense downpour of blade-light. A single back blocking it all. A lean, young body still bearing traces of wounds.
And yet—
Right now, he looked terrifyingly strong.
As she gazed at his back, she could breathe for a moment as a woman, not as an empress.
Was it the trembling that came after returning from death? Or was it the lingering aftermath of the choice she had made moments ago, staking everything?
Something was surging violently inside Wolhwa’s chest.
She clenched the hem of her robes with both hands.
Then, in a trembling voice only the two of them could hear, she said,
“Yuk Yunseo……”
After steadying her breath for a moment, she gave an order as the emperor.
“We command you. Take us… and break through this place.”
A brief silence.
Then came words that followed almost like a whisper.
“We…… cannot die yet.”