9th Round.
Xei decided not to become the Holy Maiden.
The lesson from the 8th round was carved deep into her bones. Knowledge of the future alone could not solve every problem. This remained true even when she held the title of Holy Maiden and the Holy Imperial Court poured all 'destiny' her way.
The world does not flow as one intends. This holds true even with immense power and authority. Instead of stepping forward rashly, Xei decided to assist the Holy Imperial Court's plans this time. For they would choose a different path than Xei.
"I need to go tell them about the future as soon as possible."
However.
Before that, Xei's feet turned toward the Maiden Palace as if drawn by a spell.
Ever since the previous Maiden Palace Lord committed suicide in shame, the Maiden Palace had been half-ruined. The Sword Empress, who had taken up the mantle of Maiden Palace Lord, kept not a single disciple and neglected the palace's management entirely.
The Ecliptic Twelve Palaces were constellations whose independent operations were recognized even by the Empire. If the Sword Empress wished to abandon it, the Empire would respect that will. And so, right in the midst of the constellations, the Maiden Palace slumbered, its former brilliance hidden beneath the dust.
Just like before, Xei headed for the Maiden Palace with a hefty donation in hand. Though the Maiden Palace had no immediate use for the money, it was useful enough to keep the guard details from mistaking her for a thief.
The only problem was that the Sword Empress was away.
"Ah. I came rushing in without even figuring out her whereabouts."
Left all alone in the empty Maiden Palace, Xei hesitated for a moment. Staying here alone was a waste of time, but leaving felt like a waste of the trip.
"Besides, having resolved to receive her teachings, I need to find out when she'll return."
They said the Sword Empress was wandering the world, performing acts of chivalry. Since she didn't bother hiding her identity, she could be found if one looked hard enough. With enough intelligence and wealth—like the Holy Imperial Court possessed—finding the Sword Empress would be instantaneous.
However, in the previous round, Xei had approached her as the Holy Maiden and was rejected. She didn't want a repeat of that.
Thus, Xei decided to wait by practicing qigong alone in the Maiden Palace.
Training alone would hardly be of any help. Her qigong was still trash, and she merely swiped at the air with crude, formless combat skills. Xei quickly became a laughingstock.
In the Empire, qigong practitioners were called Stars. Stars sparred against one another, established meritorious deeds, and revealed themselves before the masses; the popularity they gained translated directly into wealth and power. People were captivated by a qigong practitioner's background, achievements, power, and their narrative.
A young qigong practitioner visiting an abandoned palace to train all alone. Drawn by that overflowing romantic narrative, people flocked to her like clouds. Wondering if such foolish romance still existed in the world.
And then, they all left with sneers.
Her realm was low. She had no talent. It was crude and trashy. The qigong Xei displayed possessed no forms, no mystique, no wondrous aspects—only the crude utility of a mercenary.
The dazzling pinnacle that the Empire pursued was nowhere to be found.
The citizens of the Empire had discerning eyes, and they mocked Xei in their own respective ways. Xei felt ashamed and annoyed, but there was nothing she could really do—other than scream at them to screw off if they weren't going to teach her.
Still, for all her faults, as a regressor and a qigong practitioner, she could thoroughly beat down common thugs, but anything beyond that was too much for Xei.
"Keukh...!"
"Tsk tsk. What a sorry state. Your constitution is trifling, and you're full of bad habits. Yet your qi is so vigorous; you must have scavenged some spiritual elixir somewhere. Looks like you struck it rich."
One of the men beside him whispered.
"I heard she purchased Demonic Pills for a fortune and consumed eighty-one of them."
"Haha. Born under a lucky star. No wonder she has so much money."
Not even a Star, nor a disciple of one. They were Fallen Stars—those expelled for their vile character.
Even against such people, Xei suffered an ugly defeat and collapsed. Even after eight regressions and consuming elixirs, she was no match for those who had trained in orthodox qigong. If she had Cheon-ang, she might have been able to hold her ground, but that wasn't Xei's power. It was Cheon-ang's power.
"You think someone like you can receive the Sword Empress's teachings? Do you think the Ecliptic Twelve Palaces are a joke?"
Xei was grabbed by the hair and lifted into the air. The Fallen Star spoke with greedy eyes.
"Offer that money to me, and I shall bestow my teachings upon you. For someone of your station, that will be more than enough."
"Screw..."
"What? Stop crying and speak properly."
Xei clenched her teeth and replied.
"Screw off, you retard... You're not worthy."
Defiance? Of course Xei was overflowing with it. But the words she just spoke were pure, unadulterated truth.
If it was power she needed, she could borrow it. However, there was no way a Fallen Star who had sneaked in just to rob her of her money possessed such power. She didn't need them at all.
It wasn't about her defeat, nor her defiance. It was contempt.
To be treated with such contempt by a mere Xei made the Fallen Stars tremble with an inexplicable sense of outrage. They were already those who had been cast out of the constellations for being useless. Unintentionally, Xei had stepped on their reverse scale. Perhaps, in a way, that too was a talent.
"A defeated insect runs its mouth. I shall grant you your first and final lesson. Never wag your tongue so carelessly at someone stronger than you!"
The enraged Fallen Star seized Xei's face, intent on ripping out her tongue. The crushing pain in her bones forced Xei's mouth open. The Fallen Star attempted to plunge his qigong-infused hand inside and tear her tongue out.
"In my palace."
With five short, successive shocks, the Fallen Star's grip went slack. Then, a continuous flurry of strikes forced his hand open and snapped his arm.
"Ugh?! Who—"
The moment he tried to raise his arms to take a stance, he was suppressed. Both of his arms were effortlessly flicked aside. Despite the shock, his reflexes managed to catch on; he tried to pull his arms back, his legs and ribs shifting. At that very moment, strikes chained into his flank and legs. His body began to crumble. He struggled to right himself, but his intentions were thwarted time and time again.
Cheonbangyeong. Speechless, Xei watched the dazzling display of that peerless qigong.
"I will be the one to teach you."
"G—"
Before he could even move his tongue to speak, a hand blade struck his throat. The Fallen Star was launched into the air by the impact, denied even the chance to speak.
His body floated in the air, unable to descend. Mid-air recovery and stance-taking were simple feats for a qigong practitioner, yet the Sword Empress was weaving strikes into the microscopic gaps between those very reflexes.
If the world's flow was a song following a certain rhythm, the Sword Empress seemed to split that very rhythm into eight, acting within each fraction. It was an overwhelming, one-sided devastation.
During this process, a shift occurred within the Fallen Star's body.
Humans are, at their core, beasts. And beasts possess the most fundamental instinct to avoid pain. Until now, every time he tried to take action, he was struck faster than a flash. His body remembered that agony and sought to evade it.
If he acts, he is hit. Then, he simply must not act. Having learned this, the strength and qi gradually drained from the Fallen Star's body. Even as he was struck, even as he fell, he did not move.
Like a dog beaten by a ruthless master, the Fallen Star had learned helplessness.
Cheonbangyeong. Gingoa.
His flesh was his own prison. As long as his body and mind remembered that helplessness, he could not move. It was a brutal and cruel, yet strangely gentle subjugation technique that left no external wounds. The only thing broken was his will.
The Fallen Star, who had so one-sidedly devastated Xei, was nothing more than a toy to the Sword Empress. Having imparted a harrowing dose of pain and a lesson upon the Fallen Star, the Sword Empress turned her apathetic gaze toward Xei.
"...You? Why are you here?"
How many rounds has it been now? Even after encountering her like a twist of fate, two deaths had already passed. Only after all that could they meet again like this. Though she didn't know if things would turn out like they did back then, Xei had no one else to rely on but the Sword Empress.
"We have met before. You probably don't remember, but..."
It wasn't that she didn't remember; the fact itself had been erased. Insisting on it would be useless. Even so, Xei spoke from the bottom of her heart.
"But back then, you told me clearly. That I could become your disciple. That if only you had the time, you might have taught me. I heard those words, believed them, and died twice... no, I survived the brink of death to reach this point. Perhaps you just said it in passing, but it's the only hope I have left."
The Sword Empress wore a puzzled expression. Naturally. No matter how she thought about it, she had never seen Xei before.
However, Xei's reaction appeared genuine, and for Xei, it was the undeniable truth.
"Please teach me."
Xei bowed her head to the ground, begging to become her disciple. She felt the coldness of the earth against her forehead for but a moment before the Sword Empress's voice reached her ears.
"Stand up."
What greeted Xei as she immediately rose to her feet was not a warm welcome or polite pleasantries, but the Sword Empress's fist.
"Block this."
Without a single word, the Sword Empress abruptly threw a punch. Xei felt her hair stand on end.
The Sword Empress's fist shot out along the shortest possible path. Fast. Powerful. But if that were all, even Xei could have reacted.
The problem was what came after. The successive movements of the Cheonbangyeong, which reacted even to her 'reactions'. A transcendent reaction speed at the extreme that even the Ecliptic Twelve Palaces would struggle to overcome.
There was no way someone like Xei could block it.
However, Xei had already blocked this once before.
The 7th round. Before confronting the King of Sins, the Sword Empress leading the death squad had shown this move exactly once. Back then, Xei had reached out to block, only for the Sword Empress to wrap around her arm and hurl her away.
'What did I do back then? I must have done something.'
Such thoughts came later. At that moment, before her thoughts could even take the form of words, they must have swirled in a primal state. It was an amalgamation of pure instinct, impossible to comprehend or explain.
Xei moved exactly as that instinct dictated.
The body remembers. That shockingly swift attack. The bewilderment she felt when the arm she raised to block coiled around hers like a snake. The weightless sensation of her center of gravity being completely overturned and sent crashing down.
Through a split-second flash of brilliance forged before logic, language, description, or form could take shape, Xei resisted the force trying to hurl her, her knees bent.
"...!"
Naturally, it only lasted a moment. The Sword Empress spun her body once and reversed the momentum, pushing her back. Xei, who had been resisting with her foot planted as a pivot, faltered as her stance crumbled. In that fleeting instant, a short, concise kick forced Xei to her knees.
"Ugh!"
The Sword Empress pressed down on Xei's shoulder—firmly, yet without brutality—as she tried to stay upright despite her stagger. Xei was driven face-first into the dirt.
The Sword Empress slowly stood up, then settled into a formal seat before Xei. It was a posture so impeccably upright and flawless that no qigong practitioner could find a single fault in it.
Accepting a bow that was half willing, half forced, the Sword Empress declared with the utmost solemnity.
"From this day forth. And for all the days to come."
A startled Xei raised her head to look before her. There sat a young maiden who looked to be only a few years older than herself. Her youthful appearance felt somewhat at odds with the moment, but the Sword Empress tried her best to maintain the gravitas as she spoke.
"You are my disciple."