Chapter 165: The End of Childhood (24)

Sleep would not come easily.

Perhaps it was because the next day marked the beginning of her closed-door training.

As always, Soyak had left the wooden shutters open and was gazing up at the night sky.

The only difference from usual was...

She was perched precariously on the windowsill.

Ordinarily, someone would have scolded her for doing something so dangerous.

But tonight, everyone held their tongue.

They all knew that after tomorrow, they would not see her face for at least three years.

Soyak’s departure for closed-door training had become quite the topic of conversation throughout Flower-Haze Hall.

Fourteen years old.

Even among the third-generation disciples, she was one of the youngest.

There were a few others her age, but none younger than her.

Yet this youngest junior sister had not only completed her Roaming Pillar Journey safely and returned with considerable achievements...

She was now entering closed-door training.

Even searching through Mount Hua’s long history, there were few cases of anyone choosing such a retreat—and being granted permission—at so young an age.

Soyak lightly swung her feet.

Her small, pale feet cut through the cold night air.

The cool breeze slowly tickled her toes.

“...At least three years.”

She looked up at the sky.

For three years, she would not see it.

Nor would she feel this cool night air.

Of course, the training cave had been designed with flawless ventilation.

But still...

She would not be able to gaze upon the black silk of the heavens, studded with endless stars, while enjoying the cool wind from such a height.

That was why Soyak was doing something she normally never would.

Then she spotted someone below, waving up at her.

It was Cheonjeong.

As she silently looked down at him, an inexplicable sense of peace settled over her.

For the sake of his junior sister, he had taken a blade in her place.

He had always remained by her side.

Cheonjeong always said that was simply the duty of the Eldest Brother.

The greatest of the brothers, the one who embraced every junior brother and sister beneath him.

But Soyak knew how few people truly fulfilled their duties and upheld what was right.

She quietly jumped down.

Not even the faintest sound came when the tips of her feet touched the ground.

Such was the exquisite Lightness Arts of a martial artist standing at the very edge of Transcendent Apex.

“Impressive. You did not make a sound.”

“...It is only because I am small and light.”

Unaccustomed to praise, she offered an awkward excuse.

Cheonjeong gave a faint laugh and shrugged.

“You were watching the stars rather differently tonight.”

“I regret that I will not feel this cool night breeze for at least three years.”

“Yes. I suppose you would. Yet you chose this despite that.”

“...Yes. I chose it despite that.”

Cheonjeong slowly nodded.

Soyak drew a deep breath, then let it out again.

She felt the cold air fill her lungs before flowing back out.

“...Do you think you can emerge in the Transformation Realm?”

“The Transformation Realm...”

Soyak could not answer immediately.

She understood just how heavy those two words were.

Precisely because she stood at the edge of Transcendent Apex, she knew how high and treacherous the wall of the Transformation Realm truly was.

“...I must.”

“You sound less confident than usual.”

“Anyone would feel the same before the wall of the Transformation Realm.”

Cheonjeong’s question had been teasing, and Soyak answered with a playful smile of her own.

Cheonjeong studied her quietly.

Then he sighed.

“Are you worried about me too, Eldest Brother?”

“How could I not be?”

“Have you not worried enough already?”

“Does worry lessen merely because one has worried before?”

Soyak smiled again at his answer.

Then she let her shoulders sag and looked up at the sky.

“It has been both a long time and a short one.”

“...Since you came to Mount Hua?”

“Yes. It has been about three months now.”

Looking back on everything that had happened during those three months made her dizzy.

Even if ten years from an ordinary martial artist’s life were compressed into a single span, it likely would not have been as eventful.

Yet that was also why they had grown so close in only three months.

“...I will reach the Transformation Realm.”

“You sound confident now. That is more like—”

“—And I will reach the realm beyond it as well.”

“...Good heavens.”

There was neither wish nor hope in her tone.

Nor was there conceit or arrogance.

It was the obligation of vengeance, bound tightly around Soyak’s slender limbs and refusing to release her.

The burden she had resolved to carry for the rest of her life.

Fate. A life’s great vow. A lifelong enemy.

It was a resolve words could not explain.

Cheonjeong realized that no starlight was reflected in the black eyes gazing up at the night sky.

Those boundless, unrestrained eyes, like an empty abyss, reflected nothing at all.

As though they meant to swallow everything and keep it within.

No light could glitter before those eyes without being devoured.

The Heavenly Killing Star, born beneath the fate of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The natural enemy of Demonic Energy, who consumed killing intent directed at her and turned it into strength, then gathered the death destined to come into her sword and swung it.

And the girl chosen by the black snake whose source lay in the measureless, unfettered abyss between the stars.

For a moment, Soyak recalled the name the black snake had told her.

She could... speak it.

But instinctively, she knew.

He was a being who must never be called.

Even if his name were uttered in the smallest, faintest voice, barely more than a whisper...

“What has you thinking so deeply?”

Cheonjeong’s voice shattered her thoughts.

As it always did.

Realizing that she had gone blank for a moment, Soyak shrugged.

“I was merely looking back on everything that has happened.”

“Does that include the time I took a blade for you?”

“Of course it does.”

“That is a relief. I was beginning to think you had forgotten.”

Soyak’s eyes widened as she looked up at him.

Yet Cheonjeong did not seem remotely flustered by her stare.

It was as though he had expected precisely that reaction.

“...How could I possibly forget?”

“Then, as repayment for that gratitude, would you grant me one request?”

“You need not hold such a thing over me. I would grant it regardless.”

Cheonjeong smiled faintly.

Then...

He slowly drew the Plum Blossom Sword from his waist.

The clear ring of the blade sliding against the metal at the mouth of the scabbard echoed through the night.

Shrrring—

Cheonjeong stared at the sword he had drawn as though entranced.

Every star in the night sky reflected from its beautiful brilliance.

The blade, polished and maintained with painstaking care, shone with a luster worthy of that effort.

Almost like...

Sword Light, the mark of an Apex master that he could never produce.

“...Before you enter, spar with me.”

“...What?”

“I am well aware of how overwhelming your strength is, but I believe it would be of great help to me.”

It was not an unreasonable idea.

Merely exchanging moves with an absolute master could offer a tremendous lesson.

Soyak blinked up at Cheonjeong, then slowly nodded.

“...Eldest Brother.”

“Speak.”

“Can you reach the Apex Realm?”

He was seeking enlightenment.

From none other than his own junior sister.

If only because of everything he had done for her, Soyak felt obligated to answer his request.

...At least, that was how Soyak saw it.

At her question, Cheonjeong burst into laughter.

It was a hearty sound, loud enough to wake every sleeping disciple.

Then, with his sword hanging loosely at his side, he looked down at Soyak.

“I will.”

That, too, was neither conceit nor arrogance.

Nor was it a declaration.

It was a promise.

At his answer, Soyak drew Falling Blossom Tranquil Edge from her waist.

The blade was slender, long, and pitch-black.

Yet it gleamed brilliantly, carrying a five-colored radiance.

Like Cheonjeong, Soyak stared at her sword as though entranced.

It was her household’s sacred relic, the sword she had clutched even amid the flames.

After Mount Hua bestowed it upon her, no one had been able to draw it, giving rise to strange rumors.

Yet here she stood, openly wielding it as her cherished sword.

Soyak’s gaze moved from the gleaming tip of the blade to Cheonjeong.

A chill ran down his spine beneath those black eyes that reflected nothing.

That was a monster beyond genius, something outside the bounds of ordinary humanity.

“I will not use Sword Light or Sword Qi. Otherwise, this spar would hold no meaning.”

“Thank you.”

“...You must gather what you learn and reach the Apex Realm, Eldest Brother.”

Soyak murmured the words quietly, but Cheonjeong only smiled.

Her heart was not at ease.

Enlightenment could arrive in a single instant, or accumulate over an eternity.

But the enlightenment most martial artists received in the martial world came in a single moment.

The kind described in martial teachings as enlightenment gained through the severing of a finger.

And to attain it...

One needed a shock truly comparable to having a finger cut away.

She had no desire to crush and break her Eldest Brother completely...

But if it was for his sake—

“Come, Soyak.”

Before Soyak entered the ordeal of closed-door training,

he willingly sought instruction from a junior sister younger and lower in rank than himself.