Chapter 183: Adversary (2)

She had spent less than half a year there, yet Flower-Haze Hall felt like an old home.

Soyak stepped inside. Most of the third-generation disciples had already left on their Roaming Pillar Journeys, leaving the hall somewhat deserted.

Her room was completely empty.

Even Cheonhwa was gone, so there had been no one to use it.

“So everyone really did leave on their Roaming Pillar Journeys.”

“I told you they did.”

Soyak slowly looked around.

Cheonhwa must have been gone for some time as well, because dust had gathered here and there.

Apparently, no one had been maintaining the place properly.

That was only natural.

Flower-Haze Hall was the third-generation disciples’ residence.

Keeping it swept and clean was part of the responsibility of the disciples who lived there.

Cheonjeong stood outside the threshold, quietly watching her.

“Cover your mouth and nose with your sleeve for a moment, Eldest Brother.”

“...Why all of a sudden?”

“I’m going to clean. I can’t sleep in a room like this.”

Martial uniforms naturally had fairly wide sleeves.

They were simply tied around the wrists with cords.

Soyak slowly untied the cords holding hers in place.

Once they were loose, the sleeves fluttered whenever she flicked her wrists.

Soyak spread both arms wide and slowly traced a path through the air.

It was the path of the Ninefold Heaven Plum Sword.

Each time her fingertips followed the sword path, the air moved according to her will.

Standing at the center of it all, Soyak looked almost as though she were standing in the eye of a storm.

Wind flowed gently along her fingertips and toes, carried by internal energy.

Whenever she swept sharply through the air, the wind surged harder with her.

The room had already been cleared of belongings, so there was nothing that such a wind could send flying.

Nothing but dust.

Soyak lifted every speck of it into the air, gathered it together, and drove it straight out through the open wooden shutters.

Cheonjeong, having just witnessed a “Transformation Realm method of cleaning,” could only blink.

“...That is extremely convenient.”

“It’s rather delicate work, but surely it beats sweeping and wiping everything by hand.”

Soyak shrugged, then opened the tightly shut wall cabinet and pulled out her bedding.

Perhaps the cabinet had been especially well made, because not a single speck of dust had settled inside.

And apparently Cheonhwa had occasionally washed Soyak’s bedding along with her own, because it did not smell musty either.

Soyak slowly dragged the bedding into the middle of the room...

spread out the quilt and mattress...

then flopped down across them with her entire body stretched wide.

It was enough to leave Cheonjeong bewildered.

“...Soyak?”

“I spent three years in a cave without seeing a single ray of sunlight. Lying here in the sun feels wonderful.”

“...I see.”

Sunlight streamed through the wide-open shutters.

Soyak had lain down squarely in the middle of it.

She enjoyed the comfort for only a short while before sitting up neatly again.

“So, Eldest Brother... have you been well?”

“I’ve been fine. I already went on a Roaming Pillar Journey with you, so I didn’t have to go again this time.”

Cheonjeong sat down with his back against the hallway wall.

They could see each other only through Soyak’s open doorway.

“Why are you being so formal, Eldest Brother? Come inside.”

“...Aren’t we both old enough that I should stop entering your room without permission?”

“I just gave you permission.”

“All right, all right.”

Cheonjeong chuckled and stepped inside.

There was almost nothing in the room beyond the most basic bedding.

Cheonhwa had been gone for some time as well, so even the lingering warmth of human habitation had vanished.

“Now that your closed-door training is over, what are you planning to do?”

“To be honest, if I hadn’t heard someone calling for me, I might not have come out at all.”

“...You mean you’re going back in?”

“No. There’s nothing more for me to gain through austerity.”

Soyak slowly rose.

Then she perched on the windowsill.

Her small bare feet swung lightly outside.

Cheonjeong was not worried that she might fall.

Soyak was a Transformation Realm master.

And just moments ago, she had defeated Flame-Saber Lord Ak Jupae with her own hands.

A fall from here was hardly going to kill her.

...Not that she would fall in the first place.

“But you won’t gain much from sparring with anyone here either, will you?”

“Probably not. But it would be the same even if I left Mount Hua and wandered around searching for stronger opponents.”

“...Then what do you intend to do now?”

Soyak quietly turned to look at him.

Cheonjeong realized that her eyes no longer seemed like nothing more than bottomless black abysses.

There was unmistakably a light within them now.

The light of someone who had found her path.

“Something will happen soon.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. The Demonic Cult has lost Ak Jupae. Word that I killed him will spread through the martial world. Someone will react. The Demonic Cult, the Shandong Ak Family, the Zhuge Household, the Namgung Household...”

Fortunately, Cheonjeong was quick-witted.

Those few almost cryptic sentences were enough for him to understand the situation unfolding around them.

“...I suppose they will.”

“They will.”

Everyone would want to know whether the story was true.

Because the feat was simply too unbelievable.

Even if Mount Hua’s Sect Leader issued an official proclamation declaring that Soyak had killed Ak Jupae, few people would accept it at face value.

They would want to see for themselves.

And if they wanted to see what she could truly do, then sooner or later someone would have to provide a stage.

The Shandong Ak Family was unlikely to press too hard.

They already owed Soyak too much.

This incident was no exception.

Flame-Saber Lord Ak Jupae had become a stain on the Ak Family.

He had been their only Transformation Realm master, yet he had defected to the Demonic Cult.

Of course, there had also been his daughter, who had become a Demonic Beast and been killed by Soyak...

but for the sake of the Ak Family’s honor, no one spoke of that.

The Zhuge Household was much the same.

They were bound to Soyak through the powerful connection of the Reverse Heaven Society.

Soyak had no reason whatsoever to lie to them.

And by now, Eunsong had probably already sent a carrier pigeon to the Zhuge Household containing a detailed account of everything that had happened.

That left only two powers likely to doubt the incident.

The Demonic Cult and the Namgung Household.

Two enormous forces standing at opposite ends of the world.

“...They’re going to hold the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, Eldest Brother.”

“How do you know that?”

“The Namgung Household will want to verify the truth behind these rumors. And even if they didn’t, isn’t it about time for one?”

Soyak was right.

The time was approaching.

The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was not held every year, but several years had already passed since the last one.

And her reasoning about the Namgung Household was equally sound.

The Namgung Household was Sword Sovereign Namgung Ak’s family, the number one sword family under heaven.

And Namgung Seon was the greatest genius acknowledged by the Sword Sovereign himself.

Yet that same Namgung Seon had lost to Soyak at the Ilji Gathering.

It had not been a narrow defeat after a bitter struggle.

He had been utterly crushed by an overwhelming difference in skill.

From Mount Hua’s perspective, that had brought enormous short-term benefits.

Many of those who witnessed the Ilji Gathering had marked Soyak as one of the young dragons and phoenixes who would represent the next generation.

Naturally, merchants began approaching Mount Hua with favorable terms, hoping to establish connections with the sect.

But would it remain an advantage in the long term?

Mount Hua had certainly drawn the Namgung Household’s attention.

And not entirely in a favorable way.

They could hardly openly resent a genius from another righteous faction for displaying talent beyond ordinary comprehension.

But the Sword Sovereign’s pride had undoubtedly been wounded.

And...

so had Namgung Seon’s.

The coming Dragon-Phoenix Gathering would be the final stage on which Namgung Seon’s talent and ability would be judged.

At the very least, the two of them needed to be able to fight evenly.

If they could not...

if Namgung Seon suffered another one-sided defeat, revealing the same hopeless gulf between them as at the Ilji Gathering...

then the Namgung Household would eventually try to bring Soyak down by less honorable means.

...Even if doing so meant undermining Mount Hua itself.

But Cheonjeong was not especially afraid of whatever move the Namgung Household might make.

There was something else that concerned him more.

“...Won’t the Demonic Cult come seeking revenge?”

“Ak... Jupae could hardly have formed many close friendships inside the Demonic Cult, could he?”

She had probably started to address him respectfully as she once had, only to correct herself.

He was a traitor to the righteous martial world.

A public enemy.

He had attacked Mount Hua.

He had even tried to kill her junior sister.

There was no respectful form of address left for him.

“They won’t come.”

“Why not?”

“Because if they do, they’ll die.”

The Little Heavenly Demon had yet to gather all of his “pieces.”

The Heavenly Demon had yet to act.

Unless it was one of those two, any great demonic fiend they sent would be no more than an early-stage Transformation Realm master, or someone who had barely moved beyond that point.

And this was Mount Hua.

Soyak’s home ground, surrounded by people who would fight beside her.

No one would come unless they wanted to die.

Unless they wanted to die.