Chapter 187: Adversary (6)

There was no way the rumors carried by sheets of paper plastered across the streets would fail to reach Mount Hua.

Most of the third-generation disciples were away on their Roaming Pillar Journeys, while the second- and first-generation disciples rarely came outside unless they had reason to, and yet...

The story passed from mouth to mouth among the servants and Branch Family disciples within Mount Hua.

And eventually, it reached Soyak as well.

At the time, Soyak was on her way to Eunsong’s residence with a brand-new book in hand, its pages still smooth and pristine.

It was the Harmonization Scripture, neatly copied out in her precise handwriting.

In the distance, she spotted Eunsong standing all the way out by the entrance to the courtyard wall.

“...Master?”

Soyak blinked and quickened her pace.

A thread of internal energy gathered at her toes, making her already light body lighter still.

With a single step, the scenery around her stretched into long streaks as the distance seemed to collapse.

Passing through that familiar sensation, Soyak came to a stop in front of Eunsong.

“...Why are you standing out here?”

“Can a master not come out to welcome his disciple?”

“That isn’t what I meant...”

“I mean exactly what I said. I came out to meet you.”

The courtyard was so small that it barely took more than a few steps to cross.

But Soyak swallowed the comment instead of saying it aloud.

Then she held out the manual she had brought.

“I finished copying it. This is the Harmonization Scripture.”

Eunsong accepted it with a somewhat awkward expression.

Originally, the Harmonization Scripture and Falling Plum Elegy had both belonged to Mount Hua.

The same was true of the Falling Blossom Tranquil Edge that Soyak now carried.

But they had belonged to the Flower-Halo Sect for a very long time.

A very long time indeed.

And because of that, Eunsong could not entirely shake the faint sense of guilt that he was peeking into someone else’s family-transmitted heart method.

“...Are you truly sure it’s all right for me to read this?”

“You’re saying something strange, Master.”

Soyak, however, did not seem to share his concern at all.

She merely tilted her head as though wondering what was strange about it and continued holding out the book containing the manual.

Eunsong gave a quiet laugh and took it from her.

“All right. Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me. All of it originally came from Mount Hua anyway.”

“I... suppose that’s true.”

Eunsong remembered the first time he had met Soyak.

A little girl with internal energy comparable to an Apex master, despite having gone well over a year without even holding a sword.

A child who had received her father’s internal energy through cross-body power transfer but could not yet fully refine or use it.

The child who had asked him about the preface to Falling Plum Elegy.

Flowers must fall.

That was the way of the world. Its natural order.

Everyone sought eternity, and yet...

Eternity and immortality were things that should not exist.

Life was beautiful because death existed.

Youth had value because old age existed.

The founding ancestor who created this martial art must have understood that better than anyone.

Back in an age before the Mount Hua Sect even existed.

Myths and legends always belonged to the distant past.

Ancient insights were gradually lost, and the overall level of the martial world slowly declined.

Someone like Gu Hui would never appear again.

Nor would there ever be another physician like Hua Tuo.

There might be others who approached their level.

But never the same.

It had been an age when even the distinction between the righteous and unorthodox factions was blurred.

Perhaps even the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had not existed yet, or had only just begun.

Knowledge of manuals and martial arts would have been even harder to obtain than it was now.

There would have been fewer people proclaiming righteousness and chivalry.

...It must have been an age when everyone dreamed of eternal life and immortality.

The Harmonization Scripture was almost like a safeguard left behind for descendants who might repeat the same mistakes.

There would inevitably be those blinded by the dazzling brilliance of ancient glory.

“Soyak. Have you heard?”

“Heard what?”

And one of those who dreamed of eternity and immortality was the current number one martial artist under heaven—and the head of the number one household under heaven.

The Sword Sovereign of the Namgung Household.

After several years, the name of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering that he had once again raised high was appearing on notices throughout the marketplaces.

“The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering will be held soon.”

“...I see.”

“They say the Namgung heir has also emerged from closed-door training.”

Soyak, who had seemed uninterested until then, raised an eyebrow at those words.

He was unquestionably a genius.

Had she not existed, he would probably have been the most dazzling name among all the young talents of their generation.

“Among Mount Hua’s third-generation disciples... only Eldest Brother Cheonjeong and I are here right now, aren’t we?”

“Yes. The others have all left on their Roaming Pillar Journeys.”

“Couldn’t some of the other fellow disciples participate?”

“That does not give you a reason not to go, does it?”

Soyak glanced sidelong at Eunsong.

At the gentle smile her master was giving her.

Once, Eun Jeong—Eunsong’s junior brother and Soyak’s Master—had claimed victory at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering himself.

There was a trace of anticipation in Eunsong’s eyes.

“...All right. I’ll go.”

“If you truly don’t want to, you don’t have to—”

“I made a promise.”

“...What promise? More importantly, with whom?”

Soyak remembered the Ilji Gathering.

The friendly spar she had fought against Namgung Seon.

And at the very end, his vow that the next time they met, he would defeat her without fail.

“With Namgung Seon.”

“...Oh?”

“I believe he said that next time, he would definitely defeat me and knock me down a peg.”

Soyak admitted it frankly with a small laugh.

Eunsong could not suppress his own laughter.

Then he gazed off into the distance, toward the direction of the Namgung Household.

“It seems the Namgung heir will be unable to keep his promise. They say a man’s word is worth a thousand pieces of gold.”

“Well, you never know.”

“...Do you truly believe that?”

“I was trying to be modest.”

Soyak answered with a bright little smile.

Eunsong’s eyes widened, and he blinked.

Only moments ago, he had been thinking about the Soyak he had first met.

Compared to then, the girl before him now somehow felt...

Quite different.

“You’ve become rather... relaxed.”

“...Have I?”

When had it started?

There had been times when Soyak felt that something about herself was wrong.

Cutting people down and seeing blood did not bother her in the slightest.

Even knowing that she was the Heavenly Killing Star...

There were moments when she looked up at the sky and wondered whether power like hers truly belonged in the hands of someone as damaged as she was.

But the stars remained silent.

The heavens told her nothing.

She had thought killing her enemy might change something.

It had not.

Would it be the same when she cut down the Sword Sovereign?

Would she kill him without feeling anything, simply because she could?

Because she had to?

Soyak let out a faint sigh.

“Master... suppose—just suppose...”

“Yes?”

“After I kill the Sword Sovereign, what do you think will happen if I still can’t put down my sword?”

Eunsong silently studied the girl looking up at him.

Soyak’s eyes were no longer the bottomless abyss they had once been, swallowing every trace of light.

Something glittered within them now.

Of course, he knew that the light itself was hardly something an ordinary human being ought to possess.

“Does that worry you?”

“...Yes.”

“Why did you start worrying about that?”

“Because... not once in my entire life have I ever thought about what comes after.”

How to put down the sword.

No one had ever taught Soyak that.

Not Jeonggang.

Not Eunsong.

Eunsong quietly gripped the sword at his waist.

Then he spoke in a low voice.

“...Why must you put it down at all?”

“Master. The path ahead of us—the path ahead of me—is one of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. You know the nature I was born with.”

The Heavenly Killing Star called for blood.

The Heavenly Killing Star became drunk on blood.

Soyak knew that better than anyone.

The thick scent of blood, the heavy stench of death, the killing intent—

They were part of her very foundation.

That sense of omnipotence she felt standing in the middle of a battlefield saturated with blood and killing intent...

It was like opium.

A dizzying sensation so intoxicating that if she let go of herself for even the briefest moment, she could lose herself in it completely.

“Soyak.”

“Yes.”

“When you kill someone, do you feel nothing? Do places filled with killing intent and the scent of blood exhilarate you?”

“...Yes.”

Eunsong tucked the Harmonization Scripture into his robes.

Then he lightly tapped the Plum Blossom Sword hanging at his left hip.

“All martial artists are like that.”

“...You too, Master?”

“Yes. How could someone spend their life holding a sword if the sight of blood made them vomit and corpses gave them nightmares? The degree may differ from person to person, but swordsmanship is, at its core, an art of killing. There is no denying that.”

Listening to him, Cheon Soyak slowly nodded.

He was right.

A sword was a thing made entirely for killing people.

“If you find yourself unable to restrain your urge to kill... then go looking for people who deserve to become its victims.”

“...What do you mean?”

“There are plenty of people in this world who deserve to die. You cannot change the nature you were born with, can you? In that case, you should think about how to satisfy it in the least wrongful way possible.”

“...That doesn’t sound too bad.”

Soyak let her head droop.

Eunsong patted her gently on the back.

Then he added one last thing.

“Even so, this master of yours doesn’t think you’re going to lose.”