Beyond Recognition

"…Who might you be?"

In the clinic, Physician Haseo — the man with the goat beard — looked thoroughly bewildered even after our eyes met.

"It's been a long time," I said, offering a martial salute. "Physician Haseo."

"I've been cooped up in this clinic, so someone of your bearing and presence isn't exactly someone I'd…"

Haseo blinked. Then blinked again.

"It can't be. That clueless kid who got stabbed by the traveling merchants and was rescued by Eun Seollyeong?"

I smiled faintly and nodded.

"Good heavens." Haseo's mouth fell open. "I don't startle easily, but this…"

"Have I changed that much?"

"Changed doesn't begin to cover it. Changed is…"

Haseo blinked furiously, as if his eyes refused to accept what they were seeing.

"No! Moyong Bi! How?! How?! Good lord!"

He rushed over and seized my hands.

"I'd heard a rumor you were coming back, but I never thought it was true! Did you really finish every last one of those disciplinary trials? Truly?"

The words he'd been holding back poured out of him like a waterfall.

"Honestly, when I heard how many disciplinary trials they'd piled on you, I'd half given up hope of ever seeing you again… and yet here you are!"

"You gave up on me? That stings a little."

At my joke, Haseo looked flustered and hastily added, "As you well know, the Disciplinary Committee overseeing those trials is headed by your eldest brother…"

I pressed a finger to my lips. Haseo's expression shifted at once — ah, damn.

"I got too excited. Couldn't tell what I should and shouldn't say."

I glanced around the room. "You haven't changed a bit, Physician Haseo. Neither has the clinic. And on the way here I saw a few disciples and the scenery around the grounds — all of it looks the same."

A distant look crossed Haseo's face.

"That's right. That's right… Time enough to feel long, short enough to feel brief. What on earth have you been through to end up like this?"

He looked me up and down. "Like this." His gaze dropped to my hands. "Like this…"

He took in my roughened skin, the set of my eyes, my torn earlobe, the scars.

"…Have you changed? To the point I couldn't recognize you at all. Even knowing it's you, even recognizing it with my head and talking to you, I still can't quite accept it. The atmosphere around you is completely… different. And part of me likes it — you look like a real man now, and that's good —"

Haseo wet his dry lips with his tongue.

"— but it's bitter, too. I don't know why my chest aches like this. You've clearly grown stronger, you've made it back, and of course I should be congratulating you. Forgive me. I don't even understand why I feel this way."

"I think I understand what you mean. That honesty means more to me than any empty congratulations."

I offered him a quiet smile. Haseo studied my face for a long moment, then nodded.

"The outside may have changed, but it seems your nature hasn't."

"My nature?"

"You've been like this since the first time I saw you. Hot-tempered, more emotional than anyone — and yet you knew how to be grateful, and you knew what was precious. In a way, you never looked like a martial artist who prized cold detachment above all else. You were incomplete, and that made you more human than anyone…"

Haseo patted my shoulder.

"Pahwanggun will be proud you came back in one piece. He worried about you right up to the end."

"Speaking of which — where is Pahwanggun?"

A shadow flickered across Haseo's face.

"As punishment for his insubordination and show of force over the difficulty of your disciplinary trials, he was temporarily dispatched to the frontier. He should be back before long. After all, he was sent here by the Alliance Leader himself — even as a punishment, they can't leave him rotting on the border forever."

…

Seeing my expression, Haseo smoothly changed the subject.

"Have you met the rest of your Hoe?"

"I've already seen Brother Ryu. I haven't met Jin Muje yet. I just finished my final report at the Disciplinary Inspectorate, and I'm on my way to see Executor Lee Jasuo — to confirm my upcoming schedule and collect the rewards for completing the disciplinary trials. And while I'm at it, I have a carrier pigeon to send."

I glanced at the pigeon coop behind Haseo.

"A carrier pigeon? No trouble there. Hand over whatever letter you need sent."

"Yes — there's something I need to ask of someone."

I passed Haseo a tightly folded letter. As he tied it to a pigeon's leg, he asked, "But why go to Executor Lee Jasuo for your schedule? Didn't the Inspectorate just tell you?"

I shrugged. "The disciplinary commissioners didn't seem interested in speaking with me anymore."

"Why not?"

"I don't really know myself. They kept avoiding my eyes. They said the two remaining regular trials would be transferred to Cheonsubaekryeonsa's administrative office for management, so I wouldn't have any further dealings with the Disciplinary Committee — and that I should ask Executor Lee Jasuo about the rest of my schedule."

"…Is that so? Well. In any case."

Haseo dusted off his palms and raised his voice.

"You've grown a great deal yourself, but Jin Muje has become something else entirely. You'll be shocked when you see him! To think the boys I used to know have come this far — it fills me with pride!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Jin Muje? That flat-nosed thug of a—"

I cleared my throat.

"You mean the devoted trainee from our Hoe — that promising young Taoist of the Wudang Sect?"

Haseo nodded vigorously. "That's the one. See? No matter how much you two bickered, you recognized it and admitted it all along, didn't you?"

A pleased smile spread across his face as he twirled his goat beard between his fingers.

"If things go well — Moyong Ryu, Jin Muje, and you, the last to return! I might live to see the first Hoe in Cheonsubaekryeonsa history where every member becomes a Blue Cherry Blossom Dragon. And Pahwanggun's Hoe, no less — I find myself getting emotional ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just thinking about it."

I pressed a hand to my stomach — the same belly that had once been carved open — and ran my fingers along the examination cot where I'd been treated, then looked at Haseo.

"Blue Cherry Blossom Dragon?"

Haseo nodded with that same warm expression.

"In any given class, you might get one person who enters and completes Dongmu Hall — if you're lucky. At the summit of the winter mountain that stands at the heart of Dongmu Hall, there's said to be a cherry tree with blue blossoms. That's why we call those who enter Dongmu Hall Blue Cherry Blossom Dragons. It's the highest epithet you can earn, and the greatest honor attainable within Cheonsubaekryeonsa."

"Blue Cherry Blossom Dragon…"

Watching me, Haseo murmured to himself, "The problem is all three of you have the kind of temperament that sees things through to the bitter end — each in your own distinct color. Whether that bodes dark or bright for the jianghu's future… Well, perhaps that's exactly why their martial achievements show. Pahwanggun always used to say that wishing for a man of sound mind to reach the absolute peak of any field was nothing more than a dilettante's fantasy."

"Pardon?"

Haseo shook his head with a heavy look. "It's nothing. If you see the others, give them my regards. Stop by now and then. For you, this place will always be open."

After parting with Haseo, I headed straight for Lee Jasuo's quarters. Using the rough map the Disciplinary Inspectorate had given me, I didn't lose my way.

Maybe…

I couldn't help hoping.

Cheonsubaekryeonsa was a joint training facility for the orthodox sects — but it was also a vast collective economic zone. The streets bustled just as they had the first time I'd seen them. Disciples finished with personal training, disciples mid-trial, those belonging to the four seasonal halls of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the merchants and craftsmen who supported their daily lives — the whole place thrummed with noise and motion.

I scanned the crowd. If she were here, that distinctive hair color would be impossible to miss. And if she were trying to hide it, she'd have jammed a wide bamboo hat down over her head — so I watched for that, too.

But the rain had stopped, the day had turned bright again, and among all those people, not a single soul wore a bamboo hat.

Of course she wouldn't be here.

I looked away and touched my waist. My fingers found the silver leather belt Eun Seollyeong had given me — still carrying the faintest trace of her scent.

In the distance, Lee Jasuo's quarters appeared, marked on the map. I glanced around once more and murmured under my breath.

"Mumyeong."

Mumyeong's assessment put me at ease. And then something else surfaced in my mind.

Inner force… Right. I've always been short on inner force.

Even with four gapja of internal energy, using copied martial arts made the sensation completely different from anyone else's four gapja. In the fight against Ilmanhyeolje, I'd nearly died from running dry. I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠felt it in my bones — I'd needed at least twice what I had.

Beyond that, throughout my journey I'd always sensed a heaven beyond heaven. So for this new departure — this return that was effectively a fresh start — my goal was clear.

For as long as I remained at Cheonsubaekryeonsa, I would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠keep my cards thoroughly hidden. There was no telling what might happen, and here I was no longer Biryu. I was Moyong Bi. There was no more false identity to flee behind.

What's more, the people around me were no longer mere unorthodox wanderers or greenwood rabble. Every last one of them was a scion of the Nine Sects and One Gang, or some other renowned orthodox house. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Caution, to the very end, was the wiser course.

After the battle with Ilmanhyeolje, the purpose of my life had changed in a fundamental way. And in the process of returning to Cheonsubaekryeonsa, the goals I needed to pursue here had crystallized alongside it.

Most disciples who entered Cheonsubaekryeonsa shared roughly the same ambition: within the limited span of six years, exploit the training-optimized environment to the fullest, build as much strength as possible, and graduate from the highest hall attainable — walking out with a reputation and martial skill the world would recognize.

At first, I'd been no different. Eighth Elder Moyong Taese had sent me here with exactly that objective in mind. For an illegitimate son like me, the only way to build the martial skill that would keep me alive and raise my standing within a household that discounted me for my low birth was the label of graduating from one of Cheonsubaekryeonsa's higher halls.

But not anymore.

Learning at Cheonsubaekryeonsa no longer holds any meaning for me.

My master, Asura, had called me one born to the destiny of Heavenly Blood. For someone who needed to copy martial arts, absorb them into his body, and temper that body itself to endure the entire process, Cheonsubaekryeonsa's training methods — built on the foundations of conventional martial cultivation — were irrelevant.

Endless growth and training would still be absolutely, unconditionally necessary. But I had already felt it for myself: Cheonsubaekryeonsa's teachings no longer applied to that path.

If there was anything I still needed from this place, it was only one thing.

The honor of a graduating hall — the one thing that can raise the reputation denied to me as a bastard son. And if that's the case…

Once I secured that graduating hall, there would be no reason to remain chained to Cheonsubaekryeonsa for the full six years.

Pass the remaining trials in the shortest time in Cheonsubaekryeonsa history, reach Dongmu Hall, and walk straight out.

I pushed through the crowd and walked on.

Creak.

The door opened at just that moment, and Executor Lee Jasuo stepped out. Before either of us could speak, his head turned and our eyes locked.

…

…

Lee Jasuo was just as stunned as I might have expected. He squinted, tilting his head — that sensation of something familiar yet strange, of groping through memory. Something on the tip of his tongue. And then—

"…You actually came back?"

Lee Jasuo staggered backward and caught himself against a pillar. I walked straight up to him.

"It's been a while, Executor Lee Jasuo."

"Y-you… you!"

Lee Jasuo pointed at me, his face gone paper-white, unable to finish a sentence. I held out my hand.

"The Disciplinary Committee told me to ask you about the rewards for the disciplinary trials, as well as my upcoming schedule. And since I've been away so long that the layout's unfamiliar — would it be all right if I asked you to guide me somewhere?"

"What? Guide you? What nonsense is this all of a sudden!"

I pulled a place from the far, hazy edges of memory.

"How do I get from here to the old Chunmu Hall promotion grounds — the place where they held the one-gapja inner force advancement test?"

"There…? Why the Chunmu Hall promotion grounds?"

I gave the bewildered Lee Jasuo a light smile.

"I left something there, a long time ago."