Regret
A hundred years ago, when the Demonic Sect rallied the demonic ranks and invaded the Central Plains, Shaolin was the first to stand in their way.
When the blood of countless monks splashed across the earth, even the sects that had been too busy minding their own interests finally realized how grave the crisis was.
Murim only united belatedly and managed to drive the Demonic Sect back, but Shaolin, having lost most of its disciples, teetered on the brink of vanishing from history.
Those who had witnessed their sacrifice spared no support, and Shaolin rose once more to become the towering pillar of the righteous factions.
Wishing never to repeat such a bloody catastrophe, Shaolin gathered those who would become Murim’s shield and founded the Murim Alliance.
The righteous martial world, including the Five Great Clans and the Nine Orthodox Sects, honored that intent and sent their promising talents to Henan, where Shaolin stood, to compete in prowess. That was the origin of the current Dragon-Phoenix Assembly.
"Welcome! Are you here to eat? Or would you like a room as well?"
"Both, please."
A child who seemed to be around Lee Hyun’s age was greeting customers at the inn.
Perhaps because the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly was drawing near and business was bound to increase, the smile never left the child’s face.
"Hey, who do you think will be the new Dragon and Phoenix among this round’s junior talents?"
"Well, the young master of the Namgung Clan and the Best Beauty of Shaanxi are basically guaranteed, aren’t they?"
"Best Beauty of Shaanxi?"
"She’s a first disciple of the Huashan Sect. I hear her appearance is every bit as outstanding as her martial skill."
"Hmm... What about the successor of the Emei Sect? I heard she’s taking part in this Dragon-Phoenix Assembly too."
"Ah, you mean Binghwa. That young lady’s quite the beauty as well."
"...Did you come here to look at faces instead of martial arts? This is embarrassing, so stop."
Yiryeong closed her eyes, uneasy in the noisy bustle of the inn, and the image of a boy rose in her mind.
By now he should have reached Sichuan. Was Lee Hyun adapting well...?
The tournament was only a few days away, and no matter where she turned, she kept thinking of him. She couldn’t focus at all.
Haah...
She should have asked him to come with her at least as far as Henan. It would surely have been a good opportunity for him. Regret came flooding in.
It had only been a month since they parted, and she already missed him this much—so why did ten years have to be so unbearably long?
She should have said five years, or no, they should have agreed to meet regularly. She hated herself for having spoken of such a ridiculously long stretch of time.
Scolding her own foolishness, she slammed her forehead against the table with a thunk.
"Oh? Ungyeol?"
When she lifted her head, a familiar face was there. A bright, lively woman whose very presence seemed fresh as spring.
"It’s been a while, Miss Hye-rin."
"Seriously, can’t you drop the 'miss' thing?"
"That... isn’t easy for me."
"Hey, Hye-rin. Just in case, am I wrong to think Miss Ungyeol doesn’t want you bothering her?"
Beside Hye-rin, the Best Beauty of Shaanxi, stood a refined-looking man wearing a sullen expression.
"Would you please be quiet, Seonwu? How exactly am I bothering her?"
"Huh... a woman who calls herself a Daoist and still doesn’t understand people’s hearts. Or is that just what happens when you hole yourself up in the mountains?"
"...What was that?"
"Calm down, miss. You’re not being a bother. And it’s been a while, Namgung Young Master."
Watching the two of them naturally take the seats beside her and immediately start bickering, Yiryeong felt drained, but because their bond had gone back years, she didn’t dislike it.
She’d met those two—who had personalities utterly opposite to her own—at a gathering where the heirs of major sects came together to mingle.
Unable to endure the atmosphere of mutual caution, she had hidden herself in a corner, and those two had walked up and spoken to her.
They had stepped out of the tense mood by one pace and, much as they were now, teased one another without restraint.
She couldn’t honestly say they weren’t a nuisance, but being with them always made her feel at ease.
Hye-rin studied Yiryeong, who had drifted into thought, with suspicion.
"Ungyeol, something’s changed."
"There she goes again. Miss Ungyeol, you can take that with a grain of salt."
"No, I mean your whole vibe feels duller somehow. Yiryeong, did you get yourself a man?"
A man?
The only man she spent time with was Lee Hyun, and he was just a little boy. More like a younger brother, yes, something like that.
That was what Yiryeong told herself, yet for some reason her face turned red.
"Oh? I was just fishing, but it’s true, isn’t it? Who is it? Who managed to melt the ice flower of Sichuan?"
"Oh, now I’m curious too."
"Stop, please stop... A man? As if there could be one in my life. The tournament! Right, have you two registered for the tournament?"
Yiryeong hurriedly changed the subject before she could hear any more, but Hye-rin was already eyeing her with suspicion.
"Hmm. Fine, I’ll let it go this time. We haven’t signed up yet, so let’s go together."
"What? I want to hear more. So who was it that melted the ice flower?"
When Yiryeong became flustered, Hye-rin pinched Namgung Seonwu’s arm for rambling so thoughtlessly.
"...Shut up and come with us."
There was a minor stir when the registration clerk recognized them and grew far too tense, drawing everyone’s attention, but they were able to enter their names on the roster and return to their lodging without trouble.
At last, given a little time to herself, Yiryeong spent it checking her condition as a martial artist.
If she won the title of Dragon, wouldn’t Lee Hyun be delighted when he heard the news? That thought spurred her to do her best.
It was partly for her sect, too, but Yiryeong couldn’t help it if the first image that came to mind was the boy smiling.
The day of the tournament arrived.
The tip of Yiryeong’s sword flashed toward her opponent’s hand in an instant.
Her opponent, who had stiffened with tension, only realized her blade was upon him when it was practically at his nose.
He yanked his arm back in a desperate attempt to escape, but her sword’s trajectory curved gracefully and struck the hilt of his sword with perfect precision.
As he pulled away, his grip weakened and his balance faltered, and the sword slipped right out of his hand.
When Yiryeong placed her blade at his throat, the announcer called out,
"Ungyeol, victory!"
"Waaah!"
"Her opponent’s from a clan with some name to it, too, but the level of skill is just completely different."
"Binghwa must already be at the Peak, and she hasn’t used sword qi even once."
"That’s the terrifying part. That level of skill without sword qi..."
"The future of Murim looks bright, doesn’t it? We’ll have nothing to worry about now!"
Finishing the match in a single exchange, Yiryeong earned cheers from the crowd.
Most were unable to withstand the sword of one who had reached the Peak at such a young age, and she advanced effortlessly to the finals.
When she looked to the side, Hye-rin and Namgung Seonwu were deep in a fierce exchange of swords.
Since Namgung Seonwu had reached the Peak and Hye-rin was only at the edge of First-class, it seemed likely the match would end quickly, yet the duel kept going.
That was only possible because Namgung Seonwu wasn’t using any finishing techniques.
Hye-rin, seeming genuinely angry now, shouted at him.
"Are you mocking me? Fight properly. I don’t need this kind of nonsense."
Even then, Namgung Seonwu swung his sword in silence. Only Yiryeong, who had reached the same level of mastery, could tell what he was doing.
He was leading Hye-rin’s sword. Guiding the blade that had stopped just short of the threshold of the Peak.
As Hye-rin exchanged more moves with him, she seemed to catch on as well.
For a moment she followed the sword path Namgung Seonwu had corrected for her, but then her blade wandered away from the course he had laid out.
Still faint, but unmistakably, a violet hue began to trace along her sword.
Amid the fragrance of plum blossoms spreading in all directions, Hye-rin surrendered.
"This was learning, not a match. I can’t try to win against that. Thank you, Seonwu. Truly."
"Haha, you finally figured out my intention. You were terrifying when you were angry earlier."
Perhaps embarrassed by her words of thanks, he gave an awkward laugh and let it pass.
As the crowd’s cheers died down after witnessing the birth of a new peak expert, the tournament neared its end.
Since the titles of Dragon and Phoenix were to be awarded to five people, the original purpose had been fulfilled, yet the thought of the boy who would be pleased stirred Yiryeong’s greed for the finals as well.
"Young master, I’m in your care."
"This is my first time crossing swords with Miss Ungyeol, I believe. Let’s keep swinging until one of us gets tired of it."
Just as the duel was about to begin after Namgung Seonwu finished speaking, a martial artist hurried over to the Murim Alliance’s key figures.
They spoke in low voices, but the grim looks on their faces made it clear the situation was serious.
"We’ll end the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly here. From today, these five young heroes, who stood out the most, will be the new Dragons and Phoenixes."
One of them rose and addressed the uneasy crowd.
"What are you talking about? Then what happens to the finals?"
"A Dragon-Phoenix Assembly without a final can’t be called a tournament!"
"At least tell us what’s going on!"
"The Demonic Sect. We’ve found traces of them."
Though it was only a single sentence, the hall fell silent as if everyone had stopped breathing.
"That is all I can say. We’re grateful to everyone who came here, but for now, please disperse."
When his words ended and the crowd began to drain away like a receding tide, Yiryeong suddenly felt uneasy for no good reason.
It was impossible, of course, but the timing was strangely aligned, and the thought flickered through her mind that something might have happened to Lee Hyun.
"Ungyeol, Seonwu. This may not be the right thing to say, but congratulations. We’re the future of the righteous sects now."
"Besides you and me, Miss Ungyeol, who else became Dragon and Phoenix?"
"Probably Monk Hyegwang of Shaolin and Young Master Dang Cheolsan of the Sichuan Tang Clan?"
Seeing them remain just as they always were, Yiryeong finally felt a little relief.
Still, perhaps she had worried too much. And with Junior Sister Ungyeol accompanying him, he was probably doing fine at Mount Emei by now.
"On another note, Young Master, it’s a shame the duel got canceled."
"Haha, well, maybe later there’ll be a chance..."
"Sorry to interrupt, but Miss Ungyeol, I’ll need you to come with me for a moment."
A martial artist from the Murim Alliance cut him off.
"...What is it?"
"It’s too complicated to explain here."
"Ungyeol, go on. It seems urgent."
"Tell us what it was about later, will you, miss?"
"Thank you. Then excuse me."
Leaving the two of them behind, she followed the martial artist who had come for her into the hall, where the Murim Alliance elders were shouting at one another in a heated argument.
"We still don’t know their purpose, so it’s too early to make a response."
"Then are we supposed to stand by and watch those bastards run wild?"
"That’s not what I’m saying! I’m saying we should observe a little longer until we understand the situation."
"That kind of complacency almost led to Shaolin’s annihilation a hundred years ago!"
"Come now, what kind of disgrace is this in front of a young lady?"
The middle-aged man seated in the place of honor cut them off.
"The reason we summoned you, miss, is because the victims of this incident are connected to a child you know."
The impossible can kill a person. Listening quietly, Yiryeong’s eyes reddened with blood.
"This is still confidential, but you need to know. Word just came in from all over the Central Plains. As you may already suspect, it concerns traces of the demonic ranks. What’s strange is that those bastards kidnapped children. From beggars lying by the roadside to children from fairly well-known sects. We believe they’re preparing some kind of sinister grand formation."
"Then Lee Hyun too..."
"...I’m sorry to say it. You should hear the rest from your junior sister. She’s in the next room."
When she entered the room he pointed to, Ungyeol was there.
The sleeve on her right arm hung limp and ragged, fluttering emptily as though nothing remained inside it.
"Ungyeol..."
"Senior sister, I’m sorry. I lost that child. And I lost my arm too."
Seeing her like that, Yiryeong heard something in her head snap with a sharp, brittle crack.
When she came back to herself, she was lying on a soft bed beneath her back.
Why was I here... Ah, right. After seeing my junior sister’s arm.
Her arm.
Aaah!
At the sound of the scream, Hye-rin rushed to her side.
"Ungyeol, calm down. It’s okay. Everything will be okay."
"I, because of me, Junior Sister. No, junior sister’s arm was gone. Why was her arm gone? No, no, where’s Hyun? Where is Hyun?"
Only then did Yiryeong understand that Lee Hyun had been taken by the Demonic Sect.
Aaaagh!
"Ungyeol, please, calm down!"
Hyun was gone. He might even be dead.
That gifted child, the child who smiled at her, Lee Hyun—the one who had given her her first true feeling of emotion—was gone.
It was all because of her greed. Because she had wanted to make a good impression on her sect, she had done something she could never take back.
It was my fault. Because I left that child, because I sent him away with the foolish assumption that I would see him again.
It was all her fault. Her junior sister’s arm being severed, and never being able to see Hyun again.
Then what about their promise? They had clearly agreed to meet again in ten years.
"Hye-rin, move."
"No. If I do, you’ll definitely leave."
"Move. I have to go to Xinjiang. The Demonic Sect is beyond the Tianshan Mountains, isn’t it?"
"Ungyeol, please, I’m begging you. Just stay here. The Demonic Sect? How are you supposed to go there alone..."
"I have to go! Right now, I don’t know what those Demonic Sect bastards might be doing to Hyun. I have to go save him..."
Yiryeong could see reality clearly now. No matter how desperately she struggled, she could not escape this hell.
Tears streamed endlessly from her eyes.
What am I supposed to do if you take Lee Hyun away from me... If you take everything from me, then what am I supposed to live for?
No, if it’s Lee Hyun... if it’s him, he’ll survive. We promised we’d be careful.
Please, just stay alive. I’ll come and get you, no matter what.
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