Give Me Back My Disciple! (1)
"Mmm, hmm-hmm."
Now that she had firmly made up her mind, Hyeonsongcheonnyeo was happily pondering what she should teach Doyeon, her soon-to-be disciple.
'Since Doyeon values the sword, I should prioritize teaching her the Seonmu Sword or the Phoenix Crossing Sword. Given her personality, she might actually enjoy something a bit more savage, so I should show her the Dog Bone Sword as well. As for footwork and movement techniques, everyone learns those anyway...'
Ah, how delightful. Just imagining it brought a smile to her face. Was this the joy of having a genius disciple—that even designing a curriculum before lessons began was this thrilling?
In Hyeonsongcheonnyeo's mind, a scene played out where Doyeon called her "Master!"
'Yes, yes, my dear disciple. Let's learn lots of fun martial arts together with your master.'
Heheh, heheheh. She had to maintain her dignity. Heheh, uheheh.
Humming in high spirits, Hyeonsongcheonnyeo headed toward their designated meeting point. But what unfolded before her eyes...
"Hryaaaaah!"
"Nuna! Spare me, nunaaaa!"
Cheon Doyeon, who supposedly knew no martial arts, was executing an incredibly high-level sword technique.
"Huh...?"
Doyeon? When on earth did you learn such a profound sword technique? Did you take someone else as your master besides me? Was she stolen away in that short span of time?
But Hyeonsongcheonnyeo quickly noticed an incongruity.
'Wait, something is off.'
The sword technique itself was undoubtedly top-tier. However, Cheon Doyeon hadn't been properly initiated into it; she was merely mimicking something she had seen somewhere. It was like a child trying to copy a masterpiece painting placed right next to them.
'Good heavens, does she not know how dangerous that is!'
Blindly copying a martial art without proper instruction was a recipe for disaster. She had to stop her immediately. She had to, and yet...
'Doyeon...?'
A child sketching a master's painting with a pencil. That was exactly Cheon Doyeon's state. But the lines this child drew with her pencil were rapidly becoming incredibly precise.
She copied the masterpiece. Roughly, haphazardly. And then, she immediately started over from the beginning. Her second attempt was far more refined than the first. Though still vastly incomplete, her rate of improvement was staggering.
Then, she immediately tried a third time. Now, her form was genuinely starting to take shape. Ah. Of course.
'A genius. She is a true genius.'
Her actual mastery was still low. But her speed. An explosive growth rate that "terrifying" didn't even begin to describe.
With every breath, she adjusted her breathing. With every swing, she corrected her sword path.
'I must stop her. I have to stop her, but...!'
She couldn't tear her eyes away. A sense of dread even began to creep in. A flower called genius was blooming; how could a mere mediocre talent dare touch its petals? If she intervened now, would she end up ruining this genius instead? Shouldn't she just let it bloom naturally?
She didn't know. She truly didn't know. There had been many geniuses in the Murim, and she had seen them with her own eyes—indeed, Hyeonsongcheonnyeo herself was counted among them—but she had never seen a genius of this caliber.
Faintly, a bluish energy began to coat the tip of Cheon Doyeon's sword.
'Th-that is...?!'
No way. It was impossible. No matter how much of a genius she was...
'Sword-force—'
But at that exact moment.
"Whoa, wait! Stop!!"
"Nuna?!"
Cheon Doyeon suddenly withdrew her sword—and collided head-on with Gyeon Geumsu, who had been acting as her sparring partner.
Both of them had their arms flung out to the sides. The two collided, crumpled against each other, and bounced back.
'Oh, dear.'
Hyeonsongcheonnyeo pressed a hand to her forehead. Doyeon, child, why is it that you cannot go a single moment without causing some sort of trouble?
"What on earth are you two doing...?"
"Daoist Fairy, help me! She's acting weird!!"
Though, no matter how one looked at it, the cause of her "weirdness" was definitely not paralyzing poison.
It felt as though she could see Gyeon Geumsu's soul escaping his body, a victim of the man-killing engine of violence that was Cheon Doyeon. Pretending not to notice is probably the best thing I can do for my disciple.
"I do not know what transpired, but it seems of little consequence. At any rate, Doyeon, are you ready to depart—Doyeon!!"
Just as Hyeonsongcheonnyeo urgently called out, Cheon Doyeon let out a groan of pain.
"Argh...!"
Qi was running rampant inside Cheon Doyeon's body.
'I knew I should have stopped her...!'
Regret washed over her. The excuse of "I didn't know, so there was nothing I could do" offered absolutely no comfort.
'No! This poor Taoist will absolutely not allow her disciple to perish so pointlessly!'
Hyeonsongcheonnyeo swiftly pressed her fingers against Cheon Doyeon's dantian.
Not stopping at mere skin contact, she channeled her inner energy directly into Doyeon's body, just as she would during a true qi transfusion.
She was trying to trigger the phenomenon that had occurred once before—where sending inner energy near Doyeon's dantian caused it to be greedily sucked in.
"Ugh...!"
Sure enough, the exact same thing happened. Like a river rushing into the ocean, Hyeonsongcheonnyeo's cultivation was sucked rapidly into Cheon Doyeon's dantian.
Just as Hyeonsongcheonnyeo intended, the sudden influx of external energy caused the rampaging qi in Doyeon's meridians to falter. It was an opportunity bought by Hyeonsongcheonnyeo sacrificing her own cultivation.
And Cheon Doyeon seized that exact window, successfully realigning her disrupted meridians.
"Phew... Whoa, that was close—Daoist Fairy!!"
Doyeon quickly caught Hyeonsongcheonnyeo's small, staggering frame.
"I am fine... This poor Taoist is fine. I have merely lost a bit of my cultivation, nothing more." Hyeonsongcheonnyeo offered a weak, pitiful smile. "What matters most is that you are unharmed."
"Daoist Fairy...!"
"Besides, are we not master and disciple?"
To be perfectly honest, she hadn't lost an astronomical amount of cultivation. The energy Hyeonsongcheonnyeo had lost was roughly twice the amount of the elixir Cheon Doyeon was originally supposed to consume. In the end, the energy that was meant to be hers had simply found its way to her. Granted, it came with a 100% interest rate... but surely a master could bestow at least that much upon her disciple?
Still, there was a specific reason Hyeonsongcheonnyeo was acting so fragile.
'Heheh, I must take advantage of this situation to make her feel indebted to me as her master. Even this poor Taoist thinks this is rather cunning and not quite fitting for a cultivator of the Dao, but...'
However, Cheon Doyeon blinked.
"Huh...? Were we master and disciple?"
"...?"
The world went dark before Hyeonsongcheonnyeo's eyes.
"I see... So we... were not... in that kind of... relationship after all..."
"Daoist Fairy, wait! That's not what I meant—"
"I am... sorry. I... presumed... too... much... Oh? Why... are... there... tears...?"
"Ahhh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, so please snap out of it! Aigoo, my Master, my Master Hyeonsong!! Our Master is so pretty! Our Master is so cool!"
"It is finally in sight! That right there is Mount Geumgang!" Hyeonsongcheonnyeo pointed proudly toward the mountains.
'It looks pretty ordinary from here, though?'
"You are thinking it looks pretty ordinary from here, are you not?"
"Whoa, how did you know?"
"Because this poor Taoist thought the exact same thing when I first saw it. Do not worry. Once we venture a bit further inside, the magnificent spectacle of Mount Geumgang's famous twelve thousand peaks will unfold before you." Hyeonsongcheonnyeo chuckled. "We must also choose a Daoist name for you. Since the first-generation disciples share the character Yeon (然)..."
"Daoist Fairy—"
"Ah-ah!"
"...Master, I told you. I don't want to be affiliated with the Bongrae Sect."
"I know, I know. But once you see it for yourself, your mind will surely change."
"...If I look at it and still say no, you'll let me go, right? You won't cling to me and try to force me to stay?"
"..."
"Master?"
"At any rate, our main sect is located deep inside," Hyeonsong said, stretching her finger toward the far distance.
Mount Geumgang was a vast mountain range. Among its peaks, the Bongrae Sect was situated in the area with the most breathtaking scenery and the most optimal environment for cultivation. In other words, it was a place deeply isolated from the secular world.
"Since this is just the entrance, the scenery is mundane, but once we go a bit deeper—"
"Aunt-Master Hyeonsong!"
From deeper within the mountain, a woman wearing a Taoist robe of the exact same design as Hyeonsongcheonnyeo's came flying toward them. Her actual age was impossible to guess, but in appearance, she was a neat, elegant Taoist priestess who looked to be in her early thirties.
"Ah, Yeonwoo! This poor Taoist has brought—"
"Aunt-Master Hyeonsong, we have a major crisis! The people of the Baekdu Sect are currently staging a demonstration of force right in front of our main gates!!"
"The Baekdu Sect? Why?!"
"The Sword Empress herself has come, demanding that we hand over her disciple! We keep telling her we have no such person, but she refuses to listen to a single word!!"