Chapter 17
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Dragon-Phoenix Tournament (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hyun-deok watched the graceful movements unfolding in the arena.
'...A different martial art from before.'
Unlike the Taiji Sword she had displayed previously, which pressured her opponent relentlessly, this was yet another technique entirely.
Plum blossoms dwelled in every single motion.
With one swing, the plum blossoms bloomed.
With a second swing, they scattered.
The semicircle became a full circle, and the circle reverted to a semicircle as the surrounding air began to swirl.
Hidden within were killing intent and feints.
The killing intent was beautifully concealed by the plum petals, invisible to the enemy.
The feints were as swift as petals flying toward one's face, yet they inflicted no pain.
However, before such tricks, the onslaught of attacks came so swiftly that they rendered everything meaningless.
Even Little Sword Phoenix, the most outstanding among the later-generation disciples, had fallen victim to it.
Of course, he had known she couldn't withstand it.
'...But something's different.'
Even a single swing of that wooden sword from afar...
No—even just infusing it with killing intent would have subdued her.
For him to engage her this long against an opponent he could crush so easily...
'He wanted to show it off?'
Show it off?
What?
It couldn't have been to flaunt his power.
If so, he would have done it in front of all the masters watching.
But the only ones still standing in this place were the other later-generation disciples, the Sword Sovereign, himself, and Plum Blossom Sword Empress.
The Beggars' Sect's leader, Wind Horn, was there too, though Hyun-deok couldn't detect him since he was deliberately hiding.
'...The Beggars' Sect leader's probably here too. No way he wouldn't come.'
Hyun-deok was making an educated guess.
As his reasoning reached that point, Hyun-deok quickly turned to glance at Plum Blossom Sword Empress beside him.
And, as expected.
"Ah..."
"......"
"Sect Leader Zhuge, that is."
"......"
"Mount Hua Sect's martial art."
"What do you mean?"
Sword Empress uttered "Mount Hua Sect" with a dazed expression.
Hyun-deok put on a face of utter incomprehension.
"...The forgotten martial art that I could never fully realize."
Hyun-deok held his tongue.
There was an inexplicable sense of incongruity lingering in the martial world.
Records spoke of the Righteous-Evil War from decades ago.
And the first Righteous-Demonic War.
The records before and after didn't match up in countless places.
It couldn't simply be dismissed as lost documentation.
Traces of deliberate tampering were everywhere—vast swaths of history erased or altered.
Only now did the thought occur to him.
'What if the benefactor came from that era?'
And the Sword Empress before his eyes...
'Is she speaking of that lost time?'
She had abruptly declared she wouldn't become Sect Leader.
The entire martial world had been puzzled, but now he could guess why.
'...She reached some truth.'
Gazing at her, he hoped she wouldn't succumb to heart demons.
"...I must check on my disciple's condition."
Sword Empress leaped into the arena, her face filled with enlightenment.
The formation had long since dissipated, and the benefactor had already left his seat.
'...Benefactor.'
It seemed he had indeed meant to show something.
'Mount Hua Sect's martial art......'
And to display it only to a select few—the later-generation disciples, and especially those who might know the secrets of the past...
'Perhaps the benefactor could even be seen as a true noble of the martial world...?'
His methods weren't exactly righteous, that much was true.
Excessively tyrannical and violent.
But the techniques he had shown so far—the Taiji and the blooming plum blossoms—were more quintessentially righteous than any orthodox sect's art.
He closed his eyes.
His head throbbed; even he hadn't been entirely immune to the killing intent, and his swirling thoughts weren't helping.
And as his mind reached that point...
'Cleanup...?'
The thought suddenly struck him.
And with it, the realization that they would have to handle it.
'Crazy old evil monster......'
Sighing, Hyun-deok hurried toward where Ji-yeon was.
A dark space.
There, Hwa-ryeon opened her eyes.
All around was pitch black and oppressively confined.
Such a space.
"Where..."
Reaching out ahead, Hwa-ryeon immediately realized.
This was her heartscape.
A suffocating, tormenting, lonely frozen hell where nothing was visible and nothing could be grasped.
She had come to this place several times before.
Each time she attained enlightenment, she arrived here.
So unbearably cold and painful that memories flashed of desperately trying to bloom coal blossoms.
It had been so cold.
She wanted to ignite even the tiniest spark.
In a heart as empty as during her days abandoned by her parents, living as a beggar, touching nothing.
Her past self, unreachable and unwilling to connect.
In that heartscape she had birthed, she had thrashed about.
Desperate to add even a little warmth.
Knowing her limits, with no ember within.
Yet somehow, now there was warmth.
A gentle spring breeze, like a spring day, began to blow softly from behind her.
Heralding the arrival of spring.
"Plum blossom?"
Plum blossom.
The flower that begins to bloom at spring's onset, announcing its coming.
Hwa-ryeon's eyes widened; she trembled as she slowly turned around.
There stood a tiny plum tree, proud and resolute.
Not coal flower, but true plum blossom.
It was warm.
Not the false, scorching soot flower that burned everything in brilliant flames.
In Hwa-ryeon's heartscape, now graced by a single beautifully blooming plum tree...
As if spring had arrived, the small tree was preparing to burst into full flower.
"......"
Hwa-ryeon slowly approached the tree.
She had long forgotten her mother and father's faces.
That was why she clung so fiercely to Mount Hua.
The Sect Leader's acknowledgment.
Plum Blossom Sword Empress's recognition.
The respect from senior brothers, junior brothers, senior sisters, and junior sisters.
They made her feel a little warmer.
That was why she had been deluded by those hellish, illusory flames.
Her breathing grew ragged.
Her pupils quivered.
A situation where heart demons could arise at any moment.
Yet Hwa-ryeon...
"I see..."
Kneeling before the plum tree, she stared blankly at it.
"...The Mount Hua I truly wanted to see."
This was it.
Blooming plum blossoms atop a rocky mountain barren of them.
Becoming that kind of swordswoman.
-Whoooosh...
A plum scent spread as if approving her enlightenment.
Hwa-ryeon nodded and gripped her sword.
At the same moment...
"...Ryeon! Hwa-ryeon! Are you alright?"
"M-Master......"
She opened her eyes and looked around.
The full view of Arena of Decisive Heroes came into sight.
The recovered masters.
And Zhuge Ji-yeon standing with her Magistrate Brush in hand.
"Can you continue?"
"Ah..."
Letting out a sigh at Plum Blossom Sword Empress's voice, Hwa-ryeon nodded.
Right now, she wanted to test it.
'Can I bloom plum blossoms too?'
Her entire body ached like mad.
But Hwa-ryeon rose to her feet with the coldest expression she'd ever worn.
"One more round, Ji-yeon."
"...Understood."
"You can drop the formalities."
Hwa-ryeon chuckled softly, while Sword Empress and Ji-yeon looked slightly startled at her.
"Waiter, water here."
[Little bro, the rule is 'waiter, water here please.']
"This fucking..."
A curse slipped out naturally.
He was tempted to flip this inn upside down right then.
"Miss heroine! Welcome! Have you decided on your order? If you're unsure, here's the menu."
A waiter approached with a bright, bubbly expression.
He'd even called out to me at the door earlier, telling me to come in since there was an empty table.
I held back from swinging my sword—even at a kid like this.
Killing civilians in Anhui might bring Nangong trouble down on me, after all.
[Killing innocents makes you no different from evil faction scum.]
[Little bro, beating innocents like stray dogs isn't much different from evil scum either.]
[Righteous folk aren't exactly free of thugs.]
[......]
Snow Python seemed to be holding back her words.
I flashed a grin and decided to pick from the menu the waiter—not point boy—had brought.
'Money's courtesy of the Zhuge Family squeezing... er, support, so it's fine.'
Tempted to splurge on something pricey, I scanned the menu.
[Qi Circulation Breakfast (Breakfast Only)]
[Qi Circulation Lunch (Lunch Only)]
[Qi Circulation Dinner (Dinner Only)]
[Dongpo Pork]
[Creamy Carbonara Spaghetti]
[Cheesy Cream Pasta]
[Pork Cutlet Donburi]
"......"
My expression soured.
[Looks delicious.]
[Snow Python... this can't be right.]
[Didn't the Zhuge say the food here was awful? Won't suit your taste.]
Saying that, Snow Python urged me to order the cheesy cream pasta or carbonara spaghetti.
Snow Python had apparently grown accustomed to this martial world already.
[Snap out of it, Snow Python. This inn is out of its mind.]
[Hmm... Isn't this Anhui's top inn?]
Sighing, I called the waiter over.
"W-Waiter..."
"Yes sir, master!"
He scampered over, spouting that "goshujin-sama" nonsense, and I nearly karate-chopped his head.
"...One Dongpo Pork."
"Yes sir!! Table four, one Dongpo Pork."
[Really gonna hit me, Snow Python?]
[...Endure it.]
[Ugh......]
Even buying a simple meal was pure agony.