First Steps into the Martial World
I packed my things and headed back to the cabin.
Once the clothing problem was solved, I discovered I didn’t have much to take with me after all.
“A little hard to leave, though.”
As I stepped outside, I paused and looked around one last time.
The cabin I’d grown attached to over three years, the plum tree I’d nurtured with such care—seeing them there made it strangely hard to move on.
If I left them alone like this, the place would quickly fall into ruin.
That tree had only survived because I’d dragged it here and planted it in a place where not a single plum tree had existed in Mount Hua to begin with.
If no one tended it, it would probably fall ill and wither before long.
I was getting disturbingly used to these dainty, sentimental thoughts.
I turned back and went into the cabin again.
“Should I leave a note or something?”
I was pretty good with words, after all.
Leaving one more piece of writing behind as I set off to hunt down my black history from the past.
That had a certain air to it.
A laugh snuck out of me.
“Middle-school-syndrome really is incurable.”
I picked up a brush and, on the spot, composed a Chinese-style poem asking whoever found this place to take good care of the plum tree.
“As expected, I’m amazing, deshaatt.”
Once I’d quickly come up with a line I liked, I lifted the paper and admired it with a faintly excited feeling.
Even though I’d spent years not touching classical Chinese at all, I was still able to produce verses as naturally as breathing.
Be awed by the greatness of this supergenius beauty.
I carefully left the paper on the table and walked out of the cabin without a trace of regret.
“Bye-bye, my pretty little home.”
This time, I didn’t even look back.
Song Hyeon, a cute beauty at the very peak of peak beauty.
At last, she was entering the martial world for the first time.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The steps that carried me down the mountain trail felt light.
Inside the bundle on my back were a book, one letter, and a few strips of dried meat to keep my hunger down.
I didn’t have a single coin, but the thought that I possessed the power to smash a giant boulder into pieces filled me with confidence.
Back when I used to live, I’d tremble every day, worried I might get stabbed with a blade and turn into a cold corpse before sunrise.
Having strength really was wonderful.
“Come to think of it, this is unfair.”
The humiliation I’d just suffered in Mount Hua surfaced in my mind.
It stung.
If that hadn’t been the lair of demonic scum, I would’ve loved to land a decent hit or two.
There was something satisfying about the idea of punishing those demons who let their guard down around my youthful appearance.
That would have been the perfect opening scene for a first journey into the martial world.
“Still, I probably shouldn’t kick with all my strength like before, right?”
It was the kind of power that could shatter rock.
If I swung my leg carelessly, I might blow my own body apart.
And if I killed someone by detonating them on the spot, how would that be any different from being a murderous maniac?
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never be defeated in a hundred battles.
Figuring out just how strong I was had become important.
“Come on, where are the bad guys?”
Properly evil ones.
Trash so vile that killing them would count not as a sin, but as a good deed.
Clutching that expectation somewhere in my chest, I strode down the mountain with my nose in the air, scanning the trail as I went.
And, to my surprise, I didn’t meet a single soul on the way down.
Well, of course. This is Mount Hua.
What were the odds of some wicked villain wandering onto a rocky mountain occupied by one of the great orthodox sects?
Come to think of it, during all my years living in the mountains, I could count the bandits I’d seen on one hand.
“Should I go beat up a beast instead?”
My excitement deflated in an instant.
I’d psyched myself up so much, only to find there was no one to fight. It was hard not to feel deflated.
The confidence and tension that had been thrumming through my body drained away all at once.
I was just about to let my shoulders sag and keep walking when I sensed someone approaching from the front.
A woman came walking toward me, her blue robes fluttering in the breeze.
She was every bit as beautiful as the Mount Hua demon I’d met a moment ago.
But unlike the woman who’d greeted me with a blossom-like smile, this one was approaching with a face as cold as ice.
She stopped several steps in front of me.
Because of the strange tension in the air, I met her with an awkward expression of my own.
After a brief moment of silent inspection, she spoke in a calm voice.
“Young lady, are you traveling down this mountain alone?”
Her tone sounded concerned, but suspicion clung to it all the same.
“Yes. I’m on my own.”
Please don’t worry. I’m not dangerous.
I smiled brightly and tried to sell my harmlessness, but it didn’t seem to be getting through at all.
“Is that so? On such a harsh mountain road…”
When my answer apparently failed to satisfy her, she looked around and continued.
“You haven’t happened to meet anyone else, have you?”
“Huh? No, not at all.”
Her eyes sharpened at my reply, and she began to scan me from head to toe with a very naked sort of scrutiny.
I did the same, studying her slowly in return.
The robe sleeves, the sword, the pattern embroidered there.
That was definitely the mark of a disciple from Jongnam.
Her clothing was immaculate, and her posture was perfectly upright.
Looking at the calluses on her hands, I had a feeling she was a fairly accomplished martial artist.
Most of all, she was pretty.
As far as I remembered, for a woman that beautiful to travel alone in the martial world, she’d have to be well into the higher realms just to protect herself.
“Young lady, is that all the luggage you have?”
She nodded toward the bundle on my back.
For some reason, it felt like I was being interrogated, and I wasn’t thrilled about it.
“Yes.”
I answered curtly and thought for a moment.
How did I look right now?
Hm.
Suspicious, maybe.
An old martial-world saying came to mind.
Beware the old, the women, and the children.
A young-looking beauty descending a steep mountain alone, using only her bare hands.
Someone like that was one of two things.
A fortuitous encounter, or a monster.
I began to understand her feelings very well indeed.
“Please don’t misunderstand. I live here.”
“Here? In Mount Hua?”
It was only making things sound stranger the more I tried to explain.
The situation practically begged for suspicion.
I let out an awkward laugh, and she asked with a deeply doubtful expression, “Where did you get those clothes?”
The clothes I’d received from the Mount Hua female disciple.
Was she perhaps acquainted with that demon?
“These were given to me. By Mount Hua itself.”
“…Directly?”
“Yes.”
After hearing my answer, the woman closed her eyes and fell silent.
Thankfully, it seemed she really did know that lecherous demon.
If the misunderstanding was cleared up, good. If not, then from long experience I knew that dragging out the conversation in a situation like this was usually a bad idea.
I decided to make my exit quickly.
“It looks like you’ve got business on Mount Hua. I’m just on my way down the mountain, so I’ll be—”
“Stop.”
Slithering—
Just as I tried to pass her, a vicious metallic sound rang out, and a chill swept through the air.
When I turned around, she had already drawn her sword and was glaring at me with the blade pointed my way.
“W-What is it?”
“I know the owner of those clothes. The youngest disciple of Mount Hua is not someone who would hand over her robe so willingly.”
Her eyes blazed as if she’d just come face-to-face with an enemy.
“What did you do to that girl?”
The cold edge of the blade pressed beneath my chin.
Cold sweat slid down my spine.
That lecherous wench.
So she’d just handed over someone else’s property without a care in the world?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Yu Hyeonju, the second disciple of Jongnam, was dissatisfied with a close friend who still hadn’t shown up even though their appointed meeting time had long passed.
She had crossed a treacherous mountain after a long journey, all the way to the foot of Mount Hua, and now her friend was late?
That was hardly proper conduct.
But after the waiting dragged on beyond two hours, even she grew restless.
She may be a bit careless, but she’s not the sort to break a promise.
Questioning her friend’s unusual behavior, Hyeonju had only just begun climbing Mount Hua when she sensed a sinister presence midway up the trail.
To feel that from so far away…
The distance was roughly half a li.
Hyeonju swallowed and tightened her grip on her sword.
If some threat had appeared on Mount Hua, it should normally be left to the Mount Hua sect to deal with, but she was a swordswoman who trained for justice.
If she let that presence continue descending the mountain, it would surely threaten ordinary people.
She moved forward, every muscle taut with tension, when suddenly that sinister aura vanished without a trace.
Did it notice me?
There were still more than twenty paces between them.
She’d even concealed her own presence while staying on guard, yet it had already reacted?
Hyeonju continued up the trail with caution.
When she reached the area where the energy had disappeared, what met her eyes was a small, childish-looking girl.
The girl was so beautiful that even the friend praised as one of the Four Beauties of the Martial World would pale in comparison, and yet there she was, trudging down the path with a dazed expression.
Suspicious.
Far too suspicious.
Ever since rumors about Mount Hua’s female disciples began to spread, the mountain had attracted all manner of sly men over the years, and it was hardly a safe place.
This was no place for an innocent-looking girl to be going up and down in such neat, immaculate clothing.
Could that sinister presence really have been her?
Refusing to dismiss the possibility, Hyeonju called out to the girl with her nerves fully on edge.
A few questions passed between them, and the girl—who had begun with the guileless look of someone seeing her for the first time—soon started studying her with a sharp, measuring gaze of her own.
An extraordinary person.
Hyeonju’s eyes swept over the girl.
Looking closer, she recognized the clothes at once.
That was the silk robe treasured by Hwayeon, the youngest disciple of Mount Hua, beloved not only by her friend Hwarin but by the entire Mount Hua inner sect.
Hwayeon was notoriously jealous about it, so this had to be that very robe.
The girl stood before her and calmly declared that she had “received it directly.” Hyeonju shut her eyes and forced herself to stay calm.
Let’s not overreact.
It was probably an exaggeration.
After all, this was the Mount Hua main hall.
Even if the sect leader was absent, would anyone really be able to harm them and steal a robe all by herself?
As Hyeonju steadied her mind, the girl seemed to decide on a hasty retreat.
“Stop.”
She had no choice but to stop the girl’s steps.
At worst, this was theft.
That was the conclusion Hyeonju reached.
Seeing the girl up close, she looked frail to the point of seeming completely untrained.
The energy she’d felt a moment ago must have been an illusion, or at least it wasn’t the girl’s own aura.
There was no way the person who had made her break into a cold sweat from half a li away could be this girl.
That energy had to belong to some object the girl carried, or else it had been her own mistake.
And if that was true, then all that remained was an unprincipled little thief.
To Hyeonju, who made righteous punishment her form of chivalry, the girl before her was someone to be judged.
When she pointed her sword at the girl, her face twisted in shock.
So there is something to hide.
But Hyeonju was a cultivator from a Taoist sect.
She was careful enough not to swing her sword until guilt had been proven beyond doubt.
“What did you do to that girl?”
At her question, the girl’s pupils trembled.
Was she scrambling for an excuse?
Tell the truth.
The blade touched the girl’s chin.
Startled by the cold pressure against her skin, the girl said, “I really did receive it directly. I swear.”
Anyone can swear with their mouth.
And riffraff who go around stealing things make their words even cheaper.
Hearing the girl’s protest, Hyeonju, now visibly flustered, could only begin to lower her sword.
“I swear on everything! I’ll stake my balls— no, my breasts on it!”
“What?”