Chapter 185
Chapter 185
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Lingering Regret
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The site rumored to contain Sintu's Hidden Pavilion was already swarming with countless martial artists from the jianghu, and as time wore on, their numbers only continued to swell.
Yet despite this massive gathering, no significant clashes of martial force had broken out.
The reason was simple.
The entrance to Sintu's Hidden Pavilion still hadn't been found.
Everyone had rushed here in a frenzy upon hearing the rumors, but officially speaking, no one had located the entrance yet, leaving them all stuck outside.
'...Good thing I flipped the place upside down ahead of time.'
No matter how long she'd spent secluded in Kunlun, Yeo So-cheon was still a battle-hardened veteran of the jianghu.
She hadn't for a second believed that these hot-blooded martial artists would sit idly by if the entrance was just sitting there plain as day. That's why, before stirring up this whole affair, she'd preemptively turned the area inside out, making it impossible to find the entrance easily.
She couldn't stop them from grabbing shovels and digging around everywhere in their search, but since she'd scrambled everything so thoroughly, it would take them at least a couple of weeks of excavating before the entrance saw the light of day.
What she was after was using Sintu's Hidden Pavilion as bait to draw out the Blood Cult—not letting the jianghu folk turn on each other over it and start swinging swords.
With the Blood Cult as their common enemy, they couldn't afford to thin their own ranks. That would be the worst possible blunder.
If they could just properly deal with the Blood Cult, then whatever came after—whether brawls over the pavilion or outright swordfights—she wouldn't give a damn.
The Central Plains had always been that kind of world, and Sintu's Hidden Pavilion was fated to be uncovered eventually anyway. She'd merely hastened it for her own purposes.
Bloody winds blowing up every time some major incident rocked the Central Plains was just par for the course.
If anything, things had felt a bit too peaceful lately due to the cleanup after the war with the existing Blood Cult. Back when she was much younger...
"Yeo So-cheon. You there?"
"You know I am, so why ask?"
"Still, manners exist for a reason."
"Fine, whatever. Come on in."
As Yeo So-cheon drifted into old memories, in walked a figure from her own era.
They had sensed each other's presence from afar ages ago, so there was no real need to call out. But if the woman insisted...
"...What's that?"
"Care for a drink? I was just about to have one alone and feeling a bit bored."
The Sword Empress pointed at the object in Yeo So-cheon's hand, prompting her to grin and raise the bottle she held.
"I never knew you were one for liquor."
"I drink if it's there, skip it if not. But lately, thanks to someone, I've been indulging more often, and it's starting to taste pretty good."
"...You won't even get buzzed, so I suppose it's fine."
With nothing urgent seeming likely to happen—and even if it did, they could dispel any alcohol haze in an instant—the two accepted the cups with light hearts.
How much time passed after that?
Pfft.
"Back when we parted ways then, did you ever imagine we'd reunite like this? Falling for a guy like that, of all people..."
"I never expected these feelings to linger either. To think I'd feel something now that I never did even in my youth."
Their conversation naturally shifted to the topic of her husband.
"Still, a woman like you must've had no shortage of suitors throwing themselves at you. Not a single one caught your eye? At that old Dragon-Phoenix Tournament, plenty of guys were just waiting for you to show up."
"What era are you talking about? And how do you see Mount Hua anyway? Nothing like that ever happened."
"Fair enough. Being a Daoist does make that convenient, doesn't it?"
"It's not like I chose this path for that reason..."
For either Yeo So-cheon or the Sword Empress, there was now only one person left in the world with whom they could open up like this and reminisce about the old days.
They were both the types who only knew how to swing a sword, not particularly sociable, so making friends had never been easy. Even the comrades from twenty years ago she might've called friends had all long returned to dust...
"And you—back then, every eye in the place was on you. 'Look at this kid who showed up,' they said."
"I never lied about my age. They just assumed I was a child and went easy on me. Some of them were even younger than me, in fact."
"Thanks to that, no one judges by appearances anymore. Cheap life lesson, I'd say."
"Who knows... if they even picked up a sword again after..."
Given her personality, she never went easy on opponents who treated her like a child. It wasn't hard to imagine the humiliation they'd suffered.
"Speaking of old stories, since we're on the topic..."
"What?"
"Before you left Shaanxi, you were going to talk about your disciple, right? You said you'd confess what she did when you got back."
"...!"
The Sword Empress's eyes widened briefly at Yeo So-cheon's words before her expression darkened, and she spoke.
"...So you knew."
"Comes with the territory."
"Did you tell him?"
"No. Seemed like you wanted to handle it yourself."
In truth, she hadn't felt any need to say anything.
He didn't seem particularly curious about the past, and knowing wouldn't change much with his personality. Probably just a mild "Oh, so that's what happened."
Like satisfying idle curiosity.
A wrecked dantian was dangerous, sure, but it wasn't something he'd personally suffered in his memories. If anything, it led him to be taken in by that woman, healed, and taught some skills—maybe not such a bad turn after all.
Even if his dantian had been fine, with that face and frail body, who knows if he'd have survived unscathed in the Central Plains...
'Enough on other heavenly secrets.'
Dwelling on possibilities that never happened in her own timeline wasn't productive.
She hadn't even known he existed back then. What was the point of pondering it now?
"...Thank you. For leaving me the chance to tell him myself."
"No big deal. It's your story to tell."
Still, how to correct this stubborn woman's misconception?
She believed it was her failure to watch her disciple properly that caused the incident, even leading to amnesia from the shock.
But considering the girl's personality before it happened, no one could've predicted it—and it wasn't amnesia anyway.
'Can't exactly say it's just the same shell.'
She didn't know what happened to the original owner of that body—her superior hadn't said—but she knew he was an outsider from some other world called Earth who had settled into it.
The problem was, predicting the Sword Empress's reaction if she revealed that was impossible.
Even divination showed too many possibilities; she'd only know by trying it.
Better to let it lie than gamble like that. No plans to spill the truth anytime soon.
Especially since blurting it out could easily lead to qi deviation for her.
The best fix would be dragging that damned disciple here for a proper face-to-face, but that was easier said than done.
Years of piled-up emotions had turned their master-disciple bond into something more like sworn enemies.
The disciple, fully gone over to the vampires' side, was probably just biding her time to stick a blade in her master's neck.
Her info from the clouds had dried up long ago, but that madwoman wouldn't have changed her mind in the interim. Safe to assume she was the same as before.
As for the master's side...
"...You still regret it, don't you?"
"Regret what?"
"Your disciple. Don't you want to catch her, drag her before him, make her kneel and apologize?"
"..."
That was probably it.
This woman believed that when someone wrongs another, they must apologize and pay the price—not just in theory, but in practice. Plenty had been vanquished by her, paid their dues, and started anew successfully.
She only lopped off heads without hesitation if there was no sign of remorse or hope for redemption.
Back then, she'd had no choice but to kill. Seeing her disciple revived must have stirred regrets over what she couldn't do before.
And no matter how rigid she was, this woman was human after all.
She wouldn't want to kill with her own hands the girl she'd raised like a daughter from childhood.
If redemption was possible, she'd want that instead.
It was just impossible in her current state.
"...Of course I do. Last time we met, after subduing her, I thought I'd try something. But then that bizarre thing happened..."
"She vanished right in front of you? With a flash of light?"
"Probably some Blood Cult technique. I'd seen their weird teleportation formations before."
'Tch.'
If she'd stayed subdued then, none of this mess now.
"...If you're worried I'll go soft, don't be. Even if Soyeon shows up on this battlefield, I won't waver. My experience isn't so shallow that I'd muddle priorities in a place this critical."
"...Got it."
She hadn't meant to bring up the disciple, but the talk had veered there anyway.
With the mood soured like this, no chance for what she'd originally planned to say.
As she pondered how to salvage the awkward atmosphere, someone pounded urgently on the tent flap.
"Th-Thunderclap Sword! Big trouble!"
"What is it?"
"The unorthodox bastards!"
"...Haa."
These jianghu folk couldn't go a single day without stirring up trouble.
It was headache-inducing, but perfect timing to escape the situation.
"I'll go deal with those hotheads."
"...Then I'll head back too."
"And if something's bothering you, don't bottle it up—spill it. Seems like I'm the only one here who can look out for you right now."
The awkwardness was uncomfortable, but ignoring it wasn't an option.
Let it fester, and it could turn into a bigger bomb.
They'd be dealing with each other for a while yet; better to manage it early.
Pfft.
"Back in the day, you were the one clinging to me and bawling your eyes out. Is this what they call the times changing?"
"What era are you reminiscing about?!"
"You brought up the old days first."
"...Argh!"
Whoosh!
No good comeback coming to mind, she flung open the tent flap and stormed out.
'Worried for nothing.'
She'd seemed unstable, so a little concern... and she was perfectly fine.
Time to vent this frustration on those crying "big trouble."
Unorthodox started it or orthodox did—didn't matter.
'Get ready to grovel, all of you.'
Crackle.
Those who let orders against causing a ruckus go in one ear and out the other needed a good thrashing first.