Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Double Agent
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Why on earth?
Gu Hwa-rin watched him with a question that had lingered since yesterday. The man moving his sword above the flower field, teaching his own daughter.
The swordsmanship itself was wondrous. The forms were crudely simple, yet...
Something was different.
There was a strange weight surpassing that simplicity within it.
If her own sword pursued ultimate lightness, this man sought the opposite-ultimate heaviness.
Every motion of swinging the sword felt heavy. He moved his body to control it completely, as if it were the most natural thing.
The breathing maintained within the swinging sword.
A heavy sound pierced the air.
Even amid it all, the flowers at his feet remained undisturbed, blooming perfectly.
Was he being careful not to ruin the flower field while practicing martial arts?
His daughter was the same.
"......"
The little girl earnestly imitated her father. Yet her movements were as natural as lifting chopsticks to eat.
It seemed like he was teaching her something, but she grew familiar with it in just a few tries, as if reviewing what she already knew.
If that wasn't reviewing learned techniques but learning something new...
A monster.
A true martial arts monster. A lump of talent she couldn't even dream of aspiring to.
But... no, it couldn't be.
It had to be reviewing what she'd already learned...
"Gu Sojeo."
"Y-yes?"
The wind blew. Petals swayed.
In the midst of it, the man called Red Cloud rested the wooden sword he'd carved from a tree branch on his shoulder.
"You can't practice the sword without loosening up first, right?"
"......"
"If you'd rather not, I'll step aside. The choice is yours."
"...Haaa..."
She couldn't read his intentions.
But she didn't want to miss this chance to heal her only master.
Caught between conflicting emotions, Gu Hwa-rin stood up.
Dealing with people is hard. Still, she had to endure it. For her master's sake.
Unlike the physician who could say nothing, this man offered a solution. Surely, following him would bring some change, however small.
"Um... Your martial arts look quite profound, so... would you spar with me a bit? I heard from my master that plums need experience to bloom properly. She used to be my sparring partner, but now she can't..."
"That's why I've come to help. Come on, Gu Sojeo."
Red Cloud spun the wooden sword.
"I request a spar."
"...Just don't cry if you get hit."
...
She stood in the flower field.
She looked at her opponent.
Platinum hair swayed in the wind. His stance facing her was filled with nothing but uprightness.
A fragrance lingered at the sword tip. No internal energy. Since it was just a spar...
Just an exchange of swords.
-Clack!
The wooden swords clashed. In the dull motion, I peered into her.
The sword tip shaking as if it might crumple. And her eyes distorting within it.
Her brows furrowed. The moment they collided, she retreated and gripped her wrist.
"...What kind of strength...?"
"Shall I hold back more?"
"N-no, it's fine! I can just deflect it!"
What is a martial artist?
Someone who hates to lose, surely.
I exchanged swords with her. I moved my feet amid Sua's cheers.
The wooden swords clashed. They parted and met repeatedly.
Her branches. Countless flowers extending.
Nine out of ten techniques flew without power. All feints. They bloomed profusely like flowers.
Even without internal energy, it was dizzying. If true enlightenment were added to those techniques...
How much would they bloom?
My lips curved slightly. It was certain. She was the real deal.
Time accumulated without skipping a single day. And the flower struggling to bloom within it.
I swung the sword wide. I flicked away the time contained in her sword tip.
The wooden sword sang. I adjusted so it wouldn't break.
Her plum blossoms were beautiful and vivid, but...
Regrettably, they didn't match my level yet.
Fully controllable.
-Clack.
My stepping foot pierced the feint. I advanced straightforwardly in my wide field of vision.
I struck down all the feints. I read her opponent's flow growing urgent.
Plum fragrance brushing my nose tip. Impatience contained in the sword tip.
And...
Frustration.
-Kudududuk!!
The struck swords all bounced away. Gu Hwa-rin's eyes widened. I cleanly pierced through it.
The extended sword struck her weakness and completely crushed her.
Even Gu Hwa-rin's final technique, desperately trying to break the losing flow, bounced back. Her retreating foot slipped on a flower, staggering.
Nearly a hundred exchanges.
And the trembling gaze within them.
Gu Hwa-rin asked.
"...You... how many times exactly have you swung that sword...?"
She'd read me as much as I'd read her.
I spun the wooden sword and withdrew it.
Gu Hwa-rin belatedly got angry.
"D-don't hold back! Just clash with full power!"
"Your body would break first, Gu Sojeo."
"That much?! No... I thought the gap wasn't visible, but... where exactly do you stand...?"
Where do I stand?
Even I wondered after achieving temple unity. My already solid body had reached its peak, teetering on the edge of something visible yet not.
A wall loomed before me, not too enormous. But if I reached out...
Something felt touchable.
I couldn't surpass it, but clearly.
"...I'm not sure myself."
Sua ran over. She rubbed her face against my waist.
"Daddy's sword is the best! So straight and cool! Heavy... and just as sturdy!"
"That's too high a praise."
Still, not a bad compliment.
It's what I'd always wanted to be.
Gu Hwa-rin caught her breath. She rubbed her reddened arm.
I took medicine from my bosom. I always carried golden sore ointment.
Though I'd struck lightly, it might scar, so I wrapped her wrist. I applied the medicine over the startled wound.
"Did you get a feel for it?"
"...No."
"Your sword was full of impatience. Above all... I glimpsed fire in it."
"......"
"But what covered it all was your love for the sword. Love for the plum blossoms. You said you're not of Mount Hua, Gu Sojeo, but no one embodies the plum blossoms in their sword more vividly."
It was a beautiful sword.
One that made even the viewer feel good.
"Gu Sojeo. I don't know the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Swordsmanship. Nor do I fully grasp that final stance..."
"...Because you're not of Mount Hua."
"But I do know that flowers need nutrients to bloom properly. In sword terms, that's experience. Have you ever experienced other swords?"
She shook her head.
I nodded.
"Fortunately, the swords I wield have three qualities."
"Huh?"
"A sword containing the principle of heaviness. One of speed. One of dullness."
Nine Heavens Blood Demon Sword and Frost White Blood Ghost Sword.
I recalled the Flame Wheel Blood Ghost Sword.
"I'll mix those three appropriately. It'll help build experience. Once you're used to it, we'll increase the intensity bit by bit."
"...I-I really don't get it. Why are you helping me this much...?"
Sua grinned broadly. She whispered softly.
"Daddy's just like that."
"...Like that?"
"Yeah! Right, Daddy?"
"I'm not even sure about being 'like that,' but..."
I widened the distance once more. I pointed the wooden sword at her.
"I just don't want to do anything shameful to myself."
"...A true knight..."
Gu Hwa-rin smiled bitterly.
"You're a rare kind of person."
"I hear 'stubborn' more often than that."
"...Can I ask for a bit more instruction?"
"That's why I'm standing here."
I twitched the sword tip.
"Come at me. As much as you want."
...
"Hwa-rin."
"Yes?"
"Why are you spacing out instead of training as told?"
Why? Because...
I've hit a wall.
Something felt stuffy. I wandered, half-understanding, half not.
I wanted to unravel it, but swinging the sword did nothing...
I lost motivation.
It felt like this was the end.
"...Master. Can I really do this?"
"There are things you say and things you don't. That's the latter."
"I'm serious."
"If you're serious, it's even more of a problem. Jeez. My one and only disciple..."
The Plum Blossom Divine Lord plopped down beside her. Gu Hwa-rin glanced up at the flower field.
Each one carried its own scent. But not her.
No color. No fragrance. Even wanting to bloom plum blossoms...
She could only mimic convincingly, but inside it was empty.
"...Do you remember the day you picked me up?"
"The day you were getting pelted with stones in the back alley?"
"Yes."
She wasn't a full-blooded Saemok person.
Just mixed blood. But her appearance was unmistakably Saemok.
Different appearances were rejected. After losing her parents to plague, it worsened.
No relatives, nowhere to lean. Treated as an ill omen bringing disease.
Her belly swollen from hunger, no food.
Begging only got her told to get lost, it was unpleasant.
...So she was just getting stoned...
Then she met him.
The one who looked straight at her like this.
"Master... did you pick me up because I was so pitiful?"
"I told you no."
"Maybe I just have no talent... That's what I'm thinking lately. Especially after what the Mount Hua disciples said. That this place isn't for me."
"They're clueless idiots with empty heads."
"Everyone's like that wherever I go? Even the people you introduced me to... they all make weird faces. Like they can't understand why I'm the disciple of the Plum Blossom Divine Lord."
"Hwa-rin."
"The other day, I met a Saemok person."
"What?"
"I went down to the village and ran into a traveler. But he... saw me as a Central Plains person instead."
To Saemok, she looked Central Plains.
To Central Plains, Saemok.
Then where was her place? Where could a root without rest plant itself?
Even Mount Hua, where she formally learned martial arts, rejected her...
Then whose person was she?
"...I've been weird lately. I don't feel like myself."
"......"
"I want to vent my emotions, but I can't. I can't explain to others. You know, Master. Why I wanted to learn the sword."
"Hwa-rin. That's..."
"I wanted to be a flower loved by all. Like your plum blossoms, Master. But somehow..."
She smiled bitterly.
Even after learning the sword and going out, this flower field felt like her whole world.
"I feel like I can't..."
"......"
"Can a woman rotten from the roots... really bloom a proper flower? I can't be sure. Master. I... I don't think I can bloom the same flower as you..."
Her master stood. She kept silent, then whispered.
"Hwa-rin."
"Yes."
"Flowers don't bloom to show others. They bloom because they want to bloom themselves. I don't expect you to understand right now. It's not a master's role to make you realize that."
"......"
"But still... remember this."
The Plum Blossom Divine Lord drew her sword.
"There's a seed inside you. A definite seed. I'm not one to spout nonsense. Don't worry. Your plum blossom will be the most beautiful I've ever seen."
"...Master..."
For a moment, the world crumbled. Gu Hwa-rin blinked.
Everything in her vision twisted. With it, she felt the wind brushing her body.
...A dream...?
She opened her eyes. Gu Hwa-rin realized she was lying in the middle of the flower field.
The sun had set. In the darkened sky, her eyes met the man watching over her.
He extended his hand. Gu Hwa-rin raised her aching hand and grasped his.
"Did you have a dream?"
"...Yes."
The spar.
Right. The spar. During it...
She'd collapsed in the end.
Gu Hwa-rin stared at the man before her. She glanced at the wooden sword in his hand, then tossed out words casually.
Dealing with people is hard.
But he was different-he was heavy, so speaking to him felt as easy as talking to a rock.
"Inspector."
"Pardon?"
"How... did you reach that level? Didn't you ever doubt yourself?"
"......"
He sat beside her. He looked up at the moon in the night sky.
"...It'd be a lie to say no. I have. Me too."
"You weren't shaken?"
"I was. But I pulled myself together each time."
"...Why?"
"There's someone I want to catch up to."
His profile was visible. A small smile. A gaze longing for someone.
A gust of wind shook his hair. He had no elegance like a flower's fragrance.
Just a pillar.
The feeling of an unyielding wall was all.
"The essence of dreams lies in fascination, doesn't it?"
"......"
"I took up the sword to chase her figure, and every time my heart crumbled, I gripped it again. I wasn't particularly talented, so it took a lot to get this far."
"No talent...? You reached that absurd realm at such a young age?"
"I connected paths with blood and solidified the foundation with effort. I didn't skip a single day to bloom the flower. I always pushed my body to exhaustion. In visualization and in reality."
The gaze that had been on the moon turned to her.
His eyes were deep. Incredibly so.
"Gu Sojeo. But what made me who I am now isn't just the dream."
"Huh?"
"The sword..."
He smiled.
"---Isn't it fun?"