Chapter 165
Chapter 165
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: The Flower Blooms
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---Thud.
She dropped her sword. Gu Hwa-rin swallowed the curse she had been about to spit out.
There wasn't a single spot on her that didn't hurt, so she just flopped down flat. In the past, she would have cared about the trampled flowerbed, but...
Right now, she was in such a mess that she didn't even want to think about it.
"...I'm gonna die."
"You won't die."
The calm tone of his voice was infuriating. Gu Hwa-rin shot him a glare while still lying down.
The man naturally withdrew his wooden sword. She quietly watched him.
Every movement as he handled the sword was awe-inspiring. Not because it was on a whole other level from hers, but...
Because she knew how much time and effort must have backed every one of those actions, making it all the more astonishing.
She wanted to ask, but even that was too much effort; she just panted heavily. The Murim Alliance inspector, Red Cloud, casually asked,
"Won't the flowers get ruined if you rest like that?"
"...Flowers don't get ruined that easily, usually. Even if they look broken, they always manage to bloom their petals again."
"I see."
He gave a slight smile.
"You're like them, Miss Gu."
"...What?"
"You grumble about how tough it is, but you keep following me steadily. You complain a lot, but you never let go of your sword until the end..."
He said the embarrassing words so nonchalantly.
"Miss Gu, you're like a flower."
"......?!"
Her face burned hot. She opened her mouth to snap back right away but stopped herself.
He wasn't looking at her. He was staring at the flowerbed, quietly enjoying the silence.
Serious eyes. Heavy lips.
A solemn demeanor that didn't seem like the type to toss out even praise lightly...
Sincerity.
"......"
Was that sincere too? Those words just now.
Gu Hwa-rin quickly averted her gaze. She mumbled an excuse.
"...I just want to heal my master."
"I see."
The silence that followed felt awkwardly embarrassing, so Gu Hwa-rin hurriedly blurted out something else.
"Y-yeah, it's a pretty flowerbed, right?"
"It is pretty."
"I take care of it myself. Even my master praised it."
"You must like flowers."
"No woman hates flowers. They're pretty and beautiful... and they smell nice. They hold meaning just by existing."
"What kind of meaning?"
"Each flower has its own. The ones here all carry different meanings. I gave them good fertilizer, plenty of water, and tended to each one so they wouldn't break in the wind and rain."
Red Cloud, who had been nodding, suddenly asked as if curious.
"Then, what meaning do you mainly express with the plum blossoms?"
"...Mount Hua reveres plum blossoms for their noble elegance. They never lose their loftiness... and they're the first to announce the end of a harsh winter to those around them."
"I see."
"What do you think?"
"I'm not sure I'm in a position to judge Mount Hua..."
He turned to look at her.
"But I can tell by looking at you, Miss Gu. You might lack the noble elegance, but you have the other one."
"...Are you saying I'm not noble right now?"
"Doesn't sprawling on the ground to rest seem far from noble?"
"Hey!"
Gu Hwa-rin shot to her feet.
Red Cloud smiled.
"Now you look a bit noble."
"......"
"Aren't you going to ask about the other one?"
"...Out of courtesy, what is it?"
"Endurance."
"Endurance?"
"Your sword and mine seem complete opposites, but that one thing is the same."
The wind blew. Red Cloud closed his eyes amid the fragrance and murmured like he was reciting poetry.
"I saw time hanging at the tip of your sword, Miss Gu."
"...Even so, it hasn't bloomed."
"Can you not call it a flower just because the bud hasn't opened?"
For a moment, she was speechless. Gu Hwa-rin stared blankly at him with his eyes closed.
His sharp jawline. His straight nose. And from within...
A low, solemn word.
"To me, Miss Gu, you are already a flower. You're just refusing to let it bloom yourself."
"...Th-that...!"
Her throat caught on the words she tried to say. Gu Hwa-rin staggered to her feet.
She rephrased it. She desperately explained so he would understand.
The thorn embedded in her heart.
The question she couldn't resolve even after a lifetime honing her sword.
"A seed that can't even take root without soil... who would call that a flower?"
"I will."
"...What?"
"Come, Miss Gu."
He raised his wooden sword again.
"Let's continue."
"......."
An incomprehensible man.
Really. She thought she knew him, but...
Now she didn't understand him at all.
......
All eyes turned to her.
Only then did Gu Hwa-rin realize she was on stage.
"......"
The inspector speaking to her.
The Plum Blossom Divine Lord watching quietly.
In their gazes during that time, something mingled. Gu Hwa-rin steadied her breathing.
Murmurs reached her ears.
Crystal clear.
"Is that the blue-eyed foreigner?"
"The woman the Plum Blossom Divine Lord took as a disciple...?"
"She's pretty, but a bit..."
"Out of place."
"That one represents Mount Hua's sword?"
"What nonsense is that?"
"She looks like an outsider. Hard to even call her a martial artist."
"How could a blue-eyed foreigner grasp Mount Hua's essence...?"
"Ridiculous."
"A disciple Mount Hua hasn't even formally accepted..."
The voices poured in.
Just like in the marketplace.
She closed her eyes. For just an instant.
In that instant, she looked inward.
Her hand rested on the sword hilt. She opened her eyes again.
She looked ahead. At the inspector staring at her impassively.
She whispered in a voice barely audible.
"Miss Gu. Advance. Hasn't the path opened?"
"......"
"I don't lie."
...Lies.
Right.
He's not the type to lie.
She stepped forward. Descending to the stage.
The training ground. Right in the center. She stood tall upon it.
She drew her sword. The crowd's sneers reflected on the blade.
"Look at that pride..."
"She'll swing a few times and be done."
"As expected of an outsider; she clearly knows nothing about Mount Hua's sword."
"He's a Murim Alliance inspector, but really just a swordsman who can't even handle internal energy properly."
"Even if she beat White Fragrance, it was just luck."
"At least one thing's certain."
"She has no eye for people."
Laughter.
Whispers.
Familiar voices.
「A lump of plague. She even ate her own parents.」
「Don't get close. What if you befriend something like that?」
「Being different always has a reason.」
「She's not like us.」
There was no ground to take root.
She was a stranger everywhere.
...But she endured.
Because there was one who picked her up.
「Won't you come with me?」
She drew her sword.
Now she clearly saw it as she gazed down at the blade.
She erased the voices one by one. She didn't let unnecessary noise into her ears.
She felt the gazes. The eyes hiding behind the voices.
She erased even the unnecessary ones among them.
Because there were only two people in the world she wanted to show her sword dance to.
"......"
Plum blossoms.
The flowers of Mount Hua.
What were they like?
Honestly, in the past, they were just objects of longing. Even when her master taught her about the sword, it was the same.
She wanted to catch up but thought she never could. She was captivated but believed it would remain mere admiration.
An outsider without even ground to root in.
How could such a person imitate a brilliantly blooming flower?
...But.
There was one who shook his head at that story.
「To me, Miss Gu, you are already a flower.」
A laugh escaped her.
She couldn't bear it without laughing.
Wasn't it foolish? Telling a weed you're a flower-what's the difference?
She was definitely a fool back then. Even if not now.
Her sword aura was unstable, and the plum blossoms she produced lacked scent and form. Even if it was an imitation, it was fake.
Anyone could see she was only half a Mount Hua swordsman.
...But.
Even so, he believed in her.
「Hwa-rin.」
Her master always said it.
She had to look into the plum blossom within herself. That alone was her true flower.
Then what was her flower?
"......"
The Plum Blossom Divine Lord of Mount Hua, who had asked if she wanted to learn the sword.
Herself, who despite being told she had talent, hadn't produced a proper plum blossom in over ten years.
Her roots, rejected even by other blue-eyed foreigners.
Treated as an outsider wherever she went...
Not accepted as part of Mount Hua.
So she grew flowers. Not just because they were beautiful and she wanted them...
But because she wanted to see flowers firmly rooted somewhere.
---Swish.
The swung sword recreated the first form.
Plum Blossom by the Roadside,
The sight of a plum blossom blooming roadside.
She continued the forms. Within them, she asked.
The question repeated hundreds, thousands of times.
Who am I, and where should I go?
She chased only that question relentlessly, believing something lay at its end.
But...
There was an insurmountable wall. A wall that wouldn't break no matter how she smashed or clawed at it, refusing to let her pass.
She despaired and wandered. Even her master couldn't give proper advice.
It felt like being trapped in a swamp she could never escape.
But one person pulled her out of it.
「The sword is...」
She wanted to make a flower bloom.
Always.
A proper flower...
To show it boastfully to everyone who treated her like an outsider.
Like the flower the Plum Blossom Divine Lord bloomed so splendidly...
That she too was a Mount Hua swordsman.
「Isn't it fun?」
But she surpassed even that reason. She poured the thrill from when she first gripped the sword into it.
She immersed and devoted herself. She hammered her soul into every swing.
And finally, she saw it.
The tiny seed that longed to bloom. The bud waiting to burst.
The full bloom she could see with one more step...
---Kaaaaang!!!
The air exploded. Her hair tie burst beyond her fluttering locks.
Her hair came undone. But she pressed on without hesitation.
Sword energy gathered on her blade. Accumulating until it sparkled like stars.
A gasp of admiration sounded from somewhere. But she erased even that.
Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Swordsmanship
Plum Blossom Gradually Opening
She continued the forms.
The petals she wanted to show herself.
The blooming sight.
"That's...!"
"Mount Hua's flower!"
She wanted to show it. To everyone.
But more than anyone, she wanted to show...
Herself.
The woman always shrinking, minding others' eyes.
The woman always chased away as rootless.
The woman abandoned by all, weeping alone.
I wanted to show you. To that person.
That you're not small. That you're a person with one clear flower.
She moved her sword. Connecting broken forms into one shining whole.
She ignored the rising crowd. She passed over even Mount Hua's shouts.
It's fine. Even if no one else sees.
Because you're watching. Because you acknowledge me.
Right? Gu Hwa-rin?
So let's show it now. Here, to everyone...
What you longed for.
What you wanted.
"What nonsense is this...?!"
"What in the world...?!"
Gazes brushed past in the sword dance. She saw the Plum Blossom Divine Lord's tears.
Gazes brushed past in the sword dance. She saw Un-gong's shocked eyes.
Gazes brushed past in the sword dance. She saw Su-a's beaming smile.
Gazes brushed past in the sword dance.
She saw Red Cloud's whispering face.
Do what you want to do-a short word.
The moment she heard it, it finally fully bloomed.
Surpassing the wall she tried to climb countless times...
Her own flower finally bloomed.
Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Swordsmanship
Plum Blossom Fragrance Spanning Ten Thousand Ri
The fragrance of a once-bloomed plum blossom...
Can travel over ten thousand ri.
"...Ah."
The seed without a place to root finally showed itself blooming.
The petals to comfort her wandering self.
---Kaaaaaaaang!!!!
The exploded sword dance flowed on phenomenal sword energy, sweeping the training ground and scattering countless petals toward the sky.
Golden plum blossoms.
Different in form and appearance from Mount Hua's plum blossoms, but...
Still, the innumerable petals bloomed profusely, rising high before slowly descending.
Over the training ground where all of Mount Hua's warriors could see.
Blanketing all the shock and murmurs.
---Plop.
The sword tip touched the ground. One falling petal landed on her open palm.
The plum blossom scent tickled her nose.
So...
"...You were right after all."
So...
"Red Cloud."
She found herself agreeing again.
With his words.
Looking back on the years passed.
Expressing gratitude to the one who taught her something precious.
"The sword is..."
She smiled.
"Indeed fun."
Because she had learned, even if late, how to stand straight...
From him.