The Day I Leave Is a Market Day
At the eastern edge of Zhejiang Province, where the Zhoushan Archipelago churns with violent waves, Mount Bota rises in solitary splendor.
The mysterious sect of Namhae Bota-am had coiled itself gracefully within a deep valley of the mountain, a place said to have been touched by the hand of Guanyin.
A natural paradise, screened on all sides by bizarre and magnificent rocky cliffs and fierce tidal currents.
In this sacred sanctuary, the only gateway leading back to the secular world lay at the southern tip of the island.
When the crimson sun rose, the beach known as Thousand Step Sand would glow as though draped in golden silk. At the far end of those pristine white sands stood an old, weathered dock—the single thread connecting the Central Plains to this mystical realm.
From what I had gathered from my junior sisters, supply ships bound for the mainland only called at this dock twice a month. By some cruel twist of fate, today was exactly that appointed day.
Missing this chance would mean waiting another fifteen days, which was why I had risen in the dark predawn hours and scrambled to prepare as though fleeing for my life.
“Hoo…”
Standing at the cliff’s edge, I drew in a deep breath. The cold morning air pierced straight into my lungs.
Vrrrrrm…!
The instant I opened my Sea of Qi, pure inner energy surged forth without the slightest obstruction, flooding every vessel and meridian in my body. The weight of my flesh vanished as though it had never existed, replaced by a buoyant sensation that made me feel as if I could soar into the sky.
“Right then. Shall we?”
I stood at the precipice and hurled myself toward the brightening dawn.
Tap!
A light leap that trod upon empty air.
Below my feet yawned a thousand-zhang abyss still shrouded in darkness, yet my heart burned hotter than it ever had in either of my lives.
The razor-sharp wind tearing past my ears brought only ecstatic pleasure, a thrill that shook me to my core.
Swish! Swish!
I cleaved through the blue twilight, toes lightly hooking the jutting edges of rock before kicking off again. My lightness art flowed like the wind itself, leaving no trace.
The repeated bursts of rebound force felt exactly like a swallow riding the breeze in free flight.
Haha! This is it. This is exactly it!!!
A shudder of pure delight ran through me. This was the same body that had struggled to take even a single step when I first opened my eyes in it.
Just ten days. In that impossibly short span, a miraculous transformation had occurred. My soul had finally synchronized completely with the pinnacle martial skill that Seol-hye of Botamun had spent her entire life refining.
A perfect resonance from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes filled me with overwhelming joy, and a smile spread across my face.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely comfortable.
Heavy bounce.
Every leap sent the weighty mounds of flesh on my chest swaying wildly on their own. The alien sensation and cumbersome recoil were still something this man’s mind could not grow used to.
Still, the skin-tearing agony I had suffered during my first sparring session was gone.
Good thing I learned from Jin.
“Sister, if you only tighten it that much you’ll just suffocate and it’ll hurt even more. Like this—support them from below and wrap them gently…”
Yeon-jin had grabbed the embarrassed me and carefully demonstrated the method. Sure enough, when I bound my chest with the plain cloth exactly as she had shown, the massive burdens stayed obediently in place and my movements became far smoother.
The great Wi Yeon-seol, reduced to learning how to tie a woman’s breasts. It was absurd. But what could I do? My own comfort came first.
Whoosh!
After clearing the cliff, I rode the momentum and settled diagonally onto the highest branch of a dense pine forest.
Not even the swaying pine needles seemed to notice my weight. I gave a satisfied nod at the flawless landing that left everything motionless.
“Mm. Good.”
Swish, swish.
My movements through the thick forest were like a single streak of wind. I became a deep shadow linking tree to tree, piercing through the green canopy.
I ran like that in a trance for about half a shichen.
Shaaaa—!
The dense, dark-green trees that had blocked my vision parted as if by magic, and the salty, refreshing scent of the sea rushed straight into my nose.
“Ha…!”
I stopped without realizing it, a gasp of admiration slipping from my lips.
Before me stretched an endless expanse of golden sand. Beyond it, the autumn sea—drenched in the red light of the morning sun—rolled in majestic waves.
Shaaaaaaa—
Waves carrying glints of sunlight broke endlessly against the white beach, scattering foam. The horizon where sky and sea met was so faint it seemed to dissolve. A majestic vista that defied human language.
For a moment, a distant memory flashed through my mind.
The snowy landscape of the North Sea.
That pure white kingdom of snow, so silent and lofty it seemed to swallow all sound.
If the beauty of that place had been a static, frozen beauty trapped in stopped time, then this southern sea—with its ceaselessly breaking waves—possessed a dynamic vitality that breathed with life.
Just as the snow-covered North Sea had been breathtaking in my final moments as Wi Yeon-seol, this sun-embracing southern ocean now pierced my heart with its beauty.
Why her, of all people?
Out of the countless threads of karma, why had it been Seol-hye?
On the day my life as a man had ended, why had my soul refused to wander the nine heavens and instead possessed this woman’s body, even reversing thirty years of time to do so?
It was too vivid to be mere heavenly mischief, too bizarre to be called a miracle.
But.
Thump. Thump.
When I placed my hand over my heart, the heartbeat transmitted through my palm was unbearably warm.
This was a world I had nearly been trapped forever in the cold darkness of the abyss, never to see again. Even if I now wore the shell of an unfamiliar woman, the fact that I could once more breathe while facing this brilliant sun, this vast sky, this boundless sea—
Yes. That was enough.
What did the reason matter? I had been given a second life. For this overwhelming miracle alone, I could only feel gratitude toward the heavens.
“...?”
Yet that surge of emotion was instantly overwritten by an entirely different feeling.
The moment I spotted the alien figure planted squarely in the middle of the dazzling golden beach, the ecstasy that had enveloped my entire body transformed into bloodless terror.
Hwoooo—
White hair like frost, fluttering in the harsh sea wind.
An exalted dignity that even the passage of time dared not approach.
There stood someone who should not have been there.
No—she looked as though she had been waiting for me from the very beginning, standing as firm as a boulder. In her lowered hand rested a single sword, still sheathed in an antique scabbard.
Hyeon-wol. The current Sword Empress of Botamun and the heaven above every female disciple, including Seol-hye and Yeon-jin.
Damn it, why the hell is she here…?!
My mouth went completely dry.
From the moment I had awakened in Seol-hye’s body, I had consciously avoided her. Every time I met those deep, serene eyes, it felt as though the soul hidden inside this shell was being stripped bare, sending chills down my spine.
And yet, on this very day I had resolved to leave, at this very hour, I had run straight into her at the only path leading to the Central Plains…!
“...”
“...Ugh.”
The sunken gaze I had avoided for so long remained fixed on me without the slightest tremor. Beneath that silent stare, I froze like a criminal stripped naked.
We simply looked at each other without a word.
Only the sound of surging waves filled the silence between us. Her eyes were so deep and calm that I could not read a single thought within them.
A line of cold sweat slid down my back.
I somehow forced my frozen lips to move and squeezed out a trembling voice.
“M-Master…!!”
Slide.
I opened my mouth to offer some excuse, but Hyeon-wol silently raised the hand not holding her sword, cutting me off.
Then she looked down at me with the cold gaze of one observing an insignificant creature from on high.
“……”
The silence tightened around my throat.
Primitive fear began to crawl up from the depths of my chest.
Just how much does she know…?!
Had she simply caught me trying to run away?
Or had she somehow seen through the soul wearing Seol-hye’s skin—had she perceived the existence of Wi Yeon-seol himself…!
All sorts of worst-case scenarios were tearing through my mind when her tightly closed lips finally parted.
“As the Little Sword Empress, you should be focusing on stabilizing the center of the Sword Pavilion and devoting yourself to cultivation. Instead, where do you think you are going with your bags packed?”
Her rebuke, sharp as autumn frost, sliced through the roar of the waves and shook the entire beach.
“What of the junior sisters who trust and follow you? And above all, what do you intend to do about Yeon-jin, who relies on you more than her own flesh and blood?”
“...”
I bit my lip hard and lowered my head.
There was no room for excuses. From the perspective of Seol-hye, disciple of Botamun—not Wi Yeon-seol—my current actions were nothing more than irresponsible flight.
As I stared helplessly at the endlessly scattering grains of sand, another suffocating silence fell.
…I’m screwed.
Half-resigned, I was wondering whether I should simply let myself be dragged back when—
Srrrrng.
A chilling ring pierced my eardrums.
The icy scrape of a blade sliding free of its scabbard split the air.