Chapter 272: A Face Seen for the First Time
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Busily moving hands.
SEUSEUK, SEUK, SEUSEUK- HWIK, HWIHWIK, HWIK-
Faint colors and lines spread ceaselessly following the gestures.
The background was the interior of a massive place.
A castle? A palace?
Well, he didn’t know.
Anyway, the surrounding background from the dream was similar to that.
At that time, his gaze had been focused on the woman.
So he didn’t remember the detailed form.
But he would fill it in.
Clearly, delicately, precisely.
Using a portion of the Heaven Illuminating Divine Light Great Technique essence that had even mobilized the Divine Martial Sword’s divine power…
Thus, the outline of the overall background for restoring the scene was being born.
Cheol Ryu-heun continuously moved his hands while concentrating his spirit.
‘This is merely the starting point. I mustn’t rush. One by one, one by one…’
Cheol Ryu-heun, having repeated this internally, raised his upper dantian’s brain power even further.
How much time had passed?
Finally, the work of establishing the outline was completed.
A square below the night sky where a luminous moon and stars harmonized.
Stone walls erected high in all directions.
There were numerous people.
Around the square.
It evoked the atmosphere of a large-scale banquet hall.
However.
This was still just an approximate picture.
One could barely tell whether they were people or not…
Still, Cheol Ryu-heun was satisfied.
Because this was a part that hadn’t properly surfaced before.
He had only thought, oh, there are many people gathered.
But now, the scene’s background and outline had been drawn smoothly.
Slowly but little by little…
This was proof of the effectiveness of applying a portion of the Heaven Illuminating Divine Light Great Technique’s essence.
The banquet square.
Now he would create the outline of the necessary scene in its center.
First, he draws a large, wide circle.
It was a circular platform.
About one chi in height.
It was the stage where the woman had danced.
At that moment.
Cheol Ryu-heun, having completed the stage’s outline, directed his gaze sideways.
It was a point outside the stage.
Why?
It was dark.
A place where nothing could be seen.
As if some part of the scene had been deleted with black paint.
It was the only space of darkness among the surrounding background.
‘I must fill that place!’
Cheol Ryu-heun stared at that dark space and poured greatly increased mental power into it.
His head felt prickly.
It was the effect of his brain being further stimulated.
Eventually.
CHYUCHYUT… CHYUCHYUT…
The blackness in one space gradually cleared away.
Indeed, it was successful.
‘Just a little more!’
Finally, everything was revealed.
Stairs built up with marble.
And.
A raised platform that gave a luxurious impression.
It was very large and tall.
In a state where one person was seated on the platform reached by climbing the stairs.
The seat of honor.
Though it was only an approximate outline, nine times out of ten it was a person of supreme status.
‘Who is it?’
Cheol Ryu-heun thought briefly, then turned his gaze to the center.
It was the woman’s turn.
He quietly moved his hand while conjuring her appearance.
KKUMTEULKKUMTEUL, KKUMTEULKKUMTEUL…
Thin lines connected.
An elegant female form with graceful curves.
Thus, when it was complete from head to toe, Cheol Ryu-heun quietly exhaled.
‘Done.’
Finally, it was time to perform detailed work.
Like that night sky embracing the moon and stars, he needed to apply color to the entire square and refine it to complete the picture.
UKSHIN.
The pain in his brain increased slightly.
Like a migraine.
He didn’t know how much longer he could endure.
But if he rushed, he would instead incur harm.
‘Let me do it step by step. This is not yet the limit.’
Cheol Ryu-heun maintained his concentration and began the meticulous work.
Quite a bit of time passed.
As a result, fatigue increased.
Of course, so did the pain in his head.
However, that effort didn’t betray his expectations.
Except for two, most of it was complete.
Only then did he clearly realize.
This was a place prepared inside an enormous castle of unknown name.
Flags were planted on the castle walls surrounding the square.
Various colors… too many to count.
As if symbolizing someone’s authority and power.
Something seemed to be embroidered with writing that signified some name, but that was difficult to see.
Could it be a martial world force?
However, it wasn’t in the memories of Cheol Ryu-heun when he was the Divine Martial Sword.
It was an unfamiliar group.
Anyway, the crowd each had different statuses.
Though everyone wore comfortable attire, literati, martial artists, and common people were mixed.
That was somehow the feeling.
Those carrying weapons at a banquet were clearly martial artists.
Perhaps it was a festival commemorating military achievements.
On another side, musicians and dancers could be seen as well.
‘Now… let me refine the remaining parts in detail.’
Only two remained.
The woman on the stage and the figure on the platform.
‘That person first.’
Cheol Ryu-heun cast his gaze toward the unidentified figure occupying the high-class seat on the platform.
Their appearance was hazy as if wrapped in clouds.
He needed to clear that away.
Only then could he see their attire or appearance.
However.
It was strange.
No matter how much he tried, they remained hazy.
‘Hmm… confirming that substance is difficult!’
Perhaps because the divine power was incomplete, it was inadequate for the wondrous function of a portion of the Heaven Illuminating Divine Light Great Technique’s essence.
How to describe it.
It was as if the memory inside his head was rejecting and trying to delete the figure in the luxurious upper seat.
JIKEUN.
The headache suddenly intensifying.
‘EUUUK!’
Cheol Ryu-heun, having distorted his face, immediately gathered his spirit.
‘Can’t be helped. I’ll leave that alone… and just find out what I want to know.’
What he was most curious about was the woman.
Yes.
He would just figure that out and finish.
Now he only needed to complete the woman.
First, he tried recalling the shape of her hair.
Following the memory of the old dream.
‘Soaring Immortal Coiffure.’
The woman’s outer form was being refined following his gestures.
The hair on top was divided into two round rings, standing up and fixed in an elegant form like a celestial being flying in the sky, while the remaining hair hung down long to her back like a black waterfall.
It was different from the Soaring Immortal Coiffure form fashionable in this era.
It was an ancient hairstyle.
Among upper-middle class women now, the mainstream was Soaring Immortal Coiffure where front and back hair were completely twisted up, or various transformed styles like Flower Peak Coiffure, Following Clouds Coiffure, Soaring Clouds Coiffure, Double Ring Hanging Coiffure, Double Ring Looking at Immortals Coiffure, Coiling Lingering Coiffure, and Facing Heaven Coiffure.
That alone told him.
That the woman was an existence from ancient times.
Following that, her clothing was also being completed.
Thin, flowing fabric.
It was gossamer showing skin through white cloth.
Following that, expensive shoes embroidered with flower patterns…
Finally, the woman from his dream was perfectly drawn.
Her face couldn’t be seen.
Because a rectangular face veil was covering it, tied by strings to a phoenix-shaped headband above her forehead and peacock-shaped earrings.
Cheol Ryu-heun regulated his breathing.
‘Done. Let me move it right away!’
Before he knew it, the headache had intensified, but he paid no mind.
Brain power reproduced the dream.
As a scene full of vitality.
Someone’s flute sound.
Using that as the signal, the melody of various instruments filled the square.
Drum beats were added to that.
DUNG, DUNG, DUNG…
Why?
His heart was pounding along with it.
Even though this wasn’t his own memory.
The woman drew circles on the ground as if stepping on them, spinning several large loops before beginning to dance.
Clothing swaying gracefully.
The movements revealed in rhythm with the melody were bewitching.
It was beautiful.
Truly the grace of a celestial maiden.
Her lightly moving hands and feet were like a bird’s wingbeats.
Looking at her movements, one could tell.
Her face was probably beautiful too.
One shoulder bobbed.
SARARAK.
Along with the fluttering clothing, her left foot rose straight up.
Following that movement, her pale thigh briefly appeared before hiding back into her skirt.
Ravishing enough to lose one’s senses.
Every gesture of her hands and feet…
Her two feet wearing pretty shoes stamped the ground.
While spinning round and round on the stage.
While shaking her slender waist neither quickly nor slowly.
It was a coquettish movement.
Amid that, noble elegance poured forth.
She was an extraordinary woman.
It was difficult to describe her charm in words.
Her chin moving slightly.
Her slender neck was ever so lovely.
At some point, the dance became slightly faster.
Along with it, the black hair hanging down her back swayed ceaselessly like waves.
It was breathtaking.
Her left hand stroked the moonlight while her right hand caressed the wind.
Her two feet stamping the ground in curls – it seemed as if the starlight in the night sky fell to the ground, scattered chaotically, then gathered again.
When the gossamer spread wide, fragrance tickled the tip of his nose.
Was she a butterfly seducing flowers?
The crowd was watching the song and dance with entranced expressions.
The men especially had dreamy eyes.
Cheol Ryu-heun soon turned his gaze to watch the platform.
He was smiling.
That person.
Though hazy, he could feel it.
At that moment.
The woman’s coy laughter was clearly mixed into the dance movements.
“Hohoho.”
It was clear like bells.
Just hearing it made one’s heart flutter.
SARAK.
When the woman slightly loosened her front collar, exclamations burst out here and there.
The moonlight intensively illuminated the stage.
Somehow, the feeling was like that.
As if only the woman existed between heaven and earth.
How much time had passed from then?
The woman’s dance changed to become intense.
It seemed the thin gossamer would be stripped off at that rate.
Her elegant hands and feet crossed.
CHWACHOT.
The woman, who had spread her skirt hem wide, soon put her hands together.
Simultaneously, the melody of various instruments ceased.
Following that.
DUNG!
The drum beat signaling the end.
The pure white clothes swayed gracefully before drooping down.
Thus, the square was enveloped in stillness.
With bated breath.
Because it was too quiet, the woman’s breathing could be faintly heard.
Cheol Ryu-heun suddenly thought.
That the woman’s appearance was somehow forlorn.
He didn’t know the reason for that.
It was just a momentary feeling.
The woman, having adjusted her front collar and regulated her breathing, walked forward with her gaze fixed.
Toward the direction where Cheol Ryu-heun stood.
‘Who… are you?’
Before he knew it, it was the end of the dream.
However, he intended to find out more.
With a portion of Heaven Illuminating Divine Light Great Technique’s essence harmonized with the incomplete divine power…
Yes, by somehow connecting the thread of memory.
The woman arrived at a close spot and stopped.
“You’ve come.”
The woman’s slender jade fingers, having spoken in a soft voice, grasped the face veil.
And then.
SEUK-
Lifting the face veil, she spoke again.
“It’s me.”
It was the final scene of the old dream.
At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun was agonized as the headache became severe.
‘KEUK…!’
But he clenched his teeth and endured.
Because he had a premonition that if he concentrated, he could see more.
Sure enough.
The face veil rose completely and revealed the woman’s jade countenance.
She was beautiful.
Truly.
Two eyes as clear as the sky, a nose rising sleekly like a crescent moon, red lips that seemed to burn like the sunset…
It was a beauty of heavenly fragrance.
Truly an existence that had gathered all the beauty of the world.
A peerlessly beautiful woman who might appear once in a hundred years.
Cheol Ryu-heun, simultaneously with confirming her features.
‘…!’
Trembled violently from an inexplicable shiver.
He didn’t know the reason.
This was a face seen for the first time.
‘Anyway.’
One thing was clearly understandable.
That this was not his own memory.
But why did his heart keep being drawn to the woman…?
At that moment.
CHEOK.
The figure on the platform over there stood up.
“She is the one who will become my wife.”
Immediately after, cheers and applause filled the venue.
At the same time, fury surged in Cheol Ryu-heun.
Why was that, too?
He didn’t know.
The woman, having lowered her gaze, spoke quietly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know… you would return.”
At that moment, a dark curtain descended on Cheol Ryu-heun’s vision.
That was the end.
“KEOK!”
Cheol Ryu-heun, having awakened from meditation, let out an agonized groan.
He was coughing blood.
Cheol Ryu-heun, having collapsed on the floor, was losing consciousness.
TEOLSEOK-
Having planted his head in the ground, his awareness was fading bit by bit.
-TANG, TANG, TANG, TANG… JJEOLGEUREOKJJEOLGEUREOK… PUSHYUT, PUSHYUUT… CHIIIK, CHIIIK… KANG, KANG, KANG, KANG… KKIRIKKKIRIK…
Strange auditory hallucinations sounded in his ears.
Sounds reminiscent of work in a forge.