Chapter 20: Chapter 20
Inside the thatched cottage where the oil lamp illuminating the dark night flickered, Hyeon-cheong and Cheon-hwi sat down on the floor at a distance from each other.
Cheon-hwi, who was looking at Hyeon-cheong, smacked his lips.
‘It seems I won’t be able to eat meat today.’
Jeok-geom and Seol Ran, upon seeing the sudden appearance of Hyeon-cheong, had tactfully withdrawn.
Just as he was feeling regretful while thinking of the steaming meat.
‘But why did he come here?’
He suddenly felt doubtful.
The Hyeon-cheong he had seen so far lived in the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion and was someone who didn’t take a single step outside.
However, it wasn’t enough to just step out of the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion, he had actually made a trip all the way here.
Just as Cheon-hwi was harboring doubts, Hyeon-cheong, who had been agonizing over something, opened his mouth.
“……Are you personally teaching Jeok-geom and Seol Ran?”
“It just happened that way.”
Cheon-hwi replied nonchalantly.
Making his long wait seem pointless, his question wasn’t the main point.
‘What does he want to ask that he is beating around the bush like that?’
Meanwhile, Hyeon-cheong quietly muttered with a face full of disbelief.
“Hah, it just happened that way.”
After a while, he looked at Cheon-hwi and said.
“It’s truly surprising. Just a little while ago, you couldn’t even control your body properly, and now you’re teaching the second-generation disciples.”
Hyeon-cheong’s eyes, which had spoken with feigned admiration, deepened endlessly.
He had clearly heard that just four months ago, Cheon-hwi was hovering between life and death.
That was why he had even thought about teaching him martial arts during their first meeting……
‘It was an unnecessary meddling.’
When Hyeon-cheong shook his head from side to side.
‘Just get to the main point quickly.’
Cheon-hwi revealed an annoyed expression.
Watching Hyeon-cheong, who not only beat around the bush but also tried to fall deep into thought, was no different from torture.
He soon stared at Hyeon-cheong and asked.
“So what brings you all the way here?”
Feeling Cheon-hwi’s tone urging him to speak quickly, Hyeon-cheong’s atmosphere changed.
His softly raised eyebrows and the corners of his mouth gradually lowered, and eventually formed a straight line and stiffened firmly.
Hyeon-cheong, who showed a serious appearance different from his usual self in the blink of an eye, spoke.
“I heard a rumor about you floating around the main mountain.”
“You mean a rumor?”
At that moment, Cheon-hwi’s eyebrows twitched.
A rumor? What rumor is he talking about?
Unlike his usual calm and collected appearance, he reacted sensitively to the word ‘rumor’.
It was natural, because how many annoying things had happened due to the strange rumors that had spread about him in the past.
He was constantly annoyed by rumors, to the extent that he personally visited several sects and scattered them into a handful of dust.
‘What false rumor has spread?’
His face, which had never even thought about rumors regarding himself since becoming Cheon-hwi, slightly crumpled.
Hyeon-cheong, flustered by Cheon-hwi’s rapidly changing expression, hurriedly added his words.
“Recently, the number of disciples in the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion has increased, and as I was investigating it, I came to hear a rumor about you.”
Thinking that Cheon-hwi felt offended, he quickly added a reason, but.
‘What is he talking about?’
Cheon-hwi’s deeply furrowed brow showed no sign of smoothing out.
That was because what he wanted to know was not the details of the rumor, but what the rumor was.
Cheon-hwi spat out that intention.
“So what is the rumor?”
Hyeon-cheong, realizing that he had guessed wrong, smiled awkwardly and replied.
“I heard that you showed outstanding martial prowess in this Five Mountains Gathering.”
Cheon-hwi’s stiffened brow relaxed.
What, it was that?
Cheon-hwi, who recalled the Five Mountains Gathering which was no different from child’s play despite its grand name, was unimpressed.
But would Cheon-hwi know?
That his current attitude looked to the Hyeon-cheong in front of him as if such a level was completely natural.
“……It seems the rumor is true.”
“It is true.”
Cheon-hwi calmly affirmed.
“Did you come all the way here just to confirm the truth of such a rumor?”
“Haha, there is that as well.”
Hyeon-cheong’s expression as he answered in a low voice softened considerably.
‘Would there be anyone throughout all ages who showed growth like Cheon-hwi.’
Hyeon-cheong’s gaze upon Cheon-hwi, who had achieved a remarkable growth that would only be seen in legends or myths, became warmer than before.
‘It is a great blessing for our sect.’
While thinking, he muttered.
“Hyeon-gang’s insight was outstanding……”
Nodding his head up and down, Hyeon-cheong muttered.
After a while, he smiled softly while seeing Cheon-hwi overlap with Hyeon-gang.
“Do you know why I have been staying in the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion since the past?”
As soon as Cheon-hwi heard Hyeon-cheong’s words, he felt an unusual vibe.
‘That tone is what clan leaders often used with kids when they wanted to talk about their past……’
Did they say that ominous premonitions are never wrong?
Hyeon-cheong, who was lost in contemplation while looking at the empty air, immediately started to lay out his story.
“Although I am spending every day in the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion now, I have distanced myself from books since the past. I kept the sword closer than books and liked moving around.”
“…….”
Cheon-hwi narrowed his eyes.
‘Damn it, I can’t even cut him off.’
If it were in the past, he would have kicked him and told him to ‘stop bullshitting’ before ignoring the story.
However, he was in a situation where he couldn’t do that now.
It was because this horse-faced Daoist bastard making a long speech right in front of his nose was now his martial uncle.
“……While I was training my martial arts with Hyeon-do, our master brought a young child from somewhere and made him a disciple.”
Hyeon-cheong’s wrinkles around his eyes deepened as he stopped mid-sentence.
With a gaze mixed with two conflicting emotions of joy and sorrow, he blinked once and stared at Cheon-hwi.
“That child is exactly your master, Hyeon-gang.”
“I see.”
Cheon-hwi replied reflexively.
He not only didn’t listen to the words properly, but he also wasn’t curious about it at all.
However, as if unaware of Cheon-hwi’s reaction, Hyeon-cheong continued his words.
“……Eight years ago, Hyeon-gang went out accompanied by the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, and suffered a great misfortune. He ended up clashing with the Extermination Broken Sword and his subordinate Extermination Squad.”
Hyeon-cheong bit his lip tightly.
Recalling his painful past, his face distorted as his heart ached.
Unlike him, Cheon-hwi only then showed interest and fully opened his closed ears.
‘He’s the master of this body?’
He felt a slight interest.
“I still don’t know the reason why the two ended up clashing. But they eventually clashed, and perished together. Because not a single person survived.”
Hyeon-cheong shook his head from side to side.
It was an incident that was still a mystery even now.
Why the Plum Blossom Swordsmen and the Extermination Squad clashed, and why the two fought to the point of risking mutual destruction.
They didn’t know the cause, nor the process.
Only the result was entirely clear.
Only that the Mount Hua Sect had lost its future, Hyeon-gang and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, and the White Ghost Castle had lost the Extermination Broken Sword and the Extermination Squad.
And because of that, the power of both sects was considerably weakened compared to before.
The Mount Hua Sect, which had been at the head of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, was pushed back, and the White Ghost Castle, which was evaluated as close to the top seat in the Six Sovereign Gates, was also forced to step down to the lowest seat as if being chased away.
“Our sect had tried to take revenge on the White Ghost Castle. But reality was harsh. We thought the Martial Arts Alliance would naturally help us, but…… The Martial Arts Alliance made an agreement, stating that they couldn’t risk a war with the Four Black Alliances because the Flying Heaven Society was still going strong.”
Cheon-hwi’s lips twisted as he listened.
‘They shouted so much about being Righteous.’
A sneer naturally leaked out as he recalled how the Righteous Faction persecuted the Heavenly Demon Cult while shouting that they were justice in the past.
‘Are they any different from our Cult?’
No, they were rather more petty than the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Even our Cult, which they said wore the skin of humans, would move to take revenge if a single affiliated sect was attacked.
No matter how bad our Cult’s situation was, or even if the opponent was a powerful enemy, we didn’t tuck our tails like those hypocrites.
“Most people rebelled against that decision, but we had no choice but to accept it. Because they said it was a choice for the greater good.”
Hyeon-cheong ground his teeth.
In addition, whether the blood vessels in his eyes burst, bloodlines gradually intertwined in his pupils.
‘This is his true nature.’
Around the time he was looking at Hyeon-cheong, who exuded a sharp atmosphere entirely different from his usual self.
“But do you think that makes any sense? If Shaolin’s rising star or Wudang’s rising star had died, do you think the Martial Arts Alliance would have remained silent? They must have buried it and moved on because it was our sect!”
He poured out the anger he held inside.
Opening his two eyes, which were dyed bright red from blood, sharply, he looked at Cheon-hwi.
“You are right.”
Cheon-hwi responded calmly.
At that sight, Hyeon-cheong came to his senses.
When even he, his Senior Brother, felt this heartbroken, how must Cheon-hwi feel, who considered Hyeon-gang as both his master and father.
‘His heart must be hurting more than mine.’
At the moment his gaze intertwined with Cheon-hwi, who seemed to be staring silently on purpose, Hyeon-cheong was deeply sympathizing.
But would he know?
That Cheon-hwi had answered to end the story, let alone feeling sorrow or empathy.
That he was suppressing his annoyance, not his sadness.
‘So when is the story going to end?’
When waiting for it to end was getting exhausting, Hyeon-cheong opened his mouth.
“After the decision of that day was made, I entered the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion. In order to nurture absolute masters so that Shaolin and Wudang…… No. So that the Martial Arts Alliance could not look down on our sect after restoring the Mount Hua Sect’s martial arts that had been lost or scattered in the past.”
Hyeon-cheong spat out his words as if chewing them.
Over the period of eight years, he not only struggled with the books he hated so much to restore the martial arts, but also locked himself away in the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion every day.
However, he was currently in a situation where he had only restored a few dozen martial arts books.
In this state, it was uncertain whether he could restore even one-tenth of the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion, even if he devoted his life to it.
In the midst of that, there was a rumor he heard.
And to figure out the truth of that rumor, he visited his junior brothers, and came to know things that were even greater than the rumor.
Hyeon-cheong, who was thinking, stared at Cheon-hwi.
“I heard from my junior brothers that you reinvented the Plum Blossom Sword Art. Is that true?”
“It is.”
“……!”
Hyeon-cheong clenched his two fists tightly.
The Plum Blossom Sword Art was a supreme sword technique, yet to reinvent it.
And into an even more supreme sword technique, at that.
No matter if it was the words of the Sect Leader and Junior Brother Hyeon-do, it was a tale incredibly hard to believe.
However, after arriving at Wild Goose Peak, he put away his doubts the moment he witnessed him teaching Jeok-geom and Seol Ran, and acknowledged it all.
It was such a surprising level of martial prowess.
To the extent that he could believe all the grand words of his junior brothers, as well as the rumors he had thought made no sense.
Hyeon-cheong opened his mouth while looking at Cheon-hwi.
“Then would it be possible to restore other martial arts books in the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion just like the Plum Blossom Sword Art?”
Just as Hyeon-cheong held his breath and waited for an answer, Cheon-hwi’s lips moved.
“Restoring?”
“That’s right.”
When Hyeon-cheong nodded his head while looking at Cheon-hwi with eyes swollen with anticipation.
“If it’s that, I’ve already restored most of it?”
“……Wha, what!”
At an answer that far exceeded his expectations, Hyeon-cheong’s two eyes grew large as if they were going to pop out.
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