Chapter 59: Chapter 59
‘Anyway, if I die, everything becomes meaningless. I might as well offer this body…….’
Having pondered and uttered the proposal, she stealthily looked at Cheon-hwi.
Right now, this was the greatest offer she, Danmok Rin, could put forward.
‘Unlike the Daoists of the other Nine Great Sects and One Gang, they said that the Mount Hua Sect allows marriage as long as one does not intend to become the Sect Leader, so…….’
Her face slightly reddened.
‘But will he accept me?’
It was the gamble of a lifetime.
He could have no interest in the opposite sex due to his deep cultivation, and if, contrary to her expectations, he desired the Sect Leader position, it could all become useless.
She nervously waited for Cheon-hwi’s answer, and presently his mouth opened.
“Everything……. That’s fine.”
However, contrary to her nervousness, Cheon-hwi answered indifferently, making it feel in vain.
He didn’t have high expectations anyway.
Even if she gave him everything, what grandiose thing could she possibly give?
He just needed to gain one thing.
The name of the Danmok Clan was a necessary military force in case something happened to the Mount Hua Sect while he was absent.
‘Well, if the daughter asks for help, the clan will come. I’ll also get to see their family martial arts.’
Unlike Danmok Rin’s complicated thoughts, what Cheon-hwi desired was a very simple thing that she had excluded.
Meanwhile, having actually heard Cheon-hwi’s positive answer, Danmok Rin’s expression became complicated.
‘Just surviving tomorrow was overwhelming, and now I might even get engaged…….’
At the situation flowing too fast in just one day, she let out a faint smile.
At that time, Cheon-hwi spoke.
“Lie down on the floor.”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you ask for help?”
“Ah, understood.”
Danmok Rin answered hastily and first took off her hat.
Black and white mixed hair spilled down from the veil, revealing the innocent face of a young girl who looked to be about fourteen.
Her eyes filled with brilliance and her high nose bridge were enough for anyone to predict that she would become a beauty once she grew up.
‘Her growth must have stopped, right?’
However, Cheon-hwi’s impression was calm.
For him, who had seen numerous women seducing him in the Heavenly Demon Cult, Danmok Rin’s appearance was not enough to catch his eye.
A young girl. That was all.
Danmok Rin put her hat down next to her and raised her head to look up at Cheon-hwi.
‘To be so indifferent.’
She was surprised by Cheon-hwi’s gaze.
Since the past, any man who saw her even once would harbor deep goodwill or look at her with pitiful eyes.
But how was Cheon-hwi in front of her right now?
Let alone goodwill, he didn’t even have a single bit of sympathy.
He simply had no interest, just like looking at a pebble lying at his feet.
At that, a sense of relief instead lingered.
‘If it is this person.’
Around the time her goodwill was gradually deepening.
“Then I will begin.”
Cheon-hwi sat down next to her and slowly placed his two hands on her lower dantian.
Hwoooong…
As he stimulated the Plum Blossom Divine Art, a powerful qi flowed out and enveloped him and her.
Spreading his qi sense, Cheon-hwi stared piercingly at the lying Danmok Rin.
Perhaps falling into the internal qi of the Plum Blossom Divine Art, she lay peacefully with her eyes closed.
‘She fell into the flow.’
The flow of the blood vessels felt beneath the skin.
Her body was in an alien yet chaotic state.
From the blood vessels that were thinner than ordinary people’s, the frozen muscles and bones, to the lower dantian that was as empty as a hollow cave.
Even at a glance, it wasn’t normal.
No, it was like a corpse that had frozen to death.
The yin qi that had infiltrated her body was considered to have already spread to her bone marrow.
‘It wouldn’t be strange if she died at any time.’
Looking closely, he realized it with certainty.
That she would soon die if this continued.
Confirming that it was a serious situation, Cheon-hwi examined Danmok Rin in detail.
‘It’s going to take a few days to treat her, isn’t it?’
A considerable amount of internal energy in the lower dantian was frozen by the cold yin qi, piercing the inside of her body like sharp thorns.
‘At this level, the pain must have been quite severe on a regular basis.’
As if proving those words, spasms began to occur around the eyes of the lying girl.
Even breathing was not natural.
Watching her chest heave greatly, Cheon-hwi urgently flowed his internal qi inside.
While the internal qi of the Plum Blossom Divine Art that had seeped into the blood vessels and muscles and bones was flowing smoothly.
Thump!
Danmok Rin’s body bounced greatly.
The yin qi that had encroached upon her body like a dead rat convulsed as if guarding against the internal qi.
‘A repulsion?’
Grasping the yin qi trying to confront his internal qi, Cheon-hwi extended his index finger toward that place.
Kwaang!
Along with the tip of the index finger touching her abdomen, the fiercely confronting yin qi shattered and rapidly disappeared as if its imposing manner had been an illusion.
‘For a single blood vessel to be at this level…….’
Cheon-hwi’s eyes deepened.
It was too deep and intense to be energy contained in a single blood vessel.
Shortly after, just as he was about to resolve the yin qi in another place, the yin qi that seemed like it would completely disappear suddenly started to run wild.
Hwaaak!
There was no time to say anything.
The yin qi that had penetrated her body ran out of control like an avalanche.
Jjeojeojeojeok…
The rampaging yin qi tore her clothes apart, spread in all directions, and revealed its ferocity to Cheon-hwi.
Approaching while freezing the surroundings as if it had a consciousness of its own, the yin qi transformed into a spear and shot toward Cheon-hwi’s nape.
Cheon-hwi’s eyes turned cold.
‘You’re aiming for me?’
He didn’t like the fact that it dared to aim for him when it was merely yin qi at best.
He immediately infused internal energy into his index finger.
Afterward, he slowly thrust it toward the intensely pouncing spear of yin qi.
Jjeo-eong!
Then, it suddenly shattered like glass, and the remaining yin qi scattered in all directions.
‘Where are you going?’
Cheon-hwi immediately pulled the yin qi.
‘It’s mine now.’
The corners of Cheon-hwi’s mouth curled up.
The yin qi possessed by the Extreme Yin Foundation Body was so pure and powerful that it couldn’t be compared to any elixir.
If he absorbed all of this.
His mouth watered.
‘Fufu, good.’
He immediately circulated the Plum Blossom Divine Art and pulled in all the surrounding yin qi.
A short while later, Cheon-hwi finished his energy circulation with a satisfied smile.
‘A lot has piled up.’
While he was satisfyingly contemplating the internal energy accumulated in his lower dantian.
“Ah! Is the treatment done?”
Belatedly recalling what he had been doing, he turned his gaze.
Danmok Rin was lying down in the same way.
However, it was quite different from before.
The clothes she was wearing were torn to shreds and scattered, revealing her naked body.
However, Cheon-hwi’s eyes looking at the pure white naked body were indifferent.
It was because he had already seen enough women’s naked bodies as it was, and his cultivation was not so low as to be merely bewitched by female charms.
“Hmm.”
He calmly scanned her up and down, then nodded his head.
“It went well.”
The face that had shallow spasms was too peaceful, and the breathing that had been irregular had become natural at some point.
Just like she was asleep.
At that time, her eyelids moved.
“Ugh…….”
Groaning, she got up.
The awakened girl touched her entire body with a flustered expression and muttered.
“Ah, it doesn’t hurt.”
He approached her and spoke.
“You’ve woken up.”
“Young Hero?”
As she got up, the coat covering her clothes fell off, and she stiffened.
“Kyaak!”
Letting out a short scream, she hastily turned her body and then urgently drew the front of the coat together in case he saw.
Cheon-hwi looked at her pitifully.
‘To make such a fuss over just that.’
As for him, he couldn’t understand.
Because his moral view was a little different from others.
Looking at her, who had turned bright red like a carrot from embarrassment, he spoke indifferently.
“Then I will leave first.”
* * *
Over twenty days later, the carriage passed Hubei Province and arrived in Wuhan.
“Heoheo. Thank you for bringing me to Wuhan.”
“Not at all.”
Danmok Jin-gang spoke while waving his hand.
Perhaps they had become quite close through the journey, they were now conversing affectionately.
“You saved Rin’s life, so how could we go somewhere else in the middle?”
Danmok Jin-gang stealthily looked ahead.
Looking at Danmok Rin sitting side by side with Cheon-hwi, a smile hung on his lips.
Originally, Danmok Rin and he sat side by side, but it was different from the next day.
‘Heoheo, to think she would want to sit together.’
At Danmok Rin’s secret request, he sat together with Hyeon-do, and Danmok Rin stealthily sat side by side with Cheon-hwi as they went.
When Danmok Rin first sat next to Cheon-hwi, she was nervous, but after twenty days had passed, it was natural like now.
Seeing Danmok Rin and Cheon-hwi whose distance had narrowed remarkably, he felt pleased.
‘Mmm. They look good together.’
Wondering where his evaluation of Cheon-hwi when he first saw him went, he nodded his head, marking Cheon-hwi as Danmok Rin’s match.
‘Even a Daoist of the Mount Hua Sect should be able to marry as long as he doesn’t become the Sect Leader or inherit the true transmission of the Daoist lineage.’
Thinking of the Mount Hua Sect’s relatively free marriages unlike the other Nine Great Sects and One Gang, he smiled satisfyingly.
Seeing Cheon-hwi eating meat and drinking alcohol on the day they first met, he was a person tainted by the secular world.
It didn’t seem like such a person would become the Sect Leader or inherit a Daoist lineage with strict precepts.
“It’s a fast sword wielded like this.”
Danmok Rin extended her index and middle fingers in front of her eyes and created a strange flow.
A hand gesture dropping sharply from above.
However, the martial principles contained in that simple hand gesture were quite deep and profound.
“It’s a sword art that severs the muscles and bones.”
As Cheon-hwi grasped the martial principles contained within it at once, Danmok Rin smiled beamishly.
“That’s right. The Yaksha Beast Soul Sword is a sword art that severs the opponent’s muscles and bones, driving them into a corner where they can’t move…….”
Cheon-hwi looked at Danmok Rin, who was explaining excitedly.
‘Her personality has changed a lot.’
Was it just her personality?
The impression that looked like she was going to die had also changed.
“It is a sword art that became famous when an assassin who once made a notorious name in the Jianghu used it.”
“What about the oral chants?”
“The oral chants are…….”
Danmok Rin recited the oral chants.
‘Hmm. An assassination sword? Perhaps because she is from a clan, it’s different from the martial arts of the Daoists again.’
Around the time Cheon-hwi was lost in such thoughts.
Seueuk…
Danmok Rin secretly moved her eyes and peeked at Cheon-hwi’s profile.
A sharp nose bridge and sparkling eyes.
He, who was usually incomparably indifferent, was showing this much interest when it came to martial arts.
Happy with that reaction, she showed and explained the martial arts she knew.
‘Since he is the person who will become my husband, I will build up goodwill and make an engagement…….’
By the time she, thinking of the future, blushed from embarrassment.
Hiiing!
The carriage rattled and stopped.
Following that, the coachman rolled up the cloth dividing the coachman’s seat and the inside of the carriage and spoke.
“We have arrived.”
“Already?”
Danmok Rin spoke sullenly.
She, who had been excitedly conversing just a moment ago, stealthily looked at Danmok Jin-gang.
“No.”
Danmok Jin-gang spoke firmly.
The place they had arrived at right now was the front yard of the Murim Alliance, which was no different from enemy territory.
If it became known that they were the Danmok Clan here by any chance, they could be put in danger.
Danmok Rin spoke with a bitter expression.
“……What a shame.”
Cheon-hwi made eye contact with Danmok Rin, who was speaking while looking at him, and nodded his head.
“It is a shame.”
“Right?”
In an instant, Danmok Rin’s expression brightened.
Thinking that Cheon-hwi also felt the same way as she did, who regretted the parting, her heart fluttered and she felt good for some reason.
However, Cheon-hwi’s regret was quite different from her regret.
‘Tsk. It seemed she knew a lot of other martial arts too, so it’s a shame. And I haven’t even taken all the yin qi still remaining in her body. Well, it can’t be helped.’
While Danmok Jin-gang was pleasingly watching the figures of such a man and woman, Hyeon-do took a bow and chanted a Daoist greeting.
“Immeasurable Life Buddha. Where there is a meeting, there is bound to be a parting. We just need to promise the next meeting.”
“Hahaha, you are right.”
Danmok Jin-gang also slowly took a fist-and-palm salute and politely showed his manners.
“I will wait for our reunion in the future.”
Danmok Rin also bowed her head following that.
“This young girl will also wait. And at that time…….”
She gazed intently at Cheon-hwi.
“I will definitely repay the favor.”
“You should.”
While Cheon-hwi was speaking as if asking what kind of talk that was, Danmok Jin-gang clasped his hands.
“If anything happens, please find me through the Hao Sect.”
“The Hao Sect? Where is that again?”
“Heoheo. The Hao Sect is…….”
When Danmok Jin-gang was about to answer.
“We don’t have time.”
The coachman rushed them.
“You will know later.”
Danmok Jin-gang spoke urgently, and Hyeon-do and Cheon-hwi hurriedly got off the carriage.
Hiiing…
The carriage immediately set off again.
Danmok Jin-gang felt the inside of the carriage, where the two had left, awkward and empty.
After being dazed for a moment, he shook his head greatly and came to his senses.
“The Mount Hua Divine Sword and Cheon-hwi……. It’s not the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, no, the Mount Hua Sect for nothing.”
Danmok Jin-gang harbored goodwill toward the two, but on the other hand, worries preceded.
An absolute master and a rising star who had appeared in the Mount Hua Sect.
The appearance of two figures inheriting generations, not just one, was a problem that would cause a disturbance in the present Jianghu.
“We must continue our ties with the Mount Hua Sect.”
“Yes. I will.”
As Danmok Rin answered immediately, Danmok Jin-gang let out a snicker.
“Did you like the Young Hero?”
Danmok Rin nodded her head slightly while blushing her cheeks red.
Was it because he saved her life, or was it because his attitude towards her was different from others?
She expressed goodwill towards Cheon-hwi.
Danmok Jin-gang, who was watching her unable to take her eyes off the window, smacked his lips.
“It’s a shame to part, but let’s postpone our reunion with the two for later. For now, we have to meet the Divine Physician.”
Danmok Jin-gang reminded her of the purpose of their original journey and spoke to Danmok Rin.
Before Cheon-hwi left, he said her condition had improved but she still needed treatment.
‘He said we just needed to get treatment from a nearby physician and recover her vitality, but.’
Danmok Jin-gang didn’t do so.
It was his judgment that it would be better to meet the Divine Physician anyway.
“……Understood.”
Danmok Rin, who was letting Danmok Jin-gang’s words in one ear and out the other, stared with sharp eyes at Cheon-hwi’s back, which was gradually getting farther away out the window, along with an insincere answer.
Originally, she was cheerful and bright.
However, the events of the past two years had exhausted her and made her philosophical about the world.
‘Until just a few days ago, my world was a darkness where no light could be seen.’
She hadn’t told Danmok Jin-gang, but her condition was the worst.
Her internal energy had already escaped her will, and even walking properly was difficult.
She was at least holding on with mental strength, but even that had reached its limit.
It wasn’t just once or twice that she had agonizingly considered taking her own life.
But a light visited the darkness.
The light of destiny named Cheon-hwi.
Recalling Cheon-hwi with sticky eyes that were nothing short of dangerous, she slowly parted her lips that were stained red like blood.
“……I will definitely go find you.”
At that moment, Cheon-hwi, who was heading towards the Murim Alliance, stopped his steps.
‘What is it?’
Just as he felt goosebumps on his back suddenly, they immediately disappeared at a certain moment.
Tilting his head, he frowned.
‘Is someone watching me?’
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