Chapter 166: Chapter 166

While Jang Geon was surprised for a moment and could say nothing, Seo-ha was trembling at the lips, exhaling thin breaths, and gazing at Jang Geon with those deep blue eyes. And when Jang Geon took another step forward trying to approach again, Seo-ha also took another step backward.

Seo-ha spoke:

“…Uncle, I’m leaving tomorrow. Monk Jin Gyeon says we will leave early in the morning.”

Unlike her tearful expression and thinly trembling lips, it was a remarkably calm voice. However, the breath flowing out from between those lips was hot as could be.

Jang Geon stood in that spot without stepping forward, fearing Seo-ha might retreat further. Something filled his chest tightly, making it impossible to open his mouth.

Seo-ha’s words continued:

“Now if I return like this, I really won’t be able to meet you again, right? Your family too. There will be no occasion to return to the New Continent again…”

“…No, you will be able to meet again like this time.”

For some reason, Jang Geon felt as if his voice had turned half-hoarse. Words did not come out well. Still, to comfort the child, he kept opening his mouth.

“Who knew that after parting back then, we would meet again like today. Next time we can meet like that too.”

Although he tried hard to comfort her, the result was not good. Seo-ha, who was only shedding tears in streams from her eyes, pouted her lips as soon as she heard Jang Geon’s words. That grimacing face was the appearance of a child forcing herself to endure without being able to cry out loud.

“But… Uncle lives on the New Continent, and I, I live at Shaolin Temple… and between the two there is an ocean… it’s super far…”

Having tried hard to act calm, the child began to sob *hic-hic* as she opened her mouth. Her two tiny fists clenched tightly trembled, and from her face crumpled beneath her ducked head, tears and snot dripped down. Yet Seo-ha could not cry in a loud voice until the end.

And the moment Jang Geon saw the child weeping alone in breath-holding solitude inside that moon shadow, only then did he truly realize what he was afraid of.

He was currently afraid of stopping.

Because of Seo-ha, or because of Jang Un’s family or Dan Sang-woon’s family, being drawn by their warmth to completely settle down here, stopping his journey like that. Jang Geon was afraid of that right now. Then why did he stay at Jang Un’s house and even invite Seo-ha and Jin Gyeon there? Why didn’t he just leave abruptly as he originally thought and lived? Then there would have been no occasion from the start to get involved in the ancient clan incident when Seom Ji-young came to find him.

Along with the question, the answer came to mind.

Jang Geon saw those who stopped. Unlike the good people or evil people he met while galloping across the wilderness and rough plains, in this New Sichuan there were people who stopped in one place and rotted away.

Unlike his lofty reputation, the Martial Alliance Leader full of insidious motives, the Council of Elders who used the fact to their advantage for their own benefit rather than purging it even after knowing one of their colleagues was colluding with outside demonic practitioners, and the Martial Alliance moving as their hands and feet.

Je Sang-cheon who abetted or merely stood by his father’s death, the clan elders who kept silent to manipulate the new Family Head with their own hands even while knowing that fact, Je Yong-wol who died destroying evidence while shouldering all guilt.

The Martial Alliance and ancient noble clans. The ruling class of the New Continent and settlers who stayed in one place for a long time, unlike wanderers like Jang Geon.

Encounters with those who could not be settled with a single blade strike after crossing the line clearly like demonic practitioners brought great fatigue to Jang Geon. Furthermore, it made Jang Geon himself harbor the thought that if he stopped and stayed in one place, he might change like that too. In his youth, the Martial Alliance Leader was also a knight-errant who roamed the wilderness of the New Continent performing heroic deeds. Believing that oneself would truly not change in the slightest as one lived life was far too arrogant an attitude.

The reason he stayed exceptionally long at Jang Un’s house this time was also because of that.

Unlike those who stopped in one spot, stagnated, and rotted away, Jang Un and Dan Sang-woon made Jang Family Merchant Guild their livelihood, loving their work and loving their families. That showed that even without undertaking important duties deciding the world’s grand rules or orders, one could live fully as much as desired, and that that was true greatness. They washed away the skepticism he felt watching the Martial Alliance. Inviting Seo-ha and Jin Gyeon was also because he wanted to show that even if small, there was a better house than an ancient clan that came to reek of stench while chasing greatness.

Jang Geon exhaled a deep sigh. Even after recreating and learning many martial arts such as Tai Chi, Subduing Dragon Palm, Primordial Manual, Imperial Sword Form, and Boundless Sky Sword Art, and thinking he felt and realized many things in that process, life was still not easy.

It was unclear whether that martial art was the purpose of life or a means. After starting a new life and encountering martial arts as a child, Jang Geon’s dream was to actually recreate the illusions of his past life, but in truth, the protagonists in the stories dealing with those illusions were chivalrous heroes who helped people through them.

Jang Geon wandered the wilderness to meet more people, broaden his perception, and recreate better martial arts through that. However, meeting people and facing their lives with his whole body meant Jang Geon ultimately had no choice but to throw himself into the center of that torrent and entangle with them. And within that, Jang Geon was struggling not to be ashamed of both his past life and present life.

Perhaps this fate with Seo-ha had been foretold to the end.

Taking a deep breath, Jang Geon took stride after stride forward. Sobbing softly, Seo-ha flinched in surprise and retreated two more steps, but Jang Geon approaching swiftly was faster than that. Kneeling down on one knee, Jang Geon embraced Seo-ha.

Faltering back, Seo-ha froze stiffly in Jang Geon’s embrace that held her, then soon buried her face there and began to cry out loud.

“I, I don’t want to go… I just want to live here with Uncle… I don’t want to leave… I don’t want to part again…”

Jang Geon slowly stroked the child’s back. With the warmth of that palm, Seo-ha’s body, which was clutching Jang Geon’s collar tightly and trembling, began to calm down little by little. Soothing and comforting the child like that, Jang Geon asked:

“Then do you really want to stay here with me?”

The child’s crying stopped. Seo-ha slowly raised her buried face and met Jang Geon’s gaze. Her red-flushed eyes and nose were smeared with tears and snot. Even without looking down, it was not hard to guess that Jang Geon’s chest was at a similar level.

For a moment, Seo-ha looked back and forth at Jang Geon’s two eyes with water-filled eyes. And soon tears welled up again, and she spoke in a nasal voice:

“…No. Then Monk Jin Gyeon will be sad.”

Hearing that answer, Jang Geon laughed ha-ha-ha unconsciously. To say it to this extent meant that life at Shaolin Temple was truly hard to adapt to. So it would be fine to be a bit more stubborn, but Seo-ha was thinking of others first.

Even if one considered it merely a child’s whim and complaint, Jang Geon found Seo-ha’s heart contained within it praiseworthy. So he spoke to the person who would empathize with that praiseworthiness:

“What do you think? Is the monk also planning to cry out loud like Seo-ha?”

At Jang Geon’s sudden words, Seo-ha turned back in surprise. Then from that dark hallway coming out from the house to the yard, Jin Gyeon slowly walked out.

With a soft smile at his lips, he replied:

“Well, crying like that at this age would be a bit embarrassing. I likely won’t cry. However, the statement that I would be sad is not wrong.”

“…Monk Jin Gyeon.”

With his smiling face intact, Jin Gyeon faced Seo-ha. Seeing the child’s face mess with tears and snot, he slowly nodded his head.

He opened his mouth again:

“Seo-ha, what you learned at the main temple during that time, do you still remember it well?”

Seo-ha quickly came out from Jang Geon’s embrace, rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, stood upright, and replied:

“Yes.”

“Then try performing it once.”

Seo-ha looked at Jin Gyeon with wide eyes. She was flustered by the sudden martial arts review. The child unconsciously just looked back and forth between Jang Geon and Jin Gyeon blankly.

“What are you doing? Show it quickly. You must do well since you are showing it to Warrior Jang too.”

“…Yes.”

However, when Jin Gyeon urged again, Seo-ha stepped into the middle of the yard, even while hesitating slightly. And while Jang Geon and Jin Gyeon watched, she slowly began to unfold Shaolin’s fist art.

At first, there was a slightly clumsy and hesitant demeanor. However, soon as if focusing on the action itself, hesitation vanished, power filled her two fists and legs, and her waist firmly supported her body. Thus, in the yard of the residence attached behind the merchant guild, a routine-focused Shaolin fist art rarely seen on the New Continent unfolded.

At her tiny two fists and toes, Shaolin’s fist art passed down for hundreds of years unfolded small but clearly.

“…Shaolin’s fist art is firm and solid. Since we chose martial arts as a path to liberation, it is to help human beings learning it walk their path steadfastly and stolidly without being shaken by the world’s winds and waves.”

Watching such a performance of Seo-ha’s martial art, Jin Gyeon opened his mouth small enough that only Jang Geon beside him could hear.

“However, is it because of that? Most of our main temple’s martial arts are bound to be based on strong yang energy. As if trying to escape worldly afflictions and ascend to the sky to the end, they stiffly raise their heads to look at the sun and receive its light. The problem is that there are people for whom that is constitutionally unsuitable.”

Sure enough, the breathing of Seo-ha unfolding the fist art gradually began to be disrupted. Clearly her toes firmly supported the floor, her fists powerfully struck the air, and her stepping stride and punches were connected as one, yet only her breathing could not do so.

Of course, even saying there was that regrettable point, Seo-ha’s fist art was at a level that went beyond surprising to make one’s mind dizzy. It was a level hard to believe for a fist art unfolded by a child who was not even twenty, perhaps in her mid-teens, and right now there seemed to be no one who could beat the child in fist art alone at the same age.

However, as Seo-ha found it harder and harder to maintain breathing and continue the fist art, she began to slow down noticeably. She gasped for breath, and her firm feet and strong, rough fists gradually lost power.

Watching Seo-ha like that, Jang Geon realized that before he knew it, Jin Gyeon’s gaze was directed at him. And meeting his soft eyes, he could also know what he wanted to say.

Jang Geon slowly stepped into Seo-ha’s martial practice.

“Huh? Unc…”

Seeing Jang Geon approach close, Seo-ha flinched in surprise and tried to stop the fist art she was unfolding. However, Jang Geon’s hand approaching softly was faster than that.

And that touch made Seo-ha assume a certain posture naturally, without her having anything to resist or say. Her two tightly clenched fists opened, her stiff legs lowered slightly, and the center of gravity drawing a horizontal line became rounded somewhere.

Both hands of Seo-ha, who had extended powerful punches until a moment ago, gathered near her chest and slowly moved forward, pushing out the front space.

Startled at first, Seo-ha faltered slightly, but soon completely entrusted her body to Jang Geon’s flow. It felt as if a soft cloud wrapped around her body to dance together slowly.

With the adult leading and the child following, the two of them slowly turned and turned, beginning to draw Tai Chi.

Within that Tai Chi, not only the meaning of dividing the world into yin and yang, but also the teaching of the Primordial Manual flowing freely without a set place, the heat of Subduing Dragon Palm pouring out like dragon flames from deep within the body, and the Imperial Sword Form stating that the center of this world is oneself were contained.

Jang Geon was able to reach an answer. Seo-ha needed a family and adult to embrace her wounds. That didn’t necessarily have to be Jang Geon, but at least Seo-ha wished Jang Geon would do so.

He was also able to shake off the fear of his journey stopping. While Seo-ha grew and became an adult, Jang Geon would of course have to stay by her side. However, that did not mean he had to hold onto Seo-ha for the rest of his life. Once Seo-ha’s wounds were all healed and she was at a level where she could protect herself, he could simply resume his journey then. And seeing Seo-ha’s talent right now, it didn’t seem it would take that long either.

Of course, problems still remained. The biggest problem was none other than The Palace. Whatever they were doing, whether they were truly planning to boil and eat Seo-ha like an elixir, according to Yu Seol’s words, they would target Seo-ha again. Besides that, trivial problems would continuously descend upon Jang Geon and Seo-ha as they lived.

Jang Geon smiled slightly. Because within the swirling Tai Chi, Seo-ha’s heavily flushed face was visible.

In truth, the method to resolve that problem was also simple. Demonic practitioners thinking such thoughts, he could simply smash The Palace. Furthermore, most of The Palace were human scum who practiced demonic arts and devoured people, and thanks to that, Imperial Princess Yu Seol had currently led the Imperial Army and sat in the Martial Alliance using it as an advance base. The purpose of Yu Seol and the Imperial Army was the destruction of The Palace. Joining them, there would be no need to deal with hundreds of demonic practitioners alone.

Besides that, trivial problems that would approach? In truth, life’s incidents were mostly similar problems coming back round and round. Just like the Tai Chi currently being unfolded. And if one calmly unraveled such problems, they could be unraveled cleanly. There was no need to shrink back in fear of that.

Under the night sky where stars and the moon sparkled, Jang Geon and Seo-ha drew soft, gentle curves and circles with their whole bodies. At that slow movement, the moonlight pouring from the sky also slowly flowed down along their bodies.

From a certain moment, the child and adult continued the exact same posture side by side. It looked as if two origins were biting each other’s tail and spinning round and round.

“Amitabha…”

Fallen one step away from that circle of Tai Chi, the monk let out a sigh of relief, chanted a Buddhist honorific, and nodded his head.

“Even if growing far apart, there are fates that end up holding each other… It seems that fate was connected before it became distorted, so it is truly a fortunate thing… Namo Amitabha…”

Thus the Tai Chi, which felt like it would continue forever, ended like a lie at a certain moment.

Taking the exact same stance as Jang Geon facing her, Seo-ha opened her eyes wide and gasped for breath. Sweat droplets fell in drops over the child’s cheeks. However, there was no longer sadness of parting or regret there.

“…What is this?”

“Tai Chi. It is the fist art you will learn from now on.”

Facing that child’s face, Jang Geon smiled faintly.