Chapter 349: v14c24 - Reunion
Volume 14 Chapter 24 – Reunion
“It has been a long time, Un-jeong.”
The one who had fallen from the ceiling like a black bolt of lightning and crushed the Terror King’s envoy flat, shook his coat lapels with disciplined movements.
*Fwip.* and as he did, the droplets of blood that had stained his body splattered onto the floor.
The blood splattered on his white face, which received the sunlight streaming down from the gaping ceiling, was vivid and the arrogant smile hanging on his face was quite bewitching.
“…Un-jeong?”
Who in the world dared easily breach the tight security of the Grand General’s Headquarters crush the Terror King’s envoy, and call the Acting Northern Grand General by name so casually?
In the midst of the stunned crowd, Murong Ho, Murong Un-jeong’s younger brother, hurriedly turned his head and looked at her.
“Is he someone you know, Sister?”
The figure of him remaining in her memory was more intelligent than anyone but was a child gentler than anyone.
He was a child just like a single drop of dew gently resting on a blade of grass in the early dawn.
A child with a transient atmosphere, looking as if he might evaporate in the morning sun and disappear somewhere at any moment.
“…….”
However.
Even so, how could Murong Un-jeong fail to recognize him?
“…It is him.”
“Him—?”
“How dare…!”
The ones who cut off Murong Ho’s questioning were the members of the envoy delegation, who had temporarily lost their minds in sheer consternation.
“Harm the envoy of the Terror King…!”
*Clash, clash, clash!* as they drew their swords all at once, reflexively, the members of the Grand General’s Headquarters also drew their swords all at once.
“……!”
However because the mysterious figure who suddenly appeared had landed in the very center of the Terror King’s envoy delegation, they could not make a move rashly first.
“Who are you?!”
Indeed.
Fitting for those who made battle and plunder their trade and grew up on the battlefield their momentum as they surrounded all sides, as if making a wall of blades, was fierce, but even while surrounded by swords, the snort that echoed was incomparable in its ease.
“…You!”
The moment the envoy delegation’s guard captain’s face distorted like a demon in anger a clear voice flowed out from the unidentified figure.
“I am.”
Was the start of the voice first?
Or did his sleeve flutter like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, and did his white, slender fingertip touch one of the blades surrounding him first?
“The only son of Bhaisajyaguru’s manifestation, the Medicine Fairy Yak So-yu, and” gently, as if a single blade of grass fluttering in the wind had dropped onto a pond, his hand lightly pushed the blade, but what emanated from that light fingertip was an unprecedented internal force, so the wrist of the warrior holding the sword was instantly twisted, and as his elbow rotated, his shoulder dislocated, but that was only the beginning of the display.
“—Ugh?!”
“the eldest son of the Number One Sword Under Heaven, whose fame echoes across the land.”
The blue blade he had first pushed the sword held by the comrade next to him, and that blade pushed the next blade so that ultimately, the wall made of blades, like rowboats swept away by the rough winds and waves of the South Sea, reeled and was rolled away.
*Clash-clash-clash-clang!* what echoed from the blades clashing against each other was a loud metallic noise that deafened everyone’s ears and as if they had coordinated their moves, the sunlight reflected by the blade edges being pushed to one side dazzled everyone’s eyes.
“What nonsense are you babbling?!”
In the midst of that like a sailing ship advancing through the wind and waves, the blade of the envoy delegation’s guard captain suddenly lunged forward along with a resounding shout.
Indeed, it was a slash that split the waves and cut the wind.
However.
“What do you mean, what nonsense?”
*Thud.* his sword, with futile ease, was blocked by an object that popped out from the sleeve along with a calm voice.
“am I not introducing who I am?”
“…A scroll?”
What that object was before the people in the crowd could even properly distinguish, the guard captain, who already knew the opponent’s high martial prowess from the first exchange, quickly drew his sidearm and thrust.
“Eeeek!”
“Or,” however, that too was completely blocked by the bizarre movement of the scroll held in the opponent’s hand.
“(Must I speak in your tongue for you to understand?)” beyond the scroll that had blocked both his sword and dagger, there was no reply.
“(Northern barbarian.)” the sneer appearing on the opponent’s white face was clearly visible.
*Grit!* along with the sound of yellow teeth grinding, the moment the guard captain firmly grabbed that scroll with his hand.
“(This arrogant kid of Zhongyuan—!)” standing in the center of the sliced corpses and the sea of blood, he smiled while receiving the falling sunlight.
“(I will grind your corpse to feed the horses!)” seizing the opportunity, the warriors of the envoy delegation who had been pushed back in a heap rushed in holding handaxes.
“(I am the direct descendant of the Yeon bloodline that rules Luoyang and governs North China—)” along with that clear voice, the caught scroll flopped like a large fish brought onto land, and while the panicked guard captain’s hand snatched the opponent’s wrist again instead of the scroll, he tried to subdue him by striking the acupoints of the opponent’s empty hand with his other hand that had dropped the sidearm, but while the guard captain retreated, spewing blood foam mixed with pieces of internal organs from his mouth, at the moment the handaxes approached right before him along with strange cries, with a low shout of concentration, someone from the Grand General’s Headquarters, who recognized the identity of that scroll spread as if wrapping his body, widened his eyes.
“Ugh!”
“(and the Eldest Young Master of the Great Luoyang Sword Family—)” due to the opponent’s mysterious joint-locking techniques, his hands quickly grew confused, and conversely, in an instant, his chin was struck, his knee was kicked, and his abdomen was struck twice.
“Cough!”
“—-!”
“—!”
“Hup!”
*Clang-clang-clang!* the black silk coat the opponent was wrapped in spun violently on the spot, deflecting the handaxes, and sprayed sparks fiercely in all directions.
“(Now!)” in the meantime, the warriors in the second line, hiding behind their allies’ backs and looking for an opening, threw hooks all at once, but the scroll held in the hand of the opponent spinning with his coat unfurled with a *whoosh* and deflected even the hooks.
“That is?!”
“The imperial decree of His Majesty the Emperor—?!”
“(And I am also—)” without disturbing his breathing even a single bit, the clear voice continued.
“(receiving the command of His Majesty the Emperor—)” the first thing to be separated was the guard captain’s head, the people in the crowd could only realize it late.
“(having come to this place to subjugate and punish the north—)” and subsequently.
*Clatter!* along with the sound of weapons falling to the floor blood spurted like a fountain, and the bodies of the warriors surrounding him were sliced into pieces all at once, collapsing on the spot.
*Shhhut!* only after the Emperor’s decree, without a single drop of blood on it, was retrieved as if sucked back in, could the crowd realize that what had sliced the warriors of the envoy delegation to pieces in an instant was indeed that decree, and that the moment the decree was unfurled was the very moment of drawing the sword.
“……!”
“……!”
“(I am Yeon So-hyeon.)” of course.
However, to everyone there who did not know him, Yeon So-hyeon, those three syllables of his name, were engraved as impressively as could be.
“…….”
“…….”
“That person is indeed…”
“Yes.”
At Murong Ho’s words, Murong Un-jeong nodded, showing a bright smile on her previously cold face.
“He is indeed that person.”
Before anyone, including Murong Ho, could open their mouths next murong Un-jeong’s command, sharp as autumn frost, dropped.
“Behead them all and hang their heads outside the camp, and send only their bodies back loaded onto carts!”
* * *
Inner Room.
“If, as the Terror King’s envoy said, the Third Young Master’s side of the Luoyang Sword Family has formed an alliance with the Terror King…”
“since we also have the Eldest Young Master now…”
Although the talk exchanged by the generals in the council room outside was faintly heard, murong Un-jeong, at least at this moment, did not wish to pay attention to the outside.
“…The Eldest Young Master.”
“You have become very dignified and handsome.”
Taking off her helmet and sitting before the table, she pondered what to say for a long time before starting the conversation with difficulty.
“I almost failed to recognize you.”
The tone of speech she had learned in the women’s quarters in her childhood felt unfamiliar and exceptionally awkward and although it was her armor, which she always maintained herself and wore proudly, for some reason, the armor covered in hand stains only felt embarrassing.
“…Is that so?”
Yeon So-hyeon placed the cup of tea he had personally brewed in front of her, he sat opposite her and smiled comfortably.
“and yet you seemed to recognize me instantly the moment our eyes met.”
Finding it hard to meet that smile, she mumbled with a flushed face, avoiding his gaze.
“…T-That is.”
No one would have imagined that the fierce Acting Northern Grand General would show such a side.
If her younger brother and adjutant Murong Ho had witnessed such a scene, he would have been shocked to the point of fainting.
“Ahem.”
Wandering for a long time about how to reply, her gaze finally directed toward Yeon So-hyeon’s face.
“…….”
Gently closing his long eyelashes as he savored the aroma of the tea, before she knew it, her heart as well felt itself settling softly and peacefully like the tea fragrance filling the inner room.
“…….”
‘…I see.’
It had been like this ever since she first met him in childhood.
No matter what she looked like even without any special conversation, it was just a comfortable and cozy feeling.
The snug and warm feeling of sitting by a hot fireplace buried in a blanket, dozing off, in winter when the cold northern wind blew.
As she fully savored the aroma of the tea with him, her mouth opened naturally.
“…It seems your heart has changed a lot more than your appearance.”
“…My heart.”
As his gaze turned toward her, she smiled naturally and spoke.
“In childhood, you were just timid and like a gentle rabbit, worrying and fretting over every single thing in the world.”
On the contrary, what was his appearance like now?
The battle he had shown just now was too far removed from the Yeon So-hyeon in her imagination.
“Haha. Is that so?”
His way of laughing heartily was also like that.
“Why did you change your mind, Eldest Young Master, and end your seclusion?”
Suddenly realizing that what she had said, contrary to her intention, could feel like a reprimand or resentment toward him, asking: ‘Why did you break your seclusion and act against the engagement to become a matrilocal son-in-law?’
She bit her lip slightly and waited for Yeon So-hyeon’s answer.
“…Why, you ask.”
Whether he knew her heart or not Yeon So-hyeon, who was quietly fiddling with the teacup, opened his mouth.
“Everything will be fine.”
“…Yes?”
At his sudden reply, her eyes shook briefly.
“Un-jeong. That was a phrase you used to say to me like a habit.”
“…Is that so?”
“It is.”
At Yeon So-hyeon’s words, Murong Un-jeong tilted her head slightly.
She thought she had forgotten it because she did not possess an outstanding memory like Yeon So-hyeon.
That those words were words that she herself, as his wife before the regression, had said to Yeon So-hyeon, of course, she could not even imagine.
“Now, I will make everything fine.”
Yeon So-hyeon clearly and distinctly.
“It is so that I can play the music for you as usual.”
“Husband, when I return, please play the music for me as usual.”
The words she had said to him in the past the words he had treasured, he returned to her.
“To say these words to you, I ended my seclusion.”
Yeon So-hyeon, as if pledging to himself spoke like that.