Chapter 123: The Age of the Young (8)

Even though Soyak came in late at night, Cheonjeong did not scold her.

He had simply sat on the steps before the front gate of Flower-Haze Hall and waited.

Naturally, Soyak ran into him as she was about to cross the training ground and come inside.

“......Eldest Brother?”

“You’re back. I heard everything.”

“Ah...... I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“It’s all right.”

Cheonjeong sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face.

Then he quietly patted the space beside him.

“Unless you’re too sleepy, may we talk for a little while?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Soyak calmly straightened her clothes and sat beside Cheonjeong.

Like master, like disciple, Cheonjeong was also gazing at the moon.

The full moon hung swollen and bright.

Its light was painfully cold.

Colder in color than usual tonight.

“Watching the moon is one of my habits, but moonlight is truly hard to grasp.”

Cheonjeong murmured.

Soyak listened.

“At times it shines in a warm yellow. At other times it gives off a bluish color like steel.”

“It does do that sometimes.”

“Tonight it is bluish.”

“......Yes.”

Cheonjeong said moonlight was hard to grasp.

But to Soyak, Cheonjeong’s words were what she could not grasp.

Why he was suddenly talking about moonlight.

No, before that......

Why he was keeping her here like this.

“I heard you fought the Dark Emperor and won.”

“......Ah. Somehow, that is what happened.”

“It was not ‘somehow,’ was it?”

At Cheonjeong’s words, Soyak quietly lowered her head.

She stared only at the tips of her feet and closed her mouth, with no room for excuses.

She had used Innate True Qi.

That meant she had willingly crossed a river from which there should have been no return.

Originally, she should have died.

At the very least, even if she had not died, she should have become crippled or lost her martial arts.

The problem was......

Soyak was already widely known as Mount Hua’s rising qilin.

“You are the pride of all of us, Soyak.”

“......I know.”

“But that is not the problem.”

Being widely known and gaining fame meant nothing as a shackle to Cheonjeong.

What had bewildered him, and made him a little angry, was simply this.

Soyak had not looked after her own body.

“We have always told you, haven’t we? I am your eldest brother, and we are your martial siblings.”

“Yes......”

“Then what were we supposed to do if you decided to go ahead and leave first like that? Did you not think about the people left behind?”

Soyak bit her lip.

Should she simply listen quietly?

Or should she explain the situation?

After hesitating......

She chose honesty.

“......I had no other choice.”

“You had no other choice?”

“Yes. The Family Head of the Zhuge Household and Elder Cheongpyeong, the Empty-Fist Elder of Wudang, came in to help me, but both fell to the Dark Emperor. If I had left him alone like that...... he might have rushed out of the closed-door training cave and harmed my master and Zhuge Yeon.”

“You should have left it to our master instead. Even then, you should have.”

Soyak shook her head.

Then she looked straight into Cheonjeong’s eyes.

Black eyes stared back at him.

Cheonjeong felt as though she had laid bare the depths of his soul.

“Either way...... I would have died.”

“What does that mean?”

“Whether I used Innate True Qi or not, the Dark Emperor would have killed me.”

That was true.

He was an assassin. He had no hesitation about killing people, and he was cruel enough to kill even when there was no need.

“So you mean, since you were going to die anyway, you made one last struggle?”

“Yes. Grand Master had promised to come help, so I...... had to hold out.”

If she could at least hold the Dark Emperor back until Elder Jeonggang arrived.

Then......

She could stop that horrific assassin from being released into the world again.

Above all, her own death would not become a meaningless dog’s death because of it.

If she was going to die anyway.

If she was going to be murdered by the Dark Emperor either way.

Wouldn’t there be less damage if she poured out even her Innate True Qi and clung on for a little longer?

Cheonjeong understood Soyak’s thoughts.

He read every gap between her words and grasped what she had been thinking when she made that choice.

And......

He reached the conclusion that, in the same situation, he would have done exactly the same.

After that, he could no longer rebuke Soyak.

Only his worry remained, drawing a sigh from him on its own.

“......I understand. I would have done the same. What right do I have to scold you?”

“......Thank you for understanding.”

“Still, it is a relief that you somehow came back unharmed. It seems the Medicine Sage did something for you.”

Cheonjeong had only heard that Elder Jeonggang had taken Soyak to the Medicine Sage.

Eunsong had said even he did not know what came after.

How Soyak had returned whole again.

But Soyak closed her mouth again this time.

It was a promise she had kept with Jeonggang, even without telling Eunsong.

She could not break it just because Cheonjeong asked.

“......That is difficult for me to tell you.”

“Is that so......”

“It is not that I do not trust you, Eldest Brother, or that I do not wish to tell you. Only, Grand Master told me to let those who are curious come and ask him separately......”

“Grand Master did? I see......”

Most likely Eunsong would go.

And he would ask for the full account.

Then, afterward, he would tell them as well.

At the very least, even if he did not tell the other disciples......

He would certainly tell Cheonjeong.

Then there was no need to hurry.

Besides, if Elder Jeonggang himself, their Grand Master, had personally ordered silence, there had to be a reason.

But Cheonjeong could not say it did not trouble him.

More than anything, he had seen Elder Jeonggang return while being supported by Soyak instead.

Something had definitely happened.

Something difficult to imagine.

Elder Jeonggang was the absolute second-greatest figure in the martial world.

Unless the Sword Sovereign himself came forward, there should have been no master capable of driving him to that state.

Even if the Dark Emperor had appeared, in a head-on fight, he could never have been Elder Jeonggang’s match.

The compatibility of their martial arts aside, the gap in their realms overlapped with it as well.

Cheonjeong quietly looked at Soyak.

He could not measure her precisely, but......

Soyak’s realm seemed to have risen even higher than before.

That is, higher than before she had gone to the Zhuge Household.

None of the inferences in his head fit.

Soyak had exhausted all her Innate True Qi, yet had instead grown stronger.

Elder Jeonggang had gone to face a Dark Emperor he could have defeated without much difficulty, yet had instead grown feeble.

Even according to what he had heard, Elder Jeonggang had not fought the Dark Emperor at all.

Soyak, after drawing on every last trace of Innate True Qi, had defeated the Dark Emperor herself.

Common sense said that Innate True Qi could not be transferred, even through cross-body power transfer.

To begin with, there was no way anyone would pass on Innate True Qi—the source of one’s life as a human being......

In that instant, an uneasy premonition lodged itself in his mind and would not leave.

What if Innate True Qi...... could be given to someone else?

The moment the variable known as the Medicine Sage entered his deduction, Cheonjeong’s face stiffened.

“......Soyak. Don’t tell me Grand Master Jeonggang gave you......”

“Eldest Brother.”

Soyak quietly called to Cheonjeong and looked at him.

Tears had gathered around her eyes.

Then she slowly shook her head.

“......I understand.”

Black eyes glittered in the moonlight.

Within them, Cheonjeong felt a debt and apology beyond measure.

It was a debt, a burden, and a grace Soyak would have to carry for the rest of her life.

Some graces were truly too great, too impossible to return......

And it seemed they could plunge a person into sorrow.

“May I go in now?”

Soyak lowered her head and asked quietly.

It was to hide her tears.

Cheonjeong smiled bitterly, took a handkerchief from his robe, and placed it in her hand.

Then he rose first.

“Yes. Gather yourself and come up. Cheongak and the others are probably awake too......”

“......I understand.”

The others would not think or infer as deeply as Cheonjeong.

They would simply welcome her back with joy.

But with Soyak’s heart shaking as it was now, that would be difficult for her to receive.

That was why Cheonjeong went inside first, to buy her time.

So Soyak could steady herself enough and wipe away her tears.

*****

“What in the world are those two talking about for that long?”

Cheongak muttered, his chin propped on the windowsill.

Behind him, Cheongu snorted and smacked him across the back.

“Aaaagh!”

“Why are you spying like that? We heard the gist of it, didn’t we? Eldest Brother is probably comforting her.”

“Comforting her? When she defeated the Dark Emperor? Shouldn’t she be overflowing with the thrill of victory?”

Cheongak’s thoughts were simple, as expected.

When even Cheonju and Cheonhwa beside him sighed, Cheongak only then realized he had said something foolish.

But his pride refused to let him admit it.

“N-no, did I say something wrong? I’m right!”

“She used up all her Innate True Qi, Cheongak.”

Cheonju told him quietly.

Even so, Cheongak did not seem inclined to yield.

“No, but she’s fine now, isn’t she? Didn’t she have some rare opportunity or something?”

“Rare opportunities don’t come that conveniently. I do think something happened, but......”

At that moment, Cheonjeong slid the door open and came in.

Then he looked at everyone clinging to the windowsill with the lights off and let out a deep sigh.

“All of you, light the lamps.”

“Huh. Are you going to scold us this late at night for not sleeping?”

Cheongak tilted his head, and Cheonjeong chuckled as he began lighting the candles in the room.

“Our youngest is back. We should welcome her.”