Chapter 92: Demon-Subduing Awakening (4)

Cheonju was grateful to Soyak.

It was all thanks to Cheonhwa.

That sword his junior sister treasured so dearly.

He had heard Soyak had received it as a gift from their master.

Someone entrusts something precious to them.

That meant that person trusted and believed in them that much.

That fact alone became an enormous support for Cheonhwa.

Was that why?

Cheonhwa quickly recovered her original state.

It was true even now.

Just looking at her diligently training in the practice ground before Flower-Haze Hall, with plum blossoms scattering through the air.

The two of them were retraining in the Ninefold Heaven Plum Sword Eunbyeok had taught them.

Under Eunsong’s guidance.

It was a transmission qualitatively different from Eunbyeok’s, who had only forced them to brutally memorize the shapes of the forms.

In just a few days, Cheonju finally understood why there had always been the slightest gap between himself and Cheongak.

Cheonhwa connected the first three forms of the Ninefold Heaven Plum Sword in one flow, then lowered her sword.

She was probably tired.

Even if all she did was follow her elder brother, the Ninefold Heaven Plum Sword was still a difficult martial art.

“...Senior Brother. Is this enough?”

“It’s way better now.”

Cheonju vigorously ruffled Cheonhwa’s hair.

So hard it became completely disheveled.

Cheonhwa’s eyes narrowed.

Then she immediately kicked him in the shin.

“AAAGH!”

“Please. You always say that when Head Senior isn’t around, you’re the Head Senior. Then why are you always like this?”

“So what? There aren’t any other kids around right now, are there?”

Cheonju shrugged.

After going through one thing after another, he had matured quite a bit himself.

He had bowed his head for the sake of his junior sister.

He had thrashed and struggled to escape their master’s grasp.

And now...

Right. In his own way, he was happy.

At some point, even Eunbyeok had disappeared.

He did not know where he had gone.

“...It doesn’t look like he left on a Roaming Pillar Journey.”

“Who?”

“Martial Uncle Eunbyeok.”

“Ah...”

The rule was that nobody saw anyone off on a Roaming Pillar Journey.

But they did not leave without anyone knowing.

Everyone knew who was leaving on a Roaming Pillar Journey and when.

Mount Hua was a great sect, but...

There were not that many disciples in the main mountain.

Most were branch-family disciples, and there were even more attendants and hired hands than that.

In other words, there was no such thing as strangers to each other.

At least not among the main mountain disciples.

Still, Cheonhwa seemed reluctant to hear news about Eunbyeok.

It was understandable.

Thinking about what she had suffered from him in the past.

Cheonju, however, thought the opposite.

They were monsters.

Martial Uncle Eunbyeok, Grand Martial Uncle Myeongjeok as well.

Perhaps... even Sect Leader Jeongyang, who stood above their heads.

Even if they were terrifying, he could not let them out of his sight.

If only to prevent another disciple like himself from appearing.

Of course, he would not be able to stop it with his own strength alone...

‘...Because Master is here.’

If it was Eunsong.

If it was Eunsong, who had saved him from Eunbyeok, Myeongjeok, and Sect Leader Jeongyang.

Then he would somehow do something.

At that moment, Eunsong passed in front of Flower-Haze Hall.

Then he waved a hand toward them.

“Oh, it’s Master!”

With the sword Soyak had given her hanging at her waist, Cheonhwa ran toward Eunsong.

Cheonju followed behind her as well.

“Have you been working hard?”

“Yes, Master!”

“Good. Your Head Senior and junior sister should be returning before long now...”

Eunsong glanced at Cheonhwa’s sword.

The sword he had bought for Soyak.

It had already been more than two months since she had abruptly entrusted it to Cheonhwa.

Two months.

Cheonhwa’s handprints had already thoroughly sunk into the grip.

She had probably entrusted it to her intending to give it to her outright.

It was a little vexing that she had handed over the sword she had received from her master...

But if it was out of affection for her senior sister, then it was fine.

Rather, considering that child’s bloodline, all the more so.

A child born with the Heavenly Killing Star.

If things went wrong, she could be consumed by revenge and slaughter and turn into an evil ghost, but...

There was the education she had received in childhood, the function of the Harmonization Scripture, and her own self-awareness.

That was why those black, hollow eyes were not filled with killing intent.

“...Has junior sister gotten a lot stronger too?”

Cheonhwa murmured quietly, almost like a question.

Eunsong silently stroked Cheonhwa’s head.

“Most likely. Before long, she’ll surpass even me. At that young an age.”

“Really?”

Cheonhwa’s eyes widened into circles.

Eunsong smiled bitterly.

As a master, having a disciple overtake you was something that should be celebrated...

But how could that possibly be something that felt only joyful?

Before he was a master, he was a martial artist.

Before he was a teacher, he was one who held a sword.

Eunsong quietly looked up at the sky.

It was then.

From the direction of Mount Hua’s entrance, one of the Third Generation disciples came running in.

“Martial Uncle Eunsong, are you here?”

It was Cheonsoda.

The child who had inherited the Falling Blossom Meteor Fist.

The disciple of Plum Blossom Fist Eungyeok, and the granddisciple of Monster Plum Blossom Myeonggwang.

It seemed that after the Ilji Gathering, he had tempered and honed himself and had finally reached the First-Rate Realm.

But that would not be a reason to come looking for Eunsong.

Eunsong’s brows rose.

“I’m here. What is it?”

“Well, well... Soyak, who went out on the Roaming Pillar Journey, has returned with the senior brothers!”

It was the return of someone welcome.

*****

Just as there was no sendoff, there was no welcome.

That was the rule.

But how could one not welcome back a disciple returning after so long?

Eunsong had not gone all the way to the main gate, but he was seated on the threshold of Flower-Haze Hall’s front gate.

That alone was welcome enough.

Far off in the distance, Soyak, Cheonjeong, and Cheongak came into view.

They entered still wearing the black outer coats he had given them.

Soon, Soyak stepped forward first, cupped her fist to Eunsong, and bowed her head.

Since Soyak was the one at the center of this Roaming Pillar Journey.

It was right that she, rather than Cheonjeong as Head Senior, greeted him.

“This unworthy disciple has returned together with the senior brothers.”

“Yes, Soyak. Were there any difficulties?”

“The schedule was somewhat perilous... but there is something urgent I must tell you.”

Eunsong’s brows shot up.

Soyak was a child who had boarded the same boat as him in “killing the Sword Sovereign.”

And on top of that, she was also the calmest child he had ever seen.

For the words “something urgent” to come out of Soyak’s mouth.

“All right. Let’s go inside and speak in a little while.”

“Yes.”

“Cheonjeong and Cheongak... is it something you already know as well?”

Eunsong swept his gaze over Cheonjeong and Cheongak.

The two quietly nodded and answered.

“Yes, Master. Cheongak and I already know.”

“I’m telling you, it was complete chaos. Seriously...”

Cheonjeong smacked the back of Cheongak’s head.

“OW!!”

“You still can’t keep yourself steady.”

“Why do you always hit only me, Head Senior?”

“Then should I hit your junior sister when it’s your fault?”

Cheongak clamped his mouth shut.

Because he had nothing to say.

And even more, his junior sister was...

Good lord, on that tiny little body of hers, where exactly was he supposed to hit?

Just then, Cheongu suddenly called out to Cheongak.

“Hey, Cheongak!!”

Cheongu, who had been standing beside Eunsong, waved a hand.

Then, snickering, he immediately threw an arm around Cheongak’s shoulders.

It suited the ease of close friends.

Cheonju was a little different.

Quietly, he rose from his seat and walked over to Cheonjeong.

Then he held out the blacksteel sword he had been entrusted with using both hands.

“Head Senior. I kept it safe.”

“Good. You worked hard.”

Smiling faintly, Cheonjeong accepted the blacksteel sword with one hand.

Only then did Cheonju realize it.

Cheonjeong’s presence had been refined to the fullest.

He had finally reached the wall of the First-Rate Realm.

The same realm as himself.

And then he looked at Cheongak.

That was another wall altogether.

Cheongak had already stepped into the entrance of Apex.

“Has Cheonhwa been doing well?”

“Huh? Yes, Head Senior! I’ve been doing well!”

Cheonhwa blinked, then greeted him.

It was different from how she had once shrunk in on herself beneath Eunbyeok.

Extreme circumstances only reveal human weakness.

They cannot be said to be that human being’s true nature.

When anyone’s grain store runs empty, another person’s grain begins to look tempting.

Cheonjeong understood Cheonhwa’s change and repentance.

Then he quietly stroked her head.

“Good. And you listened well to Master and your senior brother?”

“Yes!”

But the person Cheonju and Cheonhwa were most interested in was Soyak.

The one who had defeated both of them.

The one whose momentum had pierced the heavens and eventually even crushed the Namgung Household’s young head.

In truth, during the two months Soyak had been gone, Mount Hua had buzzed with talk about her.

The story of how she had defeated Namgung Seon, the young head, had gone around hundreds upon hundreds of times.

And regardless of that, people had also talked about the Sect Leader sending a mere fourteen-year-old all the way to Shandong.

And there was talk that before long, she would become the “face” of Mount Hua.

Above all, what had happened in Shandong had not yet reached this place...

But what had happened at Shaolin had.

The Third Generation disciples lived within Mount Hua, so they did not know the detailed stories.

Even so, word had spread in whispers that she had joined forces with Shaolin and smashed apart the stronghold of those leftover bastards from the Kill Veil.

At least that much had circulated.

“...Junior Sister.”

Cheonju quietly called to Soyak.

It was true that Soyak had carefully reined in her presence.

Even so... Cheonju felt something from her that was beyond a wall, beyond even that.

It was... the same kind of force he only felt from their master, Eunsong.

“Junior Sister, just what in the world are you...”

“Senior Brother Cheonju. It has been a while.”

“Junior Sister!”

Cheonhwa called out to Soyak and stared at her.

An even smaller frame than Cheonhwa’s, a slender body.

After hesitating, Cheonhwa held out to Soyak the sword she had been carrying.