Chapter 93: Demon-Subduing Awakening (5)

“...Thank you.”

Soyak quietly looked at the sword.

There were more traces of Cheonhwa’s hand on it now than her own.

Soyak glanced at her master, Eunsong.

At that look, Eunsong merely smiled.

It meant it was fine.

“Have you already grown close to that sword?”

“W-well, I used it for two whole months...”

“Please keep it. I think that sword likes you better as well.”

“R-really? Is that okay?”

It was a rather good sword.

Even if it was not a sword made of ten-thousand-year cold iron, meteoric iron, or blacksteel.

It was still a sword made of hundred-fold refined steel, forged by hammering it a hundred times.

Besides, the issue was neither price nor quality.

From what she had heard, this sword was a gift Eunsong had given Soyak.

The first sword she had received from her master.

It was an object with deep meaning.

“I already have a sword that is close to me. And if you were able to stand back up because of that sword, then wouldn’t that sword be your pillar, Senior Sister?”

“...Yeah.”

It was true.

That sword had been the sign of trust and faith her junior sister had given her.

And now, it had become the sign of her repentance and self-respect, won by standing back up on her own.

“So that sword belongs to you, Senior Sister.”

“...Okay.”

Cheonhwa carefully pulled Soyak’s sword into her arms.

Then she nodded.

She was older, and taller too...

But for some reason, Soyak looked more like the adult.

Soyak’s gaze passed over Cheonhwa and met Cheonju’s.

Cheonju felt goosebumps rise along his spine.

He confirmed it once more.

This presence was the same kind he felt from their master, Eunsong.

Soon, Soyak’s eyes met Eunsong’s.

Eunsong felt it too.

Then he could not hold back his smile.

The corners of his mouth rose high.

This young, delicate, burdened disciple was beyond even his imagination.

It had only been three, maybe four months since he had taken her in.

And already, she had surpassed him.

“Soyak. You have grown greatly.”

“Yes, Master. But this disciple still needs to learn more.”

She knew just how high her perspective had risen after crossing the wall.

Judging by the refined control of his presence...

Now, her master could no longer defeat her.

Her advantage was certain.

If she was prepared to lose an arm, she could even win a Life-or-Death Duel against Eunsong.

That was what it meant to have risen a level above him.

“You’re quite greedy, aren’t you?”

“It is only because this unworthy disciple lacks patience.”

Soyak smiled bitterly.

From Eunsong’s perspective, it was an extremely interesting expression.

She was a child who would soon reach the middle stage of Transcendent Apex.

At fourteen.

So why was there no arrogance?

Let that be because her character was upright.

Then why was there no pride either?

Usually, people only looked like that after having their spirit broken once, when their confidence had been too high.

When they encountered someone overwhelmingly superior to themselves.

Only then did Eunsong notice the stitched-up tears in Soyak’s clothes.

Those were traces of being beaten and torn apart by something.

And not lightly, either.

They were the marks of something severe.

“A great deal happened.”

“...Yes.”

“Cheonjeong and Cheongak, go rest off the fatigue of the road. Soyak, come with me.”

Cheonjeong showed a brief trace of puzzlement, then nodded.

There was... something between Soyak and Eunsong.

Something beyond what he, Cheongak, and Cheongu shared as “main mountain disciples.”

And unless they chose to explain it, the right thing was to quietly step back.

“Yes, Master.”

Cheonjeong bowed his head as he answered.

There was no way Eunsong would miss that subtle shift in his eyes in moments like this.

Cheonjeong was quick-witted, intelligent, and upright.

He would probably have to tell him someday.

No, in the first place, they were all disciples he had selected with exacting care.

For the sake of killing the Sword Sovereign.

So someday, he would have to tell them everything.

But not now.

Not yet.

For now, it was still fine to let them run about a little more brightly.

At least...

Until the day Soyak could stand face-to-face against Grand Master Jeonggang.

A martial artist who had reached the middle stage of the Transformation Realm.

At that level, one could crush lineage and background alike and become the people’s star.

It was a goal that had to be achieved as young as possible.

People went wild for a youthful genius and a young leader.

They made such people into their idols.

A slight gap invited jealousy.

An overwhelming gap invited admiration.

Soyak had to become the object of admiration for every martial artist across all nine provinces under heaven.

The one others wished to join in purpose and raise a cup beside.

History called that a great revolutionary, and praised such a one as the symbol of an age.

Eunsong moved first.

Toward his shabby little hut.

Soyak followed behind him.

As they walked the mountain path in silence like that,

Soyak sensed an unexpected presence from the hut.

“...Master.”

“You felt it?”

“Yes. But this is not an enemy...”

“That’s right. Not an enemy.”

Someone came out of the hut snickering.

A black gat.

Black martial clothes.

And a longsword in his hand.

It was a familiar appearance.

The man who had wiped out the Sura Unit alone.

The martial artist who had instantly subdued and killed Danya, the Sura Unit Commander, Sword Ghost.

An expert at the entrance of the Transformation Realm.

“It’s been a while, brat.”

“...My name is Cheon Soyak.”

Even if she knew he was not an enemy,

she still was not certain he was an ally.

Soyak quietly rested her left hand on her scabbard.

“You nasty little brat. Are you planning to greet an adult by stabbing him?”

“Are you acquainted with my master?”

“Acquainted? We’re very well acquainted.”

Soyak’s eyes widened.

Then she looked back and forth between the unidentified martial artist and Eunsong.

He was the one who had protected her.

The man who had told her it would be troublesome if she died.

So he must be an ally, but still...

She had thought he was a strange man whose thoughts were impossible to read.

She had never imagined he would be connected to her master...

“It’s less that we have a direct connection and more that we are people who share the same purpose.”

“The same purpose...”

It did not take her long to realize what that meant.

Soyak’s left hand slowly slipped away from the scabbard.

Then she gave a proper cupped-fist salute toward the man in black.

“...I, Cheon Soyak, Third Generation disciple of Mount Hua Sect and disciple of White Plum Scholar Eunsong, greet you.”

“I already know all that!”

“You are, indeed, from the Namgung—mmph.”

Namgung Byeok once again pressed a finger firmly over Soyak’s mouth, blocking her words.

He moved so fast it was impossible to tell when he had crossed the distance.

Eunsong snickered.

“Soyak. You have sharp eyes.”

“You find this situation amusing, Eunsong? This brat has already nearly done it twice now...”

Eunsong quietly spread his energy and formed a barrier that blocked sound.

Then he shrugged.

“She almost announced your identity to the whole world, Master Namgung Byeok?”

“...That’s right. Damn it. How did she know? Just from crossing swords with me once?”

Namgung Byeok deeply furrowed his brow as he looked down at Soyak.

At that, most children would have shrunk back.

But Soyak simply stood still and looked back up at him.

“So you really were from Namgung.”

“How did you know?”

“I felt a boundless blue sky in your sword, Master.”

Namgung Byeok let out a breath.

“Hah.”

It was the reaction of someone dumbfounded.

Then he turned back to Eunsong and started pressing him again.

“You think that was all? Just what exactly have you been teaching her? She canceled out my internal energy with elemental restraint.”

“So it was as I thought.”

“Listen here, you old fox. What do you mean, ‘So it was as I thought’?”

Namgung Byeok’s brow tightened sharply.

But Eunsong was still smiling.

Then he removed the barrier of energy that blocked sound.

Namgung Byeok immediately shut his mouth again.

“For now, let us go into the hut. It is a humble dwelling, but sufficient for conversation.”

Soyak nodded and followed behind Eunsong.

Namgung Byeok did the same.

Because he had seen it on the way in.

A formation.

Namgung Byeok was not especially broad in his knowledge of formations.

Even so, there were things one could still find “familiar.”

For example...

the formations of the safe houses he had seen back when he was Night-Heaven Wanderer.

At some point, Eunsong had already set up formations around the hut.

The technique was subtle and precise...

This was absolutely not work Eunsong had done alone.

If so—

“Did someone from the Zhuge Household come by, perhaps?”

Eunsong’s steps stopped.

Then he quietly turned to look at Namgung Byeok.

“Let us speak once we are inside.”

It was a warning.

A martial artist who had only just entered Transcendent Apex

was warning him, a man running through the middle stage of the Transformation Realm.

And yet Namgung Byeok had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

Because to the Reverse Heaven Society, Eunsong was indispensable talent.

And the reason the Reverse Heaven Society had endured until now...

was almost entirely thanks to Eunsong.

The nominal head of the Reverse Heaven Society was Zhuge Yeon.

But the one Zhuge Yeon always sought counsel from was Eunsong.

His judgment had never once been wrong up to now.

As though he could read the will of heaven itself.

And besides, he was now Soyak’s master.

The most certain candidate to become the number one martial artist under heaven, no matter how late one estimated it, within ten years.

The standing of the man who had arranged all of that could never be low.

“...All right. Stop looking at me like that. As if I’ve done something wrong. Tch.”

When the three of them passed the hut’s crude little wall,

Eunsong nudged something with the tip of his foot.

It was a small stone lying on the ground.

It had a reddish tint, but was so caked in dirt that its shape could not be made out.