CLS-Chapter 127

Chapter 127

Lee Seol-hwa entered the renowned Huashan Sect at age five, famous throughout the land for their swordsmanship. She had lived under the strict discipline befitting a prestigious sect ever since. Although Huashan was known for being more liberal among Taoist sects, a prestigious sect was still a prestigious sect—naturally, their discipline was stricter than ordinary sects.

And how strict one’s life becomes after joining a sect depends more on what kind of master one encounters than the sect’s general disposition.

Despite being a woman, Lee Seol-hwa was fortunate enough to become the disciple of Gong Mu-jin, the Plum Blossom Sword Demon, who was the most promising swordsman in Huashan at the time, her talent having been recognized.

Her master was literally a sword demon.

He was obsessed with swords and regarded his sword as his very life.

And he was someone who forced his strict attitude toward swords upon his disciples as well.

Though the days were extremely difficult, she greatly respected her master. She thought he was truly a genuine swordsman.

But…

“Ha, let’s have just one more match! Just one more!”

“I don’t want to.”

“Come on, can’t we have just one more bout?”

“I said I don’t want to.”

“Hey, junior brother. No, young hero! Let’s not be like this and have just one more match.”

“Argh! Damn it!”

Lee Seol-hwa let out a deep sigh.

Seo Mun Da-yeon, who was driving the carriage beside her, shook her head and patted her shoulder.

“Cheer up.”

“Haaahhhhh…”

Though a day had already passed since they descended the mountain, that farce behind them continued.

Gong Mu-jin had cleanly acknowledged his defeat. It was a clean ending without lingering resentment, befitting his character as a master. The problem arose after that.

“Does having one more match wear down your sword or something! You’d want to develop your swordsmanship further too, wouldn’t you! I’m offering to be your opponent! Where else would you find a sparring partner like me? I may look like this, but I have considerable insight into martial combat! I’ll take the hits with my body, with my body!”

“Yeah. Not doing it.”

“Junior brotherrrrr!”

Lee Seol-hwa turned her head to look at the sky.

‘The clouds are really pretty.’

“Hey, don’t escape from reality, young lady.”

“…The clouds are pretty.”

“Young lady! Snap out of it!”

Unfortunately, Gong Mu-jin was a man who knew how to acknowledge defeat but also a man who didn’t know how to give up. Having recognized Wei Yan-ho’s sword, Gong Mu-jin had been persistently following him ever since.

‘He was always like that though…’

He’s called a sword demon not because he’s ghostly good with swords, but because he digs into swords like a ghost.

Having seen a sword that overwhelmed his common sense right before his eyes, there was no way he could be in his right mind. This was the same master who had pestered an elder for ten days, following him even to the outhouse, begging to be taught the secret of the Plum Blossom Stance that he couldn’t perform himself.

Even after getting beaten nearly to death by the furious elder’s bamboo sword, he didn’t give up and kept clinging until he finally learned the secret.

But back then, at least the elder was older than him, so rather than seeming pathetic, it evoked admiration for how enthusiastic he could be about swords.

But now…

Lee Seol-hwa got up from the driver’s seat and turned around.

She could see her master clinging to the carriage roof, looking down at the carriage window below and pleading.

“Junior brother! Don’t be like that and think about it once more! You won’t easily find a sparring partner like me anywhere you go! I may look like this, but when I return to the main temple, I’m someone who devours the elders!”

Master, that may be true.

But if you go around saying things like that, you should be prepared to be devoured by the elders, you know? No matter how skilled you are with the sword, there’s no winning against being ganged up on.

“Yeah. Not doing it.”

“Junior brother, don’t be like that…”

“Gaaahhhhh!”

Wei Yan-ho finally exploded.

“Argh! If you’ve done everything you need to do, just go home! Why are you clinging to someone else’s journey and bothering people!”

“S-sorry.”

Lee Seol-hwa found herself apologizing without realizing it.

Wei Yan-ho’s words weren’t wrong. They were going different ways to begin with, so they should have just parted ways and gone their separate paths.

But having discovered a master after a long time, Gong Mu-jin had canceled—or rather, just pushed aside—all his other schedules and stuck to Wei Yan-ho.

From Seo Mun Da-yeon’s position, she couldn’t refuse the sword demon’s request, and Wei Yan-ho had no ownership of the carriage. No matter how much they said he could ride the carriage to Luoyang, there was no clause saying they couldn’t take other people in that carriage.

Thanks to that, Gong Mu-jin had occupied the carriage roof and was persistently clinging to Wei Yan-ho.

“Now, think about it carefully. If you spar with me, your skills will improve, and if you, as a child of a martial family, improve your skills, wouldn’t your parents be happy first? They say family harmony makes everything prosper. A man needs his household to be solid and stable for everything to go well. Of course, I haven’t formed a family myself, but since you’re not going to become a monk, family stability is most important, you could say. Your father, the Righteous Hero Sword—someone like him would want his children to achieve greater accomplishments with the sword more than anyone. Moreover, since all your ancestors were swordsmen, their descendants…”

“Waaaahhhhhhh! Stop the carriage!”

Crash!

Before the carriage could even stop, Wei Yan-ho drew his sword and burst out the door.

“Get down here!”

“Hahahaha!”

Gong Mu-jin jumped down from the carriage with a huge smile on his face.

“That mouth! That mouuuuth!”

As Wei Yan-ho breathed fire from his mouth, Gong Mu-jin couldn’t have been happier.

“Huhuhu, junior brother, deciding to spar is a very wise choice.”

“Enough talk, draw your sword!”

“Good, very good. But!”

The Plum Blossom Sword Demon Gong Mu-jin slowly drew his sword and said:

“Be careful. Though I was careless earlier, this Gong Mu-jin’s sword is never light. For my junior brother’s sake…”

Thud!

Gong Mu-jin collapsed sideways, convulsing.

“Tsk.”

Wei Yan-ho shook his sword once, clicked his tongue, and went back into the carriage.

“I’d rather have mosquitoes buzzing around! Ugh!”

As Wei Yan-ho roughly slammed the carriage door and went inside, Lee Seol-hwa approached Gong Mu-jin with subtle steps and stood beside him as he lay collapsed.

“…Master, are you alright?”

“Grrmmph.”

Gong Mu-jin struggled to raise his upper body. His face was horribly contorted.

Lee Seol-hwa fully understood Gong Mu-jin’s feelings.

Who was her master?

He was Huashan’s pride, even mentioned as the next sect leader. From childhood, he had raised his name high as a prodigy, and now he was called the one to inherit the title of Huashan’s Greatest Sword.

His pride had to be that high.

Knowing her master’s sky-high pride well, Lee Seol-hwa could imagine how badly wounded he must be, having been helplessly defeated by a young child.

“Master…”

“Wh-what kind of sword technique is this?”

“…Pardon?”

“I can’t understand the principle at all! He clearly emanated such tremendous force, yet he subdued his opponent without inflicting a single wound—such mystical skill!”

Gong Mu-jin’s eyes glittered.

Seeing those shining eyes, she strangely felt like quietly backing away.

Sure enough, Gong Mu-jin sprang up from his spot and began running toward the carriage.

“Junior brother! Just one match! Just one more match!”

Lee Seol-hwa turned her head to look at the sky again.

‘Mom.’

It had been twelve years since entering the sect.

Today, more than ever, she missed her mother.

The group, having barely reached the village, found a nearby inn and unpacked their belongings.

“Grrmmph.”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his head vigorously.

“What kind of situation is this?”

A strange leech had attached itself to him and was tormenting him to death. Unable to sleep properly or rest, his head felt dizzy.

‘Are all masters like this?’

Among the sword masters he knew, there didn’t seem to be anyone with their head screwed on straight. Of course, it wasn’t incomprehensible.

To have the skill to stand out among countless swordsmen, one would have to devote their entire life to the sword without looking at anything else.

Then naturally, there were things that had to be lost.

Human relationships.

Hobbies.

Social life.

Even in old stories, sword masters were people who holed up in some remote mountain valley and swung their swords for ten, twenty years. There was no way such people could have proper personalities.

They’re called masters, sure.

They’re called swordsmen because they swing swords, but if you just lived in the mountains for twenty years without meeting other people, you’d normally be called a wild man or a bandit.

Even his father, the Righteous Hero Sword Wi Jeong-han, might be a hero devoted to martial arts if you put it nicely, but if you put it badly, wasn’t he an irresponsible head of household who threw away everything—family and all—and went on martial journeys for years, neglecting his wife and children?

There was a reason his mother ground her teeth whenever she saw his father.

So it wasn’t incomprehensible that masters were all twisted in personality. As long as they didn’t cause him harm, he wouldn’t even care.

The problem was…

“Ah, why do only these kinds of people keep getting tangled up with me!”

The point was that so-called “masters” were increasingly getting entangled around him.

So life had to be tough.

Wei Yan-ho looked at the neat bed, smacked his lips, and went downstairs. Sleep was nice, but after eating only dry provisions for several days, he was hungrier for delicious food full of moisture.

Going downstairs, he found the others had already taken their seats and ordered food.

“Junior brother! You’re here?”

“…”

Wei Yan-ho felt an urge to kick the middle-aged man grinning in front of him and desperately suppressed his impulse.

No matter what, he was an elder.

If rumors spread that the second son of the Wei family in Guangdong had kicked an elder’s rear end, Wi Jeong-han would immediately come chasing with foam in his mouth.

Of course, he’d have a sword in his hand.

Wei Yan-ho sighed and sat down.

“Eat a lot! It’s important for swordsmen to eat a lot.”

“Who says that?”

“I do!”

“…Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho, thinking that continuing to travel with this person would surely make something in his head go wrong, began seriously contemplating how to shake off this leech.

“But what about that sex demon?”

“I stuffed him in the stable.”

“What if he runs away?”

“I tied him up with iron chains and hung a sign around his neck saying ‘I am a sex demon,’ so no one will untie him.”

“…”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Seo Mun Da-yeon with a subtle gaze.

He thought she was the most normal one…

‘Just endure until Luoyang.’

He couldn’t give up the carriage. Its comfort was something only those who had experienced it could understand.

‘I should just eat.’

Just as Wei Yan-ho was about to pick up his chopsticks, interesting words began to be heard from the next table.

“Friend, did you hear that story?”

“What story?”

“About the Sword Emperor’s tomb discovered in Nashan last time.”

“That? Isn’t that fake? The Sword Emperor was from three hundred years ago—how does it make sense for his tomb to be discovered now?”

“Many people thought that way. But the thing is…”

“…Go on.”

“They say it was real! There’s chaos now!”