Chapter 103
If wrath and killing intent are no longer the path I walk, then where should I go?
I still don’t know the answer.
Well, that’s that and this is this, and a spar is still a spar.
“I’m coming.”
“Huh?!"
As I charged in with my sword raised, Seo Mun-Hwarin’s eyes widened into perfect circles.
Clearly flustered, she drew her sword diagonally in a rush, but I knocked it upward from below with my palm, sending it harmlessly over my head.
Unlike during the days when she was the Ironblood Hall Master before my regression, I thought I could now take advantage of her smaller frame, having only recently returned to youth...
But I suppose that was too naive a thought.
Seo Mun-Hwarin smoothly deflected my sword strike and blinked rapidly as she asked, “Wh-What, was that all?! This One may not be the one you faced directly, so cannot say for certain, but surely, the mental image you harbor, Cheon Hwi, is of the same kind as This One’s.”
“It’s roughly similar.”
Seo Mun-Hwarin, who lost all her family before her eyes, and I, who lost those I thought of as kin before I could even react.
A vengeance that, despite many twists and turns, we eventually achieved.
In that sense, Seo Mun-Hwarin and I had much in common. Even more so than when she once told me before my regression that we resembled each other.
It must be why she treated me with such caution.
Because she knew what lay ahead for someone who lived their entire life for revenge.
A self that no longer felt the same, a sense of emptiness from the loss of a lifelong goal, and a complete uncertainty about what comes next.
In the midst of that, only regret and lingering attachments surface vividly.
That must be why, after defeating the former master of the Black Lotus Sect, Seo Mun-Hwarin simply reclaimed the martial arts and immediately secluded herself.
But,
“Even after revenge, life continues.”
I struck down with the blade that had been knocked upward. The sword energy burning along its length looked threatening even to my own eyes, but Seo Mun-Hwarin met it precisely with an equivalent level of internal energy and slammed the sword flat.
Thud!
The sword, which should have come down vertically, was bent into a right angle by a mere flick of her hand.
She hadn’t just deflected it, but diverted even the power of my downward strike entirely.
A technique that joins with the opponent’s strength rather than opposing it, subtly distorting the result without them realizing.
It was from her that I learned the principle behind Chakui Myori—the subtleties of redirecting momentum.
The only difference is that I could never fully twist a sword imbued with such intense energy like hers.
To counter sword energy, I too must unleash my own, and when two sword energies clash, a tremendous rebound force occurs.
But Seo Mun-Hwarin controlled even that with ease and twisted it at will.
Things that were invisible back when I was still in the Peak Stage had now become clear, and I couldn’t help but be impressed. Seo Mun-Hwarin tilted her head and asked,
“That is true, but when blinded by revenge, is it really possible to think of what lies beyond?”
“Alone, it’s difficult. Yes. If one is alone, that is.”
After erecting the gravestones of Seol Lihyang and Seo Mun-Hwarin. Even when I was feared as the Sword Demon and the Demonic Cult’s invasion turned all of Zhongyuan into chaos, I remained blinded by an impossible vengeance.
Yes. That is, until I met Tang Sowol.
“So you’re saying you were different, Cheon Hwi?”
“If it is people who push others into hell, then isn’t it also people who pull them back out?”
I, who had nothing, and Tang Sowol, who had lost everything—perhaps it was inevitable that we were drawn to each other.
From her, I saw something beyond revenge, and she saw the same in me. And so, we promised a future together.
Even if it ended as a mere dream, broken by the Heavenly Demon.
Even if we were torn apart forever, sent to different times through regression...
Even so, I remember what I received from Tang Sowol. I know now that my life lies beyond revenge.
For from the very beginning, revenge was never my true goal.
The Heavenly Demon.
Only that monstrous figure was the one I had to surpass.
“So, nothing has changed. Surely, the meaning of everything I’ve carried all my life might feel faded now... but a person cannot remain bound to the past forever, can they?”
“Cannot remain bound to the past... yes, that is true.”
I tried momentarily lengthening my sword energy, spinning it to enhance its power—demonstrating every technique I had.
Seo Mun-Hwarin either avoided or parried them all.
Not a single speck of dust on her robe. She smirked and nodded.
“The emotions buried in the past are like ropes tied around stakes. If you tie them around your waist, you won’t fall when you stumble.
They become the driving force that allows the impossible.”
“But if you want to go far, they’ll only get in the way.”
“Indeed. If you’ve already untied that knot from your waist, then This One must’ve been worrying needlessly.”
“Well, I still don’t know where to go though.”
I lifted the corners of my mouth and kept moving, kept swinging my sword.
The stable linkage I’d learned from Zhongnan Mountain allowed me to continue regardless of how many times my sword was deflected, and the techniques I learned from the Ghost Shadow Thief transformed the same sword paths into something else entirely.
Right now, I must look like a storm wreathed in sword energy.
Which made Seo Mun-Hwarin all the more amazing for fending it off barehanded.
She had carved out her own domain, unshaken by the swirl of my strikes. Seo Mun-Hwarin shook her head.
“It’s fine not to know the direction. All paths eventually lead to one. What Cheon Hwi must remember is only this—what are you walking the path for?”
“What I’m walking for...”
“If you can establish just that, then even if you stray for a while, you’ll one day reach your answer. And complete yourself.”
Something I’d heard even before the regression, from Tang Sowol. That to reach the Flowering Stage, one had to complete themselves.
I still don’t fully understand what that means. But unlike before, I now have time.
Once I restore my lacking internal energy and reach true Sub-Perfection, I’ll soon reclaim the full martial strength of my previous life.
That would finally place me at the starting line.
Perhaps she felt she had said everything she needed. Seo Mun-Hwarin, who had quietly received all my attacks, began to change her momentum.
Her usual harmless demeanor vanished, replaced by something far more savage.
“I believe you’ve let it all out now, so it’s about time This One took her turn.”
“Please go easy on me.”
Though her figure still seemed small and fragile, her deeply sunken eyes were like those of an asura.
Seo Mun-Hwarin clenched her fist. And then—
KWAANG!
Sword and fist collided head-on. Even though she had wrapped her internal energy to match mine out of consideration, I was still the one who lost out.
“Hmph!”
My sword was flung far back. I spun with the momentum and slashed low.
But Seo Mun-Hwarin, who had already raised her foot, stomped down on it, slamming it to the ground.
It wasn’t just a difference in strength—she had used the mystery of Mountain Press to weigh down not only my sword but even the space beneath her foot.
But this was only a temporary effect. Her finely honed internal energy, sharpened like a needle, had pierced through my sword energy, but it wasn’t enough to completely suppress my sword, which had achieved Divine Sword Unity.
In that briefest of moments, my sword regained its original weight.
Though her foot remained heavy with Mountain Press, I could manage.
My internal energy, previously spread evenly, began to concentrate in my waist and limbs. With that, I thrust upward to break Seo Mun-Hwarin’s stance.
That was my intent—until—
“Did I not say before? To This One, hands and feet are the same.”
Sword energy shimmered, and Seo Mun-Hwarin was stuck tight to the blade being thrust upward.
“What the...”
She wrapped her foot in internal energy to block the sword aura, lightened her body using Chosangbi, and then used Chakui Myori to perch atop my sword.
Scaling a cliff vertically is something a martial master can attempt, but...
To think she could do the same atop a sword wrapped in sword energy!
As I let out a helpless laugh, Seo Mun-Hwarin extended her foot triumphantly.
Her foot, as if it were pointing a sword, pressed beneath my chin.
There was no internal energy behind it, so all I felt was the softness of the arch through her shoe... but this clearly marked the end of the spar.
I let out a long sigh and withdrew my sword energy.
“I’ve learned a lesson.”
“Mhm. You did well too. You handled that new insight quite adeptly.”
“Well, yeah.”
Not exactly joyful, since it was an insight I had already reached before regression. It would be strange not to be familiar with it.
Feeling slightly grumpy, I sniffed ostentatiously in Seo Mun-Hwarin’s direction as she lightly hopped off my sword.
“It was a good match, but next time, could we do it barefoot? It’s hot in the summer, and uh...”
“W-What?! Are you implying This One’s feet smell?!"
“I didn’t say that exactly, but... yeah, you know??”
“This One does not! But regardless, that is not true! After rejuvenating, This One’s body emits only a lovely fragrance!”
“A lovely fragrance? I suppose that depends on perspective.”
“Kyaaah!"
Finally losing her temper, Seo Mun-Hwarin kicked off her shoes, revealing her bare feet.
“Smell them! Go on, smell them properly!”
“No thanks.”
“Ugh! You talk too much! In that case, This One shall prove her point by force...!”
Maybe because of her short height, she lifted one leg perfectly straight, aligning it with the other.
Though dressed in martial robes, it was an extremely improper posture.
But Seo Mun-Hwarin, now blinded by foot odor accusations, paid it no mind and bounced toward me.
“Come! Smell and see for yourself!”
“I said no. If you want someone to verify, ask Seol Lihyang over there watching.”
“M-Me?!"
At first, she had focused on her training. Then, she'd watched our spar in awe. Now, she was holding her mouth shut, stifling laughter—until she sprang up in surprise.
Then she quietly turned her head away after glancing at Seo Mun-Hwarin’s bare feet. Her expression? Awkward, to say the least.
“Y-You scoundrels! This will not do! No matter what it takes, This One will clear her name today!"
Truly upset now, Seo Mun-Hwarin began chasing us using her internal energy.
With one leg raised high in an utterly improper pose!
“Senior Seo Mun-Hwarin... must it come to this?"
“Kyaaah! Sister Seo Mun has gone crazy!”
“Where do you think you’re going?! You’re the one who made me like this!”
As we ran circles around the training ground, shrieking and yelling—
Tang Sowol and Tang Jincheon, who had stepped out briefly for Murim Alliance business, returned.
“We’re back. Young Master Cheon! You won’t believe what we just heard—we’ve been given Sobriquet... huh?”
They froze upon seeing Seo Mun-Hwarin hopping after me with a leg pointed toward the sky, while Seol Lihyang and I scrambled to escape.
To be honest, we were frozen too. Of all times, they had to come back now.
Only silence filled the training ground. Perhaps it was that stillness that made Tang Jincheon’s sigh sound even louder.
“Haaah......”
He said nothing, but the emotion in his eyes was so clear, words weren’t needed.
Seo Mun-Hwarin shrieked at the gaze, as if she were being judged like some senile old woman.
“Do not... do not look at This One like thaaat!”
It was summer.