Chapter 271
"Go die."
Seol Lihyang glared at me, voice cold, eyes twisted in anger.
But I just grinned, thinking, This isn't so bad either, and opened my mouth.
“For someone born with a Pure Yin Physique... I didn’t expect to hear such words from you, Seol Lihyang, a true bundle of talent.”
“No matter how amazing my physique is, compared to you, Cheon Hwi, it's barely like having cold hands and feet.”
“Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?”
Chuckling, I took Seol Lihyang’s hand. Just like she said, her temperature felt cool, almost like someone with poor circulation.
And just as I felt her coolness, it must’ve felt warm to her.
As I held and gently rubbed her hand for a while, her sharp gaze slowly began to soften.
With a clearly gentler tone, Seol Lihyang finally spoke. “So? Why did you suddenly bring up talent and all that? Just in case—it was aimed at me, wasn’t it? If it was, next time we kiss, I’m going to bite your tongue.”
“Isn’t that a bit extreme?”
“I’m talking about your tongue, Cheon Hwi, not mine.”
“Oh dear. That’s even more extreme.”
I shrugged and gave her a simple explanation of what had happened today.
Seol Lihyang listened quietly until the end, then slowly opened her mouth.
“So basically, isn’t this just because you suck at teaching?”
“...”
“Well, I mean—maybe not talent, but you clearly don’t have much experience. You’ve sparred with me and Sister Sowol plenty of times, but our weapons and martial arts are completely different from theirs. And it’s not like you were formally teaching us—just pointing out weak points during sparring.”
She was right.
It was simply sparring—pointing out flaws like “this part is weak”, or “if you strike here, it’ll be sharper.”
So how to resolve those issues—that was something each of them had to figure out on their own. It wasn’t something I could help with.
It’s not like I know much about assassination techniques, poison arts, whip techniques, or sound-based arts anyway.
Tang Sowol had Tang Jincheon, and Seol Lihyang had a ton of martial arts manuals she’d brought from the Ice Palace, so I’d never really worried.
But that only worked because both of them were geniuses.
For an average person—or someone with less talent—this kind of haphazard teaching was horribly inefficient.
Come to think of it, I’ve thought plenty about defeating people, but I can count on one hand the times I ever sparred with the intent of teaching someone.
Occasionally I’d help Tang Sowol or Seol Lihyang with guided sparring... or back before the regression, there was Jin Baek from the Wudang Sect, who had died in my place—he lingered in my thoughts.
I remember when I visited Wudang before; I stayed a few days and taught him properly.
Those three were it—the only ones I’d truly tried to teach.
Tang Sowol and Seol Lihyang were undisputed geniuses. And while Jin Baek might have lacked some innate ability, his mental strength was extraordinary.
Actually, even his talent wasn’t that lacking. He might not have been on par with Wudang’s next sect leader, but he was a fairly promising late-stage young warrior.
To be rated that highly within a prestigious sect like Wudang was proof that he had real talent.
It’s just that his mental toughness overshadowed everything else.
Before the regression—he was the one going around saying he’d restore the sect’s martial arts, claiming the techniques had been lost, even though the people had survived.
In truth, the martial arts hadn’t been lost. They’d just been corrupted—tainted by the killing intent of those who had survived long wars and sect exterminations.
Even once-noble Taoists had swung blades filled with murderous intent and resentment, and even devout monks had no hesitation in staining their hands with blood.
That was the era—where everyone struggled just to survive, and the entire world was steeped in demonic energy.
Even in such times, Jin Baek had tried to erase all traces of killing intent and restore the original sword path.
Well... he failed due to his ambiguous talent, but the fact that he kept a righteous heart in those circumstances was already impressive.
In any case, that’s how it was. This is my first time trying to teach someone truly average, or even less than average.
And since I plan to stay near the Diamond Arhat for a while, I’ll likely need to keep helping out with the young warriors in the training grounds from time to time...
“This is the situation. Honestly, I have no idea where or how to begin.”
“Mm. Yeah, it’s kind of complicated. But...do you really have to stay close to that Elder?”
“Yes. I don’t know all the details, but I’m certain.”
“What kind of vague logic is that... Oh, right.”
Seol Lihyang’s expression was one of disbelief, but then she nodded, as if remembering something—probably the mental restriction.
“Okay, I get the circumstances. But do you really have to teach well?”
“Hmm???”
“You said the important thing was the pretext, right? Then it doesn’t matter if you’re not that good at teaching.”
“That’s true, but... if I’m doing it anyway, I want to do it properly. More than anything, I’ve never seriously taught anyone before, so I’d like to gain some experience. You never know; it might help in the future.”
“In the future? Ah... Right, your martial arts—didn’t you say you created your own original techniques? It would be a shame for those to disappear. Are you thinking of taking on a disciple someday?”
“Whether it’s a disciple or a child, either would be fine.”
“Mmm... like Sister Hwarin said, if you have enough kids, one of them is bound to have sword talent.”
“Isn’t that a bit premature?”
“You’re the one who brought it up first, Cheon Hwi.”
Seol Lihyang shrugged, then sat with her back to me.
Freshly washed, her long black hair hung down to her waist, damp and gleaming in a way that looked different from usual.
“Dry it.”
“What were you thinking, coming out barely dried? What if I wasn’t here?”
“I can just wait until you show up.”
“At that point, dry it yourself…”
Shaking my head, I sandwiched her hair between my palms and gently rubbed it with internal energy.
Not hot enough to catch fire—but warm enough to dry the moisture thoroughly, vibrating with inner power.
It wasn’t something like Heat Flame Art. I couldn’t learn something like that at this point. What I used was an application of the Samadhi True Flame I’d learned from Seo Mun-Hwarin.
Originally meant for willpower training, but these days, I mostly used it to dry people’s hair after they bathed.
Just like how, in summer, Seol Lihyang often got treated like an icebox.
And so, while carefully drying her hair, she spoke up again—not long after.
She must’ve been thinking over our earlier conversation.
“In the end, the root of the problem is that you’ve never taught anyone before, right? Then what can you do? Just take it slow and improve little by little.”
“Sss... Still—”
“It’s greedy to expect someone who just picked up a sword to become a peerless master overnight, right? You just have to go step by step. Besides, your real goal isn’t to educate the future of the Murim Alliance, is it?”
“Uh...?”
“The real goal is to get close to the Elder, Diamond Arhat, right? So if you’re going to go so far as to do something you normally wouldn’t, why not just ask him directly how to do it better? It’ll reduce the distance, increase favor, and help you learn something new—three birds with one stone.”
She was right.
Since it had come to this, I might as well ask the Diamond Arhat for help.
I jumped to my feet.
“Thank you. That solved everything I was worrying about. I’ll go right away—”
“Hey! Cheon Hwi! Where do you think you’re going just like that?!”
“???”
I was just getting pumped up when I froze, startled. Seol Lihyang suddenly pushed her head in front of me.
“Dry my hair properly before you go.”
“Right.”
I wonder if this is how Seol Lihyang felt when I’d cool water for her just because she said “water” during summer.
Still, that was then, and this is now. How can you expect me to give up ice water in the middle of summer?
***
Following Seol Lihyang’s advice, I asked the Diamond Arhat to teach me how to instruct late-stage young warriors.
When I began by saying I couldn’t understand those without talent, he gave a wry smile, but as I continued, his expression gradually brightened.
Thanks to that, I spent over ten days at the training grounds with him, watching the martial arts of the Murim Alliance’s warriors.
It didn’t take long before the training grounds were packed.
“I didn’t expect things to turn out like this.”
“Haha. A young man at the Flowering Stage, and already a rising star, offering to evaluate their swordplay—how could anyone with pride not take a peek?”
“Please don’t tease me, Elder. Anyway, the problem now is... what do we do with all these people?”
“I’ll talk to someone and see if we can borrow a larger training ground. You just do what you always do.”
The Diamond Arhat stepped away for a bit, then returned and led us to a new location.
Surprisingly, it was somewhere familiar—the Grand Training Arena used during the Yongbong Gathering.
It had certainly grown larger in scale, but once something’s decided, it must be done.
What should’ve taken half a shichen, or at most one shichen, ended up taking just over two—but at least it was done.
My body was fine, my internal energy intact—but mentally, I was a bit worn out.
“I’m a little tired.”
“Seems the White Moon Sword Lord doesn’t enjoy crowded places.”
“Exactly. If these were corpses instead of people, I wouldn’t be nearly as exhausted.”
“...You still say things that are hard to understand, sir.”
A joke, huh?
Well, if it wasn’t a joke, they’d just think I was some bloodthirsty lunatic.
I suppose the fact he took it as a joke meant I’d earned some trust over the past few days.
Of course, from my perspective, I meant it. I’d just seen that many corpses before the regression.
This too—was all because of the Heavenly Demon.
As I nodded to myself, the Diamond Arhat suddenly stood.
“If you’d like, would you care to rest at my residence for a while, sir?”
“I’m not interested in men.”
“That’s not what I meant. Besides, I’m a monk.”
He let out a long sigh and continued.
“It’s just—before I became an Elder, when I left Shaolin and worked under the Murim Alliance, I received a gift from the Potala Palace.”
“A gift from the Potala Palace... That only brings ominous images to mind. Aren’t they devotees of Esoteric Buddhism?”
“Haha! It’s true the monks of the Potala Palace hold Esotericism dear, but I said it was a gift, not a curse. It’s harmless—no, it’s actually good for the body.”
“What on earth did you receive to speak so confidently?”
“A small bell. Strangely enough, when you hear its sound, it clears your mind. It’s said to be blessed.”
“There’s something like that?”
“I was skeptical at first, just like you... but its effect is real. Since you said you’re tired, why not listen for a bit before you go?”
Putting his hands together, the Diamond Arhat said so with a smile. After a moment’s thought, I nodded.
“Very well. If you say so, Elder, I’m curious now. I’ll accept your hospitality.”
“This way, please.”
As if he’d been waiting for that, he led the way.
His residence was quite lavish in appearance—probably constructed with care by the Murim Alliance, befitting an Elder.
But once inside, what I felt was an austere simplicity.
It felt less like a house, and more like a temple.
He had arranged the place like a shrine, and led me to a room with a small Buddha statue. Probably served a role similar to the Main Hall.
I was looking around absently when he proudly took out a small bell, just the size of a palm.
And the moment I saw it—
Ah.
I understood why the pre-regression Diamond Arhat had suddenly gone mad, like a completely different person.
Demon Bell.
The sound that little bell makes drives people insane.
All to steal their body.