Cheonan (Heavenly Eye). (3)
[That is far too dangerous a method.]
Within my thoughts, Noya answered firmly.
It was true that the Abbot I had just met had suggested it.
Hadn't even the Blood Demon told me to come find him?
'If I go, wouldn't I find out?'
[You would set foot directly in a place that may well be enemy territory? You of all people should know full well how dangerous an act that is.]
Moreover, it seemed the Blood Demon had already noticed me and was taking an interest.
'I didn't say I would do it right away. I'm merely saying it is one possible method.'
Just as Noya said, I myself knew full well how great a burden of danger this carried.
However, Noya must have also known that it was something worth trying, conversely.
'Merely seeking easy paths—what lies ahead is not easy, is it?'
The only thing I could sympathize with from my conversation with the Abbot just before had been the blood tribulation that would come.
Even now, I couldn't be certain whether the Abbot had been speaking of the Heavenly Demon.
No matter what it was, these were not things I could overcome by struggling alone.
All the more so if the power of the unknown was greater than that of the known.
'Do not worry. I am a man who treasures his own life above all else.'
[Oh, you treasure your own life above all else, and yet you roll about everywhere like that?]
'I've been getting around quite unscathed, so what are you...'
...Isn't that right?
[Tsk...]
At my words, Noya eventually clicked his tongue. That was simply his way of saying he would speak no more of it.
I had spoken lightly, but whether or not I truly entered Yuseong was something I needed to ponder deeply on my own.
'I suppose I should find out more before deciding.'
Though I wasn't sure if it was something that could be figured out simply by investigating.
If Shaolin and the Beggars' Sect were already moving their hands on the Alliance side, it would likely be difficult.
'Did Father say he would know?'
Since it had come from the Abbot's mouth, I needed to ask first.
For now, I needed to get away from Shaolin quickly.
I had been planning to return soon anyway, and now that the matter was finished—
"Ah."
While walking continuously to leave Shaolin, I let out a brief cry.
Namgung Bia, who had been walking with me, looked my way to see what was the matter.
I took that Namgung Bia's hand and drew out heat, injecting it into her.
"...Huh."
Namgung Bia looked at me as if wondering what I was doing, but I spoke to her in a slightly urgent voice.
"Wait here a moment. This should be enough to keep you from getting cold."
"Huh...?"
"I'll be right back, so stay here quietly. Understand?"
At my words, Namgung Bia nodded her head slightly.
She had every reason to be bewildered, yet she still didn't ask why.
[Where are you trying to go?]
'Something came up that I need to check on.'
[In Shaolin...? In this situation?]
'Yes.'
I immediately left Namgung Bia standing there in bewilderment and stomped on the ground, leaping up.
Using my internal qi to suppress my presence as much as possible.
In the room where only the two remained, Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong opened his firmly closed mouth and spoke.
"Abbot."
It was directed toward the Abbot, who was quietly sipping his tea.
"Might I ask why you spoke to that boy to such an extent?"
"A reason, you say."
Tsk, tsk.
The dry smile the old man wore felt like the passage of time.
The story of the blood tribulation was something known only to a very select few, not only in Shaolin but also in the Alliance.
It was also a story the Abbot had personally kept secret.
For this was not something that would do any good were it known to the world.
The Abbot kept silent for a time, then soon gave Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong an answer.
"Simply because I felt it had to be done."
"...Abbot...."
"Did you not also see that child's reaction?"
At the Abbot's words, Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong turned his thoughts and recalled Jinryong, who had been sitting there just moments ago.
Unlike the martial prowess he had displayed at the martial arts tournament and the unsavory rumors heard of him before, he was a boy who knew how to be appropriately humble and conduct himself.
"...Are you speaking of the manner in which he expressed his doubts?"
"I speak of when he heard of the blood tribulation."
At the Abbot's words, Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong's beard trembled slightly.
It was because he wondered what was being implied.
But soon, as the Abbot's words continued, he couldn't help but swallow a vain breath.
"He was composed. Rather, he seemed more surprised when he heard of Yuseong."
"...!"
"As though... he already knew of the blood tribulation. That was the impression I had."
A faint smoke leaked from Cheonan's mouth.
It was smoke caused by his internal qi. It meant that the Abbot's life was slipping away.
"To say he felt no fear of the blood tribulation because of his youth—was that gaze not curious?"
Unlike the breathtakingly beautiful woman sitting beside him.
That girl seemed to have little interest in the ways of the world from the start.
Bearing the Namgung surname, unlike her own blood relatives, so to speak.
She was like white jade.
Even Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong, who had lived his whole life among greats, could see that her gaze and interest were directed solely at the boy beside her.
How could she be like that even with the Abbot of Shaolin before her eyes?
'The boy's gaze.'
It was not something he had paid much attention to.
Having shown outstanding form at this martial arts tournament, the later-generation disciple possessed a physique so steady that it surprised even Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong, but....
"I hope that child will stand together with us."
"...I cannot say I understand well."
The world as seen by the Abbot who possessed the Heavenly Eye was something Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong dared not claim to understand.
For it was something that had not come to him.
Even regarding the blood tribulation of which Cheonan spoke.
How great a blood tribulation must be approaching, that the Abbot moved his rusted body so? It was not something he could know.
The Abbot spoke.
The blood tribulation would come, but he himself would likely not be in that place.
Therefore, more preparations had to be made, or so he said.
Watching the Abbot calmly speak of his own end while promising the future of all people, Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong could say nothing.
"Because there is a will, that one has also given me this responsibility. Thus must I accept it."
The Abbot called his Heavenly Eye a responsibility. By "that one," Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong naturally thought he meant the will of the Buddha.
"Cheonbong."
"Yes, Abbot."
"I must go to the Alliance."
"Did you not go there just the other time? Please rest a while."
It was something he said because he knew the Abbot's physical condition, but he knew.
That the Abbot would not listen.
"Time is not plentiful, so I must hurry my steps."
Did the little time remaining mean the time until the blood tribulation struck?
Or did it mean the time remaining in the Abbot's life?
Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong did not dare ask.
"...I will send word to the Alliance."
"I ask it of you."
Gyeolgeuk Cheonbong disappeared, and Cheonan, left alone, sat quietly with his eyes closed.
The sounds coming through the window frame and the winter wind covered the quiet silence with small noises, but
Cheonan's mind, without any room to feel such things, was completely filled with the boy he had just met.
'Hot. Very much so.'
It was not that he could not see because his eyes were closed.
Because Cheonan closed his eyes, it allowed him to see far more.
It was a sight filled with visions even Cheonan himself did not know the meaning of.
Yet this time, one among them was exceptionally special.
'And yet, it is all black.'
Infinitely hot, yet filled with darkness.
Even in a vision full of contradictions, a mysterious harmony could be seen.
Perhaps that was why.
Cheonan's eyes seemed to speak.
They seemed to say to keep a close eye on that boy.
Though he was steeped in deep thought over what it could possibly be,
he judged that anything and everything would have its purpose in the end.
I |.
.
.
...
"...All of this must be the will of Heaven."
May a single will stretch long and eventually lead to peace.
Cheonan closed his eyes and hoped that the end of his remaining life would be added to it.
Swish, swish—
Someone was sweeping the floor with a broom slightly smaller than average.
A child monk who looked barely ten no matter how much one tried to add years.
It was Huiyeong, the youngest of Shaolin.
"They said I could work again, but...."
Huiyeong, who had been sweeping the courtyard, lamented in a small voice.
It was because others were not entrusting work to Huiyeong due to the incident that had occurred some time ago.
'I said I was fine....'
For some reason, Huiyeong had lost the memories of the past ten days. When he woke to see the ceiling of the infirmary, how bewildered he had been.
Afterwards, he had received treatment from the physician and been examined, but
there was nothing greatly wrong with his body.
The physician had said that the reason for his lost memory seemed to be overexertion.
Perhaps because of that.
Thanks to Huiyeong's usual conduct of working hard so as not to bring harm to his sect,
Huiyeong was forced to take a period of rest.
The shocking words that he should not even train in martial arts until his body was comfortable had fallen, but
Huiyeong had nothing to say to his senior brothers' words.
'My senior brothers must be training hard at this time....'
Huiyeong found that regrettable. Along with his late admission, he was young and thus had to work all the harder.
"Really, why can't I remember?"
He couldn't understand.
They said it was due to overexertion, but Huiyeong didn't think he had moved about enough to warrant that.
Rather, right after regaining consciousness had been more difficult.
Somehow, there had been an uncomfortable sensation as though he hadn't moved his body for several days.
'My senior brothers said I had been going about as usual.'
Since he couldn't remember, it was nothing but frustrating.
For the current Huiyeong, in the end, all he could do was sweep the courtyard like this.
'At this rate, when will I ever....'
Many people praised Huiyeong for having talent, but to Huiyeong, it was something he could not understand.
The boy wanted to become the center of Shaolin.
It was too grand a word for an ambition contained in such a small body, but still.
Swish, swish.
'In my current state, I don't think I can do it, but....'
Huiyeong repeatedly sighed as he swept the courtyard. His heart was complicated, but his actions were meticulous.
It was because of the teachings of his senior brothers, who said it was only a righteous deed if not only oneself was clean, but also Shaolin, which contained one's body, was clean.
Thud.
"Huh?"
Something had caught on the broom he was diligently sweeping with.
It was because a different sensation was felt in the thick pile of fallen leaves.
Huiyeong wondered if he had caught a small rock and brushed the leaves away with his hand.
Then, hidden among the leaves, there was a foreign object.
"This is...."
The subtle sensation caught on the end of the broom was not a rock.
A thin book.
Huiyeong carefully picked it up.
And soon opened the book to check what it was.
"...Huh?"
Huiyeong's eyes grew wide at the contents inside.
Wondering if someone had left it behind, he immediately looked around.
But there was no one to be seen nearby.
Around the time about an hour had passed since Namgung Bia had been waiting alone.
Just as frighteningly as Guyang Cheon had said this much heat would be enough.
Around the time the heat in her body was fading, Guyang Cheon appeared again.
"...Why are you sitting like that?"
Guyang Cheon asked Namgung Bia.
And for good reason—Namgung Bia was sitting crouched on the ground.
It shouldn't hurt just from standing this long.
"Where... did you go...?"
As Guyang Cheon appeared, Namgung Bia slowly rose and asked.
"I just had some business to tend to."
There was a slightly tired feeling in his characteristically curt voice.
Barely an hour had passed. Considering Guyang Cheon's martial prowess, it wasn't an amount of time to tire easily from.
He had either moved violently while wildly using his internal qi,
or conversely used a lot of internal qi to move cautiously instead—it was one of the two.
Whatever the case, she wondered if there was anything in Shaolin that would require him to move about like that, but.
"..."
Namgung Bia said nothing.
She simply cautiously approached Guyang Cheon and reached toward his hair.
From among his hair, which was gradually taking on a slight reddish tint, she picked something out.
"A leaf...."
"Ah, must have gotten stuck on the way."
Guyang Cheon quickly snatched the leaf from Namgung Bia and flicked it away.
As he threw it, he muttered small words like, 'When did this get stuck? No one saw, right?'
"I'm hungry. Let's go quickly."
Saying so, Guyang Cheon took Namgung Bia's hand to pull her along.
The kids would have already arrived and be waiting at the lodgings, so they needed to hurry.
*Squeeze.*
"Hm?"
When he tried to move at a slightly quick pace, Namgung Bia stiffened like a stone and refused to move.
"What's wrong?"
"...Slowly."
"What?"
"...Slowly... go..."
Not understanding Namgung Bia's words, Guyang Cheon slightly furrowed his brow, whereupon Namgung Bia carefully wrapped her arms around his.
"...There are... two of us.... So just a little slower...."
"..."
At Namgung Bia's cautiously, or shyly, spoken words, Guyang Cheon's mouth shut firmly.
At that moment, Namgung Bia could see it. Guyang Cheon's ears were slightly reddened.
Seeing that, Namgung Bia faintly smiled.
She wished they could go slower than this, but Guyang Cheon's personality would not allow it.
Namgung Bia knew that among the things he cherished, there were many people besides herself.
This was a small selfishness she exercised nonetheless.
It also seemed like the perfect situation.
"Are you okay?"
When Namgung Bia met his gaze and asked, Guyang Cheon let out a deep sigh.
"...Where did you learn this?"
At Guyang Cheon's words, Namgung Bia flinched for a moment.
And then soon answered in a very small voice.
"...Soyeol..."
It seemed she couldn't tell a lie no matter what.
At Namgung Bia's reaction, Guyang Cheon smirked.
"You keep learning strange things. You're not a child."
"..."
"Let's go for now."
Finishing his words, he moved his steps, but
Namgung Bia could tell from that gap.
That Guyang Cheon had not refused her words.
Not only did he not pull away his arm,
but his walking speed had clearly slowed compared to usual.
At such behavior, something welled up inside Namgung Bia.
The heat Guyang Cheon had given her earlier should have long since faded.
"Ah, I think we'll depart tomorrow. Is there anything else that needs to be done?"
At Guyang Cheon's words, Namgung Bia nodded.
Namgung Bia had not placed her will in Henan from the start.
She had simply followed because he had come here.
'...Cheonjun is....'
Then suddenly, Namgung Bia thought of her younger brother.
She hadn't seen him since the martial arts tournament; what had become of him?
When he was being treated in the infirmary after the match with Guyang Cheon, she had watched from afar.
He was her younger brother, after all.
Namgung Bia tried to hold the thought for a moment but immediately erased it.
'...He'll be... fine.'
For now, this was the extent of her thoughts.
Because to put other thoughts in her head—it was already filled with someone's face along with a sword.
That someone spoke.
"...I'm hungry, so can we go a little faster?"
"Okay, stop glaring at me like that...."
At his tactless words, Namgung Bia pulled his arm in more tightly as if punishing him.