**Chapter 231: Listening to the Heading (6)**
Across the foothills, over and over.
Past rugged and towering terrain.
They had crossed Mount Tai through countless forest paths.
Now, before they knew it, they had reached a point where a blue-green riverside was visible.
The clean new shoes had changed to a worn appearance, torn here and there,
and her white, jade-like skin had dust stuck all over it.
At that moment, the Sword Lord, who had been holding and pulling her small, delicate hand,
glanced behind him rather cautiously, as if reading her mood.
Hm,
While traveling a considerable distance,
her normally pretty appearance had been covered in leaves and dirt,
yet the girl's face was still glowing.
However, her lips, which held such a pretty color, did not open no matter how closely one watched.
For nearly two months, the girl had not spoken.
Considering she was a child who used to chatter incessantly, the difference felt incredibly stark.
Even seeing this, the Sword Lord could not bring himself to say anything.
"...Shall Grandpa carry you if it's hard?"
Shake, shake.
To his casually asked question, the girl, Wi Seola, shook her head as if refusing.
She was a child who had loved being carried on his back since she was young,
but at some point, Wi Seola had stopped riding on the Sword Lord's back.
Probably ever since she had experienced a certain boy's back at the Gu Family.
The Sword Lord quietly observed his granddaughter,
but Wi Seola merely avoided his gaze, pretending not to notice.
"...Seol."
"Please, stop it."
Just as the Sword Lord tried to call out to Wi Seola once more,
Sinui, who had been following from behind huffing and puffing, cut in.
"The child is openly showing she hates it; do you really think something will come of you calling her constantly?"
"..."
"It's been days, not just one or two. Please restrain yourself."
How many days had it been already?
Setting aside Wi Seola, who had started not speaking,
watching the Sword Lord constantly clinging to her and trying to talk was quite annoying.
'...For a man of his temper, he seems to be holding back a lot.'
In his prime, to be exact, when the Sword Lord had been seated as the leader of the Alliance,
he was not an old man who acted while reading his granddaughter's moods like this.
He was the sky of the Righteous Faction,
the Heaven Beyond Heaven who had monopolized the reverence of countless allies—none other than the Sword Lord, Wi Hyogun.
Moreover, he had not been this kind of personality either.
'Perhaps that's what it means to raise a child.'
But it didn't seem to be all of it.
Perhaps Sinui's words had gotten through; the Sword Lord ignored his trembling mustache and looked ahead once more.
While still holding Wi Seola's hand.
Seeing that, Sinui also looked at the hand he was holding.
It was Jegal Hyeok, who had left the Gu Family with Sinui.
Jegal Hyeok still couldn't speak,
and because of his long bangs hiding his face, it was impossible to tell what eyes he was making,
but Sinui could tell that Jegal Hyeok was feeling quite hurt as well.
The reason was probably the blood relatives of the Gu Family.
Especially, it was highly likely because of the youngest girl among them.
The pretty girl from Huashan who used to come over often to play with his own grandson during their stay.
'...I'm sorry.'
Sinui knew he was not in a position to say anything to the Sword Lord.
Because even if this matter was for his grandson's sake, it was no different from ignoring his grandson's opinion due to his own greed.
'Is this truly the right choice?'
He constantly questioned it.
It was something he couldn't find the answer to.
No, the old physician already knew the answer.
He was merely deliberately turning a blind eye.
"...Alliance Leader."
At Sinui's call, the Sword Lord glanced at him.
"There's something I'd like to ask."
"Speak."
"Why that place of all places?"
".."
The reason for leaving the Gu Family and heading to Qinghai.
Sinui had chosen to accompany him according to the Sword Lord's opinion,
but it was still something he couldn't understand.
He knew well that among the Nine Sects and One Alliance, especially Wudang and Shaolin, were off-limits,
yet moving his footsteps all the way to Qinghai was incomprehensible.
Moreover, when he heard the proper destination, he couldn't help but be even more doubtful.
A figure who had left to avoid attention because he couldn't trust Shaolin, Wudang, and the Alliance
was now walking of his own accord toward the enemy stronghold currently called the center of the Martial Arts Alliance.
"If there is a separate reason, I wish you would tell me."
If it were the past, he wouldn't have wanted to know,
nor would he have wanted to get involved for no reason,
but now they were clearly companions.
If they had to head there, he needed a reason he could accept.
Hm,
The Sword Lord too, having heard Sinui's words,
met eyes with him for a moment,
then looked as though he would open his trembling lips and speak.
But.
He halted.
Wi Seola, who had been diligently walking a path that was not a path, suddenly stopped,
and accordingly, the Sword Lord stopped as well.
Sinui, sensing something odd in the two's actions, immediately asked the Sword Lord,
"Alli—"
"Someone is coming."
Having heard the Sword Lord's words, Sinui immediately pulled Jegal Hyeok and hid him behind himself.
'...Who?'
He was not afraid.
If he knew who was standing before him, there was nothing to fear in this situation.
The Greatest Sword Under Heaven.
Sword Lord Wi Hyogun.
Among the countless martial artists spread throughout the Central Plains,
the strongest existence when it came to wielding the sword.
A transcendent being who could slash through a steep Mount Tai with a single sword was right before his eyes, so there was nothing to fear.
'...Just who could it be?'
Sinui, not being a martial artist, could not know what the Sword Lord had felt.
It was something completely different from the senses a martial artist felt.
However.
'Just now, that girl seemed to sense something too.'
It was the very reason the Sword Lord was heading to Qinghai.
An existence that could be called the purpose of his life.
In Sinui's eyes, the girl appeared as something wearing a human mask.
Clearly, even before the Sword Lord stopped, she had already been looking somewhere,
as if she could see something approaching from afar.
'Truly unknowable.'
The more he observed, the more unknowable it became.
How far did the possibilities opened within that small body extend?
Was it even something the old Sinui could foresee in the first place?
And.
Whether she could even close that endlessly unfolding something, as the Sword Lord wished.
It was a story Sinui could not be certain of.
As the silence imbued with tension continued,
Thud, thud, thud.
The footsteps of countless people began to reach Sinui's ears bit by bit.
And mixed with that,
'They are martial artists.'
Even Sinui, who possessed very shallow internal energy, could tell—a dense aura mixed in the air.
It meant those approaching were all martial artists.
Even in this situation, the Sword Lord only stood with his hands behind his back and watched.
If there was anything slightly different, it was only that he had momentarily let go of Wi Seola's hand.
Thud, thud, thud!
As the footsteps gradually drew closer,
their approaching figures began to appear in Sinui's eyes as well.
'Who are they?'
. ! ....
Those who could be seen bit by bit even from afar
were people Sinui knew as well.
To be exact, rather than people he knew,
he knew the clothes they were wearing.
'White martial uniforms with dark blue trim.'
It was impossible not to know.
Those kinds of clothes were identical to the martial uniform worn by Falling Sword Jang Cheon, who was said to be the current leader of the Martial Arts Alliance.
'That means...'
Thus Sinui could deduce their identities.
The martial artists, appearing to be around a dozen or so, approached with stiff, neat steps in unison.
They stopped all at once before the Sword Lord.
The fact that their simultaneously taken movements matched so perfectly
was like well-trained soldiers.
And standing at the very front of such people was, surprisingly, a boy who still looked young.
The handsome-faced boy slowly performed a respectful gesture toward the Sword Lord with composed body movements.
"It is an honor to meet the Sword Lord of the Heaven Beyond Heaven."
Movements without a hint of hesitation or trembling
made it known how well-educated a scion of a prestigious family the boy was.
The Sword Lord facing the boy asked, as if he already knew his identity.
"It seems the Alliance Leader has not come."
At the Sword Lord's words, the boy put on a kind-looking smile.
"Yes... My father is in a situation where he cannot leave Henan, so I have come to see you, Elder, with my apologies."
"...What have you come here for? There should still be a long way to go before arrival."
"How could I dare merely wait for you to arrive? I have come to escort you comfortably."
Sinui found it quite remarkable how upright and clear-spoken the boy was beyond his years.
However, the face of Wi Seola beside the Sword Lord was not very good.
Although her expression had disappeared, Wi Seola, who had at least never shown a frown or a look of dislike,
was making a rather uncomfortable expression for some reason.
Swish.
As if to show this was no illusion, Wi Seola hid herself behind the Sword Lord's back.
Then the Sword Lord asked the boy,
"What is your name?"
At the Sword Lord's question, the boy slowly raised his head and met eyes with him.
"I am called Jang Seonyeon."
There was still no trembling in his voice as he spoke,
even though he knew the identity of the person before him.
In a neat atmosphere,
the boy continued with his final words.
"Though I am undeserving, I am called the Divine Saint."
"...The Jang Family."
I had to bite my lip slightly upon reading the contents of the letter.
The letter Elder Yi had handed me
contained only the words that the Sword Lord was heading to the Jang Family.
Speaking of the Jang Family,
that was where that guy was.
Jang Seonyeon, who was currently called the Divine Saint in the Central Plains.
" "
Quietly recalling the place,
I soon sighed inwardly.
It was information that let me know where the Sword Lord and Wi Seola were headed, but
the reason I showed such deep worry was none other than this.
'It's the same, isn't it?'
In my previous life, the place Wi Seola had belonged to when she rose to prominence was also the Jang Family.
If the Sword Lord was taking Wi Seola to the Jang Family even now,
then even if the future had changed in countless ways because of the trouble I caused,
in the end, it meant this one thing had not changed.
'Everything else changed, yet this one thing didn't.'
It was unfair.
The things I wished hadn't changed were all bound up in what I didn't know,
or had changed so much that they were beyond fixing.
Yet things related to Wi Seola were proceeding creepily according to the original.
As I bit my lips in frustration,
Elder Yi in front of me spoke in a voice full of questions.
"You don't look very surprised."
"...Excuse me?"
"As if you knew."
"That can't be."
"...Hm."
Elder Yi looked at me as if suspecting something, but
if I played dumb and denied it, there was nothing he could do.
"It was quite expensive information, but seeing your grim expression, Yangcheon, I thought I'd mention it."
"...I'm just surprised. It doesn't mean anything else."
"Yes, that may be. Then may I ask something else?"
I looked at Elder Yi, wondering what on earth he was going to ask.
"Do you know about Seola's old grandpa?"
At Elder Yi's words, I swallowed my saliva in a moment.
Because it was full of certainty rather than a question.
"...What do you mean, all of a sudden...?"
"Judging by your reaction, you know what kind of person he is."
" "
Looks like I couldn't run away.
Right now, Elder Yi was asking if I knew that the true identity of Wi Hyogun, who had been living as a servant, was the Sword Lord.
Rather than asking, he was already certain.
I had even been found out.
Damn it.
"How did you know?"
"...I roughly knew by intuition."
"Intuition, you say. Yes, Yangcheon, you appear to have not an ounce of tact, yet your intuition is strangely good in odd places."
No matter how I looked at it, it was an insult disguised as praise.
"However, even you know that saying you knew by intuition is an insufficient explanation."
Hm,
And it seemed this wasn't something he could let pass either.
What should I do? Just as I was thinking of an excuse that wasn't an excuse.
"However, I won't ask further."
"Yes...?"
"If you say so, then it is so. It would be more comfortable for me to think that way."
Elder Yi ended his words and laughed heartily,
then struck my back heavily with his huge palm.
"Kkuk... keuk!"
He clearly wasn't using internal energy when he struck,
yet for some reason, it was incredibly heavy.
"This old man's affectionate touch, yet you exaggerate so much."
"Exaggeration...? You call this exaggeration?"
If I put on airs twice, I'd really die.
As I was somehow touching my tingling back,
Elder Yi continued.
"I don't know what you'll do after seeing this, but first, go and come back safely."
"...Thank you."
"Since you're going with other people's daughters, take good care of them."
"They'll do well on their own."
They were people who could look after their own meals even without me caring for them.
Or rather, Moyong Hui might be able to, but Namgung Bia probably couldn't.
"...Tsk tsk. I can already see what kind of future you'll have, Yangcheon."
"What strange words are you saying all of a sudden?"
"Nothing. Regretting it when the time comes will be your share."
"Yes...?"
"Hurry and go. Aren't people waiting?"
As he spoke, Elder Yi forcibly pushed my back.
I was already going to leave; who goes grabbing someone like that...!
"Ah, and."
"What else is there...?"
"A message from the Patriarch."
At Elder Yi's words, my eyes unconsciously narrowed.
A message from my father was a rare thing.
"'Work hard.' He told me to pass this on."
" "
It was four characters utterly devoid of embellishment.
Moreover, it was also something I'd never heard from my father before.
After making a thoroughly disgruntled face in response to Elder Yi, I moved my steps and boarded the carriage.
When I boarded the carriage, Namgung Bia had already fallen asleep.
As if sensing I had climbed aboard, she naturally leaned her head against me.
I thought of at least saying goodbye through the window, but
Elder Yi was already gone from his spot.
Anyway, he's an impatient old man.
After confirming that, I opened my mouth to the coachman with a sigh.
"...We can depart now... Why are you sitting there?"
Just as I was about to tell him to depart,
Gu Jeolyeop sitting in the coachman's seat caught my eye.
When I asked as if bewildered, rather, Gu Jeolyeop looked at me with a strange expression.
"...Isn't this my role?"
"No, that was back then... No. Do as you please."
I was about to say, 'Back then, I made you do it just to torment you,' but
I thought this was fine too, so I just left him be.
I didn't know why, but Gu Jeolyeop seemed comfortable in that position.
"Hiyah!"
Neigh!
The carriage slowly moved.
The Red Hare exhaled a powerful breath and galloped toward the front lines.
Watching the scenery change in an instant, I involuntarily recalled in my mind,
'...Thinking about the suffering I'll face there makes my stomach churn.'
About the hardships I would face there.
The face of Gu Huibi, who would roll me around mercilessly, also came to mind at the same time, and my appetite completely vanished.
"If I endure this too... it'll pass on its own."
Though spoken in jest, it wasn't wrong.
Time would flow if one endured.
As it always had.
And so.
Truly, a year's time passed swiftly.