The day she first met that child.
Beneath a clear blue sky without a single cloud.
It was a warm spring day.
A clueless novice of the Central Plains who had quarreled with her master and fled the sect.
All she knew was how to make the plum blossom bloom.
And a young woman who possessed nothing but a heart set on achieving righteousness and chivalry.
A time when she had shed the white martial uniform she wore at Mount Hua.
And wore the pale blue clothes issued by the Alliance.
Naturally, she had no alias.
She was simply a Sword Corps agent of the Martial Alliance.
It was around the time she had been called just that.
“…Why are we the ones going on the reconnaissance mission?”
A clear, ringing voice echoed through the forest.
Small wrinkles creased the woman’s forehead.
A sign that she was displeased with the situation.
“You’re noisy.”
The one who answered the woman’s voice was a young man with fierce features.
Though his look was savage, he was a handsome man with a tall stature and distinct features.
He was the superior of the unit the woman belonged to.
He was also a famous martial artist who had set the Central Plains abuzz at the time.
The strongest Divine Dragon ever recognized by the Alliance.
A young martial artist who might perhaps become the supreme master under heaven.
Divine Dragon Gucheolun. He was the woman’s superior.
At those words from such a superior, the woman’s furrowed expression deepened.
“No, Senior. This was the Azure Dragon Squad’s mission from the start… Why do we have to do it?”
The mission the woman was currently undertaking was a search for the demonic beast that an Azure Dragon Squad sword agent had let escape.
She was displeased.
Immediately after enlisting in the Sword Corps under the Alliance.
The fact that she had been drafted into the Divine Dragon Squad.
How much the Azure Dragon Squad sword agents had glared at her for it.
Originally, she should have been drafted into the Divine Dragon Squad step by step.
Yet the superior before her and the woman had entered without such a process.
They had entered the Divine Dragon Squad immediately.
It was a decision made considering the potential and strength the two possessed, but—
The cold shoulders from all around were so fierce.
“But now they’re telling us to clean up a mistake they made… Isn’t that too much?”
His name was Namgungjin, if she recalled.
That insolent man called the Sword Dragon—she didn’t like him at all.
After giving her all those dirty looks.
To think he would call on them when needed.
Was this something an Orthodox faction person should do?
A sigh was all that escaped her.
Even in such a situation, her superior said nothing.
He had been like that since the first time she saw him.
Half a year since their first meeting.
A person who didn’t speak except when teaching her something.
Yet, in actual battle, he displayed absurd strength.
To the woman, the Divine Dragon was such a person.
In the midst of that, Gucheolun turned to the grumbling woman and opened his mouth.
“It is the Great Lord’s command. We merely obey.”
Being the direct unit of the Alliance Leader.
A squad that was the face of the Martial Alliance.
The Divine Dragon Squad.
Merely by having entered there.
Though the woman had endured jealousy and cold shoulders.
Perhaps Gucheolun before her had endured even more.
Yet Gucheolun gave off a feeling of having no emotion whatsoever.
As if he had no interest in such things at all.
“Rather than worrying about such things, straighten your appearance.”
“…What do you mean?”
“I’m saying the sword at your waist is askew, so fix it.”
At those words, the woman hurriedly checked her waist.
However, contrary to Gucheolun’s words, her sword was properly in order.
“Senior, it’s properly in place!”
When the woman spoke as if bewildered.
Gucheolun spoke to the woman with cold eyes.
“The fact that you checked after hearing my words already means you’re late. It means you lacked conviction.”
“What kind of—!”
She was about to retort that it was forced logic.
But the words didn’t easily leap from her mouth.
“Rather than worrying about others’ gazes, have conviction in yourself. That will be more beneficial to you.”
At Gucheolun’s words, the woman tightly shut her mouth.
There was so much she wanted to argue.
The woman was not good at quarreling, either.
And because it was her superior who spoke, she could not refute him.
Have conviction in yourself.
To the woman, those words were too distant.
“Senior…”
Just as the woman wanted to ask something after hearing his words.
Gucheolun’s large hand blocked her.
“Senior?”
“Quiet.”
*Rumble.*
Along with Gucheolun’s heavy words, heat spread to the surroundings.
It was the unique aura he possessed.
“There’s something ahead.”
The moment Gucheolun spoke.
The woman, Soi, changed her gaze.
*Shring.*
Drawing her sword, she raised her Dao qi.
*Fwoosh.*
Gucheolun instantly cloaked his body in flames.
And advanced forward with scorching heat.
No other conversation containing orders was needed.
No matter how Gucheolun moved.
Soi could support him from behind.
A brief moment passed.
*Fwoooosh—!*
Gucheolun blazed with flames and increased his speed.
Parting the grass, he plunged in.
Soi followed, shrouded in Gang qi.
—Hm?
The place she entered, pulling her murderous qi.
Was a space quite unsuited for a combat atmosphere.
“Was there a place like this…?”
Soi had been to this area several times.
But what she was seeing now was a topography she had never seen before.
In a not-so-wide plain.
Flowers were blooming magnificently.
No matter that it was spring.
It felt somehow alien.
Soi, looking at such surroundings.
Came back to her senses.
Because now was not the time to be looking at such things.
“Se—!”
Sword drawn, Soi urgently searched for Gucheolun.
Gucheolun was still cloaked in flames.
In such a state.
—Senior?
He was holding someone by the neck.
“A person?”
What was caught in Gucheolun’s hand was a woman he was seeing for the first time.
If there was anything slightly unusual.
It was her hair color.
‘It’s white.’
A snow-white color.
She had never seen hair of such white before.
Was it the aftermath of a heart demon?
But she couldn’t feel anything emanating from the woman.
“A-air…”
The woman with her neck grabbed spoke with difficulty.
Gucheolun didn’t budge an inch.
“Senior?”
“An outsider I’ve never seen before. Who are you?”
“Urk…”
He put strength into his grip, and the woman groaned in pain.
Was he thinking of breaking her neck?
“If you won’t speak, I will burn you.”
Ah, no. He was planning to burn her just like that.
Is he insane…?
“Senior! Wait!”
Soi urgently blocked Gucheolun’s arm.
But he didn’t budge.
That the flames attached to Gucheolun’s body didn’t harm Soi.
Meant he was controlling them even in the midst of this.
Gucheolun looked at Soi and asked.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re the one who should be asked what you’re doing! Anyone can see it’s not a demonic beast!”
She had checked, wondering if it might be the escaped demonic beast.
But no matter how she looked, it was a human.
In such a situation, this method didn’t look good.
As Soi spoke with a raised voice.
Gucheolun answered with a frigid gaze.
“Why do you think that?”
“What?”
“I’m asking why you think this isn’t a demonic beast.”
“Well…”
Because anyone can see it isn’t.
Soi didn’t voice the words that came to mind.
But they seemed to reach Gucheolun, and a short click of the tongue was heard.
“You can’t know such things without tearing open the insides to look.”
A resolute and cold voice.
“Don’t judge easily by appearances alone—didn’t they teach you such things on Mount Hua?”
…!
“It’s someone who suddenly appeared in the Alliance’s territory. How do you know so calmly whether this is a demonic beast wearing human skin or a martial artist of the Demonic Faction?”
To think he would bring up her sect here.
Soi bit her lip tightly.
This man was unnecessarily cold and ruthless.
“…Even so, you won’t get an answer.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you hold her neck like that, she can’t possibly answer.”
At Soi’s words.
Gucheolun’s eyebrows moved slightly.
A few seconds passed like that.
*Tuk.*
“Urk!”
The woman caught in Gucheolun’s hand collapsed powerlessly to the ground.
As she fell, her white hair fluttered.
It looked like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings.
Fluttering.
A flower petal that had fallen from somewhere settled in the woman’s hair.
“Owie…”
The woman made a sound as if her bottom hurt.
At the same time.
*Shring.*
The blade of Soi’s sword pointed at the woman’s neck.
“What is your identity?”
A somewhat sharper tone than before.
Hearing that, Gucheolun extinguished the flames cloaking his body.
As if to watch for now.
“Huh?”
The woman looked at Soi with wide, round eyes.
Soi had to be inwardly surprised upon seeing the woman’s eyes.
The pupils contained within her eyes.
Were as beautiful as jewels.
“…What is your name?”
Her voice trembled momentarily from confusion.
But she didn’t disperse her energy.
The woman who heard Soi’s question.
Tilted her head for a moment.
“Cheonhui.”
She answered thus.
Her appearance as she smiled brightly while saying her name.
To Soi, was like a flower.
Somehow, it gave a warm, comforting feeling.
“My name is Cheonhui.”
That was her first meeting with her.
“…She’s not dead? What do you mean by that?”
A sharp edge entered Geomhu’s voice.
*Thud, thud.*
Not just her voice, but the murderous qi she couldn’t restrain and let leak.
Shook the qi barrier spread around the surroundings.
Her level is much higher than expected.
It was the thought Cheonghae Ilgeom had as he looked at Geomhu.
“Just as the words imply. That child did not die.”
Cheonhui.
Geomhu’s close friend.
The wife of Hohyeop.
And the woman who is the birth mother of the True Dragon.
Cheonghae Ilgeom was saying that she had not died.
Geomhu could not understand that.
“May I ask why the Sect Leader mentions that child?”
“It is a story that the Sword Empress would be curious about, so I merely wished to tell you.”
“If that were the case, you should have told me much earlier.”
When she had been half out of her mind.
When she had wandered the Demonic Realm.
Or even before that.
When she had sought out Cheonghae Ilgeom.
He should have told her then.
“What is your intention in bringing up such an incomprehensible story now?”
She suppressed her murderous qi as much as possible.
She had to endure it.
“I saw the child.”
“The child, you say?”
“Yes, I speak of that child’s child.”
It was a story about the True Dragon.
“A child I had wanted to see once, yet had not seen.”
“…I have my disciple as well.”
“Indeed, your disciple was also that child’s offspring.”
“Are you saying that is related to you telling me this story now?”
At Geomhu’s question.
Cheonghae Ilgeom quietly fell silent.
Though his eyes were still closed.
Geomhu knew he was looking at her.
“There is only one thing I can tell the Sword Empress.”
“…Sect Leader.”
“Whether to listen or not. Decide that.”
Those were the only two things he could say.
At Cheonghae Ilgeom’s words, Geomhu chewed her lip.
There was something she did not know.
Whether it was Maehwaseon.
Gucheolun.
Sword Venerable.
Cheonan or Cheonghae Ilgeom.
Those who had been involved in the events of ‘that time’ had lost something.
Something that must have been very precious, though she did not know what.
Then.
‘What about me?’
As for herself.
What had she lost?
Had she nearly lost her life?
She didn’t know. She had regained it now.
And that too, by the son of that very child.
If that was the case, what was it that she should do now?
Geomhu did not hesitate.
For her hesitation had already ended long ago.
“…Please speak.”
At Geomhu’s answer.
Cheonghae Ilgeom stroked his beard for a moment.
And took a moment of silence again.
“Sect Leader?”
“I apologize. I must gauge how far I can tell this story.”
Anyone would be the same.
To speak of that time, one had to seal their lips.
“That child, the words that Cheonhui is alive. Is it true?”
“Indeed. That child lives.”
“Then where is she now….”
“You ask something you already know.”
At Cheonghae Ilgeom’s words cutting in.
She bit her lip.
“The reason the Sword Empress wandered the Demonic Realm so much. Was it not because you already knew?”
“Just as you think. That child is in the Demonic Realm.”
Words that gave certainty.
“…In the Demonic Realm, you say?”
“Yes.”
“Why…?”
“I do not know why you question it.”
Cheonghae Ilgeom slightly opened his eyes at Geomhu’s words.
Snow-white pupils resided there.
“That the child has returned to where she originally belonged. Is that so strange?”
“…Sect Leader, you know that is not what I mean.”
“I do not wish to know.”
Cheonghae Ilgeom answered firmly.
“Sect Leader.”
“There are also things one must forget.”
“What in the world do you mean by that? I cannot understand.”
It was always like this.
As if the world where one could know through martial force alone had passed.
To Geomhu, who had missed that time, they told nothing.
She had to find out for herself.
The truth and secrets of that time.
Cheonghae Ilgeom, facing such a Geomhu with white pupils.
Spoke in a low voice.
“Sword Empress, do you know the essence of this world?”
“…The essence?”
“Yes, the essence.”
An out-of-nowhere story.
The essence of the world, all of a sudden?
The shoulder of Cheonghae Ilgeom, who uttered these words, trembled.
“That child was the essence of this world.”
The words that Cheonhui was the essence.
Geomhu had to incessantly recall those words in her mind.
“What….”
“This land, I say.”
Blood flowed from Cheonghae Ilgeom’s mouth.
Geomhu hurriedly opened her eyes and tried to approach.
Cheonghae Ilgeom raised his hand and stopped Geomhu.
Telling her not to approach.
“Originally, this land should have ended centuries ago.”
Geomhu flinched upon hearing those words.
A land that should have ended centuries ago.
Because it was hard to grasp the meaning.
Then.
“Sect Leader, wait…!”
Geomhu had to gasp as she looked at Cheonghae Ilgeom.
Blood was flowing.
She could tell.
That was the backlash of a taboo. Cheonghae Ilgeom had said with his own mouth that he was not under a taboo, but—
To Geomhu, that was clearly a taboo.
Geomhu hurriedly approached, but Cheonghae Ilgeom’s action was faster.
*Crack—!*
“…!”
Cheonghae Ilgeom broke the pinky finger of his left hand in that instant.
*Tuk—!*
The finger was cut off just like that.
“This should be fine.”
What was fine about this?
The strange thing was, Cheonghae Ilgeom’s expression after cutting off his finger.
Rather looked more comfortable than before.
Blood did not flow from the severed trace.
It meant he had even stopped the bleeding with internal energy.
“This too is the backlash of the karmic sin I am paying for, so do not mind it.”
“…Sect Leader.”
How could he do such a thing?
“I shall continue the story.”
Cheonghae Ilgeom straightened his posture and tried to open his mouth again.
“…Sect Leader, you may stop now.”
Geomhu could tell.
The more he uttered those words, the more Cheonghae Ilgeom would be ruined.
Whether he sensed Geomhu’s worry.
The corner of Cheonghae Ilgeom’s eyes curved slightly.
“You are as kind as always.”
“I am not.”
“Do not worry. I still have things I must do; I have no intention of throwing away my life.”
Geomhu tightly closed her eyes.
Whether those stories were true or not aside.
The fact that she needed to hear this story.
And the feeling of standing at a crossroads where she should stop him.
She didn’t know why Cheonghae Ilgeom was telling her this now.
Though the situation was far from her original purpose.
“…If it is as the Sect Leader says, that this world truly should have ended centuries ago.”
Even so, Geomhu chose to listen.
Because she felt this was the only chance.
“What connection does Cheonhui have, and why is the world being maintained? I do not understand well.”
‘That is—’
Just as Cheonghae Ilgeom was about to speak to Geomhu.
*Wooooong—!*
“…!”
In the qi barrier unfolded by Geomhu and Cheonghae Ilgeom.
Something was felt.
…
….
…
The two who felt it flinched and trembled.
It was that intense a sensation.
It was an aura.
A very dense and intense aura.
‘This is…?’
Geomhu was the first to feel it.
Naturally, because the aura she was feeling now was none other than Dao qi.
That she couldn’t help but be all too familiar with.
For it was the aura of Mount Hua.
‘The position where it’s felt is…’
Geomhu, having checked the location, opened her eyes wide and reacted.
The position where the Dao qi was felt was, surprisingly.
Near the chamber where Cheonghae Ilgeom stayed.
Because it was where Guyangcheon was now.