Sword Phoenix (6)
Memories from childhood inevitably grow hazy with time.
That was only natural for people, and Gu Huibi was no different, despite being a martial artist who possessed inner energy.
There was, however, one story that, though blurred by time, remained so deeply cherished in her heart that it could never be forgotten.
[Please take good care of Yang Cheon-i.]
It was the warmest memory Gu Huibi possessed.
The memory surfaced naturally whenever things grew difficult, and it was both a blessing and a poison to her.
The woman in Gu Huibi’s memories was gentle and beautiful.
Unlike the fierce people of the Gu Clan, she was someone who alone formed a white night amid the heat.
In some ways, she had loved them even more than their own mother.
She would lay her son’s head upon her lap.
She was someone who never lost her smile, even in the face of her adoptive daughter’s mischievous pranks.
Whenever they were hurt, even slightly, she would worry as though she were the one in greater pain.
Mother.
She was more than worthy of being called that by them.
Now that the woman who had embraced them with her heart rather than her strength was gone.
Gu Huibi believed she had to honor the request the woman had made of her.
Unlike that endlessly kind woman, Gu Huibi could not be the same.
She had tried to be, but it had been impossible from the very beginning—something she simply was not born capable of doing.
So she had to find another way.
Believing that she needed strength above all else, she learned the sword.
Fortunately, she had talent.
Because she was of the Gu Clan’s blood, all she had ever seen and heard were violent things.
After the woman left, even her own temperament came to contain the heat of fire.
But Gu Huibi had not forgotten what she had learned.
If one cherished someone, one could embrace them; and if one could embrace them, one could protect them as well.
Gu Huibi had not forgotten what the woman had shown them with all her strength.
She, too, would live that way.
The life she had received as payment at the end would be used for that purpose.
“Little brother.”
She called out to her younger brother.
The brother she had not seen in a long time seemed to have grown a little taller.
He used to seek out sweets and eat well enough that she had thought he might be putting on weight, but now the sunken cheeks he had acquired from training caught her eye.
That was why she had felt sorry for him and gone out of her way to bring him dumplings.
It had been a pleasing sight to see him eat them so well.
“Yes.”
His dry voice held not even the slightest trace of affection.
Gu Huibi grinned.
He looked as cute as a kitten raising its claws.
Perhaps he had eaten something wrong in Sichuan, because she could see a great deal of energy pooled inside his body.
She had only looked away for a moment because she had been busy, and he had immediately gotten himself into trouble.
Ever since he had entered his rebellious phase, he had listened to her less and less.
‘Did you really have to get engaged twice to people I don’t approve of?’
It had been the same with the engagement to the Peng Clan, and the same with the engagement to the Namgung Clan.
Things only ever happened when she was away.
By this point, Gu Huibi had even begun to resent her father a little for constantly pushing her brother’s engagements forward without her knowledge.
Was he doing it on purpose, arranging them only whenever she left on a long-term mission?
What was strange was how he had changed into a completely different person over the span of just a few months.
Her little brother was still her little brother.
There was no way she could have mistaken him.
It was only that, little by little, he had begun to give off the air of a martial artist.
Even now, look at him.
When faced with a situation like this, the younger brother who should have fled long ago and hidden himself in a corner was looking at her overflowing inner energy without a trace of fear in his eyes.
He was even searching for an opening.
An opening he could squeeze through himself.
What should she call this feeling?
Was it ecstasy? No, that sounded a little too perverted.
A fight against a strong opponent was always enjoyable.
Because they never retreated.
That was why she had never imagined feeling this sort of sensation from her own younger brother.
When he had first begun disobeying her and wandering astray, she had worried about what she should do with him going forward....
Yet he had grown this much in a mere few months. She felt proud, but also regretful.
If he had still been growling like a beast, she had even been considering dragging him into her sword unit and putting him through some proper training.
Fortunately, it seemed she would not have to do that.
‘Is this also because of that Namgung girl?’
Fwoosh—!
Perhaps because her emotions had affected her, her inner energy became unsteady and suddenly surged roughly.
Had he said they met at some Tang family banquet or whatever it was called?
She had thought he would make some convenient excuse and refuse to go this time as well, but he had gone and done something so pointless.
‘Wasn’t it said that the Second Elder forced him into it?’
That was what she had heard.
And of all people, it had to be the Second Elder, leaving her unable to get angry.... Tsk.
A daughter of the Namgung Clan.... Was she pretty?
The Thunder Dragon had a fairly handsome face, so she probably wasn’t ugly.
It might have been better if she had met the girl herself.
The Namgung Clan had hidden her so thoroughly that Gu Huibi could not even obtain proper information.
‘...And this is the only information I could get.’
They said she was the most beautiful woman in Anhui.
That was the sort of trivial nonsense she had managed to obtain under the guise of information.
“Big Sister.”
Amid her wandering thoughts, her brother’s voice brought them to a halt.
Gu Yangcheon had already taken his stance.
“Why did you call me?”
“You seemed to have a lot on your mind before the spar, so I called out to you.”
“What? Are you worried Big Sister might get hurt? How kind of you.”
Gu Yangcheon did not answer. He merely twisted his head from side to side, loosening his body.
The sound of bones cracking with every movement seemed to set the mood on its own.
Though to Gu Huibi, it only made him look cute.
She thought he was taking his stance, but she could not feel the heat unique to a Third Star.
Why was that?
Was he preparing something? Or was he nervous?
“Little brother, aren’t you bringing your sword?”
“I don’t use a sword anymore.”
Gu Huibi froze for a moment at his words.
He didn’t use a sword?
She had seen him carrying a wooden sword only a few months ago.
Had he abandoned it because he had decided the sword was not suited to him?
That could not be the case, since Gu Yangcheon had not trained with the sword for very long.
If he had given up the sword simply because he did not like it—
‘Shouldn’t I scold him a little for that?’
She thought about it, then shook her head.
‘....He’ll figure it out himself.’
She could not interfere in every little thing.
She was not his mother, after all.
“...Well, you don’t have to use one.”
Gu Huibi pointed the tip of her wooden sword at Gu Yangcheon.
“Little brother.”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“No. I’m coming.”
At Gu Yangcheon’s answer, Gu Huibi adjusted her stance as well.
To be honest, she had not intended to take this seriously.
She had considered pushing him a little harder because of the engagement, but....
She did not want to go that far with a sick child.
‘Just enough to drain his strength.’
That was the purpose: to force the energy pooled inside Gu Yangcheon’s body out of him.
She had to keep her objective clearly in mind.
This was her first spar with her brother in a long time.
Unlike Gu Yeonseo, who had followed her around as though clinging to her, Gu Yangcheon had always hated crossing swords with her.
In that sense, this moment felt especially poignant.
‘Let’s go easy.’
She wanted to keep experiencing this unfamiliar sensation.
If she accidentally used too much strength, the spar would end in an instant.
She would fail to accomplish her objective as well.
Gu Huibi was confident in her talent.
She believed herself to be far more capable than the so-called Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes she had seen thus far.
It might seem arrogant at first glance.
But she had more than enough talent to back up her words.
‘That bastard from the Peng Clan....’
That lunatic.
Or was he called the heir now?
Unlike his somewhat deranged mind, he was a devoted martial artist.
His skill with the saber was on an entirely different level from that of the other younger-generation martial artists.
Even so, he was not beyond her reach.
It would not take long. That was Gu Huibi’s judgment.
“Big Sister.”
She heard Gu Yangcheon’s voice.
Gu Huibi realized that she had once again fallen into her thoughts.
No matter who her opponent was, this was clearly a mistake.
She wondered whether she should apologize, but there was something strange.
His voice had come from much closer than she expected.
“What—”
Before she could finish speaking, her body moved first.
Having spent months in a sword unit that hunted monsters, her body had grown sensitive, and it moved according to instinct.
She swung the wooden sword through the air.
Red inner energy flowed out, drawing a half-moon directly ahead of her, but—
There was nothing there.
Crack—!
He was not in front of her.
Gu Huibi twisted her body sharply at the sensation coming from her side.
Bang—!
She barely avoided it.
The instant she dodged, she heard the sound of inner energy exploding where she had been standing.
It had all happened in a split second.
Gu Huibi retreated several steps and stared at Gu Yangcheon with trembling eyes.
Gu Yangcheon was standing where she had been moments before.
A faint red haze rose from the fist he had thrust out so casually.
It was extremely faint.
As she moved away, darkness once again descended upon the training ground.
From its center, she felt Gu Yangcheon’s gaze.
His eyes held a faint reddish light.
‘How...?’
Being able to wrap one’s body in red inner energy.
The timing at which his body underwent such changes.
These were transformations one could only experience after reaching her realm.
‘How?’
She repeated the same question.
Because they were using the same martial art, she knew even better.
That was undoubtedly the Nine-Flame Wheel Art, but something about it was different.
If she had to compare it to anything, it resembled the Clan Head.
The way he stood. His gaze.
Even the inner energy being circulated.
Gu Yangcheon resembled the Heroic Warrior.
It was not simply because he looked like his father.
To see the form of a father who would soon reach the Myriad Star Realm in a Gu Yangcheon who was only at the Third Star was bizarre.
Gu Yangcheon shook out his hand and spoke.
“Big Sister.”
She felt crushed.
It was a sensation she had never even felt from a monster.
She was not being crushed by inner energy.
She was being crushed solely by the atmosphere Gu Yangcheon gave off.
The foremost of the younger generation.
Sword Phoenix Gu Huibi—herself.
‘...This is giving me chills.’
What could possibly have happened to that child to make him change so much?
She bitterly resented the months she had spent away from the clan.
She had not been there to witness the process as he changed into that.
That was what she regretted most.
Gu Yangcheon looked at her and spoke.
“Are you done being careless?”
“...I suppose I was careless, wasn’t I?”
What if Gu Yangcheon had not called out to her?
What if he had aimed for her chin instead of her side?
Even then, could she have remained standing unharmed?
Gu Huibi could not be certain.
Suppressing the rising exhilaration in her heart, she asked,
“Little brother, what happened to you?”
“A lot of things happened.”
He answered with an extremely displeased expression.
Perhaps none of them had been pleasant.
“This won’t do.... Not like this.”
Gu Huibi lightly licked her lips.
Her brother’s growth pleased her immensely.
She had thought he was going astray, but he seemed to have found his proper path. That brought her a measure of relief.
Separate from that, however, her longing as a martial artist began to rise.
It whispered to her to force the opponent before her to kneel.
She could not forget her original purpose, yet Gu Huibi was irritated by the desire that kept crawling up from within her.
‘Should I just have a little taste?’
Just a tiny bit. Surely her little brother could withstand that much.
When her thoughts reached that point—
Fwoosh—!
Gu Huibi immediately put them into action.
******************
‘Has she finally come to her senses?’
I let out a deep sigh at the energy that felt far hotter than before.
For a while now, she had been frowning, then smiling, then smiling before frowning again, as though she had too many pointless thoughts in her head.
Gu Huibi’s expression kept shifting back and forth.
If I had struck her chin, things would have ended easily, but my original goal had been to drain the energy from her body.
That was probably Gu Huibi’s intention as well, so I had given her a little stimulus to make her come to her senses.
At first, I had only meant to tell her, ‘Get a grip. I’m at least strong enough to spar with you.’
Had I gone too far?
‘Crazy.... Just how much was she hiding?’
The heat brushing against my face made me instinctively recoil.
There was no doubt about it.
That was not heat at the level of the Fifth Star.
If anything, it was higher.
“...Big Sister, you’re really back to your senses, right?”
I asked anxiously, but Gu Huibi smiled faintly from within the mass of flames.
“Of course! I’m fine, I’m fine.”
You don’t look fine at all.
Seeing her look as though she had gone slightly insane, I was reminded anew of the title that mad woman would one day receive.
Crimson Flame Mad Sword Gu Huibi.
‘...If you put it bluntly, it just means “crazy red-flame woman.”’
No matter how I looked at it, there was no way to dress up that title nicely. On the other hand, it suited her perfectly for that very reason.
Had I provoked her too much?
After reaching the Third Star, using her ultimate techniques had become much easier.
Thanks to that, she had succeeded in landing a strike by targeting an opening.
“...I think I shouldn’t have done that.”
It seemed I had provoked that fiery boar far too much.
It would be difficult to stop her now.
“I’m coming, little brother...!”
“...No, you really don’t have to come.... Ah, damn it.”
Gu Huibi charged at me without even listening to what I said.
That night, the training ground inside my residence collapsed beneath Gu Huibi’s rampage.
******************
Around the time Gu Yangcheon’s residence was disappearing,
in the Clan Head’s office of the Namgung Clan—
“....What?”
Clan Head Namgung Jin asked again, unable to hide the tremor in his eyes.
“What did you say this was?”
The guard who had delivered the letter could not bring himself to speak. He merely dropped to both knees.
“...It was my fault. I’m sorry, Clan Head.”
Namgung Jin could not hear a word the guard said.
What mattered was the letter now held in his hand at this late hour.
With trembling hands, Namgung Jin unfolded the letter his daughter had left behind.
Only a few lines were written on it.
The handwriting was so careless that it was difficult to read.
Even so, Namgung Jin was certain that his daughter had left it.
She was the only person in the Namgung Clan who could write this disgracefully and still walk around proudly.
“...You’re saying you don’t even know when she disappeared?”
“That is correct....”
The guard answered Namgung Jin’s question.
At last, wrinkles formed between Namgung Jin’s brows.
Should he view it positively—that his daughter had reached the point where she could evade the clan’s guards?
If not for the reason behind it, he might even have been delighted.
In the end, unable to contain his anger, Namgung Jin crumpled the letter in his hand.
“...Bring her back.”
His fierce voice rang through the room.
The guard could not even properly answer beneath the surging pressure.
He merely nodded while suppressing a scream.
Inside the crumpled letter, written in Namgung Bia’s clumsy handwriting, were the words:
—I’m going to meet my fiancé.
In other words—
Namgung Bia had run away from home.