〈 Episode 558 〉 Wind and Cloud Ghost Thief (風雲鬼盜).
Inside a cave where cold air drifted to and fro.
Unlike the barren, dry surroundings, the tip of his nose was filled with the fragrance of plum blossoms.
It was the first time.
A plum blossom fragrance this thick and beautiful.
A deep, mellow fragrance he had never experienced even from the Sect Leader.
Though several days had passed, Yeongpung could still vividly recall that scene.
The aura of plum blossoms that had seemed at once rugged yet warm.
And the voice that had reached his ears.
["Welcome."]
Yeongpung had struggled not to forget even the faintest trace of it.
["Though you cannot see or hear me. If you can hear my voice, you must surely be a child of Huashan."]
It was merely a voice he could only hear.
Yet the moment he heard that voice, Yeongpung had found himself unconsciously showing respect.
He did not know who it was.
However.
Somehow, it felt as though that was simply what he had to do.
["How is Huashan now? Are the plum blossoms still beautiful?"]
To the question, Yeongpung answered in the affirmative.
["I pray that it is so."]
The voice, perhaps not having heard Yeongpung's answer, spoke an answer of its own.
Within that voice existed a faint longing and faith.
["Child of Huashan whose name I do not know."]
["I am called Sincheol."]
At those words, Yeongpung had to open his eyes wide.
In the long history of Huashan, there had been many who bore the Dao name Sincheol, but—
now, the figure Yeongpung recalled was only one.
Sincheol, the Benevolent Sword of Huashan (華山善劍).
One of the heroes who had stopped the Blood Demon's Bloody Calamity.
And a revered figure who had made possible the glorious Huashan of today.
And.
He was also the ideal that Yeongpung dreamed of.
'The greatest martial artist ever produced by Huashan.'
Though the youngest Plum Blossom Swordsman of the current era was said to be Yeongpung—
before him, the one who had held this title was the Benevolent Sword of Huashan.
Before Yeonilcheon, who had been the number one under heaven of that era, appeared in the Central Plains.
An ancestor who had never once known defeat, and was evaluated as having reached the pinnacle of blooming plum blossoms.
That was Sincheol, the Benevolent Sword of Huashan.
It was said that whenever the Benevolent Sword of Huashan wished to bloom plum blossoms, even if it was a pitch-black night (漆夜), the heavens would be dyed crimson.
He sought to save the weak commoners in the name of Huashan.
A great figure who had grabbed hold of crumbling Huashan and plunged into war.
Truly a figure worthy of being called a hero, and one who received the respect of all the Taoists of the Huashan Sect.
His nature, too, was said to be benevolent and warm, a true sage who could never pass by the sick and weak without acting.
How could one not dream of such a person as their ideal?
Though the one Yeongpung wished to surpass was said to be the scion of the Gu family—
the one he wished to become was the Benevolent Sword of Huashan.
Thus.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Yeongpung could now feel his own heart beating like mad.
How could the Benevolent Sword of Huashan be here?
Could this truly be his voice?
No matter how much he tried to calm himself, Yeongpung could not.
He had to believe.
How could he not believe when he felt such a thick fragrance of plum blossoms?
Recalling this, he looked at the orb before him.
This warm energy and the fragrance wafting at the tip of his nose were all emanating from there.
["That you and I meet here must mean that fate has finally come to pass."]
["Child. Child of Huashan."]
The voice of the Benevolent Sword of Huashan that reached him sounded somehow sorrowful and heavy.
When Yeongpung responded to that voice,
the Benevolent Sword of Huashan fell into a brief silence before speaking.
["Before long, a calamity will befall the world."]
Before Yeongpung could even be surprised by the sudden words, the Benevolent Sword of Huashan continued.
["The very fact that I am saying these things to you must mean that in the end, we... no, that I have failed."]
Yeongpung could not understand what he was hearing.
Failed? What could the Benevolent Sword of Huashan have failed at?
The Bloody Calamity of that time—surely it was said that the Benevolent Sword of Huashan and the others had blocked it.
["Forgive this incompetent predecessor for leaving you."]
That is not so.
Yeongpung said that it was absolutely not so, but—
his voice did not seem to reach the Benevolent Sword of Huashan.
["Child of Huashan whose name I do not know."]
["I hope that you will bring to an end the story that I could not finish."]
He was merely uttering his own request.
But Yeongpung did not mind even if that were the case.
What was important—
["Follow in my footsteps..."]
was that the one he dreamed of as his ideal—
was trying to entrust to him the task he himself could not finish.
For Yeongpung, that was enough.
Thus, without hesitation, he grasped the nameless orb inside the cave,
and fully accepted the pouring energy and held it within his body.
Feeling the plum blossoms filling his dantian, Yeongpung could be certain.
This energy was unmistakably his energy.
Therefore, accepting it was not difficult.
Though it had a rough and sharp nature, its root was the same.
He merely had to accept it.
Even without doing anything special, the energy settled into place as though Yeongpung's body was its home.
By the time Yeongpung came to his senses after fully absorbing the energy, countless changes had already come over his body.
His bone structure had thickened.
A thick Dao qi unlike anything before flowed through his meridians, and his realm had risen as well.
It was a fortuitous encounter.
Within his transformed body and advanced realm, Yeongpung exhaled a breath.
Thick Dao qi was deeply mixed within his heavy exhalation.
Feeling this, Yeongpung thought,
'Have I truly become his successor?'
That he would have to accomplish what that man could not.
It was a heavy and chilling matter to choose so rashly, but—
Yeongpung could burn with passion by that fact alone.
He could do it.
No, he had to do it.
If there was something that man could not do, he himself would accomplish it.
Though he did not know what calamity would come to make that man leave behind such a will—
he would follow after the Benevolent Sword of Huashan and stop the calamity.
Surely, that was what he had thought, but—
"What the hell is this bullshit now...! Why won't you get lost!?"
Yeongpung had to feel an indescribable emotion at the scene before his eyes.
An emotion he had never once felt since birth.
******************
Something had gone wrong.
That was the first thought that came to mind as the situation unfolded.
'This isn't good...'
Amidst the suddenly unfolding situation, I turned my head and looked at my right arm.
Something was tightly bound around my forearm, where there had originally been nothing.
'...Shit...'
Seeing it, I cursed inwardly.
The feel of the object was incredibly familiar.
Of course it was. It was an object I'd had hanging on my left arm for years now.
The only difference was that this one was crimson.
'The one on the left arm is blue-green.'
No, even that difference couldn't truly be considered a difference.
Because the one on my left arm had initially been crimson as well.
Recalling that, I bit my lip.
'It's a Gwi-jeong.'
The thing that had latched onto my right arm was unmistakably a Gwi-jeong.
Seeing it directly, I was certain.
This was indeed that item which had been the beloved treasure of Elder Sin.
Which meant—
'Two Gwi-jeongs?'
The one tied to my left arm and the one that had leaped onto my right.
Both were Gwi-jeongs.
'What the hell is going on?'
Questions flooded my mind at the baffling situation, but now was not the time to quibble over such things.
"...That."
I raised my head at the voice.
There were the Sword Empress, of course, Gu Ryunghwa, and Yeongpung.
And on top of that—
'Even that old man.'
Ubaek watched from behind with an air of interest.
The moment I finished assessing the situation, I changed my expression.
To one of utter shock and panic.
"Wh-what is this?"
Even so, I felt dizzy. Because my words came out stiffly.
'Damn it.'
I had tried my best, but damn it, the habit of breaking character whenever I tried to act was still there.
The fortunate thing was that, perhaps because the situation was so unexpected, no one seemed to notice my shitty tone.
"Sword Empress... what is going on? And what is this thing?"
I asked, pointing directly at her. The Sword Empress looked at me with surprised eyes and spoke.
"...That... is a Gwi-jeong..."
"Th-the Gwi-jeong!"
I said to the Sword Empress with dramatically widened eyes.
"The legendary treasured weapon used by the head of the Eight Great Gates of the Huashan Sect, the hero of the era who stopped the Bloody Calamity, the Benevolent Sword of Huashan, Sincheol...!"
"Uh... huh?"
"Something that looks like a shabby, worn-out piece of cloth but is in fact an absolute unbreakable legendary precious object that even changes shape at the wielder's will!?"
"...Uh... yeah... wow, you know more than I expected."
"How can this be! But how did this suddenly end up in my hand...!!"
I did my best to put on a reaction.
I thought that at this level, even Elder Sin, who nagged me every day about my inability to lie, would understand.
"..."
"Oppa... are you sick?"
'Tch.'
It seemed this wasn't working either.
'Why?'
No matter how I looked at it, I didn't get it.
I thought I did pretty well?
'What do I do now?'
When lying didn't work, the next step was to feign ignorance...
"Gu Sohyeop."
"Huh?"
Grab.
I felt someone grab my right arm.
It was Yeongpung.
"This is the main sect's precious object."
"Dao Master?"
Wondering why he was suddenly acting like this, I looked into Yeongpung's eyes.
'Hm...?'
I had to pause for a moment upon seeing Yeongpung's eyes.
Because something had seeped into his pupils.
'Look at this guy.'
It was an emotion that was both all too familiar and terribly annoying to me.
"Please return it."
Clench.
Strength entered the grasped hand.
Feeling that, I deliberately ignored it. And then I smiled and spoke to Yeongpung.
"Dao Master, I'm sorry. I'd like to give it to you, but..."
'Does he think I'm doing this because I don't want to give it?'
'I was surprised too, you bastard.'
A precious object suddenly flying through the air and latching onto my arm. How could I not be surprised?
"First, could you explain what happened? I'm a victim here too."
"...Please return it."
"Hm."
I was trying to explain calmly, but Yeongpung didn't seem to be listening.
Especially, I could feel the strength in his arm growing stronger.
I was wondering what else to explain when a sigh suddenly escaped me.
'Ah, what a pain.'
The moment that thought crossed my mind, my arm moved on its own.
"Wait, first, calm—"
Whether she had sensed Yeongpung's strange atmosphere, the Sword Empress hurriedly stepped in to stop him, but—
Bam-!
"...!"
My hand was faster than her.
"Kuk..."
Yeongpung let out a short groan and collapsed after taking a blow to the chin.
I grabbed Yeongpung by the collar to 'support' him so he wouldn't completely collapse, then looked at the Sword Empress.
Perhaps because I had hit him without hesitation, the Sword Empress's face was full of bewilderment.
I met her eyes and asked calmly.
"Could you explain again?"
"..."
"I didn't hear it well."
I tried saying it with a smile, but the atmosphere had already turned ice-cold.
******************
Afterward, I barely managed to settle the situation.
Yeongpung had fainted, but with the Sword Empress and Gu Ryunghwa around, there was no problem.
'It almost got a bit annoying, though.'
Somehow, I got past it. Though others had a harder time than me, of course.
'What can you do? It's not like I did anything.'
This time in particular, since it hadn't been intentional, I felt wronged too.
I looked down at my right arm.
It was now empty, unlike before. Looking at it, I had to catch my breath recalling the situation.
'Fortunately, this one listened well.'
The one on the left arm wouldn't listen no matter how much I begged it to let go.
The one that had butted in this time fortunately listened well.
When I wished for it to come off, it loosened smoothly after not too long.
'Thanks to that, the matter was settled.'
I was able to avoid the impression that I had snatched the Gwi-jeong outright.
The problem was—
'Why did it happen?'
Why had that Gwi-jeong come to me?
I heard that the moment the Sword Empress brought the box and set it down on the table,
the Gwi-jeong had escaped on its own and rushed toward me outside.
'What the hell is that scary thing.'
I burst into a hollow laugh the moment I heard that story.
Because it was the first time I had heard of a precious object possessing its own will and acting like that.
'I wondered if it had heard my thoughts or something.'
But I couldn't feel anything from the Gwi-jeong.
So, I came up with a few hypotheses.
'The most likely among them is that it's because of Elder Noya's energy in my body.'
Since it had been Elder Sin Noya's beloved treasure, I thought this was the only reason I could find for the Gwi-jeong's behavior if it had acted that way.
However.
'Then what about Yeongpung?'
That created a problem regarding Yeongpung.
Yeongpung had definitely said he found traces of Elder Sin Noya inside the cave and obtained a fortuitous encounter.
If so, the Gwi-jeong should have gone to Yeongpung as well, not leaped toward me.
'But it didn't.'
That naturally made me think.
The traces that Yeongpung supposedly obtained—
'Are they really Noya's traces?'
This was a thought that had constantly crossed my mind on the way back.
Could Yeongpung really have become Elder Sin Noya's successor?
If so, what am I?
What is that Gwi-jeong? What does this situation mean?
It would have been easily resolved if Noya were here, but since he wasn't, I had to agonize over it more.
Yes, agonize.
I was agonizing like this despite being convinced that I was Noya's successor.
The reason was simple.
'Because I'm not certain.'
Not that I wasn't certain about being Noya's successor—
'But because I'm not certain that his energy is fake.'
It was because I couldn't be certain that the energy and traces Yeongpung possessed were fake.
Though it was somewhat ambiguous, the energy Yeongpung possessed was unmistakably Noya's.
That was a certainty.
'After a few days, I understood.'
It was definitely the same energy.
So, I had gone to great lengths to prevent the two energies from resonating with each other.
Tch.
'What a damned hassle.'
Gwi-jeong or whatever, it was clearly a complicated matter.
It would have been easier if it were all fake, but the fact that everything seemed real was infuriating.
'That damned old man, why did he have to be gone at a time like this?'
Even as I cursed that arrogant old man inwardly, I held it in.
Since he was the one who had gone to take care of matters in my stead, my measly conscience pricked at me for cursing him.
So.
Though I wasn't happy with the situation at all—
'I'll think about this later.'
First, let's deal with what's in front of me.
Thinking so, I put strength into my foot.
"Kuaaaaack!"
As I pressed down firmly, a groan sounded from the floor.
I lowered my gaze to look at the owner of the voice.
Someone was under my foot, making a pained expression.
I spoke to him.
"I'm the type to keep my word."
No matter what means I used, I kept the words I spat out.
Thus, I was doing so this time as well.
"I told you before."
The moment I spoke, fear settled in the other's pupils.
As if enjoying that gaze, I smiled and continued.
"If you draw your sword, you die."
At those words, the opponent—Jicheol, the Righteous Dragon Sword of Wudang—began to tremble faintly.