After silencing the surroundings, I resumed the test.
Since I had already finished overwhelming them with momentum, the rest of the test did not take long.
Truthfully, it could hardly even be called a test.
"Didn't I say to pick exactly seven?"
At my words, the candidates tensed up.
On the faces that had been filled with discontent and anger just moments ago, tension now lingered.
Ridiculous.
They changed so much just because I showed them a little.
'This is exactly why I hate the Central Plains.'
Everything starts with force and ends with force.
I found it quite convenient, yet at the same time, it was an all too primitive sight.
Of course, it wasn't as though I, who made such good use of it, had any intention of doing things that way.
"There are a few too many people. But it's a waste to spend time fussing over it."
I spoke, waving my hand nonchalantly.
"Pick among yourselves."
"Huh?"
"What do you...?"
The vicinity reacted strongly to my words. Was my telling them to pick themselves really that strange?
It meant exactly what it sounded like.
"Vote, negotiate... or else."
I added, glancing at the figure watching from afar — Cheonma.
"Beat each other until only seven remain. I'm telling you to handle it yourselves."
It was the most rational solution.
What a convenient method.
It was also the fastest for everyone to understand.
"As for time... roughly half a shichen should do. Decide among yourselves before then."
I waved my hand and walked away without hesitation.
Though I moved with my back turned nonchalantly, my spirit senses remained locked onto Cheonma.
Making sure my expression didn't harden or falter, I looked at Moyong Huia.
Moyong Huia was looking at me with a bewildered expression.
"...Will this be all right?"
"I told you to handle it yourself. If you don't like it, feel free to change it however you want."
"No, not about picking the people."
Ah, she hadn't been talking about that?
Then what?
Moyong Huia looked behind me.
It was where I had thrown that man earlier.
"You said he was from the Martial Alliance."
"Ah. Yeah."
"How did you know?"
She asked as if even she found it wondrous.
How did I know... It wasn't such an amazing method.
"Most people who come to become escorts have no affiliation."
I don't know what favorable conditions the Baekhwa Merchant Group offered to draw such people.
But no matter how good the conditions, those with existing affiliations wouldn't come.
Especially if they had reached the Peak Realm, or even the Flawless Peak, they would be better off working as guards for a prestigious family or in a sword troop rather than as mere escorts.
'The fact that they gathered such people despite that is what's amazing.'
First-rate, and even Flawless Peak beyond that.
If people who could make a name for themselves anywhere came here to be escorts, it made me wonder what terms Lady Mi had offered.
Up to this point, one could overlook it as an expert lured by the conditions regardless of affiliation.
"But for that, his breathing was too refined."
Even so, the problem was clearly visible.
"Do you know the defining trait of prestigious houses and renowned sects? It's the absence of disarray."
Their breathing is composed and their movements are sharp.
The unique bearing that seeps in from trying to maintain dignity in one's every action.
This isn't something that can be erased easily.
"He seemed to want to pass as a wanderer or ordinary martial artist... but he stood out too much for that."
"You could see that?"
"Yeah."
Moyong Huia spoke in surprise, but it wasn't really something to be surprised about.
It was simply that Moyong Huia's realm was too low to see it.
"A person born in a prestigious house wouldn't come to be an escort after reaching that level."
He was too refined to be a wanderer.
His realm was too high to be an escort.
Such a person would only suffer losses coming here.
Yet the fact that he bothered to come here meant, in the end.
'That there was a reason he had to come.'
A master who caused trouble and fled with nowhere to go could have come here, but I ruled that out.
'That wasn't the feeling I got.'
Then only one possibility remained.
"He had something to obtain by infiltrating... and then it's obvious what."
There are few places that would make a master from a prestigious house pretend to be an escort to gather information.
The fact that the Baekhwa Merchant Group is not of the Demonic Sect and not allied with the Martial Alliance, plus.
'That this place happens to be Hanam.'
That was enough to recall the answer.
So when I explained this, Moyong Huia tilted her head.
There seemed to be something bothering her.
"But that's not enough to be certain."
I nodded at her words.
"That's true."
It was insufficient for certainty.
It was merely a hunch, so it wasn't enough to act on with certainty.
"Then, are you saying you had something more certain?"
What was the definitive proof?
Moyong Huia asked me with a troubled expression, but.
"No? I just did it because it seemed that way?"
"...Huh?"
She flinched and widened her eyes at my casually thrown answer.
"Young Master. What do you mean by..."
"It looked that way at a glance. So I just beat him first, that's all."
Moyong Huia was shocked by my following words.
Given her personality of acting only when certain, she seemed shocked that I had acted so rashly, but.
'After beating him, I became certain instead.'
I grabbed the man, struck him, and deliberately threw out some words.
The reaction he showed then was enough to be certain.
He was indeed someone sent by the Alliance.
This could be taken as certainty.
However.
'What was he after?'
Why would someone from the Alliance come here?
Honestly, the reason wasn't very important.
What was important here.
'Was what they were after.'
Were they after me?
Or did something concern the Merchant Group itself?
If not that.
'Were they after Moyong Huia.'
There were roughly three worthwhile objectives.
To figure this out, I should have captured and tortured him immediately, but this was a difficult time to move.
'Because I had to keep my eyes on Cheonma.'
I had to use all my spirit senses to observe that woman, Cheonma, who maintained her blank expression.
That was why I used more force when knocking the man out.
He needed to take a long time waking up, and he couldn't be allowed to escape.
Thinking that far, I looked somewhere.
Amid the overgrown trees and bushes, looking there, I moved my lips.
-'Grab him and tie him up. I have business with him later.'
A flinch.
A human presence could be felt from between the bushes.
He was probably a martial artist stationed by the Merchant Group. He seemed startled that I sent a telepathic message out of nowhere.
I had known there was a martial artist there from the start.
After all, they wouldn't have just left dozens of martial artists and Moyong Huia alone in such a remote place.
Anyway... I had relayed the message.
'Now I'll watch.'
I stood still and watched Cheonma.
Not long after.
"Wow!"
As expected, a battle broke out among the martial artists.
******************
Exactly half a shichen passed.
I was looking at the seven people standing in the field.
Exactly seven.
Seven martial artists stood there, just as I had said.
Half a shichen.
It wasn't such a short time to fight, yet no drawn-out blood battle occurred.
This was partly because it was still part of the test.
And because the disparity in realms varied, only those who seemed likely to remain had stayed.
From the Flawless Peak martial artist I had passed initially.
To those at the Peak Realm and first-rate martial artists.
I could see that the personnel were distributed evenly.
If there was something unexpected there.
'He fell?'
Some Peak Realm martial artists I thought would pass had fallen.
And some first-rate martial artists I thought would fall had advanced.
It was more correct to say they endured with sheer stubbornness rather than winning through fighting.
My gaze fixed on one side.
It was directed at the strongest man here.
The first-rate martial artists had held out until that man roughly dealt with the others.
Thanks to that, they were standing there now.
One could call it a sly method.
In the eyes of those who actually suffered from it, resentment was brimming.
They were full of dissatisfaction that they had fallen while such guys advanced.
'Not bad.'
I thought it was a fine result from my perspective.
'An escort isn't someone who succeeds just by being strong.'
He's quick-witted and skilled at scheming.
How else would that strong man have knocked out others while leaving the weak ones alone?
He had laid the groundwork from the very beginning.
'Meaning he noticed the strong one and clung to him.'
Earlier, when I was choosing who passed and who failed.
It was in the same context that the ones who had actually passed intervened when the Martial Alliance man protested and shouted at me.
They had been with those who fell.
Those people had now failed.
'In short, they picked the wrong faction.'
During the short waiting period, they rode the line.
One side collapsed and the other held firm.
That was all.
Since they advanced by riding the line rather than by martial might, there could be a problem with their passing itself.
'Moyong Huia will handle that.'
That wasn't my concern anymore.
If they're no good, she'll pick new ones.
Such unexpected situations didn't really matter.
The problem was.
'...That she fell.'
I furrowed my brows deeply and looked behind the martial artists.
Among the panting martial artists, one stood apart, simply watching.
It was Cheonma.
Cheonma stood there with the same expression as before, perfectly intact.
Was she standing there after winning a fight? No.
She hadn't even participated in the fight.
Around the time they all started fighting.
[I won't do it.]
She declared her forfeit with a light remark.
And she just stood there watching. Was she too scared to join the battle?
There was no way.
'Then what on earth is she doing?'
I couldn't understand.
I had deliberately passed her, yet she didn't join the battle and just watched the situation quietly.
'What's her goal?'
At a time when I didn't even understand why Sword Peak — Gu Huibi — had brought her.
I couldn't even tell what intention Cheonma harbored.
As I looked at Cheonma with a furrowed expression, perhaps feeling it, Cheonma also directed her gaze toward me.
A moment of eye contact passed.
This time, without looking away, I quietly stared at Cheonma.
As time passed, Cheonma was the first to react from her side.
She lightly waved her hand, just like when I first saw her.
And then.
"...!!"
She leaped briefly and vanished just like that.
It happened in an instant.
Then, Moyong Huia cautiously spoke to me.
"Young Master, it seems the work is roughly finished..."
I answered without even listening properly.
"Then I'll step out for a bit."
"Wouldn't you like to rest now? I found a good inn... huh?"
"See you later. I'll be right back."
Hearing only that the work was done, I too kicked the ground and soared.
"...You crazy--!"
From behind, I heard Moyong Huia cursing, but now was not the time to worry about that.
I couldn't miss this moment.
For some reason, that was my only thought.
Floating in the air, I could see the sun gradually setting.
'Where did she go?'
Turning my head above the forest, I surveyed the surroundings.
The vanished Cheonma was nowhere to be seen.
Had she already disappeared into the distance?
Recalling her, I immediately expanded my spirit senses in all directions.
*Hwaah—!!*
Overwhelming inner qi seeped into my spirit senses, devouring the surroundings.
It dominated the forest and reached the city beyond.
I searched.
I sought to find her by any means necessary.
The moment my spirit senses swept every nook and cranny, thoroughly overturning the area.
*Thrum.*
A familiar energy pierced my heart.
Demonic Qi.
An energy I could never mistake.
'There.'
Northwest.
Terrain far from Hanam, closer to the forest than the city.
Sensing that Cheonma was moving quickly, I too added to my speed.
*Fwoosh—!*
*Bang—!!*
Flames wrapped around my body, and using the heat, I caused explosions to follow her trail.
I lowered my body from midair and plunged into the forest.
I ran without rest, lest I lose her presence.
Tension rose.
Ridiculously, even as I chased her, I felt the urge to flee.
What was I going to do by catching up?
Was I planning to fight?
I didn't know.
I had no confidence I could win, nor did I know if I was doing this because I truly had the confidence to fight.
But I had to chase her now.
I couldn't lose her here.
My instinct was telling me so.
*Swoosh—!!*
As I passed through the forest, wind brushed by me.
I stopped and surveyed the surroundings.
The reason was none other than this.
'I lost her.'
The presence I had felt until just now had vanished.
It hadn't been clear, but it wasn't something I should have lost.
Yet Cheonma's presence had disappeared without a trace.
The wind blew.
Only the sound of the wind remained.
The heavy silence only heightened the tension.
'Where did she go?'
It didn't make sense for a presence to disappear so suddenly.
Which meant.
'She hid her presence.'
It meant Cheonma had noticed I was chasing her and concealed her existence.
'That can't be.'
It was a situation I couldn't easily believe.
'Are you saying Cheonma ran away?'
She doesn't run away.
One who never backs down no matter the situation.
That is what Cheonma is.
I surveyed the surroundings without relaxing my furrowed brow.
Then had I really lost her?
The moment I tried to push more energy into my spirit senses with doubt.
*Rustle.*
A faint presence was felt.
Sensing this, I immediately gathered flames over my hand.
Without hesitation.
*Roar—!!!*
Rapidly condensed flames took shape.
I overlaid my will upon it.
*Sssh—!*
In an instant, the Flame Prison Spear was completed, and the moment I turned to hurl it as is.
"Oh?"
*Freeze.*
At the voice that reached me, I couldn't throw the spear and froze stiff.
Because what was behind me wasn't Cheonma.
I looked at the one behind me with widened eyes.
A black-haired woman with sharp features.
She looked at me and spoke, appearing equally surprised.
"Little brother?"
"...Sister."
The woman's identity was, surprisingly, my sister Gu Huibi.
And Cheonma, whom I had been chasing, was hiding behind Gu Huibi's back, looking at me.