EP.76 In the Midst of Snow Summer (2)
What is a foul stench?
It was a question Nangong Biya had pondered since childhood.
Why could she smell what others could not?
Nangong Biya knew that because of it, her life had fallen into hell.
A life where she couldn't comfortably eat, speak, or even sleep; it was hell.
How could she escape it?
In the dense, blinding fog, Nangong Biya merely continued to wander.
The only saving grace was that even amidst such stench, there was a single moment she could overcome it.
When she swung her sword.
Only then did the world bestow a sense of liberation upon Nangong Biya.
Thus, Nangong Biya began an obsession that wasn't quite an obsession with the sword.
Because in the moment she performed her sword dance, she could reach the illusion of feeling nothing at all.
And so, she swung her sword every day.
The moment the sword dance ended, the foul stench returned as always, and the stench emanating from those who watched her sword dance grew even stronger.
If there was no stench while dancing the sword,
she harbored the hope that perhaps, when she finally reached the end of the sword she desired, this too would disappear.
Whenever she saw a swordsman stronger than herself, she requested a spar, and spent all her remaining time solely on refining her martial arts.
As she gradually grew older, the stench emanating from her family grew stronger in turn.
Reluctant to converse with people, her words dwindled.
The ambition, desire, envy, and jealousy they harbored were vividly felt alongside the stench.
Was the cause of the stench there?
Even that, Nangong Biya could not be certain of.
It felt like there was something else.
Day by day, she gradually lost her expressions.
She couldn't remember when she had last smiled.
Perhaps the day she lost it completely was the day her mother died.
She grew increasingly exhausted by the sensation she felt even when covering her nose.
She wanted to choose to hole up in the mountains and live alone, but the family would not leave her be.
The stench of the masses grew fierce, but uniquely amidst them, her younger sibling felt burdensome.
The increasingly excessive attitude, the various emotions held in their eyes.
Nangong Biya felt increasingly overwhelmed by words she couldn't understand.
Would there truly be peace at the end of the sword she desired?
Would there be peace at the end of the life she stubbornly endured?
Or was she just foolishly holding on?
During the days she agonized daily at the edge of the cliff.
She met that person.
It was the first time.
She had experienced a lack of foul stench in her life.
As if clearing away the dense fog, only stillness existed by his side.
Fierce-looking eyes, a grumbling tone, and a distance that practically screamed 'please don't come near me.'
Nangong Biya, ironically, found comfort within that gap.
She couldn't feel the stench.
A person devoid of the desire felt from others, instead surrounded by an unknown sense of urgency and guilt.
Seeing him occasionally look at her as if recalling someone else, Nangong Biya someday wanted to ask him.
Just who are you looking for?
What do you want to say that you show such eyes?
Unable to ask in the end, it remained an unknown story to Nangong Biya.
The words Tang Xiaolie asked sometime ago kept coming to mind lately.
The question of whether she liked him.
At the time, Nangong Biya thought she didn't.
What she felt for him back then was definitely not affection.
'And now?'
So is it different now?
She asked herself, but no answer returned.
It felt more difficult than anything regarding the stench.
Swinging her sword on the back mountain, her eyes met with his.
The first thing that caught her eye was the back of a hand that looked injured.
Seeing that, she was startled and tried to approach him.
At the same time, a bloody scent wafted over.
It was faint, but definitely a foul stench.
Nangong Biya felt as if the world was collapsing in that instant.
Repeating to herself that it couldn't be, she grabbed him and smelled him.
Praying with all her might that it wasn't.
For Nangong Biya, it was a sanctuary she had barely found.
She could eat comfortably, and she no longer had nightmares when she slept.
She could even walk among people.
She was only just beginning to understand things one by one.
...She must not lose even this.
Fortunately, was it an illusion?
The bloody scent emanating from his side quickly faded away.
When peace returned as if nothing had happened, her legs lost strength without her realizing, and she slumped down.
He approached and carefully wiped away the cold sweat streaming down.
She grabbed his arm and brought it to the tip of her nose.
It was an action she did unconsciously, driven by the anxious fear of losing him again.
'I see.'
Nangong Biya could feel what the emotion of despair was.
The peace, which she thought might have been better when she didn't know, taught her the fear of losing something.
I see.
I can no longer let him go now.
The thought that the seemingly meaningless title of fiancé might be the greatest blessing to her had been lingering in her mind lately.
She imagined a life without him.
A life where she had to live again amidst the foul stench.
Could she live in it once more?
At the thought she didn't want to imagine, Nangong Biya gripped his hand a bit tighter.
*****************
Nangong Biya's condition seemed off, so I brought him down to the lodging.
Why is he sweating so profusely?
They say even dogs don't catch summer colds; could he have caught a severe cold?
'A martial artist with a severe cold....'
For someone who possesses internal qi, catching that is quite difficult.
Especially for a martial artist of Nangong Biya's level.
Thinking there might be a bigger problem than just a cold, I told him to at least go see a physician, but he shook his head and went to wash up alone.
"Young Master, Young Master!"
Around dinner time, Wei Xueya was clinging persistently by my side.
Earlier, when she saw my injured hand, she looked ready to burst into tears, so it was hard to calm her down.
Wei Xueya seemed obsessed with cooking lately, constantly bringing things she made.
The Huashan Sect provided meals, after all.
Of course, since it was strictly a Daoist sect, fancy meals weren't served, but it didn't matter since we just needed to fill our stomachs anyway.
'...I feel like I haven't had dumplings lately.'
It felt like I hadn't eaten them for the past few days.
I'll have to eat some when I go down to the county later.
'Though I won't be going for a while.'
Given the location of the Huashan Sect, going down and coming back up was no easy feat.
I picked up and ate one of the unnamed foods Wei Xueya brought.
Her expectant gaze was quite burdensome.
Looking at it, I spat out abruptly.
"It's salty."
"...R-really?"
Her eyes widening hugely at a single word was amusing.
Knowing she must have worked hard to make the food, I patted her head and revealed it was a joke.
"Just kidding, it's fine."
"Hmph... playing jokes again, you're so mean...!"
"Your reaction was just too fun."
It felt like there was no problem at all with stroking her hair now.
Perhaps because my hesitation had lessened.
Wei Xueya, leaving her head to my touch, was looking up at me with round eyes like a puppy.
Feeling something odd, I grabbed Wei Xueya's cheeks with both hands and stretched them out.
"Ubebebeb!"
"...Wow, it stretches out?"
What kind of texture is this? I remembered Gu Huibi touching my cheeks in surprise at the estate, and I could empathize.
So this was how it felt.
"Ubeb..."
"Ah, sorry."
Did I pull too hard? Wei Xueya rubbed her cheeks and glared at me slightly.
Seeing that, I asked.
"Anyway, where is Elder Wei?"
I didn't think Wei Xueya would have returned to the Huashan Sect alone.
I figured the Sword Venerable must have come with her, but the Sword Venerable was nowhere to be seen.
Wei Xueya answered while touching her slightly reddened cheeks.
"Grandpa said he had business and went somewhere!"
"...Business, huh."
Leaving even Wei Xueya behind, what business could the Sword Venerable have in Shaanxi?
It wasn't that I was worried about the Sword Venerable now, but I was just curious.
The reason he insisted on following me all the way to Shaanxi, and the fact that the Divine Physician happened to be here.
And the fact that the Divine Physician's grandson was Zhuge Hyuk.
"...Why are there so many things?"
The disappearance of the Huashan Sect's disciples, the Sword Queen's health.
It feels like a huge deal if even just one of them blows up, but multiple things are clustered together.
It felt as if something was connecting them all in the middle.
"Young Master."
"Yeah?"
"Your face got ugly again..."
"...What, you brat?"
It was the first "ugly" attack I'd heard in a while.
Having even been told I looked like a praying mantis in my life, it wasn't particularly a shocking remark.
"You shouldn't say that carelessly just anywhere."
"Why...?"
"...Because genuinely ugly kids would get hurt."
"But if you make that expression, you look ugly..."
"...Right."
When Wei Xueya put it that way, daggers really stabbed into my chest. This is why pretty people are like this.
She was probably saying it because I frowned at the complicated situation, but it seemed I would need to take some time later to correct her way of speaking.
[...To me, it sounds like she said it because you're genuinely ugly....]
'Please be quiet.'
My chest already hurts, and you're pouring oil on the fire....
I ate a few more greens and roughly finished my dinner.
Nangong Biya must have been in bad condition since he didn't come out to eat, so I told Wei Xueya to go check on him.
Thinking I might take a short walk, I looked around.
-Hah!
-Mind your legs!
-Your arm is idle!
Perhaps because they were in the midst of their final training, the ki-shouts of the third-generation disciples could be heard outside.
It was probably because of the Jehwa Tournament that would open in a little while.
Should I say it feels like a martial tournament where Huashan disciples compete with each other?
Probably, returning to the estate would be the starting point once that ends.
When I asked Yingfeng, he said it would end in a day or two, so there wouldn't be much time left.
I was hoping that nothing would happen in that time.
'If there's a problem, it's the demonic energy I saw earlier.'
The underlings of the Black Night Palace I saw during the day.
For some reason, it looked too murky to be called proper demonic energy.
To be precise, it looked poor in quality or incomplete.
It was a cheap-looking level on a completely different dimension from the demonic energy scattered by the Demonic Cult's demonic practitioners.
Because of that, I thought it wasn't something related to the Heavenly Demon.
[Are you thinking about those bastards?]
"...Yes, because something felt a bit off."
[Are they famous bastards?]
"Not quite famous, but they aren't people hiding in the shadows either."
The Lord of the Black Night Palace himself was a master representing the Evil Path.
He was the one who maintained his aloof position even when the Black Dragon Sword, a famous Evil Path master in the past, was killed by the Sword Venerable.
'Was I too indifferent?'
Was it because I thought it was a place that would just be pushed out and disappear by the Murim Alliance in a few years?
Thinking that the Black Night Palace possessed the demonic energy I had assumed the Heavenly Demon brought out, I felt quite complicated.
"Since there's an escaped one, they won't just let it slide."
[It is strictly Huashan's territory, and they know it has reached the current Sect Leader's ears, so they won't move easily.]
Honestly, I half-held back thinking about that, but it didn't seem like those bastards would just tuck their tails and not move.
'First, Maehwaseon will take care of the things left here well.'
Other than this, there were too many things I had to think about for the future.
Even if I were to look into the Black Night Palace right away, it would be difficult in Shaanxi.
Putting the headache-inducing thoughts behind me, I moved toward the lodging when someone came running from afar.
"Young Hero Gu!"
It was Yingfeng, soaked in sweat.
Goodness, what is up with that appearance...?
"Daoist Yingfeng...?"
"Are you on your way to evening training?"
"Huh...? No?"
"The night air is quite good today. If you train, you will receive really good energy!"
"...Ah, yes."
Is this guy perhaps doing this since this morning?
[He's the only one among the later generation that I truly like. With that level of talent and that level of effort, the Huashan First Sword in the near future will definitely be this guy.]
Just as Elder Shen said with great pride.
As for Yingfeng's future, if it follows the set path, it will be so.
As long as some crazy bastard doesn't wipe out Huashan all by himself.
"...Fuck."
"Pardon? What did you say, Young Hero Gu?"
"No, nothing. Nothing at all."
"Ah.... Understood. If you are willing, would you like to train together tonight?"
Yingfeng's expression, recommending it again even after seeing the suffering in the morning, was still bright and innocent.
Since I had a lot of things happening all day today, I wanted to just go lie down right away.
But with what happened during the day, and seeing Yingfeng like this, I felt a bit stimulated.
"Let's go."
Right, I'm going to sleep as soon as I get back anyway, so I can just train a little.
...I said that, but regretted it immediately within a few minutes.
******************
Crazy Huashan sect.
"...Ugh."
The evening training I started out of stimulation, I couldn't even endure half of it and ran away.
Setting aside the normal training, what kind of crazy bastard made climbing a cliff with a boulder on the back a part of the training?
Besides that, they repeated all sorts of training without resting.
While my muscles were screaming and I was dying, Yingfeng looked like he was even enjoying it.
How could a guy like that hit a wall in the future?
Was there some reason?
[Aren't you thinking that you rather stimulated him, which made him even more like that?]
"Well, no matter how simple a person is, they don't change like that from just one spar."
[That's something you don't know.]
Was the spar with me that shocking?
If so, it was fortunate that I achieved my intended goal, but if he truly changed like that in an instant, that in itself was a terrifying thing.
When I finally couldn't endure it and said I would leave first, Yingfeng said with a disappointed expression that he would stay and train more before leaving.
Not properly listening to him, I quickly made my way down.
Having been caught up in various things since the daytime, and rolling around in training until the evening with a tired body, my body was exhausted to its limits.
I went down to the lodging, wiped my body with cold water to cool down my heated body, and changed into clean clothes.
I wanted to fall asleep quickly.
Since I hadn't slept properly the day before, I felt like I would really sleep deeply today.
Thinking that, I opened the door, but...
Rattle-
"Young Mas..."
Rattle, click.
"...?"
I opened the door unconsciously and then immediately shut it.
I was sure Nangong Biya and Wei Xueya were inside.
Did I see that wrong...?