Huashan Sect's second-generation disciple Xin Xian first saw Gu Linghua 15 years ago.
It was when winter was just ending and spring was beginning. The sect leader, Plum Blossom Immortal Donghua, suddenly brought her, claiming she was their youngest junior sister. That was their first meeting.
She said she was their master's aunt, and the disciple of the Sword Empress, famous as a female hero of the Central Plains.
At that time, the admission of the third-generation disciples had already ended, and since she came in with the status of a second-generation disciple rather than a third-generation one, there was significant pushback.
The fact that a young girl who suddenly entered the ranks of the third-generation disciples was their master's aunt.
And treating Gu Linghua from the standpoint of second-generation disciples seemed like it would be a problem when considering coordination with the third-generation disciples.
However, due to the firm attitudes of the sect leader and the elders, the disciples eventually had no choice but to accept it.
If the sect leader says it's right, it's right.
If she says it's wrong, it's wrong.
That was the kind of trust the disciples placed in the sect leader.
A few days later, Xin Xian heard the news that Gu Linghua had arrived at the Huashan Sect.
However, he had to visit her late because he was being briefed on a few matters by the elders.
As he approached the quarters where the second-generation disciples stayed, Xin Xian saw his junior brothers surrounding something.
Because they were all so large, they could be seen very well even from a distance.
'...They might be a bit too big.'
He had heard that as one's realm rises, the vessel changes and the body changes as well, so it's fine, but there were some who rather lamented that fact.
"These broad and rough shoulders and arms will disappear...? No way, Senior Brother... I must stop my Heart Method cultivation from today!"
"That's right...! How can I give up these sturdy thighs!"
"...Please don't talk while moving your chests. I feel like throwing up just watching."
They were definitely crazy bastards....
Perhaps they hadn't noticed his arrival, as they were busy chattering about something, Xin Xian coughed deliberately to be heard.
"Ahem...! Hem...!"
Normally, they would have noticed by now, but there was no reaction at all, whatever was going on.
In the end, Xin Xian had to push his way through the crowd of muscle masses.
In the center of the commotion was a child.
A young girl, shivering from the cold or perhaps from fear of the unfamiliar situation.
Standing in the arms of one of the few female disciples among the second-generation disciples, the child looked around with trembling eyes, her ears red.
"Ah, please step back a little...! She's scared, isn't she!"
The female disciple, Xin Mi, shouted.
Only then did the men start to slink back.
Even with the distance, the child's eyes still looked ready to cry.
He wondered what they had done, but in reality, dozens of men with such frightening bodies were staring at a single child, so it made sense for her to be scared.
The other guys just didn't realize it.
"Why is she scared...? We didn't do anything."
"Rather, shouldn't she feel a sense of security looking at these rock-like arms?"
"That's right, that feeling like they'll protect her from anything... She's just a child, so she probably doesn't know."
How on earth did they end up like that.
Even when they were third-generation disciples, they didn't seem to be like that.
Xin Xian sighed as he looked at his junior brothers.
Then, he slowly approached the girl, bent down, and met her gaze.
He remembered from old memories that his mother said children feel comfortable when you make eye contact with them.
"Nice to meet you. You're Linghua, right? My name is Xin Xian."
"...!"
But for some reason, when he spoke to her, Gu Linghua burrowed deeper into Xin Mi's arms.
Was this not it...?
"Uh... I am..."
"Eek...!"
He tried to raise his hand to show he wasn't a bad person, but at that action, Gu Linghua flinched and shivered.
Soon, tears dripped from her large eyes.
"Waaaah..."
"Wow... Eldest Senior Brother made her cry."
"He made her cry... He tells us to back off, but he's the most wicked person."
"No, what did I do...!"
It wasn't even Xin Xian who told them to back off.
He felt deeply wronged, but it was meaningless talk in front of a child's tears.
In the end, he couldn't even greet her and had to spend the day comforting the child.
Of course, it wasn't him but female disciples like Xin Mi who took care of it.
Even when the next day came, Xin Xian couldn't easily speak to Gu Linghua.
Had she slept properly? Gu Linghua's eyes were swollen.
Did she cry all night?
Seeing that, Xin Xian had a question.
'...Why isn't Master's Aunt coming?'
Normally, if she was accepted as a direct disciple, she would be overseeing her training separately, but the Sword Empress didn't appear for some reason.
The sect leader didn't say much about it either.
He only told them to take good care of her.
Ultimately, the problem was how to take care of her...
Somehow they tried to work together to do something, but it wasn't easy.
One day, a junior brother who was watching Gu Linghua's training brought something up.
"...Eldest Senior Brother, about our Fourth Junior Sister."
"What about her?"
The junior brother who came with a restless face spoke to Xin Xian as if it was really difficult.
"...I'm afraid to touch her because she might break somewhere if I touch her wrong...!"
"...What? You bastard."
At first, he wondered what kind of bullshit that was.
Since Gu Linghua had a small and thin physique, it did seem like she might die if poked wrongly.
Moreover, she still cried when someone approached, so it was difficult in many ways....
Still.
"That's right! Front paw like that! Good, well done!"
"Wow! She grabbed the sword! Junior Sister grabbed the sword!"
"Uh, what do we do! Isn't Junior Sister actually a genius?"
The junior brothers seemed to be happy about it.
That was because they didn't accept any girls among the third-generation disciples this time, and the second-generation junior sisters were no different from men.
Especially in Xin Mi's case, she had physical abilities that made even Xin Xian, the eldest senior brother, wonder if he could win if he fought her.
The limits of gender were already meaningless to martial artists.
In that midst, having such a soft and pretty girl come as a junior sister made it understandable that everyone was losing their minds.
But would training really work like that?
'When I put the junior nephews through hell, they were like demons, but what is this sight.'
While cursing inwardly, Xin Xian himself was also having a hard time dealing with Gu Linghua.
If things continued like this, there would be no training or anything else.
No matter how much they liked their late-coming junior sister, treating her so cutely would only cloud the essence.
So Xin Xian came up with the idea of having Gu Linghua train among the third-generation disciples.
He thought it would be better for her to train among the younger disciples rather than among these middle-aged men.
Since the sect leader had told him to handle it as he saw fit, he thought he should try doing something that would help.
Seeing Gu Linghua showing gestures of trying various things even while being scared and tearful, he thought it would be okay.
And there, he discovered a problem.
It was the fourth day since Gu Linghua started training among the third-generation disciples.
Someone ran up to Xin Xian, who was training, and shouted.
"Eldest Senior Brother!"
"What is it this time?"
The guy was one of those who insisted on watching over her, saying Gu Linghua was training among the third-generation disciples.
Every time he saw him, he would say something, but since he didn't seem to want to give up, he left him alone for now.
The junior brother who came gasping for breath said.
"F-Fourth Junior Sister collapsed."
"What?"
There was an unexpected problem with Gu Linghua.
Fortunately, Gu Linghua woke up shortly after, but she curled her whole body up with a face full of fear.
Xin Xian saw this and asked the third-generation disciple who was training with her.
What on earth had happened.
When he asked about it, the junior nephews only said it was unfair.
They said they hadn't done anything, and rather approached her to teach her something, but because she was crying and screaming, even that wasn't easy.
This time, one of the junior nephews accidentally brushed against Gu Linghua, and she suddenly lost consciousness.
They said there was no problem with her body in the Huashan Sect's way.
They said it was a mental problem...
In the Central Plains, Xin Xian was gradually making a name for himself as a key figure of Huashan and an outstanding swordsman, but he was truly weak in this aspect.
What was the problem?
What on earth was making that small child struggle so much?
Although she was a child who came in suddenly, she was clearly their sister.
The sect leader had said so, and he decided to think that way, so that child was also his family.
"Eldest Senior Brother, what should we do...?"
"The physician said that embracing her now would be poison, so let's give it some time."
The physician had said that approaching her carelessly now would rather be bad.
Just watching over her, time flowed again.
If there was one thing Xin Xian came to know about Gu Linghua after a little time passed.
It was that what Gu Linghua feared was, while the unfamiliar environment was part of it, essentially people.
Especially men.
And the younger the person, the more frightened she seemed to become.
'Can that even be called fear?'
At first, he thought so, but as time passed and he looked at Gu Linghua, he couldn't define it as such a simple emotion.
Countless things were contained in a single gaze.
From fear to resentment, from terror to despair, he could feel various negative emotions mixed in.
Xin Xian could also feel a faint longing in between.
That was why he couldn't carelessly define it as a simple emotion.
If things were like this, he couldn't leave her to the third-generation disciples, and since she seemed uncomfortable with men, he had no choice but to leave her to the other junior sisters.
After that, more time passed and the seasons changed several times.
Gu Linghua became a young girl, but even as time passed, the boundary was clear.
She seemed to have improved a lot, but still looked overwhelmed.
The only relief was that there were occasional days when she seemed to be in a good mood.
'Probably because she goes to visit Master's Aunt.'
He heard she was staying at the top of the mountain, and whenever she had time, Gu Linghua climbed the mountain, as if it wasn't hard for her.
Other disciples were forbidden to go up carelessly, so there was a lot of talk.
Most of the talk was probably about whether there was something wrong with the Sword Empress's health.
There would be no good news floating around outside, so he didn't bother to bring it up.
In the midst of this, an incident occurred and a search party had to be organized to go out.
It was because some Plum Blossom Swordsmen who went out as a sword squad went missing.
They urgently conducted a search, but the traces were scarce compared to the period and distance.
Eventually, on the way back with a gloomy heart, Yingfeng, who was searching together, said he felt something again and broke away from the ranks.
Since Yingfeng often acted on instinct, Xin Xian sighed and followed him to clean up the mess.
This wasn't the first or second time such a thing had happened.
At the place he hurriedly arrived, Xin Xian met Gu Yangtian.
At first, he seemed to have lost consciousness, so Xin Xian was startled, thinking Yingfeng had caused an accident.
Fortunately, that wasn't the case, and the misunderstanding was quickly resolved.
While talking to Gu Yangtian after he regained consciousness, he learned that Gu Yangtian was Gu Linghua's blood relative.
Even when he heard that Gu Yangtian had come to take Gu Linghua to the Gu family, Xin Xian was inwardly a bit happy.
Lately, for some unknown reason, seeing Gu Linghua looking somewhat anxious, he was hoping she would take a break and get away from Huashan for a while.
The other junior brothers probably felt the same way.
Xin Xian didn't know much about the Gu family in detail, but he knew it was the family of the famous Sword Peak.
The family head, Huoxia, goes without saying.
A woman that even Yingfeng, who possessed monstrous talent, had to yield to.
Xin Xian had never seen her properly, but it wasn't a story that was easily realized.
Because the fact that she had talent that surpassed Yingfeng, who made plum blossoms bloom at the tip of his sword at an age not even twenty, wasn't an easy story to believe.
The problem was that an even more bewildering situation appeared for Xin Xian.
It was because Yingfeng, who suddenly had a sparring match with Gu Yangtian, was defeated.
'...Yingfeng... lost?'
Seeing Yingfeng rolling on the floor vomiting, and Gu Yangtian watching it, Xin Xian was horrified.
Before he could point out Yingfeng's rudeness and get angry, he couldn't come to his senses from the fact that a boy younger than Yingfeng had burned the plum blossoms.
'...Plum blossoms burning, what on earth.'
The sight of the plum blossom leaves filling the air burning up entirely from the flames erupting from the boy's body.
From the standpoint of Xin Xian, who had put his soul into the Huashan Sect, it was an indescribable scene.
Seeing that, Xin Xian was convinced.
'...The seat of the Divine Dragon in the future will belong to that child.'
The reason nothing was known about Gu Yangtian yet could be because he was young.
Strictly speaking, it was because he had no experience participating in the Gathering of Dragons and Phoenixes as a late-stage master.
Originally, Pang Wuzhen, who was called the Divine Dragon, stepped back as he took the position of the Young Patriarch of the Pang family, so naturally, the name of the top late-stage master belonged to the Sword Peak.
This was also the name that would come down to Yingfeng when the Sword Peak established her position and stepped back.
Xin Xian also thought so, but after catching a glimpse of Gu Yangtian's martial prowess, he had to think differently.
'...I have no words. Truly a monster.'
The movement of grasping the opening and striking without hesitation.
The internal energy supporting it carried not only destructive power but also speed.
The sight of maintaining calmness while controlling the violent flames made it hard to think of a late-stage master at his age.
Gu Yangtian already possessed the sense that a seasoned martial artist or someone who had gained through real combat should have.
If that wasn't talent, what should it be called?
'...What kind of place is the Gu family?'
He had only seen it as a famous prestigious family in Shanxi, but to think it was a family that raised not only the Sword Peak but also such a monster...
"Frightening..."
From some point on, rather than the precious treasure of the sect that Gu Yangtian brought, he started to become interested in Gu Yangtian himself.
Those eyes that looked somehow liberated compared to his fierce gaze were probably one of the reasons.
The sight of him mingling with their attendants without dividing ranks, and even though as a young boy he could be tired from the journey... the sight of him not letting go of his training in the meantime made Xin Xian think he had a good disposition.
'He must have been a good older brother to our Fourth Junior Sister.'
Xin Xian had also thought that something might have happened at the family to make Gu Linghua's state like that.
Xin Xian remembered the sight of Gu Linghua crying in Xin Mi's arms in the middle of the night, looking for her older brother.
However, a few years ago, after her last visit to the family, such a sight almost disappeared.
Xin Xian rather thought that it might have been helpful because Gu Linghua seemed to have pulled herself together.
Of course, the distance between Gu Linghua and the junior brothers didn't decrease... but he had the expectation that it might have improved just a little bit.
However.
After Gu Yangtian entered the Huashan Sect, Xin Xian could see a strange change in Gu Linghua.
In Gu Linghua's gaze after Gu Yangtian came, the complex emotions she had harbored in her childhood were felt once again.
Resentment, terror, fear. And longing and sadness.
Xin Xian could finally realize that the owner of the emotions Gu Linghua was sending was Gu Yangtian.
'Are my eyes wrong?'
He didn't think the boy named Gu Yangtian would have done anything harsh to his junior sister.
He prided himself on having a good eye for people, so it was even more confusing.
He still didn't think he was that kind of person, but the doubt had already sprouted.
As a martial artist of Huashan, Xin Xian didn't like hesitating.
At least in this matter, he wanted to see some resolution.
So he asked Gu Yangtian.
He asked the boy about the matter he had kept in his heart because he couldn't bear to ask.
The boy listened to all the words with an unwavering expression and immediately gave an answer.
"Yes, it is my fault."
It was a very firm answer.