Swish!
As the sound of tearing air erupted.
"Dammit! Goddammit!"
Chijian twisted his waist, spitting out curses boiling up from within.
Thwuck! Thwuck!
A line of sweat rolled down Chijian's forehead as he looked at the arrows embedded in the ground.
"I-Is this ever going to end?!"
As he shouted, considerably flustered.
Fwoosh!
Dozens of arrows poured down like a rainstorm at a single glance.
"I'll take the front!"
In an instant, Xuelan stood side by side with him.
Thwack! Thwack!
Gripping her sword, Xuelan deflected the arrows flying from all directions, her eyes hardening.
Actually, dodging this level of arrows was not difficult for either of them.
They had grown accustomed to surprise attacks from hunting wolves during that time.
However.
'It doesn't feel like my own body right now!'
Xuelan bit her upper lip hard.
Unlike usual, the hand gripping her sword was dull, and her feet felt as heavy as if soaked in water.
'I felt something was off when Fourth Uncle said he would create the gate!'
Chijian, who had already been feeling the same sensation, glared at his surroundings with narrowed eyes.
At that moment.
"……!"
"What the hell is this now!"
The two flinched in panic.
The luminous pearls brightly shining on the ceiling of the gate suddenly began to flicker.
Twang! Twang!
And simultaneously, arrows were fired.
"Dammit!"
Chijian hurriedly swung his sword, glaring at the arrows flying as if the intermediate process had been skipped, dividing the space.
Slash! Slash!
The arrows sliced by the sword fluttered in the air, further disrupting their vision.
"Ugh!"
Beside him, a groan was even heard.
"Martial Sister!"
The moment the panicked Chijian turned his head.
Thwuck!
An impact was felt on his shoulder.
"Urk!"
The arrow that pierced his shoulder jutted out with its arrowhead, bleeding.
"Martial Brother! Are you okay?"
"No. Not at all. Martial Sister?"
"Same here."
The two looked at each other.
And without needing to say who went first, they let out bitter smiles.
Having smiled at the same time, the two gripped their swords.
"It's a life-or-death gate."
"Still, compared to the training Fourth Uncle has given us all this time, isn't it easy?"
"That's true."
Xuelan nodded.
Pain continued to radiate from her abdomen and shoulder, but the light in her eyes hadn't died.
Rather, they were burning fiercely.
"Let's pass it together."
"We have to. If we fail to pass this, we'll receive Fourth Uncle's punishment."
Perhaps because they had already undergone Tianhui's vicious training, the two remained composed even when facing a life-threatening gate.
"Then we absolutely must pass it."
Exchanging meaningless jokes, the two raised their swords high and drew upon their inner qi.
"Then!"
"I'll leave the back to you!"
Right on cue, arrows poured down again.
Thwack thwack thwack!
Seeing the arrows densely filling the cavern, their swords emitted a sharp sword gleam.
Clang clang!
Tianhui, who was walking following the presence of Chijian and Xuelan, caught the pouring arrows.
"This is better than before?"
He was more satisfied than he had thought.
Arrows pouring from all directions.
Along with them, the activated Bianyi Huanying Zhenfa (Alteration Illusion Array Formation) created the illusion that arrowheads were on the arrowheadless arrows, heightening the tension.
"That's especially good."
Tianhui's gaze, having tossed aside the arrow in his hand, turned to the luminous pearls attached to the wall.
The luminous pearls, which should have quietly darkened here, were continuously flickering for some reason.
"It made it so they can't trust their vision."
Instantly, another rain of arrows poured down.
It was a rain of arrows pouring down like a heavy downpour, but Tianhui didn't even spare it a glance.
Instead, he just walked forward.
Unprotected steps, as if intending to be hit by the arrows.
But the result was surprising.
Thwack! Thwack!
The arrows passed through his body.
As if piercing through water.
"Is it over there?"
Tianhui continued to step forward, evading the arrows with minute movements.
"Cough. A-Are you okay?"
"N... o."
He finally arrived at where the two were.
They barely made it in and they're already in that state?
Chijian and Xuelan were standing with difficulty, using their swords as canes, looking absolutely wretched.
'What did they do to end up like that?'
Thwack thwack thwack!
Right then, arrows shot out densely.
"Hah, hah. Can you block any more?"
"N... o. I can't even move a single finger now."
The two, for whom merely standing was all they could do, were waiting for the imminent miserable future.
Crunch!
A dull sound struck their ears.
Afterwards, seeing the massive back that appeared before them, the two widened their eyes.
"H-Huh? Fourth Uncle...?"
"Fourth Uncle?"
Chijian and Xuelan struggled.
However, due to the accumulated pain, they couldn't lift a single finger.
"What are you doing?"
Looking at the two, Tianhui parted his lips, casually tossing aside the arrows in his grasp.
"Well, we can't put any strength in..."
"Haha."
Looking at the two with troubled expressions, Tianhui clicked his tongue and said.
"To think you can't even pass this level. I guess I trained you too comfortably."
The complexions of the two turned pale.
"N-No."
"It's because we are lacking..."
"Enough."
With those words, he grabbed the backs of their necks.
"Keuk!"
"Keck!"
And he kicked off the ground in a single breath.
Tianhui, who quickly exited the Meihua Yiguan, threw the two in front of Shenyi.
Thump! Thump!
"What is this?"
"They're patients."
"Ugh."
"Urgh."
"Hoo... I understand for now."
Shenyi looked down at the two groaning in pain and took out acupuncture needles from his robes.
"E-Excuse me. Young Hero."
Zhuge Chengxian carefully approached and bowed with a fidgety demeanor.
"I am sorry..."
"I like the current method."
Zhuge Chengxian was startled by Tianhui's words, which cut off his apology and were blurted out.
"P-Pardon?"
"Rather than the mechanism formations changing, let's switch to a method where they are added one by one."
"Added...?"
Tianhui immediately pulled out the blueprints.
And pointing to a few places, he modified the direction of the array that had been in place this time.
"When reaching the end of this gate, the original mechanism formations will additionally activate..."
Zhuge Chengxian, who was initially flustered, fell into the ensuing explanation and listened carefully.
Then, in the middle, he also offered an opinion.
"Then, rather than the Bianyi Huanying Zhenfa, it would be more natural to install other mechanism formations and arrays in its place."
"Is there an array to replace it?"
"Among the arrays of our family, there is one called the Guiren Wanzhen (Return to Benevolence Ten Thousand Array). While it cannot invoke detailed illusions like the Bianyi Huanying Zhenfa, it is sufficient to deceive the senses."
"Hmm, is that so?"
Tianhui stroked his chin.
Deceiving only the senses without illusions, huh.
'That could work too.'
There was no absolute need for illusions anyway.
If it deceived the senses, it could fully serve the role of the Meihua Yiguan.
"If that's more convenient, let's do that."
At Tianhui's words, Zhuge Chengxian, seemingly excited, began to express the opinions he had secretly been thinking about all this time.
"And how about doing this here? Rather than using this mechanism formation like this, in this direction..."
Zhuge Chengxian poured out his opinions like a waterfall, as if he had been holding them back all this time.
'A pretty good guy came along.'
The opinions Zhuge Chengxian suggested were surprisingly efficient and groundbreaking.
'At this level, I can take my hands off it.'
Tianhui nodded his head as he looked at Zhuge Chengxian explaining with shining eyes.
"Then try doing it that way."
At those words, Zhuge Chengxian flinched.
He had excitedly offered his opinions, but thinking about it carefully, the difficulty of the gate might become even more vicious than now.
"N-No. It seems better to just do it as it originally was."
"Why?"
Zhuge Chengxian, who was speaking, swallowed his saliva.
"If we modify it like this, it could become even more dangerous than it is now..."
"What? Will they die?"
"N-No!"
Zhuge Chengxian recoiled in horror and waved his hands.
"It's not that... but they could sustain injuries more severe than that."
Tianhui chuckled as he saw Zhuge Chengxian pointing at Chijian and Xuelan, who were groaning from severe injuries, and sweating cold bullets.
"As long as they don't die, it doesn't matter, so let's try doing it that way for now."
* * *
Spring had fully arrived at Huashan.
Huashan, where sprouts had budded, now saw tiny plum blossoms blooming, and the disciples of the Huashan Sect were also growing.
Before they knew it, the second-generation disciples had absorbed at least half of the Anxiang Dan and were rapidly accumulating inner qi, and the first-generation disciples of the Wulian Ge possessed martial prowess incomparable to the past.
Sip by sip.
And Tianhui, who had created the current Huashan Sect, was at the Zixia Pavilion, having been summoned by the Sect Leader.
Seeing Tianhui sipping tea, the Sect Leader asked in a low voice.
"I heard you've been resting lately."
"That's right."
Tianhui was currently in a relaxed state.
The second-generation disciples were being handled by Xianqing, and he had now mostly taken his hands off the Meihua Seven Gates as well.
"It seems you have leisure."
"To some extent."
The Sect Leader's eyes half-opened for a fleeting moment upon hearing Tianhui's answer.
"Actually, the reason I called you today is because I have a favor to ask."
"A favor?"
What's going on?
The Sect Leader was not one to usually use the word 'favor'.
For such a man to ask a favor.
"What is it?"
"As you know, we will soon open the doors of the Huashan Sect."
Tianhui nodded.
The opening of the Huashan Sect's doors was a plan that had been steadily progressing for a very long time.
However, it had been postponed for a long time due to financial difficulties, among other overlapping issues.
Then, a few days ago, Xianlu informed him that with the recent renovation of the Huashan Sect's pavilions and the securing of funds, there was finally an opportunity to open the sect's doors.
'Because of that, she even threw a tantrum several times recently about not being able to see me.'
As he was recalling her, who would cling to him to the point of annoyance whenever they occasionally met, the Sect Leader opened his mouth.
"Could you distinguish the aptitude and talents of the children entering the mountain at that time?"
Tianhui's brow furrowed deeply.
The most important thing considered by any sect when taking in disciples was talent.
And they were trying to entrust that crucial matter to Tianhui.
'How annoying.'
Seeing the indifferent Tianhui, the Sect Leader opened his mouth with an expression that said, 'Just as expected.'
"Of course, I'm not just asking for free."
"What will you give me?"
Tianhui was indifferent.
He didn't have anything he wanted.
It was hard to draw his interest with ordinary things.
But at the Sect Leader's following words, Tianhui couldn't help but react immediately.
"Have you ever seen the Zixia Jianjue?"
"The Zixia Jianjue?"
As the fish snapped at the bait, the Sect Leader laughed inwardly.
'Hoho. Senior Martial Brother Xianqing's words were spot on.'
The Sect Leader had been worrying about how to lure Tianhui in and was able to get the answer from Xianqing.
Tianhui's obsession with new martial arts.
That was exactly what he was aiming for.
"If you accept the proposal, I will show you the Zixia Jianjue."
"Alright."
To the question, Tianhui answered immediately without a sliver of hesitation.
'I wanted to see the real Zixia Jianjue, not the one Xianyu displayed, anyway.'
The Zixia Jianjue, the absolute sword art of the Huashan Sect.
Since it was a sword technique he had only seen twice in the past, he was curious as to how its forms had changed.
The Sect Leader stood up from his seat.
"Then follow me."
In his hand was the treasured sword Zixia Jian, which had been with him his entire life.
Soon, the two headed to the Shanggong (Upper Palace).
The events that took place in the Upper Palace that day were talked about for a long, long time to come.
As an extraordinary day when purple and transparent plum blossoms blanketed the world.
And twenty-one days later.
A rumor spread that the doors of the Huashan Sect, which had been firmly closed for a long time, would be opened.