‘Huh?’
Returning to the Huashan Sect’s quarters after a long time, Tianhui encountered an unexpected scene.
“Just this much left! Keep going!”
“Hah, hah. Senior brother. Please, I’m begging you, don’t tell me how much is left. That actually drains my energy even more.”
“Ah. I understand.”
In the center of the courtyard, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen were all in horse stance, sweating profusely without a single one missing.
‘What’s going on?’
Approaching them, he spoke.
“It’s been a while.”
Instantly, the exhausted ones raised their heads so sharply it looked like their necks would snap off.
“Junior brother!”
“Tianhui!”
“You’re finally here?”
Everyone wore bright smiles and was about to end their horse stance thinking ‘alright then’ when...
“You still have this much left, right?”
Tianhui’s words stuck like a thorn.
“Th-that’s right.”
“......Yes.”
“Let’s catch up later.”
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen’s faces darkened, but they soon shook their heads vigorously to snap back to focus.
“Just wait a little.”
“We’ll finish quickly.”
Seeing them concentrate again, a satisfied smile naturally formed.
‘Even though their skills are still far lacking, at least their spirit is properly grounded.’
While surveying them...
“It’s been a while.”
Xianzhen approached.
Seeing him completely dry without a single drop of sweat as if he hadn’t trained at all, Tianhui asked quietly.
“Fourth senior, aren’t you doing horse stance?”
“Ha, haha. I’ve already finished.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Tianhui looked Xianzhen up and down.
‘It seems like he did......’
Under that gaze, Xianzhen broke into a cold sweat before ‘ah’ opening his mouth.
“More importantly, did things go well where you went?”
“It was resolved well.”
“That’s a relief.”
Xianzhen swept a hand across his chest.
A few days ago when Tianhui suddenly said something came up and he was leaving, Xianzhen had tried to stop him, but he had already dashed off.
‘On top of that, he left the daoist robes and went wearing such martial clothes......’
Even now, his mouth itched to ask what it was all about, but...
‘He’s no longer a child.’
He forcefully swallowed it down.
At that moment, Tianhui spoke to him.
“Ah, and I’ll be changing quarters this time, so I need to prepare to move.”
“How did you know that?”
At the sudden words, Xianzhen was flustered.
Moving quarters was a secret deal known only between the Vice Sect Leader and himself.
“That’s something only the Vice Sect Leader and I would know.”
“Yes?”
Tianhui’s eyebrows furrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you say it knowing? The Vice Sect Leader is giving us a new pavilion...”
“Wait a moment.”
Tianhui met Xianzhen’s eyes.
“Please explain in detail.”
Facing Tianhui’s cold gaze, Xianzhen flinched but soon nodded.
“I understand.”
A while later, having heard the whole story, Tianhui’s eyes turned icy cold.
‘Moving quarters was already decided between the two of them?’
He snapped his head up and glared in the direction where the Vice Sect Leader was.
‘How dare they use me?’
* * *
The next morning.
Thump, thump.
“A guest has arrived, yet you won’t come out?”
At the noisy sounds, Tianhui, who had finished his qi circulation, looked down outside the window.
Beyond the pavilion’s gate, daoists wearing pure white robes were pounding on the door and shouting loudly.
Bang! Bang!
“Come out right now!”
Just as voices full of anger continued to ring out—
Creak—
Xianzhen and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, who had quickly come out of the pavilion at the commotion, opened the door.
“Amitabha. What brings the daoists of the Zhongnan Sect to our sect’s quarters so early in the morning?”
“What brings us?!”
“Hah. How can there be such shameless people.”
“To commit such acts and then pretend ignorance, putting iron plates on your faces.”
Seeing the Zhongnan Sect’s daoists pouring out accusations rather than offering greetings, Xianzhen and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen frowned.
“Isn’t that going too far with your words?”
“You’ve done such things and now you say we’re going too far?!”
The middle-aged daoist at the forefront shouted.
His voice was so powerful that Tianhui’s ears hurt even through the window.
Seeing the angry daoist Qingyu-zi, Xianzhen realized the situation was serious and spoke quietly.
“What acts are you speaking of?”
“Hmph. Are you planning to feign ignorance even though you know?”
Qingyu-zi’s eyes widened as he spoke.
“Didn’t you try to take the pavilion where our sect is staying!”
“What, they came because of that?”
Tianhui was dumbfounded hearing this.
Take it? What do they mean take it.
Who was it that took it first?
But unlike Tianhui, Qingyu-zi seemed to think differently as he burst out in anger.
“Why target our pavilion instead of a new one!”
Meanwhile, Xianzhen was bewildered.
The Zhongnan Sect’s quarters?
Of course, the pavilion they were staying in was the Huashan Sect’s, so he desperately wanted to reclaim it unconditionally, but realistically it was impossible.
So he had tried to be satisfied with the newly repaired pavilion, but...
“We are going to a different pavilion...”
“Aren’t you the ones who took it?”
Tianhui appeared in the middle.
Everyone flinched at Tianhui’s appearance, popping up from the ground as if sprouting out.
“The pavilion you’re currently using was originally ours, I believe.”
“Tianhui.”
Ignoring Xianzhen who tried to quickly stop him, Tianhui met Qingyu-zi’s eyes directly.
“Isn’t that so?”
“That was in the past.”
“So you admit you took it.”
Qingyu-zi’s face contorted fiercely.
“No, I didn’t admit that.”
“Didn’t you just admit it?”
“We didn’t take it, we obtained it.”
“That’s the same thing.”
Tianhui didn’t back down from a single word.
“It’s completely different!”
Qingyu-zi roared.
“Our sect moved quarters based on the recognition of our long heroic deeds and that reputation. You ignorant brat spouting nonsense without knowing anything!”
Tianhui sneered as he looked at him trembling and shouting.
It was clearly visible that he was trying to somehow gloss over it with loud words.
“We’re moving the same way.”
Qingyu-zi snorted.
“Hmph. Do you think you can obtain our pavilion with just that meager reputation?”
When he was about to say something at those words—
『Is this what you were talking about yesterday?』
Xianzhen’s voice transmission came through.
『Yes.』
『The place I originally discussed with the Vice Sect Leader was a different pavilion...』
『You said you wanted to reclaim the Huashan Sect’s quarters.』
『That’s...』
At the voice transmission Tianhui sent as if asking what he meant, Xianzhen’s eyes wavered.
It was true that he wanted to reclaim it.
The Huashan Sect’s past reputation.
Their original position.
And one of those was exactly that pavilion that the Zhongnan Sect had seized.
『...You’re right.』
Xianzhen raised his head sharply.
“Your words are too much.”
His reproachful eyes were cold.
“Are you belittling our sect right now?”
At Xianzhen’s sharp response, which usually would have him stepping back, Qingyu-zi was slightly flustered.
‘He finally has some backbone.’
Tianhui looked at Xianzhen with satisfaction.
In the past, he would have immediately stepped back, but now he had changed a lot.
“Is it so displeasing that we’re trying to reclaim our pavilion?”
Instantly, the Zhongnan Sect’s daoists stirred.
“What? Reclaim?”
“That place is our pavilion!”
“Indeed! It has been our pavilion for a long time, trying to take it is too much!”
The Zhongnan Sect’s daoists shouted one after another, and Qingyu-zi added at the end.
“You’ve just barely gained a handful of reputation and now you’re acting arrogantly. Committing such nonsensical acts.”
This time, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen couldn’t hold back.
“Aren’t your words too much!”
“Are you belittling what we’ve built up?”
When the Plum Blossom Swordsmen rebelled at the tone that completely dismissed the efforts they had made...
“Hardships? You mean those trivial missions? Ah! Are you talking about defeating the Black Fiend Demon recently?”
Qingyu-zi mocked them even more.
“I know you’re excited about getting strange nicknames like Huashan Seven Swords or whatever because of that, but do you think you can get our quarters with just that much?”
Just as some Plum Blossom Swordsmen couldn’t contain their anger and were about to move...
“What about destroying the White Ghost Fortress?”
Tianhui interjected.
Qingyu-zi frowned.
“Hmph. That was something where our sect’s Hao Wuzhen also moved together.”
“Ah! Right. That was so.”
Tianhui, recalling someone he had momentarily forgotten, spoke and then shook his head.
“It seems words won’t work.”
Looking at the Zhongnan Sect’s daoists standing arrogantly, Tianhui turned his head back.
“Come out and sort this out, will you?”
Tianhui let out a low voice.
“What?”
“What do you mean...”
At the abrupt words, everyone looked at Tianhui with bewildered eyes, about to say something when...
“Hahaha. I’ve come out.”
At that moment, Xuejian, who had been secretly hiding behind the wall watching, walked over with an awkward smile.
Tianhui glared at him coldly.
“I heard you’d handle everything yesterday, so what is this?”
“Well, I did explain but...”
As he spoke, Xuejian met eyes with Qingyu-zi, whose eyebrows were raised high.
“They didn’t believe my words.”
“Then are you telling us to believe those words!”
Qingyu-zi burst into anger.
“Not only have I never received a report that the Water Dragon Fortress collapsed, I’ve never even heard of it. How can I believe that the Huashan Sect destroyed it?”
Qingyu-zi’s continued words were shocking.
The collapse of the Water Dragon Fortress.
And by the Huashan Sect no less.
Xianzhen and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen were flustered as if asking what that meant, but soon one person quickly came to their minds.
‘Don’t tell me!’
Simultaneously, they looked at Tianhui.
Then Xianzhen sent a voice transmission.
『Was it you who did it?』
『Yes. You said reputation was needed to move to a different pavilion, so I did it quickly.』
Xianzhen was instantly bewildered.
To think that leaving without a word was to destroy the Water Dragon Fortress.
‘Why would you do such a dangerous thing alone...’
Late worry and anger rose together, but...
‘It’s already done...’
In the end, he could only shake his head.
『I’ll ask you in detail later.』
With the end of the voice transmission, Xianzhen faced Qingyu-zi who stood imposingly.
“Yes. It’s true that our sect did it.”
At Xianzhen’s sudden admission, Qingyu-zi’s face contorted.
“My words are not lies. Do I look so foolish that I would tell a lie that would easily be discovered?”
Then Xuejian added his weight.
Where did his previously light demeanor go? With narrowed eyes, he delivered a voice as cold as an ice sheet.
“Wouldn’t it be best to admit it now?”
“Is that how it was?”
Qingyu-zi gritted his teeth.
“Is this the Vice Sect Leader and the Huashan Sect joining forces to frame us and then drive out the Zhongnan Sect?”
At Qingyu-zi’s wild speculation, Xuejian opened his mouth with a sigh.
“What would I gain from doing such a thing?”
“Hmph! What gain. You must be planning to join hands with the Huashan Sect!”
Qingyu-zi glared fiercely.
Then he thrust his face toward Xianzhen.
“We absolutely cannot hand over the pavilion!”
“That pavilion is now ours.”
Xianzhen didn’t back down either.
He had both the reputation and the justification.
Plus, with the Vice Sect Leader as a solid ally, there was no need to retreat.
Qingyu-zi’s eyebrows twitched.
He must have been displeased that Xianzhen’s attitude, which had been avoiding him all this time, had changed.
“Is the Huashan Sect saying they’ll become enemies with our sect right now?”
Xianzhen flinched for a moment.
At that reaction, Qingyu-zi felt satisfied.
‘Yes. That’s the current Huashan Sect.’
The arrogant Huashan Sect of the past that looked down on the Zhongnan Sect was gone now.
Xianzhen hardened his face and asked.
“Will it really come to that?”
“It will.”
At the answer, deep wrinkles formed on Xianzhen’s forehead.
The Zhongnan Sect was massive, and according to his original disposition, he would have stepped back.
But...
‘How long will we keep retreating?’
It was time to move forward now.
“Is that the Zhongnan Sect’s position? Or your position, Qingyu-zi?”
The corners of Qingyu-zi’s mouth twisted.
“It’s the Zhongnan Sect’s position.”
“......”
When Qingyu-zi spoke while puffing out his chest, Xianzhen let out a big breath and then opened his mouth.
“......Unlike you, I alone cannot represent the Huashan Sect’s position.”
Qingyu-zi grinned.
“Then give up and...”
“However.”
Xianzhen’s two eyes blazed.
“If it does come to that, even alone I will stand against the Zhongnan Sect.”
“......!”
Qingyu-zi was genuinely surprised.
But that wasn’t the end.
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen came pouring out.
They soon lined up next to Xianzhen and spoke in powerful voices.
“I will follow as well.”
“Fourth martial uncle, me too.”
As they acted, the Zhongnan Sect’s daoists grew tense and went on alert when...
“What kind of behavior is this!”
A thunderous lion’s roar swept over.
At the lion’s roar that was loud enough to make their minds go blank, everyone regardless of Zhongnan or Huashan turned their heads with bewildered expressions.
At the origin of the lion’s roar was a man with a massive and thick build.
If not for the daoist robes he was wearing, he could have been mistaken for a bandit. He wore an expression like a fierce evil spirit.
“S-Senior brother!”
“Fourth senior!”
“Th-The Huashan Divine Sword?!”
He was the Huashan Divine Sword, Xiandao.