"Huff, huff."
Tianhui, who was circulating his qi by the stone wall, frowned as he looked at Shenyi, whose exhaustion from climbing the mountain path was clearly evident.
"How did you know I was here?"
"The Medicine Hall Master told me."
"The Medicine Hall Master?"
Tianhui's face contorted violently.
'He's completely useless.'
Right about when Tianhui was dropping his evaluation of the Medicine Hall Master to rock bottom.
"Haa, haa."
Shenyi, who was slowly catching his breath, looked at Tianhui and spoke with emphasis.
"It is a great loss that you do not learn medicine."
Although Shenyi spoke with a serious expression.
"Losses happen sometimes."
Tianhui waved his hand and said.
That wasn't the first or second time he'd heard that.
He had heard it so many times that he had lost count, and now he was sick and tired of it.
Despite the refusal, Shenyi clung to him again and blurted out.
"Even the Sect Leader was convinced, wasn't he?"
That was exactly the problem.
Tianhui narrowed his brows.
He thought the Sect Leader would refuse, but whatever he heard, he was actually urging him to learn medicine.
"Ah, yeah, yeah. I got it."
At the positive answer, Shenyi reacted.
"Then which one..."
"I'll learn it when I have time."
"...What?"
Tianhui said as he uncrossed his legs.
"I have to practice martial arts today."
"T-Then when will you finish?"
"Who knows."
Shenyi was slightly flustered.
"Then how about learning just for a moment before you practice martial arts?"
"I need to circulate my qi first."
Just as Shenyi was flustered by the completely unexpected method of refusal.
"Elder."
Lord Xiaoxi and her party approached.
Why are they here again?
Luoyan Peak was generally a peak where the elders of the Huashan Sect stayed.
So only VIP guests visited.
'Anyone and everyone comes here.'
At that moment, Lord Xiaoxi caught her breath.
Perhaps because she had climbed quite a high peak.
She swept back her sweat-soaked hair once, tied it back up, and slowly approached Shenyi.
"Elder."
"I said I'm not going."
Tianhui stared at Shenyi with an expression of disbelief.
It was just like himself and Shenyi a moment ago.
"Hmm?"
Then he suddenly stroked his chin.
Faced with Lord Xiaoxi's persistent verbal offensive, Shenyi was unable to move.
"Wouldn't it work to put those two together?"
When he thought it was a perfect method.
"Put what together?"
Suddenly, a voice came from below.
Lowering his head, a young girl was looking up at him with sparkling eyes.
"Ah!"
Soon she looked behind and said.
"Weizhen! It's that person from back then!"
Weizhen hurriedly ran over and bowed his head respectfully.
"I apologize. The child is still young and doesn't know her manners well."
"Young?"
Tianhui chuckled.
'Young and lacking manners, my ass.'
He didn't believe his words at all.
The girl currently looked about fourteen or fifteen, but the martial arts she had displayed back then were anything but ordinary.
'They probably just didn't teach her etiquette.'
What she had used was the martial arts of the Heisha Courtyard.
The dirty work of the Imperial Family.
The Heisha Courtyard was a place that raised abandoned women to perform espionage and assassination, mainly using the honey trap.
Because of that, at such a young age, they focused their education on martial arts rather than etiquette.
'And if it's that martial art...'
He recalled the martial arts the girl had displayed.
The unique martial arts executed with silver threads.
'Because it's an ultimate technique only learned by the Master of the Heisha Courtyard.'
Tianhui scrutinized Xiaoling closely.
'Hmm, then is this girl the one to become the new Master of the Heisha Courtyard? She certainly has the skill, but it's incomplete.'
At that moment, he made eye contact with Xiaoling.
"Huh? Why?"
Xiaoling, who had lifted her head feeling his gaze, smiled innocently.
"Nothing."
Tianhui immediately cut off the conversation.
Since ancient times, there had never been a single good thing about getting involved with the Imperial Family.
'They were arrogant bastards drunk on their own prestige.'
Just thinking about it made him sick and tired.
'Because they threw such a huge fit when I didn't submit to them.'
He recalled the past.
Once, feeling threatened by the Murim, the Imperial Family sought to borrow the power of Beyond the Wall to reduce their numbers.
And the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult refused.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was a cult that served its Cult Lord.
Serving the Emperor of the Central Plains was an absurdity.
However, the other sects Beyond the Wall were not like the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
They wanted to conquer the Central Plains.
Even if it meant going under the Imperial Family.
'But why did they attack our Cult?'
He shook his head.
He guessed that the existence of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult must have been an eyesore, but he couldn't say for sure.
'Well, because of that, we showed our Cult's power and managed to live peacefully.'
Those were the days when he became the Cult Lord of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and spread his infamy.
He had completely shattered the alliance of sects Beyond the Wall that attacked after being seduced by the Imperial Family, forcing them to close their doors.
The title he gained back then: Absolute Heavenly Demon.
He came to be called the absolute ruler of the Nine Provinces and Eight Emperors, not only Beyond the Wall but also in the Central Plains.
'But I suffered again because of that.'
The Imperial Family, perhaps unwilling to admit they had lost, persistently harassed him.
Not openly, but secretly.
'They even cut off trade with the merchant guilds, making me suffer quite a bit at one point.'
Just thinking about it made him flare up with anger.
Enough. Let it go.
He calmed his anger.
He was no longer the Cult Lord of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Now he had nothing to do with the Imperial Family.
"But, Young Hero... no, Young Daoist, I didn't know you were a Daoist of the Huashan Sect."
Weizhen said with a smile.
Looking at him asking as if he wanted to build rapport, Tianhui spoke low.
"I wasn't wearing Daoist robes back then."
"No, that's not what I meant..."
Weizhen trailed off as he was about to speak.
Then, looking around, he moved closer to Tianhui and whispered in his ear.
"The fact that you ate meat and drank alcohol..."
"Let's bury that."
"Pardon?"
"Let's pretend it never happened."
Tianhui said confidently.
"Didn't you say you'd repay the favor last time?"
"That is true, but..."
"So let's just pretend it never happened."
"...."
Weizhen's jaw dropped.
He thought there would be some circumstance or excuse, but it was nothing like that.
He was confidently telling him to cover it up.
"Hahaha!"
At the candid attitude, which was hard to see in the Imperial Family, Weizhen burst into a hearty laugh.
"I understand."
"Ah! And please keep your mouth shut."
Tianhui's gaze turned to Xiaoling.
Weizhen, catching the meaning of that gaze, nodded greatly.
"Don't worry."
Weizhen withdrew with those final words.
Meanwhile, just as he was about to return to his hut.
"Where are you going?"
Shenyi clung to him.
Lord Xiaoxi followed him as well.
"I beg of you."
"Enough. This is more important than that."
Shenyi said without even glancing at Lord Xiaoxi, attaching himself to Tianhui.
"I'll teach you from the easy ones. It'll only take a very brief moment of your time."
Seeing Shenyi speaking so earnestly to Tianhui, Lord Xiaoxi's eyes narrowed.
'Why is she looking at me?'
The moment Tianhui saw her piercing gaze, looking as if she was thinking deeply.
"Elder!"
The Medicine Hall Master ran over, waving his hand.
"Didn't you say you'd help the Medicine Hall today?"
The bridge of Shenyi's nose twitched.
"Is it already time?"
"Everyone is waiting right now."
Shenyi pressed his forehead.
At the same time, he looked at Tianhui and said.
"If you want to learn, come to the Medicine Hall."
"Yes."
Tianhui, finding even replying bothersome, answered roughly and then stared intently at the Medicine Hall Master.
"Senior Brother."
"Why are you calling me?"
"Did you tell him where I stay?"
Looking into Tianhui's dry eyes, the Medicine Hall Master broke into a cold sweat.
"He said he'd help with the Medicine Hall's work if I told him where my Junior Brother stays..."
Tianhui watched him avert his eyes, knowing his mistake, then dropped it.
"I'm going to tell the Sect Leader."
"...Junior Brother. Cut me some slack this once."
"Go tell the Sect Leader."
"J-Junior Brother!"
The Medicine Hall Master spoke earnestly, but Tianhui ignored him and moved his feet toward his quarters.
While descending the mountain path like that.
He stopped in his tracks.
Tianhui stopped walking.
Lord Xiaoxi and her party had been constantly following him since earlier.
"Do you have business with me?"
"Could we talk for a moment?"
Lord Xiaoxi said, looking at Tianhui.
"I don't really have anything to talk about."
"Are you perhaps interested in Qinghai City?"
Tianhui chuckled.
Trying to seduce me?
He grasped her purpose immediately.
Since she failed to seduce Shenyi, it was obvious she was trying to draw in his target of interest—Tianhui himself—to take him along.
"No."
Despite his refusal, Lord Xiaoxi was not swayed at all.
"If you come to Qinghai City, you can enjoy all kinds of delicacies from the mountains and seas, as well as fine wine."
Oh, delicacies from the mountains and seas and fine wine?
He was slightly shaken for a moment.
But.
'That's not enough to make me go.'
With just that, he had absolutely no desire to go to Qinghai City, which was associated with the Imperial Family.
"I'm a Daoist, you know?"
At the blatant lie spit out without even batting an eye, Lord Xiaoxi was flustered.
"But back then..."
"Pardon? Me?"
Tianhui said nonchalantly.
"When have we ever met?"
Lord Xiaoxi fell silent.
If she said they had met here, it would contradict the words she had just spit out.
As a member of the Imperial Family, that would be a great disgrace.
'I'll have to find another way.'
She had no choice but to back down.
"...I understand. Let's go for today."
With those words, she left with her party.
"Tsk."
Tianhui clicked his tongue and narrowed his brows as he watched them walk away.
"Another annoying leech appeared."
* * *
A short while later, when Tianhui returned to his quarters, someone was waiting to greet him inside.
"You've returned safely."
It was Xuanqing.
"...It's been a while."
I was just about to rest.
"What is it?"
Tianhui looked at Xuanqing, who was looking down at him with sunken eyes, and flopped down.
"You didn't come just to check on me."
"Haha, you noticed after all."
Xuanqing smiled bitterly.
"I came because I want to receive your help."
"Help?"
Xuanqing beat around the bush.
"Could you help with the disciples' training?"
"Pardon? Training?"
He was slightly flustered by the unexpected words.
"I heard the Martial Training Pavilion Master received your help."
Help?
"A unique external qi technique..."
"Ah! The Variant Qi Gong?"
"Yes, that one."
"You want me to teach it?"
"No, rather than the Variant Qi Gong, I want to receive help with teaching. It's my first time teaching disciples, so I'm having some difficulties. If you have the time, could you help me?"
Teaching, huh.
Normally, he would have ignored those words, but today, his heart leaned slightly toward it.
'If it's the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, I've roughly grasped their skills, but what about the other disciples?'
Tianhui's established goal: the Number One Sect Under Heaven.
To achieve that goal, the disciples' skills were essential.
'Should I figure out how good they are?'
After pondering for a moment, he nodded.
"Let's go."