Chapter 3: Gilded Sky (3)

Cheon So-yak lay in bed for a full seven days.

Eunsong stayed by the unconscious girl’s side.

Though the girl’s internal energy cultivation method was different from his, fortunately, the foundation was the same.

A disciple of Mount Hua learns a single internal energy method—

Geonwon Cheongshim Method.

Together with the methods of Wudang and Shaolin, it was considered one of the purest and most noble internal cultivation techniques.

The Honhwa Technique also originated from Mount Hua long ago.

Though not identical, it was sufficient to examine the qi and blood flow of the unconscious Cheon Soyak.

“Geez, she’s been lying there for a long time.”

Inherited energy.

Four years without proper meditation or breathing exercises.

Releasing that pent-up energy all at once had caused a moment of crisis.

There was no way the qi and blood of this fragile, underfed, and stunted young body would remain unscathed.

“Well now, when this little lady wakes up, you’ll have to feed her hearty meat soup for at least a month.”

The physician clicked his tongue and looked at Eunsong.

Eunsong nodded.

“Fortunately, I have enough money for that.”

“She’ll wake up soon, so don’t worry.”

“Really?”

As if on cue, a faint groan escaped from Cheon Soyak’s small lips.

“Uh… Ahh… Uhh…”

Her eyelids fluttered open.

Her delicate brows furrowed.

Pressing her forehead as if in pain, she barely managed to sit up.

“Are you alright, Soyak?”

At the sound of her name spoken with warmth, her eyes widened in surprise.

When her gaze met Eunsong’s, she flinched and shrank back.

“Why are you reacting like that?”

“Ah, y-you… my lord… I had a bad dream…”

“What kind of dream?”

“The dream from that day. I have it often. It’s a regular occurrence.”

To call it ‘regular’ meant it happened frequently.

But if a child dreamt every night of her father being beheaded and her mother hanging herself…

“Have you ever not had that dream?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Try to find a way to stop it.”

Cheon Soyak pressed her lips tightly together.

Then she shook her head.

“No, my lord. I will not seek a way.”

“May I ask why?”

“If I stop having these dreams…”

Tears welled up in the girl’s eyes.

Her deep, dark pupils trembled.

Those cold, stone-like eyes—so unfitting for tears—

“I fear I will forget my father and mother’s faces.”

Eunsong silently patted her small back.

Cheon Soyak hesitated, then finally leaned into him and sobbed.

A child.

She might have inherited her father’s martial lineage, been born under the Heavenly Killing Star…

But she was still just a fourteen-year-old girl.

“I… don’t want to forget…”

“Alright. Cry as much as you need.”

She had survived day by day, barely eating.

Once a beloved only daughter of a prosperous martial clan, Now, she had lost everything in an instant.

Until now, she had never allowed herself to cry in front of anyone.

Only after shedding countless tears did Cheon Soyak finally stop.

Perhaps exhausted from crying, her frail shoulders rose and fell heavily.

Eunsong handed her a bowl of herbal medicine that he had requested from the physician.

“Drink this.”

“This is…”

“You need to regain your strength. It’s a decoction of deer antler.”

It was quite expensive.

Enough that it would strain the travel funds for his return to Mount Hua.

“Thank you, my lord.”

“Good. Have you learned light footwork techniques?”

“A little… I have.”

She looked unsure.

Even if she had learned it, it was from when she was ten, and she hadn’t trained properly for four years.

“I will teach you Amhyang-pyo. It consumes little internal energy, so your body won’t suffer.”

“My lord truly means to take me as his disciple, then.”

“You thought I was joking?”

Eunsong gently patted Cheon Soyak’s head.

When she closed her dark eyes, she could feel the warmth in his palm.

It had been a long time since she had felt such warmth.

“I will learn diligently, my lord.”

“Even now, you refuse to call me ‘Master’?”

“Mount Hua must officially accept me first, mustn’t they?”

A sharp remark.

No matter how much Eunsong declared her his disciple, If Mount Hua rejected her, it would mean nothing.

More importantly, her origins posed a problem.

“Well… they will accept you.”

“You sound quite confident, my lord.”

“The Grandmaster will take a liking to you.”

Jeonggang Elder.

Eunsong’s grandmaster and the senior martial brother of Mount Hua’s sect leader.

An old man who believed that not teaching a talented child was a sin.

That was Eunsong’s evaluation of him—

A rather extreme elder who had once suffered discrimination for being deemed ‘untalented.’

“If that’s the case, then I’m relieved.”

“Is your qi circulation stable now?”

“Yes. I am fine now.”

“After all the trouble I went through, you better be fine.”

Eunsong shrugged and got up.

Then, he broke half a tael of silver and handed it to the physician.

“That’s a bit much for medicine costs.”

“Take it. Before I change my mind.”

“If you insist, I won’t refuse.”

The old physician chuckled and stood up.

“I need to buy medicinal herbs. If you leave, make sure to close the door behind you.”

“I will.”

The old man waved and left the clinic.

“Now then, we should prepare to leave as well.”

“I don’t think we need any more preparations…”

“We do.”

Eunsong pulled a black martial uniform from his bundle and held it out.

Including shoes.

“Are you planning to travel all the way to Shaanxi in a maid’s outfit?”

The world was cruel enough to grant even the wicked great abilities.

The Heavenly Killing Star was proof of that.

Those born under its fate were naturally gifted in martial arts.

Not as sturdy or strong as the Heavenly Martial Physique, but—

“You learn quite fast.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

It didn’t sound like one.

In fact, it wasn’t.

It was a bitter sigh tinged with self-deprecation.

After an hour of teaching Amhyang-pyo,

Seeing her grasp its fundamentals and execute it smoothly…

‘I think it took me at least two months to reach that level.’

Even if Jeonggang Elder had called him untalented, Eunsong wasn’t entirely without skill.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been accepted at all.

Back in his prime, he had cut down his share of demon cultists.

He wasn’t the best, but he wasn’t at the bottom either.

If forced to choose between ‘talented’ and ‘not talented,’ he was on the talented side.

And yet, the gap between his ability and hers was immense.

More than the joy of a teacher seeing a gifted student, He felt the bitter sting of a fellow martial artist witnessing an overwhelming difference in talent.

‘At this level… it’s almost a problem how exceptional she is.’

Even he had potential to reach the highest ranks.

A Talent for Interpreting Martial Arts and Teaching Martial Skills

Without a doubt, the most outstanding individual in Mount Hua in this regard was Eunsong.

This was precisely why he had become the teacher of Cheongak, the greatest prodigy of Mount Hua. His keen eye for talent mirrored that of his own master—precise and discerning.

“Cheon soyak will surely create a great disturbance,” Eunsong thought.

Not just in Mount Hua, but throughout all of Zhongyuan. That talent… it was beyond mere genius.

It transcended human understanding and reached the realm of monsters. And humans, by instinct, feared monsters.

“How long until we reach Mount Hua, sir?”

Before he realized it, Cheon soyak had caught up with Eunsong and was walking beside him.

“At this pace… at least seven days.”

“That far, huh?”

“Zhongyuan is vast.”

“I see.”

Zhongyuan was vast.

But to Cheon soyak, those words carried more than just their literal meaning.

Somewhere, surely, there was a place for him as well. And Eunsong was right—after four grueling years, he had finally found a master willing to take him in.

“Indeed, Zhongyuan is vast.”

“A little further ahead, there’s a small village. We’ll stay there for the night and then move on.”

“Understood, sir.”

As Eunsong said, it wasn’t long before lights appeared in the distance. The sun was setting beyond the mountain ridges, and night was beginning to fall.

“There, you see it?”

But as they drew closer, they realized—those weren’t lights.

It was fire.

The village was engulfed in flames. Screams and shouts echoed from all directions.

Cheon soyak froze for a moment, her face turning pale at the sound of the anguished cries. But Eunsong did not.

“Get a hold of yourself!”

“Ah, yes…”

“Do you have any energy left?”

Cheon soyak nodded silently.

Eunsong pointed toward the hill behind the village.

“Go scout the area.”

“And you, sir…?”

“I will save the people.”

Cheon soyak didn’t fully understand, but she nodded.

In situations like this, the most important thing was to act quickly. Without hesitation, she leapt toward the hill behind the village.

It was a low hill, but it provided an excellent vantage point to see the entire village. Though the night was falling, the raging fire illuminated everything.

And then—she saw them.

Someone was watching from afar.

A familiar outfit.

“…Ah.”

A horrifying memory resurfaced. That uniform—she could never forget it. The ones who had beheaded her father wore those clothes.

They were the Tianxia Elite Corps.

A direct military unit under the Martial Alliance, they operated under the slogan: Bringing all under heaven under one rule. They were the ones who ruled over Zhongyuan.

“If they’re here, that means…”

This village had been condemned for blasphemy.

Which meant that anyone who helped the village would be guilty of the same crime.

Cheon soyak’s face went pale.

“…This is bad.”

Unless one had mastered an extreme ice technique, there was no clear way to counter this. Eunsong, too, had no particularly clever solution.

He did what he could—dousing himself in water from the village well and running into the burning houses to save the trapped villagers.

Who knew how much time had passed?

At some point, no more screams came from the burning homes. Though Eunsong’s clothes were scorched black, the fires had consumed all they could.

“What… what happened here?”

Eunsong approached the village elder, who was trembling with fear, his beard singed by the flames.

The old man bit his lips tightly, as if he had been threatened by something too terrifying to speak of.

“We… we were supposed to die… all of us…”

“What do you mean?”

“My… my son joined the Yeokcheonhoe…”

Yeokcheonhoe.

A group dedicated to overthrowing the Martial Alliance and slaying its leader.

A glint appeared in Eunsong’s eyes.

“You said… Yeokcheonhoe?”

“You’re… you’re not going to kill us too, are you…?”

“No. But you must pretend you don’t know me.”

However, things did not go so easily.

“Oh dear. I don’t intend to pretend I don’t know you.”

“That voice…”

Eunsong furrowed his brows.

It was a voice he could never forget.

“Nice to see you again, Eunsong.”

Slender eyes. He had grown since Eunsong last saw him, but there was no doubt—it was Ak Seowon, son of Ak Jupae, the leader of the Flaming Demon Sect.

He was wearing the uniform of the Tianxia Elite Corps.

Though he wasn’t a commander, he was clearly sent here on official orders.

Only now did Eunsong truly understand why the village had been burned down.

“…So you’re an enforcer of the blasphemy law.”

“I’m glad you understand. If you don’t want to die as a blasphemer yourself, I suggest you step aside.”

A cruel twist of fate.

Even if the sins of the father did not pass to the son, it was impossible to view the child of his lover’s murderer in a positive light.

“You’re twenty-three this year, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I see… It’s been five years since that day. And you’re still part of the Thirteenth Unit, I assume?”

“My father is the Grand Commander, after all.”

Eunsong bit his lip.

At thirty years old, he had reached the threshold of supreme martial prowess. He had nearly mastered Nine Heavens Plum Blossom Sword, the pinnacle technique of Mount Hua.

And all of this—was for vengeance.

But now, he could do nothing.

Ak Seowon was undoubtedly strong, at least at the peak level. While he had not yet stepped into the supreme realm, it would be impossible to defeat him without using Mount Hua’s sword techniques.

Yet, if he did, there would be evidence. Ak Jupae would surely come to Mount Hua, using the charge of blasphemy against him.

‘Not yet.’

At the very least, he had to reach the Flourishing Realm. He had to ensure Cheon soyak surpassed that realm as well.

The time to turn the world upside down… was not now.

Just then, a figure landed gently beside Eunsong.

Cheon soyak had arrived, gliding down with her Silent Fragrance Technique.