Chapter 15 - A Third-Rate Warrior Saving a Girl (2)

Bicheol Pavilion was the pavilion closest to the Sect Leader's quarters and the place where the Iron Sword Sect's most important guests stayed.

As such, its facilities were impressive, but above all, its security was formidable.

However, not a single one of the security warriors who should normally fill the area was stationed there.

That was because Zhuge Somyeong was currently using Bicheol Pavilion and personally examining the condition of a certain man, and since that man had shoved the Iron Sword Sect right into a cesspool, none of the warriors wanted to volunteer to stand guard at the pavilion.

"..."

Seong Moran was pacing in circles around that very Bicheol Pavilion, sighing for no reason.

It was not due to some grave reason like the deteriorating relationship between the Murim Alliance and the Iron Sword Sect.

It was because of the man whose condition Zhuge Somyeong was examining.

The man who had dealt such a severe blow to the Iron Sword Sect that even pouring oil all over it and setting it ablaze would not have inflicted this much damage.

"Haa..."

Seong Moran let out a sigh at her own incomprehensible emotional state.

She had felt a sense of kinship watching him relentlessly drive Seong Mohyeon into a corner.

His movements were not reliant on internal energy or martial moves, but were purely filled with adaptability born from sheer effort.

It was something that only Seong Moran, who had tirelessly strived to find a way to defeat Seong Mohyeon without relying on internal energy and martial moves, could recognize.

Furthermore.

["Pay the price!"]

["Pay the righteous price for this despicable act committed by you and your descendant!"]

His resolve as he spat blood and cried out for righteousness.

["In that case... I will exact the price in blood."]

The conviction and will to risk death even knowing he was no match for his opponent.

Even though her grandfather, father, brother, and the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect had all been thrust into a difficult situation, Seong Moran could not take her eyes off the sight of Jin Sowoon glaring fiercely as he coughed up blood.

'How on earth is that man...'

He was the image of an enemy, yet her heart pounded violently just looking at him.

At the same time, her chest ached with a deep, poignant sting.

And the moment he finally proved his righteousness and collapsed in a faint.

Seong Moran had to stop herself when she unwittingly started running toward Jin Sowoon.

"Phew."

What was she supposed to do... they were no longer in a position where she could approach him out of mere curiosity.

That was even more true now that they had become enemies.

Even knowing that, she herself did not know why she was still lingering here.

'Ah, I shouldn't be like this.'

Just as Seong Moran gritted her teeth and tried to leave, a clattering sound rang out.

Through the opened door, a pale-looking Jin Sowoon emerged into the courtyard holding the Ninefold Sword.

Seong Moran forced her gaze away, trying her best not to make eye contact with him.

"..."

STEP. STEP. STEP.

But to her surprise, he walked right past her as if she didn't exist.

Her heart, which had barely calmed down, started racing violently once again.

"Y-You were too reckless."

She instantly thought, 'Oops!', but the words had already slipped out before she realized it.

At Jin Sowoon's cold gaze as he turned to look at her, Seong Moran felt her chest sting even more.

"About what?"

"The sparring match... why did you go so far?"

"... Are you saying I should have just obediently accepted the miserable humiliation?"

"No... what I mean is..."

Words entirely different from her true feelings tumbled out unbidden.

But since she didn't even know what she wanted to say yet, she was merely blurting them out.

As Jin Sowoon took a step closer, Seong Moran subconsciously took a step back.

"Were your thoughts right?"

"... Pardon?"

"I asked if your belief was correct. My father was forced to his knees, and even while coughing up blood, I couldn't endure the humiliation and challenged your grandfather to a life-or-death battle. Can you still proudly claim that your sect isn't such a despicable entity?"

"..."

Seong Moran gently bit her lower lip.

She had nothing to say.

Would the excuse that she didn't know, or the claim that it had nothing to do with her, truly absolve her in this moment? Would it heal that man's wounds? Such agonizing thoughts swirled continuously in her mind.

"... I am sorry."

They had inflicted the exact same humiliation on his father twenty years ago, and repeated it once again after twenty years.

Conversely, if she were in his shoes and had suffered the exact same thing, would she be able to forgive them? Would she be able to just let it go?

It seemed impossible.

"I understand. You may raise your head now."

"Pardon?"

Seong Moran asked back, wondering if she had misheard.

Really? This easily?

He was accepting her apology so readily that it actually made Seong Moran, the one who apologized, feel ashamed?

"Lady Seong is the first and last person from the Iron Sword Sect to apologize to me. There probably won't be another instance of this in the future."

"... Is it really enough that it's just me?"

"We can't keep continuing this chain of misfortune forever, can we?"

"What does that...?"

"If Lady Seong feels sorry about what happened today, if you feel even a fingernail's worth of guilt, please change the Iron Sword Sect so that it doesn't remain the kind of sect it is now in the future. If you do that, wouldn't there come a day when the Taiyi Sect and the Iron Sword Sect might actually cooperate with each other?"

Seong Moran felt an indescribable surge of emotion welling up inside her.

Right. He was this kind of person.

Jin Sowoon was this kind of person.

Both her brother and her grandfather had blown things out of proportion all because they couldn't utter a single word of apology.

Her already immense sense of guilt multiplied with anguish and gratitude, bursting forth.

"... I am truly sorry."

"Tears do not suit a warrior."

Relieved inwardly by his gentle tone, Seong Moran wiped away her tears.

"Is your body alright?"

"Because the tangled qi and blood from suffering the energy recoil haven't settled, it seems I'll need to recuperate for a while."

"..."

"Please don't worry too much. The Taiyi Sect's mental cultivation method is pure, so I should be fine after resting for about a year."

"... O-One year?"

"Yes. I won't be able to take the Murim Academy exam properly, but it's not like my life will fall into the gutter just because I didn't graduate from the Murim Academy, right? Haha."

How precious was a year's time to a warrior who had not yet reached the age of twenty?

Perhaps after a year had passed, let alone comparing him to the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect, a glaring gap would form between Jin Sowoon and even the warriors of his own Taiyi Sect.

Yet despite this, he showed neither resentment nor anger at her single apology.

To him, such hardships and trials were nothing.

No, because there had already been far too immense hardships and trials in his life, he could remain indifferent even to the struggles that befell him now.

The dilemma Seong Moran had agonized over while waiting for Jin Sowoon in the courtyard.

Should she give it to him, or shouldn't she?

She finally put an end to that debate.

No, after his words, such hesitation was no longer necessary.

Something she had only managed to receive because she was a direct descendant of the Ghost Sword Hermit.

Something that even she hadn't been able to consume yet for that reason.

She brought it out.

"What is this?"

"No matter what, I am also a person of the Iron Sword Sect. This small thing won't resolve everything, but please accept it as a token of my sincerity. Of course, I don't believe this compensates for our Iron Sword Sect's actions. However, I am giving this to you with the hope that, just as you said, the Taiyi Sect and the Iron Sword Sect can have a good relationship in the future."

Jin Sowoon looked at the wooden box for a moment before slowly accepting it.

"The burden on Lady Seong, who shoulders the Iron Sword Sect, will likely be far heavier than the Taiyi Sect's. Still, I will accept your heartfelt gesture."

Why was she a child of the Iron Sword Sect, and why was that man a person of the Taiyi Sect?

Seong Moran felt sorrow over the tragedy of her own birth, a sentiment she hadn't even felt regarding the existence of Seong Mohyeon.

"I hope we can meet with a smile next time."

At Seong Moran's trembling voice, Jin Sowoon finally offered a smile.

"I hope for that as well."

* * *

On the third day, we departed from the Iron Sword Sect.

Unsurprisingly, there was no one to see us off.

Instead of me, Kang Chaeseok tightly wrapped the Ninefold Sword in cloth, slept hugging it in his arms all night, and didn't let it leave his body even during the day-long journey back to the Taiyi Sect.

"Still, isn't taking it all the way into the latrine a bit much?"

"What are the odds of having it snatched in the latrine?"

"Don't you know? Isn't the latrine ranked second among the locations where assassins have attempted assassinations throughout history? When you're clenching your asshole, even one of the top ten experts in the world has no choice but to let their guard down, right?"

"..."

By persuading him like that, I barely managed to make him leave the Ninefold Sword behind when he went to the latrine.

Meanwhile, the rumors had reached the Taiyi Sect before us, but even within the Taiyi Sect, not a single person believed them.

Since it wasn't a far distance anyway, sending a messenger back and forth to exchange news would have been a loss, and moreover, because the rumor was so utterly unbelievable, they were deliberately pretending not to have heard it.

However, when they realized that the item Kang Chaeseok had brought in, hugging it tightly like a lover, was the Ninefold Sword, the elders and Hall Leaders gathered in the Grand Sage Hall embraced one another and shed tears of joy.

For the Taiyi Sect, which had walked a history of nothing but humiliation and grief ever since the Iron Sword Sect appeared, it was the moment they released one hundred and fifty years of accumulated sorrow, so not only the elders but even the young junior martial brothers of Busaeng Hall hugged each other and screamed in joy.

There was no way to just let such a good day pass by normally.

The elders flocked to the External Hall in unison, clamoring that they had to throw a feast, but my father, whose stubbornness was no less stiff than a rusted padlock, voiced his opinion that they should substitute it with a simple dinner due to a lack of budget.

"How can we do that? It's the Ninefold Sword that our Taiyi Sect disciple, Jin Sowoon, risked his life to take back."

Even Sect Leader Hong Mungi stepped up to speak to External Hall Leader Jin Taesan, but he remained utterly stubborn.

"I also risked my life, and the Hall Leader of Kwaehwa Hall risked his life as well. Are you not worried that the kids' side dishes will become miserable for the next half-year just because of throwing one feast?"

"Isn't this an extraordinary occasion? Sowoon defended the Taiyi Sect's honor."

"I am well aware. So let's just finish this with a simple dinner."

"... Then I'll put forward my personal funds."

At Jin Taesan's display of blocking the feast like Zhang Fei at Changban Bridge, Hong Mungi eventually emptied his personal emergency stash, and seeing Hong Mungi do so, the elders and Hall Leaders also chipped in their own pocket money to cover the cost of the feast.

"Father, we aren't struggling that badly, are we?"

When I asked while recalling the ledger I constantly reviewed for calculations, my father laughed triumphantly.

"Thanks to that, I managed to clean out the Sect Leader and elders' emergency stashes, didn't I? How dare they try to use public funds just to eat and play."

"..."

As the news of the impending feast spread all the way to the Gyeryong Merchant Group, Gye Yeonseok frantically wagged his tail, declaring he would personally sponsor two cows, five pigs, and ten jars of alcohol.

This time, his signature obnoxious arrogance and haughtiness had completely vanished, because Gye Cheolyeong had made himself completely scarce at the moment the figures of the Taiyi Sect had to engage in a life-or-death confrontation at the Iron Sword Sect, leaving him utterly humiliated and unable to show his face.

Through this event, it was decided that out of the three Iron Heart Pills obtained from the Iron Sword Sect, Saryeon and I would receive two, and the remaining pill would be gifted to a disciple who achieved high accomplishments later on.

In a desperate bid to recover his face somehow, Gye Yeonseok met privately with the Sect Leader and offered to give him three guest houses if he gave one Iron Heart Pill to Gye Cheolyeong, but Hong Mungi deadpanned and reportedly laid down an ultimatum that if he spouted that kind of nonsense one more time, he would kick Gye Cheolyeong out of the Taiyi Sect.

"He's crazy, simply crazy. Just how much does that Iron Heart Pill cost anyway?"

"Still, thanks to that, the junior martial brothers of Busaeng Hall are working harder."

"You little brat. Three guest houses in Hefei would bring in enough money to buy five Iron Heart Pills a year! With things like this, how could my insides not burst!"

"If you're going to grumble like that, you should at least wipe the smile off your face."

"What did you say, punk!"

"I'm heading out."

"Where are you going again?"

"I'm sick of hearing you go on and on about money, Father, so I'm going out to make some."

"You little bastard! What kind of money can you make!"

"I'll be back."

The time had finally come to clear the Gyeryong Merchant Group out of the Taiyi Sect.