Chapter 219: Omen. (6)

After parting ways with Gu Jyeol-yeop and Elder Lee.

I immediately took Wi Seol-ah and went out to Hyeon.

It was because staying in the Sega felt inexplicably stuffy.

‘The Head Steward’s gaze was a bit bothersome. But it should be fine.’

Since I was scheduled for closed-door training, I thought leaving the Sega wouldn’t be permitted.

Contrary to my expectations, permission was granted smoothly, so I couldn’t help but be surprised.

I thought they’d tell me not to go and had prepared other methods, but they became meaningless.

“Young Master-nim! Over there, over there!”

“Wait… No, ease up on the strength in your arm!”

Almost dragged along, I was grabbed by Wi Seol-ah and wandered around Hyeon.

Maybe it’s because we came out together after a long time.

Wi Seol-ah was so excited, she dragged me around like an angry bull.

Originally, Mu-yeon should have come too, but he said he had laid the foundation for his enlightenment now.

He even ordered me not to follow, saying it was fine just wandering around Hyeon, so I left him behind.

‘I don’t need protection right now.’

Besides, if Mu-yeon has achieved enlightenment.

That was more important.

“Chicken skewers!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Even though we came out to Hyeon, in the end, all we did was indulge in food.

…As always.

‘What are the others doing?’

Before leaving, I looked for Namgung Bi-ah and Tang Soyeol, but.

Namgung Bi-ah was, as always, absent for training.

Tang Soyeol was apparently busy and had gone out.

‘Come to think of it, isn’t Tang Soyeol supposed to go back?’

Namgung Bi-ah was practically staying in the Gu family’s residence.

Tang Soyeol should have returned to Sichuan since the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering had ended.

‘…I heard she’s been receiving quite a few letters.’

The letters sent to Tang Soyeol from the Tang family had piled up considerably.

Of course, Tang Soyeol seemed to be ignoring them.

While being dragged around by Wi Seol-ah, I glanced at an alleyway in the middle.

It was the alley leading to Hao Mun.

‘I do need to go there.’

It had been a while, and I needed to visit regarding the Sect Leader, but.

The current situation wasn’t exactly favorable.

So for now, wandering around with Wi Seol-ah seemed better.

[Slacking off even from training, are we?]

‘I’ll get sick of it whether I want to or not soon enough, so I’m slacking off for just one day.’

[Aren’t you just brilliant.]

‘Thank you for the compliment.’

I casually let the Old Man-nim’s words go in one ear.

As always.

“The dumpling shop is closed…”

“Young Master-nim… you look the saddest you’ve looked recently.”

“This is a real crisis, you know?”

“The dumpling shop being closed?”

“Yeah, it’s the same as your favorite chicken skewer shop being closed.”

At my words, Wi Seol-ah wore an expression of shock.

“Th-that is a real crisis… It’s delicious there.”

“Yeah, that’s how I feel.”

“…That’s incredibly sad.”

“Right?”

The dumpling shop I often bought from was closed.

This was quite a shocking event among the things I’d experienced since regressing.

[Just a dumpling shop…?]

‘A Taoist who only eats grass wouldn’t understand.’

[Look at this rotten brat? We eat meat on Mount Hua too.]

‘Taoists eat meat…? As expected, you weren’t a proper Taoist sect.’

[You…!]

I vented my frustration on the Old Man-nim as if taking it out on him.

The Old Man-nim shouted piercingly, but it was like a familiar background noise now.

‘Then there won’t be anything specific to buy on the way back.’

I always bought snacks whenever I went back inside.

I couldn’t do that this time.

Because there were no dumplings.

“I guess I can’t buy anything this time…”

As I tried to speak while looking at Wi Seol-ah, she was looking somewhere else.

I looked closer, wondering what she was looking at.

“Huh? What did you say, Young Master-nim?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Where should we go next!”

Wi Seol-ah came running up, grabbed my arm, and started dragging me again.

At that moment, however briefly, I took in the place Wi Seol-ah had been looking at.

“…Hey, what’s the point of asking if you’re just going to drag me along?”

“Heehee!”

“Look at her brushing it off with a laugh?”

Wi Seol-ah’s teasing actions made me laugh out loud without realizing it.

---

By the time we returned to the Sega, night had already fallen.

Immediately after returning, I was summoned by the Head Steward and informed about my upcoming schedule.

The closed-door training would be in about four days.

They said they’d put me in the Gu family’s Hwarun-dong; that part was fine.

‘I needed to sort things out anyway.’

The various energies in my body, the middle dantian opened through reaching peaks, and so on.

I planned to sort out those aspects during this closed-door training.

Although I had gained them, if I was going to do it, I should make good use of them.

While I was in closed-door training, they would finalize the arrangements, draft me into the Sword Brigade, and send me to the front lines for a year.

The person in charge of the front lines, Gu Huibi, the commander of the Five Sword Brigade, was currently bedridden.

When I asked what would happen if she didn’t recover.

They said if not Gu Huibi, then the deputy commander of the First Sword Brigade would drag me along.

‘…So they’re saying they won’t give me any loopholes to escape.’

It seemed I had to go to the front lines one way or another.

‘This sucks.’

It wasn’t that I feared the front lines now.

Or that I feared Gu Huibi’s harsh training.

‘…Though the latter is a bit scary.’

My previous life being pushed around by Gu Huibi was barely at a third-rate level, let alone first-rate.

It was only because my body was weak from not training at all.

At least now, I wasn’t in a state to be exhausted by such things.

‘It’s just that my instincts reject being under Gu Huibi.’

It felt like an instinct ingrained in my body from days past.

‘A year…’

One year on the front lines.

This meant a significant amount of time would pass, so I needed to figure out what to do moving forward.

‘Things concerning the Heavenly Demon. Things concerning the Black Night Palace.’

And I couldn’t afford to miss any other unfolding situations.

And yet, I had to waste a whole year in this interval.

‘Should I really run away from home?’

That seemed like the best option.

I had intended to leave the Sega eventually anyway.

But.

“Tsk…”

I couldn’t leave right now.

Because there were things I definitely needed to do inside first.

‘My life is just like that.’

It would be strange for a life where nothing ever went right to suddenly start going smoothly.

Tuk.

I carefully moved my body, letting my internal energy flow around me.

For this, I waited until the darkness was at its deepest.

‘First escaping my own home, and now I have to sneak back in.’

My actions were ridiculously elaborate.

The place I carefully snuck into was none other than Gu Huibi’s residence.

Members of the Five Sword Brigade were guarding the surroundings.

Only Gu family blood relatives and divine physicians could enter and exit.

Yet, I had to sneak into Gu Huibi’s residence.

This was to purify the demonic energy bound to Gu Huibi.

Although, as a blood relative, I could have entered openly during the day.

I didn’t want to reveal my ability to purify demonic energy.

‘The divine physicians probably know.’

The divine physicians themselves didn’t know for sure about the demonic energy.

Although the Black Night Palace Lord’s internal energy was said to be similar to a demon’s demonic energy.

It was of a different quality than the ‘demonic energy’ possessed by the Sword Empress, so they wouldn’t notice properly.

Therefore, I wanted to handle this discreetly.

‘Just in time, I needed to gather demonic energy before entering closed-door training. Is this good?’

Since there were two months of closed-door training.

It was a situation where I needed to infuse my body with demonic energy so that the energies within wouldn’t run wild again.

Coincidentally, Gu Huibi was poisoned by demonic energy, so if anything, it was a favorable situation.

‘…So far, so good.’

Fortunately, I succeeded in entering Gu Huibi’s room.

Gu Huibi was sleeping soundly in her bed, as if dead.

Judging by her breathing, she was fast asleep.

Because her body was weakened by demonic energy, and she couldn’t use her internal energy.

She couldn’t sense me even as I approached.

‘Just in case, maybe I should keep her asleep longer.’

It would be troublesome if she woke up midway, so I pressed her pressure points once more to deepen her sleep.

‘Huh?’

Was it a mistake?

As I checked her pulse, it felt like Gu Huibi wasn’t actually asleep.

‘It must be my imagination. If she weren’t asleep, she would have noticed and immediately thrown a tantrum.’

Surely Gu Huibi wouldn’t pretend to be asleep.

I dismissed it as a nonsensical thought and immediately erased it from my mind.

I reached my hand towards where Gu Huibi’s dantian was located.

‘The amount is less than I expected.’

Unlike the demonic energy that had overwhelmed the Sword Empress’s body, it was a much smaller amount.

Considering that even this amount was enough to overwhelm the body of a martial artist like Gu Huibi.

I could see how potent demonic energy was.

‘Come to think of it, where did the Sword Empress go?’

I suddenly wondered about the whereabouts of the Sword Empress, who had moved with me to confirm Gu Huibi’s status and rescue her.

According to Gu Ling-hwa, she’s been receiving letters steadily.

‘She suddenly went to Henan, didn’t she?’

As soon as she heard the news that Gu Huibi had been found and rescued properly.

Instead of returning, I heard she headed to Henan.

‘I heard she regained some health, but she’s already traveling all over the country.’

Perhaps because of that, Gu Ling-hwa’s stay at the Sega was getting longer and longer.

Maybe she was getting caught up in the Plum Blossom Line’s affairs too.

‘Thanks to that, she seems to have gotten closer to Zhuge Hyuk.’

Kkudeuk.

Recently, a physician from the Medical Department told me they’ve been seen together often.

Though, what could possibly come of kids sticking together?

‘That’s how trouble starts.’

It seemed like I’d need to have a proper talk with Zhuge Hyuk soon.

Uung.

I stabilized my body and activated the Demonic Path Absorption technique.

Immediately, the demonic energy blocking Gu Huibi’s dantian began to be sucked into my palm.

‘Is this the power of the Heavenly Demon?’

I had merely thought it was a demonic art I received.

Upon realizing that the Demonic Path Absorption technique, which had changed in this life, was actually one of the Heavenly Demon’s complete powers.

My perspective on it shifted slightly.

‘A power that interferes even with others’ energy.’

Even if it wasn’t internal energy, a power that allows one to envelop their body without conflict, calling it special energy.

It truly is a fearsome power.

It didn’t take much time to absorb all of Gu Huibi’s demonic energy.

It was only with the demonic energy the Sword Empress possessed that I endured the pain through the night.

‘The Palace Lord’s demonic energy isn’t small in quantity, but this much…’

That’s why I’m even more curious.

Where on earth did the Sword Empress get poisoned by that much demonic energy?

‘…The Heavenly Demon?’

However, there were many suspicious aspects to that conclusion.

And there were also many lacking points to make a definitive judgment.

I considered the probability of it happening elsewhere to be higher.

‘If so, then?’

For a moment, scenes I encountered in the Demonic Mirror during my past life flashed through my mind.

But I quickly erased them. Because I didn’t think it was possible.

After absorbing all the demonic energy from Gu Huibi’s body.

I quickly got up.

Gu Huibi would wake up around sunrise.

So I had to get out before then.

Before leaving, I looked at Gu Huibi and thought.

‘If I hadn’t saved her, I wouldn’t have had to suffer on the front lines.’

If I hadn’t purified the demonic energy.

Gu Huibi probably wouldn’t have gone to the front lines, and I would have gone with the deputy commander as planned.

While that might have been mentally easier.

‘I couldn’t do that.’

Even though she was a damned relative, I couldn’t do that to Gu Huibi.

Because no matter how bad-tempered she was, she was still my sister.

‘Thinking about it this way, I should probably go see Gu Yeonseo too.’

Gu Yeonseo, the second daughter and my younger sister in the Gu family.

I hadn’t properly seen Gu Yeonseo since the Nine Dragons Gathering.

I had run into her from a distance a few times, but Gu Yeonseo actively avoided me, so we never exchanged words.

‘I need to go smooth things over sometime.’

Because we couldn’t continue like this forever.

I glanced at Gu Huibi, peacefully asleep, then turned my back and promptly left the residence.

Sneaking in had been difficult.

But sneaking out was relatively easy.

Keeping my presence completely suppressed, I quickly returned to my own quarters.

Now, if I just got into bed quickly, it would have been a perfect plan.

“Hmm…?”

Someone was sitting on the porch in front of my room.

In the middle of the night, no less.

I checked who it was and immediately spoke to them.

Because it was strange for someone to be sitting there at this hour.

“What are you doing sitting there?”

The person sitting on the porch, gazing at the moonlight, was none other than Wi Seol-ah.

“Why aren’t you sleeping…”

As I started to speak, I paused for a moment.

Was it because of the moonlight?

Wi Seol-ah’s eyes, as she turned her head towards me, somehow seemed golden for an instant.

Of course, perhaps it was just a fleeting illusion.

When I looked again, her eyes were their usual black.

‘Am I really tired?’

Maybe it was because I hadn’t rested properly; I kept seeing things.

“You should be sleeping at this hour. What are you doing sitting there?”

“What about you, Young Master-nim?”

“Me? I had some business to attend to.”

“I do too… I have business.”

“What business?”

“Looking at the sun.”

“Where is the sun rising in the middle of this night?”

It was a night with a crescent moon shining brightly all around.

There was no way the sun could be visible in this dark night.

As I asked what nonsense she was talking about.

Wi Seol-ah smiled slightly and replied to me.

“It’ll rise tomorrow, won’t it?”

“Then you should see it tomorrow. Why are you looking now?”

“I suppose so.”

What is she talking about?

Is she very tired too?

Because we wandered around Hyeon so much today, Wi Seol-ah also seemed out of her mind.

“Play enough and go to sleep. Otherwise, you’ll get scolded by Old Man Wi tomorrow.”

“…Umm, I don’t really like that.”

“You’ll get scolded by Hong Wa too.”

“Ugh, I really don’t like that…!”

At my words, Wi Seol-ah made a disgusted face and quickly got up.

She seemed ready to go back to her room and sleep immediately.

Seeing that, I stopped Wi Seol-ah.

“Wait a moment.”

“Yes?”

Wi Seol-ah looked at me, asking what was wrong.

I placed an item I had kept in my pocket into Wi Seol-ah’s hand.

“Huh…?”

Seeing the item in her hand, Wi Seol-ah’s eyes snapped open.

Wi Seol-ah’s already large eyes widened even further, making it look surprisingly large.

“This…?”

“I saw you looking at it earlier, so I thought you might need it.”

“Oh, no… it’s not like that…”

“If not, then whatever. I already bought it, so use it.”

What I gave her was something like an ornament that attaches to a sword hilt.

It was also what Wi Seol-ah had been staring intently at, albeit briefly, in Hyeon.

Normally, swordsmen would find it cumbersome and wouldn’t attach it.

But for Wi Seol-ah, it should be fine.

“Whether it’s a sword or whatever, if you’re going to do it, do it diligently. But if you get tired of it, you can quit.”

“…”

If she had ultimately decided to take up the sword.

I wanted to dissuade her, but perhaps it was necessary for the future.

Enough to protect herself.

Having at least that much would likely help Wi Seol-ah maintain a peaceful life.

Looking at Wi Seol-ah’s wide eyes, I said.

“I’m going to sleep. You should hurry back and sleep too.”

After roughly ruffling her hair, I went into my room.

Tak- The door closed.

Wi Seol-ah, left alone, looking at the ornament in her hand,

watched the lodging Gu Yangcheon had entered and whispered quietly.

“…You were wrong after all. The sun is still shining properly.”

Clutching the ornament tightly to her chest.

Wi Seol-ah whispered thus.