Chapter 311: Vigo of the Dragon. (2)

It was the dead of night, the moon having risen in the center of the sky.

All the academy students should have been asleep.

If anyone were caught wandering outside the dormitory, it could lead to unfavorable circumstances.

Especially considering that academy students were on sentry duty, and instructors were frequently patrolling.

What on earth is this kid doing here?

“Why are you here?”

I asked, sounding dumbfounded.

Because no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand.

Why Jamryong was here, of all places, at this specific time.

Moreover.

‘They didn’t notice.’

Wi Seora naturally had a peculiar presence, so we could overlook that.

Cheonghae Ilgeom, given their level, might also not have known.

But.

‘If they couldn’t even sense Jamryong’s presence.’

It seemed whatever was spread around this area possessed considerable potency.

Let’s put that aside for now.

“Why are you here in the middle of the night?”

To my question, Jamryong tilted his head.

Although he wasn’t speaking,

I could tell what he wanted to say to me from his expression.

“…Why am I here?”

“Oh, I was debating whether to say it or not. It’s a relief you said it for me.”

He said that, grinning.

It was quite a pleasant smile.

To be seeing the face of a handsome guy at this late hour made it quite an unpleasant night.

“I was curious about where you were going so late at night, so I decided to follow you… What are you doing here?”

Jamryong said that, looking around.

The moment he said that, my eyes widened.

Followed me?

“From where?”

“Hmm? From the moment I saw you outside the window.”

You saw me moving outside the dormitory window?

‘That’s impossible.’

I’m not some idiot.

How much I had memorized the routes here over the past few days.

Not only did I not move so poorly as to be noticed by a mere late-stage cultivator,

but I also kept in mind the places people stayed.

I had even suppressed my presence.

Unless I was approaching a martial artist of Cheonghae Ilgeom or Geomhu’s level,

I shouldn’t have been easily detected.

“You discovered me?”

“To be precise, rather than seeing you, I heard you.”

That was incomprehensible.

What do you mean ‘heard’?

“To be even more precise… rather than hearing… should I say I found a place that couldn’t be heard?”

“What are you talking about? If you’re going to speak, do it properly. Make it easy to understand.”

He said that while scratching his cheek, and I couldn’t understand a word.

‘Anyway, what’s more important than that is.’

Not being able to understand what he was saying,

nor the fact that I couldn’t sense his presence,

was the fact that Jamryong had somehow come here.

‘What should I do?’

It doesn’t matter for now.

Jamryong probably hadn’t noticed the formation.

‘I should probably go back for now.’

Time was already tight as it was.

If Jamryong had seen this,

it wasn’t the situation to be wrestling with the formation,

nor could I deal with Jamryong.

‘…Another opportunity will come.’

It was because I had tried to do it too hastily.

It couldn’t be helped. Going back for now was the right thing to do.

‘Since I’ve realized I can’t handle the formation alone. Next time.’

Should I really bring Wi Seora and look for a way?

It was regrettable for Geomhu, but

given the situation, it would be better to ask one more time.

If that didn’t work, I’d have to find another way.

After finishing my thoughts up to that point,

I immediately got up.

Then, looking at Jamryong, I started to speak.

“…I just came out for a stroll.”

“That’s a pretty weak excuse?”

As expected, he didn’t seem to believe me at all.

It was indeed an excuse I wouldn’t have believed myself.

Jamryong, who burst out chuckling,

soon looked around briefly.

Is this the time? Should I strike him from behind, knock him unconscious, and run?

It seemed like that would work.

I could just roughly pick up the unconscious Jamryong and throw him in the room.

Right, that would work.

Just as I was about to move,

“Indeed, it’s quiet.”

Jamryong’s casual remark made me pause.

“What?”

“I thought maybe it was my imagination, but it seems it wasn’t.”

“Of course it’s quiet, it’s night. Has my mind gone blank from sleepiness?”

“It’s quiet next to you. It’s quite strange.”

“That’s a strange thing to say. It’s not a noisy time in the first place.”

I had carefully spread out even a barrier, fearing my foolish actions might be discovered.

Of course it should be quiet. If it were noisy, that would be the problem.

Even to my curt words,

Jamryong just smiled.

His expression seemed somewhat amused.

“You believe I came out for a stroll.”

“…No, I really did come out for a stroll?”

“I suppose so.”

His saying he’d generously believe me felt really crappy.

What should I do? Can I hit him once?

Will he get knocked out with one hit?

I feel like it would be a big problem if I misjudged the force.

Anyway, why is this guy acting so friendly?

As for me, it might be because I have memories from my past life, but

to him, I’m no different from a complete stranger.

Moreover.

Considering it took a while to become close even in my past life,

I couldn’t help but think the current situation was rather strange.

Did he swallow opium poppies or something? Why is this guy really acting like this?

‘…This isn’t the time for this.’

First, I need to return to the dormitory,

and then go explain the situation to Geomhu later.

“Since I’ve seen all I needed to see… I should leave now.”

Just as I was about to drag Jamryong back before Cheonghae Ilgeom arrived,

Jamryong spoke and walked past me.

“Is this the problem? Is that why you were doing this?”

“Yes, so I’m going back… What?”

He said to me, gesturing in the air.

“…!”

The moment I saw Jamryong’s fingertips, I gasped.

“You…!”

Similar to what Wi Seora had shown me last time,

Jamryong was clearly creating ripples in the air.

So naturally.

Seeing that, my eyes widened as I asked,

“You can see that?”

“No.”

Jamryong replied immediately.

That he couldn’t see it.

Then what situation was this that I was seeing?

Before I could even ponder the question, Jamryong offered another answer.

“But if I listen, I can hear it.”

“…You can hear it?”

“The sound of the flow. Even though the noise disappears because you’re beside me, I can hear things like this well. Unfortunately, though.”

The words he uttered, which sounded amused contrary to his statement,

confused my mind.

-If one could only hear, they could cut down anything like this.

It reminded me of the words Jamryong uttered in my past life while cutting the formation with his sword.

It was the same back then.

Namgung Bi-ah was similar too.

‘Is it a difference in some sense that I don’t possess?’

A question arose.

Because their domain seemed somewhat different, it wasn’t enough to simply say they were different because they were geniuses.

As I momentarily harbored such a question,

Jamryong, who had been gesturing in the air,

perhaps having discovered something, stopped his hand.

Swoosh.

He stretched his hand deep into the ripples.

Surprisingly, his hand, having entered the flow, disappeared as if piercing through a wall.

“Even if it’s a coincidence, since I’ve learned one of your secrets. I’ll reveal one of mine too.”

Amidst this incomprehensible situation,

Jamryong was still smiling.

As I watched his face intently,

Crack-!

The sound of something breaking was heard from the air.

Simultaneously,

Crackle-!

Centered around Jamryong’s inserted arm,

transparent cracks spread out brilliantly like a spiderweb.

The range wasn’t wide.

The slowly spreading cracks, as if creating a border with a definite shape,

took on a form.

It was like…

‘A door?’

It had the shape of a door that a person could enter.

Then,

Clang!

Not long after, making a sharp sound, it broke into pieces and shattered,

Clatter!

the falling fragments of the air were blown by the wind and quickly disappeared.

What remained behind was.

only a door that seemed to lead somewhere.

“…Uh…”

As I stood there blankly with a dumbfounded expression, seeing that,

Jamryong dusted off his hands and said to me.

“Now we each possess one of each other’s secrets, don’t we?”

His brightly smiling face was extremely uncomfortable.

“We’ll be able to get closer from now on.”

At his nonchalant words, I recoiled.

“…What’s with that expression? Weren’t you hoping for this?”

“No, that’s true, but your words are a bit crude.”

“…Crude?”

Jamryong, wondering what I meant by my words,

soon clapped his hands as if realizing.

“Ah, I’m sorry, but I have a fiancée. I appreciate your feelings, but…”

“What are you talking about, you crazy bastard? Why are you apologizing?”

I have a fiancée too, you son of a bitch…

I was just minding my own business, why am I being rejected? And by a guy, no less.

‘Wait. Fiancée?’

I blurted it out in the heat of the moment, but

strange information had been mixed in.

A fiancée for Jamryong?

‘Did he get engaged?’

I remember that wasn’t the case.

I had never heard such stories, even in my past life, and besides,

‘He’s a Taoist priest.’

Could Taoist masters from a sect get married?

Of course, there are said to be Taoist masters who can,

but shouldn’t monastic Taoists be forbidden…?

As all sorts of thoughts flooded my mind in that moment,

Jamryong called out to me, standing there blankly, and said,

“Aren’t you going in?”

Jamryong said, looking at the door opened in the air.

Seeing that, I replied, sounding dumbfounded.

“…Why are you trying to go in there?”

“I opened it.”

“…”

Jamryong’s words silenced me.

Because it was, to some extent, correct.

---

The midnight hour.

A woman standing still in a wide field recalled the young man’s voice she had heard sometime ago.

-Won’t you make a deal with me?

At his words, spoken with a grin, as the woman pondered,

-What deal are you talking about?

-I don’t know how you know, Geomhu, but it seems our objectives are the same.

The older brother of her disciple, and

at the words of the benefactor who had saved her life.

the woman, Geomhu, had to hide her surprise inwardly.

Because his words were full of conviction.

Did he know what she wanted to be speaking like that?

Geomhu felt suspicion, but at the same time, if that child’s words were true,

‘How could that child know that?’

The question lingered.

Traces somewhere in this place.

In the place left behind by people of the past.

The hero of Mount Hua,

one of the five heroes who stopped the blood calamity.

The great person Geomhu admired most after Mae Hwa-seon.

It was said that Mount Hua Sword Saint Sincheol’s artifact was hidden there.

‘I must find it.’

Geomhu was not someone who took interest in artifacts or ancestral relics.

Mae Hwa-seon had also continuously taught not to show interest in things lost and scattered,

and Geomhu herself,

in the time spent looking at such things, she would rather practice the sword, or

thought saving those in danger was the priority.

However.

-Plum Blossom Stone.

-Find that.

-Then you’ll be able to find a clue.

It was said the Plum Blossom Stone was hidden somewhere in Sinryong Hall.

Why such a precious item wasn’t even in Mount Hua’s records,

but was hidden in Sinryong Hall, the center of Hanam, was unknown, but

nevertheless, Geomhu had to find it.

even in a situation where she didn’t know if the words were true or not.

‘For Cheonhui’s sake, too.’

If it was a matter involving her deceased close friend,

she could do anything.

In such a situation, the one who suddenly spoke to her, saying their objectives were the same,

was none other than

her friend’s son.

Was this all a coincidence?

Unlike her disciple, Geomhu couldn’t take care of him,

the child who endured hardship alone in the clan.

Yet, the child who grew up strong, harboring a greater light than anyone, was saying that.

‘What does that child know?’

She wanted to ask.

What is it that you know?

The clear difference compared to other late-stage cultivators was visible.

Geomhu knew this well, yet

the reason she didn’t bother asking was

because that child probably wished for her not to ask.

So she would not ask this time either.

-It seems like a matter that requires my help.

Geomhu did not deny it.

The child was already certain,

and she thought she could trust that child, at least.

It was a choice made solely out of trust.

-Yes.

-Through that, what can I gain?

-Since you must have come with something in mind, if your goal is in the place I am looking for,

I will bring it to you.

Things like ‘How can I trust you’,

or ‘Don’t lie’.

We did not have cheap arguments.

Because I thought we were not the kind of people who needed such things.

-…What if, what I need and

what you need overlap?

As it’s something that cannot be yielded,

this part was the most important.

To Geomhu’s words, Gu Yangcheon thought for a moment, then quickly gave an answer.

-It’s unlikely that will happen, but if it were to,

I will yield.

-…

At his resolute words,

Geomhu also showed a moment of consideration, and then

nodded.

-What is it that I must do?

Geomhu asked.

Gu Yangcheon gave an explanation regarding it.

And so today is the day.

On a night when a bleak wind blew,

Geomhu quietly caught her breath, waiting for her target.

Not long after waiting like that,

Hummm-!

she could feel the presence of someone entering, piercing through the thick barrier Geomhu had spread out.

“Geomhu.”

Along with the old man’s voice came an unknown sea scent, and

somewhere refreshing energy brushed past Geomhu.

The moment she felt the presence, Geomhu paid her respects.

“I greet the Hall Master.”

“Calling this old man out this late at night. It seems like urgent business.”

Cheonghae Ilgeom.

The one who found Geomhu was precisely Cheonghae Ilgeom,

and the old man was in a situation where he had responded to Geomhu’s call.

“…I know this was rude behavior. I apologize once again.”

“It’s alright. Coincidentally, I also had business with Geomhu, so it’s fine.”

At Cheonghae Ilgeom’s words,

Geomhu slightly raised her gaze and looked at Cheonghae Ilgeom.

The words that he had business with her piqued her interest.

“You said you had business with me.”

“I was thinking of coming to meet you separately around tomorrow, but it’s rather fortunate that we met like this.”

Was it about the story of the Red Magic Mirror Gate heard last time?

If it was something like that, it was fortunate from Geomhu’s perspective too.

Gu Yangcheon’s request was

because the formation was near the Hall Master’s room,

the request was to call Cheonghae Ilgeom out from afar, if possible.

Regarding this, Geomhu had spread out a thick barrier while waiting for Cheonghae Ilgeom.

Not only did she call Cheonghae Ilgeom out in this situation, but

she also had to keep him occupied to some extent.

Conversely, since Cheonghae Ilgeom had business with Geomhu, it was a convenient situation.

As Geomhu was organizing her thoughts in such a position,

Cheonghae Ilgeom looked at Geomhu and said,

“Geomhu, you must know.”

Cheonghae Ilgeom brought up the topic first.

even though Geomhu hadn’t had a chance to speak yet.

“What are you referring to?”

But the order didn’t matter,

Geomhu responded to Cheonghae Ilgeom’s words.

“That the child of that ‘child’ has entered the institution.”

At the words that burst from Cheonghae Ilgeom’s mouth,

Geomhu momentarily couldn’t manage her expression and frowned.

“Since it’s the child whom Geomhu cherished more than anyone, I thought you wouldn’t not know.”

“Is that… a problem?”

“Not at all. There’s no problem. It’s just a child.”

A lot of time had passed.

Those who remembered her close friend would not exceed ten fingers,

and even that would gradually disappear.

“Are you still reminiscing about that child, Geomhu?”

“Of course.”

“I see.”

At Geomhu’s words, Cheonghae Ilgeom briefly put on a lonely expression, and then

brought up another topic.

“…Yes.”

“Do the children know about their mother?”

As soon as Cheonghae Ilgeom brought up the topic,

Geomhu’s expression changed strangely, as if she didn’t know what he meant.

Having confirmed that, Cheonghae Ilgeom

let out a low sigh and stroked his beard.

“My words were wrong. It seems like something you don’t know about for now…”

“…Sect Leader. What are you talking about right now?”

“Perhaps my mouth has gotten loose from old age. It’s quite comfortable in parts like this.”

“Sect Leader!”

Geomhu raised her voice to cut off Cheonghae Ilgeom’s rambling.

She knew it was rude behavior, but

now wasn’t the time to nitpick about such things.

And Cheonghae Ilgeom did not find fault with Geomhu’s attitude either.

“This is the price I must pay, since those incompetent fools didn’t shut my mouth.

It must be the punishment I should receive.”

“…Sect Leader, I cannot understand what you keep saying. Identity? What identity?”

“Before that, shall I bring up one story first?”

Onto the barrier Geomhu had spread out,

Wooooom-!

an even larger sword aura overlaid, adding thickness.

It was Cheonghae Ilgeom’s aura.

Geomhu, startled by the sudden aura,

was momentarily flustered.

Cheonghae Ilgeom looked at Geomhu and opened his mouth again.

“Cheonhui.”

Like petals falling from the sky,

slowly yet suddenly descending,

just as it was when she first appeared before Geomhu,

“That child did not die.”

This time too, she caused a great ripple within Geomhu.