Chapter 45: Sword Phoenix (5)

How much time has passed?

Seeing as the sleepiness hasn’t quite worn off, it doesn’t seem like much time has passed.

“It doesn’t make sense that you’re not eating when you should be growing!”

At the ear-piercing voice, I rubbed my sleepy eyes and sat up.

Dumplings are visible before my eyes.

….Why are dumplings here?

Is this a dream? Have I eaten so many dumplings that I’m seeing them even in my dreams?

“…Dumplings, meat dumplings?”

“Little brother, are you sleep-talking?”

The red eyes waking me came into view.

Only then did my brain, which had been sluggishly running in my sleep, start functioning properly.

The blurry figure before my eyes gradually came into focus.

Even at a glance, the striking features with distinct assertiveness caught my eye.

Thanks to that, I didn’t need to ponder long about who was in front of me.

“Noona…?”

“That’s right, it’s your cool and beautiful Noona.”

I didn’t pay attention to the strange nonsense.

“Why are you here, Noona?”

“Can’t I be here?”

“No, you can’t, because this is my room.”

“Then it’s my room too.”

“…What are you talking about, Noona? Did you drink?”

At the words I habitually spat out, Gu Huibi flicked my forehead.

I quickly jerked my head and dodged.

Seeing that, Gu Huibi’s eyebrow shot up.

“Oh ho… you dodged?”

“No, why are you trying to hit me the moment you see me?”

“What kind of mouth is that to your Noona, who went to the trouble of bringing food because her little brother was starving?”

“…Then why didn’t you just send a servant instead of coming yourself.”

I didn’t say the unspoken words, ‘Why bother me like this?’

Because if I had said that too, I felt like I would have been burned alive.

Gu Huibi immediately raised her hand to hit me again but quickly put it down.

Was it because her mood cooled? She slowly handed me the bowl of dumplings.

“I picked these up off the street, so don’t skip dinner and eat them.”

“Were dumplings something you could just pick up off the street…?”

“You talk too much? Want to burn black along with the dumplings?”

Before she could put her words into action, I quickly grabbed a dumpling and ate it.

Whether they were just steamed, they were still warm and toasty.

“…Thank you.”

Although it was reluctant, she did bring them thinking of me, after all.

Perhaps my thanks amused Gu Huibi, as she let out a short laugh.

“Thank you? Are the dumplings that good? I don’t know how many years it’s been since you spoke kindly to me.”

Did I?

Actually, it wouldn’t be strange if something worse came out.

By now, I would be in a state of hating not only my blood relatives but the entire Gu family.

“Regardless, it’s something to be thankful for. Even if I say thank you, what of it.”

“Your way of speaking is just as rude, what happened to make you change like this…? Is it because of that Namgung girl?”

At Gu Huibi’s words, I spat out the dumpling I was eating.

It was because I choked.

“Gulp.. gack…”

“Looks like you’re so happy you’re choking on your food.”

I could feel her glaring gaze.

What is this nonsensical talk coming out of nowhere?

“Why did the Namgung topic pop up so randomly? I thought I was going to die.”

“Is she pretty?”

“…This is driving me crazy.”

Gu Huibi wasn’t even listening properly.

She was the type to only hear what she wanted to hear in the first place.

Pretty…?

Objectively speaking, Namgung Bi-ah’s appearance is on the prettier side.

Very much so.

If you were to search all over Zhongyuan for someone whose looks could rival Namgung Bi-ah, you’d have to bring Wi Seol-ah, who was pitifully standing punishment earlier.

Even in my past life, her appearance, sweeping through battlefields with blood smeared on her face, was captivating enough to remain in my memory.

Still, from my perspective, having suffered from it endlessly, it’s all meaningless talk now.

“According to that Brain Dragon guy, she is pretty.”

“…Are you acquainted with that guy?”

“I haven’t seen him much, and we didn’t talk often; he also seemed a bit shady.”

It’s not surprising, really; in this vast yet small world, it’s possible to run into people who received titles like Dragon and Phoenix.

What’s peculiar is that Gu Huibi found him shady.

I thought that Namgung guy was quite good at acting, is Gu Huibi just perceptive?

As I finished the dumplings, Gu Huibi took something out of her clothes.

Seeing the identity of the object she took out, I was speechless.

“…Noona.”

“Why?”

“What is that.”

“Can’t you tell by looking?”

I know, I’m asking because I know, you idiot.

What Gu Huibi took out was none other than Baijiu (white liquor), the kind sold at local inns.

Why would she suddenly bring alcohol to someone else’s quarters?

Gu Huibi saw my expression and chuckled.

“Want a drink too, little brother?”

“…Honestly, didn’t you already drink before coming?”

She definitely doesn’t seem sober…?

Whether I teased her verbally or not, Gu Huibi smoothly took out drinking cups from her clothes and started pouring and drinking by herself.

“Are you going to drink that and leave?”

“No? I’m going to lie down and sleep here.”

Oh…

That was the most uniquely crazy thing I’d heard lately.

“Then sleep here, I’m going to sleep somewhere else.”

“How cold-hearted. Wouldn’t it be great for siblings to sleep soundly together after so long?”

“Siblings my ass. We’ve never slept together in the first place.”

We weren’t even that close a family.

Even after spitting out the words, I watched Gu Huibi’s reaction.

It was in case she tried to hit me again, to dodge.

But strangely, Gu Huibi just smiled slightly, looking at the moon, and didn’t say much.

‘What is it…? Did we sleep together before?’

I have no such memory across my entire past life, so what is that strange expression?

Perhaps she understood my words belatedly; Gu Huibi, after swallowing a mouthful of liquor, burst into laughter.

“Right! We’ve never even slept side-by-side. You’re just so cold-hearted.”

“When are you leaving…?”

“Little brother, why do you keep trying to send me away?”

“Because this is my room?”

Isn’t that just asserting an obvious right…?

Gu Huibi paid lip service to my words, continuing to tilt her cup.

Drip drip.

Gu Huibi drank so quickly that the liquor in the bottle she brought seemed to have run out already.

A few drops fell quietly into the cup.

Gu Huibi retracted her cup with a look of regret and stood up.

Is she finally leaving?

“Little brother.”

Gu Huibi called me.

Due to drinking hastily, she seemed slightly tipsy.

‘She’s drunk?’

For some reason, my head tilted in curiosity.

If Gu Yan Hwa Lun Gong had reached the 5th star, her martial arts level would have far surpassed ‘first-class’.

She wasn’t at a level to be bothered by mere drunkenness.

Surely, she deliberately let herself get drunk.

I heard martial artists who enjoy alcohol often do this, but did Gu Huibi enjoy drinking?

It wasn’t something I remembered.

“Yes.”

At my reply, Gu Huibi beckoned.

As if telling me to come here.

Just then, the hidden moon illuminated Gu Huibi, who was beckoning.

Her hair, which had taken on a faint reddish hue due to the influence of her mind technique, seemed to shine even brighter under the moonlight.

“The moon is pretty too, want to spar with your Noona after a long time?”

“You really drank like three bottles before coming, right?”

Is she crazy…?

What does the moon have to do with anything? Why is she suddenly challenging me to a fight out of the blue?

At the completely random statement, I dropped the dumpling I was eating.

Gu Huibi just kept smiling despite my reaction.

Her face, slightly flushed because she wasn’t using her internal energy to dispel the alcohol, was unpleasant to look at.

“Little brother.”

“Yes.”

“Will you be alright?”

“Alright with what?”

Does she mean, ‘Will you be okay even if you don’t get hit?’

I have absolutely no preference for getting hit.

Honestly, right now, I was still very tired and wanted to sleep a little longer.

Just sleep a little longer, and then wake up…

“That, are you okay not releasing it?”

“….!”

At Gu Huibi’s sudden words, I put down my dumpling.

I looked at Gu Huibi with newfound eyes.

Gu Huibi’s fingertip was pointing towards my Dantian.

….How did she know.

Although I had consolidated the energy obtained from the giant snake over several days, the energy that couldn’t quite mix still remained inside my body.

Energy that cannot mix and lingers outside is poison to a martial artist.

Nor could I afford to handle the unforeseen disaster that might occur if I tried to absorb it recklessly.

Regardless, Qi Deviation was terrifying.

For a martial artist who transcended ordinary humans to be wary of Qi Deviation at the slightest provocation.

‘Or maybe not, am I doing things that are likely to cause Qi Deviation?’

The reason I held the energy inside without releasing it was greed.

The greed that perhaps I could absorb this energy too.

Because of that, my body, which should have been fine, felt tired.

The solution was simple.

Releasing the lingering energy inside the body outwards.

Whether it was through training or sparring.

I said to Gu Huibi with an incredulous expression.

“…Are you saying we should fight under the moonlight because of that?”

“Not necessarily for that reason, I just want to educate my ill-mannered little brother.”

“What is that…”

A strange thought suddenly crossed my mind.

I thought it couldn’t be, but somehow, I felt suspicious.

“Was the reason you picked a fight earlier for such a ridiculous reason also because of this?”

The incident earlier that day when Gu Huibi threatened me in my quarters, spewing heat like crazy.

To endure it, I had to forcefully extract and use my energy.

At my words, Gu Huibi flinched slightly but quickly regained her composure.

“Little brother, aren’t you too narcissistic? Why would I do something so troublesome?”

“Really not?”

“You keep talking too much? Should I burn off all your hair for you to shut up?”

Burning off all my hair… what cruel words are these.

Before I knew it, Gu Huibi held a wooden sword in her hand.

When did she even prepare it?

Could it be that she came looking for me with this purpose from the start?

“Seeing me after a few months, do I seem easy to you? You haven’t grown an inch, but your guts have certainly increased.”

Gu Huibi spat out insults with a playful smile, but they didn’t register in my heart.

Just like the meeting during the day, which was months for Gu Huibi but years for me, it’s the same now.

I swallowed the dumpling I was eating and stood up, walking towards Gu Huibi.

Gu Huibi looked at me with a surprised expression.

Why does she look like that when she’s the one who called me?

“…Oh, little brother, you’re not running away this time?”

“You don’t have any intention of beating me anyway, so don’t pretend.”

I moved my feet past Gu Huibi. My steps were heading towards the training ground.

I turned my head slightly and said to Gu Huibi.

“If we fight here, the building will be ruined.”

“Someone who’d collapse after one hit is worried about the building.”

Saying that, she chuckled.

Ignoring Gu Huibi like that, I slowly stepped towards the training ground.

Normally, I would have talked back and fought her, but no matter how shitty my life has been.

I wouldn’t easily utter harsh words even towards someone who died for me.

---

What do I think of blood ties?

In the past, I thought they held no meaning.

It was the same with my father, and at the same time, with my other sisters.

It was just unfortunate that we shared the same father.

Moreover, we weren’t born from the same mother.

It means our birth mothers were different.

Gu Huibi and I were such siblings.

Even within that relationship, things weren’t good.

The most talented sword cultivator in the Gu family’s history.

The most unremarkable young master of the Gu family in history.

This vast difference crushed me.

While I can’t attribute all my wrongdoings to this.

At the very least, I cannot say this wasn’t a reason for my going astray.

Inferiority complex is inherently that terrifying, selfish, and pathetic.

Looking at Gu Huibi, as a child, I thought she was a monster of a woman trying to kill me.

Why was she so desperate to get me?

At that time, I thought it was because I easily took the position of young master that she couldn’t obtain with her own hands.

Disgusting.

Why would I think Gu Huibi coveted this position?

Without even realizing she was crawling into purgatory herself.

Gu Huibi and I stood facing each other in the silent training ground.

The tip of Gu Huibi’s wooden sword pointed towards me.

Although the training ground was dark due to the night, it wasn’t a problem for the Gu family’s blood relatives.

Whoosh!

Red internal energy slowly wrapped around Gu Huibi’s body.

This is a profound understanding obtainable only when Gu Yan Hwa Lun Gong has fully reached the 5th star.

Not just containing heat and emitting heat.

It’s when the mind technique and internal energy completely fuse, changing form.

It resembled a burning flame.

Though the night was dark, Gu family martial artists would not fear, for they possessed their own light.

These are words left by a Gu family ancestor.

As if proving him right, the flames that seemed to burn and engulf Gu Huibi reached her wooden sword.

Such was the strength and abundance of her internal energy that the dark training ground brightened with Gu Huibi’s energy.

My naive eyes slowly and clearly took in Gu Huibi’s appearance.

Her appearance is not much different from my past life.

A body whose growth has ended ages slowly along with its martial cultivation level.

Therefore, in Gu Huibi’s appearance, I couldn’t help but face the desperate past.

One arm was crushed and could no longer function.

Me, looking at her two eyes losing their vitality.

Was it raining then too?

The weather probably wasn’t very good.

“Little brother.”

[Little brother.]

Gu Huibi’s voice overlaps.

Is it because I’m tired?

Probably not.

It’s because I still haven’t forgotten that moment.

As time flows and flows, if someday I die and get to meet Gu Huibi.

There was one thing I wanted to ask Gu Huibi.

The words she said to me with a smile while she was dying.

I wanted to ask.

Why she said those words to me.

Why she went that far for me.

Though I can never hear the answer now.

“Aren’t you coming?”

[Be happy, okay.]

I just wanted to ask.

“No, I’m coming.”

I took a step towards Gu Huibi.