To read the mandate of Heaven is a rare talent.

Only men famed as the Crouching Dragon managed such things.

To steer Heaven’s currents—what kind of talent is that?

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor, managed it.

He was the son of poor farmers, an orphan.

A begging monk, a vagrant—then he climbed to become the emperor of the Central Plains.

Such people are like the eye of a storm.

They are still themselves, yet draw all around them into their embrace.

They overturn the passing sea until it runs clear, and strip the grime from the earth and break it apart.

And no one knows, not until the storm bares its fangs.

No one knows which gentle breeze will become a storm.

“…Hoo.”

A wide room.

Come to think of it, she was no longer the only girl among the Great Mount Hua Sect’s Third Generation.

There was Cheonhwa—she’d seen her just yesterday.

But Cheonju and Cheonhwa aren’t anywhere to be seen.

It seemed they didn’t live in the Third-Generation Hall.

Which led to a conclusion.

The Third Generation staying here in the hall weren’t the “real ones.”

Among them, those whom the Sect Leader’s lineage had tagged as the sect’s youthful face…

They would be eating and sleeping with their master, building power.

“Why would Master…”

Cramped as that hut was, there was room to bed four children.

There was that old rule about boys and girls not sharing quarters…

But thinking the other way around, this was better.

Eunsong’s hut was a place anyone could approach.

More precisely: even if other uncles came and went there, it wouldn’t draw eyes.

But if they came to the Third-Generation Hall, it would be different.

Everyone now knew the story that the Sect Leader had come here and looked her over.

If anyone wanted to lay a hand on her while she stayed in this hall,

they’d have to accept that the rumor would spread.

She slid open the inner shutter and looked out. Far away, the first light of dawn stained the sky.

The sun had not yet fully risen.

It was about an hour earlier than when the others usually got up.

“I am still young, weak, and small.”

What she’d said to the Sect Leader, Elder Jeongyang, was true.

She was still young, weak, and small.

Cheon Soyak knew that more sharply than anyone.

Objectively, perhaps, that might be wrong.

The black qilin of the Harmonization Scripture, coiled in her dantian, held true power equal to about half a gap.

And now it sent her its full affection and obedience.

Power of half a gap.

A master who had stepped into Apex.

Ascension-level arts carved into her bones.

But if the goal was to seize the sky, twist it, and lead it, that was a different tale.

With only this much…

She could not bare her fangs as a monster that defied fate and made a life of toppling Heaven.

An hour would be just right for a single grand circulation.

Soyak sat quietly, legs folded, and closed her eyes.

Time to sink deep within.

****

The beast that fed on the undying had its eyes closed.

A placid surface of water.

A sky as if stars were pouring down.

With each step she took, soft concentric ripples spread across the surface.

“…You’re here.”

Soyak’s voice rang in the unhindered space.

Only then did the black qilin slowly open its golden eyes.

It was as large as a great tiger—one of those called a mountain lord.

Yet Cheon Soyak knew it instinctively.

For now, this was still only a small shape without end.

It pushed that great head into her arms.

When her small, pale hand stroked the bases of its straight twin horns, it rumbled in satisfaction.

How much larger could it grow?

How much more magnificent a spirit-beast would it become?

Perhaps it might reach the realm of a divine beast.

No—it must.

As she was thinking that, the black qilin gently butted her and toppled her onto the ground.

“Ugh…”

Then, from above, it looked down at her.

Its golden eyes wavered.

It had not expected her to go down so easily.

Soyak reached up and scratched its chin.

“…It’s fine. That didn’t hurt.”

Too much affection, perhaps.

All of her strength and inner power were the black qilin before her.

In this mindscape, Soyak was only a small, young girl.

She rose and wrapped her arms around the qilin’s neck.

A satisfied cry.

Then, curling itself, it enclosed her small body.

Warmth spread into her.

…Somehow, that warmth was like her father’s arms.

Like the warmth of a memory she had to forget to go on living, yet never wished to forget.

Her eyes blurred with tears.

They welled and slid down her cheeks.

The black qilin quietly licked her cheek.

Then held her so she could finish crying.

Like the embrace of a family she could never regain.

****

She finished her breathing and circulation and stood.

Her face was a mess, wet with overflowing tears.

Soyak wiped at her eyes with her sleeve and listened to the rustle around her.

It was time for everyone to get up.

She dressed in her training robes and belted on the sword her master had bought her.

She tied the fluttering sleeves with a cord and stepped out the door.

Cheongu sat on the threshold.

“…Senior brother?”

“You’re up. Let’s go, junior sister.”

“You waited for me?”

Cheongu lifted a shoulder.

Yes.

“Why…”

“It looks good when fellow disciples go out together.”

“…That’s true.”

“Have you been crying?”

“…N-no.”

“Your eyes are red.”

Soyak snapped her head away.

She had no desire to be rumored as a crybaby first thing at dawn.

“…Please keep it down.”

“On one condition.”

That wasn’t Cheongu’s lazy voice.

It was a sharp one.

Cheongak’s.

She turned. At some point, Cheongak was coming down the corridor.

“…Senior brother Cheongak?”

“I said there’s a condition. A condition.”

“What condition?”

Cheongak knit his brows hard and shoved the explaining off onto Cheongu.

His pride seemed to be on the line.

In the end, Cheongu smiled, sighed, and spoke.

Cheongak knit his brows hard and shoved the explaining off onto Cheongu.

His pride seemed to be on the line.

In the end, Cheongu smiled, sighed, and spoke.

“At the One-Branch Gathering, each master can send exactly two Third Generation disciples.”

“…Two.”

Which meant only two would have a chance at the Purple Firmament Pellet.

So first there would be an “internal qualifier”…

“Head Senior Cheonjeong has to enter—he’s the Head Senior. That leaves one slot. Cheongak and I already talked it through. You take it, Soyak.”

“…Sir?”

“That’s not the end of it, Cheongu.”

Cheongak, who’d been nodding with curt dissatisfaction, clenched his fist.

Then he shook it before Soyak’s eyes and barked:

“Crush them all! Go out there and crush every last one!”

“…What if I meet Head Senior Cheonjeong?”

“Crush him!!”

There was… a vast well of resentment there, and it seemed aimed at the Head Senior.

But there was no time to untangle it.

“If you don’t, I’ll spread it around that you bawl your eyes out at dawn.”

“…All right.”

Cheon Soyak quietly set her left hand on her sword’s grip.

“Break them all. Is that enough?”

“Every last one. If you meet a Buddha, cut the Buddha; if you meet the Head Senior, then the Head—”

“What’s so amusing to talk about?”

“Ghk.”

At the sound of Cheonjeong’s voice, Cheongak choked on his own breath.

Cheongu shrugged and, grinning, tattled at once.

“Cheongak was telling Soyak to thrash the Head Senior.”

“Y-you, Cheongu?!”

“Is that so…”

Cheongak pressed his lips into a thin line.

At the sight, Soyak couldn’t help a faint smile.

Cheongak did have the edge over Cheonjeong in skill.

But he didn’t slight him.

A senior brother was a senior brother, and deserved respect.

He looked crooked, but Cheongak was a right sort.

“…What are you grinning at?”

Cheongak grumbled at her.

Soyak lifted her shoulders lightly and answered:

“I’ll pound them on your behalf, too, senior brother.”

“Really? You’d better.”

Cheongu shook his head, and Cheonjeong tilted his.

“Who are you planning to pound, Soyak?”

“Well…”

At his question, Soyak glanced at Cheongak.

His unease was quite funny.

“The other senior brothers, of course.”

“Am I included in that, Soyak?”

“I’ll do my best.”

She would not tell a lie to the Head Senior.

Cheon Soyak lowered her eyes prettily.

Cheonjeong rubbed her head.

“Good. I’ll do my best, too.”

Chapter 14

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