“No, Head Senior. You said you could win…”

“What can I do, when I don’t have it in me to be that ruthless.”

Cheonjeong quietly looked at Soyak sitting beside Eunsong.

Soyak was…

smiling.

“Look, Cheongak. Cheongu.”

“Look at what?”

“Our junior sister is smiling.”

Cheongu and Cheongak also lifted their gazes to Soyak.

They saw the same smile.

Those black, hollow eyes no longer looked quite so empty.

“That alone is enough.”

If he had used a killing move to win, would that child really be smiling at him like this?

If he had used a killing move on his junior and left her wounded…

as Cheonjeong the martial artist, it would have been a worthy choice, but as Head Senior Cheonjeong, it would not.

So, even if Cheon Soyak the martial artist acknowledged him—

he would have been ashamed before Cheon Soyak the junior sister.

With that last exchange, Cheonjeong had decided his own identity.

He would be Head Senior before he was a martial man.

Before he argued about shame as a swordsman, he would count the disgrace of a Head Senior first.

He understood that tearing into the world with a single sword for fangs was not his role.

That was for people of a different order—

for Soyak, or for Namgung Seon sitting over there.

He was young, but Cheonjeong already knew.

He knew that the era he had been born into would be swept up in war.

Those who reign do not allow an existence that surpasses them.

But if it was his junior sister—

if it was his junior sister, then without fail—

“You’ve worked hard, Head Senior.”

Soyak rose from Eunsong’s side and came over.

That small, slender child would surely surpass the sky.

Yesterday, when she had pointed a sword at him with lavish food laid out before them,

Cheonjeong had become certain.

“Right, Soyak. How was this Head Senior? Was I worth watching…?”

“Yes. You are the greatest among us, Head Senior.”

“Then that’s enough. I think I shall rest a bit now…”

Just like that, Cheonjeong lost consciousness.

The color drained from Cheongu’s and Cheongak’s faces.

Eunsong hurriedly stepped down and took his pulse.

“…He’s asleep.”

Only then did Soyak, Cheongu, and Cheongak all let out a sigh of relief.

He had simply blacked out and fallen asleep.

Eunsong took Cheonjeong from Cheongu and Cheongak and lifted him into his arms.

“For now, let’s go back to the tent.”

****

The One-Branch Gathering was briefly halted.

In any case, the only matches left were the bout between Cheonhwa and Soyak,

and then the finals between the winner of that match and Cheonju.

They were already in the middle of the semifinals.

Since there was time to spare, the Second Generation had been allowed to attend to their fallen Head Senior.

It was the Sect Leader’s order.

But that was only the surface reason.

“Cheonhwa.”

Myungjeok quietly called Cheonhwa.

Her small shoulders trembled.

Her gaze stayed nailed to the tips of her toes and would not lift.

“Yes, yes, Grandmaster…”

“I hear you’re thinking of leaving the sect and returning to the mundane world.”

Cheonhwa’s eyes flew wide open.

That was something she had only told Cheonju…

But then, she suddenly remembered that Soyak had appeared during the clash on the Training Ground.

Had that child told them?

No.

She had only seen her a couple of times, but she knew Soyak wasn’t that kind of child.

Then who?

“You look quite shocked. Are you doubting your senior brother?”

“N-no. How could I dare. No, I am not…”

Cheonju was not someone who would speak of such things either.

From the very start, he had been…

the one who took her in when she had been nothing but a beggar before entering Mount Hua.

Even though she’d been just another beggar brat, he had split his own rice and shared it with her.

Then who?

Who knew about this…

At that moment, someone slid the door open and came in.

Her master.

Eun Byeok.

“I took you in, gave you Hair-Cutting and Marrow-Washing, and raised you into timber fit for this harsh martial world, and you were harboring such insolent thoughts.”

Cheonhwa’s body stiffened.

Her own master knew?

The next moment, Eun Byeok’s hand closed around Cheonhwa’s head.

“I’ll warn you in advance.”

It felt as if his grip would burst her skull.

Even in the distant, hazy pain, Cheonhwa could not let out so much as a single scream.

“If you lose in this match, I will kill your senior brother so no one ever finds out.”

“P-please, not that, anything but that…”

“So you will have to win. Even if you have to kill that girl to do it. Understood?”

Outside the sliding door, Cheonju was standing.

Unable to step in.

Frozen in place.

****

Half a watch before the duels resumed.

Someone came to Eunsong’s tent.

It was none other than Cheonju.

“Cheonju, isn’t it. Why have you come here. During the One-Branch Gathering, it’s forbidden to go in and out of one another’s tents.”

“I know that, Master.”

Cheonju bowed his head to Eunsong.

His unusually solemn, serious manner made even Soyak tilt her head.

Even Cheonjeong, who was lying down, glanced sideways at Cheonju.

“I… have a favor to ask of Soyak.”

“Of me?”

Soyak’s eyes grew round.

But Cheongak and Cheongu instead glared at Cheonju.

Cheonhwa’s bout with Soyak was right in front of them.

For Cheonju, her senior brother, to come now with a “request”—

There was no one who didn’t know what that meant.

Only Eunsong simply smiled benignly.

“All right. Go ahead and speak.”

Eunsong gestured Soyak over without any particular objection.

Soyak, who had been changing the cold cloth on Cheonjeong’s forehead, rose to her feet.

“…Soyak. I’m begging you.”

Cheonju dropped to his knees on the floor.

Cheonjeong shot up from his spot.

He knew what Cheonju was about to say.

“Please, lose to Cheonhwa.”

“Cheonju. What are you saying.”

The veins stood out on Cheonjeong’s forehead.

As Head Senior, this was behavior he could not tolerate.

No matter that they were all still in their teens, this crossed a line.

But Eunsong instead waved his hand to stop Cheonjeong.

Then he helped Cheonju up and sat him on a wooden chair.

“Tell us the situation.”

“…That is.”

Cheonju’s eyes wavered.

Eunsong gave his sleeve a light flick, cutting off all meridians in the vicinity.

Now, no one could eavesdrop on them from outside with inner power.

“Speak. You can speak now.”

“…Truly?”

“Yes. I will stand on your side.”

It was a shocking statement.

Only then did Cheonju clutch at his hair and open his mouth.

“…Neither I nor Cheonhwa are geniuses or prodigies. We are just ordinary people.”

Cheonjeong narrowed his eyes.

Cheongu and Cheongak did the same.

But Soyak alone was not surprised.

“Please explain in detail.”

Soyak spoke calmly.

Her thin voice was cold.

Entranced by that voice, Cheonju spilled the truth as if bewitched.

“Cheonhwa and I… receive Hair-Cutting and Marrow-Washing from Grandmaster Myungjeok every month.”

“Hair-Cutting and Marrow-Washing, hm. It must have been very painful.”

“Yes, Master. All solely so we could defeat the disciples learning under you in this One-Branch Gathering.”

Soyak blinked.

Cheongak and Cheongu were not competing.

Only the Head Senior Cheonjeong and she, the youngest.

However, Cheonju had clearly been one step below Cheonjeong to begin with.

Which meant the target was herself.

“If Cheonhwa fails to defeat Soyak this time… something terrible will happen.”

“Something terrible?”

“Yes, Soyak. Grandmaster Myungjeok will… well, he probably won’t really kill us. He probably won’t really kill me, but…”

Those words meant he had already spoken of killing.

Eunsong’s expression hardened.

Eunsong had long since heard the stories.

Myungjeok was not a man who made empty threats.

“Now, Senior Brother Cheonju. Surely, even in this upright Mount Hua Sect, he wouldn’t really kill a fellow disciple?”

“He might not kill us. But I cannot believe he would refrain from turning us into cripples and casting us out.”

“Isn’t that judging Grand-Uncle Myungjeok too harshly?”

Cheonju shook his head vehemently.

“You— you say that only because you haven’t seen his face when he performs Hair-Cutting and Marrow-Washing.”

“…What is it like?”

“He smiles. He smiles as he watches us grit our teeth and endure the pain.”

He clenched his fists tight.

It was not because of his own pain.

“Cheonhwa, that child is like a little sister to me. There’s a reason I let her off when she acts up.”

The bonds between fellow disciples were ties formed within Mount Hua.

But Cheonju and Cheonhwa were not like that.

Though this was not something to be talked about here…

When, by Jeongyang’s order, Myunggon and Eun Byeok went around browbeating every branch-line family to squeeze out talent—

they had been children clinging to a small rural sect.

The master of that place had truly not been someone who taught sword to the disciples on his rolls.

To expand its influence in the mundane world, Mount Hua provided subsidies to branch-line sects,

and those subsidies were calculated per disciple head.

The master of a small sect named Glorious Flower Gate had taken in young orphans as “disciples,” fed them, and never taught them the sword.

In the martial world, if you learn the sword wrong, dying by the sword is your fate.

He had not wanted the children to accept such a fate.

But that was the problem.

News that there was a struggling little sect that mainly gathered children reached Jeongyang’s ears in no time.

And then Myungjeok set foot there.

“…Master Eunsong. This was the only way. Soyak, please…”

Eunsong quietly patted Cheonju’s shoulder.

“No, Cheonju.”

“…Sir?”

“I will speak to Senior Brother Eun Byeok. We can resolve this.”

The smile had already vanished from Eunsong’s face.

And Cheonju saw it.

The flash in his eyes.

“In return, there is a condition.”

“A condition…?”

“You and Cheonhwa must accept whatever the result is. Both of you. Understood?”

Soyak realized that these were the same eyes that had proposed a bargain to her.

We will take you into Mount Hua Sect, give you protection, and teach you martial arts.

But you will shoulder all of our karmic debt…

and you will have to kill the Sword Sovereign.

“…How could I refuse. Of course I will obey. I will persuade Cheonhwa as well.”

“It is a promise. You cannot go back on it.”

“I will not go back on it. Never.”

Chapter 29

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