Reincarnated Sword Ghost

Chapter 65 : Reflections

Reflections

The pale gray stone floor was tinted a reddish hue.

As sunset fell, yellow rays brushed the profiles of passersby.

Jeong-un was strolling through the streets of the Heavenly Martial Hall with comrades he hadn't seen for a while.

It was a time for sharing stories and relieving emotions built up during their days apart.

"As I thought, my eyes were not mistaken. Did I not say Young Hero Yu was a prodigy for the ages?"

Jo Gwang remarked as he noticed the double strands of golden thread wound about Jeong-un's left arm.

He stared intently at them, his face as if he had actually seen real gold.

"Wherever you go, you'll now be treated as an honored guest. Especially considering your youth. Besides, your appearance is as refined as a young master—so you'll surely receive even greater respect. Ah, picturing Young Hero Yu's radiant future moves me deeply."

Jeong-un let it pass lightly.

Not only did it not sound like words meant for him to take to heart, but he also didn't have a shameless enough nature to smile at such embarrassing remarks.

Before coming to Heavenly Martial Hall, he had never even received a sincere word of praise.

"Why are you the one so moved?"

Baek Il-gang threw Jo Gwang a rather disgruntled look.

"It's still vivid how you treated me and Young Hero Yu like cold water on our first mission. You didn't even come near us, did you?"

"To clarify, I still have no desire to come near you."

"That's the best thing I've heard recently."

"At any rate, don't be jealous of the relationship between Young Hero Yu and myself."

A few words of harmless banter were exchanged.

Jeong-un smiled wryly listening to their talk.

"By the way, won't you tell us what really happened?"

Tang Yerin looked at Jeong-un and asked.

At some point, she had regained her cheerful demeanor.

It was after she made that peculiar promise that, for martial artists, a debt of gratitude or resentment bore the deepest significance, and that she'd treat him even better from now on.

"What do you mean, what happened?"

"That grave of the Divine Physician. Young Hero Jeong-un, you went inside, didn't you? I want to hear that vivid story."

"Ah."

The story of Jeong-un entering and returning alive from the Divine Physician's tomb was already well-known within the confines of the institution.

However, there was no one who knew the detailed inner circumstances.

Only rumors had spread—of great casualties, and that in the end, the Immortal Spirit Pill was not found.

'How much can I actually reveal?'

Jeong-un hesitated for a moment.

Then, he looked at the three comrades waiting on his story with faces each their own.

'Maybe it's all right.'

That was what he mumbled internally—to his own surprise.

Had a sense of camaraderie finally sprouted? It was a feeling he'd never known before.

"......"

He soon decided. These people, he felt, he could trust.

And besides, what difference did it make, really?

It didn't seem like a story that could be hidden in the first place.

So, he briefly explained what had happened.

They listened in silence until he got to the part about a man named Seonwoo Hak declaring himself the leader of the Demonic Cult, and at that, they were greatly startled.

"D-demonic cult...?"

Jo Gwang stopped in his tracks, his jaw hanging open.

"Did you mishear? That can't be..."

"He definitely called himself the leader of the Ming Cult. Whether that group is truly related to the ones who caused a bloodbath in the past, I can't say."

Jeong-un replied calmly.

Even now, his thoughts weren't much different from the moment he faced Zhuge Cheon-woo.

He didn't really care what ambitions those people harbored or what they wished to call themselves.

They were merely savages that, if need be, should be cut down.

Actually, to dwell on the name felt like humoring them.

"So what happened? Did you kill him?"

Jeong-un slowly shook his head.

"He wielded a refined movement technique. I was sure I had struck him, but a moment later, he was standing somewhere else. Rather, I was brought down by a heavy striking art and lost consciousness."

"You lost consciousness? Then...?"

Jeong-un didn't answer.

His memories after that point were hazy.

His final recollection was of the man opening the wooden box tauntingly, right before his eyes.

'... After that.'

When he next woke, he was in the guest hall of Huayeon Gate, and there was an immense unfamiliar internal energy inside his dantian.

Looking back, he was only left with doubts.

Why had the man spared his life?

And what was this internal energy?

'The only thing I can guess at is one thing.'

That this internal energy was, more likely than not, a portion of the Immortal Spirit Pill's cultivation.

This, at least, he was convinced of by a strange intuition.

He had no idea by what means it had settled into his dantian.

He could only vaguely surmise that it was somehow related to the other man sparing his life.

As Jeong-un fell silent, Tang Yerin spoke up.

"In any case, as long as you're safe, that's what matters, right?"

He quietly nodded.

He wasn't indifferent enough to mention his first experience of defeat as if it were nothing.

Not when it came to martial skill, at least.

He had replayed the man's movements countless times over in his training since.

'There won't be a next time. If we meet again, I'll cut him down.'

It's rare for martial artists on hostile terms in the martial world to cross paths more than once.

Jeong-un believed the same would be true between himself and that man.

"So then, was the Immortal Spirit Pill truly nonexistent?"

Jo Gwang pressed, his face flushed with excitement.

That was clearly what he was most curious about.

"... Yes, it wasn't there."

This, honestly, was the hardest to answer.

Could it truly be said that the Immortal Spirit Pill had existed?

He hadn't seen its shape himself.

And then, how to explain this internal energy in his dantian...?

Nothing was clear.

For the moment, it was a secret he would have to keep.

"What, you really thought such a thing existed?"

At that point, Baek Il-gang looked at Jo Gwang with an exasperated face.

Jo Gwang stared back with round eyes.

"If not, then what was the meaning of that tomb?"

"You heard Young Hero Yu. There were despicable demonic cultists. They must have set another filthy trap to lure martial artists in."

Thus, exchanging such familiar words, they made their way back to Blue Scale Hall.

As soon as they arrived at their lodgings, Baek Il-gang and Jo Gwang raised a commotion.

It was because of a message from the General Affairs Department, stating that now that Jeong-un was away, Jo Gwang would take the vacant spot in his sleeping quarters.

"You mean I'm to share a room with this guy? I must complain to the General Affairs Department at once!"

"Would you like to defect to the Demonic Cult? I'd gladly seek you out!"

"...?"

Jeong-un left their bickering behind and went up to his room.

Thanks to meeting old friends, he'd returned a bit later than usual.

'Best get to work.'

Jeong-un sat cross-legged on his bedding.

Then, focusing his concentration fully, he began to circulate his ki.

This evening too, he focused on unraveling the internal energy within his dantian to make it his own.

Only the barest thread-like strands transformed into pure true ki, but he didn't mind.

Doing nothing simply because the task seemed daunting would be the most foolish thing.

He should do what he could, without delay.

'Don't forget the time you first wielded your sword.'

Jeong-un recited the thought inwardly.

He spent longer than usual in meditation that night.

* * *

Peaceful days continued.

Jeong-un enjoyed a life of routine, spending his days going only to the training hall, just as when he first joined.

Through meditation, he observed his body deeply, refining his sword moves, recommended methods, and movement techniques.

He greatly enjoyed himself.

Especially, his Moonlight Swift Steps had clearly advanced by another step.

It is a martial skill about how to move the body.

It had considerable influence even on sword technique, recommended method, and even the One Illumination Movement Technique.

Now, in Jeong-un's every faint breath, the subtlety of One Illumination Movement Technique could be felt.

This was possible only because it was a technique borne of a strong will to build steadily, no matter how slight.

Thanks to that, mystique of cultivation methods blended with movement martial arts in everything he did.

By changing his breathing patterns, he could alter his movements. That novelty was fascinating.

How to move the body was fundamentally linked to how to move ki.

Surprisingly, the more he trained, the more it helped broaden his sensitivity.

But in all his training, the greatest progress was made in none other than footwork.

Jeong-un had already laid the foundations of footwork.

While dueling with the young clan head of the Hebei Peng Clan, he had witnessed Primordial Steps, and using its subtlety, had managed to scatter a formation with his energy.

The very purpose of Moonlight Swift Steps, a martial art for moving the body, was different.

This was a martial technique that, with one forcible stride, would release vital ki to carve out a space for oneself.

If used skillfully, it might allow him to create the window needed to land a sword strike even against a master.

'Perhaps I can even name it soon.'

If he went through a few more real battles, Jeong-un murmured to himself, it might be possible.

Finishing his training for the day, he returned to his quarters at Blue Scale Hall.

He had dinner with his comrades. This too, was a rare occasion lately.

These days, they too were busy, each absorbed in their own training.

The fact that Jeong-un had advanced to double strands had clearly spurred them on.

However, Jo Gwang brought an amusing piece of news.

"Do you know what rumors are circulating around here lately?"

He paused as if to make them guess, and when no one did, he naturally continued.

"There's talk that Young Hero Yu is actually from a hidden branch of one of the five great families."

"What?"

It was Tang Yerin who frowned and shot back before Jeong-un could.

She looked utterly incredulous.

"What kind of talk is that? Why are people distorting Young Hero Jeong-un's origins all of a sudden?"

"It's just that Young Hero Yu's martial skills are so outstanding that such stories spread, isn't it?"

Jo Gwang seemed to think this was good news for Jeong-un;

he explained that being mistaken for someone from a prestigious household was akin to being regarded as a person of importance.

Baek Il-gang, who had been silently listening, let out a short laugh.

"You still don't get their true intentions?"

"Their intentions?"

Jo Gwang asked, to which Baek Il-gang replied with a snort.

"Young Hero Yu took first place in the Special City and accumulated achievements at a gallop, advancing to double strands at record speed. And yet you say such a man is from a countryside martial clan? They just can't accept it. They're desperate to link you to them somehow."

"Huh..."

Jo Gwang stared dumbly at Baek Il-gang, clearly never having thought of it that way.

Jeong-un, meanwhile, also glanced at Baek Il-gang.

He had never cared how others saw him from the start.

'It's not as if my origin really changes, anyway.'

He was the youngest of a clan with the surname Yu.

That was something he neither could nor wanted to change.

He only wondered, idly,

'Why do I dislike those distinguished sects so much?'

Jeong-un gazed quietly at Baek Il-gang and Jo Gwang as they exchanged their inane banter.

Whether or not Baek Il-gang's hypothesis had merit, such a temperament could not help but show even in small words and actions.

"Why do you see it that way?"

"It's nothing."

Their eyes met, but Jeong-un quickly shook his head.

Everyone has a story they cannot tell.

He suddenly found it odd that such a thought had even occurred to him; it must mean their relationship had deepened.

Unless it came to light naturally, he didn't particularly want to pry.

"Sirs, I beg your attention."

At that moment, a servant arrived and bowed his head.

Apologizing for disturbing their meal, he cautiously stated his business.

"The Blue Scale Corps Leader requests your presence."

"...?"