Briefly Shining Through the Clouds (1)
Two people were conversing in the Alliance Lord Hall.
They were Ma Cheol-Gun and Master No.
“I did not know this day would come so quickly.”
At Ma Cheol-Gun’s emotion, Master No said with a joyful face,
“It is destiny. Since heaven’s will has reached you, Alliance Lord, now you only need to follow the path given to you.”
“Thank you. From now on, I will trust only the Chief Strategist.”
Both Alliance Lord and Chief Strategist were unfamiliar titles.
For a while, the two sank into thoughts about the days gone by.
In truth, there was something Master No wanted to ask Ma Cheol-Gun. Ma Cheol-Gun had risen as a great hero of the Jianghu by killing demonic people.
In that process, Master No himself had not been involved. Ma Cheol-Gun had not told him how he had obtained that information either. He had thoroughly excluded him.
Of course, that did not mean he had abandoned him. Afterward, as if nothing had happened, he had made him the Chief Strategist of the Grand Martial Alliance like this.
‘Could it be that the force behind the scenes told him?’
Master No also knew of the existence of the force behind the scenes. Therefore, there was no reason to hide the fact that he had received information from them.
‘Why exactly did he exclude me?’
He had to ask.
The decisive reason relationships between people go wrong is because, at times like this, they do not ask. One must ask what the truth is and judge and act accordingly, but people often interpret and judge on their own.
‘Surely it is not related to Alliance Lord Ma’s death?’
He should not allow doubts and suspicions to grow in his heart like this.
Though Master No knew that better than anyone, he could not bring himself to speak.
He felt as if a truth that should never come out would come from Ma Cheol-Gun’s mouth. He felt as if that truth would be wrapped in lies. He was terribly afraid of the moment he would recognize that lie.
“We must create the organization quickly and decisively.”
At Ma Cheol-Gun’s words, Master No answered,
“I will proceed as quickly as possible.”
“They may target you, Master No. I will assign the Seven Heavenly Dragon Swords to you.”
The Seven Heavenly Dragon Swords were masters of the Heavenly Blade Sect who had protected Ma Cheol-Gun before he became Alliance Lord. Now that Ma Cheol-Gun was guarded by the martial artists of the Fierce Tiger Unit, he no longer needed them.
“Thank you.”
Master No did not refuse the consideration.
In the end, he decided not to ask. Whatever the hidden truth was, he had chosen Ma Cheol-Gun. He would manage this Jianghu together with him.
Just as Ma Cheol-Gun wanted to become Cheon Ha-Jin, he too wanted to become a strategist who would remain in history like Gal Sa-Ryang.
That night, Ma Cheol-Gun suddenly woke from sleep.
For a while, he looked up at the night sky through the window where moonlight seeped in. Then, just as he casually turned his body to the other side.
“Huk!”
Ma Cheol-Gun was startled.
A woman was lying beside him, looking toward him. It was that mysterious woman.
“This is insane!”
He spat out a curse, but that was as far as it went.
Her appearance, illuminated by the moonlight, was far too beautiful. The slightly revealed, snow-white valley of her chest was far too seductive. If only her body had been beautiful, he would not have been drawn in like this.
There was a certain strange feeling that only she gave off. It resembled a dignity that could not be treated carelessly, but to call it dignity, the feeling was too violent, so it was closer to overwhelming pressure.
In any case, when that combined with her beautiful appearance, Ma Cheol-Gun could not withstand her charm.
Even while clearly knowing that the other person was using a beauty trap, he was helplessly falling for it.
She asked in a soft voice,
“I envy you.”
“What do you envy?”
“You have gained the whole world now, haven’t you? How does it feel? To truly become Alliance Lord?”
“It is not bad.”
Even as he answered, Ma Cheol-Gun thought this was madness. If he fell for this woman like this, he would eventually be destroyed.
“I know why you came to see me.”
At Ma Cheol-Gun’s words, an interested light appeared in the woman’s eyes.
“Oh! Try guessing.”
“You must have come because of the elite organization I am trying to create. It is something that threatens all of you, so you came to stop me.”
At that, she asked with captivating eyes,
“If I try to stop you, will you stop?”
“Not a chance.”
“That is good. If a man is a man, he should have at least this much stubbornness and guts. He must not fall for a mere woman and flounder helplessly, right?”
As if she were looking straight through his inner thoughts, Ma Cheol-Gun’s face reddened slightly.
In any case, judging by her reaction, it somehow did not seem that she had come because of that matter.
“If that is not it, then why did you come to me?”
“I just came. Because I wanted to see you.”
“What?”
Though he clearly knew it was not true, he could not help feeling good.
“Why? Do you dislike it? Shall I not come anymore?”
The words telling her not to come did not come out. It seemed they would not come out in the future either.
The woman reached out and lightly caressed Ma Cheol-Gun’s face. She smelled pleasant.
Ma Cheol-Gun did not avoid her soft touch.
“When a woman comes to see a man, it requires a great deal of courage.”
At this moment, Ma Cheol-Gun had this thought.
‘If only I can make this woman stand on my side?’
More accurately, it was not “my side,” but “my woman.”
The woman smiled and said,
“Next time, you come to me.”
Her two eyes shone white.
When the light disappeared, she was already gone.
Ma Cheol-Gun, lying alone on the bed, felt as though he had dreamed.
But the sensation of her touch remaining on his cheek made him certain that it had not been a dream.
Ma Cheol-Gun turned his head, looked at the moon in the night sky, and said quietly,
“……Where must I go to find you?”
Before returning to Shandong, I looked after Song Hwa-Rin and Gwangdu’s Martial Arts.
I taught them together in one place.
The Martial Arts skills of the two had improved by leaps and bounds compared to the beginning. On top of that, their levels were quite similar.
When I looked after their Martial Arts, the parts where they had been temporarily stagnant opened up refreshingly again.
Song Hwa-Rin made an unexpected proposal to Gwangdu.
“Shall we have one spar? We have an excellent referee here too.”
“Are you speaking to me?”
“Yes. I said before that we should do it once, didn’t I?”
“I remember.”
Compared to Song Hwa-Rin, who proposed it casually, Gwangdu was cautious.
“I am fine with it, but…… I worry that a spar with someone like me may be discourteous to you, Young Lady.”
In this moment, I felt in Gwangdu the same kind of limit and shackle of life that I had felt from Song Hwa-Rin. The way he had stiffened when I once asked him to sleep in the same room touched this very same cautiousness now.
I hoped Gwangdu would quickly break this limit he had created for himself.
Song Hwa-Rin said calmly,
“Someone like me is an expression that truly does not suit Martial Artist Gwang.”
Gwangdu was moved.
With a sinister expression, I whispered into Gwangdu’s ear,
“After moving you like this, she will stab your heart again and again with that sword.”
“Huk!”
Song Hwa-Rin played along with my joke.
“Hut, I was found out.”
The sight of her pretending to be a villain was far too cute.
I stood between the two of them.
“Now, focus. I always say this, but a spar done with a half-hearted mind is worse than not doing it at all. Even if you do it only once, it helps only when you do it properly.”
“Yes!”
“Understood.”
The two answered loudly. They were tense. I deliberately did not ease their tension.
It was a duel between the Seven Forms of the Southern Sea and the True Flower Sword Art.
Since both Martial Arts themselves were extremely excellent, victory or defeat depended on each person’s skill.
The spar began. On the outside, I was calm, but inwardly, I watched with great tension.
If they seemed about to make a mistake, I was prepared to intervene immediately. It was a duel between two people far too precious to me.
Changchangchangchang!
Sword and saber clashed quickly, each creating its own lines.
Neither of the two had much sparring experience. But they sparred far more skillfully than I expected. They were neither too aggressive nor too cautious.
After watching for a long while, I finally understood. Astonishingly, this skillfulness was related to their state of mind.
First, there was a heart that did not cling desperately to victory or defeat, yet still wanted to do its best. These conflicting feelings were strangely forming a kind of balance.
The moment I felt that, I felt a resonance in my heart. And one word came to mind.
Harmony.
Yes, that was exactly harmony.
My swordsmanship was perfect. Even if one were to speak of harmony, it was perfect enough that I dared use that word.
But had my heart been in harmony?
Had I not been looking only upward in order to reach the Realm of the Heart Sword? Had I not simply been running forward like a madman?
I was able to realize it.
My heart had never been in harmony. Because my heart had not been harmonious, my Martial Arts had also failed to achieve harmony.
In terms of my level, my heart was inferior even to the harmonious hearts possessed by those two people, who could be called novices.
It had not been like that from the beginning.
At some point, that harmony must have broken. When exactly had that been?
How much time passed like that?
When I raised my head, Gwangdu and Song Hwa-Rin were staring blankly at me.
“Huu!”
Only then did Gwangdu let out a sigh and sink down onto the ground. Song Hwa-Rin was the same. She dropped the sword she had been holding onto the ground.
“What happened?”
At that, Gwangdu and Song Hwa-Rin both looked dumbfounded at the same time.
“That is what we should be asking!”
At Gwangdu’s shout, only then did I realize that the surroundings had grown dim.
“Two whole hours have passed since you sank into thought, Young Master! Two whole hours!”
I had fallen into a state of selflessness for two whole hours.
“You said that when a martial artist falls into some kind of thought, we must not interrupt them, didn’t you? That it is a truly important moment?”
“Who said that?”
Gwangdu looked at Song Hwa-Rin.
This time, Song Hwa-Rin looked at me and asked,
“Is that not true?”
I smiled and said,
“It is true.”
Song Hwa-Rin tapped her neck and shoulders and said,
“That is a relief. Later on, I was worried. I wondered whether you had perhaps fallen into qi deviation!”
Gwangdu flopped down flat on his back.
“We stood there without even being able to breathe loudly!”
“Hahaha. I am sorry.”
I was grateful to the two of them.
It was not merely important. For a martial artist, falling into such a state of selflessness might occur only once or twice in an entire lifetime.
I had fallen into a state of selflessness at a truly unexpected moment.
What did I realize?
While thinking about the harmony of the heart, I fell into it, and countless thoughts rose one after another.
I thought about my past life, Martial Arts, and battles, and about harmony within them. I thought about the many things that had not been harmonious, about what true harmony was, and whether being harmonious was truly more correct.
Then I had no memory. After that, I did not know what I thought of or recalled. I had truly fallen into a state of selflessness and come back out.
“Let us go. I am hungry.”
“Buy us something delicious!”
“Of course I should.”
As I walked ahead, I looked back at the two and asked,
“By the way, who won?”
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“We still have some room.”
At No. Seven’s words, Lin Yan-Qing nodded. At the very least, they would not kill her until the Great Rite was safely completed.
The problem was the time the Great Rite would take. She did not know whether it was a Great Rite that would take one day, or several years.
“Where has the Great Rite been decided to take place?”
“They said they would tell me when the time comes.”
After what had happened last time, Lin Yan-Qing was treating her comfortably, almost like a younger sister.
“Everything is thoroughly hidden in secrecy.”
No. Seven had told her to trust her, but in truth, the situation was bleak.
The surest way to survive was to run away. Run far away and hide deep in the mountains. At the very least, she could save her life.
“I will absolutely not run away.”
Lin Yan-Qing clearly stated her will not to flee.
Then there was only one method.
No. Seven stopped walking and said quietly,
“We kill Seo Hak-Sa without anyone knowing.”
“Then the Great Rite?”
“Who cares? Someone else will probably come.”
If only they could do that.
“But killing him is impossible! His Martial Arts are so strange that ordinary Martial Arts cannot deal with him.”
“Strange?”
“It is an extremely vicious evil art.”
“I understand. I will look for a method.”
Lin Yan-Qing silently looked at No. Seven as she respectfully bowed her head and turned around.
Lin Yan-Qing regretted it. Regretted dragging her into this matter. At the final moment, she would have to send her away.
At the door, No. Seven turned her head.
“Please trust me.”
Lin Yan-Qing smiled and nodded.
“I trust you.”
No. Seven came out of the room and was walking down the corridor when No. One’s door opened.
“Can I see you for a moment?”
“Yes.”
No. Seven entered the room. There was a window in No. One’s room, but the same picture of the sea from before was pasted over it, covering the window.
“You are not plotting something these days, are you?”
At No. One’s question, No. Seven showed a reaction as if she did not understand what he meant.
“What do you mean?”
No. One stared at No. Seven without a word. Recently, he had felt a change in No. Seven. He did not know what it was, but she had changed. Or perhaps she was in the middle of changing.
“You have not been like yourself lately.”
No. Seven asked calmly,
“What does being like myself mean?”
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