RHD Chapter 149

Two people conversed in the Alliance Leader’s hall.

Ma Cheol-gun and Elder No.

“I never thought this day would come so quickly.”

At Ma Cheol-gun’s emotion, Elder No spoke with a happy face:

“It’s heaven’s mandate. Heaven’s will has reached you, my lord—now you need only follow the path given.”

“Thank you. From now on, I’ll trust only in my Commander-in-Chief.”

Both titles—Alliance Leader and Commander-in-Chief—felt unfamiliar.

The two fell briefly into reminiscence of past days.

Actually, Elder No had something he wanted to ask Ma Cheol-gun. Ma Cheol-gun had risen as a great hero of the martial world by eliminating demon cultists.

Elder No hadn’t been part of that process. He wasn’t even told how Ma Cheol-gun got that information. He had been thoroughly excluded.

Of course, this didn’t mean he had been abandoned. Afterward, as if nothing had happened, Ma Cheol-gun had made him Commander-in-Chief of the Martial Alliance.

Could the forces behind the scenes have told him?

Elder No knew of their existence too. Therefore, there was no reason to hide if he had received information from them.

Why did he exclude me then?

He needed to ask.

The decisive reason relationships between people break down is not asking at times like this. One should ask what the truth is and judge and act accordingly, but people often interpret and judge arbitrarily.

Could it be related to Alliance Leader Ma’s death?

He shouldn’t let such doubts and suspicions grow in his heart.

Though he knew this better than anyone, Elder No couldn’t bring himself to speak.

It felt like truths that shouldn’t come from Ma Cheol-gun’s mouth would emerge. Like those truths would be wrapped in lies. He feared the moment he would notice those lies.

“We need to create the organization quickly.”

Elder No responded to Ma Cheol-gun’s words:

“I’ll proceed as fast as possible.”

“They might target you. I’ll assign the Seven Dragon Swords to you.”

The Seven Dragon Swords were masters from the Heavenly Blade Sect who had protected Ma Cheol-gun before he became Alliance Leader. Now that the Alliance Protection Regiment’s martial artists protected him, he didn’t need them.

“Thank you.”

Elder No didn’t decline the consideration.

He decided not to ask in the end. Whatever hidden truth there might be, he had chosen Ma Cheol-gun. He would build this martial world together with him.

Just as Ma Cheol-gun wanted to become like Cheon Hajin, he too wanted to become a commander who would remain in history like Gal Sa-ryang.

***

That night, Ma Cheol-gun suddenly woke from sleep.

After briefly gazing at the night sky through the moonlit window, he casually turned to the other side.

“Ah!”

Ma Cheol-gun startled.

A woman lay beside him, looking his way. It was that mysterious woman.

“Holy shit!”

Though he cursed, that was all.

Her form in the moonlight was too beautiful. Her slightly exposed white cleavage was too alluring. If only her body had been beautiful, he wouldn’t have been so drawn.

She had some strange quality unique to her. It resembled dignity that couldn’t be treated carelessly, but was too violent to call dignity—closer to overwhelming presence.

Anyway, combined with her beautiful appearance, Ma Cheol-gun couldn’t handle her charm.

Though he clearly knew she was using feminine wiles, he was helplessly falling for it.

She asked in a soft voice:

“I’m envious.”

“Of what?”

“You have everything now, don’t you? How is it? How does it feel to really be Alliance Leader?”

“Not bad.”

Even as he answered, Ma Cheol-gun thought this was madness. Falling for this woman like this would lead to his destruction.

“I know why you came to me.”

The woman’s eyes showed interest at Ma Cheol-gun’s words.

“Oh! Guess then.”

“You came because of the elite organization I’m creating. Since it threatens you people. To stop me.”

She asked with seductive eyes:

“If I ask you to stop, will you?”

“Not a chance.”

“Good. A man should have this much stubbornness and guts. Can’t flounder about falling for a mere woman, right?”

Ma Cheol-gun’s face reddened slightly, feeling like she could see right through him.

Anyway, judging by her reaction, it somehow didn’t seem like she came for that reason.

“If not that, why did you seek me out?”

“I just came. Because I wanted to see you.”

“What?”

Though he knew it wasn’t true, he couldn’t help feeling pleased.

“Why? Don’t you like it? Should I stop coming?”

The words “don’t come” wouldn’t come out. They probably never would.

The woman reached out and gently caressed Ma Cheol-gun’s face. She smelled nice.

Ma Cheol-gun didn’t avoid her soft touch.

“It takes a lot of courage for a woman to visit a man.”

At this moment, Ma Cheol-gun had this thought:

If only I could make this woman my ally?

More precisely, not “ally” but “my woman.”

The woman smiled and said:

“Next time, you come to me.”

Her eyes flashed white.

When the light faded, she had already vanished.

Lying alone on the bed, Ma Cheol-gun felt like he had dreamed it all.

But her touch lingering on his cheek assured him it wasn’t a dream.

Ma Cheol-gun turned to look at the moon in the night sky and whispered:

“…where should I go to find you?”

***

Before returning to Shandong, I evaluated Song Hwa-rin and Gwang-du’s martial arts.

I taught them together in one place.

Their martial arts skills had improved remarkably from before. Moreover, their abilities were quite evenly matched.

When I evaluated their martial arts, areas that had been stagnant broke through smoothly again.

Song Hwa-rin made an unexpected proposal to Gwang-du:

“Shall we have a sparring match? We have an excellent referee here.”

“You mean with me?”

“Yes. I suggested it before, remember?”

“I do remember.”

While Song Hwa-rin proposed casually, Gwang-du was cautious.

“I’m fine with it… but I’m worried whether sparring with someone like me might be disrespectful to you, miss.”

I sense in Gwang-du the same kind of life limitations and shackles I felt in Song Hwa-rin. This cautiousness connects directly to how he tensed up when I suggested sharing a room before.

I hope Gwang-du breaks free of these self-imposed limitations soon.

Song Hwa-rin spoke calmly:

“The phrase ‘someone like me’ really doesn’t suit you, Martial Uncle Gwang.”

Gwang-du was moved.

I spoke into Gwang-du’s ear with a mischievous expression:

“After touching you like this, she’ll stab your heart repeatedly with that sword.”

“Eek!”

Song Hwa-rin played along with my joke:

“Heh, you figured it out.”

Her attempt at playing villain was too cute.

I stood between them.

“Now, focus. As I always say, sparring with half-hearted resolve is worse than not sparring at all. Even once, when done properly, that’s when it helps.”

“Yes!”

“Understood.”

They both answered loudly. They were tense. I deliberately didn’t ease their tension.

It was a match between the Seven Forms of the Southern Sea and the Vibrating Splendor Sword Art.

Since both were excellent martial arts, victory would depend on individual skill.

The sparring began. Though outwardly calm, I watched intensely with internal tension.

I was ready to intervene immediately if they seemed likely to make mistakes. This was a match between two people too precious to me.

Clang clang clang clang!

Sword and saber clashed rapidly, each creating their own lines.

Neither had much sparring experience. But they sparred far more skillfully than I expected. Neither too aggressive nor too cautious.

After watching for a while, I finally understood. Surprisingly, this skillfulness was related to their state of mind.

First, they had the mindset of giving their best while not being obsessed with winning or losing. These opposing mindsets struck a strange balance.

The moment I felt this, I felt something resonate in my heart. And one word arose:

Harmony.

Yes, that right there was harmony.

My swordsmanship was perfect. Even in terms of harmony, I could dare use the word perfect.

But was my heart in harmony?

Had I only looked upward in pursuing the Mind Sword State? Had I just rushed forward madly?

I could realize it.

That my heart had never achieved harmony. Because my heart lacked harmony, my martial arts too lacked harmony.

My heart was inferior even to the harmonious hearts of these two who could be called novices compared to my skill.

It hadn’t always been that way.

The harmony must have broken at some point. When exactly was that?

How much time passed like that?

When I raised my head, Gwang-du and Song Hwa-rin were staring at me blankly.

“Whew!”

Only then did Gwang-du sigh and collapse to the ground. Song Hwa-rin was the same. She dropped her sword.

“What’s wrong?”

Gwang-du and Song Hwa-rin simultaneously made dumbfounded expressions.

“That’s what we should ask!”

At Gwang-du’s shout, I finally realized it had grown dark around us.

“You’ve been lost in thought for two hours! A whole two hours!”

I had been in a trance for two hours.

“They say you shouldn’t disturb a martial artist lost in thought, right? That it might be a crucial moment?”

“Who says that?”

Gwang-du looked at Song Hwa-rin.

This time Song Hwa-rin asked me:

“Isn’t it true?”

I smiled and said:

“It is.”

Song Hwa-rin massaged her neck and shoulders while speaking:

“Thank goodness. I was worried later. Wondering if you’d fallen into qi deviation!”

Gwang-du flopped down.

“We couldn’t even breathe loudly while standing there!”

“Hahaha. Sorry.”

I was grateful to them both.

This wasn’t just important. For a martial artist, falling into such a trance might happen once or twice in a lifetime.

I fell into the trance at a completely unexpected moment.

What did I realize?

While thinking about harmony of the heart, I fell in, and countless thoughts arose in succession.

I thought about harmony through past lives, martial arts, and battles. Thinking about many things that lacked harmony, I pondered what true harmony is, and whether being harmonious is really more correct.

Then my memory stops. I don’t know what I thought about after that. I had truly entered and emerged from a trance.

“Let’s go, I’m hungry.”

“Buy us something delicious!”

“Of course I will.”

Walking ahead, I turned to them and asked:

“By the way, who won?”

***

“There’s still time.”

Im Yeon-jeong nodded at Number Seven’s words. He wouldn’t kill her at least until the great ritual was safely completed.

The problem was how long the ritual would take. They didn’t know if it would take a day or several years.

“Where will the ritual be held?”

“He said he’d tell me when the time comes.”

Since the last incident, Im Yeon-jeong had been treating her comfortably like a sister.

“Everything is thoroughly shrouded in secrecy.”

Though Number Seven had told her to trust her, she actually felt helpless.

The surest way to survive would be to run away. Flee far away and hide deep in the mountains. At least that would save their lives.

“I absolutely won’t run away.”

Im Yeon-jeong clearly expressed her resolve not to flee.

Then there was only one way.

Number Seven stopped walking and spoke quietly:

“Kill the Western Scholar without anyone knowing.”

“What about the ritual?”

“What does it matter? Someone else will probably come.”

If only they could do that—

“But killing him is impossible! His martial arts are so bizarre that normal martial arts can’t handle them!”

“Bizarre?”

“He’s a terribly vicious practitioner.”

“I understand. I’ll find a way.”

Im Yeon-jeong watched silently as she bowed respectfully and turned away.

Im Yeon-jeong was regretting it. Drawing her into this. She would have to send her away at the last moment.

Number Seven turned her head at the door.

“Trust me.”

Im Yeon-jeong smiled and nodded.

“I do.”

As Number Seven walked down the corridor after leaving the room, Number One’s door opened.

“Can I see you for a moment?”

“Yes.”

Number Seven entered the room. Number One’s room had a window, with that old sea painting still covering it.

“You’re not plotting something these days, are you?”

Number Seven showed confusion at Number One’s question.

“What do you mean?”

Number One silently stared at Number Seven. He had sensed changes in her lately. He didn’t know what, but she was different. Or rather, in the process of changing.

“You’re not acting like yourself lately.”

Number Seven asked calmly:

“What does acting like myself mean?”