Toward Qingcheng Sect (2)

Bi Sayoung, who had gone ahead to the nearest village, had thoughtfully secured two rooms at an inn—and even had hot bathwater prepared.

The ladies first went to their room, washed for the first time in ages, and came down looking visibly refreshed.

Perhaps from rinsing away the grime, they looked incomparably more beautiful than before.

Even wearing the inn’s loose loaner clothes, they seemed to glow.

Patrons at other tables stole glances, unable to look away.

“Wow! I finally feel alive again! It’s like being reborn! Thank you so much, both of you!”

Smiling back at Lady Jeong-an’s radiant thanks, I answered.

“I did nothing. He handled everything.”

At my words, both looked at Bi Sayoung—but he, feigning indifference, stared toward the kitchen and grumbled.

“I ordered a while ago. How slow are they? Is this how you run a business?”

The ladies, seeing his sour face, hesitated to speak to him.

But I knew exactly why he was acting like this.

I had caught him staring, dazed, at Lady Jeong-an when she came down smiling so brightly.

And now that she sat before him, he couldn’t even meet her eyes.

Adorable fool.

The mood turned awkward for a moment, but once the food arrived, the ladies could not hold back and set aside appearances to devour it.

Compared to the still self-conscious Lady Jeong-yeon, Lady Jeong-an stuffed mouthfuls without restraint.

“Mmf! Mmf! This is so good! You two should hurry and try some. Mmf! Mmf!”

She told us to eat—but she herself ate it all before we could.

Bi Sayoung and I stared at her, dazed in a different way than before; only Lady Jeong-yeon blushed at her junior’s lack of decorum.

Yet even she did not stop her hand, and soon enough she, too, was wholly absorbed in the food.

They must truly have suffered.

While I watched them with a twinge of pity, Bi Sayoung silently stood, spoke to the innkeeper, and returned.

I asked, puzzled.

“What was that?”

“Oh, just had to ask the owner something.”

When more dishes followed shortly after, I realized he had added to the order.

This guy!

I was a bit shocked.

He wasn’t unkind, but this level of attentiveness felt unfamiliar.

So this was the power of love?

I suddenly reflected.

Had I ever done as much for Lady Na?

Then—another woman’s face flashed unbidden in my mind.

—Good grief.

Why her, all of a sudden…

I shook my head to banish the image. My apologies, Lady Na.

We finally managed a conversation only after Bi Sayoung quietly ordered yet more food.

Once they were full, the two ladies exhaled with happy faces and at last looked at us.

“Haah, that was wonderful—”

But as they lifted their heads, they seemed to register the number of stacked plates.

Seeing the toppled tower of dishes, Lady Jeong-yeon went pale.

Even Lady Jeong-an, who seemed the sort to be unfazed, looked flustered.

“Ah, I-I’m so sor—”

Before they could apologize, Bi Sayoung nudged me with a finger under the table—his signal to talk.

I raised my voice.

“Wow! The food here is fantastic! Our apologies—we focused too much on the dishes and not enough on our guests. When good food is in front of us, we tend to forget our surroundings. Hahaha! Please understand. Ah, Sayoung—this is your ‘back-from-the-dead’ celebration, so you can cover this much, right?”

He snorted.

“Are you kidding? My life is worth more than this. Owner! Clear the table and bring another round!”

…What?!

I gaped. The ladies were even more startled.

Eyes wide, they watched us—and when he ordered more food, they hurriedly protested.

“Ah, y-young sir! There’s no need to—”

But he cut in:

“My apologies to you both. We’re notorious gluttons, so it might look excessive. But! We are still hungry! Aren’t we?”

He jabbed my ribs; I forced a smile.

“Y-yes. This was just an appetizer.”

In truth, I’d felt ready to burst for a while.

But there was no helping it.

For my friend, I would endure.

The ladies bowed their heads and whispered:

“…Thank you.”

“We truly ate well.”

Soon the table groaned again beneath a lavish spread, each dish flaunting its rich aroma.

I felt like vomiting.

Staring bleakly at the feast, I set my chopsticks down and told them, who were watching us with round eyes:

“If you’re full, please go rest first.”

Bi Sayoung chimed in at once.

“Y-yes! Rest well so you recover—and then we can travel far tomorrow! Please, go on ahead.”

But Lady Jeong-an beamed with that beautiful smile.

“Oh, but how could we leave before you finish? That would be impolite—”

As our souls withered before her kindness, Lady Jeong-yeon jumped in.

“No—but you’re right. As you said, the most important thing is to recover quickly so we can save my senior sister. Forgive us—we’ll withdraw first!”

Relief lighting our faces, we hurried to answer.

“Of course! Please rest, my lady!”

“No need to feel sorry! We always eat endlessly, and slowly at that—hahaha!”

As Lady Jeong-yeon led the still-bewildered Lady Jeong-an upstairs, we finally let out a deep sigh.

Gazing at the steaming feast, I said,

“Honestly, the smell alone makes me gag. What do we do with all this?”

Bi Sayoung replied,

“I paid. You eat.”

…Excuse me?

I stared at him as at a heap of garbage.

Avoiding my eyes, he muttered,

“…Sorry.”

The path of love was indeed harsh and rugged.

If merely standing by as a friend was this hard… no wonder confessing to Lady Na was difficult even after two lives.

The next morning, the two ladies looked almost lively again.

They weren’t fully recovered, but since our own stomachs were unsettled through the night, our conditions matched—making it easier to travel together.

At this pace, one more day would bring us to Mount Qingcheng.

That evening we took rooms at another nearby inn.

Time-wise, camping would have been faster, but we felt far too unwell.

Especially our bellies—heavy and sore.

If only I could reach the privy, I felt I could empty my guts entirely.

But I couldn’t very well admit we needed an inn again because we had overeaten.

So I wrung my brain and said:

“We’ll reach Mount Qingcheng tomorrow. Let’s rest especially well tonight and present ourselves properly. In that spirit, another inn would be wise. Since Sa-young treated us yesterday, I’ll return the favor today. I’m not as wealthy as he is, though—so we’ll keep it modest. My apologies, haha!”

They nodded apologetically, and Bi Sayoung, unseen by them, gave me a thumbs-up.

While the ladies bathed, we finally cleansed our insides.

In just a day, our bodies felt light again.

This time we ordered a simple meal and at last had a real conversation.

We also finally explained our affiliation.

At first we had avoided it, wary of the Martial Alliance; but from what we’d seen, they did not think highly of the Alliance either.

Having spent time together, we decided we could trust them enough to tell the truth.

They looked surprised.

“You’re both from the Flying Dragon Unit?!”

“Yes, from the Thirteenth Unit.”

“Wow! I’ve never met anyone from the Flying Dragon Unit. You chased the Blood Cult all the way here? Amazing!”

“Not really. The Unit is just a militia of sorts that fights the Blood Cult. We’re not so great.”

“Volunteering to risk your lives is exactly what makes you great!”

Then Lady Jeong-yeon suddenly asked, as if recalling something.

“Come to think of it—Seonu Jin of the Flying Dragon Unit, and Bi Sayoung… I think I’ve heard those names! Are you perhaps the Black Wolf of Flying Heaven and the Gale-Response Swallow?*”

We exchanged awkward looks.

“We were given those epithets, undeservedly. But we are no great heroes.”

She covered her mouth, astonished.

“My goodness!”

Lady Jeong-an, curious, asked her senior:

“Why? Are they famous?”

Lady Jeong-yeon, unusually excited, replied:

“Of course! Not long ago, the Black Market—one of the Eight Powers of Guizhou—coveted the Living-Dead Eccentric’s elixir and kidnapped his children to coerce him. These two, with one more ally, opposed them and rescued the physician and his children. Because of that, the Black Market eventually collapsed.”

“R-really?! Wow!”

She knew far more detail than I expected.

Hearing our deeds recited to our faces was mortifying— and phrased like that, it sounded as if we toppled the Black Market.

“A-ah, the one who destroyed them was Senior Son Eun-sang, the Seductive Demon.”

“Right. The rumors are nonsense. Embarrassing to admit, but we just looted an empty hall and ran for our lives, haha!”

Lady Jeong-yeon smiled and asked:

“Then is it also false that Young Master Seonu slew the Black Market’s master-level expert, the Black-Killing Dart Dong Pae-gyeong; that Young Master Bi displayed a water-bound flight art; and, most of all, that you chose on your own to rescue the physician and his children?”

“Eh? W-well, those are true, but only thanks to luck—”

“I did use something like that movement art, but it’s nothing special—”

As we flustered and rambled, Lady Jeong-an grinned.

“You really are amazing! So there are true heroes besides Senior Brother Hwa!”

Ugh—true heroes.

I wanted to dig a hole and hide.

Bi Sayoung burst out, changing the subject.

“T-then! Please tell us about this Senior Brother Hwa! We’re very curious!”

The two women giggled and began speaking of the Red-Rain Divine Sword, Hwa Yeong-bin.

As expected, Lady Jeong-an started, hands clasped and eyes dreamy.

“He is the most splendid hero in the world! He saved countless Emei disciples from lustful fiends. Many women confessed their hearts to him, but he never accepted—he said he already had a beloved in his heart for life.”

I had not considered it, but a women’s sect without strength would naturally become a target for villains; after the Great War, with Emei’s power drained, their lives must have been harsh.

It seemed Hwa Yeong-bin had devoted himself to helping Emei all this time.

The more I heard, the more unreal he sounded—like a man from legend.

Watching Bi Sayoung gaze at Lady Jeong-an with a pained look while she spoke dreamily was—though I shouldn’t say it—quite amusing.

If it were just the two of us, I could tease him for days; a pity we had company.

Just then, a middle-aged man, caked in dust as if after a long journey, approached us hesitantly.

“Ex-excuse me… are you martial folk?”

We looked at him, puzzled.

For a commoner to address us first was rare.

To ordinary people, martial wanderers were terrifying—beasts whose actions were unpredictable.

So they seldom initiated conversation.

I answered first.

“We are. What is it?”

His cautious expression crumpled; he fell to his knees and wept.

“Please, honored heroes! Save my daughter!”

We were taken aback.

We soothed him into a seat, and he explained in a rush.

Two nights prior, his daughter had vanished from her room as she slept.

Aside from her absence, there were no traces left behind.

“My daughter is known as a beauty in the nearby villages—but she is so modest she rarely leaves the house! She would never go out on her own!”

He had searched the area and even gone to the authorities—with no result. He was just returning from the local sect most respected here: the Mountain Sword Sect.

Lady Jeong-yeon asked,

“And what did they say?”

“They said… last month, and the month before that, there were similar disappearances in other villages. They tried their best to investigate, but found nothing! Uuugh, Sang-a!”

Exchanging grave looks, the two Emei ladies consoled him.

“We are in urgent haste to the Qingcheng Sect and cannot help at once. But we will arrive by tomorrow and will certainly inform them.”

Unsatisfied but resigned, he thanked us and left, begging that we tell Qingcheng.

When he was gone, Lady Jeong-an looked to her senior.

“Sister, this is…”

Lady Jeong-yeon nodded.

“Yes, it fits.”

We asked what they meant.

She explained that the situation was almost identical to the women’s disappearance cases she had investigated with the Emei Sword Phoenix, Lady Jeong-in.

Bi Sayoung frowned.

“Then… the Guild—or rather, the Blood Cult’s hand—has reached even here.”

The two ladies nodded heavily.