Where The Sword Points (2)

The place the two walked to was the villa used by Song Cheol-gwang, the Divine Spear Patriarch.

Im Yeo-wol looked around in wonder. She hadn’t imagined such a perfect spot could be tucked into these foothills.

Stopping in the yard before the villa, Jin-hyeon asked Im Yeo-wol bluntly.

“Yeo-wol.”

“Yes, Patriarch.”

“Why did you refuse?”

“Huh?”

Jin-hyeon spoke with a smile.

“It didn’t seem the Sichuan Branch Leader moved himself. Someone tied to him asked you for information about me, did they not?”

“!!”

Im Yeo-wol’s face went pale.

“The day after we drank our fill, someone from their side called you in, yes?”

He seemed to know everything already.

Looking at Jin-hyeon with trembling eyes, Im Yeo-wol soon lowered her head. Her shoulders slumped as if she had resigned herself to it all.

“Yes.”

“Why did you not hand them my information?”

“…”

“Tell me. I want to hear it.”

The corners of Im Yeo-wol’s eyes quivered.

“I…”

“…”

“I…”

She could not go on easily. Jin-hyeon waited in silence.

How long did this continue?

“I have lived a life I cannot hold my head high about.”

It came out of nowhere, but Jin-hyeon nodded and received her words. Im Yeo-wol was not Mun Jung. She was one of his people. At least that was how he saw it.

“There are few who have not.”

“I killed many who were innocent.”

“Because you were raised as Gwan Hong’s blade. The orders were his.”

“Even if it was the master who swung the blade, I do not think the scent of blood clinging to the blade disappears.”

“And the ones who could wash that blood-scent away are all gone. Right?”

Im Yeo-wol looked at Jin-hyeon with wet eyes.

Jin-hyeon spoke evenly.

“You went to the families and close ones of those you killed to offer your neck. But there was no one left, and the blood-scent on you remains unwashed even now, right?”

“…”

“You came to me like that, and the man calling himself your creditor told you to just follow without ordering you to do a thing. Now you don’t even know what is what, do you?”

Without realizing it, Im Yeo-wol bit her lip.

“Your eye is peerlessly sharp, Patriarch… but I do not think you can know all of another’s heart.”

“Yes. I know.”

“…”

“I saw your state as it showed to my eye. Your words and deeds. And I inferred. I ignored the hurt you bear and only guessed at your heart. That is all.”

“…”

“But I want you to know this one thing. The heart I hold for enemies is not the heart I hold for my own.”

“Hm?”

“To know an enemy is to break him. To know my own is because I want to help in some way.”

“!”

“I do not care whether my guess is right or wrong. What matters is the truth. And I want the truth because I want to understand you more.”

“…”

“I must rightly understand who you are to find what I can do for you.”

For some reason, a surge of emotions rose and Im Yeo-wol lowered her head again. Clear drops fell from her eyes one by one.

“A guess is a guess. There is no certainty. Most things in the world are like that.”

“…”

“The blood-scent has not washed away and you do not know what to do. Then let me ask just one thing.”

“…”

“Do you want to die?”

Im Yeo-wol started and looked at Jin-hyeon.

Seureung!

Without a word, Jin-hyeon drew the Indestructible Sword and placed it in her hand.

“If what you want is death, if you believe that will free you from everything, I will not stop you.”

“!”

“It has not been long since we met, but I see you as one of mine. Yet giving something is not the only way to help. I believe I must also know how to stand aside for those I call my own.”

“…”

“If there is no one to go to and nowhere to go, I believe I am the only one who can watch over your life and death.”

Im Yeo-wol looked down at the Indestructible Sword.

The sword was heavy. Not only because it was a greatsword.

Jin-hyeon’s eyes shone.

“Life begins and ends between life and death. Seek it in that sword which will divide your life and death.”

Find life and death in the sword?

Staring at the Indestructible Sword in confusion, Im Yeo-wol slowly brought the blade to her neck.

The movement came out before she knew it. And she felt no strangeness in what she did.

And she realized it. She was not ordinary.

A strangling hand rose in memory. The gaze full of bestial lust and bloodlust.

‘Right. I should have died then.’

Living had not been living. Her hatred for Gwan Hong outweighed her thanks. She gave countless testimonies to destroy him, yet that too was something she had been swept into by those around her.

She lived shut in a dungeon, then came out to the world far sooner than expected.

She had been told she would rot there for over a year. The constable in charge had said so. Yet she left so soon because of a deal with a high official acting on the Sichuan Branch Leader’s order.

‘I accepted that.’

Until then, she felt little gratitude toward Jin-hyeon. She even felt hatred for the man who had dragged her back into this chaotic world.

In despair, she wandered the streets, then was led by someone’s hand and met Jin-hyeon again.

In that moment, she realized her hatred of Jin-hyeon was a mere illusion.

‘Why was that?’

Why did I feel relief at a man who called himself my creditor, who in some sense was not so different from my former master?

Why did I follow him? Was it truly because I was confused and had nothing to do?

Tuk! Tuduk!

The tears running down Im Yeo-wol’s cheeks struck the broad blade.

“I…”

“…”

“I want to take responsibility for what I have done.”

“Why? You could just put that responsibility on Gwan Hong.”

Koong!

The Indestructible Sword that had touched her neck fell to the ground.

Im Yeo-wol’s face twisted with sorrow, despair, and a fierce desire.

“Because I want to live.”

“…”

“I want to live like a person. But my sins are too heavy. I cannot live like this.”

“…”

“I am neither a blade nor a beast!”

With a cry like a scream, all the feelings she had sealed tight burst forth.

Im Yeo-wol wept and wept. As she braced on the ground and poured out her long-festering howl, the wind cried and the earth keened.

Sold to a brothel at an age when she had only begun to sense the world, she was taught as an object to slake men’s desires.

Before taking men, by heaven’s help she met Gwan Hong, but to him she was only a blade good to wield. Not even a kept dog, much less a person.

In short, Im Yeo-wol had never lived like a person. She had only watched the human world as a doll shaped like one.

Jin-hyeon only watched her wailing. His calm face, which might seem even colder for it, showed no hint of emotion.

How much time passed like that.

The long lament-like wailing subsided. Lifting her hands from the ground, Im Yeo-wol knelt and bowed her head.

Jin-hyeon opened his mouth.

“There is one thing you misunderstand.”

“…”

“You do not even have the right to bear responsibility.”

Slowly lifting her head to look at Jin-hyeon, Im Yeo-wol’s face was filled with futility.

“One who rejects life has no right to responsibility. That is why there is nothing fouler than a wrongdoer dying at her own whim.”

“…”

“But the tears and cries you poured out were shouting for life. You had half rejected life and were little different from the dead, yet now your face is beautifully twisted with desire for life.”

“!”

Im Yeo-wol’s eyes widened.

Only then did Jin-hyeon smile and crouch before her.

“You simple one. Responsibility is also a right. Do you think one who does not live can shoulder that thorny, troublesome thing?”

“A right…”

“The people who could hold you to responsibility are gone. What remains are your guilt and confusion. You committed crimes, so you were jailed, and there you needed to admit your crimes and reflect as a person.”

“…”

“Did you reflect?”

“…From the moment I first swung a blade until now.”

“You want to live, do you not?”

Im Yeo-wol wiped her eyes.

“I want to live like a person.”

Smirking, Jin-hyeon suddenly flicked her forehead.

Ddak!

“Ack!”

Clutching her forehead and falling on her rear, Im Yeo-wol gaped at Jin-hyeon.

Jin-hyeon spoke evenly.

“If the other is an enemy, I am a lunatic who can grind him to death without guilt. I am putting my house in order my way, and to some eyes that may seem too violent and self-willed.”

“…”

“And I will not stop for frowns, blame, or abuse. Why? Because I want it.”

“You really do as you please, don’t you?”

“You knew from when we first met, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I did.”

“But even I, for all my willfulness, cannot resolve another’s sense of responsibility. Responsibility is the right of the living. So guilt is also something you must resolve yourself.”

“…”

“You may stay by me until you find your answer, or you may leave. What do you want to do?”

Staring blankly at him, Im Yeo-wol suddenly asked,

“Why did you flick my forehead?”

“Because I felt like it.”

“Then I will do as I please too, and cling by your side, Patriarch.”

Jin-hyeon chuckled and sat there cross-legged.

“Sit.”

Hesitantly, Im Yeo-wol knelt facing him.

Instead of telling her to sit comfortably, Jin-hyeon raised a rather heavy subject.

“Do you hate to stain your hands with blood?”

“Huh?”

“If you are with me, your hands will be stained whether you want it or not. I asked if you are still fine with that.”

Im Yeo-wol lowered her head slightly.

“Will you have me kill the innocent because you dislike them, or to make some money?”

“I will pick the sort who deserve it and have them killed.”

Im Yeo-wol smiled.

It was the first smile that held her true heart. It was beautiful.

“Because you seemed to be such a person, I did not give them information.”

“So you can say pretty words too.”

“I look forward to your guidance.”

“Good.”

Jin-hyeon took Im Yeo-wol’s pulse gate. She was not flustered.

“I felt it before. You learned a speed-focused internal cultivation method, so your foundation is not solid. But your dantian is broad and your acupoints are well maintained. It is perfect for switching.”

“…”

“I will recite until you memorize them. Apply the mnemonic formulae exactly as I say to your body.”

Jin-hyeon recited the formulae without pause.

Im Yeo-wol carefully set them in her mind. By the third repetition, she had memorized them all.

“You have a good head.”

Jin-hyeon spoke seriously.

“This art is a heart method aimed at a firm foundation and flexible muscles and bones. Though a heart method, it steadily seeks change in muscles and bones during the flow of internal energy. The speed of Qi accumulation will not fall short of the martial arts you have learned so far, and as a base for internal and external, there is nothing like it that I know.”

“What is it called?”

“The Three Yang Heart Method.”

After completing the Soul-Refining Art, the Eight Wastes Alliance Leader adapted the Three Yang Heart Method for his closest bodyguards to practice.

It did not bring change as swift and clear as the Soul-Refining Art, yet because it pursued steady, supple change, its versatility surpassed even the Soul-Refining Art.

“The Three Yang Heart Method has no separate achievement ranks. Even if you switch to other arts, polishing this from time to time benefits the muscles and bones and manages turbid Qi well.”

“Other arts.”

“Do you mean to end with a heart method of this level?”

“?!”

“Hurry and turn that messy internal energy into Three Yang True Qi. Once your muscles, bones, and internal energy are ready, I will teach you the Guiding Reversal Art.”

“The Guiding Reversal Art…”

“When the Guiding Reversal and the Three Yang are mastered, they naturally become one Divine Art. Each practitioner’s completed Divine Art differs in color, so it has no separate name.”

Jin-hyeon smiled.

“When you complete the Divine Art, then you will be able to raise a fist-sized bump on my forehead.”