Chapter 3-3

It hurt. Pain coursed through his entire body. Hadn’t he died? Judging by how much his body hurt, this did not seem to be a dream. Jiang Taimu had tried to kill him. He had desperately wished it were a dream, but it had not been. It was reality. He had been betrayed by someone he had trusted so deeply.

Writhing in pain, Bai Shixuan slowly opened his eyes. A remarkably beautiful woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties was gently stroking his forehead.

‘She’s beautiful.’

What else could he say? No other words came to mind. There were faint wrinkles around her eyes, but she was truly beautiful. Perhaps even more beautiful than Xuelan—no, she was definitely more beautiful than Xuelan. The woman before him was more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen.

“Are you awake?”

“Who…….”

He wanted to ask who she was, but his throat hurt. Even when he tried to sit up, the pain prevented him from moving.

“Oh my, be careful.”

As she spoke, the woman slowly helped Bai Shixuan raise his upper body. Then she gestured toward the table, and the water resting upon it floated into the air before slowly flying into her hand.

‘She’s a master. An incredible one!’

She seemed to be an extraordinary master. The woman smiled gently at Bai Shixuan, who was staring at her in astonishment, and handed him the water.

“Drink slowly. You were unconscious for three days, so it will probably be difficult to swallow.”

‘Three days!’

Bai Shixuan was startled when the woman said he had been unconscious for three days. He had probably collapsed for so long because fatigue had accumulated from sleeping outdoors without proper rest, and then he had lost a tremendous amount of blood.

Bai Shixuan slowly drank the water she handed him. He first held it in his mouth to moisten its parched interior, then carefully swallowed. His throat, which had initially felt as though it were being torn apart, gradually began accepting the water.

“Who… are you?”

His voice cracked because he had not spoken for so long. Bai Shixuan blushed slightly in embarrassment, but the woman merely smiled, stroked his head, and took the cup from him.

“I’m just a woman who lives in these mountains.”

“Yeryeong, is he awake?”

“Ah. You’re back?”

Someone suddenly opened the door and entered. It was a middle-aged man in his forties. He was probably the woman’s husband. Compared to the exceptionally beautiful woman, her husband looked remarkably ordinary. The man entered the room, kissed the woman on the lips as she stood to greet him, then looked directly at Bai Shixuan.

“Why did you come to this mountain?”

“Well…….”

For some reason, Bai Shixuan felt that he had to tell this man everything. He could have offered some vague excuse, but instead, Bai Shixuan explained that he had grown up in Shaanxi without parents, that he had happened to meet a wandering swordsman and become his sword attendant, that he had met Xuelan at the Flower Fragrance Pavilion and lived there with her, and that after she suddenly left, he had followed her until he came here and was attacked. He said nothing about Jiang Taimu. He felt no need to. No, he simply wanted to forget. He only wanted to forget the fact that Jiang Taimu had nearly killed him.

“Flower Fragrance Pavilion? Was there such a place?”

“It’s been a long time since we went out into the world. It must have been established afterward. Besides, you don’t know anything about pleasure houses anyway.”

As the man stroked his chin and muttered, the woman smiled and spoke to him. At her words, the man gave a faint laugh and said, “Is that so?” before looking at Bai Shixuan. Unlike the gentle smile he had shown the woman, his expression toward Bai Shixuan was extremely cold.

“Go down the mountain as soon as your wounds heal.”

“P-Please teach me martial arts!”

Bai Shixuan struggled to kneel atop the bed as he spoke to the man and woman. The woman looked at him with slight surprise, while the man stared at him coldly before turning away.

“I do not casually pass on my martial arts. The best martial art for you is to disappear from here as you are.”

“Please, I’m begging you!”

Bai Shixuan shouted toward the man’s back, but the man simply left the room. As Bai Shixuan stared blankly at the door through which he had departed, the woman approached and gently helped him lie down again.

“Why do you want to learn martial arts?”

“I want to protect the person I love. I want to bring her back. But the strength I possess is far too weak.”

“You can’t bring her back without strength?”

At the woman’s question, Bai Shixuan nodded without the slightest hesitation.

“They said they would kill me for her sake even though I had done nothing wrong. I don’t know what position that man holds among them, but there are probably many people stronger than him. That’s why I want to become strong too.”

“So you want to become strong so that you can forcibly take the woman you love away from them.”

At the woman’s words, Bai Shixuan stared at her blankly. Why was she interpreting his words that way? Bai Shixuan had absolutely no intention of becoming strong for that purpose. He had no interest in the Murim. All he wanted was to live peacefully with Xuelan.

“No. I want to learn martial arts so I can go to her. If I die, she’ll be sad. I don’t want to see her cry. And if she doesn’t want to come with me, I won’t take her away.”

“But what if she wants to leave and they stop her? If you had the power to kill every one of them, would you?”

The woman continued questioning Bai Shixuan. At her question, he shook his head.

“No. I would run away. If I had enough strength to kill them all, then I should also be strong enough to escape with her. Of course, I understand that fighting might break out along the way and people might die. But I would flee with her.”

“And then? What would you do afterward?”

“With the money we saved together, we’d buy some land in a quiet countryside where there aren’t many people, farm it, and live there.”

The woman finally burst out laughing as she listened to Bai Shixuan. Having enough power to kill all of them would mean possessing truly tremendous strength. Yet he said he would merely run away and spend his life farming somewhere no one knew him. He really was an amusing child.

“I’ll try asking him on your behalf.”

-Yeryeong!

-Don’t be so harsh. He doesn’t seem like a bad-hearted child. And you heard what he said yourself. He doesn’t seem like someone who would start killing indiscriminately just because he gained power. If anything, you were the one who…….

The man, who had been listening to the woman and Bai Shixuan from outside the room, sent her a sound transmission, only for the woman to answer him through sound transmission as well. At her reply, the sound of the man clearing his throat could be heard. Clearing his throat through sound transmission, of all things. Smiling at his reaction, the woman turned back toward Bai Shixuan, who was staring blankly at her. Only then did she realize she did not even know his name, and she spoke.

“So, what is your name?”

“Ah, forgive me for introducing myself so late. My name is Bai Shixuan. Thank you very much for saving me.”