Chapter 87
Kill Me (3)
Cheongeuk woke from her sleep.
It had been a very long time since she had slept so deeply. She had dreamed a pleasant dream, and her body felt so refreshed that she could almost fly.
She appeared bright and cheerful on the outside, but her soul had long been submerged in deep darkness.
For the first time, she had experienced a single ray of light entering that darkness.
But she would not try to possess that light.
Darkness was darkness, and light was light.
That light was currently some distance away, creating yet another kind of radiance as he practiced martial arts.
Baek Socheon was performing the Thousand-Handed Tathagata Asura Divine Sword.
Beginning with the First Form, Heaven-Pursuing Form, he unleashed the Second Form, Heavenly Immortal Form.
The sword thrusts shot out in every direction before flowing into the Third Form, Heavenly Pivot Form. After creating no fewer than fourteen sword lines, the Fourth Form, Heavenly Authority Form, plunged vertically through the air.
Then the blade traced a smooth curve, completing the Fifth Form, Heavenly Origin Form.
Though describing it took time, the entire sequence happened in an instant.
In a single flash, dozens of sword lines embroidered the empty air.
‘What was that?’
Cheongeuk sprang upright, only to let out a short scream.
“Ah!”
The sudden movement sent pain through her wound.
Startled, Baek Socheon immediately rushed over.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I just got up too quickly.”
Baek Socheon hurriedly examined the wound.
“Fortunately, it didn’t reopen.”
“I saw something strange just now.”
“Something strange?”
“When you were using your sword art, those sword lines gathered together and…”
“What did they form?”
Baek Socheon was curious as well.
What sort of image did the sword lines he created actually form?
Cheongeuk tilted her head.
“I can’t really describe it…”
It had felt both terrifying and wondrous.
In the end, unable to explain it properly, she shook her head.
Baek Socheon said,
“I don’t know what you saw, but it’s still incomplete. Once I perfect it, I’ll show it to you first.”
“No thanks. Show it to Yeomhwasin instead.”
Baek Socheon chuckled.
“We should head back now. Your people are probably worried sick.”
“Before that, there’s something I need to teach you.”
“What is it?”
“Wind God Movement Art.”
Cheongeuk’s eyes widened.
“The Wind God Movement Art? The one called the greatest lightness art of all time?”
“That’s right. Originally, I planned to teach it to you after killing Yeomhwasin.”
Baek Socheon explained how he had obtained it.
“My goodness! So it’s a martial art you got from Yeomhwasin!”
“If he ever discovers that you learned it, he’ll definitely try to kill you.”
“Why me instead of you?”
“Because after killing you, he’d get to enjoy punishing me for lying to him.”
“I really can’t understand that man.”
“Neither can I.”
And yet, the one person who understood Yeomhwasin better than anyone else was Baek Socheon.
“But why did you change your mind?”
“Your martial arts have advanced another level. You should be capable of learning this secretly now.”
Her heightened senses would make it far easier to detect anyone secretly watching her, and she would also be able to respond more effectively in an emergency.
“If you master it beyond the eighth level, you’ll be able to run faster than Yeomhwasin.”
“The eighth level? That’s a long, long way off.”
“It’ll be useful in other situations too. Learn it carefully.”
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I get to learn the greatest lightness art of all time.”
“I only managed to obtain it because of you in the first place. If I hadn’t used you as an excuse back then, Yeomhwasin would’ve kept suspecting me until the end.”
Baek Socheon taught her the mnemonic formula.
Cheongeuk did not possess Baek Socheon’s extraordinary memory, but she was an exceptionally intelligent woman.
After he repeated the formula three or four times, she had memorized all of it.
Baek Socheon even explained the sensations and insights he had experienced while learning it himself, and Cheongeuk absorbed everything about the Wind God Movement Art like a sponge soaking up water.
After finishing the instruction, Baek Socheon and Cheongeuk began walking back toward the teahouse.
They had walked through the marketplace together like this before, but now it felt completely different.
There was another kind of fluttering in their hearts.
Baek Socheon casually reached over and took her hand.
“I knew it. You really do have the instincts of a womanizer. How did you know I wanted to hold hands?”
“I was pretty popular once.”
“And your bragging hasn’t changed either.”
“Haha.”
He still could not clearly picture what the future with her would look like.
Nor did he know what she truly thought.
What would happen between them?
At least one thing was certain.
The moments he spent with her were more enjoyable than those he spent with anyone else.
Cheongeuk suddenly pulled her hand away.
Baek Socheon wondered why, until he saw Meol Jiryun approaching from a distance.
“Great Hero Baek!”
“Miss Meol.”
Meol Jiryun’s gaze shifted toward Cheongeuk beside him.
Cheongeuk had noticed her first, so Meol Jiryun had not seen them holding hands.
She looked at Cheongeuk and asked,
“Who are you?”
Proper etiquette would have been to introduce herself first, but she was too impatient for that.
Before Baek Socheon could make the introduction, Cheongeuk spoke first.
“I’m the owner of that teahouse.”
Meol Jiryun turned around and saw the teahouse behind them.
“A peerless beauty wearing a face veil who owns a teahouse. The Central Plains truly has many things I never imagined.”
“It’s a teahouse right in front of the Martial Alliance’s main gate. All sorts of interesting things happen here. Then I’ll be going ahead.”
Cheongeuk greeted the two of them and was about to leave when Meol Jiryun spoke.
“I actually have something to discuss with Great Hero Baek. How about we have a cup of tea here?”
If he refused, she would clearly become even more curious about Cheongeuk.
Baek Socheon looked at Cheongeuk.
She smiled.
“I’m always happy to sell another cup. Let’s go.”
And so the three entered Cheongeuk’s teahouse.
Rap sa and Pa jeong, who had been following Meol Jiryun from a distance, did not enter. They waited near the entrance instead.
Baek Socheon and Meol Jiryun sat at a window-side table with a clear view outside.
“Please wait. I’ll bring some tea.”
“You’re not even going to ask what kind of tea your guest wants?”
“Ah! I’m sorry. Is there a particular tea you usually enjoy?”
An inexplicably tense atmosphere formed between the two women.
Seeing Baek Socheon together with another beautiful woman had clearly irritated Meol Jiryun.
“Bring me the tea this house is most confident in.”
“Certainly.”
Cheongeuk went into the kitchen.
She already knew exactly who Meol Jiryun was and why she had come here.
She also understood why the woman was acting so sharply, so she did not pay much attention to it.
Meol Jiryun looked around the interior before asking Baek Socheon,
“Are you a regular here?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, so you like tea. I’ll make it for you often from now on.”
She spoke as though the two of them were already going to marry, but Baek Socheon chose not to comment.
In the meantime, Cheongeuk returned with the tea.
“Enjoy.”
“Why don’t you drink with us?”
“I’m fine.”
“Meeting like this must be fate too. Please sit.”
“All right. Then I’ll stay for a little while.”
The three sat together.
“The tea is excellent.”
“It’s one I treasure. I only serve it when special guests come.”
“Thanks to Great Hero Baek, I get to enjoy such fine tea.”
Perhaps because she was conscious of Cheongeuk, Meol Jiryun suddenly brought up the marriage arrangement.
Normally, it was not something she would have discussed in front of another person, but she deliberately spoke as though she wanted Cheongeuk to hear.
“Great Hero Baek, when you said we should postpone our marriage by one year, were you serious? Or did you only say it to get through that moment?”
“I was serious.”
If this had been yesterday, Cheongeuk would have felt hurt hearing that.
But today, no matter what Baek Socheon said, she did not feel hurt in the slightest.
If anything, hearing him say he was serious right in front of her somehow made it sound as though he could not possibly be serious.
“But there’s a high chance the Cheukcheon Alliance won’t accept my proposal.”
“What will you do if they refuse?”
“You and he will both have to return.”
“Me too?”
“Yes.”
“Do you not like me?”
“I like you, Miss Meol. I simply dislike the circumstances.”
Cheongeuk glanced sideways at Baek Socheon, then quietly took a sip of tea.
‘He’s saying he likes another woman right in front of me!’
She knew, of course, that he did not mean it that way.
Still, it was the perfect opportunity to tease him for being a womanizer.
Cheongeuk forcibly kept her itching mouth shut.
Just then, an unexpected person entered the teahouse.
It was Yeom Sawon.
“So this is where everyone was.”
He had been passing by when he noticed the two guards outside and came in.
Near the entrance, the experts guarding the two sides were standing a short distance apart, merely exchanging polite nods with one another.
The moment Yeom Sawon spotted Cheongeuk, his expression stiffened slightly.
“You were always hanging around together before, and you’re still together now. Are you two dating?”
Cheongeuk smiled.
“Since such an honored guest has arrived, I’ll excuse myself.”
Yeom Sawon barked,
“Sit down!”
Cheongeuk obediently sat back down.
“Very well.”
This time, Meol Jiryun frowned.
“A man who shouts at women isn’t very attractive.”
Yeom Sawon smiled at her.
“That depends on the woman, wouldn’t you say? I don’t have the ability to handle the Alliance Leader of the Assassin Alliance with sweet words.”
Meol Jiryun’s eyes widened in shock.
“The Alliance Leader of the Assassin Alliance?”
Cheongeuk spoke to her.
“I’m Cheongeuk. I apologize for not telling you earlier.”
“So you turned out to be a frightening person.”
Meol Jiryun looked back and forth between Baek Socheon and Cheongeuk.
“I don’t understand. Is it really all right for the two of you to spend time together like this?”
Baek Socheon calmly asked in return,
“Does it make sense for all of you to be sitting here together?”
“Well… when you put it that way, I suppose it does.”
Yeom Sawon raised his cup toward Cheongeuk.
“Pour me a cup.”
Cheongeuk smiled as she poured him some tea.
“Enjoy.”
Yesterday, an awkward silence would surely have descended.
Today, however, Cheongeuk was smiling.
Part of it was because of the dreamlike time she had spent with Baek Socheon.
And part of it was because her martial arts had advanced another level.
Even before, she could have killed someone at Yeom Sawon’s level whenever she wished.
Now, he seemed almost laughably insignificant.
Yeom Sawon looked at Baek Socheon.
“Your woman is pouring a drink for another man, and you’re just sitting there watching?”
“It isn’t alcohol, is it?”
At Baek Socheon’s calm response, Meol Jiryun cut in.
“Shouldn’t you have said, ‘She isn’t my woman’?”
Baek Socheon started to rise.
“I should be going.”
At that moment, Yeom Sawon pulled a letter from inside his robe.
“Do you know what this is?”
“What?”
“A message my father sent me.”
Yeom Sawon looked directly at Baek Socheon and spoke loudly.
“My father has agreed to your conditions. He said that if you defeat me, he will publicly announce to the martial world that he will maintain peace for one year.”
Surprisingly, Yeomhwasin had accepted Baek Socheon’s conditions.
Baek Socheon was deeply shocked inwardly.
‘He really accepted them?’
They were conditions he himself had proposed, yet the result was still completely unexpected.
“But he added one condition.”
“What is it?”
“He told me to make absolutely certain that I kill you.”
When Yeom Sawon had read that part of the letter, he had been so delighted he felt as though he could fly.
Until now, he had believed his father liked Baek Socheon more than him.
But that was not true.
This command had made everything clear.
‘What an idiot I was. I misunderstood Father.’
Yeom Sawon was so pleased that he barely knew what to do with himself.
“Well? Your conditions have been accepted. You can’t change your story now, can you? Let’s set the date for the duel immediately.”
“Very well. I’ll speak with the Alliance Leader and contact you soon.”
Yeom Sawon rose from his seat.
Instead of offering a farewell, he warned Cheongeuk.
“You’d better watch yourself from now on. I’m not afraid of you.”
“Yes. I’ll be careful.”
Cheongeuk answered politely.
Inside, she was laughing.
She could tell that he was deliberately revealing the fear buried deep in his heart by saying something so unnecessary.
Yeom Sawon then turned to Meol Jiryun with a triumphant expression.
“I’ll see you again.”
“Yes.”
As he was about to leave, he added one more thing.
“I’ll forgive what happened last time. So from now on, it would be best if you stopped associating with that man.”
At the word “forgive,” Meol Jiryun’s expression tightened slightly.
“I’ll think about it.”
Yeom Sawon left first.
Meol Jiryun looked at Baek Socheon.
“This is truly unexpected. To think he would decide to postpone the war.”
Meol Jiryun had already heard from her father that Yeomhwasin intended to start a war in the spring.
She also knew it was a war he would never willingly abandon.
And yet he had accepted Baek Socheon’s condition?
‘Is he that certain Yeom Sawon will win?’
There was no other reason he would have agreed.
Baek Socheon remained lost in thought, his expression grave.
Deciding it was time to leave, Meol Jiryun stood.
“I should go as well. Thank you for the tea.”
Only after Meol Jiryun had left did Cheongeuk finally say what she had been holding back.
“Whew. Keeping those people happy is exhausting.”
She had expected Baek Socheon to play along, but his expression remained serious.
“What’s wrong?”
Only then did Baek Socheon speak.
“I think I understand Yeomhwasin’s intention.”
His voice trembled slightly.
“What is it?”
“It’s hard to believe, but that lunatic…”
Baek Socheon’s conclusion was far too shocking.
“I think he intends to make me kill his own son with my own hands.”