Return of the Heavenly Sword

Chapter 14. Inhuman (5)

Cheong Daejin, who had been deep in thought, let out a faint sigh and opened his mouth.

“For now, I will let this matter pass.”

Cheong Daejin turned his head again to look around, soon spotted Jin Yuseong, and approached him.

“Young Master Jin. It seems to be getting late, so how about staying at Azure Sword Sect for a day before leaving?”

At the Azure Sword Sect leader's question, Jin Yuseong thought for a moment before nodding his head.

“I will do so.”

The sky was already getting dark, and his body felt as heavy as a thousand catties.

It seemed difficult to move for the next journey right away.

“Let's go back.”

As Cheong Daejin's order was given, the disciples and sons began to return to Azure Sword Sect one by one. Jin Yuseong also followed them.

Thanks to the Azure Sword Sect leader's consideration, Jin Yuseong was able to wash his body with warm water and even had a rather generous dinner.

Subsequently, around the time he had taken out a cloth and ointment to treat his wounds in the room provided by Azure Sword Sect, Cheong Gyunmyeong came to find him.

“chivalrous warrior Jin. My father would like to have a word with you for a moment.”

Jin Yuseong tilted his head at the attitude of the youngest son, who seemed to be somewhat in awe of him, but soon lost interest.

Following Cheong Gyunmyeong's guidance, Jin Yuseong headed to the same hall he had been to during the day.

“Welcome.”

Cheong Daejin, who welcomed him, poured him a cup of tea and opened his mouth.

“Have you any thought of staying at our Azure Sword Sect for about a year?”

For a moment, Jin Yuseong wore a puzzled expression at the sudden suggestion and was about to express his refusal.

But before he could, Sect Leader Cheong Daejin opened his mouth.

“I am not telling you to become a disciple. I already know that your talent is outstanding. Perhaps it won't be long before you become an expert with whom I cannot even compare.”

Although he hadn't seen Jin Yuseong killing the ruffians, Cheong Daejin had watched the life-or-death battle with Byeok Cheollyong from beginning to end.

He didn't know about his internal and external energy, but if limited to just ‘swordsmanship,’ Jin Yuseong had already reached a level no less than his own.

No.

That final thrust that had pierced Byeok Cheollyong's heart.

Cheong Daejin had gotten goosebumps without realizing it while watching that thrust.

In a world that had slowed to a crawl, Jin Yuseong had felt it was just a crooked and clumsy sword path, but at least to Cheong Daejin, it had seemed like a perfect strike.

“The reason I am saying this despite that is because I am worried about you. For some reason, it feels like if you continue to fight recklessly like this time, you will not live to your full lifespan. You survived this time, but your body is not in a good state, is it?”

Cheong Daejin was looking at Jin Yuseong with a worried expression.

In fact, there was one more thing that Cheong Daejin had not revealed.

When he heard his eldest son's story that he had killed all the surrendered Iron Dragon Sect men, following Jin Yuseong's advice.

Sect Leader Cheong Daejin was suddenly reminded of a scene he had witnessed.

The figure of a boy, covered in blood, standing alone among corpses that easily numbered over ten.

Just in case, Cheong Daejin called his other disciples and sons and asked.

If they had seen him fight.

And the answers that came back were largely divided into two.

It was truly a ghostly skill.

Every time he swung his sword exactly once, one of the Iron Dragon Sect men fell.

Half of them burst out in admiration for Jin Yuseong's hair-raising sword skills.

C-covered in blood, he was smiling while killing them. F-father.

Sect Leader. Young Master Jin is a dangerous child.

Half of them said such things with slightly terrified faces. The reaction of the youngest son, in particular, was quite emotional.

Cheong Daejin had a thought.

‘His chivalrous spirit is excellent, but his cruel nature is a concern.’

Therefore, he wanted to spend a year together here to help the talented boy's skills blossom, and further, to calm his cruel nature even a little.

“Punishing evil is important, but what use is it if you die in vain? How about you build up your skills here for about a year and then start moving in earnest?”

Jin Yuseong, who was listening to Sect Leader Cheong Daejin's words, felt a strange feeling.

‘Right. That's how I lived in my past life.’

Saying he would cultivate his lacking skills, he had lived cooped up and only training for twenty years.

However, he had vowed that he would never live like that in this life.

“Sect Leader. By any chance, have you heard of a man named Mencius who was a Confucian scholar during the Warring States period?”

“I have heard of him…”

At Jin Yuseong's unexpected words, Cheong Daejin wore a puzzled expression.

Regardless, Jin Yuseong recalled his memories from his past life and opened his mouth.

“My studies are also not deep, so it is a story I heard by chance, but they say Mencius said this.”

This was a story Jin Yuseong had heard from a man he had happened to meet while roaming the Jianghu.

“He said that when one sees a child falling into a well, it is human nature to feel pity for the child and want to save them. Mencius called this the 'feeling of commiseration'.”

In this vast Central Plains, was Jin Yuseong the only man who held the will to punish evil?

The man who had told him this story was a man Jin Yuseong would willingly call a ‘chivalrous hero.’

“Also, if one is human, one feels ashamed when one does something wrong, and has a heart that hates it when others commit sins. Sect Leader, don't you also not commit sins because you do not want to be ashamed of yourself?”

That man was originally a scholar who studied literature.

One day, after directly witnessing a common person being harassed by unorthodox ruffians, he was said to have broken the brush he studied with and set out into the Jianghu.

Jin Yuseong had somehow had a chance to fight the unorthodox with that chivalrous hero, and to commemorate that connection, they had shared a drink.

“He said that a heart like this is called the 'feeling of shame and dislike'. The 'feeling of modesty and compliance' and the 'feeling of right and wrong' are also the same. It is the law that all humans have a heart that wants to yield, and know how to distinguish between right and wrong.”

Because Jin Yuseong had received various teachings about life from that man, he considered him a master, at least in his heart.

“But in this world, there are too many things worse than beasts wearing human skin, who do not know how to pity others, who do not feel shame, who do not know how to yield, and who do not even realize the fact that they have sinned.”

And that man was brutally murdered by the hands of the Golden Demon.

“Even at this moment, there are countless people being plundered, exploited, kidnapped, raped, and murdered by those beastly bastards.”

In his past life, Jin Yuseong had heard the news of that man's death by the Golden Demon belatedly.

And it was thanks to a letter the man had sent before he died.

The letter the man sent said so.

Don't even dream a ludicrous dream of revenge.

Jin Yuseong had accepted that last will while shedding tears of blood.

Because rather than dying a dog's death, helping even one more person would have been what that chivalrous hero wanted.

Or so he had desperately tried to deceive himself.

But not now.

“Even at this moment, it feels as if I can hear their cries in my ears. So how can I stay here and spend time training with the sword?”

The Three Disasters and the Four Demons, called the Seven Evils, including the Golden Demon. Before those bastards seriously disrupt the world, he would find them all and slaughter them.

No. Not just them, but all those who walk the inhuman path will be slaughtered.

“That is why I cannot spend time at Azure Sword Sect.”

Cheong Daejin listened to Jin Yuseong's words without saying a word.

He wasn't thinking about how to persuade him.

He was just looking into Jin Yuseong's eyes.

There, a great conflagration was swirling.

A flame called madness.

At the madness, too great for a boy of his age to harbor, Cheong Daejin unknowingly swallowed dryly.

‘…He is not a vessel that someone like me can contain.’

Suddenly, that thought occurred to him.

‘…The first son was right.’

This can't go on. The words that he had to change, even a little, finally resonated with him.

It wasn't that he was influenced by Jin Yuseong's madness.

‘Even a conviction, if it goes too far, is dangerous.’

On the contrary, it was because it had hit him hard how frightening it was to be buried in one's convictions.

***

Early the next morning.

Jin Yuseong, having prepared to leave, left Azure Sword Sect.

“Your body is not yet fully healed, so wouldn't it be better to rest for at least one more day before you go?”

At the Azure Sword Sect leader's kindness, Jin Yuseong shook his head.

“Thanks to the Sect Leader's consideration, I was able to rest comfortably. Since I am still young, I think I will recover quickly even if I move around this much.”

At Jin Yuseong's words, speaking as if he had been old before, the Azure Sword Sect leader smiled faintly and nodded his head.

“Then, travel safely. If you happen to pass by the Immortal Spirit again someday, please stop by.”

“Then please take care, Sect Leader.”

After exchanging one last clasped hands greeting, Jin Yuseong left Immortal Spirit.

After a mysterious boy came like the wind and left like the wind, the daily life of Azure Sword Sect did not change much.

“Haat!”

No, something had changed a little.

“Gyunmyeong. What are you doing now?”

A sword technique he had never taught. That is, swinging a sword while rolling on the ground, or pretending to swing a sword before rolling and aiming a kick at the opponent's groin. At the sight of his youngest son, a vein stood out on the Azure Sword Sect leader's forehead.

“I was reviewing yesterday's fight.”

“Are you saying you swung your sword like that yesterday!”

At Cheong Daejin's roar, Cheong Gyunmyeong answered hesitantly.

“I-it wasn't me, it was chivalrous warrior Jin. I-I saw him fight more than ten people alone like this.”

At his youngest son's answer, Cheong Daejin unknowingly put a hand to his forehead.

And when he surreptitiously turned his head to look at the other disciples, they were wearing embarrassed expressions.

It seemed the other guys had also secretly practiced such techniques once or twice.

“Haa.”

While Cheong Daejin was sighing and wondering what to do about this, he felt a presence at the entrance.

“Sect Leader Cheong, are you in?”

“Come in!”

A short while after Cheong Daejin's answer, six people came inside.

They, composed of middle-aged and old men, were familiar to Cheong Daejin.

They were the ones who originally ran brothels, taverns, and inns in Immortal Spirit. They were the ones who had sided with the Iron Dragon Sect only to end up offering their money to Byeok Cheollyong in return.

“What brings you here so early in the morning?”

At Cheong Daejin's question, an old man stepped forward as a representative and held out a pouch.

A clinking metallic sound was heard from inside.

“Ahem. It's a small token, but it's a sign of our sincerity.”

“What sincerity are you talking about?”

“You stepped up and got rid of the Iron Dragon Sect, didn't you?”

“Of course! Thanks to you, those bad guys are gone, so of course we should show our sincerity!”

As the others behind him supported him, the old man who had stepped forward added.

“That's why I'm saying this, but could you protect us in the future as well? Ah! Of course, we plan to show our sincerity!”

It was a ridiculous thing.

In the past, when there was only Azure Sword Sect, they had never come like this.

Rather, because the darkness called the Iron Dragon Sect had appeared and tormented them, they had belatedly realized how important the existence of the Azure Sword Sect was.

Cheong Daejin looked at the pouch the old man held out with a complicated expression.

It wasn't that he felt bad about their changed attitude now. He hadn't done it expecting anything in the first place.

“I cannot accept this money.”

However, he wasn't going to live a rigid life like before either.

He had heard a story from his eldest son.

“Just once a month, if you treat my boys to a comfortable drink and meal, that will be enough. If the six of you prepare it in turns, won't they be able to feast at least once every five days? Hahaha.”

He was planning to change just a little. By exercising flexibility.

In fact, flexibility was a frightening thing. Because human greed knows no end, once exercised, flexibility is bound to keep growing.

Then at some point, people eventually cross the line.

Because he knew that fact, Cheong Daejin had lived by restraining his greed as sharply as a knife, but now there was no need for that.

‘If I keep that up, I might go crazy.’

It was because last night, he had witnessed something very frightening.

In addition to that.

“No, man, of course we have to treat you to a meal! Don't be like that, take this money too.”

“Hahaha. Elder. If I take that money, a guest might visit in the future. A very fearsome Young Master who wields a ghostly sword technique.”

The moment he crossed the line, there would be a chivalrous hero to visit him, so it seemed it wouldn't be bad to exercise a little flexibility.

***

After leaving Immortal Spirit, three days of training and traveling combined.

In those three days, he visited four villages, and whether it was good luck or bad luck, there were small unorthodox groups in two of them, so he cleaned them up appropriately.

And on the evening of the fourth day.

“Hoo. Are we almost there?”

Finally, he was able to arrive in the vicinity of Wondrous Ridge Mountain.