The two stood facing each other with the formation boundary between them.

Yu Gang placed his hand on the cliff that blocked his path.

A solid stone wall—cold, rough, and real.

But he knew.

Beyond this wall was Seolhwa.

He did not know why she was there, but beyond this wall, drawn by an unknown force, was that girl.

Yu Gang could tell.

“You know, I... left Mount Hua.”

Thinking she was beyond this wall, the words he had long held back began to flow out on their own.

“The Sect Leader and the elders said it would be fine if I stayed, but I could not do that. That person who killed my martial uncles and seniors and juniors...”

His voice began to tremble, so he paused and took a slow breath.

That girl was still beyond the wall.

Just as always, she waited silently, as if listening to his words.

“That person was my master... someone who was more than a master to me. I could not forgive what he had done.”

The one who had been like a father committed murder, betrayed the sect, and fled.

Many said it was all right, but Yu Gang could not bring himself to stay in Mount Hua and face everyone with a composed expression.

“I threw a stone at him while he ran... but he did not kill me. To be honest, I wished he had killed me then.”

He let out a faint laugh as he recalled how his master had fled, still pretending to play the role of a teacher to the end.

After being defeated, after shamelessly losing an arm, still calling himself a master—was that not absurd?

“So I am going to find him. I am going to ask him. Why he took me in as a disciple, why he taught me, why he did not kill me. I am going to ask him properly.”

No matter what it took, he would find that man.

He would find him and demand answers.

He would obtain those answers—no matter what.

Answers...

“Am I... pathetic...?”

Tears, heavy like chicken droppings, fell from Yu Gang’s eyes.

In truth, he was afraid.

When time had passed, and the pain faded, and sympathy dulled, and only thick rage remained—

If he made even one mistake, if that man returned and hurt his brothers again—

Would they still understand him, like now?

Would the elders and brothers of Mount Hua still look at him the same way they did now?

No—he knew that they would.

But what if... just what if they did not?

What if they looked at him with eyes filled with resentment?

What if Mount Hua abandoned him?

And so, he ran away.

He did it first—before they could.

“I am so... pathetic...”

Yu Gang bent his knees and sank to the ground.

His Mount Hua brothers only worried for him, yet he hated his own cowardly self, who feared being abandoned again.

It was then.

He felt her sit down on the other side of the wall.

Beyond the hand he had placed on the wall, her hand came to meet his.

Through the cold wall, he felt a warm touch.

“...”

No words reached him, but Yu Gang felt that this small warmth was a kind of comfort.

As if it was telling him that it was all right, that he was not pathetic.

Surely, while saying such warm words, she would have that emotionless expression as always.

As if it were no serious matter at all, she would tell him it was fine.

If it was her, surely that was what she would do.

She was a child strong enough to be like an adult.

The daughter of the firm Namgoong Clan.

“...I will become stronger, too.”

No more crying.

No more sniveling like a child.

Crying changed nothing.

“I will become stronger. I will come back strong enough to defeat that person.”

Then smile instead.

Because I do not know how to hide my feelings like the Namgoong daughter does.

I will hide it behind a smiling face.

“Keep your promise.”

A faint, bright smile spread across Yu Gang’s face.

A clear smile that covered his sorrow.

“If I beat you, you have to do whatever I ask.”

****

He had burst into tears.

He said he had left Mount Hua.

She thought something had gone terribly wrong.

He was the man who fit Mount Hua more than anyone.

In her previous life, he had been the last Plum Blossom who protected Mount Hua to the end.

Then why...?

Why had it come to this?

Why did you leave Mount Hua?

I protected Mount Hua.

But it seems I could not protect you.

I thought that protecting Mount Hua was the same as protecting you—but perhaps it was not.

You left Mount Hua, and now your face is filled with pain.

—"Am I pathetic?"

“No.”

[Your voice will not be heard on the other side. Speaking is useless.]

She knew that, yet she could not help but speak.

She wanted to tell him.

In your past life, you were more courageous, loyal, and passionate than anyone.

The way you devoted yourself to the sect and your brothers, even burning up your own life, made me admire you.

Back then, there was not a single thing I wanted to protect with my life.

You, who risked your life for everything you wished to protect—who willingly offered that life—I thought you were admirable.

In my past life, I admired you—at least a little.

Yu Gang had collapsed.

With a body devoid of inner force, he wept bitterly and sobbed.

—I am so pathetic.

Seolhwa also sat down in front of him.

She placed her hand on the boundary, as if to clasp his hand resting against the formation.

“You are not pathetic. You are fine.”

Whatever choice you make, it will not be wrong.

Though much had changed from the previous life, you would surely walk the right path ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) again this time.

“You are fine.”

As if he had heard those words, Yu Gang lifted his head.

With a face that looked both confused and on the verge of tears, he stared at her, then soon hardened his expression as though making a decision.

—I will become stronger too. I will come back strong enough to defeat that man... Keep your promise.

Promise? What promise?

—If I win, you have to do whatever I ask.

That bright smile once again spread across his face.

A smile so radiant it seemed to swallow sorrow—Seolhwa’s pupils faintly trembled.

She vaguely recalled the promise she had made with him.

When he said that if he grew stronger, she had to do anything—she had replied offhandedly.

It had been a night with a particularly bright moon.

A day when the smile of someone unaware of what would come shone so innocently.

So he remembered that?

Becoming stronger was good—but to bring up a promise now?

At the unexpectedness of it all, a quiet laugh escaped her lips.

“All right.”

With a light chuckle, Seolhwa murmured softly.

“I will keep it. That promise.”

****

Yu Gang began to walk.

He moved aimlessly, letting his feet lead him.

He had declared he would become strong, but now he had no idea what he should do from here on.

‘First...’

Fixing his dantian would have to come first.

But what if he could not fix it?

Could one become strong without internal energy?

He tried not to let weak thoughts enter his mind, but it was not easy to suppress the crumbling of his heart.

He pulled out the command token Namgoong Mucheon had given him.

“Why did he tell me to head east?”

Was it to meet the Namgoong young lady?

“Who told you to do that?”

Yu Gang flinched and looked up.

There before him stood what felt like a massive sun about to engulf him. No—he only thought it was.

‘What is this...?’

A sun, in the middle of the night?

Yu Gang instinctively stepped back.

He looked at the old man who had appeared before his eyes.

Standing atop a flat boulder, leaning on a large blade, the man wore worn clothes with tattered sleeves—as though he had lived in this forest for a long time.

Short gray hair, a neatly groomed beard, and a long scar that slanted across his lips.

The muscular arms bore the marks of a long and rough life, and the tightly packed muscles of his frame carried the undeniable aura of a martial artist.

And yet, from the man, no energy could be felt.

The illusion that a great sun stood before him now felt like a lie—no energy, no inner force could be sensed.

He seemed like an ordinary person with no martial arts cultivation.

That incomprehensible contradiction instilled fear.

“E-excuse me, sir... who are you...?”

“Did I not ask? Who was it that sent you here?”

“Sword Emperor Namgoong Mucheon, sir.”

“Hmm.”

The man’s expression turned strange.

“So that one has shoved something troublesome onto me.”

Muttering something incomprehensible, the man scanned Yu Gang up and down for quite a while.

As Yu Gang patiently waited for him to finish assessing, the man flicked his finger.

“Ugh...!”

Suddenly, Yu Gang’s body flew through the air and froze right in front of him.

‘My body... won’t move...!’

As if his pressure points had been struck, he could not even twitch a finger.

So he was indeed someone who had trained in martial arts.

He was simply a master on a level far beyond Yu Gang’s awareness.

The man placed a finger on Yu Gang’s dantian. At the same time, Yu Gang felt a pain like something piercing through his core.

“Khk...!”

“A disciple of Mount Hua, I see. But why are your meridians so blocked? Well, since fate has brought us together, I will clear them for you.”

The pain that had begun in his dantian spread throughout his body along his meridians.

Yu Gang’s whole body trembled violently under the extreme pain.

Even as his mind reeled from the agony, he could still hear the man’s voice.

‘My meridians... are blocked...?’

So it was not that his dantian had been destroyed?