Chapter 85: Being Young
“I heard that sothing had happened, so I ca to take a look.”
“I didn’t think the Bright Cult and Qingcheng were close enough to exchange warm concern.”
“Even so, there’s no reason to turn a blind eye when sothing happens to others.”
At Yul Han’s reply, the Qingcheng Sect Master stared straight into his eyes for a mont, as if probing his true intentions, then nodded.
“That’s true. There’s no particular reason to pretend we saw nothing.”
As he finished speaking, the Qingcheng Sect Master shifted his gaze to the Lightning Cloud Blade placed beside Yul Han and continued.
“Still, my concern that you might have wanted sothing hasn’t entirely faded.”
“Oh! This belonged to Qingcheng, didn’t it?”
His eyes carried a trace of reluctance, like a child returning a favorite toy to its owner, but without hesitation Yul Han pushed the Lightning Cloud Blade toward the Qingcheng Sect Master.
“What do you an by that?”
“By chance, it ca into my hands for a short while. I’m returning it—to its rightful owner.”
“You’ve experienced this blade’s power firsthand, as I understand it.”
“The lightning… it was powerful.”
“And yet you’re giving it up.”
“It isn’t mine.”
The Qingcheng Sect Master looked steadily at Yul Han, who gazed back as if asking what the problem was.
“You truly don’t match the rumors in even a single detail. Vice Cult Leader.”
“Beyond imagination. That’s a phrase I rather like.”
He said it with a faint smile to show it was a joke, but the Qingcheng Sect Master nodded with a serious expression.
“As you say—beyond imagination.”
“Ah—th, that was a joke—.”
Yul Han’s attempt to smooth over the awkwardness stopped when the Qingcheng Sect Master pushed the Lightning Cloud Blade back toward him.
“What do you an by this?”
In response to Yul Han’s question, the Qingcheng Sect Master answered.
“To Qingcheng, the Lightning Cloud Blade was both a treasure and a cursed object. Through the recent incident, we learned that we cannot protect it. So we’re sending it to soone capable.”
“You must have heard that I caused quite a stir, but this isn’t just an ordinary blade. It holds trendous power—”
“I know. That’s why it’s even more frightening. We don’t know what that trendous power will desire next. Because of this incident, we lost dozens of promising disciples, and there’s a very high chance that many others will never recover their internal energy. I believe the damage is already more than enough.”
“……”
The Qingcheng Sect Master continued, looking at Yul Han as he listened in silence.
“Does this seem like a gift? It isn’t. We’re asking you to take custody of Qingcheng’s troubleso burden.”
“There will be talk within the sect.”
“I’m confident that we never taught our disciples to covet what we cannot protect, so all we can do is trust them.”
In other words, there would be no one lanting. It was his pride that Qingcheng was not a sect to be swayed by material desire.
Yul Han, who had been quietly watching the Sect Master, pulled the Lightning Cloud Blade toward himself and placed it across his knees.
“I’ll accept it with gratitude.”
“I pray to the Primordial Heavenly Worthy that you and that blade will be bound by a good fate rather than an ill one. Infinite Life Buddha.”
Yul Han bowed his head in return to the Sect Master, who bowed slightly. When Yul Han raised his head again, the Sect Master had already stood up.
“Since we’ve exchanged what needed to be exchanged, I believe it’s ti we parted.”
It was a clear dismissal.
Even if relations weren’t good, this felt excessive. As always, behind abnormal behavior lurked a problem.
Yul Han asked about it.
“What’s going on?”
“Secular disciples are flocking in, hoping to help with the sect’s crisis. Many are already waiting outside the mountain gate, but we’re holding them back with various excuses.”
“Why would they—?”
“Those who can see emotions beyond appearances are fewer than you might think.”
In short, many would doubt Yul Han’s sincerity.
Considering the accumulated grudges and blood debts between Qingcheng and the Bright Cult, thicker and deeper than expected, it made sense.
So he was asking Yul Han to leave before trouble arose.
The imdiate crisis hanging over Qingcheng seed largely resolved, and Yul Han had no need to insist on staying.
“I understand. I’ll follow your wishes.”
At Yul Han’s ready nod, the Qingcheng Sect Master smiled gratefully and turned around.
As he opened the door to leave, he stopped, hesitated briefly, then spoke.
“Be wary of Profound Demon. The aura of heaven gathered between his brows, and the shape of rebellion stood within it.”
Without even turning his head, the Qingcheng Sect Master left those words behind and exited the room.
It could easily be taken as sowing discord to provoke internal strife.
In fact, that was precisely why the Qingcheng Sect Master had hesitated.
One more thing—if, as the heavenly signs he had glimpsed foretold, Profound Demon stirred trouble within the Bright Cult, it wouldn’t be bad for Qingcheng or the Hundred Paths.
Even so, he had spoken, leaking the heavenly secret, because it felt right.
Because of the person Yul Han was—his character.
That was why, more than fear over revealing heavenly secrets, a calm smile lingered on the Qingcheng Sect Master’s lips.
Dragged along by a sudden “Let’s go,” Yul Han slipped out like a thief, and Iron Demon looked at him with clear confusion.
“No, what are we lacking that we have to sneak out through the back instead of the mountain gate like we’re running away—”
Iron Demon’s grumbling voice trailed off.
He had finally noticed the Lightning Cloud Blade stuck at Yul Han’s waist.
Only then did he nod, as if everything made sense.
‘Right. You don’t give good things away to others.’
Lost in his own misunderstanding and nodding repeatedly, Iron Demon contrasted sharply with Profound Demon, who couldn’t take his heavy gaze off Yul Han’s back as he walked ahead.
‘What is this? What on earth just happened?’
Still drowning in unresolved doubts and confusion, Profound Demon felt like his head might burst.
“Vice Cult Leader.”
“Yes. What is it?”
Poison Demon asked Yul Han when he turned back at the call.
“Doesn’t it feel like you left sothing behind?”
“I have Iron Demon and Profound Demon, five squad-leader–level warriors, and the Fifth Elder who joined later. It doesn’t seem like we’re missing anything.”
At Yul Han’s reply, Poison Demon smiled bitterly.
“I believe soone else went to Qingcheng with you.”
“Oh! Mount Dian!”
Ghost Immortal wore a dumbfounded expression.
“They left? Just like that?”
“Yes. The pavilion where the Bright Cult’s guests were staying had been completely emptied.”
Ghost Immortal, who had sent word asking to et as soon as he heard Yul Han had awakened, looked utterly dazed at the report brought back by the Daoist he had sent.
“They abandoned us! Could it be because we were useless?”
Looking back, the martial artists of Mount Dian, himself included, hadn’t been of any help at all.
It wasn’t resentnt, but he couldn’t stop the surge of irritation. And then there was the truly important thing.
It felt as though, if they missed him—the Vice Cult Leader—they would never be able to resolve the shadow of bloodshed hanging over Yunnan, where Mount Dian stood.
“I understand.”
After expressing his thanks to the Qingcheng Daoist who had brought the news, Ghost Immortal hastily selected Mount Dian’s martial artists and departed Qingcheng.
He was in such a rush that he left only a written ssage of greeting for the Sect Master, who was said to be in ditation, before heading out.
If he hesitated, he feared he would miss the Vice Cult Leader’s group.
Thus, as Ghost Immortal hurried out of Qingcheng’s mountain gate, he brushed past a large group of martial artists.
At a glance, they numbered well over several hundred, all bearing the marks that identified them as Qingcheng’s secular disciples.
Realizing they were Qingcheng’s secular disciples who had rushed over after hearing that the sect was in crisis, relief appeared on Ghost Immortal’s face.
With their arrival, Qingcheng would no longer be in danger—or so he thought.
That belief lightened Ghost Immortal’s heart, at least a little, as he departed while Qingcheng’s difficulties had yet to be fully resolved, even as a brother sect of the Nine Sects that had suffered misfortune.
Following Yul Han’s wishes, the Bright Cult’s martial artists stayed for a short while at a guesthouse near the foothills of Mount Qingcheng. It was then that Mount Dian’s martial artists ca running toward them, out of breath.
Seeing Yul Han hesitate as if he wanted to call them over, a squad-leader–level warrior under Iron Demon dashed forward.
Though he hadn’t been ordered to do so, his quick reaction seed pleasing enough that Yul Han asked,
“Who is that?”
“Ah! Yes, that’s Lee Tae. He used to serve as my Third Squad Leader. Sharp-eyed and quick with his work—a useful fellow.”
Given that Iron Demon was known for being stingy with praise, such an evaluation ant Lee Tae was genuinely capable.
As Yul Han nodded, he saw Ghost Immortal and the Mount Dian martial artists following Lee Tae back at a run.
A mont later, Ghost Immortal arrived at the guesthouse and spoke in a pleased voice.
“It’s good to see you like this.”
At those words, Iron Demon’s grumbling burst out.
“You lunatic. As if so Hundred Paths bastard would be happy to see Bright Cult martial artists again.”
The Mount Dian martial artists lined up behind him frowned, but Ghost Immortal rely laughed easily.
“You’re right. I never imagined I’d be glad to see people of the Bright Cult. Hahaha.”
The hearty laughter didn’t seem forced. Perhaps because of that, Iron Demon only puckered his lips and didn’t grumble further.
Watching Iron Demon, Yul Han smiled faintly and said to Ghost Immortal,
“We left suddenly and didn’t have ti to contact you. I thought you might co out, so we waited.”
“Oh! Is that so? I didn’t know and thought you’d abandoned us.”
“That could never be. Now that we’re gathered again, let’s move on.”
“Shall we?”
Ghost Immortal’s expression was bright as he followed Yul Han out of the guesthouse.
Behind him, the Mount Dian martial artists looked at Ghost Immortal with displeasure.
Even so, they couldn’t separate from him. No matter what anyone said, Ghost Immortal was their leader.
In the end, as they followed Yul Han leading the way, the Mount Dian martial artists grimaced at the thought that they must look like ducklings trailing after a mother duck.
Lee Tae cast a worried glance over those Mount Dian martial artists.
When people with differing thoughts gathered together, trouble inevitably followed—that was the way of the world.
Having completely left Mount Qingcheng behind, Yul Han and the others, including Ghost Immortal, headed for Jiulong, where the first bloodshed had occurred.
It was because of Poison Demon’s words—that wherever sothing began, clues were always left behind.
By the ti the group reached Jiulong, it was late afternoon, the sun already sinking.
Following Ghost Immortal’s opinion that dayti was better than night for investigating anything, the group decided to spend the night leaning against the edge of a small hill close to Jiulong.
Perhaps because the site of the bloodshed that had swallowed an entire city lay so near, the mountain was thick with ghostly energy.
“Hey, this place is creepy as hell.”
The words slipped from Lee Tae’s mouth without him realizing it.
Though they were moving together, origins were hard to ignore—the Bright Cult’s martial artists gathered among themselves, while Mount Dian’s Daoists clustered together.
Even as martial experts, the mountain’s night chill felt lonely to endure.
Fires were lit here and there.
One by one, several representative figures among the Mount Dian martial artists currently present approached Ghost Immortal, who was sitting before one of the campfires.
“We have sothing to say.”
“Go on.”
With Ghost Immortal’s permission, the one who sat across from him was a sect heir disciple known among the first-generation disciples as a senior figure—Daoist Jasung.
“Why do you intend to associate with the Bright Cult’s rabble?”
“Because I judged that this matter would be difficult to resolve by ourselves alone.”
“I understand that it’s difficult. However, I find it hard to accept your words, Senior Uncle, as though we can do nothing without the Bright Cult.”
At Daoist Jasung’s words, Ghost Immortal smiled faintly.
“Did that wound your pride?”
“How could it not? We are Mount Dian.”
“I know. You are Mount Dian. But so what?”
“Pardon?”
“You’re Mount Dian—so what does that an?”
Daoist Jasung seed utterly unaware of what Ghost Immortal’s question implied as he looked at him silently.
Truthfully, Daoist Jasung was too young to have his inner thoughts pierced by a single sentence. Thinking back, Ghost Immortal himself had failed to see and hear many things at that age as well.
That was why his voice, as he addressed his flustered junior, remained gentle.
“Jasung.”
“Yes, Senior Uncle.”
Seeing the stubbornness in him, yet also his effort to listen, Ghost Immortal smiled and continued.C
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