320. Fallen Blossoms (4)
“Hik!”
Seo Mun-Hwarin suddenly began to squirm.
“Hiiiik!”
At first, worried sothing had gone wrong inside the dreamscape, he hurriedly stood up.
“Ah, it’s fine, Cheon Hwi. If you just give it so ti, she’ll… well, maybe she won’t be fine? Anyway, it isn’t dangerous. She might just need a little ti alone.”
“Nuaaaat!”
As if reacting directly to the words ‘ti alone,’ Seo Mun-Hwarin curled up tightly.
For a mont, Cheon Hwi was speechless at her appearance, far too pitiful for soone in the Flowering Stage.
He soon realized Tang Sowol wore a similar expression.
It looked like Seol Lihyang alone knew sothing.
Well, that made sense. She seed to have reached the conclusion that he had experienced regression.
He did feel a little sorry that she had ended up bound by the ntal restriction after reaching the answer.
Still, the fact remained: Seo Mun-Hwarin was reacting strangely, and Seol Lihyang acted as if she knew the reason.
aning—
“Could it be that Senior Seo Mun-Hwarin as well?”
“Mm. Most likely, yes.”
Seol Lihyang shrugged.
Tang Sowol finally understood the situation, let out a long sigh, and puffed out her cheeks slightly.
“So after Hyang-ie, it looks like Hwarin-unni also realized sothing. In the end, I’m the only one who knows nothing.”
“Uh… it’s alright, Tang-unni. I think you might learn next.”
“I truly hope so.”
“I’m not just saying that. It really does look likely.”
“Huh?”
Tang Sowol tilted her head.
Seeing the chance to finally insert himself into the conversation, Zhuge Bu opened his mouth.
“Likelihood, you say. Lady Pure Sound-Frostflower, have you perhaps discovered so kind of pattern? Ah, before that, could you tell us what you saw? Then we can all discuss and theorize together. This kind of process is what makes the next divine formation even more complete! Ahh! Working with all of you is wonderful! Everyone else only ever wants to use formations for battle or to hide things they’d prefer to hide. But formations are ant to distort the principles of nature! We can do anything our minds conceive of—difficulty and refinent are separate matters! In that sense, this great formation is exactly what formation theory should be—reflection on natural law and research into beings who have already reached transcendence. It makes my heart race as though I were first learning formations—”
“Sto… no, simply close your mouth.”
Perhaps his nonstop chatter grated on soone’s nerves.
Seo Mun-Hwarin—her face flushed red, tear marks still visible—stood up and cut him off.
As the surrounding gazes turned to her, she let out a long sigh.
But when her eyes t Seol Lihyang’s, her expression shifted strangely.
“Hyang-ah. You too?”
“Mmm. I think what you’re guessing is correct, Seo Mun-unni.”
“If so, then the next would naturally be Sowol’s turn.”
Seo Mun-Hwarin nodded as though everything made sense now, then glanced toward Tang Sowol—and her expression stiffened.
“And this… indeed deserves to be called a ntal restriction.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Seol Lihyang and Seo Mun-Hwarin both sighed heavily.
Though they spoke about things only they understood, it did not take long for them to sense everyone else’s curious stares.
Thus, they asked Cheon Hwi:
“You. This concerns your killing intent, but will you be alright speaking of it?”
“Yes. It’s all in the past now. The very first thing I shed when I reached the Flowering Stage was that killing intent. There is no need to worry.”
“That is fortunate.”
Seo Mun-Hwarin gave a faint smile—one that, for a mont, made Cheon Hwi flinch because it resembled the expression she had worn right before her death in his previous life.
After clearing her throat once, Seo Mun-Hwarin began explaining what she had seen.
“Ahem. First, what we saw this ti was from a similar period as last ti. But the viewpoint was different.”
Her explanation began, occasionally supplented by Tang Sowol or Seol Lihyang.
Most of it was what he had expected.
After all, matters related to his killing intent could only an one thing.
The assault on the Ironblood Hall.
And the process of him losing his mind and becoming a Sword Demon.
What Tang Sowol, Seol Lihyang, and Seo Mun-Hwarin saw was everything after Seol Lihyang’s death.
No wonder Seo Mun-Hwarin had smiled at him with such complicated emotion.
Just like Lihyang had realized, she too had understood it was a mory from his life before regression, and had seen what he did after her death.
Perhaps because she was trying to avoid triggering the ntal restriction, the explanation beca lengthier than expected.
But thanks to that, she conveyed the events in great detail.
And the faces of those who heard the full truth—were quite a sight.
Pity, shock, and grim acceptance.
“Wait. Zhuge Bu-gunsanim, why are you nodding at like that?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just rembered the shattered pavilions after you defeated the Bloodfla Fist Demon the other day. Normally, no matter how strong a warrior is, they instinctively hold back when buildings are nearby. Since people subconsciously think buildings are hard to break—or shouldn’t be broken. But of course… you’ve broken many, so you probably feel no hesitation.”
It was sensible enough that Cheon Hwi decided not to argue.
anwhile, Tang Jincheon placed a heavy hand on his shoulder.
“You suffered much. I did not understand why you pursued the Seo Mun Clan’s matter so fervently at first, but now I see.”
“Yes, well.”
“Good things shall await you from now on.”
Strictly speaking, things had happened in reverse—he repaid Seo Mun-Hwarin only because he had received sothing from her first.
But to soone who had lived through regression, order no longer held much weight.
As he listened to Tang Jincheon’s warm words, the two monks—Gak-jeong and Jeong Hyeon—approached.
“Amitabha. So this is what you ant when you said your martial arts were your life.”
“To hear that Lord Cheonsiju has shed his own killing intent—this is indeed an auspicious matter.”
“Thank you. Though calling it shedding may be exaggerating a bit.”
His reply was sincere.
He should have realized it much earlier.
Yet he hadn’t—not even after dying once—only awakening to it far too late.
Seo Mun-Hwarin too had reached the Flowering Stage through similar enlightennt, but hers was achieved solely through ditation.
If one combined the ti from when his madness began in his previous life to his death, plus the ti from his regression until now…it would amount to sothing similar.
He looked at Seo Mun-Hwarin with a touch of admiration—
only for her to abruptly avert her gaze.
…What was that?
He was about to ask when Zhuge Bu—still smiling ear to ear—spoke up.
“Alright! Now that the explanations are done, shall we discuss what was the sa and what was different from last ti?”
“You seem to be treating this like a ga.”
“Oh, not at all! I’m dead serious. It’s just… extrely fun.”
“Haa… well, we cannot say nothing. I shall briefly explain. Only I, Sowol, and Hyang-ie can glimpse Cheon Hwi’s mories through the dreamscape—there is a reason.”
“Ho? Truly?”
“Yes. Though I cannot explain in detail due to the ntal… restriction, it seems to be because our fates are most deeply intertwined.”
“Fate, huh… Co to think of it, the White Moon Sword Lord’s restriction is also said to relate to his past life.”
Seo Mun-Hwarin and Zhuge Bu exchanged questions and answers.
Sotis Tang Sowol or Seol Lihyang answered instead; sotis Tang Jincheon or Gak-jeong posed questions.
But even so, they did not reach the correct answer—regression.
Because of the na of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, they kept circling around the idea of past lives.
Strictly speaking, one could call life before regression a previous life, but it was still off the mark.
What mattered was that Seo Mun-Hwarin’s reactions were unmistakably different.
The way she grew quiet at certain points, what she chose to say or avoided, the emotions she occasionally expressed—
it all led to one conclusion.
Seo Mun-Hwarin had realized he had regressed.
Not rely guessed—but truly realized, just as Seol Lihyang had.
Of course, she did not possess his full mories of the previous life.
Only fragnts of shared mories—and watching her own death through soone else’s eyes.
Even so, he had no idea how to speak to her.
Because if she had seen his mories, then she had also seen how he went mad, ignoring her dying wish, slaughtering endlessly.
Thus he kept silent, watching from one step away for quite so ti.
Eventually the gathering dispersed.
Guests who had co to help with the great formation departed.
On the way back to their rooms, Seo Mun-Hwarin called him.
“You. You.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Could you spare so ti?”
“For Senior Seo Mun-Hwarin, I have all the ti in the world.”
He shrugged and followed her—to a small garden she tended as a hobby.
Perhaps saying “appropriate for her age” would be rude,
but she had always loved raising flowers and trees.
Even while staying with the Tang Clan, she must have received a plot of land to tend.
So plants had blood, others had not, but the lush green leaves suited the sumr.
Standing at its center, Seo Mun-Hwarin imdiately scolded him.
“You are truly a foolish man.”
“Ah…”
Though abrupt, he imdiately understood what she ant.
She had just seen everything in the dreamscape.
And coming all the way here for a private talk ant this topic only.
“People’s hearts… cannot be controlled as easily as one might wish.”
“Even so, This One has always hoped that you would walk forward carrying good mories. Unlike This One.”
“That is…”
Bound by the ntal restriction, they circled around the truth without stating it directly—but their aning was perfectly clear.
Seeing he couldn’t answer right away, Seo Mun-Hwarin gave a bitter smile and shook her head.
“This One’s words were too mischievous. That was not what I intended to say.”
Then she stepped closer and held his hands.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“Are you happy now?”
“…I am fairly happy.”
“That is a rather dull answer.”
“There is still one unresolved matter, isn’t there.”
“Ah, yes. That Heavenly Demon fellow still remains. Then let change the question.”
With those words, Seo Mun-Hwarin pulled his hand to her cheek.
The soft sensation beneath his palm—her smooth, dry skin, as though untouched by sweat despite sumr heat, and the faint warmth of her body—froze him in place.
But Seo Mun-Hwarin paid it no mind and rubbed her cheek against his hand as she continued.
“What did This One leave you?”
After a mont of thought, he answered cautiously.
“When the day finally cos—when I can truly live happily…
it will undoubtedly be thanks to the teachings Senior Seo Mun-Hwarin left for .”
“So that is how you feel.”
“Yes. Which is why I intend to return what I received soday.”
“Mm? And what does that an?”
“If it was thanks to Senior Seo Mun-Hwarin that I learned the joy of living…then this ti, I wish to be the one who teaches Senior Seo Mun-Hwarin the joy of living.”
“That is…”
A resolve he had always kept only inside. Spoken aloud for the first ti.
Seo Mun-Hwarin looked startled, lips trembling—but soon smiled, radiant.
“That is sothing This One shall look forward to.”
Still pressing her face lightly into his hand, she spoke warmly:
“Then, on the day you fulfill This One’s dream… This One shall forgive you.”
There was no callia tree here.
But the flower that had fallen that day seed to flow and flow until it blood anew upon his hand.
As they walked back toward their respective rooms in the faintly ticklish atmosphere, Seo Mun-Hwarin suddenly widened her eyes and spoke in a grave tone.
“You. Rember this one thing.”
“What is it, for you to speak so seriously?”
Seeing her unusual expression, he focused his mind. And—
“Sowol or Hyang-i may soday make outrageous slander about This One… but know that it is not This One who did such things.”
“…What?”
“Anyway, it is not This One. Keep that in mind. Ahem. Such things are absolutely not done by This One.”
“Yes…”
He nodded for now, though he had no idea what she ant.
For so reason, Seo Mun-Hwarin’s gaze was fixed slightly downward.
Seriously, what was that?
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