Chapter 293: The Two of Us (1)
“Jin Yeo, Myung?”
Cheon Yura looked at me with a face full of disbelief.
I, too, was speechless at her sudden appearance.
“Am I… dreaming right now?”
“Well… if you call this a dream, it kind of is….”
At the word ‘dream,’ Cheon Yura’s beautiful face twisted.
Her steps, which had been slowly approaching me, came to a halt.
“What a disgusting dream. As much as I desperately long for you, to think you'd appear even in my dreams just to torment me like this….”
Huh? W-What did she just say?
Just as my face started to flush at her embarrassingly blunt confession—
“If I kill you, I should be able to wake up from this dream.”
Screech!
She drew the Heavenly Demon Sword and charged straight at me.
“W-Wait! Yura, stop!”
“No words necessary.”
Though it seemed like she had mellowed a bit recently, Cheon Yura had always been the type to act before speaking.
In an instant, the blazing crimson hue of Heaven-Slaying Qi surged toward my neck with dazzling transformations.
However, I had regained almost all the divine power of my past life, having layered myself with countless opportunities and fortuitous encounters.
I was stronger than Cheon Yura, who had yet to break through to the Transcendent Demon Realm.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
When I effortlessly blocked her attacks, Cheon Yura’s eyes widened.
Her expression twisted even more fiercely.
“You’re much stronger than the Jin Yeomyung I knew. This really is a dream, isn’t it?”
“N-No, wait! It is a dream, but not a normal one. We’re actually in a boundary between dream and reality….”
“What nonsense are you spouting? Shut up and die. Don’t hurt me anymore, you illusion!”
I’m seriously going crazy here!
It seemed that Cheon Yura had been suffering emotionally quite a bit.
She started to gather her will, preparing to unleash the Underworld Net Sword.
Fortunately, her actions were halted by the Heavenly Demon Founder’s words.
“Watching a married couple fight is amusing, but since time is short, let’s stop here.”
“…Founder?”
Though he had grown a beard and his appearance had changed, Cheon Yura immediately recognized the man as the Heavenly Demon Founder.
“From what this disciple tells me, it seems you’ve met my past self before.”
With the appearance of the Heavenly Demon Founder—something far too unexpected for a dream—Cheon Yura began to sense that this place might actually be real.
“…No way, this isn’t an illusion?”
The illusionist who had summoned her nodded.
“That’s right. Strictly speaking, I’ve only summoned your consciousness to the boundary between reality and illusion.”
“……”
“I didn’t think it would succeed on the first try. You must’ve been really exhausted. Your body is probably enjoying a sweet, deep sleep right about now.”
“……”
Ignoring whatever the illusionist was saying, Cheon Yura finally accepted reality and looked directly at me, parting her lips slightly.
“Are you really… Jin Yeomyung?”
“Yes.”
She slowly walked toward me.
“Really? You’re actually alive?”
I bowed my head like a sinner.
I hadn’t returned sooner.
No matter my reasons, the fact remained that I had broken my promise and let things come to this point.
As guilt surged within me—
“Yura….”
Before I could say anything,
Woosh!
She suddenly wrapped her arms around me.
Had she used her internal energy, she would’ve easily crushed my ribs with that grip.
But what hurt more was my heart.
She breathed softly in my embrace for a while, then whispered in a small voice.
“Thank goodness.”
Flinch!
The moment I heard those words, I drew in a sharp breath.
At the same time, her last image from the past started flashing through my mind.
With trembling hands, I wrapped my arms around her back, holding her tightly.
“Whew!”
“Our descendants are quite bold, aren’t they?”
“……”
The senior brothers watching nearby grinned and threw in their remarks.
But their voices didn’t reach my ears.
All I could hear was the sound of her heartbeat.
After a while, she slowly pulled away from me with her head lowered.
“There’s a familiar scent coming from your embrace.”
“Ah….”
Only then did I realize what I had been carrying in my arms.
A red chrysanthemum and a blue seoksan flower.
Thankfully, they remained intact without being crushed.
I handed the blue seoksan wrapped in a silk handkerchief to Ma Seoyeon.
“……”
Luckily, Yoo Jeon was engaged in a conversation with Pa Gooncheong while staring at the frozen Heavenly Evil. Ma Seoyeon quietly expressed her gratitude as she accepted the blue seoksan.
And before Cheon Yura could misunderstand, I quickly picked up one of the red chrysanthemums and tucked it behind her ear.
“…This is.”
Her eyes widened slightly, as if she hadn’t expected to see a red chrysanthemum here.
I grinned and nodded.
“It suits you.”
“……”
It seemed that the red chrysanthemum held some special meaning, as she didn’t seem the least bit concerned that I had given the seoksan to Ma Seoyeon.
Instead, she lowered her head slightly.
I found that so adorable that I couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction.
In any case, a reunion was a reunion.
I gave her a rough summary of what I had been through since we parted.
Of course, I conveniently left out the parts that would make me look bad.
“So that’s… Cheon Yujeong?”
Cheon Yura looked at the frozen Heavenly Evil with a rare dumbfounded expression.
“You won’t remember any of this when you wake up, so there’s no need to overthink it.”
The Heavenly Demon Founder stepped in front of us and spoke.
“What’s important is that the two of you must work together to overcome the Trial of Transference.”
***
The First Disciple, Yoo Jeon.
Since he was essentially responsible for passing on the final stage of the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art, it wasn’t strange that Cheon Yura was also participating.
Just then, someone raised their hand and voiced a complaint.
“Uh, M-Master? What about me…?”
“Hmm…”
Her entire body was wrapped in bandages except for her eyes, making it difficult to read her expression, but I could feel that So Jeong was in a very foul mood.
The Heavenly Demon Founder let out a rare sigh.
“So Jeong, you… hmm, give up on using that Killing Formation on your junior disciple.”
“……”
“If Jin Yeomyung gets caught in your Thunder Net Life-Killing Formation, his mind will be destroyed. Let’s stop at passing on the methods to counter your martial arts.”
“……”
…Gulp.
I still hadn’t forgotten Ma Seoyeon’s earlier warning to me.
‘Didn’t she say my mind would be in danger?’
Now that even the Heavenly Demon Founder was saying the same thing, it only made me more curious.
Just how terrifying must So Jeong’s martial art be for them to say that, even after I had broken through the barrier?
From the way they talked, it sounded like an advanced formation technique beyond the One Cycle Illusion Demon Formation, which used brain-dead victims.
“…Okay.”
Though visibly dissatisfied, So Jeong had no choice but to accept her master’s words.
Ma Seoyeon patted So Jeong’s shoulder, offering her some quiet consolation.
After receiving a brief lecture from So Jeong on how to counter assassins and handle flesh-severing techniques, leaving behind the grumbling So Jeong, who couldn’t quite let go of her disappointment, Cheon Yura and I stood before Yoo Jeon, the First Senior Brother.
Cheon Yura let out a sigh as she looked up at the sky.
“My mind is… complicated.”
“Is that so?”
Even someone like Cheon Yura couldn’t just brush off everything I had gone through up until now.
With a gloomy face, she shook her head.
“To think that you’ve become stronger than me…”
“…Ah, that?”
I had expected her to mention something about feeling sympathy for Cheon Yujeong, or the emotional impact of meeting our distant ancestors, the Six Great Demonic Masters.
But she was more bothered by the fact that I had surpassed her.
Well, it made sense.
She still hadn’t broken through the barrier to the Transcendent Demon Realm.
On top of that, since I had now begun training in the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art, the advantage of martial art compatibility had practically become meaningless.
‘Huh?’
At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.
‘If I’m stronger than Yura right now…’
Didn’t that mean I could… overpower her and do that (?) and this (!) and even that (…)?
‘Maybe… this is the only moment I’ll ever have the upper hand over Yura…’
I was certain.
With her talent, it wouldn’t take long before she surpassed me again.
When that happened, I wouldn’t be able to do anything to her ever again!
‘I should take this chance to do all the things I won’t be able to do later…’
I mean, future me can deal with the consequences, right?
But then.
As if she had read my thoughts like a ghost, Cheon Yura narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
“Your eyes look suspicious.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
I quickly put on a bright smile, hiding my inner thoughts.
She stared at me with suspicion.
“You’re not thinking something arrogant just because you’re slightly ahead of me right now, are you?”
She really had scary intuition.
“Of course not… or am I?”
I had been about to deny it quietly, but suddenly I felt like changing my mind.
“W-What?!”
“Come to think of it, there’s really no need to hide it anymore, is there?”
After all, they said she wouldn’t remember any of this when she woke up, right?
So why should I worry about future consequences?
“You… You’ve finally revealed your true nature…!”
“Don’t like it?”
I grinned wickedly and reached out my hand toward her.
Normally, the Heaven-Slaying Qi would’ve come flying at my neck like lightning.
I braced myself for the inevitable counterattack based on my past experiences…
But instead, she suddenly turned her head away and muttered softly.
“I… I don’t think I dislike it…”
“……”
At her unexpected reaction, I froze mid-reach and blinked.
Hmm.
Hmmm.
HMMMM!
Should I just pounce on her right now?
While I was seriously contemplating that…
“I’m glad to see you two getting along so well.”
Flinch!
Startled by Yoo Jeon’s sudden appearance, Cheon Yura and I hurriedly put some distance between us.
Yoo Jeon smiled warmly as he looked back and forth between us.
“It’s nice to see. Our descendants four hundred years ago were also a loving couple.”
I swallowed nervously at the strange sense of discomfort I felt from Yoo Jeon.
“Uh, are… are you angry?”
“Not at all. Why would I, the First Senior Brother, be angry at my junior?”
Though his face showed a gentle smile…
Why did I feel like I was sensing the jealousy of an ancient monster that had lived for a thousand years?
“It seems you’re ready, so let’s begin the final transmission of the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art.”
Yoo Jeon stepped back a little and drew his sword.
“In truth, since you’ve already reached the Transcendent Demon Realm, there’s not much we can teach you. It’s really just a few minor techniques at this point.”
“Hm…”
Honestly, it felt like an understatement to call the techniques of the seniors or the Heavenly Demon Founder ‘minor,’ but still.
“Was it Yura? Anyway, you’ll find out soon enough. From the Transcendent Demon Realm onward, it’s a solitary path where you must find your own answers.”
Since everyone produces their own unique answers, no one else can provide them for you.
“It’s about compressing your entire life to carve a path toward the divine. That’s the way for those who’ve reached the Transcendent Demon Realm.”
“But martial arts aren’t always a solitary path. Sometimes two people come together to find the answer as one.”
Like twins born together and trained in the same martial art.
Or married couples who combine their martial arts into one.
“That is what our Master theorized and what our descendants four hundred years ago perfected… something called Resonance.”
The Heavenly Demonic Resonance Great Annihilation Technique.
A proof of the bond passed from Cheon Haseong and Yu So to me and Cheon Yura.
“From now on, the two of you will train by fighting us, to draw out the power of the Resonance.”
“…Us?”
Step.
Before I knew it, Ma Seoyeon had approached with a hardened expression and stood next to Yoo Jeon.
In an instant, the formation of me and Cheon Yura versus Yoo Jeon and Ma Seoyeon was set.
“The passing standard is simple. You pass if your Resonance surpasses the combined energy of Junior Sister Ma and me.”