The sparring bout with Namgung Dowi and Namgung Jong was a meaningful experience in its own right.
After reaching the Harmony Realm, so much had changed from before that it would be no exaggeration to say I had been reborn.
First, my body. Thanks to the Bone-Exchange Rebirth, it was strong even without drawing up internal energy separately, and the sensation of Sword-Mind Unity was maintained even in everyday life.
Next, my internal energy. The problems that had plagued me for so long—my narrow meridians and murky internal energy—had all been resolved.
The meridians forcibly expanded when I fell into Qi Deviation had become fully mine, and as the energy of the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art went beyond killing intent to have Intent itself take root within me, I was completely freed from the issue of internal energy purity.
Lastly, I could now handle Intent consciously.
This was, in fact, the biggest difference. Intent was will and thought—in other words, the mind.
Just as awakening internal energy gave rise to Qi Sense, awakening Intent gave rise to something like an insight that pierced through to where an opponent's will was directed.
Before, I had predicted an opponent's actions through their breathing, gaze, and muscle movements—but now I could simply feel their intention directly.
It was the same for Seomun Hwa-rin and Tang Jincheon alike. When martial artists who had reached the Harmony Realm occasionally seemed able to see through another's true thoughts, this must surely be the reason.
Of course, this sensation was so unfamiliar that I couldn't yet claim to fully command it…
Still, I had reached the point where I could put it to use to some degree.
Now that I had grown accustomed to Aura, my next goal was to properly handle this sensation.
Unlike Seomun Hwa-rin, who mainly used Fist and Leg techniques, or the Azure-White Flood Dragon, who wasn't even human, sparring with Namgung Dowi—a swordsman like myself—gave me plenty to reference.
And so, it must have been around five days into our somewhat slow but productive journey toward Zhejiang Province.
As usual, I opened my eyes in the morning and was about to step out of the room when, the moment I opened the door, familiar white hair swayed at chest height.
"Today you shall spar with me!"
"I refuse."
"…"
Thud.
It didn't take long for Seomun Hwa-rin to slump down with a shocked expression. Anyone watching would think I'd betrayed her.
Seomun Hwa-rin hugged her knees with the most dejected look in the world. Of course, the fact that I saw her the moment I opened the door meant she had been sitting on the floor in the corridor where the guest rooms were clustered together.
I had gotten up early to lightly stretch before breakfast, but there was no guarantee that the rest of the party or the inn's other guests wouldn't come out.
Worried that someone might see, I scooped Seomun Hwa-rin up and tossed her onto the bed in my room, then shut the door.
Lately, Seomun Hwa-rin's reputation had been getting a bit strange, and I figured I ought to manage it a little myself.
Letting out a sigh of relief inwardly, I asked Seomun Hwa-rin.
"Haah… what's the matter all of a sudden, Senior Seomun Hwa-rin?"
"…Nothing happened."
"No, who just plops down on the floor for no reason?"
"That's exactly the problem—nothing happened…!"
"???"
I stared at her in silence, unable to make heads or tails of what she was saying. Then Seomun Hwa-rin began pounding the bed with her small palm.
Thump! Thump!
"Has the young lady been feeling cold toward me lately?!"
"Hmm. If your hands and feet are cold, shall I have a brazier brought into Senior Seomun Hwa-rin's room?"
"You know very well that's not what I mean!"
"To begin with, I don't even understand why Senior Seomun Hwa-rin came to my room in the first place…"
I could understand Tang So-wol and Seol Ri-hyang gathering in my room together. At some point, it had become a sort of public square.
But sharing a bed was another matter entirely. When night grew deep, everyone returned to their own rooms, and from after breakfast onward we moved together again—that had been the unspoken rule until now.
As I shook my head, Seomun Hwa-rin flopped onto the bed with a sulky expression and began flailing her arms and legs.
A tantrum straight out of a painting. And then.
"Haven't you noticed that you've been sparring with me less and less lately! I know you've reached the same realm as me now, but I thought I was something like your teacher… I never expected to be thrown away like a worn-out shoe the moment that Namgung what's-his-name showed up!"
"Excuse me?"
"Today, you will spar with me! I'm not saying you can't spar with that Namgung what's-his-name! I'm saying I come first!"
It was a justification so forced it could have been painted.
For a moment I was dumbfounded, but the next words from Seomun Hwa-rin made me straighten my posture.
"I will personally teach you the sword of the Seomun Clan. So…!"
"Are you serious?"
"…Ah."
Was it a remark she had blurted out without thinking, unable to contain her frustration? Seomun Hwa-rin covered her mouth, but it was already too late.
I quickly approached the bed and sat down beside her.
Then, pressing down firmly on the hand she had raised to cover her own mouth, keeping it in place, I continued.
The distance between us had naturally grown close. But that wasn't what mattered right now.
"So if I spar with you, you'll teach me the sword of the Seomun Clan?"
"Mmph! Mmph-mmph!"
"Don't worry. I'll keep it to myself and won't let it leak anywhere."
"Mmph! Hmph-hmph…"
"I'm already looking forward to it. Do you know something? In truth, I've never properly learned an advanced martial art on my way to my current level."
Even Namgung Dowi, who was generous when it came to the sword, had only tolerated people stealing techniques from one another—he never directly taught the oral formulas himself.
If it were Tang Jincheon, he would gladly open the clan's library to me so I could learn advanced martial arts… but the problem was that the Tang Clan had no outstanding sword arts.
"Of course, that's not to say I intend to abandon the martial arts I've cultivated so far."
"Mmph. Mmph."
Seomun Hwa-rin nodded, her mouth still gagged.
As an advanced martial art, the Seomun Clan's sword method is surely exceptional. But in the end, the sword that suits me best is the one I've been practicing all along.
It has no distinct techniques and thus no name—a sword that relies solely on my own ability and enlightenment.
That is why it could be called a sword forged from my very life.
No matter how excellent the Seomun Clan's sword may be, it's not worth turning my back on the life I've built and chasing a true meaning I cannot comprehend. I've come too long a road to do that.
Regardless, I must forge ahead with my own strength and my own martial arts… and surely this advanced sword method, which I've never practiced before, will serve as a good guide. It will be especially helpful for the finishing technique I've been pondering lately.
I slowly lowered my hand from Seomun Hwa-rin's. Only then did she carefully bring down the arm that had been muffling her mouth, glancing at me furtively from the corner of her eye.
She suddenly let out a deep sigh. With the distance between us so close, her breath tickled my face.
"Ehew. You'll understand soon enough. How I originally intended to pass on this martial art."
"Yes. You said you would pass it on to the successor of the Seomun Clan that you would one day rebuild."
"Correct. But there is a problem. Despite all my searching, I have yet to find a single survivor—not even from the collateral branches of the Seomun Clan. And you stubbornly refuse to become my adopted son… so this will do just as well."
"You still haven't found anyone?"
"Whether they truly don't exist, or whether I simply cannot bear to abandon what I have built over these past decades for the sake of a stranger—I cannot say. But at the very least, every contact that has come to me since I made my existence known to the martial world has been nothing but a fraud."
"…"
Come to think of it, it had been the same before my regression. The difference was that I had been the Iron Blood Faction Leader of the Black Alliance rather than a retainer of the Tang Clan, but Seomun Hwa-rin had made her existence widely known back then as well.
Yet no one had ever come for her. In the end, only me, Seol Ri-hyang, and a few martial artists with nowhere else to go remained in the Iron Blood Faction.
This time, I had held out a sliver of hope because she was affiliated with the Orthodox Sects, just as the Seomun Clan had been in the past—but it seemed nothing had changed.
Seomun Hwa-rin's earnest wish was to reclaim the modest but humane life she had been forced to abandon, her eyes blinded by vengeance.
However, the family that most people had no longer existed for her.
Seomun Hwa-rin gave a bitter smile and continued.
"There's no helping it. Still, I can't just let the Seomun Clan's martial arts be buried like this. If someone must learn them, I believe it should be you."
"Senior Seomun Hwa-rin…"
After a moment of deliberation, I carefully opened my mouth.
"Please listen without misunderstanding."
"Hm? What in the world are you trying to say?"
"Isn't it simply a matter of Senior Seomun Hwa-rin snatching up a good man, marrying him, and having a child?"
"…"
Just moments ago, she had seemed somewhat deflated but still carried a spark of life in her eyes. Now, the light in Seomun Hwa-rin's eyes vanished.
She hadn't trained in Yin-Cold Energy Cultivation like Seol Ri-hyang, yet the gaze she sent my way was strangely icy.
Still, I had to finish what I'd started. Our relationship had changed considerably from before the regression, but my wish for Seomun Hwa-rin's well-being remained unchanged.
"If it's a matter of age making it difficult to bear a child, perhaps you could have Tang So-wol prepare some medicine from the Tang Clan's Medical Pavilion…"
"Enough!"
Without warning, she raised her leg high and brought it down, aiming precisely at my temple.
To use a leg technique like that from a lying position…?
Though flustered, I calmly twisted my head aside to dodge the blow. It landed on my shoulder instead, but since she hadn't put any internal energy into the kick, it didn't hurt much.
"What was that for, all of a sudden?"
"That's what I should be asking you! What was that nonsense you just said?! I am! I am…!"
Seomun Hwa-rin stopped mid-sentence, twitching as if something was caught in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
"I am still… capable of it!"
"…? What do you mean? Surely Seomun Hwa-rin-senior's age is—huh?!"
Seomun Hwa-rin clamped her hand over my mouth and flipped herself upright in one motion. Perhaps because at this close a distance, it was the range of fists and feet, not swords.
Even though I was now a martial artist of the Harmony Realm, I couldn't even mount a proper reaction before my stance was flipped in an instant.
To be precise, every effort I had unconsciously exerted was reduced to nothing by Seomun Hwa-rin's exquisite movements.
The opposite of moments ago—I was now sprawled face-down on the bed, with Seomun Hwa-rin seemingly straddling me from above.
Her face flushed crimson, Seomun Hwa-rin lowered her head and whispered quietly, as if afraid of being overheard. Still keeping my mouth covered.
"Th-this one has… since becoming this body, has begun her monthly cycle anew."
"…"
So that was it.
Rejuvenation, it seemed, did not merely restore one's outward appearance—it restored far more fundamental aspects as well.
Well, of course. At that level, it was only natural that a martial artist who had reached the Harmony Realm would regress to a childlike state as a side effect… or rather, regain their innocence.
As I nodded to myself, Seomun Hwa-rin continued speaking with a deliberately stern expression. Though the fact that her ears were flushed red to the tips rather undermined the effect.
"So you need not worry about me in that regard. If anything, this is the youngest and healthiest body I've had—so if only there were a worthy seed, I could right now… hick!"
She trailed off, her gaze slowly drifting downward. Realizing something, she leaped up from where she sat on me.
Then, having naturally regained her freedom, Seomun Hwa-rin hastily fled out the door. All of this happened within a single breath.
I had a rough idea why. …Once again, I should note that I had only recently woken up.
And the Azure-White Flood Dragon meat I had eaten to recuperate at the North Sea Ice Palace certainly had effects befitting a Spirit Beast.
As I got up with an awkward feeling and straightened my clothes, I noticed small fingers cautiously gripping the doorframe.
Following that, a head of white hair peeked out, and then, looking not at me but at a spot in the air a little off to the side, she spoke.
"Ah, th-that, um… h-how shall we handle today's sparring bout?"
"…From now on, I'll also set aside time for sparring bouts with Senior Seomun Hwa-rin."
"Oh! Understood! Then I'll head down first and wait for you!"
With a beaming smile at my answer, Seomun Hwa-rin disappeared beyond the doorframe.
A half-beat later, the sound of hurried footsteps reached me, and I let out a small chuckle at the satisfaction they conveyed, tightening my sword firmly at my waist.
***
With the addition of the mandatory sparring bout with Seomun Hwa-rin, the journey took a little longer, but aside from that, I arrived at the Black Alliance without any particular problems.
Beyond the hall, whose excessive ornamentation ironically made it look lacking in dignity, the Lord of the Black Alliance and Sama Yuryeon stood arm in arm, greeting us with a picture of perfect harmony. And then.
"This Alliance Lord extended an invitation, yet all that returns is blade and spear."
"Blood Flower Sword Demon! Is this how you repay our goodwill!"
They gnashed their teeth at our strength, which had grown far beyond what they had initially expected.
"Calm yourselves, and accept this first."
"I heard the news late, so I was a bit delayed in preparing."
The sight of the golden toad I had prepared and the golden calf Namgung Dowi had readied on the way here, following my advice, gradually smoothed their contorted faces.
"…Now that I look at it, I see we've received a distinguished guest! Come in, come in! In the name of this Alliance Lord, I welcome you all!"
"…"
He truly was a man who never changed.