Chapter 9
Now the Cult Leader's curiosity reached that point. One could have profound internal energy and a high level of martial arts. But to devise and execute strategies so freely in actual combat was another matter entirely.
A duel was like one person presenting a problem and the opponent presenting an answer with their martial arts. If a difficult problem was presented, it could take time to find the right answer. However, if it was a duel with life and death on the line, failing to find the answer in time was directly linked to death.
But Cheon Ha-seong not only found the correct answer every time, but the time it took him was also extremely short. And he didn't stop at just finding the answers himself; he frequently demanded answers from the Cult Leader as well.
The Cult Leader corrected his posture and glared at Cheon Ha-seong. Then he gripped his sword with both hands. It was a declaration that he would now engage in a real sword fight, and Cheon Ha-seong did not avoid it.
The Cult Leader was about to execute his swordsmanship right away but paused, something bothering him, and looked at Cheon Ha-seong.
“You seem to have already consumed a considerable amount of your inner power. Is it alright to continue like this?”
“If I can save the Young Supreme One by stopping, then I wish to stop.”
At that, the corners of the Cult Leader's mouth lifted.
“You're spouting nonsense to the very end. If you intended to win the Young Supreme One, you should have accumulated far more inner power.”
If Cheon Ha-seong had given a different answer, he might have fought while going a little easy on him, but as things had come to this, he didn't want to think any further.
Inner power raged like a storm into the treasured sword that had been passed down for generations in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
While he was injecting his inner power, Cheon Ha-seong launched himself forward as if he knew what the Cult Leader was doing. What fool would stand by and watch the Cult Leader inject his inner power when they knew full well what would happen once all the power was injected and an ultimate technique was unleashed from that sword?
The time it takes to inject inner power differs from person to person, and also depends on the amount of power being injected. However, the Cult Leader had decided to inject a large amount of inner power all at once, creating an opening during that time.
Cheon Ha-seong didn't need to do anything grand to attack the Cult Leader. He didn't even need to inject inner power into his own sword.
The Cult Leader saw Cheon Ha-seong's sword approaching, aimed precisely at his own heart.
If the technique is precise, backed by muscular strength, and aimed at a vital point, one can be brought to death without any need for inner power.
He hadn't thought Cheon Ha-seong would dare to do such a thing and was completely flustered. His priority was to block it first, but since he was in the middle of circulating his dantian and furiously injecting inner power, even a small change could be fatal.
The Cult Leader's eyes widened, and as the capillaries burst, his eyes turned red in an instant.
Not only that, but thick, fresh blood flowed from his nose, mouth, and ears.
This happened as he hastily reversed the flow of his inner power and tried to recall it.
Cheon Ha-seong's sword stopped precisely in front of the Cult Leader's heart.
The tip of the sword was already touching the Cult Leader's chest, but no force was applied. If he had just made up his mind, he could have followed through and made the attack succeed, but he did not.
It seemed he thought that this was the conclusion he had been aiming for, and since the Cult Leader had harmed himself, there was no need to take it any further.
The Cult Leader felt that his body was a wreck.
He wanted to get angry at Cheon Ha-seong and laugh at him, but his internal injuries were severe.
Only a hollow laugh came out.
Who in the world could bring him to his knees like this.
He had gone through countless duels and battles in his life, but this was the first time something like this had happened.
“You cowardly bastard!”
The Cult Leader shouted, his face trembling.
“Yes, Cult Leader. I am a cowardly bastard. You can say worse things to me; I do not mind. You just have to tell me where the Young Supreme One is now.”
It meant that this whole situation was because of his daughter.
“Do you think you can win the Young Supreme One with just this?”
“If this is still not enough, you may confirm it further, Cult Leader.”
The Cult Leader was so angry he almost fell over backwards.
“Don't you think that I went easy on you, you bastard?”
“I do think you went easy on me. So please tell me where the Young Supreme One is.”
It was as if he was saying he didn't care what was said, just let him have that one thing. Those words felt as if he were placating him, which made the Cult Leader feel even worse.
In his current state, he couldn't fight Cheon Ha-seong any longer anyway.
At first, he hadn't thought anything of it, but now he wondered if Cheon Ha-seong had intended to end it at just this level.
Wasn't he the core power of the Divine Cult? Moreover, there were countless enemies targeting him from the shadows even now.
This was even more so because he hadn't firmly established the line of succession yet. Wasn't it possible that he thought inflicting a fatal wound on him in this state would give an opportunity to his enemies?
He couldn't stand the sight of Cheon Ha-seong, but right now, he had no choice but to receive his help.
The Cult Leader, not even hiding his furious heart, wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand. Then he tried to return to the Cult Leader's Hall as if nothing had happened. However, his internal injuries were so severe now that even leaping to get over the wall was difficult. He could probably do it if he forced himself, but then his recovery would take even longer.
There was already a strain on his dantian, and doing so would only worsen his condition.
As he was thinking this, the Cult Leader felt his body float up naturally.
Cheon Ha-seong had his arm around his waist and was rising up with him.
He leaped with incredible lightness to get on top of the wall, and from there, he landed softly on the other side.
Then he stood next to the Cult Leader as if nothing had happened. The Cult Leader glanced at him once and started walking again.
He met many people on the way, but without resting for even a moment, the Cult Leader finally arrived at the Cult Leader's Hall. However, the place he went to this time was not his office.
Cheon Ha-seong, seeming to think that he just had to keep following unless told otherwise, followed the Cult Leader.
Finally, upon reaching a door at the end of the hallway, the Cult Leader threw it open and went inside.
Cheon Ha-seong wondered if he should go in as well, but the door closed in front of him. If he had followed without hesitation, he would have broken his nose.
“Father.”
Just before the door closed, a familiar voice came from inside. It was Head Instructor Seo!
Cheon Ha-seong, wondering if Head Instructor Seo had really been in here, opened the door and went inside. Now that he knew Seo Hyo-eun was inside, there was no longer any reason to hesitate.
“Head Instructor Seo!”
Inside was a much more haggard…
‘Huh?’
That didn't seem right.
What Cheon Ha-seong had imagined was a figure who had gone through such harsh suffering that it would be hard to look at, but Seo Hyo-eun, on the contrary, looked like she had eaten and rested even better than when he last saw her.
“Head Instructor Cheon, how did you get here?”
It was Seo Hyo-eun who asked with a surprised face.
Then, with a face that asked what had happened, Seo Hyo-eun looked back and forth between the two of them.
Seo Hyo-eun's gaze now rested on the faint bloodstain remaining on her father's face. Her gaze soon moved down to the back of her father's hand.
Seeing that, she realized her father had hastily wiped the bloodstain from his face.
The Cult Leader left the room without a word.
He had brought him here because he had asked to be shown where the Young Supreme One was, but his internal injuries were so severe that he had to perform Qi Healing quickly from now on.
After he left, Cheon Ha-seong and Seo Hyo-eun just stared at each other with blank faces.
“How… did you get here?”
Seo Hyo-eun, wondering what to say, asked that first. Seeing that he had come this far, it seemed he also knew who she was.
“And what happened to my father?”
“Cheok Gyo-woon told me. That you, Head Instructor Seo, are the Young Supreme One. And that because the Palace-Guarding Sand... disappeared, you were punished by the Cult Leader.”
“Punishment?”
Seo Hyo-eun asked with a bewildered face.
Other things were strange too, but she hadn't expected to hear that she had been punished.
“Head Instructor Seo, we can't just stay like this. The Cult Leader might be out of his mind right now, but there's no telling what he might say later. Let's get out of here for now.”
“Where to?”
“Anywhere, we just have to get out of here first. I thought you said... you were hit by the Cult Leader.”
He said it confidently at first, but it was strange to say so when there were no such traces on her at all.
Seo Hyo-eun couldn't understand how things had ended up like this.
“My father is not someone who would hit me. He's barely ever even raised his voice at me. He was surprised to see that the Palace-Guarding Sand had disappeared from my arm, but he wasn't angry.”
“Then what was all that I heard?”
As Cheon Ha-seong told her the story, Seo Hyo-eun's expression turned serious.
“There was something that could have been misunderstood like that if seen from the outside. A big reason I went to the Martial Arts Academy was because I wanted to master the Heaven-Shattering Will Art there. Because I thought it was time for me to achieve something as a martial artist. But Father asked if I had made any progress, and as I was demonstrating it, the building collapsed.”
“Ahh.”
Cheon Ha-seong realized it was all a misunderstanding and was finally able to relax.
“You're not surprised to hear that a building collapsed?”
Seo Hyo-eun asked with a disappointed face. It seemed she had subtly wanted to brag.
“Why would I be? You can do that easily even if you've only mastered the Heaven-Shattering Will Art to the fourth stage.”
“How did you know I practiced the Heaven-Shattering Will Art?”
“You spent so much time at the gate where the mnemonic verses for the Heaven-Shattering Will Art are written, how could I not know?”
At the thought that she had been dancing in the palm of Cheon Ha-seong's hand all this time, Seo Hyo-eun suddenly felt annoyed. Then, she grew interested, thinking that Cheon Ha-seong seemed to know something about the Heaven-Shattering Will Art.
“Did you master it too, Head Instructor Cheon?”
Cheon Ha-seong changed the subject as if no such question had been asked.
“So the Cult Leader isn't giving you a hard time for being here, then?”
“How cheap. It doesn't even seem like a big deal.”
Cheon Ha-seong let out a chuckle. Considering how much he had worried, this was definitely not something to just let pass, but still, he was relieved.
It was better that he had misunderstood. If Seo Hyo-eun had truly suffered harshly at the hands of the Cult Leader, he didn't even want to imagine it.
Seo Hyo-eun suddenly remembered the night she spent with Cheon Ha-seong and felt awkward looking at him. However, Cheon Ha-seong looked at ease.
“It seems we didn't know each other very well until now, don't you think?”
At those words, Seo Hyo-eun looked at him as if it were strange. She had never thought Cheon Ha-seong was someone who could say such things.
“If it's alright with you, Head Instructor Seo, I think it would be good for us to marry. I would like to hear your thoughts, Head Instructor Seo.”
Seo Hyo-eun thought that was so typical of Cheon Ha-seong. Wasn't he completely devoid of any nervousness, even after finding out she was the Young Supreme One?
“Aren't you worried?”
“About what?”
“What happened to my father's face? Did he fall on the way here or...? No. That doesn't make sense.”
It would be one thing if it were people who didn't know martial arts, but for her father, who had already reached a high realm, to fall... Her father was someone who would find it difficult to fall even if he tried.
Cheon Ha-seong thought there was no need to explain the story in detail. However, Seo Hyo-eun was not about to just let it go.