A tense air hung heavy in the shade of the cool wall.
Jangyeo opened his mouth.
“Co to think of it, there’s no way a formation master of a level comparable to a semi-special class would have gone unnoticed by until now.”
A heavy pressure was transmitted from the two hands that were placed on this side’s shoulders.
‘So the day has finally co.’
I thought I would be found out soday.
In the first place, Jangyeo was a protector of the Zhuge family, and his martial prowess itself was a monster that had reached a considerable realm.
“At first, I thought so secluded master had co to visit. Because in the vast central plains, it wouldn’t be strange for any kind of strange person to appear. But that attitude, as if handling sothing unfamiliar, was not that of a simple old master or a talented newcor who had been training in the mountains for a long ti.”
Jangyeo continued with a serious face.
“That person seed to be developing every mont. At first, he was rough, using only basic techniques, but he soon beca surprisingly proficient. As if it were the first ti he had ever used a large-scale formation.”
It was accurate. Because in fact, I had tried it for the first ti that day.
“Couldn’t it be a disciple of a formation master from a previous era who has just co down from the mountain?”
“That was not a newcor who had been taught by soone. It was a feeling as if a monster who had read only one formation book was breaking through everything with just talent.”
Even with the added question, Jangyeo answered without bending.
“And this ti, I saw you. You, who were facing Elder Zhuge Hyeonguk here. You, who were growing rapidly every hour against the opponent’s offensive. There’s no way there are two people with that much talent in Hubei Province.”
“…Couldn’t there be, perhaps?”
When I stubbornly denied it to the end, Protector Jangyeo let out a hollow laugh.
“I thought so, so I contacted the Martial Academy. I heard you received a disciplinary action. That you went out on the day the Geummun rchant Guild was robbed and didn’t co back for several days. Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence?”
Jangyeo looked at with a face that said, ‘Are you still going to deny it?’
‘This is troubleso.’
Several circumstances matched. Enough to raise suspicion.
While I was flustered by the sudden revelation of my identity, I did not stop thinking. And I realized.
‘Why is he telling this directly? If he were going to interrogate , wouldn’t it be better to call to a public place without warning?’
The current situation was not just a place for reprimand. That’s why I decided to hear the other person’s opinion instead.
“May I know with what intention you are saying this?”
I asked about his intentions as defensively as possible.
“You’re saying sothing uncool.”
“Yes?”
“I have witnessed a talent that is second to none as a formation master twice. But if I can find out its identity, shouldn’t I check?”
Jangyeo said, sending a burdenso gaze this way.
“Everyone turns their head to where the sun rises.”
A taphor that was close to a complint. At this, I responded.
“But wouldn’t so people frown, saying it’s dazzling? Because the sunlight is so whimsical.”
“It will also bring that much abundance. At least I don’t complain about getting a little tanned by the sunlight.”
I looked at his face to grasp his true intentions.
In the first place, I was half-exposed. If I were to deny it further here, it would only hurt my feelings or provoke his anger.
“Thank you for your broad-mindedness. If I may ask, have you ever told anyone else about my work?”
“No. Even if I did, there’s no one who would believe .”
Well, that was true. Who would believe that Zhuge Cheonwu had robbed the elixir field of the Geummun rchant Guild?
“Then I will understand that you ca simply for confirmation.”
And so, as I was about to pass it off appropriately, Jangyeo shook his head.
“No. Actually, there’s sothing I want.”
“…What is it?”
As expected, since he had caught my weakness, there was no way he would let it go easily. The price of the elixir I had eaten at that ti was considerable.
‘If it really doesn’t work, I’ll just deny it to the end and run.’
But then Jangyeo said sothing unexpected.
“When you’re up to sothing, let in on it. I’ll give you my strength.”
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing much. I’m just asking you to make this old man’s heart beat. Everything has been boring for the past few years, but I feel like you’ll open a new era.”
Jangyeo said, laughing heartily.
‘This is good.’
He was a protector of the Zhuge family. There was no reason to refuse the help of a being whose martial arts alone had reached a considerable realm.
“I understand.”
I nodded my head and then subtly turned around the dead-end alley. Now that the sensitive talk was over, Jangyeo also quietly followed by my side.
“By the way, what happened with the young lady of the Tang family? There are so strange rumors going around.”
“It was nothing much.”
“Don’t say it’s a misunderstanding when you were sticking so close to her. Or I could just ask her directly.”
Jangyeo, who had co out of the alley with , laughed heartily and looked around.
“By the way, I don’t see her today. Where is she now?”
“She’s probably at the pharmacy.”
* * *
At that ti, the place where Tang Surin was standing was inside a splendid pavilion. It was Dang Hujeong’s inner chamber.
“Welco.”
Even at Dang Hujeong’s gentle greeting, Tang Surin did not respond. On the contrary, she pressed for an answer.
“What is it?”
Although it was too short to be said to a mother-in-law, Tang Surin did not care.
For Tang Surin, Dang Hujeong was not a very good impression from the beginning. Her strange attitude towards Cheonwu, and there was sothing about her that made her want to instinctively reject her.
She could have shown her respect while holding back her nausea, but she didn’t want to. And from past experience, it didn’t matter.
Because the interests of the two won were roughly similar.
“You’re still the sa. Alright, let’s get straight to the point. I hear that Cheonwu has been showing his prominence lately.”
“I know.”
“It’s good that the child is doing well, but he has a rather standout disposition, so I think it might be difficult to handle him as a son-in-law if he becos too outstanding. Even if it’s a political marriage, you should have a smooth married life, shouldn’t you?”
With that, Dang Hujeong took sothing out.
“…This is?”
Tang Surin’s gaze fell on a strangely colored accessory. A bracelet with a blue jewel embedded in it. She rembered seeing it sowhere.
“It’s a similar item to the Cheongeumcheon that Cheonwu is wearing. But it’s different. If you draw out more than a certain amount of power, it shows a different reaction from the original.”
“What kind of?”
“It freezes. The entire surroundings, completely.”
Tang Surin’s montum beca fierce. Then Dang Hujeong touched the bracelet and added.
“Don’t misunderstand. It won’t hurt you. On the contrary, should I call it a piece of armor? So there’s sothing I want to ask of you.”
Tang Surin did not answer, but she continued to speak nonchalantly.
“No matter how much of a treasure it is that doesn’t suit him, he won’t wear it all day. I’d like you to secretly switch it when Cheonwu puts it by his bedside.”
“…Why?”
“I hear that the child is taking the grade-skipping exam this ti. It’s good that he has outstanding qualities, but it’s also a matter of considering if he’s too outstanding. I’m worried, you see. That he might fall while running.”
Tang Surin was silent. Although she really hated it, there was a certain aspect of what that woman, Dang Hujeong, was saying that matched her own worries.
The more outstanding Zhuge Cheonwu beca, the more she felt happy sowhere, but on the other hand, her heart beca anxious. That he, who was getting stronger and developing day by day, might leave her behind at so point.
She had never felt this way about anyone. But it was different for Cheonwu. So she was even more confused.
Between the desire to do what the other person wanted and the anxiety about the other person changing as she did so, a desire to fulfill what she wanted, regardless of the other person’s feelings, blossod.
All of it was a first. She couldn’t get her bearings at all.
Tang Surin clenched her fists without realizing it. The nails under her tightly clenched fists dug into the flesh of her palm.
“I don’t think I need to agree to such a proposal.”
Finally, Tang Surin’s lips parted. Even with the continued informal speech and refusal, Dang Hujeong grood her nails as if she didn’t care.
“You’re prickly. Do you know that I was the one who pushed for the engagent with Cheonwu?”
“…I’m grateful for that.”
Tang Surin looked at her with sharp eyes. She knew from the beginning that it wasn’t a very good intention.
She knew those kinds of eyes. Emotionless eyes that seed to see the other person as a pawn. It was a kind of thing that made her shudder.
“…But I don’t need that. Because Gaga will definitely be by my side.”
Just as Tang Surin was about to turn around after saying that, she heard Dang Hujeong’s words.
“It’ll be difficult at this rate.”
“What?”
In that mont, Tang Surin stopped her feet without realizing it. Dang Hujeong’s mouth opened.
“I don’t know what sweet words Cheonwu used to seduce you, but that child is like a bird. When he’s close, he’s cute and pitiful, but once he fixes his wings, he flies away heartlessly. Without even telling you where he’s flying off to.”
The gazes of the two won crossed. Dang Hujeong’s voice, which was directed this way, beca more intimate and deep.
“You feel it a little too, don’t you? Or why did you stand up now? Even though you’re so confident.”
In that mont, Tang Surin, who had clenched her teeth, glared at Dang Hujeong. At that, Dang Hujeong threw the blue jewel bracelet.
Tang Surin caught it as if she were swatting it away.
“Take it. If he fails the grade-skipping exam, his illusion that he’s special will also be broken. Then he’ll graduate obediently and follow the engagent well. It’s good for you. Think about it carefully.”
Dang Hujeong, who had been making a seductive smile for a while, gently lifted her gaze to a distant place and then added as if she had just rembered.
“And if by any chance you find out who made Cheonwu change so much, I’d like you to tell .”
“…What are you plotting?”
“I’m trying to get a weakness. A hero doesn’t stay cooped up at ho. …If you don’t want to lose him, you have to have sothing, don’t you?”
Dang Hujeong’s raised eyes were directed at the other person as if to see through her inner thoughts. Tang Surin stared at those predator-like eyes for a while and then answered.
“I don’t need it.”
At the sa ti, Tang Surin crushed the bracelet with the blue jewel in her hand.
“You might regret it.”
At Dang Hujeong’s strangely confident tone, Tang Surin’s expression crumpled slightly.
“What do you, know…! I know better… He wants too.”
Tang Surin muttered that and then turned around, throwing the jewel on the floor.
And soon, as the door closed roughly and the fierce airflow in the room subsided, Dang Hujeong slowly shook her head.
“The daughters of the Tang family…”
* * *
Around the ti when the hot sumr was coming to an end, the day to return to the academy finally ca.
The entrance ceremony was only a few months ago, but it was already the next sester.
The path was definitely the sa. But unlike then, when I had only taken about two martial artists, the scale of the procession now was different.
A procession of three carriages and nearly twenty people. It was an excessive defense for a distance that was not even a few days.
‘Just the fact that the Blood Cult was after warranted this much of an escort.’
At tis like this, it was convenient to be a direct blood relative. I sat in the carriage and looked outside. Among them, I could see martial artists with a fan pattern with three feathers.
The Crane Fan Troupe. A group of elite martial artists of the Zhuge family and a group of masters. Each and every one of them was a strong person who had reached the peak of the peak. The upper-level powers, such as the vice-leader, were rumored to have reached the realm of the super-peak.
“You’ve prepared well.”
“Haha, I put in so effort!”
Jangyeo laughed heartily and boasted. Since he had brought three of the Crane Fan Troupe mbers as just escorts, he had no choice but to be proud.
Besides that, there were five peak-level escorts. At least eight peak-level martial artists. A force that could annihilate a small or dium-sized sect overnight.
From the secret footsteps that surrounded all directions, a certain sense of reassurance was felt.
Just then, the carriage door burst open.
“I’m going too.”
It was Tang Surin. Looking at her back, she was carrying a bundle of luggage.
“Outsiders are forbidden from entering the academy.”
“We can et outside.”
Tang Surin, who had taken the seat right next to , added.
“I hear that Sichuan is in a state of turmoil lately, and even if the security around the academy is not bad, it’s not safe for soone of your status.”
In the first place, with Tang Surin’s appearance and background, there was a high possibility that it would be dangerous in many ways.
To the point where it was difficult to feel completely at ease even with the ten or so escort troops that were protecting Tang Surin.
Although she herself was presud to be a peak-level master, the central plains was a dangerous place. Since even a super-master could die unexpectedly, it was better to be as careful as possible when residing outside the family’s territory.
Then Tang Surin took out a letter from her bosom.
“Grandma Teacher is coming.”
“Tang Mandokui?”
“Yes. Since there are many things I’m lacking in, I asked her to co and teach .”
Tang Surin, who answered brightly.
Well, what can I say. She would be the only one who would treat a poison doctor like that.
Still, if it was a poison doctor, she was a being who had reached the realm of a super-master with just her poison arts.
Although she herself was strong, since she was a key figure of the Tang family, her escort would also be considerable.
“Then, I guess there’s nothing to worry about.”
And so, as I was saying that, the carriage moved.
Even though it was already an excessive level of escort, when Tang Surin’s escort was added, it beca a dium-sized procession of over 30 people.
And a strange procession where more than half of them were masters of the peak level or higher.
Thanks to that, not only the Blood Cult, but not even the clothes of a bandit were seen on the way.
“We arrived sooner than I thought.”
When the carriage finally stopped in front of the academy, I stretched and ca out.
After exchanging a proper greeting with Jangyeo, I was about to go in, when Tang Surin ca up with short steps and grabbed my collar.
“Gaga, next vacation…”
Knowing that we wouldn’t be able to see each other for a while. Tang Surin, who had co out to see off, was hesitating. She probably wanted to say so kind of plausible greeting.
But in a situation like that, a black history usually cos out before a good line. Before she could suddenly go off on her own, I spoke first.
“Surin-ah.”
“Huh?”
She, who was surprised as her na was called as if it had co in with a hook.
“Let’s both do our best.”
“…Yes.”
Tang Surin, who responded with a bright smile. I turned my back on her and the Jangyeo group and moved my feet.
‘…Co to think of it, I feel like I’ve forgotten sothing.’
When I saw the magnificent school gate, I suddenly had that feeling. But since it didn’t co to mind right away, it seed it wasn’t a very important content.
‘The real thing starts now.’
When I showed the student pass with the top student mark to the gatekeepers, they cleared the way with a sharp posture.
Although it was still hot, I entered the inside of the academy, facing the school grounds where a much cooler wind was blowing.
It was now ti to take the grade-skipping exam.
(End of Chapter)
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