Baek Sowol was confused.
It was the same before she knew the identity of the young man in front of her, and it was the same after she found out.
'Who on earth is this person? How did he become Master's disciple? How? Then Master is, in fact...'
Questions that led to more questions came to mind, but Baek Sowol shook her head and shook off the thoughts.
'Let's put the questions aside. There's something more important right now. I have to go to the Heavenly Mountains as soon as possible.'
"Uhm..."
"So what's your business with me? Junior Sister."
"Well... Master told me to be sure to take Young Hero, no, Senior Brother, with me on my journey down the mountain."
Baek Sowol, who had started to say Young Hero, saw Zhuge Hyun's face frown and immediately corrected herself, calling him Senior Brother.
'No, but is it right to travel with someone who might be related to a criminal with a bounty on his head?!'
Inwardly, Baek Sowol was very perplexed.
But she was able to regain her composure at the thought that soon came to mind.
'I was also being chased by the Martial Alliance anyway.'
Assuming that one side was not yet certain, but that both were being chased, it seemed like they could be good companions.
Having organized her thoughts, Baek Sowol conveyed the words she had heard from her master on the mountain about asking for a companion.
"Right. Master said so, did he? Ha, this is something he personally requested, so I can't not do it. Right. There's probably no one as trustworthy as me."
Zhuge Hyun looked very pleased.
Seeing that, Baek Sowol thought.
'He seems to listen well to Master's words, doesn't he? From now on, if anything happens, I should bring up Master.'
She was getting to know Zhuge Hyun in her own way.
"Alright. Then, Junior Sister, wait a moment. I'll be back after getting ready, so let's leave right away!"
"You don't have to prepare so hastily..."
Zhuge Hyun disappeared without even listening to Baek Sowol's words.
'I couldn't even see him!'
It was a wondrous footwork that was impossible to follow with the eyes.
"It's done. Let's go."
The preparations were finished in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
"Already?"
"Time has been delayed because of you, so let's go down quickly!"
"What? Because of me?"
Zhuge Hyun slung a bundle as big as his body on his back and performed his lightness skill.
"D-do you know where we're going?!"
"Where is it?"
"To the Kunlun Mountains for now..."
"Got it."
Cutting her off, Baek Sowol followed Zhuge Hyun, who was far ahead, with a dumbfounded expression.
* * *
"Pant, pant."
And so, quite some time passed.
Zhuge Hyun continued to be far ahead, then looked back, clicked his tongue, and slowed down his lightness skill.
But even that lowered level was a level that Baek Sowol could barely keep up with.
'My internal energy seems to have some leeway, so where on earth is the difference coming from?'
So far, no method had been developed to accurately measure a martial artist's internal energy.
In the case of others, it was distinguished by the ambiguous feeling and gestures felt in the senses, and in one's own case, it was felt by a subtle feeling within oneself.
Still, one could know how much leeway one had.
In Baek Sowol's case, she currently had a considerable amount of leeway in her internal energy.
But it was very difficult to catch up with Zhuge Hyun who was ahead.
It wasn't just difficult to catch up, but she was drenched in sweat and out of breath.
On the other hand, Zhuge Hyun, who was ahead, not only wasn't sweating, but his breathing was not disturbed at all.
'Master is like that, and Senior Brother is like that too. Where on earth is the difference coming from?'
Baek Sowol fell into thought, gasping for breath.
And so, about six hours passed.
Zhuge Hyun, who was ahead, saw Baek Sowol panting and her movements becoming disheveled.
"Tsk."
He clicked his tongue and stopped in his tracks.
"Pant, pant."
Thanks to that, Baek Sowol was finally able to catch her breath.
"We haven't even left Chengdu yet, and you're already tired. What are you going to do? And you call yourself Master's disciple?"
"Pant, pant. No, that's..."
Baek Sowol wanted to retort to Zhuge Hyun's nagging while she was catching her breath, but she swallowed her words at the sight of Zhuge Hyun's crooked expression.
Before that, she was on the verge of passing out, so it was difficult to even speak properly.
"Let's rest here for today."
Zhuge Hyun, who had noticed Baek Sowol's condition long ago, leaned his body against a nearby tree and sat down.
Baek Sowol, who was watching Zhuge Hyun while catching her breath, stood there blankly after she had caught her breath, not knowing what to do.
Zhuge Hyun frowned at the sight of Baek Sowol.
"What are you doing?"
"Pardon?"
"If we've decided to rest here, shouldn't you hurry up and prepare for camping?"
"What? Y-yes!"
As Zhuge Hyun's frown deepened, Baek Sowol quickly left the spot and prepared for camping.
First, she gathered branches and started a fire.
"Take the things from the luggage and set it up properly."
"Yes."
With Zhuge Hyun's permission, she took out various tools from the luggage and set up the place.
There were enough tools in the luggage Zhuge Hyun had brought, and Baek Sowol, who had learned various things from her master, was very used to camping, so she finished the preparations quickly.
"You're skilled at preparing for camping."
"Yes, I learned from Master."
"I see."
The conversation ended there.
Baek Sowol looked at Zhuge Hyun, who had closed his eyes and was trying to sleep on the spot without saying a word, with a dumbfounded face, put the jerky she had taken out of the luggage on a wooden skewer, grilled it, and put it in her mouth, chewing.
'What on earth is this Senior Brother?'
She seemed to know that he was a being with a martial prowess that she couldn't even touch.
Besides that, he was a being with as many questions as her master, Baek Yoonjun.
However, since he was still a stranger she had just met, she was cautious about asking this and that easily.
"What are you keep glancing at?"
"N-no!"
Baek Sowol flinched like a cat and turned her gaze away.
'Wasn't he sleeping? How does he know like a ghost?'
Baek Sowol fell into thought, looking at the distant mountains where the sun was setting.
"Aren't you curious about whether I'm a descendant of the Marquis of Wu, and whether I'm really the Zhuge Hyun with a bounty of a thousand guan of silver?"
"Yes, n-no?"
"I am a descendant of that person. The bounty is also true."
"The portrait was definitely of an old man... and that flyer was from at least 100 years ago..."
"Well, think about that yourself. It's not that important whether I'm a descendant or the person himself, is it?"
Baek Sowol frowned at Zhuge Hyun's words, who answered without paying any attention to her answer, but it didn't seem like he would answer even if she asked more, so she just voiced another question.
"By any chance..."
"Just to be clear so you don't misunderstand, I don't have a bounty on my head for committing a crime against the heavens."
Zhuge Hyun said with a somewhat bitter smile.
"It's just that the country was destroyed, and the emperor I served changed."
"......"
The state of Shu was destroyed, and many of those who were loyal to Shu died.
Of course, it was rare to exterminate all of them, but Zhuge was different.
Because he was a descendant of the so-famous Marquis of Wu.
Only Zhuge was persistently targeted, and even now, he couldn't even openly reveal his name.
Baek Sowol had a question for Zhuge Hyun, who was talking about the bounty as if it were his own story, but seeing his answer that just passed over that part, it didn't seem like he would answer, so she voiced another question.
"Then is Senior Brother... the last remaining descendant of the Marquis of Wu?"
"I don't know about that either. They could be hiding somewhere and living well, or not."
Baek Sowol felt a strange sense of kinship with Zhuge Hyun.
Although the conditions before and after were different, they had experienced similar situations.
"I've talked too much. We'll leave early when the sun rises tomorrow, so go to sleep now.
I've already set up a formation around us, so don't worry unnecessarily."
"Yes... good night."
Baek Sowol was slightly surprised at the words that he had set up a formation and looked around, but she couldn't feel anything in particular.
'If he said he did, then he did.'
However, since Zhuge Hyun had an unknown martial prowess like her master, she accepted it as such and went to bed comfortably.
Organizing her thoughts about the person called Senior Brother in her own way.
But that thought didn't last long.
* * *
"Hey, your heavenly Senior Brother has coughed, and you're still sleeping?"
At the unpleasant voice and the unpleasant feeling on her cheek, Baek Sowol opened her eyes drowsily.
"Heek!!"
She was startled to find that what had touched her cheek was Zhuge Hyun's toe.
"Hey! How can you touch a person with your foot?!"
"Then should I bend my waist and touch you with my hand? Give it up. At my age, it's hard to even bend my waist."
Baek Sowol grumbled inwardly, 'He's probably only about five years older than me at most,' and got up from her spot.
It was just before dawn.
It was dark, but it was enough to check the surroundings without even spreading her senses.
"Are we leaving already? It seems too early..."
"We'll leave when the sun rises."
"No, then why did you wake me up so early?"
Baek Sowol forgot that she was burdened by Zhuge Hyun and shrieked.
She thought 'oops' for a moment, but seeing Zhuge Hyun's lips go up crookedly as she had seen yesterday, it didn't seem like his feelings were hurt.
"Well, I'm going to see our Junior Sister's skills."
"My skills?"
"It means let's have a light sparring match before breakfast and do some light exercise."
"Sparring?"
At the word sparring, Baek Sowol thought about her actions so far.
'Master is at a level I can't even imagine, so I couldn't objectively know my skills, and ordinary bandits were weak, but just one person was about one level above me.'
Baek Sowol didn't know her exact skills. But she wasn't uninterested in her own level.
"I'll give you an objective evaluation. I'm confident in that area, you know."
Since she hadn't been able to objectively know her level so far, Zhuge Hyun's words shook Baek Sowol's heart quite a bit.
"Yes, I understand."
That's why she agreed right away, but it wasn't without questions.
'Senior Brother seems to be very strong too, so won't it end with him saying I'm not even third-rate like Master?'
She had some doubts.
'No. If he was going to say that, he wouldn't have said it so confidently, right?'
Zhuge Hyun had spoken with great confidence, and that part was a little trustworthy, so Baek Sowol took a ready stance without a word.
"I'm ready."
Seeing Baek Sowol's stance, Zhuge Hyun frowned.
"Is your confident martial art fist and foot?"
"No. I don't really have one... If I had to pick one, would it be the sword?"
"Then draw your sword. Is the sword on your waist a decoration?"
"Pardon?"
Baek Sowol was dumbfounded at Zhuge Hyun's words.
"This is a real sword, you know?"
"Then would a martial artist carry a fake sword or a reverse-bladed sword on their waist?"
Baek Sowol wanted to protest a lot, but she couldn't refute Zhuge Hyun's words and drew the sword from her waist with a reluctant look.
"...I understand."
The sword was a little big for her build, so it got stuck in the middle and she struggled to draw it with all her might.
"Tsk, you're just asking to get stabbed and die young like that."
"..."
The blade of the White Iron Green Dew flashed with a faint blue light in the dim surroundings.
After drawing her sword and taking a ready stance, Baek Sowol looked at Zhuge Hyun, who had not taken any stance and was not holding any weapon, with a squint.
"I'm ready, but aren't you getting ready, Senior Brother?"
"I'm ready. I'll give you three seconds, so come at me anytime."
As Zhuge Hyun beckoned to Baek Sowol with a crooked hand, Baek Sowol got angry.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a look of disdain.
"Here I come! Be careful, you might really get cut!!"
Baek Sowol intended to make him bleed, even if it wasn't to the level of cutting him up like the bandit she had met before.
She wanted to see that crooked and swaggering look turn into a slightly tearful one.
Baek Sowol didn't bother to draw on her internal energy.
It wasn't obvious on the outside, but the external training she had rigorously done gave enough power to the sword without even using internal energy.
Pat.
But Baek Sowol's sword strike was blocked.
It wasn't just blocked.
"Do you have the luxury of holding back at your level?"
Zhuge Hyun was lightly catching the blade of the White Iron Green Dew with just his thumb and index finger.
It wasn't just blocked, it was lightly blocked.
At that sight, Baek Sowol's eyes widened.
"Huh? Huh?"
"It seems you need to be taught a lesson to bring out your full strength."
The corners of Zhuge Hyun's mouth went up crookedly.
Baek Sowol felt an ominous feeling and stepped back, but.
"Where do you think you're running?"
She was quickly caught by Zhuge Hyun, and the real sparring began.
"Hyaaaaaaaaaah!!"
That day, a single scream adorned the surroundings all day long.
* * *
While Baek Sowol was being beaten by Zhuge Hyun in the name of sparring, Baek Yoonjun was sitting in a corner of a nearby tavern.
And,
"Do you happen to know the White-Robed Sword Immortal?"
It seemed he had met a similar type of person to the ones who had annoyingly held him back near the station or bus stop before he had holed himself up in his house in his previous life.
(End of Chapter)
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