Chapter – 08
“Hmm. In that case, I shall reward you. Tell me if there is something you want.”
“A reward?”
His granddaughter widened her eyes and looked up at him.
Danmok Cheongi happened to be thinking about the commoner boy she had grown fond of lately.
The child apparently followed the merchants who delivered food supplies to the estate and survived by doing odd jobs. He was an orphan with no family and no place to rely on.
Perhaps it would not be a bad idea to bring him into the clan while he was still young and raise him as someone loyal to his granddaughter.
“Then I really want to learn martial arts now!”
How could she use more spiritual energy?
More.
More.
More.
Lately, this had become the central question occupying Ryeon’s mind.
It was directly connected to her own lifespan, and Danmok Cheongi’s remaining years depended on it as well.
Simply pouring spiritual energy directly into him was like dumping seawater into a carefully cultivated spring.
In other words, it would ruin everything.
While Ryeon was struggling to find a solution, Danmok Cheongi once again unknowingly threw her a lifeline.
Tea ceremony!
After the disastrous experience of making hard, bitter rice cakes and deeply regretting it, tea ceremony looked to Ryeon like a cloud path leading to the Immortal Realm.
When handling tea leaves.
When soaking them in warm water.
When gently swirling the gaiwan.
At every stage, she could carefully infuse a little spiritual energy.
And best of all, the other person drank it immediately.
What could possibly be better?
Perhaps because of that, Ryeon’s complexion and mood had improved greatly lately.
She could expend spiritual energy.
Her grandfather’s condition was gradually improving.
Things could hardly be better.
There was just one problem.
She still wasn’t allowed to learn martial arts.
I thought if I asked after Grandfather softened up a bit, he’d agree.
The clan’s situation could not honestly be called good.
Even in Ryeon’s eyes, things looked precarious.
The estate was enormous, but many sections stood unused.
There were too few people.
Everywhere she looked, there were signs of decline and emptiness.
There was a saying that even a ruined rich family could survive for three generations.
The clan seemed to be surviving solely because of that.
The problem is that I’m the third generation.
If she did not revive the family as quickly as possible, it would truly collapse without leaving anything behind.
Wasn’t that exactly the future she had seen?
Honestly, it would be easier to preserve what remained of the family wealth if they sold this massive estate and moved somewhere smaller.
Yet this place contained the entire history of the clan.
Giving it up would be the same as abandoning any hope of revival.
So they could not do that either.
Her aunt, Danmok Hyeonyo—the acting clan head—seemed to be struggling to accomplish something in Henan Province, where the Martial Alliance was located.
But there were limits to how much a declining clan could recover by relying on the help of others.
That was why Ryeon had thought everyone would immediately agree if the eldest grandchild declared a desire to learn and contribute.
I never thought they’d tell me to learn the alphabet first.
Technically, learning letters was still learning something.
Even though she already knew all of it.
But she couldn’t exactly claim she already knew how to read and write.
As a result, she had ended up under the supervision of her uncle Danmok Hyeonu, who had recently emerged from secluded cultivation, and was now forced to study.
“That chicken looks weird.”
“It doesn’t look weird. It looks cool.”
Ryeon glanced sideways at Hwarun, who was squatting beside her and staring at the chicken.
The boy still resembled a small wild animal.
But compared to when she had first met him, his complexion had improved noticeably.
Every time they met, she made sure to feed him rice balls or dumplings.
To be honest, she had been so worried he might leave and disappear forever that she had nearly cried while begging Nursemaid Jang to find out where he was living.
Although Nursemaid Jang worried that Ryeon was becoming too attached to a boy of unknown origins, she had still hurried off to investigate because she thought Ryeon might genuinely burst into tears.
How did he end up traveling all the way from Hangzhou to Tianshan? Maybe if we become a little closer, I can persuade him to join the clan…
“Isn’t that basically a phoenix?”
Lost in thought, Ryeon laughed softly at Hwarun’s comment.
Sometimes remembering that this little boy would become the future Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult sent chills down her spine.
But after a few forehead flicks and being forced to call her “older sister,” he had started speaking more politely. Seeing him stare at a chicken and compare it to a phoenix made him seem unexpectedly adorable.
“No. It’s a Silkie chicken. Even its bones are black. Right, Heukwol?”
The pitch-black chicken strolling proudly around the coop tilted its head at her.
Its black eyes seemed to glow faintly red.
The tips of its feathers appeared to shimmer with a warm crimson hue.
It definitely didn’t look like that at first…
“No matter how I look at it, that chicken is strange.”
Narrowing his eyes, Hwarun alternated his gaze between the chicken and Ryeon.
Ryeon pinched his cheek once before letting go and pulled out a rice ball from her sleeve.
“Little brat, eat this.”
“You’re a little brat too, Miss.”
Since he had often heard Nursemaid Jang calling Ryeon “Miss,” Hwarun had started doing the same.
The things he added afterward were not particularly respectful, but Ryeon wasn’t expecting respect anyway.
Whenever she simply handed him food, he stubbornly refused to eat it.
So she split the rice ball in half, then split it again, and shoved a piece into his mouth.
As she did, she brought up something she had been thinking about.
“Hwarun. Do you know how to read?”
“What about you, Miss? Do you?”
“You always answer questions with another question.”
“Where would I have learned how to read?”
Judging by the way he talked, he sounded like someone who had already mastered the Thousand Character Classic.
Ryeon grumbled inwardly.
“Really? Then do you want to learn together with me? I don’t know how to read yet either.”
“Why don’t you kno—”
The boy suddenly trailed off.
Ryeon awkwardly rubbed her cheek.
The eldest child of a prestigious martial clan reaching the age of eight without knowing a single character was only possible because she had spent her entire life bedridden until recently.
“I’m going to study with Uncle. You should join too. We’ll study in the evenings. Uncle already said it was fine!”
Hwarun looked at her as though he found the idea difficult to understand.
Ignoring his reaction, Ryeon kept pushing rice-ball pieces into his mouth.
Hwarun waved his hand and dodged them.
“I don’t want to.”
“Why?”
“What would I even use reading for?”
Suddenly, Ryeon found herself at a loss for words.
She simply continued trying to feed him.
“W-Well… when you grow up, you can read martial arts manuals and things like that. This older sister will teach you everything.”
Hwarun chewed and swallowed before answering.
“I’m not going to learn martial arts.”
Ryeon’s eyes widened dramatically.
“What? Why?”
Even at her shocked question, Hwarun answered indifferently.
“Because in clans like these, no matter how talented you are, you’ll just end up serving the young masters and young ladies.”
“…!”
Ryeon wanted to argue.
She wanted to say it wasn’t necessarily true.
But she couldn’t.
Because what he said wasn’t entirely wrong.
Ah! Is that why Hwarun joined the Heavenly Demon Cult?
There, the strongest person could sweep away everyone above and below them without worrying about status.
The thought made her heart sink.
It certainly sounded like something he would do.
No!
“Then… then what about the Huashan Sect in Shaanxi Province? They’re not a clan—they’re a sect! If you’re talented enough, anyone can become the sect leader regardless of background! It’s really amazi—”
“Shaanxi is too far away.”
“You little—”
You little brat!
Tianshan, the headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Cult, is tens of thousands of li farther northwest than that! How did you manage to get there?!
Of course, she couldn’t actually say that.
“Then… where would you want to learn martial arts?”
“It’s not like I can learn just because I want to.”
“No, just pretend you could.”
Children usually dreamed impossible dreams, didn’t they?
Imagined living in giant mansions with ninety-nine rooms and things like that.
But Hwarun seemed completely uninterested in such fantasies.
“If you learn swordsmanship, you’ll just end up killing people or getting killed. It’s better to stay far away from things like that.”
Ryeon stared at him in disbelief.
Who is this little pessimist?
Was Cheon Hwarun really like this when he was young? How does someone like this become the Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult?
Could it be that he was such a ridiculously gifted genius that he accidentally became the Young Lord after casually training when an opportunity arose?
That possibility irritated her even more.
Completely unaware of her thoughts, Hwarun continued speaking.
“You shouldn’t get involved in that stuff either, Miss.”
For a boy two years younger than her, his voice sounded remarkably mature.
Still flustered, Ryeon tried once more to persuade him.
“B-But… if those evil Blood Luo Valley people attack again, shouldn’t you at least be able to protect yourself?”
Please, just be on the righteous side once in this life! Just once, Cheon Hwarun!
But instead of agreeing, Hwarun’s face broke into a mischievous grin.
“Then those wonderful righteous martial artists will come save us from the evil Blood Luo Valley.”
There was a trace of cynicism toward the entire martial world hidden in his words.
Ryeon could only move her lips soundlessly.
“W-Well… even if not that, if you know how to read, you can write letters.”
“You need paper for that.”
“If you can read, you can earn money to buy paper. You can buy food too. Someday you could even buy a house.”
“Why are you trying so hard to teach me how to read?”
For a moment, Ryeon was speechless.
Why?
“That’s because…”
