Chapter 258: Someone to Discuss Swordsmanship With

TL: FoodieMonster007

I left the Heavenly Demon Hall and headed for the Northern Heaven Sword Sect.

Why should I struggle alone when there's someone I can discuss swordsmanship with?

This was my way. If I didn't know, I asked. I gained enlightenment while talking about other things. If I really didn't get it, I would just say to hell with it and go have fun.

I had neglected the Flower Sword Supreme because of the other Demon Supremes and various incidents, so I planned to make up for it now.

I was a runaway duel friend, returned.

Just as I had changed, so had the Flower Sword Supreme.

When I arrived at the Flower Sword Supreme's thatched house in the Northern Heaven Sword Sect, I was startled.

Her thatched house had changed. The once-cozy cottage was now a large mansion. The yard was larger, and the flower garden she tended had also expanded.

The only thing unchanged was the Flower Sword Supreme's beautiful, age-defying appearance. She greeted me warmly.

"Welcome, Young Cult Leader."

"Have you been well?"

"I'm always the same."

"The house has changed."

The Flower Sword Supreme followed my gaze around the property and smiled serenely.

"I decided to change the atmosphere."

The old thatched house was a home meant to be seen by others. It was a statement that she was a noble person who had cast off worldly desires to walk only the path of martial arts.

Now, she had shed her pretense and was showing her honest desires.

Why has her heart changed?

"You must be busy these days. What brings you here?"

"I came because I wanted to see you, Sword Supreme."

"You came at a good time. Please, come in."

I followed the Flower Sword Supreme inside. The interior was lavishly decorated.

"May I look around? I've been interested in decorating rooms myself lately."

"Feel free to look."

I slowly looked around the room. The furniture and decorations were ornate and luxurious. She made no effort to hide that she had spent a lot of money on the interior.

"It's truly wonderful."

Then, something caught my eye.

This is?

A book sat on the table. It was the collection of poems and paintings from the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's bookshelf. Of course, it could have been an identical copy.

But a single book drew my attention so strongly because it involved the Blade Demon and the Sword Supreme.

"I must get a display cabinet like that for my room. I like it very much."

"I didn't know you had such a hobby, Young Cult Leader."

After looking around, we sat facing each other at the tea table.

As I drank the tea, I recognized the taste. It was the same tea I had drunk when I visited the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's home.

"I believe Elder Blade Demon drinks this tea as well."

"Is that so?"

I didn't miss the way the Flower Sword Supreme flinched. The book, and now the tea.

These two!

I couldn't help but smile inwardly. If the book and tea weren't a coincidence, their relationship must have changed.

"Aren't you curious why I changed the house?"

"Did you have a change of heart?"

"I felt like I wanted to live a little differently."

I looked around again. "To be honest, this room suits you much better than the old one, Senior. It's splendid and beautiful."

"You think so?" the Flower Sword Supreme smiled pleasantly.

Although we talked and smiled, she and I maintained a certain distance. It was neither too close nor too far, definitely more than a single step, but it wasn't uncomfortably far.

About five steps. That was the distance I perceived between the Flower Sword Supreme and myself.

"I came today as a duel friend," I said, challenging her to a duel. Fortunately, she readily accepted.

"I'd be happy to. I'm just not sure if a duel with me will be of any help to you."

"I learn a lot just by watching you draw your sword, Senior. If I didn't think it would be helpful, I wouldn't have suggested a duel, would I?"

"Can't you just leave that mouth of yours behind?"

"My mouth is needed in many places, so that would be difficult."

We went out to the training ground.

We stood facing each other, about ten paces apart. Her aura changed, as if we had never been joking just moments before.

It wasn't just the house that had changed. I could feel her aura was different.

She's been dedicating herself to training!

She was honed as sharp as a treasured sword. I had once compared the Demon Supremes' efforts to the paddling feet of a swan, and the Flower Sword Supreme best fit that analogy. Behind her swan-like elegance was an unseen effort.

What could have made her change like this?

I revealed my own aura without hiding it. Tension filled the Flower Sword Supreme's face as she looked at me, and her gaze grew cold.

The Flower Sword Supreme lunged first.

"……"

A sword flew toward me. I couldn't see her form. She had completely hidden her body behind the sword, becoming one with it.

The One Flower Sword and the Black Demon Sword clashed mid-air, creating sparks. Dozens of sword lines from the two blades instantly embroidered the air before vanishing.

Although she had lost our previous duel, the Sword Supreme was still the Sword Supreme. Her recent dedicated training shone through, elevating this duel to an even higher level.

Flashing sword lights, we soared into the sky together. The demonic swords of the Northern Heaven Sword Sect stopped to watch the gleaming lights in the air. The glinting flashes reflecting the sunlight were a magnificent sight.

CLAAANG!

With a final, long metallic ring, we landed on the ground.

Her sword wasn't knocked from her hand, and my sword wasn't at her throat, but the Sword Supreme must have known. She knew she had been defeated.

"You grow endlessly." She couldn't hide her bitter expression. Her training had failed to catch up to my growth.

I took care to preserve her pride.

"It's only because you went easy on me, Senior. I've shown all my cards, but don't you still have one last move left?"

All the Demon Supremes hid one final move for the very end. The Flower Sword Supreme was no exception.

"It's a move I hope I never have to use in my lifetime."

In other words, it was a hidden trump card that required her to risk her own life.

"Let's go inside."

Back inside, we quenched our thirst with cold tea and discussed swordsmanship.

We talked about the duel we just had. I took it a step further, sharing what I had felt when I previously achieved Twelfth Star mastery of the Soaring Sky Sword Art.

The Flower Sword Supreme listened intently, asking questions whenever she had one.

Someone of the Sword Supreme's skill would naturally know how sincerely I was speaking. She would know this was the essence of martial arts, something one would never share with someone they didn't cherish.

The Flower Sword Supreme's face gradually flushed with excitement.

When I finished speaking, she rushed out to the training ground.

"Wait! Just wait a moment."

She swung her sword alone in the middle of the training ground. Then she would suddenly stop her sword and fall into thought. She would swing it again, then stop.

She had an epiphany. She had found a way to overcome a wall she couldn't surpass through solitary training, all from our conversation.

She must have trained alone for a very long time after becoming a Demon Supreme. At the end of that lonely, blocked path, she had met me.

After swinging her sword for a long while, she returned, her face still flushed.

"Didn't you come to see me because you wanted to gain some enlightenment about swordsmanship from me?"

"That's right. To be honest, my swordsmanship has hit a wall recently."

"Then why are you imparting your martial arts knowledge to me?"

I calmed my aura and spoke with dignity.

"Because you will become my Demon Supreme in the future."

She stared at me without a word, so I calmly continued.

"Besides that, there are two other reasons."

"Two more?"

"First, I believe that when you break through your limits, Sword Supreme, that enlightenment will return to me. We're duel friends, aren't we?"

She nodded. "And the second reason?"

"Senior, you're the only one among the Demon Supremes who uses a sword, aren't you? The only person I can discuss swordsmanship with is you, Sword Supreme. You know Father's personality well. Who else would I learn from? Who else could I influence? For me, there is only you, Sword Supreme."

Of the three reasons, this one seemed to resonate with her the most. A wave of emotion passed over her.

"That's why I should have visited you first, and most often…"

I said honestly, "I always thought you would stay just as you are, Sword Supreme. It's a selfish and bad thought. I should have taken care of the good people first."

The Flower Sword Supreme spoke in a somewhat self-deprecating voice. "I'm not that good of a person. Perhaps you took care of everyone in the right order after all…"

A hint of regret flickered in her eyes.

We fell silent for a moment, each lost in our own thoughts.

I didn't offer any obvious consolations like, 'No, you're a good person, Sword Supreme.' The words needed right now were different.

"May I come again tomorrow?"

The Flower Sword Supreme nodded with an expression that said I was welcome not just tomorrow, but for a lifetime.

"Since when did you like flowers?"

Despite the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's words, I kept staring at the flowerpot on the windowsill.

"It looks like some kind of sly flower."

On my way back to my residence, I had stopped by the Blood Heaven Blade Demon's place and saw something new on his windowsill. It was a pot with a flower planted in it. If I had come here first, I would have just assumed the Blood Heaven Blade Demon had bought it.

"What in the world is inside the head of someone who calls a flower sly?"

"Where did you get the flower?"

"Someone gave it to me."

Since he had given the Flower Sword Supreme the book and tea, she must have given him the flowerpot in return. Or vice versa.

Hyung Drunken Demon, you're amazing!

It seemed the Drunken Demon's efforts to reconcile the two had finally borne fruit.

"……"

"An acquaintance gave it to me."

"So, who?"

"You're being noisy while I'm trying to read."

The Blood Heaven Blade Demon refused to say the Flower Sword Supreme had given it to him. I didn't press him further. I also managed to hold back my teasing.

How happy must he be right now? It was the Flower Sword Supreme, of all people. Resolving past misunderstandings and conflicts, even exchanging gifts.

I should hold it in. I can tease him later.

"Stop staring! If I accidentally release my qi, the flower will die."

If that happened, he might unleash a lethal technique on me.

Daeryong, this flowerpot is more precious than the one in the office. If you drop it while training, you will have to endure at least a year of hellish training.

"I'm leaving now."

"Why are you leaving so soon?"

"I'm in the middle of hellish training these days. I'm probably the one training the hardest in our Cult."

"You've already become the Young Cult Leader. What more glory from the Ghost Shadows are you trying to attain by working so hard?"

Because our relationships had completely changed from before my regression, if I died now, the Demon Supremes would all die too. Would the Blood Heaven Blade Demon just stand by and watch me die?

That is why. To save them all.

I'm doing this so if anyone has to jump into hell, it'll be me.

Please, enjoy that glory from the Ghost Shadows, my Elder. Live happily in your later years, getting along with the Sword Supreme and traveling through the Central Plains.

The next day, I had another duel with the Flower Sword Supreme.

Her eyes were a little bloodshot, as if she hadn't slept all night.

"I didn't sleep well because I was training yesterday."

It seemed she had spent the whole night working to turn yesterday's enlightenment into actual skill.

I dueled with her again. Since we knew each other's moves, we began to use increasingly powerful techniques. By the end, the exchange was almost like a real battle.

After the duel, we talked about our fight. Since the pattern was similar, most of what we said overlapped with yesterday's conversation, but we talked as if it were the first time.

As we talked, the conversation sometimes branched out. We talked about our swordsmanship training as children, and I even learned how to grow flowers.

I went the next day, and the day after that. I went with the intention of making up for all the times I hadn't been able to see her. I was determined to keep going until she got tired of me and told me to stop coming.

The duels were similar in pattern, but we could feel a change.

Even with the same technique, the speed and the amount of qi infused were different. Some days it was fast, other days it was slow. An opportunity to test one's own sword arts so freely was not something that came easily.

And then, this morning.

I used the Nine Calamities Demonic Art, First Stance, the Human Destroying Stance.

SHAAAAAK!

The sound was different.

SLICE! SLICE! SLICE! SLICE!

I ran over in surprise and saw the wooden dummy had been cut into exactly four pieces.

"I did it!"

I had finally succeeded in making the sword qi fly in from four directions simultaneously. It seemed my duels and conversations with the Sword Supreme had helped.

After that day, I dedicated myself even more to my training.

I had a desire to see the form of the lesser demon in the Human Destroying Stance. That desire pushed me to the limits of my efforts.

I made sure to visit the Sword Supreme once a day for a duel and to discuss martial arts.

If someone were watching us, they might think we were just repeating the same thing over and over, but it wasn't the same.

We grew within the power that repetition provides.

As the Sword Supreme grew, I grew as well. She grew under my influence, and I, in turn, was influenced by her growth. We were burning with a fervor known only to those who wield the sword.

There was a change in our relationship as well.

"I changed the house because of Senior Blade Demon," she revealed honestly.

"Lately, I've been trying to forget my past grudges with Senior Blade Demon and get along with him. In the process, I found myself thinking a lot about the old days. Back then, I liked splendid and pretty things. That was who I was. While thinking about that, I impulsively changed everything. It's embarrassing, but it wasn't a change I made after deep consideration."

It must have been a longing for her younger days. The days she desperately wanted to return to.

"You did well. If you miss the thatched house later, you can just change it back."

"Wouldn't that make me seem too fickle?"

"I think it would make you seem like a free spirit."

"Yes, I'm not at an age where I need to worry about what others think anymore," the Flower Sword Supreme said with a pleasant laugh. In that moment, I realized the distance between us had shrunk from five steps to three.

Even amidst all this, my training continued.

I trained day and night. One day, after repeating the Human Destroying Stance countless times.

SHAAAK!

The sound of the Human Destroying Stance changed again.

In that very moment!

I saw it. A pitch-black entity slicing the wooden dummy's neck.

Finally!

One of the four demons had appeared.