Chapter 125: Yeom Yuhwa
The woman's expression wasn't simply one of surprise.
Her eyes trembled as though she'd witnessed something unbelievable.
The fact that Goeong called me his friend.
If that alone was enough to shake her this badly...
then there was clearly something more behind it.
The woman asked Goeong in a trembling voice,
“Elder... is what this man said true?”
“Is he truly your friend?”
Instead of looking at me, Goeong puffed out his chest proudly toward her.
“That's right! Mujin is my one and only friend in the whole world! My friend!”
Then he added excitedly,
“Don't fight my friend! If you fight him, Goeong's heart hurts!”
"..."
The woman couldn't say anything.
During that brief silence...
I carefully watched her expression.
Confusion.
Shock.
Disbelief.
All three were mixed together.
She looked at me for a moment...
then slowly reached for the hilt of her sword again.
Is she planning to fight anyway?
My hand instinctively moved toward my own sword.
But before I could fully grip the hilt...
she stopped herself.
Then she slid the sword back into its sheath.
She looked at me coldly.
“If it were up to me, I would cut your head off right now.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“But since the Elder seems to favor you, I will overlook this once.”
Her words sounded like a concession.
Her attitude, however...
was that of someone granting me an enormous favor.
Most people would've backed down here.
But I didn't need to.
Because the strongest shield in this room...
was standing behind me.
Goeong.
I narrowed my eyes.
“Hold on.”
She frowned.
I continued leisurely.
“You've been calling me ‘this bastard’ and ‘that bastard’ since earlier.”
I tilted my head.
“Shouldn't you fix that way of speaking first?”
“W-What?!”
Her eyebrows shot upward.
I kept going.
“You bow your head to Goeong and call him Elder with all that respect...”
I smiled faintly.
“but you're awfully rude to his friend, aren't you?”
“You...!”
Her eyes narrowed.
She looked ready to draw her sword again at any moment.
I laughed inwardly.
Then immediately turned toward Goeong.
“Goeong.”
I pointed at her.
“Look at that woman's eyes.”
“Doesn't she look like she's about to do something bad to me again?”
Goeong immediately shouted at her.
“Don't do that to my friend!”
His face turned angry.
“Anyone who treats my friend badly is a bad person to me too!”
The woman flinched.
“B-But Elder—”
“Listen to me!”
Goeong stamped his foot.
“If you don't, Goeong gets angry!”
“And if Goeong gets angry, I'll punish you too!”
Wooooom!
At that moment...
a tremendous aura spread from Goeong's body.
The woman's expression froze.
It was hard to believe she was the same person who had been pointing a sword at me moments earlier.
She immediately lowered herself.
“I-I understand, Elder!”
“I was wrong!”
“Please calm your anger!”
Goeong sniffed once.
Then asked,
“Then you'll be nice to Mujin now, right?”
The woman seemed to grind her teeth for a moment.
But in the end...
she nodded.
“...Yes.”
“I will follow your wishes, Elder.”
The moment she answered, Goeong's expression brightened as though he'd never been angry at all.
“Good!”
Then he turned toward me proudly.
“How was that? Goeong did well, right?”
I nodded with a satisfied expression.
“You did great.”
“Really great.”
But the woman's gaze was still burning into me like she wanted to kill me.
She was probably furious enough to cough up blood.
But what could she do?
Goeong adored me.
A moment later...
the woman finally spoke to me.
“...It seems I was somewhat hasty.”
Her voice was stiff.
“I apologize for being rude to the Elder's friend.”
Her words were an apology.
Her expression contained absolutely no sincerity.
Still...
I had no intention of pushing her any further.
Without Goeong protecting me...
this woman would've already tried to cut my head off.
It was better to accept the apology without looking weak.
So I deliberately put on a generous expression.
“Well.”
“We'd never met before, so I suppose you didn't know.”
I smiled.
“I'm a fairly broad-minded person, so I'll understand.”
"..."
The woman pressed her lips together tightly.
A man not even old enough to be her son was standing in front of her, lecturing her in a relaxed tone.
Of course she was pissed.
I continued.
“Since that's settled, why don't we properly introduce ourselves?”
I kept my tone casual.
“I'm Mujin.”
I deliberately left out my surname.
If this really was somewhere deep inside the Demonic Cult's headquarters...
revealing my full name could be dangerous.
I looked toward her.
“What should I call you?”
The woman stared at me for a moment...
then let out a sigh.
I could hear the irritation in it.
After a brief pause, she met my eyes directly.
“My name is Yeom Yuhwa.”
The instant I heard it...
my heart thumped hard.
Yeom Yuhwa?
No way...!
The thought escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
“Evil Soul Sword Flower?”
The woman's eyes shifted slightly.
“Oh?”
“You know my title?”
Of course I did.
Evil Soul Sword Flower, Yeom Yuhwa.
In the future...
when the Righteous Alliance invaded the Demonic Cult's main headquarters...
she would be one of the Demonic Cult's experts who stayed behind and fought to the bitter end.
Hundreds of Righteous Alliance martial artists would die to her sword.
Of course—
In the end, Moyong Cheonhwi cut off her head.
But that wasn't the real reason her name shocked me.
It was the sword art she practiced.
Evil Soul Sword Flower, Yeom Yuhwa.
The name of her sword art was—
Evil Soul Severing Life Sword.
And the Evil Soul Severing Life Sword was...
Lee Munjeong.
Lee Munjeong.
The man who had suddenly gone berserk during the Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament and died at Moyong Seong's hands.
The Demonic Cult martial arts manual found in his residence...
had been the Evil Soul Severing Life Sword.
What kind of coincidence is this...?
No.
Could I even call it a coincidence anymore?
It was already absurd that I'd fallen directly into the heart of the Demonic Cult's territory.
And now...
of all people...
I'd met one of the Demonic Cult's Hundred Great Experts.
Not only that...
the very owner of the Evil Soul Severing Life Sword.
Yeom Yuhwa noticed that I'd been staring at her in silence.
She asked calmly,
“Why are you making that face?”
“Is there something you wish to say?”
I immediately gathered myself and returned to a neutral expression.
“I simply never expected to meet the famous Evil Soul Sword Flower in a place like this.”
“That's why I was surprised.”
Yeom Yuhwa narrowed her eyes.
“Hmm.”
“Not many people know that title of mine.”
Her gaze sharpened.
“Interesting.”
Damn.
Yeom Yuhwa wouldn't become widely known throughout the Central Plains until much later.
It would only be during the final war between the Righteous Alliance and the Demonic Cult that her name spread throughout the martial world.
At this point in time...
it was strange for me to know her title so naturally.
I immediately added,
“Goeong told me.”
Her brows lifted.
“The Elder did?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“He mentioned that someone usually comes to take care of him.”
“He said that person's title was Evil Soul Sword Flower.”
“So I simply guessed it might be you.”
“Hmm....”
Yeom Yuhwa still looked suspicious.
But then Goeong casually spoke from beside us.
“That's right! I told him!”
He pointed at her.
“Yeom Yuhwa uses a sword and takes good care of me!”
Yeom Yuhwa lowered her gaze slightly.
Then slowly nodded.
“Well... I suppose that is possible.”
I immediately cut in before she could think too deeply.
“It isn't merely possible. That's what happened.”
Then I changed the subject.
“More importantly...”
I looked around.
“Where exactly is this place?”
“And why is Goeong alone in here?”
Yeom Yuhwa's expression darkened.
She didn't answer immediately.
She remained silent for a moment, seemingly thinking about something.
Then instead...
she brought up something completely different.
“So what you said earlier was true.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“That you fell from the waterfall in Falling Death Valley and were swept here.”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
“Do you finally believe me?”
Yeom Yuhwa nodded.
“Yes.”
“At this point, I have no choice.”
Then she looked at me...
and then at Goeong.
“I suppose you truly knew nothing.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“Otherwise, you never would've given the Elder such an absurd name as... Goeong.”
"..."
I flinched inwardly.
Was it really that obvious I'd made the name up carelessly?
I cleared my throat.
“Ahem.”
“Anyway, we can talk about that later.”
I gestured toward the wall.
“For now, I'd like to get out of here.”
Yeom Yuhwa thought briefly.
Then nodded.
“Very well.”
“Wait here for a moment.”
When she started to leave alone...
I immediately asked,
“You're telling me to just stay here and wait until you come back?”
Yeom Yuhwa looked me over from head to toe.
Then spoke.
“If you walk outside looking like that...”
“don't you think everyone will immediately identify you as an outsider?”
Only then did I look down at myself.
My upper robe had been torn apart long ago.
My lower clothes weren't in much better condition.
Anyone who saw me would immediately find me suspicious.
If I simply walked outside like this...
I'd be arrested on the spot.
Yeom Yuhwa continued,
“Wait here for a little while.”
“I'll return soon.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“And how am I supposed to trust you, Yeom Yuhwa?”
She answered without the slightest hesitation.
“If I'd wanted to harm you...”
“martial artists from the Divine Cult would already be inside this chamber.”
"..."
She looked at me evenly.
“I'll take that silence as understanding.”
“I'll be back shortly.”
With that...
she disappeared beyond the wall.
A moment later—
Rrrrrumble... BOOM.
The wall closed again.
I stared blankly at the seamless stone surface.
Then suddenly thought of something and turned toward Goeong.
He was still looking at me with the same innocent expression.
The terrifying aura he'd shown earlier...
the pressure that had made Yeom Yuhwa immediately submit...
all of it now seemed like an illusion.
He once again looked like nothing more than a harmless, smiling mad old man.
But—
Evil Soul Sword Flower treats him with that much respect....
I stared at Goeong for a long moment.
Then quietly muttered to myself.
Goeong.
Who the hell are you?
