Chapter 45: Forest Lord Im Gi-hak (2)
Despite Yi-gang expressing his intention to get down, Jin Ri-yeon did not immediately nod in agreement.
There’s still quite a climb to White Cloud Peak. The slope is steep and dangerous.
‘What!’
A reckless kid who tried to startle her senior by causing a gust of wind in such a dangerous place was right in front of him. Yi-gang was flabbergasted.
“There’s no need to carry me.”
“It’s because of me you got hurt. I’m fine. It’s not hard at all.”
“That’s not the problem…”
Yi-gang argued while still clinging to Jin Ri-yeon’s back. Jin Ri-yeon was in her early twenties. And Yi-gang was only fourteen. Yi-gang, whose body was still small and thin for his age, wouldn’t be much of a burden for Jin Ri-yeon, but that’s not the issue.
“I’m embarrassed.”
The dignity of a prestigious clan’s child, or anything else, it was just embarrassing.
Especially, that little one named Yu Su-rin’s eyes were not kind at all.
「You should have flat-out refused from the beginning.」
‘I got swept up in the mood. Miss Jin spoke so naturally, I didn’t think twice. And there wasn’t a particular way out.’
Luckily, Yu Su-rin intervened.
“Senior. No matter what, he’s still a boy. Carrying a boy on your back is a bit…”
“Ah…”
Jin Ri-yeon opened her mouth as if she hadn’t expected it.
There was no way Yi-gang, still a child, appeared as a man in Jin Ri-yeon’s eyes. Nor was he raised emphasizing gender distinctions like the children of prestigious clans.
Her experience taking care of juniors much younger than herself had made her indifferent.
“So, others might think it’s unmanly if they see it.”
“Hmm, but I remember when Su-rin, you knocked out Jun Myeong a while back. Then, I carried him to the medical room.”
“That, that was! That was already three years ago.”
Yi-gang quickly interjected, “Please, just let me down.”
Finally, Yi-gang was able to get off Jin Ri-yeon’s back. Having straightened his disheveled clothes, he tried hard to puff out his chest and assume a dignified posture.
His ankle was sore, but the pain in his heart seemed much greater.
“Hmm.”
Letting out a slight groan, Yi-gang took a step.
Yu Su-rin was watching him with a strange look on her face. At a glance, she seemed to be very attached to Jin Ri-yeon, so Yi-gang thought she might dislike him.
But that wasn’t the case.
Every time Yi-gang flinched his foot while climbing the stairs, her eyebrows twitched.
Clamping her mouth shut and avoiding his gaze, she looked at him again. Yi-gang could read her expression. It was clearly guilt.
‘Why is she looking at me like that?’
As expected, the choice Yu Su-rin made was the worst possible one for Yi-gang.
“If your leg hurts a lot…”
She stood in front of Yi-gang and cautiously bent down.
“Since there’s no one around to see. You can ride on my back.”
Was she feeling guilty about pulling Yi-gang off Jin Ri-yeon’s back? Yu Su-rin, the same age as him, offered her own back.
Yi-gang’s face turned ashen.
“Su-rin, didn’t you just say that I can’t carry a boy?”
“Well, yes, but making a guest with a hurt leg climb the stairs is wrong. I’ll bear any criticism. Please, just stay still.”
At those solemn words, Jin Ri-yeon’s eyes widened in what seemed to be admiration.
And, of course, Yi-gang was not moved.
“Come on, get on!”
“Get out of the way.”
Speaking in a tone as cold as dropping ice, he did nothing but pass by Yu Su-rin.
Yu Su-rin looked up at Yi-gang passing her, with a downcast posture.
Just as Yi-gang had guessed, the emotion Yu Su-rin felt was indeed guilt.
Having received a good education and grown up among good people, Yu Su-rin had the right values.
She didn’t like seeing a boy she met for the first time riding on the back of Jin Ri-yeon, whom she respected. However, the sight of Yi-gang limping after getting down was extremely pitiful.
She felt a prick of conscience.
Though young, Yu Su-rin was a person who understood responsibility. Her offer to carry him in place of Jin Ri-yeon was sincere.
“I really can carry you.”
“Tsk.”
Yi-gang looked down at Yu Su-rin coldly, clicking his tongue.
Instead of responding, he flicked his clothes and climbed the stairs again.
Rather than being upset by Yi-gang’s attitude, Yu Su-rin felt curious. All of her friends of the same age were practicing martial arts together, so she had never seen someone who behaved so reservedly like Yi-gang.
“Your name is Yi-gang, right? Did Forest Lord really invite you to White Cloud Peak?”
“Yes.”
“I wonder why. It’s rare for an outsider to climb White Cloud Peak.”
There was no answer. Yi-gang simply followed Jin Ri-yeon, who was leading the way, in silence.
“Hey, you said you came from a place called the Baek Clan? How is it there? I’ve been here all my life.”
“It’s just another place where people live.”
“Hmm, I see you’re wearing a sword, so you must be a swordsman. I also learned swordsmanship. Like Ri-yeon, I practice with a whip sword. But your sword is really big.”
“…”
“And more than anything, why did you come to the Azure Forest?”
Yu Su-rin poured out her curiosities.
Yi-gang, who had generally been brushing things off or staying silent, suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Yu Su-rin nearly bumped her face into Yi-gang’s back.
“What, what’s wrong?”
Yi-gang, who had turned around, suddenly extended his hand.
“I’m afflicted with a deadly disease.”
Yu Su-rin, who carelessly placed her hand on Yi-gang’s palm, was startled.
His hand was extremely cold. Like an icebox.
“I came to see if perhaps this place could heal me.”
“Ah…”
Noticing Yu Su-rin’s awkward expression, Yi-gang climbed the stairs again.
He felt sorry for the child, but it seemed he could now ascend in silence.
As Yi-gang hoped, Yu Su-rin didn’t bother him with any more questions.
However, that didn’t mean her curiosity about Yi-gang had disappeared.
On the contrary, it was the exact opposite.
‘A deadly disease, he said?’
Only then did she understand the inexplicable gloom she had felt from Yi-gang.
One way or another, she was a prospective Taoist flower disciple. That meant she had a talent for sorcery.
She possessed more Innate True Qi than the average person and was born with rich spiritual energy of the upper dantian. She was particularly sensitive to the energy of all things in the world and the Five Elements. Her talent in this area even surpassed Jin Ri-yeon’s.
To Yu Su-rin, Yi-gang’s peculiarities were apparent from the beginning.
An unusual lightness, as if he wasn’t from this world.
A coldness flowed from him, imperceptible to ordinary people, and the air around often became oppressively heavy.
She was all the more intrigued because she didn’t know about the existence of the Great Yin Meridian Blockage illness Yi-gang was suffering from.
‘I feel like I can almost see the gloom.’
Sorcery wasn’t just about stirring winds or startling wild animals.
Advanced Taoist flower disciples could read the heavens and perform magic. Tales of legendary masters flying on their swords were examples of levitation magic.
And Yu Su-rin had learned a sorcery skill known as Insight Eye.
It meant eyes that could pierce through the essence of a person. It sounded grand, but in reality, it wasn’t much.
Did the other person have hostility towards the caster? And what kind of energy did he have? Only to such an extent.
‘How long is it?’
Yu Su-rin pondered for a while, then cautiously raised her right hand.
She made a circle with her index and thumb and held it up to her eye. This simple gesture, combined with her talent, became a powerful sorcery.
‘Jiji-ru-luling.’
As she muttered the soft incantation, the view in her right eye began to change.
Her pupil dilated, and things that were originally invisible started to become visible.
The flow of the wind, the Yang energy scattered by the sun, the mysterious energy flowing in the air of White Cloud Peak.
And then there was Yi-gang’s back.
‘It doesn’t seem like much.’
Indeed, a bluish gloom was flowing from Yi-gang’s body. Considering his cold attitude, she thought he would dislike her, but she didn’t feel any particular malice.
Yu Su-rin got a bit more ambitious. She heightened her Innate True Qi, enhancing her Insight Eye. Things that weren’t visible before began to come into view.
Firstly, the terrible state of Yi-gang’s body. His Innate True Qi was fainter than a normal person’s. The talk of a deadly disease must not be a lie.
However, the spiritual energy he harbored was extraordinary.
‘He hasn’t trained in sorcery. How could…?’
Yi-gang’s spiritual energy was astonishing. He possessed a stronger spiritual energy than even Yu Su-rin. Perhaps even more than the second-generation disciples of the Azure Forest. It was a state that was utterly out of balance.
Yu Su-rin stared at Yi-gang as if she was bewitched.
Gradually, she sensed it. The aura of some potent spiritual entity. The necklace he wore was no ordinary object.
And then—
Thump—
With a sensation as if her heart heavily sank.
Finally, Yu Su-rin realized the presence of “someone” by Yi-gang’s side.
“Ah…”
An exclamation-like sound unwittingly escaped her lips.
An invisible someone was circling Yi-gang, as if guarding him. Yi-gang wasn’t possessed by a lowly spirit.
Such a thing couldn’t be called a lowly spirit. Overwhelming spiritual energy. The presence was so immense that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed it until now.
It was something Yu Su-rin was seeing for the first time in her life.
“Ah…”
If she had to compare, it was like a dragon hidden in the storm clouds, revealing its massive maw.
And then, Yi-gang and that someone turned simultaneously to look down at Yu Su-rin.
Yu Su-rin froze, her hand still near her eye. She’d been caught spying, but couldn’t pretend otherwise.
She was on the verge of Qi deviation. It was because her talent for sorcery was so exceptional.
She had used Insight Eye beyond her capability, and her tender, immature mind couldn’t withstand the shock.
Yu Su-rin’s body trembled uncontrollably.
The Innate True Qi started to run wild on its own. If she lost her footing here, she would plummet down below White Cloud Peak.
‘Dangerous.’
At that very moment, when it felt like her head would explode, someone gently touched her shoulder.
“Hehe.”
It was the soft laughter of an old man.
A pure energy seeped from her shoulder, stabilizing Yu Su-rin’s rampaging internal Qi.
“Haa, hah.”
Yu Su-rin finally exhaled a rough breath. Cold sweat trickled down her neck.
“Su-rin. You must always be careful when using sorcery.”
She immediately recognized the owner of that gentle voice. Yu Su-rin bowed her head in apology.
“I’m sorry! And, my apologies.”
Yi-gang, who had been looking on blankly, simply nodded his head lightly in response.
Yu Su-rin couldn’t dare lift her head. She was immensely ashamed.
And then the old man spoke to Yi-gang.
“I came out to greet a guest. It seems my young disciple has been rude.”
Yi-gang bowed with his hands clasped.
“How could there be any rudeness? I am meeting you for the first time. Forest Lord.”
The person who appeared behind Yu Su-rin was none other than the Azure Forest Lord, Im Gi-hak, who must have been at the top of White Cloud Peak.
“My name is Baek Yi-gang.”
The man, whose white beard made him resemble a divine hermit, gave a kind smile.
Yi-gang’s composed demeanor, showing no sign of surprise, made him admire the man.
This was the moment when Yi-gang and the Top Mountain Sword Sage, Im Gi-hak, met for the first time.
However, at that moment, Yi-gang had a different thought.
‘Why is she suddenly saying sorry?’
「Hmm, I wonder.」
He had merely turned around because he heard a groaning sound from behind all of a sudden.
However, Yu Su-rin was frozen in an odd pose, her hand making a circle that she held up to her eye.
‘Did she do something?’
「How would I know the mind of such a young child?」
The Immortal Divine Sword then spoke, clapping his hands sharply as he did, 「Perhaps she got caught trying to play a prank.」
‘…I seriously doubt that.’
Yi-gang felt like he could sigh.
And then he lifted his head to look at the Azure Forest Lord again.
Clearly, when he had turned around, the Azure Forest Lord was already standing behind Yu Su-rin. Yi-gang was so surprised that his face had stiffened with shock.
‘I didn’t feel him approaching.’
「He must have fallen from the sky or something. Either way, he’s no ordinary person.」
‘Is that so?’
「That guy, it seems like he can see me.」
Yi-gang, startled, looked at the Azure Forest Lord.
He gave Yi-gang a beaming smile.
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