Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 48

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 48
Qi Circulation?
Un Hyeon tilted his head slightly.
Then he understood.
“You mean True Qi Circulation?”
“When you put your hand on my back and do that thing with your energy!”
Yeon-u waved her arms this way and that, eager to explain further.
Watching the child’s gestures trace the pathway of the Small Celestial Circulation with such precision, a smile played at the corners of Un Hyeon’s mouth.
“There’s no need for that now. You can circulate your own Qi, can’t you?”
“But still! Do it! I want to feel it!”
He chuckled softly.
Un Hyeon let out a gentle laugh.
His gaze grew distant for a moment, as though wrestling with something.
“Very well. It wouldn’t hurt to examine you again after all this time. Let us prepare and go.”
Yeon-u’s expression brightened at once.
* * *
The two of them climbed a high mountain peak together.
It was not the same mountain where Un Hyeon practiced alone.
This was the place where Yeon-u came each dawn to practice Qi Breathing.
For the first three years after they’d come deep into the mountains, they had climbed here together every day, but once Yeon-u could perform the breathing practice on her own, it became a place solely for her training.
“You’ve kept it well-maintained.”
Un Hyeon surveyed his surroundings and spoke.
Yeon-u swept at one corner of the dirt ground with a broom as she spoke.
“You always said to keep the training grounds clean. That a clear mind requires no clutter in the surroundings.”
“So I did. And you’ve remembered.”
“I remember everything you’ve said.”
Because he never spoke carelessly, every word took root in her heart.
“Here.”
Un Hyeon moved to the spot she had prepared.
Then he settled behind her, just as he had done before.
No explanation of what to do was needed.
It was something he had done every day, even just two years ago.
Un Hyeon placed his hand on Yeon-u’s back.
It was just as he was about to speak that—
“Grandfather.”
Un Hyeon’s hand stilled.
In the hushed dawn air, the child’s voice came softly.
“I will definitely go to the Central Plains. You said there are all manner of delicacies of mountains and seas there.”
The child’s voice was clear.
“So.”
So clear it was almost resolute.
“Keep your promise. Grandfather. Come and bring me back.”
Only then did Un Hyeon look down at the child’s back beneath his hand.
In just two years—the two years without True Qi Circulation—she had grown so much that his hand could no longer cover her back as it once had.
……
When had that small child grown so tall?
That girl who spoke of happiness with a full belly—when had she become so grown?
‘She understands my heart.’
He had been troubled, wondering how to soothe the resentment in her heart at being left behind.
He had worried—what if they parted in bitterness instead?
And yet, such worries and fears proved groundless.
‘She has already grown so, already moving toward that distant shore.’
Then he must answer in kind.
“I promise you.”
To the resolve of a child who had taken a step back, he too had to offer his response.
“I will come for you. I will not forget the promise—that I would let you taste the delicacies of mountains and seas of the Central Plains to your heart’s content.”
Hehe.
Yeon-u laughed.
The sound of her laughter was as pleasant now as it had always been.
“Then you promise too.”
“…?”
“Don’t die. Don’t treat death lightly, and don’t treat it as something easy either.”
Don’t see death as one means of ending life’s sorrows.
“If ever you lose sight of why you live, remember those who cherish you, those who wish to see you again.”
This child, I pray—
“…live for my sake.”
Fear death.
“Will you do that for me?”
After a brief silence, Yeon-u nodded softly.
Yeon-u was not yet afraid of death.
She had not abandoned the thought that everything would be easier if she were gone.
For a child who had escaped her painful former life through death, death felt like nothing more than another refuge, another sanctuary.
And yet.
“I’ll try.”
If grandfather wishes her to live—
If he hopes she will wait without dying—
“I won’t die.”
“Good.”
“You don’t die either.”
“…All right.”
There was so much to promise.
With so much time to be apart, there was far too much they wished to ask of each other.
Yeon-u and Un Hyeon leaned on their promises after that, pouring out their every wish.
The hope that when they were not at each other’s side, neither would be hurt, nor starve, nor grieve.
They spoke together for a long while.
* * *
“Young Master! Young Master Gwan Hyeok!”
Gwan Hyeok, who had been standing with his sword drawn as he caught his breath heavily, wiped the sweat from his brow and turned toward the entrance of the Training Grounds.
Baek Gang, the Gwan Family’s guardian who had been exchanging sword strikes with him, also saw the servant running toward them.
“You’ve… you’ve returned!”
The servant shouted urgently without even catching his breath.
“Miss Yeon-u has come back!”
“…!”
Gwan Hyeok’s eyes widened.
Gwan Hyeok and Baek Gang exchanged glances of surprise for a moment.
Clang! Clang-clang!
Gwan Hyeok hurled his Wooden Sword aside and took off running.
Baek Gang followed close behind him.
“She’s in the Family Head’s Chamber!”
The servant’s cry echoed behind the two figures as they rushed away without knowing where they were going.
* * *
“Yes, it’s good to see you again like this. Have you been well all this time?”
Gwan Yun greeted Yeon-u warmly when she returned so unexpectedly.
Two weeks remained until Yeon-u’s entry into the Maryong-gwan.
He had already thought it was time for her to return, so he was not particularly surprised.
“You’ve grown considerably. The last time we sat in the same chair, I could only see half your face.”
Before Gwan Yun, who spoke with an amused chuckle, something plump was bulging.
Swollen from being stuffed with no room left, they were Yeon-u’s cheeks.
They were the cheeks of Yeon-u, who had crammed her mouth full of refreshments that Gwan Yun had prepared with a warm welcome.
“Hehe, eat slowly. Didn’t you eat well there?”
Gwan Yun deliberately pretended not to notice and pushed the water cup toward her.
Yeon-u took the water cup and gulped down the snacks she had stuffed into her mouth.
“Ahhh! That’s delicious!”
She wiped the moisture from the corner of her lips and pointed to the refreshments in front of her.
That sight seemed to show no difference from before, and Gwan Yun found himself smiling without realizing it.
“I’m glad to see you’re in good health.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Yeon-u laughed, a quiet giggle.
“Have you been well?”
“Yes. I’ve been quite busy these past weeks.”
Five years ago, the Dark Shadow Demon Army left the Gwan Family with a task.
When Yeon-u returned five years later, the family would no longer be one that held back a child.
“Thanks to you, I’ve had the chance to think deeply about things I’d been putting off. I’ve been preoccupied finding the answer to that question.”
“Thanks to me?”
Yeon-u tilted her head.
Not knowing about the Dark Shadow Demon Army, she couldn’t understand what he meant.
“So did you find it? That answer?”
“I did.”
Found it indeed.
“Don’t worry. It will be a path that benefits you.”
“……?”
Yeon-u tilted her head again.
She had no idea what he was talking about.
Thanks to her, how it would help her.
In any case.
“I’m leaving now. I came to say goodbye first.”
“Yes. Time has gone by so quickly….”
The day this child would truly enter Maryong-gwan had finally come.
“Will you be all right…?”
“Yes. I’m going to become the leader.”
Leader?
“You mean to become the head?”
“Yes. That’s the only way I can keep my promise with grandfather.”
Only then did Gwan Yun sense the presence around the Family Head’s Chamber.
“Now that I think of it, I don’t see the one who was teaching you martial arts.”
And the Dark Shadow Demon Army either.
“Grandfather went back. To where he used to live.”
“So there was another place where he originally resided.”
There was something too unusual about him to simply call him a beggar.
Perhaps he was indeed a member of a renowned Demon Family, just not well known.
‘Given that he had connections with the Dark Shadow Demon Army….’
He might very well be someone of higher standing than Gwan Yun had thought.
“I see. So that was it.”
Gwan Yun studied Yeon-u for a moment.
At a glance, the change in the child over five years was remarkable.
Whether long or short, the time had been significant.
‘Several martial warriors from the main branch wouldn’t even be a match for her.’
A child barely fourteen had returned so much stronger.
‘She truly was taught by someone extraordinary.’
“I’m truly relieved to see you looking so well. It’s shameless to say, but my heart is eased somewhat.”
At least she wouldn’t suffer being pushed around by other children at Maryong-gwan.
Beyond that, the Dark Shadow Demon Army would watch over her, so there shouldn’t be any serious problems.
“I’m really glad….”
“Mister.”
Gwan Yun looked at Yeon-u.
Her gaze was steady, fixed upon him without wavering.
“You’re a good person.”
“…….”
“You never let me skip meals and always provided them, gave me plenty of delicious snacks, tried to teach me martial arts, and kept your promise to look after me all the way through.”
Even though the parents who had bought her and promised to care for her properly had long since vanished.
“Grandfather told me that when it’s hard to judge whether a person is good or bad, I should look at them by my own standard.”
Yeon-u’s standard was only one thing: food.
The hunger and starvation that had driven the child to death in her previous life had become the most important measure of life in this one.
Would you feed others?
Would you steal from others to eat,
“By my standard.”
Yeon-u looked at Gwan Yun.
Her eyes held a conviction that did not waver.
“You’re a good person.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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