Defying the Heavens Scholar - Chapter 21

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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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Against Heaven’s Script, Episode 21

Episode 21. The Truth.

The earth of Cheongrim lay endlessly damp. Layers of rotted leaves, softened by years, cushioned each step, nameless birds stirred the air around my ears, and with every movement, foliage brushed against my shoulders like gentle fingers.

As I followed Mantong through this, my gaze caught by Cheongrim’s verdant depths, the dense green wall ahead parted without warning, and my vision opened suddenly wide.
The sky I had glimpsed only through narrow gaps between leaves now unfurled at once, and a pure, cool wind swept through to the depths of my chest.
In the center of that vast clearing stood a single, unpretentious dwelling.

For the residence of one whose counsel even the Imperial Court had once sought, it was remarkably austere.
Roughly hewn pillars, thin planks of wood hastily fastened against the wind, eaves utterly bare of ornament.
Yet it held no shabbiness—not because something was lacking, but because only what was necessary existed.

Before the dwelling stretched a vast lake, and across its surface drifted the faintest veil of mist.
Reeds bowed in one direction alone whenever the wind stirred, rippling in their dance.
And beyond the lake, a high mountain rose into the sky.
Clouds wrapped themselves around its middle, and the rocks laid bare beneath were layered like ancient armor, seam upon seam.
Lost for a moment in the landscape, I stood vacant, until Mantong called to me from before the dwelling.

“Your eyes are restless.”

Brief words. Yet in that single phrase, I felt my own gaze laid bare—every direction I had looked, every way I had looked at it.

“It is quite a beautiful view indeed. I begin to understand why you chose to make your residence here.”

Mantong turned his head slowly. His gaze passed over my face and traveled the length of my body.

“You speak well for one with learning.”

His tone held a note of rebuke, yet beneath it lingered a whisper of interest.

“Come inside.”

At his words, I followed carefully behind him.
The moment I crossed the threshold, the air transformed. The damp forest smell thinned away, and the fragrance of medicinal herbs filled the space.
Diagrams drawn on paper hung from the walls, and books lay stacked in layers across the floor.
These were no mere diagrams. The lines moved, each drawing and pushing against the others as if breathing.

‘What manner of diagrams are these?’

My eyes were drawn without thought. Here lay the traces of countless formation technique research, accumulated over the years.

“Yes, the formation techniques I have studied throughout these long years. Normally I do not show them to others, but…….”
“Quite…… fascinating.”
“Hmm, what finds you so fascinated?”

At Mantong’s question, I pointed with my hand to the first formation that caught my eye.

“This was an attempt to harmonize the diagrams of the Manghyang Formation and the Hwanhyeong Formation. As for why such a formation existed at the entrance of Cheongrim…… You must have invested inner force into approximately six objects besides the Bamboo Fragment I discovered. Had I touched an object belonging to the Death Path rather than the Living Path, I would have had to endure both the Hwanhyeong Formation and the Manghyang Formation at once.”
“……You understood all that at a glance?”
“And here, you reversed the arrangement. The order of the formation’s construction has been subtly inverted. This allowed you to shake not merely a person’s perception, but their very spirit.”
“Yes, that was the most difficult part. I incorporated formation techniques one after another to manipulate the spirit—the third pillar of Jeong-Gi-Shin. To move the spirit first, one must…….”

Mantong began to say more, but then gave a dry cough and seated himself.

“Ahem, I have spoken far more than I intended. It has been long since I met someone whose words ring true…… Sit for now.”

Only then did my mind come back into focus. I’d become absorbed in the new knowledge, something I hadn’t experienced in quite some time, and it had happened without my realizing.
As I settled into my seat, Mantong cleared his throat and continued.

“Yes. Whatever the reason…….”

Mantong trailed off, his gaze fixed on me.

“Thank you for looking after my inadequate student, Gangno.”

Startled by his words, I rose and bowed deeply.

“Not at all. Without Gangno, I would not have found myself here.”

Mantong nodded at my respectful reply.

“There is much I wish to know.”

He began questioning me methodically about my connection with Gangno.
In response, I explained as calmly as I could the time I had spent with him and how I had come to travel to Musim-dong.
The conversation grew lengthy.
Mantong mostly listened, though his expression shifted subtly from moment to moment—his eyes narrowing here, his lips tightening there.

“The design of Musim-dong would have been Gangno’s work.”
“Gangno said the same.”
“And…… in Musim-dong, you unraveled the martial techniques they sought.”
“…….”

A remarkably incisive question—an accusation, even.
I told him only that I had engaged in copying transcription in Musim-dong.
There was no reason to hide it, yet a single word could spiral into misunderstanding.
I had planned to speak openly once the conversation drew to a natural close, since Gangno already knew the truth anyway. But Mantong had seen through even that.

Mantong looked directly into my eyes.

“Ask me.”
“I’m listening.”
“Did you truly unravel the Ziran Hwa Gyeong of the Huashan Sect?”
“I did.”

Mantong closed his eyes in silence for a moment, then opened them slowly and nodded.
As if he had reached some decision.

* * *

A brief sigh escaped his lips.

“Now I will tell you the truth you must know.”

At his grave tone, I straightened my back without thinking.

“Gangno did not leave of his own will to follow the Imperial Court.”
“But Gangno said…….”
“I knew from the beginning that he would leave.”

Those words hung thinly in the room.
Mantong’s gaze shifted toward the window. The mist above the lake was beginning to thin.

“That day, the Crown Prince came to this place.”

At those words, my heart gave a single, violent leap.

“He asked me how to suppress the Martial World.”

It was a story I’d heard from Gangno, but hearing it now from his master Mantong, the weight of those words felt entirely different.

“So I gave the prince an answer, but only after I set down one condition.”
“What condition was that?”
“Before I answer, there’s something I must tell you first.”

Mantong leaned back into his chair and spoke slowly, as if reaching into distant memories.

“I’ve known for a long time that Gangno yearned for the world. He spoke of loving Cheongrim, yet at night I’d catch him turning his ear toward the outside. Listening for it.”
“…….”
“So I prepared myself long ago. If such an opportunity ever came, I resolved to let him go.”
“And that opportunity was?”
“The prince himself.”

Mantong’s gaze, which had been fixed on the river, turned back toward me.

“I asked the prince—if I gave him the answers he sought, would he take my disciple Gangno with him? Let him breathe the scent of the world?”
“…….”

When I nodded, something flickered across Mantong’s face, and his brow furrowed slightly.

“And I made one more request.”
“What was that?”

At my question, his fist—resting on the armrest—slowly clenched.
It was not the clenching of someone showing anger, but rather the crushing of something seething up from within.

“I asked that once my disciple had his fill of satisfaction, he be returned to me whole and unbroken.”

I had nothing to say. Or rather, fury flooded my mind.

“He swore to that, and yet he dared to leave my only disciple… like this.”

Mantong rose heavily and threw open the window. Cold air rushed in, stirring the scent of medicinal herbs. For a long while he stood silent, gazing out toward distant mountains.
I could only watch his back in silence.

“You.”

Mantong closed the window slowly and called to me.

“Yes, Master.”
“What does Gangno mean to you?”

To that question, I answered with truth.

“He is someone who allowed me to forget loneliness and despair. I am grateful to him.”
“And what of the prince and the Imperial Court?”

That question tore open the pain and despair of years past in an instant.
But pain passes, and my answer came swiftly.

“They are my enemies.”
“……Good. Very good.”

Mantong slowly returned to his seat and studied me for a moment.
It was a gaze that seemed to weigh and consider something about me.
Only for a moment.

“I owe you a debt.”

I shook my head at those words.

“How can you say such a thing? A debt?”
“Didn’t you bring Gangno all the way here? That alone is enough for me to owe you a debt.”
…….
“So I must repay that debt.”

I hadn’t met many people in my life, but I could tell.
Mantong was speaking only from the heart.
He wasn’t after my talent, as the Gongdong Sect’s elder had been.
He wasn’t wary of me, as the Imperial Court’s master had been.

If I had to name what I felt, that emotion was…….

‘Vengeance. And resentment.’

It was an emotion I knew all too well.

“You’re quite knowledgeable about Formation Techniques. Had you studied them before?”
“When I was young, I received instruction in military formations from a teacher.”
“Fascinating. And what of other things?”
“If you’re asking about martial arts, I’ve never formally studied them.”
“Then? You taught yourself?”
“Yes. To survive…… I learned through books in Musim-dong.”
“Hah, hah-hah!”

He was a man who had wandered the realm and witnessed countless talents. Nor had there been a shortage of those who stood out.
Yet he had always believed that none could compare to Gangno, his own disciple.
But this young man had quietly shaken the foundations of that certainty.
He had passed through formations Mantong himself had laid, and discovered the path to breaking the Huashan Sect’s Ziran Hwa Gyeong.
Above all, had he not brought back from the brink of death a man who had seen nothing but his own end?

‘Now I cannot even guess. How many years has it been since I felt this way…….’

Mantong, momentarily bereft of words, nodded slowly.
Then he spoke his mind.

“I make you two promises.”

Mantong extended two fingers as he continued.

“The first is Formation Techniques. You already seem well-versed in them, but I shall teach you my Secret Formation Technique directly…… and also instruct you in the principles of the world.”
…….
“And the second. Through my old friend Tae Junmu, you shall learn not from books, but through practice itself.”
…….

Faced with this sudden decision, I found myself momentarily speechless.

“Junmu, are you there?”

At his quiet call, I heard very slow footsteps from beyond the door—heavier than the tread of leaves falling, yet making no commotion. The door swung open, and a man appeared.

Tae Junmu, the Steel Warrior.

A master of arms who had trained his hand with nearly every weapon that exists in the world.
He made no distinction between sword and spear, and whether wielding an axe, a long lance, or his bare fists, they were all merely ‘tools’ in his hands—so the rumor went.
His body was hard as stone, and his scars ran deep as a battlefield. Yet his gaze burned with an eerie, perfect stillness.
Eyes whose very depth I could not fathom swept across me.

“Have you made your decision?”

Tae Junmu asked, and Mantong nodded.

“Yes. I’ve decided. That prince’s face needs rearranging.”

At his words, Tae Junmu laughed loudly.

“It’s been ages since I’ve seen that look in your eyes. Since Gangno left…… it’s the first time I’ve seen it.”

The two men seemed to have already exchanged something through Sound Transmission.
Perhaps that was why their conversation was brief, their resolve swift, and their resolve unshakable.

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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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