A Tale Of A Scribe Who Retires To The Countryside [EN]: Chapter 287

287. Cause and Effect

Beop-heo Shinni’s gaze, fixed on Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, who appeared from the mist, was complex.

She was once called Beop-ryeon, a master of the Outer Affairs of the Ami Sect and Beop-heo Shinni’s martial sister. After she broke her vows and left Ami, Beop-heo Shinni took her place.

For Beop-heo Shinni, her feelings were bound to be complicated.

After quietly chanting a Buddhist invocation, Beop-heo Shinni spoke.

“It doesn’t seem you’ve come with good intentions, Martial Sister.”

“You still call me that, Junior Sister.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, smiled. With her transgression, all ties to Ami were severed. Yet, Beop-heo Shinni still called her Martial Sister.

“Just as blood ties do not disappear even when connections are severed, the past does not vanish just because Martial Sister left Ami.”

Beop-heo Shinni replied with a slight sigh. Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, looked at Beop-heo Shinni with gentle eyes.

“Yes, it was always like that. In that stifling, utterly hypocritical Ami, only you accepted me as I was when I was young. Even though there was a significant age difference, you never looked down on me.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s voice was quite different from when she faced Gyeonghui Gunju.

She spoke comfortably in a soft tone, as if addressing a sister she had reunited with after a long time.

“The age difference wasn’t even ten years. And how could age matter to a disciple cultivating the Way?”

Beop-heo said quietly. As if recounting old memories, her voice was calm yet wistful.

Meanwhile, Cheonghye Satae, standing beside her, couldn’t shake off her tension.

She knew that Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, and Beop-heo Shinni originally had a significant age difference.

However, the difference in appearance between the aged Beop-heo Shinni and the beautiful Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, was enormous—a gap that couldn’t be explained by just ten years.

“True, but there weren’t many like you in Ami. In fact, it was only you. Everyone else was jealous of me, and even the master only scolded me, never acknowledging that I was superior to anyone else.”

“The master did so out of affection for you, Martial Sister. In fact, she didn’t oppose you joining the Outer Affairs.”

“But she was never proud of me. Not even once.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, said with a cold glint in her eyes. The smile that had briefly disappeared soon returned as laughter.

“Hahaha.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, continued.

“It reminds me of the old days. It was always like that. Whenever I complained, you always comforted me. If it weren’t for you, I probably would have run away from Ami ten years earlier.”

Beop-heo Shinni couldn’t answer. Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, who once held the Dharma name Beop-ryeon, eventually broke her vows and left Ami after a major conflict with the Martial Emperor of Hyeoncheon.

Afterward, Ami had to endure seven years and make enormous sacrifices to establish Beop-heo as the master of Outer Affairs.

The fact that they established a new master of Outer Affairs in just seven years, after the previous one disappeared without leaving anything behind, spoke volumes about Ami’s strength.

“Why have you returned?”

Beop-heo Shinni asked quietly.

After breaking her vows, she who called herself Neung Cheon-hwa began a grueling training regimen.

Because she possessed innate talent, when she reappeared years later and challenged Saja-hyeok to a duel, everyone in the Outer Affairs couldn’t help but feel tense.

“Are you still not accepting the result of that duel?”

The result was Neung Cheon-hwa’s defeat. And coincidentally, in the year she lost the duel and disappeared, Beop-heo newly entered the Outer Affairs. That was nearly twenty years ago.

“Then it’s already too late. He is no longer…”

“That’s something we can’t know.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, said with a sharp glint in her eyes. Her voice was no longer gentle.

“And I do hear news. They say someone has already appeared walking the path of the Martial Emperor? But I cannot accept it.”

Beop-heo Shinni quietly chanted a Buddhist invocation.

“Then why did you instill vain thoughts in Hyewol?”

The face of Head Disciple Hyewol Satae hardened.

“Does Martial Sister ultimately seek to…”

“Don’t misunderstand.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, said, staring straight at Beop-heo Shinni.

“Ami no longer means anything to me. Ami abandoned me even before I left.”

“Ami has never abandoned anyone.”

“Hahaha.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s laughter was hollow.

“Ami made me join the Outer Affairs not for my sake, but for its own. It never tried to understand me or acknowledge anything about me. And yet…”

Grinding.

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, gritted her teeth.

“And yet Ami didn’t abandon me?”

Beop-heo felt pity.

The strict master had a great influence on Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s thoughts. It was all out of a desire to care for her disciples, but for the proud and sensitive Neung Cheon-hwa, such an attitude from the master was something she could never understand or forgive.

The saying that a teacher’s failure to be strict in teaching is the teacher’s fault [a traditional Confucian saying emphasizing the importance of discipline in education] had the opposite result for Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa.

“The only person who didn’t abandon me was you, Junior Sister.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s gaze toward Beop-heo Shinni softened again.

“That’s why I came to this place. Not for Ami, but for you.”

The only people who mattered to Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, in this world were Saja-hyeok, the Martial Emperor of Hyeoncheon, and her junior sister, Beop-heo Shinni.

And the only person who hadn’t abandoned her was just one of them.

Rustle.

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, quietly extended a hand. Looking at Beop-heo Shinni with more radiant eyes, she said.

“Will you come to me? Junior Sister.”

Silence flowed.

No one could open their mouths, not even breathe deeply. Everyone knew what Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s outstretched hand meant.

If she took that hand, Ami would become the leading force of all Buddhist sects. The Five Great Clans would fall, and the Jianghu [the martial world] would revolve around Ami.

All she had to do was take that small hand of Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa.

“Haa.”

Beop-heo Shinni let out a soft sigh. After quietly chanting a Buddhist invocation, she spoke calmly.

“Is this Martial Sister’s revenge against Ami?”

Twitch.

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s eyebrows furrowed, and Head Disciple Hyewol Satae’s face was filled with dismay.

“Does Martial Sister truly find satisfaction in insulting and defiling Ami in this way?”

“Shinni-nim!”

Head Disciple Hyewol Satae cried out.

“What are you saying? Great One Neung Cheon-hwa is trying to save Ami. If Shinni rejects that hand now, all of Ami’s disciples will die! How can you not know that?”

Hyewol Satae cried out to Beop-heo Shinni as if begging.

“Please take that hand! For the glory of Ami, no, for the sake of the disciples, please…!”

“Halt!”

Hyewol Satae flinched at Beop-heo Shinni’s firm rebuke. Beop-heo Shinni looked straight at Hyewol and said.

“How can one who follows the Way not know that being tainted by the secular world is not glory but disgrace? How can one not realize that dominating people with power and wealth is not prosperity but downfall!”

Beop-heo Shinni’s voice, bursting forth, was like a lion’s roar.

“For Ami’s sake? Did Ami ask you to do that? Who dares to represent Ami, who dares to act for Ami!”

Thud.

Beop-heo Shinni slammed her staff down hard. Her zen staff shook the earth.

“Listen and understand! The Way is vast and high, so you must only submit before it; the ultimate Way stands on its own!”

Hyewol Satae’s face turned pale at Beop-heo Shinni’s demon-subduing roar, which banished the inner demons. Cheonghye Satae also felt a shiver run down her spine from her master Beop-heo Shinni’s rebuke.

“Huhu.”

However, there was one who was not shaken by Beop-heo Shinni’s sincerity. It was Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa.

“As expected of my junior sister. But how is it that Ami hasn’t changed even with such a respectable you?”

The smile merely lingered at the corner of her lips; Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s eyes were cold.

“Individuals are buried in the collective. In the end, the Ami you love will move according to vulgar greed. That is the fate of Ami, and of all human groups.”

Whooosh.

The aura pouring out from Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, indicated that the conversation was over.

Swish.

Cheonghye Satae immediately stood in front of Beop-heo Shinni. However, Beop-heo Shinni quietly shook her head.

“Stand back.”

“Master!”

Despite Cheonghye Satae’s gaze, which seemed unable to accept it, Beop-heo Shinni did not retract her words.

“Cause and effect, this is something that I and Martial Sister must resolve.”

Cheonghye Satae bit her lip. However, she also knew that she could not reverse her master Beop-heo Shinni’s decision.

Step.

Cheonghye Satae stepped back with gritted teeth, and Beop-heo Shinni stepped forward. To her, Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, said.

“It’s a foolish act, Junior Sister.”

“If it’s for Martial Sister.”

Flutter.

Beop-heo Shinni’s robe, answering, slowly began to ripple. With it, a faint blue aura settled on her zen staff.

“I will gladly endure a foolish act.”

“Huhu.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, laughed. But her laughter was no longer the same as before.

“Do you remember? Even when I was young, Junior Sister…”

Swoosh.

Before she could finish her words, a flash of sword light flickered from Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s hand. And Beop-heo Shinni’s zen staff, as if waiting, struck out toward Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa.

Clang.

The zen staff and sword clashed with a sharp sound.

Screech.

A sharp sound, like a scream, flowed out from between the zen staff and the sword.

Looking straight at Beop-heo Shinni, who had blocked her sword, Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, said.

“You never once defeated me.”

“I held back.”

Beop-heo Shinni replied.

“What good would it do to defeat a young Martial Sister?”

At that answer, Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, laughed. Both she and Beop-heo Shinni already knew. With just this one clash, who held the upper hand.

But there are battles that must be fought even if one loses. For Beop-heo Shinni, now was that time.

“Haaa!”

Beop-heo Shinni roared loudly, increasing her aura. But the smile on Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s lips did not disappear.

∴

Bang, Kwaang.

The zen staff and sword, clad in blue light, clashed, and explosions erupted. The mountain range, immersed in the silence of the dense fog, seemed to awaken from the two people’s clash, vibrating.

Kwaang!

With a great explosion, the two people, who had been exchanging attacks, widened the distance.

Whir, Tap.

Beop-heo Shinni lowered her body and landed on the ground, and Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, lightly turned her body as if dancing a sword dance and descended.

“Not bad?”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, said with a smile.

“It’s worth making Junior Sister the master of Outer Affairs in Ami. At this level, it’s enough to rival when I first entered Outer Affairs.”

Beop-heo Shinni gave a bitter smile.

Beop-heo Shinni knew that her words were by no means meant as ridicule. For her to compare herself to her was, in a way, a compliment.

However, for others, especially Cheonghye Satae, those words were nothing short of an insult to Beop-heo Shinni.

“Twenty years have passed since I entered Outer Affairs. Not long ago, my beloved disciple entered Outer Affairs.”

Beop-heo Shinni said in a calm voice. A strange light flashed in Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s eyes.

“Junior Sister’s disciple?”

Cheonghye Satae could feel that eerie gaze of Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, briefly passing over her.

“So, if I haven’t made any progress in these twenty years, wouldn’t that be embarrassing for my disciple?”

Screech.

Beop-heo Shinni’s zen staff began to emit a sharp sound. With it, the zen staff began to turn white.

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, wore a rather surprised expression. Cheonghye Satae, who was watching, also couldn’t hide her surprised expression.

“White, impressive?”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, said, looking at Beop-heo Shinni’s incandescent zen staff. The white-shining zen staff was scattering its aura in all directions, pushing back even the dense fog.

“How many people in Ami’s history have achieved white with the Ami Buddha Light Divine Art? Perhaps it can be counted on one hand?”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, was genuinely impressed. But there was not a hint of surprise in her eyes.

“But do you know?”

Whir.

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, held her sword straight. With it, her sword slowly began to emit its aura.

Oooooong.

Cheonghye Satae, who was watching, bit her lip. Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s sword, like Beop-heo Shinni’s zen staff, began to shine white. Moreover, that was not the end of it.

Oong.

With a soft sound, as if dye was spreading in water, Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s sword was being dyed another color.

“When the Ami Buddha Light Divine Art reaches its peak, it is dyed not white but jade green.”

Whooooo.

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s sword was dyed a deep blue-green. Behind that appearance, as if the sword itself was made of jade, Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, smiled.

“How is it, Junior Sister?”

Beop-heo Shinni did not answer. But Beop-heo Shinni’s still-incandescent zen staff was telling that her determination was not wavering in the slightest.

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, also already knew that she could not shake Beop-heo Shinni’s resolve to this extent. Perhaps she was the person in the world who knew Beop-heo Shinni best.

“Ah, come to think of it, Junior Sister still doesn’t know? The reason why I’m…”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, said, her eyes sparkling.

“Called Cheonsu Sword [Thousand Hands Sword].”

Screech.

The jade sword, as if unable to withstand her inner strength, began to emit a sharp screech.

Not only Hyewol Satae, who was watching, but even Cheonghye Satae of the Outer Affairs changed her complexion, but only Beop-heo Shinni did not waver in the slightest.

“I have always been on Martial Sister’s side.”

Beop-heo Shinni said quietly.

“So, I will not back down.”

Whooosh.

The incandescent zen staff increased its light even more. It was like a beacon signaling the way in the middle of Huangshan Mountain, which had fallen into the fog.

Tap.

Beop-heo Shinni flew into the air. Falling toward Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s mocking eyes toward her, Beop-heo shouted loudly.

“Taha!”

Kwagwak.

Looking at Beop-heo Shinni’s zen staff falling toward her, Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, muttered quietly.

“When an empty mind holds a sword, it is soon a thousand swords.”

Hook.

A huge aura revealed itself from her. And Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s eyes emitted light.

“Thousand As One Sword (千如一劍) [a technique where the swordsman creates the illusion of a thousand swords with a single strike].”

In an instant, countless sword shadows (劍影) [illusory images of swords] floated around Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa. It was as if thousands of hands were striking toward Beop-heo Shinni from all directions.

Swish, swish, swish.

Looking at the countless shadows of swords rushing toward her, Beop-heo Shinni gritted her teeth.

What is visible is not everything. The overwhelming aura that filled all directions along with the numerous swords was pressing down on her.

But she couldn’t collapse like this.

“Taha!”

Beop-heo Shinni swung her zen staff strongly.

Kwacha-cha-chang.

The jade sword shadows and the incandescent zen staff collided, and the sword shadows shattered as if a mirror was breaking.

The sneer disappeared from Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa’s face. But the shattered sword shadows were only a part of it.

Seeing the result, Beop-heo Shinni sighed inwardly without realizing it.

‘Can’t it be like that?’

The sight of the pure white swords shattering with a single gesture wielded by the one walking the path of the Martial Emperor was vivid before her eyes.

But Beop-heo Shinni’s zen staff did not bring about the same result.

Swish, swish, swish.

As if to fill the void of the shattered sword shadows, countless jade swords rushed in.

“Amazing. As expected of Junior Sister.”

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, was genuinely impressed.

“But, it seems you still fall short of me.”

As she said, the Thousand As One Sword was still rushing toward Beop-heo Shinni without losing its momentum.

Beop-heo Shinni made up her mind.

“Haaa!”

Chwachang.

The incandescent zen staff shattered the rushing sword shadows once again, and using that brief moment, Beop-heo Shinni flew her body toward Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa.

Whoooo.

The incandescent zen staff, as if about to explode, fell straight toward Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa.

“I, rebuke you [喝]! [a Buddhist term for a sudden, sharp shout intended to startle a student into enlightenment]”

Jjeo-jeo-jeok.

Beop-heo Shinni’s zen staff transformed into a huge form. Swallowing even Beop-heo Shinni’s figure in an instant, it was like a giant’s iron hammer falling from above.

Kwagwagwak.

A scene similar to Geomhui’s Sanghyoiljeol [likely a powerful technique or event previously described]. But even before that sight, Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, was not surprised.

“I told you?”

Swish.

Cheonsu Sword, Neung Cheon-hwa, raised her sword.

“That you fall short.”

Hooong.

Thousands of countless sword shadows rushed toward the incandescent giant zen staff.