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Chapter 11
Glancing sideways,
Baek Seon walked slowly, casting a sidelong look at him. With a nonchalant expression, he stayed close, even carrying Baek Seon’s belongings.
“There’s no need. I plan to stick with only you.”
His voice was firm, leaving no room for change—a tone that had lingered in Baek Seon’s mind for days.
I know it’s temporary…
Yet every time those words came to mind, her chest felt tight. Could this be one of the symptoms of Jeolmakseung?
As she touched her lower abdomen in disbelief, Cheonrang suddenly approached and placed his hand over hers.
“Are you cold?”
“Huh?”
“Not as cold as yesterday, I think.”
Startled by how close he had come, Baek Seon’s eyes widened. Cheonrang turned his head, meeting her gaze.
For days, he had been appearing like this unexpectedly, and the gesture seemed to express the closeness between them. Baek Seon couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m fine. I was just thinking about the symptoms.”
“If it hurts, say so. Don’t suffer alone.”
“…Understood.”
Baek Seon cast another sidelong glance at Cheonrang’s profile.
Is this really okay?
She didn’t remember everything from the novel, but she understood why Cheonrang was being so kind.
This was how he acted around Song Jeokrim.
Frowning as if to scold, yet subtly taking care of someone. Most notably, draping his long coat over their shoulders when the body shivered.
Everything Cheonrang had shown her recently mirrored the gestures he had shown Song Jeokrim when he liked him.
Well… he’ll change when he meets Song Jeokrim.
No matter how she broke the original story, “fate” always existed. Just as Cheonrang had deeply respected Master Manyugang and wanted to save him, meeting Song Jeokrim would surely spark a passionate love.
Don’t overthink it.
For now, she could just enjoy seeing the grown-up Cheonrang, once cute and now gallant.
Walking along the uneven streets beside the Jang River, Baek Seon slowly looked up.
“This place is still the same.”
The long market streets, bustling with voices, were lively—unlike the somewhat gloomy Yunnan, Sichuan was vibrant.
“It’s the only place that’s still like this.”
“The only one?”
Baek Seon turned at Cheonrang’s words. Strangely, Cheonrang seemed nostalgic for the noisy crowd.
“Thanks to Dang Jinmyeong and his sons protecting Sichuan, the Demonic Sect couldn’t establish a base near the city,” he recalled.
“…Huh?”
Someone had protected Sichuan? The Demonic Sect couldn’t set up nearby? This was news to her.
Seeing Baek Seon’s confused expression, Cheonrang raised an eyebrow.
“Did you train in isolation on a mountain before coming to Aenoe Mountain? How could you know less about the world than me?”
“Well…”
She had been dead, after all.
Baek Seon swallowed her reply, fearing exposure.
“…I guess I’m just an idiot.”
She uttered the words she least wanted to, wanting to maintain pride before her disciple. Now, she had no choice but to feign ignorance to gain information.
“No wonder you seemed a bit naive.”
Before she could finish, Cheonrang teasingly continued:
“After losing the Cheongma War, the Demonic Sect has been extending its influence.”
“…Huh?”
“Thanks to Master burning all their martial texts, they’re slow, but now they’re using sorcery to recover the lost Soul Control Technique. Naturally, no one remembers the method that enslaves others’ minds, so they’re desperate.”
Baek Seon couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Why…”
“…?”
“Why are you saying the martial world lost the Cheongma War?”
Her voice trembled, a mix of shock and disbelief.
Of course, during Baek Seon’s time as Manyugang, she had wiped out the head of the Demonic Sect herself.
“If I die, Rang will enter the Demonic Sect… Let’s see, I might cause a little chaos.”
Later, Cheonrang would enter the Demonic Sect and suffer under the seven leaders, labeled as the disciple of a traitor. The thought had infuriated Baek Seon.
Even if the exact events faded from memory, the emotions remained. Manyugang had literally wreaked havoc, killing all seven leaders and burning the martial texts.
“We lost.”
“L-lost…?”
“A pity. Even if Master sacrificed his life to kill the leaders, failing to kill that young sect leader was disastrous.”
Hearing Cheonrang recount these events, Baek Seon’s face turned pale.
The story of failing to kill the young sect leader in child form, losing the Cheongma War—it all sounded like a lie.
“Hahaha… hahaha…”
“So, our idiot Baek Seon, what else are you curious about?”
Cheonrang closed Baek Seon’s gaping mouth in shock, as if to say he would reveal all.
“Thanks to Master, the Demonic Sect’s movements slowed. Otherwise, the martial world would have fallen entirely into Cheongma’s hands.”
Baek Seon twisted her body, thinking:
…Where did it all go wrong?
In the original story, the Cheongma War ended in victory for the Martial Alliance, which was why Cheonrang, Manyugang’s disciple, was oppressed.
But… we lost the Cheongma War?
The largest event in the story had gone awry—coinciding with her death.
“How long… has it been since the Cheongma War ended?”
“Five years.”
Cheonrang’s calm answer made Baek Seon hold her breath. All her worries about the Demonic Sect vanished in an instant.
“Five years…?”
She repeatedly moved her lips before looking up at Cheonrang. She remembered the face of Cheonrang at the time she died during the Cheongma War.
Seeing Cheonrang now, grown so much, she assumed much time had passed.
“Y-you… were alone in the cave… for five years?”
As she asked, memories of Cheonrang’s excessive attachment to her surfaced.
All that…
It was due to loneliness. Humans long for warmth even after months without contact. Being alone for five years in a cave, it was natural to show attention to the first person met in years, even to mistake them as a “precious connection.”
And I, I didn’t know…
She had been about to leave Cheonrang casually, unaware of what “Dang Baekseon” meant to him.
Suddenly,
“Careful.”
Cheonrang grabbed Baek Seon’s wrist and pulled her into his chest. In the blink of an eye, he drew his sword and blocked an incoming hidden blade.
“…!”
Baek Seon gasped. Though she felt no presence of hostility, the blade had targeted her temple precisely.
“Hey, idiot Baek Seon. I don’t think this place welcomes you.”
“…”
“Do you want me to kill them all?”
A subtle aura of killing intent emanated from Cheonrang as he spoke.
