Chapter 41
Baek-Cheong could not even dare to breathe carelessly.
She felt an eternity pass within that bizarre gap of time.
“Did he really realize I completed the Sword Art?”
All sorts of pessimistic scenarios spun wildly in her head.
A suffocating silence lingered around the stairs.
The first to break the silence was her uncle, who stood beside the Pacheon Sword Saint.
“Oh, if it isn’t Cheong-Yi. How did you come all the way up to the threshold of the 4th floor?”
Baek Mu-Yeong belatedly spotted his Niece and came down the stairs with a welcoming look.
His face clearly showed bewilderment, along with a visible concern that she might offend the Pacheon Sword Saint.
“Ah, uncle. I finished looking around the 3rd floor and was just about to go up because I heard there were many rare items on the 4th floor.”
Baek-Cheong hastily bowed her head and took a step back.
Law Enforcer Ga, who stood behind her, was also overwhelmed by the Pacheon Sword Saint’s presence, sweating profusely as he bowed deeply.
“Haha, the 4th floor is a place where Cultivators at the Golden Core stage and above conduct their trades. The energy there would be too overwhelming for someone at the Qi Condensation Stage like you to handle.”
Baek Mu-Yeong gently chided his Niece, naturally trying to block the space between the Pacheon Sword Saint and Baek-Cheong.
However, the Pacheon Sword Saint lightly bypassed Baek Mu-Yeong and approached to stand directly before Baek-Cheong.
“Guild Master Baek, is this child the rumored prodigy of the Yeonha Baek Clan?”
The Pacheon Sword Saint’s voice, heard directly, was heavy and dry, like chunks of iron clashing together.
Baek Mu-Yeong nodded with a deeply tense expression.
“Yes, Sword Saint. She is the Youngest of our Clan, Baek-Cheong.”
“Hoh.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint let out another short exclamation and scrutinized Baek-Cheong closely.
Within his deep eyes, a chilling sensation washed over her, as if her Qi meridians, Dantian, and even the depths of her soul were being completely laid bare.
‘He looks like he’s seeing right through everything.’
Baek-Cheong forced her gaze to the floor and forced strength into her trembling legs.
“Four Spiritual Roots - no, a deformed Dantian that has forcibly nurtured the aptitude of Five Spiritual Roots. Yet the Purity of Spiritual Energy it emits surpasses that of an average Two Spiritual Roots Holder. Above all, that bloated Divine Sense… The vessel of a Qi Condensation Stage body should be woefully insufficient to contain it, yet you are somehow enduring without going mad.”
As the Pacheon Sword Saint figured out her condition in a single glance, Baek-Cheong could not hide her internal shock.
Even Yak-seon and her father had only grasped a portion of Baek-Cheong’s secrets after observing her for days and checking her pulse, but this Nascent Soul stage Sword Cultivator had seen through everything with just one look.
“Sword Saint, Cheong-A’s aptitude is so bizarre that we are somehow managing to Refine her Qi meridians. Please understand with broad generosity.”
Flustered, Baek Mu-Yeong hastily made excuses, trying to protect his Niece on behalf of his doting elder brother.
However, the Pacheon Sword Saint did not listen to Baek Mu-Yeong’s words.
His gaze remained fixed solely on Baek-Cheong’s eyes.
“child.”
“Ye-yes!”
Baek-Cheong answered loudly, like a highly disciplined new recruit.
“The energy flowing through your body is steeped in the murky Qi of Pill Refining and the ink scent of talismans. Yet… why is a sharp Sword Intent fluctuating deep within your soul?”
The inevitable had finally come.
She had awakened the single strand of the Sword Path in her mind with the help of the Sword Cultivators on the Nameless Forum.
The trace of that brief enlightenment had been engraved into her soul and caught by the Pacheon Sword Saint’s monstrous senses.
‘I’m doomed. I’m really going to be taken forcefully as a Disciple.’
Baek-Cheong racked her brain desperately to find an excuse.
“Th-that is! I briefly looked at the jade stone uncle brought back from the Auction House yesterday. There were scratches all over it, so I just stared at it because it was fascinating, that’s all! Sword Intent is absurd; I’ve never even held a sword handle before!”
She waved her hands, putting on the most innocent and wronged expression possible.
Baek Mu-Yeong also chimed in to support Baek-Cheong’s words and bowed his head toward the Pacheon Sword Saint.
“Cheong-A briefly examined the diagram of the Sword Art that the Sword Saint bestowed yesterday out of curiosity. Since she is a child whose comprehension tends to wander towards all sorts of miscellaneous things, the energy of the jade stone must have temporarily rubbed off on her. The child did not intend to defile the Sword Art lightly, so please show her mercy.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint silently listened to the excuses and explanations.
An unfathomable faint smile spread across his tightly closed lips before vanishing.
“Sword Intent was engraved into her soul from a jade stone she briefly examined out of curiosity…”
The Pacheon Sword Saint muttered slowly while staring into the air.
However, his voice was a complex tangle of disappointment and strange intrigue.
“What a truly cruel Heavenly Dao. Even geniuses who have lived madly for the sword for a hundred years cannot properly read the Sword Path from that jade stone. Yet a Young Girl who claims to have never held a sword awakened a fragment of the Sword Art in just a single night.”
At the Pacheon Sword Saint’s lamenting words, Baek Mu-Yeong’s jaw dropped as if it would unhinge.
At the same time, he looked back at Baek-Cheong with eyes full of shock.
He belatedly realized that his Niece, who had put down the jade stone claiming she knew nothing, had actually passed the test thrown by the Supreme Elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
‘Just how far does this child’s Talent extend?’
Baek Mu-Yeong swallowed dryly, feeling a sense of dread.
The Pacheon Sword Saint turned his gaze back to Baek-Cheong.
His eyes had become much softer and deeper than before.
“child, did you say your name was Baek-Cheong?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“I have dedicated my entire life to the sword and stand at the very edge of the Nascent Soul stage. Unable to find a successor to inherit my Peak’s lineage, I have wandered the Continent for a long time. Your comprehension is more bizarre and overwhelming than that of any prodigy I have seen in my entire life.”
Baek-Cheong squeezed her eyes shut.
The Pacheon Sword Saint’s next words were vividly drawn in her mind.
“Become my Disciple and let us go to the Heavenly Sword Sect.”
It was the classic Disciple-kidnapping cliché of wuxia and xianxia novels.
‘No! My forum-surfing life! If I go to the Heavenly Sword Sect, I won’t be able to use the Nameless Forum!’
Baek-Cheong screamed internally as she waited for the Pacheon Sword Saint’s words.
However, the next words out of the Pacheon Sword Saint’s mouth completely missed Baek-Cheong’s expectations.
“However, you harbor too many distracting thoughts to walk the Path of the Sword Cultivator.”
“Pardon?”
Baek-Cheong opened her eyes with a dumbfounded expression as the Pacheon Sword Saint stroked his beard and continued.
“A sword is but a single blade. Only by forging one’s soul toward a single path, a single goal, can one finally reach the Heavenly Dao through the sword. Yet your soul is chaotically fragmented by Pill Refining, Talisman Crafting, and countless unknown distracting thoughts. One who tears such a bloated Divine Sense into multiple branches to chase superficial talents can never reach the pinnacle of the sword.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint saw through Baek-Cheong’s condition and defined it as distracting thoughts.
In the philosophy of fierce Sword Cultivators who only dug a single well, Baek-Cheong’s scattered Talent was actually a poison.
“You are a precious timber, but the shape of your vessel is not suited for inheriting my sword, so it is truly a lamentable matter.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint expressed deep regret and turned his body.
A bitter sense of solitude emanated from his back.
“I-I lived!”
Baek-Cheong felt like she had returned alive from the threshold of hell.
She couldn’t have been happier to be disqualified as a Sword Cultivator.
“Hooray for superficiality! Hooray for distracting thoughts!”
The Pacheon Sword Saint was about to head down the stairs.
He suddenly stopped walking, turned his head, and looked at Baek-Cheong.
“child… Although you are not a vessel fit to be my Disciple, I will acknowledge the comprehension that unraveled the diagram of the Sword Art. The name of the Sword Art contained within that jade stone is the Falling Star Style. Someday, it will be of small help in shattering the massive wall you will face.”
Leaving behind only those vague words, the Pacheon Sword Saint exited the Platinum Pavilion.
Only after his overwhelming presence disappeared did the air that had been crushing the 4th floor of the Platinum Pavilion suddenly lift.
“Haa…”
Baek Mu-Yeong and Law Enforcer Ga simultaneously exhaled rough breaths, barely supporting their legs that were about to collapse.
Baek-Cheong also relaxed her tension, leaning against the wall and sweeping a hand over her chest.
“Cheong-A, you brat… Didn’t you clearly say yesterday that you didn’t know anything about the jade stone!”
Baek Mu-Yeong belatedly scolded his Niece with a mix of resentment.
“No, it really wasn’t anything special! I just pretended to draw swoosh-swoosh lines, but that old man just misunderstood!”
Baek-Cheong shamelessly feigned ignorance and played dumb until the end.
Baek Mu-Yeong let out a Hollow Laugh in disbelief and shook his head.
“How could anyone know what’s inside your head? Regardless, it is Extremely Fortunate that you managed to escape safely even after catching the eye of the Pacheon Sword Saint.”
“Tell me about it. I really thought I lost ten years of my life.”
Baek-Cheong let out a sigh of relief and massaged her tension-knotted body.
Suddenly, the words the Pacheon Sword Saint left before departing came to mind.
‘Falling Star Style… That’s a cool name. But it’ll be of help in shattering a wall?’
Baek-Cheong thought of her Dantian, which had expanded to 4th-Stage Qi Condensation.
The wall to advance to the 5th stage was certainly sturdy, but thanks to awakening the Breakthrough Method of Quasi-Unity, she thought it would be manageable.
She was simply following her father’s words that her steadily filling her Dantian would make it easier to break through the wall.
If there were a hurdle, it would likely be during the minor Boundary transition from the 6th to the 7th stage.
“Shattering a wall with a Sword Art…”
What if she could apply the destructive power of the Falling Star Style to pierce the wall inside her Dantian?
‘Oh, isn’t this a total jackpot?’
Baek-Cheong’s eyes sparkled at the unexpected fortuitous encounter.
She had essentially obtained the fortuitous encounter she failed to pick up from the street stalls in the Marketplace, in an unexpected form from the Pacheon Sword Saint.
“Young Lady, you must have been very startled. How about we return to the Mansion for today?”
When Law Enforcer Ga asked in a worried voice, Baek-Cheong vigorously shook her head.
“No! I even got a fortuitous encounter, so I can’t just go back like this. Law Enforcer Ga, let’s go sweep the street stalls! I have a really good feeling about this!”
With light steps, Baek-Cheong left the Platinum Pavilion, her eyes burning with determination for a full-scale sweep of the Marketplace.
After all, true fortuitous encounters were best when they were tangible rather than intangible.