He is known as the Maehwa Divine Lord and a member of the Saint Lord.

I visited the current head of Huashan once again. This time, I came with proper permission, not secretly.

“… You plan to stay outside of Huashan while you are here as an inspector?”

“Yes. I think it will be better for my daughter as well, so I intend to stay somewhere other than Huashan during the Huashan Ceremony. Given the circumstances we’ve faced.”

The elders of Huashan cleared their throats.

“It seems a reckless decision made in youth. I hope the inspector can be generous in understanding.”

“If that is what he wants, then so be it. Well, the inspector’s role is mainly to mediate during the Huashan Ceremony anyway…”

“Where do you plan to stay? We will cover the expenses for you.”

“I plan to stay in Hwaeum Hyun. If you are willing to support the costs, I would be grateful.”

The elders cast me a sideways glance.

“I only ask out of concern… Only three elders are permitted to attend the Huashan Ceremony.”

“A person who voluntarily gives up their qualifications cannot join late. The head must keep their lips sealed.”

“Words once spoken cannot be hastily retracted.”

They made their intentions to keep an eye on Gu Hwa-rin, the disciple of the Maehwa Divine Lord, known clearly.

“Even if I meet the disciple of the Maehwa Divine Lord, I have no intention of sending her to the Huashan Ceremony. I swear on the Martial Alliance.”

Just hearing the name of the Martial Alliance made the atmosphere in the hall loosen.

“Well, if you put it that way…”

“Spend your time in Hwaeum Hyun and come to visit us often. The spirit of Huashan is very suitable for training.”

“I hope to gain a lot from it.”

“Bai Hyun will help you settle in properly. If you need anything, he will provide.”

“Thank you.”

I headed back down to Hwaeum Hyun. It’s a distance that takes nearly half a day if you walk slowly.

Bai Hyun, who came with me, asked reluctantly from the lodging he had booked.

“Do you really intend to stay here? There are better places you could go…”

The place I decided on was one of the many inns around, not too big and with decent food.

But I shook my head. After all, it was Huashan’s disciples who treated me kindly.

“Shouldn’t we minimize costs as much as possible? The essence of a warrior is also frugality, so this place is sufficient.”

“…Great Hero…”

Bai Hyun bowed his head again, as if grateful to understand the plights of those in middle positions.

“I truly apologize for what happened in Huashan. And aside from that… you are truly remarkable. How did you reach that level solely relying on external energy?”

“If you train hard, it’s possible.”

“…Ah. I see.”

Bai Hyun spoke to the innkeeper, stating he would cover all the costs in Huashan, then disappeared. He gently lifted Sua, who was bouncing around.

Fortunately, this place had at least minimal facilities for bathing.

“What should we do for the end of the day?”

“We need to wash up properly.”

“Good. Go ahead.”

“Yes! Il-ho unni, let’s go together.”

“Me? I’m okay…”

“Let’s wash together. I’ll be counting on you for Sua.”

Il-ho awkwardly nodded. Left alone in the room, I organized my thoughts.

What was the state of the Maehwa Divine Lord when I last saw him?

As I pondered this question, I answered myself. He was certainly in a state of madness. And it was said that madness usually arises from mental issues that come through the mouth…

It is different from physical pain. It’s an entirely different matter compared to the Gu Eumjeolmaek that could be healed through Cheongeop.

So, what is needed to heal the mind?

I lived with Ilma and studied basic knowledge of medicine. And in that search… I learned about the types of ailments the mind might suffer.

Madness ultimately means losing one’s mind. Yet it is still a kind of illness, so there are records of complete recovery.

The key is to find the reason for the madness.

“Ha…! They will all die! They will all die!”

I recalled the shouts he made. The sword he wielded also vividly sprang to mind.

He was afraid of something.

Then, if I could remove the cause…

Wouldn’t I be able to heal him?

…

I ascended to Huashan early in the morning. This time, I did not carry Sua with me.

Practicing movement techniques. Using the Ghostly Spirit Step, I rushed up the mountain like a shot. As expected, Sua followed me without much difficulty.

It was both because I matched my speed, and it was astonishing to see the achievement so visibly. Eventually, I naturally began to suppress the energy that quietly erupted.

Remarkable. Truly a martial prodigy.

—Thud.

I stepped once more onto the plateau. A warrior watering the flowers turned to look at us.

Gu Hwa-rin flinched.

“Why, why have you come again…?”

“I wish to see the Maehwa Divine Lord.”

“…You’ve already seen him. Master is… not in a state to meet anyone.”

“I just need to confirm if I can help. Lady Gu. If I think I cannot help, I will leave immediately.”

“Help…? My master…?”

Gu Hwa-rin sighed.

“Even renowned physicians all shook their heads and left. It has been the same for any famous healer. So how do you, a warrior, intend to heal my master?”

“It will only take a moment. Can you not allow it?”

“…Is this a request from Huashan?”

“No, it’s just my own whim…”

I bowed my head.

“I ask for your favor, Lady.”

Gu Hwa-rin stared at me intently. After a moment, she nodded slightly as she looked at the house built in the middle of the plateau.

“…I will give you a chance.”

Gu Hwa-rin opened the door. A man lay in a broad room.

His body was different from when I had seen him before. He lay there as if dead, so I first checked whether he was alive.

“……”

He was still breathing. Thankfully.

His body wasn’t as bad as expected. He was just a bit drained; he wasn’t in terrible shape.

But that didn’t mean he was normal. The energy channels in his body were twisted, and the scattered energies weren’t helping him at all, but were instead consuming him.

An explosion of internal energy was causing his body to collapse.

He was experiencing phenomena beyond simple madness. This is, quite literally…

“… Internal injury due to excess energy?”

“Do you think you can heal him…?”

It wouldn’t be simple madness, but if he was compounding that with internal injury…

I turned back to her.

“Did this happen during training?”

“…No. There was a time my master was absent. He was gone for over a month. When he returned… he was sweating cold. He was bleeding too.”

“What…?”

“It felt like he was laughing one moment and crying the next. He didn’t speak at all. Then eventually… he ended up like this.”

He bled…

“Did he have a duel with someone?”

“Duels? My master is known as the Maehwa Divine Lord. He is also one of the saint lords. Is there any warrior capable of damaging him in the current martial world…? Even if it was the Martial Alliance leader, he said he wouldn’t dare challenge him.”

That’s true.

A master capable of harming Hyun-kyung. Who in the world could do that? The only name that comes to mind is the Heavenly Demon…

But she couldn’t possibly have arrived here.

“…Always…”

The saint lord, who had been lying down, whispered. I leaned in closer to hear.

Amidst his weak breaths, I clearly heard him.

“The sky… is flipping… it’s coming down… everyone… dies…”

Flipping sky.

“…Reverse Heaven?”

Could it be…

Did the Maehwa Divine Lord encounter a member of the Reverse Heaven on the day he went missing?

I recalled the strength of Ak-bi. He was indeed powerful. To catch up to him, many lives had to be sacrificed.

It was a continuous pain. I barely managed to reach him despite exerting all my strength.

…But what if the person he called master was…

A martial artist far stronger than him?

“Hyun-kyung is the destination a warrior can reach. No one can overwhelmingly defeat my master. To descend into internal injury requires something more shocking. He must have gone through something where he felt everyone must die.”

Gu Hwa-rin’s crisp statement would have made me nod if I had heard it in the past.

Hyun-kyung. A handful of geniuses. Among them, only a select few true geniuses…

Can reach the realm of divine entry.

But I remembered what my master said. Ilma always told me.

The Heavenly Demon is somewhere beyond that.

What if… just what if…

The master of Reverse Heaven is also there…

“It’s not impossible.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s assume there was a warrior even stronger than the Maehwa Divine Lord, and that in their duel, the Maehwa Divine Lord was overwhelmingly beaten.”

“That’s absurd…!”

“This is merely a hypothesis. It may not have occurred that way. If so… if all of his martial achievements were denied directly, it wouldn’t sound strange that he fell into internal injury. There are many hidden experts in the martial world, and some of them may indeed be at a higher level than the Maehwa Divine Lord.”

I left out any mention of Reverse Heaven. The explanation was a bit complicated.

“There are indeed many instances of warriors who fell into internal injuries after losing significantly in duels.”

“…I don’t believe that a person as strong and noble as my master would…”

“Let’s keep the possibility open.”

“If that’s the case, then it seems even more impossible to resolve…? If my master has doubts about the martial he built himself, then how could he untangle those doubts while suffering from madness… He needs to correct his understanding, but he can’t…”

“I have heard a few stories of warriors who fell into success from internal injuries regaining their senses. Internal injury is essentially a matter of the heart. The only way to resolve it is to get out of that state, but… there are records of having that motivation coming from the outside.”

“…What kind…”

“There are tales of those who were deeply in internal injury reflecting on themselves when they faced mirrors resembling their own swords and returning to peace.”

A kind of mirror therapy.

By showing them a sword resembling one they once wielded, it explains how beautifully it shines.

Gu Hwa-rin blinked. Her previously cold voice became relaxed.

“If it’s a sword of another… So…”

“Perhaps a sword that closely resembles the one you wielded. For instance…”

I stood up.

“Lady Gu. The sword you learned directly from the Maehwa Divine Lord may hold the key to healing.”

“……!”

…

Together with Gu Hwa-rin, I placed the Maehwa Divine Lord on the stage. She stood on the flower-filled ground and glanced subtly at me.

“…This is my school’s martial art. Don’t say you saw it anywhere.”

“Of course not.”

Gu Hwa-rin began to move. The Maehwa fragrance flowing from the tip of her sword.

Like a dance, her swordsmanship unfolded cleanly. The level was incredibly high, far beyond the other disciples I had seen in Huashan.

Bai Hyang? He was not even a comparable measure. Only someone like the elders could execute such movements.

Her sword pierced the sky. It cut through the falling wind, dancing lightly above.

Her feet stepped on the flowers. The accumulation of power and release were almost simultaneous, and as I lost myself in watching, petals of Maehwa were left lingering in the air.

“… Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique.”

This is certain. This must be…

The pinnacle of Huashan. Their greatest martial art.

But her movements came to an abrupt halt before the end. Gu Hwa-rin, standing awkwardly, glanced at me.

“…That’s it.”

“What?”

Isn’t something crucial missing?

The feeling of being lost in the sword dance broke in an instant. Even if the movements themselves were beautiful, without a period to conclude, they felt incomplete, like missing the most important essence.

Moreover…

I didn’t feel the proper Maehwa fragrance either.

It was merely a surface-level martial art. To be a true martial art, the beginning and end must connect properly…

It felt like sitting a watermelon down in front of me and only licking the surface.

“What about the master?”

Naturally, no response came. Those dull eyes staring at the lousy sword remained unchanged.

“Everyone will die…”

“Isn’t something missing?”

“…The final technique of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique is absent. The last understanding that encompasses the start and end, penetrating everything.”

You mean the technique that no one in Huashan has mastered.

“Without that, the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique cannot be considered a completed martial art. It’s merely a fruit with no core; it would be foolish to expect someone who reached Hyun-kyung to comprehend anything from it…”

“I know that! But what can I do…!”

“Don’t you have any secret texts or anything?”

“The end of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique is something the master always said must be written down by oneself. There were, of course, teachings from predecessors neatly organized…”

“But…?”

“…It has vanished. It went missing while I briefly stepped out.”

Is that why there’s a rumor that the secret book of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique is circulating?

The culprit is probably… one of the three elders.

Gu Hwa-rin sat next to the Maehwa Divine Lord.

“Anyway, even if we had it, it’s not a martial art you can just complete. I tried to follow it before… but it felt strange. It felt like an imitation made of paper rather than a Maehwa blossoming naturally. Of course, it also symbolized something that pierced through the whole. But I never learned it differently since I had my master’s teachings.”

“As for the teachings…”

“Ending clumsily is even worse than not ending at all—he often said. He always told me to find the Maehwa within myself.”

“…….”

I took another look at the state of the Maehwa Divine Lord. The words he muttered sounded no different from a frightened child trying to run away.

His body probably wouldn’t respond to any other treatment. The likelihood remained that this would be the best path forward.

I had heard that physicians who had learned far more than I had could do nothing but return empty-handed.

Ultimately, it appeared that the only method was for Gu Hwa-rin to discover the final technique of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique herself.

I have about three months or so left.

Before the Huashan Ceremony occurs, we must heal the current head of the school. Only then will the hierarchy not become chaotic, and Huashan can operate properly.

It’s a long stretch either way. But if we steadily progress, perhaps something will change.

“I will help.”

“…Huh?”

“Let’s search for the final technique of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique together.”

I extended my hand towards Gu Hwa-rin.

“For the sake of healing the Maehwa Divine Lord.”