Chapter 106. Reunion (1)
Since the day she met him, she had not been able to forget him even for a single moment.
His intense impression had been shaking her heart all this time.
What in the world was the true nature of this strange trembling of the heart?
Because she wanted to know that, she had been waiting for him to appear here.
And because of that, she was worrying about the possibility that he might not appear here at all.
"Eh!? Senior sister, isn't that person the one from back then? His name was...."
Suddenly, Ha Seon-hyang shouted while pointing with her finger toward the Inner Hall in the distance.
Hua Ruizhi had been looking for Zhong Zhihang, so she was paying attention only to the area near the reception desk and ignored Ha Seon-hyang's shout.
The Inner Hall side was, in any case, a place only guests of the Nine Great Sects or the Four Great Families, or high-ranking figures of the Martial Alliance, went in and out of, so there was no way a nameless wanderer like Zhong Zhihang would come out from there...
"Zhong... Zhong... what was it again?"
Huh? Zhong...?
"Zhong Zhihang!?"
"Ah! Right! Zhong Zhihang! That was the name... Huh? Eh? Senior sister?"
At Ha Seon-hyang's words, Hua Ruizhi hurriedly looked toward the Inner Hall.
But Ha Seon-hyang's head was blocking her view, so it was hard to see properly.
Pat—!
Hua Ruizhi urgently stepped on Ha Seon-hyang's head and leaped over to the building on the opposite side.
That side was where the Guest Residence Pavilion for male guests was, but she did not care.
Hua Ruizhi was someone who always acted freely even in the Mount Hua Sect.
Since she was the sect leader's daughter, there was nothing in the Mount Hua Sect that she could not do, and that temperament remained the same even after coming outside.
Climbing onto the roof of the men's lodging, of all things.
For her, it was no problem at all.
Whoosh—.
A splendid movement technique of Slender Willow Drifting unfolded.
Although Hua Ruizhi was willful, reckless, and looked down on everyone, her martial arts skill alone was outstanding enough to be counted as one of the Five Phoenixes.
But!
Whoosh!
Someone suddenly flew up toward her.
Not just one, but two people!
One person got up onto the roof of the Guest Residence Pavilion where the men stayed before her, and the other person jumped up exquisitely at the exact moment she was flying up.
"...!"
It was a man with extremely long bangs.
As he leaped upward, his long bangs were blown roughly left and right by the wind.
Through that, his two eyes and Hua Ruizhi's eyes met head-on.
Her eyes downward, his eyes upward.
His eyes, extremely indifferent yet unshakable, grew larger and larger as they approached her.
"Ah!"
Hua Ruizhi had already fully unleashed the Slender Willow Drifting movement technique, so she could not twist her body in another direction, nor could she fly back to the women's Guest Residence Pavilion where Ha Seon-hyang was.
That was something even her father, the Mount Hua Sect leader, could not do.
At this rate, she was about to crash straight into that unknown man!
But, at that very moment.
The man with the emotionless eyes reached out his hand at just the right timing and naturally caught her in his arms.
His technique was so marvelous that it blended into her movement without any sense of rejection—no, it melted into it.
Normally, his upward leaping force and the momentum of Slender Willow Drifting should have collided and caused a huge accident...
But he caught her flowing body like a willow leaf without any hesitation, and without going against that flow at all, he continued his own movement technique.
Was it only Hua Ruizhi's illusion that his soft, flowing movement technique felt just like Slender Willow Drifting?
Whoosh—! Thud.
"Whew—. You really are surprise itself. Even after colliding with Slender Willow Drifting, in that single instant you improvised and imitated that momentum. Heh heh. To have that kind of talent and still be working as a mercenary. What a waste, what a waste."
The middle-aged man who had already climbed onto the roof first said to the man who was holding Hua Ruizhi.
The middle-aged man, astonishingly, had recognized at a glance that the movement technique she unleashed was Slender Willow Drifting.
What was even more surprising was—
'Did he really imitate Slender Willow Drifting?'
She could not be sure, but since it was said by a master who could read Slender Willow Drifting after seeing it once, she could not help but believe it.
Even in her shocked state, Hua Ruizhi looked up at the man holding her with curious eyes.
His hair had already fallen down again, so she could no longer see those indifferent eyes like before.
He was certainly quite handsome, and had had a peculiar gaze.
Without even realizing it herself, she kept looking up at him for a long while.
Just like that time she met Zhong Zhihang not long ago.
"Heh heh. Looks like that young lady has taken quite a liking to you. She won't even let go of you."
"...Oh my!"
Only after hearing the middle-aged man's words did Hua Ruizhi realize that she was being held in the arms of a complete stranger.
She hurriedly let go of him.
Crash.
"Ayah!"
It seemed the man had already released the hand that had been supporting her back, so she fell helplessly and landed on the roof tiles on her backside.
The man glanced at her once as she fell to the ground, then walked straight toward the middle-aged man.
"Hey, you brat. Is that how you treat such a beauty so roughly?"
"She was the one who let go."
"Tsk tsk tsk. A typical bad guy, I see. The kind who won't even get to properly hold a woman's hand his whole life. Hey, young lady there."
"...Y-yes?"
Without realizing it, Hua Ruizhi answered absentmindedly.
The situation was so absurd that the reply just came out in a daze.
She did not know why either.
Perhaps it was because, in the Mount Hua Sect, there had never been anyone who spoke to her so impudently or rudely.
"I'll apologize in his place. This guy lived in that rough and smelly northern region, so he doesn't know the first thing about manners. Please be understanding, beautiful young lady."
"...Ah, yes. Yes...."
She answered vaguely and then looked at the man.
But he had already withdrawn his gaze from her and was looking far down below, toward the Main Avenue.
Without realizing it, she moved her gaze in the same direction he was looking.
And only then did she remember why she had tried to come over to this side.
'Zhong Zhihang!'
The man was looking at Zhong Zhihang.
Indeed, coming over here from the roof of the women's lodging to the men's Guest Residence Pavilion, Zhong Zhihang's overwhelming presence could be seen clearly.
And.
'Or is he not? Is he looking at that woman?'
Next to Zhong Zhihang, a woman so beautiful that it was hard to describe in words was walking together with him.
Because the man's eyes were hidden by his hair, Hua Ruizhi had no way of knowing whether he was looking at Zhong Zhihang, or that woman, or both.
'But is that even human? Or a fairy?'
The woman walking next to Zhong Zhihang was beautiful.
No, the word "beautiful" could not possibly express her.
Deep eyebrows like a clear night sky, a smooth nose bridge as if polished by a master craftsman of all ages, lips with a color like cherries diluted in water, a jaw that was neither too round nor too sharp but perfectly balanced and well-defined, glossy long hair and rosy skin, a long neck and a slender figure.
She was a perfect woman, so beautiful that she did not seem like a being of the human world.
Hua Ruizhi's face suddenly flushed hot.
The fact that someone like herself had been called Shaanxi's First Beauty felt shabby.
Even having taken pride in that felt unbearably embarrassing.
That figure walking lightly in pale blue silk.
Was she not truly a fairy?
A wound formed in Hua Ruizhi's heart.
Just from seeing her once....
"Wow—. As expected, once you come to the Central Plains, the quality is on a different level, right? You brat. Do you know who that young lady is?"
At the middle-aged man's question, the man glanced that way briefly, then slowly opened his mouth.
"I know. Very well."
As he said that, the man raised one hand and brushed aside his bangs slightly.
He, Dong Bong-su, knew that woman—no, that person disguised as a woman—better than anyone here.
"Namgung Hye."
'Do Heo-ok.'
***
Martial Fairy.
A term referring to the fairy of the martial world.
It sounded simple, but it was a word containing many meanings.
In the Central Plains, it was common to describe the most beautiful person of a region as something like so-and-so's First Beauty.
But what if, in the place of that so-and-so, instead of a region's name, the words martial world, meaning the entire Jianghu, were used?
And moreover, if instead of First Beauty, the term Fairy were used?
The most beautiful and talented woman in the martial world.
A woman who was the most beautiful in the martial world and whose talent was also outstanding.
That was the Martial Fairy.
In a way, it was a very arrogant-sounding title, but in history, there had been several female masters who had received this title.
Then, as the activities of female martial artists declined over the past hundred years or so, the title had disappeared.
But recently, a woman who inherited this title appeared.
Namgung Hye.
On the eve of her wedding, due to a surprise attack by Heavenly Demon Castle and the Yangtze Eighteen Water Fortresses, her family was annihilated overnight, and she lost both her beloved fiancé and her entire family.
A woman who carried all the misfortune of the world in her single body.
Naturally.
It was an expected thing, but at first, no one knew she was such an extraordinary woman.
Perhaps.
She might have been extraordinary from the beginning.
It might have been that her family was so great and immense that her own innate talent had been overshadowed.
Before the Anhui Great Slaughter Calamity, what was known about Namgung Hye was merely that she was the most beautiful woman in Anhui, or the kind and virtuous second daughter of the Namgung Family head.
That was all.
So, when she vowed revenge for her family and fiancé and sought to become one arm of the Martial Alliance,
Who do you think you are.
Even if you inherited Do Heo-ok's internal energy, how could a woman use Thunder Blade, an extreme yang martial art.
What are you going to do with just a pretty face, and so on.
Everyone tried to dissuade her or mocked her.
No one expected her exploits.
However,
Namgung Hye shattered the obvious expectations of the world in a way that was anything but obvious.
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