༺ Omen (7) ༻

The Murim Alliance of Hanam.

And the Shaolin Sect.

A rather rowdy winter passed, and it was now spring.

It was a season that bloomed many flowers.

It was a time when the frozen lake melted, and the hardened soil softened up again.

Change like this also came to the Shaolin Sect.

Between the wide forest of old trees, the dense scent of plum flowers lightly descended.

Tap.

The water mill spun and made tapping sounds.

Behind the big lake that took up a lot of space in the Shaolin Sect…

In a small hut, the Chief Abbot of Shaolin Sect, the Heavenly Eye had his eyes closed as he watched the lake.

The breeze of spring passed by.

Then, the Heavenly Eye that breathed out quietly suddenly spoke.

“I’m glad that you look well.”

His old and dried voice rode the wind to reach the woman who stood behind him.

Her crumbly white hair was no longer, and her hair was now lively black.

Her plum flower scent that flowed from her dantian filled the surroundings.

She was the swordswoman of Mount Hua, the Plum Blossom Sword.

“Have you been well during this time?”

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay all that healthy. Hehe…”

The old man’s dried and old voice showed that he didn’t have much time left.

Every time the woman took a step lightly, the surroundings were filled with the scent of plum flowers.

While noticing such a thing, the Heavenly Eye slightly opened his eye.

“I heard that you had a misfortune, but it seems that you endured it well.”

“I had help from many people.”

“Yes, yes. That’s also one of your blessings.”

Wrinkles formed in the corner of his eyes.

The Heavenly Eye smiled as he stared at the Sword Queen.

“Is the Celestial Plum Blossom doing well?”

“He is still as healthy as ever.”

“Fair… He was always like that.”

On the table in front of the Heavenly Eye, there was a different teacup placed on it already that wasn’t his own.

As if he knew that the Sword Queen was coming.

After checking the Heavenly Eye’s surroundings, the Sword Queen asked him.

“If it isn’t my mistake, it doesn’t seem like the Mighty Staff is around… is he okay?”

The Mighty Staff.

He was one of the Hundred Masters of the World that came from Hanam and a man who was an escort for the current Heavenly Eye.

“I told him to leave for a moment.”

“Is that okay?”

“If it’s the mighty Sword Queen, of course it is.”

After lightly chuckling, the Heavenly Eye took a sip of his tea.

The Sword Queen quenched her thirst as well, following him.

“You may not see it, but I’m currently very surprised right now.”

The Sword Queen’s gaze reacted after hearing the Heavenly Eye.

“Humans like us cannot change fate, but this eye that was given to me does let me see a little bit of the future after all.”

“Yes.”

He was called the Heavenly Eye because he was able to see things that others couldn’t even dare to see.

He had eyes that could see the calamities that would soon come to the world, which was why they were called eyes that were sent down from heaven.

“…The reason I could sit in the Chief Abbot position with this pathetic body of mine and get these undeserving luxuries is only thanks to this eye.”

“Please don’t say that undeserving luxuries. It’s not like that.”

The Sword Queen shook her head after hearing his words.

The only reason why each part of the world was able to prepare for the True Gate of Demons was solely thanks to the old man before her; the one who sat in the most difficult position to endlessly watch the calamities come.

“One day, I saw and heard many things which made me realize one thing.”

“Please go on.”

“The things I see with this eye of mine, don’t change no matter what.”

The future seen with the Heavenly Eye couldn’t be changed.

For the Chief Abbot who experienced this for many years, it was like an immutable law.

If he saw the Gate of Demons open with his eyes, then it would open one day.

And if he ever saw calamity with his eye, then that calamity would come no matter what as well.

That’s what the Heavenly Eye was.

“However, to me, this eye is the same as a calamity in some ways.”

He couldn’t stop the calamities from occurring.

Despite knowing that many people would die, the Chief Abbot couldn’t do anything about it, which was what made it a calamity for him.

After listening to the Chief Abbot silently, the Sword Queen questioned him.

“Is there a reason why you are telling me this?”

“There is. A very important reason.”

The empty teacup no longer had tea flowing in it.

Only a silent wind was flowing around it.

“When I heard that you would come visit me, it was more shocking than anything to me.”

“Can I ask your reasoning for that?”

When the Sword Queen asked, the Chief Abbot responded after a moment of silence.

“Because you… shouldn’t be alive on this land right now.”

“…”

The Sword Queen showed no reaction to the Chief Abbot’s answer.

As if, she already knew that he would say something like that.

“You aren’t shocked.”

“You told me before I set off to the Abyss. You pleaded that I don’t go there.”

The decision to go into the Abyss that the Sword Queen made in the past to find answers for her curiosities.

The Chief Abbot spoke to the Sword Queen in their last encounter, pleading for her to not go.

“What you meant by those words, it didn’t take me long to learn.”

The Chief Abbot already knew what would happen to the Sword Queen.

The Sword Queen was certain of it.

“So the reason why you became shocked after seeing me, is because of that?”

“I saw your last moments.”

The Sword Queen who turned into an old woman as if she would die any moment, after her appearance of a beautiful woman disappeared.

Her appearance of her body being destroyed and broken down without her being able to endure it seemed so miserable even in the eyes of the Chief Abbot.

And her meeting her end wasn’t too far from now.

Or at least it should have been that way.

“Even your clan’s Lord had his face turn red which is rare.”

“…”

“You know as well, that the Celestial Plum Blossom values you highly.”

“Yes, I do feel sorry for him.”

Why didn’t he tell her despite knowing it?

The Chief Abbot clearly remembered the Celestial Plum Blossom’s anger that he showed towards him.

Fate didn’t change.

He learned it through decades of him struggling countlessly.

Which was why he thought that the Sword Queen wasn’t any different.

“…But you are standing in front of me right now. How could that be?”

“Do you not like the fact that I’m perfectly fine?”

“Of course, not… Rather, I am glad for it, to the point that my heart is shaking because of it.”

He thought that it wouldn’t change no matter what.

Which was why it was called fate.

The calamity that would soon strike the world; he knew that it would happen, but because he didn’t know what the outcome of it was, he was able to work hard.

If the outcome of the calamity was the world ending, the Chief Abbot wondered if he would’ve worked hard just like he was doing right now.

He already knew the answer.

He wouldn’t have.

“May I ask, what happened to you?”

After hearing the Chief Abbot’s question, the Sword Queen thought of someone in her mind.

It was the older brother of her precious disciple and a fierce looking boy who rescued her.

‘…If the Chief Abbot’s words are true.’

If the Sword Queen was confirmed to die by the toxic energy that grew inside her, the one who changed that fate was definitely that boy.

‘How is such a thing possible?’

Was it because he was from the Gu Clan?

The reason that the Sword Queen came to Hanam in the first place, without even sparing her Qi was because…

“Yes, your reason for coming to me, please tell me.”

“Before, you told me that you are in debt to me.”

“Yes, it was thanks to you that many lives were saved.”

The Sword Queen went to the True Gate of Demons by herself, sacrificing her life at the Chief Abbot request, when no one else was brave enough to go.

The Sword Queen didn’t think that this was something that the Chief Abbot should be in debt for.

After all, the Chief Abbot had only wanted to save others.

However, she was in a situation where she had to take advantage of a thing that happened in the past.

“…Then, I dare to ask you for a request.”

“Do go on.”

“Do you remember the time that the Heavenly Army and the then Alliance Leader headed to the Abyss?”

“…”

The Chief Abbot became silent after hearing the Sword Queen.

After all, these words were the same as daggers being stabbed into his heart to the Chief Abbot as well.

After seeing the Chief Abbot’s reaction, the Sword Queen slowly asked.

“Do you know what happened in the Heavenly Abyss of Birth?”

There were four biggest types of Abysses that were known in the world.

The Heavenly Abyss of Birth was the one with the least information known about it, and was also a place that the Sword Venerable and the Heavenly Army went to in the past.

To the Sword Queen’s question, the Chief Abbot nodded his head.

“I do.”

The Sword Queen slightly bit her lips after hearing the Chief Abbot’s answer. It was because she prayed that he didn’t know.

“The reason why I didn’t tell you last time you asked was because there was no need for you to bear it.”

“What do you…”

“I don’t know what you saw when you went into the Abyss. However, it’s likely that what you saw is different from what the Sword Venerable saw.”

After hearing the Chief Abbot, the Sword Queen thought of the giant tree that she saw in the Abyss in the past that covered the whole sky.

She for some reason didn’t have a clear memory of it, but what she saw was definitely a tree.

A giant rotten violet-colored tree.

It was so gigantic that its branches were enough to cover the sky; a tree that had already died, seeing as how not a single leaf was on it nor the vitality of life.

That’s the kind of world that the Sword Queen saw.

A world where everything was breaking down and rotting away.

It was a world that best fit the description, ‘The End of the World’.

However, he said that what the Sword Venerable and the Heavenly Army saw was different from what she saw.

‘If that’s the case, what about the words that the Captain told me…?’

Gu Cheolun spoke as if he saw the same things that the Sword Queen saw.

However, what the Chief Abbot was saying right now was so different.

As the Sword Queen was wondering in her thoughts,

The Chief Abbot spoke once again.

“I cannot tell you many things.”

“…”

“And it isn’t because of my relationship or a promise I made with the Sword Venerable.”

Was it because of a shackle?

But the Sword Queen felt that it was something different instead.

“The reason why the Sword Venerable went into the Abyss. Do you know the reason why?”

The Sword Queen nodded her head after hearing the Chief Abbot.

The reason why the Sword Venerable went into the Abyss, was so that he could rescue his daughter.

But many people believed that it was for a great cause.

The Heavenly Army that went into the Abyss was almost all wiped out and the ones that barely came out alive ended their own lives except a few.

After this incident happened, the Sword Venerable stepped down from the Alliance Leader position and the Murim Alliance that studied the Abyss at that point in time stopped their investigations into the Abyss.

Furthermore, the key army of the Alliance that existed for centuries, the Heavenly Army, was disbanded.

The Sword Queen wanted to learn everything about this incident.

“What you are curious about is the same as the reason why the Sword Venerable headed to the Heavenly Abyss of Birth, and the reason why the Murim Alliance stopped their studies for the Abyss…”

The Chief Abbot answered the Sword Queen with an exhausted tone.

“It’s because there is a God inside the Heavenly Abyss of Birth.”

The Sword Queen frowned after hearing the Chief Abbot.

“What do you…”

“Furthermore, it’s not just the Heavenly Abyss of Birth. There is a God in other Abysses as well.”

“Chief Abbot, what are you saying right now.”

A God?

Was he referring to the supreme beings that other Taoist Clans worshiped?

But considering that these words came from the Chief Abbot of Shaolin Sect who didn’t worship anyone, it sounded way too strange.

“If you find it strange that it’s being called a God, then it could also be worded as the owner.”

“Owner…? I’m having trouble understanding you right now, Chief Abbot.”

“Even if you can’t understand, there isn’t any other word that describes it better. The owner of a world…Or a God of that world. If not God, what else could it be called?”

The face of the Chief Abbot was extremely dark as he spoke these words.

Then, the Chief Abbot started to cough while covering his mouth as if he couldn’t speak about this any further.

Splat!

Blood started to leak from the Chief Abbot’s thin fingers.

“Chief Abbot…!”

The Sword Queen hurriedly tried to support him after seeing blood, but the Chief Abbot raised his hand to stop the Sword Queen.

“This is all I could say.”

“…”

After seeing the Chief Abbot act as if nothing happened after wiping his blood, the Sword Queen couldn’t ask about it any further.

Right as she was hiding her complicated thoughts and biting her lips in frustration…

“Sword Queen.”

“Yes.”

“Do not try to learn about it.”

“…”

“Please don’t throw away the miracle that was given to you.”

“Are you saying that the knowledge that I’m trying to learn is that difficult to obtain?”

The Chief Abbot didn’t give any response to the Sword Queen.

But the Sword Queen knew the answer from the Chief Abbot’s silence.

Underneath the silence that descended after, the Chief Abbot and the Sword Queen could only stare at each other in silence.

******************

Time passed.

It was a day before Gu Yangcheon had to be confined.

Gu Yangcheon went outside and finished training like always.

“…What do you want to do?”

He had no choice but to frown when he saw Moyong Hi-ah suddenly appear so randomly when she was nowhere to be found for a few days.

It was understandable he reacted that way. After all, Moyong Hi-ah said some absurd things.

“Did you not hear me?”

“No, I’m asking because I thought I misheard you.”

“Oh, I see.”

Moyong Hi-ah then nodded her head, and kindly told Gu Yangcheon again.

“Please spend the night with me today.”

Gu Yangcheon’s brows furrowed after seeing her speak those words with a smile.

Then, he had to calm himself.

It wasn’t just once or twice that crazy people around him said crazy things to him.

And because he wasn’t like his past rude self, he had to respond to her in the most kind manner possible.

‘I’m sorry, but what do you mean by that?’

“Screw off.”

“…?”

“Oh.”

Gu Yangcheon covered his mouth right after he gave his response.

“…I accidentally spoke my inner thoughts instead.”

It was a mistake.

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