Mount Hua (3)

I stood, dumbfounded, after hearing the shocking identity of the wrapped stone I had been tasked with delivering.

The Second Elder felt awkward after seeing our reactions, so he continued with a noticeably subdued voice, much unlike the vigorous tone he usually used.

Uh, I got it from winning a bet while we were drinking, but I forgot to give it back to him

You used one of the clans four treasures as bet?

What kind of nonsense is this?

It would have been more believable if hed just said that he stole it but this?

What kind of Lord uses his clans treasure in a drinking bet!?

The Second Elder continued speaking.

Dont be too sad, this old man also bet something that rivaled that stone he bet.

Sad? What do you mean sad?

Huh? I thought you were sad because you thought this old man didnt bet anything when the opposing side bet one of his clans four treasures.

What the hell are you going on about?

And did he say he bet something that rivaled this stone? The Second Elder had such an item?

At that point, I came to the conclusion that the Second Elder was just pulling my legs.

Yeah, theres no way that this is really their clans treasure.

I smirked after assuring myself that the Second Elder was just playing with me.

Hey, even if I look dumb to you, isnt your joke a bit too much?

I unwrapped the cloth, not believing the Second Elders words and intending to put an end to the joke

And instantly, the smell of plums spread everywhere.

It was a soft scent.

When I looked down at the unwrapped item in my grasp, I saw a round, shining stone.

I rewrapped the stone right away.

Fuck. No matter how I look at it, this is the real deal.

If the stone shining and producing the scent of plums wasnt a treasure, then I didnt know what was.

How could you wrap this kind of treasure in some cheap cloth!?

Hey! The Lord of their clan gave it to me that way, so what are you yelling at this old man for!?

What kind of person wraps this kind of treasure in some cheap cloth like this?

I felt like I was going insane.

How was I supposed to deal with this? I was now in a situation where I had to get to Mount Hua whilst bringing this treasure with me.

Id never imagined receiving one of Mount Huas treasures from a member of the Gu Clan.

Why are you making me deliver this anyways, you should just take the safer option of making the delivery group deliver it for you.

There is no safer option such as right now, so dont worry.

Huh?

I thought about his words for a second, wondering what they meant

Then I remembered the Sword Emperor who was talking to a horse behind me.

If the Second Elder and my father knew about the real identity of the Sword Emperor, then his words were understandable.

Still, why are you making me carry this?

I thought my heart had stopped when I first saw the stone.

While I was holding the treasure with shaky hands, the Second Elder spoke with a smile.

Oh, I already spoke with their Clans Lord, so you just need to go there without worrying about anything.

So everything has been planned out already without my consent

Why was I always made to do things without having any say in their proceedings?

I felt like I wasnt being treated properly at the moment, even as I was the clans only son.

Then again, I have never really been treated well

Since everything had already been planned, I had no option of rejecting the request.

I carefully put the stone in my pocket; as much as I wanted to, I couldnt just ask the Sword Emperor to hold it for me

Thankfully, the stone was pretty small, so it wasnt really noticeable.

After I put the stone in my pocket, Muyeon spoke to me.

Young Master, we are now ready to go.

Ill be there right away.

As I turned to head towards the carriage, the Second Elder stopped me.

Just like when you went to Sichuan-

Yes, Ill come back without causing any trouble.

You say that but you came back after breaking the Lightning Dragons arm.

Ahem.

Anyways, where is my sister?

Gu Huibi, who had been next to me not too long ago, had suddenly disappeared.

When I asked that question, the Second Elder laughed.

Shes probably crying somewhere since she cant see you anymore.

What?

Shes probably crying behind some tree since she cant see you because shes going far away this time, so dont worry about it.

I faked a laugh at the Second Elders absurd words.

This was even harder to believe than the fact that the stone I was holding was one of the four great treasures of the clan.

That fiery woman was crying because she is worried about me? Yeah right.

It was more believable that she would tease me now that she was assigned to somewhere really far.

The thought of Gu Huibi crying made me laugh a little.

It really didnt fit her at all.

Yeah, anyways, Ill be back.

I had to leave soon, so I went inside the carriage after respectfully bidding my farewell to the Second Elder.

Yeah, have a nice trip.

Yes Lord Second Elder, take care.

Neigh!

As soon as I got on the carriage, I heard the neigh of the horse, and the carriage started moving, signifying the start of our journey to Mount Hua.

After Gu Yangcheon left, the Second Elder went into his house and felt something in the corner of the room.

Sigh-

The Second Elder let out a sigh unnatural for his personality.

Were you that sad?

The person curled up in the corner flinched upon hearing the Second Elders question.

Its not like Yangcheon is some three-year old kid, so why are you crying like that?

Heis still a fragile little kid! Hes even skipping his meals because of his training

The sobbing voice belonged to none other than Gu Huibi.

If you only take care of Yangcheon, Yeonseo will be sad.

Yeonseo takes care of herself well, but Yangcheon always causes troubles wherever he goes.

The Second Elder couldnt say anything in response to that point.

Even this time, he returned from the Sichuan trip after breaking the arm of Namgung Clans heir.

The Second Elder had wanted Gu Yangcheon to break his leg as well after hearing everything that happened, but he had to compose himself as an elder.

I barely got to see him too

The Second Elder turned away from Gu Huibi who continued to cry.

She may have been called the Sword Phoenix, but to the Second Elder, she was just a granddaughter who still hadnt matured yet.

The Second Elder, after watching for a bit, left the room and quietly closed the door.

And after about 7 days,

Someone walked towards the Gu clans gate and knocked on it.

***

Three days before Gu Huibi left for her mission.

She was in an extremely bad mood due to a certain incident.

And it only became worse because of the person that appeared in front of her.

And who are you again?

She spoke without any formality.

It was right to show respect whether the person being spoken to was younger or older, but Gu Huibi was someone who didnt care about things like that even if it made her seem disrespectful.

The person before her seemed unaffected by Gu Huibis disrespectful way of speaking and simply bowed her head, showing respect.

I am Namgung Bi-ah.

Shes absurdly pretty.

That was the first thought Gu Huibi had when she saw Namgung Bi-ah for the first time.

The servant her brother would always bring alongside him was already absurdly pretty, yet this Namgung girl rivaled her.

The greatest beauty of Anhui She really lived up to that name.

How annoying.

Yeah, I heard that, but why did you come here?

Gu Huibi didnt know why, but she noticed that the clothes Namgung Bi-ah wore were covered in leaves and dust.

Had she gone through some rough road or something? She even seemed to have some demons blood on her clothes as well, as if shed fought some demons on her way here.

Namgung Bi-ah responded firmly to Gu Huibis question.

I came here to see my fianc.

Fianc

She wasnt wrong, but it really irritated Gu Huibi.

I heard that its not completely official yet.

Oh

Was it not official? The expression on Namgung Bi-ahs face seemed to be asking that question.

Unlike her cold brother, Gu Huibi felt like her brothers fiance seemed to be a bit empty-headed.

I dont like her.

But she had something to say to Namgung Bi-ah that brightened her mood.

Of course, this wasnt something she had fancied a few days back, but back then shed had no idea that it would come back to help her.

She spoke to Namgung Bi-ah.

Aw thats unfortunate, my little brother isnt in the clan right now.

Little brother?

Yeah, little bro. Im his older sister.

Oh!

Namgung Bi-ah nodded her head as if shed just understood.

Hello.

Then she modestly bowed her head, showing respect.

To that sudden action, Gu Huibi felt startled.

What the hell?

She then responded with a reluctant expression.

Uh, yeah Hello.

Then Where is he right now?

He went to Mount Hua. Far, right? Unfortunate for you, so you should just go back home-

Mount Hua!

Gu Huibi was forced to halt her words in the middle of her cold response.

It was because Namgung Bi-ah had brightly smiled upon hearing about Gu Yangcheons location.

It hurt Gu Huibis pride to admit it, but her smiling face made her look almost too beautiful.

Namgung Bi-ah who was about to turn around stopped and asked her.

It was a really random question.

Are you a sword wielder?

Yeah, did your younger brother not tell you?

Namgung Bi-ah tilted her head at Gu Huibis question.

Little brother? Shed never heard of such a thing from him.

Namgung Cheonjun never made an effort to talk about people that were stronger than him.

And that meant that the woman in front of me was stronger than him.

She was extremely strong, Namgung Bi-ah could tell just by looking.

She is probably even stronger than me.

The explosive but fluid aura around her was telling Namgung Bi-ah that.

It was similar to her fianc, but much stronger.

It excited her.

Namgung Bi-ah felt an urge to fight her slowly rise.

Furthermore, she is a sword wielder?

The woman in front of Namgung Bi-ah was the perfect martial artist she was looking for.

It made Namgung Bi-ah want to stick to her for even a few days just so she could agree to have a duel with her. However,

Unfortunately, now is not the time.

What?

Thank you for telling me.

Namgung Bi-ah bowed her head once again.

UhYeah.

Gu Huibi felt like her mind was going numb because of the Namgung girls polite attitude.

But she swiftly returned to her senses and spoke to her.

Like I said, my little brother isnt here in the clan right now So go back to your own What the-?

Suddenly realizing that Namgung Bi-ah was no longer before her, Gu Huibi cut herself off in surprise.

What the, where did she go?

Gu Huibi stood there in a daze for a while, feeling like she had just seen a ghost.

The next day.

A letter from the Namgung clan came, asking the Gu clan to get ahold of Namgung Bi-ah if they happened to see her.

But, it was already too late.