Mistaken for a Fairy
ch21

[How Long Will I Stay Cooped Up?]

Jangsan and the Martial Alliance members moved away from Taesil Mountain as quickly as possible. They were afraid that the senile old master would suddenly stop them and give a long, threatening speech.

Whether the expression "senile" was appropriate or not, it didn't seem normal for someone who had mastered such finger techniques to claim to be an ordinary person. It even made them think that one had to be that brazen to retire from the ruthless Martial World with dignity.

They didn't know, didn't want to know, and didn't want to understand. They just wanted to escape this place as quickly as possible.

The only woman, Jegal-hye, was half out of her mind.

'Fool, fool, fool...'

It was because she had been singled out and treated like an idiot.

Tears welled up in her eyes out of resentment, but Jegal-hye barely held them back. She felt like she would really become an idiot if she cried.

The other members pretended not to notice Jegal-hye sniffling. Everyone knew that Jegal-hye had been studying finger techniques for a very long time, but they were afraid that the old master of Taesil Mountain might be listening, so they couldn't even offer words of comfort.

After running without rest, Jangsan finally arrived in the city and let out a sigh of relief. Even when fighting the Evil Alliance or the Demonic path, his heart had never raced like this, but now his heart was pounding like crazy.

One of the members, his face pale, said in a trembling voice.

"Team Leader, can we talk about it now?"

Instead of answering immediately, Jangsan raised his head and looked towards Taesil Mountain. They seemed to have run at least thirty li. If he could hear their voices from this distance, it would be a natural disaster.

When Jangsan nodded, the members collapsed to the ground with a thud.

They were trained martial artists, so they didn't sigh out loud, but their minds were in complete chaos.

'Uh, uh uh.'

'I feel like I've been forced to learn why the Demonic Sect is stuck in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains...'

'How am I supposed to report this?'

'I'm, I'm not a fool.'

Jangsan looked at the completely broken members and, with a sense of resignation, sat down himself.

"Let's... rest for today."

They had used too much mental energy. There was no information to be gained by wandering around at a time when there were no pedestrians, so it wouldn't be too late to sleep well and continue. He was also afraid that he would make the same mistake again if he went poking around.

Jangsan was about to massage his legs, which had lost all their strength, when he suddenly smelled a greasy aroma and turned his head. He saw an old woman taking freshly steamed dumplings out of a steamer and putting them in a cloth. It seemed she was preparing to do business from dawn.

Feeling hungry, Jangsan approached the old woman and asked.

"Are you selling these dumplings?"

"If a customer wants to buy them, I'll sell them."

"Please fill it up. Enough for ten people."

"Oh dear, I haven't prepared for business yet, so I don't have any bowls to give you."

"Then just give them to me in the cloth. I'll pay you generously."

Jangsan said, handing the old woman the money. The old woman's eyes widened as she checked the money.

"...This is too much?"

"We're just very hungry."

The old woman bowed repeatedly. She had sold all her dumplings before she had even properly started her day.

"Let's eat."

Jangsan placed the cloth on the ground. The members grabbed the dumplings as soon as Jangsan spoke. The mountain of dumplings disappeared in an instant.

"Let's finish eating and find an inn to stay at. Then..."

At that moment, Jangsan's expression froze. He belatedly remembered that he had sent three members on an errand.

'Ah...'

The members seemed to be thinking the same thing, and the sound of swallowing could be heard from all directions. Jangsan sighed deeply and silently stared in the direction of Taesil Mountain.

He felt like the senile old master was glaring at him.

"..."

Jangsan shook his head. No matter how he thought about it, he didn't want to go back.

The members then looked at each other. They had thought it couldn't be true, but now it seemed like that unlikely scenario was about to become reality. But even so, they didn't want to drag their exhausted bodies around all the inns in Henan.

Who would want to?

That's why the members were cautiously watching each other. Soon, Jangsan said in a subdued voice.

"Whoever thinks it's them, raise your hand."

"Team, Team Leader."

"Raise your hand."

"..."

Soon, three members slowly raised their right hands. Coincidentally, all three were the youngest.

"Go quickly and bring them back before they stray into the wrong place."

"...Yes."

It was the rainy season, so the sound of rain never stopped. Seo-yeon closed her eyes and meditated, listening to the rain. If you asked why she was meditating, it was because there was nothing else to do in the mountains.

Although she had parted ways with the Martial Alliance members, Seo-yeon was just staying up all night. Perhaps because she had been rained on at dawn, she couldn't fall asleep. Her body wouldn't break down just from missing a day or two of sleep, so Seo-yeon decided to take this opportunity to sort out her thoughts.

First, she thought about what would have happened if the people she had met today had been from the Demonic path instead of the Martial Alliance. If that had been the case, she certainly wouldn't have returned unscathed like she was now.

Why was she suddenly thinking about this? If she tried to be a good teacher, she would often get involved in incidents. In that case, she would end up stepping into the Martial World whether she liked it or not.

Seo-yeon recalled the various martial arts novels she had seen in her previous life. She remembered martial arts novels that classified martial arts into third-rate, second-rate, first-rate, peak, supreme-peak, and Transformation Realm, and also martial arts novels that classified realms by phenomena such as Three Flowers Gather on the Crown or Five Qi Towards the Origin.

But she soon stopped. Originally, martial arts was a discipline that one could study for a lifetime and still not be enough, so she didn't think it could be defined so conveniently and accurately.

If peak and supreme-peak were divided by Sword Qi and Sword Aura, would a martial artist who had only trained in lightness skill all his life and reached the top of the Martial World be worse than them?

In the first place, the term "peak" meant a realm so high that it could not be reached, so why was the prefix "supreme" suddenly attached?

It was only natural that each person had different enlightenment and different lives, so it was strange from the start that everyone had the same direction. If there was such a place, that Martial World would surely be a place where martial arts had lost its inherent value.

Therefore, whether it was Sword Qi, Sword Aura, Five Qi Towards the Origin, or Three Flowers Gather on the Crown, all things that distinguished realms should not have great significance.

Because each person has a different way of blooming and withering.

They could be signposts, but they should never be absolute standards. At least, that's what Seo-yeon thought.

In that sense, the Martial arts of this world was truly to her liking.

Were there modifiers such as Transformation Realm or Mystic Realm in front of the names of the peerless masters? No.

Just peerless.

That was enough to describe masters who were so outstanding that they were unparalleled in the world.

The masters who made a name for themselves below that were just called by their nicknames, not by their realms.

But there were third-rate martial artists. There were third-rate people everywhere.

Seo-yeon tried to gauge where she was. She had never learned footwork, nor had she learned swordsmanship. She had never trained her external skills with exercises like horse stance, nor had she ever sparred with martial artists. She certainly had no practical experience.

Therefore, she could be said to be below third-rate.

But Seo-yeon had an intangible, peerless famous sword. A Mind Sword that was not bound by form and cleanly bisected thick trees and rocks.

Of course, she only called it the Mind Sword because she didn't have a suitable name, but Seo-yeon had never really thought of it as a real Mind Sword.

To put it a bit harshly, Seo-yeon thought it shouldn't be a real Mind Sword.

Why?

To become a master, one had to have a balance of essence, energy, and spirit. Here, essence meant a solid body, energy meant the power to move the body, and spirit meant the spirit of a martial artist.

Not only that, but profound Inner Energy and excellent martial arts based on it had to be supported.

That was the prerequisite for a master that Seo-yeon thought of.

Was that why? Rather than thinking of it as a Mind Sword, Seo-yeon would rather think of it as a strange ability given to her. She couldn't possibly think of it as a Mind Sword. It was an insult to the martial artists who had honed their skills for a lifetime, and at the same time, it was a deception.

It could be said to be a side effect of reading too many martial arts novels.

If Seo-yeon hadn't been a so-called hardcore old-school martial arts fan who followed old martial arts novels in her previous life, her thoughts might have been different, but unfortunately, that was not the case.

Seo-yeon looked at the Mind Sword in her hand with a serious expression.

In fact, even with just this much, she could easily defeat the small fries who relied on their mediocre strength. But if she did that, the higher-ups would gradually use that as an excuse to attack, and one day, real masters who could close a distance of dozens of yards in a single step and cleave mountains and the sky would appear.

Then she would be dead.

She had chosen to live in hiding because she didn't have the confidence to endure all that, nor did she have the confidence to get her hands dirty with blood.

But now that had become difficult.

As I said repeatedly, becoming a good teacher is such a difficult thing.

'Should I go to a martial arts school and learn some self-defense?'

Originally, to become a master, one had to learn martial arts from a young age, when the bones and blood vessels were not completely hardened. But for Seo-yeon, martial arts was only a means of self-defense to protect herself and her disciple, so age was not very important.

'If I had known this would happen, I should have gotten a decent swordsmanship from the Namgung Clan.'

There would be several martial arts manuals in such a Martial World clan that were open to outsiders. But what was the use of regretting it now? Seo-yeon thought of a few martial arts schools that were nearby.

'Clear Wind Martial Arts School, Jin Family Martial Arts School, Flying Dragon Pavilion...'

Come to think of it, Flying Dragon Pavilion was not a martial arts school but an inn that sold stir-fried noodles. The inn itself was shabby, but the owner's Inner Energy was not to be trifled with, so it was a place where she had eaten very deliciously.

Anyway, it seemed necessary to look for a suitable martial arts school.

Teaching her disciple, carving to earn money, writing books, learning swordsmanship.

There was a mountain of things to do.

"..."

But she didn't feel so bad. It seemed like she had a plausible goal for the first time since she had fallen into this world.

After finishing her meditation, Seo-yeon headed to the room where Hwa-ryeon was sleeping. Perhaps because of the humid and hot weather, Hwa-ryeon was sleeping face down in a disheveled manner, kicking off the blanket and exposing her stomach.

Seo-yeon gently lifted Hwa-ryeon and carefully turned her over. Hwa-ryeon flinched for a moment, but soon fell into a deep sleep. Her fidgeting hands seemed to be practicing carving even in her dreams, and a faint smile spread across Seo-yeon's face.

As she carefully removed the hair that was slightly wet with sweat and stuck to Hwa-ryeon's forehead, Seo-yeon thought.

To survive in the Martial World, one had to either hole up in the mountains or have enough power to enforce one's will.

'I should look into a martial arts school tomorrow.'

She didn't know about the latter, but Seo-yeon vowed that she would at least not just live holed up in the mountains.