Chapter 579

Chapter 579 - Side Story 13

Tang Yu-jeong followed Heon closely. Heon seemed to notice the presence and turned his head to look at Tang Yu-jeong. He was about to leave, but after looking at Tang Yu-jeong once more, he stopped in place and waited for her to approach.

Tang Yu-jeong approached and held out Heon's money pouch that the bandits had taken.

Heon just stared at Tang Yu-jeong. Something like slight curiosity appeared in his eyes.

"Have we met before?"

"Oh my, no. We haven't."

Heon frowned slightly. His characteristic coldness suited his appearance well and still looked charming.

Tang Yu-jeong admired him inwardly. Looking closely at him from the front, he definitely resembled Dad.

But... he was even more handsome than Dad. If he really was Dad's half-brother, she thought he might have inherited the blood of Ice Phoenix, who was said to have the greatest beauty among the Three Dragons and Four Phoenixes.

Tang Yu-jeong shook the money pouch.

"Take it. They said it was yours."

Heon took the money pouch without much gratitude and pocketed it. Then he just tried to go on his way as if nothing had happened. Tang Yu-jeong asked, dumbfounded.

"Excuse me. Shouldn't you at least say thank you or something?"

Heon said without even turning around.

"Thanks."

"Wow."

It was doubtful whether he was the same person as before. But his appearance and outfit were definitely the same as earlier.

Tang Yu-jeong couldn't just let him go, so she went around to the front of Heon and blocked his path. Heon looked at Tang Yu-jeong coldly.

"What more do you want? Do you want a reward for getting the money back?"

Not even a speck of his earlier kindness could be found.

"Excuse me. I asked for help."

"If you ask me to save you, do I have to save you?"

"Wow... is that something to say to someone who asked for help?"

"Those bandits don't harm people. They just threaten and take money."

In other words, since they don't take lives, he ignored it.

"Ah, you must know them well."

"Right. I meet them every time I come out."

"..."

"Now that you know, stop following me because it's annoying."

No matter how she thought about it, it was strange. Tang Yu-jeong shouted at Heon's departing back.

"Are you the same person who healed that sick old man earlier?"

Heon looked displeased and glanced at the sky once before sighing forward. Then he turned around.

"Did you follow me?"

"That's right."

Tang Yu-jeong told the truth. Rather than complicating things by beating around the bush, she intended to openly state her reason for seeking out Heon.

But Heon asked first.

"So you deliberately shouted for help to me."

"That's right."

"To get my attention."

"...What?"

The nuance of "attention" felt a bit strange.

"So don't waste your energy and go back. No matter how much you throw yourself at me, it's useless."

Tang Yu-jeong got irritated.

"Why is everyone in this town like this, whether bandits or handsome men? There's such a lovely young lady right in front of you!"

She spread her skirt and hopped around in front of Heon demonstratively.

Hop hop.

"..."

Hop hop...

Heon ignored Tang Yu-jeong and passed by.

Tang Yu-jeong frowned from behind and put her hands on her hips.

"Ah, what the heck."

Tang Yu-jeong glared at Heon's back for a while before starting to follow him.

Heon turned to look at Tang Yu-jeong while walking. Tang Yu-jeong also stopped. When Heon walked she followed, when he stopped she stopped too, maintaining a constant distance.

That would be more bothersome. Soon Heon gradually increased his walking speed.

"Can you shake me off?"

Tang Yu-jeong grinned while twirling her hair falling by her ear with her fingers.

***

They crossed a mountain. Heon's pace was quite fast, but Tang Yu-jeong didn't fall behind at all.

They reached a valley with considerable width and strong current. There was a stepping stone bridge made by placing large stones. Heon ran quickly and stepped on the stepping stones. As he crossed stepping on the stones in order, each stone he stepped on made a crunching sound and broke, sinking.

The broken stones sank in the water and were swept away by the current, leaving almost no stepping stones.

After crossing the valley, Heon looked back and seemed to think she couldn't follow anymore, so he walked away at a leisurely pace. The valley was wide enough that even a decent martial artist couldn't leap across in one go.

"Oh ho, I thought you couldn't use martial arts at all?"

Tang Yu-jeong briefly pondered how to cross the valley. She could just jump across, but her skirt would get completely wet, and that would feel like losing even if she caught up.

"Being mean is exactly like Gyeong."

Being like Gyeong ultimately meant resembling Jin Ja-gang, didn't it?

Tang Yu-jeong looked around and went under a zelkova tree that had grown with branches drooping toward the valley. She touched the trunk of the zelkova tree with her palm.

Urururu!

The zelkova tree shook and leaves from the upper branches fell into the valley water. Tang Yu-jeong sent palm force toward the valley, skimming the water surface. Riding the wind of the palm force, the leaves fluttered and flowed like stepping stones all the way to the other side of the valley.

Tang Yu-jeong grabbed the hem of her long skirt and ran. She lightly stepped on the leaves floating and flowing on the water surface.

Tong!

Each time she stepped on a leaf the size of a child's palm, water droplets bounced.

Tang Yu-jeong easily crossed the valley by stepping on leaves without wetting her feet.

Heon was watching Tang Yu-jeong from afar.

Tang Yu-jeong saw Heon and smiled back at him.

Heon frowned and turned his body. He stamped his feet and shot out in an instant. There were dense bushes and vines, but he just broke through and ran straight. He leaped over rocks and passed tree trunks like a ghost sliding sideways. It was much faster than running on flat ground. It was almost at full sprint level.

In an instant, Heon disappeared from Tang Yu-jeong's view. This time he seemed determined to shake her off completely.

"Wow, that's fast."

Tang Yu-jeong kicked the trunk of a nearby tree and used the rebound to fly to another tree. She stepped on that tree's trunk and jumped to another tree. After repeating this several times, she could quickly climb to the top of the tallest tree.

From the treetop, the entire forest was visible. The wind was strong and her clothes kept fluttering. Tang Yu-jeong held her windblown hair with her hand and looked down. She could see Heon crossing the forest almost in a straight line.

"Hmph. No matter how you run, it's still Buddha's palm."

Tang Yu-jeong fixed her body to a branch at the treetop and pressed down with her full weight. The branch bent and swayed as if it would break. When Tang Yu-jeong suddenly lightened her body, the branch sprang back with elasticity. Tang Yu-jeong shot out over ten zhang in one breath.

Heon was caught up to in an instant. Knowing a shadow had passed over him, Heon looked up. Tang Yu-jeong sitting at the top of a very tall tree grinned and waved her hand.

Heon's expression became a bit serious.

"Who are you?"

Tang Yu-jeong sat straddling a branch and shrugged her shoulders.

"That's what I want to ask. Who are you?"

Heon glared at Tang Yu-jeong for a while then raised his hand.

Buuuut! Hazy energy gathered in his hand.

"Come down."

At Heon's sharp words, Tang Yu-jeong answered calmly.

"Don't want to."

In an instant, Heon struck diagonally at the base of the tree Tang Yu-jeong was sitting in like lightning.

Seugak!

It was cut so sharply that nothing happened for a moment. The wind blew fiercely. Tilting! The tree swayed greatly and the diagonally cut part slid.

Kiiii... The tree slid and fell to the side. Tang Yu-jeong sitting on a branch also seemed about to fall from the shaking. Tang Yu-jeong immediately took off her silk and wrapped it around a branch of a nearby tree. With her feet, she wrapped around the top branch of the tree she was standing on and held on.

The falling tree stopped mid-fall. The base caught on the middle of the cut. Though it swayed left and right, it didn't fall any further. The tree was balanced precariously with the base propped up.

She balanced the entire tree's center! It was truly an extremely delicate technique.

Heon neither admired nor was surprised. He just looked up at Tang Yu-jeong and raised his hand again.

Syuk!

About two spans of the middle of the tree base flew off entirely. The upper trunk of the tree floating in the air fell intact onto the cut section.

Kung!

Heon raised his hand again and struck the tree. The upper part of the cut section flew off once more.

Kung!

The lower part of the tree trunk flew off again, continuously reducing the tree's height.

"Oops?"

Because the length of the silk hung on the nearby tree branch was short, that tree was bending along with it.

Tang Yu-jeong had no choice. She unwound the silk and used the weight technique from before to move to another tree.

Heon moved like lightning and split the trunk of the tree Tang Yu-jeong climbed like a thunderbolt diagonally. Tang Yu-jeong moved to another tree again. Heon followed Tang Yu-jeong and cut down trees.

Tang Yu-jeong moved to another tree and teased Heon.

"Are you going to cut down all the trees here? That'll take about a month, won't it?"

Even at Tang Yu-jeong's playful words, Heon was surprisingly unresponsive. He just followed Tang Yu-jeong and cut down trees.

Tang Yu-jeong felt somewhat creeped out. He truly seemed intent on dropping her even if he had to cut down all the trees in the mountain. Whether it took a month or two months didn't seem to matter to him.

Despite being a reckless endeavor, this behavior of not stopping and pushing through with his will was like...

'Dad?'

It was an action reminiscent of Jin Ja-gang.

If it were Jin Ja-gang, he would definitely cut down all the trees in the mountain until Tang Yu-jeong fell.

As trees continued to fall and crash into other trees, those trees couldn't bear the weight and broke or were uprooted.

Kugugugugung!

The whole forest was in chaos. Tang Yu-jeong hopped and ran away while Heon followed her below trying to drop her by cutting trees.

'He's totally like Dad!'

His actions were too identical.

Tang Yu-jeong's pride was hurt.

Though they were clearly children of the same father, her pride was hurt that Heon resembled Dad more. Moreover, until just now she had been chasing Heon, but now Heon was chasing her. Rather, opposite to the beginning, Tang Yu-jeong had become the one being chased.

Her blood boiled. Fighting spirit surged.

At this point, she thought let's try it. If she didn't land one on that expressionless, cold face, she couldn't stand it!

"Just you wait."

Tang Yu-jeong moved to the top of a slightly shorter tree. A tree about the height of ten people stacked. Heon immediately followed and raised his hand to cut the tree. Before that, Tang Yu-jeong struck down the treetop with her fist.

Uujik! Powerful internal energy penetrated through the tree trunk and fell downward.

Ujijijik! The tree split vertically in two and burst downward with a rush. Sharp wood fragments flew everywhere. Mixed with a considerable amount of Tang Yu-jeong's internal energy, Heon's hand could get injured if he tried to cut the tree.

However, Heon struck the bursting tree without a moment's hesitation.

Kwang!

The lower part of the tree flew off with an explosion. As Tang Yu-jeong expected, wood fragments swept Heon's hand, leaving a series of torn wounds.

Tang Yu-jeong above didn't fall. She used the tree split in two like stilts, holding it with both hands and propping it on the ground to stand.

But Heon's hand was covered in blood.

Tang Yu-jeong felt a bit sorry.

"See, I told you not to."

A slight emotion appeared on Heon's seemingly expressionless face. However, his expression was so cold that she couldn't read what emotion it was.