Book 5 Chapter 1

Nirvana

"Ho-ho, a hawk with unusual feather colors.

Was there a hawk in our halls with the color of the blue heavens like me?"

It was a woman who exclaimed,

Unfortunately, the woman had a patch over her left eye.

But the blindfold didn't hide her beauty; it gave her a unique look. She was the one-eyed vixen, the poisonous vixen.

She'd seen hundreds of falcons soar through the sky and ride the wind, but this was the first time she'd ever seen one so unusual in flight. The majesty of its outstretched wings made it look like the king of the sky.

"I've never seen a hawk like that before, and I don't think a bird that distinctive would have gone unnoticed by me."

Na Yerin nodded in agreement with Dokgo-Ryung's words.

"Chang'e, is that the famous Eastern Sea Hawk? It's been a long time since I've seen a falcon so proudly slicing through the sky."

The cool wings of the Haedongcheong brought a smile to my face. The hawk's cool flight seemed to cheer him up.

"Ho-ho, that falcon must be a falconer! It's flying this way!"

Na Yerin's gaze confirmed it. The falcon that had been soaring through the heavens had turned its wings and headed this way.

For a moment, the elderly Ami frowned slightly.

"Who?

I had never seen the hawk before, and I couldn't tell who it belonged to. I don't know anyone anyway. Who could it be this time? It was her fervent hope that it would stop. She'd had enough.

"Is that one too?"

As if on cue, Dokgoryeong muttered to himself, his gaze, a combination of what-ifs and pity for whoever was wasting his time, crossed the falcon's path to the falcon's master. To the owner, whose name he could not even recognize…….

"You say your name is Thunderbird."

Na Yerin said with a rare smile. For some reason, the normally ferocious creature was tame in front of Na Yerin. Rather, he sat on her left hand bhikkhu (a leather armor) with an arrogant, proud air.

Na Yerin knew the name of the blue-feathered hawk because it was kindly written on a letter tied to its ankle. But the rest of the letter troubled her.

It was unexpected. The falcon's owner was someone she knew well.

She had only met him twice in her life, but he had imprinted his image on her mind more strongly than anyone else, and he had stolen her precious lips. She tried to forget, but she couldn't.

"Do you want to go?"

Even as she thought to herself, "Of course I won't go," Dokgo-ryung confirmed her heart. Her sister-in-law had received thousands of letters from men, but she had never once granted the requests in them. It had always been her role to coldly refuse.

But the old woman's eyes widened. Her sister-in-law nodded. It was an unexpected result. It was a first.

"It involves me. I can't afford not to go."

If it weren't for her, Bi Ryuyeon wouldn't have participated in Samsung Mujae. Part of me wanted to know what kind of skill he had to shout so loudly in front of her.

What she wanted to know now was his level of martial arts. She had a reason to want to see his skill level, as she was already suspecting him of being the one who had slipped through her fingers by some mysterious means.

"If it's your brother-in-law's idea, you can't do it."

Dok Goryeong reluctantly agreed, because if she went, he would go too.

"But when it's known that you're going to watch him, I'm sure a lot of men will light up with jealousy in their eyes! But that might be surprisingly fun, too; it's good to see that little bastard Bi Ryuyeon embarrassed!"

She smiled slightly as she thought it would be quite a sight to see. Also known as the Iron-Blooded Lady, it is as difficult to see her smile as it is to pick out the stars in the sky. But with her sister-in-law Na Yerin by her side, it's not uncommon to see her smile. When the other never smiled, she had no choice but to smile, because her sister-in-law was even more of a smile deficient than she was. And her perception of men was even worse, as she was convinced it was all because of those damned wolfish bastards, her only sibling.

Once she had decided to go, Dokgoryeong himself must accompany her, for it was on her shoulders and sword that the responsibility of guarding her sister-in-law against the wolves rested.

As long as there were beastly men everywhere, Na Yerin could never feel safe. There was a group called the Bingfeng Movie Guardians, but she didn't really trust them. How could she trust a group of beastly men? Her distrust of men was getting deeper, not better.

Her sister-in-law, Na Yerin, was no different in that regard.

But maybe it would have been better not to see it. There are often things in the world that are worse to see than not to see. Bi Ryuyeon's first bout! It was the kind of thing that, by her standards of judgment, could not be called a bimu.