*Content Warning: This chapter contains mature themes, violence, blood, and morally dark actions. Reader discretion advised.*
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Leon then smiled and shut his eyes while lying down on the bed with relief and a satisfied expression on his face. He went to sleep.
After a cold and dark night, the sun emerged with the sweet sounds of birds chirping and a wild fragrance of nature.
Leon then woke up and saw the old man preparing breakfast for him. It was especially large today the old man was preparing sweet bread with his green tea, made from the ancient wood around his house.
The bread looked especially tender and soft. Leon came down from the bed.
"Good morning, old man," he said with a soft voice.
The old man smiled with a kind expression and said with relief, "Seems like you gained enlightenment while I was gone last night."
Leon replied with an energetic expression and a smile.
"Yeah, I wouldn't say I gained enlightenment, but rather I realized something I should have from the very start. Regretting won't change anything all it will bring is pity or sorrow, which I don't want to experience."
The old man asked Leon with curiosity, "Hoh, so what is it you realized that made you like this? You seem to be in quite a good mood today."
Leon raised his hand, brushing the back of his hair, and said with a smile, "I mean… I think I will start from absolute zero. By that I mean every technique I know I will first grasp its principle, then understand it, then align with it, and after that I can master it. So I think I need you to teach me again from the very start."
The old man smiled, handing Leon bread and green tea whose fragrance was sweet and breathtaking.
"I think you are misunderstanding something, Leon. I am not the one who will teach you now. All I had to teach you was my swordsmanship, and I am glad I was able to pass it down to someone worthy. It's purely up to you if you can master it or not. But it's not like I won't help you. You must have noticed that I am making quite a good breakfast for you today, unlike other days, didn't you?"
Leon looked confused, wondering what the old man was going to say next.
"What do you mean you won't teach me? Then who will? I mean… well… just like you, I don't know many people who can teach me. And it's unlike you to give me a breakfast like this. Is today a grand or special day or something?"
The old man smiled slightly and held Leon's shoulder.
"The thing is, Leon, I can't teach you anything because it's up to you to grasp the principles. To begin with, I am in no place to teach you further, because there is somewhere else you should go if you want teaching."
Leon ate the bread slowly, enjoying its sweet and soft taste, and drank the green tea.
"What do you mean? I don't plan on going out of this forest for now, you know. I do want to know more about my power and my technique, but who else is going to teach me if not you? You're not thinking of sending me somewhere else, are you?"
The old man chuckled with fascination. "Well, the thing is… you need to go somewhere where you can truly find the meaning of teaching. You can't understand the way of perception unless you see it from another perspective. Unless you reach my level, you won't be able to understand my teaching properly. Just like the Celestial Edge Flow you weren't able to master or even perform it fully. It will be the same with my teaching. But don't worry, I have decided to send you somewhere where you can learn more and become stronger than you are today."
Leon was confused, yet he understood some of the truth in the old man's words. Still, he felt no sadness or emotion at that moment. He simply said in a clear voice, "Oh, is that so? I understand. So where do you plan to send me? I don't care wherever you send me as long as it can make me stronger than I am now, I will go anywhere. And so that was the reason you made a breakfast like this. So… is this farewell?"
The old man smiled with relief. He wasn't worried he was glad to see that the one he taught swordsmanship to wasn't naïve.
"Hohoho… I will tell you about it later. You should eat now. If you want more bread, do tell me. And about farewell to begin with, there was never such a thing between us. If fate allows us to meet again, then we will. If this old man is alive until that time, I would surely like to see you master the Celestial Edge Flow swordsmanship."
Leon didn't say anything. He kept eating without hurry, without stopping. There were no longer feelings in his heart he couldn't feel anything at all.
The old man's expression grew serious, his tone calm.
"Leon, this is my last teaching. Celestial Edge Flow swordsmanship just like its name, it is not a name for nothing. I don't know if my master truly mastered it, but as the name suggests, it is a very powerful swordsmanship I once dreamed of mastering. But that dream was for nothing I wasn't able to do it But that doesn't mean you can't do it either…"
The old man then spoke with a face troubled, as though burdened by something unseen.
"And for some reason, I don't know why or what type of feeling this is, but it seems someone is interfering with fate itself. The flow of destiny has started to move at a tremendous speed. A being is interfering with the flow of fate. How terrifying."
Leon listened to everything the old man's dream, the power of Celestial Edge Flow, the burden of mastery. He felt a heavy weight upon his shoulders, but what caught his curiosity was the mention of fate.
"A being strong enough to interfere with the flow of fate? Huh."