Chapter 38 :

Second-Rate Warrior Facing a Legend (3)

-At fifteen, I first grasped a sword, and at thirty, I awakened to the Way.

-Using the root of all things to establish the Way, I named that study the Taeul True Scripture.

-To have my learning confirmed, I stepped into the murim world and received nine confirmations.

-By the time the nine duels ended, those who wished to learn the Way stood in an endless line, but there was no one to whom I could pass on the Way.

-In a mountain of Anhui, I met a child who had lost his parents and was able to pass on what I had learned.

-Renowned elders of the murim world came to me and asked me to step forward for the sake of the chaotic world.

-I heard that the one from whom I had originally wanted to receive my tenth confirmation was enforcing his will upon the murim world.

-Learning is something one cultivates and achieves for oneself, and because I could not agree with his will, I set out with them.

-The depth of learning possessed by the tenth person I faced was not shallow either. However, at the moment I finally broke his learning and blocked his advance, I was trapped in an infinite maze with the sound of the sky collapsing.

-The tenth person I faced said that the renowned elders of the murim world had betrayed us.

-I had never intended to harm others with my teachings, so I wondered whether my learning had appeared too threatening to them.

-The infinite maze was an unknown thing that could not be broken even with my strength combined with that of the tenth person I faced. We ended up in a position where we could only await death here.

-As I spent endless time with him in the infinite maze, there were parts where our wills aligned. I realized that this was the return of all streams to one source.

-In the place where our shared will aligned, we created a single martial essence.

-Last night, in a dream, I thought of the disciple left alone. It pained my heart constantly that I had not left my teachings to that child.

-If someone sees this writing, I will consider that person my destined successor. Learn my teachings and achieve what you desire. However, if the Taeul Sect remains in your world, pass my things on to it. That is my final wish.

As I read the handwritten records the Taeul Sword Emperor had written across half the cavern floor, I could not stop the tears flowing.

If it had been someone else, he might have resented someone or burned with vengeance, but his writing was utterly calm, and that made my heart ache even more the entire time.

The story of his disciple appeared again and again, and the largest portion was filled with sorrow and concern over whether that child might be suffering because he had not given him his teachings.

Looking at the martial principles written by the great-grandmaster, as I had expected, aside from the Taeul Heart Method and the Small Heaven Sword Technique, they were not martial arts of the Taeul Sect.

The disciple left alone had carried on the sect for five hundred years amid all kinds of disgrace and persecution, waiting for his vanished master.

I became ashamed of myself, who had so deeply resented the Taeul Sect in my previous life.

Why were they forcibly dragging along such a powerless sect? Would it not be better to just die than live so servilely?

It had been a thought from my immature days, but I could not hate myself more than I did for that moment.

“It was five hundred years. A full five hundred years.”

The great-grandmaster had worried and agonized until just before his death over the disciple he could never meet again in his lifetime, and that disciple had waited for his master for five hundred years.

“I will enshrine you.”

The floor was filled with handwritten records in diary form, and the walls contained detailed descriptions of the martial arts he had practiced.

They were martial arts that had been waiting five hundred years to be passed on.

[Taeul Heart Method]

[Small Heaven Sword Technique]

[Great Heaven Sword Technique]

[Twin Heaven Sword Art]

[Taeul True Scripture]

[Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art]

[Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist]

[Taeul Eight Myriad Divine Steps]

The Taeul Heart Method and Small Heaven Sword Technique were teachings for beginners.

From there, the Great Heaven Sword Technique included a martial scripture that originally did not exist in the Taeul Sect, and once one completed initiation, one would enter the path of a traveler seeking to realize the root of the Way.

The beginning of that was the [Taeul True Scripture].

The martial scripture, which sought a realization deeper than a heart method, pursued a realm more profound than any martial principle I had ever seen.

-If one realizes the Taeul True Scripture, one will be able to understand the harmony of heaven and earth.

The words the Taeul Sword Emperor had written with confidence contained such advanced teachings that they did not seem false.

The other martial arts had no deficiencies either.

The [Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art] was the sword art manual that had created the legend of ten thousand swords, and the [Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist] was no less impressive.

Especially because I had tasted the martial arts of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families once each, I could be certain that the [Taeul Eight Myriad Divine Steps] was in no way inferior to the footwork of the Nine Sects and One Gang.

“It is a pity there is no movement art.”

That regret lasted only a moment, and then I thought about what I, who had inherited the true legacy of the Taeul Sword Emperor, could do.

I could not even dare to imagine it.

When I thought of how the Taechung Divine Sword dominated the murim world with a single sword, and how Black Lion Gwak Gung later shattered that murim world again with his two fists, I could not even imagine how the future might change.

After examining everything for quite some time, only then did the black-haired middle-aged man on the opposite side enter my eyes.

Unlike the Taeul Sword Emperor, he had instead maintained black hair and skin.

His strange appearance was so fascinating that I approached him.

Like the Taeul Sword Emperor, he had introduced himself in eight characters.

Darkness Heaven and Earth.

Hell Demon Emperor.

The person referred to as the Dark Sky was the third Heavenly Demon of the Demonic Cult, who had vanished five hundred years ago.

#

“Are these the ones?”

Azure Emperor Divine Sword Namgung Taeha.

The current head of the Namgung Family and an expert whose name was listed among the Ten Great Swordsmen Under Heaven.

It was a voice that did not contain internal energy, but Yang Gunbaek and a certain beggar kneeling before him trembled all over as if thunder and lightning were striking.

“I am Yang Gunbaek of Haomun’s Yueyang branch.”

“I am the branch leader of Beggar Gang’s Yueyang branch.”

The beggar, who identified himself as Beggar Gang’s branch leader, was afraid, yet he tried his best not to lose his dignity.

Azure Emperor Divine Sword paid no attention to whether he did or not and continued speaking.

“You are the ones who sold the treasure maps?”

Haomun and Beggar Gang.

Both had strong characteristics as information organizations, so they should not reveal themselves easily, but in the face of what had now happened, they could not stubbornly refuse.

Five thousand.

A full five thousand people had gone in to find the Mita Divine Water and had not come out.

Below the valley of Maling Plateau, dozens of sects had pitched tents and gathered in groups.

Even with countless people there, there was no noisy chatter among them.

Instead, a heavy tension that could explode at any moment pressed down on them.

Their family and friends were inside.

And because no one knew whether they were alive or dead, they were holding back their anger.

“From the beginning, we merely sold maps to guide the way. Entering was their choice.”

The branch leader of Beggar Gang’s Yueyang branch spoke, pretending to be bold.

Looking at his trembling hands, Yang Gunbaek could not help feeling pity.

“So you are saying you did nothing wrong?”

“No matter how great the Namgung Family is, you cannot treat a member of Beggar Gang this way.”

“What?”

“We merely did our work as an information organization.”

“Yet you did not properly inform them what dangers were inside.”

“That was something no one…”

“Then you failed to properly carry out your work.”

“What do you… Keurgh.”

In that instant, the Beggar Gang member inhaled sharply, then vomited a basinful of blood.

“Kkeok, kkeok.”

At some point, a clear fist mark had been left on the area of his core.

In an instant no one could even perceive, his core had been shattered with a single move.

Gulp.

Yang Gunbaek swallowed.

If he was the branch leader of Beggar Gang’s Yueyang branch, he was at least a first-rate warrior.

For such a person to have his core broken without even having a chance to use his hands meant that the skill of Azure Emperor Divine Sword, as evaluated by the people of the murim world, was actually underestimated.

“Go and bring the vice branch leader of Beggar Gang’s Yueyang branch.”

“Yes.”

When one of the Namgung Family warriors dragged the Beggar Gang member away, only Yang Gunbaek remained in the room.

“I will ask you. Did you sell the map?”

“P-Please spare my life.”

“Did you mark that a formation was deployed there?”

“Yes. I clearly marked it.”

“What about the identity of that formation?”

“That… even with our investigation, we could not find out.”

“So you sold a map irresponsibly.”

Yang Gunbaek felt like he would go mad and jump in frustration.

Who in the world would sell a map while also thinking to enter the formation inside it?

If they could enter the formation in the first place, they would not have made and sold a treasure map; they would have taken the elixir or treasure themselves.

“I-I am sorry. Our sect has neither the funds nor personnel to research formations…”

“Is it certain that the Mita Divine Water is inside?”

“…”

In truth, that was not certain either.

If it was there, good.

If it was not, there was nothing that could be done.

But there was no choice but to believe the person who had testified in order to make the treasure map.

“The person who went inside clearly said the Mita Divine Water was there.”

“The youngest daughter of the direct line of the Namgung Family entered that place.”

“…”

“And it has already been over a month since contact was lost. Yet now you say you do not even know whether the thing called the Mita Divine Water is inside or not. Is there any reason I should leave you people alive?”

Gulp.

Yang Gunbaek thought that the “you people” spoken by Azure Emperor Divine Sword likely did not refer only to the Yueyang branch.

Was he not a person who could wipe out all of Haomun if only doing so would relieve his anger?

Yang Gunbaek desperately racked his brain.

And in desperation, he said,

“Th-There is someone who saw Yong Soa!!”

“…What does that have to do with this?”

“Yong Soa definitely entered that place to secure the Mita Divine Water. But three weeks later, he was seen by one of our members eating at an inn in Yueyang.”

He said member, but it was a waiter.

A man who looked like a beggar had entered, devoured dumplings and vegetable porridge with bamboo-leaf wine as if possessed, and left behind one gold coin. Finding that strange, the waiter had reported it to Haomun.

“Are you certain it was Yong Soa?”

Since he had said the Taiji symbol, the symbol of Wudang, was also engraved on the sword sheath, they were guessing it was Yong Soa.

That was because only Yong Soa could use the Whirlwind Sword, one of Wudang’s treasured weapons.

It was not certain, but he could not dare call it a guess.

Yang Gunbaek had no confidence in enduring Namgung Taeha’s wrath.

If so, as an information broker, he was in a situation where he had to make a gamble that was not quite a gamble.

“Yes, I believe he may have come out of that formation as a representative to ask the Murim Alliance for help.”

After thinking for a moment, Azure Emperor Divine Sword issued a threat.

“Starting today, you will stay here and bring me every piece of information related to what is inside.”

“Y-Yes, understood.”

When Azure Emperor Divine Sword dismissed him, Yang Gunbaek stepped aside with his mind in turmoil, wondering how he should ask the main sect for help.

Namgung Jinmyeong approached with a dark expression.

“This is all my fault. Father.”

“You useless thing. Just how unreliable must you have been for that young child to think of entering that deathtrap!”

“I am sorry.”

Namgung Taeha’s face, which had been shouting, quickly calmed.

How could his own sorrow over losing his granddaughter compare to the sorrow of a father who had lost his child?

“If that Yong Soa went to the Murim Alliance, then the Murim Alliance must know about this matter as well. Visit the Yueyang branch and find out what happened.”

“Yes. I will guard this place. So how about you return to the family, Father?”

At the sudden words, Namgung Taeha frowned.

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

“They say the movements of the Azure Dome Merchant Group are unusual. It seems they intend to move the Council of Elders.”

“Those damned bastards!”

When Azure Emperor Divine Sword drew up his energy, the warriors and servants working nearby all plopped down as if their knees had gone weak.

“That bastard Sangwon can no longer tell the difference between filth and urine.”

Why had Namgung Seonhwa gone in search of the Mita Divine Water in the first place?

Was it not because, as the collateral line’s pressure weakened the direct line’s power and made it difficult to receive the family’s support in the Martial Academy exam, she had stepped forward to resolve it herself, leading to this disaster?

He, too, had been preparing a breaking form against the Azure Dome Great Swallow Sword Technique, the collateral line’s main sword art, as a way to suppress the collateral line, but there had been nowhere near enough time.

Moreover, if handled incorrectly, it could be interpreted as denying the legitimacy of the family, so he had not even been able to receive help from anyone else.

Azure Emperor Divine Sword looked at his grandson, Namgung San.

“What happened to the child you mentioned?”

One day, Namgung San had gone out, saying he would retrieve the academy entry plaque that Jegal Somyeong had given to another child, and though he returned empty-handed, he looked rather pleased.

The child had immense pride, yet he returned with a happy face despite failing to achieve what he wanted. Unable to contain his curiosity, Namgung Taeha had asked him about it, and he had heard that the child used a sword art similar to the sword art he himself was researching.

“I sent someone to find out, but they said he went out because he had something to do and has not yet returned.”

“Why did you send someone for such a matter? You should have gone yourself.”

“I am sorry. Because of Seonhwa, I could not bring myself to go.”

“Ahem…”

Amid the urgency of the situation, with Seonhwa also missing, not a single person in the direct line could keep their head straight.

As if mocking this situation, the collateral line was moving at the moment when the direct family was in its greatest crisis.

Azure Emperor Divine Sword looked at Namgung Jinmyeong and said,

“I will go alone. You stay here with them.”

“Father, you must not go alone.”

“Do you not trust this father of yours?”

Far from it.

Rather, if he did not go with warriors and the collateral line made the final provocation, he was worried that Azure Emperor Divine Sword would draw his sword.

“You will watch the situation here, and if Seonhwa ultimately does not come out… do not leave anyone responsible alive in this world.”

“…Father.”

“If those I thought of as family use the family’s misfortune as a hostage to make their move, they are family no longer. I will clean up those who are not family.”

At Namgung Taeha’s words, Namgung Jinmyeong thought that a bloody storm might sweep through the Namgung Family.

#

-I am the third Heavenly Demon of the great Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. There is no other way to describe myself.

-From the beginning of my memories, I was a follower of the Divine Cult, and in the end, I ascended to the seat of the Heavenly Demon.

And under the teachings of the Demon God, I entered the murim world to unite the world.

-I was trapped in a strange formation with a damned, frustrating bastard. At first, I laughed at him for standing before hypocrites and being betrayed, but when I realized I had been trapped as well, I despaired.

While reading the diary, I rubbed my eyes for a moment.

I had not seen it wrong. It was definitely “damned.”

They said he had risen all the way to Heavenly Demon in the Demonic Cult, and yet even in the diary he left at the end of his life, he did not stop cursing. At the same time, unlike the Taeul Sword Emperor, he seemed to have repeatedly written and stopped, so there were many broken parts in between.

-This damned formation was something I had never seen in my life, and even I, blessed by the Demon God, could not break through it.

-I tried imitating that bastard’s mental image training or whatever it was and gained one realization. Thinking about it, I also felt like I had been betrayed by the traitors of the Divine Cult.

Thanks to that damned Daoist bastard, I learned something I did not need to know.

-Seeing him miss his disciple made me think it served him right. Why did he crawl all the way here instead of raising the disciple he should have raised?

I raised a whole nine disciples. But all nine of them betrayed me. Thinking about it again still pisses me off.

-There was nothing to do and the only person I could meet was that Daoist bastard, so we talked about this and that.

He also knew about the laws of the world created by the Demon God. I decided to try converting him. It did not go well.

-After creating a martial art together with him, I also began to think that I wanted to leave something of my own behind.

The Heavenly Demon Scripture ultimately began from the roots of the Divine Cult, so it was not mine.

-I created a martial art to judge the disciples who betrayed me. Even to me, who has already reached the realm of the Heavenly Demon, it is an extremely satisfying thing.

I named this thing the Reverse Demon Scripture. Whoever discovers this thing, please block the path of those disciple bastards of mine.

-Whoever sees this writing, consider yourself blessed by the Demon God and devote yourself to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

[Reverse Demon Scripture]

[Unrivaled Under-Heaven Movement]

The Reverse Demon Scripture was a study that suppressed demonic arts.

It was a martial art that suppressed demonic arts by attacking the parts that would become reverse scales among the characteristics of demonic arts based on the Heavenly Demon Scripture.

It was hard to believe that the third Heavenly Demon of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had created this study.

What captured my eyes even more than that was the Unrivaled Under-Heaven Movement, which seemed to have been created by the Taeul Sword Emperor and the Hell Demon Emperor together.

It was a movement art with an arrogant name, saying that once one ran, no one under heaven could follow.

The principle hidden within it was that the movement art itself was a martial art with tyrannical destructive power.

When advancing, nothing could block it, and when retreating, nothing could catch it.

After putting all those martial arts into my head, I approached the Hell Demon Emperor.

It was because I found it fascinating that his form remained intact even after a full five hundred years.

Tap.

The moment I touched him,

his body slowly turned to powder and disappeared, and a red ring remained in its place.

The characters embossed on the inside of the red bracelet carved with a phoenix told me what this bracelet was.

[Heavenly Demon Sovereign Ring]

While I was wondering whether this bracelet resembled the Blue Dragon Ring worn on my left arm,

behind me, with a soft crumbling sound, the form of the Taeul Sword Emperor disappeared.

I performed the nine prostrations to the Taeul Sword Emperor and gave a bow of the head to the Hell Demon Emperor, then drew the Black Dragon Sword and stood at the center of the cavern.

“Great Heaven Sword Technique.”

The Great Heaven Sword Technique was a sword art of changing sword and illusion sword.

Only now did I realize why the Small Heaven Sword Technique, while having the path of a swift sword, was not actually that fast.

Originally, the Small Heaven Sword Technique and the Great Heaven Sword Technique were merely stepping stones for learning the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art.

Whoong.

Whoong.

Illusion swords and changing swords scattered in every direction.

When the Small Heaven Sword Technique merged among them, it became impossible to tell which was the true sword and which was the illusion sword.

At first, I had thought I would learn only the Great Heaven Sword Technique and leave, but I poured several days into the Taeul True Scripture and the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art.

I had completely forgotten the very thought that I had to go outside.

And when I had just barely crossed the threshold of the Taeul True Scripture and the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art,

Charurururu.

Chachachacha.

Three swords occupied every direction and ground an intangible opponent to powder.

When I increased the influence of the swords further, the swords spreading in all directions erased the martial scriptures on the floor and walls one by one.

Among the three swords, there was no illusion sword.

Every sword was real and moved independently.

Then I added illusion swords to them.

The three swords increased to six.

The wildly moving swords swept across the walls and floor once more, erasing the diary and martial scripture of the Hell Demon Emperor.

Because the real swords increased threefold, they were not real swords.

The Taeul Sword Emperor gave this peculiar sword art the title of “Ten Thousand Swords.”

A sword that was illusion yet not illusion, real yet not real.

I looked around at the scene I had created.

The characters that had densely filled the walls and floor had all vanished under the tips of the blades, without a single one remaining.

Just understanding the entrance of the Taeul True Scripture and the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art gave me this much ability.

If an opponent tried to face these swords, they would be unable to distinguish which were real and which were illusions.

“It truly deserves to be called the martial art of Ten Thousand Swords Under Heaven.”

#

“…”

Namgung Seonhwa turned her head and looked at Seong Moran.

Her cheeks had become gaunt, her eyes were hollow, and her eyelids blinked weakly.

She squeezed out the last of her strength and spoke.

“I am sorry… unni…”

Seong Moran’s eyes moved slowly, and her dry lips, which had parted several times, spoke.

“No… It is all right…”

They were now dying, squeezing out the last of their strength to speak.

Around the time one month had passed since they were trapped in the cavern, no more people entered.

And when no more people entered, all the food also ran out.

They secured drinking water from the water flowing through gaps in the cavern, but the moss growing inside the cavern was far from enough to feed nearly four thousand people.

Fights broke out over food, and once even that food ran out, one by one, people stopped fighting too.

Those with weak internal energy were dying one by one, and the remaining people had also predicted that their lives did not have much time left.

“I am truly… sorry…”

More than her own death, Namgung Seonhwa felt greater guilt toward Seong Moran, who had been trapped here because of her.

She had been the one to approach Namgung Seonhwa first, who had no sisters, and had readily stepped forward to help her in her hardship.

Namgung Seonhwa had dragged such a person into this deathtrap.

“Do not… give up…”

Seong Moran did not lose hope until the end.

Did she truly believe in Yong Soa and the Murim Alliance, who had left first?

Or did she think someone else would break through that formation and come in?

Strangely, however, Seong Moran’s gaze was directed toward the side opposite the exit.

Though she did not say it, she was waiting for the man who had been dragged into the Soul-Extinguishing Formation after his battle with Yong Soa.

The person Seong Moran loved.

Other than his head seeming exceptionally sharp, what did she expect from him, who did not seem particularly special?

Suddenly, Namgung Seonhwa also thought of him and looked toward the Soul-Extinguishing Formation into which he had been sucked.

Wriggle, wriggle.

Was it because she had starved for too long?

For some time now, she had begun seeing illusions.

Sometimes they appeared as meat, and sometimes as the entrance of the Namgung Family.

And now, the illusion appeared in the form of something splitting the Soul-Extinguishing Formation.

‘How cruel.’

She even thought that perhaps illusions drove people into despair by showing them what they wanted most right now.

In that illusion, a man appeared.

He looked exhausted like them, but light flashed brightly in his eyes, and though his steps were slow, they were dignified.

It was the man Seong Moran had longed for the most.

Namgung Seonhwa turned her head, thinking she should tease Seong Moran.

But Seong Moran’s eyes had gone round.

‘Can unni see it too?’

When she turned her head back toward the illusion, the illusion approached this way.

Then it spoke.

“Are you all right?”

Jin Sowoon had returned.