When Geom Mugeuk opened the window of his guest room, cold air flowed in. A pale dawn mist was drifting through the alley in front of the inn.
He had entered the Time-Space Transposition Art in the evening and had only just finished.
In terms of time, four sijin had passed, but the time he had actually spent training was a full two days. That was because the steadily advancing Secret Art of Time was now providing him with six times more time than reality.
For two days, he had exhausted all his internal energy, recovered it, exhausted it again, and recovered it again. He had no idea how many evil spirits had appeared and vanished over and over.
And at the end of his training, he unfolded a space within the Time-Space Transposition Art meant for him alone.
It was a hot spring amid a snowy plain, where rising steam created a dreamlike atmosphere.
By soaking his body there, the fatigue of a day and a half of relentless training melted away.
Truly, he had repeated the Nine Hells Demonic Art so many times that he felt as though evil spirits might appear through the rising steam, asking to loosen up their bodies too.
He could feel it coming. The seventh level of the Nine Hells Demonic Art was about to rise another step.
The experience and insight he had gained from his battle with the Dark King were merging with the realization he had felt while reinterpreting the forms of the Yellow Dragon Sword Art, and his martial realm was beginning to stir.
This experience of reinterpreting the Sword King’s reinterpretation granted him an unexpected and special enlightenment. After all, he had never before newly interpreted a martial academy’s martial art together with an expert like the Sword King.
‘I have to keep doing this.’
He could feel that this work with the Sword King would bring him great achievement.
Just then, the window of the next guest room opened, and someone stuck out her head.
“You’re not sleeping?”
It was Ian.
“What about you?”
“I was cultivating my inner art, and before I knew it, the time had gotten this late.”
She had sensed that the atmosphere around them these days was anything but ordinary. After all, an enemy had appeared who made Geom Mugeuk tenser than anyone else in this place full of novices. How could she possibly sleep?
“Training is good, but sleep is important too.”
“Look who’s talking.”
She knew Geom Mugeuk always trained until dawn. Of course, since he trained quietly in his room, she assumed he must be cultivating his inner art as well. What she did not know was just how much sword qi and sword aura were rampaging in the room right next to hers.
“I’ll sleep all I want after I’m dead!”
At her words, Geom Mugeuk smiled faintly.
‘You’ve already slept all you wanted.’
So in this life, stay awake.
Stay awake until you grow old and become a white-haired old woman, watching the world with those beautiful eyes.
Ian with white hair would surely age beautifully. Would they still be able to stand side by side like this then, looking at the world together?
“That man… he’s strong, isn’t he?”
It was the first time Ian had asked about the Sword King.
Geom Mugeuk nodded honestly.
“How strong?”
“Have you ever seen a real expert up until now who went barefoot?”
“No.”
“He’s exactly that strong.”
She understood that he meant the Sword King was that special an expert, but Ian deliberately spoke as if it were no big deal.
“Well, if it’s just that much, it should be fine. Young Master, you’re not lacking in specialness anywhere either, are you?”
As she said that, she tapped the left side of her chest twice.
“To pierce Young Master’s heart, they’d have to pierce not one, but two hearts.”
At her half-joking, half-serious remark, Geom Mugeuk laughed as if amused. But the look in his eyes as he gazed at her grew deeper. Because what she had just said was something she had already experienced.
“So this is the advantage of someone with two hearts?”
“Just trust me!”
“Your heart absolutely must not be pierced! I’m going to sleep trusting only in that heart!”
“Sleep deeply for my share too.”
Of course, in Geom Mugeuk’s heart, the order was reversed.
To pierce her heart, they would first have to pierce his.
There would never be a day when his heart was pierced and that blade reached Ian’s heart. All his efforts were to prevent such a moment from ever coming.
While Ian was looking up at the stars in the dawn sky, in the room next door, a fierce battle in which the earth split and cliffs collapsed was unfolding once more, soundlessly.
* * *
The Sword King came to class on time the next day as well.
He had even prepared the next three forms of the Yellow Dragon Sword Art.
“Now then, today I will teach the fourth through sixth forms.”
Just what does this man want?
As Geom Mugeuk looked at him, that thought naturally came to mind. But at the very least, he could tell why the Sword King was teaching the Yellow Dragon Sword Art again.
The look the Sword King gave him said this:
—Let’s have another bout!
Yesterday’s reinterpretation had been his defeat. He had admitted that the form Geom Mugeuk reinterpreted was better. That was why he intended to challenge him again today.
—No matter how much you base your reinterpretation on mine this time, you won’t be able to make it better.
Geom Mugeuk answered him with his eyes.
‘Let’s do it. Even if we kill each other when the time comes, for now, let’s enjoy this.’
They both instinctively knew. As martial artists, meeting such an opponent might happen only once in a lifetime, if at all.
The Sword King demonstrated the fourth through sixth forms.
The academy disciples watching him turned to one another and whispered.
“What is that?”
“It’s different from yesterday too.”
“He’s doing whatever he wants.”
The interpretation of the forms the Sword King was displaying today was yet another interpretation.
The Yellow Dragon Sword Art he had shown yesterday had been soft and fluid as water. It had even looked like a dance.
But today, it was indifferent. There was no way to describe it except to say it was truly indifferent. He swung his sword indifferently. He strode forward and thrust with a dull stab. Movements continued one after another as though he were casually kicking a pebble lying on the ground.
Of course, the academy disciples could not grasp the deep essence of martial learning contained in each and every move, so this too looked to them like a halfhearted demonstration.
Geom Mugeuk, on the other hand, even took off his shoes and followed his forms exactly, barefoot.
At that sight, the academy disciples frowned even harder.
They had already thought his claim that he would become Ian and Seojin’s shield was a ploy to look good in front of them. Now they thought he was training barefoot to curry favor with the instructor.
“Shouldn’t we call the seniors from the Black Dragon Class and have them teach him a lesson?”
“He really is detestable.”
Some even began exchanging such whispers.
Of course, not all the academy disciples were like that.
Yugwang and Gyoseok were diligently following along. Gyoseok was doing it because of his friend, and Yugwang because of Ian. With Ian following along so earnestly, he could not just stand by and watch.
“Do you like that woman that much?”
When Gyoseok shook his head, Yugwang shook his own even more fiercely.
“That’s not why.”
“Then?”
“I’ve been so uneasy lately that I can barely sleep. But whenever I look at Miss Lee, my heart becomes calm. Strangely, all my uneasiness just disappears. There’s something about that woman.”
“It’s just because she’s pretty.”
“I said that’s not it!”
Yugwang tried hard to follow along. Gyoseok also pretended he had no choice and followed the movements. He scolded his friend every day to stop indulging in delusions, but he knew there was something special about him.
And so the second day’s class ended.
Geom Mugeuk and the Sword King met again at the place where they had met on the first day.
Watching the martial art Geom Mugeuk unfolded, the Sword King smiled with satisfaction.
Yesterday, Geom Mugeuk had reinterpreted what he had taught. Today, he was performing it exactly as he had taught it.
“The forms you reinterpreted today are perfect, Instructor. It would be discourteous to ruin such excellent forms out of a petty desire to win.”
When he honestly admitted defeat, this time the Sword King let out a sigh.
“Why are you sighing when I’m the one saying I lost?”
“Because you acknowledged it too cleanly.”
Then unexpected words flowed from him.
“A Young Cult Leader like you would be hard to see ever again in the history of the Demonic Cult. Since I must kill with my own hands someone granted by the heavens, I can’t help but sigh.”
He was still filled with confidence that he could kill Geom Mugeuk.
“The one who dies will be you, Instructor. Just like those comrades of yours who died by my hand before.”
It was the first time he had brought up the other Twelve Zodiac Kings to him. How would he react?
“Comrades? Who are you calling my comrades?”
The Sword King did not consider the Twelve Zodiac Kings who had died before him to be his comrades. Rather, the man who had always been composed showed displeasure for the first time at being placed on the same level as them.
“I’ll show you my comrades.”
In the next instant, the Sword King released his aura. It was the first time he had revealed his aura since they had met.
Saaaaaa.
Everything around them was glittering.
At a glance, it looked like jewels sparkling in sunlight.
But that was not it. They were all sword blades.
Blades were protruding from the walls, the floor, the ceiling—everywhere in all directions. Hundreds, thousands of blades. Truly, blades filled every side so densely that even the slightest movement seemed likely to cut him.
When Geom Mugeuk turned his head to the side, a blade was aimed at his face. Blades protruded on the opposite side as well. There were blades in front of him and above his head too.
Geom Mugeuk reached out and touched a blade.
Slice.
His finger was cut by the blade, and blood flowed. The aura was so sharp that it had actually cut his finger. Of course, it was also because he had not deployed protective gang qi.
Far beyond the flashing blades, he could see the Sword King.
“What do you think of my friends?”
It meant that only swords were his friends.
Where, in this place so full of loneliness, are these friends of yours?
Geom Mugeuk smiled pleasantly and said to him,
“You have so many friends that there’s no room for me to slip in.”
Perhaps he liked the answer, for the Sword King laughed as well.
Sssss.
As the Sword King’s aura vanished, the surrounding swords disappeared in an instant.
“Later, before you die, will you grant me one request?”
Geom Mugeuk could sense it. The reason the Sword King had shown himself before him, the reason he was so leisurely giving and receiving lessons like this, might perhaps all have been for the sake of that request.
“Very well. Before I kill you, Instructor, I’ll grant your request.”
Of course, he did not simply agree meekly.
“In exchange, please grant one request of mine as well. I’ll tell you mine right here and now.”
“Speak.”
“Please continue reinterpreting the Yellow Dragon Sword Art as you have been, all the way to its final form. Keep wagering with me.”
A trace of doubt naturally passed over the Sword King’s face.
“No matter how well I reinterpret it, it should be a martial art you have no need for.”
“There are three reasons.”
“Three, you say?”
“First, this wager is too enjoyable.”
He thought this enjoyment was surely the same for the Sword King. Otherwise, they would not be having this conversation here now.
“Second, there is someone to whom I want to pass on the martial art completed in this way.”
And lastly.
“This is just my intuition, but by the time this process ends, I think my martial realm will rise.”
The Sword King smiled and asked with an expression that seemed to say, And yet you’re asking me to teach you?
“Where in the world did you learn this shameless degree of honesty?”
“From people who weren’t petty. Those people did not take my honesty as a weakness.”
A strange emotion flowed across the Sword King’s face. Yesterday, when they had parted, he had said there were too many petty people in this murim.
“Didn’t we meet as academy disciple and instructor? Since fate has brought us together like this, I want to learn everything I can.”
Though it was surely not an easy request, the Sword King did not ponder for long.
“If I’m to become someone who isn’t petty, I suppose I can’t refuse. Fine, I’ll grant your request.”
“Thank you.”
The Sword King was about to turn away when he suddenly asked,
“What will you do if the request I make of you is one you cannot grant?”
Geom Mugeuk smiled apologetically and answered,
“That’s why I’m asking first, isn’t it?”
* * *
Even though Geom Mugeuk had told him outright that his intention was to grow stronger first and kill him if necessary, the Sword King taught him every form of the Yellow Dragon Sword Art through to the final one, just as promised. It was something that had not been planned at all when he first became a temporary instructor.
On some days, Geom Mugeuk reinterpreted better, and on other days, the Sword King did. Sometimes they combined and supplemented each other’s versions, and sometimes they created something entirely new.
The forms flowed like water, then the wind blew, then blazing flames surged up, and on other days, lightning struck.
It was as if the two of them were playing a game of baduk, move by move. It was a pleasure that would never come again in their lives, and at the same time, a battle of pride.
The academy disciples sensed that something was happening, but they could not tell exactly what it was. None of them could grasp the profound essence of that martial learning.
And so, on the day he learned the final form of the Yellow Dragon Sword Art, the Yellow Dragon Sword Form was newly completed.
The forms the two men completed were different from each other. Though they had endlessly influenced one another, they had arrived at different interpretations to the very end.
While they had been doing it, they had burned with competitive spirit, but once it was over, neither of them cared who had won more often.
Geom Mugeuk held out something wrapped to the Sword King.
“What is this?”
“A gift.”
“A gift of death? If I open it, will Formless Deadly Poison spread out?”
“I wrapped it far too carelessly for that.”
The Sword King opened the wrapping. What was inside was something he truly had not expected. It was a pair of shoes.
“They looked too worn out.”
For the first time, bewilderment passed through the Sword King’s eyes. But soon, the Sword King turned the shoes upside down and shook them. He looked as though he were checking whether there were hidden projectiles inside.
“Why are you giving me this?”
To the curious Sword King, Geom Mugeuk answered honestly.
“My martial art has reached the eighth level.”
The realm of the Nine Hells Demonic Art, which had been surging restlessly, had finally reached the eighth level the night before.
Geom Mugeuk could not say how delighted he had been at the power of the Nine Hells Demonic Art, now even stronger. In truth, he had reached the eighth level in the shortest time of any cult leader in history.
Though it was news that should have made him afraid and wary, the Sword King instead smiled brightly.
“Why are you smiling? Are you not worried?”
“If I win, defeating the eighth level is more boastworthy than defeating the seventh. And if I lose, losing to the eighth level is less shameful than losing to the seventh, isn’t it?”
Geom Mugeuk could clearly feel it. Facing this man would be more difficult than facing the Fighting King and the Dark King combined. In every sense.
The two gazed at each other in silence. The Sword King asked in a calm voice,
“You’ve grown stronger, so why are you offering me shoes instead of a sword?”
Geom Mugeuk treated him with honesty to the very end.
“It seems I want to become even stronger.”