Nacheol felt his own neck.
His entire body was frozen from the sensation of being hacked to pieces just moments ago.
'Was all of that an illusion?'
He could tell even more clearly because killing intent always clung to someone's death. This was definitely not a misunderstanding.
The sensation he felt was unmistakably 'death.'
He had experienced countless deaths in just a single step or two.
Was it killing intent? Or had he been overwhelmed by the atmosphere and fallen into delusion?
'This Nacheol... to such a mere brat?'
Originally, Nacheol belonged to the Chilya Assassin Squad managed by Amwang, the foremost assassin.
Though he had left Amwang's side and now pledged loyalty to the Palace Master, simply being part of the Chilya Assassin Squad meant his prowess was already acknowledged.
Assassins were relatively less concerned with realm compared to other martial arts. Since they specialized in ambush and surprise attacks, their direction of growth was differentiated.
If anything, it was similar to poison techniques.
That was why Nacheol believed that given the right time and place, he could easily kill even those above his realm.
He had enough confidence to feel pride in his abilities.
But what was happening right now?
Nacheol looked at Gu Yang-cheon and steadied his ragged breathing.
No matter how monstrous the talent, at best it was only first-rate level.
A martial artist's true gaze begins only after surpassing the peak.
The peak was the point where one shatters and expands their vessel, filling it anew.
When using internal qi, even using the same amount, the intensity differs, and qi sense becomes more developed. It was the point where one grasps how internal qi should be used and how it is being used.
Martial artists said that only after surpassing the peak level did one step into transcendence. Given the characteristic of martial arts where advancing in realm was difficult, Nacheol was an expert who had reached the peak.
For someone like himself to be pushed back by that little brat.
"What did you do..."
Even at Nacheol's question, Gu Yang-cheon only stood silently holding his sword.
"I'm asking what kind of bullshit this is...!"
The bastard still didn't answer. He was only watching.
Gu Yang-cheon had just called himself Shincheol.
What could that mean? He thought about it briefly, but nothing came to mind. This too must have been to sow chaos in him.
According to reports, Gu Yang-cheon was clearly a bare-hand fighter like Ho Hyeop.
Actually, until just moments ago, he had used proficient unarmed combat techniques, so that was certain.
Then what the hell was he doing now?
'Is he trying to pretend to be a swordsman at this point?'
Gu Yang-cheon had shown too much for Nacheol to let his guard down.
Of course, he knew the Gu family trained in swordsmanship alongside fist and horn techniques, but he never thought Gu Yang-cheon would be skilled in swordsmanship as well.
No matter how heaven-reaching his talent, he couldn't proficiently use two different martial arts.
As if proving that, the current Gu Yang-cheon was full of openings.
At least when clenching his fists, he was skilled enough that no openings showed, but now holding a sword, he looked so full of gaps that he could be killed by thrusting a blade anywhere.
Of course, transcendent ones who surpassed the meaning of techniques, the essence of martial arts, could shed the concepts inherent in movements and become one with 'Mu' (Martial) itself.
The Palace Master was like that right now, and Amwang, the foremost assassin, was like that as well.
'Does that mean that bastard might be like that too?'
Ridiculous. Even thinking it himself, it was absurd.
He hadn't even dared to reach that supreme realm himself, let alone gaze upon it. There was no way that brat had reached it.
Knowing that, why couldn't he move?
"Kid."
At Gu Yang-cheon's voice, Nacheol flinched.
"Your stance is messy, perhaps because you're frightened. You'd better fix it."
"You...!"
Veins bulged in Nacheol's neck at Gu Yang-cheon's instructive tone.
"How dare... a worthless bastard like you try to teach me?"
"Tsk tsk... Even from a small leaf, one must find meaning. Kid, you've already lost the essence a martial artist must possess."
"Shut up! I watched your struggling because it was cute, but you don't know your place!"
It was a petty provocation.
For an assassin who had to stay cold-blooded to survive, it was a pathetically insufficient provocation, yet amusingly, Nacheol was wavering. Realizing this himself, Nacheol drew up his internal qi.
'Don't be swayed by his unknowing facade. He's just struggling.'
Following his forcibly cooled heart, internal qi gathered into the dagger he held.
Gu Yang-cheon was only watching Nacheol with a leisurely expression.
He aimed for the bastard's exposed chest—specifically the heart.
With the internal qi gathered at his toes and Nacheol's speed, an instant would suffice.
He had to finish this before sunrise.
The moment Nacheol slightly lowered his stance to leap in.
"There was something I used to tell the children long ago."
At Gu Yang-cheon's voice, his body froze.
'...What?'
It wasn't that he froze from surprise. His movements had been sealed of their own accord. It wasn't pressure from internal qi—then what was it?
"When consumed by anger, the heart becomes chaotic, and an uneasy heart is contained within the sword."
Looking at the corpses of the rotting Plum Blossom swordsmen around them, Gu Yang-cheon continued.
"If that happens, the plum blossoms that once bloomed will disappear to the ground according to heaven's will, and it will take a long time before they bloom again."
His eyes were empty. Yet within those words lay countless hidden emotions.
"The old man who spoke those words was the first to express rage amidst the sweeping blood calamity. Isn't it laughable? How could such a wretched one who betrayed his own words have so much attachment to life?"
"...What nonsense are you spouting?"
Had he gone mad? Nacheol couldn't understand a single meaning behind the nonsense Gu Yang-cheon was spewing.
"It's fine if you don't understand."
Rustle.
"This is just the venting of a worthless old man."
"...What...?"
Something fell in front of Nacheol.
The ceiling was a sealed stone roof. There was nothing that could fall.
Nacheol shifted his gaze and looked down at the floor.
What had settled were plum blossom petals.
They crumbled as soon as they were seen.
"What in the..."
He shifted his gaze again to look at Gu Yang-cheon. As if Nacheol had seen wrong, Gu Yang-cheon's surroundings were still entirely empty.
Crack-!
Was it a hallucination? Due to chaos unfitting of his status, Nacheol gritted his teeth.
His momentarily frozen body had already loosened. There was no hesitation. He couldn't drag this out any longer, and he had to quickly complete the mission given by the Main Palace.
Cloaked in internal qi, Nacheol shot out like an arrow toward Gu Yang-cheon.
The target was the same as before—the heart. Gu Yang-cheon reacted to the charging Nacheol, but it was slow.
'As expected, it was just struggling.'
He could see it—Gu Yang-cheon drawing his sword. It was an utterly clumsy movement.
At that speed, the dagger would pierce his heart before he could even swing.
Around the time Nacheol's close-range strike, having burrowed into his embrace, was about to land.
Squelch-!
With a chilling sound, blood splattered as something flew backward and fell to the floor.
"Gaaaah...!!"
Then Nacheol screamed and fell to his knees.
Clutching his shoulder and looking behind with trembling eyes, Nacheol's arm that had gripped the dagger was rolling on the ground.
"What is this...!"
Gu Yang-cheon's movement was definitely slow, and his own movement was much faster.
Yet it was his own arm that was severed?
Rustle... rustle.
"...!"
Again, the sound tickling his ears reached him.
Plum blossom petals began to appear again. Where... where on earth were they coming from?
Rustle...
Watching the leaves fall one by one to the floor.
Nacheol realized that something had gone terribly wrong.
[What is this?]
Regaining his momentarily lost consciousness, a strange situation was unfolding.
I was somehow holding a sword, and the assassin who identified himself as Nacheol was sitting on the floor with one arm gone.
[Don't tell me....]
Had I lost consciousness again like in the fight with Yahyeoljeok?
'You're awake.'
[...Huh?]
For a moment, I wondered who was speaking.
A thought crossed my mind, and I asked without realizing.
[Shin Noya...?]
'Yes, it's been a while.'
[What are you doing right now...?]
Regaining my senses and trying to move my body, not a single fingertip would move.
Control of my body had already been taken away.
'Don't throw a fit. I'll return it soon.'
[What exactly is going on?]
'What do you mean what's going on, I'm the one keeping you alive, aren't I?'
[What does that... No, last time you said you couldn't take over my body.]
He clearly said he couldn't possess me or do such things, so I should rest easy. But if this wasn't possession, what should I call it?
When I demanded an explanation, Shin Noya spoke.
'...Well, even I didn't know it would work. But it did.'
...This crazy old man?
[You insane...]
'Now, I can't stay for long anyway and it seems I can't do it often either, so just stay quiet!'
"Gaaah..."
He then grabbed Nacheol's remaining arm, staggered, and created distance.
"Hah... hah...!"
"You're much more nimble than you look."
"You were hiding your true strength...!"
"...You spout more cliché lines than expected. That's a bit disappointing."
Even though it was just the basic motion of flicking the sword clean, I couldn't help but be surprised as I felt the movement within my body.
'This will be a good opportunity for you too, so focus and feel it.'
There was no need to ask what he meant. Even if I couldn't control my body, I was feeling all too vividly how the qi within my body was moving.
'Perhaps thanks to the dao qi consumed from the Gui-mul, there's no strain in using a sword. That's fortunate.'
The sensation of drawing out only the mixed dao qi without using the unfamiliar Gu family's fire techniques was an indescribable ticklishness.
Looking at Nacheol panting in the distance, Shin Noya was using my body while driving Nacheol back with only a relatively small amount of dao qi.
Bare-hand styles had strong destructive power, but they struggled to shine until reaching a certain realm.
I too was currently covering my weaknesses through my increased internal qi.
Even so, I didn't think swordsmanship was superior, but—
'Tsk, you've always had the habit of using internal qi excessively.'
Shin Noya spoke as if frustrated.
'It would be better to use only as much as needed efficiently, but even considering the characteristics of fire techniques, you go too far.'
To spew flames, one had to draw out that much internal qi.
This was unavoidable.
'Don't wrap it up as unavoidable. You're not thinking of saying it's unavoidable even when you hit a wall in the future, are you.'
[...Why are you suddenly trying to teach me?]
'Because it's frustrating. Frustrating! I thought since you're a child with much talent, you'd figure it out yourself, but the one who claims to have stepped into the supreme realm is rotting like this.'
[...!]
What did Shin Noya just say... Did I hear that wrong?
[What did you just say...]
'I know you've traveled back in time.'
At Shin Noya's words, my heart felt like it dropped.