As time passed, the examination had already entered its latter half.
“Brother?”
Bibi turned her head at the sound of someone approaching.
The human who had left her behind, saying he would be gone for only a moment, had finally returned.
He had been gone for so long that she had been just about to go look for him herself….
And then he came back.
However, Bibi was rather startled when she saw Bi Uijin.
“What happened, Brother?”
There was something strange about the way Bi Uijin looked upon his return.
“Don’t tell me you’re hurt?”
“Hurt? Of course not.”
Bi Uijin looked uncomfortable somehow.
‘That man got hurt?’
Could that even happen?
Bibi’s expression changed in an instant, as though she had been struck by a tremendous shock.
He was the sort of man who looked as though he would come back perfectly fine even after rolling off a cliff.
Naturally, she could not help being surprised when he returned looking so exhausted.
“…What happened…. Did you run into a red monster or something?”
At Bibi’s words, Bi Uijin inadvertently let out a laugh.
“Where would you see something like that in this day and age?”
“No, unless it was something like that…. This shouldn’t be possible.”
Bibi pressed all over Bi Uijin’s body, as if she found it fascinating.
“…Stop poking me.”
“Does this hurt? Does it hurt here too?”
Leaving Bibi, who seemed inexplicably excited, behind, Bi Uijin let out a sigh.
‘A red monster, huh.’
It was more or less similar.
Whether it was a red monster or Gu Yangcheon.
Considering that both were red, the comparison was not entirely off the mark.
Honestly.
The boy had been as violent as a monster.
Thanks to him, one of Bi Uijin’s arms had been broken.
His ribs had been fractured by the very first attack he took.
‘How long has it been since I was injured like this?’
From the time his body had grown younger until it had finally stabilized,
he had cherished and guarded it as though it might break from the slightest touch.
‘But that only confirms it. It can only be that bastard.’
After fighting him, Bi Uijin was even more certain.
Compared to the realm and talent he displayed, Gu Yangcheon’s hand-to-hand combat was lacking.
And despite the movements he seemed to be hiding for some reason,
Gu Yangcheon possessed an instinctive sense.
‘He did seem to charge in without considering what came before or after.’
But he must have immediately realized that there was no answer in simply clashing with his opponent head-on.
So he clung to Bi Uijin, prepared to sacrifice anything.
‘At that age and with that level of skill, he had every right to be arrogant.’
Bi Uijin did not know about any records,
but reaching the peak realm at that age might make Gu Yangcheon the youngest to ever do so.
Moreover, he had not merely reached it faster than anyone else.
Even among those several years older than him,
there was not a single late-generation martial artist who could compare to Gu Yangcheon.
Yet there was not the slightest trace of arrogance in the boy’s eyes.
On the contrary.
He knew that he was weaker.
His gaze searched for an opening to exploit.
‘How strange.’
Even though Bi Uijin had been suppressing his strength sufficiently,
compared to his rough movements,
each of Gu Yangcheon’s actions had been cautious.
As if he instinctively knew that Bi Uijin was stronger than himself.
‘He was even cunning.’
After exchanging blows several times,
Gu Yangcheon seemed to realize that Bi Uijin did not want to damage his body.
That was why he had thrown himself at him even more desperately,
despite knowing that if his arms or legs were caught, the situation would become irreversible.
‘…What a monster.’
Bi Uijin’s teeth trembled with anger.
He knew that Gu Yangcheon had internal injuries,
and since he could not afford to damage that precious body,
Bi Uijin had been forced to restrain himself as much as possible.
In the end,
only by offering up his arm and chest
had Bi Uijin barely managed to subdue Gu Yangcheon.
It was almost like watching his own younger self.
He had fought exactly like that back when he traveled the martial world challenging others to duels.
As if there were no tomorrow.
As if he were already standing in the place where he would die.
‘Good.’
It was satisfying.
After fighting him, Bi Uijin knew that Gu Yangcheon was not someone who had achieved reverse aging.
He was certain of it.
As anyone could tell just by looking,
the boy’s body was a finely polished jewel.
If he had undergone the same experience as Bi Uijin,
that would have been impossible.
Therefore,
he must not let Gu Yangcheon slip away.
‘I should prepare.’
There was a wager they had made.
He would have to prepare within the near future.
He could not go looking like this.
“Ah.”
“What is it?”
“Come to think of it, I forgot to give you something.”
Bi Uijin took a letter from inside his robes.
It was a letter he was supposed to have delivered to Gu Yangcheon.
He had forgotten.
‘Perhaps I’m forgetting things more often because I’m old.’
He had thought his memory had improved considerably after his body grew younger,
but judging by this, that was not entirely the case.
The person who had entrusted him with the letter was the Mud Raccoon of the Beggar’s Sect.
Bi Uijin had seized him when he came to investigate Bi Uijin and put him to work.
‘At first, I was going to quietly get rid of him.’
He had meant to dispose of him,
but the man was more capable than expected, so Bi Uijin had kept him around.
He obeyed orders well, too, making him useful.
He also seemed to be working hard, which was why Bi Uijin had agreed to fulfill this request.
‘What could it say?’
Curious, he unfolded the letter.
As for the common sense that one should not read someone else’s letter—
Bi Uijin was not the sort of person who cared about such things.
—To Esteemed Hero Jinryong.
The letter began politely enough.
—You fucking bastard.
But it collapsed spectacularly on the second line.
“…What?”
For a moment, Bi Uijin frowned, thinking he had read it wrong.
But he had not.
—Do you know what kind of state I’m in right now…? You son of a bitch. If you have even a shred of conscience, you should have come to save me!
I even sent you a letter…!
—Damn you…. What great wealth and glory did I think I was going to enjoy? You bastard, do you know what happens when a beggar holds a grudge in winter?
—What happens? Fucking hell…. He gets hungry! You rotten bastard.
—I’ll remember this. I’ll make sure to—
Crinkle.
As he continued reading, Bi Uijin crumpled the letter and casually tossed it far away.
‘Good thing I didn’t deliver it.’
Had he handed it over, things might have become rather troublesome.
Bi Uijin nodded to himself.
“What is it? What is it?”
“It’s nothing. Just forget it…. Stop poking me.”
“Does this hurt? Brother, does it hurt here? It does, doesn’t it? It hurts—Kyaaa!”
In the end, only after Bi Uijin’s fist struck the crown of Bibi’s head with all its might
did Bibi’s mischief finally come to an end.
“Eeeeeung….”
While Bibi sat down and vigorously rubbed the crown of her head,
‘Come to think of it.’
Something occurred to Bi Uijin as he crumpled the letter.
Why had Gu Yangcheon asked the Mud Raccoon to investigate him?
That was something he had intended to ask about as well.
It was another thing Bi Uijin had forgotten.
‘I can ask him later.’
There was plenty of time.
Time was what he had in abundance.
Meaningless time in which he could never complete his martial arts.
“…Brother.”
“What is it?”
“Are you going to enroll?”
At Bibi’s words, Bi Uijin tilted his head.
He wondered what she was talking about so suddenly.
“You told me that last time you were only going to take the examination and then return home. You said you weren’t going to enroll.”
“Did I say that?”
“Yes. You said you wouldn’t enroll even if you died….”
“Hmm.”
It sounded like something he might have said, so it was probably true.
If there was an examination, he had intended to fail at an appropriate point and return home.
More precisely,
if the existence known as Jinryong
had been nothing more than an ordinary fellow who failed to satisfy him,
Bi Uijin had not intended to stay here for long.
But that was no longer the case.
“I have a reason to go now, so it’s fine.”
“Really?”
Bibi reacted with surprise to Bi Uijin’s words.
She had not expected her brother to say something like that.
“Yes.”
Bi Uijin answered with a faint smile,
then immediately rubbed his chest.
“…Tsk.”
He must have been struck rather hard.
The moment he smiled, pain shot through his chest.
It seemed that it would take longer than expected
for his injuries to heal.
Time passed once more.
Fwoosh!
Several arrows were fired into the air.
The arrows, wrapped in flames, rapidly climbed toward the sky.
Then—
Bang!
They burst into flame, leaving behind a brief trace of light.
Only after seeing the flames did the young martial artists finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The flames that erupted as the sun went down
signified that the examination was over.
Some let out sighs of relief.
Others shouted in frustration.
But whatever their reaction,
the result would not change.
The third examination for admission to Shinyonggwan
had ended at sunset.
******************
Beneath a night sky thick with dark clouds,
above waters where waves crashed mercilessly,
a lone island could be seen.
The nearby residents called it a cursed island and never went near it.
Even those who tried to reach it could be swept away by the rough waves and meet an unknown fate.
It was a dangerous island.
The interior of the island was teeming with monsters.
Not only that,
but people carrying savage auras stood watch and moved about the surroundings.
And at the center of the island,
a massive residence had been built.
Creak.
A man walked forward with a rasping sound.
He was passing through a dark passage where not a single light shone.
The man continued walking.
Then—
Stop.
He halted in front of a door.
Slide.
He opened it carefully and stepped inside.
Within the room, an old man sat with his eyes closed.
“…Taeju.”
At the man’s voice,
the old man slowly opened his eyes.
They were ominous eyes, as though their color had faded away.
“The presence of the person we sent has disappeared.”
“I see.”
The old man responded as though he did not care in the slightest.
The man found that reaction irritating,
but he could not show it.
The old man had always been that kind of person.
The man brought up another matter.
“…After confirming another report, we learned that the descendant of the Sword Venerable has headed for Shinyonggwan.”
“Oh?”
Only then did the old man’s eyes shine with interest.
It was an entirely different feeling from before.
“So that little brat was not lying after all.”
Someone came to mind within the old man’s thoughts.
A young snake coiling up in secret, unbeknownst to his father and clan.
The darkness he would become had been apparent from the moment his potential first showed itself.
Though the old man had lent him a hand,
the boy was proving more useful than expected.
“Hyogun, you foolish friend. If you intended to live in hiding, you should not have left any traces behind.”
The old man chuckled repeatedly, his voice dry.
The man could not understand what he found so amusing.
“The time has finally come, and there is not much of it left.”
Crack.
As he spoke, the old man rose to his feet.
When the old man, who had appeared so frail, stood,
the massive body that had been hidden beneath his appearance revealed itself.
“Shinyonggwan….”
A gathering place filled with the heirs of prestigious clans.
Not a bad choice.
“It is an excellent place to announce the resurrection of this Black Dragon Sword.”
As the old man straightened his stiff body,
Rumble….
The fighting spirit and killing intent erupting from him spread in every direction.
The entire residence trembled beneath that dreadful aura.
While the man held his breath and could barely manage a groan,
the old man spoke to him.
“I heard that the Poison King’s blood relative is there as well.”
“Yes…. I heard she is called the Poison Phoenix.”
“The Poison Phoenix. Excellent.”
The possibility of an Impervious Body of Ten Thousand Poisons that had not appeared in the Tang clan for some time.
He had heard she was still young,
but harvesting her before she grew any further would not be a bad idea.
As it happened, the opportunity had presented itself.
Having reached that conclusion, the old man ordered the man,
“Tell the Palace Lord.”
He meant the person hiding somewhere on this island.
Tell him this:
“An assignment is an assignment, but shouldn’t rent still be paid?”
“…Understood.”
As soon as the man finished speaking and hurried outside,
the old man chuckled once more.
He walked toward the window
and gazed up at the sky from afar.
The dark clouds still filled the night sky,
but moonlight could be seen slipping through the gaps.
Throb.
As he looked at the moon,
the place where his scar lay began to ache coldly.
It was always like this on nights when the moonlight could be seen.
This was why he kept his eyes closed at night.
The old man had never been able to forget the sword dance he had witnessed that night.
Even now, decades later, he stroked the painful scar.
“Heh heh….”
When would the pain of this scar finally disappear?
Probably not much longer now.
The old man felt the winter wind for a long while.
Only after seeing the moonlight become hidden by the dark clouds once more
could he move his frozen body again.
******************
Immediately after the examination ended,
I was able to return to the inn to rest before long.
“This is fucking exhausting.”
My body was thoroughly worn out.
I had not even been able to properly manage my internal injuries.
It was because I had gotten into a scuffle with Paejon.
When I trudged back to the inn,
Muyeon, who had arrived earlier and was waiting, appeared and supported me.
Seeing that, I had to look quite surprised.
“Muyeon, you haven’t gone back?”
At my question, Muyeon answered with a faint smile.
“I’ll go back tomorrow.”
“You could’ve gone back today.”
“I thought I should wait until the final test….”
“Do you really think I’ll fail? Why worry about something like that?”
When entering the Divine Dragon Hall,
I couldn’t bring a guard with me.
And I had heard Muyeon had things to do on the family and Nine Immortal Gate’s side.
In truth, even coming all the way to Henan had been half against Muyeon’s will.
‘I told him not to come in the first place.’
He was going back tomorrow.
At those words, I suddenly reacted.
“How about taking that bum along with you when you leave?”
“Haha….”
As I pointed somewhere with my fingertip and spoke,
Muyeon gave an awkward laugh.
My fingertip was pointing at Gu Jeolyeop.
Perhaps realizing that I had singled him out, Gu Jeolyeop, who had been lying facedown, flinched and sat up.
“…I passed….”
“I heard it was by the skin of your teeth.”
“If someone hadn’t taken the sash…. There wouldn’t have been any need for it to be so close.”
Gu Jeolyeop spoke as though he had been wronged.
I heard that he had barely found the last sash just before the arrows were fired.
In truth, it was a relief.
‘Since my body had been wrecked, I almost couldn’t go return the sash.’
Even the sash I had originally intended to return—
with my condition being what it was, I hadn’t been able to go give it back.
So it was fortunate that he had overcome the crisis through his own strength without being eliminated.
If he had been eliminated after all that, even I would have felt a little guilty.
For the record, Gu Yeonseo had passed as well.
I heard she had gone straight to her room and fallen asleep from exhaustion as soon as she arrived.
‘What about the others?’
I glanced around.
It seemed none of them were exactly in good shape.
Moyong Huia had lost the normally well-groomed appearance she always carried herself with.
She looked somewhat haggard,
while Dang Soyeol, who usually jumped up and down whenever I appeared,
was dozing with her forehead pressed against the table.
‘What’s wrong with her?’
When we left, she had been so confident, saying this would be an easy trial to get through.
She looked strange.
Had something happened?
If they were this dispirited, something must have happened.
The only one who seemed relatively fine was Namgung Bia.
While everyone else looked out of their minds, Namgung Bia quietly sipped her tea.
She looked the same as always.
If there was one difference,
it was that she wasn’t sleeping.
‘…What about Wi Seol-ah? Didn’t she come?’
It seemed Wi Seol-ah had gone to her own lodging.
That was only natural,
but when I saw she wasn’t here, I felt strangely disappointed.
“Young Master.”
“Hm?”
“But… who is this person…?”
Muyeon asked, pointing behind me.
“Ah.”
Oops.
I had briefly forgotten.
I immediately grabbed the fellow trembling behind me and dragged him out.
Because of this guy, I had gone through so much trouble finding extra sashes.
“Say hello.”
“Ahg….”
As everyone’s gazes focused on him, wondering who he was,
Cheol Jiseon seemed to tremble even more.
Come to think of it, how was I supposed to introduce him?
“Hmm.”
I thought for a moment before saying it aloud.
“He’s a new friend I made.”
That should be good enough.
When I said it without giving it much thought,
“…!”
“A friend…?”
“A friend the Young Master made…?”
The looks on my companions’ faces changed.
They were especially strange when they looked at Cheol Jiseon.
As if they were saying,
‘How did this happen…?’
‘Poor thing….’
Among them, Gu Jeolyeop’s reaction was the most absurd.
He was staring at Cheol Jiseon with his eyes wide open.
He didn’t say anything, but the message in his gaze was clear enough.
‘Run away…!’
I saw Cheol Jiseon’s eyes roll frantically as he met Gu Jeolyeop’s gaze.
What the fuck?
Why was everyone reacting like this?
It was seriously unfair.