The evening came after the preliminary matches ended.
By the time I had finished dealing with what had happened that morning and finished my meal, I looked at Bongsoon in front of me and asked,
“Nothing happened, right?”
“Huh?”
Bongsoon tilted her head at my question.
Frowning when it seemed she hadn’t understood, I asked again.
“I mean, you didn’t cause any trouble.”
Only then did she seem to understand, and she nodded vigorously.
“I didn’t! The Cult Leader told me not to do anything!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! I really didn’t! I didn’t do anything! So pair up with me.”
“Shut up.”
“Okay.”
She had tried to spout some nonsense, so I cut her off in advance.
‘Did she really not do anything?’
Given her usual behavior, I was covered in suspicion, but I had no way to verify it.
Normally, I would have secretly followed her to check.
‘But infiltrating the formation is impossible….’
The problem was the formation the Alliance had deployed around the area for the examination.
I could probably undo it if I tried, but there was a risk of being discovered if I made even the slightest mistake, so I hadn’t bothered.
Perhaps my suspicion was the problem.
“I really didn’t do anything!”
Bongsoon shouted as though she felt hurt.
“I didn’t kill anyone! Yet!”
Yet…?
The addition at the end bothered me considerably, but for now I simply nodded.
“…All right. Good job.”
“Right! I did a good job! So pair up with—”
“Get lost.”
“Okay.”
Perhaps she really was obedient, because at my words, Bongsoon sprang to her feet and disappeared.
I let out a deep sigh as I watched her scurry away.
She had become much more human, but she was still as vacant-headed as ever.
‘No. Perhaps I should call her a beast that resembles a human.’
A beast pretending to be human.
That was exactly what Bongsoon felt like.
It had been two years since I brought Bongsoon, who had been living with wild dogs in the Gwangju region, back with me.
I had taken her away from a life of biting and tearing at the local members of the Beggars’ Sect.
At the time, Bongsoon was the very definition of a talking monster.
She could vaguely use language, but she moved according to instinct.
And the way she had raised her cultivation in that state was no different from a monster.
‘It’s a strange thing.’
Her cultivation was clearly far beyond the Peak Realm, yet her mental state was that of a child.
It was simply a mystery who had taught her and helped her raise her cultivation.
It was certain that she was a blood relative of the previous Sword Empress, but more than a decade had passed since the woman’s death.
The chances that the Eullyeong Sword Empress had taught her were slim.
‘She says she doesn’t remember either. There’s nothing more I can dig up.’
I had asked Bongsoon after becoming curious, but she said there was nothing in particular she remembered.
She could not have lied to me because of the demonic energy, so her words were undoubtedly true.
I thought about it for a while, then had to put it aside.
‘It doesn’t matter even if she doesn’t remember.’
What mattered was that I could make use of a fighting force on Bongsoon’s level.
That I could use her to increase the chances of my plan’s success.
In this situation, Bongsoon’s past was utterly irrelevant.
“The problem is the Mount Emei Sect.”
I recalled what had happened that morning and took a sip of tea.
My tongue tingled as the tea entered my mouth.
I had mixed a little poison into the tea.
The poison became stronger when consumed this way, and since adding it did not make the taste unpleasant, I deliberately drank it mixed in.
“…Hmm.”
The Mount Emei Sect. The Buddhist nuns of Sichuan.
‘What relationship do they have with Bongsoon?’
From the looks of it, they seemed more interested in the strange treasure she possessed than in Bongsoon herself.
‘If that’s the case… then does that mean they weren’t looking for the Sword Empress in the first place?’
Their reaction had been ambiguous, and there was too little circumstantial evidence to understand anything yet.
But—
“I’ve laid the trap. They should react soon.”
I had already set a formation regarding this matter.
I had killed a woman of the Mount Emei Sect and sent her back to their quarters.
Using the Authority of Oblivion, I had mixed the Alliance’s insignia with some ambiguous words before sending the message, then erased it at the appropriate time.
‘How will they respond?’
I had done this to observe their reaction.
If they were acting behind the Alliance’s back, there would be a change.
If they were in an alliance with the Alliance, then there would be a corresponding change as well.
‘If their sect leader isn’t an idiot, this may serve as a suitable warning.’
The sect leader of Mount Emei was said to be the Powder Moon Fist Immortal.
The Seven Iron Three Fists’ Powder Moon Fist Immortal (粉月拳仙).
The title supposedly came from the fact that, despite being a woman who wore powder on her face, her fists were extraordinary.
I believed that, as one of the Ten Great Masters, she could not be a foolish person.
The Alliance’s insignia had been used far too openly.
She would certainly have considered the possibility that a third party was involved.
Someone anticipating friction or an agreement with the Alliance might be using them to observe their own side.
If I were in that situation, I would keep my head down and act cautiously.
Furthermore—
‘If they know that I have this, they’ll be even more cautious.’
I looked at the letter in my hand and chuckled.
The letter was one I had taken from the possession of a Mount Emei martial artist.
There were several letters, filled with familiar names.
The names of several martial artists, including mine.
They were all participants in the Martial Tournament.
‘They must be the names of those to whom they sent poisoned gifts.’
The names overlapped with the information my assassins had gathered.
There were a few additional names as well, so it seemed to include people whose information they had previously failed to obtain.
“Hmm.”
The orthodox faction.
And not just any orthodox faction, but Mount Emei, a Buddhist sect.
Why would they go out of their way to do something like this?
I had never paid them much attention before, but this situation had piqued my interest.
‘Should I look into it a little?’
Since it was connected to Bongsoon, I had to investigate anyway.
Ah, of course.
Naturally, I would not be moving personally.
I set down the tea I had been drinking and looked to the side.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“…Huh? Leave what to me?”
Cheol Jiseon, who had been eating absentmindedly, tilted her head at my words.
******************
Rustle.
I walked along the road, examining the letters in my hand.
The several letters were filled with densely packed writing, all information organized by Jegal Hyeok and Cheol Jiseon.
‘Things in Hubei are more or less being handled. As for Shandong, I can leave it to the Huangfu Family Head….’
Perhaps Jegal Hyeok had taken care of things in advance, because despite the sheer amount of writing, it was easy to understand.
‘I’ll have to keep track of the First Dragon Unit Leader’s movements separately… and I need to check on that bastard Dang Deok as well.’
I had sent Nahi to deal with Dang Deok, so that matter should be handled soon enough.
It would be good if we could restrain or kill the First Dragon Unit Leader in the process.
But that would probably be difficult.
‘At least while the operation is underway, it would be troublesome.’
As long as my feet were tied here, I had to refrain from making any excessive moves.
‘To handle everything properly, it seems I’ll have to wait until this is all over.’
I also needed to see what state things were in by the time the Martial Tournament ended.
If everything proceeded as expected, there would be no problem. But I knew that my life had never been blessed with such good fortune.
‘…I always have to account for the worst-case scenario.’
That way, it would be easier to deal with things when trouble inevitably broke out.
‘The problem here is Dang Sohyeol and Wi Seol-Ah.’
The two of them, who had entered the Martial Tournament together, concerned me.
Wi Seol-Ah had passed on the first day, and I had heard that Dang Sohyeol had naturally passed today as well.
‘Hmm.’
Honestly, I wondered why the two of them had entered the tournament, but that alone was not a problem.
The problem was—
Once the preliminary matches ended, the tournament would immediately move on to the duels.
If the two of them ended up on the same stage, that would be a problem.
‘It would have been better if it were U Hyeok.’
If U Hyeok were the one advancing to the duels, I could beat him without holding back.
Unfortunately, U Hyeok had been unable to participate.
‘What was the reason again?’
As I recall, the Alliance Leader was a member of Wudang, so they had said that Wudang would not participate in consideration of fairness?
‘Ha.’
Fairness, my ass.
It was laughable that they were bringing it up now.
They had invited only those with enough standing by sending them recommendation letters, and now they were concerned about fairness?
‘If that’s what you wanted, you should have upheld it from the beginning.’
The previous Alliance Leader, Fallen Sword.
When I remembered that bastard Jang had been sent to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering under that man, the Alliance’s fairness had already been ruined long ago.
‘Does he want to give people the impression that he’s clean, even now?’
Indeed, immediately after the Sword Immortal had said those words, the public’s reaction had not been bad.
Had they called him an Alliance Leader unlike those before him?
‘Tsk….’
I had plenty to say, but I swallowed it.
In the first place, U Hyeok himself had not seemed eager to participate.
‘…It would be dangerous for him to participate right now.’
I occasionally beat him under the pretext of sparring, but—
U Hyeok had now become a dragon, even if only halfway.
Because his internal energy had increased and his body had changed, he was utterly incapable of controlling his strength.
U Hyeok himself did not seem to realize how strong he had become. Until he did, I needed to keep putting him through hell.
‘And while I’m putting him through hell, I can put myself through it too.’
There was not much time left.
I had surpassed the cultivation level I had reached in my previous life, but I could not afford to become complacent.
‘There’s a chance I may not be able to use the Nine Flames Wheel Technique.’
That was the danger I had realized after meeting my grandfather.
I did not know how it was possible, but it seemed my grandfather could reclaim the profound technique I possessed.
If my flames were taken away, the entire plan would be shattered.
All because I lost a single martial art.
‘What a useless person I am.’
If having my strength taken away left me unable to do anything, then how utterly incompetent was I?
I had to prepare, if only because I was afraid of that possibility.
I needed to prepare so that I could still carry out my plans even if one of my powers was taken away.
I stopped walking.
I had arrived at my destination.
There was a door before me, and I naturally raised my hand to knock.
Knock knock—
“…”
There was no response. I knocked again.
Knock knock knock—
“…”
Still nothing.
Knock knock…
Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock—
Knock…
The person I had been waiting for finally opened the door after I had knocked rapidly in the same rhythm for quite some time.
“You rotten bastard! Do you know what time it is!?”
A thin old man covered in white hair and a white beard.
The Divine Physician welcomed me with a smile.
“It’s dawn! Dawn! Everyone’s asleep at this hour, so why did you come here to bother me?”
“Dawn? Elder, it isn’t even past the hour of the Rat yet.”
“But it is still an hour when everyone else is asleep, isn’t it?”
“But you weren’t asleep, Elder.”
“You damnable brat…!”
I answered without yielding even an inch, and the Divine Physician’s face flushed red.
Ah, this was dangerous. That was the sign that he was truly angry.
I quickly pulled a letter from my robe and showed it to him.
“What do you take me for—!”
“It’s a letter Hyeok sent to you, Elder. Please take it.”
“…”
The Divine Physician, who had been about to get angry, went silent as soon as he saw the letter.
It had been a good idea to bring it.
“Hmm….”
“I brought it immediately after receiving it. Please calm down.”
“…I’ll let it go for Hyeok’s sake, but don’t think there’ll be a next ti—”
“Then I can come in, right?”
“You’re already inside, you damnable brat….”
The moment the Divine Physician finished speaking, I stepped into his quarters.
Unlike the adjoining infirmary, this place looked smaller and more dilapidated.
I had heard that the Divine Physician himself had requested a separate, smaller building.
He supposedly found large spaces distracting.
In any case, he was an old man without much greed.
I took off my shoes and entered the quarters.
Inside, there was only a small desk and a lamp. The desk, however, was piled high with an enormous number of letters.
They all concerned treatments or medicinal ingredients.
I let out a hollow breath at the sight.
“You read all of those?”
“Read, my ass. How could this old man read all that?”
“Then?”
“I memorized it all when I was young. I keep them there to look things up when I can’t remember.”
“With them piled up like that, how do you find anything when you need it?”
“If you memorize what is where and which page it’s on, it’s easy to find.”
“…”
How was he supposed to memorize that…?
I could not ask the question aloud and had to swallow it.
“So.”
As I looked through the letters, the Divine Physician spoke.
“Are you planning to do it again today?”
I answered as though it were obvious.
“Yes.”
The Divine Physician frowned upon hearing my answer.
“I heard you’ll be getting into a group brawl in a few days. Wouldn’t it be better to let your body rest?”
“A group brawl, Elder? There’s a fine name for it: the Martial Tournament.”
“That’s what a brawl is.”
“…”
Since he was not wrong, I gave an awkward smile.
A group brawl. The term did suit it rather well.
In any case—
“My body can rest after I die. And if I get injured, there’s someone here who can treat me, isn’t there?”
“Was it not enough that you talked about dying and whatnot in front of the clinic…? And now you intend to use this old man however you please?”
“Since you’re helping me anyway, you might as well do it all the way.”
“Tsk, you’re no different from a demon when it comes to shamelessness.”
The Divine Physician reacted as though he was displeased, but I knew.
Though that old man spoke like that, he was a deeply affectionate person.
Which meant he would help me in the end this time as well.
“…Sit down. I ought to finish this quickly and get some sleep today too.”
“Thank you.”
I smiled at the Divine Physician’s words and sat down.
There was only one reason I had come to find him.
“Prepare yourself.”
Immediately after meeting my grandfather.
I had come straight to the Divine Physician, and was currently learning sorcery from him.
The Divine Physician had looked quite surprised when I first mentioned sorcery, but after I explained that I had gone to the North Sea and learned it there, he seemed to understand to some extent.
He had also seen it when I repaired Jegal Hyeok’s neck before, and since he too had learned sorcery, it must have been easier for him to understand.
I had little information about sorcery, so I was receiving training in it from the Divine Physician, who knew at least something about it.
To be honest, I thought it would not be of much use for the time being.
I had only wanted to try learning it because it was such a strange power….
But after using it a few times, I felt as though I had begun to understand something.
The ring of sorcery flowing through my heart.
‘This….’
If my guess was correct, then even if my grandfather took the flame from me with sorcery, I might be able to create another method.
Furthermore.
‘I can use a greater flame.’
I felt as though I might be able to strengthen my other martial arts, including the Nine-Flame Fire Wheel Technique.
“…Now, try extending the ring.”
At the Divine Physician’s words, I slowly exerted strength in my heart.
And so, time passed as I continued my training.
******************
Two days passed.
I was inside the Murim Alliance, the place I had visited before.
The preliminary rounds, which had been arranged into groups and held over three days, had ended, and the day for the main tournament had finally arrived.
“So they’ll be grouped by teams for the main tournament?”
“The preliminaries were held between the groups. Would they not do the same this time?”
The crowd was not much different from the first day.
There appeared to be several hundred martial artists at a glance.
The major difference was that every one of them had easily surpassed the Peak Realm.
They were those who had passed by breaking ten-thousand-year cold iron and destroying formations.
The genuine martial artists, filtered twice over, had gathered in one place.
‘This feels completely different from the first day.’
Even the density of the air was different, and so was the aura emitted by the people there.
It was viciously bloodthirsty.
Perhaps they had no intention of concealing their auras, because the silent battle of wills unfolding in the air was quite a sight.
Watching it, I frowned.
‘What the hell are they doing?’
I wondered what they intended to do after wasting so much energy already.
Just then—
“Wow, there are so many people. Look over there, Sister! There’s another bald—mmph!”
As Bongsoon began to say something while looking over the crowd, Dang Sohyeol instantly clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Please… please be quiet…!”
“Mmph! Mmmph…. Slurp?”
“Eek!”
Dang Sohyeol, who had been covering her mouth, was startled and pulled her hand away.
It seemed Bongsoon had licked the palm of Dang Sohyeol’s hand.
“...”
I watched them and shook my head.
For some reason, Bongsoon seemed to like Dang Sohyeol.
Thanks to that, only Dang Sohyeol was dying from Bongsoon’s pranks.
As far as I was concerned, it was fortunate that someone had appeared who could control that damned thing, but….
‘The preliminaries lasted three days. The main tournament is supposed to last two, right?’
I was in the first day’s matches again. Dang Sohyeol and Bongsoon were as well.
“…You didn’t forget what I told you yesterday, did you?”
“Hm? Yes!”
“I’ll say it again: just win. Don’t cause a commotion.”
“Of course! I won’t break anything or kill anyone! I’ll just win!”
Bongsoon puffed out her nonexistent chest as she spoke confidently, but her expression inspired absolutely no faith.
‘Tsk.’
Even if I tried not to worry, I could not help it.
Starting today, the martial artists would truly be fighting one another, just as the name Divine Dragon Martial Tournament implied.
The Murim Alliance had already announced as much.
‘The real martial tournament begins today.’
Ahead of us was a huge wooden board.
Beyond the thickly gathered crowd, people from the Alliance were installing something on the board.
The bracket.
A sheet of paper bearing the brackets for today’s main tournament was being hung on the board, and many people had gathered to look at it.
Various emotions could be seen in the eyes of the martial artists staring at it.
Some were desperate.
Others were filled with elation.
Each of them must have been yearning for something in their own way.
Could a martial tournament held by the Alliance truly be so precious to them?
To me, it was honestly something I could not understand.
Just as I was looking around and cooling my thoughts—
“Young Master. They’ve put it up.”
Dang Sohyeol informed me.
I turned my gaze back to the board.
As Dang Sohyeol had said, the paper prepared by the Alliance had been hung there.
I quickly scanned it with my eyes.
‘Hmm.’
As I confirmed the details, my brow furrowed slightly.
‘Looks like they aren’t fighting within their own groups.’
The White and Blue groups.
The Green and Red groups.
It seemed the matches had been arranged according to color.
“Ah, nooooo….”
“The Sly Sword…! How am I supposed to beat him…?”
The martial artists lamented as they looked over the bracket.
They were the weaker ones matched against people whose sobriquets they recognized from their names alone.
At the same time, opposing voices rang out.
“Good. I’ll finish the first match easily.”
“I should finish quickly and go have a drink.”
They smiled, revealing their excitement.
They were filled with the conviction that they could never lose.
Amid the emotions slowly spreading through the crowd, I checked my own name.
White Group.
Shanxi Gu Family’s Gu Yangcheon.
‘Found it.’
My name was listed around the middle. After finding it, I checked my opponent as well.
Blue Group. Guangdong Renowned Family’s Myeong Cheongseong.
‘Myeong Cheongseong?’
His was a name I had heard somewhere before.
‘Ah.’
I remembered.
He was the man whose noisy talk of the Wind Forest Thunderclap Fist and whatnot had been ringing in my ears since the first day.
Was he supposed to be a fairly famous martial artist?
Honestly, I did not know much about him.
After roughly gauging my opponent, I checked the others.
‘Bongsoon’s opponent is someone I don’t know either.’
Then, as for Dang Sohyeol’s….
‘Hm?’
I widened my eyes when I checked Dang Sohyeol’s opponent.
‘Well, well?’
Things had become a little more interesting.
Green Group: Sichuan Tang Clan’s Dang Sohyeol.
Red Group: Yaoling Bai Family’s Baek Cheongjin.
Yaoling Bai Family’s Baek Cheongjin. This was another name I knew. How could I not?
Dang Sohyeol’s opponent was none other than the Flowing Bullet Sword.
What sort of trick was this?
Had the Alliance arranged it intentionally?
Or was it really a coincidence?
There was something suspicious about calling it a coincidence, but I had no certainty.
I shifted my gaze and looked at Dang Sohyeol.
It seemed she had also confirmed her opponent.
And after seeing Dang Sohyeol’s expression, I became certain.
‘There’s nothing to worry about….’
Her lowered eyes and carefully honed aura.
Dang Sohyeol’s condition was like a calm ripple on still water.
If anything—
‘…She seems a little frightening.’
I felt an inexplicable chill from the sight of Dang Sohyeol like that.
How should I put it? Her eyes right now looked as though she was—
‘How should I toy with my opponent?’
—as if she were pondering exactly that.