“I report the return of the First Dragon Unit.”
The man.
At First Dragon Unit Commander Song Jongho’s words, the Alliance Leader, Sword Immortal, replied.
“Yes, did you return safely?”
“Yes.”
Thirty personnel had joined Na Song. No casualties.
A few had suffered minor injuries, but none were serious.
An execution of orders approaching perfection.
He was every bit the man reputed to be the most reliable in the Alliance after the Sword Emperor.
“You have all worked hard.”
“Not at all. If it is for the Alliance, it is nothing but an honor.”
The First Dragon Unit Commander spoke in a firm voice, and Sword Immortal nodded at his words.
At the same time, he began to walk.
As Sword Immortal moved, the First Dragon Unit Commander, who had been waiting, immediately rose and followed him.
“What is his condition?”
“After subduing him, we confined him in a sealed chamber.”
“Did you obtain any information along the way?”
“…”
At the Alliance Leader’s question, the First Dragon Unit Commander hesitated briefly before answering.
“He is a tight-lipped bastard, so we were unable to obtain any significant information. I apologize.”
“Hmm.”
Sword Immortal gave a low hum at his answer.
It was regrettable. Yet Sword Immortal did not blame the First Dragon Unit Commander.
‘Could even Death-Sound Sword fail to make him open his mouth…?’
Death-Sound Sword Song Jongho.
He had received that epithet because everyone who heard his voice met their death.
Though the title sounded somewhat like one belonging to the Unorthodox Faction, and he had in fact originated as an assassin, he had spent a long time as a member of the Righteous Faction under the Martial Alliance.
A righteous man from an assassin’s background. For that very reason, he was the Martial Alliance’s hidden dagger.
Or the Alliance’s shadow, as he was sometimes called.
‘If Death-Sound Sword failed to make him speak, then he must be no ordinary man.’
It was quite astonishing that a man like him had failed to obtain any information.
The reason Sword Immortal had deliberately sent Death-Sound Sword was precisely because he was a martial artist specialized in this sort of mission.
‘This is troublesome.’
Truly troublesome.
There should still be many means left, but if they ultimately failed to extract anything of value, Sword Immortal had few options remaining.
If things came to it, he would have to summon someone even more specialized than Death-Sound Sword…
‘At a time like this?’
The problem was that such a person was none other than the Poison King.
The organization that had originally handled the Alliance’s darkness, torturing criminals and extracting information, had been the Tang Clan’s responsibility.
Now that the Tang Clan’s crimes had been exposed and the entire clan had sealed its gates, he could not easily ask for their assistance.
‘Tsk.’
At this somewhat twisted turn of events, the wrinkles between Sword Immortal’s brows deepened.
‘It cannot be helped.’
Even if matters had reached this point, he had to find a way forward somehow.
He could not allow an already tangled situation to become even more complicated.
‘…’
As he thought about the matter, a certain figure passed through Sword Immortal’s mind.
The young man who had crushed the monster released by Shaolin, and currently the most famous figure in Henan.
‘…Little Yama.’
The son of that chivalrous hero, ‘him’ of the Gu Clan.
They said like father, like son. Recalling the fledgling who had only just passed the age of twenty, Sword Immortal quietly ground his teeth.
‘Who would have thought he would even defeat the Divine Dragon?’
Sword Immortal knew that Little Yama was a martial artist more outstanding than expected.
But he had never imagined that he would defeat the Divine Dragon.
The reason was simpler than one might think.
‘…Having crossed hands with him personally, I know that the Divine Dragon was by no means weak.’
Sword Immortal had unofficially met the Divine Dragon in person and exchanged blows with him.
Just how great was that boy’s worth?
How exceptional was he, for Shaolin to have such confidence in him?
And besides—
‘Could that boy truly become a symbol?’
The future Martial Alliance.
Once the Ten Great Masters and the Three Venerables, who had entered their twilight years, had passed into the background, did he possess the qualifications to become the symbol of the Righteous Faction in the future?
That was what Sword Immortal had wanted to see.
And the Divine Dragon had confidently earned a passing grade from him.
An overwhelming level of internal energy that could not be attributed to someone merely twenty years old.
And the Hundred-Step Divine Fist and Yellow Fang River-Rending he had unleashed by making use of it.
Even without the Alliance’s assistance, he was clearly material capable of becoming a symbol in his own right.
If he received help, he would rise faster and higher.
With that judgment, Sword Immortal had gradually begun making plans, and the Martial Tournament was the beginning of those plans.
The so-called Plan for the Greatest Under Heaven.
The Central Plains had begun to waver with the appearance of the red monsters.
To steady it once more around the Martial Alliance, a central point was necessary.
The plan had been to bind everyone together through the existence known as the Divine Dragon.
‘…Who would have thought even the Divine Dragon would be no match for him?’
Who could have imagined that the Divine Dragon, who had radiated such overwhelming presence, would suffer such a miserable defeat?
Sword Immortal still could not forget what he had seen then.
The vicious battle intent that had slowly pressed down upon the surroundings.
The immense killing intent that no member of the Righteous Faction should have possessed.
Thus, everyone who witnessed the scene must have thought the same thing.
The Divine Dragon was incredible.
The Divine Dragon was incredible for continuing to fight against such a being.
It was a martial contest between two martial artists, yet it looked as though the Divine Dragon were fighting an opponent beyond all common sense. That alone made him seem extraordinary.
A genius. A monster.
Something that could not be confined even by such words.
That was the sort of person Gu Yangcheon had seemed to Sword Immortal.
And so, the question only deepened.
‘…Heavenly Eye. What, exactly, did you see?’
Cheonan, the abbot of Shaolin.
Why had a man with a prophetic eye that could see the future asked for the matchups to be arranged in that manner?
Originally, the Divine Dragon should have risen two or three more stages than he had at the time.
Then he should have met his end by losing to the Blade King.
‘That child is ruining everything.’
It was the same then.
And now, another member of the Gu Clan?
Memories of a past he wished to forget resurfaced.
Sword Immortal continued walking without relaxing his furrowed brow.
The place he eventually arrived at was the Martial Alliance’s underground prison.
Creeeak—!!
He pulled open the thick door, and the interior came into view with a strange sound.
“The First Dragon Unit greets the Alliance Leader!”
Thump, thump, thump—!!
Everyone inside knelt before Sword Immortal.
Sword Immortal gave them a slight nod before looking ahead.
He could see him in the distance.
A huge man whose entire body had been restrained by iron chains.
The owner of the nauseating aura Sword Immortal had sensed the moment he entered.
“Hmm.”
Sword Immortal slowed his pace as he approached the man.
The man had his head bowed deeply, regulating his breathing.
He did not appear to be dead, but it seemed the tendons in his arms and legs had all been severed. Other than that, no injuries were visible.
For some reason, weapons and instruments of torture had been piled up nearby. Every one of them was in poor condition.
Sword Immortal reached out his hand.
Whoosh—! Clack!
A branding iron lying on the floor flew into his hand.
It still felt hot, as though it had been heated only moments ago.
“It seems you had already begun the work.”
Were the broken weapons around him intended for the same purpose?
If so—
‘Why is this man unharmed?’
Despite having supposedly been tortured, the man showed no notable injuries apart from those around his tendons.
What could this mean?
When Sword Immortal looked at the First Dragon Unit Commander, the latter hurriedly offered an explanation.
“…His skin is unnaturally tough. We have attempted to torture him by every means, but he does not injure easily.”
“Even when you exert your strength?”
“…I apologize.”
It was absurd.
After hearing the explanation, Sword Immortal immediately seized one of the swords nearby and swung it.
There was no hesitation.
Clang—!!
“…”
The sword Sword Immortal swung struck the man and bounced away.
Its blade had shattered without piercing the man’s skin.
“Ha…”
Even without reinforcing it with qi, for a sword to break so easily…
Was his skin made of steel?
Ssssh.
His surprise lasted only a moment. As the impact reached him, the restrained man seemed to awaken and lifted his head.
“…Hoo… That tickled…”
Sword Immortal flinched when his eyes met the man’s.
His roughly grown beard and gaunt appearance suggested he had not eaten for several days, but more than that—
The man’s eyes stirred a strange sensation within him.
Purple.
The man’s irises were a vivid purple.
“…I was sleeping so well. Must you wake me for such an unnecessary nuisance?”
“…”
Sword Immortal frowned at those words for a moment, then immediately realized who the man was.
‘That’s right.’
His appearance matched the description he had received.
Pale green hair and a body approaching that of a giant.
He had heard that the man possessed a crescent-bladed glaive as his favored weapon, so this man was surely—
‘The one who attacked Wudang.’
The being who had stormed into Wudang, killed an elder, and left the surrounding area in chaos.
A bizarre martial artist who led the heretical cult known as the Demonic Cult. He was the Heavenly Demon’s right hand.
“It is a pleasure to meet you in person. Do you happen to know me?”
“Heh heh…”
At Sword Immortal’s question, the man suddenly let out a laugh.
“…Ah… My apologies. I found it somewhat amusing that you asked, as though there were any chance I would not know the famed Sword Immortal.”
“It is fortunate that you know me.”
“Then I know you well.”
As he spoke, the man’s purple eyes glimmered faintly.
“The master of a root that rotted long ago. The final destination of a Daoist who has lost his convictions. Is that not you?”
Whoosh—!
Clang—!!
The instant his words ended, a blunt weapon flew in and struck the man hard on the head.
“A criminal should not dare wag his crude tongue so carelessly.”
It was the First Dragon Unit Commander’s doing. Yet—
“Heh heh…! That one left me tingling a little.”
Once again, the man merely raised his head, as though he had suffered not the slightest harm.
Watching him, Sword Immortal asked another question.
“Are you truly the man who invaded Wudang, slew an innocent Wudang elder, and murdered the head of the Martial Alliance’s Hubei Branch?”
“Heh heh…”
The man laughed at the question.
Just before Sword Immortal’s expression twisted further—
“Sword Immortal, should you not speak accurately?”
“…What?”
“Yes, I did those things. But to say that they were innocent—how utterly devoid of conscience can you be?”
Clank—!
The man moved, and the iron chains rattled.
At once—
Shing—!
Everyone nearby drew their swords simultaneously.
“I punished those who were rotting away the Central Plains and devouring the decayed, filthy Righteous Faction. Is that truly a crime? Sword Immortal, you have no right to brand me a criminal.”
“What crimes had they committed?”
“Pretending not to know when you do is truly despicable. Is this what it means to be the leader of the Righteous Faction?”
Twitch.
His continuing words finally drove Sword Immortal’s patience to its limit.
He wanted to sever the bastard’s neck with a blade of qi that very instant.
No matter how unnaturally sturdy the man’s body was, cutting through his neck with hardened qi would not be difficult.
However, he could not control his strength with the delicacy that torture required. He had only two choices: kill him or leave him alive.
Did the bastard speak this way because he knew that?
If so, he was more intelligent than his appearance suggested.
“What are your identity and purpose?”
Even so, Sword Immortal maintained his utmost patience. He had to obtain the information somehow.
“I’m a cleaner.”
“A cleaner?”
“A cleaner who cleanses the filthy, depraved Righteous Faction—you people. That is our identity and our purpose.”
Heh heh heh—!
The man’s laughter made those around him flinch. The emotion contained in that sound was unbearably heavy.
Sword Immortal ignored his words.
They were useless as information.
Cleanse the Righteous Faction? No one in history had ever accomplished such a thing.
Not even the Iron-Blooded Immortal, who had once been called the greatest under heaven.
“…I have heard that there is someone called the Heavenly Demon behind you.”
Twitch.
The man’s body trembled faintly when Sword Immortal mentioned the Heavenly Demon.
He did not miss the movement.
“Is his purpose also the same as yours?”
“…The will of that exalted one is something a lowly being like me cannot even hope to comprehend.”
“Hmm.”
He was insane.
That was Sword Immortal’s judgment of the man.
What, exactly, was the Heavenly Demon?
The Martial Alliance was cooperating with the Beggars’ Sect to conceal the Demonic Cult’s activities by any means, but the damage was growing despite their efforts.
Moreover, the cult had even attacked Wudang’s headquarters. Sword Immortal could not ignore them.
“Then where is he?”
“…”
Where in the world was the Heavenly Demon?
What purpose could he have for causing trouble at this particular time?
At the question, the giant silently stared at Sword Immortal.
Sword Immortal met his gaze without looking away.
Not long afterward—
“Wait.”
The giant gave Sword Immortal a grotesque smile.
“Even if you do not seek him out, he will reveal himself before long.”
“…”
“Your only task, insignificant as you are, is to wait for him to bring about the end.”
His words were firm, filled with a precise and unwavering emotion.
After hearing them, Sword Immortal looked down at the giant before finally turning his back.
There was no need to hear any more.
“First Dragon Unit Commander.”
“Yes, Alliance Leader.”
“Keep him alive if at all possible.”
There were still more things to ask, but there was no time now.
Since there was work to be done, Sword Immortal had to move.
Clack.
The moment Sword Immortal lifted his foot, a metallic clattering sound came from behind him.
It was the sound of the torture beginning again.
A cruel and violent act.
Yet even as he heard it, the Daoist Sword Immortal’s expression did not change in the slightest.
‘The Heavenly Demon?’
His mind was filled with thoughts of the existence known as the Heavenly Demon.
‘What in the world could it be?’
What purpose could he have that drove him to commit such vile deeds?
And besides—
‘He’s coming here himself?’
Recalling what the giant had said, Sword Immortal stroked his beard.
‘That’s absurd.’
This was none other than the heartland of the Orthodox Faction.
Henan—the very place where the headquarters of the Murim Alliance stood. To walk here of his own accord?
Among the countless beings who had caused bloodshed throughout history, not one had ever done such a thing.
Could someone called the Heavenly Demon truly do it?
‘Impossible.’
There was absolutely no way.
Sword Immortal was certain of it.
Thus, Sword Immortal opened his gleaming eyes and thought.
‘Heavenly Demon. I do not know who you are, but it will not take long.’
How hard had he worked to establish this position, to achieve this goal?
For the sake of this very seat, Sword Immortal intended to find and execute that bastard known as the Heavenly Demon, no matter what it took.
******************
Henan.
The waiting room of the Murim Alliance headquarters.
“Phew—achoo!”
I let out a violent sneeze and wiped my nose with my hand.
At the same time, I scratched my ear with my pinky.
“Ugh… My nose is itchy.”
Some idiot must be talking shit about me. My nose and ears were itching like crazy.
Was someone badmouthing me? I’d been cursed out so much that I no longer cared who was doing it.
“Sniff.”
After sniffling once more, I looked around.
It was a sight I would soon become familiar with.
Before noon had passed, I had once again entered the Alliance headquarters.
There was no special reason.
After the martial arts tournament held the other day, I had come here to compete in the round of sixteen after finishing my rest.
It was already the round of sixteen.
That meant only a handful of people remained, and that the martial arts tournament had reached its final stages.
“Hmm.”
While sitting in one of the prepared chairs and sniffling, I carefully rolled my eyes to survey my surroundings.
Then I had to suppress a laugh at what I sensed.
‘Their energy is pretty murderous.’
Fighting intent was rampant in every direction.
The fact that they had made it to the round of sixteen meant that, at the very least, everyone had reached the mature stage of the Peak Realm.
The atmosphere generated by all of them gathered together was unbearably stifling.
They were all too busy watching one another, too.
The ones with their eyes closed, the ones staring only at the floor, and the ones quietly polishing their swords—
Though their gazes remained still, their senses were busy sweeping over one another.
Every last one of them was as sly as a serpent.
Especially—
‘You’re going to get indigestion at this rate. Stop staring already.’
So many senses were directed at me that I was growing exhausted.
Apparently, my spar with the Divine Dragon had left quite an impression.
‘Tsk.’
It had already been annoying on the way here, with crowds gathering around me.
Just a few days ago, I could walk around openly without anyone recognizing me, but now, somehow, they all knew my face and came rushing over like madmen.
I really needed to consider wearing a veil or using a body-transformation technique from now on.
‘…So this is the life of a celebrity…’
It had been similar in my previous life, though there was one difference.
‘Back then, I was surrounded by people who wanted to kill me the moment they saw me. Is this how things are different now?’
I was no longer a filthy, vile demonic cultivator, but a rising star of the younger generation who had captured everyone’s attention.
That was closer to the truth. As for whether that was entirely bad, well, it was difficult to say.
Was I secretly enjoying it without realizing it?
The thought left me feeling pathetic.
I was old enough to know better, yet what was I doing?
For a moment, it struck me as ridiculous.
So I took out a little of my frustration on them.
Whoosh—!
“…!!”
“Urk!”
“Guh…!”
I played a little trick on the senses watching me.
I interfered with the flow of their energy and made it reverse.
It shouldn’t have been enough to cause internal injuries, but the sudden disturbance seemed to startle them, and reactions erupted all around me.
Most of them stopped pretending to be surprised and stared directly at me.
There were four who showed no reaction.
One had merely held back his response, while the other three truly hadn’t been watching me. In other words, aside from those three, everyone had been looking at me.
Their senses withdrew in an instant, and this time, their actual gazes came flying at me.
Seeing that, I grinned and said,
“Yes, it’s much more comfortable when you look openly, isn’t it? Sneaking glances is just too disgraceful.”
“…”
Perhaps because I had spoken so mockingly, discomfort appeared on the faces of those who had been caught.
What did they expect me to do?
Who told them to stare at me like that?
Feeling a little more at ease, I leaned deeply back into my chair.
There was still some time before the matches began, so I thought I might get some rest.
“You’re as refreshingly blunt as ever.”
Yeongpung, who had been waiting beside me, spoke up.
For the record, Yeongpung was one of the people who hadn’t sent his qi sense toward me.
The other two were Paeng Woojin and Dang Soyeol, while the one who had held back his reaction was the Blade King.
“What do you mean, refreshingly blunt…?”
“Haha. Gu Sohyeop has always been that way, but you truly have many qualities worth emulating.”
“…Hmm.”
If Hidden Dragon, Cheol Jiseon, or that bastard Seongyul had heard him, they would have immediately told him to stop spouting nonsense.
Knowing that, all I could do was give an awkward smile.
Yeongpung was polishing his sword with his characteristic smile on his face.
Then, suddenly, he looked at me and continued speaking.
“How is your body?”
“My body? It’s fine.”
“You seemed to have been badly injured… Are you truly all right?”
“Yes. This much will heal if I just spit on it.”
The external and internal injuries I had suffered in my fight with the Divine Dragon—
To be honest, they had not yet completely healed.
They were wounds that would take some time to recover from fully, but…
This much was fine. It wasn’t as if there were any particularly difficult fights left.
That was what I had been thinking when I answered, but then—
“I apologize.”
Yeongpung suddenly apologized to me.
Why was he apologizing all of a sudden?
I looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“For what?”
“I would like to show you the same consideration you showed the Divine Dragon, but… I do not think I will be able to do so this time.”
Ah.
Only after hearing what followed did I understand what Yeongpung’s apology meant.
The spar with the Divine Dragon.
Back then, I had wounded myself and drawn out my qi so that I could stand on equal footing with the Divine Dragon.
Yeongpung must have been thinking of that.
The reason was—
“Even in my current condition, I am not certain that I can reach you… So I will simply do my best within the circumstances given to me.”
My opponent in this match was none other than Yeongpung.
He had been looking forward to fighting me so much, and in the end, Yeongpung had been matched against me.
Given the circumstances, perhaps it was strange for the two of us to sit here chatting so amicably. But neither Yeongpung nor I seemed particularly concerned.
I simply smiled at his words, spoken like a declaration of resolve.
“Yes. Please do your very best.”
I wanted him to give it his all, just as much as he did.
I hoped that Yeongpung would do his utmost—then push himself even further—until his plum blossom petals reached me.
No. He had to.
‘You need to be at least that strong.’
Only then could you be called, even if merely in name, the successor of that foul-tempered old man.