Episode 2: The Blade Emperor's Sense
I rose from my bed before the sun had even fully risen. No, it was more accurate to say I had failed to fall asleep.
'I was the Blade Emperor.'
Blade Emperor.
An excessively grandiose epithet bestowed only upon masters who had reached the pinnacle as blade-wielding warriors.
At first, I couldn't believe it.
Yet the memories of a single night's dream were long—so long—as if I were reflecting upon an entire person's life.
Not all memories of my previous life were clear.
But one thing was certain.
This sensation remaining in my right hand.
'With a single blade, I ascended to the position of the greatest under heaven.'
I stared blankly at my right hand.
The sensation of my previous life, which had reached the apex of the blade, remained intact.
Then I muttered blankly.
"But I'm from the Namgung Family."
A clan renowned in the martial world as a sword family; no, one that had been expelled from the Five Great Families and was now walking the path of ruin.
'Would my previous life as the Blade Emperor be of help in a sword family?'
In an instant, a strange sensation coiled around my body. A sensation I had never felt before swept thrillingly through my entire body, from the Yongquan point at the soles of my feet to the Baihui point at the crown of my head, like golden lightning.
'The martial arts of the Blade Emperor, which severed all things with a single blade, correspond to the principles of our Namgung Family's Heavy Sword and Mighty Sword. Far from merely being helpful, it could even further develop the Namgung Family's martial arts and allow for the creation of a new sword.'
Finishing that thought, I flinched in surprise without even realizing it.
"What?"
I experienced a strange sensation for the first time. And simultaneously, a brilliant insight regarding martial arts flashed through my mind. And this was me, who had possessed no talent for martial arts.
And I realized.
That this was the sense of the Blade Emperor, who had reached the Martial Extreme in his previous life.
'I must make use of this sense from now on.'
But just because I had awakened to my previous life didn't mean I had become the Blade Emperor in his entirety. The true identity of the previous life's Blade Emperor, and why someone like me had been born into a sword family—these reasons were still unclear.
Only the Blade Emperor's sense remained in my body.
'I will reach the realm of the previous life's Blade Emperor based on this sense.'
For now, it was a time when training was needed first.
* * *
As I sat on the bed organizing my thoughts, a voice came from outside.
"Second Young Master, are you awake?"
It was the voice of my guard, Dancheol. It seemed he had sensed my presence.
"Yes."
Soon the door opened and Dancheol entered. He greeted me with his characteristic gentle face.
"You rose early..."
Suddenly, Dancheol closed his mouth. And he looked at me quietly.
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, it's nothing. I just felt as if you had grown taller somehow."
It was impossible. He had seen me before I went to bed as well. There was no way I could have grown taller overnight.
"It must be your imagination."
Dancheol nodded.
"I suppose so. But you have risen early."
"Because I couldn't sleep."
"Yes..."
Dancheol trailed off. Having been expelled from the Five Great Families, and with even his father passing away. He seemed to think it was only natural that one couldn't sleep properly in such a situation.
When I stepped out of the bedchamber, Dancheol quietly followed.
The clan in the early morning was exceedingly silent.
It wasn't simply quiet. The atmosphere was heavily subdued, and even felt somewhat desolate.
It was only natural, as it was the day after the Family Head's funeral.
But.
It couldn't remain this downtrodden forever.
It had to change, and even I had to move.
"Let's go to the library. The ancestral library."
The ancestral library was a place only the direct lineage of the clan could enter, where the clan's supreme martial arts were stored.
Dancheol looked at me with surprised eyes, then soon nodded.
"Understood."
It must have been surprising. For me, who had no talent for martial arts, to suddenly say I was going to the ancestral library. But Dancheol, as always, followed along with whatever I wanted to do.
'He probably thinks I'm trying to change because of Father's death.'
Passing through the spacious central pathway and heading toward the main pavilion, I casually asked Dancheol.
"If the absolute masters of the distant past martial world were to appear in the present age, how well do you think they would fare?"
I couldn't ask directly about my previous life. I asked indirectly to Dancheol, who was seven years older and rich in martial world experience.
"That's a rather strange question all of a sudden."
"Because our Namgung Family once held a lofty name in the past."
"Is there not the famous saying of the Wudang Sword Venerable? 'Time flows, martial arts develop, and I grow stronger. Even if the greatest master of the past were reincarnated, they would not reach even the toes of our Nine Sects.' Well, I am inclined to agree with that."
Words spoken by the Wudang Sword Venerable, one of the current Three Venerables. It was such a famous saying that I knew it as well.
'But is that really so?'
I, who lacked martial world experience, couldn't possibly know the true strength of the current masters. But I didn't particularly feel that my previous life would lose to anyone.
Blade Emperor.
Even in this era, there is a Blade Emperor. The Wheel Blade Emperor, who belongs to the Four Emperors, was one such example.
'Although the Wheel Blade Emperor is one of the absolute masters, I, in my previous life, was not a master who would be categorized among those called the Three Venerables or the Four Emperors. I was truly a being who stood unrivaled, alone in all of heaven and earth.'
The divine might that had reached the realm of Martial Extreme.
'I will reach that realm and prove the words of that Wudang Sword Venerable wrong.'
* * *
I entered the ancestral library located in the center of the main pavilion. There was naturally no one who would block my entry, as I was of the clan's direct lineage.
Unlike the clan's general library, it was an extremely small repository. It contained only secret manuals recording important martial arts, so the number of books was few.
'But these are not old books.'
They were all books written not long ago.
One hundred and fifty years ago, after the battle with the Demon Cult, the Namgung Family's martial arts declined greatly.
A lack of talent, the death of the Family Head, the loss of secret manuals—in the face of so many such events, the protective measures laid down two- and three-fold for the preservation of martial arts had been useless.
"But is it alright for me to enter this place?"
"It doesn't matter. Who could say anything when you are with me?"
Then Dancheol stared at me again.
"What's wrong?"
"You really do seem different somehow."
"How so?"
"You seem somehow more mature. Something like an indescribable dignity is flowing from you. And all overnight, at that."
It was a strange feeling. I was still Namgung Rim, the second son of the Namgung Family, yet it seemed I appeared different to others under the influence of my previous life.
Then, fragmented memories of my previous life suddenly surfaced in my mind.
"We greet the City Lord!"
The sight of tens of thousands kneeling before me as I stood atop a tall palace.
The Blade Emperor of my previous life had been a City Lord.
Which meant he had established a household with nothing but the blade.
'One who was truly akin to a great patriarch. It would be stranger if I weren't affected by such a previous life.'
I evaded Dancheol with a vague answer.
"A storm has struck the clan, so it's only natural for a person to change."
Dancheol nodded with a solemn face.
"I suppose that must be it."
Then, as if trying to change the mood, he shifted the topic.
"By the way, what have you come here to look for?"
"The Namgung Family."
At my strange answer, a question surfaced on Dancheol's face.
"Pardon?"
"You must have seen Father's diary."
Dancheol's face stiffened.
The diary written before Father passed away.
It had not been a will, but by some turn of events, it had become one—there was no way anyone in the clan could be unaware of those words.
"Yes. I saw it."
"In it, Father expressed his desire to recover the Heavy Sword and Mighty Sword, which could be called the essence of the Namgung Family."
Dancheol's eyes widened. Being an astute guard, he immediately grasped the meaning of my words.
"Surely you don't mean to say, Young Master, that you intend to learn the Heavy and Mighty Sword now."
"You see accurately."
Dancheol could not continue for a moment. What I was trying to do was clearly going against the current era.
"One hundred years ago, after the Mount Hua Sword Immortal became the greatest under heaven and spread his teachings, the martial world truly became the world of the sword. Furthermore, the Soft Sword, Variable Sword, and Illusory Sword came to prominence. For a full one hundred years, continuously."
It was the truth.
In the martial world, there are trends, currents, and prevailing forces. Thus many martial artists took up the sword, following the Mount Hua Sword Immortal who had been the greatest under heaven. And they imitated his sword. All to get even a little closer to the Mount Hua Sword Immortal.
And that great trend created an era of Softness, Change, and Illusion for a hundred years after the Mount Hua Sword Immortal.
"But isn't it tiresome?"
"Pardon?"
"The sword dances those Taoist priests sway and writhe through to cultivate the Way."
Surprise gradually settled on Dancheol's face.
"Th-that may be so, but didn't our Namgung Family also gradually change our swordsmanship to follow that trend? The teachings spread by the Mount Hua Sword Immortal were indeed astonishing swordsmanship."
"That was the mistake."
"That was a mistake?"
"Are we Taoist priests? Are we people who dance with the sword for decades to attain immortality, like them, which may or may not be realized?"
"Of course not."
"Since ancient times, our Namgung Family has gazed upon the azure heavens as we swung our swords. Wishing to cover all things under heaven with a single sword stroke."
The strange sensation I had felt after awakening to my previous life flowed ceaselessly through my entire body. And concepts and contemplations regarding martial arts connected as easily as flowing water.
Dancheol wore a questioning expression, as if he felt it too, but he didn't press the matter for now.
"But by now, haven't such Heavy and Mighty swords been largely lost and changed in our clan?"
"Yes. That's what happened after the battle with the Demon Cult one hundred and fifty years ago. But."
I slowly paced through the not-so-large library. And I continued speaking while letting my gaze fall upon several martial arts secret manuals.
"I simply have to revive them."
"...!"
While Dancheol was unable to speak, my gaze settled upon one book.
It had been one of the Namgung Family's mental arts, but it was a secret manual rewritten after the incident one hundred and fifty years ago.
"The Nine Sects that brought us such humiliation, and even the current Five Great Families, all pursue those Soft, Variable, and Illusory swords."
"Second Young Master, surely the reason you are suddenly trying to change isn't to oppose them. The Five Great Families—the Nine Sects beyond them are no longer opponents one can defeat with casual training!"
For a while, the martial world had been peaceful, and the Nine Sects, with no enemies, had established superiority among themselves and divided into ranks.
The powers within the ranks constantly exchanged knowledge and developed their martial arts without rest.
And the forces that fell out of that ranking system rapidly lost their influence.
Our Namgung Family was now walking that path of ruin.
I picked up the book I had been looking at.
Dancheol muttered blankly in surprise.
"Azure Heaven Grand Derivation Divine Art..."
The current mainstream mental art of the clan is the Azure Distant Heart Formula. A mental art that circulates internal energy stably and gently—I, too, had learned this art.
'Because it was a mental art suited to the Soft, Variable, and Illusory swords.'
But the book I had taken out now was the Azure Heaven Grand Derivation Divine Art.
A mental art capable of handling internal energy with explosive movement, it was also the internal cultivation art most suitable for unleashing the Heavy and Mighty swords.
"Th-that's a mental art that no one practices now, isn't it?"
It was the truth.
It was a mental art that only the direct lineage could learn, but Father had passed away, and it was a martial art that neither my elder brother nor I had learned.
'No, as the Namgung Family's Heavy and Mighty swords disappeared, even the previous Family Heads had ceased learning it.'
I opened the book, scanned it once, and spoke.
"To surpass the Nine Sects and the Five Great Families, we must not become the same as them. Only by finding our Namgung Family's essence, which is different from them, can we surpass them."
The era when the ranking of the Nine Sects and the Five Great Families began.
"I will surpass them and end this era. And."
I looked at Dancheol.
"I will raise the Namgung Family up again."
Dancheol stared blankly at me. As if asking who I was.