Chapter 141. The Black Flame Dragon Who Meets the Monster of the Ten Thousand Book Repository (5)
“Hehehe…….”
Geum-pyo laughed as if he had lost his mind.
“Hehehehehe…….”
Beside him, Eun-ho also laughed as if he had lost his mind.
“Hehe.”
Dong-ryong laughed along with them as he looked at his older brothers.
Eun-ho, who had flopped down flat on the floor, looked at the startled Sa-ryeon and asked, “How was it? Senior Sister.”
“…….”
After watching the new sword formation demonstration by Geum, Eun, and Dong, Sa-ryeon still could not close her gaping mouth.
“……What in the world was that?”
“It is the White Tiger Sure-Kill Sword Formation.”
“Sure-kill?”
She knew that the three Gold-Silver-Copper Brothers’ skills had improved by leaps and bounds through the Regular Exam.
However, the sword formation they had just shown far surpassed her expectations.
“We have been studying the sword forms Dong-ryong uses for some time.”
At Eun-ho’s words, Sa-ryeon’s gaze turned to Dong-ryong.
Was it called the Heavenly Killing Star?
Fortunately, she had heard that his killing star nature had been suppressed through the Taeul True Scripture and persistent mind-image training.
And she had also heard that Geum-pyo and Eun-ho had copied and learned the killing sword forms created by the Heavenly Killing Star’s innate talent, but…….
“On top of that, we added the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula.”
The sword formation the three had unfolded was clearly nothing more than a simple White Tiger Sword Formation, yet the destructive force it displayed could not be considered the same White Tiger Sword Formation at all.
“…….”
One only had to look around the martial dueling ground to guess at that destructive power.
The marble floor was cracked, and the scarecrows made from logs had been shattered into pieces.
She had never heard of a sword formation performed by three people possessing this much destructive power.
“……And you are saying this is not the end?”
At Sa-ryeon’s dumbfounded question, Eun-ho answered triumphantly.
“You also entered the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula, did you not, Senior Sister?”
Sa-ryeon nodded.
After entering the academy, she had learned the Taeul Sword Emperor’s martial scripture, but through the Marrow-Cleansing and Hair-Shedding she had received from the Divine Sword and her own painstaking effort, she had recently managed to produce a single Ten Thousand Swords through the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula, which could be called the Taeul Sword Emperor’s ultimate profundity.
“Senior Sister, you will join us, and the four of us will unfold the sword formation together.”
“……Will that be all right? I have never matched a sword formation with you three before…….”
“To begin with, the White Tiger Sword Formation was created so that even people who learned different sword arts could become one without difficulty. Besides, did we not learn the same martial arts?”
As Sa-ryeon nodded at Eun-ho’s words, a question suddenly occurred to her.
“But why do I specifically have to join in? The three of you have spent a long time matching your hands and feet together.”
“Because if you join us, Senior Sister, the sure-kill sword formation will become even stronger.”
“Will it become stronger?”
The White Tiger Sword Formation was more effective in defense than offense.
What exactly were they planning to use it for by raising the offensive power of such a sword formation?
“We intend to use it against Eldest Senior Brother.”
“Eh?”
“Has Eldest Senior Brother not been terribly worried about us junior brothers all this time? Should we not take this opportunity to flatten his nose once and prove that he no longer needs to worry about us?”
“……Are you perhaps planning revenge?”
“…….”
That expression said he had been caught red-handed.
Dong-ryong was so quiet and kind that he would never do such a thing, but Geum-pyo and Eun-ho were such great pranksters that they were frequently beaten by Jin So-un.
Could it be that they had been so devoted to training all this time because of that?
“……Of course not. Revenge against our Eldest Senior Brother, who is like the heavens above us? We do not harbor even the slightest thought of that. This is all for the sake of showing him our developmental progress.”
Somehow, every single word that came out of his mouth sounded like a lie.
……Still, whatever their intention was, the point that they could land one good blow on him did not seem too bad.
“If we are going to land a blow on him, it would be better to do it properly.”
“Yes?”
“Where should I go in?”
Hong Sa-ryeon began burning with enthusiasm for training for the first time in a long while.
I brought the book the Sword Demon had been searching for from the Ten Thousand Book Repository.
The Sword Demon read that book over and over again.
He read it while shedding tears, and at times he turned the pages with a stiff expression.
After reading the book several times like that, the Sword Demon immediately prepared to go search for them, and I stopped him by force.
“……Just where do you think you are going, rushing off like this?”
The location Seop So-jeong had left behind was Jilin Province.
It was a place one had to reach by passing through Beijing and Liaoning.
“And you said you received the letter five years ago. How can you guarantee she is still living there?”
“If she is not there, then I will search again starting from there.”
“What if this is fake?”
“…….”
“Will you search the entire world?”
Of course, judging from the contents of the book and the letter, there were so many secrets written there that only the two of them could have known that there was no way it could be fake, but even that was not something one could know for certain.
Moreover, the Sword Demon had many enemies.
The person both the Orthodox Path and the Black Path treated like a thorn in their eyes was none other than the Sword Demon.
Someone might have pulled some trick to stop the Sword Demon’s endless martial duel journey, in which he forced his way even to the residences of people who hated it and demanded martial duels.
“For now, send someone to confirm it. And if they have moved somewhere else, it will be better to find them through people rather than having you personally search for them, Sword Demon. Also, did you not promise to teach me martial arts?”
“You are telling me to hire the Beggars’ Sect? But I have no money…….”
“……I will pay for that. I will think of it as tuition.”
And so, while we confirmed Seop So-jeong’s existence, my personal martial arts training with the Sword Demon began.
“Who told you to cloak your sword qi like that? Is your sword qi trying to replace a torch?”
“Sword qi does not need to be large. No, rather, the smaller it is, the better.”
“What? If it is small, you will be pushed back in momentum? Why are you so obsessed with size? Do you have some weakness somewhere else?”
“Sword qi is density. You cloak your sword in sword qi to raise its density. If you can raise the density, the form does not matter regardless of size.”
The Sword Demon’s training was rough and sometimes scraped at my pride, but it definitely contained many practical teachings that would be useful in real combat.
For me, this was the first time since Hall Master Kang Chae-seok that I had been taught by a proper Martial Arts Master, so I began resolving all the points I had been curious about and lacking in through the Sword Demon.
The Sword Demon interpreted my questions, which were based on Orthodox Path martial arts, through his own unique insight and explained them, and his answers were so concise and simple that they made me laugh on their own.
“Are you talking about form and pattern? Of course they are important. But if you cannot use them in real combat, what use are they? That does not mean I am telling you to abandon form and pattern.”
“What? You think you have to abandon forms for the next stage of enlightenment? You mad bastard! Have you ascended to some transcendent stage or something?”
“Sword Force? Did I not tell you not to cling to Sword Force! Damn it, did a ghost that died in a past life because it failed to learn Sword Force attach itself to you? Look at those bastards from the Heavenly Dipper Sect. Men who use things like Water Force and Fist Force get their hands and feet sliced off by a single strike of a swift sword. That means learning Sword Force for a hundred days is useless.”
“Sword qi must be completed first. Once sword qi is completed, Sword Force follows. Sword Force made without even completing sword qi is nothing more than a scrap of paper. ……Do my words sound like dogshit to you? Do you want to clash your Sword Force against my sword qi right now?”
Of course, because his temperament was so fiery and ill-mannered, receiving instruction from him was not easy.
Even so, we became close enough that I no longer needed to go back and forth from the dormitory, and instead stayed with him in the hut while training all day.
Then, one day.
While training with the Sword Demon, I sensed something strange and slowly lowered the Black Dragon Sword.
The Sword Demon’s brow furrowed deeply.
“We are still training. Raise your sword.”
“What you just showed me—is that not your exclusive martial art, Sword Demon?”
“Oh, so you have eyes after all, seeing as you recognize an excellent sword art at a glance?”
Damn it, the way this man talked…….
“I told you before, but my eye for detail and my memory are quite good.”
“Puhehe. Even if you memorize my sword forms, do you think you can imitate them?”
“…….”
“It is the Three Forms of the White Moon Governing Heaven.”
I knew it well.
In the future, the Sword Demon would unify the Black Path Murim with that sword art.
“If you can steal it, try stealing it.”
Such great confidence that I would never be able to steal it.
As he had said, I faced the Three Forms of the White Moon Governing Heaven every day, but I could not properly understand even the first form.
“Why does my Ten Thousand Swords break against a tree branch that is not even cloaked in sword qi?”
“The profundity of the first form is Extreme Swiftness. What do you need in order to be the fastest?”
“Strength?”
“You need nothing.”
Had he not clearly asked what was needed?
“…….”
“You can only be the fastest when you are in the lightest state. Is it not only natural that a speed nothing can chase cannot be blocked by anything?”
“But it clearly collided with the Ten Thousand Swords I unfolded.”
“Because I blocked its path before the Ten Thousand Swords was completed. Did I not tell you that sword qi is density? An incomplete sword is nothing more than a sandcastle that can collapse at any time. Your Ten Thousand Swords is the same.”
Like that, a month passed, and even by the time news returned about Seop So-jeong, whom we had sent people to Jilin Province to find, I ultimately could not crush the Sword Demon’s first form.
“…….”
The Sword Demon was staring intently at me as I tried to read the letter sent by the Hao Gate.
“What does it say?”
“……I am opening it now.”
The Sword Demon swallowed as if urging me to hurry and read the letter.
I shook my head and began reading the letter.
And then.
“The two of them are currently living in Liaoning Province.”
At the news I conveyed, the corners of the Sword Demon’s eyes trembled.
“Are the two people…… the ones I have been searching for?”
“They say a mother and daughter of extraordinary beauty are living there while working slash-and-burn fields.”
“…….”
I handed the information about Seop So-jeong to the Sword Demon, who had turned as stiff as a wooden statue.
“In the end, I am the only one who suffered a loss. I did not even receive proper lessons.”
The Sword Demon, who had stiffened as he read the letter, furrowed his brow deeply.
“Did you not become able to draw out Sword Force anyway!”
“Ah, of course I did.”
I had entered the realm of Sword Force, the one I had longed for so much.
However, perhaps because I had watched the Three Forms of the White Moon Governing Heaven, which was practically his final profundity, every day for the past month, I could not hide my disappointment even though I had become able to draw out the Sword Force I had wanted so much.
“You are going to leave at once, are you not?”
“…….”
“Are you thinking of not going?”
“Seop So-jeong was the heir of the Hundred Flowers Palace. I do not know how I should accept the story that such a person is living by working slash-and-burn fields.”
The Sword Demon, who had not blinked even before the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula I had unleashed at full power, let his shoulders droop as if he were carrying a heavy burden.
“She is living like a sinner because, as a person of the Hundred Flowers Palace, she gave birth to the child of a Black Path martial artist. Well.”
“What!”
“Is that not an undeniable fact?”
“…….”
“At any rate, I also thought about it. Why did Senior Seop not tell you her location directly and instead make you wander through the Ten Thousand Book Repository, Senior Sword Demon?”
“…….”
“In the end, did she not want you to make a decision?”
“A decision?”
If she had wanted to make him take responsibility for the child, she could simply have appeared before his eyes with the child in tow.
If that had not been her intention, she would not have needed to inform the Sword Demon about the child’s existence at all.
However, Seop So-jeong had deliberately presented him with a complicated and difficult path.
“I think she was asking whether, just as she abandoned her affiliation as a person of the Hundred Flowers Palace, you could also abandon the karma you carry.”
“…….”
“Does it not mean that if you want to continue living as the Sword Demon, you should not appear before them?”
The Sword Demon’s eyelids trembled as if he had gained some realization.
“……I think those words are correct.”
“Do you still have lingering attachment to the name Sword Demon?”
“…….”
The Sword Demon looked down at his own hands.
A brief silence flowed.
At last, he shook his head.
His face looked more relieved than ever, and there was not even a handful of attachment left in his expression.
I was quite surprised that the Sword Demon could make such a pure expression.
“How is it? Does it seem to fit well?”
The Sword Demon, who was straightening his clothes, seemed awkward and shook his shoulders several times.
“It feels a little flashy.”
The clothes the Sword Demon was wearing now were clothes I had personally asked the Head Maidservant to make.
It was an ordinary long robe that appropriately mixed white and blue, but to the Sword Demon, who had never paid attention to clothing his entire life, even this seemed to feel rather flashy.
“You have to wear at least this much to avoid standing out.”
“I think it would be better to just run there.”
“You can do that where there are no people, but if you pass through places with many people, will you not stand out?”
“Is that so…….”
The Sword Demon had now completely stopped pretending to be a hunchbacked old man.
Having undone both the Bone-Altering Art and the Appearance-Altering Art, he merely looked like an ordinary middle-aged man.
“This is a horse token you can use at the horse station operated by Wang Estate. And this is the Black Token of the Hao Gate. If you hang it at your waist when you need help, someone from the Hao Gate will come find you.”
“……I am not a child. I can naturally find my way there on my own…….”
“Oh, please do not even start. To begin with, can I trust a man who searched from the first archive just to find the book Senior Seop had hidden?”
“…….”
After putting away the horse token and the Black Token, the Sword Demon stared blankly at me.
“Why are you treating me so well?”
I did not know what the Sword Demon’s future path would be like, but if the Great Righteous-Demonic War broke out, this man would come back out into the Jianghu again.
For that time, this much investment was something I could bear as much as needed.
“You are still my Martial Arts Master, are you not? This is the sort of thing a disciple should take care of.”
“Hmph……! With your pitiful skill, what disciple……? Do not go around telling people you learned even a scrap from me. I will not let you be if you do.”
“Yes, yes.”
I handed him a money pouch.
“Unless absolutely necessary, do not take out the gold coins inside. Whenever you use money, always use only silver coins and copper coins…….”
“Do you think I am some half-wit?”
The Sword Demon, who had shouted in anger, checked the inside of the money pouch once and then slipped it into his robe.
“Once I leave, erase all traces of me left here.”
“I was already planning to do that.”
“And take this and throw it away with everything else.”
The Sword Demon handed me one booklet and one wooden case that had been placed on the wooden bench.
“You were still reading the thesis…….”
As I read the book, I froze when the words entered my eyes.
Hundreds of characters were listed to explain the three sword forms.
In addition to that, there were the weaknesses of the martial duel opponents he had faced throughout his life and the things he had realized from those martial duels.
It was truly the complete totality of the Sword Demon contained within a single booklet.
“Is this not the Three Forms of the White Moon Governing Heaven?”
The Sword Demon gave no answer and merely gestured toward the wooden case with his chin.
I quickly opened the wooden case.
With a pop, a clear forest fragrance bloomed into the air.
It was a pill with an extraordinary energy that was not inferior to the Small Reversion Pill from Shaolin I had eaten in the past.
I looked at him, unable to understand the meaning of the gift.
“……Are these not things you need more than I do right now? Go and become the greatest under heaven as you wish.”
How could he still remember something from so long ago?
Just when I was about to tear up from the swelling emotion.
“Oh, right. If you pass it on as you please, know that you will die by my hand.”
My tears vanished instantly.
He truly was a man who could incur a thousand-nyang debt with a single sentence.
“At any rate, please accept this disciple’s bow.”
I could not become his formal disciple, but had I not inherited his true inheritance all the same?
Even if I could not perform a Ninefold Bow, giving three bows would be the proper human duty.
Thud.
However, my body, which had been about to bow, would not move.
It was as if my body had been suppressed by formless qi, and I could not budge.
When I looked at the Sword Demon in confusion, he spoke coldly.
“I have no intention of forming a master-disciple relationship with you, so no bow is needed.”
“……Then what should I say if people ask where I learned this martial art?”
“Say you stole it.”
“……Insane.”
Steal martial arts from the Sword Demon?
Who under heaven would possibly believe that?
“From the Sword Demon?”
“……You bastard, how long are you going to keep calling me Sword Demon, Sword Demon? I abandoned that name long ago.”
It has only been two days since you said you would abandon that name.
“……Then tell me your name.”
“Baek Hae-gwang. That is my name.”
Perhaps Baek Hae-gwang had said that because he did not want me to inherit his karma.
His mouth was truly ugly, but his heart was kind.
“What do you plan to do after meeting Senior Seop?”
“……I have not thought that far.”
“Surely you do not plan to live by continuing to work slash-and-burn fields?”
“That is not it. But I do not know where to begin or what to do.”
To begin with, neither Baek Hae-gwang nor Seop So-jeong were people who could live ordinary lives even if they tried.
“Then how about establishing a sect while you are at it?”
“A sect?”
“Neither of you can return to your original teacher’s sect or family, can you? Moreover, one of you is from the Orthodox Path, while the other is a Black Path martial artist with an infamous reputation. There is nowhere that would accept you either.”
“……A sect.”
“If you create a small but powerful sect, it can become a comfortable place for Senior Seop and your daughter to live. You cannot live your whole life doing nothing but hiding or running away, can you?”
The Sword Demon nodded repeatedly.
“But as you know, I have nothing. Establishing a sect is not easy, and it is not as if I have people who follow me…….”
“As it happens, I know an excellent sponsor. How about living as a Guest Retainer at his sect for a while and preparing the foundation for founding your sect?”
“A sponsor?”
“You are not going to establish some rootless Black Path gang, are you?”
If it was the Sword Demon, he could enter any Black Path gang right now, subdue everyone by force, and become its Gang Chief.
However, what he wanted was not the life of a Black Path martial artist, but a protective shelter that could protect Seop So-jeong and his daughter.
Even if it was difficult, he had to build it up with his own hands from the very beginning, one piece at a time.
“……But would that excellent man sponsor me?”
“The Sect Leader of the sect he belongs to is so generous that he is widely praised by the villagers, and since he is a disciple influenced by such a person, they say that he also does not discriminate when it comes to forming relationships with others. If it is him, he will surely become your sponsor.”
“There was such a person……? Who exactly are you talking about?”
Who else could it be?
“Jin So-un of the Taeul Sect. Who else would it be?”
“…….”
Good. He took the bait.
“Hehehe.”
Even as I wrote a letter to Father, I could not suppress my laughter.
Baek Hae-gwang said he would make all decisions after meeting Seop So-jeong.
I was trying to give Father advance notice in preparation for that time.
Obtaining the Three Forms of the White Moon Governing Heaven and a Spiritual Medicine was amazing, but if I had to choose the best part, it would be that the Sword Demon might become a Guest Retainer of the Taeul Sect.
And with Seop So-jeong and his daughter in tow, at that.
Where would the Sword Demon, who had accumulated infamy under heaven, have anywhere to lean?
Moreover, founding a sect was not something that could be done in a day or two; it was something that would take several years from now on.
In the end, the Sword Demon, who had nowhere to go, would reside in the Taeul Sect and spend quite a long time there.
“Hehehe, if anyone messes with the Taeul Sect, they are all done for~. Because we have the Sword Demon as our Guest Retainer~.”
As I was writing the letter like that, I heard familiar voices along with signs of people approaching.
“Why does Eldest Senior Brother look like he is in a good mood?”
“It looks like he is thinking something sinister. That is the expression he often makes when he is messing with someone else.”
I thundered at them.
“You truly say things you should not say to your Eldest Senior Brother.”
When I saw the Gold-Silver-Copper Brothers and Sa-ryeon entering, I was left speechless.
“……What exactly have you been doing?”
As for the Gold-Silver-Copper boys, they were always easygoing men, so that was one thing, but even Sa-ryeon looked ragged enough that a beggar would call her an elder brother.
At that moment, Geum-pyo exchanged glances with the other martial siblings and stepped forward.
“Eldest Senior Brother. We have something to say to you.”
“Speak.”
“Let us fight one round!!”
Oh, so you bastards are finally committing insubordination.
