Free Web NovelThe sword touched cleanly.
My Divine Sword had reached Silver Moon Sword’s neck.
It meant complete victory. How many exchanges had we traded to get here? Not that many.
Fssssss—!
The energy flowing through my body faded, and the hard aura gathered on the blade fell silent.
THUMP—! Meanwhile, my pounding heart slowly began to calm.
“What the hell did you go do?”
Silver Moon Sword spoke to me with a look of utter disbelief.
“...You’ve changed way too much.”
Yeah.
I had no answer to that. Even to me, I had changed far too much.
Clack. I withdrew my sword and slid it into its scabbard. Only then did the heat burning through me finally die down.
The wind brushed past. My body cooled coldly, making a mockery of the sweat I had not even shed.
“Well, damn.”
Silver Moon Sword looked at me and gave an awkward laugh.
“...Honestly, I thought this would be fun, so I was planning to just test the waters a little. But I don’t think that’s going to work.”
Silver Moon Sword did not put his sword away. He kept holding it as he looked at me.
“Let’s go one more time.”
Competitive fire filled his eyes. At that gaze, so blatant and clear it was almost ridiculous, I smiled.
“...If we fight like this right now, won’t someone end up bleeding?”
“Are you afraid of that?”
Of course I was. Why would I not be? I had no idea what to do with that insane battle maniac.
“Let’s do it properly while we’re at it. I haven’t even gotten a taste yet.”
“Sorry, but let’s save the rest for later.”
“What?”
“It’s late, and unlike you, I don’t really want to see blood.”
“No, that puts me way too far in the red.”
“That’s why I’m saying we’ll do it next time. Right now, I’m...”
I showed him my hand. Silver Moon Sword’s gaze caught on my fingertips, trembling faintly.
“I don’t think I can control it.”
“...”
At my words, Silver Moon Sword’s brow furrowed. What I meant was not that I might fail to control my strength and give Silver Moon Sword a beating.
It’s exactly what I said.
My body itself felt like it might not move under control. It did not feel as if my original strength would come out properly, either. Overall, I was simply not in a condition suited for a spar.
What the hell did he do to me?
I held back the sigh trying to come out. The arrangement Yoo Cheongil had supposedly given me bothered me. It seemed somehow connected to my current state.
“Hmm.”
At my words, Silver Moon Sword stared at me. He looked like he had plenty to say, but separate from that, in the end, he slid his sword into its scabbard.
“...Fine. For now, I understand. But you have to do the one we’re saving for later.”
“Is it that important?”
“It is.”
He grinned.
“More than anything.”
“...”
I thought this every time I saw him, but—
That man should have been Young Sect Leader.
Was there anyone more suited to the Azure Moon Sect than him? I had that thought every time I looked at Silver Moon Sword.
Unlike me.
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Another day passed. When night gave way and dawn arrived, I was swinging my sword around a hill some distance away, not the mountain where I had been with Silver Moon Sword.
Whoooosh—!!!
My sword kept cutting through empty air. Then, around the time sweat began to run down my chin—
“Whew.”
I steadied my exhausted breathing and corrected my stance.
“...I think I’m roughly there?”
I had swung without resting for even a moment. Thanks to that, my body seemed to have grown at least somewhat used to it.
Only after spending a long while refining and refining my flesh did I finally obtain a definite sensation.
“It’s changed.”
There was no doubt about it. Before and after going to the altar were far too different.
The biggest change was this.
“The flow of energy is completely different.”
After my middle dantian opened, inner qi had seeped into my body, and there had been a path for it to move through. Yet now, I could no longer even feel that vague discomfort whose source I had never understood.
It had been there before.
That faint unpleasant feeling.
Unlike before, when I had to force energy to flow artificially and contain it in my body, now it felt as if it flowed on its own.
So much so that it felt almost wrong for it to be this comfortable.
Because of that, there was less to pay attention to, and moving my body became far more natural.
Light.
It felt as if I had dropped a heavy iron ball from my body.
“Hup.”
I exhaled and drew my energy back in. Then—
[How strange.]
The Heavenly Demon’s voice sounded.
“What is?”
[The things you call changes are paltry.]
“Pardon...?”
[You said you were forcing energy to flow through your body artificially.]
“Yes.”
That was how I used hard aura and everything else. What was strange about that? As I wondered—
[Energy is not originally something one uses by forcing it to flow.]
“...Pardon?”
[What matters is letting it flow as it will. It would not flow unless you did otherwise? That makes no sense. That means...]
The Heavenly Demon fell silent for a moment before continuing.
[Your body was never one capable of learning martial arts in the first place.]
“...”
What kind of terrifying thing was that to say? A body incapable of even learning martial arts?
“I don’t think it was that bad. As you can see, I’m still making good use of it.”
Even around the time I joined the Alliance, I had at least been a third-rate martial artist. I had just been born with no talent worth a damn.
[No talent?]
At those words, the Heavenly Demon laughed. His voice sounded obnoxious somehow.
[Can you say that after seeing yourself now?]
A body that had reached transcendent peak. One that had already undergone rebirth more than once, and had reached a point where no one among the younger generation could contend with it.
A body that would certainly be called a master anywhere it went. The Heavenly Demon pointed that out as he spoke, but—
“That’s because I had things spoon-fed to me.”
Behind me had been the soul of the greatest man of all time. With a person like that at my back, should I not have accomplished at least this much?
I tried mentioning that, but—
[Not everything can be gained simply because it is spoon-fed to you. Yoo Cheongil of all people could not have failed to know this... yet he merely judged you as talentless? You are exceedingly harsh on yourself.]
“...”
Then what? Was he saying I was a genius?
[I did not go that far.]
“You got my hopes up for nothing.”
I had been secretly looking forward to it, but he somehow noticed and immediately crushed that hope.
[However, you are not at a level that should be called dull-witted. Perhaps, as you said, you could be called a genius.]
“...That’s—”
[Whatever the case, this is not a fortuitous encounter.]
The Heavenly Demon spoke as if correcting the part of my statement that was wrong.
[You have recovered what should have been yours from the beginning. That would be the proper way to describe it.]
“...”
From the beginning.
Flowing according to its natural order.
Originally.
Something I should have had?
I curled my fist slightly as I thought. This was the original state of my body? The fact that my energy had not flowed properly, so I had to pull it out deliberately—
Following the path Yoo Cheongil showed me.
The fact that I had to force the energy to follow that path, all of it—
Originally...
It should have happened on its own?
Wooooooong—!!!
Radiant Moon Flash Aura. Brilliant hard aura wrapped around my body. I did not use Moonbolt. I merely wrapped myself in hard aura and muttered.
If the Heavenly Demon was truly right—
“...Martial artists had it easy as hell.”
[What?]
“I went through all that damn trouble for something that handles itself. It’s ridiculous.”
Was it supposed to be this easy?
“So I was the only one getting screwed over.”
[...Ha.]
Perhaps he found my words funny, because the Heavenly Demon laughed.
[...You truly are a strange one.]
I did not answer him. Right now, I had to organize the energy flowing through my body.
What did he do?
Yoo Cheongil. I wanted to know what exactly that old man had done before leaving. The mixture of spiritual energy and inner qi flowing through my heart.
Was that the cause? Or else—
What the hell...
What else had he done? The moment I thought about that—
Crack.
“...!”
I felt a presence. I turned around. There stood—
“Yu Yeon?”
“...”
Sword Peak Yu Yeon. She was standing there, staring at me.
“What is it? How did you get up here?”
As I asked, I looked her over. There was a sword at her waist. It seemed she had come to train.
All the way here?
She had come rather far. There should have been mountains nearby too.
Yu Yeon stared blankly at my words, then approached.
“What?”
“...”
She came closer and stared at me. What was this? Then she used her scabbard to write something on the ground.
—Food?
“...Food?”
I had not eaten. I had spent the whole night swinging my sword here, so there was no way I had.
“I grabbed something.”
I lied. For some reason, I did not want to say I had not eaten. Then—
“...”
Yu Yeon took something out from inside her clothes. It was wrapped in leaves and looked just like a rice ball—
“It’s a rice ball.”
It really was food. I did not expect food to pop out here...?
“What’s this for? You want me to eat it?”
Yu Yeon nodded.
“I told you I ate.”
“...”
There was no answer. She only stared at me again. Apparently, she had caught the lie.
“...You eat it. I’m fine. Isn’t that your food?”
Had she not packed it for herself anyway? At that question, Yu Yeon shook her head again. What? She had not brought it for herself?
Then who had packed it? As I wondered, Yu Yeon pushed the rice ball toward me with her hand. It seemed she was telling me to hurry up and eat.
“All right... all right. Don’t rush me. I’ll eat.”
She had gone to the trouble of bringing it, and it felt wrong to refuse any further. Besides, I was hungry, so I bit into the rice ball.
“...”
The moment I ate it, my face twisted. Not because it tasted bad.
“Haa...”
It was because I could tell at once who had packed it.
...What is she doing?
The taste of the rice was familiar. It was a taste I had eaten often once.
I remembered someone who had been raised precious and knew how to do nothing but roll rice into a ball, someone who barely managed to season it and clumsily shaped it together.
I also remembered how she would work hard making it, only to get embarrassed when handing it over and shove it at me irritably.
“...I’ll eat it well.”
“...”
Yu Yeon smiled as if relieved. It was a °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° tiny change blooming on her expressionless face.
I told her not to care.
I had gone out of my way to act cold, but now that she had done this, my insides ached. I took another bite of the rice ball.
It was salty. She still seemed awful at getting the seasoning right.
I forced it down anyway.
“...I ate well.”
It felt like I had forced myself to fill a stomach that was not hungry.
And yet the unpleasant emptiness inside me remained.
That sensation dug into my mouth.
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
Apparently, I was not going to be able to stay still. I felt like I had to do something. Thinking that, I tried to move.
Tug.
“Hm?”
Yu Yeon grabbed my collar.
“...What? Why?”
“...”
“Don’t tell me you’re saying you’ll come with me.”
Nod.
“Hey. You don’t even know where I’m going, so why are you coming? Just rest at the house.”
Yu Yeon had only come along. There was no need to take her with me.
So I told her to just stay home, but—
“...”
Her gaze sharpened as she looked at me.
“...”
“...”
It seemed like she was going to come with me no matter what.
Hmm...
I thought for a moment. Was it all right to take her? I considered it, then—
...It would be good to have another pair of hands.
The Heaven-Slaying Star part bothered me, but because of that, I felt I should check on her a little too.
“Fine. Follow me. But you have to listen to what I say, all right?”
“...”
At my words, Yu Yeon’s eyes widened, and she nodded several times in a row.
Anyone watching would think we were going for a stroll.
Ah, if I was being technical, was it a stroll?
...A stroll soaked in the smell of blood.
A rather brutal stroll.
