Volume 1, Chapter 16
— — —
Candles burned.
The candles were countless. They illuminated the dark room, filling the space with light.
Each of those countless candles looked different.
Some burned with a blue flame, while others flickered precariously, on the verge of being extinguished. Some were just empty candles, unlit, while others blazed so brightly they seemed ready to consume themselves entirely.
“……”
And in the center of it all sat a figure wearing a demon mask.
Seated in the lotus position with eyes half-open, he was utterly still.
It was as if he were an inanimate object, destined to remain in that posture for eternity.
*Flicker!*
The moment a single candle flame died out was when the serene figure finally raised an eyebrow.
“Well, now…!”
His cracked voice was laced with deep regret.
“A seed has disappeared.”
He let out a faint sigh and gazed at the extinguished candle.
The candle whose flame had died was still long.
“Ansang Prefecture… so it was that boy from the Chagon Gang. Gwak Cheol-u… a fool who thought himself a fox.”
A low laugh escaped him.
The laugh, produced by his cracked voice, was as grating as scraping metal.
“Still, that Clan Lord fellow seemed quite useful. Greedy, and knew not his place. I believe he gave a rather handsome donation when he entrusted that boy to us…”
Rummaging through his memories, he casually posed a question.
“Do you remember?”
To the question from the man sitting alone in the seemingly empty room, an answer surprisingly returned.
“Yes.”
He showed no sign of surprise at the reply that came from thin air.
He accepted it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Kekeke. But how did he end up dead? The Clan Lord said he would make the boy his successor, so he wouldn't have died an early death on his own, would he? Wasn't the Chagon Gang a fairly powerful faction in Ansang Prefecture?”
“…I will look into it.”
“Ah! No need. Come to think of it, the Sincerity Gate is also in Ansang Prefecture. The Sincerity Gate… the Immortal Cloud Sword… Yes. There's no need to investigate.”
The man in the demon mask gave a small nod.
A low laugh continued to spill from him.
“If it was the Immortal Cloud Sword, then it makes sense. For a blind man, he is relentless. Tenacious and persistent. And for that, he is a pitiful man.”
At his low mumble, a cautious question emerged from the empty air.
“Do you intend to keep leaving him be? We have already lost a few ‘fingernails’ because of him. And now, even a ‘seed’…”
The demon mask nodded at the question from the void.
“Yes, we've lost fingernails. And this time, we've lost a seed.”
But he soon shook his head.
“Enough. Let us leave him be. He is, after all, just a blind man. We have plenty of fingernails, do we not? If we provoke him needlessly at such a crucial time, we will only commit the folly of stirring the grass and startling the snake. Do not forget that the grand plan is near.”
“I will obey your command.”
At the answer from the void, the demon mask nodded in satisfaction.
“Good. That's how it should be. Of course. And as for the seeds…”
The demon mask paused, his gaze turning toward the door.
Beyond the door, a faint sound could be heard from far away.
“Hah! Hup!”
“Hmph! Heup!”
They were the shouts of still-youthful voices.
Though the night was deep, the shouts were filled with power.
“Kekeke!”
The only visible part of his face, his two eyes, curved like crescent moons.
“Are they not plentiful? These foolish things who come to us, not knowing how they will be used. Oh! Look! Another seed has just been added. Let's see now.”
*Fwoosh!*
From a forlorn, empty candle, a flame arose.
The demon mask stared at the flame.
“Yes, yes. It's that child from the Hwang Eon Clan.”
The candle flame burned precariously.
* * * The blazing sun began to rear its head.
The dim dawn was brightening.
Just as on the way to the Chagon Gang, a quiet silence had settled over the path back to the Sincerity Gate with his Master.
But unlike before, this time it was not Ihoe who broke the silence, but his Master, Yu Hyeonjun.
“I was a scholar. No, I aspired to be a scholar, but I was a failed one.”
At the words, tossed out so casually, Ihoe’s gaze turned to his Master.
His Master had stopped walking and was looking at Ihoe.
“Born the only son of a poor family, I studied under the full weight of their expectations. I intended to become a scholar. But I failed the examination.”
“Ah…!”
It was the first time he had heard this story.
In his past life, his Master had never once spoken of his past.
So he was surprised.
‘A scholar?’
The very idea that his Master, who had earned the title of Immortal Cloud Sword, had once tried to become a scholar was unimaginable.
“After failing the exam, I couldn't find the courage to return home. So I didn't. Still, I knew how to read and write, so I managed to join a merchant caravan and make a living. Then I met a good woman. At a late age, I started a family with her, and we had one child after another.”
It was an ordinary story.
Which made it all the more surprising.
The past his Master spoke of had no connection whatsoever to the world of the Murim.
“A Black Way Gang approached me. They demanded I steal the caravan's ledgers. I refused their demand. And a short while later, I lost my family.”
“Ah…!”
Ihoe groaned.
His Master closed his eyes.
He did not stop his story.
“When I returned after finishing my work with the caravan, the house was covered in blood.”
The scene that unfolded before his eyes that night, when he returned home from the caravan as usual.
Blood was everywhere. The walls were covered with bloody handprints.
His children were gone, and only the cold corpse of his wife, bearing cruel wounds, lay abandoned.
“The culprits were the Black Way Gang who had demanded I steal the ledgers. But there was nothing I could do.”
The Black Way Gang were the culprits.
He had even found clear evidence.
But the authorities were silent; they turned a blind eye. In fact, they were desperate to silence him.
He went alone to protest. He tried to hold them accountable for their crime.
But against a Black Way Gang filled with martial artists, a lone individual who had never learned martial arts was utterly powerless.
He was mocked and insulted. Instead of answers, he only heard of the deaths of his children, whose fates had been unknown.
He was beaten and nearly killed to silence him.
“It was a stroke of luck. If not for the help of the caravan leader, I would have died then and there.”
With the caravan leader's help, he managed to escape with his life.
And so, he returned to his hometown.
Nightmares and self-loathing plagued him every night. He was breaking down from a boiling desire for revenge. In the end, he couldn't even stay a few months before leaving his hometown again.
He realized he needed power. He had learned to his very bones how useless justice without power was.
“I begged wandering warriors, Murim sects, for martial arts. I wished to gain even a sliver of power. I was refused. I was too old to begin learning martial arts, and I had nothing to offer, so who would teach me? Then, I met a benefactor.”
He wandered the Murim, begging for martial arts.
Being turned away at the gates of Murim sects and mocked by wandering warriors was a common occurrence.
He was exhausted and weary.
Then, he met a benefactor.
“He was a martial scholar. From him, a man who had dedicated his life to studying martial arts, I obtained two manuals. They were Myriad Liberations and Heaven's Will.”
Myriad Liberations and Heaven's Will, obtained from an old martial scholar whose name he didn't even know.
The martial scholar didn't know the origin of the two secret manuals either. He said he had simply acquired them from an old bookstore long ago and had studied them his entire life, yet had failed to grasp even a glimpse of their principles.
“I immersed myself in them like a madman. I nearly died from Qi Deviation time and again from reckless attempts, only to survive. Even so, I couldn't possibly stop.”
The two secret manuals, whose effectiveness and origins were unknown, were his only hope. They were his purpose in life, his everything.
He had to master the two manuals, gain power, and complete his revenge for his family. If he couldn't, he felt it would be better to die.
So he was reckless, and he had nothing to fear.
And because of that, he was able to learn them.
“I opened Myriad Liberations and found my path in Heaven's Will. I took my revenge. I annihilated the Black Way Gang that had stolen my family from me. Then I found the other Black Way Gang that had instigated them and took revenge on them as well. It was one after another. In this way, I destroyed five Black Way Gangs.”
It was something he had accomplished alone after learning martial arts.
Before he knew it, the world had given him the moniker Immortal Cloud Sword.
Some feared him, while others called him a righteous hero.
“You said my sword looked sad and tormented? You saw well. Revenge and killing intent. That is my Myriad Liberations, and that was the path of Heaven's Will that I opened.”
Revenge was empty, and killing intent gnaws away even at oneself.
His body and mind were both being eaten away.
He believed his revenge was over, that his purpose was gone.
That was why he established the Sincerity Gate.
Even so, he couldn't bear it.
After the purpose of revenge vanished, he couldn't control his empty heart and his wandering killing intent.
“Right before I met you, I was thinking of taking my own life. There was no use in remaining. Then I met you. If my dead child were still alive, he would have been about your age.”
Their first meeting had taken place in a land filled with death from a plague.
He postponed taking his own life because of Ihoe, who reminded him of his dead child. He accepted him as his first disciple. After that, he began to take in more disciples.
After that, the emotions of each moment became another reason to live.
“Thanks to you, I did not take my own life. So, you are the one who saved me.”
“…”
His Master smiled.
But Ihoe could not smile back.
Because now he understood.
His Master's overwhelming martial prowess and his vicious Killing Sword, displayed at the Chagon Gang.
And why, despite all that, he had looked so sad and tormented.
He now knew things he hadn't known in his past life.
And so, he could understand his Master, Yu Hyeonjun, a little better.
Just like Ihoe and the other junior brothers and sisters of the Sincerity Gate, his Master, Yu Hyeonjun, also carried pain.
“So, believe in me. Though I may be a lacking master, I am your Master, and your guardian. No matter the moment, I will protect you—all of you.”
At his Master's next words, Ihoe could finally smile.
Why hadn't he known?
In his past life, he had thought of him as just an indifferent master and had never imagined he would step forward to protect his disciples.
That was why, even while resenting him, he had only tried not to be a burden to his Master, Yu Hyeonjun.
But that wasn't true.
It had been true at the recent meeting. It had been true when the assassins attacked today. And it had been true with the Chagon Gang.
His Master had always protected Ihoe, protected his disciples.
He had proven it himself.
That's why he couldn't hide his smile.
“Yes!”
The answer was strong and bright. There was no hesitation.
Seeing that, the smile on his Master's face deepened.
“Take this.”
Then, his Master handed his own sword to Ihoe.
“As the Head Disciple, from this day forward, this is your sword. It is not a fine sword, but it will be more than sufficient for learning the Heaven's Will Sword.”
And so, he received the sword, worn by his Master's hands.
“Unfurl the Heaven's Will Sword with that blade. If you don't remember, then perform it as you don't remember. If you do, then perform it as you do. Just do it comfortably.”
It was the beginning of his training.
“This time, I will watch your sword.”
It was a different beginning from his past life.
*Grip.*
The sword, worn by his Master's hands, fit snugly in his own.
The energy of Myriad Liberations rose gently and permeated his entire body.
Ihoe nodded.
“Yes!”
He moved the sword.
There was no way he wouldn't remember.
It was the Heaven's Will Sword he had practiced countless times in his past life.
0 Comments