NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43
With hair flowing like clouds, the Sword Saint Mo Yongcheon made his appearance after several years.
“What on earth are you doing, Mo Yong?”
“Shut up.”
“!!”
The foremost of the Shaking Blade Alliance, Grandmaster Seon Il-ho, fell silent as if he’d swallowed bees.
“Is it that the Demon Cult has become pathetic, or is it that the younger generation has grown up in a time of peace? How incredibly arrogant.”
Despite the Sword Saint’s scornful words and gaze, Grandmaster Seon Il-ho from the Sword Alliance, along with no one else, could utter a word.
“In my time at the forefront of the martial world, the Demon Cult’s forces roamed the central lands without a care, boasting about being righteous martial artists. Why? Because at night, the assassins of the Demon Cult would strike.”
“Th-that was… a long time ago!”
“It was a long time ago. Yes, a very distant past. A horrific time that should never return.”
The Sword Saint growled at the Shaking Blade Alliance.
“You managed to end that era and open a time of peace, yet here I am, witnessing you shouting noisily and threatening those who brought that peace—I cannot simply stand idle!”
“Wh-wh-at do you mean threat?!”
“You are trying to coerce your opponent, wagering honor and righteousness, even worse than the minions of the Demon Cult!”
“!!”
Grandmaster Seon Il-ho’s eyes widened.
At that moment, those surrounding him began to slowly back away, creating distance.
“W-w-what did you just say?!”
“Your level is no different from that of the Heavenly Demon of the Demon Cult in that respect!”
“W-what did you say!!”
“Even if you try to dress it up as a noble saying, like ‘a puppy doesn’t know fear,’ the rancid schemes on your face are all too visible!”
With fierce eyes, the Sword Saint reached out.
“I heard you wanted to marry the daughter of the Mo Yong family, now that you’ve supposedly recovered from the Sickness of Absolute Meridians!”
“Th-this…!”
“The Demon Cult wouldn’t go that far!”
“How dare you!”
If elderly men had heard this, they would have found it completely incomprehensible.
“Are you insulting us like this?!”
No.
Was Grandmaster Seon Il-ho out of his mind?
How could he act like this against the Sword Saint?
That idea could only be held by those over the age of 40.
Those who didn’t experience the Demon Cult’s reign of terror or were born after the crisis had ended were unaware of the differences in rank.
“Tsk tsk. Who do you think raised the status of the White Path’s martial world? You insignificant bugs, thinking it’s all due to your merits, running around chaotically.”
From the Sword Saint’s hand, a sharp blade emerged.
“I will handle this.”
That blade shimmered with the power to slice through anything, and the Sword Saint swung it slowly.
“Today, I will collect your martial arts.”
Swish.
With a single cut.
However, that strike spread out instantly, scattering into seven parts.
Thud!
With a sound of something embedding, seven young men knelt down.
“Cu-cough…?”
“Rest easy. You will not be hurt.”
The onlookers were astonished.
The Sword Saint’s strike had clearly passed through the abdomen of the Shaking Blade Alliance, yet there was no blood bursting forth.
However, they fell.
In the blink of an eye, all seven knelt, collapsing.
“C-cough…!”
Blood erupted from their mouths.
“Th-this…!”
“Simply.”
The Sword Saint lightly waved a hand as he walked past the fallen members of the Shaking Blade Alliance, standing before the entrance of the Mo Yong family.
“I only severed your dantian.”
“!!”
“Foolish ones.”
The Sword Saint clicked his tongue and shook his head at the members of the Shaking Blade Alliance, who were no longer martial artists.
“You enjoyed your youth while I, along with my peers, fought daily against the assassins of the Demon Cult with our lives on the line. To think you would use the martial arts you easily gained in the era built on the blood they shed to threaten the family of a hero—what a degradation of the martial world’s principles!”
Even at the Sword Saint’s lamentation, none could rebut.
The elderly understood.
They knew how torturous and dreadful the era he spoke of was, a period they wished to forget.
A time when the principles of the martial world had fallen.
“A change in the times is necessary.”
The Sword Saint stood at the entrance of the Mo Yong family.
“Hey.”
“Yes, Sword Saint.”
Standing before the guards at the entrance of the Mo Yong family, the Sword Saint politely gestured inside.
“Though I’m not an expected guest, I’ve heard my son is currently speaking as a guest of the Mo Yong family. I’m sorry for the abrupt visit, but could you ask your lord if this old man may enter the home of a friend?”
As the Sword Saint pulled out a white porcelain cup from his sleeve, it gently swayed.
He looked like an old friend visiting a long-lost acquaintance.
[Let him in.]
“!!”
With the deep voice echoing from within the Mo Yong family, their front doors flew wide open.
The owner of that voice, the Sword Saint, was not there.
However, everyone before the entrance clearly heard that voice.
“P-please come in.”
“Yes. I will excuse myself.”
The Sword Saint lightly patted the shoulder of the gatekeeper just before entering.
“There’s no need to worry about them.”
He slyly pointed with his eyes at the fallen members of the Shaking Blade Alliance.
“Those who don’t even understand the difference in ranks, recklessly coming at me, can no longer be called ‘martial artists.’ They have ceased to be martial artists.”
When the dantian is destroyed.
The inner energies accumulated within will all dissipate, and they become unable to use martial arts.
Basically, it means they are not dead but are dead as martial artists.
“H-how…! How could this…!”
“Shut it.”
“!!”
“On a fine day like today, I simply didn’t want to see blood.”
The Sword Saint brushed his long beard with his hand, clicking his tongue.
“Even if I must spill blood, how could I sully my hands with the blood of those who are inferior even to the Heavenly Demon of the Demon Cult?”
“C-cough…!”
The Shaking Blade Alliance.
Now, the former martial artists, seven commoners, collapsed while spewing blood.
The Sword Saint.
While visiting the Mo Yong family, he extinguished the dantian of those who provoked him at the gate with a single strike, revealing himself to the world once more.
* * *
“Hmm.”
The Sword Saint, Pangwol hummed as he headed inside the estate.
The warriors and retainers of the Mo Yong family stood before him to guide the way, yet he walked down the halls of the Mo Yong family, led by memory.
“It’s changed a lot since the last time I came.”
At the Sword Saint’s muttering, the warriors of Mo Yong flinched, but the Sword Saint kept walking leisurely.
Yes.
This is the gaze toward a ‘Grandmaster.’
Even though those so-called young squires of the Shaking Blade Alliance didn’t even comprehend the differences in ranks and were lost in the astounding achievements they had quickly attained, they were naïve children who didn’t know how high the sky was.
The foremost master of the Shaking Blade Alliance, one who reached Grandmaster level, was probably around thirty years old?
No matter how fast martial artists of this age might achieve martial arts proficiency and ascend in rank, becoming a Grandmaster at thirty was still considered an extraordinary genius.
But what good was it?
There was no trace of respect toward seniors, nor any acknowledgment of the strong.
The fact that he had not killed them was already a display of mercy.
Thirty years ago, they would have already lost their heads.
“Ah.”
The Sword Saint let out a long sigh.
What of that hair?
He should have received this gaze long ago, but that hair had hindered the grandeur of the Grandmaster from being seen in public.
If he had continued to participate in events and show himself all this time, many would have felt a wall while trying to gauge the Sword Saint’s level and would have bowed their heads.
However, for the last dozen years or so, the Grandmasters had not needed to display their strength.
The Sword Saint had retreated in his own way, but had there been a significant incident in the martial world, he too would have stepped forward regardless of his hair.
“Living in a peaceful era without crisis, you don’t even understand how wonderful it is, and you dare to provoke the symbol of that peace. How audacious.”
What they committed couldn’t be hidden behind youthful bravado.
The Sword Saint lamented as he continued walking—
“……!!”
The Sword Saint’s steps halted.
Despite being some distance away, he could distinctly sense something.
Step, step.
Something was approaching from afar.
Was it a sharp sword, or was it the very wind itself coming closer?
“Ha.”
The Sword Saint felt it.
Because he was a Grandmaster, and because he was standing before a certain ‘wall’ among the Grandmasters, he could feel it clearly.
“Long time no see, Senior.”
The Sword Saint faced the Sword Saint Mo Yongcheon.
“…Now I understand why you still carry the title of ‘Sword Saint.’ Was it hidden before?”
“It wasn’t hidden; you’ve achieved ‘enlightenment’ and can now see it.”
“…Me?”
“When one unburdens their heart, the world appears differently.”
“…….”
Whup.
The wind blew, and the Sword Saint’s hair flared wildly.
And in that wind, the Sword Saint saw.
“I can see you have already transcended the boundaries of life and death. Or rather… should I say you have reached nature itself?”
“…….”
“I see. No, it’s not that. You can still respond to the ‘call of the heavens’ as you still remain.”
“If I had no lingering feelings, I would depart the martial world, but without those feelings, I have no reason to leave.”
“Have you missed your chance?”
“It’s not that I’ve missed it. If there’s regret, it’s theirs, not mine.”
The Sword Saint pointed to the sky, shrugging.
“Impressive. I thought I had caught up, but from the very start, you were already the heavens.”
“Not much. You can reach it too, Senior.”
“Thank you for the encouragement, Sword Saint.”
The Sword Saint readied his stance toward the Sword Saint.
“So, could it be that you’ve remained on the ground instead of ascending to the Sword’s Summit because of your daughter?”
“Of course.”
A thought passed through the Sword Saint’s mind.
If his daughter had died.
Would the Sword Saint have remained in this world then?
But now that his daughter lived, there was no reason to turn his back on the world.
“Ha ha ha. Yes, I want to see my grandchildren’s faces…”
“…….”
“Oh dear.”
The Sword Saint saw.
“Looks like you still appear as a senior.”
At the moment he mentioned grandchildren, the Sword Saint’s face distorted.
“Let it all out. After all, I have three daughters.”
“…Come inside, Senior.”
The suddenly gloomy demeanor of the Sword Saint struck the Sword Saint as all too human.
Just as he had been long ago.