Chapter 58: Spirit Treasure (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 58: Spirit Treasure (3)
A space shrouded in mist.
An old man with the air of a transcendent immortal, dressed in pure white robes, stood holding a sword that shimmered with a snowy light, watching me.
I couldn't comprehend this bizarre phenomenon.
Just in case, I called out to the Lesser Conversation Sword and the Namcheon Iron Sword in my mind.
‘Sodam. Namcheon.’
There was no response, as if they couldn't hear my voice.
What exactly was happening?
‘Is this the Heavenly Secret?’
It felt as though I were seeing an illusion, much like the ability of the Heavenly Secret—one of the stars of the Big Dipper.
However, an illusion usually meant seeing a fleeting glimpse of the past remembered by a sword. Strangely, this old man seemed to be looking directly at me.
Then, the old man opened his mouth.
— You have opened even the Heavenly Authority.
...Was he actually speaking to me right now?
The scene unfolding before me was an illusion. Yet, a being within that illusion was addressing me.
The old man let out a hearty laugh.
— Ho-ho-ho. You are a suspicious child.
He really was talking to me.
The old man slowly approached. Wary, I tried to prepare myself for something, but I couldn't move my feet. It felt as if the ground itself was holding me captive.
The old man stopped right in front of me.
I had never felt an energy so pure and clear before.
— Having lived a life that was far from smooth, it is only natural that you find it difficult to trust others easily.
I was startled by his words. It felt as if he were peering through my very soul.
‘...Who are you, Elder?’
At my question, the old man gave a gentle smile.
— People of the world used to call this old man the Sword Immortal.
‘The... The Sword Immortal!’
The Sword Immortal.
A legendary warrior who had reached the pinnacle of the path of the sword. Was this old man truly that Sword Immortal?
The smiling old man reached out his hand.
‘Ah!’
Regardless of my will, my arm rose on its own, and my hand was placed upon his palm.
The old man held my hand softly, as if cradling a flower petal. He closed his eyes and nodded.
As I watched him in confusion, the man who called himself the Sword Immortal spoke.
— You have learned a straight and good sword technique.
‘Pardon?’
— It is a sword that suits you well.
‘I don't understand what you mean...’
— I have seen the sword you have mastered.
‘Are you talking about the Life Bright Sword Technique?’
— Indeed.
How could he know that just by holding my hand? I was utterly bewildered.
Wait, I had only been holding the Spirit Treasure in my hand for a moment. Why was this happening?
As questions swirled in my mind, the Sword Immortal said to me:
— My Spirit Fragment is contained within the Spirit Treasure. That is why I am able to meet you like this.
A Spirit Fragment?
Did he mean his soul was contained within it, like the Blood Demon's Spirit Fragment?
— You could say it is similar.
That meant the person before me wasn't just an illusion, but the actual Sword Immortal. I was dumbfounded.
— You are an interesting child.
‘...I find this situation hard to believe.’
The Sword Immortal was one of the few greatest warriors in the history of the Central Plains. Any swordsman—no, any martial artist—would revere him. If he truly was the Sword Immortal, there were so many things I wanted to ask.
‘I... I didn't know that Spirit Treasure was real. Does that mean both of them are Spirit Treasures left behind by you, Elder?’
— That is correct.
‘Ah...’
So the Spirit Treasure Tian Wuxing possessed was real as well. Who could have imagined that the Sword Immortal had left behind two Spirit Treasures?
Though I hadn't said a word, the Sword Immortal spoke as if reading my thoughts.
— Before I ascended, I divided my Spirit Fragment into three and placed them into the Spirit Treasures.
‘Three?’
That meant...
— Even I, who read the Heavenly Secret, did not know that one person would come to possess two of them.
What should I call this? Should I call it a stroke of luck?
— It must be that the Spirit Treasures shared a destiny with you, regardless of my intent.
As the Sword Immortal said, it seemed to be an incredible stroke of fate. Based on his words, it didn't seem like he intended for one person to obtain all the Spirit Treasures.
But come to think of it, I hadn't obtained either of the two Spirit Treasures because I sought them out.
— That is likely. A Spirit Treasure does not fall into the hands of those who try to possess it.
‘What do you mean by that?’
— One can only obtain it when the threads of fate connect, as they have for you. Furthermore, fortunately, two Spirit Fragments have gathered, allowing me to face you and converse like this.
‘Wait...’
Now that I thought about it, this voice was familiar. I had heard it every time I opened Eternal Autumn, Heavenly Immortal, Heavenly Secret, and Heavenly Authority. To think those voices belonged to the Sword Immortal.
— However, if we continue this conversation, the Spirit Fragment will gradually dissipate, which would not be a very good thing for you.
Did he mean the Spirit Fragment was being consumed? If so, there wasn't much time. I had to ask for his guidance.
I wanted to kneel and bow, but my body wouldn't move.
The Sword Immortal smiled and said to me:
— You do not need to observe formalities.
‘But...’
— In truth, I wonder if my teachings will hold much meaning for you.
‘Why is that?’
— Among the Spirit Treasures I left behind, you have obtained the greatest one. The power to commune with the sword is the very essence of my everything.
‘Communion with the sword.’
I understood what he meant. He was talking about the ability to hear the Voice of the Sword. Indeed, thanks to that, I had escaped numerous crises and could commune with the Sodam Sword, the Namcheon Iron Sword, and even the Blood Demon Sword.
— The sword marks I left on the scrolls cannot be said to be significantly superior to the swords you have already mastered.
‘What do you mean? If the Sword Immortal's techniques aren't superior, then what...’
— Do you know the phrase "All Streams Return to One"?
All Streams Return to One.
It meant that all streams eventually merge into one at the end. It was a phrase most commonly heard by those who study martial arts and the Way. They say that all martial arts eventually take a single form at their peak, but I hadn't truly felt the weight of those words yet.
The Sword Immortal gave a hearty laugh.
— There is no better experience than feeling it for yourself.
With a light wave of his hand, my frozen body began to move. And before I knew it, the Namcheon Iron Sword, which I was most familiar with, was in my hand.
‘Namcheon.’
But I couldn't hear any voice.
The Sword Immortal said to me:
— A martial form is the standardization of a sword's movement and its trajectory. However, as one's enlightenment deepens, the movements inevitably become simplified.
— Swish!
The Sword Immortal lightly drew a straight line with his white-lit sword. It was a simple stroke. Yet, strangely, it felt complex, as if countless sword forms had been condensed into one.
‘W-what is this...’
As I stood in awe, the Sword Immortal beckoned to me.
— Show me the sword form you are most familiar with.
‘The form I'm most familiar with...’
— Do as your heart leads you.
I didn't fully understand, but I felt I should do as he said. I gave a light bow toward the Sword Immortal and took the Qi Control Stance for the 6th form of the Life Bright Sword Technique, the Chasing Return Sword.
Although I had the stronger 7th form, the Twelve Heavenly Realm Sword, I couldn't bring out its true power no matter how many times I tried, so the Chasing Return Sword was the most familiar to me now.
‘Whew.’
Steadying my breath, I unleashed the Chasing Return Sword toward the Sword Immortal in a single burst. The sword, held at an angle, rotated and created a sharp whirlwind of wind pressure.
How would the Sword Immortal respond to this?
‘!?’
What?
I was expecting some grand counter, but the Sword Immortal simply thrust his sword forward lightly. It wasn't a special technique, just a simple thrust.
In that moment, something unbelievable happened.
— Clang!
His sword pierced the very center of the Chasing Return Sword. Then, as the tips of the swords collided, the Namcheon Iron Sword I was holding was repelled instead.
And it had been just a simple thrust.
‘How could this...’
The moment the Sword Immortal's blade touched the tip of my violently rotating sword, a complex transformation occurred within that simple thrust. That subtle sensation was a realm so far beyond me that I couldn't grasp even a speck of it.
Could even the Eight Great Masters or the Four Great Villains show such swordsmanship? I could only marvel.
— You have talent. If you didn't have even a bit of talent for the sword, you wouldn't have even been able to perceive that.
‘Even if you say that, for me, it's just...’
— Do not be impatient. Even if you take many paths, they must eventually lead to one.
Was it the same principle as a Sword Formula? Was that what the end of the sword or martial arts was like? My mind was a mess.
— The tangible eventually becomes formless. If you continue on the path of the sword, you will naturally come to understand my words.
Then what could I possibly learn from the Sword Immortal? I couldn't let this opportunity slip away. I knelt once more and spoke to him.
‘I am still lacking in many ways. Please teach me your sword, Elder.’
Even if he had reached the realm of All Streams Return to One and the Formless Sword, there must have been a technique that led him there. I wanted to learn even that.
However, the Sword Immortal shook his head.
— I have forgotten all swords that retain a form.
‘You mean the forms you once mastered?’
— Those forms were also imperfect in the end, so I erased them from my mind.
I felt a sudden sense of futility. Relatively speaking, the Sword Immortal was in a realm too different from mine. Enlightenment isn't something that can be gained through words, so what could I possibly learn?
Seeing my disappointment, the Sword Immortal smiled broadly.
— I shall set the path for your sword.
‘Pardon?’
— Your sword was refined by a single swordsman. But it is a sword that is not yet complete, is it not?
The Life Bright Sword Technique.
It was the technique the Namcheon Sword Guest had spent his entire life honing. Even until the moment of his death, he had continued to refine and develop it.
Now, the Sword Immortal was offering to lead my Life Bright Sword Technique toward a higher path of mastery.
*
Near the infirmary building of Peerless Fortress.
In a dark alley, seven middle-aged men in black martial robes were gathered. One of them was Gu Yang-gyeong, the Sect Leader of the Seomgyeong Martial Sect.
Gu Yang-gyeong commanded the men.
"The rest of you follow me. The other four, eliminate all the warriors of the Mucheonjeong Sect and then regroup."
"Understood, Sect Leader."
The men who answered put on the masks they had prepared. Watching them, Gu Yang-gyeong let out a shallow breath. He reached into his robe to pull out a mask but felt the silk pouch at his fingertips.
‘The Explosive Blood Pill.’
It was the item delivered by the man who had visited his office. According to the note, consuming it would cause all blood vessels to surge, allowing one to exert power several times greater than their original internal energy.
‘Whew.’
However, there was a side effect. Because it forcibly induced an effect similar to Qi Deviation, one would go mad and run wild as their blood vessels surged. And once that power was exhausted, more than forty percent of one's internal energy would be depleted.
The note said to use this to deal with the Merciless Wind God or to seek a reversal of the situation.
‘...As if I would eat this.’
He had no intention of sacrificing himself by taking it.
Fortunately, a perfect situation had arisen. He had received word that the Sect Leaders of the Sea King Fortress Sect and the Wind Shadow Eight Streams Sect had gone to the Golden Prison of Peerless Fortress, and the man said to be the son of the Merciless Wind God had gone to the infirmary at the Muchen Sword Emperor's summons.
‘I just have to make him eat it.’
He couldn't miss such a golden opportunity. If he forcibly fed this to the son of the Merciless Wind God and made him run wild, he could naturally escalate the situation.
Gu Yang-gyeong put on the mask he had taken from his robe.
"Let's go."
This was a hidden force he had prepared for a day like this. Leading them, Gu Yang-gyeong immediately infiltrated the infirmary.
Moving stealthily inside, he was faced with an unexpected situation.
"They are all dead."
The Mucheonjeong Sect warriors guarding the infirmary were all dead. He examined the bodies; they had all been killed in a single strike by a sharp weapon, as if they had been assassinated.
He couldn't understand what was going on. He went upstairs, but everyone there was dead as well.
‘What on earth happened? Could that man have done this?’
Come to think of it, that man was the one who had raised questions about why the true Muchen Sword Emperor was still alive. Gu Yang-gyeong was seized by an inexplicable sense of foreboding. If the Muchen Sword Emperor or the son of the Merciless Wind God were dead, everything would be for naught.
He hurried up to the third floor.
‘Ah!’
Upon reaching the third floor, an even more unexpected sight awaited him.
Tian Wuxing, the Muchen Sword Emperor, was collapsed in front of the stairs. One of the masked men checked his pulse and soon shook his head. He was dead.
"And that man?"
"It's him."
Besides the dead Muchen Sword Emperor, there was another corpse that had been decapitated. In front of it stood a young man wearing an eyepatch, standing as stiffly as a stone statue.
He was standing blankly, but his state was strange.
Gu Yang-gyeong gestured for them to check if he was dead. Two masked men nodded, approached the man, and held their hands under his nose.
"He's alive."
"Ha!"
How could he be this lucky? It seemed that man had prepared the situation in advance. Likely, the son of the Merciless Wind God had his pressure points struck and was frozen in that state.
‘I just need to feed it to him.’
He was glad things were working out. Gu Yang-gyeong pulled the silk pouch from his robe. He then approached the son of the Merciless Wind God, who stood like a statue.
‘Consider this the price for messing things up because of you.’
He took a pill out of the pouch. Just as he was about to carefully put the pill into the young man's mouth...
The man's mouth snapped shut.
‘Huh?’
The vacant look in the eyes of the Merciless Wind God's son returned to normal.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Tsk!"
He realized he had to subdue him. Gu Yang-gyeong hurriedly moved his hand to strike the young man's pressure points.
In that instant, the young man blocked his hand.
— Thud!
‘This brat?’
Since he was right in front of him, Gu Yang-gyeong was confident he could subdue him. But his hand was blocked far too easily. Thinking he had been careless, he was about to unleash a palm technique when—
"Gah!"
Startled by a sharp flash of sword light, Gu Yang-gyeong hurriedly used a changing tide to try and deflect the sword that was about to cleave him in two with a palm strike.
But the moment his hand collided with the sword—
— Boom!
His body was pushed back nearly eight steps by a powerful repulsive force. Gu Yang-gyeong looked at him in shock.
The son of the Merciless Wind God, however, stood there without having moved a single step.
‘...His internal power has increased.’
Only this afternoon, Gu Yang-gyeong had been superior. He had thought he could easily subdue him, but the man seemed completely different now.
— Clack!
Just then, his foot hit something. He glanced down at the object rolling on the floor.
‘No way?’
It was none other than the man who had visited his office. The man he had considered an expert nearly equal to or greater than himself had been separated into body and head.
Realizing something had gone wrong, he disguised his voice and shouted.
"Kill him!"
At his command, the four masked men nearby surrounded the young man and took their positions. All of them were peak experts. His only thought now was to escape while they dealt with him.
In that moment, something unbelievable happened.
The son of the Merciless Wind God swung his sword in a circle.
— Slash-slash-slash!
"Aaargh!"
"Guh!"
The bodies of two of the masked men surrounding him from four directions were sliced in half.
And they hadn't even been touched by the sword.
‘He... he unleashed sharp killing intent...’