The Sword That Calls
The next day, at the hour of the snake, Ouyang Qiangang arrived at the imperial palace precisely on time.
A martial officer in his thirties, waiting at the main gate, received him with meticulous courtesy.
"I am Choi Hwan, a Thousand Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, charged with the administration of the Imperial Treasury. I have been waiting on His Majesty's orders. Allow me to escort you, Young Master Hahu."
Following Choi Hwan, Qiangang made his way toward the deepest reaches of the palace — a direction entirely different from Myeonghwa Palace or the Crown Prince's residence, his usual haunts.
Choi Hwan's steps carried them toward the very heart of the imperial grounds, a forbidden zone within forbidden zones where no one was permitted to set foot uninvited.
As he walked, Qiangang let his gaze wander over the magnificent buildings around him. Looking up at the colossal eaves that seemed to press down upon him and the stone halls boasting centuries of history, he found himself reminded, anew, of just how alien a presence he was here.
'Akasha.'
"Yes, Doctor."
'I'm feeling... rather conflicted right now.'
"Conflicted in what way?"
Qiangang slowed to a halt and tilted his head back toward the sky. White clouds drifted idly across the blue.
'I was a man of the twenty-first century. I never had any particular attachment to this Hwan Empire. It's not as if the lives of the imperial family were ever my concern.'
"Understood. And yet you gave this matter your very best, didn't you?"
'That was... purely for the sake of the Ouyang Clan and the people I'd come to know. If the imperial house wavered and the empire fell into chaos, the livelihoods of everyone I know — their very lives — would be put at risk. There was no way around it.'
Akasha fell silent for a moment before answering in a gentle voice.
"Your motive is a supremely rational form of altruism, Doctor — one that places the stability of your connected social network above all else. I judge it to be an admirable motive."
'Is that so?'
Qiangang clicked his tongue and pressed on.
'Honestly, though, my interest in the Dark Current was limited as well. I knew they were dangerous, but at first I had no intention of moving against them unless they directly threatened me or the people around me.'
"And in the end, you moved against them anyway."
'I had no choice. They reached for me first.'
Resuming his pace, Qiangang went on.
'If I could help it, I didn't want to lay my knowledge or your power bare. I wanted to focus on nothing but the treatment of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.'
"I understand why. Your knowledge and my capabilities are the very pinnacle of superscience to this era."
'Exactly. And their exposure wouldn't necessarily be a blessing to the people of this age. Besides, once you share such things, living on while ignoring the consequences that trail behind them becomes impossible. You have to answer for them.'
"Hmm... which puts you in direct conflict with your original plan, Doctor — the one where you intended to live out your days in idle leisure after curing the Nine Yin Severed Meridians."
A bittersweet smile touched Qiangang's lips.
'Right. And look how that turned out. I ended up prying into the royal family's innermost secrets and winning the Emperor's trust to the point of being admitted into the Imperial Treasury itself.'
"You saved a great many people along the way, Doctor. Princess Myeonghwa, the Crown Prince, and countless innocents besides."
'That's true, but—'
Qiangang broke off mid-sentence. Choi Hwan had slowed his pace and turned to look back at him.
"Young Master, we arrive at the Imperial Treasury shortly."
A colossal stone building rose into Qiangang's view. It radiated an oppressive grandeur on an entirely different order from every other structure — the true bearing of an empire's treasure house.
Standing sentry before it were the finest of the imperial guard.
Qiangang came to a stop before the massive bronze gate, better than ten feet tall, which exuded an air of outright rejection, as though it meant to deny everything from the world outside.
'Akasha — whatever the case, it's already done. Regretting it now would be pointless.'
"That is true, Doctor."
'And come to think of it, this isn't so bad. I wanted a quiet life at first, but in the end, I helped the people I was able to help, didn't I?'
"That is right. Thanks to your choices, many were saved."
Qiangang fixed his eyes on the Imperial Treasury and spoke with force.
'It will be the same from here on. If the people around me, or the innocent, are ever in danger, I won't hesitate. Whether the Nine Yin Severed Meridians is cured or not, whether my plan to live as a man of leisure falls to pieces — none of it matters.'
"Doctor..."
'As long as I've set foot in this world and am living in it, I've become a part of this place. I have no intention of running.'
"Whatever choice you make, Doctor, I will support it. Always."
'Thank you, Akasha.'
"Think nothing of it. We are partners, after all."
Qiangang stood before the great iron door of the Imperial Treasury, flanked by its soldiers, and drew a long breath.
Thousand Commander Choi Hwan spoke.
"You may carry out one thing and one thing only. I doubt it will come to that, but if you are caught concealing anything, you will not keep your life. You have two hours."
Qiangang nodded. "It won't come to that."
The soldiers heaved the massive iron door open, and Qiangang strode into the Imperial Treasury.
Dry, cold air steeped in centuries of history brushed across his cheeks. Woven through it were the musty scent of old paper, the chill breath of metal, and a strange fragrance he could not place.
In an absolute silence where even time seemed to have stopped, the only sound was the drumming of his own heart.
The vast chamber rose toward a ceiling a hundred feet overhead, and set into it in a triangular arrangement were three doors. Above each hung a plaque: the Armory, the Scripture Library, and the Treasure Vault.
"A scale beyond imagining."
Without hesitation, Qiangang headed for the Scripture Library. That what he needed most was this world's knowledge was beyond any doubt.
Of course, he had not the slightest intention of actually carrying out a book. Once Akasha scanned them, she could hold their every word in perfect memory.
The moment he opened the Scripture Library's door, a magnificent vista spread out before him, and for an instant he was simply overwhelmed. Centuries of the empire's accumulated knowledge lay open before his eyes: turtle shells carved with oracle bone script, bamboo slips, parchment, and uncountable volumes, all shelved in flawless order, in an environment where even temperature and humidity were perfectly controlled.
"Doctor, I will scan the interior at once."
Moments later, her report followed.
"Somewhere beyond three hundred thousand volumes, classified by field — history, medicine, martial arts, general erudition, and more."
'Good. Let's start with what I need most.'
What Qiangang sought out first were this world's historical records. With the delicate, exacting handwork honed through martial training, he turned the pages in a blur — and the instant his fingers brushed one, Akasha scanned its contents whole.
"The founding history of the Hwan Empire, the Veritable Records of the successive Emperors, chronicles of the neighboring states... There is a great deal of interest here."
It took Qiangang a mere five seconds to sweep through a book two inches thick. He set comprehension aside for later and devoted himself entirely to the turning of pages.
By the time he had passed through several hundred volumes, his temples had begun to throb. It was not mere visual information — it was the crushing weight of whole eras of history being hammered into his skull.
Having completed the scanning of some four hundred historical texts in thirty minutes, Qiangang moved on to the medical section.
'We did acquire the Classic of Life and Death and the secret records of the Heavenly Mechanism Blood, but that can't be the whole of this world's medicine. If I could fill in what's missing here...'
"Doctor, many of these medical texts record unique treatment methods that even modern medicine would struggle to explain."
Qiangang scanned as many medical volumes as he had histories in another thirty minutes, then moved toward where the martial manuals were kept. It was then that a shelf devoted to general erudition caught his eye, and in it he found tomes on the mystic art of Qimen Dunjia, the construction of mechanisms, and battle formations.
'These should prove useful when I go wandering the jianghu.'
After scanning a hundred and fifty volumes of general knowledge in ten minutes, he made for the shelves of martial manuals.
Qiangang's eyes went wide. Far more volumes than he had imagined were packed tight upon them.
"Doctor — the number of martial manuals here comes to some five thousand volumes. It appears to span the orthodox sects, the unorthodox paths, and the demonic arts alike."
'Five thousand? That is a staggering number.'
Qiangang stood a while before the shelves, lost in thought.
'I don't expect to find any peerless secret manual here. No sect would ever have paid tribute of its true esoteric arts to the imperial palace.'
"Then what is it that you want?"
'Exposure. Nothing more. I want to grasp the character of the many schools and gather whatever might serve as reference for refining my own arts.'
Acutely aware that his time was short, Qiangang moved swiftly between the shelves and set about winnowing.
'There's no time to be choosy, so I'll scan the oldest and the thickest first. The old ones will sit closest to the original sources, and the thick ones will be rich in content.'
"A rational judgment, Doctor."
With hands quickened by martial training, he gave priority to the ancient tomes and the weightiest manuals. As he scanned the five hundred-odd manuals he had winnowed out over forty minutes, Qiangang found himself marveling at the diversity and depth of this world's martial arts.
He could not properly digest them, so focused was he on the turning of pages — but he could still catch the essence of many arts, the way a rider glimpses mountains from horseback. Each sect possessed its own distinctive philosophy and method of training, and together they wove one vast, overarching system of the martial way.
"Scanning complete. Ten minutes remain, Doctor."
Qiangang made for the Armory last of all. Among the five supreme techniques of the Nine Dragons Myriad Mountain Blade was the Seongra Grand Sword Form, and he wanted a sword proper to unleash it. The Treasure Vault he did not spare a single glance — for he believed no treasure in the universe surpassed Akasha.
In the Armory, legendary blades of the highest order greeted his eyes — Ganjiang, Moye, and their ilk. But Qiangang felt no pull toward them. He walked on, surveying the divine weapons, until all at once his steps stopped.
Vmmm... vmmm... vmmm...
A resonance he could not hear yet could not deny was tugging at his soul.
"Doctor, I am detecting a strange energy pulse."
'I feel it too.'
Qiangang walked toward the source of the resonance. Behind the resplendent divine weapons, tucked into a forgotten corner, a greatsword some four feet in length lay buried among dozens of other blades, sheathed in rust. Caked thick upon hilt and scabbard, at a glance it was nothing more than a lump of scrap iron.
Yet the moment he laid eyes on it, Qiangang felt a subtle vibration, as though the sword were calling out to him — as though a soul were crying out.
When he picked it up, a heavy weight sank into his hand. An ordinary sword, scabbard included, weighs about a kilogram and a half. This one was ten times heavier still.
And the instant it settled into his grip, the mysterious resonance fell silent.
"Doctor, I sense no ordinary energy from this sword."
'Neither do I.'
Qiangang walked out of the Imperial Treasury with the rusted sword in hand. At the sight of it, sheer disbelief rose on the face of Thousand Commander Choi Hwan.
"...That is what you have chosen?"
"Yes."
"It looks for all the world like a mistake. Might I suggest you choose something else? I will explain the circumstances to His Majesty myself."
"No. This is the one I want."
"Young Master, I beg you to reconsider. That is an abandoned blade, cast into that corner decades ago and left to rot. If you squander the precious chance His Majesty has granted—"
"It doesn't matter."
Choi Hwan eyed the rusted sword with open suspicion.
"Will it... even come out of its sheath?"
Qiangang answered with a smile.
"I don't know. I haven't tried drawing it yet."
Still smiling, he left the imperial palace behind — the mysterious sword that had come to him as if by destiny resting in his hand.