The Light of Qingcheng
Tap.
The man set down the cloth he was using to wipe his sword. His face was etched with deep worry.
"It is what I wished for, yet not what I truly desired."
The man was none other than the Qingcheng Sword Sovereign, Woo Il-seo.
He was scheduled to be formally inaugurated as the Alliance Leader at the upcoming ceremony of the Sichuan Righteous Alliance, but his expression was far from bright.
Instead, he seemed weighed down by endless anxieties.
To an outsider, it might look as though the immense weight of the Alliance Leader's seat was pressing down on him.
In truth, Woo Il-seo did feel that heavy burden.
"What on earth are you thinking?"
The one who had pushed him to become the leader of the Sichuan Righteous Alliance was the Great Elder of Qingcheng.
Woo Il-seo had insisted he had no greed for the position, but the Great Elder and the other elders thought differently.
"The time has come to show the true strength of Qingcheng, which has long been the laughingstock of the world. Now is the moment to display our power for the sake of Qingcheng's present and future."
Woo Il-seo, to some extent, agreed with this.
During the height of the war with Matian, there were two geniuses who represented Qingcheng.
One was himself, and the other was his senior brother, the first disciple of the sect leader.
Originally, Woo Il-seo was supposed to join the war against Matian while his senior brother stayed behind to protect Qingcheng. However, the Great Elder and the other elders opposed this, and the plan fell through.
Woo Il-seo knew the reason all too well.
His own family was the wealthiest merchant clan representing Sichuan, so his life was deemed far too valuable to risk.
"Junior brother, I am glad. Finally, I have a chance to do something for our sect!"
His senior brother, who had departed with a bright, beaming smile, never returned.
Rumors whispered that he had died, but Woo Il-seo refused to believe it, as they had received neither his body nor his belongings.
Yet now, a year after the war with Matian had ended.
His senior brother was still nowhere to be found.
By now, even Woo Il-seo was beginning to calmly accept his senior brother's death.
He could not turn a blind eye to reality forever, clinging to hollow hopes.
If there was only one thing he wished for...
"Junior brother! I have finally comprehended a swordsmanship that will become the light of our sect! I will pass this enlightenment to you soon, so please wait just a little longer!"
That was the end of it.
After that, his senior brother, who had always found a way to keep in touch, fell completely silent. Woo Il-seo had been waiting ever since.
Waiting for the day the insights his senior brother had bought with his life would finally reach him.
"Senior brother, please grant strength to this foolish junior brother of yours. So that Qingcheng may return to the Qingcheng it once was."
Unlike its grand outward appearance, the current Qingcheng was rotting from the inside.
Though he was barely holding the sect on the righteous path, it wouldn't be surprising if it collapsed at any moment.
The Great Elder and his faction were at the center of this corruption. To drive them out, his senior brother's insights were absolutely necessary.
If not, his only option was to lead the Sichuan Righteous Alliance flawlessly, ensuring that the Qingcheng elders would never dare to oppose him again.
Of course, even that would be far from easy.
Whoosh.
A cold night wind swept in through the open window.
The pensive look in Woo Il-seo's eyes vanished instantly.
Returning to his persona as the Qingcheng Sword Sovereign, Woo Il-seo spoke in a low, quiet voice.
"Who goes there? If you come as a guest, you should show your face."
"Do you know Heo Yu?"
"...That is the name of my senior brother."
"Heo Yu, the Swift Flash of Qingcheng. I have brought his belongings."
"...!"
Woo Il-seo's eyes shook violently.
No matter how much he had prepared himself mentally to accept his senior brother's death, facing the stark reality of it left him utterly devastated.
"Junior brother, I will surely return and restore the foundation of Qingcheng!"
He recalled Heo Yu's solemn vow before leaving the sect.
"Junior brother, this place is truly overwhelming. It is teeming with masters from all over the world; look away for even a second, and your head will fly off. The experience here will undoubtedly be of great help to Qingcheng's future. I think it is a great blessing that you did not have to come here."
That was only the beginning.
From that day on, Heo Yu's letters began to speak of a Qingcheng that no longer felt like home.
"The demons are a problem, but the people of the Orthodox and Unorthodox paths are equally severe. It is not just our problem; every corner of the Jianghu is rotting and broken. It seems to be a side effect of the long war, where looking out only for oneself has become the norm."
Though Heo Yu's voice, having witnessed the grim reality of the martial world firsthand, still rang vivid in his ears...
He could feel that once-vibrant voice from Qingcheng gradually losing its warmth through the letters.
Seeing this, Woo Il-seo had always felt a heavy heart and a growing sense of guilt toward Heo Yu.
He had truly believed he would one day return the position he had guarded to its rightful owner.
The realization that Heo Yu would never return shook Woo Il-seo to his core.
"Yet, I have gained something. I have finally obtained what will become the light of Qingcheng. Now, I only need to realize it. When the war ends, I hope my insights will illuminate Qingcheng's future."
That was Heo Yu's final message.
"Reading my senior brother's letters, I had a vague premonition. At some point, even though he didn't say it directly, I had a feeling we would never see each other again."
That was why Woo Il-seo had secretly gone out to find Heo Yu, hidden from everyone's eyes.
"I managed to meet him with great difficulty, avoiding the elders' watchful eyes. If I had known that would be our last meeting, I would have stared at him longer and talked with him more."
The time granted to them was barely a brief moment—less than fifteen minutes.
They had promised to meet again with smiles on their faces, but neither of them knew it would be their final farewell.
"How did my senior brother go?"
"He went like himself, I suppose," Yooseong replied nonchalantly.
Woo Il-seo let out a bitter laugh at Yooseong's detached response.
"That is a relief, at least. If he went like himself."
"He left behind two wishes. One was to deliver the enlightenment he attained to Qingcheng. The other was to withhold it if the Qingcheng of today was different from the one in his memories."
"..."
Woo Il-seo was not particularly surprised by Yooseong's words.
No matter how far apart they were, Heo Yu was the first disciple of the sect leader.
There was no way he remained ignorant of the changes within Qingcheng.
He must have planned for the future while deliberately turning a blind eye to the present.
Understanding that heart, Woo Il-seo confessed his failings with a heavy voice.
"I said I would try, but not much has changed. To be honest, I've made only a tiny bit of progress. But I'm sure it is far from what my senior brother truly wanted."
With the Great Elder at the center, the elders desired a rapid, drastic transformation for Qingcheng.
The karma and sins accumulated in that process were by no means light.
"It is not just our problem. The entire Jianghu is experiencing these conflicts. It's just that an easy solution does not exist."
As he calmly spoke of Qingcheng's shame, the light in Woo Il-seo's eyes shifted.
"I am grateful to you for bringing news of my senior brother and delivering his legacy. However..."
Rumble.
"Can I truly trust you?"
The grieving junior brother vanished. In his place stood the swordsman responsible for Qingcheng, the Qingcheng Sword Sovereign, exerting his immense pressure on Yooseong.
As an absolute master who had reached the mid-stage of the Transformation Realm, his aura was truly formidable.
It felt as though he could draw his sword at any moment and slice Yooseong in half, but that was all.
Whoosh.
The wind swirling around Yooseong gently wrapped around and absorbed the crushing pressure of the Qingcheng Sword Sovereign.
"...An astonishing master indeed."
"There are rats inside Qingcheng. And not just in Qingcheng—quite a few of those gathered here are up to bizarre schemes. The eccentric monks of Masal Temple whom you all invited... If you can properly control those blood-crazed, apostate monks, you will surely make a grand name for yourself as the first leader of the Righteous Alliance."
Rustle.
Yooseong handed over a portion of Heo Yu's insights to Woo Il-seo.
"If I gave you all of it at once, even you would find it difficult to fully absorb. Handle the upcoming changes well. I will watch to see what decision Woo Il-seo makes—the decision Heo Yu hoped for."
"...!"
Before Woo Il-seo could even respond, Yooseong vanished from sight.
"Ha! A truly bizarre fellow."
He was clearly a martial artist far younger than himself.
Yet his martial arts were by no means inferior to his own.
"...Who could he be? A master of that caliber would inevitably leave a legendary name in the Jianghu."
None of the prominent masters who came to mind overlapped with the youth he had just met.
"Tsk, I knew I didn't want this position."
The reason he had been reluctant to become the leader of the Sichuan Righteous Alliance from the very beginning was the insidious, sinister energy he sensed lingering among those gathered.
Weeding them out would be incredibly tedious and difficult, so they would need a blade to do the dirty work.
"They seem to think they can use me, but they have underestimated me gravely."
Woo Il-seo let out a cold laugh, his eyes gleaming with a chilling light.
Now that the dragon, which had been biding its time, had finally received the dragon ball to ascend to the heavens, why should it turn away?
"Senior brother, watch over me from the heavens. I will surely build the Qingcheng you always dreamed of."
Only then would this foolish junior brother earn the right to meet his senior brother with a smile in the afterlife and share a cup of wine.
The room where the elders of Qingcheng were gathered was filled with an excited, buoyant atmosphere.
"You have worked hard, Great Elder."
The elders bowed their heads toward the old man sitting in the most honored seat of the room.
The old man, known as the Great Elder, was Noh Chang-gun, also called the Old Pine of Qingcheng.
"How is this my achievement? It is simply that the Sect Leader's efforts have finally borne fruit."
Noh Chang-gun's eyes flashed with a heavy warning, silently telling them to watch their words.
"We must not let our guard down yet. We have only just begun to run, and we still have a long way to go."
"Of course! We will never get ahead of ourselves!"
"Do not worry! We will not repeat the same mistakes."
Despite the elders' reassuring replies, Noh Chang-gun clicked his tongue inwardly.
How can we achieve a great undertaking when they cannot even control their emotions like this?
Noh Chang-gun forced down his irritation toward the elders.
For now, he still needed their help to build his version of Qingcheng.
To think both senior and junior brothers would serve as sacrifices for me, one after the other.
It struck him as a truly bizarre twist of fate.
While Heo Yu, the first disciple, had left Qingcheng to fight against Matian, his junior brother Woo Il-seo had risen to become the Sect Leader, hailed as the Qingcheng Sword Sovereign.
The transition had been so seamless that no one could easily raise any doubts.
Noh Chang-gun's efforts had played a massive role in orchestrating this entire process.
All that remains... is for him to die in a natural accident.
Qingcheng's Sect Leader, Woo Il-seo, was not an easy man for Noh Chang-gun to control.
Though he was more flexible and gentle than his senior brother Heo Yu, he absolutely refused to tolerate anyone crossing the line.
If Woo Il-seo ever found out about the forbidden arts Noh Chang-gun had mastered and the sacrifices he had secretly stolen, the future of Noh Chang-gun and the elders would be forfeit.
Therefore...
He must be removed. Conveniently, there are many places in Sichuan that require our assistance.
"More importantly, will everything be alright? Those people are visiting the Righteous Alliance tomorrow."
Someone spoke up cautiously, attempting to bring the excited atmosphere back to earth.
At his words, everyone's expression turned complex.
"Who is coming from Masal Temple?"
"They say the Demon-Slaying Monk is coming."
The Demon-Slaying Monk, Ma Jun-gong.
He was once a lay disciple of Shaolin, but after his entire family was brutally slaughtered by the demons of Matian, he left Shaolin and forged a path of blood.
Despite being only a lay disciple, his talent was so extraordinary that Shaolin was famous for generously bestowing its martial arts upon him.
Ma Jun-gong, notorious for showing absolutely no mercy to anyone with even the slightest connection to demons on his path of eradication, was on his way.
This was somewhat expected, but the problem lay with those accompanying him.
"They say twenty monks of the Demon-Slaying Unit are coming with him."
At first glance, it seemed like a small number, but every single one of them was an Ultra-Peak master, possessing enough power to wipe out an entire average sect.
There were two reasons they were visiting the Sichuan Righteous Alliance.
One was to congratulate the launch of the Sichuan Righteous Alliance.
The other was to root out the rats hiding within the Sichuan Righteous Alliance.
"Prepare thoroughly so they have no excuse to find fault with us. Though our arts are not demonic, those monks have notoriously foul tempers, and we could easily arouse their suspicion."
The peerless martial art they had accidentally acquired a few years ago was incredibly domineering.
With Noh Chang-gun at the lead, the elders had achieved great heights through this peerless art, but Woo Il-seo had always looked upon it with disapproval.
Since no one knew when this conflict might erupt, there was no need to give the Demon-Slaying Unit any pretext by making careless contact.
"I have already passed down the instructions clearly."
Despite the reliable answers of the elders, Noh Chang-gun felt strangely uneasy.
He visited me in my dreams last night. This is surely an ill omen.
Last night, after Woo Il-seo had been confirmed as the Alliance Leader and Noh Chang-gun had gotten drunk for the first time in a long while, he had a dream.
In that dream, a figure had appeared to mock and scold him. It was Heo Yu.
The vividness of Heo Yu's warning sent a chilling shiver down Noh Chang-gun's spine.
I must prepare a separate contingency plan.
The elders of Qingcheng had no idea.
Of the presence of Yooseong, who was silently listening to their entire conversation.