2. That One Is Mine
Here is what went through the Drunken Beggar's mind as he faced the man before him.
What the... his fundamentals are beyond all reason. And more than that—did I just see what I think I saw?
He had imitated the Beggars' Sect's staff art, perfectly, after seeing it only once.
A man who'd shut himself away in some mountain valley, swinging his sword like a madman at a single technique, was supposed to replicate a staff method he had never laid eyes on before? Was that even possible?
No. It was impossible.
If such a thing were possible, the secret arts guarded by every sect and clan in the world would be utterly meaningless.
Which meant that within the bounds of Bak Daehyeok's common sense, there was exactly one explanation.
No demonic qi or sinister energy radiating from him... so he must be a senior of the orthodox sects at the Harmony realm!
A Transcendent master had no reason to disguise himself as a mere Peak realm expert, and a Profound realm fighter wouldn't have bothered attempting it in the first place.
And the man had demanded information about Wudang. Perhaps something was stirring within the sect.
There had to be a reason an orthodox senior was hiding his identity and playing the part of a Peak realm prodigy.
And if things went well, might this not be his one chance to forge a connection with a Harmony-realm elder?
Having finished his lightning-fast calculations, Bak Daehyeok slowly lowered his staff.
"The information... I shall provide it, honored senior."
Just as the Drunken Beggar clutched his racing heart and beamed inwardly—
"Hmm? What was that? Speak up, I can't hear you."
Baek Sihyeok raised his sword with the most villainous smile the world had ever seen, and the sword qi cloaking the wooden blade flared a brilliant gold.
"You need to take a few more hits. I haven't even gotten a proper swing in yet."
"W-wait just a moment... honored senior, please, let your anger—"
"Shut up."
CRACK—!
The wooden blade met Bak Daehyeok's forehead with a delightfully crisp sound.
The massive blow to his head sent his body crumpling straight to the floor.
"Huh? Hey, get up. Not getting up?"
The beating continued for quite some time after he'd collapsed.
It was a sight too horrific to watch with one's eyes open.
Cheon Seolhyeon covered her mouth with both hands as she watched.
"...What the hell? When did he learn the Thousand Flower Staff Technique? That's our beggar king's exclusive martial art..."
A blade that split into dozens. It was unmistakably wielded with the subtle interplay of change and illusion at its heart.
Moreover, it carried Bak Daehyeok's own signature imprint within it.
It wasn't merely similar in form—Baek Sihyeok had copied the Thousand Flower Staff Technique outright and converted it into a sword art.
"...Unbelievable."
They were nearly the same age.
Yet the gap between their realms was first-rate versus Peak.
A single step. But in Murim, a single step of realm was a wall that could never, ever be crossed.
"Fine, he's talented. That much is only natural... but that? How does that make any sense?"
Cheon Seolhyeon had always believed her talent was second to no one's.
But after having her common sense shattered like this, she could no longer even manage the words.
"Honestly, I'd believe it if you told me a senior above the Harmony realm was just playing around..."
"That one is a Peak realm expert."
"...?"
Swish—
Cheon Seolhyeon flinched at the hand settling on her shoulder.
"Eep...?"
"Children of the Harmony realm do pull pranks like that on very rare occasions. When you've lived for centuries in borrowed bodies, seeking out new stimulation isn't such a strange thing to do."
Cheon Seolhyeon turned her head to the right and looked at the one gripping her shoulder.
"And above all, even the Harmony lot couldn't do what you just saw."
"...Huh? Wha—"
A white-haired woman was gazing down at her with deep, fathomless blue eyes.
White tresses spilled down over her shoulder, brushing lightly against the soft swell of her chest.
Peeking out between the strands was the unmistakable pattern of the Taegeuk, only half-hidden.
And at her waist hung a single sword.
The Pine Pattern Ancient Sword. It could be nothing else.
The Taegeuk Sword Empress, Yeon Sohee.
The moment Cheon Seolhyeon registered who stood before her, her body began to tremble like an aspen leaf.
"I... I... I greet the Taegeuk Sword Emp—"
"Enough. I have no particular desire to hear a title I never cared for."
"..."
"'Taegeuk Sword Empress'? Sounds like some shriveled old spinster who's aged clean past her prime, doesn't it? My skin is still firm as ever and my face looks barely twenty-something. I asked the Murim Alliance to call me by my old title instead—Taegeuk Sword Maiden—and they wouldn't hear of it."
Yeon Sohee gave a light chuckle and patted Cheon Seolhyeon's shoulder.
"There's no need to be so tense."
"What brings someone like you to such a shabby place..."
"What business would I have with the Beggars' Sect, if not that? I came because I need certain information."
"Oh—then... Beggar King! Baek Sihyeok! Stop fighting, both of you—!"
Cheon Seolhyeon darted forward, intending to pry the two apart.
Such a distinguished guest had arrived—how could they possibly go on displaying such shameful behavior?
Slip—
But at that moment, a gentle, unknowable force wrapped around Cheon Seolhyeon's body and drew her back into an embrace.
"...?"
She turned around in confusion and met Yeon Sohee's eyes.
"Don't. Just watch for a while."
"Yes?"
And in the very next instant, Yeon Sohee's flawless, jade-white fingers closed softly around the hilt of the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword.
The sight froze Cheon Seolhyeon solid.
"...!"
Words her old master had once spoken came flooding back to her.
Watch nothing more than the way a swordsman draws his blade, and you can gauge his skill to a fair degree.
The instant she beheld Yeon Sohee's draw, Cheon Seolhyeon felt as if her very being were being sliced apart, piece by piece.
It was beautiful.
And at the same time, it was endlessly, bottomlessly terrifying.
"So this is... the Harmony realm..."
Rooted to the spot, trembling in pure dread, Cheon Seolhyeon could not take a single step.
A smile bloomed at the corner of Yeon Sohee's lips.
"Watch closely, now."
"Yes...?"
The next moment, an enormous Taegeuk rose behind Yeon Sohee's back.
The great Taegeuk turns behind her. Black and white sword qi coil around the blade held in middle guard, circling one another until they complete the symbol itself—yin and yang spinning as one.
It felt as though a giant's hand had reached down and clamped itself around my sword blade.
The wooden sword was plainly in my grasp, yet it refused to move so much as an inch—quite literally refusing to come down over the Drunken Beggar's head.
And so, the unconscious Bak Daehyeok was spared the peril of having every bone in his body broken.
I stared at the black-and-white sword qi wrapped around my blade.
"This is..."
The moment I did, the principles and subtleties steeped into that qi began flowing naturally into my mind.
The unbroken, ceaseless stream of qi. The soft yielding of Wudang's martial learning.
And the circulation of the Taegeuk, carrying the very law of the world...
All of it settled and organized itself on its own, imprinting itself into my head.
The wisdom held within that sword was so deep and vast that I could not understand it all.
"Unfold it."
"...Ah."
That voice belonged to someone I knew all too well.
Obedient to her words, I swung the sword.
The gold-tinged sword qi began to shift, becoming a strange, dizzying blend of black and white.
From my fingertips, a Taegeuk—the portion of it I understood—began to take shape.
What formed was not the complete figure.
And yet, even so...
Tracing the outline of a broken Taegeuk, that sword qi began to orbit softly around my body.
"...No, what even is that—"
"Shh."
Cheon Seolhyeon jolted in shock, and Yeon Sohee pressed a finger to her lips to quiet her.
That clumsy, half-baked sword dance could not last long.
My internal energy was already spent. The Taegeuk Wisdom Sword drained sixty years of painstakingly accumulated inner power in the span of a single, brief flourish.
I wrung out the last of my strength, guided the power of the Taegeuk down my arm, and drove the sword into the ground.
KUUUUNG—!
The earth heaved violently, and the image of a Taegeuk, pressed flat into the floor, was carved into it.
"...Magnificent."
Forcing my exhausted body to move, I bowed to the one standing behind me.
Decades ago, she had saved me when I was beaten half to death, and given me money and a roof over my head.
My benefactor.
"I greet the Taegeuk Sword Empress."
"A talent that grasps and copies wisdom from merely witnessing a martial art... Whether to call that a talent or a curse, I truly cannot say."
"...Why on earth would you call it a curse?"
Frankly, I was a little dumbfounded.
All this time, I'd assumed I'd fallen into another world without receiving any talent or boon whatsoever.
Had I known I possessed this ability, I would have left my seclusion long ago and gone around devouring every martial art in existence.
But the Taegeuk Sword Empress Yeon Sohee only smiled faintly and continued.
"Because the moment word spreads that you carry such a gift, every sect—orthodox and evil alike—will come scrambling to claim you or kill you. You have already stolen my Wisdom Sword by copying it. If Wudang learns of this, you are a dead man."
"...Are you going to kill me?"
"Hm. That is a question I will need to think on a little. Step outside for a time. Take the girl with you."
"..."
The power and authority laced into that voice were not the kind I could possibly defy.
Grinding my lips together, I left the branch hall with Cheon Seolhyeon in tow.
The Taegeuk Sword Empress Yeon Sohee rested her chin on her hand, regarding the Drunken Beggar with an air of supreme indifference.
"The information. Give it."
"Yes?"
"Did you not hear me? Hand over what that man demanded of you."
"I-if I might ask why..."
"That one is mine."
Twin flames of ghostly fire kindled in Yeon Sohee's eyes.
"I will make him my disciple, without fail. I will not stand by while some other fool claims him first."
"Ah... understood."
Bak Daehyeok nodded along, thinking furiously.
Just what was that man's identity, that the Taegeuk Sword Empress—famed far and wide for never once taking a disciple—was showing such fierce obsession over him?
She knew the Taegeuk Wisdom Sword and the Beggars' Sect's staff art, so she had to be one of the Wudang Sect's elders.
And among them, the ones at the Harmony realm were, as far as he knew, exactly one person besides the Sword Empress herself.
"And another thing."
"Y-yes?"
KUGUGUGU—
Yeon Sohee unleashed her crushing aura and bore down upon him.
"Aid him with all your heart and strength until he reaches Mount Wudang. See to it that no trouble finds him along the way. Am I understood?"
"Yes... it shall be done as you command..."
Only after he had given his firm answer did the pressure crushing Bak Daehyeok finally subside.
Today, one incomprehensible thing after another just kept happening to him.