The Black Sword Emperor's Legacy (2)
Okseondokma seized the boxes from the stone table, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile.
"At last, the Black Sword Emperor's relics are mine. Watching Wolwangru through the dead of night was worth every second."
"Hahaha! You think you were the only one watching Wolwangru on a night this deep?"
"Huh? Who else?"
— Whoosh— Thud—
A peal of laughter rolled through the stone chamber, and a figure stepped into view.
"Y-you…? Gujigae?"
The hands gripping the boxes began to tremble.
Gujigae? The nine-fingered beggar from the Beggar's Sect. A Peak expert. Pure martial skill alone puts him above Okseondokma. If Okseondokma's specialty poisons don't work, he doesn't stand a chance in a straight fight.
Neither Okseondokma nor I had expected Gujigae to show up in a situation like this.
"That's right. It's me. You murdered a young hero with poison needles and stole the relics. That, I cannot forgive."
"You damn beggar bastard."
"Heh-heh. Then taste this damn beggar bastard's stick."
— Whoom— Shiiik— Crack—
Gujigae's weapon was a staff of black bamboo—nothing like ordinary bamboo that a blade could shear through.
Okseondokma caught the blow on his fan, but the impact drove him backward.
His inner qi was simply outmatched.
— Whoom— Slash— Crack—
"Khuh!"
— Skreee—
Blow after blow forced Okseondokma to slide back across the floor, feet still planted. No matter how I looked at it, he was no match for Gujigae in either inner strength or technique.
"Damn beggar's got more qi than he knows what to do with."
"Heh-heh. And so what? Admit the difference and hand over those boxes."
"Hmph. Not a chance."
"Your poisons don't work on me. You think those Jade Fan needles you used a moment ago will do a thing?"
"Hmph. Fine—needles won't work. But this will."
— Whoosh— Boom-boom—
"Khuh! The bastard's using poison smoke!"
"Hahaha…! I'll be going first."
"You—where do you think you're going?!"
— Whoosh— Whip-whip— Thud-thud—
Poison smoke exploded through the chamber, filling the underground vault with a choking haze. Okseondokma used the cover to slip out. Gujigae locked onto him with his qi sense and gave chase.
In an instant, both men were gone from the underground chamber. The sounds of their pursuit faded rapidly into the distance beyond Wolwangru.
Are they both gone?
Once I confirmed they had left, I rose from where I had been lying. Okseondokma's poison needles had no effect on me, and neither did the poison smoke.
Lucky break. Without Gujigae, that bastard might have finished me off and taken my head just to be sure. Thanks to Gujigae, he was too busy running to bother.
Once again I felt how badly I needed real offensive arts and a proper weapon. Against a Peak expert, I had no way to fight back.
I stared at the empty stone table and clicked my tongue.
Tch. What a waste. That was a five-star martial manual.
The boxes Okseondokma had taken from the stone table really were the Black Sword Emperor's legacy—five-star treasures. Manuals left by the Black Sword Emperor himself; mastering them would open the path into the Peak realm at five-star level.
A four-star quest. Completing the Black Sword Emperor quest was supposed to yield a five-star manual that could carry you into Peak. Now that manual was either with Okseondokma or Gujigae. With my current strength I couldn't touch either of them, so I wrote it off cleanly.
But that wasn't the only thing we set up back then.
I remembered it clearly. The design team had asked me to place the settings and said they would hide one more random treasure of five-star grade or higher. So somewhere in this underground chamber, besides the five-star manual just taken, there was at least one more treasure of five-star grade or above. I knew because I had helped set this space myself.
One was on the stone table. Where's the other? Time to search.
I moved through the underground chamber, carefully examining every wall and every stretch of floor. Checking the walls, ceiling, and floor one section at a time took a good while.
"Huh?"
As I slowly circled the chamber, scrutinizing every surface, a mark appeared before my eyes.
What was that? A weapon grade indicator?
I rubbed my eyes and looked again. The display was identical.
It was the weapon grade display I had been able to see ever since acquiring Lust God's Wisdom.
Why was a weapon grade mark showing up on a stone wall? And how many stars did it say? Nine?
Was that even possible?
A nine-star weapon ranked among the rarest arms in all of Murim Noona—you could count them on one hand. And one of them was here?
There was no doubt. The mark was visible only because of the Lust God's Wisdom skill. That display on the wall meant the weapon was inside the wall itself.
I looked around. The wall was utterly ordinary. The chamber was built from thousands of stone blocks, and right now the nine-star mark was glowing on just one of them.
— Gulp—
I swallowed hard at the impossible grade, gripped the block, and pulled.
— Grrrind—
It's coming out.
The stone was small—barely a foot across and a handspan high. It slid free.
— Thunk—
When the block finally came free, a deep pocket of darkness opened behind it. Something rested inside.
A sword and a book.
I reached in and drew them out.
If I walk out carrying these and someone sees me… they'll just take them again. Hell, my life would be on the line. There could be more watchers outside. If two men were here, I have to assume there might be three or four.
I had already stashed the Poison King's Secret Manual in the Lust God's Space. Best to hide these the same way before I left.
Command: Display character status window!
Lust God's Space: A space measuring four ja on each side.
A few items already stored inside came into view—the Night-Luminous Pearl, the Poison King's Secret Manual, and a handful of tools useful for traveling the rivers and lakes.
— Thud—
I placed the sword and the booklet into the Lust God's Space.
Command: Close Lust God's Space!
There. The goods were hidden where no one else could see them.
Now I just had to get out of the chamber—though if more of them were still around, that would be a problem.
I climbed the stairs carefully, listening for any sign of movement outside. It seemed empty.
Hmm. Makes sense. Okseondokma and Gujigae tore off in a chase. Anyone else watching this place would have gone after them too. That might be why no one's left.
In any case, the outside looked clear. I set the stone slab back in place, checked my surroundings, and slipped out of Wolwangru.
I had no idea how many watchers there had been, but after witnessing Okseondokma and Gujigae's pursuit, any who remained would almost certainly be chasing those two.
I reached the inn without incident, then drew the sword and book back out of the subspace.
Black Sword Emperor's Royal Sword Art? So this is the Black Sword Emperor's own martial art.
I turned the cover.
— Flutter—
A brief preface was written inside.
This sword is the Dark Divine Sword? The legendary greatest blade in all of Murim. The Black Sword Emperor's personal sword was the Dark Divine Sword?
It was said to be forged from the legendary material Ten-Thousand-Year Ink Iron, making it the heaviest and hardest sword in the martial world.
— Shiiing—
I drew the blade. The sword that slid free of its black scabbard gleamed with a dark, lightless sheen.
It's heavy. A sword this heavy… with low inner qi, even lifting and swinging it would be a struggle.
It was truly heavy. The claim that it was made of Ten-Thousand-Year Ink Iron was no empty boast. Compared to any ordinary sword of the same size, it weighed several times more. Wielding this properly would take tremendous strength.
With average inner qi, even swinging it would be hard.
I kept reading the Black Sword Emperor's Royal Sword Art.
The manual contained a brief explanation of the art along with its formulas. It consisted of only four forms. But I could tell at once that executing those four forms would be extraordinarily difficult.
He poured a lifetime of late-year insights into just four forms? Tch. With where I am now, I might barely manage the first.
The final fourth form required the realm of Sword-Body Unity. At minimum, two full cycles—one hundred twenty years—of inner qi. Even if I learned the fourth form, I couldn't use it with my current ability.
Even the first form demanded a minimum of half a cycle of inner qi.
If I hadn't gained that half-cycle of inner qi not long ago, I wouldn't even be able to open the first form. Thank god I can at least use that much.
Truly fortunate.
So I've obtained a nine-star weapon—and a nine-star martial art to go with it. The absolute highest grade of both weapon and technique.
Of course, just owning them didn't mean I could wield them as freely as my own arts. But a nine-star weapon and a nine-star manual? That was nothing to sneeze at. For now, I could at least execute the first form of a supreme-level sword art.
"Hehehe…! This feels too good. A random treasure, and a nine-star drops out of it."
It had been a random drop—no way of knowing how many stars it would be. The only guarantee was five-star minimum. And yet a full nine-star treasure had appeared.
A harvest I never saw coming. The sheer scale of it made a grin spread across my face all on its own.