Chapter 372
Chapter 372
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 98
>Chapter Title: Sword and Sword (2)
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-This is... my sword.
‘!?’
Mok Kyung-un's expression turned peculiar at the unexpected words coming from Cheongryeong.
He had already been reminded of that old man and Cheongryeong by the mention of a sword art evoking the moon.
But when Cheongryeong herself claimed to be the owner of this sword, even someone as rational as him in all things couldn't help but show interest.
-...Then, are you the female swordswoman the Clan Head mentioned?
-......
Cheongryeong gave no reply to Mok Kyung-un's question.
Though she said nothing, the lingering silence felt strangely meaningful, narrowing Mok Kyung-un's eyes.
At that moment, Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu drew the pure white sword from the wooden box and spoke.
"The sword's name is Sunyeon. The female swordswoman named it herself."
'Sunyeon?'
An unusual name for a sword.
For it literally meant 'longing' when read straight.
Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu continued.
"Normally, a sword that has lost its master should be destroyed or buried with its owner......"
-Startle!
-Hummm!
Just then, the famed sword Sunyeon in Gu Cheon-mu's hand began to tremble faintly.
At this phenomenon, Gu Cheon-mu spoke in a tone of utter incomprehension.
"Why is the sword...?"
It was a sword that had been left untouched in a wooden box for a full century.
Yet it was trembling faintly, even letting out a sword cry.
A truly bizarre occurrence.
Muttering in bewilderment, Gu Cheon-mu said,
"Sunyeon, is it because you've been revealed to the world after so long? Or perhaps......"
Gu Cheon-mu glanced at Mok Kyung-un.
As a swordsmith who had forged blades for many years, he believed famed swords held their own will.
That was why refining a sword heart was the final step.
The reason Gu Cheon-mu looked at Mok Kyung-un like this was his suspicion that the famed sword Sunyeon was reacting to its new master.
'Famed swords choose their masters as well.'
Could it be that Sunyeon, having lost its owner, was accepting this man as its new one?
-Startle!
Puzzled by this, Gu Cheon-mu suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
An indescribable阴森 aura washed over him, as if some invisible presence lurked before his eyes.
At this,
-Swish!
Gu Cheon-mu instinctively gathered his energy around him, but
"It's fine. No need to be on guard."
"...This阴森 energy you're speaking of?"
"Yes."
Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu was a transcendent master who had surpassed the Wall of Walls.
His energy sense had long exceeded ordinary human limits, capable of perceiving even spiritual auras.
That was how he had detected Cheongryeong the moment she awakened from the wooden puppet's seal.
Cheongryeong, emerging like that, reached out with a wistful gaze toward the sword blade.
The moment her ethereal hand gently touched the blade,
-Wooooong!
The famed sword Sunyeon let out a stronger sword cry, radiant light blooming from its blade.
At this utterly bizarre sight, Gu Cheon-mu's pupils shook.
Why was a sword that had lost its luster after losing its master now shining as if its life had returned?
-To think I'd see you like this, Sunyeon.
As Cheongryeong stroked the blade, the famed sword Sunyeon's body quivered.
As if sensing her ethereal presence?
Witnessing this spectacle in astonishment, Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu said to Mok Kyung-un,
"In decades of sword forging, even this subordinate has never seen anything like it. Young Master... It seems the sword has chosen you as its master."
Mok Kyung-un chuckled and replied.
"It might be because the true owner is right here beside me."
"True owner? What do you mean?"
"Who knows. Maybe it's because the soul of that female swordswoman the Clan Head spoke of is with me."
"......"
Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu furrowed his brow.
Why would the soul of a female swordswoman dead for a century be with him?
It might have been a jest made abstractly about the sword's reaction.
Thinking this inwardly,
"I received swordsmanship instruction from the sword's true owner. You could consider me her disciple."
‘!?’
In that instant, Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu was dumbfounded inside.
The owner of this sword had lost her life merely a century ago.
How could one receive swordsmanship from someone like that?
"Young Master, even as a joke, this is......"
"Why would this be a joke?"
"Young Master, that female swordswoman died a century ago, and she had no descendants. That's why the sword has been kept like this until now......"
"Moon Sword Forms. Isn't that the sword art its owner mastered?"
‘!!!!!!’
No sooner had the words left than Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu's eyes went wide.
And how would he know that?
'No way?'
Gu Cheon-mu was so shocked he was momentarily speechless.
There was a reason for his reaction.
Their family had meticulously recorded details about every sword they forged across generations.
When crafting swords, they asked swordsmen for their sword styles to create the ideal blade.
His great-grandfather's records clearly stated it.
[Sunyeon. Moon Vein. Moon Sword Forms.]
This sword art was so exceptional that his great-grandfather had recommended memorizing it.
It was right then.
-Swish swish!
Mok Kyung-un gripped the sword manual and assumed the starting stance of the Moon Sword Forms.
He then lightly demonstrated its initial movements, albeit in simplified form.
-Shhhh shhhh shhhh!
Having mastered countless sword arts and possessing exceptional insight, Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu recognized it at a glance.
What astonished him even more was,
'The sword forms... are perfected.'
The Moon Sword Forms left by his great-grandfather were indeed outstanding.
However, being an ancient style, they had flaws and weaknesses in certain trajectories, all of which had been refined and corrected.
Seeing this, Gu Cheon-mu became truly convinced.
'So the Young Master is the successor to the lost Moon Sword Forms?'
He couldn't be sure if he was a blood descendant.
His great-grandfather had clearly stated the female swordswoman had no kin.
But one thing was certain: Mok Kyung-un had inherited the Moon Sword Forms.
'Yes, that explains it.'
Gu Cheon-mu finally nodded as if understanding.
He had found it odd that Mok Kyung-un knew the original sword of that blade, but now the mystery was solved.
Unclear if by blood, but as successor, he knew it.
'...Is this fate?'
An exclamation escaped Gu Cheon-mu's lips.
From the phantom sword of their ancestor Gu Yaja returning at the moment their clan wish was fulfilled, to its owner of that era being the successor of Moon Sword Forms?
How exquisitely fateful.
Too profound a connection to dismiss as mere coincidence.
Stunned speechless, Mok Kyung-un stopped his simplified display of the Moon Sword Forms and said,
"Please continue the story."
"Yes?"
"You stopped midway when talking about the ownerless sword. About how you came to see its original sword."
"R-Right."
Yes, they had been in the middle of the tale.
But Cheongryeong, who had been stroking the famed sword Sunyeon's blade while claiming it as her own, hurriedly turned to Mok Kyung-un and said,
-Hold on a moment, mortal.
-What's wrong?
-Just... let's stop this story here...
She tried to say they should end it there, but halted.
-Here?
-......
She had no strong desire to continue.
She was the very subject of the tale Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu was about to tell—the female swordswoman—and this incident had turned her into a lingering ghost wandering the mortal world for a century.
Of course, Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu's great-grandfather wouldn't know the full details.
He had merely witnessed the aftermath.
Yet hearing it from someone else's mouth was unpleasant all the same.
But she stopped for one reason alone.
'What is this original sword?'
Mok Kyung-un had spoken of the ink-black sword crafted by Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu as if he knew something.
As if it had an original sword.
According to Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu's great-grandfather's records, that original sword was tied to the massacre back then.
'What did you see in the heart image, mortal?'
This plunged Cheongryeong into doubt.
If that sword's original was linked to the massacre, she wondered if it connected to 'that one' somehow.
Thus, after a moment's hesitation, she held her tongue.
-Cheongryeong?
-Sigh. Never mind.
-......
At her reaction, Mok Kyung-un smacked his lips faintly.
Having been with her so long, he could guess what she meant to say from her tone.
She had clearly meant to say stop here, but gave up.
It didn't seem like mere resignation.
Cheongryeong, too, seemed to want to know something.
It was then.
-Thud!
Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu placed the famed sword Sunyeon back into the wooden box and opened his mouth.
"Fate truly is wondrous. Seeing how everything connects in some way."
"......"
As Mok Kyung-un watched silently, Gu Cheon-mu let out a long sigh and began the tale.
"My great-grandfather headed to the border between Guangxi and Guangdong Provinces to honor his promise with the female swordswoman, timed for her inauguration as Leader."
"Leader inauguration?"
Mok Kyung-un glanced at Cheongryeong, who sat perched on the table, puffing on her pipe.
Leader inauguration?
-......
Cheongryeong silently turned her head, avoiding his gaze.
He had guessed from her crowned appearance and self-proclaimed title of 'this seat' that she was no ordinary person, but a Leader inauguration......
While he stared, Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu, assuming the question was for him, said,
"You didn't know?"
"Yes?"
"Ah, even inheriting the Moon Sword Forms, you weren't aware of this."
"......"
"Though it's largely forgotten in this era after so long, the Heaven and Earth Society that now divides the present martial world was once called the Heaven-Earth-Moon Society at its founding. It became the Heaven and Earth Society after that tragedy."
"Heaven-Earth-Moon... Society?"
"Yes. According to my great-grandfather's journal, the Heaven and Earth Society originated from the alliance of three great veins."
Three great veins.
He vaguely recalled Cheongryeong mentioning it briefly.
The Heaven Vein, Earth Vein, and Moon Vein had united to form it.
Having said this, Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu sighed deeply.
"It was truly a tragic event. My great-grandfather arrived late for the noon inauguration and hurried to the grand hall."
"......"
"Upon nearing the grand hall, my great-grandfather sensed something amiss."
Despite being the Leader's inauguration, the air reeked of blood rather than people, chaos everywhere.
Not even a shadow of a person near the grand hall.
Finding this eerie, Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu's great-grandfather rushed to the hall.
"Arriving at the grand hall, my great-grandfather was horrified. It was filled with blood and corpses."
-Shaaa!
Mok Kyung-un glanced at Cheongryeong.
Smoke rose from her pipe, filling the space around her, and the air grew intensely cold.
-Startle!
'The阴寒 energy has intensified.'
Feeling this, Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu paused mid-sentence and instinctively looked toward the table where Cheongryeong was, but
"...Don't mind it. Please continue."
"But......"
"It's nothing to worry about."
-Swish!
Mok Kyung-un gripped the sword manual and formed a small hand seal.
Her spiritual energy, which had filled the workshop, was now blocked from Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu.
'The energy is gone.'
"Now, please go on."
Though puzzled, Gu Cheon-mu yielded to Mok Kyung-un's urging and continued.
"In the center of the blood-soaked splendid grand hall, he found the female swordswoman—no, the first and last Leader of the Heaven-Earth-Moon Society, Ryu Sowol, her heart ripped out, having breathed her last."
‘!!!!!’
Cheongryeong's true name was revealed for the first time.
But more than learning her name, Mok Kyung-un's eyes grew icy cold upon realizing her final moments.
[Chapter 98: Sword and Sword (2)] End