The Severed Sword Path and the Forum's Onomatopoeic Wisdom
Something felt familiar. Baek Cheong felt suffocated by the overwhelming presence dominating the auction house. But since it wasn't directed at her, she could pull herself together and catch her breath.
"A sword technique diagram from the Heavenly Sword Sect..."
Meanwhile, Baek Muyoung was lost in thought, oblivious to the bead of sweat trickling down his forehead. The Heavenly Sword Sect, located in the central continent, was a major sect renowned as the holy land of sword cultivators, topping the martial world in sheer combat prowess. Above all, their Supreme Elder, the Sky-Cleaving Sword Sovereign, had reached the Great Circle of the Origin Infant stage and stood on the cusp of entering Transformation. Moreover, veteran Transformation experts still lived and breathed within the sect, making its might akin to a majestic mountain range that even the Baek family, rulers of Yeonha Province, couldn't dare challenge lightly.
"But it's puzzling."
Baek Muyoung cautiously furrowed his brow. Yeonha Province lay in the southern continent, quite distant from the Heavenly Sword Sect's headquarters. He couldn't fathom why a Supreme Elder from such a powerhouse would personally visit a backwater auction house.
"I've heard rumors lately that the Sky-Cleaving Sword Sovereign is seeking an heir for his sword enlightenment..."
As a merchant, jumping to conclusions based on vague rumors was risky. Baek Muyoung suppressed his rising curiosity and schooled his expression.
Anyway, how many spirit stones are three items worth? On par with Spirit Condensation Pills?
Meanwhile, Baek Cheong, growing accustomed to the presence and feeling more at ease, turned her thoughts elsewhere. She was thrilled that the Five Elements Pill she'd consumed had transformed into an astronomical sum of spirit stones and a sword technique diagram. She was especially intrigued by the fact that it was a diagram of the Heavenly Sword Sect's sword canon.
Soon after, the auction ended anticlimactically, with no one daring to bid higher against the Sky-Cleaving Sword Sovereign's overwhelming offer.
Not long afterward, the head steward of Myeong Sang Pavilion returned to the sixth-floor VIP room, delivering a storage pouch filled with spirit stones and politely handing over a small jade slip before departing.
"So this is the sword technique diagram of the Heavenly Sword Sect's sword canon."
Baek Muyoung carefully examined the jade slip on the table. Its surface was covered in chaotic scratches, as if gouged by something sharp. With the naked eye, it was impossible to discern any pattern or form.
Baek Muyoung cautiously infused it with his mid-stage Core Formation divine sense. But the jade slip didn't budge. It felt like nothing more than an ordinary rock, with no flow of energy or trace of sword intent.
"Hmm, perhaps it's just a worthless stone fragment to those not on the path of the sword... Cheong-ah, why don't you take a look?"
Baek Muyoung unhesitatingly slid the jade slip toward Baek Cheong.
Baek Cheong's eyes sparkled with curiosity as she picked it up. She sharpened her divine sense into fifteen strands and meticulously traced the chaotic scratches on the surface.
The moment her divine sense followed the scratches' trajectories...
Huh?
Baek Cheong felt a strange sensation, her scalp tingling. The tangled lines, like a spiderweb, didn't appear as disordered sword paths but as three-dimensional puzzle pieces with a distinct pattern.
It's not just etched on the surface?
Out of habit, Baek Cheong split her divine sense to examine the sword paths. She divided it into multiple threads, simultaneously probing the start and end points of the scratches.
This is a 3D puzzle.
In her mind, the fragmented lines began slotting together, forming a single elegant sword path. From top to bottom, left to right. A sharp trajectory slicing through space etched itself vividly in her brain.
But tracing the sword path lasted only a moment. As it reached a certain section in her mind, it abruptly cut off. It was the limit of the sword path engraved on the jade slip. Since it wasn't a complete sword technique but merely a brief fragment captured in diagram form.
"Ah, so frustrating..."
Baek Cheong unwittingly let out a deep sigh. At the sound, Baek Muyoung, who had been fiddling with his teacup, turned his gaze toward her.
"Hm? Cheong-ah, what did you just say? Did you perhaps discern something from the jade slip?"
Startled by her uncle's question, Baek Cheong clamped her mouth shut. Having overheard his mutterings earlier, her imagination raced at lightspeed with terrifying scenarios.
In the martial world, sword cultivators are real demons obsessed with training. Guys who go mad for swords, skipping meals just to swing their blades.
What if her uncle learned she'd partially deciphered the sword technique? What if word reached the Sky-Cleaving Sword Sovereign, who was desperately seeking a disciple? She might get kidnapped to the Heavenly Sword Sect, trapped on some suffocating mountaintop, spending her life in endless cultivation. A horrific tale of her freewheeling forum life ending forever.
"N-no! I don't know anything! I just sighed because the rock was too heavy!"
Baek Cheong slammed the jade slip onto the table with a thud, desperately making excuses.
Baek Muyoung tilted his head at his niece's exaggerated reaction but soon chuckled heartily and pocketed the jade slip.
"Haha, of course. No matter how brilliant your intellect, you're not expected to master alchemy, pill concoction, and the sword path. Talent has its directions, after all. We should keep this diagram safe in the main house."
Baek Cheong became aware of the cold sweat trickling down her back and let out a sigh of relief.
Having safely navigated the crisis(?) and finished touring the auction house, they returned to the estate. After a dinner lavish with delicacies from land and sea, Baek Cheong returned to her residence and flung herself onto the bed without even washing up.
Normally, this would be the time she'd log into Moomyeongbang to post rambling threads about the auction and banter with the other Dous. But her mind was entirely filled with the severed sword path trajectory from the jade slip.
"Ah, how does it continue from there?"
She traced invisible lines in the air with her fingers, struggling to fit the next puzzle piece. She simulated thrusting, slashing, and spinning motions countless times, but the abruptly cut-off sensation refused to connect.
It was like the intense frustration of not having the next chapter of an engaging novel. She even extended her energy like drawing on white paper, trying to sketch the sword path in the air, but it fell short.
As time passed, her obsession with the sword technique only grew, and she rolled around on the bed, forgetting even sleep.
"I can't sleep like this."
Finally unable to endure it, Baek Cheong bolted upright and accessed Moomyeongbang. The only place to resolve this frustration was there.
As she tried to write a question post, she hit a wall. How could she describe the geometric sword paths on the jade slip in words?
"Whatever."
Baek Cheong wrote according to the flow of her thoughts.
[Whoosh swish whoosh whoosh shwish-whoosh whoosh-whoosh whoosh-whoosh! It suddenly cuts off here, and I have no idea what the next sword path is.]
After posting, she felt ridiculous even to herself. If anyone could infer a sword technique from that pile of onomatopoeia, they'd be a shaman, not a cultivator.
At the same time, despite being a question post, familiar account numbers from the interface flooded in immediately, unrelated to the content's quality, leaving replies.
Most Dous were baffled by the bizarre content, mocking it or spouting nonsense. Just as Baek Cheong abandoned hope...
New replies from unfamiliar Dous kept updating.
Sword cultivator Dous who perfectly understood her scribbled whoosh-whooshes left replies, grasping the embedded sword path flows.
Especially when simulating [Shwish—whoosh!] from Dou(811.12) in her mind...
Baek Cheong felt the blocked puzzle piece unlock, fitting perfectly.
"That's it! That was it!"
The severed sword path smoothly continued in the air, completing a single strand of sword technique in her mind.
Only then did her stuffy little chest clear up, refreshing her entirely.
"Ah, now I can finally breathe."
With the frustration resolved, long-forgotten drowsiness flooded in. Baek Cheong logged off Moomyeongbang without even leaving thanks to the helpful sword cultivator Dous.
She simply endlessly recited the completed sword technique strand and fell into deep sleep.