The Venerable's Unexpected Proposal
“Become my disciple.”
As soon as Baek Cheong heard those words, she had a sinking suspicion. ‘A righteous path of cultivation? Yeah, right!’ It seemed the Venerable had mistaken her single-minded devotion to the forum for a righteous, unwavering path. However, the Pacheon Sword Venerable, oblivious to her true nature, didn’t change his posture as he leaned back against the chair.
“Why is your expression so dark?”
‘Dark? You have to ask? It’s obvious why!’ Baek Cheong felt aggrieved, but she couldn’t exactly explain the existence of Mumyungbang. In the end, all that escaped her lips was a faint, trailing murmur.
“It’s nothing. I’m just... overwhelmed by such undeserved praise.”
The Pacheon Sword Venerable didn’t react much to her reply. He simply stroked his beard once and reached into his sleeve. What he pulled out was an old piece of scrap metal, about two finger-joints long. It was a dark, blackened metal coated in the grime of ages, with a thin crack running through it. A strange feeling washed over her, similar to the sensation she’d had when she first laid eyes on the Sword-Intent Atlas.
“Do you know what this is?”
“...I do not.”
Baek Cheong tilted her head slightly to examine the scrap. It clearly possessed an extraordinary aura, but it was impossible to discern its true nature just by looking at the surface.
“This is a fragment of a sword,” the Pacheon Sword Venerable said calmly, placing the shard on his palm. “A piece of metal containing a Sword Path. Try to unravel it.”
Not just an atlas of sword intent, but a sword fragment containing a Sword Path? She was puzzled, but she had no room to ask questions.
‘Unravel it?’ Baek Cheong stared blankly at the shard held out to her. Then, a brilliant scheme flashed through her mind. ‘I can just pretend I can’t solve it!’ All she had to do was look at the shard with her divine sense and put on a confused expression. It was the perfect opportunity to solidify the idea that she was too distracted by worldly thoughts to reach the pinnacle of the sword. Surely, the Venerable would then give up and back off.
‘Perfect.’
With her plan finalized, Baek Cheong respectfully held out both hands and took the shard from the Venerable. It was heavier than it looked for its size.
‘Alright, I’ll pretend to examine it for a bit, then say I don’t get it. Done.’
Still, she had to at least put on a show of examining it. She moved her divine sense and extended it toward the surface of the metal. The moment her sense touched the metal, something felt different.
‘Huh?’
An extraordinary sensation emanated from the shard. It was a completely different form from the Sword-Intent Atlas she had read from the jade stone in the Sword Tomb. If the atlas was a map drawn with pictures, this was the very path etched into the map. A certain Sword Path existed within the shard, perfectly preserved.
‘This is...’
Her plan to pretend she couldn’t solve it evaporated from her mind. As she followed the Sword Path with her divine sense, the form gradually became clearer. It was similar to the Meteor Strike, yet distinctly different. It was as if a star were streaking across the night sky.
‘Isn’t this just like a jade slip?’
She had seen the Sword Path at a glance, understood the sword intent, and grasped the meaning of the sword. In the midst of this realization, her fingertips, which had been fiddling with the shard, froze.
Clatter.
The shard slipped from between her fingers. The sound of the metal hitting the floor felt deafeningly loud.
“Ah.”
Baek Cheong reached out belatedly, but the shard was already rolling across the floor. It spun a few times and came to a stop at the feet of the Pacheon Sword Venerable.
‘You idiot! Why did you drop it!’
Regret flooded her, and heat rushed to her face. Her plan to pretend she couldn’t solve it had failed miserably. The very act of dropping it in surprise was proof that she had read something from it.
The Pacheon Sword Venerable looked down at the shard at his feet, then slowly bent down to pick it up. He lightly brushed the dust off the shard with his sleeve. Soon, his dry, emotionless voice was filled with deep satisfaction.
“To grasp the Sword Intent just by seeing the Sword Intent fragment... you are truly a child with extraordinary aptitude.”
Just as she feared, she had been caught red-handed grasping the Sword Intent at once. Her insides were boiling with frustration, but on the outside, she simply kept her head bowed, pretending to be frozen in shock.
The Pacheon Sword Venerable held up the shard and explained the sword intent contained within. “This is a sword intent that follows the Meteor Strike. It is called Galaxy Single Line.”
“Galaxy Single Line...”
Baek Cheong repeated the name to herself without realizing it. It was a name that signified a single line drawn by a crossing star. The Sword Path she had just seen in the shard fit together like a well-tailored garment.
“Is there anything else you noticed from the shard?”
Before she could even finish admiring it, the Pacheon Sword Venerable tucked the shard into his sleeve and asked. Caught off guard, Baek Cheong hesitated and kept her mouth shut.
‘What do I do?’
She had realized something while gaining enlightenment from the shard. But if she answered honestly, she might really end up becoming his disciple. ‘I’ll just make something up.’
She made her decision and lifted her head slightly, meeting the Venerable’s eyes. His deep pupils were staring at her unblinkingly, as if piercing through her very soul.
‘Ah, this is a bust.’
His gaze clearly showed he already knew the answer. He was a great cultivator who knew about her solving the sword intent from the jade stone in the Sword Tomb, and even her breakthrough using the Meteor Strike. A clumsy lie wouldn’t work.
She hesitated, then bowed her head and answered cautiously.
“It seemed that the Meteor Strike and the Galaxy Single Line are not separate sword intents, but rather connected parts of a single, larger sword intent.”
The Pacheon Sword Venerable narrowed his eyes with interest, but he didn’t say a word. Baek Cheong, telling herself that since she had started, she had to see it through to the end, continued.
“I could not gauge the end of the sword intent. However...” She paused for a moment before adding with conviction, “There is definitely a third sword intent that follows.”
The Pacheon Sword Venerable stared intently at Baek Cheong for a long time. Finally, a low exclamation of admiration leaked from behind his beard.
“To even gauge the third sword intent...”
His dry voice was laden with complex emotions. It was genuine admiration, mixed with a hint of regret. However, he quickly cast aside the fleeting emotion and revealed a single fact.
“Unlike other sword cultivators, I do not wield a Flying Sword. Like the martial arts of commoners, I wield a Hand-Held Sword and use swordsmanship.”
A typical sword cultivator wouldn’t wield a sword directly with their hands. It was more like a spell, manipulating a Flying Sword through the air using divine sense and energy. But the Pacheon Sword Venerable used swordsmanship by holding the sword in his hand, like a martial artist.
‘That... that’s a Body Cultivator!’
Baek Cheong realized the meaning behind the Venerable’s words, and her face turned deathly pale. Among cultivators, there were Dharma Cultivators and Body Cultivators. If a Dharma Cultivator used spells, a Body Cultivator focused on tempering their physical body. The difference between a Body Cultivator and a martial artist was that the former mobilized all sorts of medicinal drugs. They subjected themselves to cruel acts to temper their bodies.
‘I am truly, truly screwed.’
A sword cultivator’s life was already harsh enough, but if she had to add body cultivation on top of that, it would be a level of hell that made the actual hell look like a playground. She would have to learn swordsmanship while enduring self-torturous training all day long. Just imagining it made her skin crawl.
‘That is absolutely not happening.’
She couldn’t hide the terror she felt for her future, and it leaked out onto her face. She tried to hide it by bowing her head, but she couldn’t stop her eyes from squeezing shut.
The Pacheon Sword Venerable watched her and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
“There is no need to be so repulsed.”
Baek Cheong cautiously lifted her head and opened her eyes. A soft smile, the first she had ever seen, was etched onto the Pacheon Sword Venerable’s face. For the first time, a human touch appeared on his previously dry and indifferent expression.
“You must have been nervous after hearing that I was wandering the continent to find a disciple.”
“That... was not it?”
When she stammered her reply, the Pacheon Sword Venerable nodded.
“I like your honesty. Let me ease your unnecessary worries. My wandering to find a disciple is merely an excuse.”
Baek Cheong tilted her head at the unexpected words.
“I am simply touring the continent because there is something I must take care of before I ascend to the Transformation Stage.”
The Pacheon Sword Venerable spoke as if it were nothing. But the weight of his words was anything but light. Even a Nascent Soul peak cultivator couldn’t reach the Transformation Stage if the timing and conditions weren’t right, yet he spoke of it with absolute certainty. And the fact that he was wandering the continent for something more important than reaching the Transformation Stage... She didn’t know the full details, but she could intuitively feel that it was no trivial matter. This alone was information she shouldn’t have heard.
‘Something smells incredibly dangerous.’
Baek Cheong suppressed her curiosity to ask for more details. The more she heard, the more likely she was to get caught up in something dangerous. ‘It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s a story that has nothing to do with me.’
However, his next words shackled her ankles.
“Therefore, I have one thing to suggest to you.”
The Pacheon Sword Venerable wiped the smile from his face and spoke in a low voice.
“Become my disciple.”
“What!?”
Baek Cheong couldn’t help but voice her absurdity. Didn’t he just say it was an excuse? That he was wandering for other reasons before reaching the Transformation Stage? And yet, he was telling her to become his disciple—it made no sense. But since escaping the Venerable was her top priority, she hurriedly made an excuse.
“I am still only at the Qi Refining Stage, and I know almost nothing about the sword...”
“I am talking about becoming a Registered Disciple.”
The Pacheon Sword Venerable cut off her excuses and added.