The Blue-Eyed Sword Demon
“The Blue-Eyed Sword Demon, Moyong Hyeon-rak... you mean the man who wiped out the Seven Battle Sect by himself not long ago?”
“Yes. We’re going to recruit him.”
“...!”
Sagong Cheon stared at me in shock.
He could hardly be blamed.
The Blue-Eyed Sword Demon, Moyong Hyeon-rak.
He was a martial artist from the Moyong Clan, a genius who had reached the Harmony Realm at a young age.
His most striking feature, true to his title, was his blond hair and blue eyes.
That was because he was of mixed blood, born between the head of the Moyong Clan and a woman from the Western Regions.
Hadn’t people said he had suffered plenty of discrimination as a child because of his appearance?
But that isn’t the part I need to focus on if I want to recruit Moyong Hyeon-rak.
The Moyong Hyeon-rak I had met in my previous life had not carried any great inferiority complex about his looks.
If anything, he had taken pride in them, as proof of his mother.
What he had been truly obsessed with was completing his swordsmanship.
To a degree that others found downright terrifying.
Why else would a man from a prestigious orthodox clan be called a Sword Demon?
Still...
Maybe that’s why his personality is such a mess.
Moyong Hyeon-rak cared for little besides perfecting his sword.
So little, in fact, that he paid no mind even to the affairs of his own clan, the Moyong Clan.
No, was it merely that he paid no mind?
I heard he and the elders there practically want to tear each other apart.
Because of the discrimination he had suffered since childhood, Moyong Hyeon-rak had never been allowed to learn the Moyong Clan’s inherited martial arts.
So the sword art he used now had been pieced together from various techniques found on the market, forged into something entirely his own.
To be honest, the first time I heard that, I was genuinely impressed.
It meant he possessed the makings of a grandmaster capable of creating martial arts from scratch.
But a martial art cobbled together that way is bound to have flaws somewhere.
For the next several years, Moyong Hyeon-rak would struggle to patch the weaknesses in that swordsmanship.
And in the end, he would succeed.
But that was a story for years from now.
At present, he should still be shut away in some remote mountain, immersed in the study of his self-made sword art.
That was the opening I intended to exploit.
As I sank into thought, Sagong Cheon asked uneasily, “May I ask why you intend to recruit someone so dangerous?”
“Dangerous?”
“I’ve heard that the Blue-Eyed Sword Demon, though born to the orthodox faction, is so violent that he cuts down anyone he dislikes. They say he’s no different from an unorthodox martial artist...”
“That’s wrong. It’s true that he threatens people and drives them off when they displease him, but he’s not the sort who cuts others down recklessly.”
How did I know?
Simple. I had met him before.
I had even crossed swords with him.
Of course, I couldn’t say that out loud.
So I gave Sagong Cheon a vague answer instead.
“In any case, since you’ll be coming with me, you should at least know why. Right now, our Northern Heavenly Sword Sect is standing at the edge of ruin.”
“The main family is?”
Sagong Cheon’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Of course, the Patriarch has taken ill, but... it’s not as if the clan is about to collapse entirely, is it? The Patriarch will soon rise from his sickbed as well.”
It seemed he was speaking with the Jeonghwagyeol in mind, the technique I had told him about.
I had said it was effective not only against poison and demonic qi, but to some degree against illness as well.
But I answered with a grave expression.
“Yes, that will happen. But there are those who won’t sit back and allow it. More precisely, I mean the ones who poisoned my father.”
“What? Poisoned? What do you mean...?”
“Listen carefully. They call themselves Black Night Castle. No one knows what they truly are, because their real nature remains hidden in the dark.”
“...!”
Shock spread across Sagong Cheon’s face.
He immediately cast a sound barrier around us and asked, “Are you saying... our Northern Heavenly Sword Sect is already being eaten away by the schemes of this Black Night Castle?”
“Yes. My father’s illness, mine, the various incidents that occur while pretending to be accidents, and the steadily worsening state of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect... all of it is their doing.”
“Th-then shouldn’t we convene a clan council at once and discuss countermeasures? We need to inform everyone—”
“Calm yourself. I wish we could. But the clan already has many of their lackeys hidden inside it. If we make this public, there’s no telling how they’ll respond.”
They might even try to erase the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect far earlier than they had in the original history.
And as I was now, there was no way I could stop that.
That was one future I had to avoid at all costs.
“Now do you understand why I’ve been hiding my strength?”
“I see... so that was why.”
Sagong Cheon trembled as though he had just heard a secret too enormous to bear.
Perhaps because we had already built a fair amount of trust, he did not dismiss my words as absurd.
I let out a light sigh and continued.
“That’s why I’m trying to gather forces that can help us when the time comes. The Blue-Eyed Sword Demon is one of them. Do you understand now?”
“Yes. I understand fully.”
Ordinarily, I would have told him about Black Night Castle much later.
There was always the chance information might leak.
But I trusted Sagong Cheon.
Once trust had been built between us, I knew he would never betray me, no matter the moment.
So I had shared one of my greatest secrets with him.
“Then let’s get moving. To where Moyong Hyeon-rak is.”
“Yes!”
Sagong Cheon nodded sharply.
Using an outing as our excuse, we mounted our horses and left the clan estate.
We were headed for the place where the Blue-Eyed Sword Demon awaited.
Moyong Hyeon-rak lived on Black Mountain, not far from Shenyang, where the Moyong Clan was based.
To be exact, he was said to be staying atop the tallest peak in Heuksan County.
After several days of riding, we finally arrived.
“This is the place.”
After eating at a nearby inn, we left our horses behind and immediately began climbing the highest mountain.
Fortunately, there was no need to search blindly.
Word had already spread throughout the area that the Blue-Eyed Sword Demon was staying on that mountain.
Because of that, people rarely dared approach it.
“Young Lord, if the Blue-Eyed Sword Demon drives us away, what will you do then?”
As we climbed, Sagong Cheon asked in a worried voice.
He was likely thinking of the man’s infamous temperament.
I shook my head as if to reassure him.
“That won’t happen. I have a way to pique the Blue-Eyed Sword Demon’s interest.”
“Do you?”
“I’m almost certain of it. So trust me.”
“I will.”
We continued upward as we talked.
The mountain was steep and rugged, but since we were both martial artists, the climb itself was not especially difficult.
As for me, I took the opportunity to train Overlord’s Footwork.
When using lightness arts in mountainous terrain, one had to alter breathing, the circulation of internal energy, and even stride length. Climbing like this made for excellent practice.
Sagong Cheon watched me move soundlessly and without the slightest trace, like a thief slipping through the dark, and let out an admiring breath.
“Your movement art is truly marvelous, Young Lord. Is that the Thief King’s footwork?”
“Yes. I got it from Nam Cheon’s hideout last time. Though I returned the original, of course.”
By returning the original manual of Overlord’s Footwork along with part of the money, I had settled all outstanding debts with Nam Cheon.
He must have thought I would break my promise, because the expression on his face when I handed the manual back had been quite something to see.
Perhaps that left a good impression.
Before leaving, Nam Cheon had told me how to contact him.
He said that since I had saved his life, if I were ever in trouble, he would help me if he could.
Though in truth, there isn’t much Nam Cheon can do in the battles I’ll have to fight.
Still, there was a chance he could serve as a bridge to the Thief King.
If that happened, I could hardly ask for more.
Not that I need that right now.
That was something that could wait.
At present, I had no immediate use for him.
For now, recruiting Moyong Hyeon-rak came first.
As I climbed with that thought in mind, something strange caught my eye.
“Hm?”
There were a great many footprints ahead of us on the path.
They led toward the summit.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Could something have happened?”
“Let’s go and see first.”
“We should be careful.”
“Agreed.”
We hurried up the mountain.
And before long, we heard it.
Clang! Kaanng! Clang!
The metallic crash of sword striking sword.
“This...”
“It sounds like an ambush,” Sagong Cheon said, his expression hardening.
An ambush.
I didn’t need to ask who the target was.
It had to be Moyong Hyeon-rak.
“What will you do?”
“Hmm. Even without us, Moyong Hyeon-rak should be more than capable of winning. I’m sure of it.”
The proof was simple: he remained alive and well years later.
That meant he wasn’t going to die to assassins in a place like this.
If anything, he would likely cut down every assassin who had come here.
“But if that happens, our trip will have been for nothing. If we go back down the mountain and visit him tomorrow, he’ll just suspect us of being their accomplices.”
“That’s true...”
“It would be better if we helped a little and earned some goodwill instead. What do you think?”
“I think that’s a good idea. If we help him, it should be easier to win his favor.”
Sagong Cheon nodded.
Ordinarily, he never would have allowed something like this, since his duty was to protect me.
But after seeing my strength, he seemed to think even a somewhat bolder plan would be acceptable.
We climbed to the summit where the ringing of steel was echoing.
And there we saw it.
More than thirty assassins in black masks had surrounded a single handsome man.
The man was a blond, blue-eyed beauty, but his features were bold, his bearing unmistakably masculine.
He doesn’t look much different from the man I remember years later.
They said that once one reached the Harmony Realm, the speed of aging slowed.
Perhaps that was why.
The man—Moyong Hyeon-rak—saw us and scowled deeply.
“Who the hell are those bastards now? Your comrades?”
He seemed to be mistaking us for part of the assassin group.
But that misunderstanding was quickly cleared up.
“We can’t leave witnesses. Kill them!”
Some of the black-masked men charged toward us and unleashed killing moves.
I drew my sword at once and raised Geumgangyachagi.
Wooooong.
Golden energy flooded over my body.
Before long, it extended into my sword as well, forming Sword Qi.
At the same time, the assassins closed in to striking distance.
I swung my blade at them with all my strength.
A spinning blade of wind that deflected the incoming assault and struck back in the same motion.
Shhhhk!
The assassins rushing at me were hurled into the air, and blood sprayed in every direction.