The Incomplete Sword
"No!?"
The assassins who had been closing in belatedly cried out in shock.
A single blow.
They were stunned that just one attack had been enough to incapacitate their comrades.
But they quickly came to their senses and took up positions around me. They must have been trained well; their composure did not falter.
Perfect.
"Escort Sagong. Don't interfere."
"Pardon? Young Lord. But—"
"If it truly becomes dangerous, I'll ask for your help first. Until then, leave them to me. I need to gain real combat experience too, don't I?"
I said it with a smile.
Perhaps he realized there was no changing my mind. Sagong Cheon let out a sigh and nodded.
"If it looks dangerous to me, I will intervene at once."
"Good. I'm counting on you."
The fastest way for a martial artist to improve was real combat.
A bloody fight balanced on the razor edge between life and death.
Only that could raise my realm.
That was why I had deliberately asked Sagong Cheon to stand back and created a situation where I would fight alone.
The sight seemed to offend the assassins, and their expressions twisted strangely. They probably thought I was looking down on them.
They were right.
Compared to the powerful experts of Black Night Castle I had faced, enemies of this level were nothing.
"Attack!"
The man who appeared to be their leader barked the order.
Thud!
At once, the assassins rushed me from different directions.
I kept my eyes wide open and watched their movements.
Should I use the same form as before, Heavenly Revolution, again?
I could, but I wanted to practice a wider variety of techniques.
First, I stepped back with Overlord's Footwork.
Whoosh!
The assassins' blades swept past right in front of my nose.
I immediately unleashed Gale Slash.
At the same instant, one assassin's chest split wide open and a fountain of blood burst out.
"You bastard!"
The other assassins flew into a rage at their comrade's death.
They threw hidden weapons tipped with vicious spikes, trying to strike me down.
But instead of retreating, I drove straight into them.
Geumgangyachagi pulsed through me, filling my body with vitality.
Then came the third form of the Gale Continuous Sword.
Nanmu.
Shraaaak!
A fierce storm of blades swept in every direction.
"Ugh!"
"Avoid it!"
"Kgh!"
Every assassin caught in the path of my sword spat blood and died where he stood.
With a single strike, their formation collapsed.
I did not let the opening go and lunged forward, releasing another Gale Slash.
"You little—ck!"
Another assassin tried to stop me and lost his life for it.
Now only a handful remained on my side of the battlefield.
"Just where did a monster like this come from...?"
The assassins' leader sounded deeply shaken.
Even their original target, the Blue-Eyed Sword Demon, had proven to be so formidable that once they faced him directly, they could scarcely imagine bringing him down. And now I, a youth who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, was vastly stronger than they were as well.
No wonder he was rattled.
"Withdraw for now!"
At least he lived up to his role as leader. He made the decision quickly.
Tap-tap-tap!
I saw the dozen or so surviving assassins scatter in all directions and flee.
Using Overlord's Footwork, I caught the two nearest and cut them down.
Sagong Cheon also struck at the retreating men to stop them, bringing down three more.
But the rest escaped.
"Hmm."
It was unfortunate to let assassins get away, but it couldn't be helped.
After all, the very man they had come to kill was standing there with his arms folded, watching us with open interest.
To him, even if twice as many assassins had come, they probably would not have posed much of a threat.
Moyong Hyeon-rak, the Blue-Eyed Sword Demon, looked at us and asked bluntly, "Who are you?"
"My apologies for the late introduction. I am Jin Muyeol, the Young Lord of the Northern Heavenly Sword Clan. This is my escort warrior, Sagong Cheon."
"I am Sagong Cheon."
The two of us cupped our fists toward Moyong Hyeon-rak in greeting.
He was older than we were, for one thing, and at this point in time he was already a master who had entered the Harmony Realm.
That made him more than worthy of proper respect.
"The Northern Heavenly Sword Clan."
Moyong Hyeon-rak murmured the words as if intrigued.
In truth, the relationship between the Northern Heavenly Sword Clan and the Moyong Clan could hardly be called friendly.
The two were not so far apart geographically, and both were sword clans, so comparisons between them were constant.
Moreover, the Northern Heavenly Sword Clan had once stood among the Five Great Sword Sects under Heaven, only to gradually lose its power, while the Moyong Clan looked upon them with a strange mixture of inferiority and superiority.
A tangled, contradictory emotion.
But Moyong Hyeon-rak was a man who felt little attachment to the Moyong Clan itself.
So there was no reason for him to view us poorly.
In a curious tone, he asked, "Why did people from a place like that come looking for me? Going so far as to fight assassins in my stead?"
"I came because I have business with you."
"Business?"
"Yes. Would you consider becoming a guest of our Northern Heavenly Sword Clan?"
At my proposal, Moyong Hyeon-rak stared at me in blank astonishment.
Then he promptly frowned and shot back, "A guest? Are you serious?"
"I am."
"You know I belong to the Moyong Clan, and yet you still dare say something like that."
"But don't you dislike being bound by the name of the Moyong Clan?"
"The same would apply to your Northern Heavenly Sword Clan. If I went there, I'd only be tied down by your clan instead. Why would I bother?"
He waved his hand as though the matter was no longer worth discussing.
"Go back. I appreciate you taking care of the assassins. You handle a sword fairly well. Train a little more, and you might become quite useful."
"You're quite firm."
"I don't have time to waste on pointless things."
"Because it would interfere with completing your unfinished martial art?"
"...!"
Moyong Hyeon-rak's eyes sharpened for an instant.
His expression plainly asked, How do you know that?
But just as quickly, his face relaxed again.
After all, it wasn't exactly a secret. Anyone in the villages around Heuksan County knew he had secluded himself in the mountains to complete his martial art.
He probably assumed I had heard it from them.
But I had no intention whatsoever of retreating so meekly.
"What if I told you I could help you complete your martial art?"
"What?"
Moyong Hyeon-rak's blue eyes flashed.
Then he frowned in open displeasure.
"I complimented your talent once, and now your arrogance reaches the heavens. This isn't a martial art someone at your level could meddle with."
His tone was full of certainty.
It was probably because he held absolute pride in the martial art he had created himself.
But I answered without the slightest agitation.
"At least show it to me once. If, after seeing your martial art, I fail to offer any advice worth hearing, then you can throw me out."
"Hmph. Fine. You did deal with the assassins, so I'll show you that much. But if you can't produce something to match your big words, I'll throw you out on the spot."
"Agreed."
When I accepted without hesitation, Moyong Hyeon-rak shook his head as if he could not understand me and gestured for us to follow.
He likely didn't want to demonstrate his martial art in a place littered with corpses.
After following him a little farther, we came upon a cabin that clearly bore signs of daily life.
This seemed to be where he was staying.
"Watch carefully. This is my Thirteen Heaven and Earth Swords."
Bang!
He swung his sword through empty air and began to demonstrate.
"...!"
Beside me, Sagong Cheon's eyes shook with surprise as he watched the Thirteen Heaven and Earth Swords.
It was because the sword art possessed a level of completion that rivaled the martial arts of any great clan.
Though it had been built upon common sword techniques such as the Six Harmonies Sword Technique, it did not feel inferior in the least.
If anything, its fundamentals were astonishingly solid. It was powerful when it needed to be powerful, supple when it needed to be supple, and it appeared to have no weakness at all.
[Young Lord. Are you truly all right?]
Sagong Cheon sent me a cautious voice transmission.
To his eyes, the Thirteen Heaven and Earth Swords seemed flawless.
But I nodded with a confident look.
That was because I knew exactly what part of this martial art dissatisfied Moyong Hyeon-rak.
"Well?"
"It's excellent."
At my frank praise, the corner of Moyong Hyeon-rak's mouth lifted slightly, pleased despite himself.
"Attack and defense are woven together in exquisite balance. To call it nearly without flaw would not be an exaggeration."
"So you do have eyes."
Moyong Hyeon-rak spoke with satisfaction.
But.
My words were not finished.
"It has merits, yes, but no true strength."
"What?"
"This martial art lacks anything that could be called a killing stroke."
"...!"
Moyong Hyeon-rak's eyes widened at my words.
Because what I had just said was precisely the problem that had troubled him for so long.
The other sword arts of great clans usually possessed at least one form that could be called a sure-kill technique.
Of course, there were many sword arts that didn't.
No, in sheer numbers, those without one were more common.
When a sword art pursued stability, there was often little need for a single overwhelming finishing blow, and such a thing rarely suited it anyway.
But Moyong Hyeon-rak's personality would not allow that.
He did not want to stop at forms with outstanding stability alone. He wanted to create a form worthy of being called a decisive finishing move.
That was why he had shut himself away in the mountains and continued his research.
So when I pointed that out, he seemed a little shaken.
"How did you know? On the surface, it should have looked perfect."
In truth, it was difficult for someone seeing it for the first time to notice.
The Thirteen Heaven and Earth Swords was an exceptionally brilliant sword art even in its incomplete state.
So everyone focused on praising it.
If I had not possessed knowledge of the future, I likely would not have noticed either.
"A martial art always reveals the intentions of the one who created it."
Still, that was no time to dampen the mood with the truth.
I smiled faintly and looked at Moyong Hyeon-rak.
"I could feel how the first ten forms of the Thirteen Heaven and Earth Swords connected organically toward the final three. But those last three forms were rather disappointing."
"Disappointing...!"
"Please, don't be offended. At the very least, I know they are not what you intended them to be."
I calmed his flare of anger and then drew my sword with a serious expression.
"Now, I should make good on what I said earlier."
"You mean your claim that you'd help me complete my martial art?"
"Yes. Even if it won't be perfect, it should still help to some degree."
I could be certain of that.
Why?
Because what I was about to show him was the very form of the completed Thirteen Heaven and Earth Swords he would perfect in the future.
Even if he could not see the process by which the internal energy was released, a master of his caliber would surely sense something in it.
It was only natural. It was, after all, the martial art he himself had created.
"Hoo."
Letting out a light breath, I fixed my gaze on Moyong Hyeon-rak and said, "Watch carefully."
I drew up Geumgangyachagi and poured power into my sword.
A faint golden Sword Qi coiled around the blade, creating an air of mystery.
"This is the latter three forms of the Thirteen Heaven and Earth Swords you've desired so badly."
With those words, I thrust out my sword with all my strength.
Bang!
A sword strike tore through the air itself, and Moyong Hyeon-rak's eyes flooded with shock.