Flash Shadow and Instant
The name of the being known as Amcheonjonza first began to spread a few months earlier, in the winter.
The Black Bone Faction, led by a man of unknown origin and unknown name called the Golden Spider, vanished overnight.
The Black Bone Faction had thrown itself into every kind of conflict in a reckless drive for rapid expansion, yet because it carried the Sword Family’s patronage plaque, no one had dared check it. Had that growth continued unchecked, many predicted it would eventually claim a seat among the Council of Six—the informal council formed by the six great pillars of Luoyang’s underworld.
That same Black Bone Faction was swept away, cleaned out as though by a broom, by a presence about which no solid information existed.
Whatever the Golden Spider’s personal reputation, the man had held a Sword Family patronage plaque. The Luoyang Sword Family’s intelligence organs therefore launched investigation after investigation of their own. Yet everything remained a tangled mess.
It was clear that multiple groups had been present at the final battle that destroyed the Black Bone Faction. Tracking those threads, however, proved no different from chasing a mirage.
“There are statements that unidentified martial artists in every sort of attire were witnessed.”
“We have already confirmed friction with the information organization called Hyeonwol Pavilion immediately beforehand, but the faction had stirred up far too many other conflicts as well…”
“Hyeonwol Pavilion does possess a certain degree of force, yet in the end it is only an intelligence network.”
“For such an organization to eliminate a power as formidable as the Black Bone Faction is impossible…”
There were even reports suspecting that this same Hyeonwol Pavilion had been present at the Black Bone Faction’s last battle.
But that was only the beginning of the true nightmare.
“For some reason, no proper traces remain.”
“Every statement contradicts the others.”
“The only accounts we have sound as though the witnesses suffered a collective hallucination…”
“Among the underworld survivors, not one remains of sound mind.”
“Suddenly the surroundings became an inescapable maze… or that the Golden Spider was in truth a witch who employed bizarre arts…”
Nothing but low-credibility eyewitness tales no one could trust, and survivors whose memories were so shattered that nothing useful remained.
In the end the matter rose all the way to the Supreme Operations Committee.
“I order the Head of Inspection to form a dedicated investigation team and examine every detail thoroughly.”
Thus even the team assembled by the Head of Inspection entered the field. They did not merely investigate; they combed the matter as though conducting a full criminal inquiry. Yet they, too, arrived at the same result.
Everything connected to the incident lay outside the bounds of ordinary principle. It felt like trying to track a tale from ancient legend or myth. Every speaker told a different story; every memory diverged. Within that twisted, misaligned narrative only one common thread remained—a name, or a designation.
Amcheonjonza.
And when word came that the same presence had once more revealed itself in the Valley of Sin, the Supreme Operations Committee ordered a focused investigation into the being called Amcheonjonza from the very start.
“Temporary unlimited mobilization of resources is authorized.”
Yet the Chairman somehow already foresaw the same ending as before. His prediction did not miss by a hair’s breadth.
“…I am deeply ashamed. There is nothing further I can report that could be called confirmed.”
That which had been named Amcheonjonza was clearly something that shared the same trajectory as the mysterious beings remaining in the Chairman’s memory—existences that had always walked the underside of human history.
Beings that exist yet cannot be grasped. Mirages that are nonetheless real. Ghosts and spirits. Sorcerers. Daoist adepts. Immortals. Mountain gods. Yokai. All the unnamed or unknown things that dwell beyond the light.
They were the far side of the moon that never shows its back. Amcheonjonza was the reverse face of the moon that had appeared in the city called the Lunar Palace—Luoyang.
…So that was it.
Only now did the Chairman understand why he had never managed to extract even a single usable description of Amcheonjonza’s appearance.
Indeed… so that is how it is.
First Young Master…!
The instant he realized it, the Chairman let out a silent groan. In every detail of physical structure there was not a single difference between the First Young Master in his memory and the being before him called Amcheonjonza. How had he failed to see it?
There was no way I could have known.
It was because of the energy that surrounded Amcheonjonza, the energy that poured from him.
Demonic qi…!
An energy that, throughout history, had never been properly studied even once. Had the power of No-Mind No-Thought not already begun to crack, he would never have noticed it at all. Only in that fleeting instant—when the force of No-Mind No-Thought resisted the reality distortion caused by demonic qi, while at the same time No-Mind No-Thought itself collapsed enough for logical judgment to return—could he see Amcheonjonza’s true form through his own memory and reason.
Yet nothing is confirmed.
There remained the possibility that something which had stolen countless orthodox martial arts across endless ages was merely imitating the appearance of First Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.
It could simply be toying with this old man.
Even in that brief span of thought, the exchange of blows continued like flowing water. The opponent might have been waiting for the very moment the Chairman’s hand left the sword. But the Chairman possessed one final means of verifying the opponent’s identity.
In the instant he received one of the explosive chain attacks pouring from Amcheonjonza, the sword that had deflected that crushing blow slipped free of the Chairman’s right hand. Yet the old man’s body spun like a storm; his left hand caught the blade in reverse grip and again deflected the following strike. No sooner had he done so than a qi sharper than any edge erupted from Amcheonjonza’s opposite fingertips and lanced toward the Chairman’s eyes.
Now…!
In his vision, in every sense, the myriad things of the world slowed. His thoughts accelerated.
“Hup!”
He broke the breathlessness that had lasted from the first sword onward and drew a single mouthful of air. He recited the formula.
The slowest is as the fastest; when that principle reaches its extreme, it harmonizes and becomes one…
A single thread of natural qi drawn in with the breath filled the emptying dantian with vigor and, in a heartbeat, awakened sensation to the very tips of the limbs.
Before that single sword, a thousand strikes and ten thousand blades are impermanent.
Even as the blue-white edge closed upon his eyes, he did not so much as blink. The sight of him reciting the formula and circulating internal power was no longer that of a man, but of a single sword.
The realm of Body-Sword Unity. Concentration that bordered on the terrifying.
My sword shall become the instantaneous shadow that severs the trajectory of eternity.
In that moment the instant became eternity, and the sword that had clearly begun later struck aside the opponent’s blow.
In this instant, everything…!
And in that same moment his blade was already piercing through the opponent’s head.
That was the Sword Family’s Secret Sword—Flash Shadow Instant. Its sixth form: Predation of the Evil King. Reverse-grip left hand, strike second yet seize the initiative, one blow to kill. The ultimate counter-technique.
Because the full formula had never been transmitted, the difficulty could not even be ranked; excluding the Supreme Family Head’s personal sword art, it was the most abstruse technique in the history of the Luoyang Sword Family. And it had just been unleashed by an old warrior once called the Sword Venerable.
In the instant before that sword could pierce Amcheonjonza’s mask—
“……!”
The hand that Flash Shadow Instant had already struck aside seemed to waver, then unfolded the exact same sword art.
Extra Form: Formless Without Sword
A result as though cause and effect themselves had been reversed: the hand that had once been struck aside proved far faster than the sword about to pierce the mask. As though it had traveled backward through time to create the outcome, the ultimate counter deflected the Chairman’s blade.
Not even the shape of swordsmanship remained, yet it was unmistakably Flash Shadow Instant.
“…….”
Confirming that his own sword had been turned aside, the Chairman closed his eyes. He no longer intended to resist. The old azure-steel longsword cried out as it spun through empty air. The Chairman had simply released it.
And yet—precisely because he had—the hand that had struck his sword aside never reached him.
“…….”
The opponent who had withdrawn his hand let out a low laugh like molten metal boiling over.
“A rather enjoyable bout, worthy of that name and reputation.”
Only then did the old azure-steel longsword the Chairman had released finish spinning and drive itself into the ground.
The capital of the Central Plains nation—the Imperial Capital.
Somewhere along the central avenue of that city, a figure wearing a golden mask gazed through a window at the night sky. He was the Second Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family, Yeon Ja-cheong.
Creak—
The gauntlet of the left hand he held clasped behind his back opened and closed repeatedly, filling the luxurious chamber with an unpleasant metallic noise.
“My lord.”
One of his subordinates spoke from behind him.
“The heads of the Sixteen Imperial Capital Families await you.”
Verification was complete.
This man is without doubt the First Young Master.
The opponent had recognized Flash Shadow Instant and, as though deliberately confirming his intent, had executed Flash Shadow Instant for all to see. Moreover, upon seeing the Chairman close his eyes after confirming the technique, he had halted his attack.
And to perform that abstruse Sword Family Secret Sword Flash Shadow Instant bare-handed…
To the Chairman’s knowledge, such a feat was possible only for the First Young Master who had created Flash Shadow Instant himself, or for the former master of the sword once called the Supreme Family Head.
But then…
How, and for what reason, had the First Young Master become the being called Amcheonjonza? And what connection existed between that transformation and the end of his seclusion?
The Chairman shook his head inwardly.
That is not the question I should be pondering now.
What he needed to consider was—
Why has the First Young Master appeared before me in that form?
“…….”
Because he did not know the answer, the Chairman could not ask Amcheonjonza—Yeon So-hyeon—directly.
“There are many kinds of people in the world.”
As though reading that unspoken question, Amcheonjonza’s voice continued.
“Those who ignore law and rules. Those who try to rewrite them as they please. Those who deceive them. And…”
Amcheonjonza’s gaze turned upon the Chairman.
“Those who never break law and rules, and instead hold the conviction to protect them.”
It was also an answer that resolved the Chairman’s doubt in a single stroke.
Indeed…
Only then did the Chairman offer a bitter smile and open his mouth toward Amcheonjonza.
“If someone ignores the law and rules, rewrites them to suit their taste, or deceives them—and if even this old man who stands here turns a blind eye—then the weak whom law and rules ought to protect will themselves abandon them simply to survive.”
“And everything will sink into chaos.”
In the history preserved within Yeon So-hyeon’s memory, after the Chairman disappeared, that was precisely what had befallen the Luoyang Sword Family.
And that is why…
This was the only way the uncompromising Chairman and Yeon So-hyeon could meet.
A member of the family’s Supreme Operations Committee must never reveal his identity, never be discovered, never become known.
Therefore Yeon So-hyeon had met him not as the human First Young Master, but as the ghost or demon called Amcheonjonza. And the Chairman—
I must never ask whether Amcheonjonza is truly the First Young Master.
Just as Yeon So-hyeon had long ago guessed the Chairman’s identity yet neither of them had ever spoken of it aloud. That was the final line drawn by a man who did not compromise—and at the same time, the First Young Master’s consideration for one who had endured so long under the weight of duty.
Thus the strange meeting between the highest power of the Luoyang Sword Family and the one who should have become that highest power was established.
“Impressive. Better to break than to bend, is that it?”
“It is nothing so grand.”
The Chairman looked up at the sky. For some reason the empty scabbard at his waist felt light.
“They say a man who is standing wants to sit, and a man who is sitting wants to lie down.”
The wind was rising; clouds surged like waves. A heavy rain seemed about to fall.
“…As the saying goes, after obtaining Long, one looks to Shu. I too am but a mere man. I simply fear that the moment I compromise, my eyes will turn to the next compromise.”
“Yet the first lesson everyone learns in living is how to compromise with the world.”
Amcheonjonza inclined his head toward him.
“Because of every sacrifice you have shown until now, people who are still human have been able to survive in Luoyang, in this family.”
It was an expression of respect. The reason so many who still upheld the Luoyang Sword Family could remain in their places was that the old man had never compromised.
“And because you held the line, those who wish even now to change the world have finally been able to move.”
It was gratitude for a warrior’s long, lonely battle that no one had ever recognized—or been able to recognize.
“…….”
The sky had not yet begun to rain. Yet upon the cheeks of the old warrior looking upward, untimely raindrops were already falling.
At last the solitary struggle whose end no one had known was drawing to a close. As though to pretend not to see those hot raindrops, the moon hid itself still deeper among the clouds.