The Extreme Sword Dragon (12)
"...Ouch, that stings."
The large and small wounds had already been lightly cauterized by fire, so the bleeding had stopped long ago. The slight burns, however, made them sting quite a bit. Only after wrapping my entire body in bandages and slathering on every kind of medicinal salve imaginable had I been able to leave the infirmary and rest like this.
Knock knock.
"Who is it?"
Someone was knocking on the door from outside. Their presence was incredibly faint—so faint I could barely tell it was a woman. Still, there weren't many women of this caliber who would come looking for me, so I already knew who it was.
"It's me."
"...Why did you bother knocking?"
She was already inside the room, leaning crookedly against one wall. It was Cheon Dongyohwa. The slight bulge at her side—was that a remnant of her treatment? In any case, the strange white cloth that had covered her face was gone, so her features were clearly visible.
"Are you already fully healed?"
"What am I, some kind of monster? I'm still in pain, but I came out anyway. I have work to do today."
She claimed to be hurting, yet the "work" she mentioned seemed to be nothing more than coming to see me. When I asked her directly what she wanted, Cheon Dongyohwa narrowed her brows and spoke in a tone that sounded almost like a complaint.
"We were comrades-in-arms once, yet you're being so cold."
"You only earn the right to call someone a comrade after you've fought back-to-back with them. Have we ever been deployed to the same battlefield even once?"
We hadn't. The Ten Venerables were far too valuable to waste on a single battle. That was why, aside from the occasional elders' meetings, I had rarely even seen the faces of the First or Second Elders. To call such a shallow connection "comradeship" was nonsense.
"...Fine. Let's just have a productive conversation. That would be better for both of us."
Her tone carried a hint of sarcasm, but she sat down anyway, seemingly ready to speak seriously.
"Divine Lord, or rather, Jin Sowoon. Is your goal in this life truly the eradication of the demonic path?"
Eradication of the demonic path. In plain terms, it meant the complete annihilation of the Heavenly Demon Cult. More specifically, it meant slaying the Heavenly Demon. That was the destination I had chosen for this life.
"I'll help you."
Without hesitation, she offered her assistance. Help with what? And more importantly—did she truly mean to help me?
She was an inscrutable woman, but when it came to the Heavenly Demon, she was more devoted and devout than anyone. Helping me went completely against her nature.
"So that you can grow strong enough to reach my god."
God. Though she wore the robes of the Baehwagyo, her only god was the master of ten thousand demons. Reach. She didn't mean mere physical contact. She meant a duel between equals—a clash of swords at the pinnacle of martial arts. She was saying she would help me become strong enough to fight the Heavenly Demon she worshipped on equal footing.
"Why?"
Whether her words were lies or sincerity, I couldn't tell right now. They were too unbelievable to be a lie. She wasn't ignorant; she would already know that. Yet they were also too unbelievable to be the truth. What did she plan to do if I really reached a realm where I could kill the Heavenly Demon?
"That's none of your business. And honestly, you shouldn't know."
Cheon Dongyohwa flatly refused to answer and continued.
"Whether you believe me or not, I'm sincere."
"Appearing at the Yongbongjihoe, crossing swords with you, meeting like this—everything was planned with this one goal in mind."
With that, she pulled open the cloth covering her side and took something from within. Two long objects and one palm-sized hexagonal box. So the bulge I'd noticed earlier hadn't been from bandages after all.
She pushed them toward me, and I picked them up. The long ones were lighter than they looked, while the hexagonal box was heavier than it appeared.
"I know you don't trust me. That's why I prepared these."
She smiled as if she'd been waiting for this moment.
"Go ahead and open them. Consider it my goodwill—and my expectation."
I couldn't tell what they were, but I could sense they were no ordinary items. I tore away the cloth wrapping them.
"...This is..."
Two swords. And a case containing spiritual pills.
I opened the pill case first. Seven pills. A faint, sharp aroma stung my nose, followed by a subtle sweetness. Deep crimson pills. There was only one pill in the world with this size, color, and scent.
The legendary sacred medicine of Shaolin Temple. Grants immense inner energy and heals all injuries. Seven pills.
Next were the swords. The first had a pale blue blade and a white hilt. On the blade were two characters—likely its name—Seolhon.
"But this one..."
A black blade. A red hilt and fittings. A weight that didn't feel like a blade at all. And above all, a form far too familiar to me.
Mukrin.
My sword, which should currently be resting peacefully inside Tushinryeong.
"How did you...!"
"I robbed it. From Tushinryeong. What, is it not enough? Want more?"
She let out a small laugh, then exaggeratedly wiped her forehead with the back of her hand as if exhausted.
"Ah, it was tough. Who knew a mere blade would be buried so deep? Even though I already knew the path somewhat, I still had to sacrifice a thousand of my beloved followers."
A thousand? Sacrificed?
It didn't sound like she had literally ground living people into powder. No matter how insane she was, there was no reason for her to do that, and the context of her words didn't fit.
"Did you kill a thousand people?"
Excavating Tushinryeong was an incredibly difficult task. It was packed with mechanisms so complex that even hundreds of formation experts would need ten years to solve them. Yet she was saying she had killed a thousand people to clear it quickly.
"To be precise, they were martyrs."
Martyrs. Sacrifices for the faith. She was dressing up the deaths she had ordered as holy martyrdom. The way she smiled without the slightest hint of guilt reminded me so much of my past self that I couldn't even curse her—I could only twist my face in disgust.
"It's true. The standard for martyrdom isn't decided by you, but by them."
"To them, I am the very incarnation of Ahura Mazda, the object of their highest worship."
She spread both arms wide as if proud, as though her words were divine commands and doctrine itself.
"They all died smiling, knowing they were following my orders."
Yes. They might have wished for it. The moment of dying for the god they worshipped. As someone who had once been a believer, I understood that a hundred times over. But did they truly know? That their priestess was not the incarnation of Ahura Mazda at all—that far from believing in that god, she had pushed them to their deaths as a follower of the Demon God?
Even knowing that, would they still have considered it martyrdom? Would they have accepted death with joy?
"Anyway, just take them. It's already done... and honestly, you can't do anything to me right now."
It was infuriating, but she was right. During the Yongbongjihoe, she had deliberately lowered herself to my level, which was why we could even fight. If she had faced me with her true power, I would have been sent flying beyond the horizon in an instant.
"In any case, use these and work hard."
She slowly rose from her seat, preparing to leave. Then, as if remembering something at the last moment, she spoke while still half-standing.
"Oh, right. That Seolhon isn't a gift for you. It's a 'safe return from the battlefield' present for the Sword Phoenix."
"How...?"
Safe return from the battlefield. An ordinary phrase in normal circumstances. But coming from her, who knew everything, those words clearly hinted at my regression.
"It's obvious, isn't it? What connections do you have that would let you regress and then visit the Namgung Clan just a few months later? They must have summoned you. And the only one there who would have any affection for you is the Sword Phoenix."
When I thought about it, it was a deduction she could make easily. Just before opening the door, Cheon Dongyohwa added one last remark.
"As a side note, you should leave that place quickly. A sanctuary for a beast is nothing but a swamp that dulls its claws."
She was mocking the fact that I couldn't use my full strength there. She was saying that if I left the Namgung Clan and lived in the wild, things would be different.
"No."
Of course I would grow. There were many things I felt I needed to do right now. Establishing my own swordsmanship. I had already experienced it and received a warning. I'd never done it before, but it would probably be faster in the ruthless murim than in a peaceful clan. The issue of killing might also resolve itself surprisingly quickly once I faced real combat.
However—
"Someone as blind as me needs a bright lantern."
For someone like me, who couldn't even be sure when I might waver, a guiding light was far more necessary than such an opportunity.
"...Well. I don't really understand that, but it's hard for me to relate."
She shrugged, then gave me one final warning before vanishing from the room.
"A god is not permitted to have weaknesses. Keep that in mind as you strive forward."