“I can’t understand it. How did that bastard know to leave words like that?”

After hearing me, Sword Emperor twisted his face as he asked. Of course he wouldn’t understand. If I’d heard it the other way around, I would’ve reacted the same.

But.

“I don’t know. Only, it was written that way.”

At times like this, it’s easiest to stick to playing dumb. Like I said earlier, if there was a best part about selling out Yoo Cheongil—

“......”

—it was that the other side couldn’t answer easily after you said something like that.

If I had to read his reaction, it was basically...

‘If it was Yoo Cheongil, maybe it’s possible.’

...because that kind of thought floated up in their heads.

In reality, every single person I’d met from Heaven-Beyond-Heaven, or anyone who’d met Yoo Cheongil before, reacted the same way.

If it was Yoo Cheongil.

If it was that man.

Maybe it’s possible.

I didn’t know where that bizarre faith came from, but everyone I’d seen reacted like that.

It was embarrassing, but it was the truth.

I really didn’t get it, but that’s how it was.

Just look at Sword Emperor’s reaction right now.

“...Ha.”

After a long silence, Sword Emperor let out a single hollow chuckle. And then—

“...He predicted all the way to that? What an absurd bastard.”

He believed it.

“A monster of a bastard.”

He really believes it.

[He believes that? Crazy.]

Even Yoo Cheongil clicked his tongue at Sword Emperor’s faith. Even he seemed to think it was ridiculous.

[Quit selling me out. At this rate, you’ll have nothing left.]

‘What do you want me to do. If I don’t sell you out, what do I do right now?’

I couldn’t see another way. If I didn’t do even this, there was no telling how Sword Emperor would come out of this.

And besides—

‘Even Yoo Cheongil was tense.’

The moment I realized Sword Emperor had come closer, I felt Yoo Cheongil tense up too. Which meant—

‘If it’s Sword Emperor, he could kill me.’

It was his reaction to the kind of person Sword Emperor was—someone who could bare his fangs if he felt like it.

‘So I have to get through this cleanly.’

I couldn’t just die here. I had to do something.

And this was the best I had.

“So that’s why you recognized me from the start?”

“...I wasn’t certain. But I acted while expecting it to some extent.”

“I see. So that’s what it was.”

Sword Emperor nodded as if he’d accepted something.

“How laughable... If he was going to leave words that far ahead... he shouldn’t have.”

[.......]

‘Huh?’

Yoo Cheongil’s reaction was strange to what Sword Emperor murmured in that low voice.

He shifted like something snagged on him.

That reaction bothered me in a subtle way, but—

“This is everything there is to why I identified you, sir...”

—for now, I had to focus on Sword Emperor, so I kept talking.

Sword Emperor stared straight at me as he listened.

“Then I’ll ask something else.”

I didn’t know whether he’d accepted what we just talked about or he was simply letting it go, but—

Sword Emperor moved to the next point.

“Kid.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can you truly distinguish the ones from HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE with your eyes?”

“......”

I widened my eyes at the question. I hadn’t really expected him to ask that.

‘Out of nowhere—HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE.’

Why was he asking? While I hesitated—

“...Yes.”

—I answered first.

“This also isn’t certainty, but... I can identify them.”

As long as their malevolent aura remained the same. I could.

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

“...Pardon?”

“Why?”

“...No. It’s just—because you said ‘alright’ without asking anything else.”

“You said it’s true.”

“I could be saying it’s true with words only.”

At my doubt, Sword Emperor tilted his head.

“Then when the time comes, I can just cut you down.”

“......”

Ah. Right.

There really was a simple, easy method.

Ahahaha.

Cold sweat streamed down my body.

“But, um... why is this...?”

Why did he ask whether I could see them or not? This time I asked with my doubt out in the open.

“I need your eyes.”

Sword Emperor said it, and I flinched. He needed my eyes? What—was he saying he’d pluck them out? That would be a problem.

A thousand thoughts flashed through me at once, but—

“There’s something you have to look at for me.”

“Ah.”

Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be that. Right. If he needed my eyes, he needed my eyes—he wasn’t going to rip them out.

It wasn’t like some bastard who turned Divine Spear’s eyeballs into mush.

[What’s with that face? That’s the face you make when you’re talking shit about me.]

The old man really was quick.

I ignored him and asked Sword Emperor.

“What exactly do you need me to look at...?”

“It exists. Normally, I’d drag you there right now and make you see it, but...”

WHOOOOSH—!

Every sense that had been strangling my body returned. The sharp pressure and killing intent vanished completely.

“Moon-Thread Sword has a deal with me. So I’ll give it time.”

“...Moon-Thread Sword, sir?”

Why was Cheon Seonghwa coming up here?

‘Well.’

I already knew Sword Emperor had talked with Moon-Thread Sword. If he hadn’t, Sword Emperor wouldn’t have appeared as a driver in the first place.

The problem was—

“From now on, I will teach you.”

“...What?”

[Huh?]

It was Sword Emperor’s words. Even Yoo Cheongil, who’d been picking his nose like nothing mattered, froze up and blurted out the same dumb reaction.

“The contract term is after our schedule at Mount Hua. Until I achieve my purpose.”

“Sir? What do you mean—”

“We’ll begin while heading to Shaanxi. Prepare your mindset.”

“...What?”

What kind of story turn is this? I had to go rigid with my mouth hanging open.

“...You’re going to teach me? Teach me what?”

“The sword. There is nothing else I will teach you.”

“...No, I mean, obviously, but why all of a sudden?”

I was going to learn the sword from Sword Emperor? What was that supposed to mean?

“It’s my deal with Moon-Thread Sword.”

“...?”

Moon-Thread Sword?

He made that deal with the Sect Master?

“...A deal to teach me the sword?”

“Yes. I needed your eyes. I asked your Sect Master, and he said this: he can’t just lend you out for free. He told me to teach you something.”

“......”

“So I will teach you. Understand that.”

It was insane.

It was saying Moon-Thread Sword had handed the greatest Sword Emperor in the world a private tutoring job.

‘...Is this allowed?’

Is this even possible? I’m Blue Moon Sect, and I’m already at the point where martial arts have sunk into my body.

So what does it mean that I’m going to learn swordsmanship from Sword Emperor? My thoughts wouldn’t turn, and I just rolled my eyes around.

“Don’t worry.”

Sword Emperor told me with a blank face.

“I will teach only the sword. I have no intention of touching your internal art. And I don’t even want to lay a finger on Yoo Cheongil’s martial arts—on that pathetic bastard’s martial arts, either.”

[Pathetic? Listen to this bastard talk.]

Yoo Cheongil growled at him, but—

What mattered to me was that he said he wouldn’t touch my internal art, and would only adjust my sword.

‘...Sword Emperor is going to teach me the sword.’

The Greatest Sword Under Heaven teaching me the sword. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, sure, but—

‘...I already...’

I already had the greatest person of all ages, dead or alive, glued to me.

So do I even need sword instruction?

Right when that thought came up—

[It pisses me off, but it’s not bad.]

Yoo Cheongil spoke with a small smirk.

[Martial arts, sure. But my saber art doesn’t suit you. Letting that bastard teach you fundamentals properly is a good thing.]

“......”

Yoo Cheongil didn’t show a negative reaction.

And honestly, he was right.

‘Yoo Cheongil’s thing is saber art adapted through Full Moon.’

I didn’t know why a man who held a saber and used saber art was called the Sword Saint, but—

What he used was, undeniably, saber art.

On the other hand, what I used was— 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

‘Swordsmanship.’

And among it, I’d been using light swordsmanship that fit my smaller frame.

If you asked who matched better, Yoo Cheongil seemed to judge that it was Sword Emperor.

‘Fine. Great.’

Great. All of that is great. But—

“...Why are you going that far for me?”

What was Sword Emperor’s reason for going this far? For the Sword Emperor of Heaven-Beyond-Heaven to bother tuning another disciple’s sword... in a way, it was a matter of pride.

So why was he doing this much? When I asked—

“Because I have to.”

Sword Emperor ended it with a simple answer.

“......”

Do I really matter that much?

Or is there some other reason?

I still couldn’t understand. So—

“Then, may I at least speak with Moon-Thread Sword first...?”

Let me talk to Moon-Thread Sword, the one who supposedly made that deal.

I felt like I’d understand what I needed to understand if I did, so I said it, but—

“You won’t be able to see him. He’s busy right now.”

“Moon-Thread Sword, sir...?”

“Yes.”

A faint smile formed on Sword Emperor’s blank face.

“He’ll be busy. The Martial Alliance vault was looted.”

“...What?”

The vault was looted? My eyes widened.

*****

“I can’t understand it. How did that bastard know to leave words like that?”

After hearing me, Sword Emperor twisted his face as he asked. Of course he wouldn’t understand. If I’d heard it the other way around, I would’ve reacted the same.

But.

“I don’t know. Only, it was written that way.”

At times like this, it’s easiest to stick to playing dumb. Like I said earlier, if there was a best part about selling out Yoo Cheongil—

“......”

—it was that the other side couldn’t answer easily after you said something like that.

If I had to read his reaction, it was basically...

‘If it was Yoo Cheongil, maybe it’s possible.’

...because that kind of thought floated up in their heads.

In reality, every single person I’d met from Heaven-Beyond-Heaven, or anyone who’d met Yoo Cheongil before, reacted the same way.

If it was Yoo Cheongil.

If it was that man.

Maybe it’s possible.

I didn’t know where that bizarre faith came from, but everyone I’d seen reacted like that.

It was embarrassing, but it was the truth.

I really didn’t get it, but that’s how it was.

Just look at Sword Emperor’s reaction right now.

“...Ha.”

After a long silence, Sword Emperor let out a single hollow chuckle. And then—

“...He predicted all the way to that? What an absurd bastard.”

He believed it.

“A monster of a bastard.”

He really believes it.

[He believes that? Crazy.]

Even Yoo Cheongil clicked his tongue at Sword Emperor’s faith. Even he seemed to think it was ridiculous.

[Quit selling me out. At this rate, you’ll have nothing left.]

‘What do you want me to do. If I don’t sell you out, what do I do right now?’

I couldn’t see another way. If I didn’t do even this, there was no telling how Sword Emperor would come out of this.

And besides—

‘Even Yoo Cheongil was tense.’

The moment I realized Sword Emperor had come closer, I felt Yoo Cheongil tense up too. Which meant—

‘If it’s Sword Emperor, he could kill me.’

It was his reaction to the kind of person Sword Emperor was—someone who could bare his fangs if he felt like it.

‘So I have to get through this cleanly.’

I couldn’t just die here. I had to do something.

And this was the best I had.

“So that’s why you recognized me from the start?”

“...I wasn’t certain. But I acted while expecting it to some extent.”

“I see. So that’s what it was.”

Sword Emperor nodded as if he’d accepted something.

“How laughable... If he was going to leave words that far ahead... he shouldn’t have.”

[.......]

‘Huh?’

Yoo Cheongil’s reaction was strange to what Sword Emperor murmured in that low voice.

He shifted like something snagged on him.

That reaction bothered me in a subtle way, but—

“This is everything there is to why I identified you, sir...”

—for now, I had to focus on Sword Emperor, so I kept talking.

Sword Emperor stared straight at me as he listened.

“Then I’ll ask something else.”

I didn’t know whether he’d accepted what we just talked about or he was simply letting it go, but—

Sword Emperor moved to the next point.

“Kid.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can you truly distinguish the ones from HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE with your eyes?”

“......”

I widened my eyes at the question. I hadn’t really expected him to ask that.

‘Out of nowhere—HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE.’

Why was he asking? While I hesitated—

“...Yes.”

—I answered first.

“This also isn’t certainty, but... I can identify them.”

As long as their malevolent aura remained the same. I could.

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

“...Pardon?”

“Why?”

“...No. It’s just—because you said ‘alright’ without asking anything else.”

“You said it’s true.”

“I could be saying it’s true with words only.”

At my doubt, Sword Emperor tilted his head.

“Then when the time comes, I can just cut you down.”

“......”

Ah. Right.

There really was a simple, easy method.

Ahahaha.

Cold sweat streamed down my body.

“But, um... why is this...?”

Why did he ask whether I could see them or not? This time I asked with my doubt out in the open.

“I need your eyes.”

Sword Emperor said it, and I flinched. He needed my eyes? What—was he saying he’d pluck them out? That would be a problem.

A thousand thoughts flashed through me at once, but—

“There’s something you have to look at for me.”

“Ah.”

Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be that. Right. If he needed my eyes, he needed my eyes—he wasn’t going to rip them out.

It wasn’t like some bastard who turned Divine Spear’s eyeballs into mush.

[What’s with that face? That’s the face you make when you’re talking shit about me.]

The old man really was quick.

I ignored him and asked Sword Emperor.

“What exactly do you need me to look at...?”

“It exists. Normally, I’d drag you there right now and make you see it, but...”

WHOOOOSH—!

Every sense that had been strangling my body returned. The sharp pressure and killing intent vanished completely.

“Moon-Thread Sword has a deal with me. So I’ll give it time.”

“...Moon-Thread Sword, sir?”

Why was Cheon Seonghwa coming up here?

‘Well.’

I already knew Sword Emperor had talked with Moon-Thread Sword. If he hadn’t, Sword Emperor wouldn’t have appeared as a driver in the first place.

The problem was—

“From now on, I will teach you.”

“...What?”

[Huh?]

It was Sword Emperor’s words. Even Yoo Cheongil, who’d been picking his nose like nothing mattered, froze up and blurted out the same dumb reaction.

“The contract term is after our schedule at Mount Hua. Until I achieve my purpose.”

“Sir? What do you mean—”

“We’ll begin while heading to Shaanxi. Prepare your mindset.”

“...What?”

What kind of story turn is this? I had to go rigid with my mouth hanging open.

“...You’re going to teach me? Teach me what?”

“The sword. There is nothing else I will teach you.”

“...No, I mean, obviously, but why all of a sudden?”

I was going to learn the sword from Sword Emperor? What was that supposed to mean?

“It’s my deal with Moon-Thread Sword.”

“...?”

Moon-Thread Sword?

He made that deal with the Sect Master?

“...A deal to teach me the sword?”

“Yes. I needed your eyes. I asked your Sect Master, and he said this: he can’t just lend you out for free. He told me to teach you something.”

“......”

“So I will teach you. Understand that.”

It was insane.

It was saying Moon-Thread Sword had handed the greatest Sword Emperor in the world a private tutoring job.

‘...Is this allowed?’

Is this even possible? I’m Blue Moon Sect, and I’m already at the point where martial arts have sunk into my body.

So what does it mean that I’m going to learn swordsmanship from Sword Emperor? My thoughts wouldn’t turn, and I just rolled my eyes around.

“Don’t worry.”

Sword Emperor told me with a blank face.

“I will teach only the sword. I have no intention of touching your internal art. And I don’t even want to lay a finger on Yoo Cheongil’s martial arts—on that pathetic bastard’s martial arts, either.”

[Pathetic? Listen to this bastard talk.]

Yoo Cheongil growled at him, but—

What mattered to me was that he said he wouldn’t touch my internal art, and would only adjust my sword.

‘...Sword Emperor is going to teach me the sword.’

The Greatest Sword Under Heaven teaching me the sword. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, sure, but—

‘...I already...’

I already had the greatest person of all ages, dead or alive, glued to me.

So do I even need sword instruction?

Right when that thought came up—

[It pisses me off, but it’s not bad.]

Yoo Cheongil spoke with a small smirk.

[Martial arts, sure. But my saber art doesn’t suit you. Letting that bastard teach you fundamentals properly is a good thing.]

“......”

Yoo Cheongil didn’t show a negative reaction.

And honestly, he was right.

‘Yoo Cheongil’s thing is saber art adapted through Full Moon.’

I didn’t know why a man who held a saber and used saber art was called the Sword Saint, but—

What he used was, undeniably, saber art.

On the other hand, what I used was—

‘Swordsmanship.’

And among it, I’d been using light swordsmanship that fit my smaller frame.

If you asked who matched better, Yoo Cheongil seemed to judge that it was Sword Emperor.

‘Fine. Great.’

Great. All of that is great. But—

“...Why are you going that far for me?”

What was Sword Emperor’s reason for going this far? For the Sword Emperor of Heaven-Beyond-Heaven to bother tuning another disciple’s sword... in a way, it was a matter of pride.

So why was he doing this much? When I asked—

“Because I have to.”

Sword Emperor ended it with a simple answer.

“......”

Do I really matter that much?

Or is there some other reason?

I still couldn’t understand. So—

“Then, may I at least speak with Moon-Thread Sword first...?”

Let me talk to Moon-Thread Sword, the one who supposedly made that deal.

I felt like I’d understand what I needed to understand if I did, so I said it, but—

“You won’t be able to see him. He’s busy right now.”

“Moon-Thread Sword, sir...?”

“Yes.”

A faint smile formed on Sword Emperor’s blank face.

“He’ll be busy. The Martial Alliance vault was looted.”

“...What?”

The vault was looted? My eyes widened.

“......”

A man whose blue eyes flashed—Moon-Thread Sword Cheon Seonghwa—looked around in the darkness.

He stood in a place that, under normal circumstances, no one could easily enter within the Martial Alliance.

He was inside the vault located beneath the Martial Alliance.

In the darkness, his blue irises swept across all directions.

Goods were packed in dense heaps, filling the space.

The Martial Alliance’s vault—called the center and source of the Righteous Faction.

It wasn’t strange that it would be full of precious and secret things, but—

“What exactly is it that you say has disappeared?”

After inspecting the items, Moon-Thread Sword asked the old man behind him, his face full of doubt.

Thousand-Mile True Sight Jegal Jin.

He had hurried over the moment he heard, but nothing looked different.

“It doesn’t look like there’s any major difference.”

There was trouble in the vault. He’d heard that, and came here with Jegal Jin, but—

No items were actually missing.

Yet—

“......”

Instead of answering, Jegal Jin moved.

“Meticulous. The positions of the items are almost unchanged.”

Even in the darkness, Jegal Jin advanced without hesitation, as if he could see.

But astonishingly, his eyes were closed.

“It means they touched and handled as little as possible. But.”

TAP—!

Jegal Jin stopped in one spot.

A line hanging in empty space looked strangely clumsy.

“It definitely changed.”

Only then did Jegal Jin open his eyes.

“The box that should be here is gone.”

“.......”

Moon-Thread Sword frowned.

“...A box?”

“Yes. There was a box here. A box a little over two handspans in size.”

A space he’d visited countless times.

And positions of items he had already memorized.

You could say there were too many things for sure, maybe he simply made a mistake, but—

“I am not wrong.”

Jegal Jin’s eyes were filled with certainty.

He wasn’t wrong.

Thousand-Mile True Sight Jegal Jin.

He never forgot anything he saw even once.

Just like someone else.

That was why Moon-Thread Sword reacted in silence to Jegal Jin saying it had changed.

“On the day of the assault, their actions looked... lacking in something.”

An assault prepared with a massive number of masters poured in.

They deceived the spies and struck the gap cleanly enough to call it perfect.

They even neutralized Divine Spear, but the assault ultimately failed because of the variable called Moon Knight.

People said Henan had been saved, but—

“...It seems they achieved their purpose.”

After checking ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) the vault, Jegal Jin had to twist his face.

From the start, HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE and the DEMON CULT’s purpose likely wasn’t the assault.

Taking something from the vault.

How they even got down here was a question, but their purpose was clearly this.

“What did they take?”

Moon-Thread Sword asked.

Jegal Jin answered.

“The letters the Heavenly Demon once sent to the Martial Alliance. They were written in cipher, so we haven’t deciphered them all, but.”

“...!”

“In there...”

Jegal Jin paused in silence, then continued.

“In there is... the method to summon a god—the reason the Heavenly Demon ignited the Orthodox-Demonic War.”

Moon-Thread Sword’s eyes widened at those words.