PAHSSSUK.

We slipped off from Huayin County and went into the forest. The night was so dark you could barely see where you were standing.

TSIRIRIRIK. TSIRIRIRIK.

With the faint chorus of bugs in the grass, the three of us kept pushing deeper, step by step, past a rough dirt track.

“Moon Knight... are you sure this is the right way?”

Yeo Hyeok asked like he was trying not to sound anxious.

The Small Moon Unit Leader hadn’t said anything, but the expression was the same.

No matter how you looked at it, this wasn’t a road. And there was no sign of people anywhere.

To those two, it was the kind of place that deserved suspicion.

Of course.

...That’s what I’m saying.

I wasn’t that different. Is this really the right way? A hundred thoughts brushed past.

[It is, so stop whining and follow.]

Yoo Cheongil snapped at me like I was a nuisance.

If he said it, then he’d seen it. That was all there was to it.

Still, as we moved—

Is the Plum Blossom Single ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Sword going to be okay?

I couldn’t help thinking about Seongheon. He’d been with us until a moment ago in the form of a living spirit, but now he wasn’t at my side.

...Who would’ve thought a living spirit could have the traits of a bound ghost, too.

A living spirit was a living spirit, but Seongheon also carried the traits of a bound ghost.

A bound ghost.

A ghost tethered to a fixed location, unable to stray far.

That was Seongheon.

He can’t leave Huayin County.

Seongheon’s limit was exactly Huayin County. When he tried to step outside, it was like he hit an invisible wall—he just couldn’t go any farther.

A living spirit and a bound ghost.

Those two didn’t exactly go together. And seeing that... told you plenty about what Seongheon thought of Mount Hua Sect.

Because of that, Seongheon couldn’t follow us out here, but—

It’s fine.

Even without him, it didn’t feel like a real problem.

[Here.]

Yoo Cheongil’s words made me halt.

I raised a hand immediately. Yeo Hyeok and the Small Moon Unit Leader stopped with me.

“It looks like it’s up ahead.”

When I passed it on, the two of them looked forward.

There was nothing there.

Honestly, even I felt ridiculous after saying it.

...There?

I can’t see anything. Is it really there? To me it was just forest.

...What is supposed to be there?

For something Yoo Cheongil “found,” it was absurdly empty.

Yeo Hyeok and the Small Moon Unit Leader seemed to be thinking the same thing. I could feel their eyes on the back of my head.

I ignored it.

You’re sure it’s there?

I rolled my eyes toward Yoo Cheongil. He nodded.

[It’s there, alright?]

“I can’t see anything.”

[Then look properly.]

“....”

Look properly—how, exactly? I was dumbfounded.

I glared at him, thinking he had to be messing with me, but his face was serious.

“...Okay.”

Look properly.

I faced forward again.

Still nothing—just an empty patch of forest.

But then—

SSSSS—!

I slowly put strength into my eyes. Moon Eyes opened, and my vision cleared all the way through.

And then—

“Ah.”

I could see it. Beyond Moon Eyes—Moon-Thread Sword Path. It was showing me the way.

So that’s what he meant by “look properly.”

Unbelievable. He literally meant look.

I held back a hollow laugh and stepped forward.

No presence?

Yoo Cheongil didn’t react.

Does that mean it’s fine to go?

I walked slowly. Yeo Hyeok tried to say something in response to my movement, but—

He still can’t see it.

Moon-Thread Sword Path was pointing the route.

Can I really just walk in?

No. Walking in like this feels wrong.

Something about this was familiar. It wasn’t only a path showing up.

This was—

A sword mark?

The blue glow guiding me was unmistakably a sword mark. Like it was telling me to cut right there.

SHIIING.

I drew my sword at once. Black iron sword. I pulled the Divine Sword free and swept it lightly.

SHHK.

“Oh.”

Following the sword mark, I felt something give way—like it actually cut.

The order was probably the intensity of the glow. Keeping that in mind, I started carving through the other marks in quick succession.

SHHK—! SHHK-SHHK—!!

And the moment my blade cut through the final sword mark—

SAAAAAA—!!!

Space began to twist.

This is—

“A formation...?”

The Small Moon Unit Leader had come up behind me at some point, staring with wide eyes as he spoke.

A formation.

Right. So that’s what it was.

No wonder it felt like that.

“How... did you do that...?”

The Small Moon Unit Leader asked like he truly didn’t understand.

“What do you mean?”

“Breaking a formation with a sword. If you slip even a little, backlash is almost guaranteed. How did you...?”

...Huh? Really?

Backlash?

That was a terrifying word to hear.

I looked back at Yoo Cheongil—and the old man was staring off somewhere else.

Like he was avoiding my eyes.

That old man...?

So he didn’t tell me again.

Unbelievable.

Ha.

If this was that difficult, the Small Moon Unit Leader looked less like he was surprised and more like he was in shock.

And Yeo Hyeok was just watching me with trembling eyes.

It’s hard...?

From my perspective, I just cut what I could see. But apparently it was something people considered insane.

“...It was doable.”

I didn’t know what else to say, so I answered like that, and it only seemed to make it worse—his face stiffened even more.

“Let’s move first...”

I didn’t have a good excuse, so I pushed for us to move.

Because the view had changed completely—and there was an entrance now.

A path appeared.

Just like Yoo Cheongil said, this was probably the way in.

*****

We followed the path deeper inside. For something revealed by breaking a formation, it was oddly ordinary.

Just a forest trail.

All we had to do was follow the laid-out route.

So they’re beyond this.

HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE.

Their waiting space was right in front of us. Just thinking that made tension crawl up my spine.

Hoooo...

I steadied my breathing.

The strange part was—

There’s no presence. No people. Nothing.

For a “base” of HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE, it was too empty.

If anything was there, Yoo Cheongil would’ve said something. Since he hadn’t, did that mean there really was nothing?

As I walked with that knot of confusion—

—What should we do?

The Small Moon Unit Leader spoke to me. Because it was voice transmission, even his way of speaking had shifted.

—What?

—The things up ahead.

—...Up ahead?

Up ahead?

I couldn’t see anything.

And then—

SHWIIIK—!!!

“...!!”

Something flew in.

Fast.

I reached for my sword to counter—

SHHK—!

“Ghk....”

The attacker was cut cleanly in half and dropped dead.

CLACK.

Someone was already standing in front of me.

The Small Moon Unit Leader.

The sword he’d drawn so fast I hadn’t even registered it—he slid it back into its sheath.

...Fast.

I didn’t see it.

When did he move? When did he kill?

I hadn’t even seen the attacker.

At the same time, I glared at Yoo Cheongil.

Why didn’t you warn me?

That was what my eyes said.

Yoo Cheongil snorted.

[You want everything spoon-fed to you. If you’re here, you should’ve been on guard yourself.]

“......”

He was right, so I couldn’t argue.

If I was facing this kind of situation, I should’ve been watching for danger on my own.

This was on me for trusting Yoo Cheongil too much.

...Tch.

I was still simmering, feeling like I’d just been scolded, when—

[And I didn’t need to tell you anyway.]

Yoo Cheongil spoke with a faint smile, like my reaction amused him.

[Think about who’s protecting you right now.]

“......”

I looked at the Small Moon Unit Leader.

[With him here, it doesn’t matter what shows up.]

A broad back.

A heavy presence.

Blue Moon Sect Second-in-Command.

The Small Moon Unit Leader felt my gaze and glanced back at me.

I looked into those blue eyes that lit the darkness.

And then—

[So keep doing what you were doing.]

A quiet sense of relief settled into me.

*****

The moment we broke the formation and stepped into enemy territory—

something inevitable happened.

SHHK—!

“KRAAAAGH!”

CHWAAAAAAK—!!!

Of course they’d notice us.

A sword flashed through the air. Blue arcs swept past again and again, and blood soaked the ground.

THUD—!

Bodies dropped everywhere, dying to a single strike.

And at the center of it all, the Small Moon Unit Leader stood there, shaking the blood off his blade.

DRIP.

His face didn’t change as he cleaned up.

The sheer presence was overwhelming.

...He’s a monster.

It hit me, all at once, just how insane I’d been—treating him like some “disciple” and talking down to him.

A monster.

The Small Moon Unit Leader was a pinnacle master.

Pinnacle master.

The weight inside that term crashed into me.

Someone placed at an absolute level—above even the Hundred Great Masters Under Heaven.

I’d forgotten, for a moment, what that meant.

Seeing it with my own eyes made it impossible to forget.

...I underestimated him way too much.

He was strong.

Not just strong—overwhelming.

I’d seen absolute monsters before—the Sword Demon, that HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE spear bastard in Sichuan—

And I’d been numb to it because Yoo Cheongil kept handling things for me.

But—

...The fact that I fought beings like that... doesn’t even make sense.

A chill crawled up my skin.

So this is what a pinnacle master looked like.

Watching him fight forced me to rethink everything.

A blue dance.

A clean, fast wave that tore through every enemy it touched.

There had to be more than ten attackers by now.

Not one of them got a hand on him.

Not even a single drop of blood.

Are they weak...?

I didn’t know.

At the very least, I hadn’t even sensed that first ambush—so they weren’t weak.

And yet they couldn’t do anything to him.

Which meant—

The gap between him and me is heaven and earth.

It meant he was a monster I couldn’t even compare myself to.

Then—

“Are you planning to keep moving forward?”

“...!”

The Small Moon Unit Leader spoke to me.

“Ah, yes... for now.”

Maybe it was because I’d just seen what he could do. I found myself watching his expression without realizing it.

Putting that aside—

That guy fights well, too.

Not just him.

The young man in Mount Hua martial garb—

Yeo Hyeok wasn’t far behind.

The Small Moon Unit Leader made everyone else look small by comparison, but Yeo Hyeok was cutting enemies down as well.

The only one standing there doing nothing was me.

[Tsk tsk tsk... useless.]

Yoo Cheongil’s sneer made a vein twitch in my forehead.

What pissed me off even more was that I didn’t really have a comeback.

I really am useless, huh?

Just a little growth and I’d been feeling good about myself.

Then reality slammed into me again.

Or maybe—

It’s just that the people in front of me are too monstrous.

That might be it.

Do I really need to feel inferior when I’m staring at superhumans who already left the “late-bloomer prodigy” level behind?

[Of course you do. They’re the ones you have to surpass.]

“......”

He never lets anything slide.

I was grinding my teeth and trying to swallow my irritation when—

“Up ahead is... hm?”

The Small Moon Unit Leader frowned.

I did too.

“A hut?”

Something appeared.

A small hut.

“What the hell is that...?”

It fit the forest scenery perfectly—except for the part where it was here, now, in this place.

Why was there a hut in the middle of this?

I stared, confused—

and then—

A shiver ran up my spine.

“...!”

Shit.

What is that?

There was a nauseating presence around the hut.

What is that disgusting aura?

Dark, muddy energy wrapped around the little building.

Cold sweat broke out.

This was bad.

If something like that was here, it was a problem.

That was—

...A malicious ghost is lodged in it.

A malicious ghost had sunk into the building itself.

And it was viciously dense.

The moment I saw it, I almost gagged. My breathing shook.

Then—

“Well, well.” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

A voice.

The Small Moon Unit Leader drew his sword instantly.

SCREEE—K.

The hut door opened, and someone stepped out.

“Guests have arrived.”

A young man who didn’t look that old. A smooth, pleasant face—someone who looked almost gentle.

And the moment that figure appeared—

“...You...!”

The Small Moon Unit Leader choked out like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

So they knew each other.

That was the first thing I understood.