Moonlit Sword Cheon Seonghwa.

The current Fourteenth Sect Master of the Blue Moon Sect.

If you had to pick out the ten finest swordsmen under heaven, his name always made the list.

He was well past forty. For a martial artist, that’s called the prime of life.

They said when the sword in his hand shed its light, even the darkest night turned brilliant.

His fluid, meticulous sword work—and the deep insight wrapped inside it—made onlookers breathe out in awe.

In short—

A monster.

The kind of real monster who could kill a guy like me in the blink of an eye.

I couldn’t even gauge how strong he was, and I didn’t dare try.

Sss.

I slow my breath. The Moonlit Sword’s gaze was on me.

Those blue eyes, calmly fixed on me, were crushingly heavy.

“Greetings to the Sect Master.”

“Greetings to the Sect Master.”

“Greetings to the—”

Kneeling, the Small Moon Unit was busy paying respects to the Moonlit Sword.

I’d thought they were stiff when they guided us in.

Turns out that wasn’t even stiffness.

Even they were visibly tense in front of the Moonlit Sword.

And—

“...Sect Master.”

Cheon Eujin stepped out from behind, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head before the Sect Master.

The Moonlit Sword flicked a glance at Cheon Eujin. It lasted a heartbeat.

Then he looked back into my {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} eyes.

I didn’t avoid his gaze, and after a length of time that felt like indigestion—

His lips finally parted.

“You’ve had a hard road.”

A deep, low voice. Exactly what his face promised.

“I am Cheon Seonghwa.”

“I am Bang Sungyeon.”

At my name, the Moonlit Sword gave a short nod.

“I’ll see you inside.”

That was all he said. He turned his back and walked into the Blue Moon Sect.

I was watching him in a vague, measuring way when—

[Heh-heh, would you look at that brat.]

Yoo Cheongil let out a snorting laugh.

[The snot-nosed kid got awfully big.]

“...”

Calling that heavy-set uncle a snot-nosed kid?

I barely held back the smile that tried to slip out.

****

We followed the Moonlit Sword further in. The Small Moon Unit handled the guiding again.

I had the brutally heavy wooden case slung over my back, and the place we walked into was the Sect Master’s office.

The very first thing I felt when we stepped through the entrance:

Opulent.

I guess that’s what you get from a sect that sits on prestige. It was very opulent.

There was a big pond, and the pillars holding up the structure were each a piece of art.

The floor? Polished to the point of shining.

I toured the surroundings with quick eye-flicks as we entered the room.

At that moment—

“Allow me to greet you once more.”

The Moonlit Sword spoke to me.

“I am Cheon Seonghwa, Fourteenth Sect Master of the Blue Moon Sect. I greet our honored guest.”

“I’m Bang Sungyeon of the Liaodong Bang Family.”

Honored guest, is it. Hearing it like that still doesn’t feel real.

“I must first apologize for my late welcome. The news reached me late.”

“It’s nothing.”

So he did receive it late. I’d found it strange from the start.

Even though the Sword Saint’s successor had appeared, the Blue Moon Sect’s response had been slow. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

I’d thought that was odd—looks like this was why.

As he spoke, the Moonlit Sword’s eyes slid to my side. He was looking at Cheon Eujin.

Feeling that gaze, Cheon Eujin flinched, but the Moonlit Sword soon drew his eyes away.

Mm.

That was his own son, and the way he looked at him was not ordinary. Clocking that, I kept my expression even.

Before any words, there was something to show.

“Before we talk, could I ask you to take custody of what I brought?”

At my words, the Moonlit Sword looked at the wooden case.

Feeling that gaze, I opened it.

“...”

The moment he saw what lay inside, the Moonlit Sword’s eyebrows twitched.

He knew what it was.

“...Full Moon.”

Emotion touched the face that had seemed expressionless the whole time. Surprise.

“...How did you—?”

“I found it in the cave in Anhui.”

“Anhui, you say?”

“That’s right.”

Why was this in Anhui? The question that floated over his face said exactly that.

“...May I take a look?”

“Go ahead.”

At my leave, he ran his hand over the blade face of Full Moon. After a slow, stroking inspection, the Moonlit Sword looked at me.

“...It is indeed his blade.”

What could you tell from just touching it? Still—if he said so, good.

“I recovered it, but it looks dangerous to keep in my possession... If possible, I thought it best to entrust it to my master’s sect.”

Master. At that word, the Moonlit Sword’s eyes narrowed a fraction.

Confirmation of reaction.

I’d used it on purpose to see a reaction. Now then—how would he come out?

I made a guess at his response—

“Very well.”

Mm?

What came out of his mouth wasn’t on my list.

Did he just say very well? If so...

That’s unexpected.

Very unexpected.

I didn’t think he’d agree so readily to take it at my request.

Normally, if you assert ownership, a man would at least say something. The Moonlit Sword simply affirmed my words.

“As you wish, we will keep it with utmost care. As for further questions—since you’ve only just arrived and must be tired, it would be best to speak tomorrow.”

“...Yes. I think so as well.”

Answering, I frowned very slightly.

Why that reaction? I thought—and had a faint idea.

I see.

That uncle, it seems—

“Thank you for the warm welcome. In that case, I won’t refuse your consideration. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He doesn’t believe me.

More precisely—yes, suspicion.

The Moonlit Sword was suspicious of me.

****

Right after Bang Sungyeon left. In the room, only Full Moon and the Moonlit Sword remained.

As he stood quietly looking at Full Moon, someone appeared at his side without warning.

As if he’d dropped out of thin air, but the Moonlit Sword didn’t react in the slightest, as if he’d expected it.

“Do you believe him?”

The man who appeared asked the Moonlit Sword.

“Hard to say.”

A somewhat ambiguous answer.

“Too much to believe easily, and too strange to disbelieve.”

“Then why didn’t you ask anything?”

“...”

He sipped the tea that had already gone cold.

Why didn’t he ask?

There was too much to ask. If he’d meant to question the young man, he could have held him from the start and piled up questions into a mountain.

However—

“That too was ambiguous.”

“What do you mean?”

“Those eyes were unmistakably Moon Eyes.”

“...”

The man addressed as Unit Commander did not dispute the Sect Master’s words.

Moon Eyes—proof that the Blue Moon Heart Art had truly settled in the body, and that body and art matched well.

By principle, the Blue Moon Sect’s master seat passed to those who had opened the Moon Eyes.

The youth named Bang Sungyeon met the minimum condition.

And not only that.

“Even aside from the Moon Eyes, the stability of his internal art is exceedingly high. You know this too, don’t you?”

“...”

Again, the Unit Commander said nothing. Seeing Bang Sungyeon had genuinely surprised the Moonlit Sword.

The energy of the Blue Moon Heart Art is extremely delicate and sensitive.

If you slack even a little, the energy will not circulate properly.

“He had already begun rotation.”

Incomplete or not, the energy was cycling through Bang Sungyeon’s body.

From that—

“It means he hasn’t been learning the art for a day or two.”

It takes, at minimum, years of polishing.

Bang Sungyeon’s body said exactly that.

Only, there was something odd.

“Compared to the completion of the art, his realm looks low.”

For some reason, the amount of energy and his realm seemed far too low.

What showed was second-rate. With that in mind, the Moonlit Sword frowned in doubt.

“He did defeat the Little Azure Sword, they said.”

“Yes, Sect Master...”

“You’re certain?”

“There were multiple witnesses.”

The Namgung Clan’s Little Azure Sword. There were rumors he toyed with a promising late-stage prodigy; from what they’d gathered, that was true.

He defeated the Little Azure Sword...

If Bang Sungyeon truly was the Sword Saint’s successor, it wouldn’t be impossible.

But with that body, how?

He couldn’t understand how that seemingly frail body beat the Little Azure Sword.

Was he hiding his strength? No, that couldn’t be.

That would mean he could conceal his realm from his eyes...

“Hm.”

The Moonlit Sword recalled the youth he’d just faced.

The handsome youth who claimed to be the Sword Saint’s successor. There was something oddly off about his air.

Arrogant.

Yes, arrogant. That was the word. He seemed courteous, yet there was an alien note in his manner and tone.

He didn’t tremble at all even looking at him, and though he looked as if he were tense, he gave off the sense that he didn’t care in the least.

“Mm.”

And yet it wasn’t unpleasant. That was the feeling.

Meeting eyes with a gaze that didn’t flinch—could anyone stand that firm without having something?

Also—

The energy in his body.

Frowning, the Sect Master raised a hypothesis.

That was his internal art.

A current unlike the usual Blue Moon Heart Art—rough, and free.

It was strikingly similar to the energy the Sword Saint used.

Everyone tried to learn and make it their own. Not one succeeded.

To imprint roughness and freedom on an energy that delicate and sensitive—

It was like mixing water and oil.

It belonged to the Sword Saint alone. And yet the successor, Bang Sungyeon, had a faint trace of that current.

That’s why. Though there were many suspicious points and impossibilities, he let it pass for now—only because of that.

“He already has the art planted in his body, and he’s opened the Moon Eyes. For the moment, keeping him close and watching is the right choice.”

Moreover, he’d shown up carrying Full Moon. Rather than send him off or treat him roughly, keeping him nearby and taking his measure came first.

“Unit Commander.”

“Yes, Sect Master.”

“Keep watch on his movements. If anything is strange, report at once.”

“Understood.”

“And in addition—”

Cheon Seonghwa’s gaze cooled a fraction as he looked at the Unit Commander.

“The Liaodong Bang Family. Look into them thoroughly as well.”

“At once.”

The man bowed with proper form and vanished, and the Sect Master glanced toward the entrance and let out a shallow sigh.

“This won’t be simple.”

An appearance no one expected. He’d thought so when he heard the news, and in many senses it was troublesome.

In the current situation, the successor of that person had dropped like a typhoon.

What worried him especially—

“She will already have heard.”

Bang Sungyeon’s arrival would have flowed into his daughter’s ear the moment he reached the Blue Moon Sect.

If so, before he could take his own measure of the youth, his daughter would move first.

“...Hmm...”

And then what?

A clear curiosity stirred under a thin film of unease.

The Moonlit Sword’s blue eyes shone as he briefly closed them.

And he pictured it.

She might already be moving.

****

After the meeting with the Moonlit Sword, we were being guided toward our quarters.

But I had to tilt my head at the person in front of me.

“Nice to meet you.”

An out-of-the-blue greeting. A woman with long hair.

I looked at her blue eyes and asked,

“Who are you?”

“Who do you think?”

“Mm.”

I nodded at her answer. She seemed to be a crazy woman.