“Moon Hero?”

“That man...? No, I mean, the face definitely looks right, but—”

“...Was he always like that? He was handsome before, sure, but not to that extent.”

“Isn’t he taller too?”

“There’s something about the atmosphere around him...”

I could hear voices in my ears. The farther I walked, the more it was like that.

My appearance had changed from the effects of rebirth.

There hadn’t been any great change to the basic structure, supposedly—

No, saying there wasn’t is a bit shameless.

There had been plenty. My frame hadn’t originally been that large, but my shoulders had broadened and my arms and legs had grown longer.

And on top of that, the few blemishes my skin had had were completely gone.

And it turned pale.

It was as though my flesh had returned to childhood, my skin becoming pure white. Maybe that made my blue eyes stand out even more.

Put simply, I looked better.

A lot better.

I lightly touched my cheek. Smooth, almost springy. How often did a man get skin like this?

The attention is a little burdensome, though.

But I didn’t exactly hate it either. It was the kind of attention Father had received his entire life, and I had some experience receiving it myself.

Focus.

I pulled my wandering mind back together.

I poured all my attention into my steps.

Like that time.

The imitation of Yucheon Gil I had done in front of the Lesser Moon Unit leader. I was trying it again now.

It’s different.

Was it because my realm had risen? Because of rebirth?

I didn’t know the reason, but it felt different from then.

I think I understand a little more now.

The gait of an absolute being.

It looked full of openings, yet at the same time had none at all.

And—

What I saw in the dream-vision.

If there was anything I had gained from fighting the thirty-year-old Yucheon Gil—no, from being one-sidedly killed by him—then for now, it was this.

The feel of his movements.

That subtle difference that had begun with the thirty-year-old Yucheon Gil.

The movement of the body. The difference in atmosphere and alienness contained within it.

I had found that.

How should I put it?

It was as though energy had seeped into each individual movement by itself.

It was hard to put into words.

I have to use the sensation from the possession.

Just watching wasn’t enough, so I took the traces Yucheon Gil had shown me when he used my body during the possession, remembered them, imprinted them into my body, and let them seep into my stride.

It’s awkward.

It was still difficult. Still, it was possible.

Step.

One step.

Step.

Another step.

I focused all my attention, then focused it again, imitating Yucheon Gil.

And as I did, it felt as though the world was growing quiet.

The sounds stopped.

The whispering about me died away in an instant, and all I could see was the path laid out ahead.

Walk.

That was what the path told me.

As though obeying it, I kept moving forward, and when I finally reached the end of that path— 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Ah.

My mind suddenly cleared. Right. This was the Azure Wolf Festival.

Could I really just keep walking like that? I came back to my senses and opened my eyes.

“Huh.”

I realized something was wrong. There was no one around me. There should have been a whole line of people in front of me, but none of the senior members were in sight.

What? The instant I looked around in confusion—

Damn it.

Only then did I realize.

I came too far forward.

I had passed all the senior members and ended up standing at the very front. Because of that, aside from the Lesser Moon Unit leader, the person with the earliest rank order was glaring at me.

Damn...

We were supposed to stand according to rank, and yet the youngest had come all the way to the front. Naturally, he’d look at me like that.

I gave an awkward smile and was about to slip back in embarrassment when—

“A fine sight.”

The Moon Immortal Sword’s words stopped my feet.

“Is this the meaning of your confidence?”

“...Pardon?”

“I only hope there is something there to support that confidence.”

“...No, that’s not—”

“Members of the Lesser Moon Unit, listen.”

Before I could even make an excuse, the Moon Immortal Sword cut me off.

Damn it.

This is driving me insane.

Because of the Moon Immortal Sword’s words, the gazes on me felt even sharper. Before I knew it, it had turned into a declaration of war.

That wasn’t what I meant at all.

What do I do?

Should I work hard to clear up the misunderstanding? I thought about it for a moment, but—

There’s no real need.

I shook my head. It wasn’t necessary. There might have been a slight misunderstanding, but—

He’s not exactly wrong.

The Moon Immortal Sword’s words weren’t wrong.

I’m doing it.

Now that I’d come this far, I’d already intended to do what had to be done. Just as that thought crossed my mind—

Tap.

Someone placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned my gaze.

...Yu Yul.

The Silver Moon Sword was looking at me with that trademark smiling gaze of his.

“Well, this one’s far more passionate than I thought.”

“...What?”

“If I’d known you were such an aggressive sort, I would have humored you more back then.”

The way he spoke like it was a pity felt deeply unnatural.

“And besides, you’ve changed. Quite a lot, in fact.”

“...”

At the gaze sweeping over me after rebirth, my eyes narrowed slightly. The blue eyes inside those thin lids felt oppressively burdensome.

And besides—

As expected.

I could feel it. That alien spiritual presence around the Silver Moon Sword.

I felt it back then too.

As expected, it was strange.

There’s no spiritual presence in the body itself.

The karma that flowed out from the souls possessed by the Taoists—

that wasn’t there. Which meant—

It’s a soul attached from the outside.

What clung to the Silver Moon Sword’s body was another person’s spiritual presence.

Which meant—

Is this the Death King and Bow Ghost’s influence, like Cheon Hyein said?

Maybe. As I was thinking that—

“I don’t know what happened, but if it means this time will be different from last time, then I’ll be looking forward to it.”

“...”

He removed his hand from my shoulder with a bright smile and withdrew a slight distance.

“...”

I looked silently at my shoulder. The lingering aura there bothered me, but I forced myself to ignore it.

“I will now begin the Azure Wolf Festival.”

The Moon Immortal Sword’s brief declaration followed.

“Bear the moon in your hearts. As always—”

With the end of those long-recited words preserved through Azure Moon Sect history, the contest for Young Sect Leader—modeled after the Azure Wolf Festival—began.

*****

For me, it was a rather sudden banquet and martial tournament. It felt more like I’d been dragged here without even knowing it was taking place, but now that I was here, I had to figure out what I could.

“We will begin.”

I stood in front of the place where the brackets were being drawn and waited blankly.

The entry conditions for the Azure Wolf Festival were membership in the Lesser Moon Unit, or possession of an awakened Moon Eye.

Those excluded were the Moon Immortal Sword, the Sect Leader, and the elder-level figures.

I didn’t know whether they were excluded because they were too strong, or whether it was simply a rule set by the Moon Immortal Sword.

That was just what I had found out.

Maybe that’s why Yucheon Gil was so against it.

Now I understood why the old man hated it too.

The fact that the elder-level figures were excluded.

Contest for Young Sect Leader or not, it was still a martial tournament with conditions placed on it, and the upper ranks had been excluded.

That was probably why Yucheon Gil had flown into such a rage.

If it had been him—

...He probably would’ve told them to throw the elders in too and fight.

He was the kind of man who would’ve screamed about what the hell they meant by excluding people and told everyone to grab a sword and start beating each other bloody.

And besides—

Even setting that man aside—

I still don’t understand the Moon Immortal Sword’s intention.

Why had he gone so far as to impose conditions like this and hold the Azure Wolf Festival?

I couldn’t read the Moon Immortal Sword’s heart.

...The only thing I can say for sure—

I looked toward where the Moon Immortal Sword was standing and thought.

—is that I don’t think it’s him.

The existence that killed Yucheon Gil.

Among the few candidates who might be interfering with the Azure Moon Sect,

I had pushed the Moon Immortal Sword half a step out of the way.

Those eyes back then.

The reason was simple.

The thing he said would remain his greatest regret until death—that he had never fought a duel to the death with the Sword Saint.

His eyes were sincere.

Maybe even that could have been an act.

But still.

From what I could see, it was still uncertain. Which was why I hadn’t ruled him out completely—just set him half a step aside.

Hmm.

I narrowed my eyes and turned things over in my head when—

“Excuse me. Unit member.”

“Ah.”

The sect member in front of me called to me.

“You need to draw.”

“Right. Sorry.”

It was my turn. I slipped my hand into the box.

I pulled out one of the papers inside.

On it was written—

One.

A large, bold One.

First match.

Just as I was about to narrow my eyes at it—

“Ha.”

A laugh sounded from somewhere.

“Well, this is a coincidence.”

I turned my head and saw a familiar face. The man who had stood at the very front during the Lesser Moon Unit introduction, and the one who currently held the foremost rank in the Lesser Moon Unit.

Blue Performance Sword, Seo Seon.

It was Seo Seon of the Lesser Moon Unit.

“...Looks like we drew the same number, didn’t we, youngest?”

He shook the paper marked with the same number as mine and smiled.

He was smiling, yes, but—

...Those eyes are terrifying.

There was a great deal of emotion in them. Apparently, the earlier incident had bothered him.

“Well, this works out nicely. Unlike with the others, I never had the chance to pay special attention to our youngest, so this seems like a good opportunity.”

This was the first time we had actually spoken. The Lesser Moon Unit valued individual training, and on top of that, I had been away on a long-term mission, so there had been no point of contact between us.

“Ahaha... You really don’t need to pay me any special attention.”

“That won’t do.”

Was that why?

“If I let ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) that pass, wouldn’t the hard-won discipline of the unit be thrown into disorder?”

Seo Seon seemed to dislike me a little.

“...To think a bit of praise is enough for you to stop recognizing your seniors.”

“...”

I take that back. It didn’t seem like a little.

He seemed to dislike me a great deal.

“I understand that your reputation is impressive, but I cannot tolerate arrogance born from intoxication with that.”

“I’ve never acted arrogant—”

“I thought I would have to show you how wide the world is, and how much greater things exist within the Azure Moon Sect. It seems today will be that day.”

“...”

He didn’t look like he had any intention of listening in the first place.

With that blue-eyed hostility aimed at me, it was awkward to say anything further.

“...Ah. Yes... If you intend to teach me, I’ll gratefully accept it.”

So I decided to let it pass and said as much—

“Ha...”

Even that seemed to displease him, and his face twisted sharply.

What exactly was his problem?

Seo Seon turned and walked away, and as I watched his back—

“How did you manage to offend that person?”

Cheon Hyein, who had been quietly watching this side, approached.

“Can’t you tell just by looking? I didn’t offend him.”

I tried to protest the injustice of it, but—

“What do you mean, you didn’t offend him? You practically yanked on his nose hairs in front of everyone earlier.”

“...”

The moment she brought up my stepping forward and standing at the front, I had nothing to say.

“Be careful. He’s strong.”

At those words, I let out a hollow laugh.

“Are you worried about me?”

“You’re still someone who beat me. If you collapse pathetically, it’ll look ugly.”

“...”

“He’s someone people say may become the next Lesser Moon Unit leader. You’d do well to be careful.”

“...Yes. Thank you so much for the concern.”

“Not at all. I just hope you think carefully about what I told you.”

Leaving those words behind like flowers, she drifted away.

“Hmm.”

A talent judged worthy of becoming the next Lesser Moon Unit leader.

So Seo Seon was that strong.

Maybe he was even stronger than the Silver Moon Sword?

Still, he is the foremost member of the Lesser Moon Unit...

Maybe I had drawn the wrong opponent right from the start.

That thought crossed my mind, and I expected it to be a rather difficult fight.

But once we entered the match, something very different happened.

“...How... can this...”

At the bewildered sound of his voice, I tilted my head.

“...What?”

I let out that stupid question while looking at Seo Seon.

Because he was kneeling in front of me.