Thump.

The moment my eyes met that grotesque eye, my heart lurched.

It was glowing violet, ominous enough to make my skin crawl.

Then, in that instant—

Click.

...!

The bracer bound to my arm suddenly reacted.

The Tyrant’s item had tightened around my arm on its own.

The sudden reaction caught me off guard, but I had a pretty good idea why it was moving.

...Is it reacting because it’s a Divine Blade?

As far as I could tell, the bracer was the same kind of thing as the Wudang Sect’s Divine Blade, so it was probably reacting on its own to that bizarre spiritual energy.

The problem was—

It’s looking at me.

The energy that had burst out from Silver Moon Sword’s body had turned into an eye and was staring right at me.

What is that thing?

I had never seen anything like it before.

Could spiritual energy really take shape like that?

If I’d been even a little slower, that could have gotten ugly.

Our gazes had met for only a moment, but who was I?

I was someone who had spent his whole life dodging the eyes of bastards like that.

This much, I could get past naturally enough.

So I slipped away from its gaze and shifted my attention elsewhere, but—

Sssshhh—!!

Are you kidding me?

The eye that had come out of Silver Moon Sword’s back suddenly stretched out and lunged toward me.

It was a disgusting shape.

What the hell was wrong with this thing?

I hid my alarm and kept my eyes fixed on the stage.

Creeeak... creak-creak...

A strange sound came from the spiritual energy.

Naturally, no one else could hear that noise.

My brows drew together.

It wasn’t my ears it was bothering.

It’s rattling my soul.

It was directly scraping at the soul inside me, leaving my insides feeling sick.

Look at this bastard.

It felt like it was trying to determine whether I could sense it or not.

My soul kept jolting.

My body tried to react on its own, and I forced it back down.

Creak.

The thing quivered.

Arrogant bastard.

Should I just...

crush it?

That thought flashed through my mind for an instant, but I forcibly held it down too.

After I endured it for a brief moment—

—creak.

The thing tilted its head, then whirled back and seeped into Silver Moon Sword again.

Even then, Silver Moon Sword looked calm.

He didn’t seem to feel it at all.

As expected, he himself didn’t seem to have much spiritual energy.

Then that means...

That energy just now really was, as I had judged, someone else’s power.

...It wasn’t the Death King’s, though.

As far as I knew, it wasn’t the Death King’s power.

Which meant—

Does it belong to Bow Ghost?

The woman once called the greatest beauty under heaven, and one of the beings beyond heaven.

The odds were high that it was hers.

Then for what?

If that energy belonged to Bow Ghost, then why, exactly, had she laid that thing over Silver Moon Sword?

Its purpose and its reason...

I was deeply curious about what that energy was meant to do, and why.

Because no matter how I looked at it—

There’s no way that was placed there with good intentions.

The nature of the energy, the way it prodded at my soul—one look was enough to tell me its purpose could not possibly be benign.

Tch.

I narrowed my eyes and watched Silver Moon Sword.

Maybe—

Cheon Hyein was right.

What she had said about him being a spy for Bow Ghost and the Death King.

That claim suddenly felt a little more believable.

*****

While I was trying to figure out Silver Moon Sword’s energy, time passed.

The bouts continued, and on the stage a silent standoff carried on.

Swish.

Silver Moon Sword lightly flicked the tip of the sword he had drawn.

Was he trying to provoke his opponent?

It didn’t look like it, but judging by his expression, maybe it was.

...What is he thinking?

A face that gave nothing away.

He was smiling, but it didn’t feel like a smile.

Silver Moon Sword was a very difficult person for me to read.

“...”

His opponent looked at him and frowned.

Clang!

The man drew his sword hard.

The straight, upright posture of his stance showed the weight of considerable training.

Compared to that, Silver Moon Sword—

...Something about him...

Was it that he looked flashy?

His fundamentals seemed less apparent, and he looked endlessly light.

Did he even have the will to fight this bout properly?

That was how strange it felt.

No.

But I had already crossed swords with him once.

And because of that, I knew.

That man is strong.

After rebirth had broadened my vessel, I could tell even more clearly.

Silver Moon Sword was strong.

Strong, but in a way that did not show.

...Is that why he feels even more alien?

Something becomes eerie when you cannot understand it.

Human beings, by nature, fear what they do not know.

Silver Moon Sword was that kind of existence.

Hmmm.

I stared at him.

Then—

“The bout...”

The judge lightly raised a hand.

“Begin!”

At that shout, the opponent inhaled sharply.

“Hup!”

Sword Aura flared up.

His Moon Eye was already shining blue, and he was fully in a combat stance.

Boom—!!!

He kicked off the stage and shot forward.

Screeech—!!

The sword tore through the air.

Fast.

He was clearly well trained.

Clang!

“Oh.”

The sword flew away.

Silver Moon Sword had knocked it aside far too easily.

An opening.

An exposed torso.

Silver Moon Sword did not miss it.

Whoosh.

His sword tip cut through the air in a light arc.

Stop.

The sword halted just before it could touch the man’s upper body.

“It’s over.”

Silver Moon Sword said it with a bright smile.

“...Tch.”

His opponent knew it too.

His face twisted, but he slowly lowered his sword.

“I lost.”

At that calm admission, the judge rendered the decision.

“...Bout over.”

It had taken Silver Moon Sword only a single exchange to win.

“...Uh...”

“Wow...”

The match had been far too light.

Of every fight so far, it was the fastest and cleanest.

That was why the other disciples’ eyes were widening one after another.

“...To think he was that strong.”

“That was incredible...”

Every third-generation disciple looked stunned.

“Was our junior brother always that strong?”

“What happened to him in those three years?”

Even the second-generation disciples were in shock.

Watching those reactions, I tilted my head.

He got stronger over the last three years?

From what I could see, no.

It wasn’t that he had grown stronger in three years...

I think he was always strong.

He had simply never shown it.

As proof—

Cheon Uijin knew something.

I recalled what I had heard from Cheon Uijin.

He had seemed to know something about Silver Moon Sword.

While I watched them wrap up the bout—

—How was it.

“...!”

A voice transmission reached me.

Silver Moon Sword’s voice.

—Worth watching? I hope it was.

Silver Moon Sword was looking at me with a smile.

His eyes were clearer than before.

—We’ll be meeting soon, won’t we?

His voice was full of anticipation.

—I like how you’ve changed. I’m expecting this time to be different from the last.

“...”

A certainty that he would meet me again at the end of the Azure Wolf Festival.

I had no idea why that man kept fixating on me.

Does he want to fight me that badly?

I couldn’t understand it.

It was something I clearly should not have understood.

I’m insane too.

That provocation stirred something in me in a strange way.

I want to fight him soon.

A filthy thought like that was rising from somewhere deep inside me.

Is it because of rebirth?

Ever since then, it had felt as though it was gradually getting worse.

No.

More than rebirth—

...Yucheon Gil.

That fiend of an old man.

I had a feeling something changed after I met him.

Silver Moon Sword finished speaking through voice transmission and stepped down from the stage.

Amid the swell of murmuring voices, I watched his back.

“...”

Before I knew it, I had clenched my sword tightly.

It took less than an instant for me to realize the reason was fighting spirit.

*****

The first day of the Azure Wolf Festival came to an end.

It would conclude over two # Nоvеlight # days, so tomorrow would be the last of it.

There had not even been that many bouts, so honestly, I had thought it might all be finished in a single day.

But apparently they left a day in between so the disciples could preserve their stamina and condition.

You could ask what difference one day of rest would make.

But martial artists of the Lesser Moon Unit were, at minimum, masters at the peak realm.

And once one reached that realm, inner qi seeped into the flesh itself, which drove one’s regenerative power sharply upward.

Meaning most ordinary fatigue or shallow wounds healed in a single day.

So if you rested for one day, most of the exhaustion could be wiped away.

It was the perfect amount of recovery time.

Which was why—

“Wouldn’t it be better to get some rest?”

I tried offering that advice to the person standing in front of me.

But—

“No.”

I got rejected coldly.

It was Cheon Hyein, wearing an expression full of irritation.

Because of the wound across her chest, she even had bandages wrapped around herself, yet she kept moving as though something this minor did not warrant rest at all.

She could have just rested for the day.

“Why go moving around in the middle of the night...?”

It was late night, the moon already high.

And we were meeting in that darkness to talk.

“The Azure Wolf Festival is still underway. If anything, this is the best time to avoid attention.”

There was only one reason.

“The vault. You said you wanted to go in.”

The vault left behind by Yucheon Gil, the Sword Saint.

That was where she intended to go.

“...Ah. Right. Yes.”

Cheon Hyein had called me out because she said she would tell me about that vault.

It was a continuation of what we had spoken about before.

Cheon Hyein had suggested that we go into the vault tonight.

And I had forced myself to come out and hear her, ignoring my fatigue.

That was why I was now climbing a path out of nowhere.

“...You’re saying the entrance to the vault is really here?”

I asked as though I didn’t know.

It sounded like I thought it was strange for it to be inside a building, and at that—

“Yes. Surprisingly enough.”

With Cheon Hyein’s words that the entrance was in a storage building, we headed around to the back of it.

At a glance, there was nothing there.

It was also a place I had never had any reason to come and go from.

“...Here?”

“Wait.”

Clang.

Cheon Hyein drew her sword.

Then she set the tip against the wall and closed her eyes in concentration.

And just like that, time passed.

“...What are you doing?”

Enough time passed that I finally asked.

But—

“...Don’t talk to me. I need to concentrate.”

“...What?”

She looked utterly focused, as though she needed to find something.

What was she trying to find?

I looked at the wall in puzzlement.

Then—

Sssshhh—!!!

Only after opening Moon Eye and looking at the wall did I understand what Cheon Hyein was doing.

Ah.

So that was what she was searching for.

The activation line of the mechanism.

Her sword was tracing the line of the mechanism running through the wall and floor.

It was an extremely fine thread.

She needed to cut along it exactly for the mechanism to activate.

Cheon Hyein knew that, which was why she was concentrating so hard.

...She’s finding that by feel alone?

She should not be able to see it the way I could.

Cheon Hyein had never taken the Azure Moon Sect’s divine pill.

But if she was finding this—

That means Baekyeon knows as well.

Meaning Baekyeon had opened the vault using this same method.

How did he figure it out?

It seemed like something impossible to find without Moon Eye reopening after taking the divine pill.

How had he discovered it?

Just as that question crossed my mind—

“...Found it.”

Cheon Hyein muttered quietly.

Then—

Slash—!

With a swift stroke, she carved a short line across the wall.

Creeeak.

The mechanism shifted, and the hidden space began to open.

A ladder appeared in the floor, descending below.

Only then did Cheon Hyein let out a breath.

“Hoo... Done.”

“Ohhh...”

I was genuinely impressed.

To think she had really pulled that off.

I was briefly wondering whether I ought to applaud when—

“...What are you doing? We need to go down.”

Cheon Hyein frowned at me and moved first.

“...”

She really was prickly.

A woman with a thoroughly difficult temperament.

Thinking that, I followed after her.

And the two of us stepped straight into Yucheon Gil’s vault.