DRIP, DRIP.

Blood ran down.

“Ghk.......”

Primal Origin Blade staggered. He seemed unable to understand what had just happened to him.

I was the same.

Dissonance.

The sword had been thrust out.

It had cut something.

How could there be so much realization inside such a simple principle?

Contained in a single stroke of the sword was a principle so profound it sent chills through my soul.

“You...... you bastard....... Just what.......”

Primal Origin Blade’s eyes were no different from my feelings. He, too, was looking at the Heavenly Demon with a strange gaze.

“What in the world are you......!”

Things that had not been visible before were seeping into his expression.

Terror.

Fear.

I could see such things on Primal Origin Blade.

“What I am.”

The Heavenly Demon spun his Divine Sword with a flick. The force of Moonbolt radiating from his body slowly sank away.

“I have never defined it. For now....... Yes.”

He smiled.

The corners of the Heavenly Demon’s mouth rose.

“Bang Seongyeon. You may simply call me that.”

He sold my name.

Well, since it was my body, I supposed that was technically right.......

But hearing it felt strange.

“Khk......!”

Primal Origin Blade’s gaze shifted.

Seeing that, the Heavenly Demon moved.

That was when I spoke.

—Do not kill him.

“.......”

The Heavenly Demon stopped short at my words.

Do not kill him.

The moment he heard that, his steps slowed.

Primal Origin Blade did not miss that instant.

BOOM—!!!

With an explosion of sound, he shot upward. He vanished, taking his severed arm and his beloved weapon with him.

“H-He’s running away!”

“That master ran!”

The escort guards who had been watching Primal Origin Blade disappear erupted into cheers a beat later.

WAAAAAAAH—!!!

A wave of cheering spread everywhere.

“Moon Hero......!”

“Moon Hero!”

They kept calling out my epithet, and I shook my head.

It was not something I had done anyway.

Just as I was thinking that—

“Take it.”

The Heavenly Demon spoke quietly.

With those words, my body swayed.

My soul hurriedly regained its original flesh. Just as I put strength into my staggering legs—

“......Are you all right?”

Before I knew it, Mo Yong Yeongsun had appeared and was supporting me.

“What are you doing......!”

“What do you mean, what am I doing....... I worked.”

I had done escort-guard work.

Dealing with bastards who tried to touch the cargo was an escort guard’s job, was it not?

“You really.......”

“It isn’t over yet. Get a hold of yourself.”

I said to Mo Yong Yeongsun.

“Just because that one bastard is gone does not mean the Green Forest bandits who showed up are gone too.”

“.......”

“We move first. We can’t leave the shipment as it is.”

Mo Yong Yeongsun bit her lip.

She seemed to know as well that we could not just stay here forever.

Realizing that, Mo Yong Yeongsun turned back and spoke to the escort guards.

“......We’ll move again.”

“Ah......! Understood.”

Their realms were low, but they were not inexperienced. They immediately began to move.

“Whew.”

I swept my hair back too.

“I’ll rest for a bit.”

“......Now?”

“Yeah. I think I’m going to collapse soon.”

My mind was growing distant.

Looking at my staggering body—

It’ll come soon. Damn it.

I could tell the backlash from the possession was about to hit.

“I’m going.”

I left Mo Yong Yeongsun behind and headed for a carriage.

No one stopped me.

The escort guards stared at me with strange gazes.

They were different from when they had first seen me.

Ignoring that feeling, I walked.

Let’s see.......

An empty carriage.

I headed there.

CLACK—!

The moment I entered the carriage, I collapsed inside.

“Ah.......”

The feeling hit me as soon as I lay down.

THUD—!

“Son of a bitch.”

Pain rushed in.

Under that agony, I lost consciousness.

*****

RUSTLE—!!!

“Khk!”

Late into the night, a martial artist who had lost one arm—Primal Origin Blade—ran through the forest.

Blood did not flow.

He still had enough inner qi left to stop the bleeding.

However—

What was that monster?

Thinking of Bang Seongyeon, the monster who had done this to his arm, Primal Origin Blade’s heart demon deepened.

He had to be eliminated for the Palace Lord.

With that thought, Primal Origin Blade had tried to kill him by any means necessary.

Impossible.

He had seen through it.

That bastard was different somehow.

The gaze with which he had looked at him, and the level contained in his sword, were different.

How?

How, at that age, had he reached such a state?

They called him Yoo Cheongil’s second coming.

Even those words were insufficient.

For now, I have to inform him.

The fact that he was fleeing in such an unsightly state was enough to disturb Primal Origin Blade’s emotions, but the only thing he was looking at was the Palace Lord’s safety.

That bastard.

That bastard was undoubtedly a dangerous existence to the Palace Lord—to all of them.

But he could not be dealt with.

For now, fleeing was the best option. He had to deliver this fact to the palace as soon as possible.

Before that—

I retrieve it.

He had to deal with the task the Palace Lord had entrusted to him.

Primal Origin Blade ran madly up to the mountaintop.

“Haa....... Haah.......”

A plain where nothing could be seen.

That was what lay at the edge of the mountain.

“Where is it......?”

He had prepared it by ordering his subordinates.

He had to take this with him.

Originally, it would have been a matter of activating it rather than retrieving it, but—

No.

In the current situation, even that was impossible.

Using his one remaining arm, Primal Origin Blade began digging hard at the ground.

He dug and dug, even using inner qi, and before long, the corpses inside came into view.

They were the ruined bodies of women.

Avoiding them, he stretched out his hand.

Something caught at the tips of the fingers he had forced inside.

“......Found it.”

He found it.

Primal Origin Blade pulled it out and checked the object.

“Hoooooo.”

It was a nail.

A nail made of wood, not particularly large.

Holding it, Primal Origin Blade let out a breath.

He moved backward as he grasped it.

As though he had no interest in the land he had dug up, he was busy stepping away.

It happened at that moment.

SHAAAAAAA—!!!

Black energy poured out from the hole Primal Origin Blade had dug.

It wrapped around Primal Origin Blade’s body as it was.

—KYAAAAAAAH!!!

The Sky-Crushing Palace energy within Primal Origin Blade screamed, but Primal Origin Blade did not notice.

“I must hurry to the Palace Lord......!”

There was only one thing he had to do.

Deliver this fact and the object to the Palace Lord.

Driven mad by that single purpose, Primal Origin Blade ran like a lunatic.

Taking something ill-omened with him.

*****

“......Ngh.”

After some time passed, I woke up in the carriage.

My whole body hurt.

Enduring the throbbing muscle pain, I raised myself.

“Ah....... Fuck.”

It hurt like hell.

It honestly ranked among the worst pains I had felt recently.

“......Is this right?”

It was absurd.

Why did it hurt this much?

As my eyes widened in bewilderment—

[Your flesh is still insufficient to contain the realization.]

It was the Heavenly Demon’s voice.

“......By realization, do you mean body-and-sword unity?”

[Yes.]

“If it is that, I also—”

[Did you think it would be the same?]

“.......”

I closed my mouth.

Of course it was different.

I had seen it directly and felt it through my body, so how could I say it was the same?

CRACKLE.

I loosened my body slightly and stepped outside.

Outside, they were already preparing the night camp.

In other words, it was night.

“Ah, Moon Hero......!”

One of the escort guards recognized me and spoke.

“That.......”

Then he began watching my expression.

“Just treat me normally. I don’t care.”

“......H-How could I dare.......”

What dare?

They treated me however they wanted before they knew who I was.

I wondered what meaning there was in being polite now.

It was not as if I intended to rebuke them or think badly of them.

“I mean it when I say I don’t care.”

I roughly patted his shoulder and moved.

What I was looking for was none other than the Hao Clan people.

The way the others treated them had also changed quite a bit.

The cause was probably that they had been my companions.

“You’re up?”

The branch chief, still dressed as a man, smiled when she saw me.

“I heard you were in bad shape. You look fine.”

“On the outside.”

My insides were completely overturned, but there was no need to show that.

“Were there any attacks after that?”

“None. Thanks to someone making a huge mess of things.”

“That’s a relief.”

I had been worried the Green Forest bastards might appear again, but it seemed that had not happened.

Just as I felt reassured after grasping that—

WHOOOOOSH—!!!

“.......”

A wind that had come from somewhere brushed past me.

I turned my head.

It was the direction the wind had come from.

As expected.

Primal Origin Blade seemed to have moved exactly as I had predicted.

That bastard had touched the trap I had scattered.

I was feeling the result now.

It stuck properly.

The baleful force I had scattered there.

That would guide me.

All the way to where that Palace Lord bastard is.

Now that I had confirmed the trap had been scattered, that was enough.

I had been worried he might return straight to the palace, but fortunately, he passed through the place where I had set the trap.

......Whew. If he hadn’t passed through, that really would have been chilling.

I had no idea how much spiritual energy and concentration I had poured into it.

After using all of that, what would I have done if he had not passed by?

[Is that why you told me not to kill him?]

Yes. Because that bastard is useful.

The location of the main palace, which most Sky-Crushing Palace subordinates supposedly did not know.

I intended to use that bastard to find the stronghold.

“By the way.”

I looked at the branch chief and spoke.

“What is it?”

“What is?”

She reacted as though she did not know what I meant.

I found the branch chief’s appearance extremely unpleasant.

“That shipment. What the hell is it?”

What was it, for both Primal Origin Blade and the Green Forest to be after it?

When I asked while remembering that, the branch chief smirked.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself? From the look of it, you two seem close.”

“......We’re not that close.”

“Obvious lies aren’t good, our prince. If someone with our prince’s personality risked his life and stepped forward, hasn’t that said everything?”

“.......”

“I was surprised. By the fact that our prince is that strong, too. As expected, investing early was a good choice. My eye is accurate, I tell you.”

“Enough of that bullshit—so you’re saying you don’t plan to answer?”

I turned around.

If the branch chief was not going to tell me, it did not really matter. This schedule would be over by tomorrow anyway.

I would just go swing my sword.

Thinking that, I was about to turn away.

“Hey, now! My, how impatient you are. I’ll tell you. I said I’ll tell you. Sulking like that doesn’t suit you.”

“......Who says I’m sulking?”

It meant if she did not want to say it, then forget it.

Tch.

When I looked at the branch chief in disbelief, she narrowed her eyes. Seeing that expression on her while she was dressed as a man felt extremely unpleasant.

“I told you, we have no intention of coveting the shipment or doing anything to it.”

“I know. If you did, I wouldn’t stay still.”

“Oh, how frightening....... Anyway, what is inside there is an object that should not be in the Central Plains right now.”

“An object that should not be in the Central Plains?”

What did that mean?

Where would such a thing exist?

It was strange.

What could possibly be such a thing?

“Of course it should not be in the Central Plains.”

The branch chief pretended to put a pipe in her mouth, flicking her fingers as she spoke.

“Because that originally belongs in the North Sea. More specifically, it is something the North Sea Ice Palace Lord should possess.”

“......Hm?”

North Sea Ice Palace Lord.

My eyes narrowed at the words the branch chief brought up.

......The North Sea Ice Palace Lord?

“Why is the North Sea Ice Palace Lord suddenly coming up......?”

“Do you know who commissioned this shipment?”

“And who would that be?”

“Heavenly Fist.”

“.......”

“She is the true client behind this escort run.”

I froze when I heard that.

I smelled something.

I feel like I shouldn’t get involved.

The smell of something I should not get entangled with.