“Apparently Sword Saint Yoo Cheongil’s bloodline has appeared? Claiming to be his direct inheritor, no less.”

At the branch chief’s words, I had to stand there in silence.

What kind of dogshit was this now?

Yoo Cheongil’s bloodline? And claiming to be his inheritor on top of that?

“What are you talking about?”

“That is what I’m saying. Doesn’t it sound fascinating even to our prince?”

“......No, a direct bloodline? That man had a child?”

“Why ask me? Shouldn’t our prince be the one who knows that?”

How would I know that?

I had to let out a laugh of disbelief. Yoo Cheongil had never said anything about having a child. I had never asked, either. At least, not as far as I knew.

He didn’t.

Yoo Cheongil had never left behind his own bloodline. He had never married, and he had lived alone his entire life before dying.

And now someone was talking about his bloodline?

“Bullshit.”

It was an absurd rumor. Complete dogshit. When I said so while thinking that, the branch chief looked at me with curious eyes.

“Why do you think so? It is rather interesting that you sound so certain.”

“There could be plenty of people in the world who inherited something from Yoo Cheongil. Maybe he could even have a bloodline somewhere.”

“And?”

“Then it wouldn’t spread through some vague rumor like this. There is no way that man’s martial arts could go unnoticed.”

“Oh my?”

I was certain.

Yoo Cheongil’s heart art and martial arts were not simply those of the Azure Moon Sect.

They were martial arts Yoo Cheongil himself had altered and used. There was no possible way I would fail to recognize them.

Just looking at what I use is enough.

It was hard to even call them the same martial arts. They had been tempered far beyond the original, closer to something that had been refined down to its essence and evolved.

And someone was using that now while calling themselves his inheritor? That was dogshit, plain and simple.

“It is a rumor, so it makes sense to dismiss it that way. But don’t you think you are being too sure it is false? What will you do if it turns out to be true? Our prince was a rumor at first, too. A rumor none of us believed.”

“That might be true.”

When I first appeared, people had called me a fake, too. So maybe that bastard was real as well.

“I still don’t care much.”

The part about an inheritor or bloodline did not matter to me.

If there was a problem—

“......You said that bastard appeared in Sichuan, right?”

“What about Sichuan?”

“Something is bothering me.”

Sichuan.

That part bothered me.

More precisely, the guardian in Sichuan. Or should I say, the Tang Family of Sichuan bothered me a little?

I was narrowing my eyes while thinking about that inexplicable unease.

“What could it be? What are you so curious about? Now I’m curious too.”

The branch chief came closer for no reason and started talking.

Annoying.

“I’m not telling you, so move.”

“Come now, why not tell me a little?”

“Stop bothering me and get lost.”

I shoved the branch chief aside and left.

In any case, I needed to return for now. The matter in Sichuan was not something I needed to care too much about, either.

The same went for this talk about an inheritor or descendant.

I judged that whole story to be completely useless.

At least, until later.

Until I heard that Cheon Hyein had gone missing in Sichuan.

*****

Right after the conversation ended, a Mo Yong Family carriage arrived and took us away.

Inside the carriage were White King, Mo Yong Yeongsun, and me.

The others seemed to have already set out, so we departed with only a few people.

The road was expected to be faster than last time. Silence lingered inside the carriage until White King suddenly spoke.

“Young Master Bang.”

“Yes, Family Head.”

I had expected him to speak to me sooner or later, so his call did not surprise me.

Only—

“You called them Sky-Crushing Palace, did you not?”

“.......”

The subject White King brought up was somewhat unexpected.

“The ones we saw in Henan last time, and the ones who appeared now.”

“Ah...... yes. That’s right. They are Sky-Crushing Palace bastards.”

“Do you have more information about them?”

“I do know some things, though I don’t know if they qualify as information. However, I’m not sure whether they will be better in quality than what the Mo Yong Family already possesses.”

White King looked at me when I said that.

The moment I saw his eyes, I secretly flinched.

They were cold.

White King’s face was always expressionless, but I had never seen him look that cold.

“May I ask you to share it? I will compensate you with anything.”

“Why are you suddenly—”

“It seems I will have to remove them from the world.”

“.......”

His tone made it sound as if he intended to sweep trash off the ground.

What was truly frightening was that I could feel sincerity in his words.

White King could do it.

That thought rose in my mind before I knew it.

“......I don’t know if what I have will be of help, but I will prepare it and bring it to you.”

“Thank you.”

“I don’t need compensation. You have already given me plenty.”

This concerned none other than Sky-Crushing Palace.

I had no reason to think White King was on their side, and if he chose to move against them, that only made things easier for me.

On top of that, he was someone who had quietly shown me consideration in ways I had noticed and ways I had not. Giving him this much was not difficult for me.

I’ll need to organize it.

All the information was in my head, so I needed to write it out at length in a letter or something.

It seemed my nights would be long for a while.

*****

We returned to the county town in Liaoning.

There was no time for proper greetings. Mo Yong Yeongsun was so drained she had collapsed in exhaustion, and White King was not in the mood for farewells either.

After seeing them off, I returned to the family residence.

“Where in the world have you been!”

As soon as I arrived, our dear younger Bow Ghost welcomed me.

“Food...... You said you would feed me!”

“......Didn’t you get to eat much? I told you I would be away for a few days.”

I had told the Head Steward to take decent care of her, so that was strange.

At my question, Bow Ghost ground her teeth and said,

“That old man is absurdly ironclad...... No matter how hungry I say I am at night, he gives me nothing.”

“......Of course there is nothing if you ask at night. You should eat dinner properly. Why are you trying to eat all the way into the night?”

“I am hungry.”

“......Ah. Yes.”

Leaving Bow Ghost behind, I exchanged greetings with the others and told them our next schedule.

“It seems about time we return. Please start preparing.”

I had gained everything there was to gain in Liaoning.

I had fastened the ring over my heart again, and I had obtained the information I needed.

There was no need to delay any further.

After telling them that, I headed to my room.

Then I organized the information I would give to White King.

I had to stay up all night, but fortunately, perhaps because my realm had risen, enduring a day or two was not a problem.

*****

This part is done.

It was only when the sun was truly about to rise that I finished organizing everything.

After that, I took the letter and moved.

The place I headed was not the Mo Yong Family.

It was the Academy.

“Brother!”

“Big brother!”

“Yeah, good to see you all.”

After greeting the children who welcomed me, I went looking for the headmaster.

Fortunately, she happened to be inside.

The moment I approached the headmaster’s office, a smell stabbed my nose and made me frown.

Was this woman suffering from some disease where she would die if she did not keep a pipe in her mouth?

She seemed to handle it so it would not harm the children, but if I could feel it from outside the door, it would not be strange to say she had already failed.

“Haa.”

I sighed and knocked on the door.

No, just as I was about to knock—

“Come in.”

Permission had already been given.

I opened the door and went inside.

Sure enough, the room was full of smoke.

“Would it kill you to air the room out? What is this?”

“I just did.”

“......This is what it looks like after you aired it out?”

Whoooo.

The headmaster, Heavenly Fist, lowered the pipe from her mouth. The way she tapped it out looked natural, as always.

“What is it? I thought we would have no reason to see each other for a while.”

“There is something I want to ask you.”

“What, the cargo I entrusted to the Mo Yong Family?”

“.......”

Her reaction made it sound as though she had already known.

That was not especially surprising either. I had expected that old woman to have figured it out long ago.

“I was going to ask about that too. What is it?”

“Why? Did it look interesting?”

“It looked like more than just interesting. What in the world did you bind inside it for you to possess something that unlucky?”

The jar plastered all over with talismans.

When I brought it up, Heavenly Fist gave a faint laugh.

“Unlucky. That is not wrong.”

“What is it?”

“If it were something I could tell you about, do you think I would have hidden it like that to send it away?”

“......That is.”

“What is stranger is that you reacted this much after seeing it. Do you know what it is?”

“I don’t. I don’t know, but I know at least that it is anything but ordinary. I also find it strange that you are sending it back to the North Sea Ice Palace Lord.”

It was strange that someone who supposedly had a poor relationship with the North Sea would send something there.

“You said this to me, didn’t you? If she is part of the North Sea Ice Palace Lord’s bloodline, there is no telling how he might act, so I should keep quiet. Then what is your reason for sending that object?”

“What reason would there be? It originally belonged there, so I am merely returning it.”

“At this exact time?”

Me, with a girl who might be part of the North Sea Ice Palace Lord’s bloodline.

Heavenly Fist, after seeing that girl, now taking action.

In that situation, sending out an object belonging to the North Sea was unexpected to me.

When I voiced my suspicion, Heavenly Fist stared at me and said,

“You have the order wrong. It is not that you moved and I moved afterward. You interfered with something I had already planned to do.”

“......What does that—”

“It is important. Because you pointlessly brought something like that with you, my side almost became troublesome too.”

“.......”

“You said you were curious what the object sent to the North Sea was.”

Sssssss.

Heavenly Fist inhaled deeply through her pipe, then looked at me and said,

“That is the Palace Lord’s heart.”

“......Sorry? His heart?”

A human heart?

At that bizarre statement, I frowned.

Seeing my expression, Heavenly Fist sighed and said,

“No, not his actual heart...... I mean it is something like that.”

“Do you know that calling it something like that makes it even stranger?”

An object like a heart.

Why did she have that?

And what was an object like a heart supposed to be?

As I spoke in confusion, she said,

“Do you know that there is an Ice Crystal in the North Sea?”

“......To some extent?”

I knew there was an object called the Ice Crystal that maintained the North Sea’s bitter cold.

“What I sent is something like a fragment formed from its source.”

“Source? Why did you have that, Headmaster?”

“I was asked to keep it. I merely sent it because the time had come.”

“......Asked? By the Palace Lord?”

“No.”

At my words, Heavenly Fist’s gaze changed as she looked at me.

Her eyes were filled with annoyance.

“Your grandfather.”

“......?”

“Freewheeling Sword. That bastard asked me to.”

“.......”

Freewheeling Sword.

Somehow, it sounded extremely sordid.

And it suits our family perfectly.

Setting aside why my grandfather had made such a request, that thought came to me first.