Bang Seojin.

Eldest daughter of the Bang family, and like me, a child born of a concubine.

A household where there were three children and three different mothers.

A spectacular mess of a family where the man called Father got old without ever growing up, just running around chasing women like a lunatic—and in that mess, as far as I was concerned, she was pretty much the only thing you could call hope.

Bang Seojin, age thirteen.

The nickname she went by back then was—

Liaoning’s Greatest Prodigy.

At just thirteen, you’d think, “What could she possibly have done?”

Back then, it actually fit.

At thirteen, she’d beat a grown martial artist past twenty like a dog.

If local Black Path bastards showed up, she’d just pick up a wooden sword and wipe them all out.

There were even people who saw my sister swinging her sword and said a dragon had been born in the Bang family.

Yeah. Even now, thinking back on it, my sister was a genius.

If she wasn’t, there’s no way to explain half the shit she pulled.

Granted, her personality was a raging disaster—she’d blow up without caring about fire or water, which was a bit of a pain.

Even taking that into account, she was more than worthy of being called a prodigy, a genius.

Who was it again? I think it was the Murong Clan Head.

There was something he said after seeing my sister.

“It won’t be long before there’s no one in the Central Plains who doesn’t know the name of the Bang family’s eldest daughter.”

That’s what he said.

That’s how much of a genius she was.

‘And that was the Clan Head of the Murong Clan saying it, no less.’

If the master of one of the Five Great Clans had given that evaluation himself, then my sister was definitely a genius.

Knowing that, Father pinned every last hope he had on her, calling her the only ray of hope, but......

‘God, fuck this family.’

“I’m done! I quit!”

The sister they’d called their hope watched the household get more and more fucked up and finally couldn’t take it anymore—she bolted.

She left so fast that nobody in the family even realized she was gone.

She just left behind a single letter and disappeared.

Thanks to that, all the despair and frustration Father had ended up turned on me.

‘......Bitch.’

My fist clenched on its own.

If you were going to run, you could have taken me with you. You just ran off on your own?

CRUMPLE—

The letter crumpled in my hand as I squeezed it.

‘Calm down.......’

First, I had to calm down. I repeated the words in my head.

There was a lot I needed to think about after seeing my sister’s letter.

Now was not the time to be dwelling on the past.

I smoothed out the crumpled paper and looked at it as I thought.

‘First off......’

The crest stamped on the letter.

That was the problem.

‘Why does it have the Beggar Clan Master’s crest......?’

According to Yoo Cheongil, this wasn’t just some ordinary Beggar Clan emblem—it was the Beggar Clan Master’s.

A crest belonging to someone that big doesn’t just get slapped on any random letter.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Why was it stamped on my sister’s letter?

And then—

‘How did she even know I was in Sichuan?’

For this letter to have been entrusted to the Martial Alliance meant someone had sent it and it had arrived.

How had she known to send it here?

That was the part I found most puzzling.

This was a sister I hadn’t had a scrap of contact with in almost ten years.

And that sister had borrowed the name of the Beggar Clan Master to send a letter to where I was.

‘Given how long I’ve actually been in Sichuan—’

When I thought about how short that period was, there were only so many options: either she was nearby, or...

‘She had some way of hearing about me.’

What the hell?

‘What have you been doing all this time?’

Same father, different mother.

What the hell had that woman been doing with her life?

‘Even if she ran away, I never thought she’d live a normal life.’

After everything I’d seen, I didn’t think my sister was the type to go live as an ordinary person.

If anything—

‘It was weird no rumors about her ever reached me.’

The fact that she was living quietly was what felt strange.

‘......Knew it.’

So she wasn’t living some peaceful, average life after all.

That was what it felt like.

‘......Tch......’

I clicked my tongue softly as I read the letter.

‘Looks like Father was right.’

His words about how my sister would send a letter came to mind. Back then he’d told me to contact him immediately if she did.

‘......Tell him and she’ll kill me, huh?’

Apparently my sister had predicted that, since she’d written the warning clearly in the letter.

I could say I wasn’t scared of some warning from a sister I hadn’t seen in ages.

‘......But with that person, you never know what she’ll do.’

The memory of that fear I’d felt in front of her deranged temper tightened around my throat again.

Remembering how insane her personality was, I had zero faith she’d have grown up normal.

And then, at the end—

‘The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, huh?’

The last line among the few words written there.

If anything was going to stick in your head, it was that part.

She said the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering would be held soon, and that I should meet her there.

That was how the letter ended.

‘......And how the hell did she know that.’

That was the part I really couldn’t understand.

‘Isn’t that supposed to be top secret?’

A martial festival for the younger elites, held every five years by the Martial Alliance.

You could predict it, sure, since the cycle was about due, but...

The way she flatly asserted it would be opening soon was what felt off.

‘And the stuff about the Beggar Clan Master too.’

I couldn’t help feeling a sort of worried, not-worried concern that maybe she was involved in something strange.

RUSTLE.

Thinking that, I folded the letter neatly and tucked it into my robes.

Then I looked at the branch chief in front of me and spoke with a smile.

“I’ve confirmed the letter. Thank you for your consideration, Branch Chief.”

“Ah, not at all. It was simply something that had to be done.”

The branch chief forced a smile at my words, but his eyes were still on the letter I’d just put away.

He was clearly bothered by the Beggar Clan Master’s crest on it.

“Your words alone are more than enough. I can’t afford to take up any more of busy men’s time, so I should take my leave as well.”

“Ah. No, I—”

“Pardon me for the intrusion.”

Before the branch chief could say anything else, I cut him off with a bow.

If I got any more tangled up here, it’d only get more annoying.

Once I’d said my piece, I wrapped things up. At that point, the branch chief couldn’t very well keep holding me and, with clear regret, let me go.

I stepped outside.

*****

[Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, huh......]

The moment we came out, Yoo Cheongil muttered.

[Right, there was something like that.]

His gaze was steeped in nostalgia, like he was reminiscing about the distant past.

Just when I was wondering if he had some special memory tied to it—

[It was a good place for beating down all those punks calling themselves “geniuses.” Not a bad place at all. There’s nowhere better for blowing off steam when you’re all pent up.]

“.......”

I had no idea how he could say something that violent with such sentimentality, but I’d already decided not to try to understand how that old man thought, so I just ignored him.

[But you’re saying it’ll be opening around now, are you?]

Heh heh heh.

Yoo Cheongil let out a chuckle that sounded ominous as hell. He clearly had some weird scheme brewing again.

‘It’ll be fine this time.’

At least the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering shouldn’t be a big problem.

This old man probably didn’t know, but—

‘Blue Moon Sect can’t participate in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.’

As a sect considered directly affiliated with the Martial Alliance, Blue Moon Sect’s disciples can’t take part in festivals the Alliance holds.

With that condition in place, the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering didn’t really mean much to me.

Deciding that, I chose to think about it lightly and leave it at that.

What I’d forgotten, in that moment, was one small thing.

That I was a bastard with absolutely dogshit luck.

*****

I made my way slowly back [N O V E L I G H T] to Tang Clan. I’d have liked to look around the county a bit more, but the gazes following me were too sharp; I didn’t have a choice.

‘Funny how they say I’m free to walk around.’

They told me not to worry and feel free to go wherever I wanted, but the eyes tracking me from behind were so fierce there was no way I could really relax.

Escort and guide? My ass.

That was straight-up surveillance.

On top of that—

‘Do Hyeong and Cheon Eujin said it wasn’t this bad for them.’

Apparently I was getting special treatment; every time I went anywhere, they tailed me so hard it made me sick of it.

Granted, while it was suffocating, it wasn’t like I couldn’t understand it.

The situation fit too perfectly.

‘Not only did I open someone else’s secret treasury door like it was nothing,’

A surprise attack broke out inside that treasury.

And the Poison King just so happened to be trapped by the enemy’s scheme.

‘And then a younger elite killed the leader of the attackers.’

Anyone else would be calling that person a hero.

‘But from a political and rational point of view, I’m the most suspicious one there.’

Given that position, I couldn’t really blame the Poison King for how he was handling things.

‘That doesn’t change the fact that it pisses me off, though.’

I couldn’t help but be irritated.

“Tch.”

I clicked my tongue. The moment I stepped back into Tang Clan, the people who’d been following me scattered.

So the surveillance zone was only outside the clan? Or—

‘There could still be eyes on me without me noticing.’

They might be hiding their presence and watching me.

So yeah, this really was a tiger’s den.

‘The fortunate part is—’

If I’d been alone, it might’ve been a problem, but in this regard, there was someone with me who was helpful.

[There don’t seem to be any Tang Clan martial artists nearby.]

At Yoo Cheongil’s words, I felt a bit of relief as I walked on.

The place I arrived at was the training ground.

Today, Do Hyeong and Cheon Eujin had asked to practice together, so I’d tried to arrange my schedule to match.

‘For the next few days.’

According to the Iron River Master, there were only a few days left until Full Moon was completed.

He’d said it would be at most five days.

Which meant that once that was over, I’d be able to go back.

‘Let’s take it easy for just a little longer.’

So for now, I’d just stick to the bare minimum of what I’d decided to do.

It wasn’t like I had any more business to stir up in Sichuan anyway.

If anything, my work was to gather up everything that had already happened and make it my own.

‘For now......’

Until the Poison King called for me again, I didn’t have anything else to do—so it was time to focus on training.

On the newly learned Blue Moon Sword Dance.

‘And on trying out the Divine Sword.’

The special-grade weapon Tang Yeran had poured her whole being into repairing.

The Heavenly Demon’s beloved sword, and the Divine Sword that was now supposed to become my own cherished blade.

It was time to actually use it.

CLACK. My hand settled on the Divine Sword’s hilt at my waist.

Just like before, it fit my grip so well it was almost addictive.

I wrapped my fingers around it lightly—then, remembering something, I asked Yoo Cheongil a question.

“By the way, are you sure it’s really okay for me to use this?”

The sense of wrongness still lingered.

“I mean, I’m on the orthodox side, and I’m using the sword of the Heavenly Demon Cult’s Heavenly Demon.......”

You could say what was left of my conscience twinged, just a little.

Especially since it was Yoo Cheongil—the man who’d killed the Heavenly Demon—who’d told me to use this thing. I really didn’t get that.

“If it were Full Moon, at least there’d be some justification.”

If he told me to use that brute of a saber, that would be its own problem, but at least there’d be a reason.

A disciple using his master’s sword.

Who would complain about that? With that justification, I’d have plenty to say back if anyone tried to argue.

The Divine Sword wasn’t like that. Even if the chances of anyone finding out were low, I still didn’t get why he’d entrusted it to me.

So I tried to pick out just that part and keep pressing him about it.

“Why this one.......”

I trailed off mid-sentence.

Something was off about Yoo Cheongil’s expression.

He didn’t answer a single word of what I’d asked and was staring off somewhere.

Seeing that look, I couldn’t help tensing up.

As the tension shot up to the limit, all the hairs on my body stood on end—

[Half a step back. Tilt the sword on a diagonal, spine toward northwest, left side.]

I heard Yoo Cheongil’s voice.

The moment his words reached me, I took the stance.

And in that instant—

KIIIIIK—! CLANG!!!

An attack from someone came crashing toward my sword.