CLANG—!

CLANG-CLANG—!

A fight breaking out one after another. While everyone was focused on the sight of sword meeting sword—

At the highest pavilion prepared to one side of the tournament stage, a huge old man stared down at the stage with dry eyes.

“......”

That old man was the current Martial Alliance Leader, and a hero of the Orthodox-Demonic War.

Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong.

With quiet eyes, he watched the two men on the tournament stage.

No— not two men. From start to finish, Divine Spear had been watching only one person.

A handsome young man, taking every last strike of Wudang’s junior—one of the Seven Prodigies, the Wudang Cloud Dragon—without flinching.

The Sword Saint’s successor, Little Sword Saint Bang Sungyeon.

While he watched the spar without blinking—

“How is it?”

“......”

Someone stepped up beside Divine Spear and spoke.

A thin old man with a cold, dry impression— the Alliance’s strategist, and another hero of the same Orthodox-Demonic War.

Thousand-Mile True Sight Jegal Jin.

He asked the question to Divine Spear, who was watching the spar with interest.

Divine Spear looked at Jegal Jin and asked back.

“What are you asking?”

“That spar. Is he doing well?”

At Jegal Jin’s words, Divine Spear looked back toward the tournament stage.

“Which side do you mean?”

“......”

If you’re asking whether he’s doing well, which side are you even talking about?

Hearing that, Jegal Jin’s face twisted.

“If you’re going to joke, I won’t ask.”

He obviously knew who he meant. Jegal Jin’s irritation flared at the way he spoke on purpose.

He started to pull away—

“Interesting.”

Divine Spear delivered his assessment while looking at Jegal Jin.

Who that assessment was aimed at wasn’t something worth asking, either.

“Interesting?”

“Yes. Interesting.”

Hearing that evaluation, Jegal Jin looked back up at the stage again.

CLANG—!

CLANG-CLANG—!!

Wudang’s Cloud Dragon was pouring sword strikes into Bang Sungyeon without rest.

And Bang Sungyeon was blocking them like it was nothing.

To anyone watching, the gap in skill looked obvious.

It had to. Cloud Dragon was busy thrusting and swinging nonstop, while Bang Sungyeon was stopping it with ease.

“You mean his strength is interesting?”

Was Bang Sungyeon’s strength what he found interesting?

At that question, Divine Spear shook his head slightly.

“He isn’t strong.”

“Hm?”

“That’s why it’s interesting.”

“What do you mean?”

When Jegal Jin spoke as if asking for more explanation, Divine Spear pointed at Cloud Dragon with a thick finger.

“In realm and what he possesses, Cloud Dragon has the advantage.”

Jegal Jin’s face tightened.

Cloud Dragon is stronger?

For him to say that—

CLANG—!

-Krgh!

Even now, Cloud Dragon’s sword still couldn’t reach Bang Sungyeon, and was knocked away again.

Watching that, it was hard to understand how he could say Bang Sungyeon wasn’t stronger—

And then—

“He moves first.”

Divine Spear spoke as if trying to make it easier for Jegal Jin to understand.

“Before the opponent’s motion can ride its flow, he arrives first and tangles it up. That’s why he can deal with it using less strength.”

“Arrives first... If that’s possible, how is he weaker?”

“That’s why I said it’s interesting.”

Weaker, yet faster.

As if he were predicting every movement—delicate motions without hesitation.

Divine Spear found that fascinating.

Is it talent? It’s hard to call it purely that.

Sometimes, there are people.

People who predict an opponent’s movements and move as if they’d already seen the far future.

The Heaven-Beyond-Heaven of the current era—including Divine Spear himself—were like that.

And the next generation of geniuses called the Seven Prodigies were similar, too.

Among them, the one with talent on a different level had been Yoo Cheongil.

On this point, even Divine Spear had eyes sharp enough to acknowledge it.

‘Different.’

That kid was different.

There was something there that couldn’t be brushed off as mere talent.

It was alien and contradictory.

Something inside him kept telling Divine Spear that it was different, but he couldn’t tell how.

That’s why it was interesting.

He was making movements similar to Yoo Cheongil’s.

But something was different.

“......”

Cutting off every attack, securing his advantageous position.

Bang Sungyeon kept doing that from start to finish.

He still wasn’t ripe.

Divine Spear had judged him that way while watching him.

But—

‘What if.’

Maybe he’d ripened a little. Just as Divine Spear felt the need to revise his evaluation—

-Krgh!!

The distance between Cloud Dragon and Bang Sungyeon opened.

And then a change arrived.

SSSS—.

Sword force, which Cloud Dragon hadn’t been able to fill, rose from his sword.

Divine Spear narrowed his eyes.

This wasn’t Cloud Dragon successfully seizing the moment to cast sword force.

This was Bang Sungyeon letting Cloud Dragon cast sword force.

Why?

If he meets him straight on, he loses.

Bang Sungyeon would know that best— which was why he’d been driving the spar so delicately up until now.

But now, at this point, giving him an opening made no sense.

‘What is it.’

What is he trying to show? What is he thinking?

Divine Spear’s dry eyes locked onto Bang Sungyeon.

What is he thinking?

Was he paying attention to the crowd’s reaction, maybe?

If he’d started caring about the reaction that came with the spar stretching out—

‘Meaningless.’

Divine Spear could have cut off his interest in Bang Sungyeon right there.

The interest he’d kept only because he was the Sword Saint’s successor.

That would have been a perfect reason to sever it in an instant—

SSSSSSS—!!!

But the moment he saw the sword force rising from Bang Sungyeon’s sword, Divine Spear’s eyes widened just a fraction.

‘That is...’

That.

Third Form: Radiant Moon Annihilation-Overturn.

A sword force on a different plane—something only Yoo Cheongil had used, even within the Blue Moon Sect.

How many Demon Cultists had been cut down by that moonlight, how many enemies had fallen to it.

That light had been terror itself to the foes Yoo Cheongil fought.

And yet, after the Sword Saint’s death, a sword force no one in the Blue Moon Sect had been able to reproduce—

manifested from that young man’s sword.

Divine Spear had already checked the report that said he’d used sword force in the first preliminaries, but—

Seeing it directly felt completely different.

‘So it was true.’

To think he’d see that sword force again.

Grrnnk.

Divine Spear curled his fist and lifted the corner of his mouth.

“...Alliance Leader, are you smiling right now?”

Jegal Jin reacted like he was startled by the change in Divine Spear’s expression.

Divine Spear smiling.

It was something he hadn’t seen in years.

But Divine Spear didn’t care about Jegal Jin’s reaction.

His eyes were fixed on Bang Sungyeon’s sword alone.

Third Form: Radiant Moon Annihilation-Overturn was beautiful, but even so, whether that alone could handle Cloud Dragon was questionable.

That’s why he hoped.

They said he’d killed an unorthodox master in Sichuan, so—

What if.

‘Can he use it?’

Not only Third Form: Radiant Moon Annihilation-Overturn, but something else as well.

That anticipation swelled.

And while Divine Spear was watching Bang Sungyeon with his emotions fully poured in—

SHIIIING—.

Bang Sungyeon’s sword moved toward the charging Cloud Dragon.

It was a clean circle.

The speed wasn’t that fast. The power didn’t look that strong, either.

A calm sword, like it was swaying in a breeze—something that looked like it couldn’t possibly stop Cloud Dragon’s sword flying in with the intent to smash.

But—

“Hah!”

Divine Spear laughed out loud.

At that voice, the Alliance officials around him all turned to look.

And then—

CLANG—!!!

With a sharp sound, Cloud Dragon’s sword shattered.

Fragments of the blade—crumbling and scattering.

“Hahahaha!”

Watching that, Divine Spear laughed even louder.

He saw it with his own eyes. In Bang Sungyeon’s movement just now, Divine Spear became certain.

That bastard could use it.

The thing every Demon Cultist and every unorthodox fighter had feared so deeply.

The thing Divine Spear himself had feared—and wanted to defeat.

The Blue Moon Sect’s ultimate secret, used by Yoo Cheongil alone.

Moon-Spirit Sword Path.

Bang Sungyeon could use it.

*****

After the spar ended, I came down from the tournament stage inside the crowd’s roaring cheers.

-WAAAAAAAH—!!

-The Little Sword Saint beat the Cloud Dragon!

Maybe the Seven Prodigies losing was that much of a shock to them, because the cheering wouldn’t stop.

And since I was already in the position of making the Central Plains noisy, the fact that Cloud Dragon lost to me seemed like it hit even harder.

-The Little Sword Saint played with the Cloud Dragon.

-The rumor about putting the Seven Prodigies under his feet is true.

-Just how far does the Little Sword Saint’s strength go?

And on and on and on.

While I was hearing all kinds of bullshit just because I won once— 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“Auugh...”

The moment I stepped off the stage, I had to cover my eyes with my palm.

“Hot as hell...”

It felt like my eyeballs were going to burn.

The heat in my eyes hurt nonstop, like I’d gotten an actual burn.

“Haah...”

It was only a moment.

It ended with a single swing of the sword, but the recoil was no joke.

“Ghh...”

I was squeezing my eyes shut in pain when—

“That’s... that’s impossible!!”

A rough shout made me turn.

With eyes that barely even opened, I looked—and Cloud Dragon was screaming his lungs out.

“Me... me losing...!”

He couldn’t accept it. He was yelling so hard spit flew.

Why the hell is that bastard like this.

It’s ugly as hell—screaming like that— and after screaming, he was getting dragged down by Alliance members.

“...Me...! I...!”

Then Cloud Dragon’s gaze swung toward me.

Hostility and fury hit instantly.

“Ugh.”

Seeing that made me a little regretful. I should’ve beaten him more. It was a shame I didn’t.

‘If I don’t get used to this, what the hell am I supposed to do with anything.’

I was rubbing my eyes hard through the pain when Yoo Cheongil spoke to me.

[Even so, just holding it is not bad.]

“......”

It was praise, but I didn’t feel good about it.

Because I really did only “hold” it.

‘...After all that dogshit suffering in seclusion and spirit-dreams.’

And all I got was “holding it.”

Absurd.

‘Why is this so hard?’

Holding back a sigh, I thought.

About the power I gained in seclusion. About Moon-Spirit Sword Path.

He called it the Blue Moon Sword Dance’s ultimate secret, didn’t he.

The proper form of Moon Eyes, and what happens when the Blue Moon Heart Art’s power properly sinks into the body.

That was—

‘It tells me the sword path.’

The moon’s path tells the blade the path it must go.

Yoo Cheongil said that was Moon-Spirit Sword Dance.

Moon Eyes’ blooming—telling me the opponent’s movements through their energy.

And when it evolves further, Moon Eyes stops telling me the opponent’s path—

and starts telling me the path I must take.

He said that was Moon-Spirit Sword Path.

It tells me the optimal sword path.

It was such a rigged power it wasn’t even funny.

The conditions were Moon Eyes’ blooming and using Third Form: Radiant Moon Annihilation-Overturn.

If I could do those two things, Moon Eyes would bloom twice and I’d be able to use Moon-Spirit Sword Path.

The problem was—

‘That I can’t even maintain it right.’

The recoil is so strong every time I cast it that I can’t use it for long.

Of course, because the recoil is that strong, the result was certain.

Even now— and just looking at the preliminaries— wasn’t it the same?

The sword path told me the way, I drew it exactly as it showed, and I split a pillar no one else could cut like it was nothing.

‘...Can I even call this martial arts?’

At this point, it’s weird to call it martial arts, but—

I get it. It’s a ridiculous power.

‘If I just master this properly...’

It felt like power that could really make me the strongest under heaven.

I was keeping that in mind while trying to cool my eyes, when—

[Now don’t use it again today. You won’t need to anyway, but if something happens, you’ll strain your... Hm?]

Yoo Cheongil cut himself off mid-warning and paused.

What?

Why’s he suddenly like that?

While I was wondering—

“I really enjoyed the spar.”

Someone spoke to me.

Enduring the pain in my eyes, I looked—and it was a beautiful woman who looked about my age.

Who is she?

If she’s here, she’s a junior participating in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, but...

‘I don’t recognize her.’

It was someone I’d never seen.

Was she at the banquet and I just didn’t notice?

While I stared, confused—

“Ah, I’m—”

The woman smiled brightly, trying to introduce herself—

[......Huh?]

Yoo Cheongil’s eyes widened as he looked at her.

Then he said—

[Yeon Heeseon?]

‘Yeon Heeseon?’

Someone Yoo Cheongil knows?

But how would that old bastard know a junior?

Confusion rose up, but—

‘...What is it, that name feels familiar.’

It was a name I felt like I /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ knew too.

Yeon Heeseon. Yeon Heeseon...

‘Ah.’

I remembered.

If it’s Yeon Heeseon—

“The Sword Empress.”

“I’m Mi... of the Mi Clan of Guangdong—”

“...Huh?”

“...?”

I blurted it out before she could even finish her introduction.

And at my words, the woman’s body went rigid.