Chapter 22

I did my best to haul the wooden case and set it down, and time passed.

Plenty of eyes watched me, but I ignored them and moved the case. Smuggling this away in secret would’ve been impossible anyway.

Then I openly joined morning drills.

Honestly, I’d been told I could skip it, but I did it anyway. Partly for the watching eyes, and partly because if I didn’t do something, holding on to my sanity got a little hard.

I finished drills and even ate.

Sitting there smack in the dining hall, chewing, I could feel looks coming from every direction.

I ignored them and kept chewing and swallowing.

But I couldn’t ignore the voices reaching my ear.

—It’s Young Master Bang.

—...The one who smashed Little Azure Sword...

—Why... in the dining hall...?

A simple agent eating in the dining hall, and they stare like it’s strange. What do you even call that. Should I take it to mean my footing has changed that much? Or read it another way?

No idea.

I just chewed and swallowed. After that I went back to my room.

There were probably patrol duties and this and that after, but I decided to cut it short before then.

“...Damn it.”

With my head this tangled, doing any of that was a stretch.

[So that’s why you came here?]

I clicked my tongue at the old man’s question. Where I was standing was a private training ground.

It was assigned the moment the Sword Saint’s inheritor was made known.

“I don’t exactly have anything to do right now, do I.”

Whoosh—! I swung the wooden sword once as I spoke.

I’d mouthed off to Cheon Eujin about special treatment and so on, and here I was, using it just fine once it landed in my lap.

‘Discrimination is the best.’

That’s life. Training in a space with no one else—how long has it been since I had this? If you don’t count those early dawns when Cheon Eujin wasn’t around and I used the hall, this might be the first.

It felt genuinely good.

‘I happened to have something I wanted to try, too.’

Whick—! Whick—! I kept cutting the air with the wooden sword in my grip. The feel was oddly subtle.

‘Well, look at that.’

The Blue Moon Heart Art, was it. The heart method the old man forcibly implanted in my body.

Maybe because of that heart art, my body felt light for some reason.

‘I think I’m a bit stronger too.’

Overall, I was stronger. You could say my realm had risen. Taken as a result, not bad...

‘The problem is.’

Stronger or not, I had no idea what I should do.

“Hm...”

The heart art I originally had was gone, and out of nowhere the Blue Moon Heart Art had taken its place, so my martial arts had to change as well.

‘What should I do?’

It wasn’t easy to get a handle on it. So I asked the one who would know.

“...What do I do now?”

[Hm?]

At my question, the old man tilted his head.

[Why ask me that?]

“Then who am I supposed to ask...?”

This wasn’t a joke.

“Old man... If you stuffed something weird in my body without permission, you should take responsibility.”

[Huh? Listen to this brat.]

He grinned.

[So, you want to learn martial arts from me. From Yoo Cheongil, the greatest under heaven?]

“Yes. Isn’t that the obvious thing?”

From where I stood, his line was the more absurd.

“If you jam it in without asking, you should at least make me able to do something with it. Or were you planning to use my body and be done with it?”

[...]

‘Why can’t you answer?’

“Answer me, old man.”

[What did you say?]

“Ah, sorry, that was... my inside voice...”

A slip. Without thinking. I resolved to keep the cursing internal next time.

[...]

“Anyway, was that really your plan?”

Did he intend to handle everything by possessing me whenever?

Honestly, even that wouldn’t have bothered me. It’s easy for me—who knows, if I lend the body a bit, I might coast without suffering. But—

“That possession. Are you sure it works properly?”

I had doubts about letting him borrow my body.

[What?]

I recalled the end of the duel with Little Azure Sword.

“No, it broke off last time. Are you sure it’s something we can definitely use?”

[...]

At my point, the old man closed his mouth for a moment.

Between the look on his face then and his reaction now, it told me even more.

“Possession—this isn’t something we can keep using, is it?”

[Ahem...]

A throat-clear meant yes.

I knit my brows at once.

“Old man. Why didn’t you say so?”

From the look of it, he’d known there was a problem. Yet he kept his mouth shut until I pointed it out.

“Were you trying ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) to hide it?”

[Hey—! Does Yoo Cheongil use such petty tricks!]

“Yes.”

[That was awfully firm... I’m a little hurt.]

Hurt, my ass. He looked exactly like someone who’d do it without batting an eye.

“So why, then?”

Fine, call it not hiding—what was the reason?

[Who said I hid anything...! I just hadn’t fully confirmed it yet, so I didn’t say it.]

“Old man. Then I’ll ask again.”

[What.]

“Possession. Can you do it again?”

[...]

He shut his mouth.

I clicked my tongue inside. Looks like my guess was right.

I’d felt something off during the duel.

I remembered the feeling at the final moment when the possession snapped, and I remembered the look Yoo Cheongil gave me then.

“There’s a problem, isn’t there?”

We can’t keep using possession. His behavior said so.

[...That’s not it, exactly. Hm, it can be done... No, it can be done.]

“Then you’re saying we can keep using it?”

[Only... if we want it to last, we might have to touch your innate vitality a bit...?]

“...”

I scowled instantly. To use possession more, we have to tamper with innate vitality...?

Innate vitality is tied to life itself, separate from the energy in the dantian (inner energy center).

And to meddle with that is—

“You’re asking me to put my life on the line...”

[No, well... not that far.]

He hesitated, then raised his voice:

[No...! How would I have known! I was surprised too, then! If I want to maintain it, that’s what I have to touch—what do you want me to do!]

“Why get mad when you’re the one who farted.”

The gall. The sheer gall.

Even as I grimaced at his reaction, I sorted things out in my head.

‘If we can’t keep using possession, then what?’

This was the one thing I’d been counting on, and now there’s a problem.

“...So it’s not possible ever again?”

[Not forever. From the looks of it... with time, the length I can stay in increases.]

“How can you be sure?”

[Instinct, what else.]

“...Thank you for the incredibly helpful answer.”

I barely held back a curse. Pushing down the irritation, I thought it through.

‘Anyway, possession isn’t a power we can toss around.’

So how am I going to pull this off.

Trouble. If I can’t use even that freely, I can’t do much.

In every scenario, I had to factor possession in.

That’s the only way the odds go up.

I’m no genius, and even if I learn martial arts from this old man, it’s not like I’ll suddenly be able to do everything. But if I can’t use possession at will—

‘...What do I do going forward?’

Complicated as hell. Damn it. What do I do?

All kinds of worries were flashing through when—

[Judging by that face, you’re stewing over petty worries again.]

I swallowed a grunt at the old man’s words.

“...Of course I am. My life is about to go to hell.”

[Don’t worry about that. I have a plan.]

A plan? He actually had a way? I didn’t trust him, but I’d welcome hope.

“...What plan?”

Grasping at straws, I asked, and the old man’s eyes suddenly lit up.

[Didn’t you say it earlier?]

“Say what?”

[That you’d learn martial arts from me.]

“That was... me trying to grab at any straw.”

And, since it had come to this, I did think I might as well leech some benefit from learning the Sword Saint’s martial arts.

Life matters, but if I’m going to do it, why not become a master.

‘Open a martial hall later and make some money, too.’

It was a notion tinged with greed.

[Step aside.]

“...What?”

[Step aside for a moment so I can go in.]

At that I stared at him, incredulous.

“My body isn’t a chair. ‘Step aside’ isn’t a thing...”

[I should secure a little confidence in my method too, shouldn’t I. Come on, step aside. It’ll only be a moment.]

“...Didn’t you just say doing more would require tapping my innate vitality.”

[A little is fine. I swear on my name.]

“...”

A man whose flesh is already dead and only the soul remains—what name does he even have to swear on.

Still, the light in his eyes was resolute.

“...Just a moment, then?”

The instant permission fell, it draped over me. In a blink.

That strange feeling again.

My body not quite my body—uncomfortable, yet somehow at ease.

‘This time I’m lucid from the start.’

The first possession, I blacked out completely.

The second, I came to in the middle.

And now, I was fully conscious.

‘What’s the difference.’

Another thing I needed to nail down.

Then my body started moving. Not by my will, of course.

What was he going to do? He just opened his hand like a knife and traced a cross in the air.

What is this supposed to be.

He swung it like that a couple more times.

Whoosh—!

“...Huh?”

The possession dropped. I looked behind me. Yoo Cheongil stood there, arms crossed, watching me.

“What was that...?”

[Do it.]

“...What?”

[What I just did. Do it the same.]

He meant the cross-cut in the air?

‘What for...?’

I didn’t see why I had to do this, but his eyes were too intense to argue.

‘Okay.’

I moved slowly.

‘Just now...’

It was not merely tracing a cross. I’d clearly used my entire body.

The position of the toes.

How to set power through the soles.

Fix that power in the waist and lock the pressure into the upper body.

At the same time, give the joints just enough strength so the arms can move freely.

‘Now the breath.’

Matching the feel of inhale and exhale, I moved my hand.

Shff.

Shff.

My hand knife split the air twice.

[Heh heh heh... As I thought.]

The old man wore the same smile as before.

“...Does this tell you anything?”

[Enough. Yes, now it’s certain.]

With the corners of his mouth stretched wide, he said to me:

[You are my hope after all.]

That inexplicable faith sent a shiver up my spine.

****

Another day passed.

Life wasn’t much different from usual.

I trained as usual and ate as usual.

Ah—except one thing. I didn’t swing a sword.

The looks were too intense for that.

‘Please, stop staring.’

How will he swing a sword? The Sword Saint’s inheritor must be different, right? The air was thick with that expectation.

There’s no way my crude swordplay would satisfy eyes like that.

So I wrapped things with basic conditioning.

They seemed disappointed I wasn’t showing any sword, but what can you do.

‘Right now I need to be careful about what I show.’

Best to maintain it if I can. For the future, too.

I was wiping the sweat off my drenched body when—

“Pardon me.”

Someone came looking for me.

At the voice, I turned—and saw a familiar face.

A beauty with features that screamed attitude at a glance.

Her name was...

“Namgung Bongsun...?”

“...I am Namgung Hyeon.”

“What a shame...”

“...”

Her eyes said it wasn’t a shame at all. I’d meant it as a joke, but the response was downright frosty.

Looking at the woman said to be Little Azure Sword Namgung Seong’s younger sister, I asked:

“What is it?”

“I have something to say. Do you have a moment?”

She said it with a flushed face, clutching her skirt.

She did take after Namgung Seong; she was very pretty, this one too.

‘Time with a beauty, huh.’

I thought for a second, then nodded.

“No. I don’t want to. Why would I?”

“...”

At my answer, Namgung Hyeon’s expression crumpled at once.