Chapter 173

The testing grounds had been packed with the heat and reactions of martial artists.

In a place where everyone was pouring everything they had into passing, a quiet silence spilled out.

No one could react. Some people even stuttered like they’d forgotten how to breathe.

That’s how shocking it was.

“Huh...?”

Starting from someone’s low, breathy exhale, the reactions people had been holding back burst out all at once.

“What the—”

“The Half-Ink Stone... b-b... the Half-Ink Stone split?”

Everyone’s eyes went wide as they stared at the Half-Ink Stone’s half lying on the ground.

A perfectly straight cut surface. Cleanly sliced off without even a hint of snagging.

And it wasn’t just the Martial Alliance members nearby.

“...Ha...?”

Seo Pyeong—the bastard who’d been laughing at me—let out a hollow breath.

“Hahahahahahaha—!!!”

And from somewhere, a huge laugh that sounded like Black-Grand Saber swept across the crowd.

“This is insane! Completely insane!! Hahahahaha—!!!”

The Half-Ink Stone had been cut.

That meant one thing.

Even the other Seven Prodigies had maxed out at smashing chunks off or crushing it down.

Even Black-Grand Saber, who was at the very top among the Seven Prodigies in raw power, had only managed to crush a fistful of it.

And even the Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix had pulverized half of it—sure—but that was pulverizing. It hadn’t kept a clean cut surface like this.

“.......”

Maybe because of that, the Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix stared at the severed Half-Ink Stone with quiet eyes. What kind of eyes were those?

I couldn’t tell.

I still couldn’t read her expression.

I wondered if she was shocked, or even flustered—

Nothing.

She was expressionless. She just stared at the Half-Ink Stone, and there wasn’t a single emotion on her face.

Then—

“...Fucking hell.”

Someone whispered quietly beside me.

It was Seo Pyeong, the Wudang Cloud Dragon.

With eyes twisted ugly, he stared at the Half-Ink Stone I’d cut.

That expression was weirdly funny.

And—

‘Holy shit, it actually worked...?’

The most shocked one here was me.

I didn’t know it would turn out like this. I never imagined it would slice this clean.

‘...I hoped it would work, but.’

Now that it really did, it was shocking.

I narrowed my eyes and looked at the Half-Ink Stone.

Not the half that had fallen, but the half that was still standing.

I watched the energy slowly blooming along that cut surface.

I stared for a moment, then closed my eyes and opened them again.

The energy was gone. Because I’d released the power I’d been holding in my eyes.

“Hoo.”

I let out a breath, reset my breathing, ignored the buzzing voices, and looked at the Martial Alliance member whose eyes looked ready to pop out.

“So. Do I pass?”

“...Huh? Ah...!”

Only then did he react, like it finally hit him.

“B-Bang Sungyeon of the Blue Moon Sect... p-passed.”

The pass came down in a trembling voice. Only after hearing it did I turn my back.

‘Whew.’

Inside, I kept calming my breathing.

The moment I turned around, stares poured in from all directions.

That had already been true, but this time it felt different.

Shock and wariness.

Curiosity and questions were gone—there was only that.

And the emotions, blown up to the extreme, were thick enough to make my stomach feel heavy.

‘Pulled everyone’s eyes.’

I felt interest far beyond what I’d expected, but it was fine.

‘This much.’

It was still within what I’d anticipated, and even if it wasn’t—

‘It’s what I wanted.’

At this point, it was exactly what I wanted.

*****

The first day’s preliminaries ended.

Saying it ended “in great success” would be a joke.

It would be more accurate to say it ended... more or less.

A preliminary where close to seven tenths of all participants got eliminated.

Even with that many people, it was a short test that didn’t even take half a day, but the result caused a serious aftershock.

“‘The Little Sword Saint broke a record even the Seven Prodigies couldn’t.’”

“‘A sword line even the Sword Phoenix couldn’t make. Is the Little Sword Saint truly the top junior generation?’”

“‘A Dragon-Phoenix Gathering where all Seven Prodigies are present. And the Little Sword Saint.’”

And so on.

Rumors spread fast.

It was the Beggar Clan members stationed all over the testing grounds.

They were people who legally gathered information through the Martial Alliance, and the stories they spread traveled so fast that even those who hadn’t watched the preliminaries could still know.

And most of those rumors pointed to one source.

Me.

It meant my entire day had been plastered with “Little Sword Saint.”

“...Ah, I’m exhausted....”

I lay back on the bed, letting the fatigue sink out.

After the test ended and I returned to my quarters, this was the only thing I’d done.

After preliminaries, the remaining schedule amounted to either eating or training—one of those two.

But my stomach felt too heavy to eat, and training wasn’t something I could do right now.

Behind the inn the Alliance provided, there was a training ground prepared for the junior generation, sure—

‘But it’s packed.’

The training ground wasn’t that big, and compared to it, there were way too many junior-generation martial artists, so even using it would’ve been a pain.

And even aside from that—

‘If I go now, I don’t know what kind of shit I’ll get dragged into.’

With this kind of attention on me, if I showed my face at the training ground—

‘Just imagining it is annoying.’

I could already see exactly what would happen, so today, staying on the bed like this was the right call.

How long has it been since I’ve been this lazy?

I was lying there, enjoying the peace as much as I could, when—

[So, you’re really just going to stay holed up and lie here?]

Yoo Cheongil spoke like he didn’t like it.

“...Yeah. I’m allowed to do ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) that today, aren’t I?”

How hard have I been living up to now?

Honestly, I should be allowed to live like this for one day.

Thinking that, I glanced toward the desk beside me.

At the stack of letters piled up high.

They were things I’d brought from the Blue Moon Sect—things I had to memorize and use.

I’d cleared out half of them.

Because I’d already memorized half.

“...It’s been a while since I did that crap. It’s kind of rough.”

Something I used to do often in my previous life, but maybe because it’s been so long, memorizing that much that fast felt rough.

Back then, I should’ve already memorized all of it by now.

But I hadn’t.

So half was still left.

Of course—

“Today, I’m not doing it....”

I didn’t want to do it. Not right now.

Was it a mental limit? Something like that.

“Hoo.”

I’m kind of hungry, but my head’s at its limit, so I don’t even feel like eating.

On a day like this, the right answer was to just rest.

[Ts-ts-ts. To waste such precious time in laziness... I truly cannot understand you.]

Yoo Cheongil keeps poking at me, but like always, I was the kind of person who didn’t even listen to that sort of nagging.

‘Bark all you want.’

Today, I’m resting.

The Sword Phoenix thing, the Divine Spear thing, the Seven Prodigies, the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering—

Today, I’m ignoring all of it and spending the day quietly.

With that thought, I grabbed the earplugs I’d tossed to the side and stuffed them into my ears.

Alright.

Today, don’t think about anything. Just sleep.

I closed my eyes.

A brief moment passed.

‘Huh...?’

I slowly opened my eyes.

Something felt off.

‘What is it?’

Why does it feel off?

I tried to rest without thinking about anything—so why did this suddenly feel off?

I lifted my upper body slightly.

“What is it.”

What the hell?

Why do I feel off?

Did I forget something?

‘It got off after I thought of something just now, so that must be it.’

The Sword Phoenix, the Divine Spear, the Seven Prodigies, the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

I felt off after thinking of that?

Then the problem is in there.

I thought it through. What’s the problem that’s making me feel like this?

I passed preliminaries fine.

The Sword Phoenix—and the Seven Prodigies in general—are a mess, but it’s still not at the level where I need to worry.

The Divine Spear is the real problem—

‘But that...’

I’m already aware of it. So it isn’t the source of what I’m feeling right now.

Then what?

‘What did I forget?’

Normally I don’t forget.

Even so, if I can’t recall it while feeling this off, that means—

‘...I tried to forget it.’

A memory I wanted to forget myself.

After coming all the way to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, what’s the problem?

What did I want to forget?

“Ah, this is driving me crazy.”

I should’ve just stayed down and slept.

Once it came up, I was screwed. It felt like I couldn’t not remember now.

And even aside from that—

‘It feels like I have to remember.’

I knew it instinctively.

Some memory I had to recall no matter what.

So I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes.

Remember.

Remember what you forgot.

As I clutched my throbbing head, thinking that—

FLASH.

“Huh?”

I remembered.

The important thing I’d completely forgotten.

I grimaced as it hit me.

“Ah, goddamn it. I should’ve just kept forgetting.”

Now I understood why I’d tried to forget.

Because it was the kind of memory that gets annoying if you keep it in your head.

“...Should I just sleep again?”

Now that I’d remembered, sleep.

I tried to treat it like it wasn’t important and go back to sleep.

So I lay back down.

What I’d remembered was this—

“...Even if I do meet her, it’s not like it’ll be right now.”

A letter I’d received back in Sichuan.

There was someone who’d said we’d meet at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

That was—

‘Older Sister.’

The Bang Clan’s eldest daughter.

The one called hope and a miracle—

Then one day, she ran away from that damn household and left to find her own life.

I’d forgotten that she told me we’d see each other at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

Once I arrived here, I could’ve remembered—

‘...But I haven’t seen a single trace of her.’

I hadn’t seen her at all.

It didn’t seem like she’d even joined the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

If she had, I should’ve seen her at the banquet.

But that hadn’t happened.

So—

“...It’s not like my sister’s going to just pop out of nowhere.”

For now, forget it and sleep.

With that thought, I closed my eyes again, trying to fall asleep—

“Where am I going to pop out, exactly?”

“Like, my room, or the inn, or something—”

At the voice, my eyes snapped open.

I shot upright and looked to the side.

There, in the moonlight, was a woman with long hair flowing as she stood under the pale glow.

“Hi?”

The woman smiled at me.

A mature face. An unfamiliar smile.

It looked like a stranger’s face—but the moment I saw her, I knew.

Time had passed, and she’d changed, but—

That face. The father’s blood in it proved it.

“...Sister...?”

The woman smiled at my words.

“It’s been a while.”

She was my sister.

Bang Seojin.

*****

Around the time Bang Sungyeon was locking eyes with his sister—

Someone was sitting above the surrounding inn roofs.

Under the moonlight itself, a veiled woman perched on the roof, staring at something.

Through a window of one building, she watched her disciple closely.

The moment she arrived, that disciple ignored even her master’s words and ran off, saying she was going to see her younger brother.

She tried to grab her and warn her not to move rashly, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Her disciple was moving with such excitement that it almost felt pitiful.

And even aside from that—

“...It’s been a while.”

Because there was a guest waiting for her, too.

SHIIIING—!

A sword was felt at the side of the woman’s neck.

At the sensation, the woman shifted her gaze inside the veil.

A blade had flown in toward her throat.

But the sword wasn’t held by anyone.

It floated as if it had a will of its own, hovering right at her neck.

And it wasn’t just one sword.

At least five swords floated around her.

One aimed for her throat.

The rest rotated around her as if watching her every movement.

Even seeing that, the woman didn’t so much as flinch.

The energy packed into those swords was no joke.

Not just killing intent—if even one of them went wild, it was obvious this entire area would turn into a slaughterhouse.

“That’s a pretty violent greeting, isn’t it?”

Even knowing that, the woman smiled as she spoke to the swords’ owner.

“Sword Emperor.”

“.......”

At that greeting, the one-armed old man behind her—

Sword Emperor Ui Yangyeon—

stared at Sword Empress Yeon Heeseon with eyes full of killing intent.