The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

On the morning of the second day of the sixtieth birthday party of Geum Gadong, the master of the Geumjo Merchant Guild, the Geumjo Merchant Guild was in an uproar.

And the beginning of that uproar was starting from the quarters where the Qingcheng Sect was staying.

"Where on earth did this brat go…"

Grandmaster Gwang Oh knew that his disciple, Jeongpung, had left the quarters in the middle of the night. Despite being just over twenty, his achievements were outstanding, so he was loved by his senior brothers, and he himself had raised the child with a doting hand.

As a result, he was excellent as a martial artist, but in inverse proportion to that, he had a dark side to the ways of the world.

…In fact, even this was putting it too nicely. He had grown up to be an arrogant and reckless fool who couldn't distinguish between heaven and earth.

Until now, since he had been living inside Qingcheng, it had never become such a big problem. That's why Grandmaster Gwang Oh had deliberately brought Jeongpung along to this event so that this disciple could experience the world a little and have his eyes opened.

But… Jeongpung had caused a huge accident at his first external event as a person of Qingcheng.

Depending on how you looked at it, it was a problem that could be passed over as a simple slip of the tongue, but the grudges of the martial world were not so easy, and that's why he had severely scolded his disciple.

He had deliberately mentioned his father, that is, the master of the Qingcheon Sect, even though he knew what kind of feelings Jeongpung had for him, to instill a sense of caution in his disciple.

That's why he had pretended not to know when he had slipped out of the quarters in the middle of the night.

He was planning to firmly correct his disciple's bad habits this time.

But that disciple had not returned even after a whole night had passed.

Although he had scolded his disciple severely this time, Grandmaster Gwang Oh was a person who could never be a strict master.

Moreover, he was a child he had raised, thinking of him as his last disciple.

No matter how much he had passed twenty and his physique had grown larger than Grandmaster Gwang Oh's, Jeongpung was still a child who seemed as precarious as if he had been left by the riverside.

Moreover, the world's storms were rough, but what Jeongpung was living in was the martial world, a world within a world.

No matter how safe the inside of the Geumjo Merchant Guild seemed, he didn't know when or where something might happen.

Perhaps among the guests who had come to the Geumjo Merchant Guild, there was someone who had a grudge against Qingcheng, and that person had met Jeongpung, who was wandering inside the merchant guild in the middle of the night, and…

Grandmaster Gwang Oh felt his mind go blank.

That's why Grandmaster Gwang Oh had ordered his other disciples who had come to the Geumjo Merchant Guild with him to look for Jeongpung.

Most of Grandmaster Gwang Oh's disciples were disciples of the first-generation Ming character and the second-generation Hyeon character.

Jeongpung, a third-generation disciple of the Jeong character, was a junior brother who learned from the same master to them, but at the same time, to the first-generation Ming character, he was like a child born early, and to the second-generation Hyeon character, he was like a younger brother with a large age gap.

Thus, they searched the Geumjo Merchant Guild thoroughly for Jeongpung, and the results soon came out.

Bang!

"Master!! We found him, we found Jeongpung!"

"Where is he! Let's go right now!"

The place where the disciples of Qingcheng had found Jeongpung was the front yard of a pavilion in a fairly remote place.

"Jeongpung!"

At the appearance of Grandmaster Gwang Oh, the disciples of Grandmaster Gwang Oh who were surrounding Jeongpung moved aside and made way.

"Jeongpung, are you okay… ugh!?"

Grandmaster Gwang Oh, who was about to embrace Jeongpung, who was lying on the cold marble floor, frowned at the strong smell of alcohol emanating from Jeongpung's body.

How much alcohol did one have to drink to smell like this?

'At this point, it's as if he didn't drink the alcohol but poured it on his head…'

He had thought something had happened, but he hadn't returned because he had been drinking like crazy all night…

At the absurd truth, Grandmaster Gwang Oh sighed, and the surrounding senior brothers also sighed, and at the same time, some of them vowed to strengthen their brotherly love, saying things like 'Aww, that rascal…' or 'As soon as he sobers up, I'll teach him a lesson.'

Grandmaster Gwang Oh, who had somehow caught his breath, soon realized that Jeongpung, who he had thought had passed out drunk, had numerous bruises on his body.

And he soon noticed that Jeongpung had not just fallen asleep drunk, but had been hit by something and had fainted.

Grandmaster Gwang Oh, who had noticed this fact, ordered another disciple to bring a bowl of water, and as soon as the water bowl was ready, he poured the water bowl on Jeongpung's face.

"Hapua!?"

As he was doused with cold water, Jeongpung woke up with a start.

Jeongpung, who was looking around with a bewildered expression for a moment, saw his senior brothers surrounding and looking down at him, his master looking at him with serious eyes, and the smell of alcohol emanating from his body… as soon as he recognized these three things, he hurriedly made an excuse.

The story of how he had first left the quarters and had been drinking alone in a deserted pavilion to soothe his heartache was as everyone had thought, but the story that followed surprised everyone.

A mysterious man in black had appeared in front of Jeongpung, who was drinking alone. The man in black, who had said that he had a good connection with the Geumjo Merchant Guild and that he would punish Jeongpung, who had ruined the festive atmosphere of the Geumjo Merchant Guild, had thoroughly toyed with Jeongpung.

In addition, according to Jeongpung's words, the man in black had not used any martial arts worthy of the name at all, had avoided all of Jeongpung's Seventy-Two Wave Sword, and all of his own attacks had hit their mark.

Although Jeongpung was clearly a talented child, he was still only at the first-rate, and he was still a young man who had just passed twenty. Not only Grandmaster Gwang Oh himself, but also the first-generation disciples, it was not that difficult to beat Jeongpung up unilaterally like that.

But if you added the clue that he was slower and had less internal energy than Jeongpung and did not use any mysterious martial arts, the story changed.

From what Jeongpung said, the mysterious master had not used any decent footwork or sword technique. Moreover, his movements were said to be much slower than Jeongpung's…

But the Seventy-Two Wave Sword that Jeongpung had unfolded with all his might had not even grazed a single hair on the master, and Jeongpung was said to have been unable to avoid the sword he had swung at all.

Even Grandmaster Gwang Oh himself could not guarantee that he could do such a thing.

What was the reason why martial artists tried to learn superior martial arts? The reason for learning superior footwork was to move faster and more mysteriously than the opponent, and the reason for learning superior sword technique was to use the sword more strongly and precisely to block the opponent's sword and hit the opponent with one's own sword… but the man in black that Jeongpung was talking about was said to have toyed with Jeongpung with a slower gait and a slower sword… Grandmaster Gwang Oh suddenly thought of one person.

A senior brother of the same Gwang character as himself.

And the best sword of Qingcheng!

A person who should have been able to ascend to the position of Sect Leader, but who had given up that position to the current Sect Leader because he was free-spirited and disliked being tied down.

The Qingcheng Ancient Sword, Grandmaster Gwangha!

More than five years ago, that Grandmaster Gwangha had requested a duel with each of the junior brothers of the Gwang character, including the Sect Leader, one by one.

And in his duel with his senior brother, Grandmaster Gwangha, Grandmaster Gwang Oh had experienced the exact same thing that Jeongpung had said.

A slower sword, a slower gait. With that, Grandmaster Gwangha had faced Grandmaster Gwang Oh.

At first, he was angry at his senior brother for facing him in that way, even though he was his senior brother and his level was higher than his. But soon, that anger turned into surprise and then into wonder.

The duel with his senior brother, who had used only a slow sword and a slow gait until the end, had ended in Grandmaster Gwang Oh's victory.

But through that duel, Grandmaster Gwang Oh had realized.

That his senior brother, Grandmaster Gwangha, had already achieved a level of a different dimension from the other junior brothers of the Gwang character…

And if all of Jeongpung's words were true, that mysterious man in black might be a person who had reached a level at least equal to Grandmaster Gwangha, or perhaps even higher.

That alone was a shocking fact, but the words that followed from Jeongpung's mouth drove Grandmaster Gwang Oh into complete confusion.

"The Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword… he used the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword."

The Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword!

What was the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword? It was the foundation of Qingcheng and at the same time its best sword technique!

But to say that an unidentified man in black had used it, Grandmaster Gwang Oh could not believe it at all.

"R-really, was it the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword!?"

That's why he asked again with a serious voice.

As if he wanted his disciple to say something like, 'Ah, on second thought, I think I was mistaken.'…

But even though he asked with such a serious face, his disciple's answer was the same.

That it was the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword. That he could be mistaken about anything in the world, but a disciple of Qingcheng could not be mistaken about Qingcheng's Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword.

Since he said it with such conviction, Grandmaster Gwang Oh could no longer question him.

The only fortunate thing was…

'According to Jeongpung's words, that master is a person who has a connection with Qingcheng and stepped up to educate the arrogant Jeongpung… the fact that Jeongpung is covered in wounds but has no fatal or lasting injuries is proof of that…'

In other words, a great elder of the martial world had taught a lesson to an arrogant junior who couldn't distinguish between heaven and earth.

Things like senior martial artists who had hidden their names and retired or had washed their hands of the martial world and left, teaching a lesson to an arrogant junior who had gone too far, were still happening commonly somewhere in the martial world.

Rather, it was very lucky that he had ended up without any injuries during the lesson.

If it were just that, Grandmaster Gwang Oh would have just sighed once and quietly buried this matter.

But…

'If he has learned the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword, the story is different…'

The Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword was the foundation of Qingcheng, and this meant that any martial event performed with the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword would be unconditionally regarded as a Qingcheng event.

From what Jeongpung said, he had ended up fainting without being able to properly receive even a single move of the master's Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword.

Considering that, it could be seen that the probability of the master having properly learned all of the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword was not that high.

In Grandmaster Gwang Oh's opinion, he was probably a person who had had a friendship with one of the former senior members of Qingcheng. That was because among the masters who had reached the end of their lives and now found pleasure in honing their martial arts, there were often cases where they would share a part of the true form of a top-secret advanced martial art for the sake of improving their martial arts.

Of course, unlike Grandmaster Gwang Oh's conjecture, the man in black, Jang Baekseo, knew all of the true form and key points of the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword, but from Grandmaster Gwang Oh's perspective, there was no way he could know that.

Grandmaster Gwang Oh thought that he had to find this master somehow.

At least he had to identify his identity so that he could deal with it if something happened later, right? If he just left this alone and this master caused an accident somewhere with the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword, Qingcheng could end up taking all the blame.

'It will be embarrassing, but it can't be helped…'

Having made up his mind, Grandmaster Gwang Oh gave an order.

"Spread the word to the people in the Geumjo Merchant Guild. That a disciple of Qingcheng is looking for a master who has done him a favor, and that he would like to meet him."

"M-Master, but if you do that…"

"…I know, but I can't just leave this alone. Go now!"

The disciples of Grandmaster Gwang Oh, who had accepted his will without a word, spread out in all directions of the Geumjo Merchant Guild.

They also knew. That even if they said it was a favor, if the story spread around like this, people who knew the truth would soon come out, and if that happened…

Perhaps the master had already left the Geumjo Merchant Guild, but it was something that had to be done.

Grandmaster Gwang Oh worried about the Sect Leader's reprimand that would come from this matter, and at the same time, he thought.

'Who on earth… are you?'

A person who had severely reprimanded his disciple, Jeongpung, who had strayed from the right path, with force. At the same time, a person who might have reached a level equal to or perhaps even higher than the Qingcheng Ancient Sword, Grandmaster Gwangha, who was called the best sword of Qingcheng. And at the same time, a person who had a connection with Qingcheng and had even learned the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword…

Even Grandmaster Gwang Oh, who had lived his entire life within the fence of Qingcheng, could not guess who it was.

Thus, Grandmaster Gwang Oh's worries deepened, but no matter how much he racked his brain, there was no way he could know.

Because the opponent was the future Sword Demon who had regressed from the future…

(End of Chapter)