The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

On the night Grandmaster Gwangha died.

A group of people gathered in an ownerless pavilion in Qingcheng.

The gathered people were exchanging stories, keeping their voices as low as possible.

"Who on earth is it? I was so against it when they dealt with Grandmaster Gwang Oh before, but to kill Grandmaster Gwangha this time…"

"Ha! That's what I want to say! In the first place, the reason we're doing this is, after all…"

A sharp voice flew in among the people who were raising their voices at each other.

"Everyone, shut up."

At the words of the man who seemed to be in his mid-twenties, everyone around him stopped talking and watched him.

"Who on earth killed Grandmaster Gwangha… him?"

Everyone was silent at the man's question.

As silence fell, a middle-aged man gathered his courage and spoke.

"…Wasn't it you guys? We just thought you had dealt with him along with Grandmaster Gwang Oh…"

"Nonsense!!"

At the man's furious voice, all the men in the hall gulped.

"Hey, calm down for a bit…"

A man of a similar age and build to the man stopped him.

Perhaps because the two had a deeper friendship than the other people in this place, the man who had been showing his anger seemed to calm down a little at the man's restraint.

"But I really don't know… who on earth, for what purpose…"

To them, Grandmaster Gwang Oh was a troublesome existence.

They had known for a long time that there was someone chasing them in the shadows, but they didn't know exactly who it was.

That's why they had to use the troublesome method of using Grandmaster Gwangha's operation in reverse this time, and only after using such a troublesome method could they finally find and deal with him.

But Grandmaster Gwangha was different.

Although he was acting somewhat secretly, his tracks and movements were actually already in the palm of their hands.

There was no need to go to such trouble to deal with him, and they had not even thought that there was a person with the courage to strike first to deal with him.

Weren't they cowards who hadn't dealt with Grandmaster Gwang Oh themselves?

The man who was thinking that suddenly had a question.

"…So who in the end killed Grandmaster Gwangha?"

When the men did not open their mouths even at those words, the man added a word.

"I'm not trying to blame you. We need to know who did it so that the credit can be properly given within the 'association' later, don't we?"

Whatever his true intentions were, he had to know who had committed this act, so the man said so.

But when no one came forward even after he had said that much, the man felt that something was going strangely.

'In the first place, is there anyone here who has the ability to secure a poison that can kill even a transcendent master like the one that poisoned Grandmaster Gwang Oh?'

The poison they had used to poison Grandmaster Gwang Oh was a very precious item specially delivered from the 'association'. How could they obtain a deadly poison comparable to the precious poison that even they, who could be called the representatives of those who were planning things in Qingcheng, had only received one of?

'Something… something is strange!'

The moment he realized that!

The surroundings of the pavilion where they were became brightly lit.

The faces of those who had witnessed the scene from outside the window turned pale.

'We've been had!'

The group of people surrounding the pavilion waited for the people inside the pavilion to come out on their own without a word.

How much time had passed?

At the end of a wait that felt like a moment and an eternity, a group of people walked out of the old, unused pavilion.

The representative of the people surrounding the pavilion.

The Sect Leader of Qingcheng, Grandmaster Gwangseo, spoke to them as a representative.

"What were you doing here?"

"…We were just talking with some friends…"

"Haha! On the day Grandmaster Gwangha was murdered, and in the middle of the night, avoiding people's eyes?"

"…"

"That child's words were all true…"

"That child?"

As Grandmaster Gwangseo turned his head, a boy walked out from among the people surrounding the pavilion.

It was Jang Baekseo, a boy with a large physique for his age.

"The first time I felt something strange was when we received a note for a contact on the first night we arrived in Qingcheng."

"…"

"At that time, I was in a hurry, so I just let it go, but thinking about it, it was too strange."

Saying so, Jang Baekseo took out the note that had been secretly delivered to them on the first day.

"The other parts weren't that strange. But this part, only this part was somehow unnatural, you know?"

Saying so, the part that Jang Baekseo pointed to with his hand was the part where the people who would come to the place they had designated were named, around the latter half of the note.

"I understand Senior Granduncle Ju Yeongchan, Master Cheongmu, Senior Aunt Cheong Yeonah, and Senior Uncle Cheongdo. They are all important people and can influence decisions…"

After saying that much, Jang Baekseo tilted his head.

"But why on earth did they call me?"

At those words, the man who was at the very front of the group that had come out of the pavilion flinched and trembled for a moment.

"Well, that's right, isn't it? No matter how much I'm the senior brother, I'm just a third-generation disciple who hasn't even passed the age of learning… why did they call even me? That part has been bothering me all along."

"…"

"No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure out the reason. Then suddenly."

Jang Baekseo, who had emphasized the word 'suddenly', grinned and continued.

"I had this thought. That it wasn't because there was some reason that they called me… but that they were just used to it… you know."

After saying that much, Jang Baekseo took a breath as if to pause.

"So I thought about it. When was it that I was included in a place where such important decision-makers were gathered~ you know."

After saying that much, Jang Baekseo clapped his hands as if he were a stage actor and continued.

"Then I suddenly remembered! There was a time recently when I was included in a place where such important key members were gathered~!"

Yes, there was.

A time when he had been included in the story of such key members, and moreover, a time when he had inadvertently run his mouth and had stood out a little…

"The place where Grandmaster Gwangha came to the Mysterious Profound Sect and proposed to use the Mysterious Profound Sect to catch the secret power hiding in Qingcheng! The part where I was included in that place left an impression, so I thought that they might have inadvertently called me to this contact as well… that's what I thought."

After saying that much, Jang Baekseo erased his smile and said to the man… no, to be precise, to the men who were looking at him as if they were going to eat him.

"Isn't that right? Great Hero Myeonggwang, Great Hero Myeongryo?"

"…An interesting deduction."

"…An excessive deduction, too."

Looking at them, who were answering with difficulty with a chewed-up expression, Jang Baekseo continued with a smile on his face.

"Thinking about it that way, I could also figure out how they found Grandmaster Gwang Oh, who was secretly helping Grandmaster Gwangha and chasing the secret power."

It was a simple story.

At that time, Myeonggwang's role was to deliver it to Grandmaster Gwangha when the secret power made contact.

And Myeongryo's role was to deliver the code that only Grandmaster Gwangha and Grandmaster Gwang Oh could understand, which Grandmaster Gwangha, who had received the contact news, had delivered.

From the moment these two were accomplices, the secret signal between Grandmaster Gwangha and Grandmaster Gwang Oh lost its meaning.

Whether Myeongryo understood the contents of the signal or not, they just had to create a situation where Grandmaster Gwangha had to contact Grandmaster Gwang Oh, or to be precise, his secret collaborator, and just see who he contacted in that situation.

And the person that Grandmaster Gwangha had contacted in that way was Grandmaster Gwang Oh, and they had thus found the troublesome ambush, Grandmaster Gwang Oh, who had been looking for them from behind, and had poisoned him that day without delay.

"Moreover, Grandmaster Gwangha was out of Qingcheng, caught in the bait of a contact… it must have been a golden opportunity to kill Grandmaster Gwang Oh… isn't that right? Great Hero Myeonggwang, Great Hero Myeongryo?"

Myeonggwang, who had not said anything until Jang Baekseo's words ended, finally opened his mouth.

"Ha, haha! That's a very interesting guess, Young Hero Jang Baekseo."

Myeonggwang, who had laughed loudly as if he had heard a funny joke, soon became serious and glared fiercely at Jang Baekseo and said.

"…But it's too much for a joke… a person should only say things that they can take responsibility for!"

"Responsibility… that's right. A person should only say things that they can take responsibility for…"

Jang Baekseo, who had said that, looked at Myeonggwang, who was staring at him intensely, and asked.

"Then can you, Great Hero Myeonggwang, take responsibility for your words? What did you say just now? The reason you were gathered here was clearly…"

"…I said I was talking with some friends."

"Hmm~ I see. But since I didn't hear what you were talking about with your friends just now… I can't completely believe your words, Great Hero Myeonggwang."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Well, it's a simple story."

Jang Baekseo, who had grinned, looked at the dark interior of the old pavilion behind the group, including Myeonggong and Myeongryo, from which they had just walked out.

"I'm going to ask the person who heard all of your stories from the beginning."

"…What!?"

At those words, the gazes of everyone who had gathered in this place turned to the dark interior of the pavilion.

For a moment.

Swish!

A shadow fell into the darkness of the pavilion without a sound.

"I wonder if Great Hero Myeonggwang and Great Hero Myeongryo know?"

The shadow slowly walked out from inside the pavilion, and soon, the identity of the shadow was revealed in the light of the torches held by those surrounding the pavilion.

"That Grandmaster Gwangha's concealment skills are very~ outstanding."

The person who had walked out of the darkness.

His identity was Grandmaster Gwangha, who had been found poisoned this morning, whose poisoned appearance everyone had seen.

"M-master…"

"H-how…"

"…Is it true?"

"…"

"…"

"I'm asking if it's true that you killed Gwang Oh!"

The terrifying qi wave of a transcendent master shook the hall.

The momentum was so intense that those with weak mental strength lost strength in their legs and sat down on the spot, and even those who endured trembled at the momentum.

"…"

"…"

Despite the terrifying qi wave, Myeonggwang and Myeongryo, who did not answer, were just looked at by Grandmaster Gwangha with dark and empty eyes that could not read their emotions.

Soon, Myeonggwang opened his mouth and shouted loudly.

"…Scatter!!"

For a moment, the group of people who had come out of the pavilion aimed for the weak point of the encirclement and scattered in an instant, and soon, the sound of weapons clashing echoed from all directions.

It was the beginning of a long and short night.