Chapter 1
Wheeze—
Wheeze—
The ragged breathing of lungs filled with bloody pus cut through the silence.
Xinjiang, Tianshan. The young man Muyeong wept, gripping the hilt of his sword.
He cried every time he killed someone. Even Muyeong himself did not know why.
"Seeing you weep, I finally understand. You must be that renowned blade of the Orthodox Faction—the Nameless Sword Wraith."
The old man who had been wheezing let out a faint chuckle.
Perhaps the blood then spilled down past his throat, for the old man Coughed and coughed violently.
The old man's eyebrows were literally white—White Brows. His beard had gone equally white with age.
An old man.
"What a remarkable talent. They said you were the greatest killer in the world using only External Martial Arts, without a single drop of Internal Energy—and it was true."
"……"
"Are you holding back your words, or hiding them? Don't make it lonely for this old man on his way out."
Both were wrong. Muyeong could not speak.
It was not that he was unable to speak. He simply suffered under a Seal that made his head feel as though it would burst whenever he opened his mouth.
The old man raised his hand. Muyeong, wondering whether he was drawing on a Final Radiance, brought his blade back up.
Muyeong himself had already suffered a fatal wound through the stomach, but a given mission had to be seen through to the end.
'Heavenly Demon of the Heavenly Demon Cult, Hyeok Je-un. I will take your head.'
Hyeok Je-un, the Heavenly Demon who had lived past eighty, had nonetheless managed to land a fatal blow against Muyeong—said to possess the Peerless External Martial Arts Under Heaven.
But even in the final moment, there was no room for carelessness. Just as Muyeong raised his sword high—
"Hff!"
Exactly as Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un had anticipated, he forced his body upright. Then, swift as an arrow, he lunged at Muyeong and seized him by the scruff of his neck.
"—!"
"You won't block this, wretch!"
Crunch! A wrenching sound rang out for a brief moment, but Muyeong quickly shoved Hyeok Je-un away.
Cough! Muyeong spat blood.
'Damn it!'
"Ha ha! Did you let your guard down thinking I was a senile old fool? Cough! Cough Cough Cough!"
Hyeok Je-un crumpled to the ground as though he no longer had the strength to stand.
Muyeong staggered and steadied himself. His throat had been completely torn open. He too would die before long.
Had he planted something past his throat while tearing at his neck? The sensation catching on the tip of his tongue was deeply unsettling.
‘What is this? What did he do?’
'The mission—!'
Whatever it was, it did not matter. Whatever the Heavenly Demon had planted inside him did not matter.
The mission had to be completed.
Thump—
'Why?'
He did not know. Muyeong did not feel as though he was moving his body of his own will.
When ordered, he obeyed. That was how Muyeong had lived for over thirty years.
Swish— Thud!
He drove his sword into Hyeok Je-un's throat.
Muyeong's blade pierced through Hyeok Je-un's neck and buried itself into the tree behind it.
"Gurk."
'Farewell, Heavenly Demon!'
The wicked master of the Heavenly Demon Cult who had thrown the Central Plains into chaos. That was Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un.
Why would it be otherwise?
"What a truly brilliant sword prodigy. I had a grandson your age, you know— Cough! If only he hadn't died of illness before coming of age… Ha ha."
"……"
Why was this man saying such things?
Why was he so full of words at death's door? He ought to simply walk the road to the underworld in silence.
'This is unpleasant.'
His throat was in agony, as though it were being torn apart. The hole in his stomach was maddening.
He too would die soon.
If so, he wished to sink into his final thoughts. Muyeong did not want to hear the Heavenly Demon's voice pressing into his ear.
Grab! At that moment, Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un seized Muyeong by the shoulder.
Another counterattack? Just as Muyeong raised his blade once more—
"I know it isn't your fault. How could I not understand the heart of an arrow shot to be a wedge? You weren't the one who drew the bowstring. You were merely the one sent flying."
"……"
"Then I'll go first. When you follow after, shout my name aloud. I've made it so you'll be able to……"
Thud.
Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un's hand fell to the earth.
Only then did Muyeong breathe easier and sheath his sword.
At that same instant, his head reeled with a buzz. Tears streamed down his face more fiercely than before.
'What did he mean?'
He had made it so he could shout his name?
Thump—
Thump thump—
'Why am I crying?'
The number of people Muyeong had killed as an assassin surpassed several hundred.
Why did he weep? A question he had never once entertained across hundreds of killings under the Madness Curse now surfaced within him.
His heart beat. The fog that had always seemed to cloud his mind, thick with stagnant energy, began to clear.
"—!"
In that very instant, Muyeong did not miss the murderous intent seeping in from the back of his skull.
He swiftly bent forward to dodge it, then drew his sword toward his rear.
Standing there were—
"Ohh. He dodged it?"
"He's on death's door, and yet—truly the Nameless Sword Wraith."
The warriors of the Orthodox Faction's Martial Alliance who had wielded him like a blade.
They looked down at Muyeong in unison. Each of them held a weapon in hand.
Muyeong had nearly just had his head taken off.
"Why."
Words?
"Why are you trying to kill me?"
Words were coming out.
Muyeong himself was startled—but he was not the only one. The Orthodox warriors glared at Muyeong with wide, blazing eyes.
The warrior in blue standing at the front rested a hand on his waist and turned to look behind him. From his waist hung five swords of varying lengths, held in steady balance.
"My friend. It seems the Seal has come undone."
"Strange. We planted a Madness Curse that wouldn't lift for a hundred years."
"I'd ask a favor of you, Crooked-Nose Taoist."
"Tch. I told you not to call me that."
The one called Crooked-Nose Taoist grimaced in irritation but stepped forward nonetheless.
He then looked at Muyeong and intoned a Taoist invocation.
"Namo Amitabha."
Flinch! His head felt as though it would explode.
Drip drip drip! Unable to endure it, Muyeong burst with a nosebleed. Staggering, he barely kept himself from collapsing by bracing his weight on his sword.
"Ugh."
‘What is this? What in the world is happening?’
The warrior in blue tilted his head.
"Foolish hound. If you had died quietly, you wouldn't have needed to learn this uncomfortable truth. Did you not know you had been under a Seal for decades, dancing as our puppet?"
"……!"
Muyeong's mind cleared. Strangely, despite the terrible agony, his thoughts were remarkably lucid.
"You… controlled my mind?"
"Simply put, yes. Like so."
Crooked-Nose Taoist intoned the invocation once more.
As Muyeong staggered and nearly fell, the warrior in blue let out a long, weary sigh.
"Good grief. You endure remarkably well. It seems that Heavenly Demon fellow worked some manner of trick."
"Why do you want to kill me? Why do you want to—"
"Did you think we'd reforge a broken sword for you? Insolent wretch."
Muyeong's eyes blazed with fury.
So—now that you've gotten everything you needed, it's time for me to die?
'Don't make me laugh.'
Under ordinary circumstances, he would have kept it only as a thought.
No—under the Madness Curse, he wouldn't have even been able to think it.
"Don't make me laugh."
He let it pass his lips.
Muyeong's eyes, blazing with a Final Radiance, were like those of a tiger.
Muyeong gripped his sword. His body was broken and in agony, yet he was still the Peerless External Martial Arts Under Heaven—the Sword Wraith.
'I'll cut him!'
Swish—!
And so, in the very instant Muyeong swung his blade as though taking flight, his sword was on the verge of slicing open the throat of the warrior in blue—
Halt—
—The blade stopped while Muyeong's body froze.
"……?!"
‘Why?’
As though he had struck an invisible wall.
Why can't I cut him?
"Tsk tsk. If a Seal could be broken so easily, would you have served as our hound for over thirty years?"
The warrior in blue smirked.
Swoosh!
"I'll cut you down specially with this Broad Sword."
Of the five swords at the warrior's waist, the one drawn was a blade with the widest surface area.
"Become ash and serve as soil for our future."
The blade he swung instantly slashed through Muyeong's body.
Slash!
"……!!!"
"Even the sharpest blade cannot cut a thing while still in its scabbard. You've served your purpose—now be quietly melted down."
Gurgle gurgle—
Thud!
Muyeong's body, slashed from shoulder to waist, fell backward.
Blood poured out utterly without mercy.
'Oh, damn it all.'
Was he to be struck down without even getting to lift a hand?
What a wretched injustice this is.
Wheeze—
Wheeze—
The ragged breathing of lungs filled with bloody pus cut through the silence.
Gripping the hilt of his sword, Muyeong wept.
He cried every time he killed someone. Even Muyeong himself did not know why.
Now, he felt he understood.
'I… don't want to kill people.'
He did not want to kill. Not a single soul.
Yet he had to kill. Every last one of them.
'What is righteous, and what is chivalrous?'
What makes one Orthodox, and what makes one just?
How could men who spare no means to cut down others call themselves righteous? How could they call themselves the Martial Alliance?
'Hypocrites.'
These damned hypocrites.
He would not let them be. He would absolutely not let them be.
Muyeong wanted to reach out with his trembling hands and cut off even just the toes of the warrior in blue—but he could not.
He could only watch helplessly as they departed, leaving without a single parting word.
'I'm sorry. I am so sorry.'
He had killed hundreds of people.
I'm sorry. Truly, I'm so sorry. It was the Seal. I truly did not wish to kill you.
'Do not forgive me. Curse me.'
May you rest peacefully in paradise.
May you find even a small comfort watching my soul burn in the fires of hell.
'Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un.'
‘I hope you, too, have gone somewhere good.’
He had said to shout his name aloud when following after him. Said he had made it possible.
"Heavenly… Demon… Hyeok… Je-un……"
His voice barely slipped out, as though it would snap at any moment.
‘I can't shout. This is my best right now.’
"Heavenly Demon… Hyeok Je……"
Thud—
Did anyone hear Muyeong's desperate cry?
In the silent forest, only a single corpse remained, utterly alone.
.
.
.
.
.
Flash!
Muyeong's eyes flew open.
"……???"
‘Wh—where is this?’
What lay before his eyes was the interior of a warm, welcoming home with a rather high ceiling.
‘What. What in the world is going on?’
'I was just… didn't I die?'
Just then.
Voices drifted from beyond the papered door.
—My grandson! Where is my grandson!
—Father, really. Coming back and behaving like this, what will we do? The child is ill, please don't disturb him now……
—Oh come now! What kind of grandfather would I be if I couldn't even see his grandson's face? My grandson!
Bang!
The voice drew closer, and the door swung wide open.
Muyeong stared blankly toward it, and then—a face with dark black eyebrows and a dark black beard leaned in close.
"Oh my, my grandson! Let your grandfather get a good look at you! Ha ha!"
‘This man is……?’
'What the hell.'
The old man's identity was none other than Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un—the very man Muyeong had just killed moments ago.