Chapter 208: Arrival (6)

Once exposed, an assassin was far inferior to a swordsman of equal level.

The Night-Heaven Wanderers of Night-Heaven Hall knew that better than anyone.

Because their Hall Lord and Deputy Hall Lord, both former Kill Veil assassins, had taught them well?

No.

It was because the Dark Emperor—the master of Kill Veil, once known as the Dark Sovereign—had died.

At the time, Soyak had not been in the Transformation Realm.

The Dark Emperor had.

Of course, several other Transcendent Apex martial artists had joined forces against him, taking turns wearing him down again and again...

But even then, mutual destruction should never have been possible.

What bridged that gap was the fundamental difference between an assassin and a swordsman.

Whether what they had learned and honed could actually be brought to bear.

The sun had already set, and dusk had given way to darkness.

Even so, could he possibly escape the sight of a Transformation Realm master and hide again?

The man knew perfectly well that it was impossible.

The girl before him was the very person who had found them even while they were concealed and thoroughly exposed them.

Two of his companions had died before his eyes in an instant. That alone was proof enough.

"I-if you already know everything... why aren't you killing me...?"

"Don't I need at least one of you?"

Soyak narrowed her eyes.

She was unquestionably looking up at him.

Their difference in height left her no choice but to tilt her head upward.

And yet the man felt as though some impossible monster of overwhelming presence were staring down at him.

He was an assassin.

He was sensitive to killing intent.

So he could see it.

The girl before him, the Heavenly Killing Star that blazed so vast and bright it could devour even the Heavenly Martial Body...

How much killing intent she held within her.

Soyak stared into him with black eyes.

Eyes that had once regained their light.

Eyes whose pupils had glittered like starlight.

But now...

Just as they had been long ago, they were nothing but an abyss.

"I need someone to go back and tell them."

"...Tell them... what?"

"What kind of martial artist I am."

Soyak gestured with her chin toward the two dying assassins.

The man looked at his companions, now little more than corpses, and shuddered.

Their deaths did not matter.

Their corpses did not matter.

The only thing that mattered was the endless creature of murderous will staring at him.

"Go. I won't follow you."

The man ran without looking back.

Like a wildcat that had stumbled upon a well-fed tiger.

Faced with a predator far greater than himself, he abandoned thought entirely and simply ran.

And ran.

******

Being feared by someone was not a pleasant experience.

Soyak was no exception.

Having a strong heart and being immune to hurt were two different things.

People commonly called someone "strong" when, in truth, that person simply recovered quickly.

No one could live a life without wounds being carved into the heart and soul.

Yet there were people who tried to avoid them.

People who feared being hurt so much that they withdrew from others and lived alone.

Their hearts and souls slowly hardened.

And those who became "hardened" in that way could shatter, split, fracture, and break from only a few wounds.

Soyak had no intention of making that mistake again.

She had already done enough of that...

at the Gwak Household.

"You're back."

"Yes, Elder."

After wandering without any particular destination, her feet eventually carried her back to the inn.

The elderly innkeeper welcomed Soyak just as she had the day before.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yes, Elder. I have."

"The whole marketplace is buzzing about you."

Soyak smiled faintly.

Then she shrugged.

The Namgung Household's heir had personally singled her out and taken her away from a tavern in the marketplace.

Of course people would talk.

This was Qianshan.

Namgung territory.

Anything involving the young master of that territory was bound to spread quickly.

"What sort of relationship do you have with the heir...?"

"Nothing particularly significant. We met once three years ago."

Soyak answered the elderly innkeeper as she walked ahead with a lantern.

She could not give her a detailed answer.

But neither did she want to be cold toward someone who had treated her kindly.

"Three years ago..."

"Yes. We met in a friendly spar at Mount Hua's Ilji Gathering."

"I see."

The old innkeeper nodded slowly.

She remembered how much commotion there had been throughout Qianshan back then.

Because the heir had lost.

The Namgung Household had tried to keep word of it from spreading openly through the marketplace.

But what rumor could truly be contained?

Words that passed from fence to fence traveled faster than galloping hooves.

The story had been that he lost to a young female disciple of Mount Hua.

A young female disciple...

The old innkeeper stared at Soyak's face.

It was a question asked with her eyes.

Soyak silently closed her eyes once, slowly, then opened them again.

An answer given the same way.

The innkeeper nodded and asked no more.

"Go inside and rest. Sounds like you've had quite a day."

"It wasn't quite that bad."

With that, Soyak returned to the detached cottage she had been given.

It still did not feel comfortable.

The reason was its excessive size.

The ceiling was too high.

The rooms were too wide.

Come to think of it, a house this large looked difficult for one person to keep clean while living alone.

Of course, Soyak was a Transformation Realm master, so it was not as though she couldn't manage it if she tried...

It simply felt profoundly unnecessary.

This was an inn, so people cleaned while she was away.

If the place actually belonged to her, that would be another matter.

Soyak lay down on the bed she had not made herself.

Something still bothered her.

And understandably so.

The Namgung Seon she had met today was not the Namgung Seon she remembered.

He was afraid.

Watching someone's mood.

Considering that the person in question was the Sword Sovereign, it was not especially strange.

Even Soyak had begun to grasp something of the Sword Sovereign's strength.

Now that she had reached the middle stage of the Transformation Realm, she could finally begin to understand.

Just how powerful he was.

How monstrous.

How far he had stepped into a realm that could scarcely still be called human.

But the Namgung sword was a sword of arrogance that looked down upon all under heaven.

If one watched another's mood and lived in fear of them...

How could one ever complete the sword of an emperor, or the sword of heaven?

Any martial artist who reached the Transformation Realm inevitably revealed, through their very presence, the life they had lived and the choices they had made.

In one sense, they were people who had already decided how they intended to place the final period on their lives.

Ak Jupae, the Flame-Saber Lord, had burned through his own life like the fire wrapped around his saber.

Jeonggang, the Mount Hua Sword Emperor, had accepted winter for the sake of what he believed in, like the branch of a plum tree.

And Soyak herself...

She was still a Heavenly Killing Star with a deep, dark hunger for vengeance engraved into the depths of her heart.

But the Namgung Seon of today had nothing like that.

Had he simply been left alone, perhaps he might even have reached the Transformation Realm sooner.

What emperor who looked down upon heaven itself could fear another person and watch their every reaction, regardless of whether that person was stronger?

Soyak slowly closed her eyes.

Whether Namgung Seon reached the Transformation Realm or failed to do so, there was nothing she could do for him.

What mattered now was maintaining herself perfectly and utterly conquering the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

With absolute dominance.

Without conceding even a single move.

*******

It was a dark night beneath a new moon.

Namgung Seon stood in the broad front courtyard of the Grand Family Head's residence where Namgung Ak lived.

Cold sweat ran down his body.

"What did you speak about?"

"...Nothing of consequence. We merely caught up after being apart."

"Caught up, did you."

Namgung Ak narrowed his eyes.

From what he had heard, that was not untrue.

Even during the friendly spar at the Ilji Gathering three years ago, Namgung Seon had never seemed to bear any ill will toward Soyak for defeating him.

If anything, he had been delighted to have found someone his own age he could clearly strive to surpass.

These days, however, that no longer seemed to be the case.

After three years of closed-door training, Namgung Seon had reached the very end of Transcendent Apex.

Yet the rival he had faced three years ago had already advanced deep into the Transformation Realm.

He carried Namgung blood and had been born with the Heavenly Martial Body.

Falling behind was unacceptable.

Namgung Ak slowly drew the sword at his waist.

"Draw your sword."

"...Yes, Grandfather."

Namgung Seon wiped the cold sweat from his palm against his martial uniform and drew his sword.

Then he looked up at Namgung Ak with trembling eyes.

The faint light of the new moon fell across Namgung Seon's clouded gaze.

"You must fear nothing, Seon."

Even Namgung Ak, the Sword Sovereign who had brought the martial world under control, ended an age of chaos, and seized power for himself...

could not know another person's heart.

It never occurred to him that the fear in his eldest grandson's eyes might be directed at him.

He assumed it was merely fear of losing to the same person twice.

But Namgung Seon was indeed afraid of Namgung Ak standing before him.

Afraid of his own grandfather—

the man who, claiming each time that he would teach him to cast away fear, forced him to his knees beneath overwhelming Sword Force.