<Chapter 2. Carving Out the Noble Spirit>

Is doubt important?

Hu Gong shook off the rising thoughts and increased his speed.

Kwak Kwak Kwak Kwak…

A sinister energy was felt more and more intensely.

A shout of the Sword Saint came along with laughter from a distance.

“Having defeated the hundred and eight monks of Shaolin, do you two from among the mere ten guests dare to stop me!”

“Ten Guests” referred to the term “Ten Guests of the Underworld.”

They were called the ten pillars of the Murim alliance.

Their martial arts skills surpassed that of the head of the Nine Great Sects. Each of them had the ability to rule over a region as a dominant power with their individual capacities.

“Sword Saint, pull yourself together! What does it matter if you are not the best in the world? There are plenty in Jianghu who admire you, what more do you need!”

“Yes, that’s right. I am humble and kind.”

“Your character is impeccable, fit to be called the best in the world! How did it come to this!”

Chung Woo-ja howled.

Only four people remained.

Of the Ten Guest members Chung Woo-ja and So Hyang-gak.

And the Shaolin sect leader Ryeong In and his disciple Ryeong Cham.

Around them, Shaolin monks who had displayed the Hundred and Eight Formations lay horribly torn apart, with blood and flesh scattered everywhere.

Sword Saint started to mutter.

“Yes. It’s true. I am… humble. Humble and humble and humble. And humble and humble and humble oooh…! Hahahahahahahaha!”

Standing there was Sword Saint, but Sword Saint was also gone.

There was only a madman soaked in madness.

His appearance was no longer that of a human.

He was engulfed in black smoke.

It had a fluctuating form as if the smoke took the shape of a person.

Within the smoke, the ferocious eyes burning red and the white teeth showing a smile were the only things that gave it away, or else it would seem like the smoke coincidentally looked like a human figure.

“That pathetic and fat Hu Gong is conceited. While being praised as the best in the world, he looks down on everyone. How arrogant. He must have been laughing at me inside while elevating me. Thinking how ridiculous it is, that a person who is not worth a handful is called Sword Saint. Yes, then I have to be humble. I have to remain humble. Hehehe, because I am a humble person. So, I should always be humble and humble and humble and humble.”

Sword Saint’s madness became more and more violent.

“Someone says, because I cannot reach his level, I pretend to be humble. Really! What about my quality, talent, muscles, bones, knowledge, wisdom, my manners are inferior to him? I, I Sword Saint will make that pig kneel and teach him humility. Hu Gong, pig, pig bastard. Hahahaha!”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

The remaining four people couldn’t utter a word, being overwhelmed by Sword Saint’s madness.

“Now I am the best in the world! I have the best sword in the world! Everyone must bow their heads before me, who has become the best in the world, and show respect. They must worship. They must worship me, the culmination of patience from fierce days, enduring the pain of flesh being torn, grinding my teeth, all to surpass that pig in the darkness. Hahahahahahaha!”

“Bodhisattva… Sword Saint, your current state is not normal. How have you gone so mad!”

The words of Shaolin Sect Leader Ryeong In had no chance of getting through.

“You idiotic monk! Do I look mad while munching on vegetables like a rabbit? Am I mad? Am I? Am Iiii! Hahahaha!”

With Sword Saint’s laughter, the black smoke danced violently.

“Now I am, I am, I am the best in the world. No one can stop me. No one can survive my sword! A tremendous power capable of destroying anything is boiling up inside me.”

Sword Saint’s momentum boiled and surged like a blade. The black smoke like a storm extended towards the four people including the Shaolin Sect Leader Ryeong In.

‘It’s the end.’

Despair was written on the faces of the four people.

It was a black fog containing a more dreadful power than any divine soldier that couldn’t be avoided or even dared to be avoided.

At that exact moment.

Kwa Kwang!

A purple glow directly hit the black smoke.

The glow wrapped around the smoke, absorbing it. Swirling like a whirlpool, it completely blocked and extinguished the smoke from within.

At the same time, two other glows poured down on Sword Saint, who was the main body, and screams erupted from the foggy figure.

“Aaaaahhh!”

Bright light spewed out and soon subsided. There was no longer any black smoke burning fiercely.

Instead, there stood an old man with a defeated frame.

It was Sword Saint.

His two arms had been torn off, and blood spurted out like a fountain beneath the tattered flesh. Even his chest was hollowed out to the point where the wind could pass through it.

Sword Saint looked down at his own hole-ridden chest.

Even seeing it, there was a full light of disbelief.

“Uh…”

He spit out a chunk of fresh blood and raised his head.

Beyond the purple glow wildly swirling around him, there was a person floating in the sky, as if a deity.

Sword Saint muttered.

“Hu Gong…”

Sword Saint smiled.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

“Wonderful. It was a magnificent martial arts display. Huhu, I… no matter what… I can’t seem… to reach you.”

Sword Saint staggered as he vomited a surge of blood.

“To be this… empty. I clearly thought… I had surpassed… but I couldn’t. However, Hu Gong… you too can’t be eternal. In the darkness… I saw it. Whether it was my delusion… or a dream… you losing everything… becoming a fragile figure shaking in the wind… I wish that happened. I wish that was your ruin…”

“You talk too much.”

Thud!

Hu Gong flicked his finger.

Swoosh!

A purple sword light whirled towards Sword Saint. Flashing and whipping, Sword Saint’s head was cut off, and his body was torn to pieces. Sword Saint shattered into pieces without even a chance to scream.

At that moment, Ryeong In collapsed.

The Shaolin Sect Leader had only been barely standing until now.

Chik.

Suddenly, Hu Gong, who had transformed into a streak of light, grabbed Ryeong In.

Ryeong In’s crimson robe was torn, and his complexion was stained as black as if ink had seeped in. Hu Gong laid him down and brought a hand to his forehead.

Soon a clump of black mist flowed out from Ryeong In’s forehead.

The bundle of mist writhed as if trying to escape from Hu Gong’s grasp.

Whooosh.

A blue flame rose from Hu Gong’s hand, and the mist was extinguished in an instant.

The color gradually returned to Shaolin Sect Leader Ryeong In’s face.

“Alliance Leader, thank you.”

“…”

Hu Gong looked at him blankly.

As if that statement could be sincere.

One hundred and eight corpses.

The dead bodies of the Shaolin monks were scattered around.

It was not Ryeong In who was grateful for being the only one to survive amidst the scent of their blood.

Ryeong In was just sorry that he hadn’t died first.

Hu Gong turned his gaze.

“Qing Wu Zi.”

“Yes, Alliance Leader!”

Qing Wu Zi nodded his head.

He was one of the ten guests of the sect.

“If it is your Ming Yuan Jue, it should be sufficient. Thoroughly erase the remnants of the Sword Saint.”

“As you command!”

“Xia Xiang Guest.”

“I am at your command!”

“You go straight to the shamans and ask for help.”

“As you command!”

“I will go to the place where the Sword Saint stayed.”

Hu Gong became a streak of light, crossing the sky and becoming distant.

Sect leader Ryeong In and Ryeong Cham looked up at the sky along with the ten guests of the underworld.

* * *

Half a year since that day.

At the crack of dawn.

In the lord’s residence.

Pop!

In a room about ten pyeong in size, a flash of white light flickered and disappeared. It was so fleeting that it felt like a lie.

The lord’s face distorted on the bed.

For a moment,

“Whoosh!”

He opened his eyes wide as he took a deep breath sharply.

It felt like he had finally taken a breath after holding it for a long time, so violent that the blanket greatly stirred and the bed swayed. After sitting up and rapidly exhaling a few more times, he finally found stability.

As the lord folded the blanket and moved his body, the bed creaked under his heavy frame.

“…A dream?”

The lord chuckled and then raised his right hand, which had grown thick with fat, to examine it, flipping it back and forth. He felt his right hand with his left, then proceeded to feel his face, followed by his chest and abdomen, chuckling again.

A profound question arose in his eyes.

‘There’s no way my body got fat overnight. Whose body is this?’

Come to think of it, the room wasn’t his either.

‘Where is this place?’

The sight inside the room, as he looked around from the bed, was unfamiliar to the utmost.

He got down from the bed and wandered around the room.

He caressed a cabinet with pottery set on it from the left, looked at the mural hung on the wall, and reached the right wall.

There were three swords hanging there.

In the form of the Chinese character for three (三).

From top to bottom, they were a medium sword, a short sword, and a long sword.

On the scabbard and hilt of all three swords, there was the same swirl pattern engraved, as if a dragon was ascending to the heavens.

He reflected his figure in the mirror situated near the corner of the wall. In the mirror, a fat old man was smiling.

One corner of his mouth rose. However, his eyes turned cold.

“It’s not a dream. Could it be that my body has changed? Or should I say my soul has changed? It’s strange… interesting…”

The entity that entered the lord’s body smiled.

And then it spoke softly.

“Where is Songhwa?”

There was no answer.

Now his eyes started to smile.

“Songhwa is not coming, huh. Ah, she must be unable to come. If it’s a case of soul exchange, then who on earth… No, what meaning is there to discuss reasons at all?”

He led the large frame of the body he had newly acquired towards the displayed swords. He picked up the short sword placed in the middle.

As he drew the sword, a purple radiance flashed and then dimmed.

“Hehe….”

He brought the sword to his neck.

The sharp blade only lightly touched the skin, but it dug in, causing blood to well up on his neck. In an instant, the sword emitted a radiance and hummed.

He murmured.

“Don’t cry. I am not your master.”

He gripped the sword tightly.

“I never expected to fulfill my wish like this. How joyful it is to be able to die. Just like this….”

He plunged the sword into his neck.

“Don’t come back… forever…”

Blood gushed from the pierced throat, and he drew the sword across his neck to the right with the blade still embedded. Blood sprayed like a fountain, and the lord’s body collapsed forward.

Kuwong!

“The blood flowing from beside his head slowly soaked his entire body.”

* * *

“Kyaahhhh!”

A tearing scream burst out from the master’s bedroom in the morning.

The one who found the lord’s lifeless body was the maid assigned to clean the master’s room.

She ran to Jaegal Hye as if she had seen a ghost, all frantic.

Trembling like a leaf and speaking incoherently, the maid in her late teens looked entirely out of her mind, her hair the only thing not disheveled.

“Stop, stop!”

Jaegal Hye put out her hand.

She slightly furrowed her brow and interrogated,

“Did you not sleep well? Or is something hurting?”

The head of the household is dead, moreover, in the concubine’s quarters.

Could there be anything more preposterous in the world?

“No. I definitely saw it with my own eyes…”

“That’s enough.”

Jaegal Hye looked at her disdainfully and clicked her tongue.

But as the maid sobbed and spoke, eventually collapsing into tears, there was nothing she could do.

“You take a break for today, don’t do anything. I will go see the lord myself.”