Chapter 46: Thanks to My Exceptional Talent and Bone-Cutting Effort

It was the exact same look Jo Useong of Taeguk Sword Sect had given me on that small mountain outside Anpyeong.

Fighting spirit.

The Martial King of all people was openly revealing a raw desire to defeat me.

I didn’t know how I was supposed to interpret that, but at the same time, I was ecstatically shaken.

Either way, it meant the Martial King acknowledged me.
That I was a genius on par with him—
Or perhaps, a prodigy who surpassed him.

Self-praise?

Don’t laugh at me.

This wasn’t just me watering my own field. The following exchange was proof enough.

“How old did you say you were?”

“I’m twenty-five.”

“You practiced alone in a deep mountain for thirteen years after that boy died?”

“Yes.”

“That boy as well, but you are no ordinary child.”

I didn’t know how I was supposed to respond, so I stayed silent.

“In terms purely of martial attainment, your current level is higher than mine was when I first stepped up as the foremost man of the orthodox faction.”

I continued to stay silent.

What was I supposed to say?

“Oh! Is that so? Hahaha. I am rather incredible, aren’t I.”

I couldn’t exactly do that, could I?

But it seemed my face had already betrayed my thoughts.

“It’s something to be proud of. They say the Divine Star of the Sword Pagoda will become the greatest Sword Emperor in the history of the martial world, but you will be in no way inferior.

Perhaps history will one day record us as mere husks who only lingered before you two.”

“Us” clearly meant the Ten Kings.

This was a moment to show some humility, but I went the other way.

“Actually, I crossed blades with that friend of yours about a month and a half ago.”

The Martial King’s eyebrows shot up toward his forehead.

“You went to see the Sword Pagoda?”

“Yes.”

He asked again, though he should already know the answer.

“And how did it turn out?”

“I won.”

The Martial King’s brows climbed even higher.

“Even though it was a sword duel?”

“Yes.”

The Martial King was silent for a long time.

Eventually, he spoke.

“Your internal energy must be deeper than I thought.”

The Lightning Charge-Charge I had used on him contained at most one-third of my maximum internal strength.

He must have sensed that I had not poured all twelve-tenths of my power into the iron staff, but he could never have imagined it was only that much.

I explained why I hadn’t gone all out.

“To tell the truth, I traded blows with the demonic humans of Iron Demon Faction yesterday and took internal injuries. Especially Iron Horse—he was far stronger than what I’d heard.”

The Martial King had no interest in Iron Horse’s strength.

“In that case, how much is your original internal power?”

“Just now, I was between three stars and four stars.”

“……”

I started to worry I had been a bit too honest.

But I didn’t want to hide my true strength from the Martial King.

Not because I trusted or respected him—
But because I wanted to compete openly, head-on.

I dared because I was certain he was not the type to preemptively eliminate future rivals. It was a gamble, but the right call.

The Martial King lowered his voice a little, as if on purpose.

“You’re not afraid of me?”

“Are you afraid of me?”

He stared at me for a moment, then suddenly burst into hearty laughter.

“So, you can read hearts as well. You’re right. I fear you. How much more you’ll grow. How quickly you’ll rise above my head.”

Then he abruptly grew serious.

“How long will I have to wait?”

I understood what he meant.

“Five years.”

Thankfully, the Martial King didn’t make a ridiculous face. He just nodded.

“It won’t be easy. Either way, if I don’t want to be caught up to, I’ll have to push myself as well.”

I couldn’t very well say, Please do.

So I stayed quiet.

The sovereign of the orthodox martial world, his eyes filled with bottomless depth, gazed at me.

“Soon, you will reach the peak of the mountain.

That is both the final stop and the threshold of hell.

You will have to choose.

You can content yourself there, telling yourself there’s nowhere left to climb—

Or you can grow greedy and try to leap higher, only to plummet off a cliff to the depths below.

Only a select few manage to make that leap and soar through their own sky.

The outcome of that moment decides not only whether you enter the realm of absolutes, but also whether you live or die.

If you must, come find me before you make that leap. Who knows? I might be of some help.”

I gladly accepted the Martial King’s favor.

Why wouldn’t I?

“Thank you, sir. I’ll come see you again as soon as I can.”

The Martial King laughed heartily.

At some point, he had gone from an emotionless, indifferent martial sovereign to a human elder with warmth.

Before parting, I had meant to confess the origin of my name, but instead, on impulse, I asked something completely out of the blue.

“Do you happen to remember meeting a woman named ‘Buyong’ in Seongju Martial Forest’s garden around twenty-two or twenty-three years ago?”

“……Why do you ask?”

I wanted to know if he knew that ‘Lady Buyong’ later married a descendant of Boseong Hyeon Family and became the madam of the main line, and that she was the very person who had summoned me to stand trial at the Hall of Law.

But what I asked instead was something more important to me.

“With all due respect, I heard you refused her—even though she was beautiful enough to be called the number one beauty under heaven. May I ask why?”

The Martial King stared at me steadily and asked in return.

“You don’t know the reason?”

I had a decent guess, but I feigned ignorance.

“I do not.”

“One who wishes to climb the peak cannot afford to let his eyes wander.

Not to flowers. Not to water. Not to scenery.

At least, I could not.”

It was the answer I had wanted. I felt lighter.

“I will be the same.”

The Martial King lifted the corner of his mouth in a wry smile—the very expression that reminded me of my father.

---

The moment I returned to the Hall of Law, I was notified that I was to leave the Justice Alliance.

Following the still-arrogant warriors of the Hall of Law toward the Guest Pavilion where Gwaeseon and Gwanggaek were waiting, I was intercepted for a moment by Baek Unyeong.

He quietly told me that So Ungseong and the presiding judges were arguing fiercely in the Council of Elders. Then he hurriedly left, saying we could finish our interrupted conversation another time.

I wore a victor’s smile.

Driving me out of the Justice Alliance before an official verdict was even announced was practically the same as giving up on punishing me.

For Hyeon Family, blocking So Ungseong’s reinvestigation would now be far more urgent.

‘Lady Buyong’ would undoubtedly still bear a grudge, but at least for the time being, I no longer needed to worry about immediate retaliation from Hyeon Family.

The troubles to come could be handled when they arrived.

Gwaeseon and Gwanggaek were pleased with the outcome as well.

Gwanggaek was still apologetic for arriving late, while Gwaeseon insisted that nine-tenths of the credit was his.

Feeling so good that I couldn’t be bothered to argue, I magnanimously accepted his claim.

It wasn’t because everything had gone my way.

Just meeting the Martial King, experiencing a slice of his martial arts firsthand, and exchanging such deep conversation with him—that alone was a stroke of fortune to rival any great encounter.

More than anything, I was satisfied that I’d been able to tell the Martial King about my father.

I could clearly picture my father rejoicing in the afterlife.

I could almost hear my mother’s voice praising my filial piety.

Thinking of their faces and voices, I grinned and then felt my eyes burn red.

I still missed them both so painfully it hurt.

Our return to the countryside was both gratifying and disappointing.

For the entire three thousand li, no matter where we went, people were talking about me.

Anyone with a mouth spoke as if they had seen it with their own eyes—my heroic deed of exterminating the fiends of Inudang and my feat of single-handedly storming the Iron Demon Faction’s main base and slaughtering dozens of demonic humans.

It seemed that cutting down Goru the Filthy—one of the most notorious among the Ten Great Evils of the martial world—had caused quite a stir.

Yet my nickname remained “Demon Warlord.”

I couldn’t hide my disappointment, having secretly hoped for a new title—a name with “Celestial Dragon” or “Hero” in it.

Gwaeseon teased me that the “demon” stigma would never come off me for the rest of my life, while Gwanggaek comforted me, saying it had only been a few days and that my nickname would soon change to the one I wanted.

I agreed with Gwanggaek, yet at the same time, I couldn’t shake an ominous feeling that Gwaeseon’s teasing might end up becoming a curse.

Perhaps because of that, four days after leaving the Justice Alliance, when we reached the swamp we had used as a training ground, I challenged Gwaeseon to a duel and pushed him harder than necessary.

The only one shocked wasn’t just Gwaeseon, who’d been driven one-sidedly and slammed into the ground. Gwanggaek watched the whole time with his eyes wide open.

Without once losing the initiative, I maintained a stable advantage throughout and finally buried Gwaeseon in the dirt before sheathing my iron staff and jade saber.

Gwaeseon, at last able to speak, screamed at me.

“What in the hell is this, you brat!”

“What is what?”

“Your martial strength, that’s what. What in the world…?”

He couldn’t even finish his sentence.

I understood.

If it were me, and someone who had been at best narrowly superior just six days ago suddenly displayed strength a whole level higher, I would have been too dumbfounded to speak as well.

Unless you’re just starting out learning martial arts, climbing a whole stage in such a short time is next to impossible.

And the higher your level, the more that holds true.

Only some first-rate warriors ever cross the line into the peak realm.

Only a fraction of those ever reach the very top of the peak.

And only a tiny handful among those take a step into the super-peak.

Once you’ve entered the peak realm, the common wisdom is that even a highly talented martial artist who trains ceaselessly will take about ten years to rise a single stage.

Even then, most fail to move on to the next level.

Countless are those whose martial achievement tops out in their mid-to-late fifties, when their skills steadily rise, and who spend the rest of their life at that plateau.

That’s why super-peak experts are so rare.

Gwanggaek spoke up on Gwaeseon’s behalf.

“It is truly astonishing, Benefactor. To become this much stronger in just a few days. What on earth happened?”

Before I could answer, Gwaeseon let loose like a waterfall.

“Isn’t it obvious? That monster of a Martial King must have taught you a secret technique.

But even then, it makes no sense.

That meeting couldn’t have lasted more than half an hour at best.

Are you telling me he not only fully grasped your martial arts in that time, but also showed you how to improve them?

Even if he had, how could you possibly have mastered it so completely with no time to ingrain it into your body?

No, this is all absurd.

The only explanation is that you’ve been deceiving us all along. Hiding your true strength and—”

I cut off his rambling before he really spiraled.

“Don’t be ridiculous, old man. I’ve grown purely thanks to my exceptional talent and efforts that cut to the bone.”

It wasn’t a lie—but one crucial factor was missing.

Real combat. Bets placed with my very life on the line.

That was the secret to my rapid rise in martial power.

Gwaeseon still looked suspicious.

“So you’re saying the Martial King did not bestow any favor on you?”

“He only tested me.”

That was only half true.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have been wrong to answer yes to his question.

It was true that I had demonstrated to the Martial King the enlightenment I had gained at Inudang and the Iron Demon Faction.

Were it not for him, I could never have brought it out with such desperation—and, paradoxically, with such ease.

There was one more benefit I’d received from him.

A kind of assignment.

I had not seen the method the Martial King had used in the final instant to knock me down.

But I knew that something had hooked my ankle like a barbed hook and yanked me off my feet.

If I could see through that single move of the Martial King and avoid it, my Five Absolutes Divine Art would deepen further.

That would likely be the “peak” the Martial King had referred to.

As I had so boldly proclaimed to him, I swore to reach that peak “as soon as possible.”

So quickly that it would catch him off guard.

But I didn’t know then.

That day would come much sooner than I expected.

Nor did I know that on that day, I would receive a true favor from the Martial King.

[End of Chapter]