Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 371 – Sword, and Sword (2)

“This… is my sword.”

“!?”

Mok Gyeong-un’s expression turned strange at Cheong-ryeong’s unexpected words.

He had already been thinking of that old man and Cheong-ryeong when the swordsmanship was said to evoke the moon. Now that Cheong-ryeong herself claimed to be the owner of this sword, even the usually rational Mok Gyeong-un couldn’t help but show interest.

“Then… are you the female swordswoman Master Ou mentioned?”

“……”

Cheong-ryeong gave no answer to Mok Gyeong-un’s question.

Though she remained silent, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed at the strangely lingering emptiness.

At that moment, Master Ou Cheonmu pulled out the pure white sword from the wooden box and said:

“The sword’s name is Sunyeon. The female swordswoman named it herself.”

‘Sunyeon?’

It was an unusual name for a sword.

Written out, it meant “yearning”.

Master Ou Cheonmu continued:

“Normally, a masterless sword should be destroyed or buried with its owner, but…”

Flinch

Woong

At that moment, the famous sword Sunyeon in Master Ou Cheonmu’s hand began to tremble faintly.

Ou Cheonmu spoke with a puzzled expression at this phenomenon:

“Why is the sword…?”

It had been left neglected in a wooden box for a full 100 years.

Yet now the sword was trembling faintly and even emitting a sword cry.

It was truly a bizarre occurrence.

Perplexed by this, Ou Cheonmu muttered:

“Sunyeon, is it because you’ve shown yourself to the world after so long? Or…”

Ou Cheonmu looked at Mok Gyeong-un.

As a swordsmith who had been crafting swords for many years, he believed that famous swords had their own will.

That’s why he always finished by capturing the sword’s spirit.

The reason Ou Cheonmu was looking at Mok Gyeong-un like this was to see if the famous sword Sunyeon was perhaps reacting to seeing its master.

‘Even famous swords choose their master.’

Could it be that the masterless famous sword Sunyeon was trying to accept this man as its master?

Flinch

As he wondered about this, Ou Cheonmu suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He sensed an eerie cold that was hard to describe, feeling as if something invisible was present before his eyes.

At this,

Swish

As Ou Cheonmu tried to raise his aura,

“It’s okay. You don’t need to be on guard.”

“…You mean this chilling energy?”

“Yes.”

Master Ou Cheonmu was a master who had surpassed the Profound Realm.

His energy sense had already transcended the limits of ordinary humans, reaching a realm where he could even detect spiritual energy.

That’s why he sensed Cheong-ryeong awakening from the seal of the wooden doll.

Cheong-ryeong, who had emerged like that, reached out her hand towards the sword blade with a somewhat wistful look in her eyes.

The moment her ethereal hand gently touched the blade,

Woooong

The famous sword Sunyeon emitted an even stronger sword cry, and a brilliant light rose from the blade.

Ou Cheonmu’s eyes shook at this incredibly strange phenomenon.

How could a sword that had lost its luster after losing its master show such a display, as if its life had been rekindled?

“To see you like this. Sunyeon.”

As Cheong-ryeong ran her hand along the blade, the famous sword Sunyeon trembled.

Could it sense her ethereal presence?

Watching this scene in amazement, Master Ou Cheonmu said to Mok Gyeong-un:

“In all my decades of forging swords, I’ve never seen anything like this. Master… It seems the sword has chosen you as its master.”

At these words, Mok Gyeong-un smiled faintly and replied:

“Perhaps it’s because the real owner is nearby.”

“Owner? What do you mean?”

“Well, maybe it’s because the spirit of that female swordswoman you mentioned is with me.”

“……”

Master Ou Cheonmu frowned.

How could the spirit of a female swordswoman who died a hundred years ago be with him?

He might have been speaking abstractly about the sword’s reaction.

As he thought this to himself,

“I received sword training from the sword’s owner. You could consider me a disciple.”

‘!?’

For a moment, Master Ou Cheonmu was dumbfounded.

The owner of this sword lost her life just a hundred years ago.

How could he have received sword training from such a person?

“Master, even as a joke, this is…”

“Why would this be a joke?”

“Master, that female swordswoman lost her life a hundred years ago and had no descendants. That’s why the sword has been kept like this until now…”

“The Moon Sword Style. Isn’t that the swordsmanship the sword’s owner practiced?”

‘!!!!!’

As soon as those words fell, Master Ou Cheonmu’s eyes widened.

How could he know this?

‘How is this possible?’

Ou Cheonmu was so shocked that he was momentarily speechless.

There was a reason for his reaction.

Their family had a tradition of keeping detailed records of the swords they forged.

When making swords, they would ask about the swordsman’s style to create the most ideal sword for them.

The records left by his great-grandfather clearly stated:

[Sunyeon. Moon Vein. Moon Sword Style.]

Moreover, this sword style was so exceptional that his great-grandfather had recommended memorizing it as one of the sword styles.

It was right then.

Swish swish

Mok Gyeong-un gripped the sword stance paper and took the basic stance of the Moon Sword Style.

Then he lightly demonstrated an abbreviated form of the Moon Sword Style’s initial moves.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh

Master Ou Cheonmu, who had learned countless sword techniques and possessed outstanding insight, recognized it at a glance.

What shocked him even more was,

‘The sword form… has been perfected.’

The Moon Sword Style left by his great-grandfather was certainly an outstanding sword technique.

However, being an ancient style, it had some issues and vulnerabilities in certain sequences, but all of those had been addressed and improved.

Seeing this, Ou Cheonmu became truly convinced.

‘So Master is the successor of the lost Moon Sword Style?’

He couldn’t tell if Mok Gyeong-un was a descendant.

His great-grandfather had clearly stated that the female swordswoman had no offspring.

But what was certain was that Mok Gyeong-un had inherited the Moon Sword Style.

‘Ah, so that’s why.’

Ou Cheonmu nodded as if he finally understood.

He had found it strange that Mok Gyeong-un knew about the original sword of that blade, but now that mystery seemed to be solved.

Whether or not they were related by blood, he seemed to know because he was the successor.

‘…Is this fate?’

An exclamation escaped Ou Cheonmu’s lips.

From the return of his ancestor Gu Ya-ja’s demonic blade at the moment their clan’s long-cherished wish was fulfilled, to the current owner being the successor of the Moon Sword Style?

How incredibly coincidental this all was.

This was too deeply connected to be dismissed as mere chance.

Speechless with amazement, Mok Gyeong-un stopped his abbreviated demonstration of the Moon Sword Style and said:

“Please continue the story you were telling.”

“Pardon?”

“You stopped in the middle of talking about the masterless sword. How you came to see that original sword.”

“Ah, yes, of course.”

Right, he had been in the middle of the story.

At that moment, Cheong-ryeong, who had been caressing the blade of the famous sword Sunyeon while claiming it as her own, hastily turned to Mok Gyeong-un and said:

“Wait, stop. Mortal.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just… can we stop this story here…”

She had meant to ask if they could stop, but she halted mid-sentence.

“Here?”

“……”

She didn’t want the story to continue much further.

That was because she was the subject of the female swordswoman story Master Ou Cheonmu was about to tell, and because of this incident, she had become a wandering spirit in this world for a hundred years.

Of course, Master Ou Cheonmu’s great-grandfather wouldn’t have known the exact details.

He would have only witnessed the aftermath.

But just hearing it from someone else’s mouth was inevitably unpleasant.

However, the reason she stopped speaking was for one reason only.

‘What exactly is this original sword?’

Mok Gyeong-un had spoken about the ink-black sword made by Master Ou Cheonmu as if he knew something.

As if that sword had an original version.

But according to the records left by Master Ou Cheonmu’s great-grandfather, that original sword was related to the tragedy of that time.

‘What exactly did you see in your mind’s eye? Mortal?’

Because of this, Cheong-ryeong was filled with questions.

If the original sword of that blade was related to the tragedy of that time, she became curious if it had any connection to ‘him’.

That’s why she had hesitated for a moment before stopping her words.

“Cheong-ryeong?”

“Haa. It’s nothing.”

“……”

At her reaction, Mok Gyeong-un clicked his tongue softly.

Having been with her for a long time, he could roughly guess what she was trying to say from her tone.

She had clearly meant to tell him to stop here, but she gave up on that.

It didn’t seem to be simply out of resignation.

Cheong-ryeong also seemed to have something she wanted to know.

It was then.

Thud

Master Ou Cheonmu put the famous sword Sunyeon back into the wooden box and spoke.

“Connections truly are strange things. It’s fascinating to see how everything is linked in some way or another.”

“……”

As Mok Gyeong-un silently looked on, Ou Cheonmu took a deep breath and began his story.

“To keep his promise to the female swordswoman, my great-grandfather headed towards the border of Guangxi and Guangdong provinces, timed with her Society Leader enthronement ceremony.”

“Society Leader enthronement ceremony?”

Mok Gyeong-un looked at Cheong-ryeong, who was sitting on the table smoking a long pipe.

Society Leader enthronement ceremony?

“……”

Cheong-ryeong silently turned her head, avoiding his gaze.

He had guessed she wasn’t of ordinary status from her crown-wearing appearance and her habit of referring to herself as ‘this master’, but a Society Leader enthronement ceremony…

As he pondered this, Master Ou Cheonmu, thinking Mok Gyeong-un’s question was directed at him, said:

“You didn’t know?”

“Huh?”

“Ah. It seems you didn’t know this even though you inherited the Moon Sword Style.”

“……”

“It’s been largely forgotten over the long years, but the Heaven and Earth Society that currently divides the martial arts world into three factions was originally called the Heaven-Earth Moon Society when it was first established. It became Heaven and Earth Society after that tragedy.”

“Heaven-Earth…Moon Society?”

“Yes, according to my great-grandfather’s diary, the origin of Heaven and Earth Society came from the union of three main veins.”

Three main veins.

He remembered hearing about this briefly from Cheong-ryeong.

She had said that the three main veins – Heaven Vein, Earth Vein, and Moon Vein – had joined forces to create it.

After saying this, Master Ou Cheonmu sighed and continued:

“It was truly a tragic incident. My great-grandfather, arriving late to the enthronement ceremony that was supposed to take place at noon, hurriedly headed for the main hall.”

“……”

“As he approached the main hall, my great-grandfather sensed something was amiss.”

Despite it being the Society Leader’s enthronement ceremony, there was no sign of people, and instead, the air was thick with the smell of blood.

Moreover, not a single person could be seen near the main hall.

Finding this strange, Master Ou Cheonmu’s great-grandfather rushed towards the main hall.

“Upon reaching the main hall, my great-grandfather was shocked beyond words. The place was filled with blood and corpses.”

Swoosh

Mok Gyeong-un glanced at Cheong-ryeong.

The smoke rising from her long pipe was enveloping her surroundings, and he could feel the air around them becoming intensely cold.

Flinch

‘The ominous energy has grown stronger.’

Sensing this, Master Ou Cheonmu paused in his speech and instinctively tried to look at the table where Cheong-ryeong was sitting, but,

“…Don’t mind it and continue with the story.”

“But…”

“There’s no need to pay attention to it.”

Swish

Mok Gyeong-un gripped the sword stance paper and formed a small hand seal.

Immediately, Cheong-ryeong’s spiritual energy that had been filling the workshop was cut off from Master Ou Cheonmu.

‘The energy has disappeared.’

“Now, please continue.”

Though Ou Cheonmu found this puzzling, he yielded to Mok Gyeong-un’s urging and resumed his story.

“In the center of the grand hall stained with blood, he found the female swordswoman, or rather, the first and last Society Leader of Heaven-Earth Moon Society, Ryu So-wol, who had died with her heart ripped out.”

‘!!!!’

For the first time, Cheong-ryeong’s real name was revealed.

However, rather than learning her name this way, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes grew cold as he learned of Cheong-ryeong’s final moments.