I came face to face with something I didn't know whether to call the Divine Sword's soul or what.
It was absurd that he was sitting cross-legged, still, in the middle of some bizarre storm.
You have to live for us to live.
I suppressed all those thoughts, calmly asked for advice, and heard about the Divine Sword's martial learning within the bounds of what I could understand.
Memorizing it came naturally.
It made me think how much easier things would have been if studying had been like this long ago.
I rose back up from the place where I'd sunk.
If the Divine Sword had harbored hostility toward me down there, I'd certainly have died.
I'd have become a vegetable, only my body left and my soul scattered.
That place was that kind of place.
There was no time to dwell on it.
I gathered all the qi I'd been circulating and flowed it into his empty qi center.
Deep down there, I'd learned about the martial learning of the martial artist called the Divine Sword.
They were words containing the entire process by which this body had been cultivated. In the murim, I think they'd actually call this a miraculous encounter.
In that space, I'd received a crash transmission of Qingcheng's martial learning, and of everything condensed from the Divine Sword's life.
Would even a direct disciple rarely receive something like this?
Following that teaching, I moved and engraved all the energy.
Engraving.
Yes. Engraving was the most accurate word.
Into a body that had already exhausted its vitality, I engraved outside energy stitch by stitch, as if transplanting it.
The form the Divine Sword had built over his whole life was gone now.
The places where his innate true qi should flow and pool were empty, so his body was gradually shutting down.
But I was rebuilding all of it.
The energy latent in the body at birth.
That's why innate true qi is another name for vitality. I feel the innate true qi dwelling in my own body too.
The energy that means life itself was as powerful as could be, a mass of pure qi that could hardly ever be drawn upon.
I engraved it back into the Divine Sword's emptied body and filled it.
Sweat ran down my body. Heavenly Martial or not, this was truly hard work. It was as precise and dizzying as a craft.
Absurdly, it was also work that brought modern terms to mind first.
This was an innate true qi implant.
I filled the empty space of vitality with the energy of spirit pills refined into an easily absorbed form.
I shaped it again into how it ought to be.
Honestly, even while doing it, I didn't know why it worked.
I just did it because I could.
I'd thought it would be lengthy work, but when I finished and opened my eyes again, not much time had passed.
Namgung Ran was looking at me from beside me.
“Are you all right?”
Her tone had become much more respectful.
If before I'd been her benefactor, now her eyes held wonder at nearly the level of addressing a teacher.
Seeing that, I realized I'd succeeded.
In the Divine Sword's body, forcibly refilled innate true qi was circulating again.
The old man returned from death wasn't shining like the sun, but at least he was breathing steadily.
But my mental strength couldn't hold out any longer.
The fuse of my mental strength blew.
***
It truly could be called an experience like no other.
Should he say it felt like being grabbed by the hair on the verge of ascension and dragged back to this world?
Dazed and bewildered, yet a seasoned martial artist does what must be done.
The moment the Divine Sword opened his eyes, he spoke.
“What on earth is this boy?”
“We do not know well either. He revealed that he belongs to the Alliance.”
“What does that……”
A story flashed through the Divine Sword's mind.
“The Sun-Moon Seven Stars…….”
It referred to the nine martial artists who could be called the pillars of the Murim Alliance.
The Sun naturally meant the Alliance Leader, and the Seven Stars referred to the seats that each shone as stars of the orthodox murim in their own domains.
But among them, the Moon was different.
A being never once properly revealed to the world.
A being whose identity and purpose were said to be known only to the Alliance Leader.
Operating in the deepest secrecy within the Murim Alliance.
Not just its purpose but even its existence was unclear. Even the Seven Stars had no clue as to the Moon's whereabouts, let alone what kind of person it was.
So everyone merely vaguely assumed it had something to do with undercover work or intelligence.
The Divine Sword, too, only knew of it from hearsay.
The Moon was certainly one of the symbols of the orthodox murim.
Yet no one knew who it was.
Except the Alliance Leader and the Chief Strategist.
So it came to mind.
“Was he the Moon?”
That it slipped out of his mouth was a misspoken word. He was aware that his lifelong cultivation was wavering to a laughable degree.
Seeing Namgung Ho-won's complexion change at once at having heard it, the Divine Sword sighed.
“None of us must breathe a word of this. This scholar has also gotten caught up in a truly troublesome matter.”
“We will do so.”
The two children must have had nothing but shocking events all day. He left his poor friend's children alone for a moment.
The Divine Sword deliberated quickly. There was no need to worry about the Captain of the Blood Heaven Unit's activity for a while.
At the last moment, he had all but certainly used a mutual-destruction move.
The Divine Sword had already been clearly losing, so even if the Captain of the Blood Heaven Unit took a blow, it had stopped at a certain degree of wounds and internal injuries.
The Captain had not fallen.
But at least for a while, he would need to circulate his qi to avoid qi deviation.
It was miserable that this was all a lifetime's cultivated power had achieved, but that must also be why he had not been counted among the Seven Stars.
There was no time to smile bitterly.
For now, both Absolute Masters had withdrawn from the battlefield.
The Divine Sword had to hide. He no longer had the means to face the Captain.
If he recuperated for a long time, he could regain his martial prowess, but right now he had barely escaped with his life.
Even that was a miracle; there would hardly be a case in all of murim history of someone igniting their innate true qi and surviving.
“Huh.”
And a red shade fell over the crater where the Divine Sword had crashed.
The sun was still up, but it was growing darker and shining blood-colored.
Even the shade turned dark red, and it was the land of the Blood Heaven that everyone feared.
“The sky has turned red. You two, hide with me and wait for the right time. The Tang Clan will arrive soon.”
They had no choice but to do so.
The Divine Sword rose, using his sword as a cane.
Even using movement arts was hard.
He had, after all, been caught at the Yellow Springs and dragged back.
Still, given a little more time, he could recover at least a minimum of cultivated power.
He filtered the thickened blood qi from the breath he took in and began circulating it through the acupoints in his body.
The empty qi center was unfamiliar, but as befitted an Absolute Master's breathing, it began to fill quickly.
But the burden that igniting his innate true qi had placed on his body was immense.
Circulating his qi while walking began to strain him.
Noticing that, Namgung Ran quickly supported the old man.
Namgung Ho-won also swiftly hoisted Heo Saeng over his shoulder.
***
I opened my eyes while unconscious.
And immediately realized I was still unconscious.
Because this was an empty white world with nothing in it.
Absurdly, I knew right away where it was.
Just as there'd been a space to sink into deep inside the Divine Sword's body, this seemed to be a space that existed inside me.
The logic was perfect, so I began to think about what kind of situation this was.
“Wait a minute. This is definitely not good.”
Even counting that I'd received part of Qingcheng's martial learning, even if I know some of the Namgung's ultimate techniques, there was no way to interpret this situation positively.
Because I've never learned martial arts and never unfurled anything like a Qi Field.
There's no strange phenomenon here like what looks like a domain, either.
That I've come to this space must be for a very simple reason.
“I'm dying!”
The Divine Sword's transcendent expression, like he was about to ascend, came to mind.
No matter how I think about it, this is the place you stay right before you die. A little while longer, and I'll get ejected somewhere with a pop and set off on a journey I'll never come back from.
“That won't do. Absolutely not! Somebody get me out!”
I don't know how to get out.
There's nothing but white, vast space everywhere.
I don't even know what this place is in the first place.
All I know is that it's the empty spot where a domain or whatever would be.
I tried pounding on something and jumping up and down.
But there was literally nothing here except what I could perceive as a floor.
“What is this!”
Even when I shouted, there wasn't even an echo.
Honestly, I doubt there's even air.
Even me thinking I'm speaking might just be how it feels.
The anomaly happened a little while later.
[You there, scholar, can you hear me?]
It was the Divine Sword's voice.
It felt far gentler and friendlier than when I'd last heard it, which flustered me, but I answered anyway.
[Good. Then let me try to revive you.]
I didn't know what he was going to do or how.
And right after, a storm began raging inside me.
“What the, wait, this is a bit, AAAAARGH!”
***
I opened my eyes.
I thought I was going to die.
No, I probably really almost did, but it felt like I'd almost gone once more on top of that.
The Divine Sword's aged face was looking down at me with a very satisfied expression.
“We have exchanged the saving of each other's lives, but I do not intend for us to call it even, so speak up anytime. Qingcheng does not take debts and grudges lightly either.”
His attitude was so friendly that I doubted it for a moment, but it was also true that I'd revived the Divine Sword while dying myself.
“Thank you for saying so. But I am merely a scholar…….”
“Let us leave it at that.”
I roughly understood the situation.
The Namgung siblings were looking at me with a strange awe in their eyes.
Good.
Whatever it is, I seem to have succeeded in building my standing on the orthodox side for now.
As long as I stick with this side, surviving shouldn't be hard.
But the situation comes first.
Our location: a secluded spot in the mountains.
The sky was now red enough to sting the eyes.
“What should we do now?”
I naturally passed the role of controlling the situation to the Divine Sword.
Honestly, part of it was a burden too.
Because I'd have to pretend to know more than I actually do.
The Divine Sword looked at me for a moment, then nodded.
“Good. It seems you have no particular aim. I will not ask. Then first, I must get you out of here alive.”
“How long do you think the Captain will be unable to move?”
“Not long. He will start moving again soon enough.”
At that, it suddenly came to me.
The Captain of the Blood Heaven Unit wouldn't know the Sword Star's whereabouts either.
He probably thinks the Divine Sword is dead too.
Then what's the situation now?
Every faction must think the other side has lured them into a trap.
Then will the Captain of the Blood Heaven Unit move?
This was exactly the unknown.
And what on earth is the Martial Spirit Star Treasure?
Guess.
These are things the Sword Star had.
And he was trying to cross over to the Demonic Cult.
Then he wouldn't have meant to go empty-handed.
This must be something connected to the Demonic Cult's side one way or another.
Seeing as it was full of blood qi, it might have been the Blood Heaven Unit's to begin with.
Good. It's all guesswork, but I've managed somehow until now.
I'll do well from here on too.
I opened my eyes wide and looked around.
And I realized we were surrounded.
Meanwhile, the Divine Sword and the Namgung siblings were saying the same thing.
“It is too late to escape now. Whatever the Blood Heaven Unit is thinking, they have completely surrounded this area and closed in. To slip out without being caught by the blood men's Qi Fields would require a masterful concealment art.”
“Can you use your cultivated power, Elder?”
“I have somehow survived thanks to that scholar, but displaying my martial prowess is beyond me. For now, I cannot even guarantee I would match Ran.”
“That is serious trouble.”
It was talk that went over the grim situation.
I kept thinking.
Why did they surround us?
Probably because they had the Sword Star in mind.
From the Captain of the Blood Heaven Unit's standpoint, the whole situation would have seemed exactly like the Sword Star had stabbed him in the back and set a trap.
He must have meant to draw in his nearby subordinates and have it out.
In fact, the encirclement wasn't tightening any further.
It was a situation where they'd surrounded Lizhou in something like a combined battle formation and stopped there.
They should be in a hurry.
This may be the edge, but it's the Central Plains, so they can't fail to know that reinforcements will arrive all the sooner.
If they're watching anyway, they're wary of the Sword Star.
And since the Sword Star hasn't appeared anywhere within the encirclement even after the Divine Sword fell, their suspicion must only be growing.
“For now, we have no choice but to hide. There is no way to win a head-on clash with the First Squad of the Blood Heaven Unit.”
Meanwhile, the martial artists' conversation was wrapping up. It felt like they were sorting out the situation and giving me, just revived, time to come to my senses.
I looked up at the sky.
We were in a forest halfway up the mountain.
The sky visible between the trees was red upon red.
The storm sky that had been holding its own had vanished, so the Captain of the Blood Heaven Unit's domain had completely taken over the surroundings.
Having been inside such a realm once, I vividly understood how frightening that was.
The Divine Sword's storm was a disaster that could appear in reality just as it was in his inner image.
Then what kind of disaster is that Blood Heaven?
Red drops of blood began to fall.
Namgung Ran hurriedly pulled me close.
“You must stay within my Qi Field. The blood qi will seep in.”
I came to know why the Blood Heaven Unit could leave no survivors.
The Blood Heaven Unit's domain, fully covering the sky, began scattering blood qi that kills everything within it.
A wall called the First Squad of the Blood Heaven Unit, surrounding us on all sides.
And a red sky covering Lizhou.
The only way out is the reinforcements soon to arrive.
But the plan to save the Divine Sword and escape Lizhou had failed.
If it was going to be like this, I should've just run…….
I doubt the Namgung siblings would have done so even if I'd asked them to take me and run.
I quickly erased the thought.
It can't be helped.
Still, my circumstances were much better than before.
***
The Hermit Forest's assassins staying in Lizhou were not of a very high caliber.
Those who had reached the Peak were only a few at the Squad Leader level, and most were barely clinging to first-rate.
Of course, this too was a force that could flatten any ordinary small or mid-sized sect overnight, and a power that could have toppled the Lizhou of a few months ago single-handedly.
Sa Pae-cheon, head of that band of assassins, hurried to where the Captain of the Blood Heaven Unit had fallen.
As it happened, it was where Jeong Manor had stood.
Now it had to be called a site, and Sa Pae-cheon once again felt how absurd it all was.
Why on earth was this happening?
The Captain, already sitting cross-legged and regulating his inner qi, now had his black bamboo hat blown away completely, his face exposed.
Amid the faceless shadow cast over it, his red skin rippled with rage here and there.
Yet even so, what he said to Sa Pae-cheon, who had come to him, was calm and composed.
“Find the Sword Star's whereabouts. The Qingcheng Divine Sword ignited his innate true qi, so he is certainly dead. He would have seen that, yet he does not appear. If he truly does not appear even now, I have no choice but to think this was not a trap or anything, just an act of foolishness. That would be just like the Namgung.”
Feeling a strange persuasiveness in that last remark, Sa Pae-cheon bowed his head.
“I will begin the search.”
“Ah, and besides the one we caught, two of the Sword Star's children are still somewhere here.”
It could not be otherwise.
The First Squad of the Blood Heaven Unit had already begun surrounding all of Lizhou around the time the Captain of the Blood Heaven Unit entered it.
There was no gap for those whelps to escape.
The Divine Sword had fallen too, so they would be hiding somewhere and soon be exposed.
“Capture them. Let us see whether he still does not show himself.”
“As you command.”
Sa Pae-cheon launched himself away.
In his view, what the Namgung first-timers would do at a time like this was as plain as fire.
‘They will try to save the common folk.’
Even the Divine Sword would be no different. That was what the fine-sounding justifications of the orthodox murim were made of.
***
“There must be more people who have hidden in the hills and fields. We must wrap those people in my Qi Field.”
“Isn't it hard enough just looking after ourselves?”
My opinion was instantly treated as unheard by the three orthodox knights-errant.
“We cannot do that.”
“We cannot do that.”
“However, if you are in danger, I will at least buy you time to hide. You must have a reason to make it back alive.”
Judging by his solemn expression, for whatever reason, he seemed to think nothing of giving his life for me.
I was flabbergasted.
Can't we just find a way out where everyone lives?
It'd be nice if we could save them, but can we really?
“Doing what we can, as far as we can, is the Namgung way.”
So I shut my mouth.
When I'm borrowing the orthodox side's hands, it'd be stranger not to follow their way.
Instead, I began to think about what more I could do.
[Remaining Points: 10,078]