Cheon Woojin's steps were neither hurried nor leisurely.
There was no trace of anger, killing intent, or fighting spirit about him.
He simply walked forward, the black Crescent Moon Staff hanging loosely at his side.
And yet, his presence weighed heavily upon the vast training ground of the Martial Alliance.
Everyone watching instinctively understood that something was bound to happen the moment he reached Gu Jinseok.
Even so, none of the instructors moved to stop him.
Their instincts as martial artists held them back.
Besides, their abilities were relatively modest. This was merely an assessment of the applicants' basic qualifications, not a formal examination, so the Martial Alliance had seen no reason to station its highest-ranking martial artists here.
The strongest person present was Zhuge Lin, Deputy Commander of the Black Tortoise Unit.
Ordinarily, someone of her rank would never have been assigned to oversee such a routine assessment. It was only because of her young age that she had been given the task.
Feeling the weight of her responsibility, Zhuge Lin stepped forward and positioned herself between Woojin and Gu Jinseok.
"Applicant Cheon Woojin. Stop right there. If you cause any further disturbance, both of you will be disqualified immediately, without exception."
But Woojin did not stop.
He continued walking until he stood directly before Zhuge Lin and Gu Jinseok.
For an instant, Zhuge Lin felt as though her breath had stopped.
What... is this?
This was not the presence one would expect from an ordinary applicant.
No, it went beyond the sheer weight of his aura.
There was something in the depth of his gaze that made her feel as though she were standing before an old master who had spent decades navigating the martial world.
Gu Jinseok, meanwhile, remained completely silent.
He had already realized the truth.
From the moment Woojin drew the Crescent Moon Staff, Gu Jinseok had understood that he was no match for him.
Woojin spoke in a low voice.
"You were directing killing intent at me, weren't you?"
"..."
Gu Jinseok couldn't bring himself to answer.
The look in Woojin's eyes made it seem as though he might swing that staff and smash his skull at any moment.
Yet Gu Jinseok couldn't bring himself to apologize either.
To acknowledge his mistake before so many witnesses would be unbearable humiliation.
He would sooner bite off his own tongue and die than suffer such disgrace.
And so, despite his enormous size, all he could do was stand behind the much smaller Zhuge Lin.
"Applicant Cheon Woojin!"
Zhuge Lin raised her voice.
Woojin's gaze shifted toward her.
Gasp!
She involuntarily sucked in a breath.
Naturally, she couldn't discern the true extent of Woojin's martial cultivation.
But the sheer pressure conveyed by his gaze was enough to overwhelm her.
Woojin spoke quietly.
"When one martial artist directs killing intent at another, it means he's prepared for what may follow..."
His voice wasn't particularly loud.
Nevertheless, every word carried clearly across the training ground.
He turned his attention back to Gu Jinseok.
"I'll give you a choice. I don't know what grievance you have against me, but if you dislike me that much, we can settle this with a proper match between martial artists, right here and now."
He paused briefly.
"Otherwise, you can offer me a sincere apology."
"..."
Gu Jinseok's lips remained tightly sealed.
Although he towered two heads above Woojin, his enormous frame somehow looked pitifully small.
Woojin's presence had utterly overwhelmed him.
Apologize? Me? In front of all these people?
Gu Jinseok clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw ached.
He couldn't do it.
There was, however, another reason he had deliberately provoked Cheon Woojin in the first place.
He genuinely believed that Woojin was a spy sent to infiltrate the Martial Alliance by another faction.
Before arriving for the entrance examination, Gu Jinseok had already obtained information on every notable candidate expected to participate.
Their martial abilities, personalities, and backgrounds had all been documented.
The information was strictly confidential, but the influence of the Gu family had made it possible for him to acquire it.
And Cheon Woojin's name had definitely not appeared among the individuals identified as worthy of particular attention.
In Gu Jinseok's mind, that made the probability of Woojin being a spy greater than eighty percent.
After all, attempts to infiltrate the Martial Alliance through its entrance examinations were hardly uncommon.
For organizations seeking to undermine or restrain the Martial Alliance, what better opportunity could there be?
Of course, most infiltrators were exposed before the third examination concluded.
The Martial Alliance possessed more than enough intelligence-gathering resources and investigative ability to accomplish that.
Which was precisely why Gu Jinseok had acted as he did.
When the truth eventually came out and the mysterious Cheon Woojin was exposed as a spy, Gu Jinseok intended to bask in the admiration of those who realized he had seen through the deception first.
He had wanted to demonstrate his extraordinary foresight.
And he had believed he could provoke Woojin as much as he liked without consequences.
He's a spy, after all.
Surely, someone hiding such a secret wouldn't dare attract even more attention by openly confronting another applicant.
But Woojin had done exactly that.
He had marched straight toward Gu Jinseok without the slightest hesitation.
That was something Gu Jinseok had never anticipated.
And then—
Woojin slowly raised the Crescent Moon Staff.
Gu Jinseok's instincts took over.
"It's a misunderstanding..."
Woojin pointed the black staff directly at him.
"Is that how you apologize?"
Woojin hadn't met many people throughout his life.
He had spent nearly all his years in the mountains, living with two elderly men.
Occasionally, visitors would come to their secluded home.
Most of those visitors were enemies of Black Master.
Naturally, eighty percent of them ended up dead.
The remaining twenty percent left crippled.
Woojin still vividly remembered how those people, who had arrived full of confidence and arrogance, had ended up apologizing to Black Master.
That was the standard of apology Woojin had grown up witnessing.
And in his mind, that was what a proper apology looked like.
The Crescent Moon Staff moved.
It was only a light swing.
But the result was anything but light.
Thwack!
A heavy impact rang out.
Gu Jinseok's knees buckled, and he crashed to the ground with a resounding thud.
For a moment, he couldn't even feel his legs.
"Y-you crazy bastard...!"
Zhuge Lin finally reached out to stop Woojin.
But her hand caught nothing.
It swept through empty air.
She turned her head in disbelief.
Woojin had already slipped past her and taken up a position behind her back.
The black iron staff now hovered directly above Gu Jinseok's head.
Woojin's low voice echoed through the silence.
"Last chance."
The fact that Woojin was offering him a second chance at all was entirely thanks to White Master's influence.
Had he been raised by Black Master alone, Gu Jinseok would already have lost his limbs.
And the same would have happened to Zhuge Lin for daring to stand in his way.
Gu Jinseok looked up at Woojin while clutching his aching leg.
...This bastard is serious.
A man who could crush someone's skull without hesitation, even in the middle of the Martial Alliance itself.
That was the kind of person Cheon Woojin was.
Only now did Gu Jinseok truly understand.
The Crescent Moon Staff began to move ever so slightly.
Woojin hadn't gathered any particular internal energy into the weapon.
Even so, the rough, dark metal looked terrifyingly solid.
Gu Jinseok spoke in a desperate rush.
"I-I misunderstood! I was wrong to suspect you and accuse you in front of everyone without proper cause. I'm sorry!"
"And?"
"...I was wrong. Please forgive me!"
"Hmm."
Woojin raised the Crescent Moon Staff high into the air.
Gu Jinseok squeezed his eyes shut and instinctively hunched his shoulders, drawing his head down as far as he could.
A moment passed.
Then another.
Nothing happened.
Gu Jinseok cautiously opened his eyes.
The staff was no longer hanging above his head.
Instead, he saw Cheon Woojin walking away, the Crescent Moon Staff resting once more against his back.
Gu Jinseok released a long breath of relief.
But alongside that relief came an overwhelming sense of humiliation.
A humiliation so bitter that he could scarcely find words to describe it.
******
The incident had barely ended when Gu Jinseok returned to his quarters, seething with humiliation and rage.
A middle-aged man dressed in a dark monk's robe was waiting for him.
"Young Master, are you all right? I couldn't intervene recklessly back there. If I'd stepped forward, the Martial Alliance might have grown suspicious..."
"Shut up!"
Gu Jinseok roared, breathing heavily.
The memory of what had just happened was still painfully fresh.
His expression twisted with fury.
"I have to kill him during the second examination."
"...There's no need to take things that far."
Gu Jinseok shot the middle-aged man a murderous glare.
The man lowered his head slightly.
"I was humiliated in front of everyone by some bastard whose name and face no one has ever heard of!"
Gu Jinseok's voice grew harsher.
"With martial skills like his, he's almost certainly a spy sent by the Black Plaque Star, the Heavenly Killing Group, or the Demonic Cult."
"...But I couldn't sense any demonic energy from him."
"Shut up! That's not the point!"
Gu Jinseok slammed his words down with barely restrained anger.
"The point is that I was humiliated by a bastard like that! I have to kill him! If I let him walk away after what he's done to me, it'll be no different from dragging my father's name through the mud!"
"..."
The middle-aged man sighed inwardly.
Gu Jinseok had been the one to provoke the confrontation.
He had picked a fight entirely of his own accord.
And now that he had suffered a humiliating defeat, he was invoking his father's reputation as an excuse for revenge.
They say raising children is the hardest task in the world...
Apparently, there was some truth to that saying.
The head of the Gu family was a man powerful enough to be regarded as the ruler of an entire region.
Yet even someone of his standing had allowed his son to grow into such an arrogant, unruly brute.
The middle-aged man could only shake his head inwardly.
After a moment, he spoke.
"Then shall I take care of him myself?"
"Are you out of your mind? What happens if you get caught?"
"...Do you doubt my abilities, Young Master?"
Gu Jinseok stared at him as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
The man's martial skills were certainly impressive.
Unfortunately, his way of thinking was so simple that dealing with him often left Gu Jinseok thoroughly exasperated.
"We're inside the Martial Alliance, you fool!"
He leaned forward.
"The second examination consists of missions to subdue minor unorthodox sects, demonic villains, and wanted enemies of the martial world."
His eyes narrowed.
"Can't you use that head of yours to figure out how we might take advantage of that?"
"...My apologies."
"Surely you understand what I'm saying by now?"
Gu Jinseok spoke slowly, emphasizing every word.
"Make certain that bastard dies during the second examination. And if he's still alive and well when we return to the Martial Alliance afterward..."
He left the sentence unfinished.
But there was no need to complete it.
Anyone could understand the threat.
The middle-aged man's heart grew heavy.
It wasn't Gu Jinseok himself that he feared.
It was the head of the Gu family.
That man was perfectly capable of indulging his son's unreasonable whims and punishing anyone who failed to satisfy them.
The middle-aged man quietly straightened the folds of his dark monk's robe.
Then he bowed his head.
"I will see that it's handled properly, Young Master."
******
"Young Hero Cheon, are you perhaps completely insane?"
Despite his words, Song Yiyeon couldn't stop smiling.
The memory of that enormous, brutish-looking Gu Jinseok kneeling before Woojin and begging for forgiveness was still vividly etched in his mind.
Woojin merely sighed.
"This incident has made me realize something."
"What?"
"My training is still far from sufficient."
Song Yiyeon stared at him.
Then his expression twisted in exasperation.
"Young Hero, could you please stop saying such outrageous things? If even your training is insufficient, what does that make the rest of us? A bunch of idiots?"
At those words, the seven young martial artists walking ahead of them along the forest path turned and glared.
Apparently, none of them appreciated being included among the idiots.
Neither Woojin nor Song Yiyeon paid them much attention.
The second examination had begun.
Just as Gu Jinseok had learned in advance, it involved missions to subdue dangerous criminals and members of the unorthodox factions.
The candidates had been divided into seven teams according to the results of their individual assessments.
Seven martial artists, including Cheon Woojin and Gu Jinseok, had earned an overall A grade.
Each of those seven had been assigned to a different team to ensure a fair distribution of ability.
The remaining candidates, who had received overall grades of B, C, and D, were similarly distributed among the teams.
Song Yiyeon, for his part, had received three A grades and two B grades in the individual assessments.
That had earned him an overall B.
Of course, Woojin knew something the examiners apparently did not.
Song Yiyeon had not revealed the full extent of his abilities during the assessments.
There were at least two candidates among those awarded an overall A who were actually weaker than Song Yiyeon.
Woojin suddenly spoke.
"If I were a master like Black Master, that fellow wouldn't have even considered picking a fight with me."
And that was probably true.
Most people who encountered Black Master for the first time were terrified of him.
It didn't matter whether they were young or old, male or female, strong or weak.
Of course, they were just as frightened the second and third times they met him.
But their fear wasn't simply a consequence of his extraordinary martial prowess.
Black Master possessed a distinctive, deeply unsettling presence.
It was the aura of a man who had spent his entire life living as a villain, without compromise or hesitation.
A lifetime of wicked deeds had left its mark upon him.
Naturally, Woojin, who had lived beside Black Master since early childhood, was utterly unaware of this.
To him, his master had always been his master.
Song Yiyeon suddenly spoke with a grave expression.
"The people we're going to subdue this time... I've heard they're vicious."
He continued grimly.
"They deliberately target small villages where there are hardly any martial artists or government soldiers. They rape the women and kill the men."
"Why?"
Song Yiyeon turned toward Woojin with an expression of disbelief.
Why would you even ask that?
"What reason could bastards like that possibly have? They're villains precisely because they commit such atrocities without any reason!"
"Hmm."
Woojin fell silent.
But his thoughts were somewhat different.
Black Master had undoubtedly been a villain.
He had openly acknowledged that fact himself, and White Master had never disputed it.
Yet Black Master had never committed evil deeds without a reason.
In fact, there were times when he seemed to place even greater importance on having a justification for his actions than White Master did.
The difference was that, once Black Master decided something was justified according to his own principles, he cared nothing for the methods he employed.
That didn't mean his actions were righteous.
Far from it.
Throughout his life, Black Master had committed countless atrocities that left ordinary people weeping tears of blood.
Anyone who stood in his way could be killed, regardless of whether they were good people, elderly, or even children.
There had been occasions when he killed or tortured pitiful people who had merely been manipulated and exploited by other villains.
Their circumstances meant little to him once he had decided they were his enemies.
In fact, one of the reasons White Master had made that final wager with Black Master concerning Woojin's future was to put an end to his wicked deeds.
By drawing Black Master's attention toward their disciple and the outcome of their wager, White Master had hoped to divert him from his usual path of violence.
Nevertheless, Black Master's wickedness had always followed certain principles.
He possessed standards of his own.
His actions were guided by justifications that made sense to him, even when no one else could understand or accept them.
And so Woojin found himself wondering.
Why would these people commit such atrocities?
What reasons did the targets of their subjugation have for doing the things Song Yiyeon had described?
He was still contemplating the question when the young martial artist leading their group suddenly raised a hand.
The entire column came to a halt.
Ahead of them lay a particularly dense stretch of forest.
A faint rustling came from somewhere within the undergrowth.
Leaves stirred softly.
Of course, Woojin had sensed the presence lurking ahead long before anyone else noticed it.
One of the young martial artists spoke in a low, tense voice.
"There's someone ahead. Judging by how they're deliberately concealing their presence, there's a strong possibility of an enemy ambush. We should carefully investigate before—"
"No."
Woojin interrupted him.
The martial world was not nearly as straightforward as the young man seemed to believe.
The principles taught by the orthodox factions were sound enough in theory.
But sometimes, those teachings bore little resemblance to the realities of actual combat.
Investigate because there might be enemies?
By the time they finished investigating, they would already be dead.
The enemy was waiting for them.
Fully prepared.
And, more importantly, the martial artists lurking ahead were sufficiently skilled to overwhelm the young candidates without much difficulty.
"They aren't trying to conceal their presence," Woojin said.
The others looked at him.
"They're deliberately revealing it."
With the level of martial skill Woojin had sensed, the hidden enemies could easily have concealed themselves well enough to escape the candidates' notice entirely.
Yet someone at the front of the group had detected them.
That meant the disturbance was intentional.
They were being lured into a trap.
But something about the situation didn't make sense.
Would the Martial Alliance really assign opponents of this caliber to candidates taking an entrance examination?
Woojin considered the question for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"Something seems to have gone wrong."
He turned his head and glanced behind them.
Naturally, the Martial Alliance wouldn't have sent these inexperienced young martial artists out on a mission entirely alone.
There would have to be someone watching over them.
And Woojin had already sensed that person's presence some time ago.
Now, that familiar energy was approaching them at tremendous speed.
And then—
"Everyone, stop!"
A sharp voice rang through the forest.
Zhuge Lin appeared before them.
She was the instructor assigned to Team Three, the group containing Cheon Woojin and Song Yiyeon.
The young martial artists stared at her in bewilderment.
They hadn't expected a Martial Alliance officer to appear so suddenly.
Song Yiyeon glanced sideways at Woojin.
"Don't tell me you knew about this too, Young Hero?"
Woojin nodded without a word.
Song Yiyeon shook his head, looking thoroughly fed up.
"Next time, could you tell me too? Don't just keep everything to yourself."
Thwack!
Zhuge Lin smacked him across the back of the head.
"Ouch!"
Song Yiyeon immediately clutched his head with both hands and turned toward her in protest.
But Zhuge Lin had already raised her index finger to her lips.
She signaled for him to remain silent.
Song Yiyeon felt somewhat wronged.
Nevertheless, with enemies potentially waiting nearby, he understood that this was hardly the time to complain.
He obediently kept quiet.
Zhuge Lin lowered her voice.
"Something's wrong."
Her expression was grave.
"Everyone, suppress your internal energy and turn around. Don't move too quickly, but don't slow down either. Withdraw at exactly the same pace you were walking before."
She glanced toward the dense forest ahead.
"Keep your movements and demeanor natural. We need to leave this place without attracting attention."
Zhuge Lin had also sensed the people lurking nearby.
Their presence was far stronger and more dangerous than that of the enemies the Martial Alliance had identified during its preparations for the examination.
This was not the opposition they had expected.
The young martial artists began following her instructions.
Carefully suppressing their energy, they turned around and prepared to retrace their steps.
But just as they started to leave—
Crack!
One of the candidates stepped on a fallen branch.
The brittle wood snapped beneath his foot.
And in that instant—
An overwhelming wave of killing intent erupted from every direction.
Figures clad in black shot out from the dense undergrowth like arrows released from their bows.
Their movements were swift and precise.
The auras surrounding them were carefully restrained, yet possessed an unmistakably sharp and deadly quality.
Zhuge Lin hurriedly drew her sword.
Her teeth sank into her lower lip.
This is impossible.
There were too many of them.
Far too many.
If she had been alone, she might somehow have managed to escape.
But protecting the young martial artists while fighting her way out?
She wasn't confident she could do it.
"Everyone, gather around me!"
Her voice rang sharply through the forest.
"Stay together! If you scatter, you'll die!"
Zhuge Lin quickly looked toward Song Yiyeon and Cheon Woojin.
Those two...
They were the only candidates who might be of any real assistance in a situation like this.
Song Yiyeon had already drawn his sword and was preparing to engage the black-clad attackers.
But—
Cheon Woojin was nowhere to be seen.
Zhuge Lin's eyes widened.
She hurriedly looked around.
She couldn't see him anywhere.
Worse still, she couldn't detect his presence.
Not even the slightest trace of his energy remained within the range of her senses.
Zhuge Lin clenched her teeth.
Did he run away?
Had he somehow escaped during that brief moment of confusion?
All by himself?
Well, that's a relief, but...
If even one person managed to survive and escape, that would be something to be grateful for.
Zhuge Lin genuinely believed that.
Under the circumstances, she couldn't blame someone for choosing to preserve his own life.
And yet...
She couldn't help finding the situation absurd.
The young man who had displayed such overwhelming power during the assessments had apparently vanished at the first sign of genuine danger.
Meanwhile, the black-clad attackers were closing in.
There were roughly twenty of them.
Their weapons were drawn, and their killing intent made their purpose unmistakable.
They intended to slaughter Zhuge Lin and every young martial artist under her protection.
And just as they were about to reach their targets—
For a brief instant, Zhuge Lin thought her eyes were deceiving her.
Whoooosh!
A heavy sound tore through the air.
A vast surge of black energy swept across the forest, filling the surroundings in an instant.
At the center of that darkness stood Cheon Woojin.
Around him, a great black full moon had taken shape.
Dark Sky Full Moon.