A hundred years ago.
The Orthodox-Demonic War, which had dyed the entire murim of the Central Plains in blood, inflicted truly tremendous damage on the orthodox sects.
Yet there was one that rose from those ruins to become the head of the Five Great Clans.
It was none other than the Namgung Clan, located at the foot of Mount Tianzhu in Anhui Province.
The Grand Training Ground of the Namgung Clan.
At that moment, countless warriors there were holding their breath as they watched the fierce battle atop the dueling stage.
WHOOSH—!
A sword cleaving the air streaked over the boy's head, trailing an air-splitting whistle.
‘Ngh!’
A few strands of hair scattered through the air, and a chilling sweat ran down the boy's spine.
But he swiftly regained his footing and raised his sword.
The boy's name was Seonwoo Hyun.
A trainee of the Earth Martial Hall, he had defeated formidable rivals in this year's Heavenly Martial Tournament and advanced all the way to the final.
However, now that he faced his last opponent, his expression was full of tension.
‘He's strong. If I'd dodged even a little later…….’
He would probably have suffered a fatal wound and lost on the spot.
The opponent arrogantly looking down at him was Namgung Cheong-un.
A pure-blooded direct descendant of the clan, he was a genius among geniuses who had reached the first-rate realm before even turning twenty.
Originally, since the Heavenly Martial Tournament was where the trainees of the Heaven Martial Hall and the Earth Martial Hall competed in skill, there was no reason for him, a direct descendant, to take part.
But this year alone, by the will of the Council of Elders, he had been exceptionally granted the right to compete.
Whatever the reason, it did not matter to Seonwoo Hyun.
The one before his eyes now was merely an enemy he had to defeat.
Seonwoo Hyun hardened his expression and raised his sword toward Namgung Cheong-un.
Just then.
THOOM—!
As Namgung Cheong-un stepped forward, a solid, heavy force pressed down on the training ground.
At the same time, he kicked off the ground, and his sword shot swiftly toward Seonwoo Hyun.
SWISH—!
It was a sword steeped in the certainty that he, a direct descendant, could never lose to a mere trainee.
His sword was powerful, yet arrogant.
Just then.
Seonwoo Hyun's eyes glinted.
‘I can see it!’
Namgung Cheong-un's sword, slashing down at his shoulder, was fast and heavy.
But to Seonwoo Hyun's eyes, the path along which that sword moved was clearly visible.
FWIP—!
The moment he evaded the sword by a hair's breadth.
Namgung Cheong-un's sword shifted horizontally and cut in toward him.
WHOOOM—!
However.
Seonwoo Hyun wove between the blades as if he had seen through Cheong-un's sword techniques in advance.
SWISH—!
‘Incredible. I don't stand a chance if I clash head-on!’
The inner arts carried in Namgung Cheong-un's sword were formidable.
That was only natural, since he had been born into the direct line and had received spiritual medicine and the clan's full support since childhood.
In contrast, the inner arts in his own qi center amounted to less than a single year's worth, so clashing head-on was no different from suicide.
As Seonwoo Hyun kept doing nothing but dodging, low sighs flowed out from among the spectators.
“As expected of Mister Cheong-un.”
“I know… This is way too one-sided, isn't it?”
Their faces already wore looks that said the match was over.
From the start, most people had regarded this Heavenly Martial Tournament as nothing more than a stage to confirm Namgung Cheong-un's victory.
After all, he, the most martially accomplished of the direct-line prodigies, could never lose to a mere trainee.
Even if that trainee had defied everyone's expectations and reached the final, the outcome could not possibly change.
Yet Seonwoo Hyun himself did not back down in the slightest.
As he dodged the attacks by the width of a single hair, he caught sight of a momentary opening.
‘Now!’
Seonwoo Hyun's sword shot out like lightning and sparks struck from flint.
SWIIISH—!
“……!”
As the strike, aimed precisely at the gap, stabbed toward his chest, Namgung Cheong-un worked his footwork and swiftly stepped back.
But as if refusing to let slip the chance he had seized, Seonwoo Hyun quickly closed in and brought his sword down.
CLANG—! CLANG—!
The sound of sword striking sword beat sharply against the air.
Yet the one who swallowed a groan was Seonwoo Hyun.
‘Ngh, my wrist!’
Although he was raining down attacks one after another, every time the swords collided, his wrist hurt as if it would break.
But Seonwoo Hyun clenched his teeth.
Circulating his meager inner arts, he kept pressing Namgung Cheong-un.
At that moment, bewilderment settled in Namgung Cheong-un's eyes.
“This damned bastard…….”
Seonwoo Hyun's sword, carrying hardly any inner arts, was certainly not heavy.
But blocking attacks that stabbed only at his openings was becoming more and more of an ordeal.
In the end, enraged, he let out a loud shout.
“I showed you mercy, and you run wild without knowing your place!”
At the same time, energy burst out of his whole body like an explosion.
BOOM—!
“Kh!”
Taking the energy head-on, Seonwoo Hyun's body was pushed far back.
As the distance widened and the exchange paused for a moment, Namgung Cheong-un glared at him murderously and shouted:
“It seems you are determined to see blood, you bastard…… If that is your wish, I shall grant it!”
THOOM—!
Raising his qi to its utmost, Namgung Cheong-un stomped down violently.
Crack, crack.
The paving stones of the training ground split like a spider web, and an explosive force beyond compare with anything until now surged from his whole body.
“Block this, if you can!”
Namgung Cheong-un's face was full of certainty.
Certainty that Seonwoo Hyun could never withstand this one move.
“Huff, huff…….”
Seonwoo Hyun spat out ragged breaths and steadied his stance.
The hand gripping his sword still would not stop trembling.
His inner arts, too, were running dry.
But his gaze was calmer than ever before.
‘Just once… I have to aim for one decisive opening. That's the only way to win.’
Enduring the fighting spirit Namgung Cheong-un aimed at him, Seonwoo Hyun raised his sword.
‘I can't lose, no matter what…….’
His opponent was undoubtedly several times stronger than he was.
Even so, he absolutely could not lose.
If he couldn't overcome even this much, he could never even dream of avenging his parents.
His three years in the clan flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
He was different from the children who had learned the sword since birth.
Because he had entered the hall at the late age of twelve, he had fallen behind the other trainees in everything.
The sword, and the inner arts.
He had had to build up everything from the foundation.
But now, three years later.
He had defeated every trainee who had once been ahead of him and had finally reached the final of the Heavenly Martial Tournament.
There was only one reason that had been possible.
It was because he possessed one innate talent that the other trainees did not have.
‘It's definitely outstanding swordsmanship, but its sword path isn't unreadable. If I dig into the opening at the decisive moment…….’
What Namgung Cheong-un was unleashing was a supreme swordsmanship permitted only to the direct line.
But it, too, was a Namgung sword, and every sword of the Namgung was rooted in the Iron Sword Twelve Forms.
Though the sword path might grow more complex, its root never changed.
So he could surely dig into the opening.
BANG—!
At that moment, Namgung Cheong-un's feet kicked off the ground.
And a heavy sword strike, one that seemed to crush the very air of the training ground, came falling toward Seonwoo Hyun.
SWISH—!
“Ah!”
Exclamations burst from the mouths of the spectators watching the scene.
But at that moment, Seonwoo Hyun's eyes shone like those of a wild beast searching for its prey's weak spot.
‘……Now!’
“Raaaaah!”
Seonwoo Hyun wrung out the last of his inner arts as if scraping the bottom.
And before Namgung Cheong-un's sword could even fall, he darted inside first.
He had perfectly foreseen even the angle at which his opponent's sword would twist and the spot where his foot would land.
“What?!”
At Seonwoo Hyun's movement, which overturned all his expectations, Namgung Cheong-un burst out in shock.
In that instant, Seonwoo Hyun's sword shot out with terrifying force.
SWISH—!
BOOM—!
As Namgung Cheong-un's sword struck the training ground with a deafening roar, a thick cloud of dust covered the two.
And then, silence.
“…….”
No one in the arena opened their mouth.
They simply waited quietly for the two figures hidden by the dust to come into view.
Eventually, as the dust settled, the two gradually revealed themselves.
“Th-that's!”
Everyone who saw the scene before them had their mouths fall wide open in shock.
Namgung Cheong-un's attack had not struck him.
The dented paving stones of the training ground clearly proved it.
But the tip of Seonwoo Hyun's outstretched sword…….
“…….” was pressing precisely against Namgung Cheong-un's throat.
Stagger.
Namgung Cheong-un's body tottered as he stepped back.
Along with it, a single red drop of blood slowly trickled down his neck.
At that sight, the sound of dry swallowing came from everyone's throats.
“Th-the winner. Earth Martial Hall trainee…… Seonwoo Hyun.”
The warrior serving as referee at one side of the dueling stage murmured with a half-dazed face.
With that, the frozen time began to flow again.
“Wh… Whoaaaaa!”
“He b-beat Mister Cheong-un! This can't be!”
“How could an Earth Martial Hall trainee beat a direct descendant… I saw it and I still can't believe it!”
The silence broke, and cheers erupted from all around.
Countless gazes turned toward Seonwoo Hyun all at once.
Some marveled, while others still couldn't believe it and simply stood there blankly.
So intense had his focus been that even though the duel had ended, Seonwoo Hyun was still holding his sword raised toward Namgung Cheong-un.
A fleeting moment passed.
Barely coming to his senses at the shouts resounding through the arena, Seonwoo Hyun turned his head.
‘I…… won?’
As if unable to believe it, Seonwoo Hyun turned his head again and looked at Namgung Cheong-un standing before him.
An expression mixed with dismay and humiliation.
And a single line of fresh blood flowing down his neck.
It was unmistakably his victory.
‘I did it!’
In a sudden rush of emotion, Seonwoo Hyun thrust both hands high into the sky.
“Whoaaaaa!”
The cheers in the arena grew even fiercer.
And soon, those shouts turned into chants of his name.
“Seonwoo Hyun!”
“Seonwoo Hyun!”
The three-syllable name of a mere trainee rang out as if he stood at the very center of the clan.
However, behind the cheers.
Several gazes colder than the chill of deep winter were glaring at him eerily.
***
With everyone gone, the training ground was so quiet it felt like a lie.
Before anyone knew it, the sun had crossed the western mountains and was dyeing the sky red.
A cold winter wind swept across the dueling stage.
Seonwoo Hyun sat perched on the edge of the dueling stage, motionless.
The sword in his hand felt strangely cold.
It wasn't merely because the weather was cold.
‘Father…….’
He recalled what had happened four years ago.
The day his father, Seonwoo Sang, who had set out on an escort mission, came back cold and lifeless.
His body, laid atop a blood-soaked cart, had been mutilated beyond recognition.
And his mother, collapsing beside it…….
From that day on, his peaceful life was completely shattered.
Unable to bear the shock, his mother lost her words and finally took to her sickbed.
And every night, as if possessed, she groped at the empty air until she fainted and fell asleep.
A year passed.
Beside his father's grave mound, another grave mound was raised.
Before it, Seonwoo Hyun shed tears for a long time, unable to lift his head.
“…….”
No matter how much time passed, the memory of that day did not fade.
The smell of blood and the coldness of the winter wind.
Strength gathered in Seonwoo Hyun's hand.
The sword he gripped creaked as it was squeezed.
Revenge.
That was the one and only reason he now held a sword.
The survivors who had returned from the escort mission said that they had been ambushed by bandits of unknown identity.
However, the investigation team dispatched afterward found no trace of a mountain keep anywhere in the vicinity.
No, the more they investigated, the more doubt arose as to whether it had truly been the work of bandits.
But it didn't matter.
‘Even if I have to make enemies of the entire Green Forest Bandits…… I will find my enemy, no matter what.’
On the day he entered the clan, Seonwoo Hyun swallowed blood and swore.
That someday, without fail, he would avenge his father with his own hands.