Episode 07 – The Disciple of the Poison Demon
Saweol couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
As if wielded by an invisible hand, the sword moved on its own.
Anyone even slightly involved in the martial world would recognize it immediately.
The symbol of a master, sword flight.
The supreme realm where a sword is wielded not by hand, but by will alone.
“Sword flight? Sado Hwan??”
Moreover, it wasn’t a crude or sloppy version of sword flight. Just from the form of how the sword was sheathed, it was entirely natural, even elegant and refined.
Even after rubbing her eyes and looking again, it was still Sado Hwan’s sword. It was something she simply couldn’t believe.
‘This makes no sense.’
Sado Hwan had an utterly cursed constitution.
He could endlessly accumulate qi, but was incapable of releasing it.
A cursed physique that granted both hope and despair at once. Because of that—
‘At best, he’s second-rate.’
If one can’t project qi externally, then in the end, they’re limited to being second-rate.
And yet, he appeared out of nowhere wielding sword flight, the symbol of the Transcendent Peak realm.
‘Even among the million members of the Heavenly Demon Cult, there are only about twenty Transcendent Peak experts, right?’
He could rule an entire region, having reached the highest peak attainable by a human body, and it wasn’t just anyone—it was Sado Hwan.
But then it happened.
Saweol met the calm, sunken gaze of Sado Hwan.
Shiver—
That cliché phrase about one’s hair standing on end had never felt so real.
There had always been a trace of anxiety in Sado Hwan’s eyes.
A fear that his identity would one day be exposed.
But how was he now?
There wasn’t a flicker in Sado Hwan’s eyes. Even through the dust that belatedly blew into view, his chilling gaze gleamed sharply.
Just facing those eyes made the fine hairs on her body stand on end. They were the eyes of a tiger.
It was as if he was declaring to the world that he was strong.
It was a gaze she had never seen on him before, not even once since serving under him.
Gulp—
Saweol unconsciously swallowed.
‘Sado Hwan has been hiding his power all this time……?!?’
She had served Sado Hwan since the age of fifteen. That had been ten years. And for those ten years, Sado Hwan had genuinely been weak.
‘What the hell happened? Did he have some kind of miraculous encounter in that cave?’
The earlier intensity in his eyes and aura had vanished, but his expression still betrayed nothing.
But what kind of miraculous encounter could allow a second-rate to leap to the Transcendent Peak level?
Saweol’s confused thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice.
“We pay our respects to the Division Leader!”
The Black Shadow Corps members all knelt on one knee in unison.
Saweol also knelt, a beat behind the others.
Sado Hwan’s heavy voice rang in her ears.
“What were you all doing?”
“Division Leader!”
One of the kneeling members raised his head.
It was Tak Horak, Third Squad Leader.
True to his well-known loyalty, his face brightened as if he had seen the light upon seeing Sado Hwan return alive.
His pearly whites gleamed especially bright under the light.
“Are you alright, sir? It’s been two whole days since the collapse!”
“Don’t make a fuss. Something like that is nothing.”
“What I saw—was it true, sir? Did you really break out of the cave using sword flight?”
Sado Hwan didn’t answer. He simply stared silently at Tak Horak. At that sight, Tak Horak nodded in admiration.
“Well, anyone with eyes could recognize it. Congratulations on your great achievement, Division Leader!”
“Congratulations!”
Regardless of their praise, Sado Hwan spoke as if scolding them.
“Stand up, all of you.”
At his words, the corps members rose in perfect unison.
“Do not kneel so carelessly. The only one to whom we kneel is the Supreme Heavenly Demon.”
Even having reached the Transcendent Peak level, Sado Hwan remained humble and praised the Heavenly Demon instead. His behavior was exemplary of a true cultist.
Moved, the members all shouted in unison.
“Loyalty—!!”
Meanwhile, Saweol only grew more confused because of Sado Hwan’s words.
Originally, Sado Hwan was nothing more than a man with no substance, full of pride in his own delusions. He acted like a strongman so often he seemed to believe it himself.
That kind of Sado Hwan had never praised the Heavenly Demon before.
It was as if he had become a different person.
Still expressionless, Sado Hwan spoke.
“Vice-Captain. You said it’s been two days?”
At his question, Saweol, lost in thought, replied in a hurry.
“Yes, th-that's correct.”
So flustered was she that her voice cracked.
Sado Hwan looked down at her with a hint of contempt in his eyes.
Saweol lowered her head and bit her lip. But she couldn’t stop her ears from turning red.
Fortunately, Sado Hwan got straight to the point.
“We’re tight on time. Prepare the horses and carriage at once.”
“Aren’t we returning to the Cult—ahem, to headquarters?”
“Why did we come to the Central Plains in the first place?”
Saweol answered.
“To carry out a mission for the Cult.”
“That’s right.”
Sado Hwan declared,
“To complete that mission, we’re going to eliminate the disciple of the Poison Demon.”
It worked.
I let out a breath of relief inwardly.
Judging by the Black Shadow Corps’ reactions, it looked like my act had worked perfectly.
I’d even earned points by invoking loyalty to the Heavenly Demon.
Aside from the high-ups, most people in the Cult are practically members of the Heavenly Demon’s fan club anyway.
At this rate, it didn’t seem likely that anyone would see through my act. Besides, Sado Hwan wasn’t the type to talk unnecessarily, so I planned to keep pushing the silent persona.
“The carriage is ready.”
Saweol approached and spoke.
I nodded and got into the carriage. Saweol kept her head bowed until I was fully inside.
Looking at the back of Saweol’s lowered head gave me a deep sense of satisfaction.
She was probably utterly confused right now.
The Sado Hwan she knew should’ve been no more than second-rate. But he’d just displayed sword flight, the very symbol of the Transcendent Peak level, so of course her head must be spinning.
She needed to be more confused. That was the only way I’d survive.
To her, everyone with the surname "Sado" was an enemy.
And I was the weakest among them.
Even with safeguards in place, if she snapped, she’d try to kill me first.
She’d think eliminating even one more was necessary.
But now things were different. Whether I was truly strong or not—Saweol could no longer be sure.
When she tries to attack, she’ll hesitate at least once.
That single hesitation would be my chance to live, so I couldn’t help but feel satisfied.
Of course, I’d have to fully bring her to my side eventually. Saweol was a versatile subordinate, capable of intelligence work, assassination, and even protection.
Just the fact that she managed to get a carriage in these remote mountains showed how capable she was.
Anyway—
“Finally, I feel alive again.”
Lying down in the carriage made me feel like I could live again. It was a bit bumpy, but who cared?
I didn’t know what riding a Benz felt like, but I didn’t envy it right now.
The reason I’d prepared a carriage was simple.
I couldn’t use lightfoot techniques.
Lightfoot, simply put, was martial arts focused on running extremely fast.
It allowed one to move so fast and far that even marathon runners would despair and weep.
I couldn’t use internal energy to perform proper ascending lightfoot techniques, but Sado Hwan would’ve at least been able to fake it. I couldn’t even do that.
So I used the excuse of conserving stamina to prepare horses and a carriage.
I had to learn lightfoot soon too. Thank goodness I had the Skybreaker Sword.
[You really are a monster.]
‘That came out of nowhere?’
I thought to myself.
Amazingly, as long as I had the will to communicate, I could talk to the Skybreaker Sword mentally without speaking aloud. Well, that’s what made it a legendary blade.
Fortunately, not every thought was transmitted—only when I consciously tried to communicate.
[How did you know we were after the disciple of the Poison Demon?]
Right. I just figured it out because I’am a monster, I guess.
If I have said this was a novel world and that’s how I knew, he would probably faint in shock.
Or maybe not. Being a sword, he probably can’t faint.
‘Come to think of it, one thing I really don’t understand... why did you go into that cave in the first place? You’re not some Transcendent Peak master who could wipe everyone out.’
[...I don’t know. I just went out for a brief excursion, and when I came to, I was in that place.]
‘What about Saweol?’
[I went out alone.]
“Must’ve gotten caught by some master by mistake.”
[Maybe so.]
The martial world is a place where you can’t afford to let your guard down. You never know when or where something will happen.
Especially for Cult members, who are constantly shunned by the martial world, caution was even more vital. Just being a Cultist could lead to an innocent family being slaughtered once a month—it was that common.
For me, I had to be especially careful. I couldn’t even use the sword energy of the Skybreaker Sword at the moment.
‘First, let’s start by dealing with the disciple of the Poison Demon…’
[Why are you so obsessed with him? He has nothing to do with you, does he?]
‘Your business is my business.’
Skybreaker Sword stopped vibrating, seemingly moved. Silly thing, so simple.
Of course, I had another reason.
Dok So-gong, the disciple of the Poison Demon, was on the run for stealing a Cult treasure.
In the real world, if someone stole something, you’d retrieve it and send them to jail. But this was the bloody world of Murim. If you committed a crime, you paid with your life.
Anyway, I had to make sure that treasure didn’t fall into someone else’s hands. That treasure would cause a massive massacre.
That’s what I needed to prevent.
Not because of some noble sense of justice. Justice is something only the strong are allowed to speak of. If I talked about it, it would just sound like I was being pretentious.
Still, I had to stop it—because that massacre would spark a war between the Cult and the orthodox factions.
And if war broke out, the Black Shadow Corps would be deployed, and I’d be 99% likely to get brutally killed.
If I wanted to live, I had no choice but to act.
Besides—
‘That guy has something I really need.’
Sure, I could keep pretending to be strong. Just showing the Skybreaker Sword would make most people freak out and back off.
But that wasn’t enough.
If anyone did come at me, I had to be able to block at least one strike.
The treasure that Dok So-gong carried was just what I needed to cover that last 2%. Just like the Skybreaker Sword.
“Heheheh.”
The Skybreaker Sword grumbled.
[…That was a rather sinister laugh. Using my voice, no less.]
‘Whatever, equipments are the best.’
[Equipment what?]
‘Don’t worry about it.’
The carriage began speeding along.