Chapter 195

The banquet held on New Year’s Day had been such a resounding success that calling it merely a success felt insufficient.

By embracing the Mount Heng Sword Sect, Jin Wikyung had made a bold move that won the loyalty of dozens of mid- and small-sized sects. The Zhongnan Sect’s intervention and the appearance of Fire King Jeok Cheongang, whom everyone had believed dead, had left them all stunned.

And…

I was one of the people left stunned, too.

I ate, drank, and moved from place to place. Wherever I went, people’s eyes followed my every movement.

Half a day ago, those gazes had meant interest in the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi.

But not anymore.

The Fire King’s Disciple. The Fire Gate Clan’s heir.

Those words were drifting through the crowd everywhere I went. People were endlessly discussing what it meant that Jeok Cheongang, the current Sect Leader of the Fire Gate Clan, had entrusted me with the sect’s sacred treasure—and why he had protected the Jin Family of Taiyuan even while making an enemy of the Zhongnan Sect.

It feels like this has already become half-confirmed as fact.

To be honest, I didn’t understand Jeok Cheongang’s intentions either.

That was why I was here.

And now, while everyone was distracted, I had slipped away. This was my chance.

“Phew.”

I took a deep breath.

I was standing in front of the pavilion where Jeok Cheongang had been given lodging. No one—not even a mouse—was anywhere near the large pavilion. Someone must have issued orders to keep the area clear.

“Great Hero Jeok. Are you there?”

A reply came from beyond the door.

“I’m sleeping.”

“I came because there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“I said I’m sleeping.”

“…How are you answering me if you’re asleep?”

“I’m sleepwalking.”

Was that an answer or a whinny?

It made no sense, but if the Fire King said that was how it was, then that was how it was. I pulled myself together and spoke again.

“Um, there’s something I’ve been wondering about no matter how much I think it over.”

“Am I someone who solves your problems for you?”

“No, but…”

“If you know that, go wash your feet and get some sleep.”

Talk about an impenetrable wall.

But I couldn’t back down now.

I was cautiously creeping toward the firmly closed door when—

“Take one more step, and you won’t live to see tomorrow’s sunrise.”

“…How did you know?”

“To this old man, your presence is no different from the sound of thunder.”

“Please don’t be like that. Couldn’t you let me in now? It’s still winter, so it’s rather chilly outside.”

“Should this old man warm you up with the Flame Divine Palm?”

“…”

Just hearing that made my insides feel hot.

When I fell silent, silence descended once more. After a while, Jeok Cheongang broke it with a single sentence.

“I went to Jeongyang.”

“Ah.”

Even an insignificant bead could hold special meaning for someone. Jeongyang was like that.

Of the dozens of counties and towns in Shanxi Province, Jeongyang was nothing special. But Jeok Cheongang had had a reason to visit a mountain path somewhere there.

Jopil.

On that day, when the sky had poured down snow, a man who had lived as Jangcheon died under the name Jopil.

“I stayed for a long time at the place you told me about. Some passersby saw an old man wandering around the foot of the mountain and asked why I was there.”

His subdued voice continued.

“I told them that a blood relative had died right there. That I had come because I wanted to recover whatever remained of his body.”

“…”

“That was when I realized something. Even if I had met that boy before you did, I could never have killed him. I would have let him go again—and regretted it.”

It was difficult to imagine what expression Jeok Cheongang wore on the other side of the door.

After hesitating, I asked:

“Did you find the body?”

“Nothing was left.”

Several months had already passed.

He had spent his entire life walking a path of blood. The subordinates who might have recovered his body had died with him, too. He had either been buried by the capricious weather or become food for hungry beasts.

“It’s an old man’s greed. Ugly and pointless.”

Glug.

The sound of liquor filling a cup rang unusually loudly.

“I thought you said you were drunk earlier.”

“You crafty brat. Why ask when you already know?”

The candlelight filling the pavilion cast his silhouette across the walls.

Jeok Cheongang let out a quiet laugh, then tipped back his cup.

“Ahh. Good.”

His voice sounded refreshed, as though a single drink had washed away his troubles.

It occurred to me that Jeok Cheongang had gone to the place where Jopil died to shake off the regret and lingering attachment that still held him there.

I spoke in a deliberately brighter voice.

“I was taught that good things should be shared.”

“I was taught from a young age that anyone who coveted other people’s things should be burned with the Flame Divine Palm.”

“What terrifying person taught you that?”

“My Master.”

That’s the Volcano Gate Clan for you. Ruthless.

They burned everyone with the Flame Divine Palm.

I didn’t know the history of the Fire Gate Clan or the names of its past Sect Leaders, but looking at Jeok Cheongang, I could make a rough guess.

An old sect of thugs.

They say beans grow where beans are planted, and red beans where red beans are planted.

The disciple takes after the master. Jopil was the exception, of course.

Anyway, that isn’t why I came here.

I was watching the silhouette inside the pavilion while trying to read the situation when Jeok Cheongang suddenly spoke.

“From now on, the Fire Heaven Sword is yours.”

“Fire… what?”

“The Fire Heaven Sword. The sword I entrusted to you.”

I had learned the true name of the Unnamed Sword, but that wasn’t the issue right now. I was so shocked that I even stammered.

“B-but this is the Fire Gate Clan’s sacred treasure.”

“Ah. The sacred treasure.”

Jeok Cheongang tilted back yet another cup of liquor and continued.

“That was a lie.”

“What?”

“It isn’t a sacred treasure. About a hundred years ago, one of our sect’s Sect Leaders used it. Later generations inherited it from him. It’s old, but it was already famous as a divine weapon back then, so it should still be useful.”

“…”

What the hell was he talking about?

I stood there with my mouth hanging open at this shocking truth I had never expected.

“That was all a lie? You’re messing with me, right?”

“Messing with you? Why would I bother with a little pup like you?”

“You said it in front of everyone! ‘I entrusted this boy with the Fire Gate Clan’s sacred treasure!’”

“I did. Because we were in front of everyone.”

Jeok Cheongang continued in a bored voice.

“I had to go that far for people to start talking. ‘That boy must have a deep connection to the Fire King. Since he was entrusted with the sacred treasure, perhaps he is the Fire King’s Disciple. If we provoke the Jin Family of Taiyuan, that terrifying Fire King will step in.’ Rumors like that will spread far and wide.”

“…”

“Do you really think this old man would entrust our sect’s sacred treasure to a young brat like you? Our arts are passed down to only one successor per generation, so there’s no one else who would know. If I say it’s a sacred treasure, then it’s a sacred treasure.”

“…”

“So keep the sword. That way, those Zhongnan bastards won’t dare make a move.”

Is this a dream?

As I stood there in shock, a System notification rang in my ears, delivering the final blow.

Ding.

System

Information regarding the Unnamed Sword has been updated.

Item Window

Fire Heaven Sword

Type: Sword
Grade: Peak
Restriction: One who has inherited the Fire Gate Clan’s legacy
Description: The beloved sword once used by the Fire Gate Clan’s tenth Sect Leader. Forged from Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron, it is exceptionally sharp and durable. After passing through the hands of countless owners over the course of many years, it changed of its own accord. Only one who has inherited the Fire Gate Clan’s legacy can draw out its true power.

Effect: Unknown

The updated information was exactly as Jeok Cheongang had said.

It was the beloved sword of the tenth Sect Leader. No mention of the Fire Gate Clan’s sacred treasure anywhere, no matter how hard I looked.

Even the so-called “true power” hidden within the sword could only be drawn out by someone who had inherited the Fire Gate Clan’s legacy.

In other words, take away the fact that it was made of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron, and the sword was a corpse.

I really thought it was a sacred treasure. I spent so much time worrying about what I’d do if he said he was going to make me a Disciple…

As I stared blankly at the holographic window, Jeok Cheongang added as though he were doing me a great favor:

“Think of it as a long-term loan. If this old man forgets about it and dies, you may keep it. Ah, and hand over the Flame Divine Palm manual right now.”

“Damn old man…”

“Gasp.”

I had only meant to think that, but it slipped out of my mouth.

The moment I clapped my mouth shut in alarm, the firmly closed pavilion door exploded outward.

Crack!

A pair of eyes burning with flames glared at me.

“You little pup. What did you just say?”

“I-I-I misspoke.”

“Misspoke? Then this old man will make a little mistake with his hand, too.”

Whoosh!

A palm glowing red-hot. An overwhelming wave of heat.

I turned around without even looking back. In the same instant, I pulled the Flame Divine Palm manual from my Inventory and threw it.

“Gasp! The manual—the Flame Divine Palm manual!”

If he reached out now, the manual would turn to ash.

Jeok Cheongang, startled, hastily pulled back his fist. I took advantage of the opening and ran with all my might.

“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry! Please spare me!”

“You damned bastard! Stop right there!”

His roar rang out thunderously behind me.

Jeok Cheongang watched Jin Taekyung’s back as he fled as though his tail were on fire and let out a quiet laugh.

The anger that had filled his face only moments ago had vanished without a trace.

“You little fool. No matter how far you run, you’re still in the palm of this old man’s hand.”

If he wanted to catch him, he could do so at any time.

But Jeok Cheongang merely clasped his hands behind his back and turned around.

Jin Taekyung was the man who had killed Jangcheon, the Disciple Jeok Cheongang had cherished like a son.

Yet Jeok Cheongang did not hate him.

If anything, Taekyung was one of the people to whom Jeok Cheongang truly owed an apology.

Everything had begun with a wrong choice he had made ten years ago.

“He called me a damn old man.”

Despite being cursed out by a young pup, Jeok Cheongang did not feel bad.

No—in fact, he felt refreshed.

“That’s right. I am a damn old man. A senile old man, too. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.”

After his Master died, no one had dared criticize or curse Jeok Cheongang to his face.

He was the Fire King. A great martial artist who had written his own legend.

And yet, hearing that one remark from Jin Taekyung made him feel as though something that had been blocked for a long time had suddenly burst open.

“It feels good. So good.”

As people grow older, they become lonelier day by day. Not because they have no one with whom to share their warmth, but because they have no one to lean on.

A person might serve as someone else’s support, but Jeok Cheongang had grown too old to lean on anyone himself.

“To be someone’s support…”

Jeok Cheongang was a rough, sharp thorn tree. He had lived a long life and crossed paths with countless people, but he had never allowed any of them to lean on him.

There had been only one exception.

Jangcheon.

“What about you? Did you ever feel, even for a moment, that this Master was a dependable support?”

As Jeok Cheongang thought of him, his eyes grew clouded. But his chest did not hurt as much as it once had, nor did his eyes grow hot.

The dead had already returned to a handful of earth.

Jeok Cheongang had drunk a bottle of liquor at the place where his Disciple had fallen after spilling his blood, then poured out an entire crockful.

He had wept freely, shedding the tears he had been unable to shed for the past ten years and letting the grief in his heart flow out with them.

“I’m sorry. Today will be the last time I think of you.”

If there was a next time, that belonged to the next life.

He might still think of his dead Disciple from time to time. But those thoughts would no longer be regrets about the past.

They would be memories.

“This is enough. This is how it should be.”

After wandering around the courtyard for a long while, Jeok Cheongang suddenly stopped.

The image of Jangcheon that had been flickering before his eyes vanished, replaced by someone he had never expected to think of.

Why him?

Clear-cut features. A confident smile that was somehow irritating.

And the way he cautiously gauged Jeok Cheongang’s mood while still taking all of his sharp remarks in stride.

Did I get angry without realizing it because he called me a damn old man?

Jeok Cheongang was frowning when—

Sizzle.

The sound of something burning filled the air, followed by a thin trail of smoke.

Realizing where the sound had come from, he opened his eyes wide.

“The manual!”

The cover of the Flame Divine Palm manual was already half-burned.

Jeok Cheongang let out a furious roar.

“Jin Taekyung! You damned bastard!”