Before leaving Zhejiang Province, Cheon Mubaeck quietly sought out the Sword Empress.

As if she had been waiting, the Sword Empress greeted him with a benevolent face.

“You’re leaving already when it’s not even dawn?”

“Looking at what the Yugeom Emperor is doing, I thought it would be noisy with feasts and what not if I told him I was leaving.”

“That’s only natural. You saved his daughter, and even cured the illness she had carried her whole life…”

“I’ve rested enough, so I plan to leave quietly.”

“Soyong will be sad.”

“Please comfort her well. Because she is a child born with good talent and understanding.”

“Of course. I’m happy to see my newfound granddaughter’s cute antics in my old age.”

After that, a silence lingered around them. Only the croaking of frogs and the chirping of night insects spread quietly.

In the first place, the reason he had come to meet the Sword Empress was because the Sword Empress had sent him a signal.

She must have called him because she had something to say.

Cheon Mubaeck just waited quietly.

How much time had passed? The Sword Empress asked carefully with a somewhat pitiful look.

“Have you ever seen the Sword Saint, that child?”

At the unexpected mention of the Sword Saint, Cheon Mubaeck flinched for a moment but answered naturally.

“I have never met my master’s senior brother in person.”

“Is that so? Well, it seems that the Sword Saint, that child, also did not know of your existence. To think that the Sword God raised a successor without the Sword Saint’s knowledge. If it weren’t for that, the Sword Saint would not be walking such a difficult path alone.”

“A difficult path?”

At the somewhat meaningful words, Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes flashed.

In an instant, the surrounding atmosphere changed.

Cheon Mubaeck’s flashing gaze pierced the darkness and was fixed on the Sword Empress.

The Sword Empress, admiring the intense gaze, asked.

“Young Master Cheon, do you know of defying heaven?”

“…Are you saying that my master’s senior brother has defied heaven?”

The Sword Empress nodded her head slightly with a sad face.

The Sword Saint, Yu Baekgi’s age was younger than the current Sword Empress.

But people have a lifespan that is given the moment they are born.

The Sword Empress was enjoying the long life she had been given comfortably.

It was absurd to say that everyone lived as long as the Sword Empress.

And yet, the reason why martial artists sometimes lived well past a hundred was precisely because they forcibly extended their lifespan with their enormous internal energy.

The Poison Demon, who had rapidly aged and had dried up like a mummy as soon as he had lost his dantian to Cheon Mubaeck’s attack, was an example of that.

To forcibly extend the lifespan given by heaven, that was defying heaven.

Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes trembled slightly.

“Three years ago, I saw the Sword Saint’s face when he visited the Botamun. Although it was not revealed on the outside, I saw it. That he was forcibly holding on to his life.”

“…”

“When I asked, he answered thus. That he was carrying out the will left by his master, so he could not go to the underworld.”

“…”

“By any chance, Young Master Cheon, do you know what the Sword God’s will is?”

Cheon Mubaeck’s mind became complicated.

A will, had he left such a thing?

He had not made any particularly grand last words. He had just died when it was his time to die. But when he thought about it carefully, he had said such a thing.

The Sword Saint, who was grieving over his master’s death, had held on to him, asking if he shouldn’t catch the escaped Heavenly Demon and then leave, so he had said so.

To stop using his master and to catch the Heavenly Demon himself.

‘That bastard Baekgi… what was that one phrase, that he’s even defying heaven.’

A bitter smile appeared on Cheon Mubaeck’s lips.

Well, he was that kind of guy.

A child with a very honest character who accepted his master’s whims, which were wicked and completely unpredictable.

A guy who sometimes showed a side like a scholar who had read countless scriptures somewhere.

A good guy who followed his master’s words, whatever they were, just silently, to the point of being called stubborn.

‘Tsk. If I had known it would be like this, I should have told him to live while playing and eating to his heart’s content and to leave without any regrets.’

Cheon Mubaeck sighed inwardly.

Wasn’t he a really stubborn disciple?

To take a word thrown before death as a will, and to even defy heaven and wander around a foreign land.

‘Was the Heavenly Demon’s trail leading to a foreign land?’

While the Heavenly Demon was gathering strength in a foreign land, the Blood Demon Valley would be expanding its power and preparing for the day the Heavenly Demon returned in the martial world.

Perhaps, Cheon Mubaeck thought that the Demonic Path had been quiet until now because the Sword Saint was chasing the Heavenly Demon.

No, it was not just a guess. It must be the truth.

‘For as long as forty years, after I died, the Heavenly Demon did not move and peace was maintained.’

The Heavenly Demon at that time was strong.

He was a monster that Cheon Mubaeck, in his days as the Azure Sky Sword God, had purely admired.

Even Cheon Mubaeck thought so, so what about the other martial artists?

As soon as the news of the Azure Sky Sword God’s death was delivered, the Heavenly Demon would have immediately reinvaded the martial world.

No matter how miserably the Demonic Cult’s power had been reduced, if the Heavenly Demon was alive and the Orthodox Path did not have the Azure Sky Sword God, it was worth aiming for a grand plan.

But nothing had happened. While the Orthodox Path martial world was recovering and regaining its past glory.

‘That bastard Baekgi…’

It was all thanks to the Sword Saint.

A martial artist who had inherited everything of the Azure Sky Sword God. Because the only one who could make the Heavenly Demon flee was the Sword Saint.

‘Thanks to him, the martial world was safe.’

Cheon Mubaeck felt sorry for how lonely a fight the Sword Saint must have been fighting alone, and at the same time, he was grateful.

The process of defying heaven was followed by pain. To forcibly regenerate and maintain the dying muscles. To hold on to the flesh that would return to a handful of soil with internal energy. How miserable that pain would be.

Cheon Mubaeck’s brow furrowed.

‘How can a master let his disciple take on all the hard work alone?’

Since he had not been able to finish it in his previous life, he had to cut it off himself in this life.

Then wouldn’t the Sword Saint stop his difficult fight, saying it was some grand will?

Cheon Mubaeck made up his mind.

‘As soon as possible, I have to kill the Heavenly Demon.’

But it was impossible now.

Wasn’t it a situation where he could not even follow the divine might of his days as the Azure Sky Sword God?

Of course, to have reached this level in just four years was unprecedented in the history of the martial world, and it was a faster speed than his previous life, but it was impossible to catch the Heavenly Demon.

At that time, even as the Azure Sky Sword God, he had been overwhelmed, but he had missed the Heavenly Demon every time.

Even with the divine might of that time, although he could win, he was a difficult opponent to kill for sure.

So how would it be now?

Even though the Demonic Path had suffered enormous damage during the great war, they were now gathering their strength and were secretly active.

The authority of the Heavenly Demon was still the same. The authority that was maintained even in the situation where the Demonic Cult had miserably collapsed.

In the Demonic Path, authority came from power.

‘It must be a strength that no demon of the Demonic Path can approach.’

So it was impossible for the current Cheon Mubaeck. It was a pessimistic but surprisingly cold-headed judgment.

So.

‘Just wait a little longer. Just a little.’

If he regained his past divine might, and in the end, if he reached the sword’s edge…

As Cheon Mubaeck was silent for a long time with a hardened face without answering, the Sword Empress asked carefully.

“By any chance, is the will something that this old woman, a foreigner, cannot know?”

At that question, Cheon Mubaeck shook his head and answered with a firm tone.

“The death of the Heavenly Demon, that is, the annihilation of the Demonic Path.”

Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes flashed white.

* * *

“What. Is uncle going with us too?”

“…”

Neung-heo could not hide his bewilderment. He was so dumbfounded that he could only open and close his mouth, and no words came out.

Zhuge Seola was a good person. Neung-heo, who had lived in the Unorthodox Alliance, knew instinctively. She knew how to respect everyone, and despite her background as a famous family, she had no arrogant side at all.

‘But why is she like this to me?’

Look at Zhuge Seola, who was looking at him with narrowed eyes and a sullen expression.

Wasn’t it a clear sign of displeasure?

Neung-heo complained as if he were wronged.

“No, of course, the lord and I are like one body.”

“Neung-heo. That sounds a little disgusting.”

“…”

At Cheon Mubaeck, whom he had trusted, saying so, Neung-heo felt a considerable sense of betrayal.

Looking at Zhuge Seola’s sullen eyes, didn’t he look like a tactless guy who had cut in without any sense?

‘Hah… well.’

No, did he want to go with them? That human wouldn’t let him go.

And who was the person who had suddenly cut in, saying he would go with them?

At that sense of injustice, he glared at Zhuge Seola, but at that cat-like eye shape, Neung-heo, without realizing it, lost all his strength.

‘What kind of nerve-wracking battle am I having with that little brat…’

As he was sighing deeply, Cheon Mubaeck said, as if to change the atmosphere.

“First, I plan to meet the craftsman.”

“You mean the craftsman that the Sword Empress introduced you to?”

“Yes. The Yukga Ironworks.”

At Cheon Mubaeck’s words, Neung-heo tilted his head.

“The Yukga Ironworks, you say. Isn’t that the place where that guy, Zhuge Seon… no, ahem, the grand head, had already requested to fix the old sword and had been rejected? Because they couldn’t fix it?”

The Yukga Ironworks.

The most famous ironworks in the current martial world.

Although many martial artists wanted to obtain the weapons of the Yukga Ironworks, it was to the extent that it was difficult to obtain them with an ordinary status and reputation, as they even supplied to the imperial family.

“The person that the Sword Empress introduced me to is the retired former craftsman. I heard that he doesn’t even have the strength to hold a hammer, but the Sword Empress wouldn’t have introduced him without knowing that. So I’ll have to meet him first.”

“Wait a minute. If it’s the Yukga Ironworks, it’s in Bijuhyeon… so we can go straight to the port of Iljohyeon by boat. If we use the waterway from there, it won’t even take a few days.”

“…”

“…Why are you staring at me like that?”

“How come the route comes out so smoothly without even looking at a map?”

“Because I’m from Shandong.”

Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes widened.

The route that Neung-heo had mentioned was exactly the same as the route he had thought of.

As for himself, he had once lived as the Shandong Sword Hero and knew Shandong like the back of his hand, but.

An outsider could not say that when going to another land without even looking at a map.

But to find out that Shandong was his hometown?

“Wasn’t Henan your hometown?”

“Who lives in the Unorthodox Alliance in their hometown? I just wandered around like a water plant and settled down. Shandong is my hometown.”

At the casual tone, Cheon Mubaeck looked at Neung-heo for a moment and said.

“Then while I’m meeting the craftsman, why don’t you visit your family?”

It was for a moment.

Cheon Mubaeck did not miss the sight of Neung-heo’s expression hardening for a moment. Although it immediately changed to a blunt expression, it could not escape Cheon Mubaeck’s sharp eyes.

“That’s enough. A family, you say. Where would a member of the Unorthodox Alliance have a family? I’m a low-life who started living in the Unorthodox Alliance in Henan after wandering here and there.”

The tone of his voice was lower than usual.

But Cheon Mubaeck did not ask any further. He was not that curious.

“Anyway, I’ll go and find out about the boat.”

Neung-heo said so and moved first.

* * *

“Wow! It’s definitely different from the Yangtze River. The wind, the smell, even the waves.”

The sight of Zhuge Seola, whose hair was flying in the sea breeze, looking at the horizon with a natural expression.

Even if it was the famous Zhuge Clan, since it was located inland, it was almost impossible to experience the sea.

Was it because of that?

A red ripple continued to fluctuate on Zhuge Seola’s face, and it was full of a pleasant excitement.

Cheon Mubaeck just watched her quietly, as her appearance seemed like a pure child, unlike what she had shown so far.

“…”

“She’s pretty, right?”

At Neung-heo, who had suddenly said that from the side, Cheon Mubaeck took his eyes off her and brought up another topic.

“Why did you get this kind of boat?”

“No, I went to great lengths to get a boat. What are you talking about? Are you changing the subject because you’re shy, unlike yourself? Where else would there be such a big boat? When you go out to sea, a big boat is always good. Always. The Yangtze River is the Yangtze River, but the waves of this sea, if it’s not a big boat, oh my, don’t even mention it.”

The boat that Neung-heo had gotten was a very big boat.

It was a regular boat that went back and forth between Zhejiang and Shandong. As it was operated by a large merchant group, the boat was quite large so that it could carry various goods. From a distance, it looked like a huge cruise ship.

The advantage of such a boat was that it was stable even at sea, as Neung-heo had said. But the disadvantage was.

“It’s too slow.”

“It’s faster than going by land.”

“If we had taken a fast boat, we would have already arrived.”

Neung-heo made a wronged expression.

“No, it hasn’t even been an hour since we left…”

What kind of fast boat in the world arrives in an hour?

Because it was slow and static, looking at the sea was only for a moment.

It was to the extent that a sense of stuffiness naturally arose. Some of the passengers on the boat were even playing mahjong.

“Since the wind isn’t blowing, we have no choice but to row, and since people are rowing through the waves, it’s bound to take a long time.”

The moment Neung-heo said so and defended the boat he had gotten.

“…It won’t be boring.”

Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes flashed.

At those words, Neung-heo turned his head.

Far away, beyond the horizon, a yellow sail shot up.

And it was not just one.

“Since it’s the sea, it’s not river pirates…”

“Damn. If it’s the pirates of the Zhejiang sea, it’s troublesome.”

Unlike Neung-heo’s contorted face, a calm smile appeared on Cheon Mubaeck’s face.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep