Read Daily Updated Light Novel, Web Novel, Chinese Novel, Japanese And Korean Novel Online.
Reborn as the Doomed Heir of a Mage Dynasty (Web Novel) - Chapter 374
Chapter 374
This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl
The air had turned cold and stale. It was when the night began to creep in.
As the sun had gone down, darkness was coming naturally.
A magnificent moon had risen, but just as its light was briefly obscured by the night clouds—
Clatter.
The sound of a teacup spread quietly. Under the noise diffusing in the silent room, someone appeared inside.
"What a bother."
A voice tinged with annoyance spoke as he took his seat, staring at the tea.
Frowning at the freshly steaming tea as if it had just been poured, the man—the Tyrant King—furrowed his brow.
"I'm already busy as it is. Are you sure it's alright to just call me out like this?"
In response to his words, Baek Yun, the first elder of the Blue Moon Sect seated across from him, answered.
"It's fine. I've made sure there won't be any problems."
At that, the Tyrant King chuckled.
"That's an odd way to put it. Doesn't it sound as if we've gathered for some kind of mischief?"
"... I'm just saying it to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble."
"Fine, whatever."
Resting his chin on his hand, the Tyrant King asked Baek Yun,
"So. Did you find it?"
"..."
As he cut to the chase, Baek Yun's face distorted.
The expression alone was answer enough.
"So, you couldn't find it. Strange. Didn't you say there was a hidden storehouse?"
"... The size of the secret store room isn't small. It's just that it's taking time to retrieve the item you seek."
"That's plausible, but is it really?"
"What do you mean?"
"Yu Chun-gil. Even if you say you know about the secret store room that insane man created, do you truly know everything?"
Sword Saint Yu Chun-gil.
Even if one said they understood the secret store room created by that eccentric and bizarre man—
"That man wouldn't have made it so easy for others to see everything."
The Tyrant King spoke with a conviction that wasn't quite certainty. Baek Yun, hearing this, didn't retort.
No one knew that better than him.
'... Yu Chun-gil.'
Baek Yun clenched his fist under the table, his irritation rising.
'All these so-called Sect Leaders...'
The events that had occurred earlier in the day with the Virtuous Moon Sword—the current Sect Leader—also came to mind, souring his mood further.
Yu Chun-gil's secret store room. It had already been several years since he discovered it. He'd found it after Yu Chun-gil's death; he had gone in and out of that place many times.
'There wasn't much inside.'
Despite being called spacious, in truth, it was narrow. The items inside were, without a doubt, precious, but not what he wanted.
What he wanted was something else—
The fragments of the Blue Moon Sword Dance that he would have left behind.
That's what I'd hoped for.
'... But they weren't there.'
There was nothing. Although Yu Chun-gil had devised another variant of the Blue Moon Sword, in the end, he left nothing inside the secret store room.
'Damn bastard.'
It was obvious to anyone that Yu Chun-gil's sword technique was different from that of the Blue Moon Sect. Others tried to obtain it, but Yu Chun-gil taught it to no one.
He claimed it was because no one was worthy or talented enough.
'Yet, someone has appeared with that skill.'
Someone had appeared possessing a martial technique not even found in the secret store room.
Bang Sung-Yun. That upstart, now called the Moon Hero and claiming to be the Sword Saint's successor.
'... That kid has Yu Chun-gil's power.'
The first time I saw him, he revealed Moon Wave.
Considering his subsequent actions, it was certain—he possessed traces of Yu Chun-gil that no one else could.
The appearance of his white hair was proof of it.
'But didn't he say he burned all traces of the martial arts?'
He'd claimed to have memorized and then burned everything left by Yu Chun-gil. I didn't believe that. How could anyone contain all of that vast essence?
And to burn something so precious? Nonsense.
'... It's somewhere.'
Surely, it had to be left behind somewhere. So I stopped searching the secret store room.
With nothing else inside and the traces of martial arts in someone else's hands, there's no reason to keep looking.
'I never thought I'd end up going in again.'
What he saw before—the letter he'd found as soon as he entered the secret store room—was the problem.
All the items that were there had been taken and placed in his own space.
Among them was the letter exchanged with the Tyrant King.
'It was a message that basically said, "I put the Tyrant King's item there, go find it if you can."'
The tone was even cruder and full of sarcasm, but knowing Yu Chun-gil's filthy personality, he let it slide.
The important part was that Yu Chun-gil had taken what the Tyrant King needed.
'And claimed to have put it in his secret store room.'
Seeing this, he'd sent a message to the Tyrant King.
I told him I knew what item he was looking for, and that I knew the location of the secret store room containing it.
That's why the Tyrant King had come all the way here from Xian.
"So you're saying it will take more time to find it. That wasn't part of the deal, was it?"
"Just give me a little more time. Searching that secret store room isn't easy."
"This is why I said—let me come in with you."
"... It's located inside the Blue Moon Sect, and it's also an important space for the main sect. I can't just let an outsider in that easily."
"Hah."
At Baek Yun's words, the Tyrant King laughed.
"What a stingy excuse. Says the man who's keeping it a secret from everyone else—including even the Virtuous Moon Sword."
"..."
Baek Yun narrowed his eyes. He'd struck a nerve.
"It's only human to have desires, so I don't particularly care. That's why I didn't bother telling the Virtuous Moon Sword either. But—"
Tap, tap.
The Tyrant King drummed his finger on the table as he spoke.
"Keep your promise. Then so will I—"
His eyes turned serious as he spoke. There was a peculiar emotion that Baek Yun felt from the weight in his voice.
"Tyrant King."
"What is it?"
"What is this item you're so desperate to find?"
"I told you. Just a bracer to wear on my arm."
"You've come all the way to the Blue Moon Sect for a bracer? And Yu Chun-gil, the previous Sect Leader, went so far as to hide it?"
"That's right."
The Tyrant King answered with a bright smile. Seeing that smile, Baek Yun understood the Tyrant King's intent. And the Tyrant King didn't want to tell him.
Let's just get what we each want. That was the clear resolve behind his smile.
"Understood."
As long as it was in the secret store room, he just needed to find it somehow.
The possibility it might not be inside? He didn't consider it.
If it was Yu Chun-gil, he must have done something.
'Finding it is the issue.'
There isn't much time. Still, Baek Yun was determined to search.
"So, if I do find it, I hope you won't forget the favor I asked, Tyrant King."
"Oh, of course."
Withdrawing his body that had been leaning forward, the Tyrant King said,
"So long as you find the item—I mean,"
The request Baek Yun had made.
"I'll lend my strength for Lady Chun's participation in the sub-sect contest."
It was about Chun Hye-In.
That, he'd promised to help with as much as possible.
'As long as you find the item.'
That much was easily done.
The real question—
'... Is whether or not...'
—Baek Yun would be able to find it. And besides,
'... Something feels off.'
The secret store room—he doubted Baek Yun was the only one who knew about it.
What he saw earlier in the day—
Thinking of Bang Sung-Yun walking out from somewhere, the Tyrant King smiled.
He kept getting a strange feeling.
Oddly enough.
* * *
After finishing his conversation with Baek Yun, the Tyrant King made his way through the night.
The night was now pitch-black. The clouds were thick, and the moon was nowhere in sight.
"Hm."
The Tyrant King walked alone through that atmosphere.
Normally, being an outsider, one would expect to be watched, but the Virtuous Moon Sword intentionally chose not to keep him under surveillance.
The Tyrant King, knowing the meaning of that, couldn't help but admire his arrogance.
'He thinks, so long as we're in his territory, he has nothing to fear.'
Wherever the Tyrant King was, so long as he was within the Blue Moon Sect, the Virtuous Moon Sword would know.
So go ahead, wander as you please.
That was the meaning behind those words.
'Hmph.'
How fascinating.
'Why are all the Sect Leaders here so arrogant, generation after generation?'
The previous one, and this one too. The Tyrant King thought he was arrogant himself, but compared to these guys, he was nothing, like a worm strutting before a dragon.
'That's why I'm so curious.'
If the Virtuous Moon Sword, who inherited the seat after the Sword Saint's death, is at this level—
'How about the next one?'
Since the Virtuous Moon Sword is still in his prime, he'll remain in place for a long time.
'But you never know.'
Given the nature of the Blue Moon Sect—where only the strongest becomes Sect Leader—you never knew when things could change.
'Of course,'
That wasn't going to happen now, though.
There's no one here capable of replacing the Virtuous Moon Sword. So he'd be Sect Leader for the foreseeable future.
But the Tyrant King couldn't help but anticipate.
After all, changes came suddenly and unexpectedly.
'Anyway.'
He turned his head. The talk with Baek Yun still gnawed at him.
'Is it really here?'
Does it truly exist in this place? I couldn't help but wonder.
'... Yu Chun-gil.'
That rotten bastard had absconded with the item.
He called it a 'bracer', but to call it that was almost misleading—its true nature was something else entirely.
'Hmmm....'
Whether Baek Yun was telling the truth or not, since there was at least some information, he had to pursue it.
With the man who'd stolen it now dead, this was the only way to find it.
"Tsk."
The Tyrant King clicked his tongue. No matter how he thought about it, Baek Yun didn't seem trustworthy.
'His obvious greed is off-putting.'
He just couldn't put any trust in the man.
Thinking such thoughts, the Tyrant King was about to walk on, but—
Wuuuuuuuuuung-!
"... Hm?"
He turned his head. There was a subtle shift in the atmosphere. Though faint, the aura was noticeable, and he glanced in that direction.
"What's that?"
Off in the distance, something was emitting light. It was exceptionally visible in the darkness of night.
It really was light.
It was like the moon had risen from the ground.
"...."
Seeing this, the Tyrant King unconsciously began to move. It was pure instinct.
Thwip—!
In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance and arrived where the light was. It turned out to be a training hall. Was someone cultivating at this hour?
If you're a martial artist, of course you should, but to practice so brazenly, emitting that kind of light... That piqued his curiosity, and the Tyrant King peeked inside to see what was going on.
In that moment—
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!!!!!!
"Huh?"
The building exploded, scattering debris everywhere. Light surged upwards, piercing the heavens.
Wide-eyed, the Tyrant King stared at the brilliance.
"Ah, geez."
At the center of the fading light, someone spoke up.
"... That surprised me."
The Tyrant King saw whose voice it was. White hair, blue eyes, and a young man with a sword swirling with brilliant energy.
"Damn it. What the heck? Why did it go flying? I must be losing my mind... Ugh..."
The young man looked even more startled as he glanced back and forth between his own sword and the ravaged training hall.
The Tyrant King froze for a moment, seeing him.
Just for an instant, he'd been mistaken—
'... Yu Chun-gil?'
That young man, Bang Sung-Yun's form overlapped, for a fleeting moment, with Yu Chun-gil, the one who fought the Heavenly Demon in the Great Demon War.
