Published at 18th of March 2026 6:27 am

Chapter 406

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"Why?"

Chun Hye-in asked calmly.

Why?

Did she really ask why?

Is this something to be so calm about?

"... No, what do you mean, why?"

"There's nothing strange about it, is there?"

"It's strange no matter how you look at it! How is it not strange?"

I felt like I could laugh from the absurdity of it all.

Of course, I shouldn't laugh.

"... The Virtuous Moon Sword... do you really mean to kill the Sect Leader?"

The thing she needed to kill her father, the Virtuous Moon Sword. Chun Hye-in had clearly said as much.

At that, Chun Hye-in let out a small scoff.

"Why not? Doesn't every family have at least one intense secret?"

"Are you just going to write this off as a family issue?"

"It is a family issue. Young master Bang must have grown up in a decent familymaybe you just don't understand."

"...."

Hmm.

'... My family's not all that decent, either.'

If anything, it was a scattered family. When all three children have different mothers, isn't that already a mess?

But still.

'Her side is pretty intense too.'

The fact that she stated so bluntly that she wanted to kill her own father made it obvious her family was pretty messed up too.

Not that I'd ever expected things over there to be normal.

'But still, though.'

I'd never once thought about wanting to kill my own father.

Ah, well, I may have wished he'd get into fewer incidents and break a bone or two to calm down, but that's different.

"Everyone has their circumstances. Even if that wasn't the case."

Chun Hye-in's blue eyes stared straight at me.

"The Blue Moon Sect is a place where everyone dreams of the Sect Leader's death. So why should I be any different?"

To become the Sect Leader, you had to defeat the strongest martial artist.

So everyone in the Blue Moon Sect wanted to defeat the Virtuous Moon Sword, but

"... I don't know. This feels very different."

Her words didn't resonate with me. Our values clashed.

"What's so different about it?"

"If you want to split hairs, most people in the Blue Moon Sect want not so much the Virtuous Moon Sword's death, but rather to defeat him. What you want isn't that, lady Chun."

Wanting someone dead, and wanting to win over them.

Those are fundamentally different things. There was death in her eyes.

"Perhaps that's true."

She didn't deny it.

"But does it matter?"

"..."

She was almost brazen about it.

"The real issue is whether you'll accept my offer or not."

"Are you talking about your conditionfor keeping quiet about the secret passage?"

"Yes. But that alone isn't enough."

With an expressionless face, Chun Hye-in pulled something out.

"I'll give you one more thing."

"One more thing?"

"To make the deal worth your while, don't you think?"

"..."

What else does she have? I narrowed my eyes.

"I don't think you'll hate it."

"And what's that, exactly?"

"I'll tell you if you accept. So, what will you do?"

"... Ah, so I have to accept first for the deal to go through?"

"Yes."

"And if I refuse, will you do what you did earlier and threaten to cut your own throat?"

"That's also part of the plan."

"Wow, this..."

I let a short laugh slip as I spoke.

"You're even more insane than I thought."

I couldn't help but say it as it came to mind.

"Thanks for the compliment."

Chun Hye-in grinned at that.

'A sword, huh.'

She said she'd keep quiet in exchange for finding her some sort of sword, plus

'And she even has something more to give...'

She said she had something else for me. I wondered how valuable that was.

'And if I refuse...'

Her expression suggested she'd threaten me by putting her own life on the line.

How ridiculous.

'To say she'd kill herself in front of me.'

How utterly annoying.

I could easily stop her. What was important here was that she was desperate enough to threaten me like that.

My mind cooled a little. Was I disappointed in Chun Hye-in? Maybe.

No, actually. There was nothing to be disappointed about in the first place.

In the end, the only thing to consider was

'Should I agree, or not?'

I hesitated. Could I trust Chun Hye-in, who was connected to Baek Yeon?

'I can't.'

Trust isn't the issue. Chun Hye-in and I were never in the kind of relationship where trust, or lack thereof, would matter.

There was only one thing I needed to considerwhether this would benefit me or not.

'Even if I refuse...'

Did I have to kill Chun Hye-in to keep her mouth shut?

'That would be a bit much.'

If that were the case, I wouldn't have saved her just now. Chun Hye-in must have been suspicious of me as well.

That suspicion simply became certainty in this moment.

'...'

My brief contemplation ended.

"Let's do it."

"...!"

Chun Hye-in's eyes widened at my answer.

"But I can't give you any guarantees, since I don't even know if the sword exists. If I find it, I'll hand it over. But I'll attach my own condition."

"A condition?"

"I'll state it when I find it. Will you agree?"

"... You'll name your terms if you find it? Hmm."

Chun Hye-in deliberated for a moment, then extended her hand.

"Let's do it."

"..."

We clasped hands. The deal was done. As soon as we finished, she said to me,

"What I'll give you is information."

"... Information?"

So that's what she was going to give me? I narrowed my eyes.

"If it's something you already know, sorry, but I'll ask anyway."

"Go ahead."

"Did you know that the Sword Saint kept one more secret vault?"

"... What?"

I frowned. There was another secret vault?

"You didn't know?"

"I've never heard anything like that, no?"

This was news to me. I'd never heard about it before.

"That's good, then."

Chun Hye-in nodded. There really was another secret vault?

'But why didn't he say anything?'

It wasn't odd that Yu Chun-gil kept it from me. That man was full of secrets. But

'If it was about a secret vault, you'd think he might've mentioned it.'

As I puzzled over that

"What I'm about to tell you is the location of that secret vault."

"... The location...? Where is it?"

"Northern Sea."

"Huh?"

"I heard it's in the land of White Nights where the Bow Ghost resides."

Chun Hye-in said.

***

I left the secret vault, and morning arrived.

"Ahh..."

I got out of bed with a groan, feeling fatigue wash over me. Damn it.

"... Should've just rested."

Last night, I'd entered the Mind Realm again. I wanted another bout with Yu Chun-gil.

I couldn't spend any more time in the third room, and since Chun Hye-in said she should leave, we exited through the passage.

'See you next time.'

Chun Hye-in bid farewell in a matter-of-fact tone, as if the conversation and everything that had just happened were nothing at all.

'... Haaa.'

From my perspective, it felt like a hurricane had just blown through.

'Chun Hye-in...'

Just one of the Seven Geniuses.

Daughter of the Virtuous Moon Sworda tricky figure.

Up until now, I'd just considered her a smart, gifted individual.

'I was wrong about her.'

I had to revise my estimate.

'She's more complicated and difficult than I thought.'

Far more so than I'd realized.

'There's depth to her.'

Her circumstances, her situation, all went far deeper than I knew.

'I got some sense of that from watching Chun Uijin as well.'

It seemed the Chun family was all sorts of chaos.

"A sword to kill one's father, huh?"

I had no idea why she thought Yu Chun-gil would have such a thing.

'... But maybe he does?'

He was the kind of guy who'd stash away all kinds of things, so it wouldn't be surprising.

"Hm."

Nodding to myself, I went outside. It was past noon already, time to get moving.

The Blue Wave Festival wasn't over yet.

As I walked down the road, my mind wandered.

'Another secret vault.'

Apparently, Yu Chun-gil's other secret vault was in Northern Sea.

'Does that make sense?'

Why would it be there?

'Is this even true?'

I didn't know if it was true, but since Chun Hye-in offered it up as valuable information, I had to give it some thought.

'Hmm...'

I scratched my head.

'Northern Sea.'

A land I didn't know well. All I knew was it's a place of heavy snowfall.

And

'... A separate martial world, so to speak.'

It was a land apart from here, and also

'Home of the Northern Sea Ice Palace.'

The rulers of Northern Sea. That was where the woman called the Bow Ghost resided.

'Of all places, Northern Sea...'

I'd only recently found out that the Bow Ghost did not get along with the Blue Moon Sect.

'And the old man's secret vault is in Northern Sea'

That was hard to believe. Even if it was true

'There's no way I could get there.'

How am I supposed to go somewhere that far?

"Tsk."

I clicked my tongue. Honestly, if I wanted, I could just confirm it with him directly.

'If only he'd show up so I could ask...'

But Yu Chun-gil was still missing. Where had he gone, anyway?

With this much time passed, you'd think he'd show by now, but the old man hadn't appeared.

Just then

"It's the Moon Hero."

"... Definitely him..."

I suddenly overheard whispering voices. I turned my head to see disciples.

They flinched when I looked their way and quickly averted their gaze.

Not that I couldn't hear what they were saying anyway.

'I already tended to get looks, but'

Maybe it was because of yesterday's Martial Tournament, but the gazes felt more intense. The murmurings were a bonus.

He was strong, but I didn't think he'd be that strong.

So he's really the Sword Saint's successor.

They called him the Hero of Henan, and I guess that wasn't just talk.

"..."

I scratched my cheek. It's funny, how quickly people's judgments change.

'I was surprised myself, to be honest.'

Whether it was thanks to rebirth, or just something I hadn't noticed before.

I was much stronger than I'd expected. Well

'If you're in the Transcendent realm, you're not exactly weak.'

That used to be a level I couldn't even dream of reaching.

All my life, I used to think I'd be satisfied as a second-rate martial artist.

'And now I've reached the Transcendent realm.'

In just over a year, maybe a little more, my level had risen this much.

Reflecting on that, I suddenly remembered something Yu Chun-gil had said.

'The World's Greatest.'

He had once said he would make me the greatest under heaven for his own goals.

It turned out he really meant it, and by following Yu Chun-gil, I'd somehow ended up here.

Clank.

I checked the sword at my waist.

I gripped the Divine Sword. There was no special reason, just a way of suppressing my rising energy.

"Oh dear..."

"...!"

I heard a voice behind me and turned to see a squinting young manthe Virtuous Moon Sword's successor, keeping some distance.

It looked like he'd tried to raise a hand as if to drape an arm over my shoulder.

"Ahaha, I just wanted to act a little chummy. I guess you didn't like that?"

"..."

When did he get so close? I hadn't noticed him approach at all.

"Ahh, sorry, sorry. Not everyone likes people invading their personal space."

So he'd been trying to put his arm around my shoulders.

"What's this about?"

The annoyance in my voice was obviousI was bothered that I hadn't sensed him approaching.

"It's nothing much. I just wanted to say you were cool yesterday."

"..."

"And I'm looking forward to seeing more. You've changed... well..."

He gave me an up-and-down look with those squinted eyes.

"I'm looking forward to it. Well, see you around."

He flashed a bright smile and brushed past me. I gave him a strange ook as he went.

More precisely

'... He's at it again.'

Not the Virtuous Moon Sword's successor himself, but that enormous spiritual ki following him like a shadow.

It had taken on the shape of an eyeball, staring right at me.

No matter what

'I'll have to get rid of that first.'

It bothered me too much. Looks like I'll have to break it.

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