CFZ

“Damn it.”
I scratched my head awkwardly as the gazes poured in.

I didn’t expect it to unravel this quickly.
Forcing a smile didn’t help—no one laughed. Instead, their eyes were wide open, all focused solely on me.
The attention was overwhelming.

‘Wait, is this really something to be so shocked about?’
I honestly couldn’t understand why they were so surprised.
‘Why the hell couldn’t they do something this simple?’

They kept making excuses about why this wouldn’t work or why that wouldn’t work, dragging things out unnecessarily.
I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
‘Is this really that hard?’

What’s so difficult about it? Just do what’s right in front of you.
“Hm…”
Doubt crept in.

Was I the weird one?
Judging by how shocked they were, maybe I really did do something unusual…
‘What is it?’

I thought about it carefully.
Why were they looking at me like I was some kind of monster?
What made this so hard for them?
‘Was it because of the Heart Sight?’

The ability to see differences in energy flows—that might be it.
The reason probably boiled down to whether or not they possessed Heart Sight.
Heart Sight allowed one to read the flow of Qi and use it to decipher formations effortlessly.
Which meant…
‘Is Heart Sight specialized for breaking formations too?’

That could be it.
Otherwise, their reactions wouldn’t make sense.
But then…

‘Why the hell didn’t Paejon tell me about this?’
Now that was the biggest question.
Paejon should’ve mentioned if Heart Sight had this kind of application, yet he didn’t. That was suspicious.

“Hm.”
I decided to ask him about it later.
Ssssshhhhh—

The barrier that had been slowly dissolving vanished completely from the area surrounding the pavilion.
The formation that had trapped several elite masters and dozens of Hwagyeong martial artists was now gone without a trace.
“It’s broken!”

“The barrier’s down…!”
“Leader—!!”
“Hurry and get the division head!”

As soon as the barrier fell, the martial artists erupted into motion.
The pavilion was tall, but since they were all martial artists, climbing it took no time at all.
Watching their hurried movements, I narrowed my eyes.

‘Done.’
Things hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but the barrier was broken.
And far quicker than I’d anticipated.

That was enough.
This would be more than enough to set the stage for the final part of the plan.
Thud.

Someone landed nearby.
I felt the air suddenly grow colder.
The presence was sharp—unmistakably oppressive.

‘Shit.’
I had to stop myself from laughing the moment I saw who it was.
It was the Sword Saint, the current leader of the Martial Alliance.

His expression twisted into a deep frown, making no effort to hide his emotions.
No matter how much I underestimated him, he was still one of the Ten Great Masters of Zhongyuan.
The aura he radiated forced everyone nearby to shrink back instinctively.

That was how overpowering his presence was.
“….”
Before anyone else could approach, the Sword Saint took a step forward—and suddenly stiffened.

He’d spotted the Heavenly Lord.
“…Senior.”
The Sword Saint addressed him first.

“It’s been a while. Or should I call you Leader now?”
“What brings you here?”
Though the Heavenly Lord was smiling, the Sword Saint’s expression remained dark.

No—actually, it seemed to grow even worse.
“I was told you’d stepped away from the front lines and asked not to be contacted.”
“That’s true. I still feel the same way.”

“Then why…?”
“Hmm.”
The Heavenly Lord paused mid-sentence and looked at me.

I immediately shook my head.
“I had a few matters to tend to.”
“…”

Thankfully, that shut down any mention of me—at least for now.
Of course, the rumors would spread eventually, and the Sword Saint would hear about it sooner or later. But I didn’t want to deal with that just yet.
The Sword Saint’s mention of the Heavenly Lord drew more eyes toward him.

It seemed like most of them hadn’t even realized he was here until now.
“The Heavenly Lord is here?”
“Wait—was that thunderstrike earlier his doing?”

The monster summoning site was pretty far away, but the lightning strike had been so massive that it could be seen from here.
Honestly, it would’ve been strange if they hadn’t noticed it.
“Did you assist us, Senior?”

“No, not really. I just helped out a little at the end. The real work was done by others.”
“…”
“It looks like you’ve been through some trouble. Are you all right, Leader?”

“…That’s none of your concern, Senior.”
The Sword Saint’s voice was low and steady as he responded to the Heavenly Lord.
“This is an internal matter of the Martial Alliance. I’ll handle it myself.”

“…Hmm.”
The Heavenly Lord let out a quiet hum, clearly dissatisfied.
“Leader.”

“…Yes.”
The Sword Saint looked ready to snap at any moment.
The Heavenly Lord studied him for a while before finally speaking again.

“I’ve been down this road myself. It only pulls you in deeper—you won’t find your way out.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Someday, I hope you’ll understand. Before it’s too late, like it was for me.”

“…”
The Sword Saint frowned at those words but said nothing more.
He had more pressing matters to deal with anyway.

“…Call the Azure Dragon and Flying Dragon Captains.”
“Yes—!”
“Y-yes…!”

Two martial artists stepped forward immediately, bowing respectfully to the Sword Saint.
“Take some time to assess the situation and report back to me with the details.”
“…Understood.”

The captains moved out, and the Sword Saint’s gaze shifted.
It landed on me.
“…”

His eyes were filled with countless emotions, hard to put into words.
I stared back at him, wondering if he expected me to bow.
I waited for a moment, but then—

“It seems you’re the one who broke the barrier.”
“Yes.”
I nodded.

So that’s what he wanted to know?
“How did you do it?”
“…Excuse me?”

I blinked in surprise.
What kind of question was that?
“…I just did it?”

The Sword Saint’s face twisted in response.
But I couldn’t help it.
“No, seriously. I just did it.”

I couldn’t explain it even if I wanted to.
“I saw a weak spot, so I tore it apart.”
“…”

Technically, I noticed a loose point and pulled. I hadn’t expected it to actually work.
“…Anyway, isn’t it good enough that it worked?”
I tried to wrap it up quickly, but the Sword Saint didn’t look convinced.

His glare only intensified.
“That barrier trapped both martial masters and even high-level Hwagyeong warriors. And yet, you broke it with ease? That’s hard to believe.”
“…”

Ah, so that’s it.
I finally understood.
The old man…

‘He’s suspicious of me.’
It made sense.
The formation had even stumped the Bima School, who were renowned for their mastery of formations.

Yet I had ripped it apart like it was nothing.
And to top it off—
‘It’s weird that I even showed up here in the first place.’

Appearing out of nowhere with the Heavenly Lord probably made me seem even more suspicious.
‘Shit.’
He’s sharper than I thought.

‘I guess I was a little too reckless.’
I didn’t expect him to doubt me this quickly.
This old man wasn’t as simple as he looked.

   *****************
   
Rumble—!!
A massive shadow loomed over the skies of Hanam.

It was so enormous that it could be seen clearly even from a considerable distance.
Something ominous was unfolding.
“…Damn it… this is bad.”

A burly man with thick, dark-green hair—Tang Deok—gritted his teeth.
“…Shit.”
He suddenly remembered something he had forgotten in the heat of the moment.

He’d been ordered to arrive on time.
But now—
“…”

Realization dawned, and Tang Deok’s face turned pale.
If he admitted to forgetting, he was bound to face something far worse than the pain he was feeling now.
Thunk!

With a grimace, Tang Deok yanked out the blade lodged in his abdomen and tossed it to the ground.
Blood spurted from the wound, but he ignored it.
The fear of what awaited him outweighed the pain.

“This is all your fault.”
Tang Deok glared at someone with resentment.
The owner of the blade—the man he had just been fighting.

A young man knelt on one knee, trying to steady his breath.
It was Peng Woojin, the Sword King.
Despite his battered appearance, Peng Woojin glared back at Tang Deok.

His left arm was twisted unnaturally, and blood poured from a deep wound in his abdomen.
He looked like he could collapse at any moment.
Yet, Peng Woojin didn’t even groan.

Instead, his eyes burned with determination.
He wasn’t done yet.
His crazed gaze made Tang Deok chuckle despite himself.

“You really are something. I like you.”
“…”
Tang Deok’s bloody smile was just as unsettling.

His wrist dangled, barely ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ connected, and the blade embedded in his abdomen hadn’t been stabbed—it had sliced clean through.
He had stopped just short of being cut in half.
Both of them looked like walking corpses.

The only difference was that Peng Woojin was kneeling, while Tang Deok was still standing.
And that made all the difference.
“I’ll be honest. I wanted to kill you here and now.”

Thunk.
Tang Deok rested his crescent blade on his shoulder.
“But if I stay any longer, it won’t be you who kills me—it’ll be someone else.”

“…Are you running away…?”
“Call it what you will.”
Tang Deok grinned even wider as he looked at Peng Woojin.

“…I’m not… done yet….”
“What’s your name?”
Tang Deok cut him off, asking for his name instead.

Peng Woojin coughed up blood before answering.
“Peng Woojin….”
“I’m Tang Deok.”

They exchanged names.
It might’ve seemed sentimental, but their voices were thick with bloodlust.
“The next time we meet, I’ll kill you. Peng Woojin.”

“…Wait—”
Boom—!!
Before Peng Woojin could finish, Tang Deok leaped away, leaving a trail of blood behind.

Peng Woojin staggered and steadied himself against the ground.
The aftermath of their battle was pure devastation.
It was impossible to tell this had once been a forest.

“Cough.”
Peng Woojin spat out a mouthful of blood and turned to look behind him.
Amid the ruined trees, one solitary tree remained standing.

Beneath it lay a corpse.
It was Peng Zhou—his father, the Blade King.
Peng Woojin had suffered these fatal wounds trying to protect him.

He stared at his father’s lifeless body—the man he had killed with his own hands.
Peng Woojin let out a bitter laugh.
“…You were useless… even in the end.”

With those words, Peng Woojin collapsed.
Not long after, he was discovered by the Martial Alliance’s search team, drawn to the area by the sound of their battle.