Chapter 67: Heaven-Slaying Star

The moment Do Yecheon gripped the sword, he instinctively sensed it.

That the sword the blacksmith had handed him was something entirely different from the previous one.

No—could such a thing even be described as merely "different"?

Sssaaa!

From the hand holding the sword, an unknown exhilaration surged through his body.

Simultaneously, a strange yet natural sensation awakened, as though the sword had become an extension of his hand.

‘It feels like… I’ve connected with a lost piece of my soul I didn’t even know existed.’

Do Yecheon couldn’t hide his shock.

His long-held thoughts about weapons and arms were being shattered from their very foundation.

‘I thought a sword was merely a tool to convey a martial artist’s intent…!’

And yet, all he had done was hold it.

But even that was enough to overwhelm him with countless new realizations, drawing him deep into contemplation.

It was the moment of enlightenment that allowed him to ascend to a higher realm.

And observing that sight—

“Hmph.”

Sewoon watched with a face as peaceful as when he spent his daily routines.

It was an astonishing scene—seeing a martial artist achieve enlightenment just by holding a sword.

‘Well, happens to about six out of ten, anyway.’

Even such sights, when witnessed too often, lost their novelty over time.

There was a reason why a Divine Craftsman was called divine.

Even those who weren’t among the Ten Demonic Weapons had been moved to tears upon receiving weapons forged by him.

Anyway, Sewoon had known from the start that the first sword handed to Do Yecheon had been improperly repaired.

‘Tsk, and they call that guy a senior blacksmith of the Murim Alliance.’

Though it was crafted by a senior blacksmith of the Alliance, the reason for its failure was plain to see.

They must have treated all practice swords the same, focusing solely on basic repair without regard for anything else.

Visually, it may have appeared fine.

‘Sure—on the outside, that is.’

But the moment Sewoon saw it, he knew it was garbage.

Sewoon believed that every weapon and arm bore the story and history of its wielder.

Even something as trivial as a training sword.

That was why, before repairing it, Sewoon had examined Do Yecheon’s hands.

Though Do Yecheon hadn’t noticed, Sewoon mentally overlaid the shape of his hands with the sword.

He clearly perceived the martial foundation of Mount Hua that Do Yecheon had built into the sword, along with Do Yecheon’s own unique characteristics.

And based on that accumulated insight, Sewoon refined the sword into its optimal form.

It had been reborn as a one-of-a-kind sword, made solely for Do Yecheon.

So as Sewoon patiently waited, careful not to interrupt Do Yecheon’s moment of enlightenment—

‘It should begin soon.’

He was awaiting the moment of change that would soon unfold.

And then—

Srrrk!

Clack!

All of a sudden, Do Yecheon adopted his starting stance, fully prepared to unleash his martial arts.

Sensing the start, Sewoon stepped back and observed the boy.

Do Yecheon’s eyes had clouded over like a sky full of storm clouds.

He had clearly entered a state of transcendental focus—a trance so deep he had forgotten even himself.

Sswish!

Shhh!

At last, Do Yecheon began swinging his sword.

Unlike before, he was no longer wildly hacking away at the Gonoseok.

He was now performing a proper sword dance.

A strange glint appeared in Sewoon’s eyes as he watched Do Yecheon’s movements.

‘The Plum Blossom Sword Technique…!’

It was the Twenty-Four Forms Plum Blossom Sword Technique of Mount Hua, the very technique that had once earned him the title of Sword Dragon.

But—

While the sword dance was stunningly beautiful, it was also equally perilous.

The forms Do Yecheon displayed looked to Sewoon like a vivid painting.

A withered plum blossom at the tip of a frostbitten branch, dead and devoid of all color.

There could be only one reason for this.

Ssssaaa!

That dreadful energy now radiating from the sword in his grasp.

A mysterious aura blazing with ominous savagery.

It was different from the demonic qi wielded by the demonic practitioners of the Blood Cult.

Yet it was just as horrifying.

Sewoon’s eyes narrowed lazily.

‘Even now, it’s still astounding. So this is the stellar energy of one of the highest-ranked among the Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars.’

The 108 malign stars were divided into the Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars and the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends.

Most Heavenly Stars possessed far greater stellar power than the Earthly Fiends.

And among them, the Heaven-Slaying Star ranked among the top three.

Yes—through the sword Sewoon had forged, Do Yecheon was unconsciously releasing stellar energy.

Roughly a quarter-hour passed before Do Yecheon’s seemingly endless sword dance finally ceased.

“Huff… Huff…”

Do Yecheon panted heavily.

He was barely able to stand, leaning on his sword like a cane to keep from collapsing.

Yet surprisingly, his complexion looked visibly brighter than before.

‘My body feels so light.’

Despite having expended considerable qi, his body was brimming with vitality.

He had always suffered from terrible fatigue and strain due to the effort of suppressing the energy of the Heaven-Slaying Star within him.

But now, he felt as if he had awoken from the most refreshing sleep in ages.

‘The Heaven-Slaying Star energy that was boiling inside me has calmed. No—this isn’t just calmness. It’s been partially released…!!’

Just as he was inspecting his own condition, Do Yecheon suddenly froze at a shocking sight.

‘Wh-what happened to the blade?!’

Only then did he notice the change.

The blade had turned pitch black, as though dipped in ink.

There was only one possible reason for such a transformation.

When a demonic practitioner’s demonic qi corrupts a sword—

The sword becomes a Demonic Sword.

“!!”

Do Yecheon instinctively tried to hide the sword, but his eyes met Sewoon’s.

Facing Sewoon’s expressionless gaze, Do Yecheon couldn’t hide his panic.

It was a situation for which no excuse could be made.

Even a mere child knew the tale of how a Demonic Sword came to be.

But then—

To the troubled Do Yecheon—

Sssrrk.

“!!”

Sewoon silently extended his hand.

The moment Do Yecheon saw that hand, it felt as if the sky had collapsed.

There could only be one meaning to that gesture.

Hand over the Demonic Sword and prepare to be arrested by the Court of Justice.

This wasn’t something that could simply be overlooked.

A martial artist had created a Demonic Sword right inside the Murim Alliance headquarters.

And the blacksmith's smithy was under the jurisdiction of the Alliance.

A crisis of this magnitude had to be reported up the chain of command.

Sssrrk.

Handing the sword to Sewoon, Do Yecheon involuntarily shut his eyes tight.

Soon, the enforcers of the Court of Justice would come, abolish his dantian, and imprison him in the Hall of Repentance for eternity.

But none of that mattered.

What truly weighed on him was the disgrace this would bring upon his master and sect for concealing the Heaven-Slaying Star—and the guilt of tarnishing their once-glorious name.

‘How could I possibly face Master now…?’

Just then—

Schling!

Srrling!

A strange sound reached his ears.

Do Yecheon instinctively opened his eyes.

“!!”

An unexpected sight awaited him.

Sewoon, who had received the sword, did not head for the Court of Justice.

‘…Why is he repairing it again?’

Without a word, Sewoon was using his signature thread to re-hone the blade.

Stunned, unable to comprehend the situation, Do Yecheon stared blankly—

‘W-wait a minute!?’

Upon closer inspection, it was not an ordinary repair.

Now that he had reached a higher realm, he could see more clearly by infusing qi into his gaze.

Innate True Qi?

Indeed. Incredibly, a trace amount of Innate True Qi surrounded the thread polishing the blade.

That pure, nature-like energy was restoring the blade’s original color from its pitch-black stain.

Why was this man so willingly using something as precious as Innate True Qi—for his sake?

As countless questions swirled through his mind—

Sewoon handed the now-restored sword to him and spoke.

“Again.”

“!!”

Do Yecheon didn’t need to ask what Sewoon meant by “again.”

Staring at him with eyes full of thought for a long moment—

Clack.

He finally accepted the sword once more.

His eyes clouded over again.

Sssaa!

Do Yecheon once again entered a trance and began his sword dance.

But this time…

The scenery painted by his sword strokes began to change, little by little.

The same sequence repeated again and again.

“Again.”

Each time the sword dance ended, Sewoon restored the darkened sword to white.

“Again.”

And Do Yecheon would once again lift the sword and resume his dance.

Through this process, the enlightenment Sewoon had etched into the sword naturally flowed into him.

[The sword doesn’t destroy it. It simply redirects the suppressed stellar energy in the right direction.]

[The sword is just a medium. It connects your innate nature and martial arts.]

[You will never overcome the Heaven-Slaying Star if you keep resisting your own innate nature.]

It was only natural that the scenery of the dance changed.

Following the sword’s guidance, Do Yecheon was beginning to accept, piece by piece, the essence of the Heaven-Slaying Star he had always rejected.

That Sewoon knew how to overcome the Heaven-Slaying Star—despite never having borne it himself—was no surprise.

‘Heavenly Punishment and Reverse Heaven Qi. He carried curses worse than this boy’s.’

On the day before regression when Sewoon accepted both of those powers and ascended dramatically in martial arts—

It was when, just as the Poison Demon had said, he finally acknowledged that his true nature aligned with that of a Demonic Practitioner.

And now, the final, desperate sword dance began.

‘Do Yecheon. If the Heaven-Slaying Star demands someone die—then kill them.’

Do Yecheon, future protector of the Moonlit Night who would one day devour the Demonic Alliance, and current City Lord of Sleepless Fortress—

Known as the Heaven-Slaying Sword Demon, the strongest sword of the Demonic Alliance.

‘If you don’t, others will continue to suffer from the Blood Cult’s demons.’

As Sewoon murmured—

Clatterrr!

Clatterr!

Do Yecheon’s sword no longer turned black.

Because at last, the stellar energy of the Heaven-Slaying Star had harmonized with the Purple Mist Divine Art through Sewoon’s sword.

And in that unnatural harmony that somehow fit perfectly—

The withered plum blossom began to bloom again.

Life returned to its shriveled buds.

The frozen branches stirred once more under the warmth of sunlight.

Until now, every plum blossom Do Yecheon had seen in the swords of his master and sectmates had been crimson red.

But his was slowly turning a different color.

As if revealing its true nature after the storm clouds had cleared.

‘…This is my sword.’

Blue Plum Blossom.

Within it bloomed a sky-colored flower.

Petals of the vibrant blue plum blossom blanketed the entire training hall.

Watching the magnificent spectacle he had created—

Do Yecheon recalled something his master had once told him about the blue plum blossom.

—“Yecheon-ah, the flower language of the Blue Plum Blossom is… endurance and…”

…hope.

With all his strength spent, Do Yecheon collapsed.

Clack!

Sewoon, moving like the wind, caught the unconscious boy.

He gently laid him down on the ground.

Do Yecheon, now unconscious, wore a faint smile.

‘Yeah… You’ve suffered enough. Rest a bit.’

Sewoon gazed down at him in deep thought.

Though the world had yet to realize it, Sewoon knew—those born under an ominous star could still change their fate if they gave it their all.

Because before regression, he had seen people with such cursed stars ultimately pass into the fate of lucky ones.

“Well, I’d say Mount Hua is mostly a success now.”

Just as Sewoon quietly congratulated himself—

Thud-thud-thud!

“…?”

Suddenly, loud footsteps echoed in his ears.

Fwip!

Clang!

In a flash, a group of martial artists surrounded the training hall where he stood.

They all wore martial uniforms marked with the character “法” (Law) on one arm.

A Captain, seemingly their leader, shot a cold glare and declared to Sewoon—

“In the name of the Murim Alliance, we will now arrest the criminal, Unhwi!”

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