Chapter 72: Removal of the Brand (4)
"May I… may I ask you something?"
"To me? Sure. Go ahead."
Though the tone was frivolous, at odds with his overwhelming presence, Woo Jeong-hak couldn’t afford to care.
"Is… is all of this… your plan?"
Woo Jeong-hak trembled as he forced the Black Wilds Swordords out, overwhelmed by the sheer presence of the man before him.
"That’s right. The spell that breaks the barrier by sacrificing a thousand humans. I’m the one who sent it down to the lower realm."
He wanted to ask why he would do such a thing, but his mouth wouldn’t move. He couldn’t ask any more questions and simply stared at the ground.
"You want to ask why, don’t you?"
Instead, it was the handsome young man who opened his mouth.
"I made a deal with a True Immortal from the upper realm."
In exchange for killing the one he was chasing when that being ascended to the Middle Heaven Realm, the True Immortal agreed to help the man.
"From the True Immortal’s perspective, helping me wouldn’t have been easy either, but compared to acting directly in the Middle Heaven Realm, this was easier. That’s why the deal was made."
Those who had ascended could never return to the lower realms.
Heaven did not allow it.
However, the man, borrowing the True Immortal’s power while he deceived heaven for a moment, sent down a part of himself to the lower realm—just like now.
Moreover, the True Immortal distributed the spell the man had created to various lower realms, allowing those who needed it to obtain it.
"The spell you used wasn’t for you. It was for me."
A spell that crossed the barrier by sacrificing a thousand lives.
From the beginning, the spell contained the man’s power, so the one who activated it couldn’t control the force they gathered.
Once the spell was activated, it would signal the man, who would then descend to the lower realm with the True Immortal’s help and absorb the gathered power and life force.
It was, in essence, harvesting the accumulated energy.
"Isn’t it an efficient method? There’s no need to struggle in life."
Unlike the martial artists who were enemies of the Path of Ascension, the man was willing to do anything to gain power.
Even if it wasn’t the way of the Martial World.
"Ah, are you not following what I’m saying?"
This was the lower realm.
Not the Path of Ascension, but the Martial World.
As expected, Woo Jeong-hak didn’t fully understand terms like True Immortal.
He merely grasped that by taking the hand extended by an incomprehensible existence, he had brought about his own destruction.
"Anyway, that’s how it is."
Finishing his words with a smile, the man extended his hand.
At that moment, Woo Jeong-hak’s body lifted into the air and began to emit a dark blue light.
Through his nose and mouth, the qi he had gathered turned into dark blue smoke and flowed toward the man.
Simultaneously, a massive formation began to glow, turning the life force and energy of the surrounding thousand people into blue smoke and sending it to the man as well.
As the smoke approached him, the man inhaled deeply.
With just one breath, he effortlessly absorbed the life force and internal energy of a thousand people.
"Hmmmmm."
The man took a deep breath, drunk on the rising power.
"Still not enough."
Even after harvesting over twenty times, it still wasn’t enough to surpass the six who called themselves gods in the Middle Heaven Realm.
After finishing the harvest, the man turned again toward the silver hand.
"Jang Woo-hyun, huh… what an interesting guy."
An existence of the Middle Heaven Realm who had made a pact with the True Immortal.
Since he had absorbed part of Woo Jeong-hak’s memory, he now knew Jang Woo-hyun’s name.
"I’ll have to meet him at least once."
Judging from the memory, Jang Woo-hyun was incredibly skilled.
With that level of ability, he might be the very target of the being the man had contracted with.
Ending the thought, the man stepped once more onto the silver hand.
The giant hand curled into a fist, enclosing the man.
Moments later, blue smoke gushed out, forming a ring, and the enormous hand disappeared into it.
* * *
The modification of Dragon King's Scale was completed faster than expected.
With an exhausted face, Cho-su came to find Jang Woo-hyun and led him to the workshop, where Cho-yul, looking even more tired than Cho-su, was waiting.
"Here it is."
Dragon King's Scale, handed over by Cho-yul, didn’t seem to have changed much.
The hilt was different, but since it was originally from Black Wilds Sword, it didn’t mean the weapon itself had changed drastically.
"What’s different about it?"
"Try holding it first."
At those words, Jang Woo-hyun lifted Dragon King's Scale.
"Hmm."
It felt different from before.
Dragon King's Scale wasn’t originally a sword, so its center of gravity had always been off. But now it felt balanced. And the hilt fit perfectly in his hand.
"Now try separating it."
Following Cho-yul’s instruction, he transformed Dragon King's Scale into its form with many bladed scales.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, the hilt in his hand disappeared, and a bracelet formed around his wrist.
Fascinated by the function, Jang Woo-hyun examined his wrist with a blank expression.
"You were carrying around a broken sword before, right? I thought that would be inconvenient, so I made it this way. I heard you're not good with legal weapons. This doesn’t have any complicated functions, so I figured it’d be fine. What do you think?"
In response to Cho-yul’s question, Jang Woo-hyun circulated his qi to transform the bracelet back into a hilt. After switching between bracelet and hilt several times, he finally smiled.
"This is great. I never imagined something like this was possible."
To Jang Woo-hyun, who had just come up from the lower realm, it seemed like a special ability, but to Cho-yul and Cho-su, it wasn’t anything difficult.
All it required was transforming the hilt and the small blade portion connected to it into a bracelet.
"That’s not all. As I suspected, this thing really is a growing weapon. It devoured everything I gave it."
"What? Devoured? What did you do to say that?"
"I used a phoenix feather, the heart of a mountain fire beast, and the core of the great evil."
"……"
He had only heard of the phoenix. But based on context, he could guess they were valuable materials.
"The fusion hasn’t fully completed yet, so you won’t be able to use it immediately, but it should be ready soon. Especially since you’re the one chosen by this weapon."
"How do I use it?"
"You’ll find out eventually. This weapon will let you know. For now, we need to do something else, so sit here and take off your clothes."
"My clothes?"
Jang Woo-hyun was startled by the sudden instruction to undress. It came out of nowhere.
"It’s because of your left shoulder. Just take off your top."
Only then did Jang Woo-hyun realize they were about to deal with the brand left behind by the Great Sage of the Flowing Wind.
While he undressed, Cho-su prepared something, and Cho-yul brought over a box covered in talismans, just like last time.
With a black bone arm strapped on, Cho-yul opened the box and pulled out a sword. Cho-su, standing beside him, then attached a ring-like object to the sword’s hilt.
"Looks like it’s ready."
Cho-su, who had fitted the ring, approached Jang Woo-hyun and stuck something taken from a small metal box onto his shoulder before stepping back.
"I’ll gift you this sword."
Cho-yul extended a sword toward him.
A black blade with a subtle violet tint. It emitted a sinister, ominous black smoke.
"Uh… no matter how I look at it, that thing looks way too dangerous. Do I really have to accept it?"
At Jang Woo-hyun’s appalled expression, the two chuckled.
"You're right—it is a dangerous sword. It emits a curse."
"And you're giving it to me?"
"But you're fine. Do you see what I just attached to your shoulder?"
Jang Woo-hyun turned his head and looked down at what Cho-su had affixed to him.
Firmly attached to his shoulder was a small, thin metal plate in silver and gold.
Covered in tightly packed small script, the plate itself was a type of formation.
"That metal plate is linked to this thing here."
Cho-yul pointed at the ring fitted on the sword’s hilt.
"It suppresses the curse of the sword using the power of the brand.
We can’t erase the brand left by the Great Sage of the Flowing Wind. But the reverse is also possible—suppressing the brand’s power using the curse. From now on, even the Sentinels won’t be able to sense anything from you."
"It won’t erase the brand completely, but while you're out and about, it’ll keep you from drawing attention due to it. Others won’t be able to easily recognize it either."
"For now, just carry the sword. You can use it in emergencies, but try not to if you can help it. It's no ordinary sword."
It was still clearly a frightening weapon, but after hearing the explanation, Jang Woo-hyun decided to accept it.
Who knew what might happen in the future—he couldn’t afford to walk around while reeking of the brand’s power. Someone might recognize it.
"Does this sword have a name?"
"It doesn’t. We didn’t make it. We just happened to acquire it by chance. It’s difficult to wield. Unless you’re a monster of the level of the Great Sage of the Flowing Wind, it’s hard to suppress. All I could do was keep it locked in that box. Honestly, if it weren’t for the brand on your shoulder, I wouldn’t have handed it to you—or even shown it."
"Then maybe I could name it…"
At Jang Woo-hyun’s suggestion, Cho-yul shook his head.
"Don’t. This sword is steeped in resentment and rage. It seems like someone forged it purely for revenge. A grudge so deep and bitter that it turned into a curse. Don’t name it lightly. If you ever need to refer to it, just call it the black sword. Naming it isn’t a trivial matter. You might end up entangled in its fate if you do."
‘Should I really be taking this?’
The more he heard, the more Jang Woo-hyun felt just how dangerous the sword was.
But if he didn’t take it, he had no other way to suppress the brand’s power.
‘I’ll just carry it for now.’
In the end, he returned to square one and reached a decision.
Nodding to Cho-yul’s repeated warning about naming the sword, Jang Woo-hyun agreed to heed the advice.
After that, Cho-yul handed him a special scabbard for the black sword, along with the original box it had been kept in.
"I’ll give you this box as well. If you ever manage to neutralize the brand on your shoulder, don’t use the sword—just store it in here and bring it back."
Jang Woo-hyun had come hoping to receive a single artifact, but ended up with a modified Dragon King's Scale and a cursed black sword.
* * *
After resolving the issue of the brand at Cho-yul’s house, Jang Woo-hyun and the group returned to the Azure Dragon Martial Hall. Son I-rang had left earlier, so only three of them made the return trip.
"Looks like we’ve got an uninvited guest."
As the three of them landed in the clearing in front of the martial hall using their flying artifact, they saw the shattered front gate of Azure Dragon Martial Hall.
Kwak Yu-chan, having stowed the flying artifact into his storage tool, was already holding a spear in his hand.
He slung the spear across his shoulder and walked toward the hall.
Crossing the broken gate, they saw a figure standing in the middle of the training ground.
Dressed in a gray martial robe, the figure wasn’t human. In areas not covered by his clothes, gray fur could be seen—he was a wolf beastman.
"You, who are you?"
Kwak Yu-chan asked sharply, standing with a slanted posture.
There was no way he’d speak politely to someone who had broken into his home.
"No one answered when I called. So I opened the door in my own way."
"What? The hell is this bastard saying after barging into someone’s house?"
"I am Kang Yung of the Beast King Sect."
Due to his different vocal structure from humans, his speech sounded more like a growl.
The wolf beastman named Kang Yung slowly walked forward, stopping in front of the three.
"I heard our tribe owed a debt to the humans the other day."
"So? You here to repay that favor?"
At that question, Kang Yung’s expression changed. Though his face was wolf-like, it was clear he was smiling.
"That can come later. I heard you're quite skilled. Mind showing me?"
As he spoke, a fierce aura exploded from him and spread outward.
* * *
Ten Sects and Three Clans
The Ten Sects and Three Clans were ten prominent sects and three powerful families that held great influence in the Middle Heaven Realm’s Martial World.
‘The Nine Great Sects of the Middle Heaven Realm’s Martial World.’
That’s how Jang Woo-hyun understood the phrase when he first heard it. It was the easiest way to think of it.
But there were a few differences between the Ten Sects and Three Clans and the Nine Great Sects or the Ten Demonic Paths of the Central Plains.
The first was the scale of the sects.
Because the Middle Heaven Realm was so vast, its scale differed entirely from the Central Plains.
Even the smaller sects had over ten thousand members, while the largest had several hundred thousand.
The second difference was the composition of members.
The Central Plains, regardless of minor differences, were made up entirely of humans. But that wasn’t the case with the Ten Sects and Three Clans.
Some sects included multiple races.
Among them, the Beast King Sect was especially famous.
Beast King Sect
In the Central Plains, there were sects with beast-related names like the Beast Alliance or Myriad Beast Manor.
However, the Beast King Sect of the Middle Heaven Realm was fundamentally different from them.
Because the Middle Heaven Realm had beastmen, the Beast King Sect was made up of both humans and beastmen.
Among the beastmen tribes, some acted less like humans and more by primal instinct—like the Kang Yung standing before them now.
Seeing Kang Yung suddenly flare up and challenge them, Kwak Yu-chan was speechless.
To act this way toward someone who saved your tribe—this crossed a serious line.
"Wow, you Beast King Sect bastards really have no sense of basic manners. I knew you were wild, but you’re downright animals."
"Animals? Khahaha, yes, we’re beasts—beasts that can rip out a human’s throat anytime."
His eyes, full of bloodlust, locked onto Kwak Yu-chan.
The viciousness of his aura was enough to make even seasoned martial artists wet themselves, but Kwak Yu-chan remained calm.
"Woohyun."
"Yes?"
"You any good at beating up dogs?"
"No, sir. I raised a pet dog when I was little."
"A pet dog? What do you mean?"
"Uh… it’s a thing. Why do you ask?"
"Why do you think?"
Kwak Yu-chan gestured with his chin toward the growling Kang Yung.
Jang Woo-hyun understood the intention. He also understood exactly who that “dog” referred to.
"I don’t usually hit pets… but if a dog bites a person, it needs to be disciplined."
Glaring at Kang Yung, Jang Woo-hyun stepped forward.
The bite hadn’t happened yet, but before a dog bite incident occurred, it needed to be corrected.