Alberu Crossman lightly adjusted the bamboo hat he was wearing.
At so point, he had already changed into the attire of the Lan Kingdom.
A long outer robe with wide sleeves and flowing hems.
“Your guard changed?”
He heard the murmuring voices, but Alberu stood silently behind the Heavenly Demon without the slightest concern.
—Your Highness, Your Highness. Doesn’t our human look awfully fussy?
He nearly let out a snort.
He barely managed to suppress the laugh that slipped out without him realizing it.
“Young Master, why don’t you try this? I prepared this drink to help you relax before the first preliminary match.”
Cale was carrying out the role of attendant extrely diligently.
—Your Highness, that’s definitely going to be a sour drink!
“...I see.”
The Heavenly Demon’s face crumpled, and when Raon’s bright voice rang out again—
“Pfft.”
Alberu had no choice but to hold back his laughter.
“......”
“......”
The Heavenly Demon and Cale looked at Alberu.
Sothing vaguely displeased could be felt in the eyes visible beyond the bamboo hat, but Alberu remained composed.
“The guard has changed.”
At that mont, a woman approached.
Hyun Seong of the Snow Flower Sect.
She had co as a representative of the all-female martial artist group among the five major powers of the Lan Kingdom.
The younger sister of the Sect Leader greeted Kim Hae-Yi, the Heavenly Demon, in a fairly friendly manner.
“Are you competing today?”
“That’s right.”
The roughly three hundred preliminary participants.
Their order had been randomized again, and matches would be held across three venues over the course of a week.
“......”
Kim Hae-Yi simply nodded without saying much, and Hyun Seong too smiled as if she had nothing more to say before turning away.
Of course, she left behind one remark.
“I heard assassins attacked.”
“......”
When the Heavenly Demon’s gaze turned to her, Hyun Seong continued speaking with the sa smile still on her face.
“I also heard that several preliminary participants disappeared. I’m very curious what the reason might be.”
With that, she went over to a corner of the waiting room ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) for participants, sat down cross-legged, gently closed her eyes, and entered ditation.
But the ripple left behind by her words was quite large.
The participants assigned to Arena Three today could not hide their agitation.
“Disappeared? Who?”
Those who were hearing for the first ti that soone had vanished.
“Hmm.”
Those who had heard the news, but looked startled as if they never expected it to be ntioned so openly.
“......”
And those who silently looked around at their surroundings.
—Cale.
Alberu sent his voice to Cale through magic.
—They said ten in total, right?
This morning.
Pao Seo Tae, the alliance leader of the Dark Pulse, had passed along a piece of information.
It had been written on the sheet of paper brought by Cheon Ryeo, the Deputy Commander of the Shadow Murderers who had targeted the Heavenly Demon.
Cale conveyed his intent to Cheon Ryeo, who was standing there trembling.
‘Please inform us if you find more information.’
‘...Yes.’
Cheon Ryeo had barely managed to answer before disappearing.
As Cale recalled that mory from the morning, Alberu spoke to him again.
—It seems there’s another force the Wanderers have their hands in besides the Dark Pulse. I have no idea how the rumors will spread.
That’s true.
But—
—Then again, it may have happened regardless of the Wanderers.
Cale did not continue the thought.
Because Alberu was speaking exactly along the sa line of thinking as him.
‘Seriously.’
It really was convenient when you could talk to soone who understood.
“Silence!”
An official from the competition stepped inside the waiting room.
“The preliminaries will begin in ten minutes, so all of you remain in place and wait!”
The noisy surroundings quieted down.
“Also, anyone who is not a participant, leave now!”
Cale and Alberu left their places.
“......”
The Heavenly Demon was sitting leisurely against the wall with his arms crossed.
“Young Master, I’ll be cheering for you!”
Naturally, Cale did not forget to cheer in an annoyingly lively manner.
Smirk.
The Heavenly Demon gave Cale a rather crooked and arrogant-looking smile, then closed his eyes.
*****
Cale moved to the spectator stands together with Alberu.
“Over here!”
Rosalyn had arrived earlier and was holding their seats for them.
For the record, she was not alone.
—Human, you’re here?
eeow!
ow!
Two cats and an invisible young Dragon.
And even an egg, tightly wrapped in cloth inside a small basket.
It was quite crowded around Rosalyn.
“Even though it’s just the preliminaries, the atmosphere is incredible!”
Rosalyn’s voice was slightly excited.
Cale accepted the basket into his arms and sat down.
“It really doesn’t feel like preliminaries.”
Even Cale let out a small note of admiration.
“Skewers for sale! Raise your hand if you want one and I’ll co right over!”
“Cold barley tea! We’ve got barley tea!”
“Parasols and hats for sale, all for sale!”
The seats around the martial arena were packed with peddlers.
“Who do you think will win?”
“So this is today’s participant list? Wow, the royal palace even prepared sothing like this. They’re doing this properly!”
“I’m betting on this one. Want to wager?”
“Oh no! Hyun Seong is coming out! I ca here at dawn today just to see her!”
And beyond the seats being completely filled, there were even people standing behind them or crouching along the roadside.
Arena Three was packed with people.
From what he heard, there were also many waiting outside.
Simply to watch the matches.
Or to gamble.
Or to see who would beco the next king.
For all kinds of reasons, the capital of the Lan Kingdom was in an uproar.
“Young Master.”
Rosalyn nudged him.
Her gaze turned toward the opposite side of the arena.
“Persistent.”
Alberu’s voice ca from beside him.
Across the arena—
“......”
Sword Ghost was sitting there motionless with his arms crossed.
“Damn. It’s Sword Ghost!”
“What’s Sword Ghost doing here? Aren’t his preliminaries in three days?”
“He obviously ca to watch the other participants’ matches. But isn’t the heir to the Sky Sword in Arena One today?”
Sky Sword.
A place where those who trained only the sword gathered.
Of course, people also recoiled from it, saying it was a place full of lunatics obsessed with the sword.
Still, no one denied their skill, so people assud the place Sword Ghost would be interested in was wherever Seo Rak, the heir to the Sky Sword, was.
“Gasp!”
But the murmuring voices all ca to a halt.
“Why—”
“Huh, those are—”
A group entered the spectator stands.
There were five of them in total.
“The Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven!”
The Cooperative Alliance.
The largest organization among the five major powers.
It was known as a place that followed chivalry and righteousness, and within it there were several factions that served only the alliance leader.
Among them, the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven referred to ten tigers who moved only for the sake of the alliance leader.
Their faces were quite well known, and there was a reason for that—
“Tiger—”
On the backs of all their clothes, a blue tiger was embroidered.
“...Huh, five of them all at once—”
Not one or two, but five tigers had appeared here!
“...Isn’t sothing going to happen here?”
“Give the participant list! I need to look through it again!”
People began to grow busy.
“......”
“......”
But the five tigers—three n and two won—quietly took their seats and looked down at the arena.
“......”
Sword Ghost’s gaze briefly moved toward those five, but it soon returned to the arena.
“......”
Of course, in the anti, it lingered for a few more seconds in Cale’s direction across from him.
At that mont—
Boom—!
A great drumbeat rang out through the arena.
Everyone shut their mouths.
Day one of the preliminaries.
The matches at Arena Three had begun.
*****
“Ho!”
“They’re all pretty skilled!”
“That one’s from the Eastern Empire, not the Lan Kingdom! Well, it doesn’t matter as long as he’s strong!”
“This is fun. That person lost, but I can see a future for him.”
The atmosphere, which had been sowhat tense at first, heated up more and more as the matches progressed.
“Match Three!”
Boom!
Together with the drumbeat, Hyun Seong of the Snow Flower Sect slowly walked out.
“Waaaaaaah—!”
“Hyun Seong! Hyun Seong!”
Cheers erupted toward her from all directions.
“Mm.”
One of the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven sent a voice transmission to a companion.
—Leader. You said Hyun Seong has been digging into it, right?
—That’s right.
The leader of the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven.
Blue Tiger Chang Po stared at Hyun Seong intently.
—Leader. But even so, there’s no way Hyun Seong can figure out what we did, right?
—The cleanup was spotless, wasn’t it?
—In the end, any clues the Snow Flower Sect manages to find with difficulty will probably point toward the Dark Pulse.
He didn’t bother answering his subordinate’s words.
“......”
He rely raised a hand, and at that, the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven all turned their focus back to the match.
“I look forward to it.”
“As do I.”
After Hyun Seong exchanged a brief greeting with the young martial artist, the match began.
Her opponent was a naless martial artist, but even so, his posture was upright and his bearing was clean.
Then Hyun Seong drew out her spear.
Shhk—
The long spear revealed itself.
“Waaaaaah—!”
“Waaaaaah!”
For the first ti in Arena Three, a master whose na was known throughout the Lan Kingdom had appeared, and the cheers grew louder.
Boom!
And then the match began.
BANG! CRASH!
Hyun Seong calmly blocked her opponent’s attacks.
“Lady Hyun Seong is very considerate.”
At the subordinate’s spoken words, rather than voice transmission, Blue Tiger Chang Po nodded.
BANG— BOOM!
Hyun Seong was giving her opponent enough ti to display his skills.
A naless man.
Because she knew how precious this stage was to a martial artist without a na.
She was likely willing to spend that ti for the sake of this young man.
‘She may even be teaching him a lesson or two.’
Hyun Seong was exactly the kind of person who would do that.
‘Her ambition is great, but so is her compassion.’
The Snow Flower Sect Leader and Hyun Seong both tended strongly in that direction.
Blue Tiger’s face gradually turned cold.
‘That’s why she’s doing sothing pointless.’
At present, the ten tigers of the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven were visiting the arenas divided into groups of two, three, and five.
—Hyun Seong really does seem too nice.
At the words passed from another subordinate, Blue Tiger did not answer.
—Shouldn’t she be grateful that we kindly got rid of the competition for her?
The ten preliminary participants who had disappeared.
That was all the work of the Cooperative Alliance—more precisely, the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven.
—Well, even if they find evidence, it won’t cause us any damage anyway.
—Ah, this is going to be fun.
The subordinate sounded delighted.
—Won’t it be amusing if the Dark Pulse and the Snow Flower Sect clash?
—The Dark Pulse’s reputation will sink all the way to the bottom. Heh heh.
The mont his subordinate’s laughter ca through—
Clang!
The young martial artist’s sword fell to the ground.
“I lost.”
He admitted defeat.
But his expression was bright.
“It was an honor.”
“I hope it remains a good mory.”
Hyun Seong lightly shook hands with the martial artist.
Waaaaaaaah!
As expected of Lady Hyun Seong!
Cheers toward her broke out from all over.
Clap clap clap.
They also sent applause toward the young martial artist who had willingly accepted his opponent’s consideration and displayed his skill to the fullest.
That young man’s future would probably be bright from here on.
“Beautiful.”
Just as Alberu said, it was a sight worth seeing.
Clap clap clap.
Rosalyn, who had been applauding, answered those words.
“It’s nice.”
Cale, who had been listening to the two of them, straightened his posture.
“Match Four!”
The final match to be held in Arena Three today.
Cale suddenly sprang to his feet.
Then, clutching the basket, he shouted.
“Waaah! Young Master, win!”
No matter how Rosalyn and Alberu looked at him from the side, Cale cheered toward Kim Hae-Yi as he ca out into the arena.
“......”
Sweep.
Kim Hae-Yi scanned the arena once, and when his eyes finally t Cale’s, he gave a small smirk before stepping up onto the stage.
“Oh. No weapon. Does he prefer hand-to-hand techniques?”
“Ah, right! I rember him! They said he was the fastest to pass the qualification test, didn’t they?”
“Really? Kim Hae-Yi? Never heard of him.”
There was no particular cheering for the Heavenly Demon.
Because almost nothing was known about him.
Still, the few who knew that he had passed the qualification test in the shortest ti made comnts, and everyone rely showed curiosity.
—Let’s go.
Blue Tiger of the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven, who had been about to rise from his seat as though there was nothing more to watch, suddenly paused.
The mont Kim Hae-Yi’s opponent stepped onto the arena—
“Waaaaaaaah!”
“Dao Wind Temple! Dao Wind Temple!”
Cheers poured out toward a man in his thirties wearing a white robe with an ivory sheen and an oddly subtle hue.
Dao Wind Temple.
One of the five major powers, a place where those who valued cultivating and training the dao gathered, and that ivory-tinted white robe was famous.
“......”
He was a first disciple of Dao Wind Temple, and though he did not have the sa weight as the youngest elder who had also entered this tournant—
Even so, he was strong.
In addition to their representatives, the five major powers had also allowed anyone they wished to participate in the martial tournant.
—Leader! Let’s just watch the first disciple of Dao Wind Temple before we go!
At his subordinate’s voice transmission, Blue Tiger hesitated briefly, then sat back down.
“...It’ll be over quickly.”
If it was the first disciple of Dao Wind Temple, the other side would lose in an instant.
“Mm.”
But the mont he looked at Kim Hae-Yi—
—Leader, how many exchanges do you think? I’d say the Dao Wind Temple side will win in about three!
—A naless nobody isn’t an opponent who can stand against Dao Wind Temple.
Ignoring his subordinate’s words, Blue Tiger’s gaze fixed on Kim Hae-Yi.
“Leader?”
The subordinate, who had been quiet until now, felt a strange sense of familiarity and looked at Blue Tiger.
“......”
Blue Tiger raised a hand.
No voice transmission, no conversation. It ant not to speak to him at all.
‘What is it?’
As he stared at Kim Hae-Yi standing there motionless, he was sensing so unidentifiable strangeness from him.
Sothing was strange.
Then suddenly, one thought crossed his mind.
“Kim Hae-Yi—that’s him?”
A quiet subordinate sent him a voice transmission.
—Yes. The one the Dark Pulse sent assassins after and failed to kill.
Boom!
At that mont, the match began.
Kim Hae-Yi and the first disciple of Dao Wind Temple stood far apart from each other.
“......”
“......”
The two of them simply tilted their heads in greeting.
They were not the kind to treat an opponent warmly.
At most, they would show the bare minimum courtesy.
And in a martial match, courtesy was—
‘A match. Nothing more.’
Tap.
The first disciple of Dao Wind Temple lightly pushed off the ground.
‘To think Hyun Seong would co out here!’
All the attention had gone to Hyun Seong.
And to the naless martial artist who had faced her.
‘I can’t afford to lose that attention.’
Since he had co out bearing the na of Dao Wind Temple.
He could not be overshadowed by the Snow Flower Sect.
For soone like him who pursued the dao, such personal desire might not be right.
‘But because one is human, calculations and desire like this can also exist!’
It was not as though he were doing sothing wrong. To receive attention fair and square.
That was not a bad thing.
And the best way to gain attention right now was—
‘One move.’
To eliminate his opponent in a single move.
First day of the preliminaries, last match in Arena Three.
There was no better way to decorate that match brilliantly.
The instant his two hands ford a peculiar shape—
Whooooo—
Energy gathered.
His specialty was palm techniques.
Just like his opponent, Kim Hae-Yi.
“My apologies, young master.”
After offering his apology to Kim Hae-Yi, who would be eliminated imdiately despite being the fastest to pass the qualification test—
He put strength into his feet.
Thud!
His foot drove into the ground and ca to a stop.
At that mont—
“Wind Dragon Flow!”
Soone shouted.
Kwaaaaaa—
A single stream of wind burst out from his hands and rushed toward Kim Hae-Yi.
That wind, which looked like a dragon, carried internal ki that was elegant yet profound.
“Oh!”
“As expected!”
Just as the crowd’s shoulders and hips shifted excitedly at the sight of a high-level martial art displayed by an expert—
KWAAANG!
A thunderous roar rang out.
Everyone shot to their feet.
“!”
All five mbers of the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven rose from their seats.
“......”
Sword Ghost tightened his grip on the scabbard in his hand.
“...As expected.”
And Hyun Seong, who had stayed behind instead of leaving, turned around and walked out of the arena.
Sshaaaaaa—
A single current of wind passed over the stage.
“Huff. Huff.”
Thud.
The first disciple of Dao Wind Temple collapsed to the floor and barely managed to catch his breath.
He lowered his head.
“......”
A dragon.
The shape of a dragon had been carved into the floor.
It was undoubtedly the Wind Dragon Flow he had unleashed just now.
A free and savage dragon carrying the wind.
The form carved into the stage floor looked very much like that dragon.
“......”
And that dragon—
Had been severed vertically.
His hands—no, his whole body—began to tremble.
The line that had pierced through the dragon stopped exactly right in front of where he had collapsed.
“......”
He lifted his head.
Kim Hae-Yi was still standing in the sa place, quietly looking at him.
“Ah—”
He was exactly the sa as before.
And yet the first disciple had clearly seen it.
A single gesture that tore apart his dragon, that rcilessly cleaved through his palm technique.
That gesture had looked exactly like a sword.
And beyond the dragon being split apart, those black eyes staring at him.
They looked as though they held nothing.
And yet they were the eyes of one whose very existence was everything.
“I, I lost—”
The first disciple of Dao Wind Temple lowered his head.
And the Heavenly Demon quietly looked down at him.
To him, it had been only natural.
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