“I, I lost—”
The first disciple of Dao Wind Temple declared his own defeat.
“......”
“—”
But cheers did not imdiately follow.
Even though it had been the fastest match yet in Arena Three.
Even though the arena itself had trembled from the roar and wind caused by that terrifying internal ki.
No one was able to react right away.
“Victory, Kim Hae-Yi!”
But the mont the referee announced the winner’s na—
WAAAAAAAH—!
WOOOAAAH—!
With an enormous eruption of cheers, the crowd finally burst into excitent.
“Wow. Did you see that?”
“No. Did you?”
“No! I didn’t see it!”
“Exactly, I didn’t see a thing!”
Those who were not martial artists had seen nothing at all.
And yet they could not contain their excitent.
“How strong is he exactly?!”
“Insane! Like expected, soone who passed in the shortest ti really is different! This is huge!”
The first disciple of Dao Wind Temple.
They had clearly seen the palm technique he unleashed, that dragon-shaped wind.
People had fully felt his strength from that lofty, majestic force.
But the one who won was Kim Hae-Yi.
“Yes.”
An old man muttered quietly. His voice trembled.
“A truly strong man is, by nature, not sothing ordinary people can see clearly.”
The old man recalled sothing from decades ago.
“His Majesty the King was the sa. That person was too.”
When the current King Tamahi had sparred with the previous king.
In the duel that confird her place as crown prince, she had defeated the king without shedding a single drop of sweat, just like this.
Ordinary people had not even properly grasped the process.
But one thing had been clear.
‘Strength does not need to be visible.’
King Tamahi.
The words she had spoken on the day it was decided she would sit in the highest seat of the next Lan Kingdom—
That line, at least, had remained in the hearts of the people of the Lan Kingdom.
“...A proper successor has finally appeared.”
Just as the old man said, the people had no choice but to send Kim Hae-Yi deafening cheers after he had lightly subdued the first disciple of Dao Wind Temple with a move ordinary people could not even see.
Because this tournant was the place where the future of the Lan Kingdom would be chosen.
It was fine to show rcy, like Hyun Seong of the Snow Flower Sect had done earlier.
But in the end, since the Lan Kingdom rested on the principle that the strongest beca king, what the people of the kingdom cheered for was strength.
“Who did you say he was? Kim Hae-Yi?”
“Oh? Where did soone like that co from?”
What was more, Kim Hae-Yi was a man with no na.
But—
“He’s the one who passed the qualification test in the shortest ti?”
“They say he cut the Sword Ki Stone in one stroke? Is that information certain?”
He was not so complete nobody either.
He had already proven himself once.
Glance.
And people had definitely seen it.
“......”
Sword Ghost, who had been quiet until now, suddenly rose to his feet.
“......”
“......”
And the other preliminary qualifiers, glaring at Kim Hae-Yi with vicious eyes.
The reactions of the competitors made Kim Hae-Yi’s presence clear to everyone around them.
Waaah—
The cheering started to die down.
As people’s gazes turned toward Kim Hae-Yi—
“......”
The first disciple of Dao Wind Temple was still standing there with his head lowered after admitting defeat.
A shadow fell over him. He lifted his head.
“That was an excellent dragon.”
Kim Hae-Yi’s outstretched hand filled his vision.
“!”
The first disciple of Dao Wind Temple looked up at him, eyes wide, and Kim Hae-Yi showed no particular expression.
But he added one more sentence.
“It was also a dragon that could beco even freer.”
Wind Dragon Flow.
The martial art the first disciple of Dao Wind Temple had used.
“And yet, why do you keep it bound?”
Kim Hae-Yi spoke calmly.
“The dao matters too, of course.”
Dao Wind Temple.
A place that valued the dao and the tempering and cultivation of the self.
“But the wind is not sothing that is ant to be bound anywhere, is it?”
“!”
At Kim Hae-Yi’s quiet words, the first disciple felt as though a savage bolt of lightning had crashed through his entire body.
“You already carry a great wind within you, so I think it would not be a bad thing to let it loose once.”
Ah.
The first disciple let out a sound without realizing it.
He reached out.
Both of his hands grasped Kim Hae-Yi’s outstretched hand.
“Th-thank you, Great Hero.”
Without realizing it, he bowed his head again.
His body was still trembling.
But this was not the bowed head of soone crushed by defeat or frustration.
Nor was his body trembling from fear.
Rather, his body shook from exhilaration and from a great mont of enlightennt.
“It is nothing. I rely said aloud sothing you already knew.”
Kim Hae-Yi’s words.
The first disciple rose to his feet, still respectfully holding Kim Hae-Yi’s hand with both of his own, and shook his head.
“No. Even words depend on timing. It is not easy to say what must be said at the mont it is needed most.”
Hah.
A faint smile touched Kim Hae-Yi’s lips.
“Your cultivation is fairly deep.”
At that leisurely remark, the first disciple bowed once more.
“Thank you for your guidance.”
“Hardly.”
The first disciple beca even more respectful, and Kim Hae-Yi naturally let go of the hand he had been holding.
“It was a good match.”
The defeated first disciple of Dao Wind Temple said that with a refreshed face, and Kim Hae-Yi gave a slight nod.
Then, without the slightest lingering attachnt, he stepped down from the stage and headed for the waiting room.
—Heavenly Demon, strong Heavenly Demon! Our human wants to tell you that you’re really good at pretending to be nice!
Smirk.
A crooked smile briefly rose at the corner of the Heavenly Demon’s mouth, then disappeared.
He lifted his head and looked toward where Cale was.
Their eyes t, and Cale flinched.
‘Is he glaring at ?’
He had told Raon to pass it along as a complint in its own way, but that bastard had a twisted streak to him, so there was no way to know how he would react.
Just then, the Heavenly Demon’s voice transmission reached him.
—I really am rather good at pretending to be nice. Pretending to be a good person too. Pretending to be benevolent.
Hah.
Just as Cale let out a hollow laugh in disbelief—
—It’s fairly amusing.
Leaving that behind, the Heavenly Demon entered the waiting room and vanished from sight within the arena.
Boom—!
“All preliminary matches for today have now concluded! Please maintain order as you leave!”
Along with the drumbeat announcing the end of today’s matches, a voice gave directions.
Still full of excitent, people either began filing out of the arena one by one or remained behind, chattering excitedly about the matches they had just seen.
“......”
“Mm. Leader?”
But the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven.
The five mbers of the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven who moved only for the alliance leader of the Cooperative Alliance did not move easily, nor did they speak easily.
Blue Tiger, their leader, quietly stared at the entrance through which Kim Hae-Yi had disappeared, then turned his gaze.
“......”
“......”
The four subordinates looking at him.
He opened his mouth.
“Did any of you see what it was?”
Not a single one of them could answer readily.
At that, Blue Tiger sent a voice transmission.
—A sword.
“!”
Two of his subordinates’ eyes widened.
—A sword? Not a palm technique?
—I thought it was a palm technique.
Blue Tiger shook his head.
“It was a sword. Without question, that was swordsmanship.”
A transcendent level of swordsmanship so high that even Blue Tiger himself would not be able to imitate it easily.
Kim Hae-Yi.
He had rely moved once from top to bottom.
A single gesture.
There had been nothing at all in that hand, and yet his body, his posture, even his hand—
Everything about him had unquestionably been a sword.
“...We’re leaving.”
Blue Tiger’s heart grew urgent.
‘My lord.’
His one and only lord.
He had to go to the alliance leader imdiately.
And tell her.
‘Kim Hae-Yi.’
That man was different.
For the first ti in a very long while, Blue Tiger had felt that sa ‘nothingness’ he had felt when he first t the alliance leader.
It was only the second ti in his life he had experienced such a shiver.
And after even the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven had vanished—
“......”
Hyun Seong of the Snow Flower Sect, who had hidden herself from sight within the arena, appeared where Blue Tiger had been sitting.
She slowly walked all the way to the place he had occupied, then looked down at it.
“...So righteousness and chivalry were rely a mask to hide ugliness after all.”
“Elder.”
A woman sprang out from the shadows.
In a low voice, she spoke to Hyun Seong.
“...It seems the Dark Pulse laid hands on the participants.”
Hyun Seong asked,
“Do you believe that?”
“...I believe the evidence. But I do not know whether the truth of that evidence is real.”
Hyun Seong closed her eyes.
She recalled that the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven, who obeyed only the alliance leader’s command, had appeared in the capital of the Lan Kingdom and had shown up at all three martial arenas.
Then she spoke.
“We need to prepare for the main tournant.”
At the sa ti, she sent a voice transmission as well.
—We need to dig into the Cooperative Alliance.
Her gaze turned toward the center of the kingdom.
‘Your Majesty.’
The capital of the Lan Kingdom.
The king’s people had to be stationed all throughout this place.
‘What in the world are you thinking?’
You must know everything.
So why are you not stepping forward?
‘Or perhaps—’
The position of successor to the Lan Kingdom.
The next king.
That place with such a sweet na—
‘May be a trap.’
Hyun Seong desired power, but also knew she must never fall into that swamp. For now, there was still a clear center holding steady in her eyes.
*****
“Alliance Leader.”
The chief strategist of the Cooperative Alliance.
He had left the safe house and was now at a small manor located outside the capital of the Lan Kingdom.
Inside the manor.
The main residence, built in a U-shape.
And in the center of the inner garden, a small detached pavilion.
Standing before the door of that pavilion, he respectfully lowered his head and spoke.
“Blue Tiger says he has sothing to report.”
As he stood there with his head bowed, a voice transmission reached him.
—Tell him to co in.
“Yes.”
He turned his head and spoke to Blue Tiger.
“You may enter.”
“......”
Without saying anything, Blue Tiger gave the chief strategist a slight nod, opened the pavilion door, and disappeared inside.
Click.
Watching the closed door, the chief strategist’s gaze sank darkly.
‘What an unpleasant bastard.’
Blue Tiger and the rest of the Ten Tigers of Righteous Heaven.
Those ten tigers moved solely for the alliance leader.
That was why they did not even obey the chief strategist’s orders.
It was more accurate to see them as an individual organization that rely existed within the Cooperative Alliance.
And though Blue Tiger, their leader, showed the basic courtesy, there was always a subtle air of disregard in the way he treated the chief strategist.
His loyalty belonged only to the alliance leader.
‘Good thing the Alliance Leader keeps a tight leash on that bastard Blue Tiger.’
Otherwise, Blue Tiger would have been an enormous headache.
“Tch.”
He clicked his tongue softly, then turned away from the pavilion and headed toward the main residence.
There were still an awful lot of etings he needed to attend.
“Chief Strategist.”
As he entered the conference room, he turned at a subordinate’s call.
“The Snow Flower Sect has found evidence.”
A grin.
The corners of the subordinate’s mouth lifted crookedly.
“They’re going to end up suspecting the Dark Pulse.”
They had directed all the evidence toward the Dark Pulse.
“Tch.”
But the chief strategist clicked his tongue, his face turning cold.
“You think Hyun Seong is a fool.”
“...Pardon?”
“Hyun Seong is the one who put the Sect Leader in that seat. That woman is extrely suspicious by nature. We absolutely cannot let our traces be found!”
At his firm voice, the subordinate hurriedly bowed at the waist.
“Yes! That will never happen!”
“Good. Report in constantly.”
“Yes.”
The chief strategist turned his gaze.
Alongside a map of the capital of the Lan Kingdom, the room was filled with reports on each of the various factions.
“...For the greater cause, small sacrifices are unavoidable.”
He focused on the reports once more.
anwhile, Blue Tiger walked deeper into the detached pavilion, then knelt before a door at the very end of the corridor.
“My lord.”
Rrrrrk.
The door slid open to the side on its own.
It was all done through internal energy.
Blue Tiger was not surprised by the terrifying amount of internal ki required, nor by the control needed for it.
“What is it?”
Inside the open door, the alliance leader sat cross-legged with her eyes closed.
She was a woman in her fifties, and her na was Hwa In.
She was a supre master whose na stood at the top of the Cooperative Alliance.
“I believe we may have found the rat.”
The mont Blue Tiger’s words were heard—
“......”
She opened her eyes.
The gaze of an old and seasoned master was deep.
“A rat?”
“Yes, my lord.”
Blue Tiger bent down even deeper than kneeling.
In a posture that was almost like full prostration, he spoke.
“I believe it may be the rat you have been searching for, my lord.”
Rustle.
Hwa In rose from her seat and slowly walked toward Blue Tiger.
“Blue Tiger.”
He lifted his head.
And there stood Hwa In.
Not as a woman in her fifties.
But with the appearance of a teenage girl.
“Yes, my lord.”
And that appearance resembled soone Pao Seo Tae knew.
So Hee.
And a Wanderer.
The rejuvenated Hwa In looked exactly like So Hee.
Hwa In, who had suddenly appeared one day as the hidden successor of the previous alliance leader.
She had lived for the sake of the Cooperative Alliance since her thirties.
No one knew what she had looked like in ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ her youth.
But Blue Tiger had seen Hwa In’s true appearance.
She had always looked this young.
The voice that had trampled Pao Seo Tae reached Blue Tiger.
“I thought the rat was in the Eastern Empire. It’s in the Lan Kingdom?”
“It is only a suspicion, but I cannot help feeling doubtful.”
A strange energy flickered in So Hee’s eyes.
“Who looked like the rat to you?”
“Kim Hae-Yi.”
Oh?
At her soft exclamation, Blue Tiger calmly continued.
“I felt from him the exact sa shiver I felt when I first t you, my lord.”
“!”
So Hee’s eyes rippled.
She smiled.
“That makes this a rather trustworthy report.”
Blue Tiger.
This child had good instincts.
And he was blindly devoted to her.
That was why So Hee kept him by her side after showing him her true appearance.
“You may go.”
“Yes, my lord.”
After dismissing Blue Tiger, she murmured to herself in the detached pavilion where she was now alone.
“So the one helping Ahn Roh Man—that AI—is in the Lan Kingdom. And under the na Kim Hae-Yi too—”
Ahn Roh Man, ranked number one and fated to beco the crown prince of the Eastern Empire.
And the AI that was helping him.
Those two were poison to this new world.
Of the two, the dangerous one—or rather, the irritating rat—was the AI, and So Hee had been searching for it.
“I hope this really is the rat this ti.”
That way she could finally stop hearing the Transparent Bloods whine.
So Hee looked outside the window.
It was still daylight.
“When is the main tournant again?”
The preliminaries had not even been completed yet.
But around the ti of the main tournant—
“I should go take a look.”
Kim Hae-Yi.
It felt like the perfect ti to go kill that bastard.
*****
“It seems the ones who killed the participants after leaving traces that made it look like it was us are most likely the Cooperative Alliance.”
Pao Seo Tae, the alliance leader of the Dark Pulse, spoke with a hardened face.
After hearing that, Cale let out a sigh.
‘This place is secretly a pain in the ass.’
All I’m trying to do is get a look at the king’s husband.
Well, and beat that bastard around a little.
Why is there so much shit going on?
Should I just break into the palace?
But because of the formation barrier, that wasn’t easy.
‘Mm.’
As Cale fell into thought, a calm and leisurely voice reached him.
“Can’t we just get rid of them?”
Cale turned his head toward the direction of the voice.
The Heavenly Demon was looking at him with a smile.
Cale glanced at him and bluntly threw out a question.
“Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Yes. I am.”
The Heavenly Demon was enjoying this new world to the fullest.
“......”
Cale’s expression grew increasingly sour.
At that mont, Alberu approached him.
“Co outside for a bit.”
“Outside?”
That ant outside the ga.
Alberu handed Cale a small letter.
It was welco news from Rosalyn.
It was ti to go outside again—to District 3—and take care of business.
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