‘…Sigh.’
No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand.
What could be the way to return to my original world?
What exactly is this "regret" that Tang Jemoon spoke of?
Is it related to the actions I took in my previous life? Or maybe…
‘Is it related to Mageomhu?’
I considered this as I felt the faint heartbeat of Mageomhu, who was draped over my back.
It likely relates to the choice that Tang Jemoon mentioned.
What am I supposed to choose?
I suspected it had to do with preventing Mageomhu’s death.
Given the timing and the current situation, that seemed like the only possible choice.
‘Then… does it mean I should try to stop it?’
I don’t know.
It’s true that Mageomhu’s death was one of my regrets.
But even if I manage to prevent it in this world… would it truly erase my regrets?
I’m not even sure if I can stop it.
And even if I do, how would that change anything in my world?
This is a different world, after all. Preventing it here doesn’t mean my regrets in my own world will disappear.
‘I don’t know.’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t grasp anything concrete.
“Hah…”
I felt Mageomhu’s breathing. Ignoring the tickle near my ear, I picked up my pace a bit.
My back felt damp.
It was Mageomhu’s blood soaking through my clothes.
Swallowing hard, I suppressed my feelings. I’d applied qi to stop the bleeding, but it seemed her wound was much deeper than I had anticipated.
Right now, instead of drowning in these complicated thoughts, the priority was to return to the base and treat Mageomhu…
“…!”
Suddenly, I sensed something.
I twisted my body.
Slash—!
A tree behind me was cut down and fell.
I performed a roll across the ground, holding Mageomhu tightly in my arms to minimize the impact on her.
In an instant, I gathered my qi to its maximum and filled my heart with demonic energy.
A bead of sweat formed as I took a defensive stance, eyes locked ahead.
“Impressive.”
The one who had just slashed at me was approaching.
“To think you would sense my attempt to sever your legs.”
“…Who are you?”
A gust of wind blew.
It stirred the old man’s dark gray robe, giving his presence a hazy quality.
No, hazy yet overwhelmingly vast.
Crackle—
Lightning qi surged around him.
The qi surrounding the old man resembled that of Mageomhu, yet it felt even more refined.
As I watched him with trembling eyes, he chuckled.
“Haha…”
The old man chuckled softly as he looked at me.
“It seems I may have made a mistake.”
“…”
The old man.
Understanding the meaning behind Cheonjon’s mention of a mistake, I swallowed hard.
That previous strike should have been undetectable to me.
Under normal circumstances, my legs would have been cut by his sword, but…
I had managed to evade it.
The reason was simple.
“…How sorrowful this demon heart of mine is.”
Before the strike landed, I had felt a deadly intent—a suffocating killing intent.
‘This is insane.’
I licked my lips bitterly, staring at the old man.
The last of the Namgung clan.
One of the Three Supremes under heaven and the Supreme of the Namgung family.
The Heavenly Lord (Cheonjon).
An overwhelming aura of killing intent was radiating from his very being.
My fingers trembled uncontrollably.
It was the pressure from the difference in our strength.
‘This is seriously dangerous.’
This killing intent was real. Cheonjon truly intended to kill me.
‘What now?’
I furrowed my brow.
This was, after all, the territory of Sichuan. If Cheonjon acted this way here, Cheonma might intervene.
Cheonjon should be aware of that, too.
‘Does he intend to ignore Cheonma’s warning?’
Is this the beginning of war?
It wouldn’t be strange. In my previous life, Cheonjon had broken the pact and started a war.
The issue was…
Why now, of all times?
‘Sigh.’
I carefully laid Mageomhu down on the ground and rose.
This situation was so sudden that I couldn’t comprehend it.
“…Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
I asked, focusing all my senses on Cheonjon.
“This is Sichuan… Are you ignoring the warning from the Cult Leader…?”
Thunk.
“…!”
I tried to diffuse the situation by mentioning Cheonma’s warning, but then…
I felt a sharp sensation piercing my chest.
I looked down.
A blade had been driven deep into my chest.
“Ugh—!”
As soon as I realized the situation, blood poured from my mouth.
Splurt—!
The blade was withdrawn, leaving a trail of blood staining the ground.
My knees buckled, and I collapsed.
“Urgh…”
The qi supporting my body dissipated, and my vision started to fade.
This sensation was familiar to me.
It was death.
Death was approaching.
…Just like this?
“Huff… Huff…”
As my upper body began to sink, Cheonjon walked past me with slow steps.
His target seemed to be Mageomhu.
I reached out.
Even as my eyes closed, I tried to reach Cheonjon’s feet.
Thunk.
I missed.
All I felt was the cold ground beneath my fingertips.
In the dimming vision, the last thing I saw was Cheonjon’s hand reaching for Mageomhu’s throat.
No… I had to stop him somehow, but I couldn’t.
I couldn’t stop the darkness from closing in, and I had to face an abrupt end.
A building was burning and crumbling.
The blood that soaked the floor.
The day when the bloodline of the Namgung family was eradicated from the world.
Cheonjon remembered that day.
How could he forget?
His grandson, who had been called the family head, was left as a mere body on the ground.
The Namgung family, which had once ruled over the martial world with their prestige, vanished overnight.
Cheonjon could never forget that day.
“…How tragic.”
A dry voice escaped the old man’s lips.
“Don’t you think so?”
The person he wanted an answer from kept her eyes closed, lips sealed.
For Cheonjon, it was a face he had longed to see.
The enemy who had wiped out his entire clan.
The last remaining bloodline of his own in this world.
She was also the reason he continued to live.
“I wanted to ask you.”
Why did you do it?
Cheonjon wanted to ask her why she had burned down the Namgung family with her own hands.
Did she hold so much resentment that she severed her own father’s head?
What drove her to become such a monster?
It was a question he had longed to ask, yet it no longer mattered.
“…”
Cheonjon’s gaze fell to the hilt clutched in Mageomhu’s hand.
Even while unconscious, she held onto it as if she would never let go.
That was the symbol of the Namgung family—a relic that bore the command of an ancient ancestor.
The one acknowledged by Noe-a (Thunder Fang).
That person was the rightful master of Namgung.
That was what Noe-cheon Ilgeom had declared.
Grit.
Cheonjon clenched his teeth.
“…What a laughable claim.”
Just the boast of an ancient ancestor.
That’s all it was to Cheonjon.
Otherwise, it was impossible.
Cheonjon had never been able to wield Noe-a. And yet, he had fulfilled the duties of the family head because he was the strongest.
It was the same for his successor, the Sword King.
He could not wield Noe-a either, yet he became the family head.
Noe-a had ceased to be an important factor in choosing the family head.
But.
‘How… Why could you?’
His great-granddaughter before him could wield Noe-a without any difficulty.
And how could someone like her, who held that power, have wiped out her own bloodline?
Cheonjon could never understand it.
This haunted him with a bitter sense of regret.
That night.
If he had not listened to the council and had not gone to the Martial Alliance…
Or, perhaps.
“If only I had killed you when I first saw you.”
Would this have happened?
Cheonjon remembered.
The moment when she had gripped Noe-a, causing it to shine and reveal its true form.
He recalled the yearning in her eyes and the jealousy he felt then.
“…”
Where did things go wrong?
Or, perhaps it no longer mattered.
Cheonjon slowly extended his hand toward Mageomhu.
Her slender, pale neck was easily within his grasp.
Setting foot in Sichuan’s territory was forbidden.
That had been Cheonma’s warning to the Three Supremes in the past.
For years, the Three Supremes had refrained from stepping into Sichuan.
Cheonma’s overpowering presence instilled despair and fear in them.
The most critical reason, however, was that Mu-hui herself had directly instructed him not to go.
She had said it wasn’t the right time, that there would be an opportunity.
Cheonjon, who had followed no one’s orders, had, ironically, heeded her words and refrained from entering Sichuan.
He knew.
That he had secretly hoped for an excuse.
A reason to avoid fighting Cheonma, after succumbing to fear.
How despicable.
It was embarrassing even to bear the Namgung name.
So perhaps it was a relief.
The Namgung name and all it entailed had perished with him and the child before him.
“…Heh.”
Cheonjon laughed bitterly.
This was all he amounted to, after all.
A being mired in contradiction. Filled with revenge but too afraid to confront Cheonma.
A man of arrogance, cloaked in self-doubt.
That was who he was.
The dark qi grew deeper.
Cheonjon wanted to end this.
The vengeance that had kept him alive would be the end. This time, he would finish…
“....”
Just as he was about to snap Mageomhu’s neck, an odd sensation made him hesitate.
“…Something…”
Something felt wrong.
He had been hesitant about entering Sichuan out of fear of Cheonma’s power. So why was he here now?
And…
‘…Why now?’
The old man’s wish had been to die on the Namgung grounds, with all the wars ended.
Why was he here, grasping Mageomhu’s neck?
This unsettling feeling made Cheonjon’s mind feel clouded.
Why? How did it come to this?
He tried to recall why he was even here.
He didn’t know. It felt like a blackened fog had settled in his mind.
The only clear memory that emerged was…
– “Permission granted.”
Only the feeling that someone had granted permission.
As he recalled this, Cheonjon’s eyes sharpened, and his grip tightened around her neck.
Just as he seemed possessed and ready to fulfill his vengeance—
Crrrck.
“…!”
Cheonjon felt something and quickly turned around.
But behind him, there was nothing.
A trick of the mind? That thought crossed him momentarily.
“Huh?”
Soon he realized it wasn’t a trick.
Because there was supposed to be something there.
There should have been a corpse lying there.
He had pierced its heart with his own sword, so it should have been there.
But as he looked in that direction, there was nothing left.
No blood.
No traces of the fall.
Nothing at all.
As he processed this impossible sight, Cheonjon was about to confirm the situation when—
Bzzzzzz.
He felt a vibration.
The direction was to his left. He turned.
“…!!”
In the place from where he sensed the vibration, Cheonjon’s face filled with astonishment.
Something was there.
An unmoving figure stood as if staring directly at him.