Drip...
In a dark, hollow space, one could tell the air was damp just by breathing.
Drip… drip…
It was so quiet that the faint sound of dripping water seemed overwhelmingly loud in the silence. Blood stains covered the floor, as if blood had been spilled there countless times.
When the wind blew, the chains hanging from the walls rattled, producing a grating noise.
In addition, an unknown smoke filled the space, and anyone entering would soon understand its nature.
The smoke was entirely made of toxic miasma.
How deep underground…
And how long ago this place was created was anyone’s guess.
In this mysterious place, an old man faced someone.
A brilliant blue silk robe, bearing the unmistakable character for "Namgung," stretched across his back.
With a rigidly straightened back and broad shoulders, his tied hair and the sword at his waist emphasized the dignified presence of the elder.
This elder was known as the Celestial Master.
The foremost martial artist of the Namgung family, and one of the Three Celestial Lords of Zhongyuan, known as "Beyond the Heavens."
“Hm.”
The Celestial Master tilted his head as he looked straight ahead.
The source of the chain’s irritating noise was right before him.
It was a figure bound by iron and nails, restrained in every possible way.
The one bound was, surprisingly, a person.
Though at this point, it was questionable whether they could still be called human, it was undoubtedly a person.
As the Celestial Master observed the figure with his characteristically cold gaze—
“...Heh… heh…”
Suddenly, the chains rattled, and the sound of laughter emerged.
The person who should have been dead was, astonishingly, still alive.
Though they seemed on the verge of death, struggling to breathe, they were still clinging to life.
Perhaps annoyed by the sound of the laughter, the Celestial Master’s brow furrowed slightly.
“What’s so funny?”
The Celestial Master asked with a hint of irritation.
“How... could it not be amusing...?”
The person raised their head.
Their hair was matted with blood, sticking to their face, and their eyes barely opened, their gaze unfocused.
Yet the Celestial Master could understand the look in those eyes.
Emptiness.
Nothing inside. Just like this hollow space, desolate and void.
A chilling sensation crept over the Celestial Master, and he clicked his tongue briefly.
“The one who once struggled so fiercely to become the heavens... has now fallen to guarding a mere kennel… How could that not be amusing…”
Drip.
It seemed even speaking was painful, as blood dripped from the person’s mouth.
“Heh… hehe…”
The pool of blood on the floor grew.
The Celestial Master, unfazed by the sight, stepped forward.
Then he slowly bent down to meet their gaze.
The Celestial Master’s blue eyes fixed on the person as he grabbed their face and spoke.
“The Black Dragon Sword… You were called that, weren’t you?”
“...Heh! For the great Celestial Master to remember me… What an honor…”
“No, you are not the Black Dragon Sword.”
The Celestial Master immediately denied the claim.
He had reason to do so.
“I distinctly remember recovering and burning your corpse back then.”
When the Sword Master, known as the Gale Sword, annihilated the Black Dragon Corps,
the Martial Alliance had taken care of the aftermath. It was the Celestial Master himself who had confirmed the body of the Black Dragon Sword at the time.
“So, there’s no way you could be alive like this.”
For someone to suddenly appear, claiming to be the Black Dragon Sword, was unthinkable to him.
“Heh… heh…”
Despite the Celestial Master’s words, the Black Dragon Sword only chuckled.
“With such a limited perspective, that’s all you’re able to see… Truly pitiful…”
“What are you?”
“I am… the Black Dragon Sword… and also…”
Cough.
A trickle of black blood dripped from the Black Dragon Sword’s mouth.
“…Ugh…”
The pain must have been severe, as he groaned with each word he forced out.
“…This burnt body given to me by that child… won’t heal… Why, I wonder…”
“That child?”
“Heh… hehe…”
Burnt?
The Celestial Master pondered the words of the Black Dragon Sword.
He recalled that the one who had subdued the Black Dragon Sword was surprisingly a young prodigy.
“A child of the Gu family, wasn’t it?”
There was a martial artist making waves recently—a young heir of the Gu family.
Someone who had surpassed the level of a young prodigy and was now regarded as a full-fledged martial artist.
“They called him the Little Yama, I believe.”
There was no mistaking it.
To quell the public outrage, the Martial Alliance had enlisted him, a decision by the Open Faction to stabilize the situation.
“He’s here, as I recall.”
Sichuan, within the Tang Clan.
He had heard that the Poison King had personally brought him to the Tang Clan.
The Celestial Master hadn’t intended to meet him but now felt it might be worthwhile.
“It wouldn’t hurt to see him once.”
After all, he was engaged to someone from the Namgung family, giving ample reason to visit.
Besides…
“There’s also that child I should see.”
It was time to visit the child who was said to be his great-granddaughter.
After all, the Sword King had personally sent him a letter.
The Celestial Master slowly rose.
Any further conversation would be pointless.
The Poison King and the Tang Clan members had subjected him to prolonged torture, yet the Black Dragon Sword had remained silent.
How he had survived, his purpose in attacking the Divine Dragon Pavilion, or what he had been up to all this time—
Even under the brutal torture inflicted by the Tang Clan, the Black Dragon Sword had kept his mouth shut.
Almost as if someone was preventing him from speaking.
There was no point in continuing.
With that conclusion, the Celestial Master looked away from the dying Black Dragon Sword.
He gazed at what appeared to be a blank wall.
When he reached out to it—
Clank-!
With a mechanical sound,
Creak—
a passageway opened up.
Beyond it, a staircase descended into darkness.
The Celestial Master glanced at it for a moment, then began to walk down.
To do so, he had to pass by the Black Dragon Sword, yet he didn’t look at him again.
As if he had no interest, he passed by with a cold and indifferent demeanor.
After the Celestial Master disappeared through the door—
Bang!
The door closed tightly, returning to its former appearance.
Once again, silence filled the space.
In that quiet, the Black Dragon Sword slowly raised his head to gaze ahead.
In the pitch darkness, devoid of even a single light,
“O Heavenly One… I pray to you…”
The Black Dragon Sword quietly offered a prayer.
******************
Clack.
The Celestial Master walked down the long staircase, descending for quite a while. He was moving through a narrow passage.
Vrrrr.
The further he went, the thicker the miasma became. The Celestial Master gathered his energy to block it.
It was denser than expected.
The miasma was strong enough to make even him uneasy—not merely an irritation.
Splash.
The stairs felt damp underfoot.
Did this mean he was almost there?
Feeling an inexplicable disgust, the Celestial Master quickened his pace, and soon, he reached his destination.
The place he entered was different from the dark upper floor; lamps affixed to the walls illuminated the surroundings.
In addition…
‘Tsk.’
The air was thick with the stench of blood.
The dampness he had sensed earlier was undoubtedly blood.
Human blood, perhaps?
The Celestial Master looked down.
The color of the pungent-smelling blood was blue.
It wasn’t human blood but rather that of beasts.
Yet even so, the sheer volume…
Even if it wasn’t human blood, the sight alone was sickening, and the Celestial Master waved his hand in disgust.
Then—
Whoosh-!
A gust of wind swept across the floor, clearing away the blood.
The floor, now relatively clean, revealed itself.
The Celestial Master stood there, looking toward something.
So, that’s where all the blood came from.
There was a pile of something—an indistinguishable mass of creatures, tangled together, from which blood trickled down.
The Celestial Master immediately recognized them as the corpses of beasts.
The stench of decay filled the air.
Just looking at it was revolting.
Observing this loathsome scene, the Celestial Master spoke in a curt tone.
“Did you summon me just to show me this?”
His words echoed through the space.
Then, someone behind him stepped forward.
“Of course not… I would never call such an esteemed guest here for just that.”
The one who emerged with a smile was the Elder Il of the Tang Clan.
“I had hoped to meet you in a far better place. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible, and I apologize, Celestial Master.”
“…Spare me the tedious formalities. I’m already in a foul mood from what happened upstairs.”
At the Celestial Master’s cold words, the Elder chuckled awkwardly and continued walking.
A short distance past the line of beast corpses, a small table came into view.
It was a place where blood had particularly pooled.
As the Elder approached, the Celestial Master observed with a questioning expression.
There was something on the table.
What could it be?
The Celestial Master stepped closer to examine the object.
And then—
“…!”
He instinctively took a step back.
The object was a small gemstone.
A round, radiant jade-green stone.
Seeing its brilliant glow, one might think it beautiful, but that wasn’t why the Celestial Master had stepped back; the miasma and energy emanating from the gemstone were overwhelmingly potent.
The Elder, noticing the Celestial Master’s reaction, spoke with a hint of satisfaction.
“Well?”
“…Is this the finished product?”
“It is. This is… the culmination of the Tang Clan’s ideals, created by none other than the Poison King.”
The Poison King was the moniker of the current Tang Clan leader’s grandfather, who was now deceased.
The Celestial Master wanted to touch the gemstone but refrained.
Even with his energy blocking the miasma, it was not something for anyone without immunity to poison to handle.
How much energy had been infused into it to emit such a potent aura?
Moreover…
“They actually managed to create something like this.”
How exactly did they create it?
Just from looking at the result, the Celestial Master could imagine the brutal and intense process it must have taken to produce it.
The beast corpses piled up behind him?
That was likely just a part of it. Such a small amount wouldn’t be nearly enough to gather this much energy.
As he looked at the gemstone with a calm gaze, the Elder continued.
“As per our agreement with the Alliance… I’ll send you the recipe and materials separately.”
“The usage method as well?”
“There’s no particular method.”
The Elder reached out and picked up the gemstone.
“You simply swallow it. Doing so will…”
“Allow one to attain the Celestial Martial Body…?”
“That’s the expectation, but it’s not confirmed.”
“Why?”
In response to the Celestial Master’s question, the Elder smiled.
“We haven’t yet confirmed its effects after ingestion.”
“Then it’s not a finished product.”
If it hadn’t been tested, it wasn’t complete.
This was contrary to their agreement.
As the Celestial Master narrowed his eyes, the Elder hastily continued.
“The proportions are correct, and as long as the conditions are met, it should certainly work.”
“Conditions?”
There were specific conditions for using it.
The Elder, licking his dry lips, replied to the Celestial Master’s question.
“…First, the subject must be a woman under the age of thirty.”
“And why is that?”
“All other test subjects experienced side effects and died in explosive bursts.”
Just how many experiments had they conducted?
The Elder’s tone was distasteful, but the Celestial Master refrained from pressing the issue.
“If there’s a first condition, I assume there’s a second?”
“Indeed. The second condition is… the subject must possess a vessel capable of withstanding transformative energy.”
“A vague answer.”
In other words, the subject must be able to withstand the gemstone’s energy.
They would need the necessary talent and physique.
It was a rather ambiguous explanation.
“There is a fair degree of certainty. Conveniently, we have a suitable test subject. The situation has simply become a bit complicated.”
After listening to the Elder’s explanation, the Celestial Master looked between the gemstone and the Elder before nodding slightly.
“Then let’s proceed with our agreement once the results are conclusive.”
In other words, it wasn’t yet a complete product.
The Celestial Master’s response implied they would continue only after matters were finalized, as he couldn’t rely solely on the Elder’s assurances.
The Elder cautiously spoke up again.
“…On that note, may I request something of you?”
“Of me?”
The Celestial Master’s brows furrowed.
“It’s just that, with one final step remaining, an unnecessary interference has arisen.”
“What do you mean?”
Annoyance faded for a moment, replaced by curiosity at the mention of interference.
Seeing this, the Elder felt relieved and continued.
“Somehow, a nobody from the Gu family has interfered…”
“Hold on.”
The Celestial Master abruptly stopped the Elder mid-sentence.
The Elder hesitated, surprised by the interruption.
“What’s the matter…? Did I say something displeasing…?”
“Silence.”
“…”
The Celestial Master silenced the Elder, looking intently at something.
After a moment of focus, he spoke with a deeply furrowed brow.
“…Something is coming.”
“What…?”
The Elder’s eyes widened momentarily at the Celestial Master’s words, then he chuckled dismissively.
“That’s impossible. There are multiple formations and mechanisms layered over this place… I would have been alerted if someone approached.”
The Elder had placed various devices around the entrance to detect intruders.
Moreover, multiple layers of formations were arranged to obscure the location.
In such a situation, finding the entrance should have been impossible.
Believing the Celestial Master was mistaken, the Elder laughed, but—
“It’s not the entrance.”
The Celestial Master’s tone was firm.
“What do you mean, ‘not the entrance’?”
The Elder asked, puzzled, but the Celestial Master said nothing more.
He simply stared at a particular spot.
Though perplexed, the Elder followed his gaze.
The ceiling.
The Celestial Master was looking at the solidly built ceiling.
Just as the Elder’s gaze reached it—
Boom! Crash!
“…!”
A thunderous roar echoed in the Elder’s ears.
Far above, something was breaking and shattering, sending vibrations through the air.
“What… what?”
As the Elder voiced his alarm, the sound grew closer.
The speed was impossibly fast.
Boom! Boom!
Was it just his imagination?
With each crash, the surrounding area grew hotter.
What in the world was happening?
Before he could fully grasp the situation, the roaring sound was practically upon them.
Then—
Kaboom!
The ceiling exploded, collapsing in on itself.
The Elder leapt to avoid the sudden blast.
Rumble…
The ceiling crumbled, scattering debris everywhere.
Something was falling with it.
The Elder frowned as he looked up.
“What is… that?”
Something sluggishly oozed down through the gap in the shattered ceiling.
The Elder finally realized.
The ceiling was melting.
Whoosh…!
The air grew hotter.
It was a suffocating heat.
And then—
Tremble.
‘…What is this…?’
The Elder realized that his hands were shaking uncontrollably.
Not only his hands—his entire body was trembling.
Why was he shaking so much? Amidst the unexpected situation, tension filled the Elder’s body.
Step.
A footstep echoed through the swirling dust. The Elder turned his gaze.
He saw it.
Clearly.
Through the thick dust, a pair of eyes stared back at him.
Eyes so red they seemed capable of burning everything.
His body, which had been shaking just a moment ago, froze rigid upon meeting that gaze.
‘Why am I…?’
He tried to force his body to move, to no avail.
Whoosh!
In an instant, a gust blew away the dust, clearing the view.
With the obstruction gone, the Elder could finally see the owner of those eyes.
Just like the red eyes, his hair was a fiery shade of red.
The man wore martial attire adorned with gold patterns.
Though his expression seemed calm, the Elder could feel the overwhelming fury emanating from him.
Who was this man who had appeared so suddenly?
As thoughts raced through the Elder’s mind,
the man looked directly at the petrified Elder and spoke.
“I’ve found you.”
And with those words—
Crack.
The Elder’s legs were torn from his body.