Chapter 340
Sun Woo-jin slowly stepped into the secret chamber through the square-shaped opening in the wall.
He was tense—on edge.
Even for someone like him, who had been through countless battles and hardships, not knowing what kind of person the Sword Master might be was enough to make him uneasy.
After all, this was the greatest swordsman of the era, said to possess power beyond the rank of a ‘Sawang’—a supreme master.
He had even considered taking his son, Ban Dae-ha, hostage if things went south, but with a warrior of that caliber, who knew what terrifying skills he might unleash?
“Well, he’s probably still weaker than Elder Mukrang,” Sun Woo-jin reassured himself.
Having trained countless times in the dream realm using the Monghon Great Technique, and having faced the Sword Spirit repeatedly, he believed he wouldn’t be easily fooled by the Sword Master’s moves.
“It’s dark. I can’t see a thing with my eyes.”
His eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness after coming from a bright place, but that didn’t matter much.
His ever-active spiritual sight was painting a detailed mental image of the entire secret chamber.
And within that image, he saw him.
A man seated cross-legged on a rock in the center of the chamber, deep in meditation.
His breathing was slow, almost motionless.
His presence was so faint it felt as if he had become one with nature itself.
This had to be Ban Jung-yang, the Blood Wolf Sword Master—the greatest swordsman of the age.
Sun Woo-jin swallowed dryly without realizing it.
Though he had boldly declared he was here to confront the Sword Master about his son’s crimes, he couldn’t help but feel intimidated.
He spoke cautiously.
“Senior Sword Master, this is Sun Woo-jin, your junior from Malhak.”
He waited a moment, giving the man time to come out of meditation.
But no response came.
The Sword Master’s breathing remained slow and steady, his eyes still closed.
‘What’s going on? Does he not want to talk to me?’
Feeling something was off, Sun Woo-jin raised his voice slightly and tried again.
“Senior Sword Master, I have urgent matters to discuss regarding your son’s misdeeds and the Mang-a Gong technique left behind by the Sword Spirit.”
He waited once more.
He wasn’t foolish enough to think the greatest swordsman would be unaware of his surroundings even while meditating.
Yet again, no reaction.
The man remained deep in meditation, silent and unmoving.
Then, Mukrang muttered softly, almost like a groan.
“Could it be…?”
At the same time, Ban Dae-ha’s self-deprecating laughter echoed in Sun Woo-jin’s hand, where he was being held captive.
“Ha ha ha ha! No matter how much you call, it’s useless.”
Apparently, he had regained consciousness.
Sun Woo-jin’s expression hardened as he asked sharply,
“Useless? What do you mean by that?”
Ban Dae-ha chuckled, barely able to contain his amusement.
“Ha ha ha, Father’s fallen into possession by the demon’s spell. Because of that damn Mang-a Gong you’re after. He’s truly forgotten himself.”
“What?”
Sun Woo-jin was momentarily stunned, unable to fully grasp what he’d just heard.
Possession by a demon’s spell?
The greatest swordsman, the Sword Master, possessed by such a thing?
He looked again at the Sword Master.
Though the darkness prevented him from seeing with his eyes, his spiritual sight revealed a gaunt, emaciated figure.
Breathing nearly stopped, presence utterly absent…
Only now did Sun Woo-jin realize what it meant.
He muttered under his breath,
“…In a coma?”
Ban Dae-ha burst into maniacal laughter.
“Ha ha ha! Yes! That frail old man sitting there for nearly seven years is our father! The greatest swordsman in the world! Ha ha ha!”
“Frail old man.”
Sun Woo-jin understood why he used that term.
Even if in a coma, seven years without food or drink would leave him looking like nothing but skin and bones.
At that moment, Mukrang muttered in disbelief.
“That can’t be. No matter how difficult Mang-a Gong is, and even if he lacked talent, a master beyond the Fire Realm wouldn’t lose himself like that… Could it be…?”
Then, as if realizing something, he hurriedly said,
“Ask the author! Confirm if the Sword Master truly crossed the Fire Realm barrier!”
“Excuse me?”
Sun Woo-jin was taken aback.
All fifteen Absolutes had either crossed or were crossing the Fire Realm barrier, so there was no way the greatest swordsman hadn’t.
Why ask such a question?
But the moment the thought crossed his mind, the answer came to him.
“Could it be that he didn’t surpass the Fire Realm, but the Blood Wolf Sword instead?!”
Sun Woo-jin quickly asked Ban Dae-ha.
“Is it true that the Sword Master fully crossed the Fire Realm barrier?”
Ban Dae-ha’s laughter abruptly stopped.
He looked at Sun Woo-jin with wide, startled eyes, then shouted angrily,
“What nonsense is that?! There’s no way Father, the greatest swordsman, hasn’t crossed the Fire Realm barrier!”
But he didn’t realize that Sun Woo-jin could immediately tell his words were false.
Sun Woo-jin muttered bitterly,
“My goodness… so it was the power of the Blood Wolf Sword.”
Ban Dae-ha’s eyes widened even more, as if wanting to argue but unable to speak.
Sun Woo-jin recalled the Sword Master’s history.
He had appeared like a comet over twenty years ago, wandering the martial world and acting as a righteous swordsman.
About ten years ago, he single-handedly destroyed Cheon Sal Sword Demon and his sect, Cheon Sal Sect—then one of the Thirty-Six Stars of the World—and was recognized as one of the Absolutes.
Seven years ago, he faced the Heavenly Demon and other masters from various demonic sects belonging to the Thirty-Six Stars, defending the Kunlun Sect alone and forcing them to retreat.
That was when he was acknowledged as the greatest swordsman.
The Heavenly Demon had survived by swearing a humiliating oath never to touch Kunlun again as long as the Sword Master lived, coughing up blood as he said,
“Now, without the Thunder God or the Sword Spirit, our sect is once again blocked by a single sword.”
This was a reference to the past, when the Heavenly Demon Sect had been defeated by the Plum Blossom Sword Master, a previous Absolute of the Thunder God and Sword Spirit generation.
From that battle, Ban Jung-yang earned the title Blood Wolf Sword Master and rose to the pinnacle of the era.
Sun Woo-jin smiled bitterly, thinking,
“So those were the only two times the Sword Master truly displayed overwhelming power.”
Indeed.
Since then, he had secluded himself in Mount Antang, avoiding all outside activity.
Even as his followers gathered, building a bustling city around Antang, and martial artists in Zhejiang Province grew dangerously complacent, he remained withdrawn.
Suddenly, Ban Dae-ha’s words about the Sword Master’s seven-year state came back to him.
If true, it meant that after the battle with the Heavenly Demon, the Sword Master had tried to master Mang-a Gong and ended up in this state.
Sun Woo-jin asked Mukrang,
“So those two displays of power were not Ban Jung-yang’s own, but the manifestation of the elder residing in the Blood Wolf Sword?”
Mukrang answered gravely,
“Yes, that seems likely. And if there was an unknown third manifestation, then he must have used all three chances.”
Now Sun Woo-jin could piece it together.
The Sword Master had earned the title of greatest swordsman not by his own strength, but through the power of the Blood Wolf Sword.
When that power became unusable, he secluded himself to train.
Then he fell into possession by the demon’s spell.
Yet some things still didn’t add up.
“Brother Hwa-Young Bin from Cheongseong once met the Sword Master with his teacher, Elder Gwe-Seon. If the Sword Master wasn’t truly beyond the Fire Realm, wouldn’t Elder Gwe-Seon have noticed?”
Mukrang replied,
“Probably he was only at the early stage of the Fire Realm, not fully crossing the barrier. Like the Lone Poisonous Sword, Seo Il, you met before. I haven’t seen Gwe-Seon myself, but if he was one of the Five Monsters with Seo Il, he was probably at a similar level.”
So Elder Gwe-Seon couldn’t accurately judge the Sword Master’s true power.
Still, the feeling of unease lingered.
Even if he had used all three chances, he must have still received teachings from the Sword Spirit. How could it come to this?
Then Ban Dae-ha growled with eyes full of resentment.
“If only you had found the Mukrang Sword when the Sword Spirit’s will disappeared… then Father might have…”
“What?”
Sun Woo-jin frowned, confused by his words.
He needed the Mukrang Sword because the Sword Spirit’s will had vanished from the Blood Wolf Sword?
Why?
Mukrang sighed and said,
“I’ll explain that. It seems the time has come to reveal the truth.”
“…What?”
Sun Woo-jin’s eyes widened in shock.
Reveal the truth?
Had the elder been hiding something all this time?
Mukrang continued,
“If I use all three chances to manifest and move your body… my will will vanish from the Mukrang Sword forever.”
“…What?”
“And it’s the same if you master Mangagong. Once you do, I won’t be able to remain within this Mukrang Sword any longer.”
Sun Woo-jin stood there, stunned, unable to speak.
The news was too shocking.
Mukrang elder… my master… is going to disappear?
Forever?
If Sun Woo-jin had to name the single biggest reason his second life was so different from the first, it would be meeting Mukrang without hesitation.
Mukrang—the Sword Spirit—had become a father figure to Sun Woo-jin, who had never really felt his own father’s affection. He was also his martial arts teacher, and over time, a close friend with whom he shared every experience and even exchanged trivial jokes.
Above all, Mukrang was the source of the confidence that, even if not now, someday he could bring down the Blood Sect.
“But… that elder is going to vanish forever…?”
For Sun Woo-jin, it was an unbearable thought—something he simply couldn’t accept or even imagine.
Mukrang’s voice turned bitter as he apologized.
“If I had told you this earlier, you might have refused to summon me even in dangerous situations, or perhaps you wouldn’t have tried to master Mangagong at all. That’s why I kept it from you. I’m sorry.”
Sun Woo-jin had no words.
His eyes trembled like reeds swaying in the wind, restless and shaken.
Sun Woo-jin only snapped back to reality when Ban Dae-ha, who had been quietly watching, tried to sneak away.
Without turning around, Sun Woo-jin called out softly, “Have you ever thought about this? If the Sword Master ever wakes up again, do you think you won’t be the first to be punished?”
Startled, Ban Dae-ha snapped back angrily.
“Punished? By Father? Don’t be ridiculous! Even while Father was gone, I worked hard to uphold the reputation of the world’s greatest swordsman! How could he punish me?”
Sun Woo-jin pressed on.
“‘Upholding the reputation of the world’s greatest swordsman,’ huh? By deceiving people and sacrificing the innocent?”
Ban Dae-ha scoffed.
“A little flaw doesn’t turn a jewel into a pebble. It was a small sacrifice for a greater cause.”
Sun Woo-jin smiled faintly.
“As far as I know, the Sword Master didn’t seek fame through treachery. He earned the title by sacrificing himself to protect others. So his ‘greater cause’ was about protecting people. What, then, is this ‘greater cause’ you speak of? What else could it be but your own greed, gained at the expense of others?”
Ban Dae-ha’s face twisted in anger.
“Don’t act so high and mighty! Do you think you know Father better than I do? You’ve never even seen him—how could you possibly understand him?”
Sun Woo-jin turned slowly to face him, calm and steady.
“I do understand. I am the current master of the Mukrang Sword. I can feel the heart of the man who used his last chance for others. I can understand him well enough.”
Ban Dae-ha stared at him, shocked.
Sun Woo-jin’s calm demeanor reminded him of his father.
Years ago, when Ban Jung-yang, the Sword Master, was about to retreat into seclusion on Antang Mountain, Ban Dae-ha had been furious, accusing him of wasting his last chance after earning the title of the world’s greatest swordsman.
But his father had answered quietly,
“The last chance I used wasn’t to protect my fame, but to protect the people and stop the treachery. I made the best choice I could. The only regret is that I had to say goodbye to my master. Now, it’s time to carry on his will.”
In his father’s eyes, there was no pride or attachment to the title of the world’s greatest swordsman—only the sorrow of losing his teacher.
Remembering this, Ban Dae-ha found himself unable to argue further.
Sun Woo-jin looked at him with pity.
“You destroyed the values the Sword Master pursued, all for your own greed. If he wakes up, the first thing he’ll do is strike you down. But a father cannot bear to kill his son, so I will punish you instead.”
Ban Dae-ha’s eyes widened in shock, and he tried to speak.
But he couldn’t.
In a flash of light, a red line appeared across his neck.
His head fell, and blood sprayed like a fountain.
Watching this, Mukrang suddenly asked,
“If the Sword Master wakes, might he hold a grudge against you? After all, you are his son.”
Sun Woo-jin replied,
“If he wakes, I believe he’ll do so with the heart he had seven years ago. He won’t resent me for killing Ban Dae-ha, who committed such evil.”
Mukrang silently nodded in agreement, then asked again after a moment.
“What will you do now?”
Sun Woo-jin sighed deeply, then smiled faintly.
“Do I have to leave as soon as I even see the secret formula of Mangagong?”
“No, not yet. I’ll have to stay and help until you fully master Mangagong.”
Relieved, Sun Woo-jin said,
“Then let’s do this. I’ll just memorize the secret formula for now, but won’t practice it yet. Fortunately, compared to the Blood Sect, we have fewer masters—there’s the Four Kings, Senior Son of the Spirit Demon, Elder Sword Saint, and even the Saintess. Among them, the Blood Sect only has a few experts like Yeokcheon Blood Demon and Blood Demon. So even if I don’t master Mangagong right away, it should be fine. I probably won’t need to use my third chance either… hopefully.”
Mukrang finally allowed himself a small smile, feeling somewhat reassured by Sun Woo-jin’s words.
Then Sun Woo-jin hurriedly asked,
“Of course, unless you want to enter eternal rest right away. Do you… want to?”
With a worried look, he asked.
Mukrang smiled gently.
“Of course not. I want to stay with you a little longer.”
He didn’t say he wanted to see Sun Woo-jin marry, have children, and grandchildren.
He just smiled because seeing Sun Woo-jin’s relief mirrored his own.
In that moment, Mukrang thought how good it was to be here now.
But neither of them knew what was happening outside.
Nor how everything Sun Woo-jin had taken for granted was about to be turned upside down.