Crack! The table shattered into two pieces, and in the gap, the old man charged at me like an angry bear.
"I expected this reaction, but... it's more intense than I thought."
I retreated and said, "Don't you think we could talk before fighting?"
Instead of an answer, a fist like a rock flew towards me.
I couldn't just take it, so I reached out my hand to meet it.
Bang! In an instant, we exchanged dozens of blows.
Fists and palms collided, palms and fingers clashed, allowing us to gauge each other's martial skills to some extent.
The old man's eyes widened in shock.
"This martial art... could it be...?"
"You're quite familiar with it, aren't you?"
At that moment, the old man's expression twisted strangely, and I heard Bok Man-chun's voice from outside the tent.
"Sir!"
"Don't come in!" I shouted while giving the old man a warning glance.
The old man hesitated for a moment, then stopped his attack with a reluctant expression.
However, he remained on guard, ready to strike again at any moment.
I sensed Bok Man-chun hesitating right in front of the tent.
I spoke to him, "It's nothing. Why are you being so overprotective?"
"... I heard something unusual from inside just now."
"It was just a small misunderstanding. Go wait at the market. You must be hungry, so buy something to eat."
"... When should I come to fetch you?"
When he asked me to set a time for his arrival, I met the old man's fierce gaze and said, "Don't come. If I don't return by morning, go back to the inn and wait."
"... What about all that wealth?"
It was a half-joking, half-serious question about what would happen if I died.
I chuckled and replied, "Don't even dream of swallowing it up. No matter how late it is, it won't take more than a few days. Otherwise, you'll lose your head."
I planned to return before the practical exam, no matter how late it got.
Bok Man-chun cleared his throat awkwardly outside the tent.
"Ahem. I was just saying that. Anyway, I understand. If anything happens..."
"Are you not leaving?"
"I'm going. I said I'm going."
Bok Man-chun's presence gradually faded away.
Only after he completely disappeared did the old man quietly speak.
"Who are you?"
As the old man began to gather his energy, a terrifying killing intent filled the tent.
"Indeed, he is the head of the Weiji family."
The Weiji family was one of the eight great clans that supported the Blood Sect, known more for their metallurgy and explosives than martial arts.
The head of the family had been the greatest blacksmith of the Blood Sect for generations, and the Blood Sword, the sect's treasured weapon, was crafted by the Weiji family.
"I am..."
I carefully chose my words before speaking.
"I am someone in a similar situation to you."
"... Are you saying you are a survivor?" the old man asked in a cracked voice.
About fifty years ago, the Blood Sect, which had been torn apart for 'unknown reasons,' was completely annihilated by the Martial Alliance's attack.
The 'survivor' the old man referred to was someone who had escaped during that attack.
Naturally, all survivors of the Blood Sect were still registered as wanted by the Martial Alliance.
"I would be a descendant of those survivors."
"... You expect me to believe that just because you learned a martial art that low-level warriors of the sect practice?" The old man still regarded me with suspicion.
The Martial Alliance had used every means possible over the past decades to lure out the remnants of the Blood Sect.
"If I want you to trust me... I must reveal something first."
Having made my decision, I carefully removed the mask from my face.
Szzzz.
"This is my true face. Even Bok Chun doesn't know it."
"..."
"If you still don't believe me, shall I show you something else?" I slowly drew my sword, Moonlight, and took a stance.
"If you can't recognize this, then I will suspect you this time."
"..."
I slowly unfolded my sword technique so the old man could see.
The movements of the sword, which had been slow, began to accelerate, and soon it was swirling fiercely within the tent.
It was rough and tenacious.
Persistent and vicious.
It did not fear wounds and sought to bite at the opponent's neck by any means.
"Indeed, the killing intent is too thick."
Just by demonstrating the sword technique, I felt as if the tent was soaked in the smell of blood.
After finishing the demonstration, I sheathed Moonlight.
At the same time, a sigh escaped the old man's lips.
"The Blood Wolf Sword Technique... I haven't seen it in decades."
The Blood Wolf Sword Technique was the sword technique of the Blood Wolf Corps, the Blood Sect's main martial force, divided into the front and back techniques.
The back technique could only be learned by those at the rank of captain or higher, and I had just demonstrated the initial stages of the latter.
"Do you believe me now?"
"... What is your relation to the Blood Wolf Corps?"
"I heard your late father was a vice-captain of the Thirteen Corps of the Blood Wolf Corps."
Although the Blood Wolf Corps was an elite martial force, it was unlikely that someone of the Weiji family's head's stature would know about a vice-captain of the Thirteen Corps.
As expected, the old man seemed completely unaware of who I was referring to.
"I don't know who your father is... but he raised a good son. My name is Weiji Yeol."
His voice softened, and his energy also relaxed.
However, his suspicion had not completely vanished.
Weiji Yeol's eyes gleamed sharply as he asked, "But how did you know I am the head of the Weiji family?"
I fabricated a plausible story based on the information I knew about the Blood Sect.
First, I offered my sincere apologies to my father, and then I said, "... Your late father often spoke of you as the greatest blacksmith in the world. He said that the swords he personally crafted had never broken on the battlefield, and when his swords flowed into the martial world, it would cause a bloodbath as everyone fought to possess them..."
"Ahem. My father must have embellished my reputation. It's not that great."
Though he said it wasn't, the corners of Weiji Yeol's mouth were already lifting in satisfaction.
"Once, I saw you from a distance, and he said he could never forget the intense impression you left on him. Especially the tattoos all over your body."
"Tattoos?" I looked at the various tattoos etched on Weiji Yeol's robust body.
They were covered with images of dragons and tigers to evade the Martial Alliance's pursuit, but in truth, they all represented weapons like swords, sabers, and spears.
Each tattoo had its own story.
"I heard you only tattoo treasures among the weapons you have crafted throughout your life. But that dragon descending from your left shoulder..."
A vivid red dragon was clearly tattooed on Weiji Yeol's left shoulder.
That was not a dragon but a sword.
And that sword was not crafted by Weiji Yeol.
"Isn't that the Blood Sword, the sect's treasured weapon? I heard you engraved it with the determination to create a sword even better than it someday."
"..."
Weiji Yeol, who had been looking down at his left shoulder for a moment, turned his head to look at me.
"You are truly a clever child. To find traces of the Blood Sword in that dragon tattoo."
"If you know the story, anyone could make that deduction."
"If everyone could, I would have been captured and hunted down by the Martial Alliance long ago."
Weiji Yeol set aside all his suspicions about me.
He smiled bitterly and said, "Shall we have a little chat?"
For a while, we talked about the Blood Sect, which had perished fifty years ago.
The Blood Sect, which vanished after being attacked by the Martial Alliance shortly after my master and I died.
Weiji Yeol was one of the elders who remembered that time, and since I also recalled those days, our conversation flowed smoothly.
"Weiji Yeol. You have aged a lot."
As we talked, I recalled the face of the young Weiji Yeol.
He had seemed quite bright and cheerful back then, but perhaps due to the hardships he had faced, his personality had grown more serious, and his face had changed significantly.
"He was a rare decent man for a clan head."
He didn't kill recklessly and had little interest in anything other than blacksmithing, avoiding the messy politics within the sect.
...
It seemed he had somehow survived until now.
Meeting someone I had known in the past felt a bit strange.
However, the past was just the past, and I didn't feel much sympathy.
When the atmosphere had sufficiently warmed up through our conversation, I brought up the main topic.
"Is your request related to the Blood Sect?"
After a moment of contemplation, Weiji Yeol sighed deeply and lowered his head.
"I can't say it has nothing to do with it..."
Then, after a moment, he raised his head and looked at me with serious eyes, asking, "I have a favor to ask. Please kill my grandson."
A few days later, I was wandering through an unnamed mountain with Weiji Yeol.
"We're almost there."
"I'm sorry, but I feel like I've heard that ten times already."
"Tsk. How can a young friend be so impatient?"
"I've mentioned it several times, but the important exam is just a few days away."
"We're really almost there. It's just taking a while to deactivate the formation."
The place where our target was located was surrounded by a formation deep in the mountains, and we were slowly deactivating it one by one to return to its original state.
I gauged the time left until the practical exam.
"If I want to return before the practical exam starts, it will be quite tight."
I calculated that I needed to finish the request and return today at the latest to avoid being late for the exam.
After wandering through the forest for about an hour, Weiji Yeol suddenly stopped.
"... We're here."
The place where we stopped was a hill.
Below it, a small thatched house could be seen, and beside it were two tombs.
"Those are the graves of my son and daughter-in-law."
Weiji Yeol's son and daughter-in-law had lost their martial arts when they escaped the Martial Alliance's attack, and they had died after suffering from illness for a long time.
"Foolishly, they lost their martial arts while trying to protect me, the clan head."
Weiji Yeol's profile, as he stood beside me, looked very sorrowful.
Sitting between the two tombs was the target of our request.
He looked to be no more than thirteen or at most fifteen years old.
"And that boy is my grandson. He grew up without even seeing his parents' faces, and I raised him while nursing him..."
The boy sat between the two tombs.
A mountain bird had perched on the back of his hand, chirping, and the boy smiled as if the bird were a friend, chatting with it.
"His name is Weiji Cheon. I can confidently say he is the most talented martial artist in our family's history."
Weiji Yeol's expression gradually twisted in pain.
"That's right. In my grief over losing my son and daughter-in-law, I taught that boy too harshly. Back then, I was blinded by vain revenge..."
The boy, who had been chatting happily with the mountain bird, gently stroked it and then softly grasped it.
The bird continued to chirp cheerfully.
"So I didn't realize. That the boy was falling into a trance..."
"Trance?"
The bird's song turned into a painful cry.
Its small body struggled desperately as if pleading to be released.
At that moment, the boy smiled brightly and let the bird go.
The bird flew up from the boy's palm, trying to escape.
The boy's hand drew a very gentle arc, and with a pop! The bird's body burst in mid-air and fell to the ground.
With blood splattered on his face, the boy grinned and began to sing a song to lure a new bird.
I watched this scene with a stiffened face.
"Even after realizing that, I couldn't bring myself to kill him. And now... I've reached a point where I can't kill him with my own strength."
"... Who taught you the martial art you just used?"
My voice sounded unusual, and Weiji Yeol looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Why do you ask about martial arts...? Do you perhaps know it?"
Indeed, that was a martial art I had created.