WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Order
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈
Chapter 48: Chapter Five - Dragon-Phoenix Assembly (21)
──────
Hey guys, quick announcement before the chapter! We're hosting an original webnovel contest with a $1000 prize pool, a chance to publish your novel on WeTried, and lifetime free reading access for the top two winners!
There's also a participation prize of 500 coins for everyone participating.
If you've got a story sitting in a folder somewhere, or have been wanting to try writing one, we'd love to read it. You only need your first 10 chapters, and you have until 1st January 2027 to submit. New writers are welcome too!
Full details, rules, and how to enter here! https://wetriedtls.com/announcements/webnovel-contest
Feel free to send this to anyone you know who writes. Enjoy the chapter!
If you have any questions, please join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
──────
“…I intend to go to the Martial Alliance.”
Dang Hwa-seo began with that.
Then she spoke of what had happened before.
“You must have heard the conversation between Dang Un-gyeong and me that night. Yes, I was running from the Tang Clan.”
She did not go into the reason in detail.
Her childhood had been so terrible that she did not want to remember it, and it was far too humiliating to tell anyone about.
Dang Hwa-seo did not want to tell Mok Ri-won how she had screamed and begged for it to stop.
So she glossed over her childhood and continued.
“The day I left Suyang County after meeting you, Young Hero Mok, I made up my mind. I would no longer keep running from my family. I wanted to move forward proudly and live my life.”
“…I see.”
“There was something I needed in order to do that.”
Dang Hwa-seo raised her head to face Mok Ri-won.
He watched her with a calm smile, as though he would listen to anything she had to say.
It was a smile that gave her courage.
“What did you need?”
“A position the Tang Clan could not touch. That was why I intended to go to the Martial Alliance.”
“Does the Martial Alliance offer such a position?”
“It does if I join the Alliance and attain the rank of Division Leader. The Martial Alliance is called the heart of the White Path Martial World. Once a martial artist there reaches the rank of Division Leader, their affiliation becomes the Martial Alliance, regardless of where they belonged before.”
“You wished to become a Division Leader of the Alliance.”
“I wanted to make it so the Tang Clan could no longer harm me.”
Then she would rise higher and higher until one day, she could return proudly to the Tang Clan and hold them accountable.
The Dragon Phoenix Gathering was the first step toward that goal.
Her journey to Shaolin Temple was part of it as well.
She needed a letter of recommendation from Wonmyeong, the Buddha Star, who had been the Martial Alliance Leader during the Bloody Affair over twenty years ago.
“…After the Dragon Phoenix Gathering ended, I intended to set out on my journey to become a Division Leader. That meant I would have to part ways with you, Young Hero Mok. But…”
Dang Hwa-seo hesitated.
The moment had finally come for her to make her request, yet the words would not leave her mouth.
No matter how she thought about it, she could only conclude that this was selfishness.
“But?”
Mok Ri-won gently urged her to continue.
Dang Hwa-seo fidgeted with the fingers clasped in hers.
Then she spoke.
“…I found myself wanting to go to the Alliance with you, Young Hero Mok. I want to spend more time with you.”
It was a rambling thing to say.
Dang Hwa-seo only realized that after the words had already left her mouth.
Her face reddened.
Shame trembled in her eyes.
Her head lowered.
Her spinning thoughts urged her to say something else, something that could repair what she had said.
But the words she thought of in that panic could not possibly take proper form.
They could not be prettily wrapped up, either.
What came out carried her raw feelings.
“…I need you.”
“What do you…”
“I need you, Young Hero Mok.”
Dang Hwa-seo barely managed to say it.
Without even knowing what she was saying, she poured out every feeling that came to mind.
“That is why I want us to go together. Young Hero Mok… I want you to come with me to the Martial Alliance.”
Dang Hwa-seo squeezed her eyes shut.
Her heart pounded wildly after she had forced such an improper request upon him.
The moment someone joined the Alliance, their affiliation changed to the Alliance.
That meant that if Mok Ri-won went with her, his life might become bound to the Martial Alliance.
It could not be something he would welcome.
‘Even if he refuses…’
It could not be helped.
As she thought that, Dang Hwa-seo could already picture Mok Ri-won refusing her request.
But then...
“Very well.”
“Of course... Pardon?”
That was not what happened.
Mok Ri-won accepted far too easily.
Dang Hwa-seo doubted her ears.
She wondered whether she was dreaming.
She studied Mok Ri-won’s expression and asked, worried that he might be agreeing without properly considering it.
“Did you truly understand what I said? Young Hero Mok, joining the Alliance is not something to decide lightly. Belonging somewhere means…”
“Did I not say I would do anything you asked of me?”
Mok Ri-won was smiling as gently as before.
“I said I could do so as long as the request did not go against Chivalric righteousness. Joining the Martial Alliance does not go against Chivalric righteousness in the slightest. If anything, it is something that pursues it. Why would it not be? Is the Martial Alliance not the home of heroes who run about day and night to preserve order in the Martial World of the Central Plains?”
“That is not what I meant…”
“And I do not wish to part from you either.”
Thump.
Dang Hwa-seo’s heart gave an enormous leap.
It was entirely different from the anxious pounding she had felt until moments ago.
For a moment, her thoughts overloaded as she tried to understand what he meant.
Yet, strangely enough, Mok Ri-won did not give her time to dwell on it.
“I wish to spend more time with you because there is something I want to learn.”
“Learn…?”
“The chivalry of the real world. I do not know it. The chivalry I know is the fanciful kind that exists only in stories. I do not dislike that, but I know reality is crueler than stories. I know that chasing dreams alone cannot make one a chivalrous hero.”
Mok Seon-o and Ma Il-seok had both told him something similar.
A chivalrous hero might live amid storybook ideals, but that did not mean turning away from reality.
A true chivalrous hero had to consider what chivalry they could practice within the reality before them.
“I want to understand Chivalry. And I believe you are the only person who can teach it to me, Miss. Of everyone I know, you are the most chivalrous.”
Dang Hwa-seo was a practical woman.
Yet she was also a selfless one.
She was always thinking, always pushing herself to become better.
That was why Mok Ri-won liked Dang Hwa-seo.
He liked the person she was.
The reason he said these things was not far removed from those feelings.
“I want to know you, Miss. I want to stay by your side and learn that chivalry from you. And while I do, I hope that someone as righteous as you can be happy. So I will not part from you.”
Dang Hwa-seo let out a weak laugh at Mok Ri-won’s long speech.
‘…Why do you have to put it so ambiguously?’
Mok Ri-won was clearly praising her chivalry, yet his words sounded far too sweet.
He spoke in a way that made her want to misunderstand him.
“…Will you not regret this?”
“Meeting you, Miss, was the second stroke of fortune in my life. And that will not change. So I will not regret it.”
“What was the first?”
“Being taken in by my master.”
Second only to his master.
That was not bad.
Only then did Dang Hwa-seo truly feel that Mok Ri-won would remain at her side.
Joy spilled from her.
Her heart was so full that she thanked him in a trembling voice.
“…Thank you.”
“You have no need to thank me. It is only natural.”
“Even so, thank you.”
Dang Hwa-seo released Mok Ri-won’s hand.
Then she stretched out her arms and embraced him.
She had done it while swept up in emotion, but she felt no regret in that moment.
A fresh, warm scent drifted from him.
That scent made her feel comfort before embarrassment could even arise.
It was the night the Dragon Phoenix Gathering ended.
Even the brilliantly shining moon hid behind the clouds for this moment.
The shadows of a man and a woman, cast upon the slightly darker ground, remained overlapped for a long time.
* * *
Three days passed quickly.
Contrary to Dang Hwa-seo’s concerns, they passed without a single incident.
She County was not quiet.
After Mok Ri-won’s victory, She County had not been quiet for even a moment. Interest in Mok Ri-won, who had displayed such astonishing swordsmanship, had soared beyond measure.
The prestigious factions were even more restless.
Until now, they had only waited in the alleys Mok Ri-won frequented. Now they had grown impatient and begun visiting the estate where he was staying.
If this estate had not been operated by the Namgung Clan, Mok Ri-won would likely have already been harassed mercilessly by the prestigious factions that had barged in.
It was a situation where he could not carelessly take even one step outside.
Yet despite his lively nature, Mok Ri-won had remained quiet for the past three days.
There was a reason for that.
“Is he still inside?”
“He is. Brother Mok really is something else. How has he not stepped out of that room once in three days?”
“I heard he was training.”
“I heard he was sorting through his insights.”
“We must leave soon, yet he is taking so long…”
Dang Hwa-seo looked worriedly at Mok Ri-won’s closed door.
But staring at it would not make it open.
Mok Ri-won had no time to concern himself with the two people waiting outside.
Swoosh.
The room was filled with faint, ink-colored Qi Waves.
Mok Ri-won sat cross-legged at its center with his eyes closed.
He was circulating his Internal Cultivation Method and meditating.
There were many insights he needed to sort through.
The words Sword King Namgung Hyeok had casually given him, the many insights into swordsmanship he had gained from his sparring match, and even the technical realizations he had gained by using his inborn nature for the first time.
One by one, he recalled the insights he had yet to organize, layering them over his inner vision.
‘I am only a swordsman.’
He was nothing else.
The star that had descended upon him could not define him, and the mind that wielded his sword was wholly his own.
Even his inborn nature was only a fragment that made up his sword. As a swordsman, he could not be ruled by it.
‘I truly did it.’
He had found the clue during his sparring match with Namgung Jin-cheon.
The Heavenly Slaughter Star was not a star beyond all control.
That meant this urge to kill was a peculiar trait he could overcome, so long as his will as a swordsman was strong enough.
‘The urge to kill is part of the sword. The star is also part of the sword.’
As Mok Seon-o had taught him for so long, and as Namgung Hyeok had said, a star was ultimately only a star.
It was simply another sword placed in his hand.
It was a truly hideous sword, but even such a hideous sword would take on a different nature depending on the swordsman who wielded it.
‘I am only a swordsman.’
Mok Ri-won repeated the words and circulated the Star-Linking Divine Technique.
He recited its cultivation formula in his mind.
Swoosh.
Three stars rose over his inner vision, which resembled a pitch-black night sky.
Mok Ri-won looked at them, then reached out and touched the space behind the third star.
A faint cluster of light began to form there.
‘Let it be the Star of the Sword.’
Mok Ri-won gave the cluster of light that name.
As if to suit its name, the newly inscribed light twisted and writhed before it began to blaze in the shape of a sword.
Once it settled completely into place, the stars began to revolve.
One star formation after another followed a fixed path.
The circuit of the stars continued.
The inner vision that had only been dimly lit by three star formations now shone even more brilliantly with the addition of a fourth.
Only after he felt the fourth star settle firmly into place did Mok Ri-won open his eyes.
With the breath he released, his qi settled.
His shoulders relaxed.
Mok Ri-won smiled.
‘The Fourth Stage.’
He did not yet have enough inner power to call it the complete Fourth Stage, but even that would be resolved within a few hours.
Without bothering to suppress his rising joy, Mok Ri-won stretched.
Then he got up.
Bang.
He threw open the door.
Dang Hwa-seo and Jegal San were already waiting for him, fully prepared.
“Let’s go!”
Mok Ri-won called out as he set off.
He was headed for the martial arena where the finals had been held.
Today, Mok Ri-won would become a Dragon.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
