No Equal Even Empty-Handed

After spending the entire night awake, So Geum-ho stared fixedly at the entrance of the Sword Name Gate with an utterly exhausted expression.

“…….”

The reason he had voluntarily stood watch all night without anyone asking him to was simple.

His Sect Master, who had left after declaring that he would go fuck up the Sword Hero Gate’s Sect Master and come back, still hadn’t returned.

Part of him thought there was no way Dokgo Mu-jin, who had so confidently proclaimed himself the strongest, could possibly go down easily. Even so, unable to shake his unease, So Geum-ho kept staring at the tightly shut front gate.

“What in the world happened to him?”

Just then, the moment So Geum-ho let out a deep sigh, someone knocked on the gate from outside, followed by the clear, booming voice of a young man.

“Is anyone there?”
“I’m here!”

So Geum-ho hurried over and immediately threw open the front gate.

Had the Sect Master returned? But it wasn’t the Sword Name Gate’s Sect Master standing outside.

Instead, there stood two awkward-looking martial artists dressed in the dark-blue martial robes distinctive to the Sword Hero Gate.

‘……Why are these Sword Hero Gate bastards here?’

A terrible possibility occurred to him, and So Geum-ho’s heart dropped.

Had Dokgo Mu-jin lost after challenging the Sword Hero Gate’s Sect Master, and had these men come to retaliate?

But their behavior was far too strange for men who had come seeking revenge. They were scratching their heads and coughing awkwardly with their heads lowered, almost like people who had done something wrong.

Noticing the odd atmosphere, So Geum-ho spoke cautiously.

“……Our Sect Master is currently away. Who are you, and what brings you here?”

Even as he asked, So Geum-ho swallowed dryly. One of the men, who had begun sweating nervously, answered with extreme politeness.

“Yes, we’re from the Sword Hero Gate. The thing is, well……the Sect Master of the Sword Name Gate has become the Sect Master of the Sword Hero Gate.”
“Huh?”

Put another way, Dokgo Mu-jin had actually defeated the Sword Hero Gate’s Sect Master and taken his position. Naturally, So Geum-ho found the news impossible to believe.

When So Geum-ho continued staring as though wondering what kind of bullshit this was, the man scratched his chin and stubbornly continued.

“It’s true. We came to deliver the Sect Master’s message that he’ll be staying at the Sword Hero Gate for the time being, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Ah…….”

So Geum-ho struggled to understand the situation before him. Everything had happened so suddenly and unfolded so abruptly that it was difficult to process.

The messenger’s eyes suddenly shifted somewhere else, and his body jerked as though he’d just received a terrible shock.

Apparently, he had spotted the Sword Hero Gate prisoners tied up in the middle of the training yard.

Not wanting to end up tied with ropes themselves, the men hurriedly turned around and bid So Geum-ho farewell.

“Then we’ll be taking our leave. We’re rather pressed for time…….”

When So Geum-ho merely nodded blankly, the men hurried away from the Sword Name Gate at a near run.

Just as the men had nearly disappeared from sight……one of them turned back as though he had forgotten something and bowed deeply to So Geum-ho.

“Young Sect Master, we apologize for everything until now. Things are rather hectic at the moment……but next time, we’ll return with a gift.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Then, farewell.”

The men quickened their pace once more and completely left the Sword Name Gate. Yet So Geum-ho continued staring in the direction they had disappeared for a long while.

It took time for him to fully comprehend what had just happened.

‘What the hell is going on?’

He still hadn’t sorted through all his thoughts……but one thing was perfectly clear.

The man named Dokgo Mu-jin, whom he had once thought was simply kind and hopelessly meek, had undoubtedly changed.

So Geum-ho stared endlessly at the empty street. The whole thing was so absurd that instead of a sigh, a hollow laugh escaped him.

“Hah…….”

I didn’t finish circulating my qi until it was already late for lunch. Afterward, I ate an expensive meal with the disciples, wandered around the Sword Hero Gate, took a walk, and generally spent my time at leisure.

What mattered was acting naturally, as though I truly had become the Sword Hero Gate’s Sect Master, so I didn’t bother overthinking anything else.

Once I put on the former Sect Master’s fine clothes and strutted around looking the part, the way people looked at me subtly changed.

Some even seemed to think they were seeing me for the first time.

The reason their gazes had changed was simple. I really had changed.

I figured it was probably because of the major breakthrough I’d achieved while circulating my qi.

Regardless of age, when someone suddenly achieved a major breakthrough, their appearance and overall impression tended to change.

In short, when your martial arts advanced far enough, you became more handsome.

I’d gone from a grubby ugly bastard to a somewhat less grubby and less ugly young man, yet strangely enough, women still didn’t interest me much.

Thinking about it, I hadn’t paid much attention to women in my previous life either, so it wasn’t particularly strange.

So I showed little interest in the maidservants who frequently came to greet and attend to me.

I told them there was no need to wait on me from now on and sent all the bothersome maidservants away.

“I’m busy enough training myself to death. What the hell do I need attendants for?”

Even though I’d reached the point where no one in this town could rival me, compared to the Kangho as a whole, I was still little more than a gnat.

If someday I became the Sword God and the greatest under heaven, perhaps then I might fall in love, raise some children, and live happily together……but that had nothing to do with me right now, so I pushed the thought aside and focused solely on training.

After finishing a training session that felt like I was grinding down my bones and muscles, my stiff body felt considerably lighter.

Around sunset, I ate an early dinner with the disciples. For a martial artist, eating well was honestly just as important as fighting well.

After all, to become a strong martial artist, you had to eat more and move more than everyone else.

I was aggressively shoveling down the feast spread across the table when the main hall doors suddenly opened and an irritating-looking young man appeared.

I picked up a piece of Dongpo pork, shoved it into my mouth, and greeted Gongson Han.

“You’re back?”

Gongson Han dropped heavily into the seat across from me and answered weakly.

“Yes. I’m back.”
“What happened to you? You were full of energy before. Why do you look half dead?”
“Who knows? I guess life did this to me.”

By the time I saw Young Sect Master Gongson Han again that night, he looked as exhausted as a soldier who had just fought through an army of thousands.

That was only natural. Ever since I became Sect Master, I’d dumped every practical and administrative duty the previous Sword Hero Gate Master had handled onto Gongson Han.

One might think the workload was somewhat excessive……but what could I do? I was the Sect Master, and I was an idiot.

If anything, it was appropriate punishment for spending all those years groveling under a bastard.

I began harassing Gongson Han as he picked listlessly at his food with his chopsticks.

“Eat.”
“I am eating.”
“Eat more.”
“I am eating plenty.”
“More. Eat more.”
“Why are you suddenly giving me shit?”

I poured myself a cup of baijiu served with the meal and answered.

“Our dear Young Sect Master Gongson. This feast was paid for with money earned by the late Sword Hero Gate Master, so you ought to eat plenty. Wasn’t getting a bite of food like this the whole reason you grovelled like an idiot and licked the man’s feet all those years?”
“…….”

Gongson Han stopped eating and glared at me as though he wanted to kill me. I’d seen that sort of look plenty of times before.

And I liked that sort of reckless look, where the urge to beat me senseless, killing intent, and hot-blooded anger all tangled together. That’s how a man ought to live. Absolutely.

I looked into Gongson Han’s narrow eyes and smiled gently.

‘What are you going to do about it if you’re angry?’

Gongson Han held my gaze for a while before reluctantly letting out a deep sigh and returning to his meal. I deliberately spoke up again just to ruin his concentration.

“Eat plenty.”

Looking as though he were mentally carving the character for patience into his heart about forty times, Gongson Han gripped his chopsticks tightly and answered shortly.

“Yes. I should eat plenty.”

After the rather brief meal ended and I was left sitting alone at the table, I silently stared at the chopsticks in my hand.

“…….”

Now that I had conquered the Wooden Sword realm, where exactly did my current level stand? There was no way to know until I tested it myself.

I envisioned a sword within my mind and gave it form, then used the Heart Sword to make the chopsticks in my hand take the form of a sword.

Moments ago, they had merely been chopsticks for eating. Not anymore. Now, a finely carved wooden sword rested in my hand.

I gazed at the ordinary wooden sword that embodied the essence of a swordsman’s basics, foundations, and fundamentals. It was a pure Wooden Sword enveloped in an utterly tranquil qi.

I was concentrating when Gongson Han suddenly spoke to me.

“What the hell are you doing right after eating……?”
“Shut up.”
“…….”

This time, I changed the form of the Heart Sword and envisioned a straight silver iron sword.

Until a moment ago, the sword had quite literally been a wooden sword, but now things had changed again.

Now, a sharp Iron Sword wrapped in cold, merciless gray qi rested in my hand.

I deliberately alternated between infusing the qi of the Wooden Sword and the Iron Sword, switching back and forth as I assessed exactly where my current realm stood.

As transparent, pristine qi and storm-like gray qi flashed violently as though competing against one another, I finally grasped the extent of my current achievement.

‘This is excellent.’

After examining it directly, I had advanced beyond the Wooden Sword and reached the first stage of the Iron Sword. If compared to climbing a mountain, I was somewhere around its lower-middle slopes.

Satisfied, I withdrew the Heart Sword, and only then did what I held return to looking like ordinary chopsticks.

There had been a passage in the Limitless Sword Art manual I’d once read.

‘A swordsman who carries a sword within his heart has no equal even empty-handed.’

At the time, I’d wondered what kind of bullshit it was to say someone could have no equal while empty-handed, but now I finally understood what it meant.

Those words had been describing the realm of the Heart Sword.

There had once been a time when I’d gone through every sort of ridiculous bullshit trying to understand the Heart Sword. But looking at it now, there wasn’t much to it.

Envisioning the sword within one’s heart.

Just as its short and simple name suggested, that was all the Heart Sword truly was.

There had been a time when I still lost to Instructor Chil even while wielding a famed blade, but things were different now.

Whether I held an old wooden sword, a broken iron sword, a pair of wooden chopsticks, or nothing at all, it would now take quite a lot to make me lose.

Because the sword I carried within my heart was itself the greatest sword under heaven.

After roughly another week passed, I had grown somewhat accustomed to acting as the Sword Hero Gate’s Sect Master.

The reasonably perceptive ones now naturally called me Sect Master, while Gongson Han, the most perceptive man in all of Yongmyeong County, had already learned to work around my habits, quirks, and usual behavior.

As I strolled through town, I noticed that the way people looked at me had changed considerably.

Most either feared or envied me, while the bastards who had once looked down on me and then gotten thoroughly beaten lowered their eyes whenever I appeared.

But whether they did or not made no difference to me. I had no interest whatsoever in what the people around me thought of me, so I simply focused on training.

By this point, one or two idiots had even begun trying to imitate my training methods, but most couldn’t last three full days before giving up.

Training the same way I did was practically suicide for an ordinary martial artist.

After all, it meant devoting every moment of the day aside from meals and brief sleep to circulating qi and external cultivation.

I even held in my shit while staying up all night accumulating internal energy, and if morning came while I was still circulating my qi with my eyes wide open, I tore my muscles apart with training instead of going to sleep.

It had only been a short time, but I had accumulated at least a small amount of internal energy, and the body that had once been nothing but skin and bones was beginning to develop muscle.

I was still nowhere near ready to face the true experts of the Kangho, but at least I had established a basic foundation.

I hadn’t even attempted to practice controlling the Demon Wail Sword. Despite all my training, whenever I held it, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my body’s vessel was still incomplete.

When something felt wrong, it was better not to force the issue. I could practice wielding the Demon Wail Sword once this body became a little sturdier someday…….

So once again, I tormented my muscles and tortured my arms and legs. After spending the entire day from early morning until evening on external cultivation, I sat on the bed and began circulating my qi.

Strangely, circulating my qi had always gone better at night. It had been that way in my previous life, and it remained true now in this one. I had no idea why.

Perhaps years of worrying that I might be ambushed in my sleep had made me this way, or perhaps I simply concentrated better when everything around me was quiet.

Today as well, I closed my eyes, crossed my legs, and was just about to focus when……the door suddenly opened and Gongson Han rushed in.

“Sect Master, are you asleep?”

I answered without opening my eyes.

“I’m not. What is it?”
“The Sect Master of the Righteous Sword Gate has arrived.”

That was surprising enough for me to open my eyes and look directly at Young Sect Master Gongson Han.

“Who came?”
“The Sect Master of the Righteous Sword Gate. He brought his men with him, so I showed them into the main hall for now.”
“……Got it.”

I rose and headed outside empty-handed. Why had the Righteous Sword Gate’s Sect Master only come to see me now?

It was far too late for him to be coming merely to discuss what should be done with the Sword Name Gate’s Sect Master without knowing that the Sword Hero Gate Master was dead.

Which meant the answer was…….

‘……He already knows I’ve taken over the Sword Hero Gate and came here to kill me.’

As I walked slowly, I asked Gongson Han, who was following behind me,

“Young Sect Master, what kind of bastard is the Righteous Sword Gate’s Sect Master?”
“The Righteous Sword Gate’s Sect Master?”

Gongson Han scratched his cheek awkwardly before answering.

“Well……he’s the typical kind of bastard who’s weak before the strong and strong before the weak. His actions are similar to the former Sword Hero Gate Master’s, but he’s far more cunning and vicious.”
“True. The Sword Hero Gate Master was a little too stupid to call cunning.”
“He was very stupid. That dumb pig bastard.”
“…….”

I listened blankly to Gongson Han’s insults before suddenly realizing I’d forgotten the Demon Wail Sword. With no other choice, I pointed at the longsword hanging from his waist.

“Gongson Han, lend me that.”
“Why?”
“I forgot my sword. Hand it over, quickly.”
“Don’t you even know that one of the basics of being a swordsman is never handing over your cherished weapon?”
“Cut the bullshit.”

If Gongson Han and the Demonic Gentleman had one thing in common, it was that they practically begged to be beaten.

I’d made it something of a life goal to harass and beat bastards like these until they reformed, but that didn’t make them any less irritating, so I smacked Gongson Han across the head first.

Clutching the lump now rising on his head, Gongson Han obediently handed over the sword. I accepted the long blade and said,

“I’m off.”
“Take good care of it.”
“Sure.”

After receiving Gongson Han’s not-particularly-sincere farewell, I reached the main hall and casually threw open the doors.

Seeing him in person, the man who appeared to be the Righteous Sword Gate’s Sect Master looked quite different from what I’d imagined.

He had a tall, scrawny build and sharp eyes shadowed heavily around the edges, and looked around ten years younger than the former Sword Hero Gate Master.

He had quite a peculiar air about him. If I had to describe it, it was like some praying mantis bastard who had tasted life’s bitterness and turned evil was sitting in front of me.

The Righteous Sword Gate’s Sect Master took a drag from the long tobacco pipe in his hand, exhaled a stream of pale smoke, and spoke to me in an unpleasant voice.

“Dokgo Mu-jin. Sit.”

Perhaps it was hearing the voice of someone who deserved to die. Once again, I felt the killing intent I’d kept buried deep inside begin to well up.