I involuntarily shuddered at the words that Bi Eujin spat out.
Could it be a curse?
If it were truly a curse, I'd hunt down the bastard who cast it and burn him alive.
"Anyway, aside from that..."
As Bi Eujin seemed about to say something more,
I frowned slightly but listened.
Well, pretended to listen, I suppose.
"What's the matter?" Bi Eujin, about to speak, glanced somewhere and took a small step back.
"This won't do. If I continue, we might end up drawing swords."
"Excuse me? What do you mean by that?"
"Let's definitely meet again next time."
"..."
"Your silence means you agree."
"No, how is that an affirmation...!"
Without waiting for my answer, Bi Eujin abruptly departed.
Those who had been murmuring seemed to think the matter had ended without issue.
They had already moved on.
Goo Jeol-yeop and Goo Yeon-seo had vanished at some point.
Only then could I slowly...
"Sigh..."
Retrieve the energy that had been filling my lower abdomen.
"…I didn't expect the Heir to intervene."
I had vaguely known he was interested in me.
But I didn't expect him to step in so directly and twist the conversation.
"It's awkward, but..."
He did help just now.
I was so caught up in my emotions that I couldn't see even the obvious.
Still, it was a relief.
I was uneasy, wondering if he might have changed even a little.
But he was the same as ever.
Confirming that for sure put my mind at ease.
"Since I'm here..."
Since I came to this place,
And there's someone I need to find,
"This time, I can kill him."
I had enough justification to kill him.
Jang Sun-yeon dies here.
That was one of the purposes of coming to this place.
Suppressing the murderous intent that was poking out,
I suddenly looked in the direction where the Heir had been earlier.
I wondered what he was looking at when he spoke.
"Huh?"
There stood Wi Seol-ah, wearing her cloak deeply over her head as she did yesterday.
Even though the distance was far,
And people were moving quickly,
That was definitely Wi Seol-ah.
As I moved to approach her,
"Groups 1 and 8! The entry examination is about to begin! Please gather!"
In the brief moment I turned my gaze toward the shout infused with energy,
When I looked back,
"Damn."
Wi Seol-ah had already disappeared into the crowd.
As before, if I wanted to find her, I could.
Using some of my energy wouldn't cause me to fail the exam.
But...
"Why that expression..."
This time, for some reason,
In the brief glimpse of Wi Seol-ah's eyes,
I felt as if she was asking me not to find her.
From the start, everything feels uneasy.
"Ha."
Nothing is going right.
I wanted to vent my anger somewhere,
But unfortunately, Goo Jeol-yeop had already fled.
"Tsk."
I clicked my tongue briefly,
And finally moved on.
There was something I needed to do first.
---
Jo Wi-seok, the second disciple of Kunlun,
A warrior known by the nickname "Supporting Sword."
He had made a name for himself in the martial world,
A young warrior who was gradually standing out and growing.
Among warriors over thirty, he was considered one of the outstanding ones.
Except for geniuses like the young master of the Tang Clan or Shin Hyun, the second disciple of Mount Hua,
He was someone with a solid standing.
"Group 1, Cho Un-chil of the Cho Un family, pass."
Therefore, he was able to follow the Blue Sea Sword Master to the Shinryong Pavilion,
And even secure a position as an instructor.
But Jo Wi-seok didn't particularly enjoy this position.
"What is the master thinking..."
There are piles of issues occurring in Blue Sea right now.
He couldn't easily understand why the master left everything to the elders and came here.
As the sect leader, he had no choice but to hold his tongue,
But the discontent inside remained.
At a time like this,
Teaching these young brats was not what he should be doing.
Moreover,
"A female swordsman, huh..."
Jo Wi-seok thought about the only female instructor in Group 8.
He had already heard from the master,
But he didn't expect the renowned Sword Empress to come here as an instructor.
Given her fame, it wouldn't be strange for her to be the pavilion master rather than an instructor.
For such a person to lower her pride and come to the Shinryong Pavilion, which is managed by a sect other than Mount Hua,
There must be another reason.
As various thoughts caused his head to ache and his brow to furrow,
Clang!
At the clear sound,
Jo Wi-seok quickly turned his gaze.
Looking in the direction of the sound,
Countless advanced disciples were exclaiming in admiration at someone.
Moreover, Jo Wi-seok's reaction was the same upon seeing it.
"Well..."
And no wonder.
In front of a stone pillar that seemed about ten feet tall,
A handsome young man was sheathing his sword.
Whoosh.
Until the moment the young man returned his sword to its scabbard,
A humming resonance emanated from the blade.
Moreover, on the stone pillar, though not deep, was a long sword mark.
Seeing that, Jo Wi-seok couldn't help but gape.
"Not just a scratch, but a sword mark?"
That long pillar was the task for this entry examination.
Make a scratch on the stone pillar by any means.
That was the content of this first trial.
Though it said "by any means,"
Everyone implicitly knew it meant using their martial arts.
Some might scoff, thinking it's just making a scratch.
But upon hearing what the pillar was made of,
Everyone would understand.
"Ten-thousand-Year Cold Iron."
It's a material mixed with a certain amount of the hardest known iron in the martial world.
Even a tiny amount mixed in transforms the object into something that cannot be easily broken.
That simple black stone pillar was the same.
How they managed to get a stone pillar mixed with such a rare material for a mere entry exam,
He couldn't understand at all.
Nevertheless, it was true that this was its identity.
The entry exam task that changes with each group is at the discretion of the pavilion master.
So this stone pillar was a task given by the Blue Sea Sword Master.
What kind of test is it?
What does it mean?
Jo Wi-seok didn't need to know.
The important thing was whether the advanced disciples succeeded or not.
Knowing that, Jo Wi-seok looked at the person who had created that long sword mark.
Soon, he recalled the young man's name.
"Shin Seong, was it?"
The only son of the current Alliance Leader.
A warrior called the rising star these days.
Then, that sword technique just now was the Alliance Leader's secret martial art, the Sound Sword.
"Rumors say he's exceptional..."
It seems it's not just empty talk.
Other advanced disciples are struggling to make even a fingernail-sized scratch,
But Shin Seong had created such a mark with a single stroke.
It's no wonder the other disciples were expressing such admiration.
"The level of today's advanced disciples is indeed extraordinary."
Whether it's the Six Dragons and Three Phoenixes or Shin Seong.
Even...
The descendant of the Sword Saint whom he had gone to find personally.
In Jo Wi-seok's eyes, they were all on a different level.
"Even so, the top spot this time... seems to be decided."
That's how he saw it.
To be able to make such a mark on that stone pillar,
He expected that he was already beyond the advanced disciple level.
He would have to see about the other dragons and phoenixes,
But perhaps the top spot in the entry exam would go to that young man.
Thinking that, Jo Wi-seok opened his mouth.
"Group 1, Jang Sun-yeon, pass—"
Crash!
As Jo Wi-seok was about to announce Jang Sun-yeon's pass,
A strange noise echoed from somewhere far away.
"What was that?"
"What's that sound?"
As the advanced disciples murmured,
Jo Wi-seok immediately infused his voice with energy and shouted,
"Don't move! We don't know what's happening!"
He, too, took a defensive stance and looked around.
The direction of the sound was...
"Isn't that where Group 2 is taking the test?"
Could it be an attack?
With the Kunlun Sect and the Alliance's warriors forming a perimeter,
Unless it was someone on the level of the Dark King, it shouldn't be easy to infiltrate.
As he was considering evacuating the advanced disciples just in case,
A voice transmitted directly to his ear informed him of the situation.
"...What?"
Hearing it, Jo Wi-seok muttered as if he had misheard.
He was so surprised that he spoke out loud instead of replying via transmission.
"Someone broke the pillar...?"
It was such an unbelievable statement.
---
After the strange noise echoed,
At Group 8,
Amidst the stone fragments scattered on the ground,
A young man was repeatedly sighing while covering his face.
"Heh heh..."
And seeing that, the Sword Empress was struggling to suppress her laughter.
It seemed not easy.
Whatever was so amusing, she kept trying to hold back her laughter in front of him.
In front of her,
There was a large hole in the pillar mixed with Ten-thousand-Year Cold Iron.
Cracks spread all over it,
Making it look like it would collapse at a touch.
And the one who had brutally destroyed the pillar like that,
Was still quietly mumbling with his face covered.
"Ah..."
The one who had caused this situation,
Gu Yangcheon, feeling the gazes from all around,
Was inwardly full of regret.
"I should have controlled my strength."
He had thought to vent a bit and had struck without much thought, which was the problem.
"They said it was mixed with Ten-thousand-Year Cold Iron; how did it break so easily?"
Unbelievable.
Compared to the Ten-thousand-Year Cold Iron he had seen in his past life,
This was too low-grade to even compare.
Even so, perhaps it wasn't supposed to break like this.
The surroundings, which had been buzzing a moment ago, turned silent as the pillar was shattered.
In such silence, many meanings could be conveyed.
There was no reason for Gu Yangcheon to be pleased with this.
He hadn't intended this.
Feeling that, Gu Yangcheon murmured quietly.
"Well, I've messed up."
It seemed that,
He had caused a big problem right at the start of the exam.