Talent, by its very nature, is nothing if not unkind.
There is no way to know what you're talented at until you actually try it, no guarantee that the talent you discover is even the kind you wanted, and even within the same field, the gaps between talents are undeniable.
It is truly a gift from heaven.
A relationship where only the heavens bestow, and people simply accept and hone what they've been given.
That is what talent means to me.
No different from a fortuitous encounter stumbled upon by chance. There is no reason to be proud of it, nor any reason to feel inferior.
But what if you could increase your talent as you wished? What would happen then?
If I lack internal energy, I can supplement it with talent related to internal energy circulation; if my sword strikes feel dull, I can absorb Sword Talent; if I can't reach my opponent, I can add footwork talent.
Surely countless martial artists would be thrilled at the prospect, eagerly reshaping themselves into their ideal versions.
…Even if that method meant devouring a person's head alive.
"Surely not—you absorbed talent, not internal energy."
"Heh heh. You finally see it now. If properly refined, I could even drain Innate True Qi, but that's not possible at the moment, so I settled for consuming only talent."
Only then did I clearly understand the source of the unease I had felt from Hwangbo Yeongcheon.
Something was off. This was surely the awkwardness born of stitching together talents that were not his own.
"…Indeed. You must have thought my talent was worth revealing the identity you've been hiding all along."
"Isn't it only natural? The Blood Flower Sword Demon. I've been watching you ever since the Lord of the Black Alliance deigned to bestow an alias upon a mere rising talent. When Gwang humiliated that child at the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering, I was completely convinced. That you were born with a Martial Talent surpassing even the Namgung Clan's successor."
Hwangbo Yeongcheon's gaze traced the air as if recalling the scene from that day. The corners of his mouth twisted with delight, and it was unpleasant to behold.
In any case, his words just now confirmed it. Why the Hwangbo Yeongcheon of my previous life had met his end quietly alongside the Hwangbo Clan.
And why, in this life, he had not only antagonized the Namgung Clan but also revealed his Forbidden Arts to the world.
Originally, what he had been after must have been Namgung Jong—the one called Geomryong, praised for his Sword Talent.
But Namgung Jong disliked Hwangbo Gwang and kept his distance, and because of that, he never managed to seize a proper opportunity, and time simply slipped away.
It was true that Innate True Qi had a direct connection to the vitality of the body, but it could not extend one's lifespan indefinitely.
And given that he had wrapped his entire body in Qi Flame even at this very moment, when there was no need to block a sword strike, it seemed his current robust physique was a temporary state premised on the massive consumption of internal energy.
By now, he would be well over a hundred years old, so before time could pass and he could scheme anything, he would have either died of old age or become too infirm to even move about.
And so, before the regression, the Hwangbo Clan… Hwangbo Yeongcheon would have quietly crumbled before the Demonic Cult ever invaded.
Though the situation is a bit different now.
I do think my own talent is remarkable, but I don't believe it's worth turning the entire martial world into my enemy to obtain it.
However, to Hwangbo Yeongcheon, who knows nothing of regression, I must have appeared as a prodigy that appears once in a hundred years.
To him, who had little life left, I was a prize worth taking a risk for.
"So I was the goal from the start. It seems Hwangbo Gwang wasn't a special bait after all. You must have dug through every corner of the Namgung Clan."
"Heh heh. Correct. I planned to head wherever you took the bait, no matter which side you chose. I didn't expect you to come toward the room where my foolish great-grandson was… but well, since you brought the Tang Clan's daughter along, this is rather fortunate for me. I can check whether I can absorb your Constitution this time as well."
"…Hah."
So that was why he called himself my great-grandfather—because he truly was one.
And on top of that, he intended to devour not just me, but Tang So-wol's mind as well.
I let the murderous intent writhing deep in my chest unfurl without hiding it.
A killing intent that pressed down heavily on the entire surrounding area. No matter how unhinged the man was, he couldn't possibly remain unresponsive to this.
"As I thought…!"
Unlike his flinching body, Hwangbo Yeongcheon nodded with a satisfied expression, and my brow furrowed on its own at the sight.
"Wretched creature. Even if you grow stronger by such means, what meaning does it hold?"
"Hmph. You're still young, so you wouldn't know. The feeling of watching your clan crumble because you lack talent and strength, powerless to do anything. The frustration of not even being able to avenge your own child's death! If we'd had a Harmony Realm martial artist… if I could reach the Harmony Realm…!"
"Whether it's you or anyone else, what difference would it make if the Hwangbo Clan produced a Harmony Realm martial artist? You've already become a family of the Inhuman Path that devours people, ruffians who stab the backs of innocent civilians who come seeking help. No one in the martial world will ever acknowledge you. Ah, though perhaps you might be recognized as a Martial World Criminal."
"How dare you! A mere brat not even of the Age of Twenty presumes to teach me about the martial world! The martial world is a forest that feeds on blood! Only strength! Strength alone decides everything!"
"Well, you don't seem all that strong to me… but setting that aside, what you just said can hardly be called the words of an Orthodox Sect."
After my regression, there was something I felt as I looked upon the Orthodox Sects still functioning properly.
"What matters isn't how much power one holds. What matters is what one wields that power for."
If one wields it for personal glory and desire, that is the path of the Unorthodox Sects, one I know all too well.
But if one knows how to wield the sword for something other than oneself.
If one knows how to raise the sword for what one truly believes is right, rather than for immediate gain.
That was the true Orthodox Sect I had witnessed.
"At the closest, one protects one's family. If there is a little strength left over, one embraces the servants one leads and like-minded friends. Only after that does one finally seek glory."
What meaning is there in glory pursued while discarding even one's own family as a discarded piece?
If someone abandons righteousness for the glory of themselves and their clan, and even casts aside those around them.
"These are the ones called the most vicious of the Unorthodox Sects. Do you know that even the Unorthodox despise those who stab their brothers in the back?"
"…This idle talk has gone on long enough. I didn't wait here for nothing. My adaptation is complete, so I'll devour you in a single bite."
Hwangbo Yeongcheon replied, trying to appear unbothered. But did he know that his appearance resembled Hwangbo Gwang, who had flown into a rage before the Namgung Clan?
I let out a hollow laugh and ignited Sword Flame over the blade I had aimed once more.
"I'm not the only one who's been stalling for time."
"Ha! You won't be able to gather the scattered strength of the Namgung Clan with just this much."
"I never expected cooperation from your side in the first place."
Wasn't that only natural? If you don't know how much effort went into preparing a trap, you have to assume the worst-case danger.
I had long since given up on support from the Namgung Clan. If it were Seomun Hwa-rin, things might be different… but I couldn't just wait around for her forever.
What I trusted was Tang So-wol, pushed far off to the side.
A faint sourness brushed past the tip of my nose. Yes. I thought it was about time the poison energy I had secretly applied reached him.
The Tang So-wol I knew was not the kind of person to just stand around wringing her hands no matter how bad the situation got.
There was no need to look back, no need to exchange any Voice Transmission.
Hwangbo Yeongcheon, who had wrapped himself so thickly in ash-gray Qi Flame that he felt less like human skin and more like a boulder.
The outline of that body began to blur. More precisely, the Qi Flame of Hwangbo Yeongcheon, who had unknowingly been poisoned by the Scattered Energy Poison, was slipping out of his control and wavering.
"Surely not…!"
A face twisted in shock. He probably meant something like, he never imagined he could be poisoned through such formidable internal energy, or that there was no sign at all so he didn't even realize Poison Application had been used.
Either way, what was certain was that thanks to this, my sword would reach Hwangbo Yeongcheon.
I kicked off the ground toward the still-panicking man.
KWA-RUNG!
My body surged to maximum speed in a single step. Since we had already clashed once and opened some distance between us, that one step was more than enough.
I drew up the maximum internal energy I could command.
Scattered Energy Poison came in many varieties, and I couldn't tell exactly which source the poison had been extracted from… but wasn't Tang So-wol the one managing my poison resistance anyway?
I couldn't be certain, but it was probably a blend that wouldn't hinder me.
WHOOSH!
As if supporting that guess, my internal energy moved just as smoothly as ever, igniting fiercely with the sword as its fuel.
It was consuming more than twice my usual internal energy, but I had no intention of dragging this out anyway.
The sword, burning a dark crimson, fell toward Hwangbo Yeongcheon's crown.
"Try blocking this one too."
"Arrogant…! Do you think something like this will be enough?!"
His body had grown somewhat slower, but it still moved in that bizarre way, and he raised both arms just in time.
My sword came down onto his crossed forearms.
THUNK!
It pierced through the unsteadily flickering Qi Flame, cut through the skin beneath, and buried the blade deep into the muscle.
A stark difference from before, when it had only grazed the surface.
I sneered at Hwangbo Yeongcheon, who wore a flustered expression beyond my arm, blood dripping from it.
"With this, we can actually kill each other now. Quite fair, wouldn't you say?"
"Tch! But nothing will change!"
Killing intent flickered in Hwangbo Yeongcheon's eyes, and then the muscles in his thighs twitched.
In an instant, his foot shot up. The Aura behind it seemed ready to shatter my chin, and if it actually landed, that would be exactly what happened.
Unlike me, who had concentrated all my internal energy into my sword and left the rest of my body relatively vulnerable, Hwangbo Yeongcheon's entire frame still flickered with an unsteady Qi Flame.
That was surely why he was so confident in his victory.
No matter how many times he was cut, he wouldn't suffer more than a scratch—but conversely, a single hit from him would put me in danger.
But if that was the case, then all I had to do was not get hit even once.
The moment the incoming leg passed through the space between my elbows, I switched my grip on the sword hilt from both hands to one and twisted my waist.
Boom!
The leg that grazed past my ear by a hair's breadth lashed through the air, sending a loud noise ringing out.
With one ear ringing, I rotated my body in line with the twist of my waist.
My body naturally spun to the side. In that motion, the sword held in my right hand traced a small arc and shot up from below toward Hwangbo Yeongcheon's calf.
Swick.
With only one hand, I couldn't put proper force into the strike, so I couldn't cut deep. But this time as well, I succeeded in slicing past the skin and into part of the muscle.
Hwangbo Yeongcheon, having seen his blood spilled twice, charged in a frenzy, reckless and wild.
"Kuh, aaaagh! Hand over that power! That talent, give it to me!"
"I wonder. Even if talent were granted to you, I doubt it would change anything."
I had grown certain of it through our exchanges.
It was true that he absorbed talent, but he could not properly utilize it.
"With martial arts like that, you will never touch the Harmony Realm."
Hwangbo Yeongcheon's method was flawed.