A killing intent that was brief but unmistakable.
It was such a powerful threat that even Seol Ri-hyang, whose cultivation was the lowest among us, trembled involuntarily—and the faces of the entire group hardened at once.
"It seems we won't have the leisure to ask for permission."
With that, I unleashed my Lightness Skill and vaulted over the wall.
The interior was clean, as if showing off its new construction, but it felt hollow with no one around. Tang So-wol looked around and spoke.
"Which way should we…"
"This way."
The killing intent had vanished as abruptly as if blocked by something, but to me, who was especially sensitive to killing intent, I could still faintly sense its location.
Without hesitation, I headed toward the direction where the back of my neck prickled, and before long, a tightly shut door came into view.
The surroundings were strangely quiet. However, I could immediately understand what was going on from the unnatural flow of energy emanating from within.
"Qi Barrier."
"I don't know what's going on, but it seems the Diancang Sect wants to keep this hidden. This doesn't appear to be an ordinary incident…"
"I'm going in."
"…This will be interfering in another sect's affairs. Are you sure?"
"I had a bad feeling about this. This time, please trust me completely."
Seomun Hwa-rin asked once more, troubled by the fact that this concerned the internal affairs of the Diancang Sect. Given the unwritten rules of the martial world, her words made sense. It was just that this was not the time to worry about such things.
I took the lead and opened the door—beyond it lay a training ground. The Diancang Sect's martial artists, realizing our arrival belatedly, startled and drew their swords.
"Who goes there!"
"Even if we are guests who arrived without notice, is drawing your swords without a word the Diancang Sect's way of doing things?"
"…"
The old man kept his mouth tightly shut. The aura he exuded was at the tail end of the Peak Realm, and his formal attire suggested he was likely an elder or someone of similar standing.
He faltered for a moment at my words, then sheathed his sword.
"Are you people from the Tang Clan? My apologies. However, this is currently an internal matter of the Diancang Sect, so would you please step out for a while? We will soon receive you as proper guests."
With those words, he shielded the center of the training ground with his own body.
Of course, even so, I had already seen everything there was to see.
The woman thrashing about and screaming, and the several martial artists who had rushed in to subdue her.
"Is this a matter of the Diancang Sect?"
"It is. One of our disciples seems to have fallen into Qi Deviation, so please step back for a while so that we may avoid any danger to one another."
"Qi Deviation, you say."
I nodded, and this time it was I who drew my sword.
No matter how much the Qi Barrier obscured her, no matter how her disheveled hair hid the light in her eyes, I knew.
This was no simple Qi Deviation.
"How dare you! You speak of guests, then draw your sword! Is this the way of the Tang Clan!"
The old man threw my own words back at me. I let out a snort and unleashed my Aura in earnest.
"What the—?"
The old man flinched, his face turning pale. As an experienced veteran, he could surely distinguish the unique Aura of a Harmony Realm martial artist.
I walked past him, frozen in shock, and spoke.
"This is not a matter for the Diancang Sect, but for the Murim at large. And this is not a Qi Deviation—it is the Heavenly Killing Star."
With that, I swung my sword.
Woong—
In time with my movement, the sword let out a single cry of its name, then carried a pale, deathly aura along its blade.
Its arc crossed through empty air where nothing stood, yet this was no mere display of skill.
My lingering attachment was that, at the most crucial moment, my sword had failed to reach anything—and what had lain buried in the deepest part of my heart, known to no one, was the single-minded resolve to protect this time, no matter what.
It was only natural, then, that the Intent born of this should trace a sword that cuts what cannot be cut and reaches where nothing can reach.
Seokeok.
The sword that rent the space itself sliced through the Qi Barrier in a single stroke.
It did not simply shatter the internal energy sustaining the barrier—it split the barrier itself clean in two.
Thanks to that, the Qi Barrier scattered cleanly without a single ripple of the Meridians twisting along with it.
At the same time, the sound trapped inside burst forth, a massive killing intent erupting in all directions.
"AAAAAAH——!"
"Third Elder! Captain of the Sageom Unit! Is the Acupoint Sealing not done yet?!"
"The Acupoint Sealing won't take, Sect Leader!"
"We can't hold her back any longer! At this rate, we'll all—!"
The Sect Leader held the woman thrashing like a wild beast from behind, while the other two tried their best to subdue her between them. It didn't look easy.
And no wonder. The killing intent she unleashed was nothing short of terrifying—perhaps the Heavenly Killing Star was called that for a reason.
The one called the Sect Leader was a martial artist who had reached the Transcendent Peak, so he seemed relatively fine, but the others, though only at the edge, remained at the Peak Realm.
I know this well, since I often use the art of suppressing enemies with killing intent.
At their level, they cannot properly resist killing intent of this magnitude. Not only would their bodies stiffen and their movements become clumsy, but in severe cases, they could even sustain light internal injuries.
They looked relatively young for their positions, so perhaps they might one day reach the Transcendent Peak… but that day is not today.
In the end, unable to do anything, the two alternated between pressing vital points and acupoints they couldn't even properly locate.
I grabbed the backs of their necks and dropped them to the ground.
They must have been quite exhausted, as they staggered weakly and collapsed where they sat.
With the two gone, the Heavenly Killing Star's killing intent focused on me standing before her.
"Indeed. An extraordinary killing intent."
If my killing intent was a sharpened, refined blade, the Heavenly Killing Star's was raw and primal, like the fangs of a wild beast.
However, what was peculiar was that there was not a trace of impurity mixed within it.
Killing intent, by its very nature, originates from the desire to take another's life. Naturally, the emotions that accompany such a desire cling to it, layer upon layer.
For instance, things like anger, impatience, or hatred.
Yet, in the killing intent emanating from the woman before me, nothing was mixed in at all. A slight hint of irritation and anger could be felt, but it wasn't something that bled into the killing intent itself.
It was simply the emotion she felt in her current situation, being forcibly restrained.
In other words, she was unleashing this killing intent for no reason at all, purely out of the simple desire to kill.
Perhaps that was why I felt a certain sense of dissonance.
"However, it's still too early."
Her Heavenly Killing Star wouldn't fully awaken until a bit later. The killing intent she was emitting now was fierce, but… it was still inferior to the killing intent I had once harbored.
Having reached the Harmony Realm, I gathered not just killing intent but my very Intent, melted into my internal energy, at my fingertips and pressed it into her vital points.
With this, I should be able to do my part without being swept away by the killing intent rampaging through the Heavenly Killing Star's meridians.
"Close your eyes and rest for a bit."
Unlike just moments ago, she instantly drooped her head and went limp. The killing intent that had been so stubbornly persistent vanished without a trace.
The middle-aged man carefully laid the woman born with the Heavenly Killing Star on the floor. The Sect Leader of the Diancang Sect spoke in a tone that was utterly exhausted, yet somehow also seemed relieved.
"You've come from the Murim Alliance?"
"We've come from the Tang Clan. But I suspect our business here is no different."
"…I knew this day would come eventually. I just didn't know it would be today. Would you grant me a moment? I'd like to have one last conversation. With you, and with my daughter as well."
With trembling hands, the Sect Leader brushed back the woman's disheveled hair. The features revealed beneath were quite similar to his own.
***
After the commotion at the training ground was settled, the Sect Leader invited our party into his office.
There, he laid his daughter—the one born with the Heavenly Killing Star—onto a bed prepared in one corner of the room.
It seemed this sort of thing happened often. Partly out of concern for his own daughter, and partly because he knew well that he was the only one who could stop her when she went berserk—he had prepared for it in advance.
Seated, he straightened his back despite his haggard complexion, as if to make clear that he was, after all, the Sect Leader of this place.
"First, let us exchange names. It seems I have barely kept up with the outside world these past few months, having focused on internal affairs… Even with the deceased before me, I cannot even begin to guess who you are."
"That would be the reasonable thing to do. However, I would not go so far as to call him deceased."
Was it because of my face, which had yet to reach the Age of Twenty, and my realm of Harmony? The Sect Leader mistook me for a senior master who had undergone Rejuvenation.
Recalling a similar incident from the past, I shook my head in disgust, and from behind me came Tang So-wol's laughter.
Seomun Hwa-rin, on the other hand, was nodding seriously, while Seol Ri-hyang, seemingly embarrassed, simply hung her head and let out sigh after sigh.
Taken aback by the unexpected reaction, the Sect Leader blinked and asked again.
"Have I said something wrong?"
"Not at all. If we must find fault, it lies with us."
With that, he offered a fist-and-palm salute and gave a light bow of his head.
"I am Cheon Hwi of the Tang Clan. By alias… I am called the Blood Flower Sword Demon."
"What! Are you truly the young hero Blood Flower Sword Demon?! It has been no time at all since I heard word of your rise to Transcendent Peak, yet how…"
The Sect Leader's face went blank, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly. As his gaze shifted to those behind, the others began to announce their names and aliases one by one.
Realizing that two Harmony Realm martial artists now stood before him, the Sect Leader swallowed dryly and spoke.
"I am late with my introductions. I am Heo Unsang, serving as Sect Leader of the Diancang Sect. Though I am lacking compared to you all, I go by the alias Seomgeomja."
"I am far younger and hold a lower standing in the martial world, so I hope you will not treat me with such formality."
"Thank you. Then I shall call you the young hero Blood Flower Sword Demon."
Having said that in a somewhat softened tone, Seomgeomja poured a cup of the freshly brewed tea for each of them and gestured toward the bed.
"And this child is my daughter, Heo Soye. You've probably guessed… no, you're certain, but she was likely born under the Heavenly Killing Star."
"Yes. I sensed that the killing intent that slipped out briefly was unusual, and now that I see her in person, the probability does seem high."
"High probability… You make it sound as if it might not be so, which only gives me foolish hope."
"This is the first time I have actually seen a Heavenly Killing Star, so I cannot be certain of anything. I hope the Sect Leader will not take my words amiss."
"My, I spoke without thinking. Yes, I understand. It's just that as a father, I cannot let go of my lingering attachment."
Seomgeomja let out another deep sigh, then, as if to fill the space left by the breath he had expelled, gulped down the hot tea in large mouthfuls.
Clink.
Setting down his teacup, he continued in a heavy tone.
"…What is to become of my daughter from now on?"
"Does she always lose her reason like that?"
"Not usually. Only occasionally. …Though the frequency is gradually increasing."
"Then there is nothing to be done at the moment. We will have to send her to the Murim Alliance, however."
"…"
It is not to the point of killing her outright. But she must be placed in the Prison.
The Sect Leader, understanding the meaning behind the words, fiddled with his empty teacup in silence before finally speaking.
"What if, from now on, we were to manage her strictly from within the Diancang Sect…?"
"With all due respect, I do not believe the Diancang Sect has the capacity to handle a Heavenly Killing Star. Above all, if necessary, you would have to sever her meridians with your own hands and destroy her Dantian… Could you do that?"
"…"
Severing the meridians and destroying the Dantian is not as simple a matter as it sounds.
It is accompanied by extreme pain and aftereffects, and because of that, even a perfectly healthy person can become half a cripple.
Moreover, the Heavenly Killing Star is a being who, even with a body ruined in such a way, can overwhelm an ordinary martial artist.
In the final resort, when control becomes utterly impossible, she would have to be killed—but is that truly something that can be done?
He was a father so deeply attached to his daughter that he had hidden her true identity all this time, trying somehow to make things work—to put it bluntly, an indecisive man. Seomgeomja deemed such a thing impossible for himself.
As if he knew this all too well, he merely hung his head low.
And so, silence flowed through the office for a while. What shattered this heavy stillness was the sound of a door being flung open, and someone's desperate voice.
"Master! What happened to Soye—ah."
The man, startled to find them here, let out a hollow sigh of lament.
However, the surprise was mutual. Astonishingly, he was someone I knew.
"…Brother Jang?"