Chapter 382
'Perhaps that's just mere swinging?'
There exists a method of training in this world called slow sword technique.
It's a training method where one moves a single swing, a single attack, hundreds or thousands of times slower than normal.
When the stability of speed disappears, countless problems that weren't visible in swift swordplay begin to appear.
It was a training method where one removed those problems one by one, and when able to wield a slow and perfect sword, gradually increased the speed again.
Though it's a training method not often favored due to its extremely low efficiency and the tremendous effort required, it was something all swordsmen aiming for higher realms had to go through at least once.
Peng Dao-ji thought that training method was a type of slow sword technique.
The moment he thought that, a certain idea flashed through Peng Dao-ji's mind.
Slow sword technique means slowly deploying the sword one normally displays.
Then what in the world is the sword Wei Yan-ho is currently displaying?
That sword that moves endlessly, changing its nature dozens of times in a single moment—could that be deployed in one sword strike?
'That's impossible.'
He had never heard of or seen such a thing.
When he couldn't even follow that slowly deployed sword for a single moment, what would happen if that were deployed at normal speed?
"What are you doing?"
"Uh, umm…"
Peng Dao-ji turned at the sound of Jang-il calling him.
'It can't be.'
No matter how skilled Wei Yan-ho was, that would be impossible. No, it would be impossible even if it weren't Wei Yan-ho but anyone else.
'But if it were possible?'
Then the world would probably be shaken.
Peng Dao-ji looked back at Wei Yan-ho several times with eyes filled with disbelief and anticipation.
"…That crazy bastard, really."
A powerless voice leaked from Jang-il's mouth as he came outside from dawn.
He had never once in his life thought he would be able to see Wei Yan-ho outside at this hour. It was still before sunrise. If it were the Wei Yan-ho he knew, this would be the time he'd naturally be sleeping sprawled on his stomach.
Yet Wei Yan-ho was now in the training ground.
That lazy bum came to the training ground earlier than him…
'No, wait, did that guy… even go inside?'
He couldn't tell.
Yesterday, he had collapsed into his room after sparring with Mu-san, practically unconscious.
What time was that?
Jang-il stopped thinking.
Whether Wei Yan-ho had slept and come out at dawn, or hadn't slept and continued training, it was equally surprising.
He knew the guy would act when the time came, but…
'The shock must have been that great.'
It was understandable.
Right before his eyes, his brother had been dragged away to the Demon Cult to save him—how great must that shock have been?
'Damn it, you're not the only one who's shocked.'
Jang-il irritably drew out his staff.
His field of vision captured Mu-san and Peng Dao-ji stretching as they came out.
Wei Jeong-han quietly watched the children pushing themselves harder in their training.
'They'll grow.'
Growth isn't achieved through steady effort alone. To achieve true growth, one must encounter walls and feel one's own limitations.
And when one sets goals to overcome those walls and dedicates oneself to them, that's when a person can shed a layer.
Wei Jeong-han's gaze, which had been looking around at everyone, fixed on Wei Yan-ho.
Wei Jeong-han looked at Wei Yan-ho with sunken eyes.
In all his life, he had never once seen Wei Yan-ho training like that. It meant that lazy boy had been shocked enough to train this intensely.
A child training diligently should be something to welcome. But knowing that the cause of that training wasn't for good reasons, Wei Jeong-han couldn't simply welcome Wei Yan-ho's change.
'What he'll have to face from now on won't be any less than this incident.'
That's what troubled times are, and that's what war is.
Going through war, they would lose even more. Though he had spared no effort to prevent future generations from experiencing the same world they had, in the end, even these children had to experience that terrible world—this thought made Wei Jeong-han sad.
'No, it will be different.'
These children now have something Wei Jeong-han didn't have back then—predecessors who have experienced war.
'We must do it.'
At least they could prevent these children from experiencing the trial and error they had gone through in the past. Even if they couldn't become a solid shield for them.
Knock knock.
At the sound of knocking on the door, Wei Jeong-han turned his head.
"Come in."
He could already tell who was at the door by their presence.
"Senior."
Gong Mu-jin entered, opening the door, and looked at Wei Jeong-han with a hardened face.
"What's the matter?"
"A message has come from the Righteous Martial Alliance."
"I see…"
Wei Jeong-han let out a low sigh.
From the moment Wei San-ho was captured, he had already anticipated that he would be given the duty of explanation. What he had done was something that couldn't be excused by any words.
While there might be people who would understand him on a human level, the Righteous Martial Alliance wasn't a humane organization.
'I'm just worried about those who will be left behind.'
He worried about Han Sang-ah, who had collapsed ill upon hearing that San-ho had been dragged to the Demon Cult, and about Wei Yan-ho, who couldn't find his path.
And above all, when the Righteous Martial Alliance tried to suppress him, he worried whether Wei Yan-ho would truly accept it quietly. The usual Wei Yan-ho would find a good way to resolve it, but the current Wei Yan-ho was no different from a wild beast with his fur bristling with venom.
How should this matter be resolved?
"I'm sorry to you."
"Pardon?"
"For having to take on this role."
"What are you talking about?"
Seeing Gong Mu-jin's reaction of not understanding, Wei Jeong-han slightly frowned.
'It wasn't a message to arrest me?'
Then?
"What did it say?"
"It seems the Hundred Sword Castle has caused trouble."
"Hundred Sword Castle?"
Wei Jeong-han's eyes widened.
Why would Hundred Sword Castle come up here?
No, wait.
Hundred Sword Castle was already stirring up trouble. There had been some evidence that they were colluding with the Demon Cult. They couldn't act against them because there was no definitive proof.
With the Demon Cult running rampant, it wouldn't be strange at all for them to move.
"So?"
"The detailed situation wasn't written. Only that we should bring the children and return immediately."
"…I see."
Whether they were letting it slide for now or wouldn't take him by force, he wasn't sure, but… it seemed he had to follow orders for the time being.
"What will you do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Will you return to the Righteous Martial Alliance?"
"…Well? Is there another option I can choose?"
"No. Rather than that…"
Gong Mu-jin said with a slightly hardened face.
"Given your and Yan-ho's temperaments, I was worried you might immediately charge into the Demon Cult. I was pondering how to stop you."
"My friend, who do you take for a fool? We're not that stupid."
No, perhaps they had been stupid.
If Wei San-ho had no connection to the Demon Cult, Wei Yan-ho and Wei Jeong-han might be chasing after Mad Blood Demon and Wei San-ho right now. They wouldn't have even thought about the difference in power. They would have been racing down the official road with the hope that they could somehow save him if they could just catch up.
Wei Jeong-han had a bitter taste in his mouth.
'The children must have kept the secret.'
From Gong Mu-jin's perspective, not knowing the relationship between Wei San-ho and the Demon Cult, he could only think this way. And that was natural.
In other words, Wei San-ho's birth was preventing Wei Yan-ho and Wei Jeong-han from acting as they normally would. Even if they felt Wei San-ho was family, whether Wei San-ho, having learned all the truth, would think of them as family was a separate matter.
Trust.
The problem was trust that had become incomplete due to a thread of doubt.
"We have to go."
Wei Jeong-han rose from his seat, his face bitter.
"Yes… we have to go, don't we."
His voice echoed hollowly.
Wei Jeong-han slowly headed toward the training ground.
'What should I say?'
The fact that he had to tell Wei Yan-ho that while his brother was being taken to the Demon Cult, orders had come down from the Alliance so they should return to the Alliance, made Wei Jeong-han feel suffocated.
It wouldn't be something easily accepted.
Moreover, if the target was Wei Yan-ho, what good would words do?
'Sigh… '
Wei Jeong-han slowly walked toward Wei Yan-ho.
Those who discovered Wei Jeong-han appearing in the training ground stopped their hands and looked at Wei Jeong-han.
Strange.
It felt as if the heat that had been boiling in the training ground was suddenly cooling.
Wei Jeong-han felt that eerie sensation as he slowly headed toward Wei Yan-ho.
A slow sword.
A sword so slow it seemed to be stopped.
Even Wei Jeong-han couldn't understand what Wei Yan-ho was currently doing. He could only guess that he was standing somewhere unreachable.
Even so…
Could he handle it?
Them?
Wei Jeong-han's face grew increasingly hard.
A fact he didn't want to acknowledge but had to. Wei Yan-ho would stand at the center of the coming war. Until now, he had thought there was no reason to stand at the forefront of war just because he was strong. But now there was a reason.
Could this boy handle that heavy pressure?
When he was still immature and unstable.
It wasn't because he was his son.
It wasn't because he was anxious because he was his own child. Wei Yan-ho possessed skills too strong for his age and experience. So he couldn't help but be anxious.
At least ten years.
If this had happened just ten years later, Wei Jeong-han would have told Wei Yan-ho to step forward for the world without any worry.
But…
Wasn't Wei Yan-ho too young?
Even if Wei Yan-ho had the ability to handle it, it would still be a burdensome load. Being strong didn't mean his heart was also solid.
"Uh…"
Wei Jeong-han looked quietly at Wei Yan-ho and opened his mouth.
"Yan-ho."
There was no answer.
He couldn't answer.
But he would be listening.
"We have to go now. The Righteous Martial Alliance is calling."
That was the moment.
A minute change occurred at the tip of Wei Yan-ho's sword, which had been so slow.
Just a little.
So minute it was hard to even feel, Wei Yan-ho's sword became slightly faster. Then it became a little faster again.
During the time it took to take one breath, Wei Yan-ho's sword repeatedly became faster and faster again.
Wei Jeong-han thought he was being drawn into that sword tip.
He couldn't take his eyes away.
All his nerves were concentrating on Wei Yan-ho's sword tip.
'What in the world is this?'
Wei Yan-ho's sword tip, which had been moving so slowly, gradually became faster, and at some point began moving at the speed of an ordinarily swung sword.
Nothing special.
Nothing particularly strange about it.
But the result was anything but ordinary.
Wei Yan-ho's sword, swung slowly, stretched toward the sky.
Then…
Wei Jeong-han's mouth slowly fell open.
It distorted.
The sky that Wei Yan-ho's sword tip touched was slowly distorting. As if a giant hole was being drilled in the sky.
A scene that humans could never create was there.
At the tip of Wei Yan-ho's sword.