For a few days, Jin Mu-Won rode towards the sunset, until finally, he arrived at a lone barren mountain situated west of the fortress. The mountain rising from the flat, desolate plains looked no different from an uninhabited island in the middle of the ocean, except that the rust-colored rocks emanated an unearthly, sinister aura.
The original name of this rocky mountain was Mount Cinnabar (赤巖山)[1], but because of its macabre aura that prevented plants from growing on it or near it, and the fact that it scared off both humans and animals, it was more commonly referred to as the Ghost Mountain.
Most importantly, Jin Mu-Won knew that Heaven's Summit was not aware of the existence of this mountain.
"Young Master, do you really plan on living here?" Hwang Cheol felt terrible at the thought of leaving Jin Mu-Won alone in this desolate place while he returned to the Central Plains.
On the contrary, Jin Mu-Won liked this place a lot. He replied, "Yes, I do. This is the perfect place for me to concentrate on learning martial arts."
Back when he lived in the Northern Army Fortress, he was closely monitored day and night by Heaven's Summit. At least here, he wouldn't have to constantly be on the alert for spies and carefully choose his every word.
To the world, the man named Jin Mu-Won is dead. They might be suspicious at first, but as time passes, they will forget me and move on to the next piece of interesting gossip, for that is the true nature of mankind.
If there are any problems with living here, it would have to be the difficulties in securing living necessities. I'll have to depend on Hwang Cheol's seasonal visits for that.
"Uncle Hwang, I know this will be hard on you, but would you mind continuing sending me supplies regularly?"
"Oh dear! Please don't say such things, Young Master. Taking care of you is my duty. You shouldn't worry about me and focus on learning martial arts."
Jin Mu-Won smiled and said, "Thank you, Uncle Hwang."
However, instead of making Hwang Cheol feel reassured, Jin Mu-Won's smile only ended up making him feel even more guilty.
Jin Mu-Won looked up at the giant mountain before him.
"This is the place where I will learn to spread my wings and take flight."
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After Hwang Cheol had left, Jin Mu-Won carried his luggage into a cave on the side of the mountain. The naturally formed cave was wide and deep, perfect for his living and training needs.
When he was done moving his luggage, Jin Mu-Won did not rest. Instead, he piled up a stack of large rocks into a certain shape, then headed to the bottom of the mountain and filled up a sack with soil.
The broken bone in his left arm hadn't healed, and it was painful to put a lot of strength into it, but Jin Mu-Won did not want to take a break. Soon, his body was drenched in sweat, and his muscles were twitching uncontrollably from the overexertion.
Still, he did not stop. He drew some water from a crack in the rocks near the cave and mixed it with the soil to form clay. He then used the clay to fill the cracks in between the large rocks that he had piled up.
Just like that, three days later, Jin Mu-Won finished making himself a gigantic furnace three times the size and thickness of the one in his old smithy. The reason for this large furnace was that there was no firewood available near Mount Cinnabar. Instead, according to the "Record of a Thousand Weapons", he'd be able to find coal in the mountains. The flames created from burning coal were far hotter than that created from firewood, so he needed a furnace that could handle much higher temperatures.
Two days later, after searching around the mountain, he found a location where he could mine a black rock that matched the description of "coal" in the "Record of a Thousand Weapons".
"Phew!"
Jin Mu-Won observed the white-hot flames in his new furnace. The heat spreading out from it was so intense that it was hard to breathe even far away.
He tossed several chunks of iron ore into the furnace. He needed to forge himself a new sword, as the one he had made previously was shattered during the battle with Tae Mu-Kang.
The new sword had to be much sharper and more durable than the previous one.
Smithing was also a good way to pass the time while he was still recovering from his injuries. Two weeks had passed since his ribs were broken by Tae Mu-Kang, but even with the help of the Art of Ten Thousand Shadows, he needed to rest and meditate in-between smithing for another two weeks in order to completely recover.
"Huu…"
Jin Mu-Won took a deep breath and looked up at the blood-red rock wall in front of him. It was the largest cliff face of Mount Cinnabar, being 300 ft tall and 500 ft wide.
It's like a giant among giants is looking down at me; like nature's majesty and supremacy is aiming to crush my spirit.
This wall is the backbone of Mount Cinnabar, and the red coloration is its blood.
I hereby name this wall, the "Sword Wall (劍壁)".
"From now on, you will be my opponent."
In his hand, Jin Mu-Won held a new short sword that he had spent the last month forging.
It was two feet and seven inches long, and weighed around half a pound. The sharpness of its blade could be discerned from the way the steel glinted in the bright sunlight.
Jin Mu-Won had used every forging technique he knew to create this sword, and as a result, the size and weight suited him perfectly. It looked crude and simple on the outside, but he was very satisfied with this piece of work.
He poured his chi into the blade, and the blade hummed in response. This was the sword acknowledging his chi.
While maintaining the chi in the blade, he closed his eyes and recalled the Shadow Blade of Destruction.
He was the Lord of the Northern Army, and all Lords of the Northern Army desired fighting on the frontlines more than sitting around enjoying life, because only when they were fighting the Silent Night, could they get stronger and obtain even more inspiration to improve on their martial arts.
The Shadow Blade of Destruction was the culmination of their efforts.
No one understood the pros and cons of the Silent Night's martial arts more than the Lords of the Northern Army. The Shadow Blade of Destruction was the result of compiling all the knowledge they had collected over a hundred years.
However, the Shadow Blade of Destruction was not the sword technique's original name. It was formerly called the "Demon Slaying Sword (滅魔劍)"—the sword created to slay the demons of the Silent Night.
When Heaven's Summit betrayed the Northern Army, Jin Kwan-Ho decided to change the name of the technique. It became the sword of shadows that slays not only demons, but destroys the heavens—the "Shadow Blade of Destruction". The new name was a reflection of Jin Kwan-Ho's rage and hatred for Heaven's Summit.
Jin Mu-Won went through the six basic forms of the Shadow Blade of Destruction in his mind.
- Meteor Soul (流星魂)
- Wall of the Northern Heavens (北天壁)
- Dividing the Heavenly Seas (斷天海)
- Storm Forest (暴雨林)
- Bloody Flash (閃光血)
- Shadowless World (無影界)
As expected of the combined creation of multiple Lords of the Northern Army, the defenders of the world, just one of the six basic forms would be considered equal to the Silent Night's and the Central Plains's strongest martial arts.
However, the really scary part of the Shadow Blade of Destruction could only be realized when the forms were combined and performed in conjunction. It's true strength was not the sum of the six individual forms, but the strength of the six forms multiplied together.
For example, if Meteor Soul and the Wall of the Northern Heavens were to be merged, it would result in a new form that was clearly distinct from the two original forms. Similarly, combining Dividing the Heavenly Seas with Storm Forest would give rise to yet another new form. Theoretically, simply by combining only two forms, one would be able to create thirty new forms. Adding that number to the original six basic forms, that would be thirty-six forms in total. And that was not the limit.
The keyword there was "theoretically". Not even Jin Mu-Won knew if it would actually work, since none of his predecessors had actually reached that level of mastery.
Right now, Jin Mu-Won had only learned the first three of the six basic forms. Even then, it had taken him many, many repeated experiments and failures to iron out the mistakes and problems with the forms. Turning a theoretical martial art into reality ended up being a lot harder than he thought it would be.
He didn't know how much more time and effort it would take him to fix the remaining three forms, but he felt that as long as he kept trying, he'd surely succeed one day.
The Path of the Sword.
The current me is still standing at the beginning of that path.
Thankfully, my shackles are gone. I can finally begin moving forward.
Suddenly, Jin Mu-Won looked up at the sky and whispered to himself, "I swear that I won't let you wait that long for me, Ha-Seol."
Right now, Good and Evil, Heaven's Summit, and the Silent Night were things that had nothing to do with him.
He turned to face the Sword Wall and swung his blade.
A sword cried, and the wind rose.
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Footnotes:
[1] Mount Cinnabar (赤巖山): Literal translation – Mount Red Rock. Mount Red Rock sounds terrible, and I chose "cinnabar" because nothing can live on or around that mountain, like a toxic cinnabar (mercury sulfide) mine.
[2] Old Matriarch: If you read Leviatan's translation of the manhwa, they called her Noh Tae-Tae. That is not her name but her title, meaning "Old Lady". Her real name is Jang Mun-Hwa. I decided to call her "Old Matriarch" as "Old Lady" seemed extremely underwhelming, and also didn't contain the White Dragon merchants' sense of respect for their founding CEO.
Translator Notes: This is the END of the first arc. To celebrate, download the epub in the next post on the blog
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