THE SKY BEYOND THE SKY
The next day.
Cheon Muyang woke up alone.
"Mm…."
Normally, Wolyeong would have come, but she had clearly already gone to the training grounds.
"It does feel a bit empty."
The path to the training grounds felt oddly unfamiliar as he walked it alone.
Shrugging his shoulders, Cheon Muyang arrived and saw Wolyeong running laps around the training grounds.
"Phew. Looks like they're already pushing her hard."
At the center of the training grounds stood Cheon Seonhak, watching not only the trainees but even Wolyeong with sharp, piercing eyes.
"You're here?"
"Yes, Uncle."
"I'll say this in advance. From now on, that child is no longer your personal maid. Do not give her any help whatsoever. She must endure everything entirely on her own. Do you understand?"
"...."
Cheon Muyang understood exactly what those words meant.
[What is he thinking? Martial arts for a mere maid?]
[I respect the young master's enthusiasm, but isn't this too much?]
[This isn't a joke. Wrong is wrong.]
Whispers had already begun.
Everyone knew that Wolyeong had been Cheon Muyang's personal maid.
They acknowledged Cheon Muyang himself—but only that far.
Yet Wolyeong ran the training grounds in silence, without wavering.
Seeing the resolute will filling her eyes, Cheon Muyang nodded.
"Yes."
"Good. Then train."
There was so much he wanted to say to Wolyeong, but he had to endure it.
Proof, in the end, was something one had to show for oneself.
'I believe in you, Wolyeong.'
It might have been nothing more than his own selfish desire.
He might have been forcing martial arts upon Wolyeong, who had never aspired to them.
'But… this is the best I can do.'
It was to protect Wolyeong.
Cheon Muyang was certain.
Before long, all of them would come to know Wolyeong's true worth.
'My own path is still long, yet here I am worrying about others. I've got a long way to go.'
First came the Cheonyang Divine Art.
The Cheonyang Divine Art, which had changed of its own accord, had transformed to the point that it could be called evolution.
Its former weaknesses had vanished, and its strengths had been refined—worthy of being called a true divine art.
'This must be the Cheonyang Divine Art's original form.'
The sky was infinite.
Since the Cheon Clan's martial arts were derived from the sky, there was never meant to be a fixed formula.
Everyone learned the same Cheonyang Divine Art, yet each became a different Cheonyang Divine Art.
'That's why they must have created a standardized framework.'
The Cheonyang Divine Art, forcibly given a formula, lost its original form over generations and was reduced to nothing more than the clan's basic art.
Thus, no one knew the Cheonyang Divine Art that Cheon Muyang had mastered.
'It is a Cheonyang Divine Art that belongs to me alone.'
A one-of-a-kind martial art.
And so, Cheon Muyang felt excitement stir within him.
The newly evolved Cheonyang Divine Art possessed a depth worthy of being called divine.
'I can't even fathom its end.'
It rivaled even the most peerless divine arts.
'I dare say no divine art could claim to surpass this Cheonyang Divine Art.'
All conditions were now perfectly in place.
This was fundamentally different from the past, when Mu-myeong had possessed nothing but the clan's basic art.
'How strong I become now depends entirely on me.'
What was it?
Cheon Muyang felt as though he had caught a fleeting glimpse of the road leading toward the pinnacle of the world.
'The strongest under heaven….'
What swordsman had not dreamed of such a thing?
'If it's me now… it's possible.'
Though unimaginably distant, Cheon Muyang wished to advance.
He steeled his resolve, again and again.
Clench.
Gripping his sword, Cheon Muyang slowly sank into the unfathomable depths of the Cheonyang Divine Art.
Paaaat!
The boundary of the world blurred.
At the far end of the horizon, he saw an aching light that seemed as though it might draw tears.
'Ah….'
Cheon Muyang stood alone on a vast, empty plain.
There, embedded in the earth and scattering its radiance in all directions, stood a single sword that existed alone—Heavenly Light .
'....'
As if entranced.
Cheon Muyang grasped Heavenly Light.
The will of Severing Heaven filled it.
'I see it.'
He could see the texture of the sky.
Following that texture, he swung Heavenly Light.
The sky split open, forming a single path.
Whiiiiiing!
A ferocious wind, like a raging typhoon, blasted along both sides of the path.
Cheon Muyang walked that path.
'...!'
The sky pressed down upon him.
Under that pressure, the path carved into the sky began to slowly close.
『This is your limit.』
The sky sneered.
Creak.
Cheon Muyang clenched his teeth.
He ignored the sky's mockery.
'I told you—I decide my own path!'
No one, nothing.
Could stand in his way.
'Begone.'
Hwoong!
Once more, Cheon Muyang swung Heavenly Light.
Then, the wind grew calm.
The path opened between the skies led to the sky beyond the sky.
'Ah….'
That moment lasted only an instant.
The sky-path closed once more, yet to Cheon Muyang, it felt like an eternity.
'I definitely saw it.'
It was a single sword path.
He etched that sword path into Heavenly Light.
Hwoooong!
Cheon Muyang swung his sword.
At some point, he forgot the flow of time.
The harmony of all creation wrapped around Cheon Muyang.
"...."
Cheon Muyang had fallen into a state of selflessness.
Watching him as if he had gained something, Cheon Seonhak smiled.
"Truly a monster."
A moment of enlightenment—called sudden enlightenment .
Such moments never came easily.
Yet Cheon Muyang was different.
Day by day, he shattered his limits and moved forward.
"If I let my guard down, I might even be overtaken."
Cheon Seonhak had recently been blocked by a wall.
Seeing Cheon Muyang advance without hesitation, he felt as though he had glimpsed how to break through that wall himself.
"To think I would gain enlightenment because of you…."
Life was long indeed.
Who could have imagined a day would come when he would admire Cheon Muyang, who had once been nothing more than a ruffian?
"Advance. Fly into that vast firmament."
The ruffian was gone.
What remained was merely a coiled dragon—Hidden Dragon .
"I will become your clouds."
Was it not said that a dragon ascends to the heavens riding upon clouds?
Hwoooong!
The Hidden Dragon of the Cheon Clan cleaved the sky into a thousand, ten thousand pieces with his sword.
A Severing Heaven that had grown even deeper.
Yet only Cheon Seonhak and Wolyeong could see through the true intent of that sword.
"Huff, huff!"
Of course, Wolyeong herself was too busy gasping for breath, her lungs burning, to spare any thought for such things.
"Control your breathing."
"Huff—yes!"
Cheon Muyang wielded his sword.
Wolyeong ran the training grounds.
Without rest, they swung and ran.
It was a new and striking sight at the training grounds.
Cheon Muyang's daily routine did not change.
He still lived as if he resided in the training grounds.
If there was one difference, it was this.
"Huff, huff!"
Wolyeong, now wearing martial robes that still looked unfamiliar instead of a maid's uniform, ran the training grounds.
She was still running, yet it was nothing like the beginning.
She now looked accustomed to running at a steady pace.
"I told you not to lose your breathing."
Whenever her breathing grew rough, Cheon Seonhak's sharp eyes lashed at Wolyeong like a whip.
"Huff—yes!"
Though she looked on the verge of collapse, Wolyeong showed no complaints and adjusted her breathing as she continued to run.
"One more lap."
"Huff—yes!"
Cheon Seonhak's training was brutal.
He never told her the goal.
Whether she ran ten laps or twenty,
By never saying how many remained, he placed crushing psychological pressure upon her.
'It must feel like hell….'
Every trainee knew that pain.
They all thought Wolyeong would soon collapse.
Yet Wolyeong endured.
A full week had already passed since she began repeating the cycle of running, vomiting, and collapsing.
"...."
Except for a few, including lee seokgi, everyone had no choice but to acknowledge her.
No one had ever endured Cheon Seonhak's training for more than a week.
Heh.
Cheon Muyang smiled as he watched Wolyeong.
They were shocked.
But it was still far from enough.
"If you settle for that spot and stay there, you'll be overtaken soon enough."
Cheon Muyang smiled and swung his sword.
Even now, he repeated a single movement until it wore down—again and again.
At a glance, it looked like the same sword path, yet its texture was different.
'I can see the texture of the sky now.'
It was truly as if his eyes had opened—an awakening .
'Just how far have I come now?'
He suddenly grew curious.
Commonly, realms were divided into First-rate, Peak, Transcendent Peak, and Manifestation.
Of course, even within each stage, there were subtle differences.
'I still can't manifest sword energy.'
For that reason, by the standards of the martial world, he had yet to even reach First-rate.
Yet if he were to face a First-rate master, he didn't feel he would lose.
'For some reason… I feel like I'd win.'
The man he had fought at Maehongru was clearly a First-rate master.
But that man had been careless and flustered.
Victory had come from exploiting that opening—had they fought properly, the outcome might have been different.
'But now… I can win. Definitely.'
Cheon Muyang was certain he was steadily growing stronger.
His path was not wrong.
'That said, it should be about time they started moving.'
It was far too quiet.
They would make a move somehow.
His patience was nearing its limit.
"Is the Young Master here?"
A stranger came looking for Cheon Muyang.
The swaggering voice drew everyone's attention.
Even as he looked at Cheon Seonhak, he offered only a half-hearted greeting, his attitude thoroughly arrogant.
"Ah, there you are."
Approaching with his hands clasped behind his back, he exchanged a glance with lee seokgi.
Then he walked up to Cheon Muyang.
"Eldest Young Master."
Step.
The sword stopped in midair.
Cheon Muyang slowly turned his head.
The instant their eyes met, the man's body trembled.
'W-what kind of eyes are those…?'
They were the eyes of a predator staring at its prey.
"What is it?"
Cheon Muyang asked, pretending not to know.
Where he had come from was obvious.
As expected, the man produced a letter stamped with the seal of the Council of Elders.
"A letter the Third Elder ordered me to deliver."
"Leave it there."
His expression spoke volumes.
As if asking what that was supposed to mean, he stiffened and replied,
"Eldest Young Master, I said this is a letter sent by the Third Elder."
Snort.
The pressure was so clumsy it almost drew a laugh.
'Even that former ruffian wouldn't be intimidated by this.'
Of course, that was just a saying.
He would have been intimidated back then.
He was a textbook example of bullying the weak and yielding to the strong.
"Hey."
Uuuung!
Heavenly Light hummed.
At the same time, a vicious killing intent washed over him.
"So what do you want me to do about it?"
"W-what?"
"I told you to leave it there. So what if it's a letter from the Third Elder?"
"T-the Third Elder…!"
"Ghk!"
Heavenly Light touched his neck.
The killing intent was so sharp it felt as though he would be cut down at any moment; he couldn't even swallow his saliva.
"You'd better shut that filthy mouth."
"Hk!"
Cheon Muyang withdrew Heavenly Light.
Only then did his stiffened body seem to loosen, and he fell backward onto his backside.
Even so, as he scrambled backward, desperately trying to put distance between himself and Cheon Muyang, the sight was pitiful.
"Oh, and one more thing…."
"Eek!"
"Even if you don't show me respect, at least show some manners to the Lord."
Cheon Seonhak's official position was Supreme Lord of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Unit and the Heavenly Phoenix Sword Unit.
Thus, he was addressed as Lord.
"Otherwise, next time… I'll cut off your head."
What was it?
As he sat sprawled on the ground, it felt as though the entire sky was collapsing.
That sky was crumbling straight toward him alone.
"Eeeek!"
Drip.
Overwhelmed by extreme terror, he couldn't even clench his bladder.
"Don't dirty the place. Get lost."
"H-hiiiii!"
Dignity forgotten, he fled with his tail between his legs.
"Tch. It stinks."