Chapter 80
As soon as Baek-Cheong heard his words, she had a guess.
‘Upright Cultivation Grand Dao? That’s not it at all!’
He seemed to think her single-minded life dedicated solely to forum-surfing was upright.
But the Pacheon Sword Saint, oblivious to Baek-Cheong’s inner thoughts, did not shift his posture while leaning against the chair.
“Why is your expression so dark?”
“Dark? Of course it is!”
Baek-Cheong felt wronged, but she couldn’t speak about the Nameless Forum.
In the end, all that came out of her mouth was a timid voice.
“It is nothing. I simply do not know what to do with such undeserved praise.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint showed no particular reaction to her answer.
He merely stroked his beard once before reaching inside his sleeve.
What he pulled out was an old piece of iron about the length of two finger joints.
The dark, dull metal, stained with the passage of time, had a thin crack running through it.
Unconsciously, a feeling similar to when she had first seen the Sword Art Diagram came to mind.
“Do you know what this is?”
“…I do not know.”
Baek-Cheong slightly raised her head and scanned the piece of iron.
It definitely gave off an extraordinary feeling, but it was difficult to discern anything just from its outward appearance.
“This is a sword fragment.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint placed the sword fragment on his palm and spoke calmly.
“It is a piece of iron containing a Sword Path. Try to unravel it.”
Not a diagram containing a Sword Art, but a sword fragment containing a Sword Path.
She was puzzled, but she had no room to ask questions.
“Unravel it?”
Baek-Cheong blankly looked down at the offered sword fragment.
Then, a brilliant scheme flashed through her mind.
“I just have to pretend I cannot unravel it!”
All she had to do was scan the sword fragment with her Divine Sense and put on a clueless expression.
It was the perfect opportunity to firmly establish his belief that she had too many distracting thoughts to ever reach the pinnacle of the sword.
Then, she figured, the Pacheon Sword Saint would give up his lingering attachments and back off.
“Absolutely perfect.”
Finalizing her plan, Baek-Cheong politely held out both hands.
And she took the sword fragment from the Pacheon Sword Saint’s hand.
The sword fragment was heavier than expected for its small size.
“Good. I will just pretend to examine it for a bit, say I do not know, and that will be the end of it.”
But she still had to put on the pretense of examining it.
She mobilized her Divine Sense and extended it toward the surface of the sword fragment.
As soon as her Divine Sense touched the metal surface, something felt different.
“Huh?”
An extraordinary sensation emanated from the sword fragment.
It was a completely different form from the Sword Art Diagram she had read from the jade stone in the Sword Tomb.
If the diagram was a map drawn in pictures, this was no different from the actual path drawn on that map.
A certain Sword Path existed perfectly intact within the sword fragment.
“This is…”
Her plan to pretend she could not unravel it evaporated from her mind.
As she followed the Sword Path with her Divine Sense, its form gradually became clearer.
It was a Sword Path similar to the Falling Star Style, yet distinctly different.
It was as if a star were streaking across the sky.
“This is no different from a jade slip, is it?”
She saw the Sword Path at once, understood the Sword Art, and comprehended the Sword Intent.
Amidst this enlightenment, she realized something, and her fingertips that had been fiddling with the sword fragment froze.
Flinch.
The sword fragment slipped through her fingers.
The sound of the metal hitting the floor rang out unusually loudly.
“Ah.”
Baek-Cheong belatedly reached out, but the sword fragment was already rolling across the floor.
It spun a few times before coming to a stop at the Pacheon Sword Saint’s feet.
“Idiot! Why did you drop it!”
Regret flooded her as heat rushed to her face.
Her plan to play dumb had been spectacularly ruined.
The very fact that she had dropped it in surprise meant she had read something from it.
The Pacheon Sword Saint looked at the sword fragment at his feet, then slowly bent down to pick it up.
He lightly brushed the dust off the sword fragment with the edge of his sleeve.
A deep satisfaction laced his dry voice.
“To comprehend the Sword Intent just by glancing at the Sword Art… you are truly a child of outstanding comprehension.”
Sure enough, she had been caught comprehending the Sword Intent in an instant.
She was burning up with frustration on the inside, but outwardly, she merely kept her head bowed, pretending to be frozen in place.
The Pacheon Sword Saint held up the sword fragment and explained the Sword Art contained within it.
“This is the Sword Art that follows the Falling Star Style. It is called Star River One Line (Star River One Line).”
“Star River One Line…”
Baek-Cheong repeated the name without realizing it.
It was a name that meant a single line streaked by a star.
The Sword Path she had just seen in the sword fragment fit the name perfectly, like a tailored set of clothes.
“Did you perhaps notice anything else from the sword fragment?”
Before she even had time to marvel at it, the Pacheon Sword Saint asked as he tucked the sword fragment back into his sleeve.
At the sudden question, Baek-Cheong hesitated and clamped her mouth shut.
“What do I do?”
There was indeed a fact she had noticed while gaining enlightenment from the sword fragment.
But if she answered honestly, she might really get forced into becoming a Disciple.
‘Let’s just make something up.’
Making up her mind, she slightly raised her head, only to meet the Pacheon Sword Saint’s eyes.
His deep eyes were studying her unblinkingly, as if piercing straight through to her inner thoughts.
“Ah, this is a bust.”
It was definitely the look of someone who already knew the answer.
He was a Great Cultivator who knew everything - from her unraveling the Sword Art from the jade stone in the Sword Tomb to her breaking through her bottleneck using the Falling Star Style.
Clumsy lies would not work on him.
After a moment of hesitation, she bowed her head and answered carefully.
“The Falling Star Style and Star River One Line did not seem to be different Sword Arts, but rather continuations of a single Sword Art.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint looked at her with interest and narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.
Baek-Cheong braced herself, deciding that since she had already started, she had to see it through to the end, and continued speaking.
“I could not fathom the end of the Sword Art. However…”
She paused for a moment before adding with conviction.
“A third connecting Sword Art definitely exists.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint stared intently at Baek-Cheong for a long while.
A low exclamation slipped through his beard.
“To fathom even the third Sword Art…”
Complex emotions laced his dry voice.
It was a mixture of genuine Admiration and deep regret.
But he quickly withdrew that fleeting emotion and revealed a single fact.
“Unlike other Sword Cultivators, I do not wield a Flying Sword. Like mortal martial artists, I wield a sword in my hand and use swordsmanship.”
A typical Sword Cultivator would not swing a sword directly with his or her hands.
It was more akin to a Technique/Spell, controlling a Flying Sword through the air using Divine Sense and qi.
But the Pacheon Sword Saint held a sword in his hand and used swordsmanship like a Martial Artist.
“That is… a Physical Cultivator!”
Baek-Cheong realized the meaning behind the Sword Saint’s words, and her complexion turned deathly pale.
Cultivators were broadly divided into Practitioners (Practitioner) and Physical Cultivators (Physical Cultivator).
While Practitioners were Cultivators who utilized Technique/Spells, Physical Cultivators were those who tempered their own bodies.
If there was one thing that separated a Physical Cultivator from a Martial Artist, it was the use of all sorts of medicinal concoctions.
They subjected themselves to brutal, self-inflicted torment all for the sake of tempering their flesh.
“I am really, truly doomed.”
The life of a Sword Cultivator was already harsh enough, but adding the path of a Physical Cultivator on top of that was a level of suffering that would make even hell pale in comparison.
She would have to spend all day enduring cultivation that bordered on self-mutilation, all while mastering swordsmanship.
Just the thought of it gave her full-body goosebumps.
“Absolutely not.”
Unable to hide her terror of the future, her terror of the future showed on her expression.
She bowed her head to conceal it, but she could not stop her eyes from squeezing shut.
The Pacheon Sword Saint watched Baek-Cheong, then faintly raised the corners of his mouth.
“There is no need to look so appalled.”
Baek-Cheong carefully raised her head and opened her eyes.
A soft smile she had never seen before was etched onto the Pacheon Sword Saint’s face.
For the first time, a trace of humanity shone through his previously dry and indifferent expression.
“You seem to have been tense after hearing that I am wandering the Continent in search of a Disciple.”
“W…were you not?”
As she mumbled her reply, the Pacheon Sword Saint nodded.
“Your honesty is commendable. I shall relieve you of your needless worry. My wandering in search of a Disciple is nothing but a pretext.”
Baek-Cheong instinctively tilted her head at the unexpected words.
“I am merely traveling the Continent because there is a matter I must attend to before ascending to the Soul Formation stage.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint spoke as if it were no big deal.
But the weight behind his words was by no means light.
No matter how powerful a Nascent Soul Grand Perfection Cultivator was, such a cultivator could not reach the Soul Formation stage unless the time and conditions were perfect, yet he had just displayed absolute certainty in his ascension.
Furthermore, this Nascent Soul Grand Perfection Cultivator was wandering the Continent for a matter even more important than his own breakthrough to Soul Formation.
She did not know the exact details, but she could intuitively sense that it was no trivial matter.
This alone was information she should not have carelessly heard.
“This reeks of something incredibly dangerous.”
Baek-Cheong firmly suppressed her curiosity to ask for more details.
The more she heard, the more likely she was to get swept up in something dangerous.
“It has nothing to do with me anyway. This does not concern me.”
However, his next words stopped her in her tracks.
“Therefore, I have a proposition for you.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint His smile vanished, and he spoke in a low voice.
“Become my Disciple.”
“What?!”
Unable to hold back, Baek-Cheong blurted out her sheer bewilderment.
Had he not just said it was merely a pretext?
Was he traveling around for another matter before ascending to Soul Formation?
And yet he was telling her to become his Disciple? It completely contradicted what he had just said.
But escaping the Sword Saint’s grasp was her top priority, so she hurriedly made an excuse.
“I am still merely at the Qi Condensation Stage, and I know almost nothing about swords…”
“I am speaking of a Named Disciple (Named Disciple).”
The Pacheon Sword Saint cut off Baek-Cheong’s excuse and added.