Hwasan Sect’s Genius Swordsman Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Dokgo Heon’s sword emerged through the Black Night Princess’s back. Despite piercing her heart, the Black Night Princess smiled grimly.

“Sword Devil. They say you’re called the First Sword of the Evil Path for creating your own sword technique – it seems that wasn’t just an empty title.”

“Shut your mouth and just die, you old demon.”

Swoosh

As he pulled out his sword, a fountain of blood gushed from the split chest. Even as his vision turned red from the blood spray, Dokgo Heon swung his sword without hesitation and struck the Black Night Princess’s neck.

“Damn these demon bastards.”

The Black Night Palace, a magical Force that suddenly appeared in Shaanxi and caused bloodshed – the Black Night Palace (黑夜宮). With their leader’s head taken, this bloodshed that will be recorded as the Shaanxi Blood Incident should end today.

Without lingering, Dokgo Heon turned around and with each step he took, blood dripped steadily from his entire body.

He was barely moving, his injuries so severe that it wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed at any moment.

Dokgo Heon walked toward a middle-aged man leaning against a rock and slumped down in front of him.

“Hey fool, are you dead?”

“Still alive.”

The Plum Blossom Sword Saint of Hwasan, Hyeon Jo, who lost both eyes to the Black Night Palace Lord, was barely breathing while shedding bloody tears. Seeing him pitifully clutching his broken Plum Blossom Sword even in this state made Dokgo Heon’s eyes waver.

“I won’t be able to keep our promise to compete with newly created sword techniques.”

“Fool, even while dying you’re still going on about swords.”

“It’s nothing new, this is how we’ve lived our whole lives, isn’t it? Sword Devil.”

“That’s right. We lived obsessed with swords.”

Sword Devil Dokgo Heon.

Hwasan Sword Saint Hyeon Jo.

These two were bound by the sword. Sword friends (劍友).

Their first meeting was as enemies, but as the number of times their swords crossed increased, their relationship changed.

Enemies became rivals, and rivals became friends.

As swordsmen who met in the martial world and formed a bond through swords, the stance of right and wrong (正邪) was merely trivial to them.

“Look after my disciple, look after Hwasan. Just occasionally is enough.”

“Have you forgotten who I am? Asking the First Sword of the Evil Path to look after the Hwasan Sect?”

“Hehe…”

As the rock he was leaning against became increasingly stained red, Hyeon Jo’s breathing grew fainter, and his voice dimmer.

At this, Dokgo Heon’s brow furrowed, though he hadn’t moved despite the pain throughout his body.

As an orphan all alone in the world, all Dokgo Heon had was a single sword he had picked up somewhere. To survive in the martial world, he had to be obsessed with the sword and be ruthless.

Naturally, grudges accumulated, and all that remained were ill fates.

And he cut off all those ill fates with his sword.

In the Sword Devil’s life which is steeped in blood and grudges, Hyeon Jo of the Hwasan Sect is his only good fate (善緣).

Dokgo Heon is facing the end of his first and last good fate.

Perhaps sensing Dokgo Heon’s suddenly rough breathing, Hyeon Jo smiled and felt around his wrist, placing a red jade bracelet in Dokgo Heon’s palm.

“The Plum Blossom Spirit Pearl. It’s Hwasan’s sacred object. Please deliver it to Hwasan.”

“You fool, you’re spewing requests like mad.”

Though Dokgo Heon spoke gruffly, he put on the Plum Blossom Spirit Pearl as if determined not to lose it.

“And to my disciple…”

Boom

Hyeon Jo’s last words were buried under a sudden explosion. Demonic energy surged from behind and swallowed the rock in an instant. The swirling demonic energy ground the rock into pieces, and Hyeon Jo, who had been leaning against it, met the same fate.

It happened in less than the blink of an eye. As his friend turned into a spray of blood, blood vessels rose in Dokgo Heon’s eyes.

At that moment, Hyeon Jo’s wrist, still clutching the broken Plum Blossom Sword, fell at his feet.

Seeing this, an eerie scream that wasn’t human burst from Dokgo Heon’s mouth.

For the first time, the Sword Devil’s rationality, which had never wavered through countless brushes with death, snapped.

“Kraaaagh!”

Enraged at seeing his only friend instantly vaporized into blood, Dokgo Heon violently slashed forward.

A terrifying sword energy cutting through the churning demonic energy.

Crack

Even as cracks appeared on his sword blade, Dokgo Heon nonetheless extended his sword to its limit without wavering.

Whoosh

As the demonic energy that had been rushing like a storm split apart, a huge dark force like lightning rushed through the divided demonic energy.

Having already exceeded his body’s limits with his sword strike, Dokgo Heon noticed this but couldn’t respond.

Thud

Hit by the incoming force, Dokgo Heon’s body was lifted into the air, and struck by three more streams of force that followed, he was pushed straight back to the edge of the cliff.

“Kheuk!”

Spewing blood in all directions, Dokgo Heon fell down the cliff. What he saw in his dimming vision was a man wearing a pitch-black mask.

‘That damn bastard, since when…’

There was a saying that people review their entire life before death, but Dokgo Heon had no time for that.

‘Fool!’

He had lost his friend right before his eyes and couldn’t even recover his body. Moreover, he too was facing death at the hands of that murderer.

“If I survive, I will surely find you and tear you to pieces…”

Dokgo Heon’s eyes, heated with rage and vengeance, glowed with a fierce red light.

“Heh.”

Though he spoke very quietly in a phlegm-filled voice, the masked man seemed to hear it and let out a small laugh.

Dokgo Heon didn’t miss that brief laugh.

‘You laugh? You bastard…’

Despite his determination filled with killing intent, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Dokgo Heon focused all his strength on trying to move his uncontrollable body while holding onto his scattering consciousness.

Thump

Was it his will to live, or his determination before death? Dokgo Heon’s gradually stopping heartbeat once, powerfully.

This was its final beat, but that firm pulse traveled up his arm and reached the Plum Blossom Spirit Pearl.

Suddenly, the Plum Blossom Spirit Pearl he was wearing on his arm emitted a brilliant rose-red light and embraced Dokgo Heon.

* * *

Thump

“His… His pulse is back!”

“What? It has clearly stopped just now – heaven has helped us. Praise the Primordial Celestial Lord!”

Dokgo Heon’s eyebrows twitched at the sharp voice ringing in his ears.

‘Am I alive? I definitely fell from the cliff.’

Even without the cliff fall, the internal injuries he suffered at the end were absolutely fatal.

Instinctively, Dokgo Heon tried to move his body, but his entire body was as heavy as waterlogged cotton, making it difficult to even move a finger.

Exerting all his strength, Dokgo Heon barely managed to slightly lift his right eyelid.

What he saw were Hwasan fools busily moving about with long acupuncture needles.

“Elder Baek Jin! The Senior Disciple has opened his eyes!”

“Mu Hwi, you’ve done well holding on. Don’t lose consciousness, hold on tight!”

Dokgo Heon stared at Baek Jin, who was applying needles to his body, with bewildered eyes.

Baek Jin. An elder of the Hwasan Sect in charge of the Medical Pavilion (花醫閣). The most skilled person in medicine within the Hwasan Sect. He was familiar with him from having his arm wound treated before.

‘Why are they calling me Mu Hwi?’

Come to think of it, the young fool attending to him was also calling him the Senior Disciple.

‘Mu Hwi, Mu Hwi. Mu Hwi?’

As he was mentally repeating this familiar name, Dokgo Heon suddenly came to his senses.

Mu Hwi (武輝).

The Senior Disciple of Hwasan Sect’s second-generation disciples.

And the disciple of his friend, Hyeon Jo.

Dokgo Heon couldn’t understand at all why he was being called Mu Hwi.

“Damn… It.”

After barely spitting out these words, Dokgo Heon lost consciousness again.

< Prologue > End

< From Sword Devil to Senior Disciple. >