“Sa-ma and Poison Master.”
“That’s right.”
Guwangqushen nodded his head.
“How much do you know about the Bishops?”
“I don’t know precisely. In fact, the remaining information about the Demonic Cult is nothing more than stories passed down through oral tradition. Haven’t all the documents that could accurately explain what kind of beings they are been lost?”
“That’s right.”
“So I don’t know such information well. I can only speculate. I only know that Bishops refer to the strongest ones in the Demonic Cult.”
Guwangqushen nodded his head.
“That’s not entirely wrong, but it’s not exactly right either.”
It was an ambiguous answer.
“Because there are quite a few in the Demonic Cult who are stronger than the Bishops.”
“Pardon?”
“A Bishop isn’t something you become by being ranked as the strongest in the Demonic Cult in general recognition. Various factors are included. In the case of the Poison Master, even those who aren’t Bishops could probably handle him adequately. But his characteristic of using poison is what’s important. No one else can face as many people simultaneously in war as Poison Master, can they?”
“That’s true.”
Since ancient times, poison has been used very handily in warfare.
The Historian, who had studied military history, knew this fact very well.
“In the end, Bishops are positions held by those recognized by the Cult. Even if someone’s martial arts are excellent, if those martial arts are judged not to be helpful to the Cult, they cannot become a Bishop. Do you understand what this means?”
“…Well.”
“It means that the Bishops of the Demonic Cult are positions thoroughly filled with those who are helpful in war. So how terrifying must each and every one of them be.”
The Historian nodded his head.
“Certainly so.”
“When I first saw Gwanghon Maje, I felt that. He was too strong. And terrifying. To the extent that I, who had some confidence in myself as th Beggar of Beggar’s Sect, genuinely felt that the Demonic Cult was frightening.”
A trace of fear appeared on Guwangqushen’s face as he spoke. As if the memories from that time were still vivid despite all this time having passed.
“So I still can’t forget what happened then.”
“When you say what happened then…”
“The Great Battle of Luoyang.”
“Ah…”
The Great Battle of Luoyang.
That event where Wei Yan-ho saved the main headquarters of Righteous Martial Alliance from crisis and made his name known throughout the world.
“Thinking about it, it must have been quite a shocking incident.”
Guwangqushen smiled subtly.
“You now cannot understand that shock.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because you already knew of Gwanghui Mujon—that is, Wei Yan-ho’s existence—before encountering the Great Battle of Luoyang.”
“…”
“Looking back at someone’s achievements knowing who they are and what they accomplished is completely different from watching those achievements being completed right before your eyes.”
“Certainly so.”
The Historian had no choice but to acknowledge this.
He already knew the fact that Wei Yan-ho had saved the world. So he had no choice but to think it natural that Wei Yan-ho would defeat a Bishop.
But what about from Guwangqushen’s perspective?
He didn’t know what kind of person Wei Yan-ho would become later. Moreover, he had already seen Wei Yan-ho lose to a Bishop once. To such a Guwangqushen, wouldn’t the sight of Wei Yan-ho defeating a Bishop have looked tremendous?
“I think I understand what kind of feelings you had.”
“Hmm?”
Guwangqushen chuckled.
“You don’t by any chance think I was surprised because Wei Yan-ho defeated a Bishop, do you?”
“…Isn’t that so?”
“I already knew that guy could handle a Bishop or so. When he fought Gwanghon Maje, that fellow matched Gwanghon Maje evenly, even if briefly. Even if that wasn’t Gwanghon Maje’s full power.”
“That’s right.”
“How much stronger do you think Wei Yan-ho became after that? You can predict it. Anyone can predict it by looking at his achievements. He became stronger. Tremendously stronger. Incredibly stronger. But…”
Guwangqushen shook his head.
“That wasn’t it.”
“Pardon?”
“Everyone thought they knew, but no one actually knew. How strong Wei Yan-ho was. We also underestimated him. Do you know what we underestimated?”
“Gwanghui Muje.”
“Wrong.”
“…”
The Historian felt it was difficult to follow this conversation. Guwangqushen’s way of speaking kept lifting people up and putting them down.
“Then?”
Guwangqushen lifted his liquor bottle and took a sip. After moistening his throat with alcohol and licking his dried lips, he continued speaking.
“We kept overlooking one thing. We were obsessed only with the fact that Wei Yan-ho was strong. So we failed to feel the power of the person we really needed to know.”
“The person we needed to know?”
“Sword Emperor. Wei Yan-ho’s master.”
“Ah…”
Guwangqushen clicked his tongue and said.
“When I learned that Wei Yan-ho was Sword Emperor’s disciple, I thought, ‘Ah, so that’s why this guy is so strong. Being Sword Emperor’s disciple, he would naturally be this strong.’”
The Historian frowned.
“What was wrong with that?”
“It was wrong. Very wrong indeed.”
It was incomprehensible. What exactly was wrong with those words?
“No one knew what kind of being Sword Emperor was.”
“…”
“If you had known what kind of person Sword Emperor was and then seen Wei Yan-ho, what do you think you would have said?”
“Like master, like disciple?”
“No. You probably would have said this: ‘How did such a worm-like disciple come from under Sword Emperor?’ Of course, you couldn’t have said it openly to his face.”
“…A worm?”
The Historian let out a hollow laugh.
A worm, of all things.
No matter how much ill feeling Guwangqushen seemed to have toward Gwanghui Mujon, this went beyond the level of joking.
“Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
“It’s not slander.”
Guwangqushen’s voice was firm.
“We thought he was strong. We thought Wei Yan-ho possessed strength that transcended common sense. And that was true. If he weren’t Sword Emperor’s disciple, that is.”
The Historian found it difficult to understand Guwangqushen’s words. How would it be different if the fact that he was Sword Emperor’s disciple was added?
“If Sword Emperor had seriously taught Wei Yan-ho, Wei Yan-ho should have been several times stronger. He should have possessed power to dominate the martial world from the moment he emerged from that cave.”
“Pardon?”
The Historian expressed doubt, but Guwangqushen continued what he was saying.
“But we didn’t know. How strong Sword Emperor was. He was already a person from three hundred years ago. Sword Emperor’s name was passed down as legend, but there was no one who could truly understand why he was called the greatest of all time, or how terrifying the words ‘greatest of all time’ really were.”
“Ah…”
The Historian could finally understand Guwangqushen’s words.
People need a standard to be able to measure. This is Sword Emperor, called the strongest in history. But how could people of later generations know exactly how strong he was?
At best, they would only think he was a bit stronger than the current number one under heaven. But Sword Emperor was a being who existed on a different dimension from previous masters.
Now we can know that. Because we have a measuring stick. But then we couldn’t know. Because Sword Emperor was too strong. During his active period, no one in the world dared oppose Sword Emperor.
If they tried, it was one sword strike.
Third-rate martial artist, one sword strike. The world’s second-best swordsman, one sword strike.
So there was no way to gauge Sword Emperor’s level. To gauge his level, numerous martial artists of that era would have to rush at him together, but Sword Emperor wasn’t an evil person, and that would be impossible.
So people only had a vague recognition that Sword Emperor was strong, but they didn’t know just how truly strong he was.
“We also learned only after seeing him later. How strong Sword Emperor was—we came to know only later. So a question arose. Why was Wei Yan-ho so weak?”
It was a strange feeling.
To say that Gwanghui Mujon was weak.
Having a rotten personality, or being thoughtless.
All the curses and slanders in the world suited Wei Yan-ho well, but only the word “weak” didn’t suit him.
“Only then did we come to understand what Sword Emperor had done to Wei Yan-ho.”
The Historian swallowed his saliva.
“In five years’ time, Sword Emperor could create a number one under heaven—perhaps not others, but Sword Emperor certainly could. Even if he brought some country martial artist instead of Wei Yan-ho, five years would be enough to create a number one under heaven.”
“Is that possible? Martial arts isn’t that simple.”
“If it weren’t Sword Emperor, it would be absolutely impossible. But Sword Emperor could do it. Because his martial arts reached heaven.”
“…”
“But Sword Emperor raised Wei Yan-ho, a guy overflowing with talent to the point of rotting, for five years and he was only that level? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Then?”
Guwangqushen nodded his head.
“Sword Emperor told Wei Yan-ho to surpass him. For that, a foundation was needed. A broad and deep foundation. Sword Emperor focused on building Wei Yan-ho’s foundation during those five years. A foundation on which he could someday build a tower that would surpass him.”
The Historian’s eyes shook.
“And he left one more thing so that foundation wouldn’t be in vain.”
“Do you mean Dream Training Technique?”
“Yes, exactly that. Dream Training Technique isn’t for teaching Wei Yan-ho. It’s martial arts that prevents Wei Yan-ho from stopping. Every time he sleeps, Wei Yan-ho must continuously learn martial arts. However efficient it may be, that’s sufficient. Even to escape from that Dream Training Technique, Wei Yan-ho cannot let go of martial arts. Just by holding onto the end of martial arts, he made it so the tower would be built up.”
“…I can’t understand at all. Is that possible with human power?”
Guwangqushen shook his head.
“He’s not human.”
“…”
“He’s an incarnation of martial arts in human form. It cannot be understood or guessed with a human mind. We can only accept that it might be so.”
The Historian’s face became serious.
Then just how strong was Sword Emperor?
“Sword Emperor arranged everything. He built the foundation and made him build up the tower. If there was one thing lacking, it was only Wei Yan-ho’s will. That guy wasn’t diligent enough to learn martial arts on his own. Sword Emperor even took that into account when teaching Wei Yan-ho. So that even if this lazy guy was lazy his entire life, he could someday reach him.”
“Ah…”
“Then the Demonic Cult rose to power and Wei Yan-ho couldn’t just laze around anymore. He learned martial arts, pondered, and trained.”
Guwangqushen spoke with a strange expression.
“And that exploded.”
“Exploded?”
“Yes. The martial arts he had built up, Wei Yan-ho who had been wandering around not knowing where to go, finally found his path. After that, he rapidly built it up. And that…”
Guwangqushen curled up the corner of his mouth.
“That was unfortunate for the two Bishops. That was… listen carefully. What Wei Yan-ho did then was…”
The Historian lost his focus and was sucked into Guwangqushen’s words.
