The Great Heavenly Sword Emperor - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 002. The Sword Returns from the Underground (2)

Cheon Mujgyeol, pulled from his reverie, returned to the present and surveyed the mangled corpses before him.
He examined them in silence.
Moving methodically from the nearest body onward, he sifted through their clothing with meticulous care.
Clink.
After rummaging through several corpses, a handful of coins lay in the palm of his hand.
Yet despite their coin-like appearance, he had never seen their like before.
They were minted from pristine silver, and etched in relief across each coin’s face was the visage of a malevolent spirit.
These were certainly no ordinary currency in common circulation—they must bear some connection to the identities or allegiances of these corpses.
Cheon Mujgyeol continued searching the bodies, gathering more coins.
One or two would suffice to uncover their origins; the rest would serve him well as travel funds in the days ahead.
Having decided to begin his investigation with these coins, Cheon Mujgyeol clenched them tightly in his fist.
Then he turned his head and gazed once more upon the Cheon Geom Hall.
His expression remained unchanged, yet his eyes glistened.
Though he had steeled himself and emerged into this world anew, in this moment before the Cheon Geom Hall, even he could not help himself.
[I can feel your heart wavering.]
“Going forward, my heart will not waver again.”
The turbulence in Cheon Mujgyeol’s heart settled like a still lake.
[A man may waver. But remember what I have taught you.]
At Cheon Shingeom’s words, Cheon Mujgyeol pressed his lips firmly shut and gave the smallest nod.
“Revenge is Inevitable.”
Indulgence in sentiment was a luxury.
For now, all that mattered was to tend the unquenchable flame within his heart and see his vengeance through to its end.
Stripping away every other thought and useless emotion, Cheon Mujgyeol vanished from that place like the wind.
And shortly after.
The moon, which had briefly peeked out from behind the clouds, withdrew once more into their cover.
Darkness crept in to reclaim the spaces where moonlight had fallen.
Whoosh.
A presence stirred in the darkness.
Its identity remained unknown, as did its number.
When the moon finally parted the clouds again after a long interval, something remarkable had occurred: all those countless corpses had vanished without trace.
Only the blood that had drenched the earth remained to testify that slaughter had taken place here.

* * *

The Market District teemed with life.
Shops and stalls lined every side, and the crowd flowing between them made progress difficult even for a single step or two.
Yet one figure stood out starkly against the ordinary mass.
It was Cheon Mujgyeol, clad in ill-fitting garments and bearing a filthy appearance.
His hair had grown long and unkempt, his beard untended and wild.
His face and body were streaked with grime from lack of proper washing, and a foul stench emanated from him.
As Cheon Mujgyeol wove into the crowd, the pleasant atmosphere of the Market District soured with revulsion.
The gazes of those around him, their faces contorted in displeasure, fixed themselves as one upon him, the source of the offense.
Yet Cheon Mujgyeol, heedless of it all, simply continued on his way.
Then, at some point.
He stopped.
Before him stood a fairly substantial inn.
With nowhere immediate to go and in need of information, an inn was the only shelter available to him.
Without hesitation, Cheon Mujgyeol pushed inside.

The reaction within differed little from that without.
If anything, the interior—where air circulated poorly—reacted even more severely.
The eyes of those dining and drinking tea on the inn’s ground floor turned as one toward the entrance.
Several recoiled from the unbearable stench, their stomachs churning.
“What is this smell!”
A burly man came rushing out from the kitchen and shouted.
The Innkeeper, as he appeared to be, caught sight of Cheon Mujgyeol standing in the entrance and hurried over, pinching his nose.
“What beggar-trash is this! Get out! Out at once!”
At the Innkeeper’s roar, Cheon Mujgyeol simply regarded him in silence.
The man drew a sharp breath.
Eyes so cold they raised the hair on his neck.
A gaze as black and fathomless as an abyss, untouched by any flicker of feeling.
Confronted with this, the Innkeeper found himself gasping despite himself.
“I require a room for several nights.”
Cheon Mujgyeol spoke in a voice stripped of all emotion.
“Y-you don’t even seem to have money! A room is out of the question! Leave at once!”
The Innkeeper’s tone shifted, his initial rudeness giving way to something else.
Then Cheon Mujgyeol withdrew two coins from his pocket.
“What in the—!”
The Innkeeper’s eyes went wide at the sight of those mere two coins.
He recognized them at once as silver.
“I have money.”
“Then you’re a paying guest! I shall prepare a room for you at once. But first—might you care to wash? For everyone’s sake. Haha!”
The Innkeeper shifted his demeanor with practiced swiftness, his smile now greasy and eager.
He began leading Cheon Mujgyeol toward a room without delay.
Behind the retreating figures, hostile glances from the other guests clung to them like arrows.

The Innkeeper showed Cheon Mujgyeol to a decent room and hastily prepared a bath.
Before he could even be asked, the man volunteered to fetch clean clothes for him to wear.
After washing thoroughly for what felt like an age and donning fresh garments, Cheon Mujgyeol’s appearance had transformed noticeably.
Yet the unkempt beard and tangled hair remained—beyond remedy for now.
Cheon Mujgyeol left his room in this state.
Whether it was the effect of the bath or the aroma of food drifting up from below, he found himself overcome by genuine hunger for the first time in far too long.
Cheon Mujgyeol descended quietly to the first floor and claimed a corner table.
The Innkeeper, noticing his arrival, came scurrying over with obsequious haste.
“What will you have for your meal, sir?”
“Anything will do.”
The Innkeeper frowned slightly at the vague response, then quickly smoothed his expression into an ingratiating smile.
“Of course. I shall bring something suitable at once.”
“There is one more thing I wished to ask.”
“What might that be, sir?”
In response to the Innkeeper’s question, Cheon Mujgyeol produced a coin identical to the one he had given before.
The Innkeeper’s eyes gleamed.
“Do you know anything of this coin, or know of someone who might?”
At Cheon Mujgyeol’s inquiry, the Innkeeper tilted his head and shook it slowly.
“No, sir. I only saw it for the first time when you gave me one.”
“I see. Very well.”
“Would you like me to look into it? If you gave me just one more coin, that would be ample payment for my efforts.”
Greed was plain in the Innkeeper’s tone.
Cheon Mujgyeol studied him for a moment, then nodded and placed the coin he held into the Innkeeper’s palm.
The Innkeeper accepted it reverently with both hands and broke into a broad grin.
“I shall investigate as swiftly as I can!”
Fearing his guest might reconsider, the Innkeeper spun around and bolted back to the kitchen.
Cheon Mujgyeol settled into his chair without a word and waited for his meal.

After dining, night had fallen.
The Innkeeper had neither returned nor sent word, but Cheon Mujgyeol made no move to press him.
He simply finished his meal and withdrew to his room, where he remained alone.
Time passed, and deep night arrived.
Cheon Mujgyeol, having idled away the hours, lay down on his bed as if to sleep.
More time elapsed.
Just as his breathing grew steady and even, sounds of movement came from outside his door.
“This is the place?”
“So they say. Be quiet about it.”
Two voices—two men.
One was the innkeeper, the other a voice he didn’t recognize.
There was a rustling outside the door, then Cheon Mujgyeol’s door swung open with deliberate slowness.
The hinges were well-oiled; they made no sound at all.
The two figures crept inside on tiptoes, barely breathing.
In the darkness, the innkeeper glanced around the room, then tapped the shoulder of his companion sharply.
When the man turned, the innkeeper pointed a finger toward something.
There hung Cheon Mujgyeol’s tunic.
When the innkeeper had prepared Cheon Mujgyeol’s clothes, he had deliberately sewn a deep pocket into the inner lining of the tunic—perfect for hiding valuables.
From the start, the innkeeper had been after Cheon Mujgyeol’s silver coins.
The two men crept toward the tunic.
That was when it happened.
Whoosh.
Cheon Mujgyeol, whom they’d thought asleep, quietly raised his torso.
Yet more startling still—even with Cheon Mujgyeol awake, the two men hadn’t noticed a thing, still rummaging through the tunic.
Even in darkness, most would feel a presence and cry out in fear, but they remained oblivious.
Cheon Mujgyeol rose calmly from his bed.
Utterly soundless, leaving no trace of his presence, he glided toward the door.
When people move, the air shifts, even the smallest breeze stirs—but as Cheon Mujgyeol moved, nothing happened at all.
“It’s not here?”
“Damn it! Where did you put it?”
The two kept their voices as low as they could.
“It’s not there.”
“Eeeek!”
The sudden voice made them both jump.
Their hearts nearly stopped in terror; they froze, unable to speak.
So startled they could barely breathe.
“When—when did you—?!”
The innkeeper stared at Cheon Mujgyeol, who now stood blocking the door, as if he were seeing a ghost.
“Are coins so precious to you?”
Cheon Mujgyeol’s voice remained utterly without emotion.
“Curse it! Kill him! Rob him dead!”
Greed had blinded the innkeeper to any sensible thought.
He hadn’t noticed a thing while Cheon Mujgyeol lay awake and walked to the door.
How could he think he could actually kill him?
The innkeeper and his accomplice rushed at Cheon Mujgyeol simultaneously.
Snap! Snap!
Crash-bang-bang!
It was over before it began.
One moment sparks flew before their eyes; the next, a searing pain bloomed across their foreheads, and consciousness fled.
With two flicks of his fingers, Cheon Mujgyeol had sent them sprawling. He quietly closed the door and lit an oil lamp.
The room brightened. Standing with his back to the door, Cheon Mujgyeol regarded the two men calmly, then approached them.
“Ahhhhgh!”
When Cheon Mujgyeol pressed his finger against a point on each man’s body, they both jolted awake with sharp cries.
“This is very important to me, so I suggest you tell me everything from now on—and tell me truthfully.”
Could words so devoid of feeling inspire such terror?
The two men, having done nothing before losing consciousness, now trembled violently and nodded rapidly.
“Tell me everything you know about these coins.”
“We know nothing. Nothing at all! We’ve never seen them, never heard of them! I swear!”
The innkeeper answered quickly.
Cheon Mujgyeol regarded him with cold eyes, then turned his gaze to the other man.
“I—I’m the same! I only came along because this fool said there was something valuable to steal!”
“I only mentioned it! You decided to steal it!”
“You came looking for me to steal in the first place, so what nonsense is this!”
“Silence.”
The two men, who had been hurling insults at each other, fell silent at Cheon Mujgyeol’s single word.
“Then, is there anyone who might know about these coins?”
At the question, the innkeeper shook his head with an expression bordering on tears.
Blinded by greed, he’d brought this disaster upon himself; he deserved death on the spot.
Even if mercy were shown and his life spared, if word of this got out, his business—everything—would be finished.
“That… that! Yes! There!”
At that moment, the man beside him cried out desperately, as if something had just come to him.
Cheon Mujgyeol turned to look at him, and the man continued, as though the memory had only just surfaced.
“Bohyeon Temple! Try going to Bohyeon Temple!”
“Bohyeon Temple—you mean a Buddhist monastery?”
“Yes! It is a temple, but there are rumors it’s actually an information organization that trades in secrets!”
“Listen, are you certain? If you’re lying, we’ll all die.”
“It’s common knowledge. I don’t claim to know anything beyond that!”
The two men bickered once more.
Cheon Mujgyeol, who had been thinking quietly for a moment, turned his gaze back to them.
“Where must one go to reach Bohyeon Temple?”
Cheon Mujgyeol asked.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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