CLS-Chapter 406

Chapter 406:

“Isn’t it too dark?”

Wei Yan-ho looked around his surroundings.

Of course, Wei Yan-ho wouldn’t be hindered by mere darkness. No matter how dark a place was, his eyes could see objects as clearly as broad daylight.

Wei Yan-ho’s complaint about the darkness wasn’t a matter of vision, but rather a matter of atmosphere.

Anyone descending these gloomy stairs would have the same thought. Setting aside the darkness, the atmosphere was too dreary.

“Wait a moment.”

The old man, as if he knew what Wei Yan-ho was talking about, lit a lamp prepared at the bottom of the stairs.

Whoooosh.

When he lit the wick prepared on one corner of the wall, the torches on the wall began to blaze all at once.

“Wow? How did you do that?”

“The Tang Family has a habit of installing useless mechanisms.”

The old man looked at the lamps attached to the walls with a subtle gaze.

“If you think they’re useless, couldn’t you just remove them?”

“I lack the ability to judge such things. Though they feel unnecessary, progress comes through repeated attempts like these. If I carelessly remove such things as absurd, someone who might create something wonderful someday could give up their ideas while watching my reaction.”

“Wow……”

Wei Yan-ho blinked and looked at the old man.

This person was certainly different from the people he had met so far in many ways. Especially……

‘He’d be completely at odds with Master, wouldn’t he?’

If Master, who pretended to be open-minded but was completely conservative inside, met this old man who seemed conservative but was open-minded inside, lightning would strike and storms would blow at that very moment.

“This way.”

As the old man strode inside, Wei Yan-ho now silently followed behind him.

When they reached the end of the narrow path, an open space appeared.

“Wow……”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes widened.

Basically, it wasn’t much different from the armory he had seen earlier. The fact that countless weapons decorated the walls was also the same.

But Wei Yan-ho could tell.

He felt something sinister from the bizarre weapons hanging on the walls.

‘These are real, aren’t they?’

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes became slightly sharper.

The weapons hanging on those walls were different from those in the display armory. If even one of those was released into the martial world, it would probably cause chaos.

“You seem to recognize them.”

“You make incredible things.”

“You wouldn’t know the principles though?”

“Should I say I feel something like murderous intent? They’re properly imbued with killing intent.”

“Hmm……”

The old man smiled slightly as if pleased.

“Aren’t weapons made to kill people efficiently in the first place?”

“That’s right.”

“If they’re not meant for hunting beasts, more efficient ones are better. We’re simply putting that fact into practice.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

‘There are parts where he agrees with Master.’

Master also emphasized that point. He said that the concept of non-lethal swords in the world was hindering the development of martial arts.

“Those monks carry precept swords and act up, and those Taoists carry swords and act up, so the world is in this state. What use is martial arts for knowing Buddhist law and cultivating the Tao? Those bald monks and Taoist fools go around chanting about life-preserving techniques and life-saving methods, so people are all bewitched by such things. When they’re in front of me, they can’t even open their mouths.”

The last words could be ignored, but Master’s way of thinking definitely had practical aspects.

“Are these all forbidden hidden weapons?”

“Not all of them.”

The old man said definitively.

“Originally, that was the purpose. We intended to store only forbidden hidden weapons here. But sometimes objects are created that aren’t forbidden hidden weapons but can’t be released into the world. For example……”

The old man reached out and grabbed a long sword hanging on one wall, then held it out to Wei Yan-ho.

Wei Yan-ho took the sword the old man offered without hesitation and drew it.

“Hmm……”

Wei Yan-ho frowned as he examined the overall appearance of the blade. The hand holding the sword tingled. As if alive, the sword was ominously threatening him.

“It’s a demon sword.”

“That’s right.”

The old man looked at Wei Yan-ho as if pleased.

An ordinary swordsman would have been bewitched by this sword the moment they grasped it. But Wei Yan-ho……

“Should I just break it? It won’t stay still.”

There was no solution.

The old man panicked and restrained Wei Yan-ho, who had placed the blade tip on the ground and lifted his leg.

“Calm down.”

“No, this thing keeps acting up. Where does it get off emanating energy! It’s not even alive.”

Wei Yan-ho waved the sword around as if being lenient with it.

For a moment, it seemed like sweat was visible on the sword, but that must have been just an illusion. The old man rubbed his eyes. He kept seeing things.

Wei Yan-ho shoved the sword back into its sheath and held it out to the old man again.

“Shouldn’t you avoid making things like this carelessly?”

“It wasn’t made intentionally. If such swords could be created just by wanting them, there would be no worries in the world. They appear by chance, and you can’t just break them recklessly.”

“Hmm.”

Wei Yan-ho looked around his surroundings with a somewhat worried tone.

If all the weapons filling the walls were like this, this place might be the most dangerous place in the world. If weapons like those were released into the martial world, the martial world would instantly be submerged in a bloodbath.

“I thought the Tang Family’s poison was the scariest thing, but that wasn’t it.”

The old man smiled as if pleased.

“In the end, poison is useless if it doesn’t reach the enemy. Poison that cannot work together with weapons has no value.”

“Hmm, that’s certainly true.”

In Wei Yan-ho’s mind, an image formed of Tang Family warriors charging with these weapons in hand. If the Tang Family’s poison was thickly coated on every blade of the weapons?

“Terrifying.”

His body shuddered.

Of course, the Tang Family’s hidden weapons or poison wouldn’t threaten Wei Yan-ho, but others would be helpless. They would be poisoned just from being grazed, and with weapons whose attack methods couldn’t even be predicted……

“I think I understand why people fear the Tang Family.”

“Hoho.”

“I was too dismissive.”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his head vigorously.

‘I thought they were just pushovers with only a name.’

Actually, no one but Wei Yan-ho could dismiss the Tang Family like this.

Because Wei Yan-ho could end up with just a stomachache even after being hit by the Poison King’s poison, the Tang Family’s martial arts didn’t seem that impressive, but from the perspective of others who had to avoid all that poison, there was nothing as troublesome to deal with as the Tang Family’s martial arts.

That’s why the Sichuan Tang Family maintained their position as the most famous family in the world.

“I should apologize to Grandfather Poison King.”

“That would only make him angrier.”

“But I was taught that you should apologize when you’ve done wrong.”

“Do as you wish.”

The old man chuckled and pointed inside.

“Do you see it?”

A large furnace came into Wei Yan-ho’s view.

“That is the White Furnace.”

“……It doesn’t seem to be white though?”

“That’s just the name. How could a furnace that handles fire be white? Who knows, maybe it was white when it was first made.”

That was something that couldn’t be known now.

That giant furnace was so blackened that it was impossible to tell what its original color had been.

“Hmm.”

Even Wei Yan-ho, who knew nothing about furnaces, could tell that this furnace before his eyes was no ordinary object. But he lacked the ability to pinpoint what was different.

“Is this furnace somewhat special?”

“It’s nothing much.”

“Pardon?”

The old man said indifferently.

“There’s no great secret to it. It’s simply the furnace among those existing in the Tang Family that can produce the highest heat. Certain metals can only be refined in this furnace.”

“And the metals refined in this furnace go into ordinary forbidden hidden weapons?”

“You understand well.”

“Hmm……”

Wei Yan-ho drew the sword from his waist.

“And this sword can also only be refined here.”

“Clever fellow.”

The old man performed the miracle of giving praise in a blunt voice. Of course, Wei Yan-ho, who was always starved for praise, became like a puppy basking in sunlight even at that obvious praise.

“Hehe, I’ve heard quite often that I’m smart.”

When he was about five years old.

Since then, he only remembered people getting angry and cursing, so it seemed his golden period in life was around that time.

“Now decide.”

“What?”

“Whether you’ll entrust that sword to me.”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.

“Is this something to worry about?”

“Of course. Re-refining your weapon means that sword will be reborn as something completely different. No warrior wants their familiar beloved weapon to change.”

“I don’t quite understand. How much will it change?”

“It will be completely different.”

The old man declared.

“It won’t just become sharper. It will be completely reborn. The very feeling the sword gives will change. That’s what refining is. A sword changes completely with just a minor shift in weight balance. Don’t think that a sword that goes into and comes out of a heated furnace will be the same as before.”

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho held out his sword to the old man as if it was bothersome.

“……Did you properly listen to what I said?”

“It doesn’t matter. Actually, I haven’t even swung that sword a few times.”

“Huh?”

“Master treasured that sword so much that he said it was too precious to give to someone like me. So when I trained, I used a stone sword carved from rock.”

“……”

“Then, when the time came for him to ascend, he quietly said he couldn’t let it be buried like this and gave it to me, but how much he treasured it…… If you’re going to give it, give it, if not, don’t. Going back and forth for three days, giving and taking it back…… Sigh.“

“Is, is that so?”

Wei Yan-ho stuck out his belly and said.

“So it doesn’t matter at all. Please melt it down properly and remake it thoroughly.”

“It’s a keepsake though……”

“I just need to carry it with me. What does the shape matter?”

“……”

The old man shook his head.

‘These young people these days are incomprehensible.’

As if confirming once more, the old man said.

“I’ll ask one last time. Are you really okay with this?”

“Yes, I’m okay.”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes gazed at the old man without a trace of doubt.

“No matter how I look at it, you seem trustworthy, old man. If you thought you’d ruin the sword, you wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.”

“Audacious fellow.”

The old man smiled as if pleased.

“Then good. I, Tang Sang-won, Weaponmaster of the Sichuan Tang Family, stake my name to create a sword that will be with you for life. Yet I’ll make sure it doesn’t lose your master’s essence.”

“That would be even better.”

“Give me the sword.”

Tang Sang-won took the sword Wei Yan-ho handed him.

Wooooooong.

The sword, which had been quiet until now, suddenly began emitting sword cries. Wei Yan-ho was slightly startled, but Tang Sang-won silently placed his hand on the sword’s surface.

“Hohohoho.”

A strange heat began to rise on the old man’s face.

“To meet such a fellow in my old age. I don’t know if this should be called a blessing or a curse. No, it must be both.”

Watching the old man whose face increasingly took on the look of a craftsman, Wei Yan-ho quietly stepped back. From experience, it was better not to interfere with such an atmosphere.

‘Anyway, there are no normal people in the martial world.’

Wei Yan-ho didn’t acknowledge that he was the strangest of all.