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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The First Copy
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*Rattle, rattle*
It felt like I'd been jolted around for ages.
A violent cough welled up from deep inside me.
"How many times is this kid gonna puke up blood?"
Someone's voice drifted in.
My whole body felt like it was shattering apart.
It hurt.
It felt like I was drowning.
I spat out the metallic-tasting fluid in my mouth.
"Cough! Cough!"
I turned my head to the side and vomited up dark, congealed blood.
"Talk about a human waterfall."
"You think he took some internal injury? He's been hacking up blood the whole way."
I opened my eyes.
Vibrations ran up from beneath my feet.
I was in a wooden cage being pulled by horses.
That explained the rhythmic jolting over the uneven ground.
Right... a cage...
Locked in a cage...
What?
"Why am I...?"
"You're finally awake, you damned young master."
I was bewildered.
I looked around.
A line of warriors was marching along, keeping watch over me.
Why were warriors guarding me?
As I examined them closely, a bolt of shock hit me like lightning.
'No way.'
The warriors wore blue uniforms striped with black.
Even in my faint childhood memories, they were unmistakable—the Moyong Family's uniforms.
I realized something was terribly wrong.
I leaped up and clung to the bars of the cage.
"W-Wait a second. There must be some mistake here!"
"You're lucid now, huh. Well, then."
The leader, a burly man with a black headband, scratched his head.
"Young Master Moyong Bi?"
"I-I'm not Moyong Bi!"
The warriors chuckled in disbelief.
"You're really treating us like idiots. Then what's this? It was lying by your feet."
A warrior opened his hand, revealing a golden dragon split in half.
"If my eyes aren't deceiving me, this is the patriarch's sacred relic. Pretty amazing, finding something like this rolling around in some backwater brothel."
My breath froze.
I patted down my pockets.
They were empty.
"That's not all. We've already checked your movements and features through the afternoon gate network. Things like the three moles on your nape and such. We've got more than ten pieces of proof that you're Moyong Bi."
I was speechless.
"Plus, before we arrived, assassins showed up. Those killers never strike unless they're absolutely sure of their target."
A forgotten memory resurfaced.
I recalled the blade that had plunged into my chest like a blue flash.
"Ah!"
I startled and clutched at my chest.
"...?"
It was fine.
I touched my arms and legs.
They were intact.
Nothing broken or severed. My clothes were in tatters, but the skin beneath was flawless, without a single wound.
"This... this can't be."
The leader misinterpreted my words.
"From the looks of it, they were third-rate assassins with lousy skills. They must've bolted the moment they sensed us coming."
Third-rate assassins?
They fled because Moyong Family warriors were approaching?
'No.'
Absolutely not.
They had known the Moyong Family was coming ahead of time. Even as they slit throats, their breathing hadn't wavered once.
I couldn't figure out what had happened.
"Where are you taking me?"
"We're under the Eighth Elder of the Moyong Family. He sent us, so naturally, we're heading to him."
My head felt like it was splitting open.
"Why him? There's no reason for him to look for me."
"You gonna keep pretending you know nothing?"
The leader gave me a pitying look.
"You can't have missed the rumors spreading like wildfire through the martial world. They're selecting a new patriarch this time."
My mind went blank for a moment.
"What are you talking about? The Moyong Family patriarch vanished over ten years ago. They must've picked a new one back then. Why another one so soon?"
"No new patriarch was chosen after that."
"What?!"
It was a fact that turned my world upside down.
"This guy really doesn't know a thing."
The leader sighed.
"The previous patriarch vanished so suddenly. They thought he might return, so the elders have been running things temporarily without selecting a new one. But lately, they've resolved to elect a new patriarch."
"No way."
"In this powder keg of chaos, how could they overlook a stray spark running loose?"
I heard the leader's words clearly.
But I couldn't accept them.
It took a while before I peeled my parched lips apart.
"My mother and I... what the hell was it all for?"
We'd lived in hiding for over ten years.
And now, it was all for nothing.
I slumped against the bars, clutching them weakly.
"You're lying."
The Moyong Family patriarch had vanished one day without warning.
His seat stayed empty, and everything began from there.
The previous patriarch had the skills for the role and a bold personality everyone admired, but he was also infamous as a wild wanderer.
His private life was a mess, and he was known for his extremely free spirit.
There were three women who claimed to be his concubines.
Each had a son to succeed them.
Anyone could predict the bloody power struggle for the next patriarch once he disappeared.
Fearing I'd be a sacrificial lamb in that fight, my mother—who'd been a concubine—had fled with me.
And over ten years had passed.
My thinking had been too shortsighted.
I'd assumed they'd quickly pick a new patriarch after his disappearance and forget about a worthless bastard like me.
And all of it had been pointless.
The cart came to a stop.
The cage door opened.
The leader spoke to me as I sat there dazed.
"The elders will decide your fate themselves tomorrow morning."
I was dragged out like a dog.
Without putting up a fight, I was hauled to a half-basement cell and locked in.
*Clang*
A massive padlock clicked shut on the thick wooden door.
Escaping was impossible.
'Tomorrow, I meet the Eighth Elder.'
My mouth went dry.
I tried thinking from his perspective.
What did he gain by sparing me?
Would he protect me, burning bridges with the three concubines, their successor sons, and all?
No chance.
'I can't just sit here. If I do, I'm dead.'
I slapped my cheek with my cold hand.
In my panic, I stood on tiptoes and peered out through the iron bars.
"Oof, I'm beat. Dang Sowee, let's head in."
The Moyong Family warriors who'd escorted me stood in the courtyard, talking.
"You guys go ahead. I'll practice a bit more before coming in."
The long-haired man with clear skin—Dang Sowee—replied.
"Mission's over, and you're still gonna train instead of resting?"
"Yeah."
The escorts clicked their tongues in admiration.
"Man, Huashan Sect folks really are something else."
I couldn't believe my ears.
'Huashan Sect.'
It was in decline now, but there had been a time when Huashan was named the pinnacle of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.
A warrior from that legendary powerhouse was right in front of me.
He looked younger than me.
While I couldn't even join a minor sect, someone else had already entered this dream world at a far younger age.
"Be careful out there, but still, peeking on someone else's training is off-limits. Let's go, guys. Wrap it up soon and come in."
"Thanks for the consideration."
"Let's move."
Everyone left Dang Sowee behind and departed.
Silence returned.
Left alone, Dang Sowee muttered as he pulled something from his pocket.
"Whew, Master's spanking about not neglecting branch arts..."
It was a single throwing dagger.
Under the blue moonlight, Dang Sowee assumed his stance with the dagger.
It wasn't a mainline sword art, but it was a technique from the great Huashan Sect.
Something hot surged in my chest.
Half of it was overwhelming awe, the other half relative deprivation.
'Me...'
Dang Sowee's preliminary form began under the moonlight.
'Ah.'
I wanted to see Huashan Sect martial arts.
It was a desire that colored my heart.
Memories flashed like a lantern show: the countless times I'd begged sects to take me in after Mother's death, desperate to learn martial arts.
I'd been trampled like a beggar.
Beaten by servants and chased away.
This was the opportunity I'd craved but never grasped.
And it wasn't some minor sect—it was Huashan, one of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.
A faint shred of conscience pricked me: you shouldn't steal glances at others' arts.
But desire overwhelmed it.
Because it was a world above the heavens, one I'd longed for but never touched.
At some point, I found myself staring, entranced by his movements.
"..."
I forgot my situation.
I forgot what tomorrow might bring.
Holding my breath, I stood on tiptoes, clinging to the cobweb-strewn half-basement window.
*Swish*
Dang Sowee's arm moved.
His toes dragged across the ground left and right.
The way he gripped the dagger—cupping its center in his palm like before throwing—was unique.
He paused his breath, then hurled the dagger like lightning.
And that was it.
"...Huh?"
Was that all?
I wondered if the great Huashan Sect's art was just this.
Simply gripping and throwing a blade.
The toe-dragging was a bit unique, but that was it.
As disappointment set in at the sheer simplicity—
*Thwack*
The dagger, smaller than a palm, split a waist-thick tree in half.
"Crazy."
I realized.
What I'd dismissed as simple wasn't simple at all.
My observation level was too low.
I was like an ant; no matter how massive the sight, I could only see it from an ant's view.
It was a tangible gap in levels.
Despair closed in endlessly.
'That's a real martial artist.'
My body went limp.
'What have I been doing all this time?'
Even with that terrifying destructive power, Dang Sowee tilted his head, unsatisfied.
He repeated the form with his empty hand.
I was so dull and backward that I couldn't grasp even the meaning of the actions.
Like a blind man staring blankly at a poem being waved in front of him.
Frustrated, I widened my eyes.
It was a desperate struggle.
What profound technique hid in that simple motion?
How was the breathing?
The footwork?
The weight distribution?
I didn't blink.
Even as veins burst and tears streamed down my chin to the ground, I didn't blink.
It didn't make sense.
No. Just watch a bit more.
Still didn't make sense.
'Am I really hopeless?'
If I could gain even one lesson from this wretched life, it'd be worth it.
I'd trade for it gladly, even my death.
Even something worse than death.
[...That wish, I permit....]
"...!"
The sudden voice made me jump.
"Who's there?"
[So unjust. So unjust. So unjust....]
A chill ran up my spine.
It was a damp, cold voice echoing in one corner of my mind, slithering closer.
It muttered endlessly.
[...Still a chance. Eyes and qi sense devoured... still a chance. Chance to kill.... Wait for the time, wait and see....]
That eerie thing was less human speech and more the meaningless ramblings of a ghost wandering the underworld.
[We are one body. Host.]
Whoosh.
Pain seared my pupils like flames scorching them.
My irises danced as if fire clung to them.
Their color changed.
Hot.
The black irises ignited into crimson.
*Flash.*
Red glows etched into my eyes like engravings.
Blood vessels burst red in my eyes.
They blazed scarlet.
At the same time, the massive, gloomy voice from the darkness I'd forgotten rang like a bell in my head.
-Possession Experience Synchronization
"Aaagh! Graaaah!"
My vision twisted like a puppet's limbs gone wild, slamming toward Dang Sowee ahead.
I couldn't look away.
*Shhh. Shh!*
My pupils moved at inconceivable speeds.
-Extraction System Display Complete
-Target Form Martial Art Analysis Complete per Cheonma Great Archive Standards
Grade 5, Huashan Sect Plum Blossom Spinning Dagger
My pupils madly tracked every motion of Dang Sowee.
*Crack crack*
I couldn't even scream.
Couldn't stop.
-All Martial Art Replication Complete
Like carving with millions of needles, threads embroidered Dang Sowee's actions into my pupils.
-Absorption Process Complete
Grade 5, Huashan Sect Plum Blossom Spinning Dagger
-Immediate Execution Possible
The red pupils cooled like heated tongs, slowly reverting to black.
My body was drenched in cold sweat.
Sparks seemed to dance along my limbs.
I couldn't comprehend what had happened.
With trembling hands, I wiped my face.
In that instant, my mind filled with a flowing illusion.
"N-No way."
Every form's trajectory floated vividly before my eyes.
Even with eyes closed, every motion rose clear, piercing the flow.
The meaning was obvious.
"Did I just memorize the forms?"
The Heavenly Demon Copies Martial Arts