The Regressed Young Master’s Guide to Living on Easy Mode

Chapter 29 : How to Reach the Unseen Sword (3)

There are countless truths and falsehoods in the world.

Based on that, I often imagine my own world.

In that world, the real becomes fake, and the fake becomes real.

In this world, I was a god, a creator, and the strongest.

No one could survive in the world I created.

But now, the world was splitting apart.

It wasn't a blow with any special power, or a sublime sword technique.

Just an ordinary sword.

The sword of those who had been killed by me countless times.

The very sword of those I had sneered at as insignificant... it was.

Slice.

As the world splits, pain wells up.

The blood I had only seen on my opponents soaks me.

It hurts. It hurts like crazy.

I observed, learned martial arts, became an assassin, and created a world so that it wouldn't hurt.

Mu-hyu stared ahead with widened eyes.

The blow that had split his world was clearly visible.

Seeing that, Mu-hyu realized that he had been thinking wrong all this time.

After that, a short time of about one second passed.

Parallel thinking split that one second and split it again.

In the countless split worlds, Mu-hyu swam to find the truth.

The one world he reached was not a false world where fakes and truths ran rampant, but a world where only one truth existed.

Yes, just like that blow.

Mu-hyu said.

"A blessing upon my true world!"

Slice!

* * *

As soon as I heard the word 'blessing', I looked at my clothes.

My face flushed. I knew my ears had turned bright red without even having to check.

That guy had surely risen to the rank of a special-grade assassin with his mocking ability.

That's why I said I'd come out wearing different clothes!

Mu-hyu's mockery, having gained some enlightenment, had evolved one step further.

He had learned to poke not at the fake, but at the real sore spots.

And Mu-hyu's blow just now.

'Much sharper.'

But it wasn't at a level I couldn't counter.

Clang!

I parried Mu-hyu's sword. The guy spins his body and slashes his sword horizontally. I dodged by bending my waist and then rotated my body to strike Mu-hyu's abdomen with my other arm.

Pow!

After gesturing at the empty air, I quickly withdrew my hand.

Slice!

If I had left it there, my elbow would have been cut off.

I don't know why he's so obsessed with elbows. Did he get hit hard on the elbow when he was young? It seemed very likely.

"I have been living in a false world."

"Congratulations. On returning to the true world, even if it's now. That's cool, Mu-hyu!"

"Heheh. Are you mocking me?"

"I'm congratulating you."

I'm genuinely frustrated. Why is he being like this even when I'm congratulating him!

"Yes, I must have seemed pathetic to you. Because you had already seen a world like this early on."

"I thought it was the second coming of the God of Assassins."

"Hehehehehehe."

Suddenly, the guy started laughing lowly.

"This is the first time I've wanted to cut out someone's tongue."

I realized today. No, I had a vague feeling since the old days. That the heretical faction bastards and I just don't get along.

"I don't like that."

Who would like having their tongue cut out?

"From now on, I'm going for real. You'd better be careful. I'm not fully adapted to this world yet either."

His talk about the world from a while ago was no joke. If he were to commit murder during a duel after this, it was obvious that he would claim, 'My world made me do it,' and plead diminished capacity. And how many times can you say you're going for real!

As expected of the youngest special-grade assassin of the assassination guild.

His skill at laying the groundwork was different from the riffraff.

That guy is the real deal.

The guy kicked off his foot. He disappeared into my blind spot in an instant. The number of presences I felt was ten.

Up to this point, it was the same as before.

But from then on, it was different.

* * *

The King of Assassins was watching the duel with his mouth shut tight. It wasn't because he was intimidated like the King of the Green Forest next to him.

Mu-hyu, showing a blank gaze during the duel.

And his movements were clearly different from before.

Fake and real.

This was the weapon Mu-hyu had been holding in both hands all this time. With it, Mu-hyu was able to become the youngest special-grade assassin.

The King of Assassins also believed that if he developed this further, an assassin who would surpass him would be born.

But now, Mu-hyu was going in the opposite direction.

The ten presences had been reduced to nine.

Instead, his movements became more precise. Faster.

The nine presences were reduced to eight.

Another change occurred. No! Could that be called a change?

Evolution.

The birth of a new species, surpassing the limits of its kind!

The same principle as a caterpillar becoming a chrysalis and then a butterfly.

The fake presence was evolving.

To be more precise, he was layering a fake on top of a fake.

What appeared as a result was a fake, but it was imitating the real.

A fake presence that slashes the sword horizontally.

If this was what Mu-hyu had been doing before.

On top of the presence that was swinging horizontally, the presence of the next movement, stabbing the sword straight ahead, was layered.

Two changes that occurred in one fake.

Although it was a change that occurred in only one of the eight presences.

'From the perspective of the one being attacked, it's an evolution that would make one's jaw drop.'

Because you don't know from which of the eight it will fly.

And Mu-hyu's evolution was not over yet.

No! The enlightenment he had once gained was leading Mu-hyu to a new world.

The King of Assassins looked down at his fist.

He couldn't remember since when he had been clenching his fist. But that fist held a strange heat.

The place that heat was directed at was a seat that was still without a master.

The place where the noblest person in the martial world would sit.

The jade throne.

Its master, the Heavenly Demon.

The delusion that he might be able to reach a place he had thought he could never reach was naturally embraced.

The King of Assassins, realizing that he had gone too far for a moment, looks at the tournament stage again.

The number of presences had been reduced to five.

The number of real presences layered on top of them was a total of 2.

The child of the Heavenly Demon Cult, who was facing Mu-hyu, was holding on well, but it seemed that he would soon reach his limit.

Because Mu-hyu, who had been looking for the perfect opportunity by only showing feints among the presences like a beast, was seen slowly moving to bite the opponent's throat.

And so, one more presence disappeared.

And the number of presences layered on top of the remaining two presences was...

'Countless.'

That was a fake, but it was no longer a fake.

Each and every one of those presences was Mu-hyu himself.

* * *

It's unfair. Isn't it cheating to gain enlightenment during a duel!

Why don't you give me such a fortuitous encounter? If I had gained enlightenment just once before my regression, I would have been able to shed the shitty Peak label and fly freely as a Demonic Zenith.

It seemed that the enlightenment Mu-hyu had gained was the ultimate mockery.

Hypocrisy.

A four-character idiom meaning that the outside and inside are different.

The number of presences I feel now is a total of three.

Two fakes. One real.

However, this fake was not a fake.

'It's a fake that's just like the real thing.'

It feels like I'm facing a master gambler.

The gambler was constantly testing me, holding out his right and left hands, asking which hand the coin was in.

If I'm wrong, my defeat.

If I'm right, the damn gamble goes back to the beginning and continues.

I only have one chance, and the opponent has infinite.

Is this why they say not to gamble? It's a complete scam.

But no matter how real a fake is, a fake is ultimately a fake.

A gambler is a gambler at the gambling table; elsewhere, he's just an ordinary person.

I was the youngest Peak and the Young Lord of the Heavenly Demon Cult before my regression.

Moreover, I am a person who has directly experienced not this kind of fake, but a real one performing a body-flickering technique and creating countless real ones.

No matter how I think about it, my junior sister is indeed a monster.

A fake that's like the real thing.

And the real hidden within it.

To catch these two, I have to turn the world where that guy is flying and jumping upside down.

Simply put, I just need to set up a completely new board.

Then the gambler becomes just an ordinary person.

This is originally my junior sister's specialty, but I tried it out a bit yesterday, and it worked.

Thud!

I stomped my foot.

'Piram, are you watching?'

You are dead, but your technique is not.

Take comfort in seeing this. You were eliminated not because of your skill, but because of your bad luck.

The King of the Green Forest, who was watching the duel, shot up from his seat. The same went for Piram, who was one step below.

The pupils of the two were as wide as lanterns.

"Th-that's!"

"Green Water!"

The qi that had extended to the tournament stage bound the opponent.

Rustle.

The sensation of grasping at empty air.

Even if it's a fake that's like the real thing, it's ultimately a fake.

In an instant, two presences disappeared, and the real one revealed itself.

Following the direction the qi was pointing, I flew.

And Mu-hyu, whose movements were momentarily slowed by the qi that was binding him, could only react a beat late to my completely unexpected attack.

My sword, extending straight out.

Because it is simple, the result is decided by who reaches first.

The first technique of the Six Demon Sword Art, One Demon Extreme Flash.

A point was visible.

Blink.

When I closed and opened my eyes, the point had become a line.

The place the end of that line was heading was myself.

The sensation of the tip of the sword on my throat.

The world was breaking apart again.

And so, in the revealed true world, his sword was about an inch away from the opponent's throat. On the contrary, the opponent's sword had reached.

"A blessing upon the true world!"

How about that! This is the law of recycling mockery!

Let's conserve, share, exchange, and reuse!

It's the spirit of Anabada!

The match was decided.

The King of the Green Forest, who was watching this, said to the King of Assassins, who had a blank expression.

"Green Water has blocked the second coming of the God of Assassins."

Now, both of them were in the same boat.

"..."

This time, the King of Assassins had to shut his mouth.

An upset occurred in the round of 64, with two of the Five Heretical Factions being eliminated.

And without any further upsets, the round of 64 was concluded.

* * *

After winning, I briefly greeted the Sword Demoness, the Mad Demon, and Gwang Se-hyeon, and then immediately returned to my room.

The round of 32 would be held in two days.

Originally, I was going to just sleep for two days straight, but the moment the duel ended, a brilliant idea came to me.

'Someone in the military affairs department is targeting me.'

'That someone wants me to be eliminated.'

'I also want to be eliminated.'

We have the same opinion, so why do we have to fight?

"I can just go to that guy and ask him to set me up against the Flame Saber, Yang So-pyeong, right?"

If that happens, I won't have to win.

"The key point is to inflict enough injury or internal damage on the guy so that he can't go to the next duel."

Why didn't I think of this simple idea?

And I could enjoy the rest of the Divine Demon Tournament to my heart's content.

"Hehehehe!"

Then, how do I meet the guy?

The guy belongs to the military affairs department.

Currently, the military affairs department is a forbidden area.

"If there's no way, I'll just make one."

I immediately headed to the place where the three brothers from the Orthodox Faction were.

For reference, they weren't real three brothers. It's just a nickname I gave them to make it easier to call them.

Namgung Mu-jeon, Dang Mun-nok-yong, Dok An-tae.

The dregs abandoned even by the Orthodox Faction.

And they would receive a secret order from those who came from the Orthodox Faction during this Divine Demon Tournament.

In the end, they would be used as disposable pawns, but the parties themselves would probably be thinking of it as a lifeline that would save them.

Really, looking at this, who is the Orthodox Faction, and who is the demonic path?

The three little pigs in the fairy tale leave their homes and build their own houses, but in that house over there, the three abandoned little pigs were huddled together.

"Yo!"

"Why have you come to find us?"

The welcome is already refreshing.

This makes me feel like I'm a wolf.

Awooo~!

"I want to meet your boss."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Are you crazy?"

"Hasn't the aftereffect of the duel worn off yet?"

I'm not a wolf, but I'm a second-life veteran who is fundamentally different from the martial arts fledglings. I'm not in the mood for jokes right now.

"What's wrong? You guys are spies, right?"

The three little pigs who surrounded me in an instant.

If you react so naively, how are you going to act as spies? That's why you get eaten.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down. I'll keep it a secret."

"Then, why did you come?"

"I told you before. I want to meet the boss."

"What do you plan to do when you meet him?"

"I'm just going to ask for a simple favor. A kind of deal, shall we say?"

"You? With him?"

"Should I just go back and tell everyone?"

A hesitant attitude.

Even if they're naive, they're being cautious because their lives are on the line?

Then, let's give them a little push. I'm not a bad wolf who came to destroy the house and eat the three little pigs, but a good wolf.

"I know where the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic is. Tell your boss."

Smirk.

"That's the order you received, isn't it? Am I wrong?"

A moment later.

I was told to go to one of the many inns in Seongdo, so I just came and sat on the first floor.

As I was eating noodles.

A stooped old man sat behind me.

With our backs to each other, a voice came from behind.

"So, you wanted to see me."

This is not the work of a novice.

I stared straight ahead, swallowed the noodles in my mouth, and answered in a low voice.

"It is an honor for a junior martial artist to meet the Divine Monk."

"To see through the Bone Shrinking Art, you're not just an ordinary guy."

"I used to use it often myself."

I used it very usefully in my first life. Especially when I was stepping on the growing sprouts.

"Enough. Just get to the point."

He's the one who brought up the Bone Shrinking Art, and now he's being like this. This is why the Orthodox Faction riffraff are no good. But since I was the one in need, I got straight to the point.

"Do you have a pawn in the military affairs department?"

"What if I do?"

"I think our conversation will become very interesting."