Reincarnated Swordmaster

Chapter Title: Dark Heaven Village

The King of the Tree Sea?

Unable to build up power?

Abe no Seimei's single remark carried profound implications. In particular, the mention of the "King of the Tree Sea" stirred a memory from long ago.

[ Kuhaha! Have you forsaken your duty as the inheritor of the Round Moon Heaven-Killing Law, the one meant to slay gods? ]

[ Then again, you're just a genius, not the true inheritor. ]

During my 22nd reincarnation, in the midst of the Sea God Battle, the Twelve Rites Lords had once scolded Miyamoto Musashi. It was the retort Musashi had fired back in irritation.

[ Don't spout nonsense. There's no such thing as a true inheritor. ]

[ Is that really true? ]

Back then, I hadn't understood what they were talking about and just glossed over it. With the urgent battle against the Sea God at hand, I couldn't pay for more information either. Yet now, the very "King of the Tree Sea" that Musashi had mentioned was coming up again from Abe no Seimei's lips!

It seemed I wasn't the only one sensing the gravity of it; the expressions of the others darkened as well.

After pondering deeply, I asked Abe no Seimei.

"What is the King of the Tree Sea?"

"You want to know?"

"Of course."

"Then let's settle the interim payment."

"What?"

Abe no Seimei extended his hand toward me with an impassive gaze.

"Didn't you say you'd provide a treasure for maintaining the barrier? I'd like it now."

"Ah..."

He was making demands at this moment—no way I could refuse.

He was slyly holding the information on the King of the Tree Sea over me. He could have just said he'd tell me everything later and hand it over then, but since he'd played it this way, it was only proper to provide the treasure right here and now.

'Damn it, what do I give him...'

As I hesitated, Mangryang, who was beside me, pulled the Five Fires Seven Metals Thread from his bosom and handed it to Abe no Seimei.

"It's a treasure token called the Five Fires Seven Metals Thread. I'm sure you can make good use of it."

"Mangryang! That's..."

Mangryang chuckled softly.

"In this situation, what does it matter if I get stronger?"

"......"

Even so, a treasure token wasn't something an occultist could easily part with.

As I stood speechless, Abe no Seimei examined the Five Fires Seven Metals Thread this way and that before speaking.

"This will suffice. It should produce effects comparable to the Yasakani no Magatama."

"The Eight-Shaku Curved Jewel?"

I flinched and echoed his words upon hearing them.

"Does the Five Fires Seven Metals Thread harbor power on the level of the Three Sacred Treasures?"

Abe no Seimei slipped the Five Fires Seven Metals Thread into his sleeve without a trace as he replied.

"Don't be ridiculous. The Three Sacred Treasures are peerless; no matter how powerful this token is, it can't compare. However, this token harbors a peculiar power, so if I maximize its blessings, it will greatly bolster the barrier."

So even the head onmyoji knew the Three Sacred Treasures were unrivaled?

I eyed him suspiciously.

"A peculiar power?"

"I'd need to examine it closely to say for sure."

It was the first I'd heard of it. I glanced at Mangryang, but he looked just as surprised. It seemed the Five Fires Seven Metals Thread hid some kind of secret.

"Back to the main topic—the King of the Tree Sea is the most powerful demon king in the Entering Sea and serves as the gatekeeper to the Destroying Sea."

"What? Gatekeeper?"

"Indeed. It's so overwhelmingly powerful that it's deemed the greatest evil in the Tree Sea, hence the title of 'King.'"

He spoke in a somber tone.

"In truth, this Aokigahara Tree Sea was created essentially to seal that very 'king,' not to contain lesser fiends..."

"......"

The King of the Tree Sea!

Was that bastard far more powerful than the Toilsome-class monsters I'd seen in the Entering Sea?

As I mulled it over, Cheon Woo-jin, who had come with us, posed a question.

"Abe no Seimei, then what lies in the Destroying Sea?"

"Hmm."

"If the gatekeeper guarding the entrance to the Destroying Sea is a 'king,' then what on earth is inside the Destroying Sea...?"

"You're the one called the Returning Divine, aren't you? As expected of your reputation."

"Just answer the question."

Abe no Seimei eyed the irritated Cheon Woo-jin with interest before opening his mouth.

"We don't know. It's impossible to know."

"......?"

As Cheon Woo-jin and the rest of us stared at him in bewilderment, Abe no Seimei picked up a nearby mandarin orange and began peeling it.

"I suppose I should start from the beginning—how we came to seal this Tree Sea."

"I heard that in the primordial days, demons ravaged this land of Toyo, so your onmyoji clan took responsibility and herded them into the Tree Sea for sealing."

"That's partially correct, but not entirely."

"How so?"

"In truth... this land of Toyo coexisted with demons for thousands of years, steeped in its savage nature."

He gave a wry smile as he continued.

"You people of the Central Plains were blessed by the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and the Peninsula folk by Dangun, the Three Sages, and the Twelve Rites. But in Toyo, after Izanagi and Izanami along with the Amatsu-kami were driven out in primordial times, there were no proper blessings at all—they had to contend with demons and yokai barehanded. As a result, atrocities and horrors even worse than in the Central Plains occurred frequently..."

"Hmm..."

"But they were fortunate that yokai and demons didn't get along well and fought among themselves. Thanks to that, powerful yokai emerged who mingled their blood with humans, and human heroes with superhuman abilities strong enough to battle other races occasionally arose. That's why the humans of this land are inherently resistant to demons, and often born with yokai power or supernatural talents. You could say it's the result of fighting cockroach-like with their bare fists."

"I see."

"And then came the moment when human power reached its zenith in my prime. At that time, I led onmyoji and heroes in drawing all the demons across Toyo and erecting a grand barrier to seal them in the Aokigahara Tree Sea. But a problem arose then."

"A problem?"

Abe no Seimei sighed.

"Originally, I planned to seal the demons across the land and then immediately excise them to another world and discard them. As you know, such pits of evil are of no benefit to humans. But... as the demonic power coalesced and condensed into spheres of chaos, those spheres birthed a new demon king."

Cheon Woo-jin, who had been listening, spoke up.

"A demon king formed from the convergence of all Toyo's demonic power—that's the King of the Tree Sea?"

"Correct. And the instant that entity was born, a demon realm manifested there. An extreme otherworld directly linked to the territory of the [Ancient Ruler], surpassing even dimensional gates... With no strength left, I had to expend everything just to seal the King of the Tree Sea and the demon realm."

"......"

"Thanks to Master Mangryang passing on the blessings of Heaven-Breaker, I survived. If I hadn't obtained the summoning token of Amaterasu Omikami, Toyo would have perished then."

"And it's persisted to this day."

"Indeed. Herding and containing the demons back then allowed Toyo's human civilization to develop smoothly afterward."

It seemed Abe no Seimei trusted Master Mangryang immensely for good reason. He couldn't have created the grand barrier of Aokigahara Tree Sea with his power alone, but with the Heaven-Breaking blessings lent by Mangryang, he barely maintained it.

Mangryang, who had been deep in thought beside us, spoke.

"So because even the King of the Tree Sea is beyond control, nothing is known about the secret realm beyond it—the Destroying Sea that the king guards."

"That's about right. The interior is an unknown domain. What is certain... is that something 'terrifying' exists there, utterly beyond human capacity to handle."

"......"

"Even with the power of our Tsuchimikado clan, we're stretched thin just preventing the King of the Tree Sea from breaking out."

"Then what did Miyamoto Musashi mean when he challenged the King of the Tree Sea and lost?"

At Mangryang's question, Abe no Seimei gave an enigmatic smile.

"Miyamoto Musashi... He was certainly a monster. And a man blessed with heavenly luck to boot."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever met Miyamoto Musashi?"

Abe no Seimei's gaze turned to me. I answered honestly.

"I've met him a few times."

"Then you know his strength as well."

"......Among mortals, he's one of the top three masters. In pure swordsmanship, he could be called the world's strongest."

"For you to gauge that much, you deserve the title of Grand Sword Hero..."

Abe no Seimei looked surprised. It seemed in his view, being able to measure Musashi's power was impressive in itself. A moment later, he continued.

"Many warriors have challenged the Aokigahara Tree Sea over the years, but Musashi was the first to properly breach the Entering Sea and face the King of the Tree Sea. However, even Musashi couldn't so much as scratch the king..."

"Then he should have died, no?"

"That's why he's the owner of heavenly luck. For some reason, the King of the Tree Sea took a liking to Musashi and let him go unharmed."

"......!!"

How could such a thing be possible?

If the King of the Tree Sea was a pure demon king born from coalesced demonic essence, this was utterly impossible!

For a being that was malice incarnate to show mercy.

As I reeled in shock, Abe no Seimei said,

"However, the King of the Tree Sea never faces anyone who has once lost to it again. Thus, he has no challenge rights left."

"What do you mean? Just charge in regardless."

"The King of the Tree Sea grants the first challenger command over all its kin in the Entering Sea and fights one-on-one. But those who rush in without challenge rights must battle hundreds of Entering Sea monsters swarming to protect the king."

"......"

Each Entering Sea monster was Toilsome-class—facing them in a hundreds-to-one swarm?

If such a rule existed, a single challenge right against the King of the Tree Sea was exceedingly valuable. It left a silver of hope for victory.

"The King of the Tree Sea is already akin to a divine existence. I've long given up on destroying it."

"But..."

I stared him down intently.

"In another five hundred years, the 'End' will come, and there's no way around it then. The King of the Tree Sea will break its seal, revive, and rampage the world."

"True. No countermeasures."

"Yet I don't understand why you performed the Mount Tai Emperor Ritual to gain immortality. You'll just live long and witness the 'End' with your own eyes—what's the point? Someone like you could choose a 'good place' even among the afterlives."

Abe no Seimei chuckled at my question.

"I did want the best seat to watch the End unfold. I know it's artificial salvation, but it's still the better path."

He tossed the mandarin peel behind his chair and continued.

"But if I don't live long and maintain this barrier with my art, this land of Toyo won't last until the End. I can't stop the End, but I want to let the humans living here eke out their days until then."

"......!!"

"Human affairs are ever subject to rise and fall, prosperity and sorrow. But that doesn't make the time lived worthless. Fulfilling life and will—that is humanity's karma."

The subtle aura in Abe no Seimei's words revealed him as a grand sorcerer and sage who had lived far longer than he appeared, much like Master Mangryang—one who had devoted everything to protecting humanity.

I was momentarily dazed, but soon snapped out of it and decided to ask the truly crucial question.

"...There's something else I've really wanted to ask. Answer this too."

"One treasure token and you're squeezing me dry, but fine, I'll accept."

"Do you... know exactly what the Round Moon Heaven-Killing Law is? And what the 'true inheritor' of the Round Moon Heaven-Killing Law means?"

Abe no Seimei replied to my question.

"The Round Moon Heaven-Killing Law is mere myth or legend. No such martial art exists, nor any inheritor."

"For real? You're not lying?"

"If a supreme martial art created by a hundred geniuses to slay gods truly existed, I'd have learned it first. Even if it took hundreds or thousands of years, I'd have mastered the Round Moon Heaven-Killing Law and gone to kill the King of the Tree Sea. But having seen Toyo's light and darkness for centuries, I've never encountered it."

"......"

"Even Miyamoto Musashi didn't learn the Round Moon Heaven-Killing Law. He merely..."

Abe no Seimei trailed off midway and said,

"That's not for me to elaborate. Ask him yourself."

"You really don't know?"

"I merely placed my hopes on an unexpectedly arisen genius and helped him reach the King of the Tree Sea. He'll know more than I."

"Got it."

A sudden thought struck me, so I asked.

"A while back, a warrior in a sedge hat charged a monster in the Entering Sea and died—or so I heard. Do you know his face?"

"Was there such an incident?"

"What?"

"I didn't receive any report."

"You're the managing clan."

"Our Tsuchimikado clan can reliably oversee only the Living Sea and Dead Sea. Events in the Entering Sea stray far beyond our management, so we grasp little of what happens inside. We can detect traces like yours using demon realm tools to come and go, but not internal affairs."

"......"

I see. So the sedge hat warrior's identity had to be uncovered separately?

It felt like we'd learned all there was to know.

After bidding Abe no Seimei farewell, I returned to base with my companions.

Mangryang said,

"Baek Woong, so now..."

"No need to go back. Too much to do."

I stated firmly.

"As soon as the Fire Dragon Divine Sword recovers, I'll challenge Dark Heaven Village immediately."

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