“Mwahahaha! So you’re the jiangshi that the Mooncave demons gathered to create? You’ve been wicked since birth! I’ll cut you down and start the Great Fifth Strike!”
The Sword of Beginning slew the one before him.
“Sword Amitabha! New life is made when lovers clash their swords. That has been the rule passed down since the Great Fourth Strike hit the world. Your existence itself is a result of the demonic arts that disrupt the world’s harmony! I may be a mere monk, but I shall grant you peace by splitting you with my sword.”
He slew the one before him.
“The Martial Emperor of the Divine Sword, the ruler of the Greatest Sword Continent, sent me! Give me your head, you wicked jiangshi king!”
He swung his sword again. There was a lot to cut down. Simply walking and breathing caused mountains of corpses of those he had cut down to pile up before him. It seemed as if everyone in this world existed only to be slain by him, but that couldn’t be true.
“Ooh, Sword of Beginning!”
That couldn’t be.
“The Sword of Beginning has saved us once more!”
There had to be more to it.
“Sword of Beginning! Sword of Beginning! Sword of Beginning! ”
“Our beginning! Our end! Our savior!”
There had to be more.
“Our son!”
He set out to find it and left the cave.
“You—”
He wandered the world.
“Forged by the Mooncave demons—”
He took a boat to the edge of the East Sea and saw the first sunrise.
“The sword swung against the world—”
He crossed many continents in the west, reaching the city of the Tower which no one from his home had seen.
“Everything in this world—”
He slew the dragon that drank light in the Divine Sword Mountain Range.
“I was waiting. This way—”
He also met hermits sitting in the lotus position under the sky where the aurora always swept by.
“Tsk, tsk, you foolish boy,” the leader of the hermits said. “Why are you in so much agony?”
He looked at the leader. Compared to his own height, most people were small, but the leader hermit felt quite tiny. His face glowed a pale blue, but no eyes, nose, or mouth of his were visible.
The hermits were a species called True Ones or Divine Truths. He had fought them several times before. They were terribly strong, but they were always just a little weaker than him. It made him especially sad.
He said, “I’m lonely.”
“Haha.” The leader of True Ones laughed bitterly. “What is there to be lonely about? Everyone who gathered in the Mooncave to forge you is your parent. All of them were forged by this world itself, so you’re basically the son of everyone in this whole world! There are orphans whose fathers secretly leave them at rich families’ doorsteps and who cling to their mothers’ cold, dead breasts for milk without knowing they‘re dead. Compared to them, look how blessed you are!”
The Sword of Beginning was aware of it, too. Many had drawn swords against him, but just as many had opened their arms to him. He knew where to go when he needed a warm embrace instead of a harsh wind. However, he now wanted something else.
“I want a brother.”
A moment of silence passed.
“That’s sad.” The leader snapped a reed and brought it to his lips. The thin lip-shaped opening that appeared on his smooth face bit on the reed as if it were a pipe. “It really is.”
The leader chewed on the reed for a while before speaking again.
He sighed. “Yes, only when each person holds a sword does it truly hold meaning. A sword held by only one person is merely a weapon for slaughter.”
The Sword of Beginning waited while the leader chewed on the reed.
After a while, the leader said, “The formula art that forged you runs venomously deep. You could say that all life and laws of this world’s heaven and earth are condensed within you. The fact that it was done artificially adds the delusion of humanity. You’ll live incomparably longer than any other person, but throughout your life, you’ll never meet anyone like you. Still, there’s no need to accept this bleak assumption as a prophecy of your fate.”
The leader spat out the reed and walked toward him.
Tap, tap.
The Sword of Beginning faltered. The leader, who was clearly smaller than he was, grew larger with each step he took.
Thump, thump.
The steps also grew louder.
Thud, thud.
First, the Sword of Beginning felt the steps as vibrations before he heard the sound. Then, he felt the heavy touch of a shadow draping over him like a rain-soaked blanket.
Now towering over him, the leader of True Ones raised his fist. “Bow. You'd better keep count of how many blows you endure.”
It was the day he joined his teacher’s sect.