His mind wouldn’t settle. Memories of the tournament, the brutal duel, and Ryul’s tear-streaked face refused to leave him alone.
You’re alive, he told himself. That’s enough.
Footsteps approached — steady, measured. Blue looked up as Wu Jin pushed open the paper screen and stepped inside, expression unreadable.
“Sit up, kid.” Wu Jin’s voice cut through the stillness. He held a small porcelain vial between two fingers.
“This is from So-Yeon. It’ll stabilize your qi after that… messy breakthrough of yours. Help you recover faster.”
Blue eyed the vial warily. “She gave you this?”
Wu Jin allowed a faint smirk. “She might not trust you, but she doesn’t want you dying before she’s had a chance to test you properly.”
He crossed his arms, watching as Blue downed the elixir.
“In three days, you’re going with Rogue Edge to help her with the Black Pines mission. Don’t screw it up. She’s going to probe you for answers — maybe even try to break you. Part of her probably wants to believe you’re Jiung. The other part… might want to kill you for daring to claim it.”
Blue clenched his bandaged hand. “I get it.”
Wu Jin’s eyes hardened. “Be smart. Don’t provoke her.”
A pause.
“Also — two days from now, the Alliance expects you at their vault to claim your prize. If you don’t show, you forfeit it. Honestly, maybe you should forfeit. After Wudang, the Alliance has it out for Silent Edge. Especially you, since you’ve been the center of this entire mess.”
Blue stared at the floor for a long moment, then met Wu Jin’s gaze with steely resolve.
“I busted my ass to win that tournament. I’m getting my treasure.”
Wu Jin raised a brow. “That prize might be a trap.”
Blue’s jaw tightened.
“Then I’ll walk into the trap with my eyes open. The man I fought at Wudang was the Alliance Leader’s dog, not Wudang’s. I’m going to take the best treasure they have — and use it to save Seori. Before he tries to break her like he did the rest of my family.”
Wu Jin studied him, then nodded slowly. “All right. If that’s your choice… don’t die, boy. Silent Edge can’t afford to lose you.”
Blue managed a faint grin despite the pain.
---
Two days passed, with Blue focusing on stabilizing his qi and forcing his body to recover. Though he wasn’t fully healed, he refused to let the Alliance see him weak.
He stood before the massive stone doors of the vault, with Wu Jin, Cheng, and Yeol at his back like an unshakable wall. Across from them waited the Alliance Leader, flanked by Jaegal Li and a pair of Iron Order guards.
Jaegal Li stepped forward, polite and measured.
“Blue. Congratulations on your tournament victory. The Leader has graciously decided to allow you entry to the vault today, despite the unfortunate… incidents with Wudang.”
The Alliance Leader smiled thinly, eyes flicking toward Cheng.
“Aren’t I forgiving?”
Yeol scoffed, loud enough to be heard, but said nothing more.
Jaegal Li folded his hands neatly behind his back.
“Inside, you will find treasures gathered from countless generations of Murim. Some even come from gates — priceless relics. You may choose one. Any you like, no questions asked.”
He let the words settle.
“Consider this not just a prize for winning the tournament, but also a gesture of reconciliation between Silent Edge and the Alliance. We hope you’ll find something useful for yourself — and for Murim.”
Blue stepped through the yawning stone doors, breath catching as the vast hall opened before him. Rows of treasures stretched into the distance, lanterns casting shifting shadows across polished steel and lacquered wood.
Golden swords, gleaming with subtle radiance, lined the walls. Spears of every length and shape stood like soldiers, blades flawless and deadly. Racks of elixirs glittered like gems, each bottle promising decades of cultivation.
His gaze traveled further, locking on a bow strung with what looked like dragon sinew — its curve sleek, its presence quietly terrifying. Beyond that, strange stones pulsed with alien auras: gate-born magic harvested from worlds Blue could hardly imagine.
But something else pulled at him.
A single golden box, set apart, nearly humming with the force of its qi. His heartbeat spiked. Almost without thinking, he crossed the hall and lifted the lid.
A wave of dark crimson light flooded the vault. Inside, fifty crystals lay packed like royal jewels, each one thrumming with so much power that Blue felt dizzy.
Grandmaster.
The word crashed through his mind. With these, he could gather enough qi to break through in months. Silent Edge itself could rise, enough to challenge the Alliance.
His hand trembled as he lifted one of the crystals.
[System Alert]
Warning: Foreign substance identified. Black Pantheon Detected.
Corrupted crystal. Dispose immediately.
Blue froze. Black Pantheon? Corrupted? The weight of the crystal suddenly felt poisonous. He dropped it back into the box, heart pounding.
What is the Alliance trying to do? His system’s tone was never wrong. He had to act.
Blue scanned the vault, then spotted a dusty corner stacked with broken crates and rags. Moving quickly, he hefted the box, ignoring the dizzying hum of power, and shoved it deep behind a moth-eaten cloth bag, lost in the shadows.
No one will look here, he thought, swallowing hard. No one needs to know.
Relief flooded him...until something else caught his eye.
A pendant, half-buried in grime, almost pathetic in its simplicity. Something about it tugged at him, the color, the shape, like the one Grandfather used to wear. He bent to pick it up.
[System Message]
Item identified: Compatibility confirmed.
Analyzing…
Potential effect: System Restriction (1/3) — Conditional Unlock.
Time required: Unknown.
Warning: Essence unstable. Further pieces required for resonance.
Fragment Status: 1 of 3 collected.
Blue’s breath caught, a strange spark of hope breaking through his worry.
He brushed dirt off the dull purple stone, its jagged edges telling the story of something broken — maybe once precious.
Damn it… He sighed. I was going to take a sword or an elixir — and you want me to pick this worthless pendant?
[System Ping]
Affirmative. Collect the remaining two. One more lies in Murim. One on Earth.
Earth? Blue’s chest tightened — a reminder of Eve, his parents, the home he’d left behind. Fine. He exhaled. I’ll take it. Want to tell me where the other one in Murim is?
Silence.
Figures, he thought. Always games, never any rules. He slipped the pendant over his neck. It felt cold and heavy against his chest, the jagged edge pressing lightly against his skin. He turned and stepped out of the vault.
The Alliance Leader stood waiting, Jaegal Li at his side. Hyeon’s gaze locked on the strange pendant.
“What did you choose, boy?”
Blue lifted the pendant. “This.”
Hyeon frowned, glancing at Li. “That was in our vault?”
Jaegal Li shook his head subtly. “I will have someone look into it, sir.”
Cheng clapped a hand on Blue’s shoulder.
“It might not look like much, but there’s usually a reason for these things,” he said, dry amusement in his voice. “Let’s hope it pays off.”
Wu Jin crossed his arms. “Let’s go home.”
Yeol met Hyeon’s eyes, calm but sharp as a blade.
“Time and place,” he growled.
Hyeon only smiled thinly, watching Silent Edge gather around their young warrior.
As they turned to leave, a guard stumbled out of the vault, breathless.
“Leader! The box — the one filled with the red crystals — it’s missing!”
Hyeon’s eyes went wide, then narrowed, a cruel grin blooming across his face.
“Did that boy just pull a fast one on us?”
Jaegal Li allowed himself a quiet, measured laugh.
“It appears so. He smuggled them out...no doubt to share with his precious corps.”
Hyeon’s grin turned dark, gleaming with twisted delight.
“Then we wait,” he murmured. “Silent Edge will grow stronger, yes, but not for their own sake. They’ll grow to serve ours. And they won’t even realize it until it’s far too late.”
As they left the vault, Blue finally spoke.
“I found a box full of crystals in there. Overflowing with qi. It was the first thing I picked up. But my system told me they were corrupted. I think you guys were right — the Alliance is planning something.”
Wu Cheng shot him a worried look. “You didn’t take them, did you?”
Blue shook his head. “No. I hid them in a corner nobody’s touched in years.”
Wu Cheng sighed. “Good.”
Wu Jin grunted. “I knew that bastard would try to harm you — or all of Silent Edge. We’ll have to tread carefully.”
Ahead of them, Yeol stopped, fists clenched tight. He turned back, a dangerous light in his eyes.
“We need to grow stronger,” he said. “And wipe the Alliance off the map once and for all. I’m sorry my family’s feud has drawn you all into this. But for the sake of Tang, I will burn Murim to ashes if I must.”
Wu Cheng smiled faintly. “No need for that, old friend. We aren’t the only ones suspicious of the Alliance — and not the only ones staying out of their reach. We’re fighting on two fronts: monsters, and the Alliance. We have to be smart.”
He nodded to Blue.
“We’ll help you gather your siblings, here in Silent Edge, where the Alliance can’t harm them.”
Blue swallowed hard, heart full.
“Thank you. All of you. You’ve never questioned me. You’ve given me a home, a family. I won’t ever forget that.”
He lifted his head, eyes burning with resolve.
“Uncle, Elder Cheng is right. I don’t know much about politics or schemes, but I know this. I will get my siblings back together. I swear it, on my name as Tang Jiung.”
Yeol stepped closer, placing a steady hand on his shoulder, voice as strong as steel.
“If that’s the case, my nephew, remember this: a Tang repays kindness tenfold — and disrespect a hundredfold. Live by that. Whether here, or on Earth, you will always be a Tang.”