Episode 04: The Skybreaker Sword
Like most wuxia, Return of the Murim is set in a world plagued by extre power inflation. Think of it as the Zimbabwe of martial arts.
And what's the easiest way to address that inflation?
Fortuitous encounters.
A thousand-year-old elixir, the martial arts of the forr number one under heaven, a pet (or spiritual beast) that understands human speech, and finally—a terrifyingly powerful weapon.
Of those four, the first three are completely useless to .
Sado Hwan’s body suffers from a blocked ridian condition, so even if I learned powerful martial arts, I couldn’t use them.
With his limitation on projecting inner energy, I’d only be able to imitate techniques without actually unleashing any true power.
In that sense, elixirs are worthless too.
As for spiritual beasts?
I’d probably be seen as the weaker one and treated like their pet—or worse, eaten.
So that leaves weapons as the most essential item for Sado Hwan.
In the original, the protagonist Mujin bluffed his way through the Demonic Cult’s treasury and ard himself with all kinds of legendary tools:
A dagger that extended in length at the push of a button
A wind-resistant cloak made from a spiritual beast’s hide
A longsword so sharp it cut steel like tofu
But there was one weapon Mujin wanted more than any other.
He searched high and low for it but never found it, and eventually assud it wasn’t ant to be.
It only appeared in the epilogue, where he used it to poke at a campfire like it was just a stick.
That sword—was now right in front of .
How do I know it’s the sa sword even though I’ve never seen it?
Because the ground it was embedded in had two characters carved into it: Skybreaker.
True to my title as a Return of the Murim superfan, I instantly recalled the description from the novel:
“It was just over three cheok (about 1 ter) in length. The hilt was wrapped in the leather of a seven-spotted black serpent, pitch black like the night. A golden blood groove ran down the center, and the gem attached to the hilt emitted an auspicious light.”
The sword, still sheathed and thrust upside-down into the ground, matched that description perfectly.
Skybreaker Sword
“As befitting its grandiose na, the Skybreaker possessed a will of its own and could move through the air unaided. It was also known as the possessed sword, or ‘ghost blade.’”
In plain terms:
It allowed the wielder to use sword flight!
If sword energy was proof of reaching Super Peak, then sword flight was its symbol.
In other words, this sword was the ultimate tool to complete the illusion I needed to maintain.
"Of course, it's not real sword flight."
True sword flight involves imbuing your will into your sword—a top-tier technique in this world.
In comparison, Skybreaker only moved by itself, like a remote-controlled weapon.
It’s like comparing the sun to a firefly.
But if Sado Hwan used it?
People would think it was the real thing.
Real or fake didn’t matter.
If I made it float and said, “Must I shed blood for you to understand?”
Boom—situation over.
The enemies would bow in submission.
That’s just how martial artists—no, people—are.
They attack when you seem weak, but submit when you appear overwhelmingly strong.
"You know the Skybreaker Sword, Sado Hwan?"
While I was deep in thought, Morong-su suddenly spoke.
So he wasn’t dead after all.
“Of course.”
“He who is recognized by Skybreaker becos number one under heaven…”
Morong-su muttered.
That was the legend, and the reason Mujin in the original had wanted the sword so badly.
His eyes burned with hatred, like a man crawling back from hell for revenge.
It felt a bit unfair, honestly.
They were the ones who plotted against —why did he look like the one who’d been wronged?
“I will obtain Skybreaker… and take your life with it!”
Despite having been near death, he suddenly leapt toward the altar.
I just watched. Arms crossed.
Because I rembered the final line of the sword’s description:
“But be warned, O seeker. Do not be tempted by the auspicious glow of Skybreaker—for it is a demon sword that devours all you are.”
Readers assud it was a taphor—an allegory not to get obsessed with legendary weapons.
But that line was ant literally.
“Hahaha! Just watching? Afraid, are you?”
Laughing maniacally, Morong-su grabbed the sword with his remaining arm and pulled it free.
The blade was jet black, absorbing all light around it.
“Die, Sado Hwan!”
He thrust the sword at .
“Wait, what—?!”
I couldn’t react in ti. The sword sped toward my heart.
But then—
Stumble—
Morong-su suddenly wavered as if hit by dizziness.
The sword veered slightly, grazing my forearm instead of my chest.
Even that light touch tore through my clothes and drew blood.
The blade’s aura was no joke.
I didn’t have ti to feel the pain.
“Guaaaagh!!”
Morong-su scread in agony.
The veins in his sword arm turned a grotesque black-red, bulging unnaturally—as if they were swallowing sothing.
It was obvious what the cause was: Skybreaker.
“Uaaaagh!!”
He rolled on the ground in tornt, trying to drop the sword—but it was like it had been glued to his hand.
“My energy… my inner energy…!”
His internal power was being sucked out through his arm.
In monts, his body shriveled like a mummy.
A once-powerful martial artist reduced to a lifeless husk.
“Thi… this can’t… be…”
With that, Morong-su collapsed completely.
Clang.
Only then did the sword finally release from his hand, as if it had finished feeding.
There had been blood on it—it had cut , after all.
But there wasn’t a trace of it left.
Did it absorb the blood along with the energy?
Truly worthy of the title ghost blade.
And then, it calmly returned itself to its sheath.
The gem on the hilt began to glow with a mysterious blue light.
Morong-su lay still, frozen like a statue.
“Tsk tsk. Should’ve read more books and understood the author’s intent.”
Who wields a sword like Skybreaker? A martial artist.
And what is a martial artist’s everything?
Qi.
The power cultivated for decades to transcend human limits—that’s everything to them.
Skybreaker devours all of it until nothing remains.
As with Morong-su, ordinary martial artists who grab it are drained dry.
It truly lived up to its reputation as a demon sword.
Of course, there is a way to wield Skybreaker without dying.
Two, actually.
First: reach Super Peak or higher and gain full control over your energy.
If your will alone can direct the flow of qi, you can stop it from leaking into the sword.
Second…
I reached down and picked up Skybreaker from where it had fallen, bracing myself.
It worked.
Just as I thought—I was completely fine.
This was the second thod:
To have blocked ridians like Sado Hwan.
His body couldn’t project energy outward at all.
Even in the original, it took a flood of fortuitous encounters and near-death experiences in the final arc before he could finally emit qi.
In this state, even if Skybreaker tried to drain my energy, it wouldn’t work.
“Suck all you want, see what you get.”
Skybreaker gave a little vibration, but I felt nothing.
“Hmph.”
I examined the sword and tried pulling it out at high speed.
Sreung—Kkig!
It didn’t co out smoothly, sticking halfway like sothing caught.
“Thought so.”
Even I could tell my form was awkward.
I had hoped for a “muscle mory” kind of mont—but this wasn’t that kind of story.
Hardcore mode, huh?
Sado Hwan, being from the Demonic Cult, obviously learned martial arts.
Mujin, even as a scamr, knew enough moves to survive.
But ?
I was raised in an orphanage.
Never touched a sword—barely took a taekwondo class.
This was my first ti holding a blade like this.
My only chance of surviving Return of the Murim was to prepare for situations where I’d never need to draw it.
And Skybreaker was the perfect tool for that.
“But… how do I make it float?”
I let go of the sword. It dropped to the ground with a tallic clang.
“What happened to flying through the air?!”
I tried several tis.
But it didn’t float. It just rolled around like a normal sword.
Then a terrifying thought crossed my mind.
So legendary weapons required inner energy to activate.
If Skybreaker was like that…
Then it was a shiny but useless piece of junk.
“Haaah…”
I sighed and sat down on the altar.
As the tension eased, pain flared up in my injured left arm.
The cut was deep—it had sliced through more than just skin.
I tore off a strip of Morong-su’s robe and used it as a makeshift bandage.
As I watched the blood soak into the cloth, the reality of my situation hit again.
This wasn’t a dream.
There’s no way pain and the tallic sll of blood could feel so vivid in a dream.
It was a bitter situation.
All I’d done was try to live a decent life—and now I was stranded in a wuxia world.
I didn’t even know if I could go back.
To begin with, it was absurd that I’d been caught in the soul-swapping ritual.
Now I couldn’t help but wonder…
What happened to the real Sado Hwan and Mujin?
If I ended up in Sado Hwan’s body, where did his soul go?
And what about Mujin’s?
Could one of them have ended up in my body back in the real world?
Mujin wouldn’t be so bad.
But if Sado Hwan, a violent martial artist with a superiority complex, possessed my body?
A brutal Demonic Cult elitist, in the modern world?
That might make a great plot—but as my life?
Terrifying.
As I brooded over ways to escape this ss, one person ca to mind.
“Cheongi-ja.”
The “All-Knowing Sage,” a character who supposedly knew every truth of the world.
If anyone knew how to reverse the soul-swap ritual, it would be him.
Problem was, Cheongi-ja was always wandering—almost impossible to find.
“I have to survive and et Cheongi-ja. That’ll be my ultimate goal.”
If I could just get Skybreaker to work, that journey would be a whole lot easier.
The frustration bubbled up inside , and I couldn’t help but curse.
“Sado Hwan, you dumb bastard!”
If it weren’t for this blocked ridian crap, I could’ve enjoyed life in Murim too.
Hell, I might not have even wanted to go back.
I kicked out in anger—
And accidentally struck the gem on Skybreaker’s hilt.
Worried it might’ve cracked, I quickly checked.
Thankfully, it was fine.
But then—
Ssssss…
Skybreaker rose on its own.
“Wait, what??”
Was it finally working?
But the joy lasted only a second.
Skybreaker drew itself from its sheath—and pointed its tip directly at .
Then I heard a voice.
[What did you just say?]
It echoed in my mind.
[Did you dare speak such words to this one while you parasitize like a worm?]
The voice… I knew I’d heard it before.
“Who the hell are you?”
The sword twitched in midair and answered:
[I am Sado Hwan.]
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