Chapter 359
“Baek Docheon — who is he?”
-He was the only martial artist of the Prior-Heaven Third Stage who opposed them.
“What did he oppose?”
The Clear-Void Adept’s pupils flashed.
-War.
“.......”
-I too cannot be absolved of the weight of guilt, but he was unusually kind for a man of the Cult and resolute. Yet he never shirked his responsibility.
“Is his name perhaps Heavenly Daoist?”
-I have never heard the name Heavenly Daoist. What I know is that he was a mediator — the only one who did not participate in the war.
The Clear-Void Adept’s form grew even dimmer.
-I have given you much by now; are you satisfied?
“I could not be more satisfied.”
The Clear-Void Adept smiled.
-Follow the Dao, and the Way will open of its own accord.
His final voice vanished and the Nine-Palaces Eight-Trigrams Formation’s light dimmed.
All the statues present disappeared and in their place a massive gate composed of light appeared.
Unhwi stood motionless for a long while.
It was not only that the martial arts the Adept transmitted were superb.
It was his words.
Perhaps Unhwi had heard a truth he ought not to have heard.
Something.
A scene began to form in Unhwi’s mind.
“Master Seong...?”
Chief Seong called cautiously; Unhwi turned his head toward him.
“...Are you all right?”
Unhwi nodded.
“I am fine.”
“.......”
“I gained more than I expected.”
Chief Seong exhaled sharply.
To be honest, it was Chief Seong, not Unhwi, who had heard what perhaps should not yet be known.
Everything in the world had levels and ranks.
What Chief Seong had learned was far beyond what he should have known, and he understood that better than anyone.
Above all—
“...If one passes through the hidden realm quickly, a thought-body may appear... Will you tell the world this?”
Even if they revealed it, who could replicate it?
Unhwi’s speed through the hidden realm had been wildly abnormal.
He had dismantled the formations that two Prior-Heaven warriors and over a hundred martial artists had worked together to solve, doing it alone in less than half a watch.
No matter how the number of formations differed, the difficulty was comparable — in fact, Unhwi’s feat was more remarkable.
Even if Chief Seong had not reached the Celestial Being state, Unhwi would already have exited the hidden realm long ago.
“Revealing it isn’t without merit, but announcing it directly would be inappropriate. Better to let it spread as rumor.”
There would be too many foolish, overconfident men who would rush into hidden realms and shorten their lives.
Moreover, the hypothesis that a thought-body appears only when one passes quickly had many holes at present.
Unhwi spoke.
“Go.”
“Yes, Master Seol.”
The two men exited the hidden realm.
Their feet touched earth.
Clear air and cold wind greeted them.
They were at the summit of Watching-Moon Peak.
***
The Great Desert.
In the endless sand stood a small settlement.
Night had fallen.
In a second-floor room of an old inn at the settlement’s edge, two men drank.
“...I never imagined we'd make it this far.”
A middle-aged man set down his cup and sighed.
Mandaeungryong Sword — Sangchun.
A Prior-Heaven warrior and a core figure of the Mukse Society.
“At least it’s the desert; that’s fortunate.”
The old man across from him nodded.
Xuan-Xuan Master.
This man had reached the unification of Celestial and Self in mastery.
“You needn’t worry; the Heavenly Alliance’s reach should not extend here.”
“I hope that is so.”
They continued to drink.
The Mukse Society’s purge had been swift and decisive.
But these two men had been exceptions.
The moment Mae Wuidong died, these two, who had been his lieutenants, packed and moved to exile.
They had chosen the Great Desert.
A place where martial fugitives gathered, dangerous and near-lawless — the best place to hide.
They intended to wait for the future.
Given their cultivated levels, they were confident they could find footing anywhere.
They did not know the inn had already been surrounded.
Behind the inn, two shadows appeared in the dark.
One was a tall middle-aged man in a black cloak, a smile on his face.
Leader of the Slaughter-Soul Gate, Eun Un-saeng.
Beside him stood the Slaughter-Soul Gate’s deputy, Myo-rim.
“The third room on the second floor.”
“Both of them there?”
“Yes. Both.”
Shortly before, Eun Un-saeng had received a secret °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° letter — an untraceable contact linking the Central Plains and the Slaughter-Soul Gate.
It requested that Seol Unhwi handle the two men who had hidden in the desert. As soon as Eun Un-saeng received the letter, the two had moved.
Eun Un-saeng smiled oddly.
“When I was told he knew how to contact them, I was skeptical, but it seems he truly knows.”
“Indeed.”
“A promise is a promise; let us begin.”
Eun Un-saeng strode toward the inn.
Myo-rim moved toward the building’s rear.
There was no sound.
In the second-floor room, Sangchun paused with his cup raised.
“...Does something feel off?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s too... quiet...”
At that moment.
With a crash, the door vanished.
“Who—who’s there!!”
Sangchun leapt up and drew his sword.
Xuan-Xuan Master likewise hastily drew inner power.
A man walked through where the door had been.
“Was dinner satisfactory?”
Seeing his face, Sangchun and Xuan-Xuan Master turned pale.
“...Eun... Un-saeng...?”
The Slaughter-Soul Gate’s leader smiled.
“The man from Seol Mountain asked. He requested you two be dealt with.”
Eun Un-saeng pointed at the pair.
“Just to confirm: Mandaeungryong Sword Sangchun, Xuan-Xuan Master. Correct?”
No more needed to be said.
The instant Sangchun and Xuan-Xuan Master exchanged looks, they lunged for the window.
At the same time Eun Un-saeng extended his hand and an invisible barrier rose before Xuan-Xuan Master.
With a thud Xuan-Xuan Master slammed back into his spot; only Sangchun managed to make it outside.
Sangchun hung suspended in midair, eyes wide.
Behind the inn stood a man — Slaughter-Soul Gate’s deputy Myo-rim.
He threw a hidden dagger from his waist at Sangchun; Sangchun crossed his arms to defend.
A thunderous clang!
Sangchun’s body ricocheted and fell to the ground.
“A trap... we’re surrounded.”
From below, Xuan-Xuan Master muttered; Eun Un-saeng walked into the room with his hands behind his back.
“In my opinion, you two misjudged terribly.”
“.......”
“You would have had a chance if you’d crawled under that fellow instead of fleeing to the desert.”
Eun Un-saeng smiled as if amused; he was a master of the Dao-Transformation Fist Art.
He was beyond what Xuan-Xuan Master at Celestial-Unification could handle, though he could create an opening.
That was his judgment.
Xuan-Xuan Master moved.
Xuan-Xuan Heart Method.
Great Reversal of Heaven.
A strange aura flowed from him. The surrounding Celestial Qi began to reverse.
Everything in the room twisted. Up became down; left and right skewed.
It was his strongest technique — reversing heaven and earth to disrupt an opponent’s senses and martial art.
But.
“How interesting.”
Eun Un-saeng waved his hand once.
Crack!
Space split.
The reversed Celestial Qi was severed and vanished.
Dao-Transformation Fist Art mastery.
Before the power to manipulate space itself, the Celestial-Qi reversal of a Celestial-Unification warrior was meaningless.
“No way...”
Xuan-Xuan Master’s eyes widened.
Eun Un-saeng’s hand moved toward his head.
Crack—
Xuan-Xuan Master’s head burst.
Quietly.
Like a melon dropping and breaking.
Eun Un-saeng brushed his hand and walked to the shattered window to look down.
Below, Myo-rim and Sangchun were locked in fierce combat.
Sangchun planted his sword.
His momentum exploded.
Mandaeungryong Sword Secret Art.
Heaven-Dragon Ascending Force.
A gigantic dragon form erupted from the blade — dozens of dragons, tens of thousands of dragons rising to heaven. Sword Qi dragons charged at Myo-rim.
“You dare, a Celestial-Being slave.”
Myo-rim snarled and then vanished.
A single slicing sound.
Everything taking the dragon shape was cleaved in two.
Beyond that, Sangchun, in the posture of swinging his sword, was also bisected.
With a thud his upper body fell to the ground.
Myo-rim silently stepped on his head.
Aloof.
Myo-rim scraped the flesh off his foot on the floor and looked up, meeting Eun Un-saeng’s eyes.
He adopted a natural fighting stance and said,
“Handled.”
“One more sword to your skill.”
“You flatter me.”
Eun Un-saeng smiled and descended beside Myo-rim.
“Master.”
“Hm?”
“I’ll go give the innkeeper the repair money.”
“Do so quickly. We must depart for Cheonsu.”
They had already missed the Alliance Lord inauguration, but they still had to go.
This had happened ten days before Unhwi entered the Clear-Void hidden realm.
***
On Watching-Moon Peak’s summit Unhwi gathered his thoughts.
Many things had occurred, but one point was paramount.
He must keep moving forward.
He turned his head.
He had intended to return now, but he kept silent.
Chief Seong likewise.
When they had seen the Clear-Void Adept in the hidden realm, Chief Seong had drawn the dagger at his waist, but—
Kaang!
Something flew and struck, and Chief Seong’s dagger was flung skyward.
The dagger, as if stopping mid-fall, then rose into the air.
Unhwi looked up.
A man was descending as if stepping down stairs, his back to the moon.
“A fine dagger.”
Gongmyeong Sword Exemplary — Geum Mujeok.
Unhwi had rarely spoken of the era when, as the Blood-Heaven Arbiter of the Original Blood Cult, he had unified the martial world.
In the present age there are few solitary-peak warriors like the Clear-Void Adept, Taehwumusang, or masters of Dao-Transformation Fist Art.
But ten years onward everything changes.
When this current peace ends, plagues and wars will erupt — a true age of war of death and killing will unfold.
Then the martial world will face a cataclysm where warriors of the Five Divine Paths pour forth.