Blood flowed.
From his mouth, his nose, his ears, his eyes.
His entire body was drenched in blood.
Several ribs had been broken, and his internal organs had suffered severe damage.
Though the effects of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal were healing him, he deliberately did not move.
There was no sword in Unhwi’s hand.
That sword—
Was currently with Yeongunseong, who stood before him.
More precisely, it was embedded in the shoulder from which blood was flowing.
Had it gone only slightly lower, it would have pierced his heart.
At this unbelievable scene, everyone except the Heavenly Wayfarer stood with mouths hanging open.
The body of someone in the Supreme Void Realm.
Wounded by the sword of someone at Unity of Heaven and Man?
Yeongunseong silently touched his shoulder. Blood stained his hand. Grasping the blade embedded there, he pulled it out. Pain surged through him.
But he smiled.
Brightly.
“So...... did I lose?”
“No. It was a draw.”
Unhwi rose from where he stood. As he wiped the blood flowing down his face, he somehow appeared remarkably relaxed.
“......You...... are a monster.”
“You flatter me.”
“Hah.......”
Yeongunseong silently handed the sword he had been holding back to Unhwi and asked,
“How did you do it?”
Unhwi thought for a moment before speaking.
“I observed.”
“Observed?”
“Though I may be at Unity of Heaven and Man while Senior stands at the Supreme Void Realm, if steel pierces the body, both of us die all the same.”
“That is true.”
“The best choice available to someone of comparatively lower realm was to aim for an opening. As I exchanged blows against your fists, I realized it.”
“My opening?”
“Yes.”
Though Unhwi’s voice was calm and gentle, it carried throughout the entire grand hall.
“When you threw your fists, there was a certain point where your energy became disturbed.”
“......Hm.......”
“You were probably already aware of it.”
“.......”
“But it must not have been easy to correct.”
Yeongunseong’s eyes gleamed.
“There is a method?”
“If you are asking whether there is a way to correct it, then yes, there is.”
“......If I asked you to explain it here, would you?”
“Of course. The disturbance occurs because the energies of your consecutive movements collide with one another. When delivering repeated strikes, it would help if you occasionally incorporated something other than fists—such as kicks—into the sequence.”
“......Hm?”
This truly was an absurdly simple problem.
In truth, the answer had already existed, and even in his previous life, Unhwi had personally corrected this flaw in Yeongunseong.
Using this exact method.
“You seem to enjoy beating people. So instead of using only your fists, use your legs as well. Because you strike only with your fists, the energies collide. If you circulate the energy downward as well instead of sending it only upward, the flow will connect far more smoothly without conflict. Yes. Harmony.”
“Harmony.......”
Just as Yeongunseong was about to say something—
His eyes flashed wide.
Lightning struck through his mind.
Enlightenment.
He immediately attempted to sit in meditation, but the moment he sat down, he stopped.
“......Ah.......”
A sigh escaped him.
“Did you feel something?”
“......I did. But it vanished.”
Advancing from the Supreme Void Realm to the pinnacle was never easy.
Situations like this were common.
“You will likely ascend next time.”
Yeongunseong laughed brightly.
After rising to his feet, he casually asked,
“Did you deliberately aim for my shoulder?”
Unhwi shook his head.
“That was the only opening I could perceive at my current level.”
“Mm.......”
“If I were at the Manifestation of the Boundless, I might have been able to aim for your heart. Though even then, I could not say for certain.”
Yeongunseong laughed once more.
At that moment—
The Heavenly Wayfarer quietly opened his mouth.
“Elder Yeong.”
“Ah. Yes, this seat.”
“What do you think of the young fellow?”
Yeongunseong looked at Unhwi again.
“He is the best.”
“Heh heh heh.......”
“As expected of this seat. To bring in talent of this caliber. Would this not mean the strength of the Blood Heaven Sect has grown even greater?”
“I suppose it has. More importantly, are you not in pain?”
“This much will heal with a little spit.”
“Then go sit down.”
“By your command.”
Yeongunseong smiled faintly toward Unhwi before returning to the seat where he had originally been sitting.
The Heavenly Wayfarer spoke.
“You have all seen it.”
Though his eyes were fixed upon Unhwi, the words were directed at the other elders.
The elders nodded.
“I intend to accept this young fellow. Does anyone object?”
No one did.
“Good.”
For a brief moment.
Unhwi looked up at the Heavenly Wayfarer.
And the Heavenly Wayfarer looked down at Unhwi.
The Heavenly Wayfarer smiled faintly.
“There is no opposition on our side, so then. Shall I hear your second question now?”
Unhwi pondered briefly.
There had originally been another question he intended to ask.
Should he ask that?
Or should he preserve the Heavenly Wayfarer’s dignity?
Noticing this brief hesitation, the Heavenly Wayfarer casually said,
“Ask freely. Whatever question you wish to ask me. Whatever you wish to know.”
Unhwi slowly closed his eyes.
The Heavenly Wayfarer from his previous life passed through his mind.
The bond they had built together.
The conversations they had shared.
As had been mentioned many times before, Unhwi had followed the Heavenly Wayfarer as though he were a foster father.
Though Unhwi carried guilt and regret toward Seol Jungcheon, the one who later filled that void had been the Heavenly Wayfarer.
To Unhwi, the Heavenly Wayfarer had been everything.
Unhwi had followed every word he spoke.
Though the Heavenly Wayfarer was a man filled with secrets, Unhwi had never deliberately questioned him.
The reason he had not done so was because he trusted him.
Because he believed in him.
The Heavenly Wayfarer was someone who would make the correct choice.
And because he was the person who most perfectly embodied the word martial artist as Unhwi understood it.
That man, when Unhwi destroyed the Thunder Demon Cult, shattered the Blood Stones, and interfered not only with Heaven Gate but also the Maitreya Brahma Sect—
Had asked him only a single question.
Did he truly believe those actions were right?
And Unhwi had answered that he believed them to be right himself.
Unhwi.
Had left the Blood Heaven Sect.
On the day he intended to step down from his position, the Heavenly Wayfarer had spoken.
Eat this before you go.
It had been poison.
Unhwi had asked him then.
Was this what this seat considered to be “the right thing”?
And without the slightest hesitation, the man had answered.
That [N O V E L I G H T] it was right.
So Unhwi drank it.
A poison that could not be cured.
Had he truly risked his life to detoxify it, he could have done so.
But he could not.
Because the Heavenly Wayfarer had judged it to be right.
Unhwi had been going to die.
And the Heavenly Wayfarer had permitted it.
He could not detoxify himself.
That poison had been the final connection between them, and the Heavenly Wayfarer had known that as well.
How should one describe this?
Had Unhwi been abandoned by the Heavenly Wayfarer?
Or had he abandoned the Heavenly Wayfarer?
There was no correct answer.
Only the result remained.
The Heavenly Wayfarer of his previous life and the Heavenly Wayfarer of the present were clearly the same person, yet also different.
Had he foreseen this situation?
Had he wanted things to become this way?
Unhwi did not know.
At last, he brought forth the question he had carried within his heart.
“Then, if I may dare ask despite the discourtesy.”
“Ask.”
“Elder Cheon, do you perhaps have a hobby of abandoning people?”
At those words, every elder widened their eyes.
Among them were those who immediately flared with anger.
What kind of absurd question was that?
Who was the Heavenly Wayfarer?
How dare someone speak as though he abandoned people?
This insolent—
“You speak utter nonsense!”
“Do you understand the weight of the words you are saying right now?!”
Thud.
With that short sound, a savage aura swept toward all the elders.
At once, they all fell silent.
Their mouths had been shut.
It had not been the Heavenly Wayfarer who did it.
It was the Great Elder, Yeongunseong.
“Silence.”
His gaze swept across every elder present.
“Can you not see that this seat is having a conversation? Who taught you fools to dare interrupt it?”
His tone was truly vicious.
The sheer pressure radiating from Yeongunseong was enough to make it seem as though he might crush their skulls at any moment, and every elder immediately fell silent.
Yeongunseong promptly rose from his seat and formed a fist salute toward the Heavenly Wayfarer.
“The Great Elder Yeongunseong apologizes to this seat.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer, who had been staring directly at Unhwi, slowly turned his head toward Yeongunseong.
“I shall properly discipline the elders. My apologies.”
“What fault does our Great Elder bear?”
“No. I sincerely apologize once more. To display such loosened discipline before a guest is my failing.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer shook his head.
“It is fine. Sit.”
“Yes, this seat.”
After sitting down, Yeongunseong glanced subtly toward Unhwi and transmitted his voice privately.
—Apologies for interrupting the conversation. As you know, the elders on this side are somewhat rough.
Unhwi nodded as though to say it was fine.
There was a reason Yeongunseong occupied the position of Great Elder.
He was loyal to the Blood Heaven Sect.
And loyal to the Heavenly Wayfarer.
The Heavenly Wayfarer was the benefactor of his entire life, and if the man ordered him to die, Yeongunseong would immediately pretend to do exactly that.
Why, in his previous life, Yeongunseong had remained seated as Great Elder for decades while supporting the Blood Heaven Sect—
This moment alone explained everything.
Once again, silence settled over the grand hall.
The Heavenly Wayfarer slowly pondered Unhwi’s question before quietly asking,
“Before I answer, do you possess memories of being abandoned?”
“I do.”
“It could not have been in the Snow Palace.”
Unhwi let out a faint laugh.
“You remain as sly as ever.”
“I shall take that as praise.”
Silence settled once more.
This truly was a fatal question.
After thinking for a moment, the Heavenly Wayfarer spoke quietly.
“I have no memory of abandoning anyone.”
“.......”
“And I never will.”
“There must be a great cause you seek to accomplish.”
“There is.”
“In the process of achieving it, there may come a time when you must abandon your own people.”
“That may happen.”
“What will you do then?”
“I will not abandon them.”
“Is there a reason?”
“Because they are my people.”
“.......”
“No matter how important the great cause may be, protecting my people is also a great cause. Without that cause, what meaning would there be in achieving anything else?”
“.......”
“Then I suppose I should define what I mean by my people.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer looked around the hall.
“Everyone here is my person. At the very least, I regard them as such, and when they commit wrongdoing, I do not hesitate to discipline them.”
“And what kind of discipline do you mean?”
“If their crime deserves death, then I will kill them.”
“I see.”
“To become my person means to uphold the cause and values I believe in. If they fail to uphold those things, become consumed by greed, and cross lines they should never cross—”
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s eyes gleamed.
“Then I will raise my hand against them. But in that process, I will give them a choice.”
“What kind of choice?”
“A choice that preserves their value. A choice regarding how they wish to conclude their own end.”
“.......”
“If they wish to die as martial artists, then I will let them die as martial artists. And if there exists a path through which they may atone, I will present that path. No matter the circumstance, my people will never die miserably. Nor will I allow them to die that way.”
Unhwi silently looked up at the Heavenly Wayfarer.
Depending on one’s perspective, the answer might have seemed insufficient.
But from another perspective, it sounded more than enough.
This was sufficient.
“Will you enter?”
“Yes.”
And thus.
Unhwi entered the Blood Heaven Sect once again.
TL Note:
Starting from this chapter onward, the previously untranslated realm term Taehumusal state will be fully adapted as Supreme Void Realm.
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