Tak.
Unhwi placed another stone.
The two men continued their game of Go.
In silence.
Only the sound of stones being placed echoed through the room.
Tak.
Tak.
Tak.
A war unfolded upon the board.
Black and white.
They expanded their territories, captured each other’s stones, and built their domains.
The match was tense.
But—
As time passed—
Black slowly began to gain the advantage.
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s moves ran deep.
Every move carried meaning, each one seeing several steps ahead.
Unhwi also gave it his all.
Drawing upon the experience of his previous life, he searched for openings and sought chances to counterattack.
Sweat formed across his brow from the intensity of his concentration.
Yet the more he focused, the more clearly he realized one thing.
It would not work.
He could not overcome this.
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s Go flowed as naturally as water.
He did not force victory.
He did not forcibly construct territory.
He simply flowed.
And yet within that flow, white’s territory gradually continued to shrink.
This—
This was what made him truly terrifying.
If one followed the flow, they became swept away by it.
If one tried to avoid it, the flow waiting behind would swallow them whole.
No matter what he did, he could not escape this current.
There was no correct answer.
At least, not for him right now.
Was it because the level of enlightenment within their minds differed?
Or because the realms they occupied were fundamentally different?
Unhwi had experienced this feeling many times before.
No matter how overwhelming his talent appeared before others, no matter how extraordinary his abilities seemed—
Whenever he faced the Heavenly Wayfarer, there was always a gap ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) of exactly one step.
If one were being generous, perhaps half a step.
That was the difference he always felt.
An absolute difference that could never be overturned.
He had struggled endlessly to narrow that gap, and in doing so he had realized something.
That so-called “half step.”
No matter what the situation was, the Heavenly Wayfarer always stood half a step ahead of him.
And that half step was so absolute that even the word absolute felt insufficient to describe it.
In Noh Cheonmyeong’s case, reaching from the Heaven-Human realm to Unity of Heaven and Man had taken several decades.
The realms occupied by Unhwi and the Heavenly Wayfarer stood far beyond even that.
A half step in such heights could never be the same as a half step below.
That—
Was the difference between the two of them.
Tak.
The final stone was placed.
“Half a point.”
“So it seems. Heh heh heh.”
Unhwi began clearing the stones from the board.
The Heavenly Wayfarer did the same.
“Do you regret it?”
“I do.”
“But it was a good game.”
“It was.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at Unhwi.
“Next time, you may win.”
“......I hope so.”
Once the stones had all been cleared away, the Heavenly Wayfarer poured tea once more.
For Unhwi.
And for himself.
“A personal question, if I may ask.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s tone had become unusually serious, and Unhwi responded in kind.
“Please ask.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer looked directly at him.
“Are you satisfied?”
It was a short question.
Yet within it was contained far more meaning than one could imagine.
“I regretted many things.”
“Regret......”
“Did you regret things as well, Elder Cheon? No—did this seat regret them?”
“I did.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s eyes trembled faintly.
“I have carried countless regrets. From ages so distant I no longer remember them, until this very moment, I have regretted things at every step.”
“Then perhaps, in that regard at least, I am slightly better off than you.”
“Hm?”
“At least up until this moment today, I have no regrets. And I never will.”
“Oh......?”
“That is my answer to your question. Whether I am satisfied? Yes. I am satisfied now, and I will remain satisfied in the future as well.”
“A path walked without regret...... I too pursue such a path, yet when one walks it, enemies are inevitable.”
“I know.”
“And that enemy may one day become me.”
Unhwi smiled faintly.
“When we first met, we once spoke about this very matter. Do you remember?”
“How could I not?”
“At the time, I said this: anyone who attempted to use me as a blade would inevitably pay the price.”
“You did.”
“I am a blade that moves by its own will. I do not move unless it aligns with my intentions. But if anyone attempts to force that will upon me, then they become my enemy. And in this matter, even this seat before me would not be an exception.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer fell silent for a moment.
It was true that he liked Unhwi greatly.
And it was not because he knew Unhwi’s secret.
Truly, that was not the reason.
It was the way Unhwi looked now.
Those unwavering eyes even as he spoke such words.
It was unmistakably sincere.
And in truth, Unhwi had lived exactly as he claimed.
That.
That part of him was what the Heavenly Wayfarer loved most.
A man must never regret the path he chooses to walk.
A road stained with regret was no different from a life drowning in despair and fear.
But Unhwi possessed neither despair nor fear.
He had absolute conviction in the path he walked, and he wagered his life upon that conviction.
A true martial artist.
A genuine martial artist.
“......Good. Truly.”
At those brief words, Unhwi silently lowered his head.
The Heavenly Wayfarer spoke again.
“I sincerely hope that the end awaiting both of us will be one we can each accept.”
Unhwi lifted his head.
“I feel the same, this seat.”
Once more, the two men silently gazed at one another.
The questions lingering within their minds.
And the answers that needed to be spoken.
Both were delaying them.
Because both knew that asking now would break the flow between them.
So they waited for the moment each considered appropriate.
Even in this, the two resembled one another.
Unhwi slowly opened his mouth.
“Since the topic has come up, may I ask you a question as well?”
“Go ahead.”
“If I were to learn the truth... would that place this seat in a difficult position?”
“......Hm...... That is quite a difficult question to answer.”
“You need not answer if you prefer not to.”
“But I should answer it. You answered my question honestly, did you not?”
“I did.”
“Then I shall answer. If, upon learning the truth, you do not deny the path you have walked thus far, then I will be satisfied. But if you deny even part of it, then I will be disappointed.”
Unhwi considered those words briefly before shaking his head.
That had not answered the question.
“You still have a habit of speaking in riddles, this seat.”
“Heh heh.......”
“I asked whether I would place you in difficulty.”
“Whether something places me in difficulty is ultimately for me to decide, is it not?”
“That is true.”
“Then... whatever it may be, there is nothing that could place me in difficulty.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s eyes gleamed.
“That much I can say with certainty.”
“I see.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer silently watched Unhwi as he answered.
For a long while.
Deeply.
Eventually, he smiled.
“Blood Heaven Arbiter.”
“Yes.”
“I truly like that name. Tomorrow, I will summon the elders, the leaders of the branches, and the Blood Spirit Regiments. There, I shall formally announce it, and beginning tomorrow, you will bear the weight of that position.”
“Thank you.”
“The authority to command the branches. The authority to use the intelligence network. The authority to mobilize the resources of the Blood Heaven Sect.”
“......”
“Your relationship with the Vice Leader may become troublesome, but perhaps that too will be a new source of amusement. Are you confident?”
“Yes.”
“I see. This is why the young are enjoyable. No—wait a moment. Are you truly young?”
Unhwi laughed softly.
“At the very least, far younger than this seat.”
“Heh heh...... I suppose that is true.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer rose from his seat and walked toward the window.
“Unhwi.”
As he looked at the Heavenly Wayfarer speaking while staring out the window, Unhwi suddenly felt as though he had returned to the past.
The Heavenly Wayfarer had never addressed him as “you” or “young man.”
Only—
Unhwi.
That brief name alone.
Unhwi raised his head.
“I will watch the path you choose to walk.”
“You may not like what you see, this seat.”
“That sounds as though you are calling me narrow-minded.”
“Even things that appear broad may in truth be narrow, may they not?”
The Heavenly Wayfarer grinned.
“I truly like you.”
“Is there a reason?”
“Well now. I do not know whether this can truly be called a reason, but I shall simply say this.”
Unhwi smirked faintly.
“Sometimes simply liking someone is reason enough.”
Unhwi rose from his seat as well.
“Then watch closely. Whether you have taken in a wolf or a rabbit.”
After giving a fist salute, Unhwi left the room.
The Heavenly Wayfarer quietly watched him for a long time.
A wolf and a rabbit.
He shook his head.
Not once, from the very beginning until now, had the Heavenly Wayfarer ever thought of Unhwi as either of those things.
Unhwi was a tiger and a dragon.
A true divine guardian descended from the Snow Mountain.
“Heh heh heh......”
This was going to become truly entertaining.
For the first time in a long while.
***
The Blood Heaven Sect was the greatest power in the Central Plains.
Whether orthodox or unorthodox, no one could ignore the might of the Blood Heaven Sect.
The power it had accumulated over hundreds of years.
The strength that had transformed the One-Origin Plateau into an impregnable fortress.
And the five branches that protected the sect itself.
Not to mention the countless sects throughout the Central Plains that followed the Blood Heaven Sect.
Even that alone was absurd enough.
Yet there existed one being who surpassed all of it.
The absolute existence known as the Heavenly Wayfarer.
If a sect like this was not the greatest in the Central Plains, then what possibly could be?
To put it bluntly, the Blood Heaven Sect possessed influence greater than that of nations themselves.
And now, a new figure had entered the Blood Heaven Sect.
Seol Unhwi.
There was no one who did not know that name.
The greatest genius of the age.
A Polar Heir of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace.
The hero who had erased the Chaotic Heaven Gate.
And now that genius had transferred allegiance from the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace to the Blood Heaven Sect.
The rumors spread rapidly.
Across the entirety of the Central Plains.
Martial artists spoke of it day after day.
Seol Unhwi had entered the Blood Heaven Sect. He had even been granted some strange new position called Blood Heaven Arbiter. Worse still, that position was supposedly one above all others beneath a single man. Setting aside whether he deserved treatment equal to the Vice Leader, did any of this even make sense?
As mentioned before, the Blood Heaven Sect was unquestionably the greatest organization in the Central Plains.
And that greatest organization had recruited an outsider and granted him a position equal to—or perhaps even above—the Vice Leader himself.
This was something completely beyond common sense.
Some even went so far as to say that the Heavenly Wayfarer, leader of the Blood Heaven Sect, had gone mad.
Though naturally, they were few.
Most people ultimately accepted it.
Because Seol Unhwi was a being unlike any that had ever appeared in the history of the martial world, and the supreme existence of the current age had essentially stamped his approval upon him.
All eyes turned toward what would come next.
What exactly would Seol Unhwi do?
Having gained such a position within the Blood Heaven Sect, what exactly was he planning?
A man stood looking out the window.
The office of the Blood Heaven Sect’s Vice Leader.
That man was the Demonic Master Yu Cheong.
As always, his face remained expressionless as he watched the cherry blossoms scattering outside.
“So he came after all.”
Seol Unhwi.
From the moment he first heard that name, Yu Cheong had found it unpleasant.
A Polar Heir of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace.
Since the days of Yang Seoljin, their paths had continued to intertwine.
And not long ago, they had even met face to face.
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