Wonyang adjusted her grip on the sword.
“Heavenly Sun Sweep.”
The sword swung horizontally.
It was like the sun crossing the horizon.
Gentle, yet powerful.
“Heavenly Sun Ascension.”
The sword rose from below.
Like the sun rising from the earth.
A light that purified all things.
Unhwi smiled.
“Impressive. You have made it entirely your own.”
Wonyang lowered her sword.
Satisfaction appeared on her face.
“Wonyang.”
“Yes.”
“How is the Azure String Shadowless Sword Art progressing?”
“I am still training in it. I have improved greatly, but I have yet to complete it...”
“Continue.”
“What?”
Unhwi explained.
“Use the Heavenly Sun Boundless Art as your primary discipline, and the Azure String Shadowless Sword Art as support.”
Wonyang tilted her head.
“As support?”
“Yes. The two martial arts will complement each other.”
Unhwi raised a finger.
“The Azure String Shadowless Sword Art is founded on the sword principles of the Namgung family. It specializes in speed and precision.”
“Yes.”
“But it focuses too heavily on technique. It lacks enlightenment.”
Wonyang listened closely.
“The Heavenly Sun Boundless Art, on the other hand, contains enlightenment. Enlightenment into the essence of the sword.”
Unhwi gave a faint laugh.
“If you train in both, enlightenment will gradually arise within you. When the technique of the Azure String Shadowless Sword Art meets the enlightenment of the Heavenly Sun Boundless Art, you will advance another step as a martial artist.”
Wonyang met Unhwi’s serious gaze with clear eyes.
Unhwi continued.
“I look forward to seeing how far you will grow.”
Wonyang’s eyes shone.
“Understood. I will never disappoint you, my lord.”
He had not expected her to take it quite that far, but he saw no need to say so.
Ju Soa was last.
She drew her sword.
Silver-white light flowed from it as well.
But it was slightly different from Wonyang’s.
Softer.
“Heavenly Sun Revolution.”
Sword light traced a circle.
It was beautiful.
Like flower petals scattering in the wind.
“Heavenly Sun Resolute Heart.”
The sword thrust forward in a straight line.
A steadfast will could be felt within it.
“Heavenly Sun Radiance.”
Light erupted from the sword.
A light that drove away all darkness.
Unhwi nodded.
“Excellent. It suits your nature well.”
Ju Soa smiled as she lowered her sword.
“Thank you.”
“Ju Soa.”
“Yes?”
“What of the Heavenly Blossom Ten-Thousand Lights Sword Art?”
“It has improved greatly. Especially after I understood the meaning of Shattering... Honestly, I have not encountered an equal within the Harmony realm.”
It might have sounded arrogant, but it was true.
Since reaching the Harmony realm, Ju Soa had never lost a battle against a martial artist of the same level.
In this vast martial world, it could be said with certainty that not a single Harmony-realm martial artist could defeat her.
“Good.”
Unhwi smiled in satisfaction.
“Continue training in the Heavenly Blossom Ten-Thousand Lights Sword Art as well, together with the Heavenly Sun Boundless Art.”
“You mean I should use the Heavenly Blossom Ten-Thousand Lights Sword Art as support too? Like Wonyang?”
“Yes.”
Unhwi explained.
“The Heavenly Blossom Ten-Thousand Lights Sword Art is the pinnacle of softness. It flows as gracefully as heavenly petals scattering, yet at its end lies destructive power that erupts into ten thousand lights.”
“Yes.”
“When the meaning of Shattering that you have realized meets the enlightenment of the Heavenly Sun Boundless Art, you may behold a new realm you have yet to see.”
Ju Soa nodded.
Unhwi looked at all three of them.
It was not bad.
Unhwi’s own growth had been so extraordinary that comparison was impossible, but even so, the growth of these three had been dazzling.
The sun sank lower.
The red sunset deepened.
Unhwi fell into thought for a moment.
He had guided countless people before.
In his eyes, this was the moment.
Right now was precisely the right time.
He slowly spoke.
“Wonyang. Ju Soa.”
“Yes?”
“Sit before me.”
The two tilted their heads, but sat in front of Unhwi without complaint.
Chief Seong watched from a short distance away.
Unhwi looked up at the sky.
The red sunset was beautiful.
“Wonyang.”
“Yes.”
“You are a descendant of the Namgung family.”
“Yes. I have not forgotten.”
“Do you know what kind of family the Namgung family was?”
Wonyang thought for a moment.
“It was a family of the sword. It was called the greatest sword family under heaven...”
“Is that all?”
“...What?”
“The sword of the Namgung family carried meaning. It was not merely a fast and powerful sword.”
Wonyang listened closely.
“A sword carries the heart. The heart of the one who wields it.”
“...”
“What heart did the sword of the Namgung family carry?”
Wonyang closed her mouth.
She could not answer.
Unhwi continued.
“Long ago, there was a swordsman.”
Unhwi’s voice lowered.
It was as though he were telling a story.
“He spent his entire life training only with the sword. Speed. Precision. Not a single day passed without him taking up his sword.”
“...”
“His sword was truly exceptional. Faster than the wind and more precise than lightning. There was no swordsman in the world who could rival him.”
Wonyang held her breath as she listened.
“But one day, he realized something.”
“What?”
“That a sword could not merely be fast, nor merely precise.”
Unhwi looked at Wonyang.
“A sword must carry meaning. Why do you draw it? For what purpose do you wield it?”
Wonyang’s eyes trembled.
“Only then did the swordsman understand what he had pursued throughout his entire life.”
“What was it?”
“To protect.”
Unhwi spoke firmly.
“Speed and precision had both been means to protect.”
Wonyang placed a hand over her chest.
Something was beating within it.
“For what purpose do you draw your sword?”
Unhwi’s question pierced her heart.
“...To protect.”
“What?”
“The things precious to me. My family, my friends, and what is right.”
Revenge was only a means.
It was never the purpose.
Namgung Wonyang’s desire to kill Namgung Ho was genuine.
But that was not the sole reason she wielded a sword.
As a martial artist.
To survive.
And to protect the values that were hers alone.
Unhwi nodded.
“That is the true meaning of the Namgung family’s sword. Speed and precision are means. The purpose is to protect.”
Something flashed in Wonyang’s eyes.
The light of enlightenment.
“A sword is not a weapon.”
Unhwi continued.
“A sword is meaning. It is will. It is the heart.”
Wonyang’s breathing grew rough.
“Remember this. Every time you take up your sword, ask yourself: What am I holding this sword to protect?”
Unhwi looked at Ju Soa.
“Ju Soa.”
Sensing the weight in the air, Ju Soa straightened and answered.
“Yes.”
“You said you had realized the meaning of Shattering within the Heavenly Blossom Ten-Thousand Lights Sword Art.”
“Yes.”
“What was that enlightenment?”
Ju Soa thought for a moment.
“That it is not destruction, but change. Making the rigid soft, and opening what is blocked.”
“Good.”
Unhwi smiled.
“Then let me ask you one more thing.”
Ju Soa adjusted her posture.
“A flower petal scattering in the wind, and lightning striking down. Which is stronger?”
Ju Soa tilted her head.
The answer seemed far too obvious.
“Lightning... I suppose?”
“Perhaps. But is that truly so?”
Unhwi pointed toward the sky.
A single star was visible through the red sunset.
“One flower petal falls from that sky. Slowly. Gently. It drifts upon the wind.”
“...”
“What happens when that petal touches a rock?”
Ju Soa thought for a moment.
“...It breaks.”
“The petal?”
“Yes.”
Unhwi asked,
“Are you certain?”
Ju Soa closed her mouth.
She could not answer.
It was an obvious question, yet Unhwi clearly had a reason for asking it.
She wanted to grasp that reason, but she could not.
By common sense, the petal should be the one to break.
Unhwi spoke.
“When softness reaches its extreme, it becomes the strongest thing of all.”
“...”
“Look at water. It is the softest of all things, yet it pierces rock.”
“Yes.”
“Look at the wind. It is the softest, yet it wears away mountains.”
Ju Soa’s eyes widened.
“Look at time. It is the softest, yet it changes all things.”
Unhwi looked at Ju Soa.
“This is true strength. The pinnacle of softness.”
Heat spread through Ju Soa’s chest.
“What is destruction?”
“...Change?”
“Correct. But if you go deeper?”
Ju Soa thought.
Deeper.
Still deeper.
“...Creation.”
Unhwi nodded.
“Destroy to create. Break the old and make something new.”
“...”
“Make the rigid soft. Open what is blocked. Turn darkness into light.”
Unhwi’s voice deepened.
“And turn despair into hope, and death into life.”
The corners of Ju Soa’s eyes trembled.
“This is the true meaning of Shattering.”
Unhwi spoke one final time.
“Your sword is a flower petal. It drifts gently, yet transforms everything it touches.”
Ju Soa’s eyes widened.
She was not the only one.
Namgung Wonyang, listening beside her, widened her eyes as well.
“Where does your Way lead? What lies at its end? In walking it, what will you cast aside, and what will you seize?”
Unhwi’s deepened eyes gazed at the two women.
“You already know your own answers.”
At that moment,
both women closed their eyes.
Enlightenment had come.
Energy flowed from Wonyang’s body.
Sharp, yet warm.
Energy carrying the will of the sword.
The Azure String Shadowless Sword Art and the Heavenly Sun Boundless Art were meeting.
Technique and enlightenment.
Speed and meaning.
Energy also flowed from Ju Soa’s body.
Soft, yet powerful.
Gentle as a flower petal, yet capable of piercing rock.
The Heavenly Blossom Ten-Thousand Lights Sword Art and the Heavenly Sun Boundless Art were becoming one.
Softness and enlightenment.
Shattering and creation.
“...Wow... So this is how it happens...”
Chief Seong murmured.
Unhwi gestured.
A sign to remain quiet.
The two entered energy circulation where they sat.
They were immersed in profound enlightenment.
Time passed.
The sun disappeared completely.
The moon rose.
Wonyang’s energy was changing.
The Three Profound Realms.
She was ascending into the Three Profound Realms.
Ju Soa’s energy changed as well.
The Divine Transformation realm.
She was ascending into the Divine Transformation realm.
Chief Seong quietly approached Unhwi.
“Young Master.”
Unhwi turned his head.
Chief Seong was smiling.
“This is a joyous occasion.”
Unhwi gave a faint laugh.
“It is a good thing.”
Chief Seong looked at the two women.
They sat in silence, circulating their energy.
Moonlight shone upon them.
Chief Seong spoke.
“Now I have even more work to do.”
“Work?”
“I have to stand guard over them, and protect you as well.”
Chief Seong smiled brightly.
“There is much to do, but I am happy.”
Unhwi looked up at the sky.
Stars filled it.
Countless stars.
“Chief Seong.”
“Yes.”
“What do you fight for?”
The question came without warning.
Chief Seong thought for a moment.
“For you, Young Master.”
“Is that all?”
Chief Seong considered it, then shook his head.
“...No.”
“Then what?”
“To help you accomplish what you seek.”
“What I seek?”
“It may sound abstract, but I wish to see the end of what you are trying to achieve.”
“The end...”
“Yes. Even if the martial world is dyed in blood, I will see it.”
“Why?”
“Because I believe the road you walk is right.”
Unhwi looked at Chief Seong.
Chief Seong’s eyes were resolute.
Unhwi could not help but laugh.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter