The Heavenly Wayfarer’s eyes gleamed.
“Neglected?”
“Yes. If he neglected them to the point that it became difficult to distinguish poisonous weeds from crops, what would you do?”
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s eyes narrowed.
“Who knows. What should be done?”
“The farmer must decide.”
Unhwi spoke firmly.
“Whether he will be prepared to burn even his own thatched home to the ground.”
“Or?”
“Whether he will leave the poisonous weeds to spread further.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer toyed with a stone.
“From the farmer’s position, that would be a difficult choice.”
“It would be difficult. But if he does not choose.”
Unhwi looked at the Heavenly Wayfarer.
“In the end, the entire farm becomes a field of poisonous weeds.”
“Then what do you think the farmer should do?”
“If it were me.”
Unhwi paused briefly.
“I would burn it.”
“Even the crops?”
“If necessary.”
Unhwi’s voice turned cold.
“I believe it is better to burn it once and make it clean than to let the poison spread.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer placed a stone.
Tap.
“But.”
“Yes.”
“If that farmer does not burn it, and only keeps watching.......”
The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at Unhwi.
“Would there be a reason?”
Unhwi was silent for a moment.
“There might be.”
“What kind?”
“Perhaps there is something very precious among the crops, or perhaps the farmer has a purpose for raising the poisonous weeds.”
“A purpose for raising poisonous weeds?”
“Poisonous weeds can have uses too. To make poison, or to make medicine.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer nodded. It was a reasonable point.
“But if there is no such purpose?”
“Mm.”
“If he leaves them be simply because burning them would be a waste, or because it is bothersome.”
Unhwi’s eyes sharpened.
“Then that would be the farmer’s mistake.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer laughed.
“You are right.”
“What should be done when one sees such a farmer?”
“Who knows. Why don’t you answer?”
Unhwi had his own answer.
And a very clear one at that.
“He must be made to realize it. That the farm is in danger.”
“What if the farmer does not listen?”
“Then someone must burn it for him.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s eyes curved gently.
“Because that would be better than letting the farm be ruined?”
Unhwi nodded.
After thinking for a moment, the Heavenly Wayfarer slowly opened his mouth.
“But there is one thing you must be careful of.”
“What is it?”
The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at Unhwi.
“The one who sets the fire can also burn.”
“.......”
“The fire that burns poisonous weeds must be strong. And a strong fire is difficult to control.”
Unhwi chuckled.
“I am prepared for that much.”
“Are you truly?”
“I believe poisonous weeds must be eliminated, even if the thatched home burns with them.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer placed a stone.
Tap.
“Then do so.”
At that answer, Unhwi’s eyes instead widened.
He accepted it this easily?
The conversation had felt like it was being spoken in very roundabout terms, but Unhwi was no fool.
The Red Demon of Red Spirit Court.
He had certainly thought the man belonged to the Blood Heaven Sect.
No, going further, he had thought he was one of the Heavenly Wayfarer’s people. He had believed that the one person the Red Demon was loyal to was the Heavenly Wayfarer, and that the path he pursued was the peace and safety of the Blood Heaven Sect.
That was what he had thought, but the reality was completely different.
His affiliation was merely the Blood Heaven Sect. In truth, he was someone loyal to Yu Cheong.
Only after learning that did Unhwi realize the severity of the matter.
Yu Cheong.
He was not an easy man, but beyond that, he was far more cunning than expected.
Inside the Blood Heaven Sect, there were already more than one or two of his people.
The ones confirmed so far were the Thunder Demon Cult and Red Spirit Court.
Was that truly the end?
Were there no more?
There were certainly more. There had to be.
That was why he had been saying all this. And yet he was allowed to burn them? Allowed to clear them away?
He had thought the Heavenly Wayfarer must have known already, but for him to accept it this easily.
What exactly is his intention?
If the Heavenly Wayfarer had stepped forward himself long ago, it could have been resolved easily.
Then the Heavenly Wayfarer’s voice reached Unhwi’s ears.
“However, remember just one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Before setting the fire, make certain.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer smiled meaningfully.
“Whether it truly is a poisonous weed. Or whether it is a special crop the farmer cherishes.”
Unhwi looked down at the Go board.
Complicated sequences.
Black and white tangled together.
After thinking for a moment, Unhwi slowly nodded.
“Yes. I understand.”
Unhwi picked up a stone.
Tap.
The stone was placed.
“I will check. Whether it is a poisonous weed, or a special crop.”
The fiftieth move.
The Heavenly Wayfarer rose from his seat for a moment and brought tea.
Two cups as well.
He set one down before Unhwi and one before himself. He poured the tea personally.
“Drink.”
Unhwi accepted it and drank.
It was lukewarm.
There was no fragrance. Almost no taste either.
Tea close to water.
But after drinking it, he felt as if his body had become clear.
“The tea is clear.”
“It is not clear. It is empty.”
“Is it not clear because it is empty?”
“One could see it that way.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer took a sip of tea.
He set the cup down.
“I hear you killed Tyrant Heaven Blade Supreme Seok Junseo.”
It was direct.
Unlike all the metaphors so far.
Unhwi set his cup down.
“Yes. I killed him.”
“Late Harmony realm. With your body, it must have been too much.”
“It was.”
“When one does something beyond one’s means, one pays a price.”
“I paid it.”
“I heard the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal was damaged.”
Unhwi’s eyes moved faintly.
Clearly, the Heavenly Wayfarer knew more things than he did not.
In truth, now that it had become certain he had noticed Unhwi’s previous life at a glance, it would not have been difficult for the Heavenly Wayfarer to notice that Unhwi had consumed the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal and that its effects were continuing.
“You knew?”
“Your energy is not as it once was. I can tell simply from sitting here, so it is embarrassing to even call that knowing.”
Unhwi chuckled.
“I cannot hide it.”
“Did you intend to hide it?”
“I did not.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer placed a stone.
Tap.
“When water flows and meets a stone, it goes around. It does not break the stone. It goes around it.”
“.......”
“Your killing of Seok Junseo was breaking the stone.”
“There was no path around.”
“Was there truly none?”
Unhwi was silent for a moment. He considered it. Had there truly been none?
A path around.
“No matter how I think about it, there was none.”
“Mm.”
“Are martial artists not beings who live and die by grudges and ties? I merely settled a grudge and tie. In the way of martial artists.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer smiled faintly.
“Who knows. From what I see, you chose the path of breaking it when there may have been a path around.”
“That may be so.”
“Why?”
Unhwi placed a stone.
Tap.
“Because if I had gone around, it would have been too late.”
“What happens if it is too late?”
“My people would have been in danger.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at Unhwi.
With clear eyes.
“You broke your body to protect people.”
“.......”
“Is that the path of water, or the path of stone?”
Unhwi looked down at the Go board.
What kind of path was it?
It was clear.
“It is neither water nor stone. It is simply my path.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer smiled.
This time, it was a clear smile.
“A good answer.”
The sixtieth move.
The situation on the Go board had grown complicated.
White was ahead along the sides and corners, but black’s influence in the center had grown too large to ignore.
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s black stones still looked loose. They did not look like territory. Yet whenever Unhwi entered to cut, they were strangely connected. As if joined by invisible threads.
Unhwi placed a move.
Tap.
It was a move that penetrated the center.
The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at it.
“You are in a hurry.”
“I am not in a hurry. I seized the moment.”
“Do you think the moment is right?”
“There are moments that must not be missed.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer placed a stone.
Tap.
He did not block Unhwi’s penetration. Instead, he spread outward to the side.
“There is no such thing as a moment that must not be missed.”
“.......”
“A moment is not something one seizes, but something one creates. If you force yourself to seize it, you mistake something that is not the moment for the moment.”
Unhwi looked down at the Go board for a while.
He read the Heavenly Wayfarer’s move.
......He did not block. He spread outward. This is.
He realized it.
The Heavenly Wayfarer had not allowed the penetration.
He had made him penetrate.
After letting him enter, he would wrap around from the outside.
Whether in the past or now, he is not easy.
Unhwi placed a stone.
Tap.
“Elder Cheon.”
“Mm?”
“The matter with the Jin family has been settled.”
“I suppose it has.”
“Gun Mugeol of the Murim Alliance was behind it.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s hand did not stop.
He picked up a stone.
Placed it.
Tap.
“Behind it.”
“The one who moved the Jin family, and the one who broke Seok Junseo’s closed-door training, was Gun Mugeol.”
“And?”
“He was trying to kill me.”
“Trying to kill you?”
The Heavenly Wayfarer tilted his head.
“Is that right? To my eyes, it looked like he was trying to keep you alive.”
Unhwi’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“One who owes you a debt tries to kill you? That is a story that does not match from front to back.”
“You knew.”
Unhwi’s eyes gleamed.
“The pinnacle does not simply fall from the sky. Someone must have opened the path, and if it was not you, who else could it be?”
Unhwi closed his mouth.
At some point, the Heavenly Wayfarer had begun calling Unhwi “you” instead of a more formal address. And Unhwi found this more comfortable.
The Heavenly Wayfarer also seemed more comfortable.
The Heavenly Wayfarer continued.
“There are many ways for one who owes a debt to repay it.”
“.......”
“The most cunning method is to repay a debt while creating a new one at the same time.”
“Are you saying he put me in danger, then intended to save me?”
“Is that what you think?”
“Yes.”
“I think so too.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer placed a stone.
Tap.
“This man named Gun Mugeol. I have encountered him a few times.”
“.......”
“He is a tiger wearing the mask of a gentleman.”
“I think the same.”
“What makes a tiger frightening is not its teeth. It is patience.”
Unhwi placed a stone.
Tap.
“I wonder what it feels like when nothing changes no matter how much time passes, and even when you return against the flow of time.”
Unhwi chuckled.
“I feel nothing in particular. It is simply everyday life, and this place is the martial world.”
“.......”
“In the martial world, one need only handle matters by the ways of the martial world.”
“That is true.”
“Elder Cheon, Gun Mugeol is seeking the unification of the martial world.”
“There is nothing strange about an ambitious man under heaven coveting all under heaven.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer drank his tea.
“However.”
He set the cup down.
“Unification is an interesting word.”
“You said interesting?”
“To make something one. Unification. But the one was already one.”
“.......”
“Was the martial world ever two? Was it ever three? Righteous and unorthodox, Blood Heaven Sect and Murim Alliance. They merely divided the names, but was it not originally one?”
“Are you saying it is meaningless because only the names are divided?”
“When river water meets a boulder and splits in two, the river remains one. It has merely been named the left current and the right current.”
“.......”
“What happens if one forces the divided currents back together?”
“It floods.”
“Correct. It floods.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer looked down at the Go board.
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