“An interesting young man.”
“You flatter me.”
“It is no flattery.”
The old man leaned forward slightly.
“I can tell you why.”
“Can you?”
“But where would the fun be if I simply told you?”
Unhwi’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.
The old man rose from his seat.
From that single motion, Unhwi felt it.
Weight.
The weight contained within the old man’s body.
The Supreme Void Realm.
A realm above Unity of Heaven and Man.
A realm above the Harmony realm.
In his previous life, Unhwi had surpassed this realm himself and had seen many others reach it. Yet this old man of the Gongsun family was markedly different from all of them.
Their martial system.
It was wholly their own—and without equal.
Just as Ju Soa had no rival within the Harmony realm, the same was true of them.
At the very least, this old man before him, who had reached the Supreme Void Realm, had no equal within that same realm. Even Yeongunseong, the Great Elder of the Blood Heaven Sect whom Unhwi held in high regard, would lose nine times out of ten if he fought this man in a duel to the death.
That was how formidable he was.
The old man looked down at Unhwi.
“Let us go to the training ground.”
It was not an order.
It was a proposal.
But it was not one that could be refused.
Unhwi rose.
He had no reason whatsoever to decline.
The training ground they moved to was enormous.
A full hundred yards across in every direction.
Stone slabs covered the ground. Ancient slabs, carved with the footprints and sword marks of countless martial artists.
Weapon racks stood on all sides, and seating had been arranged around the edges of the training ground.
The old man walked ahead.
Unhwi followed.
As soon as they left the Family Head’s Hall, Chief Seong, who had been waiting outside, hurried over.
“Young Master...?”
“There will be a spar.”
“...What?”
“I may be injured, but do not interfere.”
Chief Seong met Unhwi’s eyes and closed his mouth. He asked nothing further.
The rest of the party followed.
Martial artists of the Gongsun family naturally began gathering at the training ground as well.
Word had clearly spread that the family head was on the move.
Dozens.
No, more than a hundred.
They stood along the edge of the training ground, watching. Murmurs filled the air. But the moment the old man stepped inside, every voice fell silent.
Unhwi entered as well.
The two stood facing each other.
Unhwi and the old man.
Ten yards apart.
The wind blew.
Dust drifted faintly across the training ground.
The old man spoke.
“I never gave you my name.”
Unhwi nodded.
The man was clearly the head of the Gongsun family. Yet not once had he revealed his name.
And Unhwi had done the same.
“It seems we have both been discourteous.”
“Ha ha ha. Is that how it is?”
“Yes. As the guest, I should have introduced myself first.”
With those words, Unhwi naturally gave a fist salute.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Seol Unhwi, the first Blood Heaven Arbiter of the Blood Heaven Sect.”
“Mm.”
The old man smiled.
“Gongsun Jinhae.”
An imposing presence spread from his body.
“The seventeenth head of the Gongsun family.”
There was clearly meaning in revealing his name.
“A pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine.”
Gongsun Jinhae nodded and asked,
“There is something I wish to know, Young Master Seol.”
“Please ask.”
“You killed a martial artist of the Harmony realm while you were only at Unity of Heaven and Man.”
“That is correct.”
“How?”
It was a simple question.
But what it contained was anything but simple.
A wall of attainment stood between Unity of Heaven and Man and the Harmony realm. It was not merely a difference in skill. They existed on entirely different levels. Their manipulation of energy differed, the amount of power their bodies could withstand differed, and their senses for perceiving the world differed.
Yet Unhwi had crossed that wall and killed someone beyond it.
It defied the common understanding of the martial world.
That was what Gongsun Jinhae wanted to know.
How?
With what?
Unhwi quietly gripped the sword at his waist.
He slowly drew it.
Shing.
The blade caught the light.
The True Fire Heavenly Spirit Sword.
“You said that explaining it in words...”
Unhwi pointed his sword at Gongsun Jinhae.
“...would take all the fun out of it.”
Gongsun Jinhae’s eyes gleamed.
For the first time, a clear emotion appeared within them.
Interest.
“Very well.”
Gongsun Jinhae extended a hand.
Someone behind him offered him a sword. The crest of the Gongsun family was engraved upon it.
The sword of the family head.
He took hold of it.
The instant his hand closed around the hilt, the air changed.
The currents throughout the entire training ground twisted. The martial artists standing around its edge unconsciously stepped back.
Pressure.
The pressure of the Supreme Void Realm bore down upon the training ground.
Chief Seong’s face hardened.
Gwak Yeon and the other martial artists of Red Spirit Court struggled to breathe. To those in the early and middle Heaven-Human realm, the power of the Supreme Void Realm felt like a mountain descending upon them.
But Unhwi did not move.
He simply stood there.
Sword in hand.
His expression blank.
Gongsun Jinhae looked at him.
He does not waver.
Beneath the power of the Supreme Void Realm.
Despite being only at Unity of Heaven and Man, he stood without so much as a tremor.
That alone was enough to tell him.
The rumors spreading through the martial world about this young man had not been exaggerated in the slightest.
Gongsun Jinhae spoke.
“I shall begin.”
Unhwi nodded.
In the next instant, Gongsun Jinhae vanished.
He had moved.
But he was too fast for the eye to follow.
The martial artists around the training ground cried out in shock.
“Th-the family head—!”
Before the words could even finish—
BOOM—!!
An explosion erupted from the center of the training ground.
Their swords had collided.
Dust billowed upward.
The two men could be seen through the haze.
Gongsun Jinhae’s sword was pressing down upon Unhwi’s.
From above.
A weight like a descending mountain.
The stone slab beneath Unhwi’s feet split apart. Cracks spread outward like a spiderweb.
But Unhwi endured.
With a body only at Unity of Heaven and Man.
He was withstanding a strike from the Supreme Void Realm.
Gongsun Jinhae’s eyes changed.
...He held it?
It was not merely ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) surprise.
It was closer to awe.
Two entire realms stood between the Supreme Void Realm and Unity of Heaven and Man.
The Harmony realm.
Manifestation of the Boundless.
And above both stood the Supreme Void Realm.
To cross all of them and receive that sword was nearly impossible.
Yet this young man had done it.
There had been rumors that Unhwi had once sparred with Great Elder Yeongunseong, and many in the martial world had claimed the result was only possible because Yeongunseong had held back.
Gongsun Jinhae had thought the same.
But he had been wrong.
Yeongunseong must have been serious.
Just as Gongsun Jinhae was now.
Unhwi’s arms were trembling. His veins stood out sharply.
But his knees did not buckle.
His gaze did not waver.
“...Oh?”
Gongsun Jinhae withdrew his sword.
He stepped back.
Unhwi exhaled.
Once.
Briefly.
Then he raised his sword again.
“Interesting.”
Gongsun Jinhae murmured.
“How did you endure it?”
“I did not endure it.”
Unhwi answered.
“I redirected it.”
“Redirected it?”
Gongsun Jinhae’s eyes narrowed.
He looked beneath Unhwi’s feet.
The stone slab had cracked.
But the cracks were strange.
They had not spread in every direction from beneath Unhwi’s feet.
They extended only to one side.
As though water had flowed through them.
...He did not receive the force.
Gongsun Jinhae understood.
He pretended to block with his sword while changing the direction of the force and sending it into the ground.
If someone at Unity of Heaven and Man took the power of the Supreme Void Realm head-on, their body would be shattered.
Unhwi knew that.
So he had not received it.
He had only made it look as though he had.
By adjusting the angle of his sword by the slightest degree, he had changed the direction of the force and channeled it through his feet into the earth.
It sounded simple.
But to accomplish such a thing before a strike from the Supreme Void Realm—
...He is insane.
Gongsun Jinhae marveled inwardly.
There was an essential condition to redirecting force.
To redirect a sword, one first had to see it.
One had to know where it would go, where it would strike, and how the impact would be delivered.
Every last detail.
Otherwise, one would be shattered along with the sword before they could redirect anything.
Gongsun Jinhae drew a deep breath.
“I shall come again.”
He raised his sword.
This time was different.
His sword moved.
His feet moved.
At the same time.
As one motion.
The martial arts of the Gongsun family.
A martial art in which swordsmanship and footwork were one.
Gongsun Jinhae’s body flowed.
Like water.
Like wind.
But a sword existed within that flow.
A sword whose origin could not be determined.
Its direction, trajectory, and speed were all impossible to read.
Swoosh—!
Unhwi’s shoulder was cut.
Blood sprayed.
Unhwi retreated and swung his sword.
But Gongsun Jinhae was already gone.
He was elsewhere.
To the left.
Swoosh—!
The sword aimed for his side.
Unhwi twisted his body.
He barely evaded it.
But his robe split open.
The right.
No, above.
No.
He could not tell where it was coming from.
Gongsun Jinhae’s sword poured in from every direction.
There was only one blade, yet it felt like ten.
That was because his footwork and sword were one.
Movement itself was the sword.
The sword itself was movement.
Wounds multiplied across Unhwi’s body.
His shoulder.
His forearm.
His thigh.
Shallow wounds.
But unmistakable wounds.
Everyone around the training ground held their breath.
Chief Seong’s clenched fists had turned white.
Gwak Yeon murmured,
“The Blood Heaven Arbiter... is being driven back.”
Of course he was.
Unity of Heaven and Man against the Supreme Void Realm.
Two entire walls stood between them.
But Unhwi’s eyes were changing.
The sword trajectories he had been unable to read at first—
One exchange.
Two exchanges.
Ten.
Twenty.
They began to appear.
The sword and footwork are one.
Unhwi had once discussed this with Gun Mugeol.
The martial arts of the Gongsun family belonged neither to the Buddhist, Confucian, nor the Way traditions.
Twenty-five exchanges.
Gongsun Jinhae’s sword came again.
This time from below.
Rising upward.
Unhwi did not evade.
He blocked.
CLANG—!!
Sparks scattered.
Gongsun Jinhae’s eyes shifted.
...He blocked it?
This was different from before.
He had not redirected it.
He had met it head-on.
With a body only at Unity of Heaven and Man.
It should have been impossible.
Yet Unhwi had done it.
Gongsun Jinhae saw that the energy flowing from Unhwi’s sword had changed.
The sword energy that had once been silver-white—
Was now transparent.
Like water.
And yet like the sky.
An indescribable radiance.
Gongsun Jinhae’s eyes widened.
...What in the world is this energy?
Many in the martial world altered the spiritual energy of heaven and earth before using it.
The Heavenly Wayfarer of the Blood Heaven Sect was one example, and for martial artists who had reached a certain realm, such a thing could almost be considered fundamental.
But Unhwi’s energy was different.
It seemed as though it could embrace everything.
And at the same time, overwhelm everything.
Strange.
Utterly strange.
Thirty exchanges.
Unhwi began to counterattack.
His sword rose.
Upward.
It was a simple movement.
Nothing more than lifting the sword from below.
A motion so fundamental that calling it a technique would almost have been embarrassing.
But—
RUMBLE—!!
The sky above the training ground split apart.
Gongsun Jinhae stopped.
His eyes widened.
Greatly.
The eyes of an old man who had devoted his entire life to martial arts.
The eyes of a master who had reached the Supreme Void Realm.
They filled with shock.
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