Master Primal Truth spoke.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Blood Heaven Arbiter.”
It was an ordinary greeting, yet there was nothing ordinary about it.
Unhwi knew.
Heaven Gate.
The Heavenly Origin Martial Arts Training Sect.
Those who used ground-folding steps.
Those who folded space to travel.
And their elite group known as the Ten Pillars of Heaven Gate.
Unhwi had once killed the sixth among them.
A man named Yeo Mubaek.
There was no chance Master Primal Truth did not know that.
Yet he was smiling.
Saying it was a pleasure to meet him.
He has not changed.
He was an expert at concealing his true intentions.
The conclusion was simple.
Master Primal Truth was a venomous snake.
Once he sank his fangs into someone, he never let go.
He would ensure that anyone he bit died, one way or another.
And if he could not kill them, he would inflict a wound that made it impossible for them to live normally before dying himself.
That was the kind of man he was.
Yu Cheong required no further explanation.
A man whose true intentions could not be read.
An exhausting man.
And—
A man Unhwi had to kill.
Unhwi turned his head.
There was one more chair before the round table.
It was not one of the table’s seats.
It stood outside the circle, beside the Heavenly Wayfarer.
Not a formal seat, but a place for an attendant observer.
A place for someone present not as a member of Heaven Beyond Heaven, but as a witness.
Yet merely knowing that Heaven Beyond Heaven existed—
That alone gave meaning to sitting in this place.
Unhwi walked over slowly and sat down.
Then he looked at the people before him.
The Undying Maitreya.
The Mystic Yellow Sage.
The Heavenly Law Sage.
Master Primal Truth.
And Yu Cheong.
Above them all sat the Heavenly Wayfarer.
People who knew secrets of the world that Unhwi did not.
People whose lineages had endured for centuries.
People unknown to the martial world.
The Heavenly Wayfarer spoke.
“Allow me to introduce it. This is Heaven Beyond Heaven.”
And now—
Unhwi sat at its very center.
***
Silence lingered for a moment.
The Mystic Yellow Sage set down his teacup.
It made no sound.
The movement was perfectly controlled.
Yet the action itself spoke clearly.
He had something to say.
“Heavenly Lord.”
“Speak.”
“You entrusted the matters concerning Jeong Docheon and the Red Spirit Court to the Blood Heaven Arbiter.”
“I did.”
“I wish to ask him something.”
After saying that, the Mystic Yellow Sage paused and looked at Unhwi.
“Directly.”
“Directly?”
“Yes.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer smiled.
It was permission to proceed, and the Mystic Yellow Sage opened his mouth as though he had been waiting for it.
“Blood Heaven Arbiter.”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand what kind of place this is?”
Unhwi looked at the Mystic Yellow Sage.
“Since the Origin of the Blood Heaven Sect brought me here, it is clearly a place I am meant to know.”
“A place you are meant to know.”
The Mystic Yellow Sage repeated the words.
“I suppose so. Since the Heavenly Lord brought you here.”
There was something peculiar in the way he ended the sentence.
Since the Heavenly Lord brought you here.
Layered beneath it was another meaning.
That without the Heavenly Lord, Unhwi could never have entered this place.
The form of address did not bother him.
This was Heaven Beyond Heaven, a secret organization.
It would have been stranger if its leader were addressed as Cult Leader or Origin here.
Still, Unhwi did not care.
He would have preferred to call him Elder Cheon, but that was a name reserved for when they were alone.
In a gathering like this, Origin was appropriate.
That was Unhwi’s judgment.
In any case, his expression did not change.
The Mystic Yellow Sage continued.
“You must already have visited the Peach Blossom Garden, and so you should know that those seated here have lived for a single great cause for centuries.”
To be precise—
Unhwi had never visited the Peach Blossom Garden in this life.
But most people did not believe that.
They assumed he must have gone there somehow.
There were people who guarded the Peach Blossom Garden, and none of them had ever seen Unhwi.
But one man was involved.
The Heavenly Wayfarer.
Because he was involved, they assumed it was only natural.
Unhwi did not bother correcting them.
Nor did he wish to.
“However.”
The Mystic Yellow Sage’s voice lowered.
“Since you became the Blood Heaven Arbiter, you have moved with remarkable frequency.”
“......”
“You brought the cult leader of the Thunder Demon Cult under control, seized the Red Spirit Court, and visited the Gongsun family.”
Unhwi’s eyes shifted slightly.
He even knew about the visit to the Gongsun family.
And he had mentioned not only the Thunder Demon Cult, but also what had happened at the Red Spirit Court.
He knew everything occurring inside the Blood Heaven Sect.
“You are swift, bold, and unhesitating,” the Mystic Yellow Sage said.
“Put kindly, you are capable.”
A beat passed.
“Put less kindly, you act unilaterally.”
The grand hall fell silent.
The Heavenly Law Sage interjected.
“The Mystic Yellow Sage is correct.”
His voice was heavy.
“The position of Blood Heaven Arbiter is no light matter. As the second-highest authority in the Blood Heaven Sect, you are meant to act in accordance with the Heavenly Lord’s will.”
“......”
“There is a difference between carrying out his will and acting according to your own.”
He looked at Unhwi.
“Was threatening Jeong Docheon an order from the Heavenly Lord?”
Unhwi looked at the Heavenly Law Sage.
“No.”
“......”
“It was my judgment.”
The air in the hall grew heavy.
The Heavenly Law Sage’s eyes narrowed.
“You brought the cult leader of the Thunder Demon Cult under control on your own judgment?”
“That is correct.”
“The man who creates the Blood Stones. The man who produces what everyone seated here requires.”
“......”
“If that is not unilateral action, what is?”
Unhwi remained silent.
One beat.
Then another.
He opened his mouth.
“It was unilateral.”
A stir ran through the grand hall.
He had admitted it.
He had not spoken around the matter.
He had offered no excuse.
The Mystic Yellow Sage’s brow rose slightly.
The look in the Heavenly Law Sage’s eyes changed.
Unhwi continued.
“Jeong Docheon was someone who needed to be brought under control.”
“......”
“If the cult leader of the Thunder Demon Cult acts as he pleases, the entire Blood Heaven Sect suffers. I still do not believe that judgment was wrong.”
“You should have sought permission,” the Heavenly Law Sage said.
“From whom?”
Unhwi asked calmly.
The Heavenly Law Sage stopped.
“......From the Heavenly Lord.”
“The Origin already knew.”
Unhwi spoke evenly.
“He knew, and he did not stop me.”
The Heavenly Law Sage’s mouth closed.
He could not refute that.
The Heavenly Wayfarer’s refusal to intervene was effectively permission.
At least after the fact.
The Mystic Yellow Sage interjected.
“The Heavenly Lord’s refusal to stop you is not the same as acting according to his will.”
It was a sharp point.
Unhwi looked at him.
“That is correct.”
“......”
“They are different. However—”
Unhwi’s voice lowered.
“Different does not mean wrong.”
The Mystic Yellow Sage’s eyes shifted slightly.
Unhwi continued.
“A great cause carried on for centuries is undoubtedly weighty. But—”
Unhwi slowly crossed one leg over the other.
Everyone flinched.
Has he lost his mind?
“You seem somewhat arrogant.”
No one spoke.
Madman.
This lunatic is truly insane.
“......What...... did you say?”
“I do not disregard the authority that comes with a position. And from my understanding, the position of Blood Heaven Arbiter answers to only one person.”
“......”
“That person is, naturally, the Origin seated here. So why—”
Unhwi’s eyes narrowed.
Why?
“Why do outsiders who are not the Origin have the arrogance to interfere in the affairs of the Blood Heaven Sect?”
The two men reacted at once.
“......You deranged bastard.......”
“Did I not say he was young? His judgment is clouded precisely because of his youth. A man like this will inevitably cause a grave problem in the future.”
The first was the Mystic Yellow Sage.
The second, the Heavenly Law Sage.
Unhwi immediately answered.
“No. You should think of it in the opposite way.”
“......What?”
“To speak frankly, I do not know what Heaven Beyond Heaven’s great cause is.”
“......What......?”
Everyone was taken aback.
As one, they turned toward the Heavenly Wayfarer.
The sight of every gaze in the room, including Yu Cheong’s, converging on him was almost spectacular.
“Heavenly Lord...... Is it true that this man knows nothing of the great cause?”
The Heavenly Wayfarer, who had been quietly watching Unhwi, answered in a low voice.
“It is.”
“......How could......?”
“It was my decision.”
“......”
“Was there any need to tell him?”
“......You appointed a man who knows nothing of it to the immensely powerful position of Blood Heaven Arbiter.......”
“Heavenly Law.”
“......Yes.”
“I have been listening, and our Blood Heaven Arbiter has not said a single thing that is wrong.”
“......What?”
“Since when have you concerned yourself with the affairs of the Blood Heaven Sect?”
“......Ah.......”
“How curious. Even our Vice Leader is sitting quietly, yet you, who reside far from the One-Origin Plateau, conduct yourself as though you were the cult leader.”
The Heavenly Wayfarer was still smiling.
He looked genuinely pleased.
Resting his chin on one hand, he stared at the Heavenly Law Sage.
“Can you answer me?”
The Heavenly Law Sage sprang to his feet and immediately prostrated himself with his entire body against the floor.
“I apologize...... I am deeply sorry!”
“Heh-heh......”
The moment the Mystic Yellow Sage heard that laugh, he too rose from his seat and assumed the same posture beside the Heavenly Law Sage.
Unhwi silently looked down at the two men.
How should I put this?
In his previous life, Unhwi had certainly known of Heaven Beyond Heaven.
Yet back then, he had known only four martial artists who belonged to it.
The Heavenly Wayfarer.
Master Primal Truth.
Yu Cheong.
The Undying Maitreya.
Of course, each of those four commanded people of their own.
Their realms could not be dismissed.
There were those who had reached the pinnacle, and others in the Supreme Void Realm.
Strictly speaking, they too could be considered members of Heaven Beyond Heaven, but in truth they merely had one foot inside it.
In any case, those four had been the central figures among that vast number.
Yet Unhwi had never once encountered the men called Heavenly Law and Mystic Yellow.
He had never even heard the names of the organizations to which they belonged.
But seeing them now, he thought he understood.
They are arrogant.
Pathetically so.
Unhwi let out a small sigh.
Yu Cheong watched him with a peculiar look.
At that moment, Unhwi turned his head and looked at Yu Cheong.
Their gazes met.
Yu Cheong silently turned away.
Unhwi did the same.
Then there was Master Primal Truth, watching both of them with a meaningful smile.
To put it plainly, the entire situation was a complete mess.
“Rise.”
The two men who had been prostrating themselves sprang upright.
“There is no need to go that far. Return to your seats.”
“......Yes.”
“Blood Heaven Arbiter.”
“Yes, Origin.”
“Would you continue?”
Unhwi nodded, then looked around the round table.
“Both of you, Seniors, know very well that the Origin brought me to this place.”
“......”
“If this seat was closed for centuries, then it was the Origin who opened its door.”
“......”
“Am I supposed to retreat from a door the Origin himself opened?”
Silence.
The corners of the Mystic Yellow Sage’s mouth lowered slightly.
The Heavenly Law Sage clenched his fist.
“And I will say this again. I am the Blood Heaven Arbiter of the Blood Heaven Sect, while neither of you has any connection to the Blood Heaven Sect.”
“......”
“Do not interfere in the affairs of the Blood Heaven Sect again. To make certain there is no misunderstanding, I mean that you should refrain from overstepping your place.”
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