CCTnovel Chapter 459
Chapter 459
“How?”“I will shatter what he is trying to achieve. Or take it from him completely.”
“Hmm...”
Eun Unsaeng thought for a moment. He did not know exactly what result Unhwi intended to create.
Still, he could offer something like advice.
No—it was a question.
“...Are you certain that is what you truly want?”
Unhwi fell silent for a moment.
“I do not know what this man you mentioned is trying to achieve, but if you shatter it, that can be explained by the nature of the martial world. But taking it for yourself is another matter.”
He was not wrong.
“There will be people buried in it, and people watching it. Whatever your position may be, if you take it, that will cause another problem. A very large one.”
Eun Unsaeng’s eyes gleamed sharply.
“Will you truly take it?”
Unhwi answered without hesitation.
“Someone once asked me a similar question.”
“Then give me the same answer you gave him.”
“Yes. I will. At the time, this is what I told him.”
Unhwi drew a short breath and opened his mouth.
“I have no greed.”
“Greed?”
“Yes. I have no desire to ascend a throne. I do not wish to command the world. The Martial Supreme? I have no interest in that either.”
Eun Unsaeng narrowed his eyes.
It was not a lie. Unhwi had no such ambition. If he had any desire, it was only the desire to see the end of martial arts, and the wish to protect his people.
Becoming the Martial Supreme, commanding the world—none of that was his goal or his purpose.
“But if you become the Martial Supreme, that itself is no different from ascending a throne and commanding the world, is it not?”
Eun Unsaeng was no fool, and he immediately pointed that out. But Unhwi’s answer came without hesitation.
“That is only what others would think of me.”
“Hmm...”
Eun Unsaeng scratched his head and asked again.
“Then why try to take it? Would shattering it not be enough?”
“It would be enough. If I were alone.”
“...If you were alone?”
Unhwi set down his cup.
“I have people.”
“...”
“They each have their own path. A direction they wish to walk. A dream they wish to fulfill.”
Unhwi looked up at the sky.
The stars seemed to be pouring down.
“I want to open that road for them.”
“...”
“So they can go where they wish to go. If the road is blocked, I will break it open. If someone stands in their way, I will cut them down.”
After a brief silence, Unhwi drank and continued.
“If, at the end of that, I must take something—”
Unhwi looked at Eun Unsaeng.
“Then I will take it.”
“...Even if that is not your will?”
“You should think of it the opposite way.”
“Hmm?”
“That is my will.”
His voice was calm.
“I am merely someone who opens roads. There is something I intend to do, and in the process, the things my people wish to achieve overlap with it. I do not believe it is right to ignore that and pass by. I intend to help them achieve what they seek. That is all.”
Eun Unsaeng stared at Unhwi for a long time.
He was a strange man.
He had no ambition and no lust for power. He did not want the world.
And yet he was trying to do something that would shake the world.
It seemed contradictory, but from another angle, it was perfectly clear.
He treasured his people terribly, and he meant to bring every grudge and tie to a definite end.
Yes.
A martial artist.
In Unhwi, Eun Unsaeng saw the true meaning of a martial artist.
“...You mad bastard.”
Eun Unsaeng chuckled and continued.
“Then let me ask. What is your ultimate goal?”
“To see the end of martial arts.”
Eun Unsaeng’s mouth fell open.
“...You little bastard. I thought you had no ambition, but you do. So in the end, you’re the kind of man who’ll make enemies everywhere.”
What did it mean to see the end of martial arts?
It did not simply mean becoming the greatest in the martial world.
It meant a step beyond that.
It meant becoming a true martial god.
And what was needed to become a martial god?
A tower of corpses drenched in blood, built endlessly higher.
“And you say you’ll move for your people along the way? Listen, you bastard. Moving for your people may mean choosing the long road in the end. As long as those people keep walking, you will have to keep walking beside them.”
“I know.”
“...How long do you intend to walk with them?”
“To the end.”
It was a short answer.
But the weight inside it was anything but light.
That was how deeply he cherished his people.
His own clear ambition.
Not a means for revenge, but a dream that belonged to Unhwi alone.
To achieve that dream, he was now taking what amounted to a long detour. And yet he said he would accept it.
In truth, he already was accepting it. He was already walking the long way around.
Eun Unsaeng drank, then set down his cup.
“...Good.”
“Yes?”
“If that is your path, then I will help you too.”
Unhwi shook his head.
“You have no need to become involved in unnecessary trouble.”
“Unnecessary trouble?”
Eun Unsaeng laughed.
“Am I not one of your people too?”
“...”
“Surely you’re not going to say I’m not? If so, take my horse standing over there and go straight to the Blood Heaven Sect.”
Unhwi was silent for a moment.
Then—
he laughed softly.
“...No. You are.”
“Good. Then that settles it.”
Eun Unsaeng lifted his cup.
“If you mean to open a road, I will stand beside that road as well. If you need the strength of the Great Desert, I will give it. If you need troops, I will give you troops. If you need my life...”
He paused for a moment.
“Hmm... that one would be a little wasteful.”
Unhwi laughed.
“That joke goes too far, Senior.”
“It is not a joke.”
Eun Unsaeng spoke with a serious expression.
“If you call, I will come. Wherever it is.”
His eyes were sincere. Unhwi read that clearly.
Unhwi lifted his cup.
“...Thank you.”
“Thank me? After everything you’ve done for me?”
Their cups met.
Clink.
A clear sound rang through the night of the Great Desert.
The two drank.
Setting down his cup, Eun Unsaeng asked,
“So, what is this man’s name?”
“...”
“You don’t have to say it, but I can guess roughly. The Heavenly Wayfarer?”
Unhwi shook his head.
“It is not the Heavenly Wayfarer.”
“It isn’t?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Yu Cheong.”
“...Yu Cheong? The Vice Leader of the Blood Heaven Sect?”
“Yes.”
Eun Unsaeng’s eyes widened.
“...What the hell. So you really were doing something insane. Aren’t you the Blood Heaven Arbiter?”
“I am.”
“Then that bastard is right beside you.”
“That is how it turned out.”
Eun Unsaeng stared at him as if he found it absurd.
“That’s no different from walking straight into the heart of enemy territory... Was that intentional?”
“Yes. That is the only way to break him completely.”
It was a calm answer.
Eun Unsaeng stared at Unhwi for a long while.
Then he burst into loud laughter.
“Hahahaha! Good. Good!”
The laughter stopped.
His gaze turned sharp.
“Interesting. You really do take everything you can, profit included. You say you’re taking the long road for your people? You bastard. You’re doing everything you need to do while taking that long road.”
“I cannot afford to miss anything.”
“...Meticulous. I don’t know how remarkable this Yu Cheong bastard is.”
He lifted his cup.
“But I don’t think he’ll be your match.”
Unhwi raised his own cup.
“We shall see.”
In his previous life, Unhwi had lost to Yu Cheong.
That was the result.
He had not even noticed Yu Cheong’s scheme, nor had he known that Yu Cheong was behind Snow Palace.
But this time was different.
He had shattered most of Yu Cheong’s schemes and forced him to reveal even the cards he had kept hidden.
One by one.
He would do it one step at a time.
Unhwi would slowly drain him dry.
Their cups met.
The night deepened.
The stars shone.
The two men’s drinking continued until dawn.
***
At the same time.
The Jin family.
A great family of the northwest.
It had been renowned as a family of swordsmanship for more than two hundred years. Even among the Five Great Families, it boasted the longest history.
Inside the fortress, everything was in turmoil.
The martial artists hurrying back and forth all wore tense expressions.
Understandably so.
There was a clear reason.
News had arrived from Yellow Sand Pass.
That news had shaken the entire Jin family, and the place most shaken now was the grand hall.
A middle-aged man sat in the seat of honor.
Deep wrinkles marked his face, and his eyes were sharp. But at that moment, weariness lay in those eyes.
Jin Muhang.
The head of the Jin family and a master of the Harmony realm.
He was looking down at the letter in his hand.
The contents were simple.
—Come apologize.
A single sentence.
Below it was a name.
—Seol Unhwi, Blood Heaven Arbiter of the Blood Heaven Sect.
Jin Muhang’s brow furrowed deeply.
“...Mad bastard.”
There was no other response.
The wording was not even respectful.
He dared tell the head of the Jin family to come apologize? In person?
After killing valuable forces of the Jin family, what exactly was the intention behind sending such words?
No—he did not have the leisure to think about that, nor did he want to.
Human filth.
“Family Head.”
At the sudden voice, Jin Muhang raised his head.
Three men stood below the grand hall.
Great Elder Jin Hoyeon.
Second Elder Jin Baekun.
Third Elder Jin Yusang.
They were central figures of the Jin family.
Great Elder Jin Hoyeon opened his mouth.
“A survivor from Yellow Sand Pass has arrived.”
“How many survived?”
“...Seven.”
Jin Muhang’s hand trembled.
They had sent a total of three hundred men, including Maeng Jeung.
They had even had a master of the Manifestation of the Boundless, yet only seven had returned alive.
“...I ask only to confirm. Maeng Jeung?”
“He is dead.”
“...How?”
“They say Seol Unhwi killed him personally. In a duel to the death.”
Silence descended.
Maeng Jeung was dead.
A swordsman who had trained with the Jin family for thirty years.
“...What did they say that bastard’s realm was?”
“According to rumor, Unity of Heaven and Man. But before that, he was a genius who created a new realm called the Three Profound Realms...”
“The Three Profound Realms?”
Jin Muhang’s eyes narrowed.
It was a realm he had never heard of. More than anything, Jin Muhang had only recently emerged from closed-door training, so the existence of Seol Unhwi himself was still quite unfamiliar to him.
Great Elder Jin Hoyeon continued quietly.
“It is a new realm between the Four States of Heaven and ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) Earth and the Five Realms of Martial Divinity. While you were in seclusion, Family Head, he created that realm, slaughtered not only martial artists of the Heaven-Human realm but also those below it, and even killed several martial artists who had reached Unity of Heaven and Man.”
“...The Three Profound Realms... I find myself curious about that realm.”
“...Forgive me. Seol Unhwi has never spoken of the essence of that realm, so...”
“You do not know?”
“...No.”
Jin Muhang set the letter down on the table.
“The Snow Mountain Demon Lord, Seol Unhwi.”
He muttered the name.
“And now Blood Heaven Arbiter. The position directly beneath the Heavenly Wayfarer in the Blood Heaven Sect. One man beneath heaven, above ten thousand others.”
Jin Hoyeon nodded.
“...What could he possibly be thinking, interfering in our affairs?”
“Red Spirit Court is a branch of the Blood Heaven Sect, so...”
“I know that.”
Jin Muhang pressed a hand to his forehead.
“The problem is what comes next.”
He picked up the letter again.
“He tells me to come apologize, Great Elder.”
“Yes.”
“In your view, what does this mean?”