Seol Unhwi drove his foot forward.

KWAAANG—!

Murong Nantian slid backward, then immediately kicked off the ground and raised his leg high into the air.

Toward Seol Unhwi’s head.

He brought it down.

KWAAAAANG—!!

Seol Unhwi crossed both arms and blocked, but both his legs were driven into the ground.

Nearly to the ankles.

Seol Unhwi swept out his leg, sending a mound of dirt crashing toward Murong Nantian.

“AAAHHHHH—!!”

Murong Nantian, now wholly consumed by madness, screamed.

Ghost God Frenzied Strike Fist.

Ghost God Descends.

He condensed all his demonic energy into his right fist.

The fist turned black.

KWAAAAAAAANG—!

He drove it toward Seol Unhwi’s chest.

Seol Unhwi raised his left hand to block, but—

KWAAAAAAAAAAANG—!!

An explosion.

Seol Unhwi’s body was blasted backward and rolled across the ground.

More than ten zhang.

He slowly rose.

His left arm was bent at an unnatural angle.

Completely shattered.

It was fine.

White mist rose from the arm, and the bones slowly began to realign.

Murong Nantian drew up the last of his strength.

Even his life force.

Black demonic energy exploded from his entire body. His skin split open, and blood sprayed out.

“You alone... you alone...!”

He charged and threw a punch.

A punch containing everything.

Ghost God Frenzied Strike Fist.

Ultimate Art, Suppressing Peak Demon Soul Fist.

Murong Nantian was certain.

With this attack, he could kill that monstrous bastard standing before him.

It was an attack that contained everything of a master who had reached the Unity of Heaven and Man.

No matter how extraordinary his regenerative power was, he would not be able to endure this.

The fist shot forward.

And just before it touched Seol Unhwi—

Tap.

With that slight sound, Seol Unhwi’s body vanished from where it stood.

KWAAAAAAANG—!!

A thunderous blast erupted, and everything in front of Murong Nantian was reduced to ruin.

A radius of dozens of zhang.

The power was overwhelming, and beyond that, Murong Nantian could do nothing more.

From behind his back, a golden radiance exploded forth.

Eighteen Arhat Hands.

Fifteenth Hand, Quiescent Extinction Hand.

KWAAAAANG—!!

Murong Nantian’s body was smashed into the ground. The earth caved inward, and cracks spread in all directions.

Then—

From the places where the ground had cracked, a chain of explosions erupted.

KWAAANG—!

Dust soared skyward.

Slowly, the dust cleared.

Murong Nantian lay embedded in the ground, unable to move even a finger.

That was only natural.

With every bone in his body shattered from the back outward, it would have been stranger if even a martial artist of his caliber could still move.

The only reason he still clung to life at all was because he was a martial artist of the Unity of Heaven and Man.

Seol Unhwi extended his hand toward empty space.

At once, the Trueflame Heavenly-Spirit Sword lying on the ground was drawn into his grasp.

He stood silently before Murong Nantian.

Murong Nantian coughed up blood and muttered,

“...What... are you... exactly...?”

“......”

“Do you... know... how the Murong Family was exterminated...? We had committed no crime... and yet everyone died.”

“......”

“My nephew was eight... Eight years old... and before my eyes, his head was cut off. He asked what his crime was. But no one answered him.”

Bloody tears ran from Murong Nantian’s eyes.

“...The world was wrong. So I tried to change it. Through the Hwanmyeongdan, I meant to sweep away this filthy world in its entirety.”

Returning radiance before death.

His voice, which had been fading, had at some point become clear again.

“...But what in the world are you! Why...! Why, in the end, are you interfering!”

Seol Unhwi answered quietly.

“You laid hands on me.”

“...What?”

“You touched my people, and you tried to kill me.”

“......”

“Whatever path Senior Murong walks, that does not concern me. But once you laid hands on me.”

Seol Unhwi raised his sword.

“In the path of the martial artist, what ultimately carries an ending through is strength.”

Murong Nantian laughed.

“...Yes, that’s right... In the end, that is what it comes down to....”

“And another thing. The one who exterminated the Murong Family was ‘the prince of Hanseong Kingdom.’ Hanseong Kingdom was a weak nation, a small one, but a state was still a state.”

“......”

“Did you not kill him with your own hands. The fact that you organized the Hwanmyeongdan after already finishing all your revenge means that yes, as Senior Murong said, this was the new path you had chosen.”

“......”

“I respect that. I understand it as well. Even if the age of peace in Murim is shattered and all is engulfed by the flames of war, yes, I understand. But you should not have become entangled with me.”

“......”

“I, too, have a road I walk, and Senior Murong has the road he walks. This is the final moment of the road Senior Murong has walked.”

“...So?”

“So, what I say now is a respectful request—at least in your final moment, go as a martial artist.”

“...As a martial artist... yes, yes. Only then would it have meaning.”

Murong Nantian spoke in a quiet voice.

“...I want... to see your face.”

Seol Unhwi silently lowered himself onto one knee and turned Murong Nantian’s body over.

Staring straight at Seol Unhwi with eyes whose blood vessels had all burst, he asked,

“...We spoke of roads.”

“Yes.”

“At the end of the road you walk... what is there?”

After thinking for a moment, Seol Unhwi answered briefly.

“One of two things.”

“Two things?”

“One is to stand above the heavens.”

“...And the other?”

“To rule the heavens.”

Murong Nantian’s eyes widened.

Then the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.

“To stand above them or rule them... You truly are insane.”

“I will take that as praise.”

“It is praise. I... see now that I touched someone I never should have touched.”

“Yes.”

“...If I am to die at the hands of one who will one day become the heavens... then that is not so bad.”

Murong Nantian closed his eyes.

Seol Unhwi—

Without a single inch of hesitation, brought down the Trueflame Heavenly-Spirit Sword.

SCHHK—!

Today, the Commander of the Hwanmyeongdan died.

***

Seol Unhwi looked silently at Murong Nantian’s corpse, then retrieved his sword and spoke.

“Chief Seong.”

As though he had been waiting for it, Chief Seong quickly approached, only for his eyes to go round at Seol Unhwi’s next words.

“I want to send this corpse to the Sacheon Alliance.”

“...This one?”

Seol Unhwi nodded.

“Call for someone and instruct them to send this corpse to the Sacheon Alliance.”

“...Understood.”

Seol Unhwi sat there for a brief time to rest.

Chief Seong wrote out the message, then sent off one of the messenger pigeons kept in the carriage.

He turned his head and looked toward Seol Unhwi.

Namgung Wonyang was wrapping cloth around Seol Unhwi’s arm, while Ju Soa tilted her head, wondering when he had even prepared such a thing.

Seol Unhwi’s eyes met his.

Then Seol Unhwi slowly rose.

The meaning was obvious.

It was time to depart.

“...You should rest a little longer.”

At Chief Seong’s worried voice, Seol Unhwi shook his head.

“I can rest while we travel.”

“......”

“There is no discomfort in circulating internal energy, and my body is also sound. There is some mental fatigue, but not enough to interfere with ordinary activity.”

Chief Seong blinked.

“I explained it in detail because you worry so much.”

Looking awkward, Chief Seong scratched his head.

“Understood.”

It was true that Chief Seong worried too much.

So consistently that there was no need even to say more, given how many similar situations there had already been.

And each time, Seol Unhwi had always proven it.

This time would be no different.

Thinking that, Chief Seong spoke firmly.

“Let us go. I will escort you to the carriage.”

***

The Heavenly Snow Sect.

A core sect of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace, and a sect whose name stood high even in Murim.

To be precise, there were currently five masters at the pinnacle known to Murim.

Gun Mugeol of the Murim Alliance, Kang Cheonwoo of the Sacheon Alliance, Heaven’s Chosen One and Yu Cheong of the Original Blood Sect,

and Seol Jungcheon of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace.

The Original Blood Sect had no interest in unifying the Central Plains or anything of that sort. It was simply an organization that carried itself with the authority of reigning at the summit of Murim.

But the other three were not like that.

There was no need even to speak of Gun Mugeol or Kang Cheonwoo, and as for Seol Jungcheon, he too had once ignored the Central Plains like the Original Blood Sect—but from the moment Seol Unhwi directly intervened in the Heavenly Alliance, Murim had become a three-sided structure of the Murim Alliance, the Sacheon Alliance, and the Heavenly Alliance.

A situation in which three masters of the pinnacle were checking one another.

Within that Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace, the Heavenly Snow Sect possessed prestige that in some ways could be said to rival even that of the Heavenly Alliance.

That was only natural.

The daughter of Sa Cheonuk, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Snow Sect, was Seol Jungcheon’s First Lady.

And that woman’s daughter was the Young Palace Lord of the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace.

In the end, it was only right that the Heavenly Snow Sect, positioned in the middle of all that, carried immense weight and importance.

And yet, into such a Heavenly Snow Sect, a carriage and a wagon now entered.

The wagon’s canopy had been pulled back.

There, laid out in the open, were thirty-five frozen heads.

Naturally, the atmosphere of the Heavenly Snow Sect froze solid.

Because they all knew who had done such a thing.

Everyone thought the same thing.

Was the status of the sect called the Heavenly Snow Sect truly equal, within the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Palace, to that of Seol Unhwi, the Mysterious Snow Palace Lord?

Which side stood higher, and which side would bow—

that would be decided today.

The martial artists guarding the Heavenly Snow Sect silently stepped aside.

“They do not even ask why we have come?”

At Chief Seong’s words from the driver’s seat, one of the martial artists cupped his fist and said,

“The Sect Master instructed us not to stop you.”

“Not to stop us?”

“Yes. And he ordered us to guide you to the Heavenly Snow Sect’s training ground.”

Chief Seong narrowed his eyes.

The training ground, of all places?

That had to be deliberate.

Of course, given Seol Unhwi’s nature, he had not come here merely to talk—but from Chief Seong’s point of view, if at all possible, it would have been better if this could have ended with words alone.

And yet the stage prepared was the training ground.

Did Sa Cheonuk know that Murong Nantian and Seol Unhwi had fought?

Did he know and make his move accordingly?

To humiliate him completely in front of everyone?

He did not know.

Just then—

Seol Unhwi opened the carriage door and stepped outside.

The Heavenly Snow Sect’s martial artists, five in total, cupped their fists toward him.

“We greet the Mysterious Snow Palace Lord.”

Seol Unhwi gave a short nod and spoke.

“The Sect Master of the Heavenly Snow Sect has prepared a stage for us. It would be discourteous to ride there in a carriage.”

Behind him, Namgung Wonyang and Ju Soa stepped down as well.

At the sight of the two women’s overwhelming beauty, the martial artists of the Heavenly Snow Sect were visibly startled.

They had only heard rumors. They had not imagined it would be to this degree.

Seol Unhwi said,

“Deal with what is in the wagon yourselves.”

“...Pardon?”

Seol Unhwi did not repeat himself.

He simply began walking.

Chief Seong also stepped down from the carriage, then leaned in and whispered softly to the Heavenly Snow Sect martial artists.

“He means you are to dispose of them however you please. Burn them, feed them to wild dogs—do as you see fit.”

“......”

“Do I need to explain further?”

“...No.”

Chief Seong also began walking.

The four of them entered the Heavenly Snow Sect.

The Heavenly Snow Sect was vast.

Situated midway up the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Mountain, this sect possessed a grandeur different from that of the Snow Palace’s main house.