Chapter 506

Unhwi was watching him.

He’s different from Han Soyeong.

When Han Soyeong faced Unhwi, she had not calculated an escape route.

She had drawn her sword.

Because she was a martial artist.

Seop Gyeong was different.

The first thing he had done was search for a way to flee.

“Did you inspect the outpost on Spirit Heaven Mountain?”

Unhwi asked.

Seop Gyeong’s expression stiffened.

“......I did.”

“Then you already know. Gwak Hyeongjin’s outpost, Long Forest Mountain, and Spirit Heaven Mountain. I crushed all three.”

“.......”

“And I met Han Soyeong as well.”

Seop Gyeong’s eyes wavered.

“Han Soyeong......?”

“I left her alive.”

Seop Gyeong’s expression changed almost imperceptibly.

Relief?

No.

Calculation.

He had taken the fact that Han Soyeong was still alive to mean there was room for negotiation.

Unhwi read it.

So this is the kind of man he is.

Unhwi spoke.

“Seop Gyeong.”

“......Speak.”

“Two days ago, in front of Blood Spirit Hall, you caught Namgung Wonyang’s sword between two fingers.”

The corner of Seop Gyeong’s mouth shifted faintly.

“The will of the commander of the Heaven-Law Platform—”

“I already heard that from Han Soyeong.”

Unhwi cut him off.

“That is not what I am asking.”

“.......”

“I had intended to leave you alive as well, if possible.”

Seop Gyeong’s eyes widened.

“I was going to hand you over to Namgung Wonyang.”

Seop Gyeong stared at Unhwi.

Then he spoke.

“In that case, even now, you could—”

“No. I changed my mind.”

Seop Gyeong’s mouth closed.

“Because I saw what you just did.”

“......What did I......?”

“The moment you saw me, you searched for an escape route.”

Seop Gyeong’s face hardened.

“Your eyes were busy. You looked left and right, behind you, and above.”

“.......”

“When a martial artist faces an enemy, he reaches for his sword. He does not search for a way to run.”

Unhwi’s eyes turned cold.

“Han Soyeong did.”

“.......”

“The moment she saw me, Han Soyeong reached for her sword. Even though she knew she could not win.”

“.......”

“That is why I spared her.”

Unhwi took a step closer.

The branches froze beneath his ice energy.

“You were different.”

Seop Gyeong’s face turned pale.

“When you caught Namgung Wonyang’s sword between two fingers, you carried yourself like a mighty man.”

“.......”

“From the look of you, you have reached Manifestation of the Boundless. That is quite a high realm. I wondered why someone at that level was only the Ninth Seat, but now that I have seen your character, I think I understand.”

“......You bastard.......”

“How can a martial artist’s sword differ depending on whether he points it at the strong or the weak? You are no martial artist. You are nothing but an opportunist and a swindler.”

“......You speak...... too freely.”

Unhwi gave a faint scoff.

“A man who only puts on airs before those weaker than himself is not called a martial artist. That is simply fact.”

Seop Gyeong’s eyes shook.

He clenched his teeth.

“......Blood Heaven Arbiter.”

“What?”

“We can negotiate.”

Unhwi stopped.

“I can convey your position to the commander of the Heaven-Law Platform. Personally. The Blood Heaven Arbiter’s will—”

“The man who caught Namgung Wonyang’s sword between two fingers.”

Unhwi spoke.

“Now that his life is in danger, he asks to negotiate.”

“.......”

“So what I saw was correct. You are not a martial artist.”

“......I am the Ninth Seat of the Heaven-Law Platform. My rank is high, so words delivered directly by me would naturally carry that much credibility—”

“Rank.”

Unhwi repeated the word.

“Does a higher rank make your life more valuable?”

Seop Gyeong closed his mouth.

“Does a higher rank permit you to be a coward?”

“.......”

“Han Soyeong is the Twelfth Seat. Her rank is lower than yours.”

Unhwi spoke.

“But Han Soyeong reached for her sword.”

“.......”

“A martial artist beneath you in rank proved more worthy of the name than you.”

Seop Gyeong’s face twisted.

“What does that have to do with—”

“Draw your sword.”

Seop Gyeong’s body stiffened.

He looked into Unhwi’s eyes.

There was nothing in them.

No patience.

No willingness to wait.

Seop Gyeong’s hand moved.

Not toward his sword.

Inside his robe.

He tried to pull something out.

Unhwi saw it.

A hidden weapon.

No, it was not even a hidden weapon.

For an instant, he caught sight of it.

A smoke bomb.

Smoke manufactured by Viper Valley. Something the Heaven-Law Platform carried for emergencies. Once detonated, it would erase all visibility.

Seop Gyeong intended to flee under its cover.

Unhwi’s eyes turned white.

Heavenly Snow Force.

Before Seop Gyeong’s hand reached inside his robe—

Crackle.

The air froze.

Seop Gyeong’s hand stopped.

His fingers froze in place just as they touched his robe.

His wrist froze.

Then his arm.

Seop Gyeong instinctively raised his energy.

Boom—!!

Everything that had frozen exploded outward in every direction.

Seop Gyeong immediately kicked off the ground and retreated.

Unhwi’s sword crashed down where he had stood a moment earlier.

Kwoooom—!!

A thunderous blast erupted, splitting the earth.

Seop Gyeong stared at Unhwi.

“......There is still more than enough room to talk—”

“Without even drawing your sword.”

Unhwi murmured.

“You tried to set off smoke and run.”

“.......”

“And now you speak of talking?”

“.......”

“What a ridiculous man. When you caught Namgung Wonyang’s sword between two fingers...”

Unhwi’s gaze sank.

“How humiliated do you think Wonyang felt?”

“.......”

“You caught her sword. Then you drove her back. She struck the wall.”

“.......”

“And yet Wonyang still drew her sword.”

Unhwi looked down at Seop Gyeong.

“She had only recently reached the Three Profound Realms, yet she drew her sword before a martial artist at Manifestation of the Boundless.”

“.......”

“And a martial artist at Manifestation of the Boundless pulls out a smoke bomb before someone at Unity of Heaven and Man?”

Seop Gyeong’s face contorted.

It was impossible to tell whether the expression came from shame or fear.

Unhwi raised his sword.

“You are no longer worth speaking to.”

Unhwi’s eyes flashed.

His foot struck the ground.

The distance vanished.

Ten yards became a single step.

Seop Gyeong’s eyes widened.

He twisted his body instinctively.

A movement art of Manifestation of the Boundless.

His body blurred and slid sideways.

Unhwi’s sword split the place where Seop Gyeong had stood.

Boom—!

The ground erupted.

Earth and stone scattered in every direction.

A straight trench was carved into the ground where the blade had struck, thirty feet long.

As Seop Gyeong slipped to the side, he drew his sword.

This time, it was a sword.

Not a smoke bomb.

Because he had no other choice left.

He had realized he could not escape.

That single step just now.

The speed that had closed ten yards in an instant.

Even if he tried to run, a sword would pierce his back.

Seop Gyeong’s sword came free.

A short sword.

Nearly the length of a dagger.

Double-edged.

Patterns were engraved along the blade.

Energy flowed between those patterns.

The internal energy of Manifestation of the Boundless coursed through the sword and shone.

“......Fine. Let us try this.”

Unhwi gave a faint scoff.

“I thought you did not even know how to draw it. It seems I was wrong.”

Seop Gyeong’s eyes changed.

A coward was not necessarily weak.

Manifestation of the Boundless.

A realm above Unity of Heaven and Man.

In terms of realm alone, Seop Gyeong stood one stage above Unhwi.

Seop Gyeong took his stance.

He held the short sword in a reverse grip.

The blade lay along his forearm.

His center of gravity dropped to an extreme, nearly flattening him against the ground.

Close-range assassination.

Unhwi read it at once.

A short sword.

Reverse grip.

Low stance.

A sword art that slipped beneath the opponent’s guard.

Not the sword of a martial artist.

The sword of an assassin.

That was why he was only the Ninth Seat.

The reason someone at Manifestation of the Boundless held such a low rank.

Even within the Heaven-Law Platform, he was not treated as an overwhelmingly powerful martial artist.

Because he wielded an assassin’s sword.

But that did not mean an assassin’s sword was weak.

Seop Gyeong moved.

He was fast.

His body hugged the ground.

He slid like a shadow.

His posture remained low.

Through the grass, between the stones, he approached Unhwi as though seeping along the surface of the earth.

Unhwi brought his sword down.

Boom—!

The ground split.

But Seop Gyeong was gone.

Left.

He erupted upward from the ground.

He had crawled low, then sprung into the air.

The short sword aimed for Unhwi’s side.

From below to above.

An upward slash.

Fast.

A strike from a martial artist who had reached Manifestation of the Boundless.

It was unmistakably different from the attacks of the other Heaven-Law Platform martial artists he had faced so far.

Unhwi turned his sword.

Clang—!

He blocked.

The impact surged up his arm.

Heavy.

Internal energy on an entirely different level from the martial artists at Unity of Heaven and Man.

Manifestation of the Boundless was still Manifestation of the Boundless.

Unhwi’s body was pushed back half a step.

It was the first time he had been forced back all day.

Seop Gyeong’s eyes flashed.

He moved.

An opening.

Seop Gyeong spun.

The short sword traced a circle.

It targeted Unhwi’s lower body.

Knee.

Thigh.

Ankle.

Three consecutive strikes.

Unhwi retreated.

One step.

Seop Gyeong’s blade sliced through empty air.

But Seop Gyeong did not stop.

Using the momentum of his rotation, he launched himself upward.

Into the air.

Above Unhwi’s head.

The short sword plunged down.

A strike aimed at the crown of his skull.

Unhwi raised his sword.

Not to block.

To cut.

The Vast Azure Sword Draws Heaven and Earth.

Creation and destruction are accomplished within an instant.

The sixth form of the Heaven-Defying Vast Azure Sword.

The Single Vast Azure Sword.

The sword rose.

Toward the sky.

Then, in an instant, it crashed downward.

Light erupted.

Not white light.

Blue.

A blade that extended beyond the sword itself and into the empty air.

Sword force split the heavens.

Kraaaang—!

Space screamed.

Seop Gyeong’s eyes flew wide.

He tried to change his trajectory in midair.

He twisted his body.

But it was too late.

The sword force engulfed Seop Gyeong’s short sword.

Kwoooom—!!

An explosive roar.

Seop Gyeong’s body shot into the sky.

He had been hurled away.

He flew through the air, snapping branches, and tore through three trees.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The trees collapsed.

Dust billowed upward.

Unhwi lowered his sword.

The sword force vanished.

Severed branches rained down.

A white line remained across the sky along the path the sword had taken.

A trail where the air had frozen.

It slowly dispersed.

There was movement within the dust.

He was alive.

Seop Gyeong rose from between the shattered remains of the trees.

He spat blood from his mouth.

His left arm hung limply.

His shoulder had been dislocated.

The short sword was still clenched in his right hand.

He had not released it.

Cowardly, but not frail.

Without the internal energy of Manifestation of the Boundless, both he and his sword would have been cleaved in two.

Seop Gyeong stared at Unhwi.

His eyes were streaked with blood.

“......What was that?”

He asked.

“That was not ordinary sword force. Sword force cannot move like—”

“It is the Heaven-Defying Vast Azure Sword.”

Unhwi answered calmly.

“You would not have heard of it. I created it.”

The corner of Seop Gyeong’s mouth trembled.

Unhwi walked forward.

Slowly.

Toward Seop Gyeong.

Seop Gyeong clenched his teeth.

His left arm was useless.

But the sword remained in his right hand.

He still had the internal energy of Manifestation of the Boundless. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Seop Gyeong lowered his body again.

Close to the ground.

This time was different.

His energy was changing.

His internal energy gathered into the short sword.

The patterns on the blade shone.

Red light.

Scorching energy.

Unhwi narrowed his eyes.

He intends to stake his life on this.

Energy extended from Seop Gyeong’s short sword.

A red line.

Internal energy flowed along the patterns engraved on the blade.

The patterns left the sword and formed in midair.

Red markings.

The shape of a formation.

Shadow Formation Blade Art.

A martial art of the Heaven-Law Platform.

It used the formation markings engraved into the sword as a medium to unfold a formation within space.

True to an assassin’s martial art, it specialized in restricting and trapping the opponent’s movements.