Chapter 528

Lightning flashed.

The sky split apart.

In that light, a man’s figure was revealed.

A massive build.

Shoulders broad as a mountain.

A single sword in one hand.

Kang Cheonwoo.

The Sichuan Overlord.

He was descending from the heavens through the rain.

The Overlord had always descended from the heavens.

This time as well.

Boom.

Kang Cheonwoo’s feet touched the ground.

The earth shook.

The water in the pond surged.

Rainwater burst away from around Kang Cheonwoo. The power of the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm was forcing it back. Within ten feet of Kang Cheonwoo, no rain fell.

The two men faced each other.

A hundred feet apart.

In the rear garden beneath the pouring rain.

Gun Mugeol looked at Kang Cheonwoo.

Kang Cheonwoo looked at Gun Mugeol.

For a long time.

Kang Cheonwoo spoke first.

“Been a while, Alliance Leader Gun.”

This time he was not hearty.

Nor did he speak with exaggerated courtesy.

He was simply himself.

A low voice.

A heavy voice.

The voice of a man who had come to fight.

Gun Mugeol gave a faint laugh.

“I did not expect you to come to the Murim Alliance carrying only one sword.”

“Neither did I.”

“Hmm?”

“I didn’t know until yesterday. I decided when I woke up this morning.”

“This morning?”

“Looked like rain.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked up at the sky.

Rain struck his face.

“Rainy days make a man think too much. So I thought about it. Thought I should come right over and kill this scheming bastard.”

The corner of Gun Mugeol’s mouth rose.

“You are certainly frank.”

“I’ve always been a frank bastard.”

“......”

“You couldn’t possibly have not known that.”

“I knew, but I did not think you were the sort of man who would do something like this.”

Kang Cheonwoo rested his sword on his shoulder.

The enormous longsword took the rain upon its blade.

“Gun Mugeol.”

He called his name.

Gun Mugeol’s eyes shifted slightly.

“No one else is watching anyway.”

Kang Cheonwoo continued.

“Seeing as you came all the way out to the rear garden in the middle of a pouring night, you seem prepared as well.”

“......”

“So tell me properly for once.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s gaze pierced through Gun Mugeol.

“What lies at the end of your ambition?”

Gun Mugeol looked at Kang Cheonwoo.

For a long time.

Rain poured between them.

Lightning flashed.

The rear garden turned white.

The faces of the two men were illuminated by the lightning.

The relaxed smile had vanished from Gun Mugeol’s face.

The mask was gone.

The rain had washed it away.

“...Unification of the martial world.”

Gun Mugeol spoke.

“To place every martial artist in this world beneath a single banner.”

“Is that the end?”

“Of course not.”

Gun Mugeol said,

“You should be asking what I intend to do with the martial artists once they stand beneath that single banner.”

“That is what I’m asking.”

Gun Mugeol gave a faint smile.

What would he do?

Simple.

“I will change the world.”

Gun Mugeol’s eyes deepened.

“As long as the martial world remains divided as it is now, the world will never change. Orthodox factions and unorthodox factions tear at one another. Sects and alliances split apart and fight over利益.”

“......”

“And common people die between them.”

“Common people?”

Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes shifted slightly.

“I never expected to hear the words ‘common people’ from your mouth.”

“Then it seems there is much you do not know.”

Gun Mugeol smiled.

It was not a smile.

He was baring his teeth.

“I am a son of the common people, Kang Cheonwoo.”

“......”

“I am not the son of a martial artist. I was born and raised in a village trampled by war.”

“......”

“Whenever the martial world fights, the ones who die are not martial artists. They are the common people. You know that well enough yourself.”

Kang Cheonwoo closed his mouth.

He did know.

It had been the same when he unified Sichuan. Whenever sect fought sect, it was always the powerless who were crushed between them.

Gun Mugeol said,

“That is why I intend to bind everything into one.”

“One?”

“Yes. If you wish to eliminate fighting, then eliminate those there are to fight. Once everything becomes one, there will be no one left to fight.”

“And the ones who die in the process?”

“Unavoidable.”

Gun Mugeol’s voice grew cold.

“You cannot change the world without spilling blood. That is simply how the world works.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked at Gun Mugeol.

For a long time.

Only now did he understand.

“You crazy bastard. So this isn’t merely about unifying the martial world. You’re trying to build a kingdom of the Gun clan.”

Gun Mugeol grinned.

“You catch on quickly. More than I expected.”

“You seriously think that is possible?”

Unifying the martial world and building a kingdom of the Gun clan were different things.

The unification Gun Mugeol sought was not the result.

It was the process.

Unify the martial world.

Then unify the nations as well.

He intended to plant the banner of the Gun clan across this entire vast continent.

A will to bind the whole world into one.

No.

A colossal ambition.

“Why do you think it is impossible?”

“...So you really were a completely insane bastard.”

Gun Mugeol shrugged.

Kang Cheonwoo asked,

“Is that why you tried to bring down the Sichuan Alliance?”

“Yes.”

“Framing us, killing witnesses, inciting sects.”

“That is also correct.”

“And that is your method of changing the world?”

Gun Mugeol answered,

“Why must the method be clean?”

“...What?”

“Only the result needs to be clean. All history has been that way. The result. That is what justifies everything and gives everything meaning.”

Kang Cheonwoo lowered the sword from his shoulder.

Heavily.

The tip touched the ground.

“I like the honesty.”

Kang Cheonwoo said,

“It feels a bit wrong to beat an honest bastard to death.”

A flame lit in Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes.

“But I’ll hit you anyway.”

Gun Mugeol raised his slender sword.

The long, narrow blade cut through the rain.

Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of it.

“...That isn’t the sword you normally use.”

Gun Mugeol smiled.

“Changing one’s strategy according to the opponent is only basic practice, is it not?”

Kang Cheonwoo snorted at the change in his tone.

“Putting the mask back on?”

“The man with the mask and the man without it are the same.”

“......”

“Come.”

The two men faced each other.

Rain poured down.

Lightning flashed.

And then.

At that moment.

Another presence arrived.

Fast.

At an absurd speed.

From the east.

Gun Mugeol and Kang Cheonwoo turned their heads at the same time.

Someone stood atop the wall of the Murim Alliance.

Rain poured over him.

White hair, soaked through, clung to his forehead. A black robe. A single sword at his waist. His breathing was rough. He had clearly run here at full speed. Sweat and rainwater mingled across his robe.

Unhwi.

He looked down into the rear garden from atop the wall.

At the two men.

Kang Cheonwoo with his sword.

Gun Mugeol with his slender blade.

Unhwi’s eyes settled on Kang Cheonwoo.

Kang Cheonwoo looked up at him.

And smiled.

In the rain.

A broad grin.

The smile of the Sichuan Overlord.

Gun Mugeol’s mind raced.

Unhwi.

He came here.

To this place.

Gun Mugeol’s gaze moved between Kang Cheonwoo and Unhwi.

He calculated the situation.

Fight Kang Cheonwoo. Mixed Origin Sovereign against Mixed Origin Sovereign. Not bad. If I win, the Sichuan Alliance collapses. If the Sichuan Overlord dies, Sichuan will no longer be able to hold out. And I am confident I can win.

But Unhwi is here.

That complicates things.

Facing both at once would be a burden even for me. To reduce that burden, I could mobilize the Murim Alliance’s full strength immediately.

Even if Kang Cheonwoo is a Mixed Origin Sovereign. Even if Unhwi killed the Heaven-Law Immortal, who stood at the very edge of the Supreme Void Realm.

If the entire Murim Alliance attacks, it is not impossible.

But the Murim Alliance would suffer devastating losses.

That is not how the plan is supposed to unfold.

A Mixed Origin Sovereign and a monster who rose from Unity of Heaven and Man to the Boundless Manifestation Realm rampaging together. I could lose a significant portion of the Murim Alliance’s elite. Then every plan after this would be ruined.

No.

This cannot happen.

The situation has become strange. The right choice is not to fight.

As if he had read Gun Mugeol’s thoughts, Kang Cheonwoo spoke.

“Gun Mugeol.”

“...Hmm.”

“Are you not a man?”

Gun Mugeol’s eyes twitched.

Kang Cheonwoo’s firm voice struck his ears.

“Let us do this man to man.”

“...Man?”

“A duel to the death.”

Kang Cheonwoo smiled.

“You and me. Just the two of us.”

“......”

“The winner takes everything. The loser loses everything.”

Kang Cheonwoo raised his sword.

Rainwater ran down the blade.

“You may be a scheming mongrel bastard, but you are still a man, aren’t you?”

“......”

“The blade a martial artist carries in his heart should never lie. Surely even you have that much nerve.”

Gun Mugeol stared at Kang Cheonwoo.

Rain poured down.

Lightning flashed.

The faces of both men appeared for an instant.

A smile was spreading across Gun Mugeol’s face.

Slowly, the corners of his lips rose.

Higher and higher, until his teeth showed.

It was a smile.

A genuine smile.

“Ha.”

Gun Mugeol laughed.

The small laugh grew.

“Hahaha.”

He laughed in the rain.

“It has been a long time.”

Gun Mugeol muttered.

“It has been a long time since my heart trembled like this.”

He raised the slender sword.

The long, narrow blade flashed beneath the rain.

“Fine, Kang Cheonwoo.”

Gun Mugeol said,

“Let us do this man to man.”

“......”

“A duel to the death. The winner takes everything.”

“......”

“I accept.”

The power of both men began to rise.

That was when Gun Mugeol tossed out one more word.

“However.”

His gaze shifted toward Unhwi.

“Just as we have promised to fight as men, you must swear as a man as well.”

Unhwi’s expression did not change.

“What oath do you want from me?”

“Swear that you will not interfere. No matter what result comes from this place, you will not move.”

Gun Mugeol was serious.

So was Unhwi.

He had said it countless times.

Again and again.

That he respected the path another chose to walk as a martial artist.

Even if it was something so absurd it seemed to devour the person walking it, if that person was certain it was the path they had chosen for themselves as a martial artist—

Unhwi might condemn it.

He might curse it.

But at the very least, he would respect it.

It was the same now.

The path Kang Cheonwoo had chosen to walk.

Even if it was sudden, if the Overlord had cast everything aside, returned to his beginning, and was now walking without forgetting his own path—

Then Unhwi could respect it.

Even if the result was losing everything.

Unhwi straightened his back.

The pouring rain swept over him.

He answered briefly.

“I swear it.”

As if that were enough, Gun Mugeol turned away.

Kang Cheonwoo faced him as well.

The power spilling from the two masters of the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm filled the rear garden.

The ground trembled.

Water erupted from the pond.

The pillars of the pavilion cracked.

Rain was forced away from around the two men.

The collision of their power split the downpour itself.

Kang Cheonwoo turned his head.

He looked at Unhwi atop the wall.

He sent a voice transmission.

Watch.

Unhwi looked at Kang Cheonwoo.

Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes were smiling.

Watch what kind of man Kang Cheonwoo is.

After saying that, he turned back to Gun Mugeol.

His eyes faced Gun Mugeol even as he called to Unhwi.

“Unhwi.”

“...Yes.”

“You are my witness.”

He raised his sword.

Thunderous Heavenly Heart Art.

The heavens split apart.

Lightning flashed.

Kang Cheonwoo moved faster than the lightning.

His sword descended from the heavens.

The Overlord had always descended from the heavens.

This time as well.

Right above Gun Mugeol’s head.

Thunder Heaven Ultimate Sword Art.

Thunder Heaven Transforms the Ultimate.

Gun Mugeol’s slender sword rose.

He met it head-on.

KRAAAAAAAAAAANG—!!!!

The rear garden split apart.

The pond exploded. Water surged into the sky. The pavilion shattered into pieces. Trees were uprooted. The wall collapsed.

The result of two Mixed Origin Sovereigns colliding.

Unhwi leapt down before the wall could collapse beneath him.

He landed atop a roof outside the rear garden.

And stood there watching.

In the rain.

Watching the battle between the two men.

Kang Cheonwoo was laughing.

Gun Mugeol was laughing.

On a night of pouring rain.

Beneath a sky split by lightning, the two men fought.

The board was being overturned.

Kang Cheonwoo was overturning it.

With his fists.

No.

With his sword.

That was domination.