Chapter 531

“Unhwi.”

Kang Cheonwoo called to him.

By name.

Not Senior, not junior, not Blood Heaven Arbiter.

Just his name.

“Yes.”

“The martial artists of Sichuan will wonder. They’ll say their Alliance Leader went mad. That he suddenly charged into enemy territory alone and got himself killed.”

“.......”

“I wasn’t mad. But I suppose it might look that way.”

Kang Cheonwoo smiled.

There was blood in that smile, but his eyes were clear.

“You asked me in Overlord Hall. What would Kang Cheonwoo before the unification of Sichuan have done if he saw this situation?”

“......Yes.”

“I answered you. I would have hit them.”

“Yes.”

“But that wasn’t all.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked at Unhwi.

“Kang Cheonwoo before the unification of Sichuan wasn’t a man who did nothing but hit people.”

“.......”

“I was a man who thought while hitting. A man who looked at the next move while throwing his fists.”

Unhwi’s eyes shifted slightly.

“What does Gun Mugeol gain by killing me?”

“The Sichuan Alliance.”

“Right. He gets the Sichuan Alliance. Once the Sichuan Overlord dies, the Sichuan Alliance loses its center. Gun Mugeol only has to come in and pick it up.”

“.......”

“That is what Gun Mugeol calculated. But tell me.”

“.......”

“That would be true if the Sichuan Alliance were an empty house without an owner. But what if I choose its owner before I die?”

Unhwi’s expression did not change.

He had already realized Kang Cheonwoo’s intention from the moment Kang Cheonwoo headed for the Murim Alliance.

Kang Cheonwoo asked,

“Would it still be an empty house?”

Unhwi looked at Kang Cheonwoo.

Kang Cheonwoo looked at Unhwi.

Kang Cheonwoo spoke.

“You.”

“.......”

“I gave you the True Flame Heavenly Spirit Sword.”

“.......”

“Thunder Emperor is here as well.”

Thunder Emperor stood planted in the ground.

Kang Cheonwoo’s blood stained the sword.

“I already sent you all of my martial arts and insights.”

Kang Cheonwoo drew a breath.

With difficulty.

“I intend to hand the position of Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance to you.”

Unhwi opened his mouth.

“Senior.”

“Keep your mouth shut until I finish. There’s no time.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s voice was growing rough.

There truly was no time.

“When I met Seol Jungcheon in Yangnyeong, I told him there was someone I was considering as my successor.”

Unhwi knew about that.

When Kang Cheonwoo had come to Yangnyeong to give him the True Flame Heavenly Spirit Sword.

At that time, Kang Cheonwoo had met Seol Jungcheon in the sky and exchanged blows with him.

They had spoken about everything then.

Kang Cheonwoo had no children.

And there was someone he was considering as his successor.

That person was Unhwi.

Of course, back then it had only been a thought.

But as time passed, no one proved more suitable than Unhwi.

“You have more than enough legitimacy.”

Kang Cheonwoo spoke.

“The True Flame Heavenly Spirit Sword. The man who received it. And Thunder Emperor. The man who inherited it. The man who received the complete records of my martial arts.”

“.......”

“And the man I publicly declared before the martial artists of the Sichuan Alliance to be the person I trust most.”

“.......”

“Is that not enough?”

It was enough.

More than enough.

To stop Gun Mugeol’s ambition, protect the Sichuan Alliance, and allow the man named Kang Cheonwoo to act without departing from his own path.

There was only one way.

Kill Gun Mugeol.

Or die himself.

As long as Kang Cheonwoo lived, he could not hand over the Sichuan Alliance.

Handing it over would be the same as running away.

He had already lived this way.

That was his path.

More importantly, if a living Alliance Leader relinquished his position, the Sichuan Alliance would split.

Those who followed Kang Cheonwoo.

And those who followed the new Alliance Leader.

But if Kang Cheonwoo died, it was different.

The Alliance Leader had fallen in battle.

In a duel to the death.

And not merely any duel, but a duel to the death against the Alliance Leader of the Murim Alliance, where he had died standing like the Sichuan Overlord he was.

Before that death, the martial artists of the Sichuan Alliance would have no choice but to honor Kang Cheonwoo’s final will.

A final will left by an Alliance Leader who had staked his life.

A final will naming his successor.

No one would reject it.

What changed if Unhwi took the Sichuan Alliance?

Everything.

Unhwi was the Blood Heaven Arbiter of the Blood Heaven Sect.

If the Sichuan Alliance passed to Unhwi, the Sichuan Alliance would enter the Blood Heaven Sect’s sphere of influence.

Gun Mugeol had intended to kill Kang Cheonwoo and take the Sichuan Alliance.

Only to discover, once everything was over, that the Sichuan Alliance had gone to the Blood Heaven Sect.

He had tried to pick up an empty house.

Only to discover it was not empty.

That was the move Kang Cheonwoo had made.

And its repercussions did not end with the Sichuan Alliance.

Unhwi was also connected to Heaven’s Will Alliance.

Seol Jungcheon of the Eternal Snow Palace was Unhwi’s father and the patron of Heaven’s Will Alliance.

The Sichuan Alliance.

Heaven’s Will Alliance.

And the Blood Heaven Sect.

If those three became connected around Unhwi.

Gun Mugeol’s unification of the martial world would become impossible.

If he moved, he would have to face all three at once.

The Blood Heaven Sect.

The Sichuan Alliance.

Heaven’s Will Alliance.

And the Eternal Snow Palace on top of them.

He could not move.

The same applied to the Primordial Pavilion.

The Primordial Pavilion’s plan had been to secure Blood Stones by causing a war.

If no war occurred, there would be no Blood Stones.

If the war itself became impossible, everything the Primordial Pavilion had sought would come to nothing.

With the death of a single man, Kang Cheonwoo, the entire board had been overturned.

Had Kang Cheonwoo killed Gun Mugeol, events would have proceeded in an even more favorable direction.

But even though he had failed, the board would still be overturned one way or another.

It was a masterstroke.

Nothing less.

Unhwi stared at Kang Cheonwoo.

His fist clenched.

It was not anger.

It was not sorrow.

It was awe.

Even as this man died, he had overturned the board.

Domination was not standing upon a road.

It was creating one.

Kang Cheonwoo had created a road with his own life.

“Senior.”

“......Mm.......”

“Had you been planning this since we drank together in Overlord Hall?”

Kang Cheonwoo looked up at the sky.

Rain poured across his face.

Rainwater entered his bloodshot eyes.

“Yes.”

“.......”

“To be exact, it occurred to me when you spoke about returning to my beginnings.”

“.......”

“When you asked what Kang Cheonwoo before the unification of Sichuan would have done, that was when it came to me. The answer was simple. I go hit them. And while I’m hitting them, I think. What happens to the people left behind?”

Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes reflected Unhwi.

“I said I would respect the picture you were drawing. And there probably isn’t a war in that picture.”

“That’s right.”

“Then it was simple. Even if I failed, I could leave it to you.”

“.......”

“Then I respect your picture, respect my own path, and my one life overturns everything. Why would I not do it?”

The final burst of life before death.

It was nearly at its end.

Kang Cheonwoo smiled.

No.

He tried to.

Blood came out.

A great deal of it.

“Take care of Sichuan.”

“.......”

“Not the Sichuan Alliance.”

“.......”

“The martial artists of Sichuan. The people of Sichuan. The things I tried to protect.”

The light in Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes began to fade.

“And.”

“.......”

“Not getting to share that drink.”

“.......”

“That is.”

“.......”

“A little regrettable.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes stopped moving.

Slowly, his pupils lost focus.

Unhwi gave a brief clasped-hands salute.

“I accept your final will, Senior.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes went completely unfocused.

But the smile remained at the corners of his mouth.

He had heard those final words.

His body did not tilt.

The strength left the hand gripping Thunder Emperor where it stood planted in the earth, but his body remained upright.

On both feet.

Standing in the rain.

The Sichuan Overlord, Kang Cheonwoo, died standing.

He was an Overlord to the very end.

Rain poured down.

Over Unhwi’s shoulders.

Over his head.

Over his face.

Over Kang Cheonwoo’s body.

The rain was washing away the blood.

Unhwi reached out and closed Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes.

He supported the body, then pulled Thunder Emperor from the ground.

It was heavy.

A sword stained with Kang Cheonwoo’s blood.

Holding Thunder Emperor, Unhwi looked up at the sky.

Rain poured down.

A dark sky.

No stars were visible.

Clouds covered the heavens.

Lightning flashed in the distance.

Thunder rumbled.

“......That drink.”

Unhwi murmured.

His voice was cracked.

“We’ll have it in the next life.”

Kang Cheonwoo.

Had been an Overlord to the very end.

***

Murim Alliance.

The private chamber of Alliance Leader’s Hall.

Gun Mugeol sat in a chair.

He had removed his upper garments, revealing the wound Kang Cheonwoo had left on his left shoulder.

It was deep.

The shoulder bone had been split, and the muscle beneath it had been torn.

The bleeding would not stop.

A physician was treating the wound.

A middle-aged man.

The Murim Alliance’s resident physician.

His hands were trembling.

It was his first time treating the Alliance Leader’s wounds.

More than that, the atmosphere in the room was heavy.

And by now, word of what had happened in the rear garden had already spread not only throughout the Murim Alliance, but through the surrounding region as well.

Kang Cheonwoo’s death.

Gun Mugeol’s victory.

This was a victory for the Murim Alliance.

Gun Mugeol was the man who would unite the martial world.

A man destined to stand above all others.

The physician was overwhelmed with emotion.

He was treating such a man.

Gun Mugeol did not look at the physician.

He stared at the ceiling.

Deep in thought.

Very deep.

I won.

That was a fact.

He had won the duel to the death.

He had killed the Sichuan Overlord, Kang Cheonwoo.

In a direct confrontation between two Mixed Origin Sovereigns.

Half an inch.

That half-inch had divided life from death.

And Gun Mugeol had been the one left alive.

The Sichuan Alliance has lost its owner.

The Overlord was dead.

Its center was gone.

Before long, the Sichuan Alliance would fracture.

And while it fractured, the Murim Alliance would move in.

Pretending to console them.

Pretending to help them.

Pretending to embrace them.

That was the plan.

That was how it was supposed to go.

......But.

Gun Mugeol’s finger tapped the armrest of the chair.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

A habit.

A habit he had when thinking.

What had happened in the rear garden returned to his mind.

Why did Unhwi come?

Kang Cheonwoo had descended from the sky.

He had challenged Gun Mugeol to a duel to the death.

They had fought.

And he had died.

Unhwi had watched all of it.

From atop the wall.

Standing in the rain.

At first, Gun Mugeol had thought nothing of it.

Kang Cheonwoo and Unhwi had ties.

Kang Cheonwoo had given him the True Flame Heavenly Spirit Sword.

They had also stood together against Gun Mugeol at the Murim Alliance.

He had assumed Unhwi heard that Kang Cheonwoo was racing toward the Murim Alliance and followed him.

As a witness.

Or perhaps to stop him.

......If he came as a witness, it doesn’t matter.

Gun Mugeol stared at the ceiling and thought.

It was a duel to the death. A fight both men agreed to. The presence of a witness causes no problem. If anything, it is better. Two Mixed Origin Sovereigns fought fairly, and one of them died. There was even a witness, so no one can object. Because it was a legitimate fight.

A fight worthy of martial artists in every sense.

What more could anyone ask for?

That was what he had thought.

When one considered the man Kang Cheonwoo, it was only natural to think that way.

The Sichuan Overlord.

A simple man.

A man whose fists moved first.

A man whose actions preceded thought.

A man who had walked only in a straight line beneath the name of domination.

The Sichuan Alliance had been framed, so he had come in fury.

He challenged Gun Mugeol to a duel to the death.

He died.

Simple.

Just like Kang Cheonwoo.

Then Gun Mugeol’s finger stopped.

Something bothered him.

He could not tell exactly what it was, but something in a corner of his chest felt wrong.

What is it?

Gun Mugeol began retracing everything that had happened that night from the beginning.

Kang Cheonwoo came.

Kang Cheonwoo lost by half an inch.

He died.

Standing.

Like an Overlord.

......What happened after that?

Unhwi went to Kang Cheonwoo.

They spoke.

Gun Mugeol had not heard what they said.

There had been distance between them.

Before pulling his sword out, Gun Mugeol had split Kang Cheonwoo’s heart apart.

He had eliminated any possibility that Kang Cheonwoo might survive.

No matter how extraordinary Unhwi was, even he could not restore that.

Death was certain.

Gun Mugeol had gone inside to have his wound treated.

A conversation.

Yes.

The conversation was the problem.

Kang Cheonwoo and Unhwi had spoken.

And they had done so immediately before Kang Cheonwoo’s death.

Tap.

His finger struck the armrest again.

What would a dying man have spoken about with Unhwi?

It was obvious.

His final will.

But if it was his final will, what would he have left behind?

Take care of the Sichuan Alliance.

Would he not have left behind words of that kind?

Gun Mugeol’s eyes shifted slightly.

Take care of the Sichuan Alliance.

The sentence circled through his mind.

Take care of the Sichuan Alliance.

He did not know whether Kang Cheonwoo had actually said those exact words.

But the probability was high.

To whom?

To Unhwi.

......Surely not.

Gun Mugeol’s finger stopped.

Completely.

......No.

Kang Cheonwoo had handed the Sichuan Alliance to Unhwi?

No.

Impossible.

Kang Cheonwoo was a simple man.

A man whose fists moved first.

A man like that making such a calculation?

But Gun Mugeol’s mind had already begun to move.

Once suspicion took root, Gun Mugeol was a man who could not stop.

One by one.

The scattered pieces began to fit together.

Kang Cheonwoo had annihilated sects subordinate to the Murim Alliance.

Personally.

Why?

Because he was angry?

There had certainly been anger.

But the number was too great.

Nearly ten.

Gun Mugeol’s eyes widened.

......He created a justification.

Kang Cheonwoo annihilating the Murim Alliance’s subordinate sects.

That had created the justification for Kang Cheonwoo to challenge Gun Mugeol to a duel to the death.

The Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance had attacked sects subordinate to the Murim Alliance.

That gave him grounds to confront the Alliance Leader of the Murim Alliance head-on.

It was planned.

A chill ran down Gun Mugeol’s back.