Chapter 535

Liu Zhenheng’s eyes wavered.

Briefly.

There was a question of pride in those eyes—the pride involved in speaking the name of another member of the Sichuan Alliance before an outsider.

But something stronger won out.

“Junior Elder Xiao Xuanwu. And two or three others around him.”

“Were they among the people who were in front of the main hall yesterday?”

Liu Zhenheng nodded.

Unhwi lifted his teacup.

He took a sip.

Then set it down.

“Please convene an Elders’ Council after the funeral.”

“......I was already planning to.”

“I will lay everything out there. The relationship between the Sichuan Alliance and the Blood Heaven Sect, what comes next, and how we will deal with Gun Mugeol. The Elders can listen and make their judgment.”

Liu Zhenheng looked at Unhwi.

“Are you fearless, or are you truly that confident?”

Unhwi pretended to think for a moment.

“I do not want to drag this out.”

Something flickered through Liu Zhenheng’s eyes.

It was not amusement.

Nor was it displeasure.

It was something strange.

He had felt something similar before when facing this man.

The feeling of wanting to refute him, but being unable to.

He stood.

“I will contact you once the funeral is over.”

He stopped at the door.

Without looking back, he spoke.

“Young master.”

“Yes.”

“Alliance Leader Kang had an eye for people.”

Leaving only those words behind, he departed.

Unhwi remained seated.

The warm tea was still there.

***

The funeral lasted three days.

People who had known Kang Cheonwoo came.

Sect Leaders from subordinate sects came.

Renowned heroes from across Sichuan came.

Martial artists who had once walked the same road with him came.

Some of them looked at Unhwi.

Some eyes held hostility.

Some held questions.

Some simply passed over him.

People from Heaven’s Will Alliance came as well.

People from the Eternal Snow Palace came too.

Truly, many people came.

On the night of the third day, the final memorial rite was offered.

The fire burned brightly.

The Elders stood at the front.

The disciples lined up behind them.

The martial artists of the Sichuan Alliance filled the courtyard.

It was not a small space, yet they filled it completely.

Unhwi stood at the end of the line of Elders.

No one had told him to come.

Gwak Inhyeok had made a place for him.

Liu Zhenheng saw it and said nothing.

While the memorial rite was being offered, the courtyard remained silent.

The flames swayed.

The wind blew.

The white lanterns rocked.

What a bother.

That was what Unhwi thought.

Yet his feet did not move.

He did not want to leave his place.

Even while thinking it was bothersome, standing beneath that firelight did not feel awkward.

How much Kang Cheonwoo must have cared for these people.

After carrying him on his back for three days, Unhwi understood a little.

Not because the corpse had been heavy.

Because it had been light.

For a martial artist of the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm to feel that weight at all meant that it had been a different kind of weight.

The final memorial rite ended.

The fire began to die.

Only the white lanterns remained, lighting the courtyard.

People dispersed one by one.

Unhwi left as well.

***

The Elders’ Council was held the day after the funeral.

It took place in Overlord Hall.

Kang Cheonwoo’s seat was left empty.

With that seat at the center, the Elders sat divided on either side.

Gwak Inhyeok occupied the highest seat on the left.

Liu Zhenheng occupied the highest seat on the right.

Zhu Yishan and three mid-ranking Elders sat below them.

At the far end sat two Junior Elders.

Xiao Xuanwu was one of them.

He was in his mid-forties.

Thin.

His eyes were small and deep-set.

He sat quietly.

He was neither staring anywhere nor lowering his head.

He simply sat in silence.

But the moment Unhwi entered, he marked the man in his eyes.

Unhwi stood opposite Kang Cheonwoo’s empty seat.

He did not sit.

“Let us begin.”

He spoke first.

Liu Zhenheng nodded and opened his mouth.

“Everyone here should already understand the situation. Young master Seol said he would explain it personally, so let us hear him.”

Unhwi looked over the Elders once.

“I do not intend to speak at length. I will only address what matters.”

“......”

“Alliance Leader Kang passed the Thunder Emperor and the complete record of his martial arts to me. Along with a request that I serve as acting Alliance Leader. Those two things are facts.”

The Elders listened in silence.

“I will accept the position. There is one reason. We must stop Gun Mugeol before he reaches into Sichuan. Alliance Leader Kang is dead, and the position of Vice Leader is vacant. If there is no name in this Alliance that Gun Mugeol cannot touch, it is only a matter of time before he moves.”

“......”

“The relationship between the Blood Heaven Sect and the Sichuan Alliance will be an alliance. Not absorption. The Sichuan Alliance will remain the Sichuan Alliance. I am here only to fill the vacant seat, and once the Sichuan Alliance can stand on its own, I will step down.”

Zhu Yishan spoke for the first time.

“What is your standard for ‘standing on its own’?”

“When it can independently withstand Gun Mugeol’s pressure, or when Gun Mugeol can no longer pressure the Sichuan Alliance.”

“......You do not know when that will be.”

“I do not. That is why I will not set a deadline. But I have no intention of dragging it out either.”

Zhu Yishan asked nothing further.

A heavy silence followed.

The kind of silence in which someone was preparing to speak.

It was Xiao Xuanwu.

“May I ask one thing?”

It was his first time speaking.

His voice was polite.

Too polite.

“Go ahead.”

“Young master Seol, you are the Blood Heaven Arbiter of the Blood Heaven Sect, correct?”

“That is correct.”

“And the Leader of the Blood Heaven Sect is the Supreme Master of the Martial World, the Heavenly Wayfarer.”

“That is correct.”

“Then is this not also the will of the Heavenly Wayfarer, rather than merely your personal will?”

Unhwi silently stared at Xiao Xuanwu.

As if telling him to continue.

Under that gaze, Xiao Xuanwu went on.

“You said the Blood Heaven Sect would take the Sichuan Alliance as an ally. An alliance should be a relationship between equals, but that is not what this looks like. If a member of the Blood Heaven Sect sits in the position of acting Alliance Leader, how is that different from the Sichuan Alliance placing itself beneath the Blood Heaven Sect?”

It was framed more as a question than outright opposition.

The proper form had been observed.

“Do you believe there is a difference, Elder Xiao?”

“It would be difficult to say there is.”

“Then let us hear your reasoning.”

Xiao Xuanwu spoke slowly.

“The position of acting Alliance Leader is ultimately the position that holds the decision-making authority of the Sichuan Alliance. Its assets, its relationships with subordinate sects, even its internal appointments. If an outsider controls those things, then no matter what you call it, the chain of command is effectively subordinate to the Blood Heaven Sect.”

The logic was orderly.

And it was not wrong.

“Then what is your alternative, Elder Xiao?”

“We should appoint an acting leader from within the Sichuan Alliance. There is no reason to bring in an outsider.”

“Who would take that position?”

Xiao Xuanwu paused briefly.

“......That is something to decide through discussion.”

Unhwi nodded.

“To decide through discussion. That is correct.”

Then he paused.

“But Elder Xiao.”

“Yes.”

“You made your move last night.”

Overlord Hall fell silent.

Xiao Xuanwu’s eyes trembled slightly.

“What do you mean?”

“Before the funeral had even ended, you contacted two subordinate sects. You attempted to gain access to Alliance Leader Kang’s library, and you also sent people to the hall responsible for managing the Alliance’s finances.”

Xiao Xuanwu’s face hardened.

“How did you—”

“That is not what matters.”

Unhwi cut him off.

“Right now, Elder Xiao, you are telling me that the acting leader should be chosen from within the Sichuan Alliance. Through discussion. Yet the night before, you were already preparing your position. On the very night the Alliance Leader died.”

Xiao Xuanwu’s lips thinned.

“That was......”

“You do not need to make excuses.”

Unhwi’s gaze was calm.

There was no anger in it.

Nor was it the gaze of someone offering forgiveness.

It was the gaze of someone who had already reached his conclusion.

“Elder Xiao, I do not believe you when you say you are acting for the Sichuan Alliance.”

“......”

“The argument that an acting leader should be chosen from within the Sichuan Alliance may be correct. But when the person making that argument is you, it means nothing.”

Xiao Xuanwu rose from his seat.

“How Young master chooses to see me is your own affair. But I am an Elder of the Sichuan Alliance, and for you to treat me so recklessly in this place—”

“Sit down.”

His voice was low.

Xiao Xuanwu stopped.

Reflexively.

His body reacted before his mind did.

Something had begun flowing from Unhwi’s body.

Something that could only be called martial pressure.

He had not even circulated his energy yet, but the air had changed.

Sweat formed along Xiao Xuanwu’s back.

“Elder Xiao.”

Unhwi spoke.

“And while I have this opportunity, I will say this to all the Elders of the Sichuan Alliance.”

Unhwi slowly looked around Overlord Hall.

“I intend to use the people of the Sichuan Alliance. If the Sichuan Alliance is to remain the Sichuan Alliance, then its own people must be the ones who move. And if someone is a member of the Sichuan Alliance, I am willing to accept them all. Even if their thoughts differ and their opinions differ, if they act for Sichuan, I will not cast them out for that reason.”

Silence continued.

“With one exception.”

Unhwi’s eyes fixed on Xiao Xuanwu.

“Anyone who uses the Sichuan Alliance’s turmoil to fatten himself.”

Xiao Xuanwu looked at Unhwi.

His eyes said he wanted to speak.

Whether it was an excuse, a rebuttal, or something else.

But Unhwi was already rising from his place.

There had been no movement.

Meaning, there had been no movement visible to the eye.

Unhwi had arrived before Xiao Xuanwu, yet no one had seen the process.

Several of the Elders blinked.

It was the kind of movement they thought they had seen, only to realize there was nothing in their memory.

Xiao Xuanwu stood frozen.

His eyes were wide.

His breath had stopped.

Unhwi’s hand was before his chest.

An open palm.

That was all.

BOOOOOOM—!!

A thunderous explosion erupted, and Xiao Xuanwu’s chest burst apart.

Blood sprayed through the air.

Xiao Xuanwu’s body pitched forward.

There was a sound when he struck the floor.

It was not loud.

It was the sound of a dead man falling.

Unhwi withdrew his hand.

Overlord Hall had gone completely rigid.

No one spoke.

The Junior Elder who had been sitting beside Xiao Xuanwu remained seated with his mouth open.

Unhwi returned to his place.

This time, he did not remain standing.

He sat.

Facing the direction of Kang Cheonwoo’s empty seat.

“Let us continue.”

His voice had not changed.

“If anyone besides Elder Xiao shares his thinking, speak now. It will be easier for all of us if we settle it here.”

No one spoke.

The Junior Elder who had been sitting beside Xiao Xuanwu slowly lowered his head.

He had been drawn into Xiao Xuanwu’s faction, but it meant he had now changed his mind.

Unhwi saw it and nodded.

Liu Zhenheng spoke.

His voice had dropped slightly.

“......Young master.”

“Yes.”

“Is this your way?”

“I use it only when necessary.”

“What standard do you use to decide when it is necessary?”

Unhwi looked at Liu Zhenheng.

“Elder Xiao moved before the funeral had ended. He tried to exploit the confusion for his own gain. And he could not even grasp the situation, yet still tried to climb higher.”

At Unhwi’s unhesitating answer, Liu Zhenheng closed his mouth.