Unhwi straightened his clothes and smiled faintly.

“Weren’t you the one who said the world had become boring?”

“……”

“I do not think it is the ‘time’ yet, but since you still took your seat and we ended up meeting like this, I wanted to say it at least once.”

Gun Mugyeol’s expression became as calm as Unhwi’s.

“You truly know a great deal about me.”

“As I said, even though the Snow Palace lies beyond the borders, it is still part of the martial world. Did you think we would not investigate one of the most important figures in the martial world, Senior?”

“You say interesting things. No matter how sharp the Snow Palace’s ears are, it will not be easy to grasp me.”

“Because something is not easy does not mean it is impossible.”

“I called it not easy as nothing more and nothing less than polite flattery meant to elevate the Snow Palace.”

“……”

“Noticing what lies beneath me is impossible.”

“Why do you think it is impossible. It cannot have been just once or twice that you eliminated someone after being found out.”

“……”

“When you become a hunting dog and hunt, do you remember every single person you boil alive?”

Gun Mugyeol’s brow narrowed.

“You will not remember. There must have been too many.”

“……”

“Then you should think about it now. Among them, might there not be one or two who are still alive.”

Gun Mugyeol did not answer anything.

Silence.

That was his answer.

“It is a reasonable doubt. I do not know whether you are forcing yourself to look away from that fact or choosing not to believe it on purpose, but do not worry. I have no particular interest in what lies beneath you, Senior.”

“No interest?”

“Yes. However you live, that is ultimately the path you walk as a martial artist. How could I dare to pass judgment on that path.”

“The path I walk is the orthodox path.”

“Whether it is the orthodox path, the tyrant path, or even the demon path, I respect all of them. There is only one thing that matters.”

“And that is?”

“When you push that path through and conflict occurs, how far you can go to protect it.”

“In a fight where lives are on the line, whether you will retreat or not—is that what you mean?”

“Something like that.”

“Then how does it look to you? Do I seem like someone who would retreat when it comes to pushing my path through?”

“That question is slightly wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“I do not think there is any meaning in hearing my evaluation.”

“……I see. Then what about you—are you someone who would retreat when it comes to pushing your path through?”

Unhwi smiled.

“I may break, but I will not bend. That is the path I walk.”

“Is that so.”

“Someone once said my path is closer to the tyrant path. I will not deny it, but unfortunately, it is clearly far from the orthodox path.”

“Then, in the future, you and I may clash.”

“Or we may not. If our tastes align.”

“Like now?”

“Yes. Like now.”

Gun Mugyeol closed his mouth, and Unhwi did as well.

For a while, silence settled between them.

Unhwi had not split open Gun Mugyeol’s head to look inside, but he could guess well enough.

Which way Gun Mugyeol would decide.

And Unhwi intended to help that along.

He asked briefly.

“Then is the deal between you and me concluded?”

“……It is concluded.”

“That is a relief. Then I will see you in half a year.”

It was when Unhwi, starting to move, brushed past Gun Mugyeol.

“The martial art I learned is the Northern Abyss Divine Art. I intended to combine it with the Free-and-Easy Wandering Steps and the Heavenly Mountain Six Yang Palm to obtain enlightenment toward No-Extremes Incarnation.”

Unhwi’s steps stopped dead.

Gun Mugyeol truly was not an easy opponent.

If Unhwi failed to interpret what had just come out of Gun Mugyeol’s mouth correctly, his head would roll.

He turned his head.

Gun Mugyeol stood there with a serious expression.

Gun Mugyeol was a cautious man. Whether Unhwi could truly provide the enlightenment needed to reach No-Extremes Incarnation—

He had to confirm it.

To put it bluntly, Seol Jungcheon was Unhwi’s biological father. If Unhwi lied, then as someone who could match whatever lie was needed, Seol Jungcheon made it impossible—at least from Gun Mugyeol’s position—to accept Unhwi’s claims at face value.

This was that process.

This conversation right now.

Unhwi opened his mouth in a low voice.

“That combination you just named is wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Yes. The Northern Abyss °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Divine Art, the Free-and-Easy Wandering Steps, and the Heavenly Mountain Six Yang Palm are all renowned ultimate arts even in the martial world. If you combine their formulas, it would certainly be a new attempt, but unfortunately those three do not balance. If you carry it out as-is, you will not rise from Supreme Void of Non-Being to No-Extremes Incarnation—your meridians will instead reverse, and you will become crippled.”

The light in Gun Mugyeol’s eyes shifted subtly.

“Then what is the correct answer?”

Unhwi said firmly.

“You must remove the Heavenly Mountain Six Yang Palm.”

“……Remove the Heavenly Mountain Six Yang Palm…?”

“The core of the Northern Abyss Divine Art lies in the principle of the limitless, and the essence of the Free-and-Easy Wandering Steps is the realm of effortless naturalness. The harmony of just those two is sufficient.”

“Explain it in detail.”

“To rise from Supreme Void of Non-Being to No-Extremes Incarnation, you need a conversion—from nothingness into being.”

“From nothingness, into being?”

“The qi of the Northern Abyss Divine Art creates a vessel that can contain everything, and the natural principles embedded in the Free-and-Easy Wandering Steps provide what that vessel will hold.”

“Continue.”

“No.”

Gun Mugyeol’s eyes opened wide, while Unhwi remained at ease.

“It seems you decided to test me, but I have passed that test. Have I not?”

“……You have.”

“A promise is a promise. In half a year. I will go to the Martial Alliance myself, and we will have a deeper discussion.”

A silent exclamation erupted inside Gun Mugyeol.

“So it was real……”

This was not about whether Unhwi was qualified to provide enlightenment to reach No-Extremes Incarnation.

The man himself—

No, the person called Seol Unhwi was the real thing.

Everything Unhwi had explained just now matched perfectly with the theory Gun Mugyeol had researched for decades.

In particular, the part about needing to exclude the Heavenly Mountain Six Yang Palm was something Gun Mugyeol himself had only realized recently—yet Unhwi had seen through it from the very start.

“……Remarkable.”

Gun Mugyeol let out genuine admiration and continued.

“So it was not for nothing that you created a new realm. Not just knowledge, but the sense of how to connect it… truly, you lack nothing to speak of the seat of Martial World’s Supreme in the future.”

“Thank you for the praise, but I would like to say that realm and knowledge are separate matters.”

“Modesty?”

“It is the truth. I have only read many ancient texts.”

Gun Mugyeol shook his head.

“Ancient texts alone cannot produce an understanding this deep. You must have experienced or witnessed something directly.”

Unhwi smiled, but he did not answer any further.

Gun Mugyeol finally reached a conclusion.

“Fine. We will end today’s matter here. And in half a year, come to the Martial Alliance’s main headquarters.”

“Understood.”

“Until then, I will not touch the Heavenly Alliance. I promise.”

He had quietly changed the deal’s contents.

“I believe I said five years.”

“For now, half a year—and after that, we can fill out the remaining period. Is that not enough?”

“This puts me in a difficult position, Senior.”

“Haha. Then what would be best?”

“In truth, what is more certain than words is evidence.”

“……Evidence?”

Unhwi took out two sheets of paper from his pouch. Then he wrote something on them and set them on the ground.

Both contained the same content.

Seol Unhwi will provide Gun Mugyeol the enlightenment to reach No-Extremes Incarnation, and Gun Mugyeol will not intervene in any of the Heavenly Alliance’s affairs for the next five years.

Unhwi drew blood from his right index finger and signed his name on both pages.

“……You would go this far?”

“Is it not better for things to be certain.”

“……Fine.”

Gun Mugyeol also drew blood from his index finger and signed his name on both pages.

Afterward, they each took one page, and Unhwi gave a small smile.

“Then I will be going down now.”

“Go. And……”

Gun Mugyeol looked at Unhwi and continued.

“When we meet next time, bring me an even more interesting story.”

“You may look forward to it.”

And with that, Unhwi began descending the mountain.

Left alone, Gun Mugyeol looked up at the sky and muttered.

“……He truly is someone who must be killed.”

He meant it.

In his entire life, Gun Mugyeol had never seen someone this dangerous.

He wanted to kill him immediately, but given his temperament—

And given the direction in which he had lived his life, he could not kill him now.

Because a path had appeared.

He had to use Unhwi to rise to No-Extremes Incarnation.

If the Snow Palace’s Palace Lord was No-Extremes Incarnation, then Gun Mugyeol had to become his equal before he could make choices.

For now, the correct move was to go with Unhwi no matter what.

Whether it was a deal or anything else.

After staring at the place where Unhwi had vanished for a long while, Gun Mugyeol let out a deep sigh.

***

As Unhwi continued on, he stopped midway along Flame Demon Mountain.

Between the pine trees, a shadow of a man appeared.

It was Jegal Yeonghyeon, the Vice Alliance Lord of the Martial Alliance.

He held a folded fan in his hand, and a cold smile rose on his face.

“Do you still have something to say?”

“Of course I do. What kind of conversation did you have with the Alliance Lord?”

Jegal Yeonghyeon’s voice was polite, but beneath it lurked sharp hostility. Unhwi let out a quiet snort of laughter.

“You are being rather blatant.”

“In a situation where I have already been seen through, I am not foolish enough to play at obvious schemes.”

“Then ask him directly. Alliance Lord Gun.”

Unhwi knew, and Jegal Yeonghyeon knew as well.

That this was not the real purpose.

“Your pact with Shin Jueon will become something that never happened.”

Jegal Yeonghyeon did not answer with his mouth. He answered with his eyes.

He was glaring at Unhwi as if he wanted to tear him apart.

“……The fact that the Heavenly Arbiter came down ‘safely’ means the talk with the Alliance Lord ended positively, so let’s speak frankly—”

“There seems to be no reason for me to talk, but I will issue a few notices.”

Jegal Yeonghyeon’s brow crumpled all at once, and he blinked as if he had heard something he never should have.

He was so flustered that his emotions swung in an instant.

“What…… what did you say……? Notices?”

“Yes. Notices. Starting with the Divine Slaying Sword Sect, you keep pulling strings behind the scenes, but whatever it is, it will not reach me.”

“……That is what one calls arrogance.”

“If you see it as arrogance, that is also your personal freedom, so I will let it be. But do you truly think it is arrogance?”

Jegal Yeonghyeon gripped his fan tightly.

In Jegal Yeonghyeon’s world, ‘rank’ was absolute.

By rank, anyone could see that Jegal Yeonghyeon was not Unhwi’s opponent.

It was not that he had been humiliated once—between the Divine Slaying Sword Sect and the Soul-Dao Demon Flame Palace, he had been humiliated three times.

All three times, he had been crushed without managing to do a single thing properly.

This could no longer be called the same rank.

No matter what he did, it would only repeat.

In that moment, something boiled up inside him.

The humiliation he had suffered half a year ago at Yangma Mountain surged back. Even then, Unhwi had cornered him like this.

They had not even met before.

Even now, it was their first meeting.

He could not understand how the other man could read him so clearly. And then Unhwi’s calm voice pierced Jegal Yeonghyeon’s ear.

“Do you know what matters most when you play baduk?”

“……You call that a question? Of course it is the stones.”

Unhwi shook his head.

“Whether the stones that represent people, or the board that represents the stage—none of that matters. What matters most is the player.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep