First, congratulations on writing a new history for the martial world.

Also, congratulations on your return.

To get to the point, the “experiment” is almost complete.

When you have time, please come see it once.

And the Demonic-Path Heavenly-Man would not appear until at least ten years from now, yet it was almost complete?

Was it faster than he expected?

Or would that “almost” still drag on for ten years?

He was a little curious.

A zombie that would reach at least the Heaven-and-Earth Fourfold Realm.

A killing weapon that obeyed only its master’s orders.

A lot had happened on the very first day he returned to Yangnyeong City, but he could deal with things one by one.

For now, the priority was the Return-of-Life Society.

***

At the training grounds of Yangnyeong City headquarters, every martial artist of the Yangun Corps was gathered, along with the storehouse keeper and even the guards who had been newly hired fifteen days ago.

Their number was roughly a little over fifty.

They murmured among themselves.

“Why are we being called in all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know. Right after the Commander came back…”

“Is this some kind of show? What is this?”

Ju Soa and Namgung Wonyang, who had issued the summons, said nothing and only waited in silence.

It was hard not to call it strange.

Then it happened.

“Quiet.”

It was a small voice, but it was also a firm voice that stabbed into everyone’s ears.

With that single word, the training grounds fell silent.

Step, step.

Footsteps approached.

Everyone turned their heads.

A man who looked to be in his early twenties, with his hair tightly tied back.

You should never judge him by his appearance.

That man was the genius among geniuses who was shaking the martial world.

A monster who, as the Chief Justice of the Heavenly Alliance, had raised the Heavenly Alliance into one of the Central Plains’ three great powers, and who had turned the title Snow-Mountain Demon Lord into fear itself rather than mockery.

Seol Unhwi naturally took his place between Ju Soa and Namgung Wonyang.

He slowly swept his gaze over the fifty-some people and spoke.

“Listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

“…”

“Do not react. Just listen.”

People nodded.

Seol Unhwi closed his eyes.

His lips moved.

A mind-voice transmission.

A voice delivered to all fifty-some at once.

It was immense, like thunder, and unmistakably clear.

Seol Unhwi still did not open his eyes.

In the very moment he sent it, he focused without letting a single fluctuation in perception slip past.

People’s reactions split.

Most wore baffled expressions.

“…What is that?”

“What does it mean?”

A few tilted their heads.

“Is it a slogan?”

“A new slogan for the Yangun Corps?”

“…What kind of group makes a slogan like that?”

Most reactions were similar.

But exactly three.

They were different.

Shock.

Panic.

Seol Unhwi’s eyes snapped open.

Two were Yangun Corps martial artists.

And one was the storehouse keeper.

He identified the positions of all three precisely.

Seol Unhwi said,

“You may all return.”

As the bewildered crowd began to disperse, he added,

“However.”

He pointed at the three.

“You three will remain.”

The three faces went pale, and the others whispered.

“Why only those three…?”

“What’s going on?”

Ju Soa stepped forward.

“Stop whispering and leave quietly.”

In an instant, the crowd was cleared.

One by one, they exited the training grounds.

Only Seol Unhwi, the three he had singled out, and Seol Unhwi’s people remained.

“Ju Soa.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“What are their names?”

“In order: Seo Hojun, a member of the Yangun Corps First Squad; Jin Muhyeong, the deputy leader of the Second Squad; and Bang Seokyun, the storehouse keeper.”

As if committing them to memory, Seol Unhwi nodded and looked at the three.

“Sit.”

“…Com-Commander.”

Speaking in a trembling voice, Seo Hojun immediately looked to Namgung Wonyang. Namgung Wonyang had previously been the lord of the First Squad. With Han Murin absent, she was now commanding both the First and Second Squads, so Seo Hojun was effectively asking his lord, Namgung Wonyang, to help him.

But there was something he did not know.

Namgung Wonyang was absolutely loyal to Seol Unhwi.

And this situation meant he had clearly done something wrong, and Namgung Wonyang did not even entertain the thought that Seol Unhwi might be mistaken.

So she only glared at Seo Hojun with cold eyes.

“Lord… why me…”

“Did you not hear me?”

At Seol Unhwi’s chilling voice, Seo Hojun sat down at once.

“Seems you misunderstood.”

“…Pardon?”

“When I told you to sit, I meant kneel. Is that too hard to understand?”

As if on cue, all three dropped to their knees.

Seol Unhwi walked up to them and asked curtly,

“Why were you trying to plant a base here?”

“A base… you mean…?”

“Were you counting on it being darkest beneath the lamp?”

“…”

“Because this land is guarded by a master who has reached unity of heaven and man, it would have been easier to work. No one would interfere.”

“…”

“Return-of-Life Society. Were you recruited into it?”

The three answered with silence.

Seol Unhwi let out a quiet laugh.

“All you have to do is nod. Can’t even manage that?”

Jin Muhyeong answered in a trembling voice.

“…Yes. We were recruited.”

“I see.”

What, exactly, they had been recruited by was not worth asking.

He didn’t want to know.

“One last thing. Any final words?”

“…What?”

In an instant.

Slash.

The Trueflame Heavenly-Spirit Sword severed his neck.

So fast.

Without pain.

Jin Muhyeong’s head fell to the ground.

Among everyone present, aside from Chief Seong, not a single person saw Seol Unhwi draw his blade.

At some point, the sword was simply in his hand, and it swung.

That was all.

For a master who had reached a certain realm, even watching their movement is precious. In a situation like this, it became something beyond precious.

It became terror itself.

Seo Hojun and Bang Seokyun went white.

“Ugh…”

Seol Unhwi lowered his sword before Bang Seokyun, who was retching.

“Watch closely.”

With trembling eyes, the two looked up at Seol Unhwi.