Chapter 323

It all happened in an instant.

The qi permeating the air surged, and the sword propped against the table flew toward one man’s waiting hand.

And then…

Shuaaaak!

A dazzling streak of light filled my vision. The strike was impossibly fast and precise.

The blue qi crystallized around the blade and scattered a brilliant radiance. I already knew another name for that light.

Sword Force.

A power granted only to those who had stepped into the Supreme Peak realm. Stronger than anything else in the world, it was falling straight toward the crown of my head.

At this rate, I’ll die. There’s no question about it.

But…

This much isn’t nearly enough.

In a world slowed to a crawl, I moved—and the Sword Force split the air.

Shlick! Kraaash!

Everything was cleaved apart. The table, the chairs, even the floor of the tea house, which must have stood there for countless years.

The gale unleashed by the Sword Force swept through the surroundings. Screams and thunderous crashes swallowed the room whole. Beyond them, I saw the old man’s eyes stretched wide.

“H-how did you…”

I gently pushed Ju Hwaran, whom I had pulled into my arms, to the side and answered.

“How did I dodge? I saw it coming, so I dodged.”

“……”

“People say the Supreme Peak realm—and Sword Force—belong to the realm beyond humanity.”

Unconcealed shock spread across Hwangbo Eom’s wrinkled face.

“Th-then could it be that you…!”

“Who knows?”

I answered with a faint smile.

By now, thunder must have been booming inside Hwangbo Eom’s head.

Of course, I had not gained the enlightenment required to reach the Supreme Peak realm.

To be precise, it would be more accurate to say that my physical abilities themselves had reached a realm beyond humanity—not my martial arts.

What should I even call this?

A Supreme Peak master—physically?

There was no doubt that I was a new kind of Supreme Peak master, one without precedent in the history of the Murim.

I shrugged.

“It’s nothing special. I tried it, and it worked.”

Hwangbo Eom shouted, his eyes bloodshot.

“I refuse to believe this! How can a brat like you have reached such a realm?”

“I find it hard to believe, too. Who swings a sword in a place like this? Are you out of your mind?”

“That…”

Hwangbo Eom’s eyes stiffened as they swept across the room.

Fortunately, since his strike had been aimed precisely at me, no one else had been injured. Even so, shock and fury had appeared on everyone’s faces.

“You went on about the orthodox faction and the Great Zhongnan Sect, but the second you lost your temper, you became no better than a demonic fiend. Why not rename yourselves the Zhong-Bastard Sect while you’re at it?”

“You—!”

Hwangbo Eom’s hand trembled around the sword hilt. His eyes darted around in conflict before gradually turning cold.

“Disciples of the Zhongnan Sect, heed my command.”

“Y-yes, Martial Uncle!”

The thirty members of the Taeeul Sword Unit, who had frozen like statues at the sudden turn of events, jolted back to their senses.

They hurriedly cupped their hands, and Hwangbo Eom’s command fell over their heads.

“Seal the entrances immediately. No one is to leave this place.”

“S-Senior Martial Uncle!”

“B-but…”

“What are you waiting for? Do you intend to disobey this old man’s command?”

As Hwangbo Eom’s roar made the Taeeul Sword Unit hesitate, a quiet voice pierced everyone’s ears.

“Yes. I do.”

Hwangbo Eom’s face filled with fury when he recognized the speaker.

“Hyuk Sopyung. How dare you…”

The boy was familiar to me. Hyuk Sopyung, the Zhongnan One Dragon.

He stared at Hwangbo Eom with an indescribably complicated gaze.

“Please stop. This is the first and last time I will beg you.”

“What did you say?”

“The way you’re acting right now, Senior Martial Uncle… Isn’t this beneath a disciple of the Great Zhongnan Sect?”

“Shut your mouth!”

Kraaash!

Another gale swept through the room, and Hyuk Sopyung’s body slid backward.

But his eyes did not waver.

Hwangbo Eom looked back and forth between Hyuk Sopyung and the thirty hesitant members of the Taeeul Sword Unit before biting down hard on his lip.

“You little…”

The next moment, he pulled a small copper tablet from inside his robes and threw it at Hyuk Sopyung’s feet.

“This is our sect’s Sect Leader’s Command Token, entrusted to this old man by your Master. Do you still intend to refuse?”

“……!”

The Sect Leader’s Command Token was a powerful symbol of authority, belonging to the very peak of a sect.

Hyuk Sopyung’s eyelids trembled when he recognized his Master’s copper tablet.

“Senior Martial Uncle, you truly haven’t changed.”

“Choose. Expulsion—or obedience.”

“Expulsion…”

Hyuk Sopyung’s regretful gaze touched me and Ju Hwaran.

Then he gave a bitter smile, bowed deeply toward the copper tablet, and slammed his forehead against the floor.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Disciple Hyuk Sopyung obeys the command of the Sect Leader’s token!”

His cry sounded as if he were vomiting blood. Blood streamed down his split forehead.

Hyuk Sopyung rose with an expressionless face, as if he felt no pain at all, and blocked the entrance to the tea house. The thirty members of the Taeeul Sword Unit did the same.

I clicked my tongue as I watched the whole thing unfold.

“At this point, you haven’t just crossed the line—you erased it altogether. Are you sure you can deal with the consequences?”

The major figures of Huashan, the Beggars’ Sect, and the Lower District Sect were all gathered here. No matter how powerful the Zhongnan Sect was, the fallout from today would be fierce.

But Hwangbo Eom’s eyes, already clouded by rage, held nothing but fury.

“They will be safe. Except for you.”

“Ah. So you’ll deal with me first and clean up afterward?”

“Yes. At last, I can tear that mouth of yours apart.”

“Why are you so desperate to tear it apart, old man? The Jin Family of Taiyuan and the Fire Gate Clan aren’t exactly a pair of pushover nobodies.”

“The Fire Gate Clan?”

A sneer formed at the corner of Hwangbo Eom’s mouth.

And then, the next moment, a line of Sound Transmission pierced my ear.

The young tiger is in danger, yet the great tiger shows no sign of waking.

“……!”

Did you think this old man wouldn’t know, you foolish child? I already knew the Fire King’s illness was serious.

A secret known by only a handful of people had leaked out.

My face stiffened before I could stop it. Hwangbo Eom’s smile deepened when he saw my reaction.

The Fire King Jeok Cheongang, and you. The two of you have been a damn nuisance. This might be a good opportunity to settle my bad blood with the Fire Gate Clan once and for all.

Settle his bad blood?

Hwangbo Eom’s words left me momentarily dazed.

Is what I’m thinking really true?

My tangled thoughts were wiped clean in an instant. Only one thought remained.

“Sorry, but can I ask everyone for one favor?”

I could feel them, even without seeing them.

Baek Museong and Cheongpung. Gung Gibang and Heukgeol Beggar. Wolhwa and Hyuk Mujin. And finally, Ju Hwaran.

Everyone in the room was looking at me.

Then, a voice so dry that I could hardly believe it belonged to me slipped between my lips.

“Block the entrance. Don’t let anyone get out.”

Hwangbo Eom had been the one to block the entrance first.

But I would be the one to decide whether that door opened or closed.

“Taeeul Merciless Sword Hwangbo Eom.”

I let out a quiet sigh. Extreme Yang qi boiled up from my dantian and flowed out as white steam.

“You said something you never should have.”

He should never have brought up Jeok Cheongang over something as trivial as this.

He truly shouldn’t have.

The price for saying what I should not have said would be paid from this moment onward.

“Bring it, you old fuck.”

In time split into smaller and smaller instants, Hwangbo Eom and I rushed toward each other.

Kraaaaaash!

Heavenly River Thirty-Six Swords.

The net of Sword Energy covering the heavens and earth was dense and powerful.

The sword forms that came flying without pause were in a completely different league from the Roaring Fury Swordsman I had faced a year ago—or Hyuk Sopyung the day before.

Shishishishishik!

They were dazzlingly fast and destructive. Even a glancing blow would split flesh and bone and bring death.

This can’t be dodged. It couldn’t be dodged.

At least, it would have been true if I were the me from a year ago.

The saying wipe your eyes and look again came to mind.

It referred to an achievement so astonishing that one had to rub one’s eyes and take another look.

Even that saying fell short of describing me.

I had grown stronger through days of harsh, unceasing training.

No.

It would not be wrong to call it evolution.

Heaven is truly heartless. How can someone like you even exist?

Jeok Cheongang’s face, filled with helplessness, appeared over the net of Sword Energy.

I gave a quiet laugh and swept my spear, White Flame, upward.

Shraaaak!

The Extreme Yang qi clinging to White Flame’s spearhead tore through the net.

A fish might escape through the gap in a torn net, but I was not a fish.

I was a shark.

The fisherman who had cast the net had clearly overlooked that fact.

The old fisherman’s wrinkled face was filled with shock.

“You—!”

I did not answer.

I bent my knees and lowered my waist. The spear in my hand curved smoothly like a dragon’s tail.

Fire Dragon’s Single Tail.

Fwoooosh! Boom!

The blue-burning spear and sword collided.

A deafening crash rang out as immense waves of martial energy erupted.

Had Hwangbo Eom been trying to conserve his strength?

If so, he had made a terrible mistake. No matter how severe the drain on his internal energy, he should have used Sword Force.

“Hup!”

His eyes opened wide.

The old man staggered under my strength, which had entered the realm beyond humanity, and the innate ferocity of my martial art.

“Wh-what kind of martial art is this…?”

The founder of the Fire Gate Clan had been called the greatest martial artist under heaven in his era.

He created the Fire Gate Divine Technique and made it the foundation of the clan. The sixteen Sect Leaders who followed him had each become a different branch growing from that root.

The Fire Dragon Divine Spear was no different.

Created by the fifth Sect Leader, this spear art was extremely destructive and fierce.

It truly resembled the movements of a fire dragon.

And…

This is only the beginning.

Whoooosh!

I held nothing back.

I stabbed, slashed, swung, and struck all at once.

Whenever the blue flames ran wild, thunderous crashes that sounded like the sky was splitting apart shook the heavens and earth.

After the tail come the claws.

No one under heaven had ever seen a dragon fight.

But while learning the Fire Dragon Divine Spear, I had found myself wondering about it.

If a fire dragon really swung its claws, wouldn’t it look exactly like this?

Gooooong.

Extreme Yang qi coiled around the tip of my spear.

The tea that had spilled across the floor during Hwangbo Eom’s earlier rampage had long since evaporated. The jade-colored tea utensils had grown red-hot, just as they must have been when they were being fired in the kiln.

Sensing that something was wrong, Hwangbo Eom shouted like a thunderbolt.

“You bastard!”

He was already nearing eighty.

But for someone who had entered the Supreme Peak realm, age was nothing more than a number.

His formidable internal energy and the Zhongnan Sect’s ultimate techniques, which he had practiced for more than a jiazi, poured down like beams of light.

Swoooosh!

If the Heavenly River Thirty-Six Swords were a net, this was a harpoon meant to sever my breath.

As I watched his sword slash toward my chest at incredible speed, scattering dozens of afterimages, one martial art flashed through my mind.

Taeeul Light-Dividing Sword.

One of the Zhongnan Sect’s most celebrated ultimate techniques.

Jeok Cheongang had described the Taeeul Light-Dividing Sword as sword art of extreme speed.

Then he had added one more thing.

Maybe this old man is senile. Why do I feel like you’ll be faster than the sword?

If Jeok Cheongang woke up, I wanted to tell him that he had been right.

And that the Fire Gate Clan’s martial arts had broken through the Taeeul Light-Dividing Sword.

Heavenly Strike.

The fire dragon swung its claws.

The strike descending from the sky erased the afterimages created by the Taeeul Light-Dividing Sword and fell like a bolt of lightning.

Kraaaaaash!

A pillar of hellfire erupted.