At some point, the Thunderbolt Saber King, Peng Cheolhu, had begun to laugh without a sound.
Even as the several sixty-year cycles’ worth of internal energy he’d accumulated, along with every ounce of strength in his body, melted away and vanished, the clear smile at the corners of his wrinkled mouth remained.
Just like the brilliant halo of light still brightening his view in this very moment.
Whoooosh.
The wind howled.
An energy unlike anything seen before swelled within it. Three lights, each a different color, drew together and mingled without pause.
And at last, they changed.
Whoosh!
The air turned searing hot. Through it, the Thunderbolt Saber King saw three radiant flower buds bloom.
No—what he saw was a young man seated cross-legged, slowly rising into the air.
Yes. I suppose so.
He was witnessing Three Flowers Gather at the Crown, the realm every martial artist in Murim dreamed of reaching. But he wasn’t surprised.
He’d walked this path himself once. And it was someone else’s present.
The Blazing Flame Divine Dragon, Jin Taekyung.
Heir to the Fire Gate Clan and successor to the Fire King, Jeok Cheongang.
The Thunderbolt Saber King knew. He believed it, too.
For that callow brat, who’d only passed twenty two years ago, the realm of Three Flowers Gather at the Crown was nothing more than a step on the way to a greater height.
Even now, Jin Taekyung was moving toward the next step.
Before long, the Thunderbolt Saber King saw that belief become reality.
Fwoosh.
The three flower buds suddenly caught fire.
After a fierce struggle, the Extreme Yang flames swallowed the pitch-black energy. The moment five rings formed, the Thunderbolt Saber King gave a quiet laugh.
Beyond Three Flowers Gather at the Crown… Five Qi Returning to Origin.
Jin Taekyung probably didn’t know exactly what those five rings meant.
But the Thunderbolt Saber King did.
No, every martial artist under Heaven knew. To set foot in the realm of Five Qi Returning to Origin was to meet the bare minimum qualification for being called a king across the vast Nine Provinces.
But the transformation didn’t end there.
Crackle!
Flame and lightning intertwined.
The struggle between the hellfire that had swallowed the darkness and the thunderbolt was fierce, desperate enough to leave Jin Taekyung trembling with pain as he floated in the air.
A tremendous reverberation burst from his body and spread in every direction, far beyond the pavilion.
“Hah!”
At Jeok Cheongang’s sudden shout, Jin Taekyung’s violent trembling slowly began to subside.
His face, contorted like a fiend’s by the terrible pain, took on a new expression.
Will.
It was Will: a fierce resolve to break rather than yield, to get past this wall and reach higher still.
When the Thunderbolt Saber King felt Jin Taekyung’s Will, he was finally certain.
I made the right choice.
A smile brighter than any before spread across his face.
He watched the internal energy he’d spent a lifetime accumulating—those long years, and the little life he had left—melt into the flames. Then he spoke, making his voice gruff despite everything he felt.
“Damn it. I’ve done nothing but good things for the Fire Gate Clan before I go.”
The old master gazed at his Disciple, enveloped in the energy that had finally become one amid the distant blaze of light, and answered.
“If you’re so sore about it, you should’ve had more kids. If you’d tried a little harder, maybe the Peng Family would’ve had a brat like him.”
“Would you listen to this senile old man? You took a monster for a Disciple by pure luck, and now you’re saying whatever you please.”
“That’s right. I was lucky.”
“Damn it. Don’t admit it!”
“Why not?”
“Because if you admit it that easily, I’ve got nothing to say.”
The Fire King, Jeok Cheongang, and the Thunderbolt Saber King, Peng Cheolhu, looked at each other and chuckled.
“Remember that time?”
“What time?”
“Just after the Great Faction War ended, I think. When we all got together for a drink to celebrate.”
“Oh, the day you mouthed off to this old man and got a bloody nose?”
The Thunderbolt Saber King frowned.
“Get it straight. We were evenly matched until then.”
“We were. For about thirty exchanges. Then you got beaten. I was clearly a cut above.”
“…Childish to the very end. There’s a reason they say people never change.”
“If a man changes, it means he’s about to die. Anyway, it was my complete victory.”
“You insufferable old bastard. Did you eat all those years through your asshole?”
Fifty years ago, they would surely have been throwing punches at each other by now.
Instead, the two old men kept smiling.
One was doing his best to hide the bitterness rising from deep within him. The other had accepted both the years long gone and the death drawing near.
Jeok Cheongang looked at Peng Cheolhu, whose hair had turned completely white, and made a show of scowling.
“You ill-mannered brat. I told you, if you’re going to treat me like an old man, you ought to count our years properly and show me the respect I’m due.”
“Damn it. The age thing again.”
“I’ve told you hundreds of times. Is your skull made of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron? Is that why you can’t remember?”
“Enough of what I don’t want to hear. Fine, I understand. I’ll show you respect, all right?”
“Peng Family bastards, honestly… What did you just say?”
Jeok Cheongang stopped mid-sentence. At his startled expression, the Thunderbolt Saber King let out a hearty laugh.
“What’s the matter? Have you gotten so old you’ve gone deaf, Jeok hyung1?”
“…!”
“Tsk, tsk. What’s the point of looking young again? All those years, and nothing to show for them.”
Jeok Cheongang stared at him in silence as he clicked his tongue loudly enough to be heard. Then, all at once, he laughed aloud.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Nothing. I just lived long enough to see this day. Have you got a problem with that?”
“I always have a problem with something. But can a younger brother talk back to his hyung1?”
Younger brother.
Why did those two simple words stir something in Jeok Cheongang’s chest? He forced his fading smile back onto his lips.
“You’ve finally come to your senses. I wondered how long you’d keep digging in your heels.”
“Now, now. Is that any way to speak to your younger brother? It seems Jeok hyung1 still hasn’t come to his senses.”
“Then shall I call you Peng, my younger brother, from now on?”
This time, the Thunderbolt Saber King laughed aloud. His face, covered in fine wrinkles and age spots after he’d given away everything he had, creased deeply.
“No. Better not. Hearing you say that makes me itch right down to my guts.”
“You damnable bastard. What do I have to do to satisfy you?”
“That’s much better. You’ve finally turned back into the Fire King Jeok Cheongang I know.”
At last, the Thunderbolt Saber King smiled in satisfaction. When he spoke again, his voice was gentle.
“Jeok hyung1.”
Jeok Cheongang didn’t answer.
No—he couldn’t.
The sudden change in the Thunderbolt Saber King’s tone and expression, the voice that now sounded unmistakably like an old man’s—something about it lodged in Jeok Cheongang’s throat and left him speechless.
The Thunderbolt Saber King looked at him as if he understood and went on.
“You, at least… don’t change, Jeok hyung1.”
“…!”
“Stay in Murim as you are, just as you always have.”
So many years had passed.
The sun and moon kept changing places. The mountains and rivers changed their clothes in turn, and those born into this world with vigorous cries returned to the soil.
Yet some had not changed.
Their bodies had aged with the years, but their hearts remained steadfast.
“Looking back, I’ve been very lucky.”
Years flashed like meteors through the Thunderbolt Saber King’s fading eyes.
He had been born into the Hebei Peng Family, a power that commanded its region, and spent a childhood wanting for nothing.
In his youth, his name had spread beyond the northern lands and across the world.
And then—
“Even in that terrible war, I had friends I could fight back to back with.”
“…Yes. You did. You still do.”
Jeok Cheongang’s voice was dry. He quietly bit his lip. He was no longer smiling.
“Jeok hyung1.”
“Go on. I’m listening.”
“Do you remember what I used to say all the time?”
Jeok Cheongang nodded without hesitation.
“That a man should meet his death proudly on the battlefield.”
“You remembered.”
“How could I forget? You said it several times a day.”
“I did. And every time, you threatened to rip my mouth open.”
The Thunderbolt Saber King laughed happily at the old memory. But instead of the thunderous laughter that had once boomed from him, only a faint breath came out.
“I take it back. Now that I’ve come this far… this kind of death isn’t so bad after all.”
His head kept drooping. He forced it up, straightened his bent back, and looked over Jeok Cheongang’s shoulder.
At the figure floating there, engulfed in deep light.
Crack. Creak.
The sound of flesh tearing came from Jin Taekyung’s body as fine tremors spread through it. The Thunderbolt Saber King watched with joy in his eyes as Jin Taekyung entered Bone Transformation—a process he himself had never experienced.
Supreme Peak.
He had climbed the summit and reached the utmost height: the highest place on earth, and the path closest to Heaven.
“Jeok hyung1. Do you see him?”
At the Thunderbolt Saber King’s voice, trembling with emotion, Jeok Cheongang turned to look at his Disciple.
“Yes. I see him. My one and only Disciple—and the successor who inherited everything you had.”
“Is that so?”
Death had already dimmed the Thunderbolt Saber King’s eyes. He could no longer see Jeok Cheongang’s face or Jin Taekyung’s form.
And yet, in the darkness slowly approaching, he saw a radiant halo of light that would not go out.
“Th-that child…”
He struggled for breath.
Clinging to his fading consciousness, he reached toward the light shining beyond the darkness.
Toward the future he had left behind. Toward hope.
Then he cast off everything pressing down on his body and lunged toward the light.
Toward a new mountain peak that didn’t exist in this world, waiting for him.
Toward another Supreme Peak: death.
Tap.
His fingertips fell limply, touching nothing.
Jeok Cheongang quietly closed his eyes. A low voice slipped between his lips.
“Farewell, you Peng bastard.”
He would save the words younger brother for the day they met again.
That was his last promise to the Thunderbolt Saber King—no, to Peng Cheolhu.
And as the Fire King Jeok Cheongang, rather than Jeok hyung1, he still had far too much left to do.
Whoosh.
Feeling the halo of light finally begin to fade, Jeok Cheongang opened his eyes.
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