Chapter 497

Silence settled over the courtyard.

Heo Jinsa’s body was trembling.

“My master’s research was for the future of Viper Valley! He was killed by those who failed to understand that!”

Unhwi gave a faint, derisive laugh.

“Unfortunately for you, the Blood Heaven Sect has laws of its own. At the very least, the Blood Heaven Sect does not harm innocent commoners. I find it difficult to understand how you could know less about that than I do, when I have only recently taken office as the Blood Heaven Arbiter. But if you disliked those laws, should you not have left the Blood Heaven Sect’s protection?”

“......”

“You want to remain under the Blood Heaven Sect’s protection while doing whatever you please? Even breaking its laws and justifying it with sophistry about the future?”

“......”

“I believe this is precisely what one would call pathetic. And one more thing. I did not kill Cheon Saeum and Seon Yangbaek. The Heavenly Wayfarer personally executed them.”

“......”

“And you seem to be misunderstanding something. Viper Valley was allowed to survive in exchange for those two lives. You are the vice master. Of all people, you could not possibly have failed to understand that the Heavenly Wayfarer intended to let the matter end with only their heads. Or are you claiming you truly did not know?”

Heo Jinsa closed his mouth.

He had no choice.

To deny the Heavenly Wayfarer was to deny the entire Blood Heaven Sect. Even Heo Jinsa could not bear the consequences of that.

And Unhwi’s words.

He agreed with every one of them. None of them were wrong. Viper Valley had survived in exchange for the heads of those two men.

That was all.

Heo Jinsa’s eyes changed.

The anxiety vanished.

Something else rose in its place.

Madness.

“......That is true.”

Heo Jinsa murmured.

“The Heavenly Wayfarer executed them. And he spared Viper Valley. What more could I possibly say about that?”

“......”

“But.”

Heo Jinsa raised his head and looked at Unhwi.

“You are not the Heavenly Wayfarer, Blood Heaven Arbiter.”

The energy around him changed.

Poisonous miasma erupted from Heo Jinsa’s body. It was a deep purple. The air turned murky. The martial artists in the courtyard backed away.

“If the Heavenly Wayfarer killed my master, then I will accept it!”

Heo Jinsa shouted.

“But you were the one who killed my fellow disciple!”

Lee Myeonghwa.

Cheon Saeum’s second disciple.

The man Unhwi had killed while serving as Commander General of Yangryeong.

“When Lee Myeonghwa died, I could do nothing! It was the same when my master died!”

Heo Jinsa’s poisonous miasma spread throughout the courtyard.

“But now I can!”

Go Hwak and Eom Dusik moved.

At the same time.

Go Hwak charged toward Unhwi’s left, while Eom Dusik moved toward his right.

The thirty or so men behind Heo Jinsa drew their swords.

Thirty blades slid free at once.

Shrrring—

The courtyard filled with killing intent.

Yang Uiji started forward, but Unhwi raised a hand.

Casually.

Yang Uiji stopped.

Unhwi spoke.

“Valley Master.”

“......Yes.”

“Remain where you are.”

His voice was calm.

Unhwi looked at Heo Jinsa.

“Heo Jinsa.”

“......”

“I have only one question.”

“......What is it?”

“When your master, Cheon Saeum, placed commoners on his tables as test subjects.”

Unhwi’s eyes turned cold.

“Did you know?”

Heo Jinsa froze.

“Did you know, or did you not?”

“......”

“Answer me.”

Heo Jinsa’s lips trembled.

“......I knew.”

The courtyard froze.

The martial artists of Viper Valley.

Even among the thirty or so who followed Heo Jinsa, some faces went rigid.

It was a line.

A principle laid down by the Heavenly Wayfarer.

Never harm innocent commoners.

The world of martial artists and the world of commoners were to remain strictly separate.

There was only one exception.

When grudges and ties were involved.

This was why everyone remained merely wary of the Blood Heaven Sect despite its overwhelming power.

Because the Blood Heaven Sect was not the Demonic Cult.

Because it did not carry out massacres as the Demonic Cult did.

But Viper Valley’s actions were closer to those of the Demonic Cult than the Blood Heaven Sect.

Unhwi nodded.

He drew the True Fire Heavenly Spirit Sword.

Shrring.

A clear note rang out.

“In the name of the Blood Heaven Arbiter, I pronounce judgment.”

Unhwi’s voice echoed across the courtyard.

“Vice Master Heo Jinsa. You opened Cheon Saeum’s sealed research without authorization and abducted seven commoners to use as test subjects. Five of them died.”

“......”

“You have violated the law of the Blood Heaven Sect and crossed the line personally established by the Heavenly Wayfarer.”

“......And what are you going to—”

“You will be executed.”

Before the words had even finished—

Go Hwak moved.

His enormous body charged toward Unhwi.

The full power of late Unity of Heaven and Man.

His fist drove toward Unhwi’s face.

Fast.

But—

Unhwi was faster.

He turned his body.

Half a step.

Go Hwak’s fist swept past Unhwi’s side. Wind burst outward. It was a powerful strike from a martial artist at late Unity of Heaven and Man.

But it only grazed past him.

Unhwi’s sword moved.

A short stroke.

Slice.

Go Hwak’s right arm fell.

Severed at the shoulder.

“......What?”

A foolish sound escaped Go Hwak.

Unhwi turned his head to the left.

Eom Dusik was rushing toward him.

Swift footwork. His small, thin body moved like the wind. He held a dagger in each hand.

He threw them.

Whssht—

Both daggers flew at once. One aimed for Unhwi’s throat, the other for his chest.

Unhwi swept his sword sideways.

Clack. Clack.

Both daggers were deflected into the air.

Eom Dusik’s eyes widened.

He had expected Unhwi to block the daggers.

He had not expected what Unhwi did immediately afterward.

Unhwi vanished.

No.

He had not vanished.

He had simply moved too quickly.

Eom Dusik felt it.

The wind against his back.

He tried to turn, but—

Thrust.

Too late.

Unhwi’s sword pierced Eom Dusik through the back.

It passed through his heart.

Precisely.

Eom Dusik’s body went rigid.

The strength left the hand still holding a dagger.

The dagger fell to the ground.

When Unhwi pulled out his sword, Eom Dusik collapsed forward.

He did not move again.

The courtyard sank into silence.

Go Hwak lay on the ground, clutching the stump of his severed arm. Eom Dusik was dead.

Three breaths from beginning to end.

In only three breaths, Unhwi had subdued two martial artists at Unity of Heaven and Man.

One had lost an arm.

The other was dead.

The swords of the thirty or so men trembled.

They had drawn them, but they could not move.

They were incapable of moving.

What they had just witnessed had been too fast. Seeing Go Hwak and Eom Dusik fall so helplessly had frozen their bodies in place.

Unhwi looked at the thirty or so men.

Blood dripped from his sword.

Drop.

Drop.

“Put down your swords.”

His voice was calm.

The thirty or so men looked at one another.

Unhwi took one step forward.

One step.

That alone changed the air.

Cold energy flowed from him.

The temperature in the courtyard fell again. Frost began spreading across the drawn blades. Their hilts turned cold. It felt as though their hands were freezing solid.

These thirty had to be dealt with by the valley master.

Only then would it look right.

“I will not say it a third time.”

One man lowered his sword.

Clatter.

Two followed.

Then three.

Four.

One after another.

Clatter. Clatter. Clatter.

The sounds of swords falling to the ground rang out in succession.

Once more than twenty men had put down their swords—

The remaining ten or so could no longer endure.

The final sword struck the ground.

More than thirty swords lay scattered across the courtyard.

Unhwi turned.

Heo Jinsa was still standing where he had been.

Merely standing there.

While Go Hwak fell, Eom Dusik died, and the thirty or so men were disarmed—

Heo Jinsa had not moved a single step.

He had been unable to.

The moment Unhwi cut down Go Hwak and stabbed Eom Dusik, Heo Jinsa’s body had already frozen.

Fear.

He is clearly in the same realm as I am.

But realm is not everything.

What happened before my eyes is proof of that.

This man is a monster.

That was not Unity of Heaven and Man. Unity of Heaven and Man cannot produce movement like that.

Heo Jinsa’s legs were trembling.

Unhwi approached.

One step.

Two.

Three.

He stopped before Heo Jinsa.

The five-foot distance shrank to one.

Unhwi’s face was close.

A young face.

But his eyes were not young.

They were deep.

Deep enough to swallow anything.

“Heo Jinsa.”

“......”

“It is true that I killed your fellow disciple, Lee Myeonghwa.”

Heo Jinsa’s eyes shook.

Unhwi raised his sword.

The tip touched Heo Jinsa’s throat.

It was cold.

The cold energy clinging to the blade froze Heo Jinsa’s skin.

“I respect your decision to walk the path of a martial artist.”

Unhwi spoke.

“I also understand your desire for revenge.”

“......”

“I understand your wish to protect what your master left behind.”

“......”

“But not the line your master crossed.”

Heo Jinsa looked up at Unhwi.

Tears were flowing down his face.

“......I will die today.”

“That is correct.”

“......”

“Choose whether you will die as a martial artist or as a criminal.”

Heo Jinsa wiped away his tears with his sleeve.

“......I will die as a martial artist.”

Unhwi withdrew his sword.

The tip moved away from Heo Jinsa’s throat.

He stepped back.

Creating distance between them.

Heo Jinsa looked at Unhwi.

His tears had stopped.

His gaze had changed instead.

Resignation.

But something burned beneath that resignation.

Something belonging to a martial artist.

He had resolved himself to die.

There was nothing left to fear.

“My master taught me one thing.”

Heo Jinsa spoke.

“Poison is medicine, and medicine is poison.”

Heo Jinsa’s hands moved.

He drew something from his waist.

It was not a bottle.

They were needles.

Twelve slender silver needles, held between his fingers.

Unhwi’s eyes narrowed.

The poison-needle art.

Cheon Saeum’s martial system, which Unhwi had witnessed in his previous life.

Rather than applying poison to a weapon, it dissolved poison into the practitioner’s internal energy itself.

A method of infusing the needles with poisonous energy and striking the body’s vital points.

If struck, one’s internal energy would become contaminated.

Heo Jinsa assumed a stance.

Six silver needles in his left hand.

Six in his right.

His energy changed.

Poisonous miasma rose from Heo Jinsa’s body.

It was different from before.

The earlier miasma had come from his fury.

This poisonous miasma came from his martial art.

It was refined.

Dense.

Not purple, but black.

The martial artists of Viper Valley backed away.

Instinctively.

They knew they must not touch that poisonous miasma.

Yang Uiji’s eyes narrowed.

Heavenly Serpent Poison Needle Art.

A martial god–level martial art created by Cheon Saeum.

Heo Jinsa looked at Unhwi.

“Blood Heaven Arbiter.”

“Speak.”

“I ask for a single move.”

“One move?”

“Yes. One move will be enough.”

Heo Jinsa’s eyes grew still.

“I will place everything I possess into that one move.”

Unhwi looked at Heo Jinsa.

For a long while.

Was he this kind of man?

He thought to himself.

Unhwi had never seen Heo Jinsa in his previous life.

By the time Viper Valley was put in order following Cheon Saeum’s death, Heo Jinsa had already disappeared.

Missing.

That had been Heo Jinsa’s fate in Unhwi’s previous life.

But this life was different.

He did not run.

He said he would die as a martial artist.

And he requested one move.

One move containing everything he possessed.

Unhwi nodded and lowered his sword.

The tip naturally came to point toward the ground.

Heo Jinsa drew a breath.

Deeply.

Poisonous energy concentrated in the twelve silver needles.

Black energy enveloped each needle.

The needles vibrated.

Faintly.

So faintly that the naked eye could not perceive it.

But Unhwi could see.

He is not dividing his internal energy among all twelve needles.

Unhwi saw through it.