Chapter 543

Bu Guishan caught the strike with his sword.

Clang.

He was pushed back.

Not Unhwi.

Bu Guishan.

Because Unhwi’s descending strike carried the weight of his fall from above.

Bu Guishan retreated two steps.

The instant Unhwi landed, he drove forward.

Bu Guishan opened the Fourth Formation.

He thrust his sword forward.

A sword formation that sealed the space ahead.

It was defense against anything coming in, yet at the same time an attack.

Within the Eight Iron Mountain Formations, it was both shield and spear.

Unhwi did not withdraw his sword.

He twisted it.

He did not meet Bu Guishan’s blade head-on.

Instead, he let his own sword slide along the side of it.

Smoothly.

The instant Bu Guishan’s sword stabbed into empty air, Unhwi’s blade slipped through the opening and aimed for his flank.

Bu Guishan twisted aside.

The sword grazed him.

His clothes were cut.

His flesh was untouched.

Fifth Formation.

Bu Guishan retreated and opened the distance.

The energy of the Iron Mountain Divine Art began to gather again.

Before a mountain could collapse, it first had to be built.

Building took longer than bringing it down.

He needed that time.

Unhwi followed.

He refused to give him distance.

Refused to give him time to gather power.

Bu Guishan clenched his teeth.

He abandoned the attempt to build it up.

The Fifth Formation was not meant to gather power and then release it.

It poured out everything already present at once.

Releasing it without accumulation.

Its power would be halved.

But it was fast.

The energy of the Iron Mountain Divine Art erupted all at once.

BOOOOM—!!

A shockwave spread across the courtyard.

The frozen corpses of the martial artists shattered where they stood.

The resulting horror defied description.

Neither man cared.

At this moment, only the two of them existed in the world.

Unhwi was driven backward.

Three steps.

Four.

His feet dug into the earth before he stopped.

The ground beneath them had been gouged out.

Bu Guishan took in the sight.

Then charged forward.

Sixth Formation.

Seventh Formation.

Two sword formations chained together.

They were the fastest formations within the Eight Iron Mountain Formations.

They did not build power.

They overwhelmed through speed.

The sword came again and again.

Its direction changed constantly.

From above.

From the side.

From below.

Then above again.

Unhwi received them.

Redirecting.

Blocking.

Evading.

But the attacks kept coming.

Without pause.

The Eight Iron Mountain Formations were structured so that when one formation broke, the next immediately took over.

Block one, and the next came.

Evade one, and the next came.

Redirect one, and the next came.

Unhwi’s clothes were cut in several places.

Receiving the attacks consumed energy.

He had already spent power fighting hundreds, and now he had taken seven formations from a Boundless Manifestation Realm martial artist.

A light entered Bu Guishan’s eyes.

Eighth Formation.

The last.

Bu Guishan gripped his sword with both hands.

He drew up every remaining trace of energy from the Iron Mountain Divine Art.

The Eighth Formation accumulated power again and again before releasing it all at once.

It was heavier than the First Formation.

If the Eight Iron Mountain Formations began with the First, they ended with the Eighth.

Energy gathered over the sword.

Gathered.

And gathered further.

The air in the courtyard seemed to compress.

Breathing became difficult.

The surviving martial artists dropped to their knees.

Merely standing within this pressure was impossible.

Unhwi watched.

He did not interfere with Bu Guishan gathering his power.

He waited.

Bu Guishan charged.

The Eighth Formation erupted.

The entirety of the Iron Mountain Divine Art was contained in that single sword.

The blade shone.

Its force was like a collapsing mountain.

A sword meant to crush everything in front of it.

Unhwi’s eyes changed.

They were no longer the same eyes as before.

Not the eyes of an exhausted martial artist.

They were the eyes of a man who had decided to bring out something he had not yet used.

From the deepest reaches of boundlessness, a new heaven manifests; from a single thought, the source of all things is brought forth.

Heavenly Origin Boundless Sword.

Third Form, Boundlessness Manifests Heaven.

The energy changed.

Boundless Energy flowed over the sword.

It was different from before.

It was not exhausted energy.

Nor was it power scraped together from the bottom.

It came from somewhere deeper.

The essence held within the Boundless Manifestation Realm.

A place beyond merely controlling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Bu Guishan felt it.

Through his sword.

Through his palms.

Sweat ran down his back.

This isn’t it.

This isn’t the same energy.

This isn’t the same Boundless Manifestation Realm.

The realm was the same.

But what it contained was different.

This was the energy of a man who had slaughtered martial artists of higher realms.

“......Hup......!”

Still holding his sword, Unhwi stepped forward.

Bu Guishan was driven backward.

He tried to plant his feet.

He could not.

Unhwi’s energy spread through the ground and shook the earth beneath him.

Bu Guishan let go of his sword.

With his freed hands, he unleashed palm arts.

He drew up the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and turned it into palm force.

Again and again.

Rapidly.

Alternating between right and left.

Unhwi received them.

He redirected one with his forearm.

Took another on the shoulder.

The impact tilted his body.

And as he tilted, he stepped forward.

Unhwi’s sword cut across Bu Guishan’s flank.

It was not shallow.

Breath escaped Bu Guishan’s mouth.

He clutched his side.

Blood flowed between his fingers.

“.......”

It stung.

The wound did.

And so did his chest.

Because it felt as though a merchant had lost his calculation.

Silently, he picked up his sword again.

He intended to go to the end.

Unhwi saw it.

He did not stop him.

Bu Guishan charged.

This time, there was no technique.

Only strength.

He poured all the energy of the Boundless Manifestation Realm into his sword and forced it forward.

No calculations.

No strategy.

Just sheer power bearing down.

Unhwi’s grip tightened.

The distance between himself and the charging Bu Guishan.

The space within that distance.

The gaps inside that space.

Its length.

Everything entered his sight.

His eyes flashed.

The source of Heaven unfolds heaven and earth without limit; within a single inch lies a world of countless realms.

Heavenly Origin Boundless Sword.

Second Form, Heavenly Origin Without Limit.

The sword descended.

It pierced through space.

There was no sound.

Bu Guishan’s sword split in two.

Only the broken half striking the ground made a sound.

Bu Guishan remained standing.

Empty-handed.

His breathing was ragged.

Blood continued to pour from his flank.

His legs trembled.

Still, he stood.

Frozen in the posture of his charge.

Unhwi slowly lowered his sword.

It was already over.

Blood began running down Bu Guishan’s chest.

Only then did the arm that had held his sword fall away.

A single sword strike.

It had severed the sword.

Severed the arm.

And cut through his chest.

The two men looked at each other.

“......I lost.”

At Bu Guishan’s heavy words, Unhwi merely nodded.

“......You are strong, Young master. Those unbelievable rumors were not exaggerated at all.”

“Leader.”

“......Speak.”

“I will tell you again. There was never any position Gun Mugeol promised you.”

“.......”

“The position of Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance is not something I can give away. It is something Alliance Leader Kang left behind. And if Gun Mugeol wants Sichuan, he would never leave you as its leader. You were simply used.”

Bu Guishan’s eyes narrowed.

They were the eyes of a man about to argue.

But he did not.

To some extent, he had known.

A merchant reads the other party’s intentions.

He had never fully trusted Gun Mugeol’s intentions either.

He had simply calculated that, for the moment, this choice offered him the greatest advantage.

But that calculation had plainly been wrong.

Unhwi spoke.

“The Iron Mountain Sect will be dissolved. Just like the Azure Dragon Sect.”

In the end, it was little different from saying the sect would be annihilated.

Bu Guishan closed his eyes.

“At least at the end, you showed yourself worthy of a martial artist.”

“.......”

“So I will send you off without pain.”

Without opening his eyes, Bu Guishan merely nodded.

Unhwi’s sword moved.

Slash—!

There was no cry.

Bu Guishan collapsed forward.

The courtyard of the Iron Mountain Sect fell silent.

Unhwi looked around.

The buildings were in ruins, but there were survivors.

Likely family members and retainers.

He spoke to them.

“Settle everything within three days. Anyone who remains after that will be considered to have followed the Leader’s choice.”

Unhwi’s voice filled the courtyard.

No one answered.

There was nothing more.

Unhwi turned away.

Ju Soa came to his side.

Blood was still flowing from the wound on her shoulder.

Unhwi was no different.

Several of the attacks he had received had landed.

“Are you badly hurt?”

“No.”

“That answer again.”

“I’m fine.”

Ju Soa looked at him.

She did not ask anything more.

The two left the Iron Mountain Sect.

As he mounted his horse, Unhwi looked back once.

The signboard of the Iron Mountain Sect was visible.

It was old.

Weathered, but solid.

That sign must have endured for decades across this part of Sichuan.

But three days from now, it would be gone.

What more needed to be said?

Unhwi took the reins.

“Let’s go back.”

The horses galloped.

The roads of Sichuan receded behind them.

***

Alliance Leader’s Hall of the Murim Alliance.

Gun Mugeol was alone.

A single lamp burned.

That was enough.

There was no need to illuminate the entire vast room.

At this moment, what Gun Mugeol needed was not light.

It was silence.

Tea sat on the table.

He had not touched it.

It had gone cold.

News from the Iron Mountain Sect had arrived around evening.

The messenger had barely been able to speak properly.

Bu Guishan was dead.

The Iron Mountain Sect had been dissolved.

Hundreds of martial artists had been ground down by just two people.

Gun Mugeol had listened without saying a word.

Then he dismissed the messenger as well.

And remained sitting there alone.

He was not surprised.

Because there was nothing surprising about it.

Gun Mugeol knew the man named Unhwi.

Better than anyone.

Gun Mugeol himself had personally killed Kang Cheonwoo.

And while Kang Cheonwoo was still alive, the man he had summoned into his Overlord Hall was Unhwi.

Then Kang Cheonwoo had handed that man the Thunder Emperor and the complete record of martial arts.

And before that?

When Unhwi first came into conflict with the Murim Alliance, he had overturned everything with one brilliant move and struck back against them instead.

Gun Mugeol had felt it from that moment.

The greatest obstacle in my path will be Unhwi.

He could not underestimate a man like that.

That was the kind of person Unhwi was.

Truthfully, Gun Mugeol had never expected Bu Guishan’s plan to work.

If it succeeded, he profited.

If it failed, he lost nothing.

Bu Guishan had been moving on Gun Mugeol’s board from the beginning.

Even if he failed, there was no connection leading back to Gun Mugeol.

Gun Mugeol’s name appeared nowhere.

That was the difference between a merchant and Gun Mugeol.

Bu Guishan calculated.

Gun Mugeol arranged the board.

But now that board was beginning to shake.

Gun Mugeol thought about it.

The board changed the moment Unhwi entered the Sichuan Alliance.

Once Kang Cheonwoo died and left Sichuan vacant, the natural outcome should have been for the Murim Alliance to absorb it.

That picture had been ruined by a single man.

Unhwi.

The Azure Dragon Sect had been dissolved.

The Iron Mountain Sect had been dissolved.

Gun Mugeol had tried to exploit Sichuan’s division, yet no division had occurred.

Instead, the situation was being brought under control.

Seen broadly, the Sichuan Alliance had lost strength, so one could say he had gained something from it.

But only slightly.