Chapter 505

Han Soyeong spoke.

“What did you gain by crushing fighters at the level of the Twenty-Third and Twenty-Fourth Seats stationed at the outposts?”

Her voice was composed. She continued.

“That number of martial artists does not even constitute a blow to the Heaven-Law Platform.”

Unhwi gave a faint scoff.

“I did not crush them to deal you a blow.”

“Then why?”

“To show you.”

“......Show us what?”

“You should know that without asking.”

Han Soyeong fell silent.

Unhwi took a step closer.

“Blood Spirit Hall. Behind the guest quarters.”

Han Soyeong’s expression did not change.

She tried not to let it change.

But her eyes shifted slightly.

“You put a finger to my attendant’s throat.”

Han Soyeong answered without hesitation.

“I was conveying the will of the commander of the Heaven-Law Platform.”

“Conveying his will?”

Unhwi repeated the words.

“The will of the commander of the Heaven-Law Platform.”

“That is correct.”

“And that is how you convey his will?”

“.......”

“By putting a finger to the throat of a martial artist in the Entry-to-Divinity realm and telling her you could kill her?”

Han Soyeong spoke.

“I sought her out because she was the Blood Heaven Arbiter’s attendant.”

“Yes.”

Unhwi nodded.

“You sought her out because she was my attendant.”

“.......”

“Then why did you not come to me?”

Han Soyeong went still.

“You claimed you were conveying the will of the commander of the Heaven-Law Platform, so why did you not seek me out—the Blood Heaven Arbiter?”

“.......”

“You went to my attendant. Someone beneath me. You waited until I was away.”

Unhwi’s voice lowered.

“Pathetic.”

Han Soyeong’s eyes trembled.

“Is that how the commander of the Heaven-Law Platform conveys his will?”

“.......”

“No.”

Unhwi spoke.

“That was not it, was it?”

“.......”

“If you wished to convey his will, you should have come to me. Whether it was the Seventh Seat, the Ninth Seat, or the Twelfth Seat. No—the commander of the Heaven-Law Platform himself should have come.”

Unhwi’s eyes turned cold.

“You did not go to my people to convey a message.”

“.......”

“You went because you thought little of me.”

Han Soyeong closed her mouth.

She could not refute him.

Because it was true.

The reason the Heaven-Law Platform had approached the Blood Heaven Arbiter’s attendant.

A warning?

No.

They had done it because they considered the position of Blood Heaven Arbiter—and the man named Seol Unhwi—beneath contempt.

They could tolerate someone at the mere Unity of Heaven and Man level commanding the Blood Heaven Sect. But there was ultimately only one reason the commander of the Heaven-Law Platform had sent his people.

Because Unhwi had disregarded him during the meeting at Heaven Beyond Heaven.

Because they had exchanged harsh words.

A mere martial artist at the Unity of Heaven and Man level—someone at a realm found everywhere within the Heaven-Law Platform—had dared to disgrace the head of an organization that had protected the great cause for hundreds of years?

It would have been stranger if they had done nothing.

It had begun with Unhwi’s arrogance.

And that arrogance had been repaid through his attendant.

In one sense, it was a foolish act.

Yet it was also an undeniably effective method.

Beat the dog to shame its master.

That was what they had done.

It produced a definite effect. Even someone other than Unhwi would have acted similarly.

Unhwi spoke.

“You should have done it to me.”

“.......”

“Someone of a position equal to mine should have come and spoken to me directly.”

“......That......”

“Is that not the proper conduct of a martial artist?”

Han Soyeong’s lips stiffened.

Unhwi took another step closer.

“Do you understand why I am angry?”

“.......”

“There are two reasons. The first is that my person was harmed.”

Unhwi’s gaze pierced through Han Soyeong.

“The second is that pathetic and offensive method of conveying your will to me by laying hands on someone under my protection.”

Han Soyeong looked at Unhwi.

“......Blood Heaven Arbiter.”

“What?”

“I will speak frankly. The commander of the Heaven-Law Platform does not acknowledge you.”

“I know.”

Unhwi smiled.

“Thank you.”

“.......”

“For speaking honestly.”

Unhwi drew his sword.

Shing.

“That makes things even clearer.”

“.......”

“He does not acknowledge me. Fine. He does not have to.”

Unhwi’s ice energy filled the courtyard.

The frost thickened. The rocks froze. The air itself froze.

“What is the Heaven-Law Platform that I should need its acknowledgment?”

It was true.

The Heaven-Law Platform or whatever else it called itself.

Unhwi had no reason to seek anyone’s acknowledgment, nor any intention of doing so.

He had never regarded them as his superiors in the first place.

“Whether you protect the great cause or not has nothing to do with me. We could simply have gone our separate ways, yet you threw the entire great cause aside to protect one pathetic scrap of pride. What use would I have for the acknowledgment of people like you?”

To put it bluntly, Unhwi had never even heard of an organization called the Heaven-Law Platform.

Even if they had vanished midway through his previous life, what mattered was that he had never heard of them.

When vermin no one had ever seen or heard of tried to crawl above their station, the proper response was to crush them.

That was the martial world.

That was its nature.

Unhwi’s expression was resolute.

“But you must pay the price.”

Han Soyeong’s hand moved to her waist.

She gripped her sword.

Shing.

A long, slender blade slid free.

She took her stance.

Her center of gravity was low. She held the sword upright beside her body.

A defensive posture.

A sword art meant to receive the opponent’s attack and counter it.

Unhwi studied Han Soyeong’s stance.

You intend to wait?

Unhwi stepped forward.

Han Soyeong’s eyes followed his movement.

One step.

Two.

On the third, Unhwi vanished.

Han Soyeong’s eyes widened.

Left.

She instinctively swept her sword horizontally.

Clack.

She blocked him.

Unhwi’s sword struck Han Soyeong’s.

Cold surged up her blade. Han Soyeong drove it back with her internal energy.

She could repel it.

But Unhwi was already moving into his next attack.

He withdrew his sword and spun half a turn.

To Han Soyeong’s right.

Han Soyeong rotated her blade.

She tried to block.

Unhwi’s sword struck the flat of hers.

From above.

Driving downward.

With crushing weight.

Han Soyeong’s wrist bent.

“......!”

She did not release her sword. She clenched her teeth and endured.

But Unhwi’s second strike was already upon her.

Horizontal.

Han Soyeong retreated.

One step.

Two.

The tip of Unhwi’s sword grazed her chest.

Her clothes split.

A shallow wound.

But ice energy seeped inside.

The flesh around the wound turned blue. Cold invaded her body. Her blood and energy began to stiffen.

Han Soyeong raised her internal energy and forced it out.

It took her two breaths.

Within those two breaths, Unhwi moved his sword three more times.

Han Soyeong blocked one.

She evaded the second.

The third—

Slash—

Cut across her left forearm.

It was not deep.

But ice energy seeped in again.

Her left arm began to stiffen.

Han Soyeong gritted her teeth.

She transferred her sword to her right hand.

Her left arm hung limply. The ice energy was already climbing through the entire limb.

Unhwi stopped.

He looked at Han Soyeong.

“Will you continue?”

Han Soyeong looked back at him.

Her breathing was ragged.

Her left arm was already useless.

The sword in her right hand trembled. The cold was spreading throughout her entire body.

The number of times they had crossed swords.

Unhwi had moved five or six times.

Han Soyeong had blocked twice and dodged once.

The remaining three attacks had all struck her.

It was overwhelming.

They were not the same kind of Unity of Heaven and Man.

They existed on entirely different levels.

Han Soyeong raised her sword.

With a trembling hand.

“I will not stop.”

Unhwi nodded.

Han Soyeong charged.

With only her right hand.

A thrust.

The slender, swift blade aimed for Unhwi’s throat.

Unhwi tilted his head.

The sword tip brushed past him.

Unhwi’s sword rose.

It struck Han Soyeong’s blade.

Clack.

The sword flew from her hand.

Spinning through the air, it embedded itself in a rock.

Han Soyeong’s hand was empty.

The tip of Unhwi’s sword hovered before her throat.

One inch away.

Han Soyeong looked at Unhwi.

“Do you have anything to say?”

“No.”

Unhwi silently studied Han Soyeong.

She was not bad.

“Later.”

“......What?”

“Ju Soa will come looking for you.”

“.......”

“Fight her then.”

Han Soyeong was bewildered.

“......Were you not going to kill me?”

“I saw the spirit of a martial artist in you.”

“.......”

“In my judgment, someone of your caliber is sufficient to serve as a foundation for her growth.”

It was an insult.

Yet it was also not an insult.

Unhwi was overwhelmingly stronger.

Her life and death rested entirely in his hands.

And that was the judgment such a man had passed.

Then it was both an insult and praise.

“......Are you certain I will not kill this girl called Ju Soa when the time comes?”

Unhwi gave a faint scoff.

“You may kill her. If you can.”

“.......”

“The Heaven-Law Platform has only two possible endings. It will either become an organization that exists in name alone, or it will disappear.”

“.......”

“Remember that.”

Unhwi’s sword moved.

Slash.

It lightly cut across Han Soyeong’s throat.

It did not sever anything.

He had merely carved a scar that would never disappear.

After withdrawing his sword, Unhwi mercilessly swung his left arm and struck Han Soyeong across the neck.

Crack.

With the sound of impact, Han Soyeong collapsed where she stood.

Unhwi looked down at her for a moment, then turned away.

Next.

Seop Gyeong, Ninth Seat of the Heaven-Law Platform.

Unhwi took a sheet of paper from inside his robe.

The patrol assignment chart.

Seop Gyeong’s location was marked on it.

But even if he went there, would he find him?

It was uncertain.

Seop Gyeong must already have received word of what had happened at the outposts.

Or he might have gone to inspect them personally.

Judging by the positions of Heaven-Law Cliff and the outposts, there were exactly three places where they might cross paths along the way.

It did not matter if they failed to meet.

It did not matter if Seop Gyeong concealed himself.

Even if it was not now, Unhwi would find him eventually.

He intended to pursue him to the ends of the martial world and make him pay the price.

Unhwi left Blue Rock Valley.