Chapter 518

“A martial artist spends a lifetime accumulating energy. Absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, tempering internal power, refining essence, energy, and spirit.”

“.......”

“Does all of that vanish with death?”

“It does not.”

“Correct. It does not.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked down at the Blood Stone.

“It remains in the body. It seeps into the bones, permeates the flesh, and lingers even where the blood pathways once ran. The residual traces of the essence, energy, and spirit refined over an entire lifetime.”

“Is extracting that what creates a Blood Stone?”

“Yes.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer placed the Blood Stone on the shelf.

“Jeong Docheon is in charge of this work.”

Jeong Docheon.

Leader of the Thunder Demon Cult.

“He is a genius at this. Extracting the residual essence, energy, and spirit from a martial artist’s corpse, condensing it, and turning it into a Blood Stone. I have never seen anyone do it as well as Jeong Docheon.”

Unhwi, who had been listening quietly, asked,

“Heavenly Lord.”

“Mm.”

“What do you intend to use the Blood Stones for?”

The Heavenly Wayfarer walked on.

Deeper into the building.

Unhwi followed.

There was another wall farther inside.

A map hung upon it.

A map of the world.

Of course, it was no ordinary map. Lines had been drawn across the mountains, rivers, and plains. Countless lines. Lines that intertwined, flowed, broke apart, and reconnected.

Energy veins.

The paths through which the energy of the world flowed.

It was a depiction of the flow of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth upon a map.

Unhwi studied it.

Something was wrong with the flow of the lines.

They were broken. In place after place. Instead of flowing where they should, they were blocked or twisted.

Strange.

When I burned this place in my previous life, this map wasn’t here.

Did someone remove it?

So I wouldn’t see it?

Then why?

“Can you see it?”

At the Heavenly Wayfarer’s question, Unhwi cast aside his thoughts and answered.

“Yes. I can. And......”

“And?”

“It’s twisted.”

“Yes. It is.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer stood before the map.

“Seven hundred years ago.”

“.......”

“The Thousand-Year Chaos.”

Unhwi’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Seven hundred years ago, the energy of this world was twisted.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer spoke calmly.

“Heavenly energy was contaminated.”

“.......”

“The fact that a thousand years of the martial world’s history was erased is a secondary issue. The decisive consequence was that reaching the Innate Three Realms became impossible.”

“The Innate Three Realms.”

Even in my previous life, the Innate Three Realms were legend. A realm no one had ever reached. Records remained saying they had once existed, but there was no living martial artist who had attained them.

And the reason they had become impossible to reach was the Thousand-Year Chaos.

“With the energy twisted, no matter how much one trains, it is impossible to rise beyond the pinnacle.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer pointed to one of the broken lines on the map.

“The Heavenly Barrier. A wall created by Heaven.”

“Who created it?”

The Heavenly Wayfarer was silent for a moment.

Then he shook his head.

“That is not for now.”

“.......”

“This is as much as I can tell you today.”

Unhwi did not press him.

The Heavenly Wayfarer continued.

“The Blood Stones exist to correct this twisted energy.”

“Correct it.”

“Yes. The residual essence, energy, and spirit left behind in the corpse of a martial artist. It contains energy from before the distortion.”

“......From before the distortion.”

“The energy a martial artist spends a lifetime refining is pure. It was drawn from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but it was refined within the martial artist’s body. It is not twisted.”

“.......”

“To gather that pure energy and return it to the energy veins of the world. To set right what has been twisted.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at Unhwi.

“That is the great cause.”

Silence followed.

A long silence.

Unhwi spoke.

“How many do you need?”

“Many.”

“There are already more than hundreds of thousands. You still need more?”

“I do.”

“.......”

“But I will not rush. If I rush, I would cross the line.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s gaze deepened.

“Taking living people and turning them into Blood Stones would be faster. Taking tens of thousands and doing it would be faster still. Starting a war, killing countless martial artists over and over, and making Blood Stones from their corpses would make it faster.”

“.......”

“But I will not do that.”

His voice was absolute.

“I use only martial artists who are already dead. That is the line I have set.”

Unhwi looked at the Heavenly Wayfarer.

If the Heavenly Wayfarer’s true name really was Baek Docheon......

Then he had been doing this for seven hundred years.

Gathering the corpses of dead martial artists, making Blood Stones, and trying to restore the energy veins of the world.

While holding to the line.

Without touching the living, without starting wars, simply watching and waiting.

And Baek Docheon had been Vice Leader of the Thousand-Year Demonic Cult. Like Zhuge Xian, who had been Vice Leader of the Murim Alliance, he had opposed the war.

Unhwi regarded good and evil as subjective standards. But the Heavenly Wayfarer’s great cause was......

Unmistakably good.

It could scarcely be more benevolent than this. Scarcely more noble.

To hold to that line for the staggering span of seven hundred years.

It could never have been easy. It was nearly impossible. And yet he had done it.

“Heavenly Lord.”

“Mm.”

“Was this why you personally executed Cheon Saeum when he crossed the line?”

“Yes.”

Cheon Saeum had once been vice master of Viper Valley. While Unhwi had been in Yangryeong, Cheon Saeum had used living people as test subjects to create something called the Secret Record of the Supreme Sovereign, and that incident had led to Unhwi meeting the Heavenly Wayfarer in this life.

After considering for a moment, the Heavenly Wayfarer slowly continued.

“Cheon Saeum used living civilians for his experiments. He called them poison experiments, but the essence was the same. He interfered with the essence, energy, and spirit of the living.”

“.......”

“Heo Jinsa was no different. You dealt with him.”

“Yes.”

“You did well.”

A single, matter-of-fact sentence.

The Heavenly Wayfarer took his hand away from the map.

He looked at Unhwi.

“Unhwi.”

“Yes.”

“I do not intend to tell you many things.”

Unhwi nodded.

“Yes. I remember what you told me before. You want me to discover them myself.”

“I do.”

“But you are telling me now.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer gave a faint chuckle.

“The Heaven-Law Platform was one pillar of the great cause. It was the organization responsible for carrying it out. Arrogant, and on the verge of crossing the line, but still one pillar of the great cause.”

“I destroyed it.”

“I am not blaming you.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer continued.

“But now that you have destroyed it, you are entangled in this matter.”

“.......”

“It is dangerous for someone who is entangled in it to know nothing.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at Unhwi.

“Not because you would be in danger. Because the great cause would be.”

“.......”

“If the man who destroyed one pillar of the great cause does not know what that cause is, he may destroy the remaining pillars as well.”

Unhwi understood.

That was why the Heavenly Wayfarer was telling him.

It was not protection.

It was prevention.

If Unhwi acted without knowing anything, the entire great cause could be shaken. That was why he was being told only the basics.

Only the basics.

“Heavenly Lord.”

“Mm.”

“Will you absolutely refuse to tell me anything deeper?”

The Heavenly Wayfarer laughed.

“Ha ha. You truly are quick. Yes. Even I would not presume to judge a word like ‘absolute’ lightly, but unless the situation becomes truly dangerous, I do not intend to tell you. What I have told you today is the bare minimum you need to know.”

“The bare minimum.”

“Why the Thousand-Year Chaos occurred. Who caused it. What lies at the end of the great cause.”

“.......”

“Those are things you must discover for yourself.”

“If I discover them, will you tell me?”

“If what you discover is correct, I will confirm it.”

“That is enough.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) at Unhwi.

For a long while.

Then he laughed.

“Ha ha......”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because I feel as though we have had this conversation before.”

Unhwi shook his head.

That word—before.

Unfortunately.

“This is the first time.”

“Mm...... the first time......”

The Heavenly Wayfarer said nothing more.

Neither did Unhwi.

The Heavenly Wayfarer turned around.

“Let us go back.”

“Yes.”

The two men left the building.

Just before stepping outside, the Heavenly Wayfarer spoke at the door.

“Unhwi.”

“Yes.”

“The place occupied by the Heaven-Law Platform is now empty.”

“.......”

“Someone will have to fill that vacancy.”

Unhwi did not answer.

The Heavenly Wayfarer said nothing more.

He opened the door.

The jungle spread before them once again.

The two men walked in silence.

Until they reached the Blood Heaven Sect, neither man spoke.

***

Black Moon Pavilion.

Yu Cheong’s residence.

The door was already open when Unhwi arrived.

The scent of incense drifted from within.

Agarwood.

Unhwi stepped inside.

Yu Cheong sat before a table.

Unhwi’s gaze fell upon it.

A Go board.

Two bowls of stones.

Black stones and white stones.

Yu Cheong raised his head and looked at Unhwi.

“You seem perfectly fine.”

“Yes.”

“And you came back alive.”

“I told you. I said I would return.”

Yu Cheong made no attempt to conceal what he was feeling. Under ordinary circumstances, such a thing would have been unthinkable for him, but at this moment, he had no desire to hide it.

It was all written plainly across his face.

“How?”

“Do I have to explain that too?”

“......Sit.”

“Yes.”

As Unhwi sat across from him, Yu Cheong said,

“I’ll take the first move.”

Yu Cheong picked up a white stone.

Unhwi picked up a black one.

Click.

The white stone landed on the Go board.

Upper-right star point.

Unhwi picked up a black stone.

Click.

Lower-left small point.

The game began.

For a while, neither spoke.

Only the sound of stones being placed echoed through the room.

Click. Click. Click.

Yu Cheong’s play was solid. He favored influence over immediate territory, spreading broadly and seeking control of the center. A game played with the whole board in mind.

Unhwi’s play was fast. He took immediate territory first, then targeted his opponent’s weaknesses. A practical style of play.

After twenty moves, Yu Cheong spoke.

“How was the battle at Heaven-Law Cliff?”

Unhwi answered as he placed a stone.

Click.

“I nearly died.”

“Frank of you.”

“There would be little point in putting on a brave front before you, Vice Leader.”

Yu Cheong gave a faint chuckle.

Click.

A white stone landed.

“Unity of Heaven and Man defeating someone at the very edge of the Supreme Void Realm...... and then ascending to Manifestation of the Boundless through that battle...... It makes for quite a story.”

“.......”

“Were you certain you would ascend?”

“I wasn’t certain. I simply did everything I could.”

Click.

Unhwi placed a black stone.

It was a move that invaded Yu Cheong’s territory.

Yu Cheong looked down at it.

“......Bold.”

It was impossible to tell whether he was talking about the game.

Click.

Yu Cheong blocked him.

Thirty moves passed. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Black and white had become entangled across the board.

Yu Cheong asked,

“Do you regret destroying the Heaven-Law Platform?”

“No.”

“The Heavenly Lord would not have rebuked you.”

“There was no reason for him to.”

Yu Cheong placed a white stone. A move toward the center.

“Because it was a fight between martial artists?”

“Something like that.”

“How convenient. Being favored by the Heavenly Lord.”

Unhwi gave a faint chuckle.

“If you call it convenient, I think that will put both of you in an awkward position.”

Yu Cheong chuckled as well.

Then Unhwi’s black stone cut through Yu Cheong’s center.

Yu Cheong’s eyes narrowed.