Chapter 521

“I’ll get straight to the point.”

“Speak.”

“The Heaven-Law Platform has been destroyed.”

Gun Mugeol’s expression did not change.

His smile remained exactly as it was.

One beat.

Two.

“...Destroyed?”

Gun Mugeol repeated.

He was not surprised.

He was confirming it.

“That’s right. All three strongholds were wiped out, and the Heaven-Law Immortal is dead. Seventh Seat White Lotus and Ninth Seat Seop Gyeong are dead as well. More than fifty martial artists were beheaded and their heads displayed.”

Gun Mugeol’s fingers tapped faintly against the writing desk.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A habit.

A habit he had when thinking.

“Who did it?”

Of course, he already knew.

It was the question of a man who already possessed the answer.

“Unhwi.”

The Primordial Sage answered.

Gun Mugeol’s fingers did not stop.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Unhwi...”

He repeated the name.

A Go board unfolded inside Gun Mugeol’s mind.

The board he had constructed.

Pressure against the Sichuan Alliance. The false accusation of collusion with the Demonic Path. The net tightening around Kang Cheonwoo. The web of justification he had spread throughout the martial world.

On that board sat a single “nameless stone.”

It had been unclear whether that stone would become Unhwi or the Heaven-Law Platform.

Now it was certain.

The stone’s name was Unhwi.

He had destroyed the Heaven-Law Platform. He had shattered one of the pillars of Heaven Beyond Heaven.

What effect would that have on Gun Mugeol’s board?

It was simple.

It meant Unhwi would intervene.

The Heaven-Law Platform and Gun Mugeol’s pressure against the Sichuan Alliance were separate matters, but once Gun Mugeol’s name became involved, they would no longer be separate matters to Unhwi.

Of course, there would be no problem if a man like Unhwi simply stayed put. If he remained inside the Blood Heaven Sect and merely carried out his duties there, there would be no issue at all.

But if this man began turning his eyes outward—

then things would become complicated.

Gun Mugeol remembered what had happened at the Murim Alliance.

The day Unhwi had raised Kang Cheonwoo into the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm and placed him directly before Gun Mugeol. The day he had forced Gun Mugeol to make a blood-bound promise.

It had been a complete defeat.

He did not want to admit it, but it was the truth.

Kang Cheonwoo and Gun Mugeol were entangled with one another, and Unhwi would not move?

That would never happen, even if the heavens collapsed.

“How severe were his injuries?”

That was the key.

The Primordial Sage answered Gun Mugeol’s question.

“I heard he collapsed, but recovered almost immediately.”

“Recovered?”

“He even ascended to the Boundless Manifestation Realm.”

Gun Mugeol’s fingers stopped.

For a moment, he thought he had misheard.

“The Boundless Manifestation Realm, you say?”

“That’s right.”

It was absurd.

He already knew the man was a genius, but wasn’t this going too far?

A man who had reached the Boundless Manifestation Realm at barely twenty years of age.

Had such a person ever even existed in this world?

The Primordial Sage watched Gun Mugeol.

“Alliance Leader Gun.”

“Yes.”

“The matter of the Heaven-Law Platform belongs to Heaven Beyond Heaven. But its repercussions will reach the entire martial world.”

“They undoubtedly will.”

“Unhwi is moving.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

The Primordial Sage’s eyes narrowed.

“You mean you had already anticipated this?”

“Rather than anticipated...”

Gun Mugeol lightly tapped the report on the writing desk.

“It would be more accurate to say that I was preparing for it.”

The Primordial Sage’s eyes narrowed further.

“Preparing?”

“Senior Primordial.”

Gun Mugeol leaned forward.

His face remained relaxed, but his eyes were different.

Deep.

The eyes of a man calculating his moves.

“What do you make of Unhwi?”

“...A dangerous man.”

“Dangerous. Yes. But that alone is not enough.”

Gun Mugeol spoke.

“He is the kind of bastard who overturns the entire board.”

“...”

“He overturned the board I built. At the Murim Alliance. I have not forgotten.”

The corners of Gun Mugeol’s mouth lowered.

His smile vanished.

“Destroying the Heaven-Law Platform was the same. He overturned the board the Heaven-Law Immortal had built.”

“...”

“This man does not play on a board created by someone else. He is the kind of bastard who smashes the board itself.”

The Primordial Sage looked at Gun Mugeol.

“And what do you intend to do about it?”

“Simple.”

Gun Mugeol spoke.

“I simply have to make sure he cannot overturn the board.”

“How?”

“By creating several boards.”

The Primordial Sage’s eyes shifted faintly.

Gun Mugeol continued.

“If he overturns one, the others will remain. If he overturns two, there will still be a third.”

“...”

“No matter how exceptional Unhwi is, he cannot be in several places at once. If he goes to help the Sichuan Alliance, somewhere else will be left exposed. If he moves to stop something elsewhere, the Sichuan Alliance will fall.”

The Primordial Sage silently looked at Gun Mugeol.

This man...

He is of the same kind as Wonjin, yet fundamentally different.

Wonjin had told him to wait.

To wait for the right time.

Gun Mugeol was different.

He was not saying to wait.

He was saying to move everywhere at once. To create several boards and force Unhwi to divide his attention.

The two men were somehow similar, yet different.

Then which one was right?

The Primordial Sage could not judge.

But one thing was certain.

Both were wary of Unhwi.

Wonjin of the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm.

Gun Mugeol of the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm.

Both wary of a single martial artist in the Boundless Manifestation Realm.

Gun Mugeol spoke.

“I need your help, Senior Primordial.”

“Help...”

The Primordial Sage nodded.

“What exactly do you want?”

Gun Mugeol smiled.

“I need the eyes of the Primordial Pavilion. Unhwi’s movements. The movements of the Blood Heaven Sect. And the inside of the Sichuan Alliance.”

“The inside of the Sichuan Alliance.”

“The accusation of collusion with the Demonic Path needs to be made somewhat more convincing.”

The Primordial Sage looked at Gun Mugeol.

“...You want the Primordial Pavilion to do that?”

“What is the Primordial Pavilion’s greatest strength? Information and schemes, is it not?”

Gun Mugeol continued.

“With the eyes that have read the flow of the world for centuries, read it for me. The weakness of the Sichuan Alliance. Kang Cheonwoo’s vital point. And Unhwi’s next move.”

The Primordial Sage closed his mouth.

He thought.

Wonjin had told him to wait.

Gun Mugeol was telling him to move.

Can I not simply move while waiting?

The Primordial Sage’s eyes narrowed.

The Primordial Pavilion was an organization that had read the flow of the world for centuries. Reading was something they could do even while sitting still.

Wait while reading.

Move while reading.

That was the way of the Primordial Pavilion.

Wonjin’s words and Gun Mugeol’s words did not contradict one another.

“Very well.”

The Primordial Sage answered.

“I will lend you the eyes of the Primordial Pavilion.”

Gun Mugeol smiled.

“You have my thanks.”

“There is no need for thanks.”

The Primordial Sage rose from his seat.

“The grudge of the Heaven-Law Immortal is also the grudge of the Primordial Pavilion.”

The Primordial Sage turned away.

He put his hood back on.

Then he left the Alliance Leader’s Hall.

The sound of his footsteps gradually faded.

Left alone, Gun Mugeol was smiling.

Slowly, the smile disappeared.

He looked down at the report on the writing desk.

The report on pressure against the Sichuan Alliance.

Gun Mugeol’s fingers began tapping the desk again.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The eyes of the Primordial Pavilion.

He had acquired a useful tool.

The Primordial Pavilion was an organization that had read the flow of the world for centuries. Its intelligence network was second to none in the martial world.

Now he had borrowed those eyes.

Unhwi would definitely come to the Sichuan Alliance.

That much was certain.

The corners of Gun Mugeol’s mouth rose.

A hidden organization?

Unfortunately for them, that alone had already put them on Gun Mugeol’s bad side.

Even if it now looked as though they had joined hands, he was prepared to cast them aside at any moment.

And he intended to do exactly that.

The Primordial Sage himself had not reached the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm, but the leaders of the other sects beside him had.

The Primordial Sage.

This man was useful.

And he did not appear particularly intelligent, either.

He was certainly a decent piece on the board.

Gun Mugeol’s eyes deepened.

Unhwi.

What an utterly unpredictable bastard.

He had thought the man would die this time.

And he survived that?

It was absurd.

Is that bastard even human?

Tch.

After clicking his tongue briefly, Gun Mugeol picked up the brush from the writing desk.

He opened the report.

And began writing new instructions.

The second net for the Sichuan Alliance.

The first net for Unhwi.

The brush moved with a soft scratching sound.

The scent of ink spread through the Alliance Leader’s Hall.

***

The sun stood high overhead.

Noon at the headquarters of the Blood Heaven Sect.

Martial artists moved back and forth.

The scene was no different from usual, but as Unhwi passed, eyes began turning toward him one after another.

He had already ascended to the Boundless Manifestation Realm.

The gazes were different now.

Reverence.

Or fear.

Or something born from a mixture of both.

Unhwi paid them no attention.

He headed toward the Sun and Moon Pavilion.

The residence of the Heavenly Wayfarer.

As always, the doors of the Sun and Moon Pavilion stood open.

From inside came the sound of Go stones being placed.

A solitary game of Go.

It was one of the Heavenly Wayfarer’s habits.

He played even without an opponent, and enjoyed it all the more when someone was there to play against him.

Unhwi stepped inside.

The Heavenly Wayfarer was seated before the Go board.

When Unhwi entered, he raised his head.

He smiled.

As always, it was a clear, untroubled smile.

“Have you managed to sort out your thoughts?”

He was referring to Unhwi’s visit to Peach Blossom Garden the day before.

“Yes. I have.”

“In a positive direction? Or a negative one?”

“I would say both.”

“Both... You always manage to make your answers difficult.”

Unhwi smiled faintly.

“I only told you the truth.”

Then Unhwi asked,

“Heavenly Lord.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you aware of the situation with the Sichuan Alliance?”

The Heavenly Wayfarer rolled a Go stone between his fingers.

“I am.”

“Gun Mugeol is moving.”

“Yes.”

“He is putting pressure on the Sichuan Alliance. He is fabricating a justification to tighten the noose around Kang Cheonwoo.”

“I imagine so.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s voice was calm.

He was not surprised.

His tone was merely that of a man hearing once again about something he already knew.

Unhwi spoke.

“I owe Kang Cheonwoo a debt.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s hand stopped.

The hand that had been turning the Go stone.

He looked at Unhwi.

“A debt.”

“Yes.”

“What kind of debt?”

“A martial artist’s debt.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s eyes shifted faintly.

A martial artist’s debt.

He could guess what those words meant.

He knew that Unhwi was the one who had raised Kang Cheonwoo into the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm.

He also knew why Unhwi still claimed to owe him a debt despite that.

Even so, he did not ask.

As always.

“You intend to go?”

“If you permit me.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked down at the Go board.

He stared at it for a long while.

Over the board where black and white stones intertwined, his fingers moved slowly.

He picked up one stone.

Set it down.

Picked it up again.

At last, he spoke.

“Unhwi.”

“Yes.”

“There is such a thing as a river.”

Unhwi listened quietly.

“A river flows from high ground to low. It is the natural order. No one can defy it.”

“...”

“But sometimes, you must have seen a boulder standing in the middle of a river.”

“Yes.”

“The river flows around the boulder. Because it cannot break it. It divides in two, embraces the boulder from either side, then joins again behind it and continues onward.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at Unhwi.

“Do you intend to enter the river?”

“You could say that.”

“Do you intend to become the boulder?”

“No.”

Unhwi shook his head.

“A boulder cannot stop a river. It merely divides it for a moment. In the end, the river continues to flow.”

“Then?”

“I intend to change the river’s course.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s eyes widened slightly.