Chapter 522

“Change the river’s course.”

“Yes.”

“You mean to change the course of the river called Gun Mugeol.”

“If I turn the flow in another direction, there will be no need for me to become a boulder.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at Unhwi.

For a long while.

“Gun Mugeol is a tiger wearing the mask of a fox.”

“I know.”

“A tiger remains a tiger even beneath a mask. The moment he removes it, his fangs will show.”

“Yes.”

“If you try to change the river’s course, that tiger may remove his mask.”

“That may happen.”

“And you will still go?”

“I must.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer placed a Go stone.

Click.

The sound echoed through the Sun and Moon Pavilion.

“You called it a debt.”

“Yes.”

“Are you repaying a debt, or creating another?”

Unhwi thought for a moment.

“Repaying one.”

“And after you repay it?”

“I will deal with that when the time comes.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer gave a faint chuckle.

“Heh. So you simply think about things as they come?”

“Living that way is easier.”

“And a man who prefers an easy life destroyed the Heaven-Law Platform and now intends to throw himself into the Sichuan Alliance?”

“Preferring an easy life and sitting still are not the same thing.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer stopped laughing.

He looked at Unhwi.

With deep eyes.

“Unhwi.”

“Yes.”

“The man called Gun Mugeol is different from you.”

“I know.”

“You move for people. That man moves people for the sake of the board.”

“...”

“If you fight on the board, it will be difficult for you to win. He is better than you at constructing the board.”

“I admit that.”

“And you will still go?”

“I have no intention of fighting on his board.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer’s eyes shifted faintly.

“Then?”

“I only need to overturn it.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer looked at Unhwi and laughed.

A genuine laugh.

“Heh heh heh...”

The laughter continued for a long while.

“Overturn the board. Good words.”

“Does that mean you permit me?”

“Permit you.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer rolled a Go stone between his fingers.

“If I refused, would you stay?”

Unhwi was silent for a moment.

Then he answered honestly.

“I think I would still go.”

“Heh heh...”

The Heavenly Wayfarer set down the Go stone.

He rose.

Walked to the window.

And looked outside.

The headquarters of the Blood Heaven Sect spread out before him. Martial artists moved back and forth, smoke rose into the air, and it was a peaceful afternoon.

“I will ask only one thing of you.”

“Please tell me.”

“Enter the river, but do not become the river.”

Unhwi looked at the Heavenly Wayfarer’s back.

“If the current sweeps you away, you will never return. There is no point in saying you will change its course if you yourself become part of the water.”

“...”

“Just as you try to protect your people, you must protect yourself as well.”

Unhwi lowered his head.

“I will remember.”

“Go.”

The Heavenly Wayfarer spoke without turning around.

“And come back alive. It would be troublesome to lose one of my Go opponents.”

Unhwi gave a faint laugh.

He clasped his hands in salute.

“I will return.”

After leaving the Sun and Moon Pavilion, Unhwi headed straight back to Blood Spirit Hall.

Chief Seong, Ju Soa, and Namgung Wonyang were waiting for him.

Unhwi looked at the three of them.

“I intend to go to the Sichuan Alliance.”

Chief Seong spoke.

“Who will accompany you, Young master?”

Unhwi answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Ju Soa.”

Ju Soa’s eyes widened as though she had not expected to be chosen.

“Will you come with me?”

Ju Soa blinked, then nodded.

“Well... yes. Of course I’ll go. But just me?”

“Just you.”

“...All right.”

Chief Seong cut in.

“Young master, shouldn’t I go as well?”

Unhwi shook his head.

“You and Wonyang will remain here and protect Blood Spirit Hall.”

Protect.

There was something peculiar about the word.

“Wonyang.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Train with Chief Seong.”

“...Ah...”

Whenever he had time, Unhwi had personally instructed him.

“Consolidate what you have realized and temper your body further. Chief Seong will help you with that.”

Wonyang slowly nodded, his expression serious.

Unhwi was not a man who made decisions without reason.

“Chief Seong.”

“Yes.”

“While I am gone, can you contact Valley Leader Yang of Viper Valley?”

“For what purpose...?”

“We may need Viper Valley’s intelligence network to follow developments in the martial world. If possible, coordinate the information with Seo Hyo of Heaven’s Will Alliance and send it to me continuously as the situation changes. Can you do that?”

“Of course.”

That was enough.

Preparing took almost no time.

Unhwi fastened the True Flame Heavenly Spirit Sword at his waist and put on a new robe.

He traveled light.

They would need to move quickly using lightness arts.

He left Blood Spirit Hall together with Ju Soa.

Perhaps because they had almost never traveled alone together, Ju Soa looked slightly awkward.

Unhwi spoke to her.

“Ju Soa.”

“...Yes?”

“We need to reach the Sichuan Alliance quickly. Can you keep up?”

Ju Soa adjusted the sword at her side before answering.

“I’ll have to. Somehow.”

“That is enough.”

“Um.”

Unhwi turned his head.

“If I can’t keep up... are you going to leave me behind?”

At Ju Soa’s abrupt question, Unhwi let out an incredulous laugh.

“Do you want to be left behind?”

“...Of course not.”

“Then what more needs to be said? I will adjust my pace. Just keep up as best you can.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Unhwi flinched.

“My lord?”

Ju Soa scratched her head.

“Well... Chief Seong calls you Young master, and Wonyang calls you my lord... I’m the only one who calls you Blood Heaven Arbiter, and it started feeling a little strange. Is it weird?”

“It is not.”

Unhwi was extremely tolerant about how people addressed him.

“Then call me that from now on.”

Ju Soa smiled.

“And do not neglect your training.”

“...Why bring that up all of a sudden?”

“Han Soyoung of the Heaven-Law Platform will come looking for you.”

“...”

“The wound she left on your neck. Repay her for it.”

Ju Soa ran her tongue across her lips.

“I might blow her away completely. Is that fine?”

“It is.”

“Then that settles it. Don’t worry.”

Unhwi nodded.

And so the two of them left the headquarters of the Blood Heaven Sect.

Eastward.

Toward Sichuan.

They unleashed their lightness arts.

The wind tugged at their robes.

The buildings of the Blood Heaven Sect headquarters receded behind them.

Chief Seong and Wonyang dwindled until they were no more than specks in the distance.

As he ran, Unhwi thought.

Kang Cheonwoo.

In my previous life, I had never been particularly connected to him.

But this life was different.

Our ties had grown deeper than I expected.

The Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance.

The incarnation of domination.

A rough, bold man who charged ahead without regard for fire or water.

Yet endlessly generous toward those he considered his own.

And the man who had given Unhwi the True Flame Heavenly Spirit Sword now hanging at his waist.

That man had been driven into a corner.

Caught in the net called Gun Mugeol.

Unhwi looked ahead.

If you owe a debt, you repay it.

Even though he had raised Kang Cheonwoo into the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm, Unhwi still did not believe his debt had been repaid.

Others might disagree.

But judging only by what had happened since then, Unhwi had made extraordinarily good use of the True Flame Heavenly Spirit Sword.

A sword of this caliber could not be bought with money.

To put it crudely, the only way to obtain something like this was to kill its owner and take it.

Kang Cheonwoo had simply handed it over without the slightest ulterior motive.

The breadth of that man’s spirit.

The way he had acted at that moment.

Its value was even greater than Unhwi had initially thought.

Forests flashed past.

Mountains flashed past.

Sichuan was drawing closer.