Chapter 523

Kang Cheonwoo turned and began walking.

Unhwi followed.

Deep within the Sichuan Alliance.

The Alliance Leader’s residence.

Overlord Hall.

True to its name, it was magnificent.

A high ceiling. A vast interior. Thick pillars and massive crossbeams.

Kang Cheonwoo took the seat of honor.

Unhwi sat across from him.

Ju Soa stood behind Unhwi.

A drinking table was set.

Kang Cheonwoo poured the liquor himself. Into a large cup.

Glug, glug. He filled it to the brim, nearly overflowing.

He placed it before Unhwi.

Then poured his own cup.

“Drink.”

Unhwi lifted the cup.

They did not clink cups.

They simply drank.

In one gulp.

Kang Cheonwoo also emptied his cup in one go.

They set their cups down.

Thud.

Thud.

At the same time.

Kang Cheonwoo looked at Unhwi.

“Unhwi.”

“Yes.”

“The Blood Heaven Arbiter of the Blood Heaven Sect.”

“That is correct.”

“Why did you come?”

Straight to the point.

A question worthy of the Sichuan Overlord.

Unhwi answered.

“I heard you were in a difficult position, Alliance Leader.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s expression hardened.

His brow furrowed.

“...A difficult position.”

“The pressure from the Murim Alliance. The false accusation of collusion with the Demonic Path. The encirclement by the Four Great Families and the smaller sects. Three minor clashes. And even the fact that you still have not stepped forward yourself.”

As Unhwi calmly listed everything, Kang Cheonwoo let out a sigh.

“You ended up seeing a side of me I would rather not show.”

“You could say that.”

“And your information is quick.”

“You already know. The intelligence capabilities of Heaven’s Will Alliance and the Blood Heaven Sect are both exceptional, and I use the intelligence networks of both.”

Kang Cheonwoo gave a faint laugh.

“Then did you come here as the Blood Heaven Arbiter, or as Unhwi?”

“The latter.”

“The latter...”

A bright smile appeared on Kang Cheonwoo’s face.

But it did not last long.

The smile disappeared.

His face grew heavy.

Kang Cheonwoo poured himself another drink. Only his own cup.

Glug, glug.

He drank it in one gulp.

Then set the cup down.

Thud.

“...You already know the situation.”

“Yes.”

“Then do you know why I cannot move?”

“Roughly.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked at Unhwi.

“Not roughly. You know exactly. That is the kind of bastard you are.”

Unhwi gave a faint laugh.

He did not deny it.

Kang Cheonwoo rested an arm on the table.

A broad arm.

So broad the table looked small beneath it.

“Gun Mugeol has set the board.”

“Yes.”

“He framed us for collusion with the Demonic Path. He even manufactured evidence. One minor sect under us really had dealings with a Demonic Path faction, and he inflated that until it looked like the entire Sichuan Alliance was involved.”

“...”

“And then the matter of the Hwanmyeong Sect overlapped with it. That bastard Mo Yong Namcheon had his hands in more places than I expected.”

“...”

“You know what happens if I step forward.”

“I do.”

“If I suppress them by force, the Sichuan Alliance becomes a barbaric organization, and Gun Mugeol’s justification only grows stronger.”

“Yes.”

“If I stay still, the sects beneath me begin to waver. Ten have already left.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked down at his empty cup.

“It is a board where I lose whether I raise my hand or lower it.”

Unhwi listened.

Quietly.

Kang Cheonwoo continued.

“It was not like this before I unified Sichuan.”

“...”

“After unifying it, I suddenly had things to protect.”

Kang Cheonwoo turned the cup in his hand.

“The Sichuan Alliance. The sects beneath it. The martial artists who follow me. Even the people of Sichuan. All of them are sitting on my shoulders.”

“...”

“They became so heavy that I could no longer swing my fist recklessly.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked at Unhwi.

“That is what domination is like, I suppose. Easy when you are alone. Difficult once people gather around you.”

Unhwi understood.

He had begun feeling the same thing.

Chief Seong.

Ju Soa.

Namgung Wonyang.

Once there were people to protect, the way a person moved changed.

He became more deliberate.

More cautious.

The matter of the Heaven-Law Platform had been like that.

If his own people had not been touched, he would never have cared about the Heaven-Law Platform at all.

Kang Cheonwoo was protecting all of Sichuan.

That weight was keeping him from raising his fist.

Unhwi spoke.

“Senior.”

“Hmm.”

“May I ask you one thing?”

“Ask.”

“If the Kang Cheonwoo from before the unification of Sichuan were sitting here now...”

Unhwi continued.

“What do you think that man would say after looking at this board?”

Kang Cheonwoo’s hand stopped turning the cup.

He looked at Unhwi.

Unhwi continued.

“When I first met you in Yangnyeong, you descended from the sky.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes shifted faintly.

“When I saw you at the Murim Alliance, you also descended from the sky.”

It had not even been long ago.

Only three months.

“And you laughed right in front of Gun Mugeol. Openly. You said you had reached the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm. You told him to congratulate you.”

“...”

“At that time, you were not a man who agonized over someone else’s board.”

“...”

“At that time, you were a man who overturned the board itself.”

Kang Cheonwoo closed his mouth.

Unhwi’s words struck straight into his chest.

Because every word was true.

That day in Yangnyeong.

And that day at the Murim Alliance.

Kang Cheonwoo had always descended from the sky.

Right before Gun Mugeol.

As the Sichuan Overlord.

Without hesitation.

Without caring what anyone thought.

That was how he had been.

But not now.

“Senior.”

Unhwi’s voice lowered.

“What is domination?”

“...”

“What is the path of domination you have walked your entire life?”

“...”

“From what I have learned, domination is not standing upon a road.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s fist clenched.

“It is creating the road itself.”

“...”

“Agonizing over someone else’s board is not domination.”

“...”

“Being trapped inside a justification created by someone else is not domination either.”

“...”

“Gun Mugeol constructed the board. A board where you lose whether you raise your hand or lower it.”

Unhwi looked at Kang Cheonwoo.

“Then why are you playing on that board?”

A light flashed in Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes.

Unhwi did not retreat.

“If you do not like the board, why not smash it?”

“...”

“If the justification is against you, why not overturn the justification?”

“...”

“Since when did the Alliance Leader of Sichuan...”

Unhwi’s gaze pierced through Kang Cheonwoo.

“And the Overlord of Sichuan...”

“Begin caring what others think?”

Overlord Hall fell silent.

Complete silence.

Kang Cheonwoo’s fist was clenched so tightly it had gone white.

The cup shattered in his hand.

Crack.

Fragments scattered.

Liquor spilled across the table.

Kang Cheonwoo did not notice.

He only thought.

When he had first met this man in that backwater place called Yangnyeong.

He had felt it clearly.

This bastard was no ordinary man.

He had felt the same thing when Unhwi raised him into the Mixed Origin Sovereign Realm.

There was something about this bastard.

And now.

This bastard sat before him and spoke of domination.

How dare he?

No.

It was not about daring.

Because he was right.

Every word was right.

“...Ha.”

A sound escaped Kang Cheonwoo’s mouth.

Laughter.

A small laugh.

It grew.

“Ha ha.”

Louder.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!!”

Overlord Hall trembled.

The pillars trembled.

The crossbeams trembled.

The great saber hanging on the wall rattled.

The laughter of a Mixed Origin Sovereign.

Laughter powerful enough to shake a mountain.

Kang Cheonwoo laughed like that for a long time.

Until moisture gathered in his eyes.

“Ha ha... ha ha ha...”

The laughter faded.

He wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

Then looked at Unhwi.

“You are right.”

Kang Cheonwoo spoke.

“You are absolutely right.”

He placed the shattered cup on the table.

“I was crouching behind the excuse of protecting them.”

“...”

“If I were still the man I was when I unified Sichuan, I would have thrown a fist first whether Gun Mugeol had built a board or not.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked down at his own fist.

A massive fist.

The fist that had unified Sichuan.

“Senior.”

“Speak.”

“A man with more to protect naturally becomes more cautious.”

“You are repeating yourself.”

“I am emphasizing it.”

“Emphasizing?”

“If having more to protect makes you abandon the path you originally walked, is that truly right?”

“...”

“Ju Soa behind me has been with me since Yangnyeong.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s gaze shifted toward Ju Soa.

“Namgung Wonyang and Chief Seong, who are not here, have been with me since before Yangnyeong, from the time I was in Seolap.”

“...And?”

Unhwi looked at Kang Cheonwoo for a moment, then slowly spoke.

“Ju Soa.”

Ju Soa blinked behind him before answering belatedly.

“...Yes?”

“How am I now compared to back then?”

“...Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

Ju Soa decided to be truly honest.

“...You seem genuinely insane.”

At those words, Kang Cheonwoo burst into loud laughter.

When Unhwi turned his head, Ju Soa took one step backward.

“...You told me to be honest.”

“That was too honest.”

“...”

Unhwi gave a faint laugh and looked back at Kang Cheonwoo.

“I have always acted consistently.”

“...”

“Because that is my path.”

“...Hmm...”

“Even if I die along the way, even if I lose everything, I am fine with that.”

“Why?”

“Because I would have died walking the path I chose.”

“...”

“And those who chose to follow me would have no regrets either.”

Without taking his eyes off Kang Cheonwoo, Unhwi asked Ju Soa,

“Am I wrong?”

Ju Soa shook her head behind him.

“No.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked at her.

“I chose to walk with him after seeing the path my lord walks... so even if I died here today, I would have no regrets.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked back and forth between Unhwi and Ju Soa.

Then he sighed and raised his fist.

“...When did this fist become so heavy?”

“It is not heavy.”

Unhwi spoke.

“You are simply being cautious.”

“What is the difference between caution and fear?”

“A cautious man moves when the time comes.”

Unhwi looked at Kang Cheonwoo.

“A frightened man does not move even when the time comes.”

“...”

“Which one are you, Senior?”

Kang Cheonwoo looked at Unhwi.

For a long while.

“...There is no need to ask.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes changed.

The heaviness vanished.

In its place, fire ignited.

They were the eyes of the Sichuan Overlord.

The same eyes he had possessed when unifying Sichuan.

“Protecting something and crouching down are not the same. Yes. You are right.”

Kang Cheonwoo rose from his seat.

When his massive frame stood upright, Overlord Hall suddenly seemed cramped.

“The sects beneath me are leaving because I refuse to step forward. The bastards who followed me are wavering because the Sichuan Overlord refuses to fight.”

“...”

“I shrank back to protect everything, and that was what was actually destroying it.”

Kang Cheonwoo looked down at Unhwi.

He smiled.

This time, it was not his usual hearty smile.

It was the smile of an overlord.

The smile of a man ready to fight.

“Good. Unhwi. Your words woke me up.”

Unhwi shook his head.

“Not yet.”

“What?”

“Words alone are not enough.”

Unhwi picked up the liquor bottle and poured himself a drink.

Then he took out a fresh cup to replace Kang Cheonwoo’s shattered one and filled that as well.

He placed it before Kang Cheonwoo.

“I brought a solution.”

Kang Cheonwoo’s eyes flashed.

“A solution?”

“A way to overturn Gun Mugeol’s board.”

Unhwi raised his cup.

Took a sip.

Set it down.

Then looked at Kang Cheonwoo.

“Would you like to hear it?”

Kang Cheonwoo lifted the fresh cup.

Drank it in one gulp.

Thud.

He set it down.

“Speak.”