Jeong Cheongja, even as his breath grew weaker and weaker, could not suppress his curiosity and asked cautiously.
“May I ask who the person you mentioned earlier is?”
“Ah, well…”
Namgung Un scratched his head.
The young master of the world-renowned Namgung Family could hardly speak openly about having the successor of Majeon as his sworn brother.
“My sworn brother is someone who has left the secular world behind to walk a path of solitary asceticism. You probably wouldn’t know him, Elder.”
“I see.”
Namgung Un quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, that’s how it is. Haha.”
“Your swordsmanship breaks free from the rigid framework of orthodox sword theory—it is unbound and unrestrained. At first glance it might seem unable to reach truly profound or lofty realms, yet…”
Taking a small box from his robes, Jeong Cheongja held it out to Namgung Un and continued.
“…in truth it escapes the boundaries of the mundane world and can achieve boundless accomplishment. It’s just that the Namgung Family sword arts have, to some extent… confined you, shall we say?”
“How did you-”
Namgung Un’s mouth fell open.
Not only had Jeong Cheongja seen straight through his level of attainment, he had also grasped the thought Namgung Un had never dared voice aloud:
‘Why is our family’s sword art so rigidly trapped within the framework of heavy, solemn swordsmanship?’
He was utterly shocked that even this inner doubt had been read.
“I absolutely do not harbor such thoughts!”
Namgung Un desperately protested.
“As a descendant of the Namgung Family, how could I entertain such irreverent ideas?”
Judging from Jeong Cheongja’s profound gaze and lofty bearing, he was clearly a righteous senior of the martial world.
If word of this ever reached his father Namgung Jeong, there was no doubt he would fly into a rage and impose severe punishment.
“What is wrong with having such thoughts? You are naturally free-spirited by temperament, and that quality is clearly reflected in your swordsmanship. Even the Namgung Family Head must-”
“No, please don’t!”
Namgung Un practically jumped.
“If you ever convey such words to the Family Head, it will be disastrous! Please spare me, Elder!”
“Don’t worry.”
Jeong Cheongja shook his head.
“Unfortunately I have no connection whatsoever with the Namgung Family Head, so I couldn’t pass such words along even if I wanted to.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
When Namgung Un let out a visible sigh of relief, Jeong Cheongja smiled and said, “Open the box. Inside you will find the answer to the question you have long carried in your heart.”
When Namgung Un opened the box, he found a small silk tassel inside.
“What is this?”
“It is the Wind and Cloud Sword Manual.”
“Wind and Cloud Sword Manual…”
It was the sword manual left behind three hundred years ago by the foremost swordsman under heaven, the Heavenly Cliff Sword Immortal—known to contain thirty unique schools of extraterrestrial sword theory.
During the past Martial Heaven Corps martial tournament, when Mu Gyeol pointed out that Baek Museong was using bizarre sword techniques, Baek Museong had claimed he obtained them together with the Divine Sword Sect’s martial arts.
But that had been a lie.
The genuine article had always been kept within the Essence Three Realms.
“This tassel is the Wind and Cloud Sword Manual?”
“Indeed.” Jeong Cheongja gave a faint smile. “The Heavenly Cliff Sword Immortal was not only outstanding in swordsmanship but also possessed profound insight into talisman arts. He knew full well that this manual could only be used by someone as unhindered and free as himself.”
Jeong Cheongja slowly extended his hand.
“Try attaching it.”
Namgung Un could not comprehend it.
A tassel attached to a sword was a sword manual? How could such a thing be possible?
Swish.
Namgung Un tied the tassel to the end of his sword hilt.
“It doesn’t… seem like anything has changed.”
“Hohoho. Is that so?”
Jeong Cheongja chuckled and opened his mouth to explain.
“In truth, it is-”
Sssssss.
At last the Stacked-Pupil People had climbed Cheonsa Peak and begun encircling the area.
Having endured the combined assaults of Flame Explosion, Ice Energy, and Tang Pae's Slash of Death, their bodies now gleamed like vajra stone, enveloped in bizarre, powerful protective energy.
Thud, thud.
Then the ranks of Stacked-Pupil People parted, and one whose lips and the area beneath his eyes were pitch black slowly stepped forward.
At last—the leader of Majeon’s secret organization that controlled the Stacked-Pupil People, the Black Veil Division’s Division Head.
Jeok Goseong had appeared.
“You’re already on the verge of death.”
Having reached the supreme realm of demonic great methods, Jeok Goseong instantly saw through Jeong Cheongja’s condition under the Absolute Soul-Returning Technique.
“It was pointless for this Division Head to come. You would have died on your own anyway.” He spoke irritably. “Stick your neck out quickly. I need to take your head back with me.”
But at that moment, “What exactly do you eat to make your lips turn so pitch black?”
Namgung Un stepped in front of Jeong Cheongja and said, “Moreover, judging by age, this Elder here looks at least thirty years your senior—how can you be so utterly lacking in manners?”
“What kind of lunatic is this…?”
Frowning, Jeok Goseong finally looked back and forth between Namgung Un’s face and the Golden Needle Sword, then nodded.
“So you’re Namgung Un—the notorious good-for-nothing young master of the Namgung Family.”
Jeok Goseong sneered coldly.
“The Namgung Family’s time to die has not yet come, so…”
A pitch-black gleam burst from his eyes.
“…get lost right now!”
BOOM.
His shout shook all of Cheonsa Peak, and razor-sharp killing intent poured from the ranks of waiting Stacked-Pupil People.
It was a truly bone-chilling aura, yet Namgung Un only burst into loud laughter.
“Telling a person to ‘get lost’? Just how exactly is a person supposed to get lost?”
“It’s not difficult. Crawl away on all fours.”
“Ahhh.”
Namgung Un grinned.
“That’s actually a pretty good idea.”
BOOM.
For a moment the entire Cheonsa Peak trembled, then suddenly, so much sword energy and pressure crashed down from above that the sky itself seemed to turn black for Jeok Goseong and the Stacked-Pupil People—like a mountain descending upon them.
The supreme sword art that had raised the Namgung Family to the head of the Eight Great Families, the Imperial Sword Form had been unleashed.
‘Huh?’
Yet the one most surprised was Namgung Un himself, who had executed the technique.
He was still only the young master and had mastered merely the first three forms of the Imperial Sword Form.
So how had he just unleashed something with the power of the latter three forms?
“Get out of the way!”
Jeok Goseong shouted urgently.
The Imperial Sword Form was the grand ancestor of all heavy sword techniques under heaven. Merely being caught in its range was enough to shatter even Diamond Indestructible bodies.
Rumble rumble rumble.
Jeok Goseong and the Stacked-Pupil People scrambled to evade,
BOOM.
But the sword momentum was so vast that several Stacked-Pupil People were pulped on the spot.
“Namgung Jeong, that bastard has gone mad.” Jeok Goseong shouted in irritation. “Transmitting the full Imperial Sword Form to someone who only just became young master?”
‘Exactly? I never received the full transmission.’
For a moment Namgung Un stood stunned but then he placed a hand on his waist, burst into loud laughter, and shouted, “Your lips are so black even your mouth is filthy!”
Hand still on his waist, he lied with complete confidence.
“This isn’t the Imperial Sword Form—it’s merely a special technique the Family Head taught me to use only in emergencies!”
Even as he spoke, Namgung Un’s mind was racing.
‘And yet the sword art I just used wasn’t orthodox sword theory at all… what in the world is happening?’
In truth, the technique he had unleashed just now was not purely the Imperial Sword Form—it was a unique heavy sword style subtly mixed with unorthodox methods.
Yet its power so closely resembled the Imperial Sword Form that even an expert like Jeok Goseong had been completely fooled.
‘Ahhh.’
Namgung Un instantly understood.
‘So this is what the Wind and Cloud Sword Manual does.’
The Wind and Cloud Sword Manual was a type of living black talisman.
Among its thirty sword arts, it instantly combined and manifested whichever one best matched the user’s intent.
It was truly a living sword manual.
‘With this… I can win.’
Gazing at the tassel tied to his sword, Namgung Un smiled.
With the Wind and Cloud Sword Manual, he could unfold sword arts freely without being bound by rigid styles.
“Try scurrying away like cockroaches one more time. If you do, I’ll send you back nicely.”
“Kill that bastard!”
At Jeok Goseong’s furious command, over a hundred Stacked-Pupil People unleashed a storm of attacks toward Namgung Un.
BOOM.
Namgung Un tried once again to unfold the first three forms of the Imperial Sword Form.
‘Huh?’
But something was wrong.
Even though he executed the same technique, it did not produce the same overwhelming power as before.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!
In that instant the Stacked-Pupil People closed in and slashed at him with razor-sharp claws.
“Uh-oh?!”
Panicking, Namgung Un cried out and unleashed his specialty—the Sky-Soaring Sword.
Sasasasa!
Hundreds of sword energies layered across the air like overlapping waves, then poured down like torrential rain.
Boom boom boom!
The Stacked-Pupil People struck by the sword energy were blasted more than thirty zhang away with explosive force.
It resembled the Sky-Soaring Sword yet again had combined with another unique sword art.
Thud thud thud.
But the Stacked-Pupil People rose once more.
This new batch had strange glossy skin; every time they were struck by sword techniques, metallic clangs rang out alongside bizarre protective energy.
After being killed by the unavoidable swift line of death—Tang Pae's Slash of Death—while fighting Tang Gon, they had once again adapted and returned with bodies that could never be pierced.
“Good!”
Realizing they now possessed Diamond Indestructible physiques, Namgung Un began spinning the Golden Needle Sword at ultra-high speed.
His personality had always been free and light-hearted—he had never truly suited the solemn, weighty sword arts of the Namgung Family.
Even the Family Head Namgung Jeong had modified the Sky-Soaring Sword—normally practiced only by the women of the family—to better match Namgung Un’s temperament before teaching it to him.
But now, having obtained the Wind and Cloud Sword Manual, Namgung Un no longer felt bound to the Namgung Family sword arts. He freely unfolded whatever sword techniques he wished.
Kwaaaaa!
The sharp Golden Needle Sword spun at extreme speed and began carving into the hardened bodies of the Stacked-Pupil People.
Instead of targeting tough areas, he precisely struck only the joints, aiming to render them combat-ineffective.
The method was strikingly similar to how Bu Eunseol had once shattered the Iron Hammer-Hard Men of the Yin Binding Demonic Land.
“This is great!”
Even surrounded by the Stacked-Pupil People, Namgung Un moved freely in every direction under heaven, unfolding sword arts without restraint.
Though the Namgung Family specialized in heavy sword techniques, mastering them required learning a wide variety of sword styles first. Thus Namgung Un had already mastered numerous sword arts scattered across the world from childhood, and now through the Wind and Cloud Sword Manual he could deploy them freely.
“That bastard’s getting carried away!”
But as Namgung Un knocked down wave after wave of Stacked-Pupil People, completely absorbed in the Wind and Cloud Sword Manual, he momentarily forgot about Jeok Goseong’s presence.
“Die!”
Like a ghost, Jeok Goseong appeared behind Namgung Un’s back and thrust both palms forward with full power. He had seized an absolute opening and an instant of vulnerability, unleashing palm force possessing the might of the Heaven-Breaking Emperor.
BOOM!
An explosion rang out and dust billowed in all directions.
When the dust cleared, a shocking scene unfolded.
“Elder!”
Just before Namgung Un was struck by the palm force, Jeong Cheongja—having exploded the last of his life force—rushed forward with arms spread wide, taking the full brunt of the descending palm force in his place.
Drip drip.
He had already exhausted his life force so almost no internal energy remained in his body.
Every bone in his body shattered under Jeok Goseong’s palm force, and his internal organs were gruesomely ruptured.
“E-Elder!”
When the panicked Namgung Un hurriedly supported him, Jeong Cheongja shook his head.
“It’s all right, it’s all right. This is not your fault.”
Looking at the utterly bewildered Namgung Un, Jeong Cheongja smiled with infinite kindness.
“This is simply this old man’s fate.”
“Hmph. You got lucky.”
Jeok Goseong sneered coldly as he approached the fallen Jeong Cheongja and Namgung Un.
“No matter what bizarre sword art you use, it is nothing before this Division Head’s Nine Nether Hand—”
But at that moment,
Thud.
Without a sound of breaking air, a massive shadow descended upon Cheonsa Peak under the clear sky.
A woman nearly seven feet tall, her glossy hair fluttering, blocked out the sun.
It was none other than the successor of the Essence Three Realms whom Jeong Cheongja had searched for so desperately—So Okrim.
She had not been training on Cheonsa Peak, but on the opposite peak, Biho Peak.
When she heard Namgung Un’s heavy sword energy shaking Cheonsa Peak, she had come straight here.
“Grandfather…”
So Okrim approached the fallen Jeong Cheongja with a trembling voice.
“Why is Grandfather here…?”
“You’ve come.”
Jeong Cheongja smiled brightly.
The heavens had been merciful, allowing him to see So Okrim one last time.
“You should have been at Jumulma Peak… why are you here…”
So Okrim’s eyes wavered like rippling water.
The youngest grandfather she could always find in the library, who had held her as a child while reading all kinds of books, and later explained martial secret manuals to her as she grew, now lay dying, every bone in his body crushed.
“Everyone else has died. Only this old man barely managed to come find you.”
“Who…?”
Murderous light exploded from So Okrim’s eyes.
“Who dared do this to our grandfathers!”
“It was me.”
Jeok Goseong approached from behind with a laugh.
“I did it.”
He looked at So Okrim and curled his lip.
“Those rat-like old men who lived like the dead in Jumulma Peak…”
Jeok Goseong could not finish his sentence.
An overwhelming pressure was crushing his body.
“Such profound internal energy.”
Jeok Goseong was the Division Head of Black Veil—the secret organization trusted by the Demon Emperor.
Not only in demonic great methods but in martial arts as well, few could match him.
“But with your level of skill-”
Hwaak.
In an instant, pure white light flooded Jeok Goseong’s vision.
As though all the light in the world had been gathered and then exploded at once, blinding radiance poured forth, and at the same time a tsunami-like shockwave began spreading outward like waves.
Red, blue, purple, gold—countless colors mingled, then burst into tens of thousands of tiny flames scattering in every direction.
Dual-Severed Galaxy Strike.
In a single instant, the final supreme art of the Celestial Emperor—the technique said to be capable of severing not just the heavens but an entire galaxy—had been unleashed.
Kwarrrrrr.
Where Jeok Goseong had stood, only sticky, lava-like liquid remained.
The Division Head of Black Veil, the great demonic sect master who had terrified the martial world for decades, Jeok Goseong, had been reduced mid-sentence to boiling liquid and crossed the Three Paths River in an instant.
Tremble.
The fingertips of So Okrim, who had unfolded Dual-Severed Galaxy Strike, quivered faintly.
This was a martial art that shared harmony and rhythm with the techniques Bu Eunseol used.
Even she—with her innate divine strength and steel-like physique—could not execute it more than once in her current state.
“Magnificent.”
Jeong Cheongja gently closed his eyes as though he had no more regrets.
“Grandfather!”
So Okrim rushed forward and poured true energy into his vital acupoints.
But Jeong Cheongja’s body—its Absolute Soul-Returning Technique exhausted—was now nothing more than an empty shell drained of all life force.
“Go to that place and train in the martial arts once more.”
Jeong Cheongja grasped So Okrim’s hand.
A mystical five-colored radiance lingered on her palm, engraving a small map.
“Fully master the martial arts of that place. Only when the scattered successors of the Essence Three Realms join their strength together… will you be able to face the demons soon to appear in the martial world.”
“What are you saying?”
“In the past, the Baekri Family failed to slay the True Demons and could only seal them. Now their kin are revealing themselves to break that seal.”
Jeong Cheongja spoke with regret.
“We were never an orthodox profound sect. We were the Essence Three Realms.”
Then he extended his hand.
A mystical radiance flowed, transmitting a great deal of knowledge directly into So Okrim’s mind.
But because his life force was completely spent…
So Okrim received only knowledge concerning the Essence Three Realms, the secret vault of the Baekri Family, the True Demons, and their kin.
“That’s not it.”
So Okrim wept and spoke desperately.
“Someone who hasn’t even appeared yet… cannot be allowed to destroy our home… and kill our grandfathers.”
The True Demons had not appeared.
Therefore, whatever destroyed Jumulma Peak could not possibly have been them.
“That is not important right now.”
Jeong Cheongja did not speak of the ringleader—the Demon Emperor.
If he did, So Okrim would immediately head to Majeon and be killed on the spot.
“You will learn the truth soon enough.”
“Who is it?”
“Okrim.”
With his final strength, Jeong Cheongja said,
“For now, focus on gathering the martial arts. And…”
He tightly gripped both of So Okrim’s hands with his own.
“Find the descendant who can enter the Baekri Family’s secret vault. When you find that person, everything will become clear.”
“Grandfather…”
“I’m sorry for placing such a heavy burden on you, Okrim.”
Jeong Cheongja spread both arms, gently touched So Okrim’s cheeks, and smiled brightly.
“Be happy.”
With those final words, Jeong Cheongja drew his last breath.
Jeong Cheongja—the Scripture Pavilion Master of the Essence Three Realms, who had devoted his life to preventing the tyranny of the Three Realms from destroying the world and to carrying on the will of the Baekri Family, one of those who had raised the successor So Okrim.
The man who had spent his entire life buried among books had completed his long journey from the Western Regions to the Central Plains.
And in the embrace of the granddaughter he had raised, he completed his mission and passed away.
What regret could there be? What sorrow?
“Elder…”
Namgung Un, who had stood by his side, also bowed deeply in mourning when Jeong Cheongja breathed his last.
Then he spoke to So Okrim.
“Young Heroine, I am Namgung Un, young master of the Namgung Family.” Namgung Un clasped his hands together with utmost respect. “Though I met the Elder for the first time today, I came to deeply admire and respect his noble character.”
Then, in a voice filled with determination, he continued, “If you intend to carry on the Elder’s will or to seek vengeance, please allow the Namgung Family to lend you our strength.”
Though he did not know the full details, from their conversation Namgung Un could guess that Jeong Cheongja had spent his life saving countless people and protecting the justice of the martial world.
“It’s all right.”
So Okrim wiped her tears and carefully lifted Jeong Cheongja’s body in her arms.
“I can handle everything myself.”
“Young heroine-”
“Thank you… for helping Grandfather.”
With tears in her eyes, So Okrim looked at Namgung Un and gave him a bright smile.
That smile was her gratitude toward Namgung Un for having helped the grandfather who had raised and taught her with such care all her life.
“Then.”
Swish.
So Okrim soared into the air in a single leap and vanished into the distant sky.
Namgung Un stared blankly after her, then gently stroked the tassel on his Golden Needle Sword.
“Dark clouds are gathering over the martial world.”
Having realized through today’s events that a great shift was coming to the martial world, he gazed at the distant sky.
“Then both the family and I must prepare for the chaos to come.”
Clench.
Namgung Un gripped his fist tightly.
“Brother Bu.”
Gazing at the distant sky, he unconsciously thought of Bu Eunseol’s face.
“I too will build up my strength.”
The martial world had always appeared peaceful on the surface, but in truth they had been rotting and festering endlessly.
And now, at last, the true force casting that dark cloud over the martial world was beginning to reveal itself.
The only one capable of stopping it was his sworn brother—Bu Eunseol.
Namgung Un resolved to grow even stronger so that one day he could fight side by side with him.
***
It was a beautiful pavilion.
Its curved roof tiles stretched toward the sky, and mystical patterns were carved into the pillars.
Beside the pavilion stood a young man gazing up at the night sky with perfect posture. His robes blended white and blue, with splendid embroidery adorning the sleeves and collar.
Though a moon of enchanting beauty hung in the night sky, his gaze was fixed on the distant stars.
“It’s slowly beginning to change.” As though conversing with the stars, the shadow murmured quietly, eyes still lifted to the heavens. “But she has changed as well.”
The place the young man stared at was a star shining with bewitchingly beautiful radiance.
“She should be burning with vengeful flames. So how is she emitting such beautiful light?”
Swish.
The young man stepped out from the pavilion into the moonlight.
He was a youth with perfectly balanced features and a tall, imposing frame. His deep, profound eyes gleamed with mysterious light, as though they could see through everything.
“Why is that so?” At the young man’s question, “It seems to be because of that person.”
A black-masked figure was already prostrated before him.
He had not been there when the young man was looking at the pavilion yet the moment he stepped into the moonlight, the masked man had appeared in perfect timing.
“The Sword King, Seon Woojin.”
“Seon Woojin?”
The young man’s eyes sparkled.
“The one who became the head of the Martial Alliance’s Intelligence and Secret Affairs Division?”
“Correct.” The masked man bowed his head. “At first they were wary of each other, probing constantly so I thought they were merely in a temporary alliance of convenience, sharing the same boat. But after enduring many hardships together, trust seems to have built between them… Whenever that man is in the Martial Alliance, they are always side by side.”
“Trust between them.”
“Yes. Enough trust that she accompanies him even to the Gongsun Family. After all, ever since he was a third-grade division head, she has supported him wholeheartedly as a future Alliance Leader candidate.”
The masked man continued.
“Perhaps because of that, recently the cold aura around her has lessened somewhat, and she smiles often.”
“She… smiles?”
The young man’s previously calm eyes completely changed.
“Hahaha!”
He suddenly burst into hearty laughter, then abruptly stopped and spoke coldly.
“This cannot be allowed to continue.”
“It is merely a slight change in temperament.”
“Absolutely not. Anyone who has resolved themselves to vengeance will not let their heart be swayed by anything—especially someone as supremely rational as she is.”
The young man stared sharply at the masked man.
“If she has changed, she must be returned to her original state. Otherwise… it could greatly hinder the grand undertaking we have carried out until now.”
Swish.
Finishing his words, the young man extended his hand.
As though it had always been there, a single letter slowly fell into the masked man’s palm.
“Deliver this to her. And…”
His voice became utterly solemn.
“…eliminate the cause.”
“But-”
The masked man spoke cautiously.
“If we mobilize the Jungson Family once again and still fail to deal with Seon Woojin… they will eventually read the heavenly secrets.”
He bowed his head.
“There is information that the Fist Man appeared because they had already detected Young Master’s movements. If that is true, this assassination attempt will be impossible to avoid.”
“No, it doesn’t matter.”
The young man smiled faintly.
“If Seon Woojin proves to be skilled enough to handle assassins sent by the Jungson Family, that would be even better.” He spoke with the excited expression of someone heading to watch a thrilling play. “It is the perfect opportunity to let the shield called Seon Woojin clash against the blades aimed at me.”
The masked man’s eyes widened as he realized something.
The man had already predicted failure after failure after failure… and had prepared an inescapable trap.
“No matter what, this time Seon Woojin will surely die.”
The masked man was certain.
Even if Seon Woojin were a master surpassing the Seven Kings of Death, this time he would inevitably be killed.
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