189
Chapter 189: Standing Here Not as the Alliance Leader, but as the Hero Emperor
“Hahaha! Live long enough, and you’ll see everything. To think I’d hear the words defeated from the Paewangseong Lord’s own mouth.”
As the Spear Sovereign of the Sacheon Alliance cackled, Chaoyang Peak’s silence was broken. The Paewangseong Lord, having returned to his seat, steadied his breathing, disrupted by internal injuries, and glared.
“Shut up.”
“To think the Sword Saint accomplished what even the Three Seats couldn’t.”
The Spear Sovereign continued mocking the Paewangseong Lord until the very end as he rose from his seat. He lightly tapped his shoulder with his spear shaft.
“Sitting for so long makes my backside ache.”
The Spear Sovereign scanned the gathered masters as if searching for an opponent. His gaze eventually settled on the Sword Immortal.
Just as he was about to speak to the Sword Immortal, his view of the Immortal was blocked.
The Hero Emperor had risen to his feet, skillfully positioning himself in front of the Sword Immortal.
“What is this, Hero Emperor?”
“Face me, Spear Sovereign.”
“Hmph. Confident you can win?”
“It won’t be easy.”
At the Hero Emperor’s firm reply, the Spear Sovereign’s laughter gradually faded.
Though he couldn’t precisely gauge the Hero Emperor’s martial prowess due to his restrained aura, he could tell the man had achieved something remarkable.
“Hmm.”
The Spear Sovereign circled the Hero Emperor, glancing alternately at the Sword Immortal and Heukcheon before nodding.
He looked back at the Hero Emperor.
The sharp glint in his eyes, visible beneath the bamboo hat.
Even without the Sword Immortal, this promised to be entertaining.
“Is that so? Fine. I accept your challenge.”
“Thank you.”
The Hero Emperor slowly moved his hand toward his sword. The Spear Sovereign, watching this, subtly raised the spear resting on his shoulder.
As their eyes met in the air—
Suddenly, the atmosphere trembled.
KREEEENG!
A metallic clash erupted, and a shockwave spread outward in concentric circles from the two masters. Their weapons had already been drawn, meeting in the middle as they tested each other’s strength.
In an instant, the Hero Emperor adjusted his grip, reversing his hold on the sword before sliding it along the spear shaft, pushing forward. Simultaneously, he stepped with a strange, rotating footwork, closing the distance into the Spear Sovereign’s guard.
“Hmph!”
The Spear Sovereign snorted and flicked his wrist.
That slight movement caused the spear shaft to undulate like a boat on the ocean, deflecting the sword upward.
But the Hero Emperor had already secured the distance he wanted. His fingers moved subtly, adjusting the sword’s angle as it flipped again in his grip.
‘That tricky technique is still there. Did he steal it from that nameless wanderer he once mentioned?’
The Hero Emperor’s unique grip technique, born from wandering the martial arts world since childhood after his family’s destruction.
In the hands of an amateur, it would be dismissed as a mere gimmick. But from someone of the Hero Emperor’s caliber, it was genuinely irritating.
Regaining proper control of his sword, the Hero Emperor channeled sword energy and thrust diagonally upward. The Spear Sovereign deflected the strike aimed at his collarbone with the spear’s tip before sweeping the spear’s edge toward the Hero Emperor’s ankle.
The Hero Emperor danced lightly, stomping the spear’s edge into the ground before unleashing a palm strike with his left hand.
PAANG!
The Spear Sovereign absorbed the palm strike with his protective energy, wrapped around his body like armor, and immediately counterattacked with a straight spear thrust. He had traded taking a hit to gain the upper hand.
The Hero Emperor hastily retreated.
WHOOSH!
As both of the Spear Sovereign’s wrists rotated, the spear’s edge spun violently, driving toward the Hero Emperor’s forehead.
“Hmph!”
The Hero Emperor, having already reversed his grip again, angled his sword downward to block the spear’s edge.
KAKAKAK!
A sharp metallic screech assaulted their eardrums.
The shockwave surged like a whirlwind along the spear shaft, but the Hero Emperor slashed upward fiercely, sending the spear rebounding and dispersing the energy.
He closed the distance again, and the Spear Sovereign threatened him with dozens of spear shadows from the spear’s tip.
Sword and spear clashed relentlessly as the distance between the two masters repeatedly expanded and contracted.
Their positions shifted as if spinning in circles, sweeping across the surrounding terrain.
KREEEENG!
After deflecting over a dozen consecutive thrusts, the Hero Emperor slashed upward violently to meet the descending spear strike.
The spear shaft trembled violently from the impact, forcing the Spear Sovereign to step back and retract his spear to his waist.
In that brief moment, over a hundred exchanges had taken place.
It was a stalemate.
Seeing the Hero Emperor hold his ground effortlessly, the Spear Sovereign’s eyes curved into crescents.
“Hero Emperor. You’ve truly grown stronger. To think you’ve bridged the gap of that one missing step.”
The difference between the Hero Emperor and the Three Seats had been a single step.
A single step might seem insignificant, but at the pinnacle of martial arts, it was the difference between a mountain peak and a hill.
“You always emphasized narrative. What story has been added to your life to make you this strong?”
The Hero Emperor smiled, amused that the Spear Sovereign remembered his words.
“The Alliance Leader… Truly a difficult position. A heavy one, too.”
The Spear Sovereign shook his head.
“Are you saying that useless sense of responsibility made you stronger? You’ve always been like that, even when you were called a wandering swordsman. Once you reached the peak, you could’ve just enjoyed it like I do. Instead, you sought out hardship.”
The Hero Emperor adjusted his crooked bamboo hat.
“That’s you. You gathered the Seven Evil Heavens to create the Sacheon Alliance because you thought expanding the playing field would make things more fun.”
“You know me well. Those Seven Evil Heavens brats banded together because they felt threatened by the Martial Alliance’s formation, but I couldn’t care less.”
The Spear Sovereign smirked mischievously.
“Somehow, this has turned into a duel between the Martial Alliance Leader and the Spear Sovereign of the Sacheon Alliance. A perfect opportunity for the Martial Alliance.”
If the leader of a sect was defeated at the Hwasan Sword Debate, that sect would inevitably falter.
“You could see it that way. But I stand here not as the Martial Alliance Leader, but as the Hero Emperor. You know why.”
The Hwasan Sword Debate was a contest of pure martial skill.
When Mu Hwi explained it, the Hero Emperor hadn’t been sure if it would truly be so.
The men gathered here were all entangled in complex circumstances.
But the duel between the Sword Saint and the Paewangseong Lord confirmed that it was possible to set everything aside and engage in pure martial combat.
No—this wasn’t just confirmation. It was stimulation.
Because before the Hero Emperor was the Alliance Leader, he was a martial artist.
Thus, he set aside the complicated affairs of the Alliance Leader and stepped forward as the Hero Emperor.
To pour a lifetime of righteousness into his sword, unadorned. The Hero Emperor’s martial arts were just that.
“Hmm.”
The Spear Sovereign studied the Hero Emperor’s attire anew.
The golden robe, symbol of the Alliance Leader, had been left on the rock where he sat. Now, he wore only a gray martial uniform.
Along with his worn sword and faded bamboo hat.
This was the Hero Emperor in his purest form.
“Are you saying you want me to step forward not as the Spear Sovereign, but as the Spear of the Wild Night?”
“That’s why I called you Spear of the Vast Heavens, not Spear Sovereign.”
For the first time, the ever-smirking Spear Sovereign’s expression turned solemn. He, too, had felt something during the earlier duels.
After a brief but deep contemplation, the Spear Sovereign spoke.
“Suddenly, I’m curious. If this is a duel between the Hero Emperor and the Spear of the Wild Night… How will it end? A duel between the Alliance Leader and the Spear Sovereign would have a predictable outcome. This is more interesting.”
Having made up his mind, the Spear of the Wild Night laughed once. Then, with a sudden motion, he shifted his spear downward, aiming for the Hero Emperor’s ankle.
The Hero Emperor’s elusive footwork had always been a nuisance.
CRACKLE!
Following the spear’s trajectory, whip-like spear energy lashed out wildly, carving deep scars into the ground.
When the Spear of the Wild Night retracted his spear, the earth looked as though a landscape painting had been etched into it, with countless lines stretching freely.
Above this painting, the Hero Emperor soared, his gray robes fluttering like wings. At the end of his arc, his sword descended toward the Spear of the Wild Night in a straightforward slash.
Sword and spear collided violently in midair, rebounding and pushing against each other repeatedly.
The Spear of the Wild Night’s Black Phantom Coiling Spear, rooted in subtle variations and endless feints.
The dark brown spear energy and shadows scattered so densely they obscured his form.
In contrast, the Hero Emperor’s Single Path Advancing Sword displayed simple, honest techniques anyone could recognize. Yet, the deliberate slowness of his sword carried a weight no one could dismiss.
SWOOSH!
The whirlwind of dark brown energy from the spear’s edge raged in all directions, threatening to swallow the Hero Emperor whole.
The Hero Emperor stepped forward decisively, slashing cleanly in vertical and horizontal strokes. Through the gaps in these strikes, he advanced silently.
The hem of his gray robes fluttered precariously.
At a glance, it seemed the Spear of the Wild Night was pressuring him, but the Hero Emperor’s sword and steps remain unshaken.
‘Just like the name of his martial art.’
To Mu Hwi, watching from afar, the Hero Emperor appeared as a wandering swordsman calmly weathering a black storm.
Though slow, his unwavering advance along a single path exuded a majestic aura.
KREEEENG!
Deflecting a spear thrust aimed at his vitals, the Hero Emperor pivoted left, carving a wide semicircle.
The Spear of the Wild Night leaned back to evade the slash, using the recoil to extend his spear in a long thrust.
SHIIING!
For a moment, the spear seemed to double in length.
The Hero Emperor, unfooled by the sudden shift in distance, calmly shortened his slash to neutralize the attack.
‘I must advance further.’
Instead, he widened his stance momentarily and cleaved through the oncoming spear shadows in rapid succession.
A grazing spear strike split his cheek, staining it red, but the Hero Emperor paid it no mind.
A gray flash erupted from his sword, cleanly splitting the dark brown storm before him.
A crescent-shaped sword energy surged from an upward slash, and the Spear of the Wild Night countered with a straight spear energy thrust.
KWAANG!
The collision of sword and spear energy triggered an explosion, scattering shockwaves in all directions.
The Hero Emperor charged through the blast toward the Spear of the Wild Night. The latter laughed heartily and leaped, brandishing his spear wildly.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Exchanging dozens of blows midair, the two masters landed and immediately spun, unleashing fists and palm strikes simultaneously.
The Hero Emperor’s fist struck the Spear of the Wild Night’s right chest, while the Spear’s palm strike slammed into the Hero Emperor’s shoulder.
The Spear of the Wild Night licked his lips and tilted his spear.
“Your internal striking techniques have improved!”
“I’ve pondered deeply on how to break your protective energy.”
Pushed apart by the exchange, the two masters immediately swung their weapons at each other again.
The light imbued in their sword and spear was clearer and fiercer than ever.
Before a single breath could be completed, the two had already displayed dozens of movements.
WHOOM!
The spear energy extending from the spear’s tip grew so long it resembled two spears fused together. The Spear of the Wild Night swung it ruthlessly.
The spear energy then split into dozens of strands, and with a single motion, a hundred spear strikes erupted from his hands.
Black Mountain’s Chaotic Roar.
‘It’s enormous.’
To the Hero Emperor, the countless spear strikes merging into an endless onslaught looked like a massive black sphere.
The rapidly rotating dark brown sphere rolled forward, gouging deep trenches in the ground.
BOOM!
The Hero Emperor stomped, lowering his sword.
His life as a wandering swordsman had never been smooth.
Countless obstacles and hindrances had stood in his way, but he had stubbornly overcome them all.
Just like now.
Single Path of Iron Resolve.
The sword, planted downward, surged upward in a straight, unwavering line.
A gray sword light erupted into the sky, as if showcasing the path the Hero Emperor had walked all his life.
From within that gray light, a dark brown flash pierced through like a drill.
“You’re not the only one who can move forward!”
Laughing wildly, the Spear of the Wild Night thrust his spear with enough force to bend it like a whip.
KREEEENG!
Evading the spear strike aimed at his thigh, the Hero Emperor swung horizontally, shifting his grip.
The sword’s trajectory altered as the force behind it changed.
In response, the Spear of the Wild Night constantly adjusted the distance between his hands on the spear shaft, mixing dazzling feints with disorienting range shifts.
SPLURT!
Blood sprayed from the Hero Emperor’s side, while a crimson streak erupted from the Spear’s shoulder.
Yet both men stomped forward simultaneously.
Their sword and spear moved faster than ever, each clash making nature itself groan. The surrounding ground repeatedly cratered under the strain.
By the time they had exchanged hundreds of blows, the area around them was no longer flat land but a basin.
“Hah!”
The Hero Emperor exhaled roughly as his arms rose. The angle of his elbows, perfected through years of experience, combined with the precise stance of his feet, granted his sword optimal power.
The upward-rising sword slashed downward.
A straightforward slash.
A slash so simple anyone could imitate it—yet no one truly could.
A Single Sword only the Hero Emperor could wield.
The Righteous Path of a Single Sword.
CRACK!
A sound only the Spear of the Wild Night could hear.
The sound of his full-body protective energy shattering.
Against that absurdly simple and unadorned slash, his defenses cracked and crumbled.
‘Finally… You’ve done it?’
The Spear of the Wild Night watched the dazzling gray sword light before his eyes.
The weight behind the Hero Emperor’s Single Sword felt heavier than even the Sword Saint’s strike, which had previously cracked his defenses.
Beneath that weight was an almost obsessive sense of responsibility. Realizing this, a single word flashed in the Spear’s mind.
Righteousness (俠).
The core and driving force of the Hero Emperor.
The reason the Single Sword tearing through the air felt so immense was because it carried the weight of the Hero Emperor’s lifelong path.
“This is fun!”
Laughing wildly, the Spear of the Wild Night lowered his stance, channeling all his strength into his spear for a single thrust.
A thrust focused on a single point.
He poured everything into this one strike. Seeing this, the Hero Emperor desperately stepped forward.
SPLURT!
The spear pierced cleanly, spraying blood in all directions. Drops fell onto the Hero Emperor’s bamboo hat.
The Hero Emperor’s left arm flew through the air.
Yet his expression didn’t change as he extended his sword. Just as he always had.
Losing an arm was insignificant compared to the weight of the righteousness (俠) and martial skill (武) he had accumulated over his life.
THUD!
Severing the middle of the spear shaft mid-follow-up, the Hero Emperor’s blade reached the Spear of the Wild Night’s throat.
Having completely shattered the protective energy, the sword’s edge drew a thin red line across the Spear of the Wild Night’s neck.
The Spear of the Wild Night looked at the sword at his throat and spoke.
“A bit shallow, don’t you think?”
“Losing an arm yet gaining an edge over the Spear of the Wild Night—seems like a bargain.”
At the Hero Emperor’s smile, the Spear Sovereign asked with calm eyes:
“Why did you stop your sword? I trust it wasn’t out of some cheap mercy.”
“Mercy?”
The Hero Emperor’s expression hardened.
“Preventing the deaths of those who shouldn’t die. Taking responsibility for one’s martial path. That is my righteousness. I’ve lived my whole life by this principle, cutting down countless villains.”
The blood-soaked bamboo hat fell with a thud.
“To me, you are not a villain. Just an eccentric.”
The Spear of the Wild Night narrowed his eyes.
“An eccentric?”
“If you were truly a villain, we wouldn’t have crossed paths four times and parted each time. I would’ve died by your hand, or sought mutual destruction. The level of our martial arts wouldn’t have mattered.”
“You mean the Slaughtering Spear Demon.”
The Hero Emperor was a man who would throw away his life to cut down evil. A man who would burned himself for the sake of righteousness.
The Hero Emperor, during his days as a great warrior, had no hesitation in facing Spear of the Wild Night, a master ranked higher than him.
Even if it meant throwing away his life, he clashed with the determination to confront him.
The moment the Hero Emperor first saw Spear of the Wild Night, he staked his life. It was because he could not tolerate Spear of the Wild Night living even a day longer.
The Hero Emperor nodded.
“If you and I stood here as the Martial Alliance Leader and the Sacheon Alliance Leader , I would surely have cut you down. That would benefit the Martial Alliance.”
The Hero Emperor looked at the golden robe of the Alliance Leader placed on the rock.
“But neither you nor I did so. It was the Hero Emperor and Spear of the Wild Night. We stood as warrior against warrior, and so I made this choice.”
“What makes you so sure that I stood in this duel as the Spear of the Wild Night?”
“We clashed swords and spears fiercely hundreds of times, shedding blood and sweat together. How could I not know?”
“Ha!”
Spear of the Wild Night burst into laughter.
Spear of the Wild Night looked at the Hero Emperor’s empty left shoulder.
“In any case, you must now step down from the position of Alliance Leader.”
Only then did the Hero Emperor turn his gaze to his own left shoulder.
“I suppose so.”
After a moment of silence, Spear of the Wild Night spoke in a low voice.
“Then I too shall step down from the position of Alliance Leader. Losing an arm is payment enough.”
Spear of the Wild Night looked at his halved spear and let it go without hesitation.
Clang!
“Besides, if you step down as Alliance Leader, what fun would there be in confronting the Martial Alliance?”
Looking at the Spear of the Wild Night, the Hero Emperor smiled.
“Indeed, that must be so.”
The Hero Emperor also smiled as he withdrew his sword from the Spear of the Wild Night's neck.
Only then could the Hero Emperor pick up the bamboo hat stained with blood and sweat.