The Final Settlement
The Zhongnan Sect and the Mount Hua Sect drove north toward Yulin, the stronghold of Paegeommun, with unstoppable force.
At Botap, Paegeommun had lost two Super Experts along with a considerable portion of its forces. The righteous side, by contrast, had the elite who had returned from the southern wilds. Seizing the chance, they pushed the front lines as far north as they could.
Paegeommun’s lack of interference helped as well. Rather than fighting to the death to hold every inch of ground, they chose a clean withdrawal. That was so unlike Paegeommun that Cheonhwa asked Gakhyeon what on earth was going on.
“The defeat at Botap must have cut them to the bone. With their numbers so badly reduced, they’ll want to scrape together what’s left and fight one last battle at their main base rather than waste themselves in guerrilla skirmishes.”
When that day came, the Paegeommunju himself would take the field. Considering that the entire prestige of Paegeommun rested on the existence of a Peerless Expert like their leader, it would be, in the truest sense, a final battle for the fate of the sect.
“We can’t let our guard down, but if the guess is right, we should be able to march all the way to Yulin without much trouble.”
“…So it really will be the last battle.”
“Yes. Conserve as much strength as you can on the road to Yulin.”
While they advanced on Yulin, Cheonhwa received all manner of instruction from Gakhyeon.
“Forget the final three forms of the latter half. Like the final three of the middle half, they are the crystallization of all the others, so they take a long time to master. Concentrate on drilling the nine forms of the latter half.”
“Understood, Senior Martial Uncle Gakhyeon. Then what about this part of the thirty-third form?”
“You mean Heavenly Stars Shift? It’s certainly the most difficult among the forms that use Striking the Mountain to Hit the Ox. Let’s see… for this section…”
He received advice on the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven. Then:
“You’re converting the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven into fist techniques?”
“Yes. Circumstances require that I make Senior Brother Yeobhwa strong in a short time, and this is the only thing I can teach him. So Junior Sister Yeonhwa and I have been putting our heads together to create it.”
“An unusual attempt. The fact that you brought it up means you’ve run into a wall, I take it?”
“Yes. When using forms based on the principle of raising qi to drive the sword, the burden on the body becomes severe. Is there any solution?”
“For that, you can solve it by applying one of the derived forms you yourself created.”
“One of my derived forms… you mean Clear Wind and Gentle Rain?”
He also received help converting the sword art into fist techniques for Yeobhwa’s sake. While digesting Gakhyeon’s teachings, Cheonhwa passed the converted forms on to Yeobhwa.
Judging by the fact that they had still not found Gal Sahyeok, the man was almost certainly at Paegeommun’s main base. Not only the inter-sect war, but Yeobhwa’s personal blood debt as well, was about to reach its settlement.
At Paegeommun’s stronghold in Yulin, Shaanxi, the tactician Gal Sahyeok paced his room, chewing his lip raw.
Damn it, how did it come to this…?!
Through the Heavenly Demon Cult he had learned the characteristics of the Dark Spirit Jiangshi in advance. To make use of them he had secretly informed only Gi-paegeom—whose hatred of the righteous sects ran especially deep—of the plan, and asked him for one thing: use his unique martial art, Layered Pressure Qi, to incapacitate as many righteous martial artists as possible.
That was when the jiangshi would swarm them.
Their retreat was quicker than I expected, but the jiangshi horde still launched a large-scale assault just as planned.
Even that had not been enough, so he had recruited agitators and steered Paegeommun disciples into attacking the righteous forces alongside the jiangshi.
So why did the elite who went to the southern wilds show up at exactly the right moment?!
Originally the combined pressure of jiangshi and Paegeommun disciples should have killed Zhongnan and Mount Hua martial artists by the score. Instead, the elite returning from the south turned the tables and cut down Paegeommun’s side like bamboo after rain. The righteous side had not escaped unscathed, but—
Yeobhwa! That bastard didn’t die!
Who would have thought he would survive to the end of that chaos? All the carefully prepared schemes had come to nothing.
What now? Before long they’ll be storming the main base.
Further schemes were impossible. He no longer had the troops for them, and the Paegeommunju had stepped to the front and declared that from now on Paegeommun would gather its remaining strength and fight the righteous dogs in a decisive battle.
No matter that Gal Sahyeok was Paegeommun’s only tactician, he could not outrank the sect leader. No matter how many plans he devised and how earnestly he advised, if the Paegeommunju refused to listen, they meant nothing.
With nothing left he could do, all that remained for Gal Sahyeok was to tremble with anxiety.
If only I were a Peak Expert, I wouldn’t be fretting like this!
He had reached the very end of First-class and stared at the wall for a long time, yet he had never broken through. Even after learning demonic arts, nothing had changed. Unless some fortuitous encounter dropped from the heavens, Gal Sahyeok would never become a Peak Expert.
Knock, knock.
Someone rapped on Gal Sahyeok’s door.
“Tactician, may I come in?”
The voice belonged to none other than the formation master of the Heavenly Demon Cult. Meeting the man always left an unpleasant taste, yet refusing him risked future trouble, so Gal Sahyeok had no choice but to grant entry.
“Please come in.”
“My thanks.”
The formation master entered, bowed with proper courtesy, and stated his business.
“I heard a decisive battle is near, so I came to pay my respects before we depart.”
“…Is the Heavenly Demon Cult already writing Paegeommun off as defeated?”
“Victory and defeat cannot be known until the blades actually cross. We leave simply because there is nothing more we can do here.”
The formation master answered smoothly, yet in truth he was affirming everything Gal Sahyeok had said. For a man who could not flee because he was Paegeommun’s tactician, that unhurried composure was both enviable and galling.
The words that followed, however, were more than enough to blow such petty feelings away.
“You seem to be in difficulties. As a parting gift, I wish to offer the tactician a measure of assistance.”
“What sort of assistance?”
“Do you not wish to become a Peak Expert?”
“W-what do you mean by that…!”
“It carries danger, of course. But if there is a way to become a Peak Expert, what would you do?”
The formation master smiled the same genial yet faintly sinister smile he always wore.
The Gal Sahyeok of ordinary days would have refused flatly. But with death possibly only days away, he was in no position to be choosy about cold rice or hot.
“…I’ll hear you out.”
“An excellent choice.”
At Gal Sahyeok’s answer the formation master bowed again with perfect courtesy. The manners were impeccable, yet Gal Sahyeok found the polite demeanor more hateful than anything.
The water is already spilled. If it means survival I can clasp hands with a demon—how much more so with a mere heretic cult?
Gal Sahyeok chose to accept the Heavenly Demon Cult’s gift so that he might live.
A broad plain near Yulin, where Paegeommun’s stronghold stood. That was to be the final battleground of the inter-sect war.
The two armies faced each other at a measured distance, weapons drawn, watching every movement. In the taut silence a single figure stepped forward from Paegeommun’s ranks.
A swordsman who radiated an extraordinary presence—the Paegeommunju, the Defeating Sword Ghost.
He surveyed the combined formation of Zhongnan and Mount Hua, then spoke a single word.
“Come out.”
The clear voice echoed across the plain. What that sharply audible summons sought was obvious: he was calling his rivals.
Answering the call, two men advanced from the Zhongnan and Mount Hua lines.
The Sect Leader of Zhongnan, the Zhongnan Sword Star Okwon Jinin.
The Sect Leader of Mount Hua, the Mount Hua Sword Severance Hwanghyeon Jinin.
At the appearance of the two elder Taoists, the Paegeommunju drew his beloved blade. Having come this far, further words were meaningless; he expressed it with action alone.
The two sect leaders spoke to the disciples behind them.
“Fall back as far as you can. I fear this will not end easily.”
“That dog means to settle it today no matter what. Guard your bodies with everything you have.”
At the two leaders’ warnings the righteous forces swiftly withdrew. Paegeommun’s side also sensed something amiss and pulled their formation back.
Before long the three Peerless Experts began to release their auras.
A deep rumbling rose. Atmosphere and earth began to shudder. They had merely unveiled the presence they had kept suppressed until now, and already the result was this. Cheonhwa felt a bone-deep chill that made every hair stand on end, and cold sweat ran down his back.
So this is a Peerless Expert…?!
People often compared Peerless Experts to natural disasters or monstrous forces of nature. Experiencing it firsthand, Cheonhwa found the comparison not the least bit exaggerated.
As the three raised their auras and faced one another, light bloomed along their swords. A festival of radiance that overwhelmed every watcher, as clear and absolute as starlight against a pitch-black night sky. It was the art that symbolized the Peerless Expert. Because Intent Qi Manifestation formed starlight, it was called Intent Qi Forming Gang—commonly known as Sword Gang.
When Sword Gang rose, the formless pressure grew even more crushing. It was like an ordinary man standing face-to-face with a great beast; the mere confrontation was enough to cow a person.
Now I understand why they told us to fall back.
Had they not withdrawn, they would have frozen where they stood. Cheonhwa felt his mind reeling under that absurd presence, yet by drawing up internal energy and intent he somehow endured.
In that moment the Paegeommunju moved.
Triple Breaking Sword — Shatter Buddha
In the supreme form the Paegeommunju unleashed, Cheonhwa felt a flash of recognition. It was the same ultimate technique of Defeating the Righteous Sword Style that the Cruel Killing Sword had used when they ambushed the supply unit on the way to Botap—a sword form that infused the principles of Internal Weight Method into widely scattered aura. The problem was the scale.
If the Cruel Killing Sword’s form had been a shallow wave, the Paegeommunju’s was a full-blown tidal wave. A single sweep large enough to swallow even the rear where Cheonhwa stood—a tidal wave of starlight.
To stop it, Okwon Jinin moved.
Heavenly Market Enclosure of the Silver River
A tidal wave of Sword Gang that seemed ready to devour everything. A single streak of light cut straight through its heart. The trajectory widened without end until at last it left a vast scar across the sky like the Milky Way itself.
A thunderous roar. The wave of Sword Gang, split cleanly in two, swept past the place where the company stood. The ground it had scoured looked as though a storm had torn through it. Anyone caught in that would not have left even bones behind.
When Okwon Jinin blocked the attack, Hwanghyeon Jinin struck.
An ominous violet energy rose from the old Taoist’s body—a presence utterly different from any Mount Hua internal energy Cheonhwa had seen before. It felt as though the sky of a dawning sun and the sky of a dying sunset coexisted at once. It was the secret art transmitted only to the sect leaders of Mount Hua: the Purple Mist Divine Art.
Dawn
Starlight flashed at the tip of Hwanghyeon Jinin’s sword. In the next instant, violet light dyed the empty air as though a rising sun were driving back the dark. The sight was dreamlike, yet the violet itself was Sword Gang, also called the incarnation of destruction—a color that brought death the moment it touched.
Even facing streams of Sword Gang that crashed in from three directions, the Paegeommunju showed not the slightest agitation. He simply raised his sword high. The Sword Gang coiled around the blade compressed until it seemed to burn and writhe; when that swollen presence reached its extreme—
Triple Breaking Sword — Shatter the Path
Overwhelming sword force cleaved through the onrushing violet Sword Gang.
A crash like thunder and lightning rolled out; a colossal shock warped the space around them and spread. Cheonhwa used every scrap of footwork and body technique he possessed simply to keep from being flung back.
Every time their forms collide, it feels as if heaven and earth are flipping over.
The mere aftershocks of impact were enough to threaten the collapse of the Long Heaven Armor wrapping his entire body. Shock that his protective qi could not fully block seeped in, leaving a dull ache as though he had been beaten from head to toe.
Only now did he understand why Hwanghyeon Jinin had ordered them to guard their bodies with all their strength. A life-and-death duel between Peerless Experts—beings no different from natural disasters—was a catastrophe to lesser martial artists. Surviving that catastrophe was left entirely to one’s own ability.
And simply enduring isn’t the end of it.
Through the Six Harmony Sensory Path, Cheonhwa caught a large number of approaching auras. In the midst of the chaos, Paegeommun’s men had finally closed in. Tightening his grip on Okgyeong, Cheonhwa glared across the dust-choked battlefield.
The pure white flames coiling around the blade flared fiercely, ready to cut down the enemies soon to come.