The Young Heavenly Venerable Emerges
“Aaaaargh!”
“Ugh… my arm… my aaaaarm!”
“Krrk… krrrk…”
“Match halted!!”
The second preliminary round continued with the same fiery intensity as the first. Most of the competitors were unknown martial artists, so the crowd watched with genuine curiosity, wondering who would emerge victorious. Yet their expectations were shattered. The matches proved not merely one-sided, but outright brutal.
A man clad in black robes dominated the stage, his sword mercilessly overwhelming the other three contestants. His swordsmanship was devastating; every direct hit left the young talents writhing in agony, their groans echoing across the arena. Sensing the danger, Cheongjin stepped in and halted the match, positioning himself before Mun Ho-sik.
Mun Ho-sik tilted his head, feigning confusion.
“This match cannot continue. Sheathe your sword.”
“How fragile. These weaklings dared to enter the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering? The Murim Alliance must truly be finished.”
“What did you say?”
“I’ve advanced to the main tournament, so I’ll be taking my leave. Ah, and if only one remains after the preliminaries, it counts as a bye, correct?”
“…”
“Then, farewell.”
Mun Ho-sik offered a casual salute and descended from the stage. Though his methods far exceeded what any orthodox martial artist would consider acceptable, no one dared criticize him. The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was a contest of pure strength. He had neither killed nor permanently crippled anyone; the injuries were simply the result of overwhelming skill. Thus, no one could condemn him.
Of course, Mun Ho-sik had acted with deliberate malice, but that truth remained unspoken.
“That bastard really started causing trouble from the very beginning…!”
Only Baekri Hyeong burned with fury. He knew the three young talents Mun Ho-sik had crushed. They were meant to be comrades who would stand against the Demonic Cult, dreaming of a brilliant future together. Instead, they had been crushed by Mun Ho-sik’s wall and left in despair—three promising futures extinguished before their eyes.
“So this is how you want to play it…”
If the provocation had come from the start, then it must be answered. Mun Ho-sik had advanced via bye, meaning Baekri Hyeong would need to reach at least the round of sixteen to face him. He could only hope the Demonic Cult would not strike before then. He wanted to personally show that arrogant man what a true wall looked like.
“We will now proceed with the third preliminary match. Contestants, enter the stage.”
Once the situation calmed, Cheongjin announced the next round. Every gaze, including Baekri Hyeong’s, turned toward the stage. This time, the son of the Shandong Ak Clan—someone every martial artist yearned to see—would appear.
The descendant of the Heavenly Sovereign Ak Biryang: Ak Bicheon.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
“Shandong Ak Clan! Shandong Ak Clan! Shandong Ak Clan!!”
“Heir of the Heavenly Sovereign!”
The moment Ak Bicheon appeared, the crowd erupted into frenzy. To them, the Heavenly Sovereign was no ordinary member of the Five Sovereigns. He was universally acknowledged as the greatest under heaven, standing a step above the others. The appearance of his descendant after decades naturally ignited the atmosphere.
Ak Bicheon, however, did not welcome the attention. To him, his grandfather Ak Biryang was nothing but a burden. The eyes of adults always began with expectation and inevitably turned to disappointment. After the birth of the unparalleled genius Ak Biryang, the Shandong Ak Clan had failed to produce another outstanding heir—until Ak Bicheon was born. Once he inherited Ak Biryang’s martial arts, the disappointment in their eyes gradually faded. Even if he was not perfect, he was at least satisfactory.
‘Every single one of them… is so noisy.’
With a deeply furrowed brow, Ak Bicheon stepped onto the stage. These people were all pathetically weak compared to him. At sixteen, he had already shattered the Transcendent Peak Realm and risen beyond it. No one in this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering could possibly be his match.
‘So that’s the descendant of the Heavenly Sovereign?’
Ak Bicheon, was it? Baekri Hyeong only knew him as a direct descendant; in his previous life, he had never once met the man. No one in his past life had known the exact location of the Shandong Ak Clan. They existed in plain sight yet remained unseen—a contradictory existence, as those who knew anything about them would say.
Still, Baekri Hyeong could not help but admire Ak Bicheon’s presence. His martial prowess was unbelievable for a sixteen-year-old. The aura he emitted already stood on the verge of the Hwajing Realm. He possessed talent surpassing even the Young Heavenly Lord Cheon Hwangyeol.
The only flaw was that, in his haste to reach such heights, he had not properly built the foundation beneath him. Baekri Hyeong could easily guess the reason. In a clan that had produced the Heavenly Sovereign, the expectations placed upon descendants were obvious. Ak Bicheon had likely been forced to choose the fastest path to growth under the weight of those expectations.
‘I’ll meet him in the finals.’
Baekri Hyeong intended to properly educate Mun Ho-sik before then, so he hoped to face Ak Bicheon in the final match.
“Begin the match!”
At Cheongjin’s signal, the three other contestants gathered together, clearly intending to focus on restraining Ak Bicheon. They were convinced that the heir of the Heavenly Sovereign would be abnormally strong. United by the thought of eliminating him first, they formed an unspoken alliance.
Baekri Hyeong silently offered his condolences. Judging by Ak Bicheon’s expression, the young man found the very idea of alliances repulsive. His face made it perfectly clear.
“Would you all line up in a single row?”
“W-what nonsense…!”
“If I must defeat you one by one, then so be it.”
Whooooosh!
The moment Ak Bicheon released his aura, the three young talents flinched. They were astonished to feel such overwhelming pressure from someone their own age. Perhaps that was why—
“Hah!”
“What are you doing?!”
“If I want to advance, this is the only way! Sorry about this!”
The three who had just formed an alliance turned on each other instead. Simply by displaying his aura, Ak Bicheon had perfectly sown discord among them.
“How clever. He deliberately exaggerated his presence to hide his true strength.”
Even while wearing an expression of utter boredom and disdain, Ak Bicheon’s eyes accurately read the shifting situation on stage. Baekri Hyeong revised his assessment. This was no longer a naive, arrogant prodigy, but an experienced expert capable of manipulating the battlefield.
“Match over!”
Without any major upsets, Ak Bicheon and one other contestant advanced to the main tournament, concluding the third preliminary round.
Since Baekri Hyeong was scheduled for the tenth preliminary match, he could spend today analyzing his potential opponents from the stands—though “analyzing” mostly meant checking whether he recognized anyone. Still, it was better to call it analysis.
“By the way, where did Father go again?”
He knew Baekri Hyeok had arrived early, mentioning some business at the Alliance before disappearing. Since he had not reappeared, Baekri Hyeong assumed he would return before the preliminaries ended.
With that thought, he turned his attention back to the matches.
**********
“It has been a long time.”
“Keh keh. So the little brat Biyang was always bragging about has grown this much.”
“Thank you for the praise.”
Baekri Hyeok sat drinking with a deeply wrinkled elder. The man was I Cheolhyeok, the Strong Sovereign. A martial artist on the same level as the Five Sovereigns, his internal energy alone surpassed even that of the Heavenly Sovereign.
Why was Baekri Hyeok sharing drinks with him?
“That bastard Biyang… left in quite the flashy manner.”
“Is that so?”
“Indeed! I saw it with my own two eyes! A pure white dragon ascending to the heavens with a bright smile! The fellow… achieved Uwha-deungseon.”
“…So Master passed away like that.”
The reason was the news of the Heavenly Sovereign’s death. Living alone behind the Murim Alliance’s mountain, Ak Biryang had finally ascended. I Cheolhyeok, who had been wandering nearby as another Sovereign-level expert, witnessed the scene. After wondering whom to inform first, he thought of Baekri Hyeok. At the very least, the disciple should know of his master’s passing.
“I took care of Biyang’s final arrangements. He left with a smile, so don’t make such a sorrowful face.”
“…Thank you, Elder.”
“Aigoo. At my age, do I really have to watch some brat cry? Keh keh keh.”
Upon seeing Baekri Hyeok’s tears, I Cheolhyeok deliberately teased him, laughing heartily as if he could not help it.