Free Web NovelNot only his own body, but the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the energy of the Chaotic Heaven Ones, and the flow of this entire space could be felt—and he realized all of it was connected as one.
The twisted energy could no longer affect Unhwi.
The boundary between me and you blurred.
The distinction between the living and the dead became meaningless.
All were one flow existing within heaven and earth. Unhwi was part of that flow, and at the same time, he was the flow itself.
He unleashed the eighth form of the Heavenly Snow Secret Sword.
A snowstorm exploded, and dozens of Chaotic Heaven Ones collapsed at once, but Unhwi was already swinging his next sword.
He unleashed the Heaven-Defying Vast Azure Sword in succession, and that pale sword energy split space apart. Within that split space, the Chaotic Heaven Ones crumbled.
The Heaven-Defying Sword Song flowed out.
Hundreds of Chaotic Heaven Ones.
Then thousands of Chaotic Heaven Ones burst apart in their entirety.
But even that was not enough.
They kept pouring in.
Hundreds, thousands, surged endlessly forward, and Unhwi met them, swinging his sword. With every single moment he swung, he was entering a little deeper.
Still not enough.
The Three Profound Realms.
A state that combined the realm of the Four States of Heaven and Earth into one, temporarily opening the gate at its end.
Not the Heaven-Human realm, and not Unity of Heaven and Man, but an ambiguous state between them.
Not temporarily, but permanently. Not by force, but naturally. He had to become one with heaven and earth in that way.
As had once been said, to ascend from the Three Profound Realms into the Five Realms of Martial Divinity, the side effects that had inevitably formed had to be removed.
First, the purity of Void-Origin Energy.
That had been resolved.
From the moment he discovered the True Chapter of the Primordial Innate Mind Art, Unhwi’s Void-Origin Energy had become even more complete.
Second.
The stabilization of the triangular circulation system.
The triangular structure created when the Ice Heart Dantian formed had been made so it could stabilize not only during high-intensity combat, but at any time and in any circumstance.
Third, stabilizing the realm and laying the foundation.
The Three Profound Realms was a realm Unhwi had created. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
He had continued securing the foundation while resolving matters involving the Heaven’s Will Alliance, and he had stabilized the realm through countless sparring matches and battles against masters of Unity of Heaven and Man.
And last.
The Wild Blood Meridians.
Unhwi was born with Wild Blood Meridians.
A constitution in which the meridians were abnormally thicker than ordinary people’s.
It carried the advantage of allowing him to accumulate powerful internal energy, but at the same time, it also had a fatal flaw.
When his realm rose sharply, his meridians could not endure it and ruptured.
The Heavenly Wayfarer had once said that if he could not think of a way to resolve the problem of these Wild Blood Meridians, he should come find him.
There was no need.
Unhwi had believed there was only one way to resolve this problem.
Reducing the thickness of his meridians by half.
But when he thought about it carefully, he was not certain that was right.
Unhwi knew the usefulness of the Wild Blood Meridians better than anyone.
Even among martial artists of the same level, one born with Wild Blood Meridians overwhelmed the others.
Because he used not the same power, but nearly twice as much.
No matter how important stabilization was, in a world where one’s life was decided by a single sword, the advantage of being able to swing a stronger sword than one’s opponent was greater than anything else.
Moreover, Wild Blood Meridians were not acquired later in life, but an innate constitution, so forcibly reducing them could only produce severe side effects.
If he chose to reduce them, there would be mountains of problems to solve. But if he thought of it in reverse, it actually became simple.
More precisely, he only needed to think in reverse.
Not reducing the thickness of the Wild Blood Meridians, but enlarging the meridians and vessel capable of enduring those Wild Blood Meridians.
There were things one could see better than anyone up close but fail to see from afar, and there were things that appeared clearest from afar but could not be seen up close.
The foundation of the Three Profound Realms that Baek Docheon was said to have created.
Unhwi had not seen that text.
And there was surely an answer there. By instinct, this must have been that answer.
Even if he went to the Heavenly Wayfarer and asked, he would likely give the same answer.
He was certain.
This was the correct answer.
Then how did one enlarge the vessel and the meridians?
It was simple.
To gain, he had to discard.
Something still remaining in Unhwi. Attachment. Fear. Self.
For the vessel to grow larger meant becoming even more complete.
For completeness, the incomplete had to be discarded.
Such was the principle of the world.
Thud.
A Chaotic Heaven King’s sword pierced through Unhwi’s shoulder.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal regenerated it at once, but the pain certainly existed, and Unhwi felt that pain while also not feeling it.
The pain existed, but it could not hinder Unhwi.
That, too, was part of the flow.
Being wounded, recovering, feeling pain—all of it was a natural process, and Unhwi merely accepted that process.
The highest good is like water.
It was Laozi’s saying.
Water benefits all things yet does not contend, and dwells in low places that all people disdain.
Therefore, it is close to the Way.
Unhwi’s sword was like that.
It did not contend. It did not try to win by force, nor did it try to suppress by force. It merely flowed.
Yet within that flow, it cut down everything.
As water pierced stone, Unhwi’s sword cut down the Chaotic Heaven King.
He killed another hundred.
He killed another two hundred.
Again, he killed five hundred. Naturally, he killed a thousand.
Numbers became meaningless.
Time became meaningless.
Space became meaningless.
Before those who had come to help could do anything, Unhwi’s sword had already swept through that side.
They were bewildered and astonished.
They could not understand the situation.
They forgot this was a battlefield and only stared at Unhwi.
For Unhwi—
Only this moment of swinging his sword existed. That moment seemed to continue forever, and at the same time, seemed to pass in an instant.
There was no past and no future. Only the present. Now. This moment.
The momentum of the Blood Heaven Arbiter, who had commanded the world in his previous life.
What sort of figure he had shown then.
What those {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} who looked upon him then had thought.
Perception changed, and the subject changed.
Things that had been divided gathered into one, then divided again.
Union of heaven and earth.
The gaze of heaven, the gaze of earth.
The gaze of a person, the gazes of people.
At last, his senses captured it.
The flow of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had changed.
No.
It had not changed.
The way Unhwi felt it had changed.
Until now, he had felt the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Now, he had become the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
The distinction vanished.
The boundary between Unhwi and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth completely collapsed. Unhwi’s energy assimilated perfectly with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth became one with Unhwi’s energy.
When he inhaled, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth entered his body. When he exhaled, Unhwi’s energy spread into heaven and earth, and that inhalation and exhalation formed a single circulation.
This is.
Unity of Heaven and Man.
The realm where heaven and man became one.
It was a feeling he had not experienced in a long time.
This was it.
This was right.
The first realm of the Five Realms of Martial Divinity.
Unhwi had finally ascended there.
The world looked different.
The flow of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was visible. The energy of the Chaotic Heaven Ones felt as though it could be grasped in his hand. He realized this entire space was breathing like one enormous living being.
Unhwi was part of that living being, and the Chaotic Heaven Ones were also part of it. Everything was connected.
Swinging his sword was no longer Unhwi’s will.
Heaven and earth were swinging the sword, and Unhwi was merely their instrument. At the same time, Unhwi himself was heaven and earth.
A Chaotic Heaven King charged in. Unity of Heaven and Man level.
But now Unhwi was also Unity of Heaven and Man.
No, he was beyond that.
Complete Unity of Heaven and Man.
True Unity of Heaven and Man, one with untwisted heavenly energy.
Like Noh Cheonmyeong, a realm that was only Unity of Heaven and Man in name, but in truth was closer to Manifestation of the Boundless.
The sword moved. It clashed with the Chaotic Heaven King’s sword, and the shock shook space, but Unhwi did not waver. Instead, the Chaotic Heaven King was sent flying.
It was the difference in power, the difference in realm, and the difference in enlightenment.
Unhwi was one with heaven and earth, and the Chaotic Heaven King was not.
He swung his sword.
Once. Twice. Three times. Ten times. A hundred times. Chaotic Heaven Kings fell.
They fell endlessly.
Before Unhwi’s sword, they were powerless. No matter how many charged at him, it was useless, and the more of them that charged, the faster they died.
How could they stop Unhwi, who was heaven and earth itself?
To fight heaven and earth was to fight oneself, and those who had lost the self could not possibly win against themselves.
The power of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal was still operating.
Wounds regenerated, strength recovered, and he could fight endlessly. But now, even that seemed unnecessary.
Having reached Unity of Heaven and Man, Unhwi could draw power directly from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. That power was infinite and would never be exhausted. The Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal merely made it safer.
He kept swinging.
His sword. Endlessly. Without stopping. And even amid that, his enlightenment continued to deepen.
Reaching Unity of Heaven and Man was not the end.
This was the beginning.
The first realm of the Five Realms of Martial Divinity.
Above it, four more realms remained, and Unhwi had to climb there.
The realm he had achieved in his previous life.
The end of the pinnacle.
And the beyond he had never reached.
The Innate Three Realms.
It was desire as a martial artist.
It was certainly a realm that existed, and there were those who had ascended to it.
What did he lack compared to them?
The Heavenly Wayfarer was a genius.
He did not deny that.
Standing before him, there had been many times when Unhwi had felt himself insignificant.
But.
Was that.
The end?
Was surpassing him impossible?
No.
That could not be.
The Heavenly Wayfarer was also human.
I will ascend.
Without fail.
The sword shone. Brighter. Stronger. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered into the sword, that energy exploded, and hundreds of Chaotic Heaven Ones collapsed at once.
Unhwi landed, swung his sword again, and continued forward without stopping.
There was no end in sight. But it did not matter. Whether there was an end or not, Unhwi would continue forward.
That was the path of a martial artist, the path Unhwi had chosen, and a path that could never be reversed.
His gaze deepened.
The radiance grew even more brilliant.
He gripped the sword with both hands.
Void-Origin Energy began surging madly upward.
Space vibrated, and the energy in every direction whirled.
As if the world itself were gathering into one.
Slowly.
An incantation flowed from Unhwi’s mouth.
The sword art he himself had created.
The final form.
One mixed-origin energy pierces heaven and earth.
Through the long void of ten thousand ages, I walk alone.
Kwaaaaaang—!
All space in every direction shattered.
Distortions formed, and the Chaotic Heaven Ones were greatly shaken.
The Heaven-Defying Vast Azure Sword.
The latter three forms, Mixed Origin Pierces Heaven.
Unhwi’s sword was swung.
It—
Cut the world.
Slice.
Following the short sound of severing—
Craaaaaaaaack—!!
A tremendous roar resounded through the entire space.
With a single sword, more than several thousand Chaotic Heaven Ones exploded on the spot.
The fragments of their flesh scattering in every direction proved its power.
Unhwi adjusted his grip on his sword again.
