Chapter 225: Chapter 225

The prestige of the Wind Sword Pavilion in the Holy Province was overwhelming.

For three hundred long years, the sect had risen and fallen—at times ruling as sovereign, at times reduced to a mere right hand, and at times plunging into ruin at the very bottom. Yet now, it stood as the undisputed master of the Holy Province, the true head of the Holy Alliance.

At the summit of Mount Seowon, before the front gates of the Wind Sword Pavilion.

Unhwi, who had subdued the Lord of the Gangcheon Wave Sect, halted his steps some thirty paces away. Someone was already waiting for him.

The Pavilion Lord of the Wind Sword Pavilion—Pung Muhwi.

Though in his late forties, his hair was completely white, scattered in the wind.

His lean figure, standing with nothing but a single sword to rely upon, was like a scene drawn in ink wash.

“The sky is truly clear today.”

Pung Muhwi, who had been gazing up at the heavens, lowered his eyes and spoke.

“The wind is good as well... would you not agree?”

It was clearly a question directed at Unhwi, yet Unhwi gave no reply.

Pung Muhwi smiled faintly.

The genius young lord of the Everlasting Snow Palace... On the Go board he may be elusive like a phantom, but in the martial world of the Central Plains, he is no more than a greenhorn.

With that thought, he calmly continued.

“Jang Cheonun of the Gangcheon Wave Sect is not a man who deserves to be treated that way. And yet, you drag him about like a tethered beast... Truly, your reputation is no empty boast.”

Unhwi’s voice was cold and concise.

“The point, is it? Very well. For what purpose have you come here?”

“As the Thousand Envoy, I hosted a banquet. I sent word that you were to attend without fail. Yet you did not come. What else was I to do but come to fetch you?”

“Mm... It is not impossible that one may be too occupied to attend. Could you not have understood that? And yet you personally come forth—and even subdue Jang Cheonun like that...”

Pung Muhwi’s words trailed off as his eyes flashed.

“What do you intend to do with me?”

“If words can reach, then we shall speak. If they cannot, then I will subdue you the same way.”

“That will not be so easy.”

“I have never once thought of it as difficult.”

Pung Muhwi’s eyes narrowed.

“It is rare for a warrior of the Ogijo level to overcome one of higher cultivation. Yet, if one looks back through history, such cases are not entirely absent.”

“I know what it is you seek. But you should stop there. This is advice I give to the genius young lord of the Snow Palace, as one who walks ahead in the martial world.”

Unhwi let out a faint chuckle.

“Do you claim to know what I seek?”

“Then speak it aloud.”

Pung Muhwi shrugged and quietly went on.

“No doubt, even the Snow Palace holds you in the highest esteem. Yet you will never be placed at its core. Alas, you are not the eldest son but the youngest. And precisely because your talent is too dazzling, you will ever be kept circling outside. Even I, from so far away, can picture that scene before my eyes when I close them. How could you yourself not know it? In such a case, the surest method is but one—forge your own power.”

Unhwi’s eyes gleamed.

“The warriors of Yangryeong Province, as well as all those affiliated with it, must already be your people. Before coming here, you made your patrols—of that there is no more to be said. But that alone will not be enough.”

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“You will surely use the Thousand Alliance as a stepping stone, to grow your power, and then pursue one of two paths.”

“And what would those be?”

“First—independence. Second...”

Pung Muhwi paused, his voice turning cold.

Unhwi’s lips curled in a slight smile, but the bodyguard Commander Seong behind him did not share it. There are words one may say, and words one must never utter.

This whelp, not even knowing who Unhwi truly was—how dare he spew such reckless blasphemy before him?

Commander Seong wanted to cut in immediately, but he could not. To intrude would mean disrespecting Unhwi.

This was a conversation between heads.

Pung Muhwi continued.

“Your inner heart must be complicated. Without doubt you are a genius—but born too late. There was already another praised as genius before you. Yes... I speak of the Young Palace Lord, Seol Horyeong.”

His voice carried conviction.

“Lord Seol Jungcheon, sovereign of the Snow Palace, is famed for never wishing strife among his children. Yet that does not mean he will halt their rivalry. I, too, have children—thus I understand well. In the future, you will either clear away those polar heirs or make them yours, and aim beyond.”

Unhwi regarded him as if amused, while Commander Seong instead looked at Unhwi with perplexity.

Why is he listening to such words? Why?

To Commander Seong, who knew the inner truth of all that had transpired within the Snow Palace, Pung Muhwi’s conjecture was a complete misjudgment.

Unhwi had no thought of becoming the supreme lord of the Snow Palace, and cherished Seol Horyeong, who had been made Young Palace Lord. In truth, it was Unhwi’s own will that had raised Horyeong to that position.

Above all, Unhwi had once stood atop heaven itself in his past life.

Suddenly, lightning struck through Commander Seong’s mind.

Could it be... he has crafted this entire board on purpose?

The words Unhwi once spoke while slaughtering the bandits of Nokrim Fortress before coming to the Thousand Alliance returned to him.

—The board that ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ unfolds will not be the one they intended.

The gaze of the Central Plains upon Unhwi was hardly kind.

A prodigy, yes, but with a vile temper—reckless, heedless, infamous for rampaging without restraint. Every strategist of the Central Plains must think the same as Pung Muhwi. Yu Cheong of the Original Blood Sect would be no exception.

To repeat—Yang Seoljin meant to use Unhwi as the blade to restore the Thousand-Year Demonic Sect. Not just a blade—but the sharpest blade in all the world.

Yu Cheong, too, would think like Yang Seoljin.

That was the way of the inferior. Those like Yu Cheong or Yang Seoljin, swollen with arrogance, would never move to simply erase a man.

For they were ever frenzied to seize more pieces for their hand.

A chill crept down Commander Seong’s spine.

Measured against Unhwi’s course until now, the above assumptions were not flawless. There were gaps, flaws in logic.

Yet if it was Unhwi—he could fill those gaps by any means.

Unhwi’s true target was Yu Cheong. If he filled the flaws in logic, formed ties with Yu Cheong, and later struck from behind...

Pung Muhwi might not know it, but he had just uttered the very heart of the board Unhwi had set.

Whether that was brilliance or sheer accident, it was impossible to tell.

Unhwi glanced at Commander Seong and patted his shoulder. Commander Seong longed to send a sound transmission. To beg him: let’s stop here, and just return to the Snow Palace.

Unhwi read the thought, but left it unspoken. He only looked quietly at Pung Muhwi and said:

“What I intend, that is not what matters.”

“I do not think of myself as a fool, but neither do I think myself clever. Yet you—are not the same.”

Unhwi’s voice sank, cold as frost.

“Those who think themselves overly clever... always make fatal mistakes.”

“...Are you saying I made such a mistake?”

“You have indeed. Wind Sword Pavilion—three hundred years of history, you say? Rising and falling many times.”

“And now you are drunk on triumph, leading the Holy Alliance as if you stood upon heaven itself. Yet there is still something you do not know.”

“...And what would that be?”

Unhwi’s gaze sharpened.

“Mae Widong’s resolve—to restore the Thousand Alliance. And the vast board that resolve has laid.”

“I have stepped upon that board now, and you were already upon it. Rather than resisting, you should be lending me your strength. Yet you are ensnared by your own contradictions, blind to the truth of the situation.”

Pung Muhwi’s face stiffened.

“...Might you explain yourself more clearly?”

Unhwi shook his head.

“My explanations I will give at the banquet. For now, there is something more pressing.”

“From here on, I will give you orders.”

“And I am to listen?”

“Would you expect me to listen?”

Neither was inclined to heed another’s command. Pung Muhwi, as the head of the Holy Alliance; Unhwi, as the Thousand Envoy formally dispatched from the Everlasting Snow Palace. Their pride was immovable.

“Is this not a world where the strong reign?”

As Unhwi drew the Heavenshaking Spiritblade, Pung Muhwi burst into laughter.

“Good! Our Wind Sword Pavilion swore never to kneel to the Thousand Alliance. Not until the day I die.”

Pung Muhwi too unsheathed his blade.

“Yet as you say—this is a world where strength rules. Before the strong, even oaths burn like candles.”

Unhwi said nothing and stepped forward. Pung Muhwi did the same.

“Let us see whose sword is sharper. Whose will is stronger.”

Pung Muhwi’s blade slashed like lightning, and Unhwi’s sword answered with lightning of its own.

The Heavenshaking Spiritblade, brimming with Unhwi’s Great Void qi, collided midair with the tradition-steeped blade of the Wind Sword Pavilion.

The shockwave that shook heaven and earth resounded across the summit of Mount Seowon.

As soon as the first clash ended, Pung Muhwi retreated and swept his sword wide.

Cheongpung Sword (Clear Wind Sword).

A pure wind rose, and his sword-qi rode upon it toward Unhwi.

Like the refreshing breeze of spring, yet sharp enough within to carve through steel.

Unhwi’s eyes gleamed. He saw it—the flow of energy. No, he read it.

He perceived in an instant the trajectory of Pung Muhwi’s sword-qi—where it was strongest, where it was weakest. Tilting his body sideways, he slipped into the weak point and swung the Heavenshaking Spiritblade upward.

As the blades grazed, a frigid chill spread. Crystals of ice bloomed from Unhwi’s blade tip, scattering a shimmering light as they met the wind.

In that fleeting instant, Unhwi’s sword moved once more.

Absolute Ice Returning-to-Void Sword (Jeolbing Gwihyeo Sword).

Pung Muhwi’s head snapped back.

But it did not end there. His feet churned the ground.

Wind Shadow Step (Pungyeongbo).

With two diagonal steps, he escaped just in time to see it—

The ice crystals trailing Unhwi’s sword had obliterated the very spot he had occupied a breath before.

A faint tremor quivered at the corner of Pung Muhwi’s eyes.

This brat... what is he?

Though he himself stood one realm higher, not only had Unhwi pierced the weakness of the Clear Wind Sword, but unleashed such attacks besides?

To read two, three moves ahead—it was impossible otherwise.

This youth strikes at the very roots of a man.

One who thought himself beyond the common rabble—he reduces to rabble by force.

Ordinary men would despair. But Pung Muhwi was not such a man.

He fought all the harder.

Whirlwind Sword (Seonpung Sword).

A cyclone roared up as his body spun. Sword-qi burst forth from every direction. An inescapable storm, a perfect attack.

Unhwi did not evade. Instead, he thrust the Heavenshaking Spiritblade straight forward. His Great Void qi condensed at the tip, piercing precisely the storm’s center—the single weakest point.