"...Do you truly not grasp what it ans to kill the Chancellor inside the royal capital?"
The Right Guard General said so and shot a glance at the Crown Prince.
"Even if His Highness the Crown Prince moved with you, this is a capital cri. Not only you—this will imperil the Heavenly Alliance and even the Snow Palace!"
Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince said nothing. The two masters of the Realm of Martial Divinity standing behind him were the sa.
Unhwi only smiled.
"So, your Chancellor just died—are you planning to flap your mouth about it?"
"...You... worm-spawned bastard!"
Right Guard General Gwak Seojin sprang to his feet.
***
Gwak Seojin’s kick to rise and his hand shooting to the sword hilt at his waist happened almost at the sa ti.
His blade flew for Unhwi’s head.
The air over the entire State Affairs Hall grew abruptly heavy.
Celestial Being Stage.
That realm was by no ans trivial—and Right Guard General Gwak Seojin was a governnt army officer forged across fully forty years in the court ranks.
Naturally his sword was keen, but as already said, he was governnt army. He could not step outside the sword roads peculiar to the governnt army.
Heaven-Snow Dominion.
The qi of ice and snow fanned out around Unhwi as his eyes washed winter-white. It blossod ice flowers in the air before his eyes and to his right.
Gwak Seojin’s blade smashed the ice flower in front and drove on. Then, as he beca aware of the ice flower that had blood to the right, the sword tip wavered for a heartbeat.
Confused.
Why is that there?
Needlessly?
The governnt army is linear—do as taught, as practiced.
What they have is different from the raw edge of free martial n.
Their lack of improvisation naturally opened the slightest instant of an opening, and to a man of Unhwi’s caliber, that degree of opening was truly enormous.
He turned his body; Gwak Seojin’s blade grazed past Unhwi’s temple. Space opened wide before him.
In this mont—
Unhwi was thinking of the sword of Seol Heun he had seen on Snow Mountain.
Unhwi’s sword began to cleave the air.
Srak—!
Gwak Seojin, who had hastily leaned his body aside in midair to avoid it, opened his eyes wide.
Unhwi’s first sword form.
White breath spread along his trajectory and began to turn the inside of the State Affairs Hall white.
Though there was a ceiling, snowflakes ford in midair and drifted down, slow.
"Wh—what is this...!"
A sword that makes it snow—he had never even heard of such a thing.
Landing, Gwak Seojin sprang up again.
His sword thrust for Unhwi.
Audience Sword Art.
Form: Torrent Racing to Heaven.
Unhwi’s eyes flashed.
The second sword form.
As his blade made a [N O V E L I G H T] single circle, the falling snowflakes flashed into shards of ice and shot for Gwak Seojin’s sword.
What lanced in from all directions then—
KWA-A-A-ANG—!!
With a thunderclap it broke Gwak Seojin’s blade path, and his body flew, smashed through a wall, and went on beyond.
A wide-open courtyard.
The place made for the king’s walks began to see snow once again.
"Wh—what kind of nonsense...?"
Even so, Gwak Seojin’s eyes were fixed on Unhwi walking toward him from afar.
Unhwi’s third sword form began.
As Unhwi’s sword speared upward, every snowflake in the air froze in place. As if ti itself had halted.
Gwak Seojin’s face went pale.
By the ti he pushed up from the ground, Unhwi’s fourth sword form had begun.
When Unhwi’s blade drew a horizontal line, the very air of the State Affairs Hall split.
Gwak Seojin hastily took a guarding stance.
Audience Sword Art.
Form: Iron Wall Guards the Heaven City
A martial art for guarding the state.
A defensive form that guards the will of the court.
Now it was realized as the desperate thrash of a single man to save his life—
The cold of the empty air exploded and shattered Gwak Seojin’s defense to fragnts.
KWA-A-A-A-ANG—!!
"Gh—ugh...."
Driven back, Gwak Seojin struck spine-first against a pillar.
He lifted his head, then hack—vomited blood.
Unhwi did not stop.
The fifth sword form.
Unhwi moved. His blade cut; his legs touched ground and carried him forward. It looked almost like a dance, but it was Seol Heun’s sword dance reinterpreted into sothing of Unhwi alone.
Unhwi’s sword, filled with a radiant light, began to sweep. It was so fast the eye could not even chase the trajectory.
Blue traces etched the floor, and in the air hundreds of flowers of ice-and-snow qi blood.
Gwak Seojin, forcing himself to his feet, tried desperately to swing—but it was aningless.
From Unhwi’s sword, which had been condensing and condensing again, a fierce ice-and-snow qi detonated. asured against Seol Heun’s swordsmanship it was ager, but to Gwak Seojin it was a power of despair.
A flash in an instant flooded the court.
Gwak Seojin felt it—
The breath of death closing in from every side.
No—this was inevitability.
The flash ended.
What was revealed after was enough to astonish all.
Gwak Seojin had beco an ice effigy.
Not only him—everything around was frozen.
Unhwi walked forward, unhurried.
Seol Heun’s sword art had had no na.
He would now make that na.
On the summit of the snowfield he had seen a sword that held the ordering of Heaven and Earth.
"Snowfield Heaven-Earth Sword."
It was a na to his liking.
When Unhwi gently pushed Gwak Seojin’s head, the frozen body fell and shattered against the ground.
He turned his head.
A man’s head was falling to the floor.
***
Fifteen whole years with An Wigwan.
Not once in those fifteen years had he failed to think of the end, but he had never thought it would be like this.
Left Guard General Yeol Gwangyeo was enraged.
Staring at the man called Seo Hyo sprinting straight at him, he drew his sword. He would kill this cur—
He would kill Seol Unhwi as well. He would tear his neck and tear his limbs.
The instant he clenched the sword hard, Seo Hyo dropped his body low.
"Die!"
Yeol Gwangyeo’s blade flew for Seo Hyo. As befitted a Celestial Being Stage expert, the sword thrust with a speed like a bolt of light.
In that instant Seo Hyo’s body blurred like a shadow and slipped past Yeol Gwangyeo’s blade.
At the sa ti he slipped in at a strange angle into Yeol Gwangyeo’s blind spot.
Mixed-Darkness Demon-Breaking Steps.
"W—what...!"
Yeol Gwangyeo, flustered, tried to turn and block, but Seo Hyo’s palm was already touching his flank.
Dark Ghost Soul-Seizing Palm.
KWA-A-ANG—!
At the might of a God-of-War-class martial art, Yeol Gwangyeo skidded sideways.
"Kh...."
Yeol Gwangyeo was by no ans a trivial opponent, but at the foul breath pushing in through his flank he was montarily rattled.
Demonic miasma.
How often would a governnt army officer ever encounter that?
Even so, as he slashed he managed to carve a light wound on Seo Hyo’s shoulder—but it was aningless.
Seo Hyo spun, slipping the strike, and at the sa ti whipped a kick.
Mixed-Darkness Bone-Shearing Kick.
Seo Hyo’s foot smashed Yeol Gwangyeo’s wrist. KWA-ANG—! With the boom, Yeol Gwangyeo’s sword flew from his hand and clattered to the floor.
Not just the wrist—the whole arm rang numb.
And this was with him scraping together qi for a guard. He knit his brows. Ignoring the demonic miasma, he pulled qi back into both arms and rushed Seo Hyo again. Unfortunately for him, Seo Hyo’s martial arts did not use only hands and feet.
Seo Hyo’s eyes turned cold.
Silent Ghost Chain Hands.
Seo Hyo’s two hands began to move as fast as a ghost’s.
Distinct black palm-prints blood in the air and poured down for Yeol Gwangyeo.
PAK! PAK! PAK!
Yeol Gwangyeo tried desperately to block, but this was not simply throwing many punches. Blows ca from angles that could not be read—and Yeol Gwangyeo, who could not even find his balance, had no way to fend them off.
"Kh... kgh...."
Strikes landed across Yeol Gwangyeo’s face and body.
The armor he wore shattered; flesh tore; blood surged.
Seo Hyo did not stop.
Both his feet and both his hands darkened further.
Dark Soul Heart-Chasing thod.
Seo Hyo’s movents grew more grotesque. Like a ghost hunting a soul in the dark, his body orbited Yeol Gwangyeo and attacked.
Yeol Gwangyeo could not predict from what direction the next strike would co. When it seed to co from the front, it ca from behind; when it seed to co from above, it ca from below.
"Where—where are you!"
Even within the Celestial Being Stage there are levels.
Above all else, the court’s officers do not have that much experience in true battle. Seo Hyo, who had fought through the death line from birth, had experience so rich it overflowed.
Beyond rely fighting the governnt army—he knew how to fight to gain advantage.
Seo Hyo was a man who could run that calculus.
While Yeol Gwangyeo, flustered, was slashing empty air, Seo Hyo appeared at his back.
Seo Hyo’s forefinger and middle finger shot for the nape of Yeol Gwangyeo’s neck.
Ghost Gate Heaven-Defeating Finger.
This was the point-sealing art Seo Hyo was most confident in.
"Kh!"
Yeol Gwangyeo’s body locked for an instant. Yet befitting a Celestial Being Stage master, he was not completely paralyzed.
"There—there you are—!"
Gathering his last strength, Yeol Gwangyeo spun and threw a fist for Seo Hyo, but Seo Hyo had already prepared the next move.
Seo Hyo does not use martial arts alone.
Both his hands traced a complex seal as they leveled at Yeol Gwangyeo.
Assailed from all sides by a strange breath, Yeol Gwangyeo’s body dulled.
"Wi—witchcraft...?"
The precise na was Soul-Spirit Seizure Art.
It was a sorcery that disordered a loosened opponent’s soul and robbed him of control over his body, and it is sotis classified as black art.
Yeol Gwangyeo’s pupils began to tremble. His fist stopped just short of Seo Hyo’s face.
Exactly the span of one cun.
Seo Hyo’s cold eyes fixed on Yeol Gwangyeo.
"I bear no personal grudge."
All of Seo Hyo’s qi gathered into his right hand. Now beyond re darkness, everything around that hand turned black—as if dyeing space itself.
And then—
His hand shot out like lightning.
Ghost-God Decapitation.
Srrk—!
A clean sound of flesh parting rang out.
It was the sound of Yeol Gwangyeo’s neck bones separating.
Watching Yeol Gwangyeo’s head roll across the floor, Seo Hyo turned his steps toward Unhwi.
He did not show it on his face, but Seo Hyo was a little taken aback.
He had wrapped things up as fast as he could to show at least so of his own worth—but Unhwi’s fight was already over.
...Truly—back in the Bright Spirit Domain, I’d thought he was a man who only knew how to use his head. Now he’s beco a man who can use his head as well.
His growth line was fearso beyond asure.
If this is not genius, what else is?
Standing at Unhwi’s side, Seo Hyo did not sheath his qi.
Making a ss is not hard.
Cleaning it up is what is truly hard.
Seo Hyo asked:
"What will you do now?"
"Who knows."
As he said that, Unhwi’s gaze was on the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince wore a smile that gave nothing away.
And then—at the voice that spilled from his lips, Seo Hyo could not help a short, incredulous laugh.
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