Chapter 508
Heaven-Law Cliff.
The headquarters of the Heaven-Law Platform.
It was hidden behind a sheer cliff. A secret place accessible only through a narrow fissure in the rock. Beyond it stretched a broad basin, with buildings arranged in orderly rows.
A place built over the course of centuries.
The heart of the Heaven-Law Platform.
And in the deepest part of that heart stood the residence of the Heaven-Law Immortal.
Heaven-Law Pavilion.
A two-story pavilion.
It stood on high ground, overlooking the entire basin. For centuries, every commander of the Heaven-Law Platform had used this building.
And from this place, they had looked down upon everything below.
The Heaven-Law Immortal was no different.
The current commander.
He sat before a table, drinking tea.
He drank, but tasted nothing.
His grip tightened around the teacup.
His face was grim.
He appeared to be in his sixties, but his true age was several times that. He had lived for centuries. A martial artist standing at the very edge of the Supreme Void Realm.
His eyes were deep, his forehead broad, and his jaw square. Ordinarily, his face was stern and expressionless.
Now, it was different.
Deep furrows cut between his brows.
His eyes were not merely cold.
They burned.
A martial artist knelt before him.
“Say it again.”
At the Heaven-Law Immortal’s low voice, the martial artist’s shoulders flinched.
After steadying his breath, he spoke.
“...Gwak Hyeongjin’s outpost was completely annihilated.”
“...”
“The Long Forest Mountain outpost was also annihilated.”
“...”
“And the Spirit Heaven Mountain outpost was annihilated as well.”
“Hah...”
“Gwak Hyeongjin, Ma Seungnyeol, Noh Gyeongseok, Pung Jaeun, and Gwak Sehyun. The deaths of all five ranked members have been confirmed.”
A crack appeared in the Heaven-Law Immortal’s teacup.
His grip had tightened.
“...Who did it?”
He already knew.
He asked despite knowing.
“The Blood Heaven Arbiter, Seol Unhwi.”
The teacup shattered.
Crack.
Fragments scattered across the table. Tea spilled. Shards embedded themselves in the Heaven-Law Immortal’s hand, and blood flowed.
He did not feel it.
“Seol Unhwi.”
He repeated the name.
“Seol Unhwi did this.”
The martial artist lowered his head further.
“...And every martial artist at the outposts was beheaded and displayed.”
The Heaven-Law Immortal’s eyes changed.
“What did you say?”
“Their heads... were severed and mounted on stakes.”
“...”
“A sheet of paper was left at Long Forest Mountain. It bore the words, ‘This is only the beginning.’”
The Heaven-Law Immortal’s hand trembled.
Rage.
“There was another message at Spirit Heaven Mountain.”
“...What did it say?”
“爾踏吾庭 吾踏爾穴.”
The Heaven-Law Immortal went still.
"You trampled my courtyard, so I shall trample your lair."
My courtyard.
Blood Spirit Hall.
The place trodden upon by the Seventh Seat, Ninth Seat, and Twelfth Seat he had sent.
Your lair.
The Heaven-Law Platform’s outposts.
And—
Lair.
The den itself.
Heaven-Law Cliff.
This man knows about Heaven-Law Cliff.
The Heaven-Law Immortal asked,
“What of Seop Gyeong?”
The martial artist bowed his head even lower.
“...His body was found on the mountain road between Long Forest Mountain and Heaven-Law Cliff.”
Light flashed in the Heaven-Law Immortal’s eyes.
The force of the Supreme Void Realm swept through the room.
The martial artist’s body was crushed downward. He collapsed flat against the floor, unable to breathe.
The Heaven-Law Immortal withdrew his energy.
The messenger coughed and gasped for air.
“What of Han Soyeong?”
“The survival of Han Soyeong, Twelfth Seat of the Heaven-Law Platform, has been confirmed.”
“Survival?”
“She was wounded, but remains alive. She has an injury to her neck, and ice energy has infiltrated her left arm, but her life is not in danger.”
The furrow between the Heaven-Law Immortal’s brows deepened.
He did not kill her?
He had sent three.
Unhwi had encountered two and killed one.
If he intended to kill them, why not kill both?
Why spare only one?
That was even more unpleasant.
It would have been better if Unhwi had simply killed everyone he saw. That would have been rage. Rage was understandable.
What he intended to do with Baek Ryeon, the Seventh Seat whom he would soon encounter, was irrelevant.
This was a choice.
It meant Unhwi had selected who would die and who would live.
He had stood before martial artists of the Heaven-Law Platform and chosen their fates.
It meant he considered the Heaven-Law Platform insignificant.
No.
Unhwi did not look down on the Heaven-Law Platform.
This happened because I looked down on Unhwi.
He knew that.
And because he knew it, his rage burned even hotter.
The meeting of Heaven Beyond Heaven.
The first place he had seen the man called Unhwi.
A mere martial artist at Unity of Heaven and Man.
And who were those gathered in that chamber?
People who had lived for centuries.
People who had devoted their entire lives to the great cause of Heaven Beyond Heaven.
Yet a martial artist at Unity of Heaven and Man had been seated among them.
The Heavenly Wayfarer had brought him.
Because the Heavenly Wayfarer had brought him, the Heaven-Law Immortal had remained silent. He had respected the Heavenly Wayfarer’s will.
But then that martial artist at Unity of Heaven and Man had opened his mouth.
He had talked back.
When the Heaven-Law Immortal criticized his unilateral actions, the man had answered in kind.
“Was bringing Gun Mugeol not also a unilateral decision?”
Had the Heavenly Wayfarer not been present at that moment, the Heaven-Law Immortal would have killed Unhwi where he sat.
But the Heavenly Wayfarer had stopped him.
He had also issued a warning.
That warning was important.
Strictly speaking, it had been a warning concerning the Blood Heaven Sect, not Unhwi himself.
How could a warning not to touch the Blood Heaven Sect be the same as a warning not to touch Unhwi?
The Blood Heaven Sect was not Unhwi.
The existence called Unhwi was nothing more than a protruding stone.
An awl jutting from a pouch.
Even so, he had needed to deliver a warning.
One that would not offend the Heavenly Wayfarer.
A warning restrained enough that even the Heavenly Wayfarer could let it pass naturally.
After all, he had not gone in person and killed anyone.
He had merely sent people to deliver a message.
The Heavenly Wayfarer was certainly not a lenient man, but he was extraordinarily tolerant of contests and checks exchanged between martial artists.
Whatever happened, he first allowed it to unfold.
Then he judged the result.
Yes.
Han Soyeong had been right.
Going in person would have meant acknowledging the Blood Heaven Arbiter’s position.
So he had targeted those beneath him.
His attendants.
Younglings in the Heaven-Human realm, Entry-to-Divinity realm, and Harmony realm.
From the Heaven-Law Immortal’s perspective, it was a way to convey his true intent to Unhwi without defying the Heavenly Wayfarer’s warning.
It had been the best choice.
Of course, he had not anticipated this outcome.
He had believed that once the Heaven-Law Platform displayed its authority, the Blood Heaven Arbiter would learn his place.
That had been his miscalculation.
The Heaven-Law Immortal had underestimated Unhwi.
He had seen only the realm of Unity of Heaven and Man.
He had failed to see what lay behind it.
And this was the result.
Three outposts.
Annihilated.
Five ranked members.
Dead.
Seop Gyeong, Ninth Seat.
Dead.
More than fifty martial artists.
Beheaded and displayed.
All in a single day.
“...”
His jaw trembled.
He had given the strongest warning he could without drawing the Heavenly Wayfarer’s displeasure.
And yet—
This was the result.
The Heaven-Law Immortal rose from his seat.
“Where is Baek Ryeon?”
“Baek Ryeon, Seventh Seat of the Heaven-Law Platform, is currently returning to Heaven-Law Cliff.”
“Send him to me the moment he arrives.”
“Yes.”
The martial artist withdrew.
Left alone, the Heaven-Law Immortal walked toward the window.
He looked down over the basin.
Martial artists of the Heaven-Law Platform moved below. They were busy. Tension hung in the air. After the order for a full recall had been issued, martial artists had been returning from every direction.
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
More than a hundred.
The full strength of the Heaven-Law Platform.
The Heaven-Law Immortal clenched his fist.
Seol Unhwi.
He repeated the name.
A martial artist at Unity of Heaven and Man destroyed three outposts in a single day and even killed martial artists at Manifestation of the Boundless.
It made no sense.
But it was true.
The Heaven-Law Immortal’s eyes narrowed.
Only now did he feel he understood, at least in part, why the Heavenly Wayfarer had brought that man.
He ground his teeth.
That man was something else wearing the guise of Unity of Heaven and Man.
Someone who could not be measured by realm.
There had been a reason the Heavenly Wayfarer cherished him.
But—
“So what do you intend to do?”
The Heaven-Law Immortal muttered.
His voice was cold.
“You intend to trample the Heaven-Law Platform?”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
“Because you wiped out a few outposts?”
The Heaven-Law Immortal’s energy flowed outward.
The very edge of the Supreme Void Realm.
Heaven-Law Pavilion shook.
The floor split.
Cracks spread across the walls.
The windows shattered, and fragments flew in every direction.
With nothing but his energy.
He had shaken the entire Heaven-Law Pavilion.
The Heaven-Law Immortal’s eyes burned.
Does that bastard understand?
The Heaven-Law Immortal had issued only a warning.
Unhwi had not.
He had gone far beyond anything that could be called a warning.
Now the Heaven-Law Immortal had legitimacy as well.
Legitimacy to kill him.
A thought came to him.
Perhaps this is for the best.
“...Come to me yourself.”
He clenched his fist.
“I will show you with your own eyes whether a mere martial artist at Unity of Heaven and Man can do anything to this Heaven-Law Platform.”
Outside, the martial artists stirred. They had been startled by the energy pouring from Heaven-Law Pavilion.
The Heaven-Law Immortal paid them no attention.
He looked out the window.
South.
The direction from which Unhwi would come.
And waited.
***
Heaven-Law Cliff.
The cliff came into view.
A sheer wall of rock.
Its height was impossible to judge. Clouds clung to it. Not a trace of moss grew across its surface. The stone was black.
Unhwi stood before the cliff.
It was exactly as Gwak Hyeongjin had described.
The headquarters of the Heaven-Law Platform lay behind the cliff.
He saw the fissure.
On the left side of the cliff, between two faces of stone.
It was barely wide enough for one person to pass through.
To anyone who did not know, it would have looked like nothing more than a crack in the rock.
But Unhwi could see it.
The faint traces of wear across the stone.
Marks left by people passing through for centuries.
Unhwi entered the fissure.
It was narrow.
The stone walls brushed his shoulders on both sides. It was dark. A thin sliver of light descended from above.
He walked twenty paces.
The light widened.
When the fissure ended, a basin opened before him.
It was vast.
Buildings came into view.
Dozens of them, arranged in orderly rows.
A broad courtyard in the center.
A training ground.
An armory.
Living quarters.
At the highest point of the basin stood a two-story pavilion.
Heaven-Law Pavilion.
And—
People stood in the courtyard.
Many of them.
More than fifty.
The remaining forces of the Heaven-Law Platform.
Every one of them stood in formation within the courtyard.
They were armed.
Swords, blades, spears, staves.
Their weapons differed, but their gazes were fixed upon a single place.
The fissure.
The place where Unhwi appeared.
The instant he emerged, more than fifty pairs of eyes locked onto him.
Killing intent.
The entire courtyard was saturated with it.
Unhwi did not stop.
He walked.
Out from the fissure and toward the courtyard.
Slowly.
One step.
Two steps.
Three.
He faced the killing intent of more than fifty martial artists head-on.
He did not release his ice energy.
He did not draw his sword.
He simply walked.
He reached the entrance to the courtyard.
More than fifty martial artists blocked his path.
Unhwi stopped.
He looked at them.
One man stepped forward.
Baek Ryeon.
Seventh Seat of the Heaven-Law Platform.
Tall.
Lean.
With narrow, thin eyes.
The energy of Manifestation of the Boundless flowed from his body.
The man who had seized Chief Seong’s wrist and forced him to his knees.
Baek Ryeon stared at Unhwi.
“Blood Heaven Arbiter.”
Unhwi answered.
“Baek Ryeon, Seventh Seat.”
Unhwi looked at him with a smile, as though pleased by his good fortune.
Baek Ryeon’s expression was ice-cold.
“...I know what you have done.”
“Of course you do. If you did not, could you even call yourself human?”
“...Madman. You destroyed three outposts and killed more than fifty of our comrades.”
“To be precise, I managed to destroy only three outposts and kill only fifty or so people.”
“...You killed Seop Gyeong as well.”
“That is also true.”
Unhwi answered calmly.
Baek Ryeon ground his teeth.
“And after all that, you walk in here?”
“I did.”
“Alone.”
“Yes. Alone.”
Baek Ryeon stared at Unhwi.
His killing intent thickened.
The killing intent of more than fifty martial artists joined it.
The air over the courtyard grew heavy.
But Unhwi’s expression did not change.
He opened his mouth.
“Where is the commander of the Heaven-Law Platform?”