Seo-jun gazed quietly at Namgung Sua, who was asleep in his embrace.
‘That startled me.’
Last night, Namgung Sua had suddenly whispered that she felt lonely and clung to him tightly.
But it wasn’t the usual warm, gentle embrace—it was the desperate grip of a child clinging to their mother after a nightmare.
Because of that, Seo-jun couldn’t get a wink of sleep.
After all, the feel of Namgung Sua’s body pressed tightly against his was anything but childish or immature.
With her limbs wrapped around him, holding on for dear life—how was he supposed to fall asleep in such a situation?
‘Should I just...’
Just finish this?
But looking at Namgung Sua’s peacefully sleeping face, he felt guilty about waking her. How could he disturb someone sleeping so soundly?
‘But I couldn’t sleep because of you, Sua.’
Should I just wake her up and... handle things from there? As for contraception… Maybe he could even create a contraceptive martial art technique?
While he was wrestling with his thoughts, the night passed.
Sunlight filtered through the window, and Namgung Sua, her eyelids twitching from the warmth, nuzzled her face against his chest as if sleep-talking.
“Mm… Slept well?”
She peeked up at him with a lazy, drowsy smile that felt almost cheeky. Seo-jun let out a dry chuckle.
“I didn’t sleep at all.”
Not that it really mattered. Reaching the Harmonious Realm wasn’t something he had done through mere practice games.
Especially in Seo-jun’s case—if he wanted to, he didn’t need sleep at all.
In fact, if he truly desired, he could even eliminate his libido entirely without any side effects.
…Theoretically, anyway. But with Namgung Sua in front of him, such theory was laughably useless.
“Mm…!”
Namgung Sua stretched slightly within his arms, then, tightening her hold around him, she whispered softly near his ear.
“It’s been so long since I slept this well.”
“Yeah?”
Well, no wonder. She slept with a faint smile, as if lost in a pleasant dream, far from any nightmares.
“I feel a little bad for you, though.”
Through the thin fabric of their sleepwear, her warm body pressed fully against his.
Seo-jun’s own nightclothes were thin as well, and Sua, feeling the firmness against her lower abdomen, blushed—but still smiled mischievously.
That look of hers made Seo-jun chuckle wryly.
“You…”
Without warning, he grabbed a firm handful of her soft, round backside. Namgung Sua’s body gave a slight shudder.
“Ah…”
Yet, she didn’t react with surprise or resistance. By now, she had grown quite accustomed to his touch—if anything, it was something she welcomed.
Lifting her eyes to meet his, she asked with a knowing look:
“Are you mad?”
“No, not really.”
“You are mad.”
“What?”
“Want to… touch my chest?”
Namgung Sua was sharp—just like her mother.
She had long known that Seo-jun had a certain fondness for her chest.
Even if he wasn’t truly angry, she wanted him to express his desire for her. She wanted to be wanted by him.
“Anything you want…”
There was no longer any hesitation. He was her family—her one and only.
As time passed, he had become the very center of her heart.
With a playful smile, she took his hand and placed it over her chest.
“Do as you please.”
If he wanted it, she would give him everything.
She carried the bloodline of Namgung.
A lineage that, by nature, devoted itself to one person for life—completely and unconditionally.
****
Seo-jun, as if bewitched, moved his hand. The sensation, soft and overflowing, filled his palm.
At the same time, he found himself lost in deep contemplation—perhaps the most serious one yet.
Cheek fat vs. breast flesh.
His chest swelled with emotion.
The warmth, the weight, the texture of that flesh—Mother, mother, and a star…
‘I see.’
The realization came in a flash.
It was a meaningless comparison.
As absurd as comparing a car to a plate of pasta.
Geum Chun-bong’s cheek vs. Namgung Sua’s chest.
Both were sensations felt at his fingertips, but their nature was as different as heaven and earth.
And you don’t rank heaven and earth.
They coexist as heaven, earth, and man—each indispensable for harmony.
Even in the realm of Harmonious cultivation, where the body, mind, and spirit unite, the pinnacle is found only in balance.
As he reached this understanding, the space around Seo-jun rippled faintly.
‘A domain isn’t something you switch on and off.’
A thin, subtle aura of his domain enveloped him—a field that, unless something extreme occurred, would remain ever-present.
A domain that he could now maintain effortlessly, forever.
‘No one else can sense it, but within my domain, I perceive everything.’
Suddenly, he understood that peculiar sensation he always felt around Namgung Jincheon, his late father-in-law.
That must have been his domain as well.
“Uh… S-Seo-jun…?”
Namgung Sua’s voice, trembling softly, snapped him back to reality. Her face was flushed deep red, her voice a mere whisper.
“T-the ends… are sensitive… Go easy….”
“Huh?”
“Or… just do it harder…”
A heated breath escaped her lips, and the intoxicating scent of her presence made his head swim.
The trance he was in shattered, and raw sensation flooded back to his fingertips.
He became acutely aware of her—the warmth, the quivering tension of her body, pressed against his in the embrace.
And then— BANG!
The door swung open with a crash, and Geum Chun-bong, wearing a bright, breezy expression, stepped in with her hand raised.
“Yo, strength and vigor, good morni—…?”
She froze.
Her cheerful face went stiff as her wide eyes locked onto the scene before her—Seo-jun and Namgung Sua, entwined together.
“What…”
She glanced once around the room, then outside at the clear morning sun, squinting against its brightness.
Then, smacking her forehead with her palm, she cursed.
“The hell are you two doing first thing in the damn morning, you crazy bastard—!!”
Without warning, Geum Chun-bong delivered a flying dropkick straight to Seo-jun’s chest.
****
With a sullen expression, Geum Chun-bong sat on Namgung Sua’s lap, staring at Seo-jun.
“Hmph.”
Pong, pong—she tapped the back of her head against Namgung Sua’s chest, then clicked her tongue.
“Tch, well… it can’t be helped.”
“Right?” Seo-jun replied.
“Ugh…! You damn—!”
Even though Chun-bong landed a punch on him, it wasn’t anything serious.
In the end, she had to concede—this wasn’t something that could be refused or denied.
“Geez.”
Letting out a sigh of relief, Seo-jun wandered through the Namgung Clan’s grounds without any particular destination in mind.
Recently, with new martial artists joining the clan, a thought had been brewing in his mind.
‘Strengthening our forces is definitely important.’
The Namgung Clan attracted a large number of warriors. Running out of manpower was unlikely, but that didn’t mean there was no room for improvement.
‘The Central Plains has a massive population.’
Not just large—truly colossal. While he couldn’t be certain of the exact number, it had to be in the billions.
How was such a vast population even sustained?
Seo-jun didn’t know. Outside of martial arts, his knowledge was limited.
But he did know this: the Central Plains was far larger than Earth’s China, and its population was inexplicably immense, even compared to the modern world.
‘Maybe it’s because of qi?’
Not that it mattered. What truly mattered was that there were plenty of people.
And where there were many people, there would inevitably be many talents.
If he could pick out the hidden gems and draw them into the Namgung Clan, it would surely be a significant boon to their power.
‘Most commoners never get a chance to encounter martial arts, so they may not even realize their own talents.’
As he mentally mapped out his plans, Seo-jun’s steps halted—an intriguing idea had struck him.
‘I'll shelve that for now.’
There was something more pressing to deal with first.
****
Seo-jun entered the Martial Alliance as if it were his own home.
Without any notice, he sought out Jegal Tong and bluntly posed his question. By now, Jegal Tong had grown somewhat accustomed to his abruptness and provided an answer without much surprise.
“We cannot pinpoint the exact locations of all Harmonious Realm masters. We can estimate, but their precise positions typically only become apparent when they unleash their power.”
In other words, the current whereabouts of the Harmonious Realm masters near the Sword Sect remained uncertain.
“However,” Jegal Tong continued, “one thing is certain—they rarely stray far from their sects. If I were to estimate, they’d be somewhere around here.”
He drew a rough line on the map.
Seo-jun scanned the map and gave a curt nod.
“This is good enough.”
“…Are you truly going through with this? It’s reckless,” Jegal Tong warned.
“I’ll handle it.”
Killing Geom Hyeon wouldn’t take long.
Seo-jun departed from the Martial Alliance. As he tore through space itself, his eyes glowed a menacing crimson.
‘Today, the Sword Sect will be annihilated.’
****
The former Sect Leader of the Sword Sect, the Thousand Sword Master Geom Hyeon, sat with his body wrapped in bandages, reviewing the battle from a few days prior.
‘His strength was truly terrifying.’
Two domains—one encompassing the world itself, and the other saturating it with demonic power.
From what Geom Hyeon observed, the first domain seemed ideal for fighting multiple opponents, while the second would be devastating in single combat.
‘To those below the Harmonious Realm, he’s nothing short of a catastrophe.’
Even after unleashing colossal attacks repeatedly, Seo-jun had shown no signs of exhaustion.
Ordinarily, even the greatest masters would struggle against a swarm of enemies if the difference in power wasn’t overwhelming.
Though Harmonious Realm masters rarely ran out of internal energy, the strain on their spirit and mind could not be ignored.
Even Geom Hyeon, a veteran master on the verge of the Supreme Realm—or at the very least, the early Harmonious stage—had to manage his stamina if faced with a dozen or more skilled opponents.
Recklessly exhausting one’s power would only lead to defeat before cutting down the last enemy.
Retreating and regrouping was always an option, but…
‘That man, Seo-jun—he has no need for such measures.’
He recalled the information gathered after their clash.
‘A martial artist from the Namgung Clan.’
Geom Hyeon revisited everything he had learned about the man after the battle.
The reason for his vendetta against the Sword Sect. The path he had carved through the martial world.
‘I only descended from my seclusion because I sensed something amiss in the sect…’
But the situation had spiraled out of control.
Geom Hyeon sighed, opening his eyes—a sharp, mysterious glint flickered within them.
‘No matter what, if we meet again—I will cut him down.’
His injuries had almost fully healed, thanks to the sect’s elixirs.
Though he couldn’t be sure, he suspected that the Harmonious Realm masters from the neighboring sects were already observing the Sword Sect’s situation.
‘Whether they will heed our alliance’s call is uncertain…’
But if the battle dragged on, they would come.
They now knew that Myeolsa Cheon-gun Seo-jun’s mobility defied all logic. Surely, they would have some form of perimeter prepared.
“Hahh…”
With a heavy breath, Geom Hyeon rose from his seat. His eyes, dark and resolute from reliving his clash with the Heavenly Lord Who Annihilates Evil, settled into a cold, lethal calm.
‘This time—I will sever him.’
He was a master seasoned by countless battles. Against Myeolsa Cheon-gun, he had already devised a strategy.
KWA-AAAAANG—!!
A thunderous explosion erupted, shaking the sect to its core.
Geom Hyeon’s steps remained steady and unhurried as he moved toward the chaos.
Chii-ring—!
The Thousand Blossom Sword, composed of countless floating blades, glided into the air, encircling him protectively.
The old master’s instincts surged.
Today—
One of them would die.