Lee Seo-jun isn’t afraid.
He doesn't fear the journey of the soul toward the Underworld, the path commonly called death, nor even the complete erasure of the soul itself.
If he had truly been all alone, he wouldn’t have cared about the Transcendence Realm or any of that crap—if the other side acted like a bastard, he'd just swing his sword first and ask questions later.
But Seo-jun isn’t alone. There are things that will be left behind after his death. People who will mourn him.
More than anything, if he acts without thinking, he can’t guarantee the safety of those around him.
That’s why, even while baring killing intent toward a martial artist of the Transcendence Realm—someone who bears the title of Martial Alliance Leader—Seo-jun planned for the worst-case scenario.
“What should I do?”
At least one thing was clear: he couldn’t win against that bastard. The moment he laid eyes on him, Seo-jun was certain of it. It’s still too early.
That meant he had to plan for later.
This so-called “Divine Blood” he mentioned... Maybe it would be better to take Namgung Sua and Chunbong and flee far away.
Maybe even bring the entire Namgung Clan along—just in case.
Whether that was even possible didn’t matter.
No matter what, giving up Chunbong or Namgung Sua was not an option.
If he couldn’t win, then the only way to prepare for the worst was to disappear.
Once he was sure he could reach the Transcendence Realm quickly and surpass the bastard, then he could return to the righteous sects’ domain.
When Seo-jun suddenly stopped in his tracks with a grave expression, Namgung Sua tilted her head in confusion.
“What's wrong?”
Instead of responding, Seo-jun mustered every last bit of his mental strength and calculated countless variables.
The puppet that existed inside the Alliance Leader’s Hall. His real body, stationed a good distance away from the Martial Alliance.
He had to take the people with him and return to the Namgung Clan.
He didn’t know the details, but there seemed to be some kind of restriction on those in the Transcendence Realm—so fleeing shouldn’t be that hard.
At the same time, a separate stream of thought registered something in front of the puppet’s eyes. No—just a vague estimation.
The Alliance Leader himself wasn’t visible. But there was a strong sense that he was there.
Even if he ran, it wouldn’t hurt to at least gauge the strength of a martial artist from the Transcendence Realm.
The moment Seo-jun made his judgment, he acted.
KRUMBLE—!
A surge of qi stormed the space. At the same time, the pure essence of Heaven within the puppet spread out and dyed the entire area.
“Gongcheonmyeolha—Heaven Scorns the Void.”
The name of the domain spoken aloud became a vessel for power, tinting the surrounding space.
FWOOOOOSH—!
Time stretched. The puppet's eyes flared wide as it grasped every thread of the surrounding space.
—Ho-oh.
A sentence carved itself into his mind.
Clearing away the incomprehensible thought-waves of the Alliance Leader, Seo-jun poured all the pressure of the Sovereign Sword Form—the mental image that had stained the Alliance Leader’s Hall.
KUUUUUHHHHHHNG────────────!!
At the same time, he stretched out his hand. Then clenched it.
The outstretched hand grasped the sky itself as it unraveled into strands.
Primordial Chaos...
He couldn’t use it. He already knew that.
The puppet couldn’t manipulate Primordial Chaos.
“I don’t need it.”
He had fought just fine without that power until now.
All the qi within the Alliance Leader’s Hall turned its blades toward the Alliance Leader. Seo-jun, too, raised his sword. The blade gleamed blue.
THOOM—!
He stepped forward. In that instant, he unleashed every single attack.
All the motions happened at once.
He exerted the pressure of the Sovereign Sword Form, swung his sword, and launched thousands of qi blades.
—How peculiar.
The moment that thought from the Alliance Leader etched itself into his brain, everything vanished.
FWASH—!
A wave that neither could be seen nor sensed swept across the space, blowing away every bit of qi that had filled it.
“Ghh...!”
THWACK—!
The entire domain was ripped apart, and the puppet’s body rippled.
“What the hell...?”
It was a force he couldn’t comprehend.
Was this a god? A true martial artist of the Transcendence Realm?
Humans, upon reaching the peak, ascend to the summit.
And once that wall is broken and they reach the Superlative Peak, they finally attain the potential to go beyond humanity, stepping into the Qi Deification Realm, becoming a true superhuman.
And beyond that lies the Transcendence Realm.
That is no longer superhuman. It’s not even something you can call a lifeform.
That is a god.
Even if he were a demigod, the scale was entirely different.
Qi Deification, Superhuman, Martial Artist above the Heavens—all those titles meant nothing before a god.
But even so, it didn’t change the fact that this bastard had his sights on Chunbong and Namgung Sua.
A god? What, am I supposed to not kill him just because of that?
Repelling qi with some incomprehensible power? How arrogant.
Even if he is a god—when it comes to qi, I’m above him.
WUUUUUUUUUUUNG────────────!!
The world resonated. The puppet’s eyes shone blue.
Even if he couldn’t use Primordial Chaos, the understanding he gained from it didn’t vanish.
Primordial Chaos is all things.
Primordial Chaos gives birth to qi, and yet it too is a form of qi.
That means all of existence is qi.
That unknown force he uses—same deal. No reason I should be losing to it.
[I’ll at least take one of your arms.]
The puppet’s form warped. Its body turned into rippling qi.
Around him, the blue-stained energy swirled like a galaxy.
At the heart of that blue galaxy, a lump of qi that barely maintained human shape reached out.
[Gongcheonmyeolha—Heaven Scorns the Void.]
He unleashed the domain again.
But it was different from before. The deep blue space that had spread outward now collapsed inward toward the area where the Alliance Leader existed.
The absurdly dense qi dragged the god that resided there down to a place within reach.
CRAAACK—
Cracks split across the puppet’s body. His eyes burned an intense blue as he finally saw the Alliance Leader’s true form.
His mind went white. His consciousness flickered. Seo-jun, through the puppet, grit his teeth.
The final sword his father-in-law left behind. The vivid memory danced at his fingertips.
“Living Blade.”
A sword forged to protect the partner he swore to cherish.
He realized it had come too late, yet mourned his departed other half and completed the sword in the end.
But he wasn’t too late. His other half hadn’t left him. He just had to kill the bastard in front of him.
And so, I...
Heaven-Slaying Sword (Cheonsalgeom).
I’ll kill the heavens themselves to protect what’s mine.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAAACK──────────────!!
****
The blue galaxy swirling inside the Alliance Leader’s Hall.
At its center, a single sword strike was unleashed.
That sword, carrying the enlightenment of Namgung Jincheon, finally reached the god.
[Right... that’s how it was.]
In the void where nothing existed, the shape of a human appeared.
It looked like a man—or maybe a woman. At times like a child, at others like an old person.
The figure wore an unreadable expression as it reached out a hand.
The sensation of the sword—something that shouldn’t be within reach—was vividly felt against the palm.
[So this... was the Namgung Clan’s sword.]
FWOOSH—!
The clenched hand crushed the sword strike. The Alliance Leader slowly opened his fist and stared at his own palm.
The form was faint, but the sensation left behind in his hand was clear.
He followed the distinct killing intent to the blue-storming galaxy.
At its heart, a flickering blue flame of qi—within it, a pair of eyes burning especially bright.
[It seems there’s been some misunderstanding.]
[Misunderstanding?]
How interesting. The very fact that emotion could be expressed in this space.
What is that being? Human? A puppet? What does it possess that allows it to remain uncrushed by this overwhelming presence?
Relishing the ever-deepening killing intent, with a faint trace of regret—and in awe that he was feeling such emotions at all—the Alliance Leader spoke.
[I have no intention of interfering with the Divine Blood.]
****
Lee Seo-jun had a lot he wanted to say.
What kind of bullshit was that bastard spouting? He was the one who said he’d remove the Divine Blood—so why the hell was he acting like this now? Did his sword actually hurt that guy? If he had used Primordial Chaos, just how far could he have reached?
And why the hell did that bastard look like he was having so much fun?
So he just said it.
[Bullshit.]
The blurry figure in front of him curved its lips ever so slightly.
[If too much deep blood builds up, the boundary between the lower and celestial realms gets blurred—but that’s not my problem. As the Alliance Leader, it would be right to remove it, but I’ve never exactly been diligent with that job.]
Seo-jun’s eyes, burning blue, locked onto the Alliance Leader. Even while holding this conversation, Seo-jun was endlessly analyzing him.
Why he couldn’t see him before. Why he could see him now. Why the voice was being spoken out loud this time, unlike before.
“A god, huh... Is that what this is?”
When a human dies, that god—the soul—travels to the Underworld. Then what is a martial artist of the Transcendence Realm, who is the god itself? It was simple.
The body of someone in the Transcendence Realm is the soul.
What was in front of him now—this was merely the Alliance Leader choosing to reveal himself.
Seo-jun accepted it. That bastard had no reason to lie right now. The gap between them was that vast.
But even so, there had been no room for misunderstanding in what the bastard said earlier—about removing the Divine Blood.
That hadn’t been mere words. It was will, transmitted directly. He had definitely been harboring that intent.
And now, it was the same. The Alliance Leader was vibrating qi to transmit sound, and his will was being carried along with it.
His claim of having no intention to remove the Divine Blood was sincere.
FWOOSH—
The flickering flame-like form of the puppet reshaped into a human body again.
The puppet’s sharp eyes narrowed as he stared at the Alliance Leader.
“You’re ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) fickle.”
[Fickle? No—I never intended to meddle in the lower world in the first place.]
“Then what was that earlier? The part where you said you’d remove the Divine Blood—that was clearly real.”
[That’s just how you interpreted it. I merely guided you to feel that way.]
“You got a reason to pull crap like that?”
The Alliance Leader’s form glided forward until it was right in front of the puppet.
The appearance that had been neither man nor woman, neither child nor elder, slowly began to take shape.
More precisely, it was only now that the puppet’s senses were able to properly perceive the Alliance Leader’s form.
[A god is bound to be alone. To me, all humans are no different from scarecrows. Even those in the Qi Deification Realm. At most, they can barely manage to maintain their ego in my presence.]
The Alliance Leader, now in the form of a serene young man, lifted the corners of his mouth in a smile.
[But then someone like you appeared. Why wouldn’t I find that interesting?]