Zhang Sanfeng frowned as he faced the jiangshi.

'To think I'd have to face these wicked things again.'

The first battle, in his very inexperienced days, where he might have lost his life if not for Baek Yoonjun's help.

After that, the relatively recent battle in Sichuan.

And now was the third time.

Since he had faced them before, it was easier to deal with them than in the past.

However.

'This time, it's more troublesome than when I faced them in Sichuan.'

People suddenly having seizures and turning into jiangshi.

Because it happened suddenly in a crowded place, people's response was slow, and the damage increased exponentially.

'The cause of this disaster is that monk.'

Zhang Sanfeng pushed back the jiangshi and looked at the monk who was ringing the cloudy bell below the stage.

A being whose whitish, cloudy eyes were constantly open, as if it had no eyelids.

Zhang Sanfeng wanted to approach and deal with the monk who seemed to be the cause right away, but.

'Brother Baek's condition is strange.'

He couldn't carelessly leave his position because he was worried about Baek Yoonjun, who was dealing with Seo Heoyun nearby.

A sword with none of the usual overwhelming presence, from which no energy or force could be felt.

'He's managing to deal with him somehow, but if it were the usual Brother Baek, he would have finished off an opponent like that in a single blow.'

Observing Baek Yoonjun, who was not his usual self, Zhang Sanfeng continued to face the jiangshi.

'There's no end to this. If I can't do something about that man!'

Zhang Sanfeng looked around in the ever-worsening situation.

The martial artists who had not turned into jiangshi seemed to be preoccupied with dealing with them.

'Since Brother Baek is not in good condition, I, who am closest, must do it.'

Zhang Sanfeng made a decision.

"I wish you good fortune in battle! Brother Baek!"

Zhang Sanfeng cut down the jiangshi in front of him and quickly moved forward.

As Zhang Sanfeng moved forward, martial artists from the Murim Alliance blocked his path. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Get out of the way!"

The martial artists of the Murim Alliance had not turned into jiangshi.

"Why on earth are you blocking my way? Can the martial artists of the Alliance not see the current situation?!"

The martial artists of the Murim Alliance were probably related to this disaster.

But since it wasn't certain, Zhang Sanfeng shouted at them with a glimmer of hope, but they blocked his path in silence.

'As expected, they are also in on it.'

As it was what he had expected, Zhang Sanfeng gently deflected the sword flying towards him.

As soon as he deflected the sword, Zhang Sanfeng reached out and grabbed the opponent's face.

'I'll throw him just like this!'

Zhang Sanfeng held the opponent's face firmly and was about to throw him, but.

Rip.

The skin of the opponent's face that Zhang Sanfeng had grabbed was torn off.

'Oh no! I didn't mean to go this far!'

Although Zhang Sanfeng was flustered by the unexpected situation, he soon calmly composed himself and assessed the situation.

Looking again, what was in Zhang Sanfeng's hand was as elaborate as a human face, but it was an object that felt artificial.

'This wasn't a real face, but a tool worn over the face.'

Having confirmed that the torn-off face was fake, Zhang Sanfeng quickly rearranged his stance and observed the opponent.

And the moment he saw that opponent's face.

"You?!"

Zhang Sanfeng gasped.

Because the opponent had a very familiar face.

"It's been a long time, Young Master Cheon."

"You... Jin?"

The time when Zhang Sanfeng was Namgung Cheon.

A brother-like existence who had grown up as his guard since childhood.

Namgung Jin.

Such an existence was blocking him.

With that, Zhang Sanfeng realized the identity of the sense of incongruity he had felt when he saw the Murim Alliance martial artists earlier.

"...Are the rest of the Murim Alliance martial artists also from the Namgung family?"

"That is so."

Clang!

Zhang Sanfeng blocked the sword of Namgung Jin, who had rushed in while answering.

"Why on earth are you involved in something like this?"

"Because that is the only way for the Namgung to survive."

Namgung Jin's voice, as if he had given up on everything.

At the appearance of a victim, Zhang Sanfeng was enraged.

"Did you also annihilate the Baek family clan with such an excuse?"

"It is not an excuse."

Clang!

Once again, their swords clashed.

Namgung Jin's sword was the sword of a resigned man, with no force in it.

Therefore.

'I can cut him down at any time. But.'

Zhang Sanfeng could not cut him down.

A man he had spent time with like a brother.

Because he was a man with whom he, along with Baek Sowol, had spent their childhood.

"Sowol was also at the Baek family clan! Didn't she follow you well!"

"The Young Master knows nothing."

Clang!

Namgung Jin's sword was parried by Zhang Sanfeng's sword, and that sword left his hand and was stuck in the ground.

Seeing Namgung Jin, who had lost his sword, Zhang Sanfeng was about to pass him, but.

"Don't block me."

Namgung Jin blocked his path.

"If you block me, I will cut you down."

Zhang Sanfeng raised his sword and aimed it at his neck.

But Namgung Jin blocked Zhang Sanfeng as if he didn't care about the blade digging into his neck and opened his mouth.

"Young Master Cheon. Please run away. It doesn't matter if you run away to the far Western Regions or the North. Wherever it is, please leave this Central Plains."

Namgung Jin continued to approach Zhang Sanfeng.

"What kind of nonsense is that!"

Zhang Sanfeng asked with a trembling hand, aiming his sword.

"Soon, the Central Plains will be dyed with a black sky."

"A black sky?"

"Young Master Cheon has certainly become stronger. And I have also witnessed the profound martial arts of the one called the White Robed Sword Immortal who was with you."

"If it were me, maybe not, but if it's Brother Baek."

As Baek Yoonjun was mentioned, Zhang Sanfeng strongly affirmed.

A being more profound than any martial artist he had seen.

Although he did not try to get involved in the affairs of the world due to his unpretentious and humble nature, a being who would be the first to save people in front if such a crisis came.

The Baek Yoonjun that Zhang Sanfeng knew was such a person.

"If it's Brother Baek, he will be able to solve any threat that comes."

"No, that is not so. No matter how profound he is, he is an individual."

Namgung Jin firmly denied such words from Zhang Sanfeng.

"An individual cannot press down the heavens."

Namgung Jin's appearance was filled with resignation.

A deep despair imbued with the conviction that he could not be saved by anything.

At his such appearance, Zhang Sanfeng felt as if his heart was being torn apart.

But he moved forward.

"I will ask later when this matter is resolved."

He suppressed Namgung Jin, who was blocking him, knocked him to the ground, and moved forward.

"Don't go!"

Namgung Jin grabbed Zhang Sanfeng's ankle and clung to him.

"If this fails, the Namgung will be exterminated."

Words that seemed to hold Zhang Sanfeng's ankle continued to flow from his mouth.

"Young Master..."

Zhang Sanfeng keenly felt the emotion in his words.

"Do not get involved in this matter."

A worry for himself.

"I will save the Namgung. So please run away."

And the wish for the Namgung to survive.

Because that wish felt true, Zhang Sanfeng continued to feel a pain as if his bones were breaking.

But.

"If we have to survive by doing something like this, it is better to be exterminated."

Zhang Sanfeng moved forward.

Even while feeling a pain as if his bones were breaking.

"And rather than running away after seeing injustice, I will stand tall and die."

Having given all his answers to Namgung Jin, Zhang Sanfeng kicked off from his spot.

"Namu Shinmitabul... Gwan Shin Jeuk Buldo... Namu Shinmitabul... Gwan Shin Jeuk Buldo..."

Having increased the distance in an instant, Zhang Sanfeng rushed towards the monk who was still chanting something like a strange, incomprehensible Buddhist prayer and ringing a bell.

Unlike when he had faced Namgung Jin, his current sword aimed at the monk without any shaking.

Slice.

He cut off the neck in a single blow.

The monk's neck fell from his body with an almost futile ease.

The body of the monk whose neck had fallen collapsed on the spot.

Tinkle.

Naturally, the bell that had been in his hand also fell to the ground, and a sound like a death rattle echoed quietly.

'This easily?'

Zhang Sanfeng looked down at the monk's corpse with a dazed heart.

The monk's corpse, as if its life had ended, stiffened after a very brief convulsion.

Unlike the jiangshi, who did not die even if their necks were cut off, it seemed he had certainly ended his life.

'It is true that I swung the sword with a desperate mindset, but no matter how I think about it, he gave up his neck too easily.'

Unable to shake off the uneasy feeling, Zhang Sanfeng assessed the situation.

'Since I have cut down this man, it won't get any worse now.'

Thinking so, Zhang Sanfeng stepped on the bell that had fallen on the ground.

Crunch.

The bell crumbled too easily, as if it had been powder from the beginning.

Unable to shake off the uneasy feeling, Zhang Sanfeng joined the battlefield.

And he saw.

"Kuaaaaaaah!!"

The beings who were turning from human to jiangshi, as if mocking him.

'Why? I definitely got rid of that monk and the bell!'

The situation had not improved at all.

At the endlessly swarming group of jiangshi, Zhang Sanfeng felt the strength in the hand holding the sword gradually draining.

'Even Brother Baek is not in good condition now. What on earth should I do!'

Just as Zhang Sanfeng's heart was being dyed with despair.

Whoosh.

A faint wind blew, as if washing away that despair.

'This is?!'

Zhang Sanfeng turned his gaze along the flow of the wind.

There, was the wind itself.

---

'So that's what it was.'

Baek Yoonjun's movements, as he faced Seo Heoyun, gradually began to change.

'Just because I don't have internal energy and the Heart Sword doesn't mean the time I've spent swinging the sword disappears.'

The sword he had swung without rest after being cooped up in the mountains.

Even if he lost everything, that time still remained for Baek Yoonjun.

Realizing that, Baek Yoonjun gradually began to regain his movements.

Baek Yoonjun's sword, in which that time was melted, was a sword with neither internal energy nor anything else, but its precision and sharpness were second to none.

'When I obtained the Heart Sword, I thought I had lost my internal energy.'

That was not Baek Yoonjun's only realization.

'I thought that except for the Heart Sword, my own martial power had actually weakened.'

The situation where all his internal energy was forged into the Heart Sword when he obtained it.

In that situation, Baek Yoonjun had thought he had lost his internal energy.

'But, it wasn't that I had lost it.'

Now that he couldn't use the Heart Sword.

At the point where he thought he was at his weakest, Baek Yoonjun realized.

'It was unnecessary.'

A faint wind began to blow around Baek Yoonjun.

'Internal energy is the act of accumulating the energy of nature in the body.'

The wind began to blow more and more strongly around Baek Yoonjun.

'The energy of nature is all over the place to begin with. If so, what is the reason to change it and store it in the body?'

As if Baek Yoonjun himself were the center of the wind, the flow of all the wind was directed towards Baek Yoonjun.

'I hadn't lost it. It was unnecessary.'

As Baek Yoonjun understood himself, the wind blowing around him was felt by him.

'All the wind here now is mine.'

The surrounding wind blew according to Baek Yoonjun's will.

"No."

The wind naturally imbued his sword.

"It is me."

Slice.

He lightly cut down the sword of the opponent in front of him, Seo Heoyun.

"W-what?! I didn't feel any energy at all!"

Seo Heoyun, whose sword was cut by Baek Yoonjun's sword, was astonished.

But that astonishment did not last long.

It wasn't just Seo Heoyun's sword that was cut.

His neck, with a face dyed in astonishment, slid off his body.

Having confirmed that Seo Heoyun's neck had fallen, Baek Yoonjun quietly sheathed the Black Iron Dark Night, on which not even blood was stained.

'This is the true power of the second-rate.'

Baek Yoonjun now felt a power that truly matched his realm.

'It's on a different dimension of naturalness from when I used internal energy or when I used the Heart Sword like internal energy.'

He savored the energy of nature itself, which was different from both internal energy and the energy of the Heart Sword.

Now, Baek Yoonjun's mind-image was full of confidence.

'It's natural, right?'

It was very slightly full.

'It seems not...'

Although it wasn't full, since he had power, he didn't shrink back as much as before.

Having gathered the surrounding energy, Baek Yoonjun checked his condition.

'I still don't feel any energy like internal energy in my body. But it feels like the surrounding wind itself has become me.'

Baek Yoonjun quietly turned his gaze.

There, Tang Yuhwa, who seemed to have come to her senses, was looking up at Baek Yoonjun.

"Master. Are you okay now?"

Although Tang Yuhwa had not been able to properly come to her senses even when Baek Yoonjun had rushed in.

'Did you notice my condition even in the midst of that?'

With a proud heart, Baek Yoonjun quietly stroked Tang Yuhwa's head.

"I'm fine."

"Still, don't overdo it."

"Don't worry."

Saying so, Baek Yoonjun turned his gaze.

There, the jiangshi were still overflowing and attacking people.

Baek Yoonjun naturally moved his feet towards that place.

"I'm just going to sweep through."

Having said that, Baek Yoonjun's figure flowed as it was.

---

Here and now, the strongest martial artist besides Baek Yoonjun was Gu Wolju.

'There is no end.'

But even he was gradually getting tired as he faced the endlessly swarming jiangshi.

The jiangshi, which had been continuously increasing, were now at a point where there were more of them than people.

And so, Gu Wolju was getting tired, but.

"Are you okay?"

"Th-thank you! Great Hero!"

He continued to save people.

Because he thought that was how he was repaying the grace he had received from Baek Yoonjun.

'I might die here today.'

Gu Wolju continued to swing his sword.

'But the spirit of Qingcheng that the Immortal left behind will remain even if the heavens collapse.'

And just as he had saved dozens of people, dozens of jiangshi attacked Gu Wolju.

Gu Wolju, who was exhausted to the point of exhaustion, didn't even have the strength to hold his sword, but.

'Because the wind blows everywhere.'

He threw his body towards the jiangshi to buy time for people to escape.

'This is my end.'

Gu Wolju foresaw the end.

By the side of such a Gu Wolju.

Whoosh.

A very faint but warm wind blew.

(End of Chapter)