Bba-eong!

"Kuaaak!"

Several martial artists, who, by Baek Yoonjun's standards, did not know common sense, were kicked into the sky by his kick.

'Why are there so many guys who don't know common sense?'

The distinction was easy.

Because they were all wearing similar attire.

Baek Yoonjun kicked away all the martial artists of the alliance in similar attire.

"Stop! I am the hegemon of Hebei...!"

Whatever anyone said, if they were holding a sword and had blood on it, he kicked them.

'Was that a saber and not a sword just now?'

He continued to kick the martial artists in similar attire who had blood on their blades.

Surprisingly, no one died in the process.

'Killing in a temple is a bit...'

It was not out of respect for the temple or the sanctity of life, but simply due to the timid nature of a homebody introvert.

However, the scene that was unfolding as a result was an indescribably incomprehensible sight.

Baek Yoonjun passes by, and a martial artist of the alliance flies into the sky.

Although they flew towards the sky, they could not become stars and fell due to gravity.

It was a sight similar to a fireworks display made of humans.

However, unfortunately, the martial artist who flew up could not become a flame like a misfired firecracker and plunged ungracefully to the ground with a scream.

"Keoheok, keoheo-eok."

Surprisingly, although all the bones in their bodies were shattered and their qi and blood were twisted, no one had died.

Overwhelming.

In that incomprehensible sight, only Baek Yoonjun walked forward loftily.

The place where Baek Yoonjun's steps stopped was.

Fwoosh.

In front of the burning pavilion of Shaolin.

Baek Yoonjun looked at the burning Shaolin in vain.

'These guys even set fire to a temple?'

In Baek Yoonjun's mind, the evaluation of the villains of the alliance was revised to that of heinous villains.

Although the evaluation had changed.

"I am of the Hwangbo family clan... Kkueeeek!!"

The response was the same.

Baek Yoonjun kicked the martial artist who was about to say something and the surrounding martial artists, making them soar into the sky.

Having kicked away all the surrounding martial artists, Baek Yoonjun looked at the burning building with a miserable heart.

'If only there was a fire truck, I could have put out the fire.'

The building had not yet been completely burned down.

But there seemed to be no way to put out the fire.

'If only I could use my internal energy, I could have drawn the surrounding water and poured it on.'

Unfortunately, there was nothing Baek Yoonjun could do about the fire right now.

'It can't be helped.'

As Baek Yoonjun was about to give up and turn his feet, a word he had heard before came to his mind.

-Because this place is our home.

The words that Shinseung had said to Baek Yoonjun before.

For some reason, those words kept sticking in his mind.

'Home...'

To Baek Yoonjun, a home was nothing more than a refuge where he could coop himself up without any thought.

But the words that Shinseung had said as home, for some reason, felt different from the home that Baek Yoonjun thought of.

'It's bothering me.'

Baek Yoonjun's feet stopped.

He scratched his head roughly and turned his gaze to the burning pavilion.

'It's not like I can do anything, so why won't my feet move?'

No matter how he thought about it, there was nothing Baek Yoonjun could do.

'Ugh... is it that there's nothing at all?'

But there was something he could try.

'If I engage the bolt of my heart, won't something come out...?'

The bolt of the heart he had used when saving Cheon Suhye before.

He had been told he could use it a total of three times, so there were two times left.

The Baek Yoonjun of that time seemed to have become a completely different person, even to himself.

In such a state, he might be able to find a better idea than his current thoughts.

As that thought came to him, Baek Yoonjun engaged the bolt of his heart without hesitation.

An intangible bolt firmly locked Baek Yoonjun's mind-image.

After engaging the bolt of his heart, Baek Yoonjun could understand why the man of that time had said he could use the bolt three times.

'It's tattered.'

Although the bolt did not actually exist, Baek Yoonjun could tell that the bolt engaged in his heart was more tattered than before.

'First, let's do what needs to be done.'

The Baek Yoonjun with the engaged bolt felt all the idle thoughts and emotions in his head being washed away and quietly turned his eyes towards the flames.

'Fire... the situation is different, but it's not that different from when I turned Sister Suhye back into a person.'

The Baek Yoonjun with the engaged bolt, unlike usual, calmly brought his hand to the hilt of the Black Iron Dark Night.

Now that the useless idle thoughts and worries that always came to mind had been washed away.

More quietly than ever before, the Black Iron Dark Night was slowly drawn from its scabbard.

'What needs to be cut is not the visible fire, but the concept of fire itself.'

At the same time as the Heart Sword and Baek Yoonjun completely became one, the Black Iron Dark Night that had come out of its scabbard flashed for a moment.

There was no fierce wind, no flashing brilliance.

Just as if the word 'fire' had been erased from the world, the fierce demon of fire disappeared without a trace.

In the place where the flames had disappeared, there was not even the smoke that was a trace of combustion.

The fire around him, all of it, disappeared in an instant, as if its existence itself was not tolerated.

"The fire...?"

"It's gone...?"

A silence flowed for a moment.

At this moment, the martial artists of the alliance, the monks, and the beggars could only stare blankly at the traces of the fire that had disappeared like a mirage.

In the face of an impossible, incomprehensible event, a person's thoughts were bound to stop.

'As expected, it's the same as before.'

The Baek Yoonjun who had caused such a thing, however, nonchalantly sheathed the Black Iron Dark Night and moved his feet.

There was no one who dared to block such a Baek Yoonjun.

Baek Yoonjun walked through the middle of the battlefield as if he were taking a walk and arrived at the main gate a moment later.

There was no big reason why he had moved his feet in that direction.

It was just that a gentle breeze with a nostalgic feeling was blowing slowly towards the main gate, so he had just moved his feet along with the wind.

Namgung Jehyun stared blankly at Shaolin.

'What on earth is happening?'

Until just now, people had been flying in the sky like birds, and after that, the flames that had been burning Shaolin had disappeared in an instant.

In the face of a phenomenon he could not understand at all, he could only stare blankly at the main gate of Shaolin.

And so, at the main gate that Namgung Jehyun was staring at blankly, a man appeared.

A man with white hair, in a white robe, with a jet-black sword at his waist.

He was a man with an appearance that imitated the White-Robed Sword Immortal of the past, which could often be seen in the marketplace.

Namgung Jehyun could not take his eyes off the man's appearance, from which he could not even feel any internal energy.

'He's not a martial artist. Then is he just a worthless commoner? No, that's not it either.'

At the man's appearance, from which he could not feel anything, Namgung Jehyun's head became crazily confused.

He had no internal energy, and he could not see any trace of having learned martial arts.

Although he looked like a worthless commoner, it didn't seem that was it either.

'Is he even a person?'

If he had to express that being, which didn't even seem to be a person.

'Wind.'

For some reason, Namgung Jehyun felt the man in front of him was the wind.

'No? What am I thinking?!'

Namgung Jehyun realized that he had been lost in thought for a moment.

A cold sweat ran down the back of his neck.

'He's a dangerous person. I don't know why, but he's a dangerous being. I have to move first!'

He had a thought that if he did nothing, it would be irreversible.

Namgung Jehyun tried to forcibly move his unmoving legs, and at that moment.

"Did you do it?"

The man in white, who had been far away, was standing in front of Namgung Jehyun as if it were natural.

'When on earth!?'

At the impossible event, Namgung Jehyun blinked his eyes.

And the moment he blinked his eyes, the surrounding scenery had changed.

Until just now, he had clearly been at the main gate of Shaolin.

'The sky?!'

Now, around him, only a vast sky was spread out.

"What is this strange...?!"

Belatedly, Namgung Jehyun scanned his surroundings.

Only a blue sky was spread out vast.

"Keuk!"

At the same time as he realized he was in the sky, a heavy pain rose in his stomach.

"When on earth...?"

The feeling of a question was only for a very short moment.

Namgung Jehyun fell down in an instant and rolled ungracefully on the ground.

"Keoheuk! Keuk!!"

In the midst of the confusion of what on earth had happened, Namgung Jehyun, who had barely collected his senses, quickly scanned his surroundings.

"This... place is below Mount Song...?"

Although he had clearly been near the main gate of Shaolin, for some reason, he was now below Mount Song.

The place was one thing, but the heavy pain he felt in his stomach.

'When on earth was I hit?'

Namgung Jehyun could finally deduce his own situation.

No matter how he thought about it, the only conclusion was that he had been hit by the white-haired man from before and had flown all the way here.

He hadn't seen it, and he hadn't felt it.

On top of that.

'Under the influence of the Wu Hou's Eight Gates Formation Diagram, except for the martial artists of the alliance, internal energy should have been sealed, so how?!'

As that thought came to him, Namgung Jehyun felt the hair on his whole body stand on end.

"Impossible! Impossible!!"

An impossible situation.

An incomprehensible situation.

But Namgung Jehyun did not even have a moment to catch his breath in the incomprehensible situation.

Step.

The man from before was coming down the mountain as if he were taking a walk.

"So Void-Treading Steps don't work. I see. It's a situation where doing anything with internal energy itself is impossible."

The gaze of the man who had just arrived at the foot of the mountain was directed at Namgung Jehyun.

"Was it your doing?"

"Hup."

Namgung Jehyun shut his mouth and swallowed his breath.

His mind went white, as if he had become an idiot.

A situation he could not understand at all.

A being he could not understand.

Monster.

In a situation he could not understand or even think about, the only word Namgung Jehyun could come up with was a single character expressing strangeness.

"Well, since I'm not using internal energy right now, it doesn't matter."

The being of the monster slowly approached Namgung Jehyun.

"You dared to point a sword at Yuhwa."

With those words, the man stealthily raised his foot.

"Keok!"

At the same time, Namgung Jehyun felt his stomach being torn and rolled on the ground like trash.

"Keok... keoheok."

This time too, he hadn't seen it, and he hadn't felt it.

"It must have been your doing that you cut Sowol and Brother Zhang."

At the man's nonchalant muttering.

Slice.

Namgung Jehyun felt a burning sensation all over his body.

Drip.

Wounds as if cut by a sharp sword appeared all over his body in real time, and belatedly, blood flowed down.

'How on earth?! That man didn't even bring his hand to his sword!!'

Although Namgung Jehyun was crazily confused by the incomprehensible situation.

'If this continues, I'll be done for!!'

In the midst of the confusion, as befits a martial artist who had surpassed the transcendent, he quickly protected his body with his internal energy.

Slice.

"Kuaaak!!"

But it was meaningless.

Although it was a barrier of internal energy that could lightly block even blue blades and arrows.

'A formless blade!'

The formless blade was not affected in the slightest and continued to cut Namgung Jehyun's body.

'What on earth is it?!'

Although Namgung Jehyun was shocked, all he could do was be cut and struggle ugly.

"Yungae and Hwaryeong... well, they look healthy, so that's that. It seems they didn't even see me come."

At the same time as the man's muttering, the formless force that had been cutting Namgung Jehyun to pieces stopped.

"Keoheok! Heok, heok..."

Namgung Jehyun, who had finally found freedom for his body, let out a crazy groan and was barely able to get up.

Having struggled to get up, Namgung Jehyun met the man's eyes for a moment.

Black pupils like a bottomless pit.

As he met those indifferent eyes, Namgung Jehyun felt a fear as if he were looking into the abyss rise up through all the blood vessels in his body.

Although it seemed a scream would burst out at any moment, he could not even open his mouth.

"And."

The man with the indifferent black eyes muttered indifferently.

"It must have been you who cut down Elder Hyunjun Hyun."

Words that flowed out very indifferently, as if muttering.

'I'm going to die!'

Those words sounded like a death sentence to Namgung Jehyun.

'Like this!! I can't die like this!! How did I get this far!!'

Namgung Jehyun forcibly twisted his body like crazy.

Although it felt as if his blood vessels were twisting and his bones were getting tangled, Namgung Jehyun did not stop.

"I, I am...!!"

He grabbed his sword and struggled to draw it.

"I can't die like this! I can't!!"

The king's sword was unfolded with difficulty in Namgung Jehyun's hand.

The king's sword that sought to stand in the sky, surpassing the blue sky.

The sword, which seemed to reign above all things, pressed down on the world and fell on the white-haired man's head.

The man indifferently looked at the sword and then slowly stretched out his hand.

Although he had stretched it out slowly, that hand was advancing faster than Namgung Jehyun's sword.

'What?!'

The king's sword touched the man's hand.

No, it wasn't even a hand.

The man straightened his index finger and brought it to the blade, and the sword, as if blocked by a large wall, did not budge.

No matter how Namgung Jehyun struggled with all his might, the sword, as if fixed in that place, did not budge.

"Why! Why?! I barely set foot beyond the transcendent!! Whyyyy?!"

The man looked at such a Namgung Jehyun and opened his mouth nonchalantly.

"What nonsense are you talking about? A third-rate or lower."

"Wh-what?!"

"I'm saying don't talk nonsense about surpassing the transcendent when you're not even a third-rate. Didn't you understand?"

The man's indifferent words were deeply embedded in Namgung Jehyun's head as if they were a dagger.

'The fact that I surpassed the transcendent is nonsense?!'

The dagger crazily tore through Namgung Jehyun's head.

"Keolluk!"

Namgung Jehyun vomited blood and knelt.

"Th-th-third-rate or lower?!"

Third-rate or lower.

It was just a simple phrase.

"That's right. You are third-rate or lower."

"N-no! I definitely surpassed it!"

"Don't talk nonsense. Explain why a martial artist who has surpassed the transcendent is kneeling before a second-rate martial artist like me."

"Second-rate?!"

"That's right. Second-rate."

Second-rate.

The man's words 'second-rate' followed the words 'third-rate' and became a sharp dagger, turning Namgung Jehyun's insides into a mess.

'Third-rate? I'm third-rate or lower? And the man in front of me is a second-rate?!'

Although it was a statement that could clearly be dismissed as nonsense, the man's words themselves were imbued with power.

'H-h-how can I not refute it?!'

Words like an absolute sentence.

For a moment, Namgung Jehyun yielded to those words and was about to collapse.

"No! I am not third-rate or lower!!"

But in his head, the memories up until now flashed by like a revolving lantern, and he was barely able to stand without collapsing.

Grabbing his trembling legs, he somehow stood up and gripped his sword.

"My, my path! My life!! Is by no means third-rate or lower!!"

Although a sense of fear was crawling all over his body like crazy, he gritted his teeth, endured it, and gripped his sword.

It was the very image of desperation.

Namgung Jehyun, with a tragic appearance as if he had bet everything he had, confronting the world even if it denied him.

"I, I, I!! I cannot yield! I will not yield even if I die!"

It was a sight that seemed as if he would not yield even if crushed by Mount Tai, even in the face of death.

And the man in front of Namgung Jehyun, Baek Yoonjun.

'I just told him the truth, so why is he acting like a person whose life has been denied?'

He looked at Namgung Jehyun with dumbfounded eyes.

(End of Chapter)