Baek Sowol struggled to hold onto her fading consciousness and tried to warn Baek Yoonjun, but it was a futile act.

Before she could even blink, Baek Yoonjun had arrived in front of Namgung Jehyun.

'What just happened?'

Before she could even grasp what had happened, Namgung Jehyun's body bent like a bow and flew away.

The man who had been crushing the martial artists here with overwhelming force was flying through the air without any warning.

That sight was so bizarre and unrealistic that it was even comical.

The only thing Baek Sowol could grasp now was.

'Just now.'

The fact that Baek Yoonjun had stealthily lowered his foot, which she didn't know when he had lifted.

'Did Master kick him?'

She could only infer that Baek Yoonjun had just kicked him.

Baek Yoonjun went down the mountain as if he were taking a walk.

A moment later, Baek Sowol, who had recovered enough to move her body, struggled to move her feet, following the path she thought Baek Yoonjun had gone down.

A situation where her head was not working due to the shock.

'What on earth is happening?'

The situation that unfolded after that was also shocking.

Namgung Jehyun, whom she had thought was an overwhelming strong person, was rolling at Baek Yoonjun's feet like trash.

Namgung Jehyun struggled ugly and unfolded the king's sword, which had seemed to have no one to stand against until just now.

Baek Yoonjun lightly foiled even that sword.

'I don't know. I can't feel anything from Master, but what on earth is that overwhelming martial power?'

The current Baek Yoonjun, who looked no different from an ordinary person, continued to lightly push Namgung Jehyun.

As if pushing him was not enough, he took the same ready stance as Namgung Jehyun.

A proudly raised sword, as if declaring that he was the king.

By that sword, which felt on a different level from when Namgung Jehyun had unfolded it.

'The sky?!'

The sky opened.

The sky split, and a light shone down on the single existence of Baek Yoonjun, shining intensely.

As if it would only allow that one single existence now.

Through that open gap, a huge something looked down.

Something that could not be known or understood.

But for some reason, Baek Sowol could know what it was.

'An absolute king.'

A being who reigned absolutely above.

The king of kings.

The Supreme Emperor.

The form of a king that no one could question was revealed.

At the same time as the king's gaze turned to the lower world, Baek Yoonjun's sword slowly fell.

At the same time, the king stretched out his hand towards the lower world.

One finger of a hand larger than Mount Tai was aimed at Namgung Jehyun.

It was a sight like crushing an ant.

"Keu, kuaaaaaaak!!"

Namgung Jehyun struggled and blocked the finger that was like Mount Tai.

He struggled ugly and screamed.

In that process, as if he were drawing on his innate energy, which was the source of his life, he began to age and shrivel at a rate visible to the naked eye.

His dark hair instantly turned white, and his skin began to dry up like a rotten old tree.

"Keoheok... keuheok...!!"

As he blinked once, the phenomenon of the Supreme Emperor disappeared.

In that short time that had passed, the strongest martial artist Baek Sowol had faced was gone, and there was only an old and shabby old man on the verge of death.

Baek Yoonjun, as if he had no intention of completely cutting down that old man, sheathed his sword.

The old man, Namgung Jehyun, who seemed about to die even if left alone.

Namgung Jehyun's eyes were dead, and tears mixed with blood were welling up and flowing down.

"That... what on earth is that sword?"

The shabby old man asked politely with a shabby appearance.

Baek Yoonjun was silent for a moment and then answered quietly.

"The King's Sword Form."

His voice echoed quietly in the surroundings.

The people who had gathered around Baek Yoonjun and Namgung Jehyun at some point, no one could refute that name.

A sword that was more of a king itself.

Hearing Baek Yoonjun's answer, Namgung Jehyun bowed his head as if ashamed and sobbed for a long time.

"The sword I... I wanted to reach..."

"It was originally your sword."

"But I couldn't reach it. Why..."

The sobbing Namgung Jehyun slowly raised his head.

"No... I think I know..."

The eyes of the old and shabby old Namgung Jehyun became as clear as a boy's.

"If I wanted to be a king... a king, I should have confronted him proudly without using petty tricks... so that's why I couldn't reach it."

Namgung Jehyun struggled to raise his old body and then politely performed a fist-and-palm salute.

"Thank you for giving me enlightenment. I will correct it now."

Having politely performed a fist-and-palm salute, Namgung Jehyun struggled to lead his old body, turned his back, and walked away.

It was the footsteps of an old and shabby person, different from the proud steps of before.

Looking at that back, Baek Yoonjun muttered.

"He has reached the third-rate."

Although there were many people around, only Baek Sowol could understand Baek Yoonjun's muttering.

'Master has acknowledged him.'

Third-rate.

The most shabby realm for a martial artist.

But for her master, Baek Sowol, the third-rate was an acknowledgment itself.

'Although he is an unparalleled villain. Why can that person be acknowledged as a third-rate by Master?'

Baek Sowol fell into a deep sense of self-deprecation.

'Why did Master acknowledge that person?'

In addition to the sense of self-deprecation, numerous emotions raged in her heart.

A sense of self-deprecation, a sense of powerlessness, a sense of futility.

All sorts of negative emotions welled up and dyed her heart black.

And what acted decisively on that heart that was being dyed black was.

"Master!"

After witnessing Tang Yuhwa, who had come at some point, rush towards Baek Yoonjun.

'Master? Did you say Master?'

What filled Baek Sowol's head was a single question, 'Why?'.

It was not a question about Baek Yoonjun having taken on a new disciple.

The problem was that Tang Yuhwa's disposition was completely different from Baek Sowol's.

'Completely different from me...'

Unlike Baek Sowol, Tang Yuhwa was sincere in saving people.

'I only thought about martial arts that harm people... Master's teachings also said never to forgive villains...'

Baek Sowol had faithfully followed such teachings, and she had thought that her master was also such a person.

"Master, it's been a long time."

"...Stay away a little."

The appearance of the master with Tang Yuhwa was completely different.

For some reason, unlike the affectionate but strict master in Baek Sowol's memory, his appearance with Tang Yuhwa looked very friendly.

'He didn't show me that side...'

Tang Yuhwa clung to Baek Yoonjun's body without any hesitation, which Baek Sowol herself had found difficult to touch.

'Why?'

Baek Yoonjun showed a troubled appearance that he had never shown to Baek Sowol.

'Was I... was I not a real disciple...?'

A mind-image that was being dyed black.

Baek Sowol found it difficult to be in that place.

Quietly retreating from her seat, Baek Sowol quietly followed Namgung Jehyun, who had disappeared from that place.

After Baek Yoonjun appeared and Namgung Jehyun was overwhelmingly defeated and disappeared, the battle entered a lull.

The man in white.

Because of the existence of that one man, there was no martial artist with the guts to dare to wield martial power now.

The battle of Shaolin was completely over because of Baek Yoonjun.

And Baek Yoonjun, who had ended the battle.

"Stay away a little."

"I don't want to."

"Are you a cicada?"

He was climbing Mount Song with Tang Yuhwa clinging to him.

"Master!!"

"Brother Baek!"

In that process, the familiar faces he had just seen rushed at him.

"It's been a long time, everyone."

Hong Yungae, Zhuge Hwaryeong, Zhang Sanfeng.

Baek Yoonjun greeted them all warmly.

'It's really been a long time.'

Having warmly greeted the familiar faces, Baek Yoonjun continued to climb Mount Song.

'Although it's nice to see familiar people...'

In that process, the numerous people who had been watching the battle between Baek Yoonjun and Namgung Jehyun followed.

'Why are there so many people, so burdensome?'

A situation where the existence that drew attention, Namgung Jehyun, who was inferior to him in character, had disappeared.

Baek Yoonjun was once again feeling burdened by the gazes of the people.

'Where did he go?'

Baek Yoonjun quietly recalled the situation from just before.

Since he had shown a pretty plausible sword, he had returned it.

Namgung Jehyun, who had received that sword, had struggled.

'He aged in a flash, right?'

Baek Yoonjun thought about that phenomenon on his own.

'It felt like he had drawn on his innate life force itself, right?'

A feeling different from internal energy.

In a way, it was a feeling that seemed similar to the Heart Sword.

'If it were before, I think I could have done it.'

But he couldn't now.

It felt as if even that innate life force had been used to forge the Heart Sword.

It wasn't that life itself had weakened or been extinguished.

On the contrary.

'It feels like I won't die from old age now, right?'

For some reason, Baek Yoonjun felt that his lifespan was now meaningless.

A feeling of not being bound by it itself.

'Well, since it was a problem I didn't particularly care about before, it doesn't really hit me.'

Baek Yoonjun finished his thoughts about the innate energy.

At that, the burdensome crowd of people came into his eyes again.

An unbearable burden.

If it were the usual Baek Yoonjun, it was a situation where he would have dug a burrow right away, but he couldn't now.

Because, at the very least, if he had even a shred of character, there was something he had to do.

What came into the sight of Baek Yoonjun, who had climbed Mount Song and arrived at the main gate of Shaolin, was the corpse of a man.

'Elder...'

Hyunjun Hyun.

It wasn't that they had seen each other for a long time.

But they had cut down a group of assassins together, and above all, he was a man who had been favorable to Baek Yoonjun himself.

'An old man, what was he in such a hurry for...'

Baek Yoonjun became miserable at the death of a person he knew.

He had no particular thoughts about his own death, or the death of villains, or the death of others.

But the death of a person he knew somehow came to him very heavily.

'Did I send him away for nothing?'

Baek Yoonjun recalled Namgung Jehyun, whom he had just sent away.

Although he was not sure, it was predicted that the one who had cut down Hyunjun Hyun was Namgung Jehyun.

But.

'My heart has become weak.'

The completely aged Namgung Jehyun looked like a very small flame that was about to go out at any moment.

At the shabby appearance that seemed about to collapse at any moment, Baek Yoonjun had felt a small pity.

And it wasn't that he had let him go just out of pity.

'His gaze, no, his feeling has changed, and he's the first person I've seen who has reached the third-rate.'

Namgung Jehyun, who had received the sword strike that Baek Yoonjun had roughly named the King's Sword Form, had changed from his gaze.

Although he had thought he was a more pathetic and lower-class human than Baek Yoonjun himself, he had changed after aging in a flash.

A sight of having completely found his own path.

On top of that, a martial artist who had reached the third-rate, whom he had seen for the first time, not a hallucination.

At such a sight, Baek Yoonjun could not conclude that he was a villain and could not cut him down.

'Anyway, since it seems he will die a natural death soon, let's not mind it.'

Baek Yoonjun thought that he had avenged Hyunjun Hyun just by putting Namgung Jehyun in a state where he would soon die a natural death.

'Rest in peace.'

Having finished his thoughts, Baek Yoonjun quietly collected Hyunjun Hyun's body.

As Baek Yoonjun began to collect Hyunjun Hyun's body, everyone who had gathered there, regardless of friend or foe, began to collect the surrounding corpses.

After the battle at Shaolin ended.

That story spread in all directions.

In that process, numerous heroic tales were born.

"The leader, who leads the ten million members of the Beggars' Sect, stood proudly in front of the Martial Alliance leader! His spirit truly made the heavens and the earth cry!!"

Although the fact that the source of the story was a beggar was strange, no one took issue with it.

"No, why are you listening to a beggar's words so seriously?"

There were none at all.

Looking at the beggar who was speaking passionately in the marketplace, a man frowned and expressed his question.

"This person is saying something that will cause a big problem!"

The man's friend, who was next to him, hit the back of his head.

"That person is not just a beggar. Do you see the straw rope on his waist?"

"So what?"

As the man looked at the beggar, the beggar was wearing a single straw rope on his waist, and the end of the straw rope was tied with three knots.

"The knot on that straw rope! That person is not just a beggar, but a hero of the Beggars' Sect!"

The man looked at his friend, who was making a fuss, with dumbfounded eyes.

In modern terms, it was a look that felt like, 'What's that? You nerd.'

But the friend of the man who was making a fuss, as if he felt a sense of superiority at such a gaze from the man, spoke proudly.

"The main character who stopped the Shaolin disaster! Although he is a being at the bottom, do you not know those who stand proudly against injustice? You have lived your life in vain!"

"No, a beggar is just a beggar..."

"Ahem!"

The man's friend talked about the Beggars' Sect for a full half a shichen.

The man felt as if his ears were bleeding and turned his head.

In such a man's eyes, an old beggar, dragging his body, came into view.

An indescribably shabby old beggar.

The man quietly pointed at that old beggar and asked.

"Is that beggar also from the Beggars' Sect?"

"Let's see."

The man's friend looked at the old beggar and then shook his head.

"There is no knot on his waist. That old beggar is just a beggar."

"I see. So you distinguish them by the knot?"

And so, the man and the man's friend talked about the Beggars' Sect for a long time.

The old beggar, who had long since moved away from their interest, had long since left that place with a shabby appearance, and a woman was following him from a distance.

(End of Chapter)