Sreuk.

Namgung Jehyun took his hand off Baek Sowol's back and stood up from his seat.

A much more shabby appearance than before.

It was a sight like an old man on the verge of death, at the end of his life.

Namgung Jehyun, who had stood up from his seat, stood in front of Baek Sowol, who was struggling to compose herself while sitting cross-legged.

"You will not be able to move for a few days."

Saying so, he fumbled in Baek Sowol's bosom.

"Here it is."

Namgung Jehyun found the piece of the Wu Hou's Eight Gates Formation Diagram that he had handed over from Baek Sowol's bosom.

"You... bastard..."

Seeing this, Baek Sowol gritted her teeth.

He had made her unable to move and had taken back the Wu Hou's Eight Gates Formation Diagram that he had handed over.

Looking at it this way, it seemed he had no choice but to have an impure purpose.

'But then why did he transfer his internal energy?'

It didn't add up.

If he had an impure purpose, he would never have done something like transferring his internal energy.

On top of that, it wasn't a small amount.

The current appearance of Namgung Jehyun looked like a candle with only a residual flame left, just before it went out.

At a rough estimate, it seemed he had transferred seventy percent of his power to Baek Sowol.

'Why on earth?!'

Baek Sowol was confused.

Leaving behind such a confused Baek Sowol, Namgung Jehyun quietly made a small wound on his finger and sprinkled it on the piece of the Wu Hou's Eight Gates Formation Diagram.

"Rest assured. It will act differently from how it acted on Mount Song. It will prevent beasts and people from approaching until you finish your circulation."

Saying so, Namgung Jehyun quietly placed the piece of the Wu Hou's Eight Gates Formation Diagram in front of Baek Sowol and then turned his back.

Holding his broken sword from Mount Song tightly, he moved his feet.

Seeing that, Baek Sowol gritted her teeth.

She squeezed out a voice that was difficult to produce.

"Don't... you... run... away..."

Baek Sowol's voice echoed pitifully in the quiet forest.

Although she didn't know what emotion was actually contained in it, perhaps because it was a squeezed-out voice, it sounded that way.

At that voice, Namgung Jehyun quietly turned around.

A very shabby appearance, like a candle that was about to go out at any moment.

But his eyes, at least, were burning more fiercely than ever before.

"Run away."

The final flare of a dying candle.

Baek Sowol felt that that flame was so.

"My life so far has been a flight."

The burning flame turned its back and then moved its feet towards Nanjing.

"I have finally returned to the right path."

Although Namgung Jehyun's steps were slow, the distance between him and Baek Sowol quickly widened.

Although Baek Sowol could not move, due to the trace of the upper dantian being opened, she could vividly feel his footsteps.

As soon as Namgung Jehyun entered Nanjing, he moved his feet to the imperial palace.

Arriving at the main gate of the imperial palace, Namgung Jehyun shouted proudly.

"I! Namgung Jehyun!!"

Although it was an old and shabby voice, that pride contained an aura that could shake Mount Tai.

"Having ended a long wandering, I have now returned to the right path!"

He did not stop his steps.

"As a single martial artist!"

He drew his sword.

"No!"

The aura of a proud king was imbued in Namgung Jehyun's sword.

"As a single martial world person!!"

Namgung Jehyun raised his sword.

"I will challenge the black sky!"

He struck down with his sword.

That sight was vividly seen and felt by Baek Sowol.

Namgung Jehyun's sword was different from before.

It was also different from the king's sword that Baek Sowol's master, Baek Yoonjun, had shown.

The life of a man who had wandered, lost his way endlessly, and fallen shabby, and yet had finally returned to his own path at the end, was imbued in it.

The path that was the beginning and end of his life.

That path was indeed a path that could be compared to a king.

'Why... am I...?'

For a moment, Baek Sowol bit her lip and swallowed a bitter laugh at the fact that she was not looking at Namgung Jehyun as an enemy.

The conflicting emotions of acknowledging and not acknowledging collided, and she eventually closed her eyes.

'I will not see or remember such an appearance of yours.'

Having seen Namgung Jehyun strike down his sword towards the main gate of the imperial palace, Baek Sowol closed her five senses and focused on her inner self.

She focused on collecting her energy and enlightenment.

And so, after all the collecting was over, Baek Sowol opened her eyes.

A long time had passed, and Namgung Jehyun's energy was no longer felt.

She didn't know if it was because Namgung Jehyun had died, or because the effect of the upper dantian being opened had completely faded.

'No, he's alive.'

Having such a premonition, Baek Sowol quietly got up from her seat.

A foul smell pierced Baek Sowol's nose.

"Ugh."

It seemed to be the effect of the turbid energy inside her body escaping to the outside.

Looking at her skin, it had become smoother, and her skeleton also felt more mobile and harder than before.

'Is this the effect of entering the realm of the peak?'

Baek Sowol roughly tidied up her surroundings, found a nearby stream, washed her body, and washed her clothes.

Having finished tidying up to some extent, Baek Sowol headed for Nanjing.

The huge and splendid appearance of Nanjing did not enter her eyes.

The splendid appearance of the imperial palace also did not enter her eyes.

Just the trace of a sword strike, which contained everything of a man, left on the gate, was all that entered her eyes.

Baek Sowol quietly took her eyes off that trace and walked the splendid streets of Nanjing.

'I can feel it.'

A very faint.

She quietly moved her feet, following a familiar energy.

And so, moving her feet, she entered a shabby alley away from the center of Nanjing.

After walking for a long time through a shabby den made by vagrants, Baek Sowol came face to face with a being that was emitting a familiar energy.

His whole body was in rags, and his limbs were unable to move, as if the muscles and veins had been cut.

His two eyes were empty, as if they had been plucked out.

"A-eu-eo-eu-eo."

He couldn't even speak properly, as if his tongue had been cut.

Baek Sowol could clearly tell that his life was over.

She could tell that the life that was attached to him now was the remnant of a fire that had burned out.

Looking at him, Baek Sowol smiled bitterly.

"You're in a fine mess."

Unlike her words, Baek Sowol's face looked very bitter.

"I'm glad you're alive."

Baek Sowol quietly drew her sword.

For some reason, the sword felt heavier than usual.

"So that I can kill you."

Lifting the heavy sword with difficulty, she struck down at Namgung Jehyun's neck.

At that moment, Namgung Jehyun smiled.

It was a clear, relieved smile, as if he had let go of everything.

Baek Sowol flinched.

Her sword stopped near Namgung Jehyun's neck.

"What did you do so well..."

Baek Sowol gritted her teeth with her sword stopped.

"You are the worst human being."

Although Baek Sowol's face looked endlessly cold, a slight wetness formed in the corners of her eyes.

"It's not just me. Everyone will remember you as the worst human being."

Baek Sowol's sword trembled slightly.

There was only a trembling, and the sword, as if fixed there, could not advance an inch.

"Even if not, I will make it so."

Baek Sowol quietly sheathed her sword.

"So die ugly, as befits you."

Namgung Jehyun, listening to Baek Sowol's voice, which he could not see or hear well, was still smiling.

A moment later, his breath gradually weakened.

And he died.

It was an endlessly shabby and shabby end.

Baek Sowol turned her back on the shabby him and looked at the towering imperial palace.

Quietly looking at the imperial palace, which had an aura as if it would reach the sky, she quietly opened her mouth.

"In the end, is that where it started?"

A cold chill hung on the face of the muttering Baek Sowol.

"The imperial palace, the Son of Heaven, and..."

Spreading a murderous aura, Baek Sowol did not take her eyes off the imperial palace.

"The black sky."

After glaring at the imperial palace for a long time, Baek Sowol quietly took her eyes off it and turned her feet in the opposite direction of the imperial palace.

"The sword I have sheathed now will reach your necks."

That day, a man ended his life shabby.

"I will return soon. At that time."

The girl who had called herself the Heavenly Demon.

"I will burn everything of yours."

She became the Heavenly Demon.

After the battle at Shaolin ended.

The martial artists, without exception, all collected the corpses.

"I'm sorry for being late."

In the middle of that, the martial monks who had been outside Shaolin joined, and the martial artists of the Cheongseong Sect, Emei Sect, and Diancang Sect joined Shaolin.

"Shaolin welcomes the visit of Cheongseong, Emei, and Diancang."

Thanks to the increase in people, the collection of the corpses proceeded quickly.

And so, after the collection of the corpses was over, a funeral was held.

Regardless of friend or foe, all the deceased were cremated in the Shaolin way.

"May you attain nirvana. Namo Amitabha."

The funeral of the deceased was led by Shinseung.

Although he had received treatment, the complexion of Shinseung, who had suffered a fatal wound, was pale.

Although he looked as if he were about to die, Shinseung recited the scriptures for each and every one of the deceased and moved the corpses to a temporarily prepared crematorium.

Fwoosh.

The flames that had previously burned the pavilions of Shaolin now comforted the souls of the deceased and slowly erased their bodies from the world.

The funeral of the deceased continued for several days and nights.

And so, after the funeral was over, the time came to discuss the disposition of the prisoners.

A situation where the alliance leader and military strategist who had led them had disappeared, and the renowned martial artists had been neutralized.

On top of that, since the martial monks of Shaolin had returned and the sects had joined, there was no great resistance.

No, they couldn't.

The existence of the person who had ended the war almost single-handedly.

A martial artist with white hair, in a white robe, possessing a black sword.

Regardless of friend or foe, there was only one word to refer to him.

The White-Robed Sword Immortal.

Every martial artist who had encountered him called him that with fear and respect.

It did not matter whether he was the White-Robed Sword Immortal of the past or not.

Just his deeds in Shaolin were enough to be called by that title.

His fame shook the heavens and the earth and spread in all directions.

And the person himself, Baek Yoonjun.

"It's cozy."

He was cooped up in the deepest part of the Repentance Cave of Shaolin.

It wasn't that someone had cooped him up.

He had come and cooped himself up on his own.

'Although there are fewer people than in Sichuan, the burden is even greater.'

The reason he was cooped up here was for no particular reason.

'Why is everyone looking at me so burdensomely? What's the big deal about beating up a few third-rate or lower martial artists?'

Every single person he met had shown a burdensome gaze.

The residence in Shaolin where he had stayed before was also quite deep, but the gazes did not stop.

In the end, Baek Yoonjun fled to the grotto, but the gazes were still there.

Although they did not openly invade the grotto, Baek Yoonjun's unintentionally sharp senses caught all such gazes, which was burdensome.

And so, Baek Yoonjun, after searching and searching, finally found the deepest part of the Repentance Cave and cooped himself up without looking back.

'If it's this place, I can stay quietly for a while.'

Baek Yoonjun planned to stay cooped up here quietly for a while and then join the Cheongseong Sect when they returned to Sichuan.

'They seem busy, so when will they leave?'

The funeral, the prisoner problem, maintenance, there seemed to be a lot of things to talk about.

Although Baek Yoonjun had also been invited to that place, he had only prayed for the repose of the deceased in a corner during the funeral and had immediately cooped himself up here.

'I hope they don't coop up too many prisoners.'

The Repentance Cave of Shaolin was quite spacious.

But there seemed to be many prisoners.

Baek Yoonjun prayed that people would not enter this quiet place he had barely found.

And so, in the head of Baek Yoonjun, who was praying to all sorts of gods for this place to be quiet, various thoughts came to mind.

'Where did Sowol go?'

The most important problem was, of course, Baek Sowol's whereabouts.

Although Baek Yoonjun had clearly seen Baek Sowol, when he looked for her after the fight was over, she was not there.

'That scary young lady? She followed the alliance leader.'

At least when he asked Hong Yungae, he was able to find out where Baek Sowol had gone.

'By the way, to think that the person I scathingly criticized as pathetic was the alliance leader.'

Thinking of Baek Sowol, Baek Yoonjun quickly went off on a tangent.

It was not particularly strange, as it was one of the characteristics of a homebody introvert to have one's attention easily diverted to other places no matter what one was doing.

'If he's the alliance leader, it must be a very high position, but he was weak.'

Baek Yoonjun pondered.

'Don't they look at martial power?'

Although he had reached the third-rate by Baek Yoonjun's standards at the end, it seemed he had barely reached it by drawing on his innate energy.

The alliance leader, who did not look strong in martial power at all.

'It's not like he sat in that position by playing ttakji, so maybe he had popularity or knowledge.'

As he accepted that, it seemed to make sense. Baek Yoonjun moved on to the next problem.

'By the way, since I beat up the alliance leader, will there be a problem later?'

Baek Yoonjun was lost in thought again.

'I'm not afraid of the second-rate. But.'

In Baek Yoonjun's head, the sight of numerous first-rate masters chasing him came to mind.

They all had bizarre appearances, such as having three arms or five eyes.

'What if first-rate or higher masters come looking for me?'

Baek Yoonjun was afraid.

And at the same time, a question came to mind.

'But why haven't I seen a master of the third-rate or higher until now?'

A valid question, a question that he didn't know why it had come to him only now.

'Wait! By the way, I'm a second-rate, right? A second-rate is!!'

But Baek Yoonjun had once again reached a conclusion that was read as an answer and written as a blunder.

'A second-rate is a state where the internal energy has been replaced by the Heart Sword! In other words, it's a state where it seems there is no internal energy, right?'

Baek Yoonjun's huge blunder went over the opponent's goalpost and headed for his own goalpost.

'In other words, does it mean that a second-rate or higher looks like an ordinary person, not a martial artist?'

And so, Baek Yoonjun scored a fantastic long-range shot into his own goalpost.

'Could it be that among the people I have felt were ordinary people until now, there was a martial artist of the second-rate or higher?'

A cold sweat ran down Baek Yoonjun's back like crazy.

'I need a deeper! Deeper! And safer residence!!'

And so, as Baek Yoonjun was making a huge blunder in the deepest part of the Repentance Cave.

"Master, are you here?"

A being who had found him like a ghost, even though Baek Yoonjun had cooped himself up without telling anyone, visited.

(End of Chapter)