Chapter 1

Slice—!

With a dull thud, a severed head fell to the ground.

A man with jet-black hair exhaled heavily, his eyes fixed on the tattoo of the character Blood etched onto the corpse’s forehead.

It was the mark worn only by the highest-ranking Blood Disciples of the Central Blood Sect—Zhongyuan's most formidable martial order.

The man slowly turned his back on the body.

Without a word, he began to ascend the snow-covered mountain, cloaked in a thick, suffocating fog.

His steps staggered. His arms trembled violently.

Anyone watching would’ve seen clearly—this was a man at the edge of collapse.

And still, he climbed.

Even if death awaited him at the summit, he had to go.

He didn’t stop walking.

Half a gyeong, a quarter-hour, half an hour... a full hour... two.

By the time five had passed, he halted.

Before him stood the ruins of the Everlasting Snow Palace—collapsed over a decade ago. He said nothing, did nothing, just stood there. Watching.

Silently, solemnly, he stared.

Another hour passed.

Then, at last, he clenched the sword in his hand with force.

A biting wind swept past his cheek.

He could feel it.

The pursuers from the Central Blood Sect—closing in fast.

Their killing intent weighed heavily upon the mountain, the overwhelming pressure of warriors who had reached the second realm of the Fivefold Path of the Martial God—Manifestation of the Infinite.

Among them, one presence in particular seemed powerful enough to shake the very heavens.

So this is it...

He muttered to himself.

Just then, five figures descended from the sky.

One of them—an imposing bald man—shouted at the top of his lungs:

“You ungrateful bastard! Lower than a stray dog!”

“Are you speaking to me?” the black-haired man replied calmly.

“Who the hell else would I be talking to?”

The man chuckled.

“Well, you’ve got four others standing right next to you, Elder.”

“You little—!”

But the man’s smile didn’t waver. Still grinning, he continued.

“Since the day I joined the Central Blood Sect, I’ve never once committed an act that harmed it. That, I believe, is a fact.”

“You speak as though your mouth isn’t the very reason for our sect’s ruin. Because of you—!”

“Because of me?” he interrupted, voice still calm.

“Someone declares they want to leave, and your response is to poison them and launch a surprise attack? All I did was defend myself. And Elder... no matter how depraved the Blood Sect may be, even among monsters, those at the top should at least know how to honor their word.”

“You... dare lecture me?”

“Why not? There’s a saying—Among three walking together, one is bound to be my teacher. I’m offering you a sincere piece of advice, and all you do is blow your top.”

“Seol Unwi, bearer of Heaven’s Judgment!”

“That title’s long since discarded.”

“...You’ll regret this.”

“I won’t. So leave.”

The bald elder gave a bitter chuckle.

“Unfortunately, I can’t just walk away.”

“Is that so.”

“I’ve been given a direct order to take your head. So that’s what I’ll do.”

“A direct order—from the Sect Lord himself?”

Unexpectedly, the elder gave a sly smile and pointed skyward with his index finger.

“No. From even higher.”

At that, Seol Unwi gave a knowing smirk.

“So those lazy bastards up top finally got their egos bruised?”

“You know damn well why.”

“Do I? Let’s see... smashing the Blood Stone you were planning to sacrifice, setting fire to the Peach Garden, decapitating the Demon Sect’s Lord of Thunder—honestly, I can’t think of anything else.”

“Any one of those alone is reason enough for a death beyond imagining. And you know it.”

“Of course I knew. But what could I do? It just irritated the hell out of me.”

“You’re insane.”

“Am I? Then what about the dozen others above me who’ve clearly lost their minds?”

Then, with a quieter voice:

“And let’s not pretend, Elder. You know it too. You speak to me as though you understand them, but in truth, you don’t know a thing about ‘those people,’ do you?”

“There are truths in this world one should know... and truths one must never learn.”

“You’ve always been afraid. I’ve known it from the beginning.”

“You... you’re a dangerous man.”

“I’m aware.”

“No, you’re not. You have no idea. You’re the only one in this entire martial world who could truly threaten the Sect Lord’s reign.”

“Why are you complimenting me all of a sudden? Doesn’t suit you.”

The truth was, Seol Unwi had reached a level where he could challenge even the supreme masters of the martial world.

The title Heaven’s Judgment hadn’t even existed in the Blood Sect before.

One who corrects the heavens of the sect itself—that was the meaning.

It was a position created by the Sect Lord himself two decades ago, and solely for Seol Unwi.

Its authority rivaled that of the Grand Elder. Even the Deputy Sect Lord tread carefully around it.

It carried autonomous power: authority to monitor the sect’s internal affairs, to train and educate talent, to oversee discipline. In essence—a position second to none, yet above all.

Which was exactly why... they could not let someone like him walk away.

He knew far too much.

This ending was inevitable.

Grand Elder Yeong Unseong slowly shook his head.

“So be it. The order has already been given. Even if you regret it now, you—”

“I’ve regretted a great deal. Truly,” Seol Unwi interrupted.

“...You dare interrupt me?”

“We’re strangers now. Am I not allowed to?”

“And for the record, none of my regrets have anything to do with the Blood Sect. They’re all from my past... elsewhere.”

“...That’s why you came here?”

“There’s nowhere else for me to go.”

“You lunatic... a bastard born in the Everlasting Snow Palace, returning here in your final hour, pretending to repent? Don’t make me laugh. Was it not your own hand that brought this place to ruin?”

“I’m not ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) here to repent. And I had my reasons.”

“....”

“After the former Lord of the Everlasting Snow Palace died, some lunatic took the throne and began pulling every sort of ridiculous stunt. What was I supposed to do—leave it standing?”

Seol Unwi ran a hand through his hair.

“As you said, Elder, we’ve known each other a long time. So, one last time, I’ll make a final offer.”

“Is that your last will?”

“No. But you should hear it.”

Yeong Unseong gave a slight nod, motioning him to go on.

Seol Unwi spoke plainly.

“Turn back. The thirty years we spent together—let that be payment enough.”

“I see. I understand.”

“So you’ll leave?”

“Of course not.”

Seol Unwi’s words had meant: live your life on the run.

But that was something Yeong Unseong could never accept.

Running?

How could a man like him spend the rest of his life fleeing?

He’d last, at best, two weeks.

He would be caught—and killed—before the month was over.

Yeong Unseong began drawing upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, while Seol Unwi raised his sword.

Seol Unwi had brought the sect countless victories.

He had trained promising successors—true talents who could one day lead the Blood Sect forward.

His blossoming abilities had arrived late, but they were nothing short of divinely blessed.

But when the sect kept trying to devour him from within, what choice did he have?

This outcome had been inevitable from the start.

Khak!

Even before arriving at this place, Seol Unwi had already reached his limit. Now, blood poured from his lips. He didn’t even bother to wipe it away.

Life, they said, is an arrow once loosed.

And now, that arrow had reached its mark.

The last remnants of his innate energy flared to life. The strength he had cultivated over a lifetime surged and gathered into a single point.

“Farewell... Elder.”

No sooner had the words left his lips than Yeong Unseong roared:

“Kill him—!”

The Blood Sect warriors charged forward.

The masters of the Fivefold Martial Realms reached into the sky, drawing down its divine force.

The heavens themselves seemed to fall.

They clashed.

Though his body teetered on the edge of death, Seol Unwi’s spirit—refined over five decades—stood unshaken.

The arrogance with which he had once quelled the martial world.

The force with which he shattered the Gates of Heaven.

The moment he split open the skull of the Immortal Maitreya.

The awe that made elders of the Martial Alliance kneel.

All of it—his very being—was not something to be cowed by the likes of this.

Even if Yeong Unseong now stood on the verge of achieving the final state of the Martial God’s Path—Sovereign of Primordial Oneness—

Even if Seol Unwi’s body were so fragile it might die from a mere breeze—

Resolve was beyond the reach of such things.

His arm surged with power.

The Heaven-Defying Blade shatters the firmament — all laws crumble before it.

One sword pierces through eternity — gods and devils vanish alike.

Heaven-Defying Sword of Desolation.

The One Sword that Embraces the Void.

A lifetime of swordsmanship surged through a single swing.

The sword light cleaved the heavens.

The Everlasting Snow Mountain groaned.

Crimson energy laced the glacial wind, splitting through centuries of ancient ice.

Slice—!!

A hairline crack opened across Yeong Unseong’s neck.

The four Blood Sect warriors who had charged in alongside him?

Each now bore a fracture clean across the waist.

Their overwhelming power.

Their presence that had pressed down the entire mountain.

Even the Everlasting Snow Mountain itself—

Everything had been cut in half.

KRRAAAAAAK—!!

A deafening explosion. A blizzard tore through the sky.

Seol Unwi staggered.

He drove his sword into the ground, leaning on it like a cane.

No one remained to hear him.

No one at all.

Even when he shattered the Blood Stone,

Even when he burned the Peach Garden to the ground,

Even when the martial world branded him a demonic fiend beyond redemption—

He had never once regretted those things.

That was the truth.

But just once—only once—

There was one regret that clung to him like a chain.

At first, he hadn’t known what it was.

Hadn’t known what kept dragging him back. What it was he couldn’t shake off.

Too late, he realized.

“I should’ve stayed... that time.”

The sundered mountain began to collapse.

An avalanche thundered down from the heavens.

That colossal wall of ice, which had stood for millennia—maybe tens of thousands of years—came crashing down with a roar.

Seol Unwi didn’t dodge.

He had no intention of running.

The right to choose your final moment is a rare one.

He chose this place.

He accepted it.

His death.

And because it was that kind of moment—he finally let the words inside him pour out.

Because only in such a moment... could he say them.

If...

If only...

“If I had just one more chance...”

The avalanche was upon him.

He saw his father. The man who had once terrified him.

The supreme lord of the Everlasting Snow Palace.

The sky above the palace itself.

Seol Unwi remembered the spikes he had driven into that man’s chest.

How deeply he regretted them.

“I won’t run this time, Father. I’ll face it... do what I was meant to do...”

The avalanche swallowed him whole.

His body shattered—limbs torn apart.

And then—

From within the collapsing storm of snow—a brilliant light flashed.

Seol Unwi didn’t see it. He didn’t see the gemstone embed itself into his heart.

And just like that... his consciousness vanished.

Death.

Or perhaps—

A beginning.

****

It was strange.

There was a momentary sensation—as though he were being pulled somewhere. Then, a crushing weight overtook his entire body.

Death.

So this is death.

He’d brushed against it more times than he could count. Stared it in the face, even.

But this... this was different.

This must be true death.

His mind blurred, dissolving into fragments.

Everything he had built began to scatter.

Even his enlightenment, his essence, fragmented like petals in the wind.