Chapter 38

Suppressing the blazing anger burning inside him, Han Janggwang walked forward.

His disheveled hair, his wild ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) beard, and his ragged clothes looked almost exactly the same as when he had broken out of seclusion.

It had been between 9 and 11 a.m. when he emerged; now it was nearing evening, between 5 and 7 p.m.

He had spoken as if he would charge out immediately, but he wasn’t that thoughtless.

During those hours, he had prepared.

Prepared to turn Seolap into a sea of blood — prepared to rip Seol Unwi’s body apart with his own hands without leaving any room for consequences.

That kind of preparation.

"Lord Han, you needn’t worry about what comes after," one of his men said. "The Hanbing Sect already agreed to take care of the aftermath and smooth things over—"

Han Janggwang raised a hand, cutting him off.

"I’ll think about the aftermath later. Today, I will honor the spirit of my son, and the spirits of the other fallen masters."

His voice was firm, leaving no room for doubt.

Now, there was only one thing left to do: act.

Following behind Han Janggwang were exactly 484 warriors.

He had brought the elites from the Four Great Sects, and anyone else who looked even remotely promising.

There were even porters among them.

All moved with one heart.

Rage toward Seol Unwi.

It didn’t matter who had started the fight.

They had lost comrades, revered sect masters, and, for Han Janggwang, his beloved son.

That was all that mattered.

Thus, they entered the Snow-Cold Gorge.

But halfway through, they came to a halt.

"...Arrogant little bastard," Han Janggwang muttered under his breath, his gaze lifting upward.

The Snow-Cold Gorge was split by two towering cliffs.

And there, standing midway up one of the cliffs, was Seol Unwi.

Visibly, he stood alone.

"You’ve brought quite the army," Seol Unwi called out.

"It’s not just you. I intend to wipe the entire city of Seolap from the face of the earth," Han Janggwang answered coldly. "Of course I had to bring them."

"I see. In that case, you should have at least cleaned yourself up before coming."

"..."

"Before we begin, I have a gift for you—"

"Why?" Han Janggwang cut him off, voice low and seething.

"Why what?"

"Why did you kill my son?"

Han Janggwang was struggling to suppress his fury, but Seol Unwi simply tilted his head in puzzlement.

"You really don't know why?"

"I don't."

"If anyone should know, it’s you, Lord Han. As I even wrote in the letter I sent you — you toyed with me all this time."

"...Over something so petty?"

"This isn't something petty, Lord Han. There's a saying — if you can't bite, don't bark. Do you even understand where we are right now?"

"..."

"This is the martial world. You dared to provoke me without preparing for annihilation? You dared?"

"...Dared, he says... You think you’re untouchable just because you pulled off some assassinations in the night?"

"So you do know," Seol Unwi said. "That it was me personally."

"I didn't at first," Han Janggwang admitted. "I thought you either hired assassins or used the power of the Everlasting Snow Palace... But no. It was you."

Seol Unwi’s expression shifted strangely.

"I see. I think I understand now — what's about to happen."

A slow smile curved across his lips, thick with killing intent.

"I warned you. I warned you that interfering would come with a price. And yet... It’s exhausting, truly. There are just so many fools in this world who don't understand plain speech."

"So," Han Janggwang growled, "you dragged me out here to negotiate, did you? A worthless assassin like you?"

"Negotiate?"

"You threw out some absurd figure — two hundred thousand gold coins, five hundred thousand, whatever — as bait to leave room for bargaining. But let me make it clear: I have no intention of negotiating. Today, you die. And Seolap will be drowned in blood."

Seol Unwi chuckled.

"You’re making a grave mistake."

"...What?"

"I didn’t name two hundred thousand gold coins as a joke."

"...You insane bastard. Do you even know how much that is—"

"I know exactly how much it is," Seol Unwi said. "And if you wanted to treat me like a clown, you should have been ready to pay at least that much. I fully intended to collect that price."

"...Tch..."

"And one more thing," Seol Unwi said, voice sharpening. "You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding about how faction wars work."

"Oh, enlighten me, will you?"

"Yes. In faction warfare, it’s simple — it's a matter of who cuts off the enemy leader's head first. That's why skilled assassins are so feared. That’s why they stay in the shadows. Everyone covets the blade that can strike a head clean off. So they hide it."

"I," Seol Unwi said, voice like ice, "am the leader of Seolap. And the leaders of the Four Great Sects... are already dead."

Han Janggwang sneered. "You can see me standing right here, can’t you?"

"I apologize for the mistake," Seol Unwi said politely. "You’ll be dead soon enough. And speaking of gifts..."

In front of him sat four wooden boxes.

Seol Unwi casually nudged each box with the tip of his foot.

One after another, the boxes toppled over the cliff, shattering on the rocks below.

CRACK. CRACK.

Even though they fell from halfway up the cliff — a height of over a hundred yards — and shattered on impact, everyone recognized what had been inside.

Four severed heads.

The four men assassinated in the dead of night.

"You... you bastard!"

"Let’s begin, shall we?"

With a lazy movement, Seol Unwi drew the Cold Ice Dagger from his belt.

He had wielded it well until now, but today would be its final service.

Without hesitation, he hurled it.

Han Janggwang frowned deeply as he watched it fly — not at him, but across the gorge.

"...You crazy bastard, where the hell are you throwing it?"

It was a fair question.

The dagger embedded itself deep in the opposite cliff.

And then—

KRRRRRRACK—

A hideous cracking noise split the air.

Around the point where the dagger struck, deep fractures spiderwebbed outward.

It defied all reason — but Seol Unwi could make it happen.

He wielded the Grand Void Immortal Blood Heart Technique.

And this cliff — even in his previous life — was a known avalanche zone.

This wasn’t coincidence.

This was a trap he had prepared.

The cliffs began to rumble.

KUUUUUUUUM—

Cracks that had been forming over decades, even centuries, exploded open.

The massive cliff crumbled, collapsing downward in an unstoppable roar.

"R—RUN—!"

Before Han Janggwang could even finish shouting, the warriors hiding behind Seol Unwi sprang into action.

The agents of the Snow Compression Branch and the soldiers of the Iron Mountain Sword Sect suddenly appeared, raining a volley of arrows into the canyon below.

THWIP THWIP THWIP.

The warriors of the Four Great Sects, trapped in the narrow gorge, fell one after another without a chance to escape.

Their skin was torn apart, bones shattered, bodies shredded by flying stones, ice shards, and avalanches of snow.

This was a living hell.

Even among Seol Unwi’s own forces, about half of the archers dropped their bows and vomited on the spot.

Among them were members of the Snow Compression Branch — except for three.

Han Murin, Jin Sohyeop, and Baek Myeonggaek.

Those three didn't vomit.

They did stop firing, though.

Jin Sohyeop and Baek Myeonggaek wore clear expressions of hesitation.

But Han Murin was different.

He was smiling — as if exhilarated, as if he were enjoying the massacre.

Seol Unwi turned his gaze slowly to the three of them and spoke in a low voice:

"Keep shooting. Don’t stop."

Yet there were still some who hesitated, fingers frozen on their bowstrings.

Seol Unwi gave one final warning.

"I made myself clear," he said. "You were free to turn back. But you chose. You chose to stand with me here."

"......"

"Then don't waver. If you call yourselves warriors, once you begin something, you must see it through — no matter what."

A sharp, deadly gleam lit up in Seol Unwi’s eyes.

"Fire."

At last, everyone who had hesitated drew back their strings and resumed shooting.

Even though the cliff had crumbled halfway down, there was still at least a hundred and fifty jang left to fall — nearly a hundred fifty yards.

But at that range, missing would have been more ridiculous.

Because the people fleeing the avalanche had no choice but to run straight into the kill zone.

The targets themselves were closing the distance — if you couldn't hit them now, you had no business calling yourself a warrior.

They fired until their quivers ran dry.

They fired until the bowstrings snapped, and they grabbed spare bows to continue.

They unleashed arrows with reckless abandon, without a second’s thought.

At some point, the avalanche stopped.

The thunderous roar ceased.

"Seol... Unwi!!"

A man’s howl tore through the now-silent gorge.

There was nothing else.

Only Han Janggwang remained.

In the span of barely a few dozen heartbeats, he alone had survived.

The sheer cold radiating from him froze the surrounding blizzard solid.

Seol Unwi, seeing this, calmly drew his sword.

At that, Wonyang and Cheonpung also reached for their swords, as if preparing to assist him.

Seol Unwi shook his head.

"Stand down. Stay where you are."

"...But... Han Janggwang is a master who has reached the Five Qi Ascension."

"So?"

"......"

"Just watch," Seol Unwi said. "Watch carefully, and you will understand. Why those who walk with me have no need to fear enemies."

As Han Janggwang surged forward, blazing with murderous intent, Seol Unwi kicked off the ground to meet him head-on.

"I'll kill you!! You filthy demon bastard!!"

KWAANG—!

****

Perhaps his years of closed-door training hadn’t been for nothing — Han Janggwang’s True Core had stabilized, and the internal energy surging from it was solid beyond measure.

KWAANG—!

Seol Unwi’s sword clashed against him, and the sheer force of impact twisted Han Janggwang’s sword arm sharply backward.

Han Janggwang’s eyes flared, and Seol Unwi’s brow furrowed.

In that fleeting moment, the choices they made left real marks on the battle.

SLASH—!

Han Janggwang’s sword grazed Seol Unwi’s shoulder as it swept past.

Had Seol Unwi not twisted his body at the last instant, his arm would have been severed clean off.

Han Janggwang landed lightly atop the snow and launched himself again, slamming his shoulder into Seol Unwi.

KWAANG—!

The impact was powerful enough to send Seol Unwi skidding backward, kicking up a spray of snow.

A shadow loomed over his face.

He turned his head.

SLICK—!

Han Janggwang’s sword sliced across Seol Unwi’s cheek.

At that moment, Han Janggwang thought:

This bastard — he’s like a filthy little rat.

But just then—

Something prickled at the side of his head.

It was the instinct of someone who had reached the level of Five Qi Ascension — a warning forged through countless years of battle.

He tried to focus his internal energy and twist his head away.

CRACK—!

Seol Unwi’s heel struck him squarely across the side of the skull.

Reeling, Han Janggwang staggered back several steps but recovered quickly, swinging his sword in a vicious arc.

CLANG—!

Seol Unwi’s sword, which had been thrusting toward him, was knocked aside.

Without pause, Seol Unwi drew a dagger from his belt and lunged.

CLANG—!

That, too, was blocked.