The strike missed again, but shards of ice crystallized in midair.
Through them, Unhwi caught a glimpse of the glint in the phantom remnantâs eyes.
He immediately spun and lashed out with a kick.
Thudâ!
It connected, but barely. That was fine. He kept the phantom remnant in sight, predicting every motion and every move yet to come.
The phantom remnantâs sword crashed down like lightning.
He twisted to the side. Not fast enough. He channeled qi and stomped the ground.
Slashâ!
A deep cut tore across his thigh. It was fine.
Violet internal energy surgedâplum blossoms extended outward.
In his mind, Unhwi analyzed Cheongmunâs every movement.
When he swings, the shoulder pulls back.
When he thrusts, the shoulder leans forward.
When stepping, the angle of the pivoting ankle always reveals the direction of movement.
When evading, the rear foot pulls awayâand the gaze dips downward.
Now.
The phantom remnantâs shoulder tilted forward.
That sword would be a thrustâand the direction was... straight ahead.
Unhwi extended his left hand.
Kaarrrrrrkâ!
It was blocked by the Bul Su Injangâno woundâbut a sickening sound followed as his body slid backward from the impact.
To reach the Heaven-Man Realm meant transcending human limits.
Blocking it at all was already fortunateâbut in that moment, the phantom remnantâs ankle subtly twisted to the right. A step technique.
Unhwi forced strength into his left hand to halt the movement.
The phantom remnantâs body froze in place.
A brief flickerâhis shoulder twitched. The hand without a sword.
In a situation like this, it could mean only one thing.
Heâd drawn another weapon.
BOOMâ!!
A knife-hand strike aimed at Unhwiâs neck was blocked by his blade.
He was shoved backward, but the phantom remnant also lost grip of his sword.
A gap opened between them.
With a moment before the phantom remnant moved again, martial techniques flashed through Unhwiâs mind.
Which was suitable?
Which was ideal?
Blood Demon Clotting Method, Primordial Void Blood Heart Scripture, Ten Thousand Snow Manual, Taiji Fist, Blood Spirit Step, Thousand Hands Divine Art... and the Yijinjing.
His eyes gleamed.
He had received five martial arts along with the Yijinjing from Bodhidharma.
Immortal Vajra Palm, Tathagata Palmwind, Time-Space Fist, Arhat Eighteen Hands, and Shadowless Step.
All top-tier Musin-level techniquesâburdensome even with Huhyeonjigi and nearly impossible with a mere Five Qi Origin body.
But thanks to the Bul Su Injang bound to his left hand, there were two he could use.
He thought no further.
The moment he made his decision, a fierce current erupted in his left palm.
Just like Bodhidharma in the past, a mundane hand transformed into a vessel that held the entire world.
âTathagata Palmwind.â
Just a whisperâso quiet it barely existed. Yet it shook heaven and earth.
His palm pushed forward. On the surface, it looked like an ordinary palm strikeâbut within it, the laws of the universe condensed.
Qi surged outward as if detonating from a single point.
KWAHHHHHâ!!
A wind invisible to the eye roared toward the phantom remnant.
It wasnât mere wind. However faint, it was the truth of the Buddha, unleashed from the Tathagataâs palm that held three thousand great worlds.
The phantom remnantâs eyes widened.
BOOMâ!!
The palmstrike slammed into his chest. He skidded backward as a deep crater formed in his chest.
He immediately raised his head. His eyes burned with killing intentâenough to make them weapons in their own right.
But Unhwi didnât flinch.
The phantom remnantâs body twisted midair as he caught his balance.
If a Heaven-Man expert could be defeated so easily, they werenât worthy of the title.
Violet qi erupted from his body. Nature resonated in response. The entire chamber shook violently.
Just as he prepared to chargeâ
The Bul Su Injang on Unhwiâs left hand ignited in golden light.
Now.
The moment where the insights of his past life and the genius of Bodhidharma, whom he had never even seen, converged into one.
A martial art was complete.
Immortal Vajra Palm.
His entire left arm glowed with golden lightâdense and solid like a diamond. It was no longer a hand, but a vajraâthe immortal implement of the Buddha.
It cleaved through the air toward the phantom remnant.
KUUUUUUUNGâ!
The air vibrated and tore.
The moment the phantom remnantâs sword met Unhwiâs left palmâ
BOOMâ!!
A deafening roar erupted. The phantom remnantâs sword rebounded skyward. A crackle followedâbones shattered in his arm with audible snaps.
Unhwiâs own arm went numb.
Tch.
Heâd aimed to destroy the phantom remnantâs entire armâbut hadnât quite succeeded.
The phantom remnantâs eyes sharpened. He moved again.
His shoulder pulled back. A swing.
Unhwi twisted his head and pushed his Huhyeonjigi to the absolute limit.
His pupils turned white, and the world before him became an icy expanse.
Heavenly Snow Surge.
The surrounding air plummeted in temperature. The phantom remnantâs blade, and even his own body, began to freeze over.
Butâ
CRACK!
With a shattering sound like glass, all the ice exploded. Plum blossoms scattered once more.
It was fine.
You couldnât bind a Heaven-Man master so easily.
This momentâthis fleeting momentâwas what mattered.
In that split second, the phantom remnantâs blade split into seven, like an illusion.
It attacked like the seven petals of a plum blossom.
Even with Unhwiâs limited understanding, he recognized it clearly:
The final form of the Thirty-Six Plum Blossom Sword FormsâPlum Blossom Seven Spirits.
His eyes flashed.
The Primordial Qi that connects Heaven and Earth;
Across the eternal void, I walk alone.
Reverse-Heaven Azure Blade.
Reverse-Heaven Wavebreaker.
Slow, yet swift.
Unhwi swung the Heavenshaking Spiritblade.
Huhyeonjigi surged from it, extending to all surrounding energy in perfect, natural flow.
KRRRRRRRANGâ!!
The explosion tore apart the phantom remnantâs Plum Blossom Seven Spirits technique.
All martial arts and techniques, his or the enemyâs, were fundamentally made of qi.
The key to Reverse-Heaven Wavebreaker, the second form of the Reverse-Heaven Azure Blade, was to reduce all enemy techniques to nothing.
And the phantom remnantâdriven by killing intent aloneâwas utterly shaken by this incomprehensible moment.
This was a martial art that should notâcould notâbe wielded at the Five Qi Origin stage.
Yet it was.
Unhwiâs body creaked with protest.
Muscles screamed.
His dantian thrashed, begging him to stop.
Even the regenerative Huhyeonjigi had slowed.
His vision bled red.
His body responded like a broken machine.
But he could not let this moment pass.
"The reverse blade shatters the firmamentâ
All laws can be destroyed.
One strike pierces all agesâ
Even gods and demons vanish."
Both hands gripped the Heavenshaking Spiritblade, and he swung with all his might.
Reverse-Heaven Azure Blade.
The Sole Azure Blade.
A single flash reflected in the phantom remnantâs eyes.
SHHKâ!
He stared blankly at his own right arm, launched into the sky.
Even for a phantom remnant, this moment defied understanding.
Who couldâve imagined it?
That a martial artist of the Five Qi Origin could stand against a Heaven-Man Realm being?
But if someone who once nearly touched the heavens fell and became a child overnightâwhat then?
If he then rose again to the Five Qi Origin stageâ
He could sever the arm of a Heaven-Man master.
Like this.
At this moment, the phantom remnantâs every sense locked onto Unhwi.
That was intentional.
Which is why he didnât understandâ
Why Unhwi, at full strength, suddenly retreated.
Now was the time to press forward.
Not fall backâbut attack.
The phantom remnantâs gaze shiftedâ
To the man whoâd been left alone.
Sim Munryong swung his sword.
SHHKâ!
The air split.
And the phantom remnantâs head soared skyward.