novelraw Chapter 220 : The Turbulent Martial World (3)
Chapter 220 : The Turbulent Martial World (3)
Chapter 220: The Turbulent Martial World (3)
Before long, Nam Mujin was also kneeling beside Wi Tae-do.
Sunlight poured down over the crowns of the two men’s heads, swaying quietly.
There were no words spoken, nor any movement.
Yet this silence was anything but light.
Sewoon looked down at them in silence.
‘……So, this moment finally arrives.’
Under the name of the Mount Hainan Sword Gate, those who carried resolve upon their shoulders were bowing their heads before him.
Sewoon already knew why they had come.
It was to leave the Murim Alliance, to sever ties, and to follow him.
“Sect Leader.”
Sewoon opened his mouth quietly.
Wi Tae-do slowly raised his head and looked up at him.
“Are you speaking from the bottom of your heart?”
“Yes.”
“Then what you are saying is that the Mount Hainan Sect will part ways with the Murim Alliance?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
Wi Tae-do’s reply was firm, without the slightest hesitation.
He continued.
“Our decision was not made simply because we were disappointed in the Murim Alliance.”
“……!”
“It was because we realized that the Alliance Leader and the Murim Alliance’s methods are utterly incompatible with the current age of chaos.”
As he spoke, his gaze fell upon the sunlight resting on the back of his hand.
“They did try to help us. However, in the end, they did not come. They came far too late. No doubt they were weighing whether they possessed sufficient justification to trespass upon the territory of the Demonic Alliance.”
“…….”
“In the end, the ones who saved our sect were not the Murim Alliance, but Clan Head Tang and the Sichuan Tang Clan. And that is when we realized something. In a catastrophe of this magnitude, what is needed is not justification—but the will to act first.”
Wi Tae-do’s eyes burned fiercely.
Sewoon slowly opened his mouth.
“However, I have already declared the severance between orthodox and unorthodox paths. If you share my intent, you must understand that the Mount Hainan Sect will no longer be able to stand in the martial world as an orthodox sect.”
“But that does not matter.”
“……!!”
“That is correct. Before coming here, every single person of the Mount Hainan Sect agreed to this decision.”
Nam Mujin also added his voice.
Seeing Sewoon’s surprise, Wi Tae-do continued.
“By watching Clan Head Tang, I realized one thing. How hollow and meaningless the boundary between orthodoxy and unorthodoxy truly is. Clan Head Tang endured unspeakable humiliation and curses from so-called orthodox figures who branded him unorthodox—yet did he not still come to save us?”
“……!”
Whether orthodox or unorthodox did not matter.
If one truly sought to protect others, then even an unorthodox man would be someone who understood righteousness.
Sewoon gazed at the two men with calm, sunken eyes.
‘They truly came here having steeled their resolve. I see no falsehood.’
After reaching that conclusion, Sewoon stepped forward.
He approached Wi Tae-do and Nam Mujin and lightly extended his hand.
—Swoosh!
“!!”
“?!”
In that instant, the two men’s bodies were gently lifted by Sewoon’s qi.
It was not a forced or coercive motion, but as though they had been wrapped in a warm current of air.
Wi Tae-do, who knew all too well how supreme such a technique was, could not suppress his shock.
Once again, he realized that Sewoon’s Martial Attainment had truly reached the Extreme of the Manifestation Realm.
Sewoon smiled and spoke.
“Let us first rise. How could we discuss such matters in so uncomfortable a posture?”
“Ah…… yes, Clan Head.”
“There is one thing I must make clear first.”
“!!”
Sewoon looked at them.
The tension was obvious on both their faces.
Then Sewoon stated clearly.
“I have no intention whatsoever of forming an alliance or confederation like the Murim Alliance.”
“!!”
For a brief moment, silence fell.
A flicker of anxiety passed through Wi Tae-do’s eyes.
But Sewoon continued.
“However, I naturally do wish to walk together with the Mount Hainan Sword Gate.”
“……!”
He would not form an alliance—yet he wished to walk together.
A paradoxical statement, carrying an oddly heavy weight.
Wi Tae-do immediately grasped the implication.
“I would never consider this discourteous, so please state your true intention clearly, Clan Head.”
“Hm.”
So he had noticed.
Meeting Wi Tae-do’s steady gaze, Sewoon spoke in a firm voice.
“As I mentioned earlier, I have already placed the Beast Palace under my command, and the Sungmu Alliance is no different.”
“……!”
“In exchange for their oaths of loyalty, I provided them with stronger martial arts, divine relics, and wealth.”
“!!”
This was undeniably true.
The Sungmu Alliance, led by Gong Taemun, the Six-Soul Blade Emperor who had sworn loyalty to Sewoon, was now enjoying unprecedented prosperity.
Under the Tang Clan’s almost absurd level of support, they had effortlessly subjugated the fractured sects of Guizhou Province, and now the entire region lay firmly under the Sungmu Alliance’s control.
‘Ah.’
Only then did Wi Tae-do clearly see the full outline of the vision Sewoon was building.
As their gazes crossed in midair, Sewoon spoke proudly.
“I am telling you that I seek to become not an Alliance Leader—but an Overlord.”
“!!”
The Murim Alliance, the White Path Union, and the Demonic Alliance.
All three had leaders chosen by selection, but that loyalty was never absolute.
When a new leader was chosen, the object of loyalty would change.
But Sewoon’s declaration of becoming an Overlord meant something else entirely.
Just as the followers of the Demonic Cult followed the Heavenly Demon, and the adherents of the Blood Cult followed the Blood Demon.
It was no different from proclaiming himself the absolute, singular ruler.
“If you choose to walk with me, it will not be an alliance—but a lord–vassal relationship.”
“……!!”
“That said, I have no intention of forcing you to lower your signboard, as others do. You will maintain everything exactly as the Mount Hainan Sect is now—so long as you pledge your absolute loyalty to me alone.”
If Wi Tae-do had come harboring a different intent, it would not have been unreasonable for Sewoon to erupt in rage and storm out of the room on the spot.
But this was not a proposal born of mere ambition.
‘A mere alliance is not enough. Only by becoming a single, true blade can we properly stand against a monstrous force like the Blood Cult.’
A full-scale war with the Blood Cult was about to begin.
To face the madmen who worshiped the Blood Demon as a god, all authority of command had to be firmly grasped in his own hand.
‘The Mount Hainan Sect is, in name and reality, one of the pillars of the Nine Sects and One Gang. If they join, they will be of tremendous help.’
Sewoon knew the latent strength of the Mount Hainan Sect that had yet to be revealed—and he knew just how fully that potential could be unleashed once it fell under his hand.
He slowly waited for Wi Tae-do’s answer.
At last, breaking the silence that had filled every corner of the room, Wi Tae-do asked quietly,
“May I ask what purpose drives you to go this far, Clan Head?”
The question carried immense weight.
Yet Sewoon answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Even if my hands become stained with deep blood, and the path I walk is cursed as evil—”
“……!”
“I will walk it to the end, and there, sever the demon that stands at its conclusion.”
“!!”
“That is the reason I intend to establish the Heaven-Subjugating Assembly.”
The force Sewoon sought to newly establish—the Heaven-Subjugating Assembly.
Its name bore the character ‘Subjugation’.
If one recalled Xiang Yu, who had been called the Hegemon King, subjugation meant domination and absolute authority.
But what Sewoon sought was to use that subjugation to protect the sky of countless innocent commoners, untouched by sin.
Thud!
Wi Tae-do knelt once more.
This time, he clasped his hands in a formal salute and lowered his head, showing the utmost respect.
“Assembly Lord, this Wi, along with the Mount Hainan Sword Gate, shall also join you upon that path.”
Wi Tae-do’s voice was sincere and resolute.
Sewoon finally allowed a smile to surface as he gazed at Nam Mujin, who was bowing his head alongside him.
“If the first place to unite under the name of the Heaven-Subjugating Assembly is the Mount Hainan Sword Gate, then nothing could be more reassuring.”
“……!!”
At Sewoon’s words—clearly accepting them and inviting them to walk together—Wi Tae-do looked up with eyes filled with emotion.
He knew it instinctively.
That this moment marked the crossroads where he and the Mount Hainan Sect would overcome their crisis and step into a new future.
And then—
—What is going on……? Heya!!
—Why are you people here……?!
—Get a physician immediately…… m-move them…!
—Ah, not there…!!
Before the emotional atmosphere between the three could fully settle, the outside suddenly erupted into chaos.
It began with the flustered voices of the household members, followed by worried cries, and finally escalated into loud, obstructive commotion.
‘……What is this?’
‘Has someone infiltrated?’
Something was clearly amiss.
Sewoon immediately spread his spiritual perception to its limits.
Whooosh!
Sewoon’s aura—having risen overwhelmingly after reaching the Extreme of the Manifestation Realm—instantly swept across the entire Sichuan Tang Clan Estate like a raging ocean tide.
As though inspecting prey caught in a spider’s web, the presence of every being within the estate was conveyed to him in detail.
‘They’re coming.’
Three people.
No—four people were forcefully breaking through the resistance of the Tang Clan’s members and charging straight toward him.
Their auras showed clear signs of exhaustion, yet they were unmistakably martial artists of considerable Martial Attainment.
Thud!
In the instant the distance between them closed to within fifty paces—
Bang!
Clatter!
Sewoon and the other three exchanged glances simultaneously, flung open the door, and stepped outside.
In particular, Wi Tae-do and Nam Mujin—having just joined the Heaven-Subjugating Assembly—were prepared to draw their swords at any moment, eager to prove themselves before Sewoon.
But no blade was drawn.
“!!”
“W-What?!”
The two men froze in shock upon seeing the identities of those revealed beyond the door.
“Huff…… huff…….”
“Cough…….”
Their clothes were reduced to rags, their hair completely disheveled, as though they had endured unspeakable hardship.
Gasping roughly for breath, the figures were none other than the Peng siblings and the Successor Beggar of the Beggars’ Sect.
Wi Tae-do was dumbfounded, unable to comprehend why these young successors of the Murim Alliance had come to the Tang Clan in such a state.
But—
‘What on earth happened on the battlefield of the North Sea Ice Palace…?!’
Nam Mujin, who belonged to the same Jecheon Unit, instinctively realized that something catastrophic must have occurred on the Shanxi battlefield.
“C-Clan Head…….”
“!!”
At that moment, perhaps their tension finally released upon seeing Sewoon.
The three members of the Jecheon Unit collapsed simultaneously.
Sewoon and the others rushed forward at once, catching them and holding them securely.
Among them, Sewoon lifted the mysterious woman whom Peng Daeho and Peng So-hye had been supporting.
The woman possessed snow-white hair, and her skin was as flawless and pale as white jade.
She appeared to have only just passed the age of thirty.
When Sewoon finally saw the woman’s face, which had been hidden until now, his eyes shook violently.
‘This person…… why is she here??’
Sewoon knew exactly who she was.
How could he ever forget?
The one with whom he had been entangled in such a horrific karmic bond in his previous life.
The true owner of the White Water Fan that Sewoon had gifted to his sister in this life.
Before his regression, the mad witch who had followed the Blood Demon, offering the entire North Sea Ice Palace as tribute purely for her own amusement and pleasure.
‘……Why on earth is Seori here?’
The Ice White Demon Lord, Seori, lay unconscious in Sewoon’s arms, her eyes tightly closed.