Chapter 147: The Match
I stared into the space beyond the opened wall.
Unlike the chamber behind us, which was illuminated by the blue glow of Night Pearls...
the space ahead was filled with nothing but dense darkness.
It didn't merely look like a place light couldn't reach.
It looked like a place that swallowed light itself.
WOOOOOM!
The sword in my hand continued vibrating violently.
Almost as if it were urging me to hurry into that darkness.
I turned my head.
Yeom Yuhwa was staring into the darkness ahead with a stiff expression.
I asked her,
“It looks like I need to go in there.”
“Yeom Yuhwa, what are you going to do?”
She hesitated.
“I... don't think I can enter that place.”
I frowned.
“You can't enter? What do you mean?”
Yeom Yuhwa didn't answer immediately.
She looked confused too.
After thinking for a moment, she spoke cautiously.
“As the Flame Attendant, I only wish to obey the words passed down through generations.”
She looked into the darkness.
“That place may only be entered by the qualified... by the permitted one.”
Her voice became solemn.
“It is not somewhere I would dare set foot.”
"..."
“This is as far as I am permitted to go.”
Yeom Yuhwa lowered her head and stepped back.
I turned back toward the darkness.
So I'm going in alone after all.
Then—
“Mujin.”
Goeong came up beside me.
Unlike before...
he wasn't smiling.
He stared into the darkness ahead with a serious expression.
Then spoke briefly.
“We have to go.”
I immediately turned toward him.
“Goeong, don't tell me you want to go in there too?”
“Yeah.”
He nodded without hesitation.
Then pointed into the darkness.
“...It's calling.”
My brow furrowed.
“Calling? What do you mean?”
“It's calling.”
Goeong looked ahead.
“Calling us....”
"..."
I didn't press him further.
After what I'd witnessed from Goeong the night before...
I couldn't dismiss those words as childish nonsense.
Wooooom.
I looked down once at the sword still vibrating in my hand.
Then looked back at Goeong and nodded.
“All right.”
“Let's go together.”
I had no idea what exactly qualified someone as the permitted one.
But if anyone besides me deserved to enter...
surely the Heavenly Demon himself did.
I looked toward Yeom Yuhwa.
“Then wait here.”
“We'll be back soon.”
She bowed.
“Please be careful.”
Then she looked toward Goeong.
“And please take good care of the Cult Leader.”
I almost laughed bitterly.
Take care of him?
Goeong is way stronger than I am.
I gave Yeom Yuhwa a light nod.
Then Goeong and I stepped through the opened wall...
into the darkness beyond.
One step.
Two.
The farther we moved into the darkness...
the farther the blue light of the Night Pearls faded behind us.
Then, once we'd fully crossed through the wall and continued forward—
RUMBLE...
I heard the wall closing behind us.
I instinctively turned around.
Yeom Yuhwa's face grew narrower and narrower through the shrinking gap.
The last thing I saw...
was the worry and fear mixed in her eyes.
THOOM!
The wall sealed shut.
The world around me sank into complete darkness and silence.
"..."
I couldn't see anything.
The darkness was so absolute that I couldn't even tell whether my eyes were open or closed.
This place...
felt like an entirely different world.
An eerie silence wrapped around my entire body.
Without realizing it...
I tightened my grip on the sword.
Then—
Whoosh.
Blue flames rose along the blade.
Mystical, brilliant blue fire.
Its glow revealed my hand...
the sword hilt...
and Goeong's faint face beside me.
Goeong stared at the sword for a moment before speaking.
“The sword is looking for the path.”
I turned toward him.
“The path?”
“Yeah.”
Goeong raised one arm.
“That way.”
I moved the sword in the direction he pointed.
...It's reacting?
Strangely...
the blue flame surrounding the blade became slightly stronger.
Thinking it might be coincidence, I turned the sword sideways.
The flames weakened.
I turned it back toward the original direction.
The flames strengthened again.
Only then did I understand what Goeong had meant.
It's true.
The sword is showing us which way to go.
The blue flame covering the blade wasn't merely a lamp pushing back the darkness.
It was a compass guiding us toward the correct path.
Then the route is already decided.
Without hesitation...
I began walking in the direction where the blue flame burned brightest.
We continued forward.
I had no idea how long we'd been walking.
Strangely...
my sense of time had become vague.
The darkness stretched endlessly around us.
All we could do was keep walking by relying on the blue light.
Then, at some point—
WHOOOOSH!
The blue flames on the sword suddenly trembled violently.
There was no wind...
yet the fire whipped around as though struck by a fierce gale.
What the hell? Why is it doing this?
I was so startled that I nearly dropped the sword.
Then—
WHOOOOOOOOSH!
The violently shaking flames suddenly surged toward me.
I instinctively shut my eyes.
A moment later...
when I opened them again—
a frozen plain stretched before me.
WHOOOOOSH.
A freezing wind violently battered my face.
Snow whipped wildly all around me.
I slowly looked around.
A blizzard sharp as blades.
Cold that seeped into the bones.
And beneath a low, heavy sky...
an endless field of snow stretched out in every direction.
I knew this place.
Here again.
I'd already seen it twice before through visions.
The snowy plain where True Immortal Cheongun and Dokgo Cheonyul had clashed.
I'd watched their battle here.
Their swords had collided.
The level of martial prowess on display had been so extraordinary that merely watching it had left me stunned.
And afterward...
there had been that brief conversation between the two men.
That strange, hidden undercurrent within their words.
I remembered the scene clearly.
So naturally...
I assumed the same thing would happen again.
Cheongun and Dokgo Cheonyul would appear.
They would cross swords once more.
And I would glimpse another fragment of the Flow they'd left behind.
Just as I became certain of that—
Step.
Step.
A man was walking toward me through the distant blizzard.
A man dressed in black.
He advanced without the slightest hesitation despite the raging snow.
An overwhelming, domineering aura rolled from his body like molten lava.
He was—
Heavenly Demon Dokgo Cheonyul.
It's about to begin.
My heart began beating faster.
I looked around for Cheongun.
Surely he would appear soon.
Then the two absolute masters would clash once more.
But—
...Huh?
Something was wrong.
There was no one else around.
No matter where I looked through the blizzard...
I couldn't see Cheongun anywhere.
On this vast frozen plain...
only Dokgo Cheonyul stood.
Well... he's not technically alone.
I was here too.
Of course...
Cheongun and Dokgo Cheonyul normally couldn't perceive my existence.
Where is Cheongun?
I looked around again.
Still nothing.
Yet Dokgo Cheonyul continued walking steadily forward.
And the direction he was walking in...
