Chapter 148: Heavenly Law Sword
“You're passable.”
Dokgo Cheonyul's voice spread low across the snowy plain.
I steadied my ragged breathing and stared at him.
I couldn't believe it.
He's talking to me?
When I first entered this snowy field, I'd assumed the vision from the past was simply repeating itself.
I thought I would once again witness the scene where True Immortal Cheongun and Dokgo Cheonyul crossed swords.
But that wasn't what happened.
This time...
I had stood where Cheongun once had.
I had personally crossed swords with Dokgo Cheonyul.
And now...
he was speaking directly to me.
Was something like this even possible?
Holding my breath, I asked cautiously,
“Are you... Dokgo Cheonyul?”
Dokgo Cheonyul answered calmly.
“I may be.”
Then—
“Or I may not.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
He stood silently in the middle of the snowy field, looking at me.
“The will Dokgo Cheonyul once left behind in this world...”
He paused.
“A remnant soul would probably be a more accurate description.”
A remnant soul.
I repeated the words inwardly.
Something similar to the embodiment of intent Cheongun left beneath the Abandoned Martial Hall?
If I had to describe it...
it was probably closer to the ultimate crystallization of martial intent.
The final will left behind by someone who had refined martial arts to their absolute limit.
I adjusted my grip on the sword and asked again.
“Why did Dokgo Cheonyul leave you... or rather, this remnant soul behind?”
Dokgo Cheonyul didn't answer immediately.
His gaze rested briefly on the sword in my hand.
Then he spoke.
“I read the workings of heaven.”
My brow furrowed without realizing it.
The workings of heaven.
For a moment, I remembered Cheongun saying something similar.
It wasn't a phrase martial artists used lightly.
Claims of reading the future or observing the flow of heaven were usually dismissed as nonsense or fraudulent mysticism.
But when the man before me said it...
I couldn't take it lightly.
Dokgo Cheonyul continued.
“I saw that one day, someone would reach this place.”
His voice remained calm.
“And so I waited.”
It was an answer so vague that I could barely make sense of it.
I decided to ask what I truly wanted to know first.
“What exactly is the ‘great evil’ that you and True Immortal Cheongun feared?”
Dokgo Cheonyul's gaze grew heavier.
Once again...
he didn't answer immediately.
The silence stretched so long that the blizzard itself seemed to slow.
At last, he spoke.
“I do not know its true identity either.”
I stared at him.
“Even you don't know?”
“I encountered it once.”
His voice lowered.
“It was... neither human, demonic, nor ghostly.”
My mouth closed on its own.
If someone on Dokgo Cheonyul's level described it this way...
then whatever that thing was, it clearly wasn't some ordinary demonic martial artist or sinister sorcerer.
I asked,
“Then what was it?”
Dokgo Cheonyul answered simply.
“Something alien.”
His gaze turned distant.
“Something standing outside the Flow of this world.”
Outside the Flow of this world.
I couldn't fully understand what that meant.
But one thing was clear.
This wasn't an enemy that could be explained through ordinary martial arts or factions.
“Was that thing alone enough for you to leave behind a remnant soul like this?”
Dokgo Cheonyul nodded.
“The great evil was dangerous.”
I frowned.
“Dangerous in what way?”
His eyes darkened.
“It sought the Sacred Fire of our Divine Cult.”
"...?!"
Sacred Fire?
That wasn't an answer I'd expected at all.
“You mean the Sacred Flame?”
Dokgo Cheonyul neither confirmed nor denied it.
Instead, he said,
“When the sacred flame of light is twisted...”
His gaze moved beyond the snowy horizon.
“it is no longer light.”
Then—
“It becomes a calamity that devours the world.”
I pressed my lips together.
The Sacred Flame.
The Demonic Cult's holy fire.
The great evil had been targeting it?
But did Dokgo Cheonyul know...
that generations later, the Sacred Flame would be extinguished by the Heavenly Demon himself?
I let out a quiet breath and asked another question.
“Then why did you bring me here?”
Once again, Dokgo Cheonyul didn't answer immediately.
Strangely...
his gaze remained fixed on the sword in my hand.
After a moment, he spoke.
“I merely gave you what you came here seeking.”
I frowned.
“What I came seeking?”
There was only one thing I wanted from this place.
“You mean the Flow?”
Dokgo Cheonyul nodded.
“The Flow I left behind cannot be passed through words.”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“It must be learned by crossing swords.”
His voice deepened.
“Through a match pushed to the absolute limit.”
"..."
“Do not forget what I just passed on to you.”
At that moment...
the blizzard around us began intensifying.
At the same time...
Dokgo Cheonyul's form began to blur faintly.
I understood instinctively.
There wasn't much time left.
I quickly spoke.
“One more question.”
Dokgo Cheonyul silently looked at me.
I glanced down at the sword in my hand.
Then asked,
“Why did True Immortal Cheongun's sword react to this place?”
For the first time...
a faint smile appeared on Dokgo Cheonyul's lips.
“Cheongun's sword?”
There was something almost mocking in that smile.
I frowned.
“Why are you laughing?”
Dokgo Cheonyul answered in a faintly derisive tone.
“I never expected to meet someone who would call the Heavenly Law Sword Cheongun's sword.”
I froze.
“Heavenly Law Sword?”
I'd never heard that name before.
I instinctively looked down at the sword in my hand.
Dokgo Cheonyul spoke again.
“Look again.”
He raised his own sword.
Its outline emerged through the blizzard.
The width of the blade.
The lines of the hilt.
The faint pattern engraved at the pommel.
The strange aura clinging to the blade itself.
My breath stopped.
They were the same.
The sword Dokgo Cheonyul held...
and the sword in my hand.
They were identical.
My thoughts became tangled.
This wasn't Cheongun's sword?
I'd obtained this sword from the Righteous Alliance treasury.
The moment I touched it...
I'd seen the vision of Cheongun facing Dokgo Cheonyul.
Naturally, I'd assumed the sword was connected to the Flow left behind by Cheongun.
