With Namgoong Mucheon’s appearance, the situation was swiftly brought to an end.

“B-block him, quickly!! Protect me!”

Mangwol ordered the Jiangshi to attack Namgoong Mucheon all at once.

“You dare trifle with me.”

Thud—

With a mere flick of Mucheon’s hand, the Jiangshi collapsed.

As if crushed beneath a massive boulder, they clung helplessly to the ground, their limbs thrashing in vain.

When Mucheon gestured again, their chests split open, and fist-sized objects floated free.

They were Blood Worms, the parasites used to control the dead.

Crunch— Crack! Thud!

The Blood Worms burst apart in the air.

Where the fragments landed, the ground hissed and burned.

The Jiangshi, who had moments ago flailed their limbs, ceased all movement, reverting to ordinary corpses.

The five who had been fighting for their lives against the Jiangshi looked up at Namgoong Mucheon in stunned awe at his overwhelming power.

Hoooom—

A towering mountain, casting a vast shadow beneath the moonlight.

Just the sight of him made their skin prickle and their breaths choke.

Seolhwa’s lips parted slightly.

She knew this feeling well.

This unreachable grandeur.

“Grandfather...!”

Namgoong Mucheon lowered his gaze to meet Seolhwa’s eyes.

A gentle smile spread across his lips.

“Ha....”

Seolhwa let out a sigh, laced with relief and a smile she hadn’t intended.

Impossible.

She had only prayed for him to survive.

And yet—Namgoong Mucheon had gone beyond death itself and ascended to the Heaven Beyond Heaven realm.

He had transcended the limits of man.

How... how could this be?

And Seolhwa was not the only one shocked.

“Wh-what... what is this...! How can this be?!”

“Hold your tongue.”

Boom—!

At a mere wave of Mucheon’s hand, Mangwol was forced to his knees.

Now that Namgoong Mucheon had risen to the Heaven Beyond Heaven realm, there was nothing left for the five to do.

Seolhwa lowered her sword and gazed at Mangwol—trembling in terror before an untouchable existence.

Sweat poured down Mangwol’s face like rain.

No matter how much strength he exerted, he could not move a finger.

At Mucheon’s whim, his body could be twisted to pieces.

‘How....’

How had it come to this?

“I do not recall granting you leave to speak.”

That icy voice made Mangwol’s heart plummet.

“Were it left to my will, I would sever your neck here and now. But you are not mine to kill.”

Footsteps. Steady, approaching.

Mangwol rolled his eyes upward to see who now stood before him.

“To catch the likes of you alone...”

Srrrng—

Seolhwa’s sword, steeped in a killing aura, pressed against Mangwol’s nape.

****

Mangwol, his dantian destroyed and a gag forced into his mouth, was dragged away in the hands of Namgoong Hyeok, Lord of the Black Dragon Unit, toward the prison.

“A worthless wretch after all.”

Seop Mugwang clicked his tongue, watching Mangwol being hauled off.

“He controls Jiangshi, but his own martial power is not so great.”

“Think he’ll have anything useful to say?”

“For all his weakness, he holds a key position within Hwaoru.”

The First Moon. Master of the medallion closest to the Blood Demon.

The first man entrusted with a Moon Medallion, who had held the First Moon’s seat ever since.

‘If he had used Exploding Blood Pills, he could have shown at least Flowering-realm strength.’

Indeed, Mangwol’s pouch contained several Exploding Blood Pills.

But he had not used them for two reasons.

First, he had trusted his Jiangshi too much. And second—

“Father!”

Namgoong Cheongun rushed toward Mucheon.

Before the overwhelming aura of a man who had stepped into Heaven Beyond Heaven, even Mangwol had not dared to think of using the pills.

“Let’s go too.”

Seop Mugwang and Seolhwa approached Mucheon together.

Namgoong Mugang, his voice resounding across the graveyard with excitement, called out,

“Brother! Tell me it isn’t true? Surely not? Is it truly so?”

“Heh, and what is it you speak of?”

“Brother, something... something...! Something has changed! Surely...!”

Mucheon nodded.

“It is true.”

Everyone’s faces brightened at once.

“I have ascended to the Heaven Beyond Heaven realm.”

“Brother!”

“Father!”

A mix of astonishment and rapture.

“Hah, truly... how much higher will you climb?”

Even Seop Mugwang, unable to suppress his grin, marveled aloud.

“Congratulations, Father!”

Cheongun could not hide his joy either.

Mugang, stunned that his suspicion was confirmed, pointed at Mucheon, his mouth opening and closing without words.

Laughing warmly, Mucheon turned his gaze upon Seolhwa.

“Congratulations, Grandfather.”

“It is thanks to you.”

He looked down at his own hand.

“Experiencing death taught me—how confined I have been all this time in such a shallow pond.”

A Flowering-realm master.

The Sword Emperor, counted among the Ten Great Masters of the martial world.

“The world is vast, but if its waters are bound, it is no more than a pond.”

He spoke of the world itself as a pond.

“With that realization, and the energy from the Great Restoration Pill you gave me, I finally broke through my limits.”

Mucheon softly patted Seolhwa’s head.

“Thank you.”

“I’m just relieved you are safe, Grandfather.”

“Brother. Do you know how much this little one worried for you? She cried rivers, she did.”

Seop «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» Mugwang chuckled, and Seolhwa whirled around in shock, eyes pleading with him not to speak.

But the elders’ gazes had already fixed on her.

She cried?

Our Seolhwa?

That thorny broomstick of a child?

“You cried?”

“T-that’s...”

Seolhwa’s eyes darted nervously.

“...Not exactly rivers...”

Mucheon burst out laughing.

“Was it not your own plan? What sorrow drove you to tears?”

“Just...”

Seolhwa pressed a hand to her chest.

“Just... it hurt so much here... as if it were being wrung out...”

A strange emotion she had never known before crashed over her like a wave, shaking her to the core.

“It felt like I was lost. Even though I knew exactly how things would end, I was afraid. I even wished I could go back to the time when I had no emotions at all.”

“....”

“...Seolhwa.”

Sensing the heaviness of the air, she hurriedly waved her hand.

“But not now. Now I’m glad to have my emotions back. Truly.”

“Seolhwa.”

Mucheon shifted his hand from her head to grip her shoulders firmly.

“When you were little, you laughed easily, and you cried just as easily. If I didn’t hold you close, your lips would pout and you’d sob. If you fell, you would wail as if the estate itself would collapse.”

He looked at her with warmth.

“But when I gave you something you liked, you laughed as though nothing had happened—like pearls rolling free.”

A mischievous smile tugged at Mucheon’s lips.

“Such a fickle child you were.”

Seolhwa laughed faintly too.

“...I suppose I was.”

“When you returned without emotions, do you know how your father and I felt?”

“....”

Seolhwa glanced toward Cheongun.

He met her eyes with a faint, knowing smile and nodded.

Mucheon’s voice continued,

“Do not fear being swayed by emotion. Cry when you wish, laugh when you wish.”

Seop Mugwang let out a soft chuckle, and Namgoong Mugang hummed low in agreement.

“You are only finding your way back to yourself.”

****

Shortly after, the Chief Steward and warriors of the Red Dragon Unit arrived, pulling wagons.

Namgoong Hyeok, who had taken Mangwol ahead, had told the Chief Steward to bring the Red Dragon Unit to the graveyard.

“W-what in heaven’s name is all this?!”

The Chief Steward, arriving at the ruined site, was aghast.

“Why is the Clan Head’s grave in such a state! And what are all these corpses?!”

Seop Mugwang ordered the Red Dragon Unit to load the corpses onto the wagons, then approached the Chief Steward.

“I’ll explain in detail once we return to the main house. For now, we must first—”

“Gasp—!”

“?!”

The Chief Steward’s jaw dropped as he stared past Seop Mugwang’s shoulder.

It was where Namgoong Mucheon stood.

Seop Mugwang realized too late what he had forgotten to mention.

“Lord of the Flying Phoenix Unit. D-don’t be startled, but listen to me carefully.”

“?”

“I believe the former Clan Head’s wrath burns fiercely.”

“...What?”

“I mean the desecration of the grave has enraged him! Before my very eyes—the specter of the former Clan Head...!”

“Mun.”

“―!”

Namgoong Mucheon himself stepped forward to explain.

Namgoong Mun, pointing with trembling hand, could only gape wordlessly.

“Forgive me for not telling you sooner. To you...”

But Mucheon could not finish.

The Chief Steward foamed at the mouth and collapsed unconscious.

“H-hey! Chief Steward! Master Mun! Wake up, sir!”

Seop Mugwang caught him as he fell, shaking him, but the man did not come to.

Namgoong Mucheon halted, watching in silence as Seop Mugwang cradled the limp steward.

“Grandfather.”

Seolhwa, who had been helping the Red Dragon Unit sort the corpses, came to him.

“Yes.”

“The corpse cleanup is finished. We also separated the severed limbs with their proper owners.”

“Well done.”

He looked over the bodies piled in the wagons.

Seolhwa could not recognize them, but Mucheon did.

Most were familiar faces.

Martial masters of such level that, even turned Jiangshi, they still displayed transcendent skill.

Among them were those who had once dominated the martial world, and even some whom Mucheon himself had admired.

Surely the orthodox sects could not be ignorant of such corpses disappearing.

‘So none of them, not a single sect, revealed the theft.’

To admit it would have laid bare their disgrace and made their clans the laughingstock of the world.

Mucheon let out a long sigh.

“We must hurry to prepare for our guests.”

Now was the time to set right what had been twisted.

The Assembly was but three days away.