Baek Sashin gripped the armrest.
Grrrk—
His fingers dug deeply into the cold iron armrest, then crushed it.
"You strut about, relying on your meager martial prowess."
As he spat out each word as if grinding it between his teeth, his eyes began to stain pure white, and soon a bone-chillingly cold energy erupted from his entire body.
Whoosh!
With the erupting energy, his snow-white hair surged like waves, and the once still air began to violently churn.
Beneath the throne, the floor cracked with a sharp snap.
Subsequently, fissures spread across the surrounding floor centered around Baek Sashin. Standing on the floor that had sunken by roughly an inch in an instant, Baek Sashin rose from his throne. Then, casting his white eyes downward, he glared at Cheon Hwi.
Snow-white, alien eyes.
Just as Cheon Hwi turned his head to meet his gaze, Baek Sashin threw his left hand wide open.
Withered to the point where skin seemed stretched taut over bone, his palm was as pale and lifeless as a corpse's hand.
'It's been a while since I felt this level of pressure.'
Cheon Hwi sensed the immense energy contained within that palm.
The indescribably potent and vicious Demonic Qi contained within that emaciated palm.
'Yes. At this level, he is worthy of being called the hegemon of a single province.'
Cheon Hwi's eyes grew heavy and settled.
Baek Sashin was strong.
Formidable enough to rival the masters he knew.
He had reached at least the Heavenly Martial Realm. No, he was a master highly proficient in the Heavenly Martial Realm.
'Hyeondo wouldn't even stand a chance.'
Just as he was making that comparison to Hyeondo—
Flash!
A pale-blue, wickedly cold radiance emitted from Baek Sashin's hand, followed by an exploding shockwave.
Boom!
Baekgwiseong shook as if struck by an earthquake, and the intense shockwave ravaged the room.
A moment later, as the dust settled, the interior of the room was revealed to have completely changed.
Shattered, cracked walls and pillars.
Obliterated decorations.
In the utterly devastated room, completely different from its original state, only two figures remained exactly as they were: Baek Sashin and Cheon Hwi.
However, the aura between them had shifted drastically, much like the ruined state of the room.
Murderous intent rippled between them.
The killing intent to slaughter one another was directed squarely at each other's throats.
It was then that Cheon Hwi parted his lips, shattering the petrified atmosphere.
"If I hadn't blocked that, I'd have suffered internal injuries."
Cheon Hwi, who had somehow already drawn his sword, shook off the residual kinetic energy from his palm as he recalled the fierce Hand Technique Baek Sashin had just unleashed.
It was remarkably fierce True Qi.
He had blocked it easily enough, but it still left enough residual force in his sword-wielding hand.
'What kind of martial art is this?'
Before Cheon Hwi, who was observing Baek Sashin with gleaming eyes, could even finish his thought—
Swish—
Baek Sashin's left hand moved once more.
Swung like a hawk's talons, his hand radiated a brilliant glow as it shredded the air.
Simultaneously, Baek Sashin kicked off the ground.
Tap!
Baek Sashin kicked off the ground and surged forward, almost instinctively, before his Jiuquan Yingzhua Ji could even reach Cheon Hwi.
A simultaneous feast of two martial arts unfolded.
Their speed was faster than lightning.
Bang!
While deflecting the Jiuquan Yingzhua Ji, Cheon Hwi saw Baek Sashin charging toward him and apathetically twisted his sword.
Rather than evading Baek Sashin's attack, he instead took a step forward to close the distance.
Thud—
The distance between them was a mere three paces.
And from that distance, Baek Sashin's Jiuquan Yingzhua Ji and Cheon Hwi's sword flashed with light, each moving to kill the other.
Claaang!
Accompanied by a metallic screech unbefitting a clash between a hand and a sword, dozens of sparks scattered.
Their killing moves, persistently targeting each other's throat, heart, and vital acupoints, were overwhelmingly brutal and bone-chillingly cold.
How many times had they clashed?
Baek Sashin furrowed his brow.
'A killing sword without a shred of hesitation! Is he really a Taoist of the Huashan Sect?'
A profound sense of incongruity seized his entire being.
The swordsmanship his opponent displayed was closer to the Demonic Path than the orthodox sword of Daoism.
No, it was different from the Demonic Path as well.
A killing sword meant solely to subjugate the opponent.
'Almost like...'
In that instant, a certain sect suddenly flashed through his mind like lightning and vanished just as quickly.
However, his thoughts were abruptly severed.
For the sword had already reached right before his nose.
Bang!
Once again, the sword and hand collided.
A shockwave reverberated through Baek Sashin's palm, and a pale-blue Demonic Qi surged up, targeting Cheon Hwi's upper body.
Rumble!
Cheon Hwi's left eyebrow twitched.
'I can't win in a clash of Inner Energy.'
Blocking the opponent's offensive head-on meant he received the full brunt of the impact.
'If that's the case...'
He immediately pivoted on his left foot, dissipating the remaining force.
Just as Baek Sashin's fierce strike dissipated into the air and was about to vanish—
Swish!
Cheon Hwi spun his body even further, tracking Baek Sashin with his eyes to prepare for his next attack, and thrust his sword straight toward the man's glabella.
"……!"
Startled by the unforeseen counterattack, Baek Sashin hastily whipped his left hand out.
Boom!
The shockwave from their collision violently shook the room a beat later.
The roof creaked and swayed as if it would collapse at any moment, and beneath it, Cheon Hwi and Baek Sashin glared at each other.
Cheon Hwi flicked the sword in his hand.
'He is strong. Undeniably strong.'
They had only exchanged a few bouts of offense and defense, but that alone was enough to gauge Baek Sashin's martial prowess.
He wasn't called the Hegemon of a Province for nothing.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that nine out of ten parts of Baekgwiseong's power resided in this single man.
"But is that all you've got?"
Cheon Hwi's murmuring eyes turned apathetic.
The Hegemon of a Province?
That meant nothing to him.
Who was he?
The hegemon of the Jianghu who had surpassed a single province. No, the hegemon of the Jiuzhou Bahuang.
That was who he was.
His previously indifferent gaze sank into an icy calm, and a crimson Qi swirled within.
Whoosh—
The Meihua Shengong, created by Cheon Hwi himself, began to devour Baek Sashin's presence and imposing aura that had filled the room.
Witnessing this transformation, Baek Sashin's eyes shifted.
"Has the Huashan Sect been deceiving the world?"
His voice was drenched in killing intent.
"I thought it was suspiciously quiet. So you purposely maintained a state near sect closure just to hide the fact that you were raising a monster like you."
Seeing Baek Sashin laboring under a delusion, Cheon Hwi felt no need to correct him and silently traced his sword through the air.
Qijue Meihua Jian, Third Stance.
Meiying Tianlei Wu.
Crimson Lightning Qi gathered upon Cheon Hwi's sword, striking down fiercely like a thunderbolt.
Rumble!
"……!"
At that moment, Baek Sashin's eyes trembled spasmodically, his face contorting.
It felt as if the sword swinging toward him would cleave him clean in half.
Grit—
Baek Sashin ground his teeth.
Exuding vicious Demonic Qi, he generated Gang Qi from both hands and merged them into one.
Creating a vortex intertwined with a pale-blue radiance, he unleashed Jiuquan Gongmie to shatter the crimson Lightning Sword.
Jiuquan Gongmie, imbued with intense Demonic Qi, was blasted toward the thunderously descending Meiying Tianlei Wu.
Leaving a vivid, deep-blue trajectory as if defying the lightning itself.
And a moment later, the two clashed.
Swish—
There was no explosive roar, no shockwave from the collision.
It was so deathly still that it felt as if time within this room had frozen entirely.
However, Baek Sashin's appearance revealed the outcome of the clash.
Snap—
The cord binding his hair snapped, and snow-white tresses cascaded down.
Through the hair cascading down to his shoulders, his white eyes radiated a sinister light.
"...It has been a while."
Baek Sashin's body heaved as he muttered.
"When was the last time this Seat felt such humiliation?"
"Was that just now a Qigong Shu?"
Cheon Hwi also revealed himself.
He looked exactly the same as before, but his eyes were gleaming like stars.
"To think a Qigong Shu could possess such power."
Having recognized the martial art Baek Sashin had just unleashed, Cheon Hwi's interest was piqued.
Even if one reached the grandmaster level in it, it could at best restrict the opponent's movements, making it a martial art that had fallen into obscurity long ago.
That was the Qigong Shu.
Yet the Qigong Shu Baek Sashin had just displayed was different from the ones Cheon Hwi knew.
Not only had it pulled in the Meiying Tianlei Wu, but it was powerful enough to completely obliterate it.
'It makes me covet it.'
He smiled with avaricious eyes as he looked at Baek Sashin.
"How dare you mock Benzuo."
However, misinterpreting that smile, Baek Sashin trembled with indignation at the perceived insult and flared his aura.
Whoosh!
Baek Sashin's disheveled hair surged toward the ceiling, and the air began to vibrate.
The manifestation of Jiuquan Baigu Gong.
As this absolute martial art, ranked among the pinnacle of Demonic Arts, bared its fangs, the very air and the world trembled in terror.
And those fangs moved to tear into Cheon Hwi's throat.
Heh—
Cheon Hwi's lips curled into an even deeper smirk.
Feeling the uniquely Demonic Qi pressing down on his entire body with a numbing sensation, his eyes narrowed into serpentine slits, seemingly pleased.
'This is the Jianghu.'
Immediately after, as he traced his sword through the air once more—
Whoosh—
Baek Sashin's aura amplified even further.
The bone-chillingly intense Demonic Qi of Jiuquan Baigu Gong consumed the room and began to slowly suffocate Cheon Hwi.
Whoosh—
Like a candle flame extinguishing, Baek Sashin vanished.
Moving at a speed impossible for the human eye to track, Baek Sashin shifted to Cheon Hwi's flank and launched a right fist.
Clang!
The moment Cheon Hwi raised his sword blade to block—
"This space now belongs to Benzuo."
Baek Sashin's sinister voice echoed.
Intense Demonic Qi had already gathered in his hand.
It was the ultimate technique, Jiuquan Xialao, which released intense Demonic Qi to crush the opponent and reduce them to a bloody pulp in an instant.
Jiuquan Xialao dragged the space inward, as if the Nine Springs had manifested in this world.
The shattered walls and pillars, and even Cheon Hwi.
Everything was pulled toward a single point and began to compress.
Crumble!
Eventually, a massive sphere the size of Baek Sashin's body was formed.
Trickle—
A streak of blood trickled from Baek Sashin's lips, and his face contorted mercilessly.
"...This is the worst."
Baek Sashin wiped the blood away with his sleeve.
He looked perfectly fine on the outside, but internally, he was a wreck from the recoil.
Jiuquan Xialao was the most alien and destructive Qigong Shu among the martial arts he had mastered, but in exchange, its backlash was greater than any other.
"But I suppose this is a cheap price to pay. I've nipped the bud before he could grow any further."
Baek Sashin's gaze turned toward the sphere created by Jiuquan Xialao.
That young Taoist he had been fighting... no, that monster was abnormally strong.
Just imagining what would happen if he didn't kill him now and met him again in the future sent a chill down his spine.
Even now, he had pressed him this hard. What if he grew stronger?
It was a prospect beyond fear—pure terror.
But that would no longer be an issue.
Bound by the power of Jiuquan Xialao, he would now slowly perish.
Withdrawing his gaze from the sphere, Baek Sashin began to tend to his internal injuries.
"But the damage is severe."
Baek Sashin's gaze drifted into the distance.
Most of the presences felt from outside had already lost their souls.
"If only I hadn't listened to the strategist and opted for an all-out war instead of plotting the Huashan Annihilation Plan, a monster like him wouldn't have emerged from the Huashan Sect."
He chewed on his lip fiercely.
The grand scheme known as the Huashan Annihilation Plan had crumbled in an instant, and in its place, the Baekgwiseong he had built up for so long had fallen.
"It will take a long time to recover my strength. Still, with the strategist, it will be faster than before..."
It was then.
Crrrk—
An ominous sound echoed from the sphere, and tiny cracks began to form.
"What in the world...?"
As Baek Sashin's eyes widened in sheer disbelief at a sight he had never seen in his entire life—
Crack!
The sphere shattered, and an absolute, irresistible Qi flowed out from the cracks.
"It was quite the Qigong Shu."
Hearing the absolute voice that instinctively forced one to bow their head, Baek Sashin's hands trembled, and his face filled with sheer panic.
"This is impossible! How can someone his age possess such Qi..."
Just as he trembled violently, screaming in denial of reality—
Slash!
Blood splattered across Baek Sashin's vision as his severed left arm fluttered into the air.
"To think you pressured me, even if only for a moment."
The moment those cold words struck his ears, Cheon Hwi abruptly appeared before him. He looked no different from before, but the instant they faced each other, Baek Sashin realized.
A monster that hadn't yet reached his peak?
Nonsense.
The monster had already reached his zenith.
As an Absolute!
Baek Sashin's pupils quivered.
The pain of his severed arm was entirely dwarfed by the overwhelming presence Cheon Hwi exuded.
"Who... are you?"
A smirk twisted Cheon Hwi's lips.
The flash of white teeth revealed between his crimson lips seized Baek Sashin's gaze and spirit.
"If you're curious, ask King Yama."
At the bone-chilling voice, Baek Sashin's face turned ashen.
Swoosh!
The sword in Cheon Hwi's hand swung down, and a crimson plum blossom bloomed.
The plum blossom bloomed languidly, as if devouring the entire world, and pierced deeply through his heart, guiding Baek Sashin to his death.
Trickle—
Blood spilled from Baek Sashin's lips.
Staring down at the sword that had pierced his heart, he muttered with a hollow expression.
"Kek... To end up like this before I could even point my blade at him... Keuk."
He coughed up blood with a groan.
Gurgle—
Black, dead blood flowed down the sword Cheon Hwi had impaled him with, dripping onto the floor.
Shocked, Baek Sashin staggered.
Had he felt death approaching?
Moving his unfocused pupils to fix a sharp glare on Cheon Hwi, he moved his blood-soaked lips.
"You are... strong. You will only grow stronger in the future. But you, too, will ultimately struggle... just like me. Within the palms of... the Bamushen..."
His body swayed as he spoke, and before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed.
Thud!
It was a futile end, hard to believe for the hegemon who had single-handedly raised Baekgwiseong to the ranks of the Liuhuang Men and dominated Shaanxi.