"Gah!"
Namgung Un gritted his teeth.
A single exchange.
They said that crossing swords once could reveal a great deal, but this was not what he had hoped to learn.
'He is stronger than I am? This brat who cannot be more than thirty?'
It was truly beyond reason.
Of course, Namgung Un had yet to exert his full power.
But the same was almost certainly true of Dan Sahyeok.
When both laid bare every card they were hiding, there was no telling which side would have the greater margin.
'But the water is already spilled. The fight has begun!'
Namgung Un steadied himself, and his gaze settled into a calm stillness.
Seeing that, a flicker of interest crossed Dan Sahyeok's eyes.
"You wish to continue?"
"Of course!"
WHOOSH—!
Namgung Un's form became a gale once more and bore down on Dan Sahyeok.
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—!
The two exchanged blows in rapid succession.
Unlike before, there were no devastating strikes--only a barrage of minor, probing attacks.
Each man suppressed the other's movements to prevent any technique demanding heavy expenditure of inner arts.
"Hm!"
"Truly remarkable."
The luminaries watching the duel let out hushed murmurs.
The first technique Namgung Un had unleashed--Thundercloud Advent--had been overwhelming in its power.
It would not have been out of place among the finishing moves or secret arts of any peerless master.
And yet even that had not felt like his full strength, drawing instinctive exclamations of admiration for the Azure Sky Sword King.
But Dan Sahyeok was beyond even that.
Reluctant as they were to admit it, every person present tacitly acknowledged that the thrust Dan Sahyeok had delivered immediately afterward was a cut above Namgung Un's Thundercloud Advent.
"But about that sword."
"Hm, it is clearly a blade formed from the concentration of that man's inner arts, and yet......"
"But if that is the case, would the Namgung patriarch not have the advantage, having a real blade to work with?"
"True, layering sword force over an existing blade should be stronger than conjuring one from thin air."
"And yet they are fighting on even terms......"
"Hm."
Meanwhile, Great Master Gomok and Sama Jin were examining the battered Hwangbo Cheol.
"Fortunately, his life does not appear to be in danger."
"Whether that can be called fortunate, I am not so sure."
"......"
Hwangbo Cheol was quite literally a wreck.
His face was a pulped mess, his body was drenched in blood, and one ankle was bent at a grotesque angle.
All of this wrought by a mere two punches.
Sama Jin himself could have done the same to some back-alley thug, but doing it to a master of Hwangbo Cheol's caliber was another matter entirely.
"Strategist."
"......Yes, Abbot."
"This is the power of the man who ended the Blood Sky Demon's nightmare."
"......"
"Moreover, there is merit to his argument. The Martial Alliance of today lost its founding purpose a long time ago."
"Abbot."
"Perhaps, as that young man says, the Martial Alliance, too, has served its purpose."
Great Master Gomok's voice was gentle but unyielding.
Sama Jin's face twisted of its own accord.
"Do you think they would accept that?"
"They will have to, will they not?"
"That is precisely the problem--they cannot!"
Sama Jin's tone rose sharply.
"Over a thousand people reside here in Yellow Dragon Fortress alone. And most of them are prominent figures of the martial world."
"People drunk on the benefits and prestige the Martial Alliance affords them."
"Which is exactly why it is a problem. Would they willingly relinquish those privileges and entitlements?"
"And that is precisely why the Martial Alliance must be dissolved all the more."
Great Master Gomok's expression turned deeply solemn.
"The Martial Alliance was founded to stand against the overwhelming power and terror of the Blood Sky Sect. This old rascal and the finest masters under heaven laid down their lives to resist, and a decade ago, a narrow victory at the Bloody Battle of Mount Hua drove them from the Central Plains."
"......"
"But from that moment on, the Martial Alliance began to rot. Drunk on the fame and fortune that victory had brought, it pursued nothing but comfort."
"It is a shameful state of affairs."
"It is worse than shameful."
Great Master Gomok turned his gaze toward the battle between Dan Sahyeok and Namgung Un.
"While we sat here in Yellow Dragon Fortress, fattening ourselves...... out on the frontier of Gansu, they continued fighting. We knew full well and looked away."
"......"
"In some ways, we even exploited the situation. Did we not, Strategist?"
"Yes......"
"To me, that young man's demand feels almost like the price for that. Or perhaps a rebuke, hurled at us who have grown stagnant."
"Are you saying this is our karma? The Martial Alliance's karma?"
"I am saying it may well be."
"But......"
"Driving out every last one of the dozens of sects and clans that have settled in would be no easy feat. But tell me, Strategist. Does it not seem as though that man just might be able to do it?"
BOOM—!
A violent explosion rocked the earth.
From the erupting fireball, Namgung Un's form skidded backward.
"Gaaah!"
He dropped to one knee and barely stopped, stifling a groan.
Wisps of steam curled from the blade of the Blazing New Moon, once the very symbol of invincibility.
"A fine sword is a fine sword indeed. It absorbed a considerable portion of the blow meant for its master."
A figure emerged, parting the lingering flames.
Dan Sahyeok.
Beneath his right arm, a jet-black blaze seethed and crackled.
The bladeless sword, Black Asura.
The dark edge risen above it seemed to writhe, as if desperate to tear everything apart.
"But that stroke of fortune will not last, Patriarch Namgung."
"You......!"
"Do you wish to continue?"
CRACK.
Namgung Un's eyes, bloodshot from biting his lip until it bled, blazed with fury.
"Of course I do!"
"I do not. I believe we have fought enough."
"What?"
"So let us end this."
The audacity to begin and end on his own terms.
In that instant, Namgung Un's grip on reason snapped.
"HYAAAAAAH!"
WHOOSH—!
The inner arts he had held in reserve until the very last erupted, and a ferocious whirlwind swirled around Namgung Un.
The Blazing New Moon's blade, absorbing the brunt of that energy, blazed white-hot, emitting a light so intense it stung the eyes.
Every onlooker blanched, certain this was dangerous.
"Th-that--!"
"Should we not stop them?"
"But how? Could you stop them if you stepped in?"
"W-well...... perhaps, but."
"Then go stop them! At this rate we will all be in danger!"
"N-no, why is everyone singling me out? Ahem."
The luminaries shifted blame onto one another while inching backward.
Sama Jin and Great Master Gomok did not partake in such antics, but their faces were etched with worry all the same.
"Will it be all right, Abbot? Patriarch Namgung's inner arts seem terribly unstable and dangerous......"
"All right? He drew out every drop of latent power in his body save a portion of his innate true qi, and detonated it. How could that be all right?"
"If a master of Namgung Un's caliber does that, would the entire area not be in jeopardy?"
"It reminds me of the Bloody Battle of Mount Hua."
Great Master Gomok stroked his chin, lost in recollection.
"Cheon Muyeol, thrashing about in his final frenzy, was just like this. The casualties it caused were enormous."
"Abbot! Now is hardly the time for idle reminiscence!"
"That is true, and yet. In the end, the one who lost that battle was Cheon Muyeol. Granted, it was a victory wrung out by sheer weight of numbers."
But the Blood Sky Demon's second defeat had been different.
"We may be about to witness that man's--Dan Sahyeok's--true nature."
"......!"
It seemed far too optimistic a thought, yet Sama Jin could offer no rebuttal.
Not that doing so would have changed anything about the present situation.
'Am I left with no choice but to trust that man?'
FLASH—!
White-hot sword force, pushed to its absolute peak.
Namgung Un, gripping it tight, became a single bolt of lightning and hurtled toward Dan Sahyeok.
WHOOSH—!
And yet, if one could perceive it, there was perfect form and balance maintained even in that blinding charge.
Infinite White Thunder, the ultimate technique of the Celestial Thunder Emperor Sword, unleashed with twelve-star inner arts power.
A killing blow in every sense.
In answer, Dan Sahyeok's grip on Black Asura tightened.
"Hm."
HMMMMMM!
Black Asura's jet-black sword force refined itself another degree.
Its keenness, its density, and above all the power contained within it grew incomparably greater than a moment ago.
The result was a jet-black blaze that burned with redoubled ferocity.
Dan Sahyeok seized that black flame and swung it at the light hurtling toward him.
FLASH—!
In the next instant, darkness pierced the heart of the white lightning.
BOOM—!
CRASH—!
An explosion beyond anything that had come before erupted and engulfed the entire area.
The blast tore the roof clean off the Martial Emperor Hall--the largest structure in all of Yellow Dragon Fortress.
CRASH—!
Pillars shattered and crumbled, walls blew outward, and with that, the collapse of the entire building was inevitable.
"AAAAAGH!"
"R-run!"
The luminaries scattered in every direction, white with terror.
They had already sensed the danger and retreated dozens of paces from the combatants during the fight.
Even so, they were not entirely safe from the blast's aftermath; burns and injuries were legion.
RUMBLE......
One last, violent tremor--like a period at the end of a sentence--rippled through what remained of the Martial Emperor Hall.
***
"Nnngh."
"Are you all right, Strategist?"
Sama Jin's eyes snapped open.
"Abbot?"
"A truly close call. This old rascal was nearly buried right alongside you."
"Now that you mention it......!"
Sama Jin lurched to his feet and was struck dumb.
The Martial Emperor Hall--so vast that some said it rivaled the imperial palace.
That colossal structure had collapsed in its entirety.
The explosion and its aftershocks had drawn a throng of onlookers beyond counting.
To Sama Jin, the scene felt like the end of the Martial Alliance itself.
"Wh-what happened with the battle? Patriarch Namgung and that man--"
"Look over there."
Great Master Gomok pointed just in time.
Sama Jin followed his gaze, and the strength drained from his body once more.
THUD.
An indifferent hand set a battered, bloodied man down on the ground.
Dan Sahyeok laid Namgung Un on the floor, then slid his bladeless sword into the scabbard on his back.
***
Namgung Un had been defeated!
The shocking news spread in an instant--not just through Yellow Dragon Fortress, but across all of Xi'an.
Along with it, facts that had until now not leaked beyond the fortress walls came pouring out as if they had been waiting for just this moment.
"The Blood Sky Demon Cheon Muyeol is dead!"
"And the man who killed him has now felled the Namgung patriarch as well!"
"So what happens now?"
"What do you think? That man will become the new Martial Alliance Leader!"
"Then Patriarch Namgung rose up because he objected to that?"
"That must be it. He has always been quietly strutting about, fancying himself the greatest sword in the martial world."
"I always thought the Namgung patriarch was not quite up to that."
"Hey, Brother Jin! Quit running your mouth and carry those plates!"
Stories poured from inns and taverns across the streets of Xi'an.
It was a scene in which the Lord of Yellow Dragon Fortress was branded indelibly into the minds of all.