Chapter 251. Within Ten Paces, You’ll Find A Fragrant Flower (22)

His jaw dropped.

“The landscape painting brought you into a dream, and the cultivation method and sword art were created by you alone. You weren’t directly aware of it, but you did that in order to heal yourself.”

That was all. The Gentle Celestial Sword and the Forbidden Divine Art had been created by Woo-Moon in his dream after becoming aware of his illness and making countless efforts to cure it.

Raging Wind, Heavy Rain, North Wind, Cold Snow, Impenetrable Iron Wall, Dragon Bind Tiger Strike, All the Myriad Things in the World...

It wasn’t that he was remembering things he had forgotten. He had wrongfully blamed himself for his poor memory; it was simply that he was actually creating the techniques himself, without even being aware.

Whenever Woo-Moon was in danger or was overcome by passion, he had actually created a technique that suited him in that situation.

As it turns out, people themselves are the gods they worship.

Woo Bok-Hee smiled as his disciple gained enlightenment.

“So you finally understand.”

“The key to everything was inside of me. People are the universe. There are people in the world, and there is a world inside of people. It’s not just people, too. Even the wind that brushes past me, even a single weed, even in every tiny thing, the universe is contained within it all. I... I...”

Tap.

Woo Bok-Hee placed a hand on Woo-Moon’s shoulder.

“Take it all in. Take everything that makes you yourself and put it into your sword.”

“Right. This time, All the Myriad Things in the World will really be worthy of that name.”

“Then go. Go to that brat that’s fallen into a dream and teach him reality.”

“I will. Those who are unaware or ignore the fact that they’re also part of this universe will learn their lesson.”

“Hahahahahaha!”

With a satisfied laugh, Woo Bok-Hee left.

Woo-Moon found himself on the field of grass, once more, but he did not return to his family. Instead, he simply stood there blankly for another two days. Now, there were only twenty-three days left.

***

“Is he really going to be okay?”

“Who knows? Maybe he actually just died, standing like that. Look, he’s not breathing.”

Jin-Jin glared at Sang-Woon.

“You really must be feeling good cursing your own grandchild.”

“Well, if you think about it, there’s nothing to feel good about, is there? Why did I do that again?”

Bam!

Jin-Jin kicked Sang-Woon in the shin.

“Oh dear, oh dear. I’ve lost so much strength now that I’m over a hundred years old that even my own daughter is beating me up.”

“Should I hit you some more, then?” Jin-Jin asked with a laugh.

“No. I’m sorry. You’re right, no matter how old you are, if you do something wrong, you deserve to get punished. Even if it has to come from your own daughter.”

Right then, Woo-Moon, who had been standing still without moving even a single finger, opened his eyes.

“Ah!”

As the people of the Song and Baek families who were there to keep guard let out gasps of surprise, Woo-Moon smiled gently and gratefully toward his worried family before flying away.

“Don’t worry, everything will end soon.”

Si-Hyeon looked at Yeo-Seol in surprise.

“Did you feel that too, little sister?”

“I did...”

“Yes, I did, too,” Ma-Ra also answered.

None of them heard Woo-Moon’s message—they had

felt

it.

Woo-Moon had conveyed his message to their hearts, not their heads, with his feelings.

***

A day at the blacksmith’s workshop was very much like any other day at the blacksmith’s workshop.

Choo Min-Sang, now a healthy young man, was making a hoe with his skillful hands.

In front of the workshop, Mr. Choo was sitting on a chair in a sunny spot, smoking a large pipe.

Now that his son had grown up and could do everything on his own, he finally had the confidence to let go of his hammer. Looking at the smoke coming out of his pipe, Mr. Choo suddenly recalled the old days.

‘It’s been quite some time since that brat of the Song family left. I wonder how he’s doing... That brat was much better than his brute-like father. He really was good at making swords.’

Mr. Choo smiled as he reminisced about the past, like any other old man, when a shadow suddenly passed by, blocking his sunlight.

“W-what? Agk!”

Startled, Mr. Choo let go of the large pipe, and when the embers hit his bare shin, he screamed and got up quickly. Then, he hurriedly went into the workshop to scold the person who had just entered. However, what awaited him was a complete surprise.

“Y-y-you! Aren’t you Woo-Moon?!”

Clang.

The sound of Min-Sang’s hammer suddenly stopped. He was startled when he saw Woo-Moon suddenly enter. “You, you’re that idiot...!”

Min-Sang was still just as mannerless as before. However, Woo-Moon felt cheerful and laughed at the thought, wondering who else in the world would call him an idiot right now.

“Uncle, I want to make a sword.”

Mr. Choo narrowed his eyes.

“What kind of sword?”

“A sword that can hold the whole world.”

Mr. Choo chuckled. “Well then, I suppose you’ve come to the right place. You know the drill; grab that hammer and go at it.”

As if he had gone back in time, Woo-Moon lit the forge and started working.

The materials he used for his sword were the fragments of Lightflash, Inkblade, and Golden Dragon.

Since Min-Sang had something he’d wanted to ask Woo-Moon for a while, he thought that this was a good opportunity and tried to approach him. But Mr. Choo held out his pipe and stopped him.

“Don’t mess with him right now.”

“Why not?” Min-Sang asked bluntly.

Thud!

“Ouch!”

The pipe smacked Min-Sang on the head viciously. It seemed the young brat had let his new position as head blacksmith get to his head, and a bit of humbling was in order.

“You’ll know when you see it, so keep quiet.”

“H-hmph. Why did you hit me? You already tell me I’m too dumb because all I can do is forge.”

Ignoring his son’s complaints, Mr. Choo watched Woo-Moon with a pounding heart. To be exact, he was watching the sword Woo-Moon was making.

‘I saw it in his eyes. The true sword—it was there!’

Clang! Clang, clang! Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

Woo-Moon was unstoppable.

To be honest, at his level, it was much easier and more accurate to pound and heat a sword with his qi than it was to forge one with a hammer and furnace. However, Woo-Moon still chose to use both a furnace and a hammer.

Using his qi, and using the seemingly unnecessary hammer and furnace.

He would use both to forge his sword.

The forging didn’t take long. But for Woo-Moon, Mr. Choo, and Min-Sang, it was by no means a short time. It felt like eternity.

What was surprising was that not just Mr. Choo, but even the “dumb” Min-Sang, had some measure of enlightenment as they watched Woo-Moon work.

Woo-Moon even made the sword hilt and scabbard himself, and in the end, he ended up holding a longsword in hand.

“It’s... beautiful.”

Mr. Choo was truly amazed. The sword forged by Woo-Moon seemed more beautiful than anything else to his eyes. Even more beautiful than Min-Sang’s mother.

If two people were to catch sight of the sword simultaneously for the first time, they would fight each other. One would say that it was too dull, and the other would say it was too sharp.

Then, if they looked at it more closely, they would fight again, but in the opposite position. The person who said it was dull at first would say it was actually sharp, and the person who said it was sharp at first would say it was actually dull.

Both were correct.

The sword forged by Woo-Moon was short, yet long. Sharp, yet dull. Shiny, yet matte and mottled.

Even those who thought it was sharp at first would feel it was dull if they focused enough and looked at it more closely, and then would think it was sharp again if they looked even more closely again.

That was Woo-Moon’s sword.

Mr. Choo exclaimed in admiration, “Boundless! Its name must be Boundless!”

Woo-Moon looked at him in surprise. The old blacksmith was somehow able to intuit the name he had chosen for this sword—it seemed that people with similar attainments would get similar inspiration. “Yes, this is Boundless.”

Woo-Moon confirmed the name of the sword, but didn’t carve it into the guard as was customary. He didn’t think that it was necessary.

Actually, the reason he and Mr. Choo had both instinctively known the name of the sword was that it wasn’t a name thought up by either of them. It was the name of the sword; it was what the sword

was

.

At that moment, Min-Sang couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Woo-Moon... Hyung. Hyung, are you truly the Undefeatable Sword Immortal?”

“Yes, that’s what they call me now.”

Min-Sang’s jaw dropped open. Even though everyone else had told him that, Min-Sang couldn’t believe it. To think it really was true...

“I-incredible. But... I mean... weren’t you a fool?”

Woo-Moon grinned.

“I guess the Sword Immortal and the fool are two sides of the same coin.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Woo-Moon vanished

“Huh? H-Hyung!”

Mr. Choo didn’t seem all that surprised by Woo-Moon’s sudden disappearance. He turned to look at his son.

“What’s this Undefeatable Sword Immortal thing?”

Mr. Choo didn’t keep up with the current events, so he didn’t know much about what was going on in the

murim

. In fact, it was knowledge that he actively avoided, and even if he found something out, it would soon be relegated to the farthest possible corner of his mind.

Then, Min-Sang told him various stories about the Undefeatable Sword Immortal, so excited that droplets of spit were flying everywhere. However, contrary to Min-Sang’s expectations, Mr. Choo wasn’t very excited; in fact, he looked rather indifferent.

‘What the heck? As expected, Father really is strange. Even after hearing these amazing stories, he doesn’t really care much....’

Mr. Choo only said one thing at the end.

“So, now Woo-Moon is going to fight that... Martial Heaven or something? I hope he doesn’t get hurt....”

That was all he had to say. He was just worried that Woo-Moon would get hurt.

***

He went back to Martial Heaven.

“I-I-It’s Song Woo-Moon!”

“That bastard’s back again!”

Woo-Moon had come alone. He hadn’t brought anyone with him, nor had he bothered to tell them anything. As soon as he was done forging his sword, he was here.

As he slowly walked forward, Martial Heaven warriors jumped out and ran toward him.

One Absolute Master flashed forward, getting about ten zhang away from him.

“Ugh!”

He let out a scream, spat out blood, and ran a few more steps due to inertia before collapsing. He was dead before hitting the ground.

Following behind were three Transcendents and five Peak experts, getting within the same distance.

“Ugh!”

Simultaneously, a single scream escaped their lips. Then, all eight of them collapsed, spewing blood from their mouths.

Screams erupted, one after another.

Everyone who got within ten zhang of Woo-Moon died instantly.

Whether it was a Peak Class martial artist or an Absolute Master, if they entered that range, they would die without fail. Yet Woo-Moon didn’t even look in their general direction, let alone bother to raise a finger.

He just walked slowly, looking at the largest pavilion, where he could feel the presence of the Martial Heaven God.

“J-just what the hell is going on? Is that really a martial art? Just what sort of attack is that?!”

There were three remaining Paragons in Martial Heaven: three of the Four Great Attendants. Second Attendant Yu Chi-Sang had lost his life during Woo-Moon’s previous invasion.

First Attendant Yang Mun-Yeol looked over at Fourth Attendant Hu Tong-Ah. The latter nodded.

“Understood.”

Hu Tong-Ah bravely ran to attack Woo-Moon.

“Ugh!”

A moment later, he fell just like the others.

Woo-Moon still continued forward. He hadn’t even turned his head to look at Hu Tong-Ah as the latter approached him from behind, and hadn’t done anything, for that matter.

“A-a monster! That bastard is a monster! Seo Moon-Gang, this time, you attack!”

Third Attendant Seo Moon-Gang gritted his teeth.

Then, he ran to Woo-Moon, and when he was almost within ten zhang of Woo-Moon, he used all of the energy he could muster into an Illusive Shift.

‘I’ll finish this in a single blow!’

Thinking that, Seo Moon-Gang swung his sword, focused on nothing else in this world but the back of Woo-Moon’s head.

Whoosh!

His blade hit nothing but air.

Then, he felt something snap inside him with a nauseating, crunchy sound. And just before his life ended, all he saw was the distance between him and Woo-Moon—still ten zhang.

“Damn it!” Yang Moon-Yeol shouted. His hands trembled.

“W-why isn’t the Martial Heaven God coming out again?! My lord, why are you just watching us getting slaughtered like this?”

There were already more than two hundred corpses of Martial Heaven warriors in Woo-Moon’s wake.

Each and every one of them had lost their lives without even being able to approach him, much less attack him.

“Who’s left? Uh...”

Yang Moon-Yeol looked around.

“Hahaha, am I the only one? Am I the only one left in this place?”