CLS-Chapter 646

Chapter 646:

“Me?”

Wei Yan-ho raised his hand to point at himself.

The gesture was meant to express bewilderment, but Baek Gong-do’s reaction was completely different from what he had expected.

“That’s right.”

“Me?”

“Indeed.”

Looking at Baek Gong-do smiling and even nodding his head, there was nothing more Wei Yan-ho could do.

“What does this have to do with me exactly?”

“It has everything to do with you.”

Baek Gong-do quietly looked at Wei Yan-ho.

“But it’s too complex and lengthy to explain in words. And sometimes in this world, ignorance is bliss.”

“That seems pretty irresponsible, doesn’t it?”

“Do you think so?”

Baek Gong-do’s sword slowly extended.

“Even if you do, there’s nothing I can do about it. Just think simply. If you defeat me, everything will be resolved.”

“Hmm.”

Wei Yan-ho narrowed his eyes.

‘Something’s strange here.’

Others might not feel it, but Wei Yan-ho definitely sensed something unsettling.

Someone who wants victory doesn’t need to say such things.

Because winning would solve everything anyway. And given the ability Baek Gong-do had just displayed, he wouldn’t need to consider his own defeat even slightly.

Yet he was saying this?

“What are you thinking?”

“……”

Wei Yan-ho lowered his sword.

“Fighting is fine with me. Let’s have a match and follow what the winner says. It’s not heading in a bad direction anyway. But… this feels unsettling. What are you aiming for?”

“The future.”

“Pardon?”

“Or you could call it hope.”

“So you mean……”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his head vigorously.

Was he saying that Wei Yan-ho was that hope?

Wei Yan-ho simply couldn’t understand this person.

“If you want to find hope, wouldn’t it be better to look for it yourself?”

Baek Gong-do shook his head.

“I am someone who cannot do that. Because I carry original sin.”

“Original sin?”

“Yes, original sin.”

A sigh escaped him naturally.

‘I have no idea what he’s talking about.’

“I don’t know what that original sin is, but just because a person has committed sins doesn’t mean they can’t be reformed. I’ve never heard that having committed sins limits what you can do. Aren’t you just scared?”

Baek Gong-do looked at Wei Yan-ho silently.

Pressing an advantage when he thought he had gained the upper hand was Wei Yan-ho’s specialty, but at this moment, he couldn’t do that.

Baek Gong-do’s eyes.

His eyes were sealing Wei Yan-ho’s mouth shut.

Indescribable emotions could be felt from those sunken eyes.

‘What’s this?’

It was the first time he’d seen such an old man make such an expression.

Moreover……

‘Blood is thicker than water, I suppose?’

Unlike his brother Baek Gong-ui, Baek Gong-do definitely resembled Baek Mu-han. Of course, their atmospheres were quite different, but their faces were very similar.

That made it even harder to treat him carelessly.

“You might be right. Yes, I am afraid.”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes widened.

Afraid?

The person who had just split the sky?

“I want to run away from the sins I’ve committed. I want to turn away from my lack of courage. It’s a shameful and pathetic sight, but… yes, I cannot bear it.”

Wei Yan-ho turned his head to look behind him.

Even the White Sword Castle members looked flustered. How could they not? Such words coming from their lord’s mouth.

“Everyone can hear you, you know? Maybe you should speak a little quieter……”

“Hehe. When I cannot escape from myself, what meaning would there be in deceiving the eyes and ears of others?”

“……Having high enlightenment is good and all.”

But shouldn’t a person maintain some dignity?

For reasons unknown, Baek Gong-do truly seemed to have let everything go. Looking quietly at Baek Gong-do, Wei Yan-ho sighed.

Baek Gong-do was strong.

Ridiculously, impossibly strong.

Since his debut, Wei Yan-ho had never seen anyone stronger than Baek Gong-do. Even the Demonic Cult’s bishops were mere children compared to Baek Gong-do.

Greatest Sword Under Heaven.

Or perhaps the title Greatest Under Heaven could only be used for this person alone.

Wei Yan-ho glanced and bit his lip slightly, then turned to look behind him.

“With someone like this around, how can Grandpa Gwon Geuk be called the Greatest Fist Under Heaven!”

Receiving Wei Yan-ho’s gaze, the Divine Beggar coughed and quietly turned his head away.

“That’s why I never said Greatest Under Heaven. I said Greatest Fist Under Heaven.”

“This old man could beat Grandpa Gwon Geuk with his fists and it’d be over in 3 seconds!”

“Ahem.”

Having let go of the Divine Beggar who had turned his head away, Wei Yan-ho found his next prey.

“Three Great Sword Mastersssss?”

The Wudang and Namgung representatives turned their heads away violently.

“People should have some conscience!”

Wei Yan-ho ground his teeth.

To leave aside someone like this and talk amongst themselves about the Three Great Sword Masters.

Even the Heavenly Flow Sword would scoff if he heard it… Moreover, this old man was someone who could devour that Heavenly Flow Sword with a blade swung while lying down.

And such a person was now showing fear.

So he had to ask.

“Is the Heavenly Demon that strong?”

“……”

When the name Heavenly Demon came up, Baek Gong-do looked at Wei Yan-ho with interest.

“Why do you think that?”

“When someone of your caliber acts like this, the reason is obvious.”

The moment he saw Baek Gong-do, one question arose.

Why had White Sword Castle joined hands with the Demonic Cult? Before knowing Baek Gong-do, it made sense, but from the moment he learned of Baek Gong-do’s existence, it stopped making sense.

White Sword Castle without Baek Gong-do couldn’t face the Righteous Martial Alliance alone. But if Baek Gong-do’s existence was added, the story would be different. Currently, there would be no one under heaven who could stop Baek Gong-do.

Even if Wei Yan-ho existed, it wouldn’t be different.

Before the war began, no one would have expected Wei Yan-ho to become strong enough to face Baek Gong-do. Not the Righteous Martial Alliance, not White Sword Castle, and not even Wei Yan-ho himself.

So why did they have to join hands with the Demonic Cult?

The reason was simple. Because they had seen an unstoppable force.

Hadn’t Wei Yan-ho already felt it too?

That overwhelming evil.

That power that seemed impossible to handle with human strength.

Wei Yan-ho, who had to fall into the depths of despair just from the energy remaining where he had stayed. If Baek Gong-do had faced that Heavenly Demon directly, all of this would be explained.

Because when you can’t resist an unbearable force, it’s wise to bow your head.

“Heavenly Demon… Yes, Heavenly Demon.”

Baek Gong-do’s voice sank a little deeper.

“He is a wall.”

“……”

“A wall that can never be crossed by human strength. For me, it’s an even more insurmountable wall.”

“So you submitted?”

“Submission.”

Baek Gong-do shook his head.

“I merely followed the natural order.”

“Natural order?”

“Yes. The natural order.”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand.

“You seem to have deep regrets for someone who says they followed the natural order. So are you going against the natural order now?”

“You saw correctly.”

There was sarcasm in those words.

But Baek Gong-do acknowledged that fact as it was.

“I am now trying to go against the natural order given to me. My choice now might bring destruction to everyone. That’s why I worried and worried again. Perhaps under the excuse of worrying, I might have just secluded myself and waited for everything to simply flow by.”

The sincerity contained in that voice overwhelmed even Wei Yan-ho.

‘What in the world……’

It was as if he was grinding his soul into it.

“But nothing gets resolved that way. It took too long to realize that. Now I’m trying to open a new path.”

Wei Yan-ho opened and closed his mouth several times before finally letting out a deep sigh.

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s why I said I wouldn’t explain it.”

Baek Gong-do’s sword slowly rose up. The sword pointed precisely at Wei Yan-ho.

“You don’t need to know. You just need to break me.”

“That seems like the hardest thing to do.”

Wei Yan-ho also raised his sword.

Wei Yan-ho didn’t know what Baek Gong-do was aiming for.

But even if he knew, nothing would change. As Baek Gong-do said, what he had to do was too clear.

“Whew.”

Taking a low breath, Wei Yan-ho looked at Baek Gong-do.

‘Terrifying. Really.’

It was like Mount Tai standing there.

The presence that Baek Gong-do possessed was incomparable to anyone he had met so far. In terms of presence alone, even Gwon Geuk, the Four Heavenly Kings Grandmaster who had made Wei Yan-ho give up, would look like a child in front of Baek Gong-do.

Mount Tai wasn’t the right description.

Should it be called Sword Mountain?

This person seemed like he would chop up his rice with a sword when eating, and sleep while holding a sword.

You couldn’t distinguish between the sword and the person.

He was holding a sword, yet it didn’t seem like he was holding a sword. The one holding the sword was also a sword, and what was held in his hand was also a sword—what meaning would there be in distinguishing them?

“Indeed.”

Baek Gong-do opened his mouth.

“You have inherited the Ten Thousand Swords.”

“……You can see that?”

“I can tell.”

Baek Gong-do smiled gently.

It was like a grandfather looking at his grandson.

“I’ve lived my whole life looking only at the Ten Thousand Swords. If I couldn’t even distinguish that much, wouldn’t my life have been in vain?”

“I’m just holding a sword.”

“That’s enough.”

Baek Gong-do slightly shook his sword.

“Even with the same posture, the direction is different. You’re looking at the world.”

“……I don’t really understand what you mean.”

“I was just expressing my joy. I was a bit lonely, you see.”

Baek Gong-do didn’t erase his smile.

He had thought the Ten Thousand Swords had been passed down only to them.

The anxiety that the Ten Thousand Swords would be lost if he couldn’t properly raise disciples had always tormented him.

If he had known there was another branch of the Ten Thousand Swords, he could have lived with some peace of mind.

“I won’t ask who your master was. Such things don’t really have meaning anyway. Still, just knowing that another school exists gives me relief.”

“I think there’s some misunderstanding. There’s no school or anything like that. I learned the sword from my master, and my master passed away.”

Three hundred years ago.

He didn’t bother adding the last part.

“That would be fine too. Then let’s see. How the three hundred years you’ve inherited differs from the three hundred years we’ve inherited.”

“You don’t need to see that.”

“……Hmm?”

“My side is definitely right.”

“Hoho.”

Baek Gong-do laughed pleasantly.

“Yes, yes. We’ll know once we check.”

“Tsk, you don’t believe me.”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his head vigorously. Even if he told them everything, they wouldn’t believe him.

“Well then, shall we start lightly?”

Baek Gong-do slowly moved his sword.

Softly.

Gracefully.

Baek Gong-do’s sword drew a perfect circle. A perfect circle with no distortion anywhere. A circle so perfect that it created an unsettling feeling instead.

He was being drawn in.

Perfection doesn’t exist.

Perfection is merely a concept created by humans.

But at this moment, Wei Yan-ho was facing perfection. The moment he saw that perfection, both his consciousness and his soul were drawn into the circle Baek Gong-do had drawn.

“Starting lightly.”

Swish.

Baek Gong-do’s sword was drawn.

And nothing happened.

With everyone’s puzzled gazes upon him, Baek Gong-do lowered his sword.

“You were entranced.”

While everyone was puzzled, only one person was showing intense emotion.

Wei Yan-ho.

His face was twisted with anger.

“……You could have cut me down?”

“That wouldn’t have any meaning.”

Wei Yan-ho gripped his sword tightly.

It had been a long time since he’d been this heated.

“You’re trying to teach someone right now. Let me show you that I’m someone who has nothing to learn from you.”

Wei Yan-ho’s sword began to emit light.