The Twelve Heavens.

Ah-ryeong explained with a dark look on her face.

“At first it looked faint, so I thought it was just a shadow. But as time passes, it gets clearer.”

Ghosts.

He could guess the reason.

The honey that Gwang Seong-ja had given her.

They said that if an ordinary person ate it, their spiritual power would rise.

It was clear that it had caused some sort of effect.

As he listened to Ah-ryeong’s story, Gyo-ha’s eyes shone with curiosity.

“Do they attack you by any chance?”

“No. They just stay still. Sometimes a few of them say something, but I can’t hear what they are saying.”

“Ah, I see.”

The strength drained from Gyo-ha’s voice.

He was disappointed to hear they didn’t pick fights.

That mood was conveyed to Ah-ryeong as well.

“Don’t be like that. Do something about it. You know a lot about this kind of thing.”

At Ah-ryeong’s request, Gyo-ha shook his head.

“Mm, they said ghosts are different from yokai.”

What the Kunlun Sect rejected were, after all, only aberrant existences.

Beings that should not exist in this world.

But ghosts were different.

Between reality and the netherworld.

You could say they were beings placed in a gray area.

They had little to do with Kunlun’s duties.

“Ah, come to think of it, my master said the Taoist priests of the Maosan Sect know that field well.”

“…The Maoshan Sect, huh.”

Ah-ryeong also knew the Maoshan Sect well.

The Maoshan Sect’s main mountain had already disappeared.

But its lineage continued. It had not collapsed because of an attack like Kunlun, but because its fortunes had slowly declined over a long time.

It was because of their peculiar disposition.

It was hard even to regard the Maoshan Sect as a Murim faction. On top of that, other Taoists rejected them.

They studied talisman sorcery and warding arts rather than the teachings of Taoism.

There were still people who carried on that lineage, but the problem was that they did not stay in one place and wandered, so they were hard to find.

Disappointed, Ah-ryeong let out a sigh.

“Even so, if I meet my master I will ask him once.”

As he said that, he thought of someone else.

‘I think Junior Brother Mun also dealt with ghosts.’

Strictly speaking, he used a saber possessed by ghosts.

Ghost Evil Blade.

His nickname had not arisen for nothing.

But since he was not certain, he could not speak carelessly.

“…There is no helping it then.”

It was not something that would be solved just because Ah-ryeong insisted.

“So, are you going back to Kunlun now?”

She smiled as if trying to change the mood as she spoke.

At Ah-ryeong’s question, Gyo-ha nodded.

There had been only one reason he stayed in the Namgung Clan.

His fight with the Sword Saint, Namgung Jin-yeong.

Now that he had achieved that, there was no reason to stay.

“What about you, Sister?”

Gyo-ha knew that Namgung Su-hwa had suggested to Ah-ryeong that she try running a guest house.

She had even said she would personally support her.

They were on good terms.

In truth, the Hao Gate had practically given up on Ah-ryeong. It would not be strange if she left.

But Ah-ryeong gave a wry smile and shook her head.

“I still cannot leave my sect. I may have been sold there, but the sect treated me well.”

Gyo-ha nodded as well.

The ties with one’s sect were not something that could be severed so easily.

“Will we be able to see each other again?”

Ah-ryeong hesitated, then spoke.

The war had already begun.

That was also the reason Namgung Su-hwa had made her the offer.

If they met again next time, there was a high chance they would meet as enemies.

“It’ll be difficult.”

As expected.

At the answer she had expected, Ah-ryeong’s head lowered. But Gyo-ha’s words didn’t end there.

“It’s too far, you know. If I have any reason to come nearby, I’ll drop by.”

“Huh?”

It was not the answer Ah-ryeong had imagined.

Then he spoke as if it were the most natural thing.

“Kunlun is not an orthodox sect anymore. You are not a combatant either, Sister. Even if Kunlun belonged to the Murim Alliance, who would complain about going to see a friend?”

At the way Gyo-ha tossed those words out as if it were nothing, Ah-ryeong could not help but smile.

“Right, we are friends.”

“So Ryeong, you should feel free to come find me if anything happens.”

Those were not Gyo-ha’s words.

When startled Ah-ryeong turned around, Namgung Su-hwa was standing there.

Gyo-ha had already sensed Namgung Su-hwa approaching, so he was not surprised.

“Big Sister.”

Ah-ryeong looked at Namgung Su-hwa with a complicated expression.

Namgung Su-hwa patted Ah-ryeong on the shoulder, then looked at Gyo-ha.

“Since Grandfather has returned, he will be looking for you, Taoist.”

“There is no need for that.”

Namgung Jin-yeong appeared at their side.

As soon as he came, he looked at Gyo-ha and asked.

“How was it?”

“It was amazing.”

Remembering the scene from before, Gyo-ha answered with a highly excited expression.

At Gyo-ha’s answer, Namgung Jin-yeong burst into hearty laughter.

It was the first time he had heard someone respond like that after seeing the Emperor Sword Form.

Then Gyo-ha thought of one question.

“How strong are you, Grandpa Sword?”

Grandpa Sword.

At the somewhat rude form of address, Namgung Su-hwa and Ah-ryeong were shocked, but Namgung Jin-yeong laughed.

“And why do you ask that?”

“I met Darkshadow Mountain Ghost before. But he was different from you and from the Granny Nun.”

“Darkshadow Mountain Ghost. It has been a while since I heard that nickname.”

Namgung Jin-yeong stroked his beard as if he found it amusing.

Then he focused on the name that had come out together with the Dark Shadow Mountain Ghost.

“And this Granny Nun?”

“She is the Sword Queen of the Putuo Sect.”

“Ho.”

Namgung Jin-yeong had heard that name as well.

“Was she strong?”

Without any hesitation, Gyo-ha nodded.

“She is badly injured right now, but if she were not, she would probably be about on your level, Grandpa Sword.”

“Impossible.”

At his words, Namgung Su-hwa let out a disbelieving remark.

Who was Namgung Jin-yeong? He was the martial artist who symbolized the Namgung Clan. Yet his expression was different.

Gyo-ha had directly seen the Emperor Sword Form. It was not idle talk.

“It’s a shame I didn’t meet her sooner. Have you met any other martial artists?”

He was not talking about ordinary martial artists.

Martial artists who had surpassed the wall.

Gyo-ha thought for a moment, then nodded.

“The uncle who’s the head of the Iron Blood Hall.”

“ Iron-Blooded Mad Blade.”

At Gyo-ha’s words, Namgung Su-hwa spoke.

News that he had surpassed the wall had also reached the Namgung Clan.

“I think my master is like that too, but I’m not sure.”

Gyo-ha scratched his cheek.

They felt different somehow. It had been the same with Spider Sister and the Sword Monster.

They were existences that could not be divided by the standards of martial artists.

“I see.”

Namgung Jin-yeong nodded. Only then did he realize what Gyo-ha was curious about.

“They say that once you surpass the wall, you can become the conqueror of a province.”

The ruler of one entire province.

The meaning of that was not light.

“But that is still not enough to dominate the whole world. The same goes for this old man.”

Gyo-ha blinked.

“Do you know what they call the strongest people in the current Murim?”

When Gyo-ha shook his head, Ah-ryeong spoke up in his place.

“They are the Twelve Heavens.”

“That is right.”

The twelve strongest martial artists under heaven.

“Are you one of them too, Grandpa Sword?”

“No. Neither this old man, nor the Head of the Iron Blood Hall, nor the Sword Queen can dare to stand in that place.”

At Namgung Jin-yeong’s words, Gyo-ha’s eyes widened.

Someone as strong as Namgung Jin-yeong had used the word ‘dare.’

That meant the gap was that great.

“Your question is why the Darkshadow Mountain Ghost was weak, is it not?”

Gyo-ha nodded.

Of course, the Dark Shadow Mountain Ghost had not been weak.

He had only been able to win because several coincidences overlapped.

If he were to fight a sound Dark Shadow Mountain Ghost right now, he did not know what the result would be.

Even so, the gap had not been as overwhelming as with Namgung Jin-yeong and the Sword Queen.

“Even among peak masters, not all peaks are the same. It is like how not all first-rate martial artists are equal.”

Even so, the difference was large.

“But Darkshadow Mountain Ghost. His case is different.”

“Eh?”

When Gyo-ha asked back, Namgung Jin-yeong smiled playfully.

Only when frustration began to rise on Gyo-ha’s face did he finally open his mouth.

“He definitely once surpassed the wall. In the past.”

It was a meaningful story.

But he felt like he had heard it before.

A martial artist who had once reached the peak.

He had not paid it much mind at the time.

“…Can your realm become lower as well?”

Namgung Su-hwa and Ah-ryeong also looked at Namgung Jin-yeong, having grown interested.

The peak was not something reached by physical strength alone.

Enlightenment.

That belonged to a different realm from the body.

The body grows weak if you do not train it. But was enlightenment the same.

“If one wishes it, that is.”

“Are there martial artists like that?”

It was Namgung Su-hwa who asked.

Could there be someone who wished for their own realm to drop.

Even someone born into the Namgung Clan could not understand.

“Every martial artist’s goal is to surpass the wall.”

The group nodded. It was a fact that could not be denied.

Peak martial artists.

They were truly those chosen by the heavens.

You needed talent, effort, and even luck to reach that realm.

“How do you think you would feel if you reached that realm?”

“Wouldn’t you be happy?”

That was Namgung Su-hwa’s answer. Ah-ryeong nodded as well.

It was the place every martial artist dreamed of. There was no way it would not make you happy.

But Gyo-ha’s view was different.

“I think I would feel a little sad.”

When Namgung Su-hwa and Ah-ryeong looked at him, Gyo-ha scratched his cheek.

“Your goal would be gone then. It would feel empty and lonely.”

What if he became the strongest under heaven.

Gyo-ha did not think he would be pleased.

At Gyo-ha’s words, Namgung Su-hwa and Ah-ryeong let out exclamations.

They had never thought of it that way.

Namgung Jin-yeong also found it unexpected and stroked his beard as he looked at Gyo-ha.

“That could be so. But you do not need to worry about that.”

When the group looked at him, Namgung Jin-yeong spoke.

“Once you surpass the wall, the world looks different. And you come to realize something.”

Realize what.

The three pairs of eyes turned to Namgung Jin-yeong.

Namgung Jin-yeong gave a bitter smile and opened his mouth.

“That the peak is not the end but the beginning. And at the same time, just how insignificant the path you have walked truly is.”

The three of them swallowed.

If someone else had said it, they would have thought it nonsense.

But when the Sword Saint Namgung Jin-yeong said it, it carried a different weight.

“Most people do not even dare to walk that path, so they settle for that place. But a few who cannot endure it give up of their own accord.”

They give up the peak realm.

It was hard to believe that those called absolute beings would make such a choice.

“Only a small handful begin to climb a path where they cannot see ahead. And only some among them manage to find a road within that. Those people we call transcendent martial artists.”

Transcendent.

A state that surpasses the peak. What an arrogant phrase.

It was not something you could utter lightly.

Yet there was no more accurate expression.

They were those who had found a path within endless fog.

“Then the Twelve Heavens are?”

Namgung Jin-yeong nodded.

“Not all of them, but most are Transcendent martial artists.”

Then did that mean there were some who were not.

“This is only a realm in terms of martial arts as the world knows them. There are realms that cannot be understood as martial arts. Like your master, for example.”

“Ah…”

There was not only one way to become strong.

The same was true for Gyo-ha.

By the standards of the Kangho, Gyo-ha was still a third-rate martial artist.

Namgung Jin-yeong looked around at the three and asked.

“What do you think?”

“…It feels unfathomably distant.”

It was Namgung Su-hwa who spoke. Even just surpassing the wall was daunting.

There was a reason the pinnacle was called a realm granted by the heavens.

You could not reach it with talent and effort alone. Yet there was still more beyond.

Honestly, she did not even dare to imagine it.

And she could see why this kind of story was not spread.

If people just starting down the martial path heard it, there would be those who gave up in advance.

Ah-ryeong, who had learned martial arts for self-cultivation, could take it in stride, but Namgung Su-hwa could not.

For someone seriously walking the path of martial arts, Namgung Jin-yeong’s words were no different from a shock.

At that reaction, Namgung Jin-yeong nodded.

That was the normal response.

But.

“Oh.”

For some reason, Gyo-ha’s eyes were shining.

By now, even Namgung Jin-yeong could no longer understand Gyo-ha.

“What makes you so happy?”

“It means there are many people I can fight.”

Peak masters were not the end.

There was a realm even Namgung Jin-yeong could not reach.

“That means I can get stronger without worrying.”

He would be able to meet stronger opponents.

He smiled brightly at that joy. Even Namgung Jin-yeong shook his head at the sight of him.

“If you are interested in the Twelve Heavens, it would not be a bad idea to stop by the Murim Alliance on your way back to Kunlun, along with Hyeok.”

Gyo-ha turned to look at Namgung Jin-yeong, wondering what he meant.

He had heard that Namgung Hyeok would soon be heading to the Murim Alliance.

At Gyo-ha’s reaction, Ah-ryeong spoke with an exasperated expression.

“You really have no interest in the affairs of the world.”

Namgung Su-hwa’s expression beside her was no different from Ah-ryeong’s.

Letting out a sigh, Namgung Su-hwa spoke.

“The Alliance Leader is one of the Twelve Heavens.”

The Chivalrous Emperor, Baek Gun-ak.

“If you are lucky, you may be able to see him from afar.”

Leaving those words behind, Namgung Jin-yeong strode away.