The lightning, now fully materialized into jagged arcs of sapphire, hammered relentlessly against the outer wall of the invisible Super True Energy Field.
Zzzt, zzzt, zzzzzzt—!
At irregular intervals, flashes of lightning split the empty air, the sheer discharge scorching the dirt floor of the training grounds a bone-white.
Myo Jin-heo's eyes were completely unmoving, fixed upon Dong Bong-soo with a predator's focus. In return, Dong Bong-soo's eyes were a mirror of calm, meeting Myo Jin-heo's gaze without a hint of tremor.
The Super True Energy Field was trembling.
It was a sensation Bong-soo had never felt quite like this before—not during the desperate great battle with Yeon Yeong-ha, not when he was trading blows with Palmiko, and not even when he had recently shattered his way through Dong Mu-toe's Eight-Direction Uninterrupted Hell.
'Interesting.'
But even as the field vibrated under the assault, it was still merely that—a vibration. Between a vibration and a total breakthrough lay an uncrossable river.
Step.
Dong Bong-soo took one single step forward.
Zzzt—!
The lightning shrieked in reaction. Centered on the exact spot where Dong Bong-soo's foot touched the earth, an invisible electric potential rapidly converged. Myo Jin-heo's formation field was tightening its grip, attempting to seize the intruder like a physical snare.
Step. The second step.
Zzzzzzt—!
The third.
The fourth.
Dong Bong-soo was walking.
He moved across the very center of the Thunder Seal Absolute Ring, walking steadily and purposefully toward Myo Jin-heo. Lightning clawed across his entire body in a frantic dance. Static electricity forced his hair to stand on end, and blue sparks constantly burst from the blade of the Demon-Expelling Annihilation Wheel Sword resting on his shoulder.
Along with his progress, the vibration of the Super True Energy Field grew stronger and more violent with every inch gained.
Even so, Dong Bong-soo's steps never wavered.
He walked as if he were taking a leisurely stroll through a garden.
"…!"
One of Myo Jin-heo's eyes widened to its limit.
Impossible.
The Thunder Seal Absolute Ring was a high-tier formation that forced the muscles of anyone trapped within its radius to contract painfully, locked their joints in place, and caused their very nerves to misfire. Even if a target managed to block the external Formation Energy, the raw physical stimulation of the lightning acted directly upon flesh and bone, squeezing the Dantian and severing the natural flow of internal power.
Enduring it... that could somehow be understood. There certainly existed several martial artists in the Martial World who occasionally displayed such incomprehensible levels of endurance.
But... walking?
Inside that density of lightning?
This was not "blocking" the technique. He was behaving as if the Thunder Seal Absolute Ring simply did not exist in the same dimension as he did.
Fwoosh.
Myo Jin-heo snapped his fan open with a sharp flick of his wrist.
The density of the formation field rapidly increased yet again. Every piece of metal nearby—discarded nails, hinges, and scrap—began to scream in a high-pitched metallic resonance.
And yet.
The fifth step.
The sixth.
The seventh.
Dong Bong-soo was still walking.
Even his stride did not waver by a hair's breadth. His steps were as relaxed as someone strolling through fields in early spring. The hand gripping Myo Jin-heo's fan began to tremble slightly from the sheer strain of maintaining the field.
'This man…'
Is the formation truly not working on him, or has he perfectly understood and reverse-calculated its frequency? Or is he some incomprehensible new kind of human being?
Whichever it was, the answer led to the same terrifying conclusion: the Thunder Seal Absolute Ring could not capture this man.
Eight steps.
The distance between Dong Bong-soo and Myo Jin-heo narrowed to a mere five paces.
At that moment—
Dong Bong-soo raised his left hand.
Click.
Light condensed at his fingertips. A single pure white arrow appeared above Dong Bong-soo's left hand. It was a brilliant, dazzling light—bright enough to sear the retina, yet oddly devoid of heat.
[Faith Arrow]
The arrowhead was aimed directly at the center of Myo Jin-heo's forehead.
"…."
Myo Jin-heo's breath stopped in his throat.
This was fundamentally different from before. In the earlier exchange, Dong Bong-soo had only used his sword. Even that had been more than enough to completely suppress Eom Bi-ryeong.
But what he held now was neither a sword, nor Formation Energy, nor conventional internal power.
It was something entirely different. A light that did not belong to the category of Qi.
Although Myo Jin-heo's Soul-Reading Eye had already been destroyed, even with his one remaining eye he could tell: that thing did not belong to any martial system he had ever encountered. A formation could not interfere with it, for it found nothing to grasp.
"You're called Trigram Leader Myo Jin-heo, right?"
Dong Bong-soo finally spoke.
His voice was calm. There was no threat, no anger, and no excitement. It was just a flat, neutral tone delivering a simple fact.
"I can shoot this, or I can choose not to."
The arrow of light hovered quietly about three feet in front of Myo Jin-heo's forehead.
"However."
Dong Bong-soo's eyes looked straight through Myo Jin-heo.
"If I shoot it, this won't be the end. It'll be the beginning of something entirely new."
There was no need for him to explain what kind of "beginning" that would be. Myo Jin-heo could easily guess the scale of the fallout.
"Tomorrow is the Founding Ceremony, and I'm a busy man too. So how about we stop here?"
The tone was light, almost conversational.
But Myo Jin-heo could clearly read the immense weight buried within it. In the voice of this man—who was supposedly just the leader of a newly established, obscure sect—there seemed to be a strength enough to bear the weight of everything, a composure enough to endure any storm, and a persuasion enough to guide the world itself.
Looking into those faintly smiling eyes even brought a strange, cold fear to his heart.
He had spent his entire life roaming the Martial World. He had met and fought countless master-level martial artists, endured extreme situations, and survived terrible hardships.
But he could swear on his life he had never met someone like this. He had not even fully seen what lay beyond those eyes yet.
'Even though I haven't personally confirmed or experienced all his abilities…'
Just watching him made it feel as though invisible wounds were being carved into one's very soul. It was exhausting. It was as if he were standing alone before a hundred thousand absolute masters.
Still, there was one fortunate thing. No matter how it sounded, his words were not a threat. They were a choice.
Continue, or stop.
Myo Jin-heo's fan trembled slightly. The Thunder Seal Absolute Ring was still active, still humming with power. But this formation had already lost its meaning.
A prison that cannot capture its target is no longer a prison. And something like this could never confine that man.
"…."
Just as Myo Jin-heo was about to speak—
"Stop."
An unexpected voice cut through the static.
It was Eom Bi-ryeong.
Leaning against a remnant of the wall, she slowly pushed herself upright. The rafter she had reinforced with Formation Energy had already been split in two and lay rolling at her feet, and a thin stream of blood flowed from the shallow wound on her forearm.
Eom Bi-ryeong did not look at Dong Bong-soo. She was looking solely at Myo Jin-heo.
"Trigram Leader Myo. Let's call it off."
"Trigram Leader Eom?"
The corner of Myo Jin-heo's eye drooped slightly.
"I was thinking the same thing, even without you saying it."
He gave a light, dry chuckle and continued.
"Sect Leader Kim is clearly a friend of Trigram Leader Dong Mu-toe. Why should we mix hands any further?"
"Yeah… well. That thing… no, that person."
Eom Bi-ryeong jerked her chin toward Dong Bong-soo.
"He's not an enemy. From the beginning, he had no intention of opposing the Formation Tower, and no intention of killing us."
Before she was a Formation Taoist, she was still a martial artist. During the fight just now, Dong Bong-soo had not once aimed for a vital point. The wound he made was only on her forearm. The only thing he truly split in two was her makeshift weapon.
Winning so overwhelmingly yet sparing the opponent... that was true leisure—and also a clear gesture of goodwill.
"Well… even if we continued, it'd probably end the same way anyway."
Eom Bi-ryeong's voice finally settled into a calm tone. Her anger and excitement had already vanished. In their place were a sharp interest and practical judgment. She knew well that forcing one's strength against someone you cannot defeat only leads to greater losses.
She would have to review later how exactly it had happened, but as far as she could tell, formations and the Dao of Formations either did not work on Kim Rae-won or had only very limited effects.
"…."
Myo Jin-heo had already reached the same conclusion.
Snap.
The fan closed with a sharp click, and the Thunder Seal Absolute Ring dissolved into nothingness.
The pressure crushing the air vanished instantly. The sparks flying from the surrounding metal went out. The static electricity scattered into the wind, and the ordinary, fresh morning air returned to the training grounds.
At the same time—the arrow of light above Dong Bong-soo's left hand also disappeared as if it had never been there.
Of course, he had never intended to shoot it in the first place.
"A wise decision."
Dong Bong-soo returned the Demon-Expelling Annihilation Wheel Sword to his Inventory. Myo Jin-heo's eyes narrowed once more when he saw the massive sword vanish into thin air, but this time he held his tongue.
Eom Bi-ryeong brushed off the dust from her backside and asked while looking off toward the distant mountains, avoiding eye contact.
"Well, since things seem mostly settled… you can tell us now, right? Why my junior brother was stuck here, and why he supposedly pledged his allegiance to this 'Hero Gate'."
Her tone was still sharp, but it was different from before. At least she intended to talk rather than fight.
"Didn't I already say?"
Dong Bong-soo chuckled.
"I beat him, then I forgave him. After I forgave him, he decided to stay."
Eom Bi-ryeong's eyebrow twitched, but she did not explode again.
"Sigh… yeah, yeah. I get it. Anyway, Mu-toe did return to the Formation Tower, right?"
"He went out."
Dong Bong-soo grinned deliberately and tapped the ground repeatedly with his right index finger.
"Here. He'll come back here—to this Hero Gate. He didn't return to the Formation Tower."
He continued his explanation without erasing that smile.
"As for the specific reason he pledged his allegiance, that's not something I should be the one to explain. Ask Dong Mu-toe yourself when he comes back."
At the mention of the name "Dong Mu-toe," Eom Bi-ryeong's face flushed red again, but she managed to restrain herself. After taking several deep breaths, she looked at Dong Bong-soo with a newly composed expression.
"Fine, fine. Tomorrow's the Founding Ceremony, right?"
"That's right."
"In that case… since our Trigram Leader, Dong Mu-toe who went out will take a few days to return after finishing his business at the Formation Tower, is it okay if we stay here for a few days and attend the ceremony?"
Dong Bong-soo's smile deepened. It was exactly what he had hoped for from the start.
"Of course."
Myo Jin-heo lightly patted Eom Bi-ryeong's back as she pouted and turned her head away. Half-opening his fan before closing it again, he said:
"…Very well. We will impose upon your hospitality until Trigram Leader Dong returns. Thank you for your consideration, Sect Leader Kim."
Myo Jin-heo performed a formal fist salute.
"However, one thing."
His remaining eye—still bloodshot and raw—looked straight at Dong Bong-soo.
"While I stay here, I will observe you and the Hero Gate. Everything. Whatever it may be."
It was an open declaration: 'I will discover what kind of person you are, and what kind of place this Hero Gate truly is.'
"Do as you please."
Dong Bong-soo merely smiled calmly in response.
* * *
Debris.
The remains of what had once been the Hero Gate's Main Hall were scattered messily across one side of the training grounds. Columns had fallen, beams had shifted, the roof had completely collapsed, and deep cracks ran through the walls. Dust rose everywhere in the morning air.
Once the battle had finally ended, Eom Bi-ryeong and Myo Jin-heo had moved to the opposite side of the training grounds. Eom Bi-ryeong was busy stopping the bleeding in her forearm with her own True Energy while glaring at Dong Bong-soo with obvious dissatisfaction. Myo Jin-heo stood silently with his fan closed, surveying the debris and the layout of the entire training ground.
Jeon Ra-hwa approached.
The children had already been sent to safety behind the training grounds. She had left the younger ones with Ho-ae and came back alone. Her gaze passed over Dong Bong-soo, then slowly and painfully swept across the debris.
What had been the Main Hall just moments ago...
Every piece of wood had been chosen by hand. Every single nail had been hammered in personally. Even the workers and the children had been mobilized, struggling together to build it from the ground up.
Two days. It had only been two days.
"…"
Jeon Ra-hwa stood silently beside Dong Bong-soo.
Dong Bong-soo was also looking at the debris. He was quiet.
After a long moment of heavy silence—
"You know what you always say."
Jeon Ra-hwa finally spoke. Her tone carried no emotion at all. That made it even scarier to Bong-soo's ears.
"What is it?"
"The one who makes the mess should be the one to clean it up."
"…."
Dong Bong-soo looked at the debris. Jeon Ra-hwa looked at the debris. The debris gave no answer to the silent accusation.
"…Did I say something like that?"
"Yes. You did."
"…."
"That."
Jeon Ra-hwa jerked her chin toward the mountain of debris.
"Who made the mess?"
"…."
"So someone should clean it up, right?"
"…."
For a long moment—silence.
A gust of wind blew across the clearing, scattering a fresh layer of dust from the debris. Among the shifting dust, a wooden fragment appeared. On it were the crooked, earnest letters that Ho-ae had carved.
"Hero Gate."
Dong Bong-soo suddenly grinned. Still smiling, he turned his head slowly. He looked one by one at Eom Bi-ryeong and Myo Jin-heo standing on the other side of the training grounds.
"We should clean it up, right?"
Jeon Ra-hwa's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
"Didn't we just get two new guests?"
"…You."
Jeon Ra-hwa pressed a hand to her forehead, exhaling a long, weary sigh.
"Sigh."
She sighed, but the corner of her lips had slightly, almost imperceptibly, lifted.
Dong Bong-soo reached down and picked up Ho-ae's wooden sign from the debris. He brushed off the thick layer of dust with his sleeve. The two characters for "Hero Gate" shone clearly and brightly in the morning sunlight.
Tomorrow was the Founding Ceremony.
So everything would have to be cleaned up and restored before the sun rose again.