Chapter 61

It was unclear whether he had dreamed of unifying the Murim from the beginning, but he, who had absolute confidence in his martial arts, felt that the endlessly boring confrontation between the black and white paths was pathetic, and finally decided to break that boring situation. He achieved the unification of the Murim, the supremacy of the world. At that time, it was not an impossible task with his ability. He possessed a powerful martial art that had reached the Divine Transformation Realm.

As always, in the Murim, countless people gather under a strong person like a pack of dogs and form a force like a spiderweb. And that force grows in proportion to the master's martial arts level. The people of the Jianghu, who had built mountains with corpses and formed a sea with the flowing blood in the Murim, called them the Heavenly Calamity Spirit with fear and despair, and trembled in fear.

Throughout the black and white path Murim, there was no one who could handle the god-like, amazing martial arts of the Heavenly Calamity Blood God, Wi Cheon-mu. The Murim had dreamed of a single absolute being since the beginning of its history, but the absolute being that was born was as cruel as a devil and as heartless as the ice crystals of the North Sea. He, without any mercy, had pushed the entire Murim into a pool of fear and blood in the shortest possible time.

The righteous and unorthodox, both Murim, were too powerless to stand against that absolute being. As if it were not enough that the Jianghu was divided into the righteous and unorthodox paths, the righteous path Murim was shattered into pieces by ideology and interests, and the situation was the same for the Black Path side. So, there was no way they could be a match.

Thinking that a divided force could not exert great power, the Blood God Wi Cheon-mu first began to force the integration of the Black Path as part of his Murim unification project. He was not satisfied with his position and wanted to have even more powerful strength.

The invasion of the righteous path was postponed until after the integration of the Black Path. The righteous path gained a moment to catch its breath, but it was too early to be relieved. This break was just a preview of a more terrible and tragic future. He was already a difficult opponent, but if he were to integrate the Black Path forces and put them in his grasp, the outcome of the battle would be too obvious to even mention.

If the Black Path were to be united in his hands, it was as clear as day that the righteous path, which had not yet gathered into a single force, would be tragically trampled under his feet. In the current situation, where it was already difficult to hold on, how could they face him if he were to gather the enormous power of the Black Path into one? Everyone knew well that it was impossible. So the righteous path began to devise self-help measures to secure their own survival, and thus, the righteous path finally put aside their past animosity and jealousy, resolved to gather their strength under one flag, and united. That was how the Murim Alliance, the grand federation of the righteous path Jianghu Murim, was born.

This force, called the Righteous Heaven Alliance, looked plausible on the outside, but it lacked substance. As it was formed so hastily, it was a good-looking but useless thing that had not even properly established a system. The Murim Alliance, which was no different from being hastily made, was hard-pressed to block even one playful poke from the Blood God Wi Cheon-mu, who was united by endless power and fear. At this time, he was pouring his energy into the integration of the Black Path, so he would occasionally poke the righteous path when he was about to forget. But the righteous path, even after barely gathering their strength and forming the Murim Alliance, was hard-pressed to receive even one of the Blood God Wi Cheon-mu's pranks. The fact that the system was not properly established was a decisive problem. A castle built on sand is bound to collapse soon.

However, the heavens did not completely abandon the righteous path. The heavens had sent down a savior as if to show off. The savior of the Murim who was the only one to stand against him, the personification of absolute fear and despair, and the number one under heaven who appeared like a comet, was the Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God, Hyeok Wol-rin, and the savior of the Black Path, the Hegemon Heaven Saber, the Martial God Demon, Gal Jung-hyeok.

The existence of these two could only be thought of as a gift from the gods to the Murim. It was something that could not have happened without the existence of a god who valued order and harmony. If they had not been there, the Murim would have been floundering in a deeper abyss of despair and fear under the rule of the Heavenly Calamity Blood God, Wi Cheon-mu.

The Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God, Hyeok Wol-rin, was the first person to survive without dying against the enormous martial arts of the Blood God Wi Cheon-mu, who had reduced all righteous and unorthodox Murim people to below his ten-move match. Moreover, he had even achieved the feat of landing a proper blow and returning. If he had not been there, the righteous path Jianghu would have also been listed on the Blood God's list of subordinate forces from the beginning.

The Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God—later revered as the Martial God by the righteous path—Hyeok Wol-rin's unique martial art was the 'Heaven and Earth Supreme Polarity Yin-Yang Single Origin Divine Skill'. This was the ultimate martial art that drew out absolute power and destructive force by using yin and yang ki at the same time. According to legend, it was an absurd divine art that could use the power of the Flame Spirit and the Ice Soul at the same time. Its other name was the 'Supreme Polarity Blue-Red Divine Spirit Ice-Flame Art', and this was the peerless divine art that was the only one that could face the Blood God's martial arts at that time.

But despite being the only divine art that could stand against the Blood God's martial arts head-on, no successor who had inherited his divine art has been passed down to this day. The fact that he did not leave a successor, even though he did not die at a young age and enjoyed a lifespan longer than that of an ordinary person, is a fact that still remains one of the mysteries of the Murim.

In fact, his whereabouts were clear until 20 years ago. According to one theory, the story that his divine art, which was so great, had been lost because there was no talent worthy of inheriting it was circulating in the Murim with credibility. If that rumor were true, the Murim would have no choice but to despair once again. Because his martial art was the only one in the Jianghu that could face the Blood God's martial art. Although there was no story that that martial art had been lost, there was also no story that a martial art greater than that had appeared in the Jianghu.

Therefore, the theory that there must be a secret manual or arrangement that he had left behind was circulating as a very plausible fact, making the entire Murim swell with vain delusions, and was contributing to the dream of 'One-Swoop Thousand Martial Arts' (the vain belief that one could suddenly obtain formidable martial power out of nowhere one day).

And another person, the owner of a peerless saber technique that was said to collapse even the heavens, the Hegemon Heaven Saber, the Martial God Demon, Gal Jung-hyeok. He was the savior of the Black Path who had gathered the Black Path, which was on the verge of being beaten to a pulp by the Heavenly Calamity Spirit, into one and formed a resistance force. Gal Jung-hyeok was also later revered as the Martial God by the Black Path side, but since it overlapped with the Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God, Hyeok Wol-rin, the character 'Demon' was added.

He gathered the scattered, broken-pot-like forces of the Black Path into one, and that was the birth of the Black Heaven Alliance, the Black Path Murim federation and the anti-Heavenly Calamity Spirit organization.

All the Black Path people clung to the one and only lifeline of the Black Path, which was on the verge of collapse. Strangely, the lifeline had a strange property of becoming stronger, not weaker, the more people clung to it. And finally, another miraculous thing happened. It was truly a miracle.

The absolute being, the Heavenly Calamity Blood God, Wi Cheon-mu, despite his enormous Divine Transformation Realm martial arts and absolute charisma, was shunned by both the black and white paths at the same time due to his mad power, violence, and fear. So he became the public enemy of the Murim.

But designating him as a public enemy and shunning him would only be possible if power and skill were presupposed. No matter how much you try to ostracize someone, if you are inferior in power, it's neither porridge nor rice.

Thus, the Black Path, which was becoming a mess under the Blood God's sword, followed the example of the righteous path, although it was a bit unpleasant, under the Roaring Heaven Saber of the Hegemon Heaven Saber, Gal Jung-hyeok, and formed the Black Heaven Alliance, the Black Path Unorthodox Faction federation, and began to attempt an organized resistance to the Blood God's existence.

Originally, the Black Path was a place where sects that valued profit were the majority, so their union was more difficult and took a long time. But there was no way the Blood God would look kindly on this allied force that had been formed after a long time.

Naturally, the Blood God flared up. When the Black Path, which was his place of origin and no different from his root—even though all he had given them was a baptism of blood and fear—conspired and rose up against him, he trembled with a severe sense of betrayal. Of course, he had treated them a bit(?) harshly, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal. His integration policy was so hard-line and reckless that it was shunned even by the Black Path side.

And the miracle that happened. It was the alliance of the Righteous Heaven Alliance and the Black Heaven Alliance. The righteous and unorthodox Murim, which had spent a long time in tension and confrontation, had formed a common front under one common enemy. It was something that neither the righteous nor the unorthodox had predicted. The joint allied front of the righteous and unorthodox Murim, which could only be seen as a foolish dream if it were to happen even in a dream, was formed. Something that no one had imagined until then was realized by a single common powerful enemy. It could be called a historic event.

The formation of the allied front of the righteous path's Murim Alliance (also known as the Righteous Heaven Alliance) and the Black Path's Murim Alliance (also known as the Black Heaven Alliance). The Blood God Wi Cheon-mu was isolated in a situation of being attacked from all sides. He and his shadow, the Heavenly Calamity Spirit, were temporarily faced with a difficult situation. But that difficulty was also brief, and he did not lose his confidence and arrogance even in this situation of being surrounded on all four sides and being in a dilemma.

The Righteous Heaven Alliance and the Black Heaven Alliance squeezed out all their military power and planned and executed an operation to surround and annihilate the den of the Heavenly Calamity Spirit, which no one had dared to approach until then. It was a desperate, life-or-death clash where both sides had their backs to the wall. At this point, it would have been worth feeling fear at least once, but the Blood God, on the contrary, attempted a frontal breakthrough against the military forces of both sides without any fear. The three forces clashed head-on, and the result was surprising.

The Black Path, which had been complacent, thinking, 'we are united now too,' and the righteous path, which had been relieved, thinking, 'since that side (the Black Path) is also united, it will be a bit easier for us,' both suffered enormous damage and drank the bitter cup of defeat by the bucketful, falling into a state of unconsciousness. It was the result of moving their forces unreasonably, even though it had not been long since they had formed the allied alliance. It was a clear display of their inexperience in organizational management. As a result, both the black and white paths had no choice but to suffer a huge blow, and the blow at that time was so great that even if the entire Jianghu put all its efforts, it would take more than 30 years and an enormous amount of gold equivalent to thousands of carts to barely recover.

Moreover, they had failed to eliminate him even after suffering such enormous damage. That was truly the worst and most unfortunate news. Even the simultaneous, cowardly, and despicable attack by both the black and white paths had failed to erase his existence from this Murim...

The Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God, Hyeok Wol-rin, who had stood against him until the very end, also suffered a setback from the Blood God's last, all-out blow and had to recuperate for three years. The Hegemon Heaven Saber, the Martial God Demon, Gal Jung-hyeok, who had faced him just before, was in an even worse situation. He had suffered a fatal injury that required four years of recuperation.

Of course, the Heavenly Calamity Wi Cheon-mu was not safe either. And his tracks disappeared like a stone that had fallen off a ten-thousand-zhang cliff, like a grain of sand swallowed by the great sea.

His existence, which had become the fear and nightmare of the entire Murim Jianghu, had disappeared into a thick fog without confirmation of his life or death—he was injured at the time of his disappearance, but he had definitely survived—so there was no way the sleep and well-being of all the Jianghu people could be peaceful. How could they sleep peacefully when they had failed to achieve the final goal of the all-out blow, the annihilation of the Blood God's existence, and it had ended in failure?

Judging by the Blood God's martial arts cultivation, if he were to escape and hide and regain his original martial arts level, it was the judgment of the Murim Jianghu that he would be guaranteed a life of at least 200 years, although it was a terrible assumption. Because when martial arts passed a certain level, the body would undergo a complete transformation, returning to youth and regaining its youth and strength.

Even now, the former head of Shaolin, Great Master Il-gak, was 140 years old, and the age of Muryang Jin-in, the first of the Eight Swords of Wudang of the Wudang sword sect, was approaching 150. Besides, even with a body that had all passed the age of 120, they were not old and bent, but had smooth skin like a 20-year-old youth, elastic muscles, and a high martial art whose depth could not be measured. The peak masters were those who could have the power to subdue even the ferocity of time.

Therefore, it was a selfish thought to hope that the Blood God's body, which was said to have reached the Divine Transformation Realm, would decay and weaken with the flow of time. Even the current Great Master Il-gak and Muryang Jin-in self-assessed that they could not guarantee a victory against the Blood God of that level with their own power, so who could dare to be arrogant? Ok-hyeon Jin-in himself was now counting 120 years of age. But he had never yet felt that he was losing or being pushed back by any young person. And in reality, it was so. No young talent had yet emerged from his own sect, the Wudang Sect, who could break his sword.

So, since the Blood God's age at that time was 50, it meant that they could never be at ease for at least 150 years from then. Besides, since there was a high probability that there was a successor who could succeed him, the Murim was still in a position where it could never be at ease.

Almost all martial artists began to suffer from a serious, single-episode premature ejaculation symptom even in their nightly affairs with their wives after that day. The doctors in various places enjoyed a great boom. This alarming symptom, whose cause was unknown, hit the entire Murim like an epidemic. The number of martial artists who were shunned by both their wives and concubines increased rapidly, and they complained of a serious loss of appetite and insomnia and sought doctors. The doctors in various places were so busy with patients with similar or identical symptoms that they had no time to even breathe.

Naturally, a collective, nationwide premature ejaculation symptom and depression became rampant, so the red-light districts of that time were on the verge of closing down. The taverns, at least, did well thanks to the foolish challengers who tried to get rid of their anxiety with a give-up attitude or with the help of alcohol, but the daily bed partner rental businesses run by courtesans had to flounder in a serious recession. Who could have been at ease when it was a gravel field when they lay down, and a cushion of thorns when they sat down?

Thus, they began to devise measures for the eradication of the premature ejaculation symptom and for a comfortable sleep as soon as possible. And they finally reached one conclusion. The conclusion they had reached in the fight against the Heavenly Calamity Spirit was that there was an extreme lack of absolute masters who could match his existence. It was the need for outstanding talent.

If the righteous path's Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, Hyeok Wol-rin, and the Black Path's Hegemon Heaven Saber, Gal Jung-hyeok, had not been there, what would have happened to the Jianghu? It was a chilling thing that gave one goosebumps all over just by imagining it.

This worry was not limited to ordinary martial artists. It was even more desperate for the Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, Hyeok Wol-rin, and the Hegemon Heaven Saber, Gal Jung-hyeok, the only people who had survived after exchanging blows with him. A countermeasure was needed. The two simultaneously felt the need to cultivate a power that would not collapse when they clashed with the second coming of the Heavenly Calamity Blood God, Wi Cheon-mu, and his shadow, the Heavenly Calamity Spirit. Therefore, the Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God, Hyeok Wol-rin, with the help of the Three Sages of Cheonmu, the top masters of the Jianghu at that time who had helped him fight against the Heavenly Calamity Spirit, came to establish a comprehensive Murim martial arts educational institution. That was the beginning of the Cheonmu Academy.