The world had stopped.
No—that wasn’t quite it. It hadn’t stopped. It was just moving incredibly slowly.
Yeon Woo Jin moved casually through the suspended world, as if strolling through a garden.
He calmly plucked away every sword that had been poised at the necks of Bang Un’s kneeling family mbers, then shifted them safely to one side of the courtyard.
He positioned the martial artists from Gentlen’s Gate to face one another, then gently guided their hands—still holding their swords—toward the most sacred, vulnerable parts of a man.
No one could survive that kind of pain with their dignity intact.
After finishing his silent reordering of the world, Yeon Woo Jin returned to Bang Un’s side. He gave a light snap of his fingers.
Snap.
Thwack-thwack-thwack-THWACK!
“GAAAH!!”
“AARGH!!”
“UURGH!!”
Bang Un, who had been screaming in despair just monts ago, now stood frozen, eyes wide at the bizarre scene unfolding in front of him.
Only seconds ago, blades had been resting at the necks of his family.
Now? That entire tableau had disappeared.
The martial artists from Gentlen’s Gate were writhing on the ground, clutching their groins and howling in agony.
The impact must’ve shattered sothing. They’d be lucky to stand again in a few weeks.
Bang Un winced instinctively. His lower half twinged in sympathy just watching it.
What the hell had just happened?
Even stranger—his family was now huddled safely off to the side.
It was like watching a ghost story unfold in real ti.
The martial artists themselves looked stunned, staring blankly at their groaning comrades as if their brains refused to process what they were seeing.
“What the hell just happened...”
Everyone present seed trapped in a trance.
“Squad Leader! Over there!”
One of the subordinates pointed frantically.
All the Heavenly Armor Gate survivors were sitting together in a daze, blinking like they'd been teleported.
“When did they get over there?! What the hell is going on?!”
It was madness.
“Don’t just stand there—grab them!”
Whatever the hell this was, the orders hadn’t changed.
Their mission was to capture Bang Un and erase the Heavenly Armor Gate from existence.
At the squad leader’s shout, the Gentlen’s Gate enforcers moved toward the group.
“Huh?!”
The attackers flinched back in shock.
Yeon Woo Jin was now standing calmly in front of the Heavenly Armor survivors.
Not a sound, not a footstep.
He was just there.
“What the hell?! When did he get over there?!”
Were their eyes playing tricks on them?
Had they been trapped in so kind of illusion? A spell?
Or had they walked into a formation without realizing?
Nothing about this was normal.
“Delusion or not—cut him down! Kill him!”
At the squad leader’s command, the martial artists surged forward, brimming with murderous intent.
“Stop right there. You really don’t want to cross that line.”
They hesitated.
There was a line—drawn cleanly in the dirt at their feet.
When had it gotten there?
But the order had been given.
They moved anyway, stepping over it.
Yeon Woo Jin’s face went cold.
“I warned you.”
“Shut up!”
One of the attackers lunged, slashing his sword at Yeon Woo Jin.
SPLAT.
“GUH—!”
The swordsman was sent flying backward, coughing up blood midair.
Crash.
“He’s got so skill. Be careful!”
Even as one of their own crashed to the ground, none of them broke formation.
Their eyes were fixed solely on Yeon Woo Jin.
“So skill, huh...”
Yeon Woo Jin waved his hand.
Clang—clatter—SHING.
Sothing glead in the air. Sothing tallic. Sharp.
The martial artists instinctively raised their blades to block.
CLANG! CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
It wasn’t until they deflected the airborne projectiles that they realized what they were.
“Swords?”
Not just one or two.
Dozens.
Dozens of blades were spinning through the air, flying straight at them.
No one had thrown them.
And that was the most terrifying part.
“They... they’re floating...”
The blades hovered in midair, spinning around them in tight formation.
The martial artists looked on, frozen in disbelief.
“No... no way...”
The squad leader stared as if witnessing a nightmare.
ZZZZZMMM. ZZZZMMM. ZZZZMMM.
That was when it happened.
A chilling blue light began to encase the floating blades, crackling around them like living energy.
The n recognized it instantly.
“Sword Qi...?!”
Sword Qi. While the swords were floating?
There was one technique that could do that.
Commanding the Blade with Qi.
Only those who had reached the mythical level of martial arts could wield it—a level known as Legendary Realm.
And to their knowledge, only one man had reached it.
The one acknowledged as the greatest martial artist alive.
The Master of the Martial God Sect.
The Martial God himself.
Had he co here?
The squad leader’s voice trembled as he shouted:
“W-We’re with Gentlen’s Gate! If we’ve done anything to offend, we beg your pardon!”
He wasn’t speaking to Yeon Woo Jin anymore—he was pleading with whoever he thought might be watching from the shadows.
“You did offend ,” ca the reply.
“I told you not to cross that line.”
“...What?”
The voice wasn’t from so mysterious observer.
It ca from Yeon Woo Jin.
“...You? It was you...?”
“What, didn’t think I could do all this?”
“...That can’t be...”
“Feels like you’re looking down on . That pisses off.”
Whir—
The swords stopped spinning and pointed all at once—aid directly at the Gentlen’s Gate enforcers.
And in that instant, a colossal wave of energy erupted from Yeon Woo Jin’s body.
BOOOOOOM—
Only now did the martial artists realize.
It was him.
Everything—all of this—had been him.
They were prey.
Standing helpless before a predator beyond their comprehension.
“So. Now you understand where you stand.”
Yeon Woo Jin smiled and took a slow step toward the squad leader.
“W-Who... Who are you...?”
“What do you an? Didn’t you say you’d already investigated ?”
There’s no way soone with this level of power was the grandson of a dusty library keeper.
That had to be a cover. It had to be.
“GAAAH!!”
“URRRGH!”
Suddenly, screams rang out.
The squad leader turned in panic.
The floating blades had begun sinking into the bodies of his n—piercing them slowly, deliberately.
They weren’t even resisting.
Why?
On closer look, they were paralyzed.
It was as if their pressure points had been sealed—they couldn’t even twitch.
No one here was making it out alive.
They had poked a sleeping beast—and now it was tearing them apart.
“...It seems we’re not going to survive this,” the squad leader muttered.
But Yeon Woo Jin just smiled and shook his head.
“I’ll let you live.”
“A man who tortures people by stabbing them slowly with blades says he’s going to let us live?”
“Relax. You won’t die. The blades won’t go deep enough.”
How the hell could you get stabbed like that and not die?
Maybe if the blade missed all major vessels—but these swords had gone through torsos.
Not even a Grandmaster could survive that.
He thought Yeon Woo Jin was mocking them.
“They’re not real swords. They just hurt. You’ll live.”
What the hell did that even an?
Looking more closely, the squad leader saw sothing strange.
There was no blood.
No, more than that—the blades weren’t even tal anymore.
They had taken the shape of swords, but were made entirely of solidified blue light.
Sword Qi—only Sword Qi.
What are those things...?
“You’ll feel the full pain of being stabbed—every tear, every laceration. But you won’t die. How’s that sound? I’ll let you feel what it’s like to be cut and stabbed over and over... without the rcy of death.”
The squad leader’s pupils trembled violently.
That wasn’t possible. That couldn’t be possible.
When you're stabbed with a sword, pain cos with death. That’s how it works.
But this? To feel every shred of agony while remaining physically untouched?
It was like falling into a hell where death never ca—a punishnt from the underworld itself.
He’d heard of sothing like this.
A blade that moved as its wielder willed it. One that could either save a life... or take it.
The Sword of Life and Death. Or perhaps the Heartblade.
A martial realm beyond comprehension.
There was no doubt.
The person standing before him had reached a mythical realm of mastery.
And as far as he knew... there was only one person like that in ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) existence:
The Master of the Martial God Sect.
Had another one like him appeared?
“Stop!”
“AAGH!!”
“P-please! Have rcy!”
“Make it stop! PLEASE!”
His subordinates’ shrieks hamred at his ears.
The squad leader dropped his sword and threw himself down.
“This is all my fault! I gave the order! Punish , not them!”
Yeon Woo Jin replied calmly.
“Relax. I told you—I’m not killing anyone. Stop trying to paint like I’m so ruthless murderer.”
That was worse.
So much worse.
He almost begged for death right there.
“I-I’ll do anything! Just please... show rcy!”
“Anything, huh?”
“Y-yes!”
“Then how about joining the Heavenly Armor Gate?”
“...What?”
The squad leader looked up, startled, his eyes searching Yeon Woo Jin’s face.
“What? You didn’t an it? You said anything.”
“I—n-no, that’s not what I ant...”
“Oh, right. You haven’t had a taste yet. That explains it.”
Taste?
The squad leader’s eyes widened.
He saw them—those blue, glowing blades of Qi—drifting toward him.
He tried to speak, to answer, to agree.
But his mouth wouldn’t open.
“Mm?! Mmph-mmmp?!”
What was happening?
He stared at Yeon Woo Jin in panic.
“Just in case, I shut your mouth for you.”
When?
He hadn’t even been struck. No pressure points were sealed.
But now his lips were fused tight. Completely sealed.
Was this a dream?
Despair and raw terror flooded the squad leader’s eyes.
This wasn’t a human.
Why was sothing like this walking among humans?
His gaze dropped to the approaching Heartblades, inching toward him.
He could only watch as one slowly pierced into his body.
It stung—but there was no blood.
“MMMMMGH!”
Then ca the pain.
Horrible, searing, indescribable pain.
And the worst part?
He couldn’t die. He had no escape from it.
He could only pray—pray that Yeon Woo Jin would ask again.
So he could surrender.
“Lord of the Heavenly Armor Gate! We swear our allegiance to Lord Bang Un!”
The warriors of Gentlen’s Gate dropped to the floor, pressing their foreheads into the dirt in a vow of loyalty so deep they were ready to beco part of the ground itself.
Bang Un looked to Yeon Woo Jin, voice shaking.
“A-Are we really taking them in?”
“Yeah. They’re yours now.”
That... didn’t seem right.
Loyal subordinates weren’t sothing you just conjured on a whim.
And these were the sa warriors who’d co here to annihilate his family.
They couldn’t possibly be loyal.
Taking them in wouldn’t make the Heavenly Armor Gate stronger—it would make it a house of cards waiting to collapse.
“How do you expect to trust them... to accept them as subordinates?”
“Why not? Hey, you guys—are you going to betray him?”
The warriors flinched violently and shook their heads in terror.
“We’ll lay our bones here, my lord!”
“If Lord Bang Un commands it, we will die without hesitation!”
“Please accept us! We’ll prove our loyalty with our lives!”
Bang Un stared at their pleading eyes, feeling dazed.
“...Is this really okay?”
“Not enough for you?” Yeon Woo Jin grinned. “Want to just hand you the entire Gentlen’s Gate instead?”
He opened his mouth to protest—That’s insane—but stopped.
With Yeon Woo Jin... maybe it was possible.
The Heartblade.
He hadn’t just mastered it—he had transcended it.
Yeon Woo Jin had stepped beyond the realm of technique and entered the divine.
It was still impossible to believe they were the sa age.
“And to think... I used to act all proud around him...”
He was ashad.
But more than anything... he was elated.
To be chosen by soone like this—no, to be accepted by him.
It made him feel like he could fly.
“What’s with that face?” Yeon Woo Jin asked. “Are you happy, sad, conflicted? Pick one.”
“...I’ll accept them.”
“There we go. Now then—ti to claim our compensation.”
“...Huh?”
“You’ll need money if you’re going to feed all these people. Hey, what kind of shape is Gentlen’s Gate’s treasury in?”
“Sir! We’re financially strong!”
“What’s your most profitable business?”
“Brothels and loan sharking!”
“...Seriously? That’s all scum work. What a waste of the na ‘Gentlen’s Gate.’”
At Yeon Woo Jin’s disgust, everyone lowered their heads in sha.
“Alright. Get up. Guide your new Gate Lord to your base.”
“...Us?”
“Who else? You’re his subordinates now. Serve him.”
They hesitated.
Yeon Woo Jin smiled darkly.
“Oh? We’re hesitating? Let’s go again, then.”
Go again?
...What did he an, go again?
ZZZZMMM—ZZZZMMM—ZZZZMMM—
Behind Yeon Woo Jin, the Heartblades began to form once more.
“AAAAAAH! We’ll guide him! We’ll guide him right now!”
“We’ll surrender the entire Gentlen’s Gate to Lord Bang Un!”
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