Gwi-heon stood frozen, his gaze vacant. Cold sweat mixed with blood trickled from several wounds on his body, while his breathing grew heavier. He could feel his body nearing its limit.
But the pain is no longer what bothers him the most.
Instead, it is the person now standing before him.
"How could he have reached such a level… if all he did was imitate?" Gwi-heon thought.
His thoughts began to spiral.
"How is this possible…?"
"How did he do it…?"
"How could this be…?"
His hands trembled slightly.
"Techniques from the North can't be learned just like that. Even outsiders wouldn't be able to use the same Qi circulation."
His gaze remained fixed on Raven's silhouette behind the frost.
"Then how could this kid imitate it…?"
The more he thought about it, the colder the sensation creeping up his spine became.
"Is he not just imitating the technique…"
"But also imitating his Qi?"
Gwi-heon unconsciously clenched his teeth.
For the first time in years… Fear slowly resurfaced within him.
And that feeling felt all too familiar.
"…Just like back then."
An old memory suddenly flashed through his mind.
A mysterious figure stood before him in a sea of blood. Gwi-heon's body was covered in severe wounds, his clothes torn, and blood continued to flow from his entire body, soaking the ground below his knees.
He knelt.
Unable to fight back.
Meanwhile, the figure in front of him simply stared back coldly, without a trace of emotion.
The same gaze.
The same pressure.
The same sense of despair.
"Just how many monsters like this… are out there?" he thought, breathing heavily.
For a moment, Gwi-heon stood motionless like a statue, lost in his own thoughts.
Until a voice snapped him back to reality.
"Have you finished daydreaming?"
Raven's voice sounded flat from behind the slowly thinning ice mist.
The figure walked closer calmly, and that immediately snapped Gwi-heon back to his senses.
He immediately assumed a fighting stance again, forcing his nearly collapsing body to prepare for the next attack.
"No…" he muttered softly.
"Even though I couldn't protect anyone back then… now at least there's still someone I have to protect."
"No matter what it takes… I have to stop him."
His breathing grew heavier and more labored.
"Even if I have to die here… I'll drag this person down with me."
But suddenly…
Pain gripped his chest not a physical wound or a blow.
But something crushing him from within.
"Damn it, why now…!" he choked inwardly.
His cold Qi surged wildly, as if forced to spin unnaturally around his chest. His meridians screamed, the flow of Qi stalled, then spun back to strike his own body.
Gwi-heon's body trembled.
He forced himself to stand upright, his face pale, his breathing labored. The deep wounds from the earlier collision were beginning to take their toll, exacerbated by the unfamiliar pain he was now feeling.
Raven immediately sensed it.
"Something's wrong."
Without hesitation, his body shot forward. His speed surged sharply, far surpassing his previous movements until his own shadow was barely visible.
"Ka—"
Gwi-heon hadn't even had time to finish a single word.
Raven had already appeared right in front of him.
Reacting instinctively, Gwi-heon immediately launched a palm strike toward Raven's chest. Icy Qi erupted from his palm with enough force to shatter stone.
But Raven simply deflected it with a single, simple movement.
The attack bounced off as if it had no power at all.
Gwi-heon's eyes widened.
"I think that's enough for now," Raven said flatly.
DUUM!!
The strike hit right below his navel, striking his dantian directly.
Gwi-heon's eyes widened instantly.
His body was lifted off the ground before being violently flung backward, shattering two tree trunks at once. The sound of snapping wood echoed throughout the forest as his body finally came to a stop amidst the debris.
Gwi-heon sat there, weak.
Blood flowed from his forehead and dripped slowly onto the ground. His right shoulder was deeply lacerated by a sharp splinter of wood, and he was breathing heavily. With every breath he took, the stabbing pain in his chest grew more intense.
"KHUK!!"
Blood gushed from his mouth once more.
"What… just happened…?" he thought, his mind in disarray.
He hadn't even had time to see when Raven had moved.
All he remembered was a brief impact in his dantian… then the entire flow of Qi within his body instantly collapsed into chaos.
Raven walked closer with slow, deliberate steps, his gaze remaining calm and almost devoid of emotion.
"Good thing I made it in time," he said casually.
His footsteps sounded light amidst Gwi-heon's already half-destroyed state. His demeanor was far too calm for someone who had just won a life-or-death battle.
Gwi-heon was still trying to stay seated despite his body trembling violently. Blood continued to flow from his shoulder, soaking the ground beneath him, but his eyes still burned with the gaze of a warrior who refused to surrender even on the brink of destruction.
He gave a small laugh while enduring the pain.
"I never expected… you were really holding back earlier."
"...…"
Raven didn't answer.
He simply stood there silently, staring at Gwi-heon without the slightest change in expression.
A brief silence fell between them before Gwi-heon spoke again softly, his breath heavy.
"I've been thoroughly defeated this time…"
His gaze slowly dropped to the ground, covered in blood and ice.
"Because of that… I hope you'll grant me one request."
Raven raised an eyebrow slightly.
"A request?"
"Don't go near my Young Lady."
Gwi-heon's voice sounded far more serious than before.
"I don't know what your true intentions are," he continued in a hoarse voice. "But if you so much as lay a finger on the Young Lady…"
He forced himself to lift his head, even though his body could barely move.
His gaze was filled with desperate determination.
"I swear… even if I die here, I will curse you."
His breath caught.
"I will wait for you… even in hell."
Raven merely let out a long sigh.
It was clear he didn't care about the threat. His gaze remained impassive as he looked at the man who had lost almost everything standing before him.
"You're being too dramatic," he said lightly.
"For now, I have no reason to do that."
Gwi-heon smiled faintly even as blood continued to flow from his body.
"A reason, huh…?" he murmured softly. "So you'll act if one day you have a reason."
"More or less," Raven replied calmly.
Gwi-heon chuckled again. His voice sounded weak amidst the wounds and blood that kept flowing, soaking his body.
"In that case… I suppose I should be a little grateful."
Raven stared at him for a few seconds before finally speaking again.
"Do you have an old injury?"
Those words made Gwi-heon's body tense.
Slowly, he pressed his chest with a trembling hand. The faint pain that had always surfaced whenever he channeled his Qi was starting to resurface now.
"I-is… it that obvious?" his voice trembled slightly.
"Your Qi flow is too chaotic," Raven replied immediately. "The meridians in your chest feel like a spiral that keeps spinning."
His eyes narrowed slightly, as if he were explaining something simple.
"Your Qi should flow straight through the main meridian channels, but there's a part that seems to be forced to spin and keeps accumulating at a single point."
Raven then gestured vaguely toward Gwi-heon's chest.
"And more precisely… nearly half of your Qi is trapped around the chest area."
Gwi-heon's eyes widened slightly.
Raven then continued in a calm tone, "On top of that, you keep forcing yourself to draw Qi from your dantian in that condition."
"The clashing pressure of Qi inside your body could slowly destroy your own body."
Gwi-heon's expression slowly changed.
"If left unchecked," Raven continued, "all your meridians will eventually explode from within."
Silence fell between them.
"That's why," Raven said casually, "I pressed the Qihai point in your dantian and temporarily halted your Qi circulation."
He tilted his head slightly.
"I think that's enough to keep you from dying… at least for now."
Gwi-heon stared at Raven with a complex expression.
"You… could even figure all that out with just a single glance."
He gave a small laugh, though it sounded stiff and weary.
"I'm not sure if you're really just a kid."
His gaze wavered slightly before fixing on Raven again.
"Why did you save me?"
His breathing sounded heavy.
"I should have died after losing this fight."
Hearing that, Raven merely let out a short sigh, as if too lazy to respond to such a way of thinking.
He clicked his tongue softly.
"If I killed you now," Raven said casually, "what would I tell your young lady?"
His gaze pierced straight into Gwi-heon's eyes.
"Besides… killing you wouldn't give me any advantage."
Gwi-heon fell silent for a few seconds.
His gaze dropped to the ground, covered in blood and shards of ice, as if he were processing everything that had just happened. After a moment, he slowly lifted his head again.
"In that case… what exactly is your purpose in doing all this to me?" he asked seriously.
His gaze sharpened.
"There's no way you'd do all this for nothing."
Raven didn't answer immediately.
He merely gave a faint smile, a cold smile devoid of any warmth.
"A debt of gratitude," he said casually.
His gaze locked onto Gwi-heon's eyes without blinking.
"…A debt of gratitude?"
Gwi-heon's eyes widened instantly.
And for the first time since the fight began, he realized something far more terrifying than the defeat itself.
His mind raced.
"Could it be… this kid had planned it all?"
His expression slowly changed.
"He deliberately let himself be followed… deliberately meditated in front of me without fear because he already knew I had no intention of attacking him."
Gwi-heon began to recall the entire incident more clearly.
From the very beginning, Raven had been deliberately provoking him.
His words.
His casual behavior.
The way he kept provoking his emotions little by little.
Even the reason for the fight itself now felt like something Raven had deliberately orchestrated.
At first, Gwi-heon thought Raven was just angry because he had been watching his meditation.
But now…
He began to feel that all of it was just an excuse Raven had deliberately used to start the fight.
And in the end….
Raven succeeded in forcing him to unleash all the hidden abilities he had kept tightly sealed all this time.
And he ended up losing decisively.
Right at the very last moment, Raven, who had initially intended to spare him, actually saved him.
Now Gwi-heon finally understood that everything Raven had done from the start was leading toward a single goal.
A debt of gratitude.
By saving his life, Raven had indirectly bound him to an obligation he couldn't simply ignore.
And Gwi-heon knew all too well the meaning of a debt of life.
Sooner or later, Raven would surely take advantage of it.
"One day, that boy will come bearing a request or an order, and when that day comes, I won't be able to refuse him so easily."
Cold sweat trickled down Gwi-heon's temples again.
"You've even thought that far ahead?"
Gwi-heon suddenly laughed softly again, even though his breathing was still heavy.
"Hahah… I really didn't expect that."
He lifted his head and looked Raven straight in the eye.
"You're truly terrifying and cunning, kid."
"If you've realized that, then that's good," Raven replied casually with a faint smile.
There was no pride in his voice; it was as if all of this was simply meant to be.
Gwi-heon fell silent for a moment before finally letting out a long sigh.
"…Alright."
"I'll repay this debt of gratitude."
His gaze was still wary, but this time there was a hint of acceptance in it.
"So you don't need to worry."
Raven merely stared blankly at the answer.
"In that case…"
"It seems we're done here."
Gwi-heon watched the young man's back; his chest still felt heavy, yet his mind had cleared with a bitter realization: if Raven truly intended to kill the young lady Eunha, he would have done it from the start. Because there was no power here capable of stopping him.
"I'll be leaving first," said Raven as he began to walk away, leaving Gwi-heon still leaning weakly against a broken tree trunk.
"Ugh…" Gwi-heon coughed softly, then forced his voice out.
"Before you go…"
Raven didn't stop walking.
"Can you answer my earlier questions?"
Gwi-heon's gaze sharpened.
"Who are you, really?" he continued in a low but intense tone.
"And how can you use the cold Qi of northern martial artists?"
His hands slowly clenched into fists.
"If what you say is true, that you're just imitating my techniques…"
His eyes remained fixed on Raven's back.
"Don't tell me… you can even imitate my Qi flow?"
Raven didn't stop walking.
"I already told you."
His voice sounded calm as he continued walking slowly away from Gwi-heon, who was still sitting weakly behind him.
"Defeat me first."
"Only then will you be worthy of knowing the answer."
But this time, Gwi-heon replied immediately without hesitation.
"Could it be that all of this has something to do with that dark energy?"
Raven's footsteps paused for a moment.
Gwi-heon continued to stare intently at his back.
"And when you nullified the effects of my Qi, that energy was clearly no ordinary thing."
His breath caught slightly as he recalled the terrifying pressure he had felt earlier.
"You're no ordinary person, are you?"
Silence…
Raven finally turned halfway around. His face was faintly illuminated by the moonlight obscured by clouds, revealing an expression that was too calm.
"Me?"
He gave a faint smile.
"Just an ordinary wanderer," he replied lightly.
"Who just happens to… be a little talented."
He resumed his steps and raised his hand, waving slowly, without actually turning back.
"And as for the strange things you've been feeling…"
"My advice…"
His tone softened.
"The less you know…"
"…the longer you'll live."
Raven walked away, his silhouette slowly blending into the darkness of the trees.
Gwi-heon simply sat there in silence, letting the night swallow that figure.
That night, the moon, half-hidden by clouds, stood as a silent witness to a battle that should never have been recorded in history.
The ground around them cracked and split open. Trees toppled, some uprooted entirely. In certain corners, frost froze the traces of a cold Qi collision that had not yet fully dissipated.
And amidst that destruction, one truth remained that made Gwi-heon's chest feel even heavier…
He had just faced…
someone who was far beyond the bounds of the Murim world's logic.