Chapter 252
Chapter 252
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.55 – A Knight Does Not Speak Lies (7)
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Do you know this?
The truth is, the technique called Heavenly Flower Shower was actually the secret ultimate art of the Open Faction's leader.
It predated even the Tang family's version, but it's a fact most modern wuxia readers don't know.
He hadn't gone out of his way to learn it, either.
Simply...
- Lee Han, the Tang family has no roots, no roots at all!
It was just useless trivia he'd picked up from his older brother Dokgo, who was always dead serious about wuxia novels.
'...What random thoughts am I having.'
His own condition must not be all that great, either.
Here he was, nitpicking over pointless things in a situation like this.
Well, he'd triggered a mutual suicide bomb of a clash, after all.
"I'm the mad one..."
Lee Han dragged himself to his feet without even thinking to clutch his ringing ears, cursing himself.
Using the axe as a sacrifice to detonate that mass of sword energy had been fine, but he hadn't thought one bit about what came after.
It was the kind of stunt only a lunatic would pull.
...Still.
'In the end, I didn't die, and it worked.'
So, it was a profitable deal, wasn't it?
"Aaahhh!"
Lee Han looked down at Iliad writhing in agony on the ground and chuckled.
- He's really hamming it up.
Honestly, he'd gotten lucky.
'This guy's swordsmanship really is insanely impressive.'
He had to acknowledge the skill and talent.
Radiant Sword Style, White Night—childish naming sense, sure, but unlike the names, the power was the real deal.
However.
'He's lacking spirit.'
More precisely, it showed that he'd been away from the front lines for far too long.
His leg injury was over a decade old, so it was only natural.
Thus, even if his talent remained...
'He's getting done in by this simple, brute-force approach.'
His response time was laughably slow.
How fatally that played out in real combat was hardly worth explaining.
"......"
But there wasn't a trace of triumphant satisfaction on Lee Han's face.
And for good reason.
[Grrrrr-!]
"...Not even a dog, seriously."
...Nothing was over yet.
If it had been a normal human opponent, it would've ended here. Unfortunately, his foe wasn't human.
It was a demon.
Crunch!
In stark contrast to the moments he'd been capable of speech, a beastly growl emanated from the fallen Iliad's mouth.
This wasn't mere mimicry—his humanity was truly slipping away.
"I-Instructor! Y-You have to finish this quick! If he fully demonizes, it's game over!"
...I know that without you telling me, kid.
Even without Taechang's frantic shout, Lee Han knew this was a headache.
Demonization progressed in three main stages.
Stage one: personality shift. Stage two: murderous impulses. Stage three...
'Loss of humanity.'
Unlike just moments ago when conversation was possible, this was the stage where one forgot all human intelligence and emotion, truly becoming a monster. Crossing into it was like fording a river of no return.
[Kahaaak!]
Crack! Craaack!
Iliad's body began regenerating as he gnashed his teeth.
The burns and wounds from the explosion, even the damaged joints, regrew like a lizard's tail.
This was bad—
'A demon's end is always...'
Depleting their life force until they perished.
Forcing such reckless recovery only hastened that depletion—a suicidal act.
Fwoosh!
[Kahaaak!]
Iliad's body sprang up.
Even as he devolved into a beast, he remembered the one who'd pushed him this far, unleashing ferocious hostility at Lee Han.
Yet even so.
"...Won't let go to the end, huh? Creepy bastard."
Krunch!
[Haaak!]
Fwoooosh!
His sword flashed as he gripped the hilt so hard blood burst from his hands.
Splash!
It was natural that a beast no longer wielded swordsmanship, but sadly, humans learned with their bodies, not just their heads.
Thwack-!
"...Damn, he's getting stronger as he loses it."
Iliad's blade pierced Lee Han's side.
Swoosh!
Three swords danced.
Purely on instinct and muscle memory, naturally.
Slash!
...It might sound strange, but Iliad's swordplay, stripped of reason, was more beautiful than ever.
So much so that.
"Perfect..."
Felicia murmured without thinking.
Her son was falling into depravity, yet the sword he wielded was magnificent.
Even as he lost his mind and forgot his techniques, swinging purely on instinct—he was now the perfect swordsman.
'Yes, that was it.'
The sword that had once carved a bronze statue.
The enlightened blade her son had wielded one day, as if struck by divine inspiration, carving the statue with a plain sword, no Sword Resonance or sword aura needed.
But Iliad had broken before perfecting it.
...How ironic.
Only after fifteen years did she see that sword again.
A perfection her own talent could never reach. Watching her son stride toward it, she...
'What a worthless mother I am.'
Even in this situation, she wasn't worrying about her son but marveling at his sword.
How selfish and filthy was she?
'I'm utterly disqualified as a mother... as a human...'
Felicia couldn't hide her despair.
[Kaaak!]
She saw her son swinging his sword like a beast.
Slash!
"...Ptoo!"
The brave boy dodged the blade by a hair, but his skin split open, blood streaming down.
"T-The master's Indestructible Body broken so easily..."
"The instructor's tougher than steel!"
"Shouldn't we hand him a shield now?"
...She was sorry.
Because of one worthless human like her, her son had become this way. An unrelated boy was bleeding, and her grandchildren and his disciples fretted.
It all felt like her fault.
Felicia.
"Enough, Iliad, please stop..."
[!!]
"Your mother is sorry. I'll apologize, so please stop..."
Impulsively, she called out to Iliad. Though he'd surely lost his reason, he reacted.
Boom!
Suddenly, Iliad's form shot toward Felicia.
[Kahaaak!]
With even fiercer rage than when charging Lee Han, and Felicia took in the entire sequence but made no defensive stance.
As if simply accepting her child's fury, without the will to block.
Atoning for her sins, huh...
Kwang!
"-I told you not to butt in, didn't I? Things that could work fine get ruined when you interfere."
"!!?"
"It was finally getting good, so don't mess it up."
"......"
...She was shocked.
By him suddenly blocking her path?
By Iliad getting punched and sent flying?
No.
What stunned her was.
'That boy right now... is he...?'
Felicia looked into his eyes and realized in an instant.
Those eyes weren't in crisis, nor did they show intent to protect her.
In this dire, life-threatening moment...
'He's... training?'
She realized he was using Iliad for his own 'growth'.
".........Madman."
'Who's calling who...'
Lee Han heard her curse but didn't turn, focused solely on the foe before him.
However,
"You lot..."
"Yes?"
"You're worried about me right now, aren't you?"
"......"
"Sorry. For showing such a pathetic side."
Lee Han apologized where it was due.
As their instructor and self-proclaimed master, showing this lame display was embarrassing.
"Can't even take down one retired weakling—what a joke, right?"
"H-He was called a Sword Saint, you know? Without Aura User level, it's impossible..."
"Still just some geezer retired over ten years."
"......"
"So now, watch. I'll make you proud to call me your master."
"...Instructor's lost it in the eyes..."
Lee Han ignored their mutters, grinning wide without holding back his leaking smile.
'Ah, this is fun...'
Today was truly his lucky day.
'Finally getting to experience this.'
He remembered the 'bronze statue'.
The fantastical piece he'd seen on his first visit to the family to meet Felicia, crafted purely with sword mastery.
So he'd hoped to face the sword that carved it.
...Sadly, its wielder was long retired, beyond fighting shape, and Lee Han's expectations had faded fast.
'But here it shows up out of nowhere.'
Lee Han was thrilled by this unexpected fortune.
Not a sword clad in sword aura or sword beam, but one infused with sword intent of enlightenment.
A blade that pierced his pathetic Indestructible Body like tofu.
And now...
'How many times has it cut me?'
Bleeding profusely from repeated slashes and stabs, dizzy yet clearer-headed than ever.
Haaa...!
His senses were so sharp he heard fleeing wild animals' footfalls and birds' wingbeats. The scent of earth and sand cleared his mind.
His whole body hypersensitive to every stimulus, and right now, Lee Han felt he could 'achieve' it.
"...Come at me."
[Kahaaak!]
Interrupted from attacking Felicia, Iliad's rage flared hotter as he thrust at Lee Han.
Whoosh—!
The most perfect, powerful strike of his life—perhaps Iliad's entire life—unleashed precisely at Lee Han's heart.
No dodging that.
No shield in the world could block it.
"—."
To Lee Han, the whole moment unfolded in slow motion.
Life flashing before his eyes.
In that split-second montage of his past, instead of moping over memories,
'Will is grit and conviction!'
He poured everything into infusing his will into every cell.
Crunch-!
"......?"
"...Hmph."
Drip drip...!
...It was a bizarre sight.
The one stabbed through the heart with a blade was bewildered, while the unarmored victim laughed.
"...Indestructible."
Craaack!
Lee Han declared it, crushing the snapped blade in his bare hand against his chest.
The realm Buddhist disciples aspired to, the dream of external art cultivators. Even after nirvana, the body endures like diamond, unrotting and unbreakable—thus named.
"-Diamond Indestructible."
The palm strike of the Diamond Monk who achieved indestructibility slammed into the swordsman's heart.