Chapter 545: Sword Demon (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 545: Sword Demon (4)
Captain of the Ghostly Sword Army, a specialized combat unit of the Demonic Cult.
He looked to be somewhere in his thirties or forties. I couldn't say for sure, as I’d never actually asked him.
Before his transformation into a Demonic Human, he had been a member of the Unorthodox Faction, a man who wandered the lands slaughtering indiscriminately. He was a bastard notorious for a cruel fighting style that suggested he truly reveled in the act of killing. His method of torturing subdued opponents—slicing them apart piece by piece—was enough to make anyone shudder just hearing about it.
The title he held in the Central Plains back then was, if I recall...
‘Ghost-Slaying Sword (殺鬼劍).’
It couldn't have been a more fitting epithet. By comparison, the title 'The Sword Demon' almost sounded refined.
Given his inherent madness, his fall into becoming a Demonic Human was, in a way, inevitable. After all, the Demonic Cult, while preparing for war, would have been the perfect playground for The Sword Demon to unleash his bloodthirsty instincts without restraint.
After he became a Demonic Human, it was common knowledge that the power bestowed upon him by the Heavenly Demon was the ‘Eye of the Fighting Ghost (鬪鬼).’
‘Wasn't it an ability that allowed him to perceive an opponent's movements with absolute precision?’
It allowed him to see the flow of internal energy and grasp the exact trajectory of an enemy's strikes. In some ways, it seemed similar to the realm of pure instinct, but I remember it being described as something far more intuitive.
‘Though I don't know for certain.’
Since I had never possessed it myself, I had no way of knowing exactly how it felt.
Immediately after taking command of the Ghostly Sword Army, he was a man who always led from the front lines of the war. Compared to the Demonic Sword Queen of that era, he was a madman of an entirely different breed.
‘He also harbored a particular hatred for the Demonic Sword Queen.’
Was it because he failed to secure the position of Vice-Captain of the Black Flame Army? I don't know if that was the true reason, but it was a well-known fact that he would charge at the Demonic Sword Queen with intent to kill whenever their paths crossed.
The Ghostly Sword Army, which primarily handled assassinations, should have been a much better fit for him than the Black Flame Army, which rarely saw action. Why The Sword Demon coveted that specific position was beyond me.
‘If he was going to covet a position, he should have aimed for the Captain's seat.’
It would have made more sense if he had aimed for my position, much like the Deer King did. But the Sword Demon seemed to have no interest in the rank of Captain itself. He fought the Demonic Sword Queen over that Vice-Captaincy until the very end, but she never once yielded her place.
Later in the war, he was finally killed by the Celestial Sword.
To briefly summarize The Sword Demon: A bastard possessed by the madness of slaughter. That one line is more than enough.
Crumble!
Along with the debris falling from the wall, I sensed a presence. I tilted my head slightly. I had struck him with the intent to knock him unconscious, but judging by his movements, he hadn't taken as much damage as I expected.
‘He deflected some of the impact at the last second.’
I recalled the sensation against my palm. It looked as though he hadn't even seen the blow coming, yet the bastard had instinctively parried a portion of the force. So this was the caliber of the man who would one day be feared as The Sword Demon.
Step.
After a moment, he emerged from the shadows. His reddened cheek and the blood trickling from his lips stood out starkly against his pale skin. He clutched his sword in one hand, staring at me with murky, yellow eyes.
I looked into his pupils and nodded.
‘That's it.’
Yellow (黃色) eyes. Pupils like those meant only one thing.
‘The Heavenly Killing Star (天殺星).’
A fate of slaughter, from the moment of birth until the moment of death. It was said that those born under such a cursed star possessed eyes exactly like his.
‘This is the first time I've seen them in person.’
By the time I met The Sword Demon in my past life, he had already become a Demonic Human, and his eyes were permanently stained violet. Furthermore, since the mark of a Heavenly Killing Star is visible from birth, such individuals are not only rare but tend to have incredibly short lifespans.
‘Because they're usually killed on sight.’
With a destiny to become a murderous fiend all but guaranteed, who would let them live? It was a miracle this bastard had managed to survive this long.
‘And he doesn't die here, either. He must have stubbornly clung to life to eventually become The Sword Demon.’
Thinking about it, this wasn't a bad development. Discovering him now... it wasn't bad at all.
"Who... are you?" he rasped.
Looking into his eyes, he seemed half-dazed. For some reason, I felt like I'd been asked that question a dozen times over the past two days.
I chuckled and replied, "The third son of the Gu Clan, and the man who’s here to take you."
"..."
Fwoooosh!
"Oh?"
Did my words set him off? A massive wave of killing intent erupted from his body. It was a vicious, heavy energy, as if he were advertising his status as a Heavenly Killing Star to the world. It was so dense it felt physical, pressing down on everything in the vicinity.
‘Interesting.’
I watched him, fascinated. I was starting to vaguely understand the power he had wielded in my past life.
‘He was always fighting while wreathed in something... was this it?’
He would condense the energy of the Heavenly Killing Star to coat his blade. Conversely, it seemed he also used it in place of Combat Qi to protect his body. I had simply assumed it was part of his martial arts; I hadn't realized it was actually the power of his constitution.
As I observed him with interest, he spoke again.
"...Do not... interfere."
I laughed, genuinely dumbfounded. "You bastard. I'm the one whose meal was interrupted, so why are you the one throwing a fit?"
His yellow eyes grew darker by the second. If Wi Seol-Ah's golden pupils gradually grew brighter, his, in contrast, seemed to be sinking into an abyss. His energy intensified in tandem, and soon, the sheer pressure began to crack the floor and walls.
"Hi-hiik!"
Hearing the sound, I glanced to the side. The other customers had already fled in terror, but the innkeeper seemed paralyzed, unable to bring himself to leave his livelihood behind.
I looked at him and called out, "Innkeeper."
"Ye-yes?" The man flinched, startled by the sudden address. He looked utterly terrified.
Seeing this, I pulled a heavy pouch from my robes and tossed it to him.
"Gasp...!?" The man's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he caught it.
"That should be more than enough for the repairs."
I had simply grabbed a handful of gold from my stash. In terms of value, it was enough to rebuild the entire inn from scratch even if it were leveled to the ground.
"And also," I added, "if you're not too busy, pack up some dumplings for me."
The price for the takeout was included.
"Yes, yes! Right away!"
Money is indeed a powerful motivator. The man, who just a moment ago looked like he was facing his execution, clutched the payment and scrambled into the kitchen. It looked like he was actually going to pack the dumplings.
‘...Shouldn't his first priority be running for his life?’
I wondered how he could even think of cooking in this situation.
"Whatever."
Honestly, it didn't really matter to me. Not really.
‘It's not like there'll be any real damage, anyway.’
Just as the thought crossed my mind, I snapped my head to the side.
Swish!
The tip of a sword grazed past the bridge of my nose. If I hadn't moved, it would have taken my face off.
"Hmm."
Fast. And absolutely no hesitation.
Swiiish!
As expected, he didn't stop at a single strike. The bastard began to swing his sword relentlessly, filled with a burning desire to hack me down. He was fast enough to leave flickering afterimages in the air. Despite the raw killing intent pouring from his body, his sword path was impeccably clean. Every strike aimed for a lethal vital point.
‘His realm is... a bit ambiguous.’
I could feel he had easily surpassed the Peak Realm; the intensity and speed of his energy made that clear. The reason I found it hard to pin down was...
‘He's on the cusp.’
It felt like he was hovering somewhere between the perfected Peak Realm and the Fusion Realm.
After dodging his blade once more, I pressed forward. He swung again and again, refusing to give an inch of ground. But through a microscopic gap in the flurry of strikes, I extended my hand.
Thud!
"...!"
The edge of my palm struck him squarely in the chest. He staggered backward from the impact.
"Keuk..." He let out a dry cough, his breathing instantly thrown into disarray. The physical pain would be minimal, but the backlash from his disrupted energy flow would be significant.
‘Wow.’
I couldn't help but be impressed. Even if he was only on the cusp of a new realm, that in itself was a remarkable achievement—especially considering his age. I didn't know exactly how old he was, but he was undoubtedly a young prodigy.
That was the mystery.
‘Why has someone like him remained unknown until now?’
The question was even more pressing now that I'd seen him for myself. The very reason I had gone out of my way to visit the Guangdong region at this time was because I knew this was when he would finally begin to make his move. In other words, a man of his caliber was only just now becoming active. It was far, far too late for someone with that much talent.
I could understand him living in hiding, given he was a Heavenly Killing Star. But that made things even stranger.
‘It doesn't seem like he survived on his own.’
To grow this strong while simply trying to survive, he must have had a sponsor. Otherwise, there was no way a Heavenly Killing Star could have lived long enough to reach this level of cultivation.
Of course...
‘Whatever the case...’
It was a good thing for me.
‘The timing is perfect.’
Since he was only just beginning to make his move, now was the ideal time to act. The perfect time to capture the man who would one day become The Sword Demon.
"I'll kill you...! I'll kill you!"
Perhaps because none of his attacks were landing while he was the only one taking hits, his expression twisted into a mask of rage. Simultaneously, his killing intent grew much thicker.
Thump!
He charged, his body radiating immense pressure. The materialized killing intent gathered on his sword, looking incredibly threatening, but...
Smack!
"Keuk..."
It was all pointless if he couldn't hit me. I broke through his sword path and smashed my fist into his face. He staggered from the blow.
‘Nothing more to see here.’
Dragging this out was a waste of time. It was time to end this.
I nodded to myself. ‘I've already spent too much time on this.’
I'd wasted two days just trying to track this bastard down. It was a relief I'd finally found him, but that was purely thanks to luck. All the more reason to finish this quickly and move on.
I took a step forward. Seeing this, he moved as well. I may have held back, but the blow must have been agonizing. Yet, his eyes were still filled with nothing but madness.
I actually preferred it that way.
‘It means he's a villain, even now.’
The kind of man who could be turned into a Demonic Human without any moral qualms. I liked men like that; it made them so much easier to use.
I immediately drew upon my internal energy.
‘It'll be a pain if he goes wild later, so I'll just break an arm or a leg for now.’
As I moved with that intention, he also began to swing his sword. The blade was a volatile mixture of sword aura and killing intent. Worse, it followed a tricky, serpentine path, aiming only for my vitals.
I’ll just dodge it and break his leg—
"Huh?"
Just as I was about to follow through, something caught my eye. His sword path was a wild flurry, as if he were trying to hack me to pieces, but as I used my footwork to evade, I noticed something strange.
Saaaak!
The tip of his sword trembled as it drew a perfect half-circle.
Tap!
As if to support the movement, the ball of his foot landed softly on the ground. A detail I had missed before, obscured by his overwhelming killing intent, was now exceptionally clear.
‘What is that?’
That movement. It bothered me.
I shifted my footwork and shot forward. Shik! The blade grazed my cheek, and I felt a thin trail of blood begin to flow. Perhaps because I had closed the distance so suddenly, a flicker of panic crossed his eyes. But he didn't stop, swinging his sword once more.
Clasp!
"...!!"
I caught the swinging blade between my thumb and forefinger, holding it fast. And then, I smashed my other fist hard into his jaw.
Crack!
"Gack...!"
It was a solid hit. As proof, he let out a sharp cry and collapsed to his knees.
Thud.
I didn't bother helping him up. He didn't seem like the type to be broken by a single blow like that. Besides, this wasn't the time to worry about his health.
I looked down at the collapsed man, a startling question forming in my mind.
"What the hell is with this guy?"
The sword filled with killing intent. The murky yellow eyes that proved he was a Heavenly Killing Star. Even his energy, steeped in madness. He was undoubtedly the same Sword Demon I knew, and yet...
Why on earth...
"Is he using the sword arts of a Taoist sect?"
And not just any Taoist sect, but one of the Ten Sect Alliance. The prestigious clan known as the Guardians of Qinghai.
‘The Kunlun Sect.’
His swordsmanship was clearly imbued with the unmistakable traces of their style.