Chapter 79
Chapter 79
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Plundering Wind Fan
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Whoosh!
A sharp, refreshing wind blew.
"Huh!"
"To think you'd draw out the Mara the moment you touched the Mara Heavenly Sword Form."
"The Young Leader's progress is beyond anyone's emulation."
The lingering spirits erupted in admiration.
The sword-wielding spirits among them gazed at me with sparkling eyes.
"I offer my thanks for your guidance."
I managed to steady my trembling legs and politely cupped my fists toward Dang Chukyung.
My chest brimmed with even greater joy and longing than when I had first unleashed a martial art with these hands.
Dang Chukyung chuckled around his pipe.
"What have I done? I've merely added a spoonful to the feast laid out by that damned partner of mine."
"How can you say that? If you hadn't granted my presumptuous request long ago, I never would have had this fateful encounter."
"If you truly believe I helped, would this lowly Tang clod be allowed to add a word of advice in repayment for that grace?"
"I shall listen with open ears."
For all his words, Dang Chukyung's discerning eye rivaled that of any absolute master.
His counsel would surely prove a fateful gift no less than the Dark Lord's present.
I straightened my back.
Dang Chukyung spoke with heavy, sunken eyes.
"Wild winds are things only those with regrets and grudges can wield. Yet your wild wind dance carried traces of such."
"......"
"How can a young pup ignorant of the world's ways harbor so many injustices?"
Dang Chukyung could not know.
The time of oppression I endured.
Nor the anguished years sent by the Myth Sect.
The Myth Sect had begun in Pasa and fled here to Heavenly Mountain like hunted prey.
Even then, the path was far from smooth, forcing them through aliases like Flame Flower, Demonic Force, White Lotus, and more before they could finally settle in Heavenly Mountain.
Now, they were once again wandering to escape persecution.
As their one sole beacon of hope, I could never live a comfortable life.
That was precisely why I had to become a wild wind, not a gentle breeze or mild gust.
Perhaps even a far fiercer gale, surpassing that.
Only then could the faithful's flame burn ever brighter without flickering out.
Dang Chukyung was one who peered into a man's heart through his martial arts and weapons.
Thus, he seemed to read the thousands, nay, tens of thousands of strands of resentment harbored in my breast.
"Ahh—"
"Young Leader—"
The lingering spirits read my inner heart as well and bowed their heads.
I smiled brightly.
"You have a point there. Seems I think too much."
"No intention of sharing, eh? Well, that's not so bad. Everyone carries their own pains, after all."
Tap!
Dang Chukyung lightly tapped out his pipe and asked.
"That fan—mind if I name it?"
"Of course."
"Plundering Wind. How about Plundering Wind Fan? It just looked like your sword-whirling movements were plundering everything in their path."
Not wild wind, but plundering wind.
Perhaps the path I must tread lay there.
I liked the name.
* * *
At the entrance to the White Hall's training ground.
Dang Gyujin, Yu Sumin, and Sima Seonyi stood.
'The sword scent has fully bloomed!'
Sima Seonyi sniffed the thick sword scent spreading from Unhwi at its center and widened her eyes.
She had thought it was true sword scent, but it was actually myriad sword scent.
Among the stages of sword scent, true sword scent and myriad sword scent differed vastly.
If true sword scent marked genius-level talent with the sword, myriad sword scent denoted true prodigy.
It literally carried the scent of ten thousand swords, so no matter how finicky a demon sword or monster sword, its bearer was never rejected.
They would even cling more desperately to devour that scent.
And Unhwi possessed such myriad sword scent.
Recalling that it had been true sword scent just moments ago, it meant he had gained profound insight into the sword in that short time... Had he encountered some fateful opportunity?
'No. Until now, he harbored the sword only in imagery. Grasping it in reality must be why.'
Sima Seonyi instantly realized the fan in Unhwi's hand was no fan, but a sword.
The myriad sword scent wafted gently from it.
However, the scent was uneven—sometimes strong, sometimes weak—so it lacked refinement.
'It needs tempering—'
Sword scents required steady maintenance by nature.
Otherwise, they tended to fade quickly.
But how to explain this?
"You look like your mouth's itching to spill some explanation, but if it's gibberish no one will understand, don't you dare open it. Got it?"
"!?"
Yu Sumin, having first sensed her inner thoughts, earnestly warned her.
Sima Seonyi often became trapped in her own world, hindering proper communication.
She would usually pour out her thoughts unilaterally, and as a child, it had been so extreme that it annoyed others.
Now, with the Azure Sky Sword Emperor and Yu Sumin constantly advising her, she had grown taciturn, earning nicknames like ice flower or stone, but the trait lingered.
Seeing signs of it again, Yu Sumin immediately reined her in.
"Yeah? Uh-huh...."
"If you slip up even once, Young Master Unhwi might start dodging you."
"......"
Sima Seonyi parted her lips, then unwittingly turned to Dang Gyujin.
She considered asking for help, but Dang Gyujin seemed deeply lost in thought over Unhwi as well.
Though ignorant of sword scents, she had clearly noticed some major change in him.
* * *
Dang Gyujin thought as she watched Unhwi.
'His very disposition has completely transformed. From the start, Unhwi's imagery held not hidden weapons or poison, but the sword.'
'-Please become my sword during the resolution of this incident.'
Unhwi's earnest words to her previously flashed in her mind.
At the time, she had taken it merely as a plea for aid and dismissed it lightly.
In retrospect, even the phrasing had been odd.
A Tang would typically mention 'hidden weapons' or 'poison,' yet Unhwi had specifically said 'sword.'
Such metaphors usually emerged unconsciously.
Meaning, from the outset, the martial path rooted in Unhwi's heart was that of the sword.
'...It felt as though he had absorbed the traits and strengths of various weapons and sought to converge them all into one.'
Dang Gon’s words resurfaced.
'Sister, has Young Master Unhwi ever trained in the sword separately?'
Sima Seonyi had said something too.
'Sword, sword...!'
Moreover, the swordsmanship Unhwi displayed appeared as wild wind dance on the surface, but that was mere veneer.
Within lay an absolute sword art brimming with extraordinary inner force and completion.
The issue was the immense baleful aura mixed in, utterly diverging from the resonant, righteous sword arts of the Pure Clarity Sect.
Zing!
So intense was the malice that Dang Gyujin's skin prickled.
Naturally stimulated, the blue-faced demon mask raised its head.
"Kekekekek! I wondered when you'd pop out! Took you long enough!"
Dang Gyujin read another emotion beneath its laughter.
Fear.
'You—'
'Wondering if I'm scared?'
'...No way?'
'Remember what I said before?'
'What I said before?'
Something flitted through Dang Gyujin's mind.
'That thing's a devil. A devil.'
'Right! A devil! One that devours, tears apart, boils alive anything that touches it! No! A Demon King!'
Demon King.
The blue-faced demon mask had indeed referred to Unhwi that way.
At the time, she hadn't understood, but could it have meant the vicious malice lurking in Unhwi's imagery?
'Seeing that and feeling nothing? Ridiculous?? How can you stay calm around something that would tear me apart without a thought? Shouldn't you be the one more terrified? Terrifiedterrifiedterrified don'tcomedon'tcomedon'tcome!!'
Fearing the blue-faced demon mask might truly go berserk if left alone, Dang Gyujin swiftly recited the Heaven-Earth Journal incantation.
Her turbulent heart meridian finally calmed.
'I need to talk with Hwi.'
Pondering Unhwi's suspicious imagery alone would yield no answers.
Dang Gyujin opened her mouth.
"Hwi."
"...Yes, Sister. You've arrived? With Lady Yu and Lady Sima as well."
Unhwi greeted them with his usual affable demeanor, cupping his fists.
The malice-charged wild wind had gradually subsided, though it hardly seemed contained.
"Your aura is too unstable."
"Yes. It's been troubling me too. Being my first time, control is poor. Sorry for the unsightly display."
"When exactly did you... No, when did you start handling the sword like that?"
Dang Gyujin deemed asking why he took up the sword pointless.
What mattered was when he had set his sights on it.
"I had a fateful encounter."
"A fateful encounter?"
"Yes. That's how I achieved such rapid martial progress."
Unhwi skirted detailed mention.
Dang Gyujin did not press.
"Still, as I said, being my first time, it's harder to control than wild wind dance."
Unhwi quietly furrowed his brow.
Was it because it bore the name Mara, marking it as supreme? The initial release of imagery had flowed so naturally, yet now control grew increasingly burdensome.
'I've succeeded in channeling it through wild wind dance, but at my current attainment in Venom Dragon Heart Formula, bearing the Mara Heavenly Sword Form is taxing. At this rate, deviation into qi deviation wouldn't be surprising.'
Then the sole remaining path was one.
Draw forth a superior heart method above the Venom Dragon Heart Formula.
Unleash the Heavenly Demon Vast Heart Art.
The problem: Activating it without first controlling this vicious malice risked the malice degenerating into demonic qi.
Like pouring oil on roaring flames.
If this were Heavenly Mountain, perhaps, but in the Nine Dragons Branch Family, exposing demonic qi was forbidden.
'No, even aside from that, failing to control the Mara Heavenly Sword Form at my level risks wild wind dance being devoured by it instead. Meeting the Heavenly Demon Vast Heart Art, the Mara Heavenly Sword Form would only swell further. The belly outgrowing the body.'
Thus, he needed to control the malice alone immediately, but it proved far from easy.
A true dilemma.
Unhwi even considered excusing himself until control was achieved, then returning.
'Hold on! Is that necessary?'
Unhwi stared fixedly at Dang Gyujin.
"W-Why are you looking like that?"
Dang Gyujin unwittingly stepped back.
Unhwi's gaze was no jest.
Here stood a Daoist versed in the Heaven-Earth Journal's incantations, capable of subduing even the blue-faced demon mask spirit.
Would she fail against the rampaging Mara's malice?
Moreover, Dang Gyujin was a sword master.
If he could disassemble her swordsmanship as with the Ice White Blade Method, it would surely prove immensely helpful ahead.
Not only controlling the unpredictable Heavenly Demon Solitary Sword, but countermeasures and counters to orthodox arts infused with demon-subduing, corpse-destroying might emerge.
He could even advance the Heavenly Demon Solitary Sword further!
And that was not all.
Beyond Dang Gyujin, two more sword masters stood here.
Flinch!
Yu Sumin and Sima Seonyi shuddered alike under Unhwi's intense gaze.
The lay sister Yu Sumin had earned the title Demon-Exorcising Lioness through mastery of Emei Sect's anti-demon sword essence.
Sima Seonyi was the prized daughter inheriting the swordsmanship of the Azure Sky Sword Emperor, hailed as the finest sword prodigy in a century.
All three were exceptionally skilled, often named among the strongest of the younger generation.
They perfectly met the conditions for Unhwi to pilfer from.
In Unhwi's eyes, they appeared as exquisitely prepared delicacies.
Slurp!
Unhwi unwittingly smacked his lips.
"!!"
"!!"
"!!"
Exposed to his intense gaze, the three women trembled with inexplicable unease.
'Oh dear—'
'They've caught the Young Leader's eye. How tragic.'
'Those young ladies... so unfortunate at such tender ages.'
The lingering spirits silently prayed for their well-being.
Reincarnated Demon God Legend