Chapter 45
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Yama Demonic Lord (2)
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Such audacious words.
Who in the whole of the martial world would dare be so bold before the Yama Demonic Lord?
*Fwoosh!*
The blade in the Yama Demonic Lord’s hand was once again wreathed in flame.
The dying embers became kindling, igniting a new blaze.
“Then prove your words.”
“…”
Compared to the Wandering King’s saber, the one held by the Yama Demonic Lord was certainly smaller.
And yet, in that instant, it seemed so immense that it made the Wandering King’s weapon look like a child’s toy.
‘How can these both be considered the same State of Transformation?’
The Wandering King was also among the ranks of the absolute masters, but the comparison was laughable.
‘I see… they say there is no end to the martial path, and it’s true.’
Where could the end possibly be?
Even after reaching the State of Transformation, it was merely a new beginning.
Not as long as there was a path forward.
*Heh.*
And so, Cheon Muryang couldn't help but smile.
“This is truly a relief.”
“…”
“The world is full of strong people. It’ll be fun to break them all.”
The Yama Demonic Lord smiled as well.
He was pleased with Cheon Muryang’s response.
“Indeed. This too may be but one of many trials you pass through. A fine mindset for one who wields the sword.”
The Yama Demonic Lord swung his blade lightly, yet it created the illusion that the entire world was burning.
“However, in the face of death, it is nothing but a lingering regret.”
He was right.
The dead tell no tales.
“Who says I’m going to die?”
*Grip!*
Cheon Muryang tightened his hold on the Heavenly Light.
The Yama Demonic Lord had already reached a plane so far beyond Cheon Muryang’s current self that he could not even dare to look up to it.
However, that was by no means a reason for Cheon Muryang to die.
“I plan to live until I’m old and senile.”
“If you can.”
*Fwoosh!*
It was as if the flames that had reduced the Third Elder to ashes were mere child’s play.
The crimson inferno erupting from the Yama Demonic Lord’s blade was a world-ending conflagration, capable of burning creation itself.
“You two will not interfere.”
“…!”
Only Cheon Muryang was permitted to exist upon this burning earth.
A wall of fire sealed off even the sky, completely blocking any intervention from the Wandering King and Cheon Seonhak.
At this, Cheon Seonhak raised his sword, but.
“Uncle, please protect the children.”
“…!”
He relented at those words.
The weakened children would not be able to withstand even a touch from a fragment of that inferno.
Within this hellish space where even sweat evaporated on contact, Cheon Muryang spoke calmly.
“Wandering King, watch closely.”
“What?”
“You said you wanted to see my sword. I think you’re about to get your wish.”
With those words, Cheon Muryang stared into the Demonic Lord’s flames, which seemed poised to reduce even the heavens to cinders.
It was as if hell had been made manifest on earth.
‘This is no different from the Eight Hot Hells.’
However, no matter how he thought about it, Cheon Muryang had never done anything to deserve a trip to hell.
It wasn't that his sword was unstained by blood, but that blood had belonged solely to those who deserved to die.
“You can’t just go blocking the sky.”
And so, he resolved to cut it down.
Even if the path to the heavens was blocked, the sky itself would still exist beyond it.
*Whooosh!*
The low hum of a sword’s cry.
It must have been audible even beyond this wall of roaring flames.
*Shhhk!*
The Heavenly Light slowly rose toward the sky.
Watching this, a small smile touched the Yama Demonic Lord’s lips.
“Here I come.”
*Grrrrr!*
With the grating sound of metal scraping against the earth.
The Yama Demonic Lord’s blade, the Blade of Yama, charged toward Cheon Muryang.
The air in the path of the Blade of Yama distorted from the intense heat.
‘As expected…’
Yet, Cheon Muryang was composed.
He even had the leisure to admire the trajectory created by the Yama Demonic Lord’s blade.
‘A magnificent blade.’
It was on a different level from the tyrannical flow of the saber the Wandering King had shown.
Thus, while he couldn't make a precise comparison, he could tell the Demonic Lord’s blade possessed greater depth.
‘But that’s what makes it predictable.’
Because it was a blade that contained such vast and profound martial arts, its path was, paradoxically, fixed.
‘I have no choice but to use that predictability against him.’
The only thing Cheon Muryang could trust was his eye for seeing the grain, the flow of things.
He intended to twist the trajectory of the immense and powerful Blade of Yama.
‘Not yet.’
The best he could do was make it miss by a paper-thin margin.
‘I’ll have to risk an arm.’
An arm was a small price to pay.
He was standing at the crossroads of life and death.
The Blade of Yama was nearly upon him.
The surrounding air had completely evaporated from the heat, making it impossible to even draw a breath.
‘Now.’
The Heavenly Light wedged itself between the Blade of Yama and Cheon Muryang.
“…!”
The single, massive flow drawn by the Blade of Yama began to shift slightly.
It was the Reverse Scale Strike he had learned from Cheon Seonhak.
“An interesting sword.”
However, the shift in trajectory was minuscule.
The Yama Demonic Lord would not allow the Heavenly Light’s interference.
“But with such petty tricks…”
*Fwoooosh!*
A blade with enough force to split the world in two descended upon the Heavenly Light.
“You cannot receive my blade.”
“…”
The Yama Demonic Lord forced a choice.
Be split in half by the blade.
Or be turned to ash by the flames.
Neither option offered a path to survival.
“The Reverse Scale Strike isn’t enough.”
It was based on the principle of the soft overcoming the hard, but even that had its limits.
‘A sword beyond that…’
In that moment, he realized.
The sword Cheon Muryang had to show was not the Reverse Scale Strike, nor the Dark Sky Strike, nor the Ascending Sky Strike.
It had to be the sword that reaches the Highest Heaven, the one he had once faced.
It had to be that sword.
‘If I can’t show it, I die.’
Cheon Muryang closed his eyes completely.
And then, he was no longer on the suffocating Mount Putuo, but standing alone in a desert.
‘Ah…’
Within the desolate desert.
He could faintly smell the scent of peaches he had vaguely perceived back then.
‘I see it.’
The scent of peaches soared toward the sky.
A shimmering path, like a heat haze.
It was the sword path that led to the Highest Heaven.
‘Was that it?’
The path of truth that pierces through all of creation.
The Heavenly Light moved along that path.
*Whooosh!*
How could a mere mortal reach the truth of all creation?
The colossal law of causality blocked the Heavenly Light’s path.
『Turn back.』
Cheon Muryang paid it no mind.
No one could stop his steps.
‘Do not block my way.’
He had failed to see it through last time.
But not today.
Hadn't he sought to embrace even that great will?
‘I will embrace the Highest Heaven.’
*Paaat!*
The sky came crashing down.
Beneath the Collapsing Heaven.
Cheon Muryang alone endured the sky’s fall.
『If you can, then try.』
The world after the sky had fallen.
Nothingness. And emptiness.
A world of illusion, where not even darkness existed, had arrived.
‘Ah…’
In that world of illusion, he saw a squirming Chaos.
*Fsssh!*
He faced Chaos in the void.
It appeared as nothing more than a black shape.
But it was definitely looking at Cheon Muryang.
*Fwoooosh!*
He felt the will of Chaos.
Cheon Muryang felt a pain as if his head were splitting apart.
It was entirely different from the wills he had heard until now.
『Order will crumble, and Chaos shall come again.』
His hair stood on end.
He wondered if this was what it felt like to have one’s soul ripped out.
‘It is waiting for the right time…’
Chaos was coiled up.
It was merely waiting for the time to rise again.
In other words, the calamity of Chaos was a predetermined future.
‘The Demonic Cult…’
It was likely.
It had to be closely related to the Demonic Cult.
Cheon Muryang was certain.
‘Then, is what the Demonic Cult wants the second coming of that Chaos?’
It was possible.
『When Chaos descends, the world shall return to ashes… and upon them, the world shall begin anew.』
That was the end of it.
He heard no more of Chaos’s thoughts.
‘Chaos…’
Chaos vanished.
And once again, order settled upon the world.
『I ask you.』
『Can you truly bear it?』
The will of the world.
It was the opposite of Chaos—it was Order.
In other words, the causality that enveloped this world.
‘If Chaos stands in my way.’
The answer was already decided.
He was a man who had already died once.
What was there to fear?
‘I will cut down Chaos itself.’
That will was something that not even the world-burning Chaos would dare to defy.
Cheon Muryang did not fear Chaos.
『You are one who has already experienced death.』
『However, if your existence can twist the destined course of things…』
『That would not be so bad.』
『I shall erase all the possibilities open to you.』
With those unknowable words.
Cheon Muryang’s consciousness slowly faded.
『Follow the scent of immortality.』
『It is up to you to hone it.』
*Paaat!*
A blinding light streamed forth.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw the Blade of Yama rushing toward him.
“…”
However, unlike before, the Yama Demonic Lord’s blade no longer looked like an infernal weapon that could burn down the world.
‘It’s small.’
It was far too small for that.
It couldn't compare to true Chaos.
Cheon Muryang lost interest, searching instead for the scent of immortality flowing from somewhere.
Seeing this, the Demonic Lord clicked his tongue.
“Have you already given up?”
“Not a chance.”
The faint scent of immortality bloomed in the air.
Following the flow of that scent, Cheon Muryang simply swung the Heavenly Light.
He merely entrusted his sword to that great flow.
“This is…!”
Astonishment filled the Demonic Lord’s eyes.
He had fought countless masters in his lifetime.
He had stood at innumerable crossroads, where his choices meant the difference between life and death.
At every one of those crossroads, the Demonic Lord had made the right choice, which was how he had risen to his current position.
That was the path the Demonic Lord had walked.
‘But…’
He couldn't make a choice.
The sword intent contained within that slender blade sought to return everything to nothingness.
‘It permits nothing.’
For some reason, he felt a sense of futility.
The Yama Demonic Lord tried to imbue his blade with flames, but how could fire extinguish the ocean?
The futility and transience of realizing the impossible washed over the Yama Demonic Lord.
*Whooosh!*
With the cry of the Heavenly Light.
The Yama Demonic Lord’s roaring flames spontaneously died down.
In an instant, a path to the Demonic Lord opened.
*Swish!*
The Heavenly Light pierced through the dying flames and flew fiercely forward.
“Good.”
Seeing this, the Demonic Lord smiled.
As if telling him to strike while he could.
However, the Heavenly Light could advance no further.
*Thud!*
It stopped in midair.
“That sword is…”
“I don’t know either.”
“The one who wields it does not even know its name. Truly, it is a Nameless Sword.”
“Nameless Sword…”
Nameless.
The thought suddenly occurred to him that the name might be his destiny.
And so, though it came from an enemy, he quite liked the name the Yama Demonic Lord had given it.
“I like the sound of that.”
“I am glad you find it to your liking. But why did you stop? You could have surely struck me down.”
Cheon Muryang shook his head.
Although he had broken through the Yama Demonic Lord’s blade, his technique was incomplete.
He had wanted to cut, but he could not.
“I merely wished to cut, but was unable to.”
“I see. So it is a yet unfinished sword.”
“…”
*Tremble.*
Cheon Muryang’s legs trembled slightly.
Though he had merely swung his sword following the scent of immortality, his entire body was filled with exhaustion.
The Yama Demonic Lord did not miss this.
“Nipping the bud in the bud is what’s best for the Cult, but…”
The Wandering King and Cheon Seonhak reacted.
If the Yama Demonic Lord moved, they too would move.
However, he showed no reaction, simply laughing it off.
“As a martial artist myself, it is also true that I wish to see the completion of that sword.”
*Shhhk.*
The Yama Demonic Lord sheathed the Blade of Yama.
The trees in the surrounding area, which had been screaming from the intense heat, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“I shall take my leave for today.”
“…”
“What is your name?”
“Cheon Muryang. The Great Young Lord of the Cheon Family.”
“Good.”
The Demonic Lord turned to leave.
At this, Cheon Muryang asked.
“Where is Cheon Jungho?”
“Are you speaking of the one who is already dead? Or the one who is still alive?”
“…!”
“You would do well to examine the Third Elder’s corpse carefully.”
Leaving the three stunned men behind, the Demonic Lord departed from Mount Putuo with his hands clasped behind his back, as if he had just been out for a stroll.
Just before he completely disappeared, the Demonic Lord looked up at the sky.
The sky, which had been stained crimson, was now a serene blue, as if nothing had happened.
“It seems the thirty-year grand plan has ended in failure today.”