Chapter 331
I Became the Successor of the Martial God
Chapter 331.
―The White Sword has acknowledged you as its true master. All the sword's sealed functions have been unlocked.
―A hidden condition has been fulfilled. Some functions have changed.
Yoo Baek-jun stared at the White Sword.
The sword continued to vibrate, emitting a dazzling light.
And when that light finally faded, the White Sword had transformed.
[White Sword (EX)]
A sword originally inherited from the Martial God in the past, later modified and used by the Sword Saint.
The sword has acknowledged you, and all its latent power has been unleashed.
―Options: Martial God’s Blessing, Limitless, Unyielding White Will, Severance
―Skills: Divine Sword Union, Transcendence
*Martial God’s Blessing: Receives the blessing of the Martial God, enhancing all stats and protecting the wielder from corruption.
*Limitless: Greatly increases the power of all techniques while reducing magic consumption.
*Unyielding White Will: When injured to the point of being unable to fight, the sword assists to continue combat.
*Severance: Wounds inflicted by this sword cannot heal naturally.
*Divine Sword Union: Constantly emits a sword aura capable of cutting through anything.
*Transcendence: With the sword’s assistance, unlocks all latent potential within the blood.
Yoo Baek-jun gazed intently at the sword.
Its appearance had become peculiar. The pure white blade, tinged with an eerie blue glow, looked mystifying.
“Was this what the sword was like?”
But something felt off.
Specifically, its grade.
‘Why did it become EX-grade?’
Even after awakening, it shouldn’t have surpassed S+ grade, yet it became EX-grade.
This was an unexpected change.
And its performance.
―Swoosh!
He unleashed a sword aura.
Divine Sword Union. A pure white sword aura capable of cutting through everything surged forth.
Unlike before, this sword aura didn’t dissipate.
‘As long as my magic holds, I can keep emitting it…’
He couldn’t help but marvel.
Being able to constantly emit a sword aura that ignores the opponent’s defense…
‘This will be useful.’
Yoo Baek-jun stood before the barrier.
The barrier looked precarious. Unstable, as if it would shatter at any moment, shaking violently.
―Crack!
Yoo Baek-jun placed his hand on the barrier.
The curtain reacted to his touch, writhing before splitting open to the sides.
An opening just wide enough for a person to pass through formed.
“We cannot enter.”
“Yes, I know.”
As Jin Baek-cheon reached out, the opening in the barrier closed instantly.
Only those with the blood of the Martial God could pass through this barrier.
“I leave the rest to you.”
Yoo Baek-jun pushed through the gap in the barrier and slowly stepped inside.
A peculiar sensation brushed over him.
As the outside light faded, thick darkness filled his vision.
‘It’s dark.’
That was Yoo Baek-jun’s first thought upon entering the barrier.
The interior of the barrier was pitch black.
“…….”
Yoo Baek-jun raised his head.
The high ceiling was covered with crimson, vein-like structures.
A dreadfully ominous sight.
―Clang! Clang!
Sounds echoed.
The clashing of swords. The slicing of flesh. The splattering of blood.
Yoo Baek-jun quickly moved toward the source of the sound.
―Craaash!
“Ugh…!”
A voice groaned.
In the thick darkness, someone’s ragged, gasping breaths could be heard.
There, standing—
‘Yoo Moo-hak.’
It was Yoo Moo-hak.
His condition was dire. He was covered in fatal wounds, bleeding profusely.
―Slash!
Yoo Moo-hak was dying.
The relentless blades mercilessly tore through his body.
His right arm was severed, one leg gone. He fell to his knees.
Yet, he did not die.
‘No, that’s…’
More accurately, he couldn’t die.
Yoo Moo-hak’s collapsed body rose again. An unknown force was healing his injuries.
‘Healing?’
It was too strange to call it healing.
Rather than healing… It felt like time was being reversed.
As if the wounds Yoo Moo-hak had suffered were being erased by turning back time.
He gripped his sword again.
―Pathetic sight….
A voice echoed from the darkness.
A voice eerily familiar yet unsettling, stirring instinctive fear.
Yoo Moo-hak glared into the darkness.
―Crack!
“……!”
From the darkness, a crimson sword aura surged. Yoo Moo-hak raised his sword to block it.
But an unpredictable attack struck him as if his movements had been anticipated.
“Kuh… Hhk!”
―After reversing time countless times, you’ve made no progress.
Someone stepped out of the darkness.
A middle-aged man exuding a sinister aura, walking with arrogance, scattering dark energy.
―Is this what you desired?
The Martial God.
To be precise, it was the Lord of Rifts sealed within his body.
‘He’s younger.’
When first seen, the Lord of Rifts had taken the form of an old man.
But now, he appeared as a middle-aged man.
―Comrades, family. You abandoned all unnecessary things, becoming mere limbs of this body to serve. To stop me, to prevent the ruin….
The arrogantly walking Lord of Rifts gripped a crimson sword.
Yoo Moo-hak glared at him fiercely.
―Craaash!
The distance closed in an instant.
Their swords crossed. Yoo Moo-hak unleashed a furious assault with the Heavenly Destruction Sword Technique.
And the Lord of Rifts countered with the same technique.
―Boom! Craaash!
Yoo Moo-hak executed the ultimate technique of the Heavenly Destruction Sword Technique —Heaven-Destruction.
Countless blades rained from the sky.
But it was all meaningless.
“…Kuh!”
Just as Yoo Moo-hak had done, the Lord of Rifts also used Heaven-Destruction.
Crimson blades swallowed Yoo Moo-hak’s attack, falling like a meteor shower.
The Lord of Rifts raised his sword again.
―How disappointing, Yoo Moo-hak.
He slashed ruthlessly through the air.
Countless sword auras erupted, merging into a single storm.
The meteor shower and storm engulfed Yoo Moo-hak. He immediately deployed a sword barrier, a massive curtain enveloping him.
―Rumble…!
Then, the ground shook.
The dark energy emanating from the Lord of Rifts seeped into the earth.
The ground beneath Yoo Moo-hak trembled violently. The condensed dark energy—
―Booom!
Exploded beneath his feet.
The dark shockwave spread outward.
His massive sword barrier shattered instantly, and countless blades mercilessly rained down on him.
―Thud!
The blades shredded Yoo Moo-hak’s body in an instant. His mutilated form collapsed to his knees.
The Lord of Rifts stood before him.
―And this is the result.
His words sounded mocking.
But his voice held no emotion.
A chillingly indifferent tone.
―You have failed. As in the past, so now. Your desperate struggle ends here.
“Not… yet.”
Yoo Moo-hak slowly raised his arm, gripping the Lord of Rifts’s leg.
“…It’s not… over.”
The Lord of Rifts, about to speak, sensed something. He turned his head.
Toward the presence behind him.
―…….
A Thunder spear surged forth.
The thunder wrapped around the spear illuminated the darkness as it struck.
Thud!
The spear pierced flesh.
―Outsider.
Lightning engulfed the Lord of Rifts’s body.
But he showed no reaction. No scream, no pain.
Instead, he looked toward the direction the spear had come from.
―Have you learned the truth now?
The lightning spear that had pierced the Lord of Rifts’s back returned to its owner.
The thunder’s light revealed—
“Lord of Rifts.”
Yoo Baek-jun emerged from the light.
The Lord of Rifts stared impassively as Yoo Baek-jun walked forward slowly.
“I’ve come to kill you.”
―Me?
A faint smile curled on the Lord of Rifts’s previously expressionless lips.
It resembled the Martial God Yoo Baek-jun knew, but the aura was entirely different.
―Worthless one.
The Lord of Rifts turned.
The wound from the lightning spear had already healed.
―Do you think possessing that body makes you special? In reality, you are nothing.
“…….”
―Ah, Yoo Moo-hak….
Yoo Moo-hak lay collapsed.
His condition was utterly gruesome. The Lord of Rifts gripped his head.
―Was this your last hope? Did you sacrifice yourself just to buy time for that?
The Lord of Rifts forced Yoo Moo-hak’s head up. Their eyes met.
―To think you trusted someone wearing another’s empty shell, pretending to be that person. Was this all you fought for?
After inheriting the family, Yoo Moo-hak had vanished from the world.
To prepare for the eventual awakening of the Lord of Rifts.
And—
‘To divert his attention.’
To buy time for Yoo Baek-jun to grow stronger. To keep the Lord of Rifts from noticing him until it was too late.
It had worked.
―Meaningless.
The Lord of Rifts raised his hand.
Dark energy flowed from him, encasing Yoo Moo-hak like a prison.
―Yoo Moo-hak, you’ve hindered me for long enough. You won’t die easily. So watch.
It was absolute confidence.
―Watch as your last hope, the one you and the Martial God believed in, dies.
No one could oppose him. A confidence born from undeniable, absolute truth.
The Lord of Rifts raised his sword.
―Craaash!
Once more, the heavens split.
Heaven-Destruction.
Countless blades fell like meteors.
Yoo Baek-jun did nothing. He simply stood still.
―Boooom!
The meteors struck the ground, a violent explosion engulfing the surroundings.
Yoo Baek-jun vanished due to the effects.
―You won’t die that easily.
The Lord of Rifts prepared his stance—for the Heavenly Destruction Sword Technique.
His mind held all the martial arts the Martial God had known.
He didn’t need to rely on the Heavenly Destruction Sword Technique. But he had a simple reason.
‘To make the despair greater.’
Being defeated by their own martial arts would be more crushing.
The Lord of Rifts waited for the explosion to fade, ready to strike.
―…….
But he stopped.
Because Yoo Baek-jun, emerging from the fading explosion, was not as he had expected.
―That.
A massive wind and a barrier had protected Yoo Baek-jun from Heaven-Destruction.
The Heteromorphic Hands. The storm and sword barrier he had deployed.
And one more thing.
―……!
Counter Return.
The blades of Heaven-Destruction absorbed by the Heteromorphic Hands surged toward the Lord of Rifts.
The Lord of Rifts frowned in displeasure, deflecting the incoming blades.
But that was just the beginning.
“Hup!”
Yoo Baek-jun manipulated the Heteromorphic Hands, unleashing multiple techniques simultaneously.
Thunder Dragon, Meteor Shower, Flying Sword Barrage, Moonlight, Aura Burst, and Heaven-Destruction.
The Lord of Rifts’s eyes widened.
―Boom! Craaash!
Countless attacks surged forth.
The Martial God’s knowledge within the Lord of Rifts’s mind screamed to defend.
He tried to deploy defensive techniques from that knowledge.
―Screech!
But as if anticipating this—
While the Lord of Rifts was distracted, Yoo Baek-jun closed the distance with Ghost Phantom Steps and raised his arms.
―Boom!
Impact.
Heavenly Destruction, infused with Heavenly Aura, slammed into the Lord of Rifts. The techniques unleashed by the Heteromorphic Hands followed, engulfing him.
Yoo Baek-jun retreated swiftly.
―BOOOM!
A deafening explosion shook the heavens and earth.