Chapter 254
Chapter 254
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 254
Chapter Title: Cultivator's Mountain (28)
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"W-What the hell is that?"
"I-I can't move...!"
The Arhats recoiled in horror, staggering back a step.
A massive beast's shadow had appeared with a thunderous roar.
The moment they laid eyes on it, some immediately realized the true source of the lion's roar they'd heard at the mountain's base.
"That roar we thought was the Lion's Roar... no way!"
"Y-Yeah! That's the sound!"
"...!!"
The beastly howl that had echoed from the mountain's foot to its midpoint.
It matched exactly the cry Baal was unleashing now.
Their bodies stiffened, their energy wavered, and their very souls seemed to flee.
At first, they'd assumed it was the forbidden martial art, the Lion's Roar, without question.
But now, faced with this rampaging colossal beast, everyone trembled uncontrollably.
Even Chiwoo was no exception.
'So it wasn't Guardian Charpam's voice after all?'
The Guardian Charpam who served the Heavenly Demon.
When he'd first heard that cry at the mountain's entrance, he'd been certain it was Charpam.
Legends spoke of how the Guardian's roar alone could shake the world.
Yet this savage beast before them was not Charpam.
It was something far more ominous, utterly distant from any guardian.
A power no one could possibly control.
"Ah... ugh."
Kang Si-chan's reaction was even more dramatic.
Facing Baal's form head-on, his body contracted in primal terror.
He should have known no fear in his berserk state, yet he couldn't move an inch.
This was the apocalyptic beast that transcended death itself.
He had no idea how Park Chan-woo had summoned its shadow, but it was beyond anyone's control.
It wasn't a power meant to be wielded by mortals.
But then.
'...Now I understand.'
Park Chan-woo murmured to himself inwardly.
The power of Baal.
No, the very existence of Baal itself—he felt he grasped it, if only a little.
The Creator who forged the Abyss.
Four ferocious beasts had followed him.
The Fierce God Baal was one of them.
Sealed within four pieces of equipment, they had been scattered somewhere in the Abyss.
The Moon's Lord Aheta had claimed two, but could only hide them away in haste.
Aheta himself couldn't wield Baal's gear.
He could have grown far stronger if he'd used it properly, yet he'd merely concealed it.
Why?
'Because even a mere demon like him couldn't handle Baal's power.'
Aheta was no exception.
Daring to don and wield Baal's equipment would devour his soul outright.
Baal's sword and belt weren't mere items named after 'Baal.'
They contained Baal's very essence.
Monsters far too overwhelming for any demon to command.
The 'Absolute' set effect granted a fragment of Baal's power.
Even that had allowed him to conquer the 150th floor of the tower.
But he'd nearly lost his sense of self to its intoxicating might.
Baal's power was that perilous.
Yet if one could master it, it would be the ultimate strength, beyond doubt.
'Infinite Sword Emperor.'
The Sword Emperor's blade enabled even that.
His ability, 'Infinite Sword Emperor,' transcended mere swordsmanship—it merged him with the sword itself.
The instant he gripped it, he understood the blade, became one with it, and achieved true Sword Unity.
Even if that blade sealed Baal himself.
'I can feel it.'
...Baal lurked within the sword.
Unleashing primal fury, roaring toward the world.
He didn't know why Baal raged so fiercely.
'I'll take a bit of your anger.'
He couldn't claim it all.
The fury was too vast.
But he could ease a portion.
―You dare speak of easing my rage when you don't even know what it is?
In a flash.
A voice reverberated through his mind.
Simultaneously, he glimpsed a beast bound in iron chains.
Mountain-sized, with thirteen tails, crowned in black flames.
This hell was forged solely to imprison that savage beast.
Sealed within, the beast—Baal—glared at Park Chan-woo.
―You cannot bear my rage.
―Hand over your soul obediently. Then I'll let you borrow a sliver of my power!
It aimed to intoxicate him with power once more.
A scheme to corrupt and devour his soul.
But Park Chan-woo shook his head.
He needed no such overwhelming might.
'Enough for one sword swing.'
This was merely a test.
To fully realize the Sword Emperor's swordsmanship, this was the only way.
He hadn't activated 'Absolute' out of mere curiosity about wielding Baal's power.
'Absolute' borrowed Baal's might.
In the Tower of Mysteries before, he'd channeled it into his body.
This time was different.
He'd infused Baal's demonic power directly into Baal's sword.
―Will that satisfy you?
A minuscule amount, but it didn't matter.
It was still earth-shattering.
'The path of the Sword Emperor.'
It was a path he longed to tread.
To walk purely along that unadulterated way of the sword.
Back when he'd despaired, deeming himself talentless and abandoned it.
What if he hadn't given up?
Could he have surpassed the Sword King, even Han Shin?
'The path of the Archmage.'
Park Chan-woo intended to claim them all.
He would abandon nothing more.
Wielding Baal's power was but an extension of that goal.
Swoosh!
At that moment.
As he channeled Baal's power into the sword, Park Chan-woo's form changed.
A single shadowy tail sprouted—small, but identical to Baal's.
"You... bastard...!"
Crunch!
Kang Si-chan bit his tongue.
Blood trickled as his rigid body began to loosen.
"Sorcery! It has to be forbidden martial arts!"
He gripped the Black Dragon Sword tightly once more.
The ability Park Chan-woo wielded now lay far beyond martial arts.
Undoubtedly sorcery, or forbidden techniques.
"...I'll sever your head and restore the mountain's purity."
Kang Si-chan sneered.
If he could kill Park Chan-woo and reclaim the chronicle now, it would be ideal.
He was almost grateful for this ominous power display.
No excuses left.
Anyone could see it wasn't normal.
'Black Dragon Sword. Devour me.'
Kang Si-chan unleashed his trump card.
The Black Dragon Sword was a glutton that devoured all it touched.
No mere blade—it was akin to a living entity.
Soon, it absorbed Kang Si-chan's inner energy and life force.
Squelch!
Sizzle!
Vein-like tendrils erupted, fusing with his arm.
Simultaneously, the Black Dragon Sword swelled grotesquely.
It bulked up like muscled flesh, its form warping.
Kang Si-chan's right hand itself became the Black Dragon Sword, the weapon.
A truly bizarre sight.
His ultimate form, achieved by dying once and bonding his life to it!
"...Ugh!"
"What... is that...?"
The Arhats gulped.
Both were ominous, but Kang Si-chan's was outright freakish.
Park Chan-woo at least retained his prior appearance.
Kang Si-chan, however, was deformed beyond recognition.
He resembled a monster outright.
"Kuhahaha! I'll kill you!"
Kang Si-chan lost his reason and charged.
Whoosh!
His form vanished.
He reappeared at Park Chan-woo's side, swinging his right arm.
Now the Black Dragon Sword incarnate, none could dare block it.
The moment they tried, they'd mummify.
'Star Absorbing Great Law! The instant it touches, your energy and life will be mine.'
The supreme forbidden demonic art that drained all life.
Among demonic arts, the Star Absorbing Great Law reigned at the pinnacle.
Kang Si-chan had mastered it.
Combined with the Black Dragon Sword's power, it had devoured countless lives.
That was why he revived endlessly.
No 'living being' could defeat him in this state.
'Now.'
Gazing at the incoming strike, Park Chan-woo swung his sword.
Rumble!
The Baal-infused blade clashed with Kang Si-chan.
Kang Si-chan grinned.
'Delicious, your energy!'
The Star Absorbing Great Law activated steadily.
Devouring every ounce of power in the sword.
It would drain Park Chan-woo's life force next.
But his grin faded quickly.
"Gah...?!"
Crunch!
Craunch!
Kang Si-chan's body, absorbing the energy, twisted at impossible angles.
Bones shattered, organs tore.
"W-What absurd energy is this... Ack!"
Absorbing Baal's power altered every property of his mana.
The mana turned on itself.
...Rage mana.
A force no one could control.
A power none should wield!
And that wasn't all.
Crack!
Thud!
The Black Dragon Sword fused to his body detached.
No—not detached.
It was severed.
Shattered.
Unbelievable.
He'd blocked it, so how?
The final strike.
An utterly ordinary sword technique had cleaved everything.
"Y-You... what are you...?"
"I'd like to ask you the same. Why is a half-demon on Cultivator's Mountain?"
"...!"
An incarnation bound to a Creator.
When it fully embraced the Creator's power, it became a 'half-human half-demon.'
Park Chan-woo was certain.
Kang Si-chan was an incarnation.
An evolved half-demon, no less.
The moment he'd fused with the Black Dragon Sword, he'd transformed.
"Kuh, kaaaaah!"
Kang Si-chan couldn't retort.
The rage mana had scattered his own power entirely.
Roar!
"H-Hot! It's burning!"
Soon, his body ignited.
It burned to ash and vanished completely.
"...?"
"...?"
Everyone stared in shock.
Kang Si-chan was dead.
But his manner of death was even more shocking.
"Kang Si-chan... was an incarnation?"
"The prime successor of the Kang Clan...?"
Burning to death was a trait of incarnations.
Meaning Kang Si-chan had been one.
Who could have imagined the heir of one of the nine great clans was an incarnation?
No one could process it.
'A special type of incarnation that hides its half-demon form.'
Even incarnations evolved, it seemed.
Or perhaps not contracted to an ordinary Creator.
'...The Demon King's incarnation.'
As Anton had said, if a Demon King's corpse was hidden deep in the Kang Clan, it was possible.
Park Chan-woo gazed up the mountain.
This didn't feel like mere coincidence.
Somehow.
'...The entire Cultivator's Mountain seems devoured by demons already.'
"Kang Si-chan's dead?"
"Lost to some secret realm Arhat?"
"What? Kang Si-chan was an incarnation?"
Beneath a beautiful cliff like the Murung Do-won paradise.
In a grand hall built over the river, young Arhats had gathered.
The successors to the nine clans, hailed as the Nine Dragons and Nine Peaks.
They clicked their tongues softly at the news of Kang Si-chan.
"An incarnation. Filthy and irreverent."
"Wasn't the demon Kang Si even Anton's fault?"
"The Kang Clan... wonder what excuse they'll make this time."
Bound by name, they were all rivals.
Kang Si-chan eliminating himself was a boon.
"Speaking of, how strong is this Park Chan-woo guy?"
"He won't think beating Kang Si-chan means he can take us too, right?"
"Looks like he passed all the sanctuary trials."
"Shall we go watch?"
A few later-generation prodigies left the hall.
To glimpse Park Chan-woo's face as he ascended to the upper slopes.
Not everyone moved, however.
"...Hanmir. Not going to watch? It's rare for a non-selected like you to see someone from outside climbing up. Well, you're not from a secret realm yourself."
The man called Hanmir shook his head.
"Not interested."
"Tch, acting all detached like a true Pandarian."
Hanmir.
He was of the Pandarian race, once called the Sagefolk.
The sole survivor of a now-extinct world.
He gazed at the flowing river with emotionless eyes.
'...I just drift with the current.'
With nothing left to protect or cherish, he merely existed.
Proof lay in the 'Jewel of Wisdom' embedded in his forehead, dulled to gray.
Hanmir rose from his seat.
'All I have left is this one sword.'
...His worldly troubles would fade naturally as he swung it.