Chapter 260: The Dangerous Guy in My Heart (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 260: The Dangerous Guy in My Heart (2)
Kwaaaaah—!!
A Yellow Dragon, its body draped in the burning crimson of the sky, plummeted toward the earth.
[Ooh...!]
A look of pure ecstasy washed over Geom-gwang’s face. His shoulders twitched. Following that subtle movement, his arms stretched out like whips, tracing a complex and erratic trajectory.
Crack, crack, crack—!!
Space itself began to fracture like shattering glass. Geom-gwang glanced down at his own body, which was bubbling and vaporizing into gas, and let out a laugh of rapturous joy.
[Splendid...!]
It was a powerful sword technique, a magnificent form. It seemed as though raw strength had been poured into it haphazardly, yet it possessed an inherent, perfect harmony.
To witness such a spectacle—three martial arts unfolding as one...!
He was finally certain. If he could seize those techniques, he could take one more step forward. Toward the Great Throne, and ultimately, even beyond it.
[Hwahahahaha...!!]
Slash! Geom-gwang’s sword finally severed the head of the Yellow Dragon. Instantly, countless lines of force carved the dragon’s torso into pieces.
As if paying a price, the blood coating the surface of Geom-gwang’s body boiled violently and evaporated.
As the fragmented Yellow Dragon scattered throughout the domain—
Tak!
Seo-jun hurled himself through the debris.
[Heh...!]
Geom-gwang smirked. Did the boy truly dare to face him with a sword?
Gurgle! His body of blood surged upward, rushing to meet Seo-jun head-on.
Seo-jun spread both hands wide. Empty Heaven Despise Below and Descent of the Calamity Fire. He condensed the power of the two domains into his palms.
Clumping together, a red and a blue sphere began to swirl. Seo-jun recalled the Blood Ice Jade that Baek Yun had once used.
A single focal point. Two spheres rotating around it. The essences of the Emperor Sword Form and the Heaven-Sun Imperial Extreme Fire Divine Art blended together as he fired the condensed mass forward.
Pyut!
The sphere, launched at extreme velocity, looked as though it would pierce straight through Geom-gwang’s chest.
However, Geom-gwang only laughed. A body made of blood was not bound by form.
Rip— He tore a hole straight through the center of his own chest. The sphere passed through the gap, harmlessly shattering the ground behind him.
Kwaaaaah—!!
The shockwave erupting from behind him was chilling. But now, it was his turn.
Swish, swish!
Geom-gwang’s elongated right arm traced a labyrinthine path.
Seo-jun did not respond directly. Woooong— The Demonic Sword floating in the air blocked Geom-gwang’s blade using the principles of the Sword Control Art.
Clang!
Sparks flew, and the Demonic Sword was knocked upward. Seo-jun’s brow furrowed.
‘As expected, with a sword...’
Having bypassed the defense of the Sword Control Art, the blade lunged for him. Shing! The edge grazed the side of his head. A lock of severed hair fluttered into the air.
Seo-jun quickly reached out. A long stream of blood whipped toward him. Grab! He seized the forearm made of blood.
[Got you!]
Blades of blood sprouted from that very arm. Seo-jun was not surprised. Instead, he unleashed his own specialty.
Boom!
The section of Geom-gwang’s arm where Seo-jun gripped it exploded, vaporizing entirely.
“This is just Qi.”
Since the arm had been severed in the middle, the sword it held faltered in the air.
Immediately, Seo-jun pulled another bead from a rift in space.
Crack!
The bead shattered, dyeing the surroundings in brilliant moonlight.
Localized deployment: Moonlight Spear.
“Radiant Shadow (輝影).”
As the third domain unfolded, blood began to pour from Seo-jun’s seven orifices. His head throbbed with a piercing ache. For now, this was his limit.
He was a god staggering under a massive burden. To compensate, he used Qi to bridge his Essence and Spirit.
Kwooooooom—!!
The moment he stepped into an unknown realm, a colossal pressure weighed down upon the space.
Seo-jun smiled as his body felt significantly more at ease, finally bringing the three domains into harmony.
The Sun, the Moon, and the Heaven.
The Sun and Moon merged into the Heaven-Defying principle, and the Heaven embraced them with benevolence.
Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art (逆天日月功).
Seo-jun felt it instinctively. This was different from before. He had never felt that the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art was lacking, but what he had just unleashed was on an entirely different level of existence.
Swaaaaaaa—!!
A massive pillar of energy, capable of returning all creation to nothingness, fired toward Geom-gwang.
Geom-gwang currently held no sword in his hand. While the presence or absence of a blade didn't usually matter to a swordsman of his caliber, in this moment, that tiny difference could have a profound impact on the final result.
[Hah...!]
Geom-gwang felt it too. As he was now, he could not block that strike.
Which meant, if he were not as he was now, he could.
Thump—
For a split second, all movement within the space ceased. Geom-gwang’s eyes flashed with a manic light. In his vision, he saw the formless, infinite shape of a sword.
The Taiyi Formless Sword. Its ultimate goal was not a sword without shape, but a sword without format.
However, Geom-gwang thought: Shape or format, is there really a need to distinguish between the two?
Thus, upon reaching the Transcendent Realm, he had gained a special ability in place of a domain.
[Formless Sword (無形劍).]
Creeeeeak—!!
It happened without warning. Countless lines were etched into space. It was instantaneous.
The Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art, the three domains, and the hundred and eight ice pillars that had been subtly hindering Geom-gwang were all sliced into tiny pieces and vanished.
Seo-jun, who had dodged the exact moment he felt a chilling sensation, looked down at his left leg.
Sss—
He had been just a fraction too slow. His leg, having been slashed tens of thousands—no, hundreds of thousands of times until it turned to powder—scattered like dust.
“I see...”
The years the man had lived weren't just for show.
At least six hundred years had passed since the man reached the Transcendent Realm. Sometimes, time itself became a formidable weapon. He was on an entirely different level compared to a young Transcendent like Baek Yun.
Zzzzt—
Seo-jun looked down at Geom-gwang from a distance as his leg rapidly regenerated. The man was laughing. It was a smile of pure delight, as if he had already made Seo-jun’s sword techniques his own.
It was incredibly irritating.
Seo-jun didn't care about anything else. He simply hated that the vermin who had laid a hand on the Divine Sword Geum Family looked so pleased with himself.
Good or evil, justice or not—it didn't matter. He just wanted to rip that man’s head off.
Seo-jun’s eyes turned blood-red. His vision pierced through to the formless "something" shimmering around Geom-gwang.
Its essence was no different from a domain. It existed everywhere within a certain radius around him, yet it existed nowhere.
Truly, a Formless Sword.
‘A mere insect...’
Seo-jun fully accepted the mental imagery of the Heaven, the Sun, and the Moon that flowed back to him after being shattered. Then, he clumped them together and floated the mass above his hand.
Mental imagery is the human heart. If one has a body and a heart, what reason is there that one cannot create a human?
Ssss—
Qi gathered in the air, taking shape. It was similar to the clones he had used before.
However, the doll before him had no color, nor proper facial features. He saw no reason for elements unnecessary for combat to exist.
Flash!
Seo-jun shoved the mental imagery of the Heaven, the Sun, and the Moon into the chest of the Qi doll.
“Ah...!”
The doll opened its eyes. Color bled into the colorless being. Features formed on its flat face.
The doll, now possessing a human heart, formed its own appearance.
Originating from the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons, it naturally realized the "Demonic" (魔). It looked at the Heaven, the Sun, and the Moon dwelling within it.
Talent is something one is born with, a part of what makes Lee Seo-jun who he is.
Naturally, the doll that inherited that talent created a new martial art through the mental imagery it possessed.
Sun-Moon Demonic Art (일월마공).
The name already existed, but the doll didn't care. Whatever the original art was, this one was vastly superior.
[Hooh...?]
Geom-gwang watched this nonsensical scene unfold. He saw a mere human creating another human. He saw a doll made of Qi gain life and open its eyes.
[What kind of absurdity is this...]
No matter how insane one might be, seeing something like that right in front of their eyes tended to snap them back to reality.
Geom-gwang’s eyes wavered at the incomprehensible sight.
A wavering of the eyes is a wavering of the heart. Sensing this immediately, the doll kicked off the air and lunged.
Boom!
The doll’s entire body turned a murky hue as it shot forward. It was Sun-Moon Demonic Qi.
Since its essence was no different from the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art, the doll charged at Geom-gwang while clad in Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Astral Qi.
Creeeeeak—!!
Geom-gwang’s Formless Sword reacted instantly, slashing the doll countless times.
Formless Victory. This principle did not simply mean that a sword without forms was stronger.
The format-less sword Geom-gwang swung contained the most appropriate principles of a form every single time, and each of the hundreds of thousands of strikes breathed with a different subtle mystery.
However, the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Astral Qi was also a high-level technique that rivaled the Formless Sword.
The doll, its red eyes flashing, dodged, blocked, and sometimes simply tanked the hits with its body as it closed in on Geom-gwang.
Kagagagak!
Fragments of Qi scattered around the doll. Its carved-away body was immediately replaced by the surrounding Qi, and before long, it had burrowed deep into Geom-gwang’s proximity.
Geom-gwang struggled to regain his composure and sharpened the ends of his blood-arms. His hands became swords.
He slashed at the doll’s reaching hand and crouched to dive inside its guard.
The doll regenerated its hand with Qi and unleashed a shockwave.
Kwaaaaaang—!!
The shockwave of the doll that had mastered the Sun-Moon Demonic Art was, in itself, the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art.
Geom-gwang used his sword-hands to slice through the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art piece by piece, finally aiming for the doll’s neck.
The doll and Geom-gwang exchanged moves, whittling away at each other’s bodies.
Seo-jun watched it all.
With the mental imagery of the Yellow Dragon he had pulled from the rift in space held in his heart, he rapidly grew accustomed to the new realm he had stepped into.
At the same time, he recited the oral chant of the Yellow Cloud Divine Art.
Wuji is Taiji (無極而太極)—Wuji is the same as Taiji. This was the principle that formed the foundation of the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.
The current Seo-jun was capable of achieving Taiji. Whether he truly understood Wuji was unknown, but he didn't think it was much different from Primordial Unity.
Primordial Unity and Taiji. Following a sudden flash of inspiration, he activated the Sword Control Art.
Woooong!
The Demonic Sword let out a cry and flew to hover over Seo-jun’s shoulder.
Seo-jun’s eyes turned a murky shade. Primordial Unity Qi shimmered across his entire body. It felt as if something inside him was whispering: Embrace all things.
......
Seo-jun still couldn't fully grasp the sword principles spoken of by the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.
Even Namgung Jin-cheon had failed to completely master even two forms of the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.
Therefore, Seo-jun did not obsess over the sword.
The sword was merely a tool. It was nothing more than a brush used to paint a picture upon the world using the ink called Qi.
And so, he painted.
He drew the shape of the Yellow Dragon upon the sword and filled its interior with Primordial Unity.
The Primordial Unity Qi, the source of all energies, began to slowly rotate inside the Yellow Dragon.
It was Yin and Yang, yet Yang and Yin, and at the same time, it was neither.
Pure Primordial Unity drew a Taiji. The Taiji, without distinct boundaries, simply swirled and became a universe.
Primordial Unity Sun-Moon Art (混元日月功).
The Yellow Dragon, harboring that primordial chaos, roared as it emitted a murky light.
At that moment, Seo-jun realized. Wuji and Primordial Unity were not the same.
Wuji was the unstarted void and potential, while Primordial Unity was the primordial state where all things were mixed together.
And so, he recklessly tore apart and reconstructed the Yellow Cloud Divine Art and the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.
Primordial Unity is Taiji (混元而太極)—Primordial Unity is the same as Taiji.
Simultaneously, the oral chants of the Yellow Cloud Divine Art scattered of their own accord and blended into the New Primordial Unity Divine Art.
A mere mortal human had understood and rewritten the martial arts of a god according to his own whims.
Yet, Seo-jun felt no particular emotion. He was indifferent, as if it were only natural.
He simply gestured with his ink-black eyes.
──────────────
The Ink Dragon (墨龍) followed his will, drawing a long line from the heavens to the earth.