Chapter 261: The Dangerous Guy in My Heart (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 261: The Dangerous Guy in My Heart (3)
The Yellow Cloud Divine Sword is the Ten Thousand Swords.
It encapsulates the principles of every blade—the heavy, the swift, the shifting, the illusory, the overbearing, and the blunt—within a single sword.
Its fundamental truth is that Wuji is Taiji.
Since Wuji and Taiji are one and the same, even if energy divides into Yin and Yang to give birth to all things, the essence remains unchanged.
Wuji is like the sea, and Taiji is a single ripple born upon its surface.
Whether waves crash or the waters remain perfectly still, the sea is always the sea.
Thus, the essence of the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword is the sword itself. It harbors the Wuji that has not yet begun.
In other words, the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword is inherently empty, yet it holds the potential to manifest as all things. Even so, its essence as a sword never changes.
The Yellow Cloud Divine Art, which shares this context, also seeks to achieve Wuji through these principles. It is the essence of the 'Self'—a state that has not yet begun, yet possesses the potential to transform into anything.
The Primordial Unity Divine Art is different.
Primordial Unity already encompasses all. A Primordial Unity where all things intermingle is, in itself, complete.
In this context, the concept that "Primordial Unity is Taiji" clashes head-on with "Wuji is Taiji."
Wuji is the potential to manifest as anything starting from a void; Primordial Unity is the primordial form that already harbors all things, being everything in and of itself.
Therefore, "Primordial Unity is Taiji" means that all things are merely fragments of an existence called "Primordial Unity."
Wuji, which can become everything, and Primordial Unity, which already contains everything.
In one sense, they are the same; in another, they are entirely different.
It is a gap born from the arrogance of humans who wish to give names to all things.
Seo-jun realized there was no longer any need to distinguish between the Primordial Unity Divine Art and the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art.
Until now, due to his own immaturity, he had used the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art by breaking an incomplete Taiji. But now, it was possible to achieve Taiji through Primordial Unity.
Primordial Unity Divine Art — Yellow Cloud Divine Sword
The Ink Dragon, draped in draconic scales, plummeted with its maw wide open.
Geom-gwang, who had been trading blows with the doll, shuddered at the sheer momentum and whipped his head around. A pitch-black maw. An unfathomable abyss unfolded before his eyes.
[Ah...!]
Geom-gwang’s body of blood surged. A bolt of enlightenment he had yet to achieve struck his very soul.
He could not associate the name "Primordial Unity" with the entity before him, but he realized that the essence of its energy touched upon the ultimate state he desired.
The Formless Sword. A blade without form. Since it also shared the principles of the Ten Thousand Swords, Geom-gwang thought of Wuji as he gazed upon Primordial Unity.
[What... is that...!]
The doll’s hand pierced Geom-gwang’s chest. The blood that made up his body was caught in the Sun-Moon energy and instantly evaporated.
Geom-gwang didn't care. He only pursued that supreme martial art—something different, yet similar to the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.
I want to know.
What was the fundamental enlightenment contained within it?
Like a moth drawn to a flame, Geom-gwang lunged toward the Ink Dragon’s maw.
Cr-crack!
Formless Swords manifested and slashed wildly around him without any discernible pattern.
He shattered the dragon’s teeth, stepped deep inside, and threw himself directly into its maw.
Whoosh!
Within that pitch-black chaos, Geom-gwang saw all things. All of creation dwelt here. This encompassed everything.
Geom-gwang felt his very existence dissolving into Primordial Unity.
An existence derived from Primordial Unity was returning to Primordial Unity once more.
Crunch!
Geom-gwang bit his own tongue. There was no pain in a tongue made of blood, but through that single act, he forcefully reclaimed his will.
I can't let it eat me. I have to be the one to devour it.
He consciously gave voice to his Authority once more.
[Formless Sword.]
Words spoken with intent became power, and Geom-gwang wielded that power with absolute mastery.
C-c-c-crack─────────!!
The body of the Ink Dragon that had swallowed Geom-gwang was torn to shreds.
Geom-gwang smiled brightly, even as he felt his own energy noticeably diminish in that brief moment. If he could only obtain that nameless entity and the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword, he would gladly sell his very soul.
Seo-jun silently clenched his fist.
Crunch! With that motion, the shredded fragments of the Ink Dragon swarmed toward Geom-gwang.
Primordial Unity formed a Reverse Taiji, converging upon Geom-gwang.
Geom-gwang cut through the fragments with his Formless Sword and lunged toward Seo-jun. The doll pursued him from behind.
Seo-jun watched the approaching Geom-gwang and took a step forward. Zip! Invisible lines were etched into space.
Moving slowly, Seo-jun’s eyes caught sight of them. If he could see them, he could dodge them. With a light step, he evaded, leaving Geom-gwang’s Formless Sword to cut through empty air.
[As I thought...!]
"Shut up."
Clouded eyes gazed into the empty space.
He understood Primordial Unity and Wuji. The principle of the Formless Sword touched upon Wuji. Thus, the Formless Sword appeared more clearly to him than ever before.
In Seo-jun’s eyes, countless flickering shapes of unfinished swords were visible in the space surrounding Geom-gwang.
When Geom-gwang infused them with his will, they manifested as real swords and cut through space.
That was Geom-gwang’s Formless Sword.
A twitch. A pulsating sword-shape. Seo-jun reacted instantly, kicking off the empty air.
Swish—
In an instant, he closed the distance to Geom-gwang’s face. Crack! Right behind Seo-jun’s back, a Formless Sword tore through space.
Geom-gwang’s eyebrows twitched, but he reacted with the skill of a seasoned veteran.
Splurt! His body of blood surged as his two hands, shaped like swords, swung out. Simultaneously, the Formless Sword also bared its edge toward Seo-jun.
Seo-jun recalled his Qi Sword Control. Whir! The sword that had flown off with the Ink Dragon returned, shooting back toward him like a boomerang.
In the split second it took to return, Seo-jun took a single step, cleanly dodging the Formless Swords targeting his shoulders, pelvis, thighs, forearms, eyes, forehead, chest, ankles, and abdomen. He then manifested a Qi sword in his right hand and struck Geom-gwang’s hands aside with tremendous force.
Boom!
Geom-gwang’s hands were violently repelled. He immediately twisted his shoulders and swung his arms again.
Seo-jun tilted his head back. The sword of blood barely grazed the tip of his chin. At the same time, the doll, having taken Geom-gwang’s back, thrust its hands forward.
Thud! Geom-gwang kicked upward with his knee to deflect the strike. Using that momentum, he launched himself into the air, spinning rapidly while wildly swinging his hands.
C-c-c-crack!
Swords drawing complex trajectories while rotating in a single direction tore the surrounding space apart.
Seo-jun took a step back. Snap. The Demonic Sword, having finally arrived, was caught firmly in his hand.
The doll took a step forward. Crunch! Its body was brutally ground away by Geom-gwang’s fingertips.
The doll filled its mangled body with the ambient Qi of the atmosphere and finally burrowed into Geom-gwang’s reach.
[Where do you think...!]
A hand reached out. Geom-gwang twisted his shoulder to dodge and drove his other hand straight into the doll’s abdomen.
Thwack!
Geom-gwang’s hand pierced completely through the doll.
And the doll smiled.
"Boom."
With those playful words, the doll’s body converged into a single, highly compressed point.
Sssst!
What dwelled within the doll was the mental imagery of the heavens, the sun, and the moon. Using its body of Qi, it transformed itself into the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art.
Ssssssssssh────────
A flash of black light swept past, and Geom-gwang lost half his body. From the gruesome cross-section of his missing half, formless blood dripped steadily.
[Mmm...]
Geom-gwang looked at Seo-jun with a grimace. He knew himself to be a madman, but in the presence of the being before him, he realized his own madness was infinitely closer to common sense.
An existence that could neither be understood nor described. Though it still wore the mask of a human, Geom-gwang felt he had just caught a glimpse of its true essence.
It was something that should never be approached.
Nevertheless, Geom-gwang did not give up on his sword path. If he could reclaim the sword techniques dwelling within that being, he could finally move toward perfection.
That was why he couldn't understand.
[...To think you would discard a creation you made without a single hint of regret.]
To Geom-gwang, it was unimaginable. If there were a sword born from his own hands, he would have sacrificed his very life for it.
It wasn't fatherly love, but a deep reverence for another 'Self' that had bloomed through his own grueling refinement.
Seo-jun sneered at him.
"That, too, is me anyway."
Seo-jun didn't place any special meaning on the doll. It was merely a clone sharing his consciousness.
Because he had granted it mental imagery—a human heart—it possessed a semi-autonomous self. But even if it self-destructed, that mental imagery did not disappear.
It simply returned to where it originally belonged.
[I'll be the judge of that. So give it to me. So that I, too, may see that world!]
Geom-gwang smiled broadly as he regenerated his lost half with blood. His body felt hollow due to his severely depleted energy.
On the other hand, his opponent showed no signs of significant exhaustion.
He made a quick judgment.
This fight cannot go on any longer.
Geom-gwang became hyper-aware of all the Formless Swords hovering around him.
The greater their number, the weaker the power contained within each individual blade. It was only natural.
So, Geom-gwang simply poured his all into them, filling the void with every last drop of strength he could muster.
If the brat could dodge the Formless Sword just by seeing it, he would surround and trap him, turning the very fabric of space into an inescapable cage.
His vision blurred from overextending his mental intent. He felt nauseous, and his head throbbed as if it were about to split open. But at the thought of the sword techniques he was about to reclaim, an overwhelming joy welled up from deep within his soul.
[Hahaha...!]
Countless Formless Swords surged toward Seo-jun.
There was nowhere to hide. There were far too many to parry. The power contained in each one was immense—a true testament to the countless years Geom-gwang had lived.
Yet Seo-jun remained completely indifferent. He simply reached his hand forward. From the rifts in space, the beads that had shattered on their own seeped back into their master.
The heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon, the mountains, the seas, the rivers, the plum blossoms, and all the myriad things of the world once again filled his mental imagery.
"Ideal World."
The moment he opened his extended hand, a vast world overlaid the surrounding space.
The rushing Formless Swords. The unfolding world. The lunging Geom-gwang.
Seo-jun could not tell the difference between any of them. In the end, all of this was simply a part of Primordial Unity.
"Return to Source."
He returned everything to its essence. The Formless Swords, the world, and Geom-gwang all transformed into Primordial Unity.
Standing alone in a world filled with chaos, Seo-jun watched the pathetic creature flounder.
[Ah...! Return to Source! Yes! Primordial Unity! So that's what it was! I...!]
Geom-gwang, who had been smiling so brightly, finally returned to Primordial Unity. His voice vanished, leaving only an absolute silence.
No, the two had intermingled to become Primordial Unity.
Now, there was nothing here. Yet at the same time, everything was here.
Within the domain that had reverted to its essence through the blending of all things, Seo-jun saw his own true essence.
Deep, deep down.
The moment he looked within, a bolt of white lightning struck his mind.
A giant eye. Me. A universe like a speck of dust. Its origin. The beginning. Existence is non-existence. Flailing limbs. I move forward, only to return to my place.
Clouded eyes see the truth, and the truth originates from clouded eyes.
The one who gives birth and the one who is born. Indescribable emotions, a return to the source, a swimming self-consciousness.
A long body, bubbles rising from its movement, the universe contained within them, a dream, and then me again.
"Ah."
When he finally came to his senses, Seo-jun was standing on solid ground.
The ruins of collapsed mountains surrounded him, and the sound of Geom-gwang’s laughter still echoed within his mental imagery.
Wondering how long that bastard could keep laughing, he let out a sneer—only to suddenly cough up a mouthful of blood.
Seo-jun looked down at the dark, dead blood and laughed.
"I'm fucked."
It was an Inner Demon.