Chapter 273: Dream (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 273: Dream (2)
A martial artist of the Profound Realm is nothing short of a tyrant by their very existence.
It is only due to the restrictions of the heavens, the need to preserve their power, a delicate balance with other Profound Realm masters, and, above all, a lack of reason to involve themselves in mundane affairs that they remain stationary.
Should they step into the world without suppressing their true power, the countless mortals who laid eyes upon them would be crushed by their sheer status. The distant, indescribable principles they embody would reduce ordinary men to mindless husks.
Only those in the Transcendent Realm possess the meager qualifications to even stand before them.
Since their very existence is proof of their status, these gods of the earth require no flamboyant descriptions.
To this, Lee Seo-jun, the Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord, simply remarked:
"It wasn't really all that."
The Emperor felt a headache coming on.
* * *
"No, seriously? Even so, that makes no sense."
"What do I gain by lying about something like this?"
"Your pride."
"Hmm, pride is certainly a grave matter."
Having finished his business at the Murim Alliance, Seo-jun had intended to disperse his doll. However, the Emperor, unable to accept Seo-jun’s lackluster reaction to the Alliance Leader, refused to let him leave.
He had expected Seo-jun to emerge with a face full of shock. How could he restrain himself after seeing the boy act so nonchalantly, as if he’d just had a casual drink with the man?
"Did you feel nothing? Like the weight of his existence?"
"I definitely understood what it means to have a high status."
"Right? Didn't you feel like you were being crushed by that status itself?"
"I'm not so sure about that."
"No, why not?"
"Even if you ask me why, what am I supposed to say?"
It was Peng Geuk-jin, the Head of the Hebei Peng Clan, who rescued Seo-jun from the whining Emperor.
"Hey, Ju Won-jang!"
With a thunderous shout, a massive figure thudded down from the sky.
Roughly waving away the rising dust, Peng Geuk-jin thrust a saber toward the Emperor. It was a blade radiating an extraordinary aura.
‘Is it a fight?’
They say one of the most entertaining things in the world is watching a brawl.
As Seo-jun slinked back to watch, Peng Geuk-jin barked at Ju Won-jang.
"This thing isn't as useful as I thought!"
His harsh tone made it sound like he was picking a fight. However, Seo-jun couldn't sense any actual bloodlust from Peng Geuk-jin.
It seemed the man was just naturally loud and abrasive.
"I told you. It wouldn't be of much use."
"Even so, I didn't think it would be this bad!"
"I clearly stated it would be exactly that bad, didn't I?"
"I suppose you did!"
Convinced, Peng Geuk-jin nodded.
‘As expected of the Transcendent Realm...’
Gaining further confidence in his theory that superhumans lacked basic social skills, Seo-jun slipped into the conversation.
"What is that?"
"A Divine Weapon. A fairly high-ranking one."
The Emperor gestured toward the saber that had already returned to Peng Geuk-jin’s waist.
"As you know, our ancestor, the Martial God, once unified the Central Plains, right?"
"Right."
"The Imperial Palace is filled with Divine Weapons from that era. I sold one of them to the Peng Clan, and..."
"And they're filing a complaint?"
"Exactly."
"Hmm."
Seo-jun stared intently at Peng Geuk-jin’s saber. He could certainly feel a mysterious energy rolling off it.
Just as the Emperor said, it seemed to be a high-ranking Divine Weapon. So why on earth was it useless?
"It's because that thing is the type of blade whose power increases in proportion to the user's pain."
"Ah, a Demonic Sword?"
"Not quite... strictly speaking, it's more of a Demonic Blade."
"Same thing."
"I'm telling you, they're strictly different!"
"Quiet."
Seo-jun held out his hand to Peng Geuk-jin.
"Can I try using it?"
Peng Geuk-jin looked at Seo-jun.
Regardless of his distaste for bothersome things, he was the head of a Great Family. Naturally, he had heard more than enough about the Evil-Annihilating Heavenly Lord.
He knew him as a young Transcendent Realm master who showed no mercy and had a craving for blood, but whose skill was beyond doubt.
The key word here being young.
"You brat! Where did you leave your manners!"
"Can I try using it, please?"
"Go ahead!"
Taking the saber from Peng Geuk-jin, Seo-jun pushed his internal energy into it.
Wuuuung—
The Demonic Blade let out a low hum.
‘It's been a while since I used a saber.’
He suddenly remembered a man he had met while traveling to attend the martial arts tournament at Mount Hua.
The man whose daughter had been kidnapped by the Green Forest bandits... was his name Wang Dae-san? He really should visit him sometime.
And the people of the Azure River Sect who had helped him back in his back-alley days.
Maybe it would be nice to invite them all to his wedding.
Lost in thought, he swung the blade.
Swish—!
The Wang Family Blade Technique, performed by Seo-jun’s hand for the first time in a long while, cleaved the sky.
Creeeeeak──────────
A golden line was etched into the sky. The Emperor’s eyes shifted nervously.
"Wait, hold on. This is the Murim Alliance."
"So what?"
"If you accidentally offend the Alliance Leader, things will get..."
"It's fine. I swung it directly at the Alliance Leader earlier, and he didn't say much."
"What?"
While the Emperor stared at Seo-jun as if looking at an indescribable madman, Seo-jun swung the blade once more.
This time, however, he intentionally twisted the flow of his internal energy to wreck the interior of his doll.
Creeeeeak──────────
A golden line, no different from before, was etched into the sky again.
‘It's not proportional to external wounds.’
Far away from the Murim Alliance, Seo-jun’s true body—currently chewing on a tanghulu that Chun-bong had popped into his mouth—strengthened its connection with the doll.
Until now, he hadn't bothered to feel the doll's pain, but that changed now.
Testing it out, he drew the blade across his forearm; it definitely stung.
Crack!
Seo-jun immediately jumbled the internal energy within the doll, damaging the muscles, bones, and acupoints.
Simultaneously, he swung the Demonic Blade, and sure enough—
KWAAAAAAA────────!!!
A golden line, far more intense than before, shattered the space above their heads.
"Hmm. Not bad."
Seeing Seo-jun nod nonchalantly, Peng Geuk-jin furrowed his brow.
"What did you do!"
"I just tore a few things here and there with my internal energy."
Usually, when such a method was used for torture, it was given the elegant name of 'Bone-Breaking and Muscle-Tearing.' It quite literally meant snapping muscles and crushing bones.
At Seo-jun’s words, Peng Geuk-jin let out a boisterous laugh.
"Haha! How fierce!"
The Emperor raised a question.
"That shouldn't be enough to produce this kind of power, though?"
"But it did."
"How much pain can you really get from Bone-Breaking and Muscle-Tearing while still being able to move?"
"You just have to do it to the point where it does hinder your movement."
"Even for a Transcendent, if your body is wrecked to that extent, you shouldn't be able to move properly."
"But I am moving."
The Emperor slapped his forehead.
"I suppose you are."
It wasn't that the Emperor hadn't thought of Bone-Breaking and Muscle-Tearing. There was nothing better for self-inflicting pain.
But if one damaged their own body to that degree, it would be impossible to use in the middle of combat.
KWAAAAAAA────────!!!
Yet this fellow in front of him was moving as if nothing were wrong, despite his body being broken...
Concluding that he must be practicing some specific martial art, the Emperor chuckled.
"But are you alright? To bring out that much power, it must be incredibly painful."
"This is nothing. I get hurt like this all the time when I fight."
After your body has been blown apart a few times, you don't remain very sensitive to pain.
In the first place, Seo-jun had learned martial arts by experimenting on his own body in the past.
Having broken his own body countless times while relying on his regenerative powers, he had reached a point where he no longer suffered from pain.
It wasn't that he didn't feel it. He just didn't think much of it.
"Good grief..."
The Emperor wore a strange expression as he watched Seo-jun casually doodling golden lines across the sky.
‘Truly, there isn't a single sane person among the Transcendent Realm.’
The Emperor didn't know that Seo-jun was thinking something very similar.
Regardless of what the Emperor thought, Peng Geuk-jin, seemingly itching to try, snatched the Demonic Blade from Seo-jun’s hand.
"Let me try too!"
Crack!
A gruesome sound erupted from Peng Geuk-jin’s body. His face turned beet red, and veins bulged prominently.
Then, gritting his teeth and steadying his collapsing frame, he swung the Demonic Blade.
KWAAAAAK────────!!
A mysterious, transparent red Astral Qi shattered the sky.
"Hahaha!"
Peng Geuk-jin laughed heartily, then suddenly—blegh!—he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"This is definitely not something a human should be doing!"
Thud-crack!
Forcing his broken bones back into place with his torn muscles, Peng Geuk-jin handed the Demonic Blade back to Seo-jun.
"Take it! If I used this in battle, I'd die first! I'd be lucky if my internal energy didn't just backflow!"
People often described Peng Geuk-jin’s fighting style as barbaric and ignorant, but he knew where to draw the line.
This was clearly a foolish endeavor. The increase in power was not significant compared to the damage done to the body. One could say the cost-effectiveness was poor.
Above all, if done wrong, one's Qi and blood would become entangled. That was a very serious problem.
"Ah, I'm good too. Honestly, this thing looks like it's on the verge of breaking anyway."
Seo-jun didn't particularly care about his Qi and blood.
Entangled Qi? Honestly, he didn't understand what people meant when they said their Qi got tangled just from doing something.
Well, sure, it might get tangled occasionally... but then couldn't you just untangle it?
So what if a little internal energy backflowed? He couldn't quite relate to the psychology of people who feared such things.
However, that was one thing; Seo-jun also couldn't think of a proper use for the Demonic Blade.
The ability to increase power in proportion to pain was certainly attractive, but even so, if Seo-jun gave it his all, the blade would shatter.
Regardless of it being a Divine Weapon, wasn't it only natural for it to break if it tried to amplify an attack unleashed by a Profound Realm martial artist?
"No matter how I look at it, this isn't something useful at the Transcendent level. It's more for someone below the Super Peak Realm who gets beaten up a lot..."
As he spoke, a specific face came to mind. Bi-yeon. His talentless orphan friend. (Sure, there were plenty of orphans around, but Bi-yeon was the only truly talentless one.)
Certainly, a kid like her would have plenty of occasions to get beaten up.
However, since she insisted on practicing the martial arts of a sect called the Yuha Sect... giving her a saber instead of a sword wouldn't be very useful—
"Ah, there we go."
Seo-jun successfully converted the Demonic Blade into a Demonic Sword without much trouble.
"Wait, hold on. How did you do that?"
The Emperor was horrified, but it wasn't a big deal.
* * *
Perhaps his meeting with the Murim Alliance Leader had left quite an impression.
That night, Seo-jun had a dream.
The setting of the dream was... well, could it even be called a 'place'?
It was a state of absolute Nothingness (無), where neither space nor time existed.
Within it, something with a long body was swimming. Every time it moved, countless bubbles arose.
Like the bubbles created when one strikes the surface of water.
The bubbles created by its wriggling slowly spread outward and expanded.
Like bubbles that swell as they approach the surface.
And when they finally touched the surface, the way they burst in an instant was also just like bubbles.
Seo-jun watched them blankly.
He saw bubbles that burst because they reached their limit, bubbles swept away and popped by the turbulence caused by the long body, and sometimes bubbles that burst for no discernible reason at all.
Eventually, Seo-jun closely examined a bubble that drifted near him.
Inside the bubble was Existence (有) born from Nothingness (無), a place where space and time existed.
Countless galaxies swirling, stars being born and dying, scattering their remnants, planets orbiting stars as their axes.
And on the surface of those planets, blue seas and vast continents, and the myriad of lives living with their feet planted on those continents...
Seo-jun looked again at the thing with the long body.
With every movement of that being, countless bubbles were born and vanished.
Now he knew.
Those countless bubbles were universes. Each and every one was a different universe.
By the movements of that being, innumerable universes were created and destroyed.
Seo-jun knew the entity with the long body. He had seen it within his own mind.
When Seo-jun realized this, it also looked at him.
Their eyes met.
It spoke.
Wake from the dream.