Chapter 283: Leap (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 283: Leap (2)
The pain of having one's soul carved away was on an entirely different level than mere flesh wounds.
It was a sensation one could never—and should never—get used to. The agony of having one’s very existence shaved down was a direct brush with the terror of total annihilation.
As his soul was flayed again and again by the Leader, Seo-jun’s heart pounded with dread, yet the corners of his mouth curled upward.
The tension of knowing he might truly be extinguished. The sense of loss as he felt his own identity slipping away. The sheer hopelessness of staring up at an insurmountable wall.
Trembling from that spine-chilling thrill, Seo-jun saw it.
The strange pattern etched into his pupils began to shift.
Finally forming the man (卍) character, it spun rapidly. His eyes, now imbued with profound principles, captured the very cycle of the soul.
Inside that body—which was nothing more than a mere husk—dwelled a massive soul emitting an absurdly brilliant light.
That was the essence of the Leader of the Black Lotus Union. His true form as a god.
"This is insane..."
The more he saw, the clearer it became.
There was a gargantuan gap between that being and himself.
Can I win?
Before the question could fully form, a massive impulse surged from his lower abdomen, taking control of his body.
Fight, and win.
At the end of that path, he would take one more step forward.
"Let’s do this."
With a jagged smirk—
Flash!
As if the flow of time had slowed, every movement within the domain blurred past his vision.
"Ideal World."
He deployed his domain. Simultaneously, the Leader of the Black Lotus Union’s eyes locked onto him.
A pure white energy swirled around the man.
The moment he realized it, Seo-jun kicked off the air.
Boom—!!
He evaded by detonating his Primordial Unity steps, but— crack! —a shattering sound echoed from deep within his mental imagery.
"Urgh...!"
He hadn't dodged it. He had perceived the moment of the attack, but he hadn't perceived the process.
Tap!
The doll lunged forward in place of the frozen Seo-jun.
The Leader of the Black Lotus Union didn't take his eyes off Seo-jun. However, the doll was also struck by an inexplicable attack to its soul—the very mental imagery that composed its being.
"Ugh...!"
Despite this, the doll gritted its teeth and pressed on.
The doll was both a human and a sculpture.
Following its master’s will, it ignored its crumbling mental imagery and closed the distance, arriving right before the Leader’s nose.
[As expected, you are nothing but a doll.]
Whirrr! The patterns in the doll’s eyes spun, capturing the Leader’s image clearly.
The Leader reached out his hand, but before he could, the mental imagery of the heaven, moon, and sun dwelling within the doll drew a Reverse Taiji.
Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art.
Sshhhhh—
A black light flashed. The Leader’s eyes blinked slowly.
He perceived his own soul being swallowed by the black light.
[You have truly touched the hierarchy of souls.]
A tingling sensation. The Leader clenched and unclenched his fist, then took a step forward.
Swish—
Faster than perception, his figure appeared right in front of Seo-jun.
Seo-jun wasn't surprised. His Qi Sensing registered the Leader’s presence faster than his five senses.
Localized deployment: Emperor Sword Form.
"Empty Heaven Despise Below."
The deep blue sky converged around the Leader, attempting to contain his existence.
The Leader didn't care. He reached out, his hand touching Seo-jun’s shoulder.
Crunch! Seo-jun immediately tore off his own left shoulder while forming a hand seal with his right.
Sorcery and Blood Arts met, twisting the laws of reality using his own body as a medium.
K-k-k-k-crack—!!
Dozens of massive thorns made of blood erupted from Seo-jun’s completely severed left shoulder.
The Leader waved his hand lightly.
Crack!
The sorcery, mediated by a Transcendent Realm body, crumbled helplessly.
Whoosh! Instantly regenerating his left shoulder, Seo-jun gathered the raging wind and gripped it in his hand.
The mental imagery of Formless Wind and Fire, obtained from Sin-pung, took the shape of a sword in his grasp.
How can I make the attack land the exact moment I swing?
Wind was the flow of air. Air already existed between him and the Leader.
If he could push it from his fingertips, wouldn't it reach the Leader instantly?
Based on that inspiration, he swung the sword.
Slaaaaash—
The sword pushed aside the air, and even the Qi that already composed all things.
The laws, appropriately twisted within the domain, turned Seo-jun’s delusion into reality. Simultaneously with the swing, a slash appeared on the Leader’s body, drawing a blue trajectory.
Thud!
However, the Leader shattered the slash with a casual punch.
Not this.
The moment Seo-jun tried to follow up with the next attack, the Leader threw another punch.
Boom!
A massive shock drove itself into his soul.
"Gah...!"
The moment Seo-jun’s body wavered, the Leader appeared before him once again.
Now is not the time to save my cards.
Seo-jun’s eyes turned murky.
Primordial Unity Divine Art.
Deep within his mental imagery, he pulled out the source existing in the place where the world called the Ideal World had been lifted.
Boom!
The Leader’s fist struck Seo-jun’s soul once more, but—
Flash!
The soul, dyed in Primordial Unity, naturally absorbed even the Leader’s attack.
[Found it.]
The Leader’s eyes gleamed. Seo-jun had also just realized the true nature of the attacks the Leader was unleashing.
No, he had suspected it for a while, but since he hadn't dared to imitate it yet, he had explored other possibilities first.
But now he couldn't look away. He knew for sure.
Is it the heart?
What should he call that?
Heart Fist? Heart Martial Arts?
The heart knows no speed. It is already there the moment one desires it.
While even light must travel through vast time to reach a destination, the heart has already arrived.
No sword in hand, but a sword in the heart.
There is no sword in the hand, but there is a sword in the heart.
So what?
Seo-jun didn't know how to "swing" his heart.
Well, I’ll just try it a few times.
The time taken for thought was a mere instant. Seeing the Leader’s hand nearly touching his chest, Seo-jun reached deep into his mental imagery and snatched the screaming soul of the Giryeon Sect Leader.
— Hyaaaaaaa...!!
He could see it now. The face of the Giryeon Sect Leader, howling in a hideous state.
Seo-jun grabbed the Sect Leader’s face with his mental hand and swung it like a sword.
[Hm?]
The Leader of the Black Lotus Union took a step back.
C-c-c-crack—!!
Right in front of his nose, something was cut.
It lacked the splendor of the slashes Seo-jun usually swung, which could even cut through space.
However, on a much higher level, it had definitely cut something that existed.
"Oops."
Seo-jun clicked his tongue. It was certainly a milestone that the Leader had chosen the option of "evasion" for the first time.
But the soul of the Giryeon Sect Leader he had swung? It had been torn to shreds and completely extinguished.
A sword in the heart, huh...
Seo-jun retreated significantly and thought of Geom-gwang.
The Formless Sword he used to swing. It used the mental imagery existing in the form of a sword as its essence and energy, replacing a domain.
In a way, wasn't that also a sword in the heart?
— No...! No! I haven't reached it yet...!
He grabbed the head of the rampaging Geom-gwang within his mental imagery.
Formless Sword. He had never used it, but there was nothing he couldn't do.
In Seo-jun’s eyes, countless sword forms that had not yet taken shape became visible.
The Leader also noticed this.
[A Formless Sword.]
He swung Geom-gwang within his mental imagery.
Formless Sword.
Simultaneously with the mental slash, countless swords took shape and cut through something existing at the hierarchy of souls.
Slaaaaash—
The Leader responded simply to those countless slashes. Thud! With a light wave of his hand, a faint ripple spread around him.
No, it’s not a ripple.
Whirrr! The pattern in Seo-jun’s pupils spun, allowing him to see it more clearly.
Those were countless fists. In other words, it was a Formless Fist.
The Formless Fist, in a much more refined form than the Formless Sword Geom-gwang handled, became a realization of its own.
"What, are you trying to give me a lesson?"
[Not particularly.]
In the first place, the reason this exchange was even possible was that the Leader was holding back his strength to some extent.
Seo-jun knew this as well.
Whether it was because of restrictions or because he intended to fatten him up before devouring him, Seo-jun didn't know.
Rather than feeling his pride wounded, he just found it absurd.
You’re gonna die.
Seo-jun snatched the souls of Baek Yun and Neung Wol from his mental imagery.
— Aaaaaagh...!
— Kuaaaa...!
This time, he didn't bother swinging them. Instead, he threw them into the deeper place where the Primordial Unity wavered.
— Hiss!
The Inner Demon tried to snatch and eat them, but Giga Chun-bong suppressed the creature.
— Aaaaaagh...!
— Hyaaaaaaa...!!
The wavering Primordial Unity devoured the souls of Baek Yun and Neung Wol.
The martial arts of the heart the Leader had displayed, the souls he had swung a few times, the sensation of the Formless Sword, and the final move Sin-pung had unleashed.
By devouring the souls of two Transcendent Realm masters, the slightly expanded Primordial Unity substituted for his missing enlightenment.
Seo-jun felt a sensation as if his consciousness were being shot somewhere.
Amidst that floating sensation, Seo-jun instinctively made a wish.
That is, he swung the unripened sword of his heart.
Snip—
A small sound.
Seo-jun realized it at the same time a sense of exhaustion swept through his entire body.
This was the Heart Sword.
He hadn't properly mastered it yet, but the sensation remained vivid.
He watched with wide eyes.
Thud!
The Heart Sword he had barely managed to swing was blocked by the Leader’s Heart Fist as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Ah."
Right. He could use it too, couldn't he?
[This should be enough.]
Before he knew it, the Leader had closed the distance and gripped Seo-jun by the throat.
This time, he could react. He saw the Leader’s body appear exactly where his heart had moved to reach.
But his physical body couldn't move in time.
His body creaked from the recoil of reaching a place it normally couldn't, and that split second was more than enough time for the Leader.
[How interesting. I wonder what you hold inside that allows you to perform such nonsensical feats so nonchalantly.]
The moment his throat was grabbed, Seo-jun’s body froze. It was because his soul itself, not his physical neck, had been seized.
The Leader looked at Seo-jun, his pure white eyes shining.
In a short time, he had achieved absurd growth to handle the Heart Sword, nonchalantly recovered from wounds engraved on his soul, and not only copied others' martial arts to use as his own, but even held that inside—that unknown something he only knew by the name Primordial Unity.
Even though he had used his power with restraint, about fifty years' worth of strength had been consumed. But this was a harvest more than worth it.
[Show me what you hold.]
Seo-jun simply smirked.
"Return to Source."
The deployed domain began to churn and mix together.
The Leader didn't waste any more time. Instead of responding to the unknown attack, he thrust his hand into Seo-jun’s chest.
Squelch!
Instead of piercing human flesh, the Leader’s hand delved straight into his mental imagery.
This was the something held within.
After searching for its essence, he finally reached it.
Since there was no meaning in distinguishing organs in a Divine Body, the Leader saw through the fingertips that had touched it.
Gush!
Soul-stuff erupted from his seven orifices like blood.
[This is...]
Itwassomethingthatshouldnotbedescribedbuthesawithearditfeltitunderstooditandthemomenthedidhismindscreamedandtwistedandshreddedandthatshapewasnotashapenorlightnordarknessbutsomethingwrithinglikescalesendlesslychangingandwerethoseitseyesormouthsunknownholesstaringathimandwhisperingnoscreamingnosingingnoitburstforthfromwithinhimandhewasnowhimoritcouldnotbedistinguished......
[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH...!!!]
The Leader of the Black Lotus Union screamed and thrashed.
The Return to Source that Seo-jun had deployed—even while his chest was pierced—engulfed the man’s body, but the Leader couldn't even react to it.
He couldn't even maintain the shape of his body properly as his soul leaked out from every orifice.
The vision of a martial artist who had reached such a high realm was far too vast, and with those superior eyes, he had seen far too much.
As the price for laying eyes upon a fragment of an existence that a fledgling god could not handle, his soul began to melt away.
Seeing the Leader’s bizarre reaction, Seo-jun took a peek inside himself and merely twitched an eyebrow in confusion.
"What? What’s wrong with him?"