Chapter 139: The Sound of Winter Fading (6)
Chapter 139: The Sound of Winter Fading (6)
"Grandfather!!"
The moment I saw Grandfather Peng Ik-cheon falling, my body lunged forward. It was as if my reason had snapped, driven by a frantic impulse.
"It’s dangerous! It’s too danger—ugh!! Wait for me!!"
I heard Murong Cheong and Hwa-yeong running alongside me. I knew it was dangerous. Up there stood the Sword Demon and the Ghost Gate Meridian Lord. With Grandfather down, even the Ghost Gate Meridian Lord alone was a threat far too great to handle.
I should have waited for the Alliance Leader. I hadn't even anticipated that the Ghost Gate Meridian Lord would be here in Paxian. Hao Clan’s intelligence network should have been perfect!
But what use were regrets now? Even if those monsters, capable of taking my life with a single flick of their wrists, were looming above...
If I had intended to run from danger, I never should have come to the inner city in the first place.
The Hebei Peng Family does not abandon their kin and flee.
"Grandfather!"
In the corner of a completely demolished manor, atop the wreckage of smashed furniture and shattered walls, Peng Ik-cheon lay still.
He’s... breathing!
"Ge-get a hold of yourself. What is this pathetic sight?!"
"Hwi... you brat. My head is ringing."
Grandfather Peng Ik-cheon grumbled, weakly swatting at my hand.
The strength pushing against the back of my hand was far too frail. Tears nearly welled up in my eyes.
I placed my hand on his chest. His heart was still beating wildly. His lower and middle dantians were intact, and looking at the sword wounds, they had narrowly missed his vital organs.
"The bleeding...!"
"Move!"
Murong Cheong pushed me aside and grabbed the hem of her skirt. With a loud rip, she tore a long strip of fabric.
Her hands moved with blurring speed, pressing down on various points on Grandfather’s abdomen before tightly binding the cloth over them.
But it was no use. The blood wouldn't stop.
"Why... why is this happening? I clearly sealed his acupoints...!"
Murong Cheong looked panicked as well. She struck the areas around the wound again, but there was no sign of the bleeding subsiding.
A body of the Peng Family is not built like that of an ordinary man. Grandfather was of the direct lineage. Furthermore, he was a master of the Harmony Realm who had opened his upper dantian. Naturally, he must have achieved Metamorphosis.
At that level, a Peng Family body should not be neutralized by mere flesh wounds. Even I, at the Peak Realm, could continue fighting if a piercing wound to the abdomen missed my vital organs.
This meant it wasn't a physical wound.
"Is it sorcery?"
"Likely... cough!"
Fragments of organs were visible in the blood he spat out. His internal injuries were severe. He gripped my wrist with a hand that had grown cold.
"Those men won't be able to hold the Ghost Gate Meridian Lord for long. Once he completes the formation, it’s over."
"My father has arrived."
Hwa-yeong, who had been waiting quietly behind us, suddenly spoke.
"It is an honor to meet you, Great-uncle. I am Im Hwa-yeong of the Im family, from the Sixth Heaven Esoteric Buddhism. Please forgive my lack of etiquette given the urgency of the situation. Now that my father has personally graced us with his presence, surely the situation will be resolved?"
"The Little Heavenly Demon... I see. I wondered why the Heavenly Demon had come, and it seems a virtuous bond has been forged."
Peng Ik-cheon’s gaze turned toward the sky. He sensed the massive waves of energy, the thunderous roars, and the overwhelming presence erupting from beyond.
"They say the Heavenly Demon’s martial prowess makes him the Number One Demon of All Time, and it seems that is no exaggeration. However, it won't be easy."
"Do you believe the Sword Demon’s power is comparable to my father’s?"
"It is difficult to judge purely by rank, but no. The Sword Demon is certainly worthy of being called a peerless master... cough!! But he is still a step below the Three Venerables of the World."
These were the words of a man who had personally witnessed Peng Ik-jin’s might. If the Heavenly Demon’s realm was as rumored, he would be a master on the same level as the Three Venerables.
Even if the Sword Demon was considered peerless among the Five Tyrants of the Unorthodox Path, he was still lacking. That was the implication.
"Then... what is it that you are worried about, Great-uncle?"
"Is the Sword Demon alone?"
His gaze fell upon the Ghost Gate Meridian Lord. The masters of the Dragon Slaying Alliance were being pushed back—slowly, but surely. Even those at the Super Peak Realm nearing the Harmony Realm were clearly struggling now.
The formation’s effects were reaching completion. The Ghost Gate Meridian Lord was now able to divert his focus from the formation and concentrate on the battle.
"Can one discuss the odds of victory against the Sword Demon while inside a sorcerer’s grand formation, with a Harmony Realm sorcerer backing him? It might be possible. But it would be exceedingly dangerous. Furthermore— cough!!"
Grandfather’s breathing grew increasingly labored.
"The hex that has invaded my body and the sorcery dwelling within the Sword Demon’s body share the same essence. There must be a Blood Cult sorcerer somewhere on these grounds. I clearly landed a decisive blow on the Sword Demon, yet his body recovered as if time were being reversed."
I had already seen that sight. The Sword Demon had completely disregarded defense, allowed Grandfather’s strike to land, and immediately followed up with his own technique.
It wasn't just a tactic of trading flesh for bone; it was more like a technique for mutual destruction.
The problem was that the Sword Demon’s body recovered, while Grandfather’s did not.
No matter how powerful the Heavenly Demon was, could he survive facing a Harmony Realm master who could resurrect while simultaneously enduring the Ghost Gate Meridian Lord’s onslaught?
"Then, the conclusion is simple."
—Rumble!!
An earthquake erupted from the distance. The ground shook, and the ruins were being pulverized. This great city was screaming.
The sky split open. The dark, heavy clouds were swept away.
In the gap, stars began to shine.
"If I cut down that Blood Cult bottom-feeder, everything will be solved, won't it?"
The reason Grandfather’s wounds wouldn't heal, the way to dismantle this formation, and the means to break the hex on the Sword Demon’s body.
In the end, that was all it came down to.
"How do you plan to find them?"
"Fortunately, your grandson has a rather good intuition."
There was no way to explain it logically, nor any need to persuade him.
How should I put it?
I wanted to describe it as the sensation of a sticky, oppressive feeling suddenly snapping and shattering.
A feeling as if something at the back of my head was breaking. It wasn't painful, but rather a refreshing sensation.
That tingling sensation traveled up my head and reached the very crown of my skull.
"So, just lie here for a bit. Your grandson will be back after taking care of this."
I pushed aside my worries. Worrying wouldn't solve anything right now. Though we couldn't stop the bleeding, Grandfather would hold on for a while.
He had to.
*
When Peng Ik-cheon was defeated.
"The Six-Armed Rakshasa...!!"
Seong Ryang-ha looked up at the sky with eyes full of shock.
Everyone present knew that the battle in the night sky would determine the outcome of this entire affair.
Despair clouded the faces of the three warriors charging at the Ghost Gate Meridian Lord. Hwang Jung-man and Murong Jeon felt it too.
Even as they frantically swung their weapons, they had been watching the fight between the Sword Demon and Peng Ik-cheon.
Peng Ik-cheon’s body fell. The Sword Demon, looking perfectly fine, pulled the Peng Family saber from his body and tossed it to the ground. In the burning sky of Paxian—
"Hahaha!! You fools! Do you really have the leisure to look away?!"
The Ghost Gate Meridian Lord burst into laughter and threw a talisman. Flames erupted, sharpening into blades as they flew. There was such a gap in power that they had to use their full strength just to block this simple sorcery.
In that moment, Murong Jeon gripped his sword and thought:
The battle is over.
It was a thought that everyone here likely shared.
Now is the time to gauge a path for survival, not victory.
But could they even flee? Any martial artist skilled in lightfoot techniques could leap over the ramparts of Paxian, but could they really turn their backs on the Sword Demon and the Ghost Gate Meridian Lord?
If only his niece could at least—
Just as Murong Jeon turned his gaze to find his niece’s location.
—Clink.
The sound of chains rattling reached everyone’s ears.
Followed by a brief silence.
"Al-already...?!"
The Ghost Gate Meridian Lord let out a shocked groan.
The Sword Demon, who had been about to move to finish off the three Super Peak masters, came to a dead halt.
"So, you've come?"
He turned back with a ferocious smile, as if dripping with blood.
"Heavenly Demon!"
Beyond the outer walls of Paxian, the bright red flames in each district, burning according to the Sixty-Four Hexagrams, were simultaneously extinguished into blackness.
The blood mist parted. The undead writhing within it all collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
The panicked martial artists and those trying to tend to their fallen comrades all stopped moving.
As if in the presence of one who reigns over the world, both the living and the dead bowed in reverence.
"You've become a toy for the Red Flame, Sword Demon."
The old man standing on the ramparts of Paxian’s outer wall looked at the Sword Demon impassively.
"Perhaps that, too, could have been a way."
"Old man. You're quite confident. Even Peng Ik-jin in his prime wouldn't dare speak such words before me now."
"Confidence, you say."
The old man continued to look at the Sword Demon with a blank expression. His face showed no hint of a smile, not even a furrow of his brow.
"Is there anyone who takes pride in doing the ordinary?"
"What...?"
"Picking up utensils to eat. Taking steps to walk a path. Grabbing a handle to pull a door open... If there is someone who takes pride in such ordinary things that anyone can do—"
Only then did a faint smile appear on his lips. It was filled with blatant mockery.
"Is that not truly farcical?"
"You bastard—!!"
Veins popped on the Sword Demon’s forehead. His body blasted forward with a thunderous roar. He cut straight through the sky of Paxian like a meteor.
"I'll kill you—!!"
Originally, all martial arts began with the intent to protect oneself.
Some techniques involved throwing oneself into the fray to attack, but that was rarely the case among those who had reached a certain level of mastery.
It was only natural. One can only hope to ascend to higher realms if they survive. Naturally, the more powerful a martial artist, the more weight they placed on defensive forms.
Everyone has only one life. Techniques to harm the opponent eventually converge into techniques to protect oneself.
Therefore.
If there was a single means to rush toward a higher realm in an instant...
If it required an act that defied the common sense of the martial world, would it not be to pour all of one's capacity into a single point of offense?
The extreme of martial arts that disregarded life, an untrodden territory that no one dared to take. A technique of mutual destruction performed within the Harmony Realm, and the ability to survive even after employing such a technique.
That.
"Is that not the path to the next realm!!"
The Sword Demon’s side was torn open. It was because he hadn't blocked the Heavenly Demon’s Astral Energy. But in that same moment, his sword was already falling toward the Heavenly Demon’s neck.
The single strike that had created the current Sword Demon. The Moon-Ascending Life-Killing Art.
A blood-soaked killing technique, where every sword form was refined solely for slaughter, followed in rapid succession.
It was a sword style where merely clashing blades would shred a person’s flesh and gouge their bones.
Having abandoned defensive forms, the Sword Demon’s onslaught was so fierce it was as if two people were attacking at once.
—Crunch!!
The Heavenly Demon’s Protection Aura flickered. They had already exchanged several blows.
In the brief moment the Sword Demon adjusted his posture after being repelled to prepare for another assault, his torn flesh was already healing as if reversing time.
The Heavenly Demon, who had been watching Sa Mun-hyeok’s sword path, finally unclasped his hands from behind his back.
Seeing him abandon the leisure of fighting with one hand, a sneer formed on Sa Mun-hyeok’s lips.
"Are you finally feeling fear? While you were reigning like a king among those pathetic weaklings outside the Central Plains, I was crawling on the ground, risking my life to reach this position!"
"Then it is only right that you return to crawling on the ground."
—Clink!
Pitch-black chains shackled the Sword Demon’s arms and legs. He had experienced this before.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art was famous, but to Sa Mun-hyeok, it seemed like nothing more than the manipulation of Astral Energy with overwhelming density.
That was all. Just as Sa Mun-hyeok snorted and broke the chains—
『Hellfire』
The Heavenly Demon pressed his hand against the air. It was a light gesture, as if grasping something.
The flames consuming the pavilions and manors all around began to turn black.
Rumble, rumble. A low tremor followed. The ramparts cracked from the shaking.
The ground split open, revealing fissures, and the sky rippled like concentric circles, carving the clouds into a ring.
At the epicenter.
『Five Avici Black Ropes』
A Thangka painting manifested.
Mythological shadows emerged—grasping demons, trampling evildoers, and pulling out the tongues of sinners amidst the flames.
King Jinguang of the Mountain of Blades.
King Chujiang of the Boiling Cauldron.
King Songje of the Eight Cold Hells.
King Wuguan of the Forest of Sword-leaves.
King Zhuanlun of the Black Darkness.
Chains were released from the hands of the five kings of the five hells. Iron chains wreathed in black flames surged up from the fissures in the ground, answering the call.
The Sword Demon’s mouth was seared shut before he could even scream. As he tried to steady his posture to release his intent—
"If you keep coming back to life..."
The Heavenly Demon clenched his outstretched hand.
"It is only right to burn you until there is nothing left."
Flames erupted along the Sword Demon’s body. His eyes scattered into ash, and his cheeks crumbled away to reveal his teeth before he could let out a cry.
Amidst the horror—
Is the gap really this large...?
He had endured humiliation and crawled on the ground to live.
He had accepted disgrace and done everything possible to ascend.
He had welcomed infamy and chased after higher realms.
At the end of it all, he had finally reached this place. He had gained the power to challenge the world.
He had embedded the sorcery of the Blood Cult and the Ghost Gate, the lives of countless commoners, and even an ancient grand formation into his own body.
He had willingly become a servant of the Blood Cult to barely reach this height.
And all of it.
"Aaaaaagh!!"
Was fading away with a single gesture.
The Sword Demon screamed with a throat that was constantly being restored, only to be charred again in the flames as he struggled.
The Ghost Gate Meridian Lord, Jin Hoe-seong, staggered, coughing up blood. He muttered as he desperately tried to continue his incantation with trembling hands.
"With a single move... he killed him three times...?"