Chapter 356
Chapter 356
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 94
>Chapter Title: Extreme Blade (2)
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At the same time.
Sword Valley of Spirit Sword Manor.
"Only the blade can discuss the extreme."
The face of Gok O, whose sword had been cleaved, hardened at the words of the arrogantly brimming man.
Like most gathered in this sword sanctuary known as Sword Valley, he too held strong pride in the sword.
Yet the man's earlier draw had been the very essence of speed, something he'd never witnessed before.
It was a single stroke utterly devoid of wasted motion, leaving him speechless.
'......Impressive.'
'I couldn't even see it.'
The sword appraisers gathered before the stele of the Sword Valley Sword Epitaph felt the same.
They too were stunned by the unidentified man's single stroke.
Then, someone shouted.
"You're the one who massacred the Nangong family head and their elites!"
'!!!!'
At the cry, all eyes turned simultaneously to the voice's owner.
The speaker was none other than Jeong Myeong Sattae, an elder of Hangsan Sect dispatched as an investigator for the Justice Alliance.
The moment she witnessed the man's tremendous stroke, she was certain.
'It's him!'
Among the blade marks left on the slain Nangong family members, there had been traces of this swift blade.
As an exceptional master herself, she had examined the wounds and mentally reconstructed some of the strokes.
'......So it was actually possible?'
Many of the blade marks on the wounds were bizarre strokes that seemed impossible for a human body to execute.
Strokes transcending the limits of muscle and joints.
She had concluded that achieving them would require manipulating the blade with qi through something like the Blade Energy Unification Technique.
Yet here was someone who had executed one of them.
This meant the true culprit behind the Nangong family tragedy had revealed himself.
"That guy's the one who killed the Nangong family head......?"
"Alone?"
The onlookers buzzed in shock.
The guests in Sword Valley had been staying here for at least several months.
Thus, they only knew of some incident outside Spirit Sword Manor and not the specifics.
Learning the truth from Jeong Myeong Sattae's shout left them gripped by shock.
The Nangong family head was one of the Eight Stars, a supreme master of the martial world.
Yet this man had single-handedly massacred him and the family's elites?
'......A monster.'
Human hearts are truly fickle.
They had been furious at the cleaving of the former clan head's stele upon entering this sword sanctuary.
But upon learning what he had done, their rage subsided, replaced by tension and fear.
Someone shattered the silence.
"You damned bastard!!!"
-Slash!
With the shout, sword light flashed as sharp energy sought to behead the arrogant blade master.
It was a strike of tremendous momentum.
But his opponent was the monster who had single-handedly massacred the Nangong family head and elites.
-Clang!
He deflected the sword all too easily.
-Shrrrrk!
The attacker was repelled six paces back.
It was Ji Oe.
-Drip! Wipe!
Ji Oe wiped the blood trickling from his mouth with his sleeve.
While all felt intimidated by the opponent's strength and hesitated, Ji Oe's eyes blazed with fury.
The blade master took interest in his demeanor.
"You've reignited your will to fight? Not bad."
"Not bad? Don't make me laugh. They say a hundred days for the blade, a thousand for the spear, ten thousand for the sword. How dare someone ignorant of the sword's depths speak of the blade reaching the extreme."
"The blade, 'mere'?"
The blade master's thick brows arched upward.
Gok O couldn't hide his distress at the sight.
'Provoking that monster whose pride in the blade has reached its peak like that—what are you thinking?'
-Swish!
Then, Gok O spotted the blade master's grip on his blade shifting.
The instant it changed, the blade master moved.
His target was naturally Ji Oe.
'Now!'
Seizing the moment, Gok O channeled sword energy through his broken sword, aiming for the blade master's back.
-Hummm! Slash!
The blade master, lunging toward Ji Oe, twisted his body effortlessly without even turning his gaze, dodging Gok O's sword energy strike.
-Thud!
'Ah!'
The onlookers inwardly lamented how easily he evaded, but Gok O was a sword master rivaling the Eight Stars and calmly followed with a feint.
-Slash slash slash!
As Gok O's sword trajectory bent in a feint, the blade master leaned his head back to evade the first path.
But the ensuing feint exquisitely targeted the vital point at the center of his exposed collarbone.
All marveled at the brilliant move exploiting the opening.
Yet,
-Slash!
'!??'
Everyone's eyes widened.
The reason was simple.
They had thought it impossible to dodge that feint with waist and head arched back.
Yet in that very posture, he swung his blade and severed Gok O's wrist.
-Clang!
"Urk!"
Gok O clenched his teeth and urgently retreated.
He was dumbfounded.
A monster beyond words.
How strong must his waist muscles be to create such a blade arc from that angle?
Even a top master would have torn their waist muscles attempting it.
'How has a monster like this gone unknown?'
His prowess was unfathomable.
He might even be a grandmaster rivaling Gu Cheon-mu, Spirit Sword Manor's clan head and one of the Six Heavens.
-Chill!
But it wasn't over.
The blade master's blade was already pursuing, slicing toward his neck.
The blade was too swift for any evasion.
However,
-Claaang!
The blade soared upward.
Ji Oe had blocked it.
Thanks to the perfect timing, he avoided decapitation......
-Slash! Spurt!
In that instant, Gok O's head separated from his body.
Gok O's expression showed no change, unaware even of his own death.
'Gok O!'
At his comrade's death, Ji Oe bit his lip until it bled.
He had thought the block timely, but the foe had spun like lightning in that split second, delivering a roundhouse kick toward Gok O's neck.
The sharp energy from his toe severed it.
'This guy's entire body is the blade itself.'
Blade and Self as One.
A realm where he himself was the blade.
Ji Oe understood why he spoke of the blade's extreme.
This man had truly attained it.
Though they had clashed fiercely, Gok O—the only worthy rival in Sword Valley—met such a pathetic end, shaking Ji Oe's will for a moment.
"I'll send you to join him."
Now the man turned to him.
But at that moment,
-Clang clang clang clang clang!
Someone intervened, snapping Ji Oe back to focus.
It was Hangsan Sect's Jeong Myeong Sattae.
"Senior Ji Oe, let's join forces!"
At her cry, Ji Oe leaped back, then channeled qi to his Yongcheon acupoint, pivoting forward.
'Eight Swords!'
His sword wove a net-like mesh to bind the blade master.
But the blade master easily blocked Jeong Myeong Sattae's initial strike and Ji Oe's.
-Clang clang clang clang!
He hadn't moved a step, using only his waist and right arm, with near-limitless motion.
In an instant, they exchanged about three exchanges, their forms slashed by the blade, wounds accumulating.
-Slash slash slash!
'Hard to predict the blade's path.'
'Damn it. What kind of freakish physique is that? How does he strike from such angles?'
Even their combined assault strained them.
Seeing it hopeless, the watching sword appraisers drew their swords and joined.
-Sring! Sring!
If these two top masters died here, they themselves would be in peril.
"Senior Ji Oe!"
"We'll help too!"
-Pop pop pop!
The appraisers targeted gaps from behind and flanks.
As orthodox martial artists, none hesitated against such an overwhelming foe, regardless of fairness.
But right then,
"Eight Immortals Blade Contest."
'!??'
-Stab!
The blade master gripped his blade two-handed and slammed it into the ground.
-Boom!
-Slash slash slash slash slash!
At that instant, tyrannical blade energy erupted from the ground, splitting into eight branches from the impact point and surging outward.
'No!'
'What!'
Ji Oe and Jeong Myeong Sattae unleashed rebounding qi simultaneously, deploying their ultimate defensive forms.
'Four Swords!'
'Lingering Wish Halting Flow!'
Jeong Myeong Sattae executed the fourth form of Hangsan Sect's Wall Origin Seven Styles Sword: Lingering Wish Halting Flow.
Her version, enlightened via the Sword Valley Sword Epitaph's inscription, was far more solid than before.
However,
-Claaaaaaang!
The eight-pronged blade energy's power exceeded imagination.
The explosive force sent her defending form flying backward.
-Bang!
"Ack!"
Ji Oe fared no better.
He spun his sword energy to cover gaps as best he could, but the blade energy's might kept pushing him back.
-Shrrrrk!
'Urgh! What blade energy is this......'
Only when its momentum waned could Ji Oe deflect it upward.
-Claaang! Slash slash slash!
The rebounding energy tore the air repeatedly, its power deafening.
Ears rang.
Dust from the blade energy's aftermath clouded vision.
Yet a scent teased his nose.
Ji Oe's face darkened.
No way, he thought,
-Swooooosh!
As wind cleared the dust, the mutilated corpses of sword appraisers littered the area.
The cliff face was drenched in their blood, a gruesome sight.
A single ultimate technique had felled eight appraisers in an instant.
'......Damn it.'
Sword Valley's appraisers were all super-elite masters.
For them to fall to one technique like this.
-Drip!
Cold sweat beaded on Ji Oe's forehead.
No denying it.
This man wasn't merely comparable—he was undoubtedly an unparalleled grandmaster at the Six Heavens pinnacle of the martial world.
Spirit Sword Manor's only counter to this monster was Clan Head Gu Cheon-mu.
With such energy, the clan head might have sensed it, but they needed to buy time.
-Roooar!
'......Before that, we all might die.'
Ji Oe scanned darkly for someone.
It was Gu Ung-seong, second son of the former clan head.
As far as he knew, Clan Head Gu was refining the sword heart, the final sword-forging stage.
Refining the sword heart demanded total focus, no interruptions—perhaps why he hadn't detected the crisis.
Ji Oe signaled Gu Ung-seong with his eyes to fetch his father.
But,
'No.'
As he signaled, he saw Gu Ung-seong acting strangely.
The youth stared dazedly at something emitting a brilliant glow.
'This isn't the time for that......'
Then it happened.
"So the peculiar energy I sensed was that. Come."
The blade master extended his hand toward Gu Ung-seong, beckoning.
Then,
-Pop!
"Huh!"
Gu Ung-seong's body, clutching the glowing object, floated up and flew toward the blade master.
It was the Void Grasping technique.
'No!'
Ji Oe's face twisted.
What cruel irony.
He had meant to send the youth for the clan head, yet this twist.
-Pop!
Ji Oe lunged with drawn sword, unleashing a sword form.
'No holding back.'
His sword was the Fourteen Swords, his self-created technique to crack the Sword Valley Sword Epitaph.
Incomplete, but aimed at the epitaph's mysteries, it was his most profound form.
-Slash slash slash slash slash slash!
Faced with Ji Oe's form mid-Void Grasping, intrigue flashed in the blade master's eyes.
He released the technique, spun, and met Ji Oe's assault.
-Clang clang clang clang clang!
Blue sparks flew amid the fierce sword-blade clash.
But around the sixth form,
-Swish!
'No?'
The blade slipped through an unforeseen gap, unanticipated even by its creator Ji Oe.
-Claaang!
That single stroke shattered the Fourteen Swords before its first half could fully unfold.
-Shrrrrk!
The form broken, Ji Oe took the full backlash and staggered five paces.
-Thud!
Severely wounded, he dropped to one knee.
"Kuhuk!"
Ji Oe vomited blood onto the ground.
'No.'
Even his trump card against the clan head dismantled so easily—shock overwhelmed him.
Was this man truly a monster?
Dismantling a first-time form mid-unfolding, as if knowing its weakness.
Utter despair.
The blade master approached, muttering cryptically.
"I see. No wonder the sword form felt familiar. You're from his sect?"
"What?"
What nonsense?
Puzzled, the blade master smirked.
"You're from the Sword Sect?"
'!??'
Ji Oe's pupils shook.
His sect was a hidden lineage, scarcely known outside.
Yet this stranger uttered its name.
"You bastard...... Who the hell?"
"Lucky me. A two birds with one stone situation."
"What are you......"
Before he could retort,
-Swish!
The approaching blade master's form blurred and vanished.
With it came a faint wind-like whistle, then razor-sharp energy at his neck in an instant.
-Chill!
'M...... My neeeeeck......'
He sensed the threat to his neck, but too late.
Knowing didn't help block it.
-Sssss!
He felt the cold blade edge digging into his neck.
Was this how he died?
Did death come so emptily?
Memories flashed like a lantern as Ji Oe closed his eyes.
That instant,
-Claaaaaaang!
A resounding metallic clash rang in his ears.
Followed by a short groan and the sound of something repelled.
"Kuh."
-Shrrrrrrrrk!
What?
Expecting death, Ji Oe snapped his eyes open in alarm, having accepted it in that blink.
Before him unfolded an astonishing scene.
The monstrous blade master—who hadn't budged a step even against multiple appraisers' joint assault—was hurled back over ten paces.
-Tremble tremble tremble!
For the first time, he gripped his blade two-handed, its sturdy blade shivering wildly.
'The clan head came...... Huh?'
Ji Oe's eyes bulged.
He assumed it was Clan Head Gu.
But standing before him was a completely unfamiliar face.
A strikingly handsome youth, barely past his early twenties.
'Who is this?'
Full of questions, the blade master slowly lowered his trembling blade, revealing his face.
Until now relaxed to the point of impassivity, it now brimmed with tension and excitement.
With a highly aroused expression, the blade master spoke.
"Heavenly Demon!"
< 94화 극도(極刀) (2) > End