Chapter 359
Chapter 359
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 94
>Chapter Title: Extreme Blade (5)
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-Uuuuung!
The pearl shone far more brilliantly than before.
Its light was so dazzling that it illuminated the dark cliffside abyss.
‘Is that really the essence core?’
A sudden doubt crept into the swordsman’s mind.
Given the tremendous energy pouring out from it, it could only be thought of as the essence core, the nucleus of a spirit beast.
Yet among all the essence cores he had seen until now, none had ever emitted light this intensely.
As he was gripped by this doubt,
-Hic!
The swordsman looked down into the abyss.
He could see the seemingly endless bottom of the chasm.
But the moment the light shone down, he felt a bizarre wildness utterly unlike any human presence.
It didn’t quite seem like a spirit beast, either.
It felt somehow in-between, laced with an eerie demonic aura.
‘A yokai?’
It seemed to be some kind of apparition from the wilds.
Such places created by nature, remote from human traffic and overflowing with natural energies, were indeed perfect conditions for apparitions or spirit beasts to dwell.
The ground below bulged and writhed in places—perhaps reacting to the light?
The swordsman glanced down before quickly raising his head.
‘That’s not what matters.’
What interested him wasn’t some lowly yokai.
It was spirit beasts.
And not just any—the exalted beings known as the Five Spirits.
Low-grade yokai like that were beneath his notice.
-Paang!
Kicking off into the air despite the fierce gusts, the swordsman launched himself toward the Heavenly Demon.
He couldn’t be certain now whether it truly was the essence core or not, but the Heavenly Demon’s reluctance to let it go made clear it was something important.
Yet something felt off.
Even as he closed in, the Heavenly Demon’s attention remained entirely fixed on the pearl.
The glazed look in his eyes made it seem as if he had entered a trance.
* * *
A space like nothingness itself.
‘Huh?’
Mok Kyung-un couldn’t hide his bewilderment as he looked around.
When had he entered this trance state?
This was undoubtedly the world of the mind’s eye.
‘I was definitely... looking at the pearl.’
A bizarre energy emanating from the pearl, awash in brilliant light.
The moment he reached out and touched it, drawn by a strangely familiar sensation, he had slipped into this mental realm.
‘...What is this?’
As far as Mok Kyung-un knew, this was an artifact that bestowed revelations, accessible only to the chosen ones.
So why had he, upon touching it, fallen into this mental vision?
He pondered this just then.
‘Ah...’
Come to think of it, the last thing on his mind hadn’t been the pearl itself.
He had touched it, yes, but he had been thinking of something else.
It was a prophecy-like warning from that man who called himself the Foreseer.
[I am close to immortality.]
Hearing those words had made him recall the Foreseer’s warning.
[Due to one immortal being, the vast organization you will build and your descendants—no, the entire martial world—will be thrust into peril.]
‘...’
Was the one the Foreseer warned about this swordsman?
What in the world was this man’s true identity?
He spoke as if he knew so much about Mok Kyung-un, even aware of his path from Shaolin onward.
[...And the third is the sword sanctuary known as Spirit Sword Manor... Worth the wait, indeed.]
Shaolin and the Tang Clan were past events, but the man had spoken as if he had known in advance that Mok Kyung-un would come here.
It made no sense.
It wasn’t mere prediction of future events, nor did it feel like relayed prophecy.
He spoke as if recounting history.
Who the hell was this guy to talk like that?
As questions piled upon questions,
-Uuuuung!
The space, presumed to be the mental realm, trembled, and hazy shapes began to appear around him.
Bushes sprouted, trees grew thick, and the void transformed into some kind of place.
Soon, within this created world, a gruesome scene unfolded.
Countless people lay slaughtered, reduced to cold corpses, and at the center, someone gripped a black treasured sword like a staff, leaning on it with effort.
Mok Kyung-un’s gaze grew strange as he looked upon this someone.
He was seeing the man for the first time, yet the face vaguely resembled his own.
Who the hell was he?
As he wondered, a voice spoke.
[Disappointing. I had expectations for you upper-generation folk, but you’re nothing compared to him.]
‘!?’
Turning toward the familiar voice, Mok Kyung-un saw the swordsman he had been fighting, lips curled in a sinister grin.
His sword and clothes were stained with blood—it was clear this was all his doing.
What the hell had happened?
Then the injured man struggled to rise and spoke.
[Cough, cough... Who... are you...?]
[Didn’t I tell you? I am the one who has reached the pinnacle as a swordsman.]
[How could someone like you be in this remote...]
-Sruk!
Before the man could finish, the swordsman’s form blurred, employing a body-substitution technique to appear behind him, thrusting his sword into the man’s back.
-Puk!
[Guh!]
[Why am I here? To wipe out you arrogant Heavenly Clans with my own hands.]
‘Heavenly Clans?’
-Ssssh!
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the surroundings shook again, and everything visible dissolved back into nothingness.
Mok Kyung-un had no idea what this phenomenon was.
Why was he seeing this in the mental realm?
‘...’
Then the void shifted once more, forming another place.
This one felt strangely familiar.
This was...
‘Mount Song?’
It was unmistakably Mount Song.
He had been there before, so the surrounding landscape confirmed it.
Yet it wasn’t exactly the same.
Everything felt more mature than when he had seen it—though he couldn’t fathom why.
Then he spotted someone.
An old monk, covered in wounds, gazed at someone and spoke with difficulty.
[Amitabha, benefactor... This poor monk has lost.]
Most of the monk’s wounds appeared to be sword scars, and the familiarity drew Mok Kyung-un’s eyes to where the monk looked.
‘!?’
There stood the swordsman.
No way—was this for real?
As he puzzled, the swordsman approached the monk and said,
[Worth of the title Central Plains Five Great Masters, Shaolin Divine Monk. At least better than that wretch, the Demon Sword Emperor.]
[Demon Sword Emperor? ...No way, you’re that one who appeared in the Divine Realm...]
-Ssssh!
Before the monk could finish, the surroundings rippled, blurring once more.
The void reformed into yet another place, revealing something new.
[Capture him!]
[We must kill that bastard!]
Countless masters were visible, pursuing someone—and that someone was again the swordsman.
-Chachachachak!
[Fools.]
Even before this horde of pursuing masters, the swordsman leisurely swung his sword, butchering them in droves.
The visions kept shifting, showing the swordsman’s path.
The number he had slain was beyond counting, endless.
At first, Mok Kyung-un thought these were the swordsman’s past deeds, but then it dawned on him.
‘No way...’
Were these events yet to come?
Now that he thought about it, he had touched the pearl said to grant future revelations, and these scenes appeared.
Did that mean the pearl was showing him prophecies of what was to come?
‘Why?’
He wasn’t the chosen Sacred Flame Lord.
So why show this to him?
Was it to warn him that this man was extremely dangerous?
To urge him to stop it?
‘If I kill him, none of this will happen?’
He wasn’t some hero.
Yet showing him this—did it mean, as the Foreseer said, his descendants would suffer?
‘...Will I have descendants?’
Mok Kyung-un had thought only of revenge, never of children or heirs.
His reality was drenched in blood.
It made no sense.
Descendants...
He still couldn’t be sure if these visions were true prophecies or future events.
Was there truly no one else who could deal with the swordsman?
Was a mere artifact goading him to kill this being?
Right then.
-Uuuuung!
The surroundings rippled again, transforming into another place.
This looked like a battlefield.
Innumerable masters from various sects were divided into two factions, locked in a desperate struggle.
‘Another event from the distant future?’
Would he see more of the swordsman’s slaughter?
As he wondered, an unexpected scene unfolded.
It wasn’t the swordsman—multiple masters were unleashing the same techniques, massacring countless foes.
Inferior to the swordsman, but still formidable experts.
Mok Kyung-un clicked his tongue in amazement.
In the distant future, would there be so many reaching such heights?
‘They look dangerous.’
Whether these were the swordsman’s progeny or subordinates, if such beings overflowed, the martial world would surely descend into chaos.
Whatever it showed, the pearl seemed intent on making him recognize the swordsman’s danger.
He thought that just then.
-Goooong!
The surroundings surged, and on the battlefield, all martial artists—ally and enemy alike—turned their gazes toward someone.
It was in the sky above the battlefield’s center.
Someone in black dragon robes hovered in midair.
The pinnacle of lightness skill, Floating in Empty Space?
‘Who is that?’
From the side view, he caught only a glimpse: a strikingly pale face, long hair flowing—a handsome man.
Hardly visible, yet he too felt strangely familiar.
Then,
-Drrrararara!
A powerful tremor shook the ground.
Soon, abandoned weapons from the dead began floating into the air.
-Dududung!
The sight of countless weapons adorning the castle walls was spectacular.
The warriors on the ground watched with eyes wide in shock.
‘...’
They weren’t the only ones awestruck.
Mok Kyung-un too marveled at the monstrous inner energy lifting so many weapons—not mere object control, but sword-summoning.
In inner energy alone, he was unrivaled in the world—no, at the divine realm.
Then something even more shocking happened.
-Uuuuung!
‘!!!!!!’
Astonishing enough as advanced sword-summoning, but as countless swords ignited with blue sword aura, it was like stars twinkling in broad daylight.
All beheld it with mouths agape, speechless, when the being unleashing this spoke.
[......]
With those words, Mok Kyung-un’s eyes and lips twitched in ecstasy at the immense spectacle before him.
He was still transfixed on it when—
-Chwiiiiiing!
‘!?’
A piercing crane cry shattered his ears, the mental realm vanishing in an instant as Mok Kyung-un returned to reality.
‘Huh?’
Back in reality, he saw the swordsman unleashing a sword strike straight at him.
An immense absolute strike tracing countless arcs.
-Chachachachachachak!
So close he had no time to evade, Mok Kyung-un countered with the third form of the Demonic Sword Art.
-Chaengchaengchaengchaengchaeng!
Amid the raging winds of the cliffside abyss, their sword and blade strikes clashed fiercely.
-Chakchak!
Mere scratches, but ignoring the lethal acupoint-targeting sword forms, he pressed on—slicing his arms and thighs in the process.
Unlike before, the swordsman’s blade strikes had grown savagely fierce.
‘No way?’
Mok Kyung-un’s eyes narrowed.
Each form was so powerful it could be fatal, yet instead of exploiting openings, he pressed relentlessly—overconfident in his regeneration?
‘Even a single cut from my blade endangers your life. In this clash between you and I, Heavenly Demon, the outcome is decided!’
Certain of victory, the swordsman unleashed his blade forms even more boldly.
They aimed to settle it before reaching the cliff bottom—right then.
A massive explosion erupted from the chasm’s edge.
-Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!
At the roar, both halted their exchange, leaped back simultaneously, and looked down.
‘What the hell?’
A grotesque sight met their eyes.
Enormous, elongated things resembling earthworms had burst from the chasm floor, shattering it.