Chapter 362
Chapter 362
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 95
>Chapter Title: Treasure Pearl (3)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
The technique of gathering one's power into a single point was, even for Mok Kyung-un, a method that surpassed his own realm and physical limits.
Thus, forcibly halting that power concentrated at one point would send the backlash entirely onto himself.
*Craaack! Crack!*
The sound of muscles tearing and ripping apart echoed from his entire body.
It was loud enough to reach the ears of the saber wielder standing just a few steps away.
The saber wielder, who had briefly marveled at Mok Kyung-un for stopping his sword strike, soon curled his lips into a sinister grin.
Halting that single strike had undoubtedly been an excellent judgment.
‘But this is also a foolish choice.’
Thanks to enduring that tremendous backlash, not only was the pain excruciating, but even moving would be difficult now.
In a battle between warriors evenly matched, this was a fatal mistake.
*Whoosh!*
The saber wielder moved.
His body, with every muscle developed to maximize any motion, allowed ultra-high-speed movement with just basic lightness skills.
*Swish!*
His figure blurred and instantly closed in on Mok Kyung-un.
He unleashed saber strikes aimed at Mok Kyung-un's vital acupoints.
‘Second Stance: Saber Apex Subduing Form!’
There was no need to even infuse it with fire energy.
This was a situation where pure saber technique would suffice to end it...
*Whoosh!*
It was at that moment.
Mok Kyung-un propelled his body backward.
Seeing this, a flicker of surprise lit up in the saber wielder's eyes.
‘He moved?’
Most of his muscles must have been torn, yet he endured the pain and forced himself to move?
It was endurance worthy of a tongue-click.
His internal injuries would surely make circulating qi difficult as well. To show such movement amid all that was impressive.
But the world of combat was a cold one.
No matter how admirable the opponent, he had to die.
*Slash! Whoosh!*
The saber wielder altered his strike mid-motion, changing the saber trajectory as he pursued Mok Kyung-un, who was flying backward.
Dodging wouldn't save him anyway.
Unless he had consumed a Spirit Core like himself and possessed super-regeneration, a brief evasion wouldn't heal his body.
‘Just give up.’
The saber wielder's strikes sliced toward Mok Kyung-un's arms.
It was then.
*Shoooooo!*
The skin below Mok Kyung-un's head, flushed red from blood flow and steaming, suddenly turned black as veins bulged grotesquely.
It was the Reverse Acupoint Demonic Art.
And it didn't end there.
*Craaack! Craaack!*
In the Reverse Acupoint Demonic Art state, the muscles around Mok Kyung-un's joints swelled, instantly filling the torn areas.
*Clang clang clang clang!*
Along with that, Mok Kyung-un unleashed the Demonic Sword Technique's sword forms, blocking the saber wielder's altered strikes.
The saber wielder was soon dumbfounded.
What kind of technique was this?
He had used some bizarre methods to concentrate his power at one point, then somehow mended the backlash from stopping it.
*Tremble!*
Whatever those methods were, his power had returned to equal footing.
Deeming it temporary, the saber wielder unleashed a barrage of saber strikes to suppress Mok Kyung-un.
*Clang clang clang clang clang!*
In an instant, the two exchanged over ten forms.
Yet Mok Kyung-un showed no sign of yielding, parrying every saber strike.
When the saber wielder executed a form exceeding joint range, Mok Kyung-un countered with entirely different sword forms using both hands.
Thus, no openings arose.
*Roar!*
Realizing it wasn't working, the saber wielder infused his saber strikes with fire energy to push Mok Kyung-un hard, but Mok Kyung-un responded with cold energy, recreating the earlier situation.
The area filled with thick steam.
*Clang clang clang clang clang clang!*
As visibility darkened, forcing them to rely on sound and qi sense for judgment, the saber wielder's eyes grew complicated.
How many techniques had he mastered to endure this long?
His energy should wane over time, yet not only was he holding out—which was impressive enough—but he was filling his deficiencies with those bizarre techniques.
*Grind!*
He, called the Demon of the Sword, had prided himself on perfecting the ultimate essence of the saber by compensating for all its flaws through spars with genius talents.
Moreover, with two Spirit Cores, his internal energy had surpassed human limits.
So why was he still evenly matched?
‘...Is this the origin?’
He hated to admit it, but this was a once-in-history martial prodigy.
There was a reason he was called a legend.
*Clang clang clang clang clang!*
Over forty exchanges had passed, yet seeing no openings at all made him want to express genuine respect.
But he hadn't come here just to admire and spar.
Taking his life was the ultimate goal.
‘I wanted to break him purely through martial prowess, but that seems to have been my greed.’
*Stab!*
At that instant, Mok Kyung-un's slender demon sword, Evil Instant, pierced the saber wielder's abdomen.
‘This?’
In a flash, Mok Kyung-un's eyes narrowed.
Even with vision blurred by steam and focus waning, that last strike wasn't one this man should have taken.
It was right then.
*Thud!*
‘!?’
The saber wielder grabbed the embedded sword.
Then,
*Slash!*
Mok Kyung-un instantly released the hilt of Evil Instant and executed the Clear Manifest Water Moon Step to evade, but his shoulder was still slashed.
‘So that was it?’
As his shoulder was cut, Mok Kyung-un realized.
As the even match dragged on and he grew accustomed to the saber strikes, the saber wielder had switched to an extreme strategy.
It was to use mutual destruction with every strike.
Attacking as if willing to die together naturally allowed trading flesh for bone.
‘...He’s resorting to this after all.’
Mok Kyung-un had anticipated this strategy to some extent.
It was a rational choice.
If he possessed super-regeneration capable of regrowing severed arms, he would use this against equals or strong foes too.
‘Now I need distance.’
In close range, he would keep using mutual destruction strikes.
Without super-regeneration, it put him at a disadvantage.
It was as Mok Kyung-un tried to create distance.
*Clang!*
The saber wielder yanked out the slender demon sword from his abdomen and tossed it aside, muttering something incomprehensible.
“Steam is moisture. Do you know what’s advantageous against moisture?”
‘!?’
It was right then.
*Crackle crackle crackle crackle!*
In that instant, the misty steam-filled surroundings were engulfed in blue lightning.
It was the saber wielder's lightning qi.
As the steam-saturated space turned to lightning, the entire area became like a thundercloud.
*Crackle! Crackle!*
Mok Kyung-un was instantly electrocuted in the lightning-filled space.
It wasn't something he could dodge.
He tried protecting his body with demonic qi to disperse the lightning, but he couldn't do anything about the muscle spasms from the continuous shocks.
As his movements slowed,
“It’s over!”
*Whoosh!*
The saber wielder unleashed Extreme Speed Killing Saber toward Mok Kyung-un's neck.
Unlike the spasming Mok Kyung-un, the saber wielder moved freely in the lightning—his speed even faster. The saber was pure extreme speed.
*Slash!*
It was an utterly lethal strike.
Facing the extreme speed saber aimed at his neck, Mok Kyung-un instinctively sensed death in that instant.
‘I can’t dodge.’
No matter how he struggled, there was no escaping this now.
The moment he realized it, time seemed to slow, as if frozen.
How strange.
*Swish swish swish!*
To think the extreme speed strike looked this slow upon facing death.
They said humans see their life flash before their eyes before dying.
Perhaps a reflection on one's years.
But for Mok Kyung-un, who placed no great meaning on his life, death was merely the end.
Since he saw it as merely the end,
‘Is this it?’
He tried to accept it, but suddenly,
*Living beings.*
A single existence flashed through Mok Kyung-un's mind.
It was none other than Cheongryeong.
‘!?’
Why?
Why did she come to mind right before death?
Not Grandfather, not lingering regrets over unfinished revenge—why her voice and face?
In that instant, doubt filled Mok Kyung-un.
Her face had arisen so naturally, even stirring a faint desire to see her once more.
This was a first in his life.
As the longing to see her intensified, a new emotion—not resignation—arose in Mok Kyung-un's mind.
‘Not yet.’
The resolve to live and see her.
But how could he survive this moment?
His body was locked in the lightning, and the extreme speed saber was already inches from his neck.
Was there truly a way out of this?
It was as doubt filled him.
[Everything depends on how you think. It all comes down to your will to do it.]
Suddenly, those words from that existence echoed in his mind.
In that instant, on the boundary between life and death, Mok Kyung-un's eyes came alive, his senses sharpening to the extreme.
*Stab!*
“Gah!”
The saber wielder let out an agonized scream.
His pupils shook wildly.
He had been one strike from beheading, yet something sharp had pierced straight through his heart.
‘W-what is... this...’
It was like something nonexistent yet existing. This was undoubtedly a sword.
The saber wielder looked down.
There, sharp sword intent had formed into a sword without any medium...
“A... formless... sword?”
No mistake.
Beyond becoming one with the sword, even qi forming a blade.
It was the realm of the Formless Sword.
The saber wielder staggered in disbelief.
Even he, who had taken two spirit cores, surpassed the wall, and reached saber oneness, hadn't attained this supreme realm...
*Chill!*
In an instant, the saber wielder's expression froze.
He had met the eyes of Mok Kyung-un staring at him.
The emotion in those eyes was singular.
‘Death.’
Mok Kyung-un's gaze depicted only his death.
Sensing this, the saber wielder's mind filled with fear and terror.
Then, freed from the lightning, Mok Kyung-un's figure moved.
His hand, staggering from the heart-piercing Formless Sword, reached for the pouch at his waist.
‘M-must... escape...’
*Slash!*
In that instant, a black line appeared, slicing past the saber wielder.
*Thud!*
At the end of the black line, Mok Kyung-un appeared, breathing raggedly.
“Haa... haa...”
*Thud!*
Behind him, the staggering saber wielder collapsed to his knees on the ground.
Hearing that, Mok Kyung-un slowly turned his head.
There was the saber wielder, a hole larger than a fist punched through the back of his head, clear through to the other side.
End of Chapter 95: Treasure Pearl (3)