Return to the Myriad Laws Realm
'Pregnant for eight months?'
Yeop Hyeon's face darkened in an instant.
'What nonsense is this? Me, a father!?'
While Yeop Hyeon stood there flustered, more people kept pouring in. It had reached the point where he couldn't even back away if he wanted to.
At this rate, he might get crushed to death by the crowd before even clashing with Chang Mok Academy!
Yeop Hyeon had originally planned to handle things quietly, but in this situation, even he had no choice.
He kicked off the ground and leaped into the air. At the same time, a sword flew in from somewhere and caught beneath his feet.
Thus, Yeop Hyeon was able to ride the sword, slowly advancing forward.
In that moment, every gaze in the arena fixed on Yeop Hyeon.
Standing steadily on the sword with his hands clasped behind his back, flying through the sky—Yeop Hyeon's figure was utterly majestic. The wind blowing through, tousling his long flowing hair, only added to the perfection.
"It's Yeop Hyeon!"
Starting with someone's shout, the arena instantly turned into a boiling cauldron of excitement.
Qingzhou's youngest Sword Lord, and the strongest rising warrior currently known in Qingzhou—that was Yeop Hyeon.
The people gathered here were eager not just to witness the upcoming duel, but also to see the famed sword cultivator who was dominating Qingzhou right now. After all, it was rare to find a sword cultivator of such exceptional skill.
Yeop Hyeon leisurely flew over the crowd's heads on his sword.
One man stared up at him in a daze, utterly entranced.
"Brother-in-law..."
Yeop Hyeon's sword flight speed was incredibly slow. This wasn't because he was deliberately going slow; he simply wasn't adept at controlling his speed yet.
He hadn't fully mastered sword flight. Calling this turtle-like pace "sword flight" was almost embarrassing.
But the onlookers below assumed he was flying slowly on purpose and admired him all the more for it.
After a long while, Yeop Hyeon finally landed on a massive boulder at the path leading up to Chang Mok Academy.
With a light crook of his finger, the sword beneath his feet transformed into a graceful trail of sword light and flew right before his eyes.
The crowd erupted in cheers once more at the sight.
"So cool!"
Yeop Hyeon held his sword diagonally at his side and shouted toward the mountain peak where Chang Mok Academy stood.
"Chang Mok Academy! Who will face me?!"
Who would step forward?
The crowd held their breath, eyes locked on Chang Mok Academy. How would Qingzhou's top faction respond?
It didn't take long before a middle-aged man appeared before Yeop Hyeon.
It was Mok Cheong-hyeon.
As Mok Cheong-hyeon opened his mouth to speak, Yeop Hyeon raised his sword to silence him.
"Spare me the nonsense. I'm here to kill, not to bicker with you lot!"
With that, Yeop Hyeon raised his sword and shot straight toward Chang Mok Academy.
The people below stared in stunned silence.
'He won't even exchange words!?'
Mok Cheong-hyeon's face darkened sharply.
Who had ever dared treat Chang Mok Academy like this since its founding?!
"Yeop Hyeon!"
With a roar of fury, Mok Cheong-hyeon's aura plummeted in an instant, sinking all the way to the Divine Fusion Realm.
The crowd gasped in shock at the sight of Mok Cheong-hyeon stepping up personally.
Wasn't he the dean, the one who should only appear last?!
Yeop Hyeon halted his ascent up the mountain. He hadn't expected Mok Cheong-hyeon to come out himself.
Moreover, lowering his own realm voluntarily was tantamount to staking his life. After all, he couldn't just revert to the Myriad Laws Realm if things turned unfavorable—not in front of all these witnesses.
If Mok Cheong-hyeon fought that way, Chang Mok Academy's thousand-year reputation would crumble on the spot.
Mok Cheong-hyeon glared at Yeop Hyeon and taunted him.
"Didn't you come to fight? Come on! I'll face you myself!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, his figure vanished, a piercing whistle stabbing into the crowd's ears like an awl. At the same time, a domineering fist, brimming with destructive power, hurtled toward Yeop Hyeon's face.
Yeop Hyeon didn't counter with his fist. Instead, he twisted his body to evade it, while his Spirit Water Sword thrust toward Mok Cheong-hyeon's abdomen.
But the Spirit Water Sword failed to reach its mark, blocked by a hand that shot out suddenly.
Mok Cheong-hyeon's left hand.
Mok Cheong-hyeon gripped the blade firmly with his open palm, and Yeop Hyeon found he couldn't pull his sword free.
At that moment, Mok Cheong-hyeon's left hand slid along the blade and slammed into Yeop Hyeon's abdomen.
Thud-!
Yeop Hyeon was sent flying over twenty zhang away in a flash.
The arena fell silent, as if doused in cold water.
As Mok Cheong-hyeon prepared to press the attack after repelling Yeop Hyeon, he noticed a deep sword gash on his own arm.
When his fist had struck Yeop Hyeon moments ago, Yeop Hyeon's sword had grazed his arm.
Of course, in that exchange, Mok Cheong-hyeon had held the advantage.
But he had confirmed one fact: there was no one among Chang Mok Academy's students who could face Yeop Hyeon. More precisely, among Qingzhou's younger generation, only a scant few could withstand his sword.
Meanwhile, Yeop Hyeon rubbed his abdomen with a slightly surprised expression.
In that moment, he had enveloped his abdomen with Pure Intent Sword Intent as an emergency measure to absorb even a bit of Mok Cheong-hyeon's power.
Unexpectedly, a thick layer of protective armor had formed where the Pure Intent Sword Intent concentrated, proving even more effective than Earth Battle Armor.
Thus, though Yeop Hyeon had taken Mok Cheong-hyeon's fist head-on, he suffered no internal injuries.
This discovery brought Yeop Hyeon unexpected joy. Pure Intent Sword Intent shone even more brilliantly in defense than offense.
"Hurry and fight!"
Someone shouted from the ant-like swarm of onlookers.
At that moment, Mok Cheong-hyeon yelled at Yeop Hyeon.
"Come at me! I'll test your talent myself!"
Finishing his words, Mok Cheong-hyeon flew to a nearby massive boulder several zhang tall and kicked it toward Yeop Hyeon.
Facing the boulder hurtling at high speed, Yeop Hyeon impassively thrust his sword into it.
Thud-!
The boulder split into two in an instant. Yet, strangely, his sword didn't come free. Two fingers had appeared behind the boulder at some point, clamping down on the blade.
As Mok Cheong-hyeon moved his other hand to strike, a sword burst forth from Yeop Hyeon's body.
Mok Cheong-hyeon widened his eyes and swatted the incoming sword with his right hand.
Boom-!
The flying sword was deflected, but another followed hot on its heels toward Mok Cheong-hyeon.
Mok Cheong-hyeon lightly kicked off the ground and retreated, but the sword curved toward him. It even closed to within a few cun of his brow in a flash.
At that range, Mok Cheong-hyeon could directly sense the sword intent emanating from Yeop Hyeon's blade!
As the sword was about to pierce his brow, Mok Cheong-hyeon barely turned his head to dodge. But another sword came flying straight at his face.
Mok Cheong-hyeon seemed to retreat again, only to suddenly charge forward, thrusting out a fist.
Boom-!
The immense power in his fist collided with the seven swords flying at him head-on.
But that alone wasn't enough to block all seven.
Right then, Yeop Hyeon—who had been controlling the swords from behind—charged at Mok Cheong-hyeon like a gale. The tremendous sword momentum within his Spirit Water Sword amplified fiercely.
Gathering Momentum!
By the time Yeop Hyeon closed to within a few zhang of Mok Cheong-hyeon, the sword's pressure had grown overwhelming.
Mok Cheong-hyeon's face stiffened—no, fear was already creeping in.
One Sword Determines Life and Death!
As Yeop Hyeon swung, the sword momentum swelled several times over. The pressure from the Spirit Water Sword had reached the level of a Myriad Laws Realm expert's "momentum"!
Yeop Hyeon wasn't in the Myriad Laws Realm, but his sword's power rivaled it.
At that instant, a ferocious glint flashed in Mok Cheong-hyeon's eyes. He stepped back with one foot and clasped his hands together. His surrounding energy exploded—not reverting to Myriad Laws Realm, but unleashing a martial technique.
As the Spirit Water Sword came within a few cun of his head, Mok Cheong-hyeon stomped and thrust his clasped hands overhead.
"Void Annihilation!"
Suddenly, darkness shrouded above Mok Cheong-hyeon's head. The sword light pouring from Yeop Hyeon's blade was sucked straight into the black shadow. Moreover, the shadow extended toward Yeop Hyeon, seeking to devour him.
A chilling silence descended.
All eyes in the arena locked onto Yeop Hyeon.
Would he fall just like that?
It was right then.
Boom-!
A white qi stream exploded from within the pitch-black shadow.
Pure Intent Sword Intent!
As the Pure Intent Sword Intent rapidly eroded the darkness, a streak of sword light flashed amid the white flow.
Boom-!
Under countless watching eyes, Mok Cheong-hyeon's figure shot back hundreds of zhang to crash violently into a cliff face. The next instant, the entire cliff trembled and collapsed toward him in a roar.
The crowd's gazes shifted rightward. The space that had been swallowed by shadow had returned to normal.
And in its center stood a man holding a longsword!
White mist billowed around his body.
Sword Intent Materialization!
Could this truly end in Yeop Hyeon's victory?
Yeop Hyeon advanced slowly toward Mok Cheong-hyeon, sword in hand. From the rubble of the boulder, Mok Cheong-hyeon emerged. Blood streamed ceaselessly from his mouth, and over a dozen sword scars gaped deeply across his body, exposing bone.
Heavily wounded, by all appearances.
Mok Cheong-hyeon wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve and glared at Yeop Hyeon.
"Such a domineering, overwhelmingly powerful sword intent. What kind of sword intent is this?"
Yeop Hyeon halted a short distance away and pointed his sword at Mok Cheong-hyeon.
"Enough talk. Return to the Myriad Laws Realm!"
"What?!?"
The arena buzzed in an instant.
'Does he really want to die!?'
'Isn't Yeop Hyeon only at the Penetrating Nether Realm!?'
As Mok Cheong-hyeon merely glared without moving, Yeop Hyeon spoke again.
"Don't worry. No one will call you cowardly for reverting to the Myriad Laws Realm. No one will accuse Chang Mok Academy of shamelessness. This won't tarnish your thousand-year legacy, so go ahead—return to the Myriad Laws Realm!"
"......"