Chapter 196: What a Truly Annoying World!
The hall fell deathly silent.
Left Origin Master stared wide-eyed, his face twisted in disbelief.
He wasn't dead yet. His life force was simply draining away bit by bit. He couldn't even twitch a finger.
The Heavenly Maiden hadn't attacked his body, but his soul.
At this moment, Left Origin Master's soul was disintegrating at a terrifying speed. In moments, he would cease to be of this world—not merely dead, but erased beyond even reincarnation.
When a person dies, their soul undergoes the cycle of reincarnation. But now, a single strand of the Heavenly Maiden's hair was annihilating his soul entirely.
Normally, souls were protected by the laws of reincarnation.
Destroying one was said to be impossible.
Yet this woman standing before them had made it real.
Could someone like her truly be just a Sword Immortal? Even if she were, she was no ordinary one.
Realization dawned, filling Left Origin Master's eyes with horror.
Changmok Academy had gravely underestimated her.
The elder watching from behind Left Origin Master was equally stunned.
A single strand of hair to subdue him? What absurdity was this?
The elder glared at her with the utmost vigilance, as if facing the greatest enemy under heaven.
The Heavenly Maiden ignored his gaze and turned back to Yeop Hyeon.
"How does it feel?"
'How does it feel?'
Yeop Hyeon gave a wry smile.
For him, who used his sword in place of a dantian, its destruction was no different from losing his dantian. In his current state, he wasn't even a martial artist anymore—just a cripple.
Yeop Hyeon lifted his head. He wanted to see the Heavenly Maiden's face, but for some reason, her features right before him remained blurred.
"Do you now understand why I told you to retrieve your sword?"
She was referring to the Spirit Water Sword he had embedded in the plaque of the Ho Yeon Battle Hall.
Yeop Hyeon nodded, grasping her meaning.
"A person must be strong for their sword to be strong!"
The Heavenly Maiden nodded lightly at his response.
"You seem to understand the general intent. But there's a deeper meaning hidden within. Think carefully—what is it?"
Yeop Hyeon forced another wry smile.
"I'm already a cripple. What use is figuring that out now?"
"A cripple? What nonsense is that? Who says you can't be a sword cultivator without a Dantian Sword?"
Yeop Hyeon blinked in confusion.
"Th-then... do I still have hope?"
The Heavenly Maiden replied coldly.
"No. None at all."
"……."
Without further argument, the Heavenly Maiden turned and approached the dwarfish elder. As Yeop Hyeon hung his head in despair, a single phrase from her pierced his mind like an arrow.
"Does the absence of a Dantian Sword mean you're no longer a sword cultivator?"
Yeop Hyeon closed his eyes, sinking into deep contemplation.
Meanwhile, as the Heavenly Maiden drew near, the elder glared and shouted.
"You're no Sword Immortal!"
"Sword Immortal?"
She sneered.
"You're talking about tales from over a hundred thousand years ago!"
A hundred thousand years!? Could anyone live that long!?
Even among legendary martial artists, had any endured so long!?
Doubts flooded the elder's mind in an instant.
And if she had been a Sword Immortal back then... what was she now?
The elder narrowed his eyes, a fierce glint flashing between them.
"Trying to deceive me!?"
He lightly struck the ground with his staff.
"Borrowed Heaven's Gaze!"
In an instant, the sky lost its color.
Black clouds gathered from nowhere, shrouding the heavens. From their midst emerged a colossal eye, crackling endlessly with lightning. As it peered down, an overwhelming pressure shook the hall, as if the earth itself might split.
The onlookers screamed in terror, fleeing in all directions.
The elder grinned grotesquely.
"Let's see if you can block this!"
As his words ended, the eye in the sky fixed on the Heavenly Maiden. A bolt of lightning lanced from the black pupil toward her, accompanied by a thunderclap that rattled the ground.
It was the means of a true immortal.
The watching martial artists froze in bewilderment. Their minds couldn't comprehend such a phenomenon.
Could even a Sword Immortal withstand this divine art!?
At that moment, the Heavenly Maiden plucked another strand of hair and released it into the air. Just as the black lightning descended, she pointed at the sky.
Her hair shot upward like a comet, shattering the bolt and surging toward the heavens with ferocious momentum.
Boom!
A deafening roar echoed through heaven and earth as the black eye shattered into fragments.
The clouds dissipated, and the sky regained its natural hue.
The hall fell silent once more, as if doused in ice water.
The elder's face paled like a ghost's, his eyes bulging as if to pop out.
"H-how... how is this possible...?"
A single strand of hair had destroyed a Great Divine Art!
His mind went blank.
The eleven warriors behind him wore expressions of utter disbelief. Left Origin Master's face was especially ashen, as if struck by five bolts of lightning in succession.
This power was beyond any mere Sword Immortal.
Not a Sword Immortal!
Something far higher!?
Left Origin Master's hands began to tremble.
Ignoring them, the Heavenly Maiden turned back to Yeop Hyeon.
"Have you realized something?"
Yeop Hyeon looked up and replied.
"Give me a little more time."
The Heavenly Maiden nodded lightly.
"Very well."
As she turned away, the dwarfish elder muttered, approaching.
"You're no Sword Immortal... You are exactly...—"
He couldn't finish. A strand of hair had pierced his brow, just like Left Origin Master's—invisible to the eye.
The Heavenly Maiden pointed at him.
"Who told you to keep talking?"
Horror peaked in the elder's heart. This woman wasn't a Sword Immortal—she might be a supreme being from legend.
Darkness clouded his vision.
'We're doomed!'
That was the only thought in his mind.
The Heavenly Maiden now eyed the eleven warriors behind him. As they met her gaze and recoiled in panic, trying to flee, her thumb and index finger touched and parted. A flash of sword light streaked through the hall.
With every blink, a head rolled. In an instant, eleven severed heads littered the floor, eyes wide in trembling fear.
Leaving them behind, she returned to Yeop Hyeon.
"Have you grasped it?"
Yeop Hyeon nodded.
"What a sword cultivator trains isn't mere vital energy, but the Dao, ideals, and a form of conviction. So there's no obstacle to becoming one without a dantian."
The Heavenly Maiden stared at him silently.
"Am I wrong?"
She replied evenly.
"Not as stupid as I thought."
"……."
She raised her hand lightly. The fragments of the Spirit Water Sword scattered on the floor flew into her palm. As she stroked them, the blade reformed in an instant. Holding the reborn Spirit Water Sword, she tapped Yeop Hyeon's shoulder.
"This is my last help. From now on, solve your problems yourself. You're ready to grow on your own."
With a flick, the sword vanished into Yeop Hyeon's body.
Turning gracefully, she approached Left Origin Master. As he opened his mouth to speak, the hair in his brow pierced straight through his skull.
His body began to fade into transparency.
He stared at the Heavenly Maiden in abject terror. But nothing he did could stop his soul's annihilation.
Not just him—the dwarfish elder beside him began to fade as well.
The elder didn't resist, asking calmly.
"Will you not tell me your realm?"
The Heavenly Maiden stepped closer.
"How strong do you think the strongest being is?"
He met her eyes squarely.
"The Supreme Realm. A being never once produced in the entire Qingcang Realm!"
She nodded lightly.
"To me, they are mere ants."
He fell silent.
Even as his body vanished completely, horror filled his eyes.
To dismiss even the Supreme Realm as ants...
At that moment, a white-haired elder appeared abruptly in the air.
It was a Realm Protector.
The same one from moments before had returned.
"How dare you appear in Qingzhou...?"
The Heavenly Maiden pointed a finger.
Thwip!
A strand of hair pierced the Realm Protector's brow!
His body stiffened rigidly.
"H-how dare you try to kill a Realm Protector, you...!"
She glared.
"Call someone stronger than you!"
Without hesitation, the Realm Protector crushed a transmission stone.
Killing a Realm Protector!
How long had it been since anyone in the Qingcang Realm dared such a thing!?
This was an unprecedented catastrophe, unheard of even in Jungto Sinju.
The Heavenly Maiden glanced skyward, shaking her head with a mutter.
"What a truly annoying world..."
She turned to Yeop Hyeon.
"I'll teach you one sword art from the heavens!"
With a casual gesture, the Spirit Water Sword burst from his body and soared into the sky.
It halted midair, then slowly descended. In that instant, the heavens twisted bizarrely.
The earth tore open, and massive mountains began crumbling slowly.