Chapter 194
Chapter 194
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 194
Chapter Title: Cry of Heavenly Tribulation
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Something had happened. Something irresistible.
A feeling like I'd returned to Ak-min in an instant. The same sensation as when I'd first been struck by the Heart Sword burrowed into my body.
And...
Like this.
"Red Cloud."
My master's voice rang in my ears. I turned my head, searching for something that shouldn't have been there.
But no one was around. Just the flashing field of vision and the Heavenly Dragon Lord struggling to keep up with it.
...Alone.
I'm alone.
"......."
I wanted to grab my sword. But it was gone.
My hands and feet too...
None of them were left to me.
The limbs torn away by the Heart Sword weren't regenerating as impossibly as before. Heavenly Tribulation's scream was a kind I'd never heard in my life.
Something's different.
It's not like what happened in Ak-min. Back then, I still had the strength to stand...
Not now.
That's a monster. A complete monster.
If I had my master as an enemy, would it feel like this? Would I be unable even to climb, forced just to look up?
It suddenly came to mind.
That whisper telling me to run if I met a martial artist like myself.
"......."
...Bu...t...
I can't do that.
---Ruuuuum...
Heavenly Tribulation cries out. I can hear its voice.
In this battlefield where heaven and earth split open and Heart Swords fly about, its voice rings out clearly.
I whisper back at Heavenly Tribulation's lifelong first scream, howling that I'm going to die.
Still, I have no choice but to fight. I have no choice.
I can't let that thing chase after my companions, my daughter.
For their sake, let's move. Heavenly Tribulation. Please.
Help me.
I knew it was impossible from a single sword strike, but...
Even so, let's try to surpass it. Just like always.
---Kwaaaaaang!!!
"Kuhk!"
The Heavenly Dragon Lord slams into the ground. The thunder dragon formed of Heart Sword groans along with him.
Jin Baek-cheon smacks his lips after flicking his sword away.
"You're lacking... As expected, one isn't enough. Come on, Red Cloud. I've given you plenty of time. Move. I told you-if you don't satisfy me, I'll go after the ones I so generously released."
"......."
"That flickering black energy flow. Heavenly Tribulation. Right, that's Heavenly Tribulation. Use it. It should be able to reattach those limbs that flew off."
I raise my nonexistent arms following his whisper.
Heavenly Tribulation wails. With it, my severed limbs slowly begin to return.
Jin Baek-cheon's brow furrows slightly.
"...Hmm? Faster than I thought? Well, well. You had a hidden card after all. It's different from the ordinary ones. Interesting..."
My broken body slowly returns to normal.
From within it, I spit out the breath that had been caught in my throat. I pick up the sword I'd dropped again.
Focus...
Focus.
"Good eyes."
"......."
"Struggle with all your might."
Jin Baek-cheon moves his sword again.
"For me."
.
.
.
I grip the sword tightly.
I hold nothing back. I pour everything out as if this single moment is the last.
Nine Heavens Blood Demon Art
Sixth Form
Blood-Dyeing Emissary
The swung sword devours the world. It advances, painting everything red.
But in the next instant, the arm holding the sword vanishes.
"Light."
Before I can even think what happened, I snatch the sword with my left arm. The White Night, gripped in an instant, lets out a wail of return.
A chilling yin energy surges up. The sword accelerates with it.
Ice-White Blood Ghost Sword
Sixth Form
Blood-Dyeing Emissary
But even that left arm disappears in a single moment.
"Slow."
The arm shooting into the air shreds into hundreds of pieces and vanishes. The fragments I see last are tiny, like grains of sand.
I've lost both arms. With my mouth still intact, I bite down on the Black Bead.
I advance without collapsing.
Fire Wheel Blood Ghost Sword
Sixth Form
Blood-Dyeing Emissary
But...
Even that doesn't work.
"Weak."
The exploding flames split apart before my eyes. The sword bitten in my mouth shatters in an instant.
The sword that had never chipped a tooth shatters like glass and scatters. The sturdy ally that had stood by me oxidizes and vanishes with the flames.
A sword pierces my chest. I stagger back, breath caught in that instant.
The barely regenerated hand grips White Night again, but the end is the same. The moment it moves, what was a sword becomes fragments and disappears.
"It had some bite... Must've been a pretty good divine object."
Both Ghost Swords are gone.
Without even a proper act of resistance...
Shattered to pieces.
The Heavenly Dragon Lord belatedly lets out a torrent of cheers. He leaps past me and clashes with Jin Baek-cheon.
I heard something, but I couldn't see it. Strangely, my legs had no strength, and I knelt right there.
I tried to stand.
But I couldn't.
I saw the shattered Ghost Swords scattered about. I wanted to gather them, but I had no hands.
Heavenly Tribulation's regenerative power was slowly weakening. I could feel my inner energy draining away at a rapid pace.
Something had been severed. Something beyond the flesh. Heavenly Tribulation's screams were growing faint from that horror, as if my soul were being carved out.
I have to fight.
I have to stand against him. At least grab his legs and hang on.
"......."
Stan...
Stand up.
I move my body, which returns even slower than before. Instead of the Heavenly Dragon Lord slamming into the ground again and vomiting blood, I throw myself forward.
Nine Heavens Blood Demon Art
First Form
Ghost Beast One Demon
I swing my fist. I move my body and hammer sincerity into it.
But it crumbles. In the next instant, my wrist flies into the air.
Nine Heavens Blood Demon Art
Second Form
Soul-Pulling Thrust
I leap up like a beast. I grab the severed wrist and forcibly reattach it.
Jin Baek-cheon laughs. To drive my sword into that face, I move my hand. The blood sword far away is sucked into my palm, but...
---Kaang!!!
My upper body is sliced long by the sword he thrusts out playfully.
Nine Heavens Blood Demon Art
Third Form
Overlord Demon Path
Unimaginable pain floods in. But I endure. I endure and move.
Like a beast. Just like always, I roar. I throw my entire body. To surpass the insurmountable wall.
Nine Heavens Blood Demon Art
Fourth Form
Flash Scatter
The thrust sword is enveloped in light. It engulfs the view before me, as if to slice through an instant.
But my best technique, unleashed with such effort, is smashed by his flatly swung sword. It crumbles completely, shattering into pieces and scattering.
The blood sword trembles. Cracks begin to form, as if it's about to break at any moment.
No.
Nine Heavens Blood Demon Art
Fifth Form
Blood Shadow Twin Flowers
Haven't I always overcome? No matter what came at me, hadn't I always surpassed it in the end?
Believe in your own efforts. Believe in the time you've built up yourself.
You can do it, Red Cloud.
You...
"You're lacking, Red Cloud. Lacking, I tell you."
Nine Heavens Blood Demon Art
Sixth Form
Blood-Dyeing Emissary
Neither bare-handed combat nor qi-based martial arts.
All of it is blocked before my eyes. Jin Baek-cheon, crossing swords with me, sighs.
"I know those with eyes like yours. They take pride in having spent such an impressive time. But time is relative. It's not the same for everyone. For some, time is heavy; for others, light. Even the same task yields different totals. Do you know why?"
My body slams into the ground.
A sword pierces my shoulder. It severs cleanly, and my right arm falls.
"Talent."
The sword tip digs into my heart.
I strain with all my might not to scream.
Lest I collapse.
Lest I truly give up everything.
"Only talent divides the two. Time isn't fair. Effort isn't fair between them either, in the end. What you can do is just what someone like me can accomplish as a matter of course. The point is, you're nothing special."
"...Kuh...Ugh...!"
"Did you think you were the protagonist of the stage? That you were special, able to do anything? No. The world has plenty to replace you. From my perspective, the sword you're swinging now is nothing more than a side character's flailing."
The sword gouging my chest whispers to me.
"So, enough already. Show me everything you can. But if this is the end, if this is really it..."
Jin Baek-cheon looks into me.
His disappointed eyes hold nothing. That's why I instantly realize his words are sincere.
"As recompense for disappointing me, I'll go after your companions."
Predator.
The predator's eyes.
"I'll pluck out the eyes of whichever bitch gets caught first."
No voice comes out.
"Then I'll snap her waist. Crushing the spines of vermin like them takes just one finger."
My voice... won't come out.
"After grinding and bursting them all, finally, I'll face your daughter. Red Cloud. And I'll kindly, gently teach her exactly how you died."
I have no hands. So I can't resist.
I can't even grab a sword. I don't know what to do.
"She'll probably tremble like a fawn. I'll savor every moment. After making her decorate the corpses for the story with her own hands..."
...Even so.
I have to move.
"That neck."
Even with no chance of victory.
Even without the strength to fight.
Even if I want to scream right now.
Even if the words 'I can't win' try to burst from my throat.
...Even so.
"I'll twist it myself."
I can't let this bastard go behind me.
Nine Heavens Blood Demon Art
Seventh Form
White Demon Divine Blood
"...Hm?"
My body twists. At the same time, perfect form qi engulfs and seizes my body.
But that's not enough. With just the swordsmanship built on Mount Hwasan, I can't surpass him.
A little longer.
Long enough to hold him back.
"...What are you doing right now...?"
Ak-min.
Recall the Blood Demon I saw there.
Imperfect, yet strong.
Who ultimately seized what he desired with his own hands...
The back of that martial artist.
"What?!"
The next instant, it's fine if I can't breathe. It's fine if I vomit blood unable to move.
Reach out toward what you see. Support the lacking enlightenment with your body.
「Become her. The Heavenly Demon.」
Like that. Just like he did.
Even if imperfect, force it in.
Into the world of the Heart Sword...!
---Kaaaaang!!!!
The exploding red energy flow swallows my future. Jin Baek-cheon, flung back, skids across the ground.
The act of burning everything built for a single instant.
I plant my foot on the earth. The accelerating world begins to dye red as I forcibly reach the realm of transcendence.
Forcing it somehow.
Even if it burdens my body.
My bursting red light.
The side effects will be immense. From the moment I forcibly pioneer what should come naturally, I'll have to worry about what follows.
But it's fine. Burn it all.
Flail pathetically if you must. Hold on even if you break.
"...Puheuk."
I pick up the cracked sword. Toward the one starting to burst into laughter, I bare my entire soul.
Natural qi floods into my body in place of the escaping inner energy. The blood qi absorbing the qi of all heaven and earth blooms from the sword tip, forcibly stepping toward the world.
Half-baked.
A scene similar to what he showed in Ak-min.
I compensate for that lack with Heavenly Tribulation. I forcibly control the raging energy and reveal my sky within his domain.
The sky dyeing red.
Opening Heaven, shaking heaven and earth with enlightenment.
"You...!"
My mind wavers. I can feel my life burning away second by second from the side effects.
Qi deviation. I'm standing on the boundary between life and death right now. The price of forcibly stepping in gnaws at my throat through time.
But bark.
Bark like the beast that learned the sword.
Even if it's the last breath of my life.
Even if I can't grip the sword next instant.
"You won't go any further...!"
I am a martial artist.
One who moves the sword for what he wants to protect.
The blood sword on the verge of shattering trembles.
Heavenly Tribulation cried out. As if sensing the end.