Chapter 39: Flames of the Furnace (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 39: Flames of the Furnace (4)
The reason Baek Joong-hyuk decided he had to forge his own sword stemmed from a single incident.
He was eighteen at the time.
Back when the succession of the Demonic Cult had yet to be decided, Baek Joong-hyuk lived through days steeped in bloodshed due to the vicious war among his brothers. Unlike his siblings, he had no foundation or faction to protect him, forcing him to spend countless sleepless nights fending off daily assassination attempts.
Then, one day.
A visitor arrived in the dead of night.
His eleventh brother.
Baek Chang-hyun had come to eliminate him. Under the pale moonlight, a bloody battle erupted between the two brothers.
The fight was neck-and-neck.
Baek Chang-hyun had also survived the trials of the cave. Even with blood spraying through the air, he relentlessly lunged for Baek Joong-hyuk's vitals. The physical disparity between the two was significant. Being older, Baek Chang-hyun held the advantage in raw strength, and beneath his fierce onslaught, the sword Baek Joong-hyuk had cherished so dearly finally snapped.
Crack.
A single clash.
As his blade shattered, the follow-up strike sliced deep into Baek Joong-hyuk's chest.
Blood splattered.
In that split second, with the terror of death looming right before his eyes, Baek Joong-hyuk made a daring move. He completely exposed his chest to the blow, using the opening to drive his broken blade straight into his opponent's face. The fleeting joy of victory—the ecstasy that had just illuminated Baek Chang-hyun's expression—was horribly crushed. Bleeding profusely, Baek Joong-hyuk ended his brother's life.
That day, Baek Joong-hyuk realized something.
He needed a sword of his own.
He needed a weapon that would never break in the heat of battle, one that perfectly complemented and maximized his physical capabilities.
After disposing of his eleventh brother and earning a reputation as a ruthless monster, Baek Joong-hyuk took a different path from his siblings. He sought out master blacksmiths and learned the art of sword-smithing. From then on, whenever a decisive battle loomed, he forged a sword tailored specifically to his current self. He calculated complex variables—his physical traits, his muscle mass, and the characteristics of his preferred sword techniques at the time—to create a weapon that could elevate his combat prowess to its absolute peak.
Decades passed in this manner.
Baek Joong-hyuk rose to the absolute peak, fighting hundreds, thousands of battles in his quest to conquer the Murim.
Year after year, his sword changed.
Every time he forged a new blade, Baek Joong-hyuk passed his previous one down to his subordinates. At some point, these thirty-nine blades came to be known as the Swords of the Heavenly Demon. They were priceless treasures. The moment one of the Swords of the Heavenly Demon appeared in the Murim, bloody wars would erupt just to claim it. Refined through countless battles and the passage of time, Baek Joong-hyuk's smithing skills had undoubtedly reached the realm of a master artisan.
Forging a sword.
It was a deeply familiar act to him.
And now, Roman stood on the precipice of war with Barco.
Therefore, he needed his first sword.
Roman performed his ritual as Baek Joong-hyuk.
The forge of the inner castle.
In that space, which had been abandoned and silent for so long, the heavy, rhythmic pounding of steel began to echo.
Clang!
Sparks flew.
Striking the glowing, red-hot steel with his hammer, Roman repeated the same motion with precise force and rhythm. To an ordinary observer, it would have seemed incredibly tedious. In a space where only the roaring of the furnace and the clanging of steel were permitted, Roman faced the intense heat head-on, his body drenched in sweat.
Clang!
Clang! Clang!
He entered a State of Selflessness.
Roman loved these moments, the times when he could lose himself entirely to a single purpose.
What had started as a mere lump of metal would be reborn as a magnificent sword through his repetitive, deliberate actions.
His subordinates of the past...
Back when he forged his very first sword, they had failed to understand his actions. They argued that the armory was overflowing with blades, and he could simply pick any of them. Frankly, they believed that rather than wasting precious time forging a weapon, it would be far more beneficial to spend that time training his martial arts.
They weren't entirely wrong.
However, for Baek Joong-hyuk, forging a sword was more than just crafting a weapon; it was a way to reflect upon his current self within his own isolated world.
'What do I live for?'
The purpose of life.
Even after achieving everything, he had never truly found the answer.
Having the Heavenly Demon as his father meant he had to survive in a dog-eat-dog world from a young age. As he overcame one crisis after another, people eventually began to call him the Best Under Heaven. He didn't think that was a bad thing. After all, humans do not live lives planned out from beginning to end; rather, they write their own stories as individuals, guided by their instincts.
It was the same now.
Though Roman's life held an unfamiliar uncertainty, Baek Joong-hyuk remained true to reality, just as he always had.
He focused on what lay right before him.
He had accepted the engagement cancellation to secure a new life.
He had subjugated Blood Fang when they threatened him.
And now, to settle his ill fate with Antony Barco, he forged a sword for himself as he prepared for war.
Baek Joong-hyuk.
This was his way of life.
For the sole purpose of reigning supreme, he remained steadfast in the face of reality, even when cast into a vast, uncharted ocean.
'My current realm is not yet at a level where I can counter every variable. Though I have achieved Shedding Bones and Rebirth and entered the Human Stage, allowing me to use the third form of the first half of the Heavenly Demon Sword Technique, there are still too many unknown variables in Roman's world. Therefore, I must temper myself even further. In a world I do not know, against formidable foes I have yet to meet—no matter what happens, I must always remain the victor.'
A predator.
Defeat was unacceptable.
In a world where the strong preyed on the weak, defeat meant death. Thus, Baek Joong-hyuk always demanded of himself that he remain the apex predator.
Clang!
A powerful shockwave rippled out.
Roman's face was drenched in sweat from the searing flames, and the muscles of his bare upper body writhed, glowing red beneath the heat.
It was an extraordinary sight.
Ordinary blacksmiths always wore protective gear during their work. Not only did it shield them from the furnace's heat, but it also prevented burns from the red-hot metal shards that flew off when hammering steel. Hendrick was no exception; when Roman had met him in the forge, he had been fully geared up before starting his work. Yet Roman, currently hammering steel before the roaring flames, wore nothing but his trousers.
He knew.
He knew exactly how dangerous this was.
However, forging a sword was not just about crafting a weapon suited to his current self; it was also Baek Joong-hyuk's unique way of training his martial arts.
Whoosh.
Roar!
The flames flared up.
Facing the suffocating, intense heat, Roman opened his lungs wide and drew the searing air directly into his body.
The Flame Divine Art.
Roman's body was enveloped in flames.
The Flame Divine Art was a demonic martial art once used by a Demonic Human known as the Flame Demon. It utilized the power of raging fire to rapidly accumulate mana in a short period of time.
According to the common sense of the world, two different cultivation methods could not coexist.
It was common knowledge that a practitioner of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art could not practice the Flame Divine Art. However, as Baek Joong-hyuk's Heavenly Demon Divine Art evolved, its affinity had been elevated to the absolute limit. This allowed it to coexist with other cultivation methods. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art firmly anchored itself in his Dantian, governing everything. Even if external forces entered his body, extreme phenomena like Qi Deviation would not occur.
Coexistence.
He absorbed the heat.
He gradually made the rising heat in his Dantian his own, turning the blazing fire into nourishment for his Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
'The training method of the Flame Divine Art is the best option available to my currently meager self. Frequent use would damage my lungs and internal organs, but having fully prepared my body through Shedding Bones and Rebirth, I can easily withstand the flames of the furnace.'
Clang!
Clang! Clang!
He swung the hammer with all his might.
Through the act of forging a sword, facing the furnace's flames head-on, Roman calmly began to examine his physical condition in meticulous detail.
The length of his arms.
The output of his strength.
The amount of Qi he could wield.
As he calmly assessed his condition, he envisioned the ideal shape of the sword to match it. The sword he was crafting now, pouring out sweat like rain, would become obsolete in a year or two. It was designed precisely for his current state, and Roman believed that was more than enough for the weapon to fulfill its purpose.
At the same time, he continued to accumulate mana in his Dantian.
The enemies he had identified so far...
Considering the scale of Barco and the mercenaries they had hired, his current level of strength was actually more than enough to handle them.
However, variables, by their very nature, were always invisible.
Although the scale of Barco's forces gathered through the information guild fell within the realm of common sense, it was impossible to fully know what hidden preparations they had made during their conquest of Lawrence unless one was in their shoes. In the Murim, there was a saying: 'Always hide thirty percent of your strength.' In a dog-eat-dog world rife with underhanded schemes and hidden traps, fully exposing one's power was a shortcut to the grave.
Barco.
They, too, might be hiding thirty percent of their strength, and Roman knew all too well that such a variable could cost him his life.
That was why he desired the power to counter any and all variables.
During his conquest of the Righteous Faction Murim, the brilliant minds of the Zhuge Clan had pushed Baek Joong-hyuk into numerous corners with countless variables, but his overwhelming martial might had utterly shattered them all. When one could not perfectly grasp an opponent's full strength, possessing power so absolute that no variable could bridge the gap was the ultimate solution.
'I have yet to fully comprehend this world. The strongest person I have encountered so far was Knight Commander Jonathan, and the 3-Star realm is merely considered respectable within the kingdom. But in this world, there are 4-Star, 5-Star, and even 6-Star swordsmen. There are also unknown existences who wield a power I have never experienced before: magic. Even if I can overwhelmingly defeat Knight Commander Jonathan, I cannot be certain that I can stand against those unknown existences.'
He took a deep breath.
Drawing in mana, he struck the steel with immense force.
Clang!
He had to temper himself.
Because he had accepted new people under his wing.
Because people like Hans now lived within the boundaries he had established, he had absolutely no intention of ever tasting defeat.
And so, one day, then two... time flowed by.
Roman's body became like a single sword.
Just as he forged his own blade, he embraced the searing flames to temper his own flesh and bone.
And when ten days had finally passed...
Thud.
At last, the sound of hammering in the forge fell silent.
His first sword.
To any man, the first of anything is always special.
Roman held the sword up to the sunlight. As the light glided smoothly down the sleek edge of the blade, a smile spread across his face.
'It is a sword perfectly suited for my current self.'
The forging period had been brief.
Ten days was an incredibly short amount of time, but by utilizing the heat of the Flame Divine Art and his lifetime of experience, he had succeeded in crafting a weapon of the exact caliber he required. It was no ordinary sword found in a market; it was a weapon that could channel his mana better than any other piece of steel, perfectly tailored to his physical specifications.
With this sword, his preparations were complete.
Feeling the heat surging from his Dantian, Roman bestowed a name upon the blade.
"I shall name you Salamander, taking a name from this world."
He sheathed the sword.
Now, it was time to march.
It was time to bare his fangs against Barco.