The Sword Immortal's Resolve
The Sword Immortal was truly trying to tear me apart. To think he'd pull out that technique.
The invisible swords combined with telekinetic blade control—the black swords that the old man himself had named the Nakseonggeom. Something about forging blades from stars that had fallen from the heavens. Usually, any martial art with such a grandiose name turned out to be trash, but the ones the Sword Immortal wielded were different.
The invisible blades themselves weren't a problem. Since they were ultimately formed from internal energy, I could respond to them easily enough if I could sense that energy. But the telekinetic swords were another matter entirely.
When a warrior of the Sword Immortal's caliber increased the number of blades he controlled, it was nothing short of a disaster for his opponent. What made it even worse was that those swords weren't bound by the movements of his physical body. Twenty sword strikes launched without warning or precursor—among all the martial arts I'd faced, few were as troublesome as this.
The moment I scattered the onslaught of twenty blades with a single fist, the Sword Immortal's sword came flying in, forcing me back. Then the blades reformed their formation and continued their assault.
Haha. At this rate, it feels like twenty Sword Immortals are attacking me at once.
There was no opening to counterattack. Just responding to the blades rushing toward me was already overwhelming, and my wounds were only increasing. How could I possibly seize the initiative?
In the past, I had faced this with brute force. If dozens of swords came raining down, I'd simply throw dozens of fists in return. Back then, I possessed the strength to carry out that crude idea.
It had certainly been an excellent solution. But what about now? If I tried something similar with this body that hadn't even reached the Peak Realm yet, I'd be torn apart long before I could defeat the Sword Immortal.
Another way? Of course there was one.
I released the Heavenly Demon Divine Art that I'd been forcibly suppressing within my body. The ferocious energy of the divine art immediately suppressed the surrounding internal energies and roared that it was the ruler of this place.
The internal energy accumulated in one's body after learning the Heavenly Demon Divine Art carried the nature of the divine art itself. Simply put, the energy itself pursued absolute dominance. If its user seemed weak, it would try to devour them. It naturally viewed all other energies as beneath it and sought to crush them.
Since the Sword Immortal's Nakseonggeom was ultimately made of internal energy, it couldn't escape the influence of the divine art. No matter how exceptional a warrior the Sword Immortal was, he couldn't perfectly control twenty blades under the pressure of the divine art's energy.
The twenty invisible blades faltered, their perfect coordination crumbling under the tyrannical pressure of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
“You’re using dangerous means. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up devoured by your own energy.”
The Sword Immortal’s words were correct. This method intentionally drew out the original ferocious nature of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art that should have been suppressed. If control was lost for even a moment, that savage energy would bare its fangs at its own master.
But that only applied to ordinary users of the divine art. No matter how ill-tempered a fierce dog the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art might be, it would not rebel against the heavens above it.
I had no reason to worry.
“Worrying about me? How touching.”
From the looks of it, he could only maintain about five or six blades now? It was still troublesome, but at least now it was at a level I could handle.
“But shouldn’t you worry about yourself before worrying about me?”
If you look down on me so arrogantly from above, you’ll be the one who breaks.
Upon hearing my words, the Sword Immortal said nothing. He simply curled the corners of his lips upward and once again scattered his blades around him.
Troublesome.
The Sword Immortal frowned as he manipulated the blades formed from his internal energy. The energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art that the woman had released around her made no attempt to hide its true nature. It crushed everything around it and proclaimed itself the heaven of ten thousand demons.
Even for the Sword Immortal, perfectly controlling his invisible blades in a space dominated by the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was no easy task. Moreover, what the divine art’s energy threatened wasn’t limited to his invisible swords. It was threatening even him—a martial artist.
Truly a martial art created by madmen obsessed with strength in the past. Even the energy of the divine art itself screams of dominance!
The cleanest solution would be to swing his sword and sweep away all the Heavenly Demon Divine Art energy, but the Sword Immortal could not choose that option. His enemy, the woman, would not give him the chance.
Though he was barely maintaining five invisible blades to pressure her, the woman not only responded with ease but, whenever he tried to launch a major attack, she would charge in despite sustaining some wounds to strike at him.
How experienced. She had mentioned facing someone who used the same martial arts as me before. Was she applying all the experience gained from that time directly to me?
The Sword Immortal grit his teeth and swung his sword desperately when a question suddenly occurred to him.
How could that person remain free even under the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art? That tyrannical energy was the type that would try to harm even its own master. How?
He couldn’t understand it. At this rate, it seemed as if the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art had acknowledged that woman as dominance itself.
“What are you thinking about so deeply?”
The moment he heard the voice and saw the fist reaching him, the Sword Immortal urgently swung his sword. Having reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, he was able to unleash his best sword even in a sudden situation.
Sword and fist collided. The Sword Immortal grit his teeth. The impact transmitted to the arm that had blocked the fist was enough to carve the word “pain” into him.
Woman. Your fist was certainly threatening. However, in your focus on the offensive, you failed to notice that you had left yourself open!
My body is one, but my swords are not!
The moment the Sword Immortal tried to threaten his opponent with his five invisible blades, the woman took a step forward.
That step was heavy. It felt like the night sky itself had descended from on high to press down on his shoulders. The Sword Immortal grit his teeth and endured it, but his invisible blades could not.
The blades, already unstable due to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art energy, completely scattered under that oppressive pressure. His move had been rendered utterly useless, and it was once again the woman’s turn to act.
The woman stamped her foot. If the previous step had been heavy, this one was dense. The Sword Immortal had seen this strike before. It was the killing technique she had chosen to end their last match.
Do you believe this is the appropriate moment to use your killing move?
Last time, when his Spirit Sword had been blocked, he had been too flustered to respond properly. But not this time.
With all his invisible blades scattered, the internal energy he possessed was now entirely within his body. He had more than enough means to deal with it!
The Sword Immortal raised his sword high. The internal energy concentrated upon it was vivid even beneath the lightless dark sky. It was as if a new moon had risen in the night sky.
“Fall.”
A downward strike from above to below. A simple motion that even a child picking up a sword for the first time could perform. Yet the principle contained within it stood higher than that of any swordsman standing upon the earth.
The Sword Immortal’s blade, originally created to bring down the sun, now struck down to bring down the heavens themselves.
In response came the killing fist created by a martial artist who sought to reach the heavens. An absolute technique created for one person to ascend to the heavens.
The sword descending from above and the fist rising from below collided.
Cracks spread across the rocky ground before it shattered and caved in. The surrounding trees had long since been unable to withstand the storm-like shockwaves and had been destroyed.
As the clash between the two continued, the formation that had blocked the path to the gate for countless long years began to crack. Even the gate leading to the Spirit Realm started to lose its center of gravity.
It looked as if the world itself was shaking with the two of them at its center.
What changed the course of their seemingly endless clash wasn’t that one of them had collapsed.
It was that the Sword Immortal’s sword, which had been receiving the woman’s fist, developed a crack and split in two.
Sword Breaking!
The scheme that had threatened me last time! So what you were aiming for wasn’t to break my swordsmanship, but to break my single sword!
As his sword broke, the Sword Immortal saw the fist flying toward him and let out a laugh.
Haha. I’ve been had.
With such meticulous preparation, I should gladly accept the loss as proper etiquette. Unfortunately, I simply hate the word defeat.
Moreover, if I were to be broken here, you would completely lose any thought of learning the sword from me, wouldn’t you?
After my Spirit Sword was destroyed last time, I had pondered deeply. It was the first time my realm had been broken by another, so the contemplation itself had been enjoyable.
The conclusion I reached was this:
The Spirit Sword is the will to cut down one’s opponent. If one possesses a greater will, there is nothing that cannot be cut. In other words, last time my will had simply been too small, so I could not cut my opponent. This time would be different.
My will to cut had reached the point where it could even bring down the sun. Who could possibly stop me?
I will cut you down.
The moment the Sword Immortal used his Spirit Sword with that resolve, he saw it.
What lurked within the woman’s heart.
Last time, he had simply thought he had lost because he hadn’t known. But that wasn’t it. Knowing and not knowing had nothing to do with it.
Simply. Yes, very simply. The woman’s will had simply been greater than his own.
What a monster. I had not been looking at her properly.
She was not someone beneath me. Nor was she someone at a similar realm. She stood above. Even higher. She was someone standing in the heavens.
How had someone who had gazed upon such an incomparably high realm ended up trapped in such a frail body?
With that thought, the Sword Immortal willingly accepted the fist flying toward him.
Damn old man. Going out with a final struggle like that.
I had certainly suppressed the Sword Immortal’s Spirit Sword, but not perfectly. To think he would realize that will was the key after being broken just once.
Looking at the wound carved into my chest, I let out a hollow laugh at the thought that if my will had been even slightly weaker, I would have been completely cut down.
Haa. Damn it.
With this, I had succeeded in smashing him from the front, but…
“Who are you?”
It seemed things hadn’t gone as smoothly as I’d hoped. I had made too much noise.
I sighed and turned my head to see immortals standing before the Shinseon Gate. No matter how I looked at them, their eyes did not appear friendly.