The Pinnacle of Martial Arts (5)
A monster. A true monster!
That was the single word on the minds of everyone watching him.
Both the NPCs within the game and the viewers watching the stream.
From their perspective, Myeong-yun was nothing short of a monster.
Heukmyeong, the Black Sky Demon Blade and Black Killing Unit Leader of the Four Heavenly Lords.
Anyone who had even a passing knowledge of the Four Heavenly Lords' Murim would recognize that name.
The right hand of the Lord of the Four Heavenly Lords, the ruler of the Sleepless City's night streets.
Countless had fallen to his assassination arts that struck from the shadows.
He was an opponent who would never let you rest easy for even a moment if you made an enemy of him.
Yet Myeong-yun had felled that very Heukmyeong with absurd ease.
After evading or blocking all three of Heukmyeong's attacks, he had subdued him with a single move and claimed his martial arts as his own.
Even the viewers thought he was insane, but what of the NPCs who witnessed it firsthand?
‘…The 8th Heavenly Demon? Is he real?’
‘…That level of martial arts without an inner energy storage module? Is he truly a natural?’
Leaving Heukmyeong unconscious from the pain of his shattered inner energy storage, Jeok-wol and Namgung Yeong-seong fell into doubt.
Was what Myeong-yun had shown genuine, or had he and Heukmyeong staged the entire display?
To them, a Murim-in without an inner energy storage module was little more than a legend.
Hundreds, thousands of years ago—how had people accumulated inner energy in their dantian without such modules?
From a modern person's viewpoint, it was an impossible existence.
To them, inner energy was something drawn through external modules, and martial arts were something downloaded.
Namgung Yeong-seong drew the greatsword from his back and faced Myeong-yun.
Steam billowed from both arms gripping the blade as azure energy surged from his chest.
“…Namgung Yeong-seong, leader of the Azure Wolf Unit, requests a spar with you.”
“Will a deathmatch not suffice?”
“They say the long and short of it must be measured, but this time I feel I need not bother.”
“How wise. But you are no different. If you fail to understand what martial arts truly are, you will end up just like him.”
“…Even so, I cannot retreat. As one entrusted with the Namgung family's martial forces, I cannot tarnish that name.”
“Is that so. Then show me everything you can. Not the Namgung family's arts—show me your own.”
Amid the viewers' chat, Namgung Yeong-seong charged toward Myeong-yun.
A fierce aura worthy of his title as the Namgung family's greatest blade pressed down upon the space around them.
The greatsword in his hand seemed as though a single swing would cleave heaven and earth apart—he was truly the master of the single blade.
Yet Myeong-yun overturned that presence in an instant.
Swirling the dagger once wielded by Heukmyeong, he struck aside Namgung Yeong-seong's blade and spoke.
“One.”
“Kugh! Do not think this is the end!”
“I know. Show me everything.”
Namgung Yeong-seong retreated, then used the rebound to charge once more.
As he gripped the sword's hilt tightly, a jet engine emerged from the back of the blade and spewed azure flames.
“Hah.”
Myeong-yun let out a short, incredulous laugh.
Could this even be called martial arts? It did not seem so.
Yet Namgung Yeong-seong used the jet engine's acceleration to offset his own heaviness and increase his speed further.
The greatsword that reached Myeong-yun in an instant traced an arc.
From above to below, carrying the force to split heaven and earth.
Myeong-yun focused his mind and twisted his body within the gradually slowing flow of time.
Then, with the tip of the dagger in his hand, he scraped along the blade of the greatsword, redirecting its path with delicate force control.
The greatsword veered away from Myeong-yun and swung through empty air.
Even though it missed, the tremendous force of the strike shattered the ground, leaving a massive scar.
“Two.”
“Kuk!”
Namgung Yeong-seong leapt back and gathered his inner energy.
A vast azure aura erupted from the inner energy storage module embedded in his chest, enveloping his entire body before seeping into the greatsword and radiating outward.
A vivid blade aura overlaid the weapon, revealing the true face of a master.
“Kuaaaaaaaah—!! Behold! This is the Namgung blade!”
“Hmm.”
The blade aura enveloping Namgung Yeong-seong's greatsword soon expanded further, stretching long and wide as if to cover the sky.
And then it fell.
The greatsword, imbued with blade aura, tore through the air toward Myeong-yun.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Myeong-yun gazed at the descending blade and opened his mouth.
“Your presence is formidable, yet you have not understood the meaning the Namgung family has carried.”
Myeong-yun raised the hand holding the dagger.
“The Namgung blade is the blade of control. Reinterpreting it through the sword to emphasize strength was a fine attempt, but……”
The tip of Myeong-yun's dagger touched the Namgung blade that Namgung Yeong-seong had unleashed.
A tiny blade point touched upon a crack within that vast energy.
Namgung Yeong-seong likely believed he had executed a perfect technique, but Myeong-yun could see it clearly.
By transforming the root Namgung sword art into a blade technique, the form had become incomplete.
The crack born from that imperfection.
The sole weakness in Namgung Yeong-seong's blade technique.
“Three.”
The moment Myeong-yun murmured, the tip of his dagger clashed with Namgung Yeong-seong's greatsword.
And what was sent flying was Namgung Yeong-seong's greatsword.
The blade aura he had manifested shattered into pieces, scattering azure energy in all directions.
From the forcibly dismantled blade aura, Namgung Yeong-seong vomited blood and dropped to one knee.
“W-what… The Namgung martial arts should be the strongest……”
“What constitutes the strongest martial art is an eternal debate. However, if wielded by an absolute master, even the Samjae Geombeop can become the greatest under heaven.”
Myeong-yun tossed the dagger to the ground and looked down at the kneeling Namgung Yeong-seong as he continued.
“Your final move was decent. I could glimpse the path you seek, but if you rely on tools, you will never reach that realm.”
“…The path I seek? You claim to know my path when even I do not?”
“The Namgung family's Sky-Piercing Boundlessness and the Imperial Sword. Transforming the Imperial Sword Form—which you treat as your ultimate technique—into a blade art was a method devised to dismantle the Imperial Sword Form.”
“I have never heard such a tale.”
“Of course not. It is the path of ruling control through strength to achieve dominance. Viewed differently, it is a blade art meant for usurpation.”
Namgung Yeong-seong's face twisted in incomprehension at Myeong-yun's words.
He had never heard such things about the Namgung blade art he knew—the World-Splitting Boundless Blade.
“It was no coincidence that you chose this blade art. If you wish to see its end, continue your training. Understand the meaning embedded within the martial arts, accept it, and make it your own.”
“…It feels as though I have attained enlightenment. Thank you. Thanks to you, I now know where I must set my foot.”
“Do not thank me.”
“Huh?”
Myeong-yun lightly extended his foot.
The tip of his foot struck Namgung Yeong-seong squarely in the chest.
At the same time, a cracking sound rang out as azure energy burst from his entire body.
“K-Kuaaaaaaaah—!!”
Namgung Yeong-seong, his inner energy storage module destroyed, collapsed to the ground and began crawling.
It was the agony of having one's dantian shattered, in Murim terms.
Myeong-yun kicked the rolling man away, sending him flying into the distance.
In that moment, a flood of chat messages and donations poured in.
Even though he had set the threshold quite high to avoid breaking immersion.
There were still plenty of strange people among them.
Myeong-yun lightly waved his hand at them before clasping his hands behind his back and turning his head.
One person remained to be disciplined.
She was like the strawberry atop the cake.
“Only you remain.”
Myeong-yun's gaze turned toward Jeok-wol, who had watched the entire battle between Heukmyeong and Namgung Yeong-seong.
He asked the rigid Jeok-wol.
“I ask you. What did you discover from my spar with them?”
“T-that is.”
Jeok-wol could not easily answer Myeong-yun's question.
She was no different from Heukmyeong or Namgung Yeong-seong.
A typical Sleepless City Murim-in who modified her body and downloaded martial arts to use them.
Yet under Myeong-yun's expectant gaze, Jeok-wol had no choice but to squeeze something out.
Otherwise, she would surely end up just like the other two.
The Heavenly Demon Cult Lord's right hand, the Red Sky Demoness, Heavenly Fragrance Unit Leader Jeok-wol.
She now faced the most perplexing situation of her life.
“I, this maiden……”
What should she say?
Jeok-wol had watched his spar, but there was nothing she could properly gain from it.
Compared to his physical specs and the martial arts he possessed, there was no understanding of ‘martial arts’ itself.
All she could tell was that Myeong-yun was a monster beyond imagination, just as he had claimed.
Enough to make her think he was not calling himself the Heavenly Demon for nothing.
“This maiden!”
Heukmyeong and Namgung Yeong-seong had fallen due to overwhelming skill gaps.
Even Jeok-wol would have to stake her life to defeat such an opponent.
The result of fighting would be obvious—she had already seen it twice.
In the end, there was only one answer she could give.
“I don't understand anything! Please spare me!”