Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: The Heaven-Severing Divine Sword
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‘Hah!’
Caught off guard, I didn't stop the Fire Dragon Sword aimed at Geum Cheong-san's side; instead, I thrust it even faster.
At the same time, I chided myself for such an uncharacteristic move. This was a tactic of mutual destruction, where we would both go down. But for now, it was the best option.
The greatsword that had been slashing toward my waist slightly altered its course, striking the Fire Dragon Sword that was piercing Geum Cheong-san's side.
*Clang!*
‘Ugh!’
The Fire Dragon Sword was knocked away, a sharp pain shooting through my entire arm. The shock sent me staggering back two steps.
Even after striking the Fire Dragon Sword, imbued with eighty years of my internal energy, the greatsword hadn't broken. Not only that, but it had sent a jolt of pain through me. That was because the greatsword was infused with a full cycle of sixty years of internal energy.
And that wasn't all.
*Tsching!*
Geum Cheong-san's greatsword followed me like my own shadow, slashing forward.
‘Is this the Thunderclap Saber Art?’
The formulas for the Thunderclap Saber Art were clear in my mind, but what Geum Cheong-san was currently demonstrating was a completely different saber technique.
‘Did I see it wrong?’
I watched the greatsword as it shot toward me, radiating saber energy, and hastily executed the Phantom Steps of the Divine Trail.
*Swish! Kiiing! Whoosh!*
Mindlessly performing the Phantom Steps was useless. It wasn't a technique that could evade everything unconditionally. I had to see precisely from what angle and how the greatsword was attacking to be able to dodge it.
I could end this immediately if I unleashed the Azure-White Ice Flower or a bolt of lightning from the Fire Dragon Sword.
But if I did, Geum Cheong-san would most likely die. I couldn't kill a man who had come to join the Dong-ro Grand Branch. Besides, I found him to be an admirable person.
And in this duel, I wanted to win using pure martial arts, without relying on Yin or Yang Essence. This was a matter of pride, a manifestation of the pure martial way.
The people of the Dong-ro Grand Branch and the dozens of applicants watched the duel with sweaty palms, their faces etched with extreme tension.
Geum Cheong-san's attacks were so fast, so relentlessly close, sticking to me like a shadow, that I couldn't find an opportunity to counterattack.
*Shiiing!*
Furthermore, every time Geum Cheong-san's greatsword attacked, it flashed, unleashing saber energy. Unbelievably, at times, three streams of saber energy would pour out at once.
This was because he was creating new streams of saber energy before the previous ones had even dissipated. That alone gave a sense of how incredibly fast his hands were.
In a flash, five stances had passed, and I was still busy just trying to evade.
I had never fought anyone for more than five stances before. Geum Cheong-san was, therefore, the strongest opponent I had ever faced.
‘I need to create an opportunity to counterattack!’
It was the obvious thing to do. Simply fighting back was a poor strategy. I had to learn and adapt while fighting.
Without blinking, I watched the storm of saber strikes and energy raining down on me. In a fleeting moment, I found a narrow gap between the blade and its energy and thrust my left hand forward, channeling eighty years of internal energy into a Tablet-Shattering Palm.
It wasn't an attack meant to exploit an opening, but to create one.
*Thwang!*
However, the Tablet-Shattering Palm struck the greatsword, its trajectory altered, flying into the empty air before dissipating.
In that instant, a minuscule crack appeared in Geum Cheong-san's assault. It was because his greatsword had collided with my palm technique.
‘It worked!’
But I didn't attack. Instead, I watched for Geum Cheong-san's next move. I wanted to confirm if the technique he was using was indeed the Thunderclap Saber Art. To me, that was more important than attacking or winning.
Geum Cheong-san paid no mind to why I wasn't counterattacking and launched another assault.
To press on with an all-out attack without trying to read the opponent's intentions was something only a person confident of victory could do.
*Kiwoot!*
After a momentary pause, Geum Cheong-san resumed his attack. It was so fluid and fast that it was hard to tell if there had been a break at all.
His attacks were continuous, without a single pause. Moreover, they were purely offensive, with no thought for defense.
I watched his moves intently, repeatedly executing the Phantom Steps of the Divine Trail to evade.
*Kiiiing!*
I tend to learn martial arts rather quickly. After evading about ten of his stances, I began to grasp his attack patterns, which made dodging a little easier.
That didn't mean I could now dodge with my eyes closed. It just meant I was no longer facing moments of crisis like before.
As a result, I could now observe his saber technique in greater detail.
‘Hmm?’
Something about the flow of his movements seemed strange. But it wasn't continuous; it was fragmented, stopping and starting abruptly.
‘What is this?’
When I pieced together a few of the broken sequences, a short formula emerged.
‘I wasn't wrong!’
The saber art Geum Cheong-san was using was undoubtedly the Thunderclap Saber Art. But the formulas were fragmented, a single passage taken from one of the art's first three stances.
‘He's executing it in reverse!’
He was performing the Thunderclap Saber Art not from the beginning, but backwards from the end.
Almost every martial art stance starts weak and ends strong. But by executing it from the end and cutting it off in the middle, the result was an overwhelmingly powerful, offense-only assault.
Just then, Geum Cheong-san leaped vertically into the air and slashed his saber at me several times.
*Kiuuuung!*
‘It's his ultimate move!’
The final four stances of the Thunderclap Saber Art. But this time, it wasn't reversed; he was using the proper formula.
In that moment, my mind cleared.
‘So that's how it was!’
*Kuaaaat!*
A total of six streams of saber energy swirled and intersected chaotically, shooting toward me like a hailstorm.
It was a truly terrifying attack. He was clearly a cut above the Blood Shadow Sword Venerable or the Snow Cloud Ice Venerable. A moment's carelessness, and I would be struck down without even a chance to scream.
If I hadn't figured out that he was executing the Thunderclap Saber Art in reverse, I might have been defeated by this attack.
But now that I knew this fierce assault of six swirling streams of saber energy was the final, ultimate move of the Thunderclap Saber Art, the real fight was just beginning.
I didn't want to counter the Thunderclap Saber Art with the same technique. To defeat it, I needed a completely different and superior sword art.
‘The Heaven-Severing Divine Sword!’
One of the three divine swords under heaven, the Heaven-Severing Divine Sword.
Until now, I had been too busy evading to grasp his techniques, but now, it was time to counterattack.
I combined the Flickering Shadow Step, which closed distances in an instant, with the Phantom Steps of the Divine Trail, which could evade the downpour of saber energy, and shot upwards.
*Twut!*
Faster than the blink of an eye, I soared toward Geum Cheong-san. But as I did, two streams of saber energy broke through and closed in on me from the left and right.
I immediately tried to add another twenty years of internal energy to my existing eighty, and I felt something click in my dantian. It worked.
*Jjeokkeong!*
I deflected the two streams of saber energy with the Fire Dragon Sword. My arm vibrated with a sharp pain again, but it was less severe than before.
When I reached the same height as Geum Cheong-san, a yard and a half above the dueling stage, I saw his eyes widen in shock.
It was only natural for him to be surprised, as I had just soared through the barrage of his ultimate move.
Geum Cheong-san had just executed his technique aimed downwards, so his saber was pointed toward the ground.
In that state, he was full of openings. All I had to do was attack, and I would win.
But I waited for him. I wanted to defeat his Thunderclap Saber Art fair and square with the Heaven-Severing Divine Sword.
Geum Cheong-san's brow furrowed. In a situation like this, only a lesser man would lower his weapon in defeat or ask why I wasn't attacking.
Geum Cheong-san instantly understood my intention and attacked like a thunderbolt.
*Kuaaaat!*
‘Hm?’
Though we were only a yard apart, a devastating attack was unleashed. Moreover, it was a completely different stance from what he had used so far.
But I recognized it as a reverse execution of the final, ultimate move of the Thunderclap Saber Art.
‘Is that so?’
The final four stances of the Thunderclap Saber Art he had just performed were incredibly powerful. This reverse execution of it was no less potent, a bizarre and unrefined attack.
If I hadn't seen through its reversed nature, I would have been in deep trouble.
‘A good attack! I’ll face it head-on!’
My fighting spirit surged, and I met his attack with the Fire Dragon Sword.
*Buwoot!*
From Geum Cheong-san's greatsword, a one-and-a-half-foot-long pillar of translucent, azure light erupted, slashing toward me with terrifying force.
Instead of unleashing saber energy, he had projected it from the tip of his saber, extending the three-foot-long blade to four and a half feet.
‘In that case! I’ll use sword energy too!’
This was the first time I was using it.
*Seuuung!*
A two-foot-long stream of pitch-black light erupted from the Fire Dragon Sword, meeting the greatsword head-on.
‘It worked!’
*Sssseut! Seut!*
The Heaven-Severing Divine Sword, as its name implied, was a sword art that could sever the heavens. As I unleashed its attacks, black ink-like lines split the azure sky.
Do Hyeon-tak’s face, as he looked up at the sky, was filled with astonishment.
‘A sword art that splits the heavens!’
Just then, he noticed Sang Gang-jo watching from the window of a separate building and quickly sent a telepathic message.
[Chief Hall Master! What is that sword art the Grand Branch Master is using?]
[Hmph! It is the Heaven-Severing Divine Sword.]
[The Heaven-Severing Sword Art!]
*Jjeokkeong! Kkeogeong! Kkeong!*
“Ugh! Ugh!”
As the black sword energy from the Fire Dragon Sword clashed with the azure-white saber energy from the greatsword, Geum Cheong-san was gradually pushed back, slowly descending.
I noticed a streak of white mixed within the inky black energy produced by my Fire Dragon Sword, but now was not the time to ponder it.
It was my first time using the Heaven-Severing Divine Sword, but even I was astonished by its formidable power.
*Jjaaat! Seuuut!*
Every time the inky line of the Fire Dragon Sword slashed, the clear blue sky truly seemed to crack and split apart.
If it looked that way to my eyes, I could only imagine how it appeared to those watching from around the dueling stage.
Pushed back by the relentless assault, Geum Cheong-san's feet finally touched the dueling stage.
*Crack!*
As his feet shattered the stage floor and dug in, the Fire Dragon Sword split the air vertically.
*Seuuuut!*
With a desperate expression, Geum Cheong-san gripped his greatsword with both hands and hastily held it horizontally above his head.
If I were to bring the Fire Dragon Sword down as it was, his greatsword would be split in two, and his head would be cleaved open.
Without stopping the Fire Dragon Sword, I withdrew about half of my internal energy.
If Geum Cheong-san was to join the Martial Alliance, I felt he needed at least one person to fear.
*Jjeong!*
“Heuk!”
When the Fire Dragon Sword struck the greatsword, the weapon remained intact, but Geum Cheong-san spat a stream of blood like an arrow, crashed through the dueling stage, and was knocked unconscious.
***
I went out to the river to test something.
Go Un-hyo started to follow me. When I turned back, he stopped and simply watched me in silence.
I felt he would be disappointed if I told him not to come, so I gave him a nod.
“Let’s go together.”
“Yes, Big Brother!”
Go Un-hyo ran over, overjoyed like a child.
During the final moments of my duel with Geum Cheong-san, when I added twenty years of internal energy to my eighty, I felt something click in my dantian. It felt strange.
Also, when I first manifested sword energy with the Fire Dragon Sword, the two-foot extension of energy initially seemed pitch-black, but on second glance, it had streaks of white mixed in.
I intended to solve these mysteries.
As I was walking toward my favorite spot among the rock formations, I heard a clear voice from somewhere.
“Fire Dragon Sword, halt your steps for a moment!”
I stopped and looked. From under a tree in the residential area, a figure was walking slowly toward me.
He was a slender man who looked to be in his late thirties, carrying a sword on his back. As he approached, he cupped his fist respectfully.
“This humble one is Gyeon Beon, the Fierce Dragon's Single Sword of Hubei. I wish to learn a lesson from the Fire Dragon Sword.”
I had never heard of the title "Fierce Dragon's Single Sword," but it would be rude to turn away a guest who had come seeking me.
“Very well.”