Chapter 27
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Translator: MJK
Chapter: 10.3
Chapter Title: Blade Lord
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-Swish-
Watching White Wolf retreat alongside the Black Sword and White Blade, An Hoe turned around.
Facing the thick darkness head-on, he spoke in a calm tone.
"Thank you for waiting."
"...You're joking."
Someone stepped into view.
It was an elderly master with a striking white beard that reached his chest.
His sharply upturned eyes, tightly pursed lips, and overall savage aura persisted even in old age.
With his brows furrowed now, he looked even fiercer than usual.
The men emerging behind him wore equally grim expressions.
"...It seems you've been toying with us."
"That kid's supposed to be the monster?"
"Does White Wolf have nine lives or something?"
"Hmph!"
Each vented their fury in their own way, yet none drew their blades.
After all, they weren't the ones in charge here.
They merely exuded the bloodlust spilling from their killing intent.
The protectors weren't the only ones harboring murderous vibes.
The old master who had driven White Wolf to that point—the Blade Lord—radiated his own killing intent as well.
-Shiiiik!-
The killing intent of one who had reached the Aura Realm was lethal in itself.
It was akin to the roar of a tiger charging over a mountain ridge in rage.
Those who faced such a roar often wasted away for days before dying or descending into madness.
The Blade Lord's intent was exactly that, impossible to face without dread.
"Ho?"
Yet An Hoe remained unfazed, drawing intrigue from the Blade Lord.
The protectors reacted similarly, their eyes gleaming.
Perhaps White Wolf hadn't deceived them after all.
Still, it was hard to take at face value—the boy before them was far too young.
He looked barely in his thirties at most, let alone in his twenties. Who could believe he was the monster?
The protectors remained skeptical.
Unlike them, the Blade Lord adopted a slightly different stance.
Having wielded the blade for over a century through turbulent times, he had encountered countless bizarre events and eccentrics.
His mind was unusually flexible in such matters.
Fixing An Hoe with his pitch-black gaze, he spoke.
"It seems you orchestrated this whole affair. Am I correct?"
"Indeed. White Wolf Hero simply honored my request."
"Hmph."
Even as the asker, the Blade Lord couldn't hide his surprise at An Hoe's frank admission.
He pondered briefly before asking again.
"Then you must be the one who slew Mi Bang as well."
"Yes."
"..."
Once more, An Hoe's ready confession left the Blade Lord speechless.
Even with his open mind, accepting that a mere boy had killed Mi Bang—the one poised to carry the Mi family's legacy after him—was no easy feat.
Yet his instincts affirmed the boy's words as truth, so he let out a long sigh and continued.
"Haah~. How did he meet his end?"
"He perfected his sword in the final moment."
"...That's hard to believe."
He could accept the boy as Mi Bang's killer, but not that Mi Bang had completed his sword before death.
Not because Mi Bang lacked the talent.
Rather, for another reason entirely.
"Your words are false."
"Why do you think that?"
"Hahaha. Why? Obviously. If he'd truly perfected his sword, you wouldn't be standing here alive."
An Hoe smiled at the resolute declaration.
As if he'd anticipated it.
As the Blade Lord's brow furrowed, An Hoe drew his sword.
-Shring-
Not on the level of the Blade Lord's famed blade, but his own was a fine sword worthy of the elite ranks.
Yet he hadn't drawn it to boast.
"It may not be perfect, but I'll show you his final strike."
"???"
The sudden words baffled the Blade Lord and protectors alike.
They couldn't grasp what the boy meant.
Ignoring them, An Hoe steadied his breath and silently unleashed his sword.
-Whoooosh!-
A gust arose from nowhere, coiling around the blade tip.
In that instant, his sword transcended mere metal.
It became the wind, the thunder.
A divine blade that shattered all barriers, crushing and cleaving relentlessly.
-Chaaaak!-
The air rippled violently as the sword, source of it all, reverted innocently to its original form.
An Hoe sheathed it calmly and said,
"He called this the Gale-Thunder Divine Sword."
"!!!"
The Blade Lord was stunned speechless.
His mind tangled like a knotted ball of thread.
He couldn't deny that An Hoe's display was the sword Mi Bang had pursued his entire life.
He had clashed with it countless times before.
'Yes... a blade worthy of the name Gale-Thunder Divine Sword.'
Thus, confusion overwhelmed him.
What An Hoe showed wasn't mere imitation.
It embodied the very essence of the Gale-Thunder Divine Sword that Mi Bang had strived for—the one he'd witnessed repeatedly.
A feat even he, the Blade Lord, couldn't achieve.
No human could.
So he had to ask.
"Who are you?"
Not merely for a name or affiliation, but closer to questioning if he was even human.
Fortunately, An Hoe understood.
Shaking his head in disbelief at the arrogant Blade Lord posing such a question, he replied,
"Surely you're not asking if I'm human."
"Even if you say you are, I doubt I'd believe it."
"I am."
"Hearing that somehow makes it harder to accept."
The protectors' faces twisted at the casual exchange amid the tension.
An Hoe's swordplay had impressed even them.
But they couldn't see how it connected to this trivial banter.
Even if explained, they wouldn't comprehend.
What An Hoe had done defied common sense, no matter how stretched.
In contrast, the Blade Lord awkwardly nodded at the claim of humanity, accepting it to some degree.
He wouldn't deny what he'd witnessed.
Naturally, past events began falling into place.
"It was you. The one who shattered our main house's grand undertaking."
"If that 'grand undertaking' meant toppling the nation to usurp the throne, then yes, shattering it was right."
An Hoe didn't deny the inference.
Surprisingly, the Blade Lord didn't rage at the response.
"So that's how it was."
He seemed relieved, as if a weight had lifted.
An Hoe, puzzled, asked,
"You're not angry?"
"Why wouldn't I be? It's just... there's nothing to be done."
"???"
His answer bewildered not just An Hoe but the protectors too.
From the Blade Lord's view, though, it was inevitable.
To him, An Hoe was no different from a natural disaster.
No matter how skilled a farmer, one couldn't stand against heaven's wrath.
His feelings mirrored that farmer's.
'No wonder things went awry. If only I'd known sooner...'
He wouldn't have threatened the city lord to swallow Juyang City or allied with Evil Spirit Castle.
"Slaying you now changes nothing."
"Blade Lord!!!"
As he seemed poised to forgo even vengeance for Mi Bang, the protectors cried out in shock.
Their interruption was grossly impertinent, yet he didn't reprimand them.
He merely gazed upon their plight with pity.
Glancing skyward briefly, he turned back to An Hoe.
"No helping it."
-Shrrring-
With those words, he drew his blade, the Ghost Blade.
True to its name of a sword possessed by spirits, it exuded an eerie menace upon reveal.
The Blade Lord wielding it made for a terrifying sight, yet An Hoe calmly drew his own sword.
Observing him, the Blade Lord said,
"Ten exchanges. Survive ten from me, and we'll withdraw. By then, even they should understand."
"Agreed."
An Hoe accepted readily.
Enduring a mere twenty clashes against aura was his limit; ten eased the burden greatly.
But the Blade Lord inwardly chided his own proposal as petty.
He'd wield aura from the first move.
-Whoooong-
The air boiled and shook around him as haze-like strands rose from his blade, coalescing.
Qi threads—they formed a two-inch blade aura atop the Ghost Blade, hazy yet tangible.
Blade aura.
"It's called the Heaven-Dominating Blade Technique."
An Hoe, who had watched the blade aura manifest as if transfixed, nodded and finally presented his own sword.
"Subduing Demon Sword Art."
-Tzzzzz-
No sooner had the words left than a demon appeared.
The Blade Lord's eyes wavered.
Even a seasoned master like him had never encountered such a horrific, malevolent presence.
But what truly shook him was something else.
-Goooong!-
A small orb at the demon's blade tip.
Infinitesimally tiny and pathetic next to blade aura, yet recognizing it, the Blade Lord recoiled in horror.
'Qi orb?!'
Qi orb—the second realm of qi manipulation, beyond even his reach.
Dull compared to what he'd imagined, but undeniably real.
'Truly indifferent heavens.'
Muttering inwardly against the skies for birthing such an absurdity, he swung.
-Kugagagang!-
His tyrannical swing tore the air asunder.
An Hoe, failing to muster proper sword qi against it, seemed doomed to split apart.
Yet the outcome differed.
-Kwaaaang!-
An Hoe thrust, halting the devastating blade aura dead in its tracks.
"!!!!"
The protectors staggered back, shaking their heads in denial at the impossible sight.
Yet reality persisted.
-Kwagagang! Kagang!-
The Blade Lord's blade aura grew fiercer with each swing, only to be repeatedly parried by An Hoe's thrusts.
In fact, he was gradually being pushed back.
By the eighth exchange, An Hoe's blade keenly targeted his vitals, forcing a major retreat on the tenth as promised, brow furrowed.
Their swift ten-exchange bout devastated the surroundings.
Mostly fallout from the Blade Lord's aura, but a solid tenth stemmed from An Hoe.
The clashes between blade aura and qi orb had upturned the earth nearby.
Had An Hoe's qi orb been even slightly larger, the destruction would've been far worse.