The Phantom Demon's Return (2)
Twelve mercenaries stood before Seomun Hwan.
They each carried different origins, different aliases, and the distinct stench of different battlefields.
One had grown up as a northern soldier, drinking in the bloody reek of the battlefield. Another was a martial artist expelled from the Nine Sects and One Gang.
Yet every last one of them had gathered in this single place.
All to kill one man.
“……This is the bastard we’re supposed to fight?”
“They called all twelve of us out here just for this one brat?”
“Tsk! This is laughable.”
One of the mercenaries clicked his tongue.
What they saw in Seomun Hwan was nothing more than a neatly dressed young man standing with perfect posture. There was no aura of intimidation, no special energy to be felt at all.
“Enough.”
Another mercenary picked up where the first left off.
“We’re here to work. The commission fee was more than enough, so let’s finish this quickly and go home.”
The rest nodded in agreement.
These were men who moved for money, not honor or revenge.
They needed neither justification nor reason to fight. They had simply been paid to commit murder, and now it was time to earn that payment.
Jongli Hyeok glared at Seomun Hwan with a face still smeared in blood and eyes burning with unrelenting hatred.
“Kill them all. Leave no witnesses alive.”
At his command, the mercenaries placed their hands on their sword hilts in unison.
A razor-sharp killing intent washed over the group.
Jegal So-dam swallowed hard.
This is…… really dangerous.
Seomun Hwan stood alone. His opponents numbered twelve.
And every single one of them was a Peak expert.
“Y-Young Master? Are you really sure about this? We’re going to be okay, right?”
Rather than answer, Seomun Hwan simply raised his Blue Stream Sword in a leisurely motion.
“You want to kill everyone to silence witnesses? Looks like we have something in common. I was thinking the exact same thing.”
The moment he poured energy into the Blue Stream Sword, the air around them froze as if time itself had stopped.
The gentle breeze that had been drifting by suddenly swirled violently with Seomun Hwan at its center.
Rumble!
Seomun Hwan had not taken a single step, yet his mere presence transformed the entire battlefield.
Even the mercenaries who had been approaching with arrogant confidence instinctively retreated a pace.
“……What the hell is this guy? He’s no simple brat.”
Seomun Hwan’s Blue Stream Sword sliced through the empty air, sending silver sword light spreading like ink from a brush, forming a radiant halo.
A brilliant, chilling wave of sword energy.
The moment that energy erupted—
Bang!
Blades of grass and fallen leaves shot skyward before raining back down like a sudden shower.
Crash!
The force drove deep into the earth, shaking the ground itself.
Even the trees in the distance shed their leaves in a rush and bowed as if in submission.
With nothing more than a casual gesture, Seomun Hwan’s true level had been revealed.
The mercenaries shouted in alarm.
“W-Wait, this is completely different from what we were told!”
Cold sweat already beaded on their foreheads.
Seomun Hwan’s presence alone was crushing the entire space around them.
“Shall we get serious, then?”
He began to wield the Blue Stream Sword in earnest.
Its blade caught the light and sparkled like glass.
Yet the instant that sword drew its first breath—
Shweeeeeeeek!
Stronger than thunder,
Freer than the wind,
A wave deeper, lower, and wider than anything else tore through the air.
He still had not taken a single step, but the battlefield had already changed.
Tiny particles sleeping in the air awakened. The veins within the earth trembled faintly before the sword energy even reached them.
The Blue Stream Sword shimmered.
Its trajectory flowed as smoothly as water, yet struck as sharply as lightning.
It swayed gently at first—then finally exploded.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
The sky was sliced apart. Air currents were ripped to shreds.
A thousand layers of sword light wove together and poured outward in every direction.
Before one mercenary could even scream, his shadow vanished first.
Another twisted his body and threw himself straight into the swamp of blades drawn across the empty air.
“This isn’t martial arts! This is impossible……!”
Even that cry was cut in two by the sword energy.
The entire sky began to be dyed in a silver-white veil.
Clouds were torn apart. Light was devoured.
And what took their place was…….