The Vermilion Bird's Severing Kill
The leader of the Black Demon Division, Eul Hwang-yeong, unleashed a thunderous roar. A crimson sword qi brimming with searing heat shattered an entire building. From within the wreckage emerged a man clad in black demon robes, striding forward with deliberate steps. The Heavenly Demon Cult warriors who had formed a circular formation around him swallowed dryly. Their ambush, launched with the resolve to kill in a single strike, had crumbled before one casual swing of the sword. The killing intent radiating from this warrior, whose face remained hidden, rivaled that of the cult's upper echelon. Where in the martial world had such a monster appeared?
The cultists resolved to fight with the determination to end this creature even if it meant their own deaths. "Tahaat!" "Too slow." With a wet, explosive burst, one cultist lunged at Baekri Hyeong. He swept his sword horizontally in a light arc. The blade, infused with the Vermilion Bird Qi's dreadful killing intent, cleaved the charging warrior in half. Blood from the now-corpse splattered across Baekri Hyeong's demon robes. This man wielded a slaughter technique more ruthless than even the infamous cruelty of the Demonic Cult. The cultists' wariness toward him rose another notch. An irrational terror gripped them—the certainty that if they failed to kill him, they would all perish. That fear weighed upon their instincts. Should they obey the Heavenly Demon's command and slay this man, or flee to some unknown place and live quietly? For the first time, such an absurd fantasy crossed their minds, and the formation they had created began to waver.
"What's wrong? Are you already cowering before something like this?" Baekri Hyeong hurled taunts at the cultists. Even if they were mere underlings of the Heavenly Demon Cult, he had not expected them to be so terrified by the Vermilion Bird Qi's killing intent alone. After all, he himself was merely a common Peak Realm expert who had yet to break through the wall of the Transcendent Peak Realm. Of course, Peak Realm experts were not exactly common, but still. Having pushed the Vermilion Bird Qi to its extreme, Baekri Hyeong now embodied death itself. The cultists flinched upon noticing that his eyes had turned red. Why did his presence seem to take the form of an undying phoenix, the Vermilion Bird? The realization that they faced not a human but a monstrous beast began to erode their minds with fear.
"Are you afraid?" "...!" "Speak now. If you fear this unknown figure before you, this seat will gladly sever your necks at any time."
At the critical moment when the cultists' loyalty to their order began to waver, a warrior radiating a far denser demonic energy than the others stepped forward. Baekri Hyeong studied his face, wondering if it was someone he knew, but unfortunately it was not. "I recommend you run. Being captured by the Murim Alliance would be preferable to dying, wouldn't it?" "How amusing. A mere black path scum dares to interfere in the affairs of this cult?" "Black path scum... Yes. You will die at the hands of black path scum."
Baekri Hyeong intensified the Vermilion Bird Qi's output. The man presumed to be the cultists' leader flinched. He had not expected such an enormous surge of killing intent. Still, he remained confident that he stood a step above this madman spewing crimson death. "This seat is Eul Hwang-yeong, leader of the Black Demon Division of the Heavenly Demon Cult. Who are you?" "Does a black path scum need a name?" "Then call me the Nameless Swordsman. Go and report it to your cult." "Understood!" "Where do you think you're going!"
Baekri Hyeong instantly unleashed the Vermilion Bird Slaughter Sword upon the cultist attempting to retreat. The man's waist was severed on the spot. Unfortunately, Eul Hwang-yeong's order had been issued to every cultist surrounding Baekri Hyeong. In other words, Baekri Hyeong had allowed several to escape right before his eyes. "Can you handle me alone?" "If I cannot handle one black path scum, I should relinquish my position as division leader, shouldn't I?" "Heh. This should be entertaining."
Baekri Hyeong could not suppress a bitter laugh. The Vermilion Bird Qi was like this. Born solely to kill, it unconsciously instilled cruel emotions in its wielder. Even his master had warned him of its dangers and advised against prolonged use. If mishandled, it could lead to qi deviation; he must never release more than a controlled amount of killing intent until he could fully master it. "It's ridiculous that a mere insect like you thinks you can kill me." "All talk, are you? Enough. Let's end this here—" Before Eul Hwang-yeong could finish, a crimson sword qi surged toward his solar plexus. Fortunately, his protective qi barrier held; otherwise, his chest would have been pierced through. So this was the extent of the man's skill. Eul Hwang-yeong erased all expression from his face and committed his full power to the fight against Baekri Hyeong.
"Come." "I was planning to!" With a thunderous impact, Baekri Hyeong stomped the ground, sending a massive wave of energy rippling outward. The Vermilion Bird Qi, finally able to breathe freely, smiled in delight and poured its killing intent into him. He kicked off the earth and closed the distance to Eul Hwang-yeong in an instant, slashing at his neck with a sword brimming with Vermilion Bird Qi. But Eul Hwang-yeong was seasoned. Realizing that his opponent's swordsmanship had reached the pinnacle of speed, he bent his waist backward at an extreme angle and drove a fist packed with demonic energy toward Baekri Hyeong's side. Of course, Baekri Hyeong was not foolish enough to take the blow. The Vermilion Bird Qi's flames already cloaked his body in natural protection. Combined with his protective qi barrier, his physique had become impervious to mere fist techniques.
"You Demonic Cult bastards always use the same tactic. If you think you're going to die, kill the other first—that damned method." "...!" "You never imagined you would be the ones suffering it!" "This madman!"
Seeing the madness blazing in Baekri Hyeong's eyes, Eul Hwang-yeong instinctively stepped backward. What kind of drug had he taken to make his eyes look like that? Such a gaze filled with insanity belonged only to the highest masters within the cult, those at the level of Demon Gods. Yet the moment he retreated, he regretted it. Baekri Hyeong had closed the gap in an instant and struck his face with a fist. Crack! "Kuhak!" A swordsman using fist techniques. Was such a thing even possible? He was not someone who carried a sword merely as decoration. His movements were specialized in footwork optimized for swordsmanship. "Why is a swordsman not using his sword!" "To survive, one must be willing to do anything—even if it is nothing more than desperate flailing!"
He had learned this lesson bitterly in his previous life. Clinging stubbornly to the sword as a swordsman only led to terrible consequences. The cultists would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. If a sword pierced their stomach, they would rip out the swordsman's heart with their bare hands. Or they would carry explosives and attempt mutual destruction. Baekri Hyeong had been one of the few warriors to survive such extreme situations until the very end. Even if his body had not yet fully regained its battle instincts, the harrowing memories of his past life remained intact. "Tahaap!" "Tch!"
Eul Hwang-yeong clicked his tongue and leaped into the air. But Baekri Hyeong immediately pursued him, continuing the Vermilion Bird Slaughter Sword. Shhhk! Sword qi wreathed in flames tore into Eul Hwang-yeong's flesh and nerves. He tried to seize the initiative with fist techniques, but Baekri Hyeong, sensing it with uncanny precision, evaded every strike with lightning-fast footwork. 'A monster!' He moved like a machine built solely for killing. If Eul Hwang-yeong focused on blocking the sword with his right arm, some kick-like technique would target his side. Yet if he diverted his attention elsewhere, he would fail to read the sword path and suffer a decisive hit. From then on, it was a one-sided onslaught. Having seized complete momentum, Baekri Hyeong carved into Eul Hwang-yeong while radiating killing intent. Thud! Crunch! Slash! Splatter! "You bastard!" Eul Hwang-yeong roared, grinding his teeth at the wounds multiplying across his body in real time. The gap in their realms was obvious, yet being driven back like this infuriated him. If this continued, he would gain nothing and meet his death. "Graaaah!"
Finally, Eul Hwang-yeong drew upon his innate true qi to push his demonic energy to the extreme. Yet he noticed that Baekri Hyeong's momentum had suddenly quieted and tilted his head in confusion. The killing intent that had seemed ready to collapse the surroundings was no longer felt. Only his eyes remained dyed crimson, just as before. Strange. Why had it become so quiet? 'Something... is coming?' Danger. Though it appeared to be an ordinary mid-level stance, Eul Hwang-yeong felt an ominous premonition that an irreversible calamity would unfold the moment Baekri Hyeong moved. "I won't let you!" With a thunderous crash, Eul Hwang-yeong, now clad in an enormous fist force greater than ever before, charged at Baekri Hyeong. But Baekri Hyeong had been waiting for him to enter his range. The instant Eul Hwang-yeong stepped into the desired distance, he detonated the Vermilion Bird Qi all at once. An enormous surge of energy exploded outward! Eul Hwang-yeong's eyes widened in disbelief, but it was already too late. Shhhk! "M... ad..." With a wet, explosive burst, a massive slash cleaved through Eul Hwang-yeong in the blink of an eye. A thin red line appeared across his entire body, and in the next moment, half of him split apart, meeting a miserable death. It was the first stance of the Hundred Heavens Three Stances—Severing Ruin. Moreover, it was a refined sword art born from infusing the Vermilion Bird Qi into the Hundred Heavens Three Stances. In that moment, the Vermilion Bird Style of the Hundred Heavens Three Stances, the Severing Ruin Kill, was born.