Chapter 556
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 556
Chapter Title: Long Time No See, Old Monster
“Kyu-hwi. Are you truly abandoning your sect’s will and raising your sword against Huashan?”
Shring.
Un Se-hyuk drew his sword.
And thrust it toward Mae-hwa Sword Sage Kyu-hwi, who stood blocking the path of Pung Geon and Gwan Ha-kyung.
Shring.
Kyu-hwi drew his sword as well.
“Huashan’s will is righteousness and chivalry.”
Seeing Kyu-hwi refuse to back down...
“You truly...”
Un Se-hyuk muttered, as violet sword energy began to gather on his blade.
Was it an illusion, or had the corner of his mouth just curled up in a smile?
‘To think a situation like this would unfold.’
Un Se-hyuk was inwardly pleased.
Having just achieved a breakthrough, he had descended the mountain at his disciple’s request for help, thinking it a chance to get some fresh air.
He never imagined he’d run into Kyu-hwi here.
Much less in a scenario where the man would draw his sword against him in defiance.
When he first arrived and saw his disciple’s pathetic state, how furious he had been.
The boy wasn’t a genius in martial arts, but he had some talent.
The problem was his cunning nature, always reading the situation for personal gain, which overshadowed that talent.
Yet Un Se-hyuk liked even that about him.
The world preached righteousness and chivalry, but those who survived to the end and shaped it were the ones who chased profit.
Having one disciple like Ban Yun among the self-righteous lot wasn’t so bad.
Still, the boy had talent in martial arts, so arriving to find him in such a state had filled him with rage.
Perhaps because it reminded him of his own past, when he couldn’t surpass the master who had expelled and chased him away.
The young girl facing Ban Yun had shone with dazzling talent.
Then suddenly, he sensed his martial nephew, Mae-hwa Sword Sage Kyu-hwi, and the man appeared.
And he learned this was a martial hall founded by his old master.
The world and its connections were truly wondrous, he thought, as he stepped forward to block the way.
It was a contrived justification from his worthless disciple chasing profit.
But a justification was still a justification.
His nephew’s proclaimed righteousness and chivalry might lie on the other side.
But the justification was on this side.
The Maehyang School his disciple had established was undeniably a branch of Huashan, and now his nephew was disrupting that branch’s event.
Un Se-hyuk had a legitimate reason to intervene.
The tangled mess of events had led to this moment, and from his perspective, it was satisfactory enough to bring a faint smile to his lips.
Kyu-hwi saw it clearly.
“Are you enjoying this?”
Kyu-hwi’s question flew straight at him.
“How could I not, when I get to witness the sword of Huashan’s Greatest Sword?”
To be precise, he was delighted at the chance to break Huashan’s Greatest Sword.
“I, too, am pleased to witness the sword of my martial uncle, who was once Huashan’s Greatest Sword.”
Violet sword energy bloomed on Kyu-hwi’s blade as well.
Wi Su-yeon couldn’t collect her thoughts amid the sudden turn of events.
Even the Mae-hwa Sword Sage was a distant, awe-inspiring figure to her, yet here was someone he called martial uncle.
She had heard from her master once.
Her master’s martial granduncle was still alive, secluded at the peak of Yeonhwa Peak.
‘That must be him...’
But his appearance was far from what she had imagined.
The Mae-hwa Sword Sage matched her expectations perfectly.
Though Huashan accepted lay disciples, the Sword Sage embodied the image of a stern, wind-and-bone immortal.
His granduncle, however, was pure worldly vice and passion incarnate.
‘He clearly dislikes his martial granduncle.’
The animosity was palpable.
‘How did things end up like this...?’
Clouds.
They had set out to find the lost Cloud Sword Method of Huashan, so how had it come to this?
She couldn’t understand.
Kyu-hwi and Un Se-hyuk stared at each other.
Kyu-hwi’s eyes were deep, clear, and serene.
Un Se-hyuk’s were deep, dark, and viscous.
“Indeed, Huashan’s Greatest Sword.”
Un Se-hyuk murmured lowly.
Thanks to his recent breakthrough elevating his realm, he could now properly gauge his nephew’s power.
It was impressive.
He had only recently reached the level his nephew had long surpassed.
However.
It didn’t matter now.
Un Se-hyuk hadn’t merely taken a single step forward.
After crouching low for so long, he had leaped several strides at once.
“You, martial uncle, seem to be Huashan’s Greatest Sword.”
Kyu-hwi read Un Se-hyuk’s realm.
The man from a few years ago, when they had briefly crossed paths, was different now.
Though they merely faced each other with swords drawn, countless blades clashed between them in that gaze.
Evenly matched.
A perfect standoff.
“Let us begin.”
As Un Se-hyuk spoke, killing intent seeped into his eyes.
The thick aura emanating from him startled not only Gwan Ha-kyung and Pung Geon, but even Wi Su-yeon.
‘This is Huashan’s sword?’
It didn’t feel like the sword of a righteous sect at all.
‘Martial uncle has gone down that path.’
A subtle yet profound energy spread from the Mae-hwa Sword Sage’s body.
The air filled with the thick scent of plum blossoms.
‘This is Sword Fragrance!’
Gwan Ha-kyung’s eyes widened.
It was on an entirely different level from the glimpse Ban Yun had shown before.
The moment the full fragrance of blooming plums saturated the space...
Clang!
Their swords had already clashed.
The plum fragrance vibrated even more intensely.
Un Se-hyuk’s blade also exuded a dizzying sword fragrance.
Then sword forms too fast for the eye to follow intertwined.
The first stance of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Method.
Plum Blossom Falling Petals.
Both unleashed the same stance from the same sword method against each other.
Yet though it was the same technique...
The movements, the energy, the ferocity were utterly different.
Their rapid sword forms soon reached the twelfth stance.
Plum Blossom Pointing Skyward, and still they were evenly matched.
Kyu-hwi was deeply shocked inside.
This wasn’t the martial uncle’s sword he knew.
Dark and viscous, unlike Huashan’s sword, yet it hadn’t strayed from its fundamentals.
It showed there was such a path, and crucially, it was far stronger.
Strong enough that Kyu-hwi had to grit his teeth and pour all his power into his sword.
Un Se-hyuk was the same.
He was wielding his sword at full force.
Pouring every bit of his new achievement into it.
‘As expected of Huashan’s Sword Sage, Kyu-hwi.’
He had thought his enlightenment surpassed his nephew’s, but no.
The fiercer he swung his sword, the thicker the killing intent in Un Se-hyuk’s eyes grew.
He truly intended to cut down his nephew defying Huashan’s will.
Kyu-hwi, however, could not.
He was merely trying to force his differently pathed martial uncle to withdraw.
That difference made Un Se-hyuk’s sword all the more vicious.
A fierce storm raged around the two.
Those watching their duel could only stumble back.
“Ultra-peak realm...”
Pung Geon murmured.
It was his first time witnessing a duel between masters of such a realm from so close.
Back in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, the distance had been considerable.
Ultra-peak was indeed the domain of monsters beyond human limits.
“What the hell is this place...?”
Pung Geon muttered in bewilderment.
He had come only to meet a comrade and friend.
Yet things kept escalating.
Kwaaaang!
A massive explosion rang out then.
Both staggered back the same distance.
But their expressions differed.
Un Se-hyuk grinned slyly, while Kyu-hwi’s face was rigid.
“Martial uncle. What have you touched? This isn’t Huashan’s sword...”
“What isn’t Huashan’s sword?”
“Well...”
Kyu-hwi opened his mouth to reply to Un Se-hyuk’s retort, but the man continued.
“A sword is merely a tool to kill. Sword methods are ways to kill better. Why can’t pursuing strength be Huashan’s sword? Isn’t the ultimate essence of Huashan’s sword just swordsmanship?”
“You’ve fallen to heart demons.”
Kyu-hwi murmured with regret.
“Do heart demons elevate your realm?!”
With that shout, Un Se-hyuk unleashed the twenty-first stance, Plum Fragrance Piercing Bones.
Kakakakang!
Kyu-hwi countered with the same stance but gradually fell into a defensive position.
The viscous killing intent pooling in Un Se-hyuk’s eyes grew, taking on a black presence.
His violet sword energy was so dense it seemed murky somewhere.
At that moment.
“Ugh.”
Gwan Po grimaced.
A sudden agony wracked his dantian.
‘Why all of a sudden...?’
He had never felt such pain even when overtaxing his dantian in battle, leaving him flustered.
The resumed fight was entirely different from before.
Un Se-hyuk was overwhelming Kyu-hwi.
Kyu-hwi retreated step by step.
In the end, he had no choice but to resolve himself.
It was still imperfect, but he had to reveal what he had gained.
‘I wanted to verify and perfect the Cloud Sword Method first, but...’
The twenty-second stance of the Plum Blossom Sword Method.
As he unleashed Plum Blossom Drunken Butterfly, the aura of Kyu-hwi’s sword changed.
Clouds are light.
Free.
And heavy.
They swirl.
Such clouds took the form of plum blossoms, scattering fragrance to intoxicate butterflies.
Light and free, heavy and storm-like.
Contradictory sword movements unfolded from Kyu-hwi’s hand.
Kwaaaaang!
Another explosion erupted.
Both staggered back.
Their expressions were the same now.
Rigid and tense.
“Is this your level?”
“Martial uncle...?”
Faces filled with mutual shock.
And fury toward each other as they pushed their inner energy to the limit.
Kyu-hwi looked like an entirely different person now.
A massive storm began to rage across the training ground.
At the storm’s center.
Violet energy concentrated at the tip of Un Se-hyuk’s sword.
And then it burst forth.
Plum Blossom Fragrance a Thousand Miles.
The final stance of the Plum Blossom Sword Method unfolded.
The dark violet sword energy turned into tiny sword rings, scattering in all directions.
Like plum fragrance spreading.
Kyu-hwi unleashed Plum Blossom Fragrance a Thousand Miles as well.
As if clouds blanketing the entire sky.
As if filling the space with plum fragrance.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
The explosion rang out again.
This time, only Kyu-hwi was pushed back.
“Cough.”
He spat blood, as if sustaining internal injuries.
Un Se-hyuk stood proudly with his sword raised.
His blade was cloaked in black-violet energy.
“Martial uncle... how...”
Kyu-hwi gazed at Un Se-hyuk with a devastated expression.
“Y-You... fucking bastard!!!”
Then.
Gwan Po charged at Un Se-hyuk.
It was a sudden outburst, his eyes flipped with rage.
However.
Thwack!
A casual swing of the hand sent him flying back.
“You’re strong, kid. Thanks to you, everyone here must die.”
Un Se-hyuk’s low, viscous voice.
Ban Yun jolted at those words.
Everyone here included him.
“M-Master...?”
Ban Yun called to his master in a trembling voice.
But Un Se-hyuk didn’t even glance back.
Sensing something was wrong, Ban Yun acted swiftly.
He kicked off the ground to flee.
Thwack!
But he collapsed after a few steps.
Struck by a palm strike from Un Se-hyuk.
“You worthless thing, at least your instincts are sharp. Tsk.”
Un Se-hyuk clicked his tongue.
His eyes had grown even darker.
“I never imagined I’d have to draw out my incomplete full power. Martial uncle, truly Huashan’s Greatest Sword worthy of the Sword Sage title. Unlike me, stuck at mere Sword Fragrance. Kyu-hwi.”
“Kuh. Those petty titles... the path of the sword...”
Thwack.
“Cough.”
Kyu-hwi tried to speak but took a fist to the abdomen from Un Se-hyuk’s strike, vomiting another mouthful of blood.
“Such things don’t matter anymore.”
Un Se-hyuk surveyed his surroundings.
Those meeting his gaze froze in place.
Pung Geon and Gwan Ha-kyung were no exceptions.
‘What is this...?’
The hairs on their bodies stood on end.
He had felt this sensation before.
In the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
Facing the jiangshi.
Yet from a former Huashan master?
And not even a jiangshi.
What could it be?
“Regrettable, but all of you die.”
As Un Se-hyuk raised his sword again.
“Regrettable, but no.”
A unfamiliar voice from behind him made Un Se-hyuk whirl and slash instantly.
He unleashed viscous energy at full power in a fierce sword strike.
Bam!
But an unexpected sound and rebound force made him stagger back.
A man stood there.
“Long time no see, old freak. But now you really are one.”
Ha Mu-baek.
He glared at Un Se-hyuk with eyes brimming with fury.
His voice dripped with thick killing intent as well.