Another Enemy
Mong Yu-baek’s mouth hung open in shock.
The sky was ripping apart. The earth trembled violently.
The very air seemed terrified, frozen solid, as if time itself had stopped and nothing could move.
“Th-this is impossible...”
He had studied countless martial arts, roamed the gangho at will, and devoted himself to grasping the profound truths of the sword. He still did so now, and he would continue until the day he died.
The accumulated wisdom of those long years—the truths of martial arts, the laws of nature, and the corresponding insights into sword theory—lay stacked like layers within Mong Yu-baek’s mind.
But this... this made no sense.
“A realm like that...”
The mountains, rivers, trees, and grass all held their breath.
A dragon’s aura had the entire Mount Myobang beneath its feet. It roared savagely, driving the man back.
The thick, ink-black sword qi rising from the tip of Woo-jin’s blade instantly overwhelmed the man’s crimson energy.
Demon Dragon.
Yes. That was a Demon Dragon.
Wherever its breath touched, the ground itself crumbled and collapsed.
At this rate, even the Mong Family Villa would be in danger.
Kwaaaaang!
The black sword qi erupted, crushing the red aura beneath it.
The Demon Dragon’s roar shook the earth. In the aftershock, the man’s sword twisted wildly.
He clenched his teeth and endured.
But the pressure enveloping his entire body bored straight into his bones, cutting off his breath.
He staggered back one step, and I refused to miss that opening.
“It’s over.”
The blue-black tip of my sword pierced straight through his shoulder.
If you show a gap, you pay the price.
Pshuk. The wet sound of flesh and bone tearing apart rang out.
The man swallowed a scream and stumbled backward, but I immediately drove my foot into his abdomen.
Bang!
His body flew backward, smashing through a stone pillar before crashing into the ground.
Even as stone shards scattered through the air, Woo-jin’s shadow descended on him without the slightest hesitation.
Crack!
The blade grazed the man’s nape.
A single line of blood scattered into the air, and the man’s body froze completely.
Unable to even swallow, his pupils trembled violently.
Watching the entire scene from afar, Mong Yu-baek swallowed hard.
“Overwhelming. He read the opponent’s sword path half a breath ahead and countered it perfectly. What an impossible monster.”
Before he even finished speaking, a heavy shudder rose from deep within his chest.
Even to eyes tempered by decades of martial study, that strike had been flawless.
Not flashy technique—pure, overwhelming power.
“......”
At Mong Yu-baek’s words, Mong Yeo-rin bit her lip until it nearly bled.
Her slender wrist trembled. Her chest tightened as though her breath were being stolen away.
“This can’t be real.”
They were both from the same generation of young talents. How could such a gap exist?
At that moment, Woo-jin leaned down toward the man.
“Speak.”
Honestly, he had been a difficult opponent.
One real mistake and my head would have flown off. It had been a continuous string of razor-thin moments.
My mind was a mess. My heart pounded like it wanted to explode.
“Who are you?”
Yet I asked calmly.
“Kuk kuk kuk.”
The man staggered upright, his face covered in blood.
He wiped the blood from his mouth and glared at me.
“A name that doesn’t matter even if I tell you. What would change if you knew it?”
“Then tell me anyway.”
“We... are beings born from blood, bound by blood. The only thing that lies on the path we walk is the death of every living thing that breathes.”
As he spoke, the man drew the character for on his own forehead.
His movements were reverent, as if performing some sacred ritual.
“We are the Sura Blood Cult. The great sovereign will soon descend upon this land. You may know it is coming, but you will not be able to stop it.”
“......”
What the hell was he talking about?
“The Sura Blood... Cult?”
“Correct.”
I had never heard of them.
But the name alone was ominous.
The man slowly rose to his feet.
I thought I had completely neutralized him, making movement impossible, yet his aura felt disturbingly strong.
“Why? Why did you do this? What does the Mong Family Villa have?”
“It does have something.”
He pointed his finger at me.
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. The sovereign commanded us to either kill you or bring you back.”
The sovereign... Was he talking about the inhuman man I had seen in the abandoned warehouse?
That thing that didn’t seem human at all—was that the sovereign this man spoke of?
“Who is this sovereign you keep mentioning?”
“You don’t need to know that.”
The man stood up as if nothing had happened.
He appeared fully recovered.
What kind of recovery ability is that...?
He wasn’t human.
The wounds I had inflicted on him moments ago had all healed completely.
Moreover, his aura had grown even more ferocious and wild than before.
Srung!
He ran his fingers along his sword and spoke in a low voice.
“Follow me and I will spare everyone here. Refuse... and you die.”
“......”
At his words, I glanced toward where Mong Yu-baek and Mong Yeo-rin stood.
They both looked exhausted.
They shook their heads at me with firm determination.
Do not follow him.
“Why do you want to take me? I thought we finished this conversation last time.”
“Exactly. This is your final chance to choose.”
The man was relaxed.
He had every reason to be.
They already dominated the battlefield.
Besides, I had just witnessed that absurd recovery ability with my own eyes.
And it wasn’t just him.
The warriors he had brought were also healing from serious wounds and rising again.
“Give up and come with me. What do you have to lose? If you keep fighting, you’ll die here.”
Die.
Die again.
To say I wasn’t afraid of death would be a lie.
This second life I had obtained.
Even if everything was a dream, I didn’t want to throw it away.
But following him was something I would rather die than do.
Srung!
So my answer came in the form of a sword.
I pointed the heavily cracked blade at him.
“In the end, you choose death. Tsk.”
The man swung his sword through the air a few times, then charged straight at me.
“Then I’ll kill you.”
Thud!
The atmosphere was blasted away. The wind pressure rushed toward me alone.
Overwhelming power.
A destructive force that sent chills down my spine!
His onslaught, carrying all of that, came crashing in like a tidal wave.
Clang! Kwaang! Crack!
The man had grown even stronger than when we first fought.
It was almost ridiculous that such absurd martial arts could exist.
Slide!
I was pushed back several steps, coughing up blood.
Internal injury.
My dantian rang painfully.
My heart pounded even harder than before.
But I would not give up.
I can’t die here.
I wrung out every last ounce of my strength.
I had told myself countless times.
In my previous life, I had wandered the Central Plains and mastered countless martial arts.
The techniques of the righteous clans. The arts of the orthodox sects.
The martial arts of the black path and evil factions.
And......
Demonic arts had been part of my research as well.
Rumble!
My dantian shook violently.
Reverse the flow.
I forcibly twisted the internal energy that had been flowing smoothly.
The gentle current transformed into something explosive and ferociously violent.
Crack!
My outer robe tore apart.
For the first time, the man’s expression twisted.
“Heh. You really are a crazy bastard.”
The pure flow of internal energy was twisted into violent demonic qi. A power that devours and dominates everything.
“I might not be able to control it.”
“What?”
“It means I’m going to kill you.”
Boom!
The ground collapsed.
With a single step, heaven and earth shook.
Transcendent Peak?
No.
The insights I had gained in my previous life had earned me the title of Blood Sword Saint.
An absolute realm where hundreds of Transcendent Peak experts couldn’t even graze the hem of my clothes.
I was forcibly awakening that power now.
I will not die.
A vow to survive at all costs.
I kill him. I live.
I will live!
Crack!
The moment I raised my sword, the demonic energy rampaged wildly.
The sword qi that shot forward skewered the man’s entire body.
“You’re already inside my range.”
I would make him understand just how fatal that mistake was.
Slash! Crack!
This was the first time I had properly wielded demonic energy.
I knew the theory, but I had never dared attempt it.
In this life, however, my body was already saturated with demonic qi, and I was using it properly for the first time.
The result brought a destructive power far beyond what I had expected.
“Kuaaaak!”
One of the man’s arms flew off.
He hadn’t even seen my sword.
His trembling pupils proved it.
“Go ahead and heal that.”
I curled one corner of my mouth and kept thrusting my sword forward.
Crack! Clang!
Everything my sword qi touched turned to ash and scattered.
In a way, it resembled the Heavenly Demon from my previous life.
Wherever he walked, everything turned to ash.
Thud!
The man rolled across the ground, dodging my strike.
But I pursued him relentlessly.
I had never let an opponent who entered my range escape.
The lesson from my previous life—that I must kill in order to live—was something I carried out faithfully.
No, it was already an instinct ingrained in my body.
Boom! Kwaaaang!
The whole of Mount Myobang shook.
Bushes turned to ash and scattered. The beasts in the vegetation held their breath.
Even the crows that should have flocked to the scent of blood did not appear.
The man was helplessly pushed back.
The recovery of his severed arm was agonizingly slow.
The demonic energy that had invaded his body was interfering with the healing.
“You insane bastard!”
The man panicked.
His composure broke, and the tip of his sword began to tremble.
“Blood Cult.”
As I brushed past him, I spoke quietly.
“I’ve remembered it. From now on... all of you are my enemies too.”
Swoosh!
There was light.
That light pierced the man’s neck, then used its remaining power to completely shatter the surrounding ground before vanishing.
Clang!
The sword he held snapped in two.
It was a blade I had only received a day ago...
“Glurk... Im-impossible...”
Even with his throat cut, the man tried to speak.
I lifted my sword and drove it straight through his skull.
I was curious whether he could still move with his head destroyed.
As expected, he could not.
The man with the shattered head never stood up again.
Crunch!
But this was not the end.
The man was dead, yet the forces he had brought were still alive.
I slowly turned toward them.
I intended to kill every last one of them.
But at that moment—
Piiik!
A sharp sound pierced my ears.
I thought it was a whistle at first, but it was distinctly different.
The moment the sound rang out, the entire group began retreating at once.
I tried to chase them.
But...
Thump.
Strength left my legs.
My sword was broken. My wrist wouldn’t move.
My vision blurred.
“Damn it.”
Had I pushed myself too far?
My heart pounded like it would burst at any second.
“Cough... This is too much...”
After vomiting a mouthful of dark blood, I collapsed on the spot.
At that moment, Muyoung swiftly caught me and gently closed my eyes.
My vision went completely dark.
* * *
The Mong Family Villa had fallen into complete chaos.
The gates that had stood open in every season were now sealed tight. All warriors were called inside.
It had only been a brief clash, yet two-thirds of the warriors had been lost.
Fortunately, both the villa lord Mong Yu-baek and Mong Yeo-rin had survived.
“All of this is thanks to him.”
Despite suffering internal injuries and wounds all over his own body, Mong Yu-baek stayed glued to Woo-jin’s side, personally tending to him.
Mong Yeo-rin did the same.
She brought clean water, changed his clothes, prepared medicinal decoctions to restore his energy, and carefully carried them to him with sincere devotion.
Mong Yu-baek looked down at Woo-jin with a grave expression.
What am I supposed to do about this?
He had seen it with his own two eyes.
The explosive energy that had poured out of Woo-jin’s entire body.
It was the ferocious, merciless aura of the evil path—power that devoured everything in its path.
And not just any evil path art... but the pinnacle of them all.
Demonic arts.
For now, all he could do was pray that Woo-jin would wake up.
Mong Yu-baek’s mind had become incredibly complicated.