Chapter 143 – Clash (7)

The one who had attacked Kang Yu-hyeon was none other than his second son and Kang Yu-jin’s younger brother, Kang Yong-hoon.

With a trembling face, Kang Yong-hoon stared at Kang Yu-hyeon, who was stepping on Yu-jin’s body with a hand on his head. Seeing him, Kang Yu-hyeon realized he must have heard the ‘truth’ and spoke with a smile.

“My son, you’ve heard something you shouldn’t have.”

“Is what you said true? Are you really our ancestor, Kang Myeong-un?”

At Kang Yong-hoon’s question, Kang Yu-hyeon gave a slight nod. There was no need to hide what had already been heard. However, Kang Yu-hyeon felt a great sense of pity that he would have to eliminate a useful piece like Kang Yong-hoon with his own hands.

Though not as good as Kang Yu-jin, Kang Yong-hoon was still a very useful talent who would have been a great asset to the clan.

“It can’t be helped.”

Having decided to kill Kang Yong-hoon, Kang Yu-hyeon once again swung his hand toward Yu-jin. Four sword auras formed a T-shape, piercing through Yu-jin’s body.

“Kuaaaargh!”

“This should keep you from running.”

Averting his gaze from the screaming Yu-jin, Kang Yu-hyeon turned to face Kang Yong-hoon. Although Kang Yong-hoon felt terror from the powerful aura emanating from Kang Yu-hyeon’s entire body, he did not back down.

Instead, to drive out the fear, he drew upon all the strength in his body. A pain as if his body was being torn apart washed over him, but Kang Yong-hoon gritted his teeth and endured it.

“Hoh? It seems I can enjoy this a little. Come.”

*CRASH!*

As soon as Kang Yu-hyeon finished speaking, Kang Yong-hoon’s figure shot toward him at an incredible speed, closing the distance. Then, the demonic claws of the Mad Dragon, capable of tearing anything apart, unfolded from Kang Yong-hoon’s hands.

“Too slow.”

Kang Yu-hyeon said, easily dodging. Kang Yong-hoon quickly twisted his body, relentlessly swinging both hands. The offensive of a Transformation Realm master was nothing short of ferocious.

Yong-hoon’s hands drew complex arcs, and an immense amount of powerful energy flowed out ceaselessly, embroidering the empty air. Although he had erased the demonic energy, the attack was still powerful enough to be incomparable to ordinary martial arts, and its destructive force matched its might.

*CRACK! CRASH! BOOM!*

But as Kang Yong-hoon continued his barrage, his complexion grew paler, and cold sweat dripped from his entire body. No matter what attack he launched, he couldn’t land a single blow on Kang Yu-hyeon.

After fifty exchanges, the demonic arts he had learned began to inflict unbearable pain once more.

“Keuk!”

“As expected, you are sorely lacking. To still be ensnared by your martial arts.”

Kang Yu-hyeon clicked his tongue lightly and swung his hand down from above. A colossal force struck Kang Yong-hoon’s entire body.

“Keo-heok!”

Unable to withstand the powerful attack, Kang Yong-hoon was sent flying, tumbling across the ground. He wanted to stand, but he could only struggle, never managing to rise.

Having dealt with Kang Yong-hoon with ease, Kang Yu-hyeon looked down at him and spoke.

“You were going to die anyway, so I’ll let you live a little longer. Besides, I need an audience to watch how I become the strongest. Consider yourself lucky.”

After immobilizing Kang Yong-hoon, Kang Yu-hyeon approached Yu-jin, grabbing his hair and lifting his head. Though wracked with pain, Yu-jin glared fiercely at Kang Yu-hyeon.

“In all my hundreds of years, I have never seen a vessel as fantastic as you. I dare say it is even better than my first body. Moreover, I don’t know how you obtained it, but if I absorb all your power and knowledge, I feel I can truly surpass the Heavenly Demon. Thank you so much for growing up so splendidly.”

Kang Yu-hyeon smiled like a true father, but to Yu-jin, it was an utterly detestable smile. However, Kang Yu-hyeon paid no mind to Yu-jin’s thoughts and gripped his head tightly again.

“I shall begin now. And when this grand art is complete, you will vanish completely from this world. So please, enjoy your life until the very end.”

With those words, Kang Yu-hyeon began to operate the Soul Usurpation Grand Art. He felt no particular fear performing such an important ritual in this desolate place.

After all, the formation protecting this area was nearly impossible to breach. And the only one who could have interfered during the ritual, Kang Yong-hoon, had already been subdued by him.

Therefore, Kang Yu-hyeon operated the Soul Usurpation Grand Art with a peaceful mind.

“Kuaaaaaaaargh!”

As the grand art began, Yu-jin started to scream with a volume that was incomparable to before. But he was smiling.

Yu-jin smiled as he felt the flood of information pouring in. Kang Yu-hyeon’s memories were forcibly flowing into his mind.

What was strange, however, was that they were settling in without any resistance, as if they had been Kang Yu-jin’s memories from the very beginning. Of course, for Yu-jin, this was a very good thing.

‘Mm, good, good.’

As if recalling his own experiences, Yu-jin was reliving Kang Yu-hyeon’s life, becoming him.

Kang Myeong-un, who had learned martial arts in a secluded sect deep in the mountains that passed down its teachings to a single successor, had reached the Transformation Realm. At first, like any other young martial artist just stepping into the world, he upheld justice, slaying numerous villains and earning a great reputation.

Many people began to gather around Kang Myeong-un, and eventually, he founded the True Dragon Sword Clan. As he was riding a wave of success, Kang Myeong-un encountered a demonic being who transcended humanity.

***

It was ten years after Kang Myeong-un had founded the True Dragon Sword Clan, and the twentieth year since he had become the strongest under heaven.

He was already over seventy, but Kang Myeong-un still possessed the appearance of a middle-aged man, a testament to the might of his internal energy.

On the day his destiny changed, he was leisurely strolling through his garden in the morning when the sky suddenly darkened.

“For the clear sky to suddenly darken, what kind of ominous sign is this?”

But the truly ominous event happened next. Space began to tremble. And soon, from within the distorted space, a man emerged.

As the man appeared in the sky, a darkness blacker than the deepest night enveloped the heavens and the surrounding space. Witnessing this, Kang Myeong-un was greatly shocked, realizing that aura alone could distort space.

He had never once imagined that such a being could exist.

“I am the Heavenly Demon, who governs all life and death in the world, and a heaven-defying existence that seeks to rebel against the heavens. Are you the one called Kang Myeong-un, the strongest in the current martial world?”

The ultimate demonic being who transcended humanity and made even the heavens tremble, the Heavenly Demon, had appeared before Kang Myeong-un.

Since reaching the Profound Realm, Kang Myeong-un had never once felt fear towards anyone, but looking at the Heavenly Demon, he felt the emotion of fear for the first time. Just from hearing his words!

‘Fear? Me?’

Feeling shame at the very notion that he was experiencing fear, Kang Myeong-un gritted his teeth and replied.

“That’s right! I am the current strongest under heaven, the Heavenly Sword Emperor, Kang Myeong-un!”

The Heavenly Demon nodded at Kang Myeong-un’s shout. At this time, the Heavenly Demon had not yet begun to gather his forces, so very few knew the details about him.

Kang Myeong-un had heard rumors, but he had never thought such a being truly existed. But now that he had appeared before him and made him feel shame, the Heavenly Demon was an existence that had to be slain.

“I see. I shall test whether you are worthy of becoming one of my kind.”

At the Heavenly Demon’s thoroughly dismissive words, Kang Myeong-un finally swung his sword at him. Thus, the battle between two absolute masters began.

*SWISH!*

Kang Myeong-un’s beloved sword clearly sliced through the Heavenly Demon’s flesh and broke his bones. Feeling the definite impact, he smiled.

But the smile was fleeting. The Heavenly Demon’s body recovered in an instant. If not for his torn clothes fluttering, one would not even have known he had been cut, so swift was the recovery.

“Is that all? You cannot defeat me with just that.”

The Heavenly Demon looked down at Kang Myeong-un and spoke. Enraged, Kang Myeong-un drew upon all his power. In truth, this was the first time in his life that Kang Myeong-un had used his full strength.

Until now, he had never used his full power against any opponent, not even when determining the strongest in the martial world.

But the Heavenly Demon before him was different. An existence that he had little chance of defeating even at full power. The surrounding atmosphere roiled in response to Kang Myeong-un’s energy, and the heavens trembled.

However, the Heavenly Demon revealed his own presence with an unfazed expression, and their colossal auras clashed repeatedly.

*CRACKLE! CRACKLE!*

The stalemate did not last long. Kang Myeong-un unleashed every ultimate technique he knew. The Heavenly Flow Divine Sword, the Storm Heavenly King Sword, the Great Luo Divine Sword—all were tremendous techniques.

“Is this all?”

*ROOOOAR!*

The Heavenly Demon unleashed the Dark Flame Flower, blocking all of Kang Myeong-un’s ultimate techniques. The flames of darkness that burned everything consumed even Kang Myeong-un’s sword qi, rendering his energy-based attacks completely ineffective against the Heavenly Demon.

“Then how about this!”

If sword qi didn’t work, Kang Myeong-un thought he would just use something else. He sent forth the Heavenly Sword, and the Heart Sword, for the first time, pierced through the Heavenly Demon’s defense and created a severe wound on his body.

It wasn’t that it couldn’t be healed, but the recovery was much slower than when he had healed the wound from the first strike.

“This is a first. Meeting someone who can inflict pain on me. It seems you are not without the potential to become one of my kind. But the game ends here.”

With those words, all the darkness gathered in the Heavenly Demon’s hand and began to coalesce.

Soon, the Demonic Lord, a sword made of darkness, revealed its form. A weapon, yet a demonic sword said to be even stronger than a Heart Sword.

Seeing it, Kang Myeong-un felt his spirit waver and gritted his teeth. But he could not help but be horrified by the scene that followed.

*Wooooong!*

A jet-black gale howled, and a vast amount of demonic energy flowed ceaselessly from the Demonic Lord. The jet-black gale spun relentlessly and was soon completely compressed.

The Heavenly Demon swung the Demonic Lord at Kang Myeong-un. The heavens screamed, and the earth shook. A darkness more terrifying and profound than any strike shown so far surged toward Kang Myeong-un like a black tide.

The Asura Heaven-Annihilating Sword had been unleashed.

‘I’ll die if this hits me!’

Feeling the aura of death enveloping him, Kang Myeong-un unleashed a martial art he had created after a previous enlightenment.

It was an incomplete art, but it was undoubtedly powerful. It was the Heaven-Shaking Sword, the foundation of the later Demon-Annihilating Divine Sword, a sword into which Kang Myeong-un poured his full strength.

*KRA-BOOOOM!*

But Kang Myeong-un’s final technique was futilely destroyed, and the Asura Heaven-Annihilating Sword sought to swallow him whole. Yet, just before the black tide engulfed him, the Heavenly Demon changed the trajectory of his energy, and Kang Myeong-un barely managed to survive.

“Hah… Hah…”

Having seen death, Kang Myeong-un gasped for breath. The Asura Heaven-Annihilating Sword, which seemed capable of erasing the world, was shock and terror itself, so his reaction was only natural. But once he regained his senses, he glared at the Heavenly Demon and shouted.

“Why did you spare me!”

Kang Myeong-un screamed in anguish. No matter how many times he cut him, the Heavenly Demon’s body regenerated endlessly. On top of that, he had been cornered by a technique more powerful than any he had ever known.

Against that mighty power, Kang Myeong-un had been helplessly pushed back and ultimately suffered a humiliating defeat. But what was even more humiliating was that the Heavenly Demon had let him live.

To Kang Myeong-un, this was nothing short of a great disgrace.

“Because you had the potential to become one of my kind. But now I see that possibility is quite slim. Live forever, trapped in despair.”

With those final words, the Heavenly Demon vanished from before Kang Myeong-un. But could the Heavenly Demon have known? That his last words had created another heaven-defying existence similar to himself.

“I will defeat you! I swear it!”

It was the moment a new heaven-defying existence was born.

After that, everything was as Yu-jin knew. The surviving Kang Myeong-un began to research forbidden sorcery while also embracing countless women, from whom he had numerous children.

All of them inherited his blood and possessed excellent qualities, but Kang Myeong-un favored the most exceptional one, teaching him all of his martial arts without holding anything back.

And once his successor had matured to a certain extent, he used the Soul Usurpation Heart Art, created by integrating all the forbidden sorcery he had researched, to seize his successor’s body.

‘Ugh, this man is truly someone to be avoided. Then again, he’s already gone mad, so it’s only natural he shouldn’t be associated with.’

With each successor’s body he seized and soul he absorbed, Kang Myeong-un descended further into madness. Each body had its own unique soul, and since Kang Myeong-un forcibly occupied them, resistance was inevitable.

But Kang Myeong-un paid no heed to this fact and relentlessly continued to increase his power.

‘How utterly pathetic. There’s a limit to how much of a disgrace one can be before they lose all support. Anyway, it’s getting harder to maintain my train of thought.’

As he thought this, Yu-jin felt his own presence diminishing. His soul was becoming a residual thought.

But Yu-jin did not resist. It was not yet time to resist. It wasn’t that he couldn’t shake it off, but if he did now, he would only be captured by Kang Yu-hyeon again.

*Twitch!*

As he felt his presence endlessly shrinking, Yu-jin finally sensed something move. It was a living creature, so small it was invisible to the eye, but possessing a very potent poison. It was the Gu.

‘Excellent!’

Despite seeing the dangerous creature, Yu-jin felt a surge of joy.