Chapter 187 – The Final War (4)

Hwa Un-wol declared to Seol Mu-rin, aiming her sword. Seeing that blade, Seol Mu-rin was seized by a strange sensation.

“Wh-What!”

It felt as if he were being sucked into a bizarre world.

He hurriedly tried to move the black tornado, but it crept forward as slowly as a snail.

Left with no choice, Seol Mu-rin moved to create distance. But something was wrong. Though he was clearly moving to evade, the distance between him and the sword remained the same.

No, it seemed even closer than before. He was certain he had dodged, yet the gap was shrinking.

The blade pursued him relentlessly. No matter how he tried to flee, escape was impossible. It was like a ghost that could never be shaken off.

‘What, what is this!’

Seol Mu-rin was terrified by the unforeseen, bizarre phenomenon. He could only feel a sense of relief when he saw the black tornado finally begin to move.

But his relief was short-lived. Hwa Un-wol’s sword instantly dissipated the black tornado.

And after destroying the black tornado, Hwa Un-wol’s sword pierced through Seol Mu-rin with a speed incomparable to before. In the moment he was pierced, Seol Mu-rin saw a brilliant moonlight.

“Kuaaaargh!”

Impaled by the moonlight, Seol Mu-rin let out a harrowing scream. Blood began to pour from his entire body, and his vision darkened.

“This… This is…?”

“It’s called the Mind Sword, child. This is the ultimate form of swordsmanship. Your downfall was pursuing other trivial arts without seeing the ultimate.”

“Mind… Sword…”

With those last words, the Sword Demonic King, Seol Mu-rin, collapsed on the spot. And he never rose again. One of the masters of the Transcendent Demonic Realm had lost his life.

This meant a tremendous loss of power for the Demonic Cult. But that wasn’t what was important to Na Ye-jin.

“Master!”

As soon as the battle ended, Na Ye-jin rushed to Hwa Un-wol. Hwa Un-wol smiled gently at her.

“You worried for nothing. Did you think your master would fall to someone like him? Don’t worry about such trivial things, and let’s move to the next battlefield.”

“Master… your arm…”

Just as Na Ye-jin said, Hwa Un-wol’s left arm was continuously turning black. The black fog that had engulfed her arm moments ago had infused it with demonic energy.

At this rate, she would surely lose her left arm. But Hwa Un-wol looked at her arm with an unconcerned expression and channeled her power into it.

*Wooooong!*

Hwa Un-wol’s left arm was enveloped in a pure white light. The light instantly pushed back the darkness and extinguished it.

“I don’t know about other clans, but demonic energy is meaningless to us. Remember, the light of the moon surpasses the darkness.”

At Hwa Un-wol’s words, Na Ye-jin smiled and nodded.

***

*BOOM!*

A colossal thunderclap deafened the surroundings. But the source of this sound was not the vast sky, but the sword of one man. The sword of the Thunder Sword Emperor, Namgung Sang.

Yet the power of the lightning that fell before the thunderclap even sounded was in no way inferior to the bolts created by nature.

*Flash!*

Once again, a blue light flashed, and a blue lightning bolt struck down toward the Spear Demonic King, Ham Seung-hwan. He hastily threw one of his five spears to guide the lightning toward it. It was a countermeasure he had barely figured out after dozens of exchanges.

But Ham Seung-hwan’s body was already a wreck. He was scorched black and bleeding all over. If not for the demonic energy slowly mending his body, he would have lost his life long ago.

‘But if this goes on, my defeat is certain.’

Thinking this, Ham Seung-hwan threw three more spears. The spears were all imbued with a jet-black aura, and they spun violently as they surged toward Namgung Sang in the air.

It was clearly a powerful attack, but Namgung Sang watched it with composure. He was confident that an attack of this level could not harm him.

“Didn’t I already show you that such things are useless?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Namgung Sang swung his sword. And dozens of lightning strikes poured out.

The lightning bolts instantly deflected the spears and rained down on Ham Seung-hwan. He hurriedly moved his body to evade the net of lightning.

“Kuaaaargh!”

But a single bolt surged toward the spot he had just vacated, piercing him with perfect accuracy.

Ham Seung-hwan let out a harrowing scream. However, he planted his remaining spear into the ground and used it to balance himself.

Although he had reached the Transcendent Demonic Realm through the Heavenly Demon, he was no match for Namgung Sang, who had reigned for decades.

Even before Namgung Sang’s enlightenment, his chances of winning were slim; defeating the man who had gained new insight through his battle with the Great Dharma Master of Shaking Heaven was impossible.

“Haaaaah!”

But Ham Seung-hwan had no intention of wagging his tail like a dog just because his opponent was strong. He drew out all of his innate energy. The wounds covering his body began to mend at a slightly faster rate.

In that state, Ham Seung-hwan moved his hand to retrieve the spears that had fallen far away. The intense remnants of lightning still lingered on them, but his hand, cloaked in black demonic energy, quelled the electricity.

“Are you exhausting your own life force to defeat me? In that case, I too must show a power befitting that resolve.”

Namgung Sang spoke as he began to infuse his internal energy into his sword. Simultaneously, Ham Seung-hwan began to infuse demonic energy into his five spears.

*Kwoooo!*

The power gathering was so intense that the energy flowing from their bodies shook the atmosphere and cracked the earth.

And finally, the two men concentrated their power.

The first to move was Ham Seung-hwan. Five spears tore through the air. Each spear spun ferociously as they flew in a circle.

Then, the energies imbued in the spears merged into one, forming an even larger spear that flew toward Namgung Sang.

“A magnificent strike. But can you block this?”

The power contained in Namgung Sang’s sword was so immense that his beloved sword, Azure Thunder, forged from meteorite iron, trembled and screamed. But Namgung Sang paid it no mind and, gathering all his strength, thrust his sword forward.

*Kwoooooo!*

A pillar of blue light, rivaling a great castle in size, formed from Azure Thunder and shot toward Ham Seung-hwan and the black spear he had thrown.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

The attacks of two men, one concentrating the power of lightning and the other the power of darkness, collided. The intense clash sent out a massive shockwave, far greater than any before, destroying everything in its path.

Just by maintaining the clash, both men felt a shock as if their entire bodies were being shattered. But as time passed, the darkness began to be extinguished by the blue lightning.

“Krrrrgh!”

Ham Seung-hwan poured all his strength into not being pushed back. Dark red blood began to flow ceaselessly from his seven orifices. But even with all his power, he could not overcome Namgung Sang’s strength, and he was eventually completely swallowed by the blue lightning.

“Kuaaaargh!”

The agony of his entire body being destroyed, torn, and burned was so immense that Ham Seung-hwan screamed in agony.

But his desperate screams did not last long. The colossal lightning energy had completely reduced his physical body to ashes.

The Spear Demonic King, Ham Seung-hwan, thus lost his life to the lightning of the Thunder Sword Emperor.

***

*BOOM!*

With all their might, a sword and a saber clashed at a single point. But the resulting impact was far too immense to have come from the collision of a single sword and saber.

To produce such destructive power with a single clash, it was already a stretch to call them mere sword and saber.

But it was not impossible if the wielders of the sword and saber were those who had entered the Profound Realm and the Transcendent Demonic Realm, beings called absolute masters. They were already existences beyond human.

*RUMBLE!*

The surrounding space, unable to withstand the pressure of the fiercely clashing sword and saber, trembled and shook. The nearby trees also trembled from the impact, shedding their leaves.

The air vibrated violently, creating a gale around the two men. An ordinary martial artist would have been torn apart by that gale, but the two, protected by their auras, simply swung their weapons at each other as if it were nothing.

*BOOM!*

The explosive sound that struck the eardrums was deafening. In the center, a blue sword light and a jet-black saber light danced together, clashing as one.

‘He’s strong!’

Kang Yong-hoon truly thought so as he faced the Saber Demonic King, Cheon Yeop-sang. His opponent was a formidable master, second only to Kang Yu-jin and Kang Yu-hyeon, and the second strongest opponent he had ever fought.

Befitting the Vice-Lord of the Demonic Cult, the power in his saber was extremely intense and sharp.

*Swoosh!*

A gust of wind whipped violently around them. Small stones were sent flying haphazardly.

The stones struck their bodies but caused no impact. The protective auras enveloping them destroyed the stones.

‘If I don’t give it my all, I will die!’

In the midst of that tremendous battle, which words could not adequately describe, Kang Yong-hoon thought to himself.

In terms of the depth of his realm, he might be superior to Cheon Yeop-sang, but in terms of practical combat experience, Kang Yong-hoon was no match for him.

Not compared to Cheon Yeop-sang, who had constantly defended his position within the survival-of-the-fittest Demonic Cult.

‘But I have no intention of losing!’

The blue light enveloping Kang Yong-hoon’s sword deepened, and he surged toward Cheon Yeop-sang at a speed far exceeding what the human eye could perceive.

In response, Cheon Yeop-sang also swung his saber with all his might.

Two martial arts, having reached their zenith, collided at a single point. Heaven and earth screamed at the power of the divine sword and demonic saber that filled the surroundings with light and sound.

In the midst of it all, Kang Yong-hoon had to endure a tremendous shock. Surprisingly, in terms of raw power, he was no match for Cheon Yeop-sang.

“Kuhahahaha! Brat! You fought well for your age, but this is the end!”

Cheon Yeop-sang laughed loudly, mocking Kang Yong-hoon, even though he himself was heavily injured.

Kang Yong-hoon gritted his teeth as he looked at Cheon Yeop-sang. He had to overcome the colossal wall that was Yu-jin.

He, who had a grave duty he had imposed upon himself, could not afford to be defeated by such a demonic fiend, no matter how strong.

Had he not sworn, after his last defeat to Yu-jin, never to lose to anyone again?

“I absolutely cannot lose!”

The desperate cry of a man who had vowed to experience defeat no more echoed.

But Cheon Yeop-sang only scoffed at Kang Yong-hoon’s pathetic state.

“Anyone can say that, brat. Reaching the Profound Realm at your age is truly incredible, but your life ends here!”

With those words, Cheon Yeop-sang swung his saber fiercely. And just as his blade was about to cut Kang Yong-hoon’s neck, his body froze for a brief moment.

Then, his instincts began to scream warnings frantically. His arm that was about to swing, his entire body, felt captured and wouldn’t move.

But more than that, the feeling of an invisible, formless sword targeting his entire being was driving him mad.

‘What, what is this feeling?!’