Chapter 240
Chapter 240. A Gift from the Heavens
Yeon-ah fixed her gaze on the Demonkin.
Centered around the huge man, four were spread out on each side.
A faint crease formed between Yeon-ah's brows. It was because the spacing looked uniform.
'Are they trying to form a formation?'
Her grip tightened on the sword.
If there was a pattern to those launching combined attacks, it could be difficult to handle them alone. Those who formed formations did not end up cutting their own allies amid the clash of blades, nor were they restricted in linking their techniques.
The only one who would make mistakes was her.
If she gave them even a single opening, the attacks that came in sequence could incapacitate her.
At that moment, the Demonkin standing in the center appeared before her eyes.
Kwaang!
Yeon-ah reflexively blocked the attack, but the Demonkin began pressing down on her sword with terrifying strength.
Skreeee.
A strange sound came from the blade.
The sword trembled as if it might snap, yet Yeon-ah did not retreat. Instead, as if gauging her opponent's strength, she pushed back with all her might.
Soon, Yeon-ah's eyes widened as she realized something.
Taat.
She immediately pulled back and blocked the Demonkin charging from left and right. When the ones heading for the roots found their path blocked, they leapt upward.
Tak.
Yeon-ah stood pressed right up against the tree.
This was no time to measure their tactics or their strength.
Their goal was the lives of the Tang Clan's direct line.
She was secondary. If they could reach the direct line, they would abandon her without hesitation and cut down the twins.
'...... This might actually be better.'
It seemed she could lure them in and break their formation.
Yeon-ah glanced at the sword embedded in front of her. About one zhang away, a Demonkin's blade was stuck in the ground.
It was the Demonkin's sword she had seized on the way here.
Yeon-ah set her limit so as not to step beyond that blade.
Taat.
She leapt into the tree and attacked a Demonkin standing on a branch. When he jumped far away to another branch, Yeon-ah immediately dropped down and struck the crown of the Demonkin charging at the roots.
Clang!
He blocked with his sword, and she could not cut him down, but she drove him far back.
The flustered Demonkin retreated too much. He went farther than the blade embedded in the ground.
Yeon-ah leapt back into the tree and swung her sword at the Demonkin who had been waiting for a chance to descend. This time, he retreated far away before the blade even reached him.
Yeon-ah dropped down at once so that the space in front of the entrance would not be left open.
Taat.
No sooner had she landed than a blade appeared before her. It was the martial artist who looked to be the highest in rank.
Claang!
Yeon-ah did not dodge and instead directly blocked the Demonkin's strike. However, because she blocked a blade that had come in so close, her own blade scraped her cheek.
She leaned her upper body back and raised her knee, kicking the Demonkin. He lightly twisted his body to evade the kick, and her toes cut through empty air before touching the ground.
Clang!.
As if he had no intention of showing mercy anymore, he swung his sword like a madman.
Claang! Clang! Clang!
Yeon-ah focused and blocked the barrage of blades. They came chaotically, yet the speed was tremendous.
Even Yeon-ah, who was acknowledged to have a keen eye, found it difficult to track the movements, so this man's swordsmanship was not at a level she could take lightly.
Claang! Clang! Claang!
The Demonkin struck at Yeon-ah from all sides, then occasionally stabbed straight down the center.
Swish.
Each time, Yeon-ah tilted her body or spun to evade the blade. Because of that, her center of gravity was thrown off.
Kwaduk.
By a hair's breadth, Yeon-ah avoided a blade aimed at her shoulder. The sword that scraped the tree trunk left a deep scar.
Chiiik.
The gouged area began to rot. As if its vitality had been drained, the area around the scar turned black and crumbled into powder.
Yeon-ah swallowed a curse.
That was why that clean blade was frightening.
On the way here, Yeon-ah had encountered groups of Demonkin. Some of their blades were like that. The snow-white blades left strange marks on flesh.
Not all Demonkin could leave such wounds.
Though she had not had time to confirm it fully, those whose blades were stained with blood merely cut flesh, while those wielding such clean blades could infuse demonic energy into them.
Clang!
Yeon-ah shifted one more step to the side, blocking the space before the roots again.
The Demonkin immediately brought his blade down.
Clang!
Power of a different dimension was loaded into it. No, it wasn't just power; an energy was coiled around the sword.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Black sparks flew every time the blades collided. It was demonic energy.
Yeon-ah swallowed dryly. Even a graze would cause her body to rot.
Perhaps using demonic energy was an exceptional reaction, as the surrounding Demonkin did not approach and instead retreated slightly. It was an attitude suggesting they believed their superior would handle her shortly.
Crash! Boom! Boom! Clang!
The onslaught was fierce and fast.
Yeon-ah did not even know how she was blocking the strikes. Her hands moved reflexively, as if responding to sound alone.
Whoosh.
When the blade stabbed straight for the center, she was lucky enough to twist her body.
Kkadeuk.
Or she pushed it aside with her sword, diverting its direction.
Crash! Boom! Boom! Boom!
While blocking the strikes, Yeon-ah suddenly furrowed her brows. After more than dozens of exchanges, the sound piercing her eardrums began to feel rhythmic.
Crash! Boom! Crash! Boom!
‘It’s the center.’
Yeon-ah laid her sword flat and struck upward.
Clang!
The tip of the Demonkin's blade that had been digging toward her chest was knocked up.
He seemed flustered, but immediately swung again.
Crash! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Watching him resume his unbroken barrage, Yeon-ah began counting in her head.
'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.......'
Yeon-ah twisted her body to the side, then came back and shoved her blade to the left.
Clang!
The blade that had been aiming for her heart slid away.
'After eight slashes, he always thrusts at the center.'
At a glance, it looked as though the Demonkin were swinging their swords at random, but that was not the case.
If one moved the blade purely on impulse, directions could become tangled. There were times when the mind wanted to stab into an opening on the left, but the body was already moving right, causing the muscles' directions to conflict.
In such cases, not only could one be injured in the midst of battle, but in the worst case, one could give the opponent a decisive opening.
That was why the Tai Chi Sword Saint had told Yeon-ah not to rely solely on talent, but to put effort into memorizing sword forms.
If she cut and deployed the trained forms as needed, then shifted into another form while moving, she could press the opponent without getting tangled.
Right now, Yeon-ah was seeing with her own eyes the teachings she had heard from the Sword Saint.
'…It’s a sequence of forms.'
It was a repetition of nine forms. Once she recognized the numbers, the movements of the sword began to appear as if time had slowed down.
The sword that had been cutting upward suddenly came down from the upper left, and the stroke drawn from the right descended again in the same direction just above it.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
'Center.'
Yeon-ah knocked aside the blade that came in toward her middle dantian.
Clang!
The deflected sword lunged fiercely from the lower left.
Bang.
No sooner had she blocked it than another came in from the left.
Clang!
Then, out of nowhere, one charged from the lower right.
Bang.
Yeon-ah watched with a sense of "could it be?" and blocked her forehead a moment late.
Clang!
Sparks flew as the falling blade struck.
Yeon-ah immediately moved her sword, mapping out the directions in her mind.
'Kan (坎), Kun (坤), Zhen (震), Xun (巽).'
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The blades cut around her.
'Center again.'
Clang!
Just as expected, the Demonkin's blade came in, aiming for her heart.
Though it looked like chaotic disorder, there was a strict sequence.
A form that ended in the heavens began again on the earth.
The sword strikes pouring from the directions of Kan, Kun, Zhen, and Xun (坎坤震巽) concentrated their energy in the center, then swept through the directions of Qian, Dui, Gen, and Li (乾兌艮離), scraping up the scattered energy to seal off the top and bottom.
'Kan-Kun-Zhen-Xun-Qian-Dui-Gen-Li (坎坤震巽乾兌艮離).'
It was the Post-Heaven Bagua.
The Bagua, which explains the changes between heaven and earth, was contained within the swordsmanship.
The law of the universe, which did not align with the Demonic Arts that defy the natural order of all things.
'Who in the world created such a monstrous hybrid?'
As a disciple of the Wudang Sect who had received Taoist teachings, it was a combination she could never accept.
Yeon-ah blocked the Demonkin's blade with a cold gaze, waiting for an opening.
The moment the sword that had moved to the lower right collided with Yeon-ah's sword and retreated—
Predicting the direction, she did not block the top but immediately slashed her sword horizontally.
Slash!
The waist of the Demonkin, who had held his hands high, was cut while defenseless.
"Keugh."
Reaction speed was something hard to gain through training, and Yeon-ah was a talent gifted by the heavens with quick perception and response.
The Demonkin immediately brought his blade down, but since the next direction of the Bagua was Kan, Yeon-ah could react quickly.
She twisted her body and thrust her sword into his left waist.
Clang!
The startled Demonkin managed to block her attack, but he could no longer afford the same leisure as before.
Clang! Bang!
Having his swordsmanship dismantled, the Demonkin was now frantic just trying to block Yeon-ah's attacks.
The tables had turned.
The Demonkin now had to read her forms.
However, that was impossible.
From a young age, Yeon-ah had seen countless martial artists, and she could imitate most things she saw. She did not know what principles they contained or what kind of energy had to be added to strengthen them, but she could mimic their outward form without difficulty.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
So cutting and mixing sword arts to confuse an opponent was very easy for her.
Yeon-ah swung her sword wildly, like a maddened horse.
The blade that had flowed gracefully like a dragon suddenly flew in from all directions like scattering petals, then plunged down powerfully as if carving a path between heaven and earth.
Claaang!
If one were to draw chaos with a sword, it would look like this.
Yeon-ah suddenly thought that her very existence was chaos.
She did not know where she had come from, nor did she know what she should live for. She held a sword and wanted to become the greatest swordsman under heaven, but it was not out of greed for swordsmanship.
She simply wanted to be of help to someone.
Even though helping one person meant cutting down many others, Yeon-ah carried that contradiction as her very core.
Clang! Clang!
The disorderly connected forms cut the Demonkin's neck.
Slash!
"Gah!"
The moment the blood splattered, the energy surrounding them changed.
The momentum reversed, and the rising star of the Wudang Sect began to overwhelm the Demonkin.
The Demonkin continued to move his sword, but he could not concentrate, as if possessed by the sword dance before his eyes.
After the swords clashed a few times, a large piece of the Demonkin's flesh was carved out.
Slash!
The number of times she cut through flesh increased.
As more attacks connected, the enemy's response slowed down rapidly.
Thrust.
Finally, the center was breached.
"Argh."
The Demonkin, with a sword embedded in his dantian, let out a final death cry.
Chak.
When Yeon-ah pulled the blade out, he collapsed forward.
Thud.
Yeon-ah, holding her sword upright as blood dripped from it, slowly lifted her gaze.
A strange silence fell.
She looked at the remaining Demonkin with a hazy vision, like someone intoxicated.
Before she knew it, four Demonkin were surrounding her. The other four were nowhere to be seen. It didn't matter.
Yeon-ah quietly leveled her sword.
Whish.
The sound of a small breeze tickled the eardrums of the tense Demonkin. The disciple of the orthodox sect moved her sword as if reviewing what she had learned.
The tip of the blade, which had scribbled in the air, dropped from the sky to the ground.
Recognizing the move, the expression of one of the Demonkin twisted.
It was the Bagua formation.
Declaring that she had seen through their strategy, the disciple of the Wudang Sect turned and thrust her sword.
Slash!
"Kuh-ugh!"
The upper body of the Demonkin who had rushed out from behind the tree was helplessly torn apart.