Chapter 224 : Chapter 224
Chapter 224. Sichuan Sword Clan (3)
In a corner of the Sichuan Sword Clan’s training ground.
Explosions were rampant.
BOOM!
Every time the Demonic Cult warrior swung his whip, the surrounding terrain literally exploded.
The corpses of several Sichuan Sword Clan warriors who had been caught in his whip were already strewn on the ground.
Perhaps because of this, the Sichuan Sword Clan warriors never went near that area.
No, there was no reason to approach in the first place.
It was a battle between an intruder and an outsider.
Jin Yuseong threw his body here and there, dodging the whip that twisted at bizarre angles each time.
BOOM!
Beyond the debris and sand dust flying from the exploding training ground floor.
The vast demonic qi flowing through the Demonic Cult warrior’s body came into view.
It was a feeling similar to that of the Left Guardian Envoy, Wi Mugyeol.
The ceaseless flow of dark energy was like looking at a black serpent.
And because of the whip the man wielded, that feeling was even more intense.
SWOOOOOOOSH!
From the man’s dantian, through his meridians, to the whip.
A very long black energy was writhing and flowing.
Jin Yuseong, while dodging the whip, rushed at the man. To close the distance.
SWOOOOOOOSH!
Immediately after the whip grazed past Jin Yuseong, the whip’s movement twisted sharply.
Like a living snake.
The whip that had passed Jin Yuseong tried to bind and constrict his body.
But even before the whip’s movement twisted, Jin Yuseong’s eyes could see its trajectory.
From the moment he confirmed the trajectory, Jin Yuseong had been drawing up the internal energy from his dantian and rotating it.
And when that rotation reached its peak, a ring of Enhanced Qi formed on the Master's Blade.
The Sun Moon Infinite Sword’s second form, Golden Ring.
The violently rotating Enhanced Qi advanced toward the whip in front.
GRIIIIIND!
With a fierce explosion, the Enhanced Qi protecting the whip was ground away.
The startled Demonic Cult warrior quickly swung his hand.
The whip that had been trying to bind Jin Yuseong spread out wide and retreated.
FWOOSH!
Seizing that moment, Jin Yuseong launched himself again.
But the distance did not close.
The man was retreating as much as Jin Yuseong approached.
To obstruct the man’s movement, Jin Yuseong repeatedly swung the Master's Blade in the air.
Dozens of strands of sword qi drew various trajectories as they advanced.
The Demonic Cult warrior showed a surprising response.
He dodged some with his footwork and blocked others with his whip.
But it was not simply a movement for defense.
The long whip twisted strangely.
The part near the handle parried the incoming sword qi.
SWOOOOOOOSH!
And the part far behind bent bizarrely and once again aimed at Jin Yuseong, flicking its tongue.
A wondrous technique of integrated offense and defense, possible only with a whip.
As he threw his body to dodge the incoming whip, Jin Yuseong opened his mouth.
“Seeing as you’re on a similar level to the Left Guardian Envoy, Wi Mugyeol, you must be the Right Guardian Envoy.”
His opponent did not answer Jin Yuseong’s question.
It did not really matter.
Because various characters were being drawn above the silent man’s head.
- How does that man know the Left Guardian Envoy’s name? Could it be that the Left Guardian Envoy couldn't withstand the torture and revealed information?
As the precarious life-and-death battle continued, the third eye had opened at some point.
“Wi Mugyeol was quite a loose-lipped fellow. I wonder what you will be like.”
Jin Yuseong moved his mouth to rattle his enemy.
It was something he had realized after facing several men who practiced demonic arts.
The power of demonic arts was terrifying, but they were generally vulnerable to inner demons.
But his opponent did not fall for it so easily.
“Hmph! If the Left Guardian Envoy revealed all the information, why have you all not been able to find us yet?”
“Thanks to that Left Guardian Envoy, we found out that you are outside the Central Plains, didn’t we?”
The Demonic Cult warrior frowned.
- Tsk. Since he was the one the Cult Leader wanted, I was planning to capture him alive or just go back.
At the words that appeared above the man’s head, Jin Yuseong also frowned.
‘The Cult Leader wants me?’
They could be targeting him for revenge for the Left Guardian Envoy, or to eliminate the group that was chasing them.
But it did not add up.
For those reasons, it would be normal to kill him. The expression ‘wants’ was somewhat strange.
While Jin Yuseong continued his deductions in his mind, the Demonic Cult warrior shouted.
“I will surely kill you in this very spot today!”
Simultaneously with his shout, the demonic qi flowing through the man’s body fluctuated even more violently.
The energy enveloping the whip also thickened, and its movements became even more grotesque.
SWOOOOOOOSH!
He parried the whip that flew with a piercing sound.
As if utilizing the recoil, the whip bent smoothly and flew back again as if bouncing.
CLANG!
Using his footwork to dodge it, Jin Yuseong asked at the same time.
“You were planning to capture me alive at first? Why?”
With the question, a certain possibility came to mind.
“Were you planning to capture and eat me?”
He recalled the fact that these men devoured people like elixirs.
Among them, the Demonic Cult Leader must be a man who had reached a very high realm.
So, could he be coveting him, who had reached a high realm?
“If it’s just to eat me, there would be no need to capture me alive and drag me away. Ah! Now I see, you were planning to offer me to the Cult Leader, not eat me yourself?”
At Jin Yuseong’s deduction, the man’s face contorted.
It was possible because he had read his mind with the third eye, but the man could not know this fact.
- He is a man who must be killed, even if it costs me my life!
His killing intent was blatantly revealed.
At the same time, the man’s already rough demonic qi fluctuated even more.
It had become more dangerous, but the same was true for his opponent.
Jin Yuseong saw this as an opportunity.
“Tsk. The Cult Leader must be quite the coward. He can’t come forward himself and just makes his underlings do his bidding. Not only is he a piece of trash who eats people, he’s also a coward. If I sent him to hell, even King Yama would shudder in disgust.”
“You bastard! How dare you mock our Cult Leader, who is like heaven itself!”
Finally, the man’s eyes went wild.
“As a Guardian Envoy of the Divine Cult, I will surely cut out your tongue and offer it to the Cult Leader!”
When the man swung his whip, black energy swirled in all directions.
Before, only the surface of the whip had been surrounded by Enhanced Qi, but now it felt as if hundreds of needle-like protrusions had sprouted all over the whip.
“Tsk.”
Jin Yuseong lightly clicked his tongue.
It was not because he found the man’s offensive overwhelming.
- Kill! Kill! Kill!
It seemed he could no longer read the man’s inner thoughts. Because nothing but killing intent remained in his mind.
‘I can just conduct the unfinished interrogation after I capture him.’
Having steeled his resolve, Jin Yuseong threw his body here and there for a moment.
He realized that it was not easy to close the distance with footwork alone.
So, Jin Yuseong boldly threw the Master's Blade away.
Toward the tiny gap visible between the movements of the whip.
Then, a change occurred in the movement of the whip that had been swimming through the air.
The whip bent in mid-air and tried to block the Master's Blade.
Jin Yuseong did not care.
Since his third eye was already open.
In his eyes, he could see the fine thread connecting the Master's Blade and his own hand.
Jin Yuseong clenched his right hand and swung it in the air.
Then, a change occurred in the movement of the Master's Blade, which had been moving in a straight line.
The Master's Blade, grazing past the incoming whip, continued toward the Guardian Envoy.
“!!!”
The Guardian Envoy, showing a startled expression for the first time, quickly pulled on the whip.
The whip and the Master's Blade began to mingle in the air.
CLANG!
They clashed with each other, creating sparks, and also grazed past each other, drawing strange trajectories.
The Guardian Envoy, as expected, showed a wondrous technique.
He blocked the Master's Blade with the whip near the handle, and at the same time, used the recoil to aim the whip at the distant Jin Yuseong.
Jin Yuseong also made full use of the achievements he had gained on Mount Hua.
FWOOSH!
He was not just performing sword control from a stationary position.
He stepped with his footwork as if he were truly performing a sword art in the air, throwing his body and swinging his right hand.
Each time, the trajectory of the Master's Blade also twisted in various ways and aimed at the Guardian Envoy.
After performing the Sun Moon Infinite Sword’s third form, Sun and Moon, at full power for a moment.
Jin Yuseong felt a strange sense of incongruity.
It was because of the whip that the Guardian Envoy was wielding.
The movement of the whip, which bent freely in the air in all directions.
On the other hand, the sword he was wielding felt somehow bound by rules.
Speaking of a free sword art, for some reason, Baek Hyang’s sword dance came to mind.
But that too felt somewhat lacking.
‘What is the problem?’
After observing and comparing Baek Hyang’s sword dance and the Guardian Envoy’s whip for a moment.
Jin Yuseong realized a very important fact.
‘What an idiot.’
The fact that he had been performing the third form, Sun and Moon, while being captured by a certain prejudice.
Recognizing this, Jin Yuseong boldly opened his right hand.
The fine thread that had been connected to the Master's Blade slipped out of his right hand.
Just as the connection with the Master's Blade was about to fade.
The energy that flowed from his head grabbed onto the thread.
A faint headache surged.
Jin Yuseong ignored it and conjured an image in his mind.
In response, the Master's Blade advanced toward the Guardian Envoy.
Just as the whip was about to block the Master's Blade again, the Master's Blade bent at a right angle and soared into the air.
Like a swallow gliding.
A very natural movement. But it was not the freedom Jin Yuseong wanted.
He was still captured by prejudice.
FWOOSH.
The soaring Master's Blade came to a halt in that spot.
It was unnatural. But it was free.
Soon after, it rotated half a turn in the air and fell toward the Guardian Envoy’s face.
The moment the whip flew in, the Master's Blade rotated horizontally and grazed past it.
It was a move that would have cut his own abdomen if he had been holding the sword and performed it.
That was it.
Sword control was different from swordsmanship.
Swordsmanship had its limits.
The constraint of the joints of the body holding the sword. In addition to that, the problem was that one could cut oneself with the sword one was holding.
Because these things had to be taken into account, natural movements were possible, but free movements were not.
But sword control was different.
It could be free from the constraints of the body.
Furthermore, it could be free from the rules of nature.
It would advance rapidly toward the Guardian Envoy and then suddenly stop.
It would head to the right and then suddenly soar into the air, or suddenly spin in place to dodge the whip.
It ignored the rules of nature and followed only Jin Yuseong’s will.
A movement impossible in reality. It was like wielding a sword at will in a dream.
Two contradictory sensations came to Jin Yuseong’s mind.
A headache that felt like his head would burst. And the pleasure of enjoying infinite freedom.
Amusingly, that pleasure completely erased the headache.
Jin Yuseong, having fallen into a state of no-self, manipulated the Master's Blade without rest.
It was neither a swing nor a thrust. It was closer to the fantasy a child dreams of in their sleep.
And when that fantasy was realized, the whip, bound by reality, could not possibly follow its movements.
SLASH!
“Keuk.”
Wounds gradually increased on the Guardian Envoy’s body.
The fierceness of the demonic qi in the whip was of no use.
Once again, the Master's Blade penetrated the gap in the whip with a strange movement.
In response, the Guardian Envoy swung the whip fiercely as if in a last-ditch effort.
The long whip returned to the Guardian Envoy.
Soon after, it drew a complex circle like a whirlpool and wrapped around his entire body.
The demonic qi on the whip mingled with each other.
Then, a barrier of Enhanced Qi formed, enveloping the Guardian Envoy’s entire body like a protective aura.
CLANG!
The Master's Blade and the whip clashed, creating sparks.
A barrier of qi with no openings whatsoever.
In Jin Yuseong’s eyes, as he observed the scene in a state of no-self, he saw a single, minute gap.
The moment he discovered the gap, the Master's Blade flew toward it.
Once again, the barrier of qi and the Master's Blade clashed.
CLANG!
At that very moment, the energy remaining in Jin Yuseong’s dantian surged all at once.
That energy erupted from Jin Yuseong’s mind and advanced along the thread connected to the Master's Blade.
Soon after, the energy that reached the Master's Blade formed a ring of qi and began to rotate fiercely.
It was as if he were performing the second form, Golden Ring, and the third form, Sun and Moon, simultaneously.
GRIIIIIND!
The ring of qi began to tear apart the barrier of qi.
“You bastard!”
The Guardian Envoy also spewed out demonic qi indiscriminately as if in a last-ditch effort.
The demonic qi enveloping the whip dissipated and regenerated repeatedly.
At that very moment, the whip suddenly tore.
SLASH!
It was the spot that had already been torn about a third of the way and had become flimsy.
It was the very spot that Jin Yuseong had struck with the Golden Ring at the beginning of the battle.
The middle part of the whip was cut.
Then, a part of the whip fell to the ground with a thud. At the same time, the barrier of qi collapsed.
The Master's Blade, having cut the whip, continued to advance.
SLASH!
With a cutting sound, blood splattered.
The right arm of the Guardian Envoy, which had been holding the whip, was cut off.
THUD.
“Arrrggghhh!!!”
The pain-filled scream did not last long.
Jin Yuseong, who had launched himself at the same time as cutting off the arm, had already reached the Guardian Envoy’s immediate vicinity.
SLASH!
After cutting off the man’s left arm as well, Jin Yuseong said.
“Until you spit out all the information about the Demonic Cult, you will not be able to die even if you want to.”