Chapter 447 : The Overturned Heavens (8)
Chapter 447: The Overturned Heavens (8)
“Kill me with your full power.”
Right after he uttered those words, Master’s lips shut completely.
I instinctively knew—Master would never again utter a word from his mouth.
Tsstsstssts!
Master’s power was growing even stronger.
Now, he had fully embraced his identity as Four Atrocities Chaos and was beginning to fuse with it in earnest.
‘No, he might have even... become stronger than the original Chaos.’
Hostility pierced my skin.
A being that could kill a living creature with nothing but killing intent, without a single word.
Completely on a different level from the incomplete Do-ol….
Flash!
“……!”
For a moment.
A slash tore through the space like it pierced the rift of time itself, erasing all idle thoughts at once.
The slash grazed my nape with a thin, clean line.
Rumble!
Soon after, a heavy crash echoed from somewhere behind.
‘Anyone else wouldn’t even have reacted to that.’
I brushed the torn skin on my neck with the tip of my finger.
There was no blood. My body had already shed the guise of a human to a certain extent.
‘Still, I didn’t expect to be injured by an ordinary slash.’
Even without using any particular qi technique, the toughness of my body now was comparable to Jin Gun-ak with his full power as the Asura God.
In other words, even Jin Gun-ak couldn’t be certain of survival if struck by that slash.
“Kill me with your full power….”
Master had resolved himself to die.
And I, too, respected that decision.
There was only one unusual point in Master’s final words.
‘Full power….’
Master wouldn’t have used the term “full power” without reason.
‘If I were to use full power here….’
I had never truly unleashed my full power before, but the calculations in my head were clear….
‘If I miscalculate, this entire Soaring Demon Peak might be obliterated.’
If Soaring Demon Peak was destroyed, Grand Heavenly Lord’s ritual would most likely be broken, but the real problem was that something would definitely happen to Yura.
‘Master has even fought alongside the former Cult Leader. There’s no way he would speak lightly.’
Simply killing Master wasn’t enough.
There was a condition—that I must do it with all my strength.
I hesitated for a moment, but coming to a decision wasn’t difficult.
The top priority behind all my actions is Yura, but even if not to the same extent, Master is precious to me too.
“Understood. If that is Master’s will.”
I clasped my hands and performed a clasped hands greeting toward Master.
“Disciple Jin Yeomyung. I shall grant Master peace with my full strength.”
I grabbed the two swords circling around me.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Sword, which seemed ready to unleash boundless madness, began to stabilize like a lie the moment it met the Heavenly Record Immortal Sword.
“I’m going now.”
Master and my senses began to distort in an instant.
A master who had reached the Transcendent Demon Realm could extend perception time and enter the realm of hyper-awareness.
Of course, entering this time-space zone meant nothing if the body couldn’t withstand it.
Typically, experts who reached this level would use intent to the extreme, manifesting physical force through limited means like slashes.
But for someone like Master or myself, that wasn’t necessary.
Kwagwagwang!
Sword clashed against sword, unleashing massive shockwaves.
Though the sun had yet to fully rise, the aftermath of Master and my battle could be sensed throughout Sipmandae Mountain.
“W-What on earth….”
The Six Great Clan’s leadership, who had been evacuating cultists and dealing with remnants of the Heaven-Defying Society, unconsciously turned their gaze toward the fierce battle unfolding near Soaring Demon Peak.
“That’s insane. Are those really human movements?”
Their positions switched every time one blinked.
Jin Gun-ak let out a groan, realizing just how nonsensical their speed was.
Even if one had defensive strong qi, moving at that speed would strip the skin and grind the bones, reducing the body to shreds.
“Hey, sword freak. Could you pull that off right now?”
The Sword Demon, who was watching the duel nearby, slowly shook his head.
“Impossible.”
“What about you, Murder Demon?”
Murder Demon Somunyak also shrugged his shoulders.
“Do you think I could?”
“…Yeah, I thought so.”
“You’d probably need to awaken the Asura God to his extreme to even attempt something like that.”
Of course, even Jin Gun-ak didn’t possess such speed.
It was all based solely on what my body could withstand.
“If we had joined, we would’ve been utterly humiliated.”
“…….”
“…….”
At Jin Gun-ak’s bitingly spoken words, both the Sword Demon and Murder Demon inwardly agreed.
Especially for the Sword Demon, the mental shock was beyond words.
Unlike the other two, the Sword Demon had clearly observed it.
He thought he had gained enlightenment and advanced another step, but the battle taking place in the distance was a clash of monsters who had far surpassed the limits of the human species.
The Sword Demon spoke with a faint trace of resentment.
“It’s not just about movement.”
“What?”
“Transcendence beyond the extremes of intent. Both of them have reached that point.”
One reached it through the proper path, the other through an unconventional one.
But whether through the orthodox or the unorthodox, what mattered was that they had reached it.
Understanding the Sword Demon’s implication to some extent, Jin Gun-ak widened his eyes.
“Both of them… are truly at the level of the former Cult Leader?”
“No idea.”
“What the hell?!”
As Jin Gun-ak was about to glare again—
“That’s a realm we can’t even begin to comprehend.”
“……!”
Words soaked in an unfamiliar sense of defeat caused a momentary flicker in Jin Gun-ak’s expression.
He shifted his gaze.
Where the Sword Demon was looking stood Ma Chulsoo, now essentially under Jin Yeomyung’s command, leading the prodigies.
“Chulsoo.”
At the Sword Demon’s quiet call, Ma Chulsoo responded.
“Yes, Father.”
“Can you win?”
“…….”
It was obvious who that question referred to.
Ma Chulsoo gave a slight smile and gripped the sword sheath in his hand tighter.
“To be honest, I’m not confident.”
“…….”
“But if I chase him for a lifetime, I might at least graze his heel, right?”
There was not a shred of defeatism in Ma Chulsoo’s posture.
There was no petty compromise like accepting second place or being satisfied acknowledging another’s superiority.
Only a burning competitiveness to catch up one day.
The Sword Demon was satisfied with this second son.
“You’re better than I am.”
At that, Jin Gun-ak suddenly quipped with a sour look.
“You raised your kid well. I’m jealous.”
At those words, the Sword Demon’s brow twitched.
He nodded toward the ongoing fierce battle near Soaring Demon Peak with his chin.
“That one’s your son.”
“…….”
Murder Demon glared at Jin Gun-ak with his eyes.
He was the one most troubled about succession issues, and he dared to say that?
“Yeah, he’s my son. But….”
Jin Gun-ak scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression.
“I’d feel at least a little proud if he got even a bit of my touch. But the guy just grows on his own every time I look away—there’s no room to feel accomplished.”
“…….”
Not just the two, but many who heard that quietly agreed.
Frankly, even for them, the speed of growth Jin Yeomyung showed was in the realm of the inexplicable.
“Sometimes, he looks less like my son and more like a monster wearing my son’s skin.”
Normally, such words would be steeped in fear or dread.
But Jin Gun-ak’s face was smiling.
Realizing all those earlier words had been nothing but deceit, the Sword Demon and Murder Demon exuded vicious killing intent.
“Wipe that smile off your face before you say crap like that.”
“That damn bastard….”
***
In endlessly accelerated time—
Master and I exchanged blows without end.
Master used the body of Four Atrocities Chaos, and I used the durability that transcended humanity and the Asura God.
Because we fulfilled these conditions, we could prevent our bodies from collapsing in this hyper-accelerated realm.
Bright Net Ten Swords
Thousand Loves
As the Bright Net Thousand Loves began in earnest, a thousand swords rose around Master and me.
A thousand Dual Intent Swords?
No.
The true Bright Net Thousand Loves didn’t just manipulate sword qi—it wielded blades of intent.
The reason the Twelve Manifestations of the Heaven-Slaying Demon Sword amounted to only twelve was because that was the maximum one could realize under the logic of conventional martial arts.
The former Heavenly Demons, known as Cheonma, could control a hundred, a thousand, or even more swords at will.
And I was no different.
Twitch!
Master’s form flinched briefly at the threat of the heavenly swords surrounding him.
If surpassing the limits of qi was Demonic Shedding—
Then Transcendence surpassed the limits of intent.
Bright Net Thousand Loves surged toward Master’s entire body with the momentum to skewer him completely.
‘Is he going to bring out those wings again?’
If so, that moment would be Master’s last.
However—
In a world where extreme acceleration had paradoxically slowed everything, Master’s sword began to dance smoothly.
“……!”
I could see it.
Even in this extreme realm, Master’s sword flowed like water!
It looked slow, yet it was seamless and flawless—an unbroken, ceaseless sword that evolved past a singularity into a new level at some point.
I instinctively realized—that was the perfected form of the Enlightened Sword that Wudang pursued.
Eight Branch Sword
Extreme Polarity Reversal
It was clearly based on the Heaven and Earth Ultimate Progression of the Heavenly Record Immortal Sword, but… it transcended that principle and was a unique answer that Master established on his own.
The intent of Bright Net Thousand Loves was swept away by Master’s flow and vanished in vain.
That defense couldn’t be breached by ordinary means.
‘Then, I will break through with overwhelming force.’
Though flow may overcome strength, overwhelming force didn’t need to care about softness.
For the first time, unmatched strength imbued the Heavenly Record Immortal Sword.
The Heavenly Record Immortal Sword, which had so far withstood my power without strain, now let out a scream and began to suffer.
At the tip of the Heavenly Record Immortal Sword, a black orb formed, as though it would absorb everything in existence.
I launched a strike toward Master with the maximum power I could currently muster.
Bright Net Ten Swords
Destruction of Heaven
A new transcendent technique based on Heaven-Piercing Destruction.
Or perhaps, the original prototype of Heaven-Piercing Destruction itself—an absolute image of annihilation.
Unlike other techniques, Bright Net Destruction of Heaven didn’t cause flashy destruction to the surroundings.
It flew forth at a speed close to the reversal of cause and effect and simply trampled the body of Four Atrocities Chaos thoroughly.
-■■■■■■■!!
There was no time to draw out his wings, no room to counterattack.
The true power of Destruction of Heaven was the ability to collapse and erase existence itself from the foundation.
Starting from the heart, cracks like capillaries began to spread across the body of Four Atrocities Chaos.
However—
Even in his agony, Master didn’t look at me.
He had no eyes, but it felt as though he was silently asking me—‘Is this your full power?’
“…….”
Of course, this wasn’t truly my full power.
In terms of raw force, Heaven-Piercing was indeed the most destructive I could currently produce, but that didn’t mean it was my real full strength.
I approached the collapsing Master.
He didn’t have the strength to shake me off, even as he suffered.
I placed my hand on his chest—right at the core of the cracks where Destruction of Heaven had landed.
And then… I unleashed the true force that could be called my real full power—‘something.’
Master spoke to me.
“You really are a wretched brat.”
“…….”
Having completely shed his karmic burden as Four Atrocities, and returned to his human form, Master snapped at me.
“If you had just used that from the beginning, I wouldn’t have had to suffer this much. Did tormenting your Master like this make you feel good?”
I chuckled and shrugged.
“Well, to be honest, it was a little satisfying.”
“…What?”
“Do you know how many bottles of liquor you extorted from me, Master? I ran out of pocket money and had to secretly beg the External Commander more than once.”
“Ahem!”
This was something no one but me could remember—a matter from a distant past.
It was from an entire kalpa ago, but the current Master would understand what I meant.
Because… this place was that kind of special ‘space.’
“Well, sorry.”
“As long as you know.”
Master apologized without resistance.
“By the way, I’m curious. What’s the name of that technique? It’s not something that can be explained by the conventional logic of martial arts….”
“This technique is…”
I was about to explain the principles of this space in detail, but soon shook my head.
The time allowed for Master was nearly up, and I didn’t have much strength left to maintain this space either.
However—
Just the name should be fine to share.
“The final sword I established among the Ten Swords—Bright Net Karmic Fate.”