Chapter 41 : Nine Heavens Sword Demon Art
Jang Baekseo's words hit Myeonggwang right where it hurt.
Myeonggwang was also aware of the first enlightenment to reach the sword force that Jang Baekseo had mentioned, the enlightenment of flow.
But he was not in a state where he could understand it clearly enough to explain it to others in such detail.
"There is a difference as big as the sky and the earth between a person who has just awakened to sword qi and a person who can contain the enlightenment of flow in their sword qi. Even if they have reached the same peak realm and there is not much difference in their internal energy, the sword qi of a person who has not obtained the enlightenment of flow can never defeat a person who has."
And Myeonggwang was a person who had reached that enlightenment of flow.
In addition, by using his explosively increased internal energy, he had been able to forcibly accelerate the flow within this flow, that is, the sword qi, and had been able to imitate it similarly even though he had not obtained the second enlightenment to reach sword force.
"…Tell me the second one too."
"Why should I? No, before that, you were boasting that it was sword force, weren't you?"
At Jang Baekseo's continued words that hit the mark, Myeonggwang's face turned red and blue from moment to moment.
"…No matter what nonsense and outrageous remarks you spout, the fact that this is sword force does not change."
"You're saying that, but you don't believe it yourself, do you?"
"Shut up!!"
Myeonggwang could no longer listen to Jang Baekseo's words.
It was a sword force created by using even the Gonggongdan, which had enormous side effects.
No matter how much he had reached it with the help of a drug, this was his pride as a martial artist and his everything.
"I'll make it so you can't spout such outrageous remarks anymore!!"
That's why he was going to show him.
The proof that this dwelling in his sword was a real sword force!
Kwaaaaaaaaaa!
The blue sword force dwelling in Myeonggwang's sword created a torrent of power even greater than before.
Mount Qingcheng ached from the torrent, and the leaves of the surrounding vegetation were swept away by the torrent, creating a green band.
"Die, young genius!!"
Shwooooooong!!!
The blue sword force was emitted from Myeonggwang's sword towards Jang Baekseo, who was five zhang away.
As it went one zhang, two zhang, the power of the sword force that Myeonggwang had thrown was clearly decreasing rapidly.
But even though it had decreased, the sword force that had passed the distance of five zhang and had reached right in front of Jang Baekseo's nose contained enough power to turn him into finely minced meat.
"Become minced meat!!!!"
And Jang Baekseo…
He extended his sword towards the flying sword force.
"Hahahahaha!! What a foolish thing!! Be torn apart with your sword!!!"
Since Jang Baekseo's sword did not even have the pseudo-sword qi that he had used against Myeonggwang's sword qi before, it shattered from the tip as soon as it touched Myeonggwang's sword force.
But,
The sword body, which had been slowly shattering from the end, was only greatly cracked when it reached the middle, and when it reached the end, it received Myeonggwang's sword force with only a hairline crack left.
No, to be precise,
"H-how?"
The blue sword force that Myeonggwang had thrown was now dwelling in Jang Baekseo's sword, which had been broken in half… no, it was now a sword force with a dark light.
To continue the story, the second enlightenment to reach sword force, Jang Baekseo called it 'connection'.
Just like the enlightenment of flow, which had a theory as its name suggested, the enlightenment of connection was also as its name suggested.
If flow was to add flow and circulation to the sword qi that had a form, the enlightenment of connection was to add composition and structure to it.
Just as un-twisted straw, no matter how much you gather, cannot support a weight of a hundred catties, but a rope that has been elaborately woven with proper rules can easily support a thousand catties.
The enlightenment of connection was to add an elaborate composition and structure to the sword qi that had formed a shape in this way. Through this, the sword qi would become stronger, and the ability to transmit energy to the outside would also increase dramatically.
But those who were sharp among those who had heard the story up to this point would realize that something was strange.
The fact that the enlightenment of flow and the enlightenment of connection, which were mentioned earlier, were in direct conflict with each other!
Qi has no form, and therefore no strength and no hardness. That's why it can be made to flow like water, and this leads to the enlightenment of flow. But the enlightenment of connection, on the contrary, is to elaborately weave the qi, which has no strength and no hardness, from a very small unit. To apply these two to the sword qi at once was an impossible thing, like weaving flowing water to make a flowing silk garment.
But the world is wide, and the martial artists who live in that world are as many as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand in the desert. Among them, those who faced the impossible without bending, and among them, only a very small number of chosen ones could make the two impossible enlightenments one.
The martial artists of the world, with awe, respect, and fear, call the marvelous starlight that dwells only in the hands of those who have faced the impossible and have resolutely won it, like weaving flowing river water to create a beautiful silk garment, like this.
Force.
Flowing and at the same time having a structure, this purification of power that has overcome the impossible does not just have a form like sword qi, but exists proudly in this world with only energy.
That's why, unlike sword qi, even if it is thrown away from the user's hand, its power never decreases and does not scatter and disappear.
That's why.
Since Myeonggwang's sword force was a half-baked sword qi that did not contain the enlightenment of connection, Jang Baekseo was able to throw a gamble.
The twelve sword manuals created with the Twelve Paths, Three Forms, and one of them, Jowon!
Although it was a sword manual that had not reached great mastery, it was the most necessary sword technique at this moment, and Jang Baekseo entrusted his fate to the Jowon sword manual.
Jowon was a technique to receive the opponent's attack, neutralize its power, and subdue it. And the attack mentioned here included not only a simple sword attack but also sword qi and sword force.
Of course, this was only possible in theory, and it was not that the Jowon sword manual was an invincible sword manual that could nullify and take away sword qi and sword force altogether.
But.
Myeonggwang, who had been tricked by a cheap provocation, had thoughtlessly thrown an incomplete sword force, and thanks to that, the conditions could be met.
Against the sword force that was flying at him as if it were going to eat him, Jang Baekseo thrust his sword and deployed Jowon.
Myeonggwang's half-baked sword force, from the moment it left Myeonggwang's hand, its form began to collapse, and Jang Baekseo used the Jowon sword manual to dig into that gap.
Neutralize the flow of the half-baked sword force and take away its control!
Although it was a situation where he had to accomplish an extremely difficult task in a moment, Jang Baekseo did it without batting an eye.
And he reconstructed the sword force whose control he had taken away in that way.
That was what had happened in the moment after Myeonggwang had thrown the sword force.
"H-how!?"
"Look carefully, brat. This is a real sword force."
Jang Baekseo extended the sword, which was dwelling with a dark sword force, backwards.
Even though he was unfolding the sword technique with his left arm, not his dominant right arm, there was not the slightest awkwardness in his movements.
'It's a basic skill as the Sword Demon to be able to unfold a sword technique with the left hand at the same level as the right hand.'
"Nine Heavens Sword Demon Art, First Sword."
The Sword Demon Palace, one of the Twelve Demon Palaces of the Demonic Cult. And the master of that Sword Demon Palace, the Sword Demon, was passed down three divine arts.
The first was the Soul-Refining Ten Thousand Swords Qi Art.
It was a qi art with a ridiculously difficult entry condition of opening the middle dantian, that is, requiring the transcendent realm, and it was a martial art that made the Sword Demon the Sword Demon.
The second was the Heaven-Shaking True Demon Force.
It was a sword force art that created up to twelve sword force qi and unfolded forms. When combined with the Soul-Refining Ten Thousand Swords Qi Art, it exerted a terrifying power that could literally split mountains and evaporate seas.
And the last, the third, was the Nine Heavens Sword Demon Art.
Although it was a martial art with only nine forms, it was an invincible sword art whose power was said to be unparalleled in the world, except for the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
And now, that invincible sword art was about to be unfolded in Jang Baekseo's hand.
Myeonggwang, who was watching it, felt as if this whole moment was a dream.
Otherwise, how could such an absurd thing happen in reality?
No, if you thought about it that way, everything was strange from the beginning. A fourteen-year-old boy who was at the second-rate level but overwhelmed the third-generation disciples of Qingcheng and first-rate masters… and now, he was toying with him, a peak master, and was trying to block the sword force he had thrown using the Gonggongdan with a sword that did not even have sword qi, and in the end, he was even taking away that sword force and using it himself.
It was a nightmare.
If this wasn't a nightmare, what was it?
But Myeonggwang's thoughts did not last long.
An overwhelmingly powerful energy that could not be expressed in words began to flow from the dark force dwelling in Jang Baekseo's sword.
And soon, Jang Baekseo's sword was swung.
"Roaring Heaven."
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!
With a roar that seemed to tear the ears, the dark force swallowed Myeonggwang.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!
Mount Qingcheng was violently shaken, and after the huge impact had ceased…
"Cough!"
"Wow, you're still alive?"
Alive.
He didn't know what the standard was, but even if all four limbs were torn and the lower half of his body was torn off and stuck in a rock, if the focus was only on whether he was breathing in and out, then Myeonggwang was definitely alive.
Although the spilled internal organs and blood were staining the soil and grass of Mount Qingcheng, Myeonggwang was definitely still conscious and breathing.
"…Was that a real sword force?"
"…Well, something like that."
To be precise, it was a little different from a normal sword force, but it was what it was.
"Ugh, keuk, you annoying brat…"
Looking back now, it seemed that Myeonggwang had not liked Jang Baekseo from the first time they met.
What was the reason?
Was it because of his sharp insight that did not suit his young age?
Or was it because of his confident attitude of saying what he had to say, regardless of his age?
Or was it because he was jealous of his outstanding martial arts realm that far surpassed his peers?
Only now…
Only when death was right in front of him, Myeonggwang seemed to be able to understand why he had felt that way.
'Yes, for some reason… for some reason, that brat resembled Master…'
For a moment.
The strength left Myeonggwang's eyes.
And soon, he quietly passed away.
"What's so good about a dead guy that you're smiling like that…"
Jang Baekseo closed the eyes of Myeonggwang, who had now grown cold.
"Hoo~ in the end, I didn't get any other information."
Of course, it wasn't that he hadn't gotten any information at all.
He had been able to obtain additional information that the source of the Raging Blood Art and the Gonggongdan, which had been unknown before his regression, was either the Hundred Rivers Association or somewhere deeply related to the Hundred Rivers Association.
"By the way, the Hundred Rivers Association… the Hundred Rivers Association in the Western martial world… this story is getting interesting."
The Righteous-Demonic War, the Hundred Rivers Association, and the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Jang Baekseo had a premonition that these would be the clues to stop the Righteous-Demonic War.