The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

The fight that had begun in that way was flowing in a completely different pattern from before.

Sreung!

Kwaaaang!

"Tsk!"

Gang Junpyo's fighting style, which had been using a strong sword to crush with force until now, had changed one hundred and eighty degrees.

Rather than settling the score with his sword technique, it was a fighting style that created an opening by distracting Jang Baekseo's hands and feet, and then broke into that created opening with a hand technique!

The unique continuous attack of the right sword and the left hand was enough to make Jang Baekseo struggle.

Of course, the problem was not Gang Junpyo's fighting style, which combined his sword and boxing techniques.

Jang Baekseo himself was a person who was tired of fighting with a mixture of sword and boxing.

The real problem was the Heaven and Earth Twin Forces that Gang Junpyo was using.

Jang Baekseo had been dealing with the sword force calmly with the Jowon sword manual until now.

It was a matter of course, but this was by no means an easy task.

No, rather, it was a task that belonged to a considerable degree of difficulty. Nevertheless, Jang Baekseo was doing it based on the astonishing skills and experience he had accumulated as the Sword Demon before his regression.

But now, the number of sword forces he had to deal with had increased to two.

Although it was by no means an easy task to break through one sword force with the Jowon sword manual, the fact that it had suddenly increased to two was as difficult for the current Jang Baekseo as dealing with transcendent masters with different origins.

If he let the red sword force flow, the blue water force would follow. Since it had a completely different weave from the red sword force, Jowon also had to be changed accordingly, and that was a task that required a very high degree of concentration.

Even if he tried to distance himself and catch his breath, Gang Junpyo would persistently follow him and pressure him.

Even if he managed to distance himself, since Gang Junpyo was at the transcendent realm and had a sword force, he would eventually become food for the sword force.

A desperate situation that was no different from being impossible to break through!

But even so, the light did not disappear from Jang Baekseo's eyes.

An unparalleled predicament. Even with the line of death that was surely tightening his neck right in front of him, his will to win did not waver even a single bit.

And little by little.

By reading Gang Junpyo's movements more carefully using the ultimate principle of the empty space, he became able to read the sign just before he attacked with his hand technique.

Chang!

Swish!

'He dodged the hand technique at this distance!?'

Very little by little.

He made use of the subtlety of the useful and the useless to confuse his own actions and, on the contrary, made the opponent misperceive his next move, creating an opening for a moment.

Sreung!

Saaaaak!

"Keuk!?"

The blade that had broken through the opening let Gang Junpyo's water force flow and struck his protective sword force.

Not stopping there, Jang Baekseo, who had broken into the outside of Gang Junpyo's left arm, at the same time, tripped his leg and attempted a grappling art.

The moment he tripped his leg, Jang Baekseo's hand, which had exquisitely snatched Gang Junpyo's sleeve, lifted him into the air.

Gang Junpyo, who had been lifted into the air for a moment, quickly swung his sword to cut Jang Baekseo, but it was faster for him to break into his bosom.

Jang Baekseo, who had already broken into the range of the sword, restrained his upper arm, preventing the sword from being swung, and at the same time, he drove a short-range strike into his bosom.

Bang!

For a moment, Gang Junpyo's body was thrown back with a sound like a thunderbolt exploding.

Gang Junpyo, who had broken several trees and had been thrown to the ground, gasped for breath and hurriedly got up from his seat.

'If he didn't have a protective sword force, or if that guy could use a sword force…'

It would have been an instant death.

No, it wasn't just this time.

If Jang Baekseo could have used a sword force, Gang Junpyo would have lost his life long ago.

'I can't drag this on any longer!'

The longer the fight went on, the more Jang Baekseo became accustomed to Gang Junpyo's techniques, and the more his chances of winning decreased.

Gang Junpyo thought that now, when he had not yet fully grasped his own techniques, was the last moment to throw a decisive move.

Without even brushing off the dirt and wood fragments that had stuck to his body, Gang Junpyo, who had taken his stance again, slowly approached Jang Baekseo.

'He still has some move left.'

Jang Baekseo was already accustomed to the Heaven and Earth Twin Forces.

Although Gang Junpyo himself must have known that well, to approach him head-on like that was no different from advertising that he still had a trump card left.

Gang Junpyo, who had narrowed the distance, attacked in the same way as before.

Looking at Gang Junpyo, who was using a technique whose bottom had already been revealed, creating an opening with his right sword and giving a blow with his left hand, Jang Baekseo snorted.

'Foolish.'

He let the sword force of his right hand flow with Jowon and dodged the hand technique that came in succession from his left hand by a hair's breadth.

But at that moment!

"!?"

Swish!

Gang Junpyo's hand technique, which he had thought he had already dodged, changed its trajectory and aimed for Jang Baekseo's neck. Although Jang Baekseo barely avoided a fatal wound, there was already considerable bleeding from his neck.

"…This is a bit surprising… I never thought you would switch from a hand technique to a claw technique?"

That's right.

Gang Junpyo's hand technique, which Jang Baekseo had dodged by a paper's breadth, had instantly changed into a claw technique and had broken in, aiming for Jang Baekseo's neck.

The hand technique, which focused on the palm and the sword, had to have a linear attack trajectory.

But the claw technique, which basically imitated the clawing of a beast, was different. As it imitated the movements of a beast, the trajectory of the attack was curved, and the changes were also extreme.

Although Jang Baekseo had been wounded in the neck thanks to being caught off guard, he still smiled.

"But you know what?"

"…"

"It's not just the fingertips that can tear a person's skin."

For a moment.

Swish!

Blood spurted from Gang Junpyo's chest.

"What…!?"

Jang Baekseo, who was stopping the bleeding from his neck with his internal energy, showed his left arm, or to be precise, his elbow. Jang Baekseo's elbow was covered in blood that was not his own, and it was clear from the situation that it had come from Gang Junpyo's chest.

"Jeongju (Fixed Elbow)… no, in this case, should I call it Inju (Blade Elbow)?"

In the instant he had dodged Gang Junpyo's attack, which had switched from a hand technique to a claw technique, Jang Baekseo's left elbow had cut Gang Junpyo's chest at high speed.

"…You bastard!!!"

Gang Junpyo's expression contorted at the large amount of bleeding he was experiencing for the first time in this fight.

The reason why he had been so badly wounded even though he was using a protective sword force was simple.

'He used too much internal energy to use the Heaven and Earth Twin Forces!'

As it was, the sword force was a technique that required a lot of internal energy.

As such, when using a sword force, one always had to pay close attention to its optimization so that there was no waste.

But Gang Junpyo had used the Heaven and Earth Twin Forces, which used two sword forces of completely different properties, for a long time. And because of that, the internal energy efficiency of the sword force had dropped drastically, and he was in a state where he had overdone it considerably.

As he had overused his internal energy in that way, the strength of his protective sword force could not help but weaken, and Jang Baekseo had by no means missed that momentary opening.

"When you cut my senior brother Cheongdo's chest… I didn't say anything, but I was very angry, you see?"

Jang Baekseo, who had grinned, took his stance again.

"Let's end this now."

"Keueueuk!?"

Crack!

Jang Baekseo, who had broken into Gang Junpyo without a sound, distracted his eyes with a clever movement. And aiming for the opening in his perception that had been created for a moment, his right fist, which had broken into his blind spot, struck his left side.

Although Gang Junpyo immediately swung his sword, Jang Baekseo dodged his sword with a light body movement, like a fluttering piece of paper or a scattering flower petal.

To Jang Baekseo, who had lightly dodged his attack, Gang Junpyo was developing a hand technique and breaking in…

Swish!

"Keuk!"

He was hit by a big vertical wound on his face by Jang Baekseo's sword strike, which had shot up from his blind spot for a moment.

Although Gang Junpyo was covering his face and retreating, Jang Baekseo had no intention of letting him go.

Paaat!

The Doryong sword manual, Jang Baekseo's finishing sword strike that had followed him at close range, struck Gang Junpyo's entire body with a terrifying force.

"Kraaaaaaaaaaah!"

Although Gang Junpyo was pouring all his strength into his protective sword force, the momentum of the sword strike was so powerful that the flesh under his protective sword force was bursting.

"You're persistent!"

Crack!

Jang Baekseo kicked the chest of Gang Junpyo, who had managed to block the Doryong sword manual with difficulty.

Like Han Chuyeong, whom he had fought on Mount He before, Gang Junpyo, who had woven his protective sword force to specialize in defending against the Doryong sword manual, was thrown back helplessly by a kick that was nothing special and was thrown into a rock far away.

"Cough, cough!"

Thud, thud.

"…"

In a situation completely reversed from that of Mount Emei in Sichuan four months ago, Gang Junpyo gritted his teeth even while spitting out blood.

Perhaps thinking that Gang Junpyo no longer had the strength to resist, Jang Baekseo was slowly walking towards Gang Junpyo, who was thrown into the rock.

'…I have no choice.'

Gang Junpyo, who had admitted that he could not beat Jang Baekseo even if he died and came back to life a hundred times, swallowed a pill that he had hidden in his mouth.

For a moment.

Kuuuuuuuuu!

The energy of Gang Junpyo, who had been dying, began to amplify explosively.

At that sight, Jang Baekseo could not hide his surprise either.

"…I never thought a master of the transcendent realm would use a Berserk Pill…"

Gang Junpyo, who had rapidly regained his vitality thanks to the efficacy of the Strong Sword Squad, got up from his seat.

The red light returned to his pale complexion from the bleeding and the fatigue of the long-term battle, and the excessive use of internal energy. And his withered protective sword force also regained its strength.

"You'd better worry about yourself rather than me… and your comrades."

"…Didn't I tell you before? I've left it to a reliable person!"

It was the beginning of the second round.

***

Meanwhile, in front of the cave where Madam Ma was giving birth.

Here too, two men were facing each other.

"…I never thought I would meet a disciple of Huashan here~"

"Heok, heok!"

But unlike Jang Baekseo and Gang Junpyo, who were having a rather equal fight, the superiority of the power between the two was clear to anyone.

The one trying to protect the cave, Hwa Mokyeon, was already covered in wounds.

On the other hand, the one trying to invade the cave, the leader of the Righteous Sword Squad, Namgung Jeongmin, did not have even a speck of a wound on his body.

"If you retreat gracefully at this point, I can spare your life as a member of the same prestigious sect."

Even while gasping for breath at the sight of Namgung Jeongmin, who was speaking playfully with a sly and ugly smile, Hwa Mokyeon gritted his teeth and glared at him with eyes as fierce as a ghost's and said.

"…I'd rather die… than do that!!"

He straightened his bent back and held his trembling hand with his mental strength.

Hwa Mokyeon stood in front of Namgung Jeongmin once again, strengthening his resolve not to retreat from this place even if he died.

(End of Chapter)