The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

What was inside the amulet that Geum Hyeonah had given him was a small bottle made of iron.

The moment he saw the bottle, Jang Baekseo instinctively knew what it was and what was inside it.

"Ha… hahaha!! This sly little thing…!"

The blood, which was full of the energy of the elixir that had been extracted from Geum Hyeonah's body during the process of treating her illness. Geum Hyeonah had put that blood in the amulet and had given it to Jang Baekseo.

He did not know what Geum Hyeonah was thinking when she had sent this in the amulet.

It could have been to wish for his safety, just as a woman would give an amulet with her hair in it to her lover. Or, she might have really expected that Jang Baekseo would fall into a crisis. But what was important now was not that.

Jang Baekseo had drunk the blood without hesitation, and the situation had come to this now.

***

"Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Jang Baekseo, who was glaring at the roaring beast without a care, twitched his eyebrow.

At the same time, the two Heavenly Pursuit True Demon Sword Forces that had been floating in the air flew at the beast like meteors.

Although the beast, which had experienced the power of the Heavenly Pursuit True Demon Sword Force, hurriedly tried to dodge…

"It won't work."

Hwoong!

The Heavenly Pursuit True Demon Sword Force flew, chasing the beast as it was, and soon…

Swish!

"Kroooooooooooooo!!!"

It sent the beast's both arms flying, bones and all.

"I'm curious. Can you regenerate even if your limbs are blown off?"

Even though he had no pain, the beast, which had been rolling on the floor in the shock of losing its limbs, had the cut surface of its arms twitch for a moment as if it were regenerating, and then it became quiet.

'It can't regenerate if the limbs are cut off completely. Considering that it had regenerated at high speed even when I had completely butchered its arm before… is the bone the important thing?'

Jang Baekseo, who had finished his analysis of the opponent, looked at the beast with indifferent eyes.

"Just die now."

At the same time, two Heavenly Pursuit True Demon Sword Forces lined up above Jang Baekseo's head and aimed at the beast.

"Dragon Slaughter, Ganghon"

Jang Baekseo had created twelve sword manuals based on the Twelve Paths, Three Forms.

Then why was it exactly twelve?

The reason was simple.

Because the number of sword-controlling sword forces that could be created with the mastered Heavenly Pursuit True Demon Sword Force was exactly twelve.

He unfolded the sword manuals of Dragon Slaughter and Ganghon on the two sword-controlling sword forces, respectively.

"Dragon Slaying Heaven Rush"

The two Heavenly Pursuit True Demon Sword Forces, which had been shot out like meteors, contained the energy of Dragon Slaughter and Ganghon and attacked the beast.

Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!

A roar shook the heavens and the earth, and the surrounding vegetation, rocks, and the earth itself evaporated.

Swoooooooooooooo…

In the place where the dust had settled…

"Oh? Did I overdo it?"

There was no sign of the beast. Just…

"Only the ankles are left?"

Only a pair of the beast's ankles, whose upper body had evaporated, remained.

***

"Ugh!"

After the fight was over, Jang Baekseo vomited a basin of blood.

"…Did I overdo it too much?"

The energy contained in Geum Hyeonah's blood. Because that energy had been refined in Geum Hyeonah's body, people other than Geum Hyeonah could not properly obtain its power.

Nevertheless, the reason why Jang Baekseo had been able to obtain a vast amount of energy to the point of using the Heavenly Pursuit True Demon Sword Force was because he had used the blood not as an elixir but as a potential-unlocking pill like the Berserk Pill.

To put it simply, he had used it not for the purpose of absorbing the energy of the elixir into his body, but in a way that added it to the operation of his energy as it was.

Of course, if he used it in this way, he could hardly expect a permanent increase in his energy, but…

'But I had no choice…'

But thanks to that, Jang Baekseo had been able to recover a little less than half of half of half of half of his original skill, and he had been able to kill the beast using two Heavenly Pursuit True Demon Sword Forces.

Although Jang Baekseo's body condition was the worst, he had no time to recover leisurely.

Jang Baekseo threw his body to check the safety of his comrades.

***

"Brother!!!"

"Hey, Jang Baekseo!!!"

"…It seems it wasn't very peaceful here either…"

Jang Baekseo said so, looking at Jang Yuran, who was hobbling towards him, using her spear as a cane, and Hwa Mokyeon, who was blackened as if he had come out of a fire.

"What about you?"

Jang Yuran said, looking at Jang Baekseo with a voice that was leaking wind.

It was certainly true.

Following the fight against Gang Junpyo, the fight against the Berserk Pill Gang Junpyo, and finally, the fight against the beast Gang Junpyo. The state of Jang Baekseo, who had fought three consecutive battles, was also not good.

Jang Baekseo also noticed that and soon burst out laughing.

"We're all really a mess."

"More than that, brother, listen! I, you see, I'm a transcendent…!"

"Ah, be quiet for a moment."

The three, who had been happy to have reunited safely, even if for a moment, soon entered the cave where they had been moving.

"Madam Ma…"

Madam Ma, who had smiled brightly with a haggard face, held out the baby, who was wrapped in a clean swaddling cloth and was sleeping, to Jang Baekseo.

"It's a girl…"

Tears flowed from the eyes of Jang Baekseo, who had received the child with trembling hands.

"Haha, you have blonde hair like your grandmother, don't you?"

Jang Baekseo, who had stroked the golden hair of the baby who was sleeping soundly in his arms, looked at Madam Ma and asked.

"The baby's name is… ah!"

"Ma Jinseo. It's the name you guys gave her."

Madam Ma answered with a bright smile.

Ma Jinseo. Looking at the child who would become his goddaughter in the future, Jang Baekseo was immersed in emotion.

"Hey! Brother, let me hold her too!"

"M-me too!!"

"This is not the time for this, we have to prepare to escape first…"

Thus, Hwa Mokyeon and Jang Yuran, who were trying to be the first to hold Ma Jinseo, and even Jang Baekseo, who was saying that they had to prepare to escape again. The eyes of the party were instantly focused on the entrance of the cave.

"Brother… this is."

"…Damn it."

Jang Baekseo and Hwa Mokyeon, who had gritted their teeth, immediately ran out of the cave.

"Oh ho ho, I can't believe it. To think that the leaders of the Righteous Sword Squad and the Strong Sword Squad would die at the hands of such brats?"

"Kukuku, thanks to that, we can finish this job so easily, can't we?"

"That's right, that's right!!"

What had appeared in the forest were three men.

A small old man of five feet, a giant who was a head taller than a normal adult, and even a strange person who was a man but was wearing women's clothes.

The problem was…

"All three of them are transcendent…"

"This is getting troublesome."

Jang Baekseo instinctively noticed that these were the unpleasant helpers that Jang Pangyo had talked about before, who had been hired by the Righteous Sword Squad.

'Are they masters of the Unorthodox Faction who were hired for money?'

Jang Baekseo noticed that they were by no means ordinary Orthodox Faction martial artists through their energy.

Although the qi they felt was qi, the sticky killing intent and the clinging, miscellaneous evil qi made the viewer feel unpleasant.

The sticky killing intent proved how many people they had killed so far, and at the same time, the miscellaneous evil qi meant that they had used unorthodox methods to raise their martial arts level.

"Brother… can you do it?"

"Who are you asking? Can you fight properly, Young Master Hwa, being so crispy fried?"

"I told you to call me big brother… well, I'm better than I look…"

Although they were pretending to be fine with each other, the condition of the two was, of course, not normal.

Hwa Mokyeon was at least not in a state where he was lacking in internal energy, thanks to the fact that he had absorbed the energy of the elixir while gaining enlightenment. But the internal injuries he had sustained from fighting against the sword force with his sword qi and the burns he had sustained from the Cheonroe Three Palms were severe.

Likewise, Jang Baekseo also had several broken ribs from the fight against the three-stage transformation Gang Junpyo, and his internal injuries were severe as a price for forcibly using Geum Hyeonah's blood like a potential-unlocking pill.

Nevertheless, the two did not say any weak words.

They drew their swords and took their stances.

A desperate situation. Even in front of an extreme predicament where they could not guarantee their survival even a single step ahead, there was no despair to be found in the eyes of the two.

"Haha! It seems those guys are planning to fight us?"

"Hahaha! Good, I'll crush them into meatballs!!"

"Hahaha~ good! The foolishness of those young people!!"

A touch-and-go moment!

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!

Something that had flown in like a meteor fell in their midst.

At the extremely strong impact, the ground was overturned, and a huge crater was formed.

"Hoo~ it seems I'm not late!"

What had revealed itself in the huge crater he had created himself was a tall middle-aged man with a fierce and at the same time bold impression, wearing a clean white robe.

The existence of the white-sheathed dao, which was dangling carelessly at his waist, told him that he was a dao practitioner.

At his shocking appearance, a heavy silence fell on the surroundings. The man who had walked out of the crater looked around.

"Hmm, you dirty Unorthodox Faction seeds… want to try?"

At the appearance of the middle-aged man, the three Unorthodox Faction members opened their eyes wide and glared at him.

"…The Heavenly Dao… Han Baekho…"

"Why is that man here…!?"

"…! This is getting troublesome."

Jang Baekseo was also astonished.

The Heavenly Dao, Han Baekho. Although the people of this era called him that, it was not so for Jang Baekseo.

He knew that man.

No, he knew that sharp qi like a blade and the white-hilted broadsword!

'The Dao Star, Han Baekho!!'

A member of the Eighteen Stars of Demon Subjugation and at the same time one of the sworn enemies of the Sword Demon, Jang Baekseo!

'No, why is that man coming out here all of a sudden!?'

As Jang Baekseo was having such thoughts.

"Ah~ then, you young friends over there?"

Han Baekho called Jang Baekseo and Hwa Mokyeon.

"Y-yes!? D-did you call us, Great Hero Han!?"

"…"

Han Baekho, who had called them, rummaged in his bosom and took out a piece of paper and showed it to them.

"You guys sent this, right?"

What Han Baekho held out was the letter of introduction that the Flame Star, no, Gang Mujeong, who was called the Chivalrous Guest in this era, had written.

"Th-that, why does Great Hero Han have…"

"It seems it was delivered well."

Jang Yuran, who had said so, let out a sigh of relief.

"Y-Yuran, you sent it!? But how on earth…?"

"Don't you remember? We met a merchant ship going to the Chivalrous Alliance in Guilin, right?"

Come to think of it, that was certainly true. Although he had tried to stow away, he had not even been able to try because three transcendent masters were guarding it…

"Yes, I hid the letter of introduction in the luggage of that merchant ship and sent it. It wasn't a very difficult task. I just bribed a child who was working at the port at that time, and he did it easily."

"But… even if there might be a spy from the Hundred River Association, you did such a thing…"

"That's why I asked you then, right? And you answered like this. The spies of the Hundred River Association who have infiltrated the Chivalrous Alliance are all at the bottom."

"That… that's true."

"Among the goods, you see, there are products that the lower-ranking people can't even touch, and that the upper-ranking people must check and inspect. I hid the letter of introduction in those products."

Jang Baekseo slapped his knee at the idea that only Jang Yuran, the daughter of an escort agency, could have, which he had not even thought of.

"Did the young lady send it? Congratulations. The young lady's gamble was a success."

Jang Yuran had written their approximate route along with the letter of introduction.

Han Baekho, who had confirmed this, had run without a single day's rest and had searched for Jang Baekseo's party. And at the end, he had been able to find them at this desperate moment.

Han Baekho looked at the three Unorthodox Faction masters and said.

"So… want to try?"

At the pressure of the master who had reached the Unrestrained Realm, the faces of the three Unorthodox Faction masters turned ashen.

"…I'll pass. It's not worth it."

"Tsk, I'm going to get scolded."

"Let's go."

Han Baekho, who had grinned, looking at the three Unorthodox Faction masters who were quickly backing down, soon became serious and shouted loudly.

"Then get the hell out of here!!"

Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

A lion's roar of terrifying power shook the mountain… and that was the end.

The three Unorthodox Faction masters, as well as the members of the Strong Sword Squad and the Righteous Sword Squad who were surrounding the mountain, had noticed that things had gone wrong and had begun to run away with their tails between their legs.

At that sight, Hwa Mokyeon, whose legs had given out, collapsed onto the ground.

Jang Baekseo also collapsed next to him with a thud.

It was the moment the long, long escape came to an end.

(End of Chapter)