Chapter 182
Chapter 182
The mountain had evaporated. It had not been a mountain large enough to rival the Five Great Mountains, but it had at least been the size of a mountain behind a village.
Yet that mountain had now vanished without leaving even a trace. Only a barren plain remained where the mountain should have stood, causing everyone present to doubt their own eyes.
Even the cultists of the Demonic Cult were flustered. The phenomenon was that shocking and absurd.
At that moment, the Heavenly Demon spoke.
“Apparently this is what happens when Hardened Force Manifestations collide. I’ve never used it at full power before, so it feels rather mysterious.”
“Indeed. It’s far more destructive than I expected.”
The very ones responsible for creating this catastrophic calamity were calmly conversing as though they had merely come out for a casual stroll nearby.
Even the Demon Brain—who was always cold and rational—stood there with a blank expression, stunned. Yet the two seemed completely composed, as if they had already expected this phenomenon to occur.
In many ways, they were simply astonishing.
Youngho pointed his chin toward the now-empty plain and said,
“Our battlefield is ready.”
“Yes, now we can truly fight…….”
The Heavenly Demon glanced around briefly.
“To be honest, I wanted to recreate the same situation as that time…… but it seems that was too greedy.”
Youngho did not bother asking what he meant. He already knew what the Heavenly Demon was muttering about.
The time when corpses had been piled everywhere and the surroundings had been drenched in blood and scattered organs—so nauseating it induced vomiting.
He meant that moment before Youngho’s regression, when Youngho had been killed by the Heavenly Demon and the Demonic Cult had achieved its long-cherished dream of the Demonic Dominion of the World.
Crack—!!
The moment he recalled that time, Youngho felt the blood in his entire body surge in reverse. As his body became consumed by rage, the energy he had been restraining began to leak outward.
Youngho’s chilling and terrifying killing intent began devouring both enemy and ally alike.
The sticky and dense killing intent bound people’s bodies and minds, and it began to break their sanity.
In the face of that silent yet ferocious killing intent, the Heavenly Demon burst into wild laughter.
“Hahahahaha!! That’s it! Though the blood is lacking compared to back then, that momentum alone is enough!”
“Shut up….”
“Come!”
“I said shut up!”
As the emotions from before his regression surged up, Youngho’s body began moving on its own.
And so the battle between the absolute beings of each faction began.
KWAANG—!
The moment Sword Force and Fist Strike collided, an unbelievable shockwave burst forth from the point of impact.
KAGAGAGAGAK!!
A grating noise scraped against the ears and clawed at the mind. Youngho glared at the Heavenly Demon—whose lips were stretched in a wide grin—with eyes filled with cold fury.
The Heavenly Demon’s punch was so powerful that the ground supporting Youngho’s legs began to cave inward. The same happened to the Heavenly Demon as well, but if this continued, the fight would inevitably become a battle of endurance.
‘I’m sick of enduring!’
Youngho tightened his lower body and twisted his waist, pushing the Heavenly Demon away. Though it looked like a light shove, the Heavenly Demon’s body was sent flying over twenty zhang due to the sheer force.
With dreadful killing intent spread across his face, Youngho laughed like an evil ghost and charged toward the direction where the Heavenly Demon had been thrown.
Moving at tremendous speed, Youngho thrust his sword toward the Heavenly Demon’s throat. Sensing the power of the all-out piercing strike, the Heavenly Demon felt his muscles tense.
Cheering at how much stronger Youngho had become, the Heavenly Demon pushed his concentration to its absolute limit and countered.
KAKAKAKAKAKANG!!
In a fleeting instant, hundreds of exchanges occurred. Every attack aimed at vital points or attempted to restrict the opponent’s range of movement.
Despite the fierce assaults, neither of them blinked even once, responding to every attack with their utmost effort.
Slash!
However, no matter how much a body was trained to the extreme, enduring Youngho’s power was difficult.
Youngho’s refined internal energy tore through the Heavenly Demon’s demonic energy and carved sword wounds into his body.
The countless variations of sword techniques unleashed by Youngho were overwhelming even for the Heavenly Demon to follow completely.
No matter how fast he countered, there was a vast difference between creating variations with a weapon and responding to those variations using only bare hands.
In the end, the Heavenly Demon—like the other demonic practitioners—was forced to allow Youngho’s attacks to land.
Although the wounds were shallow, if injuries accumulated, a human being would eventually collapse.
At this rate, Youngho’s victory seemed certain…
Yet.
Youngho clicked his tongue as he looked at the Heavenly Demon’s eyes, still drenched in exhilaration and pleasure.
His sword was certainly reaching the Heavenly Demon. However, the Heavenly Demon’s regenerative ability was on an entirely different level from other demonic practitioners.
The internal energy that had prevented the regeneration of demonic practitioners until now unfortunately could not keep up with the Heavenly Demon’s regeneration.
‘As expected… a divine art is truly a divine art.’
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art was a martial art that could not even be compared with the divine arts of great sects such as the Mount Hua Sect or the Wudang Sect.
And the Heavenly Demon was personally proving that the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was on a completely different level from the divine arts of other sects.
Already, an all-out chain of attacks had continued for one dakyung.
A pure contest of skill displayed solely through understanding of martial learning.
In that battle, Youngho was gradually being pushed back.
In truth, he already knew.
Compared to the Heavenly Demon, his martial arts were not yet complete.
Even an Immortal had acknowledged it, had he not? Though the difference was subtle, there was still a clear gap between the Heavenly Demon’s strength and his own.
Moreover, the Heavenly Demon did not lack combat experience—in fact, he possessed plenty of it.
If that was the case, then the outcome of this battle would ultimately be determined by the solidity of their martial realms.
That was why Youngho had learned something.
A realm the Heavenly Demon did not possess. A realm the Heavenly Demon had not achieved.
Youngho drew up the power of his entire body and struck aside the Heavenly Demon’s fist with the flat of his blade.
Crack—!
The sound of breaking bones rang out, yet the Heavenly Demon did not hesitate to throw another punch, forcing Youngho to retreat momentarily.
Seeing Youngho suddenly withdraw, the Heavenly Demon frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m trying to win.”
Youngho’s expression had not changed at all compared to before. A completely unmoving face and cold pupils.
It was a face that could fill anyone who saw it with terror, yet at this moment the Heavenly Demon found that face displeasing.
The Heavenly Demon shouted fiercely as if threatening him.
“Are you running away?”
“I won’t ramble on either. I’ll just say one thing.”
At that moment, the corners of Youngho’s mouth began to rise all the way to his cheekbones.
Crack! Creak!
He forced his lips upward with such strength that the corners of his mouth began to tear under the strain of his own power. Seeing the blood flowing from the torn corners, the Heavenly Demon unconsciously swallowed.
Smiling like a blood-soaked evil ghost, Youngho said,
“From now on, shouldn’t I fight a battle that I can actually win?”
The moment he finished speaking, Youngho’s figure appeared before the Heavenly Demon instantly, as though he had leaped across space itself.
The Heavenly Demon’s expression briefly showed displeasure at Youngho’s charging figure before returning to a smile soaked in pleasure.
‘I can’t hear a sound!’
He had no idea how it was done, but there was no sound at all when Youngho stepped on the ground.
He had truly arrived before him like a ghost.
Youngho’s sword shot toward the Heavenly Demon’s vital points with lightning-like speed. Continuously moving his wrist to confuse the Heavenly Demon’s eyes, the blade blurred like a heat haze.
Soon, the Heavenly Demon’s eyes began seeing three swords.
Neck, heart, abdomen.
Three blades flew toward him.
The Heavenly Demon smiled.
“Clum—”
Slash!
A chilling sound of flesh being cut echoed.
Feeling the familiar yet long-forgotten burning pain, the Heavenly Demon’s gaze turned toward his right arm.
It had been cut.
An arm that should not have been cut had been severed.
Youngho’s sword had been completely visible to him. He had not been careless enough in his defense to be cut by such an attack.
‘A fourth sword?’
Was there a blade he had not seen?
Were there not three blurred swords, but four?
It made no sense.
At the same time, a martial artist’s innate curiosity stirred within him.
Breaking through his demonic energy was already impressive enough, but now the wound revealed not only torn muscle but even white bone.
“Hey.”
At that moment, Youngho’s voice tickled the Heavenly Demon’s ear.
A playful voice tinged with mockery.
“Don’t let your guard down.”
For an instant, light flickered from Youngho’s sword.
It was Sword Force as dark as pitch-black night, yet paradoxically it shone with dazzling brilliance.
The Heavenly Demon instinctively twisted his neck at the ominous yet sacred light—and that decision proved correct.
Slash!
“…!”
One of his eyes was cut.
Without even blinking, Youngho’s sword deceived his senses and inflicted a wound upon his body.
Seeing the injury, Youngho laughed like a madman and swung his sword repeatedly.
Facing the impossibly rapid barrage, the Heavenly Demon instantly expelled the demonic energy within his body using explosive force.
BOOM—!
As if tension had exploded from his entire body, a crushing pressure burst outward.
Youngho stepped back while tearing apart all the demonic energy rushing toward him.
Looking at the Heavenly Demon’s face, Youngho grinned.
“What? Are you scared now that it feels like you might actually die?”
Youngho smiled brightly at the Heavenly Demon, whose pupils trembled as he stared at him.
“The one standing before you is someone who can really kill you. You’d better tense up a little more—unless you want your neck cut off like this arm.”
Youngho lifted the severed arm in his hand.
The Heavenly Demon glanced at his own right arm.
‘It’s gone?’
The arm that should have been there was missing.
Though it was regenerating at extreme speed, it had only grown back to the wrist so far, proving that his arm had indeed been severed.
For the first time in a long while, the Heavenly Demon’s face twisted with unease.
He felt discomfort at the fear rising from the depths of his heart.
“What did you do?”
“I swung my sword.”
“……”
Realizing the answer held no value, the Heavenly Demon pondered briefly before speaking again.
“The realm you’ve newly pioneered… it is the principle of nature.”
“You figured it out right away?”
“In our Divine Cult as well, there were those who comprehended the principles of nature and ascended to the Immortal Realm. Though they were very few.”
“That’s right. I realized the principles of nature and applied them to my sword. Considering that I chose to remain here instead of ascending, you should be a little nervous. Right now I feel like it wouldn’t matter if the world were destroyed.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s simple.”
Youngho displayed a crazed smile that sent chills down the spine of anyone who saw it.
“Right now, I don’t care about saving the world. I just want to see your face twist in agony.”
Perhaps because he had endured and endured for so long, once he exploded, he was no longer sane.
Youngho realized that his way of thinking had become somewhat strange, yet he deliberately left it that way.
After all, the result would be the same regardless of the process.
Killing the Heavenly Demon.
Seeing the Heavenly Demon’s suffering face was merely part of the process.
The Heavenly Demon saw exhilaration, despair, and fury within Youngho’s eyes.
‘He hates me.’
It was different from ordinary hatred, yet its essence remained hatred.
For a moment, the Heavenly Demon recalled the many people who had hated him and the Divine Cult.
He soon let out a hollow chuckle, then opened his fully regenerated eye and said,
“I’ll show you.”
—My true self.
There was no Heavenly Demon here who reveled in the joy and pleasure of battle.
Only a single martial artist remained—one who intended to kill the opponent before him and survive.
Seeing the now-serious gaze of the Heavenly Demon, Youngho grinned.
His muscles trembled, and the ominous demonic energy made his body instinctively shrink back.
Yet overcoming all of it, Youngho slowly assumed his stance.
“Come.”
“I shall show you the steps of Ten Thousand Demons.”
The moment the Heavenly Demon moved his foot, an enormous wave of Qi surged toward Youngho.
BOOM—!
One step.
The first foundation for completing the Heavenly Demon Descends Step had been laid.
‘Two more.’
Though exhausted, Youngho confirmed that his body bore no injuries and charged toward the Heavenly Demon.
Reaching him in an instant, Youngho tightened his muscles and swung his sword with all his strength.
PAAAAANG—!!
With a powerful air-splitting sound, Youngho’s sword shot forward.
At that moment, the Heavenly Demon took another step forward and blocked the sword with his left wrist.
CRRRK—!
If he exerted just a little more force, he could take another arm from the Heavenly Demon.
Having finished that thought, Youngho immediately put strength into his wrist to sever the arm.
“…?”
However, Youngho sensed something strange and looked at the Heavenly Demon with a puzzled gaze.
The Heavenly Demon who had been staring at him with trembling pupils was gone.
Yet neither was he the usual indifferent Heavenly Demon.
These were the eyes of someone who had resolved to burn his life and face death.
The moment he saw that, Youngho felt an ominous sensation engulf his entire body and immediately tried to pull his sword back.
“…!!”
The sword would not come out.
Looking closer, it was not just the Heavenly Demon’s muscles—even his bones were gripping the blade and refusing to release it.
Just as Youngho realized the danger and attempted to abandon the sword and retreat, the Heavenly Demon spoke.
“This is the true Heavenly Demon Descends Step.”
KWA-AAAAAANG—!!
With the Heavenly Demon’s third step, heaven and earth themselves exploded.