Chapter 136
Chapter 136. Eight Styles of Annihilation (2)
"Haha, opportunity."
Undisguised mockery flowed from Dam Jeok-san's mouth.
Yes, one might think that way.
He was still a greenhorn who had not crossed the wall of Entering Transformation Realm, and Wi Cheon-rak, though fallen and reduced to mere traces, was a great demon lord who had nearly plunged all of Central Plains into chaos.
But that was not all there was to it.
'There is no need to waste breath explaining.'
He intended to show it from now on.
Eight Styles of Annihilation Second Style
Two Steps Calamity Destruction
This time, a shock wave surged not from his sword but from his toes.
Lightness techniques that make the body light are the foundation and beginning of all martial arts.
Footwork creates body movement, and body movement creates sword movement.
Dam Jeok-san crossed through his Mental image world with momentum like a streak of lightning.
THUD!
Due to movement speed far too fast, resistance strong enough to break bones in reality wrapped around his body.
But Dam Jeok-san paid no heed and swung his sword while maintaining that speed intact.
Lightness—that is, the swiftness originating from a lightened body was captured in the sword as it was.
Along with a flash of an instant, Dam Jeok-san's sword cut down Wi Cheon-rak's spirit.
CLANG!
Just before his sword could fully penetrate the soul.
Tremendous pressure stopped the sword. Wi Cheon-rak had consumed his own self to gather Demonic energy and erect a Barrier.
The form of the creature that blocked Dam Jeok-san's sword was clearly much fainter than before.
[……It was not a single technique?]
Wi Cheon-rak muttered as if unable to believe it. The first One Sword that Dam Jeok-san had swung without question or hesitation.
That was certainly not something belonging to a martial artist who had reached Entering Transformation Realm. However, that sword contained unprecedented potential to cut down even transcendent beings who had reached Entering Transformation Realm.
That alone was a miracle that would be rare even searching through all of ancient and modern times.
But Dam Jeok-san did not stop there.
In the second technique, Two Steps Calamity Destruction, the same potential as the first One Sword existed.
If there was a second, there was no reason there could not be a third.
Shiver! Wi Cheon-rak felt RUMBLE rise all over his body even though only remnants remained of him.
He could not even guess what he was witnessing.
But he could not just stand there in a daze. Wi Cheon-rak was a fanatic who sincerely revered the Great will of Yin God Cult. He instinctively knew that if Dam Jeok-san went out into the world unharmed, that Great will could absolutely never be achieved.
[Die!]
Wi Cheon-rak opened his mouth, resolving himself for the eternal extinction of his self.
"Hup……!"
The moment the words "die" from that creature rang in Dam Jeok-san's ears.
Dam Jeok-san felt his heart stop. No, it was not just a feeling. His heart had actually stopped.
'Damn it.'
Kotodama. Supreme-level sorcery that transforms the world by omitting complex hand seals and incantations and venting the sorcerer's will as language.
It was sorcery that even a sorcerer who had reached Entering Transformation Realm could use only by resolving themselves for the extinction of their existence.
'The fortunate thing is that Wi Cheon-rak's existence is faint.'
The creature was already a ghost that had died once. Moreover, it had shaved itself down once more to block the technique of Two Steps Calamity Destruction.
Therefore, the creature's Kotodama did not function as complete "death."
Dam Jeok-san forcibly drew up Genuine qi the moment his heart stopped and struck his Middle Dantian powerfully.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
He forcibly made his stopped heart beat using Genuine qi. It was an unbelievable technique.
'If this were outside the Mental image world, I would not have even dared attempt it.'
But this place was a world dominated by Dam Jeok-san's will. A place where miracles of this degree were permitted.
[Hah, truly Supernatural beings.]
A self-deprecating lament flowed from Wi Cheon-rak's mouth.
The creature was certainly a greenhorn who had not reached Entering Transformation Realm. But then, was he weaker than masters who had reached Entering Transformation Realm?
'No. That very thought is wrong!'
Dam Jeok-san was strong. Even more than masters at the beginning stages of Entering Transformation Realm. At least within this Mental image world.
By the time Wi Cheon-rak realized that fact—
Eight Styles of Annihilation Third Style
Three Thunders Air-Rending
He had already fallen to being Dam Jeok-san's practice opponent.
Three streaks of lightning shatter the world.
From here on, this was a Twin Sword technique using both swords simultaneously, and also a Supreme Technique that absolutely could not be deployed in reality.
Three Thunders meant the two swords plus Dam Jeok-san himself.
Not only the swords but even oneself must become a streak of lightning to execute this technique.
'Moreover, it naturally follows from Two Steps Calamity Destruction.'
The body that reached extreme speed through Two Steps Calamity Destruction accelerates once more.
CRACK! came the sound as bones broke, and broken bones pierced through skin.
Up to here. Just up to here was the limit of flesh. Probably if this were outside the Mental image world, Blood and qi would reverse and blood would spurt from the seven orifices the moment Three Thunders Air-Rending was deployed.
Because it was inside the Mental image world, he could move even while sustaining injury.
Dam Jeok-san advanced while demonstrating extreme mental strength.
The flesh shattered, but the spirit did not collapse. And what swung the sword within the Mental image was not flesh but spirit.
SHING—!
Three streaks of lightning merged into one and the entire gray world filled with lightning brilliance.
RUUUUUMBLE! CRAAAAAASH!
And thunder that rang one beat late.
This was the Supreme Technique that even Dam Jeok-san could not yet deploy, Three Thunders Air-Rending.
FSSSSSSSSS.
Wi Cheon-rak's form completely turned to powder, and even that powder scattered transparently.
However, Dam Jeok-san's body was also in tatters. A state that, in reality, would be declared beyond recovery even if the finest Divine Doctor in the world came.
But this place was within his Mental image. A place where nothing was impossible no matter how great the injury.
Before long, Wi Cheon-rak's Demonic energy, released from its seal, was surging.
Dam Jeok-san accepted that energy into his body without hesitation.
The creature had already completely submitted to Dam Jeok-san. Moreover, even its self had scattered like grains of sand. There was no longer any room for danger.
He absorbed the power that a Yin God Cult Cardinal had accumulated over a lifetime without hesitation.
"Haah……"
The tremendous energy that surged into his body soon converged into his Dantian according to Dam Jeok-san's guidance.
Now devouring energy of this degree did not bring great strain. It also meant that Dam Jeok-san's Accumulated qi had become that profound, but……
'It also means that becoming stronger with the existing Predator method is difficult from now on.'
Of course, it was not completely impossible.
Seo Woo-joo had reached the realm of immortals solely through predation without enlightenment in martial arts. If one devoured and devoured again, one could reach some ultimate without enlightenment in martial learning.
However, that was not Dam Jeok-san's wish. He wanted to reach that realm through martial arts.
'What is urgent right now is not Internal energy.'
He needed to make his body more solid.
Even if he could freely use only up to the Third Style of Eight Styles of Annihilation, his movements would become incomparably freer than now.
'When that time comes, I will not die even if I encounter an Entering Transformation Realm master alone.'
He could escape even if the opponent was Northern Heaven Sword Venerable or Heaven-Transcending Blood Venerable. As long as they were not exceptional powerhouses like the Eight Sovereigns of Murim.
However, making the body solid was an extremely difficult task.
'Generally, what is trained to make the body solid is external martial arts.'
But to endure the burden that Eight Styles of Annihilation imposed through external martial arts, one had to at least reach the realm of Diamond Indestructibility.
Diamond Indestructibility was one of the extremes pursued by Shaolin, called Mount Tai and the Big Dipper of Central Plains martial learning. It meant it was not something that could be achieved simply by training a bit of external martial arts.
To adapt to martial arts that imposed tremendous burden, a far more radical change was necessary rather than training external martial arts.
For example, like Body Reformation.
'……This is also not something I can achieve just by wishing for it.'
Dam Jeok-san forcibly swallowed a sigh.
It was not for nothing that one spoke of being blocked by a wall. He was now lost and wandering, having lost the path forward.
And Dam Jeok-san knew the simplest method to end that wandering.
Life-and-Death Duel.
The innate talent he possessed would find the answer at the crossroads between life and death.
As it always had.
That was one of the reasons Dam Jeok-san leaped into the Demonic Realm seeking the Sword Ghost.
* * *
The main axis of Yin God Cult was the Eight Cardinals.
While the cult leader was stuck in the Demonic Realm lying low and biding time, they hatched conspiracies in various places throughout Central Plains, expanded the cult's influence, and maintained Yin God Cult's infamy.
But that too was slowly reaching its limit.
Righteous Path Under Heaven. Outer Path Annihilation.
This was because two years ago, the Righteous Heaven Alliance raised that crude banner and began exterminating the Four Fiends of the Outer Path.
The Righteous Heaven Alliance was a force originating from the venerable major sects of the Nine Sects and One Gang and Five Great Families.
The power the alliance leader could mobilize as a single force fell far short of Martial Sovereign Castle and the Unorthodox Alliance, but its total strength was truly comparable to the imperial army.
In fact, after the alliance leader, Sword Emperor, raised the banner of Outer Path Annihilation, powerhouses from each sect began to take action.
The Sword King of Namgung led his family's elite and began smashing all Yin God Cult branch offices south of the Yangtze River. In the process, one of the Eight Cardinals died in battle.
And in Sichuan, Emei, Qingcheng, and the Tang Clan united to burn down five strongholds of the Four Fiends of the Outer Path.
Continuously arriving Great Calamities.
The strength of the orthodox Murim that properly began to stir was beyond imagination.
'A turning point is needed.'
This was a fact all Four Fiends of the Outer Path agreed upon. They actually made plans to annihilate Shaolin, Wudang, and the Tang Clan.
No, they tried to.
Until the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle intruded and ruined everything.
The great force gathered to turn Shaolin to ashes first was annihilated by the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle alone.
Among them was even the being who was the leader of the Four Fiends of the Outer Path, but before the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle's overwhelming divine authority, it meant nothing.
—As expected, the most dangerous one is Man Su-geuk.
But Man Su-geuk could not be killed. Because eliminating him would require waging a battle that risked extinction.
For the Four Fiends of the Outer Path who were waiting for the advent of the Demon God, there was no reason to do so.
However, Man Su-geuk's disciple was different.
Precisely, it was the third disciple.
That creature, Dam Jeok-san, was not a completed monster but a growing monster.
Despite being an Ultra-Peak expert, he single-handedly inflicted tremendous damage on Blood Palace and Yin God Cult.
Of course, that was not purely Dam Jeok-san's ability.
Behind him, another powerhouse always lurked. But the speed at which he grew stronger was abnormally fast.
"Position is Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander. Age is twenty-seven. Martial prowess is Ultra-Peak Extreme Grade…… However, he can kill even Entering Transformation Realm masters conditionally."
At a gathering where the leadership of the Four Fiends of the Outer Path secretly met, someone chuckled and recited Dam Jeok-san's personal details.
"Even Man Su-geuk at twenty-seven was not this kind of monster. He must be eliminated."
No one objected to his opinion.
Dam Jeok-san had to be eliminated even if it meant accepting some bloodshed.
But who would do it. And how would it be done. Regarding those methods, the disagreement among the creatures was not easily narrowed.
With the advent of the Demon God approaching, no force wanted to shed more blood.
Though they were grouped together and called the Four Fiends of the Outer Path, their Aspirations differed as much as heaven and earth. Their companionship was no different from bitter enemies in the same boat.
To such creatures, a message arrived.
[Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander Dam Jeok-san traveling to Demonic Realm alone. Target appears to be one of Yin God Cult's Eight Cardinals, the Sword Ghost.]