Chapter 374: The Owner of the Four Great Demonic Weapons
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KKUGUK… KKUGUGUK…
A force heavily pressing down on both shoulders.
At that, Ja-woo drew up his cultivation to over eighty percent.
It finally felt somewhat easier.
While doing so, he heightened his nerves to track the covert Aura of the person radiating the heavy intangible pressure.
However.
There was still absolutely nothing to detect.
‘How can this be!’
Having shouted inwardly, Ja-woo was seized by a strange fear.
He had great pride and self-esteem in his own martial prowess.
Of course.
He was, after all, an upper-rank martial official belonging to the Imperial Guard.
His caliber was inherently different from ordinary military personnel.
The current Imperial Guard under the Imperial House’s forces was truly formidable.
Just looking at the Imperial Guard Commander standing at its apex, it was an undeniable, crystal-clear fact.
The commander, Gongsun Hwa, was a peerless martial official possessing the strongest level of martial prowess, unrivaled within the Imperial House.
An existence like a god of the entire military under heaven, maintaining the supreme position called Imperial Guard Commander for over thirty years.
People of the Imperial House generally evaluate him thus:
-Imperial Guard Commander Gongsun Hwa is a martial official who has reached an extreme apex realm unprecedented in the history of the Imperial House military.
Also, there is this saying:
-If a military officer who overwhelms Gongsun Hwa appears, he shall take the honor of being this era’s strongest.
That’s not all; some gossip-mongers even compare him to a thousand years of martial history, saying that Gongsun Hwa’s martial prowess is at a level equal to the prime of Heavenly Demon, Sword Emperor, Evil Emperor, Martial Immortal, and Blood God.
A very few even put forward the speculation that he was above that.
The Imperial Guard was precisely a group led by a figure receiving such reputation.
As befitting the current Emperor Sima Jinlong’s personal guard and special operations organization, the number of martial officials possessing martial prowess on par with famous warriors of the Orthodox and Demonic Jianghu alone was in the hundreds, and when expanded to the first-rate range, it reached roughly five thousand.
That’s right.
Ja-woo belonged to the rank classified as upper-rank among them.
His precise position was next to the highest-rank executives.
Therefore, his pride and self-esteem in his own martial prowess were naturally great…
However, the owner of this intangible pressure had trampled on that pride and self-esteem for all to see.
While completely ignoring his sharp energy sense.
Who could it be?
Where on earth were they hiding?
Ja-woo had no idea.
That he had already appeared behind him.
Still, befitting an Imperial Guard upper-rank martial official, he soon sensed the Aura behind him.
Simultaneously.
CHILL.
Goosebumps rose all over his body.
Quite literally, bumpy chicken skin rose up in the blink of an eye.
The cause was the sense of intimidation and fear that the opponent’s Aura/Aura/bearing bestowed.
It was dark.
Like the deep night.
It was hot.
Like the midday sun.
This was the first time he had encountered an intangible Aura/Aura/bearing where such two things coexisted.
And in an instant, one judgment was reached.
He was certain.
That the power the mysterious opponent possessed within their body was an energy of corrupted demonic nature.
Befitting an Imperial Guard first-rate military official, his thoughts organized themselves in an instant.
An unidentified demonic person had appeared at White Peak Sword Sect?
If so, there was a high possibility it was an enemy.
Movement outpaced judgment.
PAHAAAK- SSWAEEEK!
Ja-woo’s frame reflexively pivoting, linked with that motion, the sword released.
It was a swift sword-drawing technique befitting the Imperial Guard’s fame.
JJEOEOEOEOENG- PEOEOEOEOENG!
The energy loaded in the blade exploded, and metallic sounds and wind-cutting sounds burst out.
It was a rotating horizontal sword strike mobilizing eighty percent cultivation.
However.
‘Kuk!’
What was actually flung back hard was Ja-woo.
JIIIIIK, JIIIIIK-
Footprints scraping against the ground, receding backward.
Having thus retreated about ten paces, Ja-woo frowned.
Because a tingling pain seeped into his wrist.
Still, the intangible pressure was cleared by that single strike.
On the other hand.
The opponent who had received the blade with a bare hand didn’t budge from their spot.
Like an iron pillar with roots driven deep into the earth.
A posture representing a powerful and sturdy martial arts level.
Ja-woo finally confirmed the opponent’s appearance.
‘…!’
It was an old demonic master in blood-colored long robes.
Deep eyes like the deep sea, a beard hanging down like bamboo blinds, a frame with a towering feeling.
The masculine contours of his face were extremely sturdy, and the bearing wrapping his crimson figure was like thick blood wind.
After seeing the appearance, an even more chilling feeling arose.
It was truly a hegemonic bearing and posture.
Starting from his appearance, all of it.
A superhuman.
It was clear he was a demonic person who had entered a transcendent domain.
On the loosely hanging clothes, there was no pattern that could be used to infer his identity or status.
It was only crimson all over.
At that moment, crimson haze rose from the blood-colored old demonic master’s entire body.
The voice that followed came like thunder and lightning.
“Your swordsmanship is quite fierce.”
For Ja-woo, those words were embarrassing.
His sword-drawing technique had been blocked, and he had been flung back helplessly at that.
Yet he says his swordsmanship is decent, babbling nonsense.
It was mockery.
That’s what it was.
Suddenly, Ja-woo’s expression hardened.
Was it because of the crimson haze the old demonic master was emitting?
A taste of iron lingered in his mouth as if it had contained blood.
This too was something he was experiencing for the first time.
Furthermore, a strange illusion was visible.
A thick blood rain poured down from the sky.
This space was dyed in blood-colored downpour.
The form of a giant rising up while stepping on a land of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
It was an illusion bestowed by the old demonic master’s terrifying Aura.
The fear in his chest grew considerably.
Tension heightened to the extreme.
The skin all over his body shrank at the returning chill.
In the midst of that, Ja-woo was conscious of where he was standing.
Behind him.
It was the main gate of White Peak Sword Sect.
It was at close range.
Earlier, when he had turned and swung his sword only to be flung back again, he had gotten even closer.
‘They still don’t know in there! I must hurry and tell them! Only if we fight together…!’
Again, Ja-woo’s action outpaced judgment.
PAT!
Just as he was about to pivot his body and burst through the main gate.
BEOLKEOK-
The door panels instantly opened left and right.
And from beyond, one person walked out.
He spoke calmly.
“It’s alright. He is a guest.”
It was words indicating Ja-woo, who had flinched.
It was a voice reminiscent of echoes reverberating through a grand mountain.
A pure and natural spirit emanated from there.
That was the feeling.
Ja-woo guessed who he was as soon as he saw him.
‘That person is Elder Yeop…!’
The owner of the voice was White Mountain Sword Noble Yeop-heon, an Elder of White Peak Sword Sect.
Hearing his manner of speech, it seemed he was acquainted with that blood-colored old demonic master.
At that, a slight sense of relief arrived.
At that moment, the old demonic master softly responded.
“Is that so?”
Ja-woo sensed that the force that had been stirring behind him was rapidly disappearing.
It seemed the old demonic master had finally gathered his Internal energy.
But his heart still felt cold.
Because that terrifying Aura alone had not disappeared.
Yeop-hweon soon spoke with a slight smile.
“Lower your guard now. He is a demonic martial artist who helps our sect.”
“Ah…!”
“Are you the messenger of Elder Gongsun?”
“Yes, that’s right. Ho-how did you know?”
“Well, because of the attribute of your internal energy. Hehut. Such covert internal energy is not common.”
No sooner had Yeop-heon’s words ended than the old demonic master’s low voice followed.
“That’s why I acted sensitively. Understand.”
“Th…that was it.”
At the instant Ja-woo slightly nodded his head.
SSEUT.
The blood-colored old demonic master’s Aura vanished in an instant.
Having turned to look behind, Ja-woo was greatly impressed inwardly.
‘Such amazing movement!’
Immediately after, swordsmen came out through the opened door.
There were two of them.
CHEOK, CHEOK, CHEOK…
Fear revived in the chest of Ja-woo, who had turned his head again.
‘Ut…!’
He couldn’t help it.
It was because of intangible auras on par with the vanished old demonic master.
The two were precisely Seop Pyo and Gal Jung-heon.
Seeing them, Ja-woo tensed and swallowed dryly.
KKULKEOK.
The splendid roster of White Peak Sword Sect’s current guest retainers was famous.
There was no one now who didn’t know.
Among them, the martial fame of the legendary assassin of the previous generation, Head-Severing Yama Seop Pyo, and the former Nine Demons Alliance Leader Gal Jung-heon was shaking the entire continent.
How could Ja-woo not know that?
Their intangible auras alone gave him an inkling.
After brief introductions were exchanged.
A question lodged in the mind of Ja-woo, who had finished greeting.
Now that he actually faced them, the rumors and reputation in the world seemed understated.
Seop Pyo felt as if he had wrapped countless blades all over his body and was even firing them wildly.
That was what Ja-woo’s senses felt.
Also.
Gal Jung-heon seemed to hold an entire hungry ghost hell inside his body.
As if a horde of hungry ghosts would leap out if you just tapped him with your hand.
‘Never would I have thought it was to this degree… Just taking them in with my eyes chokes my breath. It seems their martial prowess continued to rise even after the great battle against the Sun Moon Demon Cult. Through Sect Master Cheol’s arrangement…’
Gal Jung-heon’s appearance gave testimony to that fact.
Since he had changed to the appearance of his mid-to-late thirties through a second Rejuvenation.
But there was something he completely couldn’t guess.
The fact that just recently, Seop Pyo and Gal Jung-heon had achieved Natural Integration Realm.
Soon, Yeop-hweon, who had turned toward the door, gave a gesture.
“Now, let’s go inside and talk.”
“Ah… Yes, yes!”
Ja-woo, having quickly corrected his complexion, moved his steps following the White Peak Sword Sect group.
As he crossed the time-worn threshold, he asked.
“By the way, who was that person from earlier…?”
It was a question about the blood-colored old demonic master.
At that, Gal Jung-heon tapped the Demon-Devouring Sword at his waist.
“He is a demonic person who possesses the same Four Great Demonic Weapons as I do.”
“What?”
Having been startled, Ja-woo heard the continuing voice.
“He is the owner of the Heaven-Deceiving Demonic Treasure Robe.”
“Heaven-Deceiving Demonic Treasure Robe…!”
The Heaven-Deceiving Demonic Treasure Robe, one of the Four Great Demonic Weapons, was a mystical demonic treasure that exhibited excellent mystical applications in concealing the owner’s Aura, and if the power dormant in the robe was awakened, it could be utilized like various weapons such as swords, sabers, and spears.
Furthermore, if the latent demonic power was perfectly awakened, it was known to even strengthen the owner’s upper dantian abilities to match their demonic cultivation attribute.
Only then did Ja-woo realize the identity of the old demonic master.
‘This can’t be, if that’s the case then he is…!’
* * *
KANG, KANG, KANG, KANG…!
At the Divine Martial Sword’s successive sword strikes, four incarnations of agony in the form of Martial Immortal Dongbang Ya were flung to the far rear.
Among them, three could not endure that force and, upon crashing into the ground, scattered like powder and were extinguished.
And that strange residue was naturally drawn to the Divine Martial Sword’s body and was absorbed, disappearing like melting snow.
However, he still hadn’t eliminated even a third yet.
If this were a place where he fought with his cultivation from the mortal world, it would have been easier to dispose of them.
Regardless of Internal energy level, he possessed a body that replenished as fast as he used.
But here, he had to compete with mental power alone.
That’s why it was more difficult.
‘Huuup!’
The Divine Martial Sword, having briefly regulated his breathing, swung his sword again.
KANG, KAKANG, KANG- PEOPEONG, PEONG, PEOPEONG-!
Before the successive metallic sounds and wind-cutting sounds, incarnations of agony again flung to the rear.
Yet at that moment.
-Kang, kang, kang, kang…
Suddenly, the Divine Martial Sword was reminded of the auditory hallucination he had heard when his consciousness was fading before.
Sounds reminiscent of work in a smithy.
Suddenly.
JJEOJJEOK, JJEOJEOK…!
Cracks occurred in the ceiling of the mental image space.
Following that, a woman’s mournful voice seeped out from the gap.
-So you finally became a sword. You wished for it so desperately…