Chapter 497: The Bond Between Sect Brothers
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Eul Sa-jeok’s blade-like sharp gaze shot out.
Toward that place, toward Cheol Ryu-heun’s utterly indifferent face.
“Skills, he says…”
Having murmured as if reciting, he blazed his murderous intent even more fiercely toward Cheol Ryu-heun, who had once been his senior brother, and taunted.
“You bastard. Getting arrogant because an opportunity made you strong… As you can see, I’ve also obtained an opportunity. Fine, I’ll gladly show you my skills here. After I drain the power of the last remaining one… That bastard.”
Having spoken thus, Eul Sa-jeok’s cold gaze quietly shifted to Pa Ga-wi.
“You dare try to drain me…!”
Just as Pa Ga-wi opened his eyes wide and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a blunt voice was tossed out.
“That’s the Spiritual Awakening Stone, isn’t it?”
Cheol Ryu-heun’s flat voice.
At the same time, Pa Ga-wi’s expression hardened.
‘How does he know that…?’
Once again, an indifferent voice reached his ears.
“Seeing your reaction, I’m certain now.”
Pa Ga-wi, meeting Cheol Ryu-heun’s gaze, shuddered.
He had realized in a flash.
That Cheol Ryu-heun had come already knowing many secrets.
Probably discerned from Black Tortoise Divine General Wang-ryu.
While Pa Ga-wi was thus disconcerted, Eul Sa-jeok wore a peculiar expression.
Naturally so.
Because it was a name he was hearing for the first time.
‘So this is called the Spiritual Awakening Stone?’
That gave rise to a new question.
How did Cheol Ryu-heun know the name of this artifact?
Right at that moment.
Swish…
The illusory sword created by the stone tilted toward Cheol Ryu-heun in the front.
As if pointing directly at him.
‘Huh? What!’
Eul Sa-jeok’s expression changed again into something strange.
Meanwhile.
Having seen that, Cheol Ryu-heun opened his mouth expressionlessly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
At that sound, Eul Sa-jeok cocked his head.
‘What’s right…?’
There went another random remark.
Just then.
Tsss tsss tsss…
The energy stream that had been in the shape of a sword transformed.
Into the appearance of a person.
That’s right.
It was an illusion of Cheol Ryu-heun.
It had changed to look exactly like him who had appeared here.
At the unexpected phenomenon, Eul Sa-jeok’s pupils widened sharply.
It was a momentary feeling of his mind going blank.
An incomprehensible situation.
First, the stone had emitted white energy streams to show a sword that his master Sagong Woon had owned in life, and now it had transformed, perfectly copying the figure of Cheol Ryu-heun standing over there.
‘Huh! What is this…? Is there some connection?’
He was confused.
He didn’t know what this illusion meant.
In a flash.
Flash!
After emitting a burst of radiant light, it was gathered back into the Spiritual Awakening Stone.
It was quiet.
It no longer showed any reaction.
As if it had finished all it needed to do.
Immediately after, an ominous premonition struck Pa Ga-wi.
‘No way…!’
It was a premonition close to certainty.
Sure enough.
The words he’d dreaded flowed from Cheol Ryu-heun’s mouth.
“Divine Martial Sword.”
At those briefly spoken words, Pa Ga-wi’s face turned deathly pale.
In his pair of pitch-black eyes, the large, transparent waves that arose vividly represented his emotional turmoil.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s following declaration was no different from a bolt from the blue.
“It means I am the reincarnation of the Divine Martial Sword.”
Pa Ga-wi was so shocked that his mind felt dizzy.
‘Im-impossible! How…!’
But that strange phenomenon had taught him, hadn’t it?
That the Divine Martial Sword still existed in this world.
Moreover, earlier it had tilted forward and pointed precisely at where Cheol Ryu-heun stood.
As if saying that the person before him was the Divine Martial Sword.
Contrary to the shocked Pa Ga-wi, Eul Sa-jeok wore an expression of absurdity.
‘Reincarnation of the Divine Martial Sword?’
Having muttered thus inwardly, Eul Sa-jeok soon burst into mocking laughter.
“Pft! You crazy bastard… Are you actually saying that?”
At that moment, Pa Ga-wi suppressed his internal injuries and desperately fled like a gale with all his might.
Pa pa pa pa, pa pa pa pa pa… !
Literally disappearing to the distance in an instant.
But Cheol Ryu-heun didn’t bother to chase him.
It was the same for Eul Sa-jeok.
Because they both knew well that he couldn’t escape the formation surrounding this fortress.
No matter how much he ran here and there, he was a rat trapped in a jar.
Unless they killed Cheol Ryu-heun, who had transformed the original formation arranged in the Central Heaven Tower using some kind of artifact…
Eul Sa-jeok put the Spiritual Awakening Stone back into his bosom and then injected a large amount of true energy into his blade.
Hum…
At the same time, vast formless energy was released and shook the surroundings.
Rumble rumble, rumble rumble… Gurgle, gurgle…
The atmosphere of the calm before a storm.
Step, step, step…
As Eul Sa-jeok walked forward, a cold sneer once again seeped from his mouth.
“So you’re not right in the head either. Well, from the time you recovered from being in a vegetative state, your speech and behavior were quite strange. Like you became a different person… Your indifferent and insolent attitude still raises many questions.”
Cheol Ryu-heun didn’t reply and headed forward as well.
As the gap between them gradually narrowed, Eul Sa-jeok sneered again and moved his lips.
“Ha. Anyway, it’s fortunate that the opportunity for revenge has come. You seem to know well the use of this stone… After I subdue you, I’ll hear the details.”
He put great strength into the hand gripping the sword hilt.
Bang!
He kicked off the ground and flew toward Cheol Ryu-heun’s front in an instant like flashing lightning.
An extremely fast compression accompanied even by a huge shockwave.
Movement that represented the outstanding function of his body having absorbed the energy of the Central Heaven Tower Generals.
Craaaaaack… Kwaaaaaaang!
A roar that shook heaven and earth spread wide in all directions.
So tremendous was that power that everything within a radius of over ten Zhang was pulverized like powder and scattered hazily.
Amidst that, there was no pained groan or spray of blood.
An evenly matched exchange.
Eul Sa-jeok’s sword and energy had been blocked by the crossed Gan Jiang and Mo Ye Sword.
Moreover, Cheol Ryu-heun hadn’t retreated a single step, completely withstanding the opponent’s sword force.
All while casting an indifferent gaze devoid of emotional fragments, as always.
‘Damn! Blocked? Fine, so you’re not easy!’
Eul Sa-jeok, his fighting spirit ignited, released maximum internal power.
His sword, having separated from the crossed swords, spun rapidly while emitting a sound.
Swish swish swish swish swish… !
Dozens of sword energy streams were released following the circling blade.
It was a simple sword technique.
However, each of those sword energies was loaded with energy that could be called terrifying monstrous strength.
As if overconfident in his internal power level.
In other words, it was an offensive to crush the opponent with his body’s internal power.
Popopopopopopong… !
With a series of explosive sounds, Cheol Ryu-heun finally retreated two or three steps.
‘I knew it!’
Having inwardly cheered, Eul Sa-jeok rushed toward that front and consecutively executed sword strikes loaded with sword energy.
Clang… Kang… Keegiging… Popong… Kwakwang… Kugugung… !
Amidst the mixed metallic sounds and roars, Cheol Ryu-heun staggered backward again.
The internal power Eul Sa-jeok was releasing was truly impressive.
If looking purely at internal power level alone, it surpassed Gun Mu-ak and was almost on par with Black Tortoise Divine General Wang-ryu.
Well, since he had absorbed all the energy of several high-ranking Generals of the Central Heaven Tower, it was natural.
However.
The opponent he was facing was Cheol Ryu-heun.
Eul Sa-jeok didn’t properly know what kind of amazing power the being before him possessed.
The two exchanged over ten exchanges in an instant.
‘Ha, I can win!’
Eul Sa-jeok was internally certain of victory and charged while injecting the maximum amount of true energy into his blade.
Pak!
Thus, the sword strike he delivered as a continuous motion collided with Cheol Ryu-heun’s Gan Jiang and Mo Ye Sword, exploding internal power at a natural disaster level.
Keeeeing… Kwaaaaaang… !
A shockwave enough to shake the entire fortress spread.
Sway.
The moment Cheol Ryu-heun’s upper body fell backward, Eul Sa-jeok’s left hand flew in.
Kwakwak!
Eul Sa-jeok grabbed Cheol Ryu-heun’s left forearm with a surprise grappling technique while simultaneously striking his pressure points and operating the unique power of the isolated poison he harbored.
The essence of absorption.
He intended to absorb all the energy within Cheol Ryu-heun’s body and harmonize it into his own internal power.
This was what he had aimed for from the start in this fight.
‘Got him! Got him!’
Having shouted inwardly, Eul Sa-jeok was swept by shivers.
The power flowing in wave after wave was too immense.
It was truly endless.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s internal power.
It was like the sky or the sea, perhaps.
Eul Sa-jeok was continuously exclaiming in admiration while absorbing.
‘Don’t tell me it’s this much! Crazy… He really has unbelievable power. If I steal all of this, I’ll be able to rule the world! And in the future, making the Heaven Emperor Society my hands and feet…’
Just then, his face suddenly stiffened.
Clunk!
Because the gu poison within his body had suddenly stopped.
‘Huh?’
Even while Eul Sa-jeok was flustered, Cheol Ryu-heun’s energy continued pouring ceaselessly into his body.
Generally, if you eat excessively, you get indigestion.
Right now, that was happening to Eul Sa-jeok.
Bulge bulge, bulge bulge…
The hand gripping Cheol Ryu-heun’s left forearm grotesquely swelled up from the vast energy pouring in without pause.
Because he could no longer handle that enormous quantity.
Sure enough.
Pop… Splatter!
With a gruesome sound, Eul Sa-jeok’s left hand burst off entirely.
“Guhaaak!”
“Noisy.”
The moment Cheol Ryu-heun spoke in an emotionless voice, powerful formless energy tightly bound Eul Sa-jeok’s entire body.
“Kuh…!”
Eul Sa-jeok felt like his breath was cut off.
Just then.
Swoosh.
The Spiritual Awakening Stone was drawn out by Cheol Ryu-heun’s object manipulation and gathered into his upper garment.
“I’ll take this.”
Having said thus, Cheol Ryu-heun’s eyes suddenly emitted red radiant light.
He had executed the divine power that peered into the opponent’s thoughts.
That mysterious eye-light soon went straight toward and connected with both of Eul Sa-jeok’s eyes.
Meanwhile, Cheol Ryu-heun sent a telepathic message.
Those were the words Eul Sa-jeok had boldly spoken earlier.
Following that, he began sifting through the scenes in Eul Sa-jeok’s mind.
Soon, a scene of a meeting with Guk Gyeong-in… Sagong Woon’s fellow disciple and the master of White Mountain Sect… Appeared.
-Your gaze seems to be filled with dark emotions. Please don’t be like that. Like me, it’s something your own conduct brought about, so with a heart of remorse…
-Shut up. Remorse? Damn… Now that I’ve become like this… Do you think spouting such words helps?
-Goodness, why do you…!
-What about me?
-Even after being locked up here, you haven’t come to your senses. Have you forgotten your evil deeds? From what I hear, the third young master of Ximen Family was influenced by demonic arts, but you…
-You bastard, shut your mouth! I will never forgive him! I will curse and curse again until I die! If you’re done with your nonsense, get lost!
-Tsk. I shall take back the food I brought. Seeing you is the last time today. I will never visit this place again.
-Kukuk! That’s welcome news! I was sick of hearing your bullshit!
-Think heavily on karma. I hope you sincerely repent someday.
-The sight of you finding comfort in looking at me, you pathetic loser bastard! Does sucking up to him now get you some kind of prize? Huh!
After that ended, the next scene was the meeting with Central Heaven Tower Highest-Ranking Commander Pa Ga-wi.
-Who… Are you?
-Ha. Someone who’s going to give you the chance for a new life. The prison break is a gift like a down payment.
-…!
-If you want to recover your wrecked body and become stronger as a martial artist… Follow me.
He also glimpsed the evil nature after that series of conversations.
-That jailer from earlier has a daughter in Fang-ling.
-Boy… Are you asking me to let you play with her as you please?
-Yes. If I rape her all night and then kill her… It should relieve some of this frustration.
-Ha, I’ll gladly grant it. And is there anything else?
-There’s one more thing.
-Tell me.
-Please kill the visitor who came earlier. Today, before the sun sets. If possible, all his family too… As painfully as possible…
-Hahahaha, hahahahaha! Excellent, very good. Yes, that’s the attitude of a villain I was looking for.
Having finally stopped operating the divine power, Cheol Ryu-heun opened his mouth expressionlessly.
“Do you know what the difference between you and me is? I’m… A person, but you’re a filthy vermin.”
The moment his words ended.
Puheoong!
With a fierce explosive sound, Eul Sa-jeok’s body flew over ten Zhang backward and slammed into a wall!
“Uuk!”
The moment he groaned and fell forward, a fluttering sound was heard.
Just then.
Rumble rumble rumble… !
Sword energy like a mountain range made of demonic energy rushed forward.
It was a sword technique of the White Peak Sword Art symbolizing White Peak Sword Sect, executed with the essence of dark demonic arts.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwang!
A tremendous explosion that shook mountains, rivers, grass, and trees.
As pitch-black smoke surged, Eul Sa-jeok burst out of it while vomiting blood.
“Kuh…!”
At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun had already appeared at close range.
Shukaaak!
The Gan Jiang and Mo Ye Sword severed Eul Sa-jeok’s left arm and leg in one stroke.
“Guhaaak… Guhaaaak!”
Eul Sa-jeok, having screamed, lost his balance and collapsed.
Cheol Ryu-heun stepped on his neck with one foot and let out a flat voice.
“What are you doing? When stepped on, you should squirm.”
“Guh…”
“The punishment begins now. Enjoy it.”