Chapter 249: Chapter 249
Clash!
The swords of the two men crossed and swung once again.
They artfully thrust at each other’s weak points, but it ended with both receiving only minor wounds.
However, neither of them stopped their swords even for a brief moment.
Clang clang clang!
In the midst of the fierce battle, the Blood Demon broke out in a cold sweat.
It was only natural for a human to grow tired as time passed.
Even the Blood Demon, who was performing the deity descent art, felt his physical strength slowly draining, yet Dan Woo-hyun’s sword was just as it had been at the beginning, without even an inch of shaking.
This was the Martial God.
The one who commanded the Central Plains and had reached the realm of entering divinity, which no one else could even peer into.
It was the power of the one whom even the Eight Immortals, who were said to protect the Central Plains, did not dare to recklessly confront.
Chrrr!
Being pushed back with all his might, the Blood Demon gnashed his teeth.
He thought he had surpassed him, but instead, it felt as though he had fallen into a checkmate.
Dan Woo-hyun, who had been sealed for a thousand years, had not stopped developing, but rather seemed to have acquired a more exquisite and powerful strength.
“This is nonsense!”
“What is?”
Boom boom!
He swung his sword with all his might, putting pressure on the Blood Demon.
Although he managed to block it, a shock so intense that it dug into the ground was transmitted to him.
As if standing in a swamp from which he could never escape, no matter how much the Blood Demon struggled, he could not break out of his defensive posture.
Swallowing a groan, he gnashed his teeth.
Once again, he did not like the composure he glimpsed in the bastard.
“How could a guy who was sealed…!”
“Stupid!”
Rumble!
Dan Woo-hyun swung his sword in a wide horizontal arc.
The Blood Demon, who barely managed to block it by raising his sword, was blown backward.
His entire body tingled as if he had been hit head-on by a force weighing thousands of pounds.
“Did you think you could become that strong just because you moved from body to body for a thousand years, accumulating experience and power?”
“Ugh!”
“The deity descent art is a technique against the heavens that eats away at one’s own soul. In your own mind, you probably thought you were getting stronger. However, in reality, you were gradually growing weaker. No matter how much internal energy you accumulate and how much you refine your forms, when the will that unleashes them is rotten and decayed, what kind of power could possibly emerge?”
“…!”
The Blood Demon, his eyes wide open, swung his sword.
It narrowly grazed Dan Woo-hyun’s cheek.
With a slash, blood splattered, but he did not think the attack had succeeded.
Because he could not kill the opponent with such a shallow wound.
The trajectory of the sword changed, and he infused it with even greater energy.
A heat as hot as if it held fire was felt.
If Dan Woo-hyun was wind, the Blood Demon was fire.
The heat, which seemed capable of burning everything to ashes, swallowed Dan Woo-hyun.
At that moment,
“What?!”
the Blood Demon could not close his mouth.
Clang!
Sizzle!
It felt as if the heat was cooled down as soon as the swords clashed.
The power Dan Woo-hyun possessed was surely wind, so how could he put out the flames?
He cast an unbelieving gaze.
“You… by any chance…?”
“…”
Dan Woo-hyun did not make any reply.
However, the energy gathering on his sword was no longer wind.
A cold yet somehow clear feeling.
It was without a doubt a completely different property from the one Dan Woo-hyun originally possessed.
Normally, the established theory was that once a martial artist reached the peak, they mastered one attribute, and to properly draw out that power, they could not learn another.
This was because the body had already adapted to a single attribute, and the energy did so as well.
Dan Woo-hyun was surely someone who had seen the ultimate stage of wind.
Yet, the feeling of water energy was by no means an illusion.
“Did you think I was just playing around at the bottom of that cold lake for a thousand years?”
Hearing those unbelievable words, the Blood Demon was astonished.
Did it mean that his consciousness had remained even after being sealed by the Eight Immortals?
In that case, did he spend a thousand years trapped beneath Dongting Lake with only his consciousness intact?
No matter how much he tried to deny it, looking at Dan Woo-hyun who defied imagination, it did not seem like an empty boast at all.
And the Blood Demon realized it.
Thud!
Evading the incoming sword, Dan Woo-hyun lightly struck the Blood Demon’s flank with the hilt of his sword. Flinching with a dull thud, he slid backward.
In order not to give him an opening, the Blood Demon unleashed a palm strike.
Boom!
A palm force strong enough to make a huge crater burst forth. However, Dan Woo-hyun, who had already moved from that spot, appeared behind the Blood Demon before anyone knew it.
Surprised, the Blood Demon hurriedly turned his body.
Slash!
“Argh!”
His chest and shoulder were deeply cut, and pain rushed in.
The water energy, which suppressed the fire energy boiling throughout his body, felt as if it were tearing even his soul to pieces.
The pain did not fade easily.
At that moment, the Blood Demon’s eyes changed.
They turned extremely red as if holding blood, and the tears trickling down also turned crimson.
“…”
Dan Woo-hyun held his sword while watching this.
The Blood Demon’s madness had exploded.
It was something he had seen once in the past.
Drawing out power beyond the deity descent art in front of someone he could absolutely never defeat was the Blood Demon’s madness.
Swoosh!
The Blood Demon’s body disappeared. It was a rapid speed that even Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes could not properly follow.
Boom!
Soon, a heavy feeling came from behind.
Feeling his body-protecting qi being pierced, Dan Woo-hyun stepped back. The Blood Demon, who appeared before he knew it, was glaring at Dan Woo-hyun like a beast with his shoulders slumped.
“You are no different from a beast.”
Haze shimmered wildly around the Blood Demon.
It was to the point that even Dan Woo-hyun, who was keeping his distance, broke into a sweat.
Whoosh!
Once again, the Blood Demon disappeared from before his eyes.
Although he was invisible, he was not missed.
Falling for a trick that had already been used once was the mark of an amateur.
Dan Woo-hyun was someone who had already far transcended such a level.
Clang!
Blocking the Blood Demon’s sword that struck from a diagonal angle, he drew his sword upward vertically.
The sword, imbued with sword force, penetrated as if it would cut down both the Blood Demon and his sword at the same time.
Before anyone knew it, an extreme coldness dwelt in Dan Woo-hyun’s sword.
Cold energy.
Dan Woo-hyun, who freely commanded the abilities of the five elements, began to corner the Blood Demon while suppressing the fire energy raging from him.
Clang clang clang!
Slash slash slash!
Every time sword clashed with sword, blood splattered.
Wounds began to appear all over the bodies of the two men.
Shhh!
The sword blades bent countlessly in the air, creating afterimages.
Dan Woo-hyun, who had been trying to pressure the Blood Demon by lightly parrying them, dodged the sudden shower of blood droplets.
Chrrr!
The Blood Demon’s blood dripped onto the ground, pooling heavily.
At that moment, the blood droplets suddenly floated into the air and shot toward Dan Woo-hyun.
Dan Woo-hyun drew up his energy and summoned the wind.
As he vigorously swung his sword at the same time,
Thud thud thud!
the flying blood droplets burst and disappeared.
A dull force, unimaginable for mere blood droplets, was transmitted.
Furthermore, the moment a single drop of blood he failed to avoid touched the hem of his robe,
Sizzle!
he saw the hem of his robe melt away.
In the meantime, the Blood Demon raised his sword once again.
Even though he was in a starting stance, looking at his half-rolled eyes, he seemed to have no consciousness.
However, knowing that such a reckless state was the most dangerous, Dan Woo-hyun frowned and caught his breath.
The Blood Demon placed his hand on the blade and drew his finger across it. As the bright red blood stained the blade, the blade turned red as if absorbing it.
Drip, drip.
The moment the remaining blood dropped onto the ground, a bizarre red aura rose around the Blood Demon, and blood droplets floated up from all directions.
Dan Woo-hyun laughed in disbelief as he watched this.
“Blood Demon… What a fitting moniker…”
It was a technique he had not seen in the past.
He could not tell if it was a newly created martial art, or if the Blood Demon had known it back then but was defeated so quickly by Dan Woo-hyun that he could not use it.
However, the power contained within it seemed capable of killing him.
Shhh!
The wind blew.
A gentle wind followed Dan Woo-hyun, as if it had been waiting for a long time.
Soon, Dan Woo-hyun’s gaze looking at the Blood Demon changed.
* * *
Boom! Boom! Crash!
The surroundings had now become a ruin.
Everything was completely demolished and burned down by the wind pressure and flames, and due to the clash of the two, the area around them had literally turned into a vast wilderness.
The sight was so immense that Jang Sam-tae was at a loss for words, wondering if such a scene would unfold even if countless cannonballs were fired.
“Groan…”
Swallowing a groan, he raised his head.
He saw Dan Woo-hyun and someone else fiercely swinging their swords.
Every time the sword that seemed to hold crimson blood was swung, it created red afterimages, and when Dan Woo-hyun’s sword moved, a strong wind raged and swept the surroundings.
It felt as if a storm and a rain of blood were raging at the same time.
Crash!
“Th-this is a natural disaster! Is this a fight between humans, you bastards?!”
Even though they would not be able to hear it anyway due to the explosive noise, it felt like his pent-up frustration subsided a little.
‘So this is why he tried to go alone…’
Only then did he have such a thought.
He did not know who that person swinging a sword opposite Dan Woo-hyun was, but he could tell that he was incredibly strong.
If they could fight on equal terms with Dan Woo-hyun, of all people, they would by no means be ordinary.
Jang Sam-tae trembled and caught his breath.
Because of the continuous fierce battle, he did not know when he might die, so his tension did not fade.
Even so, his gaze did not wander from Dan Woo-hyun.
Although the opponent’s martial arts could also be said to be flashy and overwhelming, Dan Woo-hyun’s movements were flawless and concise.
He had a thought that maybe that was the infinity that all martial artists wished to complete.
It was so beautiful that he might lose his mind.
Boom!
“If only it weren’t for things like this! Argh!”
As a wooden pillar fell in front of him while he was admiring the scene, Jang Sam-tae hurriedly got up from his spot and ran.
Soon, with a thud sound, a large boulder fell right where he had been sitting.
If he had been even a little slower in moving, he would have surely died.
Rumble!
A loud sound that shook the earth was heard. Turning his gaze, the fight between the two who were fiercely dancing with their swords was finally about to come to an end.
The red sword struck fiercely, aiming for Dan Woo-hyun’s neck.
It was a dizzyingly exquisite move, but Dan Woo-hyun, giving up his shoulder, dug right in and swung his sword.
Shhh!
A cool and clear wind blew.
After that wind, which even woke up his dizzy mind, flowed past,
Slash!
it scattered the body of the Blood Demon, who seemed as if he would never fall. He scattered like sand from head to toe.
The Blood Demon’s eyes, seeing his body scattering, still held disbelief as if he could not believe it.
“C… crazy…”
Jang Sam-tae muttered blankly while watching it.
Although he saw it clearly with his own two eyes, it was a sight that he would not be able to believe for the rest of his life.
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