Chapter 191: Teachings of the Sword Immortal
Chapter 190
“It works.”
Watching the Meridian Mirror, the Heavenly Demon wore a satisfied smile.
“My memory is hazy because it is a trivial standard, but they say that on earth, the line dividing high-level martial arts is based on the complete manifestation of qi, Astral Qi, right?”
No answer was heard from his disciple, Yeon Cheong-un.
He was completely absorbed in the power he was wielding.
“Once you surpass the realm of high-level martial arts, the next is classified as the realm of peak-level. From there, the materialization of mental imagery becomes the standard. It can be seen as a stage that clearly surpasses the human realm. In fact, heavenly martial arts handle intent itself as power.”
However, knowing that his words would sink straight into the boy’s head anyway, he continued his explanation.
“The martial arts you learned are heavenly martial arts created and refined here in heaven. In other words, the power you handle right now is the realization of intent and mental imagery.”
[……You mean this Demon God Image?]
The disciple Yeon Cheong-un, who was being swayed by the power, showed signs of pulling himself together.
Visible behind that Yeon Cheong-un was a Demon God Image twice his own size.
A figure strangely resembling the disciple was stretching itself.
“You can think of it as the manifestation of your will. It is pulling out the essence within you.”
[Essence…….]
“What is there to think about so complicatedly? It is power meant to be swung.”
Smirking evilly, the Heavenly Demon egged him on in a subtle voice.
“Swing to your heart’s content……”
*Bbaak!!*
“Ugh!!”
Along with a cheerful sound, the Heavenly Demon’s head spun sharply to the side.
“This damn bastard is trying to spoil things right now.”
[……Master?]
Although Yeon Cheong-un’s flustered voice was heard, the existence that had smacked the back of the Heavenly Demon’s head did not stop his hand.
“Teaching him such great things, you good-for-nothing bastard!”
“Adept Tai-yi?”
“Yes, it is me! You rascal!”
Adept Tai-yi, the head of the Twelve Immortals of Kunlun, went wild in a furious rage.
“Tsk tsk.”
Standing a step away, Zhang Sanfeng clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“How much effort that gentleman put in just to get some roots of goodness. It is only natural he is pissed since you’re trying to ruin it. Sigh… anyway, in the end, cleaning up the mess is my job again.”
Shoving aside the Heavenly Demon and Adept Tai-yi who were tangled up and trading blows, Zhang Sanfeng approached the Meridian Mirror.
“Disciple, can you hear me?”
[Yes.]
“If you mess up that kid there, things will probably get difficult for everyone.”
***
‘The heavens are a mess too, a complete mess.’
Through the conversations overheard through the Meridian Mirror and Master Zhang Sanfeng’s explanation, the general situation was understood.
The one who moved in the heavenly Kunlun was not just the Queen Mother of the West; someone named Adept Tai-yi had also pulled strings behind the scenes in various ways.
The one who passed the Great Void Dragon-Slaying Sword Art to me was probably Adept Tai-yi.
Since I was only told he was an immortal belonging to Kunlun, I had thought he was just an elder who ascended from the Kunlun Sect in the past, but an unexpectedly big figure popped out.
‘Good grief…’
For now, I understood the situation.
The problem was that my desire to swing this boiling power was as high as a chimney.
Although there were indeed those who revealed the Demon God Image among the successors of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, it was fundamentally different from this.
This Demon God Image that rose behind my back was truly a power with one foot in the realm of heaven.
Just as Master Heavenly Demon said, it was like the essence of my power.
Since the Five Elements Divine Power was added to the power of the Three Dantians, I wondered if it was a concept closer to immortal arts rather than martial arts.
‘When will I be able to materialize this power again…’
The Divine Power of Water borrowed from the Azure Bird was literally borrowed power.
Even at this very moment, it was rapidly depleting.
‘If I must conclude it in a form that helps Kunlun…’
Crushing them with Master Heavenly Demon’s martial arts as it was would be the worst choice.
Something that was not the Heavenly Demon’s martial arts.
Yet a martial art to which Kunlun would submit.
‘I’m using this in this way.’
Great Void Dragon-Slaying Sword Art.
Kunlun’s Teachings of the Sword Immortal created based on the Great Void.
Conveniently, it was also a martial art that shared some context with Master Heavenly Demon’s martial arts pursuing chaos.
It meant that if the purpose was only to show the essence of the martial art, it could be expressed to some extent even with Master Heavenly Demon’s martial arts.
The essence Master Heavenly Demon spoke of.
I could reveal it now.
“What is the beginning of all things in heaven and earth?”
That beginning originated from deliberation.
It is human instinct to deliberate when a question arises.
The truth pursued by that instinct.
“If the formation of all things’ shapes is the beginning, what existed before that? And what was the beginning before that?”
Along with my question, the Demon God Image that had been displaying its presence behind my back began to move.
“It is the void. It is the craving to return to the void. It is the struggle to empty oneself and calmly sink.”
I, my shape, and the Demon God Image melted into the world.
The melting shapes permeated the surroundings.
“Return to nothingness within my domain.”
And together, they melted away.
“This is……!”
*Kuoooooooooo!!*
Things that held complete shapes around me crumbled and scattered into dust.
The beginning started with the blades of grass beneath my feet.
Gradually spreading to the surroundings, trees, rocks, and everything collapsed and scattered like a mirage.
The sight of the collapsed shapes scattering in the wind like a dream greeting the morning was enough to blur the sense of reality.
“This is the beginning before the beginning. The Great Void.”
Leaving behind that unrealistic sight, I declared the definition of this power.
Force entered the corners of Adept Cheon-gyeong’s eyes, which had been lost in thought as if falling into a dream.
“The Great Void?”
Perhaps because it was a word a disciple of the Kunlun Sect could not just pass over, he emitted a lightning-like eye light once again.
“Cut it out! Where do you think you’re using such sorcery!”
Adept Cheon-gyeong raised his sword.
The sword packed tightly with strong internal energy and thick killing intent aimed at me.
Despite this, a laugh came out instead.
‘Should I say it’s thanks to this?’
I had only decided on the direction of the power to unfold with the thought of making Kunlun submit, but I had gained not a little in the process.
Even though Adept Cheon-gyeong’s sword was pointing at me, I was not particularly afraid.
Even though the Divine Power of Water handed over by the Azure Bird was completely consumed, no agitation arose in my mind.
I stretched my hand forward and gestured to Adept Cheon-gyeong.
“Come.”
“Hup!”
From Adept Cheon-gyeong’s sword, the sword strike he had harbored for a long time extended.
‘I can avoid it.’
Although it was strong and fast, a sword strike laden with emotion was also easy to read in advance.
Adept Cheon-gyeong’s sword was certainly great, but it was too full.
‘I mean, there are times when you must let go.’
When everything is full, a moment comes when you miss what is actually necessary.
Adept Cheon-gyeong’s sword was exactly like that.
‘I was like that too.’
More perfectly, more densely.
I had filled myself with obsession.
Having experienced transcendence once, I understood now.
‘Filling it up could also be a way to leap over the wall, but this way is faster.’
Casting aside obsession and cutting away unnecessary parts.
Leaving behind only the pure essence.
Complete simplicity guided my body.
“……!?!”
Did he believe he could surely cut me down?
I saw Adept Cheon-gyeong’s face filled with shock.
That face drew much closer.
‘Fast yet slow.’
My body and hands defeated Adept Cheon-gyeong’s movements, which were fast yet slow.
At my movement that penetrated his domain so simply, Adept Cheon-gyeong squeezed his eyes shut, perhaps imagining the next moment.
*Paat!*
My hand touched the vicinity of Adept Cheon-gyeong’s left chest, near his heart.
It was neither a powerful pierce nor a tearing of the heart to pieces with the internal heavy strike technique.
Only after Adept Cheon-gyeong, who was pushed back like that, rolled on the ground several times did he look at me with dazed eyes.
“Why?”
“What?”
“You could have killed me, though?”
“I indeed could have.”
“Then why……”
“Because there was no reason to kill you.”
Adept Cheon-gyeong tilted his head.
“If you were the Heavenly Demon, there is no way you would tolerate an insult, though?”
“It’s my choice.”
“……Haha! That is indeed somewhat like the Heavenly Demon.”
Seeing him joke around, he seemed to have sufficiently recovered from the shock of being defeated by me.
If I could give some enlightenment, now was the time.
“To grasp what you want, you must open your tightly clenched fist. Because with a clenched fist, even if what you want flies in, you will be too busy knocking it away.”
“Open the fist……”
As if feeling something, Adept Cheon-gyeong chewed over the words I spoke.
“Is that the Great Void?”
“It would serve as something of a signpost.”
“Haha… do not merely try to fill it up unconditionally…”
Suddenly closing his eyes tightly and sitting down on the spot, a strong momentum burst out from Adept Cheon-gyeong’s body.
It seemed he had realized something.
‘I do not know if it is to the extent of becoming a root of goodness, though…’
If a root of goodness was created instantly just by gaining one enlightenment, they would not have made such a fuss in heaven.
‘Still, I opened the way, so if he follows that path well, there will be a good result……’
“Mmh?”
In the midst of thinking that I had saved the faces of the masters, I suddenly felt momentum bursting out from another place as well.
Looking toward that direction, the Kunlun Sect members were gathered.
And in their midst, Adept Cheon-won was sitting cross-legged.
Judging by the flustered reactions around him, it seemed he had sat down suddenly.
‘If it is like that after hearing the words I spoke…’
It was likely going to be a double celebration.
[Yee-haw!!]
Hearing the shrieking sound in my head, it seemed a root of goodness had also been created.
It seemed this person was Adept Tai-yi.
‘In legends, Adept Tai-yi is depicted as a very serious and strict immortal… Why does it feel like all the records on the heavenly side are lies?’
My distrust toward heaven seemed to have grown very deep before I knew it.
***
Near Poyang Lake, Jiangxi.
In that place where an eerie atmosphere lingered compared to last year, a confrontation of a peculiar composition was taking place.
One side consisted of those wearing beast furs, while the other side wore light clothing or did not wear tops at all.
One side was obviously mountain bandits, and the other side was water bandits.
They confronted each other without mixing, like the boundary line of Taiji.
“You are fast. To have already completed all the preparations.”
“I just didn’t want to hear that I am incompetent. If things in the Green Forest had gone smoothly, we could have finished even faster.”
At the first move from the water bandits of the Yangtze River Eighteen Water Bandit Fortresses, the one disguising himself in the shell of Byeok Ji-sim of the Green Forest wore a bitter smile.
“If the Divine Monk had not stepped forward, my side would also have concluded smoothly.”
“Hmph! Excuses.”
Byeok Ji-sim’s brow twitched. The repeated bickering provoked his patience.
Naturally, sharp words were also spat out from Byeok Ji-sim.
“Why don’t you make preparations more thoroughly instead of making mistakes like me? The Namgung Family Head is someone whose skills are as outstanding as his overflowing ambition. If there is a deficiency in the preparation, you will suffer a setback.”
“Humph! The Namgung Family Head is nothing, like hell he is.”
At the bickering disguised as advice, the water bandit of the Yangtze River Eighteen Water Bandit Fortresses let out a sneer.
He was showing excessive leisure.
In the brief moment Byeok Ji-sim frowned once more.
“Would such words come out even after meeting this gentleman?”
“……!”
Soon, he revealed why he was acting so relaxed.
Having confirmed the reason, Byeok Ji-sim widened his eyes in surprise.
Just as the Water Bandit Fortress Leader said, the middle-aged man who revealed himself now was an existence who could treat the Namgung Family Head as ‘nothing.’
He was an expert who would look down upon not just the Namgung Family Head, but even the Divine Monk.
One of the absolute existences treated specially even within the Heaven-Destroying Society.
The middle-aged man was such a monster.