Chapter 221: Climax of Strength
Chapter 220 – Climax of Strength
I did not know since when the story had been circulated, but it was said that the Sword-Riding Flight Art, flying in the sky atop a sword, could only be deployed by those who had reached the realm of a Sword Immortal.
Certainly, the sensation of flying in the sky atop a controlled sword was special.
Especially, it was a feeling that made the area between my legs tingle.
It was incomparable to the sensation I had felt in the past when climbing down a cliff in the Mount Hua Sect.
As I was mounted atop a sword moving at an enormously fast speed, every sensation touching my skin stood on end intensely.
‘The good points end right there…’
Having deployed the Sword-Riding Flight myself, the saying that trying it once was more important than saying it a hundred times suddenly came to mind.
‘I can’t do this wearing expensive shoes.’
Although weaker than a conventional Sword Control, it contained an internal energy that could easily overwhelm most sword qi.
It meant that a frosty energy surged atop the sword surface where I had to place my feet.
Stepping on such a place, there was no way my shoes would remain intact; even now, I protected the shoes by infusing internal energy separately, which was the only reason they barely held out.
However, it was a minor drawback compared to the truly serious problem.
“…… ?”
No matter how much I pondered, the Sword-Riding Flight seemed like a non-combat martial art made just to look cool.
“What am I supposed to do riding atop a sword that is trying to ram head-on?”
Are they telling me to explode to death together, or what?
A sigh came out naturally.
[It would be so for you. Well, if you had properly achieved the Unity of Mind and Sword, you would have felt it differently.]
Master Zhang Sanfeng handed down a graded and corrected answer sheet regarding my impression.
Hearing it that way, it did feel different.
In the state of achieving the Unity of Mind and Sword, the sword and I become one and pierce the enemy!
Perhaps a proper (?) Sword-Riding Flight would take the appearance of a massive mass of Astral Qi rampaging in all directions.
It certainly seemed like it would be powerful.
At least, compared to the current me riding on the sword like a piece of luggage.
Hwak!
The red Gang Orbs thrown by the Blood Demon flew in.
There were as many as three mind-boggling masses whose trajectories even shifted rapidly.
Hung! Hu-hung!
“Heup!”
The dazzlingly moving controlled swords avoided that attack by sharp turns.
‘When just looking at it, I thought it was very primal and sensory, so it was amazing…’
From the perspective of riding atop it, it was absolutely torture.
Although Sang-hwa’s senses, whose performance was definitive, dodged the flying Gang Orbs, my position of having to balance in a place swaying here and there was extremely difficult.
‘My stomach is turning upside down…’
The speed of the controlled sword Sang-hwa directed was just too fast.
However, even in such a situation, the corners of my mouth curled up.
Perhaps because the effort was worthwhile, it had certainly caught his eye.
Despite knowing that it was a situation where it could not exert its proper power due to failing to achieve the Unity of Mind and Sword, the reason I did not step down from the sword was because there was a sufficient reason.
‘Be deceived. Be deceived!’
The swords received the Five Elements Divine Power, including the grandly flashing Sword of Divine Flame, were displaying a unique presence.
In addition, with even me flying while deploying the Sword-Riding Flight, it could not fail to draw attention.
The Blood Demon would think that the best move I could display was the Sword Control.
Indeed, it also contained a power capable of threatening the Blood Demon.
But!
The red Astral Qi enveloping the Blood Demon.
The flames patrolling the vicinity of the Blood Demon while surging like living creatures were the problem.
Its area was as colossal as the Great Martial Arena.
That Great Martial Arena, which was so large and wide that space would remain even if a thousand sturdy men lined up.
If I rammed head-on, the Five Elements Divine Power would run dry first before tearing through the hellfire of that Astral Qi.
Entering a clash of strength against an expert of the Blood Demon’s caliber was a foolish method.
Ultimately, the core of the strategy I established was the Flawless Heaven’s Net.
The internal heavy strike technique that penetrated into the opponent’s interior to deliver a blow!
Although it was questionable whether it would work against the Blood Demon whose depth of internal energy was unknown, it was the method with the highest chance of winning among the weapons I could use right now.
In other words, the thing that had to throw itself into the wave of that hellfire-like red Astral Qi was not the sword commanded through control, but my own body.
No matter how much I thought about it, a physical charge disregarding my life did seem correct.
‘There is only one opportunity.’
There is no second time. If I failed, my very bones would surely be crushed to pieces by that red Astral Qi.
The crossroads of life and death.
A gambling table where one could not tell whether the place to step forward was life or death.
The problem was that it was a game with a higher probability of death.
“Ah, damn it! Can’t you strike a bolt of lightning or something… Huh?”
While I was grumbling and pondering if there was any way to increase the probability even slightly, an overwhelming presence moved in the sky.
A trajectory like blue lightning falling from the sky!
Pya-pya-pya-pya-pya-pya (extremely severe swearing)!
The Azure Bird, which flew in while shrieking with a voice full of anger, rammed head-on into the hellfire of that red Astral Qi.
Kwaaaaang!
The sight of the red Astral Qi barrier, as colossal as the Great Martial Arena, being smashed to pieces at once was truly majestic.
Needless to say, the enormous aftermath was enough to remind one of the clash of gods in the mythological era.
And the long-awaited opportunity was created.
“Let’s goooooo!”
I raised the function of the Scripture-Refining Mind Method to its climax.
Sifting through the scattering fragments of red Astral Qi, I charged toward the source of this heat along with the twelve controlled swords.
Pya-pya-pya-pya (roughly novel swearing)!
At the moment the Azure Bird, who had suddenly intruded and sifted through the hellfire of the red Astral Qi for a round, soared back into the sky!
“Mmm!”
I was right in front of the Blood Demon’s nose.
No matter how I looked at it, it was a self-destruction layout.
It was different from the plan, but rather better than what had been planned!
“Dieeeeeee!!”
The clear force, the synesthesia, and all senses read even the movement of blood flowing in the Blood Demon’s body.
Based on that, a single move of the Flawless Heaven’s Net squeezed out was extended toward the Blood Demon.
Kwaaaaang!!
Striking atop the Body-Protecting Astral Qi covering the Blood Demon’s entire body!
“Kuuuk!”
My palm boiled.
It felt like throwing my hand into flames.
Although the scream surging to the top of my head due to the pain of flesh peeling filled the inside of my body, conversely, my mind became even clearer.
‘I disrupted it!’
The Flawless Heaven’s Net did not tear down the Blood Demon’s Body-Protecting Astral Qi.
However, it disrupted it.
The hard barrier softened.
The twelve controlled swords spread like the Azure Bird’s wings and swept over the Blood Demon.
They clashed toward the Blood Demon like waves throwing themselves onto a cliff.
Kwakok! Pagagak! Peo-peo-peo-peok!
A few swords broke.
A few swords drove their blades into that wall.
The controlled swords containing the Five Elements Divine Power created cracks in that powerful wall of Astral Qi.
The final sword flying into the crack created in that way!
“Gooooooo!!”
The Sword of Divine Flame containing Yi Hwa’s divine power finally parted the crack and laid its blade beyond the Body-Protecting Astral Qi.
Peok!
The sound of flesh bursting and crushing echoed.
“Ha…”
A smile hung on the Blood Demon’s lips.
That smile was saying.
That he would give up about one arm!
At the very last, the Sword of Divine Flame that penetrated the Blood Demon’s Body-Protecting Astral Qi after all kinds of hardships failed to pierce the Blood Demon’s heart.
If it had pushed in just one span further, the goal would have been accomplished, but in the short moment of struggle, the Blood Demon’s power surpassed mine.
The decisive blow stopped at merely blowing away one of the Blood Demon’s shoulders.
‘I’m screwed.’
Having an arm blown off was a major injury, but not to the extent of dying.
Even at this moment, beyond the remnants of the Body-Protecting Astral Qi burning my hand, newly building forces were felt.
The wriggling of an explosively boiling force was transmitted along my hand.
The moment this force assembled with the Blood Demon at its center, my body would disappear without even a single piece of flesh being found.
I would die.
Was it because of such a moment?
The memories of the past rose and passed before my eyes at a fast speed.
In the revolving lantern of memories, I laughed, cried, and shouted.
I laughed in front of joy, cried in front of sadness, and shouted and struggled in front of death.
One of those memories was vividly embedded in my mind.
Suddenly, a smile also arose on my lips.
It was a smile I thought might resemble the smile the Blood Demon had worn a moment ago.
“Right, this was an all-out battle…”
I strike down everything I can!
One step further in front of death!
At that crossroads, I opened the latch within me!
Within my domain, I alone am supreme.
A single memory of the past rose intact, and the moment of that time was overlaid onto my body.
The power of the domain where I had no choice but to die if I failed to control it!
Therefore, the latch I had suppressed and restrained somehow!
The monster born within me raised its body toward the red heat in front of my eyes.
“Drop dead!”
The remnants of the Demon God descended upon the land of those who worshiped him.
***
The Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign looked pityingly at the lump of meat in front of his eyes.
It was the Great Elder who, until a moment ago, had cheered that he had completed the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
“Is it merely this much?”
The process of the Great Elder becoming like this was nothing much.
He struck down with full force the fists extending while clad in Astral Qi, broke his arms and legs, and smashed them at random.
Flesh and muscle were weak, and bones broke easily like hollow sorghum.
“Is it merely only this?”
At least, the only thing passable was the Body-Restoring True Qi.
Even after becoming like a lump of meat, the Great Elder’s body, wriggling and moving, was slowly trying to return to its original appearance.
The regenerative ability to restore the body alone was remarkable, but that was all.
To the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign, it was no different from a wriggling bug.
“…I should have killed you when you were just human.”
The disappointment was great.
In this state, he was worse than even the Blood Demon, who was a piece of leftover dog food.
It was one of the two.
Either the Great Elder was mistaken,
Or the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was a martial art that was nothing much, contrary to expectations.
It was probably the former.
It had to be so.
“…Otherwise, would not my waiting be too futile.”
To a demonic practitioner of the Heavenly Demon Cult, the two letters of Heavenly Demon had to be special.
Even to him, who called himself the Heaven-Entering Divine Demon, the two letters of Heavenly Demon were special.
Someday, the one who bore the karma of the Heavenly Demon would emerge!
Competing with the one who bore that karma, I would be able to gauge who was superior!
Believing so, the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign waited.
However, the Heavenly Demon Bloodline could not satisfy the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign’s expectations.
Revealing endless self-loathing toward the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign, they broke.
Having seen that state, the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign gave up his expectations from some point.
It was recently that those expectations began to be raised again.
“Yes, something like that.”
At the heterogeneous presence suddenly extending to the surroundings, the corners of the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign’s mouth curled up.
A power born to consume the world swallowed the Blood Demon in a single bite.
The red Astral Qi, which had been so fierce, vanished without a trace in an instant.
The thing remaining in that empty space was ‘something’ that was not of this world.
The Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign felt that something contained within the unfathomable abyss was looking at him.
A gaze as if looking down on him.
A sensation he had thought already lost enveloped the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign.
It was thrilling!
“Hehehehe…”
Peok!
The Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign exploded the body of the Great Elder that was wriggling like a bug.
The disgusting lump of blood lay scattered like trash on the ground.
“Good. Very good.”
Above the pit of blood, the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign laughed in satisfaction.