40
— — —
Paeng Ji-ryang shot up from his seat and shouted.
“Who goes there!”
As his massive frame, befitting his title of Saber Emperor, moved, the chair behind him toppled over helplessly.
In that moment, a presence was felt in the Clan Head's Hall, where no one had been before.
The person who emerged from a pitch-black corner untouched by the lamplight was a man wearing a black bamboo hat.
Paeng Ji-ryang instinctively sensed danger and drew the Black Moon Saber slung across his back.
Despite his internal injuries, he could still read the presence of any ordinary martial artist.
But he couldn't even fathom when this man had entered the Clan Head's Hall.
The hairs on Paeng Ji-ryang's arms stood on end. The man's presence was extraordinary, conveyed by his mere appearance.
‘Could he be connected to the Demonic Cult?’
Paeng Ji-ryang shouted, his voice filled with fury.
“Are you from the Demonic Cult? And where is Paeng Seo-jin?”
“Defeat me, and I will tell you.”
But the man in the black hat hadn't even drawn his weapon.
‘A master of external arts?’
Paeng Ji-ryang's massive body shot forward lightly, appearing before the man in a single bound.
Simultaneously, his great saber cleaved down toward the man's face.
Swiiish—!
A chilling sound tore through the air.
But in the blink of an eye, the man's body shifted to the side, evading the swung saber.
Paeng Ji-ryang's eyes narrowed. He couldn't gauge the man's skill at all.
“I heard you were internally injured, but you seem quite vigorous.”
“This is just the beginning.”
Fwoosh!
A formidable aura erupted from Paeng Ji-ryang's body. Though he was afflicted by an Inner Demon, he still held a place among the Seven Emperors Under Heaven.
He was confident he would not kneel to a mere Demonic Cultist.
As long as it wasn't the Heavenly Demon.
A solid layer of aura coated the saber in Paeng Ji-ryang's grip. His body once again soared into the air.
Crash!
With a single swing of his saber, the furnishings in the Clan Head's Hall were shattered and destroyed.
He unleashed the Thunderclap Saber of Primal Chaos to its fullest extent, a technique that could only be used when the saber (刀) and the mind (心) became one, creating a state of chaos (混).
But perhaps because he had suddenly overexerted his internal energy, he tasted the metallic tang of blood in his mouth.
Paeng Ji-ryang's face contorted slightly.
He had thought the man wouldn't be able to dodge the attack, but his figure was nowhere to be seen.
‘Where is he?’
At that moment, he felt an formless presence from behind.
Just as Paeng Ji-ryang turned, a powerful palm strike slammed—into his chest.
“Kuhk!”
From that single palm strike, he received a shock so powerful it felt as if his organs were being violently shaken. It felt like his very Dantian was being destroyed.
Paeng Ji-ryang's massive body slid backward as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Paeng Ji-ryang was no slouch when it came to external arts, but he had never heard of a master of external arts this powerful.
“Who... in the world are you?”
But instead of answering, the man once again vanished from his sight in a flash.
He had only blinked once, but the man suddenly appeared right before his eyes.
“The second palm.”
What followed was another powerful palm strike.
The force of the palm, striking the exact location of his internal injury, caused an uncontrollable stream of blood to pour from Paeng Ji-ryang's lips.
His vision began to blur from the severe impact, but Paeng Ji-ryang grit his teeth hard and forced himself to stay conscious.
The man's identity no longer mattered. All that filled him was the killing intent to slay this man.
Paeng Ji-ryang's saber began to move swiftly, as if dancing. A fierce sonic boom vibrated in the wake of the blade.
Each time the saber, brimming with aura, was swung, the Clan Head's Hall crumbled further.
But the man was deftly evading his attacks with swift movements.
It was maddening that he couldn't even cut a single thread of the man's clothing.
“Kraaaah!”
Unable to contain his rage, Paeng Ji-ryang roared.
The man, who had vanished without a trace, now stood loftily on the very tip of Paeng Ji-ryang's saber, looking down at him.
“Let's end this.”
For the first time, the man drew his sword.
What was revealed was a sword blacker than the night sky.
‘I've never seen this sword before.’
He had seen countless divine artifacts, but he had never heard of nor seen the pitch-black sword the man held.
But even so, one thing was certain.
That sword, too, radiated a sinister energy.
An explosive Demonic Energy immediately began to flow from the sword.
A dangerous and sinister energy that seemed to crush his body, and even his very thoughts.
“The... the Demonic Cult...!”
He had no choice but to conclude that the energy truly belonged to the Demonic Cult. He had, after all, faced a fair number of Demonic Cultists while annihilating the Second Demonic Pavilion.
Paeng Ji-ryang ground his teeth.
“You bastard! Where have you hidden Seo-jin?”
To kill the Demonic Cultist, his sworn enemy, he mustered all his strength and brought his saber crashing down.
KRA-KOOOM!
It was a tremendous attack, powerful enough to split the ground in two. But the man dodged it like a ghost.
“Where are you?”
The man, who had floated up into the air, landed in front of Paeng Ji-ryang.
A killing intent that pressed down on his very flesh flowed from the man, who held his sword pointed straight up.
“Ugh...”
Unable to withstand the killing intent, Paeng Ji-ryang's knees slowly began to buckle.
It was in that moment that he saw it.
“......!”
Six hands materialized behind the man's back.
The arms were bizarrely long, and their nails were dark and discolored, reminiscent of a demon's hands.
Five swords were gripped in those six sinister hands. Only one hand remained empty.
The man's eyes, staring directly at Paeng Ji-ryang, turned as red as blood.
At that moment, what Paeng Ji-ryang felt was ‘death’.
Without realizing it, Paeng Ji-ryang fell to both knees and gazed at the resplendent sight as if in worship.
And then he realized.
The martial art of the Heavenly Demon, which he had heard about until his ears bled fifty years ago.
Asura's Sword of Blood and Heaven.
That martial art allowed the user to wield the six arms of the Demon God Asura, and it was said that upon reaching grand completion, all six arms would hold a sword.
The man had manifested five of Asura's swords.
It seemed the man had not yet reached grand completion, but he looked to be on the very cusp of it.
If that was the case, then this man's identity was...
“You were the Heavenly Demon!”
Paeng Ji-ryang roared with a volume that belied a man on the verge of death.
Simultaneously, his saber unleashed its aura in a final, desperate struggle.
With that, a scratch was carved into the man's body for the first time.
The black hat the man was wearing fell to the ground, and a thin line was drawn across his cheek.
The man's finally revealed face was strangely familiar, Paeng Ji-ryang thought.
His aura was so completely different that it was hard to recognize him at a glance, but...
“You, you are...!”
0 Comments