Chapter 153: Moonlit Sword Blossom (2)

Murder Demon, So Munyak.

One of the Six Elders of the Heavenly Demon Cult and, as of now, one of only two killer-origin warriors within the cult who had reached the Extreme Demonic level.

It wasn’t that the Hidden Shadow So Clan lacked warriors of Extreme Demonic level, but as far as I knew, theirs had been invited from the outside.

‘A killer at the Extreme Demonic level…’

A killer was someone who created unpredictable variables by surpassing the boundaries of their realm.

Even if she—no, the Moonlit Sword Blossom—teamed up with me, we still couldn’t guarantee victory.

“You’ve interfered with my fun, so I suppose it’s only fair I leave your head behind, don’t you think?”

Sure enough, So Munyak seemed more wary of her than me.

“If you can.”

“Keh-heh, good. I’ll bring your head to the Elders’ Hall and uncover who you really are.”

…If he did something like that, it’d be hard for him to survive.

I couldn’t quite hide the disaster rising within me.

Regardless of what I was thinking, it seemed So Munyak had no clue who she really was.

‘Well, if I hadn’t heard about “that time,” I probably would’ve thought she was just some unknown high-level martial artist.’

She must have trained in Bone Transformation Technique—the overall impression she gave off was subtly different.

Her attire, too, was far more extravagant than her usual simple martial robes, and she had perfectly concealed both her voice and her energy.

Trying to find traces of “her” in the current Moonlit Sword Blossom before me felt like an impossible task…

And yet, the moment I saw her like that, a distant memory—now a private one belonging only to me—suddenly resurfaced.

—About three years before she ascended to the position of Cult Leader, she grew tired of training and ran away from the cult on a whim.

—She flipped both the Mount Hua Sect and Zhongnan Sect upside down in search of recluses and eccentrics from the Murim.

—Thanks to the unique traits of the Moonlight Woman’s Sword, her identity remained undiscovered. At the time, the elders of Mount Hua had called the masked woman “Moonlit Sword Blossom.”

“……”

Cult Leader, even at the very end, you still skillfully mixed truth with falsehood.

Well, I get it. Even at the last moment of life, it’s hard to confess such a ridiculous piece of your past so easily.

‘Wait, does that mean she lied about other things too?’

As I became momentarily lost in a spiral of reasonable doubt—

“Focus.”

She immediately saw through my mental lapse and pointed out my distraction.

‘Damn it, letting my thoughts wander in front of a top-class killer…’

I gave a small nod and cleared my mind.

The opponent was a master who had reached the final threshold of the Extreme Demonic level. Even a slight slip in focus could cost me my life.

“Alright then… shall I toy with you a little?”

As soon as those words left So Munyak’s mouth, his body vanished.

“…!”

From the very start, he was different from other Extreme Demonic-level martial artists who released an overwhelming, domineering energy.

Papapapat!

In an instant, thin silken threads spread around us, forming a dense web like a spider’s nest.

‘Sky Thread Trap!’

The fact that he had set it up around us instead of using it for a direct attack meant—

“He’s trying to seal off our mobility? How thoroughly unpleasant.”

“He probably plans to trap his prey and cook it at his leisure.”

In my opinion, So Munyak’s next move would be…

“Be careful. Dark Chaos Flying Knives might be incoming.”

Even before the words had fully left my lips—

Papapapapat!

Dozens of black throwing knives began flying toward us through the gaps in the Sky Thread Trap.

‘How troublesome!’

The sword qi of darkness—one of Murder Demon’s highest-level skills.

The very act of condensing that sword qi into flying blades spoke volumes about So Munyak’s transcendental prowess.

More than anything, the fact that they came from four different directions at once was simply unrealistic.

However—

I wasn’t alone here.

“…Hmph!”

Our swords moved as one, as if we had planned it beforehand, forming a smooth and flowing circle.

Heaven’s Net Stretches Wide

Ten Thousand Demons Bow in Reverence

It was like a manifestation of the Taoist symbol of the Taiji.

The sword forms of the Celestial Deer Sword and the Heaven-Slaying Demonic Sword blended into one perfect circle, deflecting the storm of flying blades So Munyak had unleashed.

Kagagagakang!

The deafening clash of metal rang out in all directions.

At the perfection of our coordination, she glanced at me sideways for a moment.

“Jin Yeomyung, don’t tell me you’ve broken through the wall?”

Hiding the numbness in my hand, I replied with feigned ease.

“Oh? The mysterious lady knows my name?”

“……”

The mysterious lady fell silent.

“Let’s focus, shall we? How about we deal with this situation first and talk afterward?”

“…Very well.”

Though her face was hidden by a mask, I was certain her lips must have jutted out like a sulky child.

This absolutely wasn’t revenge for being turned away at the entrance of the Lesser Demon Hall.

Really.

“They’re coming again!”

So Munyak’s assault wasn’t over.

Even though his first attack had failed, the top assassin of the Demonic Faction was already preparing his next move with perfect discipline.

Tsssss!

The Sky Thread Trap, which had shown no unusual signs until now, suddenly began emitting a chilling cold.

A state of Cold Silk—one that disturbed vision and disrupted the opponent’s sense of energy.

As mist began to enshroud the area on top of the midnight darkness, the sharpness of my senses gradually started to blur.

“Jin…myeong!”

As the fog thickened, even her figure, which had been shoulder-to-shoulder with mine just moments ago, started to fade.

“Young Lady!”

I called out to her urgently, but—

“……!”

Only the faint outline of her body was visible now, and even her voice no longer reached me.

Despite being so close, the fact that even her voice was fading—

‘A formation!’

The moment I realized what was happening, So Munyak’s Dark Chaos Flying Knives came slicing through the mist, seeking out gaps.

Pfft!

A black, lightless blade scraped past my forearm.

A few more knives came flying right after.

“……!”

I managed to deflect them, barely, by pushing my concentration to its absolute limit.

‘It’s only pushing my senses to the brink of chaos—the space itself isn’t distorted.’

Proof of that came as I was parrying the Dark Chaos Flying Knives. Right beside me, her sword qi flared brilliantly and blocked the incoming blades from the opposite direction.

She, too, was holding her position and playing her role.

‘We have to synchronize.’

Now that even our sense of distance had been thrown into disarray, moving independently would be suicidal.

One wrong step and we’d end up as food for the Sky Thread Trap like the assassins earlier.

Flash!

At that moment, as if she had read my thoughts, her moonlight-infused sword qi blazed up from the hazy spot beside me.

Her movements seemed to say: ‘Follow me.’

The moment I saw that, I ignited a flame along my own sword and mirrored her motion.

It was only the second time we’d properly fought in sync.

And yet, for some reason, I felt an unexplainable confidence that things would go well.

‘To the ends… together.’

In that instant, our swords began to dance as one.

***

‘…What is this?’

So Munyak, Murder Demon, felt a sudden shift in the tide of battle.

Cold Silk Phantom Demon Formation.

A demonic formation so dangerous that even an Extreme Demonic-level master caught in it would have to give up any hope of survival.

In fact, So Munyak had once used this technique to butcher the former sect leader of the Zhongnan Sect, a man who had reached the Transformation Realm.

‘Even if both of them have reached the Extreme Demonic level, they can’t possibly break this formation.’

There were, perhaps, no more than five people in the entire cult capable of breaking it.

Excluding the Cult Leader, there were the Sword Demon and the Saber Demon, whose martial skills were believed to surpass even the Extreme Demonic level.

Or perhaps Jin Gun-ak, whose body was so absurdly durable that even the Sky Thread Trap’s cutting power might not pierce it?

‘Aside from those, there shouldn’t be anyone else…’

Clang! Clang!

At some point, his once-prized Dark Chaos Flying Knives had stopped being a threat altogether.

“How impudent…”

So Munyak had always taken pride in being able to kill most Extreme Demonic-level opponents with his throwing knives alone.

The Dark Chaos Flying Knives weren’t just regular projectiles—they were a form of weaponized Qi, a manifestation of his will, a part of the Blade Guided by Intention school.

They shifted and transformed endlessly with his thoughts—an ultimate killing technique.

And yet…

No matter how he altered their paths, his enemies perfectly complemented each other, plugging every opening and nullifying every strike.

Even though the formation should have completely cut off communication!

‘These two are perfectly matched. Could they be from the same clan?’

So Munyak, irritated, gave up on the knives and began controlling the Sky Thread Trap directly.

Kill the woman. Take the man back with one arm severed.

Even if they had miraculously fended off the Dark Chaos Flying Knives, there was no way they’d be able to resist the Sky Thread Trap as well!

But then—

“Hm?!”

Inside the Cold Silk Phantom Demon Formation, something strange began to happen—an abnormal amplification of Qi, even beyond So Munyak’s expectations.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

It was too overwhelming to be the output of just one ordinary martial artist.

The degree of that energy swell—

It was like standing before the ocean.

So Munyak instinctively realized what was causing that sudden surge of energy.

“Could it be… Qi Synchronization?”

In the martial world, the most basic cooperative formation was known as the Three Talents Formation.

Therefore, when only two people combined their energy instead of forming a full formation, it wasn’t called a formation at all—it was simply referred to as Qi Synchronization.

The problem was that to perform true Qi Synchronization, one had to fulfill a number of near-impossible conditions.

Yet somehow, this masked woman who had appeared out of nowhere, and the prey So Munyak had been targeting, were displaying a level of synchronization even a couple of ten years would find hard to achieve.

“Absurd.”

The moment he said that—

BOOM!

A massive black shockwave erupted, instantly destroying the Cold Silk Phantom Demon Formation.

***

As time passed, So Munyak’s throwing knives became increasingly lethal and precise.

‘As expected of So Munyak. Every single knives he throws carries serious weight.’

Still, she and I blocked every one of his fangs as though we shared the same mind and body.

However—

‘This won’t do.’

Now that our mobility had been sealed off, unless we could do something about this formation made of Sky Thread Trap, we would surely be dried out and die here.

Even if that didn’t happen, once the Sky Thread Trap started closing in on us, there would be no way to survive with ordinary means.

BZZT! CRACKLE!

‘It’s coming!’

Eventually, So Munyak seemed to lose his patience. The once silent Sky Thread Trap began to tighten in with thunderous Qi, seeking to crush us.

Just then—

Clang!

A brilliantly blazing sword crossed diagonally in front of me.

At first, I was puzzled.

But the moment I recognized her stance, I immediately understood what she was asking of me.

‘Qi Synchronization…’

I’d once performed a cooperative attack with sword qi when I was far less accomplished, back with Jeokun of the Azure Star Sect.

But that technique had relied on flying straight in a linear formation, and with So Munyak’s Sky Thread Trap wrapping tightly around us now, that wouldn’t work.

Unless we could blast away the entire surrounding space with overwhelming firepower.

‘Is it even possible?’

By normal standards, of course not.

Even a “Territory”, the hallmark of an absolute master, wouldn’t be enough to clear out this Sky Thread Trap.

‘But what if it’s Qi Synchronization?’

Thinking about how her Heavenly Demonic Divine Art and my Mystic Heaven Divine Art resonated—

‘There might… actually be a chance.’

The moment I realized that, I raised my Qi and crossed blades with hers.

Tsssss!

Our internal energies merged without the slightest resistance, blending naturally and seamlessly.

As if they had been one from the beginning.

Her intent flowed through the blade and reached me.

—Follow me.

We could barely hear each other, barely even see one another clearly—but in that moment, she and I shared a single will.

Qi Synchronization

Heavenly Demon Resonance Qi

For some reason, I knew exactly what to call it.

Our synchronized Qi shattered So Munyak’s Cold Silk Phantom Demon Formation in a single blow.

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