Chapter 303: Conclusion (3)

She sneered coldly at me.

“‘Inner Administrator Rear Gate Sword’. Looks like you used to be quite pathetic, didn’t you?”

I fought to stop myself from biting my tongue.

“…Mental attacks won’t work on me, so you can stop.”

Who would have thought I’d let Cheon Yujeong find out about the darkest chapter of my life?

“To love someone as utterly useless as Cheon Yura, who ruined the Cult… well, I guess I never had a chance to begin with.”

“Yura wasn’t exactly incompetent back then.”

I firmly denied her words.

Cheon Yura had never been particularly skilled in politics, but that didn’t mean she deserved all the blame.

The previous Cult Leader—Cheon Taejong—had blundered so badly, it had already become irreversible by the time it fell on her shoulders.

If, at the very least, someone trustworthy had stood by her side instead of Han Mubaek, the fate of the Heavenly Demon Cult in my past life could have been completely different.

“From the start, you were the one who lost to Yura and vanished from history.”

“…….”

This time, it was Cheon Yujeong who fell silent.

“Even if you had become the Cult Leader, I’m certain nothing would have changed in that situation.”

“…You might be right.”

Cheon Yujeong unexpectedly agreed with me without hesitation.

“But just because I didn’t experience it doesn’t mean I should shrink back in fear.”

“I’ll give you that.”

“If I kill you here, the fragments of the Heavenly Demon Founder connecting us will completely return to me. If that happens… I’ll have the power to kill Cheon Yura again.”

That would undoubtedly lead to a far better outcome than when she had given up her humanity.

Of course, there was no way I would let things reach that point.

“That is, if you can actually kill me here, Lady.”

“Right. I have to surpass you first.”

She extended her sword and took a formal stance.

“So, please… die by my hand.”

“I refuse.”

Paht!

With those words, Cheon Yujeong and I lunged at each other at the same time.

If it came down to sword comprehension alone, Cheon Yujeong could never hope to match me.

But the fact that she still charged in like this meant… she had something up her sleeve!

As I unleashed my opening technique, I casually provoked her.

“Yura asked me to pass something along.”

Twitch!

“She said you’re nothing but a brainless idiot of a sister.”

“…Is that so?”

For the briefest instant, I saw her falter.

And I struck that opening without hesitation.

However…

Swoosh!

As if she had predicted my move, she easily dodged my sword with fluid grace.

“……!”

“Then I guess I should reply like this.”

She swung her sword at my neck as she spoke.

“By calling her a dumb little sister.”

It was a strike so fast that most experts couldn’t have even reacted.

But strangely enough, just like she had done, I could clearly read the trajectory of the blade.

Swoosh!

I tilted my neck slightly to avoid the strike, and this time, Cheon Yujeong’s brows furrowed.

‘She’s coming again!’

Her follow-up wasn’t a single strike.

It was a relentless barrage meant to crush her opponent.

Ordinarily, the gap between Cheon Yujeong and me meant I could’ve blocked her attacks with just my Qi Projection.

But for some reason, I instinctively knew that if I tried that, I’d lose my head in a single blow.

And just as I feared—

A familiar, dark Qi burst out from her sword.

Heaven-Slaying Qi

Nine Linked Sea-Crossing Blades

Nine consecutive strikes that left no room for retreat.

It felt exactly like the pressure I had faced when up against Ma Seoyeon’s Ten Thousand Blood Waves.

‘No… that is the original form of the Ten Thousand Blood Waves!’

I barely kept up with the barrage, evading each strike by the skin of my teeth.

And the moment the ninth slash ended, I immediately counterattacked with a massive strike aimed at her opening.

Heaven-Piercing Annihilation.

The Cheon Yujeong I had known would have surely ended with this strike.

However…

As my strike closed in, her sword erupted with a reverse-spiraling black flame.

Heaven-Slaying Qi

Reverse Soul Flame

‘What the hell?!’

The counter-technique of the Heaven-Slaying Sword that Cheon Yura had once shown!

The strike that should have split everything was completely deflected by her sword.

‘So it wasn’t a lie that she inherited our Master’s enlightenment!’

And it didn’t end there.

Seizing the brief lull, Cheon Yujeong raised her sword into the air.

One, two, three… six, seven, eight… eleven….

When her sword multiplied into twelve blades, I swallowed hard.

“Twelve Demon Swords.”

“You know it well.”

Twelve flying swords, unleashed through the Heaven-Slaying Qi.

It was the signature technique of the Heartless Demonic Empress, Cheon Yura, from my previous life—now unfolding in Cheon Yujeong’s hands.

“How do I look now?”

She lightly spun the twelve swords and asked me.

“Do I seem weaker than the Cheon Yura you remember?”

“You seem about the same.”

I nodded calmly.

“Like Yura, weakened and riddled with all sorts of extreme poisons from the Deadly Poisons.”

“You bastard…!”

Cheon Yujeong scowled and sent the twelve flying swords hurtling toward me.

I gripped my sword tightly, overwhelmed by a strange sense of exhilaration.

‘Back then, it had felt hopeless to even think of defending against that….’

But now, I felt like I could handle it.

Boom!

With a powerful step forward, I threw myself right into the vortex of the flying swords.

In an instant, both Cheon Yujeong and I vanished from sight.

As our territories overlapped in an ultra-short time frame, we exchanged dozens of blows in just a single second.

Twelve Shadowed Forms.

Nine Heavens, One Abyss.

Soul-Slaying Flam.

Boundless Demon Realm.

Heaven-Piercing Annihilation.

Ten Thousand Demons Prostrating.

Catastrophic Heaven’s Flash.

Heaven’s Unescapable Net.

Shattered Star Heaven Net.

Demon Sword.

God-Slaying Flame.

Heaven and Earth Rotational Seal.

For over ten seconds, Cheon Yujeong and I clashed like we were performing a pre-arranged duel.

To anyone watching from the outside, it would have seemed like a whirlwind of storms and flames tearing through the air.

Yet, despite expending countless techniques, neither of us had so much as grazed the other, as if our hearts were perfectly in sync.

Then, exactly twenty seconds later—

Clang!

As if rehearsed, we both withdrew our swords at the same time, widening the distance between us.

“…….”

“…….”

A brief silence followed.

We glared at each other wordlessly, but inside, our minds were swirling with turmoil.

‘It’s not just that she gained enlightenment. The mastery of her Heaven-Slaying Sword is on a whole other level.’

I had to admit it.

Right now, her swordsmanship wasn’t the least bit inferior to mine.

On top of that, both of us held exactly half the power of the Heavenly Demon Founder’s fragments gathered by the Heaven-Defying Society.

‘At this rate, nothing short of a Heaven-One Duel will settle this.’

Which meant…

‘A contest of raw power… huh?’

As if we had read each other’s thoughts, Cheon Yujeong and I raised our auras at the exact same moment, without even a hair’s difference.

Rumble!

The energy swirling around us exploded outward, forming domains that resembled opposing territories.

‘Sorry, but when it comes to pure output, I can’t lose.’

Above all, I had Resonance Qi now.

With the overwhelming firepower of Resonance Qi, I could overpower any technique she threw at me!

I simultaneously drew upon the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art and the Heavenly Divine Art.

Left Hand – Heaven-Slaying Qi.

Right Hand – Ten Heavenly Record Qi.

Combining them…

Just as I was about to unleash Resonance Qi—

Sneer!

Cheon Yujeong smiled.

“You don’t really know what kind of techniques the Heavenly Demon Founder mastered, do you?”

“……!”

“Of course you wouldn’t. He didn’t need techniques or forms—he was overwhelmingly powerful just as he was.”

Holding her sword in her right hand and supporting the hilt with her left palm, Cheon Yujeong raised the blade high and declared:

“I’ll show you.”

Chill!

A sinister energy, entirely different from anything before, began to radiate from her sword.

Not just Sword Intent. It felt like she had grasped and bent the very laws of the world itself.

Heavenly Demon’s Sovereign Reign.

In that fleeting moment.

My instincts screamed.

Dodge!

“Tch!”

Abandoning my attempt to unleash Resonance Qi, I desperately hurled myself aside.

And immediately afterward, something lightly grazed the spot where I had just been standing.

‘My… my internal energy….’

The backlash from forcibly canceling Resonance Qi tore through some of my meridians.

But it was better to endure the pain than to die.

And my decision proved correct.

“Haa, hahahaha! Look at you, scrambling away like that! Haa, ahahahaha!”

Cheon Yujeong laughed loudly, visibly exhausted.

Rolling a few times to the side, I quickly checked the ground where I had just been.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

The space itself had been split open.

Through the tear left by her strike, the chaotic void beyond the fabric of reality briefly revealed itself.

‘That’s not a human technique.’

It was a realm that could only be touched by stepping into the Supreme Demon Realm, or beyond.

‘My internal wounds will heal soon…’

But could I really withstand that technique at my current level?

Cheon Yujeong, now drenched in cold sweat, shouted at me.

“Haa! Haa! What do you think? You think that Cheon Yura bitch could block something like this?”

“…No, she probably couldn’t.”

Honestly, it seemed impossible for anyone, not just Cheon Yura.

“But Yura wouldn’t even try to block it in the first place.”

“……What?”

“Yura isn’t stupid enough to take a technique head-on when she knows she can dodge it.”

Though she had always seemed reckless, charging in like a wild boar, that was just the nature of the Heaven-Slaying Sword and the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art.

Cheon Yujeong tilted her head with a puzzled frown.

“But I’m sure the Yura I know would charge straight in if I provoked her even a little.”

“…Let’s just consider you an exception, Lady.”

I subtly changed the subject, feeling a bit awkward at how accurately she described herself.

Honestly, if it were anyone else, they might not, but she definitely would.

“Ahem! Anyway, that technique just now… it looked like it put quite a strain on you.”

“…….”

“And your mastery over it wasn’t exactly perfect, either.”

Even though I had pathetically rolled on the ground like a fool, the fact remained that her strike hadn’t touched me.

In other words, unlike the Heaven-Slaying Sword, even Cheon Yujeong couldn’t easily wield that technique.

Surprisingly, she agreed.

“That’s true. But so what?”

For some reason, her eyes gleamed with a hint of euphoria.

“Mastery? That’s just something time can fix. What matters is that I can wield this power in a human body!”

“…….”

“I can win. I can surpass you. I—this me—can succeed Father and lead the Heavenly Demon Cult!”

Her lifelong frustration erupted toward me like a flood.

“So don’t get in my way!”

Until the very end.

Even with such overwhelming power, was she still unable to let go of her inferiority toward Cheon Yura?

I looked at Cheon Yujeong, who was charging toward me, with a gaze filled with pity.

‘I had hoped she could at least take some pride in herself…’

In the end, all of that power and all of that enlightenment belonged to someone else.

Whether she had gained the enlightenment of the Heavenly Demon Founder or the power of Heavenly Evil, Cheon Yujeong’s inferiority complex would never be resolved unless she killed Cheon Yura.

Then how could I possibly free her from that inferiority?

‘She called her a brainless idiot of a sister…’

I knew that Cheon Yura’s final words had not been mere insults.

‘Her message was directed at Cheon Yujeong, but it was also a request to me.’

A request for me to release Cheon Yujeong from her chains of inferiority with my own hands.

She had gone out of her way to phrase it indirectly, as if wrapping it up and delivering it carefully.

‘In that case… I’ll honor it.’

Though the odds were slim, there was still a way.

***

Old Han of Second Heavenly Lord had just escaped from the collapsing space.

In his arms was the lifeless body of Lord Baek Cheong, who had shriveled up into nothing more than a frail old woman.

Whether she would regain her vitality and appearance was still uncertain, but to Old Han, it already felt like a miracle that she had survived at all.

“It frustrates me that I couldn’t be of more help to my disciple.”

Originally, Old Han had intended to stand alongside the Heavenly Demon Founder in the final battle, but the Founder had refused his help and instead sent him away right before the showdown.

Had they fought together, they certainly could have made a difference—but it was obvious that if they had done so, Lord Baek Cheong, who had barely survived, would have surely died again.

After laying Lord Baek Cheong down in an empty house whose owners had long since disappeared, Old Han drew his sword and let out a sharp cry toward the front.

“The Founder said that the boy would finish everything… but I won’t tolerate any pointless interference.”

Old Han’s gaze locked onto the young man standing before him.

“Isn’t that right, Grand Heavenly Lord?”

“…….”

At some point, the current Grand Heavenly Lord, Han Seon, had appeared before Old Han, staring at him with emotionless eyes.

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