‘What on earth…’

What could it be described as?

Jeon-hyeon supported his staggering body by planting his wooden sword on the ground.

He stared at the front with his narrowed eyes.

‘The plum blossoms came to me.’

A hollow laugh escaped him. It was not Gukbo’s plum blossoms. The plum blossoms that had unfolded from the tip of Cheon Mubaeck’s sword were more terrible than Gukbo’s plum blossoms.

A situation that was beyond his common sense.

Jeon-hyeon’s eyes, which had faced the irrational, shook greatly.

‘They say the martial world is a place where the irrational becomes common sense…’

But he could not just stand there in shock forever. His trembling eyes reached Cheon Mubaeck.

Swaeaek-!

Cheon Mubaeck, moved.

The sword poured down.

Jeon-hyeon immediately rolled his body and barely dodged.

Kwang!

Cheon Mubaeck’s sword qi, which had narrowly missed, hit the wall.

The wall collapsed with a loud explosion.

Jeon-hyeon’s pupils, which had confirmed the terrifying power, shook like crazy.

This time it was not a plum blossom, but a completely different explosive power.

Jeon-hyeon’s eyes, which knew better than anyone what kind of power it was, widened as if they would tear.

‘The Great Sun Fire Sword?’

The yang qi of the Great Sun Fire Sword that he had poured out.

How could he do that?

While Jeon-hyeon’s eyes were trembling in shock, the blade of Gukbo, who had gathered himself on the opposite side, poured down.

It was the Twelve Swords of the Plum Blossom.

“Chaat!”

Gukbo aimed for Cheon Mubaeck’s back with a shout.

Dozens of flower buds burst at once, and the petals scattered.

Pink plum blossoms wrapped around the surroundings.

It was fragrant.

It was extremely fragrant.

The sharp blade hidden in the fragrant beauty suddenly popped out.

“Not bad!”

Cheon Mubaeck let out a cry of admiration and spun his sword.

Seuseuseut!

In an instant, his feet lightly rose as if he were stepping on the air.

“…!”

The Heaven-Earth Eagle Steps.

In the fleeting movement like a hawk flying in the sky, the Heaven-Concealing Sword Technique unfolded.

It was not a hegemon’s sword, a heavy sword, or a fast sword.

‘Just a sword.’

What is the original meaning of a sword?

It cannot be defined.

Even the numerous swordsmen who had polished their sword path and had walked that path could not give a clear answer.

Because everyone is different. Because no one has been able to perfectly define a sword.

But Cheon Mubaeck had given a firm answer.

‘A sword is just killing.’

That was the original meaning of a sword.

A weapon that was born solely to kill.

In the days when the martial world was just beginning, the original meaning of a sword to Cheon Mubaeck, who had left the legend of the Samjae Sword Saint, was that.

A terrible killing move cut through the beautiful plum blossom petals.

It was a terrible violence.

“…!”

Gukbo’s eyes widened as if they would tear.

The plum blossoms that had been blooming as if in full bloom were trampled. Cheon Mubaeck’s sword brutally cut, tore, and destroyed the flower buds.

But strangely, it was not scary.

As if a child were trampling on a flower with a mischievous heart, there was also such a strange innocence in it.

In that terrible killing move.

All the plum blossoms were trampled and torn. A hot haze rose from Cheon Mubaeck’s killing move.

That heat burned the plum blossoms, and in the end, it even swallowed Gukbo’s sword.

‘What on earth, how?’

Why was Jeon-hyeon’s yang qi bursting from Cheon Mubaeck’s sword?

Kagagagang!

Gukbo barely twisted his body and dodged.

It wasn’t just him who was surprised.

Cheon Mubaeck faced both of them at the same time. With his left hand, Jeon-hyeon, and with his right hand, Gukbo.

The spectators held their breath and focused.

“This is crazy!”

An exclamation of shock finally burst from Jeon-hyeon’s mouth.

This time, plum blossoms bloomed from Cheon Mubaeck’s left sword.

“How!”

“What on earth is that!”

“To accept another’s energy and to strike back with it!”

The spectators finally stood up as if they could not believe it.

But what could they do?

Cheon Mubaeck’s Heaven-Concealing Sword Technique had only its original meaning.

In other words, it meant that he could break away from any form to use a killing move.

The forms he had learned at the Complete Truth Sacred Altar had no meaning to him.

‘Shedding.’

He destroys and breaks away from the form.

He returns to the original meaning of a sword. He unfolds his swordsmanship with only the pure meaning of a sword.

‘I have nothing. I just flow.’

There is no law, no force, and no energy in the trajectory of the sword.

It just flows.

‘It changes, and changes again, and changes again. If it only has its original meaning.’

Whether he makes a plum blossom bloom with his sword, or whether he creates a flame.

It doesn’t matter.

Those are also just one of the ways that the ‘killing’ of the Heaven-Concealing Sword Technique is expressed.

Therefore, it can be anything, and it cannot be defined as anything.

The infinite inclusiveness of the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art, the five senses that have reached the extreme of the upper dantian, and a new sense beyond that.

The Heaven-Concealing Sword Technique, combined with the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art, had become the only and most dangerous sword in this world.

“…!”

“S-Senior brother.”

The Wind and Cloud Sword Lord, Zhong Li-hong.

His eyebrows trembled slightly. Dan-hu was startled to see Zhong Li-hong.

‘He’s nervous?’

The Zhong Li-hong he had seen until now was a great martial artist, as befitting his title of the Sword Lord.

He had not been intimidated when he had met a strong person, and he had not been afraid.

On the contrary, he was a magnanimous great person who would burst out laughing, showing off his fighting spirit.

But now.

Zhong Li-hong’s hand, which was holding the scabbard, was trembling, and Zhong Li-hong’s face, which had clenched his teeth, had turned pale.

Dan-hu understood that tension.

“Cheon… Mubaeck!”

It was a strange thing.

It was a phenomenon that could not happen.

To accept another’s energy and to use it as one’s own.

Where in the world was there such a thing!

Even that terrible soul-sucking demonic art could not do that. It could not be like that.

That was common sense.

Dan-hu, who had faced an impossible thing, shouted without even realizing it.

“It’s a demonic art! That must be a demonic art!”

“No.”

But the one who had stopped Dan-hu was Zhong Li-hong. Zhong Li-hong said, grinding his teeth as if he would chew and swallow him at any moment. His voice was turbid, as if a beast were growling.

“That is, just a sword. Just, a pure sword.”

He was also a swordsman who had reached a realm as a sword, as befitting his title of the Sword Lord.

He had seen through the meaning of the sword that Cheon Mubaeck had.

Therefore, he was not just nervous, but he was in pain.

A sword that he could not understand, and could not have.

There is a saying, ‘a state of no-thought’.

To reach a state of no-self. To forget all thoughts and ideas and to return to one’s original state.

Sometimes people express that they fall into a state of no-thought while learning martial arts.

That’s how much of a tremendous meaning it is to empty one’s thoughts.

‘Because it means that you can accept everything.’

But there was no way that was easily possible.

When you hold a sword, numerous distracting thoughts come in.

No matter how long a martial artist has trained, their own values and ideas are in the sword.

On the contrary, the more people have polished their swords, the more that tendency is.

Although it could be expressed as stubbornness, a lifetime of values is bound to be contained in the sword.

Zhong Li-hong was the same.

‘To me, a sword is the wind.’

It flutters like the wind, it rages like a typhoon, and it pours down like a storm.

To him, a sword had that meaning.

Zhong Li-hong asked himself.

‘Can I abandon that meaning?’

The answer is impossible.

So he had seen through how dangerous Cheon Mubaeck’s sword was.

A pure sword with nothing in it.

‘Can I win?’

Zhong Li-hong closed his eyes.

* * *

Cheon Mubaeck freely unfolded the Heaven-Concealing Sword Technique.

Jeon-hyeon and Gukbo.

Those two were skilled enough for Cheon Mubaeck to freely unfold his sword.

Thanks to that, Cheon Mubaeck was pleased.

All the things he had obtained, realized, and had made his own from the Heaven-Concealing Sword Technique.

He could unfold, test, and evaluate them.

‘Here, faster.’

His eyes followed the tip of his sword and scanned the surroundings.

‘Here, I’ll gather my energy.’

A new enlightenment, one by one, piles up.

Perhaps the reason why Cheon Mubaeck had deliberately kept Gwak Cheon-hu by his side was because his disposition was similar to his own.

‘You have to dance on a blade. A sword is sharpened by drinking blood.’

Because it was close to the original meaning of a sword.

Cheon Mubaeck, while making what he had realized his own with his body, once again engraved his shortcomings in his mind one by one with a cold gaze.

Cheon Mubaeck had now made this duel a place to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the Heaven-Concealing Sword Technique.

And the result was satisfactory.

‘One step forward like this.’

He had advanced.

Cheon Mubaeck’s body trembled for a short time.

What Cheon Mubaeck had done so far was a process of regaining his past martial prowess.

In other words, it was just following the martial prowess that the Azure Sky Sword God had had, one step at a time.

But now it was different.

A new enlightenment and a new worldview of martial arts had unfolded before his eyes.

With this, Cheon Mubaeck had advanced. Although the martial prowess he had now was busy catching up with his past life, at least the worldview of martial arts he had had advanced one step further.

The corners of Cheon Mubaeck’s mouth drew a line.

‘Then there’s nothing more to see.’

There were no more weaknesses to find. Now it was enough to advance again based on this enlightenment.

So the current duel was meaningless.

‘To continue something meaningless is also a discourtesy to them.’

Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes flashed.

His pupils, which had turned white, scanned Jeon-hyeon and Gukbo.

At the same time, a white radiance poured out from around Cheon Mubaeck.

The moment they witnessed that, both Jeon-hyeon and Gukbo took out their best moves.

“Taat!”

Jeon-hyeon’s wooden sword swelled up as if it would burst in an instant.

A red energy drew a circle as if it were burning.

“The Raging Flame Heavenly Arrival!”

Someone in the audience shouted like a scream.

The sword that symbolized Zhongnan.

A sword stream that burned red and cut through the sky pierced the air.

At the same time, Gukbo’s sword also made a single flower bloom.

A terribly red plum blossom.

A reddish-red petal as if it had drunk blood.

This time, a sigh like a groan was let out from the Mount Hua side.

“The Sea of Clouds…!”

The Plum Blossom Sea of Clouds.

The flower bud that had bloomed red burst in an instant. And on top of it, it covered the sky. A cloud and a sea covered with plum blossoms.

“Ah.”

“Indeed, they say they are the top successors of the Central Plains…!”

A cry of admiration erupted from the audience.

One by one, the ultimate techniques that represented each sect.

But Cheon Mubaeck’s face was not just calm, but it was rather contorted.

“These bastards…”

Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes shot up.

In an instant, Cheon Mubaeck’s two hands moved quickly and cut through the space in one go.

Kwaaang!

The sword stream that was burning red was the first to break. The Raging Flame Heavenly Arrival was torn before it could even cut the sky.

Kwang!

The plum blossoms that had covered the sky all faded like smoke at Cheon Mubaeck’s sword form.

The flowers had fallen.

The aftermath of that shock literally sent Jeon-hyeon and Gukbo flying.

The two of them vomited blood and literally fainted. The moment they were about to pour out their best ultimate techniques, all of that had been reversed, so their internal energy must have been shaken.

“…!”

But the sect leader of the Mount Hua Sect and the Wind and Cloud Sword Lord of the Zhongnan Sect swallowed their saliva and, on the contrary, stood up and took a fist-and-palm salute to Cheon Mubaeck.

While the people were wondering about that incomprehensible action.

The sect leader of the Mount Hua Sect, Hyeon-gok, opened his mouth.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, the two successors have saved their lives.”

“Zhongnan also expresses its gratitude for your mercy.”

Although the others had a dumbfounded face, those two had understood Cheon Mubaeck’s last sword strike.

It was the ultimate technique that they had not yet learned properly, and that they had only scratched the surface of.

No matter how great the two successors were, they were too young and lacking to digest the ultimate technique of their sect.

So it was just a flashy imitation.

If they had made a mistake, they might have both fallen into a state of qi deviation due to the reversal of their internal energy.

But Cheon Mubaeck had blocked that.

Cheon Mubaeck, who had received a thank you from the two strongest people who had gathered at the scene, said calmly, and with a clear tone.

“Alright, then since it’s over. Hand over what’s mine.”

“…”

Gratitude was fine.

Just hand over the goods.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep