Chapter 108

A terrifying momentum burst out of Du Jung-baek.

He was a master in the Extreme Demon Realm.
Unless you were in a similar league, enduring ten seconds was a remote prospect.
For me, with little internal energy and True Blood Severed Meridians, it would be even harder.
But I didn’t shrink back in the slightest.
Because it was more than possible.
Didn’t I have the skill I’d built in my past life?

“I’ll begin.”

Du Jung-baek took a martial stance.
He could fling tremendous Aura Qi with a flick of a finger, but the reason he bothered to take a stance was clear.
He wasn’t merely testing me. He was prepared to attack with the intent to truly kill me.

Paang!
His fist split the air.
Aura Qi shot in at a speed I couldn’t even see.
I reflexively leaned my upper body to the right.
Kwaang!
The Aura Qi that passed through the spot my head had been a moment ago pulverized the door.

‘One move.’

Before the second attack even began, I unfolded Whirling Wind Fluttering Leaf Steps.
The moment I slid to the side, the hanging painting behind me shattered along with the wall.

‘Second move.’

Dodging the beams that shot like arrows, I spoke.

“Is it okay to wreck your own office like this?”
“It isn’t the Seventh Young Lord’s office, so stop worrying.”

‘Third move.’

Three attacks that passed in the blink of an eye.
Du Jung-baek muttered softly.

“So it seems your fame isn’t for nothing, Seventh Young Lord.”

A flat voice with no surprise at all.
Meaning it was only natural to dodge this much.
Kwaang!
Aura Qi came flying even faster and gouged out the floor where I’d been standing. Debris sprayed in every direction.

‘Fourth move.’

From the fifth move, the pattern changed.
Two streams of Aura Qi flew in.
One aimed for my heart, the other for my dantian.

“Hup.”

I twisted my upper body left to evade the first, then used that momentum to flip and avoid the second as well.

‘Fifth move.’

Half of it passed in an instant.
The sixth move was a single stream of Aura Qi.
It flew straight at my torso, so I dodged easily.
Or so I thought.
The Aura Qi curved in a half-circle, as if it had predicted my movement.

‘Pursuing Soul Aura?’

Pursuing Soul Aura was a technique that changed Aura Qi’s direction according to the caster’s will.
Only the tiny few who had mastered Aura Forging, the forming of Aura Qi, could use it.
Honestly, I hadn’t been accounting for it, and because of that, I ended up in trouble.

“Keuk.”

My left shoulder burned.
I tried to turn at the last moment to let it slide off, but it still grazed me.
It was a miracle the force didn’t reach the bone.

‘Sixth move.’

I felt Sword Eye’s limits to the bone.
In my past life, I would’ve grasped every trajectory, but I hadn’t reached that level yet.

“Oho.”

Du Jung-baek let out a small exclamation.
He should’ve been displeased that he hadn’t dropped me even past six moves, yet his expression was the opposite.
As expected, he didn’t want to keep accompanying Geuk Mu-hyeok.
He wanted me to have martial talent enough to change his decision.
Then I had no choice but to meet that expectation.

I ignored the pain in my shoulder and steadied my mind.
There were still four moves left.

“This time, it might be difficult.”

Du Jung-baek’s figure vanished in an instant.
All I could see was his afterimage.

‘Danger!’

I hurriedly retreated.
Du Jung-baek’s fist slammed into the spot where I’d been a moment ago.
The floor began to crack with a jagged rending sound.
Cracks spread like a spiderweb, reaching the floor beneath my feet.

‘Seventh move.’

With Soul-Extinguishing Flash Step, I escaped the collapsing floor by a hair’s breadth.
In that moment, Du Jung-baek’s hands each drew a half-circle in opposite directions.
Two Pursuing Soul Auras curved in from both sides, as if enclosing me.

A sense of danger on an entirely different level crashed down.
Pursuing Soul Auras rushing in from left and right at the same time.
If I went forward, there was the sunken floor and Du Jung-baek. If I went back, there was a wall that hadn’t collapsed yet.
Front, back, left, right. Every escape route was blocked.
There was no choice.

‘What do I do?’

In that bleak instant, the Heavenly Demon’s teaching flashed through my mind.

-Senses are honed sharp when body and consciousness face in one direction

It meant the need for focus.
I erased stray thoughts and focused wholly on the situation.
And I realized immediately.
There was nowhere to go front, back, left, or right, but not above or below.
Pat!
I leapt straight upward.
The Pursuing Soul Aura skimmed beneath my feet by a razor-thin margin.

‘Eighth move.’

I planted both palms on the ceiling and shoved off hard.
My body fell diagonally.
Adding the falling force, I drove my right heel down at Du Jung-baek’s head.

“Huh.”

Du Jung-baek let out a brief exclamation and snatched my ankle.
Shuwoong!
He hurled me out of the office.
I blasted through the office wall and flew all the way to the far side of the corridor. I almost punched through that wall and out of the building too, but I barely twisted myself in midair and planted a foot on the wall.
Tadadadat!
To bleed off the force loaded into me, I ran along the wall. Every surface my foot touched burst apart with bangs.
After the third step, the wall couldn’t endure anymore and collapsed with a roar.
Using the debris as footholds, I sprang back into the office.

Du Jung-baek stood in the middle as if he’d been waiting for me.
He thrust his fist three times.
Paang! Paang!
Aura Qi flew towards me in succession.
Still flying toward him, I twisted my body and dodged the first. My clothes tore with a rip.
The second attack flew at my neck.
I felt the air flow.
The tiny vibration made by the Aura Qi touched my skin.
I leaned my head back. It grazed beneath my jaw.
And the third attack—

‘Hm?’

There was nothing.
He simply threw a punch into empty air.

‘He stopped the attack on purpose.’

The final tenth move.
Du Jung-baek was waiting for me to show my true skill.
It was a silent demand for me to show something that would impress him, and to not merely endure.

‘I’ll give you what you want.’

I focused my mind to the limit.
Breath sounds, wind sounds.
All the sounds of the world were erased.
The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat.

“Good.”

I read his lips.
Expectation rose in Du Jung-baek’s eyes.

Silver Aura Qi exploded from both of Du Jung-baek’s hands.
His internal energy was so densely packed the silver looked almost translucent.
I knew instinctively.
If that hit me, I’d die instantly.
But if it ended like this, I was finished anyway.
I wouldn’t persuade Du Jung-baek, I wouldn’t save my guards, and I wouldn’t land a blow on Geuk Mu-hyeok.
And that—

‘My pride won’t allow.’

I hadn’t said I’d endure ten moves without any chance.
I believed it was possible now, after all my growth.
I drew up Perfect Demonic Qi and Chaotic Demonic Qi from my dantian at the same time.
The first to ninth move all existed for this moment. Du Jung-baek and I had been running toward this final exchange.

-The direction is wrong. What you must pursue is not an explosion.
-You cannot bear the force you will bring out. You must open a channel for the water that wants to overflow.

I carved the Heavenly Demon’s advice into myself as it came to me again.
Perfect Demonic Qi and Chaotic Demonic Qi began to resonate violently inside me.
I divided them into both hands.
When I rotated the two energies in opposite directions, a repulsive wave was created.

Something I couldn’t use twice.
An act of pouring out everything I had.
My Revolving Annihilation and Du Jung-baek’s Aura Qi collided head-on.

Saaaah—

There was no explosion, no shockwave.
Inside a bizarre stillness.
The silver Aura Qi was swept up by the wave.
Like snowflakes melting in warmth, it began to disperse from the edges first.

“……!”

Du Jung-baek widened his eyes and poured explosive internal energy into his Aura Qi.
But it was already too late to resist the larger flow.
To keep from being swallowed by annihilation, Du Jung-baek withdrew his internal energy and retreated several steps.

I stood alone in that spot.
Because I forcefully executed Revolving Annihilation, my dantian was completely emptied.
My qi and blood screamed as if they would surge backward, and I gagged up blood.
Even so, I didn’t collapse.
Gritting my teeth, I endured and stared straight at Du Jung-baek.

“……Ten moves, have passed.”

My voice echoed through the quiet office.
Du Jung-baek couldn’t say anything.
His eyes were filled with shock.

A shiver ran through Du Jung-baek’s entire body.
He looked down at both hands.
His hands, where brilliant silver Aura Qi should have been shining, trembled faintly now that it was gone.

‘How can this be……!’

Not a single word came out.
What in the world was this?
A Little Demon who hadn’t even been in the cult for a year shattering the Demon-Manifesting Absolute Steel Hand he had trained for decades!

Du Jung-baek couldn’t take his eyes off Baek Su-gyeong.
There was no fear, no anguish.
Only the will to achieve what he meant to achieve, no matter what, burned brightly.

‘Is this…… the Seventh Young Lord?’

Du Jung-baek genuinely wondered.
If it were the First Young Lord, could he have stopped this unknown art?
Maybe he could have.
Because the First Young Lord was born with heaven-given talent.
But the Seventh Young Lord’s words came back to him.

-What about after one year? After three?

The Seventh Young Lord hadn’t spoken empty words.
He possessed talent not inferior to the First Young Lord’s.
Du Jung-baek squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them. And he slowly spoke.

“Seventh Young Lord, there…….”

His words caught for a moment, then he continued slowly.

“There is something I want to ask you.”

Baek Su-gyeong looked at him quietly.

“The way you think the Guardian Court can be revived…… what is it?”

After catching his breath for a moment, Baek Su-gyeong answered.

“Trust.”
“Trust?”
“The reason the Little Demons refuse the Guardian Court’s escort is because they can’t trust the Guardian Court. Its ability and devotion as guards.”

Baek Su-gyeong coughed with a “Kuhuk.”

“Prove that the Guardian Court’s escort is better than the escorts of the Seven Demonic Houses. The Guardian Court’s revival will start from there.”
“How?”
“With skill, and with sincerity.”
“Is that possible?”
“It is. If you do just as much as my guards.”

Their skill may fall short, but their mindset as guards doesn’t fall short at all.
That’s why Baek Su-gyeong doesn’t give up on them.

“…….”

Du Jung-baek was silent for a while.
The Guardian Court was a place that protected the Divine Cult’s order.
But why was its authority taken away?
Because it lost trust as a guardian.

“If we do as the Seventh Young Lord says…… can the Guardian Court regain its past glory?”
“It’ll be hard. But what will you do? If you don’t do even this, the Guardian Court is basically already dead.”
“……!”

Du Jung-baek looked into Baek Su-gyeong’s eyes.
It was too honest, and that was why it was believable.

‘Perhaps I…… have been trapped in delusion.’

Du Jung-baek knew too.
That regaining the past splendor was like a dream.
But maybe he’d been dreaming a hollow dream because of Geuk Mu-hyeok’s temptation.
After a long silence, Du Jung-baek finally nodded.

“I will reconsider my relationship with the First Young Lord.”