The Fallen Ones (8)

Pu-hwaaak!

The sound of blood pouring out rang unusually loud.

“You—!”

Heon Ya clenched his teeth and unfolded his swordplay.

Shiiik!

Several invisible threads stretched out and struck, pinning down the surroundings. A martial art where qi control stood out more than the forms. It was the Maoshan Sect’s supreme skill, Spirit Thread Sword Art.

Pik!

A small spray of blood spattered Han Cheol-sang’s shoulder.

Struck by sword energy infused with internal energy, it wouldn’t be strange if the entire shoulder muscle went numb in an instant.

But Han Cheol-sang’s movement was utterly free. In an instant he slipped past Heon Ya and brought his blade down on the head of a masked warrior.

Seogeok!

It was like slicing tofu freshly made in a stone press.

The cold night air feasted on hot blood and brain matter, then recoiled in shock and screamed.

A pale haze rose between the split skull. As if a dead man’s soul were thrashing and ascending.

Han Cheol-sang’s red eyes turned back.

Heon Ya attacked again, and the remaining three warriors charged with double-edged swords.

His decision was quick. Han Cheol-sang’s left foot stamped hard into the ground.

‘Collapsing Mountain.’

Hook!

Han Cheol-sang’s saber drew a diagonal line, carrying force that could collapse a mountain.

Heon Ya’s complexion turned pale.

He had been using a brutal saber art that was hard to evade even after seeing it, then in a single instant he swung a saber strike so tyrannical it was like he’d become a different man.

Paaak!

He hurriedly folded the sword forms he’d unfurled and tried to evade, but the surging sword power had already spread to cover a radius of three meters.

Heon Ya reflexively raised his sword.

Kwang!

For a moment, his vision seemed to turn yellow.

Even though it wasn’t a direct hit, both arms went numb from the shockwave. The monstrous martial art, Heaven-Shattering Two Blades, was even more intense than Heaven-Shattering One Blade, Severing Peak.

Pabababak!

Heon Ya retreated over ten steps to disperse the impact, and in an instant he was pushed away from the fight.

Meanwhile, facing the three warriors, Han Cheol-sang immediately regulated his internal energy and switched from Heaven-Shattering Saber to Life-Snatching Saber.

Seogeok! Pu-hwaak!

With three linked saber strikes fast as lightning, the three warriors’ upper bodies split open entirely. From the upper bodies split diagonally, organ fragments poured out with the blood.

Huuuu.

With his exhale, a pale haze scattered.

Heon Ya swallowed unconsciously.

The crimson-eyed killer, soaked in blood, was already charging in with a lowered stance.

“You crazy bastard!”

As if to shake off fear that had seeped into his bones, Heon Ya roared and rushed, unfolding Spirit Thread Sword’s linked forms: Spirit-Calling Blade, Silk Dance, One Sweep, and One Thread Severing the Void.

‘As expected.’

In a blink, Han Cheol-sang felt an oppressive force in the bizarre sword path Heon Ya drew, hard to escape.

‘So this is what the Nine Sects’ martial arts are like.’

Even without mastering the sword art, it was a martial art that could overwhelm an equal through internal energy control based on its mnemonics alone.

Heon Ya had clearly not mastered Spirit Thread Sword Art. If he had, Han Cheol-sang would have avoided a head-on clash completely.

But the reverse was true as well. If Han Cheol-sang had mastered Life-Snatching Blood Saber, Heon Ya and his underlings’ heads would have flown in a single stroke.

In this moment, where neither had mastered the martial art they held, they were locked in fierce battle.

In the end, victory and defeat could only be decided by who was more immersed in their martial arts, who handled them better, and who had more experience.

And Han Cheol-sang was a real strong man who had fought hundreds of life-and-death bouts to embody the Life-Snatching and Heaven-Shattering Sabers.

Kagagagang!

The ruthless forms and powerful true energy of Life-Snatching Linked Saber crushed Heon Ya’s sword strikes at once.

Spirit Thread Sword Art was indeed worthy of being called a supreme skill, but it wasn’t Maoshan Sect’s greatest. Meanwhile, Han Cheol-sang’s Life-Snatching Linked Saber was a top-tier martial art that had swept an era. And he even possessed tremendous real combat experience.

In a fight where even bringing Maoshan’s greatest skill would be difficult, he had come with a Spirit Thread Sword Art he hadn’t even completed. Heon Ya being pushed back was inevitable.

Seogeok! Seogeok! Jjeoeo-eong! Seogeok!

Saber wounds were carved across Heon Ya’s body.

“Ghk!”

He tried to counterattack somehow, but once he was pushed back, he couldn’t be a match for Life-Snatching Linked Saber.

The power of a single blow was below that of the Heaven-Shattering Saber, but in chained attacks that rode their momentum, the Life-Snatching Saber was overwhelming. The more it built momentum, the stronger and faster its slashes became, until the gaps between them closed so tightly that not even a needle could slip through.

Heon Ya tried to unleash Spirit Thread Sword even for a moment, but each time, the opponent’s blade disrupted his forms and went for vital points. Even if he avoided the vital points, a chunk of flesh would still fly off, and naturally it became harder and harder to unfold the sword art.

‘No way.’

Heon Ya’s breathing, drenched in blood, had become viciously rough before he knew it.

‘Maoshan’s martial arts… the Nine Sects’ sword!’

Jjeoeo-eong!

With a single Life-Snatching Saber strike, the spell-inscribed sword split.

Heon Ya’s eyes dimmed.

‘I couldn’t even use my full strength…’

Peo-eok!

A savage horizontal slash sent Heon Ya’s head flying.

Tuk.

The head that fell to the ground rolled a few turns, then caught on a tree root and stopped.

“Hoo.”

Han Cheol-sang let out a light breath and flicked his saber. The blood on the blade vanished in an instant.

“That’s strange.”

He openly knit his brows.

“He’s not as strong as the rumors say.”

They hadn’t become famous simply for being from the Maoshan Sect. Among the masters who had died in their hands was even a great elder of a renowned Unorthodox Sect.

‘Either that means their combined-strike technique is that powerful…’

Han Cheol-sang looked up the peak.

‘Or it means the other one’s martial arts are far stronger than this bastard’s.’

Jjeo-eong! Kkiiiiiiik!

After the thunderous boom of sword on sword, a strange wailing sound naturally followed.

It sounded like a ghost’s wail, or a birdcall, or like the two had been fused together. Either way, it was a bizarre sound that sharpened the listener’s nerves.

“Why is it like that?”

Jjeojeong! Kkiik!

Jin-hyeon was pushed back. Go Ak viciously swung his ancient sword.

“Where did that momentum of yours from earlier go?!”

Sasasasak!

The translucent sword qi riding the blade that sliced the air split into over twenty strands, thin as thread.

Each strand of sword qi wriggling toward him carried lethal killing intent. Jin-hyeon kicked off the ground at once and swung Cross Slash, Sever Souls.

Kwarung!

The Spirit Thread Sword Qi shattered to pieces.

Pabak!

Go Ak’s footwork was as bizarre as his swordplay.

It looked like he stepped forward, yet he approached from a blind spot before he knew it. And that was without creating a vision-blurring illusion.

‘He’s disrupting the senses.’

Jin-hyeon saw at once it wasn’t the footwork, but internal energy.

Jjeojeong! Pisyuk!

Go Ak’s sword grazed Jin-hyeon’s side, and the Indestructible Sword chopped off a thick chunk of his hair.

Paak!

Go Ak widened the distance and smiled cruelly.

“You got a cut.”

“This scratch, you mean?”

“You ignorant fool. That was a sword strike carrying Maoshan’s Spirit-Radiance True Qi. You won’t be able to move like before.”

When Spirit-Word True Qi develops and breaks through a wall, it becomes Spirit-Radiance True Qi.

Go Ak, who had stepped into a realm Heon Ya couldn’t reach, had strikes that were lethal, each and every one. Among them, Spirit-Radiance True Qi had the ability to temporarily seal the blood paths around the wound the instant it penetrated.

Get hit even once, combat power drops, and fighting with lowered power means you keep allowing sword strikes. In the end, an opponent of Spirit-Radiance True Qi can only die miserably, toyed with without even displaying his own skill.

That was Maoshan’s common sense.

Woooooo!!

Blue energy surged at Jin-hyeon’s side.

Go Ak grinned.

“I told you it’s useless!”

Paang!

Charging with Shifting-Phantom Void Steps, he appeared at Jin-hyeon’s left in an instant.

It was a phantom-like motion. Different from Heavenly Escape Steps. Using the Spirit-Radiance True Qi he emitted to make the opponent’s senses subtly misread and to seize a blind spot, Shifting-Phantom Void Steps would be hard for anyone to handle.

‘It’s over.’

Go Ak swung his sword. The target was Jin-hyeon’s nape.

It was then.

‘?!’

Before the blade even touched his white hair, Go Ak saw a thick sword edge driving up under his chin.

Startled out of his wits, Go Ak dropped his body flat with an Iron-Plate Bridge technique.

Sak!

The Indestructible Sword, thrusting in and returning like a snake, drew a circle in an instant and dropped toward Go Ak’s upper body.

A thousand-pound weight rode the sword pressure crashing down. Go Ak clenched his teeth and twisted his body.

Kwang!

A sword scar three meters long was carved into the ground. Jin-hyeon immediately gripped the sword in reverse.

Jjeojeong!

Go Ak’s eyes wavered.

A method that evaded and went straight into a counter. Spirit Thread Sword Art’s Spirit-Calling Blade, following Shifting-Phantom Void Steps. Yet that lethal killing stroke had been blocked.

‘Sword Wall?!’

Around Jin-hyeon’s body, over ten Indestructible Swords appeared like an illusion, then vanished.

Tenfold Prison Wall. An invincible defensive form you couldn’t unfold unless you had predicted the opponent’s counter.

Flash!

A blue sword light drew a half-moon.

A faint sword wound was carved across Go Ak’s chest. If not for Shifting-Phantom Void Steps, it would have split through bone.

Go Ak couldn’t believe it.

‘How?’

At least three blood paths at the side should have been sealed. Naturally, elastic upper-body movement should be impossible. Then how could he use such an elastic sword art?

Paaak!

Jin-hyeon charged at terrifying speed.

There was no time to think. Go Ak poured out a heap of Spirit Thread Sword Art’s ultimate forms.

Jjeojeojeojeong! Kagagagang!

Brilliant sparks burst above the two swords that crashed like possessed.

‘Fast.’

Blue veins stood out on Jin-hyeon’s forehead.

His opponent’s sword was faster than his. It wasn’t a heavy sword, and his attained realm was higher, so if anything it was natural, but even the power riding the sword wasn’t lacking compared to Jin-hyeon’s.

It was the strength of the martial arts of the Nine Sects. The forms weren’t anything special, but the internal energy control was exceptionally refined.

Kkiiiiiiik!

The bizarre sword sound that burst out with each clash was still there.

That sword sound wasn’t from Spirit-Radiance True Qi, but from the sword itself. Like those of the Maoshan Sect, Go Ak’s sword had incantation patterns etched into it, and when internal energy beyond a certain level was fed in, it made that savage sound.

That sound could unsettle even the nerves of someone with deeply rooted orthodox internal energy. It wasn’t for nothing that people said, when facing Maoshan martial arts, don’t clash. Aim for a one-strike kill, or wait until they tire.

‘But.’

Jin-hyeon’s gaze spat fire.

Hwaaak!

The beast’s killing intent that burst out right in front of him was no less fierce than the sword’s spell resonance. Go-ak’s face slowly twisted.

‘What kind of bastard is this?!’

With killing intent bursting at the perfect moments, sword speed slowed by a hair.

His killing intent was too sharp to ignore. It was a primal momentum that was hard to block even with Maoshan internal energy.

‘Even so, I’ll win! I won’t lose to some brat like this!’

Flash!

Go Ak’s sword drove in for the middle dantian.

In that instant, Jin-hyeon’s body vanished.

‘!!’

Only now did he finally use Heavenly Escape Steps. A move he hadn’t shown even once til now.

At the murderous pressure felt behind him, Go Ak hurriedly spun and unfolded Spirit Thread Strange Slash.

Seogeok!

Go Ak’s eyes went wide.

The single slash he threw out with all his strength split empty air. The overflowing sword strike neatly cut a tree far away.

‘I definitely felt killing intent…’

Then his whole body grew heavy.

Go Ak instinctively unfolded Shifting-Phantom Void Steps to retreat, raising his sword.

Jjeoeo-eong!!

Under the tremendous impact, Go Ak’s complexion turned pale.

Heavenly Escape Steps unfolded in linked sequence. Heavenly Escape Two Steps, and Ten Steps, Certain Death’s Execution Form.

At a blow thrown with full power, even Go Ak’s lower body staggered. It was a strike he’d had to take in a situation he couldn’t prepare for, so the shock was immense.

Jin-hyeon’s eyes flashed.

The patience of a beast that had been waiting for its prey to weaken was over.

‘Now!’

Hook!

His skin flushed red, and a white haze-like energy surged from his whole body.

The two eyes of a ferocious wolf king, filled with pink monstrous aura.

The clouds covering the moon scattered, and the unstable yin energy reached completion in that moment.

Ppeoeo-eok!

The Indestructible Sword forced its way in and severed Go Ak’s right arm clean off.