Chapter 282: Second Battle (2)
Shortly before Gam Unbi arrived at the Yoo Family's Sacred Mountain.
“Krrrgh!”
“Y-Young Master!”
Gu Chil couldn’t regain his senses, stunned by the dazzling black light swirling around Jin Yeomyung’s entire body like a sphere.
From the space between Jin Yeomyung’s brows, which floated in midair, an immense amount of inner energy in five colors had been pouring out just moments ago.
However.
That five-colored energy disappeared not long after, and immediately following that, a purely black energy began to manifest.
‘W-What the hell is going on? I could’ve sworn that was Five Qi Integration just now…?’
The Five Qi, also known as the Five Elements, are innate energies that all humans possess, though the proportions may vary.
That was why, even though it wasn’t openly discussed, it wasn’t exactly a secret that the followers of the Heavenly Demon Cult exhibited signs of Five Qi Integration when breaking through to the Extreme Demon Realm.
However.
Gu Chil had never heard even his master, Salma, mention anything about what came after the Extreme Demon Realm.
It was truly an unknown territory!
Crackle! Craaack!
Jin Yeomyung’s skin began to split all over his body.
“D-Damn it!”
Gu Chil was torn.
Had this happened while Jin Yeomyung was consciously cultivating, he wouldn’t have hesitated this much.
But right now, Jin Yeomyung had begun awakening while completely unconscious.
Even Gu Chil could tell this wasn’t a normal situation.
‘D-Damn it. What should I do?’
Although the flow of energy seemed incredibly stable for some reason, if this exploded, the entire village would be blown to pieces.
‘Should I evacuate the villagers?’
Gu Chil wrestled with the idea for a moment, then eventually shook his head.
‘No, whatever happens, Young Master’s safety comes first. I don’t need to stir up unnecessary trouble by moving people!’
In the end, Gu Chil decided to keep quiet and observe without alerting anyone.
Two hours, four hours, six hours... and then eight hours.
Finally, after eight long hours, just as the morning sun began to rise, the endless circulation of energy started to shift.
Plop! Plop!
The cracked skin began to fall away.
New flesh emerged, and his hair shed in clumps only to regrow immediately.
“O-Ohhh!”
Tears welled up in Gu Chil’s eyes as he watched his master’s transformation unfold moment by moment.
It was a rebirth.
A rare and precious sight that even the most fortunate might never witness in their lifetime unfolded right before Gu Chil’s eyes.
A pure state beyond the so-called Profound Realm.
Transcending the Demon.
As proof, there was not a single trace of demonic energy surrounding Jin Yeomyung’s newly reborn body.
It was truly the embodiment of pure black power!
And at the final moment of his transformation.
‘……Huh?’
Gu Chil witnessed the illusion of a massive woman made of light, cupping her hands together to embrace Jin Yeomyung’s entire body.
With a compassionate smile, the woman gazed warmly at Jin Yeomyung for a while before vanishing like mist.
Gu Chil shuddered at the overwhelming transcendence he felt from that woman in just a single moment.
‘W-What the hell was that just now?’
It was far too vivid to be just an illusion.
If Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva truly existed as the Buddhists claimed, wouldn’t she look exactly like that?
Not long after.
“U-Ugh!”
“Y-Young Master?!”
His master, Jin Yeomyung, awakened.
* * *
My submerged consciousness gradually began to awaken.
I lingered in the afterglow, as if wrapped in the warmth of something tender.
‘I feel like I sensed that woman’s presence for a moment….’
But that couldn’t be.
She should be breaking her back restoring the world right now.
As my mind cleared, what entered my vision was a ceiling… no, it was Gu Chil’s familiar face.
“Gu Chil?”
“Y-You’re awake, Young Master?”
I slowly lifted my upper body.
I felt refreshed. Brimming with energy.
Most importantly, my ‘past vision’ felt almost completely restored.
‘So what Hwan Seong said was true.’
After I had fully digested Pa Gooncheong’s teachings, I had declared to Hwan Seong that I would pause the succession. for a while.
Upon hearing my reasoning, Hwan Seong had welcomed the decision with open arms.
—Thank you so much for considering us, junior brother.
Hwan Seong had been sincerely worried about those two’s relationship.
—Before we meet our end, we must resolve the relationship between junior sister Ma and senior brother. It’s something we couldn’t easily interfere with since they had already defined their relationship without us.
—We’ll bring junior sister Ma ourselves. Please come to this world and help her with her decision.
With those words, Hwan Seong had opened the gate to the present world for me.
—Ah, and one more thing.
—The Heavenly Demonic Divine Art that Master infused into you will begin to affect you the moment you enter the present world. Given your current level, it wouldn’t be strange if you underwent rebirth immediately.
And Hwan Seong’s words had come true.
The moment I returned to reality, I had indeed undergone a complete rebirth.
“What about the task I gave you?”
Gu Chil responded with an incredulous look.
“Is that really what you’re worried about right now? You collapsed and lost consciousness the very first day we arrived here! What if someone had tried to harm you while I was gone?!”
“...Tsk, that’s true…”
I had given Gu Chil several tasks when we left Hainan Island.
But all those tasks had gone awry the moment I suddenly lost consciousness.
I decided to clean myself up first, washing my dirty body and changing into the clothes Gu Chil had prepared beforehand.
“More importantly, something’s not right outside right now.”
“Not right?”
“The Lord of Evil Path Castle… that bastard is headed here as we speak.”
Twitch!
My hand, which had been adjusting my clothes, froze at those words.
“…Who did you say?”
“A while ago, the one who completely wrecked you, that Lord of Evil Path Castle.”
Whack!
I smacked Gu Chil’s head once for twisting the truth, then asked again.
“So, why is that bastard here?”
Gu Chil rubbed the top of his head and replied.
“I’m not sure about that either. But since they sent a warning ahead of time, I doubt they’re planning to stab us in the back.”
“What exactly did they say?”
“They told us to run. But you were going crazy at the time, so I couldn’t exactly pull you out.”
“Hm…”
I immediately expanded my qi senses as far as possible.
Having surpassed even the Extreme Demon Realm, my senses expanded transcendentally, feeding me information from everything within range.
Before long, I confirmed the situation outside and nodded.
“It is dangerous.”
“Huh?”
“I can feel sticky malice and killing intent. I don’t know how the situation is unfolding, but we can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
At that moment, one thought crossed my mind.
“Where’s Lady Cheon Yujeong?”
“A-About that…”
Gu Chil sighed and reported that she had gone missing.
“I see.”
It seemed she had made up her mind after all.
“Guess picking flowers will have to wait until all of this is settled…”
“Picking flowers? What do you mean?”
I let out a faint laugh and shook my head.
“Never mind that. For now, let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“To Gam Unbi, of course.”
“…!”
Gu Chil’s expression stiffened.
“Will you be alright?”
The Conqueror King Gam Unbi was no easy opponent.
More importantly, unlike last time, I had no backup.
And there was no way Gam Unbi had come here alone without any forces behind him.
However.
“It’s fine now. I’ve got a solid insurance policy. More importantly…”
…A chill ran down Gu Chil’s spine for an instant.
The killing intent I emitted was enough to make even the most seasoned assassin flinch.
Clenching my fist tightly, I let out a deadly smile.
“As the one who carries on the will of my master, I have a duty to take revenge, at the very least.”
***
And so, now.
Standing at the entrance of the Yoo Family's Sacred Mountain in a tense standoff, Gam Unbi spoke.
“Well, this is delightful! A once-in-a-century genius who reached Transcendent Demon Realm in his twenties, standing here burning with revenge against me.”
This bastard really was out of his mind.
Reading the revenge burning in my eyes, Gam Unbi let out a scoff.
“I can guess who’s behind those emotions you’re radiating.”
He continued.
“I didn’t kill that bald monk myself, but I can’t exactly deny I was involved.”
I glared at Gam Unbi with a grim expression.
“So, the Venerable Buddha Myeongjeong is dead after all?”
When he appeared to save me, he had already worsened his old injuries while fighting Gu Cheon-gun.
With the Grand Heavenly Lord, Gam Unbi, and over a hundred Awakened beings present, even the Unyielding Monk couldn’t have possibly survived that place.
Gam Unbi raised one corner of his mouth in a grin.
“That’s right. The Grand Heavenly Lord crushed that bald monk’s head and killed him.”
“…I see.”
Rather than flaring up in rage, I felt my heart grow even colder.
Gam Unbi shouted at me.
“Normally, by the laws of Murim, you should repay your grudge against the Grand Heavenly Lord. But I, standing here now, am more than willing to accept your fury myself.”
He lightly shook his arm.
The wounds that had once been carved into his forearm were now fully healed.
“I thought of you as just a warm-up before facing my true foe, but if you’ve truly reached Transcendent Demon Realm, that changes things.”
He began to raise his energy in earnest.
Rumble!
An oppressive pressure spread across the area, pressing down in sync with his rising aura.
“S-Sect Leader is unleashing his power!”
“Everyone, fall back!”
Gam Unbi’s dominion, reached by none other than one who had mastered the peak of the Transformation Realm.
That dominion pressed down on every living thing nearby.
It was truly a divine presence worthy of his title as the Conqueror King.
Gam Unbi, spreading his navy-blue dominion, pointed his sword at me.
“From here on, I’ll fight you with everything I’ve got.”
“With everything, huh…”
Without even spreading my own dominion or mental force, I simply gripped my sword silently.
I stood in stark contrast to Gam Unbi, whose godly aura was blatantly overwhelming.
However.
“Perfect. Ever since breaking through that wall, I’ve been itching to fight at full strength.”
This was not a duel.
This was a fight to the death.
Thus, there was no such thing as yielding the first strike.
On my silent, still sword, something intangible, not sword qi, began to form.
A force so refined that only someone standing on the same level could perceive even a fragment of it.
“You bastard!”
Sensing the ominous prelude, Gam Unbi raised his massive sword, exploding his entire energy.
Enormous mental force and inner energy surged into Gam Unbi’s giant sword, rising high into the sky.
‘Incredible.’
Just the size of the sword’s manifested energy easily exceeded that of a small mountain.
This must be the true full power of the human Gam Unbi.
‘In terms of sheer destructive power, even the Sword Demon of the world couldn’t pull this off.’
A massive navy-blue strike that seemed to split heaven and earth itself.
“Here it comes! Take this!”
Gam Unbi swung down his massive sword with all his might.
Exploding Demon Sword Art
One Blade to Sever the Heavens
The ultimate technique Gam Unbi had once tried to unleash on me, One Blade to Sever the Mountains.
But now, this attack far surpassed the power of that past attempt.
Gam Unbi’s massive sword came crashing down, erasing everything in my vision, aiming to crush my skull.
At that moment, I recalled one truth Cheon Yura had once told me, and I swung my silent sword.
“The Heavenly Demonic Divine Art surpasses all martial arts in terms of pure offensive power.”
Heart Sword – Heaven-Shattering Demon-Annihilating Slash
The energy of the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art met with the Celestial Green Sword, revealing a fragment of true power at the level of Transcendent Demon Realm.
With no inner energy, only refined mental force imbued into this slash—
I split Gam Unbi’s massive strike cleanly in half.
Slash—!
“…!!”
“…!!!”
It was as if an enormous mountain had been sliced apart.
The warriors of Evil Path Castle, witnessing this mythic sight, fell into silent shock.
But that wasn’t all.
Plop!
Both of Gam Unbi’s arms, which had been gripping the massive sword, were severed cleanly and fell to the ground.