Chapter 304: Conclusion (4)
Explosions erupted from all directions, and flames blazed into the air.
At the same time, I heard the roaring cheers of countless people.
With blank eyes, Cheon Yujeong stared at the massive palace collapsing before her.
Unless my eyes deceived me, this place was unmistakably that place.
The sacred ground of the Cult, standing for a thousand years.
Heavenly Demon Pavilion.
And yet, for some reason, that very sacred ground was crumbling helplessly right before her eyes.
But that wasn’t the only strange thing.
Thousands of martial artists surrounding the Heavenly Demon Pavilion were raising their weapons high and letting out victorious shouts.
The problem was, those people were not from the Cult.
— "At last! We have destroyed the Demonic Cult!"
— "Glory to the righteous Murim Alliance!"
Sharp as ever, Cheon Yujeong immediately grasped the situation.
‘…Ha.’
She let out a hollow breath, almost laughing in disbelief.
‘What a pathetic nightmare.’
I recognized it at once.
This place felt like a world similar to a dream.
No matter how much noise they made, none of them recognized me, none even spared me a glance.
I slowly began walking toward the inner sanctum of the collapsing Heavenly Demon Pavilion.
The deeper I went, the louder the screams and the clashing of blades rang out from inside.
And it wasn’t long before I realized who was causing this chaos within the Heavenly Demon Pavilion.
They were all martial artists beyond the peak level, clad in yellow robes.
In all of Central Plains, there was only one group of experts who wore such garments.
‘Yes, they called them the Golden Dragon Heavenly Sword Squad, didn’t they?’
Hundreds of members of the Golden Dragon Heavenly Sword Squad were surrounding and fiercely clashing with a single woman.
A woman clad in black and gold robes, struggling against their coordinated assault.
‘…Cheon Yura!’
There was no doubt.
Though she looked a little older, I could never mistake her for anyone else.
At that moment, I could not contain the fury boiling inside me.
‘You pathetic woman.’
The reason I felt such rage was simple.
‘You’re being pushed back… by nothing more than the Golden Dragon Heavenly Sword Squad? Where the hell are the Guardian Lions!?’
The Cheon Yura I knew should have been smiling as she drove them all into a corner.
But what the hell was this pitiful sight?
She had swords sticking out of her body, her qi circulation was disrupted, and her energy kept faltering.
The Heaven-Slaying Demon Sword technique, which commanded twelve flying swords, had already been reduced to four, and even those flickered like candles about to be extinguished.
Crack!
I clenched my teeth in fury.
The Cheon Yura I knew was never this weak.
‘I didn’t give up everything just to see you fall apart like this!’
Just then, someone tripped over my foot.
It was clearly a scholar, lying disgracefully unconscious.
Though he seemed to still be breathing, his face felt oddly familiar.
‘This… this guy is…’
Though his face had grown wrinkled, his overall appearance was unmistakable.
‘Jin Yeomyung?’
I glanced at the identity token sticking out from his robes and confirmed it.
— Inner Adminstrator, Rear Gate Sword, Jin Yeomyung.
‘Why the hell is he in such a state…?’
Wasn’t he supposed to be the strongest shield and spear guarding Cheon Yura more than anyone else?
But his trained form was nowhere to be seen, his internal strength was shallow.
He was nothing like the Jin Yeomyung I once knew.
And then I heard voices.
“What do you think, First Order? Is she still suitable as a vessel for the resurrection?”
Amidst the fierce battle, a middle-aged man and a young man were chatting some distance away.
I could clearly hear their conversation.
“Yes, there’s still a possibility… but…”
A wicked grin spread across the young man’s lips.
“Even so, we can’t simply offer the Divine Demonic Physique to the Grand Heavenly Lord, can we?”
“Indeed. If that is resurrected, all of us—the Ten Heavenly Lords—will be nothing but sacrifices for it.”
The middle-aged man clicked his tongue and turned his gaze toward the ongoing battle.
The fight was nearing its end, with one side clearly losing.
“Such disappointment. So this so-called legendary Divine Demonic Physique collapses under a few poisons?”
“Even the mightiest Divine Demonic Physique couldn’t withstand the perfected Heavenly-Slaying Poison.”
“Tsk, consider yourself lucky. If it had been someone like Gam Unbi or one of the others, they would have killed you for daring to think otherwise.”
“Hahaha, I’ll trust in you alone, Alliance Leader.”
The young man tried to appease the displeased middle-aged man.
‘Ah… now I understand.’
I might not know who that young man was, but I recognized the identity of the middle-aged man speaking with him.
The head of the Wudang Sect, Sword Supreme Sage Gwan Hyun.
And the fact that he was being called Alliance Leader meant only one thing.
‘Those bastards have finally devoured the Cult.’
This situation was nothing less than the Cult standing on the brink of destruction at the hands of those wretches!
‘Hmm?’
Then, in that fleeting moment, I noticed something odd about the young man’s face.
A subtle discord that only those of the same kind could recognize.
That unsettling aura unique to liars who hid their true selves deep within, deceiving everyone around them.
It was as if they were using the legendary movement technique, Earth Shrinking Technique, as the figures of the two fighters appeared here and there, shaking the very space around them.
Had this place been the center of Central Plains, it would have surely caused a cataclysm, with mountains splitting and skies tearing apart.
Among the two who were creating such a transcendent clash, for some reason, Cheon Yujeong’s face looked oddly at ease.
‘For some reason… my heart feels strangely at peace.’
No, to be more precise, it felt more like relief than comfort.
Back when she had obtained the power of Heavenly Evil, her heart had been nothing short of devastated.
Her soul had been corrupted, her pride shattered, and she had given up on living as a human.
She had sensed that the whole world would curse her and point their fingers at her, and she had been certain that the position of Cult Leader, which she had so desperately desired, would forever slip out of her reach.
Even so, Cheon Yujeong had chosen to become a monster.
Because there had been a single goal that outweighed all other values.
However, despite becoming a monster, she had failed.
Before she could even start anything, before she could even lay a hand on Cheon Yura, she had already failed.
And yet.
By a twist of fate, she had been given a second, and final, chance.
Though the power of Heavenly Evil had vanished, she now possessed an even more ideal power.
The power and enlightenment of that Heavenly Demon Founder were now in her hands.
In other words, if she could just overcome the ‘man’ standing before her now, she could challenge the throne once more, not as a monster, but as a human!
However.
‘It won’t be easy.’
She had realized this after exchanging blades with him so far.
The man before her was not someone who could be dismissed as merely talented.
His mental strength.
An unyielding will that would not break no matter the situation.
Their martial arts level and internal strength were almost evenly matched.
But the difference was beginning to show in their mental strength.
Truly, this man might be the one worthy of standing by Cheon Yura’s side…
Crack!
As that thought reached her, an overwhelming wave of self-loathing and fury surged within her.
And as if reading her like a ghost, her opponent immediately sensed her moment of hesitation.
"Your sword is shaking, Lady."
"……!"
"I sense a negative sword intent from your blade. Why is that?"
Normally, she would have snapped back, demanding to know why she should tell him such a thing.
But Cheon Yujeong grit her teeth and ignored his words.
Instead, she swung her sword even harder, trying to shake off the emotions gripping her.
But.
Pop!
In that brief moment of lost focus, a small cut appeared on her shoulder.
"……!"
She quickly stepped back, clutching her shoulder.
Though it was merely a scratch, the meaning behind this wound was by no means trivial.
‘If this continues, I’ll lose.’
If it came down to a contest of raw power, she could still win.
But ever since her opponent had discovered the weakness of the Heavenly Demon’s Dominance, he had never given her another chance.
And then, her opponent suddenly spoke again.
"Take up your sword, and cast aside all stray thoughts."
"……."
"Focus solely on me."
Why wasn’t he pressing the attack? Why was he saying such things?
She didn’t know the reason, but she let out a bitter chuckle and adjusted her stance.
Not responding to someone who was matching her with such ferocity would be disgraceful as a martial artist….
….
In that moment, Cheon Yujeong realized something she had forgotten.
‘Wait? How much time has passed?’
By her estimation, the exchange of moves with her opponent had lasted far longer than just a hundred or two hundred seconds.
If both had nearly limitless stamina and internal strength, they could fight for days without suffering mental strain.
And yet, the fact that stray thoughts were creeping in now…
She finally realized she had just broken free from a state of no-self.
"Hey, how much time has…"
Pop!
Before she could finish, her opponent ignored her words and struck fiercely once again.
‘You bastard?!’
She bit back her rage and met his attack head-on.
Once again, their limbs moved in a complex dance as their swords clashed.
And at the same time.
‘It feels easier.’
With every clash of their swords, with every exchange of attacks.
The stray thoughts vanished again, and her heart felt lighter.
Why was that?
This was the sword she had wielded her whole life, trying to surpass Cheon Yura.
But truthfully, she had never really liked the sword.
No matter how hard she tried, she could never overcome her younger sister’s talent.
Yet now, something felt different.
‘Ah…!’
She finally understood why she felt at ease.
To an outsider, it might look like they were desperately trying to kill each other with their blades.
But at some point.
She realized that her opponent had been matching his swordplay to hers, for her sake.
‘I can make it.’
If they continued like this, she could go higher.
Beyond the wall of talent she had so desperately yearned to overcome.
Not with something someone else gave her, but by carving herself down to the core, she could finally spread wings that were truly her own.
— In the end, no matter what I say or do… I still need you.
She conveyed this through her sword intent.
— I’m sorry.
And once again, the same answer returned.
-But at least, for now….
Cheon Yujeong read the true intent of that sword intent and let out a bitter smile.
-Yes, just for now….
She gave up on further persuasion and surrendered her body to the sword and the flow.
How many days had passed like that?
It wasn't just thousands of moves.
It wasn't just tens of thousands either.
After exchanging nearly a million techniques, the paths of their swords blended together as smoothly as that of a married couple.
If before, they had been able to read each other’s intentions to dodge or respond to some extent, now they were so in sync that they could practically use joint techniques if they wished.
And because of that, she could tell.
That the end of this sword dance was drawing near.
At some point, the two of us stopped moving.
How much time had passed?
The seemingly endless inner energy of the Heavenly Demon Founder was finally reaching its limit.
She asked Jin Yeomyung.
"How long has it been?"
Jin Yeomyung answered.
"Today marks exactly one thousand days."
"Is that so?"
The Thousand-Day Duel.
Inside this black-and-white space, we had truly exchanged swords for a thousand days.
With a relieved expression, she briefly glanced around.
Before I knew it, the ritual of Bongseon had been completely undone, leaving only the ruins of the ceremony.
I could now see the landscape of Yoo Family's Sacred Mountain.
She silently raised her sword and focused her sword intent.
At that moment, what was born on the blade was neither the Heaven-Slaying Demon Sword nor the Heavenly Demonic Divine Art, but 'her own sword'.
She gave that sword a name.
"Taiha Sword (Supreme River Sword)."
"That is a fine name."
I could roughly guess who that name had come from.
It was far weaker than the Heavenly Demon’s Dominance or the power of Heavenly Evil.
But this was the sword she had gained by overcoming her limits with her own strength.
She pointed that sword at me.
And then, she suddenly said something unexpected.
"Be wary of a man called First Order. He will likely be your next great enemy."
"……I will keep that in mind."
"Well, that’s if you survive this first."
The two of us crossed swords.
We smiled at each other as we swung.
Thus, the man and woman exchanged their swords one final time.
As a result, a crimson line appeared across Cheon Yujeong's neck.
'Ah….'
Feeling the sensation of cold metal passing across her neck, she slowly closed her eyes.