Yelü Han released the whole of his aura.
Whiiiiiiish!
A truly bitter wind blew. It was a chill that seemed as if it would freeze one’s lungs upon drawing breath. And lodged within that chill was an evil qi of the foulest kind. That immense evil qi seemed to say:
You dare try to challenge me?
But Geom Mugeuk did not stop walking as he stared into Yelü Han’s eyes.
“It may have worked on everyone else, but it won’t work on me.”
Geom Mugeuk also drew his aura up to the limit and released it.
The two men’s auras collided.
Yelü Han was shocked by Geom Mugeuk’s aura.
Aura was not powerful simply because one possessed abundant internal energy. Aura was tied to the totality of a martial artist’s nature and qualities, his temperament and values, the martial arts he had learned. In that sense, aura touched upon the very essence of the martial artist.
And the aura Yelü Han now felt from Geom Mugeuk was something he had never experienced even once before.
The first impression of Geom Mugeuk’s aura was soft and refreshing. It felt like gazing up at an endlessly vast, blue sky.
In truth, Yelü Han was standing alone amid that blueness. All around him was blue sky. The sky, the walls, the floor.
He reached out his hand. Splash. In that instant, he realized it. This was not the sky, but water so clear it was almost unbearable. What he had been looking at was the sky reflected upon the water.
An invisible force pulled Yelü Han down into the water.
He continued to sink. When Yelü Han looked below, he could not see the bottom. The terror of the deep sea seemed to seize his heart.
‘A brat that young has an aura like this?’
Geom Mugeuk, walking toward him, felt like a giant.
Geom Mugeuk, in turn, was facing an overwhelming aura.
He was walking along a snow-covered road in a raging blizzard. He could not see ahead, nor could he see the end. It felt as if he were walking alone across a snowy plain in the midst of terrible cold.
But Geom Mugeuk was not afraid, nor was he lonely. He simply moved forward in silence. It was a road he had walked before. This brutally lonely road was the road he had walked his entire life.
When he passed through the fierce snowstorm, Yelü Han stood beneath a clear sky.
Yelü Han, too, had barely managed to swim up from the endless depths and stood before Geom Mugeuk.
Yelü Han asked in a trembling voice.
“Who are you?”
“I am…”
Geom Mugeuk added in a whisper.
“I told you I’d tell you when you died, didn’t I?”
Shaaaaaak!
Geom Mugeuk’s sword cut through the air in a sudden strike.
Kaaang!
Yelü Han barely blocked it. Absorbed by Geom Mugeuk’s aura, he had almost lost his head.
At the fear that he might die, Yelü Han grew excited. Joy came before anger. Because he had never experienced such a maddening fight before.
Kakakakakang!
The two men’s swords began clashing again, sending up flashes of sword-light.
Their attacks were even more powerful than before, but neither man gave an inch.
Geom Mugeuk knew well where Yelü Han’s strength came from. Spiritual medicines bought with money he had scraped together by using the Four Men, the results of all manner of evil deeds that had driven countless people to their deaths—those were what had accumulated in his dantian.
Kaaaaang!
Sword met sword.
Beyond the blades, Yelü Han glared as if to kill him and shouted.
“Who in the world raised a monster like you?”
“You did!”
“What?”
“I was born to devour bastards like you.”
Killing intent entered Geom Mugeuk’s gaze.
For an instant, Yelü Han saw an illusion. Within a black form like a shadow, only a pair of crimson eyes glared at him.
More strength entered Yelü Han’s hand around his sword.
“Then devour me if you can!”
Now emotion was showing on Yelü Han’s face.
Anger, fear, excitement…
Once the dam of emotion he had held back collapsed, every kind of feeling came pouring out.
In that instant, he unleashed tremendous power.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwarrung!
Yelü Han’s immense killing intent became an avalanche and swept down upon Geom Mugeuk.
Geom Mugeuk’s Heavenly Demon Protective Art activated, preventing his body from shrinking back before the killing intent flying toward him.
Had it not, the attack now coming at him would have been utterly lethal.
Shaaaaaaaak!
It was Yelü Han’s sword qi. It was different from all the sword qi he had shown until now. It was a blow that carried the illusion of a fiend made of ice flying in with a sword in hand.
Geom Mugeuk did not dodge, but unleashed the fourth form of the Flying Heaven Sword Art, the Flame Heaven Form.
It was because Yelü Han’s attack was a dynamic sword qi that seemed alive; if he dodged carelessly, it felt as though it would follow him to the end and strike true.
Two rough, tyrannical sword qi tore through the air and collided.
Kwaaaang!
The impact sent both men sliding backward.
Surprise filled Yelü Han’s expression. He blocked even that attack?
Geom Mugeuk answered with his expression as well. I told you it wouldn’t work!
Hwirururururu!
Ping!
Between the two men, who had briefly drawn apart, a blood wheel and finger wind crossed past each other. The battle between Geugak Soma and Hyeollyun Geop was still continuing.
He could feel that the power of the blood wheel had noticeably fallen. But Geom Mugeuk could not be pleased. He had seen blood on the blood wheel.
Geom Mugeuk did not spare Geugak Soma even a single glance.
The moment he was caught being conscious of him and worrying for him, a fatal weakness would be exposed.
That was why, since the fight began, he had not once looked toward their battle. Not that he had the leisure to do so.
It was then that Cha Hwan leapt in.
At the very moment when Geom Mugeuk and Yelü Han had exchanged great attacks and both slid backward, he judged that this was the chance to attack. All the while he had been watching, he had waited for this one instant.
Shiiiik!
Just as he thrust his sword toward Geom Mugeuk in a surprise attack—
Puaaak!
Cha Hwan’s chest split open, and something flew out like light. It was as if a hidden weapon he had kept in his chest had been launched.
Blood spurted from Geom Mugeuk’s arm. Had he not barely avoided it with Flicker Step, his chest might have been pierced through by that terrifying attack.
Cha Hwan stared blankly down at the hole blasted through his chest.
The sword qi Yelü Han had unleashed from behind had pierced through Cha Hwan’s chest and flown toward Geom Mugeuk.
Yelü Han was merciless. He had used the instant when Cha Hwan blocked his line of sight as an opportunity.
Cha Hwan had never imagined it. That the man to whom he had devoted such loyalty would use and discard him in this way.
‘What is this?’
Cha Hwan was too deeply shocked.
Others had only a small tattoo on their chests, but he had covered his whole body with them. He had served him without taking a single day off. If Yelü Han had at least sent him a sound transmission telling him to sacrifice himself, he would have gladly been willing to give his life for him.
‘This isn’t right, is it?’
Yes, those who used others always did things this way.
Still, dying this miserably was embarrassing before the dragon carved into his body, wasn’t it? With the final thought that even if Yelü Han had used a broom left standing in a corner, he would not have used it so worthlessly, Cha Hwan breathed his last.
At the very moment Cha Hwan’s breath ceased, another contest was being decided.
Even then, Geugak Soma and Hyeollyun Geop were still fighting with all their strength.
At first, Hyeollyun Geop had chosen a long battle. He had the advantage in internal energy, and his opponent was even injured.
‘If I hold out, I win!’
He did not fling his blood wheels recklessly, but focused on blocking the Blood Calamity Finger.
But the longer the fight went on, the more he unknowingly became immersed in it. There were two reasons.
The first was an inexplicable heat.
When he looked at the icy-blue gleam pouring from the eyes behind the mask, his internal energy surged without his realizing it, and his blood flowed faster. Before he knew it, he was hurling his blood wheels at Geugak Soma.
The second was the clear gap in skill.
Geugak Soma never moved according to his opponent’s intentions. A long battle? Who decided that?
If Geugak Soma had not suffered internal injuries, the fight would have already been over. But his circulation of internal force was not smooth.
Hyeollyun Geop had certainly been confident he could win when the fight began. But as the battle continued, his fear only grew.
‘Just die already! You damned demon bastard!’
Hyeollyun Geop drove Geugak Soma back with the last of his strength.
Hwirururururururu!
Unleashing a hidden secret technique, the blood wheels danced a dance of death, and Geugak Soma’s movements grew more and more precarious.
‘That’s it! Just a little more!’
Hyeollyun Geop even brought out his final secret technique.
Hwiruru! Hwiruru!
Small blood wheels used like throwing stars cut through the air and joined the attack.
Just as the chaotic, dizzying, savage blood wheels were driving Geugak Soma into a corner—
Ping!
Puk!
The sound Geugak Soma had long been waiting for rang out.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The blood wheels that had embroidered the air as if alive plowed into the ground and flew onward, smashing through the wall before coming to a stop. The small blood wheels, too, were hurled to the ground here and there.
Hyeollyun Geop watched the sight with a startled face.
‘Why did I suddenly lose control?’
Then something trickled down his face.
Hyeollyun Geop absentmindedly wiped it with his hand.
It was blood. Blood was streaming down from his forehead.
Hyeollyun Geop lifted the small blood wheel in his hand and looked at his reflection in it. He saw himself with a hole pierced through his forehead.
‘When in the world?’
With that question as his last, Hyeollyun Geop’s lifeless body toppled forward.
Astonishingly, Geugak Soma had fired the Blood Calamity Finger through the tiny hole at the center of that blood wheel as it moved madly about. He had not missed the instant when that hole aligned perfectly with Hyeollyun Geop’s forehead. Hyeollyun Geop had never imagined such an attack, and because his own blood wheel had blocked his sight, he could not possibly have stopped it.
Geom Mugeuk and Yelü Han’s battle, too, was racing toward its peak.
When even the move that used Cha Hwan missed its mark, Yelü Han’s eyes changed. His black pupils vanished completely, and both his pupils and the whites of his eyes turned blue. They were not emitting a blue light; they had turned blue outright.
Geom Mugeuk sensed it. Yelü Han was about to unleash his final secret technique.
Considering the divine might he had shown until now, it was time for Geom Mugeuk to unleash his own final move as well.
The final sword form of the Flying Heaven Sword Art was unleashed.
It was the eighth form, the Return to Heaven Form, which he had never once used in real combat despite having achieved Great Completion at the twelfth level.
The Return to Heaven Form was a forty-four-hit chained technique.
It was powerful, but it had one fatal weakness. Its consumption of internal energy was far too great; it was a martial art that required nearly all of the internal energy one possessed.
Thus, if by any chance one failed to kill the opponent, one would be put in danger—a true final technique.
Not only Yelü Han’s eyes now, but his entire body began turning blue.
Primordial Chaos Extreme Cold!
It was the final secret technique of the Primordial Chaos Splitting Light Sword Art, drawing up every bit of energy in the body to slay the opponent. It was a secret technique that exerted power greater than one’s original ability, and it too was a final technique that could cost the user his life if it failed.
Geom Mugeuk unleashed the eighth form of the Flying Heaven Sword Art, the Return to Heaven Form.
Seuk! Seuuuk! Seuk!
With the sound of wind brushing past a hem, lines of the sword began to be drawn over Yelü Han’s body.
Emitting extreme cold, Yelü Han swung his sword and began to block. If he blocked the entirety of the Return to Heaven Form, Geom Mugeuk would die.
Saaak! Saak! Saaaak!
The speed at which the sword lines were drawn grew faster and faster.
Yelü Han’s sword did not fall behind and blocked the attacks.
Jiiing—
The Black Demon Sword cried out.
This was the first time the Black Demon Sword had rung while attacking.
Geom Mugeuk felt that the Black Demon Sword had become one with him, emitting demonic qi to protect him from the terrible evil qi Yelü Han gave off.
‘Yes, let us end him!’
Geom Mugeuk poured in all of his mind and strength.
Sasasasasak!
Chachachachachang!
Fifteenth strike, sixteenth strike, seventeenth strike…
Yelü Han blocked with vicious persistence.
Twenty-third strike, twenty-fourth strike, twenty-fifth strike…
“Is this all you have?”
Yelü Han even shouted.
The sword lines were drawn even faster.
Thirty-fourth strike, thirty-fifth strike, thirty-sixth strike…
Yelü Han was blocking attacks so fast they could not be seen with the secret technique of Primordial Chaos Extreme Cold.
If this continued to the forty-fourth strike, Geom Mugeuk would lose.
But Geom Mugeuk did not grow anxious and trusted himself. Yes, you must have worked hard to reach that position. But you could not have worked harder than I did!
Thirty-seventh strike, thirty-eighth strike, thirty-ninth strike…
At the moment they raced toward the end—
Puuuuk!
With the sound of flesh tearing, the flashing sword-light stopped. The sound of sword clashing against sword also ceased. It was the forty-second strike.
Geom Mugeuk’s sword was buried in Yelü Han’s heart. In the end, Yelü Han had failed to block Geom Mugeuk’s Return to Heaven Form.
Yelü Han’s body, which had turned blue, began returning to its original color.
Looking into Yelü Han’s eyes, filled with shock, anger, and fear, Geom Mugeuk spoke.
“The person who sent me was a father who had to watch his family die before his eyes.”
Yelü Han wore an expression that said he could not understand. He had likely thought he was dying because of some grand reason, like a plot by the leader of the Evil Alliance or a scheme of the Demon Cult.
And perhaps that made this moment an even greater punishment for him. I’m dying for that reason? It would feel even more unjust. He would die in even greater fury.
“Even though he saved your subordinate, you killed the physician’s entire family because he kept treating the patient he had been saving.”
In that instant, Yelü Han’s gaze wavered. It seemed as if he remembered, and also as if he was asking whether he was truly dying for such a reason—one he could hardly even recall.
“They said you had a principle that anyone who disobeyed your orders must die, didn’t they? This is the Demon Physician’s answer to that ridiculous principle of yours. It is the answer of a husband who lost his wife, and the answer of a father who lost his children! Go to hell!”
Puuuuk!
As the Black Demon Sword was pulled free, blood gushed from his heart like a fountain.
Chwaaaaaaaaa!
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Yelü Han let out a wretched scream as blood erupted from him.
His blood poured down like rain.
Geom Mugeuk did not avoid it. Drenched in the rain of blood, he slowly turned toward Geugak Soma.
Geugak Soma, who had finished his fight, was standing there looking this way.
Geom Mugeuk looked at him and smiled brightly.
“It’s all over, Lord Soma.”
The moment he took one step toward him—
Geugak Soma began to collapse slowly, as if crumbling.