Chapter 169: God is Great (6)

Il-mok gripped his sword tight, the battlefield reflected in his eyes.

“Keuk.”

Before he knew it, a few Black Tiger Corps members nearby had stepped in to block that bastard for him.

Ting!

An arrow shot from afar bounced right off the scimitar the guy was swinging.

But even with Jeong Hyeon providing support from a distance, the four Black Tiger Corps members were getting pushed back hard.

"ابتعد عن الطريق (Out of my way)!”

When the leader roared and swung his scimitar with brutal force, the Black Tiger Corps members couldn't hold their ground and got sent flying.

Whoosh!

Right at that moment, Il-mok launched himself forward.

"Disciple Il-mok?!"

Ignoring the surprised shouts of the Black Tiger Corps members, Il-mok pushed his speed to the extreme and thrust his sword forward.

Clang!

But despite having just unleashed a powerful attack of his own, Mukhtar Khan blocked Il-mok’s surprise assault with ease.

“Heheheheh.”

The fanatic leader's eyes glinted with glee as he grinned like he was about to drool with pleasure.

Il-mok shouted, "I'll handle this bastard, so get the wounded out of here!"

He wasn't just thinking of Ju Seo-yeon when he said that.

Dokgo Pae, who'd first clashed head-on with that fanatic leader, had taken serious internal injuries, and several other disciples were hurt too.

Blocking the relentless waves of attacks from these death-fearing fanatics coming from all sides wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

Maybe Il-mok talking while fighting pissed him off.

Mukhtar Khan suddenly swung his blade with vicious force.

Il-mok reacted quickly, using the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword's twelfth form, Soul Jade Sphere, to create a sword barrier.

CRASH!!

But maybe because his breathing was off from all the shouting, he got pushed back a step and blood trickled from his mouth.

As pain twisted through his guts like they were being wrung out, Il-mok's mouth curved in a weird smile.

"Fine. Go ahead and go wild, you goddamn son of a bitch."

That wasn't meant for the enemy leader.

It was directed at the other personality in his head that had just told him to use the Soul Jade Sphere.

It kept bitching in his head since his execution had been too slow and less refined than what it wanted.

Even while Il-mok was arguing with the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword, Mukhtar Khan kept swinging his scimitar.

But this time, the result was different.

After entrusting Ju Seo-yeon to the Black Tiger Corps members, Il-mok gave control of his body to his other ego, just like he'd promised the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword.

The scimitar came flying in a completely different trajectory from other demonic cult swordsmen.

And yet, despite its bizarre and unpredictable movement, the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword deflected the scimitar with ease.

Ting!!

For the first time, confusion crossed Mukhtar Khan's face.

He was a man in his prime.

After the Heavenly Demon wiped out his tribe, he'd built his people up from nothing to get here. His combat experience was on a level Il-mok couldn't even dream of touching.

No matter how Il-mok swung his sword, Mukhtar Khan handled it easily.

That’s a true fact proven by his eyes.

Clang!

But at some point, things changed.

The little lamb, who was meant as a sacrifice in this Holy War, started responding differently.

‘He is definitely weaker than me, so how…?’

The bizarre, unpredictable movements of his uniquely shaped scimitar. On top of that, there was a difference in speed and power that came from the gap in their cultivation realms.

No matter how they fought, this should've been his fight to win.

But somehow that brat kept blocking and deflecting his scimitar, even landing counterattacks here and there.

And Il-mok, who'd handed control to the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword, could see why.

He could also see exactly what the hell the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword was pulling.

'Crazy fucker...'

Using eyesight and qi perception that even the Heavenly Demon acknowledged as talent, it read the enemy's movements.

It wasn't just looking and reacting.

It read the opponent’s next move based on a multitude of factors. Their habits, their techniques observed during the fight, their current posture, and even the flow of their qi.

But even reading one move ahead could not erase the undeniable gap in their cultivation realms.

So the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword didn't clash head-on.

Since it was slower, it swung the sword one step ahead based on predicted movements.

Since it was weaker, it pushed the principle of strength to extremes.

Clang!!

At the moment of impact, it switched to using the principle of softness, deflecting a portion of the enemy's power.

It was a paradoxical act.

Swinging with everything you've got, then changing course at the last second.

The reason this contradictory move was possible was simple.

Even though he'd handed over control of his body, Il-mok hadn't lost his sense of self, so he could feel it.

The horrific agony coursing through his entire body.

Every time the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword swung once, every muscle in his body screamed.

A single sword strike uses both the Soul-Crushing Sword which focuses on strength while also executing the Soul-Severing Flash that focus on speed at the same time.

Just that alone pushed his muscles and joints to their limits, and then at the end, the Soul-Guiding Sword's focus on softness got mixed in, creating a whole new sword technique.

But the real problem wasn't the first fourteen forms.

If the first fourteen forms of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword were about how to swing a sword, the latter eight techniques were about how to handle qi.

Clang!!

Mukhtar Khan, clashing weapons with Il-mok, frowned at the strange rebound he felt.

That was the power of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword's Second Secret Technique, the Soul-Rebounding Sword.

And then.

"!?"

A grayish energy suddenly flew at him, forcing Mukhtar Khan to quickly twist his head to dodge.

The Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword's Third Secret Technique, the Traceless Soul-Slicing Sword.

Originally, it was a technique for generating two streams of Sword Qi while executing a swing that utilized the principle of speed, similar to the Soul-Cutting Flash.

One stream would be swung along with the blade it was wrapped around, while the other would be secretly fired at the opponent like a hidden weapon.

And now, the ego of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword controlling Il-mok's body was using Soul Rebounding Sword and Traceless Soul-Shaving Sword simultaneously.

It imbued the rebound force into the Sword Qi on the blade while secretly shooting that grayish Sword Qi for a surprise attack.

In the process of using different techniques' principles at the same time, the internal energy flowing through Il-mok's meridians underwent rapid, repeated changes.

The bizarre shifting internal energy twisted his meridians, and the metallic taste of blood rose in his throat.

Every muscle, joint, and meridian in his body screamed as internal injuries piled up.

“Heheheh.”

But a strange laugh leaked from Il-mok's mouth.

After that, the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword kept mixing various principles with each swing of the sword, and his body screamed in response.

For a moment, Il-mok watched from inside as the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword seemed hell-bent on destroying his own body.

Clang!!

In the moment he blocked another powerful swing of the scimitar and allowed the repulsive force to throw his body backward,

'Now fuck off.'

Il-mok suddenly seized control again, and his eyes returned to their usual indifferent look.

—Tsk. Still nowhere near enough.

Ignoring the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword's disappointed grumbling, Il-mok watched the enemy charging at him.

It wasn’t the horrific pain radiating through his entire body that had made him take back control.

He knew that without fighting this way, he couldn't handle someone way more skilled than him.

It’s simple because he'd just gotten an idea while watching the fight.

'If I could just ignore the pain, I could probably do this too.'

Thanks to calmly observing the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword’s battle, he could finally understand why the damn bastard was always nagging him with its advice.

He also understood just how one-dimensionally he had been using the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword all this time.

And since watching his body move on its own like a puppet felt like absolute shit, he decided to try it himself, just as the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword had demonstrated.

Using his extremely heightened focus, he stared down the leader.

He wasn't just looking at the guy's scimitar or the arm holding it.

He was taking in the man's entire posture, the focus of his gaze, and even the aura of power emanating from his body.

'Lower left.'

At the exact same instant he read the enemy’s movement, he twisted his body and thrust his sword.

His body was screaming at him.

Move like this and you'll destroy yourself completely.

But.

‘I’m going to die either way, so it makes no fucking difference. Why the fuck not go for it?’

He gritted his teeth and ignored his body's warnings.

Maybe because he moved one step ahead.

Clang!

The sword that clashed with the enemy didn't carry the same heavy pressure as before.

It was ridiculous.

The pressure coming from the enemy's scimitar had vanished, but only because he was now destroying his own body in its place.

Even in this damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation, Il-mok just kept swinging his sword and throwing his body around.

When he first learned the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword, Il-mok thought it was a sword art that aimed for perfection.

But he'd misunderstood what 'perfection' meant.

Training the Soul-Departing Sword, he learned to draw his sword from any stance.

Training the Soul-Crushing Sword, he learned to swing a strong sword from any position.

Training the Soul-Severing Flash, he learned to swing a fast sword from any form.

Training the Soul-Guiding Sword, he learned to deflect enemy attacks from any direction.

Training the Soul Jade Sphere, he learned to block enemy attacks from any other technique.

And so, he'd thought the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword was a martial art that allowed one to endlessly deploy various principles like strength, speed, softness, and illusion regardless of stance.

No, that wasn't quite right.

Through his various experiences at the Hall of the Demonic Way, he had already been vaguely starting to grasp its true meaning.

During the rampage of Chu Il-hwan's attack, and during Instructor Jeong Gyu-seok's attack, he'd had experience mixing several concepts while swinging his sword.

But Il-mok had been consciously ignoring that enlightenment.

Because he was scared of going crazy.

Unlike other demonic cult members obsessed with their martial arts, Il-mok didn't want to become a psycho.

It was because of that fear that he had always used the latter eight techniques in such a simplistic manner.

He could freely chain each technique together, but he'd never once tried mixing multiple techniques in one movement.

But not anymore.

He didn’t like people like Ju Seo-yeon and her ilk. Their whole way of thinking defied common sense.

But still, he couldn't bring himself to let them die.

So.

‘I am going home alive…’

Even if advancing his Demonic Art made him suffer from a more serious mental illness.

‘...together with these goddamn cultist nutjobs.’

Even if overusing demonic energy crushed his bones and muscles and twisted his meridians and organs!

SHWIIIIING!

Il-mok's sword aimed for Mukhtar Khan's heart.

Clang!

Mukhtar Khan blocked Il-mok's sword while twisting his head.

The grayish Sword Qi formed by the Traceless Soul-Slicing Sword was targeting his head.

Naturally, Mukhtar Khan wasn't dumb enough to fall for the same technique twice.

But.

"!?"

To his astonishment, the blurry Sword Qi that looked like it was aiming for his head strangely changed course like a snake.

The Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword's Fourth Secret Technique, the Heartless Coiling Serpent. A technique that uses the principle of softness to make the Sword Qi itself, rather than the blade, twist and bend through the air was unleashed, then combined with the Traceless Soul-Slicing Sword.

Startled, Mukhtar Khan quickly threw his body backward, barely dodging the Sword Qi.

Il-mok swung his sword at the retreating Mukhtar Khan.

It was a kaleidoscopic flurry of movements that encompassed every principle and secret art of the fourteen forms and the eight techniques that all blended into one.

Even Il-mok himself couldn't exactly comprehend how he was swinging his sword.

No, he didn't want to comprehend it.

The moment he questioned his movements, he instinctively knew all his insights would vanish like a mirage.

So instead of questioning, Il-mok focused purely on the fight.

And at some point.

Il-mok could finally understand why the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword had been so rough with his body.

Maybe because all his senses were focused on the enemy to predict their movements, completely immersed in combat at the crossroads of life and death.

The screaming from his body couldn't be heard anymore.

—The transition between forms is slow!

—Your internal energy flow is rough!

Even the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword's bullshit commentary in his head sounded distant.

Clang!

The desperate battlefield situation didn't come to mind anymore either.

In Il-mok's mind, lost in a trance, only the sword remained.

Il-mok didn't realize it, but at some point, his other self had also fallen completely silent.

The moment Mukhtar Khan swung his scimitar again, Il-mok saw only one path.

It was a path his current level absolutely couldn't follow, but Il-mok didn't care.

The internal energy remaining in his dantian surged up all at once, rushing through his entire body's meridians.

The screams of his body pushed to its limits couldn't stop Il-mok.

Internal energy that flowed through his meridians according to countless concepts and principles of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword concentrated into one point.

And when his sword tip reached the end of the path he'd seen—

For the first time, the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword gave praise.

—Perfect!!

A brilliant cluster of stars had formed on his sword.

It was Sword Force.