Chapter 307

Chapter 307

He Who Tied the Knot Must Untie It.

“What you tied yourself, you untie yourself…….”

Hayul, who muttered lightly, looked at the blood dripping thud thud from his left arm and poked several blood pathways on his shoulder blade a few times. His vision blurred slightly.

‘It’s a fatal wound, but I can endure it.’

Was he careless?

Not really. He expected there would be variables, and he actually responded when Jang Il appeared.

Although he received a major injury from Jeokyeol’s strike, it wasn’t because he underestimated Jeokyeol. Simply, Jeokyeol entered at too good a moment, at too good a timing, and thrust out his sword strike.

‘If we had fought face to face…….’

Such assumptions are meaningless for an assassin, aren’t they?

Hayul, who let out a faint laugh, quietly observed the scene unfolding before his eyes. Because the signs were ominous.

“Jang Il!”

Death was near.

Jeokyeol, who forcibly moved his stopped heart with internal energy, blocked Baek Risan approaching with trembling hands. A smile deeply formed at the corners of his mouth.

“It’s dangerous. Kid. Step back.”

“……What exactly is dangerous……!”

“Even with one arm gone, that woman is a monster.”

Though she received a major wound, Hayul was a Transcender. Even a tough yokai hunter by origin.

The moment Baek Risan approached and bent down to check on Jeokyeol’s condition, Hayul wouldn’t miss that opening. If it meant returning the axis of power that had tilted due to Jeokyeol, she would try anything.

“Don’t…… miss the chance for victory I created.”

“…….”

“That’s right.”

When Baek Risan, who heard his words, bit his lips tightly and stopped in place, Jeokyeol wore a bitter smile.

“Come to think of it, did you hear that story? Kid. That I’m your uncle.”

“……What bullshit.”

“Hehe. You don’t believe it. But later, ask your older brother or other companions. Those kids know the truth.”

“…….”

“Shall this uncle tell you an old story?”

“…….”

“There was a stupid kid. He couldn’t find meaning in living, and was just like a symbol of life itself—living just because he was born, living as the flow took him.”

He thought there was no such thing as meaning in life. He just lived because he was born, and thought that when you die, everything ends, so you just don’t die.

He sometimes treated those who lived desperately as fools. No matter how hard they lived, nothing came of it, so he couldn’t understand why they lived so earnestly. He couldn’t understand those who lived bound by duties they didn’t even choose.

“That kid thought he was smart. He thought everyone in the world was an idiot, and only he was awake.”

“…….”

“He also thought blood relations that weren’t connected by blood were futile. If blood wasn’t connected, how could they be family? He thought it was nonsense.”

That thought changed when one day he heard that his younger sister was attacked by a yokai outside the castle walls.

Jeokyeol, who pursued with extreme fury the yokai that had slaughtered all the guards and fled with his younger sister, and eventually slaughtered it and rescued his younger sister, instinctively realized.

That he too had become bound by ties.

Just like the people he thought were stupid, he had unknowingly shouldered duties he hadn’t chosen.

“……The world.”

“…….”

“Doesn’t always go as you think.”

Slowly.

Jeokyeol, who looked up at the sky with a hoarse voice, continued speaking. His body, from which life was draining, as it became increasingly difficult to even move his heart.

“Your duties, your actions—you can’t choose them entirely by your own will alone. Just as our religion has moved at the forefront of humanity for thousands of years protecting humanity, duty sometimes approaches cruelly and inevitably.”

His younger sister.

Yeonbi tried to find an answer to her own duty, and furthermore, to the Divine Cult’s duty. She tried to confirm with her own eyes whether the Central Plains that the Demonic Cult’s people had protected through such long years of sacrifice had that much value. However.

His younger sister ultimately didn’t return. And about that, Jeokyeol had understood it that way until now.

That the Central Plains his younger sister saw with her own eyes were sufficiently worth protecting. And so she didn’t return in order to protect the Central Plains.

That way, he had been mistaken.

“I was stupid to the end…….”

Only now could he understand.

Others’ duties never hold value for oneself. No matter what reason existed to create such duties, those duties held no meaning for their descendants. However.

Nevertheless, duty continued. That’s because individuals assigned value to that duty and created value themselves. Just as his younger sister, who loved a man of the Central Plains, created value in the Central Plains herself.

“There was nothing more stupid than doing something as a duty. Nothing in the world could bind me, and nothing in the world bound me.”

“…….”

Blood ties. Regional ties. School ties.

None applied. Blood wasn’t connected, they weren’t from the same Xinjiang, and they didn’t share the same teachings. However.

“I am in this place.”

Nevertheless, Jeokyeol chose. By his own will.

Because that was connection .

“San, Un.”

“……Yeah.”

“Hehe.”

At Baek Risan’s expression answering with a voice mixed with moisture, Jeokyeol let out a deliberately small laugh and spoke softly. The approaching silence.

“Survive.”

Jeokyeol bowed his head.

Seeing Jeokyeol frozen in place with one knee bent, the Sword Immortal stepped forward and diagnosed Jeokyeol’s condition. And the voice that followed.

“……Immeasurable Buddha.”

A quiet Taoist title.

However, Baek Risan, who realized what that title meant, bit down hard.

“…….”

Jeokyeol had died.

Hwaaaa!

The moment he intuited it, deep strength entered Baek Risan’s grip. And a voice laid low.

“Oppa.”

-…….

“Is it true? That Jang Il is my uncle.”

-It’s true.

“……I lost him again before even talking properly.”

With deeply settling anger, Baek Risan swallowed silently and sent his gaze forward.

“But at least this time I can get revenge, so maybe it’s okay.”

Killing intent was contained in his sword tip.

***

In the martial world, there’s a feeling that all those who handle Blazing Yang Arts have hot-tempered and explosive personalities, and actually there is such a tendency, but Baek Risan’s case is a bit different.

Because Baek Risan basically had a constitution suited to Yin Cold Energy Arts. Fundamentally harboring yin cold energy, even when angry, he tends to cool down coldly rather than burn hotly.

Usually when people get angry, heat rises to their head and they can’t distinguish their surroundings, but Baek Risan is different. The angrier he gets, the colder he becomes, and because of that, he can fully display all the capabilities he possesses to their limit.

And the reason I’m listing all this content in detail is simple.

[Temporary disciple Baek Risan’s characteristic is about to bloom!]

Because the extremely enraged Baek Risan was exceeding his own limits.

Kagagagagagak-!!!

Rays of light aimed at all of Hayul’s vital acupoints.

“Tch.”

Knees, wrists, hands, and elbows.

Even while trying to respond lightly, Hayul, conscious of the entire arm that had disappeared, clicked her tongue and consciously swept away the Sword Immortal’s attacks. However, the moment the Sword Immortal’s attack ended, enormous flames descended from above to below as if waiting.

Fire Heaven Sword Flow

Bitter Struggle

Clinging on.

Crack!

Confirming the flames that spread to her entire body in an instant as soon as they attached to her collar as if refusing to let go, Hayul immediately raised her hand blade and cut away the burning parts, then smiled thinly. And Hayul’s appearance gradually turning pale.

-San. You can’t drag this into a long battle.

‘Why?’

-Because the enemy is aiming for that.

Hayul’s movements were peculiar.

While showing signs of gradually slowing down, she was precariously maintaining the line of blocking both their attacks. Her face was gradually turning pale, but the movements themselves didn’t become that dull. What did that mean?

-It means Gwonryeong is inducing this situation itself.

If they dragged it into a long battle?

Of course, stamina issues would arise for Hayul, who was missing one arm. Not an act but her body would actually become dull, and physical limitations would arrive.

But by that much, Hayul would adapt to her state of missing one arm. She was none other than a Transcender. From the current awkward movements to gradually optimized movements wouldn’t take very long.

-Compared to that, this side has no room to become stronger. Rather, there’s only room to weaken. Do you know why?

‘……Because the Sword Immortal’s stamina can’t support it.’

-Correct.

From the beginning, the physical problem wasn’t only on that side but also on this side.

In this situation, the longer they dragged out time, the more advantageous it became for Hayul’s side. No matter what happened, it was practically a foregone conclusion that they had to take her head before Hayul adapted to her body’s condition.

-You need to prepare the most powerful single strike you can prepare.

‘The most, powerful single strike.’

Baek Risan, who briefly repeated my words inwardly, glanced at Jeokyeol’s corpse kneeling and dead, then closed his eyes briefly and opened them. A strange energy contained in his black pupils.

‘Got it.’

In the end, they just needed to land an effective hit, right?

“Is the mourning finished?”

“……I’ll do it more properly later.”

“Good. That’s right. Proper respect for the deceased must be observed.”

At Baek Risan’s appearance coming out raising his sword, the Sword Immortal, who burst into delighted laughter, stepped forward and recited a voice transmission.

-Child. There’s only one chance.

-……That’s enough.

-Hehehe. Fortunate that it’s enough. Instead, I’ll make sure to create that one chance.

-Is it possible?

-Who do you think I am? Though I couldn’t achieve Ascension, I’m called the Sword Immortal because I reached the realm of immortals through the sword.

The momentum changed.

The Sword Immortal, who until now had focused only on restricting Hayul’s movements by extending consecutive attacks, stretched his sword finger seal backward and gathered internal energy. That motion felt like an eon but was actually only an instant.

“What trick are you planning!”

She charged forward.

Hayul, who realized something extraordinary was coming, kicked off the ground and rushed at the Sword Immortal. To check the Sword Immortal first before the technique form was completed.

However, the Sword Immortal’s technique form was faster than anything.

Sun-Shooting Sword

The sword strike thrust out was vastly faster than even that technique form.

Nine Curves Arrow Strike

-!

No sound.

In that brief moment, the sword strike that overtook sound curved in an arc like an arrow drawing a parabola, aiming for Hayul’s neck. However, Hayul avoided that curve with animal-like senses.

She couldn’t avoid them all.

Confirming the Sword Immortal’s sword technique that split into nine sword shadows like Split Sword  the moment it extended, aiming for her vital points, Hayul forcibly drew up internal energy. Blood burst out from the missing left arm due to excessive internal energy operation.

Destructive Body Dance

Nine Deaths One Life

She gave her shoulder. However, she didn’t give her neck.

She gave her forearm, and likewise didn’t give her heart. Instead of giving her shin, she didn’t give her stomach.

“Ha.”

Realizing his attack hadn’t landed effectively at Hayul’s appearance instantly curling up like a cocoon then unfolding, the Sword Immortal unconsciously turned his gaze sideways. And.

“Now is it my turn to counterattack……!”

The moment Hayul, who had finished preparing to respond even to Baek Risan’s fire energy that would rush from the side, stretched out her arm to deal with the Sword Immortal before her eyes.

“No.”

Baek Risan’s cold voice pierced her ears.

“Your turn won’t come.”

At the extremity of Hayul’s body.

“Ever.”

The Uicheon Sword touched.