CLS-Chapter 465

Chapter 465:

‘This is troublesome……’

Cheok Su-gwang felt the situation was not flowing in a favorable direction.

Even before arriving at this place, his attention had been entirely focused on Wei Yan-ho. Who wouldn’t be interested in a young master who had defeated the Dark King at such a young age and fought evenly with that Demonic Cult’s bishop?

However, the interest Cheok Su-gwang had in Wei Yan-ho was somewhat different from what others had.

The reason those who supposedly lead the current martial world were interested in Wei Yan-ho was because he possessed the power to shake up the current political situation of the martial world.

But Cheok Su-gwang had no interest whatsoever in the political situation of the martial world. What interested him was only one thing: Wei Yan-ho’s martial prowess.

It was unbelievable.

Ultimately, martial prowess is something that must be built up. And building up martial prowess requires the element of ‘time.’ But Wei Yan-ho absolutely lacked that time.

Then how could he have built up such martial prowess?

Cheok Su-gwang wanted to solve that mystery. And he believed that the best way to truly understand an opponent was ultimately to cross swords with them.

That’s why he came here.

But until just moments ago, even when he saw Wei Yan-ho directly with his eyes and raised his sword, Cheok Su-gwang never once thought he would lose to Wei Yan-ho.

Was it because he looked down on Wei Yan-ho?

That wasn’t it.

Cheok Su-gwang had never learned how to look down on opponents. The world he had lived in was not a world where the strong always won. There were cases where he won fights he should have naturally lost because dirt happened to fly into his opponent’s eyes, and cases where he won by exploiting his opponent’s carelessness.

Martial prowess was merely one factor that determined the outcome of a fight, not an absolute measure.

Wei Yan-ho would be strong. By defeating the Dark King Tang Cheon-gun, Wei Yan-ho had already proven himself. Someone like the Dark King was not a person who would lose due to carelessness. The fact that he lost meant Wei Yan-ho was definitely stronger than Tang Cheon-gun.

Even so, Cheok Su-gwang was confident of victory in his match against Wei Yan-ho.

The reason was simple.

Because he was young.

Cheok Su-gwang had survived countless battlefields. And on most of those battlefields, those he had to face were stronger than him. People focused on the fact that he had risen from a third-rate warrior to a supreme master, but they didn’t pay attention to who he had faced.

His teacher was the Demonic Cult.

He, who was nothing but a wandering warrior, completed his martial arts by facing Demonic Cult members. Did they know what it meant for a wandering warrior to face Demonic Cult members that even prestigious schools found burdensome to handle after decades of training?

In a single battle, he stepped on the threshold of hell dozens of times. Even if Cheok Su-gwang went back to that time with his current martial knowledge intact, he had no confidence he would survive until the war ended. It was that miraculous, a product of coincidence upon coincidence.

Conversely, Cheok Su-gwang had always fought against those stronger than himself and survived. They were the strong ones, but it was Cheok Su-gwang who survived. He wasn’t the strongest person under heaven, but he was the person most accustomed to fighting against the strong than anyone else under heaven.

Even if Wei Yan-ho was more than twice as strong as him, Cheok Su-gwang was confident he could defeat Wei Yan-ho.

But…….

‘What the hell kind of bastard is this?’

When he directly crossed blades with Wei Yan-ho, the situation changed. This bastard was accustomed to fighting. He was lightly deflecting the pressure of real combat where killing intent tears at the skin and malice crushes the head.

This was impossible.

In this world, there are areas that can be solved through talent, and there are areas that can only be built up through experience alone. Dealing with real combat belongs to the latter area. No matter how much talent one had to shake the world, it was a field that couldn’t be reached without experience.

Yet that young bastard was deflecting his attacks like a battle-hardened veteran.

Didn’t he get wounded on his neck?

If Cheok Su-gwang’s opponent had been the Dark King, rather than getting a wound on his neck, that single strike would have put a hole through his neck. The fact that he blocked his desperate strike with only that level of wound was amazing.

And…….

‘It won’t work twice.’

He could tell from those sunken eyes. That bastard had already finished assessing his martial arts to some degree. He wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice. Excluding improvisation and surprise attacks, what remained was only an overwhelming gap in power.

Then he should run away.

Cheok Su-gwang didn’t enjoy fighting. The only fights he enjoyed were fights where he survived, fights where he won. His doctrine was that there was no such thing as a pleasant fight even in defeat.

Nevertheless, Cheok Su-gwang couldn’t move. He wasn’t choosing to surrender more intensely to survive.

Because he wanted to see.

What exactly was contained within that small body, and what was the true nature of that swordsmanship that had been making him feel strange dizziness from earlier.

If he could see that, he might be able to grasp a clue to advance his martial arts, which had hit a wall, by one more step.

Looking at Wei Yan-ho’s sword radiating bright light, he felt that way.

And at that moment, Wei Yan-ho slowly raised his sword.

‘Like the sun.’

Looking at the sword where pure white energy gathered to emit light, he felt it was like the brilliant sun. For Cheok Su-gwang, who had faced the swords of the Demonic Cult and completed practical swordsmanship, it was a place he could never reach.

And…….

‘I can’t understand it.’

What the hell was that sword?

His sword was a war sword. He hadn’t received systematic education. But he was confident he had seen more swords than anyone else under heaven. Moreover, he had experienced all those swords directly with his body.

But Wei Yan-ho’s sword right now was definitely a type he had never seen before in his life.

It wasn’t simply because it emitted light. His eyes weren’t deceived by such superficial things. What he pursued was the essence of the sword.

It changed.

More diversely and brilliantly than what was visible. The true intent hidden within the sword was changing dozens, hundreds of times even in an instant.

It was a swift sword, then a dominating sword, then a heavy sword, then a changing sword.

When it seemed like a changing sword, it was an illusion sword, and when it seemed like an illusion sword, it became a blunt sword.

‘What the hell is that thing?’

Right.

There would be only one word that could explain that. A realm he had heard countless times but had dismissed as mere legend.

The dream of one who holds a sword.

The Ten Thousand Swords (Mangeom).

That sword contained everything.

This wasn’t the time to speak. Now was the time to experience that sword with his body. But Cheok Su-gwang couldn’t bear it. In the end, he opened his mouth and asked.

“That sword…… is it complete?”

Wei Yan-ho opened his mouth while maintaining his raised sword posture.

“No.”

“I thought so. Right.”

It couldn’t be complete. That sword wasn’t something that could be completed. That was literally a dream. It would be similar to saying humans could float up and fly around in the air without using any tools. Humans using lightness skills could soar into the air and sometimes even walk on air, but that was different from the concept of ‘flying.’ It was merely an imitation. Similarly, that sword couldn’t possibly be completed.

But it didn’t matter if it wasn’t complete.

Cheok Su-gwang could tell. How much true intent was hidden in that sword, and…….

‘How terrifying it will be.’

He could tell intuitively. There was a clue to complete his martial arts there. Then wouldn’t the result be obvious?

“Show me.”

Cheok Su-gwang resolutely pointed his sword forward.

Middle stance.

It was the most basic of basic stances that could handle any situation, whether attack or defense.

“What kind of sword is yours?”

Wei Yan-ho declared with his body that words were useless.

Terrifying speed.

The hard-packed ground kicked up dust clouds. But before that dust could even fly up, Wei Yan-ho had already rushed to the front of Cheok Su-gwang.

Not even the sound of cutting through wind could be heard. Faster than sound, Wei Yan-ho’s sword was striking down at Cheok Su-gwang’s head.

A swift sword like a ray of light.

Cheok Su-gwang raised his sword to block Wei Yan-ho’s sword.

Kwaaaaang!

At that moment, Cheok Su-gwang’s body was flung away like a fired cannonball.

“Kuk!“

Blood spurted out from the corner of his mouth like a fountain.

‘What? What the hell happened?’

Cheok Su-gwang couldn’t come to his senses. What the hell was going on?

Right now, he wasn’t watching someone else’s sparring match. He was part of the sparring match. He was being attacked and flung away with his internal organs twisting, but he couldn’t grasp what was happening?

This was a first.

But there was no time for deep thought.

“Kraaaah!“

Cheok Su-gwang kicked off the air to steady himself. Wei Yan-ho had already reached where he would arrive and was waiting for him. The moment Cheok Su-gwang flipped his body, Wei Yan-ho stuck to him like a shadow and thrust his sword.

‘B-block it!’

He raised his beloved sword to block Wei Yan-ho’s sword. The moment sword clashed with sword!

Cheok Su-gwang saw it.

The sword that had flown in with the essence of swiftness like lightning changed its nature, and infinite dominating energy wrapped around the sword.

‘That’s impossible……’

Kwaaaaaaang!

Cheok Su-gwang’s body twisted as it shot up into the air.

“Keulleok!“

Blood burst from the corner of his mouth profusely. Unable to handle the power contained in Wei Yan-ho’s sword, the energies inside his body were flowing backward chaotically. The remaining force that couldn’t be fully resolved was bursting muscles and twisting bones.

‘How can such a thing happen!’

But the mental shock was greater than the physical pain.

Transformation.

The secret of the sword Wei Yan-ho had shown was transformation.

From swift to dominating, from dominating to swift.

It changed and reacted instantaneously.

‘How is such a thing possible?’

Who wouldn’t know that a swift sword is most useful when launching a sword at an opponent, and a dominating sword is most useful when clashing swords with an opponent?

But isn’t the energy flowing within a human body singular?

A swift swordsman is a swift swordsman until death. That’s what he learned and his body’s energy is specialized for swift swords. But he could change that instantaneously?

‘This isn’t a joke, you crazy bastard!’

Cheok Su-gwang spun his body and shot downward.

“This bastaaaaaard!“

Rage welled up in Cheok Su-gwang’s eyes. Right now, Wei Yan-ho was negating martial arts as a whole. He too was someone who had broken away from existing systems, but the innovation Wei Yan-ho was showing was making even his martial arts seem ordinary.

Cheok Su-gwang was now receiving several times over the shock and alienation that others felt when looking at him.

Looking at Cheok Su-gwang plummeting downward like lightning, Wei Yan-ho’s eyes quietly sank. Wei Yan-ho’s sword slowly pointed upward.

Uuuuuuung!

His sword vibrated for an instant, then a blinding sword light shot toward the sky.

Like a volcano erupting.

No, like dawn breaking through darkness from the east, the surging light completely enveloped Cheok Su-gwang’s body.

Cheok Su-gwang’s tightly clenched lips burst open.

“Not yet! Not yet, you brat!”

With his disheveled hair flying, Cheok Su-gwang drove his sword downward.