CLS-Chapter 638

Chapter 638:

His dantian churned.

The energy drawn up from his dantian swept through his body and rushed into his sword. Wei Yan-ho’s white sword shook under the violent undulation of his overwhelmingly fierce energy.

Uuuuuuuuung.

A sword cry.

It wasn’t the sword cry that naturally flowed out when sword and person became one. It was a scream the sword let out, unable to withstand such powerful energy.

But the sword’s agony didn’t last long.

Following the swung sword, his internal power transformed into dazzling light and extended outward.

Chwaaaaaaaak!

With a sound like tearing silk, a blade of light shot out like a half-moon.

Dodge it?

Not a chance.

It wasn’t simply a shape of light. The sword energy imbued with light was literally as fast as light itself.

The moment something flashed, the sword energy had already passed through bodies and moved on.

“Kkeueuk……”

Those who felt the sword with their bodies rather than their eyes collapsed with thuds to the ground.

“Wei Yan-hoooooo!”

But not everyone had fallen to Wei Yan-ho’s sword.

Among the Hundred Swords, there existed someone who could see and dodge that sword energy. A swordsman with bloodshot eyes charged toward Wei Yan-ho at terrifying speed.

The single sword strike that unfolded afterward.

It was a sword filled with the will to cut through everything visible before his eyes—a single strike that made the phrase ‘body and sword as one’ seem fitting.

Indeed, the words “Hundred Sword Castle” came naturally.

How many sects in the world could nurture swordsmen of this caliber?

At most, it wouldn’t exceed ten.

But Hundred Sword Castle was crawling with such people. Watching the swordsmen rushing at him like they were covering the sky in an instant, Wei Yan-ho bit his lips slightly.

Covering the sky with swords.

Ten Thousand Swords, Hundred Families. Hundred Sword Castle.

Perhaps the Ten Thousand Swords, Hundred Families known to the world, and the Hundred Sword Castle known to the world, had been underestimated.

Even without the plague, could the Righteous Martial Alliance have stopped them?

In the end, they had created this much power.

How deep was the resentment of the Ten Thousand Swords, Hundred Families?

How exceptional were the descendants of the Ten Thousand Swords?

‘But no.’

Wei Yan-ho kicked off the ground. Wei Yan-ho’s body, leaping into the air, slipped past the flying swords like a ghost.

Seureureuk.

As if seeping through.

Between the sword energy and sword rays pouring down like rain, he slipped through those minute gaps like air.

“Eut!”

“Eit!”

Those who witnessed this scene let out gasps of shock.

Everyone had confirmed Wei Yan-ho’s destructive power with their own eyes, but no one had expected such agile movement.

But this was all too natural.

Wei Yan-ho hadn’t learned swordsmanship through offense. He had learned swordsmanship while facing Baek Mu-han.

Who could even guess the meaning of that?

Baek Mu-han’s swordsmanship wasn’t human swordsmanship. He had spent years just dodging and blocking those swords.

Sword energy pouring down like rain?

Baek Mu-han alone had created natural disasters. Compared to those sword strikes where not even a needle could pass through, such attacks were nothing.

“Ei!”

Wei Yan-ho’s body, having slipped through the sword strikes, rushed forward in an instant. The person who saw Wei Yan-ho charging at him like a ray of light held his breath.

For someone who had shot out a sword with full power to recover his tilted body and block Wei Yan-ho was impossible. Thanks to floating his body in the air, he could deliver a strong attack, but if that attack didn’t work, he had to pay the price.

Seogeok.

Wei Yan-ho passed by him.

And belatedly, a chilling sound pierced his ears. The person who intuited his fate closed his eyes.

‘Like a monster……’

His thoughts couldn’t continue further.

One whose breath had been cut off could no longer think.

Having cut down the man before him, Wei Yan-ho kicked off the air. Wei Yan-ho, using the energy gathered at his toes like a stepping stone, began moving through the sky at high speed.

“What!”

“How, how!”

Intense exclamations burst forth.

They too were those who had reached a realm that could be called supreme. Anyone could change direction appropriately in the air. But they couldn’t run through the air like Wei Yan-ho was doing now.

That was a realm that couldn’t even be called Air Walking or Void Steps. It was as if he was flying through the sky.

The outcome between someone who could move freely and those who simply had to fall to the ground was all too obvious.

They fell.

Like leaves that had fulfilled their role falling to the ground before a fiercely raging typhoon, those who had lifted their bodies into the air were falling like leaves.

Everyone watching this scene widened their eyes.

Divine Strategist grabbed his sleeve.

‘Just how far is that guy going to go?’

He had always lived on battlefields.

Though he couldn’t claim to be at the absolute peak himself, he had always been on battlefields where the strongest clashed. Therefore, he was someone who could pride himself on having an eye for martial artists superior to anyone else’s.

How many masters had he seen over the years?

Simply as an example, he was someone who had watched Kwon Geuk’s entire life. Having watched the lifetime of the World’s Greatest Fist and leader of the Righteous Martial Alliance, a master representing the righteous path, most people didn’t even catch his eye.

But the appearance Wei Yan-ho was showing now shocked even Divine Strategist.

It was different.

Using the same sword and moving with the same human body, the realm Wei Yan-ho was displaying was certainly different in some way. In Divine Strategist’s entire life, there had been only one martial artist who had given him such a feeling.

‘Great Demon Emperor.’

That strong and fearsome one who had led the Demonic Cult.

In Divine Strategist’s memory, no martial artist had shown majesty exceeding the Great Demon Emperor.

In past wars, all of the Righteous Martial Alliance’s efforts had ultimately been to stop the Great Demon Emperor alone. No matter how frightening the Demonic Cult’s bishops were, and no matter how incredibly cruel the Demonic Cult’s followers were, the Great Demon Emperor alone was more terrifying than all of them combined.

Strength that couldn’t be considered human.

Demonic energy that seemed capable of toppling the world alone.

On battlefields where countless people killed and were killed, the Great Demon Emperor alone existed on a different dimension.

Divine Strategist’s eyes trembled violently.

‘Has he risen to that realm?’

It was something hard to believe.

The Great Demon Emperor was strong.

He couldn’t be described with the simple word “strong.” Even leading all the masters existing in the Righteous Martial Alliance to fight, there was no confidence they could kill the Great Demon Emperor. Therefore, Divine Strategist had used all sorts of strategies and schemes to create an environment where they wouldn’t have to face the Great Demon Emperor directly.

If only the Great Demon Emperor hadn’t existed, if only that one person hadn’t been there, the Righteous Martial Alliance could have easily overwhelmed the Demonic Cult. The Great Demon Emperor was the one who overturned that difference in strength.

The incarnation of demons.

The Great Demon Emperor was the one who best suited those incomparably arrogant words.

As an enemy, he hated him more than anyone else in the world, but as a martial artist, he couldn’t help but respect him. That was the Great Demon Emperor.

And Wei Yan-ho had risen to that level?

He wanted to deny it.

He had been confident and certain that a martial artist like the Great Demon Emperor would never appear again in his lifetime.

But now Divine Strategist’s conviction was crumbling.

Look.

Wei Yan-ho was showing it too.

Though countless people were entangled in battle, he alone was walking in a different world. Just like the Great Demon Emperor of the past.

He couldn’t help but acknowledge what he didn’t want to acknowledge.

‘But how is such a thing possible?’

Wei Yan-ho was a genius.

But the Great Demon Emperor had also been a genius. Without being a genius, without being one who exceeded human standards, such an appearance couldn’t be shown. But the time given to the Great Demon Emperor and Wei Yan-ho was different, and the support they received was different.

The Great Demon Emperor was a superhuman created by the Demonic Cult pouring all their support into him.

If the Great Demon Emperor hadn’t received all the Demonic Cult’s support as their Demon Blood heir, he absolutely wouldn’t have reached such a level. But how could Wei Yan-ho, who hadn’t undergone the same process as the Great Demon Emperor, rise to the same level as the Great Demon Emperor?

And in such a short time, no less.

His head denied it.

But his eyes couldn’t deny it.

Kwaaaaang!

The cluster of light Wei Yan-ho shot out covered the world.

Swordsmen for whom the word “supreme” seemed inadequate were pushed back and collapsed before that cluster of light, unable even to swing their swords. The blood they spilled was dyeing the world along with pure white light.

“Ah……”

His mouth opened naturally.

Martial arts was ultimately a means to defeat enemies. No matter how much one discussed good with martial arts and debated chivalry and the Way, martial arts was ultimately nothing but the art of killing.

Divine Strategist, who had lived his entire life on battlefields, knew this fact better than anyone.

In fact, wasn’t the reason he was called Divine Strategist and praised because, when examined closely, he had killed more people than anyone else in the world?

The essence of martial arts never changed. No matter how much one packaged it with good words and good meanings, martial arts was ultimately nothing more than a means of suppressing others by force.

‘But isn’t it beautiful?’

It was a scene of violence colliding with violence.

It should be called the most terrible sight in the world. But Divine Strategist was feeling even a strand of beauty in the scene where that violence flickered.

Anything, anything in this world that reached its extreme called forth human admiration.

Though it might be a pathetic emotion entirely unsuited to a battlefield, Divine Strategist couldn’t push away this strand of emotion piercing his chest.

“Yan-hooooooo!”

At that moment, Wei Jeong-han’s desperate voice pierced his ears.

Divine Strategist’s eyes shook.

A stream of blood.

A stream of blood spurting into the air was clearly visible to Divine Strategist’s eyes.

It wasn’t different.

It was just red blood like any other. It was no different from the countless blood that had flowed unseen on the ground, hidden by the light.

But it was different.

Though it might be the same blood, it couldn’t be called the same blood. Especially not to Divine Strategist or Wei Jeong-han. How could blood gushing from Wei Yan-ho’s body be considered the same as others’ blood?

‘That……’

Wei Yan-ho was swinging his sword as if nothing had happened. But his shoulder was already dyed red.

“Yan-ho!”

Divine Strategist grabbed the shoulder of Wei Jeong-han, who was about to rush forward.

Wei Jeong-han stopped in place like a stone statue and gritted his teeth.

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes were contorted.

He felt burning pain from his slashed shoulder.

‘It wasn’t that I was careless……’

Being careless before such an opponent was impossible. The reason he was wounded despite this was simple.

They were that strong.

Strike after strike launched while risking their lives.

It was impossible for even Wei Yan-ho to completely dodge all of them. The swordsmen of Hundred Sword Castle were strong. Wei Yan-ho was feeling this fact to his bones right now.

For example.

This sword is currently thrusting toward his eyes.

Or if not that, the sword slashing at his ankle from below.

The swords facing him were becoming increasingly sharper. These people were no longer afraid. The martial artists of Hundred Sword Castle, who had quickly regained their composure, had found the most efficient method to face Wei Yan-ho.

The pressure intensified.

It felt like floundering in water. His arms and legs were becoming heavy.