CLS-Chapter 647

Chapter 647:

There was a bit of bravado mixed in.

Wei Yan-ho was acknowledging that fact.

Baek Gong-do was different from anyone he had faced before. The realm of swordsmanship he had achieved was to such a degree that even Wei Yan-ho had to fall silent.

It was visible.

In the sword that hung loose.

In the tips of his planted feet.

In his hair fluttering in the wind and his expression that seemed endlessly empty.

Everything was a sword.

Ten Thousand Swords.

Until now, Wei Yan-ho had thought that Ten Thousand Swords simply meant the sword techniques of the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family.

Even Baek Mu-han hadn’t explained Ten Thousand Swords to him.

Baek Mu-han was someone who had transcended even those Ten Thousand Swords. There was no need for such a person to teach Wei Yan-ho Ten Thousand Swords. Ten Thousand Swords was simply melted into his sword and his martial arts.

In other words, Wei Yan-ho was now seeing true Ten Thousand Swords with his own eyes for the first time.

That’s why he could realize one thing.

Ten Thousand Swords didn’t just refer to sword techniques.

A person.

Ten Thousand Swords referred to a person who had melted all the swords of the world within themselves.

Before him now stood Ten Thousand Swords.

The master of Ten Thousand Swords who had reached the extreme peak was different from anyone he had seen before.

It didn’t simply mean he was stronger.

Rather, it was chaos.

A depth and darkness where everything seemed mixed and melted together.

When you mix all the colors that exist in the world, it becomes black. But that black is different from a black that was created intentionally. The opacity and strangeness unique to black created by mixing inevitably melts within it.

That’s how Baek Gong-do was now.

That loosely hanging sword was merely a sword, but it definitely gave a different feeling from swords held in other people’s hands.

What would emerge from the tip of that sword?

There was no way to know.

If it were the Sword Saint of Huashan, that loosely hanging sword would stretch out like a beam of light. And it would cover all of Wei Yan-ho’s field of vision with countless sword shadows.

Yes, just like plum blossoms fluttering in the wind.

If it were the Sword Saint of Wudang, he would draw gentle arcs.

If one tried to counterattack, he would flow away that counterattack even more gently. Then he would leisurely drive the situation to a sequence where counterattack would be impossible.

By the time one came to their senses, that sword would be touching the tip of their throat.

If it were the sword of Namgung, it would press down on Wei Yan-ho heavily and with dignity.

Like an overlord raising his banner, with unparalleled spirit.

It was also different from All Rivers Return to the Sea.

The saying that when all swords reach the extreme, their boundaries disappear. The meaning that all flows ultimately converge into one.

But All Rivers Return to the Sea in swordsmanship has a slightly different meaning.

When a heavy sword reaches the extreme, it can achieve even the advantages that phantom swords and swift swords possess. When a phantom sword reaches the extreme, it can be heavier than a heavy sword.

It doesn’t mean the characteristics that a sword possesses become dull. It means that when it reaches the extreme, it can overcome even the shortcomings that are inevitably inherent due to that sword’s characteristics.

But that couldn’t be expressed as All Rivers Return to the Sea.

Everything just remained there.

There was no way to know what would burst forth. The moment that sword was swung, whether a swift sword would emerge from the tip of that sword, or a phantom sword, or perhaps a heavy sword or a solid sword, or if not that then a changing sword, or a complete sword…

There was no way to know.

It was like another sword created by throwing all the swords of the world into a furnace and melting them down.

And all of that was melted into the fingertips of that person, Baek Gong-do.

‘Really…’

Terrifying.

Baek Mu-han was different. Baek Mu-han’s foundation was Ten Thousand Swords, but Baek Mu-han had walked a path different from Ten Thousand Swords. Baek Mu-han had not melted all the swords of the world.

That’s why he was such an outstanding person.

The method of Ten Thousand Swords is to accept imperfect swords and create a stew of perfection. But Baek Mu-han had the ability to complement that imperfection right where he sat.

Baek Mu-han’s sword was simply his own complete sword.

A sword that completed the most correct direction in the most correct way. But that sword could not be passed down and could not be made understood. No one other than Baek Mu-han could understand or accept Baek Mu-han’s sword.

Baek Mu-han could become the greatest swordsman of all time, but he was someone who could not become a patriarch. Because his martial learning could not be transmitted.

In that sense, Baek Gong-do was someone who had entered a realm different from Baek Mu-han.

Unlike Baek Mu-han, who could become strong because he himself was a pure genius, he was an existence who embodied in his body the martial learning that the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family had built up over generations.

He could feel it.

The grand history flowing at the sword’s tip.

It felt like looking at a vast ocean.

Countless tributaries of swords.

All those tributaries flow and flow, creating their own curves. Some tributaries are violent and fast, while others are gentle and gradual.

The tributaries that flowed grandly while showing off their own characteristics ultimately become one in the vast ocean.

Baek Gong-do’s sword was like that.

His sword was like a vast ocean.

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes followed Baek Gong-do’s sword. Those eyes gradually became hazy. As if falling into a trance, he was helplessly sucked into that sword.

Full of openings.

These weren’t natural openings that came from a natural stance. They were openings that appeared because his mind was distracted. If Baek Gong-do attacked these openings now, Wei Yan-ho would absolutely be unable to block it.

But Baek Gong-do did not attack. Instead, he slowly, very slowly unleashed his sword.

As if showing the sword principles contained within the sword one by one in detail.

Demonstration.

Baek Gong-do’s sword revealed itself to the world.

Sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes fierce, sometimes incredibly gentle.

The sword became dance.

Sword dance.

Baek Gong-do began to perform a sword dance.

And Wei Yan-ho fell even deeper into Baek Gong-do’s sword dance.

“…What is he doing right now?”

At Wei Jeong-han’s words, Shin Gi-sua shook his head.

“How would I know?”

Wei Jeong-han looked at the two people with tense eyes.

Baek Gong-do performing a sword dance, and Wei Yan-ho watching that scene as if bewitched.

No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like a normal match.

How should he put it…

‘It seems like he’s teaching.’

It looked like a scene where a master was showing his essence to his disciple. Though there was absolutely no way that could be the case. What reason would Baek Gong-do have to teach Wei Yan-ho?

Logically, it was absolutely incomprehensible.

But he couldn’t deny what his eyes were seeing. The sight of Wei Yan-ho losing himself and watching gave even more conviction than Baek Gong-do performing the sword dance.

‘Has that child ever concentrated like that?’

It was an unfamiliar sight even to Wei Jeong-han, his father. Wei Yan-ho had never looked at anything so entranced.

How should he put it?

It felt like watching an ideal master and disciple.

A master who could demonstrate more intensely and powerfully, but shows his sword slowly and meticulously for fear that his watching disciple might miss something, and a disciple who watches such a master’s sword as if his soul had been drawn out.

An utterly peaceful and tranquil scene.

If this weren’t a battlefield, and if those two people weren’t enemies.

Strange.

Incredibly strange.

Though a completely incomprehensible scene was unfolding before their eyes, no one could open their mouth.

Silence.

The earth where tens of thousands of elite soldiers had gathered was colored with a silence as if no one existed.

They too knew.

The greatness of that sword dance.

Would there be another chance in their lifetime to witness swordsmanship of such a realm with their own eyes?

Strangeness aside, the desperation that they couldn’t miss this opportunity made them fall silent.

Rustle.

The sound of Baek Gong-do’s toes brushing the grass spread out.

Swoosh.

The sound of his sword tip cutting through the air could be heard clearly.

The dreamlike sword dance was coloring the earth with strangeness.

And that strangeness finally came to an end.

Clang!

The sword dance that seemed like it would continue endlessly came to an end. With the motion of stretching his sword toward the sky as the last movement, Baek Gong-do’s movement stopped.

Lingering resonance.

The world was colored with the lingering resonance of the sword.

One by one…

People began to emerge from that lingering resonance, but only Wei Yan-ho was still staring at Baek Gong-do with unfocused eyes.

The sword slowly came down.

Wei Yan-ho’s gaze also came down.

The sword aimed at Wei Yan-ho.

Sharpness returned to Wei Yan-ho’s eyes.

“…”

Complex emotions appeared in Wei Yan-ho’s eyes as he realized what had happened.

“Did you see?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Hehe.”

Baek Gong-do laughed heartily.

“That’s enough. If you had answered that you saw, I would have been disappointed.”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes narrowed.

He couldn’t understand the person called Baek Gong-do at all.

“This is not your destination. Isn’t that right?”

“…”

“It’s merely a process you pass through. Even the sword realm I’ve achieved by dedicating my entire life should be nothing more than something worth referencing for you.”

What on earth was this person talking about?

“Why are you doing this?”

“Hmm.”

Baek Gong-do wore a subtle smile.

“There are two reasons you might understand.”

Baek Gong-do shrugged his shoulders.

“One is that you too are someone who has learned Ten Thousand Swords.”

“Is that important?”

“It is important.”

Baek Gong-do glanced back briefly, then fixed his gaze on Wei Yan-ho again.

“Ten Thousand Swords must not be lost. This sword contains the countless grudges of the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family. The greatest duty a head of Ten Thousand Swords must fulfill is to pass Ten Thousand Swords on to future generations. But I devoted everything to completing my own Ten Thousand Swords, and failed to properly transmit Ten Thousand Swords to future generations. When I came to my senses, I had walked alone. So someone must continue this sword.”

Wei Yan-ho frowned.

“But I’m not from the Baek Family.”

“The Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family becoming the Ten Thousand Swords Wei Family is better than the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family just becoming the Baek Family.”

It was something Baek Hoe-myeong had said before.

‘Is he serious?’

Certainly, the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family seemed different from ordinary martial families.

“You said there were two reasons?”

“I’ll tell you the other reason as well. You must become strong. More than me. No, you must become so strong that I dare not even look up to you.”

“…”

Wei Yan-ho closed his mouth.

Now he knew too.

What Baek Gong-do was trying to do. But…

“What meaning does this have?”

Wei Yan-ho frowned.

“No matter how much you teach me, if I can’t reach that level, it’ll be the end, won’t it?”

“That’s why I’m going to check now.”

“What?”

“I have shown you everything.”

“…”

“If you can internalize that yourself and surpass me at this very moment, then my gamble will succeed. But if that fails…”

Baek Gong-do’s aura changed from what it had been until now.

The warm breeze turned into a flesh-cutting blade wind. It was a change in aura as if he had become a different person.

“You should rather die here. The fate of the martial world will also end here. Now, prove to me with your life. Whether you are truly someone who can protect the world. If not…”

Along with a voice like blood dripping, Baek Gong-do swung his sword.

“You die here today.”

Sword Energy.

The final realm of the sword, created by condensing and condensing sword qi.

Tens, hundreds, no, thousands of sword energies covered the world like rain and began pouring down toward Wei Yan-ho all at once.

Like meteors.