CLS-Chapter 679

Chapter 679:

It was like the sight of a meteor cutting across the sky.

Just as the night sky is filled with darkness, the demonic energy that had dyed the entire world black was split by a clear white sword energy.

Neither fast nor slow.

But the sword energy that advanced without retreat pierced through the Heavenly Demon’s body and passed through.

And…….

At the same time, the Heavenly Demon’s demonic energy that seemed to fill the entire world vanished in an instant, as if it had never existed from the beginning.

“…….”

Silence.

No one could open their mouth.

Whether their martial learning was high or low, no one properly understood what had just occurred. But one thing was certain.

Wei Yan-ho had done something.

And it had pierced the Heavenly Demon.

In the tense silence where no one could even breathe, everyone’s gaze turned toward the Heavenly Demon.

The Heavenly Demon’s expression remained unchanged.

The Heavenly Demon’s appearance, with all the demonic energy cleared away, was no different from the neat appearance of Wei San-ho. His hand slowly rose and moved toward his chest.

His hand touched his chest and fell away, and something dropped from his fingertips.

Drip.

A drop of blood.

The blood that stained his fingertips fell to the ground.

Everyone saw that scene clearly.

Wei Yan-ho had proven what he said—that the Heavenly Demon was also a person whose blood flowed.

The Heavenly Demon quietly watched the blood flowing down his fingertips, then raised his head.

The figure of Wei Yan-ho, frozen in the posture of extending his sword, was clearly caught in the Heavenly Demon’s sight.

“Hmm.”

A contemplative sound flowed from the Heavenly Demon’s mouth.

His body.

Originally Wei San-ho’s, but now his body was bleeding.

‘I don’t know how long it’s been.’

He couldn’t remember when someone had last injured him in a fair fight.

The Heavenly Demon looked at Wei Yan-ho with curious eyes.

Wasn’t he angry?

Wasn’t he displeased?

No.

The emotion that now captivated the Heavenly Demon was not anger or displeasure.

Of course, having his body harmed was unpleasant, and the fact that this young child had accomplished such a tremendous feat was admirable. But now he was seeing something entirely different.

“This is your sword.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded without answering.

“Excellent.”

It was an emotionless statement with no particular feeling.

But what was certain was that the Heavenly Demon was now acknowledging Wei Yan-ho’s sword.

The greatest of all time.

One who disputed the position of greatest of all time alongside Baek Mu-han had acknowledged Wei Yan-ho’s sword.

This fact suggested many things.

But…….

Wei Yan-ho’s expression was not bright.

‘It was a strike of conviction…….’

Warriors have such moments.

The moment when spirit, energy, and mind unify to deliver a strike beyond one’s abilities.

The moment of creating a perfect strike that might come out only once even after swinging the sword thousands, tens of thousands of times.

A subtle sensation that, once tasted, cannot be consciously recaptured.

He had caught that moment.

Even after executing a perfect strike that he couldn’t possibly recreate if asked to do so again, he had failed to pierce the Heavenly Demon’s heart.

To console himself with having done his best—wasn’t there too much he still had to do?

“You were certainly surprising. You exceeded my imagination.”

Wei Yan-ho’s face twisted slightly.

To be happy about praise from an enemy, the situation was…….

“However.”

Before Wei Yan-ho could organize his thoughts, the Heavenly Demon slowly opened his mouth. And the Heavenly Demon’s words that followed completely shook Wei Yan-ho’s mind.

“Martial learning must develop. I don’t know where your aspirations lie, but your sword now is nothing more than regression.”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes widened.

Regression?

Why were these words coming out now?

“At the end of the path you’re trying to walk… there is no sword. At least not the sword you want. Your sword now is nothing more than superficial mimicry. For the time being, it might be slightly better than following the orthodox path. But…….”

A smile bloomed on the Heavenly Demon’s lips.

Though it was an utterly comfortable smile, Wei Yan-ho felt incomparable eeriness.

He had to block it.

He had to cover his ears.

The words that would follow must not be heard. Whether he blocked the Heavenly Demon’s mouth or covered his own ears, those words must not be heard.

An intuition beyond reason.

An intuition close to certainty that he himself couldn’t understand.

If he heard what the Heavenly Demon was saying now, everything he knew would collapse.

But Wei Yan-ho couldn’t block the Heavenly Demon’s mouth.

And he couldn’t even cover his own ears.

To pursue truth even knowing it means collapse—that is human nature.

To mock the moth flying into flames while doing the same thing—that is ultimately human nature.

“You cannot reach me that way.”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes stared blankly at the Heavenly Demon.

Me?

The Heavenly Demon’s realm?

If not that…….

“I don’t understand.”

“…….”

“Why didn’t you learn the Twelve Forms of the Light Sword? If you had, the result might have been somewhat different. No matter how much it’s a sword that cannot reach me, if it had reached its ultimate, it could have faced someone like me now.”

Trembling.

His fingertips.

His heart.

And his soul.

The moment the words “Twelve Forms of the Light Sword” came from the Heavenly Demon’s mouth, Wei Yan-ho’s soul began to scream.

‘No!’

No.

Absolutely not.

Such a thing doesn’t happen.

This is just…… just a coincidence.

Even if the Twelve Forms of the Light Sword was a sword technique that Baek Mu-han created to pass his martial learning to future generations, even if it was a sword technique created by Baek Mu-han in his later years, there was no guarantee that only Baek Mu-han knew of the Twelve Forms of the Light Sword.

If someone else had known of the existence of the Twelve Forms of the Light Sword, it could have eventually reached the Heavenly Demon’s ears.

However…….

“I can’t understand the reason at all. Is it because of my imperfect memory?”

As the Heavenly Demon’s words continued to flow, Wei Yan-ho was being driven to a cliff’s edge from which he could no longer escape.

No.

This isn’t right.

“You were there.”

The Heavenly Demon’s smile deepened.

“I thought I would never find it. Too much time had passed, and I couldn’t find that place in my memory at all. Either someone had found it but hadn’t reached the level I desired, or I thought it had simply disappeared in the long years. But you were there. The thing that can make me complete. My original form.”

Grind.

His teeth clenched.

It felt like his body was twisting on its own.

He denied it.

His head had already understood everything, but his heart was desperately denying the reality he faced.

Then.

The Heavenly Demon turned his head and looked in one direction.

“Baek Gong-do.”

Among the crowd, the figure of Single Heaven Sword Baek Gong-do could be seen.

Baek Gong-do, who had been closing his eyes as if resigned to everything, slowly opened them and stepped forward, one step at a time.

Wei Yan-ho looked at Baek Gong-do with the feeling of seeing a ghost.

The unsolved mystery.

But something that had to be buried.

The Myriad Sword White Family had spread plague throughout the world through the Sword Emperor’s Treasure.

There were two mysteries within this.

One.

Who had created the half-complete insights of the Sword Emperor contained in the Sword Emperor’s Treasure?

It didn’t make sense for the Myriad Sword White Family to know the Sword Emperor’s martial learning. While they devoted themselves to studying myriad swords and dedicating everything to myriad swords, Sword Emperor Baek Mu-han had walked a different path from them.

Being from the same family didn’t mean they could know Baek Mu-han’s martial learning. Especially not after so much time had passed.

And the other one.

Wei Yan-ho had thought the purpose of the Sword Emperor’s Treasure was to create plague and throw the Central Plains into chaos. But it was clearly revealed here: the purpose of the Sword Emperor’s Treasure was not that.

The purpose was to create demonic energy within the bodies of Central Plains people, making them into human elixirs that the Heavenly Demon could absorb.

If so…….

Why had the Myriad Sword White Family agreed to all of this?

And how had the Myriad Sword White Family been able to obtain the half-complete martial learning of the Sword Emperor?

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes glared at Baek Gong-do with questions.

Receiving Wei Yan-ho’s gaze, Baek Gong-do looked up at the sky and sighed lowly.

“I have come in response to…… your summons.”

Baek Gong-do bowed his head.

To the Heavenly Demon.

“Please command me.”

Command.

It was a word that didn’t suit him at all—the lord of White Sword Castle and head of the Myriad Sword White Family.

Who in the world could dare command Baek Gong-do?

Even the Heavenly Demon, even the Emperor—that should have been impossible.

“I already knew your actions were treasonous.”

“…….”

“But if what you believed in was that child, that’s quite interesting. Tell me. What did you see?”

Baek Gong-do’s mouth moved slightly.

Everyone was feeling it.

Single Heaven Sword Baek Gong-do.

The giant who had single-handedly supported the massive sect called White Sword Castle.

Even that giant became incomparably shabby the moment he stood before the Heavenly Demon.

That’s why they could understand in reverse.

How tremendous a thing Wei Yan-ho had been doing, maintaining his presence even before that enormous stature called the Heavenly Demon.

“Heavenly Demon.”

Baek Gong-do opened his mouth in a low voice.

“He…… he inherited the true legacy of the Sword Emperor.”

Sword Emperor.

The moment the word Sword Emperor was mentioned, the Heavenly Demon’s eyes deepened.

“Not a branch of myriad swords, but the true legacy of the Sword Emperor. When I learned this fact, I had to choose.”

Baek Gong-do’s hand slowly rose.

His hand was placed on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

“Would I resist, or would I follow?”

“Oh?”

The Heavenly Demon smiled.

“And the result?”

“Heavenly Demon.”

Baek Gong-do slowly knelt in that place.

Then he pressed his head to the ground.

“As a descendant of the Myriad Sword White Family, how could I possibly oppose you? You are the only one to receive the reverence of myriad swords, the sole master of the White Family.”

The utmost reverence.

But the eyes of the Heavenly Demon receiving that reverence were deeply sunken.

“So your thoughts have changed.”

“…….”

“Have you forgotten your grudge?”

“I have not forgotten.”

“Have you forgiven everyone?”

“I could not forgive them.”

“Then?”

“I cannot forget what they did to the White Family. Even if this body dies, I will not forgive them. But!”

Baek Gong-do cried out as if spitting blood.

“My inability to forgive them cannot be the same as making their descendants pay that price! They have already paid the price. [Gwon-geuk] walked into hell carrying their sins, and those who remained also suffered countless pains.”

“…….”

“Yet the reason I had to fight them was only one. Only!”

Blood vessels appeared in Baek Gong-do’s eyes.

“Because I feared you.”

“Baek Gong-do.”

The Heavenly Demon asked in a gentle voice.

“Who am I?”

“…….”

“Say it with your own mouth. Who am I?”

Baek Gong-do’s face contorted.

The utmost pain.

The utmost terror.

And…….

“You are the one and only in this world.”

The words he never wanted to hear until the end flowed from Baek Gong-do’s mouth.

“The one who alone reached the ultimate of the sword that myriad swords searched for so desperately. The master of myriad swords and the master of the sword.”

As if declaring.

“You are Sword Emperor Baek Mu-han.”

Wei Yan-ho’s world came crashing down.