Return of the Heavenly Sword

Chapter 12. Inhuman (3)

How long had it been since they formed a circular formation and fought a desperate battle?

Even though it didn't seem like much time had passed, the Azure Sword Sect disciples felt as if their mouths were dry.

Despite having undergone harsh training due to Sect Leader Cheong Daejin's strict nature, they were growing tired.

The pressure of fighting on the brink of life and death was on a level that couldn't even be compared to training.

Blades flying in from all directions. Just as they were growing weary from the ruffians' incessant attacks, which continued no matter how much they blocked.

“Hmm?”

The Azure Sword Sect disciples, one by one, realized that something was strange.

They didn't feel the same fierce momentum and pressure as in the beginning.

‘Have we taken down that many ruffians in that short time?’

Just as that question came to mind.

“Aaaak!!”

An eerie scream was heard from beyond the circular formation.

The Azure Sword Sect disciples, who had found some leeway, turned their heads in the direction of the scream.

There, a scene from hell was unfolding.

The ground was soaked with blood and entrails, and more than ten corpses were scattered about.

And in the center of it all, the boy who had looked weak stood alone. With an innocent smile.

It was a strange sight.

A lone boy. Even though the boy's limbs were trembling, not a single unorthodox bastard could bring himself to charge at him first.

Grin.

Rather, the boy, as if this was not enough to satisfy him, charged at the unorthodox bastards.

Only then did the disciples realize.

‘I-it was because of that child.’

They hadn't overcome the Iron Dragon Sect ruffians. It was thanks to that boy's massacre that they had found a moment to catch their breath.

“Gulp.”

The sound of someone swallowing dryly echoed.

It was impossible to tell whether the sound was made by the unorthodox bastards who were terrified of the boy, or by the disciples of Azure Sword Sect.

Just then, an ominous sound was heard.

“Keok……”

What the Azure Sword Sect disciples saw when they quickly turned their heads was the figure of the Azure Sword Sect leader being sent flying, vomiting blood.

***

Sect Leader of Azure Sword Sect, Cheong Daejin.

He was confident.

He wasn't confident he could win against the entire Iron Dragon Sect due to their large numbers, but he thought that at least in a one-on-one fight with the leader, he would be victorious.

Clang!

However, his expectation was completely off.

Byeok Cheollyong, who had blocked the Azure Sword Sect leader's sword without difficulty, said with a sly smile.

“Did you take this Byeok Cheollyong lightly, thinking I was just some guy who rolled around in the back alleys? Hehehe.”

A change occurred in the movements of Byeok Cheollyong, who had only been blocking or dodging Cheong Daejin's sword.

“Did you really think a guy who has only been holed up and training his whole life could beat this body?”

Byeok Cheollyong's dao, which had switched to the offensive, flew in, aiming sharply at his vitals at every moment, and Cheong Daejin was hard-pressed to block Byeok Cheollyong's dao.

In the midst of that, screams and metallic sounds echoed incessantly from behind.

Cheong Daejin's mind naturally became troubled.

The numbers of the Iron Dragon Sect were overwhelming. Every time a scream was heard, it felt as if it was the voice of his sons and disciples.

While facing an already difficult opponent, the Azure Sword Sect leader, whose concentration was also shaken, began to be pushed back one-sidedly.

Thwack!

Byeok Cheollyong's preemptive left palm strike finally slammed into Cheong Daejin's abdomen.

“Keol-leok……”

Cheong Daejin, who was sent flying while vomiting blood, stabbed his sword into the ground to support his collapsing body.

However, it seemed his legs had already given out, as one of his knees finally hit the ground.

The Azure Sword Sect leader, who barely avoided collapsing by leaning on his sword, gritted his teeth and looked straight ahead.

“Farewell!”

Byeok Cheollyong was charging at him, performing a movement technique, to finish him off.

And before Byeok Cheollyong's dao could reach the Azure Sword Sect leader, a sword suddenly flew in from the side, aiming at Byeok Cheollyong's face.

Clang!

Byeok Cheollyong's gaze, which had deflected the sword without difficulty, turned. The Azure Sword Sect leader's gaze also turned toward the direction the sword had flown from.

Cheong Daejin was confused.

It wasn't because the one who had thrown the sword was Jin Yuseong.

It was because of the corpses scattered around the boy.

‘How…?’

For him, who knew Jin Yuseong's skill thanks to having had a duel, it was a result he could not possibly understand.

However, that was not what was important right now.

It is impossible for that boy, who struggled just to endure ten exchanges against me, to face Byeok Cheollyong.

This fact was all that mattered.

“Young Master Jin, run away!”

Cheong Daejin, who had shouted, vomited blood again as his internal injuries worsened.

It was a shout he had made at the risk of worsening his internal injuries, but it did not reach Jin Yuseong.

He was just looking around to find a replacement for the sword he had thrown.

Spotting a sword lying next to a corpse, Jin Yuseong bent down to pick it up.

With that one simple motion, his entire body screamed.

“Haa.”

Was it because he had thrown away his sword? Or was it because he had already reached his limit?

An extreme sense of fatigue washed over his entire body.

It didn't matter.

Jin Yuseong reached out his hand and gripped the masterless sword lying on the blood-soaked ground.

He felt the damp sensation of liquid flowing down his fingertips.

It was blood.

At the same time, a terrible pain came.

Now that he looked, it wasn't that the blood from the ground had gotten on him. It was blood flowing from his own hand.

The blisters on his palm had burst, and blood was flowing out again.

At that terrible pain, Jin Yuseong grinned.

‘I'm starting to wake up now.’

His mind, which had been on the verge of becoming hazy and dazed, was awakened.

But it was still not enough.

The trajectories of the void that had been embroidering the world had not yet appeared.

Therefore, Jin Yuseong willingly bit his own tongue.

Grit.

Along with a fishy taste, he felt moisture in his drying mouth. He couldn't smell the scent. Thanks to being covered in blood, his sense of smell had long since been paralyzed.

At the sharp pain transmitted through his tongue, the smile on Jin Yuseong's face deepened.

At the boy's smile, Byeok Cheollyong's face turned beet red.

“You scouuundrel~!!!!”

He let out a shout and, instead of finishing off the Azure Sword Sect leader, he used a movement technique and charged at Jin Yuseong.

He, who had been facing the Azure Sword Sect leader, had also not been able to closely observe the situation of his subordinates.

No, he hadn't felt the need to observe.

After all, they would be victorious.

But, when he turned his head, he saw that his subordinates had been swept away by that unknown brat.

“I will tear your limbs to shreds and kill you!!”

It wasn't that he truly cherished his subordinates like brothers.

He was just enraged by the fact that the power he had built up over several years had been cut in half because of that damned brat.

Watching Byeok Cheollyong charging at him with a vicious aura, Jin Yuseong repeatedly took deep breaths.

It was to recover even a little of his internal energy, which had already run out.

By the time he had taken just two breaths.

“Die!!”

Starting from the dao of the fast-approaching Byeok Cheollyong, a trajectory was drawn, flying towards Jin Yuseong's neck.

Swish.

Jin Yuseong, who had narrowly dodged the first strike, thought.

‘Fast.’

It seemed that Byeok Cheollyong's victory over the Azure Sword Sect leader was no accident.

The power and speed contained in his dao were no less than those of the Azure Sword Sect leader. In fact, his practical experience seemed superior to the sect leader's, as the flow of the dao he wielded was much more threatening than the sect leader's.

If there was one saving grace, it was that the flow of that dao was all visible to his eyes.

Swish.

Jin Yuseong, who had barely dodged Byeok Cheollyong's dao once more, could tell.

‘Not enough internal energy.’

He could somehow dodge by seeing the trajectory, but he couldn't launch a counterattack.

If he tried to counterattack with this slow body, the man would have more than enough time to react.

Then what should he do?

The deliberation was short, and Jin Yuseong immediately went into action.

Swiiiiish.

While Byeok Cheollyong's dao was flying along the trajectory, Jin Yuseong threw his body to dodge the trajectory and, at the same time, took a deep breath.

“Suuup.”

Riding the air that filled his lungs deeply, he felt the energy of the atmosphere.

Jin Yuseong willingly operated the Jade Cloud Divine Art and guided that energy to his meridians.

“Huuuu.”

If there wasn't enough internal energy, he just had to gather it.

That was the conclusion Jin Yuseong had reached.

“Suup. Huu.”

As he operated the Jade Cloud Divine Art while dodging Byeok Cheollyong's dao, the meridians in his entire body began to scream.

His current body was not yet fully accustomed to the Jade Cloud Divine Art.

Even when he was training alone, attempting Dynamic Cultivation brought him to the brink of qi deviation.

But he was attempting that crazy act while an expert several levels above him was swinging a dao in his face.

At that crazy act, his survival instinct frantically sounded an alarm.

Jin Yuseong willingly ignored the warning.

If he were to avoid it just because it was an impossible task.

If he were to turn a blind eye to those being oppressed by trash-like individuals.

If he were to live the same life as before.

There was no meaning in having returned to the past.

“Suup. Huu.”

After repeating deep breaths several times, the moment his concentration wavered while dodging the blade in front of him.

Thump.

He felt a sharp pain surge through one of his meridians—an internal injury caused by reckless and forceful cultivation.

Slice.

Subsequently, the eerie sound of Byeok Cheollyong's dao, which he had not completely dodged, grazing his forearm echoed.

At the pain felt simultaneously from within and without, Jin Yuseong smiled brightly.

‘It feels refreshingly good.’

Thanks to that pain, his wavering concentration was revived.

Jin Yuseong continued to attempt Dynamic Cultivation and threw his body.

The suffocating pressure of being able to die from a single trivial mistake was forcibly awakening his mind.

As he repeated the crazy act on the brink of life and death, his concentration was forcibly pushed to its limit.

From a certain moment, the flow of the world began to feel gradually slower.

“Suup.”

With the final breath, the moment his tiny dantian was filled with internal energy.

Fwoosh.

Jin Yuseong, who had been busy dodging, for the first time, took a step towards Byeok Cheollyong.

All the internal energy that had escaped his tiny dantian raced through his meridians, and the sword held in his right hand extended, following the trajectory drawn in the air.

In a slowed-down world.

Byeok Cheollyong's sword was flying towards Jin Yuseong's neck like a crawling caterpillar, and his sword was also slowly advancing towards Byeok Cheollyong's heart.

Jin Yuseong's brow furrowed slightly.

It was because he realized that his body and sword had deviated slightly from the visible trajectory.

In a slowed-down world, Jin Yuseong corrected the sword path that was about to deviate.

Absurdly, when he changed direction, the sword path deviated in the opposite direction this time.

His body, which had reached its limit, and his meager talent, which was nothing more than that of an ordinary person, did not permit a perfect strike.

Jin Yuseong didn't care.

He just continued to readjust the sword path every time it deviated even slightly from the trajectory.

It was a single swing, but it was an act that felt like swinging the sword thousands of times.

This was a familiar task for Jin Yuseong.

A perfect sword path that a genius could draw in one go, an ordinary person could only catch up to by swinging thousands upon tens of thousands of times.

No.

An ordinary person could not catch up even by swinging tens of thousands of times. Because they did not know the right answer, they were more likely to fall into the wrong path.

But now, since he could see the path he had to take, Jin Yuseong could willingly endure thousands of swings.

He continued to advance, correcting the sword path that kept trying to deviate.

An eerie sensation was felt on the nape of his neck.

In the slowed-down world, Byeok Cheollyong's dao had already reached his neck.

Because it had slightly deviated from the perfect sword path, the strike that he should have narrowly dodged had grazed his neck.

At that cool sensation, Jin Yuseong smiled. Thanks to it, his concentration, which was about to waver, was reawakened.

Enjoying the hair-raising sensation of the sharp dao blade cutting the skin of his nape, Jin Yuseong focused even more on his sword.

In the endlessly slow-flowing time.

How long had the arduous task of readjusting the constantly wavering sword path continued?

His sword, too, had already reached Byeok Cheollyong's chest.

Crack!

With a light sound of a heart being pierced, his slowed world returned to its original flow.