The Martial God with Psychic Powers

At the monster’s claim that he “should have killed” his daughter, Maeng Jong charged in fury.
The creature smirked at the Palace Lord barreling toward him.
“Your momentum’s not bad.”
He murmured—and swept his sword.
SCREEEEE—
A ghastly shriek ripped from the blade as the air itself wavered.
Feeling a chill at the ripple, Maeng Jong snapped sidelong—
SHRAKK—
A sword lunged out of empty air and slashed for him.
His robes tore wide.
A heartbeat slower and it would have been flesh, not cloth.
Cold sweat beaded.
The strike had come from nowhere. Without his beast-honed instinct, he wouldn’t have evaded.
The creature studied him, intrigued.
“Ho? You dodged that? So the ‘king’ of the Southern Wilds has some teeth.”
Maeng Jong didn’t bite at the taunt.
If he hadn’t sensed that uncanny warning, he would never have avoided the cut.
He needed to anticipate where the next blade would erupt when that sword moved.
Could he?
First he had to understand how this thing attacked.
Which meant he had to let it swing as much as possible.
Which meant evading purely on instinct in the meantime.
If that instinct lagged even a blink, the thing carving apart would be his body.
The thought sent a chill across his skin.
Do it anyway.
He had to take this thing down if he was to break the siege on this place.
WHOOOM—
A sword of fire formed in Maeng Jong’s hand.
Heat shimmer distorted the air around the blazing blade.
He launched for the creature.
Watching would change nothing.
Seeing the charge, the creature grinned.
“I was irritated a moment ago, but this is… loosening me up.”
A toy to play with, perhaps.
Still smiling, he swung the sword he’d had resting on his shoulder.
SCREEK—
Again the blade screamed; the air split.
The instant it split, Maeng Jong sharpened every sense.
A tingle spiked up his spine.
‘Behind!’
WHIP—
He ducked hard.
WHOO—
A killing wind grazed where his skull had been.
His sense had been right.
Now—use that sense to grasp the method behind the attack.
There had to be a tell.
He watched the sword.
The hilt was carved with a hideous face; each time the sword moved, the carved face howled—
like a living thing.
SCREEEEE—
The wail came, and Maeng Jong slipped the creature’s cut.
This time, a hair late.
SHRAKK—
His robe tore—and a shallow line opened in his skin.
Blood welled; pain bit.
His mind snapped clear.
Lose focus and die.
“You’ve evaded all of them? A first. No human’s ever dodged every cut of this sword.”
Maeng Jong made light of it.
“Hmph. Dodging that trifle? Hardly a feat.”
The creature laughed.
“When I came here I was annoyed. Now I’m glad I came. Heh heh.”
He /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ reset his grip.
“You’re the first to dodge my blade three times. I’ll honor that—and face you properly.”
His expression shifted—serious now.
VMMMM—
The sword began to tremble.
The eyes of the carved face snapped open.
They fixed on Maeng Jong—chilling.
And then—
Every nerve screamed to move.
Trusting his instincts, Maeng Jong snapped his head down.
SWIKK—
Hairs sliced away.
He looked up—somehow the creature had already finished the swing.

The creature stared, genuinely surprised.
“Even that?”
Pure admiration touched his face.
“You’re impressive.”
Maeng Jong didn’t answer.
He had nearly died.
The creature smiled again.
“You’re fun. I want to see how far you can keep up.”
Until now he had stood in place. Now—he moved.
Even standing still, those attacks were barely dodgeable. And he was moving now—
In a blink, he vanished from sight.
A PRICKLE—
The sense surged again.
No time to evade.
Maeng Jong whipped his flaming blade overhead.
CLANG—
“Ghhk!”
The shock drilled through bone into his body.
THUMP—
One knee hit the ground.
“Wow. You blocked that too? Hahahaha!”
The creature laughed, delighted.
“I like you. Killing you would be a waste. I’ll give you one chance. Swear to follow me and I’ll withdraw here. Well?”
Maeng Jong stood.
“You think I’d follow you? Never.”
“Heh. With those trembling hands, you think you can win?”
“You don’t know until the end.”
“The result’s decided. I’m not even using my full strength.”
True.
Even to Maeng Jong’s sense, the creature wasn’t going all out.
Hard to accept.
A face flashed in his mind—Yeon Cheon Baek.
He compared what he felt from the creature to what he’d felt from Yeon Cheon Baek.
And laughed.
Compared to Yeon Cheon Baek, this thing was nothing.
The thought brought confidence—then calm.
Yeon Cheon Baek was here—stronger than this thing.
He would not stand by and watch the Southern Wilds Beast Palace fall.
With that, Maeng Jong’s heart settled.
The rush faded; his focus cleared.
Seeing his opponent’s aura steady in the middle of their duel, the creature’s eyes widened.
“What—an enlightenment mid-fight? How did your momentum stabilize?”
Maeng Jong smiled.
“Because someone is here who makes the likes of you not even worth considering. Thinking of him steadies me. At least to you, our palace will not fall.”
The creature snorted.
“If such a man exists, why hasn’t he shown himself? Your men are being slaughtered.”
Maeng Jong chuckled.
“Blind, are we? Where do you see my people getting butchered? The ones butchered are yours.”
The creature looked.
On the ground lay not the palace’s warriors, but his own attendants.
“When?”
What had happened?
The only one here capable of cutting down his attendants was the Palace Lord he was pinning—
He turned—and saw two men.
“So it’s you.”
GRIND—
He bared his teeth and left Maeng Jong, heading for them.
While Maeng Jong held the creature, Buk Mu Gyeol and Ya Yul Geuk had cut through the entourage the creature had brought.
Before their breakthroughs, these would not have been easy foes.
A fresh measure of the Demonic Cult’s menace.
They had just finished aiding the palace and were catching their breath when—
“Danger!”
Ya Yul Geuk’s shout—Buk Mu Gyeol twisted aside.
SHWEEE—
SHRAKK—
Buk Mu Gyeol’s robe split.
A heartbeat slower and his body would have been hewn and his soul left wailing.
Ya Yul Geuk slashed at the creature as he passed Buk Mu Gyeol.
CLANG—
The creature parried—and moved to counter—
WHOOOM—
A sword of fire lanced in.
CLANG—
He knocked the flaming blade aside and started a cut for Maeng Jong when—
CRICK-CRACK—
Cold numbed his legs. He glanced down—ice had sealed both shins.
“You filthy bastards!”
Snapped, perhaps, at the constant interference.
CHING—
He shattered the ice and swept his blade at all three at once.
SCREEEEEE—
Unlike before, an immense scream poured from the sword.
TZZANG— TZZANG— TZZANG—
Rifts opened in the air before them; blades lunged out.
All three moved to evade—
The blades bent mid-flight—tracking their dodges.
SHRAAAK—
THUD—
SZZZZ—
They were cut.
Luckily, nothing fatal.
Bleeding, the three glared at the creature.
“Unbelievable. The three of us scrambling against a single foe.”
“So this is the Demonic Cult. Terrifying. Now I understand why he was so wary—why he prepared so hard.”
Cold sweat ran.
For all this strength, they still preferred to use others to throw the Central Plains into chaos—layered caution on top of power.
A fearsome organization.
The creature eyed them.
“Who are you?”
Buk Mu Gyeol answered.
“I am Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace.”
Ya Yul Geuk followed.
“I am the Great Khan of the Gale Sect.”
His face twisted.
“Damn it. So the Southern Wilds weren’t the only failure.”
That left only Podalap Palace.
How much chaos could one palace sow?
Meaningless.
This had to be reported—fast.
He weighed it.
Withdraw and report?
Or butcher these traitors first?
His grip tightened.
He chose to clean up.
Leave them and they would interfere. Removing them here was the path to the grand design.
He would have liked to toy with them—but there was no time.
He had to go and report the failure.
“I’d prefer to take you and kill you slowly, but now’s not the time. I’ll end you in one stroke. Consider yourselves lucky.”
The three set their stances.
The creature smiled—and loosed his qi.
KWO-WO-WO-WOOM—
Power flooded the air.
“Ghhh!”
It pressed on the three from all sides.
He grinned at their grimaces.
He wanted to savor it—but not now.
He clutched the hilt.
He’d take their heads in a single pass.
The face carved into the hilt twisted monstrously.
SKREEEEEEE—
A shriek unlike any before.
At the same time, the creature slashed a long, level cut.
SHRAAAAA—
Space itself tore—and blades erupted from every side around the trio.
No room to dodge.
No way to block.
Would their bodies be torn apart here?
The instant that thought formed—
TATATANG—
The erupting blades shattered into glittering shards, scattering into the air.
The creature’s eyes flew wide. He tried to grasp what had just happened—
A voice drifted over.
“Who said you could bully them?”
He turned toward the voice.
A middle-aged man stood with hands clasped behind his back.
Yeon Cheon Baek.
The creature’s fingers tightened on his sword on their own.
‘A human broke the Demonic Time-Space Sword?’
Impossible.
Even in the Demon Realm, few could counter it.
More than that—his body was tense.
Tense—before a human?
Was it the qi he’d felt when his Demonic Time-Space Sword was broken?
No ordinary human held such qi.
It belonged to something far above him.
Their eyes met.
SHIVER—
His body trembled on its own.