Chapter 763 – Three Radiances Demon (9)

Thud.

Seventh Apostle’s footsteps were somewhat heavy, unlike most blood demons. They didn’t match her small frame either.

It was a precursor to her attack.

Huuuk—

The reddish whirlwind patterns were sucked into her bare feet and disappeared.

They were completely absorbed. The unstable feeling characteristic of Blood Cultivation was entirely absent.

Praising Earth Sword Duke’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

‘She’s absorbing energy into herself…?’

True energy circulation that even recovered the energy waves released from activating Transcendent Martial Art. It was more than sensual, it was greedy.

Was Transcendent Martial Art something that could only be activated at maximum power by amplifying accumulated energy like that?

Torn vine fragments struck Seventh Apostle’s toenails and ankles like budding shoots in that flow. As if indicating that the future of ‘Jeong Yeon-shin raised in Blood Flame Cult’ was merely her fantasy.

It was a bleak scene.

Only the scarred and wounded vine ground remained, with long afterimages of hair trailing above it.

And one more thing.

Two eyes that had somehow reached right before Praising Earth Sword Duke, flashing bright red radiance.

“……!”

Forward lightness skill that was infinitely close to the greatest speed under heaven. No matter how fast Blood Flame Cult’s demonic movement technique was, it shouldn’t be capable of this.

Praising Earth Sword Duke spread his empty left hand wide at a speed matching her movement while thinking. It was while deploying his protective strong energy Pale Dew Divided Light to its maximum.

‘With footwork that could someday rival the Beggar Sect Leader’s lightness skill, it seems she received lifelong training in True Blood Noble movement techniques.’

An internal energy barrier that semi-transparently surrounded his left hand.

Zzzejejejejeong!

Seventh Apostle’s fingernails scraped violently down that pale green curtain.

A heavy load pressed on his hand. Claw techniques he’d never heard of before.

Blue and dark red sparks flew in all directions, and Praising Earth Sword Duke witnessed them being sucked into Seventh Apostle’s palm with a gurgling sound in an instant. Even though they clearly contained the energy of Pale Dew Divided Light.

‘Constant energy absorption state…?’

Preposterous.

The rotation that followed was the same. In the next moment, Seventh Apostle left brilliant afterimages like a bat’s wing flapping and had moved behind Praising Earth Sword Duke.

An otherworldly shift that even incorporated the recoil from energy absorption into her rotation.

In that instant, Praising Earth Sword Duke put his sword-holding hand behind his back halfway. Simultaneously, Seventh Apostle’s fingertips struck the blade surface of the fake Enter The Divine Sword blocking his back.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!

Praising Earth Sword Duke’s body bounced forward like a cannonball.

The hazy storm barrier rapidly approached. The combat zone of World Tree martial military forces and Divine Sword Group masters.

It was a battlefield that appeared as only a massive whirlwind due to the lightness skills of thousands.

Suddenly, colorless eye radiance flickered in Praising Earth Sword Duke’s eyes. It was because Divine Sword Battalion Leader Jin Myeong-jo appeared faintly. The scene of him slaughtering three tribal members with his dark crimson mist blade.

It was ghostly.

When he swung his sword once, he appeared at another point in the storm without even looking back. Those he passed couldn’t demonstrate the Divine Tree’s regeneration techniques. They simply became corpses and were flung out of the whirlwind.

‘First priority for elimination…’

Again his thought process became fixed like tree roots.

Puhwak!

When Praising Earth Sword Duke became aware of that thought, he had already pierced Jin Myeong-jo’s back with the fake Enter The Divine Sword. Blood burst from the center of his abdomen along with sword energy waves.

“……!”

Lightning speed approaching tribal supremacy and thrusting techniques. It was the result of even using the recoil from being bounced by Seventh Apostle as Bow Body Bullet Shadow.

The tribal members who had been flowing while stepping on the massive whirlwind like grass blades rejoiced.

“Sword Duke!”

“What perfect timing…!”

—Praising Earth Sword Duke has subdued the mixed-blood leader.

When reports were going up through Wind King technique’s transmission network, Praising Earth Sword Duke reacted to hands roughly gripping his nape.

‘Divine Sword Group’s Seventh Apostle.’

The fake Enter The Divine Sword completely severed Jin Myeong-jo’s right side. The blade that emerged with blood drops burst sword winds once more.

Kwang—!

It was intended to disturb Seventh Apostle’s posture, but her fingernails pierced through even his skin without wavering. Truly inhuman balance and grip strength.

Kugugugugugugung!

When countless tribal masters pounced on Jin Myeong-jo’s body with his waist half-severed.

Praising Earth Sword Duke emerged from the whirlwind of people with Seventh Apostle hanging from his back.

Though intense pain now surged from the grip that had seized even his inner muscles, he felt quite pleased.

“Do more.”

So as not to be forgotten…

Swallowing the rest of his words, Seventh Apostle’s other hand dug into his back.

Straight to his lungs.

She had read the true energy structure of Pale Dew Divided Light in a few hand movements and breached his protective strong energy with disruptive energy waves.

‘Mind-Controlled Sword.’

The fake Enter The Divine Sword disappeared from Praising Earth Sword Duke’s grip and suddenly struck Seventh Apostle’s side directly like a mirage.

Zzzeeeeeeeeeeeong—!

She bounced back about ten zhang and stopped while fluttering one sleeve like a flag. Counter-wind struck the vine ground with a thud, creating an empty hole.

Seventh Apostle licked her lips.

[Controlled sword?]

“When you train defensive swordsmanship to a transcendent realm…”

Praising Earth Sword Duke said while grabbing the fake Enter The Divine Sword that had returned to his grip.

“You reach the conclusion that a sword that moves as it pleases is perfect for protecting something. Sword paths that calculate routes are naturally suited for offense.”

He spoke his deep insights straightforwardly.

An unprecedented era where jianghu people continuously grew stronger, even if little by little.

Whether warrior or person, one could only grow by clashing with people.

Praising Earth Sword Duke involuntarily entered the chaotic age and realized Mind-Controlled Sword techniques. The tribal Divine Sword Group Leader had to be that way.

[No wonder it was less fierce than a controlled sword should be.]

Seventh Apostle said while stroking her waist with her fingertips.

Instantly, bright red blood was sucked back into the wound. Finally, only white skin remained, gleaming in the moonlight.

“That Transcendent Martial Art.”

Praising Earth Sword Duke asked quietly.

“How long does it last? It’s martial power beyond your capabilities.”

[What?]

“You made another person’s imaginary life into your own existence. Obviously the secret art of a madwoman whose upper energy center spirit has been distorted. How long can you maintain it against me?”

That was exactly right.

Praising Earth Sword Duke stepped close and trapped Seventh Apostle within hazy sword shadows. It was a sword curtain deployed centered on the opponent. Complete restraint was possible.

His intent flowed out as plainly as uttering an ordinary technique name.

Transcendent Martial Art.

[Inner Realm Sword Prison.]

Sword winds close to substance occupied all directions, and all blade winds began swirling within the sword curtain. A method of repeating the thirty-eight techniques of the tribal swordsmanship Wood Above Night Sky Sword Thunder over a hundred times in one breath.

A sphere hazy as mist swallowed Seventh Apostle.

That was all.

…….

There was no particular roar.

Neither was there the sword hell surrounding Praising Earth Sword Duke’s mind. Just as the wind sounds that should have been swirling were trapped in the sword curtain, he too was imprisoned in the shackles of being tree root-born.

Finally.

Saaaa—

No one remained in the sword curtain that was round and large like the moon. Only bloody mist was thick within.

Praising Earth Sword Duke glanced down at the black robe remnants scattering at his feet. The black thread scraps dispersed without a trace before even touching the vine ground.

From within the vast nearby whirlwind, tribal masters burst into cheers.

“Defeated!”

“The tribal Divine Sword Group Leader has…!”

—The orthodox Enter The Divine Sword Master has executed Blood Flame Cult Leader Seventh Apostle.

Though no one took their eyes off the Divine Sword Group warriors, the presence of Seventh Apostle who had imitated Jeong Yeon-shin was immense. Her absence would inevitably be the same.

On the other hand, World Tree didn’t allow complacency.

Praising Earth Sword Duke’s sword-holding arm swung by itself.

[Inner Realm Sword Prison.]

The blade winds of thirty-eight sword techniques filled the semi-transparent sphere once more.

He struck as if to pulverize even the blood mist. A sphere filled with lightning from the tremendous sword strikes and atmospheric friction.

—Reporting to the Law Enforcement Department. Praising Earth Sword Duke has executed the changed form of Transcendent Martial Art for the second time… Before unification, he was capable of three times with concentrated earth energy, so the Law Enforcement Department should calculate the Sword Duke’s remaining Transcendent Martial Art based on this. In the main trunk’s true energy supply, the Sword Duke is… did he say third priority?

The void where even the blood mist had disappeared.

Praising Earth Sword Duke silently surveyed the battlefield.

For some reason, Jin Myeong-jo with an intact body caught his eye first. Though it should have been fatal injuries for mixed-bloods, he was supplying Dark Night Brilliant Blood Demon Sword to the former generation black-ranks. Reports were pouring through Wind King technique’s transmission network that he should be considered Blood Flame Cult Leader Baek Rak.

On the opposite side, a white-haired handsome man was handling over a thousand tribal masters. He seemed ready to charge at Praising Earth Sword Duke at any moment, but if the opponent was the Northern Blood King, he would have to execute Inner Realm Sword Prison again.

Beyond that, the Northern Dharma King was leisurely traversing the battlefield for some scheme, and the Northern Demon Contempt Blade was somehow only protecting Radiant Demon Wing warriors. Ordinary formations couldn’t pierce his Heavenly Steel Light Armor.

‘The North, again the North…’

Praising Earth Sword Duke wondered.

What made them so free?

Only Demon Contempt Blade seemed like someone who would submit to coercion.

It was then.

Kiiiiiiiiing! Jjeng—!

The fake Enter The Divine Sword floated up by itself and deflected some hand. Shockwaves drawing large concentric circles in the night sky.

Stepping on such hazy ripples, some woman wrapped herself in crimson protective strong energy. Internal energy barriers that fluttered like celestial maiden’s robes.

[If Yeon-shin had only learned Blood Cultivation, he would surpass me and the Cult Leader with regeneration ability. Because talent would transcend bloodline.]

Divine Sword Group’s Seventh Apostle laughed.

[It means you can’t kill me. Neither you nor heaven.]

Then she muttered like a madwoman. She would keep dying, but even so…

At the end of that soliloquy followed an insignificant call. Praising Earth Sword Duke definitely heard it while walking toward her. “Nanny,” she had said.

Suddenly light flashed.

It was beneath his feet.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaang—!

In an instant, he intercepted it with the fake Enter The Divine Sword’s controlled sword technique, and Sword Ghost Baek Seo-gun’s Qi Controlled Sword bounced away along with sword wind clusters.

When Praising Earth Sword Duke’s orange robe fluttered violently.

Seventh Apostle had already gripped his nape once more. Bone-deep, piercing coldness set in. Though clearly gripped by hand, it felt like being bitten by fangs.

Praising Earth Sword Duke’s muttered words followed.

“Meaningless surprise attack.”

Nothing was faster than a peerless swordsman’s simple finger technique. No matter how swift the incoming body movement. Otherwise, the young Tyrant Sword would have lost his reckless sword to the Beggar Sect Leader in his youth.

Just as Praising Earth Sword Duke took sword position with two fingers while thinking this.

Lightning-like realization flashed through.

It wasn’t an attack technique.

‘Energy absorption…!’

That insight led to an intuitive question. What realm would ‘Blood Flame Cult Leader Lightning Genius’s’ energy absorption be?

Thudkwang…

“……!”

The tree bark surrounding his soul shattered into pieces and felt like being sucked into Seventh Apostle’s grip.

Unification broke.

It was incredible even while experiencing it with his whole body. He felt as if sensing eternity. The next moment when he came to his senses, he was kneeling on one knee on the vine ground.

The fake Enter The Divine Sword returning to his grip from afar stuck weakly into the vines.

Wind King technique’s transmission network became chaotic.

—Divine Sword Group’s Seventh Apostle collapses near Praising Earth Sword Duke. The Transcendent Martial Art seems to have been released. Someone must certainly kill her…

—The Sword Duke’s presence is unfamiliar. Judging by energy waves, the Divine Tree’s grace seems to have been withdrawn.

—Unification collapse, unification collapse…!

—Reporting to the main trunk’s Law Enforcement Department. A gap has occurred in the leading forces that were equal to tribal leaders. Hurry with support…

Praising Earth Sword Duke gazed down at the fake Enter The Divine Sword at his feet. The blade was chipped in places, and the handle was stained with scratches. No longer pure white, it even resembled the genuine Enter The Divine Sword.

Divine Sword Group Leader Yue Shou-lin stood before him.

“Any last words?”

At her quiet question, Praising Earth Sword Duke faintly raised the corners of his mouth.

“If we had competed for the position of Enter The Divine Sword’s master with such ‘intact bodies’… I would have lost to you after all. Wasting time is indeed the words that describe our tribe.”

As soon as unification was released, his entire body’s innate true energy began seething. It felt like becoming Hwangbo child with Scorching Divine Meridian.

If he had no karma built up by himself, Praising Earth Sword Duke didn’t want to suppress this series of flows with Major Heavenly Circulation.

Yue Shou-lin replied.

“In a three-game match, I would have lost once too.”

Praising Earth Sword Duke silently looked up at World Tree’s peak.

The words he had spoken earlier rolled around in his head like the fake Enter The Divine Sword. That a sword moving as it pleases was perfect for protecting something…

‘Because I couldn’t move according to my will, I couldn’t protect you.’

He slowly opened his mouth.

“If a warrior takes up a sword, he must create land ten times more fertile than a farmer holding a plow to be proud of himself.”

Slowly.

His entire body crumbled to powder and scattered. Along with quiet words.

“…I couldn’t even become fertilizer for history.”

It was carried on the breeze. The late spring wind briefly touched the faded Enter The Divine Sword, then flew away beyond the World Tree.