Invincible with Twin Swords

Chapter 26 : To Become the Heavenly Demon Himself!

He said the revelation was not important.

Then my remaining purpose is to find and kill the Heavenly Demon.

It's absurd, but what if this remaining purpose is not different from their purpose?

Now I get it.

Everything was understood.

"You guys are trying to find him first, before the revelation is sent down."

He neither affirmed nor denied it.

"We have waited for a hundred years. How much longer..."

"Stop!"

Another black-clothed man who was standing silently behind stopped him.

"I hope you understand the story I told you today. We should not have to see each other again."

With a final warning, they disappeared into the darkness.

I stopped Parip hyungnim, who was about to chase them.

"It's okay. I got what I needed."

We returned to the carriage.

Na Yeryeong and the coachman looked relieved now.

We set off again.

"You can rest assured now."

I first reassured Na Yeryeong.

Although she had survived alone at a young age, the scene of swords clashing and necks being cut could not be anything but frightening.

"I was not afraid. Because I had read my path, albeit faintly."

Na Yeryeong said with clear eyes.

I am a martial artist.

I do not believe in the power of sorcery.

I believe even less in a fixed destiny.

But now, seeing Na Yeryeong reading her own path in front of my eyes, I changed my mind.

Perhaps the power she has will be of great help to my plan.

The plan to find the Demonic Cult's revelation, chase the Heavenly Demon, and kill him!

I wanted to ask her about the future, but I held back.

When the time comes and my path becomes clear, she will tell me first.

"By the way, hyungnim! What was that story earlier?"

I put up a qi barrier so that our story would not go outside the carriage. Now she must also know our business.

"As you may have noticed, we are looking for traces of the Demonic Cult. To be precise, we are looking for the revelation that indicates the advent of the Heavenly Demon."

There was no wavering in Na Yeryeong's eyes.

As expected, she knows more than I thought.

"Miss, how much do you know about the Demonic Cult?"

I asked Na Yeryeong.

"About as much as other people know. The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult that once stained the world with blood! But they haven't appeared since they lost their power a hundred years ago."

"After the Demonic Cult lost all its power, they have been waiting. For the Heavenly Demon who will lead them to appear."

"But he didn't appear?"

"To be precise, they were not waiting for the Heavenly Demon, but for the revelation. For a whopping hundred years!"

The Demonic Cult is not a group like Shaolin or Wudang.

Even the great Shaolin of the world does not forget the purpose of a Buddhist who seeks enlightenment by escaping the worldly afflictions.

The ultimate goal of Wudang or Huashan is also to seek enlightenment through the Tao.

Even if Shaolin burns and Wudang collapses, their purpose does not disappear.

Because their purpose is within themselves.

But the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is different.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is a religion. That only follows the Heavenly Demon.

The very meaning of the Demonic Cult's existence is the absolute worship of the Heavenly Demon.

There is no meaning to the existence of the Demonic Cult without the Heavenly Demon.

"But they have endured for a hundred years without the Heavenly Demon."

Parip hyungnim, who had been listening silently, said with his eyes gently closed.

"Being cooped up in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, naked and starving, and being pointed at would have been nothing to them. Probably the hardest thing was..."

Na Yeryeong continued.

"The breaking of faith!"

"That's right! The hardest thing to endure would have been the fading of faith. Is what I believe in right? Is it the right choice to keep waiting?"

"So what was the story they told earlier?"

At Deoksam's question, the eyes of everyone in the carriage were focused on me.

"Someone who is not the Heavenly Demon is trying to become the Heavenly Demon himself!"

Everyone froze.

It was something they had never even imagined.

Even for me, who had imagined all possible situations.

But that attempt will fail. No, it has already failed.

Because I have seen with my own two eyes the Heavenly Demon who descended according to the revelation.

"He wants to ascend to the position of the Heavenly Demon himself and save them. The Demonic Cult that has been trapped in the shadows for a hundred years."

"You're right, hyungnim. There must have been those who could wait no longer."

I am the only one who knows that the Demonic Cult's revelation is not far off.

If you know the end, you can wait.

But they do not know that end.

A hundred years was too long for them.

"What would a person who can no longer wait for the Heavenly Demon's revelation and tries to become the Heavenly Demon himself be afraid of?"

I threw a question to everyone.

"Wouldn't there be a conflict with the forces that want to continue waiting for the Demonic Cult?"

Deoksam answered.

"That's right! But that would be an obstacle rather than something to be afraid of."

"Even if he becomes the Heavenly Demon himself, wouldn't being recognized as the Heavenly Demon by the Demonic Cult members be a different matter?"

This time, Parip hyungnim said.

"You're right too, hyungnim, but wouldn't that be something that happens after he ascends to the position of the Heavenly Demon?"

Na Yeryeong, who had been closing her eyes for a while, opened them.

She must have put herself in that position.

"I know what a person who is trying to become the Heavenly Demon himself would be most afraid of."

Na Yeryeong and I said at the same time.

"The real Heavenly Demon!"

A person who thinks there will be no revelation is paradoxically afraid that the revelation will actually exist.

I asked Na Yeryeong.

"Are there any other sorcerers with the ability of foresight?"

"A sorcerer born with the ability can have some degree of foresight, but the ability to specifically read a complicated future is not common."

"Is there anyone with the foresight ability of your grandmother, the Soul-Taking Divine Woman?"

"...Well. I have not yet seen a sorcerer with abilities superior to my grandmother's, but the Central Plains is wide."

There must be someone in the Demonic Cult with the ability to read the path.

I can tell from the fact that they came to us today.

But the fact that they wanted Na Yeryeong means that they want a more accurate path!

That they still don't have accurate information!

That's why they didn't stop us today.

Because they are not yet sure how we will change the future.

"Perhaps it's a good thing for us! The purpose of not wanting the Heavenly Demon to appear and the purpose of getting rid of the Heavenly Demon are not opposite."

"A gap for us to dig into has appeared."

My two hands were stained with sweat.

I have only just grabbed a thin thread.

The carriage was running at a fast speed again.

The coachman with a dot behind his left ear was driving the carriage skillfully without losing his composure despite the great commotion.

In the shaking carriage, I asked Na Yeryeong.

"So where is your grandmother? Where are we going?"

"Do you know of the Forest of Swords?"

The Forest of Swords!

There is no way a martial artist who holds a sword has not heard of it.

'To see the end of the sword, go to the Forest of Swords!'

This phrase, which a swordsman would have heard at least once, does not mean to find a location called the 'Forest of Swords'.

Because the Forest of Swords is not a real place.

There are two ways to form a forest.

The first is for numerous trees to grow together.

Most of the prestigious righteous sects form a huge forest in this way.

The second way to form a forest is to stand alone as a tree.

A tree that has endured for thousands of years is already a forest in itself.

The saying to find the forest of swords to reach the end of the sword has a symbolic meaning that one must endure and endure like a tree and finally form a forest alone.

The Forest of Swords is not the name of a specific region, but just a symbol.

"I know of the Forest of Swords, but it is not a real place."

Na Yeryeong said with a smile.

"The Forest of Swords is real!"

Parip hyungnim and I held our breath. The Forest of Swords is real?

Only Deoksam, who grew up cooped up in the mountains and knew nothing, was asking a useless question about how long it would take to get there.

According to Na Yeryeong's explanation, a place called the Forest of Swords actually existed.

Of course, she said that it was not the name of a terrain, but the name of a certain place.

A place only for the sword!

A mysterious place that has existed for hundreds of years as if it exists but does not exist!

Over a long period of time, many people tried to find it, but in the end, they couldn't and it remained a symbol that a swordsman should aim for.

That Forest of Swords actually existed.

And we are going there now.

* * *

"You have to walk from here."

Na Yeryeong paid the coachman and sent him back.

A slight disappointment was visible on the face of the coachman with a dot behind his ear.

He probably thought he would get a fare on the way back too.

I called out to the coachman who was turning back with disappointment.

"Let's definitely meet again! Because I will remember you."

A coachman of this skill is rare.

Moreover, despite the rough journey on the way here, he was not flustered.

I should call this person again on the way back.

I don't know why the coachman's face turned ashen when I said let's meet again.

This is the southern foot of the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai.

This is where the Yellow River begins.

In the distance, it was also connected to the branch of the Kunlun Mountains, and its mountain terrain was rough with many large and small mountains. There were also many nameless mountains.

That's why there were almost no one who knew this place thoroughly.

"You're saying the Forest of Swords is here?"

There were many things to ask the Soul-Taking Divine Woman, but the meaning of the name Forest of Swords was special.

I will soon arrive at the place that any person who holds a sword has dreamed of at least once.

After climbing for a while, a strange terrain appeared.

It's possible that there isn't a single blade of grass here in the dense forest, but the energy was too strange.

In the middle of the lush forest, a strange energy was flowing only in this place.

Na Yeryeong picked up a branch from the floor and wrote three characters of an unknown form on the floor as if they were flowing.

An unusual energy was felt from the appearance of writing characters with just a branch.

I tried to read it, but I couldn't.

It didn't seem to be the characters of the Central Plains. It also seemed that it might not be a character. It was a truly strange shape, as if it were a character but not.

Parip hyungnim and Deoksam were watching with a look of great anticipation, expecting something mysterious to happen.

To martial artists who have only swung a sword their whole lives, such sorcery is strange.

After a long time...

Contrary to my expectation, nothing happened from the pattern drawn on the floor.

"Isn't something wrong with the sorcery?"

I had experienced an unknown light bursting out from the pattern Gwideukja had drawn on the ground in the past.

"What? Sorcery? What sorcery are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"Isn't the strange pattern you just drew on the floor sorcery?"

"..."

For a moment, silence flowed from her mouth.

"Na! Ye! Ryeong! I wrote my name, three characters. I have bad handwriting. Bad handwriting! I'm sorry for my bad handwriting."

Na Yeryeong said bluntly, as if she was angry.

Ah, ah! Her face is pretty, but her handwriting is not.

No one has it all!

"The Forest of Swords is not a place we can find and enter. Of course, there are people who find it somehow. If you write your name here and wait, they will judge and guide you."

As I was thinking whether even the legendary Forest of Swords could recognize that handwriting, I felt a strange energy from the tree.

It didn't just appear now, but it had been hiding its energy and only now revealed it.

Parip hyungnim had already put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Leaving me and Deoksam aside, Parip hyungnim is an assassin.

And one of the top ten assassins of the Central Plains!

Hiding his own presence and catching the energy of others is his specialty. But even Parip hyungnim only felt it now.

A master!

"Follow me!"

A single voice was heard from all directions.

Parip hyungnim looked around from side to side with a flustered expression.

I spread my sense of qi and concentrated, and I could feel a very faint presence slowly moving away.

I followed that direction.

At that moment, Parip hyungnim almost simultaneously moved his steps slowly. With a very concentrated expression.

Only the two of us are feeling that faint presence and following it.

Deoksam and Na Yeryeong followed behind us.

This must be a kind of test.

Whether the visitor to the Forest of Swords has the qualifications.

After following for a long time, the energy disappeared.

Na Yeryeong looked around and then picked up a few small stones that were lying randomly on the floor and changed their positions. And she broke a few branches.

Finally, when she lifted a small branch, a space that was completely invisible from a distance unfolded in front of my eyes.

It's a formation!

The Forest of Swords!

The place I had heard of tens of thousands of times since I held a sword, but believed did not exist!

That Forest of Swords was now in front of my eyes.

(End of Chapter)