Invincible with Twin Swords

Chapter 35

I opened my eyes.

I couldn't breathe.

It felt as if I were crushed under a huge rock, unable to even breathe properly.

At this rate, I wouldn't last even a moment!

I calmly gathered my difficult breaths and raised my internal energy from my dantian.

Clear and pure internal energy circulated through my blood vessels, delivering new strength.

I gathered all the energy I could into both palms.

- KABOOM!

It was the terrifying Soul-Severing Palm, said to sever even the soul.

With all my might, I unleashed the palm's force towards the huge something crushing me.

"Get off! I can't breathe!"

Deoksam, who had been sleeping on top of me, was sent flying by the force of the Soul-Severing Palm and crashed into Parip hyungnim, who was sleeping in the corner.

"Hey, what? What's going on?"

Parip hyungnim shot up and even drew his sword, but after confirming the identity of the giant object that had crashed into him, he lay back down and went to sleep.

Perhaps the power of my Soul-Severing Palm was insufficient, as Deoksam was still snoring away.

Once my swordsmanship and sabermanship are complete, I must devote myself to palm technique training.

"Are you awake?"

Na Yeryeong's gentle voice came from outside the door.

I can't show the unseemly state of men, so I should go out.

When I opened the door and went out, Na Yeryeong was standing there, looking just as she had yesterday.

"You seem to have had too much to drink yesterday. How are you feeling?"

"Haha! Too much to drink? What are you talking about? There's no way I, Jin Danyeong, would do that."

"You were talking a lot in your sleep after you passed out yesterday."

I didn't make a mistake, did I?

I have no memory of it.

"Ah! Did I perhaps make a mistake? What did I say?"

To think that I, Jin Danyeong, would lose consciousness over a mere drink.

I shouldn't have said anything useless.

As if reading my troubled expression, Na Yeryeong said with a smile.

"You said I wasn't the type of woman men would like."

"What? No way! W-why would I say such a thing?"

"You said there are two types of women men like..."

What is this all of a sudden?

"I don't know what you're talking about, but it's just useless sleep talk, so don't mind it, young lady..."

"You said a woman who lives alone and a woman who is a weak drinker."

Ah...! I'm screwed.

We finished a simple meal to cure our hangovers and left the inn.

Dam Sook ate somen again today, as if she never got tired of it.

A large carriage was waiting for us outside the inn.

"By the way, who's driving the carriage?"

As we were just looking at each other's faces, a person came out of the inn.

"Are you perhaps looking for someone to handle a carriage?"

I turned around and saw an old man standing there.

"We are trying to go to Lanzhou, Gansu."

"That's perfect. I have to go there too. I want to see my second daughter's face, whom I married off, before I die."

The old man said he was a former coachman who had driven a carriage his whole life and was now retired.

He was an old man with a stooped back and white hair, and a small mole on the left side of his nose stood out.

"That's great. We will pay you the usual fee."

"That won't do. I was also in need of a way to get there, so let's just take half the cost."

As things were going well, we got a carriage and a skilled coachman fell from the sky.

The carriage that the Three Frogs of the Yellow River had been riding was quite large, so we could ride comfortably even with Deoksam taking up two seats.

The coachman, who was found by chance, was truly skilled at driving the carriage, perhaps due to his long experience.

"We were lucky. It was the same when we went to the Forest of Swords last time, and there are many skilled coachmen these days."

Just in case, I had set up a sound-blocking barrier so that the conversation inside the carriage would not leak out.

"By the way, seeing you fight yesterday, your skills are different from before. Can you now completely handle the power of that Black-Scaled Blood Serpent or whatever?"

As expected, Parip hyungnim's eyes are sharp. He doesn't miss small changes.

He's a martial artist to the bone.

He ended up on the path of an assassin, but if Parip hyungnim had grown up in a prestigious righteous sect, he would have made his name among the top ten masters of the Central Plains.

Of course, he was already the best in terms of killing techniques alone.

"Hmm... I don't know. There was a small enlightenment in the Forest of Swords, so it's clear that I've gotten better than before. But I don't know if I'm drawing out all of this guy's power right now."

I said, rolling up my sleeve and looking at my right arm, where a messy curse seal was engraved.

"This curse seal that Miss Na carved! Does it only serve to release the suppressed power? It feels like there's something else."

Na Yeryeong frowned and answered.

"First of all, the role of the curse seal I carved is indeed for the purpose of releasing the power. However, how it will manifest after the power is released is not my domain. Do you feel anything strange?"

"I felt it in the fight with the Red Snake Asura yesterday. It felt like the power that had always stayed in my right arm was trying to spread throughout my whole body. As if it was trying to fight me for my place."

Na Yeryeong seemed to be lost in thought for a long time.

"If you ever feel like your consciousness is being dominated, you must stop. After all, that power is a living power. The one who dominates that power must be yourself."

Does that mean my body could be taken over by this power?

That Gwideukja fellow planted a great power in my arm.

"What happens if I lose the initiative?"

"...You will probably have no ego and only have madness and violence."

"Then?"

"You will draw out even your innate true qi and run wild like a beast! Without feeling any pain..."

The most important instinct for a living being is its own survival.

That's why everyone, when using their power, instinctively does not draw out enough energy to harm themselves.

But the power of the Black-Scaled Blood Serpent is a power that is alive but not alive.

Therefore, Na Yeryeong's explanation was that it would reveal only the instinct of struggle, without the instinct of survival.

Even if it hurts itself.

A moment of silence flowed.

Right now, the strongest among our group is me.

If the strongest being goes mad without consciousness during a battle, who will subdue him?

If things go wrong, everyone could be in danger.

"Don't worry! If you show such a side, hyungnim, I will cut off that right arm with this axe!"

"If his consciousness has already been eaten, cutting off his right arm won't be enough."

"Ah...! Then I'll cut off his head!"

Deoksam!

I'm so reassured because I have you, hyungnim.

Excessively reassured!

"There is a possibility that it can be subdued to some extent with sorcery. Of course, it's just a possibility."

"If I ever go mad, please be the first to step up, Miss Na. Before that bear-like fellow cuts off my head with his axe."

I said it like this, but if Na Yeryeong's sorcery doesn't work, Parip hyungnim and Deoksam will have to subdue me.

I can't stain my sword with a companion's blood.

If the only way to subdue me is to really cut off my head, I'll have to accept it.

"Wouldn't it be fine if you just don't use the Ink Blood Saber? Deoksam was eyeing the Ink Blood Saber, so just give it to that guy."

Only Parip hyungnim is worried about my neck.

"I want to do that too, but this sword can no longer be used by others."

"Why? I've swung it a few times before."

"Try holding it once and raising your internal energy!"

I took out the Ink Blood Saber and handed it to Parip hyungnim.

Parip hyungnim grabbed the hilt of the Ink Blood Saber and raised his internal energy.

The blade of the Ink Blood Saber hummed, and the hand holding the saber began to tremble.

"Uh! Uh?"

Parip hyungnim was startled and let go of the Ink Blood Saber, grabbing his right arm with his left.

The energy of the Black-Scaled Blood Serpent had already seeped into his right arm and was writhing.

I quickly grabbed his right hand.

The power of the Black-Scaled Blood Serpent that had moved to Parip hyungnim's right arm flowed back to its original place through my hand.

"This guy is like this! The Ink Blood Saber already absorbs and holds the power of the Black-Scaled Blood Serpent even without raising internal energy. And then it extends to the hand holding the saber. I experimented with my left hand!"

"It's instinctively looking for a way out! And it's returning to its original place through you."

"It was incredibly painful if I didn't pull it out quickly."

The Ink Blood Saber has already been bound to me.

I'm sorry to the Saber Emperor who gave me this saber, but now I am the only one who can handle this demonic saber.

"Is a mere sword choosing its master?"

I will throw away a demonic sword like this.

After staining it with the Heavenly Demon's blood for the last time.

If I can cut off that guy's neck, I will offer my soul to the Black-Scaled Blood Serpent.

"By the way, the reason we're going to the Black Market now is to get the materials for the new divination cylinder, right? If we complete the divination cylinder, the Soul-Taking Divine Woman can peek at the Demonic Cult's revelation."

"Once we find out who lives where, I, Han Deoksam, will immediately run and take that Heavenly Demon bastard's head!"

Deoksam! Get in line behind me!

I'm the one who will cut the Heavenly Demon's neck.

"To be precise, we can peek at the contents of the two revelations that have already been sent down among the four. Even my grandmother cannot know the revelations that have not yet been sent down."

Na Yeryeong explained in detail.

"What could be the content of the revelations that have already been sent down?"

Parip hyungnim got to the point.

"It would be nice if it was who and where."

"It probably isn't. If such a revelation had already been sent down, the Demonic Cult wouldn't have come to us before."

The Demonic Cult members we encountered on our way to the Forest of Swords had no intention of killing us.

They just gave a warning not to interfere and to watch.

It means that their purpose is not different from our purpose.

They are definitely one of the four families that protect the Heavenly Demon.

In that case, what is the reason for a family of the Demonic Cult, which has been waiting for the Heavenly Demon for a hundred years, to now try to find and kill the Heavenly Demon?

I think they have received one of the revelations that have already been sent down.

I felt like I could vaguely guess the content of the revelation they had received.

Ten Thousand Great Mountains, Heaven-Soul Pavilion.

In the Demonic Cult, which has endured for hundreds of years, there are four families.

These are called the Four Demonic Pillars.

Among them, the Heaven-Soul Pavilion is in charge of protecting the Heavenly Demon from the closest distance.

Of course, for the hundred years that the heavens did not exist, all they could do was to crouch in the darkness and wait for the revelation.

Now, in the innermost part of the old and crumbling pavilion.

In the perfect darkness where not even a speck of light was allowed, the Heaven-Soul Pavilion master, Chu Sogun, was sitting with his eyes closed.

His long, disheveled hair, which reached below his shoulders, covered his old robe.

The momentum he was letting out without bothering to hide it swallowed even the deep darkness and covered the space.

He was the one who was evaluated as having approached the end of martial arts the most in the long history of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

He opened his closed eyes.

In the suffocating darkness, only his two eyes were shining.

"What happened?"

In front of him, a man in black was prostrated, waiting for his command.

"I have warned them, but they did not accept it."

They haven't shown themselves for a hundred years.

We were forgotten.

Now, no one looks for us.

But now, at the end of a hundred years of waiting, when the revelations have begun to be sent down!

Those people are chasing the traces of the Demonic Cult.

They definitely know information about the revelation.

"It would be better to eliminate them..."

"How did they seem?"

"...They were at a level that could not be ignored."

He is the one who judges most calmly in the Heaven-Soul Pavilion.

If he says that, it would be fine to consider them as people with great skills.

"Leave them be for now. There is no need to reveal ourselves with a useless conflict at an important time."

I don't know how they found out about the Demonic Cult's revelation, but they are looking for him.

Isn't the purpose of finding him obvious?

It is necessary to watch a little more.

Perhaps they can be used to divert their attention.

It would be good to leave it as a small possibility.

"I will keep an eye on them for the time being."

Chu Sogun rested his chin on his hand and asked again.

"The content of the second revelation is still unknown?"

"The Heaven-Shattering Pavilion master is not revealing it yet."

He suspects me.

He also knows that a revelation has been sent down to me, but he has not asked me yet.

The Heaven-Shattering Pavilion master is a person who believes in the revelation as if it were his life. He is also a persistent and meticulous person.

Preparing for his future is the mission of this Heaven-Soul Pavilion.

But the Heaven-Shattering Pavilion master does not trust me and is making many preparations.

It was also he who had sent a spy to the Martial Alliance without any discussion with me.

"What are the movements of the Heaven-Shattering Pavilion?"

"It seems they are poking around here and there, unable to wait for the revelation. There is a possibility that the alliance will also pay attention."

But the Heaven-Shattering Pavilion master has not yet identified him.

It is because the revelations are still insufficient.

The remaining two revelations are needed to be able to serve him.

I have to find him first, before they do.

I have waited for a hundred years in the darkness.

He should have been a light to us.

A light that will save us from this long darkness!

When the first revelation was sent down to the Heaven-Soul Pavilion, I thought that the endlessly long wait was finally over.

I expected that we could stand up proudly with him and save this world with the doctrines of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

Until I saw the content of the revelation.

The content of the revelation sent down to the Heaven-Soul Pavilion does not point to who he is.

It is about the mission he has to do.

That is why the revelation of the Heaven-Soul Pavilion is sent down first.

So that all the followers of the Demonic Cult can know the will of the heavens in advance and prepare their steps in advance.

But the content of the revelation sent down to the Heaven-Soul Pavilion after a long time of a hundred years...

Destruction!

It was only these two words.

Was the fate of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult just to destroy the world?

Was the end of waiting and enduring for a hundred years in the darkness the destruction of the world?

Does it mean that the followers of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, who have endured all kinds of persecution for a long time, have to be sent out to a battlefield where their necks are cut and blood flows again?

This is a wrong revelation.

The world considers the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult as a place where mad fanatics are gathered.

But the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult that I was born into and have protected is not such an existence.

Our purpose should be to be proudly recognized by the world and to enlighten the foolish.

I have been waiting for a single ray of light in the pitch-black darkness.

Now, that light is beginning to be seen faintly.

But I cannot follow that light blindly.

I have to confirm whether it will shine in the right direction.

If he wants the destruction of the world as the revelation says, he is not the heavens we have been waiting for.

No, he must not be our heavens.

If our heavens want 'destruction', I will tear that heavens apart with my own hands.

And I will lead my, our Heavenly Demon Divine Cult to the right path.

I will become the heavens

(End of Chapter)