novelraw Chapter 256 : A Person’s Heart Does Not Die (7)
Chapter 256 : A Person’s Heart Does Not Die (7)
Chapter 256: A Person’s Heart Does Not Die (7)
“‘No……!’”
After discovering the abnormality in Huayin County, Sewoon, who had sprinted like a madman, stopped breathing at the sight before his eyes.
Yoo Jinhak, having lost one arm and one eye, was about to be seized by the Blood Demon, his appearance utterly desperate.
Hatred and the desire for revenge, along with crushing self-reproach for failing to stop everything, stormed through him like a raging tempest.
But only for a moment.
Sewoon tore through space and kicked off with True Step, surging forward.
“Blood Demon……!!”
Screeeech!!
Sewoon’s ferocious punch forced its way between the Blood Demon and Yoo Jinhak.
“Keugh!”
The first to let out a groan was Namgung Myeong, who had been standing there in a daze.
The pressure contained within Sewoon’s punch swept through the surroundings like a storm, sending him flying into the ruins before he could even resist.
Whoosh!
In contrast, the Blood Demon lightly deflected Sewoon’s surprise attack, as if he had foreseen it.
However, that had never been Sewoon’s true intention.
Rip!
“Are you all right, Alliance Leader?”
As the opponent retreated and an opening appeared,
Sewoon’s body moved away like a shadow, swiftly carrying Yoo Jinhak’s body to a safe place.
His original objective had been Yoo Jinhak’s rescue.
“Cough, Sewoon…….”
Yoo Jinhak coughed painfully with his remaining arm.
His one remaining eye was filled with shock and amazement as he looked at Sewoon.
“You will be fine, Alliance Leader. Please recover your body first.”
Sewoon spoke quietly, sending inner energy through Yoo Jinhak’s blood vessels to ease his pain.
Even so, Sewoon’s gaze never wavered from the Blood Demon.
“It seems I was a bit late.”
The Blood Demon wore a bright, innocent smile, like a child receiving a gift.
Yet to Sewoon, that smile felt unbearably horrific and repulsive.
‘Myeong Iljin-in…….’
Glancing at the place where Myeong Iljin-in’s corpse lay scattered, deep sorrow passed over Sewoon’s face.
After finishing the takeover of the Demonic Cult and issuing his orders, he had rushed here without a moment’s delay.
‘But I couldn’t stop it…….’
He had failed to prevent the horrific calamity that befell Huayin County.
Myeong Iljin-in’s death weighed even heavier upon his heart.
“I will kill you.”
Sewoon ground his teeth. The moment he looked at the Blood Demon, uncontrollable vengeance flared wildly.
The fact that the same monster who had caused that dreadful tragedy before his regression had once again created such a calamity made every cell in his body tremble with rage.
His eyes burned with hatred and killing intent.
Yet in the Blood Demon’s eyes as he looked at Sewoon, there was only joy.
“For a first greeting, that seems a bit excessive, Tang Clan’s heir. Or rather……”
That joy was neither the thrill of victory nor the madness of destruction.
It was pure anticipation, as if he had finally found the last piece of a long-sought treasure.
“Should I call you the Demonic Craftsman?”
The Blood Demon’s low voice quietly enveloped Huayin County.
At those words, goosebumps spread over Sewoon’s entire body.
‘How does he know……!’
It was unavoidable.
The title the Blood Demon had just spoken—Demonic Craftsman.
It had been Sewoon’s sobriquet before his regression, when he had been captured under the Blood Demon’s command.
At that moment, Sewoon realized that a hypothesis he had long harbored was true.
After his regression, he had never once been called Demonic Craftsman.
The opponent did not merely know the past—he fully recognized the Sewoon from before the regression.
In other words, the existence before his eyes had inherited the Blood Demon’s memories from before the regression.
“You bastard. Are you the one who sent me here?”
Sewoon asked, suppressing his fury.
His voice was low, but it carried deep hostility toward the Blood Demon.
“What a foolish question. How could that matter? In the end, my will remains the same.”
The Blood Demon replied with an emotionless expression.
His will was singular—the destruction of the present world.
Sewoon spoke no further.
“Fine. I made a mistake.”
Kwarrrrr!
Kwa-ga-ga!
He drew up the Golden Heaven Harmonizing Qi to its absolute limit.
Violent energy exploded through his limbs and meridians, strengthening his body.
A golden radiance wrapped around him, and the overwhelming pressure shocked everyone present except the Blood Demon.
Yoo Jinhak, who had been rapidly recovering with true energy, flinched and looked up at Sewoon standing beside him.
‘The Life and Death Realm. And not merely at the threshold, but fully mature……!! How could this child already……!!’
Even he himself had only just stepped over the threshold of the Life and Death Realm, yet Sewoon had already reached full maturity.
His growth transcended all conventional understanding of the martial world.
Grinding his teeth, Sewoon stepped before the Blood Demon.
His gaze blazed fiercely.
“I could just kill you and be done with it.”
Pabat!!
Sewoon kicked off with True Step and charged straight at the Blood Demon.
Whoooosh!
Chwararar!
His figure sliced through the air like a single beam of light.
At the same time, Heart-Blade Heavenly Net ignited like flames and surged toward the Blood Demon.
Vast yang energy churned as if the sun itself were falling from the heavens.
There was no probing exchange.
From the very first strike, Sewoon confronted him with everything he had.
Paht!
Saaaah!
Sewoon’s Heart-Blade Heavenly Net, in its Formless state, burrowed into the Blood Demon’s defense. It maximized the traits of Silence and Emotionlessness, tracing unpredictable trajectories.
The Heavenly Net spread across the void like a spiderweb, flying toward the heart and every fatal acupoint that led to death.
Though it seemed to strike indiscriminately without any rule, the Heart-Blade Heavenly Net was astonishingly in perfect harmony, unleashing immense destructive power.
Then, unlike his fight with Yoo Jinhak, the Blood Demon moved his true body ‘properly’ for the first time.
“So you melted the Invisible Dagger into Black Threads. That is an idea befitting you.”
Just as Sewoon’s Heart-Blade Heavenly Net was about to touch his body—
The Blood Demon’s hollow eyes shone, and he slowly rotated his right hand through the air.
At that moment, the Heart-Blade Heavenly Net spread beneath Sewoon’s reach stiffened as if frozen solid.
Crack!!
Clang!!
In an instant, it shattered into countless fragments in midair.
‘What……!!’
It was the first time—both before and after the regression—that Sewoon’s Invisible Dagger and Heavenly Net had been broken.
Sewoon swallowed the groan that nearly escaped his lips.
And yet, it was not entirely incomprehensible.
He had never imagined that the Heart-Blade Heavenly Net, refined by the fully matured power of the Life and Death Realm, would vanish so futilely.
Shaaaa!
The Blood Demon did not stop there.
This time, with his left hand, he drew a semicircle, completely altering the flow of Martial Intent and seizing control of the surrounding space.
“To have achieved Reverse Heaven Qi to nine-tenths completion—how astonishing. No… have you newly altered it? I sense the power of another existence mixed within.”
“……!”
The Blood Demon perceived Sewoon’s transformation at once.
Even as the Heart-Blade Heavenly Net surged like raging waves, threatening to sever his lifeline, the Blood Demon’s eyes held not surprise, but deep interest.
Kwaaang!
Crack!!
As the Heart-Blade Heavenly Net collided with the Blood Demon’s Mind Sword, space itself twisted as if screaming.
Sewoon’s sword qi blazed with golden light, while the Blood Demon’s jet-black demonic qi entangled with it, raging like a tempest.
The ground split apart, and the air scorched and burned.
Ash-gray debris, discolored by the aftermath of the clash, shot up into the sky all at once, only to shatter into powder and rain down like hail.
Shaaaa!
Crack!
At that moment, the Blood Demon’s Mind Sword surged back toward Sewoon.
Whoosh!
Sewoon barely avoided it, but the blade of the Mind Sword that grazed his body violently shook his Soul and Spirit.
Pain surged forth as if tens of thousands of blades were tearing through his very being.
‘As expected… he has reached the absolute extreme of the Life and Death Realm……!’
The longer the exchange continued, the more rigid Sewoon’s expression became.
Though he had clearly surpassed a wall he had never crossed before the regression, it was still not enough.
The Blood Demon’s Mind Sword felt like an abyss of infinite depth.
His attainment was far more solid and elevated than Sewoon had imagined.
Psssss!
Pssh!
Every one of Sewoon’s attacks began to be absorbed or scattered.
Sewoon clenched his teeth.
Even so, he could not retreat.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to eliminate the Blood Demon—one that might never come again.
Kwarrrrr!
Kwa-ga-ga-ga!!
From his body, he squeezed out the last remaining strength of the Golden Heaven Harmonizing Qi.
In that instant, Sewoon poured all of his inner power into the Heart-Blade Heavenly Net, spreading it vast and wide.
Countless blazing threads of flame raged like a storm, attempting to swallow the Blood Demon whole.
Gugugugugu!
Kwarrrr!
Such overwhelming inner power was contained within it that Heaven and Earth churned and twisted as if undergoing primordial upheaval.
Yet the Blood Demon paid no heed to the surrounding anomalies.
“So… a Heavenly Demon, is it.”
A strange light surfaced in the Blood Demon’s eyes.
The corners of his lips twisted once more.
His gaze seemed to pierce through every facet of Sewoon’s existence.
“As I thought. You alone were the sole Variable.”
The Blood Demon’s incomprehensible words shook Sewoon’s mind.
A variable… for what purpose?
But Sewoon had no time to think further.
Paht!!
Kwaaang!!
Suddenly, the Blood Demon lunged straight at him.
It was as if a Divine Being—or a Demon God—had taken the first step toward the end of all things, tearing space apart with a shrill scream.
“Keugh!”
Sewoon groaned as he was forced backward.
His body trembled violently, and the Heart-Blade Heavenly Net wavered precariously.
The Martial Intent radiating from the Blood Demon was utterly absolute.
ExTermination.
The dreadful will to erase all living, breathing existence pressed down upon Sewoon’s shoulders.
Like a blood-drenched night sky, it seemed poised to devour all hope.
Just as even Sewoon—their sole remaining hope—appeared on the verge of a foreordained end—
Screeeech!
Kwa-ga-ga-ga!
With the sound of the air being torn apart, another Mind Sword flew in.
Its trajectory came from directly behind the Blood Demon.
One step away from reaching Sewoon, the Blood Demon halted in place.
“Blood Demon. Step away from that child.”
Yoo Jinhak, who had risen once more, stood gripping his sword again.
At a glance, he was clearly far from fully recovered.
His remaining eye was still stained red with blood, his White Robes reduced to rags, and his body even more battered than before.
Yet his willpower remained unbroken.
His presence was, if anything, even more resolute.
Sching!
He tightened his grip on the sword in his hand.
His eyes burned with fierce fighting spirit directed at the Blood Demon.
Without even turning around to look at Yoo Jinhak, the Blood Demon spoke softly.
“You persist in useless actions. Your role has already ended.”
In the Blood Demon’s eyes, all of Yoo Jinhak’s resistance was meaningless.
To him, Yoo Jinhak was worth less than an insect.
Yet Yoo Jinhak replied quietly.
“My role… You may see ahead to something I do not know, but…….”
His voice was filled with solemn resolve.
Step.
With each step, his blood vessels felt as though they were burning, and whenever he circulated his energy, his consciousness threatened to fade into unconsciousness.
Step.
Still, steadying his breath, he advanced once more toward the Blood Demon.
His sword lay fallen helplessly upon the ground, yet his will was sharper than any blade he had ever wielded.
“My resolve has not yet ended.”