Single-Instant Blade

Chapter 77 : Escape (2)

The Single-Instant Blade did not spare its enemies. If a blade was drawn, one of the two would surely die.

Was it because the Single-Instant Blade was cruel? Or was it because the forms of the Single-Instant Blade should not be known? Or was it because of the tradition that you must kill your opponent?

The reason Ah Geol raised the half-iron blade was clear.

Ah Geol had raised his blade with a completely different meaning from what the people of the world thought.

The Third Lord, Shin Dopa, had lost the ability to fight.

Although Ah Geol had been cut twice, there was no problem with his movement. The wounds were not large, and he did not bleed heavily.

Shin Dopa had been hit only once, but he seemed to have difficulty moving.

His intestines were protruding through his cut abdomen.

Although he was holding his intestines tightly with his left hand, it looked precarious, as if they would spill out at any moment.

The Single-Instant Blade was very fatal.

But Shin Dopa was still holding his sword, and was trying hard to raise his true energy.

A martial artist’s instinct said that if you didn’t fight, you would die.

Even if he lost consciousness and his soul left, his body would still not give up the fight.

So he was trying to kill him.

Thud!

Ah Geol extended his left foot. And then he did not move any further. He had become rigid.

Shring!

He swung the half-iron blade and held it against his back.

It seemed that he intended to block an attacker from behind… but what was it?

“Kuk! Kukuk!”

Shin Dopa laughed.

Ah Geol did not attack. He had even hidden his sword behind his back.

When Ah Geol did not attack, Shin Dopa took it as a sign that he no longer had the will to fight.

“Kuk!”

He moved his body, smirking.

Shin Dopa could not judge the situation. Although Ah Geol was showing a strange appearance, he did not notice it at all.

He was half out of his mind.

The blow to his abdomen was so fatal that his mind had gone blank for a moment.

He could not think of anything. The most urgent thing was to stop the bleeding, but he did not even think of that. He only thought that he had to get out of this place quickly.

Whish! Whish!

Shin Dopa staggered and walked away.

Ah Geol could not even move an eyebrow as he watched Shin Dopa walk away.

‘Killing intent!’

A very strong killing intent was extending.

Although he didn’t know who was emitting the killing intent, it was a killing intent that could easily blow away someone of his level.

He had smelled the breath of a demon.

‘Hoo!’

Ah Geol let out a big breath calmly.

He calmed his mind, raised his true energy tautly, and his senses sharply chased the killing intent.

Where was he hiding? Who was it that was emitting such a strong killing intent?

‘Someone stronger than Shin Dopa!’

Although he had not seen the opponent, he could read what kind of person he was. He was stronger than Shin Dopa and himself combined. When he encountered the killing intent, it felt similar to a deer sensing a tiger.

If the opponent attacked, he could not block it.

‘Seori Gaheon, Hyeonggae, Heo Dogi.’

In the martial world, three people immediately came to mind who could emit such a killing intent.

There was no way Heo Dogi would come to such a barren land. But he didn’t know what would happen in the future.

Heo Dogi would find out that the Blood Sword Sutra had appeared in the martial world.

Since the martial art of Hyeonjeong, his dead sister-in-law, had appeared, even if the Third Lord did not report it, someone would.

Although he might be able to ignore other matters, if Hyeonjeong’s martial art had appeared, there was no way he would stay still. He would immediately confirm the facts of what had happened.

He had encountered Seori Hyeonggae a while ago… had Seori Gaheon come?

‘…If my senior brother has come, I will die.’

Ah Geol watched carefully how the killing intent was moving.

When Ah Geol held the half-iron blade against his back and took a defensive stance, Mongseol immediately knew that something had happened.

“Why? What’s wrong!”

Mongseol was about to rush to Ah Geol in a hurry. But she soon stopped her body.

Ah Geol was terribly tense. He had tensed his nerves so sharply that he could not even move his body. Weren’t his eyes bloodshot with a blood-red color?

‘I shouldn’t disturb his concentration.’

She rather held her breath. And she looked around.

There was no one. She did not feel any presence.

‘No, there’s definitely someone!’

She raised her true energy and awakened the sword in her Mud Pill Palace.

The Mud Pill One Sword had self-awareness. The self-awareness that the Mud Pill One Sword realized was also her sense, but it allowed her to see the parts that she could not see with her naked eye.

Paaat!

She raised the Mud Pill One Sword strongly and felt if there was an enemy.

‘There’s… no one?’

There was no enemy. At least, the enemy that the Mud Pill One Sword was pointing to was not visible.

But there was an enemy. So wasn’t Ah Geol so tense? He hadn’t been this tense even when he had fought the Third Lord, but he was much more tense than then.

‘Who is it?’

She released her true energy and looked at Ah Geol.

Ah Geol did not move a muscle. He was observing the air current with his true energy raised as if it would burst.

Mongseol waited, hiding her presence as much as possible.

She did not do any action that would disturb Ah Geol.

* * *

‘He’s gotten stronger. Really. Huhu!’

Seori Hyeonggae laughed.

He was quite different from when he had faced him. At that time, he had not noticed even if he had sent out killing intent, but now, he had only let out a little, but he had immediately noticed and was on guard.

Of course, he was still a young novice.

‘What was it? It was similar to the Short Blade Strike that the thirteenth sect master had used… but it was shorter than that.’

Seori Hyeonggae frowned and looked at Ah Geol.

He was now thinking about the blade art that Ah Geol had executed.

The Flying Swallow Waterfall Drop that the Third Lord had executed was very exquisite. It had attacked from an angle that was impossible to dodge, and very quickly. If it wasn’t a fast blade that could split the flying light, it could not be handled.

The only defense was to retreat.

When Ah Geol had not retreated and had endured, the only thing left would have been death. Although Ah Geol would have used his blade, he could not block the Flying Swallow Waterfall Drop.

He was dead. It was a dog’s death, right?

Seori Hyeonggae did not understand why Ah Geol had chosen a dog’s death. There had been exactly one chance to get his body out before the Flying Swallow Waterfall Drop had rushed in, and a Single-Instant Sect disciple would never miss such a chance.

But Ah Geol had missed it. It was the same as choosing death himself.

At that time, a blade light had spread.

It was a very short single strike.

It was as short and fast as a form created by flicking a finger.

There was no form. Only the blade had moved very shortly. It had accurately gone up against the sword path created by the Flying Swallow Waterfall Drop and had cut the flesh that was closest. The abdomen!

Seori Hyeonggae had clearly seen how the blade had moved.

A blade without form, a free-spirited blade, a blade executed only with senses!

The Single-Instant Blade!

All the previous Single-Instant Sect Masters had created their own blades. And they had given a name to that blade.

The Twelve Killing Phantom Blades, the Meteor Flying Blade, the Revolving Wheel Blade, and so on.

But it was a big mistake to treat the blades of the previous masters as forms or martial arts.

Although it seemed that there was a certain form, there was none. There were no forms themselves. It was executed only with senses. The Single-Instant Blade was to draw a trajectory as you pleased, as the blade went.

The first Single-Instant Sect Master had used the Phantom Floating Killing Blade’s sixteen forms and one hundred and twenty-eight moves.

Was that a form? No. If you thought of it as a form and looked at the Phantom Floating Killing Blade, you would only see the forms. At best, you could only execute one hundred and twenty-eight moves.

If you looked at the Phantom Floating Killing Blade from the perspective of the Single-Instant Blade, the forms would increase exponentially.

It was not sixteen forms. It could be a thousand forms, ten thousand forms. Since it was a blade art that was executed as you pleased, there was no limit to the number of moves. Raising the blade was also one move, and lowering it was also one move.

Ah Geol had made such a mistake.

Until he had fought with him, Ah Geol had seen the blades of the previous Single-Instant Sect Masters as forms.

Ah Geol had executed the forms very skillfully. That alone was a considerable level. There were almost no one who could face him. Hadn’t even Dongbak been hit by such a blade?

But he had defined the blade that should have flowed freely as a form and had trained. He had made a cage himself, and had crawled into the cage.

This was the point that his master had been most wary of when he had taught the Single-Instant Blade.

Never be trapped in the forms. Do not try to train the forms. Make your body a blade.

It was as clear as day what would happen if a person trapped in a cage fought a free-spirited person.

But… while fighting Shin Dopa, Ah Geol had used a very free and lively blade. It seemed that it was not the blade of the previous masters, but a blade that he had learned himself.

Learned? No. He had thrown off the shell and had stood up.

It was difficult to determine if it was a Single-Instant Blade just by looking at it once, from a distance.

Still, Seori Hyeonggae was sure that it was a Single-Instant Blade. The moment he had seen Ah Geol’s blade, the feeling of ‘Single-Instant Blade!’ had arisen.

‘Huhu! If his master had been alive, he would have given him the Seori surname. He would have received a formal name. Has he finally become the master of the Single-Instant Blade? Then there are three Single-Instant Sect disciples. Hahaha!’

Seori Hyeonggae laughed without a sound.

Even if there were three Single-Instant Sect disciples, there was only one Single-Instant Sect Master.

Even if there were three, four, five Single-Instant Sect disciples, there was always only one Single-Instant Sect Master.

The other Single-Instant Sect disciples? They were dead. They had died at the hands of their senior and junior brothers.

There had to be only one Single-Instant Blade.

If you didn’t want to die, you could not use the word Single-Instant Blade and be loyal to the master of the Single-Instant Blade. If you threw away the Seori surname, and did not dream of the word Single-Instant Blade, and were loyal to Seori Gaheon, you could save your life.

But there was no such precedent in the history of the Single-Instant Sect.

All those who had obtained the Single-Instant Blade were the strongest. They thought that they were the best. They did not submit to others.

Seori Gaheon, Seori Hyeonggae, Ah Geol!

Two of the three had to die.

‘I’ll spare you. The Blood Sword Sutra and the Single-Instant Blade. If I use you well, I can finish Heo Dogi. You’re creating a chance for me to get out of the Wind Path Valley. Hahaha! This kind of chance is rare.’

Seori Hyeonggae laughed without a sound.

* * *

‘He’s gone!’

Ah Geol finally released the half-iron blade he had held against his back.

The Third Lord, Shin Dopa, was not visible. While he was paying attention to the unknown killing intent, he had staggered and had disappeared.

“Hoo!”

Ah Geol finally let out a held breath.

Shwiiik!

A sound of wind arose, and Mongseol came running.

“What was it?”

She asked a question before she had even set her body.

“Killing intent.”

“Killing intent…?”

“A killing intent that I couldn’t have won if he had attacked.”

“Can you judge that much with just killing intent? No matter how sharp the killing intent is… ha! I’m still far from it.”

Mongseol smiled faintly.

She had deliberately laughed to relieve Ah Geol’s tension. In fact, she also didn’t feel like laughing.

Shin Dopa had not gone far.

He was leaning against someone’s burial mound, with his head dropped.

He was dead.

You could tell without even having to check his pulse.

The hand that had been clutching his abdomen was released. His intestines were protruding from his cut abdomen. The sword that he had never let go of for a moment was lying far away.

His vitality was gone, and only a deathly aura overflowed.

“I thought he would live, but he’s dead.”

Mongseol said, looking at Shin Dopa.

“From now on, we’ll really be chased.”

“So we were being chased for fake until now?”

“The Sacred Sword Sect, no, the entire martial world will be chasing us. They’ll be chasing me too, but the main target is you.”

“Me? Why me?”

“The Blood Sword. The Blood Sword Sutra is the martial art of Hyeonjeong, the wife of the previous sect master of the Sacred Sword Sect. And you’re using it.”

“I was going to ask you before, why did the Blood Sword Sutra become my engagement gift? What is your relationship with the Sacred Sword Sect?”

“I’ll tell you later, later.”

“No, tell me now.”

“The situation we’re in right now is tiring enough. Let’s talk later about things that won’t help even if we know.”

Ah Geol walked ahead first, as if he really didn’t want to talk.

(End of Chapter)