Sword God Reborn

Chapter 170 : Crossing the Stepping Stones

There is a momentum in a fight. Who is superior, and where is inferior.

Generally, martial artists are surrounded by the momentum and are swept away.

But sometimes there is someone who leads the atmosphere and uses the momentum, and that is a variable. Neung-heo had created a variable. He, who had become proficient in the Left-Hand Sword Art, which he now called the Neung-heo Left Sword, was unstoppable.

A terribly persistent and dizzying attack.

Neung-heo's field of vision became extremely narrow. All the surrounding background became blurry. Instead, the enemy's forehead and Adam's apple became unusually clear. A bright red dot appeared on them.

After experiencing countless training sessions disguised as sparring with Cheon Mubaeck, Neung-heo had started to see the dot from a certain moment.

An extremely small dot. A size that could not be seen no matter how wide he opened his eyes and sharpened his vision.

It had certainly been like that.

'It's big. So that my sword can pierce it even with my eyes closed.'

A thrilling sensation swirled from the tips of his toes.

In the early days of learning the Left-Hand Sword Art, he couldn't see it, and when he started to see it from a certain moment, he had even lamented how he could pierce something so small.

'I can see it. It looks big, and I'm confident I can pierce it.'

A smile appeared on Neung-heo's lips.

'Hah, this bastard. This is why I can't leave this man's side.'

All of this had originated from Cheon Mubaeck.

From obtaining the Neung-heo Left Sword, to reaching a proficient realm.

Sometimes, he had thought it was just a sparring disguised as violence, as if it were truly reckless.

But in the end, he was right.

Shweeeek!

The sword pierced the dot. Although Neung-heo did not know, it contained the mystery of the 'piercing' of Cheon Mubaeck's Three Talents Sword Art. A spray of blood filled his vision. And he stabbed towards the next red dot.

A thrill transmitted through his fingertips resonated throughout his body. It was a sense of exhilaration. At the same time, a gratitude for an indescribable grace.

The grace for Cheon Mubaeck, who had made him, who was nothing more than a member of the Unorthodox Alliance, into a martial artist.

Although it was difficult to express, Neung-heo had decided to repay it in his own way.

A sense of duty that even if he couldn't do something proactively, he had to at least do what he was told properly.

At some point, Neung-heo had become a confidant who would follow any of Cheon Mubaeck's orders.

Pukpukpukpuk!

Holes were pierced in the foreheads and necks of the Green Forest members who were entangled in the continuous barrage of attacks.

As if slaughtering pigs and cows, he repeated the process of stabbing and killing indifferently like a machine.

Cheon Mubaeck looked at the river pirates who were fighting in a group on one side.

They were the captains of the boats and the deck captains, who were a kind of executive.

"You morons. How long are you going to cower and fight timidly?"

"What did you say?"

"Your big brother is going to die at this rate. Shouldn't you rush in, whether it turns into porridge or rice?"

Although the executives glared at Cheon Mubaeck's harsh words, they soon nodded their heads with resolute expressions.

They too had not missed the variable that Neung-heo had created.

"Brothers of the Yangtze River! Let's trample those dirty mountain earthworm bastards and protect our leader!"

"Let's tear those trash-like Green Forest members to pieces!"

The river pirates, with their bloodshot eyes wide open, rushed after Neung-heo.

As the executives took the lead, the river pirates who had been scattered here and there and were engaged in a chaotic battle quickly gathered and united like a single mass.

The number of the Green Forest was much larger, and the terrain was also disadvantageous. Moreover, the difference in individual martial power was clearly visible. But still, the river pirates rushed towards Wang Jeonyu without a moment's hesitation. Only with the heart to save their leader.

The momentum of the fight changed.

And there, Cheon Mubaeck made his mark.

In the middle of the clash between the Green Forest and the river pirates, Cheon Mubaeck suddenly jumped in.

Kwaang!

An area that was hard to see as a person.

Those who had entered the realm of entering the divine and had surpassed their limits kicked the ground hard with their leg strength.

The leg strength was so terrifying that the place where he had been was dug out in a circle, and a roar erupted. The gazes of the two groups that had clashed were focused for a moment.

"Th-that crazy!"

Someone was terrified with a pale face.

All the preparatory processes such as a running start were omitted. Cheon Mubaeck's leap from his spot was literally a flight. Not just lifting his head, but tilting his neck back to get a view of him.

An overwhelming jumping power that made one suspect if he had wings.

But he also had no wings.

It was possible to rise, but it was impossible to stop the fall.

No matter how much of a Cheon Mubaeck he was, it was impossible to overcome the most powerful force of nature, gravity. As much as he had gone up, he fell at a faster speed.

"...Huh?"

But that was a series of processes that was difficult to see as a fall.

Perhaps the expression 'dive' would be more appropriate. Because Cheon Mubaeck did not just fall down, but at the same time as he fell, he fiercely plunged towards his desired purpose at an angle.

Kwaaaaaang!

A more powerful force is applied when coming down from a high place.

Because he had leaped with a leg strength so enormous that it could dig into the ground, the force applied to his lower body as he fell was a destructive power of unprecedented proportions.

Cheon Mubae-ck used the tremendous impact of the fall.

At that moment, an enormous amount of internal qi was concentrated at the tips of Cheon Mubaeck's toes, and a pure white halo of light appeared on the soles of his feet.

It was sword qi.

The falling force from a high altitude, and on top of that, sword qi.

Cheon Mubaeck's foot plunged into the head of the Green Forest member who was looking up with a pale face.

Kwajik!

"...!"

A terrible death where one could not even scream.

The speed and destructive power were not a kind that could be avoided or blocked.

The head burst like a watermelon. No, not just the head. It tore open from the chest up and disappeared without even leaving a shape.

The Green Forest member who was nearby could not just feel sorry for that death.

Kwaduk! Kwajik! Kwak!

Because such a terrible death occurred in succession.

Even if he was nearby, even if he was further away, death was merciless. Cheon Mubaeck, who had burst the head and jumped up again using the rebound force, plunged into the heads of the Green Forest members in succession.

"Dengpingdushu?"

Someone muttered so.

Dengpingdushu.

A high-level lightness art of crossing the water by stepping on the duckweed on the water.

A dreamlike lightness that an ordinary martial artist could not even dream of unfolded before their eyes, and admiration was mixed in. But the admiration soon turned into fear and spread.

Because he was not stepping on duckweed, but on people's heads.

'Beyond amazing, that's crazy, isn't it?'

Guk Jihum's mouth was agape as he had been cutting down the Green Forest without hiding his martial power and revealing it appropriately.

His wide-open eyes were busy trying to follow Cheon Mubaeck's movements.

Although the lightness art of stepping on duckweed was a high-level study, to be crossing by stepping on people's heads!

It was not as easy as it sounded. People move. Some, gritting their teeth, even try to stab Cheon Mubaeck who is falling with their swords held up. It was nothing more than a struggle.

Without fail, their heads burst, or if not that, their shoulders were broken and they were miserably pinned to the ground.

Rather, it was a realm greater than the existing Dengpingdushu of stepping on the duckweed floating calmly on the water.

'To condense the sword qi in the lower body, and to jump up with that rebound force itself...'

It meant that the control of his internal energy was not just free, but perfectly controlled.

A realm where he could control his weight as he wished and overwhelmingly increase the efficiency of his lightness art.

'......At that age?'

When Guk Jihum, who had belatedly recalled that he was now over nineteen and approaching the age of twenty, had lost his words.

Cheon Mubaeck, who had trampled the heads of the Green Forest and had shortened the space in one go, reached Wang Jeonyu.

"...!"

The Salt Light Fortress Leader, who was fighting with Wang Jeonyu, and the vice-fortress leader of the Salt Light Fortress, stopped fighting and looked up at Cheon Mubaeck with a dazed gaze.

No matter how much they were focused on the fight, how could they not know the hell that Cheon Mubaeck had created to get here?

"Guard...?"

Passing by Wang Jeonyu's dazed voice, who had belatedly seen Cheon Mubaeck's mask.

Cheon Mubaeck plunged down as he was.

"Ugh!"

The Salt Light Fortress Leader was a little further away.

The vice-fortress leader who was in between was unfortunately chosen as the scapegoat.

But the vice-fortress leader was also a master who had fought on par with Wang Jeonyu in a joint attack with the Salt Light Fortress Leader.

He hurriedly raised his protective qi. Considering that the other Green Forest members had died without even being able to put up any defensive action, let alone protective qi, Cheon Mubaeck was on the verge of even clapping his hands.

Kwaaaang!

"Keok!"

As the protective qi was half-broken, the vice-fortress leader's shoulder collapsed. Although the protective qi was not completely broken, the shockwave was transmitted to his shoulder and shattered the bone.

Cheon Mubaeck jumped up as he was and repeated the trampling.

Jingak.

Literally, a leg technique like a thunderbolt trampled the vice-fortress leader's torso.

It was truly a perfect control of internal energy.

Not that his body was breaking, but the vice-fortress leader's body was pinned to the ground as if a nail had been driven into it.

"Keueo... eok."

Although saliva was drooling from the mouth of the vice-fortress leader, who had already lost his mind from the shock, Cheon Mubaeck did not care.

"..."

As if they had ever fought fiercely, the surroundings fell into silence.

The Green Forest, the river pirates, the Salt Light Fortress Leader, and Wang Jeonyu.

The bizarre act of driving a person into the ground like a nail was so terrible and cruel that it made one doubt their own eyes.

Kwaang!

The vice-fortress leader, whose breath had finally been cut off, was pinned to the ground and his head drooped.

"Well. I've even made a neat grave for you."

"...!"

Cheon Mubaeck said so and looked around.

He had done this on purpose.

Before, when Cheon Mubaeck had subdued Neung-heo, and when he had robbed the Black Heart Gang, and recently, when he had destroyed the Red Dragon Gang of Zhongjing.

The method that Cheon Mubaeck had taken was a terrible fear.

That was the easiest weapon to subdue the rough and vicious Unorthodox Alliance at once.

Of course, the word 'easy' was only applicable to Cheon Mubaeck. Because the Unorthodox Alliance did not feel fear easily.

But even though Cheon Mubaeck was taunting them with a good-natured manner, none of the Green Forest members could attack.

Even the Salt Light Fortress Leader was standing back a step with a pale face.

"You... how can a guard..."

Only Wang Jeonyu was looking at him with a disbelieving gaze, but Cheon Mubaeck did not pay much attention.

In the first place, he did not like the role-playing of being a guard.

'As long as they don't find out I'm the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero.'

Well. Would they find out?

Neung-heo would take care of it.

Cheon Mubaeck thought so and looked at the Salt Light Fortress Leader.

"...Wh-who are you?"

"The emissary of the underworld who will take your head."

"You bastard, River King senior! You've hidden such a monster well!"

"...Umm."

Wang Jeonyu was silent and glanced at Cheon Mubaeck.

The strange sense of disharmony he had felt when Neung-heo had first introduced him as a guard poked at his nerves.

Even if one hid one's internal energy well, an absolute master would feel a sense of disharmony with an intuition that surpassed the five senses.

'Then... that friend named Hwaung is a guard, and this guy is rather the Black Heart Gang leader? Why did they switch roles? What were they trying to spy on?'

For Wang Jeonyu, that was the best misunderstanding he could have.

"I've lost. River King senior, I apologize. The Green Forest will retreat as it is."

Since the vice-fortress leader was there, he could have pushed Wang Jeonyu with a joint attack, but now he was dead.

And not only the River King, Wang Jeonyu, but also a monster he had never seen or heard of had appeared.

The Salt Light Fortress Leader thought so.

But Cheon Mubaeck, who was staring at the Salt Light Fortress Leader, sneered.

In an instant.

Seogeok!

Cheon Mubaeck's sword cut the Salt Light Fortress Leader's right hand.

"Kkeuaaak!"

Cheon Mubaeck sneered.

"Where are you trying to ambush me with a trick?"

The right arm that had fallen to the floor was equipped with a mechanism that could shoot a hidden weapon, and the hidden weapon was shining as if it were coated with poison.

"Ugh..."

"Now. Since your right arm is cut off, listen to me obediently. Huh?"

He would not kill the Salt Light Fortress Leader.

He would neutralize this guy, and then attack the Great Strength King.

Since that was Cheon Mubaeck's plan, he had cut off his right hand, knowing well that he was right-handed.

Generally, if a martial artist's dominant hand was cut off, he had to learn martial arts from the beginning.

But the Salt Light Fortress Leader's eyes flashed, and he grabbed the sword with his left hand.

"You bastard...! I am the Salt Light Fortress Leader! I am not an opponent to be underestimated by a brat like you!"

At the sight of him shouting with anger, Cheon Mubaeck's head tilted to the left.

Because the sight of him holding the sword in his left hand was not awkward.

The Salt Light Fortress Leader, who had felt that gaze, sneered.

"I'm ambidextrous. You bastard."

"Ah..."

Cheon Mubaeck shrugged his shoulders.

"Then I'll have to cut off both your arms. It's gotten a little troublesome."

"..."

The Salt Light Fortress Leader's face turned pale.

(End of Chapter)