Sword God Reborn

Chapter 296 : What do you hold at the tip of your sword?

A master of internal energy is not a title given simply because one has overwhelming internal energy.

Rather, there are people who are called masters of internal energy even though they lack internal energy.

A master who is unparalleled in the perfect control, management, and operation of qi.

In that respect, Cheon Mubaeck was, without a doubt, the number one master of internal energy of all time.

Dozens, hundreds of past lives.

Repeating and repeating again, from the dawn of the martial world, from the birth of internal energy heart methods, Cheon Mubaeck had realized and had accumulated through experience how to efficiently operate qi by clashing with his whole body.

No matter how strong Cheongwangma was, in that respect, he could not surpass or even approach Cheon Mubaeck.

All the senses of his body were activated. This was not just a sensitive sense.

Cheon Mubaeck felt an emotion that was close to ecstasy.

He was engulfed in a feeling of looking down on the whole world at a glance.

The senses of all things in the world were felt through his skin, his ears, his nose, his eyes, and his mouth.

Qi was loaded into his whole body.

Literally. It was not a metaphorical expression of loading qi into the whole body when using qi, but literally, qi was loaded into his whole body.

Every single small pore of his skin, all of it.

Qi had the power to make the senses several times more sensitive. That was the reason why all the masters of the martial world possessed excellent senses.

But qi veins flowed throughout Cheon Mubaeck's whole body. Beyond the boundaries of the lower dantian, the middle dantian, and the upper dantian, a single dantian.

Cheon Mubaeck's body, that itself.

Was it because of that?

He could see Cheongwangma's sword. He could see his movements. No, rather than seeing.

'Just, yes.'

There was no way to explain it. Perhaps it should be called future prediction. Cheongwangma's movements, his range of action, everything was drawn in his mind on its own, and Cheongwangma acted accordingly.

"Ugh."

A groan came from between Cheongwangma's tightly clenched teeth. His bloodshot eyes were filled with shock.

The Evil Person Sealing Formation was gradually becoming a noose and was strangling Cheongwangma's neck.

Although Cheongwangma's qi had been amplified and had produced an unprecedented power, now Cheon Mubaeck's Sun and Moon Qi had also become larger and more powerful.

Until now, Cheon Mubaeck had controlled and had operated his qi with the utmost restraint, but not anymore.

What was the reason for that?

Since he was controlling the three dantians separately, even the great Cheon Mubaeck had to have a limit.

However, the three dantians, the three types of qi, had now become one.

Cheon Mubaeck himself had become a dantian, and the breath that Cheon Mubaeck exhaled had become the Sun and Moon Qi.

At this moment, Cheon Mubaeck's control had reached its peak, and it had even surpassed the control of Cheongwangma, who had repeatedly trained in the Evil Person Sealing Formation.

So what was the answer?

Cheongwangma's efforts to reverse the changing situation continued.

Leg techniques, palm techniques, claw techniques, sound techniques, finger techniques...

In other words, the essence of the martial arts that Cheongwangma had accumulated throughout his life poured out.

But that was an act of putting his own neck in a noose. The amplification was continuing, and as he poured out all his martial arts, he had surpassed the range he could control.

In other words, it had run wild.

If the attack had succeeded, yes, it would have rather been a move of mutual destruction.

However, Cheon Mubaeck had broken them all and had stabbed with his sword. The tip of the sword had dug into Cheongwangma's shoulder. Cheongwangma groaned and jumped back.

Cheongwangma shouted with a pale face.

"Bigwang! Get out of here now! Tell the Heavenly Demon everything that happened here!"

It was truly a desperate cry that was like vomiting blood.

Bigwang, who had finally confirmed the situation, bit his lip, and without any lingering attachment, he stopped his fight with Neung-heo and left.

Cheon Mubaeck did not chase him. Cheon Mubaeck's body condition was not very good either. There were torn wounds from various shocks all over, and blood was seeping out thickly, and his whole body was stained with blood.

Moreover, Cheongwangma was still alive, and he had to control the qi that was even running wild after being amplified.

Instead, Cheon Mubaeck looked at Cheongwangma. Cheongwangma looked at Cheon Mubaeck with a gaze mixed with some regret.

"..."

His face, which had instinctively realized that he could not win, was filled with regret, anger, fear, pity, and rebellion, all kinds of emotions swirled.

Even without looking at the color of his emotions with his immortal eye, he could see it.

Cheon Mubaeck said.

"Even if you surrender, I won't spare you."

"It's a pity. Cheon Mubaeck. I will propose again."

"..."

"Choose me instead of the Ghost Demon."

Cheon Mubaeck smiled briefly.

This, he's a madman to the end.

"I told you I won't spare you even if you surrender."

"It's not a surrender. It's a proposal for cooperation. Join hands with me."

"..."

"I have been defeated by you. Even if I become the Heavenly Demon at your will, I will not be a threat. If I step forward, half of the current demonic path will follow me. It means that the internal strife of the demonic path that you want will occur."

"That's a very tempting statement."

Although he said so, Cheon Mubaeck's expression was unimpressed.

"Then this Righteous-Demonic War will also return to nothing. Since there will be a civil war, we can't fight the orthodox path. We will then leave the Central Plains and go to the foreign lands again. We will fight among ourselves there."

Cheongwangma's eyes flashed.

Cheon Mubaeck chuckled.

"Bullshit."

"..."

"You're saying half of the demonic path will follow you if you step forward? Where are you getting this bullshit? If you were to betray them, wouldn't more than half of your direct subordinates rush to kill you?"

"..."

"The Heavenly Demon is scarier than you, and the Heavenly Demon is alive and well. Do you have any popularity among your subordinates? You madman."

"..."

"Why are you beating around the bush so much when you're asking me to spare you? You're a man."

At the terrible ridicule that felt so pitiful, Cheongwangma laughed in vain. How long had he looked up at the sky? He suddenly lowered his head and said with a serious expression.

"Then, please spare me!"

"Yes, I don't want to."

Cheon Mubaeck refused firmly. Cheongwangma was a different guy from the Ghost Demon.

He couldn't be controlled, and he couldn't see into his mind. A madman was just a madman.

"Is that so?"

Cheongwangma also had no expectations and just burst into laughter.

"It's a shame. If we had met a little earlier, I could have discussed martial arts before I went crazier. Hey, Cheon Mubaeck. Can I ask you one thing before I die?"

"Speak. If that's your last words."

"Why are you so strong?"

"..."

"I am a madman, but I am still a martial artist. To be honest, I'm also annoyed. I've trained my whole life, and I was the one who blamed myself for not being able to follow even one Sword Venerable. But you're more than the Sword Venerable. What on earth are you? A spiritual medicine? Did you eat more than me? A peerless divine art? My martial art is also the strongest in the martial world. But how, why are you so strong!"

Various thoughts flashed through Cheon Mubaeck's mind.

What should he tell him?

Then suddenly, Cheongwangma's sword, which he had exchanged blows with until now, came to mind.

'...'

The sword of a madman.

And...

"Your sword has no character."

"......!"

Cheongwangma's figure shook for a moment. He suddenly vomited a mouthful of black blood.

The internal injury he had suffered from the exchange with Cheon Mubaeck and the qi that had run wild after repeated amplification in the Evil Person Sealing Formation had finally reached qi deviation.

But the bigger reason was that Cheon Mubaeck's point was an unexpected shock.

"My sword has no character...?"

A trembling voice. Had he aged more in that short time? Cheongwangma's eyes were pitifully small between his disheveled gray hair.

The pride he had in the martial arts he had accumulated throughout his life, even if he were a madman, he naturally had.

The opponent was denying it. No, rather, a denial would be better, this was just ridicule. But Cheon Mubaeck did not care about Cheongwangma's pitiful appearance and continued to speak coldly.

"It's not memorable. Although it was a mature sword that had pushed with the power of an enormously amplified internal energy and had accumulated experience, that's all. A sword that is not memorable. That is the martial art you have accumulated throughout your life."

"Uweek!"

Cheongwangma vomited blood again with a pale face.

It was a typical appearance of falling into qi deviation.

"Don't, don't insult me. My life, my martial world..."

"Insult? Tell me. What did you hold at the tip of your sword?"

"......!"

Cheongwangma suddenly felt a disgusting emotion. Was it hatred for Cheon Mubaeck, who was insulting his life right before his death? No.

At that question, at what was in a way a very simple question, he felt a terrible disgust from his own appearance, where no answer came to mind.

What did I hold at the tip of my sword?

What did I embrace?

"Well... well..."

No answer came. Cheon Mubaeck said coldly.

"There is nothing. A weapon that only covets killing intent. That's all. Of course, that is the essence of the sword. But the martial art you have accumulated, the martial world you have lived, is just that."

"..."

"Although there were many masters in the martial world, there are not many absolute masters whose names are remembered after time has passed. Even the stronger masters who had defeated the absolute masters whose names were passed down, there are too many who are now forgotten. Do you know what they have in common?"

"..."

Cheongwangma could not answer and just looked at Cheon Mubaeck. Hoping that it was not the answer he was thinking of.

"It is that they could not hold anything at the tip of their sword, and could not embrace anything. They were strong at the time, but history does not remember them. That is the martial art you have accumulated, and the martial world you have lived. You are just a madman."

Could a heart be so cruelly stabbed with a sword?

Cheongwangma staggered and then threw his back and burst into a mad laugh.

"Haha..., uhahaha!"

How long had he laughed? Cheongwangma's bloodshot eyes, whose laughter had stopped, glared at Cheon Mubaeck.

"So, so what did you embrace at the tip of your sword? What did you hold that you dare to say such a thing to me? To insult my martial world?"

"Tsk. There are guys who can't understand even if you tell them, but their pride is so damn high."

Cheon Mubaeck clicked his tongue and slowly raised his sword.

The Sun and Moon Qi seeped into the tip of the sword like the wind.

Cheon Mubaeck hardened his expression and said in a low voice.

"Look. I don't know if you can see it."

And he swung.

In an instant, Cheongwangma's world turned pitch black. The whole world was engulfed in darkness, and Cheon Mubaeck's sword soared high into the sky and then fell.

In the terrible darkness, in a place where not a single point of light could be seen.

Only Cheon Mubaeck's sword shone.

It was not shining on its own.

He had heard such a thing.

That even while the sun was up, the moon was up. But it was just not visible.

Likewise, while the moon was up, somewhere in the world, the sun was up.

The sun and the moon did not coexist.

They coexisted.

Cheon Mubaeck's sword was like that.

It flashed like the sun in the darkness. It coexisted in the darkness where the moon ruled.

"Ah... ah."

He could see it. What was held at the tip of that sword.

The Sun and Moon.

The sun and the moon.

The whole of this world.

Joy filled Cheongwangma's eyes. A thrill ran through his whole body.

At the end of his life, at the end of the martial world, he had seen it. And he had smiled.

"You have embraced the world at the tip of your sword."

This, was the martial world.

(End of Chapter)