Rebirth of the Heavenly Demon

By now, Ma Ryeong-in would have been caught by Ma Cheol-gun. He would try to escape the situation with all sorts of sweet talk, but it wouldn’t be easy.

Number Two, coming out of the room at the end of the corridor, was startled to see me.

“Why are you here?”

I strode towards him. He instinctively realized something had gone wrong.

“You bastard!”

He lunged to rotate the lamp attached to the wall behind him.

Click.

It was a device to urgently activate the mechanism.

I had already dashed across the corridor and was within range of the fourth mechanism.

Swish swish swish swish swish swish swish!

Dozens of strong needles were simultaneously shot from both walls and the ceiling. It was an attack that even a master’s grandfather couldn’t possibly avoid.

The Asura Bright King Sword was drawn as fast as lightning.

Clang clang clang clang clang clang clang!

All the strong needles flying towards me were deflected and stuck into the corridor walls.

Number Two was shocked at the sight. It was an unbelievable sight even though he saw it with his own eyes. Not just the number of needles fired, but their power and speed were tremendous.

“You, you were a sword user!”

I was already rushing towards him.

Number Two drew his sword and lunged.

Swoosh! Swish!

Number Two and I passed each other. His sword was fast and accurate. It seemed fair to say the numbers were assigned based on skill.

If his opponent hadn’t been me, and especially not me with my sword drawn, he wouldn’t have met such an end.

I stopped at the place where he had been, and Number Two flew through the air and tumbled onto the corridor I had just passed through.

Swish swish swish swish swish swish!

Hidden weapons from the front mechanism flew and struck his body.

Chukkeokung! Cheolkeok! Cheolkang!

Blades that densely protruded from the floor pierced his body, and simultaneously, poison smoke was sprayed from the ceiling.

Puwooong!

He probably didn’t feel pain as he had already died by my sword the moment we crossed.

Clang.

I turned the lamp on the wall back to its original position. The protruding blades were retracted and the mechanism stopped operating.

I moved on. The room with Ma Ryeong-in and his eight guards was empty.

I stopped between Im Yeon-jeong’s room and that mysterious room.

First, I slowly opened her door.

She was standing in front of the round sphere. She was very tense from hearing the sound of the mechanism activating outside.

But she really didn’t expect me to come in.

“You? Why are you…?”

Her eyes widened as much as they could.

“I didn’t go for the assassination.”

“What do you mean?”

After staring at me blankly for a moment, she finally grasped the situation.

“You deceived him from the start!”

I nodded.

“That’s right. The medicine you gave me won’t work either. So don’t worry.”

“Who said I was worried!”

But a slight look of relief flashed across her face.

“What’s happened to him now?”

“He’s probably been caught by Ma Cheol-gun.”

I answered readily. As if expressing her feelings towards Ma Ryeong-in, she didn’t worry about him.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“That depends on how you respond.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tell me about the backers you know.”

“I can’t do that. Even if you kill me.”

Feeling that she was speaking sincerely, I suddenly had such a thought.

That the trap she was caught in might be one that couldn’t be undone even in exchange for her life. I have no intention of killing her for not telling me about the backers.

“I’m going to destroy everything behind you. I’ll burn all the books and materials here too.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

After shouting strongly, I spoke in a softened voice.

“You don’t like doing this research, do you?”

She was surprised. She wondered how I knew her heart, and felt joy that someone understood her feelings.

“Originally, I should kill you too. But just as you gave me a chance to save my life, I’ll give you a chance too. Stay with the organization or leave far away, do as you wish.”

Tap tap!

Without waiting for an answer, I struck the air to subdue her acupoints.

“Anyway, you don’t need to move your body to make a decision.”

I hugged her, unable to move, and brought her to the door. Although I hadn’t subdued her speech point, she remained silent in my arms, just watching my actions. I had thought she had a voluptuous and sensual body, but in my arms, she felt delicate.

After setting her down outside the door, I walked to the central sphere.

“No!”

Despite her protest, I unhesitatingly drew my sword. Just as I was about to raise my sword energy to smash everything installed here, that’s when it happened.

Creeeeak.

As if it hadn’t been opened for a long time, the sound of a door opening with friction was heard.

It was that room in the back.

I slowly turned towards it. The door wasn’t fully open, just slightly ajar, but powerful energy was flowing out from that gap.

I could tell. Someone inside was calling me.

As I walked towards it, Im Yeon-jeong said with a fearful face:

“You’ll die if you go in.”

I smiled at her.

“That remains to be seen. You didn’t know this situation would happen either, did you?”

Im Yeon-jeong took my words as confidence.

“Who on earth are you?”

“I’ll tell you when I come back.”

Leaving her behind, I entered the opposite room. I closed the door in case she outside might get hurt.

I focused my mind and sharpened all my senses.

There was no furniture or utensils in the room. It was literally like an empty room after moving out.

An old man was sitting in the middle of it. His long, flowing hair covered his face. Only the old man’s piercing gaze flowed out between his hair. And a sword placed beside him. There was only him and his sword in this room.

An incredible presence was felt.

The energy I had felt several times before was not exaggerated at all. The old man was an even greater master than I had expected.

Could I really win if I fought this old man?

That thought immediately came to mind first.

But even so, I wasn’t surprised. Even if this door hadn’t opened by itself, I was planning to open this door anyway.

“Who are you?”

It was a calmer tone than I expected.

The moment I heard his voice, I thought I had heard this voice somewhere before. I couldn’t immediately recognize who he was because his long hair covered his face.

“I’m called Nameless.”

He must have heard my name several times from inside already. I had been living here for the past few days after all.

“Sit down.”

I sat down facing him at a distance where our fingertips would touch if we both reached out. The old man looked at me with a piercing gaze.

“You said you’d destroy that place?”

“That’s right.”

“You can’t. Because I promised to protect that child and that place.”

So this was the reason for this old man being in the room across. In other words, it also meant that this organization valued that research very highly.

“Who did you make that promise with?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“You do know, don’t you?”

For a moment, the old man stirred.

But I didn’t hold back the words I had to say.

“What do you think their purpose is in developing that antidote? It’s to take over the martial world. Do you know that?”

At that, the old man laughed loudly.

“Hahahahaha. That will absolutely not happen.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Then, truly unexpected words came out.

“As long as Cheon Hajin exists, no one can take over this martial world. They’re just playing games of conspiracy.”

“Cheon Hajin is…”

“The best. He’s truly the best martial artist.”

“Cheon Hajin is…”

“No one can kill him.”

He didn’t know that I had died.

“Have you ever met Cheon Hajin?”

“Of course.”

Intense light flowed from the old man’s eyes.

“He’s the only person who has ever defeated me in my lifetime.”

He raised his head abruptly and looked up at the ceiling.

“He’s also a calamity given to me by heaven.”

At that moment, as his hair flowed down, I could see the old man’s face.

Finally, I could recognize who he was.

The Sword Emperor.

Now too old, he was the Sword Emperor I had fought and defeated at twenty-nine.

At that time, he was in his fifties. About forty years have passed since then, so he must be over ninety now.

It was also the year I ascended to the position of the world’s greatest. That year, I consecutively defeated the Sword Emperor, the Blade Emperor, and the Fist King.

I maintained a friendship with the Fist King even after our duel. I even learned martial arts from him.

But I had never met the Sword Emperor and the Blade Emperor again after that day.

To think I would meet the Sword Emperor in a place like this. To think they had even drawn in the Sword Emperor.

“They will take over this martial world.”

“I told you they can’t.”

“Cheon Hajin is dead.”

Suddenly, the Sword Emperor bulged his eyes and shouted:

“Nonsense!”

But I spoke calmly.

“They didn’t tell you. Cheon Hajin died a year ago.”

“That’s impossible!”

“Look at me. Do I look like I’m lying?”

The Sword Emperor’s eyes trembled as he looked into my clear eyes. He realized that I wasn’t lying.

He raised his voice again.

“No one can kill him. Only I can kill him.”

A distorted madness burst forth.

Towards that heat, I asked a cold truth.

“What did you agree to receive in return for helping them?”

The Sword Emperor’s expression distorted. If his justification was righteous, he should have answered, ‘Do you think I’m doing this for some mere compensation?’

But the Sword Emperor couldn’t answer.

My cold words continued.

“You must have agreed to receive something that would allow you to defeat Cheon Hajin.”

I could feel his wavering. He was a person who couldn’t lie.

I could understand. After his defeat to me, he had lived his entire life carrying that wound. I didn’t know when or how he was recruited, but I could tell how they had recruited him.

Ah, this foolish old man.

“Shouldn’t you have been able to resist the temptation of such people as you aged?”

“Who killed him?”

I slowly turned my head to look at the opposite room.

“You did.”

“What?”

“Since this organization likely killed him, in the end, you who are helping this organization killed him. It must be a good thing for you. You wanted to kill him so badly, and now you have.”

“Shut up!”

“You shut up!”

I was angry. I was angry at this foolish old man, and I was angry at the forces behind him who had used this old man.

“A master of your caliber, unable to escape from the delusion of victory and defeat, helping such people?”

The Sword Emperor couldn’t counter my words that hit the mark.

“Your old age isn’t a sin, but aging poorly is clearly a sin.”

“Insolent brat! I’ll kill you!”

The Sword Emperor stood up abruptly and drew his sword.

His personality had already become distorted. Having dealt with more old people than anyone else, I knew well that this foolish stubbornness couldn’t be changed in any way. That’s probably why those bastards behind the scenes were able to draw him in. To the wrong side, not the right one.

I also stood up and drew my sword. Anyway, to destroy everything in that room, I had to subdue the Sword Emperor.

He swung his sword. It was a killing strike truly meant to kill me. Forty years ago, he wasn’t this kind of person.

Clang clang clang clang clang!

Our swords clashed in the air.

After about ten exchanges, he cried out in surprise:

“Could this swordsmanship be…?”

Clang clang clang clang clang clang!

He couldn’t continue his next words. Because I started swinging my sword with all my might. Although my inner energy was relatively lacking, I had the new power of youth. I had the right justification to win this fight.

Our fight was evenly matched. He was called the Sword Emperor, and I was called the Sword God.

He had become a foolish and shabby old man, but his swordsmanship was neither foolish nor shabby.

Because it was a fight in a narrow room, countless sword marks appeared on the walls.

Swish swish swish swish swish swish!

But we didn’t break the walls. Our fight had an elegance that only those who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship could show.

The light created by the sword aura was dazzling, and the sword lines we created were beautiful. Sometimes they stopped like a picture, sometimes they moved as fast as light.

I felt as if all the blood vessels in my body were opening up.

For the first time in a long while, I fought in a state of selflessness. I fought without thinking about what techniques I was using or how I was using them.

I forgot why I was fighting, and eventually, I forgot who I was fighting.

Everything disappeared.

I was just fighting.

What broke my state of selflessness was a single sound.

Squelch!

The sound of flesh being torn.

When I came to my senses, the Asura Bright King Sword was stuck in his heart.

“…You must be his disciple.”

He probably had no choice but to think that way.

A trace of a smile appeared on his lips. He seemed to consider it fortunate to die by my martial arts. He died standing upright.

I let out a long sigh as I looked at his corpse. I hadn’t originally intended to kill him, but our fight was one that wouldn’t end unless someone died.

It was a difficult fight. Even though I hadn’t emitted sword energy, I had exhausted almost all of my inner energy. I had poured out almost all of my mental strength.

I closed his wide-open eyes.

“You’re better off dying by my hand.”

Because he would have committed irreversible acts while being used by those bastards.

“In the next life, let’s meet and fight in a grander place, for a grander reason.”

The moment he heard those words, the Sword Emperor, who had been standing straight, collapsed as if crumbling.

I opened the door and went outside. When I walked out, Im Yeon-jeong was shocked. She really hadn’t dreamed that I would come out alive.

With a face full of fatigue, I asked:

“My fight is over now. Have you finished thinking?”