Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 362 – Sword (1)

“Ah…”

A gasp escaped Cheong-ryeong’s lips.

She had been watching the battle from above with a nervous heart.

Though she might have broader experience in many aspects, when it came to martial prowess, Mok Gyeong-un had long since surpassed her.

The opponent Mok Gyeong-un was facing was a monster who had not only reached the Profound Realm but also consumed a spiritual beast’s core, transcending human limits.

As such, it was difficult to predict the outcome of this battle.

Thinking that Mok Gyeong-un might lose if things went wrong, she had been preparing to intervene if necessary.

‘If it doesn’t work out, I’ll step in.’

Though the opponent was such a monster that she might not be of much help, she couldn’t let him die when their karmic connection had been established.

But when the hazy mist and thunderclouds obscuring her vision cleared, a surprising result unfolded.

Mok Gyeong-un had emerged victorious.

‘What… what on earth is that?’

The sword made of pure energy piercing the blade user’s chest.

Seeing it, she couldn’t help but be shocked.

It was a level of martial technique that she, who had never let go of her sword in life or even in death, had never imagined or experienced.

‘…The true realm of Invinsible Sword, where a sword is no longer needed.’

She was genuinely impressed.

Clicking her tongue in admiration, she soon descended to where Mok Gyeong-un was.

However,

-Thump!

The form of the blade user who had been kneeling collapsed.

There was a gaping hole in the middle of his face that had been thrown backward, and looking at that, it seemed impossible for him to revive, superhuman regeneration or not.

As Cheong-ryeong approached Mok Gyeong-un,

‘!?’

She suddenly halted.

This was because she saw Mok Gyeong-un smiling at her with an expression she had never seen before.

The smile was so radiant that Cheong-ryeong was momentarily dumbfounded.

Was this really an expression that the mortal she knew could make?

‘What… on earth…’

She knew that he usually wore a smiling expression, but since she was aware that there was almost no emotion in that smile, she had always considered it expressionless no matter how much she looked at it.

But this smile was completely different.

There was an inexplicable joy in his eyes as he looked at her.

‘…What’s this?’

As she stared at this, Cheong-ryeong felt a subtle feeling.

It felt as if her non-existent heart was beating.

Cheong-ryeong quickly turned her head away.

Making eye contact with him was strangely difficult.

It wasn’t because it was burdensome or repulsive, but just the act of making eye contact made her feel weird.

How should she describe this?

Embarrassment? Or shyness?

“It’s good.”

-Wh-what?

“I said it’s good. That I didn’t die and got to see Cheong-ryeong again.”

-Wh-what nonsense are you suddenly spouting?

Cheong-ryeong found herself stammering at Mok Gyeong-un’s unexpected words.

It’s not like he ate something wrong, but she couldn’t understand why he was suddenly making such an expression and saying these things.

Feeling at a loss for what to say, Cheong-ryeong tried to change the subject.

-You… just now…

Before she could finish her sentence,

Mok Gyeong-un suddenly walked backward,

-Step step step!

Standing in front of the fallen blade user,

-Slash slash slash slash slash!

He used his magic sword Plundering-killing Sword to split the blade user’s neck and limbs.

The sight of the blade user split into six pieces was utterly gruesome.

Cheong-ryeong asked about this.

-Are you making sure?

“Yes. His head is practically gone, but just in case.”

Mok Gyeong-un said this while shaking the blood off his sword onto the ground.

Cheong-ryeong shook her head at Mok Gyeong-un’s judgment.

As always, he was someone who never left any loose ends in such matters.

“Hmm. Since I’ve already cut him up, should I chop the body into even smaller pieces?”

-Right here? Are you going to completely pulverize…

But then,

-Rumble rumble rumble!

The ground suddenly began to shake.

At this sudden phenomenon, Mok Gyeong-un glanced at the shaking ground and then said to Cheong-ryeong,

“It might be better to step back for a moment.”

-Indeed, we should.

-Whoosh!

Just as Mok Gyeong-un lightly leapt backward and Cheong-ryeong flew to the rear,

-Boom!

Something huge burst out of the ground with a thunderous noise.

It was the monster Earth Mole Dragon.

The Earth Mole Dragon that suddenly appeared had burst through the ground exactly where the blade user’s body, cut into six pieces, was lying.

The monster Earth Mole Dragon, which had swallowed the pieces of the blade user’s body as it emerged, let out a roar as if satisfied.

-Grooooooar!

It seemed that the demonic nature had exploded due to the blood spilled on the ground, causing it to surface.

After swallowing the blade user, the monster Earth Mole Dragon seemed to sense Mok Gyeong-un, glanced in his direction once, and then burrowed back into the ground.

-Rumble rumble rumble rumble!

As the Earth Mole Dragon disappeared into the ground, Mok Gyeong-un shrugged and said,

“I guess there’s no chance he’ll survive now.”

-…Indeed.

Should we say he was extremely unlucky?

Not only had he been turned into pieces of meat, but he had also become food for a monster.

As the presence of the monster Earth Mole Dragon completely vanished, Cheong-ryeong looked around at the devastated surroundings and said,

-I have more than one or two things I want to ask. About that blackening, and about forming a sword with energy.

“…I really don’t know about the blackening either.”

-Really?

“Yes. If I find out, I’ll be sure to tell Cheong-ryeong.”

-……..

At these words from Mok Gyeong-un, Cheong-ryeong’s expression became peculiar.

This guy seems to have changed somehow.

Originally, when he spoke, he was the type to leave no room for interpretation, as if trying not to give any openings.

But now he says he’ll definitely tell her.

Why does he seem to have become so favorable?

As she was wondering about this, Mok Gyeong-un spoke.

“Are you talking about forming a sword with energy like this?”

-Woong woong woong!

As Mok Gyeong-un extended his hand, energy condensed above it, taking the form of a sword.

Seeing this, Cheong-ryeong couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

-Amazing. You wielded a sword with energy. To think that making something non-existent exist in form could be possible like this.

“Indeed.”

-It’s as good as non-existent yet has form, so it should be called a formless sword.

“A formless sword? Invinsible Sword?”

-Yes. That’s what we should call it. But how on earth did you gain this insight?

“Insight?”

-Yes.

“Well, it’s not something I gained by trying to gain insight.”

-If it’s not something you gained by trying to gain insight, then how on earth did you reach such a supreme realm?

“Hmm.”

-Was it a sudden enlightenment?

“I suppose you could say it was similar. When I thought I might die from that person’s blade, I just burned with the will to live at the boundary between life and death.”

-…The boundary between life and death?

“Yes.”

Mok Gyeong-un had manifested a strong will at the boundary between life and death.

His will was so strong that it even gave form to energy, which normally cannot take shape by itself.

This was an insight that transcended becoming one with the sword.

It was a shocking awakening even for Cheong-ryeong, who had believed that the Profound Realm, the wall of walls, was the supreme realm.

-Your innate talent and martial prowess have surpassed the realm where I can teach you any further.

She had always refrained from excessive praise, believing it would hinder progress, no matter how strong Mok Gyeong-un became.

However, now that she judged he had reached a supreme realm that could no longer be called novice, she couldn’t help but be honest.

At her words, Mok Gyeong-un shook his head.

“Not at all. There’s still so much I don’t know, so Cheong-ryeong needs to stay by my side and teach me.”

-You’re saying things you don’t mean.

“It’s not something I don’t mean. I want Cheong-ryeong to keep staying by my side.”

-……..

Cheong-ryeong was momentarily at a loss for words at Mok Gyeong-un’s statement.

Given the flow of the conversation, it seemed he meant it in a different sense, but that gaze of his looking at her, along with his softened tone, made her conscious of it in a completely different direction.

Realizing that if this continued, she might get caught up in the atmosphere, Cheong-ryeong changed the subject again.

“You! Is your body condition alright?”

“My body?”

“Yes. If your body is fine, shouldn’t we go up there?”

Cheong-ryeong pointed to the top of the cliff.

It was so deep that even the light shining from above seemed too far away.

At her question, Mok Gyeong-un examined his body condition.

Due to the aftermath of concentrating all his power into a single point and then stopping, all his muscles had been torn, so he had compensated for this using the Evil Blood Shifting Technique and other muscles to maintain movement.

But,

-Rustle rustle!

His body moved perfectly fine.

It seemed that after gaining the new insight, even the ruptured or torn muscles had all healed.

No, rather, the movement of his muscles seemed even smoother than before.

Should we say the elasticity had increased?

“I don’t think I need to do any energy circulation or anything like that.”

More importantly, there was an item he had dropped during the fight that he needed to retrieve.

Mok Gyeong-un scanned his surroundings.

Not far away, his unique weapon, the magic sword Evil Commandment Sword, was lying on the ground.

Around it were numerous sword and blade marks.

These were traces left from his exchange of sword techniques with the blade user.

‘…I might have died if I had been unlucky.’

That’s how strong, no, dangerous an opponent he was.

Not just the power of the spiritual beast core, but the blade user’s blade techniques were truly a new world.

Thanks to the trajectories that completely ignored the body’s joint range of motion and muscles, he had quite a hard time adapting when he first encountered them.

Of course, from the point he adapted, those trajectories became visible to his eyes, so dealing with them wasn’t difficult.

However, this kind of perspective certainly seemed helpful.

-Why are you like that?

At Cheong-ryeong’s question, Mok Gyeong-un extended his hand,

-Swish! Grab!

He retrieved the magic sword Evil Commandment Sword using the Void Object Grasping technique and replied,

“I was thinking about what it would be like to create a sword technique that surpasses the range of joint motion and the limits of muscles.”

-The range of joint motion and limits of muscles? Don’t tell me it’s because of fighting that guy?

“Yes.”

-Hmm. It certainly was an extraordinary blade technique, but would that be possible?

“Do you think it’s not possible?”

-That was a blade technique only possible for someone with a completely different joint and muscle structure, and even overall body structure, from normal people. No matter how exceptional your memory is and how outstanding your ability to embody what you’ve learned, this seems like a separate issue.

Cheong-ryeong judged that this would be difficult even for Mok Gyeong-un.

How could it be possible without long years of training to change muscle structure and joint range of motion?

But then Mok Gyeong-un grasped the hilt of the magic sword Evil Commandment Sword and took the stance for the Demonic Sword Art’s energy gathering technique.

-What are you trying to do?

“I thought I’d give it a try.”

-Try?

“Yes. I thought I might be able to make the sword-drawing technique of the Demonic Sword Art even more complete.”

-Whoosh!

No sooner had he finished speaking than Mok Gyeong-un tried to apply the blade technique he remembered the blade user using to the Demonic Sword Art, his own created sword-drawing technique.

If this was possible, it might increase the range of motion for trajectories in the empty parts of the sword technique.

So Mok Gyeong-un unleashed what was in his mind.

-Slash slash slash slash slash!

For Mok Gyeong-un now, the sword was a brush.

He drew trajectories with his sword as if brushing strokes on a blank canvas.

Cheong-ryeong, who had been watching this with a half-doubting gaze, gradually showed a strange light in her eyes.

This was because Mok Gyeong-un was truly extending the trajectories beyond the range of motion of his body’s joints.

‘It’s still okay.’

This was also because his muscle elasticity had improved.

Perhaps because of this, the start was fine.

-Slash slash slash slash!

However, as expected, as the sword-drawing technique continued, he felt the pain of muscles tearing.

Since he was drawing trajectories that exceeded the range of joint motion and muscle limits, no matter how much he tried to endure, abnormalities were bound to occur.

-Crack! Crackle!

Although his body was strained, Mok Gyeong-un endured this and continued to demonstrate the technique.

Ordinary people would have already given up midway, unable to endure, but Mok Gyeong-un had extreme endurance for pain and could control his muscles to some extent.

Therefore, while he couldn’t do anything about the range of joint motion, he compensated for the tearing muscles with other muscles and continued the technique.

-Slash slash slash slash slash!

The forms of the Demonic Sword Art with new trajectories added.

Watching this, an exclamation finally burst from Cheong-ryeong’s lips.

-Ha!

It was truly amazing.

Until now, she had thought there was no sword technique closer to perfection than the Demonic Sword Art this guy had created.

Therefore, she had believed it was a sword-drawing technique that needed no further improvement, but as trajectories that surpassed limits were added to it, it evolved into an incredible sword technique where it became difficult to find weaknesses in any direction.

‘Was this possible?’

Cheong-ryeong was genuinely dumbfounded.

Is there really no limit to this mortal’s talent?

Just as she couldn’t help but admire this, it happened.

-Tap!

Mok Gyeong-un, who had been demonstrating the sword technique, suddenly stopped.

Cheong-ryeong asked,

-No. Why are you stopping?

“Ah.”

Then Mok Gyeong-un exhaled softly,

-Slash slash slash!

He carved letters into the cliff face with sharp energy.

不可能 (Impossible)

It meant “not possible.”

Since he hadn’t added trajectories to all sword-drawing techniques yet, Cheong-ryeong asked in confusion,

-What do you mean impossible? It seems quite possible.

“I don’t think it’s feasible right away.”

-Right away?

“Yes. Of course, if we force it, it might be possible someday. But if we continue from the point where the joints are already strained, they might completely misalign.”

-Didn’t you already take that into account?

“Yes. But… a thought suddenly occurred to me.”

-What thought?

“If we took the time to increase the range of joint motion and change the muscles to compensate, we could probably use this freely, but I think that would be a waste of time.”

-Huh? You wrote ‘impossible’ just because of such a reason?

“No. It’s because I think it would be difficult for anyone but me.”

-What?

“The Demonic Sword Art is already a sword-drawing technique that’s difficult for anyone but me to use just because of the number of sword forms. If we add sword forms that exceed the range of joint motion and muscle limits, it would become a sword technique that no one could learn.”

-………

At these words from Mok Gyeong-un, Cheong-ryeong’s mouth closed.

Certainly, if this were completed, it would give birth to a sword technique close to perfection.

However, as the mortal said, this sword technique was already a sword-drawing technique that surpassed limits due to having too many sword forms, and if trajectories surpassing limits were added on top of that, who indeed could learn it?

His opinion certainly had a point.

For martial arts to continue for generations, there needs to be some degree of versatility.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un shrugged and continued speaking.

“And even if we don’t consider someone else learning it, since I have the Invinsible Sword anyway, there’s no need to forcibly train and change muscles and joints to compensate for empty trajectories.”

-Invinsible Sword… Right. That’s true, you have that.

“Anyway, let’s stop adding trajectories here.”

-Well, if that’s what you’ve decided, so be it. But seeing you make such a decision, even though you keep talking about revenge, revenge… It seems you’re thinking about having disciples.

“Disciples?”

-Yes. Ahem.

For a moment, she was about to say ‘descendants’ but changed her expression to ‘disciples’ with a somewhat bitter voice.

Even if not descendants, he could still take on disciples.

To these words of hers, Mok Gyeong-un casually replied.

“Well. I suppose it wouldn’t matter if I just kept it to myself and left, but it seems a waste to do so.”

-Oh ho. So you’ve come to want disciples?

“Disciples are one thing, but if what that so-called prophet said is true, I might even have descendants.”

-Descendants… Didn’t you say you weren’t interested in such things?

“I’m not interested.”

-Then why suddenly talk about descendants? Did nearly dying suddenly awaken some instinct for species propagation?

“It wouldn’t be bad to have them.”

-It wouldn’t be bad to have them?

“Yes. I think it would be fine even if Cheong-ryeong possessed someone to give birth to my child.”

‘!!!!!!!!’

At Mok Gyeong-un’s unexpected words, Cheong-ryeong’s face and spiritual body froze as if turned to ice.