Chapter 66

The massive demon’s strike came sweeping toward me, stopping just inches from my head.

But it never quite touched me.

It was as if the attack had frozen in place.

Not only that—the enormous demon before me, the dirt that had been kicked up into the air, even the strands of my hair that had been whipped by the gust—all hung suspended in midair, motionless.

I couldn’t look away to confirm, but I could sense it clearly.

The entire world around me, myself included, had come to a complete standstill.

I sat there, dazed.

“What on earth is going on?”

Everything in the world had stopped moving, yet my consciousness remained fully intact, thinking clearly.

It felt like I’d been bewitched by some supernatural force.

Then, that voice I thought was just a trick of my mind spoke again.

“Good to see you, Master Seonwoo. This is the second time I’m speaking to you, though I doubt you remember the first.”

The voice belonged to a cheerful middle-aged man.

And suddenly, I remembered where I’d heard it before.

“Could it be… the day you saved Tang Sojeo?”

“Oh, you remember. Yes, I spoke to you briefly then.”

Was that real?

At the time, I thought it was just a dream.

Though now, this feels dreamlike too.

Confused, I asked him, “W-who are you? And what is this…?”

He chuckled warmly.

“Hahaha! Of course you’re confused. That’s only natural. I was imitating my older brother’s way of speaking, and even he was quite taken aback the first time he tried it.”

“My… older brother?”

“Well, there’s no time, and since you’ve broken the rules this time, we won’t be able to meet again for a while. So I’ll keep it brief.”

“…Yes?”

“My name is… well, just call me Mukrang.”

At his words, I instinctively glanced down at the black sword in my hand.

There, carved into the hilt of the Mukrang sword, I saw faint white light shimmering from the wolf’s eyes.

“Yes, that’s the Mukrang alright. Long ago, I prepared a few legacies to pass on to worthy juniors who would someday succeed me. One of those was this Mukrang sword. Ah, don’t ask for details now. You might think time has stopped, but in truth, it’s only been slowed to its absolute limit. This state won’t last much longer.”

Hearing that, I understood.

Everything around me seemed frozen, but it wasn’t truly stopped.

It was moving so slowly that it was imperceptible.

My hair fluttering, the demon’s massive arm swinging toward me—all progressing at a crawl.

“So, I’ll only tell you what’s important. I had planned to pass on my legacy to juniors who passed my trial. Unfortunately, you haven’t fully passed it yet. But despite that, I’m here because you’re the first junior who’s made a good impression on me since I forged Mukrang. I think it’d be a waste to let you die now. So I’ll break my own rules just this once to help you. But after this, until you pass the trial, I won’t be able to speak to you like this again. Understand?”

I couldn’t grasp all the details, but one thing was clear.

This Mukrang was here to help me.

Mukrang laughed again.

“Hahaha! That’s right! I should’ve just said that from the start. Now, relax and watch closely. Ah, since the ‘domain’ will soon lift, I won’t get another chance to say goodbye. So, until next time, Master Seonwoo. I hope you pass your trial. I came because I wanted to, but I never expected to get this bored, haha!”

With those words, time suddenly snapped back to its normal speed.

The demon’s huge palm slammed down toward my head.

Whoooosh!

“Waaah!”

Startled, I screamed.

But then my body moved on its own.

I released the Mukrang sword from the demon’s grasp and tilted my head back, smoothly deflecting the blow.

“?!”

Before I could fully process what was happening, the voice spoke again.

“The secret of the Cheonpung Divine Technique is to become the wind itself. So why must it be limited to footwork?”

Leaning my head back to evade the demon’s strike, I spun backward gracefully, as if riding the wind, and caught the sword again.

My movement was like a petal twirling in a gentle breeze.

When I gripped the Mukrang sword once more, a faint purple aura shimmered along its blade.

Shuush!

“Ugh?!”

It was incredible.

Earlier, the demon had grabbed the sword and I couldn’t budge it, but now it slid out effortlessly.

Even more astonishing, the demon’s hand, which had been gripping the sword tightly, was now bleeding faintly.

The voice echoed in my mind again.

“‘Pi Dae Gak, Do Dae Gwan, In Gi Go Yeon’—to strike where there is a gap, to cut where there is an opening. That is the natural way.”

I’d seen that phrase before.

It was from the Zhuangzi.

Glancing at the demon’s bleeding palm, its expression twisted into fury as it charged at me again.

“You bastard!”

Fwoooaah!

The demon’s massive strike crashed down like a tidal wave.

Too close to dodge.

‘Damn!’

Just as despair crept into my eyes, my body moved on its own again.

The Four-Phase Sword Technique, First Move.

One moment, four phases in an instant.

‘A-a-are you serious?!’

My blade, like a streak of light, pierced straight through the heart of the tidal wave.

Puhk!

“Gah!”

My sword had pierced the demon’s wrist.

Just below the arm radiating immense power, the blade was lodged deep.

“The important thing isn’t how fast you can thrust, but what you see and when and where you strike.”

In the next instant, the demon’s thick wrist, weakened by the faint sword aura, snapped off easily.

Fwoahk!

Blood sprayed as the severed wrist fell, and the demon screamed in agony.

“Ughhh! You bastard!”

As the demon stared at its severed wrist in pain, my sword struck again.

Seonwoo’s Thirteen Sword Techniques, First Move.

Shin-eung Bi-sang.

Wings of light forged from sword shadows.

My most practiced move.

But inside, I panicked.

‘This kind of move won’t be enough to take him down…!’

The demon sneered at my attack.

With its remaining arm, it casually swiped, tearing apart the wings of light with a furious roar.

“Pathetic!”

But the demon’s hand couldn’t tear through my Shin-eung Bi-sang.

The wings of light rippled like real feathers, dodging its grasp and striking again.

“Ugh?!”

Fwoahk!

“Grrrgh!”

As the wings of light struck, the demon spun violently, retreating backward.

Still, it was drenched in blood from the sword shadows it couldn’t avoid.

A playful voice echoed in my mind.

“A sword must be free. If your heart sets limits, so will your sword techniques.”

I was bewildered.

My body was moving without my will, yet it was overpowering the demon.

This was my body, newly past its peak physical condition.

And just by moving exactly when and how it needed to, it was overwhelming the demon, who was said to be near the pinnacle of power.

It was unbelievable.

“Now, I must give you one last gift. Take care of yourself until we meet again.”

My body surged forward toward the demon, whose eyes were wide with shock.

The sword shadows I wielded split into dozens, then hundreds.

Pababababababat!

The Thirteen Sword Techniques, Thirteenth Move—Hwangeom-gyeong.

Surrounded by countless sword shadows, the demon gritted its teeth and sneered.

“More of these cheap tricks?!”

Crossing its hands, it gathered energy again, preparing to blast them away.

But then—

The hundreds of sword shadows surrounding it solidified instantly and struck.

Fwoaaah!

“Gyaaaah!”

The demon, now covered in a quill-like array of blades, screamed as if suffocating.

Not just the demon, but even I could hardly believe what I’d just done.

The demon, its body torn apart, stared at me with vacant eyes.

Then, it collapsed lifelessly.

Thud!

Instant death.

After a moment, I felt my body return to my control.

Yet I still couldn’t move.

Staring blankly at the demon’s corpse, I muttered,

“This is… ‘Gong Jeuk Si Saek’… isn’t it?”

What Mukrang had just manifested through me was the Fifteenth Move of Seonwoo’s Thirteen Sword Techniques—the very technique I’d practiced endlessly but never quite mastered: ‘Form is Emptiness.’

A hollow laugh escaped me.

“Heh, hahaha…”

It felt like a dream.

Only the bloodied, lifeless demon proved this was no dream.

At that moment, someone flew over the wall.

“Hey! I’ll take care of this… huh? Seonwoo Soje?”

It was Sak Muheun, the elder brother who had fled with the woman.

He landed, startled to see me, his expression grave.

Apparently, he’d hidden the woman somewhere and returned.

He must have known that coming back was pointless against the Giant Demon Horse, yet he still chose to return to save me. How could that not warm my heart?

Overcome with relief, I called out, “Brother Sak!”

But he wasn’t looking at me. His vacant gaze was fixed on the corpse of the Giant Demon Horse as he asked, “What happened here? Could it be…?”

“Huh? Oh, well, um, it’s like this—suddenly, the previous generation’s Sword Saint appeared out of nowhere, took down that beast, and then left.”

It was an offhand explanation, but wasn’t it true? A master from the previous generation had indeed shown up, defeated the creature, and disappeared. So, it wasn’t exactly a lie.

At least, it sounded more believable than me claiming I’d awakened and easily defeated the Giant Demon Horse myself.

Sak nodded mechanically after briefly glancing at my bloodstained Mukrang Sword and replied, “Ah, I see. You really are the luckiest person in the world.”

---

Military Department of the Martial Alliance.

Kwang!

Je Gal Ji-gang slammed his fist down on the desk, his face twisted with anger as he glared at the crumpled letter before him.

The letter had come from Hae Un-baek, the Heavenly Sword Saint stationed at the front lines.

“Hae! Un! Baek!”

Je Gal Ji-gang’s clenched fist trembled with barely contained rage.

Not long ago, upon hearing reports of the Giant Demon Horse’s northward advance, Ji-gang had planned to use this news to lure the Sword Saint back to the capital.

He believed that if he sent word of the creature massacring innocent civilians, the Sword Saint would rush back immediately.

But the reply he received was nothing like what he had hoped for.

The first thing mentioned in the letter was that Hae Un-baek had been unable to locate his daughter, Hae Cheong-yeon.

The anger in the letter practically leapt off the page.

It went on to reveal that the Blood Sect’s demon leaders had repeatedly kidnapped frontline personnel, and Ji-gang’s fury boiled over at the fact that this had never been publicly addressed by the Martial Alliance, nor had any countermeasures been taken.

Reading this, Ji-gang closed his eyes tightly, a look of sorrow etched on his face.

“In the end…”

But the letter didn’t stop there.

It also demanded better treatment for the frontline soldiers.

Why were those risking their lives fighting the Blood Sect so poorly compensated? Why were their leaves so short and their working conditions so harsh?

Ji-gang frowned deeply, letting out a low groan.

“Hmph.”

He had never cared much about these issues before—after all, frontline soldiers were seen as expendable.

Yet, among all the grievances, what chilled Ji-gang’s heart the most was the mention of the missing soldiers who had completed their service.

The letter said that despite inquiries, no trace of these discharged personnel could be found anywhere.

Reading this, Ji-gang trembled uncontrollably.

“Un-baek, you’ve gone too far…”

The Sword Saint had uncovered a truth Ji-gang had desperately hoped remained hidden.

In such a short time, he had launched a thorough investigation of the front lines.

It seemed only a matter of time before the truth about the Shadow Camp would be exposed.

Finally, the Sword Saint concluded the letter by saying that although he could not return to the Alliance now, once he did, they would need to have a serious discussion about all these matters.

“A serious discussion, huh?”

Though he called it a discussion, Ji-gang knew full well it meant holding people accountable.

He was furious.

No—he was terrified.

The thought of the Sword Saint uncovering everything about the front lines and exposing it to the world was unbearable.

He had only ever wanted to bring the Sword Saint back quickly, but that had been a grave mistake.

The Sword Saint must never return to the Martial Alliance.

Something had to be done.

After a long moment of contemplation, Ji-gang picked up his brush and began writing a letter.

It was addressed to the Blood Demon.

The first part protested the Giant Demon Horse’s northward advance.

If such incidents kept happening, the mutual agreement would lose all credibility, so the Blood Sect needed to show some goodwill by handling the problem themselves.

But after hesitating briefly, Ji-gang added a second part—about the Heavenly Sword Saint.

He had finally resolved to get rid of his friend, the Sword Saint.