My senses were hazy.
My mind was foggy, as if I were dreaming. My ears were filled with the sound of my own heartbeat, and all that met my eyes were things that needed to be cut down and things that had already been cut down.
"Huu…"
I let out a deep breath. But the air I drew in afterward carried only the smell of burning and the stench of blood.
I merely swung my sword, chasing the faint echoes of the past, the trajectory of the most beautiful moment.
Swick.
Unable to properly distinguish between the mental image and reality, I moved my body relying on my Qi Sense instead of my half-useless five senses.
What is the difference between killing intent melted into internal energy, and internal energy imbued with killing intent?
In the end, there is no difference.
Those who tremble before my killing intent cannot be free from my Qi Sense. No one in the Black Heaven Sword Gate can escape my perception.
Whether they collapse trembling, grit their teeth and level their swords, or let out frantic screams as if refusing to acknowledge their own fear—
I simply feel them. What they are doing, what they are aiming for. Even where my eyes cannot reach, I know. I come to know.
And if they harbor murderous intent toward me, all the more so.
All that remains is to slot my sword into the sword path of the Black Heaven Sword Gate, whose destruction was already decided long ago.
Having cut through the flow of their sword arts, I now cut through the men themselves.
Squelch.
"How…!"
Though he bore the grandiose title of Elder, the old man was only at Peak Realm at best, and he clutched his bloodied abdomen in shock.
"You! Child of my enemy. Where in the world did you steal and learn the sword arts of the Black Heaven Sword Gate?!"
"Child?"
So they had seen us sneaking around. Seomun Hwa-rin's efforts had not been entirely in vain, it seemed. That was how they perceived us.
But there was something more important than that right now.
"Is that so. To you, I appear to be the child of an enemy. …To me, the Black Heaven Sword Gate is the enemy itself."
There is power in the very act of speaking something aloud. Just by saying the words Black Heaven Sword Gate, enemy, my vision begins to reflect a certain scene from my memories.
The boundary between past and reality crumbles, and before I know it, I am standing in the middle of the collapsing Iron Blood Faction.
Seomun Hwa-rin told me to forget, but how could I possibly forget?
I know what Qi Deviation is. I know that I am grasping at a Simma that has already passed and swallowing it back down.
But isn't it true that knowing something doesn't make it any easier to stop?
My time has been frozen in this moment for a very long time now.
Tang So-wol pushed me forward from behind, but she too crumbled before my eyes.
Nothing has changed.
I have always lost what I held dear. Even after vowing never to let go again, I lost it.
My birth parents, the family I built anew, my lover, my future. Even my own life, which they had wished for in their final moments.
Nothing remains. Everything slips through my hands like sand.
What slipped away piled up, layer by layer, at the bottom of my heart. Unexpressed resentment. Regret. Wailing. Murderous intent.
How could I, with all this, deny the Demonic Cultists? I could call them foolish, sneer that their path was wrong, but I could never bring myself to tell them to set aside their vengeance.
For within me, the demon had been stacked this high.
And now. The dam I had struggled to hold back collapses. Once breached, a dam will not stop until it has poured out everything within and revealed its empty floor.
A voice scraped out of my throat before I even realized it, a growl-like sound.
"Today. You die."
The martial artists of the Black Heaven Sword Gate, crushed under the killing intent that had swallowed the surroundings, trembled finely.
"Flail, and you die. Beg for your lives, and you die. Flee, and you die. Do nothing at all, and you die."
Most of the first-rate martial artists he had brought with him were already dead. Of the Peak Realm martial artists who had put up some resistance, only two remained.
I pointed my sword at the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate, who was grinding his teeth after losing most of his subordinates before he could even do anything.
"The Black Heaven Sword Gate will be exterminated once more today."
"You bastard…!"
The enraged sect leader charged, shedding strands of black Sword Qi.
A threatening aura befitting the realm of Transcendent Peak. My killing intent had slowed his body somewhat, but that was all.
He was still a master a tier above my current self, and someday, he would possess the talent and poison energy to reach the Harmony Realm.
But what of it?
What mattered was that the opponent before me had cut down Seol Ri-hyang and pierced Seomun Hwa-rin's heart.
Though it had not yet come to pass, that blind vengeance would reach Seomun Hwa-rin sooner or later.
The cycle of grudges, turning and turning. If I did not wish to lose again, I had no choice but to sever it here.
In a way that left no seed of disaster behind.
Gritting my teeth.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art to its extreme. A dark-red Sword Qi shrouded the blade.
The fiercely surging Sword Qi, steeped in killing intent, carried a power no other sword energy could compare to… but it wasn't enough.
I squeezed my Dantian. More than just drawing out the mental image, I draped it over myself. Remember. What had I thought about as I swallowed countless blood?
Being hungry and swinging the sword wasn't enough. Pride that refused to be looked down on didn't reach it either.
I simply cut.
I cut because it had to be cut, cut because I wanted to cut, and cut even what couldn't be cut.
My Dantian twisted and my energy channels warped. In exchange, my internal energy rampaged all the more violently.
With a sharp pang, my narrowing vision turned red. So endlessly red that I couldn't tell whether it was the fire of Qi Deviation, blood, or Sword Qi… but there was one thing I was certain of.
In this godforsaken world, there is nothing left but me and my sword.
Nothing remains but me and the sword.
"Ah."
Holding the hilt, a strange sensation spreads through my palm, as if roots have taken hold there.
A bizarre feeling, as if my arm had grown longer and become the sword itself, or as if the sword had become part of my arm.
Every swordsman carries a sword in their heart. But what do you call one who has nothing but the sword?
Before the regression, the Lord of the Black Alliance called such a one the Sword Demon.
Even if the path I took was crooked, this is the highest enlightenment I have grasped with my whole life.
A realm that holds my entire life—one that lost everything except the single sword in my hand.
Sword-Mind Unity.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
I let out a battle cry and swung my sword straight at the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate.
The blood-red Sword Qi that had been rising like smoke gathered and gathered until it took on an entirely different form.
Sword Flame.
The densest Sword Qi that can be woven from pure martial skill alone, without being refined by Intent.
The flame of internal energy—said to be barely kindled only upon reaching Transcendent Peak—swung from my hand. And then.
KWAANG!
A thunderous crash that was hard to believe came from two swords clashing. The one who retreated from the first exchange was the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate.
It was because he had wrapped himself in nothing but a fierce Sword Qi rather than the Sword Flame that required intense concentration—perhaps to end things in a single decisive strike.
"Transcendent Peak?! How in the world…"
The flustered sect leader hastily widened the distance as he asked back, but I had no leisure to answer such a trivial question right now.
This body of mine had yet to break through the wall of Transcendent Peak. It had been half-pierced, but it was not there yet.
And yet, forcing the enlightenment from before my regression to wield itself—it was a wonder this body was holding up at all.
Especially since I had even clashed swords head-on just moments ago.
There is no shortcut in training the External Arts. Though I had improved greatly, this body of mine was still immature, not yet ready to withstand the recoil of a collision.
"Cough!"
I tried to hold it in, but in the end, blood seeped through my tightly pressed lips.
Whether it was from forcing my internal energy too hard or from the clash moments ago, the traces of internal injury were unclear.
The Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate's expression brightened at the sight of that single streak of blood.
"Ha, hahaha! Yes! Just as I thought! This is not a realm a mere rising talent can hope to reach!"
"…Ptoo! You talk too much."
I spat out the blood pooling in my mouth and raised my sword once more.
My internal energy was being consumed at a terrifying rate, so I couldn't maintain this state for long. Every time our swords clashed, the recoil inflicted wounds both large and small, and the lingering effects of Qi Deviation made my senses flicker in and out… but still.
As long as I was wrapped in Sword Flame, I could cross blades even against a Transcendent Peak martial artist.
That was enough.
If I could cross blades, I would lose to no one. Yes. No one.
The saying that only the sword remained meant that the sword, at least, had never left my hand.
I drew back the killing intent that had been so vast that releasing it was all I could do, reining it in as much as possible. The heavenly fire that burned my insides black remained, but this was no longer meant to indiscriminately scorch everything around me.
That was the way of the Demonic Cult, not mine.
Only one thing mattered. Looking straight at the opponent I had to cut down.
Whether it was because of the Simma I had swallowed and devoured, the vision where past and present overlapped returned to normal.
The smell of burning and the scent of blood that had brushed the tip of my nose settled. The one who had pointed his sword at me was not the Black Heaven Sword Emperor, but the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate.
"As I said a moment ago, you die today."
The killing intent that had completely covered the entire area and made even first-rate martial artists gasp for breath. The hell I had been accumulating ever since that day was now focused on a single person.
Even a martial artist who had reached the Transcendent Peak would find it difficult to withstand this much killing intent alone, and the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate swallowed a breath of air for a moment.
I continued speaking calmly toward him.
"I have decided so."
The moment I finished speaking, I kicked off the ground.
Boom!
The internal energy erupting from Yongcheonhyeol pushed my body forward. My form slid through the air with a thunderous roar.
The Thunder Step would catch anyone off guard at first sight, but perhaps it didn't work on those who had once exterminated the Seomun Clan and taken their martial arts for themselves.
A glint of surprise flashed in his eyes, yet he calmly swung his sword. Not with Sword Qi, but wreathed in blazing Sword Flame.
The black-burning Qi Flame was threatening, but I would not be cowed by it.
And why would I be? I knew of a far more overwhelming black energy than this.
Before the regression, I remembered the Aura of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art I had witnessed in my final moments of life. Compared to that pitch-black darkness that had engulfed the world, the flame covering just a sword was utterly pathetic.
My steps did not falter. I drove deep into the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate's guard and twisted my upper body.
Squelch.
A portion of my upper body was carved away along with my robes. The wound was rough, as if a snake had crawled across it, likely due to the blazing Sword Flame.
But even if it had cut through the fabric, it had not reached bone or muscle.
A wound less than an inch deep could not stop me.
"Haaah!"
I used the momentum of my twisted upper body to spin completely around. A horizontal slash meant to cut the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate in half.
He must not have expected me to simply take the hit without deflecting or dodging the sword. Startled, the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate hastily retreated.
My sword strike, thrown with all my might, merely split the air, but that was fine. I never expected to bring him down with a single blow anyway.
I stomped the ground once more, closing the distance toward the sect leader who had pulled away. The thunder roared even louder than before.
As I narrowed the gap with the Thunder Step, he swung his sword at the right moment, just like before…
But it was too early. The Black Heaven Sword Gate Lord's sword flew wide, deceived by the distance and speed of my second step, which was laced with the mystery of the Gwiyeongbo.
I struck his sword, which had no proper power behind it.
Clang!
Sword Flame clashed against Sword Flame, and an energy wave burst outward. My whole body creaked and my insides churned, but it was worth it—I had seized my chance.
After all, my pure Sword Flame was already superior in raw power, and I had struck him at the very moment he couldn't put his full strength into his blade.
The Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate's stance crumbled, his body shrinking back. It wasn't a huge opening. A brief lapse like that could be corrected with a moment's focus.
So in that brief moment, I slipped my sword in and twisted it.
"Y-you…! You dare look down on me?!"
The Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate, his brow furrowing deeply at my reckless, headlong sword strikes, let out a roar and began pouring out the techniques of the Black Heaven Sword Gate.
A tricky thrust that targeted my vital points in succession. A horizontal slash that wrapped itself in a vortex and swept across everything in front of him. A simple, heavy upward slash. And so on.
Having once claimed to be the hegemon of Gangseo Province, each and every one of these attacks was powerful, even if his stance wasn't proper.
However, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. After all, these were techniques whose counters I had already figured out long ago.
Clang! Clang! Clatter!
I twisted my body in sequence to dodge every thrust aimed at my vital points. The sword wind that began as a small vortex and expanded to cover a plane lost its power as I pierced its center. And the upward slash—simple, and therefore hard to block—was struck down before it even began, never getting the chance to be swung at all.
In that process, I too was moving recklessly and my stance collapsed, but it didn't matter. Even when my posture broke, I simply continued the next sword from wherever I was.
I focused my mind on the center of gravity I'd locked down with the Thousand-Pound Sink, and kept swinging my sword.
It didn't matter at all where my arm was bent or where my toes were pointing. The only thing that mattered was the unbroken chain of sword strikes.
The teachings of the Zhongnan Sect unfolded through my hands.
And layered on top of that was the sensation of Sword-Mind Unity.
The sword swung as I thought, and my body moved as I imagined.
It was true that my time had stopped on the day the Iron Blood Faction collapsed, but that didn't mean I had made no progress since then.
I survived the day Seol Ri-hyang died and Seomun Hwa-rin fell. I survived while being called the Sword Demon, I survived the war against the Demonic Cult, and even after losing my life to the Heavenly Demon, I'm still alive like this.
This time, too, would not be much different.
Swords clashed without rest. Old grudges that sought to devour each other. In the end, the one who survived it all was me.
The sword of the Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate, dulled by killing intent, swayed wildly before collapsing completely.
Clang!
The pitch-black sword flew far away with a clear metallic ring.
The Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate, now defenseless, shook his head.
"This—this cannot be. This must not happen!"
"That decision is mine to make, not yours."
I thrust my sword toward the head of the startled Lord of the Black Heaven Sword Gate.
A thrust wrapped in a vortex spun from Sword Flame.
Thud!
The body, now bereft of its master, crumpled to the ground.
The revenge I had failed to achieve—the revenge I had believed I could never achieve—was, in the truest sense, finally realized.
And in that moment, I understood.
My long mourning was over.