Chapter 418
00418 Heavenly Realm ————————————————————————
In an instant.
That was an indescribable contradiction!
Click
Click
I realized at that moment that two beings had entered this strange space. It was a realm where only true experts could enter—a world of silence where both time and space seemed to halt; a moment where the thoughts of both oneself and the opponent were heard more clearly than ever. The intertwining ascension techniques of the two meant that they too could freely step into this domain.
The sound of a machine ticking echoed. And through the gaze of Sword Master Yeodong-bin, I shared an understanding of what was happening in this instant with an otherworldly martial sense.
Whoa!
The Master of the White Lotus Sect had already activated the Heart of Heaven’s Abundance, conjuring thousands of mandalas around him, each one releasing white palm prints that devoured the space. But the speed was so quick that it was almost impossible to perceive without borrowing the senses of the Great Immortal or Sword Master Yeodong-bin.
Still, I was not surprised by the Master’s speed. Having experienced Thunder Spirit firsthand, I understood how formidable his attack speed was. What truly amazed me was Yeodong-bin’s heightened perception itself.
[Are you coming?]
In the next moment, Yeodong-bin’s sword unfurled a strict barrier as if it were the most natural thing, overwhelming the range of Heart of Heaven’s Abundance.
It was unbelievable — Sword Master Yeodong-bin had successfully launched a preemptive strike against the Master who had activated Heart of Heaven’s Abundance!
‘This… is the true combat style of the Overlay Technique…’
Heavenly Escape Sword Technique
Moon-Style Defense Technique
As I shared a body with Yeodong-bin now, his technique names flowed unconsciously into my mind. Yeodong-bin’s combat sense transcended the realm of living beings. No, this was less about combat sense and more an art to eradicate the enemy in the extreme moment.
Dividing the speed into fractions: minutes, seconds, breaths, moments—down to the dust, specks, and fine threads. Yet, while watching the duel between Miyamoto Musashi and the Master, I felt that dividing units at the absolute level was meaningless. After all, how could a human judge what chaos any shift in the laws of thought might cause in that state?
However, as I caught a glimpse of the absolute realm, I felt it intuitively.
The Heavenly Escape Sword Technique, Moon-Style Defense Technique, captured the opponent’s actions regardless of how deeply they penetrated the realm of time, ensnaring them with transcendent senses and avoiding absolute ambushes! No matter how much an expert practiced, they could not replicate this with human senses. The thought that it might be possible to elevate perceptiveness to that absolute level thrilled me to the bone.
‘Could it be that even Miyamoto Musashi at absolute level…’
Could the greatest warrior of Dongyoung possess the same heightened sense in battle as Yeodong-bin? Thoughts swirled in my head, but there was no way to know. What was certain was that through Yeodong-bin, I was indirectly experiencing the clashes of experts at the absolute level.
Bam bam bam!
Countless palm prints launched through Heart of Heaven’s Abundance caused thousands of attacks in an hour, yet Yeodong-bin parried each one. How he did it was beyond any explanation through human swordplay or basic techniques. It was as if he moved in the shadow realm, already aware of hundreds of thousands of trajectories. I couldn’t grasp the principle behind the Master’s energy dissipating without even exploding.
In this microsecond.
Yeodong-bin stepped forward. Numerous bright lights transformed into photons, enveloping his feet. The silvery glow radiated spirit energy, making Yeodong-bin’s body feel like a sword.
[Heart Sword?]
Blood light danced in the Master’s eyes as he uttered sacrilegious words.
[Savaha!]
At that moment, the Master’s Heart of Heaven’s Abundance began to showcase its true power. Thousands of mandalas floating in midair started to rotate and darken.
The Master truly intended to conclude this in three seconds, summoning every ounce of potential from Heart of Heaven’s Abundance. I had previously thought it merely a rapid flurry of energy attacks, but Yeodong-bin’s heightened perception and countless life-and-death battles screamed that it was absolutely not so.
Sword Master Yeodong-bin already understood. He had squared off against masters like the Master countless times in his many battles. The potential of the Overlay Technique retrieved essential combat experience at lightning speed from his subconscious, crafting the best strategy in an instant.
Bang!
A single strike that shattered mountains.
There was no other way to explain the current situation. Sword Master Yeodong-bin leaped forward at nearly the speed of light, uprooting a mountain near the garden.
A massive explosion and a thunderous roar shook the heavens. Boulders weighing millions of pounds and swirling sands rose up, defying gravity entirely. Everything in the direction the Master was targeting literally collapsed, and humanity became but a tiny speck amidst the natural catastrophe.
Darkness engulfed the earth.
The rockma a enormous piece of stone characteristic of the Manjangan Cliff floated directly into the palm of the Master’s hand. He pushed the boulder away lightly, yet at that moment, it seemed to head somewhere and fall violently downwards.
An invisible blade also rose into the air. A transparent force that appeared like a halberd poured forth in hundreds of strands, demonstrating its presence. Moreover, an enormous palm—a byproduct of the Heart of Heaven’s Abundance—loomed silently overhead, creating a terrifying scene about to descend upon us.
Heavenly Escape Sword Technique
Six Intent Saintly Heaven Diagram
Heavenly Determination
The final blade form, which had never before revealed itself amidst the six dilemmas of heavens, seas, winds, and rains, emerged. Sword Master Yeodong-bin’s remarkable battle experience led him to determine this was the optimal response.
The ground sank! In the blink of an eye, the Master’s energy created an unfathomable abyss where the ground was barely visible. Yet within that unreal view, Yeodong-bin transformed into a divine sword of thundering lightning, piercing directly through that energy force.
Kaboom!
With dozens of explosions, Yeodong-bin’s divine sword soared higher into the air, splitting the clouds and leaving a scar that contorted the very sky. It was a scar of devastation greater than what Lee Kwang had shown during the Reverse Scale incident, making everything feel darker at that moment.
Puk!
At the same time, the palm of the Master, extended forward, was brutally slashed, and blood gushed forth. It was akin to receiving a strike from Musashi, yet this time the situation differed slightly. Back then, the Master did not use Heart of Heaven’s Abundance, and now Yeodong-bin struck back without suffering any injuries. Clearly, the Heavenly Escape Sword Technique had bested the Heart of Heaven’s Abundance.
[Ugh.]
Swoosh!
The Master didn’t wrap his hand; instead, he focused his energy and neatly healed the wound until his bones were exposed. That incredible regeneration ability seemed impossible for a mere human, although considering the reality of the Primordial Spirit, it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible. However, the fact that the Master was being pushed back was astonishing.
[If only a single oversight had occurred, you would have lost. Why take such a risk?]
Originally, I wouldn’t have understood what the Master meant given my level of martial arts mastery. However, as I absorbed the experience from Yeodong-bin’s responses, I instinctively grasped the meaning.
[Master of the White Lotus Sect, unless you take a risk, you cannot win. Truly a rare powerhouse. I had no choice but to respond at my best.]
That’s right. The Master didn’t fail to beat the Heavenly Escape Sword Technique just because his level was lower; through Yeodong-bin’s insights, it became clear that Heart of Heaven’s Abundance and Six Intent Saintly Heaven Diagram were equal.
Yeodong-bin simply gambled everything on a sword path with less than a thirty percent success rate—a gamble that struck the Achilles’ heel of Heart of Heaven’s Abundance. While it seemed Yeodong-bin was destined to win, it was in fact a thrilling brush with misfortune. As the Master had said, had there been even a slight error, Yeodong-bin, no, my body would have been crushed to pieces, blood strewn everywhere.
Yet, despite all, greatness is still greatness. Yeodong-bin had gained a sense of balance sharper than a needle through countless life-and-death struggles. He had been a seasoned warrior who roamed the Central Plains a millennium ago, battling great demons, otherworldly beings, and even the Dragon King. Yeodong-bin had even faced the peerless masters of the early days of the White Lotus Sect numerous times.
This was an enormous amount of experience, impossible for an ordinary human to accumulate, a dominance only obtainable through the peak of the Overlay Technique! The more the Master battled Yeodong-bin, the more he might find himself at a disadvantage, lacking experience at that absolute level.
The Master expressed admiration.
[Indeed, a Sword Master and the strongest of the Eight Immortals! Now, unravel this brilliant tactic.]
Wiying!
[Flowing True Form.]
A beam of light burst from the Master’s body, manifesting eighteen glowing rings that radiated light. The rings extended into the distance, leaving long tails, seemingly creating more rings in every direction endlessly. The rings formed bizarre shapes never seen before, expanding forward, backward, left, and right. I instinctively felt that brushing against even one of these rings would slice apart a Golden Guardian.
The trajectory of these rings was beyond the capacity of ordinary human perception. Even someone adept at the secret techniques of the Four Talents Sect wouldn’t grasp half of the Flowing True Form’s paths. But unlike Heart of Heaven’s Abundance from before, it seemed the Master was carefully positioning this attack rather than forcing it through with power, perhaps attempting to read Yeodong-bin’s technique during the last three seconds of exchange. Though surrounding Yeodong-bin, it didn’t attack immediately.
Yeodong-bin, aware of this, casually relaxed his Fire Dragon Sword.
[You are caught in contradiction by your fixation on forms.]
The Master’s expression became perplexed.
[What do you mean?]
[The infinite power you gained is obstructing your understanding.]
[…]
[No matter how often your body gains the Returning Spirit, you can’t conveniently comprehend the principles of Tai Chi.]
As the Master fell silent, Yeodong-bin roared.
[Can you not empty before you fill?]
The Master seemed to contemplate Yeodong-bin’s words in mid-air for a while. Finally, he sighed bitterly.
[…It’s too late. If only I had met you earlier.]
[Had it been Jang Sam-bong, he could have given more enlightenment easily.]
The gaze of Sword Master Yeodong-bin erupted.
[Then let me only show you the seat of the Overlay Technique!]
Heavenly Escape Sword Technique
Fire Dragon Unification!
Brilliant light flowed through the Fire Dragon Sword held in Yeodong-bin’s right hand. As the spirit energy of the sword responded to Yeodong-bin’s intent, it awakened, bestowing him with overwhelming power! It felt like the overwhelming strength that surged when the Seven Luminaries were unleashed.
The transformations of Yin and Yang materialized in the path of the sword. While it was visually indescribable, there was undoubtedly a metaphysical transformation swirling around Yeodong-bin’s basic technique. Soon, he charged toward the colossal rings dominating the heavens and earth.
Light and darkness intertwined like spirals, concentrating as a singular point. That point connected to both Yeodong-bin’s arms and swiftly created another beam of light, and his sword thrummed as if it were imbued with consciousness.
Yeodong-bin became the sword.
Moreover, karma merged with his sword path.
It transformed into a form transcendentally akin to the Master’s Heart of Heaven’s Abundance, cleaving through the mass of glowing rings without a hint of waste. In a frozen space, parallel strikes stacked like nothing, and an infinite onslaught tore the world apart.
Sword Saint Realm!
Whoosh!
Finally, as the three seconds of exchange ended, the hall was enveloped in stillness. Both the Master and Yeodong-bin had landed back on the ground and gazed at each other silently. The Master’s radiant rings had vanished without a trace, leaving only the Flame Jade lingering in mid-air, as if the Fire Dragon descended to cleanse the heavens and earth.
Suddenly, the Master spoke.
[I can’t believe there exists a being stronger than you in the Heavenly Realm.]
Yeodong-bin responded gracefully.
[This Fire Dragon Sword is my master and the avatar itself. Long ago, I swore to protect humanity with this power, so it is not solely my strength. I aimed not just to be the strongest but to uphold my beliefs.]
[Hmm…]
[Master, do not lose sight of the important things while reaching for greatness.]
The Master lowered his head and bowed deeply.
[Thank you for the great teaching!]
Swoosh…
Finally, Yeodong-bin’s powerful aura dissipated, and I felt weakened, collapsing to the ground. I also coughed up blood.
“Cough!!”
My internal power was almost entirely depleted. Just having shared three seconds with beings of such extraordinary power, I life-like felt the toll it took on my physical strength. I truly felt what it was like to indirectly experience the overwhelming might of experts at the absolute level.
‘Y-Yeodong-bin wasn’t just concerned for me…!!’
The taste of blood rose in my throat and wouldn’t stop. The metallic scent filled my nose.
“Cough, cough…”
I felt like I might die. My energy was so drained that it felt like my veins had ruptured. After having spewed out blood multiple times, the Master spoke.
[Baek Woong, eat this.]
Swoosh!
The Master rummaged through his wooden armor to produce Black and White Lotus and tossed it to me. He must have been saving it for a rainy day.
“Cough! Th-thank you for the delicious…”
I hastily caught it and started munching. It might provide little internal power boost, but it should help me rapidly recover my energy and strength.
“Ugh! Water…”
While I was choking, the Master calmly asked.
[Would you like to eat Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng too?]
“Guh. I’m just…a little choked up…”
Swoosh!
Again, the Master tossed something over. It was the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, and after swallowing the Black and White Lotus and chewing down the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, I felt a burst of vitality swelling within me. It was thrilling to eat such elixirs in haste for the first time.
[Recover your body quickly.]
The Master murmured as he looked up at the sky.
[I originally intended to ally with the Twelve Joules to confront the Heavenly Realm, but I’ve changed my mind. It’s vital to stop the Heavenly Sovereign, so Baek Woong, your role is crucial.]
