Kwaaaaaaah!
The sky seemed to collapse overhead. The demonic qi darkening everything around rushed in like hell descending upon the world.
A proclamation of destruction and an incarnation of the end. Within that deep despair, a sword dyed in sunset hues moved—like a ray of light or a phantom, just like a moment from the past.
A sword is just a sword, merely a cold metal blade.
But to a swordsman, a sword is not just an emotionless blade. At its tip lies everything of the wielder.
Perhaps nobility. Perhaps confidence.
And perhaps… what rested at the tip of this sword, or rather the flying sword, was…
'Reach out.'
The vital qi rising from the toes gathered beyond the fingertips into the sword.
A sense of unity as if the sword and body became one in an instant. The clarity born from an excessively sharpened perception. And the great satisfaction that follows.
The sword, containing all of that, simply advanced.
"Just once!"
Chung Myung's eyes holding the sword emitted a fierce killing intent. The sword could be swung again. Even if it cut through the air, it could be swung again or stabbed once more.
But the flying dagger was a single, fatal strike.
Once the flying dagger left the fingertips, it was over. No second chance was given to change it. Amidst an overwhelming pressure that words cannot describe, Chung Myung's sword drew a single line. It was as if everything stopped except for the sword flying through the air.
A line is originally a connection. It draws between things that should not touch, linking them as one.
The line drawn by Chung Myung's sword connected the present where he stood and the faded past long ago.
A gap in time split and split again in an instant. An unprecedented acceleration of thought. In a world that felt painfully slow by comparison, Chung Myung felt a burning thirst.
'Not enough!'
This wasn't it.
'It's not just about this much!'
The flying dagger of Tang Bo that he remembered was never such a mediocre strike. A flying dagger that seemed to carry even the soul in a single release. Like a meteor at dawn, it cut through a fleeting moment and disappeared, but because of that, Tang Bo's flying dagger was more brilliant than anything else.
So it had to be faster. More precise, and more powerful! More! Even more!
At that moment, an almost phantom-like voice brushed past Chung Myung's ear.
Taoist hyung, you're always too impatient, that's your flaw.
Words Tang Bo once playfully said to him in the past.
There are countless things you want to hold within your grasp, but if you hold them all, it only becomes heavy. Like your two shoulders, Taoist hyung. Can you properly wield a sword with shoulders weighed down so heavily?
The voice sounded so clear, as if whispered right beside him.
If you want to throw the flying dagger properly, you must empty, not fill it. The tip of the flying dagger must be light. The more you want to hold, the more you empty. Isn't that the way of Tao that it teaches? Though, I don't know if a blockhead like Taoist hyung can understand that…
Even the laughter mixed with that voice tickled his ears. Truly, at this moment, it felt as if a moment from the past continued.
If someday that becomes possible…
Everything that bound Chung Myung was severed. What remained was only the sensation of the sword at his fingertips. That sensation spread throughout Chung Myung's entire body.
The flying sword and Chung Myung became one.
The sword and body united.
Who knows? Taoist hyung's sword might really reach that Heavenly Demon.
Chung Myung cut through the darkness-drenched world. The tip of the flying weapon pointed to the source of that darkness. That strike was the sword of Mount Hua that Chung Myung wielded and the flying dagger Tang Bo launched long ago.
Chung Myung, who connected what should not be connected, transformed into the dagger that destroys demons and shot toward the demon's heart.
'I am here!'
That was an undeniable fact. But all of him was clearly connected to the past.
The sword, having achieved unity, transcended selflessness, and finally reached nature, cut through the world as it was meant to.
And then, in a moment, Jang Ilso and Chung Myung's gazes met as they turned their heads.
Even in the flow of time almost frozen, it was clearly visible—the sly smile Jang Ilso wore.
Jang Ilso raised his arm. It was a gesture too weak and powerless to oppose the massive darkness descending overhead. Yet at that moment, an icy cold flame burst forth from his entire body.
Hwaaaaaaak!
A final, all-out strike drawing out the last ounce of strength soared toward the pouring demonic qi.
Blue flames and black demonic qi clashed in the air. The flames were too faint to block the overwhelming demonic qi pouring down.
But even if only for a moment, those flames clearly pushed back the collapsing mountain-like demonic qi. In the seemingly unbreakable iron wall, a tiny but distinct gap opened. No, Jang Ilso pried it open.
Their locked gazes broke as Chung Myung's body brushed right past Jang Ilso. At that very moment, Jang Ilso's hand touched Chung Myung's completely defenseless back.
A voice that could never be heard by Chung Myung seemed to brush past his ear.
"Go."
Paaaah!
The sword shot beyond limits into a miracle, aided by Jang Ilso's force pushing Chung Myung's back.
At that moment, Dan Ja-Kang's eyes, clouded and blurred as he surrendered to the rising demonic qi, regained a clear light.
'Sunset?'
It was a vision like a dream. So wondrous it even restored Dan Ja-Kang's reason, which had been completely tainted by demonic qi and the fight.
In the world Dan Ja-Kang created, where not a speck of light seemed visible, a faint red glow blossomed. That faint red light pierced the deep, deep darkness and gradually spread.
Like the sunset spreading from the eastern sky at the end of a long night.
That was dawn. The end of night and another beginning.
In that scene where reality and illusion mixed, a white sword flew cutting through the red sunset.
"What is this?"
It was a chilling sense of death Dan Ja-Kang had never experienced before. The sword, like dawn burning through darkness, shattered everything and deeply pierced toward his neck.
Kwaduk!
At that moment, as if the world completely stopped, a deep silence fell around. Everyone present saw clearly.
The scene of the Dark Fragrant Plum Blossom Sword piercing through the neck of the despairingly strong High priest Dan Ja-Kang, who seemed never to fall, protruding from the nape of his neck.
Everyone held their breath.
It felt as if all the sounds of the world vanished for a moment.
Though the qi waves still raged around them like a storm, everyone distinctly felt that silence. A silence all the more intense because it was so brief.
Drip.
A drop of blood fell from the tip of the white sword that pierced through Dan Ja-Kang's neck.
And at that moment.
Chung Myung's darkened indifferent gaze and Dan Ja-Kang's raging eyes intertwined closely.
Vomiting the refluxed blood, Dan Ja-Kang muttered something silently. Though others couldn't understand, Chung Myung clearly understood the incantation.
"…Pray"
Dan Ja-Kang forcefully slammed down the arm he had raised as if shaking it off.
The sun of demonic qi, not yet fully dispersed, fell above their heads. It was like a mountain collapsing.
"Ah…!"
Everyone's pupils dilated widely.
"Noooooooo!"
With a massive scream whose source no one could tell, overwhelming demonic qi collided with the earth.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
The demonic qi embedded in the land surged as if to destroy everything. Soon, it covered the world in a massive storm of demonic qi.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
The disciples of Mount Hua caught in the storm were blown away helplessly like leaves in a typhoon.
Not only Mount Hua's disciples but also the cult members watching the fierce battle with dazed faces were swept away like fallen leaves by that irresistible force.
The disciples of Mount Hua, repeatedly slammed into the ground after being thrown back, groaned in pain.
Kwaaaaang!
The successive thunderous booms assaulted everyone as if to burst their eardrums. It was a shock as if the world was collapsing all at once.
Kwang! Kwaaaang! Kwang!
After that massive shock violently swept the earth.
Finally, silence arrived.
Twitch.
Baek Cheon, covered in the dirt and debris violently thrown by the earth's upheaval, trembled. His fingertips twitched in a spasm.
"Ugh…"
He groaned and, regaining consciousness, lifted his head fiercely.
"Ch-Chung Myung…"
Bloodshot veins began to appear in his eyes.
Even Chung Myung… could he really survive at the center of such an absurd explosion? Even he, caught in the aftermath, was so turned inside out that moving was difficult.
"No, no… no…"
Crunch!
Baek Cheon crushed the rock in his hand, gathering strength. He almost dug into the ground and scratched himself up as he got up, urgently looking around.
"Ch-Chung Myung! Chung Myung!"
Chung Myung was nowhere to be seen. Baek Cheon, who imagined the outcome he never wanted to think of, shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Chung Myung! You bastard!"
"Sahyung!"
At that moment, Yu Yiseol's urgent voice pierced his ear.
"There!"
Baek Cheon hurriedly turned to where she pointed. The earth was massively gouged as if torn by a heavenly god. In the middle, two red and black dots were visible.
"Ch-Chung Myung!"
"Alliance lord!"
Shouts burst simultaneously from Baek Cheon and Ho Ga-Myung. Both began running at full speed toward the fallen Chung Myung and Jang Ilso.
At that moment, Chung Myung's lips, half-buried in dirt and utterly battered, twitched faintly.
"Ugh…"
As his cracked lips parted, the wounds that had barely stuck together tore open again, and red blood flowed down.
"Ugh…"
He barely lifted his heavy eyelids and saw Jang Ilso, also half-buried in the ground, his head tilted.
Silently watching that figure, Chung Myung strained his exhausted voice after a long struggle.
"…Hey."
No answer came.
"Hey."
At that moment, a voice without any strength leaked from Jang Ilso's mouth, who was tilted as if dead.
"…What?"
Hearing that voice, Chung Myung frowned.
"Are you alive?"
Then a weak voice came from Jang Ilso's mouth. A feeble voice that seemed impossible to come from him.
"…Maybe… I'm dead…?"
"Is that so…?"
Chung Myung painfully turned his body. Forcing his motionless body to lie down, he saw the sky. It was blue enough to hurt his eyes.
"That…"
The long night ended, and finally morning arrived.
"…That's a welcome sound to hear."
Chung Myung's chuckling laughter slowly spread through the quietly settled morning world.