C951
From the darkness that seemed to melt the abyss, the blue demon king emerged. It was a paradoxical being, beautiful yet terrifying, radiating a brilliant light while shrouded in utter darkness. Wrath, the absolute ruler of Devildom known as the Monarch of Wrath, flashed his blue eyes within the lost body.
“Where is this…?”
Wrath furrowed his brow as he looked around.
“Inside that mirror?”
He recalled Raon entering a peculiar mirror, but nothing after that came to mind.
“This is my body.”
Wrath clicked his lips briefly as he moved his long, slender fingers as if he was playing the piano. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he moved his own body like that.
“Yes! This beautiful form is my true body! That blue cotton candy nonsense is... Hm?”
Just as he was about to shout that the blue cotton candy was not his true form at all, he felt a slight sense of dissonance at his fingertips. Wrath clicked his tongue briefly.
‘Unfortunately, this is not reality.’
He had maintained a spiritual form for a long time. Even if he returned to his original body, he would need some time to adjust. Seeing how his body responded immediately in that way, it seemed this was an imaginary world created by someone.
‘How did they create a place like this?’
He had scoffed at the grandiose name of “Room of the Self,” but now that he was inside, he couldn’t understand how such a realistic world could be created within that small mirror.
‘That so-called First Patriarch doesn’t seem like an ordinary human being.’
Even for a Transcendent, an ordinary human couldn’t create a mental world capable of sustaining the soul of a demon king. Especially not a thousand years ago, when things were chaotic due to the Demon Dragon.
‘No wonder that Raon fellow has such strong mental fortitude.’
He had thought Raon was strange from the first time he saw him, but it turned out that Raon’s family was extraordinary from the ancestors.
“But where is Raon?”
He extended his Aura Perception, but he couldn’t sense Raon’s presence anywhere. Instead of Raon, he felt an enormous presence emanating from a barely visible golden mountain. It was too far away to be certain, but it seemed to be a monster that wouldn’t lose even against him.
Should he go there? No…
That mountain didn’t seem like the path this king should take. Although it exuded a strength rarely seen even in Devildom, it seemed that the one who should meet that being was not himself.
‘The place my soul is drawn to is…’
Wrath looked at the black sea that stretched before him.
‘This sea.’
The place where he perceived his destiny was not the mountain behind, but the black sea that stretched before his eyes.
‘That mountain is probably Raon’s path.’
Thinking that way, he seemed to know who the being on top of the mountain was.
‘However…’
Something seemed very distorted. As far as he could perceive, this world didn’t seem to be perfectly implemented.
‘They said only one soul could enter at a time.’
Did something go wrong because this king entered along with Raon?
“Whatever the case…”
Wrath resolutely advanced towards the black sea.
“Moving forward is the right answer now.”
The moment his feet touched the sea, the black water began to change to an icy color, as if it was being purified.
“Mmm.”
Wrath furrowed his brow as he watched his own feet changing the black sea.
‘This pain…’
A pain as if he had been stabbed with a knife ran through the inside of his feet when they touched the black sea.
“So I need to adapt again? Interesting.”
Wrath advanced towards the black sea with wider strides, as if the pain didn’t matter. He endured the agony he felt as if he was being cut from laughter, changing the black sea to his own color.
“No need to worry about you.”
Standing in the sea that was turning blue, he looked back at the golden mountain that was gradually fading.
“I’ll wait for you until the very end.”
Wrath advanced into the endless sea with a smile full of confidence.
***
Raon felt the hot energy rising in his dantian as he clenched his fist.
‘My aura has returned.’
It wasn’t much. Only enough aura had recovered to perform basic swordsmanship effortlessly.
“As I thought at first, it means I should face him with only the sword.”
It was clear that his purpose was to face the First Patriarch with only swordsmanship, not with the vast aura and superhuman physical abilities he actually possessed.
“This is what I wanted.”
The reason he came here was not to defeat enemies with the power he already had. He entered the Room of the Self to become stronger in some way, so facing the First Patriarch with only swordsmanship was what he had expected.
‘Fortunately…’
Raon clicked his lips as he observed the heat burning on the First Patriarch’s sword.
‘It seems he isn’t using strong aura either.’
Looking at the First Patriarch’s aura, it seemed he had no intention of overwhelming with power or physical abilities either.
‘What kind of swordsmanship will the First Patriarch use?’
As far as he could guess, the Ring of Fire and Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation were martial arts created by the First Patriarch himself. He was curious to see how a swordsman who created martial arts that surpassed even Transcendence would wield his sword.
The First Patriarch lowered the sword he had raised above his head. The flames burning on his blade began to spin in an arc.
‘Ten Thousand Flames revolving in the sky?’
The First Patriarch’s first sword skill was the Ten Thousand Flames technique he himself often used.
‘However…’
Raon lowered his eyebrows as he watched the First Patriarch’s Revolving Sky.
“It’s not particularly special.”
He had high expectations since it was the swordsmanship shown by the creator of Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, but he didn’t sense any particular strength.
‘Should I block it with the same Revolving Sky?’
Normally he would have broken it with a different technique, but since the First Patriarch’s Revolving Sky didn’t seem that strong, he wanted to counter it with the same technique. Raon wielded his own Revolving Sky, filled with all the sword subtleties he had developed so far.
‘Am I going to win from the start?’
Unlike the First Patriarch’s Revolving Sky, which seemed to be taken straight from a martial arts manual, his own Revolving Sky emitted flames so powerful that it created a haze of heat. A small smile unconsciously formed on his face at the expectation of victory from the start.
When his Revolving Sky and the First Patriarch’s collided head-on, intense heat spread in all directions.
‘I’ll push forward!’
Although the aura of their swords was the same, he had much more subtlety in wielding that heat. With the determination to break through the First Patriarch’s sword strike, he wielded his Revolving Sky even stronger.
‘If I keep pressing like this… huh?’
What’s going on? Why am I being pushed back? Even though his Revolving Sky contained more sword subtleties, ridiculously, the First Patriarch’s sword strike was pushing back with more force. Raon was pushed back, unable to resist the First Patriarch’s fierce offensive.
The First Patriarch, as if expressing that the real battle was just beginning, slightly rotated his shoulder and transformed his Revolving Sky into a more agile and rapid attack.
‘Crimson Slash…’
Crimson Slash was a sword technique that cut the enemy quickly, sharply, and accurately. Since Crimson Slash was the Ten Thousand Flames technique he had used most often, this time he was confident.
Raon stepped forward with his left foot. Tilting his upper body, he launched his own Crimson Slash towards the First Patriarch’s Crimson Slash.
Raon imbued his Crimson Slash with the subtleties of Heavy Sword to trample the enemy and Wind Sword to increase the heat.
Raon’s Crimson Slash, which fell with a strong wind wrapped around it, collided with the First Patriarch’s Crimson Slash that rose like lava. A powerful wave of mana spread between the swords as crimson flames erupted in all directions.
‘What is this…’
Raon gritted his teeth as he watched the First Patriarch’s Crimson Slash rise and erase his own Crimson Slash.
‘Why is it so strong?’
He didn’t expect his Crimson Slash, which had additional subtleties of Heavy Sword and Wind Sword, to be so impotently rejected. He let out a bitter laugh at how absurd it was. In the end, Raon was pushed back by the First Patriarch’s Crimson Slash, scraping the ground with his Heavenly Drive as he staggered backward.
The First Patriarch pointed his sword at him as if he had expected this from the start, without any particular reaction.
A small branch rose above his sword, from which golden petals bloomed. It was the Fire Spirit of Ten Thousand Flames.
“I have to stop it here.”
Revolving Sky, Crimson Slash, and Fire Spirit were the basic Ten Thousand Flames techniques he used most often. Fire Spirit couldn’t push back Revolving Sky and Crimson Slash.
“With a defined Fire Spirit.”
Raon launched his Heavenly Drive towards the First Patriarch’s approaching Fire Spirit. A small tree bloomed on the pure white blade, raising countless flaming petals. He created a sharp and powerful sword technique by imbuing the Fire Spirit, which possessed the subtleties of Ghost Sword, Variable Sword, and Flowing Sword, with Sharp Sword and Explosive Sword.
The First Patriarch’s Fire Spirit and his own Fire Spirit collided. This time he was confident, as the flame fragments he raised were about twice as numerous.
But his expectations crumbled again. The First Patriarch’s Fire Spirit was devouring his flames and advancing.
‘How…’
He couldn’t understand why he was being pushed back when his flame fragments were twice as numerous and he had added sharpness and explosive power. The First Patriarch’s flames completely devoured his Fire Spirit, and then collapsed like a firestorm. Raon’s arm was burned, and he felt pain as if his skin was being torn off.
The First Patriarch immediately took the stance of Ten Thousand Flames Flame Wind, as if this was still far from over.
“Ha…”
Raon shook his head with a bitter laugh.
‘This is going to keep going, isn’t it?’
It seemed this fight would only end when the First Patriarch’s sword skill was broken.
‘I like it.’
The reason he came here was to become stronger. He had no reason to refuse if he was going to be given continuous and repetitive training.
“Please speak first if you want to give up.”
Raon clicked his lips as he advanced towards the First Patriarch.
“I have no intention of stopping even if I die.”
***
Raon was pushed back, leaving heavy footprints on the training ground.
“I can’t win even one.”
He had clashed swords with the First Patriarch countless times, but he couldn’t achieve even a single victory.
“It’s not because of the level of martial arts or the amount of aura.”
The First Patriarch was showing a level of sword skill appropriate for his current self. It was disconcerting that he kept losing when it wasn’t because he was being overwhelmed in strength or level.
‘Why am I losing?’
It was frustrating to be unable to break through the First Patriarch’s sword even though he had further strengthened his sword skill.
‘What’s the difference?’
It was frustrating, but the First Patriarch didn’t offer any advice. He just prepared for the next sword technique with a calm look.
‘Falling Sun?’
The sword technique the First Patriarch was showing this time was Falling Sun. A sword strike that falls abruptly like the setting sun. Raon showed the same Falling Sun while imbuing it with the subtleties of Heavy Sword and Fast Sword.
‘The twentieth time? No, more than that?’
It seemed that Falling Sun had already rejected him more than twenty times. If the First Patriarch had wanted, he would probably be dead already.
‘Next is Crimson Slash…’
Raon bit his lip as he watched the First Patriarch about to launch his Crimson Slash.
“I couldn’t block it no matter what combination I used.”
The number of times Crimson Slash had faced the First Patriarch was far greater than Falling Sun. It seemed he had already used all possible combinations of sword subtleties.
“If there’s no way, no matter what I do…”
Should I try to imitate it? Since it was difficult to block the First Patriarch, it seemed good to imitate him first to understand his movements. Raon maximized only the original subtleties that Crimson Slash possessed while resonating the Ring of Fire to the extreme.
When his Crimson Slash and the First Patriarch’s collided in the center of the divided training ground, it shook as if a mountain of sand was collapsing.
“Huh?”
Raon widened his eyes as he saw his Heavenly Drive competing on equal terms with the First Patriarch’s Crimson Slash.
‘What is this?’
Why isn’t it being rejected? Unlike when he recklessly imbued multiple subtleties, his Crimson Slash didn’t yield an inch to the First Patriarch’s sword strike.
‘It doesn’t work when I fill it up, but it works when I use it normally… Ah!’
Raon’s lips trembled as he watched the flames burning as the swords clashed.
‘Filling it up isn’t always good’
The fact that he mastered the ten thousand swords didn’t mean he could imbue all the subtleties into every sword technique. Each sword technique probably has a total amount of martial subtleties that it can contain, but it seemed he had been using too much force each time.
‘The ship overflowed.’
It was natural for it to overflow when he tried to put a whole pizza on a plate the size of his palm.
‘Now that I think about it, grandpa didn’t try to fill it all up either.’
Glenn could imbue Heavenly Thunder Arts into the Azure Sky Sword, but instead he created a new sword technique called Heaven Piercing Thunder. Each sword technique has its own color, so he clearly didn’t want to ruin the unique color of the technique by imbuing too many subtleties at once.
The First Patriarch raised the Revolving Sky. The flames burning on his sword spun like a water wheel and fell towards Raon’s neck.
‘Let’s try again.’
Raon raised the Revolving Sky imbued only with rotation, speed, and force, following the First Patriarch’s Revolving Sky. The flames between the fiercely spinning swords competed fiercely, heating the sand of the training ground.
‘As expected…’
Raon nodded as he watched his sword attack without yielding to the First Patriarch’s Revolving Sky.
“That was good.”
He had invested too much in techniques that were already close to perfection, which actually reduced their degree of completion. While techniques with many empty spaces like Fangs of Insanity or Blizzard Sword Art could contain many subtleties, investing too much in a completed technique would actually ruin it.
“…”
For the first time, a slight smile appeared on the First Patriarch’s lips. As he nodded as if that was the right answer, the mountain of sand filled with golden light began to darken.
-
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