SWDnovel Chapter 258 : Jaseung, Strikes
Chapter 258 : Jaseung, Strikes
Until the following morning, there was no contact from the Dark Noble Clan.While Dan Woobin, who had spent a restless night, was anxiously waiting for news, Lee Jaseung went out to the training grounds.
Lee Jaseung slowly began his existing training routine.
Inner Qi of two hundred years.
Now, at the first stage of the Transcendent Peak Realm, his Inner Qi was manifested for the first time.
It was different. It was clearly different from before.
Through several developments until now, he had felt the phrase "at long last."
However, he felt that its previous use had been incorrect.
He felt that it should be used right now.
Only now did Lee Jaseung feel that his martial arts were complete.
Of course, at the first stage of the Transcendent Peak Realm, it also meant standing at a starting point once again. However, there was no longer a need to be conscious of stages. It was the final point a human could reach.
Lee Jaseung could tell.
That only one task remained.
The Realm of the Mind Sword.
The act of using a sword of the heart. Since he used flying daggers, only the task of using a dagger created by the heart remained.
In the process of trying to loosen his sealed Dantian, he had experienced looking into himself.
Lee Jaseung could tell.
That it was the very first step toward the Realm of the Mind Sword.
Just like the first time, this defeat ultimately became a great help to Lee Jaseung.
I don't know why you are helping me, but thank you anyway.
Lee Jaseung sent his gratitude to the man in his heart. He was sincere.
Finally, one more thing.
The Realm of the Mind Sword would not be gained through enlightenment in a day or two.
Therefore, his martial arts ended here.
He had to kill Yao Hong with his current skill.
When Lee Jaseung finished a session of training, Baek Seolyoung entered the area and asked.
“How do you feel?”
“Feel about what?”
“The feeling of becoming strong after being weak.”
“It’s whatever.”
Indeed, Lee Jaseung looked calm as if it were no big deal.
This time, Lee Jaseung threw the same question back.
“What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“The feeling of being strong after being weak?”
Baek Seolyoung could tell. It was a remark about her using Sword Kinesis.
She imitated Lee Jaseung’s answer.
“It's whatever.”
Of course, it was an answer completely different from her inner thoughts. The more she thought about that matter, the better she felt.
In fact, she could not express that joy fully in words.
That feeling when Sword Kinesis was unleashed.
That moment she wanted to feel again, but felt she might never feel again. A moment she felt she couldn't replicate even if asked to. Honestly, she still could not believe it.
Lee Jaseung asked.
“Did you recover all your Inner Qi?”
“About a third.”
“That is enough.”
“For what?”
“Now, come over here.”
Lee Jaseung wrapped around her and embraced her from behind.
“Draw your sword.”
“What are you trying to do?”
Half fear, half curiosity. A tense Baek Seolyoung drew her sword.
At that moment, a single thought flashed through her mind.
“Surely? You aren't telling me to perform Sword Kinesis right here and now, are you?”
“Why wouldn't I be?”
“No! I can't do it!”
“Why can't you?”
“I can't because I can't. Back then, I was...”
“Back then, what?”
“I was in such a rush that it just went out without me knowing.”
“If you can do it when you're in a rush, you can do it when you're not.”
Lee Jaseung spoke the oral formula related to Sword Kinesis again. It was conveyed to her with a feeling different from when she heard it before.
Lee Jaseung firmly held her hand that was gripping the sword.
“Now, close your eyes and remember that time.”
Baek Seolyoung closed her eyes.
She recalled that urgent moment. The time when her breath was being choked, and Dan Woobin and Mook Young were dying.
Recalling the heart method Lee Jaseung had taught her, she poured all her internal power into the sword.
Just like this.
Swaaaaaaaash.
Her sword flew through the air.
“Ah!”
She snapped her eyes open in surprise.
The sword was flying as fast as light.
The next moment.
“Stop it now!”
The sword stopped dead in mid-air.
“Kegh.”
She coughed up blood from the excessive circulation of Qi.
Then came Lee Jaseung’s shout.
“Don't pay it any mind!”
My goodness! Look here, husband! I just coughed up blood!
In the past, not paying it any mind would have been nonsense, but the current her was capable of it.
She focused all her spirit on the sword floating in the air.
Lee Jaseung’s low voice reached her ears.
“Feel it.”
Feel what exactly?
But Lee Jaseung did not give an additional explanation.
Baek Seolyoung stared at the sword. It felt as if it would fall to the ground at any moment.
Her breath grew heavy. She worried that her blood vessels might be damaged, preventing her from practicing martial arts in the future.
Truly, she would not have been able to endure it if not for Lee Jaseung being behind her back.
Feel it? What on earth am I supposed to feel?
At that moment, the content she had thought of that day suddenly came back to her. A new statement among the things Lee Jaseung had told her regarding Sword Kinesis.
“It is close to another invisible 'me' grabbing the sword and flying together with it.”
“Another invisible me?”
“That is how I can control the sword according to my will.”
Right, the thing to feel was not the sword.
Another 'me' standing behind the sword.
He was telling her to feel that invisible self.
She focused her spirit while recalling the oral formula for Sword Kinesis that Lee Jaseung had recited again.
It was not easily felt.
Sweat poured down from her forehead like rain.
How much time passed like that? An unbelievable thing happened.
The sword slowly began to change direction.
The sword turned completely toward her and Lee Jaseung.
Tremble.
Seeing the sword trembling in mid-air, a sense of fear struck her. It felt as if it would fly toward them with Sword Kinesis at any moment.
She was afraid she might accidentally recite the formula for launching the sword. Because she thought she must never think of it, it kept trying to come to mind even more.
No more than this!
It was when she was about to let go of all her focus.
Lee Jaseung gripped her hand even more powerfully.
He did not say a word.
But it was as if Lee Jaseung’s touch was saying this.
You must endure. If you don't cross the hurdle, there is no progress.
Endure what exactly? This is the end, isn't it?
Again, Lee Jaseung’s hand firmly held hers.
The touch was saying something.
That it starts from now.
The next moment, she was startled.
Surely? You want to do that in this situation?
Then, as if he had seen through her heart, Lee Jaseung nodded his head from behind.
No!
Yes!
Please!
You can do it! Believe in yourself!
I do believe, of course. But this is a separate matter from believing, isn't it?
But Lee Jaseung was immovable. More strength entered the hand holding hers.
Baek Seolyoung shook off her worries with a sigh.
Since things had come to this anyway.
Baek Seolyoung gazed at the sword floating in the air.
She suddenly realized that the sword, which had only been scary, was the very sword that had been standing by her bed when she dreamed earlier. Thinking of it as the very sword she wanted to talk to, her heart grew comfortable for some reason.
The next moment, she recited the oral formula, and her energy was transmitted to the sword.
Flash!.
Her sword flew again at a mad speed as if exploding.
The target was her.
Swoooooosh.
Baek Seolyoung’s shout erupted at the same time as Lee Jaseung’s.
“Stop!”
The next moment, the sword was stopped in front of her face.
It was an unbelievable thing.
Looking at the sharp blade aiming at her right before her eyes, Baek Seolyoung swallowed hard.
Zing—
The sword floating in the air let out a long, resonant cry.
Ssssss.
The sword slowly rotated in the air and then flew into the scabbard at her waist.
Clack.
The moment the sword entered the scabbard, she collapsed against Lee Jaseung, her strength gone.
“...I really did it.”
While holding her from behind, Lee Jaseung threw the previous question again.
“How does it feel to become strong?”
Baek Seolyoung spoke with a smile. This time, she spoke the truth.
“It's the best.”
Truly, the world looked different. The sky was higher, bluer, and more beautiful. Now that she had succeeded properly once, a day would come when her sword would roam that high sky. She sincerely hoped for such a day to come.
At that moment, Dan Woobin ran over.
“Contact has come from the Dark Noble Clan. They say they will pull their troops tomorrow and strike the Jiangxi branch of the Asura Demon Sect all at once.”
It was truly the news they had been waiting for.
“Help them and pour in all the power of the Murim Alliance.”
“Yes, understood. Ah, and I have one more report to give.”
“What is it?”
If the previous report was what Dan Woobin had desperately waited for, this report was what Lee Jaseung had been waiting for.
“I have identified Yao Hong’s location.”
Lee Jaseung looked at Dan Woobin.
Dan Woobin, guessing the meaning in that silent gaze, asked with a trembling voice.
“Will you do it?”
The answer was already contained in Lee Jaseung’s shining eyes.
“Summon everyone.”
* * *
“Gwangdu has disappeared.”
At the voice’s report, Demonic Qi erupted from Yao Hong’s body.
The dark and intense Demonic Qi made those standing there shudder. Even Sword God and the Ghost Soldiers felt a chill that ached to their bones, and Sa Nogun, whose martial arts were relatively lower, staggered as if he would collapse at any moment.
The voice calmly reported the next part.
“The Loneliness Demon and Asura’s One Fist, who were guarding him, are dead.”
“Was it Lee Jaseung’s doing?”
“That has not been confirmed. There are many suspicious things about this matter.”
“Suspicious you say?”
“They say it was the act of someone who entered as a newcomer. However, at the time that person entered, Lee Jaseung was elsewhere. The timing does not match.”
It was a natural thing. When Lee Jaseung regained consciousness in the training hall of the martial arts academy, the people around him perceived him as a new student.
Since the memories of those related to Lee Jaseung had been manipulated by some unprecedented power, the subsequent actions and timing could not naturally match up.
Another Demonic Human ran in and reported urgently.
“The Jiangxi branch of our sect is under attack.”
“Is it those Murim Alliance bastards?”
“No. The ones at the front of the attack are the Dark Noble Clan.”
Yao Hong’s mouth twisted strangely. Since Gwangdu had been taken, it could be seen as a natural course of action.
“How on earth did they find out where the boy was hidden?”
The voice answered Yao Hong’s question.
“There must be a traitor among the important figures of our cult.”
The owner of the voice knew well that he himself was included among the most likely suspects for that traitor. Because the location where Gwangdu was hidden was truly a secret among secrets.
“Find out thoroughly.”
“Understood.”
It was then. A commotion arose outside. Just as the sound of weapons clashing was heard, another Demonic Human rushed in.
“They are intruders.”
“Hahahahaha.”
Eventually, Yao Hong burst into a hollow laugh.
“Truly amazing.”
Neither Lee Jaseung nor Yao Hong was at the main base of the Demonic Cult or the Black Way Alliance. Since both were hiding in a kind of hideout, an attack was not that difficult once the location was known.
“It seems best to withdraw for a moment first.”
Yao Hong showed his displeasure at the voice’s cautious words.
“They have swarmed to my front yard, and you say just leave?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
On the other hand, the voice was firm.
“If it is you, Cult Leader, you know that taking their lives is easier than flipping one's palm. So, for this once, please accept my words.”
After a moment of thought, Yao Hong rose from his seat.
“I will do so.”
At the very moment he was about to move,
Creeeeeak.
The door opened slowly, and a man walked inside.
It was none other than Lee Jaseung.
The gazes of Lee Jaseung and Yao Hong met in the air. It was truly a fateful meeting. In the past, Yao Hong had seen Lee Jaseung talking with Yeo Su-in through a glass orb inside.
“I am the Black Way Alliance Leader.”
Yao Hong’s face hardened, and his eyes stretched long. It had been a truly long time since he met an opponent who acted so rudely to him.
Lee Jaseung had no intention of showing courtesy to Yao Hong. Yao Hong held no meaning to Lee Jaseung other than as an enemy to be killed.
“You crazy bastard!”
The Ghost Soldiers stepped forward, emitting Demonic Qi. Sword God, standing next to Yao Hong, wore an interested expression.
Who in the world could walk into a place where the Cult Leader of the Asura Demon Sect, Sword God, and the Ghost Soldiers were present alone and act with such leisure?
The voice sent a transmission.
— There is surely a plot. For my sake, please just leave this one time.
The man of the voice had nothing but the thought of leaving this place by instinct. He had a bad feeling.
Just as Yao Hong was hesitating, Lee Jaseung threw out a word nonchalantly.
“Leaving already?”
No insults or provocations were needed.
At that one word, Yao Hong sat back in his original seat.
The voice also did not try to stop him anymore. The situation had become one that could not be stopped.
“No, I was just about to sit down. Since a fun spectacle has appeared.”
Yao Hong did not reveal any energy. Rather, he was smiling.
However, a presence more powerful than any Demonic Qi he had emitted when angry until now swirled and dominated the room.
It was a sense of presence.
That of an old demon who had taken over the Heavenly Demon Sect forty years ago was asking with dignity.
Who on earth in this Jianghu could handle me.
As if answering that it was him, Lee Jaseung, standing before the door, slowly walked into that suffocating space.