Chapter 369
"Uraaaaaah!"
Wei Yan-ho burst through the enormous foam of energy created by the sea and river, instantly compressing the distance as he rushed toward the Mad Blood Demon.
"Kuk!"
No matter how much of a battle-hardened veteran the Mad Blood Demon was, he couldn't help but be flustered at this moment.
Wei Yan-ho's sword sliced through the air, falling toward the Mad Blood Demon's head at terrifying speed. The Mad Blood Demon's right hand, infused with pitch-black demonic energy, caught Wei Yan-ho's sword.
Kwaaaaang!
The moment fist force and sword force collided, an explosion erupted.
Wei Yan-ho's face slightly contorted.
Even though it was a strike with all his power, the Mad Blood Demon's hand, infused with demonic energy, blocked his attack without a single wound. It was the first time since entering the martial world that his strike had been blocked so easily.
But Wei Yan-ho was neither flustered nor disappointed.
Having his attacks easily blocked was something he had already experienced hundreds of times a day. There had been times when he fought hundreds of battles daily that made him feel despair just from attacking, so this much was nothing!
Wei Yan-ho's sword was quickly withdrawn and thrust in again.
Kaang! Kaang! Kaang!
The consecutively thrusting sword was still being perfectly blocked by the Mad Blood Demon's defense. But this wasn't a meaningless attack. Thanks to this, the Mad Blood Demon was now desperately focused on defense.
"This, this bastard!"
The Mad Blood Demon's face contorted.
"Heheng!"
Wei Yan-ho spurred himself on even more, rapidly thrusting his sword.
If it came to a direct power struggle, he had no chance of victory. His internal energy had also reached a rare level in the martial world, but the Mad Blood Demon's internal energy was at an incomprehensible level.
Even when he had fought Kwon-geuk in the past, he had been overwhelmed by that tremendous internal energy, but this was different from that. Compared to Kwon-geuk's internal energy that pressed down majestically, the Mad Blood Demon's internal energy was like seething, sticky flames.
If he were to directly face fist force infused with such internal energy, even Wei Yan-ho wouldn't be able to withstand it. He might be able to somehow handle it once or twice, but beyond that, he would be flattened.
So the best strategy was to not give him a chance to unleash his fist force.
"This damn bastard!"
Fortunately, the Mad Blood Demon had an explosive personality true to his alias.
Even though he possessed the skill to easily push Wei Yan-ho back if he responded calmly, he was getting excited and failing to respond properly.
'They say that with Demon Cult members, their personality consumes half their skill.'
The general perception about demonic arts was proving exactly right. Demonic arts that focused on speed rather than orthodox methods quickly enhanced the practitioner's skill, but ultimately destroyed their character, didn't they?
The Mad Blood Demon was exactly that type right now.
It felt like watching a stupid bear.
The power he possessed perfectly fit the phrase "strength to uproot mountains and overwhelming might," but his explosive personality was preventing him from properly utilizing that power.
'At this level… '
Wei Yan-ho quickly calculated.
There was something his master always emphasized.
Keep your head always cool.
No matter how infuriating things got, no matter how dangerous the situation became, you must always keep your head cool. If you get swept up by emotions and can't see ahead properly, you'll inevitably suffer hardship.
Wei Yan-ho accepted those words like golden rules.
His master was truly a strange person, but his words were always sound doctrine. So sound that they sometimes felt radical, and sometimes even seemed like nonsense, but he had never once seen his master's words be wrong.
So…
But Wei Yan-ho didn't know.
Baek Mu-han had also never experienced true demon practitioners. The demon practitioners of his era had been scattered and weak, and Baek Mu-han hadn't particularly interested himself in demonic arts.
If Baek Mu-han had understood demon practitioners, he would have given Wei Yan-ho completely different advice.
That small difference began to shake up the situation.
"Uaaaaaaaah!"
A sound like a beast's howl erupted.
Blood-mixed saliva sprayed wildly from the mouth of the Mad Blood Demon, whose eyes were filled with bloodshot veins. The prominent blood vessels from his neck to his forehead clearly showed just how excited the Mad Blood Demon had become.
Wei Yan-ho calmly thrust toward the Mad Blood Demon's neck.
Whether he got excited or not, if he just coldly and coolly pressed forward…
That was the moment.
The Mad Blood Demon ignored Wei Yan-ho's sword thrusting toward his neck and unleashed his fist force.
Wei Yan-ho's face instantly turned deathly black.
'This crazy bastard!'
At this rate, the sword could pierce through the Mad Blood Demon's neck, but Wei Yan-ho would also be turned into mincemeat. And ridiculously, the Mad Blood Demon with his neck pierced seemed more likely to survive than Wei Yan-ho taking the Mad Blood Demon's fist force.
Wei Yan-ho gritted his teeth and withdrew his sword, striking at the incoming Mad Blood Demon's fist force.
He blocked it.
He accurately struck the fist force with his sword infused with internal energy and deflected it. It couldn't have been a cleaner defense.
But perfectly blocking something didn't mean doing so without taking damage. Even though he had done his absolute best, the moment sword and fist force collided, enormous pressure that felt like his arms were being crushed enveloped Wei Yan-ho.
The feeling that all his bones were breaking and his internal organs were rampaging wildly in his stomach. Terrible pain and pressure rushed in all at once, as if a giant's hand was grasping and kneading his body.
"Keuk!"
Even though he had defended perfectly, something somewhere in his body burst from just the aftershock, causing blood to flow backward up to his mouth.
Wei Yan-ho, who had spat out blood, stepped back to reorganize his stance.
But the Mad Blood Demon didn't miss that opening.
A bestial howl erupted from the Mad Blood Demon's throat. Spewing out streams of demonic energy, the Mad Blood Demon flew toward Wei Yan-ho at invisible speed.
A moment of bewilderment flashed in Wei Yan-ho's eyes.
Kwaang!
He somehow managed to block the fist flying toward his head, but it was impossible to completely dissipate the aftershock. Like a fired cannonball, Wei Yan-ho's body was flung backward.
Kung! Kung! Kung!
The Mad Blood Demon rushed forward as if he wouldn't let the flying Wei Yan-ho escape.
With each step that struck the ground, the ground caved in and crumbled. Using that recoil, the Mad Blood Demon caught up to Wei Yan-ho faster than anyone.
"This!"
Wei Yan-ho spat out blood like a waterfall as he raised his sword. Wei Yan-ho's sword, with his legs extended and body pressed to the ground, emitted brilliant radiance.
What was needed was an immovable mind.
Wei Yan-ho, who had thoroughly suppressed his heart that was being shaken by anger and hatred, deployed his sword with coldly sunken eyes.
He had faced this level of crisis hundreds of times a day. So there was no particular reason to get angry now.
If one strike won't do, then two strikes; if two strikes won't do, then three strikes.
If you keep swinging your sword again and again, eventually it will reach.
The world grew dark.
His vision disappeared.
Everything around him faded into a blur, and only the rushing Mad Blood Demon was clearly visible in his eyes.
One sword, then another sword.
Layer upon layer, he built up his swords. A wall of swords that even the most remarkable person could never overcome.
Brilliant white light that seemed to blind the eyes covered Wei Yan-ho's entire body. From the Mad Blood Demon's perspective, it would feel as if Wei Yan-ho had disappeared and a wall of pure white light had appeared in his place.
"Insignificant!"
But the Mad Blood Demon didn't stop.
Uuuuuuuuung!
The sound of tens of thousands of bees buzzing resonated from his entire body. The roughly trembling black demonic energies gathered into the Mad Blood Demon's right hand. So much demonic energy had gathered that the Mad Blood Demon's right hand seemed to be covered with black clouds.
Maintaining his rushing speed, the Mad Blood Demon's waist twisted sharply backward. Like pulling a rubber band, his waist twisted back as far as it could go, then instantly returned to position, creating recoil. Based on that recoil, the Mad Blood Demon's single punch, with all his might, exploded forward.
Kwaaaaaah!
It was like a waterfall pouring down.
Not from top to bottom, but forward, ever forward.
The fist force surged forward like waves. Just as a dried riverbed meets heavy rain to create muddy torrents, the pitch-black fist force swirled as it rushed toward Wei Yan-ho's sword wall.
Tremendous force.
There was no other way to express it.
With the momentum to burst through all the barriers blocking its way, the wave of demonic energy rushed toward Wei Yan-ho's sword wall. Those watching this collision that transcended common sense could only be mesmerized.
This was something else entirely wearing the name of martial arts.
They knew that martial arts, once reaching a certain level, went beyond simply swinging fists and swords, but wasn't this literally the form of nature itself?
Creating torrents with human hands, changing the terrain, and creating walls of light.
How could this be called a human fight?
But there wasn't much time to be mesmerized. Everything happening before their eyes was the reality they were facing.
And right in the middle of that reality, Wei Yan-ho's sword wall and the Mad Blood Demon's fist force collided.
An explosion.
An ear-splitting explosion erupted.
From the shock of the two forces colliding with each other, all the surrounding trees were uprooted and sent flying, and the official road repeatedly rose and sank like mud.
"Uaaaaaaaah!"
Jang-il reached out and firmly grasped Jin Ye-ran.
The aftershock of the collision was blowing away even his body like a leaf. He tried to resist somehow, but resistance was impossible. The best he could do was to try not to get swept up by the rocks and trees bouncing up around him while being blown away.
Jang-il, who had gathered all his internal energy to protect Jin Ye-ran, crashed straight into the ground.
"Keuaaaak!"
Jang-il, who had bounced off the ground and fallen several times, rolled along the ground as if being dragged by someone. Jang-il, who had barely managed to grab the ground, bolted upright.
Jin Ye-ran, who had been pushed up into the air, was falling.
"Oh no!"
Without time to tend to the pain throughout his body, Jang-il ran at full speed and threw his body toward where Jin Ye-ran was falling.
Kung!
"Keuk!"
Terrible pain was felt in his back. Tears trickled out.
'No matter how useless it is… '
Still, a man's life is in his back, but what was he supposed to do when such a strong impact came?
Jang-il would normally have complained, but fortunately, unlike Wei Yan-ho, he was someone who knew how to distinguish time and place. Now was not the time to speak but the time to move his body.
The enormous trees and rocks that had shot up into the air were falling.
"Ugh! Damn it! What the hell is this!"
How could such a thing happen from a clash between people? Even if a typhoon struck and an earthquake occurred, such an absurd scene wouldn't unfold.
Jang-il, who had barely avoided all the debris while holding Jin Ye-ran, collapsed on the spot as strength left his legs.
"Are you… alright?"
Hearing Jin Ye-ran's dazed voice, Jang-il slowly nodded. But those words hadn't actually entered his ears. His gaze was following the devastated surrounding landscape.
'Is this what an absolute clash looks like?'
The realm of myths was unfolding before his very eyes.