Chapter 371
The heart sinks.
Wei Yan-ho was gazing at the Mad Blood Demon with calmly sunken eyes. From the moment he instinctively realized that his opponent was stronger than himself, his mind had been working differently than before.
Wei Yan-ho's basic way of thinking was to avoid creating incidents as much as possible. Those who had observed his actions might express doubt, but Wei Yan-ho was someone who got 'caught up' in incidents, not someone who deliberately 'caused' them.
If there was any misfortune in Wei Yan-ho's fate, it was that the person who most hated incidents was born with a destiny to get caught up in them.
But now the situation was different.
No matter how much he racked his brains, he couldn't escape from the current situation. What he needed to use now wasn't his head, but his sword.
Such a situation was sharpening Wei Yan-ho's concentration to a razor's edge.
'What the hell is this bastard... '
Tension filled the Mad Blood Demon's body.
The five desires and seven emotions were disappearing from Wei Yan-ho's eyes as he quietly stared at him with his sword pointed.
'Is this even possible?'
Of course, Wei Yan-ho could be strong.
Age and strength were not proportional. Just because someone had rolled around in the martial world for a long time didn't necessarily make them strong, and one couldn't guarantee that a young person was weaker than an older one.
But the study of the mind was different.
A young martial artist could be strong, but for a young martial artist to maintain a mind like a clear mirror and still water was nearly impossible. That wasn't something one could be born with. It was only possible when one's mind had been rounded by being carved and whittled by countless worldly hardships.
At least, that's what the Mad Blood Demon thought.
But now the Mad Blood Demon had no choice but to admit he was wrong. The young martial artist before him was displaying perfect Unmoving Mind.
'Is this really possible?'
The Mad Blood Demon's face contorted.
If it was possible, there was only one reason: that the young person had already experienced countless real battles at that age. But to remain unknown until now despite all that was absolutely impossible.
"I'm really curious who your master is."
The sword Wei Yan-ho was currently using was definitely not the Guangdong Wei Family's sword. The Mad Blood Demon had already experienced Wei Jeong-han. And if the Guangdong Wei Family's sword had such distinctive characteristics, there would be no one in the world who didn't know about it.
A sword that emitted light.
If this sword belonged to the Guangdong Wei Family, the Guangdong Wei Family would have been forcibly renamed to something like the Light Sword Wei Family long ago. That's how distinctive this sword was.
That meant Wei Yan-ho had learned not the Guangdong Wei Family's hereditary martial arts, but a different sword. And whoever taught him the sword must have trained Wei Yan-ho this harshly.
The moment he realized this fact, a chill ran down the Mad Blood Demon's spine.
There was no law that a master had to be stronger than his disciple. But if someone could train the young Wei Yan-ho to this extent, they would definitely be stronger than Wei Yan-ho.
The appearance Wei Yan-ho was showing now was something that could never come about without countless battles against someone overwhelmingly stronger than oneself.
But what if Wei Yan-ho's master was still alive?
It would be terrible.
The Mad Blood Demon believed the Divine Cult was the strongest, but he wasn't fanatically convinced they were invincible. If they had been invincible, they wouldn't have withdrawn from the Central Plains so helplessly in the past after losing the Great Demon Emperor.
He had never forgotten that bitter failure and had been eliminating all variables, but now an enormous variable he had never thought of had appeared before him.
'I need to confirm this.'
The Mad Blood Demon quietly opened his mouth. What he was going to say was 'Is your master alive?' But he couldn't say those words. The moment his mouth opened, Wei Yan-ho's sword came thrusting at him as if it would pierce through his mouth.
"Gasp!"
The Mad Blood Demon was startled and swatted at the incoming sword.
Swish.
But Wei Yan-ho's sword didn't collide and smoothly retreated in the direction the Mad Blood Demon's hand was swatting, then drew a strange arc and came slashing at the Mad Blood Demon's neck again.
A gasp of air leaked from the Mad Blood Demon's mouth.
'Soft?'
Instead of blocking Wei Yan-ho's sword, the Mad Blood Demon quickly thrust his hand forward. They were both thrusting simultaneously, but the pattern was different from before.
Wei Yan-ho's sword, which had inevitably sacrificed speed to use Soft Sword, could never be faster than his hand. At this rate, his hand would tear Wei Yan-ho's body before the sword could.
And at that moment...
Paaaaaang!
As if it were natural, Wei Yan-ho's sword changed its flow and flew in at terrifying speed.
"Eek!"
The Mad Blood Demon's elbow, blackened by excessively condensed demonic energy, blocked the path of the sword flying toward his neck.
'First, I'll block this... '
Kwaaaaaang!
The Mad Blood Demon's body was hurled to the ground.
The Mad Blood Demon, who had rolled on the ground in a manner unbecoming of his reputation, raised his head while spitting out dust.
But the emotion on his face was surprisingly not anger, but bewilderment.
'What the hell is this bastard?'
The Mad Blood Demon couldn't help but be shocked.
'What the hell!'
There were countless swords in the world.
Someone pursued Dominating Sword, someone pursued Swift Sword.
There were countless sword families in the world, but the core of the swords used by each sword family was different.
Wudang pursued Soft Sword, Namgung pursued Heavy Sword, Huashan pursued Illusion Sword, and Qingcheng and Zhongnan pursued Changing Sword.
But no sect could use all of those swords.
Wudang, which focused on softness, inevitably lacked dominance, and Namgung, which pursued heavy swords, inevitably lacked swiftness. What is heavy cannot be fast, and what is soft cannot be violent.
Therefore, all sword families took swords that suited their characteristics and discarded what should be discarded. Because strengthening strong points was better than compensating for weak points.
But the sword Wei Yan-ho was showing now was completely outside such common sense.
A sword that flew swiftly became soft; the soft sword turned illusory, and that illusion returned to swiftness again. And at the final moment, it reached him as a dominating sword.
"How could the nature of the swords used by one person change so freely? This was something the Mad Blood Demon, who had spent his entire life pursuing martial arts in the Divine Cult and the martial world, could not understand at all.
'How can such a sword exist in the world?'
He had thought Wei Yan-ho's sword was basically a heavy sword based on swift sword. The idea of overlapping swiftness several times to build up and create heaviness was quite unique. The dazzling sword energy that burst forth in that process created the light that covered the world.
Strong and surprising.
But that was all.
It wasn't enough to face the Mad Blood Demon.
But the series of techniques Wei Yan-ho had just shown was like a realm of fantasy that even the Mad Blood Demon couldn't help but gape at.
It was easy to explain in words, but Wei Yan-ho's sword attack and the Mad Blood Demon's attempt to block it and getting bounced away was literally in the blink of an eye. How was it possible to change the sword's nature several times in such a short time?
The Mad Blood Demon slowly got up.
Even though he was called the Mad Blood Demon because of his explosive temperament, the fact that he had been beaten by that young whelp and rolled on the ground wasn't humiliating at all.
Wei Yan-ho's age had long since disappeared from his mind.
Instead, something else filled his mind.
Ten Thousand Sword.
That legendary name he had only heard of.
The legendary Ten Thousand Sword that contained all the swords of the world within one sword...
"What is your relationship with the Ten Thousand Sword Hundred Families?"
Wei Yan-ho silently pointed his sword without answering.
The Mad Blood Demon looked at Wei Yan-ho like that and nodded.
"Right, words aren't necessary. I'm learning from you at this age. That such things don't matter at all in a match."
The Mad Blood Demon found himself drawing a smile without knowing it.
'It's been a while, this feeling.'
His heart was beating.
At some point, this work no longer felt like a mission. Meeting a worthy opponent had always been thrilling for a martial artist.
"I might get some nagging."
Crack crack crack.
His entire body began to twist with the sound of bones colliding. His muscles moved on their own and his entire body turned black.
"Demon Emperor Body?"
Jang-il, who saw the Mad Blood Demon's transformation, screamed in shock.
"Wei Yan-ho, be careful!"
But Wei Yan-ho showed no reaction at all.
"What the hell is that?"
It was Peng Dao-ji who reacted.
"Demon Emperor Body. It's the Mad Blood Demon's unique martial art."
Jang-il said with a pale face.
"I don't know the exact principle, but I heard that a body manifesting the Demon Emperor Body can even deflect Sword River."
"Not sword energy, but Sword River?"
"Yes."
"...Is that even logically possible?"
"Stupid talk."
Jang-il gritted his teeth hard.
It was demonic because it wasn't logical. Wasn't the Demon Cult called the Demon Cult and treated as a heretical cult precisely because it was full of martial arts that they couldn't understand at all with their common sense of learning orthodox martial arts?
And how many people had lost their lives to those illogical martial arts?
'No matter how much Wei Yan-ho... '
The Mad Blood Demon was a High Priest of the Demon Cult. Thinking coldly, for the current Wei Yan-ho to handle a High Priest of the Demon Cult that even Gwon Geuk-do couldn't easily face was no longer...
"There!"
Before Jang-il's thoughts could even be organized, Wei Yan-ho rushed at the Mad Blood Demon in a low stance. It was such tremendous speed that even their eyes, trained to the extreme, could see Wei Yan-ho's body stretching out.
A thrust loaded with body weight and internal power at the same speed as his rush flew toward the Mad Blood Demon's neck.
The Mad Blood Demon couldn't block Wei Yan-ho's thrust. No, he didn't even think of blocking it.
Clang!
Wei Yan-ho's sword, which had stabbed the Mad Blood Demon's neck, made a sharp metallic sound and bounced back.
"Crazy!"
Curses flew from Mu-san's mouth. It was such an absurd situation that Mu-san, who usually didn't say anything except chanting 'Amitabha Buddha,' swore. How could a person's neck deflect a sword?
No matter how much he was a High Priest of the Demon Cult, he should at least maintain some basic standards!
But Wei Yan-ho wasn't flustered at all.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Even after confirming that thrusts didn't work, Wei Yan-ho didn't retreat. Instantly, dozens of sword strikes continuously stabbed at the Mad Blood Demon's neck.
"Kuk!"
The Mad Blood Demon covered his neck with his right hand and retreated.
And at that moment, Wei Yan-ho's eyes blazed with light.
"Chaaaat!"
The moment the Mad Blood Demon's body leaned backward, Wei Yan-ho leaped slightly into the air and raised his sword.
Blinding radiance burst forth from Wei Yan-ho's sword.
Kwaaaaaang!
A sword beam of light covered the Mad Blood Demon's body.
One strike! Another strike! Another strike!
Each time he swung his sword, light bursting from the sword tip flew toward the Mad Blood Demon and continuously caused explosions. The surroundings became as bright as broad daylight.
Wei Yan-ho, who had sent dozens of Sword Rivers, flipped his body and kicked the air.
Paaaaaang!
A bursting sound erupted from kicking the empty air. With that recoil, Wei Yan-ho charged toward the Mad Blood Demon, who was covered in light, at terrifying speed.