Chapter 461: Change (5)

Rumble-!

Thunder struck down from the black cloud in the sky.

Slam-! Thud-!

The horrifying thunder continued to strike not just once, but multiple times consecutively.

Every time it struck the ground, trees and rocks were torn to pieces.

The dried trees of Sichuan’s forest were burning down due to the lightning strikes.

In the midst of all this chaos, an old man continued to swing his sword.

Swish! Swish swish-!

Blade swung rapidly in the air.

Its movement was so fast that it wasn’t possible for an ordinary person to keep up.

Along with rapid blade strikes, lightning continued to strike down endlessly.

Rumble-! Slaam-!

The area was filled with a burning smell. It was the stench that came from a corpse burning down.

Even in this situation, the old man didn’t stop.

His blade continued to unleash attacks, and all that was left was a blackened, charred wasteland once he finally stopped.

“…”

The one responsible for the lightning, the last remaining survivor of Namgung, Heavenly Venerable, cleaned his blade while showing a small sign of exhaustion.

Because he struck down so much lightning endlessly, even he was using a noticeable amount of Qi.

The Heavenly Venerable gazed in one direction as he took a breath.

There was one spot that stuck out in particular from the blackened wasteland.

The ground was melting and boiling due to the leftover heat from the lightning strikes.

The Heavenly Venerable glared at the spot with a frown, through the smoke that filled the surroundings.

After staring for a moment, he felt a presence squirming from the smoke.

“Tsk.”

The Heavenly Venerable clicked his tongue at the sight. He swung his sword at the same time.

Swoosh-!

Wind wave swept by the area he swung his sword in.

It was to get rid of the smoke.

Once the smoke was swept away, it revealed the area that was covered before.

Something was melting down on top of the ground.

A body that became black like the ground was burning in flames.

Not yet.

That flame hasn’t been put out yet.

The Heavenly Venerable frowned as he stared at the ‘thing’ that took a deep breath with its body leaning forward as if it had lost consciousness.

He felt disgusted at the sight.

What was that thing?

How monstrous.

He couldn’t understand, no matter how much he looked at it.

The Heavenly Venerable cut his arms and legs off. He struck the body countless times with lightning.

Yet, the bastard’s body came back to normal as if nothing had happened.

It was regenerating with no problem.

No matter how many times its body gets cut off, it returns back to normal.

How was such a thing possible?

What is that thing?

It was difficult to call it a Demon, and it was definitely impossible to call it a human.

The Heavenly Venerable tried his best to learn its identity, but he failed.

It was strange and monstrous.

That was the only thing he felt from the figure.

The body remained perfectly fine no matter how many times it got struck by lightning. It was way too durable.

However.

Shing-

The Heavenly Venerable thought to himself as his sword started to vibrate.

Even if the enemy kept regenerating endlessly, the Heavenly Venerable was realizing that it had a weakness.

There was one particular spot the bastard continued to protect.

The neck.

It was its neck.

The bastard was continuing to protect its neck.

Judging by that, that was its weakness.

Also, another thing.

The bastard’s left part of its chest had a clean hole in it.

It was likely the scar that was made when the Heavenly Venerable stabbed its heart earlier.

Though it was a mystery why it had remained that way.

Grrrr…

A deep growl of a beast echoed.

The Heavenly Venerable changed his stance after hearing the sound.

It was coming.

Kyaaaaa-!

After taking a deep breath, the bastard roared out loud and charged towards the Heavenly Venerable again.

It was still as fast as ever.

Blue flames poured out from its back, scattered into multiple directions, and aimed towards the Heavenly Venerable.

The Heavenly Venerable frowned at the sight.

Just the sight alone ached his shoulder.

That flame is problematic.

The injury he got from the enemy earlier still ached.

That wasn’t all.

He couldn’t move his arm afterwards as if it were paralyzed.

Even using his Qi to heal himself didn’t work, as his arm remained stiff like a rock.

Nothing was working.

How was this happening?

Swoosh-!

The flame skimmed past the Heavenly Venerable.

It barely skimmed past him, but he felt his body being swayed by it.

He clicked his tongue after.

This is a problem.

Such an attack should never hit someone at his level.

This meant that there was something special about that blue flame.

Ache.

The Heavenly Venerable frowned as his shoulder ached in pain.

This was the biggest problem.

Drip…

Blood started coming out of his chest and dripped from his fingertips.

He tried using his Qi to stop the blood, but it didn’t work.

“You bastard.”

Shing-

He charged his Sword Qi and Combat Qi further.

It was humiliating for him to be beaten by a bastard like this.

What would Wi Hyogun say to this? He would certainly laugh at him for it.

What about the Dishonored Venerable?

Would he have become disappointed?

Woong-!

Sword resonance echoed loudly from the Heavenly Venerable’s sword.

“Grrrr…!”

The attacks from the enemy continued along with its roars.

It didn’t stop moving one bit as if it never tired.

Clang-!

The blade made contact with the monster’s arm, but the sound that came out from it was way too harsh for that.

The Heavenly Venerable unleashed his attack. The monster was pushed back a little. Before the monster could recover, he swung his sword again.

Swish-!

“Kyaaaa!”

The bastard screamed out loud once its wrist was cut off.

The Heavenly Venerable held his sword hilt tightly. Right as he was about to aim for the enemy’s chest,

Blaze-!

“…!”

He saw flame being gathered into the bastard’s mouth, which was wide open.

The Heavenly Venerable immediately started to move after seeing the sight. Right as he started to back off,

Boooom-!

An unbelievable amount of flame exploded out from the bastard’s mouth, engulfing everything around the Heavenly Venerable.

The heat was unbearable.

This is…

The Heavenly Venerable gritted his teeth as he saw the engulfing flames.

He became certain.

That was a Demon. Such a thing wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t a Demon.

So it’s a Demon wearing a human mask?

It wasn’t this difficult when the Heavenly Venerable fought against a Red Demon for the first time.

Using a ton of Qi was enough to take down a Red Demon, but this bastard was more durable.

Judging by its endless regeneration and unbelievable amount of fire power, it was hard to see this as a human.

Instead, it seemed more like a whole new type of Demon.

Perhaps it was the legendary White Demon that used to exist in the past.

Maybe this was what it felt like to fight against a White Demon, the Heavenly Venerable thought to himself.

If that wasn’t the case, then it was impossible to explain why he was having such a hard time fighting against this enemy.

This had to be the case.

“Kyaa!”

The beast roared out loud.

The Heavenly Venerable swung his sword downwards.

Rumble-!

Lightning struck down from the sky, ensnaring the bastard’s foot.

“Kyraaaa!”

The beast screamed out loud as its body started to burn after being struck.

The Heavenly Venerable observed the enemy. He then lightly nodded.

This much was enough.

Shing-

The atmosphere around the Heavenly Venerable changed as soon as he changed his stance.

Then, he drew a sharp blade in his mind.

No, it wasn’t sharp. After all, it had become dull ever since his inner demons started haunting him.

However, this much was enough for now.

Even if he became slow and had less Qi than before, he didn’t even think about the possibility of being defeated.

Instead, he observed his enemy to figure out the beast’s identity.

“Kyaaaa!”

As the beast screamed out loud with lightning continuing to strike down, the Heavenly Venerable’s blade and body formed into a straight line. This wasn’t something anyone could achieve through Qi and training alone.

It was only possible for a swordsman to reach this state.

This blade contained all the training and enlightenment this old man had built up in his life.

There was no way that a Demon wearing a human mask was able to withstand this attack.

Playtime is over.

It hurt the Heavenly Venerable’s pride that he was being beaten for a moment, but he put the thought aside.

He wasn’t here to waste time with that bastard after all.

He still had business with his last blood relative who was lying down alone behind a tree.

Kyaaaa-!!

After gazing at the bastard’s neck, the Heavenly Venerable closed his eyes.

Darkness filled his sight. Then, the Heavenly Venerable found one strand of light that sparked inside that darkness.

He saw it. His mind became foggy due to his inner demons, but he definitely saw the light just now.

After closing his eyes, the light showed him where to strike.

The Heavenly Venerable slowly started to swing his blade down in that direction.

His arm shook.

It was more so the case as this attack was coming from his mind.

Slam-!

In that moment, light beamed out in a line, cutting through the cloud.

The sky opened up.

Light revealed itself far up in the sky, and it looked like a transparent sword.

It looked like a rusty sword that lost its sharpness.

The sight alone was an awe-inspiring presence to behold.

The huge light started to fall down towards the monster.

This power was enough to not only cut the beast’s neck off, but erase the monster and everything around it completely.

That’s what the Heavenly Venerable aimed for.

He considered the possibility of the beast’s weakness not being its neck, and he thought about how to deal with its endless regeneration.

After unleashing his martial arts, the Heavenly Venerable slowly opened his eyes.

He let out a breath after seeing the huge beam of light falling down from the sky.

“It’s over.”

He was certain.

He gathered every knowledge and enlightenment he gained in his life, and put it into that attack.

There were only two people that withstood this attack.

One of them was the Sword Emperor, and the other was the Heavenly Demon.

No one else was able to withstand this attack. The Heavenly Venerable was certain.

Just like that,

Craaaaaash-!

The light fell right onto the spot the Heavenly Venerable was aiming for.

Boooooom-!!

Dust and smoke exploded outwards along with an impactful sound wave.

Shattered debris covered everything around the area, and dry trees tilted as if they were about to be uprooted from the wind pressure.

It was a tremendous impact.

The Heavenly Venerable turned around after seeing the impact.

It was over. There was no way that the enemy was able to withstand such an attack.

It was necessary to go over to that direction to look for any traces, but the Heavenly Venerable prioritized killing the Demonic Sword first.

He would finally achieve his peace after killing that child.

That was the approval he got.

Yes, approval.

The Heavenly Venerable was given an approval.

He was told that he could enter Sichuan to go kill the young man and Demonic-

…Pause.

The Heavenly Venerable stopped his feet after taking a few steps.

He felt himself becoming confused.

…From who?

Who did he get that approval from? Who was it?

His memory was faint and he couldn’t remember.

“Ugh…!”

The Heavenly Venerable groaned with his hands on his forehead. He couldn’t remember a thing as if he forgot everything that happened.

It almost felt as if someone intentionally erased a part of his memory.

“…What… is happ- “

Right as he was about to become annoyed at his strange memory,

Rustle-

“…!”

The Heavenly Venerable turned around after feeling a sudden presence. The old man’s face was filled with horror.

What…?

How was he feeling a presence?

That direction was where his previous attack landed. He shouldn’t have been able to feel any life presence from that area.

Woong-

The Heavenly Venerable grabbed his sword again.

It wasn’t a mistake.

A presence could be felt from that direction.

It withstood that attack?

The beast really survived that attack? That was impossible.

If it really did, then the beast might as well be immortal.

The Heavenly Venerable stared into the far distance with a frown.

Blaze.

He then felt the flames from earlier.

Blaze-!

Blue flames started to rise again.

The Heavenly Venerable became certain after seeing the sight.

His attack failed.

What a problem this is.

In that case, he had no choice but to use all his strength. Right as he was about to charge his Qi,

“…Life.”

“…?”

“Is a fucking joke.”

Unexpected words came out from the flames.

“Fucking hell. First, I find him a place to take a shit, and now he’s asking me to wipe it clean. This is why one shouldn’t raise a dumb beast…”

“…”

The Heavenly Venerable frowned as he heard a voice that spoke in a harsh manner.

Huh? What was happening right now?

He confusedly looked at the one that spoke.

Step.

Something slowly came closer.

It was the figure from before.

So it was alive after all. Does that mean that the voice came from that bastard?

Its appearance didn’t change that much from earlier.

The bastard still looked like a shadow as if it was completely wrapped in mysterious blackness.

There were a few slight differences though.

It no longer had the hole in its chest, and it wasn’t fully engulfed in flames like before.

The Heavenly Venerable asked as he saw the enemy come closer to him.

“…Just what are you?”

The Heavenly Venerable asked what the monster’s existence was.

After hearing the Heavenly Venerable’s question,

“You are rude just like that Myung bastard.”

“…?”

The beast started to spit out incomprehensible words.

Whether the Heavenly Venerable understood or not, the figure continued to speak with a smile.

“You are annoying just like him as well.”

Blaze. Flames started to rise around the bastard.

Was it a mistake?

For some reason, the rising flames looked somewhat like flower petals.

“At least it’ll be satisfying beating you up.”