A Tree Branch

The Heaven Defying Divine Technique enveloped his entire body.

He mentally went over the sword paths he had learned from Sword Emperor Dan Cheonwoo.

While he practiced physically every day, every moment, the mental review had a different meaning.

Following Dan Cheonwoo’s sword paths, Hwangbo Seryeong’s fist paths flashed through his mind.

Like lightning.

And a tingling sensation bloomed throughout his body. Realizations coiled up one by one. Stars that no one could erase.

And his dantian stirred. Those stars built up inner power.

Heaven Defying Divine Technique, 4 stars.

Lee Dojin opened his eyes.

“That was fast.”

Not much time had passed since he achieved 3 stars. But it was just a question of time, literally. Considering what he had been through, it wasn’t an impossible achievement.

Lee Dojin slowly got up. Tomorrow had come.

The meeting with the Sword Emperor.

---

Monday.

So Daecheol was in the main building of the <Changheon> Guild.

Changgung (蒼穹).

Guild buildings designed to look like traditional houses on the outside.

The majestic sight of large halls lined up in two rows was no different from a palace.

The Changryong Hall, the family head’s hall, was in the center of those two rows.

Next to So Daecheol, the middle-aged man with neatly combed white hair, his aide opened his mouth.

“Will that person come to Changgung as he boasted?”

“He will come. If it’s him.”

The aide couldn’t understand So Daecheol’s certainty. Because if that guy, Lee Dojin, came here, it would obviously be a suicidal act.

So Daecheol opened his mouth again.

“Is the preparation for deploying the Changgung Boundless Sword Formation complete?”

Changgung Boundless Sword Formation (蒼穹無涯劍陣).

So Daecheol was a person blessed with a strange fate. A dungeon that perfectly reproduced the entire Changgung of the Namgung family appeared, and he absorbed the martial lineages within that Changgung.

The <Changheon> Guild was established based on those martial lineages.

All 112 guild members residing in the main building, Changgung, could deploy the Changgung Boundless Sword Technique. At least A-rank and above. Half were S-rank and above.

“Yes, it’s complete.”

So Daecheol nodded his head.

‘That guy is strong. For a kid.’

That’s why he intended to bind him securely and capture him.

So Daecheol waited for his prey. The one who would crawl in on his own feet.

The mana-unable person that his youngest daughter So Yueun had brought, saying he was a talented raw gem.

Seeing that guy, who couldn’t even form a dantian despite being injected with all sorts of drugs, now wielding powerful sword energy, he couldn’t help but be certain.

That guy had awakened his mana thanks to the mana sensitization device that the Changheon Guild had injected during Athena’s vacation, and was daring to pretend not to know about it.

He had given him a chance to repay the guild’s kindness. By having him devote himself to the guild right away.

But that guy had smashed the guild’s hunters who had personally gone to bring him in.

And he dared to give him an order. To stay put and not interfere until he came on his own.

Now it was too clear that he had crossed the line to try to persuade him.

Guild First Sword Squad Leader Wi Mun-hyeok approached So Daecheol.

“Someone is reported to be walking towards Changgung’s main gate.”

“It must be him.”

So Daecheol’s mouth twitched.

And he raised his large body.

“Open the gate and welcome him.”

Geu-geu-geu-geung-

The gate of the Changheon Guild slowly opened.

A man wearing a white armor coat was standing squarely at the main gate.

The guild member beside the gate slowly closed the door by pressing a button.

So Daecheol personally walked and pressed the round bead in the center of the guild.

Something hazy crossed over the sky of Changgung.

A transparent curtain covered the vast land of Changgung. With this, the situation inside Changgung could no longer be observed from the outside.

The man in the white armor coat, Lee Dojin, looked around at the scenery of Changgung (蒼穹) while holding his wooden sword.

It was huge.

Massive halls with the appearance of traditional houses.

And on the roof of the left building, 40 martial artists were looking down at Lee Dojin with one knee bent.

His gaze shifted to the right building. On the roof of the right building, about 40 martial artists were also sitting with one knee bent.

A clear encirclement.

And fierce killing intent burst out from the bodies of the Changheon martial artists standing on the roofs.

Intimidation.

Lee Dojin stood still in the midst of the pouring killing intent.

A sharp silence settled over Changgung.

Jeobuk jeobuk-

So Daecheol slowly walked from the front.

Lee Dojin’s gaze was drawn more to the lushly spreading tree beside him than to So Daecheol approaching from the front.

After becoming one with Mistilteinn, trees as beings made Lee Dojin feel peaceful.

That was true even for a tree in the middle of enemy territory.

Lee Dojin stroked the tree.

He touched the tree, but there was no reaction from Mistilteinn. It probably meant it wasn’t an Upper Tree.

“Welcome.”

What broke the peace was the Sword Emperor’s thick voice.

“Welcome to the martial world.”

Lee Dojin tilted his head.

“Martial world?”

“Haven’t your seniors gathered to show you the fearfulness of the martial world?”

So Daecheol murmured while looking at the martial artists emanating killing intent from the halls. There was satisfaction on his face.

It was pride stemming from having raised useful martial artists with his own hands.

And he stared at Lee Dojin again.

“I am generous, so I’ll give you one more chance right here and now. Come quietly and kneel. Offer me your right arm. Then you won’t become half-paralyzed.”

“You just said this is the martial world.”

Lee Dojin’s words continued. His gaze was directed at the seniors exuding their aura on the roofs.

“Is the martial world a generous place that puts on such grand appearances but spares and sends away enemies?”

So Daecheol’s face suddenly crumpled. And without a word, he turned and walked towards the Changryong Hall where he had originally been.

That was the place where he could clearly see the Changgung Boundless Sword Formation.

“I don’t care whether you cut off his arms or legs.”

So Daecheol’s voice echoed like a boiling volcano.

“Just bring that youngster before me with his breath barely intact.”

The order was given.

Left hall, forty people.

Right hall, forty people.

A total of eighty gazes pierced down at Lee Dojin. Four people stepped forward simultaneously. And the four behind them stepped forward in succession.

Chilling sword energies tore through the air as they fell.

Lee Dojin looked at the martial artists falling towards him. The inner power in his dantian boiled up. The Heaven Defying Divine Technique surged through his entire body.

Jjeo-eo-eok!!

A sound of tearing through the air rang out.

The four martial artists falling towards Lee Dojin spat blood and collapsed on the ground.

The sword wind that tore through the air had crushed the upper bodies of the four as if they had been struck by thick iron chains.

Lee Dojin moved his body endlessly. Like a beast.

The Changgung Boundless Sword Technique rained down from all directions.

The sword of the Namgung family is the sword of an emperor. It is tyrannical and focuses solely on strong swords.

The reason it can still be great is because the divine technique that forms its framework is powerful.

The problem was that the Heaven Defying Sword was more tyrannical than the Namgung family’s sword, and much more flexible.

Jjeo-jeo-jeo-jeo-jeong!

The swords held by 5 Changheon Guild members suddenly shattered all at once.

Even though they were fully unleashing the sword energy of the Changgung Great Refinement Divine Technique.

It was a result showing the gap in inner power density.

Over a hundred blade fragments containing sword energy dug into the bodies of their comrades. Blood flew wildly in the air. Pandemonium.

Lee Dojin took a true step.

Kwak!

Nature’s Energy wrapped around his body. And his body shot out like a bullet. A strange heat burst out from Lee Dojin’s entire body and eyes.

The 1st technique Soul Pursuit swept through Changgung. The sonic boom of the sword energy carved two lines on the ground. Arms and ankles soared into the air.

There was no mercy in Lee Dojin’s hands. His right hand holding the wooden sword became sticky with blood.

A guild member was quietly pouncing from behind. Lee Dojin’s body instantly twisted 180 degrees.

White light slashed diagonally.

“Keuaaaaaah!”

Blood spurted from the guild member’s shoulder blade. His right arm, torn off by the sword energy, dangled, and blood gushed from the gap.

At Lee Dojin’s feet, 37 martial artists had already been incapacitated and were wriggling like insects.

Arms still tightly gripping swords were stuck in the ground. There were more than a few ankles that had lost their owners.

About a dozen had their arms cut off. About a dozen had their ankles cut. Half had their waists crushed. And a few had their internal organs completely ruptured.

The audience was enveloped in silence.

First Sword Squad Leader Wi Mun-hyeok, standing on the roof, gulped.

Only now did he realize who they were dealing with.

“Deploy the Three Forms Combined Formation. Everyone prepare.”

Seu-seu-seu-seuk!

From the swords of the remaining 43 on the roof.

And the 21 martial artists standing on the ground, navy blue radiance flowed out.

“Unfold.”

Along with the chilling voice, sixty-four streams of navy blue sword energy shot towards Lee Dojin like lightning.

Sswa-ae-ae-ae-aek!

Lee Dojin’s brow slightly hardened.

‘This is.’

It wasn’t sword energy meant to cut down the opponent.

The sword energy wrapped around Lee Dojin’s upper body in a circle.

Kwa-deu-deu-deu-deuk!

A form of slash meant to control the opponent’s movements. The pressure of the sword energy being released by 64 people to restrain one man was beyond imagination.

It felt like being crushed between walls.

Wi Mun-hyeok raised the corners of his mouth.

“Charge all at once.”

The sixty-four martial artists all rushed towards Lee Dojin, who was unable to move, crushed by the sword energy.

Lee Dojin’s mind cooled. There had to be a way out.

-It’s about reversing the properties of the air. Making the opponent’s attacks slow and my attacks fast.

The voice of his second teacher, Hwangbo Seryeong, flashed through his mind.

The Nature’s Energy wrapped around his body like protective strong energy. He applied the principle of the Reverse Scale Palm (逆鱗掌) to that Nature’s Energy itself.

He matched the rotation of the Heaven Defying Divine Technique revolving inside his body with the Nature’s Energy. The power of Nature’s Energy that had permeated even his lungs made that unification possible.

A whirlwind swirled under Lee Dojin’s feet.

It was the moment when the sixty-four martial artists had come within arm’s reach of Lee Dojin, forming a complete circular encirclement, and were about to pounce simultaneously.

The whirlwind pressed down on the sword energy chains.

Ddu-du-du-du-du-duk!

All sixty-four navy blue sword energy chains were completely broken.

The Changheon martial artists had to feel their entire bodies tilting towards the ground as if they were overwhelmingly losing in a tug-of-war.

It was a rapid current. A rapid current where they couldn’t even take care of their own bodies.

Hazy dust endlessly drew concentric circles.

“Keuaaaaaah!”

One arm soared up. The guy who shouldn’t have been able to move was moving.

“What… the hell.”

One swordsman muttered with a blank face. Not once had the sword energy of nearly seventy people even grazed Lee Dojin. The moment they were certain they would reach point-blank range and tear his flesh.

Lee Dojin wasn’t there. By a margin as thin as a sheet of paper.

By the time they realized that.

Their ankles had been cut off. Lee Dojin had methodically incapacitated them one by one.

Sswa-aek! Bbeo-eok! Pu-uk! Kwa-jik!

Endless sounds of flesh being torn echoed through Changgung. A man whose face had been completely crushed rolled on the ground.

One strike was enough to incapacitate A-rank hunters.

And even among the 30 or so S-rank hunters, only one or two exceeded that standard.

These monsters, who had never been prey in their entire lives, had to feel intense fear at this moment.

Having lost their composure as their trump card, the Three Forms Combined Formation, was rendered ineffective, they all lost their cool-headedness.

Lee Dojin’s pure white armor coat was now covered in blood.

He slashed diagonally at two people in front with his wooden sword. At that moment, three people sprang out simultaneously from the right.

The Changgung Boundless Sword Technique unfolded from the hands of the three swordsmen. Navy blue thunder split into twelve lines and pounced on Lee Dojin.

He could also see two people rushing from behind.

One wooden sword wasn’t enough.

Lee Dojin lowered his body and deployed the 2nd technique Moon Slash. The white light crescent decomposed the lightning shot by the three on the right in mid-air. Blood splattered with the sound of flesh being torn.

And as he swept the ground with his left arm, he picked up a tree branch lying on the ground.

A branch from an ordinary tree, not even an Upper Tree.

And sword energy rose from that tree branch.

A few months ago, he might have quickly burned it up, unable to adjust the density of the sword energy, but now it was different.

The limit.

He could now freely adjust the concentration of sword energy achievable with the Heaven Defying Divine Technique.

Colorless sword energy rippled on the tree branch.

Lee Dojin lightly twisted the axis of his right foot. There were two martial artists behind him, extending their swords towards Lee Dojin.

Lee Dojin’s left hand holding the tree branch moved like lightning.

Two flashes of light flickered.

Sseo-geo-geok!

The two hands of the two swordsmen simultaneously flew into the air. The swordsmen sat on the ground, writhing in pain.

Chok!

Lee Dojin shook off the blood on the tree branch.

Jeobuk-

And he walked.

Towards the Sword Emperor So Daecheol, who was sitting in the Changryong Hall glaring at him.

Behind Lee Dojin, 101 martial artists lay fallen. Blood soaked the entire ground of Changgung.

Now, there were only 11 martial artists left uninjured in Changgung, excluding the Sword Emperor.

Lee Dojin stood in front of the Sword Emperor.

“You said this was the martial world?”

Lee Dojin threw the tree branch he was still holding in his left hand.

Kwa-jik──!

The tree branch pierced through the wall right next to So Daecheol. Like a flying knife.

So Daecheol was staring at Lee Dojin with his eyes wide open.

The tree branch trembled. The gentle Heaven Defying Sword energy lingering on the branch slowly dispersed.

“There’s not much to your martial world.”