Kwarururangkwang! Pachichichichichi!
Lightning struck down, and my body was covered in blue lightning.
Despite this, I walked on as if nothing happened, which left Ja-gyeongjeong dumbfounded.
It was unfortunate, but how many times had I been struck by lightning to master the secret technique of Daedo Cheondun Swordsmanship, the Thunder Wall Cheondun?
"There must be lightning flowing through your veins instead of blood. Damn."
Sodam Sword chuckled.
It's not exactly that, but my whole body is filled with thunder energy.
According to my master, ordinary people have a minimum amount of thunder energy in their bodies, but mine has an immense amount far beyond comparison.
Ja-gyeongjeong, horrified, gritted his teeth and glared at Master Geomseon.
"Did you really pass down the Daedo Cheondun Swordsmanship to that guy?"
The master didn't answer the question.
It seemed he no longer held any attachment to him.
"After all these decades under you, you never taught me the secret techniques, but you gave them to a guy like that?"
It was a cry filled with bitterness.
They say a promising tree can be recognized from its first leaves.
He keeps acting out of line, so even I wouldn't have taught him the secret techniques recklessly.
It was just karma.
"Alright. So you're saying we're no longer master and disciple."
Ja-gyeongjeong, who kept swinging Cheondun at me, changed direction.
He headed towards the direction where the eight Taoists were.
He probably thought he could leave me behind.
Sleurk!
I immediately narrowed the distance to him with lightning-fast Gyeongsin technique, powerful enough to cause a strange transformation.
Then I sliced the wrist he was going to strike with Cheondun.
"Hmph!"
He twisted the direction of Cheondun and blocked my strike.
Chang!
I aimed at his jaw with the movement of the Chae Hwa Punggak technique.
But he slightly tilted his head back and dodged, then targeted my forehead with the sword seal of his left hand.
I tried to change the sword's direction to block it, but—
'Chak?'
He stuck the swords together with the subtle principle of Chak (착), preventing movement.
Thanks to that, I quickly released the sword from my hand, spun my body, and struck his chest with the spear tip of Goonmanhwa Jang.
Tatatatak!!
He executed dazzling footwork and retreated backward.
In that gap, I used Chak to retrieve the Namcheon Cheol Sword stuck on the blade of Cheondun.
Strong, huh?
Of course.
He learned swordsmanship from Master Geomseon for nearly decades.
Basically, he has decades more sword training than me.
Thanks to various fateful encounters, my internal power and innate skills may be superior, but his basic swordsmanship skill is likely better.
Even Master Geomseon acknowledged that.
[Though that guy went astray, his sword talent was a once-in-a-hundred-years kind of prodigy.]
That's why he accepted Ja-gyeongjeong as his disciple.
If he raises his fighting spirit and handles the sword properly, it will be different from before.
Ja-gyeongjeong's eyes, who opened the new form from me, flicked between me and somewhere else.
That place was where the eight Taoists were.
He must be eager to kill them quickly, and I'm going to be a nuisance.
"You keep holding me back till the end. You."
"It's your karma."
If Sodam Sword hadn't been taken without permission, this wouldn't have happened.
If that had happened, things might have gone as that guy wanted.
Ja-gyeongjeong snorted and said to me,
"If I can't kill the old fools over there and you, I can't accomplish my cause."
"His cause."
I clicked my tongue.
He was the kind of guy who firmly believed his conviction was right until the end.
Ja-gyeongjeong tightened his grip on the sword hilt of Cheondun and prepared his fighting spirit, assuming a ready stance.
Then loudly, as if to announce to all,
"I'll show you that everything you've done is meaningless. Especially, Sunyangja, I'll tear that guy apart right before your eyes to prove you wrong..."
At that moment, I cut off his words.
"Master. May I kill him?"
At those words, he glared at me as if ready to kill.
"You want to kill me? Ha!"
But I didn't care about those words.
I only looked at Master Geomseon.
Master, who was blocking the glowing orb like the sun, sighed and nodded with his eyes closed.
Ja-gyeongjeong couldn't hide his anger at that sight.
"So it's come to this. Fine. Let's see who dies first right before your eyes..."
Right then—
Pachichichichichik!
The fury burning in his eyes widened.
He seemed shocked at my body covered in blue lightning.
This was the prelude to activating the final secret of Daedo Cheondun Swordsmanship: Thunder Wall Cheondun, the adaptation of thunder energy.
With a trembling voice, he spoke,
"Thunder Wall Cheondun..."
Pat!
Before he could finish his words, I lunged at him like lightning.
When moving in the state adapted to thunder energy, the speed surpasses the new wind shadow step modified by the male master who walks on only one shoe.
I plunged right in front of him and thrust my sword at him.
"Kuk!"
He hurriedly raised the sword hilt of Cheondun.
Thunder energy surged from Cheondun, and the blade was dyed in blue lightning.
Chaaaaaang!
When Cheondun and Namcheon Iron Sword clashed, a fierce gust of wind blew out and blue lightning streaks spread in all directions like the roots of a tree.
Though his stance was pushed back, the lightning caused no damage.
He sneered bitterly and said,
"Foolish fool. The master of Cheondun is unaffected by lightning energy. Even if you have mastered the Thunderwall Cheondun, as long as I have Cheondun..."
"I know."
"What?"
We trained together with the master; you really think I wouldn't know that?
"I'm about to get serious now, so you better clench your teeth tight."
"You... right now...!?"
Shuuuuu!
At that moment, thick steam began to flow from my body.
This is the Jin-Hyeol Geumche technique that accelerates blood circulation.
When combined with the lightning energy adaptation state, Jin-Hyeol Geumche enhances external power to its limit.
"This is... damn!"
Chaarururu!
With swords still clashing, his stance was pushed back.
He must have thought his power surged threefold with Cheondun and that we were equal.
But I hadn't even unleashed my full strength yet.
"You bastard!"
He grit his teeth and tried to hold back by increasing his power, but it was useless.
I kept pushing him.
The ground beneath our feet crushed as if it were mud, and his stance kept being pushed back.
Kwarurururur!
Pushed back to the shared wall, he changed tactics.
Unable to win by power alone, he tried to use a trick to escape the clash.
But I had no intention of letting go.
Cha-aeng!
Just as he tried to redirect the sword by letting off some force in the Cheondun sword,
Pak!
I grabbed the edge of Cheondun's blade.
Then I pushed him straight into the wall.
"Ugh!"
Bang!
His body slammed into the wall.
He tried to twist the sword to release it but failed.
"You bastard..."
"Shall we get out of here?"
Kwa Kwa Kwa Kwang!
His body smashed through the wall and burrowed further inward.
I continued pushing him.
"Grrr!"
Endlessly pushed back, a scream burst from his mouth.
Each time his back pierced the wall, fragments embedded in him causing excruciating pain.
After a long time of burrowing through the wall,
Bang!
Finally, he broke through and came out the other side.
It was a secluded place northwest of Dohwaseon, surrounded by bushes, with no one around.
After breaking through the wall, I released the blade of Cheondun I was holding and bounced him back with counterforce.
Pudeudeudeuk! Pudeudeudeuk!
His stance flew, breaking several trees.
About five thick old trees snapped before he finally stopped.
He staggered, planting Cheondun like a staff on the ground.
Puk!
"Hah... hah... you..."
He breathed heavily, lifted his head, and glared at me.
I walked toward him.
Sssssss!
I saw his wounds rapidly healing.
He had incredible regeneration, probably from drinking Yongho Geumdan, a miraculous elixir of longevity.
Such a being could only be killed by severing head and body.
He gritted his teeth and said to me,
"Damn bastard. How long do you think you can maintain that method of speeding your blood circulation?"
"As long as it takes to kill you."
At that, he suddenly burst into a mad laughter.
"Hahahahaha!"
I stared at him and said,
"Have you gone crazy?"
He shook his head and replied,
"You're the one pushing me beyond my final limit."
"Final limit?"
"Hoo."
He slowly rose to his feet.
But from his body dark, ominous heat haze began to crawl and rise.
It was completely different from the pure energy cultivated by the Taoist adepts.
It was the complete opposite.
Duduk duduk!
The veins on his face bulged and gradually darkened.
"Where there is sun, there is moon; where there is light, there is darkness. I will show you the destructive power of the demon (Ma) that cannot be overcome by the immortal (Seon)..."
Puk!
"Ugh!"
Before he finished, my fist drove into his abdomen.
The surprise blow made his eyes bulge wide.
"You don't need to see it."
"Ugh... you..."
He probably didn't expect an attack before he fully revealed that ominous energy.
He glared at me with a cowardly look.
But why should I waste time explaining and giving him a chance to transform his energy?
He grabbed my wrist stuck in his abdomen with the Golden Claw technique and shouted,
"I will kill you for sure."
With him, black heat haze and ominous energy surged even more fiercely.
I scoffed and said,
"Why do you think I brought you here where there's no one?"
"What are you talking about...!?"
His eyes trembled as he looked at me.
My hair reflected in his pupils had turned a deep blood-red.
But it wasn't just the hair.
Pachichichik! Pachichichik!
The blue lightning gradually turned red.
The unification of vital energy, the adaptation of Thunderwall Cheondun lightning energy, Jin-Hyeol Geumche, and the opening of flame through blood demon transformation.
Beyond exponential growth, even I couldn't gauge the level of this power.
In horror, he stammered,
"Y-You... what exactly..."
"Looks like I can't control this power."
"What?"
Kwaaaang!
Before he could finish, a thunderous roar echoed like a crashing storm.
Jakyeongjeong slowly turned his head with wide eyes.
'!!!'
Behind him, about twenty fanshaped areas were completely scorched.
The forest trees were gone, and from the destroyed, gouged earth, red lightning flames crackled and flickered.
"Doesn't hurt, huh?"
At my question, a scream burst from his mouth.
"Guaaaak!"
Apparently he had been so shocked he forgot about the pain.
He was the one whose left shoulder and half his body had been cut off by the sword strike.
Screaming, he staggered and collapsed.