Chapter 45

Yama Dao Venerable (2)

It was an outrageous statement.

Who in the martial world would dare be so audacious before the Yama Dao Venerable?

Hwarureuk!

The saber held by the Yama Dao Venerable was once more engulfed in flames.

The lingering embers became kindling, giving rise to new fire.

"Then prove your words."

"...."

Compared to the Wolf King's saber, the saber held by the Yama Dao Venerable was clearly smaller.

Yet in that instant, to Cheon Muyang, the Wolf King's saber appeared laughably large by comparison.

'How can these be called the same realm of enlightenment.'

The Wolf King, too, had entered the ranks of the absolute, yet the difference was beyond comparison.

'As expected... they say there is no end to martial arts. That truly is the truth.'

Where could an end possibly be.

Even upon reaching the realm of enlightenment, it was nothing more than a new beginning.

As long as there was a next path to tread.

Pisik.

Thus, Cheon Muyang let out a laugh.

"How fortunate."

"...."

"There are many strong people in this world. It makes it fun to break them all."

The Yama Dao Venerable laughed as well.

He liked Cheon Muyang's response.

"Indeed. This too may be nothing more than a trial you pass through. A fine mindset for one who wields the sword."

The Yama Dao Venerable lightly swung his saber, yet it felt as though the entire world were burning.

"However, before death, it will sound like mere obsession."

He was right.

The dead have no words.

"Who's dying?"

Kwaaak!

Cheon Muyang gripped Cheongwang.

The Yama Dao Venerable had already reached a realm so lofty that the current Cheon Muyang could not even dare look upon it.

Even so, that was never a reason for Cheon Muyang to die.

"I plan to live until I'm smearing filth on the walls."

"If you can."

Hwarureuk!

The flames that had reduced the third elder to ashes seemed like nothing more than child's play.

The crimson flames blooming from the Yama Dao Venerable's saber were truly calamity fire that could burn the world.

"Do not interfere."

"...!"

Only Cheon Muyang was permitted to stand upon this burning land.

The curtain of flames that blocked even the heavens completely shut out the Wolf King and Cheon Seonhak.

At that, Cheon Seonhak raised his sword, but—

"Uncle, please protect the children."

"...!"

At those words, he gave up.

Even if just a fragment of that calamity fire touched their skin, the weakened children would not endure it.

Within this worst of spaces, where even sweat evaporated, Cheon Muyang spoke calmly.

"Wolf King, open your eyes wide and watch."

"What did you say?"

"You said you wanted to see my sword. You'll probably see more than enough."

With those words finished, Cheon Muyang gazed straight at the Dao Venerable's flames, which could turn even the sky to ashes.

It was as though hell itself had unfolded in the mortal world.

'It's no different from the Eight Hot Hells.'

Even so, no matter how he thought about it, Cheon Muyang had never done anything that would send him to hell.

He had stained his sword with blood, but that blood belonged solely to those who deserved to die.

"What use is blocking the sky."

Thus, he intended to cut it.

Even if the path to the sky was sealed, the sky would still exist beyond it.

Huuung!

A low sword hum rang out.

It surely reached beyond this wall of blazing calamity fire.

Sseuk!

Cheongwang slowly rose toward the sky.

Watching this, the Yama Dao Venerable curved his lips into a small smile.

"Let me see."

Grrrreuk!

Along with the unpleasant sound of scraping the ground.

The Yama Dao Venerable's saber, the Yama King Saber, came crashing down toward Cheon Muyang.

The air along the saber's trajectory warped under the terrible heat.

'As expected....'

Yet Cheon Muyang remained calm.

He even had the composure to admire the trajectory carved out by the Yama Dao Venerable's saber.

'A truly tremendous saber.'

It was of a different lineage than the domineering flow of saber shown by the Wolf King.

Thus, though he could not compare them directly, he could tell that the Dao Venerable's saber possessed far greater depth.

'But precisely because of that, it's obvious.'

Because it contained such immense and profound martial principles, paradoxically, the path along which the saber flew could only be fixed.

'I have no choice but to exploit that obviousness.'

The only thing Cheon Muyang could trust was his eye for discerning patterns.

He sought to twist the trajectory of the Yama King Saber as it came crashing down with overwhelming force.

'Not yet.'

At best, it needed to deviate by no more than the width of a sheet of paper.

'Losing an arm is acceptable.'

An arm was nothing.

He was standing at the crossroads of life and death.

The Yama King Saber reached striking distance.

The surrounding air completely evaporated from the heat, making it impossible even to draw breath.

'Now.'

Cheongwang slipped in between the Yama King Saber and Cheon Muyang.

"...!"

The single, massive flow drawn by the Yama King Saber began to twist ever so slightly.

It was Reverse Scale Slash, which he had learned from Cheon Seonhak.

"An interesting sword."

However, the deviation in its trajectory was minimal.

The Yama Dao Venerable did not wish for Cheongwang's interference.

"But such trivial tricks...."

Hwaaak!

A saber strike carrying enough force to split the world in two surged down upon Cheongwang.

"You cannot withstand my saber."

"...."

The Yama Dao Venerable forced a choice upon him.

Be split in half by the saber.

Or be reduced to ashes by the flames.

Neither choice offered a path to survival.

"Reverse Scale Slash won't be enough."

It was the principle of yielding to overcome strength, but even that had its limits.

'A sword beyond that....'

At that moment, he realized.

The sword Cheon Muyang needed to show was not Reverse Scale Slash, nor Dark Heaven Slash, nor Ascending Heaven Slash.

It was the sword that led to the Upper Heaven he had once encountered.

It had to be that sword.

'If I cannot see it, I will die.'

Cheon Muyang closed his eyes entirely.

Then, instead of Mount Putuo—where even breathing was difficult—he found himself standing alone in a desert.

'Ah....'

Within the desolate desert.

That faint peach-blossom scent he had once felt returned, barely perceptible.

'I can see it.'

The peach-blossom scent soared toward the sky.

A path shimmering like heat haze.

It was the sword path leading to the Upper Heaven.

'Was that it?'

The path of truth that pierced through all creation.

Cheongwang moved along that path.

Huuung!

How could a human possibly reach the truth of all creation.

The vast law of causality stood in Cheongwang's way.

『Turn back.』

Cheon Muyang paid it no mind.

No one could stop his steps.

'Do not block me.'

Back then, he had been unable to see it through to the end.

But today was different.

Had he not resolved to contain even a vast will within himself?

'I will embrace the Upper Heaven.'

Paaat!

The sky collapsed.

Beneath the collapsing heaven.

Cheon Muyang endured the falling sky in its entirety.

『If you can, then try.』

The world after the sky had fallen.

Nothingness. And emptiness.

A phantom world where not even darkness existed came into being.

'Ah....'

Within that phantom world, writhing chaos could be seen.

Paat!

Chaos confronted him in the void.

It appeared as nothing more than a black shape.

Yet it was unmistakably gazing at Cheon Muyang.

Hwaaak!

The will of chaos was felt.

Cheon Muyang felt as though his head were about to split apart.

It was utterly unlike any will he had encountered before.

『Order will collapse, and chaos will come once more.』

Every hair stood on end.

It felt as though his soul were being torn out entirely.

'It is waiting for its time....'

Chaos was crouching in place.

It was merely waiting for the moment to rise again.

In other words, the calamity of chaos was a predetermined future.

'The Demonic Cult....'

That was likely.

Closely connected to the Demonic Cult.

Cheon Muyang was certain.

'Then does that mean what the Demonic Cult desires is the return of that chaos?'

It might be so.

『When chaos arrives, the world will return to ashes.... And upon those ashes, the world will begin anew.』

That was the end.

No further thoughts of chaos could be heard.

'Chaos....'

Chaos vanished.

And once more, order took its place in the world.

『I ask you.』

『Can you truly bear it?』

The will of the world.

That was order, the opposite of chaos.

In other words, the law of causality that encompassed this world.

'If chaos stands in my way.'

The answer was already decided.

A life that had already once ended.

What was there to fear?

'I will cut down even chaos.'

That will was something even world-burning chaos could not dare oppose.

Cheon Muyang did not fear chaos.

『You are one who has already experienced death.』

『Yet if, through your existence, the predetermined course can be twisted....』

『That, too, would not be so bad.』

『I shall erase all possibilities that were open to you.』

With those incomprehensible words.

Cheon Muyang's consciousness slowly faded.

『Follow the scent of the Immortal Way.』

『Refining it is now up to you.』

Paaat!

A blinding radiance poured forth.

When he opened his eyes once more, he saw the Yama King Saber surging toward him.

"...."

However, unlike before, the Yama Dao Venerable's saber no longer looked like a calamity blade that could burn the world to ashes.

'Small.'

It was far too small.

It could not be compared to true chaos.

Cheon Muyang withdrew his attention and instead searched for the scent of the Immortal Way flowing from somewhere.

Seeing this, the Dao Venerable clicked his tongue.

"Have you already given up?"

"As if."

The faintly blooming scent of the Immortal Way.

Following the flow of that scent, Cheon Muyang simply swung Cheongwang.

He merely entrusted his sword to that vast current.

"This…!"

Shock filled the Dao Venerable's eyes.

He had fought countless strong opponents throughout his life.

He had stood at innumerable crossroads, where life and death were decided by a single choice.

At every one of those crossroads, the Dao Venerable had made the right decision, and that was how he had reached his present standing.

That was the path the Dao Venerable had walked.

'But....'

He could not make a choice.

The sword intent contained within that seemingly fragile blade sought to return everything to nothingness.

'It allows nothing at all.'

For some reason, he felt empty.

The Yama Dao Venerable tried to infuse flames into his saber, but how could fire erase the sea?

The futility and emptiness one feels upon realizing the impossible wrapped around the Yama Dao Venerable.

Huuung!

Along with Cheongwang's cry.

The flames that had been burning from the Yama Dao Venerable's saber naturally died down.

In that instant, a path leading straight to the Dao Venerable opened up.

Shiiik!

Cheongwang pierced through the fading flames and flew in sharply.

"Good."

Watching this, the Dao Venerable smiled.

As if urging him to strike while he could.

However, Cheongwang went no farther.

Thud!

It stopped in midair.

"That sword is...."

"I do not know myself."

"Even the one who wields it does not know its name. Truly, it is a Nameless Sword."

"Nameless Sword...."

Nameless.

The thought suddenly crossed his mind that this name might itself be fate.

Thus, though they were enemies, the name given by the Yama Dao Venerable was not bad at all.

"That sounds good."

"I'm glad you like it. But why did you stop? You could have cut me down."

Cheon Muyang shook his head.

Though he had neutralized the Yama Dao Venerable's saber, it was incomplete.

He had intended to cut—but could not.

"I only meant to cut, yet failed to do so."

"I see. Then it is a sword not yet complete."

"...."

Shudder.

Cheon Muyang's legs trembled slightly.

Though he had only followed the scent of the Immortal Way and swung his sword, overwhelming exhaustion filled his entire body.

The Yama Dao Venerable did not miss this.

"Though cutting down the sprout would be the right thing for our sect...."

The Wolf King and Cheon Seonhak reacted.

If the Yama Dao Venerable moved, the two of them would move as well.

However, he merely smiled it off without showing any reaction.

"Still, as a fellow martial artist, I also wish to see that sword completed."

Sseuk.

The Yama Dao Venerable sheathed the Yama King Saber.

The trees that had been screaming under the oppressive heat in the surrounding area finally seemed able to breathe again.

"For today, I shall take my leave."

"...."

"What is your name?"

"Cheon Muyang. Eldest young master of the Cheon family."

"Very well."

The Dao Venerable turned his body to depart.

At that, Cheon Muyang asked.

"Where is Cheon Jungho?"

"Are you speaking of one who is already dead? Or one who yet lives?"

"...!"

"You would do well to examine the third elder's corpse carefully."

Leaving the three stunned figures behind, the Dao Venerable departed Mount Putuo as though he had merely come out for a stroll, his hands clasped behind his back.

Before leaving completely, the Dao Venerable looked up at the sky.

As if nothing had happened, the sky—once dyed crimson—was now a clear blue.

"The grand plan of thirty years has failed as of today."