Chapter 654: The One Phrase I Waited So Long To Say

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You should be at . If you are not, you will be smacked.

He drifted through an abyss as vast as the open sea. Here, all his senses were robbed from him, and he couldn’t feel anything at all. He could not see, hear, or touch anything. He could not even tell that time was passing. He could only curl up into a ball and let the fleeting time flow by, slowly forgetting his own existence.

Who... was I again?

There had been a time when he had fought to escape this abyss. He had thrashed with all his might, searching for something, or hoping to meet someone. Now, however, he had forgotten who he was and what he had been trying to do. All he remembered was that he was very tired.

What you are reading is obtained via automation.

I’ve done enough. I did my best.

Although he could no longer remember what that best had been, he knew he had lived a fierce and grueling life, enduring great pain and hardship. And so he had become a weary, listless being.

This is enough.

He curled his body up even smaller. He knew it was pointless, but it made him feel a little cozier.

Now... I just want to rest.

A great reverberation spread through the sea-like abyss, along with a voice he missed terribly.

All he wished for was for everything to end quickly, so that perfect peace could finally come to him.

[Baek Suryong!]

He flinched at the faint hallucination echoing from somewhere far away. However, he soon curled up even tighter and tried to ignore it, pretending he couldn’t hear it.

Now, however, he had forgotten who he was and what he had been trying to do.

[You are obligated to answer our questions...]

[Don’t even think about running off to hell alone...]

[Even if you die, we have no intention of letting you die by someone else’s hand...]

All sorts of hallucinations tormented him. When he felt a faint light begin to stir, he raised his head and looked around. There was still nothing but the abyss. He still couldn’t see or feel anything.

In the end, he despaired and tried to curl up again.

[Hey, kiddo. Your masters are here, so how long are you gonna keep sleeping?]

A great reverberation spread through the sea-like abyss, along with a voice he missed terribly.

You should be at . If you are not, you will be smacked.

RUUUMBLE!

That was only the beginning.

[My disciple.]

[Long time no see!]

[I missed you.]

Providence is all messed up now, so isn’t it only natural that anything can happen?

An enormous reverberation reached the abyss that held him captive. Immediately afterward, great tremors rippled through the vast expanse of nothingness, accompanied by other voices he missed dearly.

The darkness slowly lifted, and something came into view in the distance.

CRRRRACK...

A rift opened in the abyss, allowing a single ray of light to stream in from the outside.

“We cannot stay here for long.

“...Masters?”

He did not even realize he had spoken aloud. He simply began to move instinctively, following the faint yet warm light.

He was still inside an abyss as vast as the open sea, but he no longer curled up and waited for everything to end. He swam toward the light with everything he had.

I...

Acting on some primal instinct, he grappled with the beckoning abyss and pressed on toward the light.

A chiding voice accompanied a northern blizzard blasting in from every direction and constricting the Blood Demon.

The people calling for him were there.

WHOOOOOOOSH!

A violent typhoon raged, one wholly different from the earlier storms that had swept through the mindscape. Rather than arising from the mindscape resonating with the Blood Demon’s will, this typhoon surrounded and battered the Blood Demon.

“How can you exist in this place?” the Blood Demon asked, confused. He had barely deflected Maeng Ho’ak’s fist before it reached his face. His jaw had fractured from that single blow, but at least it was healing rapidly.

“Little brother, little sister. Let’s beat the stuffing out of this damned ghost until our disciple wakes up.”

Maeng Ho’ak snorted despite witnessing a power that defied providence. “It’s thanks to that heaven-defying energy you love so much, fucker. Providence is all messed up now, so isn’t it only natural that anything can happen?”

“Nonsense. This is my world. I never allowed some long-dead souls to run wild as they please...”

SHWAAAAK!

Providence is all messed up now, so isn’t it only natural that anything can happen?

A slash tore the sky apart and carved a wound across the Blood Demon’s chest. The Blood Demon hastily retreated as the Crazy Demon Hyonwon Hu pursued him, his eyes gleaming eerily.

“For a parasitic devil, you sure do love yapping. This is not your mindscape, you son of a bitch. It belongs to my disciple.”

“Holy shit, did you hear that? Our orthodox goody-two-shoes is very angry.”

“Shut up, you ignorant bandit.”

Hyonwon Hu glared at Maeng Ho’ak, then unleashed the Asura Blood Heaven Blade on the Blood Demon. Behind him, his Blood Heaven Asura roared and inflicted dozens of wounds across the Blood Demon’s body.

A chilling sneer formed on his lips.

“Hey hey, take it easy! Are you trying to chop our disciple into little pieces?”

CRRRRACK...!

Baek Suryong said, "Shame on you!"

A chiding voice accompanied a northern blizzard blasting in from every direction and constricting the Blood Demon. A pure white current was pouring out from the pair of White Ice Bangles on Eun Yerin’s wrists.

“How insolent! You are nothing more than old, dead souls...!”

The Blood Demon’s composure was shattered by the joint attack of three peerless masters. For the first time, anger blazed in his eyes. Streams of heaven-defying energy burst from his body, resonating with the mindscape.

FWOOOOOSH!

“I will grind you into dust.”

As long as there was heaven-defying energy, nothing was impossible. Inside the mindscape he had manifested, he was practically a god.

Not even the Blood Demon, the most unusual being in history, could withstand that combined force. Slowly, his heaven-defying energy began to be pushed back.

However, a moment later, his eyes flew wide open in shock.

“...Why?”

The laws of the mindscape, which had moved according to his will until now, no longer obeyed him. He could neither crush the peerless masters nor drive their souls out of the young prodigies’ bodies.

On the contrary, the four peerless masters’ bodies emitted a white light that stabilized the mindscape.

Maeng Ho’ak cracked his neck from side to side. “When our kiddo created this mindscape, who do you think he pictured more vividly than even you?”

Maeng Ho’ak cracked his knuckles and grinned.

“What...?”

“No matter how great a freak of nature you are, in this world, your place is beneath us.”

KABOOM!

Maeng Ho’ak stepped on thin air and shot forward like a beam of light. Reaching the Blood Demon’s face in an instant, he bared his teeth ferociously. A terrifying aura capable of crushing the whole world radiated from him.

“Little brother, little sister. Let’s beat the stuffing out of this damned ghost until our disciple wakes up.”

“Shut up! Who are you calling ‘little brother’?”

I said, do not interfere with me!

“...Neither of you knows the meaning of the words ‘take it easy,’ do you?”

Hyonwon Hu lunged aggressively at the Blood Demon, determined not to let Maeng Ho’ak show him up. Meanwhile, Eun Yerin lowered the temperature of the entire mindscape, blocking off every escape route. The three of them collided in midair with the Blood Demon, setting off thunderous roars in every direction.

A great reverberation spread through the sea-like abyss, along with a voice he missed terribly.

KABOOOOM!

““......”” The Apostles froze in place, watching the fight. Even though they rarely displayed emotion, all of them had dazed looks on their faces.

The Sword Saint, who had not yet joined the fight, turned toward them. “You kids look exhausted. Catch your breath, even if only for a moment.”

“Why...” Number One looked at the Sword Saint’s face. It was exactly the same as the last time he had seen it, decades ago.