Chapter 550

Body-and-sword unity.

It was different from realm. It was not something one could reach simply because one’s realm was high.

To borrow the Heavenly Demon’s words, or the Sword Emperor’s, it was a domain only a select few could reach—those with countless enlightenments, communion with their weapon, and overwhelming talent in handling their beloved weapon.

The sensation of the sword and I becoming one.

In that instant, as if I had fallen into a state of complete absorption, time slowed, and my body moving within that time became faster.

As though I were swimming through empty air, I would fall into an indescribable exhilaration.

I simply entrusted my body to that flow. What I saw was the sword tip, and every sword I felt was nothing but a sword.

The flesh was only a support.

Just flowing as things flowed, drifting as things drifted. Entrusting myself to it and moving.

My description of the body-and-sword unity I had felt was abstract and ambiguous, but I thought it was correct.

Overwhelming talent.

If not for the body-and-sword unity the Heavenly Demon had shown me, it was probably a place I would have taken ages to reach.

How was anyone supposed to do this? It was on the level of telling a wingless human to spread their wings and fly.

That must have been why every master who saw that I had reached body-and-sword unity reacted with such shock.

I had once discussed body-and-sword unity with the Sword Emperor.

It was not even enough to call it a discussion. I knew nothing, so I had only asked.

And the Sword Emperor’s answers had been less complete answers than conversations opening a path for me to think.

“What is body-and-sword unity?”

“It is becoming one with the sword.”

“How can a human become one with a sword?”

“He cannot. He strives to do so, and the sword permits it.”

“The sword permits it?”

For a moment, I wondered if it had the Heavenly Demon’s soul attached to it like the Divine Sword.

That did not seem to be the case.

“If your desire to reach it is merely a desire to touch the sky, and if what you pursue and the vessel you possess can contain it...”

“If where the sword wishes to go and the destination you see are the same, then the sword will permit it. You already know that, do you not?”

The Sword Emperor said I already knew.

Of course I did. I had learned body-and-sword unity.

Only—

“How am I supposed to be satisfied with this half-baked thing?”

It was an empty enlightenment.

I thought it was no more than meaningless hand-waving.

And in truth, I was right.

I did not understand even a quarter of what the Sword Emperor said.

My dull, pitiful talent was always there, holding me back.

“What does it matter if my head is a little clever?”

In the end, the body belonged to the one who moved it.

The head thought, but the foundation of martial arts was action.

Memorizing had a clear limit.

Was that not what every master who had taught me had said, consistently?

“Your head moves first.”

I thought too much, so my body followed too slowly.

That was why I had advanced by realizing body-and-sword unity and a state of complete absorption.

But even so.

“I’m still slow.”

I could see the end of that half-baked enlightenment far too clearly.

And this time was no different.

“This is seriously too much.”

When true talent stood before me, it became a massive wall blocking my path.

Srrrk.

Light footsteps. A blade wrapped around a trembling motion.

Her expression, unreadable, and even the subtle chill in her eyes.

My sharpened five senses and vigilance rang painfully as I looked at her.

Body-and-sword unity.

Yu Yeon had set foot in that domain.

That atmosphere told me so.

Ordinarily, I would not have known, but I could tell because I had also stepped there.

The air had changed, and the flow of inner qi had changed.

The way she looked at me had changed, and the domain she possessed had changed.

I could see it, so I knew.

“Her soul has moved into her sword.”

Yu Yeon’s solemn, full soul was flowing into her sword. It flowed, moved, and was contained there.

Body-and-sword unity.

She was there.

“How?”

How in the world?

Was this a place just any dog or cow could reach? Ah, not that Yu Yeon was some dog or cow.

“Damned inferiority complex.”

It felt as if something that had never been there had suddenly surged up a little.

This was seriously too much. How did that make sense? Some people had to roll and tumble and crawl just to maybe barely touch it.

The fact that she had reached it so casually left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

[What crude jealousy. The Sky must not cling to such things.]

The Heavenly Demon cut in, sounding pathetic.

Who was the Sky here? That was you, not me. ℴℴ𝘮

[And “some ordinary talent”? Laughable. Whose seed do you think she is?]

Even at a time like this, your self-esteem is impressive.

So you do recognize her as your daughter?

Right. He had a point.

“Whose daughter is she?”

The daughter of one of the two people who had once been discussed as the greatest under heaven.

A monster whose name could never be left out when speaking of martial arts.

If Yu Yeon had been born after receiving the seed of such a person, then of course I acknowledged that her talent was outstanding.

“Is that normal?”

[It would seem not.]

Even so, the overwhelming part remained unchanged. The Heavenly Demon admitted it too.

[Perhaps that child’s martial talent may reach a level close to mine.]

The Heavenly Demon, who was always busy admiring and acknowledging his own talent, acknowledged his daughter while comparing her to himself.

What was this? Blood is thicker than water, is that it? After telling me to become the Heavenly Demon and all that.

[...You are becoming increasingly ugly. I told you the seat of the Sky is not something obtained by martial talent alone.]

“The Holy Cult is a place where power °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° is everything, whatever else anyone says. Whether I become the Heavenly Demon or not, isn’t that what matters?”

[Do you think one can become the greatest man under heaven simply because one’s martial talent is high? That is not merely the domain of talent. It is truly the domain of the heavens.]

He was dressing up dumb luck in pretty words. I did not deny it. Life was always luck anyway.

It did not feel that different.

Besides, that was not what mattered right now.

Clank.

I gripped my sword. It was not the Divine Sword, just an ordinary sword. After using a top-grade weapon, this dull iron sword definitely felt different in weight and everything else.

“I can tell for sure now. Expensive things are better.”

It was a fact I had already known.

Not just expensive, either, but a weapon impossible to obtain even with money.

Something made by an outstanding craftsman with the finest raw materials was different starting from its weight.

Compared to something light and sharp—

“It’s heavy and dull.”

Just like me.

Like me, holding something top-grade when I did not suit it.

Compared to that child—

“She was born as something top-grade, yet she’s living a life that isn’t.”

Was it the opposite?

Or maybe—

“This idiotic thinking of mine...”

Was making me see that child differently.

“You stupid bastard.”

Was I shaken this badly just because I saw she had reached body-and-sword unity?

“Calm down.”

Since when had I been so full of greed?

If I had gone around babbling that I wanted a peaceful life, I at least had to uphold that.

I steadied my breathing. My twisted thoughts settled somewhat.

Yu Yeon looked at me. It could only have been a brief instant. In that gap, I changed my thoughts.

[Ha ha.]

The Heavenly Demon laughed.

[...You are quick with things like this, at least. Unlike everything else.]

It was a remark worth ignoring, so I pretended not to hear it.

“Congratulations. I don’t know if you can hear me.”

I understood what she was doing.

“You kept swinging your sword in the middle of the night. Good for you.”

I remembered Yu Yeon swinging her sword beside me, cutting down on sleep.

I remembered that child still remaining there when I went to sleep.

Her face looked blank, and her eyes were calm, but strangely, the heat inside her kept rising without end.

She was tenacious. In my eyes, that child was tenacious.

She made her disadvantage of being unable to speak seem like nothing more than that.

A creature like an old tree, not easily shaken by anything.

“If you’ve come here, then I should congratulate you.”

I opened my eyes differently. The white energy rising through Moonbolt.

I gathered that energy and changed my domain.

I loosened the strength I had been applying.

Killed the spring in my body.

I placed my gaze on the sword tip. Then I sent the end of that sword toward Yu Yeon again.

“......”

“......”

Clatter.

The energy we were both releasing made a small stone roll slightly.

Using that tiny movement as the starting point—

Thud.

My body moved. My sword cut through empty air.

Yu Yeon followed me lightly.

Clang...

The sound was slow. A sharp noise should have pierced my ears, but it did not.

It felt as if I were moving underwater. Explosions heard there were like the beating wings of a mosquito.

It was the same now.

Thud.

Thud, thud.

Thud—

Moving without end. Moving, and moving again, gradually became no different from a dance.

We were not trying to match each other. We matched each other as we moved. As if we had agreed in advance, we acted without end.

“This is new.”

I had never fought someone who had stepped into body-and-sword unity. Whenever I faced a master like that, either the Heavenly Demon had come out, or Yoo Cheongil had.

Would there be another fight like this, against someone of a similar kind who used body-and-sword unity?

“...This feels strange.”

There was no way to explain it. A peculiar enlightenment came from this fight.

I kept deflecting her sword. I chased Yu Yeon’s movements without end. After repeating it several times, there was something I came to understand.

“She’s weak.”

Weak. As expected, Yu Yeon’s proficiency was still low. Mine was not high either, but Yu Yeon was even lower.

I could tell just from the cold sweat forming on her forehead.

It meant she was nearing her limit.

Srrk.

I moved my iron sword. I strengthened my energy.

Yu Yeon approached. Plum Blossom Sword Dance. The absolute younger-generation prodigy of the Mount Hua Sect.

Yu Yeon’s sword, once called the foremost younger-generation prodigy’s sword, was excellent, and her eyes had been born with combat eyes, letting her dig into gaps in the sword path.

I was certain.

Before Yu Yeon, all younger-generation prodigies would be meaningless.

They said the difference between one born with combat eyes and one without them was stark.

Yes, I probably would have been the same originally.

But—

“I have what I have, too.”

An artificial state of complete absorption.

Artificial combat eyes.

The things Yoo Cheongil had made were concentrated in my body.

Whoosh.

When I moved my sword, Yu Yeon dug in. She was trying to pierce through the opening in my blade.

I could see it. Her sword was coming to break mine.

So—

“I’ll take it.”

I did not stop either.

Kwaaak—!

“......!”

Yu Yeon’s eyes widened.

Her sword was flung away as it was.

“You’re slow. And weak.”

No matter how exceptional her talent was, a gap in realm existed.

Was there something capable of leaping over it?

Not yet.

“Even if you find an opening, there’s no point if I can still block you after you thrust through it. Try harder.”

“......”

Yu Yeon frowned at my words and tried to move, but—

Kwak—! Kang—!!

The sound rang out. The noise, now far louder, meant body-and-sword unity had ended.

Srrk.

Behind Yu Yeon’s sword, which had been knocked away, the tip of my sword touched her neck.

“Over.”

“......”

Yu Yeon moved, sweat running down her forehead.

After drawing her sword back to her waist—

Srrk.

She took a bead from inside her clothes and offered it to me.

Seeing that, I laughed under my breath and tried to take the bead. She was just giving it to me. Nice. No need to fight.

I thought that and reached to take it.

“You’re good.”

“Hm?”

A voice came from nearby. The moment I turned to look—

“Not bad. As expected of the Sword Saint’s descendant?”

“...Who are you?”

“Me?”

The crouching young man smiled at my words.

“Guess.”

“......”

Ah. I see.

After speaking with him, I realized.

“A lunatic?”

“Ahaha.”

The lunatic laughed at my words.