Chapter 263

The black sword-energy zigzagged through the air, folding upon itself as it closed in from every direction. It had slipped perfectly through the lattice of Unhwi’s freezing aura—clearly calculated to strike him from all blind spots at once.

Unhwi ducked low.

The blade winds ripped over his head and shattered a mound of skulls behind him. At the same instant, he swept the Heavenshaking Spiritblade in a flat arc.

Shraaaak—!

The frost-laden energy fanned outward, canceling the remaining waves of sword-energy. But even before the echoes faded, Jang Icheong was already right in front of him.

“You arrogant brat—I’ll make you beg for mercy!”

His sword came down for Unhwi’s throat, black aura writhing along its edge like a coiled dragon.

Demonic Dragon Sky-Sundering Sword.

Unhwi barely managed to raise his blade upright to meet it.

Kwaaang!

The clash rang like thunder. The shock hurled him backward, his feet gouging deep furrows into the stone.

Yet in that same instant, Jang Icheong’s brow furrowed sharply.

Blocking such a strike head-on? Difficult, but not impossible with luck.

But for the ground merely to crack beneath his feet—and for him to slide only a single jang?

That made no sense.

...He’s exerting power of the Heaven-Earth Apex, but his body’s cultivation is beneath it... how strange.

Even as he analyzed, Jang Icheong pressed forward again, slamming his sword downward, magi erupting from the blade.

By the time his foot struck the ground, Unhwi had already rolled aside—his body moving on instinct before the blow even fell.

A hair’s breadth of time.

Kwaaaang!

The sword struck where Unhwi had stood, splitting the floor like a spiderweb. Black aura seeped into the cracks, detonating the nearby skulls.

Through the spray of fragments, Unhwi’s eyes tracked every twitch of Jang Icheong’s movement—his shifting weight, the twist of his shoulders, the muscles bunching to one side.

A master of the Celestial Being Realm pursued perfection in every motion.

Unhwi, who had pursued perfection himself, could read it with ease.

He stepped back and turned his body two inches sideways.

Whooom—!

The slash missed by a breath. Black magi streaked around him, sickening but tolerable.

He leaned back—

Whuuuung—!

The blade brushed past the tip of his nose.

Unhwi kicked off the ground, spinning once in midair and landing five jang away.

Kwaaaang—!

The place he’d vacated exploded, leaving a massive crater.

Jang Icheong raised his sword and roared,

“Will you do nothing but run?!”

Three of his attacks dodged in succession—and worse, every movement of his felt read. The humiliation burned.

“I’m not running, Senior. You’re just not hitting.”

“You little—!”

He lunged again, sweeping horizontally.

The black sword-light curved like a crescent moon—and just before it reached Unhwi, it split into dozens of blades.

A strike that filled the entire field.

No room to dodge.

Unhwi lifted his sword overhead.

Second move.

Heaven-Snow Flying Verdict Sword.

Dozens of pale sword-lights burst from the Heavenshaking Spiritblade, whirling like a blizzard. They collided with Jang Icheong’s barrage in midair—

Kwaaaaang—!

—turning the chamber white with dust as the surrounding skulls disintegrated.

Unhwi did not stop. Through the cloud of debris, he lunged forward.

Jang Icheong’s eyes widened.

“You’re an odd one. You were dodging like a coward—and now you charge like a madman?”

He tilted his head casually aside.

Whuuung—!

The Spiritblade grazed his temple.

Unhwi pivoted midair; the blade reversed course and sliced through where Jang Icheong’s head had been.

Whuuung—!

The strike missed again as Jang Icheong stepped forward beneath it. Their positions switched in an instant.

He raised his sword high and brought it down.

Demon-Heaven Ghost-God Sword.

Black aura exploded from the blade, taking on ghastly forms like wraiths rising from hell—each one clawing for Unhwi’s back.

Unhwi spun, gripping his sword with both hands, and swept it in a single frozen arc.

Frost traced a perfect line through the air.

Third move—Heaven-Snow Flying Verdict Sword.

Chzzzz—!

The manifested ghosts froze in place mid-air—but not all of them.

Puk! Puk!

Two bursts of black light struck Unhwi’s chest and abdomen. His clothes tore; blood spattered.

Then—

Fwoosh—!

Jang Icheong’s sword flashed again, stabbing clean through Unhwi’s flank.

He’d tried to evade, but the difference in their bodies’ raw strength made a perfect dodge impossible.

As he withdrew the blade, Jang Icheong kicked.

Kwaaang!

Unhwi flew several jang backward, coughing blood.

“Kh-kugh...”

A torrent of crimson poured from his lips. He hung his head, motionless.

Jang Icheong didn’t bother to advance.

The fight was over—so he believed.

“Do you know why martial artists fear the demonic?”

Unhwi said nothing.

“Magi is a feral force. Once it seeps inside, it devours the body from within.”

“......”

“I’ve already driven it into your flesh with a weighted technique. You’ve made a new realm? I’ll admit—you’re a genius. To stand against me, even briefly, at my level—that’s no small feat.”

He began to pace closer, voice thick with self-satisfaction.

“I can’t forgive your insolence, but your genius... your new system of cultivation—tell me about it.”

His eyes gleamed with greed.

Unhwi’s act could overturn the entire martial world.

To forge a new realm of martial understanding—that was the stuff of legend. Whether it made sense or not, Jang Icheong had witnessed it with his own eyes.

The Triple Profound Realm was real.

He had to possess it.

Unhwi lifted his head.

Jang Icheong’s gaze twitched.

He had poured a considerable amount of magi into the man—so why did he still look fine?

...Only then did he notice it.

The air itself was growing cold.

And colder still.

Unhwi drove the Spiritblade into the ground. A bad premonition seized Jang Icheong.

“Don’t tell me...”

White energy gathered around Unhwi.

He spoke.

Fourth move.

The Spirit of a Thousand Years Responds to All Things.

The Heart of Profound Ice Connects to the Nine Heavens.

Ten-Thousand Ages of Snow Turn to Divine Mystery.

A Single Thought Pierces the Wild Azure.

Heaven-Earth Ice-Snow Poem.

Pure frost crystallized in the air; snow began to fall inside the cavern.

Everything near Jang Icheong turned white—the ground, the air, even his sword.

“This is... the Heaven-Earth Ice-Snow Poem?”

Anyone familiar with the Snow Mountain Palace’s inner arts would think of the Four Great Poetic Canons—their highest secret techniques, wielded only by the Palace Lord and direct bloodline.

The second of those, Heaven-Earth Ice-Snow Poem, specialized in freezing and shattering opponents instantly. Legends said the third Palace Lord had once slain a thousand warriors in a breath using this very art.

“Desperate, are we?”

Jang Icheong still wore a confident smirk.

Unhwi pulled his sword from the ground and slowly raised it overhead.

“Take this.”

He brought it down.

Kwaaaaaang—!

A colossal blizzard roared forth. It wasn’t mere sword-energy but a natural cataclysm—the chill of heaven and earth condensed into one strike.

Jang Icheong gritted his teeth. Magi flooded out, cloaking his body.

He swung his sword.

Demonic Path’s Three-Thousand Blades.

Thousands of black sword-lights burst like a dark waterfall.

They collided with the storm of ice in midair.

KWAAAAAANG!!!

The explosion shook the heavens.

Cracks spidered along the cavern walls; boulders rained from the ceiling.

Jang Icheong struggled to shatter the blizzard, while Unhwi’s eyes blazed.

That was the fourth move.

Now—the last.

This would end it. Any further draw on his power, and his body would rupture.

The chill around him surged anew, magnitudes stronger than before.

The entire Secret Realm trembled.

Massive pillars of ice rose around Unhwi, forming shapes like an ancient palace.

All the void-qi within him turned to ice-qi, his eyes and flesh bleaching white.

Final move.

The Supreme Profound Ice Is Not of Mortals.

Ten-Thousand Ages of Snow Commune with the Nine Spirits.

A Thousand Years of Frozen Heart Transmute to Sacred Mystery.

One Breath Pierces the Azure Heavens.

Heaven-Extreme Ice-Snow Poem.

In that instant, the world seemed to stop.

No—it froze.

Air and space themselves solidified under absolute cold.

Walls, ceiling, and floor—all sheathed in ice. Even the skulls strewn across the ground turned to frozen glass.

Jang Icheong staggered upright, eyes gone entirely black.

“Pathetic... yet irritating.”

He still meant to pry out the truth of the Triple Profound Realm.

If overpowering the man proved difficult, he’d simply mutilate him—cut off the limbs, crush the dantian, and wrench the secret from his dying breath.

“Don’t hold it against me.”

Magi surged like a storm.

In ages past, the Thousand-Year Demonic Cult had seven who were called the Seven Kings of the Demon Valley—all masters of the Supreme Void.

Jang Icheong had inherited the true transmission of one of them: Yang Sijeok, the Demon-Heaven Sword King.

Yang Sijeok had worshiped the Heavenly Demon himself and created an art modeled after the Demon’s own swordsmanship—

Demonic Ultimate Manifestation Sword.

Its secret technique, its ultimate mystery—

Black energy towered like a pillar to the heavens, gathering ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ into Jang Icheong’s blade.

His shoulders drew back—then snapped forward with overwhelming force.

A stroke meant to sever all things.

Heavenly Demon’s Limitless Slash.