Chapter 29

Squish!

The sound of the air being torn apart echoed.

The left hand that Haegeum extended was bending at an odd angle, piercing into Yusinun.

He was aiming for the Dangmen acupoint (當門穴) in the chest.

His intention was to pierce the heart with the first move.

Thud!

But Yusinun, who had naturally stepped back, was already in a state of having drawn his sword from the scabbard.

Clang!

Yusinun's sword, drawn horizontally, clashed with Haegeum's left hand.

Despite the collision of a human hand and a blue blade, the sound of metal clashing was heard, as if weapons were colliding.

This indicated that Haegeum's hand technique had reached a considerable level of mastery.

For a moment, Haegeum's eyes sparkled as he saw Yusinun easily block his attack.

'Hmm, so you really had a hidden move.'

Based on the internal energy contained in Yusinun's sword strike, Haegeum tried to gauge his level.

A snicker escaped his lips.

'Is that all you've got?'

Yusinun was barely at the peak of his initial stage.

Immediately, Haegeum began to extend his left and right hands in rapid succession, like a downpour.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The exchange of blows continued at a speed that was difficult for the average person to follow.

Numerous afterimages began to appear in the air.

Yusinun also swung his sword endlessly to match.

So far, not a single blow had landed on Yusinun's body.

However, the gap was clear to anyone watching.

Yusinun's focus on evasion made him look extremely precarious.

And then.

For some reason, a sinister smile appeared on Haegeum's face.

'Fool, you don't even realize you've fallen into the trap of my Ice White Ghost Hand (氷白鬼手).'

When encountering someone who has mastered the Yin-Yang Qi Gong (陰楊奇功), the most difficult thing for martial artists is not knowing how to properly counter it.

Since it is rare to encounter someone who has mastered such a technique, failing to understand its characteristics in advance can lead to a significant disadvantage.

This was exactly the case now.

Haegeum's Ice White Ghost Hand, even if it didn't directly touch the body, could accumulate yin energy in the opponent through weapons.

This yin energy, once it had penetrated without the opponent's awareness, rapidly diminished physical abilities.

Eventually, it would freeze the entire body to the point where the opponent couldn't even hold a sword.

Thus, engaging in such an exchange was akin to suicide.

When facing a master of yin energy, one should maintain distance and fight from afar, using techniques like sword winds or sword qi.

Otherwise, the longer the fight, the less chance of winning.

It seemed that Yusinun had already reached a point of no return.

Haegeum noticed the frost on Yusinun's blade.

'Hmm, at this level, his hands should be frozen white by now...'

Haegeum's eyes widened as he confirmed that Yusinun's hand, holding the sword, had a healthy color.

'...What is this?'

Yusinun's hand showed no signs of being affected by the yin energy.

He shook his head slightly.

The yin energy should have been flowing more slowly than usual.

His mastery of yin energy was acknowledged even by the sect.

There was no way this guy could block it so easily.

He thought this.

However.

After exchanging over a hundred blows, Haegeum's face turned as pale as a corpse.

At that moment, Yusinun's muttered words, filled with dissatisfaction, pierced Haegeum's mind.

"Tsk, is that all? This isn't even a child's play."

'...What?'

Haegeum couldn't hide his shock.

Indeed, Yusinun was not affected by the yin energy at all.

But there was a reason for this.

Yusinun's body already contained a far more powerful yin energy.

The aura of death.

Yin mana.

That was it.

Whoosh! Flash!

In an instant.

The energy flowing through Yusinun's body completely changed. A powerful internal energy, far stronger than before, overflowed.

The internal energy he had absorbed through qi extraction was now transformed into the Wall-Breaking Skill.

Thud!

At the same time, blue lightning energy began to surge from Yusinun's sword.

As the Lightning Cloud Spirit Qi and the Donghua Immortal Qi were infused into the sword, the frost that had adhered to it began to melt away.

Martial techniques are inherently weak against pure energy.

Haegeum was stunned by this sight.

'That, that pure internal energy! It's incomparable to what it was before!'

Boom!

As Yusinun stepped forward, a massive explosion, like a detonation of gunpowder, erupted. Yusinun closed the distance at a speed incomparable to before, like a flash of lightning.

"Huh!"

Haegeum, who had just regained his senses, tried to follow Yusinun's movements with his eyes and evade.

But it was too late.

"Too late."

Yusinun had already reached right in front of him.

With his sword, now brimming with blue lightning, raised above his head, he struck down with a lightning bolt.

Lightning Cloud Twelve Swords.

First form.

Lightning Cloud Straight Sword.

The perfectly mastered first form of the Lightning Cloud Straight Sword was executed.

At that moment, the surroundings turned white with a flash.

"......!"

"......!"

The bodyguards and blood demons, who were engaged in battle, stopped fighting and shielded their eyes from the brilliant sword light.

Boom!

The explosion followed.

And then.

"AAAAAAH!"

Haegeum's terrifying scream echoed throughout the area.

Slowly opening their eyes, they saw a gruesome scene.

With a single swing, his hands were severed at the wrists and fell to the ground.

Haegeum, who had been so confident, began to convulse on the ground.

But no one paid attention to him. Their attention was focused on Yusinun's sword, now filled with lightning.

The bodyguards, who had recognized the situation, began to shout.

"That, that's!"

"Can't be!"

"Lightning Cloud Twelve Swords! It's the Lightning Cloud Twelve Swords!"

"Little Lord has obtained the Lightning Cloud Twelve Swords!"

The three corners of the bodyguards, who had been pushed to the brink, began to celebrate as if it were a festival.

The appearance of the legendary Lightning Cloud Twelve Swords was a tremendous boost to their morale.

However, the blood demons, who had been thoroughly trained for a long time, remained undisturbed even though their commander had completely withdrawn from the battle.

Moreover, they had a significant advantage in terms of strength.

All 20 blood demons were at least at the peak of the intermediate level.

If not for the fierce efforts of the top-tier bodyguards and the desperate attacks of the first-tier bodyguards, the battle would have ended long ago.

One of the blood demons stepped forward and roared.

"Don't waver! Brothers, there are only three peak experts on their side! This battle is already decided!"

With this, the blood demons, regaining their vigor, began to unleash their formidable demonic energy once again.

At that moment, Yusinun looked down on the blood demons with a disdainful expression and spoke.

"Really, you guys and those guys, you don't even know how embarrassing it is to boast about your numbers."

And as he finished speaking.

Whoosh!

Squish!

Squish!

Suddenly, a series of eerie slicing sounds echoed.

Squish!

Boom!

Blood spurted high into the air like rain.

Without even a chance to scream, the heads and necks of ten blood demons were separated.

Boom!

The ten survivors simultaneously fled from their positions.

"......!"

"......!"

Only then did the shock register in their eyes as they saw the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Mysterious figures, cloaked in pitch-black robes, appeared as if they had emerged from the shadows.

There were ten of them, matching the number of the dead.

Their robes covered them from head to toe, revealing nothing of their insides.

The blood demons were seized by fear for the first time.

They had witnessed an unbelievable scene when their comrades' heads were severed.

They tried to calm their hearts and recall what they had seen.

'It, it can't be.'

'...Did I really see that?'

'Those guys, they definitely...'

'...rose from the shadows.'

What they saw was all true.

The mysterious assassins had indeed emerged from the shadows.

This was the result of the new skill, 'Phantom Robe,' obtained by the 'Skeleton Knights.'

Phantom Robe was a skill that allowed the summoned creatures to wear a robe formed from shadows.

However, the skill's utility was not limited to mere decoration.

When a summoned creature wore the Phantom Robe, it gained a new ability: the ability to infiltrate the shadows of enemies within range, as long as they were of a lower level than the summoned creature.

This skill, which concealed the skeletal appearance of the skeletons and equipped them with assassination abilities, was the best skill.

In the previous life, it was one of the few representative skills of a famous necromancer, making it unmatched by anyone.

But in this world, no one knew about it.

Moreover, summoning the skeletons as 'Skeleton Knights' instead of the basic 'Skeleton Warriors' added to their overwhelming performance.

Thanks to this, they were able to assassinate ten peak martial artists in one go.

At that moment, all the blood demons' eyes turned to Yusinun.

He was wearing a sinister smile.

The bodyguards, who had seen a scene that seemed out of this world, hesitated to speak.

'Ah, these are the subordinates that Little Lord secretly trained!'

'So strong! Now the advantage is on our side!'

They quickly realized that these were Yusinun's subordinates and rejoiced in silence.

The heavy atmosphere was broken by Yusinun.

"Kill them all!"

Boom!

As Yusinun's command was issued, the ten Skeleton Knights charged at the enemies.

"Ugh!"

"Oh, no, don't come!"

The blood demons, consumed by fear, clutched their weapons with trembling hands.

The tide of the battle had completely turned, and the one-sided slaughter by the Skeleton Knights began.

At this moment, only Do Jin-woo and No Dae-woong wore bitter expressions.

'Are these the ones Little Lord mentioned?'

Their minds recalled another secret that Yusinun had revealed shortly after forming the master-disciple relationship.

"The last arrangement my father made was to hire assassins from the 'Assassin Sect' to protect me."

Assassin Sect.

No one knew when it was established, who created it, or how many assassins belonged to it.

It was a secret organization of assassins, with no information available.

They were so secretive that it was impossible to even attempt a commission without finding a contact.

Even if one managed to meet a contact by sheer luck, they would not accept a commission unless the conditions were met.

But those who wanted to avenge their enemies never gave up and continued to search for the Assassin Sect.

The reason was simple.

If a commission was accepted, the target would inevitably meet their end.

The fact that such people were protecting Yusinun was shocking.

But the surprise didn't end there.

"For one year, my father paid the commission fee with the Lightning Cloud Twelve Swords and the Wall-Breaking Skill."

Indeed, the Assassin Sect did not accept commission fees.

Their only condition was 'martial arts.'

The two sighed.

To a martial artist, martial arts were more precious than life.

Especially if it was a martial art passed down from ancestors, it was even more valuable.

If it fell into the hands of assassins, it would be used to kill.

Yoo Ho-yeol had endured the humiliation and completely handed over the martial arts to protect his son.

...Of course, none of this was true.

Yusinun had fabricated a plausible lie by choosing a sect he would never encounter in his lifetime to hide the true nature of the skeletons.

Once again, they had been deceived by Yusinun's words.

Plop!

With a groan, the last remaining blood demon's breath was cut off.

The three corners of the bodyguards cheered.

But Yusinun glanced at the corpse of Haegeum, who had died from excessive bleeding at his feet, and turned his gaze to one side.

The Red Cloud Pavilion was visible.

No one else noticed, but a foreign energy was wildly fluctuating from the pavilion.

'...Now, two more.'

A murderous intent flashed in Yusinun's eyes.

Martial World Reincarnation Top Ranker