Chapter 27
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“Why the sword all of a sudden?”
Hyeonjo was wary, perhaps because of Lee Seon’s sudden interest in the sword.
“If you show it to me, you don’t have to give me the elixir.”
“You’re not planning anything strange, are you?”
He didn’t let go of his suspicious gaze.
“If you so much as make one suspicious move…”
In other words, he would cut him down if anything seemed off.
“Go ahead.”
Hyeonjo fell into deep thought.
“May I ask why you want to see the sword? If the reason isn’t valid, I can’t allow it.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable request.
However, Lee Seon hesitated to answer.
Even he found it difficult to explain why he was acting this way.
One thing was clear—he wanted to see the Taehwa Divine Sword again.
“Uh… Let’s just say my heart compelled me.”
He answered without much thought, then immediately felt embarrassed.
Even he thought it was a ridiculous response.
If you’re going to make a request, you should provide a valid reason. Saying it’s because of your heart? It sounded no better than a child’s excuse.
His face turned bright red.
“I see.”
To his surprise, Hyeonjo accepted his request.
It didn’t seem like Lee Seon was lying.
“Step back a little.”
Hyeonjo untied the cloth covering the box.
As he did, talismans densely attached to the surface came into view.
Among the tightly packed charms, he pushed the single visible latch.
Clink.
With the dry sound of metal, the lock was undone.
“Do not even think about touching it,” Hyeonjo warned.
“Ordinary people, just by lightly brushing against it, would have demonic energy seep into their bones.”
The most terrifying thing about the Demonic Sword was that even those who hadn’t trained in martial arts would find their strength multiplied several times over if they grabbed it.
Moreover, the more one wielded the sword, the more it robbed them of their sanity, turning them into a puppet driven only by a lust for killing.
“I have no intention of touching it.”
The sword’s scabbard, wrapped in talismans, was revealed.
However, it felt strangely different from before.
This was the very sword that had emitted a fierce, flame-like demonic energy not long ago.
Now it was calm, like the lingering ashes after a great fire.
It was serene, as though awaiting the eye of a storm.
The stillness only amplified its ominousness.
“…The talismans didn’t look like this before.”
After tilting his head briefly, Lee Seon finally noticed what was odd.
The color of the talismans seemed slightly different from when he first saw them.
He remembered the blood-drawn patterns being darker and more crimson, but now they appeared charred black, as if burned.
“What’s going on?”
Lee Seon wasn’t the only one who sensed something was amiss.
Hyeonjo, appearing startled, reached out his hand.
He moved to grab the sword’s hilt directly.
Lee Seon quickly lunged forward to stop him.
“What are you doing?”
Hyeonjo himself had just warned them about the dangers of the Demonic Sword moments ago.
“Step aside.”
But Hyeonjo brushed off Lee Seon’s restraint and drew the sword.
Lee Seon stepped back in shock.
Was Hyeonjo under the sword’s influence?
However, Hyeonjo stared blankly at the blade he had drawn, looking lost.
“This isn’t it…”
Something had gone terribly wrong.
“What do you mean?”
Hyeonjo dropped the sword to the ground in disbelief.
“This isn’t the sword.”
The moment Lee Seon heard those words, chills ran down his spine.
If the demonic energy faintly seeping through the seal had accumulated in someone’s body…
Then it wouldn’t have been difficult to tamper with the seal and steal the sword.
Someone was walking around with the sword right now.
Rustle.
At that moment, footsteps sounded from behind.
The footsteps were clumsy, belonging to an ordinary person who wasn’t trying to conceal their presence.
When they turned to look, a familiar face appeared.
It was the young man who had previously complained about carrying heavy loads during the escort mission.
“What brings you here?”
Lee Seon forced a calm expression and asked.
The young man looked at him blankly.
It was still dark before dawn, but his empty, vacant eyes stared at Lee Seon.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
At that, the man nodded.
Then he slowly began to walk toward them.
“Wait there. I’ll come to you.”
If the man came closer, he would see Ga-jin lying unconscious and Hyeonjo.
Lee Seon wanted to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings.
He approached the man.
However, a firm grip grabbed his shoulder.
“Where are you going?”
“Didn’t you hear him? He said he was hurt.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Hyeonjo said with a grim expression.
“That man didn’t say a word.”
At that moment, a splitting pain struck Lee Seon’s head, and he clutched it in agony.
Thunk.
Hyeonjo picked up the scabbard he had placed on the ground.
“…It seems we won’t need to search for the sacred artifact after all.”
His bloodshot eyes fixed on the figure ahead.
“Grr…”
Saliva dripped from his tightly clenched jaw.
Veins bulged grotesquely all over his body.
Lee Seon had seen a similar state before.
“A demonic human?”
Hyeonjo corrected him.
“They’re being controlled by the Demonic Sword. If we don’t separate them soon, their energy channels will all reverse, and their body will collapse.”
The man raised the Demonic Sword above his head with one limp hand.
The cold, sharp blade reflected the moonlight, revealing itself.
The moon hid behind the clouds, and the forest fell silent.
The transparent blade gleamed as if it had been forged from a piece of ice.
No one would think this was a Demonic Sword upon seeing such beauty.
A sword of fleeting beauty—it was nothing short of a masterpiece.
Its allure was so overwhelming that even those ignorant of swords would find themselves entranced by its violent charm.
However, for those not beguiled by its appearance, they would notice the faint red aura swirling atop the blue blade.
Like the flicking tongue of a snake, the aura probed for any vulnerability—it was none other than demonic energy.
Wooong.
The sword trembled and emitted a resonant, mournful sound.
Lee Seon suddenly felt a suffocating pressure in his chest.
An overwhelming surge of resentment and anger rose within him.
Reciting the mnemonic of his martial arts, his mind quickly cleared.
Lee Seon staggered.
“So this is why they say the Demonic Sword is terrifying.”
Having just fought a battle, he was in no condition to engage again.
“You should step back. If you fall under the Demonic Sword’s control, it’ll be disastrous.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Hyeonjo charged forward.
No matter how formidable the Demonic Sword was, the one wielding it was merely a third-rate martial artist.
True to his reputation as an elder of Mount Hua, Hyeonjo subdued the escort warrior in an instant.
If the fight dragged on, the body overtaken by the Demonic Sword would collapse.
The more they clashed, the closer the wielder came to death.
It needed to end quickly.
On the third clash of blades, the Demonic Sword slipped from the escort warrior’s grip.
As the sword flew powerlessly into the air, Hyeonjo watched.
Just as he thought it was over…
Wooong.
An eerie and sorrowful resonance filled the air, chilling him to the bone.
**
Lee Seon was left speechless by the sight before him.
The forest suddenly transformed into another space.
“Is this the Demonic Sword’s doing?”
A horrifying scene of blood and flesh spread out before him.
If hell were to manifest in the mortal realm, it would likely look like this.
Squelch.
With every step he took, red bubbles rose from the ground.
The earth absorbed the blood but couldn’t contain it, leaving rivers of crimson flowing everywhere.
Just looking at it was enough to drain one’s spirit.
To escape this place, he needed to find the core hidden somewhere within this mental image.
But he couldn’t sense its location, nor could he discern the direction to go.
At that moment, a bright red flame emerged from his chest with a pop.
“You…”
Lee Seon extended his hand, feeling the faint warmth.
It was the same flame that had embedded itself into his chest when the Flame Emperor’s Thousand Poisons Art reached the Eighth Star Stage.
“At least I didn’t enter this place alone.”
The flame floated into the air and began moving somewhere.
“Alright. I’ll trust you.”
Following the flame, he kept walking.
Sure enough, a mountain of corpses appeared in the distance.
And atop it, someone sat, gazing into the far-off mountains.
That man was the master of this mental image.
Lee Seon climbed over the corpses to reach his side.
Even as Lee Seon approached, the man didn’t move an inch.
From afar, he appeared elderly, but up close, he looked younger than expected.
“Are you a demonic human?”
The man’s voice, cracked and hoarse as if unused for a long time, was difficult to understand.
Lee Seon stood in front of him, blocking his line of sight.
“Do I look like a demonic human to you?”
The man’s gaze scanned Lee Seon’s face.
It was an unfamiliar sensation, unlike anything he’d felt even with the Human-Faced Spider or Wi Yu-gi.
He felt like a mouse before a snake.
The man’s gaze was like a sharp blade cutting through him.
“You’ve got a dirty look about you.”
“……”
The man let out a sigh.
“But you’re not a demonic human.”
He averted his gaze.
Only then did Lee Seon let out a ragged breath.
The man’s presence was so overwhelming that Lee Seon had forgotten to breathe.
“Demonic humans are everywhere, and anyone can become one. I hate them. No matter how many I kill, they crawl out like insects.”
The man appeared utterly exhausted.
Just hearing his voice caused Lee Seon’s heart to pound violently, his body trembling from the internal shock.
Lee Seon forcibly swallowed the blood rising in his throat.
It was obvious who this man was, even without being told.
The previous master of the Taehwa Divine Sword stood before him.
—
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