Monsters, unnatural strength, rebellion, and ghosts.

Put those four together, and they call it the bizarre and the supernatural.

And from ancient times, the Sage did not speak of such things.

But what kind of world was the martial world of the rivers and lakes?

It was a place that stored the energy of nature in the dantian and wielded the bizarre and the supernatural.

And in a place like that, naturally...

there were also those who held a certain kind of "faith."

A name that none but the Heavenly Demon could even give voice to.

A being the Demonic Cult worshiped, and the Heavenly Demon himself received and served.

That being was called the Malevolent God.

And the aura of that Malevolent God was Demonic Energy.

Power gained by pledging fanatical faith for all eternity.

"Look... this is the power of this Sword Ghost...."

Everyone froze.

The intense Demonic Energy heavily crushed down on the very air around them.

Even Ak Taegyu and Sa Heegwang had stiffened in place and could not move.

The wall of First-Rate was something the talented would reach, and the exceptional would surpass.

The wall of Apex was something the outstanding would reach, and the extraordinary would surpass.

Then what of the wall of Transcendent Apex?

That required a rare opportunity.

It could be a sudden enlightenment that arrived in an instant, like the awakening spoken of in Buddhism.

It could be a bizarre secret art researched by the Demonic Cult, like the Heaven Yin Blood-Siphon Scripture.

Or if not that, it could be an inborn constitution like the Heavenly Martial Body.

To encounter the wall of Transcendent Apex and then cross it meant you were one of the chosen.

Whether acquired later in life or possessed from birth.

An opportunity that could only be called the choice of heaven itself became the door that led toward the Transformation Realm.

From that perspective, Sword Ghost had all but fulfilled the saying that one must do all one can and await heaven's will.

He had struggled until the age of eighty and reached the wall of Transcendent Apex,

and he was the kind of man who had restored the Heaven Yin Blood-Siphon Scripture once used by the Sword Demon and was reaching for the Transformation Realm.

He was an overwhelmingly powerful expert,

and a man trying to create and wrench open the door to the Transformation Realm by his own hand.

But there was only one person—

only Soyak, standing right in front of Sword Ghost, was struggling to raise herself.

She forced that small, slender body to move and groaned with the effort.

"Little girl, do you think that will save you?"

He had driven Demonic Energy deep into her body, so before long her blood vessels would twist and scream.

Sword Ghost Danya chuckled darkly and slowly approached.

Step, step.

The slow sound of his footsteps felt like mockery itself.

Soyak dragged up every scrap of internal energy she had.

She had been able to expel the Demonic Energy faster than expected.

But.

Because she had taken that blow cleanly to the solar plexus, her breathing kept breaking apart.

"...Ugh, haa, hhk...!"

Had it bruised internally?

Every breath throbbed with pain.

Maybe two of her ribs were broken, because breathing itself was agony.

But she had to stand.

Before that old monster tore out her heart.

Running was not allowed.

All that would do was get the others taken hostage.

There was only one answer.

The black, slender sword flashed with an elusive light.

With the sword stabbed into the ground, Soyak leaned on it and finally hauled herself upright.

Stars rose once more in her black eyes.

This was no longer a situation where she could keep hiding behind the excuse of the Heavenly Killing Star's power.

Soyak drew in a deep breath.

Pain made her brow knot, but she endured it.

"—Huuup, haa...."

"You're already standing again? Yes, yes, that's the Heavenly Killing Star for you."

Sword Ghost chuckled and leveled his sword wrapped in Sword Qi.

Soyak did the same.

She drew in the lost killing intent and malice of the dead that clung all around them.

Things spread through the blood stench.

"You thought... I would die obediently?"

Her sleeve hems fluttered. Her hair rippled.

Of all the places Soyak had ever seen, this was the place soaked in the most death.

The place where the thickest blood stench lingered.

The essence of the Heavenly Killing Star was to accept and absorb all that malice and those stray thoughts,

and the black qilin of the Harmonization Scripture devoured them by fire and exhaled Auspicious Energy.

With every breath she drew in and let out, Sword Qi rose along the blade.

And that—

in this extreme moment—

was hardening into a single fixed sword body.

"To think you're advancing even farther beyond the threshold of Transcendent Apex in the middle of this."

Sword Ghost gave a low, delighted cackle.

It was because he was astonished.

And because it was proving that it was real.

"To be honest, when they called you the Heavenly Killing Star, I thought it was just a ridiculous rumor."

"...Now that you've seen it yourself, does it seem real?"

"Yes. Those eyes. Those pitch-black eyes, dark as a starless night. They resemble the eyes the Heavenly Demon would sometimes have."

The Heavenly Demon.

Soyak frowned.

No one in the world would be happy to hear they looked like the Heavenly Demon.

She might have been born under the Heavenly Killing Star, but that was the one fate she had no desire to follow.

"I am not the Heavenly Demon."

"Of course not!! The Heavenly Demon does not descend into the body of some righteous bastard!!"

Sword Ghost Danya roared.

A voice like thunder itself, laden with fierce Demonic Energy.

Every martial artist who had not reached the Apex Realm coughed up blood.

Cheongak was fine, but Cheonjeong was not.

He had managed to avoid spitting blood, but his insides were being churned into ruin.

It had not even been a full month since he had barely stepped into the threshold of Apex.

That realm was not yet fully his own.

"Kgh...."

In the end, Cheonjeong collapsed to one knee and trembled violently.

He was drawing up all the internal energy of the Primordial Origin Clear-Heart Method he could, but it seemed it was not enough.

Seeing that, Soyak bit down on her lip.

Sword Ghost curled his lips in a grin and took two more steps closer.

Soyak instantly took the opening stance of the Ninefold Heaven Plum Sword, but...

he was still relaxed.

"At your age, and already using the Ninefold Heaven Plum Sword. Mount Hua truly found itself a blessed child."

His tone was openly mocking.

After all, she was fated to die by his hand today.

Wouldn't that blessed child become a cursed child in the blink of an eye?

"...Get to the point."

"Offer your heart to me obediently. Then I will spare your senior brothers and send them back alive."

Cheonjeong and Cheongak's eyes went round.

Their pupils shook in shock.

And at that very moment—

Cheonjeong broke through the crushing pressure of the Demonic Energy and shouted.

"...No!!!"

COUGH.

In the end, he could not withstand the internal injuries and spat up blood.

Cheongak supported him and then shook his head at Soyak.

Absolutely not.

That was what it meant.

Sword Ghost saw and heard that and twisted his lips upward.

It was a smile filled with malice.

"Then what about this?"

Sword Ghost Danya lazily spun the sword in his hand.

The majesty of an overwhelming powerhouse.

"If you can so much as graze me before you collapse from exhaustion, I'll let every last one of them go."

"...Are you trying to mock me?"

"You understand quickly! Clever little thing!"

He was an old demon racing along the very end of Transcendent Apex.

No matter how special Soyak's awakened sight might be,

could she really overcome martial talent honed and sharpened for over eighty years?

Absolutely impossible.

And on top of that, that old man of the Demonic Cult had even fought in the War of the Righteous and Demonic over fifty years ago.

It would not be excessive to call him living history itself.

The only thing he could not yet draw out was Sword Force.

His skill and experience, however, were already at a level that could be compared even with experts of the Transformation Realm.

Compared to him, Soyak was a monster with talent beyond compare under heaven,

a monster that could indeed be judged to have stepped outside the bounds of humanity...

but she was young.

Young, and still small.

"...Then I will let you mock me."

But she could not refuse.

Because she had only one choice.

Like her resolve, the Sword Qi hardened as well.

Internal energy filled the tips of her feet.

*****

It was mockery, through and through.

Even when she crashed into him with all her strength, Sword Ghost brushed it away lightly.

And whenever he occasionally sent out even a single form of the Shura Blood-Heaven Sword—

BOOM!!

"Khk—! Hhk...!"

she was hurled away and slammed into the wall.

If she had not frantically drawn up her internal energy, she would have died instantly.

Even now, after drawing it up, it was a blow that left internal injuries behind.

"...Ha, hhh, haa."

Breath came in ragged gasps.

Until she collapsed from exhaustion. Just one touch.

She had already been exhausted long ago, but...

Soyak did not fall.

"For a little girl, you're more tenacious than you look."

"I'll... take that... as praise."

The only one here whose fight with Sword Ghost could even truly count as a fight was Ak Taegyu.

But Sa Heegwang had him tied down.

The crushing pressure of the Demonic Energy restricted both of their movements.

Of course, they could ignore it and force themselves to move.

Even so, there was one reason they did not.

Because in the instant they gave up even one opening like that, the other man's spear would punch through their throat.

And while time passed like that,

Soyak was being broken apart as she let Sword Ghost's attacks land, one move after another.

He had to tear out her heart while she was still alive and eat it before she died.

That was why Sword Ghost did not cut her down.

He only battered her with the flat of his blade, threw her to the ground, and sent her flying into walls.

"...Ah."

She had already poured out nearly every form of the Ninefold Heaven Plum Sword she knew, and yet...

Sword Ghost was still standing.

Without a single wound on him.

And then, at some point,

Soyak realized that she could no longer stand.

There was no strength at all left in her legs.

Her arms were no different.

"...No, no."

She bit her lip.

She drew up her internal energy again.

But there was no longer any internal energy left for her to draw up.

The black qilin had fallen asleep and returned to her dantian.

Only the barest minimum of internal energy remained in her blood vessels, protecting Soyak from the Demonic Energy.

If she spent even that, her body too would freeze up completely.

And then she would have no choice but to give up her heart.

"I... have to... move...."

She tried to force her body up.

But her thin legs only trembled violently.

Her slender arms were the same.

Her muscles and bones screamed.

And toward that Soyak...

Sword Ghost was approaching, smacking his lips.

Chapter 86

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