Chapter 648

“Wow, I really don’t want to go.”

The two-hour countdown.

If it had been one hour, he would have simply resigned himself to it, but because it was two whole hours, his body grew even more sluggish, and he wanted to go even less.

- Chomp, chomp. Still, why don’t you eat something?

Jack had asked him to order delivery, so Su-ho had ordered a mountain of food.

But Su-ho himself did not eat.

“I’m not eating.”

- Why?

“I have no appetite.”

- Listen to you, talking like someone with a full stomach.

“Would you want to eat if you were me? Once I go, I’ll have to train until I puke.”

- Since you have to do it anyway, wouldn’t it be better to go in a good mood?

“Are you a pervert? How do you practice or train in a good mood? Someone said it before: all that talk about those who enjoy it being first-rate is bullshit. If you want to become truly first-rate, you can’t enjoy it. Enjoying something belongs to the realm of hobbies.”

- Is that so? Chomp, chomp.

Man, this bastard really was smacking his lips.

How many whole chickens had he already eaten?

Fine, at least you eat a lot.

After eating a single slice of pizza and lying down to rest, the moment two hours passed, Su-ho was dragged into the Sword Demon Realm as if he had been kidnapped.

- Have you come?

“Yes, I’ve come.”

When he entered the Sword Demon Realm, Sword Demon was waiting for Su-ho.

His face looked benevolent, but what lay inside him was absolutely not benevolent.

He was probably already grinning at the thought of tormenting him.

Fine.

A beating he had to take anyway was better taken quickly and gotten over with.

- Are you prepared?

“I’m fully prepared.”

- Good. Let us begin at once.

Sword Demon summoned a sword and grasped it.

Then, putting one hand behind his back, he tapped his own back with the upright back of the blade and continued explaining.

- You have currently learned up to the ninth form of Vacuum Style, the quasi-ultimate Unity of Body and Sword. Then you know very well what the next stage is, do you not?

“Yes, I know.”

He knew.

How could he not?

The tenth form of Vacuum Style, and the final form called the ultimate essence or secret art.

The realm of Unity of Body and Sword, Formless Sword.

‘Though I did have Sword Demon’s help, it was also the first SS-grade skill I obtained.’

And by virtue of that qualification, he had been recognized by the System and had been able to regress.

Sword Demon said,

- Formless Sword is an extremely important technique. You know that well too, since you have experienced it, do you not?

“Yes, I know.”

- How is it important?

“There is nothing as useless as a swordsman without a sword. But once one learns Formless Sword, it means one always carries a sword, so it can be seen as becoming nearly invincible.”

- You have picked up quite a lot here and there. At a rough glance, that is correct. A sword is essential to a swordsman, and if one enters a state where one can always carry that sword, then as you said, one can become one step closer to invincibility. However.

Sword Demon moved his sword onto his shoulder and rested it there as he spoke.

- No matter how well one has grasped the principle of Formless Sword, that does not mean it automatically makes one nearly invincible. Formless Sword is greatly influenced by its user. Since it has no form to begin with, depending on who the user is, it can become a blade that cannot even cut tofu, or it can become the greatest sword under heaven, capable of cutting diamond with a light swing.

“I see.”

- So, with that said, the Formless Sword you used in your previous life can be seen as fake. To be precise, it can be seen as a taste of the real thing.

“What?”

What was he talking about now?

I definitely used Formless Sword, though.

When Su-ho stared at Sword Demon with round eyes, Sword Demon gave a small laugh.

- I told you, did I not? You originally did not have the qualifications, so you could not learn an SS-grade skill, but because I asked, you were permitted to use it for a short while.

“Yes, you did.”

- But leaving aside the fact that your System qualifications were lacking, your training method for Unity of Body and Sword itself was wrong from the foundation.

“How exactly was it wrong?”

- What is Unity of Body and Sword?

“The sword and body becoming one.”

- Yes. Unity of Body and Sword is the realm of oneness with the object, where sword and body become one. Then here is the question. If the sword and body had become one, why were you able to fight while holding a sword as though there were a real sword, instead of using your body itself as the sword?

“Uh, that’s.......”

Suddenly, Su-ho recalled the past.

A past farther away than he had expected.

There, he remembered the time after clearing the first disaster-grade gate, when he faced his former comrades with a broken sword.

The situation had been the worst.

He had suffered major damage from the arrow Hex had fired and the Witch’s Ten Thousand Poisons, his stamina had hit rock bottom, and before his eyes stood Alex, called the strongest tanker in the world, holding the front line. In reality, there had been nothing he could do except die.

And yet, he had cut them.

He cut off both of Alex’s arms and struck off the Witch’s head.

Because the moment he reached the realm of Unity of Body and Sword, a new blade had risen from the broken blade.

And it was not as if he had cut them with difficulty. He cut them like slicing tofu.

A sensation he had felt for the first time.

It felt as if he were holding the strongest sword in history.

That was why he could not forget that feeling.

As one who walked the path of the sword, how could he forget such an electrifying moment?

Seeing Su-ho’s deeply absorbed expression, Sword Demon added an explanation.

- The Formless Sword you experienced back then was something that could only be used after properly comprehending Unity of Body and Sword and reaching the final realm. But because the situation was urgent and there was no time, I asked the System. And you were able to experience something you would originally never have been able to experience.

“Ah.......”

So that was what it had been.

Now that he actually learned the truth, he felt strange.

But that did not mean he felt bad.

Starting from the situation back then and continuing until now, if not for Sword Demon’s deus ex machina-like help, in truth, there would have been no present.

Was that why?

Rather than feeling offended, he grew curious.

“Then what happens if I learn it in the proper order?”

- First, your body itself must become a sword.

“My body itself?”

- Unity of Body and Sword. Did I not say that the sword and body become one? Then only after your body itself becomes a sword can you create a new sword.

“Ah?”

So that was how it worked?

Now that he had heard the answer, he felt as though all the training he had done in his previous life for the ultimate essence had been wasted effort.

Because to create Formless Sword, he had trained by gripping only a sword hilt and drawing up mana to form a blade.

- Raise your sword.

He immediately raised the Blood Sword.

- This is the first teaching for the realm of Unity of Body and Sword. First, no matter what happens, your sword must never leave your hand.

“Yes.”

Snap!

The moment he answered, Sword Demon flicked him on the forehead.

“Why, why did you hit me?”

- Are you not going to ask a question?

“Before, you said I was talking back.”

- Correct. But I also cannot stand a lack of curiosity.

Ah, seriously.

What rhythm was he supposed to match?

But he did not add any complaints.

If he did, he would be hit again.

“All right. Why does it have to be that way?”

- What we are about to do now is the foundational work for making body and sword one. To begin with, sword and body are separated from each other. So this is practice in making them one, like a part of the body. Like a tail you have never had.

“I have had a tail before, though? If I use Dragon Mode.......”

- Tsk.

“I’m sorry.”

He had answered without thinking, but fortunately he was not hit.

Soon, Sword Demon also raised his sword.

- In that sense, the first task you must achieve is this: under any circumstances, you must not drop your sword. If you lose the sword from your hand, the instant you let go, your neck goes—kek!

He made a gesture of cutting his own throat with his hand.

It was scary.

Because that man really would cut his neck.

There was nothing stopping him from doing it either.

This was the Sword Demon Realm, Sword Demon’s world.

It was not a place where one could die even if one wanted to.

- Then I shall begin.

At that moment.

Whoosh!

Sword Demon’s sword stabbed fiercely toward Su-ho.

‘In the end, after going around and around, it’s infinite sparring again.’

What else was there to swordsmanship training?

In the end, it was one of two things.

Either one swung into empty air alone and refined forms, or one built practical sense by sparring with an opponent or fighting a life-or-death match.

Naturally, the latter had a faster rate of growth.

Especially the more one’s life was on the line.

Of course, since Su-ho had now lost his fear of death, a simple life-or-death match was not even enough to stimulate him.

So Sword Demon tormented him wisely.

By choosing only the places that hurt the most when pierced or cut.

At that moment, Sword Demon’s sword pierced through the back of Su-ho’s hand.

Leaving the pain aside, the tip of the blade that had passed through pushed against the sword hilt he was holding, and he ended up dropping the sword.

The moment the Blood Sword fell from Su-ho’s hand, Sword Demon retrieved his sword without hesitation and cut Su-ho’s neck.

Slice!

Su-ho’s severed head soared into the air.

It was the signal flare announcing the beginning of true training.

***

How much time had passed?

Surprisingly, day and night existed in Sword Demon’s world.

This place, which he had thought would only remain bright all day like polar day, endlessly fell into day and night.

In addition, strangely, whenever night came, he became terribly sleepy.

All of it was something Sword Demon had made that way.

That made it even more agonizing.

Sometimes, the world suddenly became a sea of fire, or a flood broke out.

The sudden storms were fierce enough to stop him from moving forward, and the countless falling bolts of lightning somehow regarded Su-ho as a lightning rod and struck only him like mad.

All of it was Sword Demon’s will.

In the midst of that, Su-ho’s severed head also soared into the air dozens, no, hundreds of times.

Because if the sword slipped out of his grasp for even a very brief moment, Sword Demon’s blade, appearing from somewhere, cut Su-ho’s neck.

It was enough to drive him insane.

But he could not give up.

Even when he wanted to give up, he could not.

Because Sword Demon had made it that way.

Was that why?

At some point, Su-ho’s eyes had turned gray.

They had sunk as if dead, but they were not dead.

It was as if venom had risen and risen until it had stained them, turning him into venom itself.

Seeing those eyes, Sword Demon smiled.

Because he had finally reached the state Sword Demon wanted.

And from then on, he raised the intensity even further and drove him on like mad.

There was no conversation between them.

The only sounds were the sounds of natural disasters, the sound of swords clashing, and the sound of flesh being cut.

And after another long time had passed.

Once again, Sword Demon’s blade pierced through the back of Su-ho’s hand.

The tip of the blade struck precisely into the sword hilt.

But.

- Hooh!

Sword Demon’s eyes widened.

He had clearly aimed and thrust with all his strength, and yet the blade pierced the back of the hand but could not come out the other side.

It was because of Su-ho’s spite-filled grip strength.

And at that moment, Su-ho’s opposite hand flew toward Sword Demon.

Boom!

The sound of something bursting rang out.