Turns Out To Be a Genius Duelist

Chapter 259

Yoon-seok decided not to visit his mentor, Cheon-ma.

Heavenly Reign, Traverse, Black Cloud Perforation Sword, Sword In Heart. In addition to these four techniques, he also learned the rest of the four techniques. Nevertheless, he couldn’t use the other four. It wasn’t anyone but his fault. Finding her in this situation wouldn’t do anything but waste both their time.

Furthermore…

’I have to find my way.’

Yoon-seok had a hunch. To go over the wall one step further, he couldn’t follow her path.

‘Let’s think about it.’

The principles are regarded as the foundation of martial arts. Most tactics mixed these basic principles and applied them with their interpretation. That was what Yoon-seok did in the past when he finally succeeded by mixing all eight basic tricks with the desire to reach a new state.

And looking at what Yoon-seok named the Eight-colored Sword, Cheon-ma commented:

—Certainly, even in my eyes, the sword has infinite potential.

And she asked him to experiment with it thoroughly. She was looking forward to seeing if she could find and balance his color.

“…”

And the color Yoon-seok found was gray. Something neither good nor evil. It might seem to someone that it was neither this nor that, but Yoon-seok accepted himself. It was not biased toward either side, but sometimes shaking or bending without changing its essence.

In a way, he thought it was the most human color.

’What about now?’

Yoon-seok put the sword energy from that time in his blade. It was a little darker, but it was still gray.

‘Maybe that’s why…’

In addition to the eight basic principles, there were tens of thousands of advanced principles out there. However, they were closer to the perspective of interpreting these basic principles.

Cheon-ma surpassed her wall with the aspect of Demon, Heavenly Buddha mastered them with the aspect of Buddha, and Sword Saint Lee Hyun-hak opened a new path with the enlightenment he gained from seeing Purple Sky.

’Then what am I?’

Demon, Buddha, Purple Sky. It was hard to see these concepts as simple principles. Rather, it would be closer to referring to elements, and to be precise, it meant the identity of the Moorim people. And Yoon-seok thought he was a Demon.

But…

’Because I am not one, I can’t use the techniques in the second half….’

An unexpected interpretation popped out. Unlike then, Yoon-seok could understand himself more objectively.

’No matter how much I think about it, we are different.’

He used black sword energy like Cheon-ma, but that was only the influence of his skill. If he was looking for the actual color, it was the gray he saw earlier.

“…”

If Cheon-ma was an absolute demon that reached the sky and looked down on everyone with arrogance… he was closer to a human-looking up at the sky in anger.

*Evolution: You are no longer a human being.

Although New Human looked at him and said he was no longer human, the fact he was certainly of humanity hadn’t changed. He wasn’t absolute, so good was needed, and evil was needed.

‘Let’s admit it. I can’t be like her.’

He was lucky to obtain Heavenly Body, so he was able to use the tactics of Heavenly Sword. But in the end, that was only half of it. Maybe that wouldn’t be the case if Heavenly Buddha didn’t intervene and he reached the end of Cheonma-dong. But.

‘But that doesn’t mean that the road is blocked.’

Only the road to the Heavenly Demon was blocked.

Yoon-seok decided to empty everything and go back to the beginning and fill it up from there.

’To do that, it’s right to throw away the Heavenly Sword first.’

In that sense, Yoon-seok decided not to use the Heavenly Sword’s first four tactics anymore. It was a little funny to say that he wouldn’t use them. All he did was imitate.

’Clothes that don’t fit my body.’

Yoon-seok abandoned his regret and pity.

What were the right clothes for him?

‘There can’t be such a thing.’

He smirked. It was impossible to find just because he was looking for it. That was why…

’I have no choice but to make it myself.’

Yoon-seok returned to the start. He remembered the time when he first learned about swordsmanship.

‘…I was quite lost.’

The beginning was Two In One, where the sword and the body become one and cannot be differentiated. At that time, it wasn’t easy for Yoon-seok, even though he was already feeling comfortable with his sword. However, he found the answer by looking at Cheon-ma’s almost living sword.

First, he saved his dying sword. Then, integrated the living body and sword. By doing so…

Whooosh-!

Fatal Sword Energy. His body’s magic was captured in his blade for the first time. Of course, it wasn’t the perfect Fatal Sword Energy. There was also the next stage of infusing himself into his weapon. However…

’Did I not complete the first step properly…?’

Yoon-seok realized. Two In One, the foundation for a swordsman hadn’t yet been completely achieved.

The unity of the sword and body. The unity of sword and spirit. Even though these two were achieved, the next stage was still left.

’Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been blocked along the way.’

Yoon-seok struck the wall from afar using Dimension Muscle. Then, he held his sword and repeated the same action. But the sword couldn’t slice through it at all. It wouldn’t have been an issue to cut through if his sword had reached the same level as his body.

’What was the problem?’

It was clear. His body and his sword weren’t properly united.

‘…I didn’t do it properly then and moved on.’

The dying sword was saved. As a result, it was possible to put magic in the blade like a living body. But it wasn’t the real Two In One. He only filled the minimum conditions to use his magic.

’Not even a part of my body. It has to be like my body, in a literal sense.’

Even if he moved like the sword was a part of his limbs, it didn’t mean they had become one.

Blood flowed through the body, bones, and muscles. Like these things, Yoon-seok should feel it as one with his body.

’…Is it possible?’

Yoon-seok hadn’t even heard of this from Cheon-ma. In other words, it meant this was a state that no one had been to. Of course, it might be meaningless. But, Yoon-seok felt the need to give it a try.

Yoon-seok abandoned his doubts and began to train.

Whoooosh-!

I’m the sword, and the sword is me. My sword, blood, bones, and muscles. Yeah, sure enough.

Time flew by without much outcome. However, instead of feeling impatient, Yoon-seok did what he had to step by step with the help of a useful tool to make up for the shortcomings of time.

*Focus Potion – The flow of time increases by ten times over six hours when taken. The focus potion effect disappears during battle.

Price: 100 LP.

This potion sold in the achievement store was considered useless because it couldn’t be used in combat. But whenever Yoon-seok had time, he gulped one down and increased the efficiency by linking Yin & Yang to maximize concentration.

’Think.’

What is the difference between the human body and the sword? He couldn’t control every part of his body at will, so why couldn’t he become one with a sword that could move however he wanted? No, is it because of that?

Then what should he do?

’Think.’

Since this body was a new body made by the Tower, this sword was a reconstructed material by the Tower. From a larger point of view, there didn’t seem to be much difference. Although there was a stark difference between organic and inorganic substances, the work of integrating the sword and the spirit had already been completed.

But why didn’t it work?

’Think.’

Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, iron. The fragile human body consists of dozens of diverse elements, and there was only a slight difference in ingredients. The same went for this sword in his hand.

—Collide and break. And melt into the mold and collide again! That’s the life of steel.

As the King of Steel said in the past. Two completely different blades were put in the same furnace, melted, and clashed together. Then, what should he do when the human body tries to become one with the sword?

’Think…’

There was no answer. But…

As always, Yoon-seok’s body understood the difficult things first, not his head.

“…?”

Dimension Muscle went beyond space. In addition, Yoon-seok made it his first goal to have the ability of Dimension Muscle go into the sword he held. He thought it would be objective evidence that he completely achieved Two In One. So he continued to develop new theories and repeated his attempts.

But it had been the same so far. No matter how hard he tried, the sword couldn’t cut through space up until now.

Blink.

Yoon-seok quietly closed his eyes and reopened them. Unlike the left hand that jumped over space and touched the wall, the sword he held in his right hand was still there. However, if he didn’t imagine it…

“…It went in?”

It was only a little, and even that was rejected quickly…

Just now, the tip of his sword ignored all sense of physical distance and touched the wall.

“…”

Yoon-seok clenched his fists.

’I didn’t get it wrong.’

How was this possible? Even after doing it, Yoon-seok wasn’t sure how. But all that mattered was it worked. He’d done it once, so he’d do it twice.

’Let’s try.’

Yoon-seok kept trying, abandoning his attempts to rationalize or find reasons. Come to think of it; it was always like that. Rather than understanding first, he learned most things with his body.

‘No. It wasn’t like this before.’

Yoon-seok paid utmost attention to his senses as he worked. Eventually, he tasted a second and third success. The more he tried, the more the information and experience engraved in his body increased his success rate.

“Yeah, this is how it feels…”

He repeated it countless times.

“It’s fun.”

It felt like the first time wings grew from his back in the {Demonify} state.

Tuk.

The sword touched the wall, and that sensation transmitted to his brain through the sword’s tip, not through his fingertips. When Yoon-seok closed his eyes and focused, he could feel something wriggling under the iron. It felt like blood was flowing through the sword handle.

“…”

With euphoria washing over his body, Yoon-seok was convinced. He didn’t think this alone could reach Cheon-ma or the Heavenly Buddha’s level…

At least he had the right to be on the same line.

Should he call it the real Two In One? Regardless, Yoon-seok, who pioneered a new state, wasn’t satisfied. He still had a long way to go.

This was only the starting point.

‘Like Heavenly Sword, I have to make my style.’

However, Yoon-seok no longer felt hopeless. Rather, he was full of motivation to keep at it.

Yoon-seok grabbed his sword again and lifted it. Then-

「Get ready. The duel will begin soon.」

A familiar message appeared.

’Time has already flown past…’

The timer was pointing to zero. He was so focused that he wasn’t even aware five more days passed even after the penalty.

’I had something to do when the penalty was over…’

He did feel frustrated. He didn’t even use the points earned from the last duel. But…

Wiggle.

Seeing the sword that seemed somehow alive, Yoon-seok was confident.

The confidence to win.