## Chapter 1528 – 1528. The Ascent To Radiance
It’s been a week since the blockade of Soyong City began.
I stood before the last of them. The Soyong City branch manager of the Heavenly Demon Sect and his subordinates. They were kneeling before me, begging for their lives.
“Please, Great Hero, spare us! We have not betrayed the Sect!”
The branch manager cried out desperately. I toyed with my sword, looking down at him. I was curious how he would beg for his life.
“The Sect doesn’t think so. Look, your names are on this list.”
I showed him the list directly. The last twelve names on the list. The names of the branch manager and his subordinates.
“There must have been some mistake! We will formally request an investigation from the Sect! Until the results of the investigation are out, we will do nothing and lay down everything! So please, have mercy…!”
“The investigation is already over. The Sect has discovered evidence that you took bribes. You took money to do sloppy inspections of trade ships, or let in some items that shouldn’t have been allowed.”
“That was… tradition! It’s a tradition and ritual that’s been around for a long time!”
“Do you take me for a fool?”
I released my killing intent, and the branch manager lowered his head. I rose from my seat and approached the branch manager. Sword energy swirled around the blade.
“We don’t know anything! We just did as we were told!”
“That’s right! We did as the branch manager told us!”
“We are innocent!!”
The branch manager’s subordinates cried out in fear. It was ridiculous nonsense. I was a fool for expecting some interesting excuse. I killed the branch manager’s subordinates one by one, beheading them.
*Swish.* *Swish.* *Swish.*
Each time I swung my sword, a head fell. Not even the most skilled executioner could behead people this easily.
It was the moment I was about to behead the branch manager. Suddenly, the branch manager raised his head, his eyes wide and wild.
“If you kill me here, you will regret it!”
“Regret?”
A bit of interest sparked within me.
“Do you know who is behind me? The Third Elder! The Sword Demon! If you kill me, the Sword Demon will not stand idly by!”
I hesitated and sheathed my sword.
“What is your relationship with the Sword Demon?”
“I am a subordinate of the Sword Demon. I offer him money and information every quarter.”
“Information?”
“Soyong City is a place where many people pass through, so there is a lot of information. I organize it and report it to the Sword Demon. I am one of the Sword Demon’s informants!”
The branch manager spoke confidently. His acting skills were quite good. If he had been an actor in modern times, he might have become a well-known supporting actor.
“Bullshit.”
I swung my sword. The man’s ears fell off.
“If the Sword Demon was your backer, your name wouldn’t have been on the list in the first place.”
And before it came to this, he would have relied on his backer from the start.
“As punishment for spouting nonsense, I will slowly boil you to death.”
“Aaa… Uaaaaaagh!”
The branch manager jumped up. Demonic energy flowed from his hands. He forcibly manipulated his inner energy, causing the demonic energy to explode for a moment, turning into a powerful force. Of course, it was still nothing. The branch manager was at the fifth level of the Outflow stage. He could never beat me, who was at the tenth level of the Origin stage, even if he were to be reborn.
I lightly responded with a punch. The man’s hand shattered and hung limply. I subdued the branch manager with pressure points.
‘If I kill this bastard, my work here is done. The rest is just waiting for the next manager to arrive.’
Four more days.
I could just relax and wait.
After executing the branch manager, I headed to my usual pleasure house. Then, I saw a large ship passing by on the river and my eyes widened.
‘The ship is moving? But it’s supposed to be under blockade?’
I had clearly warned the citizens. If they tried to leave the city, I would kill them all. After killing all the beggars in the city, the citizens had been cooperative.
‘There are rebels everywhere. That ship is a merchant ship. One of the merchant guilds ignored my words and moved. Trying to escape? Why?’
My mind raced. The name of the merchant guild on the flag above the ship was the Ogeun Merchant Guild. I had never heard of it before. It wasn’t a famous guild.
‘I didn’t touch anyone except the beggars and spies. There’s no reason for a merchant guild to go against my control. I’ll be leaving in a few days anyway. So why…’
Suddenly, I realized. They were spies not on the list. Since I was finding and executing spies, they must have thought they might die too, so they were trying to escape.
‘Ah, shit.’
I was annoyed.
If I let them get away here, the Heavenly Demon Sect would see me as incompetent. I needed to get a good evaluation to move up. I couldn’t let that ship get away.
[Using Acceleration. Lasts for 10 minutes. Remaining stacks: 6]
I ran towards the ship.
I just ran. I didn’t use the Thunder Sound Step of the Thunder Heaven Style or the Heavenly Demon Descent of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. There were too many eyes watching. Since this was the territory of the Heavenly Demon Sect, I needed to act like a Flame Stone of the Lightning Blade as much as possible.
I stepped on the river water. My feet didn’t sink. I ran on the water as if I were running on land.
Treading Water.
One of the levels of lightness skill, which allows one to walk on water. Once you reach the Origin stage, treading water is not difficult. However, it consumes a lot of inner energy, so experts don’t usually use treading water.
I wasn’t using treading water. Thanks to the [Blessing of Water] skill, I could run on water even without lightness skill.
‘I’m almost caught up!’
Someone stood on the deck. He pulled out a bow and began shooting arrows at me. The arrows, imbued with inner energy, flew at speeds faster than bullets.
I drew my sword and deflected the arrows. The distance to the merchant ship was getting closer. The archer on the deck kept shooting arrows. It was as if he was shooting two arrows at the same time with his rate of fire.
‘But I can see them.’
Since I could see them, I could deflect them.
With one swing of my sword, three arrows were deflected. The arrows he shot could not reach my body. The man changed his fighting style. He gave up on rapid fire and focused his power on one arrow.
The arrowhead on the bow glowed blue. The energy condensed, forming a sword aura.
‘The sword aura is flickering like a candle in the wind. It’s unstable. It feels like he’s poured everything into one arrow.’
The arrow, charged with two breaths, was shot.
I thrust my sword forward. The moment the tip of the sword and the arrow collided, I twisted my wrist. The arrow spun and bounced upwards. The archer shot another arrow. Not at me, but at the deflected arrow.
The deflected arrow changed direction and aimed for my back.
‘For a guy who hasn’t even reached the Origin stage to display such skill. He’s talented.’
If I hadn’t had a moment, it might have been dangerous.
[Using Moment. Remaining stacks: 5]
[Activating Genius Time for 10 seconds.]
I turned my back. My feet rubbed against the surface of the river, causing a huge splash of water to shoot upwards. I held my sword up and thrust it forward. It collided with the arrow. Before the shockwave completely swept over my body, I moved my inner energy.
‘A little manipulation of inner energy is enough.’
I used the shockwave in reverse as propulsion. My body flew backward like a rocket, trying to pass the merchant ship. I twisted my waist, did a swallow turn, shook off the propulsion, and landed on the deck. The man who had shot the arrow looked at me with a shocked expression. Judging by the blood flowing from his mouth, he had suffered internal injuries from the excessive attack.
“It’s the Lightning Blade!”
“He came up to the ship with the lightness skill of treading water! His inner energy must be depleted! Kill him!”
“If we don’t kill the Lightning Blade, we’ll die!”
The martial artists rushed at me desperately. I took a breath and swung my sword.
Quickly.
Even faster.
*Crack.*
I heard the sound of electricity crackling. It wasn’t a sound from my ears. It was from within me, the Thunder Heaven Art was quietly reacting.
I swung my sword. Blood splattered. I swung my sword. An enemy’s head flew off. I swung my sword again.
‘Hmm?’
I felt a change as I killed the enemies.
The sword felt stuffy. It was fast, that was true. The fact that the enemies couldn’t even react to my sword was proof of that.
‘But why does it feel stuffy? It’s like something is caught on the sword.’
But when I looked at the sword, there was nothing caught on it. Blood splattered, but my sword wasn’t weak enough to be caught on a few drops of blood.
Power surged into my arm. The sword, which should have become faster, actually slowed down. It wasn’t intentional. It was because I was trying to get rid of whatever was caught on the sword, and in doing so, the sword slowed down. But even the slowed-down sword was something the enemies couldn’t avoid.
‘It can slow down even more.’
I wanted to get rid of whatever was caught on the sword first. I put more power into the sword. The power in my arm alone wasn’t enough. I used my whole body. Even that wasn’t enough. I used my inner energy as if I were exploding it.
*Crackle.*
Lightning flowed along the blade. It didn’t form a sword aura. It was just pure energy, giving power to the sword.
But the sword didn’t get faster. It slowed down. It slowed down and slowed down until it completely stopped. It was the moment I widened my eyes in panic.
[Genius Time has ended.]
A fountain of blood erupted.
All the enemies around me were cut into pieces and fell to the floor. I was bewildered. Even enemies I didn’t remember swinging my sword at were cut into pieces and killed.
“No way…!”
The archer was in front of me. The hand holding the bow was trembling. His eyes were filled with fear towards me.
“Mind-Sword…! Lord… There’s a monster here….”
The archer, having dropped his bow, grabbed arrows in both hands and charged at me. He was trying to take me down with him, exploding his innate energy.
“I think I understand.”
Mind-Sword.
It was different from Heart-Sword. There was no way I could reach the level of Heart-Sword right now.
Mind-Sword was just a fragment of Heart-Sword.
‘It’s not my arm that’s swinging the sword, it’s my mind that’s swinging the sword.’
The mind is also will.
I held the sword in my hand.
The sword didn’t move. But the archer was cut in half and died.
I looked at the tip of the sword. A drop of blood formed and then fell.
The pinnacle of quick sword.
A quick sword that even the user couldn’t see the movement of.
‘It’s like magic.’
Would this work against an expert of a similar level? I hadn’t tested it, so I couldn’t be sure. And since there is no absolute power in this world, I shouldn’t be careless.
‘I don’t know if I can use this in another world, but from now on, this is the Thunder Heaven Style Mind-Sword.’
*Pshh pshh pshh.*
The blood vessels in both my arms burst, and blood splattered everywhere. It was a side effect of the Mind-Sword. My arms couldn’t withstand the speed of the Mind-Sword.
It didn’t seem like I or my other selves in other worlds would be able to use it.
