Chapter 703

Chapter Title: Dark Heaven Village

Swish.

The Sword Demon let out a low groan upon seeing Musashi's stance.

'Kamewari.'

The Sword Demon originally knew little about Eastern swordsmanship, but after absorbing Baek Woong's memories through the obsidian, he had gained considerable expertise. Now, the Sword Demon possessed Baek Woong's recollections of training the Soul-Severing Shadowless Swordsmanship alongside dozens of sword heroes, as well as memories of exchanging techniques with great swordsmen like Sword Saint Kamiizumi Nobutsuna and Tsukahara Bokuden. And according to those memories, Musashi's opening stance was Kamewari.

It was a powerful sword stance that evoked the image of shattering an entire jar, serving as proof that the Ittō-ryū style, passed down from Ittō Ittōsai, had reached completion in the hands of Ono Tadaaki. Sword Saint Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, with his vast experience, was well-versed in Ittō-ryū's sword forms, and that knowledge had been passed to the Sword Demon through Baek Woong.

For a fleeting moment, the Sword Demon wondered if Musashi was an heir to Ittō-ryū, but it didn't seem so. Rather, it was strange that Musashi had chosen to adopt this sword form at all. The Sword Demon addressed him.

"I'd heard you were a ronin, yet it seems you've trained in a renowned school of swordsmanship after all."

"It was a fleeting connection, nothing more."

"You've already reached a realm where forms are unnecessary, so why bother showing me that stance?"

Musashi's eyes gleamed at the Sword Demon's question.

"Because if you can receive the ultimate technique flowing from this sword form, I can gauge your true strength."

"...!"

"Here I come!"

Whoosh.

The moment Musashi swung his long sword, a split-second stillness descended, as if time itself had frozen.

This was the moment that only true masters encountered. The Sword Demon had entered this space many times before, but never in a life-or-death duel laced with killing intent against Musashi. In this halted continuum of black-and-white time, the Sword Demon first scrutinized Musashi's stance.

Reverse dual swords, reverse stance. It defied orthodox sword principles, but in that instant, the Sword Demon grasped his opponent's intent. He shifted seamlessly from the Shadowless Soul-Severing Swordsmanship stance into the Left Soul-Stealer form to block the initial strike, twisting his body halfway to the side.

Clang!

Sparks erupted violently from the clash of weapons, but neither swordsman was hindered. Both had mastered the mind's eye and listening force, relying not on sight to track each other's positions. When the flash faded, Musashi's short sword was thrusting toward the Sword Demon's heart, while the Sword Demon had already parried it with his blade's flat.

The Sword Demon's sword moved languidly, unleashing Shadowless Sword Qi, forcing Musashi to hastily abandon his Kamewari stance and retreat.

At a glance, it seemed both had struck empty air, but that wasn't the case. Musashi spoke in admiration.

"You read my entire technique in that split second?"

The Sword Demon replied flatly.

"Reverse dual swords allow free offense and defense, but with reverse feet as well, counterattack is your only option. You feinted with a powerful sword stance to confuse me, aiming to follow my counter with a counter of your own and behead me in a single exchange, didn't you?"

"Precisely."

Musashi twisted his lips into a grin.

"Sword Demon Seomun Daeryong! You are worth crossing blades with!"

Swoosh.

A flash burst from Musashi's waist. In truth, it was an ultra-swift stroke slicing through space itself, carving away the very spot where the Sword Demon stood. Sensing Musashi attacking not with technique but raw power, the Sword Demon stepped back slightly and unleashed his ultimate art.

Ultimate Art

Soul-Stealing Cloudlight

Cloud-like Soul-Severing Sword Qi rose to clash with Musashi's space-rending flash of sword qi. Musashi's qi, which tore through space, tangled in the clouds and halted. The Sword Demon layered Shadowless Sword atop Soul-Severing Sword, slashing at Musashi's position.

Boomcrack.

Sword qi stretched to the horizon, bisecting a distant mountain. Soul-Stealing Cloudlight was fearsome in its might, yet Musashi dodged the Sword Demon's ultimate art and regained his stance. His long sword and short sword spun half a turn in the air before returning to his grip, and his eyes blazed.

"Haa!!"

With a whistling screech, sword qi like a beam of light pierced the clouds as if haloed by divine radiance. The Sword Demon barely evaded, but three or four cuts appeared on his upper body regardless. He closed in for a counter, launching a mid-level strike, only to widen his eyes at Musashi's instantaneously unleashed ultimate art.

No-Blade Catch

Flash.

Musashi's hand had seized the Sword Demon's blade, halting it. The Sword Demon hurriedly unleashed Soul-Severing Sword Qi at his hand. But unlike Baek Woong's version, Musashi's No-Blade Catch was flawless, effortlessly evading even the Will-Severing Ultimate Art while refusing to release the blade. As Musashi swung his short sword to behead him next, the Sword Demon felt the blade graze his forehead.

In the end, the Sword Demon had no choice but to expend qi with sword arts to escape the No-Blade Catch, chills running down his spine.

'A monstrous bastard...!'

No-Blade Catch was undoubtedly Sword Saint Kamiizumi Nobutsuna's unique ultimate art from the East, an evolution of the Central Plains' offense-and-defense-nullification into a pinnacle technique. It was the zenith of a school's martial prowess, yet Musashi could not possibly be Kamiizumi's disciple.

He had simply mastered it at a glance.

Miyamoto Musashi was a genius in name and truth.

In that split second, Miyamoto Musashi's eyes flashed.

[Take this.]

Ultimate Art

Buddha-Splitter!

Musashi seemed intent on ending it here.

A translucent mind blade materialized before Musashi's eyes, its edge soon targeting the Sword Demon, who sensed he had only one option.

'Receive it head-on.'

Though a technique the Sword Demon had never seen in life, his Absolute Realm allowed him to intuit its power. Evasion would be impossible the moment it struck. No human body could match the speed of the mind's reach. It was a form forbidden by conventional martial theory—exclusive to the Absolute Realm. Moreover, nothing in this world could withstand that blade.

To counter it, he had no choice but to forge his own mind blade and clash them. Mind sword demanded mind sword in kind—that was the orthodoxy.

However.

The Sword Demon hesitated, not over whether he could form a mind blade, but due to a peculiar sensation. In a moment with no room for delay, such hesitation marked him unfit as a swordsman, yet an inexplicable vagueness swirled in his heart. It was doubt, bordering on a yearning for challenge.

Step forward?

Or not.

'Here goes.'

The Sword Demon resolved to take the gamble. Instead of forming a mind blade against Buddha-Splitter, he concentrated his will to forge a new sword form. Musashi's face twisted in displeasure at the response, as if saying:

A warrior of your caliber, failing to choose correctly!

Insulting this duel?

Musashi had naturally expected the Sword Demon to counter with his own mind blade to nullify it. As an Absolute Realm swordsman, he surely could—and Musashi planned to calmly probe for an opening from there. Yet absurdly, against a space-slicing strike, he had produced a mere sword form.

Musashi's displeasure manifested as immediate retribution. The instant his will demanded, the mind blade shifted straight to the Sword Demon's head. Moments later, the Sword Demon would surely be split from crown to toe.

Clang!

"...!!"

But the anticipated end did not come. The five sword forms the Sword Demon unleashed belatedly repelled the Buddha-Splitter's mind blade! Caught off guard, Musashi faltered, exposing a momentary gap, which the Sword Demon seized by thrusting a single finger toward him.

"Opening!"

Stab.

"Urk..."

Musashi groaned, clutching the shoulder well struck by the Sword Demon's finger-sword. He had avoided vitals like heart or head, but sword arts were no trifling matter. Before he could even dwell on the pain, Musashi muttered in disbelief.

"That sword form... what is it...?"

The Sword Demon answered his query.

"Wa Swordsmanship."

"Wa Swordsmanship...?"

"No matter how transcendent your dual-sword style, its roots lie in Eastern sword arts. Long ago, the Ming Empire, repeatedly invaded by wokou pirates, researched Eastern techniques to develop Wa Swordsmanship, targeting their weaknesses. Our Shadowless School even incorporated Wa sword forms into the Shadowless Soul-Severing Swordsmanship. That's how I predicted your attack trajectory so easily."

"...That's not the trivial point I'm asking about!!"

Musashi bellowed.

"My mind blade is a true heart sword! Only a heart sword can oppose it! How could a constrained form block my Buddha-Splitter?!"

Musashi cared nothing for matchups between Wa Swordsmanship and dual swords. For ultra-peak masters like them, such things were secondary, unlikely to sway victory. What baffled him was the impossibility of a mere technique withstanding a heart sword.

The Sword Demon replied.

"Was it truly a heart sword?"

"What nonsense?"

"Your Buddha-Splitter may be a blade of the mind, but I don't consider it a true heart sword. You thought yourself free of bonds, yet you remained shackled by forms. Thus, I faced it not by transcending forms, but by the orthodox method."

"...!!"

Musashi ground his teeth. He could not accept the Sword Demon's words.

"Don't make me laugh."

Having attained the Absolute Realm, he had honed will-severing arts to slice cognition itself, even traversing space-time with mind blades. Brimming with confidence that he could cleave anything, how could he not be at heart sword realm? What was this?

The Sword Demon's eyes sank into utter calm.

"You may not believe it, but to my knowledge, among all warriors in this world, only one can wield a true heart sword."

"What?! Who is it?"

"Only the Sword Immortal who illuminates the Holy Heaven with the light of the Six Intents! Compared to his sword, yours remains incomplete."

Indeed.

The reason the Sword Demon had sensed hesitation and pierced Buddha-Splitter's flaw was that he had witnessed a superior ultimate art in memory. It was the moment Sword Immortal Yeo Dongbin's Six Intents Holy Heaven Blade truly transcended forms to reach heaven and earth spirits. Against that profound revelation, Musashi's swordsmanship was mere superficial heart sword.

"Ridiculous...!!"

Shhh.

Musashi began exuding terrifying killing intent. Simultaneously, the dual swords in his hands gleamed with sticky black light, making him resemble a death god consumed by rage and malice. He even seemed to emit demonic power unwittingly, but now was no time for the Sword Demon to ponder why.

Moments later, Musashi's sword descended in an overhead strike.

Boomcrash!!

Its power seemed several times greater than before, yet the Sword Demon calmly realized his own advantage.

'Overreliance on sword force. His sword flow has lost stability.'

Musashi's strength lay in boundless composure and precision, placing one-strike-kill sword qi exactly where needed. But with his center disrupted and technique allocation failed, his full power had dropped below half. The struck shoulder was a fatal blow besides.

Boomcrash.

The Sword Demon met power with power while wielding Shadowless and Soul-Severing Sword Qi. The dual qis, of differing natures, materialized only on attack, shredding Musashi's defenses.

It showed little outward effect but wielded absolute might in real combat—that was the Sword Demon's Absolute Realm. A single misstep could sever the neck; otherwise, it would gradually erode the foe's strength.

Slash.

Musashi began falling to defense. He was pushed from the initial battlefield to some nameless cliff, where the Sword Demon unleashed myriad sword qis via hidden finger-sword arts at the pinned Miyamoto Musashi.

Boompop.

Pierced by sword qi and gravely wounded, Musashi was hurled off the cliff. As he plummeted, pained though he was, his face showed disbelief at the situation. Moments later, his form vanished into the cliff's depths, and the Sword Demon gazed coldly below.

In truth, the Sword Demon's skill still fell short of Musashi's. Newly entered into Absolute Realm, he hadn't refined his arts to match, leaving a paper-thin gap—worlds apart in all-out battle. Thus, Musashi had pressed confidently throughout. Seasoned in Absolute Realm combat, victory had seemed assured.

Yet the Sword Demon's words shattered Musashi's pride in his heart sword, directly impacting his swordsmanship. The moment a swordsman who thrived on composure lost it, the bout was decided.

'Lucky break.'

Even with the shoulder wound, the skill gap persisted; had Musashi remained cool to the end, the Sword Demon would now lie pathetically dead instead. The Sword Demon himself hadn't expected Musashi to shake so easily and felt a twinge of unease.

Why had Musashi lost composure so readily?

'Because he's a genius...'

After brief reflection, the Sword Demon deemed it the flaw of genius. Musashi had ascended to Absolute Realm as a mere outlier, achieving No-Blade Catch from a glance. Never truly defeated in life, at worst ignorant of the Twelve Rites' Heaven's Unfailing destruction method. He could harbor unshakeable, absolute confidence and arrogance—no swordsman stronger existed.

Thus, he couldn't accept that his heart sword attainment was no true heart sword, shallow beside forebears. An ordinary man might falter but soon concede and move on—

'He'd inflated his self-image too much in his heart.'

His bloated ego and arrogance refused that truth. Absolute Realm's invincible swordsman Miyamoto Musashi had ultimately lost to himself. This was not the Sword Demon's victory, but Musashi's defeat. It proved geniuses crumbled harder than mortals from failure.

"Time to finish him."

Whoosh.

After reviewing the duel, the Sword Demon leaped down the cliff. Any other would die from such a fall into the cliffs, but his foe was Miyamoto Musashi. A few grave wounds from his own blade wouldn't kill him. The Sword Demon descended to ensure his death.

Landing gracefully via wondrous lightness skill, the Sword Demon found Miyamoto Musashi staggering below. He had somehow survived the drop, but could no longer fight properly.

They stared silently.

The Sword Demon charged, striking at Musashi.

Clang!

Clang!

The clash of weapons rang harshly in the swordsmen's ears. Immersed in duel, such sounds wouldn't distract, but this was a post-decided death match. Musashi swung desperately to survive longer; the Sword Demon, to kill swifter.

Stab!

It ended.

Musashi screamed not. Even a honed warrior would reflexively groan as blood welled from a pierced heart—yet nothing. Instead, Musashi spoke.

"That... Sword Immortal... if you'd... told me... sooner... I..."

"...!"

"My sword... take it..."

Musashi's head drooped then.

The Sword Demon slowly withdrew his blade from the heart, thoughts complex.

What would you have done if I'd spoken of the Sword Immortal?

Gone to the Heavenly Realm instead of the Central Plains to challenge him?

Miyamoto Musashi was the type, so pity overrode disdain in the Sword Demon's heart. A man who pursued strength so purely all life, blind to self and surroundings—like a blazing flame.

After killing Musashi, the Sword Demon buried him, planting his own famed sword, Hojō, atop the grave. In exchange, he took up Musashi's original blade, Amenohabakiri, murmuring.

"I'll use it well."

Amenohabakiri, received from Abe no Seimei, held power against demons. Musashi seemed to acknowledge defeat, bequeathing his sword to the victor. The Sword Demon eyed the grave bitterly, then turned away.

His destination: Yonei Province.

To meet his comrades there.