Chapter 48: Life and Death Battle (3)

The first sensation Kim Hyul felt was buoyancy.

With dizziness and a floating feeling, he began to see the sky turning red and couldn't maintain his balance.

The vibration created by the accumulated impacts was now twisting Kim Hyul's internal organs.

"What did you do to my body..."

Kim Hyul tried to correct his posture despite the pain washing over him like waves. No matter how he thought about it, there shouldn't have been any possibility of breaking through the Indestructible Diamond Body.

The Six Harmonies Fist's protection of all directions and heaven and earth was properly maintained. His internal organs should have been securely protected by deflecting or blocking attacks.

Why on earth had it been penetrated?

"Your problem was that you relied too much on the Indestructible Diamond Body."

Bi Wol smiled at Kim Hyul's puzzled expression and explained the answer. If he had been more distrustful of his external technique, he would have fought more cautiously.

If Bing Yeon had been Kim Hyul's master, he would have made him learn other martial arts, just as he had Bi Wol learn techniques other than the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique.

The essence of the Six Harmonies Fist is the unity of heaven, earth, and the four directions. If the ground cracks and the soles of the feet don't fully touch the earth, it fails to channel power.

"There's no such thing as an absolutely impenetrable diamond-like body in this world."

Bi Wol had thought of this point before Kim Hyul. If it had been according to the original work, she would have had to use the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique to break through the Indestructible Diamond Body.

"...I see now, you kept vibrating my body to transmit the shock internally?"

"That's right. Master once told me that even a large piece of iron can be twisted by the vibration of a small breeze."

What Bing Yeon had told Bi Wol before had changed everything.

Now, she trusted his words so much that she would firmly believe even rumors if they came from him.

"You really follow your master's words well. I guess you're not the person I heard about... after all."

Steadying his staggering body, Kim Hyul smiled wryly at his opponent. He had heard that in the future, she would be the leader of an evil cult that would dye the entire world in blood.

But the girl before him now was just an enthusiastic disciple trying too hard to follow her master's words.

Kim Hyul didn't buy into Bing Seolhwa's talk of the future. He had a belief in only trusting what he saw and heard for himself.

"If it weren't for Master, I might have really become a villain."

Bi Wol vaguely sensed what he meant. The days when she was captured and experimented on by the Heavenly Demon Cult.

"The place I used to live was like hell."

She had been cursing the heavens that had abandoned her there. In that crazy place where children who she thought were friends had to kill each other, she had wanted to die as soon as possible.

"My idea of hell is a world where a child has to pick up a knife to kill people. Was the place you lived like that too?"

Kim Hyul frowned deeply and clenched his fist.

He remembered the sound of children crying while holding their dead parents when his village was attacked by bandits when he was young.

A hell of swords and blood, Kim Hyul had raised his fists because he never wanted to see such a mad scene again.

"...Yes."

"That's terrible."

Kim Hyul showed a sad expression towards Bi Wol, who was slowly nodding. She was indeed quite different from what he had heard from Bing Seolhwa.

'This young lady in front of me was born with the energy of the Heavenly Killing Star and will dye the entire world in blood? What nonsense.'

Kim Hyul let out a hollow laugh in disbelief. If he had blindly believed and followed Bing Seolhwa's words like Kang Si-woo, it could have been disastrous.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't sense the energy of the Heavenly Killing Star, the karma of slaughter bestowed by heaven. Even seeing his own blood now, she wasn't showing any signs of going berserk or losing her reason.

"If we had met elsewhere, we might have become friends to chat with."

He instinctively knew that they had similar pasts.

The sorrow of loss, the will to protect what they hold dear, and the reason why they must achieve victory at all costs.

Without saying much, martial artists could understand what was conveyed just by crossing fists and swords.

"Why don't you join our master's side too?"

"...Me?"

And this part was being conveyed to Bi Wol as well.

She judged that he wasn't a bad person, seeing how he warned her about Bing Seolhwa and secretly revealed her intentions.

She realized that he must have some circumstances for opposing her and following Bing Seolhwa's words.

Originally, in the martial world, a master was considered like heaven, and there was even a saying about betraying one's master being a great sin, to the extent that disciples betraying their masters was considered a major offense.

"Yes, if there's someone who has mastered the Indestructible Diamond Body, wouldn't it be possible even against someone who can see the future?"

"......"

Kim Hyul's mouth closed at the unexpected proposal. It was the opposite situation from the original work, "The King of the Vajra Fist," where they were trying to kill each other.

- You were born to kill a child named Bi Wol.

Kim Hyul recalled what Bing Seolhwa had said to persuade him before. Even if she could see the future, it was hard to accept such words at once.

- The bandits who attacked you, the culprits who killed your close friends, they're all just karmic retribution for someone trying to go against the Heavenly Killing Star.

Kim Hyul believed that a person's fate was something they carved out for themselves. Rather than blaming others for the misfortunes that befell him and his family, he thought they were trampled by the strong because they were weak.

Above all, the bandit attack that day happened at dawn when everyone was asleep, as if someone had planned it.

"If you can defeat me, I'll think about it."

Kim Hyul said as he threw another straight punch at Bi Wol. There was nothing he could do by siding with someone he couldn't even defeat.

He hated the idea of serving Bing Seolhwa as his master more than death, and he had a mission to save his family who were already imprisoned after his failed persuasion.

"I'll defeat you soon."

"I look forward to it."

Kaang─! Once again, Kim Hyul blocked Bi Wol's incoming sword blade with his arm. This time, unlike before, he was stepping on areas avoiding the sword marks Bi Wol had drawn on the ground.

'So it's impossible to give shock in the same way as before, is that it?'

Now, Kim Hyul was using the Chicken Leg technique, which mimicked a chicken's walk, based on flexibility.

And then,

He threw an upward punch from below, mimicking a dragon's ascending waist. A fast and powerful fist that grazed Bi Wol's chin.

If she had taken that hit directly, she would have been knocked out immediately. Her internal organs would surely be damaged, making it difficult to even stand properly, so where was this tenacity coming from?

'Unquenchable fighting spirit... She resembles our master.'

Bi Wol thought that his eyes were similar to Bing Yeon's when he was erasing the Heavenly Demon Cult from this world. Even though they couldn't possibly be blood-related.

"You have good instincts."

"......"

His words and the movements of his techniques were similar to Bing Yeon's. If she had seen him in his younger days, would it have felt like this?

With a sense of seeing a father and son, Bi Wol found herself imagining a child born between her and Bing Yeon.

'Maybe it would feel like that.'

Come to think of it, Kim Hyul was like a son created by the original author, but Bi Wol had grasped this fact with a woman's sharp intuition that gave her goosebumps.

To realize such a future, she had to defeat the opponent before her. If she could cure her master's Nine Yin Severed Pulse and defeat the enemies opposing him, no one would be able to stop her.

She had also received a hint from her sworn sister Azazel, who claimed to see the future. If she did well like this, it wouldn't be long before she could kidnap her master.

- The essence of the Three Disasters Sword Technique is heaven, earth, and man. The sense of heaven, earth, and man becoming one is important.

Bi Wol closed her eyes for a moment while having such happy thoughts. She recalled her master Bing Yeon's warm and calm voice.

After all, using resonance to accumulate shock was just a temporary measure. To break through Kim Hyul's Indestructible Diamond Body, she needed a new realization.

Bi Wol stomped the ground hard enough to make a loud thud.

- A person is like a small universe. To unite with the foundation that makes up heaven and earth, you need to block out other senses and focus solely on the sword.

Heaven is above one's head.

Earth refers to the ground one is standing on.

Then, what exactly does man accomplish in heaven, earth, and man?

'The answer is to become one with heaven and earth.'

First, she closed her eyes to block out her vision.

Second, she calmed her mind to create a state as if she couldn't hear the cheers of the people.

She dulled her sense of taste and smell in order, focusing all her nerves only on the fingers holding the sword.

To the extent that she even had the illusion that only she and the sword existed here.

- Bi Wol, you can become a greater person than you think you are.

The realm of unity between object and self.

For Bi Wol now, the distance Kim Hyul was approaching or the techniques he was using didn't matter. The only thing she needed to cut was the stifling common sense of the world that stood between her master and herself.

For a moment, Bi Wol felt as if the sword's handle had stuck to her fingers.

Seogek─!

With a crisp sound of something being cut, a small trickle of blood flowed from Kim Hyul's chest. The instantaneous breaking of the Indestructible Diamond Body.

"H-how...?!"

Bi Wol didn't miss this opening and struck Kim Hyul's neck with her scabbard, then lifted her foot from the ground and drove it into his chest.

Kwaaang─!

Kim Hyul momentarily lost his Indestructible Diamond Body and made the mistake of exposing his vital points, falling backward and sprawling on the tournament ground.

"What's going on here! The invincible fortress-like fist master, Kim Hyul, has fallen!"

Cheon Cheonmu, who had been watching and commenting on the match, shouted at the incredible sight. The legendary external technique known as the Indestructible Diamond Body had been penetrated by a mere girl.

Kim Hyul couldn't get up for a while, and as he struggled to regain his balance, Bi Wol was stepping on him.

"The winner is... Bi Wol of the Ice Dragon Flower Banquet...!"

With this, Cheon Cheonmu announced the winner of the first match in the Dragon Phoenix Gathering finals to the whole world.

"The second match will be between the swordsman from the Western Regions who is said to be able to use all things as a sword, Sieghart...!"

"...And Verdandi, who also came from the Western Regions!"

The first match ended with Bi Wol's victory, and immediately after, Verdandi and Sieghart stepped onto the arena.

"I hope we have a good match."

"I'll defeat you and make Master proud!"

Verdandi remained tense as she watched Sieghart, who was tapping his staff on the ground as if he were blind.