Absolute Regression

Chapter 664: I Can Hear It All

From Jin Paecheon’s body, a rough and domineering energy surged forth.

From far across the dark sea came the sound of a quiet weeping.

The Martial Alliance Leader, Jin Paecheon, in that darkness, found an old longing—a vision of himself in those days when he fought like a madman without caring about others’ eyes.

Back when he never yielded the initiative for the sake of appearances, and never showed mercy to an enemy he wished to kill.

Yes, he, too, had such a time.

A time when he lived freely without minding others—however short it had been.

Geom Mugeuk, who had been watching, felt that today he would finally see Jin Paecheon’s true face.

‘Show them clearly. Show them what kind of man the Alliance Leader truly is.’

In truth, it was also a sight Geom Mugeuk had never seen before.

In his life before the regression, he had never had the chance to witness Jin Paecheon’s martial arts.

Around Hwa Yulcheong, who drew his sword, the energy of darkness surged and swirled.

It coiled about him like a serpent.

As if to display the essence of the Dark Palace, the aura was wicked, and gave the chilling sensation of a frozen hand gripping one’s heart.

Hwa Yulcheong corrected the words Jin Paecheon had spoken earlier.

“It is not you who will bring down the curtain on this era.”

The darkness flowing from him engulfed the surroundings, spreading ever thicker.

From this ominous aura alone, one could feel just how formidable he was.

Even in the face of such a terrifying force, Jin Paecheon’s spirit did not falter in the slightest. On the contrary, a faint smile curved his lips.

It was the joy of a martial artist standing before battle with a worthy opponent, not as an Alliance Leader, but simply as a man of martial arts.

Geom Mugeuk, watching, wondered—

What role did Hwa Yulcheong hold within the Dark Palace?

If he was such a master, surely he would know of Hwa Moogi’s existence.

Perhaps the “one who will bring down the curtain on this era” he had mentioned referred to Hwa Moogi.

But as always, Geom Mugeuk chose to think of Hwa Moogi as someone who did not exist. Many things had changed since his regression, yet he hoped the timing of that man’s appearance would remain the same.

He wished for Hwa Moogi to appear only after he had completed all his preparations.

Thus, he dreamed of the day when, after playing Go with his father, or reading books with the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, he could say, “I’ll step out for a moment,” and go kill Hwa Moogi.

So that when asked where he had been, he could answer, “I just took care of something. It’s my turn now, isn’t it?”

Geom Mugeuk looked up at the sky.

In the fog-laden bamboo grove, a fine rain began to fall.

With that rain, the curtain of the stage rose.

The moment the raindrops struck the ground—

Jin Paecheon vanished from the spot.

There was no sound, nor any sign of a leap.

The moment Hwa Yulcheong looked upward—

Before he knew it, Jin Paecheon was already above his head, striking down with his sword. It was as if the man who had been standing ahead had been plucked up and pasted right above him. That was how fast Jin Paecheon’s lightness skill was.

A sword descending as swift as light.

Swaeaeaeaeak!

Kaang!

Light crossed with light. If Jin Paecheon was light, then Hwa Yulcheong was also light. Hwa Yulcheong deflected Jin Paecheon’s sword with his own.

“The Alliance Leader launches a surprise attack….”

He meant to taunt him for ambushing, to shake his composure, but Hwa Yulcheong had no chance to do so.

Kaang! Kaaang!

Jin Paecheon’s fierce attacks followed without pause.

This was a Martial Alliance Leader who never yielded the initiative. Now there was no pretense left. To survive, he was a man prepared to fling dirt into his opponent’s eyes.

In other words, the shackles had come off.

Shwik! Shwik!

Jin Paecheon’s thrusts toward the vital points were both strong and fast. Normally, if one was strong, they were slow; to be quick, they had to sacrifice strength. But Jin Paecheon possessed both. He was fast and strong.

And Hwa Yulcheong received every one of those powerful strikes.

If it had been an ordinary master’s sword, it would have broken long ago. But Hwa Yulcheong’s blade did not break. A powerful dark energy was protecting his sword.

Watching this, Geom Mugeuk noticed something important.

‘This is not the sword art Hwa Moogi used.’

Before he had even had a proper match with Hwa Moogi, he and Lee Ahn had both been pierced through the chest, but one thing he clearly remembered—

Hwa Moogi had never used a sword art that emitted such dark energy.

‘Hwa Moogi used a different martial art.’

Yes, no matter how strong this seemed, with that technique, he could never have defeated his father’s Nine Calamities Demon Art.

Watching this fight, Geom Mugeuk had discovered something of great significance.

The two swords flew wildly toward each other, both carrying decades of pent-up resentment.

Chaeng! Chaeng! Chaeng! Chaengchaeng!

The sound of the swords meeting at speeds too fast for the eye, like the harmony of skilled musicians. There was no slowing or quickening—the instruments only grew faster, racing toward their climax.

Sword lines embroidered the air, only to vanish.

The lines seemed like brushstrokes in a painting. Countless strokes drawn and erased, unrecognizable to ordinary people, but there was someone who could appreciate their worth.

To Geom Mugeuk, they were beautiful lines. A beautiful painting holding the lifetime martial mastery of two great masters.

To be able to watch such a duel between masters from so close—this was a stroke of fortune worthy of being called a heaven-sent opportunity.

With reverence, Geom Mugeuk continued to watch Jin Paecheon’s martial arts.

The Alliance Leader could have asked him to step aside so as not to reveal his martial arts. If he had, he would have withdrawn far away.

But Jin Paecheon did not. He was showing all of his martial arts, even to someone who might one day become his enemy.

This was the measure of the Martial Alliance Leader Jin Paecheon. The Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult was a vessel so large he could be submerged in it entirely.

Thank you, Alliance Leader.

To repay that sentiment did not mean deliberately looking away. Instead, he carved the two men’s fight into his heart with more focus than any battle he had ever witnessed.

Before the fight began, Geom Mugeuk had thought about intervening.

If Jin Paecheon were to find himself in danger?

He intended to jump in without hesitation. Whatever resentment Jin Paecheon might bear later was a problem for later. He would never allow him to die in this fight.

But once the fight began, that thought changed. It had to change.

Could he really insert himself into such a battle?

That thought came naturally, for there was no opening whatsoever in their exchange. The moment an opening appeared, the fight would already be over before there was a chance to act. That was how great the skill of these two men was.

When the musical performance of clashing swords reached its peak—

Papapapak!

Blood splattered from Hwa Yulcheong’s arm and side.

In moments like this, one might normally relish the advantage and throw out a taunt or a remark.

But Jin Paecheon, like a predator engrossed in the hunt, pressed his opponent even more fiercely. Watching him, one could read his intent.

It did not need to be a grand technique. So long as it could kill the opponent, it was enough.

Seeing Jin Paecheon like this, Geom Mugeuk wanted, if possible, to show this battle to Lee Ahn or Seo Daeryong, or to his other subordinates.

Look, even the Martial Alliance Leader fights with everything he has, without letting his guard down for a single moment—what about you?

Of course, that “you” included himself as well.

Hwa Yulcheong desperately widened the distance.

But that was something Jin Paecheon had allowed on purpose.

Papapapapapapak!

Dozens of sword energies burst through the ground and shot upward.

It was the first time Geom Mugeuk had seen it—a martial art that sent sword energy piercing up from beneath the ground.

Jin Paecheon’s signature martial art, the Emperor’s Sword Style, had been unleashed.

Emperor’s Sword Style, Fourth Form: Heaven and Earth Shattering.

Dozens of sword energies pierced through the ground, soaring skyward.

Since becoming the Martial Alliance Leader, he had never once displayed any form beyond the Third.

From the Fourth Form onward, every move was solely for killing, and so he had refrained from showing this tyrannical martial art.

Hwa Yulcheong leapt into the air to evade the sword energy. The only place to escape was the sky.

It was at that very moment that the Fifth Form, linked from the Fourth, was unleashed.

Emperor’s Sword Style, Fifth Form: Flying Sword Chaos Dance.

Dozens of sword energies poured toward him, exposed in midair. It was like a barrage of arrows unleashed all at once, except the speed was on a different level.

It was as if they were pouring out from a machine, as if they were made of pure light.

Shwik shwik shwik shwik shwik shwik shwik shwik shwik shwik!

There was no avoiding the attacks coming from below and from the front. Knowing he could not block them all, Hwa Yulcheong pushed his Protective Energy to its limit and swung his sword as much as possible.

Peo peo peo peong!

The sword energies he failed to deflect struck his body.

Hwa Yulcheong flew back and crashed into the ground.

But Jin Paecheon did not stop his assault.

Shiiiiik.

A streak of sword energy skimmed along the ground, shooting forward as if alive.

It was an attack meant to slice the fallen man in half.

The instant the sword energy swept past where Hwa Yulcheong had been, he vanished from sight.

Jin Paecheon thought he had escaped somewhere using the dark energy, but in the blink of an eye, he crossed the space and appeared—

Right behind Jin Paecheon.

Paaat!

Blood sprayed from Jin Paecheon’s shoulder. If he had not instinctively twisted his body to evade, his arm would have been severed.

Watching, Geom Mugeuk was startled.

It was not because Jin Paecheon had been cut, nor because Hwa Yulcheong’s movements were lightning fast. It was not even because the strike to Jin Paecheon’s shoulder had been an extremely swift sword technique.

‘I didn’t hear anything!’

At the moment he attacked Jin Paecheon, Geom Mugeuk had heard nothing at all.

No sound of Hwa Yulcheong’s movements, no sound of the sword slicing through the air.

No matter how fast a sword was, there should always be a sound in that fleeting moment.

It was as if the world had gone completely silent.

That was why Jin Paecheon had been hit.

A soundless sword.

It was none other than Hwa Yulcheong’s signature martial art—the Silent Sword Art of the Dark Heavens.

Geom Mugeuk knew better than anyone how difficult this attack was to defend against.

With no sound, one could not rely on hearing.

If the opponent used a swift sword, one had to depend solely on sight.

Masters like Jin Paecheon and Hwa Yulcheong fought using not only sight but all their senses. Naturally, hearing was the second most important sense after sight.

Especially if the opponent wielded a swift sword, hearing became critical.

But now, there was no sound at all?

And the most decisive reason this attack was so troublesome was this—

Without sound, one could not gauge the strength of the incoming strike.

As a result, one had to assume every attack was the strongest possible and block accordingly. Naturally, the internal energy consumption would be extreme.

Geom Mugeuk understood.

‘So this is the martial art he prepared for the day he would fight the Alliance Leader!’

Hwa Yulcheong spoke with a cold smile.

“I will be the one to bring down the curtain on your era.”

The moment the words left his mouth—

Kaaang!

The second attack was blocked. Yes, for someone of the Alliance Leader’s caliber, blocking once by instinct was possible.

Chaeang!

But the third attack was blocked as well.

A flicker of surprise passed over Hwa Yulcheong’s face.

It was then that Jin Paecheon spoke words that were nothing short of shocking.

“I can hear it all.”

Both Hwa Yulcheong and Geom Mugeuk were startled.

After all, nothing had reached Geom Mugeuk’s ears.

Hwa Yulcheong did not believe him.

“You’ve gotten lucky a few times and now you boast.”

In an instant, Hwa Yulcheong moved, stabbing from one spot to another. It was an attack that could not be blocked—his martial art revealed neither sound nor any trace of energy. This was the technique he had honed solely for this day.

Kaang!

But Jin Paecheon blocked even this next strike.

And then—

A massive sword energy fell soundlessly from above, stabbing straight down toward Jin Paecheon’s head.

Kwaaaang!

Not only was there no sound in the swing of the sword, but this sword energy also made no sound at all.

When the rising smoke cleared, Jin Paecheon was still standing in place.

Beside him, a deep hole had been gouged into the ground from where the strike had landed after he narrowly evaded it.

If it had hit him directly, it would have caused severe injury.

But Jin Paecheon had avoided even that attack.

“You really can hear it?”

Startled, Hwa Yulcheong vanished into the darkness.

In an instant, the surroundings darkened, as if the only lamp in a lightless place had been abruptly snuffed out.

Within the pitch-black darkness—

Geom Mugeuk understood that Hwa Yulcheong had unleashed a martial art using the energy of darkness.

Both Jin Paecheon and Geom Mugeuk stood within that darkness.

From within it, Hwa Yulcheong’s voice rang out.

“…Truly impressive.”

His tone, tinged with surprise and futility, was calm. At the very least, he seemed to believe this darkness would protect him.

“Jin Paecheon.”

For the first time, he spoke Jin Paecheon’s name.

Jin Paecheon felt a deep strangeness at hearing his name spoken. Since becoming Alliance Leader, who would dare address him so directly?

And as he thought of it, he realized—throughout all their long years as friends, Hwa Yulcheong had never once spoken his name.

“I never liked you.”

For the first time, he revealed his honest feelings. After decades, the first emotion he laid bare was hatred.

“Putting on that fake face for the sake of orthodox martial artists—I truly hated that. Most of the things you did were things you never would have done if you hadn’t been the Martial Alliance Leader, right?”

Geom Mugeuk could tell. He was trying in any way he could to shake Jin Paecheon’s heart. It was clear this darkness carried the effect of stirring up heart-demons. His Heavenly Demon Body Protection Technique had already begun to activate and shield him.

Would the Alliance Leader be able to withstand this energy of darkness?

Jin Paecheon did not get caught up in the provocation.

In the darkness, something began to shine.

It was Jin Paecheon’s sword.

Swaaaaaaa.

The sword gleamed with radiant light, and that light illuminated Jin Paecheon’s face. His steadfast expression had not changed in the slightest.

The moment Jin Paecheon’s sword sliced through the air—

Chwaaaaaak!

The veil of darkness was cut apart by his sword. Like a pitch-black cloth being torn, the darkness split, and light poured in.

Stepping through the torn darkness and into the light, Jin Paecheon spoke.

“Now you’re going to hate me even more.”