Chapter 245

Chapter 245
**Chapter 245**
**Chapter Title: My Heavens Crush Yours**

The moment Namgung Cheon-yeong’s face twisted with rage, my lips curled upward of their own accord. Even though he’d largely cast aside his petulant, spoiled-heir demeanor following his recent moment of clarity—

“Don’t be angry; be grateful, Young Clan Heir. This proves you are worthy of making me fight with my right hand.”

“Baek Yang-hwi… you beast.”

Anyone would have boiled over at such words—unless they had achieved enlightenment and risen above all worldly emotion. *What I have just said strikes doubly hard for a martial artist.*

I have been right-handed my entire life, yet up until this moment I have held my sword in my left hand for every single match. It is as if a master calligrapher chose to scrawl with their foot just to mock you—you are not worth the effort of holding the brush properly.

“Easy now, easy. Keep your temper, and you keep your chance. Lose your composure, and the fight is over. There is no room for carelessness here.”

I stepped back as I spoke, putting more distance between us, giving Namgung Cheon-yeong space to steady himself. I could not let him charge blindly forward, swept away by anger. I had to wait until he had regained his focus and was fighting at his absolute peak—so that I might shatter him completely.

*That is why I fought with my left hand all this time.*

This was never about today alone. Months ago, when I first left the clan to attend the Dragon Assembly, I had already begun formulating strategies for every opponent I might face in the True Dragon Tournament. Victory was never in doubt, but I had carefully considered how to make that victory count—how to maximize every drop of prestige and gain.

*The true weapon I prepared for you was my left hand, you arrogant fool.*

To deceive the sharp eyes of every martial artist watching, I had wielded my sword left-handed from the very start. Thankfully, no one—not even Namgung Cheon-yeong—suspected the truth. The secret remained known only to those closest to me.

*I must humiliate him this thoroughly if I am to crush his potential before it can take root.*

In my past life, Namgung Cheon-yeong had killed me to snuff out my future before it could burn bright. But an eye for an eye would not do; I could not simply kill him in return. To do so would mean immediate expulsion from the True Dragon Tournament—and open war with the entire Namgung Clan. In our current state, such a war would mean the annihilation of my family. A subtler approach was needed.

*You do not have to pull a plant up by the roots to kill it. You need only trample it so thoroughly that it never recovers.*

I would see the name Namgung Cheon-yeong become a permanent stain upon the clan’s honor. I would turn their most celebrated prodigy into their greatest shame.

“Very well. You seem calmer now. Shall we resume our match?”

His voice was steady, yet sharp with unyielding resolve. “Baek Yang-hwi. From this moment, forget this is merely a spar. I will kill you.”

It was an unvarnished threat, yet the referee did not step in. To actually strike him down would mean disqualification, but words alone broke no rule. Shouts of “I will kill you!” were common enough on the training grounds, used to unnerve an opponent. Besides, the referee likely felt he would have said the same thing had he been subjected to such insults.

“Try, then—if you can. Only do not be surprised when the tide turns against you.”

Up until now, Namgung Cheon-yeong had been the one pressing forward, unleashing blistering strikes from the Flash Lightning Thirteen Thunderbolts Sword while I defended and evaded. But all that changed in an instant.

Blade met blade—and there was none of the deafening impact that had marked our earlier exchanges.

“You recognize this, do you not? This is Sky Flower Great Laugh.”

Sky Flower Great Laugh—a supreme technique that used the principles of resonance and redirection to turn an opponent’s strength against them, not unlike the Four-Two-Ones-a-Thousand-Pounds method practiced by the Wudang Clan. It was the very move I had wondered at during our earlier group battles, suspecting it might be some dark variation of the Absorption Great Law.

Namgung Cheon-yeong did not flinch; he countered instantly. A thrust aimed straight at vital pressure points, charged with the essence of thunder. A strike that moved as fast as a flash of lightning.

“Too slow.”

I met his blade with my own, perfectly aligned, deflecting the tip with a precision few masters could hope to match. And that was not all.

“You have not yet realized? I have already completely mastered your Flash Lightning Thirteen Thunderbolts Sword.”

Thirteen distinct thunder-infused forms—and I had prepared a precise counter for every single one. No matter which strike Namgung Cheon-yeong unleashed, I parried it with effortless ease. Even those in the stands who knew nothing of martial arts could see I was systematically dismantling the Namgung Clan’s most prized sword style.

“I thank you, Young Clan Heir. You have allowed me to unravel the secrets of the Great Namgung Clan’s treasured sword art. It is but a small thing, yet it will serve me well in my studies.”

To master an art so thoroughly that one could answer every strike before it landed was to understand it entirely. The leakage of one’s secret techniques was seen as a dire threat by every sect, righteous or wicked. Yet no one could fault insight gained through fair exchange. To admit one’s style could be unraveled in so short a time was to admit it was shallow to begin with.

*Though in truth, I had worked out every counter from the moment I returned to the past.*

The Great Namgung Clan was one of the Five Great Clans; their sword arts were legendary. I could not have unraveled them simply by watching a few matches. I had seen these forms a hundred times over in my previous life, refining my responses through years of battle. This match was simply the final, perfect execution. A truth Namgung Cheon-yeong could never know.

“One style is not enough—let us see more. Show me the Sky Vault Boundless Sword Art. Perhaps I shall learn another worthy technique.”

“Baek Yang-hwi…”

“Sticking to the Flash Lightning Thirteen Thunderbolts will not bring you victory—you know that as well as I. What will you do now, Young Clan Heir?”

Namgung Cheon-yeong’s aura shifted. The sharp, electric energy that had surrounded him settled into something vast, still, and heavy—lofty, immense, unbounded.

*The Sky Vault Boundless Sword Art.*

Sky Vault Boundless—the supreme, closely guarded sword art of the Great Namgung Clan. “Sky Vault” meant the heavens; “Boundless” meant vast beyond measure. It was the infinite expanse of the firmament, given form in a single sword strike. It was proof they were worthy of being called the Sky-Cleaving Sword Clan.

“Prepare yourself. The Sky Vault Boundless encompasses even thunder and lightning as but a fraction of its might.”

“How thoughtful of you to warn me.”

*Boy, in my past life, I faced you when you had reached the Transcendent Realm.*

The Sky Vault Boundless Sword Art? Impressive, certainly. It lived up to its reputation as a divine technique. But no matter how powerful the art, the hand that wielded it belonged only to the Peak Realm.

Namgung Cheon-yeong struck. Sky Vault Boundless Sword Art—Mid-Stance Sword Decision: Inner Sky Vault Stab-Down Support-Press-Ding! The very heavens cultivated within the sword met the earth below. In that instant, the hammer became the firmament, the guiding hand became the vault of heaven itself. It was the foundational stance—the root—of the entire style.

*It is magnificent, there is no denying that.*

That was all the praise I could give it. I had already plumbed the full depths of the Namgung sword arts in my former life—from the thunder of their early forms to the imperial majesty of their ultimate techniques.

*The Imperial Sword Form… I claimed the Heavenly Escape Sword Art that should have been yours. It will never appear in this life. That is a pity.*

Heavens vast and weighty? Brought crashing down with a single guiding motion? Such power could only be wielded by one who sat upon the imperial throne.

*You are far too inexperienced for this, Namgung Cheon-yeong.*

The man I fought in my past life was an opponent worthy of the greatest triumph. The boy before me now was not. He was untested, clumsy, and not yet in my league.

“Your heaven is lower than mine—is that all you have?”

When heaven descends to meet the earth… I answered with the sixth form of the Heaven-Covering 108 Swords: Wind God Hawk Return, Second Decision Variant! My sword rose from below, sweeping upward like a sudden shift in the wind that carries a hawk aloft. Thick, swirling sword qi wrapped around the blade, while sharp, vibrant intent burned within.

*Kwa-gwang-gwang-gwang!*

The Heaven-Covering Sword met the Sky Vault Boundless and neutralized it completely. The force of the collision sent a shockwave outward, and the referees standing nearby were forced to step in to steady the arena. I spun my sword lightly in my hand and smiled.

“What now? You told me to brace myself—and yet your heaven shattered so easily.”

He said nothing; only ground his teeth in silence. Every member of the Namgung Clan watching would be burning with rage. It was time to turn that rage into despair.

“Young Clan Heir, I have seen the height of your heaven. Now you shall see mine. Having measured the reach of your Namgung sky vault, you may consider this the price of what I have learned.”

If the Namgung way was to cleave the heavens, mine was to cover them. It was ironic that our styles spoke of the same vast skies—yet there was more.

*Beyond the Heaven-Covering style lies something else, a single perfect form etched into my mind.*

I glanced toward the VIP stands. The members of the Heavenly Martial Ten were watching—including the Thunderclap Echo Lord and the Supreme Ultimate Sword Elder. The heir to the Buddhist tradition and the successor to the Sword Immortal lineage. And somewhere, hidden among the crowd, the leader of the Blood Cult watched as well. I wondered what they would make of what they saw.

*Heavenly Escape Sword Method—First Form: Heaven Press.*

It was a technique I had learned in the depths of crisis, from the Sword Immortal Yeo Dongbin, during the battle against Blood Eyes in Sword King City. Over the last five years, I had refined and expanded that single form into dozens of variations.

“Watch closely. This is how high my heaven reaches.”

Among the Three Disasters Sword Methods, the downward strike known as Mount Tai Press Seal crushed all beneath it with the weight of the great mountain. Simple, yet utterly unyielding. Much like the Inner Sky Vault Stab-Down Support-Press-Ding, my new form followed that same principle—yet carried it further.

*Kkieeeea!*

The blade seemed to sing as it cut through the air. A faint, glowing silhouette took shape along its length—the outline of a great white hawk, its intent made visible.

“I am coming for you now, Namgung Cheon-yeong. Try to block this.”

One sword strike became two vast wings. White. Magnificent. Spreading wide like the wings of the legendary Peng bird spoken of in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*. It was still growing, stretching only a few dozen feet across—yet more than enough to envelop the entire fifteen-foot arena.

Heaven-Covering 108 Swords—Second Decision: Heavenly Wings Crush the World!

Wings that bore the very weight of heaven descended, crushing all beneath them.

*Kkieeeea!*

Namgung’s founder had gazed upward into the boundless firmament and found enlightenment, and so the Sky Vault Boundless was born. Now, the heaven of the Baek Clan outshone the heaven of the Sky-Cleaving Namgung in its very vastness.

*Ku-gu-gu-woong!*

Great wings swept down like the sky itself collapsing. This was the true power of the Heaven-Covering style—not to shelter beneath heaven, but to veil the world beneath its falling weight.

*Impressive… the force is even greater than I anticipated. I poured a great deal of inner power into it, after all.*

Namgung Cheon-yeong was still alive, I could feel it. Good. His death would mean disqualification—and total war with the Namgung Clan. That would be disastrous.

Slowly the clouds of dust settled. Namgung Cheon-yeong knelt upon the ground, his robes torn, his body battered. When he lifted his head to meet my gaze, his eyes were hollow and empty—all focus, all fire, gone. It was as though his spirit had fled his body. A fitting end.

I turned toward the section where the Namgung spectators sat.

*Every last one of them is frozen in shock.*

It was only natural. The Sky Vault Boundless was the very soul of their clan. And that soul had been met, and surpassed, by something that shared its nature yet was greater. It was as though they had felt the loss of something vital.

*They all felt it. It was not merely a matter of skill; it was a matter of essence. Their form had been outshone by something purer.*

The Sky Vault Boundless was unmatched? Not when faced with a style born of the Sword Immortal’s own teachings.

“Referee. Announce the winner.”

The official started, then nodded quickly. “Ah—yes, of course.” He stepped forward, checked Namgung Cheon-yeong’s condition, and proclaimed loudly:

“The winner is… Heaven-Covering Sword Dragon, Baek Yang-hwi!”

I had done it all exactly as I planned. I had strung them along, letting them hope their precious heir would triumph—fighting first with my left hand, then revealing my right. I had taken their most closely guarded secret technique and dismantled it before their eyes in mere minutes. I had met their heaven with my own, and proven mine was higher.

*Anywhere in the world, this is what it means to crush a sprout before it can grow.*

I was satisfied. An old wrong from a past life had been set right. The final chapter had been closed, and a new one written exactly as I intended.