Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 340

The hall fell silent.

Elders, warriors, and all the guests watched Lee Tae-shin in silence.

Lee Tae-shin walked heavily down the path cleared by the warriors.

The only sound was his footsteps.

“My son.”

Lee Tae-shin spoke.

Only then did the people in the hall fully grasp the reality.

The return of the strongest warrior, who was presumed dead, was a shock to all.

Those gathered felt the weight of Lee Tae-shin’s name more keenly than anyone else, amplifying their shock.

“Father.”

I looked at my father with a detached gaze.

After Lee Gun-sung confirmed my destiny, I experienced an intense, inexplicable feeling.

Eyes that see destiny, eyes that read the times.

Through them, I had sensed my father’s presence.

More precisely, I had felt the strong power of fate he possessed.

Seeing my father before me now merely reaffirmed that vague conviction.

I studied my father’s figure.

His back was as straight as ever, his white hair neatly combed back, and his overbearing spirit disregarded the world.

And even the aura of death lurking behind him.

Clack!

I stepped down from the platform.

The ceremony wasn’t over yet.

“You’re late, Father.”

“So it is.”

The two fathers and sons faced each other.

The resemblance between them was striking, making me wonder if Lee Cheol would look like that when he aged.

Lee Tae-shin, the strongest of the old era.

Lee Cheol, the strongest of the new era.

Kuuuuung!

Did the world tremble?

The meeting of these two men, born with such strong destinies, seemed to vibrate the very air.

“Give me a sword.”

Lee Tae-shin addressed the warrior closest to him.

It was an order from the God of the Sword. Who could refuse?

The warrior, as if compelled, approached and presented his sword with a respectful posture.

Wuuuung!

A common masterpiece-grade sword—not even a celestial-grade, a sacred relic, or a holy object—suddenly emitted a sword cry.

It was clearly a sword unworthy of Lee Tae-shin’s hand.

Nevertheless, the moment he grasped it, it transformed into an unprecedentedly great masterpiece.

“My son, take up your weapon.”

Lee Tae-shin’s voice was low and deep.

I slowly reached out and grasped the air.

Crack!

The weapon made of black energy took shape.

It was just a sword, unremarkable except for its color.

However, it contained the power of all the weapons I had absorbed.

“I will test you myself.”

Despite the sharp words, his tone was gentle and soft.

I felt the need to prove myself as the next head of the family to the current head.

The warriors of the main family retreated, creating a huge open space in the center where I faced my father.

Everyone in the hall forgot to breathe.

No more conversation was needed.

Jjeong…

Like a hallucination.

Even before the two swords clashed, a sound like trembling metal echoed.

* * *

Jjeojeong!

The sword cried, and the burst of magic power bloomed like a flower.

The momentum was evenly matched.

The posture and movement of extending were located at the extreme of rationality, and the two were giving and receiving similar postures as if they had matched their movements in advance.

‘You’ve come this far,’ my father’s sword seemed to say.

‘Yes, I’ve finally come this far.’

Seureureung! Kwang!

A strike that brushed off the sword surface and stabbed in.

That sword strike was my answer.

Wiiiiing!

One step forward, one step back.

The feet, the basis of martial arts, were intertwined, and thick magic power spread out like mist.

The sword scattered iron powder at close range, and the pressure created by the sword energy shattered the ground, raising dust.

‘I am here, standing here.’

I took the sword in both hands and struck down.

A strike from the upper stance to the bottom.

My father’s posture mirrored mine.

Kwang!

The two swords collided in the middle, shaking the ground and pushing away the dust.

‘I knew you would come here.’

Jjeong! Jjeoeoeong…!

In an instant, all the sounds and shapes of objects around me felt distant.

This place, this moment.

I focused all my senses on my father’s sword.

And Lee Tae-shin focused all his senses on his ‘first’ son.

Like the beginning and the end, everything circulates and repeats.

From some point on, the clash between the two fathers and sons began to look like one, not two.

‘You once told me,’ Lee Tae-shin recalled when Lee Cheol had finished the naming ceremony.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Someday, they will gather under my name, not the Sungmu Lee Family’s.”

These were the words Lee Cheol had said while looking around at the dignitaries before the naming ceremony began.

Lee Cheol kept his word.

Not in the name of the Sungmu Lee Family, not in his own name, but in the name of Lee Cheol.

They were here to witness the beginning of Lee Cheol’s history.

‘Willingly,’ Lee Tae-shin thought, adding strength to the hand holding the sword.

‘I will be the gatekeeper who opens your era.’

Kwaaaang!

A roar swept through.

The swords began to intertwine.

I felt the meaning contained in my father’s sword.

My answer was simple.

‘I won’t lose, Father.’

‘Yes, come on.’

I didn’t expect to win, but I didn’t entertain the thought of defeat either.

This moment was a test.

To the former head of the family.

To the current head of the family.

It was to prove his life, his struggle, and his sword.

‘Like…’

I felt like this moment was a fleeting dream.

My father.

Lee Tae-shin, the head of the Sungmu Lee Family.

The person I hated, revered, respected, and could not understand.

I was competing with him in the same space and time.

Chwaaaaaaa!

But this moment was clearly not a dream; it was reality.

In an instant, a crack appeared in the cycle that seemed infinite.

It was because of my sword strike.

The sword began to embody all the experiences I had gone through and learned.

Kagak!

This was a sword I had awakened on my own.

Kwang!

This was a sword I learned from my first brother.

Kwang!

This was a sword I learned from Lee Gun-sung.

Kuuung!

And this was a sword I learned from you, Father.

In an instant.

The sharp sword blade disappeared and melted into the air, replaced by a hazy flash containing starlight.

Sword Energy Divinity [A state where the user’s sword energy transcends normal limitations].

The world is contained in one sword.

My sword, no, my martial arts and I became one, and my will began to overwrite the rules of the world.

‘This is the Sungmu Lee Family I want to create.’

As if responding, my father stretched out his sword.

An indescribably strong force was contained within it.

It was like seeing the world itself.

Did my father feel this way when he looked at me?

Only those who have reached this level can understand.

And the time had come.

The two swords collided in the air.

──────────!

A long roar echoed through the grand training hall.

Shock settled on people’s faces.

Kukung!

Lee Tae-shin stepped back.

None other than Lee Tae-shin.

There was a small crack in his sword.

Chwaak!

I didn’t miss the opportunity.

I swung my sword again with every step I took.

‘I will cut.’

I set my will straight in this world.

Because at this moment, I am the master of this space and time.

Another strike.

My father’s sword and mine collided in the air.

And.

Tiiiiing!

A clear metallic sound cut through the air and echoed in the hall.

In the silence, the noise was deafening, and all eyes focused on the sword flying through the sky and hitting the ground.

It was broken.

Lee Tae-shin’s sword.

It was a scene too unbelievable to be real.

Tteodeok, Tak!

Even with the broken sword, my father did not kneel.

He stood there blankly, looking down at the broken weapon.

“Ah…”

In the silence, someone gasped.

Only then did everyone watching begin to recognize the reality.

He lost.

Lee Tae-shin.

The strongest swordsman, the strongest of the era, had been defeated by his young son.

“…”

Still, in the silence.

My father dropped the broken sword and slowly approached me.

In his hand, he held the dragon robe that symbolized the head of the Sungmu Lee Family.

Flutter!

The robe cast a shadow over my head.

The two letters of Sungmu [Sacred Warrior], the crest of the Lee family, shone brightly on the clothes that wrapped around my body and settled on my shoulders.

Hwaaaaa…

Where did the wind come from?

A gust of breeze swept through every corner of the hall.

Soon, the sword made of black energy in my hand crumbled and scattered into the air.

My father spoke.

“From now on…”

A low voice continued.

“You are the head of the Sungmu Lee Family.”

It was a statement, a prophecy.

* * *

At that moment.

Jang Han, attending as an envoy from the Nine Dragons Stronghold, held his breath.

How long did the exchange of swords actually last?

At most 10 minutes, 30 minutes at most.

But it felt like eternity, and Jang Han could only exhale after the two fathers and sons had finished fighting.

‘Now…’

Jang Han felt a chilling sensation on the breeze.

The wind was not just a passing breeze.

Jang Han sensed it.

He had witnessed a turning point in history.

This moment, where the two swords collided, would be the first page of a new history book.

And Jang Han knew that history would pioneer the future.

‘Ha.’

Jang Han looked around and snorted.

Even if the people here were giants who moved their own worlds, they were insignificant compared to the existence that would drive history.

At this moment, they were just extras or audience members.

No, they were fortunate to be present.

‘I have no intention of becoming an extra,’ Jang Han muttered, resolving himself.

But there was no animosity in his resolution.

He couldn’t help but sense that Lee Cheol had become a completely different being.

To occupy a paragraph next to that name, he would simply do his best.

* * *

After the shocking moment.

My father walked out of the grand training hall.

Only then did people breathe and begin to savor the meaning of the duel.

Only then could the succession ceremony resume.

The warriors hurriedly cleaned the floor and stood in formation.

After a short break.

The succession ceremony resumed.

I wondered what meaning the ceremony held now, but it was gradually approaching its end.

Wearing clothes with the Sungmu Lee Family crest, I reached out to the woman walking down the path.

“Anastasia.”

“Yes, Lee Cheol.”

Anastasia wore a costume befitting the lady of the main family.

It was a gorgeous outfit with fabrics that matched the purple background and gold embroidery.

Anastasia’s platinum blonde hair, white skin, and light-colored eyes seemed mismatched with the clothes, but they complemented each other perfectly.

“How do I look?”

Anastasia asked in a low voice.

She revealed her already mysterious and beautiful appearance more splendidly.

“Beautiful. As always.”

“Thank you.”

Anastasia smiled shyly.

She took my hand and came up on the platform.

Anastasia and I were seated on the throne of the Sungmu Lee Family.

“Today, at this moment, I declare that a new head of the Sungmu Lee Family and his lady have been born.”

With those words from the Elder Council Leader.

All the warriors of the Sungmu Lee Family took out their weapons again.

“The swords of the Sungmu Lee Family, pay your respects to the newly seated head of the family!”

Seureureung!

All the lined-up warriors, the elders, and even the Elder Council Leader lowered one knee to me.

“Respect!”

Hwaak!

All the weapons were raised to the sky.

Iron Respect [A show of respect and loyalty using weapons].

-Waaaaaa!

Cheers erupted, and thunderous applause filled the grand training hall.

I had finally become the head of the Sungmu Lee Family.