Chapter 145: Confrontation
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Anew, the thought occurs that connections and fate are strange things.
This was something he especially felt keenly since he had ended his life as the Divine Martial Sword, supreme divine weapon of the highest order, and was reborn by borrowing the body of the vegetative Cheol Ryu-heun.
How to put it – it was like invisible threads appearing one by one, connecting past and present.
A powerhouse of the demonic martial world beyond the borders, whom he was seeing again across a gap of more than thirty years.
Cheol Ryu-heun already knew that his identity was the Alliance Master of Nine Demon Alliance, and also that the two-character name “Neung Po” was not his original one.
Also.
The Demon-Devouring Sword, called the divine weapon of the Hungry Ghost Path.
The antithesis of the Ten Heavenly Weapons representing this Central Plains martial world – in other words, one of the Four Great Demonic Weapons of the martial world beyond the borders – was that very thing.
‘His face isn’t much different from when I saw him before.’
Though somewhat distant, the firelight in the arena was bright, so the outlines of his features were clearly visible.
Right, it was him.
If so, there were two possible explanations for why his appearance hadn’t changed much.
Either it was a type of the exquisite technique of changing one’s face, the so-called Disguise Art, or he had achieved Rejuvenation through supreme enlightenment and become a man with a fifties appearance.
Generally, demonic arts are martial arts that can be mastered rapidly.
That’s why it was possible to reach supreme realms at quite a young age compared to the orthodox and unorthodox groups of the Central Plains martial world.
Once one got a taste for it, the temptation of becoming stronger so rapidly was hard to resist.
However.
Most martial artists who trained in demonic arts suffered increasingly severe side effects as they aged, and most met bad ends.
It was like a law where one could grow steeply in a short period and exert powerful strength, but as the price, one’s body broke down faster in old age.
It wouldn’t be wrong to call it nature’s ordained principle.
Those demons who maintained a normal physical state in old age were the so-called upper-level masters.
Only those who had been called martial talents or prodigies from childhood could enjoy such benefits.
Yes, one of them was over there.
Cheol Ryu-heun was almost certain.
Considering the high martial skill level he had experienced in the past, in nine out of ten cases, it was the latter possibility – that he had achieved Rejuvenation.
It was an interesting development.
To think that the wandering swordsman Neung Po whom Ye Woon-rang had mentioned was actually the Alliance Master of Nine Demon Alliance who possessed the Demon-Devouring Sword…
But one question circled in his mind.
Nine Demon Alliance had fought a massive blood battle with Dragon Martial Gate exactly twenty-one years ago and was ultimately completely destroyed in mutual destruction, severing its lineage.
-Whom did you learn from?
-Have you heard the name Red Dragon Sword Unit? My master served as the captain of that Red Dragon Sword Unit.
-If you’re a disciple of the Red Dragon Sword Captain, did you also hear about the inside story of that incident?
-There’s no inside story to speak of. It happened as is widely known in the world… Only what the masses didn’t know was my master’s miraculous survival.
-How did your master survive?
-Actually, during the chaotic battle, he lost consciousness after being internally injured by the Nine Demon Alliance Master’s powerful attack and barely woke up much later. Amid a terrible pile of bloody corpses…
-Were there no other survivors?
-No, I heard both sides were completely wiped out.
At that time, Ye Woon-rang had definitely said there were no survivors except for his master, Red Dragon Sword Captain Hong So.
He had asked because, since it was something that happened while he had been holed up in a cave on Three Immortals Mountain, he wondered if there might be hidden secrets behind it – but the answer that came back was simply that was all.
Hong So couldn’t have told him lies, so there must be some hidden story the world didn’t know.
Honestly, he hadn’t been very interested in that incident and hadn’t asked many questions at the time, but now that things had turned out this way, his curiosity and doubts were gradually amplifying.
‘I can ask about that later.’
With his gaze fixed on Black Forest Hall’s training ground, Cheol Ryu-heun continued to observe the unfolding situation.
The imposing formless presence of Neung Po, shrouded in gray demonic energy, was truly fear itself.
In an instant.
DASH!
One Black Forest Hall member on the right side of the space facing where Neung Po stood threw away even the sword in his hand and ran out, trying to escape over the wall.
The survival instinct that naturally activated before the crisis of death.
But.
SWISH.
The moment Neung Po’s right hand moved lightly, the fleeing member’s body was instantly pulled to right in front of him.
GRAB-!
“GURK!”
The member whose neck was seized swallowed rough breaths with an agonized expression.
The exquisite Void Grasping Technique.
Seeing that, Fallen Sword Bear Geum Deok-gi was once again shocked.
To use the energy of Void Grasping Technique with such virtuosity proved that his personal martial strength was on par with the Six Polar Stars, the strongest masters of this region.
“Do you want to live?”
At Neung Po’s quiet question, the member whose neck was seized trembled and moved his dry lips.
“Huuh… Y-yes… P-please…”
However, Neung Po with his cold expression showed no mercy.
CRACK, CRUNCH, CRACK…
“GAAAAAH!”
The member whose hands and feet were violently broken and twisted by the powerful Void Grasping Technique screamed.
SPLAT!
Neung Po threw the member to the ground as if discarding trash, then drove the Demon-Devouring Sword down quickly, targeting his thigh.
STAB!
The chilling sound of piercing flesh.
At the same time, as the hungry ghost-shaped energy engulfed the member, his body began to rot pitch-black centered on the wound, playing a rustling sound.
“GAAAK… GAAAK, GAAK…!”
He who had been thrashing wildly in tremendous agony spewed blood from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, then left behind only white bones while emitting a foul stench.
Silence settled over the arena.
The Black Forest Hall gang had all lost their will to fight.
DASH, DASH, DASH-!
Those fleeing appeared one after another.
More than twenty people ran helter-skelter toward the rear as fast as they could.
But Neung Po used Void Grasping Technique to pull all those people in and made them stick flat to the ground in front of him.
“UGH!”
“UURGH…!”
The twenty-some members groaned and even shed tears while being crushed under the heavy force.
I want to live.
A desperate wish glimpsed in their shaking eyes.
At that moment, an indescribable enormous energy exploded outward from Neung Po’s body.
RUMBLE, RUMMBLE- RUMMMMBLE-!
Was heaven and earth collapsing?
A pressure like thousands of large boulders falling down crushed the entire training ground.
“GURK!”
“HUURGH!”
“GUH…!”
Unable to withstand the pressure on their shoulders, the Black Forest Hall gang all fell to their knees on the floor and trembled.
It was even hard to breathe.
It felt as if a giant deity from the celestial realm had sucked away all the air from this training ground.
An overwhelming, phenomenal level of internal energy.
Geum Deok-gi and his group realized again.
The fact that their numbers were utterly meaningless before the transcendent martial strength of a transcendent powerhouse.
The fact that group combat was impossible unless against the elite martial unit masters of renowned martial world houses like the Nine Great Sects or Seven Great Families.
Black Forest Hall’s unsystematic combat strength, lacking even a proper combination formation let alone a powerhouse capable of one-on-one combat, was practically useless.
“You want to live… The mother and daughter who departed this world after being violated by your hands today must have felt the same.”
Neung Po emitted an even more murderous gaze as he spoke while radiating powerful formless energy.
“I’ve heard many rumors. They say recently you confined several women in one place and gang-raped them over several days? More than two hundred of you filthy creatures, each gripped by disgusting desires…”
He tilted the Demon-Devouring Sword in his left hand diagonally downward as he continued in a heavy voice.
“Though it was a rumor without evidence, seeing your conduct, that is surely the truth. I ask, do you admit to that? This is your last chance.”
At that, Geum Deok-gi opened his mouth urgently without further thought.
“Y-yes, yes! That’s right! Uurgh… I admit everything! If only you spare our lives… I will personally testify… and submit to government punishment!”
He had harbored hope upon hearing the words “last chance.”
“No.”
Neung Po shook his head and looked at the face of Geum Deok-gi who was kneeling, crushed by the formless energy.
“I should have told you earlier. I will make you pay for your sins.”
-What reason is there for me to let you live?
The moment Geum Deok-gi recalled those words and his expression stiffened, the Demon-Devouring Sword vibrated with a BOOM.
-Let’s eat… Let’s devour everything! Heheh… Heheheh…
The Black Forest Hall gang whose faces had turned pale heard that blood-curdling sound once again.
That sword-voice-like sound was an auditory hallucination created by the demonic energy stimulating fear.
In other words, making it heard only in the ears of those who were to be killed…
“What I said just now meant your last chance to confess the truth before going to hell.”
No sooner had Neung Po finished speaking than he raised the Demon-Devouring Sword in his left hand straight up above his head.
Immediately after.
THUD, THUD… THUD… CRACK… CRACK… CRACK, CRACKLE…
The fiercely vibrating and crying atmosphere and the ground cracking chaotically.
As the pressure wrapped around their bodies grew even heavier, all the kneeling members bled profusely from their eyes, nose, mouth and suffered.
Soon, a clear sneer formed at the edge of Neung Po’s mouth.
“When you go to the afterlife, you’ll be able to meet your Hall Master too. Since I’ve already sent him there.”
Amid his agony, Geum Deok-gi finally understood why Vicious Sword Chu Chung and his group had suddenly gone missing.
We poked a sleeping dragon.
No.
We provoked the heart of a cruel demon whom we absolutely couldn’t handle.
It was incomprehensible.
If he had mastered some kind of demonic art, his demonic nature should run deep – so why was he acting like a chivalrous warrior upholding justice?
However… The time for questions ended there.
“Begone.”
As Neung Po thrust the Demon-Devouring Sword containing gray demonic energy into the ground with a CRASH along with those brief words.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH- WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH-!
Countless hungry ghost shapes poured out like an army’s procession and swept away all two hundred-odd Black Forest Hall members ahead.
It was a truly terrifying sight.
Stimulating emotions far beyond simple fear.
RUSTLE RUSTLE, RUSTLE RUSTLE, RUSTLE RUSTLE, RUSTLE RUSTLE…
The eerie sound of each person’s flesh rotting away.
“AAAH, AAAAH!”
“GURGLE…!”
“ACK! Please… Spare…!”
“GYAAAAAH!”
Thus the spacious training ground instantly turned into pandemonium, screams unceasing.
Under the dark sky, Black Forest Hall, which had accumulated evil deeds, was thus disappearing into the back alleys of history, receiving cruel punishment.
The groans and screams that had echoed ceaselessly in this space gradually subsided and then stopped suddenly.
Neung Po, who had been standing alone in the space covered with white bones, quietly moved his hand and sheathed the Demon-Devouring Sword.
CLINK-
A somewhat empty gaze.
Though he had killed them all, inflicting the most terrible agony of having their living flesh devoured, he somehow felt it was insufficient to appease the spirits of Jang Min and Hong Cheong who had unjustly ended their lives.
“Haah.”
Neung Po, who had been exhaling a heavy sigh, soon raised his head and gazed at the moon lighting the night sky, then suddenly flinched in surprise.
‘…!’
He had belatedly realized someone was nearby.
How could this be – a mysterious person was hiding not far away, yet he was only now sensing their presence…
The instant he quickly cast his gaze toward an old tree standing tall beyond the wall on one side.
SWOOSH-
A figure who had leaped from a tree branch landed in the training ground that had turned into a hellscape.
It was Cheol Ryu-heun’s entrance.
Positioned about ten-odd paces away, he casually clasped his hands behind his back and spoke.
“You cleaned that up neatly.”
An emotionless voice, an expressionless face, a dry gaze.
Neung Po was puzzled.
Was he really human?
This was his first time seeing one.
A person whose entire being felt so indifferent.
It was as if he considered everything in the world trivial and bothersome.
At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun said with an arrogant chin gesture.
“An old demon head like you living in a place like this and playing chivalrous warrior – I’m curious about the hidden story. Go on, tell this big brother.”
“……”
Neung Po’s dark pupils shook violently like a boat caught in huge waves.
What was this, the identity of that crazy young bastard with no manners…