Chapter 237: Must Return Again
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One of Ximen Yue’s eyebrows twitched upward.
‘FIX… AND USE?’
The dark heart in his chest also stirred along with it.
Demonic heart.
A corrupt disposition arising from demonic energy.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s words weren’t wrong.
This had come to be as a result of secretly continuing cultivation of Sun Moon Demon Arrival Technique over the past few years.
But having come this far, he didn’t want to accept it.
No… He just didn’t want to acknowledge it.
I will achieve hegemony solely through the demonic path!
It was because the deeply rooted demonic heart had created such obstinacy.
Soon, having hardened his gaze, Ximen Yue curved his lips when.
“HUT… Not too late, you say? Don’t make me laugh. It’s too late. No matter what you do here… I won’t change.”
Simultaneously.
PEOK!
Ximen Yue clutched his stomach and let out a pained sound.
“KKEO… EO…”
Cheol Ryu-heun’s foot had rapidly flown in and struck his stomach.
“An adult is speaking and this kid has the nerve to talk back. I’ve lived so long that I can do anything.”
Ximen Yue, body trembling violently, inwardly snapped back with a grimacing face.
‘KKEUKEUK… Lived so long, you say? Crazy…!’
What kind of nonsense was that.
When he was merely about twenty years old.
Just because his martial seniority was high didn’t mean his life’s years became longer.
At that moment.
HWIIIIIIIIING-
White light crossing the sky landed on the nearby ground with a KUNG!
Divine Wind had appeared.
One person riding on its sturdy back was also visible.
It was Azure Edge Sword Expert Seol Hu-yong, one of Five Supreme Martial Experts of Hunan Province and Azure Heaven Sword Sect Leader.
Ximen Yue, seeing that face, soon turned his head away.
He was newly embarrassed.
Having shown such a pathetic state to someone else…
Soon Seol Hu-yong, having stepped onto the ground, clasped his hands together and spoke.
“Sect Leader Cheol, are you alright?”
“As you can see.”
When Cheol Ryu-heun answered expressionlessly, Seol Hu-yong was inwardly impressed.
‘INDEED… By the looks of it, there aren’t even any aftereffects of internal injury.’
Soon Seol Hu-yong quietly reported.
“Matters over there have almost been wrapped up. As Sect Leader Cheol said, there was nothing for me to get involved in.”
“In name, he’s the Ximen Family’s head. If he couldn’t even handle this much, he should rightfully step down from the position.”
Following those words, Cheol Ryu-heun lightly placed the Gan Jiang’s tip against Ximen Yue’s chest.
FLINCH.
Ximen Yue’s face hardened for a moment as he inwardly spoke bitterly.
‘HU… I see. Fix and use, you say… So that meant you intended to do something after wrecking my body? Fine, stab as much as you want. If this is the outcome… I’ll accept it.’
There was no other way.
The fate of the defeated always depends on the victor’s handling.
At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun’s indifferent voice was heard.
“What are you accepting for yourself while muttering alone?”
Then he lightly shook the Gan Jiang touching that chest and asked.
“Do you really think this is the Divine Martial Sword?”
“WHAT…?”
“From the beginning, the Divine Martial Sword never existed.”
“……!”
“This is just a nameless treasured sword.”
Ximen Yue’s gaze rippled and wavered like waves.
Then what had he shown earlier?
Cheol Ryu-heun had clearly healed a wound.
Seeing that, he had thought it might be the mysterious power of the Divine Martial Sword…
Having withdrawn the blade, Cheol Ryu-heun spoke again.
“What you saw earlier was purely a power I possess.”
“HOW COULD…”
Ximen Yue looked repeatedly shocked.
“Thanks to a recent fortuitous encounter. Well, it’s not yet at a complete level.”
The so-called regeneration ability to heal wounds.
That was the divine power from his Divine Martial Sword era.
The power that only five of the most peerless in martial world history, including the Heavenly Demon, had awakened…
Ximen Yue, as if giving up on understanding, wore a faint smile.
A bitter smile.
There was no point in harboring curiosity about someone he couldn’t fathom with his own capacity anyway.
CHEOLKEOK.
Cheol Ryu-heun stowed the Gan Jiang and spoke indifferently.
“That’s right, no matter how much you think about it, you won’t understand. The person I am.”
As if he’d read that mind.
Ximen Yue suddenly recalled words he’d heard earlier.
-I promise. Today, I’ll make you realize everything you don’t yet know.
‘The things I don’t know…’
Having muttered so inwardly, Ximen Yue sank his gaze deeply.
“You said I was the possessor of the Light-Dark Harmonizing Secret Meridians? I don’t know what that is, but did the First Seat tell you?”
“Well, let’s say so.”
“……”
When Ximen Yue showed a puzzled look, Cheol Ryu-heun inwardly smirked.
‘HUT. He didn’t tell me anything. I merely peeked into his head a bit with my power.’
Back then, Cheol Ryu-heun had used incomplete divine power to glimpse fragments of First Seat’s sealed mental images.
They had been only an extremely small portion but were very important clues.
One of them was Ximen Yue.
Precisely, it was a partial scene of memories related to his meeting with the Sun Moon Demon Cult Patriarch Aryun-nan.
In other words, First Seat, the shadow, had also been present at that occasion.
Through that, he had realized.
The fact that the mysterious masked figure from before was Ximen Family’s third son Ximen Yue.
So he had quickly contacted a Beggar Sect branch and first sent a secret letter to the family head.
Telling everyone to pretend not to know and wait.
Thus, the bait and trap had been prepared.
Cheol Ryu-heun bent his knees and sat, matching eye level with Ximen Yue, and asked.
“Do you think he chose you just for your genius?”
“WHAT… ARE YOU talking about?”
“It’s difficult to master the Sun Moon Demon Arrival Technique in such a short time based solely on genius talent. Yang Heart Divine Art? That’s merely an auxiliary means.”
“……!”
“Think carefully back to your first meeting. At that time, he probably actively tried to teach you the Sun Moon Demon Arrival Technique after examining your body. Am I wrong?”
At those words, Ximen Yue’s memory traveled back in time.
* * *
A few years ago, Ximen Yue left home for a martial training journey.
Thus he wandered around the Shaanxi region for a couple of months, competing with various people.
Consecutive victories.
It was a successful martial training journey.
He had proven his genius without allowing defeat.
However, he still felt thirst.
The inferiority complex from being born of a concubine, the sense of inadequacy arising from it, grew larger as time passed.
The desire to achieve a supreme martial art that would overwhelmingly crush and suppress eldest son Gust Sword Knight Ximen Ang…
That continued to cultivate only dissatisfaction despite consecutive victories.
Then one day, he set foot in Xiaopeng Mountain.
To find a quiet place and gain new enlightenment.
At that time, rain poured down heavily.
Ximen Yue moved to avoid the downpour and discovered a certain cave.
That changed his life.
Said cave was the place where Jade Measure Water Master’s Yang Heart Divine Art was arranged.
That’s right.
It was a fortuitous encounter.
Ximen Yue, like a genius, memorized the series of formulas and even perfectly understood the essence.
But several days later, when night deepened, several people suddenly visited that place.
Ximen Yue immediately tensed up.
It was instinctive wariness.
Because he sensed the power of darkness pressing heavily on his heart.
The intangible aura emanating from one young person among them was unlike anything he’d felt before.
A boy roughly in his mid-to-late teens.
It was Sun Moon Demon Cult’s Patriarch, Sun Moon Demon Saint Aryun-nan.
And the three accompanying him were his adopted daughter Yeom Sang-ah, Lewd Cruel Demon Servant Yo Mong-ji, and First Seat Pi Hu-o.
At the time, Aryun-nan was secretly searching for the location of the fortuitous encounter where Yang Heart Divine Art was arranged.
“How interesting. That there’s a fellow who found Yang Heart Divine Art before us…”
Ximen Yue, having sensed Aryun-nan’s purpose, drew his sword.
He didn’t hesitate because he intuited they were a bad group.
However, dealing with the terrifying martial prowess of Aryun-nan, who had repeatedly achieved Rejuvenation, was difficult.
In the end, he exhausted all his internal power and was helplessly subdued.
But.
The victor Aryun-nan actually offered praise.
“Your talent is outstanding. You’ve already learned the essence of Yang Heart Divine Art?”
Then he paralyzed Ximen Yue through energy-point acupuncture and performed a pulse examination.
When that was finished.
Aryun-nan took out some unknown pill.
“The development of your energy meridians is excellent. Eat this. Then I’ll teach you martial arts that can overturn the world.”
“WHAT?”
“This one is the Patriarch of Sun Moon Demon Cult.”
“……!”
“HUHUT. Why, do you feel aversion because I’m a demonic person?”
“How could you say that…!”
“I’m making this offer because your genius is coveted. It’s an opportunity to change your life. This too is a fortuitous encounter.”
“……!”
“You have an exceptionally strong desire for martial arts. I smell something similar to myself. Make your choice. Will you walk the path with me?”
“KEUK, who do you take me for… If I refuse…?”
“You’ll have to die here.”
“……”
“Now that you’re picturing the moment of death, are you scared?”
“Silence, demonic person! I am the bloodline of the great Ximen Family!”
“As expected, your spirit is extraordinary.”
“People die eventually anyway! Now, finish this.”
“HUHUT…”
“What’s so funny?”
“I can see. No, I’ve already seen.”
“……?”
“Your gaze told me. That you hold in your heart stories and purposes for which you must live. Perhaps because of your birth.”
“……!”
“Rising in status. Monopolizing power… All human desires start from there. And I too am no different from you. Trust and follow me. I’ll bestow a great light that can overturn your life. Before long, you will head toward the realm of the superhuman.”
At that moment, Ximen Yue felt a strange thrill.
Words that seemed to see right through him…
So he made the choice.
To swallow the pill.
KKULEOK-
Even knowing it was a path from which he could never return.
* * *
Having reached the end of his reminiscence, Ximen Yue asked quietly.
“Does Light-Dark Harmonizing Secret Meridians… have a connection to that?”
“A body identical to Sun Moon Demon Cult’s first Patriarch.”
“WHAT…?”
“A body with the power to bind light and dark as one. Simply put, it’s similar to Yang Heart Divine Art, you could say. To explain more precisely, it’s a body that manifests the mysterious application of being able to unify pure energy and demonic energy. Two different energies are harmonized and a new attribute of internal power is born. That’s your body. He knew that and intended to make you his successor to transmit the Sun Moon Demon Arrival Technique.”
“……!”
Ximen Yue was so surprised that his gaze went blank.
Then he soon pointed out a question.
“If that’s true… why did he hide it?”
“It’s obvious. Because it’s a mysterious talent that could threaten him.”
“Distrust… I see. He never trusted me until the end, that man…”
“He might also have another plan that no one knows about.”
“……”
Right at that moment.
TAK, TATAK, TAK-
Cheol Ryu-heun rapidly moved his hands and consecutively touched Ximen Yue’s demon acupoints.
“The chatter has gone on too long. Now, let’s return your true heart.”
Immediately after.
TEOK-
He forcibly opened Ximen Yue’s mouth and inserted a pill.
KKOLGAKKOLGAK.
The sound of it melting like water upon touching his mouth and quickly going down.
It was definitely some kind of precious elixir.
Suddenly.
FLASH!
Radiant light formed in Cheol Ryu-heun’s eyes.
Crimson eye light.
That light mixing bright and dark feelings soon extended out long, silently.