Chapter 481: The Heavenly Demon Cult's Forces
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The moment the telepathic voice faded, the entire gathering rose to their feet.
Even Sal Ma-ha, the Asura Demon Cult Patriarch, and Yak Pa, the Illusion Demon Cult Patriarch.
This was a scene that spoke to the supreme status of Gun Mu-ak… The genius demonic man who was the youngest Great Prelate in Heavenly Demon Cult history.
While everyone’s eyes focused on the opened door.
Thud… !
The first Heavenly Demon Cult member to enter stomped his foot.
Following that, he also struck the floor with a resounding thump using the crescent axe held in one hand.
It was a ceremonial act performed when the Great Prelate made an appearance.
The one gripping the crescent axe was an old demonic man around seventy years of age, the very person who had just sent out the low, heavy telepathic voice.
Innocence Demon Maiden In Ae-yeon, watching him, muttered to herself.
‘The First Archbishop of the Heavenly Demon Cult…’
Although it was their first meeting, she recognized his identity the moment she saw him.
With a dignified bearing unbefitting someone in his seventies and carrying a dazzlingly bright crescent axe, he was none other than Cleaving Head Great Demon Elder Bal Hyung-cheom… Said to be the foremost among the Six Archbishops.
He was an old demonic man who had earned such a fearsome sobriquet because nine times out of ten, when he engaged in a life-or-death duel, he would behead and kill his opponent.
Though the meaning seemed similar to “Head-Severing Yama” of the Assassin’s Path legendary Seop Pyo, he actually didn’t wield a weapon.
But instead, there was something used like his main weapon… His hand blades.
Since his youth, Bal Hyung-cheom had been a master of the Worship Demon Hand Blade Art, which displayed the wondrous use of sharp cutting as if both hands were knife blades.
Thus, the twin hands he swung… Precisely, the sharp demonic energy released from his hand edges… Were no different from supreme-tier treasured swords.
In Ae-yeon had long heard of his tremendous fame.
Even the First Left Apostle Pi Hu-oh, who had been a core master and leader of the Sun and Moon Demon Cult before its fall and ruin, had once boldly engaged him but suffered defeat to the Worship Demon Hand Blade Art…
According to common talk, because it was a period when the Heavenly Demon Cult had prohibited external activities, and thanks to the mediation of Sun and Moon Demon Cult Patriarch Sun Moon Demon Saint A Ryun-nan, he had avoided the calamity of having his head cut off, but since it was an unconfirmed story, the details remained shrouded in mystery.
In any case, since the Sun and Moon Demon Cult side had not issued any complaints or explanations even when those rumors circulated, it seemed certain that Bal Hyung-cheom’s martial arts were at a level extraordinary enough to easily subdue First Left Apostle Pi Hu-oh.
The reason In Ae-yeon recognized him at first sight was because of the ornate axe used for ceremonial purposes.
Why?
Because it was a famous tradition.
Since olden times, whenever the Heavenly Demon Cult’s Great Prelate made a procession, the crescent axe was always entrusted to the chief archbishop under his command.
This was a story known not only to her but to many people.
Something that anyone in the Demonic Path Jianghu couldn’t not know… That’s how she immediately recognized that the old demonic man holding the crescent axe was Bal Hyung-cheom.
The impressive Heavenly Demon Cult figures continued to appear.
Behind First Archbishop Cleaving Head Great Demon Elder Bal Hyung-cheom, who held up the crescent axe, a middle-aged demonic man carrying a flag symbolizing the one and only god, the Heavenly Demon, stepped into the great hall.
He looked to be about mid-fifties in age.
He was a man boasting a physique as massive as a great bear, wearing the black cult uniform that symbolized he was one of the Six Archbishops.
Because his build was so large, a sense of pressure naturally emanated from him.
His body was even bigger than Green Forest Alliance Leader Green Forest Martial Buddha Gung Roe or South Embrace Poison Palace Master Hegemon of Poison Paramount Meng Wang.
Perhaps that’s why his imposing bearing seemed all the more prominent.
Among the six archbishops under Gun Mu-ak, there was only one demonic man who boasted a build enormous enough to remind one of a bear.
The Second Archbishop, ranked second among the Six Archbishops… Mad Demon Fighter Mang Ro-jangdeok.
It wasn’t just his unusually noticeable large body that revealed who he was.
A pair of black-crimson iron maces hung from his waist, thick as an old tree that had lived for centuries, clearly proving he was the owner of the sobriquet Mad Demon Fighter.
Among the archbishops, the only one who used such heavy weapons was Second Archbishop Mang Ro-jangdeok.
Following that.
Step, step, step, step…
The remaining four archbishops also entered in single file behind Mang Ro-jangdeok.
Each time they walked, the air in the hall seemed to writhe and sink deep like the ocean.
That meant each of their presences was extraordinary.
Of course, the leadership of the Asura Demon Cult and Illusion Demon Cult were the same, but somehow the core masters of the Heavenly Demon Cult evoked an even more special feeling.
Perhaps it was because they were a force born from the Heavenly Demon… The progenitor of all demons in this land and essentially a divine being.
Immediately behind Mang Ro-jangdeok, a man in his forties with a very fierce impression and carrying a reddish bamboo sword that looked as if soaked in blood was the Third Archbishop Residual Soul Sword Warrior Hwoe-uk, famous for his Demon Heaven Soul-Producing Sword Technique.
As could be guessed from his personal sobriquet, he was a pinnacle-level sword arts master with a reputation for extremely cruel and merciless techniques.
Next was a woman in black of the same age as Residual Soul Sword Warrior Hwoe-uk, carrying tucked under her arm a pipa… A stringed instrument with an oval body and a straight, short handle… That appeared even larger than a decent wine jar.
Her features couldn’t be called pretty, but then again weren’t ugly either, giving an extremely ordinary feeling like a neighborhood woman.
However, that appearance, combined with her jet-black cult uniform and the excessively large pipa, radiated a peculiar charm difficult to describe.
She, with extraordinariness lurking within ordinariness, was the Fourth Archbishop in the Six Archbishops’ hierarchy… Village Pipa Demon Princess On So.
Behind her, walking in a row, were a young man in his late twenties carrying a pair of long sabres and a swordsman in his late thirties notable for his black long hair and beard.
The young man with gentle-looking eyes was the fifth and youngest of the Six Archbishops at twenty-eight years old… Demon Heaven Twin Sabre Lad Si Eul-ryang.
And the swordsman between thirty and forty was the lowest-ranked sixth in the hierarchy among the archbishops… Dark Sword Demon Spirit On Gwan, who was the cousin of fourth-ranked Village Pipa Demon Princess On So.
Following the appearance of the Six Archbishops, two women of even higher rank than them revealed themselves.
One, in a manner unbefitting a demonic person, evoked the image of a celestial maiden with a noble and sacred appearance; the other was like a witch flaunting a bewitching allure like a nine-tailed fox.
Both were beautiful, but their appearances gave completely different impressions.
At that moment, the Asura Demon Cult’s Gold Gate Dharma Protector Hu Su-ryeo and Silver Gate Dharma Protector Jin Jung-bi conversed via Sound Transmission.
The two women who had just appeared were none other than the Dharma Protectors… High-ranking cult positions within the Heavenly Demon Cult… Namely, Demon Heaven Left Attendant Little-Face Bell Demoness Eun Yi-bi and Demon Heaven Right Attendant Delusional Seductive Demoness Ya Baek-ji.
After the two appeared, soft exclamations leaked out.
The reason was one.
It was because of a man walking straight out with his gaze fixed forward, with Eun Yi-bi and Ya Baek-ji on either side.
Extreme Heaven Demon Emperor Gun Mu-ak.
At last, the Great Prelate of the Heavenly Demon Cult and the indisputably strongest demonic man in the current Demonic Path Jianghu had appeared.
Everyone held their breath.
Those meeting Gun Mu-ak for the first time today, as well as the few who had met him before…
Just by entering the hall, his presence overwhelmed everyone.
A supreme dignity that no demonic person other than Gun Mu-ak could carelessly imitate.
It became so quiet that it felt as if time had suddenly stopped.
Amidst that, Asura Blade Demon Emperor Sal Ma-ha inwardly smiled.
‘Ha.’
It was a small sound born from respect.
Meaning that he became genuinely impressed each time he saw him…
Truly, he was an existence that naturally stirred reverence.
Even though he had already met him not just once or twice.
Illusion Demon Cult Patriarch Demon Midst Illusion Emperor Yak Pa’s thoughts were no different.
He watched Gun Mu-ak’s lofty figure that stood out like a crane among chickens and spoke inwardly.
‘Meeting him again like this makes me realize once more. His immeasurable realm of martial arts…’
By Yak Pa’s own standards, Gun Mu-ak was the strongest demonic man befitting the meaning of the word “perfect.”
Befitting the owner of the sobriquet Extreme Heaven Demon Emperor… One who possessed tremendous power as if harboring that vast sky within his body, one who proved with his gaze alone that he was an absolute hegemon who would rule the world, the one and only person who would realize the dream of the Heavenly Demon’s second coming in this generation…
That was Yak Pa’s own evaluation and thoughts toward Gun Mu-ak.
Look.
Added to his supreme presence, even his appearance was handsome.
Facial features as enchanting as a masterpiece completed by a peerless artisan.
Anyone could tell just from looking at his outward appearance.
That he was an existence who would walk a solitary path and stand at the very top…
That he was so powerful that cooperation or alliance with any other martial artist or force was meaningless…
The Illusion Demon Cult and Asura Demon Cult were prime examples.
Both cults had submitted to Gun Mu-ak, sworn eternal loyalty, and come under the Heavenly Demon Cult.
However.
Now, in the present day, a variable had suddenly appeared that made even such a Gun Mu-ak choose a different path.
It was none other than Cheol Ryu-heun… The new Sect Master of White Peak Sword Sect who had rapidly risen as a pinnacle-level powerhouse exceeding the fame of “Hunan’s Foremost Martial God” by annihilating the Sun and Moon Demon Cult.
Yak Pa once again recalled the telepathic conversation he had exchanged with Sal Ma-ha earlier.
-Do you really believe that Cheol Ryu-heun has swayed Great Prelate Gun?
-I do. And even if it had been me… It would have been the same. Perhaps we… Have boarded the same ship as the strongest hegemon who will write an unprecedented history of martial achievement. When you hear the full story through Great Prelate Gun, it will make sense.
-Hoh…
‘I’m curious. What exactly about Cheol Ryu-heun moved Great Prelate Gun’s heart… What made him form a temporary alliance with the Orthodox and Evil factions…’
While everyone watched with bated breath, Gun Mu-ak silently walked with heavy steps to sit in the large chair prepared at the head seat in the center of the great hall.
Then he leaned the Demon God Sword… The new sacred artifact of the cult symbolizing the current Great Prelate’s position… Obliquely against the armrest.
Eun Yi-bi and Ya Baek-ji stood in attendance on either side of the chair, and the Six Archbishops led by Cleaving Head Great Demon Elder Bal Hyung-cheom lined up behind like a folding screen.
Gun Mu-ak briefly surveyed left and right, then opened his mouth.
“Everyone, please be seated.”
That low voice reached everyone’s ears as loud as thunder.
As everyone quietly took their seats.
-Great Prelate, we have just arrived as well. Also, we met the people from that place on the way.
Someone’s telepathic voice echoed from outside like an echo.
Gun Mu-ak immediately replied via Sound Transmission.
-Good timing. Come in.
Suddenly, the expressions of the gathering changed.
Eyes startled.
It was because the moment the Sound Transmission ended, from beyond the door outside, they felt an overwhelmingly terrifying intangible presence pouring in like a tidal wave.
At that moment, Gun Mu-ak’s low voice was heard.
“They are this cult’s special forces prepared for the battle against the enemy called the Heaven Emperor Society.”