Chapter 278: Chapter 278
The Black Yaksha’s hand trembled minutely.
It was because bewilderment had swept over him.
Even when the Heartless Blade Guest, the Seonghwi Rakshasa, and Chui-ryeon were defeated, and when the Heaven Extinguishing Fire was blocked, it was not to this extent.
And Cheon-hwi, whose hands were touching his, was feeling that trembling very well.
‘Looking at it, it seems to be correct.’
Cheon-hwi’s eyes narrowed.
‘But it’s strange. They should all definitely be dead.’
He momentarily recalled his past life.
The time when he had just become the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
At that time, Cheon-hwi was an existence that caused a whirlwind within the Heavenly Demon Cult.
‘To be exact, I had many enemies.’
Recalling that time, his brow naturally narrowed.
Being appointed as the Minor Cult Leader out of nowhere one day, and then taking the position of Cult Leader less than five years later, was Cheon-hwi of his past life, Dokgo Gu Yeon.
Was it because he had created an unprecedented event in the long history of the Heavenly Demon Cult?
Within the Heavenly Demon Cult, there were many who were displeased with him becoming the Cult Leader.
Among them, the one that took the lead in expressing their dissatisfaction was one of the Five Great Clans.
It was the Cheonbong Hang Clan.
At that time, they wildly gave off the impression that they were not pleased with Dokgo Gu Yeon ascending to the position of Cult Leader.
And at that time, he did not have the personality to generously overlook such people.
He immediately went to find the Cheonbong Hang Clan.
And.
‘I thoroughly smashed them.’
The Cheonbong Hang Clan disappeared that day.
The people, the site, everything.
To serve as a warning and an example to those who were displeased with him becoming the Cult Leader, he had completely devastated them.
And that choice was excellent.
After that day, there was not a single person who expressed dissatisfaction with Dokgo Gu Yeon ascending to the position of Cult Leader.
How could they?
He was an existence who had single-handedly exterminated the Cheonbong Hang Clan, one of the Five Great Clans.
Rather, after that day, he was revered and worshipped as the new Heavenly Demon within the Heavenly Demon Cult.
‘I smashed them so thoroughly that not even a single blade of grass could grow, but to think there would be survivors.’
Cheon-hwi stared at the Black Yaksha with sunken eyes.
The deep blue light within the Yaksha’s mask was trembling as if it had lost its way.
Dizzily mixed emotions could be felt from that gaze.
His mind was probably complicated.
At that moment.
Tat!
The Black Yaksha retreated backwards.
And he glared at Cheon-hwi.
『Who are you…?』
A telepathic message that seemed like fog was transmitted.
It was from the Black Yaksha.
『Me?』
Cheon-hwi gently raised the corners of his mouth at the telepathic message filled with questioning tone.
『Cheon-hwi.』
In an instant, the Black Yaksha’s blood wind cloak swelled.
He was angered by the thought that he was being made fun of.
At the same time, opaque energy stretched out in streams around him.
Soon, that formidable energy gathered again centering on the Black Yaksha and distorted the atmosphere, slowly wrapping around him.
A bizarre harmony that occurred in an instant.
Eventually, the opaque inner qi overlaid on the black blood wind cloak surged.
An appearance as if he had draped a long robe.
It was the Ghost Soul Demonic Battle Armor.
Cheon-hwi, who was quietly watching that appearance, leaked a telepathic message.
『It seems you have no intention of hiding it now? No, since you still haven’t aroused demonic qi, are you trying to hide it?』
There was no answer in return.
Instead, the Ghost Soul Demonic Battle Armor swayed.
At the same time, a wave occurred starting from his feet that looked firm like roots.
By the time the wave, which started to spread around him like ripples spreading on a calm lake, swept through the entire manor.
Thud!
The Black Yaksha stomped the ground with his right foot.
The wave that had been calm momentarily surged greatly into the manor like a fierce wave.
And.
Paat!
The Black Yaksha’s figure dashed.
His black silhouette, which moved straight in a single line, lengthened like a staff.
Eventually, he spread his right hand wide.
The sleeve fluttered, and a black hand made of pitch-black rope popped out like a firebomb, giving off a chilling momentum.
‘…This is a technique I do not know.’
Cheon-hwi’s eyes emitted an intense light.
Following that, he moved his left hand.
It was a hand gesture like a thunderbolt.
The left hand, which moved as if the intermediate process had disappeared, pierced through the Ghost Soul Demonic Battle Armor wrapped around the Black Yaksha and snatched his wrist.
It was a fleeting moment faster than perception.
“So it was like that.”
Cheon-hwi, who leaked a very low voice to the point that only the Black Yaksha could hear it, pulled the hand holding his wrist just like that.
“…!”
The Black Yaksha opened his eyes wide.
He urgently unfolded the Ten Thousand Catties Fall and tried to endure so as not to be dragged.
“It’s an useless act.”
He had no choice but to be helplessly led by Cheon-hwi’s hand.
It was an irresistible power.
Following that, Cheon-hwi lifted his right foot high and kicked the Black Yaksha just like that.
Puu-eok!
A sound like a drum bursting rang out.
At the same time, the Black Yaksha’s body flew backwards like an arrow and passed through the broken wall.
A sight as if a firebomb had flown.
Then, belatedly.
Crack!
The sound of wood breaking was heard, and then smoke was seen rising.
A distance of about fifty jang even at a glance.
From all around, as they realized that the Black Yaksha had flown that far away with a single kick, gasps of astonishment were let out.
In the midst of that.
“Young Master!”
“Young Master!”
Chui-ryeon, clutching her shoulder, and Yeo Wun-yak, who had suffered internal injuries, urgently ran over.
The Extermination Unit flinched at that action.
They couldn’t make a judgment for a moment whether they should chase after them or not.
“I will chase after them, so the Extermination Unit should just clean up the aftermath.”
Just in time, Cheon-hwi’s voice was heard.
Cheon-hwi, who did not even cast a glance at the Extermination Unit, silently looked at the hazy dust rising far away, and then lightly stamped his foot.
At that moment.
Whoosh!
His figure disappeared.
It was as if he were a phantom.
“…”
At the same time, a deeper silence than before flowed through the manor.
Even though Cheon-hwi and the Black Yaksha’s party had disappeared, they were still in a dazed state like people who had not yet woken up from a dream.
Both the Extermination Unit and the martial artists of the Blood Rain Sword Clan.
It was because they could not come to their senses now, having witnessed the fight of experts they had only heard of through words.
“Just what in the world happened?”
Someone’s small whisper rang through the garden as if speaking for their minds.
Tat!
Meanwhile, Cheon-hwi, who was unfolding the Dark Fragrance Float, chased Yeo Wun-yak who was running ahead, grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, and threw her down just like that.
“You bastard…!”
Yeo Wun-yak’s face distorted.
Despite being in a state of internal injury, just as she was trying to force herself to raise her inner qi.
“I don’t need you guys.”
Cheon-hwi, who had appeared above her before she knew it, stomped his foot downwards.
“Keok!”
Yeo Wun-yak’s body was slammed into the floor just like that.
Kwaang!
Cracks appeared on the ground centering on her fallen body, and an aftershock surged.
‘Such an existence is…’
Sweat flowed down Chui-ryeon’s forehead.
Having unfolded the Four Snake Shadow Formula to its limit, even while running towards the Black Yaksha, she could not take her eyes off the scene behind her.
Fear swayed in her eyes.
Even for her, who had met numerous deaths and experts, Cheon-hwi was an existence outside of the norm.
At that moment.
“You aren’t going alone, are you.”
Startled by the voice heard in her ears, Chui-ryeon urgently looked to the side.
Cheon-hwi was there.
‘When!’
She urgently moved her one arm.
Accordingly, her sleeve fluttered.
Piing!
A sharp hidden weapon was shot.
Cheon-hwi raised his left hand, looking at the hidden weapon precisely shot towards his eye.
Tak.
The hidden weapon caught between two fingers.
“…!”
Around the time Chui-ryeon was engulfed in astonishment at the simply handled hidden weapon.
“If you are going to throw a hidden weapon, you should throw it like this.”
Cheon-hwi loaded inner qi onto the hidden weapon caught in his fingers and shot it in an instant.
Flying Lightning Blade.
The hidden weapon, which clashed inner qi, shot like a thunderbolt and struck her acupoint.
Immediately, Chui-ryeon’s consciousness was cut off, and falling forward exactly as she was running, she rolled on the dirt floor.
Looking down at such her for a moment.
“Then.”
Cheon-hwi, who turned his head somewhere, immediately unfolded the Dark Fragrance Float to its utmost polarity.
* * *
“Keuk…”
The Black Yaksha, who received a shock from crashing into a huge rock, barely raised his body.
‘What is going on here?’
He was out of his mind right now.
He knew that the Plum Blossom Divine Hero was an expert, but the realm he directly faced was on a different trajectory than what he had expected.
Was that all?
He recognized the Ghost Soul Demonic Scripture.
Himself and his master… no.
Except for his grandfather, that absolute demonic scripture that no one in the world knew about.
‘I heard that the Plum Blossom Divine Hero is a Taoist of the Mount Hua Sect, so how…’
The Black Yaksha bit his lower lip.
He bit it so hard that a fishy smell of blood seemed to linger in his mouth.
At that moment.
“Have you come to your senses?”
A low voice was heard.
“Keuk.”
Startled, the Black Yaksha tried to raise his body, but for a moment he leaked a groan at the overwhelming pain.
“To think the Heavenly Demon Cult would appear again.”
He whispered lowly with a self-deprecating voice.
“What…?”
At that, Cheon-hwi opened his eyes wide.
‘Huh? He calls the Heavenly Demon Cult the Heavenly Demon Cult?’
The term Heavenly Demon Cult was a word used in the Central Plains to disparage the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Therefore, most demonic practitioners were bound to throw a fit upon hearing the word Heavenly Demon Cult, but to actually call it the Heavenly Demon Cult.
‘Then that means he has nothing to do with the Divine Cult.’
Cheon-hwi silently looked at him and answered.
“No.”
“…I am a dead life anyway, so there is no need to lie until the end…”
“What lie.”
Cheon-hwi cut off his words completely.
“You know about me well, don’t you? Do you think I would be related?”
Just like Cheon-hwi’s words, the Black Yaksha was in a state of having collected and recognized enough information about the Plum Blossom Divine Hero to have some left over.
Seeing the silent Black Yaksha, Cheon-hwi smiled broadly and parted his lips.
“Look. You know it well after all.”
“…”
“Rather than that, I would like to hear the answer to the question from earlier.”
Cheon-hwi slowly half-opened his eyes.
Subtle inner qi was loaded onto his pitch-black pupils, dropping the Black Yaksha inside them.
A bottomless pit prison.
The Black Yaksha, who met those two eyes, momentarily ran out of breath along with the illusion that he was trapped in the Avici Hell.
At that moment, Cheon-hwi’s lips parted again.
“You are a member of the Cheonbong Hang Clan, right?”
“…!”
The pupils inside the mask were agitated.
It was as if an earthquake had occurred.
At such an appearance, Cheon-hwi spoke with certainty.
“It seems there was someone who survived even in the midst of that chaos.”
The Black Yaksha could not say a word.
They were words that sounded like he also knew the past that he knew.
“But it’s strange. As far as I know, there shouldn’t be a way to wield the Ghost Soul Demonic Scripture without demonic qi…”
Cheon-hwi stroked his chin and looked over the Black Yaksha.
The Ghost Soul Demonic Scripture was a martial art of going against heaven, a demonic scripture that opposed the providence of nature.
Because of that, only demonic qi could handle that martial art.
However, the Black Yaksha in front of him was different.
He completely hid the demonic qi and was exuding an evil energy, that is, evil qi.
“Did you alter the Ghost Soul Demonic Scripture?”
At those words, the Black Yaksha’s eyes trembled.
A very minute trembling.
But Cheon-hwi was seeing everything.
“It’s surprising. Who did it? Seeing that you covered your whole body, it’s unlikely that you came up with the method.”
Cheon-hwi thoroughly looked over the Black Yaksha.
Through his attire that covered his whole body, he could guess what level his realm was at.
‘It’s probably in that state because he hasn’t properly mastered it yet.’
Before gaining accomplishment, those who learned the Ghost Soul Demonic Scripture without reaching the realm of Extreme Demon all invariably left traces.
Swelling acupoints and blood vessels.
The demonic scripture of going against heaven, which deviated from the natural logic, caused the body placed under the providence of nature to go awry and revealed its form.
Because of that, there was a time when in the Central Plains, those who learned the Ghost Soul Demonic Scripture were called Blood-Faced Ghosts and were feared.
“Could the Four Black Alliances Leader have done something? Or over a long period of time…”
Anticipation flashed for a moment in Cheon-hwi’s eyes as he muttered various speculations.
‘I suppose the current Four Black Alliances Leader wouldn’t have done it,’
The Ghost Soul Demonic Scripture was a peerless demonic art.
However, changing it meant that one’s martial prowess had reached the realm of a Great Grandmaster.
In other words, it meant they were a peerless expert.
“Well, I’ll think about the details later, and for now…”
Cheon-hwi slowly dragged out his words.
“What should I do with you.”
His gaze pierced through the Black Yaksha.
The Black Yaksha’s eyes darkened.
The one in front was a Grim Reaper.
Who was controlling his life at his whim.
‘Is it the end.’
When he was about to accept the inevitable death, Cheon-hwi was actually in the middle of contemplating.
Normally, it would be good to kill him to eliminate future troubles, but.
‘I feel a bit sorry, you know.’
He recalled the matters of his past life.
No matter how much there was a need to drastically handle them as an example, thinking about it now, there was a slightly excessive aspect.
‘Tsk, extermination was a bit much.’
Cheon-hwi scratched his head.
No matter how much the Cheonbong Hang Clan showed signs of disliking him ascending to the position of Cult Leader, strictly speaking, it was understandable.
Wasn’t the Cheonbong Hang Clan a clan that had revered the Heavenly Demon since a long time ago, with a long history?
Since someone who had appeared out of nowhere not long ago was appointed as the Cult Leader, they wouldn’t have been pleased.
‘Should I let him live for now?’
Cheon-hwi soon withdrew his gaze that was looking at the Black Yaksha.
‘Since I’m also curious about how the Cheonbong Hang Clan maintained their lineage as an Unorthodox Faction in the Central Plains.’
Cheon-hwi was feeling interest in this situation right now.
It was the Cheonbong Hang Clan known to have been exterminated.
However, since they were maintaining their lineage, how could interest not arise?
He soon sheathed his sword and turned his body.
“Go back and deliver a message.”
Following that, Cheon-hwi spoke as if notifying.
“That I will personally go find them later.”