-Sizzle!

Heavenly Demon casually held Iron Fan Immortal’s wrist, which was burning hot.

Feeling her pride wounded, Iron Fan Immortal tried to increase the heat even more to force him to let go.

The heat was so intense that the stone throne and surroundings began to melt, causing nearby lesser demons to retreat in panic.

Yet Heavenly Demon remained expressionless, seemingly unaffected by the heat.

‘what the .... is this guy?’

Surprised by his unexpected reaction, Iron Fan Immortal stared at Heavenly Demon as he spoke.

“Are you Hong Hae-a^[1]‘s mother?”

“Who the hell are you? Why are you looking for my child?”

Like any parent, she fiercely loved her child. So when Heavenly Demon mentioned Hong Hae-a, her face twisted into a fierce expression befitting her name as a rakshasa woman.

Of course, Heavenly Demon didn’t care about this at all.

“Where is Hong Hae-a?”

“You bastard!”

Iron Fan Immortal’s anger rose at Heavenly Demon’s arrogant attitude, completely ignoring her question and only asking about Hong Hae-a.

She no longer held back and revealed her true power.

“I’ll kill you.”

“Boom!”

As soon as she finished speaking, something erupted from the heated floor.

It was lava.

The lava that burst forth over ten jang wide swallowed them up in an instant, then pierced through the ceiling of the great hall and even through the cave of Plantain Leaf Peak as it rose.

“Boom boom boom boom!”

“This is bad!”

“Iron Fan Immortal has finally gone berserk!”

“Everyone evacuate the hall!”

The lesser demons fled the hall building in a panic at this sight.

Once Iron Fan Immortal, a Great Spirit Beast on par with the Six Demons, went berserk, the collapse of the hall and cave was all but certain.

If it just collapsed, it wouldn’t be a big problem for the high-ranking lesser demons. But if she went berserk, the surrounding area would be covered in lava.

However,

“Whoosh!”

“!?”

The fleeing lesser demons stopped in their tracks.

The lava that they thought would surely consume the entire hall was suddenly subsiding. Then, as the lava settled, two figures emerged along with the smoke. They were Heavenly Demon and Iron Fan Immortal.

But the lesser demons couldn’t hide their bewilderment at this sight.

This was because Iron Fan Immortal could be seen kneeling on one knee, her captured wrist bent painfully.

“Aaaargh!”

“Ugh!”

Black veins like tree roots were spreading from her hand that had been glowing red, due to the invasion of demonic energy.

It wasn’t just demonic energy that had invaded internally.

A blade-like sword energy was cutting through each nerve, causing pain so severe that even Iron Fan Immortal, who had lived for thousands of years, could barely endure it.

Seeing her convulsing as if electrocuted, some of the lesser demons couldn’t stand by and tried to rush in.

“Iron Fan Immortal!”

“Let go of her hand!”

But Iron Fan Immortal gestured for them not to come, so they had to stop midway.

“How!”

Iron Fan Immortal shook her head painfully at their anxious looks.

‘No.’

If they had rushed in out of loyalty to help her, they would have been instantly annihilated by this man’s hand.

Convulsing from the demonic energy and sword energy invading her body, she looked up at Heavenly Demon.

His eyes were still utterly indifferent.

“Gasp!”

That made her even more terrified.

Just what is this guy’s identity?

No matter how she looked at him, he wasn’t one of their kind.

‘But he’s too strong.’

As someone who had directly experienced the ancient immortals long ago, she knew most beings, but she had never seen anyone with this kind of power.

Even her husband couldn’t easily subdue her when she went berserk without transforming into her true form or using the Great Demon-Subduing Treasure, the Plantain Leaf Fan. Yet this man was effortlessly suppressing her.

He didn’t even seem to be using his full strength.

‘It’s like… looking at that stone monkey bastard.’

Overwhelming strength.

She had felt that from the Stone Monkey Sun Wukong.

A monster that even the Great Strength King, considered the strongest of the Six Demons, couldn’t handle.

A being born from the convergence of all the energies of heaven and earth.

Though the nature of their power was different, this was the first time since then that she had felt such pressure from someone.

“Haa… haa… Just what are you? I’ve never heard of a being like you in thousands of years…”

For a moment, her eyes met Heavenly Demon’s.

In that split second, something pierced her mind and she saw a huge avatar of black flames before her eyes.

Her whole body trembled at the dark flames that seemed deeper than the abyss.

what the .... is this?

How can something like this be inside a human form?

“I am Heavenly Demon. I rule over all ten thousand demons, and am the black flames darker than the abyss.”

“You… just what are you?”

“This is my final act of mercy. If you bring Hong Hae-a and hand over what’s mine, I’ll spare your life and your child’s.”

‘!?’

What does he want Hong Hae-a to hand over?

Could he be talking about Him who was said to be sealed by the killing stone?

Then does this guy have some connection to the White-Faced King?

“You. What’s your relationship with the White-Faced King?”

“You don’t have the right to ask me questions. If you don’t accept the mercy given, you’ll only suffer the consequences.”

“Shut up! Who are you to tell me and my child what to do with Him?”

Heavenly Demon’s eyes turned cold at her outburst.

He had tried to instill fear in her with overwhelming pressure to make her do as he wanted, but befitting someone who had lived for thousands of years, she had strong mental fortitude. Moreover, perhaps due to her maternal love for her child, she was fiercely resisting instead.

Though his child wasn’t born yet, Heavenly Demon could somewhat understand her emotional turmoil as a parent with a child.

But then, her entire body except for the wrist directly invaded by his demonic energy began to glow red as heat surged.

“Sizzle!”

“Neither He nor my child can be touched!”

“Snap!”

With that cry, Iron Fan Immortal grabbed Heavenly Demon’s legs and hugged him tightly.

‘!?’

It wasn’t just heat that was surging rapidly.

It was demonic power.

The fact that it was rising even higher than her original demonic power meant she was converting all of her life force into demonic power.

“Iron Fan Immortal, you can’t!”

Realizing that Iron Fan Immortal was trying to sacrifice herself in a mutual destruction technique, one of the Three Heroes, the gray-haired spirit king Ash-Faced Demon^[2], flew towards her to try and stop her.

“Whoosh!”

“Ah?”

But before he could approach, a curtain of red heat blocked him, preventing him from getting closer.

This was a wall created by Iron Fan Immortal.

Unlike when she went berserk, she was now only thinking of killing the opponent before her, so she made this choice to prevent her subordinate lesser demons from being harmed.

Of course, this was also to concentrate all the heat in one place to double its power.

Iron Fan Immortal spoke in a meaningful voice:

“Let’s die together in heat hotter than lava.”

“A sacrifice for your kin?”

“Even if the Heavenly Emperor came, he couldn’t touch my child.”

“Crack!”

Her skin, transformed like lava, split open and red light poured out.

It looked like it would burst at any moment.

But then,

“Snap!”

Heavenly Demon grabbed Iron Fan Immortal’s face with his palm as she clung to his legs.

Iron Fan Immortal sneered and shouted:

“It’s useless. This is heat from burning all of my demonic power. No one can extinguish—”

“Whoosh!”

Before she could finish speaking, the blazing heat from her surging demonic power began to be rapidly absorbed into Heavenly Demon’s palm.

‘No!’

Just as she was about to explode, the heat rapidly drained away, and she couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

“No! Nooooo!”

Sensing something was wrong, she tried to force herself to explode in this state.

However,

“Whoosh!”

At that moment, her brain was severely shaken by the vibrations coming through Heavenly Demon’s palm, and she lost consciousness.

Not missing this chance, Heavenly Demon absorbed all the heat from her body.

The absorbed heat was indeed beyond imagination.

‘Hot.’

Since this wasn’t heat that could be converted into energy within the body,

“Snap!”

He raised his hand and released all the heat.

“Boom!”

The lava-like heat erupting from Heavenly Demon’s hand pierced through Plantain Leaf Peak, even destroying Cuiyun Mountain as it soared high into the sky.

Cheong-ryeong, watching this from a mountaintop not far from Cuiyun Mountain, smirked.

‘So much for ending it quietly.’

“Boom boom boom boom!”

Seeing that red pillar of heat soaring into the sky after smashing a whole mountain, it seemed he was really making a mess.

He had some idea since she was said to be a Great Spirit Beast on par with the Six Demons.

That it wouldn’t end quietly, that is.

It wasn’t long before Iron Fan Immortal regained consciousness.

Having used up all her demonic power, her hair had turned white and her face was haggard as if weathered by time.

Of course, even so, she still looked like a noble lady.

But exhausted beyond measure, she was lost in a daze, staring at the sky visible through the gaping hole.

The hole was so large, spanning dozens of jang, that it was embarrassing to even call it a mountain anymore.

‘Ah…’

But more than this, what made her feel truly dejected was Heavenly Demon’s appearance.

She had tried to cause a mutual destruction by exploding thousands of years’ worth of accumulated demonic power, but she hadn’t even singed a hair on his head, let alone his clothes.

‘This… is a being that even He couldn’t handle if he came.’

Iron Fan Immortal had immense pride in her husband.

Wasn’t he the one whom even the ancient immortals couldn’t defeat and had to join forces to seal?

But this man’s strength was truly transcendental.

Even if her husband transformed into his true form and used the Great Demon-Subduing Treasure, the Plantain Leaf Fan, could he really handle this monster?

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t picture such a scenario.

But still,

“What wife, what mother would sell out her husband and child? Just… kill me instead.”

She had no intention of surrendering.

She was simply worried about them facing this monster, more than she feared death.

“Step step!”

As Heavenly Demon approached, she took a deep breath, exhaled, and closed her eyes, resigned to death.

Then Heavenly Demon’s hand touched her head.

Is this how I’ll be annihilated?

But then,

“You keep your mouth shut well. I’ll acknowledge that maternal love.”

At these words from Heavenly Demon, she didn’t budge.

She thought there was no way someone targeting her child would show mercy like this.

So she responded strongly.

“Then kill me without dishonoring me.”

“No, I can’t do that.”

“What?”

She frowned and opened her eyes.

Heavenly Demon bent down and whispered in her ear.

“As it happens, there are many vacancies for spirit servants.”

‘!?’

What is this bastard saying now?

Spirit servants?

Is he talking about how diviners and Taoists form connections with and control our kind?

Is he saying he’ll do to me what only lower-ranking demons suffer?

Realizing this, her eyes widened in shock, but Heavenly Demon formed a hand seal with his left hand and said with a smile full of malice:

“Let’s see how well Hong Hae-a listens to her mother.”