Chapter 175: Fierce Competition
We rapidly organized the front lines, accepting Ak Gun-pae’s faction.
In the meantime, I approached Uncle Baek Jin-seong.
Though it might sound out of the blue, it was because there was something to coordinate in advance before proceeding with the work.
“There are also factions that have trained in demonic arts in the Green Forest, right?”
“Of course there would be. A generic mountain bandit is one thing, but the Green Forest is a place where Martial World people who turned their backs on the world for various reasons are gathered. You’re not asking because you don’t know, so why are you asking that?”
“I was thinking that if we do well, we might be able to swallow that faction as well.”
“Oh? That side? How?”
Uncle Baek Jin-seong tensed his eyes as if it were unexpected. Then, seeing the direction my chin pointed, he immediately understood.
“Ah! Indeed. I forgot because he is such a solemn gentleman. That elder was also a demon, right?”
Nodding as he looked at Old Man Jong, Uncle Baek Jin-seong’s eyes sparkled.
Unlike me, the plan to swallow the Green Forest was itself a rushed situation, so it seemed he only saw that part now.
Certainly, the unfolding situation was so sudden that it was hectic.
“Swallowing a faction that trained in demonic arts… I see…”
Perhaps because his roots were in the orthodox faction, Uncle Baek Jin-seong instinctively hesitated.
It was understandable, since it was a domain that even the broad-minded Uncle Baek Jin-seong would not have kept in mind.
“Managing them won’t be easy, you know?”
“Someone will do the hard work.”
“…From whom did you learn to have such wicked thoughts?”
Uncle Baek Jin-seong narrowed his eyes and glared at me.
But that was only for a moment.
“Well, try it. If that monster-like gentleman follows you, you’ll save your life anywhere.”
“Sister Seol-ah is going too, so don’t worry.”
“What? Hey, you punk! You this…”
“I don’t know! I can’t hear you!”
Before some harsh words could burst out, I covered both ears and nimbly pulled myself away.
***
Originally, I had planned to move quickly, taking only Old Man Jong and the Heavenly Demon’s Guard.
But somehow, as Sister Seol-ah came along, some of Han Young and the Snow Shadows, who were the hidden forces directly under the Baek Family Escort, also ended up following.
It was a force capable of turning even a decent major sect into a wasteland.
From Uncle Baek Jin-seong’s perspective, it meant that much of his force had broken away.
Uncle Baek Jin-seong’s eyes were filled with a sense of desolation.
This looked like the parent saying that raising a daughter is useless.
‘Ah, just wait a little. I’m telling you I’ll bring back something good.’
He makes such a fuss even though he will greedily swallow that fake Heavenly Demon Yi Gyeong-cheon’s faction once I bring them.
The number of newly joined Fort Leaders has also increased, and Elder Divine Monk is standing reliably, so I don’t know why he acts so weak.
‘Anyway, Sister Seol-ah’s face looks like she has many worries.’
As we ran using body-lightening art toward the place where the fake Heavenly Demon Yi Gyeong-cheon was located, her face looked like she had many things she wanted to ask.
Although I had never learned anything like mind-reading, I could roughly guess what she was worried about.
‘It must be about the demonic arts.’
Sister Seol-ah knew me as someone who had trained in orthodox martial arts. Furthermore, she knew that the martial arts of the Nine Great Sects, Shaolin and Wudang, were the foundation.
For me to train in demonic arts was, by the world’s standards, a suicidal act of being desperate to die quickly.
Because it was the ultimate shortcut to Qi Deviation.
Since I had asked her to let me tell her myself someday, she seemed to think that bringing it up rashly would be like an interrogation.
At any rate, it was an extremely complex expression.
“I am not a demon.”
“Really?! Ah!”
Whether because she thought her inner feelings, which had been caught long ago, were only discovered now, Sister Seol-ah’s face turned red.
I snatched a tree branch passing by my side and held it in my hand.
“Do you think a demon can do this?”
I breathed the tree’s divine power into the branch, which had only buds on it. Then, the buds opened and sprouted.
Perhaps it was a flower tree, as beautiful spring flowers bloomed brightly on the branch.
“Wow…”
Sister Seol-ah admired purely as she accepted the branch I handed her.
This was not a power that could be explained within the realm of martial arts.
“That…”
“Oh…”
The one who was surprised was not Sister Seol-ah alone.
Even Old Man Jong could not hide his astonishment.
In the case of the Heavenly Demon’s Guard, their gazes looked at me as if I were something other than human.
It felt like their fanatic-like temperament had grown darker, to the point where I wondered if I had made a mistake.
“Spring… a person who brings spring…”
On the other hand, Han Young, the leader of the Snow Shadows, muttered in a voice that somehow carried love and hate.
Was Sister Seol-ah giving it a symbolic meaning as well?
Sister Seol-ah carefully put the branch filled with spring flowers into her bosom.
***
The atmosphere smelling of spring did not last long.
Perhaps because the factions on the demonic arts side were heterogeneous even within the Green Forest, they kept their distance from other mountain forts.
From a place where there was little reason to contact other mountain forts, noisy sounds were heard.
“It never passes quietly.”
They seemed to be in the middle of a fight with some group already.
“Prepare for combat!”
As my command fell, the eyes of the demons, including Old Man Jong, changed.
“Do we step forward?”
To the extent that one of the Heavenly Demon’s Guard, rather than Yi Hwa or Old Man Jong, asked.
“Go wild properly. Unleash all the frustration you’ve had. In any case, that place contains only ‘allies’ and ‘those who will become allies’.”
“Yes! Then we will leave only such people remaining.”
The demon representing the Heavenly Demon’s Guard smiled with a satisfied face.
“Shall we step forward as well?”
Stimulated by the demons burning with fighting spirit, Han Young implicitly sought permission.
“If Sister Seol-ah permits it.”
“Oh dear…”
Han Young let out a sigh of disappointment.
In the midst of that, those engaged in combat were revealed before our eyes.
“An ambush?”
“What kind of bastards are you!”
Whether because they only noticed our existence now, the gazes of those who were fighting turned toward us.
Something was caught by my senses as I examined them.
‘Was it the former?’
Byeok Ji-sim must have been quite a formidable fellow.
Seeing that all those engaged in combat were radiating streams of demonic energy, he seemed to have succeeded in creating defectors.
No, rather than that.
‘Crane! Those fellows are also here.’
A disgusting aura was felt.
There were also those who had Gu parasites planted in their heads.
Whether it was voluntary betrayal or yielding under the influence of the Gu parasite, I did not have a method to resolve it.
Even so, it was not a situation where I could show mercy.
“The bastards wearing red bands on their shoulders are the enemies!”
“Yes, Lord!”
At my instruction, which clearly distinguished friend from foe in a chaotic situation where one couldn’t tell who was enemy or ally, Old Man Jong and the Heavenly Demon’s Guard swept in like a storm and began to wipe out the enemies.
At their chest-swelling martial prowess, a spirited impulse naturally arose, and I thought about going wild together with them, but thinking it was impolite to chew on the prey (?) thrown to them to relieve their stress, I quietly suppressed it.
Boom! Boom!
“Argh!”
“What are these bastards!”
In an instant, the Green Forest bandits who defected from the fake Heavenly Demon were utterly smashed.
“Wow!”
The martial prowess of the unbridled Old Man Jong and the Heavenly Demon’s Guard was truly terrifying.
At this level, it was almost to the point of grinding them with a millstone. I could see that when they fought earlier, they had fought very cautiously.
‘Well, since one of them was one of the strongest powerhouses of the Demonic Cult, and the rest were also elite experts handpicked from the Demonic Cult…’
Considering the difference in class, it was perhaps a natural result in a sense.
‘…I should treat them well.’
The thought that I should really treat them well in the future bubbled up.
As the situation was being wrapped up by Old Man Jong and the Heavenly Demon’s Guard who ran wild to their hearts’ content, I asked a dumbfounded Green Forest bandit.
“Where is Fort Leader Yi?”
“Uh…”
It was a question asked right after organizing a chaotic battlefield in an instant. The weight of it was bound to be different.
“Excuse me… are you an acquaintance of our Fort Leader…”
“Can’t you tell by looking?”
I pointed with my chin toward where Old Man Jong and the Heavenly Demon’s Guard stood.
Those who were radiating pure (?) demonic energy glared with wide eyes.
Perhaps because they saw blood in a freshly unbridled state, the demons, who had briefly let go of restraint, glared at the Green Forest bandit talking with me as if he were a man to be killed.
If I were to roughly translate that gaze, it would be along the lines of, ‘How dare you not answer our Heavenly Demon’s decree and stall?’
Even to me it looked brutal, so if it were a situation of directly facing that gaze, it wouldn’t be strange to wet one’s pants.
“Th-This way… No, I mean! I will guide you!”
Fortunately, he was quick-witted and acted fast.
Following the Green Forest bandit, I could soon see the core of this place, which could be called the demon faction.
‘No wonder it was a mess.’
Although it was true that Old Man Jong or the Heavenly Demon’s Guard were in a different class from those who trained in clumsy demonic arts in the Green Forest, there was a reason it was too one-sided.
The strong experts of the Fort Leader level, the real ones, were all gathered here.
The fight taking place outside would also have been easily suppressed if the forces here had moved.
However, there was a reason they could not move despite that.
“He was stabbed.”
The fake Heavenly Demon Yi Gyeong-cheon lay collapsed with blood-stained bandages wrapped around his stomach.
“…I am showing a shameful sight. There was… a defector.”
The fake Heavenly Demon, who could not raise his face from shame, ground his teeth.
“But you managed to avoid your dantian.”
“Barely.”
Judging by the blood-stained bandages, they seemed to have intended to stab his dantian.
Perhaps because it was a betrayal of someone he trusted to some degree, twisting his body the moment he was stabbed seemed to have been all he could do.
“It seems we need to kill a few more people, will that be okay?”
“…What do you mean?”
“What else.”
He must have understood, but he was unable to accept it.
It was a typical denial of reality.
I had no intention of explaining to such a fake Heavenly Demon in detail.
There was no time for that either.
“Old Man Jong.”
“Jong-geuk is here.”
“From now on, kill every single bastard I point to.”
“Command received!”
I did not care in the least about the opinions of those gathered here.
In any case, the only people who will walk out of here alive are allies or those who will become allies.
Everyone else must disappear.
“That guy.”
As I pointed, Old Man Jong moved.
Thud!
Along with the sound of something mushy and hard breaking, he turned into a blood pulp.
“What are you doing suddenly!”
“Are you looking for a fight!”
Clang!
Those who had been overwhelmed by the demonic energy radiated by Old Man Jong and the Heavenly Demon’s Guard only then snapped to their senses and drew their weapons.
To those who looked ready to rush at me at any moment, I spoke carrying power.
“From now on, anyone holding a weapon in their hand will also die.”
“…”
It was time to briefly lay aside manners.
I took a deep breath.
I awakened something between the breath connecting inside and outside.
‘That fake Heavenly Demon showed me something good.’
The method of revealing one’s will to exert influence on the surroundings.
Master Heavenly Demon said I handled this power better than that fake Heavenly Demon.
Although it was a power I had used unconsciously, once recognized and understood, it could be handled consciously as well.
Master Heavenly Demon’s teachings contained within me.
The demonic.
The great truth of reaching godhood by standing on the opposite side of the divine.
My essence that touched the demonic and achieved the demonic.
I pull out that which was inside me.
‘Come out!’
Roar!!
That which responded to that will made a sound within me!
Within my narrow heart, it clamored to be let out!
It was released.
“Ahaaa!!”
Someone vomited a cry that could not be distinguished as a sigh or ecstasy.
It was likely one of the Heavenly Demon’s Guard.
‘My Middle Dantian is large and wide.’
It was the Middle Dantian that Master Zhang Sanfeng had built with all his heart.
It was large to the extent that it could not be gauged by ordinary standards.
I contain the thoughts of my head in my chest and scatter them.
I manifest the imagery of my head into reality.
Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand!
The source of all demonic paths scattered in Martial World.
As if delighted to belong within that domain, Jong-geuk radiated demonic energy without hesitation.
Not to mention the Heavenly Demon’s Guard, even Yi Hwa responded with flushed excitement.
A sight as if the entire world were engulfed in demonic flames!
At the center of it was me.
The one who touched the demonic and achieved the demonic, reigning as the demonic itself.
The me here was different from my usual self.
“I…”
I am…
“…Your master!”
The Heavenly Demon!