Chapter 182: Unexpected Visitors (2)
While receiving the Heavenly Demon Divine Art from Master Heavenly Demon to make up for Yi Gyeong-cheon’s shortcomings, I could be sure of one thing.
It was that Master Heavenly Demon surely had no master of his own.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art was filled with traces of having mastered everything alone in the wild.
Although there were parts where other martial arts were incorporated in between, what lay at its core was solely Master Heavenly Demon’s own.
Master Heavenly Demon was one who stood alone.
A solitary noble one who became honored alone.
Having grown alone, learned alone, and mastered alone, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art where only the self existed was like a single adventure book.
Starting from oneself and ending with oneself, it was a chronicle that was stronger than anyone else’s, yet lonely.
All the things from the days when Master Heavenly Demon was immature, which were excluded from the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand.
There, I obtained something unexpected.
The vigor that awakened the instincts left behind by the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
‘I didn’t know it would connect like this.’
That vigor from the past days when he was called a demon king on earth had a side that matched Master Heavenly Demon’s wildness from his immature days to a bizarre degree.
Moreover, perhaps because it could be used more lightly than the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand, it was easy for me to utilize.
Whoosh!!
The moment I raised my power, a force that made the underside of my skin itch circulated once through my body.
“Here I come!”
The moment the boiling wildness reached the tips of my toes,
My body shot forward.
It was not the usual Cloud-Soaring Golden Light Step.
The Cloud-Soaring Golden Light Step was the height of stillness within movement. It was not a martial art to be performed while harboring such a throbbing wildness.
‘According to instinct.’
See, feel, and evade!
A brute force struggle without form or style!
It was bound to be rough.
Whoosh! Whoosh!!
The elbow swinging like an axe chop no longer touched my body.
“What in the……”
The opponent was flustered by my movement of evading by a hair’s breadth right in front of his nose.
“Like a rat……!?!”
Before he could even finish his words, my outstretched hand grabbed his face.
Slam!
I slammed the twisted head down into the ground.
“Keo-heok!”
The moment the opponent’s body, slammed down with a dull thud, bounced up along with a death rattle.
Thwack!!
When the head that bounced up like a leather ball reached the right position, I kicked it, and it flew away as if it were truly a ball.
Boom!
As a finishing touch, I chased after the flying head and stepped on it.
Although the head stepped on by me dug into the ground, perhaps thanks to the body-hardening method, it did not turn into a smashed watermelon.
Still, the blow must have been considerable, as he could not stand up immediately.
‘Playing with a fun toy…… If I had completely fallen into demonic nature, I would have thought that way, wouldn’t I?’
It was a fortunate thing for the opponent.
Above all.
‘Because the essence of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art is not that.’
Leaving everything to wildness and running amok was simply losing one’s mind.
The essence of the martial arts pursued by Master Heavenly Demon was not such a madman’s swordplay.
[Is it only the wildly rampaging instinct that is the true me?]
[If so, is the reason I think of as myself merely a shell covering my true appearance?]
In the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Master Heavenly Demon was endlessly throwing questions.
He took the imperfection and lack of purity of his self (A) as a problem, raising his realm through agony and investigation over it.
At the end of it, Master Heavenly Demon finally understood, realized, and triumphed.
[Know oneself, and conquer oneself.]
[I am the master.]
Master Heavenly Demon conquered even his instincts to become the complete master of himself.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art was a martial art of conquering oneself!
It was not a power swayed by instinct!
‘Here, I conquer that power that ran wild while mingling with the comprehension of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven!’
The throbbing and rampaging power squirmed in my hand, but I gripped it.
The realm Master Heavenly Demon reached through enlightenment was at the level of making it entirely his own, but I had not yet reached such a realm.
As Master Heavenly Demon’s disciple, I merely drew up that rampaging power with my meager strength, suppressed it, and wielded it!
That power revealed its appearance.
A surging pitch-black.
Following the movement of my hand, the flow of pitch-black drew a swirling vortex!
At the end of that vortex, the squirming of the swirling power concentrated into a single point!
Rumble!
Just by revealing its existence, the atmosphere vibrated!
“No!”
Astonished by the swirling pitch-black power, the demonic practitioners joined forces and blocked it.
Roar!!
“Kheu-heup!”
“Hold…… on!!”
“Aaaargh!”
Even though two of them clung to it, they could not handle it, being pushed back endlessly until they were finally flung away.
Crash!
The two demonic practitioners, who rolled roughly on the ground, collected their trembling bodies and gasped for breath.
“Heh! Heok! Huuu……”
Looking at the demonic practitioners who dared not even think of standing up, I gauged the power I had just unleashed.
‘If I hadn’t obtained the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand from the start, would I have started with this as well?’
The reason Master Heavenly Demon discarded the Heavenly Demon Divine Art when creating the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand was that he no longer needed the remnants of his immature days when he ran wild according to instinct.
For the still-immature me, this side felt easier than the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand.
‘The Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand is too hard to control. Yet, these days, it feels like it is strangely matching steps with the Three Talents Unified Qi Art……’
Considering the intrinsic nature of the martial art itself, the one who brought about that change was definitely not Master Heavenly Demon.
Nine times out of ten, it was clear that Master Zhang Sanfeng had taken action.
[Hmm…… A vortex and silk-reeling from there…… A good technique. If refined well, something useful will come out.]
Just hearing him praise first while evaluating Master Heavenly Demon’s martial art smelled fishy.
“How could a Shaolin disciple use demonic arts……”
The demonic practitioners, who had regained some of their senses, could not hide their astonishment at the martial art I had displayed.
They had faces that looked like they had an immense number of questions to ask.
“Shall we stop?”
Come to think of it, I also had many things to ask them.
“……What are you plotting?”
Perhaps my words, urging a truce despite having captured a perfect advantage, sounded suspicious, as the demonic practitioners looked at me with confused eyes.
‘Their facial muscles are truly busy.’
Watching their expressions change in real-time, I came to understand the gazes of the people who would occasionally criticize me when I conversed with my masters in heaven.
“Calm down and look around. You should be able to feel some presences by now.”
“Ugh……”
The power of the martial art I had displayed was not light.
Someone with excellent sensory perception could not have failed to feel the aftermath.
And here in Samyang County, there were many people with outstanding sensory perception, experts.
Because it was a place with many eyes watching, I had intended to suppress them quietly, but that plan went down the drain.
Fortunately, those who gathered were mainly the Demonic Cult’s side and the Snow Shadows.
Perhaps having calmly surveyed the surroundings at my words, the demonic practitioners’ faces stiffened even more seriously.
“……What on earth is this place?”
“I’ll explain slowly, so follow me for now.”
“How can we trust your words and follow you blindly……”
“Wouldn’t it be unfair to die without any achievements after coming all this long way through hardships?”
I cut him off coldly.
Of course, it was a threat.
However, if one had to look at it, it could well be called close to a rescue.
Because at this rate, even if I tried to let it slide, Yi Hwa might try to burn them to death.
‘Their gazes are slowly becoming dangerous.’
Considering how Old Man Jong and the Heavenly Demon’s Personal Guard had recently come to resemble Yi Hwa’s gaze, if what happened here were to be known, their lives would be in jeopardy.
No, seriously.
“We shall follow…… For now.”
The one who seemed the most rational among the demonic practitioners nodded.
In that way, the brief disturbance that occurred in Samyang County came to an end.
***
I knew everyone was busy, but this was an extremely serious matter.
It was a situation where people presumed to be from the Demonic Cult had actually come seeking us.
For a more definite confirmation, I called Yi Hwa and Old Man Jong to face them.
“““We pay our respects to the Demon Sovereign!”””
‘How orderly.’
I could see them kneeling down while shouting a unified chant in perfect harmony.
As expected, they were indeed from the Demonic Cult.
‘This is troublesome……’
Although I did not know how they found out and came to Samyang County, the fact that they came meant other demonic cultists could also come here.
Since it could develop into a headache-inducing matter, I fell into deep thought.
On the other hand, Old Man Jong’s face was wrinkling into a fierce frown.
“If you belong to the Cult, I am not the first one you should show respect to, is that not so?”
“Ah!”
It seemed Old Man Jong was bothered by them showing respect to him before me.
I was not the type to care about such things, but it seemed different from Old Man Jong’s perspective.
The demonic practitioners from the outside quickly turned their bodies and bowed their heads.
“““We pay our respects to the Divine Maiden!”””
“…….”
‘Oh dear.’
Yi Hwa’s face, which had already looked as displeased as Old Man Jong’s, flushed bright red.
[Jeez, the intelligence level of those Demonic Cult bastards.]
Master Zhang Sanfeng also openly ridiculed them.
‘Somehow, this feels ten out of ten like a jab at Master Heavenly Demon……’
I might hear news of Master Heavenly Demon and Master Zhang Sanfeng fighting a match sometime soon.
Anyway.
‘If I just stay quiet, it’ll take ages.’
Telling them to leave the reprimands for later, I had to hear what I wanted to know first.
“How did you come to Samyang County?”
“…….”
However, there was no reply to my question.
This was a bit insolent.
Showing no respect to me was something I didn’t care about, so I could let it slide, but not answering my question was a different matter.
Naturally, my brow furrowed slightly.
Grate!
It went without saying, but Yi Hwa and Old Jong, who were sensitive to my mood, caught onto my feelings instantly.
“Let’s hear the story first. Because I want to hear it quickly.”
If left alone like this, it would be one of two things.
Yi Hwa and Old Jong would grab and beat those guys, or they would kneel down before me, claiming they had committed a capital crime.
Neither was what I desired.
“Answer the question…… of the most benevolent, merciful, and greatest person in the world. Right now! Grr!”
Yi Hwa growled as she handed down the command.
Her voice trembling in between gave the impression that she was struggling hard to speak.
To my ears, it sounded like she was barely holding back from setting fire to them immediately.
“……Ye-yes.”
The demonic practitioners seemed to realize that things were going awry.
You know how it is.
The atmosphere when you realize that although you don’t know what mistake you made, you’ve definitely made a huge one.
As Yi Hwa and Old Jong openly exuded such an aura, the one who was the most rational among the demonic practitioners opened his mouth cautiously.
“Did you not send someone to the Cult, Divine Maiden? Telling us to come to Samyang County. The story you leaked when contacting the moderate faction slipped out a bit…… Gasp?!”
The demonic practitioner who was speaking stopped mid-sentence as if he had realized something.
As if he had a serious problem with his neck joints, he turned to look at me in jerky, robotic movements like a broken cogwheel.
Perhaps having realized something from his behavior, the faces of the remaining two demonic practitioners also turned pale.
‘Looks like they noticed.’
Somehow, I felt like I could hear the sound of blood running cold.
[Are you enjoying this?]
I had no hobby of teasing others needlessly, but these fellows were insolent.
“Why? Go on.”
So I could enjoy at least this much, right?