Chapter 204: Advice From the Heavenly Demon
Chapter 203 – Advice From the Heavenly Demon
Although the Great Martial Arena was opened, no one else utilized it.
Naturally, the Heavenly Demon Cult seethed with stories of the new Heavenly Demon, Yeon Cheong-un.
Setting aside whether to acknowledge Yeon Cheong-un as the Heavenly Demon or not, the buzz itself was by far the absolute highlight.
Naturally, the atmosphere of the Heaven-Obeying Faction was at its worst.
In particular, the Heavenly Demon bloodline, centered around the Elders’ Council, was in an atmosphere where their blood pressure felt like it would burst at any moment.
“Twenty-nine at the Demonic General level, and one at the Demonic Monarch level… Haha, this is a massive loss.”
Those of the Demonic General rank were not such great experts that they could be evaluated as having established their own house, but they were still at a level where they had successfully blossomed their talent to some degree.
If they had risen to such a level at a relatively young age, it meant they were talents who could aim for higher ground depending on their efforts.
From the perspective of the Heaven-Obeying Faction, the immediate damage was also a problem, but thinking of the future, they had suffered a loss that could not be taken lightly.
“The loss is a loss, but I believe we need to pay attention to his skill. Most of the Demonic Generals could not withstand a single strike. And that was even while running a wheel battle. But more than anything…”
“You are thinking of the final move.”
“That is correct.”
The focus of the conversation suddenly shifted to another direction.
“It is surprising enough that he still had strength left after facing twenty-nine Demonic Generals, but the move he showed against the Hun-yuan Demonic Monarch… honestly, it was threatening even in my eyes. That is to say, he was controlling his power… Perhaps even the martial arts he showed now are not his limit.”
“He looks very young, does anyone know his exact background?”
“There is a rumor that he has not yet passed the age of twenty.”
“Haha! Astounding.”
It was indeed a matter of admiration.
If true, it was a talent that would be evaluated as a genius even if he were only at the Demonic General level.
“Well, won’t it be revealed as we watch gradually? Today he only faced those of the Demonic General rank at most, but from tomorrow, it will be a different story.”
Beyond expressing interest in Yeon Cheong-un’s skill, opinions even arose to wait and watch.
If one were to define its nature, it was close to interest.
In a way, it was a level close to goodwill.
“The complete Heavenly Demon Divine Art seems to be indeed formidable.”
It was the thought that the skill Yeon Cheong-un showed was due to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
And most of the elders of the Elders’ Council gathered here were of the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline.
“Everyone must have seen it. That pattern that appeared on the Ink Dragon Precious Robes.”
“I saw it! To my eyes, it looked like a revelation.”
“In fact, can it not be denied that everything that child utilizes belongs to our Heavenly Demon bloodline?”
At the mention of the complete Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the eyes of the Heavenly Demon bloodline began to burn with greed beyond interest.
These were appearances of them viewing Yeon Cheong-un’s martial arts and prowess as tools they should manage.
Those thoughts converged into a single opinion.
“Should we draw him in?”
“If we can obtain the complete Heavenly Demon Divine Art, is it not something we can accept to some extent? I believe it is tolerable to join hands and run the Heavenly Demon Cult together. That way, we can prepare for the next generation in our own way.”
They casually said words that would have made Yeon Cheong-un hold his belly and roll with laughter if he had been here.
On top of that, the Heavenly Demon in heaven losing his mind and running wild would have been a bonus.
Yet, the elders of the Heavenly Demon bloodline seriously agreed.
“It is a divine and peerless art that makes even a green, young fellow into such an expert. If we, the true masters, inherit the legacy, we will be able to face even the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign.”
Ugly, old greed flowed out without filter.
“Indeed! Of course! There is no way the Heavenly Demon Divine Art would fall behind the martial arts of a fellow without roots.”
It was a part that showed how authoritative and biased the old bodies of the Elders’ Council and the Heavenly Demon bloodline were.
“Hmph!”
Great Elder Yi Won-gun, who had been quietly watching that scene, kicked back his seat and left the meeting room.
***
Leaving the place boiling with desire and heading somewhere, Great Elder Yi Won-gun soon arrived at a building emitting a gloomy atmosphere.
Because the terrain itself was located in a place untouched by sunlight, silk stained and discolored with blood fluttered at the entrance of the damp and dreary building.
Befitting an atmosphere difficult to approach with ordinary courage, not a single human shadow could be found around.
Great Elder Yi Won-gun strode into the place where it felt like a ghost might appear at any moment.
“I thought it was about time you came.”
Great Elder Yi Won-gun’s face grimaced at the sight of the being sliding out from the darkness inside the building.
A person whose boundaries were vague.
Not to mention the voice and attire that made it impossible to distinguish between male and female, the peculiar atmosphere surrounding them made it look as if this person was the very source of this terrible gloom.
Even in Great Elder Yi Won-gun’s eyes, this appearance was alien.
“Welcome.”
“Cut the useless talk.”
“Yes, I prefer that as well.”
“Hmph!”
Great Elder Yi Won-gun did not like the opponent’s unbending attitude.
However, this time he did not show his usual temper as he did in the Elders’ Council.
“Is the preparation going well?”
“There are a few more things needed, but since it is the Tianshan Mountain Range where all kinds of spiritual herbs are scattered everywhere, they will likely be prepared soon.”
“It must be ready in a fortnight at the latest. Now that the greenhorn from the outside is stirring up the Cult is the perfect time to draw out that fellow, the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign.”
“Do not worry. Once the preparation is finished, enticing him into a trap will be an easy task. Unlike his appearance of finding everything bothersome, he is someone who loves challenges. He is of a personality that, even if he knows a trap exists, prefers to smash it head-on rather than avoid it. Furthermore, since he is showing a vigor never seen before, he will be unstoppable.”
“Right. That is true. The fellow who always had lazy eyes like a well-fed tiger suddenly changed. As if he was stimulated by that greenhorn…”
Great Elder Yi Won-gun gnashed his teeth.
The Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign did not even treat the Heaven-Obeying Faction as prey. It meant he had not viewed them as opponents to fight from the very beginning.
Yet, that Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign was moving now.
The fellow who did not even treat the Heavenly Demon bloodline as pebbles on the roadside was showing interest in the greenhorn from the outside.
His pride was hurt.
“…Impudent bastard.”
An unhideable sense of inferiority was slowly creeping up from Great Elder Yi Won-gun.
The sinister person approached with a gentle smile.
“I happen to have someone to introduce to you.”
“…An introduction?”
Vigilance filled the eyes of Great Elder Yi Won-gun, which had been full of inferiority.
“Did you bring in an outsider?”
“Because it is a necessary thing to catch the Heaven-Entering Divine Demonic Sovereign.”
“…”
The end justifies the means. Great Elder Yi Won-gun swallowed his displeasure and shut his mouth.
Meanwhile, a man stepped forward in front of Great Elder Yi Won-gun.
An figure who seemed clad in blood all over his body.
He was a man who embodied blood, death, and dread itself.
“Heh…!”
Great Elder Yi Won-gun let out a groan-like sigh at that overwhelming pressure.
In the midst of that.
“Do you not have any desire to become even stronger?”
The sinister voice whispered, soaking into Great Elder Yi Won-gun’s ear.
***
It seemed I would have to run around diligently tonight as well, hanging onto the Azure Bird’s leg.
It was worth enduring since the reward of my hard work was proven by running wild in the Great Martial Arena, but staying up all night was still painful.
“I guess sleeping soundly is out of the question for a while.”
[Do not worry. It is not as if you are the only one slaving away.]
“…Yes!”
Sensing a strange tone in Master Zhang Sanfeng’s words, I suddenly became extremely cautious.
Come to think of it, Master Zhang Sanfeng was also practically working overtime because of me.
And for fifteen days in a row!
[Seeing you suddenly control your facial expression, you must be thinking of useless thoughts.]
“Ahaha…”
[Well, I consider it an investment for the future, so do not worry too much about it.]
“…When you say it like that, my sleepiness suddenly vanishes completely.”
It was a sudden thought, but as I repeatedly witnessed the masters suffering in heaven, the thought crossed my mind whether there was really any need to become an immortal.
[Do not worry, my disciple.]
“Yes?”
[At your current level, I feel like we could drag you up to heaven even if you died right now.]
“…Yes?”
Excuse me?
Yes?
What did you say?
“I am not even an immortal, so how in heaven…”
[Don’t you see from looking at Hua Tuo or Bian Que? If you cannot become an immortal, you go to the Underworld. Then we can just draft you and use you. I saw during the day that you were previewing your lessons well.]
“Previewing…?”
[I mean that neural maximization. Was it the Scripture-Refining Mind Method? That is a method used only when work piles up and there is no solution in sight. I think I told you about it before? That if it really does not work, we even manipulate the flow of time to process the work.]
No wonder it felt chilly when I first learned it!
Indeed, that was exactly what I thought when I first learned this.
[As you can see from the state of those guys, Hua Tuo and Bian Que, that life is not easy. It is not that there is no way to escape from the bottom, but it is not easy. If you are going to live a public official’s life anyway, it is better to be on the side where you can get promoted.]
“Yes…”
It meant that if I lived half-heartedly and died, I would be rolled around at the very bottom in heaven forever.
‘I must live like crazy…’
And I must definitely recruit plenty of slaves… no, colleagues, to enter as my successors!
To do that, I must survive right now. For the next fifteen days, I should think of myself as dead (?) and focus only on becoming stronger.
I must absolutely avoid a sudden, tragic death.
Now that I knew what would happen to me when I died, I could not die out of sheer unfairness!
Perhaps because urgency arose, everything suddenly looked displeasing.
‘I suddenly understand why Master Zhang Sanfeng does not look kindly upon this fellow, the Azure Bird.’
Since it had the qualifications but did not ascend, playing around lazily on the ground, he would not be able to view it favorably.
“…Would it not be fine to just have a clean chicken soup ending? I obtain the divine power of water, and you ascend to heaven to serve the Queen Mother of the West. Isn’t this indeed a happy ending?”
Pyak?!
Suddenly, the speed increased enough to be felt skin-deep.
Apparently, it took the mention of chicken soup as a prompt to hurry up.
‘This bastard was slacking off?’
As expected, this guy was no ordinary creature either.
It was truly befitting a fellow who had rolled around for over a thousand years.
‘At this speed… the spiritual herbs I can collect will increase.’
Thinking of eating spiritual herbs for fifteen days, I could already feel protests coming from my stomach.
As they say, what is bitter to the mouth is good for the body, but honestly, spiritual herbs were far from the realm of taste.
In some stories, they said it melted like water as soon as saliva touched it, or that it was incredibly delicious, but that was all nonsense.
Raw spiritual herbs tasted terrible.
Perhaps because they were concentrations of something for hundreds of years, was it that the taste was incredibly strong?
For example, imagine concentrating the paste or vinegar you always eat by hundreds of times and eating it in one bite.
Putting it in the mouth was torture in itself.
I realized this was why people refined them when consuming spiritual elixirs.
They said that because it was someone like me who was trained by the masters, it ended at the level of a chore; if anyone else had gulped down that much spiritual herb without neutralizing the medicinal power, and raw at that, they would have been drawing a number ticket in the Underworld nine times out of ten.
Thinking that I had to go through that torture again tonight, my heart naturally swelled with emotion.
Piiik!
“…Hm?”
The Azure Bird’s cry was different from usual.
At the Azure Bird’s threatening cry, I focused my eyes and looked in the direction it was gazing.
The scene of someone harvesting the spiritual herb I was targeting came into view.
“Tsk! They hit the jackpot, those folks.”
It was said that spiritual elixirs were bestowed by heaven. The one who preempted them was the owner.
Since I received the locations of spiritual herbs through heaven anyway, there was no need to be greedy.
“Let’s go somewhere else… Hm?”
However, before turning around, as we drew closer, there was something felt overtly and strongly.
Disgust.
That peculiar unpleasantness, which only fellows from places like the Blood Cult who opposed the Heavenly Principles would exude, wafted over.
Perhaps because Sang-hwa had grown, making my senses sharper, the disgust was felt even more clearly than before.
“This changes the story.”
Nothing good would come from precious spiritual elixirs falling into their hands.
“First, let’s rip off their limbs and then think about the details.”
Perhaps because I kept running around shouting “Heavenly Demon, Heavenly Demon,” I seemed to have become a bit violent as well.