Chapter 214: Gathering of Factions
Chapter 213 – Gathering of Factions
The items created by the Heavenly Demon had spread enough to reach heaven. They had even spread to the Western Pure Land as well as Jin’ao Island.
Currently, in the Immortal Realm, it was to the extent that those who did not possess an item created by the Heavenly Demon were rare.
Naturally, the way things were turning around Yeon Cheong-un was being watched by everyone in heaven as well.
“Things on earth are turning out sooooo well.”
A deity sneered while looking at a magic treasure.
His appearance was filled with an uncomfortable air.
“Oh dear. Did I go through all this dog-like suffering to become an immortal just to see this kind of sight? Wow~ I feel a sense of self-loathing.”
“Tell me about it. Sigh! Back in my day……”
The immortals, who were taking a brief moment to rest, conversed while holding long pipes in their mouths.
Except for the fact that they were immortals, they were sights commonly seen in any rural neighborhood.
In the immortals conversing while retracing their old memories, there were appearances where a somewhat human side remained.
A consistent regret was smeared on their expressions.
“If only the Hyeoncheon Palace had not collapsed……”
“Ah, right. You were from the Hyeoncheon Palace, weren’t you?”
“Most of the immortals in the Immortal Realm are from either Kunlun or there anyway.”
Hyeoncheon Palace.
The place where the will of the black sky resided.
The name from the past, when the Xuan-tian Emperor was the supreme deity of the Celestial Realm, was still being talked about even now.
“Although it was an understandable thing…… that gentleman, the Xuan-tian Emperor, did overdo it a bit. There was no way heaven would just leave an event of that scale alone.”
“Tsk! It’s just regrettable. Regrettable.”
The past era when gods walked the earth.
In the period when Demonic Kings and monsters were not imaginary existences, non-human beings naturally occupied a place.
In those days when the existence of extraordinary powers and chaotic spirits was taken for granted, events surpassing human imagination occurred frequently.
Although heaven clearly delivered the price for it, because it valued the natural order, the process was slow.
It is the heavenly will that moves over a hundred or a thousand years.
However, the Xuan-tian Emperor did not endure.
The Xuan-tian Emperor, who put forward his will to shoulder everything, chose the fastest path, and the natural order did not turn a blind eye to it.
The backlash created by the tangled heavenly will was colossal.
The Xuan-tian Emperor, who took on all those karmic causes, fell into ruin while losing almost everything.
The chain of cause and effect was powerful enough to bring down the supreme deity of the Immortal Realm and all authority that was under his influence.
It was a natural step for the Hyeoncheon Palace, which had been under the Xuan-tian Emperor’s influence, to meet the same fate.
The downfall of the deeply rooted, prestigious lineage that had once produced immortals of the Immortal Realm alongside Kunlun was instantaneous.
Due to that influence, among the things collapsed and lost together, there were many whose whereabouts were still unknown.
Such was the reason why celestial magic treasures remained on earth.
“……However, there is a somewhat puzzling point.”
“What?”
“That heaven is just quietly watching that crazy state. You know it. Even if it looks loose, when viewed from afar, heaven has no gaps. There is no way the will of heaven would have only observed such a state.”
“Hmph! Is it not a highly noble will? It seems they are looking faaaar ahead this time too.”
The immortal who was conversing snorted.
While the smoke flowing from the long pipe scattered softly, the immortal from the Hyeoncheon Palace muttered with dim eyes.
“If one examines each one deeply, it is full of things going crazy, yet the overall flow of the world is a peaceful reign……”
The immortal from the Hyeoncheon Palace seemed to point something out, but
“Well, anyway, it is a matter that has left our hands.”
it scattered as easily as the smoke of tobacco.
***
In the upper part of the mountain where the Heavenly Demon Cult was situated, the territory of the Heaven-Obeying Faction, a dismal atmosphere was lingering.
No human presence was felt.
“It must be so……”
No matter how much of a mess the Heaven-Obeying Faction had been, the rising stars who could be called the future of the Heavenly Demon Cult were in the middle of being burned away like chaff.
Anyone with a normal mind had to step forward and clean up the situation.
However, there was no one. Not a single presence was felt at all.
“It really draws admiration, seriously.”
No matter how much it had been pressed down by the Heaven-Rebelling Faction, it was a massive force that had halved the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Such a force had been ruined to this extent in just a few days.
“We are deeply sorry……”
“Because we were lacking……”
Although it was a monologue, it seemed they had heard everything I said.
The Heavenly Demon’s Personal Guards, who had been part of the Heaven-Obeying Faction until just a few days ago, bowed their heads with grim faces.
Even if I comforted them saying it was not their fault, they did not look like they would listen.
Tak-tak!
Without a word, I patted their shoulders.
I thought it would be better than clumsy comfort.
The heads of the Heavenly Demon’s Personal Guards bowed even further.
Although it seemed half-effective, they did not seem to have shaken off all their emotions.
They were the epitome of loyal people.
The more diligent and loyal people are, the more sensitive they are to mistakes or problems. This is because they shoulder that responsibility more strongly than others.
Although not common in my grandfather’s government office, it was a type that existed occasionally.
“Bring me the heads of the fellows who committed this deed. Then I shall forgive everything.”
“……Understood!”
The eyes that had sunk grimly changed suddenly.
As I set what they should bite and tear, they transformed from wild dogs with tails tucked to fierce wolves, burning with determination.
“Hmm?”
At that moment, a presence was caught by my senses.
Urgent footsteps. It was like the sound of running away to escape something.
Soon, the gazes of those who caught the presence directed toward one place.
Shortly after, someone burst out from there.
“W-Who…… Who is it!”
A man who looked to be around thirty. Though it had become dirty, it was an attire in my memory.
‘Patrol Unit?’
It was the same attire as the demons of the Patrol Unit who had been smashed by my hands when the Great Martial Arena was opened.
Although his flurried appearance looked pathetic, looking at his dirty attire, one could guess that he had gone through a corresponding event.
“Th-The fake Heavenly Demon?”
“……It seems the Heaven-Obeying Faction calls me that.”
Unintentionally, I learned the inner thoughts of the Heaven-Obeying Faction.
Needless to say, the surrounding reaction was not good.
It felt as if the surrounding temperature plunged instantly.
“Hieeeek!”
The demon of the Patrol Unit unsightly fell on his backside.
His mindset was already not that of a warrior.
Since even the leader fellow was unqualified, how much worse would those under him be?
‘Anyway, it will be easy to obtain information.’
In that state, it seemed he would pour out what he had seen and heard one after another just by being asked.
The general situation had been grasped, but detailed information was always welcome.
“If you answer what I ask, I shall spare you.”
The Patrol Unit demon who was struggling in fear stopped his body at my words.
Soon, as if realizing his disgraceful behavior, his face turned red and he stood up.
“Uh…… that…… yes, yessir!”
The Patrol Unit demon, who felt relieved quickly, opened his mouth before I could even ask anything.
“Everything I know……”
Peo-eok!
Instantly, the Patrol Unit demon’s head swelled and then exploded.
The broken fragments scattered in all directions.
The demon, who was about to say something, died without even being able to utter a word.
“Wh-What in the world is this……”
It was not that someone among those present here had made a move.
His head just exploded while he was trying to say something.
It was an absurd sight.
As if I was not the only one who thought so, everyone hardened their faces.
‘A gu parasite?’
The first thing that came to mind was the gu parasite I had witnessed at the Mount Hua Sect, but I soon shook my head.
A gu parasite does not explode a person’s head in this manner. They die while shedding blood and brain fluid from the seven orifices.
This is because the gu parasite implanted in the head wakes up and eats away the brain.
The former Minister of Revenue, Gyeong Sang-eon, whose background the Dragon Scale Squad was digging into in Suzhou, also died in the same manner.
This was a different method.
‘Sorcery?’
“Yi Hwa. Is it sorcery?”
“Yes. It seems to be the spell of someone who has been trying to peek at this side since a while ago.”
“Peeking?”
Perhaps because it was in the domain of sorcery, nothing was caught by my senses.
But it seemed it did not work against Yi Hwa.
This was because the phrase ‘trying to peek’ was equivalent to saying ‘they are attempting to peek but are blocked.’
“Can you eliminate it?”
“Yes.”
Yi Hwa gathered her index and middle fingers and pointed forward.
A round flame arose from her fingertips.
Soon, as Yi Hwa raised her fingertips to the sky, the round flame turned into a long flame like a thick rope and soared into the sky.
Chieeeek! Hwareuk!
The flame soaring into the sky wrapped around something in the empty air, spewed a bright light for an instant, and then vanished.
I did not know what kind of technique it was, but I could tell she had burned something that was in the empty air.
“I am glad you are here. Otherwise, I would have approached without even knowing I was being monitored, and ended up in trouble.”
“Not necessarily. Even if the opponent’s sorcerer had succeeded in peeking at this side, there would have been no occasion for you, brother…… no, the Heavenly Demon, to face them directly.”
“Huh?”
What did she mean by there being no occasion to face them?
The mastermind who had devastated the Heavenly Demon Cult like this would surely not lack courage?
“It seems you are praising me too much.”
“……That is what I mean.”
Yi Hwa glossed it over with a strange expression.
Since it was not an important matter right now, I did not press her for details either.
“Let’s go further in.”
I turned my steps toward the direction where the Patrol Unit demon had come from.
Soon, a thick scent of blood brushed the tip of my nose.
It was a scent of blood so dense that I could guess the sight that would unfold ahead even without seeing it with my own eyes.
“……Is it true that a human did this?”
It was hard to find an intact one among the corpses filled inside.
The floor was soaked with blood.
The traces of killing a person can be broadly seen in three ways.
Being cut by a blade, beaten to bursting, or broken.
The wounds of the corpses here were not general at all.
If anything, they were traces of being bitten and torn.
Had I encountered these corpses without any prior information, I would have thought they were corpses attacked by a ferocious wild beast.
It was that terrible.
“……I see why they could not recover the rising stars.”
They had also run wild madly.
Or they had been beaten by something that ran wild.
At least, it was certain that the one who created this massacre was out of his mind.
Pak! Papak!
Instantly, the sound of tearing air resounded from both my flanks.
I deflected the sudden ambush using the Wudang Sect’s technique that was ingrained in my body.
If I blocked one side, Old Jong blocked the opposite side.
‘It was dangerous.’
I would not have been able to block it if not for my sensation developed to an absurd degree, thanks to Sang-hwa having grown through the elixirs I consumed while wandering around the Cheonsan Mountains like crazy recently.
Even so, defending one side was the best I could do.
If Old Jong had not stepped forward at the right time and blocked the opposite side, I might have taken a proper hit.
“Kekeke!”
A strange person letting out a sound that was eerie just to hear.
Only by the time I realized that the sound was laughter did I notice that the hand which had blocked the attack was stinging.
And that the sticky thing flowing amidst that stinging was my blood.
It seemed the skin of my palm was torn a bit the moment I blocked the attack.
“Mad Blood Demonic Emperor? Black Star Demonic Emperor?”
Their identities flowed from Old Jong’s mouth.
‘Demonic Emperor-level experts……’
I ended up seeing here the experts whom I might have clashed with on the Great Martial Arena.
They were individuals in a similar state as the rising stars of the Heavenly Demon Cult I had swept away just a moment ago.
‘Two stages……’
Suddenly, remembering the distinctiveness those rising stars had shown, I felt my face harden.
Strong enemies who could not be thought of lightly even if clashing normally.
Perhaps someone among those who followed me here might die.
‘That won’t do.’
I cannot watch my person die before my eyes.
I gathered strength in my bleeding hand.
‘Shall I try it.’
There was something that had suddenly occurred to me when I deployed the peculiar Blood Net Gang Lines on the Great Martial Arena.
If implemented well, it would become a martial art incomparable to those Blood Net Gang Lines.
“Kaaaaa!”
‘……If it doesn’t work, about one of my arms will fly off.’
My entire body grew hot.