Chapter 97: Reign of the Heavenly Demon
Gu Ji-hwang, a demon of the Heavenly Demon Cult who was disguised as a Seonhwa Sect disciple, was bewildered.
‘Who the hell are these bastards?’
At first, he had let out a hollow laugh at the actions of the idiots who suddenly appeared and claimed to be demons of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Evaluating it from a demon’s perspective, it was fit only for a cheap opera.
It might work on ignorant ordinary people, but to a real one, it was far too clumsy.
The real Heavenly Demon Cult did not act in such a manner.
So he had thought.
‘They are real?’
The moment one of them swung his sword, his mind changed.
The guy’s sword was the real deal.
The domineering momentum harbored by the martial arts of the old generation!
Though clumsy, the momentum trying to reign over ten thousand demons clearly contained the essence of the great demonic path. It was undoubtedly the trace of an ancient, orthodox demonic art.
His companions receiving the attack also seemed confused, busy defending themselves without being able to make a decision.
‘What is this? What on earth is this!’
Gu Ji-hwang, who played the role of the brain in the scheme sent from above to trigger the orthodox-unorthodox chaos within Sichuan, was currently cornered.
Everything he had thought was well within his capabilities went completely awry. Things had progressed without much trouble halfway through, but problems began to arise at some point.
The underlying strength of the orthodox and unorthodox factions that had ruled Sichuan for ages was not to be underestimated.
‘Damn Devouring Demonic Monarch! That old man was all talk!’
The biggest problem was the death of the Devouring Demonic Monarch, a monarch-level expert. Had it not been for his death, Gu Ji-hwang would not have been cornered like this.
In a situation where his failures outweighed his achievements, even the casualties were severe.
At this rate, he would have to take responsibility for the failure and forfeit his life.
The scheme to occupy the Seonhwa Sect was also a desperate struggle to grab at a final lifeline. Since he needed an achievement to offset his faults, he had acted single-handedly on his own authority. Naturally, the higher-ups did not know.
Although he did not know why they had suddenly attacked a place like the Seonhwa Sect, if they were truly demons of the Heavenly Demon Cult, they might not know their identities.
‘Should I reveal our identity?’
If he informed them of the situation, they might be able to avoid a fight.
Without any need to fight, he just had to let them know they were fellow demons.
The problem was.
“Look at those vicious bastards!”
“Keep it up, chivalrous heroes!”
There were too many watching eyes.
Perhaps because they had noisily smashed the gate to barge in, the attention of the villagers was focused on them.
‘Fuck!’
If he revealed their identity, they would have to incinerate the entire village.
Then the plan and everything else would go down the drain.
Even though unorthodox bastards dabbled in dirty work, they did not commit massacres like incinerating an entire village.
If they did such a thing, the government would have no choice but to take action, and the giant unorthodox factions rooted in the region would also find it unpleasant.
Massacring civilians was something done only by madmen who did not care about the consequences.
It was not something orthodox guys would do, and even the unorthodox faction shied away from it.
Then where would the eyes focus?
‘On our cult, of course, fuck!’
For Gu Ji-hwang’s final lifeline—the plan to cause discord between the orthodox and unorthodox—to be realized, the Seonhwa Sect had to remain exactly as it was known to the world.
If it failed?
He would be decapitated, bearing the responsibility for the failure of the orthodox-unorthodox chaos scheme and the death of the Devouring Demonic Monarch.
‘Either way, dying is the same.’
The moment these idiots charged into the Seonhwa Sect, the plan was as good as shattered.
If these idiots won?
Gu Ji-hwang and everyone else would die, and rumors would spread that the Demonic Cult trampled the Seonhwa Sect.
If they defeated these idiots?
Rumors would spread that the Demonic Cult attacked the orthodox faction. And they would be revered as the proud rising stars of the orthodox faction. Along with that, they would be granted a splendid alias. One so splendid and shiny that they would have to worry about qi deviation.
‘It’s all or nothing!’
Judging by the temperament of the martial arts they wield, they are from the lineage of old martial arts. They are bastards from a different faction anyway.
“Kill those bastards, all of them!”
His companions, who had hesitated at Gu Ji-hwang’s shout, soon reached the same conclusion and released a murderous intent they had never shown before.
Watching this, Gu Ji-hwang wore a rotten smile.
He believed the greenhorn wielding a sword, who had presumptuously stepped forward, would soon be crushed.
‘What the hell is that guy!’
However, when the other guy stepped forward, it turned out vastly different from what he had expected.
***
I was slightly surprised to see Baek Mu-ho charging blindly and wielding his sword.
For Baek Mu-ho, seeing the sword marks left behind over a long period was all he had of Master Heavenly Demon’s sword.
He had grasped and was wielding a sword style that no one had ever taught him on his own.
The problem was that the sword really looked like the sword swung by Master Heavenly Demon.
To the point that I wondered what else could possibly be Master Heavenly Demon’s martial art if not that.
[Hahaha! Look at this kid?]
Master Heavenly Demon’s pleased voice echoing in my head proved it.
‘I told him to do it, and he actually does it.’
For Baek Mu-ho, who was familiar with Mount Hua Sect’s sword, Master Heavenly Demon’s sword would feel like clothes that did not fit his body. Yet, he swung Master Heavenly Demon’s sword naturally.
He was a guy who was definitely born with a natural talent for the sword.
‘Naturally.’
Instead, I felt even more awkward.
Thinking of operating and unleashing only Master Heavenly Demon’s Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand while excluding the Clear Brightness Mind Method and Heavy Earth Divine Art, something felt jarring. Unlike Baek Mu-ho who swung his sword like a fish in water, I felt as if a leash was placed on my running wild wildness.
The leashed wildness forgot how to run wild.
The Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand was a martial art difficult to handle. As strong as it was, the backlash was also severe.
When unleashing the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand, I directed all my focus to handling the surging backlash with all my might.
It was the same now.
Let’s control it.
Let’s suppress it.
I was approaching the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand with only such thoughts.
Now that even the Heavy Earth Divine Art and Clear Brightness Mind Method which supported me reliably were excluded, it felt like taking a first step with nothing.
Awkwardly and immaturely.
[It is like watching a child who has been burned trying to handle fire.]
Because I knew myself that I was a mess, Master Heavenly Demon’s rebuke sounded heavy and heavy.
It was an appropriate analogy.
A child who has been burned fears and guards against fire more than necessary. The more they do so, the further they drift from naturalness.
[Kalpalessness starts with knowing oneself.]
Know oneself.
‘I am shrunk back. Like a frightened idiot.’
Something welled up in my chest.
‘I am no coward!’
I take a second step.
Unlike the first step, carrying a bit of impulse.
Pushing fear into the deep depths.
It was then.
Hummmm!
There was an object responding to my impulse.
The gauntlets that Master Heavenly Demon reportedly used.
They responded to my impulse-laden Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand and let out a cry.
Welcoming a very old friend, they shared my burden.
They took on my burden so that I could go far and long.
Though they were merely objects, they reacted as if they were alive and helped me.
They helped me and pushed my back.
Thus, on the third step, the child who had been burned approached the fiery pit.
Hummmmmmmmmm!
Together with the gauntlets howling joyfully, my body leaped forward.
The leash was untied, and wildness ran wild.
While the excluded Heavy Earth Divine Art, Three Talents Unified Qi Art, earth divine power, and metal divine power naturally followed to help me, the newly added power supported the lacking parts.
The divine power of fire and Master Heavenly Demon’s gauntlets.
‘I can do it.’
Flying is a fate for a bird. A bird that realizes it has wings will eventually fly in the sky.
Now I knew that I had wings.
Even if it was agonizing, painful, and hurtful.
‘Here I go!’
Fate cannot be avoided.
Whoosh!
The fourth step changed the scenery in my view.
My body was light as a feather.
As if I had become free alone from the constraints of the world.
It felt as if a sense of disconnect had formed between the world and me.
[The world does not need to be yours. However, you must know that you are your own master.]
‘My master is myself.’
The world is not my master.
The moment I filled my inside entirely with the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand, I, together with this power, stood above the world.
Thus, I extended a single punch.
Crack!
“Aaagh!”
The arm of the opponent, who stretched out his hand to block my attack, was crushed.
The muscles attached to the forearm burst and scattered, and the bone was crushed like charcoal with only embers remaining.
A figure who would have boasted of his majesty with high shoulders screamed like a child.
Though he must have been a fairly well-known expert among the Demonic Cult’s demons, he knelt and submitted.
[Make everything in your world submit.]
The Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand was a martial art that made one the master within one’s own domain.
I could feel the astonished gazes of the others.
They belatedly displayed what they should have rightfully offered to me.
Impudently.
[A demon does not bow their head.]
Naturally.
[Reign.]
Worship.
‘I am the master.’
Crush them.
‘I will trample down everything that does not bow its head!’
The will of the reigning one settled upon the world of my domain.
The hole in the center of my head devoured the power to achieve it limitlessly.
Solitary Supremacy.
Only Solitary Supremacy.
Reigning supreme alone, noble alone.
That will, filled with indignation, struck down the earth.
Boom! Rumble! Crash!
“Cough!”
“W-what on earth is this!”
Buildings collapsed, and walls crumbled.
Their legs broke, preventing them from daring to stand upright.
With screams, they coughed up blood from their seven orifices and slammed their heads to the ground.
I did not allow anyone to share the same eye level as me within my domain.
The martial art I had just unleashed was such a martial art.
[Hmph! A trivial and nostalgic martial art.]
“Fuck, you startled me!”
Amidst all this, only Baek Mu-ho stared at me in shock. He seemed to have somehow neutralized my force by wielding Master Heavenly Demon’s sword.
Seeing that.
‘Oh man…’
I regained my senses a bit.
“Sigh…”
As the energy of the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand ebbed away like the tide along with the martial art I had just unleashed, the thoughts I had harbored moments ago felt completely different.
Worship, crush them, and all that.
“…The self-loathing is real.”
I was deeply embarrassed.
***
Yi Hwa, who was watching everything from a hill that overlooked the Seonhwa Sect at a glance, trembled with ecstasy.
“Heavenly Demon’s Reign Stride…”
The legendary martial art that was said to have forced an army of ten thousand to kneel with just a single step when the Heavenly Demon was once on earth.
A martial art that has not been passed down to the current Heavenly Demon.
Having witnessed the true dignity of the Heavenly Demon, Yi Hwa’s eyes grew red as if she would burst into tears at any moment.
“Did you see that, Guard Commander?”
“Yes!”
Suddenly, an extraordinary human figure dropped down beside Yi Hwa and knelt.
Perhaps no less surprised and delighted than Yi Hwa, he too was trembling as he prostrated.
“Go to the Holy Cult. Contact the moderate faction and inform them of the existence of the Sovereign. Then, gather those who will follow and come to Samyang County. The Sovereign and the Sovereign’s kin will be there.”
“Are we not bringing Him to the Holy Cult?”
“He is a Heavenly Demon born outside. We cannot force someone who is not yet familiar with the Holy Cult.”
“However…”
“Servants must act like servants.”
Yi Hwa’s voice cutting off the Guard Commander was cold.
“…I obey.”
Receiving Yi Hwa’s will, the Guard Commander disappeared as silently as he had first appeared.
In the place where the Guard Commander vanished like that.
“I am looking forward to it. That place called Samyang County.”
Yi Hwa is looking forward to the new meeting.