Chapter 11: Chapter 11
The Western Sky Society Leader doubted his own ears.
If he had not misheard, that green brat had said he would smash the Shura Demon Lord’s head.
‘Is he insane?’
It was a reasonable deduction.
Who was the Shura Demon Lord?
None other than a disciple of the Dark Emperor.
Even among the most prominent villains of the era, none had completely escaped the shadow of the Dark Emperor.
It was an era where the influence of the Dark Emperor, who had vanished from the world decades ago, was still far stronger than that of the Lord of the Black Overlord Castle, who was called the foremost figure of the Unorthodox Path in the present age.
The Western Sky Society Leader briefly looked at the corpse of Tiger Hunt Unit Leader Hwang Byeok.
His head had been crushed in an instant by that young brat’s dark iron staff. Though it was only for a moment, he was certainly quite an expert, seeing as even he himself had missed the movement.
However, his opponent was ill-chosen.
In this situation, it was certain that the young expert would be killed by the Shura Demon Lord.
Yet, the Western Sky Society Leader’s situation was not entirely favorable either.
His gaze naturally turned toward Zhuge Rin.
“Are you from the Martial Alliance?”
“…I am Zhuge Rin, Vice Squad Leader of the Black Tortoise Squad.”
The Western Sky Society Leader cursed inwardly.
‘A Vice Squad Leader of the Martial Alliance, and from the Zhuge Clan as well?’
Things were going terribly wrong.
The Shura Demon Lord killing that greenhorn and Zhuge Rin was not a problem, for even though they treated him with the utmost respect, the Shura Demon Lord did not belong to the Western Sky Society.
However, if it was something that occurred within the Western Sky Society, the story changed.
The Martial Alliance alone was overwhelming, yet she had to be someone from the Zhuge Clan of all people; no matter how large an unorthodox faction the Western Sky Society was, this was beyond their ability to handle.
The Western Sky Society Leader glanced sideways at the Shura Demon Lord.
His always benevolent-looking face flushed red and blue with rage.
It was only natural, having heard a greenhorn talk to his face about crushing his head.
Squeezing his eyes shut, the Western Sky Society Leader took a couple of deep breaths and plucked up the courage to speak.
“Demon Lord, I shall punish these fellows myself.”
“What?”
A shout erupted from the Shura Demon Lord.
The air rang thunderously, and his skin tingled.
Patting his chest to steady himself, the Western Sky Society Leader continued speaking.
“How could you bother dealing with such young wretched brats, Demon Lord? When I was unaware, I requested your aid, but now that I know the opponents are merely such greenhorns, I shall resolve this personally…”
Thwack!
The Western Sky Society Leader’s head snapped backward. At the pain felt in his forehead, the world before his eyes momentarily turned white.
“Does a wretched bastard like you dare look down on Black Elder’s disciple?”
Wiping the blood flowing from his forehead, the Western Sky Society Leader spoke.
“Th-that is not it…”
Of course, the Western Sky Society Leader also knew of Black Elder.
However, he did not know him ‘well.’
This was because by the time he, a middle-aged man, had truly made a name for himself in the Unorthodox Path, Black Elder had already vanished without a trace.
Rather, Zhuge Rin, who had read detailed records on the Unorthodox Path, knew far more about him.
Even so, he knew that Black Elder was an immense villain.
And that he was one of the foremost among the disciples of the Dark Emperor.
‘Even if he is that bastard’s disciple, he is nothing more than a wet-behind-the-ears brat…’
The Western Sky Society Leader thought that the Shura Demon Lord was making an unnecessary fuss.
He believed that a personal fear of Black Elder was being projected onto his disciple.
However, the Shura Demon Lord was not merely such a man.
Fearing Black Elder was one thing, and the Cheon Woo-jin before his eyes was a separate individual. However, the aura felt from that brat was also extraordinary.
He possessed martial arts unbefitting his age, to the point where one might momentarily mistake him for Black Elder having undergone the Reversion to Youth.
The Shura Demon Lord clicked his tongue at the Western Sky Society Leader.
“Tsk, pathetic bastard. How can someone who cannot even properly see the opponent right before his eyes act so haughty about being the leader of an unorthodox faction?”
Anger boiled within the Western Sky Society Leader. For some reason, only things that grated on his nerves kept happening one after another.
His subordinates were nothing but pathetic worms, and the Shura Demon Lord, whom he had served with the utmost devotion, was openly scorning him.
There were days like that.
Days when nothing went right, and everything in the world seemed displeasing.
The Western Sky Society Leader’s day today was precisely like that.
“Demon Lord.”
His voice sank low.
At that sight, the Shura Demon Lord burst into a hollow laugh.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Did you say that I cannot even evaluate a single young greenhorn?”
The Shura Demon Lord guffawed as if amused.
“Yes, I said so. Do you have a complaint?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Soon, energy leaked out from the Western Sky Society Leader’s entire body as if bursting forth.
Rumble!
The entire large office reverberated.
The Western Sky Society Leader was also a man who had built his power with his own fists. Looking straight at the Shura Demon Lord, he spoke.
“What will you do if I beat that bastard to death right here on the spot?”
“What? Hahahahaha…”
The Shura Demon Lord’s laughter went on for a long time. At that sight, the Western Sky Society Leader’s momentum flared up even more fiercely.
“Society Leader. No, Il-cheon.”
“…”
“If you beat this fellow to death before me, I will grant you one wish, whatever it may be.”
The Shura Demon Lord smirked.
To the Western Sky Society Leader, that laughter sounded almost like this:
‘You fool, how could someone like you possibly kill Black Elder’s disciple?’
Desperately clutching the fraying thread of his reason, the Western Sky Society Leader spat out his words.
“If I kill that bastard, please withdraw from the Western Sky Society, Demon Lord. If you touch the daughter of the Zhuge Clan, our Western Sky Society will be finished that very day.”
“Oho, it seems the days you assisted me were quite painful for you. Very well, fine. If you kill Black Elder’s disciple, I shall do so.”
The Shura Demon Lord nodded readily.
Soon, both of the Western Sky Society Leader’s fists glowed red-hot.
Red Hand Crushing Might Fist.
A red fist that roughly crushed.
It was truly a concise name. However, it was also the martial art that had made Nam Il-cheon the overlord of a regional unorthodox faction.
He strode toward Cheon Woo-jin with heavy footsteps.
Even so, Cheon Woo-jin remained utterly motionless where he stood, alternating his gaze between the Shura Demon Lord and the Western Sky Society Leader before speaking.
“Who said you could decide that?”
The Western Sky Society Leader’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
Though he poured out a murderous momentum, Cheon Woo-jin treated him as though he did not exist and looked at the Shura Demon Lord.
“Shura Demon Lord, are you afraid of me?”
“…What?”
Cheon Woo-jin lightly pointed the Crescent Moon Staff at the Western Sky Society Leader.
“I asked if you are so afraid that you want to test my strength, even to the point of driving a subordinate who served you to his death.”
“…”
The Shura Demon Lord closed his mouth.
For some reason, he had the illusion of standing before Black Elder.
It was only natural, as martial arts were not the only thing the two men, Black Elder and White Elder, had taught Cheon Woo-jin.
Martial arts, language, thoughts, and values…
They had taught him everything one ought to possess as a human being.
Black Elder and White Elder had wildly dyed the child, who was once a blank slate, with their respective colors.
The result of that was the Cheon Woo-jin of today.
Cheon Woo-jin felt as though he could see right through the Shura Demon Lord’s inner thoughts.
He feared Master Black Elder, to the extent that his body trembled and his breathing quickened slightly without him even realizing it.
Therefore, he also feared Cheon Woo-jin, the disciple Black Elder had raised.
He had deliberately sent the Western Sky Society Leader to check in advance what kind of disciple Black Elder had raised before a fight broke out.
Cheon Woo-jin grew inwardly angry.
To think that a man who was the junior martial brother of Master Black Elder would show such a pathetic sight.
Cheon Woo-jin’s voice sank even lower.
“If you see Master Black Elder in me.”
“…”
“Will you run away?”
Even though everyone in the room looked at the Shura Demon Lord, he could not say a single word. It was not merely because Cheon Woo-jin’s words had hit the mark.
‘Expression, tone of voice, atmosphere… He resembles Black Elder to a startling degree.’
When he had first seen him, he merely thought the brat bore an odd resemblance to Black Elder. Yet for whatever reason, the brat had become disappointed in him and was growing angry, which caused the image of Black Elder’s youth to appear increasingly vivid in him.
Around the time the Shura Demon Lord maintained his silence.
“These sons of bitches…”
With not only his fists but even his face turning red, the Western Sky Society Leader spat curses and growled.
Putting the conversation together, both that greenhorn brat and the Shura Demon Lord truly believed he would lose, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The Western Sky Society Leader charged straight toward Cheon Woo-jin.
Even so, Cheon Woo-jin was looking only at the Shura Demon Lord. That calm, nonchalant side profile stoked the Western Sky Society Leader’s fury all the more.
Befitting the overlord of a regional unorthodox faction, the Western Sky Society Leader closed the distance at tremendous speed and threw a punch.
Around his fist, astral fist energy flickered like bright red flames. Crushing ordinary metal in a single strike was what the astral energy of a master was capable of.
As the fist drew near, the bright red glow of the astral fist energy dyed Cheon Woo-jin’s face crimson as well.
When he had closed in to such proximity.
Cheon Woo-jin turned his head slightly.
Meeting his gaze in that instant, the Western Sky Society Leader formed a triumphant smile.
The brat was still defenseless. At this distance, even the Shura Demon Lord could not have reacted.
‘Die!’
His fist slammed into Cheon Woo-jin.
Clang!
However, the sound was strange.
Not a thud, a squelch, or a crunch, but a clang?
The moment he thought that, horrific pain seized his fist.
A dark iron staff was blocking his fist.
There was no reason for concern, as he had the confidence to crush the head along with the iron staff.
However, what was crushed was his own fist.
‘T-Ten-Thousand-Year Dark Iron?’
It was a metal known to be the hardest under heaven alongside Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron. In fact, the metal that surpassed even Cold Iron in pure hardness was none other than Ten-Thousand-Year Dark Iron, the material of the Crescent Moon Staff.
However, by the time he realized this, it was far too late.
Thwack!
The Western Sky Society Leader instinctively clutched his left shoulder.
Excruciating pain flooded in. He knew he had been struck by the staff, but he had not even seen how it moved.
Before he could even regain his senses.
Thump!
An enormous force shoved against his chest.
Looking down, the tip of the dark iron staff was lodged deep into his solar plexus. His breath caught in his throat, and nausea surged up.
Soon, at the moment he was about to be bounced away by the repulsive force.
Crunch!
Recovered in a flash, the Crescent Moon Staff struck downward onto his head before he could even fly back.
Naturally, the Western Sky Society Leader’s entire body was crushed.
“…”
Silence descended upon the room.
Zhuge Rin and the martial artists of the Western Sky Society could not see a thing.
It was truly something that occurred in an instant.
The Western Sky Society Leader had pounced, and the dark iron staff drew a blurred trajectory.
And three sounds of tearing flesh rang out almost simultaneously, with only the slightest difference in time.
Soon, there was only the Western Sky Society Leader, his body crushed, collapsed on the floor.
It was an event that transpired in an instant worthy of being called ‘a single breath’ in an ordinary fight.
Yet there were two people who clearly perceived that entire process. One was naturally Cheon Woo-jin, who had wielded the Crescent Moon Staff himself, and the other was…
“Black Elder…”
The Shura Demon Lord’s complexion turned pale.
To the others, only three sounds of tearing flesh had been heard, but to him, three familiar and horrifying stances were clearly visible.
The stance that crushed the shoulder, Willow Blade Falling Flower.
The stance that thrust into the solar plexus, Dark Tail Single Flash.
Down to the stance that crushed the entire body, Dark Thunder.
All of them were stances he had suffered terribly from Black Elder, whom he had once feared even more than the Dark Emperor.
Lightly twirling the Crescent Moon Staff to flick off the blood, Cheon Woo-jin’s gaze subtly turned toward the Shura Demon Lord.
“So, will you run away?”
To the Shura Demon Lord, even those words felt as though they overlapped with the voice Black Elder had spat out to the point of exhaustion.
– Ho-ho, move quickly. It is only fun if you try to run.