Chapter 30: Chapter 30
Namgung Jin felt as if he were dreaming.
He could not believe all the spectacles unfolding before his eyes.
That he had been surrounded by two disciples of the Dark Emperor and an elder of the Demonic Cult in the middle of a mission, and that two seniors had died in his first mission.
Above all, that Cheon Woo-jin, who had appeared out of nowhere, had crushed and killed the Demonic Cult elder so excessively easily.
“What on earth is…”
Those were all the words that could emerge from Namgung Jin’s mouth.
His feelings were truly peculiar. With Cheon Woo-jin’s appearance, hope for life was glimpsed, yet the frustration of encountering an overwhelming martial artist of the same age group settled in simultaneously.
Namgung Jin merely stood dazed, with a peculiar expression that was neither laughing nor crying.
The Lust Demon was also in a similar situation, only slightly better off than Namgung Jin.
“Wh-Who are you?”
Having lived through all sorts of trials and tribulations, even she, who did not panic under ordinary circumstances, stammered her words. No matter how she looked at it, the bastard before her eyes was a young rising star.
Ma Cheong-seok, an elder of the Demonic Cult, was a man against whom even she, a Second-Grade Public Enemy, could hardly guarantee victory without prior preparation.
In other words, it meant that the bastard before her eyes was not an expert to be faced alone, unless Senior Martial Brother Blood Immortal returned.
At first, she wondered if the bastard was an aged expert who had undergone Youthful Rejuvenation. However, due to the nature of her martial arts, the Lust Demon discerned the opponent’s energy, precisely the density of yang qi and yin qi, better than anyone.
Fresh internal energy that an aged expert could never possess was flowing around the bastard’s body.
“Mmm.”
Cheon Woo-jin swept his gaze over his surroundings, ignoring the two dazed people. When he unfurled his qi sense as widely as possible, the energy of all martial artists around Mount Jinggang was felt.
In a slightly separated place, an expert possessing energy similar to the Lust Demon before his eyes. Most likely, it would be a disciple of the Dark Emperor.
Also, slightly further away were the Black Tortoise Squad and Heavenly Tiger Squad of the Martial Alliance, and whether having heard rumors regarding the Giant Stone Monster’s tomb, several martial artists were snooping around.
The problem was the experts felt around the edge of his qi sense. They were approaching this way exceedingly quickly, but their identities could hardly be known.
The distance was too far, and their energy seemed pure at times, yet had a somewhat ferocious side as well.
Decisively, the magnitude of the energy was quite immense.
‘Comparable to Alliance Leader Bukli Cheon.’
Unless they were experts sent out as reinforcements from the Martial Alliance, the probability was high that they were executives of the Demonic Cult or disciples of the Dark Emperor.
Having finished assessing the situation, Cheon Woo-jin looked at the Lust Demon with the Crescent Moon Staff lowered downward.
At that, the Lust Demon flinched.
She was still in a situation where she had her hand on Namgung Jin’s body.
“Did I disturb you?”
At Cheon Woo-jin’s question, Namgung Jin was startled and widened the distance with the Lust Demon. Lightly nodding his head, Cheon Woo-jin soon roused his energy.
Whoosh!
A dark, murky energy lingered around the Crescent Moon Staff. At that sight, the Lust Demon’s eyes went wide. The fear of someone deeply engraved in her subconscious was gradually seeping out.
“W-Wait.”
The Lust Demon extended her palm toward Cheon Woo-jin, indicating that she had no intention to fight.
Cheon Woo-jin tilted his head.
“You attacked us first.”
“…Are you saying you also came from the Martial Alliance?”
The Lust Demon could hardly believe it. As a basic qualification of a Public Enemy, she had also grasped all the information regarding the experts of the Martial Alliance. In her memory, there was no expert of the Alliance connected to Cheon Woo-jin.
When Cheon Woo-jin stepped forward, the Lust Demon backed away two steps.
“W-Wait. I did not kill them.”
Cheon Woo-jin tilted his head. It was because she was too different from the temperaments of the Dark Emperor’s disciples that he had heard from Master Black Elder. Madmen who never bent their pride even in the face of death were precisely the disciples of the Dark Emperor.
At Cheon Woo-jin’s ambiguous attitude, the Lust Demon rambled on as if having glimpsed hope.
“That bastard you killed is an elder of the Demonic Cult. Around the number three person of the Ma Clan, one of the Seven Great Families. In any case, that bastard killed the Martial Alliance members. Because I am weaker than him, I was merely catering to his whims. In short, with that bastard dead, it means there is no reason for me to fight with you.”
“Aha.”
Cheon Woo-jin roughly nodded his head and moved his steps. However, far from subsiding, his momentum conversely grew even more ferocious, pressing down on the Lust Demon.
Rumble!
The energy arising from Cheon Woo-jin’s entire body weighed down on the area. An ordinary martial artist would not even be able to breathe.
Of course, by Cheon Woo-jin’s standards, Namgung Jin was an ordinary martial artist. Coughing and choking, Namgung Jin hurriedly drew his steps backward.
Cheon Woo-jin glanced slightly at such a Namgung Jin.
‘Certainly inferior to Young Hero Song.’
If the two were to engage in a life-or-death duel right now, Namgung Jin might win, but after just a few years passed, the situation would be reversed.
Having thought so, Cheon Woo-jin looked at the Lust Demon once again. The Lust Demon’s face was truly pale white.
Facing his energy, certainty arose. As to whose martial arts the monster-like rising star before her eyes had learned.
The Lust Demon suddenly shed tears in streams.
“Ah, Senior Martial Brother Black Elder has determinedly sent you to kill me.”
“…?”
Cheon Woo-jin wore an expression as if it were absurd.
However, the Lust Demon did not stop.
Collapsing straight onto her knees, she dropped tears like thick beans. Exuding a bewitching atmosphere, she looked up at Cheon Woo-jin with a fair face and reddened eyes.
Any ordinary man would have had his heart moved instinctively. It was not merely because of the Lust Demon’s outstanding beauty.
The Lust Demon was also one of the nominal disciples who had received proper martial arts imparted by the Dark Emperor. Among the dozens of martial artists the Dark Emperor had taught, nominal disciples were counted on one’s fingers, and all were beings worthy of being called Great Demonic Heads in the martial world.
Such a Lust Demon had been releasing aphrodisiac poison into the air from the first moment she saw Cheon Woo-jin until now. It was an exquisitely crafted and lethal poison that could not even be compared to the aphrodisiac poison the courtesans had released at the Pure Flower Pavilion.
Cheon Woo-jin had already swallowed a large quantity of aphrodisiac poison while breathing.
‘Sufficient aphrodisiac poison must have accumulated in his body.’
The Lust Demon inwardly harbored a sneer while looking at Cheon Woo-jin approaching with a dry expression. It was not as if there had been no experts who acted so conceited in the past.
Pretending to have no interest in women, pretending to be noble, pretending to have no desires other than martial arts…
Once such bastards fell to the aphrodisiac poison, they drooled and begged for mercy. Even among aged experts famous in the Jianghu, many had shown such an unsightly display to the Lust Demon before dying.
Let alone a young rising star whose vigor was at its peak.
“Great Hero…”
The Lust Demon desperately called Cheon Woo-jin in a slender voice. Soon, Cheon Woo-jin, who had closed the distance right up to her nose, looked down at such a Lust Demon with a nonchalant expression.
A fleeting silence flowed like that.
Cheon Woo-jin held the Crescent Moon Staff high. It was a momentum as if he would strike down just like that and smash the Lust Demon’s head.
Soon, the Crescent Moon Staff, heavily imbued with pitch-black energy, dropped down as heavily as Mount Tai.
Simultaneously, the corners of the Lust Demon’s mouth also twisted. Her pupils were being dyed in a soft pink hue.
Soul-Bewitching Divine Art.
Its original name was Soul-Bewitching Art.
It was an erotic art the Dark Emperor had created for fun for a female disciple, but it was the martial art that had made the Lust Demon who she was today.
Soon, as her internal qi erupted in all directions, the density of the air rose in an instant.
The Lust Demon gently rose from her spot. She did not have the slightest doubt about her martial art. To the point that she had personally attached the name of Divine Art to it.
Yet, it was strange.
First, she intended to snatch the bastard’s dark iron staff and lay him down. However, the bastard’s pupils were still looking at her steadily, retaining their keen luster.
In that brief instant.
A doubt that had never arisen even once since learning the Soul-Bewitching Art crept softly into her heart.
‘Could it be that it did not work…’
Before her thought could even finish.
Whoosh!
The Crescent Moon Staff fell downward. The Lust Demon’s eyes widened in an instant. It felt as if her time had slowed down.
The young rising star bastard was looking down at her with a gaze of contempt, and the dark iron staff drew relentlessly closer.
Soon, around the time the Crescent Moon Staff came right before the Lust Demon’s nose.
“…”
Her world blacked out.
The Lust Demon thought her head had burst entirely and she had died.
“It seems quite a lot of time has passed indeed.”
It was a familiar voice.
Only then did the Lust Demon cautiously open her eyes.
What had darkly blocked her sight was not the dark iron staff, but a wrinkled, rugged palm.
“Se-Senior Martial Brother.”
The Blood Immortal, who had said he would leave to find new prey, had returned. He was in a state where he had received Cheon Woo-jin’s Crescent Moon Staff with a single hand.
Cheon Woo-jin looked at the Blood Immortal with interest.
The Blood Immortal also let out his characteristic benevolent smile while looking at such a Cheon Woo-jin.
“Junior Sister, you seem to have forgotten whom you are facing. How could that person’s disciple fall for such a petty erotic art?”
Only then did the Lust Demon realize what she had done.
It had been several decades since Senior Martial Brother Black Elder had vanished from the world.
It had truly been a long time.
Thus, she had forgotten.
Just how terrifying a being he was, and just how gruesome his martial arts were.
“I-Is this bastard truly Senior Martial Brother’s disciple?”
Hurriedly rising, the Lust Demon backed away two steps and spoke. The Blood Immortal gently stroked the Crescent Moon Staff with his palm.
“Is it not the Crescent Moon Staff? Although mixed with assorted energies, the energy of the Dark Sky Mind Art can clearly be felt as well.”
Dark Sky Mind Art.
It was one of the few martial arts bearing the moniker of the absolute supreme, Dark Sky.
Looking into the air as if reminiscing about the distant past, the Blood Immortal spoke.
“Master bestowed only martial arts suited to our levels even to us. If one could not prove one’s qualifications, one could by no means learn the martial arts of Dark Sky.”
“…That was so.”
The Lust Demon also nodded her head. Her body trembled once, as if a fearful memory had come to mind.
The Blood Immortal’s words continued.
“Those who studied the martial arts of Dark Sky were merely three among us disciples. Is not the one who inherited the most authentic teachings precisely Senior Martial Brother?”
Black Elder.
The Blood Immortal renewed that terrifying name once more in his mind. Excluding Master, the most immense existence in the world was none other than their Eldest Senior Brother.
“The existence closest to Master. Yet the ill-fated eldest disciple who could never quite reach him in the end.”
The expressions of the Blood Immortal and the Lust Demon recalling Black Elder were truly peculiar. It was not unconditional fear, nor was it resentment or hatred, and it was even less affection.
Staring blankly at Cheon Woo-jin, the Blood Immortal spoke.
“Far from showing respect to your martial uncles, you brandish a menacing iron staff. Did Senior Martial Brother teach you in such a way?”
The Blood Immortal scolded Cheon Woo-jin. Then, remarkably, Cheon Woo-jin withdrew the Crescent Moon Staff and clasped his fists.
“Cheon Woo-jin, disciple of Black Elder. I pay my respects to my martial uncles.”
“…”
The Blood Immortal looked blankly at such a Cheon Woo-jin. He simply could not grasp what kind of bastard he was. His martial arts were menacing and profound as if seeing the youth of their Eldest Senior Brother, yet his demeanor held a delicate gentleness.
Could a disciple of Black Elder be like that?
Even if every person had an innate disposition, there was no way one possessing such a nature could study martial arts under their Eldest Senior Brother.
To the Blood Immortal, who did not know that Cheon Woo-jin had served Black Elder and White Elder simultaneously, it was something he could never understand.
“Senior Martial Brother’s disciple is a member of the Martial Alliance…”
Thinking deeply, the Blood Immortal nodded his head.
“I see. The one who killed Shura Demon Lord was you.”
“That is so.”
“Why did you kill him?”
Cheon Woo-jin answered calmly.
“Because he was a disciple of the Dark Emperor.”
“…”
“That is my master’s order.”
Simultaneously, a red fan that popped out abruptly from the Blood Immortal’s robes was swung long.
It was truly in the blink of an eye.
Slash!
Subsequently, a sound of tearing flesh erupted, and soon a red line of blood cleaving Cheon Woo-jin’s entire body vertically was drawn.