Chapter 112: Identity (2)
Chapter 112: Identity (2)
The Heavenly Demon!
“The hell—”
Jegal Sung made a strangled noise of astonishment at Woon-seong’s words and hastily flipped over the table.
Boom!
The table flew halfway towards Woon-seong in a flash.
Woon-seong reached out and the table was caught by the Divine Flame.
Whoosh—
The Divine Flame immediately burnt the table into ashes, disintegrating it into the room.
That was not the end.
Boom!
There was a muffled explosion and thick smoke began to rise from beneath the floorboards, obstructing the view.
In a quick motion, Jegal Sung flew out of the building, just as some metal balls flew at Woon-seong.
Shh, shh.
It was not just some metal balls, as numerous machine traps were installed inside the building.
Soon, all sorts of devices were aimed at Woon-seong.
There were dozens of arrows behind the row of metal balls, and a steel net soon fell over his head.
A dozen well-sharpened blades flew towards his nape.
The ground beneath him crumbled, revealing more traps.
Amazing! So this is the Jegal Clan’s inescapable web of traps.
Weaponry and traps surrounded Woon-seong from all sides.
Each individual portion was easy to deal with, but they were all elaborately entangled together, making them a nuisance to deal with.
What a situation!
He couldn’t even retreat.
Woon-seong moved forward.
If I can’t avoid them, I’ll just block them.
Woon-seong’s eyes shone gold.
While the traps used well-crafted precision, there was still a very subtle difference between their timing.
Woon-seong decided to divide his personal time by smaller units.
He split a second into hundreds, then into thousands of milliseconds.
The objects flashing before his eyes slowed down as his concept of one moment lengthened.
Like this, he was able to decide which traps should be dealt with first.
Shh.
He took the first step forward.
That one step took him away from the edge of the pit, avoiding fall down. The steel net falling from above was unable to catch him either.
There were still metal balls and poles flying right at him.
That one step had brought him closer to them.
He was expecting that though.
Instead of being surprised, Woon-seong merely blinked.
Fwoom—
The metal melted in an instant, unable to bypass the Divine Flame surrounding Woon-seong on all sides.
Tss—
Red hot globs of metal fell to the floor, sizzling on the wooden planks.
The fate of the arrows flying from behind him was no different. The moment the Divine Shaped Flame manifested, the arrows turned to ashes.
In an instant, all that was left were the blades.
Woon-seong reached out to them with his qi. With one motion, he extended his hand and gathered all of the blades together.
All of the blades aiming for Woon-seong stopped in midair, just floating in the sky.
The ability to move objects however he wanted.
Qi condensation, and eventually, telekinesis.
Woon-seong did not let them linger motionlessly in the air.
With another swipe of his hands, the blades flipped around in unison.
Now, they were no longer aimed at Woon-seong.
With a dazzling light, the blades formed a pin-wheel formation, pointed towards his enemies.
A technique that cast qi around the blade and granted it its own will.
An extension of the Lightning Stitching Art, which now applied the concept onto multiple sword blades instead of throwing knives.
The whole building collapsed with a cracking sound.
Boom!
“What’s happening here?”
Hearing the commotion, the Sage of Bright Rock rushed over from where he had been waiting.
Until then, Jegal Sang was watching the collapsed building.
“Did I succeed?”
Even though the opponent was the Heavenly Demon, perhaps it was still possible with this technique…
“Master?”
“Draw your sword.”
“What?”
“Draw your sword right now!”
Despite not understanding the situation, Sage Myung still drew his blade.
Jegal Sung drew his own blade, holding an iron fan in his other hand.
The iron feathers of the fan were made of black iron, cut to create a wave-like pattern on the surface.
Glancing back, Jegal Sung asked, “Did you already know?”
“…?”
“That he is the Heavenly Demon?”
“The hell?!”
Just as Jegal Sung had done, Myung Am also shouted aloud.
Heavenly Demon!
What kind of being was that?
He was the biggest nightmare to the Orthodox in Murim.
But that young man — who Myung Am had brought here himself — was the Heavenly Demon.
“I can’t believe that guy is the Heavenly Demon. Are you saying that he isn’t the descendant of the Spear Master Sect?”
“I’m not sure either. I’m sure he used the Spear Master Sect’s martial arts, but I don’t understand how he can control the flame…”
The Divine Flame was the symbol of the Heavenly Demon.
Even if Woon-seong insisted otherwise, manifestation of the Divine Shaped Flame undoubtedly proved him as the Heavenly Demon.
“Unbelievable. A Heavenly Demon that uses the Spear Master Sect’s arts…” Myung Am muttered to himself.
Jegal Sung, who had kept his eyes on the building the entire time, stiffened and shouted, “He’s coming!”
Boom!
At the end of his sentence, a massive pillar of flames shot into the sky.
Debris from the fallen building shot into the air with it, driven by the power of the fire.
Fwoom—
Soon, the burning remains of the building began to rain out of the sky.
Jegal Sung pulled out a few metal spikes from his pockets and threw them into the air.
Kwa-rung—
With the sound of rumbling thunder, the spikes fell out of the air and hit the ground.
“I shall put Heaven and Earth into the yin-yang and five elements to pass through the universe and flip the Nine Heavens, scatter!”
Along with Jegal Sung’s chants, a huge black wall rose and enveloped the burning building on all sides.
It was an illusion art created to destroy darkness and slay demons.
Supposedly, it was powerful enough to induce a martial artist to self-induce qi deviation and commit suicide.
Even though he is the Heavenly Demon, he won’t be able to come out unharmed. At least it will deal some damage to his spirit!
But that was something Jegal Sung could believe because he did not understand the Semi-Divine Realm.
There was just one wall dividing those of the Absolute Realm and those of the Semi-Divine, but it was a very large and thick wall.
It was a wall that divided humans and those who had stepped onto the thresholds of the gods.
A man who had never crossed that wall himself could never peer into the realm of Semi-Divinity.
Fwa-ping!
More and more black walls rose from the ground.
Just as fast — or perhaps faster — the walls were sliced in half.
A fire rose between the broken walls.
“I couldn’t hold him even with this spell?!” Jegal Sung shouted in surprise, but he added a few more metal spikes for good measure.
There was now double the amount of metal spikes.
If he couldn’t do it the first time, he would just have to try again.
But…
Fwa-ping!
Just like the original walls, the new ones were also slashed down.
The standards of humanity could not be used to measure those of the Semi-Divine.
Fwoom—
The Divine Flame swallowed the foundation of Jegal Sung’s illusion.
Like a greedy, evil dragon, it tore through the area.
The scene was terrifying.
Even though he was called the Venerable Dragon, how could Jegal Sung not be appalled by this sight?
How could the power of a human be that vast?
Intellect makes a decision solely based on information. Did I make the wrong decision? If I didn’t, then was the information wrong?
Jegal Sung racked his brain for answers. It had gotten to the point where he was questioning himself.
Meanwhile, Woon-seong slowly walked out of the building and through the raging flames.
Around him flew several blades, each at least 10 cun (~1ft, 33cm) in length.
What was truly frightening was not the blades, but the spear in his hand.
Whoo-hoo!
Flames with a center of molten gold, wisps of fear-inducing qi, and a spear that seemed to contain the Will of Heaven.
This is the power of the Heavenly Demon… The weight of the name ‘Heavenly Demon’ is this great?
How could Woon-seong be called human?
What a nightmare.
A nightmare in the form of a man stood before their eyes.
But Jegal Sung and Myung Am couldn’t give up like that.
That was the Heavenly Demon!
Jegal Sung had no idea why the man had approached the Justice Blood Sect, but he was definitely an enemy.
I should stop him here.
Myung Am also nodded his head, thinking the same thing.
Sharing just one glance, the two Absolute-realm masters quickly dashed towards Woon-seong.
Hmm. Woon-seong watched as the two ran towards him. They didn’t even consider having a conversation and attacked immediately after finding out my identity.
Woon-seong smiled bitterly. I see how bad the relationship between the Cult of the Heavenly Demon and the Orthodox martials is now.
But that was that, and this was this.
I first have to suppress them in order to have a civil conversation.
Woon-seong raised his left hand.
The blades, which had been swirling around Woon-seong, flew towards the two figures.
At the same time, Woon-seong harnessed the mind tempering portion of the Divine Art of the Heavenly Demon.
Mind Split, Double Will.
With it, Woon-seong now had increased control over the dancing blades.
As if moving on their own, the blades flew into a different formation.
What Woon-seong had mastered was not just the spear arts.
Dozens of sword arts began to be executed.
The Sage and Jegal Sung urgently stopped the attacks, but it was not easy.
It’s not just one or two sword skills! It feels like fighting against many different masters.
Is it possible for one person to know so much about martial arts?
Clang—
Jegal Sung grit his teeth as he smacked a blade to the side with his fan.
It was not impossible.
Jegal Sung knew a lot of martial artists who had such a vast sea of knowledge.
It can’t be possible unless he is someone of the Spear Master Sect!
So it’s true that the descendant of the Spear Master Sect became the Heavenly Demon?
What he had thought impossible was quickly proven to be possible.
However…
Why did the Heavenly Demon come to Zhongyuan?
That was a question Jegal Sung found puzzling.
In the meantime, the Sage of Bright Rock had fallen.
“Cough!”
Myung Am’s sword was cut in half and he was bowled over by a gust of wind. With a hammer-like impact, the Sage slammed into a boulder and collapsed.
The Sage did not get back up.
However, his body did twitch every now and then, confirming that he was at least alive.
“Sage Myung!” Jegal Sung called out to him in shock.
The broken part of the sword, swooped out of the air and aimed at the Sage’s neck.
The others, however, changed direction mid-flight and charged towards Jegal Sung.
Almost in a daze, Jegal Sung had to question what he was seeing. “He only suppresses and does not kill?”
But he didn’t even have time to process the thought.
Boom!
Metal pieces burst in the air, shattering above his head, and Jegal Sung dove for the ground.
Kacha—
The sword in Jegal Sung’s hand was broken into three pieces.
Shh.
An array of blades aimed at him from above.
Overwhelming defeat.
A part of Jegal Sung whispered that his days as a military strategist were over.
Beyond a wall of flames and debris, Jegal Sung could hear the voice of the Heavenly Demon.
“Looks like you’re ready to talk now.”