Chapter 84: Facade (2)
Chapter 84: Facade (2)
There were times when people had two faces.
It meant that when there was an outside, there was also something happening on the inside.
And that was exactly what was happening with the Heavenly Demon.
While it looked like he had completely overcome the poison on the outside, it was actually eating his life away on the inside.
Several thoughts flashed through Woon-seong’s head. He quickly came up with a plausible conclusion as to why the Heavenly Demon only appeared at this moment.
You were planning to use the situation from the start.
Maybe his coughing up blood during A-young’s inheritance ceremony was also planned.
But, after some time, Chun Hwi must have realized that the poison was something stronger than he originally planned for.
A poison that even a man in the realm of a semi-divine being could not withstand. One that Sang Gwan-chuk, the smartest man in the Cult, could not find a cure for.
An unexpected turn of events.
However, the enemies hiding beneath the surface proceeded with their plans as usual.
This confrontation was the result of all of that.
You might have been predicting this situation, ever since you planned to pose as a poisoned patient.
Even if it wasn’t pre-planned, Sang Gwan-chuk would have done his best to steer towards this ending.
When all the enemies gathered in one spot, Chun Hwi was planning to show up nice and healthy.
But the poison just turned out to be more powerful than expected.
It took much longer to suppress the poison, which is why he likely showed up later than planned.
Of course, that was all just Woon-seong’s theory.
Woon-seong stared up at the Heavens for a moment, hoping that his conjecture was wrong. He then turned back towards Chun Hwi and prayed that even if poisonous residue remained, it would be eliminated soon.
Woon-seong then stared blankly at Joo Moon-baek, wondering if the Vice Leader had any idea of what was going on inside his head.
The tremor in Chun Hwi’s hand was worse than before.
“Blood jiangshi… I am pretty sure all records of their creation records have been expunged. Did you restore it?” mused the Heavenly Demon. “No, there must be someone else who taught you about it. Is it the man that the Senior Strategist pushed away moments ago?” Attacking his daughter was an unforgivable offense, so he was still looking for that man in black.
Chun Hwi looked around.
However, the man had disappeared.
“It seems he has already decided to leave this place.”
What…?! He was here just a moment ago! Joo Moon-baek was surprised. “Where did he…?!”
Was it the moment Mo In-ryang died? He must’ve fled after judging the situation as hopeless.
Oblivion… The man who deceives his even own allies into oblivion.
So I’m the one who ended up becoming the discarded one, Joo Moon-baek sighed to himself.
Off to the side, Woon-seong shook his head. That was truly some cowardly behavior — as expected of traitors who resorted to poison.
“A rat has escaped the scene. Strategist!”
Chun Hwi called for his advisor, then passed down some strict orders.
“Command all the Ten Demonic Masters now. Seal Mount Heaven and do not let a single rat escape.”
“Yes, sir.”
“There is no need to kill him. Bring him alive. I have a lot of questions for him…”
Chun Hwi paused and rubbed the area around his heart with one hand.
Even then, the Strategist could guess what he meant to say.
“Ones beside the origin of those blood jiangshi.”
“Consider it done, sir.”
The Senior Strategist clasped his hands in a bow, then left the battlefield. When he disappeared, he looked a little reluctant, as if an old bird was leaving its nest for the last time.
It seemed that the key to the entire mess would be left to the Senior Strategist and the other Demonic Masters.
“And I believe we still have matters to discuss, Vice Leader.”
Joo Moon-baek smiled faintly. “By that, I assume you mean you’re looking for a moment to cut my head off. But it won’t go the way you want it to, Leader.”
The Vice Leader spoke boldly, but he was currently measuring his own strength with a calculative gaze.
What if I kill the Leader here?
No…, no matter how Joo Moon-baek thought about it, that was impossible. He’s in the realm of a semi-divine being and can use the Mind Sword at will. A mere five blood jiangshi are no match for him.
Even if I do succeed in killing him, there’s still the Young Leader and the Demonic Teacher. It’s impossible to flee from this place without the help of others.
Then, I only have one option.
Joo Moon-baek rolled his shoulders, coming to a conclusion. He snapped his fingers.
The blood jiangshi, who had received new orders, began to move. This time, they bared their teeth, seeming more ferocious than before.
“Hmph,” Chun Hwi snorted.
With a wave of his hand, he summoned a plume of the Divine Flame and blasted Joo Moon-baek.
“!”
Using his own incomplete Divine Flame, Joo Moon-baek was able to shield himself just enough to deflect the plume of flame, causing it to ricochet into a blood jiangshi.
“Are you trying to flee?”
Chun Hwi couldn’t help but notice Joo Moon-baek was trying to run away.
“That’s right. You may be the almighty leader, but I’m sure four blood jiangshi are enough to at least buy me some time. Enough time for me to escape this scene.”
Joo Moon-baek knew that it was obvious, so he didn’t bother hiding it and spoke about his plans.
Everyone else had probably noticed too.
Chun Hwi chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “It will not be easy.”
“I’m well aware of that. Even if I escape from here, escaping from the Heavenly Mountain won’t be easy. But I’d dare say that’s much better than dying right now.”
At that, Chun Hwi smirked once more. Scoffing, he disdainfully repeated what he had just said.
“It will not be easy.”
“I already answered you. I said… Hup!”
Joo Moon-baek suddenly shut up.
A keen sensation, as though blades are aimed at the back of my neck… By ‘it will not be easy’, he was talking about me escaping from his Mind Sword!
As if knowing what the Vice Leader was thinking, Chun Hwi spoke.
“Do you really think four of your blood jiangshi can stop my Mind Sword?”
Don’t fall for it, Joo Moon-baek reminded himself. The Mind Sword is a sword that splits ideas. As long as I don’t bow to Chun Hwi’s will, I can block the Mind Sword! Of course, I will have to risk some internal damage.
But, I have the blood jiangshi. The Mind Sword cannot reach me without going through the blood jiangshi. If that attack from a moment ago is how powerful the Mind Sword is, the blood jiangshi can at least work as meat shields!
“Vice Leader. Are you thinking that the attack from a moment ago was the Mind Sword?” the Heavenly Demon continued to say. “The Mind Sword is a sword manifested within my mind. Time and space are meaningless concepts to it.”
With each word, the Heavenly Demon’s aura became increasingly heavy.
“I split whatever I decide to split.”
Joo Moon-baek’s will suddenly wavered.
There was some power held in the Heavenly Demon’s words, a conviction that he had absolute control over what was happening.
Joo Moon-baek struggled to control his mind, but it was like trying to fix a dam that had already begun to collapse and flood its surroundings.
Fear was already influencing his decisions.
“Let me ask again. Can you really block my Mind Sword?”
It’s coming… I’ll use the blood jiangshi as meat shields to cushion the blow, and use the remaining blood jiangshi to rush in and buy some time…
“I told you. I split whatever I decide to split…”
Chun Hwi stepped forward once, then made a sweeping motion with his hand.
I don’t think I can stop that.
As soon as this thought appeared in Joo Moon-baek’s mind, his entire will collapsed.
The Mind Sword seemed to slash Joo Moon-baek in half.
Thud—!
“Is it over?”
Woon-seong stared at the corpse of Joo Moon-baek with a heavy expression.
The Vice Leader of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon had died, probably not even realizing that he had died due to a single slash. It was clear that his mind had crumbled long before the Mind Sword even reached him.
Of course, maybe it was better that way. The lofty Joo Moon-baek would not have wanted to meet such a humble end.
All in all though, Woon-seong understood — just as Joo Moon-baek probably did — that this was the only result of ‘survival of the fittest’.
Perhaps this had proven Woon-seong’s interpretation correct.
Only the strong survive, but it was surviving which made them strong.
Joo Moon-baek was undoubtedly stronger than Woon-seong, but he had been killed in one stroke by Chun Hwi.
Woon-seong looked at the corpse of Joo Moon-baek for a long time as he recalled this fact.
Who knows. I might be in the same position if I end up failing my revenge.
While Woon-seong was thinking about his own unknown future, Chun Hwi was staring at the blood jiangshi, which were waddling about like lost ducklings.
They’ll start attacking indiscriminately since they lost their master. I need to get rid of them before that happens. A blood jiangshi that moves on pure instinct is simply a dangerous beast.
Summoning his sword, Chun Hwi used one slash to disintegrate each blood jiangshi that tried to attack him.
“Screech!”
One blood jiangshi screeched at him, as if it was trying to test out its opponent’s strength.
“Hmm…”
Their instincts are slowly taking over.
Still, the blood jiangshi pounced towards the Heavenly Demon and was easily incapacitated with a sword slash.
The first blood jiangshi was split in half. As was the second.
Things were a little different with the third blood jiangshi.
The more their instincts take over, the more they will run away from the strong. Which becomes a tedious problem for me…
Slowly, the blood jiangshi were trying to maintain their distance from Chun Hwi instead of attacking him. Realizing that they could not survive against him, they wanted to run away.
Of course, escape was futile.
Instincts wouldn’t allow the blood jiangshi to survive against an absolute difference in power.
Instincts couldn’t stop the Heavenly Demon from slicing through the reflection of the moon.
The fourth and fifth blood jiangshi were sliced into halves.
It was only a matter of time before Chun Hwi had killed almost all of the blood jiangshi, faring leagues better than Woon-seong and crew had against them.
By the time the sixth blood jiangshi was cut in half, their animalistic instincts hadn’t even fully awakened yet. If they had, the jiangshi would have actually ran away instead of even trying to confront Chun Hwi.
Only one left.
It looks like my body made it after all.
That is the last of these cursed monsters. I should rest after this…
“Screech!”
The remaining blood jiangshi had been on the edges of the battlefield. Now that all of its brethren were piles of ash, it was like a cornered rat. Realizing that the only thing it could no longer retreat, it staked its undead life on an all out offensive.
Of course, its animal instincts had not been fully awakened either. Otherwise, it would have decisively fled the scene instead of hesitating at the edges.
Chun Hwi easily dodged to the side and moved to slash its head off.
Then he froze.
Puchi—!
A cold, foreign energy penetrated his side and continued on to exit from his chest.
“Ugh!”
This sensation made Chun Hwi grimace and he turned his head to look at the owner of the sword now stabbed through his abdomen.
It was not only Chun Hwi who followed the hand to determine the culprit. Lee Shin-jung, who immediately recognized the person holding the sword, grew furious.
“You! What are you doing!”
“Shadow!”
The Heavenly Demon groaned and stared into Shadow’s eyes.
They were glowing red, like hot coals.
Subsequently, Shadow started to speak.
“I knew it. Your body isn’t in perfect condition. Right?”
The voice came from Shadow’s mouth, but it was not his voice. It was the voice of the man the Senior Strategist had left in search of, the Demonic Emperor of Oblivion.
Everyone trembled at that voice.
Even so, Hwan Dok, who was borrowing Shadow’s mouth, continued to speak.
“Of course you aren’t all fine. That wasn’t some ordinary poison. It wouldn’t make sense if you were fine.”
The body of Shadow was forced to smile, one that was distorted and grotesque.
Instead of moaning in agony, the Heavenly Demon boldly reached out and grabbed the controlled Shadow by the wrist.
In one smooth movement, he pulled the sword out of his body.
Puchi—!
Blood spurted out from the wound.
Of course, Chun Hwi stopped the bleeding by rapidly tapping a few acupressure points and sealing the wound.
But that wasn’t the problem.
“That’s right,” cackled Hwan Dok. “Rotten, boiling blood… I was right.”
The blood on the floor smelled foul. It seemed to bubble and corrode the dirt around it.
Poison.
Human blood would not do that unless it contained deadly toxin.
“F-Father!” Chun A-young could not help but tremble, her mind collapsing in horror.
Instead of dealing with the blood jiangshi, the Heavenly Demon reached over and grabbed ‘Shadow’ by his neck.
In a cold voice, he asked, “Did you take over this man’s body?”
“Deceive to oblivion. That has always been my specialty. Hee-hee-hee…”
“And how do I pull you out of this body?”
“That’s impossible,” snorted Hwan Dok. “You’ll have to kill this man. He’s not my subordinate anyways.”
Hwan Dok had done what he set out to do, which was check if the Heavenly Demon was truly healthy.
With that goal accomplished, he had no need or care for the disposable Shadow.
“I see,” Chun Hwi nodded grimly. “It is a shame, but you leave me no choice.”
Crack—
With no ounce of hesitation, Chun Hwi broke Shadow’s neck.
Thud.
As Shadow’s body fell to the floor, the remaining blood jiangshi had finally awoken its primal instincts. Scared out of its wits, it fled the scene.
Given that the Ten Demonic Masters had essentially sealed the mountain, it was impossible for it to survive.
Shaking his head, Chun Hwi looked down at the body of Shadow. “Does this man have a family?”
Lee Shin-jung immediately answered. “Shadow is an orphan. He has no family, though he had close friends amongst his comrades from the Unrecorded Demonic Group.”
In response, Chun Hwi closed his eyes for a moment.
“Recover his body and make him a burial mound with the highest respect from the Cult. Allow his friends to attend his funeral.”
The man’s death was an unfortunate inevitability, but his good deeds would not be forgotten.
An honorable burial was the reward chosen by Chun Hwi.
“Yes, sir.”
Of course, Lee Shin-jung bowed his head.
With that, everything was over.
Yet, to Woon-seong, it felt like the dust had yet to settle.