“Stop them!”
An emergency alert was raised on the Eumgyeol Demon Territory side.
“No—stop that bastard first!”
They spotted Geon Cheong-woo rampaging freely across the battlefield and sent all the Iron Hammer-Hard Men toward him.
But something bizarre happened.
Even though he was simply swinging his sword in an ordinary manner without any special technique, the Iron Hammer-Hard Men were collapsing one after another?
Whoosh— slashslashslash!
Geon Cheong-woo, charging straight into the enemy lines without hesitation, wasn’t just cutting down the Iron Hammer-Hard Men—
He was effortlessly beheading the commanders controlling them as well.
The demonic cultivators of Eumgyeol Demon Territory rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
In truth, the victory or defeat of the battle had already been decided.
Yet because of this one man charging across the battlefield like an enraged boar that had been struck first, the tide had suddenly reversed.
‘Is this… perhaps a dream?’
Not even a Captain, but a mere ordinary squad member darting here and there, sweeping through the enemy formation?
What in the world could be more grotesque and absurd than this?
“Out of the way!”
Finally unable to endure it any longer, Yong Mungyeok—the overall commander and First Unit leader of Eumgyeol Demon Territory—rushed forward toward Geon Cheong-woo.
If they couldn’t stop even this one man, the entire battle would be completely overturned.
Kwa-rung!
The moment Yong Mungyeok extended his hand, a massive palm force resembling a giant cloud poured down.
But Geon Cheong-woo casually evaded the palm force and instead of targeting him, he began cleanly slicing through the necks of the demonic cultivators positioned all around.
It was as if he were saying, ‘If you can catch me, then try.’
“You bastard!!” Burning with rage, Yong Mungyeok chased after Geon Cheong-woo who was racing across the battlefield and once again, at close range, he unleashed another palm force.
Then, as if he had been waiting for exactly that moment, Geon Cheong-woo spun around, executed a movement technique in the opposite direction, and thrust his sword toward Yong Mungyeok.
The sword art was profoundly mysterious, and the footwork flashed like lightning.
The instant the palm force was launched, he closed the distance and thrust out his blade. Unbelievably—
With a puk sound, Yong Mungyeok’s palm was pierced straight through by the seemingly powerless long sword Geon Cheong-woo had extended.
“Keuk.”
Even though it was merely a simple penetration wound, it felt as though the skin of his palm was splitting open and the bones were freezing solid.
Only now did he realize that an extremely powerful yin energy was contained within that sword strike.
Taat!
“Who the hell are you?!”
Yong Mungyeok, who had forcefully retreated, roared.
Just from that one sword strike earlier, he could tell the opponent had mastered a terrifyingly profound sword art.
“Upper Crane Unit, Geon Cheong-woo.”
“Bullshit. Reveal your true identity! Why disguise yourself as a mere corps member?”
“Believe it or don’t. Your choice.”
After spitting out those words, Geon Cheong-woo immediately thrust his sword again.
The movement was so natural and free of any wasted motion that Yong Mungyeok nearly offered his neck without even realizing it.
“No chance in hell!”
Yong Mungyeok instantly swung both palms, unfolding the Rotting Corpse Skull Palm.
His martial prowess was at the level where he could easily handle top-class experts, and among the infamous poison palms of the martial world, the Rotting Corpse Skull Palm was known as the most vicious and terrifying.
Moreover, having mastered the Steel Body Great Method, he was confident that in pure destructive power alone, he could face even an expert of the Supreme Heavenly Realm.
But the moment he confidently unleashed Rotting Corpse Skull Palm, his pride was utterly shattered instead.
Kwaaaaa!
The briefly unleashed poison palm suddenly turned into a massive storm that swallowed not only Geon Cheong-woo, but also all the nearby demonic cultivators of Eumgyeol Demon Territory.
Yet Geon Cheong-woo received the Rotting Corpse Skull Palm with utter calm, as though dealing with a third-rate palm technique, and in every tiny opening that appeared, he steadily cut down the forces of Eumgyeol Demon Territory.
“Fine!”
Yong Mungyeok spread both arms toward the sky with all his might.
He even drew upon his primordial true qi, unleashing the final form of Rotting Corpse Skull Palm—Absolute Poison Illumination.
Kwa-uuuuu!
The sky turned pitch black, and then countless shadows of solitary poisonous palms began pouring down like rain.
Flash!
Upon seeing that ultimate move, Geon Cheong-woo created a single bright point of light in the sky.
The slowly rising point of light soon spread into a mass of radiance, covering the entire sky in brilliant, dazzling brilliance.
When the beautiful specks of light adorned the heavens, both the warriors of the Death Shadow Corps and the demonic cultivators of Eumgyeol Demon Territory couldn’t help but look upward.
Because the technique Geon Cheong-woo unleashed looked just like a spectacular fireworks display embroidering the night sky.
Saaaa…
The brilliant lights transformed once again into slender beams, and at the same time, the Absolute Poison Illumination that had seemed ready to swallow the entire world melted away and vanished in an instant.
A deathly silence settled over the battlefield for a moment.
Ping!
Then, a sharp tearing sound rang out from somewhere, and a single keen point of light shot straight toward Yong Mungyeok’s throat.
Geon Cheong-woo had unfolded another sword art.
“No!”
In terms of pure martial skill ranking, Yong Mungyeok was within the top five of Eumgyeol Demon Territory.
Moreover, he was skilled enough in defensive arts and great methods to have been the primary creator of the Iron Hammer-Hard Men.
He was not someone who would fall to a mere sword technique.
Swaek! Swaek!
Yet the points of light digging toward his throat poured in from angles that simply could not be avoided.
‘I can’t dodge it!’
In the end, Yong Mungyeok instantly activated Heaven-Destroying Forger, the demonic art known as the Diamond Indestructible Body of the Demonic Path, which could make his entire body harder than iron.
Thud!
With a metallic sound, Yong Mungyeok was sent flying backward like an arrow and crashed into a huge tree more than ten zhang away.
“Ughhh!”
Fortunately his head hadn’t been severed, but Yong Mungyeok rose while bursting with furious madness.
Being blown backward and smashed like an arrow showed just how enormous the gap in martial prowess was.
From his perspective, it was utter humiliation in front of his subordinates.
“You—!!”
Crack crack.
Thick veins bulged across Yong Mungyeok’s body.
Why had Eumgyeol Demon Territory become one of the Four Great Demonic Lands?
Because they didn’t hesitate to employ evil great methods like the Iron Hammer-Hard Men, and because they specialized in the forbidden, wicked demonic arts banned throughout the martial world.
“If you can avoid this, I’ll admit defeat.”
Kuuung!
At some point, a black orb-like sphere had appeared in Yong Mungyeok’s hand.
It looked similar to the poison palm usually created by poison experts, but it was actually the Grievance Demon Orb—a forbidden demonic art banned in the martial world.
To create even one Grievance Demon Orb, one had to painfully kill boys and girls under the age of ten, grind their entire bodies, harden the byproducts, and absorb them into the body through various secret methods.
When one raised inner force, the absorbed byproducts would harden into a metallic form.
This demonic orb, imbued with the grievance and resentment of human beings, could destroy any object and, upon touching a human body, instantly melt the meridians, becoming an extreme poison.
Moreover, when detonated, it would fill dozens of zhang around with deadly poison smoke, making it impossible to face head-on even for those with powerful martial arts.
“Haaap!”
Yong Mungyeok immediately launched the Grievance Demon Orbs toward Geon Cheong-woo.
There were a total of one hundred and eighty-eight.
Each orb moved at different speeds and trajectories, falling from the sky like stars pouring down, twinkling as they descended.
Saaaa—
Geon Cheong-woo dazedly watched the Grievance Demon Orbs falling like meteors.
If they were touched, this entire area would be filled with an incurable poison fog. Even the slightest graze would leave no hope of survival.
“Death.”
At that moment, Geon Cheong-woo murmured softly. “You shouldn’t use martial arts while thinking you yourself will not die.”
Then he raised his sword toward the sky.
Chuk.
It was a dull, ordinary-looking iron sword, yet the moment he gripped it, an intense, overwhelming aura spread out like the scythe of the death god.
“Because the death you give to your opponent can also fall upon you.”
Muttering quietly, Geon Cheong-woo drew a large circle with his iron sword.
The circle was crooked and didn’t even form a perfect ring yet it was so deep and dark that it seemed capable of containing everything in this world within it.
Shuuuuuk—
All of the Grievance Demon Orbs were sucked into the circle drawn by the corps member… and then they vanished without a trace.
As if they had never existed in the first place.
“How—?!” Yong Mungyeok’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How can the Grievance Demon Orbs disappear in an instant?!”
Creating even one required the corpses of ten young boys and girls.
To make one hundred eighty-eight of them, he had killed one thousand eight hundred eighty children.
And it had taken ten full years to process them all into demonic orbs.
All those long years, all those resentments… gone.
“Nothing has disappeared.”
Geon Cheong-woo murmured softly.
“They simply… wander, unable to find a place worthy of death even though they wish to die.”
Chwarararak—
At the same time, a black circle appeared above Yong Mungyeok’s head.
When he looked up, every single one of the Grievance Demon Orbs he had launched was densely packed there.
The circle Geon Cheong-woo had drawn so playfully was the most profound mystery of the world’s sword-circle arts, silently returning the Grievance Demon Orbs above his enemy’s head once more.
The technique was so incredibly subtle and unique that Yong Mungyeok hadn’t even sensed it.
“There exists such martial arts in this world…”
And those were the last words he ever spoke in his life.
Shushushushuuk!
The gathered Grievance Demon Orb poured down beneath Yong Mungyeok’s head.
They pierced through the crown of his skull, passed vertically through his body, and kept falling and falling, completely disassembling his flesh without leaving anything behind.
Plop plop.
In the place where Yong Mungyeok had stood, only a puddle of blood remained.
Every trace that he had ever existed in this world had vanished.
Kwaaa!
Even so, Geon Cheong-woo did not stop his attack.
He began stabbing the roughly four hundred fifty Iron Hammer-Hard Men that had been waiting in the rear.
Swaeeeeek!
Every time he swung his sword, the bodies of the Iron Hammer-Hard Men wavered like jelly.
They were as hard as diamond and nearly impossible to shatter so instead, he rotated his sword at extreme speed, destroying only their joints.
Flash! Flash!
His movements were so blindingly fast that the demonic cultivators of Eumgyeol Demon Territory could only stare in stunned silence.
Rumble rumble…
Before long, the postures of the lined-up Iron Hammer-Hard Men collapsed strangely.
Their major joints had all been destroyed; they had lost all utility as combat troops.
“…….”
Once again, a silence like death itself blanketed the battlefield.
The demonic cultivators of Eumgyeol Demon Territory held their breath, not daring to move even a finger. They felt that if they made even the slightest sound, their heads would instantly roll.
Geon Cheong-woo, still holding his sword, slowly scanned the surrounding demonic cultivators.
Thud.
They all dropped their weapons and fell to their knees.
Because the warriors of the Death Shadow Corps were still glaring at them with wide-open eyes.
And if a monster like him joined forces with them?
Even if they staked their lives, the result would only be total annihilation.
‘…That was our Lord.’
Only then did the warriors of the Death Shadow Corps finally realize that the Geon Cheong-woo who had saved them was actually Bu Eunseol in disguise.
Yet no one called out to him or acknowledged it.
The Chief Instructor had ordered Bu Eunseol to go to the Blood Cult and negotiate regarding the invasion of the Central Plains.
Therefore, his presence here must never be revealed.
“I-is that…!”
In the midst of that deathly silence, Won Semun let out an exclamation.
“G-Geon Cheong-woo! Your martial arts have improved tremendously!”
Then Jo Namcheon, standing beside him, nodded.
“Y-yeah… thanks to you we’re… I mean, we survived. Hahaha.”
Bow.
Geon Cheong-woo—no, Bu Eunseol—politely clasped his hands toward them, then quietly took his place among the members of the Upper Crane Unit standing in formation behind Yoo Unryong.
“Ahem.”
Yoo Unryong cleared his throat and spoke in a loud voice.
“Since the order has been fulfilled, shall we head back?”
He looked around and declared loudly, “Well, they only told us to cut off Yong Mungyeok’s head anyway.”
“Agreed.”
When Mu Heon answered from afar, Yoo Unryong shouted once more, “All forces—withdraw!”
Rumble rumble.
The experts of the Death Shadow Corps left Eumgyeol Demon Territory without so much as looking back.
The demonic cultivators of Eumgyeol Demon Territory, kneeling in surrender, blinked at each other in confusion. They had achieved a perfect victory—yet their enemies were fleeing as if running away?
Blink blink.
The remaining demonic cultivators of Eumgyeol Demon Territory simply wore dazed expressions.
More than two-thirds of their fighting force still remained.
‘…He didn’t even feel they were worth finishing off…’
The Iron Hammer-Hard Men they had spent decades painstakingly creating were mostly destroyed, and their Commander Yong Mungyeok, who had overseen their creation, was dead.
With the greatest treasure of their sect gone…
What remained was no longer one of the Four Great Demonic Lands, but merely a second-rate sect at best.
***
Blood Cult, Blood Life Hall.
Thick crimson curtains hung all around, and within them sat a figure rigidly upright on a grand master’s chair.
It was none other than the Blood Cult Leader, Pae Yukgyeol.
Because red smoke rose from inside the curtains, the atmosphere felt exactly like the King of Hell seated in the underworld.
Opposite him stood Seo Jinha, disguised as Bu Eunseol, and Myo Cheonwoo, side by side.
Pae Yukgyeol remained motionless behind the curtain, while Seo Jinha and Myo Cheonwoo sat calmly like stone statues.
Perhaps an hour passed.
The door opened, and a young man in red cautiously approached and knelt before Pae Yukgyeol.
“The treatment is showing effect.”
[Hm.] Pae Yukgyeol let out a low hum.
His voice induced a strange dizziness, forcing even Seo Jinha and Myo Cheonwoo to subtly raise their internal energy.
[Very well.]
After a long silence, Pae Yukgyeol spoke in a low voice.
[If you provide the prescription capable of healing this dantian along with the necessary medicinal herbs, we shall cease the activities of the Blood Yin Cult in Dongjeong Lake.]
Seo Jinha firmly shook his head.
“That won’t do.”
Then, staring sharply at the curtain, he continued, “Withdraw the Blood Yin Cult all the way to the western frontier. If you do, we will supply those herbs for a fixed period of time.”
And he added, “Furthermore, one year from now, we will provide ten spiritual pills each year capable of completely healing the dantian.”
[…]
“If you’re thinking of researching the pills we provide—don’t bother. It will be useless.” Seo Jinha spoke calmly. “After all, the raw medicinal herbs can only be obtained within the sphere of influence of our sect.”
He didn’t feel the need to specifically mention Azure Cloud Sea Palace.
“These are the conditions that Our Lord can offer.”
Having heard the full situation from Myo Cheonwoo, Seo Jinha was negotiating with Pae Yukgyeol on behalf of Bu Eunseol.
Thanks to the mysterious herbs of Azure Cloud Sea Palace, the negotiation had finally opened.
Therefore, rather than simply leaving, he intended to achieve at least the minimum objective in Bu Eunseol’s place.
[In truth, the conditions hardly matter.]
Pae Yukgyeol spoke coldly.
[Once the experts of our Cult recover their strength, and we will gain the power to sweep away Majeon—no, the entire Central Plains.]
The military force of the Blood Cult was comparable to the combined strength of Majeon and the Ten Demonic Sects.
If they could obtain medicine to cure the chronic illness plaguing the Blood Cult, they could immediately regain their full might and launch an invasion of the Central Plains.
In that case, Seo Jinha would become the one who, under the pretext of negotiation, committed a grave sin against the Central Plains martial world.
[Will you still proceed with this negotiation?]
“Of course.”
Seo Jinha answered confidently.
“If you can invade, then invade. Our Lord doesn’t care.”
[You seem to think we cannot.]
“Not at all. Even if you rose up right now and attacked our sect, no one could confidently predict the victor.”
The Blood Cult overflowed with manpower and lives.
Moreover, Blood Cult members did not fear death.
They believed that sacrificing themselves for the Cult would lead them to the Hall of Eternal Life after death. That was why they didn’t even blink when Seo Jinha cut down over a hundred of their cultists.
Furthermore, all Blood Cult members had mastered mysterious secret arts, and their elite force outnumbered even that of Majeon by more than double.
If the two powers clashed, no one could guarantee victory.
‘From that perspective, the Blood Cult has always been an object of wariness for the Central Plains martial world.’
Swallowing his thoughts, Seo Jinha spoke calmly.
“I mean it sincerely. Once you regain all your strength, feel free to come attack our sect at any time.”
A strange gleam flashed in Pae Yukgyeol’s eyes.
He realized that Seo Jinha’s words were not mere bravado.
[Why?]
“I’ll tell you the reason if the Cult Leader accepts the negotiation.”
Pae Yukgyeol fell silent for a moment at Seo Jinha’s words.
In truth, from the Blood Cult’s perspective, there was no loss in these restrictions—only gain.
Yet the reason he hesitated to accept the proposal was one and the same:
The one making the proposal was not the Demon Emperor, but the Martial Soul Command Lord.
No matter how outstanding a new-generation master he might be, if one truly respected the weight and authority of the Blood Cult, at the very least the Dark King Yeop Hyocheon should have been sent.
To negotiate with a mere green youth… his pride made it difficult to accept.
[Did you take our Cult lightly?]
“If it appears that way, then it was a success.”
At Seo Jinha’s calm reply, Pae Yukgyeol’s eyes flashed behind the curtain.
This was the main headquarters of the Blood Cult.
Even the Demon Emperor himself would not dare come alone and expect to leave alive.
Yet in Seo Jinha’s pulse, expression, and every biological response… there was not the slightest trace of tension or fear to be found.
[As rumored… you are slightly insane.]
Pae Yukgyeol’s mouth opened.
Depending on what followed those words… the lives of Seo Jinha and Myo Cheonwoo would be decided.
“Haa…”
But at that moment, Seo Jinha frowned and let out an exasperated sigh.
“A negotiation that brings only profit and no loss… and yet you need to think this much?”
There was even irritation mixed into his voice.
‘Seo Jinha. Have you gone mad?’
Myo Cheonwoo, silently sitting beside him, had completely lost focus in his eyes.
Such an attitude from Seo Jinha was not something one should ever show in front of the Blood Cult Leader, not even on behalf of the Demon Emperor.
‘The Blood Cult Leader is not someone who can be persuaded by mere guts.’
As suffocating tension filled the air, cold sweat ran down Myo Cheonwoo’s back.
Pae Yukgyeol was inherently evil, a great demon whose emotions were impossible to read.
Moreover, as the leader of a heretical sect, he had received the fear, reverence, and submission of tens of thousands.
To act so recklessly and boldly in negotiation here… was simply raising the chance that his head would roll.
Yet unlike the anxious Myo Cheonwoo, Seo Jinha wore an inwardly relaxed smile.
‘Yes… glare at me like that. Rack your brain as much as you want.’
Madness glinted in Seo Jinha’s eyes.
‘The more you do, the more you’ll have no choice but to accept the negotiation.’
Before coming to the Blood Cult, he had immediately gathered information about Pae Yukgyeol.
When a figure had such enormous influence over the martial world, the intelligence organizations naturally investigated him in great detail.
—The martial arts of Blood Cult Leader Pae Yukgyeol are based on terror and fear.
While quickly scanning the information about Pae Yukgyeol in Suppressed Demon Pavilion, Seo Jinha’s eyes had lit up.
—Found it.
And at last, he had discovered the way to successfully conclude this negotiation.
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