Chapter 146: No Matter How Urgent It Is
Chapter 146: No Matter How Urgent It Is
Yama Divine Lord unfurled his Death Register.
He produced a small vial of blood, dipped his brush into it, and wrote my name directly beside that of the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon.
The look in Yama Divine Lord’s eyes, which had previously seemed like those of a half-crazed man, shifted. He looked as though he had either regained his senses or descended into an even deeper, more focused madness.
“Since our names are written side by side, I suppose we’ll die together,” I remarked.
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon chuckled at my words.
As we maintained our composure, the eldest of the Blood Path Trio, who had been examining the corpse of the Paradise Demoness, roared in fury.
“You bastards! Stop laughing!”
He stood up, glaring at me with icy eyes.
“Yo-hui has never once failed her Soul-Seizing Technique. How did this happen?”
“It seems your dear sister saw that this younger brother’s internal energy was lacking and wanted to offer me some of hers.”
“Enough of your nonsense!”
He was genuinely enraged. I could feel it—his fury was deeply personal. It seemed the second and third brothers of the Blood Path Trio really did have to call the Paradise Demoness 'sister-in-law.'
The eldest turned his gaze toward the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon.
“You knew. You knew this Second Young Master wouldn’t fall for it.”
Of course, the Smiling Demon had trusted me.
The Smiling Demon looked at me. Our gazes locked in midair as we exchanged a Voice Transmission.
— Now, confess with your own mouth. Tell me that you were the one who killed the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord.
— I did no such thing.
— I’ll hear it from you eventually.
Behind the eyeholes of his mask, the Smiling Demon’s eyes crinkled. Seeing us smiling leisurely at one another only fueled the eldest brother's rage.
“Fine, laugh. Keep laughing all the way to hell.”
I turned to the eldest of the Blood Path Trio.
“Did that man tell you that before he sent you all to your deaths? That the Smiling Demon and I killed the Sword Emperor, Baek Mang-gi?”
“What?”
Not only the eldest but the other villains present were visibly shaken. They knew that even if they all attacked at once, there was no guarantee they could kill the Sword Emperor. Moreover, the Paradise Demoness was already dead.
“He didn't believe you could kill us. He’s simply using you to wound us or deplete our internal energy.”
The remaining villains looked at each other. This time, I didn't give them the chance to coordinate through Voice Transmissions.
I addressed the Blood Wolf Blade.
“Blood Wolf Blade, this is a life-or-death duel.”
I threw the very words he had said to the Smiling Demon back at him.
“You said you’ve spent your whole life searching for the strong? Well, look no further. The person you’ve been looking for is right here.”
I unsheathed the Black Demonic Sword and spoke to the Smiling Demon.
“Please kill anyone who tries to interfere with this duel.”
Normally, this was a fight I should have yielded to the Smiling Demon. However, the current situation allowed for no variables. I had to deal with them with as little injury as possible and get out of here. Our real enemy was waiting for us outside.
Sensing my intention, the Smiling Demon readily stepped aside.
“As you wish.”
Despite there being four others left besides the Blood Wolf Blade, the Smiling Demon answered with absolute confidence.
Ironically, the most flustered person in the room was the Blood Wolf Blade. Having witnessed me absorbing the Paradise Demoness’s internal energy, he was likely feeling a seed of dread. The momentum was on my side. I pressed him further.
“If you truly sought out the strong, do you think you’d still be alive today? If that was your true desire, why didn't you seek out the Murim Alliance Leader? Why didn't you come for my father?”
“……”
“You don’t want to fight me, do you? And yet, you’ve spent your entire life forcing duels on people who didn't want to fight. Now, you can experience the same thing.”
The moment I finished speaking, I lunged.
The Blood Wolf Blade drew his straight blade.
Though he had lost the initial momentum, he wasn't a man of false reputation. His blade technique was swift, precise, and powerful. His blade swung with enough force to shatter a lesser sword.
When the sword and blade collided, there was no metallic clashing sound; instead, a roar like thunder erupted. We had poured our internal energy into our weapons, turning the exchange into a raw contest of power. The shame of having his hypocrisy exposed was channeled into his blade.
He struck, and struck, and struck again.
He drove forward with frantic intensity. Against any other martial artist, their sword or their wrist would have shattered by now.
But I blocked, and blocked, and blocked again.
Beyond the clashing steel, I watched his expression shift by the second. The composure he felt when he thought he had the upper hand during his initial offensive gradually turned into anxiety. His wrists were likely beginning to scream in pain.
Slowly, the roles began to reverse.
I became the one doing the striking. The Black Demonic Sword began to hammer down on his blade. I pressured him not with flashy techniques, but with the very contest of raw power he had intended.
I brought my sword down with such speed that he could neither evade nor transition into another form.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Amidst the heavy sounds of impact, a wretched scream tore through the air.
“Aaaargh!”
His wrist, unable to withstand the superior internal energy, had snapped.
But my sword did not stop.
With the next strike, his blade—now devoid of internal energy—shattered. With the strike after that, his body was cleaved vertically.
“Isn't this the life you wanted? To die fighting someone stronger than yourself?”
But I saw it. In his final moments, his eyes were filled with resentment and regret. Yes, talk is cheap, but truly living such a life is no easy feat.
The Blood Wolf Blade collapsed forward, blood spraying in a straight line from his crown to his navel. He had spent his life forcing duels on others, only to die by having his own methods turned against him.
Yama Divine Lord and the Blood Path Trio watched the scene in silence. Part of it was due to the Smiling Demon’s presence, but it was also because they couldn't find an opening to intervene in such a brutal contest of strength.
They likely hadn't expected the Blood Wolf Blade to lose to me. After all, overwhelming opponents with brute internal energy was his specialty.
I turned back to Yama Divine Lord.
“Did you write it down? The Blood Wolf Blade’s name?”
Even though the Blood Wolf Blade had died before his eyes, he showed no fear.
“I ran out of room after writing your name.”
As he stepped toward me, the eldest of the Blood Path Trio stopped him.
“Madman. Your opponent is over there.”
The eldest brother intended to kill me himself to avenge the Paradise Demoness.
I lowered my dripping sword and walked toward them. Naturally, the Smiling Demon moved to intercept Yama Divine Lord.
“Did you write your own name down in advance?”
At the Smiling Demon’s question, Yama Divine Lord shouted in a booming voice.
“I am the messenger sent by King Yama! King Yama summons you!”
Voom! Crash!
Yama Divine Lord’s palm collided with the Smiling Demon’s Demon Extreme Wild Rage Palm.
As the resulting gale swept over us, my battle with the Blood Path Trio began.
The three of them charged at me simultaneously.
The eldest aimed for my face, the second for my chest, and the third for my legs.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
I parried the incoming swords almost simultaneously. I was fast. No, I had to be fast. Their attacks were of such speed that if I weren't, I would surely be pierced somewhere.
The direction of their thrusts shifted constantly. This time, the eldest aimed for the chest, the second for the stomach, and the third for the face. Then it changed again.
It was as if their attack sequence had been perfected through thousands of practice sessions. This combined attack technique was a perfect coordination that exploited the opponent's psychology. Truly, it was a merciless assault that would have seen me skewered several times over if I weren't who I am.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
I was pushed back continuously as I parried their strikes.
Then, I seized an opening to counterattack.
As the Black Demonic Sword lunged for the eldest, the second brother moved to defend while the third brother thrust at me.
Having fought together their entire lives, they moved as if they shared a single mind despite having three bodies. It was like fighting a monster with three heads and six arms. They were far more difficult opponents than the Blood Wolf Blade. I was certain that of the four villains who had come today, these three were the most troublesome to deal with.
Four swords intertwined, moving up and down. It was an exchange where the slightest mistake would not be forgiven.
I had no intention of letting this fight drag on. Thus, I decided to use a method I had never employed until now.
At the moment they were pressing me hard—
Shhh.
The startled second brother looked around in confusion. Suddenly, the eldest and the third had vanished, and he was standing alone with me in an open field.
I had used the Space-Time Displacement Technique to pull only the second brother into a new space.
To the eldest and the third who remained outside, it would have looked as though we had both vanished in an instant.
The second brother shouted at me.
“Is this an illusion? Coward!”
“I suppose a one-on-one fight is considered cowardly by your standards, isn't it?”
I lunged at him. If the three of them together couldn't kill me, he stood no chance against me alone.
Outside, the eldest and the third were looking around in shock.
It would have been one thing if only their opponent had vanished, but their brother had disappeared along with him.
Then, the second brother’s corpse suddenly manifested, dropping out of thin air. In the moment the third brother faltered at the sudden appearance of his brother's body—
Swish! Stab!
The Black Demonic Sword, thrusting out from under the corpse’s armpit, pierced the third brother’s heart. Given their skill, it was a pitifully hollow death, but their opponent was me—someone who could apply the Space-Time Displacement Technique to actual combat.
Without even a chance to scream, the third brother collapsed.
I expected the eldest to lose his reason and charge at me like a madman.
Instead, he chose to flee. He tried to escape by smashing through the wall of the inn, but in a flash, I blocked his path using the Blink Step.
Startled, he turned to run again. He threw the corpse of the Paradise Demoness at me—the very woman he had intended to kill me to avenge.
“No matter how urgent it is, this isn't right, is it?”
“Shut up! You bastard!”
Sensing the battle was already lost, he struggled desperately to survive. He screamed and swung his sword like a lunatic. But it was a futile struggle that could never reach me.
Before five exchanges had even passed—
Thuck!
The Black Demonic Sword pierced his heart, and even faster than that, I slashed his wrist.
Thud.
A pouch fell from his severed hand. It was a poison pouch he had intended to throw at me. He had planned to use a mutual destruction technique by spraying me with poison the moment he was stabbed.
I knew from the start that they were this vicious. I only felt that their end had come far too late. To think that men who had committed all sorts of atrocities their entire lives only died in their old age. In fact, if I hadn't regressed, they wouldn't have even died here.
Isn't this too unfair? No wonder everyone laments that the heavens are indifferent.
By the time my fight was over, the Smiling Demon’s battle had also concluded.
Yama Divine Lord was already dead, his forehead pierced by a Blood Calamity Finger, his face buried in his own register. The flowing blood soaked his Death Register.
“You spent your life pretending to be King Yama’s messenger, but when King Yama actually sees you, he’ll probably say: ‘Who are you? When did I ever send you?’”
At my remark, the Smiling Demon chuckled and asked, “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine. And you, Smiling Demon?”
“I am fine as well.”
Though it seemed like an easy victory, they were formidable foes; it wouldn't have been strange if any of us had died.
But we handled it well and overcame the crisis once again. Unintentionally, I found myself repeatedly crossing the threshold of life and death with him.
“Your skills have improved again since I last saw you. Just how strong do you intend to become?”
“I plan to go all the way to the end.”
“You are already at this level; once you master the Nine Calamities Demonic Art, you will have no equal under heaven.”
I truly hoped so. I truly, sincerely hoped that no one would be able to match me.
Before heading out, I placed some money on the inn’s counter. It was an amount sufficient to repair the damaged inn and replace the furniture. It was for the innkeeper, who was likely hiding somewhere. What happened today was forced upon him, after all.
“This sight no longer seems strange to me.”
“As you know, the Demonic Path I pursue is one that doesn't involve breaking tables.”
“Second Young Master, do you believe we can become good people?”
“I am not necessarily hoping for us to become good people.”
“Then what?”
“I’m simply trying to uphold the bare minimum. One must at least be a human being before there can be a Demonic Path, an Orthodox Path, or an Unorthodox Path, right? That is all I desire.”
The Smiling Demon stared at me in silence for a moment. I couldn't tell what he was thinking as he looked at me, but it was certain that he was gradually adjusting to the kind of person I was.
“Let us go.”
“Indeed.”
We walked out of the inn together.
There were no pedestrians outside. The street was utterly deserted.
Standing before us was a man wearing a white mask.
He was simply standing there, yet he exuded a massive presence. It was a presence no less imposing than that of the Sword Emperor, Baek Mang-gi.
I knew instantly. This man was the fake who had been posing as the Smiling Demon, and the mastermind behind this trap.
“Have you forgotten your manners after consorting with those of the Demonic Path?”
The Smiling Demon stared at him with a complex gaze for a moment before speaking in a calm tone.
“I greet my Martial Uncle.”
He was someone I knew as well. He was Yang Cheo-gi, the senior disciple-brother of the Smiling Demon’s master. Before my regression, when I had a relationship with the Smiling Demon, he had told me about this Martial Uncle.
Yang Cheo-gi spoke to the Smiling Demon in a commanding tone.
“Take off the mask.”