Chapter 516: I Want to See More
Chapter 516: I Want to See More
It was a declaration of pure arrogance.
In the presence of such masters, who would dare tell them all to come at once?
And yet, no one present could openly mock him. Their opponent was the current Heavenly Demon. The demonic qi roiling around his body was unlike anything they had ever witnessed—a potent, oppressive force that felt as if it would incinerate anything it touched.
Of course, that didn't mean the gathered masters were cowards. Those assembled were legendary figures in their own right, and there were twelve of them in total.
Gyo Cheon burst into laughter. It wasn't the raspy cackle of an old man, but a thunderous roar infused with internal energy. He laughed intentionally, hoping to shatter Geom Wu-jin’s momentum.
"Do you even know who these people are, to display such insolence?"
Geom Wu-jin replied calmly. He still maintained a shred of courtesy toward Gyo Cheon out of respect for the Blood Heaven Blade Demon. He believed the only person who could release him from that debt of etiquette was the Blade Demon himself.
"Aren't they just the people you scrambled to gather?"
The wrinkles around Gyo Cheon’s eyes twitched. To his ears, those words sounded like: 'In the end, aren't they just a bunch of nobodies you managed to scrape together?'
"Indeed, you have been arrogant since your youth."
As he listened to the exchange, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon scanned the faces of those who had appeared. First, there were those whose identities were obvious from their appearance alone.
Behind the Mad Heaven Killer, who had emerged when the wall first crumbled, stood a man with a face of visceral crimson. It wasn't a flush; it was a deep, blood-soaked red. Among experts of this caliber, there was only one man with such a visage: the Red-Eyed Young Master.
He claimed his face had turned red from the sheer volume of blood that had splattered on him from his victims. Despite the title "Young Master," he was a seventy-year-old monster.
Another figure stood a short distance away, his identity revealed by his weapon. The scabbard and hilt were adorned with garish, vivid paintings of spirits. This was the Ghost Swordsman, a slaughterer known for the legend that whenever his "Ghost Sword" wailed, his opponent was destined to die.
Both men possessed skills that rivaled the Black Emperor or the Giryeon Demoness.
No matter how much Gyo Cheon had utilized his status as a former Demon Lord or how many years he had spent preparing, it could not have been easy to bring such men under his thumb. They were not the type to serve anyone.
‘What did you promise them?’ the Blade Demon wondered. Whatever it was, it must have been the catalyst to gather these monsters in one place.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon then turned his gaze toward Geom Wu-jin. He sensed no fear from the Cult Leader. In fact, he was enjoying this. The heat in his eyes was something the Blade Demon had rarely seen.
This was the Heavenly Demon on the battlefield.
He hadn't destroyed that wall merely to show off. In the Cult Leader’s battles—no, in his entire life—there was no room for empty bravado. The Blood Heaven Blade Demon could guess his intent.
Dealing with them individually would be easier, but that would turn the fight into a battle of attrition, expending internal energy for every single opponent. By fighting them all at once, he could cut down two or more with a single strike.
Of course, it was infinitely more dangerous.
Geom Wu-jin slowly drew the Heavenly Demon Sword. The motion was neither hurried nor sluggish. As he extended the blade, a streak of sharp energy flowed along the edge, shimmering at the tip. Then, the Heavenly Demon Sword began to wail.
Gooooooo—
It was a resonance that seemed to rise from the deepest abyss of Avici Hell. Hearing that sound for the first time in years made the Blood Heaven Blade Demon’s heart race. He wanted to fight alongside the Cult Leader. Just as the Fist Demon and the Cult Leader had done in their youth, he wanted to stand by his side.
But this was the Cult Leader’s fight. It was not his place to interfere.
Gooooooo—
As the sword wailed, the Mad Heaven Killer abruptly stood up. Having lived his life branded a "mad butcher," he feared nothing. Even when the Heavenly Demon told them all to come at once, he had remained seated out of spite.
However, the wail of the Heavenly Demon Sword struck a chord he had never felt before: terror.
He was startled by the unfamiliar sensation. He looked down at his hands; they were trembling.
‘My hands are shaking just because a sword is crying?’
The fear wasn't coming from his mind or his heart. He had always lived with the mindset that life ends in death anyway, so there was nothing to fear. This trembling wasn't a flutter of the heart; it was a terror felt by the body itself.
To hell with the plan—he wanted to charge. There were only two ways to eliminate fear: flee from the source, or destroy it. He had always chosen the latter.
And yet, his body would not move.
"Damn it!" The Mad Heaven Killer clenched his fists until they nearly burst and spat a low curse at both himself and Geom Wu-jin.
Behind him, the Ghost Swordsman’s blade began to emit a ghostly shriek.
Hiiiiiiiiii—
In that instant, the Ghost Swordsman realized something. The wail was different from usual.
‘The Ghost Sword is afraid!’
For the first time, the Ghost Sword, which had spent a lifetime terrifying others, was cowering.
‘Because of the wail of that sword...’
The Ghost Swordsman began to soothe his blade by injecting his internal energy. However, there was one who reacted in the exact opposite manner.
A man slowly stepped forward. He was someone who had never been intimidated by anyone, the type who couldn't stand being told what to do.
"If you tell me to come out, I suppose I must."
He was a massive man, built like a Demon Monarch. His shirtless, muscular torso made him look like a Vajra Guardian. This was the Soul-Searching Vajra.
He was famous for a body that could not be cut by sword qi or sword force—a master of Herculean strength said to crush boulders and snap precious swords with his bare hands. He had spent his life crushing the skulls of countless martial artists simply for fun.
But the pinnacle of his depravity was the tattoos on his body. Small images were etched across his massive frame. Upon closer inspection, they were portraits of women—drawings capturing their specific features.
He tattooed the likeness of every woman he raped and murdered onto his skin. When he took another victim, he would show her the tattoos and describe the others' final moments. He was a true madman.
It was no wonder such a man spoke so flippantly.
"If you were a female Cult Leader, you would have been quite charming."
At that moment, another person moved from the rear.
"Always so disrespectful, these Demonic Cult bastards!"
It was an old man whose presence, felt through his voice alone, was extraordinary.
"Even your father wouldn't have dared act so insolently toward me, the Seongra Yeomgun. Where do you get off wagging your tongue and telling us to come out?"
He was also a master of the previous generation, notorious throughout the Murim. His martial arts were formidable, but he was equally known for being cunning and calculating. Even as he shouted, he was cleverly hiding half of his body behind the Soul-Searching Vajra.
If Geom Wu-jin launched a surprise attack, he would use the giant as a shield. As long as the Soul-Searching Vajra stood before him, he wouldn't die.
As the two stepped forward, the others moved to line up beside them. Their momentum surged, but Gyo Cheon held them back.
"Wait! Move according to the plan."
At those words, the Blood Heaven Blade Demon asked his master, "Did you even set an order for the engagement?"
Gyo Cheon didn't answer. It was the Soul-Searching Vajra who spoke instead.
"Everyone wanted to avoid being first or last. If we fight you while you're fresh, you'll be hard to kill. But if we're last, we won't get the glory of taking the Heavenly Demon's head."
In other words, they expected many to die, but believed that eventually, someone would kill the Heavenly Demon.
‘You’re only human. Can you handle this much internal energy? Eventually, your reserves will run dry.’
This was their plan for dealing with Geom Wu-jin.
"So, Heavenly Demon, stop acting so high and mighty and wait quietly for your turn to die. I’d prefer it if you died by my hand, but unfortunately, the number I drew was eight. Can you even last until my turn?"
In response to the Soul-Searching Vajra’s shout, Geom Wu-jin spoke.
"No. You are number two."
Number two? Not number one? The Soul-Searching Vajra couldn't understand. If he was being provoked, shouldn't he have been called number one?
At that exact moment, the surroundings suddenly plunged into darkness.
As if someone had blown out a lamp, the world went black. Even with the night vision of masters, they couldn't see a thing.
Gyo Cheon quickly pulled out a night-shining pearl and shouted, "Prepare for a surprise attack!"
Something incredible happened. The moment the light of the pearl illuminated the area, the darkness swallowed it whole.
‘The night-shining pearl doesn't work?’
It was a darkness that no light could penetrate—a void they were experiencing for the very first time.
The next moment, the surroundings brightened as if nothing had happened. It had occurred so quickly they wondered if they had hallucinated it. Gyo Cheon looked around, but no one seemed injured.
Then, the Seongra Yeomgun tilted his head.
"Did you hear something?"
He looked around. When the darkness fell, he had definitely heard it—the sound of ice cracking.
‘What was that sound?’
Suddenly, the Seongra Yeomgun flinched. ‘Why are they looking at me like that?’
Everyone was staring at him. Their gazes were fixed on his body. The Seongra Yeomgun slowly looked down at himself.
A look of confusion crossed his eyes. His body was misaligned. A single line ran from his right shoulder down to his left waist. His severed upper torso began to slide down along that line.
‘Huh? Uh...?’
Sliiiide.
‘I’ve been cut?’
There was no pain, nor had he felt the sensation of a blade. And above all, he had been standing behind the Soul-Searching Vajra.
He looked at Geom Wu-jin. ‘How on earth...?’
The speed of his fall accelerated, and his vision plummeted. The momentary darkness had now brought him eternal night. Blood spraying from his body drenched the ground.
The Soul-Searching Vajra was equally shocked. ‘I was standing in front.’
Could it be that this single move from the Heavenly Demon could strike beyond an obstacle? Unfortunately for him, the move wasn't that simple.
Rippp.
A red diagonal line began to form from his shoulder to his flank. His eyes bulged.
‘No way!’
Sliiiide.
His body also began to misalign and slide down. Both had been cut, but his sturdier body had simply taken longer to react. His body was supposed to be impervious to sword qi.
And the line on him wasn't just one.
Rip, rippp, ripppp.
On his arms, his waist, his shoulders—red lines began to etch themselves across his entire body like a spiderweb.
"Aaaaaaaagh!"
With a monstrous scream, he vomited blood and collapsed.
At that sight, Gyo Cheon and the other masters wore expressions of utter futility. It wasn't as if they had fought a frantic battle. It had simply turned dark and then bright again.
Then, a strange light flickered in their eyes as they looked at the corpse. Their eyes widened further. The reason for their shock wasn't just that he had killed a man whose body was immune to sword qi. It wasn't even because he had called the Soul-Searching Vajra "number two," knowing the Seongra Yeomgun behind him would die first.
Everyone’s gaze fell to the floor.
On the fragmented pieces of the giant's body, the images of the women remained perfectly intact. The Heavenly Demon hadn't just sliced him randomly. He had carved the man’s body into pieces while leaving the tattoos of the women untouched. The faces of the victims were all preserved.
Floating in the pool of blood, the women looked as if they had finally found peace now that their grudge was avenged.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon understood. This was the Cult Leader’s way of mourning them.
Everyone’s gaze turned toward Geom Wu-jin. In that brief moment, in that darkness, without letting anyone else hear a sound... he had killed the man without damaging the images of the women.
Nine Calamities Demonic Art, Fourth Form: Dark Flash.
This was the Dark Flash of Geom Wu-jin, who had reached Great Achievement.
It was Gyo Cheon who broke the heavy silence.
"Did we not expect him to be strong? Every time he uses the Nine Calamities Demonic Art, it consumes a massive amount of internal energy. Do not be afraid!"
Right then, a voice drifted over.
"You should be afraid."
At the same time, the person who stepped forward from behind was none other than Geom Mu-geuk. When Mu-geuk had returned to the safe house with Seo Dae-ryong, his father had left word for him to come here. Mu-geuk had run like the wind using the Rapid Speed Step and had been quietly watching his father’s battle.
After bowing respectfully to his father and the Blood Heaven Blade Demon, Mu-geuk looked at the enemies.
"Why do you think my father destroyed the wall? Just to avoid a battle of attrition? If you thought that, you’ve underestimated him far too much."
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon flinched. Mu-geuk didn't miss the expression.
"So you thought so too, Elder."
The flustered Blade Demon looked embarrassed. "Our stiff-necked Elder can't even tell a lie!"
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon looked exasperated. ‘You brat, you can joke even in a situation like this?’
Soon, however, a faint smile touched the Blade Demon’s lips. Yes, only Geom Mu-geuk would joke in such a moment.
Mu-geuk’s gaze returned to the enemies. He understood his father’s intent perfectly.
"My father was calculating. He was analyzing you to distribute his internal energy. How to kill this one, how to kill that one... He’s already painted the entire picture of today’s battle."
With a face devoid of playfulness, Mu-geuk spoke to his father.
"I will not miss a single movement, not even a single breath you take, Father."
He knew that for him, watching his father’s battle was a greater fated encounter than anything else in the Murim.
"So please, show me more. I want to see more of your battle, Father."