The Protagonist Is in Danger
The Undying Demon did not even bother to deploy a movement technique. One look was enough to make it obvious: he considered Jang Hyeon-nam and his companions beneath him.
Then screams erupted from the ship's deck — the signal that Groups One and Three had engaged the Undying Demon's escort warriors.
When the gap between Jang Hyeon-nam's Group Two and the Undying Demon closed to fifty paces, Jang Hyeon-nam drew his sword.
The Undying Demon recognized the Songmun Sword at a glance.
"Hmph. A disciple of Wudang. I'll make jerky out of you in particular."
Jang Hyeon-nam unleashed the Flowing Cloud Sword.
"Oh-ho! Not bad!"
Sword qi shimmered along the blade. The young man had clearly trained well.
Jang Hyeon-nam's internal energy was One Gapja. To have achieved One Gapja at twenty-five, he was unquestionably a successful martial artist. He lacked real combat experience, but even so, he would not have been out of place among First-Rate masters.
As the Flowing Cloud Sword's elegant, majestic forms unfurled, the Undying Demon Hyeok Chung finally brought out a movement technique of his own. Even he could not simply ignore a Flowing Cloud Sword laden with sword qi.
Among the Flowing Cloud Sword's forms, this was the one most steeped in killing intent. Sword qi sprayed in glittering sheets, claiming every inch of space around them.
Yet the Undying Demon slipped through it with cunning ease and drove straight in toward Jang Hyeon-nam.
A wet hiss of parting flesh. The sword qi of Wind-Cloud Over the Dry Sea grazed the Undying Demon's forearm, and the skin split at once, laying bare the raw red meat beneath. He paid it no mind. He stretched out his hand, fingers curling to seize Jang Hyeon-nam by the throat.
A rush of air. In that instant the Undying Demon sensed a surge of energy driving toward his flank — and ignored it.
"Hm?"
The moment searing heat reached him, his body reacted of its own accord. He whipped the hand that had been reaching for Jang Hyeon-nam's throat around and struck the incoming palm force.
The palm force shattered. A blast of scorching heat washed out across the field.
"Well, well! You've done quite a bit of research on this lord. I was going to grab a few of you and ask why you dared attack me — but that impulse is gone. I'll beat every last one of you to death!"
Killing intent erupted from him all at once. The vitality around them vanished, replaced by a dank, oppressive air. In the same breath, the Undying Demon vanished as if the ground itself had swallowed him.
The martial artist who had unleashed the Blazing Palm felt something rushing toward him and cried out.
He hurled his greatest ultimate technique wildly into empty air. Compressed air burst apart in a chain of detonations, spewing heat in every direction.
That much, even the Undying Demon couldn't ignore. That's why he volunteered to face him.
The Blazing Palm was even more powerful than expected.
The air exploded from the palm force — but with that final Blazing Palm, the martial artist's head burst in a fountain of blood. His skull had been crushed in the Undying Demon Hyeok Chung's grip; only the lower jaw remained. The sight was ghastly. The man who had been pouring out Blazing Palms died with both hands still raised toward the sky.
Jang Hyeon-nam and the remaining martial artists charged the Undying Demon as one. But before their swords and sabers could even touch his body, two more heads flew from his left and right palms. One man's forehead was sheared away; the other's head vanished entirely.
Three martial artists dead in an instant. Jang Hyeon-nam faltered.
But two of the remaining warriors had already steeled themselves for death, and they moved at once. Jang Hyeon-nam followed, charging the Undying Demon. Sword qi, packed with every last drop of his internal energy, hung from his blade like clusters of grapes.
The Flowing Cloud Sword's strongest form. He thrust, and the sword qi beaded on the blade like dew exploded toward the Undying Demon — pouring down like a torrential rain.
His master's proud words came back to him: with this form, you will not lose to anyone, anywhere. Jang Hyeon-nam was that confident.
The Undying Demon raised both hands into the air and swept them in a wide circle. Holes punched through his hands and forearms from the sword qi, one after another. If a palm-technique fighter could no longer use his hands, the advantage was as good as seized.
"We've got him!"
The two martial artists lunged at the Undying Demon's arms, which had been reduced to rags. This was the perfect chance to cut him down.
In that moment, Jang Hyeon-nam saw it with terrible clarity. Tentacle-like things burst from the holes punched by the sword qi and plugged them shut. He watched, horrified, as the wounds regenerated in an instant.
And then, grinning, the Undying Demon spread both arms and snatched the swords of the two warriors charging in to stab him. From the half-severed, dangling hands, tentacles shot out once more and fused them back together in a heartbeat.
"Get back!"
Jang Hyeon-nam shouted, but the Undying Demon's hands were already crashing down on the two men's crowns. A sound like dry clay shattering — and blood-soaked brain matter clung thickly to the Undying Demon's palms. Amazingly, the brains and blood soaked into his hands and vanished.
Come to think of it, even when his forearm had been half-sliced, even when Black Cloud Thunder Rain had shredded his arms to rags — Jang Hyeon-nam had never seen him bleed. He'd been too caught up in the fight to notice.
Ah. If I'd realized that sooner, I would have been more careful.
But even knowing it, he didn't think they could beat an Undying Demon who regenerated the moment he was cut.
Now I understand why they call him the Undying Demon.
He had no idea why the wounds sealed so quickly, but it was a scene that sent chills down the spine. A grotesque death unlike anything he had ever heard of or seen.
They say the martial world is full of strange people and bizarre arts. I only understand that now, at the moment of my death.
Jang Hyeon-nam had already poured every last scrap of internal energy into Black Cloud Thunder Rain. He couldn't even produce sword qi, let alone guarantee he could execute a single proper form. He had neither the strength nor the thought of fleeing.
When he raised his sword and showed his will to fight, the Undying Demon nodded.
"Truly a Wudang man. A young Daoist who can keep his composure even in a situation like this. Only Wudang makes that possible."
Among all the Wudang Daoists the Undying Demon had faced, he had never seen one who feared death.
"Once you die, the Wudang Daoists slain by this lord will number in the double digits. So die gladly."
Spouting that nonsense, Jang Hyeon-nam charged him.
"If I die, you'll be the first demonic cultivator I've ever killed — so this will be something to commemorate!"
Even on the verge of death, Jang Hyeon-nam would not say anything that diminished him. He only felt the emptiness of dying without having accomplished a thing, after coming down from the mountain at news of his family's crisis.
But this is chivalry. I have no regrets.
That was the conviction Jang Hyeon-nam had held to all his life.
A viscous toxic energy flowed from the Undying Demon's palm and stretched toward him. His palm gleamed as if coated in actual venom. Where the toxic fluid dripped, the withered gray silver-grass around them burned away to nothing.
Jang Hyeon-nam scattered a sword form. But a form with no internal energy left was easy enough to dodge with even a simple movement technique.
The Undying Demon's Poison Palm slammed into Jang Hyeon-nam's chest.
No — the instant he thought it had struck, something appeared in front of him and took the palm force instead. What blocked it was the corpse of a dead martial artist.
Who?
But the Undying Demon was already charging again, poison packed into his palm, and there was no time to look around. Once more, another martial artist's corpse flew between Jang Hyeon-nam and the Undying Demon and took the Poison Palm in his place.
The internal energy behind it was so fierce that the corpse that took the blow was reduced to pulp. In the instant blood and viscera rained from the air, Jang Hyeon-nam saw another palm force driving in and raised his sword across his chest. He blocked it and folded his waist backward, nearly in half.
"Kh!"
He dodged the palm force, but the Undying Demon's nails raked across his chest.
Would a tumbling retreat have been the better choice?
But a Jianghu novice didn't have the experience to even think of such a thing.
As the Undying Demon closed in, the sound of a sword wind came from somewhere. The blade-wind was aimed at the Undying Demon's neck, so he abandoned Jang Hyeon-nam and sprang back. Only then did Jang Hyeon-nam steady his swaying body and look at the one who had sent it.
"Hero Po!"
Seo Joo-cheon approached, his face deeply furrowed, and Jang Hyeon-nam spoke with a look of genuine regret.
"Why did you come here? There's a monster here. No one who comes can do anything about it."
Jang Hyeon-nam's face said he couldn't understand why Po Un had come at all.
"Damn it. I was right."
Seo Joo-cheon's irritated mutter. On top of that, Jang Hyeon-nam found it truly strange that this man was looking at him with worried eyes. That an Unorthodox martial artist — not even of the Orthodox path — would worry about him was so unlike the Jianghu he knew that the disconnect was enormous.
"I didn't realize there were this many gnats."
The Undying Demon Hyeok Chung was unmoved by the appearance of Seo Joo-cheon and Ham Cheon-yeong. Two more mayflies. No reason to tense up.
"What about the others?"
"They went to the burning ship to rescue Young Lady Baek."
Seo Joo-cheon regretted that he had arrived a little late.
"Ah. Young Lady Baek has already been rescued."
"Really?"
"Yes. So don't worry."
Jang Hyeon-nam studied him, wondering if he might be lying for his sake, but there was no falsehood in those eyes.
"That's a relief. A true relief. If we hadn't even saved Young Lady Baek, the people who died here would have died for nothing."
At those words, the Undying Demon muttered.
"What did you say? You rescued Baek I-jin? Is that true?"
Seo Joo-cheon shouted back.
"It's true. We rescued her from the Gwak Family Manor."
At the words Gwak Family Manor, the Undying Demon roared.
"You dare steal this lord's plaything? I'll kill every last one of you!"
Paying the Undying Demon's roar no mind, Seo Joo-cheon asked Jang Hyeon-nam,
"Did Hero Sang go to the ship?"
"He did."
"Then he won't die."
Seo Joo-cheon figured that Sang Ryo knew the Kunlun Sect's ultimate technique, the Cloud Dragon Nine Forms, and would escape with his lightness skill in a life-or-death moment.
Sure enough, Sang Ryo came flying through the air like a swallow, someone tucked under his arm, and landed where Jang Hyeon-nam stood. Two warriors came with him, both bearing serious sword wounds. Jang Hyeon-nam sighed when he saw the blood soaking Sang Ryo's back — he'd expected the man to be unharmed.
The Undying Demon's escort warriors appeared belatedly. When Sang Ryo rescued the woman and escaped the ship, they had delayed chasing him in favor of putting out the fire aboard.
"Why are you all doing this? You should have taken the hint and fled — why come to where the monster is? Can't you tell at a glance that this place is a lost cause?"
He meant it with genuine regret. He couldn't understand why Po Un and Sang Ryo, instead of thinking of escape, kept walking into the fire.
"I couldn't leave Young Hero Jang behind."
"Aigoo."
Jang Hyeon-nam shook his head. He had learned, bone-deep, that even if everyone here charged together, they could not face the Undying Demon.
"I'll buy time. All of you, flee. And Hero Sang — that woman isn't Young Lady Baek."
Sang Ryo nodded as if he already knew. He had checked her face after the rescue and was already disappointed. If it had been Baek I-jin, he would have chosen to flee rather than save Jang Hyeon-nam. But it wasn't Baek I-jin, and he couldn't leave Jang Hyeon-nam behind, so he had chosen to join them.
Sang Ryo answered.
"I cannot leave Young Hero Jang behind."
At Sang Ryo's words, Jang Hyeon-nam's face flushed with emotion.
"I'm already finished. After taking that monster's Poison Palm, it feels like my insides are already melting."
"What?"
The most shocked of them was Seo Joo-cheon.
"Let me see!"
Seo Joo-cheon looked at the torn chest, and his gaze went grim.
Cannot be expelled through internal energy, no matter how high the victim's cultivation. There is no known antidote.
"The Undying Demon's Poison Palm cannot be expelled through internal energy, no matter how high your cultivation. And there's no antidote, either."
The Undying Demon, who had been listening to the mayflies' conversation, swept his gaze over Seo Joo-cheon with an intrigued look.
"How does a thing like you know that?"
Very few people knew that fact. Everyone who had taken the Poison Palm had died.
"That's none of your business."
At Seo Joo-cheon's reply, the Undying Demon's sword-like brows twitched.
"These mayflies seem to have their guts hanging outside their bellies."
"Mayflies don't even have guts!"
Seo Joo-cheon muttered, irritated. Taking it as a joke, Jang Hyeon-nam let out a giggling laugh.
"Young Hero Jang, you can laugh in a situation like this?"
"Should I cry, then? If I'm going to die anyway, isn't it more magnificent to die like a man?"
Looking into Jang Hyeon-nam's calm eyes, Seo Joo-cheon felt a tangle of emotions.
I never thought the protagonist personality I wrote would be this inflexible. He'll have nothing to say no matter when he dies. It's all my fault. I should have given him a more cunning, selfish personality.
Seo Joo-cheon said,
"From now on, listen to me. We're getting out of here, so don't even think about fighting."
At Seo Joo-cheon's words, the Undying Demon laughed as if it were absurd.
"Hahaha! And who said they'd let you go? Not a single one of you will leave this place alive!"
"And if we do get out alive?"
"Excellent! Looks like I'll have a little brother among the Twelve Demon Lords!"
At Seo Joo-cheon's words, the Undying Demon's mouth twitched. A man about to die who wouldn't yield a single word — it grated on him.
"Second Brother! Did you spread it all?"
At Seo Joo-cheon's words, Ham Cheon-yeong lifted a large leather pouch and answered.
"Yes, Big Brother."
"Then begin."
At that, Ham Cheon-yeong pulled a fire-starter from his robes and lit it. The Undying Demon sensed something and shouted.
"Seize that one!"
Two escort warriors moved — and Ham Cheon-yeong dropped the lit fire-starter.