Chapter 128
Chapter 128
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: We're All Going to Die!
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For me, who had crossed the boundary between life and death countless times long ago, death was vastly different from what it meant to ordinary people.
To them, death was a distant farewell they would never reunite from.
But to me, it was a restart.
I knew all too well that death was merely a parting from this world, not an eternal separation.
In fact, there were plenty of cases where grudges lingered after death, wandering the Nine Heavens, and with the right ritual, one could summon a soul back temporarily through soul-calling.
And then.
As the Ghost King, I could even seize them.
Clang-clang-clang!
The Iron Chain Prison moved busily.
The iron chains clashed noisily, filling the ghost hell with resounding metallic echoes.
"Save us!!"
"Spare—"
"Please just leave us be—"
How does it feel to be dangling high in the sky with only your neck caught in the chains, like you're hanging from a gallows?
The sight of over a dozen spirits hanging like fruits from tree branches was utterly gruesome.
"Puhahaha! I was always curious what happens when those bound to this world through soul-calling rituals die again—"
"Looks like they don't return to the afterlife; instead, ownership transfers to the Young Sect Master, right?"
"Our little fifteenth now has a ton of new recruits—he must be thrilled!"
"As expected from our seniors! This Fifteenth swears lifelong—no, eternal loyalty to you all!! Take me in, seniors!!"
"Very well!"
"Uhahahahaha!"
The primordial ghosts burst into roaring laughter at the sight of the dead jiangshi.
They were all battered, with wounds everywhere and limbs missing, evidence of a fierce battle.
Yet they weren't too worried.
After all, they were just souls now.
As long as I supplied them with black dragon qi, they knew they could recover fully.
They might even maintain their prowess in the physical world.
So the Fifteenth was overjoyed, prostrating on the ground and expressing his gratitude to the primordial ghosts when suddenly someone poked his shoulder from behind.
"…What?"
The Fifteenth glanced back lazily.
Gu Min-chae stood there.
"I'm the little brother."
"What?"
"Not you—me. I'm the youngest. So technically, all those guys should come under me, right?"
The Fifteenth's face twisted in anger.
"What the hell, you punk?"
"A guy who couldn't even look me straight in the eye when we were alive is mouthing off now."
"No one here's buying your crap from back then! Get lost!!"
The Fifteenth, pumped up at the thought of commanding his old superiors as subordinates, refused to tolerate Gu Min-chae.
Especially since this punk had already sassed him once before—everything about him was irritating.
While Gu Min-chae waged his own petty war to not lose ground to the Fifteenth.
"Y-Young, Y-Young Sect M-Master… Pl-Please r-release me…!! If we st-stay like th-this, w-we're all g-gonna d-die!"
I stared intently at the Black Bone Death King, who thrashed desperately to shake off the chains.
He looked utterly terrified of something.
His eyes darted frantically across the sky.
As if something would swoop down on him any moment, as if some unknown hand would grab him.
At the very least, it wasn't the Iron Chain Prison.
"You know, don't you?"
"Wh-What are you—"
"The taboo."
"!!"
"You know your soul's ownership was already pledged to someone else before me."
I couldn't help but laugh.
"The White Bone Net and the other Twelve Black Fiends had no idea. Right?"
The already pallid face of the Black Bone Death King grew even paler in death.
"Is that all you got from sacrificing all your subordinates as living offerings? Turning into a non-human?"
"…You knew?"
"Of course. That's why I let the White Bone Net slip away—and nearly got my identity exposed too."
"Y-You dodged th-that guy's eyes!? How in the—"
The 'that guy' the Black Bone Death King meant was the man with the Reverse Taiji Eyes.
When the White Bone Net's soul was futilely snatched away, the owner of that gaze peering at me from distant Mount Tian Shan.
The shock from that moment still lingered.
It didn't seem human at all.
A god.
Eyes that only a being who had shed its human shell could possess—one that peered down from the high heavens and directly touched the laws of causality.
He was probably one of those apostles or whatever Gu Min-chae had mentioned.
My guess was that the Black Bone Death King and the Twelve Black Fiends had all offered their souls to that guy in exchange for their current power and status.
Their transformation into non-humans was likely a result of that too.
And it seemed my guess was spot on.
Just look at the Black Bone Death King's behavior.
"If you're so scared of what comes after death, why did you do something so stupid? You knew better than anyone that life is just one fleeting corner of the eternity a soul enjoys."
Those who delve into shamanism know.
How tiny and dust-like we humans are beneath this vast universe.
The universe is immense, and time stretches eternally.
Compared to that, the span of human life is trivial.
The power and pleasures we chase under it are meaningless.
That's why most shamans seek the universe's meaning and abandon the mortal world without regret.
That's why shamans are so rare in the martial world.
But a few shamans cling desperately to mortal power instead.
Precisely because life is but dust, they believe they must live it fully and seize every pleasure.
'Because it is finite, it holds true meaning.'
That was their philosophy.
Personally, I thought both views held deep truth.
That's why I stayed true to my relationship with my master, my role as Young Sect Master, and my position as heir to the Dark Demon Divine Cult.
I also strove to uncover the essence of life and the universe within this eternity.
But for the Black Bone Death King, that ideal had twisted.
To cling to this life, to indulge in greed, he'd thrown away the eternity his soul could claim.
"You might be right! But if I could enjoy this life forever… none of this would have happened… If only I hadn't met you, Young Sect Master…!!"
The Black Bone Death King rambled before jerking his head up.
"I don't care what happens! If you glimpsed him, you know how dangerous he is! Release me! No, just let me vanish—"
"What did you hear about me? I already dodged him once, remember?"
I curled one corner of my mouth.
Right then, the deep twilight on the ground began to roil ominously.
Jagged teeth-like shapes appeared in what looked like gaping maws everywhere.
Greed.
The mystical force that enforced spiritual contracts.
The clutches of the Reverse Taiji Eyes man were reaching out.
"N-No! Aaaah! Aaaaaah!"
The Black Bone Death King's screams grew louder.
Each thrash made the chains around his neck clash even more violently.
The primordial ghosts' faces hardened.
"To think we'd see that monstrosity again—"
"How can such a thing even exist?"
"Young Sect Master, be careful! If it gets you, there won't even be bones left!!"
Wary it might turn its gaze on them, the primordial ghosts drew their blades to guard me, fearing it might harm me.
I couldn't help but laugh. Who was protecting whom?
But their attitude wasn't so bad.
"Stand down."
"B-But—"
"Having you here will just get in the way. Stand down."
The primordial ghosts retreated reluctantly, their worried gazes lingering.
Ready to rush in at any moment.
"Greed just wants to enforce the contract anyway. If it's here to devour his soul for that, I can just make it 'think' that's what happened, right?"
I'd been caught off guard by Greed the first time with the White Bone Net, but not anymore.
Getting hit twice without a plan would just make me an idiot.
Tsss—
I spread my palm wide.
Black dragon qi rose above it, swirling into a pitch-black qi sphere.
"Y-You have a w-way, Young Sect M-Master!?"
The Black Bone Death King shouted desperately upon hearing me.
Greed's teeth were nearly at his feet, rising from the ground.
"I do."
"Th-Then—"
"But why should I save you?"
"Wh-What do you—"
The more frantic his voice grew, the thicker my sneer became.
"Messing with a mystical force like this costs me dearly too. So don't you need to prove you're worth it?"
"Y-You want me to t-tell you about the N-North Sea Sect L-Leader!?"
"Now you're talking sense. And throw in some interest. Tell me everything you know."
"Th-There's no t-time for this!! By the time I spill it all, it'll have eaten me!"
"But I'm not the one in a hurry—you are, remember?"
"!!!"
The Black Bone Death King wailed grotesquely, but I ignored him since I had no idea what he meant.
The primordial ghosts shook their heads.
"What a pity—"
"He's thoroughly ensnared by the Young Sect Master."
Gu Min-chae and the Fifteenth, who had nearly shared his fate, wore strange expressions too.
"U-Uwaaaah! I'll talk! I'll tell you! The North Sea Sect Leader—"
"Oh? Really? Even Old Gu didn't know that."
"I-I answered, so please—"
"Nah, that's not enough. What if I save you and you screw me over again? Now tell me about the Great Soul-Possession Technique too."
"Th-That's—!!"
Using his plea for life as an excuse, I bombarded him with all my questions, while the Black Bone Death King frantically answered as Greed descended moment by moment.
Eventually, the teeth reached the chains, forcing him to climb them barehanded to the top.
Thanks to that, I learned a lot.
How they added rituals to the assembly to perfect the Great Soul-Possession Technique.
How the jiangshi moved.
'As expected. Their whole approach to dark arts is completely different from mine. The starting point, the foundational structure—everything.'
I'd felt it with the Ice Soul Ghost Mother Art too, but peeking into their techniques deepened my own shamanic knowledge.
I quickly found the flaw in the Great Soul-Possession Technique too.
"Alright. That's enough. You've conveyed your sincerity well."
"Th-Then—"
"Yeah."
The Black Bone Death King's face, now at the chain's peak, lit up with hope.
I simply withdrew the qi sphere and waved lightly.
"Bye now."
"!!!"
His face turned to one of the dead.
You bastard, you lied—
I heard him scream something, but Greed's maw surged up first and swallowed him whole.
Crunch! Crunch!
Crunch-crunch—
Greed gnashed its teeth for a while before vanishing back into the shadows.
"What, you think there's a way to fool a mystical force in this world? Then it wouldn't be mystical. It's just a matter of perception. Idiot. Tsk tsk tsk."
"……."
"……."
"……."
Everyone's staring at me like rotten pollack eyes.
"What're you looking at? Got a problem?"
"N-No, sir!!"
"Toying with and deceiving the enemy to extract information—that's the pinnacle of strategies! We demons can only admire the Young Sect Master's ingenuity!"
"This is the Dark Demon Divine Cult's fortune! Long live the Divine Cult! Long live the Young Sect Master!!"
The primordial ghosts, who had eyed me dubiously, quickly prostrated.
Among them were the Fifteenth and Gu Min-chae.
I turned around.
"Alright, time to head back. Our worrywart big brother must be waiting."