The Demonic Cult Serial Murder Case: #5 A Chinese Is Absolutely Not Allowed

Cheong had learned a new heart technique. The true qis within her body waited, holding their breath for the unidentified new arrival still lingering in her acupoints. Lately only wicked things had been rolling in. To the point that even the demon-repelling Joyful True Qi was exhausted, panting every day like a poor laborer chasing survival demons. The Joyful Heart Mind Scripture was too busy erasing the heavenly killing seeping into her upper dantian—the brain—to maintain any discipline. The Moon Lady True Qi simply shrugged, muttering, “Haha, but what can you do? Demons are living beings too,” and watched from the sidelines.

On the other hand, the demonic qi camp was having a fantastic time. Demonic qi by nature gained power when the mind turned evil and the hands grew cruel. The upper dantian was on the verge of being stained with murderous karma, a murderous ghost about to be born. Just one more big chunk of demonic qi and it would be perfect. That was the expectation.

And so the first breath permeated as true qi, circled every nook and cranny of the body, and the dantian gate opened. The new family member revealed itself with a dramatic ta-da. It wore a benevolent smile, backed by a faint halo known as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the glorious flame that burned away the world’s darkness and revealed the truth.

The Taoist faction members cheered in unison. It was the appearance of Daejeong Seongong, one of Buddhism’s two ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠greatest teachings.

In Buddhism, the character for “serene” did not merely refer to sound. It described a state of perfect peace, calm and tranquil as a windless surface of water, utterly free of delusion. The practice of unifying the spirit and seeking enlightenment through such a serene mind was called “Zen.” Daejeong Seongong was an internal cultivation heart method born from exactly that Buddhist enlightenment.

It could truly be called a divine art that was itself the method of accumulating cultivation within the body and governing the mind. It was also famous as the secret teaching of the Emei Sect.

Any sect among the Nine Great Schools naturally possessed at least one divine art that represented it. Just as people associated Shaolin with the Muscle Tendon Change Classic, Mount Hua with the Purple Cloud Divine Art, and Wudang with the Tai Chi Wisdom Sword, everyone thought of Daejeong Seongong when Emei was mentioned.

And here, in this land of villains at the end of the world, one of Buddhism’s greatest teachings had descended upon a crazy, insane murderous demon—through a very mysterious yet utterly despicable method.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Emei Sect was called the Abbess in the Central Plains. Had Jeongcheol Yeonni known, she would have shed tears of blood and considered her sixty years of mental cultivation wasted. Once the secret of the main sect was stolen, what use was peace of mind?

The Emei Sect was a martial order that functioned like a temple. Its nuns were Buddhist martial artists. Whether Shaolin or Emei, the so-called martial monks were in truth cyber-like pseudo-monks. Of course, among martial artists these pseudo-monks generally possessed the most respectable character, that much was true.

In any case, Cheong had swallowed the Emei Sect’s divine art whole. Training points were precious, so she first raised it to level six—an efficient breakpoint that granted large ability points. She had also left some points in reserve as insurance in case she ended up doing something even crazier later.

That achievement alone blew away the heart demons that had plagued her recently. A faint, clear luster returned to Cheong’s eyes. It was a miracle that her dull dead-fish eyes had become bright and sparkling.

In reality, although she had returned to her senses, this time it truly felt like she had fallen off a cliff only to ride a whirlwind back into the sky. Of course, as the owner of the Heavenly Solitary Star, one could say she was enduring remarkably well.

Somewhere in the heavens, the most ominous evil star emitted an uncomfortable light. But that was all. The lonely evil star that had existed for eons as if they were a single day regarded human will as no more than a fleeting moment. A mere human could not defy the will of the stars. It was nothing but a brief tantrum. In the end, blood and tears would bloom everywhere across the world.

The renowned Taoist masters of the Central Plains saw this starlight. It was the moment they realized the Heavenly Killing Star—having grown after missing its proper timing—now existed somewhere in the world. It was like how Fan Zeng and Xiang Bo of the Chu-Han era had looked at the sky to divine Xiang Yu’s fate. Or like their even more brilliant successor, the one who inherited the genius lineage—Zhuge Liang—who read the mandate of heaven.

Reading the heavens like this was the symbol of great intelligence. Since martial learning had advanced greatly since then, there were now many interpretations of miscellaneous signs. Anyone who bragged ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that they could see the world even a little could read at least the crumbs of heavenly signs.

But what could the Taoist masters do right away? The owner of the Heavenly Killing Star was at the end of the world, unconscious and knocked out cold. They would simply exchange letters among themselves: “Oh dear, it seems a great disaster has occurred. What do you think?” “By the way, around what time did you see it? With my cultivation I saw it at the beginning of the Ox hour.” “Oh, you are still lacking. I saw it at the end of the Rat hour,” and other such self-praise.

Of course, it wasn’t because they had nothing better to do. They had built a communication network precisely so they could all gather and subdue the owner of the Heavenly Killing Star the moment it appeared.

Seomun Su-rin also saw this starlight. From the uncomfortable hue of the evil star she understood that her cherished disciple had overcome a great crisis and let out a sigh of relief. That night Seomun Su-rin lit a candle, left her residence, and climbed the peak. It was to offer a thanksgiving ritual at the temple dedicated to the Flame Emperor.

There were also worthy individuals even in the lands of the Demonic Cult. It was the Secret Pavilion Master, Ji Seungju.

Ji Seungju saw the evil star in the sky and smiled. The Heavenly Killing Star had arrived in the Central Plains. The time for the Divine Cult’s long-lost cherished wish to return was not far off. If the Central Plains drowned in blood from the Heavenly Killing Star’s slaughter, the Divine Cult would rise mightily and soar! This must be a revelation granted with one heart and one will by both the Heavenly God and the Demon God!

Had the Heavenly God and Demon God seen it, they would have beaten their chests hard enough to shatter every rib. The two deities were watching the show without realizing their own house was on fire.

Cheong opened her eyes.

“Wow. What is this? What the heck is going on?”

She naturally opened her eyes. Her body felt so refreshed that no trace of sleep remained; vitality surged through every limb. The moment she had learned Daejeong Seongong she had been knocked completely unconscious. She had trembled at the sensation of her brain being kneaded, lost consciousness, and then woken up like this. In truth the Buddhist divine art had scattered the heavenly killing and caused her accumulated fatigue to explode all at once, but Cheong did not know that, and in any case the two events were not so different.

Moreover the room was spotless, without a single trace of the massive volcanic explosion from before. This meant she had no idea that the villain cleaner, acting on orders from stand-in number two, had turned the room upside down.

Yeah, it really had been dangerous earlier. She had been right on the verge of loading half of a half charge of Sosu Magong. It was only half of a half because the target was that insignificant Gyeon Po-hui. Striking with exactly half of half would have made her convulse and vomit blood as she died, which seemed like it would be pretty entertaining. Wouldn’t it be fulfilling for a lewd performance specialist if she herself became the performance in the end?

Cheong shuddered as she recalled yesterday’s thoughts in their entirety.

“Wow, this. They don’t call it demonic arts for nothing. So this is what becoming evil feels like.”

Cheong, who regarded strategy guides as her life savior, had no idea that the Heavenly Solitary Star’s influence was overwhelmingly dominant. She simply blamed the poor demonic art that was being clawed apart inside her dantian.

Yeah. From now on I should treat our insignificant, talentless saje a little better. I’ll teach her the Joyful Maiden Art too. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Since it originally belonged to the Joyful Palace, returning it to her disciple is only natural. We even decided to train together. Train… but that kind of training… damn my mouth…

Cheong’s expression twisted.

Hmm. Wouldn’t a verbal promise made by an incompetent person in a state of mental incapacity have no legal effect? Unfortunately, the modern system regarding the mentally incompetent that Cheong had picked up in law class had already been completely abolished long ago. And there was no such law in the Central Plains to begin with. If a stupid official made a mistake the entire family would be wiped out, so it was such a common occurrence that it didn’t even count as an incident. Both personality jurisdiction and territorial jurisdiction guaranteed Cheong’s promise.

Cheong looked outside. The world was still pitch dark. After staying up for ten straight nights going on walks, her body had remembered the schedule and opened her eyes on its own.

Cheong rose and walked to the window.

During the ten days of ominous serial murders, even the Divine Cult had begun patrolling at night. The evil deeds did not distinguish between high and low skill, nor did they discriminate between noble and lowly status. Therefore it was time for the cult’s patrolmen to take the lead in guarding the nights of Tianshan Shinshi.

Of course, the fact that patrol routes were heavily concentrated around the VIP residence was purely coincidental. After all, in Tianshan Shinshi everyone was officially equal except for the two proxies of the two gods, the Heavenly Demon.

But it was not much of a hindrance to Cheong. The brazier district was the district of heretics, so night patrols were infrequent there. The patrolmen’s work attitude was also insincere since it was additional duty without overtime pay. Above all, the decisive factor was that Cheong’s Black Shadow Stealth Dive had already reached four stars. Having trained diligently every night for nearly ten days, rapid progress was only natural.

Black Shadow Stealth Dive was a red-grade movement technique received as a reward for her devoted service of personally skinning an unknown ninja alive at night and then cleanly bathing the exposed flesh with poison.

The name meant diving into the shadows, so the martial art’s effect was roughly the same. Of course it was not a technique to travel along shadows like real ninjas in novels; it was merely a concealment art that hid the user within shadows. It could not be called an overly exaggerated name. Martial art names were supposed to be exaggerated so the learner could feel proud afterward.

If it had been named something like “Pseudo-Tathagata Mimic Palm Technique” instead of Yeorae Shinjang, who would want to learn it?

Thanks to it, Cheong safely reached her friend’s house in the brazier district.

Cheong familiarly pushed the thin string beneath her feet a couple of times. Then, after sprawling in the small room (living room) and groaning “Aigoo, I’m so tired,” the person with the peculiar hobby of washing his hair in the middle of the night in the even smaller room (bedroom) would appear.

Seolgajik slid the door open with a rattle and immediately shot out, “Don’t you have anything better to do at night?”

“Ah. Nice to see you too. Has it been a week?”

“I’m not particularly glad to see you.”

Seolgajik shook his head slowly. Cheong’s eyes widened like axes. What the hell? I gave you a truly rare and easily obtained divine art. Now that you’ve learned it, are you saying you’ve seen everything there is to see? I didn’t think you were that kind of person.

“Actually, thanks to you I can wake up well enough without needing water poured on me. But do you know why I still leave the water bottle there?”

“Because it feels secretly refreshing?”

“It’s because I’m scared of you. Next time we meet it feels like a murderous demon shaped like a person will strangle my neck. So I asked you to stop your murderous business at least for a week, yet you just had to keep going, hmm?”

Seolgajik was in the middle of scolding when he suddenly stopped.

“Hmm? Something’s different.”

“What is? But you’ve changed a lot too, Seolgajik. What, have you started wearing makeup these days? Why have you gotten prettier—”

Seolgajik cut off Cheong’s words and spoke only his own.

“The eyes. Yes. The eyes have changed. Those rotten fish eyes have suddenly become human. Had an enlightenment, did you? Well, it’s finally some good news.”

Then he immediately turned his back.

“What? Where are you going?”

“To put the water bottle away. From now on you can just shake me awake. You could come during the day, yet you only sneak in at night. Honestly, with people…”