Chapter 3: To Pounce on the Heavenly Demon (2)
Chapter 3: To Pounce on the Heavenly Demon (2)
The domineering Demonic Qi of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the attacks of an unparalleled spear technique known as the Heavenless Divine Might Spear, and, on top of that, the wildness of the Heavenly Killing Star—Chi-chi was a calamity in human form.
How many martial artists in the Central Plains, having crossed the wall and entered the Peak Realm, could truly boast such strength?
Countless candidates came to mind, but few could defeat Chi-chi. They could be counted on one hand, after all.
In that sense, it was hardly strange that Chi-chi might return to the Demonic Cult as she was now, become the Heavenly Demon, and one day bring calamity to the Central Plains.
"Haap!"
I swung a fist that summoned thunder, and a bolt of lightning shot forth. The lightning streaked forward like a flash of light; its speed was impressive, but its explosive force was every bit as great as the pure Demonic Qi wielded by the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
"Not bad, but you're still far from good enough!"
She unleashed the Heaven and Earth Grand Shift with the Asura Demon Spear. As though seizing it in her hand and tearing it to pieces, she swung the Demonic Spear and ripped the lightning apart.
She slipped through the gap in the splitting bolt and advanced with the stride of a giant whose footsteps could set off a landslide.
It was the Heavenly Demon Dominating Step, a signature footwork technique of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
The step of an arrogant demon gazing down upon the heavens pressed down on the entire area.
As if to say that she had trampled the world and now it was time for me to die, she thrust out a terrifying demonic hand.
I could block it with a more powerful attack, but if I did, Chi-chi would suffer serious internal injuries. But this wasn't a blow I could simply evade while enduring the Heavenly Demon Dominating Step, either.
So I let it slide past me.
The Yin-Yang Sexual Art might be a Sexual Art generally used for doing the deed, but it was still a martial art that made use of the principles of yin and yang.
When I added the principles of yin (-) and yang (+) to the Lightning Qi, an attractive force and repulsive force arose. Perhaps because it was based on Lightning Qi, it was a power that pushed and pulled all things!
I used the attractive force field to guide the Demonic Spear's direction, then struck it with the repulsive force field. The Demonic Spear, which had seemed poised to tear everything apart, was knocked aside with such ease that it felt almost absurd.
"What is this...!"
Chi-chi's stance collapsed, leaving her defenseless. I nearly got distracted by the swell of her breasts, which traced a deep curve beneath her Demonic Cult robes, but this was a duel to win her over.
I reminded myself once more that I mustn't let my guard down, and mustn't be captivated by her charms, then struck her front with my shoulder.
It was nothing more than an Iron Mountain Charge, without any particular force behind it.
But a collision with my body, which had reached the Diamond Indestructible Body, was an immense act of violence all on its own.
A stream of blood ran from the corner of Chi-chi's mouth as she was sent flying. I immediately chased after her to subdue her quickly and land another blow, when—
"Don't underestimate me, you lecher!"
Chi-chi thrust her spear at me again, her stance perfect.
It didn't have the same ferocity as before, but I could sense at once that something was different this time. My survival instincts were screaming at me—not to deflect that thrust, not even to try, but to dodge it no matter what!
Was this the true face of the Heavenless Divine Might Spear, the one I'd only ever read about in the novel?
That was the kind of attack that couldn't be blocked.
A blow that warped the laws of the world was unassuming, yet terrifying. No matter how I tried to use attractive force and repulsive force, this was the sort of attack I couldn't block or deflect.
Then I would simply have to evade it.
As long as one's skill was high enough, attractive force and repulsive force could be manifested through any part of the body.
I immediately summoned repulsive force through the soles of my feet with all my might, pushing the ground away.
I shot upward with a bounce, dodging her thrust. Then I used attractive force to pull the earth back toward me and plummeted down at high speed, bringing my leg straight down.
Chi-chi pulled back the spear she had thrust out and tried to defend herself by laying it flat.
KWAANG!
The ground sank into a round crater, as though a cannonball had struck it.
At that force, Chi-chi instinctively dropped one knee to the ground and gritted her teeth.
"Grrk! Y-you brute, with nothing but stupid strength...!"
"Thanks for the compliment!"
I adjusted the attractive force and repulsive force to hold my posture in midair. Using the leg I had brought down on her as the pivot, I spun around and kicked her with my other foot.
She went flying, but the sensation of the blow was disappointingly weak.
She had concentrated her Protective Aura at the point of impact, minimizing the shock.
The fact that she'd reacted like that in so brief a moment was exactly what you'd expect from the woman who appeared as the final boss in a smutty martial arts novel.
And she even managed to counterattack in that situation.
I glanced over.
A thin red line had been drawn across my forearm.
Even as she was sent flying by my kick, she had swung her spear and cut my arm. I supposed I should be grateful it was only a shallow cut.
Chi-chi's forearm was mottled blue with bruises from my kick. She gazed at me with eyes brimming with profound insight.
"How strange."
As befitted the Heavenly Killing Star, her eyes held murderous intent, yet at the same time they resembled those of an enlightened Daoist. They contained a contradiction.
"The movements just now, and the flow of your energy—they're beyond my understanding. It's as if you haven't drawn upon the principles of martial arts, but have taken something from outside them and combined it with them. You... though you may be a lecher, you're serious about martial arts."
"Is there any martial artist who isn't serious about martial arts? More importantly, even I'm stunned. I never thought you'd already grasp a clue to the Transcendent Heart Art."
They called a martial artist who had crossed the wall a master of the Peak Realm.
Perhaps one could say they had reached the very end of a martial artist's path: a realm in which they could release their internal energy beyond their body without losing control of it.
Hence, the Peak Realm.
Beyond it lay a domain that was no longer human.
The art of using martial techniques forged from one's inner vision to produce phenomena that defied the laws of nature was called Transcendent Heart Art. It was an ultimate art whose very existence was unknown even to the Hundred Great Masters known throughout the Rivers and Lakes.
And now, it had been unleashed by the hands of a woman who had only just come of age.
Truly, she was the Heavenly Killing Star. Her talent was terrifying, befitting a star whose fate was to bring about slaughter and calamity.
"...It's only an incomplete Heart Art. It's nothing all that impressive."
Perhaps praise was unfamiliar to her. Though awkward, Chi-chi seemed pleased all the same as she once again took up her stance.
"Seeing as you mentioned Transcendent Heart Art, you must have reached that realm... Super Peak, too."
Super Peak. To borrow another term, the Super Peak Realm.
It was the realm that allowed one to wield Transcendent Heart Art. Merely attaining it was enough to claim that you were the Number One Under Heaven of your generation.
It was only because there happened to be five martial artists in this generation who could do that, myself included, that I had to be careful about making such a claim.
"Yeah. Of course I have. But I don't intend to use it in this fight. I'm not going to kill you—I'm planning to make you my cocksleeve."
"Tsk. So there are even lunatics who reach Super Peak."
"Say whatever you want. In the end, you'll become my cocksleeve and tell me how happy you are."
Rumble!
Once more, I summoned thunder.
This time, though, I didn't limit it to my fists. I made thunder surge through my entire body.
Lightning Qi coursed along my meridians, and along with a sharp, tingling pain, my whole body grew exhilarated.
Perhaps she sensed my resolve to use my full strength and defeat her now. Chi-chi, too, unleashed a fierce storm of energy that seemed capable of tearing apart everything around her, and gave rise to her killing intent.
And so, the devil of the heavens and the master of thunder clashed once more.
***
Drip. Drip.
Drops of water fell.
In the underground secret chamber, where not a breath of wind stirred and the air was heavy with dampness, moisture gathered on the ceiling before dripping down and tapping someone on the shoulder.
The icy chill against her shoulder brought Chi-chi back to her senses.
'Did I... lose?'
Her mind had only just awakened, and her thoughts were still hazy, but the events just before she collapsed came back to her clearly.
Though the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon could have defeated her, he had fought a drawn-out battle, using a method that canceled out her energy. In the end, her internal energy ran out first, and she had collapsed from exhaustion.
The Heavenly Killing Star granted her tremendous talent and martial prowess, but it could not fill her with internal energy she did not have.
With her energy depleted, she had been powerless to resist.
Clink.
She still had some freedom in her arms and legs, but chains had been fastened around them to prevent her from doing things like taking her own life or attacking him.
And the weakness she felt with every breath told her that Energy-Dispersing Poison had spread throughout this entire underground chamber.
"Mmff. Mmm?"
A gag had been stuffed into her mouth. She guessed he had tied it there to keep her from biting her tongue and killing herself.
After enduring the trials of the First Heavenly Demon's hidden cave, her pride had grown immeasurably high. She could never allow a mere Lust Demon to defile her pure body.
She wanted to kill herself this very moment, but she had been put in a situation where even that was impossible.
As a martial artist, she had always been prepared to die. But who could have ever imagined that she would end up being fucked by a Lust Demon?
'If I'd known this would happen, I should've trained my body a little, too.'
Then she could have snapped these ordinary chains with ease and tried to escape.
Creak.
"You're awake? Just as I expected. I'll take the gag off, so say whatever you want."
"......"
"Why aren't you saying anything? Did you hit your head somewhere?"
"Lust Demon... why are you dressed like that?!"
There was nothing complicated about why Chi-chi was horrified.
Geum Tae-yang had opened the underground chamber's door and walked in completely naked!
Not a single scrap of cloth covered his bronze skin. His whole body, its taut muscles tracing elegant contours, gave her less the impression of handsomeness than of lewdness.
As if his golden hair, so unfamiliar to the people of the Central Plains, weren't enough, it was paired with bronze skin that stood in stark contrast.
And on top of that...
'H-How can a man's thing be that big...?! That's a beast... a beast!'
The thing jutting between Geum Tae-yang's legs brought a python to mind. God only knew how many women he had ravaged with it; its color was no longer pink, but a dark, reddish hue. The veins bulging across it were intimidating even just to look at.
Could there be another man that large in all the Central Plains besides the one standing before her?
Chi-chi finally understood why the women who had fallen to the Thousand-Faced Lust Demon defended him and spoke up in his favor, becoming almost like the fanatics of the Demonic Cult.
"Shall we get started, then? Just as I promised, I'll make you my cocksleeve."
"......Gulp."
She swallowed, tense with apprehension.