The Demonic Path (3)
Kwa-rreung!
A single thunderclap split the air, and one of the Ghost World Yin Soul Sect's demonic cultivators flinched violently.
Lightning fell from time to time in this Dark Soul Secret Realm. It was natural thunder qi, spawned from the black clouds that shrouded the sky. If luck was against you, a strike could kill you outright, so one always had to stay alert.
The demonic cultivator turned his head toward the direction the thunder had come from. He needed to check where the lightning had struck.
But what met his eyes was not lightning falling from sky to ground. It was a pitch-black streak of light, hurtling toward him at a terrifying speed.
"……!"
Kwa-rreung!
The demonic cultivator hastily threw up a defensive spell — but the black thunder qi shattered it with ease, as if mocking him. Piercing through the scattering of spirit power, the black lightning descended upon him.
"Ah…."
Half his body vanished in a single instant. His suddenly lighter frame crumpled onto the damp floor of the Dark Soul Secret Realm, and a second strike immediately erased what remained of him.
That makes two.
Having erased the corpse, Cheon Woo-jin landed on a nearby boulder. He had killed one in front of the four Yu brothers earlier, so this was the second. Only three of the sect's demonic cultivators remained now.
Two of them were Qi Condensation cultivators of the same caliber as those he had already dispatched. The last, however, was Yu Gi-ryeong — a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator concealing his strength.
Right now, Yu Gi-ryeong would be focused on recovering the spirit power he had dispersed with the Scattering Retreat Concealment Art. Not, of course, in order to capture the four Yu brothers — but to hunt the powerful yao monsters dwelling in this secret realm as well, and gather as much plunder as possible. He had already restored a great deal of his spirit power with the demonic pills, but fully recovering his original strength would still take time.
Where could he be?
Cheon Woo-jin stretched his spirit power outward in all directions, thin as gossamer threads — a detection art that used the spiderweb of spread threads like a radar. But no reaction from Yu Gi-ryeong registered. With his current ability, sweeping the entire vast secret realm was beyond him.
He was just deciding he would have to search on foot when a response flickered at the far edge of the web. Not one — two. Two Qi Condensation cultivators, gathered together.
"…."
Concealing his presence, Cheon Woo-jin moved toward them.
There, the two demonic cultivators of the Ghost World Yin Soul Sect were combing the ground while talking.
"What do you make of it?"
"Judging by the footprints, they joined up here and then crossed over that hill."
They were analyzing the traces left on the ground — the footprints the Yu brothers had left before running into Cheon Woo-jin.
"The Paryong Society bastards are all dead by now, so it must be the Yu brothers. Let's hunt them down."
"If we can corner them in one spot, it'll save us some effort."
Just as they moved to pursue the Yu brothers, a black shadow streaked across the moss-darkened ground.
"Ugh—?!"
Thud!
A black blade erupting from the earth impaled one demonic cultivator through the leg. Had he not sensed the ambush and twisted his body at the last moment, it would have pierced his torso instead of his leg.
"The Black Shadow Technique!"
The other cultivator hastily swept his surroundings and raised one hand. Blazing crimson sword qi took form. With a venomous expression, he swung his arm, and the crimson sword qi launched toward the direction the attack had come from.
Boom!
The instant it struck its target, the crimson qi detonated, and flames swallowed the surroundings whole.
But Cheon Woo-jin had already left that position.
Stronger than the two I faced earlier.
Soaring into the air, Cheon Woo-jin drew the Ro-Lei-Zhen-Tian Sword from his storage pouch. Realizing it was no ordinary spell instrument, the two cultivators' eyes went wide. They scrambled to evade — but the one whose leg had been impaled was too slow.
A technique of self-made artistry — borrowing the Yin-Yang of heaven and earth, black lightning plummets from above like heaven's own fury.
Kwa-kwahng! With a roar that shook heaven and earth, pitch-black lightning crashed down. The cultivator whose movement had been delayed took the black bolt head-on and was annihilated on the spot; the other was caught in the aftermath and sent tumbling across the ground.
That makes three.
Black Thunder Descending Quake was a technique Cheon Woo-jin had developed through solitary practice. By drawing not only on his own spirit power but also on the Yin-Yang forces of heaven and earth, it drove down a devastating strike of thunder qi, falling from above like natural lightning.
I thought it would wipe out both of them at once. My control still needs work.
raising the Ro-Lei-Zhen-Tian Sword, Cheon Woo-jin drew his spirit power upward. Recalling the principles of the Tae-Eul Hyun-Myo Sword Art, he conjured over a dozen blades of black sword qi.
Seeing this, the surviving cultivator generated his crimson qi once more. Matching Cheon Woo-jin's display, he too readied a dozen blades of sword qi.
"…."
"…."
A taut silence stretched between them. The demonic cultivator moved first. Forming a hand seal and releasing a short bark of focused breath, he sent his crimson blades hurtling toward Cheon Woo-jin along convoluted trajectories. Cheon Woo-jin wove his black sword qi to meet the assault.
Bam, bam, KWA-BOOM!
Every collision of qi against qi detonated into thunderous noise. The crimson blades exploded in a violent burst of flame, turning the area into a sea of fire in the blink of an eye.
The flames did not touch Cheon Woo-jin directly — but watching the scene, the cultivator flashed a wicked grin.
"Yan — Blaze!"
The moment the short cry left his lips, the flames spread across the field surged upward all at once and fell upon Cheon Woo-jin.
Earlier, Cheon Woo-jin had struck from the shadows; now it was the demonic side's turn, commanding fire itself in an attempt to catch him off guard.
But the flames failed to singe so much as a single strand of his hair.
"…!"
At some point, a silver shield had appeared in Cheon Woo-jin's left hand. The Silver Spirit Firm Guard Shield — a powerful defensive spell instrument once carried by Core Formation cultivators. It wove a silver protective barrier that perfectly shut out the enemy's flames.
Good thing I took another Steel Muscle Bone Pill. My reaction speed is far sharper now.
With his physical abilities maximized by the pill, an ambush of this level was nothing he couldn't handle.
Sword in his right hand and shield in his left, Cheon Woo-jin pressed forward. The blade of qi extending from the Ro-Lei-Zhen-Tian Sword drove the cultivator into a corner, while every counterattack was swallowed whole by the silver shield.
It was hopeless. Desperation settled onto the cultivator's face.
"Uwaaaagh…!"
At last, eyes bloodshot with fury, he let out a howl — and immediately, a violent surge of energy erupted from his body.
A self-detonation.
He was blowing up his own spirit power in a bid to take his enemy down with him. But Cheon Woo-jin did not so much as waver. Channeling his spirit power into the Ro-Lei-Zhen-Tian Sword, he threw it. Flying faster than any sword qi, the blade struck the cultivator square in the head.
With the top half of his skull gone, there was no detonating anything. His last struggle a failure, the demonic cultivator collapsed onto the sodden ground.
Four down.
Keeping his guard up, Cheon Woo-jin slipped a hand into his robe and swallowed several pills at once — the stock he had prepared in advance.
Thunder arts really do burn through spirit power at a brutal rate.
Wielding the Ro-Lei-Zhen-Tian Sword let him deliver force beyond the limits of Qi Condensation — but it demanded a corresponding mountain of spirit power. He had developed Black Thunder Descending Quake precisely to curb that consumption by borrowing the Yin-Yang energies of heaven and earth. Even so, his reserves had run dangerously thin, and he had been forced to settle things with sword qi instead.
Still….
This time, the corpses had remained intact. Which meant he could now salvage the storage pouches.
Rifling through them, he found hardly any spirit stones. There were quite a few pills, but they were demonic products and would likely carry severe side effects, so Cheon Woo-jin pocketed only the few that seemed genuinely useful.
And….
He raised his head slowly — and confirmed the presence gazing down at him from between the ink-black clouds.
"You go through people's belongings like a common pickpocket."
A man with sharp, angular features. His face was different from Seo Jin-hu's, the mask he had worn earlier. That would be Yu Gi-ryeong's true face.
"You're not one of the Yu brothers, are you? A loose cultivator working out of Ghost Head City?"
Yu Gi-ryeong had already guessed that Cheon Woo-jin was a hired blade.
"Seems you've dealt with the rest of my men as well. Am I right?"
"…."
"I'll take that as a yes."
Even after confirming the total annihilation of his subordinates, Yu Gi-ryeong showed no particular fury. Maintaining an utterly composed expression, he descended to the ground and stared steadily at Cheon Woo-jin.
"What did the Yu brothers promise you?"
"…."
"Hm. Foolish question. A talent like yours still stuck at Qi Condensation means you haven't yet secured a Foundation Establishment Pill… so they must have offered you a Foundation Establishment spirit treasure as your reward."
The man's mind worked faster than Cheon Woo-jin had expected. Every guess landed true. Curious how far he would go, Cheon Woo-jin simply held his tongue and listened.
"Fine. Then let us do this."
But Yu Gi-ryeong's deductions did not continue — instead, the offer came.
"Betray the Yu brothers and follow my command. The Foundation Establishment spirit treasure you need, our Ghost World Yin Soul Sect will provide it."
"…?"
That was unexpected.
"You're telling me to enter the demonic path?"
"I am. Join the Ghost World Yin Soul Sect, and we will help you ascend to Foundation Establishment."
"…."
Yu Gi-ryeong spoke in a cool, measured voice.
"We were already planning to scout talented loose cultivators in Ghost Head City and draw them into the sect. You possess the skill to wipe out my entire retinue single-handedly — your qualifications speak for themselves."
"…."
"Besides, at least one of the men I brought here today was due to attempt Foundation Establishment before long. We simply divert his allotment to you. There is no problem at all."
One of you is worth more than four dead subordinates. That was what his proposal amounted to — an attempt to win Cheon Woo-jin over.
"One more thing… our Ghost World Yin Soul Sect is no mere rising faction. I cannot divulge the details, but if you join us and prove your worth, you will one day swim in far greater waters."
"…."
Yu Gi-ryeong was even hinting at the sect's connection to the Blood World Mara Sect, dangling it before Cheon Woo-jin. He was genuinely serious about making him his own subordinate.
"Come over to this side, loose cultivator."
"…."
"I will show you scenery the Orthodox and Dark sects could never offer."
Come to the demonic path. Betray the Yu brothers, kill all four of them, and labor under us from this day forward.
Staring at Yu Gi-ryeong as he laid out his proposal… Cheon Woo-jin drew a slow, deep breath.
"Yu Gi-ryeong."
At the sound of his own name, the man flinched.
"You— how do you know my…."
"You sensed your subordinates being slaughtered and rushed over in a hurry… did you finish restoring the spirit power you dispersed with the Scattering Retreat Concealment Art?"
"What—?!"
Yu Gi-ryeong's eyes snapped wide open.
"How could you possibly know the Scattering Retreat Concealment—"
"So you haven't fully recovered. Around eighty percent restored, I'd say?"
"…!"
According to the game's settings, a full recovery took more than a full day. If Cheon Woo-jin's instincts were right, Yu Gi-ryeong had reclaimed only about eighty percent of his strength.
"For your reference."
Before the stunned man, Cheon Woo-jin raised his spirit power.
He had spent vast reserves raining attacks on the demonic cultivators — yet in this very moment, an immense tide of power was swirling within him, resonating with the Yin and Yang qi of heaven and earth.
All the while Yu Gi-ryeong had been pouring out his pitch, inviting him to join his side, Cheon Woo-jin had listened in silence. Not because he was seriously weighing the offer — but because he had needed the time to circulate the energy of the pills he had swallowed and restore the spirit power consumed in putting down the sect's men.
"I'm at one hundred percent."
Kwa-rreung!
Black thunder qi tore down from the heavens and fell upon Yu Gi-ryeong like divine punishment.