Those Who Chase Demons
At the far edge of the Central Plains, peaks that seemed to pierce the heavens stretched on without end.
Some called this place the Heavenly Mountains. To the locals it was known as Sipmandaesan—and here, in all its grim majesty, stood the headquarters of the Ming Cult.
Long ago the Ming Cult had been founding heroes who helped the first emperor raise the Central Plains into a nation. After Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, they had risen as one of the great religious powers of the land.
But the first emperor, who styled himself the Son of Heaven and Heaven’s Son, cast their pact aside like a worn-out shoe. Branded a heretical demonic cult, the Ming Cult was hunted and persecuted wherever it went.
Driven back again and again, its people finally settled deep in Sipmandaesan, far from the heart of the Central Plains. With that history as their soil and root, their hatred and enmity toward the people of the Central Plains and the emperor never cooled—no matter how many years or generations passed.
“Sewer rat of the Central Plains.”
In the heart of the Ming Cult, the Cult Lord’s Hall built of black stone, a heavy voice crushed the air. A single terrifying presence seized every sense and drowned the chamber in overwhelming pressure.
While every Ming Cult disciple lay prostrate on the floor, a ragged beggar left like an offering in the center of the hall swallowed hard, his face tight with fear.
“Heavenly Demon…!”
The beggar of the Beggar Sect spoke the title by which the absolute lord of all demons, the sovereign of the demonic cultists, was known.
At that, the eyes of the man called Heavenly Demon sank deep as an abyss. His face twisted faintly, as though he had just encountered something absurd.
“Yes. Your kind calls me that, doesn’t it? You go out of your way to stick ‘Demon’ onto me, the Cult Lord of the Ming Cult.”
They called the Ming Cult the Demonic Sect and treated it as a heretical cult; they looked down on the one its people exalted, calling him Heavenly Demon or Demonic Cult Lord. Such was the prejudice and slander driven deep into the Central Plains that had betrayed them.
And the mutual hostility between the two sides only grew worse with time, never softening.
“To slaughter Beggar Sect disciples like this—what further plot are you hatching deep in Sipmandaesan?! What grudge do you hold against the people of the Central Plains?!”
The six-knot disciple Hwanggu, who had infiltrated as a spy only to be discovered and captured, shouted with boiling rage. All this time he had been forced to watch every Beggar Sect brother who had lived tightly bound under one purpose die before his eyes. They had given their lives to buy him time, begging him to escape this hell and warn the world of the Heavenly Demon’s danger—yet the moment that man appeared, every attempt had come to nothing.
“And what grudge did you hold that you snuck all the way here to watch our every move?”
Though young, the man’s hair was streaked with white like a harsh wind, and his eyes were so deep no bottom could be seen. Facing that gaze, Hwanggu swallowed dryly.
“Because you Demonic Sect dogs are always watching for a chance at revenge and the overthrow of the Central Plains! For the peace of the Murim we had no choice but to keep watch!”
An ominous aura prickled his skin, yet even if his skull were to burst and kill him on this spot, the beggar stood firm and voiced his conviction. Hearing that cry, a cold sneer curled the Heavenly Demon’s lips.
“Is that so. You truly believed that, and so you watched us, ostracized us, and slaughtered the people of the Ming Cult. Sewer rat of the Beggar Sect.”
The Heavenly Demon revealed a presence so terrifying it seemed he had cast off the skin of a human being. Hwanggu endured it with difficulty and forced out a rebuttal.
“What nonsense…! How many innocent commoners, how many people of the Central Plains, have died by your hands…!”
“You were the ones who first betrayed the Ming Cult, cast it out, branded it heretical, and massacred its innocent people.”
“Hah—rubbish!”
The killing intent and aura the man radiated alone made Hwanggu feel as if his entire body would be crushed to death. Whether he meant to kill the beggar in full view of every disciple as a spectacle, the Heavenly Demon strode toward him. When the enraged Heavenly Demon came face to face with him, the beggar’s mind was seized in an instant by the mad light blazing in those eyes.
A radiance like brilliant moonlight, laced with madness.
As a frontline spy of the Beggar Sect, Hwanggu had heard of this phenomenon a few times. In the past there had been demonic heads whose madness had soaked to the marrow and who had painted the Central Plains with blood; when tracked, some of them had shown just such a look. That was when the greatest information network of the orthodox factions first grasped the existence of the “Beyond Heaven” that only a handful in the Central Plains had noticed.
And the influence of the one known as the most dangerous among them—Ilseong—seemed to have seeped into the Demonic Sect.
The Demonic Sect and a Beyond Heaven being that sowed madness. The most dangerous combination imaginable was unfolding in this very age.
“How can this be… how could this…!”
Hwanggu was horrified. Until now it had been a clash between factions that each believed their own cause righteous. The orthodox-demonic war this man might ignite could advance to an entirely new stage—not simply making the Imperial Court pay for its betrayal and spreading the Ming Cult’s will, but transforming them into a pack of mad slaughterers who had cast off human ethics.
I must get word of this to the Central Plains no matter what…
The Heavenly Demon’s hand closed around his throat. With irresistible force the man yanked him up and raised the other hand high.
“Behold. This is the end of a sewer rat.”
Thud!
The Heavenly Demon’s hand punched through the beggar’s chest, seized the heart, and tore it free into the open air. Blood soaked the floor thickly, and the Ming Cult disciples roared in triumph at the rat’s death.
“Ming Cult undefeated…! Eternal reign of the Cult…!”
Their frenzied chorus shook the Cult Lord’s Hall.
“Since the people of the Central Plains have defined us as evil and call us the Demonic Sect, I shall become exactly what you desire…! This Cult Lord of the Ming Cult will rise as the King of All Demons, just as you wished—!”
Kuuuung—!
A lion’s roar that seemed to proclaim itself to the entire world shook Sipmandaesan. Everywhere the Ming Cult disciples surged like waves, cheering his cry.
Here stood the Cult Lord of the Ming Cult, declaring that he himself would become a demon. Hwanggu, whose eyes were slowly losing strength before that spectacle of exploding hatred toward the Central Plains, still felt only bitter regret.
Please… please, someone stop this…
For far too long they had hated, resented, and killed each other while forgetting even the reason why. Blood debts and grudges had piled so high that whatever justification first started it no longer mattered.
Hwanggu closed his eyes with that regret, the last sight he took in the image of Sipmandaesan boiling like wildfire.
Uncle Park Chil seemed to have had a productive talk with Hwang Geolgae. Claiming it was all thanks to my introductions, he brought over the snacks he had picked up from the Eunseong Merchant Group reception room on the way and stocked them at our office.
Among beggars, sharing food rather than shiny trinkets was how you showed loyalty and affection.
“Unfortunately, though, Young Hero, you’ll likely remain a temporary elder for a while yet.”
Park Chil told me, sounding more disappointed than I was, that he had wanted to announce the new elder’s appearance across the entire Central Plains, only to be refused by the Dragon Head Sect Leader.
Why was this guy more upset about it than me? He probably wanted to milk a few favors from his connection with the man who might become the next Dragon Head Sect Leader.
“I don’t really mind.”
If I suddenly got some title or post that came with official duties and paperwork, I wouldn’t be able to run around doing troubleshooter work the way I did now. That would slow down the accumulation of good karma and put my path to longer life at risk. In short, I needed to stay as free as Hwang Geolgae himself.
“Honestly, how did the Sect Leader ever find a disciple who resembles him so perfectly.”
When I muttered that I had no interest in such positions, the five-knot disciple Park Chil looked crestfallen.
“Hey now, even from you, Uncle Park Chil, that crosses a line.”
I arched one eyebrow and made it clear I was displeased. Why did every Beggar Sect disciple keep saying I resembled the Dragon Head Sect Leader? This body of mine was no drunkard; it was a rational, upright hero who never went around beating kids.
“Anyway, so Hwang Geolgae is returning to the Beggar Sect then?”
Since he had said he would take up his duties as Dragon Head Sect Leader again, I quietly hoped he would disappear from the Eunseong Merchant Group. But Park Chil shook his head, contrary to my hopes.
“Afraid not. With the Demonic Sect watching our Beggar Sect, he says we’ll keep running a few diversionary tactics the way we are now.”
In practice he would return and take command, but officially the Beggar Sect would still look like its chain of command was a mess.
“The same old man who wouldn’t budge no matter how much people yelled at him to come back is finally moving because of the Demonic Sect, huh.”
I had only ever heard people around me mention it in passing; I didn’t really know what the orthodox-demonic war of the past had actually been like or what had happened. Even Moyong Cheongjin, who had been locked in a room with no real learning and no martial arts, had known it only as a big rumor.
“Do you know anything about the Demonic Sect, Ilhong?”
At my question Ilhong nodded vaguely, saying she only knew what she had studied.
“Just the recorded information. Every time they rose up aiming to unify the Central Plains, a blood catastrophe on the level of the Heavenly Killing Star broke out.”
“…”
There were countless sects, families, and forces in the Central Plains, but this one stood alone in scale and danger. United by the religion of the Ming Cult, and with Sipmandaesan serving as a natural fortress, both the Murim and the Imperial Court regarded them as a thorn in the eye.
“But I can’t figure out their motives. They shout about justice in their own way, yet once they enter the Central Plains all they do is sow evil deeds.”
“People who firmly believe they themselves are ‘good’ are always the most dangerous.”
It had been the same in my previous world. Whether religion or anything else, those who believed themselves righteous committed acts ordinary people could never imagine—because they were convinced they were right.
“Maybe the Demonic Sect is that kind of group too.”
Those who entered the realm of fanaticism were the scariest of all. And if such a force was huge and threatening, all the more reason to stay on guard.
Ming Cult, you say… those idiots…
And of course Salsung had to throw in her usual snide remark. Yeah, I think I know exactly where you used to belong. Your colors are pretty clear.
“Could their influence reach us too?”
If they invaded the Central Plains again, one of their core targets would certainly be the imperial capital, Beijing. From what I heard they also held a deep grudge against the Imperial Court that had branded them a heretical cult and cast them out.
“Then the court or the Murim Alliance will handle it, I guess.”
Was this really something a mere troubleshooter had to step up and solve? Even as I muttered that, an uneasy thought suddenly brushed through my mind.
Wasn’t the reason groups like the Blood Cult and the Demonic Sect were running wild at the same time because I had crashed into this world and scrambled the heavenly secrets? Didn’t that mean I carried at least a little moral responsibility to clean up this situation somehow?
“Hmm.”
If the Heavenly Killing Star had indiscriminately scattered slaughter everywhere and, against its will, restored balance to this world through cold purification… then I, in full possession of my senses, was supposed to root out evil, steady that shaken balance, and keep doing good deeds.
“So if the Demonic Sect invades, do I have to step in too?”
I was a little torn. If I were a true hero I would of course decide right here that I had to act. But I was a half-baked beggar hero who put looking out for myself and profit first, so I was stuck wavering.
It’s not the Demonic Sect… I’ve told you three times…
And of course Salsung’s berserk button got pressed every time the Demonic Sect was mentioned.
But when the one who constantly urges me to kill says ‘it’s not,’ how much weight does that really carry?
…
She must have read that thought, because this time she shut her mouth as if she had nothing to say. For that annoying creature to be unable to refute me and fall silent was rare. She was probably deeply entangled with the Demonic Sect after all.
I watched the sulking red aura slither away and shrugged.
Near Sipmandaesan, massive communities had taken root—powers so large they could be called small nations in their own right.
No wonder the court and the Murim Alliance are so extremely wary of the Demonic Sect.
Ever since discovering traces of the Demonic Sect, Moyong Cheonghye, Vice Leader of the Demon Exterminating Squad, had tracked them without rest. Now she bit her lip as she stared at the corpse of a Beggar Sect disciple that had been put on display like an exhibit in the middle of a village.