Chapter 349
Chapter 349
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 349
Chapter Title: Demon King of the Kanghwan Realm (1)
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In the outskirts of the Kanghwan Realm, in Singang Province's Tenshan Mountains.
"We pay our respects to the great Demon King who has descended upon this land."
""Demon King, we pay our respects!""
In the grand and majestic hall, countless people knelt in unison and shouted at the top of their lungs.
They directed their obeisance toward the being seated upon an ornate throne atop a high dais at one side of the hall.
"Hmmm."
The new sovereign who had received the worship of all, Demon King Hans, propped his chin on one elbow resting arrogantly on the armrest as he gazed down imperiously.
A sneer played across the face of the stern middle-aged man, and a glint of schadenfreude burned in his glassy eyes.
The vast interior could easily host a banquet for hundreds, with ceilings so high it was pointless even to guess their height.
In such a place, the sight of the assembled masses prostrating themselves all at once was truly a spectacle.
And from his elevated position where the entire space lay visible at a glance, the sensation of absorbing their fear-tinged emotions all to himself...
'Truly exquisite.'
...It was immensely satisfying.
Love it or hate it, Hans was a being born as the embodiment of negative emotions and the very symbol of evil.
As his eerie gaze swept lightly over the bowed figures, their bodies twitched involuntarily in response.
Even though access to this hall, the Divine Demon Hall, was strictly limited, nearly a hundred had gathered for the full assembly.
That number had been drastically reduced by the massive purge that had only recently concluded; otherwise, it would easily have exceeded several hundred.
'I've pruned as much as needed. There were quite a few stubborn ones, so it took some time, but swallowing an organization this size—that's hardly an obstacle. Good thing I made an example out of them.'
To fully absorb a force on the scale of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the voluntary cooperation of the existing leadership was essential.
However, no matter how much Hans demonstrated his power, it was only natural that they hesitated to accept an enigmatic newcomer as their leader.
Thus followed unsparing persuasion, threats, exemplary punishments, and executions.
A relentless purge to select those worthy of becoming his limbs and eliminate the utterly irredeemable.
And the result was this moment.
"Command us in anything, Sovereign!"
He had truly done it.
He had subjugated the colossal Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and devoured it whole.
Hans slowly opened his mouth as he leisurely surveyed those prostrated on the floor.
"Very well. What of the Heavenly Mechanism Demon Sage's location? Have you tracked him?"
The man in question was Yahul Hwan, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's strategist—the highest-ranking figure outside the main stronghold and the overall commander of the detachment forces.
The deputy tower master of the Heaven-Piercing Tower, the cult's intelligence organization, responded to the query about his whereabouts.
"...I apologize. It seems the former strategist Yahul Hwan sensed the upheaval at the headquarters. Not only has all contact with him been severed, but communications with the other dispatched detachments are also dropping one by one, making it difficult to pinpoint his location."
The current head of the cult's intelligence division, the most senior among them, bowed his head in shame as he answered.
Hans stared down at him wordlessly at the negative report.
Wondering if perhaps this man harbored other intentions and was up to some trickery.
'...Kuh, my breath... Even the previous Heavenly Demon Lord wasn't this intense...'
Overwhelmed by the immense pressure emanating from that gaze, the deputy tower master broke into a cold sweat and squeezed his eyes shut.
He truly had no intention whatsoever of defying the new sovereign.
He had witnessed with his own eyes the fate of his superior—the former Heaven-Piercing Tower master—who had pretended to submit while scheming behind the scenes and now sat in an empty seat.
'Death holds no fear. But... but not like that!'
Meaningless resistance led not merely to simple death.
What followed was eternal torment and despair, with no hope of afterlife rest.
This merciless tyrant would never release them, alive or dead.
In his presence, death offered no escape.
"Hmmm, very well. Given the major incident, I'll overlook it this time."
"Ah! Your mercy is boundless..."
"But only this once. Swiftly restore order amid the chaos, reorganize your intelligence networks across the regions, and resume information gathering. If you bring me another disappointing report next time—well, I'll have to reconsider your usefulness."
"...Understood!"
The deputy tower master flinched at the chilling final words and slammed his forehead to the floor with a resounding shout.
This was no time for self-pity.
If he failed to prove his worth alive, he would be used as a resource in death.
Protesting now that the Heaven-Piercing Tower answered directly to the strategist and thus faced challenges in control would hardly sway the tyrant.
To survive, he had no choice but to make it work somehow.
"......"
"......"
Even as the exchange unfolded between them, the hall remained deathly silent.
Nearly a hundred people gathered, yet not even a breath could be heard.
"Next..."
In the suffocating tension, Hans continued calling names, assessing operational statuses, and issuing directives for some time.
The atmosphere had grown exceedingly rigid, but that was entirely by design.
The purpose of summoning all the executives en masse was precisely to reinforce discipline and warn against reckless actions.
'Now—finally.'
At last, Hans's gaze turned toward the final group remaining.
The direction where those he inwardly anticipated most had gathered.
The department housing the research team specializing in jiangshi, curses, and all manner of sinister sorceries.
Toward the executives of the Blossom Palace.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The Blossom Palace—a collective term for the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's research facilities.
It was the organization tasked with studying, analyzing, and refining all mysteries except martial arts.
While martial arts remained the dominant mystery in this world, neglecting other schools was impossible.
Unlike the straightforward application of martial arts, sorceries executed through myriad bizarre methods could inflict far more devastating damage if left unknown.
Among them, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was infamous for specializing in wicked, inhuman heterodox sorceries rather than Taoist arts or immortal techniques.
It was said that if the orthodox world's twin peaks were the Jeon-Gak Clan and Mt. Mosan Sect, then the shadows belonged to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and the Blood Cult.
'And now even that Blood Cult has been absorbed here. After an underground war, the Blood Demon lord fell to the Heavenly Demon and was slain...'
This glimpse revealed just how much preparation the cult had made during its seclusion after the Imperial Palace Blood Massacre.
Despite pressure from the Golden Crow Guards, they had pushed forward to such extremes. Had Hans not swiftly intervened and eliminated the Heavenly Demon, the entire Kanghwan Realm would soon have fallen into their grasp.
"Welcome, Sovereign! We of the Blossom Palace, cradle of the continent's finest knowledge, are honored by your visit!"
And the elderly man now greeting Hans with fervent enthusiasm was the former Blood Cult's top elder and current master of the Blossom Palace.
After the Blood Demon's demise, he had led his forces to pledge allegiance to the cult. He was also a psychopath who had personally converted his former leader's corpse into a jiangshi and presented it to the Heavenly Demon.
For reference, that jiangshi was currently deployed on external operations and thus absent.
"This way, please. We're overjoyed that you take an interest in our Blossom Palace! Truth be told, the former lord treated us like some workshop churning out jiangshi..."
Thanks to that disposition, he had been the first to raise the white flag upon Hans's takeover, surrendering unconditionally and pledging full cooperation.
This had undoubtedly eased the process of swallowing the organization.
"As fellow sorcerers, I knew you'd understand us! Ahh—the day you summoned those dark clouds still lingers in my mind. The heavens themselves dared not gaze upon the earth, as if the King of Hell had descended to the mortal realm..."
Of course, beyond mere opportunism, there was profound awe for the one who had toppled the cult's headquarters using only 'sorcery' that reached the heavens, without employing any martial arts.
Regardless of what anyone said, he was one of the preeminent sorcerers of the era, having devoted his life to the art.
"This area is dedicated to curse research. Curses are often dismissed as useless in direct confrontations or ineffective against high-realm experts' anti-magic defenses—but that's knowing only half the truth. As you know, Sovereign, once afflicted, even a transcendent realm master can't easily escape..."
However, even this Blossom Palace master had one fatal flaw.
He talked far too much.
It wasn't from relaxing around Hans; if anything, his tension seemed to fuel the verbosity, creating an oddly subtle discomfort.
'Well, as long as he doesn't cross the line, it's fine. Besides, finding another expert of this caliber in the shady sorcery world would be tough. ...This place is impressive no matter how many times I see it.'
Ignoring half the chatter beside him, Hans surveyed the lab interior and inwardly marveled.
He had visited once before while organizing the jiangshi, but calmly observing the processes laid bare evoked a different impression.
"Oh? This is..."
"Ah, your discerning eye! This is where we produce and refine the finest among our cult's signature monster jiangshi. The specimen in progress is a spirit beast said to rival dragons—a qilin. Unlike the demons we've handled before, spirit beasts require an extremely delicate process, but we use a corrupted spirit pearl to..."
The four-legged beast stood over three meters at the shoulder.
Though its once-multicolored fur had lost its luster and all vitality, the exalted presence emanating from its flesh was extraordinary at a glance.
'Indeed, so that's how it's done.'
Witnessing the fabrication process firsthand, Hans glimpsed a portion of the secret behind the fusion of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and Blood Cult's jiangshi arts.
Not only was there the Blossom Palace master's eager explanation right beside him—
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ The entity's insight surpasses its limits and grows. Special Skill 「Forbidden Knowledge」 evolves into 「Taboo Truth」. Skills like 「Impure Sage」, 「Forbidden Knowledge」, and 「Path of Demonic Arts」 were dissecting and analyzing the mystery unfolding before his eyes in real time, piece by piece.
The torrent of knowledge thus gained moved even him, who rarely showed emotional shifts.
"...Excellent work."
"I knew you'd appreciate it! Though, in terms of completion, the black jiangshi you commanded might surpass it. Elevating the host's pre-death prowess to far greater heights—that is the pinnacle of jiangshi arts, is it not?"
With the eager interjections as background, Hans nodded slowly.
In his mind, new concepts from the jiangshi arts he had studied piecemeal intertwined with his existing knowledge, reassembling into his own unique mysteries and solidifying.
This was a turning point.
Hans had ceaselessly broadened his foundation by encountering knowledge from countless worlds.
The greatest contributor was likely what he had forcibly extracted via the All-Heaven Society.
And in this moment.
The accumulated mass finally exceeded the critical threshold.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ The entity's insight surpasses its limits and grows. Special Skill 「Forbidden Knowledge」 evolves into 「Taboo Truth」. It was the moment when Hans, whose roots lay in Outer's black magic,
gained access to the archive of forbidden knowledge spanning broader categories.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 'I'll need to focus here for a while.'
Having achieved the skill's evolution, Hans decided to remain in the Blossom Palace for the time being.
「Forbidden Knowledge」, the repository of impure sorceries including black magic.
The evolved 「Taboo Truth」 granted access to diverse knowledge he had never encountered before—including vast information on the Kanghwan Realm's jiangshi arts, their derivatives, and refinement methods.
'And right now is the perfect environment to assimilate it.'
Of course, having just swallowed a massive organization whole, he couldn't devote himself entirely to research.
The Tenshan range was already under his domain, fortified with barriers and demonic artifacts everywhere, but he still needed to periodically patrol and imprint his presence firmly.
'Well, that's a price worth paying.'
For someone of his caliber, handling both was trivial.
Though the task before him now was far from simple.
In Hans's dedicated lab within the Blossom Palace.
Two corpses lay side by side on the central bed.
One was the former master of this Heavenly Demon Divine Cult stronghold—the Heavenly Demon himself...
"Kukukuku—ahh, indeed. With a control sample, things finally come into sharp focus."
...And the new sample shipped from Earth: the Scribe.
'This is more than enough to truly begin.'
They had once been apostles serving the All-Heaven Society Lord, a god.
But now fallen into Hans's clutches, that era was over.
From here on, they would be forged into daggers aimed at the god they once served—'Godslayers'.