Chapter 252
Chapter 252
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 70
>Chapter Title: Demon (1)
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[All this old fox can see in him is a jade throne stained with blood.]
[A jade throne stained with blood?]
A jade throne was the symbolic seat for a king, emperor, or feudal lord.
What did it mean for a human who was the embodiment of a demon to be connected to a jade throne?
No, more precisely, it was a jade throne stained with blood.
‘The throne stained with... blood.’
For the seat symbolizing the pinnacle to be dyed in blood carried profound meaning.
There would have been rivers of blood in the competition to sit upon it.
The timeline was still ambiguous, but this narrowed the scope considerably.
‘Not that old degenerate King Zhou.’
He had fallen completely into debauchery, but how could a doddering old man on the verge of death fulfill her wishes?
No, how could a mere human fulfill her desires in the first place?
It was full of questions, but this one was practically an immortal.
He wouldn’t spout nonsense.
[Gang Shang. I hope you’re not wrong about that.]
With that, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox concealed herself through death and left the kingdom, and many years passed.
At first, she simply watched, searching for the human from the prophecy.
But no such person appeared.
She even vented her anger on various Taoists, suspecting he might have deceived her.
Eventually, she changed her approach.
If she couldn’t find him, she would create him herself.
The Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox began corrupting those called lords one by one, as if it were mere amusement.
This wasn’t limited to the feudal lords of the Central Plains; she did the same to all nearby kingdoms like Dongyi, Dongyeong, and Seojang.
Yet none of them brought her what she desired.
They simply degenerated and led their kingdoms to ruin.
‘A demon... the very embodiment of one.’
Reading only this guy’s memories made him seem close to evil or a demon indeed.
However, he had no connection to a jade throne.
So was he simply born as an evil human?
If she examined his memories to the end, she could uncover the origins of this malevolent nature.
The Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox delved into the depths of Mok Kyung-un’s mind.
-Sssrrrr!
Amid the flowing fragments, something quite intriguing slipped in.
‘Ho. Look at this.’
So the tanuki bastard had been here?
Calling himself the Sea-Slaying King or whatever grandiose title, strutting around beyond his station, and he’d been trapped here all along.
But had this guy absorbed the tanuki’s yokai energy?
Memory fragments were just that—shards.
They appeared in disjointed bursts, but no matter how she looked, it seemed the tanuki had lost some of his energy to this guy.
‘What?’
How could a human absorb yokai energy—no, the aura of an evil spirit like that?
Deeper into the memories, she saw this guy even absorbing the energies of the dead.
How was this possible?
Living beings couldn’t coexist with the energy of the dead in the first place.
The more she saw of this guy’s memories, the more astonishing things appeared.
‘Is this really a human?’
As she pondered this, tracing far back, she saw Mok Kyung-un’s dead grandfather.
For the first time, intense rage surged.
This seemed to be the point where the barely suppressed malice burst forth.
But since even this had been suppressed, she’d need to see the fragments before it for the true root.
‘Show me. Your origin...’
The Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox probed Mok Kyung-un’s memories.
But midway through, she encountered a massive wall blocking the entire space in the darkness.
‘Huh?’
A wall in the mind or memories meant something artificial was sealing it off.
Fascinated, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox examined it.
What could have blocked off the prior memories?
Whether self-imposed or by someone else, she didn’t know, but...
‘Show me.’
The Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox tried to force through the memory wall.
For one who had lived thousands of years, this was no great feat.
Just as she began crumbling the wall—
-Gooooooo!
At that instant, as cracks spread and it shattered, a ferocious, utterly malevolent energy surged out from within.
‘Well, well?’
Trying to breach the sealed memory unleashed this sinister aura?
Was this guy truly human?
This ferocious energy was trying to block her mental intrusion.
It felt like a living entity inside him.
‘Fine. Let’s see who wins.’
The Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox drew up more yokai energy.
If it resisted this much, there must be something it didn’t want seen. Did it think it could stop her?
-Shwaaaaa!
Though within the mind, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox manifested her true form.
Her figure as a golden fox with nine tails spanning seven jang was majestic, befitting the Great Spirit Beast titled Demon and King.
As her true self opened her maw, vast yokai energy gathered into a massive sphere.
-Oooooong!
It blazed brightly, illuminating the darkness.
-Try blocking this.
-Paaaang! Kwakwakwakwakwakwa!
The yokai sphere slammed into the memory wall in an instant.
Repeated explosions collapsed the struck section, creating a massive hole.
Seizing the moment, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox entered through it.
A hole had pierced the blocked memories.
Now she could see what fragments lay within.
Then, amid the inflowing shards, a bizarre scene began to unfold.
It was—
-Kwadududuk!
The once-clear sky warping.
From the rift’s cracks, a mass of black flame erupted like volcanic lava surging upward then crashing down to earth.
‘!!!!!’
What was this?
Such a sight in a mere human’s memories?
Another fragment flowed in.
-Sssrrruk!
In a massive pit, black flames roared, and someone gazed at them with awe before prostrating flat.
That someone was none other than this guy’s murdered grandfather.
Why was the old man bowing like that to the black flames?
Puzzled—
‘What?’
The Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox’s golden eyes trembled violently.
A gaze emanated from within the black flames.
Not just flames?
No, the eerie, pure energy flowing from those black flames wasn’t of this world.
Ferocious, wicked, evil— no word could define it.
Its very existence was like...
-Hic!
Right then.
The gaze from the black flames met the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox’s eyes squarely.
‘Huh?’
This was a memory.
How could it look at her?
She was merely a third-party mental body observing the memory.
In her bewilderment—
[Get out.]
A voice echoed through the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox.
With it, the black flames spread in all directions, instantly engulfing the dark space where memory fragments unfolded.
-Wharrrrrrr!
In that moment, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox couldn’t hide her shock.
This should be mere memory fragments, yet the heat felt utterly real.
The black flames slowly encircled her.
Staring at them, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox spoke.
-What are you, exactly? How can such an alien entity reside in a mere human?
She believed this existence wasn’t just latent in his memories but alive within him.
Otherwise, it couldn’t affect the mental world like this.
No answer came to her words.
-Wharrrrrk!
The black flames simply sought to devour the space itself, even enveloping her.
Roaring, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox unleashed her yokai energy.
-Do you think you can do anything to me?
Radiant golden yokai energy erupted from her true form, dazzlingly brilliant.
It clashed against the black flames.
-Chwaaaaa!
Her golden yokai energy, at its peak, repelled the devouring black flames fiercely, exuding the dignity of the Great Spirit Beast called the Six Demons.
Weakened by seals though she was, even the Sea-Slaying King Kuteng Dog couldn’t withstand her, but the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox was different.
She pushed back the black flames, peering deeper into the memory fragments.
-Trapped in a mere human, you dare think you can match me!
As she amplified her yokai energy, the black flames writhed.
Her lips curled in her true form.
Whatever lurked inside him, could it stand against her, who had amassed yokai energy for millennia since ancient times?
Reveal your true nature right—
-Puk!
At that instant, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox’s golden eyes quivered.
Not from the mental battle.
Her mind had split, viewing both memory and reality simultaneously.
In reality, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox kept her hands on Mok Kyung-un’s head, maintaining her intrusion into his mind.
Yet—
“You...”
Mok Kyung-un, whose mind should have been suppressed and immobile, moved.
A single motion, but the stimulation was so intense her mind scattered.
The Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox looked at Mok Kyung-un’s face.
‘This...’
The hazy, dilated pupils of Mok Kyung-un regained vitality.
But with it came a change.
His eyes, now glossy black like obsidian, gleamed with the same ferocity as the black flames.
‘Have you, trapped behind the memory wall, seized control of this flesh?’
So he stimulated the real body to expel her.
Did he think she’d fall for it so easily...
-Pak!
“Haak!”
In that moment, Mok Kyung-un’s lower body thrust roughly.
She involuntarily let out a moan.
Breathing raggedly, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox glared at Mok Kyung-un.
“Haa... haa... you...”
-Pak!
“Hweek.”
Each thrust of his hips nearly shattered her focus amid the arousal.
Thanks to it, the black flames, pushed back by her golden yokai energy in the mind, suddenly surged stronger.
Her golden eyes trembled.
Her disguise undone, back to her original form, yet he moved so roughly against her— this wasn’t his true self.
It was that ferocious, wicked self from the black flames.
-Tak!
She tried to push Mok Kyung-un’s body away.
Mere contact might be fine, but such rough stimulation would scatter her mind further, tilting the power struggle with the black flames...
-Pak!
“Ack!”
Her slender back arched like a bow.
Her head thrown back, her breathing grew harsher.
‘What is this?’
-Ssssh.
Unnoticed amid the mental clash and arousing stimulation, her yokai energy was being absorbed through Mok Kyung-un’s hand gripping her breast.
Simultaneously, the black flames in her mind didn’t just revive—they grew massive, pushing back her golden yokai energy.
‘...This is disadvantageous.’
Pressured from mind, stimulation, and absorption, even she couldn’t handle it easily.
Her energy drained faster by the second.
Finally, she judged seeing the root memories now impossible.
Thus—
-Sssrrruk!
She withdrew her assimilated mental body.
Grabbing Mok Kyung-un’s cheeks, she pulled him in for a kiss.
Their tongues softly intertwined, her yokai energy flowing from his mouth to his head and body.
Then—
-Sssh.
Mok Kyung-un’s obsidian-black eyes returned to normal.
‘!?’
Regaining his senses, Mok Kyung-un furrowed his brow.
No wonder—he had been one with the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox.
He hadn’t expected even a kiss.
-Pak!
Mok Kyung-un forced her away.
Licking her lips savoringly, the Golden-Furred Nine-Tailed Fox grinned and said,
“Back to yourself?”
“Yourself?”
“We got so hot and heavy; that’s a fine way to call me. Or should I pick another?”
-Grip!
Ignoring her, Mok Kyung-un tried to pull away.
But her legs locked around him, preventing it.
As he tried summoning demonic energy, she clung tighter, whispering meaningfully in his ear.
“I thought of calling you ‘Righteous,’ but that doesn’t suit you either.”
Mok Kyung-un’s eyes sharpened.
Regardless, she hugged him tight and said,
“I don’t know about the jade throne, but you might be the human who’s the very embodiment of a demon I’ve been seeking. Ah! Yes. The title that truly fits you is Demon.”