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A flash in the east, a flash in the west.
The reason she was called the Thunder Demon was the unique Movement Art she had mastered.
And the reason the Eldest Prince brought her into the 'Earth Qilin' ranks first among the Ten Demons—unlike the others—was her lightning-like Ground Shrinking Technique, which folded space as she ran.
In a straight sprint, there was no one among the Ten Demons—no, in the entire Demonic Cult—who could outrun her.
From the moment she became the Earth Qilin Thunder Demon, the Eldest Prince began sending her all across the Central Plains to weave his schemes.
Behind every incident and accident erupting in various regions lay the Eldest Prince's plans, and her role was to verify their execution and act as an overseer.
The reason she changed course from Liaodong to Anhui, while traveling under the Eldest Prince's orders, was a single piece of news that had come from Anhui.
- 'Someone has made contact with the 'Medicine Spirit'. Two people, a man and a woman. The whereabouts of the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill have been confirmed.'
Thunder Demon flew to Anhui like a bolt of lightning. To confirm whether the information delivered to her ears was accurate, she visited a hidden branch of the Demonic Cult in a valley of Anhui.
"It is an honor to meet you, Elder Thunder Demon."
"You must be the one in charge here."
"I am Namgung Sal, the Rear Fortress Lord in charge of the Demonic Cult's Anhui province branch."
The man was not a member of the Namgung Clan. However, as a member of the Demonic Cult, he had discarded his original name and renamed himself Namgung Sal.
"Tell me the details."
"Yes. The story begins with the Eldest Prince sending the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill to the Chuso Escort Agency to bring about the downfall of the Paeng Clan."
Namgung Sal laid out all the information he knew. Thunder Demon listened intently, cross-referencing the data she knew with Namgung Sal's story.
"...In the midst of that, I heard an interesting story from a promising recruit of the Palace Killing Squad who joined the Killing Shadow Unit. He strongly claimed that there is a Rejuvenated master who frequents the red-light district, and that this person killed Chu So-gwang."
"Chu So-gwang?"
"Yes. He spoke as if he would kill Chu So-gwang, and less than ten days later, Chu So-gwang's body was discovered. Outwardly, it looked like he had burned himself to death, but his body clearly had signs of being stabbed multiple times by a sword."
"Right. That sparked the rumors about the Murder King reappearing."
"Exactly. And about a week ago, the missing Flying Heaven Three Demons surfaced here in Anhui."
"......."
Thunder Demon raised a hand to cut him off.
"Why are the Flying Heaven Three Demons suddenly relevant?"
"They were heavily wounded, and under the Eldest Prince's orders, our Killing Shadow Unit pursued them the moment we caught their trail. However, they were repelled by a man and woman who were assisting them, and the Flying Heaven Three Demons recovered from their injuries completely and left the area."
"Unless they took a Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill, such a swift recovery is impossible."
"Yes. And coincidentally, the place where the man and woman had healed the Flying Heaven Three Demons was the very empty house from which the suspect the prospect had identified as Chu So-gwang's killer, along with that person's guardian, had disappeared."
"......That feels like a stretch."
Thunder Demon licked her lips and smirked.
"Setting everything else aside, aren't these separate incidents? The parties involved have already left, and didn't the Killing Shadow Sect unit stationed here lose to them once already?"
"...And this report just came in."
At Namgung Sal's words, Thunder Demon's expression hardened.
"It stated that a man and woman, seemingly at the Peak level or higher, visited the empty house and were searching for something. The problem is that the empty house was at the foot of a mountain, a place whose very existence was unknown unless you already knew a house was there."
"The Flying Heaven Three Demons got completely cured after visiting there, and now a week later, someone else has visited that spot?"
Sparks of electricity began to crackle around Thunder Demon's body.
"Then if we capture and wring out the bastard who just came, we can find out where the rest of the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pills are?"
"Unit Leader."
A man buried in the shadows revealed himself. After briefly paying his respects to Thunder Demon, he got straight to the point.
"Jackpot. Two new people, a man and a woman, appeared at the spot the others had visited. They dug up the ground and took a box. Then the man told us, 'A red great roc flying through the sky was attacked by young crows, so to display the dignity of the roc, it made an example of them and devoured one crow as prey.'"
"...What?"
At the verbatim report, Rear Fortress Lord Namgung Sal's face stiffened.
"...What does that even mean?"
"I merely relayed the message as the person told me to, Unit Leader."
"I'm asking what it means. I don't understand it at all."
They only realized this Secret Code held no particular meaning after finding a star carved into the body of a woman they discovered when they returned to that location.
* * *
Before I met my wives.
I spent a long time with Sam-gu, having set up a base in Hefei in Anhui province.
During that process, I invested a lot of time in sculpting the members of the Blood Jiangshi, which the Blood Cult Leader had created, and to test it I went straight to a Pleasure House.
There, I embraced one woman.
Actually, I embraced several women. The Courtesans of the red-light district were very interested in me—a young boy in appearance whose member was undeniably adult—and I burned away my lust by taking many courtesans.
Among them, I became a regular with the only woman who could handle my Bedroom Arts, and coincidentally, she greatly resembled Paeng Yuwol.
Hong-ryeon.
A Courtesan of martial arts background who dared to deceive me.
Can a courtesan truly be trusted?
Using her actions as a cautionary tale, I deliberated heavily before taking Jin Sa-wol in, and she decided to become my woman by refusing any other men.
So, after the incident with Hong-ryeon, I made a resolution.
There are many women in the world.
And no matter how beautiful a flower is, one that sways its head toward every direction will never settle upright.
If I am the sky and the sun, then the flowers must gaze only upon the sun.
Therefore, I made up my mind to ruthlessly cut off any woman who harbored feelings for a man other than me.
Even if I sample them a time or two, if they cannot have my whole heart, I resolved not to bring them into the Cheon Family Estate.
Is that selfish?
What problem is there with a man of the Central Plains, a man who could be considered second to none under heaven, embracing several women? And what is wrong with wanting the women I'll spend my entire life with to gaze only upon me!
So I didn't care what the women I had supposedly 'eaten and discarded' did or where they were.
Whether the Matriarch of the Eul Family took in a new man, or whether the Emei Sect Leader, my color friend, took in a new color friend, I could let it slide.
Instead, out of petty spite, I would secretly visit them at night and commit rape as a Sex Demon!
I am a narrow-minded and selfish bastard.
Because I have power, I want to be greedy, and because I know what the future holds, I want to act even more on my greed. I am not a Simple and Honest Person, and I wanted to live without hiding my desires.
So I was merely theorizing in my head.
If I ever happened to reunite with a woman I had abandoned, I would figure out how she was living and respond accordingly.
'I didn't expect to meet you here like this.'
I stood over Hong-ryeon, who was laid flat on the bench, and fell into agony.
The reason I couldn't get aroused over a woman was because I felt more psychological disgust toward her than sexual excitement. Still, since she was a captured woman, I felt sorry toward my Baby Sex Demon for even thinking of fucking Hong-ryeon.
Squelch.
First, I inserted a finger cleaned by the Zhongli Divine Fire Well into Hong-ryeon's insides. Just as expected, the inside spread wide open laterally as soon as I put it in.
"Just how many men have you accepted until now? It's completely twisted and inverted. Even a fist could fit in here."
"Guh...!"
Hong-ryeon could not answer.
It was partly because she was being humiliated by having her sex probed in an open courtyard, but far more because she was being subjected to this in front of Dokgo Yeon, a woman of incomparable beauty.
"Guh... just kill me!"
"Killing you is my choice. Just answer the question."
After pulling my finger out, I pressed firmly down on her lower abdomen, just past her clitoris. The inner energy I drew from her Dantian through my finger was clearly tainted with Demonic Energy.
"Tell me your name and affiliation."
"........"
Squish.
I pressed deeper into her stomach. Only then did Hong-ryeon, realizing her internal energy was being stolen by me, hurriedly open her mouth.
"It's Yak Hong-yoon...! Demonic Cult's Killing Shadow Sect, Palace Killing Squad First Unit Commander...!"
"If you say Palace Killing Squad..."
"Bigger fish than I thought. A First Unit Commander, no less."
The Palace Killing Squad.
In other words, a unit for killing the Namgung clan.
It was an assassination unit the current Heavenly Demon had created to stir chaos across the entire Central Plains at any time. To be precise, it is a decentralized assassination group spread across the Central Plains, under the command of the Killing Shadow Unit Leader, ready to unleash a Killing Calamity whenever a Heavenly Demon orders it.
If Lee Si-a ascends as Heavenly Demon, they will just become existences living in hiding. But if Ju Ji becomes Heavenly Demon, they will formally begin the calamity.
'First, I'll drain her inner energy.'
Squish.
I siphoned out all her internal energy. It was the Exploding Blood Heart Technique, a familiar art practiced by everyone from rookies to masters in the Demonic Cult.
"So, you reached the Peak level with the Exploding Blood Heart Technique. Hmm, you destroyed your already ruined Dantian even further with it, turning it into a rag. That actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, becoming the driving force to reach the Ascension Stage. You filled your insufficient inner energy through Absorbing Yang to Nourish Yin, didn't you?"
"Thi, this...!"
A revolting feeling that reminded me of someone. I drove my finger in even deeper.
"Even junk food has its own unique taste, I suppose."
Hong-ryeon's eyes widened as she glared at me with bloodshot eyes.
"How dare you... call me junk food...!!"
"Why? Would you prefer I call you a whore who spreads her legs for any man without any principles?"
"Getting stronger was a choice I couldn't avoid!! What do you know about me!!"
"I don't have an ant's piss worth of desire to know the details, but I find myself curious."
Even Dokgo Yeon was startled by my blatant words. This was probably the first time she had ever seen me dislike a woman this intensely. I deliberately lowered my voice and asked Hong-ryeon.
"Was there a reason you became that strong, even at the cost of your body and lifespan?"
"There is... a bastard I absolutely must kill!!"
"Oh-ho, Revenge."
In the Murim, there was no greater cause than gratitude and grudges.
"You probably trained without sleep, shedding blood and sweat, all for revenge. So, who do you want to kill so badly?"
"Why should I tell you that!"
"My interest has been piqued. If it's a bastard I also have a grudge against, I'll kill him for you."
I whispered in a sweet voice into her ear.
"What could have driven you so mad for revenge? What made you try to gain strength even at the cost of discarding yourself as a woman? Who is the party responsible for turning you into this kind of Revenge Demon? I've become genuinely curious."
"Shut up... you pretender...! Aren't you clearly related to those bastards too!"
Heh.
The floodgates of a clue had finally burst open. I retorted with a wronged expression.
"Related?"
"The Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill! That Sam-gu bastard tangled up in the Chuso Escort Agency's uproar, and that rejuvenated old bastard who taught that slave bastard!! I don't know about the others, but I know! That bastard killed Chu So-gwang!"
As expected.
I didn't need to ask anymore to understand the situation.
This woman had clearly reached the Peak level to exact revenge on me. And she had settled here, believing that not just me, but Sam-gu who had disappeared with me, would return someday.
The reason she brought up the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill must be because Sam-gu had used one here.
"About ten days ago! That bastard Sam-gu appeared here! And he took the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill from this place! Even though our unit was completely routed by him, that defeat only confirmed my conviction! The day would come when he, not Sam-gu, would appear!!"
Effectively, it was safe to say the Demonic Cult knew everything about Chu So-gwang and Paeng Yuwol.
"So I waited! And just as I thought, you came!"
And I had no choice but to retract the mercy I had planned to spare her life.
"It's you, isn't it! Those eyes that look down on me, that way of speaking that despises me! Even if your appearance has changed, do you think I wouldn't recognize you?!"
"So I've been caught. You know well. Yes, I am that bastard."
I pressed Hong-ryeon's forehead with my finger.
"But isn't it strange? How you kept your mouth firmly shut earlier, but now you've started blabbing everything."
"!!"
Hong-ryeon's expression twisted. She finally realized she had been played by me.
"Heh heh, when you encounter an existence beyond the norm, you have no idea what might happen, so you should keep your heart firmly prepared. Otherwise, you get caught like this."
Thud!
I raised my fist and struck Hong-ryeon's Dantian. She trembled violently, coughing up blood from the agonizing pain twisting her insides.
"I've shattered your Dantian. Now, your body is incapable of accumulating inner energy through Yang Absorption."
"You... son of a...!"
"And you will forget everything about me. I will spare your life alone."
"Just kill me, you hypocrite! You made me this pathetic, and now you intend to turn me into a piece of trash who can't even use martial arts!! Kill me now, you damn dog!!"
Thud!
A sword stabbed into the bench. The sharp blade pierced the wood right next to Hong-ryeon's neck.
"I cannot tolerate this."
Dokgo Yeon, in a chilling voice, infused Sword Qi into the blade stuck in the bench.
"Having made the wrong choices herself."
Hong-ryeon's expression twisted beyond compare.
"Accepting him as a courtesan, two-timing him, getting stronger by practicing Absorbing Yang to Nourish Yin without any thought of recovery, and joining the Demonic Cult—weren't all of these your own choices?"
"Thi, this...!!"
"I understand why he refused to accept you."
Dokgo Yeon retrieved her sword with a calm voice.
"You tried to use him. Without even giving him your love."
Indeed.
Toward this woman who tried to use me without a single shred of love's heart, I felt a genuine sense of revulsion.