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207
After receiving the report from Cheongchangsal, Lord of the Sichuan Rear Fortress, I hurried toward Chengdu with Lee Si-a, heading for the Tang Clan estate.
"There's a high probability Thunder Demon copied your plan."
"I think so too."
Thunder Demon was attempting to recreate the Hwangbo Clan raid at the Tang Clan estate. Lee Si-a and I had reached the same conclusion.
The crucial difference was that while the Hwangbo Clan raid had focused on capturing all the Sex Demons so I could profit in the meantime, this raid was squarely aimed at the 'annihilation of the Tang Clan.'
'If the Tang Clan gets annihilated, it'll be trouble.'
Aside from the presence of the Flame Demon, the Sichuan Tang Clan plays a pivotal role as one of the Eight Great Families.
Not only that, among the Eight Great Families they are one of the Five Great Clans with deep history and tradition, a massive local power that dominates not just the Sichuan region but the surrounding areas as well.
Suppose the Sex Demons truly succeed in raiding the Tang Clan and annihilating it. Then not only the Murim Alliance but also the Imperial Court and the Imperial Guard would launch an investigation.
There is one genius in this world who can uncover the truth with a single small clue.
He would undoubtedly take an interest in the Tang Clan's annihilation, discover that the Demonic Cult and Thunder Demon were behind it, and then the whole Central Plains would learn that one of the Eight Great Families had been annihilated by the Demonic Cult.
'Tang Clan members aren't only in Sichuan.'
The Tang Clan doesn't lack people who've married out. Tang women sometimes wed into influential families in other regions of the Central Plains, and there are plenty of Tang martial artists roaming the entire Central Plains.
— Avenge the Sichuan Tang Clan!!
And with that, the momentum would be set.
It would be the beginning of the Great Righteous-Demonic War.
"Good thing we stopped by Sichuan."
"Right. If we'd just gone straight up to Shaanxi, we'd have been caught completely off guard."
We arrived in Chengdu. Fortunately, no major disturbances had broken out yet, but I could sense an uneasy, ominous tension hanging in the air.
Rustle.
We infiltrated the Sichuan Tang Clan in a single bound. Unfortunately, the secret passage in the secret vault that Bandit Demon had previously opened was blocked off — perhaps due to construction work. But in that case, simply jumping over the wall would suffice.
Whoosh-sh-sh-sh.
The moment we entered, the Tang Clan's Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation began spewing its poisonous liquid. The potent miasma and heat were incomparable to before, making it difficult for me to proceed deeper inside.
"They've improved it."
Someone in the Tang Clan had made the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation even more vicious. They hadn't even created a safe path; to pass through the formation, the mechanism had to be operated from the inside.
"Shia, do you happen to see a way to break it?"
"...It looks very complex, but I think dismantling just one thing would solve everything."
Lee Si-a quickly analyzed the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation. Regrettably, however, she couldn't identify the specific method to break it.
"When there's no safe path, it's one of two things. Either it's designed to block entry entirely, or the formation doesn't exert its power when entry is permitted. In this case, it's the latter; someone appears to turn the formation on and off."
I scooped Lee Si-a up into my arms. She naturally pressed her body against mine, and I lightly steadied my breathing.
"The Flame Demon must be controlling the formation from inside. So how should we solve this?"
"Frontal breakthrough."
"Correct."
Kick.
I leaped over the wall and entered the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation directly. Just before the fire bone acid that erupted from below engulfed us, I unleashed a formidable Yang Energy outside my body.
Heavenly Demon Divine Fire Courtyard.
Brilliant flames enveloped me, incinerating the fire bone acid before it could touch my body. I expanded the Zhongli Divine Fire Well widely, shielding Lee Si-a's body from the miasma and concealing our forms within the acid rain.
"...Hmm?"
"What's wrong?"
"Did I mishear? I thought something went in."
"You probably misheard. And even if something did get in, wouldn't it just melt anyway?"
The warriors guarding the entrance of the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation completely failed to notice our infiltration. If we had been a little louder, we might have been discovered.
'They've got quite good Qi Sense.'
The fire bone acid is a strong acid that also contains Yang Energy. Thanks to operating the Zhongli Divine Fire Well with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, I was able to quietly blend into the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation.
My internal energy consumption was fast? Knowing that would happen, I had obtained Lee Si-a's consent in advance and briefly tapped into her internal energy. Using Lee Si-a's Heavenly Demon Divine Art, I entered into a contest of internal energy.
Thud, thud.
Carrying Lee Si-a, I headed toward the center of the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation. Unlike last time, no snake suddenly popped out from the center.
The woman beneath this floor was playing the role of the snake, and right now, she was probably on the verge of death.
Creak.
I reached the center of the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation without much difficulty. Lee Si-a lightly opened the iron door and descended, and I jumped down after her.
"...She's dead."
Trembling.
The sorceress who had been maintaining the formation was sprawled on the floor, her eyes rolled back. Tears were welling in her eyes, and beneath her neat skirt, a transparent flood had burst forth.
"What should we do, Bi-cheon? Flame Demon is gone."
"Using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art on top of the Zhongli Divine Fire Well, it's no wonder she passed out. It's impressive she had the mental strength to keep the Zhongli Divine Fire Well going until we got here."
Flame Demon Dang Seo-hee.
She was hiding in the Tang Clan's secret vault, but our visit made her lose control like a bursting waterfall.
Flare.
I deactivated the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and ignited the Zhongli Divine Fire Well. With its master's appearance, the internal energy within the Flame Demon's dantian began to stir, and Dang Seo-hee's belly started to writhe as if a living creature were inside it.
Squelch, squelch, squelch.
"Every time she used it, it must have felt like it was being thrust into her. So how much more violently must it have been thrust when she used the Heavenly Demon Divine Art on top of that?"
"Bi-cheon, want to try it once? We have to wake her up."
"Of course."
I operated the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Then the Flame Demon's body began to jerk upward from the floor, like a stunned fish flopping about.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thud, thud, thud, thud!!
"Ughk, urk, I'm dying, heu-eog...!"
Weeping, the Flame Demon lost control again. She shuddered so violently that I worried she might suffer dehydration throughout her entire body.
'I don't think she even knows we're here.'
Lee Si-a, realizing that the Flame Demon was completely oblivious to her surroundings, let out a low laugh. At Lee Si-a's signal, I lowered my pants.
"Si, shh!"
"Who—"
I tore her clothes, spread her legs, burned away her undergarments, and then thrust my manhood inside. Her womanhood, which would have burned any other man's member, squeezed me tightly like a virgin's.
"Hueo-eo-eong!!"
The moment I was sheathed inside her, the Flame Demon's breath stopped. She didn't even flop or quiver; she simply hung limp like a corpse.
"...Flame Demon? Dang Seo-hee?"
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you... dead?"
"......."
The Flame Demon did not respond. Her complexion began to grow increasingly pale. I hurriedly took out a Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill, chewed it up, then opened the Flame Demon's mouth and administered it directly.
"Bi-cheon, she's not getting up."
"Hmm... Let's thrust into her a little more."
Poke, poke poke, thwack thwack thwack.
"...Hueo-eo-eong!!"
Flame Demon Dang Seo-hee.
"Was the fire injection too excessive?"
She had nearly passed away from cardiac arrest due to excessive pleasure, but fortunately, thanks to a skilled physician, she was able to survive.
* * *
"You're weak."
Former Poison Demon, Dang Yeon-ji, collapsed helplessly. The iron wire that had scattered from inside her sleeve lost its sharpness and lay stretched on the ground like thread.
"Keu-heuk, heu-eog...."
Dang Yeon-ji vomited dark red blood. Her makeup had peeled away, revealing wrinkles on her skin, and her outer garment was shredded to the point where no part of it remained intact.
"I told you, didn't I? Whether it's thirty years ago or now, you're no match for me."
"This... rotten bitch...."
Curses were all the defeated Dang Yeon-ji had to offer. Even among the Ten Demons, the power difference was clear, and Thunder Demon possessed combat prowess that could arguably be considered the pinnacle of the Ten Demons.
"Still, you've grown quite a bit, haven't you? Back when you were at your peak in the old days, you barely reached the Peak Realm, but now you're at the Transcendent Realm."
"Shut up!"
"Then you should have won to shut me up. Huhu, but it's a shame. Since you stalled at the Transcendent Realm, you couldn't even rejuvenate through Return to Youth."
Thunder Demon covered her lower jaw with her fan and smiled with her eyes. Unlike Dang Yeon-ji, whose eyes were deeply wrinkled, Thunder Demon looked so young that if she had worn just slightly younger makeup, one could easily mistake her for a teenager.
"I may respect the other demons in the Council of Elders, but there's no need to respect a bitch who crawled out of the Demonic Cult and scurried back to her own clan. Right?"
"Hah, you dog-like bitch. You're faking it, aren't you."
Dang Yeon-ji spat out a wad of blood-tinged phlegm and thrust her hand between her thighs. A small needle hidden inside her groin was the only weapon she had left.
"You underwent Return to Youth, but the truth is you've just put your disciple forward pretending to be Thunder Demon, right? Heuheu, you unscrupulous old hag."
"What are you talking about? ...Pfft."
Thunder Demon folded her fan, brought both hands near her face, and shook her head.
"This girl doesn't understand what her senior is talking about...."
"Fuck."
Dang Yeon-ji nearly dry-heaved. But to ensure her final gambit didn't fail, she concentrated all her mind on the single needle.
"Die, you old hag!"
The needle flashed like lightning as it shot forward. The needle, about the length of a finger joint, was coated with a deadly poison potent enough to kill an elephant.
Even a slight graze on the skin meant death. Dang Yeon-ji desperately hoped the needle would touch Thunder Demon's body.
"Hmph."
But Thunder Demon lightly kicked off the ground and vanished from her spot. The needle split through Thunder Demon's afterimage, and Dang Yeon-ji yanked her outstretched hand back fiercely.
Whizz!
A long thread shimmered transparently, connecting the needle to Dang Yeon-ji's hand.
"Human Face Spider thread? You're using something fairly nice."
And just before the needle was retrieved into Dang Yeon-ji's hand, a blue bolt of lightning struck down vertically.
Thud.
The needle embedded itself helplessly in the ground. The grass around the needle began to wither and shrivel up in an instant.
"There's no way you caught a Human Face Spider yourself, so it seems the Tang Clan had some good fortune? To use a treasure like this."
"H-How did you avoid my Flying Poison Needle Heavenly Thunder...?"
"A grand name for such a sorry thing. And the name is really pathetic."
Slick.
As Thunder Demon flicked her fan downward, the transparent thread was severed powerlessly.
"A hidden weapon that can't even properly kill one person has a name of five syllables? You might as well just call it the No-Kill Needle instead."
"Don't insult me, you old hag!"
"Insults are the privilege of the victor. And...."
Thunder Demon lightly leaped forward. Dang Yeon-ji tried to back away two steps to widen the distance, but Thunder Demon quickly closed in close enough for her breath to be felt.
"Who's calling who an old hag?"
Slaaap.
Thunder Demon slapped Dang Yeon-ji's cheek with her palm. A bright red handprint was left on Dang Yeon-ji's cheek, and Dang Yeon-ji couldn't regain her senses from the impact that rattled her head.
"Is that what they teach you in the Tang Clan?"
Slaaap.
Thunder Demon's palm struck Dang Yeon-ji's opposite cheek. Her two hands slapped Dang Yeon-ji's cheeks back and forth several times, and Dang Yeon-ji hung limp, bleeding from a face swollen and puffy.
"Really, you make me lose my temper. Let's see... that person's Soul-Bewitching Incense...."
Thunder Demon took out a bead from her bosom and sparked it with electricity. As the fumes began to seep into Dang Yeon-ji's ears, her weary eyes gradually grew hazy, and Thunder Demon grabbed Dang Yeon-ji's tangled hair and roused her internal energy.
"Even if you married out, you can still be of help to the Tang Clan. Huhu, you're going to have to play a big role inside the Tang Clan."
Thunder Demon's low voice rummaged through Dang Yeon-ji's head.
"From now on, you'll be joining those guys as one of the Three Demons to raid the Tang Clan. Understand?"
"......."
Behind Thunder Demon, two martial artists who, like Dang Yeon-ji, seemed to have lost their reason stood with hazy eyes.
"They're all people who bear grudges against the Tang Clan. Shouldn't they have revenge? Everyone will probably assume as much. Where else in the world is there a clan with grudges as wide and deep as the Tang Clan? If you rampage, won't that make the Flame Demon child venture out of her house?"
The corner of Thunder Demon's lips curled up venomously.
"And it'd be even better if the Great Righteous-Demonic War breaks out after that."