213
Waaaaah!!
The situation at the Tang Clan gradually settled. The Fire Demon transformed into a Fire Ox and began guarding the clan, while the attackers who had stormed the estate were taken down one by one by concealed weapons.
"Gyaaahk!!"
The Tang Clan's hidden weapons unrelentingly targeted only the vital spots. Since the invaders had charged in howling for revenge and threatening to violate the clan's women, the Tang members, matching that tenacity, aimed solely at the attackers' most vulnerable spots—their groins.
Thwip, thwip-thwip.
The attackers scrambled to protect their groins with their weapons, desperate to dodge or deflect the piercing needles and throwing knives.
But just as the Tang Clan's supreme martial art was called Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers, the Tang warriors hurled concealed weapons like mad to create that very rain.
"Cut off all their cocks!!"
The instant Crow Chaos Finger Disease Dang O-dok roared those words, the attackers began to fall like autumn leaves.
Taking advantage of the moment their stances crumbled under Dang O-dok's Lion's Roar, the Tang warriors launched their throwing knives in curved paths.
Thud!
The curved blades slipped past the weapons guarding the groin and stabbed deep into the crotch. Struck in their weak spot, the attackers toppled forward with dying screams.
"N-no!"
One attacker dropped both hands low, trying only to shield his groin. That was a foolish move.
Thud, thud-thud.
Paralysis needles pierced both his shoulders. His body locked up, hands still stretched toward his crotch, and a Tang warrior shot forward like a streak of light, plunging a dagger straight into his groin.
"Kuh-eok!!"
If a throwing knife couldn't reach the target at range, they'd freeze the body with paralysis needles, then cut off his manhood and kill him. Faced with the Tang Clan's attacks—as viciously persistent as they were—the attackers' balls trembled.
"You... cruel bastards...!"
The Tang Clan could have simply finished them off. Yet targeting only the groin was unmistakable mockery. They could have driven a dagger through a heart or throat, but deliberately aimed for the groin as their own form of punishment against the Sex Demon.
They were brimming with composure.
The first reason was that they had subdued the Fire Demon, and the second was that the key figure among the attackers they had been worried about had vanished.
"Huhaha! This brat claims to be Geomdam? The whole world would laugh!"
Dang Sa-rim, notorious as the Dok-gwi, wielded twin throwing knives and pinned down the self-styled "Geomdam." Every time the poison-coated blades, tethered to threads, danced through the air, blood sprayed from the so-called Geomdam's body.
"He's definitely strong! But he's nothing like that monster!"
"I am Geomdam!!"
"No, you are not Geomdam!"
Even Dang O-dok joined in, blocking Geomdam's path. Reading the wild swings of the twin swords, Dang O-dok pressed the flat of a blade aside with a finger technique, then drove his fingers into Geomdam's solar plexus as if striking with his palm.
"Kuh-heok!"
Geomdam staggered back, vomiting blood. The dark-red blood smeared around his mouth proved he had suffered deep internal injuries.
"How can this be...?"
The attackers were crushed. The strongest man in Sichuan, Geomdam, was being pushed onto the defensive by Dang O-dok and Dang Sa-rim without even getting a chance to use his full strength. Worse, he had fallen victim to the Poison Arts—the one fate you must avoid at all costs when facing the poison-wielding Tang Clan.
"Kuh-heok."
Gashes covered Geomdam's body. As if being poisoned by the thick miasma blanketing the area, he began to crumble.
"I... am... Geom... dam...."
Geomdam swayed and raised his twin swords high. The sight of him lifting both swords at once made the two Tang martial artists flinch and step back, but the moment they saw the new starting stance he adopted, they burst into exultant shouts.
"Demon Strike Twin Ghost Sword!!"
"So it is you, you bastard!! The Former Sword Demon!!"
At the cries of the two Tang martial artists, the attackers stirred. Among them, those well-versed in martial arts recognized Geomdam's starting stance and realized his true identity.
"The former... Sword Demon...?"
"That guy, wasn't his name Yu Geomdam...?"
"Revenge... revenge...!!"
A crimson glare erupted from the eyes of Yu Geomdam—the Demon Strike Twin Ghost Sword. As he began to activate the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the Tang warriors swallowed hard and widened their distance.
"This man has reached the pinnacle of the Peak Realm! Everyone, caution!"
"If he uses... even that alongside the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, he'll be close to the Harmony Realm!"
"Graaaaah!!"
Geomdam let out a monstrous roar. Blood spurted from his old wounds, and the Tang warriors paled.
"Bursting Blood!"
A technique that temporarily draws out latent power and every last drop of true strength, burning the user's life force into inner energy and physical might. Using Bursting Blood was no different from declaring a willingness to throw away his own life.
"I will never forgive you, Sichuan Tang Clan!!"
"Tsk, everyone get clear!!"
Geomdam slashed both swords downward in the same instant. A blade-edge soaked in vengeful obsession shot forth as Sword Qi, racing along the ground in a cutting wave.
A massive slash, beyond anything the Tang Clan's martial arts could handle, sharp enough to sweep the Tang warriors away in a single stroke.
"Everyone, watch out—"
Boom!
The Sword Qi shattered against flame. Like an ox trampling a praying mantis under its hoof, a red flame crushed the Sword Qi into fragments with a heavy presence—then lightly burned away the remnants beneath that same hoof.
A sword strike from someone who had drawn out every drop of true energy to briefly reach the Harmony Realm, consumed by flames and extinguished? This was no natural phenomenon. Every warrior of the Tang Clan looked to the roof of the pavilion.
"......Young Lady Seo-hee!"
A woman wreathed in flames from head to toe controlled the fire while holding a staff, as if she were an immortal.
"Then... those words really were true...!!"
"She said she had obtained the power of an immortal!!"
The Tang warriors erupted in cheers. No one would dare call it dark arts—not when it was a woman who commanded the Fire Demon and freely manipulated flames.
Even if it were labeled dark arts, what reason did they have to care when those flames would burn the ones who had attacked the Tang Clan!
"Tang Clan...! I will never forgive...!"
"Hasten by command...."
Blinded by revenge, Geomdam tried to unleash his Sword Qi once more, but Dang Seo-hee thrust her staff forward faster.
"Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers—Fire Ox."
Buooaaaaarrrrrr!!
The Fire Demon that blanketed the Tang estate soared upward like a giant. The titan, horned like an ox, stretched out its hand toward Geomdam and the attackers. The vast palm that filled the heavens blazed so fiercely it could incinerate the sinners.
"Gyaaaaaahk!!"
Geomdam howled like a beast and fired Sword Qi wildly at the flames. But just as one cannot cut water with a sword, no matter how many blasts of Sword Qi and Sword Wind he launched, the flames did not waver.
"Die, Tang Clan! I said, die!!"
Geomdam's gaze had already scattered. His slashes began flying in all directions instead of at the flames, and the attackers nearby started to be cut down, caught in the Sword Qi.
Rampant slashes.
One by one, they were swept away by attacks that didn't distinguish friend from foe. Blood spurted everywhere, but no one nearby could stop Geomdam's rampage.
"Sichuan Tang Clan!! I have come for bloody revenge!!!"
"Be quiet."
Dang Seo-hee raised her staff high.
"I said!"
Booom—!!
As she swung it downward, a fist of flame came crashing down onto Geomdam.
* * *
"What a mess."
Lee Si-a flung the battered woman, now a bloodied wreck, onto the ground. The woman, punched in the face several times, collapsed unconscious.
"Why are there so many demonic practitioners in the Sichuan Tang Clan?"
Red Demon Dang I-jeong, Flame Demon Dang Seo-hee.
And the woman lying before Lee Si-a was simultaneously a bloodline descendant of the Tang Clan and a woman known to have left the clan through marriage.
Former Poison Demon.
Originally, either the Bandit Demon or the Flame Demon would have succeeded to the position of Poison Demon, but unfortunately, neither had walked the path of the Poison Arts. Because of that, the Poison Demon had stepped away from her seat among the Ten Demons and returned to an ordinary life.
"She got done in by the Thunder Demon."
Lee Si-a immediately grasped why this former Poison Demon, now living as an ordinary person, had taken part in the attack on the Tang Clan estate. Throughout the fight, a subtle Qi of Thunder had been sensed from her, and using the power of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Lee Si-a had drawn out every last trace of that Thunder Qi and calmed Former Poison Demon down.
"This place is...."
"The Sichuan Tang Clan. Hm-hm, since I recognized your face, I didn't kill you."
"...Why is the Young Lady here?"
"Why else. The Earth Qilin Thunder Demon came to kill the Flying Heaven Flame Demon, so I came here personally."
With that single sentence from Lee Si-a, Former Poison Demon understood everything.
"I... have become a puppet."
"Auntie?"
Tap.
Dang Seo-hee landed, flames billowing around her. She took in the situation and her expression hardened.
"You could have gone just a little easier on her."
"Went at my own... I mean, at my own pace."
"...Cut the act."
Grumbling, Dang Seo-hee gestured around them.
"The attack is over. The Fire Demon will die down, and the rest will be subdued by the Tang warriors. ...Where did that person go?"
"He went to chase the main culprit behind this incident."
"...Ah, then."
Dang Seo-hee sighed deeply and slumped against her staff.
"Please, take me to my roooom...."
Dang Seo-hee's voice had gone completely slack. Lee Si-a sighed and supported her.
"You said you wouldn't use it, so how did you end up in this state...."
"I think she just used it out of habit, hyaaahk...!"
Dang Seo-hee, who had repelled the attack on the Tang Clan, suffered a flare-up of her chronic ailment. She rose with Lee Si-a's support.
"Poison Demon, you are to leave for now. And when I call, you will come again. Understood?"
"...Thank you, Young Heavenly Demon."
Former Poison Demon swiftly withdrew from the Tang estate. The wall of flames had already died down the moment Dang Seo-hee slumped, and not only the Poison Demon but the other attackers also began fleeing over the walls one by one.
"Khm. First, let's hide ourselves inside the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation. I don't want to be mistaken for an attacker and cause trouble."
"The second we leave, you show your true colors... hyaat. Wh-when is that person coming back...?"
"Dunno. He said he'd return before your lips get cold."
"Then shouldn't he be back soon?"
Grinning, Lee Si-a teased Dang Seo-hee's lower body with a finger.
"Hik?!"
"Your lower lips are still a hot mess—far from cooling down, they've gotten hotter, haven't they?"
Licking her lips, Lee Si-a leaped into the Tang compound together with Dang Seo-hee.
"Same goes for me."
* * *
The Demonic Sword Consort, Wang So-hyeon, froze her drawn sword at the sight before her eyes.
"How can one treat a woman like this!"
The Demonic Sword Consort instantly recognized the woman lying face-down on the ground. Even caked in mud, the gray hair and crimson eyes burning with hatred unmistakably belonged to the Thunder Demon.
And that was why Wang So-hyeon tensed. The man who had subdued and was raping the Thunder Demon without any special weapon regarded the Demonic Sword Consort, even standing right before him, as utterly insignificant.
"Well... she's the kind of bitch who had it coming, so that's how I handled her."
The man, the Sex Demon, folded his arms with a look of displeasure.
"Isn't that a fine thing for me to say, when it was a woman who swung her sword at something precious of mine?"
"You bastard! Shut your mouth!"
Wang So-hyeon's face flushed against her will.
"First, pull up your trousers!"
"Why? If you don't want to see, you can just cover your own eyes, can't you?"
Dangle-dangle.
The Sex Demon swayed his hips from side to side. At the transparent thread stretching from the Thunder Demon's crotch, Wang So-hyeon felt an urge to swing her sword that very instant and send the Sex Demon's head flying.
But ever since the moment her heart-driven attack had failed, Wang So-hyeon could barely move her body.
The martial prowess of the man who had blocked her Sword Qi with a Protective Qi Aura was unfathomably deep. His martial level utterly surpassed her own.
"Pavilion Lord!!"
Women rushed urgently up behind Wang So-hyeon. They saw the woman rolled in mud and the man with his trousers pulled down, and raised their weapons, but Wang So-hyeon quickly shouted.
"Stop! He is not an opponent you can face!!"
"Pavilion Lord! But!"
"All of you, take this woman and flee immediately!"
Wang So-hyeon drew up all her Inner Energy and launched Sword Qi forward. The man, far from pulling his trousers back up, instead pulled one leg free from them and swung that leg at the Sword Qi.
Claaaang!
Wang So-hyeon's Sword Qi shattered into pieces. At that sight, the Lecher Demon Execution Squad flinched and froze on the spot.
From this bizarre man who pulverized Sword Qi with his bare body, they felt the raw power of the Peak Realm—no, the Peak-in-Advance Realm—that no First-Rate warrior would dare presume to intrude upon.
"I will buy time! Flee immediately!!"
So dire was the situation that even the mighty Demonic Sword Consort had to yell while tense, without looking back.
"...I wish you luck!!"
The woman with a sabre at her waist supported the Thunder Demon and hastily evacuated the area. The other women also turned and departed with twisted expressions.
"I'm used to being looked at like some kind of monster, though...."
The Sex Demon scratched his cheek and cracked his neck from side to side.
"They say people don't even bother a dog while it's eating. I was finally enjoying myself—what kind of interruption is this."
"You bastard!"
Wang So-hyeon turned her body sideways and raised her sword above her shoulder, taking her stance.
"Pavilion Lord of the Sword Pavilion! The Demonic Sword Consort! The Sect Leader of the Wol Yeong Seonghui Sword! I, Wang So-hyeon, shall be your opponent!!"
"......Hm, before we fight, let me ask one thing."
The Sex Demon spread both arms wide to the sides.
"I've heard the Demonic Sword Consort is searching for Geomdam. Is that true?"
The Sex Demon's cock sprang up stiffly. Wang So-hyeon could barely tear her gaze away from that object, which stood erect like a sword aimed at her.
"Then you've come to the right place."
With the sensation that the thing might truly thrust into her, Wang So-hyeon could not break her stare.
"I am Geomdam."
Crimson Sword Aura spread out to both sides from the Sex Demon's hands, and Wang So-hyeon shuddered.