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Flame Demon was in the Hao Sect. And her occupation was that of a courtesan in the red-light district—crudely, a prostitute.
Were all demonic practitioners sex-crazed women, or was Flame Demon exceptional?
Compared to the women of the White Path, many Black Path women freely indulged their carnal desires. But even among the White Path, plenty pursued lust just as fiercely as any Black Path woman.
Like this woman right here.
"You bastard!!"
The Lust-Exorcising Abbess in front of me, flying into a rage and swinging her sword, was proof enough. She was wielding the Evil-Subduing Righteousness Sword Art—a martial art honed specifically to fight Sex Demons—rather than her usual sword style, and right now she was a Harmony Realm master.
"Die, you filthy Sex Demon!"
"It's not like slaying a Sex Demon brings enlightenment... You're awfully passionate."
"Shut up! What did you do to Jeongja?!"
"This is why Sex Demons always end up killed."
Clang! I reversed my grip on the Reclining Dragon Sword and aimed it at the Lust-Exorcising Abbess's blade. The golden Sword Aura blazing from the hilt let the Reclining Dragon bite down on her sword edge, and I swung the Phoenix Chick Sword to shatter her weapon.
"Falling Phoenix Strike!"
Slice! As the blade descended vertically, the Lust-Exorcising Abbess abandoned her sword and retreated. Realizing she could not match me with a blade, she widened the distance.
"Y-You're fairly strong for a demon! You... you Sex Demon!"
I could hear her voice trembling. She couldn't reveal her true colors because of the elders and warriors from other sects who had come to fight alongside her, but the Lust-Exorcising Abbess was desperately hoping I really was a Sex Demon.
"A sex demon... Hearing that over and over is getting on my nerves. Should I turn into a real Sex Demon and ravage you in front of everyone?"
"Eek!!"
The Lust-Exorcising Abbess screamed as if repulsed. But I knew that scream was the peculiar moan she made whenever she came a little. She was imagining it right now.
'She's picturing it.'
"Th-This, this, th-this..."
The corners of her mouth twitched, barely lifting. If anyone nearby had seen her looking as though she were struggling to contain her delight, they might have spotted the slut in her. Fortunately for the Lust-Exorcising Abbess, she was at the very front of the line.
"Go cool your head over there for now, you wench."
Falling Phoenix Strike, once more. I slashed the Phoenix Chick Sword forward in a brutal overhead strike. The phoenix, its head held high, hammered the ground with both wings, and the Sword Wind fanned out in a broad arc, threatening the martial artists.
"Kghh!!"
The Lust-Exorcising Abbess's Evil-Subduing Righteousness Sword Art had wavered, and the Sword Wind shoved her backward. I watched her only return to her senses after nearly dying to the Sword Wind, and I felt disgusted by the reality of the White Path.
'To think so many people hide behind the name of the Orthodox Faction while secretly devouring their lust.'
As if the Lust-Exorcising Abbess were the only sex-crazed woman in the world. Among the flowers I had taken during the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, some had shared my bed willingly.
And there was one woman in the world who, though born into the prestigious Eight Great Families, had been unable to endure her overflowing carnal desire and had turned herself into a woman who sold her body.
The Lewd Butterfly, Dang Seo-hee.
Just as Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am the Poison Dragon, Dang I-jeong had fled the Tang Clan and been struck from the family register, Dang Seo-hee had voluntarily entered the Hao Sect and enrolled in the Courtesan Register of the red-light district, leaving the Tang Clan of her own accord.
"Soul-Chasing Flying Fan!"
"Nine Revolving Kill!"
Two different Martial Forms rushed me from both sides at once. I held the Reclining Dragon Sword to my left, the Phoenix Chick Sword to my right, and aimed them at the iron whip and the short blade coming for me.
Clang!
"Both of you from the Tang Clan are targeting me at once. I'm honored."
"......."
"You...."
For a single instant, as our weapons crossed, a shiver ran down my spine from the two men's heated gazes. They were looking at me as if I were truly their family, which creeped me out even more.
'But as long as I've already lied about being Bandit Demon, I have to see it through.'
If Crow Chaos Finger Disease and Dok-gwi came at me with murderous intent in a one-on-one battle, even I couldn't guarantee victory. So I had no choice but to glare at the two of them with a look of desperate resolve.
"...Why are you of the Tang Clan attacking me? Surely it's not because of the visit I paid last night?"
"This-"
"Go!!"
I stomped a Quake Step and disrupted their stances. Then I swung the Reclining Dragon and Phoenix Chick Swords in a crossed pattern, forcing them each back a step.
"Past Changban Slope, I shall allow no one through! If you wish to cross this spot, you must kill me first!"
"Tsk...!"
"Is that so... Then we must steel ourselves as well."
Dang Sa-rim and Dok-gwi nodded faintly at me, then lightly leaped backward. The people of the Tang Clan, who treasure their blood kin dearly, were utterly convinced that I was Bandit Demon.
And for that very reason, they respected my will—Bandit Demon's—even more.
If a member of the Sichuan Tang Clan were to raise such a ruckus, the Qingcheng and Emei Sects would hold the Tang Clan responsible for it.
"You are...."
"My name is Yoo Bung! My courtesy name is Geomdam! Nothing more, nothing less!"
"!!"
The two Tang Clan masters finally shut their eyes heavily. The martial artists of the Tang Clan who had been hesitating behind them, gripping their hidden weapons, also wore deeply pained expressions.
'What a close-knit family.'
They were even trying to look after someone who had entered the Demonic Cult simply because he was their blood kin. There was no doubt that the Tang Clan had brought so many masters so that, if matters came to a head, they could pretend to "kill" Geomdam with their own hands.
"Do not retreat! Is the will of the Sichuan Tang Clan so feeble? If the enemy stands before you, raise your weapon! Even if that enemy becomes your own brother or sister!!"
At my roar, the Tang Clan warriors' expressions shifted. Their hesitation vanished, and each one gripped their weapon, ready to commit their full strength.
'The Poison Dragon's departure must have been a great shock. Later, when they learn Flame Demon's identity, they'll faint dead away.'
Although she was a daughter of a collateral branch, not the main line, both the Poison Dragon and the Bandit Demon had been regarded as powerful candidates for the next Family Head within the clan.
That very Poison Dragon had become a Demonic Cultist, one of the Ten Great Demonic Practitioners who served the Heavenly Demon, so everyone's attention must have been fixed solely on Bandit Demon.
'It could happen once. And if it could happen once, it could happen twice.'
No one had expected that the same thing would happen to the next daughter, Dang Seo-hee. The first time is the hardest; the second and third times come naturally.
'In truth, this is the third one.'
"Deploy the Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers formation!!"
At Dok-gwi's command, the Tang Clan warriors spread out wide to the left and right. The warriors who set their feet on the shoulders of two others began stacking themselves into human towers one by one.
'Aren't they all just going to hurl hidden weapons at once?'
"Uwaaaah!!"
Dok-gwi, who had reached the very top, was the first to unleash a volley of hidden weapons. At the same moment, the warriors on the lower levels sprang upward as if taking flight, flinging their own hidden weapons.
'This is a bit threatening.'
When a single person executes the Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers, there are brief gaps between the volleys. But the Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers formed by dozens of warriors hurling hidden weapons simultaneously leaves no time to intercept the projectiles and retrieve one's swords.
'I'd better give them a lesson ahead of time.'
If this were Flame Demon—how would Flame Demon, who would one day appear as an enemy, use to block the Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers formation?
"Soaring Dragon Slash!"
I laid both swords horizontally. The Reclining Dragon Sword underneath, the Phoenix Chick Sword overlapping it above. Then I spun my body in a wide arc and unleashed a mighty slash straight ahead.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang—!!
The Sword Wind flew forth with the roar of a golden dragon and intercepted every hidden weapon. The projectiles, knocked aside by the gale, collided with one another and veered off, embedding themselves uselessly into the wall one after another.
"Th-The Tang Clan's Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers...!"
"It's fine! That must have consumed a huge amount of Internal Energy!"
"You've done splendidly, Tang Clan!"
The Rain of Ten Thousand Flowers, which could be called their decisive killing technique, had been stopped, and they had exhausted their hidden weapons. Barring a master of finger strikes like Crow Chaos Finger Disease, the Tang Clan could no longer exert any more power.
"Tsk, my apologies!"
"I-I can't believe he blocked all the hidden weapons."
"Kgh, is Geomdam a monster?!"
The Tang Clan warriors shouted as though they were reciting the Analects and retreated. I was glad they had at least fallen back, even if it was an act, but I still hoped they would prepare some new method for when they ran out of hidden weapons.
'Because if they don't, Flame Demon's going to burn all their hidden weapons and poisons to ashes and kill them.'
In the future, the one who would half-destroy the Sichuan Tang Clan was none other than Flame Demon. Before her death, she fled to Sichuan and rampaged, burning down half of the Sichuan Tang Clan and dying by immolation.
'They need at least one handheld weapon they can wield the way Bandit Demon uses his iron whip.'
There is no easier opponent than a hidden-weapon master who has run out of hidden weapons. When all of Dok-gwi's beloved snakes had died, his martial power had dropped considerably, and I was able to deal with the martial artists far too easily.
None of them could match the majesty of Geomdam, the Geom-je. At this rate, my victory was certain.
"You Qingcheng lot—once things have blown up in your faces once, how about you retreat out of a sense of shame?"
"You, you rotten bastard!"
"Get lost before your teeth get cracked and rot off your rotten face."
"You certainly speak very harshly."
Step. Step.
A handsome middle-aged man pushed through the Qingcheng elders and loosened the cloth bundle strapped to his back. The man gripped a gray iron staff that looked like a simple blunt rod and aimed its tip at me.
"You ought to learn some courtesy toward your opponent."
"You expect courtesy toward grave-robber scum who trample other people's ancestral tombs as they please?"
"Even a Gentleman on the Beam is still a person."
"Hah. This is absurd. Who are you to presume to lecture me?"
The reason I was not absolutely certain I would win but thought I "could" win was a single one: among our enemies stood Divine Spear (神槍).
"Then I shall teach you myself. Do you not know the principle of Inviolability of Government and Martial Arts? How is it that the Imperial Guard involves itself in affairs of the martial world?"
"If not the Imperial Guard, who will step forward against the impious wretch who styles himself Geom-je?"
"Ha! Even if you are a descendant of a fallen empire, an emperor is still an emperor! By that logic, why haven't you already arrested the likes of the Sword Emperor in Murim?"
"Because they have received His Majesty's acknowledgment."
It was a remark that scraped at a martial artist's pride, but no one could open their mouth to retort. The aura radiating from Divine Spear drove every master of the subjugation force back thirty zhang—no, nearly fifty zhang. That was how murderous Divine Spear's sheer pressure was.
"Anyone watching would think you're off to execute a traitor for high treason."
"Indeed. If you do not quietly accept surrender here, you will become a traitor for high treason."
"Really? In that case, try and make this older brother kneel."
Divine Spear's eyebrow twitched.
"In terms of seniority, as the inheritor of Emperor Shaolie's martial arts, am I not naturally above you?"
"You villain!"
Divine Spear sprang at me first. A yellow Qi Aura began to permeate the gray iron staff, and a sharp spear blade shot out from its tip.
"Hah, going all-out from the start?"
I drew out every ounce of energy that Geom-je, Jegal Geondam, possessed. As the wielder of the Heavenly Dragon Emperor Twin High Sword, historically, futuristically, by fate, I could not afford to lose to Divine Spear.
'Cloud Dragon Crescent Moon Spear (雲龍半月槍).'
A martial art transmitted through Jo Wi and Sama Jin and ultimately housed in the Secret Vault of the modern Imperial Guard—unlike Emperor Shaolie's lost martial arts.
"Uhahaha! It is fate, Jangsaeng!"
"Shut up!"
Clang! I crossed the Reclining Dragon and Phoenix Chick Swords to block the spear blade. As Qi Aura clashed with Qi Aura and the fight shifted to a contest of Internal Energy, the spear blade aiming for me had already transformed into the edge of a crescent-blade halberd.
"You're determined to kill me outright, little brother!"
"Heh. So that's how you're going to play it? Fine."
Divine Spear, gripping the shaft, laughed ferociously at me with a face that flushed as red as a jujube.
"This is in place of a travel permit!"
Divine Spear swung the crescent-blade spear wide, aiming to take my head off.
* * *
"Kyahahaha!!"
Flame Demon's shriek filled the altar. The scream turned into a wind that drew the moths, becoming a favorable gale for her.
"Tsk!"
Lee Si-a slapped away the moths that had already drawn close with the back of her hand. A burning heat assaulted her skin, and Lee Si-a got not a moment's rest as she dodged the swirling moths.
"Ohohoho! How unsightly you look!"
"Heavenly Demon Ascending Dragon Kick!"
Lee Si-a raised her leg high and slammed it down with great force. A storm of powerful Internal Qi swept the surroundings, and the moths were ripped to shreds in the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
"Huff, huff."
Lee Si-a steadied her breathing and settled into her stance. Flame Demon covered her mouth with the iron fan that scattered the moths and laughed.
"You seem about to surpass the Peak Realm soon. Congratulations. You intend to reach the Transcendent Peak Realm while fighting me? But too bad—for you, it ends there. How you've grown strong!"
Clap-clap-clap. Flame Demon folded her iron fan and applauded with a giggle.
"But Little Princess, just because you've grown stronger...."
Fwoosh. Flames burst from the tip of the iron fan and formed a long whip.
"Heavenly Demon Hell Flame Whip (鞭)...!!"
"It doesn't mean you've become my equal, does it? So I'll definitely capture you and make you into a courtesan. You have exactly the kind of face those old men dripping with oil and easy to torch would love. Gigglegiggle!"
Slap! The Harmony Realm master threatened her, brandishing the fiery whip. But Lee Si-a raised her fist and displayed her confidence.
"......You know one thing but are ignorant of another. You've been chasing cock so much every day—has your brain filled up with semen instead of just your womb?"
"......."
Flame Demon's expression froze solid. Lee Si-a brushed the embers from her collar with her leather gloves and summoned her Internal Energy.
"I don't fight losing battles."
"What in the world gives you that confidence?"
"Because he predicted my victory against you."
Shrrrk.
Lee Si-a's hair fluttered wildly in the flames.
"Ten out of ten."