Chapter 130
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: New Year's Eve (1)
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"Hey! Sword Demon! Are we there yet?!"
"Impatient as always. Almost there."
Pulling the Mad Demon out into the open took just one word.
- Let's fight, Yaksha Duel.
Wi Ji-ryang himself enjoyed a good scrap, but the Mad Demon was no slouch in the bloodlust department either.
Of course, the two of them had once been warriors of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult—
in a world ruled by the law of the strong, so no further words were needed.
Back then, the official term for settling rankings within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was the Yaksha Duel.
Unlike sparring matches where lethal moves were banned, anything went—any technique, any form.
Just one strike.
They exchanged fully powered single strikes to determine superiority.
Long ago, it had been a brutal free-for-all until one lay dead, but...
The duels had overheated so badly that half the cult's warriors ended up incapacitated, nearly dooming the organization. That was why this final safeguard had been established.
"This spot looks good."
A warrior at the Harmony Realm could pour earth-shattering power into a single strike.
So they'd arrived at a remote location as devoid of people as possible—one where the surrounding landscape could be wrecked without causing a fuss.
The grounds of a manor on a wild hill outside the city, where construction was underway.
The moment they exchanged blows, all the groundwork built up so far would vanish in a flash, but that wasn't Wi Ji-ryang's problem.
"Kahaha! It's been ages since a Yaksha Duel! Wi Ji-ryang, you haven't gone rusty on that sword of yours?!"
"Eh, I've been training steadily in various ways."
Explaining the advanced concept of Mind-Image Sword Debate to the Mad Demon would be like talking to a brick wall, so Wi Ji-ryang simply drew his sword without further ado.
And then.
A vivid ink-black aura began radiating ominously from his blade.
"Fists! Yes! Yes! Yes!"
The Mad Demon bellowed a hearty laugh as he wrapped his fist in blood-red aura so vicious it made your skin crawl just looking at it.
And then.
For an instant, the heavens and earth flipped upside down.
No way.
It couldn't be, I thought desperately.
I'd left the cleanup of the thoroughly subdued Lecher Demon and his crew to the Green Forest Bandits and rushed back to my temporary Abang Palace.
And then.
"Oh... ooooh..."
"What's wrong?"
"Sniff..."
Tears welled up the moment I saw it.
The site where my Sihyeon Palace (working title) had been taking shape was now just half-collapsed pillars scattered about.
The ground our Green Forest contractors had meticulously leveled and axe-smoothed was now a hideous mess, upheaved everywhere and robbed of its flatness.
And the real kicker—the garden meant for refined leisure, designed to preserve nature's beauty as much as possible.
Even the expensive trees we'd just planted were uprooted entirely, flung about in avant-garde chaos.
Just yesterday, I'd been mulling over building a pavilion there, or raising arowana, or maybe stocking ducks to watch them paddle around for some healing vibes... even the artificial pond was...
"Geum Sihyeon, you crying?"
"I... sometimes shed tears..."
Luri dragged over a rock, clambered up, and patted my shoulder comfortingly.
Some consolation for the heart...
It wasn't...
After the despair came rage.
Shing!
"Why?"
"Life-and-Death Duel. Gotta settle this with Master today."
"You'll die."
"That'd be a problem..."
My anger issues slammed into reality and instantly morphed into perfect anger management.
At that moment.
The collapsed building remains began to shake oddly.
And then.
"Phew, came close to dying there."
The culprit behind this disaster emerged, smoothly shoving aside the debris.
Master, his energy so depleted he barely registered on my Mixed Moon Divine Eye.
Right now, I could probably drain his blood...
Phew.
Good thoughts, good thoughts.
"Master, you alright?"
I shoved aside the murderous impulses bubbling up inside and hurried over to support him.
After helping him circulate his qi for recovery...
I got the full rundown of events.
And made a decision.
Steer clear of the Demonic Cult as much as possible.
Yaksha Duel? No sane person comes up with that.
But.
"So you lost?"
"As if. I won."
"Then why were you passed out buried there...? Ow!"
My noggin took a loving whack from Master's staff after ages.
"The Mad Demon wasn't unscathed either. He used some weird sorcery to slip away. Probably show up again soon."
"Hmm..."
Classic old-school martial artist trait.
Can't understand it? Call it sorcery first, ask questions later.
Anyway.
Hearing the details only made my head spin more.
The Lecher Demon was a bit of a perv, sure, but he had a clear goal: the Jade Transformation Preservation manual.
No sign of waiting for the Mad Demon, just him and his wives on a solo rampage.
So what about the Mad Demon?
If he wanted to help, why not crash the party together and raid the Heavenly Martial Archives outright?
Given how he one-punched Master's defenses to rubble, if the Mad Demon had shown up in front of me, I'd have been flattened without a chance.
"Why did the Mad Demon show up?"
"Who knows. Assigning meaning to a madman's actions is foolish."
As if.
Pure lunatics are rare in this world.
There'd be causes and effects driving the madness, convictions and beliefs filling his head.
I glanced down at Luri, still snuggling beside me.
"Hm."
"Yeah?"
Luri tilted her head, but I just stroked her hair without a word.
Thinking about it, it'd be almost two years soon.
Factoring in the original story...
With the Hong Soon-deok precedent, maybe full-on moves targeting Luri were kicking off—that was my current hunch.
I kept the speculation to myself.
Could be jumping to conclusions, and the plot had diverged wildly from the game story I knew.
Still.
Better safe than sorry.
"For now, let's settle our grudge."
"What grudge?"
"This land you trashed, and everything on it. It was all mine."
Master's face fell as he took in the devastation he'd wrought.
"Hm... Disciple. I'm your master."
"Which is exactly why we must tally the accounts meticulously."
Master vanished in a blur of lightness skill at terrifying speed.
"..."
"Fast."
I looked down at Luri's head as she murmured in quiet admiration.
"Vice Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult."
"Huh?"
"Isn't a subordinate's failing ultimately the leader's fault?"
"Uh..."
I scooped up Luri as she tried to bolt.
Where do you think you're going, Peak Late Stage?
Daring to flee before me?
A week had passed since my home (encampment) got wrecked.
In the end, I sent the bill straight to the Ghost Killer Squad and successfully claimed compensation from Ilwol Corporation, so the money side was sorted.
The minor issue was...
"...We really have to build it here?"
"Eep."
Right next to my house.
New construction had begun.
Disguised as the grand-sounding Ilwol Manor signboard.
...Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Shaanxi Branch.
No clue how they got official permits or why the Martial Alliance was letting this slide, but.
"Junior! Long time no see!"
"...Old Timer Senior."
The Ghost Killer Squad guys I'd met in Zhongjing slithered over, throwing themselves into the grunt work.
These guys.
Aren't they assassins?
"Psh, assassins? Don't say such grim things. We're warriors of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Shaanxi Branch."
Ghost Killer Squad Vice Commander No Cheon-gi slapped my shoulder with a booming laugh.
I called over Jang Deok-pal, who was overseeing the Green Forest crew in the distance.
"Make it way flashier than next door. Got it?"
No losing.
With the construction sorted, my footsteps turned back toward the Hundred Flowers Academy.
Summoned for testimony on the Lecher Demon raid a week ago.
No idea why a prison cell was even in the academy, but the Lecher Demon and his six wives were all sealed and locked up together amiably.
Last visit.
- Geum Sihyeon! Is the Jade Transformation Preservation safe?!
He obsessed more over the manual than his own imprisonment—terrifying stuff.
No psycho topped that level of super-psycho.
Mulling that over as I headed for the academy gates.
"...Free him!"
"...I want those abs!"
Women's murmurs started catching my ear.
Closer now.
"Free Yeon Hong-un! Free him! Free him!"
"Give us back our husband!"
"Hundred Flowers Academy, wake up! Wake up!"
A mob of at least twenty women blocked the front gate, sitting on the ground and raising a racket.
And moreover.
"Aigoo, little Ying. Time to go home, yeah?"
"I've already chosen my husband. How could an out-married woman return to her birth home? Please leave."
Beside them, a young woman and her apparent parents were bickering.
...All Lecher Demon's concubines...?
What was so lacking that they'd go after Jade Transformation Preservation...?
I barely suppressed the intense fury surging from my chest depths and kept walking.
And then.
"Calm down. We'll discuss internally and decide their treatment."
A woman was coldly rebuffing the ladies poised to charge inside at the first gap, frost practically flying from her words.
"Oh. Sister Seol."
Her icy gaze turned my way.
"Sihyeeeeeeon!"
As if winter had never been, she bloomed a springlike smile and winked at me.