Chapter 196
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: The Three Demons' War 6
Cho Yeom-wi looked puzzled and asked Yeon Ah-ryeong.
“Hmm? Senior Sister, what are you thinking? Why send out the men we’re supposed to use when Baek Mu-heun arrives?”
Yeon Ah-ryeong found Cho Yeom-wi's attitude deeply irritating.
“You know full well, so why don't you cut the pathetic act?”
“Haha? Was I found out? Yes! Understood. I'll send those men out at once and force Baek Mu-heun to show himself!”
After sending the Unorthodox Sect lackeys to Gyeokimok, Yeon Ah-ryeong and Cho Yeom-wi discussed how they would kill Baek Mu-heun when he finally revealed himself and attacked.
“When we face him, we must forget his age. Right now, he isn't just some upstart who has barely come of age; he is on par with the Dragon Demon Pavilion Lord, one of the five pillars of our cult. No, perhaps even greater.”
“I know.”
“No, no, it might be more fitting to describe him as a dragon that has not yet fully shed its skin. A little more time, and we might be the ones devoured by him.”
“I said, I know!”
“……”
“Baek Mu-heun. He is already outstanding, an individual who cannot be defined by common words like ‘genius.’ Anyone who has witnessed his growth so far would think the same.”
“As expected of you, Senior Sister~! In that case, when he attacks, shouldn't we both use the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon taught to us by the Cult Leader and push ourselves to the state of Transcendent Demon?”
“……Of course, we must. There’s no guarantee he’s weaker than either of us individually. We must face him with every ounce of power we can muster.”
“Haha, is there any doubt? I was merely worried you might be underestimating him, Senior Sister. Killing Hwang Cheol-ung is one thing, but this is the man who defeated the Seven Melodies of Asura and the Three Severing Blades of the World. Of course, the Orthodox Sects intervened, but this is the martial world. No one can survive on luck alone.”
“He proved his strength, which is why the Orthodox Sects helped him.”
“Exactly. He is an opponent we must never be complacent against.”
“I recommend we fight at the Salt Lake so I can coordinate with my Seven Ice-Clad. Utilizing the water there will allow me to exert my full power.”
“Of course! You must. I have already received the Red Pearls from the dogs I raised.”
“……”
Cho Yeom-wi’s subordinates.
The Four Demons of the Red Pearl.
All were demonic practitioners who wielded fire arts.
Cho Yeom-wi had sought them out, defeated them, and made them his subordinates, gifting them with artifacts that would enhance their fire energy.
To those who used fire arts, the Red Pearls were an obvious gift.
However, the truth was different.
Cho Yeom-wi had not given them the Red Pearls for their benefit. The pearls were artifacts with a dual nature; when their master used fire arts, they would amplify the flames. But ordinarily, they were demonic objects that fed on the master’s innate true energy to store power.
This time, Cho Yeom-wi had reclaimed the Red Pearls he had given his subordinates. The energy of the pearls, now saturated with the life force of his men, was meant to be used in the battle against Mu-heun.
Of course, since he had drained all their remaining energy into the pearls, the Four Demons of the Red Pearl were now dead.
Yeon Ah-ryeong smiled faintly as she looked at the four Red Pearls in Cho Yeom-wi’s possession.
“Don’t make any mistakes.”
“Haha, of course~.”
Yeon Ah-ryeong had also placed masks on her Seven Ice-Clad and cast a spell on them, forcing them to obey her commands. In that sense, the way the two handled their subordinates was largely the same.
However, she hadn't killed her Seven Ice-Clad this time. She had simply ordered them to create the most suitable environment for using ice arts once the battle with Baek Mu-heun began.
“By the way, what should we do about Baek Mu-heun’s four subordinates over there?”
“We kill them.”
“So… when… exactly?”
“The moment he arrives.”
“Haha! Hahahaha! I agree! You think just like I do!”
“Yes, there’s something strange about him. I intend to peel back his layers this time.”
“……I, too, have found him repulsive for some time.”
These were the ones the members of Villain's Valley called ‘devils.’
The demons closest to the pinnacle of the Demonic Cult.
Ice Demon Yeon Ah-ryeong and Flame Demon Cho Yeom-wi found Baek Mu-heun’s very existence grating.
A discomfort simmering deep in their hearts.
A sense of distance.
A desire to eliminate something fundamentally different.
Of course, such feelings were like dregs settled deep within their souls and did not significantly influence the actions of these two, who had already reached the highest echelons.
Yet, the reason they sought to eliminate Mu-heun…
Was because they considered him their most fearsome competitor.
Of course, Baek Mu-heun wasn't their only fearsome competitor.
The eldest disciple, Sword Demon Cheon Jeong-mun.
He was the figure closest to the current Cult Leader and was known to have recently reached the state of Transcendent Demon. He was a cousin of the Heavenly Dance Family Head and, for now, held the most support within the cult.
The second disciple, Mad Demon Wi Ryeon-gwang.
A disciple personally picked up and raised by the current Cult Leader, Cheon Mu-jin, who was said to have the greatest obsession with martial arts among all past leaders. It was known that once a battle began, his madness would surface, and he would never stop fighting.
Because he fought in such a peculiar and gruesome manner, he did not yet have a large following. However, as there were rumors that the Mad Demon Wi Ryeon-gwang had also entered the state of Transcendent Demon… he was someone no one wished to make an enemy of.
The third disciple, Blood Demon Cheon Se-geuk.
Some said that if the Sword Demon Cheon Jeong-mun was the supreme leader in appearance, Cheon Se-geuk would become the Shadow Sovereign. He was famous for being calm and cool-headed in all matters. However, he was just as proficient in handling affairs, and his martial prowess was outstanding, making him a truly impregnable figure.
It wasn't that Yeon Ah-ryeong and Cho Yeom-wi hadn't tried to eliminate them. They simply couldn't. In that case, the only way to deal with them was head-on.
The only way to survive was to do their utmost to increase their martial prowess by any means necessary until the day of the Cult Leader succession contest.
So they had thought.
However.
An unexpected figure had appeared.
At first, they thought he was nothing special.
The good-for-nothing fourth young master of the Heavenly Dance Family?
It was a waste of time to pay attention to such trash.
Even when they heard the stories from Doyeop Valley, they simply dismissed them.
His martial prowess was, at best, at the Peak level?
They thought that the worthless young master of the Heavenly Dance Family had finally come to his senses and started training, or perhaps that he simply had a talent for martial arts.
But when they witnessed the Divine Dragon Assembly…
When the Cult Leader announced his sixth disciple…
An inexplicable displeasure arose within them.
The Cult Leader took a new disciple without a word to us?
And to declare it in front of everyone like this…
The martial prowess of Mu-heun they saw then… was it Transcendent?
Was such a rapid rise in cultivation possible?
There is something about that man. He is dangerous.
That must have been when they began to feel wary.
And when they started thinking of killing him…
But… Baek Mu-heun had won the Divine Dragon Assembly, as if to mock them. And with an overwhelming victory at that.
They had also pushed Hwang Cheol-ung to kill him… but that had ended in a spectacular failure with Hwang Cheol-ung's death. Furthermore, because the man had used the Three Palace Lords, they couldn't even touch him within the cult.
At that moment, the two became certain.
If they left him as he was now, no one would be able to match him in the contest for Cult Leader.
That was why they had commissioned the notoriously infamous Three Severing Blades of the World and the Seven Melodies of Asura. They had also attached a tracking team captured from the southern barbarian lands to monitor his movements.
But again, a spectacular failure.
Even the tracking team, implanted with parasitic Gu insects, had vanished.
‘This is impossible.’
‘He defies common sense.’
Baek Mu-heun's expected level this time was Extreme Demon.
The very peak of Extreme Demon.
Now, he was at a level where he could stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
Even amid their rising anger, they could feel it clearly.
If they did not kill him now,
They would never be able to kill him.
There was just one more thing.
Something that bothered them.
It was Baek Mu-heun's actions.
Doyeop Valley.
The Divine Dragon Assembly.
Gocha County.
His cooperation with the Orthodox Sects.
There was something strange about him for a member of the Demonic Cult.
Was he a man who moved for his own benefit?
Or could it be… good deeds?
That thought struck them as unpleasant.
Like a parasite burrowing into the body.
Like a sticky, disgusting filth.
That was why they had ordered the attack on Gyeokimok. If Baek Mu-heun had come as far as the Sidalmok Basin… given his actions so far, he would reveal himself.
Yes, a man like him, a man more akin to an Orthodox Sect member than a demonic one… would surely appear.
To the Flame Demon and the Ice Demon, that was the extent of the Unorthodox rabble's usefulness. It was better to confirm Baek Mu-heun's location than to be ambushed.
It wasn't some fanciful notion that those weaklings could inflict damage on Baek Mu-heun, but simply a means to confirm the enemy's position.
Yeon Ah-ryeong's expression hardened as she spoke to Cho Yeom-wi.
“We must kill him.”
“Yes. If not now, there will be no other chance.”
***
Under the faint light of a crescent moon.
Mu-heun moved a short distance away from Gyeokimok and examined a map.
Villain's Valley.
Sidalmok Basin.
Salt Lake.
Ice Demon.
Flame Demon.
He closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the words exchanged with Seo Bong and Ho Ryang while treating them in the infirmary of the Haomun Gyeokimok branch.
***
Ho Ryang, Commander of the Azure Dragon Unit's Swift Sword division, his entire body wrapped in bandages, spoke in a trembling voice.
“I… I’m sorry.”
Mu-heun suppressed his own welling sense of guilt and replied with a frown.
“Save your words.”
With burn marks still vivid, it must have been difficult for him to even speak. Though his life was no longer in danger, his treatment was far from over.
Damn it… it was a miracle he hadn't died from such injuries.
“Please… save the Unit Leader.”
“Of course. Don’t worry, just rest easy. I will be sure to rescue them.”
“Th-thank you.”
Just then.
“Ugh…, Lord… Dragon Demon.”
The Azure Dragon Unit Commander, Iron Wind Sword Seo Bong, tried to sit up. His body was also wrapped in bandages, and Mu-heun had to force him back down as he tried to rise through the searing pain.
“If it’s not something you must say, then don’t speak now. I will hear it after I have taken care of everything and returned.”
“I must… say it…”
“You fool, what is it that’s so important…”
“The young master of the Cheonbu Merchant Guild… He did not betray us.”
“……Even if he had betrayed us, I would not have taken any action. We are not bound by any significant ties, and he merely fulfilled his own responsibility.”
“N-no. He was acting… to save us.”
With a trembling voice, Seo Bong explained the situation at that time.
He described how they were utterly helpless when the Flame Demon appeared. Pa-sun, Un-pyo, Cheon Ga-rak, and Un-gak were captured because they were useful as hostages. But the remaining members of the Azure Dragon and Pungyeop Units were all killed.
The death of warriors deemed useless even as hostages.
They were martial artists who had dedicated their lives to training. Yet, in a crucial moment, they were not only unable to help but were deemed worthless as hostages and slaughtered.
But at that moment.
There were two commanders who had clung to a thread of life amidst the Flame Demon’s attack. Of course, had they been left alone, they would have surely died. They were in a state where they were blackened by flames, barely breathing.
At that moment, Seo Bong said he had made eye contact with Cheon Hwi-san. Upon seeing the dying Seo Bong, Cheon Hwi-san had shed tears. Then, his expression changed, and he went to the Flame Demon and Ice Demon.
He had swallowed his pride and begged them profusely.
The Ice and Flame Demons had intended to use him anyway, so he likely wouldn't have been killed, but he had still gone and groveled before them.
He had begged for permission to go through the corpses, claiming he would salvage all their belongings and sell them. He had persuaded them by promising to offer a large portion of the proceeds.
“That… that man saved us… Pretending to search the bodies for valuables, he fed us medicine, pressed it into our hands, and while pretending to dispose of the corpses, hid us among the dead… then in the river…”
“Enough. I understand perfectly.”
“……”
“I will bring back the merchants as well, every last one of them.”
“Th-thank… you.”
Mu-heun resolved not to forget his debt to Cheon Hwi-san. At the same time, he felt a surge of rage so intense it felt like his blood was flowing backward.