Chapter 200
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 200
Chapter Title: The Battle of Three Demons (10)
Mu-heun raised his voice, infusing it with profound internal energy so that everyone present could hear.
"The Dragon Demon Pavilion will continue to fulfill its duties. Trading with Sichuan. If it benefits the Divine Cult, then we have no choice but to do our utmost.
Therefore, whenever a trade caravan is formed, the warriors of the Dragon Demon Pavilion will venture outside the Cult's domain. However..."
He then turned his gaze to the Ice Demon and the Flame Demon.
"We will often be passing through mountains where there are no eyes to see and no ears to hear. In other words, we will find ourselves in situations where it would not be strange to be ambushed by anyone.
But is there any guarantee that my esteemed Brother and Sister, who have already orchestrated a massacre, will simply stand by? Is the second time ever as difficult as the first?"
"What did you say!?"
Cho Yeom-wi and Yeon A-ryeong wanted to argue further, but they held back. It had already been revealed that they had attacked the caravan. They realized that nothing they said now would improve their situation.
Mu-heun pressed the point, continuing his speech.
"The first time is always the hardest; after that, it becomes routine. You all know this.
But if we are hindered like this every time... can we truly work effectively?"
Mu-heun began to speak with emotion coloring his voice.
"If this continues, there will be wars, both large and small, between us, and countless casualties will arise.
Of course, there will also be those who die with their bodies torn apart, just like today.
My Brother and Sister will snuff out the lives of my subordinates, who are like my own hands and feet. I, too, will dispose of those who stand with them, one by one."
Mu-heun used his Myriad Fragrance to create and spread the stench of blood. Thanks to this, everyone gathered at the Salt Lake in the Sidalmok Basin felt as if a corpse was rotting right beside them.
"As a member of the Great Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, my heart aches. Why must the Cult's powerful forces be sacrificed in this way? Why must we waste the lives of our subordinates?
If that's the case..."
Mu-heun paused for a moment, then glared at the Ice Demon and the Flame Demon and spoke.
"Yes, if that's the case, wouldn't it be better to end this simply, right here?"
"You... you're talking in circles."
"Are you saying you want a duel to the death? If so, I accept!"
"Yes, that's right. However! Normally, the leaders of each faction would step forward here for a death match. In our Divine Cult, which follows the ruthless logic of the strong preying on the weak, that is the simplest and clearest way."
Mu-heun glanced around the Salt Lake once, then pointed to himself, the Ice Demon, and the Flame Demon.
"But the grudge here is not between two, but three. Myself, my Brother, and my Sister. In that case, I will face you all. Both of you, at the same time!"
"W-What!?"
At Mu-heun's declaration, not only the Ice Demon and the Flame Demon, but the entire Heavenly Light Demon Brigade was stunned.
'He's going to fight two of the Cult Leader's disciples, both of whom have learned the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon, at the same time?'
'He's out of his mind.'
'Has he not yet properly grasped his opponents' skills?'
'He is still so young.'
In truth, it was an absurd proposition.
However, the Ice Demon and the Flame Demon laughed inwardly.
'The heavens are on our side! The foolish arrogance of a brat, stepping forward without realizing he's walking to his own death!'
But Mu-heun simply maintained his faint smile.
Jin Mu, Seo Deung, and Ma Ji-seung were shocked, but they fell into thought.
'It's an incredibly reckless act, but he must have something in mind.'
'I can't have misjudged him. He wouldn't make such a choice here otherwise.'
'What on earth has he prepared?'
Mu-heun turned to the masters who supported the Ice Demon and the Flame Demon.
"Instead, if I win here, all of you who supported my Brother and Sister will support me. How about it?"
They glanced at the expressions of the Ice Demon and the Flame Demon. The two knew that if they lost, they would die anyway, and the current conditions for the death match were absurdly in their favor, so they gave a slow nod.
At that, the masters supporting them also nodded.
"Very well. If the Dragon Demon defeats both the Ice Demon and the Flame Demon at the same time, there is no reason for us not to follow you."
Mu-heun smiled faintly again and replied.
"Excellent. Then, let us settle our long-standing grudges. Grand Lord."
Jin Mu responded to Mu-heun's call.
"Yes."
"It seems this Salt Lake is our stage. Please act as the witness here."
"Understood. Everyone else, please move far back. We do not know how much damage will be caused."
Everyone accepted Jin Mu's warning, creating a wide circle around the frozen Salt Lake.
The scene resembled a martial arts arena.
Jin Mu stood in the middle of the frozen lake and spoke.
"Let me be clear, this is not a spar, but a duel to the death. Have you all agreed to this?"
The Ice Demon and the Flame Demon nodded, and Mu-heun shrugged as if it were obvious. Jin Mu looked at each of their faces in turn before speaking.
"Then, let the duel to the death between the three candidates for Cult Leader begin!"
Yeon A-ryeong gave a telepathic command to the surviving First, Second, and Third Robes of the Seven Icy Whites.
[ Go among the forces supporting me and the Flame Demon, gather at the edge of the lake, and continuously inject chilling energy into it. Do not reply, just go. ]
[ Yes, my lord! ]
***
The stage was set.
A situation where martial siblings had to take each other's lives.
Atop the frozen Salt Lake.
Yeon A-ryeong asked Mu-heun.
"Brother, we are not so unfamiliar with each other's skills that we need a probing exchange, are we?"
Mu-heun still wore his faint smile.
But the answer that came from his lips revealed an entirely different attitude than before.
"Shut up and come at me. I have no courtesy for a bitch who's about to die."
In truth, Mu-heun had been maintaining his composure while swallowing the inferno raging within him. But now, having reached the final act, he felt no need to mince his words.
"A bitch who's about to die? So the bastard finally shows his true colors."
Yeon A-ryeong made the first move.
As a master of the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon, she continuously collided and amplified the chilling energy gathered in her dantian.
An ironic situation where cold explosions amplified her ice arts. But Yeon A-ryeong was the one capable of such a divine feat.
"Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon. Fan of a Hundred Demons."
Yeon A-ryeong unfurled the Fan of a Hundred Demons, one of the Divine Cult's sacred weapons.
Engraved on the fan's pure white surface were a hundred ghosts of all kinds. Thousands of strands of blue demonic energy flowed from Yeon A-ryeong's fingertips, coiling and clashing upon the fan.
Soon, the blue demonic energy took the form of incorporeal ghosts, swirling about and creating a ferociously violent storm.
*Krrrrrack!*
The storm seemed to absorb the ice of the frozen lake, shaking the Salt Lake itself.
And then.
Yeon A-ryeong swung the Fan of a Hundred Demons in her hand several times in an instant. A fanning technique so fast it was invisible to the eye.
"Icy Soul-Reaver."
In moments, the rising frozen storm,
*Kwwwhaaang!*
raged with a sound like clashing steel. The frozen storm split into dozens of strands, forming a violent torrent that surged toward Mu-heun.
It was an attack that would clearly cause immense damage if taken head-on. Yet, Mu-heun intended to face that ice storm directly.
Meanwhile, the Flame Demon, Cho Yeom-wi, concealed himself within the storm created by the Ice Demon and moved into Mu-heun's blind spot. The crimson beads around his neck. He absorbed the fire energy from the beads, which held the innate true energy of his subordinates, meticulously refining the melody of the flames, then clashing them together to amplify their power.
"Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon. Flame Demon's Annihilation. Crimson Light."
Cho Yeom-wi swung his Blazing Hell Blade at Mu-heun, who stood in the center of the storm.
A pillar of crimson flame erupted from the tip of his blade and shot toward Mu-heun. The pillar of fire moved so fast it looked like a streak of light.
*Fwoosh!*
Two masters who had learned the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon and surpassed the demonic realm.
The ultimate techniques unleashed by those two in succession.
It seemed that no one, not just Mu-heun, could survive this attack.
That magnificent power.
Mu-heun moved to receive it head-on.
*KWAAAAAAANG!*
***
-Before the duel to the death began.
From the moment he first arrived at the Salt Lake and faced the Ice and Flame Demons, Mu-heun had surrounded the area with his colorless, odorless Myriad Fragrance.
The reason was to manifest a formation that utilized the compatibility of energy.
Mu-heun recalled the tournament at Heavenly Dragon Fortress in Wuhan, Hubei Province. The day he had toyed with the rising stars of the Orthodox Sects.
As expected, he had clashed with the head of the Jinju Eon Family.
At that time, the Skin-Wearing Ghost disguised in Eon Hwa-taek's skin had used a peculiar ghost art... an art manifested through its own blood.
It was a ghost art of spatial distortion.
No one present could help but be astonished by that ghost art.
However.
Only one person, Mu-heun, saw it from a different perspective.
A ghost art was, after all, a type of sorcery.
If he could just understand its activation principle, he could use it.
Mu-heun's curiosity soon led him to decipher the ghost art.
After thorough analysis, Mu-heun became able to use the Skin-Wearing Ghost's art in a different way.
With the divine object he possessed.
The Yin-Yang Twin Dragon Robe.
"Heaven and Earth Inversion, Yin-Yang Union, Curved Dance."
With the help of the Myriad Fragrance Formation, Mu-heun distorted and coiled the Ice Demon's storm, which was powerful enough to freeze heaven and earth. Then, he offset the Flame Demon's crimson flash, receiving it with his Sun and Moon Sword.
*KWAAAAAAAAAANG!*
The Ice Demon's Icy Soul-Reaver truly contained a wondrous chilling energy. An extreme yin energy reminiscent of the ten-thousand-year ice of the North Sea.
However, the widely spread extreme yin energy was pierced by the Flame Demon's condensed flash.
Indeed, though its range was small,
it had the power to pierce through a mountain.
All this power was created by the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon that the Ice and Flame Demons had mastered, along with their sacred weapons, the Fan of a Hundred Demons and the Blazing Hell Blade.
But Mu-heun possessed two sacred weapons that they did not. One was the divine object obtained from Chipyeongsa. The Yin-Yang Twin Dragon Robe. A robe that absorbed the impact directed at the user and circulated its energy.
It was a divine object, incomparable to the Fan of a Hundred Demons or the Blazing Hell Blade.
And.
The other.
A sword that would never break.
The sacred weapon left behind by the first Heavenly Demon.
The Sun and Moon Sword.
This sword, which contained the sun and the moon, was the heavens themselves.
The sword that contained the heavens simultaneously held cold chilling energy and hot fire energy, and the Yin-Yang Twin Dragon Robe from Chipyeongsa recirculated the energy transmitted through the Sun and Moon Sword.
Mu-heun gathered all that energy and unleashed it upon the approaching Flame Demon.
"Divine Sword of the Heavenly Demon, Fourth Form, Five Elements Demonic Sword: Dark Soul Void Strike."
*CRACK—!*
A bone-chilling cold.
A flash of crimson flame.
An unleashed violet slash.
It was the most powerful Divine Sword of the Heavenly Demon that Mu-heun had ever unleashed. A shockwave that shook the entire Sidalmok Basin crossed the mountain range, and the powerful frozen storm covering the Salt Lake was helplessly swept away...
The Flame Demon failed to block Mu-heun's counterattack completely,
and was sent flying to the far end of the Salt Lake.
*KWAAAAAAANG!*
In that moment.
The absolute masters of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult who surrounded the three.
Everyone was at a loss for words.