Chapter 211
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 211
Chapter Title: Cult Leader Cheon Mu-jin
-The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, Cult Leader's Hall-
Three months had passed since Mu-heun entered seclusion. It was a short time, but Cult Leader Cheon Mu-jin had realized it. The world was about to enter a new phase.
And about a month in, he felt it.
A powerful force approaching the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. His senses, honed to the very edge of the Transcendent Demon Realm, were telling him. They were likely the otherworldly beings Baek Mu-heun had spoken of.
‘No, they must be their underlings. Their target is…’
It was obvious. It had to be Baek Mu-heun. However, Baek Mu-heun was in seclusion. Engaging them now would be unwise.
Three months. A short time, if one could call it that, but it would be enough for him.
However, if even that short moment was not granted, it would surely cause a major setback in the upcoming contest for the Cult Leader's position.
‘In that case…’
The Cult Leader rose from his seat and took up his cherished weapon, the Brilliant Light Sword.
Judging by the faint ripples of energy he could feel, the enemies were at a level that even those at the pinnacle of the Transcendent Demon Realm would struggle to handle. The reaction of the cultists upon meeting such powerful foes was predictable.
They would seek out Baek Mu-heun, the one who had drawn them here.
However, he could not allow that. Mu-heun was now at a crucial stage that would overturn history. Besides… even if that weren't the case, he was the only one in the cult who could stop them now.
Cult Leader Cheon Mu-jin informed Jin Mu, the Lord of the Brilliant Light Heavenly Demon Unit, and Grand Protector Yu Jong that he had a place to visit for a short while, telling them not to inform anyone.
Then, alone, he calmly left the cult.
Grand Protector Yu Jong hurriedly took the Left and Right Protectors to follow the Cult Leader, while Jin Mu sealed off the Cult Leader's Hall.
* * *
Leaving the Cult Leader's Hall, Cheon Mu-jin leaped up with incredible speed. Each bound was wide and fast enough to cross a mountain.
He soon arrived at the outskirts of the Heavenly Mountains.
He positioned himself in the path of the powerful enemies, creating a situation where he would strike them, rather than them striking the cult.
Cheon Mu-jin knew the enemy's strength better than anyone. The higher one's realm, the more developed their senses become.
Consequently, his ability to gauge an opponent's power had also improved, and he could tell.
‘They are strong.’
No matter that Cheon Mu-jin had mastered the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon and was an expert who had reached the pinnacle of the Transcendent Demon Realm, he was well past his eightieth year.
Already weakened by his advanced age… if he were to clash with them now, a reduction in his lifespan would be unavoidable.
But, even so…
‘Is it not the duty of the Cult Leader to protect the future of the cult?’
He pushed the Heavenly Demonic Energy that filled his entire body, beyond just his dantian, to its absolute limit. A continuous explosion of energy, like starlight tracing the path of the Milky Way.
It created the illusion that heaven and earth were twisting. Even the Rakshasas, on their way to kill Baek Mu-heun, were startled by the powerful wave of energy.
Cult Leader Cheon Mu-jin had momentarily transcended the Transcendent Demon Realm and ascended to the Life and Death Realm, also known as the realm of a Demon God. He infused his Brilliant Light Sword with enough power to erase even a being possessing divinity.
His opponents were high-ranking Ghost Spirits, like the Rakshasa Mahoraga that had almost devoured Hubei.
In essence, there were two beings that had required the combined assault of the Martial Alliance Leader Du Baek and the Plum Blossom Sword Venerable Jin Hong, both at the Profound Realm, along with Mu-heun, who had temporarily entered the Profound Realm through the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon, just to be defeated.
However, upon seeing Cult Leader Cheon Mu-jin, they could do nothing but step back. Their opponent was no longer the human they knew.
On this day.
A hidden legend began.
The cultists of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult were thrown into confusion by tremors of unknown origin, and martial artists leaving the Heavenly Mountains for the Central Plains later testified that they had witnessed mountains exploding and the earth splitting apart in the distance.
The battle that even the Grand Protector, who had followed at full speed to assist the Cult Leader, could only watch from afar. The battle that even those who had reached the Transcendent Demon Realm did not dare to intervene in, came to an end.
After killing the two Rakshasas, Cult Leader Cheon Mu-jin dropped the crumbling Brilliant Light Sword to the ground.
‘I have no strength left.’
But, he had done what he needed to do.
“This is the last time I will shield you from the rain, Dragon Demon.”
Cult Leader Cheon Mu-jin, supported by the hastily approaching Protector Squad, returned to the cult. Jin Mu, who had been standing guard at the Cult Leader's Hall, knelt as he saw the Cult Leader returning as if nothing had happened.
“Cult Leader, please preserve your esteemed body.”
He seemed to have been quite worried.
However, the Cult Leader looked at Jin Mu intently and replied.
“Now that I have finally found meaning, for what reason should I preserve this body any longer?”
“…That, that is.”
Jin Mu did not understand what the Cult Leader was saying. But he could understand one thing. The meaning of the Cult Leader's smile at that moment.
‘Of all the times I have seen the Cult Leader, he looks the happiest right now.’
The Grand Protector, who was supporting the Cult Leader, also looked at Jin Mu and shook his head.
Afterward, Yu Jong and Jin Mu summoned the most skilled physician in the cult, the Demon Doctor, and asked him to check the Cult Leader's condition.
However, the Demon Doctor said that the Cult Leader had suffered unrecoverable internal injuries. An internal injury sustained at the age of eighty would refuse to heal.
The Cult Leader, his body wrapped in bandages, sat down and spoke to the Demon Doctor.
“How much time do I have left?”
“At most, you will not last more than four months.”
“Is that so…”
The Cult Leader thought about how in two months, Baek Mu-heun would emerge to fight the final contest for the Cult Leader's position. Then, he chuckled and said.
“That is enough.”
“The throne in the Cult Leader's Hall will not be left empty.”
“…!?”
“Demon Doctor, Protector Squad, Jin Mu. You may all leave.”
“…Yes, Cult Leader.”
The Cult Leader sat on the throne in the Cult Leader's Hall once more. Then he quietly closed his eyes and recalled the past. Alone and noble.
* * *
Cheon Mu-jin, the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, was a man who obsessed over martial arts to an excessive degree. External arts, internal arts—he acquired anything that could be called power, without distinction.
Strong and sturdy divine weapons to protect his body on the blood-soaked battlefield, to pierce the enemy's heart, and to bring back the heads of enemy commanders.
Tactics and formations to lure enemies into advantageous environments and annihilate them.
Deadly poisons that could bring even opponents stronger than himself to their knees.
Hidden weapons that turned an opponent's opening into death, as well as spirit medicines, spirit herbs, and the cores of spirit beasts that substantially supported his internal energy.
Cheon Mu-jin took them all without discrimination.
He started as a mere member of the Brilliant Light Heavenly Demon Unit, but he was a crane among chickens. Before long, he began to accumulate merits based on his martial prowess. The steadily amassed merits made him a disciple of the Cult Leader, and Cheon Mu-jin soon began to acquire the power of authority.
It took him less than twenty years to kill all his rivals for the succession, and he solidified his position as the next Cult Leader based on his formidable martial might.
In the ten years before the previous Cult Leader's death, he roamed numerous battlefields, creating a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
As a result, Cheon Mu-jin reigned at the pinnacle of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult as an absolute ruler acknowledged by every cultist.
What made him so obsessed with martial arts? It began with something simple. He had witnessed the logic of power.
Around the time Cheon Mu-jin began to perceive and judge the world, he witnessed the strong killing the weak.
He probably lacked the capacity to understand the full circumstances at the time. All Cheon Mu-jin saw was a scene of the strong thoroughly trampling the weak.
Cheon Mu-jin hated it. He didn't want it to happen to him, and he hated seeing it happen to those close to him.
In the end, there was only one answer. To become strong. To obtain power. And to display that formidable power so that no one could treat him or his people carelessly.
Cheon Mu-jin did not spare those who bared their fangs at him. Whether they were cultists, martial artists from the Orthodox Sects, or ruffians from the Unorthodox Sects, he killed them all without distinction.
He felt no sympathy for his opponents. If necessary, he would mercilessly eliminate even those who showed no hostility.
However, until he ascended to the position of the absolute ruler, the political machinations and slander aimed at bringing him down never ceased.
Such was the nature of power. It wasn't like a beautiful flower with a fragrant scent that attracted bees and butterflies.
Power, authority—they were like a fresh kill of a ferocious beast. Like the carcass of an animal, already dead and easy to eat… attracting hyenas drooling and vultures clacking their beaks, a carcass that would soon rot and disappear.
When Cheon Mu-jin ascended to the position of Cult Leader, he looked back and realized something. The people he had once considered close were no longer there.
The steward who taught him to read as a child had betrayed him, and he had killed him. The master who taught him the basics of martial arts was killed by the hands of the then-Seventh Elder.
The day he returned from fighting a war in the Central Plains to accumulate merits as a candidate for Cult Leader, he was met with the sight of his already-dead family.
At the time, he overcame everything with rage. He focused solely on eliminating his enemies one by one, and he accomplished it all.
But, after ascending to the position of Cult Leader and solidifying his power… he didn't know what he had left.
That was when it began. An endless emptiness started to fill him. Contemplation on life soon became skepticism, and at the end of it all, only a sense of futility remained.
Cult Leader Cheon Mu-jin. To find some answer, he sought out sages and posed questions to the martial experts of the Orthodox Sects he had met on the battlefield, but…
He ultimately failed to find a way to escape his emptiness.
He simply moved according to the same inertia as before.
The only truth he knew was the one that had allowed him to sit upon the Cult Leader's throne: martial power.
He entrusted his body to the inertia that had driven him to pursue strength.
‘Yes, I am now the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. In that case, I must build a powerful cult so that it will not be trampled by other factions.’
Leaving the emptiness behind, he poured all his energy into making the cult powerful. He encouraged competition and solidified the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest. He took disciples and passed down the teachings of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult that had been handed down for generations.
But then.
Something changed.
The choice of the Sacred Fire.
The appearance of Baek Mu-heun.
The good-for-nothing Fourth Young Master of the Heavenly Dance Family, whose existence he hadn't even known of before, had been chosen by the Sacred Fire.
The Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon, which the Founding Ancestor of the Heavenly Demon had taught him in a dream. It was truly sublime.
The moment he saw the near-perfect Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon, he realized it. The Founding Ancestor was trying to convey something.
Unlike himself, who did not know which path to take, Baek Mu-heun was always filled with conviction.
Cult Leader Cheon Mu-jin. In his eyes, Baek Mu-heun's actions produced results he had never seen or heard of before.
Blade Leaf Valley, the Divine Dragon Assembly, the Red Demon Pavilion, Gocha-hyeon, the Sichuan Tang Clan, the Martial Alliance, the fight between disciples. And, beyond that…
It was as if the Founding Ancestor of the Heavenly Demon had manifested to speak to him.
That the current cult was wrong. That this was not the right path. That he had not given them power only to pursue strength.
It was then. The Cult Leader realized his role. He was not the flower, but the calyx—his role was to support the new era.
* * *
The cave housing Blacksmith Hang-po's furnace. Nearly three months had passed since Mu-heun began his seclusion here.
He had entered and exited the furnace dozens of times. The grain-abstinence pills stored in the cave were also running out.
Mu-heun entered the furnace one last time.
Finally, the flames of the furnace that had burned fiercely for three months died down.
*Creeak-*
As Mu-heun emerged from the furnace, his skin was covered in cracks, but surprisingly, when he drank water, it instantly absorbed the moisture and healed.
Having already experienced the entire process, Mu-heun was able to use the three months as if they were ten years, and in the end, he succeeded in mastering the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon.
“Hoo… All the impurities in my body have been expelled, but since they were all burned away, it doesn't smell too bad.”
Mu-heun washed his body with the water Hyeok had brought,
changed into the new clothes that had been prepared for him,
and after tidying his attire, he spoke.
“I am going to the Cult Leader's Hall.”