Chapter 220
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 220
Chapter Title: Conquering the Foggy Castle 2
Mu-heun had dispatched his subordinates to the four pillars at the far ends of the royal castle. He had also urged them to be cautious.
But Mu-heun had no intention of letting his subordinates face the danger alone.
“I will be the one to take the risk.”
Mu-heun tore off the demon-sealing talismans wrapped around his wrists and ankles.
*Riiip.*
Throughout the history of the Central Plains' martial world, warriors have always existed. They were there long before the Nine Sects and One Union, before the Five Great Clans, and even before the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
And there were always masters who reigned supreme over the world. From the Five Great Masters, the Ten Great Masters, and the Hundred Great Masters, all the way to the Strongest Under Heaven. The level of these revered warriors varied from era to era.
In one era, it was the Transcendent Realm.
In another, the Profound Realm.
And in yet another, the Life and Death Realm.
However, for five masters of the Life and Death Realm to exist at once was unheard of in the history of the martial world. The Life and Death Realm was a state that, in many eras, no one had ever reached...
It often remained a realm of legend, or at best, produced only a single master per generation.
In other words, the Life and Death Realm was a supreme state with few precedents. The power one attained upon reaching it. Mu-heun knew this power was capable of slaying even gods.
Therefore, it would be more than enough.
He would draw all the enemy forces that might target his subordinates toward himself.
He would gather the greatest number of them.
Even if it meant becoming the bait himself.
Mu-heun unleashed the full extent of his Life and Death Realm aura.
*Fwoooosh!*
And that power sent a massive shockwave throughout the entire royal castle.
A crushing pressure, as if an ocean were suspended in the sky.
The illusion that the very air had grown heavy.
Mu-heun immediately charged forward, beginning to slaughter every demonic spirit in sight.
“Divine Sword of the Heavenly Demon, First Form, Asura's Cleave!”
*Craaaack!*
The attack of the Divine Sword began at the outer edge of the royal castle. With a deafening roar that shook the very foundations of the earth, a single slash obliterated hundreds of houses.
Mu-heun radiated his aura far and wide.
As ostentatiously, as clamorously as possible.
This time, he thrust his divine sword toward the center of the royal castle.
“Asura's Heaven-Annihilating Void!”
*BOOOOOOOM!*
A mass of energy like a violet sun flew toward the royal castle, and everything it touched vanished without a trace, like ashes moments before they crumble to dust.
But then.
*CRUUUUNCH!*
The Heaven-Annihilating Void was intercepted by colossal Rakshasas.
One was a Rakshasa with six arms, each holding a Hellfire Demon Blade.
The other had four arms, each wielding a menacingly sharp long spear.
“Who dares?”
***
The moment Mu-heun first tore his demon-sealing talismans, Gu-mang, the one in charge of the royal castle on Mount Ahalabdal, was struck with utter astonishment.
“Wh-what in the world is this?”
Next, two Rakshasas sensed Mu-heun's aura.
“Th-this aura...?”
“This is... a power I have felt before.”
“Yes... It is undoubtedly the same aura as that man from 300 years ago. The one they called the Heavenly Demon...”
*Grrrind.*
Gu-mang ground his teeth.
300 years ago. The memory of that day resurfaced.
When, alongside Chiyou, they had tried to capture and rule all the humans of the Central Plains, to extract their souls and grind them into fuel for a war of chaos.
A man had stood in their way.
The humans called him the Heavenly Demon.
And the aura he felt now was undoubtedly that man's. However, it was smaller in scale. Moreover, no human could live for so long. This meant the one exuding this aura was clearly someone else.
“The source of this aura is not the man from 300 years ago. Humans do not possess eternal life like us deities.”
“Th-then...”
“It must be that thing humans are so good at. The passing down of martial arts. We must capture him before he grows any stronger. The aura I sense is in the southeast of the Foggy Castle. Go and capture him.”
“Yes, Gu-mang!”
“No, wait...”
“...Gu-mang?”
“But he must have infiltrated some time ago. Why reveal himself now?”
Gu-mang sensed that something was amiss.
*'He has the ability to undo the binding curse engraved upon souls. Not only that, he possesses a wide array of troublesome skills. So, he could have easily slipped past the gatekeepers. But why reveal his presence so suddenly? What if... what if he has allies? What if this is all part of some scheme? Don't tell me...'*
Gu-mang was in the middle of a ritual to resurrect the souls of fallen Rakshasas, using tens of thousands of offerings.
But what if an intruder were to damage the offerings or disrupt the ritual? The souls of the Rakshasas, gathered with such effort, would instantly disperse.
*'I must prevent that at all costs.'*
Just then.
*Craaack!*
He could feel Mu-heun slaughtering demonic spirits indiscriminately and demolishing the houses within the castle walls. It was as if he were being goaded to come out.
Worse, a violet fog—spread at some unknown moment—suddenly filled the royal castle, its power dissolving the binding curses engraved upon the souls of the ghost spirits and monsters.
The rampaging intruder mercilessly slaughtered the ghost spirits, and their souls dissipated the instant they died.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, Gu-mang knew he had to make a decision.
*'I... I cannot leave this place. If Asura, Yaksha, and I were to leave to capture him, and his allies were to strike this location in our absence... all our plans would be for naught.'*
“I will guard this place. Yaksha, Asura. You two go and capture him at once. Against the Heavenly Demon from 300 years ago, the two of you would have stood no chance. But this one is not yet at that level. As the strongest of the Eight Divine Generals, you two can defeat him. Go!”
“Yes, Gu-mang!”
And so, Asura and Yaksha went forth to stop Mu-heun, intercepting the Asura's Heaven-Annihilating Void he had fired toward the castle.
“Who dares?”
***
Mu-heun faced the Rakshasas.
*'They're on a different level.'*
Mu-heun realized that Asura and Yaksha were far stronger than any other Rakshasa he had encountered, including Mahoraga.
A being with crimson skin and blazing, furious eyes. A Rakshasa from the myths, a deity described as so powerful that warriors had created martial arts techniques in its image.
He had six arms, and in each hand was a great blade that spewed the flames of hell.
The Hellfire Demon Blades.
Each blade was enormous, over ten feet in length.
A mighty Rakshasa who wielded them as if they were feathers.
Asura.
A being with blue skin who exuded a terror like sinking into the crushing depths of the ocean. Like Asura, he was a Rakshasa from the myths, an object of fear for all mankind. A deity always depicted as powerful and cruel.
He had four arms, and in each hand was a long spear imbued with the chilling dread of the abyss.
The spears bore no names; they simply left cold, empty holes wherever their tips touched. They were truly fearsome.
The king of all demons.
Yaksha.
The killing intent emanating from the two colossal Rakshasas.
Mu-heun could feel it on his skin; these opponents were formidable.
The chilling aura was potent enough to shatter the mind of any ordinary warrior.
However, he could not reveal his full power now. Above them was Gu-mang... a deity on an entirely different level than Asura and Yaksha.
*'For now, I must simply fight to buy time. Fortunately, Gu-mang hasn't appeared. That makes sense; I heard he's in the middle of some resurrection ritual, so he wouldn't want any interruptions. An intruder who slipped in undetected suddenly revealing his presence... he must have assumed I have a hidden card up my sleeve.'*
Just then.
Asura swung his Hellfire Demon Blades with all six arms. Great torrents of flame erupted from the blades' edges, surging toward Mu-heun.
*Fwoosh.*
They were flames of immense, overlapping heat, much like the crimson inferno once wielded by the Flame Demon.
But the current Mu-heun was by no means their inferior. From the tip of his Sun and Moon Sword, a violet-black dragon flowed forth like ink.
“Twin Dragons of Annihilation.”
The collision of the hellish crimson flames and the violet-black dragon created a shockwave that shook the colossal royal castle to its core.
The exchange continued. Mu-heun moved faster and more fluidly than the six-armed Asura, parrying every one of his cleaving strikes.
*CLANG!*
*CLANG!*
As the Rakshasa Asura and Mu-heun traded fierce blows, veins bulged on Yaksha's forehead and he ground his teeth.
*Grind, grind.*
He then began to shrink his body... it did not take long for Yaksha's massive frame to contract to a size comparable to Mu-heun's.
Even the spears he held resized themselves to match his new form.
As the colossal Asura swung his ten-foot blades and Mu-heun parried the blows, the shrunken Yaksha lunged forward with speed rivaling that of sound.
Asura's massive flames, combined with Yaksha's four blue longspears, thrust expertly toward Mu-heun. A condensed strike from a smaller frame. Mu-heun twisted his waist, flinging his body aside to narrowly evade it.
And...
*CRUUUUNCH!*
The spear thrust Mu-heun had dodged continued onward, pulverizing the abandoned houses of the royal castle.
Mu-heun broke into a cold sweat.
*'One wrong move, and I'm dead.'*
***
Meanwhile, the subordinates acting on Mu-heun's orders were moving to destroy the four pillars on the outskirts of the royal castle.
Pa-sun, Un-pyo, Seol Ha-ryeong, Chuhongaha, and the Heavenly Demonic Corpse, Hyeok.
Pa-sun took the east, Un-pyo the west, Seol Ha-ryeong the south, and Chuhongaha and Hyeok took the north.
Even as they raced at full speed, they could feel it.
No, it was impossible to miss.
The forces scattered throughout the royal castle were converging on two locations. The forces were split into two groups. One moved toward the immense aura radiating from the Cult Leader, Mu-heun, while the other moved toward the center of the castle.
The forces moving toward the center formed a circle around it, a defensive formation as if protecting something precious.
But because of this, the subordinates were able to advance with relative ease.
And so, they each arrived at their destinations.
The four pillars standing tall on the outer edges of the royal castle.
Pa-sun, upon reaching the eastern pillar, witnessed a bizarre sight. A strange fog flowed from the center of the castle, forming a path that connected to the pillar. It then climbed up the structure, enveloping the entire castle.
*'So this is why the Cult Leader ordered us to destroy the pillars. If we break them, the fog barrier will no longer be able to conceal the castle. Then, we can receive reinforcements from the outside.'*
Pa-sun immediately scanned his surroundings, preparing to destroy the pillar.
*'The greatest obstacle is that thing...'*
Standing there was a Divine General, guarding the pillar. It had the appearance of a warrior, standing over ten feet tall.
They were Herculean spirits, assigned to guard each pillar.
The immense power radiating from it was palpable even at a glance.
It was at least at the level of a Pinnacle master.
“Well... what am I to do about this?”
At that moment, Pa-sun was not the only one to come face-to-face with a Herculean spirit guarding a pillar.
Un-pyo at the western pillar,
Seol Ha-ryeong at the southern pillar,
and Chuhongaha and Hyeok at the northern pillar all stared at the Herculean spirits before them, their minds racing.
And they all arrived at the same conclusion.
*'I don't have to defeat it. The priorities are destroying the pillar and staying alive.'*
Pa-sun gripped the Pa-sun Spear, a gift from Mu-heun, in both hands and executed the opening stance of the Pa-sun Demonic Arts.
“Pa-sun Demonic Arts, Thunderstorm Spear. Meteor Shower.”