Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: The Price That Must Be Paid
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Jegal Seon recalled the day he obtained this stone.
One day, while wandering aimlessly after being excommunicated by his master and hiding his true appearance with illusion techniques.
A man suddenly appeared before him.
The man introduced himself as the Fifth Stem, O-gan, and immediately handed the stone to Jegal Seon.
“I’ll give you this Demon Viscera Stone. It’ll become a great power for you someday.”
“Power? This?”
“Of course, it’s completely empty right now and utterly useless. But once you fill it with energy and consume it, you’ll be reborn as a completely new being.”
At first, he thought it was utter nonsense.
As if anticipating his reaction, O-gan demonstrated it himself.
He vanished in a flash before his eyes, then reappeared dragging a small, dying wild dog.
He fed the dog a stone slightly smaller than the one he had given Jegal Seon.
Incredibly, the wild dog’s body twisted and contorted, its size swelling several times over in an instant until it was as big as a wolf, letting out a vigorous howl.
“See? Pretty cool, right?”
“W-what is this? Who are you?!”
O-gan smirked nonchalantly at Jegal Seon’s shock, stroking the wild dog.
As Jegal Seon instinctively backed away, sensing danger, O-gan extended both palms forward as if to calm him.
“Relax. I’m just here to recruit someone with potential.”
“Recruit…?”
“Yeah. To paint this world beautiful and red, our sect needs a lot of talent. Especially someone like you, skilled in sorcery—we’d welcome you with open arms.”
O-gan probably meant to ease his guard, but revealing he could see through Jegal Seon’s illusion only heightened his suspicion.
“Oh dear, was that a slip-up?”
Seeing Jegal Seon’s expression, O-gan scratched his head before shrugging and turning away.
“Well, if you’re not interested, just toss it. It’s worthless in that state anyway.”
And with that, O-gan departed without hesitation.
On impulse, Jegal Seon grabbed him.
“Wait!”
“Hm? Still something else?”
Jegal Seon swallowed hard as O-gan glanced back with a raised corner of his mouth.
“…At least tell me how to use it? You said to fill it with energy—how exactly?”
O-gan’s smile widened at the question.
“Looks like you’re interested after all? Fine, I’ll explain.”
O-gan’s explanation that followed… was honestly absurd.
“…Human negative emotions?”
“That’s right! This Demon Viscera Stone absorbs negative emotions from nearby humans—for example, the terror of someone facing death, or the despair of a woman being raped by yin spirits.”
“…So, in other words, fill it by killing people or raping women?”
“Bingo~!”
Jegal Seon shook his head at O-gan’s calm delivery of such outrageous words.
But as he moved to discard the Demon Viscera Stone, O-gan’s low voice wormed into his ear.
“Don’t you want revenge on the Jegal Clan?”
“…! H-how do you—”
Jegal Seon realized it wasn’t coincidence that O-gan had found him, and his guard shot up again.
O-gan chuckled softly and continued.
“But the sorcery you painstakingly learned is sealed away. With that body, all you can do is hide your ugliness—think you can get revenge like that?”
“You—you—!”
Enraged by the mention of his ugliness, Jegal Seon seized O-gan by the collar.
Unfazed, O-gan leaned in close and whispered conspiratorially.
“Revenge, you say? Eat this Demon Viscera Stone, and you’ll gain the power to crush the likes of the Jegal Clan effortlessly. Plus, that seal on your head will shatter in an instant.”
“…….”
His grip slackened involuntarily.
He’d half-given up on revenge, but recover his sorcery?
Straightening his collar, O-gan patted the shoulder of Jegal Seon, who stared down at the stone with trembling eyes.
“I’ve told you how to use it, so go make good on it.”
With those words, O-gan vanished.
*
Back to the present.
Jegal Seon gazed at the Demon Viscera Stone in his hand.
‘I gathered energy by raping over ten women and killing Tyrant Heaven Corps bastards.’
Compared to when he first held it, the stone now emanated a far more ferocious glow.
It was slightly dimmer than the one O-gan had fed the wild dog, but now wasn’t the time to nitpick.
‘Swallow this, and I’ll break Master’s seal and gain unprecedented power.’
The power to avenge himself on those damned Jegal Clan bastards!
With eyes gleaming in ecstasy, Jegal Seon brought the stone to his lips.
“Seon-ah…?”
Sa-kyeong, having finally stopped sobbing and lifted his head, noticed too late—but the stone was already in Jegal Seon’s mouth.
-Gulp.
The stone slid down his throat and settled in his core.
Then, the Demon Viscera Stone’s energy spread through his body.
“W-what did you just eat…?”
“Gah—!”
The transformation was quite immediate.
Interrupting Sa-kyeong with a violent cough, Jegal Seon’s entire body began to twist.
“Guh!?”
“Seon-ah—!”
A ferocious, sinister energy flowed through every part of Jegal Seon’s body.
The stone’s power savagely broke down and reassembled his muscles, bones, and nerves.
An immense pain wracked him, triggering convulsions and a beastly roar.
“Kraaaagh!?”
The excruciating agony, enough to make him wish for death, mercifully didn’t last long.
The change ended in less than three breaths.
The pain vanished as soon as the physical transformation concluded.
And Jegal Seon realized he had been completely reborn.
“Hah…! Hah…!”
Panting heavily, he raised his torso and immediately examined his body.
It had changed.
His fingers, uneven in length and thickness, were now long and slender; his crooked, hunched waist straightened perfectly.
Confirming his previously mismatched legs were now balanced, Jegal Seon looked at his master—at the reflection of himself in his master’s eyes.
In those pupils, the hideous hunchback was gone.
There was only a peerlessly handsome man who would turn heads on any street.
“Ha, haha…!”
Laughter bubbled up uncontrollably.
Tears of joy streamed from Jegal Seon’s eyes as he caressed his body, confirming it wasn’t an illusion.
O-gan had been right.
The wretched hunchback was no more.
He had been reborn anew.
Moreover, the seal on his Upper Dantian, which had stifled him since his excommunication, was gone without a trace.
Shivering as a torrent of energy flooded in through his Upper Dantian, Jegal Seon was interrupted by a grating voice.
“W-what is this?! That sinister energy…!”
Jegal Seon turned to his master.
His face frozen in shock, hand extended as if about to cast sorcery on him at any moment.
“Trying to stop me again, Master?”
A chilling voice.
Feeling the hostility in it, Sa-kyeong flinched before gritting his teeth.
“…Yes. I will stop you. I let emotions cloud my judgment and couldn’t bring myself to strike harshly, leading to this. This time, I’ll set everything right.”
“Set it right? What do you mean? Look at me. This twisted, ugly wretch has become so beautiful. This is the proper form.”
“And for that, you raped innocent women and murdered Tyrant Heaven Corps warriors?!”
The face of the newly minted Jade-Faced Lewd Demon hardened rigidly.
His master was condemning him.
What right did you have to condemn me?
If you hadn’t blocked my revenge, excommunicated me, and sealed my sorcery, I never would have done such things.
If you’d affirmed my righteousness, declared my vengeance just, I wouldn’t have come to this.
“It’s all because of you. You made me this way.”
“…Yes. I made you this way. So I will… Gah!”
-Shunk!
Sa-kyeong let out a groan.
Trembling, he looked down at his chest.
A long, smooth hand—utterly unfamiliar—pierced his chest.
Jegal Seon had closed in instantly and ambushed him.
The Jade-Faced Lewd Demon, guilty of filial impiety by attacking his master, laughed coldly.
“Yes. So pay the rightful price.”
At that very moment, something inexplicable happened that even the Jade-Faced Lewd Demon hadn’t anticipated.
Sa-kyeong’s primordial essence and innate true qi began absorbing into him through the hand in his chest.
“Th-this…!”
Brief bewilderment crossed his face, soon replaced by ecstasy.
“Ha, haha! Incredible. So the Demon Viscera Stone can absorb others’ innate true qi too? Why didn’t that bastard mention this?”
The Jade-Faced Lewd Demon shuddered in delight at Sa-kyeong’s innate true qi flowing through his arm.
No trace remained of the boy who had wept from unjust persecution.
‘My disciple died long ago.’
Tears of regret fell from Sa-kyeong’s eyes.
“Guhk…!”
As his death rattle escaped and his consciousness faded, regret dimming with it,
“Elder!”
A voice called to him.
*
Having grasped the situation immediately, I drew my sword and unleashed Mysterious Heaven Storm Gale.
My storm-like barrage, infused with swift sword principles, shattered the cell bars, allowing me to thrust at the lecherous demon.
“Hah!”
Not successive thrusts, but a full-power single piercing strike.
The improved Three Powers Sword Art’s first form.
“Gah!?”
My sword tip reached the lecherous demon’s chest before he could withdraw his hand from Elder Yeon’s chest and counter.
I aimed to pierce straight through, but astonishingly, my blade couldn’t penetrate his skin.
-Boom!
The lecherous demon crashed through the prison wall and out.
Instead of pursuing, I checked Elder Yeon’s condition.
“Cough, cough…!”
Blood poured like a waterfall from the center of his chest, where the demon’s hand had pierced.
I pressed nearby acupoints to stem the bleeding for emergency treatment.
“Th-this…!”
I handed Elder Yeon to Hwa-ryeon, who had caught up just in time.
“Take him to Elder Gok right away.”
“Huh? What about you, young hero?”
Glancing beyond the shattered wall at Hwa-ryeon’s question.
The lecherous demon, flung by my attack, rose casually.
“Ke, kehahaha. Perfect timing. I was just thinking you’re next.”
The filial ingrate who’d tried to kill his caring master until the end smirked in delight.
Staring straight at his face, I replied.
“I’ll make him pay the rightful price.”