Revival of the Paradise Cult (3)
At those words, the First Protector nearly fainted on the spot, but drawing on his long years of life, he managed a retort.
"Hah! Don't make me laugh. Who could possibly command the Heavenly God?"
It wasn't a bad response, but his opponent was the problem.
Hyeon Yucheon stared intently at the man's twitching eyebrows and could make a fair guess.
Moreover.
—With the Four Peak Elders defeated, the Murim Alliance's strategist, the Divine Calculation Wonder Hand Jong Ri-gwang, is sure to make his move by now.
Jeong Myeong, the former top genius of the righteous sects who was now aligned with the Demon Sword Sect, had answered with firm conviction.
Having once belonged to the righteous factions, Jeong Myeong understood their inner workings and methods intimately—and his prediction proved spot on.
"What a joke. To call yourself a god and yet heed the words of a mere mortal like Jong Ri-gwang."
Hyeon Yucheon found it incomprehensible.
Of course, their interests and gains must have aligned, but in Hyeon Yucheon's mindset, he wouldn't have budged.
"No need for long talk."
Swoosh!
With that, Hyeon Yucheon unleashed formless sword energy from both hands in abundance.
The power was so intense that the surrounding space seemed to warp.
...Your strength was indeed beyond expectations. But I still have ways to counter you!
The First Protector's aura was no slouch either.
Terror gripped him at the sight of Hyeon Yucheon's prowess, but from time immemorial, religion and faith had been the finest remedies for such fear.
"With the Paradise Heavenly God aiding me, what is there to fear?"
The more fearsome Hyeon Yucheon became, the more fervently the First Protector chanted the Paradise Cult's slogans, his eyes gradually taking on the mad gleam of a zealot.
"Got anything else?"
Hyeon Yucheon grew wary as he watched the man's eyes drown in fanaticism.
And sure enough.
Paradise Eternal Life Art!
The First Protector unleashed the Paradise Eternal Life Art, a superior complement to the Paradise Marvelous Art.
This art resembled the Marvelous Art in many ways, but it excelled in one crucial aspect: tremendous regenerative power.
Slash!
Hyeon Yucheon severed the arm of the First Protector, who approached with glaring openings.
Whoosh!
But the First Protector sprouted a new arm from the stump in a grotesque, horrifying display.
Even Hyeon Yucheon had to click his tongue at the indescribable sight.
"Kekeke, did you see that? This is the miracle... the power of faith in the Heavenly God!"
The First Protector gloated triumphantly at Hyeon Yucheon's hardened expression.
This art, permitted only to him, had often been demonstrated before the faithful to foster the illusion that it allowed eternal life in place of their leader, the Paradise Heavenly God.
Yet who could have foreseen him unveiling it before the Demon Sword Sect Lord himself? Not even the Heavenly God.
"As long as the Heavenly God's power endures, I shall never die!"
Having gained momentum, the First Protector charged without restraint.
Fwosh!
Like rubber springing forth, he rocketed toward Hyeon Yucheon with uncanny elasticity.
It didn't seem like the work of martial arts or inner power—more like some alien energy at play.
Slash, slash!
Hyeon Yucheon fired off volleys of formless sword energy, severing the man's neck and limbs repeatedly, but it was futile.
No matter how much he cut, the writhing regeneration—like some headless, limbless creature—left him no recourse.
Worse, the First Protector, heedless of pain, closed in for mutual destruction!
—The world holds many unorthodox sorceries of the left path yet to be revealed.
But you must never waver or be deceived by them.
They all claim divinity, but they are invariably falsehoods.
Hyeon Yucheon recalled his master's words amid them all—those of the Demon Sword Ghost Elder Cheon Baeksang.
Cheon Baeksang, versed in all Sapa ways since ancient times, had his own expertise in such sinister arts.
He had even implanted inner power and memories in Hyeon Yucheon via the Full Body Heart Transfer, an unorthodox technique.
And one more thing.
—Like all martial arts, the left path's sorceries demand a price and harbor weaknesses. No spell is flawless or costless.
Flash!
Hyeon Yucheon closed his eyes briefly to recall his master's maxim, then snapped them open.
Flames of resolve burned in his gaze.
"Die!"
Before he knew it, the blood-spraying, madly regenerating First Protector lunged for mutual destruction.
If they perished together, the superior regenerator would revive while Hyeon Yucheon died—a win for him.
Formless Hot Fire Sword!
But of course, that didn't happen.
Hyeon Yucheon had grasped the vulnerability of such sorcery from his master's counsel.
Roar!
The scorching energy of the Formless Hot Fire Sword erupted fiercely, as if to incinerate the forest in an instant.
Though Hyeon Yucheon's formless sword energy was invisible, this fiery variant blazed visibly even to third-rate eyes.
And that ravenous blaze engulfed the First Protector in his frenzy of regeneration.
Krunch!
The searing sword strikes not only cleaved him but ignited his writhing body as it tried to heal.
"Gaaahhhh!"
The Paradise Cult's second-in-command, the First Protector, wailed as if vomiting the death cries of hundreds in one breath.
Flames licked his body violently, as if oiled.
Most astonishingly.
Regeneration... it's not regenerating!
The Paradise Eternal Life Art, which had always healed so long as his inner power endured, failed utterly.
"All sinister, grotesque things are vulnerable to scorching flame arts."
Hyeon Yucheon declared coldly, gazing down at the cult's top zealot.
Though briefly rattled by this otherworldly foe, he had fallen before Hyeon Yucheon all the same.
"Aaaagh! Hot, so hot! Please!!!"
Bathed in the Formless Hot Fire Sword's flames, fueled by Hyeon Yucheon's near-infinite inner power, the First Protector endured eons of agony in every instant.
"Do you remember the screams of the warriors and helpless commoners slain by the Paradise Cult?"
One side burned; the other was ice-cold.
Hyeon Yucheon stood utterly frigid before the man's desperate pleas.
"Ugh, uuuugh!"
Such villains were numb to others' pain but felt the world crumbling at their own.
"Why not beg your almighty Heavenly God?"
Hyeon Yucheon sneered.
He and the King of Ronin Jeong Chilgyu were already burning with rage to confront their leader, the Paradise Heavenly God.
Above all, the cultists ceaselessly invoked him—let him appear and work a miracle himself.
"Grrrk, grrrk!"
Of course, no miracle came before blind faith and zealotry.
As history had proven time and again, cheap tricks and sorcery could never touch true divinity.
Soon, the First Protector crumbled to a handful of ash.
Swirl...
Hyeon Yucheon murmured as he watched the remnants scatter afar.
"This is the future of the Paradise Cult."
Today marked not only its end but the day Sapa shed its stigma.
Excluding the Paradise Cult from Sapa's fold would elevate it to new heights—he believed it without doubt.
* * *
While Hyeon Yucheon dispatched the Paradise Three Protectors, another relentlessly hammered the Paradise Four Guardians and cultists.
"The reason I'm still alive might just be to cut you scum down."
The King of Ronin, Immortal Fighter Jeong Chilgyu.
He and his ronin butchered the cultists, grinning broadly.
Certain Kill Empty Spear!
Each flash of his long spear claimed heads without fail.
Today, his skill was terrifying, every motion infused with soul.
And it didn't stop there.
Even the Paradise Four Guardians—nearing peak realm, wielding awkward unorthodox arts burdensome for ordinary martial artists—were no match.
When the King of Ronin set his mind, they fell like autumn leaves.
"Follow the King of Ronin!"
"Honor the souls of our comrades who fell at Hebei's Guanji Shrine!"
Countless ronin trailed him.
Usually aiding the Demon Sword Merchant Association in Shaanxi, they had seethed with fury seeing their crippled or barely surviving brethren at the shrine.
Some weaker ones had been outright beheaded—the depth of their rage was plain.
"Paradise Cult forever!"
"Long live the Paradise Heavenly God!"
"The Paradise Cult shall not fall!"
Even as they died by ronin blades, the cultists clung to their mad faith till the end.
By the time the slaughter concluded, Hyeon Yucheon—having finished the Three Protectors—met the King of Ronin.
"Well done."
Hyeon Yucheon regarded the blood-drenched figure with respect.
At an age ripe for retirement, the King of Ronin remained in his prime.
"No, you've done the heavy lifting, Demon Sword Sect Lord."
Jeong Chilgyu was equally impressed.
He might handle the Second or Third, but the First Protector's bizarre Paradise Eternal Life Art was truly fearsome—beyond his capacity.
"But... the most important one's still out there."
The King of Ronin said.
No need to name him; all knew.
The ageless demon of the Paradise Cult, the Paradise Heavenly God!
"Indeed. Why hasn't he shown himself?"
The cult's state was dire.
Not all followers, but at least half had been slaughtered here at the Guanji Shrine—hardly sustainable.
With devotees dying en masse, what was their leader doing?
"He's probably watching from nearby."
Jeong Chilgyu spoke with conviction.
In his youth, he'd been dragged to the cult—and glimpsed their leader from afar.
He knew the man's nature somewhat.
"Why do you think so?"
"He truly believes himself this world's sole god. A thousand or ten thousand underlings dying means nothing. Nay, he's likely hoping for a crowd like this."
His guess was accurate.
The wicked Paradise Heavenly God sought to sacrifice his own in one go to complete his Heaven-Blood Divine Art.
And indeed, just as the cultists neared total annihilation!
"The Paradise Heavenly God has descended upon the martial world! Wretched humans, come forth and greet your god!"
The one Hyeon Yucheon and Jeong Chilgyu had awaited breathlessly—the Paradise Cult's master, the Paradise Heavenly God—finally appeared.
Demon Sword Sect warriors and cultists together numbered nearly three to four hundred—more than enough for his Heaven-Blood Divine Art.