Chapter 28
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Shut Up, You Bastard (4)
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"Sorry about that. I heard a noise from behind, so I just swung without thinking."
The apology came from Moo-jin as he turned to closely examine the area behind him.
Now that he looked again, that sticky, eerie voice wasn't coming from the old monk—it was from beside him.
It emanated from a sinister elder shrouded in ferocious black energy swirling like gusts of wind.
"Ah, so it was you."
"Don't listen!"
The old monk, sweating profusely, shouted urgently.
"That thing... that bastard is the Food Demon White Scale Throat, sealed here fifty years ago!"
The old monk drew up even more of his sacred aura, tightening it around the demon's body.
"It's trying to lure you in with spirit enchantment arts right now! You mustn't listen to its voice."
"A Food Demon? Something like that exists?"
In stark contrast to the monk's frantic expression, Kang Moo-jin kept a calm face as he asked.
"Hold on a moment. Could you be... Master Hye-myeong?"
"Hah... hah... How do you know my name?"
Master Hye-myeong stared at Moo-jin in surprise.
He was clearly pushing himself hard—sweat drenched his forehead, gathering in beads above his eyebrows before slowly dripping down.
"No way... Are you Moo-woong's younger brother, the one who vanished over a dozen years ago?!"
Master Hye-myeong's pupils dilated in shock. Moments later, his eyes widened in horror, mouth agape.
He'd spotted the line of demons strung up like dried fish behind Kang Moo-jin.
"W-What? Aren't those demons?!"
Master Hye-myeong's panicked voice filled the space.
What kind of lunatic strung up demons like salted fish and dragged them around?!
"Don't tell me... you took them all down? That's no small feat."
Rumble—
As Master Hye-myeong's startled voice rang out, the formation circle began to shake.
His mind, which had been as still as a clear mirror over placid waters, had cracked.
"...What?!"
His body trembled as if struck by lightning, but Master Hye-myeong quickly steadied his heart and refocused on the formation.
"Ah, I got back recently."
Moo-jin replied calmly, inspecting the formation as he spoke.
"Went home and found the place trashed. So I tidied up a bit and came looking for my brother first."
He explained his situation briefly and clearly, then jerked his chin toward the black-qi elder.
"But is this guy really that dangerous?!"
-Come to me. I'll give you... power.
Master Hye-myeong's face hardened gravely at the voice.
"Extremely dangerous. He's an absolute master at the Extreme Demon realm who fell into qi deviation and became a madman."
The Extreme Demon realm matched the Flower Realm pinnacle by Central Plains standards.
And having gone mad from qi deviation meant he was even stronger than a typical Flower Realm expert due to the frenzy.
Stronger than any foe Moo-jin had faced so far.
"If this vile creature escapes Repentance Cavern, he'll plunge the world into a bloodbath."
-Come here. Come to me. I'll give you... power.
Ignoring the ghostly wails echoing through the blood-scented underground chamber, Kang Moo-jin looked at Master Hye-myeong.
"Pretty dangerous fellow, huh."
"Indeed. So get out of this formation now! If you stay, the demon will devour your body!"
Master Hye-myeong formed a mudra with one hand while urgently beckoning Moo-jin with the other.
-Don't you want power? Don't you crave immense strength?
"All I can do is hold it off. I'll endure until my martial brothers arrive, so escape with your brother!"
"Should I help?"
-Come quickly. Place your hand here. I'll grant you... the power to drown the world in blood.
Master Hye-myeong shook his head firmly.
"I appreciate the thought, but it's beyond your strength."
"Hmm. I think I could manage to—"
-Come to me now. I'll give you immense power. Come here right—
"Ah, shut up, you bastard!"
Thwack—!
With a dull thud, Kang Moo-jin's fist smashed into the demon's face.
"...?!"
The demon wore a stunned expression, as if baffled by what had just happened.
H-He hit... me?!
The demon wasn't the only one dumbfounded.
'D-Did he just... punch it?!'
Master Hye-myeong froze, mouth half-open, unable to comprehend the scene.
'How in the world?!'
This formation, with Master Hye-myeong at its center, was the Demon-Subduing Buddhist Array.
Designed to imprison wicked foes, it split the space into two realms, preventing external interference.
In other words, Moo-jin's fist should have merely sliced through empty air.
'Does he possess martial arts powerful enough to shatter the Demon-Subduing Buddhist Array?!'
That was the only theory that fit. But even that made no sense.
'That would mean his martial prowess rivals the Shaolin Abbot?!'
How could a young man of merely twenty-five possess such transcendent skill?
It defied all common sense.
"Gah! Q-Quick! Get out of the formation! It seems the array's collapsing. Hurry before the demon absorbs your energy!"
Master Hye-myeong's urgent voice filled the circle.
He watched the demon anxiously with wide eyes.
"...Hm?"
But contrary to expectations, the demon merely twitched, unable to rise.
As if the punch had hurt too much to recover from yet.
"No way... is that possible?"
As Master Hye-myeong tilted his head in confusion, the demon's eyes snapped open, and it leaped up.
"Raaargh! How dare you!"
Enraged at being felled by a mere mortal's slap, the demon surged toward Kang Moo-jin, radiating murderous intent.
"I'll kill you and seize that body of—"
Thwack—!
Before it could even register the incoming fist, the demon's vision spun wildly.
"...Yo...u... ba..."
A massive shock rippled through its skull, and the demon flipped backward, eyes rolling as it collapsed.
"...??"
Master Hye-myeong blinked in bewilderment at the fallen demon.
'Shifting Form Exchange Position?!'
Unlike his current frail frame, Master Hye-myeong had once been among the Eighteen Arhats in his youth—a peerless martial monk.
Yet even his eyes hadn't caught Moo-jin's fist.
Its speed was so blinding he'd barely tracked the afterimage.
'What in the world is this young man's true identity?!'
As Master Hye-myeong gaped at Moo-jin in shock,
"Raaargh! How dare you!"
The demon rose again, having recovered by absorbing Moo-jin's energy now inside the formation, mending its cracked skull.
"Oh, you're alive again?"
Moo-jin curled his fingers amiably before clenching a solid fist.
Crunch—crack—
A sound like a beast grinding its teeth filled the area around the formation.
"Don't worry, monk. Punks like this respond best to a good beating."
"N-No. That thing absorbs—"
"Just hit it harder and faster than it can absorb and heal."
Kang Moo-jin smiled brightly as he approached the demon.
Facing that smile, the demon felt fear for the first time in its existence.
-S-Spare... me...
"Die!"
Moo-jin's shoulders rippled, and his fist plummeted like a meteor onto the demon.
Ten. A hundred. Hundreds.
Starting with two fists, their number exploded in an instant, pummeling the demon's body.
The sight of fists filling the air and raining down evoked the descent of the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara herself.
Thud—crunch—crack—!
-...!!
Without time to scream, the demon's energy scattered under the onslaught from all directions.
No matter its past reign of terror, it couldn't resist a thousand fists targeting only vital points.
All it could do was take the beating.
-Guh... ack...
Moments later, what was once(?) the Food Demon lay half-corpse-like, rolling on the ground.
Its body grotesquely twisted from the thrashing, it exhaled pained breaths before passing out.
"Whew. Feels refreshing after so long. These tough ones are actually easier and more fun."
Moo-jin shook out his hands with a satisfied look.
For Kang Moo-jin, fighting these was far preferable to unorthodox sect scum.
They were sturdy enough not to die easily, and as demons, killing them carried no guilt.
"Y-You..."
Master Hye-myeong's eyes twitched beneath as he stared at Moo-jin.
Seeing Moo-jin fell the demon he'd barely sealed at full power with just two punches filled him with awe.
"Who in the world are you?"
"Me?"
Moo-jin dusted off his palms casually.
"Just an ordinary little brother."
Rumble—
The formation sealing Repentance Cavern's interior collapsed, shaking the space.
"What...?! T-The formation?!"
"W-What's going on? Did the formation just break?!"
Shaolin division leaders, each about their tasks, rushed to the cavern entrance.
If the rampaging formation failed, the imprisoned demons could escape, so they readied for battle.
"Did someone already dismantle it?"
"Fool. How do you dismantle a rampaging formation? Even if possible, it'd take at least half a year. Not half a day!"
Repairing a rampaging formation from outside took five years; dismantling from inside, at least half a year.
And that assumed risking life in a mad dash—barely feasible.
Doing it in half a day?
"Absurd. Even if the heavens split, impossible. I'd bet my life on it."
"Ho. No take-backs, then."
As onlookers who'd sensed the oddity gathered and murmured,
Rumble—
The formation around Repentance Cavern shook again, then shattered with a surge of intense energy.
'This...!'
'Hero Kang Moo-jin?!'
The Eighteen Arhats who'd sparred with him yesterday instantly recognized the energy's owner.
Step—step—
Sure enough, a youthful giant built like a mountain emerged from the broken formation.
Golden Ghost Indestructible Kang Moo-jin, his chiseled features set in his signature impassive expression.
"Hah...!"
"H-He survived? In just half a day?!"
People couldn't hide their shock at the unscathed, pristine Moo-jin.
Returning alive from a rampaging formation in half a day was miracle enough.
But seeing what he held sent them into deeper stupor.
"W-What's that?!"
"D-Demons, aren't they?!"
"He took down all those demons?"
"N-Not a single one killed! Saving them is several times harder than killing, yet he saved them all?!"
Repentance Cavern's demons, each rivaling Shaolin's elite warrior monks.
Far harder to face in a warped spatial formation—yet here they came, strung up like dried fish and dragged along.
"What?"
Kang Moo-jin, towing the strung-up bunch, met the dozens of staring eyes and said,
"Enjoy the show?"