Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Another Heavenly Demon (2)
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The Heavenly Demon and his group arrived at Geunsan Village upon hearing rumors of another Heavenly Demon.
'This is even more of a backwater village in the boonies than I expected.'
'Could the Demonic Cult's lineage really be hidden in a place like this?'
When they arrived in the Geunsan area, they couldn't hide their disappointment.
And who could blame them? Geunsan Village was a shabby rural settlement founded by slash-and-burn farmers who had left their homes behind.
Expectations were low that the Demonic Cult's vital legacy—and the current Heavenly Demon—could still be lingering in a place that didn't even seem capable of true self-sufficiency.
But what do you know?
"The Heavenly Demon who will soon dominate the Central Plains beyond Geunsan has descended!"
From the village chief to every last resident, they all prostrated themselves flat on the ground, filling Gunryong, the Heavenly Demon, with anticipation.
This posture, pressed flat to the earth—it was unmistakable!
'The All Demons Prostrate!'
This was the classic pose swearing absolute loyalty to the Heavenly Demon, master of all demons. Naturally, his expectations soared.
Perhaps the Fifth Heavenly Demon—or even a Heavenly Demon from the past—really was here. Just as that thought spread through his mind...
Bwoooo!
A faint, echoing horn from a water buffalo shell signaled the emergence of about twenty men.
Muscular bearers shouldered a lavish palanquin as ornate and beautiful as if an emperor were arriving, glaring down at the slash-and-burn folk with bulging eyes.
"Ooh, oooh!"
"The Heavenly Demon has come!"
"Heavenly Demon!"
The Geunsan villagers rushed to praise them the moment they descended, not sparing a single glance at Yang Dae-un's group.
Yang Dae-un, Yang Hui-gun, and the others glanced nervously at the Heavenly Demon.
They couldn't tell if these people were truly from the Demonic Cult or not.
But the Heavenly Demon was different.
"What is this...?"
From the moment he saw the palanquin, the Heavenly Demon's brow furrowed deeply.
'This is not our cult's way.'
When had the Heavenly Demon, leader of the Demonic Cult and its great sovereign, ever ridden a palanquin carried by his subordinates?
It was absurd.
A surge of anger welled up in the Heavenly Demon, but it faded quickly.
'Traditions and customs might have changed over the 200 years I was gone.'
With that thought, he suppressed his rage and observed the situation.
"Village chief. Is the tribute fully prepared?"
A short, scrawny man from the self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon's entourage asked.
He was known locally as the Heavenly Demon's proxy and styled himself as the right-hand man and reincarnation of the Loyal Ghost Sword—Yang Bi.
Yang Bi handled all contact with the slash-and-burn farmers in place of the mysteriously aloof Heavenly Demon.
"Of course!"
Having failed to deliver tribute twice before, this was their last chance.
The chief straightened up with uncharacteristic discipline and replied.
"Good, very good. However..."
Yang Bi, self-appointed proxy of the Heavenly Demon, turned and stared intently at Gunryong's group.
His eyes brimmed with displeasure.
"New faces. Why are they standing there dumbfounded instead of prostrating before the great Heavenly Demon Sovereign?"
He strained for a stern tone, but his goat-like bleat only made him ridiculous.
"Forgive us! These are... the masters of a small manor that has recently been trading with merchants passing through Shandong Province."
The Geunsan village chief answered politely.
He had taken Yang Dae-un's words at face value, truly believing them to be the owners of some tiny manor the size of a molehill on a remote mountain.
"Merchants? A manor?"
Yang Bi's curiosity piqued instantly.
Greed soon colored his face.
In truth, Yang Bi was scheming furiously.
'I've grown dissatisfied with squeezing tribute from these puny villages.'
The tributes were already delayed—not once, but twice—fueling his frustration. Now a manor trading with merchants appeared.
They might be a new goldmine.
"Hey, you lot! I don't care what manor from what mountain you're from! With the Heavenly Demon Sovereign here, how dare you..."
Just as Yang Bi bellowed to assert dominance over the Ghost Sword Manor group...
Pow!
The Heavenly Demon Gunryong could no longer hold back and threw a light punch.
Yang Bi, struck by the Heavenly Demon's casual fist...
"Grk!"
His face caved in instantly, his ankles sank an inch into the ground like a felled tree, and he passed out cold.
Surviving the blow was sheer luck.
"Y-Yang Bi!"
"Proxy of the Heavenly Demon!"
The Geunsan villagers panicked as their believed "right-hand man and reincarnation of the Loyal Ghost Sword" turned into a bloody mess with one strike, their pupils shaking wildly.
"What insolence is this?!"
The chief raised his voice, scolding the young Gunryong for his sudden act.
Pfft!
The true Heavenly Demon—the First Heavenly Demon, Gunryong—let out a scoff of disbelief.
"Them? Heavenly Demon and Demonic Cult? What a joke."
Gunryong realized it now.
'They're no Heavenly Demon or Demonic Cult.'
He had initially thought the Demonic Cult's customs had changed after 200 years, but his instincts told him otherwise.
These weren't true Heavenly Demon or Demonic Cult material.
Even if they were... if this was the modern Demonic Cult and Heavenly Demon...
'I'll grant them a merciful death myself.'
The Heavenly Demon was prepared to dismantle them personally.
"Y-You bastard!"
The self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon's group panicked at the outburst and rushed to Yang Bi, still embedded in the ground with whites showing in his eyes, unconscious.
By now, the Geunsan villagers were confused, and the fakes were flustered, all eyeing each other warily.
"Have you ever seen such arrogance?!"
A fiery bellow echoed from the ornate palanquin, and finally...
Swoosh!
A massive brute, as huge as the palanquin itself, revealed his form.
The moment they saw him—even the Heavenly Demon, who had held faint hope, along with Yang Hui-gun and Yang Dae-un—couldn't help sighing in dismay.
Aaah!
One look screamed fake.
"I am the Heavenly Demon of this age, who will dominate the Central Plains beyond Geunsan!"
Mistaking the mood for awe and fear, the self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon puffed up and bellowed arrogantly.
"Aaah, Heavenly Demon!"
"Forgive us. Please look upon us mercifully."
"What are you doing? Prostrate and beg the Heavenly Demon's forgiveness!"
With his towering eight-chi frame and brutish looks like Zhang Fei or Lü Bu from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the fake bellowed fiercely, and the gullible villagers trembled in terror.
"Do you know what you've done? Not only insulting this Heavenly Demon, but daring to strike Yang Bi, reincarnation of the Loyal Ghost Sword and my proxy...!"
Pleased by the villagers' adulation, the fake smirked and ranted on.
At those words, even Ghost Shadow Sword Yang Hui-gun couldn't hold back.
"Reincarnation of the Loyal Ghost Sword? We are from Ghost Sword Manor."
"W-What?"
The fake's face paled at "Ghost Sword Manor."
No matter how much of a rural con artist he was, anyone claiming to be Demonic Cult or Heavenly Demon would know Ghost Sword Manor.
But the villagers were clueless.
"What's Ghost Sword Manor?"
"Never heard of it."
As they murmured in ignorance, the true Heavenly Demon Gunryong stepped forward.
"What a tragic state of affairs."
Thud, thud!
The First Heavenly Demon approached the fake Heavenly Demon—whose bulk was several times his own—passing the vegetable he'd made of Yang Bi.
"What?"
The fake sneered at the Heavenly Demon, who looked like he wouldn't last a single punch.
"Now even dogs and pigs claim the great name Heavenly Demon, and riffraff debate the reincarnation of the Loyal Ghost Sword. How could one not lament?"
The Heavenly Demon's solemn face was filled with sorrow.
Who could have imagined the name symbolizing greatness would devolve into a label for mere bandits and thugs?
Two hundred years ago, it would have been unthinkable.
"Dogs and pigs? You calling me a dog or a pig?"
Furious, the fake snorted hot breath and gripped his crude iron sword.
He called it the Heavenly Lord Demon Dragon Sword, lost in his own delusional world.
"Die!"
Despite being a fake, his innate strength was formidable. He swung the crude sword like an axe, enough to cleave a third-rate expert in two.
But his opponent was neither fake nor contemporary Heavenly Demon—he was the First Heavenly Demon, the one and only.
Gunryong.
Whoosh!
Gunryong swung his fist once more.
Just like with Yang Bi—no true power, no techniques or martial arts.
That would scatter these worthless frauds into chunks too small to identify.
Why use a dragon-slaying blade on a chick—or a worm?
A casual swing sufficed.
Krunch!
The Heavenly Demon's fist shattered the so-called Heavenly Lord Demon Dragon Sword to pieces and pressed on undiminished...
Bam!
Slamming into the fake's solar plexus, bending his massive frame like a sickle.
"Gahk!"
The instant Gunryong's fist connected, the fake vomited thick, tendon-laced blood repeatedly, the sky turning yellow before his eyes.
Some of his organs had ruptured.
Pain was fleeting.
Greater fear and terror overwhelmed him.
'This guy... this guy's a monster. A superhuman!'
Con artists like him knew they'd eventually face the abyss.
The fake understood that well—but never dreamed it'd be today.
His thoughts raced that far, and in mid-vomit, he twisted his body and prostrated flat.
"G-Great hero! Please spare me! We're not really Heavenly Demon or Demonic Cult! Just nameless small-time crooks from the sticks. Mercy!"
Incongruous with his bulk, thick tears streamed as he begged.
As expected, they were mere frauds and nobodies leeching off the Heavenly Demon and Demonic Cult names.
"Self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon. To you, those names may be tools for deception. To me, they were everything."
Gunryong had suspected as much from the start.
But facing an era where the Heavenly Demon's name was cheapened still enraged him.
"For the grave disappointment and anger you've caused me. Repay with your lives."
The Heavenly Demon had no interest in small fry and usually spared the weak.
That's why he'd held back. But to restore his honor and name, he'd end them.
Swoosh!
He raised his hand to finish them all—when...
"Hold on. I have a question."
Surprisingly, Sogang stepped forward.
The Heavenly Demon moved to stop him but relented, knowing Sogang had his sharp moments. He let him proceed.
"How did nobodies from this remote village come to claim the names Heavenly Demon, Demonic Cult, and Loyal Ghost Sword? Surely you didn't dream this up alone."
Sogang's instincts told him:
'These idiots wouldn't dare impersonate the Demonic Cult on their own. They must have seen or learned from someone.'
Thus, this fake crew might have encountered the real modern Demonic Cult or Heavenly Demon.