The Price of Lust
...Boom!
Crash...!
Inside a private room on the second floor of Seungguanru.
At the sound of the deafening explosions, Jang Bo-heum, the squad leader of the Ghost Dream Squad, tossed and turned.
"Ugh."
Why is it so damn loud...?
Jang Bo-heum tried to pull the blanket over his ears, but his hand caught nothing but the leg of a liquor table.
Ah, right.
That bastard Ya-ju had insisted on treating him to the absolute best, keeping him trapped here at Seungguanru.
His head felt like it was swimming in pure alcohol. He couldn't seem to sober up.
Well, it was only natural after being lavishly entertained with top-shelf liquor and a flock of courtesans.
Deciding to just ignore it, he was about to drift back to sleep when—
Boom!!
"Dammit! My ears are going to split!"
Unable to endure the relentless explosions, Jang Bo-heum finally scowled fiercely and bolted upright.
What the hell is going on? Who's throwing a fit in the middle of the night?
Was some drunkard causing a scene?
If so, why couldn't a guy like Ya-ju handle something so simple?
Rumble!
"...Huh?"
He sensed something was off.
Ruuumble!
A massive vibration shook the room.
On top of that, a prickling aura of murderous intent stung his skin.
Wait, what is this?
Something was happening.
The moment that thought crossed Jang Bo-heum's mind—
Crack!
Crash!
"Aaaah!"
Suddenly, the ceiling above him collapsed.
With a thunderous roar, the ceiling tore open like paper, and a massive lump crashed down right next to Jang Bo-heum like a meteor.
"W-what the?!"
Jang Bo-heum scrambled backward like a startled cockroach to secure a safe distance. Only then did he identify the fallen mass.
"Groan..."
"Y-Ya-ju?"
That "something" was none other than Ya-ju, Ji Dong-tak.
He lay sprawled on the floor, looking utterly battered as if he had just survived a catastrophic battle.
What is this? Am I dreaming? Jang Bo-heum wondered.
Otherwise, there was no way this guy would suddenly appear before him in such a pathetic state.
Yet, no matter how much he stared, the crater in the floor didn't look like an illusion.
And the squirming Ya-ju didn't seem like a hallucination either.
Did... did the Black Badge Castle launch a raid?
Even though Jang Bo-heum was the squad leader of the Ghost Dream Squad, one of the Ten Heavens Squads, the current situation was far too baffling for him to comprehend.
"Cough! J-Jang Bo-heum...?"
Jang Bo-heum gasped.
Ya-ju, coughing up a mouthful of blood from the impact, barely managed to turn his head. His eyes lit up when he saw Jang Bo-heum.
"H-help me. I need help."
"No, wait. What on earth is—"
As Jang Bo-heum's sense of danger spiked to its limit, he instinctively circulated his internal energy to burn off the alcohol in his system.
Step.
"...going on?"
Through the gaping hole in the ceiling, another figure landed lightly in the room.
Unless one was a complete fool, it was obvious that this newcomer was the culprit behind the chaos.
Jang Bo-heum's eyes widened so much they threatened to pop out of their sockets.
T-this guy?
It was a face he couldn't possibly fail to recognize.
The prodigal son of the Zhuge clan.
No.
Jeok-un...!
Why was the recruit the Vice Alliance Leader had his eyes on here?
"It's him! Cough! We have to kill him!"
Ya-ju shrieked, his body still struggling to move inside the crater.
In that instant, Jang Bo-heum's mind raced.
Presumably, Ya-ju was also a subordinate of the Vice Alliance Leader.
Therefore, he was obligated to help him.
Yes, he had to, but...
"What are you doing, Jang Bo-heum?!" Ya-ju roared.
It was because Jang Bo-heum, instead of stepping forward to help, had taken a step back.
He could swear that step wasn't intentional.
It was a purely instinctive reaction.
No, I can't.
He must never fight this man!
His survival instincts were ringing alarm bells louder than ever before.
Seeing this, Jeok-un curled the corner of his mouth.
"At least you have a brain."
"...!"
Despite the blatant mockery, Jang Bo-heum did not attack.
"T-thank you."
The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them, and he quickly lowered his gaze.
"You useless piece of—!!"
Just as Ya-ju began to scream at Jang Bo-heum for abandoning him—
Flash!
In the blink of an eye, Jeok-un materialized in front of Ya-ju, his leg clad in the Overlord's Divine Energy.
Boom!
He kicked Ya-ju away like a dog.
Meanwhile, the area outside Seungguanru was in utter chaos.
Seungguanru was the largest entertainment house in Changsha, standing four stories tall against the night sky.
With its grand, luxurious facade situated right on the main street, countless pedestrians passed by it daily.
Normally, people walked past it with bated breath, terrified of catching Ya-ju's eye and being targeted on some fabricated pretext.
But today, Seungguanru was different.
Crash!
Boom!
"W-what in the world is happening?"
"Seungguanru is being completely demolished?!"
As explosions continued to echo from within, both travelers and Changsha natives began to whisper among themselves.
They were curious about what was happening, but none of them looked worried.
It was only natural.
Seungguanru was the very symbol of Ya-ju's tyranny—the man who extorted exorbitant protection fees and constantly preyed on their precious daughters.
How could they not rejoice at its destruction?
Instead, a glimmer of hope and anticipation shone in their eyes.
They hoped that someone had finally come to punish Ya-ju for his evil deeds.
Of course, having lived long enough to know that divine retribution rarely existed in this world, they quickly dismissed the thought as wishful thinking.
Crash!
Screeech!
"Aaaah!"
"Run! Get out of the way!"
At that moment, a section of Seungguanru collapsed, and a massive object flew out like a meteor, crashing onto the main street.
After fleeing in panic, the crowd slowly crept back, waiting for the dust cloud to settle.
They were dying of curiosity to see what had rolled onto the street with such a deafening roar.
As the dust finally cleared and the object was revealed—
"...!"
The onlookers gasped in sheer shock.
It was a massive lump of flesh.
His clothes were torn to shreds, leaving him half-naked. His hair was a disheveled mess, and he was covered in blood. It was a gruesome sight that made everyone shudder.
"Heek!"
"Y-Ya-ju...!"
A crowd gathered like a swarm of clouds around the mangled figure of Ya-ju.
"Ugh... groan."
Ji Dong-tak groaned as he struggled to push himself up.
When he finally looked around, he realized that every single onlooker was staring at him.
Ridicule. Joy. Satisfaction.
Seeing the array of emotions in their eyes, Ji Dong-tak shrieked in a fit of unbearable humiliation.
"Aaargh! Get lost, all of you!"
As the onlookers recoiled in fear, a figure stepped out of the dust cloud and stood before him on the street.
"Yes, that look suits you perfectly."
Jeok-un spoke as he emerged from the haze.
None of the onlookers recognized him, but after today, not a single one of them would ever forget his face.
"Shut up!"
Ya-ju screamed at the top of his lungs.
Rumble!
Crash!
At the same time, his aura erupted more violently than ever before.
Not yet! It's not over yet! Even if I have to risk everything, I will kill you!
Although his internal organs were ruptured and his meridians were completely shattered, Ji Dong-tak pushed his Ten Thousand Joys Art to its absolute limit, heedless of the consequences.
The energies he had gathered through the Ten Thousand Joys Art ran wild.
On top of that, his innate true qi—the very essence of his life force—surged forth.
In terms of sheer volume of internal energy, it was comparable to a martial artist of the Transformation Realm.
He had abandoned all hope of survival just to kill the man who had humiliated him.
His bloodshot, mad eyes locked onto Jeok-un.
"Die!!!"
Ji Dong-tak swung his half-broken twin axes with ferocious intensity.
Like boiling lava, his axe qi flared up, but its color was bizarre.
Normally, manifested qi remained a single color, as it was deeply tied to the martial art it originated from.
However, the qi coating Ji Dong-tak's axes shifted constantly.
Red yang qi, blue yin qi, white essence, and blood-colored evil qi...
These were all the energies he had stolen over the years.
Mixed with his innate true qi, it was a desperate, suicidal strike meant to drag his opponent to the grave with him.
I'll kill you!
Screeech!
The air shrieked as it was torn apart.
Ya-ju was certain of his victory, but—
Step.
"...!"
Jeok-un simply reached out and caught the blade of Ji Dong-tak's axe with his bare hand.
"Utterly filthy."
Before Ji Dong-tak's face could even register his shock—
Flash!
Jeok-un used the technique of Attraction to yank the axe from his grip.
Slash!
Thud!
"Aaargh!"
In a swift reversal, Jeok-un severed Ya-ju's arm.
His left arm was sliced clean off from the shoulder, tumbling onto the dirt.
An ordinary man would have fainted on the spot, but—
"You bastard!"
Driven mad by the pain, Ya-ju swung his remaining axe with his one good arm.
He unleashed the ultimate technique of the Eighteen Heaven-Cleaving Axes.
Ultimate Art: Cleaving Heaven and Severing Seas
True to its name, a force powerful enough to cleave the heavens and sever the seas surged toward Jeok-un.
Rumble!
A long horizontal line was drawn in the air, aligned with Jeok-un's waist.
It threatened to split everything it touched in half.
Yet, Jeok-un had no intention of dodging. He faced it head-on.
Pathetic.
Hummmm!
The second star, Geomun, blazed to life.
The Overlord's Divine Energy condensed in his left fist, swirling violently.
Stomping his foot, he threw a straight punch.
Boom!!
With a deafening explosion, the slash was shattered to pieces.
There was no profound insight or enlightenment behind the strike.
It was a literal clash of raw power, crushing the ultimate art through sheer force alone.
T-this is impossible...!
"Cough! Urgh!"
In that moment, Ya-ju coughed up blood.
Cleaving Heaven and Severing Seas was a technique that could only be properly executed by those who had reached the Transformation Realm.
Because he had forced it, the backlash had completely ruptured his meridians.
He was in a state where it wouldn't be surprising if he collapsed immediately.
"Is that the end of your struggling?" Jeok-un asked.
"?!"
But the fight wasn't over yet.
"Die!!!"
Ya-ju squeezed out the last drops of energy from his ruined meridians and swung his axe once more.
But as Jeok-un said, it was nothing but a pathetic, ugly struggle.
His body and mind had already reached their limits.
There was no form or technique left in Ya-ju's axe play.
He was simply flailing, throwing wild slashes at whatever was in his sight.
Naturally, Jeok-un wasn't hit even once.
Swish! Whoosh!
Stepping with the Seven Gold Micro Steps, he dodged every single slash.
Toying with his opponent completely, he closed the distance step by step.
Thud!
"Ugh...!"
Jeok-un kicked him in the chest, shattering his balance.
Ya-ju collapsed onto the street, squirming like a bug.
"Whoa!"
"Ya-ju is down! Ya-ju has fallen!"
The onlookers erupted into cheers.
That was the end of it.
His meridians were shattered, and his innate true qi was completely depleted.
Even if a divine immortal descended, he could not be saved.
Normally, seeing someone in such a miserable state, even an unorthodox martial artist would stop their assault.
Stomp!
"Aaaaargh!"
But Jeok-un showed no such mercy.
Without a moment's hesitation, he coated his leg with the Overlord's Divine Energy and crushed the fallen Ya-ju's foot.
"Gurgle!"
"You..."
As if struck by an iron sledgehammer, the flesh and bones of Ya-ju's leg were pulverized. He began to foam at the mouth, but that was only the beginning.
"How dare you."
Stomp!
"How dare you touch my subordinate?"
Stomp! Stomp!
Like stamping a seal, he systematically crushed Ya-ju's limbs.
Aaargh! It hurts! It hurts so much!
The extreme pain, unlike anything he had ever felt in his life, threatened to drive Ya-ju insane.
Even though Ya-ju's limbs had long since been reduced to bloody rags, Jeok-un did not stop.
Stomp! Stomp!
He stomped repeatedly, as if determined to grind every bone in the man's body into dust.
"Ah... ugh..."
As a result, Ya-ju couldn't even squirm anymore, only letting out a strange sound that was half-cough, half-groan.
Yet, even in this state, Ya-ju clung to life.
Squeezing out his final reserves of strength, he opened his mouth.
"S-spare... me. I'll give you... anything... Gurgle!"
Ya-ju begged desperately, pouring all his remaining strength into his words.
However, Jeok-un merely scoffed.
"Give me? What a strange thing to say."
"...?"
"If I kill you, everything you own becomes mine anyway."
"—!"
Jeok-un's intention was clear.
Everything Ya-ju possessed was already his.
"M-my backer is the V-Vice Alliance...!"
Realizing Jeok-un's intent, Ya-ju shrieked in a panic, trying to invoke the Vice Alliance Leader.
But his final hope—
"Go on ahead and wait. I'll send him to join you soon."
"?!"
—was shattered in an instant.
Step. Step.
Jeok-un walked away.
"W-what are you planning to do?"
"What am I planning to do?"
Jeok-un smiled coldly.
"I already told you."
"What...?"
After uttering those cryptic words, Jeok-un bent down as if he had found what he was looking for.
Shring!
It was a sword rolling on the ground.
"I can't let my own sword get dirty."
"...!"
With those words, Jeok-un approached Ya-ju.
In that instant, Ya-ju remembered what Jeok-un had said right before they fought.
—I will slice your manhood into tiny pieces and shove it down your throat.
"N-no!"
For a lustful demon who dared harbor filthy desires toward Hae-yeon, and who had committed unspeakable acts against countless women, Jeok-un had only one punishment in mind.
Step. Step.
Jeok-un closed in.
Ya-ju tried to escape by any means necessary.
But with his limbs shattered, it was nothing more than the pathetic squirming of a worm.
"No! Stop! Aaaaargh!"
Leaving the horrific screams behind—
Slash!
Slice!
The sickening sound of flesh being hacked to pieces echoed endlessly into the night.