Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Mission, Investigation (8)
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Mok Ri-won dashed toward the heart of the Demonless Palace.
Trailing behind him were Dang Hwa-seo, Namgung Jincheon, and Seo Ye.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
The bells rang out clamorously.
The intrusion had been detected.
But the four did not panic.
They had already fought several battles while racing through this place, so such commotion was to be expected.
“There are more ahead!”
Mok Ri-won swung his sheathed sword widely.
Paak!
“Gahk!”
“Keurk!”
Two demons collapsed in a single blow.
But there was no time to confirm they were properly dealt with.
Time was pressing.
Seo Ye shouted.
“One gak has passed!”
Jegal San could only disrupt the external forces for one gak.
Seo Ye had to enter the secret vault at the heart within the next gak and activate the formation.
They had covered about half the heart now.
It was tight, but they judged they could make it just in time.
Halt!
Mok Ri-won stopped in his tracks.
His pupils narrowed.
The direction he glanced toward was not their path ahead, but to the right of the passage.
“Young Hero Mok, what is it?”
Dang Hwa-seo, who had also stopped, asked Mok Ri-won.
But Mok Ri-won could not answer.
“…I can feel it.”
“Feel what?”
“There’s an enemy. Over there.”
Mok Ri-won’s expression sharpened intensely.
The reason only he sensed the presence that the others could not was one.
‘Killing intent.’
Killing intent was emanating from there.
Refined and viscous killing intent from someone whose accumulated sins were unimaginable.
His skin prickled.
Mok Ri-won’s Heavenly Slaughter Star was telling him.
‘We must block it.’
They could not pass by it.
“…Little Sister, take Sword Dragon Brother and the Sect Leader inside.”
“What about you, Young Hero Mok?”
“I have to block the one there. It feels like I must.”
Dang Hwa-seo furrowed her brow.
She could not comprehend what Mok Ri-won was saying.
‘An enemy? One that makes Young Hero Mok this tense?’
She felt nothing.
If it were an enemy that strong, demonic qi should have reached even here, but nothing emanated from the direction Mok Ri-won was staring.
An illusion.
She could dismiss it as such, but Dang Hwa-seo could not.
‘…Young Hero Mok has good instincts.’
To put it bluntly.
He had instincts closer to a beast than a human, and in moments like this, he made judgments superior to hers.
Dang Hwa-seo looked at Namgung Jincheon.
He nodded, urging her to let Mok Ri-won go.
Dang Hwa-seo decided.
“…Then I leave it to you.”
“Got it. I’ll hold them off.”
Shring—
Up until now, Mok Ri-won had swung his sheathed sword, but now he drew his blade.
He would block them.
The choice of that word made her uneasy for some reason.
“We’re going on. No time.”
Namgung Jincheon said.
Dang Hwa-seo suppressed her rising anxiety and nodded.
Tadak!
The three dashed once more toward the end of the heart.
*
Mok Ri-won continued toward where the killing intent emanated.
And at its end, he faced it.
‘…That one.’
A vast chamber that could easily hold over a hundred people.
In the center of the room, stripped of anything that might hint at its original purpose, sat a man vacantly.
Long, disheveled hair covering his face.
Ragged martial robes like those of a street beggar.
And clutched to his chest, a massive sword at least a handspan wide.
“…Who are you.”
When Mok Ri-won asked in a tense voice, the man raised his head.
Peering through his hair with dilated pupils, the man answered.
“Yeon Ri-geon.”
A feeble voice.
“Sword Demon.”
Flinch—
Mok Ri-won’s shoulders jerked.
His eyes widened as if torn open.
‘Sword Demon? Not the Lust Demon?’
Seo Ye had clearly said the Six Demons here included the Lust Demon.
Yet why was the Sword Demon here?
The information was wrong…
‘…No.’
Mok Ri-won soon realized.
‘The Sword Demon is here too.’
Two of the Six Demons were present.
Their forces had been bolstered.
Mok Ri-won tensed his entire body further.
He did not know what was happening, but the situation seemed worse than expected.
He needed to defeat him quickly and join Dang Hwa-seo, but the thought arose that he could not act rashly.
‘That one is Peak Realm.’
Not a shallow Peak Realm, but a complete one.
And that was not all.
Even now, the killing intent he felt.
Dense and sticky killing intent that made his breath hot emanated from him.
Despite that utterly vacant face.
Mok Ri-won licked his lips.
“…I have questions.”
“Ask away.”
“Is the Lust Demon inside as strong as you?”
“…”
Yeon Ri-geon lowered his head.
He mulled it over, lips twitching, then shook his head.
“Weaker than Flame Demon. The Lust Demon is.”
By O Gang-ak’s standard.
Mok Ri-won thought for a moment, then replied.
“Then Sword Dragon Brother will win.”
“High probability.”
“You know that and act so carefree?”
“My mission isn’t to guard this place.”
Yeon Ri-geon remained seated.
What did he mean?
As Mok Ri-won’s puzzlement rose, Yeon Ri-geon spoke.
“Heavenly Slaughter Star. I came for you.”
“…So I’m the target.”
Mok Ri-won did not panic as before.
He had no choice but to know now.
Their goal included his Heavenly Slaughter Star.
‘Kill or kidnap?’
Various possibilities had arisen, but they had narrowed by today.
“Why kidnap me?”
“It’s the order.”
“Whose?”
“The Little Cult Leader’s.”
“…Little Cult Leader.”
The next master of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
He was targeting him personally.
Of course, the invasion of the Central Plains was not some underlings’ affair.
Mok Ri-won fiddled with his sheath, glaring at Yeon Ri-geon.
The vacant face made it hard to read his thoughts.
“May I ask more?”
“Ask away.”
“You give answers freely.”
“No order not to tell.”
“I heard you’re called the Six Demons.”
“Yes.”
“Fist Demon. Do you know him?”
“Pae Ung-chu.”
“Is he alive, continuing his evil deeds?”
“Alive. Following orders.”
Fist Demon Pae Ung-chu.
The demon who ambushed their escort procession to the Murim Alliance and slaughtered the escort warriors.
Mok Ri-won had not forgotten.
The defeat, rage, and sorrow he felt that day.
His vow to repay it all someday burned hotter with time, urging him on.
“…How strong has he become.”
“As strong as O Gang-ak, and he’ll grow stronger. He has talent.”
“Is that so?”
Alive.
He would grow stronger.
Judging he had heard enough, Mok Ri-won nodded.
Saaah—
Dark energy flowed from him.
“Thanks for telling me.”
“No need for thanks.”
Yeon Ri-geon also rose from his seat.
Shring—
He drew the wide, long sword.
A blade whose style gave no hint of the swordsmanship it would employ.
Yeon Ri-geon said.
“Pointless to scout. You can’t fight Pae Ung-chu.”
“Because you’ll capture me. That what you mean?”
“Right.”
“Arrogant.”
Mok Ri-won assumed his stance.
“You’re all the same. Fixated on me being the Heavenly Slaughter Star, but not considering what kind of star it is.”
Killing intent pressed down on his entire body.
Yet the more it did, the stronger the power surging within Mok Ri-won felt.
Heavenly Slaughter Star and Extreme Demonic Body.
In this Central Plains, second to none as a vessel forged for demons to kill.
Mok Ri-won was born with it.
“I tried not to use this killing intent. Thought it wrong.”
“…”
“But now I will. Learned from someone I respect.”
Mok Ri-won had not forgotten the teachings after joining the Murim Alliance.
The stern rods from distant seniors.
They had surely changed his heart.
-Acquire some flexibility. Dividing the world into black and white will hinder progress.
Sa Baek-un spoke of flexibility.
-The jianghu is ultimately survival of the strongest. Want to speak of righteousness? Prove it. Prove you have the power.
Yeom So-so spoke of power.
And many others had given teachings.
Mok Ri-won would hesitate no longer.
In swinging his sword, in using killing intent, and in overcoming it.
“Take this. Heavenly Slaughter Star.”
Mok Ri-won shot forward.
Zzaeng—!
Yeon Ri-geon blocked the sword strike with his blade’s flat.
And said.
“Bring it.”
The fight began.
*
Chaeng—!
Sharp sword cries rang out in succession.
Mok Ri-won swung his sword at Yeon Ri-geon without a moment’s lapse, eyes fixed unblinkingly.
Chaejaejaeng—!
A swift sword storm blurring his form.
The first form of Ten Thousand Lotuses Sword: Soul-Stealing Swift Strike.
The reason for the onslaught was one: to judge his sword style.
But it did not work.
‘Defense is solid.’
He only defended.
As if waiting for something.
Even trying to pierce that defense was problematic.
‘Is this why the blade is so wide?’
Using the twice-normal blade width like a shield with utmost proficiency.
Even for a Peak Realm demon, it was natural, but even accounting for that, his defense seemed overly refined.
Zzaeng—!
The swords clashed greatly once more.
In that instant, Mok Ri-won felt killing intent gathering at his left waist.
He spared it no glance.
He simply blocked his waist with his sheath.
Jjeoeong—!
“Keuheuk!”
A kick.
His body flew to the corner from the kick laden with demonic qi.
Kwang!
Mok Ri-won crashed into the wall.
His breath caught, stance crumbling.
The pain was far too great for mere impact.
‘Internal weight technique!’
A method of shoving power into the body and exploding it from within.
Mok Ri-won realized.
“…What kind of Sword Demon.”
That sword was not for swinging.
Attacks came only with the body.
“Cheap trick.”
“Sword in hand, so sword arts.”
“Petty.”
Mok Ri-won inhaled sharply, ‘Heu-eup!’, and steadied his stance.
Yeon Ri-geon remained in place.
His intent to continue defending seemed firm.
‘This won’t do.’
Beyond anything, he lacked the power to breach that defense.
Pinnacle and Peak.
A mere one step, yet the height of that thin wall was not negligible.
Mok Ri-won exhaled long.
“As expected, Pinnacle isn’t enough.”
“That’s why surrender.”
Yeon Ri-geon said.
With vacant eyes, vacant voice, leaking killing intent steadily.
“Give up. You can’t.”
“On what basis?”
“Your realm is lacking.”
Absurd words.
So Mok Ri-won thought.
“Know something?”
“What.”
“Since entering the jianghu, I’ve always fought the strong.”
Suyang County, his first step.
There, Mok Ri-won fought Pyo San of Pinnacle mid-stage.
Passing Ghost Valley to the Anhui Dragon-Phoenix Tournament, facing geniuses of the era, then to Wulin meeting Fist Demon Pae Ung-chu.
Then friendly bout with Golden Sword Gwon Pyo-wol, and in Shaanxi, Flame Demon O Gang-ak.
Victories and defeats.
But Mok Ri-won had never once considered surrender due to realm deficiency before those duels.
Mok Ri-won assumed his stance again.
“Realm is no excuse.”
Saaah—
Dark energy enveloped his body.
“Sword swinging comes down to the swordsman’s will.”
It was different from before.
The dark energy swirled around his body like it had a will of its own.
Mok Ri-won pointed his sword tip at Yeon Ri-geon.
Killing intent pressing down like a stamp.
Faintly leaking demonic qi.
His inner power raging in response, the world desaturating to grayscale, senses sharpening.
‘I’ve prepared more than enough.’
Mok Ri-won’s instinct told him.
“If realm is the issue, then I’ll break through.”
That now was the moment to pierce the Peak Realm wall.