Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Part 9: Netherworld Demonic Path (1)
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Just moments ago, this place had been no different from a small battlefield.
Orders and reports had flown back and forth in a frenzy, with shouts to boost morale, the clash of weapons, screams, and groans filling the air to the point of madness.
But then the Dark Heaven Venerable appeared, and like a tidal wave, he swept everything away.
It was as if time had rewound to before all this had happened.
Only the occasional groans from the wounded and the quiet exchanges between messengers and adjutants handling the aftermath pierced the silence.
There had been those who fought, those who bled, and those who died, but not a single trace of the enemies remained.
No corpses, no bloodstains, nothing.
It was an unreal sight.
The sheer abnormality of it made Se-ah feel a momentary dizziness.
"Division Lord."
The on-site commander's report pulled her back to reality.
"Measures for the casualties are underway, and reorganization to maintain the street blockade is also in progress."
"I see."
After her curt reply, Se-ah turned to the departing on-site commander and asked,
"Does this scene strike you as strange too, you who's stood on countless battlefields? No, it must seem utterly bizarre."
Her question—that-wasn't-a-question halted the on-site commander's steps.
He turned, scanning the surroundings briefly.
Everyone was absorbed in their duties; no one paid them any mind.
He let out a short sigh and removed the leather helmet from his head, hanging it at his side.
Steam rose from his scalp along with the scent of sweat.
"It does. Just as you said, it's incredibly strange."
Scratching at his whitening chin beard, he continued.
"And somehow ominous, even unsettling. Almost like we've been bewitched."
It was an unexpectedly frank admission.
He gave Se-ah, who looked surprised, a calm smile.
"But strange things happen on battlefields all the time. Things you can't comprehend at the moment—and maybe never will."
He started to explain further but, blaming his curt military man's tongue, opted for a familiar approach instead.
"Forget it."
"Pardon?"
He tightened the loosened leather straps of his armor.
"On the battlefield, your field of vision narrows. It's only natural. So fixating on anything odd is a sure way to botch the job."
Se-ah nodded slowly in agreement.
"Everything makes sense in time, looking back later. Explanations come together then, because you see things you couldn't before."
"Is that so..."
He glanced around once more, then quickly patted Se-ah's shoulder.
"So forget it for now, Commander."
Se-ah nodded.
"That's sound advice, steeped in long years on the battlefield."
He pulled his leather helmet back on with a wry smile.
"Though I doubt time will explain away this kind of eerie business."
That was true enough.
But their conversation had its effect regardless.
Se-ah returned to business and asked him,
"Still no word on the Dark Heaven Venerable or Geumju's whereabouts?"
The Dark Heaven Venerable had eliminated all the martial artists and vanished just moments ago.
"That is..."
Then Gyu, waiting quietly behind, answered in his stead.
"Geumju revealed herself not long after the Dark Heaven Venerable appeared, then vanished. As for the Dark Heaven Venerable..."
She shot a sharp gaze forward.
"His presence is still vividly felt. I can't pinpoint the exact location, but..."
Feeling her mouth go dry, she continued.
"He's definitely still somewhere on this street."
Se-ah nodded.
She was about to issue some orders when—
"Then..."
A massive explosion rocked them with a powerful shockwave.
Gyu, faster than anyone, embraced and shielded Se-ah as she shouted,
"That way!"
From the debris of a building shattered at the explosion's epicenter leaped a woman in red palace robes—Geumju.
"You wretch! You wretch! How do you know my name?!"
Her voice boomed thunderously.
And then the Dark Heaven Venerable's signature metallic laugh echoed eerily across the entire street.
* * *
The laughter scattered the dust clouds swiftly, revealing the Dark Heaven Venerable.
Geumju, perched atop the opposite building, pressed him again.
"Who told you my name?! Speak now!"
At that instant, his laughter cut off abruptly.
Twisting his neck to look up at her, the Dark Heaven Venerable said,
"Did you think I wouldn't know your name, no matter what you did or where you hid?"
With his question, a bluish ghostfire flared above the unbroken eyeholes of his white mask.
"D-Don't make me laugh!"
He was clearly standing down below, looking up at her on the rooftop.
Yet somehow, it felt as if he were gazing down at her from on high.
"Did you think hiding your name would hide your evil deeds as well?"
The ghostfire blazing in the Dark Heaven Venerable's eyes saw a sight different from others'.
[Seyu-hwa! Give me back my brother! Give me back my family!]
A woman with gouged-out eyes, blood streaming from the sockets, clutched Geumju's hair and wailed.
[You bitch Seyu-hwa! For a mere twenty nyang, you turn me—who raised you—like this?!]
A middle-aged man, his guts trailing from his abdomen, crawled over and clung to Geumju's leg.
[Miss Seyu-hwa! My children are crying from hunger! Please give me back my breasts!]
A blood-soaked housewife thrust her three wailing children toward Geumju.
The headless children bawled vigorously from their throat stumps.
[You took my arms, when all I know is manual labor—did you think I'd survive?]
[My hands! Give me back my hands!]
At first, there were just one or two.
As time passed, they multiplied, surrounding Geumju.
And beyond them stretched an endless line of vengeful spirits.
Their anguished accusations, their helpless screams even in death, formed a discordant cacophony.
Their voices grew into a colossal roar, soon incomprehensible.
[What crime did my only daughter commit that you took her?! What grudge against a flower in bloom, to kill her so miserably? Why visit a father's sins on his child?! How can I face my daughter in the afterlife?!]
[I will tear you apart and kill you! Even if my bones turn to dust, even if I writhe in hell's pit for eons, I will curse you and tear you to pieces!]
Behind the white mask, Yeon So-hyeon's face twisted in agony.
Their injustice, their resentment, their hatred and rage pierced his heart vividly.
The Jaeam Heavenly Scripture was thus implanting the vengeful spirits' tales and memories into him.
The ghostfire blazing from the mask flared more fiercely, reacting to his fury.
He raised a trembling hand to cover the mask.
But his vision remained unobscured.
Even bowing his head offered no escape.
The raging ghostfire showed him everything of its own accord.
Blood trickled from the corners of his clenched mouth.
"...doesn't exist! Stop muttering that nonsense!"
Geumju was shouting at him.
"Just answer my question... ?!"
When he snapped his head up from its bowed position, Geumju instinctively staggered back a few steps.
Yeon So-hyeon bellowed like thunder.
[Seyu-hwa!]
Pitch-black demonic energy surged from his body.
[Resist with all your might! Bring forth everything you have! Even in death, you will suffer endless torment until these grudges fade!]
The demonic energy in his voice was so intense that nearby buildings shook and piled dust swirled into the air.
"Shut up!"
The qi membrane Geumju reflexively deployed vibrated violently against the Dark Heaven Venerable's thunderous roar.
"You wretch, who the hell are you to judge me as you please?!"
Drawing her energy to its limit, hideous dark-red veins bulged across Geumju's face.
Her terrifying aura swept outward in all directions.
"Save your pathetic hero play for the afterlife!"
As she swung both hands like lightning, everything around the Dark Heaven Venerable exploded.
From the deafening barrage of explosions, his metallic voice stabbed clearly into Geumju's ears.
"First, one."
"What nonsense is this?"
Unsure of the meaning, Geumju raised both hands, extending her nails.
She confirmed that her right ring finger had vanished.
"...?!"
Fresh red blood spurted from where the finger had been.
"W-When did you, my finger...!"
The Dark Heaven Venerable's gloomy laughter rang out.
"You, who so easily destroyed others' lives, are shocked over a single finger?"
As the dust cleared, he was revealed holding her finger.
"You dare! You dare! You...!"
She stomped the ground, cratering the area around her.
It was a ferocious aura, but the Dark Heaven Venerable paid it no heed.
Maintaining perfect balance amid the quaking earth, he tossed the finger into the air.
It fell into his gaping maw.
Crunch, crunch—the clear sound of bones being chewed echoed.
"...A fine delicacy."
His long tongue licked the blood trickling from his lips.
"Was the neighbor child's human flesh—your very first taste—like this?"
"Shut up!"
Geumju's form dove at the Dark Heaven Venerable.
He slid backward like a ghost to escape her range, but it was within her expectations.
Her arms whipped through the air like lashes, tearing it ragged in erratic trajectories as they flew at him.
Lightning-fast consecutive strikes battered his torso.
With bursts of rupturing sounds, his body shook violently.
"Die!"
Screaming ferociously, she drove a full-power internal energy strike into his body.
The air layers around them shattered from the blow, crumpling and sending his body flying.
With a colossal boom, he punched through one building's outer wall and burst out the opposite side.
Still at undiminished speed, he pierced several more walls before slamming into another building's exterior.
The structures collapsed in sequence, massive holes in their walls.
The final one, where he lodged, crumbled last, crushing his body beneath it.
"Is that all you have?! Is that what you boasted about?!"
As Geumju bellowed triumphantly, a voice that shouldn't have been there whispered in her ear.
"Two."