Chapter 71
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Nine Heavens Demon
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Seo Mun-ha had lived dozens of years, combining his past and present lives.
In that span—short if deemed short, long if deemed long—one thing was clear: the moments he'd been this shocked could be counted on one hand.
Wearing an incredulous expression, Seo Mun-ha stared at the sky that had fallen to the earth.
'Cult?'
At the end of his gaze stood an utterly ordinary old man.
An elderly figure stroking his beard in bewilderment.
His plain robes offered nothing remarkable to note, yet the overwhelming aura dominating the surroundings choked the breath from his lungs.
"How bizarre. The signal clearly pointed here."
He'd only unleashed his presence for a single instant, as if appraising them.
'Return to True Nature...'
Had it not been for that, even Seo Mun-ha might have overlooked him and passed by indifferently.
A relatively flat expanse of mountains.
Having set foot in an area serving as a refuge for several hundred people, he casually glanced left and right.
"You'll do nicely."
Finally, the old man turned to Seo Mun-ha.
"Care to explain what's going on?"
Swallowing a sigh, Seo Mun-ha spoke.
"Who might you be, elder?"
The old man was a martial artist who had reached the pinnacle realm beyond the Seven Realms.
Restricting it to his current life, he'd sensed something similar only twice before.
Once facing Seo Mun-gyeol, and once facing Tang Cheol-son.
"Heh heh, I suppose introductions are overdue. Is my name one you'd recognize...?"
The difference lay in the fact that this carried an irritation more vexing than outright hostility.
"...Blood Heaven Path Martial is too distant, perhaps. Ever heard of the Mad Demon?"
Like a giant trampling ants beneath his feet, he subtly probed for reactions—a presence that made ordinary folk's bodies go numb just facing him.
"Mad Demon?"
Recalling the pinnacle experts who'd shown curiosity toward him throughout, Seo Mun-ha paid close attention to this man's every move, sensing he might surpass even that old fogey.
'...He might be even stranger than that elder.'
In essence, utter detachment.
His hazy, depthless eyes revealed nothing of his thoughts.
'However...'
The man's unforeseen appearance and the aura hue more familiar than any other stirred Seo Mun-ha.
"Doesn't ring a bell, I see. Even after racking my brains, nothing comes to mind. Getting on in years does this to a man."
For an old man relieved not to have forgotten his family, even that fleeting alias sent a chill.
"Just call me a passerby old timer."
Mad Demon, playing the fool once more, asked again.
"Now, will you answer?"
He wasn't the only one who'd spotted him.
As people began opening their eyes one by one, most of the martial artists sensed that prior aura and turned their gazes toward him, albeit belatedly.
"I distinctly saw the cult's signal rise from around here."
More accurately, his tremendous presence had jolted them awake.
"I figured at least four or five would come out to greet me...'
The villagers, sensing the tense atmosphere, joined in, but no one dared speak easily.
'Our cult?!'
Gasp of shock rippled here and there at the Mad Demon's second revelation of his affiliation.
'That face... Anyone with such an aura...'
The one who recognized him was none other than the Tang family's Sa Hong Captain.
"Could it be...?!"
The worst scenario flashed through her mind.
The Star Heaven Ten Seats.
Known as Heaven Beyond Heaven, they were warriors who reigned as a one-man army amid the throng of experts in the martial world.
The Sun-Moon Cult, which had declared war on the entire martial world, boasted nine pillars to match them—demonic prodigies dubbed the Nine Heavens Demons.
'But I heard they were all dead!'
The Sa Hong Captain waved her hand through empty air as if swatting a fly.
"Sa Hong Captain?"
Her top priority should have been Tang So-so, without question.
Get away from here, miss! Right now!
She had seen them during the Demonic Cult War.
A memory terrifying enough to want erased.
As a mere warrior following the Tang Poison Queen, she never wanted to recall that world-shaking life-or-death duel again.
Each Nine Heavens Demon embodied terror.
Dark skies that blinded the eyes, literally.
"No answer, eh? Surely not everyone here's mute. No one knows?"
He seemed full of gaps, like a wall missing several bricks.
But distinguishing friend from foe, he was unmistakably the latter.
Swoosh.
Baek Ri-seol, grasping the situation from the Sa Hong Captain's reaction, reached for her sword hilt, only for Ha Eun-ye to urgently seize her wrist.
Rash moves were forbidden.
Even half of that prior aura encompassed the entire area as his domain.
Though some among them couldn't grasp the situation amid the dire standoff, every martial artist present knew that even united, they couldn't withstand the old man before them.
"Hmm."
The Mad Demon let out a low sigh and twitched his hand.
"Looks like that girl over there knows who I am."
And then a gale descended.
"Ah..."
Suddenly, the aura closing in on her nose made the Sa Hong Captain blink.
"Folks my age tend to run short on patience."
The realm of Formless Kill or Mind Instant Kill.
On a grand scale, it was mere murderous intent, yet facing the Mad Demon's mere emanation of will, she couldn't budge.
"Even if you pretend otherwise, being ignored stings an old man's feelings. Can't very well shun the elderly like that."
Death.
Not just for the Sa Hong Captain herself, but for Tang So-so nearby and the innocent civilians as well.
In other words, the manifestation of will naturally brought crushing aura upon them.
Screee.
Time stretched to eons.
Slow as stretching, yet sharp, the energy erupted.
Boom—!
The gale morphed into a bloody wind.
"Ho."
Just then, as if spotting something intriguing, a subtle ripple crossed the hitherto impassive Mad Demon's face.
Whoosh!
The wind vanished in an instant.
"..."
Before the stunned Tang So-so's eyes appeared someone's back.
"Th-thank you..."
The Sa Hong Captain, attempting thanks in her stead, couldn't finish.
Seo Mun-ha hurled his spear.
Arriving a beat late, he parted the dust cloud and drew Muryeong.
"So it was you after all. Turning my loyal subordinates into wretched scum."
The black-uniformed enforcer behind the silence-shattering Mad Demon was drenched in dark crimson blood.
Not Seo Mun-ha's.
"Kyaaak!"
The women shrieked upon spotting the bloodstains.
The range he could protect was limited, and having taken a passive stance for once, his face twisted fiercely.
"Run. Take the people with you."
Seo Mun-ha commanded the indistinct crowd.
"What about you?!"
Tang So-so, closest, objected first, but this wasn't the time for debate.
"Quite the entertaining young man."
The Mad Demon clicked his tongue and added.
"You've got an eye for talent."
This was high praise indeed.
Displaying such skill within his domain warranted acclaim, and moreover, Seo Mun-ha had resisted the will crushing the entire gathering.
"But a pity your decision was poor. A waste of good righteous path material."
The Mad Demon still stood with hands behind his back.
"Even using people as shields, you must prioritize your own survival to plot for the future, no?"
He valued one youth's talent and skill above hundreds of lives.
"If you'd sensed defeat."
Even so, one must know when to retreat at times.
Seo Mun-ha fully agreed.
"I don't fight battles with no chance of victory."
Setting aside weighing odds with strangers, that is.
"Always prepare for the worst. Especially when others' lives are on your shoulders."
For Seo Mun-ha, several lives hung in the balance.
His two siblings, and those bound by shared life-and-death bonds.
The Mad Demon drew a sharp breath.
"You think you have a chance?"
As if reconsidering his prior words, he tucked away his fleeting admiration.
"Even a penny's worth is enough."
"Heh."
Seo Mun-ha glanced at Ha Eun-ye through the brief opening.
Don't die...
Forcing a nod, she signaled back.
I'll be right back. So just... hold on a little.
No time to question amid her spear-wielding debut.
"Oppa!"
She swiftly led Seo Mun Young-ryeong and the others away in unison.
The Mad Demon drew a mischievous smile.
"No need to worry, child."
As if answering all hearts.
"I don't plan on leaving a single one alive."
With no chance of parting, he once more stirred his inner energy.
Wooong.
Martial artists were no exception.
Not at full strength from the prior battle's aftermath, they bore injuries no less severe than the wounded, merely less visible.
Before a calamity rivaling natural disaster, all were equal.
Grip.
Ha Eun-ye clenched her fists, even biting her small lip.
Suppressing myriad emotions, she sought any path to survival, but the heavy air made movement arduous.
"Guh."
Blood spurted from spots here and there.
The wounded's injuries burst open; the frail in body and mind vomited blood early under the crushing pressure.
Drip drip.
From head to toe.
Bang!
The first to move amid the paralysis was the youth clutching a plum blossom.
"Senior Brother!"
A promising second-generation disciple of Mount Hua.
"Not bad at all."
The gazes of two elders—one young, one old—upon him diverged sharply.
"But a far cry from the Hua Shan Divine Sword of my youth."
The Mad Demon swatted him away like a bug.
Pa-bat!
His hand, swiftly restored to form, rested at his waist.
What had happened?
The youth's mouth gaped, eyes rolled back—he perished instantly.
"Tough bones, though."
Over that handful of ashes, the Mad Demon murmured his appraisal.
The key was that he'd diverted his attention, even briefly.
Tongue clicking, Seo Mun-ha seized the opening the young Daoist had created and lunged.
Screee!
The Mad Demon's hazy eyes gleamed.
Soul-Piercing Thrust.
This impenetrable technique was none other than Evil Spirit Fang Annihilation.
Strictly a feint to induce evasion, but with no room for choice, Seo Mun-ha unleashed his ultimate from the start.
"Can't gauge your opponent, so go all-out from the beginning. Sound judgment."
The Mad Demon calmly gripped Muryeong's tip.
"Though sound judgment doesn't always yield desired results."
Unclasping his hands from behind his back was concession enough; he hadn't budged a step.
Crunch.
Seo Mun-ha channeled more inner power.
Bloodshot eyes, veins bulging as if to burst, he poured his all and whirled his stance.
Whoosh!
Sending the Mad Demon blocking Muryeong flying.
Kwaaang!
Barely one pace.
"That stung a bit."
The old man shook his wrist with a tsk.
Pa-ba-ba-bak!
Propelling from the ground, Seo Mun-ha pressed the assault unrelentingly.
Consecutive ultimate strikes.
Scattering energy arcing like rain.
Snake Dragon Seven Annihilations, bewildering the eyes.
In truth, all feints—fierce, spinning spear strikes baring fangs.
"Hmmm."
What amused him so?
The smiling Mad Demon met the tyrannical energy bare-handed.
Kwaaang—!
The converged spear barrage thundered.
Ku-gu-gu!
The technique's earth-shaking might drew cries of alarm.
Forgetting to flee while they could.
'That...'
Was that the power a human body could unleash?
Martial artists and civilians alike shared one mind, one will.
Above all, shock at the old man's unscathed figure.
Not only speechless, their humbled souls dared not even contemplate rash action.
As if dreaming—or swimming through nightmare—despair cloaked them.
'Better than before.'
One among them differed.
As if it were what he'd hoped for.
Grinning Seo Mun-ha swiftly recomposed and regripped the spear shaft.
The old man was a towering mountain.
Crisis, despair, hardship, adversity, obstacle... and so on.
Facing a colossal wall insurmountable by mere mortal, Muryeong shone unfiltered.
As always.