Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: The Omniscient One (2)
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The Demonic Seed, Heaven-Bearing Asura.
A practitioner of dark arts who rose to infamy even before the Daoist lineage took root on Mount Mao, and the very man who introduced human sacrifice to the history of the Central Plains.
Centuries ago, he was known as the Blood Demon.
Though different from the old Demonic Cult, he was the founder of a heretical sect that once threw the world into chaos with its wicked doctrines.
He could be called the axis of evil that caused sorcerers to be scorned.
The Omniscient One’s face contorted as if he were looking at something foul.
“How dare a wretch like you, who couldn't even surpass the Clairvoyant in skill or character and festered in your own inferiority, even speak!”
“Haha… hahaha!”
Covering his face with one hand, the Heaven-Bearing Asura laughed loudly before glaring at the Omniscient One with a loathsome expression.
“A man who chose suicide, steeped in his own powerlessness. Does he even have the right to be compared to me?”
At those words, a surge of emotion seemed to well up inside the Omniscient One.
“What did you say?”
“The Clairvoyant lost to the fate of the heavens. He gave up on life and killed himself.”
As if genuinely amused, the Heaven-Bearing Asura twisted one side of his lips into a smirk.
“But what about you and I? Have we not preserved our lineage even as the age of incantations and sorcery has declined?”
The Heaven-Bearing Asura spoke of the future in a calm voice.
It was a truth the Omniscient One had long been aware of.
“The heavens will soon close, and an era will come when the term ‘internal energy’ sounds like a joke. When that time comes, sorcery will become a discipline in name only.”
“…”
“Omniscient One, is that truly the future you desire?”
The Heaven-Bearing Asura stared intently at the Omniscient One.
“If you join me, the teachings of the Mount Mao lineage will at least not decline and be forgotten.”
As if to ask what he thought, a gentle ripple flowed from the Heaven-Bearing Asura’s eyes.
For a brief moment, the Omniscient One tilted his head back and looked up at the sky.
It was devastating.
The eyes that saw the future would close, and the arts passed down from his predecessors would become trash to be burned.
What he feared most was the fact that the Mount Mao lineage would be forgotten.
Even he himself, living and breathing here and now.
The Omniscient One recalled the face of the Clairvoyant who had taught him sorcery, and the faces of a few of his peers who had agonized with him in times of inner turmoil.
Despite being in front of the Heaven-Bearing Asura, whom he considered an enemy, a bitter smile unknowingly touched his lips.
‘It won’t just be forgotten. Even the shrines honoring the Mount Mao lineage will be burned to the ground.’
He knew.
Even if he dealt with the Eight Evils, there was no future for him.
He was also aware that his death, which had been approaching since he killed the Black Dragon, was gradually accelerating.
“…Heh heh.”
The Omniscient One let out a hollow laugh.
‘Still, despite it all, there is something I must do.’
The memory of the Clairvoyant looking at him with pity surfaced, along with the last words of a peer who had apologized for leaving him with such a heavy burden.
That was why he could remain calm, even as a scoundrel like the Heaven-Bearing Asura tried to sway him with his words.
Above all, if he were to fall for such sweet talk, he would have no face to show the Clairvoyant.
*Swish.*
The Omniscient One took out a talisman.
“Sometimes, as the ages pass, certain disciplines are bound to become obsolete. Even if that discipline is sorcery, I have no intention of fighting the current.”
“Is that your choice?”
How foolish.
Muttering that it was a shame, the Heaven-Bearing Asura put on the mask he had tucked away in his robes.
“The Mount Mao lineage left you behind to defy the heavens… but I am not them.”
“What do you mean by that!”
The moment he finished speaking.
*Kwa-gang… grrrr-rumble!*
A sound that shook the very earth filled the space between the two sorcerers.
Sensing something, the Omniscient One’s face hardened.
‘Don’t tell me… the Heaven-Bearing Asura is one of the Eight Evils?’
He wanted to dismiss it as nonsense, but the energy he had momentarily revealed was unmistakably demonic.
It was demonic energy of such purity that it would be impossible to maintain one's sanity unless one were a demonic beast.
As the Omniscient One reeled in confusion, a thick scent of blood emanated from the Heaven-Bearing Asura’s entire body.
Would a lake made from the blood of a hundred… no, ten thousand people feel like this?
His knees went weak in an instant, and his head throbbed. He even heard auditory hallucinations, as if someone were whispering a curse.
Only then did the Omniscient One realize.
The Heaven-Bearing Asura was merely maintaining a human form; his essence had completely deviated from humanity!
“Kraaaaaaaah!”
Feeling an instinctual revulsion toward the Heaven-Bearing Asura, Daexiong roared ferociously.
Seeing this, the Heaven-Bearing Asura grinned.
“Just a mere beast.”
“…!”
The moment the Heaven-Bearing Asura’s presence faded, the Omniscient One scattered all the talismans in his hand.
The first was to form a protective formation to suppress the demonic energy; the second was a spirit-channeling art to bolster Daexiong’s own energy.
He then burned twelve talismans hidden in his chest in the shape of a mandala.
All this took less than an instant, but the Heaven-Bearing Asura had reached an even higher realm.
*Crack!*
A sound like twisting bone rang out.
“Kuaaargh!”
As Daexiong cried out in unbearable pain, the Heaven-Bearing Asura narrowed his eyes and sneered.
“A fine cry for a mere beast.”
“Daexiong!”
The Omniscient One clenched his jaw and focused all his senses on the Heaven-Bearing Asura.
But what followed was only despair.
The demon-subduing formation launched in the shape of a mandala was burned away by immense demonic energy, and the protective formation shattered helplessly.
Every art he had learned over hundreds of years was effortlessly dismantled, one by one, at the Heaven-Bearing Asura’s fingertips and toes.
The Heaven-Bearing Asura grinned.
“This is boring.”
But the Omniscient One did not react.
He had to cast the best possible art every single moment, if only to protect Daexiong, who was throwing his entire body in front of him to block the Heaven-Bearing Asura.
He pushed aside the despair of being torn apart by overwhelming power and the frustration of being helplessly pushed back by arts woven from demonic energy.
*Chwaak!*
*Kwaaaang!*
With each passing moment, small wounds began to appear on the Omniscient One’s body.
The backlash from his arts being forcibly torn apart was one thing, but the energy he had accumulated on Mount Mao was incompatible with demonic energy.
But he had known this would happen, so the Omniscient One stoically endured the pain.
The chilling sensation of his skin being flayed was enough to make him grind his teeth.
But it was also true that he could only counterattack the Heaven-Bearing Asura now, while he was extremely off-guard.
‘Is this how Ouyang Jue felt when he faced the Black Dragon one-on-one?’
If the Omniscient One had cultivated for hundreds of years, the Heaven-Bearing Asura numbered nearly a thousand.
Moreover, while the Mount Mao lineage emphasized arts that coexisted with nature, the Heaven-Bearing Asura pursued only dark arts that craved blood.
His ability to freely wield demonic energy as he was now was likely built upon such experience.
The Omniscient One felt the strength draining from his entire body. A murky puddle formed at his feet.
‘My head feels heavy.’
Daexiong’s growls grew more distant. And yet, the sneer on the Heaven-Bearing Asura’s face remained perfectly clear.
*Haaah.*
The Omniscient One let out a sigh loud enough to be heard.
The thought that this might be his last breath cleared his mind and filled him with a strange sense of cheer.
“In any case, wasn't my karma fulfilled with the death of the Black Dragon?”
The Omniscient One muttered to himself as he drew a vajra he had never used, not even on Mount Mao.
Seeing it, the Heaven-Bearing Asura’s eyes glinted with interest.
“A three-pronged ritual implement? Did the Mount Mao lineage have such an art?”
“Silence.”
Forcing his body, which seemed about to collapse at any moment, to remain upright, the Omniscient One looked at Daexiong’s back.
It was a clean back, without a single wound. But behind it, from its nose, blood trickled down along with snot.
At this rate, they would both die.
This fact was pushing the Omniscient One to the edge of a cliff.
“I, the Omniscient One, the last survivor of the Mount Mao lineage, will purify you.”
In a voice filled with an unshakable resolve, the Heaven-Bearing Asura responded in kind.
“If King Yama asks, tell him you were killed by the Asura's mask, the Demonic Seed, Heaven-Bearing Asura!”
“Kuaaaang!”
The moment Daexiong and the Heaven-Bearing Asura’s forms crossed.
The Omniscient One thrust the vajra forward and, with his remaining hand, formed a hand seal of a bizarre pattern.
*Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!*
Behind Mi Prefecture, a side of Mount Zhangjie’s cliff collapsed.
***
“Damn it, am I too late?”
Ouyang Jue looked around, his voice hollow.
He had pushed his lightness skill to its absolute limit all the way from Mount Hua, but all that remained were tree stumps and all sorts of debris.
It must have been a massive battle, enough to erase any trace that the Omniscient One had ever lived there.
Unable to hide his urgency, Ouyang Jue searched in every direction, shouting.
“Omniscient One! Where are you! Omniscient One!”
“Calm yourself, Junior Brother!”
Liu Zhangming tried to calm the extremely agitated Ouyang Jue, but the flames, once lit, were not easily extinguished.
Above all, the memory of Ha Jin-ak’s fall was tormenting Ouyang Jue.
‘One mistake is enough!’
To think that the complacent thought of meeting him next time would lead to such a great misfortune.
Forgetting that his fingernails were being torn on the rocks, Ouyang Jue was wholly focused on finding the Omniscient One.
“…My word.”
Had Ouyang Jue ever been so consumed by emotion?
Just as Liu Zhangming was looking at Ouyang Jue with pity, a strange cry echoed from somewhere in the forest.
“Wooooo…!”
At the somewhat mournful sound of a beast, Ouyang Jue immediately lifted his head.
“Senior Brother! Let’s go that way!”
“Alright.”
Ouyang Jue and Liu Zhangming hurriedly used their lightness skill to reach the source of the sound. There, they found the Omniscient One, collapsed and near death, and a severed arm of unknown origin lying nearby.
‘At least both of the Omniscient One’s arms are intact… so it must belong to his attacker.’
With that judgment, Ouyang Jue quickly helped the Omniscient One into a seated lotus position and placed a hand on his back.
“Senior Brother, please keep watch on our surroundings.”
“I will.”
“If you have a moment, could you send a carrier pigeon or hawk to the Golden Ring Merchant Guild…”
“Do not worry!”
When Liu Zhangming replied in a grave voice, Ouyang Jue finally realized how rushed he had been.
His voice certainly had the power to calm the heart.
While Ouyang Jue infused the Omniscient One with his Purple Mist True Energy to restore his vitality, Liu Zhangming expanded his energy sense to check if anyone was lurking nearby.
…*Thwack, thwack!*
A very faint but regular sound reached his ears.
‘It sounds like an axe striking wood.’
It seemed to be someone gathering wood nearby, but to be chopping firewood when one side of a cliff had just collapsed and buried everything…
Feeling extremely wary, Liu Zhangming approached the middle-aged man.
“Excuse me.”
“…Huk?!”
The middle-aged man was so startled he nearly fainted, and Liu Zhangming bowed his head apologetically.
As he did, he used his energy sense to gauge the man's level and found that he was not a martial artist, but an ordinary commoner.
Only then was Liu Zhangming able to relax.
“I am Liu Zhangming of the Mount Hua Sect. I apologize for startling you, but may I ask a favor?”
“Wh-what is it?”
“Please go to the Golden Ring Merchant Guild in Chang'an and ask them to send a physician to Mount Zhangjie. The guild will compensate you for your trouble.”
“…Is this related to the commotion just now?”
“I cannot say, but will you do it?”
The shabbily dressed middle-aged man nodded his head in agreement.
He had come to gather wood precisely because he was in desperate need of money.
As the middle-aged man quickly descended the mountain, Liu Zhangming stood guard for Ouyang Jue and scanned the surroundings.
Then, something caught his eye.
‘…This is.’
A magnificent robe, embroidered in gold and red.
It was a long robe of such flamboyant colors that even a major martial arts family, let alone a family of considerable power, would hesitate to wear it.
“I should hold onto this.”
Liu Zhangming tucked the piece of cloth deep into his sleeve.