Chapter 29
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 29
Close the distance first.
Ise hurled the small axe he was gripping with all his might.
The hand axe spun through the air toward the retching Kim Si-won. It struck him squarely in the chest, but Kim Si-won didn't get so much as a scratch.
He hadn't even bothered to block it.
“With such cheap tricks…!”
Kim Si-won reached into his robes and pulled out a talisman. Glowing with a deep golden energy, it shot straight toward Ise.
Seeing its ominous approach, Ise immediately raised his Black Iron Shield to block it.
The moment it touched the shield, however, the talisman split open like a net, attempting to swallow the shield whole.
Before the sticky net could entangle his body, Ise threw the shield to his left and charged at Kim Si-won without breaking stride.
Barely three paces remained between them.
One step. Another talisman flew from Kim Si-won’s robes.
Spiraling like a narwhal's horn, the talisman flew forward to embed itself in Ise’s left palm—or rather, the palm he had raised just in time to block it.
Another step.
The sharp blade of the Meridian-Severing Blade—a treasure he had kept hidden since leaving the Ghost-Guarding Temple—flashed in the sunlight.
The final step.
The Meridian-Severing Blade flew straight for the demonic cultivator’s neck, aimed at his carotid artery.
Yet just before the blade could pierce his throat, Ise’s body erupted into flames.
“Sir!”
It was only when he heard the Bamboo Tube Beauty’s scream that Ise realized he had fallen for an unknown spell.
A massive inferno engulfed his entire body. Through his distorted vision, he saw Kim Si-won glaring at him, holding a crimson treasure artifact.
The flames spewing from that artifact were burning him alive.
It burns…
His advance ground to a halt. The pain was so severe it threatened his sanity. He had thought six years of grueling training had accustomed him to any agony, but this excruciating heat was far worse than anything he had ever imagined.
Just then, the support he had been waiting for arrived.
Splash! A massive droplet of water plummeted onto Ise’s head.
The flames died down. Though heat still shimmered off his skin and his entire body throbbed as if it were on fire, his vision cleared instantly.
Only then did Ise realize he was soaked from head to toe.
A Water Attribute Dharma Spell.
Seol Ryeong must have regained her senses and used one of her Dharma Artifacts.
Right. He wasn't alone. A noble scion with an abundance of Dharma Artifacts had his back.
Without hesitation, Ise thrust the Meridian-Severing Blade toward Kim Si-won's neck.
However, Kim Si-won threw up his arm in a desperate bid to block the attack. The Meridian-Severing Blade failed to pierce his skin.
A simple bladed weapon could not break through the flesh of a cultivator fortified with spiritual energy.
Knowing this, Kim Si-won, having already gauged Ise’s realm, had confidently blocked the dagger with his forearm.
“A half-baked Daoist who can't even coat his weapon in spiritual energy…!”
The corners of his lips curled into a sneer.
Just as Kim Si-won began considering which Dharma Artifact he would use to cook the brat, Ise’s free hand shot out and grabbed his open wrist.
“Get your filthy hand off me.”
His grip strength was commendable, at least. In fact, his physical prowess, resolve, and judgment marked him as an exceptional talent.
He lacked just one thing—a proper sense of awe for a cultivator of a higher realm.
“Is this all you've prepared, you worm—”
Kim Si-won stirred his spiritual energy, preparing to unleash the most powerful Dharma Spell he could manage. The nauseating energy twisting his blood vessels and qi was finally subsiding. He was about to show this fool the true difference in their realms.
“Ise!”
However, there was more than one enemy. The wench who had been harassing him from behind with low-grade talismans attacked once more.
A massive droplet of water slammed into his face like a hammer. To make matters worse, the moisture coating his body instantly froze.
Perhaps because they countered the Fire Attribute Dharma Artifact he had used, the Water Attribute and Ice Attribute talismans felt far more threatening, even to him.
“This is nothing more than buying time!”
Yet Kim Si-won failed to realize what kind of change that brief moment bought by Seol Ryeong had brought to Ise.
Hummm. Golden spiritual energy flashed across Ise’s arm for a split second.
Realizing what that meant, Kim Si-won was struck speechless.
The realm he had confirmed for this bastard was definitely the 2-Star Qi Refining Stage. He shouldn't know how to project spiritual energy outward or infuse it into a weapon.
Yet the spiritual energy within Ise’s body was gradually pushing outward, beginning to wrap around the Meridian-Severing Blade.
And it was Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy—far purer and denser than Kim Si-won’s own.
“Impossible! These damned butchers…!”
With bloodshot eyes, Ise tightened his grip on the Meridian-Severing Blade. The capillaries in his hand stood out vividly, looking ready to burst at any moment.
Thump! At last, the blade of the Meridian-Severing Blade sank into Kim Si-won's forearm.
Although his initial plan to slit the man’s throat had failed, this was more than enough.
The Meridian-Severing Blade was, after all, a treasured artifact that delivered instant death to any Qi Refining stage demon ghost it touched.
As if starving, the blade began devouring Kim Si-won’s demonic energy.
Realizing the demonic energy inside him was being drained, Kim Si-won gasped in horror and tried to reach into his robes with his other arm, but Ise's iron grip held him fast.
Ise slammed his forehead, clad in spiritual energy, straight into Kim Si-won’s nose.
“Argh!”
Kim Si-won shrieked and fell backward.
Ise yanked out the Meridian-Severing Blade and plunged it directly into the bastard's solar plexus.
“Imp… ossible. Raising his realm in the middle of battle—”
“Bamboo Tube.”
When Ise, having completely subdued the demonic cultivator, called out to the Bamboo Tube Beauty, she flinched.
“Any last words for him?”
“……”
“Guess not.”
“My name is!” the Bamboo Tube Beauty raised her voice sharply.
Sensing his impending death, the cultivator’s eyes blinked a couple of times before shifting toward the monster who had cupped her hands together.
“It's… Geum Ah.”
Her voice was choked with tears. The Bamboo Tube Beauty, Geum Ah, falteringly delivered what would be her final words to him.
“It was the name… you gave me… wishing for me to be precious. I was so happy. Truly, so happy.”
The light of life began to fade from the demonic cultivator’s eyes.
What went through his mind at the very end? Regret at failing to achieve Immortal Cultivation? Remorse for pursuing us? A lingering attachment to life?
His ragged breathing stopped.
Ise pushed himself halfway up, drew out the Meridian-Severing Blade, and stabbed him once each in the head, neck, and heart.
It appeared cruel, but he had heard that certain demonic arts allowed cultivators to hide spare lives inside their major organs. Despite his thorough preparations, the gap in their realms had been stark, and Ise's own injuries were severe. He couldn't afford to make another foolish mistake.
Not content with that, he picked up the small axe lying nearby and raised it to bring down on Kim Si-won’s throat.
Just as he was about to decapitate the demon ghost to display as a trophy, as he always did—
“Ise!”
“……?”
“Stop. Just stop there, please. You can do that much, right?”
Ise halted his arm at Seol Ryeong’s cry. He then met the eyes of the spirit creature looking back at him, and the Bamboo Tube Beauty, who was staring at the demonic cultivator’s corpse with a foolishly hopeless expression as tears streamed down her face.
Ise spat onto the ground. A mixture of saliva, blood, and bits of charred skin landed on the dirt.
“Seol Ryeong. Demonic cultivators can be exorcised too, right?”
“Yeah. That's right… But are you okay? Your body…”
“Do you want to do it? Or should I?”
Seol Ryeong shook her head, seemingly unable to bring herself to say she would do it in front of Ise, whose skin was blackened and burned.
Ise raised the Purification Rod in his hand and recited the mantra for the Ghost-Banishing Spirit-Purging Qi Refining Art.
At once, the remaining demonic energy inside the demonic cultivator Kim Si-won was purified and drawn into him. After a certain point, however, the inflow of purified spiritual energy ground to a halt.
Then, the remaining demonic energy began to be drawn straight into his body as it was.
…The leftover demonic energy isn't dissipating.
The Great Martial Dao clearly stated that the amount of demonic energy one could purify was limited by the realms of the cultivator and their prey. However, he hadn't expected the unpurified demonic energy to be sucked straight into him.
Instead of saying this aloud, Ise roughly tore the luxurious pouch from Kim Si-won’s robe, pulled out a Demon Ghost Sealing Scroll, and recited the mantra once more. With that, Kim Si-won’s corpse was drawn into the scroll, imprinted like a painting.
After a fleeting moment of awe at the strange sight, his gaze turned toward the last remaining demon ghost.
Now that the entire truth had been laid bare.
Kim Si-won had indeed been alive. He had merely used her to gain her spiritual nature, discarding her once she outlived her usefulness. Then, having fallen from the Dao to become a demonic cultivator, he had returned under false pretenses to hunt her down and exploit her once more, even after she had become a monster.
Perhaps due to the devastating shock of her trusted master's betrayal, Geum Ah’s body had grown noticeably translucent. Soon, she would transform completely into a demon ghost and lose her sanity.
“……”
Seol Ryeong remained silent.
“So that's how it is,” Ise summarized briefly.
It felt foul to be the one who had to sever the last thread of hope she had clung to. The wounds carved into her during her long wait had festered like pus before finally bursting open under the name of truth.
“I'm sorry.”
Geum Ah, standing frozen in place, stared blankly into the air for a long time before large tears began to spill from her eyes.
“Uwahhh…”
The teardrops of a creature that had now become a demon ghost sparkled sorrowfully in the air.
“Even if you become a demon ghost, I will perform a soul pacification so you can enter the Gate of Reincarnation without accumulating evil karma. Don't worry,” Seol Ryeong said, patting her shoulder comfortingly.
“I……”