Chapter 6
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 6
"Lord Goe Cheon—"
"I know."
He knew the two companions he left behind were no match for this demon ghost. Even so, as the one with the highest cultivation among the three, he had brought Ise with him to get the boy even a single step closer to the Ghost-Guarding Temple.
However, he hadn't expected them to fall so quickly.
Goe Cheon set Ise down and immediately drew upon his demonic energy. The sight of the boy’s battered, broken body pained his heart, but there was no other choice.
"Go back. Take whoever remains in the Ghost-Guarding Temple and flee as far away as you can."
The situation was dire. The boy was remarkably clever; saying this much would be enough for him to understand.
Goe Cheon slammed the Golden Shattering Club vertically into the ground and formed a hand seal with his free hand.
Dogwi Shadow-Gathering Demonic Art
Shadow Net Formation
In an instant, shadows were ripped from the surrounding rocks, trees, and grass. A mysterious phenomenon occurred, making the surroundings momentarily feel brighter as the ambient darkness was siphoned away. Immediately after, the gathered shadows morphed into a massive net.
Instead of fleeing right away, Ise put a little distance between them and watched the clash between the two beings. His body could barely stand. Even if he ran, he wouldn't get far.
If Goe Cheon lost to the Aseongyongma, Ise would inevitably be caught no matter how hard he tried to escape. In that case, it would be better to play his final card and repay the debt of grace he owed with his life.
'Third Rule of Ghost Exorcism: Judge the situation calmly under any circumstance.'
Setting his emotions aside, he assessed the battlefield coolly. He would act exactly as he had been taught.
'If I'm more likely to be a hindrance, I should run as far away as possible.'
He would observe for just one moment. Ise’s eyes gleamed sharply.
The shadows Goe Cheon had extracted unfolded like a net, pouncing on the Aseongyongma to ensnare the ferocious beast. However, the horns atop the Aseongyongma’s head flashed, tearing the shadowy bindings to shreds.
Dogwi Shadow-Gathering Demonic Art
Four Directions Strike
Instantly, four human-sized shadows surged from the ground. Surrounding the Aseongyongma, the four shadowy hands slammed down onto the earth as if squashing an insect.
The Aseongyongma leaped up, dodging the strike lightly, and let out a fierce roar. A vibration strong enough to shake the entire mountain echoed through the air.
Closing the distance in a flash, Goe Cheon gripped the Golden Shattering Club with both hands and swung it horizontally.
A screeching shriek of iron clashing against iron rang out.
The blunt weapon had been swung with enough force to shatter the demon ghost’s head, but it was his Golden Shattering Club that broke instead.
Watching this single exchange, Ise realized just how much the Aseongyongma had treated him like an insect inside the demon ghost barrier. He was an insignificant creature that could have been crushed at any moment had the beast wished—so utterly trivial that it hadn't even bothered to use its full strength.
That had been the demon ghost's perspective of him all along.
'And this is merely an intermediate demon ghost. On the lower end, at that...'
How many terrifyingly stronger demon ghosts lined the ranks above it? It felt as if he were staring up at an impossibly high mountain.
Ise quickly shook his head. When surviving the demon ghost before his eyes was far from certain, thinking about what lay beyond was pure arrogance.
First, Ise ripped off a strip of his sleeve and began wrapping it tightly around his hand and forearm. Then, he slipped a dagger into the binding.
Using Dokkaebi Footwork, he gradually erased his presence.
*
'If I drag this out, I will surely lose.'
After exchanging blows with the Aseongyongma for only a brief moment, Goe Cheon became certain of this fact.
Though their levels of demonic energy and realms felt similar, there was a stark difference in their sheer caliber and combat experience. As if the monster had hunted members of the Dogwi Tribe countless times, every move Goe Cheon made was intercepted without fail.
Even if it cost him his life, ending the battle as quickly as possible offered the only real chance of victory.
After exchanging a few more blows, he identified his clear advantages and disadvantages. He was outmatched in speed and endurance. However, he held the upper hand in raw physical power and instantaneous bursts of demonic energy. In that case...
'Give up the flesh to claim the bone.'
Goe Cheon met the Aseongyongma's thunderous horn charge head-on. Though he coated himself in demonic energy to brace for the impact, the two horns slammed into him with immense power, ruthlessly piercing through his abdomen and protruding from his back.
"Huuup!"
He inhaled sharply and flexed his muscles, locking the horns in place.
Then, he plunged the jagged, broken end of the Golden Shattering Club vertically into the Aseongyongma’s spine.
With a heavy thud, the demon ghost's blood spattered violently. A shriek echoed through the air.
He struck a second time. A third time.
Every time the Aseongyongma thrashed, its dragon horns gouged Goe Cheon's abdomen; every time the Golden Shattering Club struck down, the monster's thick hide tore to shreds.
It was a desperate close-quarters fight bordering on mutual destruction. It was a race to see who would bleed out first. A sprint with the River Sanzu as the finish line.
'I can kill it...!'
Goe Cheon shouted inwardly, forcing back his fading consciousness. But in that split second, he failed to dodge a snake-like figure launching from the Aseongyongma's tail.
Unleashing its hidden trump card, the snake-head bit viciously into Goe Cheon’s shoulder.
'Poison...'
Deadly venom spread instantly from his shoulder. Had he been unscathed, he never would have allowed such a fatal blow to land, but the gap in their hidden moves proved decisive.
Both Goe Cheon and the Aseongyongma sensed the end. In that single moment when the outcome was decided—when both predator and prey were entirely distracted—something dropped down from the treetops.
"You... You!"
The human boy, Ise—who should have already fled toward the Ghost-Guarding Temple—had landed square on the Aseongyongma’s back.
Neither of them had noticed his approach at all. That was how fiercely contested the life-and-death struggle between Goe Cheon and the Aseongyongma had been.
Kkiaaaaak!
Startled by the ambush, the Aseongyongma shrieked fiercely.
"Why didn't you run?! Do you want to die a dog's death?!"
"Hold him tight, Lord Goe Cheon...!"
Only then did Goe Cheon notice the forearm-length dagger in Ise’s hand, its hilt embedded with a blue gem. An auspicious aura flowed from the blade—it was undoubtedly a treasure from Gwibo Hall.
Goe Cheon felt a momentary sense of futility seeing the boy he had risked his life to save throw himself back into danger. However, he immediately locked his forearm around the Aseongyongma’s head—which was still impaling him—and tightly grabbed the snake-headed tail with his other hand.
He had sensed something desperate in the Aseongyongma's thrashing.
Goe Cheon knew he wouldn't survive anyway. A third of his abdominal viscera was destroyed, and the venomous snake had bitten directly into his artery.
He simply wanted to carve out a path of survival for the boy before him.
Ooooooo—!
The Aseongyongma’s pain-filled howl resounded like thunder.
Gripping the Meridian-Severing Blade—secured tightly to his hand by the torn cloth—Ise plunged it precisely into the center of the Aseongyongma’s spine.
It was the exact spot Goe Cheon had managed to wound. The single opportunity bought at the cost of Goe Cheon’s life.
Though Goe Cheon was a Dogwi who had thrown away his life to save him, Ise could not afford to strike at an imperfect opening, even if it meant waiting until the very brink of the demon's death.
Ise immediately slammed his Small Axe down onto the pommel of the Meridian-Severing Blade. Like a hammer driving a chisel.
Once more, an ear-splitting shriek shattered the air.
It was not from pain. It was from fear.
The demon ghost could feel the demonic energy circulating inside its body dispersing by the second.
The Meridian-Severing Blade was a weapon specifically designed to sever the pulse of demonic energy. It was a treasure that, when driven directly into a demon ghost's pulse points, ravenously swallowed up its internal demonic energy, rendering it completely helpless.
Growing increasingly frantic, the Aseongyongma thrashed with even greater violence.
Mustering the very last of his strength, Goe Cheon delivered a brutal blow squarely to the Aseongyongma's head.
Perhaps because the demonic energy cloaking its body had vanished, the skull that had previously felt as hard as steel caved in like squished tofu under the impact.
A fatal wound.
Yet the price paid for expending his final strength was equally fatal.
The Aseongyongma violently shoved Goe Cheon away as it charged forward, its dragon horns slicing diagonally through his body. Goe Cheon’s body was flung out of sight before he could even scream.
The Aseongyongma snorted as though it had finally disposed of a nuisance, then bucked its body wildly.
However, the leech-like little human refused to fall off. The beast's internal demonic energy had already been completely drained.
The Aseongyongma slammed its body against trees and rocks to dislodge the human clinging to its back.
Bang! A tree trunk splintered, and black blood spilled from Ise’s mouth once more.
Even without its demonic energy, the monster's sheer physical prowess was formidable. Yet the Meridian-Severing Blade, busy ravenously gorging on demonic energy, remained firmly lodged in its spine. Thanks to his tightly bound hand, Ise did not fall either.
Instead, raising his Small Axe with his free hand, he hacked away at the Aseongyongma’s battered neck.
Thwack! Thwack!
Three times, four times. The Small Axe dug deeper into the monster's flesh, spraying demon ghost blood in all directions.
Sensing imminent doom, the Aseongyongma whipped its tail around and impaled Ise’s body, but the boy did not stop.
After a grueling, bloody struggle between two beings teetering on the edge of death, it was the demon ghost that collapsed first.
Only then did the Meridian-Severing Blade slip out from the Aseongyongma's spine, as if satisfied.
The demon ghost died with its neck severed, and Ise fell to his knees, drenched in blood. Everything below his chest was stained a gruesome crimson.
He was in no condition to move even a single step.
Survival seemed utterly out of reach. Goe Cheon had vanished from his field of vision, making it impossible to find and save him.
The final choice Ise made at the end of his life was to chop completely through the Aseongyongma's neck with his Small Axe, tear its head off, and stake it upright into the ground.
It was like severing an enemy general's head and displaying it on a pike.
This was the second demon ghost he had ever hunted, and it would be his last.
His vision blurred.
Amidst his fading consciousness, he faintly saw a light flying in from the distant sky. It was a blue light trailing a long tail, reminiscent of the dokkaebi fire from the old folktales adults used to tell him as a child.
It was Mongryeon.
Leaping down from the light, Mongryeon waved her hand, gently wrapping Ise's body in demonic energy. Seeing the head of the Aseongyongma impaled on the Small Axe, she clicked her tongue.
The boy's obsession with severed heads was likely an aftereffect—a trauma response from witnessing his family's corpses after their heads had been eaten by the Wadu Scholar.
"What's with displaying the head? Is it your own fiendish trademark or something? A weakling putting on airs already..."
Ise could barely speak.
Even so, ever since Mongryeon appeared, his pain had strangely dissipated, and he felt at ease. When he spat out what had accumulated in his mouth, a handful of dark, clotted blood gushed out.
"P-pocket... a Medicinal Pill... for Lord Goe Cheon..."
Realizing what he meant, Mongryeon immediately rummaged through Ise's clothes, pulled out the Medicinal Pill, and popped it into his mouth.
"Looks like your stomach's got a hole in it, so I don't know if you can even digest it."
"Why... me?"
"Goe Cheon is already dead."
"..."
"Foolish bastard. If you're a Dogwi, act like one! Weaklings cooped up in the Ghost-Guarding Temple, unable to run, making a scene like they're protecting something... Tsk. Pathetic fools."
The effect of the Medicinal Pill was unmistakable. Fitting for something called a panacea and a divine elixir, the bleeding stopped, and his wounds visibly began to mend.
"...I am sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry for? It's all because those young fools weren't taught properly. But you—you had a precious elixir on you, yet you just laid here dying? You should've taken it yourself."
"It wasn't meant for me."
"Bullshit. Tsk, they call it a divine elixir that can bring back the dead, yet it can't even plug up a gaping hole."
She scratched her head vigorously, then opened her palm in a gesture of surrender.
"I don't know if I should be using Dogwi sorcery on a brat who hasn't even unlocked his spiritual energy."
As the hesitant Mongryeon waved her hand, the gaping hole in his torso began to gradually seal up. It was a divine miracle that would leave anyone jaw-dropped.
"...Master, you truly are amazing."
"You only just realized that? This is just a temporary fix, so don't overexert yourself until the Medicinal Pill takes full effect. More importantly... this bastard isn't dead yet."
Baring her teeth, Mongryeon growled and approached the corpse of the Aseongyongma. Though the mangled body clearly seemed beyond any chance of survival, Mongryeon simply sneered and spun her Golden Shattering Club.
"You bastard, pretending to be dead after harming four of my family members."
She took a deep breath. Her body momentarily puffed up like a bloated toad.
As Mongryeon reached her hand toward the Aseongyongma, dark energy began to stream out of its corpse like a jet of water. It coalesced into a sphere before violently burrowing back into the Aseongyongma’s body.
"Impossible... Its head was severed."
"This bastard may have fallen to the Qi Refining Stage now, but in the past, it was a monster that reached the Core Formation Stage. As long as traces of its Golden Core exist, simply destroying its flesh won't finish it off. You have to shatter the remnants of the Golden Core."
Qi Refining Stage. Core Formation Stage.
Ise recalled the cultivation realms of the Cultivation World he had read about in ancient texts.
The realm where one begins to control and learn spiritual energy: Qi Refining.
The realm where one purges all impure energy within the body, lays a solid foundation, and gathers vast amounts of spiritual energy: Foundation Establishment.
The realm where one forms an inner core called a Golden Core and draws significantly closer to becoming an Immortal: Core Formation.
The realm where one manipulates souls and spirit bodies, causes natural disasters, and achieves a body close to true immortality: Nascent Soul.
The final realm achievable in the Mortal Realm, where one becomes a godlike entity capable of ascending to the Celestial Realm: Soul Transformation.
Considering that most cultivators ended their lives stuck at the Qi Refining Stage, and that reaching even the Core Formation Stage earned one the title of master in the Mortal Realm... this creature had literally fallen from heaven to hell.
Mongryeon pulled out the Meridian-Severing Blade embedded in the Aseongyongma’s back. At that exact moment, the Aseongyongma’s head—stuck on the axe—shrieked and flew back toward its severed neck.
"My boy went through the trouble of chopping it off so nicely, and you dare try to reattach it?"
Spinning her signature weapon—the Red Ten Thousand Catties Club, a variant of the Golden Shattering Club—she swung it down at a brutal angle.
Dogwi Shadow-Gathering Demonic Art
Thousand Catties Strike
It was a simple swing, yet an impact that shook the very foundations of the earth followed.
All that remained was the pulverized, bloody mess of the demon ghost’s corpse.