Chapter 368
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 368
Chapter Title: You're a Demon, Aren't You?
That was when Ha Mu-baek began channeling the Absorption Art, drawing in Go Hu-rak's Myriad Desolation energy.
At that moment.
The corpse of Go Hu-rak, eyes snapping open with a smile.
Two eyes pitch-black, devoid of any whites.
No trace of life could be felt from them.
Yet those eyes stared straight at Ha Mu-baek.
Ha Mu-baek's own eyes trembled faintly as they met that gaze.
He had roamed battlefields, traversed the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, braved every perilous corner of the martial world.
Countless indescribable experiences under his belt.
But he could say with certainty.
This was a first for him.
Even when he'd seen the Decapitated Blood Ghost in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest carrying its own head, it hadn't shaken him like this.
A corpse with qi being infused into it had opened its eyes.
And smiled.
Was this even possible?
"Are you my heir?"
A voice boomed in his head.
It transcended sound transmission, reaching the realm of Radiant Mind Communication.
'How is a corpse...?'
He'd checked over and over, but it was undoubtedly a corpse.
"As expected. Releasing the Myriad Desolation was the right call. I have no idea how much time has passed, but a heir has come to wake me."
The voice kept resounding in his mind.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze shifted to Go Hu-rak's dantian.
He couldn't just stand there dumbfounded by the astonishment.
He needed to grasp what was happening.
No vitality emanated from this body still.
Though it had opened its eyes and moved its lips.
No matter how he looked, this was a corpse.
Confirmed through the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
Only energy stirred within the dantian.
The Myriad Desolation energy, linked to his hand, surged into Ha Mu-baek's body per the Absorption Art.
That was the sole movement of energy.
The meridians had withered and twisted, incapable of circulating qi.
In that case.
Ha Mu-baek just needed to halt the Absorption Art and pull his hand away.
But as he watched a moment longer, curious about the true nature of this Myriad Desolation power.
A powerful suction erupted from Go Hu-rak's dantian, seizing Ha Mu-baek's hand.
"Kekeke. Shouldn't you claim all the Myriad Desolation energy I left behind? This is a crucial moment. Don't pull away carelessly."
As if reading his movements, Go Hu-rak's voice echoed in his head once more.
The Myriad Desolation energy continued flooding into Ha Mu-baek like a torrent.
No matter how he saw it, the intent wasn't benevolent.
'Tricked? Clever bastard. To think I'd fall for this.'
A mechanism designed to crumble for the unqualified.
Go Hu-rak's bequeathed Myriad Desolation power.
The method to claim it, etched in blood as a tattoo.
Anyone arriving here bearing the Myriad Desolation energy had no choice but to follow his instructions.
No choice but to trust Go Hu-rak's final words.
An exquisite design.
"What do you intend to do?"
Ha Mu-baek unleashed his Radiant Mind Communication.
Encompassing the entirety of Go Hu-rak's corpse.
"Oho. Impressive indeed. Worthy of reaching this place. My thanks. How much time has passed?"
No answer to what Ha Mu-baek sought.
Instead, Go Hu-rak, confirming communication was possible, pressed with his own question.
Ha Mu-baek scowled.
'I got played?'
How long had it been since he'd been so thoroughly duped?
The preparation was far too perfect.
Above all, the mechanism designed to collapse upon any errant qi made it seem truly a destined opportunity awaiting only the fated one.
In the meantime, all the Myriad Desolation energy had been fully drawn into Ha Mu-baek's body.
Pasuk.
Go Hu-rak's corpse, stripped of all energy in its dantian, crumbled into powder and scattered.
Sure enough.
It had been a corpse.
But how?
"Hmmm. Excellent. A fine vessel. Truly splendid."
The moment the ecstatic voice rang in Ha Mu-baek's mind.
He realized Go Hu-rak's true aim.
"My body was your goal?"
An absurd situation, turning Radiant Mind Communication on himself.
"Precisely. Indeed. A sharp heir you are. A finely honed vessel, lacking nothing for my use. However... to manifest Myriad Desolation through such crude Poison Crystal energy. Disappointing. True, Poison Crystal qi can invoke it, but this vulgar method degrades the noble Myriad Desolation. How much time has truly passed?"
Having properly examined the Myeok Gu-eung qi infused with Poison Crystal energy, Go Hu-rak spoke with satisfaction laced by disappointment.
"How are you still alive? You were clearly dead. How?"
"Kekeke. Myriad Desolation encompasses all. Housing a soul within its energy is trivial. Of course, only if one reaches the pinnacle as I have."
"And setting it so only a bearer of Myriad Desolation could enter?"
"Only then could my soul take root."
Sure enough.
This bastard had arranged everything from the start to seize the body of whoever found him.
All those words fretting over the world had been lies.
"This time, I'll prepare properly and eradicate that vile Primordial once and for all. Kekekeke."
One thing seemed true.
The grudge tied to the Primordial.
"Now then, don't resist. Yield your body willingly."
"What happens to me?"
"Your soul will be absorbed by me and extinguished. You'll have the honor of becoming part of this noble soul."
With those words, the Myriad Desolation energy Ha Mu-baek had absorbed began writhing, charging through his meridians.
Part of it raced toward his head.
Passing the throat, it plunged straight into his mind.
Ha Mu-baek remained seated in the lotus position, observing his internals.
Even as the Myriad Desolation energy invaded his entire body.
He stayed utterly serene.
The Myriad Desolation energy moved against the poison he'd first infused into Go Hu-rak's body.
And the dantian Go Hu-rak had probed was no dantian at all—it was an inner core.
"An intriguing one. Not just Poison Crystal, but Ice Crystal and Dragon Training energy too. These two aren't Myriad Desolation, it seems. You took a wrong path to Myriad Desolation. That's why even this superb body holds only so much. Tsk."
Ha Mu-baek's head began to throb.
The Myriad Desolation energy was pounding at his mind.
The sensation was bizarre.
Not merely striking his body, but directly hammering his soul.
Yet Go Hu-rak didn't seem to know everything about Ha Mu-baek's body. He only grasped the parts linked to the Myriad Desolation.
Thus, he'd only sensed the ice and fire energies swirling around the poison.
He likely remained ignorant of the Radiant Heaven Force that controlled those two like reins.
"Still, your will is formidable."
As he probed Go Hu-rak, the voice shifted—no longer just in his mind, but resounding within his very will.
Go Hu-rak's soul had begun its invasion of Ha Mu-baek's.
"But in the end, your soul will be devoured by me. Don't resist—accept it. It'll be easier that way."
Ha Mu-baek experienced a truly uncanny sensation.
One so revolting and loathsome it turned his stomach.
"Just one question."
"A dying soul's query? I'll answer fully. That's my mercy."
"If you planned to take the body, why rig the passage to collapse? If someone unfit blunders in and triggers it, you're gone forever."
"Kekeke. Naive fool. This place can never collapse. It's infused with Myriad Desolation. Errant energy triggers a feint of crumbling, but it never truly does."
Go Hu-rak answered as if it were laughable.
"Is that all you're curious about?"
Ha Mu-baek felt his soul's barrier weaken slightly.
Go Hu-rak pressed the invasion further.
"What is the Primordial?"
"......"
Go Hu-rak fell silent at the follow-up question.
"You don't know the Primordial? You, who wields Myriad Desolation?"
Something felt off.
"The Primordial and Myriad Desolation have clashed since the world's dawn. Nay, their strife birthed the world itself. You don't know of its existence? Tens of thousands of years of brutal warfare, and you claim ignorance? You, with Myriad Desolation? How much time has passed?"
"If your tales of that era hold true, roughly three thousand years?"
"More time than I imagined, yet how could the Primordial and Myriad Desolation be forgotten in a mere few millennia..."
Go Hu-rak cried out in incredulity and shock.
Ha Mu-baek scowled.
"So what exactly is the Primordial?"
He asked again.
"...You truly know nothing. You'll vanish soon enough—no need."
His tune had changed.
"Your mercy's awfully fickle."
Go Hu-rak fell silent at Ha Mu-baek's words.
He'd sensed something amiss.
This bastard was far too calm.
Ordinary souls facing oblivion would succumb to terror, plunging into utter chaos and turmoil.
Especially with death looming so abruptly.
No one could remain so serene and composed.
Observing surroundings or harboring doubts would be impossible.
Yet Go Hu-rak pressed on to devour his soul.
But it wasn't easy.
The loosening soul barrier had hardened anew.
The instant conversation halted, Ha Mu-baek focused solely on Go Hu-rak, bolstering his soul's defenses.
Strange. For someone with so little Myriad Desolation, how?
But the priority was breaching the barrier.
"What is the Primordial?"
Ha Mu-baek asked once more.
Go Hu-rak pondered briefly, then decided to answer—at length.
During their exchange, the soul barrier slackened, and he'd exploit that opening.
"...The Primordial is the world's root, its genesis."
"And Myriad Desolation?"
"The world itself."
"What the hell does that mean? Explain properly. Otherwise, I'll vanish with too many regrets."
Ha Mu-baek spoke nonchalantly.
Though he subtly lowered his willful guard.
In the standoff between Go Hu-rak's soul and his body—defending against the intruder's assault on his soul—he'd gotten the knack.
Accordingly, his soul barrier slackened just a touch.
Go Hu-rak, relentlessly targeting the soul, naturally sensed it.
"Exactly as stated. The Primordial was the world's inception. The world once existed solely as the Primordial."
As the tale began, Ha Mu-baek ever so slightly eased his willful vigilance again.
Go Hu-rak, feeling the minute slack in the barrier, continued.
"The world isn't meant for solitary wholeness. It rebelled against the Primordial's desire for utter isolation, taking form. That form is Myriad Desolation."
Esoteric lore utterly unknown to Ha Mu-baek.
Nay, secret of the world's origins unknown to anyone under heaven.
The Eight Desolations.
A term denoting the entire world.
Yet to name it Myriad Desolation.
When he'd first heard the name Myriad Desolation Escape Fate Poison Art, he'd thought it bombastic.
Reading of Myriad Desolation power and energy in Go Hu-rak's tattoo had evoked the same.
And it truly signified the whole world.
"Only by sprawling vast and birthing all things does the world find meaning. Rebelling against the Primordial's selfish wholeness, it manifested as Myriad Desolation and waged war."
"Unbelievable..."
"A sublime tale of the world's birth. You asked, so I tell—but belief is your prerogative."
Still, Go Hu-rak didn't halt the story.
The reason was simple.
The longer the tale, the more the barrier of the soul he sought slackened.
He'd already breached about thirty percent.
At fifty percent, no need for this tedious communication.
With souls halved and shared,
they could directly exchange wills soul-to-soul.
Come to think of it.
"Why bother with this hassle? Why not simply yield half your soul to me? We'd share equally, memories merging—you'd know everything."
"Take the memories, erase the will?"
"Sharp one."
For a moment, Ha Mu-baek hesitated.
Whether to surrender half his soul and absorb all of Go Hu-rak's memories.
But it was a perilous gamble.
He'd have to surrender his own memories too.
Then battle for dominance in equal soul territory.
Ha Mu-baek couldn't gauge his odds.
This was his first such encounter.
"You act like you've done this plenty."
"Kululul. Naturally. How else did I survive five centuries? You'll be my fifth body."
A thought flashed through his mind.
He could only claim bodies of Myriad Desolation cultivators.
"Did you steal your disciple's body?"
"Quick on the uptake."
Go Hu-rak chuckled wickedly.
"You're a demon."
"Merely to carry on Myriad Desolation's noble purpose."
Absurd sophistry.
If to uphold a noble cause, pass it to the disciple.
Not extinguish their soul and usurp the body.
Ha Mu-baek opted against the gamble.
Go Hu-rak, who'd erased disciples' souls and stolen their bodies multiple times,
would be seasoned in equal-soul battles.
He couldn't roll the dice amid this novel phenomenon.
Not when the stake was his soul—his life.
Moreover, if Go Hu-rak claimed all his memories too,
he'd unleash a demon far deadlier than Myeok Gu-eung upon the world.
"So how did the war between Primordial and Myriad Desolation conclude?"
Ha Mu-baek asked again.
And his soul barrier slackened a fraction more.