Chapter 324: Demonic Faction Lord Competition (4)
The Cheon Clan.
Surprisingly, within the Ten Thousand Mountain, the location of the Cheon Clan was easy to pinpoint.
If one searched for a place shrouded in mist all three hundred sixty-five days of the year, seven or eight out of ten times, it would be within the territory of the Cheon Clan.
However, that didn’t mean it was easy to trespass into their domain.
Among the Thirty-Four Demon Squads of the Cult, as many as five squads were guarding the entrance to the Cheon Clan’s territory, and in addition, over a thousand elites were widely scattered, patrolling the inner regions of their domain.
“First Elder. We have no idea what is in your heart.”
“What do you mean by that?”
The day the Demonic Faction Lord Competition, also known as the ‘Jin Yeomyung Hunt’, took place.
At the meeting of the Seven Elders, Cheon Homyeong, who had just risen to the position of Second Elder, spoke up.
“We all know that First Elder holds considerable favor toward the Young Cult Leader and that brat from the Jin Clan.”
“So what?”
“But the harsh attitude you’ve shown toward that brat was obviously strange. So we investigated a bit… and we found information that you concealed the fact that he had achieved parity with the Sword Demon.”
“……”
“……”
All the elders in the hall turned their eyes toward First Elder, demanding an explanation.
First Elder grinned.
“Hu hu hu! You’ve done well digging it up. I could’ve bought a little more time, though.”
“Brother!”
Bang!
Second Elder slammed his hand on the table and stood up.
“Are you saying you truly intend to make an enemy of us?!”
“‘Make an enemy’ isn’t the right way to put it.”
A chill emanated from First Elder’s smile.
“I’ve acted solely for the sake of the Cheon Clan.”
Second Elder shouted in disbelief.
“Even if we can no longer stop that monster from becoming the Cult Leader, shouldn’t it at least be someone from the Cheon Clan who can control that monster?!”
“That’s why I came up with this plan.”
“But didn’t you say he reached parity with the Sword Demon?! That means the brat has reached the Extreme Demon Realm! The same realm as that monster!”
“That’s right. If that’s truly the case, then the plan you proposed is nothing more than throwing moths into a blazing fire.”
“If we had known this just a few days earlier, we might have come up with another way!”
Hostility toward First Elder erupted from all directions.
Despite that, First Elder’s expression didn’t change.
“Another way? Are you suggesting we wipe out the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan? Like the Cult Leader did to the Heavenly Illusion Clan?”
Flinch!
“With the Cheon Clan’s power, we could probably crush the Jin Clan. But right now, the Six Great Demonic Clans are more united than ever. Even if we disregard the sealed So Clan, do you think the Cheon Clan alone can handle the remaining three clans?”
“……”
“……”
“More importantly, that would mean civil war. The Cult would be utterly ruined. And those ‘rats’ you’ve been colluding with in secret wouldn’t miss the chance to exploit that, would they?”
Some of the Seven Elders showed brief signs of agitation.
“But if you hadn’t hidden this from the start…”
“Even if I hadn’t, nothing would have changed. The best I can do is bring that boy onto the official stage and put him to the test.”
“I know you all are displeased with my decision. So, I’ve prepared something.”
Clap, clap!
First Elder clapped lightly toward the outside.
“Come in.”
At First Elder’s summons, someone appeared through the opening door.
“……!”
“……!!!”
“You… you’re…!”
“How are you here?”
The elders’ expressions shifted dramatically as they recognized the figure that had entered.
The shock was that great.
“At the very last moment. This is the person I’ve prepared for this competition. What do you think? Isn’t this enough to satisfy all of you?”
“B-But he…”
As one elder stammered to voice his objection, First Elder firmly shook his head.
“Do you think that man even understands the concept of ‘holding back’?”
No one denied that.
Of all people, the one standing before them was the furthest from having any ‘flexibility’.
“His age doesn’t matter either. As long as we arrange it in the form of a martial duel to mark the climax of the festival, that’s enough.”
Whatever the format, once the duel began, it would be over.
Because the man before them was undeniably capable of ending it all.
Whether Jin Yeomyung had reached parity with the Sword Demon or not, even if the Sword Demon himself were to show up… none of the elders would doubt the victory of the man standing before them.
First Elder grinned, baring his teeth as he looked around at the other elders.
“Well then, since you’ve all agreed, shall we move on to the next topic?”
“Open the gate!”
Creeeaak!
As the gates of the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan opened, an overwhelming crowd of three hundred people surged out like a wave.
At the center of the group were three palanquins, and among them, the massive black palanquin carried by eight men was something permitted to only one person in the entire Jin Clan.
“It’s the Clan Leader’s procession! Make way, everyone!”
“It’s the Clan Leader’s procession!”
The muscular warriors at the front let out thunderous roars toward the front.
Jin Gun-ak and Jin Yeowoon were both part of the procession headed toward the Cheon Clan.
The reason Jin Gun-ak had decided to accompany them was simple.
“Hmph, it’s not because I care about stopping you from dying in vain. I just want to see the Cheon Clan bastards suffer up close.”
Well, that’s what he said.
While scanning the surrounding qi from inside the palanquin, Jin Gun-ak sneered.
“They’re lurking all over the place.”
Jin Gun-ak gave the command.
“Wipe them all out.”
“By your command.”
At his command, all the warriors of the Nine Heavens Fist Demon Unit, each standing over eight feet tall, charged toward the hidden enemies.
“We’ve been found!”
“Damn it, I didn’t expect the King of Asura to be here. Retreat!”
The hidden enemies scattered in all directions.
The fact that their outfits weren’t uniform…
It could only mean one thing.
“Kuh kuh! They’re scrambling all over, trying to shave off even a little of your energy.”
“……”
The Nine Heavens Fist Demon Unit was the Jin Clan’s absolute elite, ranked among the top squads of the Thirty-Four Demon Squads.
There was no way random riffraff, no matter how many hundreds, could possibly break through them.
“Chief Steward.”
“Yes, Clan Leader.”
“Root out every last insect that dared meddle in this.”
The Chief Steward bowed quietly.
Perhaps in a few days, some families within the Cult might be wiped out entirely.
Jin Gun-ak smirked as he glanced at me.
“There are already fools rushing at you without knowing their place. What do you think would have happened if we had sent you to the Cheon Clan alone?”
“…Yeah, I have no excuse for that.”
Who would have expected there would be people plotting an ambush the moment I stepped out of the clan?
Rumor had it that a storm was raging inside the Cult these days, and it seemed it had reached a dangerously high level.
“Don’t let your guard down even after you enter the Cheon Clan. Those vipers aren’t going to leave you alone.”
“I’ll keep that in mind… hmm?”
At that moment.
A chilling sensation ran down my spine, triggering every alarm in my head on a completely different level than before.
‘What is this?’
I didn’t sense any killing intent or overt threat.
Yet something beyond my senses was warning me.
Springing to my feet, I immediately burst out of the palanquin.
“…What?”
“What’s going on?”
Both Jin Gun-ak and the Jin Clan warriors nearby widened their eyes.
And just moments later.
“Dieeeeee!”
With a voice filled with hatred, someone suddenly leapt out of thin air.
“You… So Cheon?!”
Why the hell was this guy suddenly popping up here?!
“You traitor! I’ll judge you in the name of justice!”
Around the enraged So Cheon, two pitch-black demonic Tai Chi spheres emerged.
‘What the hell?!’
Those evolved demonic Tai Chi spheres of So Cheon were not something even I could handle easily right now.
Especially after whatever training he had gone through with Senior Brother So Jeong, those spheres had evolved from merely bending space to the absurd ability of absorbing the very phenomenon of qi itself!
“You said you’d take me with you! You promised to take me!”
“N-No! You going back to the Black Lotus Union wasn’t something I could control…!”
“Silence!”
As much as I understood So Cheon’s anger, I honestly hadn’t expected things to turn out this way either.
Dodging So Cheon’s black sword, I desperately tried to explain myself.
“The Elder Council finalized the decision with the Heavenly Demon’s Decree—what was I supposed to do?!”
Just as I said, the moment the Elder Council acknowledged So Cheon’s position within the Black Lotus Union, his fate had already been sealed.
The Black Lotus Union was an allied force stationed in Luoyang, a key stronghold for the Cult’s expansion into the southeast.
Sending people to solidify our influence there was an obvious move for the Cult’s leadership.
“You should have stopped it before it got that far! You have the power to do that, don’t you?!”
“N-No! I’m not that powerful!”
“Shut up! Die!”
Secret Technique Sword of the King of Slaughter
Black blades shot out from all directions, targeting my entire body.
Feeling the peculiar nature of those swords, I shivered.
‘There’s no way to block that with qi!’
No matter how much qi I unleashed, those blades would pierce through all resistance, turning the defender into a human skewer.
At this moment, So Cheon was truly the unrivaled King of Assassins in the Central Plains, capable of killing even those at the Extreme Demon Realm or Transformation Realm in a single strike.
“You crazy bastard?!”
Though I understood his feelings, this was still way too much!
Enraged, I drew the Ten Heavenly Record Immortal Sword.
I had to envelop it in Sword Intent, not just Sword qi, if I wanted to block those blades.
Heaven-Slaying Qi
Reverse Soul Flame
Flames imbued with Sword Intent ignited around my blade.
It was the same counterattack technique that Cheon Yura had once shown—the Heaven-Slaying Demon Sword—now unfolding from my own hands.
The spiraling flames swallowed So Cheon’s black blades one after another.
Seeing me unleash a completely different technique from my usual Ten Heavenly Record Sword, So Cheon gasped.
“W-What?! You never showed me that before!”
“Of course not. I never had a chance to use it until now.”
I let out a chilling smile at the cornered So Cheon.
“But you came at me fully prepared to take a few hits, didn’t you?”
“D-Don’t think this is over yet?!”
Tzztzzzt!
In an instant, So Cheon split into multiple figures.
It was a perfect duplication technique, reminiscent of the Shaolin’s Ninefold Formation or the Heavenly Demon’s Dominion Step.
However, that only worked if the duplication was convincing enough.
So Cheon hadn’t yet learned to split his Sword Intent among his copies, making it all too easy for me to spot the real one.
I immediately targeted So Cheon’s real body with a powerful kick.
Thud!
“Gyaaaaah!”
So Cheon’s body bent in half like a folding chair as he flew off into the distance.
Boom!
“…Ouch.”
Some of the nearby warriors flinched at the ominous sound of impact.
Jin Gun-ak approached with an intrigued expression.
“Did you kill him?”
“No, he’s not dead. He’s surprisingly sturdy.”
Jin Gun-ak stroked his beard as he looked down at the unconscious So Cheon.
“If I remember correctly, isn’t this brat the son of the Murder Demon? I recall the Elder Council once brought him up as an agenda item…”
“……”
“Click, click! That bastard, the Murder Demon, going on about not having a successor while secretly raising something like this. What a faker.”
“Uh… yeah…”
Truthfully, even the Murder Demon probably hadn’t expected this much from So Cheon.
“Well, this is fortunate.”
Jin Gun-ak hoisted the unconscious So Cheon onto his shoulder.
“There’ll be plenty of assassins waiting for you when we reach the Cheon Clan, but with this guy’s help, it’ll be much easier to reduce the risk.”
“……”
“Besides, since the So Clan is sealed off, we can easily use that as an excuse to push him along. From what I’ve seen, he seems to hate troublesome things.”
So Cheon… he definitely wouldn’t be able to refuse Jin Gun-ak’s coercion.
After all, Jin Gun-ak was none other than the Fourth Elder of the Elder Council.
For So Cheon, who wanted to return to the Cult, he was the absolute worst opponent to resist—both politically and militarily.
“…Sorry, So Cheon.”
I silently apologized to him from the depths of my heart.