Chapter 418: Omen of Destruction (1)
The atmosphere at the Main Division of the Southern Murim Alliance, which had initiated the war, was quieter than expected.
However, many could feel a subtle madness within that stillness.
“Has the Azure Dragon Guardian Unit not departed yet?”
“Uh, I reported yesterday… but it will still take three days for them to return from the operational area.”
“Is that so? Then has the White Tiger Assault Unit not been dispatched either?”
“……”
The administrative officers below were racking their brains due to the elders of the sects’ constant urging.
At some point, the top brass of the Southern Murim Alliance began unilaterally ordering deployments, driving the alliance’s martial artists to the battlefield.
If it were merely the alliance’s own doing, one could resist it as an unjust order.
The problem was, even the elders of the sects dispatched to the alliance seemed to be under some spell, parroting the same words over and over again.
One could refuse the alliance's commands, but rejecting the elders of the sects was a different matter.
It seemed as though they had been collectively bewitched, yet upon deeper conversation, their responses remained entirely ordinary.
“I’ve heard a large number of demonic beasts have appeared near the alliance recently. Wouldn’t it be better to resolve that concern first?”
“They’re likely experiencing the same thing. Besides, the alliance’s martial artists won’t be the ones suffering the damages, so there’s no need to worry.”
“……”
At the words of one Elder from the Qingcheng Sect, the martial artists beneath couldn’t help but reel internally.
Perhaps if it were the Evil Path Castle, one might expect this—but to hear such things from a Daoist practitioner?
‘Is this really right?’
‘How can someone say that so shamelessly…’
The martial artists who had gathered under the ideal of righteousness found their loyalty shaken every time such words came from the so-called leadership.
They followed because they couldn’t betray their sects—but truthfully, many wanted to abandon everything and return to their main sects.
Just then, Gongson Un, who had been quietly listening from the side, stroked his mustache and spoke.
“Well, that’s convenient. According to the latest urgent report, demonic beasts have formed a horde and launched a massive assault near Hupeong County.”
The martial artists were speechless at the repeated remarks.
The county had been attacked, and he called it convenient?
A few who knew Gongson Un looked at him in alarm.
Though he was known for his greed, he wasn’t someone to speak with such extremity.
“Elder Gongson, what do you mean by that…?”
“The hypocrites of the Northern Forest are needlessly scattering their forces under the pretext of saving the common people. I heard… they’re even moving their main base south from Luoyang.”
“……!!”
That was precisely the kind of act one would expect from those deserving to be called the Murim Alliance!
“Preserve all your strength. If they offer their heart on their own, we ought to gladly stab the dagger in. Kehuhuh….”
A chill ran down their spines.
In that moment.
A few sharp-sensed individuals detected a faint trace of malevolent qi briefly flicker around Gongson Un’s eyes.
It was due to an emotional surge momentarily disrupting his Heart-Demon Soul Repression Art.
But it was such a fleeting instant that few noticed it clearly.
Only a very few, that is.
Inside the Southern Murim Alliance, those beginning to suspect the top brass were increasing one by one.
***
Dao Zun Jin Ryeong could not hide her displeasure at the scene before her.
“Are you sure this is okay?”
“What do you mean?”
She frowned at Cheon Taejong’s counter-question.
“I’m obviously talking about just sitting cross-legged and meditating like this for days!”
Currently, Jin Yeomyung and Cheon Taejong were facing each other in deep meditation.
The difference was, Jin Yeomyung’s consciousness had sunk deep into unconsciousness, whereas Cheon Taejong, who was guiding him, remained relatively unaffected.
“Heh, wasn’t that kind of training despised in the Daoist path as a heretical side-practice?”
Indeed, that was true.
Dao Zun herself could meditate in seclusion for years, even decades, with only Food Grain Pills.
However—
“At least you understand this isn’t some Demonic Cult-style training.”
Extremes of live combat, again and again. Instantaneous enlightenment born from that.
The teaching method of the Demonic Cult was none other than ‘enlightenment following trial.’
“I thought you’d have smashed that Heavenly Defensive Will of his hundreds, maybe thousands of times over.”
But Cheon Taejong didn’t do that.
Instead, he taught a short incantation and had him repeat it endlessly in his mind.
And this was the result.
“Training that causes this little brother pain has no more meaning.”
“No meaning?”
“His body has reached near the absolute limit a human can attain. Beyond this point, unless he was born with transcendent potential like Jin Gun-ak, further progress is impossible.”
Even without invoking the Asura Spirit, he could now deflect blades with his bare body.
Jin Yeomyung himself envied the burly men of his family, but in truth, only a rare few among them could match his durability.
“His spirit may occasionally waver, but the roots run deep—it will never break.”
Cheon Taejong presumed that Jin Yeomyung had undoubtedly faced greater hardship than what he was now enduring.
It was a misconception to think that those who had endured numerous ordeals developed minds strong enough to never waver.
In fact, having faced despair and ruin again and again, they were more susceptible to shaking.
But precisely because they had overcome the threshold of death, though they might waver, they would never break.
“And that was already attempted once by someone else on this little brother. Doing it a second time has no meaning.”
“Attempted… you say? By who?”
“Well, that much even I don’t know.”
“……”
Whoever had tried that was definitely not one of his subordinates.
Out of pride, Cheon Taejong deliberately withheld that fact.
“This little brother has always possessed more than enough qualifications. Rather, it’s just that he hadn’t been able to challenge it until now due to his body and certain circumstances.”
“Qualifications… huh.”
Cheon Taejong’s gaze turned toward Jin Yeomyung’s chest.
“Heh, even overprotection should have its limits, you know.”
“……?”
Dao Zun couldn’t understand Cheon Taejong’s words.
Her expression darkened.
“You know it too… the celestial energy is twisting rapidly. Not much time is left.”
“I am aware.”
Cheon Taejong agreed.
It appeared the suppressive force had weakened rapidly since his own death.
Even so—
“It will be alright.”
“……”
“Even if much is distorted.”
For the first time, Cheon Taejong looked upon the youth before him with a warm gaze.
Though he’d constantly nagged, calling himself father-in-law, and hadn’t yet been handed a grandchild—he was an utterly impudent fellow.
“But if it’s this little brother… he will be able to restore everything in the end.”
***
Ten Thousand Mountains.
Underground Cult Leader-exclusive training chamber near the Heavenly Demon Pavilion.
Fwoosh fwoosh fwoosh!
The remnants of the One-Iron Walls piled high in the wake of a powerful destructive force.
“This training chamber is no longer usable.”
Cheon Yura clicked her tongue as she looked at the Cult Leader-exclusive chamber on the verge of collapse.
Though built of One-Iron Walls, they couldn’t withstand her destructive power and had ultimately crumbled.
She looked at the spectacle she had created and smiled with satisfaction.
“At least now… I won’t lose.”
From behind, watching the scene of destruction, Sa Biyeon bowed deeply with a face filled with admiration.
“Congratulations on reaching complete mastery, Cult Leader.”
“It’s still far off.”
In the distance, a vast wall loomed.
For now, she could only see it from afar, but if she kept walking the path, one day she would reach that wall.
And once she surpassed even that wall, then she could truly be called the Heavenly Demon.
What could be more joyful for a martial artist than having confidence in their own growth?
“We’ll need to rebuild the chamber later. Biyeon, for now, look into melting down the broken One-Iron for reuse.”
“I’ll see to it.”
There was no need to rebuild the walls using One-Iron again.
At least until she stepped down from the Cult Leader’s position, this training chamber wouldn’t be needed again.
‘Stepping down… huh.’
Suddenly, Cheon Yura imagined a future that had yet to come.
The next Cult Leader.
That role was more likely to be passed on to a child born between her and Jin Yeomyung, rather than another member of the Cheon Clan.
‘A child…’
With a slightly stiff expression, she touched her lower abdomen.
‘My realm has risen, but somehow the balance of my body has shifted.’
Her hand moved downward.
Where her fingers stopped, lay the cause of that imbalance.
‘A transformation of the body.’
It wasn’t Body Reformation.
In fact, it was closer to a negative transformation for a martial artist.
Near her lower abdomen, something other than the dantian was absorbing her qi and energy.
However, from the perspective of someone who wasn’t a martial artist, this change was…
“Cult Leader?”
Seeing her hesitate, Sa Biyeon tilted her head.
“Biyeon.”
“Go ahead and ask.”
“Typically, isn’t it said that a woman carrying a fetus begins to show physical signs after about a month?”
“Yes… that is correct?”
She hadn’t experienced it herself, but that’s what she knew from what she had learned.
“Why do you suddenly bring that up?”
It had already been several months since Jin Yeomyung had left Ten Thousand Mountains.
In that time, Cheon Yura had ended her closed training and had been actively moving about.
There had been no visible changes to her body.
That’s why she hadn’t even imagined that something abnormal had happened to her master.
Cheon Yura lowered her head slightly with a somber expression.
‘Is it because of the special body called the Divine Demonic Physique?’
She sensed it instinctively.
‘This’ would take a considerably long time before it could come into the world.
She was not an ordinary person.
Realizing that once more, she felt her mood sink sharply.
“Biyeon, the truth is…”
Just then—
Boom!
“……!”
A surge of combat energy burst not far from this location.
Cheon Yura, whose senses had been honed to the extreme, immediately picked up on it.
She reacted at once.
“Biyeon!”
“Yes!”
Although Sa Biyeon could not sense it due to her lower cultivation, she had been with Cheon Yura since childhood and was trained in reading her cues.
She too drew her sword and assumed a battle stance.
Not far from here lay the Heavenly Demon Pavilion.
If battle had broken out at the Heavenly Demon Pavilion, there could be only one reason.
‘Rebellion!’
Cheon Yura shot toward the surface like a cannonball.
Behind her, Sa Biyeon and the Guardian Lions followed at full speed.
And before long, when she arrived at the Heavenly Demon Pavilion, what she found was—
Mujeong, the great Guardian known as One-Thousand Kills a Day, kneeling on one knee with one arm missing.
And strewn all around, dozens of Guardian Lions lying dead, slaughtered mercilessly.
Cheon Yura’s gaze locked onto the fiend.
“You… bastard!”
“We meet again.”
The Grand Heavenly Lord, wearing the appearance of the priestess Han Yeong, smiled gently from within the Blood Sea of Dead Mountains.
“I had planned to wait until things were more ripe, but it seems the time has come sooner than expected.”
“How dare you touch my Cult members…!”
Her restrained fury shot toward the Grand Heavenly Lord.
Seeing the aura, he narrowed his eyes.
“Oh? So you’ve finally subdued your demonic nature? You’ve certainly become more useful.”
Shhhk.
“Sorry, but I’m not your opponent.”
“I know.”
Her sword pointed not at the Grand Heavenly Lord, but at the ‘thing’ behind him.
That creature was the one that had severed the Great Guardian’s arm and massacred the dozens of Guardian Lions!
“Cheon Juchun wanted to enjoy this longer, it seems. A shame. But if the Cult Leader disappears, the Divine Cult can still be consumed with minimal losses, so I guess I’ve honored our agreement well enough.”
With those words, the Grand Heavenly Lord stepped back slightly.
“He surpasses Gam Unbi—my greatest masterpiece yet. I hope you’ll be satisfied.”
The creature he had brought was a humanoid monster with a smooth, white body.
There were no discernible facial features. It was human-shaped in form only.
The distinctive trait was the small, birdlike white wings sprouting from its back.
And lastly—
“Go… Chaos.”
In the monster’s hand was a familiar blue sword.