He was not dead, and luckily was not too. He had survived the ordeal of the horrific massacre that had taken place within the forest. Chigweol recollected his breath as he thought to himself.
‘It seems I’m rather lucky whenever I get put into unlucky situations.’
He felt truly lucky to have survived such a dreadful experience.
In the past, he was grateful he had survived in the dungeon he had entered after chasing the Minor Heavenly Demon. He had lost an arm at that time, but he was lucky to be alive.
Of course, the subjugation was not over yet, but Chigweol found it impossible to continue with the operation.
He didn’t care about the Wizard Guild’s stance that wanted him and everyone that had originally gathered here to kill Jonghyun in the name of persecuting a wizard that had strayed from the path of humanity. To stay here right now, would be to die a dog’s death.
He was sure that the Ghost Spear was here. If Lee Sungmin wanted to save the Red Tower Master, he surely had to be here.
‘I can’t afford a head-on collision with him right now… If I do, my luck can’t possibly save me.’
Chigweol recalled when Lee Sungmin had toyed with Murong Dae as if he were a child. Even though there were some forces still alive in the forest, if the Murong Family warriors or Holy Church sought to collide with Lee Sungmin right now, they would die a dog’s death.
To reach the Realm of Transcendence like Lee Sungmin had, talent and outstanding martial art techniques were not the only requirements. One would have to break through the limits of their humanity, which required luck.
Chigweol had once heard this story from his master. The path to reach the Realm of Transcendence requires one to have Heaven-defying luck.
There were plenty of brilliant and talented martial artists and geniuses who were unparalleled in growth and skill across Eria, however none of them were able to Transcend their human limits. Most martial artists in the Realm of Transcendence were not openly renowned.
The amount of Transcendent Realm Martial Artists that were active, had gone far beyond common sense and had mastered plenty of martial art techniques to get to where they were. Some of them were widely known, like Jehu of the Black Dragon Association, Sima Ryunju of the Sama Order, and the Sword of the Wudang Sect.
‘And you’re telling me he was able to break through the Realm of Transcendence and has that sort of Heaven-defying luck?’
Chigweol smiled bitterly as he thought of Lee Sungmin. He was bitter and upset he was not yet able to cross that wall yet. But… he was also optimistic. He didn’t want to believe that Lee Sungmin, someone younger than him, had reached Transcendence and not him. Maybe he could truly reach Transcendence as well one day.
Chigweol buried his thoughts and started to think rationally once more. He looked up and turned his gaze towards the other survivors that were part of his group. In particular, at Murong Dae and his son.
It was impossible to try and persuade them to not try and fight with Lee Sungmin. Murong Dae was hellbent on avenging his daughter’s death.
‘It’s impossible to secure the Red Tower Master and capture her at this distance. But, it’s also impossible to struggle and continue this raid…’
Then, the answer was simple. Chigweol had to get out of the forest for now. Bringing his thoughts together, Chigweol approached Murong Dae.
“I have an order from the Murim Alliance headquarters.”
Chigweol decided how to proceed with his scheme of survival here. It started with the pretext of the false order from the Lord of the Murim Alliance, Jehu.
* * *
Returning near the pit, Kim Jonghyun took off his hooded robe. He was well aware of the movements of all individuals in the forest at that moment, and had expected their movements to a certain degree.
Everyone would know that the subjugation had failed. The Wizard Guild would be forced to give up on trying to subdue him and hindering his movements with news of their failure.
Kim Jonghyun knew they didn’t want to continue to proceed with the subjugation at the massacre he had caused. He smiled maliciously at his own fortune.
However, just in case there were a couple fools that didn’t know their places, he decided to let the remaining four Demons move and kill the rest who didn’t leave.
Even if someone tried to attack him, they would undoubtedly be mercilessly slain by the Demons he had summoned from the Demon Realm. But there was one person who was an exception to that. What if Lee Sungmin decided to come to Kim Jonghyun at that moment and try to stop him? Kim Jonghyun didn’t think there was any reason for him to come. But, if he did come…….
Kim Jonghyun didn’t know how long he would last if Lee Sungmin decided to move.
He wouldn’t have as much time as he had hope if Lee Sungmin did, in fact, move. Although the four surviving Demons were being used as extra precaution, even if the four of them attacked Lee Sungmin simultaneously, they wouldn’t delay him for long.
But that was enough time for Kim Jonghyun. He only needed a brief amount of time.
The ritual he was preparing didn’t take long.
Kim Jonghyun slowly descended into the pit of hearts he had created. The door to the Demon Realm started to resume its opening.
A chilly and sinister wind of Demonic energy started to flow through the door. In the middle of the pit, Kim Jonghyun started to listen to his own heartbeat.
He was preparing the Magic of Reversion. It was a ritual that reverted one’s humanity back to its origin and allowed the caster to change their very species to whatever they would like to choose. The potential for such a ritual were endless.
Depending on how one used it, it didn’t simply stop at turning an undead back into a human being. What Arbeth had coveted most and desperately tried to achieve, was this very ritual Kim Jonghyun was about to perform.
Arbeth, who could not properly interpret the Grimoire’s magic on his own, turned himself into a Lich with hopes he could eventually pull off the spell if given more time, but failed. That same spell that Arbeth had failed with, was now being performed by Kim Jonghyun.
In the beginning, Kim Jonghyun realized that merely killing a few hundred human beings would not be enough to prepare the ritual. That was why he slaughtered several villages and then used them as bait to lure out a subjugation force and gather high-quality sacrifices to make it work.
The collected hearts in the pit started to beat collectively. The collected souls were amalgamated together with the fear accumulated to create the special signature of Caladra’s Demonic energy within Kim Jonghyun’s body. With this, the energy started to tremble with excitement as it felt the breeze blowing from beyond the black door, that originated from its own Demon Realm.
Kim Jonghyun called this energy the Demise of the Demon King. The first part of the ritual was to gather this energy and collect it within his body. Now, it was time to utilize that energy for something far greater.
Kim Jonghyun opened his arms wide. The hearts in the pit, which were beating together in resonance, started to melt down into a black-colored form of blood.
The black blood started to bubble within the pit, as it started to rise and swirl around Kim Jonghyun’s body. The ritual started to finally begin in earnest.
As Kim Jonghyun’s human body started to peel off his body, his former human shell was completely discarded. His human skin peeled off and there was nothing but muscles and flesh to be seen. However, the black blood that was swirling around him started to mix with the Demonic energy of Caladra he was emitting from his body and wrapped around his flesh to form a new body.
Kim Jonghyun was starting to form his new body. He was starting to form a vessel that was similar between a human and the Demon King, Caladra’s former husk. Kim Jonghyun was becoming reborn as a wholly new being.
‘It’s a success.’
The process was still finishing up, and Kim Jonghyun felt no pain whatsoever with his new body that was forming.
It was going precisely as planned.
…However, it was only until that point.
BOOM!
Suddenly the ritual was stopped, as a Black Light struck Kim Jonghyun from the sky and stirred his consciousness.
“What, what?”
Kim Jonghyun, for the first time in a very long time, was shocked. He lifted his head up in a hurry.
He checked the array’s surveillance through the black balls he had been watching through earlier. Lee Sungmin had yet to break through the line of defense though. That meant it was someone other than Lee Sungmin who had come and disrupted the ritual he had prepared.
Kim Jonghyun hurriedly lifted his head that was still being covered in black blood dripping from his flesh. Through his eyes, he saw dark clouds rumbling within the sky above him.
“Oh, my God.”Kim Jonghyun’s jaw dropped as he stared at the sky in disbelief at the figure that was emerging from the clouds.
It was a Dragon.
Kim Jonghyun hurriedly tried to prepare a defensive barrier to try and stop the Dragon’s breath from striking him.
However, this time, it was not Kim Jonghyun that the Dragon was aiming for. The black door ,connecting the Demon Realm to the Human Realm, was left exposed, and the Dragon’s dark breath shot from its mouth and destroyed the black door completely.
“NO!”
Kim Jonghyun shouted.At Kim Jonghyun’s cry filled with despair, the Dragon’s body that was in the air, started to morph at a speed too fast for the eyes to follow. When it was done, the appearance of the Dragon had completely disappeared, and a man stood floating in the air below the dark clouds, wrapped behind a hidden veil that masked his face.
“Because of you, I had to fly quite a long distance.”
It was Jehu. The Lord of the Murim Alliance. The half-human, half-dragon stood arrogantly as he looked down at Kim Jonghyun.
It was only the day before that Jehu suddenly received an urgent request from the Divine Maiden. It was something worrisome. Kim Jonghyun, who was originally not under their concern, had to have his consciousness stopped from merging into a Demonic body.
Since Jehu was a bit surprised, he asked the Divine Maiden if Kang Seok, the Spear King, was going to handle it while he was down there to fight the Ghost Spear. But the Divine Maiden’s next words were rather bizarre. She urged him that he must go to Edor and stop Kim Jonghyun himself. This was because it was a revelation from the Divine Spirit itself.
Jehu would not dare disobey the words of the Divine Spirit, and decided he must move quickly to stop Kim Jonghyun.
However, he was unable to stop Kim Jonghyun’s consciousness from completely merging with the Demonic body he was forming. Because of that, he just fired his Dragon’s breath at the door that was emitting the annoying Demonic energy. It appeared to have worked and stopped Kim Jonghyun completely.
‘I don’t know why I had to come all the way by myself though.’
However, he was sure the Divine Spirit and the Divine Maiden had a good reason for it. He just felt rather troubled by whatever he would be in for when he came back to the Murim Alliance headquarters.
He was able to use some power in the form of a Dragon body, due to being a Draconic Human. But, the power of the Demon Body Kim Jonghyun was trying to merge into, was sturdier than Jehu had anticipated.
“You’re bothering me, you dirty Dark Wizard.”
He mumbled as he gazed down at Kim Jonghyun, who was in the pit of black blood, dripping from head to toe in it.
The ritual, which had almost reached the point of completion, was not finished due to his intervention.
The Magic of Reversion could only ever be attempted once. It would never be able to be used again, and Kim Jonghyun had lost his chance forever due to this bastard. No matter how much fear he accumulated or how many souls he collected, he would be unable to attempt it again.
‘That fucking lizard……!’
Kim Jonghyun did not know who Jehu was, or that he was the Lord of the Murim Alliance because he had never seen him before. All Kim Jonghyun wondered was why a Dragon had popped up out of nowhere like this.
Why did a Dragon, the magical existence at the apex of all beings, appear suddenly only to fire its breath randomly on his ritual and ruin it for him?
Unlike his anger, however, Kim Jonghyun failed to act according to his seething emotions.
Because his consciousness was not fully merged into the new body that was completed, he was unable to move properly at all. The Demonic Body was completed, but Kim Jonghyun only had the task of moving and assimilating his consciousness into it, before Jehu had shown up. Kim Jonghyun could not even move the new body due to the failure. He was stuck.
Jehu was glad his task was over. He had appeared, actually, a bit earlier, but did not attack Kim Jonghyun until the final moment. If he had attacked earlier, his breath would have disintegrated Kim Jonghyun’s consciousness into nothingness and killed him before he could merge into the completed Demonic body.
“…I was not told to kill you.”
Jehu looked down at Kim Jonghyun and muttered to himself. What he had heard from the Divine Maide was the order to only prevent the ritual from being fully completed, not to kill Kim Jonghyun.
Therefore, Jehu had no choice but to ponder about it. This was because although the command from the Divine Spirit was slightly obscure sometimes, this order said he ‘must’ only stop the ritual. Therefore, Jehu realized he was not to kill Kim Jonghyun.
‘There was no word to kill him.’
Jehu only had to do that simple menial task and grumbled as he was finally done here. He was upset he had to fly all the way here, but nevertheless accepted the order due to his respect for the Divine Spirit
Jehu’s muscles started to contract, and he started to have his appearance change once more, back into a Dragon.
A real Dragon dealt with all kinds of incredible and odd magic, including polymorphing, and could even warp space at will, but Jehu, could not use such magical abilities.
The only reason he was able to change his appearance was due to the spatial essence he could control by being a Transcendent Realm martial artist.
Jehu had inherited the Draconic body and scales from his father, a real Dragon, and often used the body he inherited with spatial essence to imitate polymorphing magic, but could not actually use Draconic magic.
Jehu started to turn away, leaving Kim Jonghyun, who could not move. There was nothing left for him to do here.
‘No.’
Jehu realized there was one last thing he should do here. Since he had already traveled here, he might as well take care of the few things that were troublesome for his subordinates. Chigweol had reported to him recently that it would be difficult to secure the Red Tower Master and use her as leverage against the Ghost Spear, since the massacre had happened and their current forces could not deal with Lee Sungmin.
Since Jehu had come all the way here, it would be easy for him to capture the Red Tower Master himself.
‘Well, we’ll see.’
Although the Ghost Spear was in the area, Jehu did not worry about Lee Sungmin too much.
He didn’t have to deal with him, in fact. The Divine Maiden didn’t give him the order to kill the Ghost Spear. That order was left to Kang Seok, the Spear King to deal with.
He only had to secure the Red Tower Master anyways. It would be easy and quick for him to do while he was here.
“The Masters of the other Towers are alive.’
It would be quite shameful for him. Kidnapping the Red Tower Master, right in front of the other Tower Masters, would not be a pretty sight.
Jehu wondered briefly if he should create some rough excuse, using the Ghost Spear as context. Well… he had already been meaning to have Chigweol use that kind of excuse anyways until he had arrived, so it didn’t really matter.
However, even if he did use the Ghost Spear as an excuse, he would still be portrayed as the one who kidnapped the Red Tower Master. Suddenly, Jehu had a cruel idea come to mind.
‘I don’t think there’s a big problem with it actually.’
Jehu decided to not think too much about it.
Even if the Wizard Guild’s Tower Masters were killed and became corpses, nobody would think too much of it, as they could simply play it off as a brutal massacre, adding on to what had already happened.
He would just kill all the witnesses.
* * *
Tang Ah-Hui couldn’t follow Lee Sungmin’s movements because he was too swift.
In fact, at this point, Lee Sungmin did not feel the need to protect her any further, and decided to move faster without care.
The darkness that was muddling with his senses, and had encapsulated the entirety of the forest ,had disappeared, along with the undead, chimeras and beasts that had left to defend Kim Jonghyun’s position.
There was no need to protect Tang Ah-Hui anymore. If Tang Ah-Hui fulfilled her promise for saving her life, he would just meet back up with her at her birthday a few months later and kill An Zun then.
‘Huh?’
While running toward Scarlett’s position, Lee Sungmin suddenly stopped.
Wuuuuoooong!
The ground shook with a multitude of tremors. With the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, Lee Sungmin turned his head towards the sky.
He recalled what he saw earlier when the dark clouds had been looming over the area where Kim Jonghyun was and something had struck down at the location. But, those clouds were all of a sudden moving again.
‘What is that?’
Lee Sungmin stood, nailed to the spot and not moving as he stared at the black clouds that were rumbling in the sky, with an odd expression.