Demonic Art (2)
Demonic Art.
A divine power bestowed by the Heavenly Demon along with demonic qi.
Something called a blessing by demonic practitioners.
The fastest way to reach another world.
Something known as a new power that allowed one to transcend one’s realm.
Demonic qi strengthened the body and martial arts much like blood qi did.
But depending on one’s realm, it could drive one mad and turn one into a lunatic.
I had seen countless bastards who had been eroded by demonic qi and transformed into monsters.
Demonic arts were somewhat different.
They could become an entirely new power for the one who received them.
Or the power one already possessed could evolve by intertwining with the demonic art.
The Demonic Heavenly Absorption Art I had received was, as I had mentioned, an entirely new power bestowed upon me by the Heavenly Demon.
The ability to absorb demonic qi from the magic stones of demonic beasts.
Thanks to it, I had solved the problem of insufficient internal energy that came with using the Fire Art.
At the same time.
The demonic qi I gained through it affected my inner cultivation art and strengthened my flames.
What I obtained as a result was the Black Flame, mixed with demonic qi.
Thanks to that, I had to live my entire life with a fucking awful sobriquet….
‘Whoever came up with it in the first place, I’ll really kill him if I ever find him.’
In any case, demonic arts supplemented the problems and shortcomings of a martial artist.
They allowed one to reach the path one wished to obtain—or walk—more quickly.
That was the power of the demonic arts bestowed by the Heavenly Demon.
It was a force that set one on the fastest path and pushed one forward. How could a martial artist who yearned to reach a higher place not be tempted by it?
The reason so many people, regardless of whether they belonged to the orthodox or unorthodox factions, had fallen onto the path of the demonic practitioners was perhaps because of the overwhelming strength of the Heavenly Demon.
But in the end, there were simply that many people who had failed to overcome their walls.
And because they yearned for power, they could not resist the temptation.
I, who knew the process and the result, could not fail to recognize the power and aura the Palace Lord was displaying now.
‘A demonic art.’
That was undoubtedly a demonic art.
A suffocating, nauseating aura.
The Palace Lord’s black mist, thickening as it spread, was undoubtedly made of demonic qi.
Having encountered the Black Night Palace’s martial artists several times in my previous life and this one, I could tell that they possessed demonic qi, even if it was not particularly turbid.
But they seemed insufficient to be called demonic practitioners.
Their demonic qi had not yet completely merged with their bodies.
The Palace Lord, however, was different.
‘That bastard is a true demonic practitioner.’
The Palace Lord was a genuine demonic practitioner.
Not only was the proportion of demonic qi greater than internal energy when he used martial arts—
Only a demonic practitioner could emit such thick demonic qi.
‘I had heard that the Palace Lord’s martial arts resembled black mist.’
But I had only heard about it.
This was the first time I had actually seen it.
‘There’s no doubt.’
When it came to demonic qi, I could not be mistaken.
That bastard was undoubtedly a demonic practitioner.
The fact that the Palace Lord was already a demonic practitioner meant that the Black Night Palace was certainly connected to the Demonic Cult—or to the Heavenly Demon.
‘…That means the Heavenly Demon is already somewhere in this world.’
It was something I had half expected already.
Although the Heavenly Demon’s first appearance had been through the Demon Realm, tearing through the void to emerge—
I had already been considering the possibility that he might be somewhere in this world.
‘Could the Heavenly Demon also be somewhere inside this palace?’
I prayed that wasn’t the case.
If the Heavenly Demon I knew truly existed somewhere in this place—
It meant that everyone here might die.
At least, that was the kind of existence the Heavenly Demon I knew was.
Along with the secrets of the Black Night Palace and my encounter with the Blood Demon, this was another possibility I had anticipated.
‘Fuck.’
Considering that my shitty predictions had never once been wrong, I felt endlessly uneasy.
How could life be this fucking miserable?
‘Still, the fact that the Palace Lord came out means Gu Huibi is all right.’
The reason I had deliberately smashed through a wall to make noise and released my aura to draw the Palace Lord’s attention was because the Orb of the Heavenly Road, which had been almost entirely useless, had suddenly activated.
Something that had stopped working at some point suddenly showed me a scene of its own accord.
The scene I saw was—
The moment when the Palace Lord and Gu Huibi were conversing in the prison.
However, from what I could tell, the situation had not been favorable.
‘…If I had been even a little later.’
The Palace Lord would certainly have killed Gu Huibi.
The emotions in the Palace Lord’s eyes, and the fingertips that had hesitated for even a moment—
I could see him considering what to do with Gu Huibi.
‘Damn it.’
I had acted recklessly because I had no time to think of another method.
Thanks to that, however, it was obvious that their level of vigilance had risen sharply.
‘Not that there was any other way.’
If even this had failed, it would have been over anyway.
I tightened my grip around Namgung Bia’s arm.
Perhaps she instantly understood why I was holding her, because—
She immediately erased her presence even further.
Seeing that, I swallowed a hollow breath inwardly.
‘This isn’t something one can do so easily just because I tell them to.’
It was absurd.
I had been about to cast a barrier of qi if it didn’t work.
And yet, because I told her to, she actually did it immediately.
In any case, thanks to her, we seemed to have successfully avoided their attention.
But from here on was the real problem.
‘This is giving me a fucking headache.’
Since I had drawn their attention, their vigilance would have risen to the extreme.
Moreover, there was no guarantee that the Palace Lord would not once again try to harm Gu Huibi.
‘If he had intended to kill her that way from the beginning, why go to the trouble of kidnapping her?’
I needed to figure out his intentions first.
The problem was that no matter how much I thought about it, I had no idea why he had taken Gu Huibi.
Not only had this never happened in my previous life, I did not even properly know the Black Night Palace’s objective.
‘Breaking in would be too dangerous.’
In a situation like this, even the famous Dark King, the commander of the Seven Night Assassination Unit, would hesitate to infiltrate the place.
The inside of the formation was completely different from the outside.
For one thing, the mist that had concealed the surroundings was gone.
Because of that, if we moved carelessly, they would notice us much more quickly.
To make matters worse, even the terrain was different.
‘How the hell did they do this?’
Not only had they concealed the inside so that it could not be seen from outside—
They had made it into an entirely different world.
I had never seen anything like this….
‘Wait. I have seen it before.’
As I thought about it, I was able to recall it.
I remembered seeing a formation this absurd.
Around the time I found the secret treasury of the Jincheon Yeon Family in Sichuan—
This felt similar to the formation I had seen then.
‘Could it be a coincidence?’
It was difficult to say that it was not a coincidence.
But it was just as difficult to say that it was one.
‘There’s a good chance this is the work of Taejeolgwi.’
The old man covered in age spots who had been responsible for the Demonic Cult’s mechanisms.
If it was that man, he might have been capable of creating something like this.
Besides, the mechanism I had encountered at the Mount Hua Sect had also been Taejeolgwi’s work, so I could tell that the old man was in the Black Night Palace now.
‘I can’t just charge straight in.’
No matter how much my realm had risen, recalling how difficult even a fierce battle against the First Elder, who was like a living corpse, had been—
I was certainly not in a position to defeat the Palace Lord one-on-one.
‘That’s why I’m hiding like this.’
What was more, I did not even know exactly how many martial artists were currently in the Black Night Palace—not just the Palace Lord.
Bursting through the main gate and setting everything ablaze had only been possible in my previous life.
Right now, I was still far too lacking in strength.
Knowing that, I ultimately had no choice but to wait for the right moment.
For the right moment to push through that narrow opening.
And that moment was—
‘Just a little longer.’
As far as I was concerned, it truly wasn’t far away.
*****************
Time passed.
Night became day and day became night.
Inside the prison where Gu Huibi was being held, only silence flowed.
The Palace Lord had disappeared amid a brief disturbance.
He had not appeared since then.
Was that something to be grateful for?
Gu Huibi continued to stare through the bars of the prison with her eyes open.
Grrrrr.
The snoring of Old Man Muk continued incessantly beside her ears.
But by now, she had reached the point where she did not even pay attention to it.
For Gu Huibi, observing the current situation was more important than Old Man Muk’s snoring.
The Palace Lord had clearly brought her here because he needed her, going so far as to appear on the front lines to retrieve her.
‘Then why had he done that earlier?’
Gu Huibi knew that she had nearly died a little while ago.
The Palace Lord had clearly tried to kill her.
It had not been a misunderstanding.
‘Something must not have matched.’
It must have started from the moment the Palace Lord saw that child and her together.
The Palace Lord’s atmosphere had changed considerably.
The child. Yes, that child seemed to be the problem.
‘Was it because we were too close?’
Gu Huibi wondered if that had been the reason she had momentarily offended the Palace Lord.
Could it have been because she had spoken with the child for less than a day?
‘What could possibly be wrong with that?’
She could not know for certain, but from Gu Huibi’s perspective, that seemed the most likely reason the Palace Lord had tried to kill her.
Was it some kind of twisted paternal affection? That did not seem right.
They did not appear to have that kind of relationship in the first place.
As for why she had treated the child that way—
To Gu Huibi, the child had simply been a ‘child.’
She understood the emotions in the child’s eyes all too well.
Along with her memories of taking Gu Yangcheon, Gu Yeonseo, and Gu Ryeonghwa around when they were young—
She also remembered the gaze she had seen through Gu Yangcheon’s mother.
That was why she had acted that way.
The child’s dry eyes had clearly been pleading for affection.
Whatever the Palace Lord had wanted—
Gu Huibi simply could not bring herself to ignore it.
Though the time had been too short for them to have anything resembling a proper conversation.
‘What in the world is that child?’
She had known from the moment she saw the child that it was no ordinary one.
The instinctive gaze that looked down upon all people.
The inexplicable atmosphere that emanated from the child.
And Gu Huibi knew one other being who possessed such an atmosphere.
To think that even the child’s face resembled that person so closely.
Could this really be called a coincidence?
‘No.’
Gu Huibi shook her head.
No matter how she looked at it, it was something that could not happen by coincidence.
—Grrrrr.
The snoring coming from behind made Gu Huibi’s expression twist sharply.
“…Seriously.”
She had wanted to ask him something, but Old Man Muk had not seemed inclined to get up for several hours.
She had even tried pinching his nose and lightly hitting him.
Perhaps because his physical abilities had been severely diminished, it seemed to have merely tickled Old Man Muk.
Of course, she had no idea whether Old Man Muk knew all of this.
For some reason, though, she felt as if he probably did.
“Tsk.”
The oppressive situation caused her to click her tongue without realizing it.
She did not know what to do.
She was simply at a loss.
The feeling of helplessness that came from being unable to do anything and knowing nothing only made her already heavy head feel even more stifling.
Even so—
‘Pull yourself together.’
Gu Huibi straightened her unfocused gaze.
When she ought to be searching for a way to escape by any means necessary—
She could not afford to fall apart like this.
So first of all—
“Elder Muk, please get up.”
She had to wake that old man who seemed to know something.
No matter how much she shook him, Old Man Muk did not wake.
Gu Huibi began to wonder if she should really beat him properly to wake him.
How could someone seem to sleep all day and still snore as though he had just begun?
In the end, she decided that she had no choice but to wake Old Man Muk even if she had to hit him.
She was just raising her arm when—
“Is it day already?”
At that moment, Old Man Muk spoke.
“…!”
Gu Huibi was startled when Old Man Muk, whom she had thought was asleep, spoke in such a clear voice.
“Day…?”
“Yes. What time is it now?”
Hiding her confusion as best she could, Gu Huibi examined the tiny window in the prison and answered.
“It’s daytime. The sun is shining brightly…. Hmm?”
Gu Huibi’s voice was unusually flustered as she—
Frowned while looking through the gap in the window.
It was certainly daytime.
But something was different.
In the place where the blue sky should have been—
The sky was faintly tinged with red.
‘…What is this?’
At a glance, it looked as though the sky had been dyed by the sunset.
But that was impossible.
It was still early, before noon.
“Hm. Hm.”
Seeing it, Old Man Muk nodded.
Then he raised his sprawled-out body and said—
“It looks like he’s finally arrived.”
Gu Huibi’s eyes trembled faintly at his words.
Only then did she begin to understand what the red sky meant.
*****************
The Palace Lord, who had been sitting and quietly resting, opened his eyes.
The hazy violet light remained unchanged.
The Palace Lord slowly rose to his feet.
“Hoooo….”
There was no way he could fail to notice it.
With such dense internal energy filling the surroundings, how could he not?
“…I thought you might have changed a little, but I see you’re still the same.”
The Palace Lord moved toward the railing.
When he reached it, he saw that the bright sky stretched beyond the formation.
It was bright. So bright that it even appeared red.
As he gazed at it, the Palace Lord felt cold sweat trickling down his back.
“I thought you were merely an old tiger with all its fangs fallen out.”
A tiger that had holed itself away in the mountains, dreaming only of the day it would die.
Its fangs had all grown old and fallen out.
He had thought it was barely clinging to life, hiding in its den.
“But no matter how many years have passed, a great tiger is still a great tiger.”
Looking at the red sky, the Palace Lord understood.
That was nothing but an illusion formed from an immense amount of internal energy.
Flames that had begun from a single thought rose into the heavens and manifested through sheer will.
It was a sight far too terrifying to have been created by a mere human.
In other words, it meant that one person alone had created it.
Fwoosh—!
The mist outside the formation was engulfed in flames.
The mist that even Gu Yangcheon’s internal energy had been unable to affect was driven back by the fire and disappeared, if only for a moment.
The flames, red beyond red, surged relentlessly as though they would melt the world.
What he saw before him resembled a tidal wave.
A gigantic wave made of flames.
Looking at it, the Palace Lord recalled a certain person.
A ghostlike martial artist with crimson hair deeply dyed by internal energy, who had burned people alive with an impassive expression.
‘The Flame Ghost.’
That was undoubtedly the same fire the Flame Ghost had once emitted.
Which meant—
The Flame Ghost, Gu Cheorun, had appeared in this land.
The way he was boldly approaching the enemy while displaying his presence so openly—
It alone showed what kind of martial artist Gu Cheorun was.
‘But if that’s the case…’
The Palace Lord could not help but frown at another thought.
He wondered how Gu Cheorun had known about this place and appeared here.
But there was an even greater problem.
The Palace Lord lightly leaped from the railing into the air as he thought—
‘Then who was the one who made the wall like that?’
The disturbance that had occurred just before.
If the Flame Ghost had appeared outside the barrier like that—
Then whose doing had the earlier disturbance been?
‘Something has been twisted.’
The Palace Lord sensed it.
The situation was unfolding in a strange direction.