Chapter 329: The Demonic Realm. (3)
My first meeting with that Jang bastard.
Was around when I had just passed my coming of age.
To be precise, after I had semi-forcibly received the position of Young Patriarch of the Gu family.
Threw away the constraints my father had laid down.
And was gradually revealing myself in the Central Plains.
Probably, it was around the time I went to the Dragon Phoenix Gathering.
With the title of Young Patriarch attached to me, laughably, as a young expert.
Unlike Paeng Ujin, who would later come to be called the Successor and reign as one of the Absolutes.
Who was no longer treated as a young expert the moment he received the position of Young Patriarch.
It seemed I was unable to do the same.
Or rather, should I say it was taken to mean that the Young Patriarch of the Gu family—
Infamous in Shaanxi for being incompetent and having a dog-like personality—
Was showing his face for the first time, after barely revealing himself at all.
Gu Huibi, of the bloodline of heroes, was already being called a master at that point.
And Gu Yeonseo, too, had begun to boast his name for his outstanding talent.
It was a moment when the gazes directed at me were especially thick.
The very picture of a tiger father, dog son.
Though on the unfavorable side, those were days when I heard that despite having the appearance of one who had deeply inherited the blood of heroes, I had failed to receive his talent.
Among the generation of shooting stars said to have an unusually large number of outstanding young experts.
While feelings of inferiority and self-loathing crashed over me.
Hiding a broken spirit beneath the reprimands of many.
Wrapping myself in thorns to conceal my own inadequacy.
The moment when everyone was glancing at me furtively, their gazes filled with nothing but ill feelings.
"Pleased to meet you."
That bastard had approached through that gap.
A gentle smile on his face.
A handsome appearance. On top of that, a warm voice that left a good impression on people.
In some ways, an outward appearance placed in exact opposition to mine.
The bastard who introduced himself as born of the Jang family.
"What are you?"
To my words asking who he was, as if finding it awkward to introduce his own nickname with his own mouth, he put on a kindly-looking smile and continued.
"Lacking though I am, I am called the Divine Saint. I look forward to working with you."
Divine Saint.
No matter how cut off I was from the world's information, it was a nickname I had heard at least once or twice.
In the situation where demonic beasts had begun swarming the slums in recent years.
Among the martial artists who were too busy looking after their own interests to care.
There was talk of a hero who saved people while risking danger.
The son of the Alliance Lord, a young man famous as a promising young expert.
Word was also going around that he would rise to become the commander of the sword unit he belonged to in the near future.
If that happened, he would probably take the seat as the youngest ever.
Meaning he was a young expert the Central Plains had high expectations for.
Jang Seonyeon, the Divine Saint born of the Jang family.
That was how my meeting with that bastard went.
Laughably.
That all the fame and the spirit of chivalry that elevated him.
Were situations intentionally created by Jang Seonyeon.
Was something I learned merely a few years later.
After the Demonic Realm Displacement Incident occurred, in which young experts had disappeared in great numbers.
Along with the advent of the Heavenly Demon.
Around the time I had not long after fallen and become a Demon.
When I was rampaging through the Central Plains, turning everything around me into a sea of fire.
That bastard came looking for me on his own.
"It's been a long time. Ah, should I address you by your nickname now?"
I had no intention of talking.
I was thinking of spewing flames immediately and ripping out his throat, but.
"Are you aware of the Little Sword Saint's physical condition?"
I froze.
The reason my hand, which had been going for his throat, stopped.
Was because of the damn girl's face that surfaced in my mind.
The tips of my hands wreathed in flames flickered as if they would tear out his throat at any moment.
Yet I couldn't bring myself to do it.
Jang Seonyeon checked my reaction and broke into a grin.
That smile dug deep into me.
That was probably when it began.
The day another hell was born for me.
*Crack-rumble—!*
*Crackle-boom—!*
A rift opened in the air, then tore wide open as if gaping its mouth.
Inside the torn rift, unknown colors intertwined and swirled.
The wind pressure blowing from within kicked up dust on the distant ground.
After it had been doing that for a while, something shot out of the rift as if being spat out.
*Thud! Clatter—!*
The object that came out of the rift crashed straight to the ground.
The impact kicked up a whirlwind of dust in the surroundings.
And not long after.
"Kuhak... hah...!"
Someone walked out from within the wind.
What immediately flopped to the ground, gasping and panting for breath.
Was unmistakably a person.
"This... this...!"
His eyes were wide as if agitated.
He didn't seem to realize saliva was dribbling from his lips as he looked around the surroundings quickly.
"Th-this is insane."
Though it had been a short time, the young man who had looked around.
Only then shouted with trembling eyes.
"Fuck...!"
His screaming shout echoed in all directions.
"Fuck... after all I've done...! All because of that bastard...!"
While he was cursing and pounding the ground repeatedly.
Another person shot out from the wind that had been kicked up earlier.
Unlike the young man who was sprawled on the ground, drooling and furious.
This one merely rubbed his chest with a slightly furrowed expression.
"I already feel like I'm going to vomit, so quit making such a racket."
At the words spat out by the young man—no, Guyang Cheon.
Jang Seonyeon, hearing the voice, whipped his head toward Guyang Cheon.
"You bastard...."
"Oh, it's been a while since I heard you curse. Very refreshing."
Jang Seonyeon, who had been sprawled on the ground, sprang up and rushed at Guyang Cheon.
Rushing in quickly, he tried to draw the sword at his waist immediately.
But Guyang Cheon stepped in front of Jang Seonyeon and firmly pressed the end of the hilt.
Blocking it so it couldn't be drawn from the scabbard.
"Kk...!"
The force of the palm blocking it was so strong that the sword wouldn't come out.
With no other choice, Jang Seonyeon tried to wrap his left hand in internal qi and swing it.
*Smack!*
Guyang Cheon's hand had already flown toward Jang Seonyeon's cheek.
As the palm struck his cheek, a sharp sound rang out.
*Swoosh—thud!*
His body drew a diagonal line through the air.
And crashed hard to the ground.
"Kurrrk...!"
Jang Seonyeon couldn't properly steady his mind from the impact.
Barely raising his body, blood trickled down from his lips.
"Inadequate bastard, if you charge in like that no matter what, did you think I'd just take it?"
"Heok... hah."
Looking at Jang Seonyeon, whimpering and bleeding, Guyang Cheon let out a snicker.
Slowly, he approached Jang Seonyeon.
His hand was still rubbing his chest.
'I haven't done this in a while, so my stomach feels awful.'
Coming to the Demonic Realm through the Demonic Realm Gate was the first time since his regression.
Perhaps because his body couldn't adjust, he felt nauseous as if motion-sick.
In the past, he had to lie down for a half-hour immediately to settle his stomach.
This time, perhaps because he was at least mentally stable.
He could endure it to some extent.
Then, as Jang Seonyeon tried to raise himself up, pulling his trembling body.
He kicked his leg out, breaking his posture.
"Kkak!"
"Stay still. You look better that way."
"You...!"
Then Jang Seonyeon looked at Guyang Cheon as if looking at a mortal enemy.
His eyes, which had been expressionless or smiling, now had blood vessels bulging with force.
"How...! How were you able to move?"
"How? I just moved."
He answered with a snicker.
What Jang Seonyeon was asking.
Was how he had moved atop the Demonic Realm Gate that had opened on the ground.
Being asked how was truly a strange thing.
He knew other martial artists couldn't move on top of it.
He had experienced it firsthand. He had seen it directly too.
Because he had seen the Hidden Dragons and other martial artists unable to move, stiff as boards.
In that gap, the only one who could move was me.
What was the reason? Honestly, I had never worried or thought about it.
I simply knew that I could.
I thought this life would be no different.
Feeling the Demonic Realm Gate I had faced just now, I was sure.
That this life was the same.
"Judging by your reaction, you thought I wouldn't be able to move. Why did you think that?"
"That's because that bastard...!"
"No, you're the kind of bastard who wouldn't believe it even if someone told you that Cheoljiseon couldn't move atop the Demonic Realm Gate."
"...!"
As talk of Cheoljiseon burst from my mouth, Jang Seonyeon's eyes widened.
"How do you...! You mean you already knew...!"
He seemed to realize that I already knew the fact that Cheoljiseon could open the Demonic Realm, and the fact that he had tried to use it to kill me.
"That's not a very important story. What I said is more important."
"How...."
"I'm saying, how could you be so sure of something like that?"
Though Jang Seonyeon had spat those words with a different meaning.
It seemed to coincide with the start of what I wanted to say.
The fact that Cheoljiseon could wield such power.
And even the characteristics of the Demonic Realm Gate that bastard opened.
It was Jang Seonyeon's nature not to believe anything without experiencing it directly, and yet.
He wouldn't have dangerously felt Cheoljiseon's Demonic Realm Gate with his own body.
It seemed he had a separate source of information besides Cheoljiseon's words.
Something that could inform him of that bastard's existence and power.
*Grind—!*
The sound of teeth grinding came from Jang Seonyeon's mouth.
"You, you're tormenting me until the very end!"
"What do you mean torment, you bastard."
"If you're going to die, you should die alone. How dare you bring me with you!"
Truly a shameless and absurd statement.
No matter how much of an incorrigible piece of trash Jang Seonyeon was.
He wasn't the type to say such thoughtless words.
Perhaps it was a sign that the situation had been pushed to a truly irreversible corner.
If so, that wasn't bad.
Jang Seonyeon was not in his right mind right now.
Of course. Since this was inside 'that' Demonic Realm.
I glanced around the surroundings.
First, the sky was red. It wasn't night, nor a sunset sky, and certainly not a clear blue sky.
It was a red sky truly tinted with a crimson light.
The land they stood on was dyed deeply, as if already dead.
Most of the things that looked like trees were withered deadwood.
No matter how one looked at it, this place was filled with a sense of otherworldliness unlike reality.
Beyond the Demonic Realm Gate.
A place that made many people.
Call it one of the Demonic Realms.
'Thank goodness.'
And.
'Thankfully, we came here.'
It was the place I had so desperately wanted to come to.
An area where I had been swept up in the Demonic Realm Displacement Incident in my previous life.
Separated from countless young experts and suffered for several years.
Among the types of Demonic Realms recorded by the Martial Alliance.
It was a Demonic Realm that belonged to none of them.
Though its name was Demonic Realm.
The place name I recalled was.
The False World.
A place that suited the truth of the world all too well.
The probability of crossing over to an ordinary Demonic Realm and returning alive was close to none.
Even that Sword Empress.
Had only been able to return after contracting a fatal illness.
That was the Demonic Realm.
It was a dangerous place to return from without considerable attainment.
The reason the young experts in my previous life had been able to escape this world and return.
Was because I had desperately struggled to return alive.
If it hadn't been for that, they too would have been trapped in this world forever, unable to return.
In Jang Seonyeon's eyes, this place.
Would look like such a terrible Demonic Realm.
Though in reality it was similar.
"I... I! This Jang Seonyeon...!"
Jang Seonyeon shouted as if losing his reason to surging emotions.
It was a sight unlike any other.
In my previous life, I had hated the sight of him going around smiling benevolently, trying to maintain his dignity.
I had wanted to see him exactly like that.
But was it because it was too late?
Or perhaps because it was the regressed Jang Seonyeon breaking down, not the one from back then.
The feeling wasn't that great.
"I! Am meant to become a pillar of the Central Plains...!"
"Ah, I'm thinking, so shut up for a second."
I didn't like how he kept flapping his mouth.
I stomped on Jang Seonyeon's ankle and crushed it.
*Crunch!*
"Kuaaaah!"
Jang Seonyeon's scream echoed.
Honestly, this was more pleasant to hear.
"Why are you whining? Weren't you trying to send me here? That's why I came with you."
"You—!"
"Ah, did you not like that I came along?"
Cackling with a laugh.
I stomped on him once more.
"Krrrk!"
You should have taken that into account. It'd be lonely going alone, so I came with you."
Only then did Jang Seonyeon grit his teeth with a crack.
And tried to erupt his internal qi.
Perhaps having come to his senses due to the crisis situation.
His internal qi moved more elaborately than before.
Though his ankle was smashed, his sword was still fast.
What should I do. Should I break his wrist this time?
As I reached out my hand.
The moment I tried to extend it, Jang Seonyeon, who had been about to swing his sword, flinched and trembled.
"Hmm?"
Seeing his reaction, I stopped involuntarily.
Why is he like that?
Before the question could even form, Jang Seonyeon began to shake violently.
"...Why, why isn't the divine artifact?"
Jang Seonyeon stammered with trembling eyes.
"Why...! Why won't the divine artifact come out...? O, Oh God!"
Jang Seonyeon shouting at the sky.
Was clearly not normal no matter how one looked at him.
"Have You abandoned me!"
Wondering why he was acting like that, I watched for a moment.
Then, at a sudden thought, I moved my energy.
It was the blood qi I had received from the Blood Demon.
'I see.'
After trying to move my energy for a moment.
I immediately had a faint idea of why Jang Seonyeon was acting like that.
'The energy isn't moving.'
The blood qi wouldn't move according to my will.
Just in case, I moved other energies one by one.
The demonic qi was the same.
The dao qi seemed to move. Internal qi naturally seemed to move as well.
But neither the blood qi nor the demonic qi moved.
Meaning they couldn't be used.
'Why?'
Separate from being able to use internal qi and dao qi.
I pondered for a moment why these two couldn't be used.
But couldn't figure it out.
Besides, right now.
I had to focus on something other than that.
"I don't know what it is, but more importantly, don't we have business with each other first?"
At my words, Jang Seonyeon flinched.
Having come this far, he seemed to have a picture in his head of what I was going to do.
"Wh-what are you trying to do?"
"Clearly, you seem young right now."
"?"
"The fact that you're already showing fear. It's amusing."
Thinking he had lost one card.
Revealing his situation with such a pathetic display.
Was something the Jang Seonyeon of my previous life would never have done.
That was proof that he was not yet fully grown.
And because it meant he was a different person from the Jang Seonyeon of my previous life.
'Not amusing.'
It only served to deeply dampen the excitement I had been trying to work up.
Of course, that didn't mean.
"When I kill people, I have a few rules set. Do you know what they are?"
I had no intention of letting him live.
Jang Seonyeon looked at me with questioning eyes at my words.
"The first is that if I plan to kill someone, I try to do it in one blow. It's cleaner that way."
Since I'm not a murder-crazed bastard like the Sword Demon, I tended not to take useless actions.
"The second is, if the situation calls for using flames, I burn from the head down."
If it was a situation where I had to use fire techniques, or if there was an opponent who pissed me off, I would grab them by the head and burn them.
I spewed out the words.
*Hwa-rk—!*
I kindled flames in my palm.
Seeing that, Jang Seonyeon's eyes trembled so violently the whites were visible.
"Do you know what the third is?"
The moment I spoke, Jang Seonyeon launched a surprise attack, filling his sword with internal qi for a single strike.
I commend him. Meaning he chose to fight rather than flee.
I had deliberately crushed his foot because if he wrapped himself in internal qi and ran, it would be annoying to catch him.
Was it because Jang Seonyeon was aware of this too?
No, that's not very important.
Dodging Jang Seonyeon's sword lightly, I continued speaking.
"I burn from the tips of the feet up."
With his ankle already ruined, Jang Seonyeon couldn't easily posture himself, so no matter how much internal qi was in his sword, it wasn't very threatening.
"Adjusting it moderately, slowly. That way the lifeline doesn't break and it lasts longer."
Avoiding dangerous parts like the heart or head, burning slowly and steadily.
So he can feel the pain.
Holding him in place with internal qi so he doesn't lose consciousness.
Taking care so he doesn't kill himself.
"Kuaaaaah!"
Hearing my words, Jang Seonyeon screamed and swung his sword like a madman.
I could feel a faint sense of terror in that.
I traced the sword path with my eyes.
Seeing the openings visible because his posture was broken.
Feeling the emotion visible in Jang Seonyeon's eyes, I let out a small sigh.
I reached out my hand.
Not very fast.
Just enough to reach the target.
And lightly extended my arm just enough to achieve the goal.
*Thud.*
*Crack.*
Through the messy sword path.
My arm dug in, striking Jang Seonyeon near the dantian.
Along with the short sound.
I felt the sensation of something breaking.
I had destroyed his dantian.
"Keo... ugh...!"
Jang Seonyeon let out a silent scream with a hollow gasp.
As his eyes rolled back from the emptiness of his dissipating internal qi and the excruciating pain.
I grabbed his throat and infused internal qi.
I had to keep him from losing consciousness.
"You listened well from the first to the third."
There is only one order in which this is possible.
"From now on, I'm going to use them on you in reverse order. Looking forward to it?"
I was planning to use a different method on Jang Seonyeon.
"I have a lot to ask you. I wish you'd answer quickly. This is more annoying to control than you'd think."
To get straight to the point.
All three end in death.
There was no option to let him live.
In the end, from the moment he opened the Demonic Realm in an attempt to kill me.
There was no hope or chance for Jang Seonyeon.
I hadn't intended to give him any from the start, for that matter.
Looking at Jang Seonyeon's back as he trembled, still unable to even scream.
I reached out my hand.