< Episode 546 > Sword Demon (劍魔).
"Yura."
A soft and affectionate voice.
The old man, as always, was smiling as he looked at the young man.
"Yura."
At that call, the young man opened his eyes, yet he could not bring himself to raise his bowed head.
Because he did not have the right to do so.
"Yura. It's alright."
It is not alright.
The young man spoke with a voice that refused to come out.
'Master...'
I am not alright in the slightest.
Thinking so, the young man lowered his bowed head even further.
He knew this was all an illusion.
He knew those words were his own imagination as well.
"It's alright."
It was a voice he could no longer hear now.
A voice he ought not dare to listen for. The young man repeated that to himself endlessly.
"Yura."
The voice constantly rang in his ears.
Unable to endure it, the young man covered his ears, but...
"Yura... Yura..."
The sound penetrated the silence and seeped into his very body.
The once-affectionate voice somehow grew unfamiliar with each repetition.
This, too, was something that always happened.
Though he had experienced it countless times, the young man had never grown the least bit accustomed to it.
He was merely afraid.
"Yu... ra... Yura..."
Something constricted his throat.
At the chilling sensation, the young man opened his eyes against his will. Even though he did not want to, he could not stop it.
What entered his vision after that was...
"Yu... raaa..."
The old man, covered in blood, looking at him with a pained face, and...
Eyes glaring at him from all directions.
At the sight before him, the young man gritted his teeth and trembled violently.
He tried somehow to turn his gaze away, but the old man before him grabbed the young man's neck and forced their eyes to meet.
And then.
"How... how could you..."
"...kill this master?!"
The old man uttered the truth the young man most wished not to recall.
*
"Kuhak...!"
Gasping for breath, he sat up.
"Haak... ha... haak..."
His body, forced upright, was soaked through.
His back was drenched in cold sweat, and even his hair was sopping wet.
"Hah... hah... ugh..."
The young man grabbed his own shoulder.
It was to stop his body from trembling.
Of course, even so, the trembling did not stop.
After shaking for a long while, the young man finally seemed to come to his senses and began looking around.
His face showed he could not grasp the situation.
Then.
"Why are you suddenly acting crazy?"
At the abruptly heard voice, the young man turned his gaze.
Not far away, someone was sitting on a rock, looking at the young man.
With a dumpling in one hand.
"..."
Looking at him, the young man suddenly touched his jaw.
Because he felt a sharp pain.
When he gently pressed it, he could clearly feel it swelling.
As he felt the pain, his memories returned as well.
His own actions, as well as the moment that man had subdued him.
"..."
The young man rolled his yellow eyes and looked at his opponent.
An appearance just past his coming of age, fierce eyes.
For some reason, the alien blue eyes within them gave an uncomfortable feeling.
Seeing that, the young man asked.
"...Who are you...?"
As the question left his mouth, the opponent's eyebrows moved slightly.
It was a peculiar expression.
He seemed to frown, yet he also seemed surprised.
Watching that minute change, the young man regulated his breathing.
'Where is this...?'
Exhaling, he surveyed his surroundings.
He saw dense forest and rocks.
It seemed somewhat far from the inn where he had been.
Had that man brought him here?
Having thought that far, the young man asked his opponent.
"...Are you from the Alliance?"
"Hah?"
Upon hearing the question, the man snorted. It was a reaction that found it somewhat absurd.
"So you know you did something that would get you chased by the Alliance?"
"..."
Hearing the words, the young man's gaze dropped.
It was a fact he knew all too well, as the man said.
Footsteps.
As he lowered his head, he sensed someone's presence approaching.
It seemed the man had come right up to his nose.
"What the hell is wrong with this bastard? He was charging at me like he wanted to kill me earlier. Why is he like this now?"
Just moments ago, he had charged with a sword brimming with killing intent, as if to tear him to shreds.
It seemed strange that he was acting this way now.
"...I'm sorry."
At this, the young man offered an apology.
Once again.
He had failed to endure his desire and gone on a rampage.
And offering an apology that could not be forgiven by his opponent.
It was an extension of what he had experienced his whole life.
"...Hmph."
Was the apology the issue? The reaction he felt from the man before him was unusually vivid.
"Did I find the wrong person?"
At the sound of the voice, the young man raised his head.
Blue eyes looking down at him right in front of his nose.
"He wasn't this kind of bastard. This is kind of annoying."
At those words, the young man's eyes widened slightly.
"You... know me?"
"I thought so. But now it's gotten a bit ambiguous. Seriously, why are you pretending to be normal?"
"...Excuse me?"
"You should be crazy about killing people to be normal. I'm asking why you look like that now."
"..."
Hearing the words, he bit his lip.
Apparently, this man knew about his constitution.
If so.
'Is this the end?'
The young man foresaw his end.
He knew that he possessed the Celestial Slaughter Star.
He had even described himself as someone who came to capture him.
He had no intention of fleeing, but he couldn't have fled in the first place.
The young man already knew the gap in power between them all too well.
'I couldn't even touch him.'
It was an overwhelming defeat.
Even if he hadn't been in a normal state, it would have been impossible even if he had moved properly.
The gap was that large.
'...Rather, this is for the best.'
The young man held a faint smile.
Yes, it was rather fortunate.
He was tired of living.
As time passed, his madness deepened, and this cruel body craved to feed on human death even more.
It craved and craved again.
It was like an appetite that was never sated no matter how much one ate.
He endlessly desired the death of others.
Eventually, that end led to the death of his master, who was like his father.
'At least that's a relief.'
His mind, which had been mad in the past, had returned somewhat.
Thanks to that, he could die while recalling his own wrongs.
Satisfied with that, the young man gently closed his eyes.
He had intended to prepare his heart, but...
"Look at your expression. What are you doing?"
Seeing this, his opponent, Guyangcheon, spoke in a dumbfounded voice.
He couldn't understand the current situation as it was.
Why did that Sword Demon bastard suddenly look like he had given up?
'What the hell?'
The more he looked, the less he understood.
Among the situations that had flustered him right after his regression, Guyangcheon would count this among the top three.
'What is he?'
What was this docile-looking guy?
At least, he was someone Guyangcheon didn't know.
'He definitely is the Sword Demon, right?'
His appearance, and of course the power and aura he had used then, were that of the Sword Demon he knew.
But his current appearance was far too contrary to that.
He was the commander of the Ghost Inspector Sword Corps, a killing squad of the Demonic Cult.
A guy so assimilated with killing intent that he lived to kill opponents.
As such, naturally, his personality had been extremely eccentric.
He had been famous for his violent and cruel disposition.
'What the hell is this guy really?'
The Sword Demon Guyangcheon saw now was considerably distant from his former self.
His appearance with eyes closed and knees on the ground was unwavering.
The vengeful ghost that had rampaged in the inn was gone, and what remained was a young man with a calm atmosphere.
A Daoist.
Yes.
That was the atmosphere of a Daoist often seen among martial artists of Daoist orders.
A guy with his eyes closed, as if he had given up on everything, thinking who knows what.
Seeing that, Guyangcheon scratched the back of his head with an annoyed expression.
'Should I just go according to plan?'
The original plan was to capture the Sword Demon, who had just begun his activities, and turn him into a demonic practitioner.
To use him until he died and then discard him.
That had been the plan for the Sword Demon among the 'tasks' to be carried out in Guangdong.
Now it felt somewhat off.
'It's not like that appearance is particularly a problem.'
The reason was, rather than his appearance being different from the Sword Demon he knew.
It was because of the movements he had shown at the inn and his current atmosphere.
If his guess was right.
He needed to learn a bit more about the Sword Demon.
"Hey."
He called out to the guy, and he opened his closed eyes and looked at him.
They were still turbid yellow eyes.
"Let me ask you something."
He asked, looking at such a guy.
"Are you affiliated with the Kunlun Sect?"
"...!"
The young man's eyes widened like a flame at the question.
"Tsk."
He had to click his tongue seeing that. It was no different from confirmation.
'The Sword Demon is from the Kunlun Sect?'
It was something he had never known.
It couldn't be helped.
'...I couldn't see a hint of that in his sword?'
In his previous life, the swordsmanship the Sword Demon used had been devoid of any Kunlun Sect feeling.
The abundance of Dao qi that Daoists possessed.
It meant that even the unique flow of the Kunlun Sect's sword was nowhere to be seen.
The fact that it had been visible in the fight just now meant...
'That he has intentionally erased it.'
Meaning he had erased the feeling of the Kunlun Sect himself.
Leaving aside whether that was possible, since he had done it, it was simply so.
'If this guy really is the Sword Demon.'
Moreover, that wasn't the only question.
Looking at the guy trembling his eyes in surprise, Guyangcheon continued.
"Why is a Daoist from Kunlun here in Guangdong doing this?"
"..."
"As far as I know, Kunlun doesn't teach its people to go around killing others indiscriminately."
Gulp.
The young man clenched his fist upon hearing the words.
"...It has nothing to do with the Kunlun Sect. I am merely the one who is wrong."
Seeing that, Guyangcheon narrowed his eyes.
"Then, you're admitting you're the one who went around killing people here?"
"...Yes."
He nodded his head upon hearing the answer.
Shabby clothes, clearly a destitute appearance.
Even the appearance of not wanting to reveal himself as Kunlun.
Seeing this, there was only one conclusion.
"You ran away."
"..."
"Right?"
When he spoke with a chuckle, the young man hung his head deeply.
"...It's not like that."
"If not that, then what?"
"It's just... it was not a place where someone like me could dare to stay."
Not a place he should be.
The young man truly thought so.
Hearing this, Guyangcheon spoke in a flat voice.
"Did your master tell you to do so as well?"
At the unexpectedly heard words, the young man raised his head sharply.
"What...!"
"You were talking loudly in your sleep earlier. You must miss your master a lot?"
Did he mean he had made a sound while having a nightmare?
At the moment the young man clenched his fist and trembled as if ashamed.
Guyangcheon looked at him and thought inwardly.
'As expected.'
It seemed all his guesses had been correct.
It was surprising enough that the Sword Demon was a Daoist from Kunlun.
What was even more surprising.
'That guy is the disciple of Cheonghae Ilgeom?'
The former sect leader of the Kunlun Sect, an old man now deceased.
A martial artist he had once met at the Divine Dragon Temple.
Their connection hadn't been long, but he had been a figure who left his own meaning for Guyangcheon.
That such a Cheonghae Ilgeom.
'Had been secretly raising a Celestial Slaughter Star?'
Was the Sword Demon truly the disciple of Cheonghae Ilgeom?
This wasn't certain, but it wasn't difficult to guess.
Of all constitutions, it was the Celestial Slaughter Star.
Not only had he kept such a guy hidden.
But a figure capable of raising him to that realm.
Moreover, though it had been brief, the Dao qi from which a Kunlun aura could be felt even revealed a purity of essence.
If it wasn't Cheonghae Ilgeom here, it would have to be someone with at least the same power and influence.
In Guyangcheon's eyes, such a figure in Kunlun was solely Cheonghae Ilgeom.
'Tsk.'
Thinking that far, he clicked his tongue involuntarily.
'Of all people.'
To think Cheonghae Ilgeom and the Sword Demon were connected.
That meant.
'Could it be related to the reason Cheonghae Ilgeom went to the Demonic Cult in my previous life?'
That was something he couldn't know.
Cheonghae Ilgeom was one of the early demonic practitioners who defected to the Demonic Cult soon after the Heavenly Demon established it.
The Sword Demon was someone who entered after Cheonghae Ilgeom died.
'There's no way to know now.'
Now that the future had already twisted, Cheonghae Ilgeom was already dead.
He had died blocking the rampaging Red Demonic Border Gate, or so it was said.
'He didn't die like that in my previous life.'
Not only had such a rampage never occurred in Qinghai.
To begin with, the fact that the Red Demonic Border Gate had erupted at this point in time was already a deviation.
In such a situation.
"I hope you find peace."
The words he had spoken while alive still remained in his ears.
'What a pain.'
Of all things, the Sword Demon was entangled with Cheonghae Ilgeom.
He wanted to ignore all that and just turn him into a demonic practitioner and be done with it.
Since he was going to become the Sword Demon anyway, it didn't matter what intentions Cheonghae Ilgeom had in raising him.
However.
"You killed nearly ten people in this area alone."
There was something that bothered him about simply doing so.
"I don't know how a guy from Qinghai got all the way here, but given the distance, you must have killed many on the way too. Right?"
"..."
"Otherwise, the smell of blood couldn't be this thick."
The bloody scent emanating from him.
Whether he had no intention of hiding it or hadn't washed properly, the fishy stench was particularly foul.
He had killed people.
And in such cruel ways that the smell of blood would waft like that.
"...That's correct."
He did not deny it.
The guilt written on his expression was irksome.
'At least, you shouldn't be like that.'
He wished it were an act.
Hiding such thoughts, Guyangcheon continued.
"The funny thing is, I looked into it. The guys you killed around here all had criminal records."
"..."
Tak.
He took out a document from his chest and threw it before the guy.
Victims of the recent killer incidents.
It was a journal containing information about them.
"Rapists. Arsonists. Did you purposely choose such people to kill?"
"..."
Instead of answering, the guy slightly nodded his head.
"Why?"
"...I couldn't kill the innocent."
"Whether they were guilty or not, is it fine to kill people?"
"No. That is also a sin."
The firm answer was unexpected.
Honestly, Guyangcheon had thought it wasn't a sin.
Because he didn't particularly think human life was precious.
Those who deserved to be hit should be hit. Those who deserved to die should die.
He thought that was the way of the world.
"But why did you kill them?"
"...Because if I didn't... other innocent people might die."
Guyangcheon fell silent for a moment after hearing the answer, then spoke.
"By your hands, right?"
Gguk.
The young man clenched his fist tightly upon hearing the words.
"...Yes..."
Celestial Slaughter Star.
A fate born to live by killing people.
Some called it instinct.
Like eating a meal or breathing.
They said it was a natural law for them.
He had thought it was a shitty constitution from a historical perspective alone.
Seeing it directly, it was even shittier.
"So you killed them for that reason."
"...I'm sorry. I will accept my punishment gladly."
"You don't need to apologize to me. Then what were you trying to do at the inn earlier? Did those gentlemen do something wrong?"
"...No."
Unable to control his trembling hands, the guy clasped his own hands together to endure it.
"I'm sorry... please kill me. I was wrong..."
He had tried to kill because he couldn't overcome his instinct.
He admitted as such.
Was it true?
Was his appearance of admitting wrong sincere?
Was it really the first time for a guy who only killed criminals to try to kill innocents like he did at the inn?
He didn't know. Besides.
'I don't really care either way.'
He didn't regard it as very important.
Whether he had killed people or not was not a serious matter to Guyangcheon.
What Guyangcheon considered important here was none other than.
'Whether the Sword Demon wasn't a crazy bastard from the beginning.'
He seemed on the verge of going mad because he couldn't overcome his instinct.
But the fact that he hadn't been that kind of guy from the start was merely fascinating.
'If he were the guy I knew, I would have just turned him into a demonic practitioner and been done with it.'
Learning such trivial matters had piqued his interest a bit.
No, that probably wasn't the only reason.
"Take it slowly... then... you'll have fewer regrets..."
The words his fiancée, who had gone to the Northern Sea without listening to him, had left behind.
It probably meant he should curb his quick temper.
'She said she would come this year.'
Two years since she went there.
She had said she would return by this year, so it was about time she came back.
Perhaps she was already on her way.
Recalling that, Guyangcheon stood up.
"If something bothers me, I should take it slowly. Since I was told to do so."
As Guyangcheon muttered words the young man couldn't understand, the young man made an expression of doubt.
Then.
"If you have business, come out quickly."
At Guyangcheon's abruptly spoken words, a presence was felt from somewhere.
Immediately afterward, several figures appeared from beyond the forest.
The offender was none other than Seodong, the martial artist of the Alliance whom Guyangcheon had met last night.
Seodong appeared and immediately cupped his fists in salute to Guyangcheon.
"...We meet again, Great Hero."
"Yes. Nice to meet you. Thanks to you, I found the person well."
At Guyangcheon's words, Seodong's gaze turned to the kneeling young man.
Yellow eyes and an appearance that seemed past adolescence.
They were the distinguishing features Guyangcheon had described.
Which meant.
"...The killer."
It meant he was the culprit who had been stirring up the Guangdong region recently.
Ignoring Seodong's reaction, Guyangcheon opened his mouth.
"Do you have business with me? I thought we finished our talk last night."
Hearing the words, Seodong straightened his body sharply.
He tried to continue with some explanation, but the person beside him stepped forward and cut him off.
It was a middle-aged man of enormous stature.
Looking at him, Guyangcheon's brows narrowed.
'He's strong.'
Unlike Seodong, who was a peak-level martial artist, a heavy aura was felt.
Transformation Realm.
That man was a martial artist of the Transformation Realm.
As Guyangcheon looked at him as if waiting for an introduction, the man faintly smiled and cupped his fists.
"We meet for the first time. I am Wiseok, in charge of the Guangdong Branch of the Martial Alliance."
Wiseok. Guyangcheon nodded inwardly upon hearing the man's name.
Judging by his realm, he had thought he wouldn't be commander-level.
He hadn't expected the branch chief to appear in person.
'Well, if he's Transformation Realm, it would be a waste for him to remain as a commander.'
A martial artist of the Transformation Realm was at the level to enter an elder position in a prestigious family.
It would be strange for such a person to take command of a mere sword squad.
"I apologize for meeting you so unannounced. I came in a bit of a hurry."
Guyangcheon nodded at Wiseok's words.
At that attitude, for a brief moment, a strange light filled Wiseok's eyes.
"I heard well from my subordinate. You helped capture the red demon?"
"I just happened to see it passing by and caught it."
"...A red demon, just passing by..."
Wiseok laughed upon hearing Guyangcheon's words.
"It is no easy feat, impressive. Thus, I wished to express my gratitude and came to see you."
"I've received it well. So?"
Get to the point.
Those words were filled with such meaning.
He was speaking openly, so Wiseok couldn't possibly not know.
"I am grateful for your help, but it is a matter of dealing with you. As the situation is uneasy, I wish to obtain clear information about you. Furthermore."
Wiseok's gaze turned toward the young Sword Demon.
"It seems you are related to the killer who has caused a commotion recently. I wish to hear about this as well. Therefore, if possible, I would like to go to the branch and have a detailed talk."
Hearing that, Guyangcheon spoke.
"So, you're saying you're suspicious and want me to quietly follow you for investigation?"
"I will escort you respectfully."
It was an affirmative tone.
"What will you do if I refuse?"
"I hope you do not. If possible, I truly wish to escort you respectfully."
Words spoken while gripping his sword.
It was no different from a threat.
If he didn't follow, they would subdue him.
How could he not know what that meant?
No wonder the number of people brought seemed quite large.
Not only the martial artist called Seodong, but also some of higher realms were mixed in.
Were they commander-level?
'Feels like I'm being treated as a demon.'
With the power to hunt a red demon lightly on top of that.
Perhaps because the momentum he had shown Seodong was so great, they seemed to have made thorough preparations.
Sensing this, Guyangcheon...
"Haha."
...couldn't hold back the laughter that leaked out.
"Funny."
He didn't hide his true meaning.
He wasn't laughing out of anger. He truly laughed because it was amusing.
Guyangcheon looked at Wiseok before him and thought.
How could he not laugh?
'I guess I cast the bait better than expected.'
He hadn't expected what happened with the Sword Demon.
But otherwise, everything was flowing according to plan.
How could such a situation not be fortunate?
Recalling that, Guyangcheon spoke toward Wiseok.
"Then."
At the same time.
"Go ahead and try taking me."
Shk—!
The sound of swords being drawn echoed from all directions.