The outskirts of the Ganghwan Realm, Xinjiang Province, the Tianshan Mountains.
“We have come to pay homage to the great Demon King who has descended upon this land.”
““We pay homage to the Demon King!””
In the vast and magnificent great hall, countless people dropped to their knees as one and shouted until their throats nearly burst.
Their voices were directed toward the being seated on an ornate grand preceptor’s chair set high atop the stairs at one side of the hall.
“Hm.”
Having received the worship of all present, the new supreme ruler, Demon King Hans, rested his chin on one hand propped against the armrest and looked down with arrogance.
A sneer hung on the face of the cold middle-aged man, and ghostly flames burned within his glassy, gleaming eyes.
The interior was so spacious that several hundred people could comfortably hold a banquet there, and so lofty that trying to gauge the height of the ceiling was meaningless.
The sight of the vast crowd gathered in such a place prostrating themselves in unison was truly spectacular.
And the sensation of sitting not just anywhere, but on a high seat from which the entire space came into view at a glance, receiving the fear that seeped faintly from their emotions with his whole being…
‘This is absolutely magnificent.’
…was immensely satisfying.
After all, Hans was the aggregate of negative emotions, a being who had been the very symbol of negation from birth.
Each time his gaze, tinged with a strange light, lightly swept over those lying prostrate, their bodies flinched despite themselves.
Though the qualifications for entering this great hall, the “Divine Demon Hall,” were strictly limited, the number of people gathered for the full assembly was close to a hundred.
And even that was only because the number had been greatly reduced by the storm of purges that had raged until recently. If not for that, there would easily have been several hundred.
‘I’ve pruned as much as I needed to. There were quite a few stubborn ones, so it took some time, but that much isn’t even an obstacle when swallowing an organization of this scale. As expected, it was right to make examples of them.’
Needless to say, in order to absorb a power on the level of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult as intact as possible, the voluntary cooperation of the existing leadership was essential.
However, no matter how much Hans had exercised force and proven his abilities, it was only natural that they would find it difficult to readily accept some unknown being who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere as their leader.
Naturally, what followed was conciliation, threats, examples, and executions by any and all means.
A continuous purge that picked out those who could become his limbs and cut away those who seemed utterly beyond rehabilitation.
The result was this very moment.
“Command us in all things, Supreme One!”
Truly, he had done it.
He had ultimately subdued the enormous force known as the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and swallowed it whole.
Hans leisurely looked over those prostrated on the floor, then slowly opened his mouth.
“Very well. The location of the Heavenly Secret Demon Immortal? Have you identified it?”
The highest-ranking figure among those who had left the main altar, the commander-in-chief of external operations overseeing the detached units, the strategist of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult—Heavenly Secret Demon Immortal Yelu Huan.
The one who answered his question about the man’s whereabouts was the deputy pavilion master of Tongtian Pavilion, the cult’s intelligence organization.
“…Forgive me. It seems former Strategist Yelu Huan has noticed the changes that occurred at the main mountain. Not only have all connections with him been severed, but contact with the detached units dispatched elsewhere is also being cut off one by one, making it difficult to determine his location.”
The current senior-most official in charge of the Demon Cult’s intelligence department bowed his head as if ashamed and gave his answer.
At that negative response, Hans gazed down at him silently.
As if wondering whether he was harboring other thoughts and trying some petty trick.
‘…Kuh, I can’t breathe… Even the previous Heavenly Demon cult leader wasn’t this much…’
Under the tremendous pressure that accompanied that gaze, the deputy pavilion master broke out in cold sweat and squeezed his eyes shut.
He truly had not the slightest intention of defying the will of this new supreme ruler.
He had seen with his own eyes what had become of his superior—the former master of Tongtian Pavilion, whose seat was now vacant—who had only pretended to submit on the surface while harboring other thoughts behind the scenes.
‘I do not fear death. But… but that is different!’
At the end of meaningless resistance lay not merely simple death.
What followed was only eternal pain and despair, without the slightest hope of peace in the next life.
That merciless tyrant would never let them go, whether alive or dead.
Before him, death could never be an escape.
“Hm. Fine. Since there has been a major incident this time, I shall understand that much.”
“Ah! Your grace is immeasur—”
“But only this once. Put the chaos in order as quickly as possible, reorganize the hidden lines connected to every region, and resume gathering information. If you bring me another disappointing answer next time—I will have no choice but to reconsider your usefulness.”
“…I obey!”
At the murderous words that came at the end, the deputy pavilion master flinched, shouted loudly, and rammed his head against the floor.
Now was not the time to lament his lot.
If he failed to prove his worth while alive, he would be used as a resource after death.
There was no point in protesting at this late stage that Tongtian Pavilion had been an institution directly under the strategist, so there was bound to be a difference in how tightly it could be controlled. That tyrant would never understand.
If he wanted to live, he had no choice but to find a way.
“……”
“……”
Even as that exchange passed between the two of them, the great hall remained as silent as the grave.
Although close to a hundred people were gathered in one place, not even the sound of breathing could be heard.
“Then, next…”
Amid that suffocating tension, Hans continued calling names, checking the status of their work, and issuing instructions for quite some time.
The atmosphere had stiffened considerably, but all of this was exactly as intended.
After all, the reason he had issued this order for a full assembly of the executives in the first place was to tighten discipline once more and warn them not to act rashly.
‘Now—lastly.’
And finally, Hans’s gaze turned toward the last group remaining.
The direction in which those he had been looking forward to the most had gathered.
The department to which the researchers who studied jiangshi, curses, and all manner of sinister arts belonged.
The place where the executives of Kaihua Palace were.
***
Kaihua Palace, the collective name for the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s research facilities.
It was an organization tasked with learning, analyzing, and improving every mystery aside from martial arts.
The mainstream mysteries of this world were, without question, martial arts, but that did not mean research into other systems could be neglected.
Unlike martial arts, which could be dealt with in a more intuitive manner, arts carried out through all manner of bizarre and astonishing methods could inflict far more fatal damage when one did not properly understand them.
Among them, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was famous as an organization that primarily dealt not in Daoist arts or immortal arts, but in wicked heretical arts that strayed beyond human ethics.
It was even said that if the two great pillars on the side of the light were the Zhuge Clan and the Maoshan Sect, then in the shadows there were the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and the Blood Cult.
‘And they said even that Blood Cult has now been absorbed by this side. After a war that continued beneath the surface, the Blood Cult’s leader, the Blood Demon, was defeated and killed by the Heavenly Demon…’
It was a passage that showed just how much the Demon Cult had prepared during the period of concealment after the Blood Incident in the Imperial Palace.
To think they had been carrying things out to that extent even while being kept in check by Golden Crow Island. If he had not moved quickly and dealt with the Heavenly Demon, before long the entirety of the Ganghwan Realm truly would have fallen into their hands.
“Welcome, Supreme One! We welcome your visit to Kaihua Palace, the greatest cradle of knowledge on the continent!”
And now, the old man who had come out to greet Hans with such intense enthusiasm was none other than the former Blood Cult’s highest elder and the current palace master of Kaihua Palace.
He was the Blood Cult’s second-in-command, who had taken the lead in bringing the forces under him over to the Demon Cult after the Blood Demon departed this life, and also a psychopath who had personally turned the corpse of his former leader into a jiangshi and presented it to the Heavenly Demon.
For reference, that jiangshi had currently been deployed on an external operation, so it could not be seen here now.
“Now, now, please come this way. That the Supreme One has taken an interest in our Kaihua Palace is truly a boundless joy! To tell the truth, the previous cult leader had a tendency to treat us like some workshop for producing jiangshi…”
Also thanks to that disposition, he had been the first to raise the white flag and surrender completely when Hans occupied the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, declaring his active cooperation.
It was also undeniable that, thanks to him, the process of swallowing the force had become somewhat easier.
“As expected of a fellow practitioner of the arts, I knew you would understand us! Ah—still, that day remains vivid before my eyes. The moment even the heavens dared not look down upon the earth because of the dark clouds the Supreme One summoned, as if King Yama of the underworld had descended into the present world…”
Of course, it was not merely opportunism at work there. His awe toward Hans, who had overturned the Demon Cult’s main altar without using martial arts at all, relying solely on “arts” that touched the heavens, had also played a firm role.
No matter what anyone said, he was one of the greatest practitioners of the arts in the current era, a man who had devoted his entire life to them.
“This is where we study curses. In truth, curses are often looked down upon because people think they are of little help in a head-on battle and that it is difficult for them to pierce the demon-resisting power of someone who has reached a high realm, but that is a statement made by those who know one thing and not the other. As the Supreme One surely knows, once one is afflicted by a curse, even a master of the Profound Realm cannot easily escape…”
However, even this master of Kaihua Palace had one fatal flaw.
He was extremely talkative.
Of course, it did not seem to be because he was treating Hans casually; rather, he appeared to be speaking more because he was nervous. Still, Hans could not help feeling somewhat strange about it.
‘Well, as long as he doesn’t cross the line, it doesn’t matter. More than anything, it would be hard to find someone this skilled again in this minor field of arts. …At any rate, this place is astonishing no matter how many times I look at it.’
Half-listening to the chatter beside him, Hans looked around the inside of the laboratory and inwardly admired it.
He had already come here once while dealing with the jiangshi, but calmly looking around a place where the research processes were laid out in an orderly manner gave him a different impression.
“Oh? This is…?”
“Ah, as expected, you have a discerning eye! This is where we produce and improve the highest-quality specimens among the monster jiangshi our cult takes pride in. The individual currently being worked on is a spirit beast said to be comparable even to dragons—the Qilin. In truth, unlike the various monsters that belong to the demonic, the process for a spirit beast is extremely demanding, but we use a tainted wish-granting jewel to…”
A four-legged beast whose height alone seemed to easily exceed three meters.
Although the fur that should have shone in five colors had lost its luster, and not a single trace of vitality could be felt from it, the rank of a higher being emanating from its body was extraordinary at a glance.
‘I see. So that’s how it works.’
And the moment he faced the manufacturing process, Hans could clearly glimpse a portion of the secret essence of the jiangshi art created by combining the esoteric traditions of that Demon Cult and Blood Cult.
Not only was there the explanation of the master of Kaihua Palace, who was still chattering diligently right beside him—
but various skills such as “Unholy Sage,” “Forbidden Knowledge,” and “Path of the Demonic Art” were dismantling and analyzing in real time the mystery taking place directly before his eyes.
The resulting torrent of knowledge brought a great sense of exhilaration even to Hans, who had shown no particular emotional change from beginning to end.
“…Truly excellent.”
“As expected, I knew you would recognize it! Well, if one were to judge only by the level of perfection, the black jiangshi commanded by the Supreme One could be said to be even greater. Is not drawing out the martial might the vessel possessed in life to a level beyond perfection the very goal of jiangshi art?”
With the voice energetically chiming in beside him as background noise, Hans slowly nodded.
Inside his head, the jiangshi arts he had learned little by little all this time were intertwining with new concepts, mixing with his existing knowledge, and being reassembled and established as a mystery of his own.
This was a turning point.
Until now, Hans had encountered the knowledge of countless worlds and ceaselessly broadened his foundations.
The greatest contribution to that accumulation of knowledge had likely been what he had forcibly obtained through the Heaven-Overturning Society.
And at this very moment.
All that had accumulated over time finally crossed the critical point.
《The individual’s enlightenment grows beyond its limits. The special skill “Forbidden Knowledge” evolves into “Forbidden Truth.”》
It was the moment Hans, whose roots lay in the black magic of Auterica,
obtained the authority to access a library of forbidden knowledge encompassing a far broader category.
***
‘I’ll have to focus on this side for a while.’
Having achieved the evolution of his skill, Hans decided to remain in Kaihua Palace for the time being.
“Forbidden Knowledge” had been a treasury of unholy arts, including various forms of black magic.
Its grown form, “Forbidden Truth,” allowed him to access various knowledge he had not encountered until now, and among it were vast amounts of information on the jiangshi arts of this Ganghwan Realm, the various systems derived from them, and even methods for improving them.
‘And right now, this is the perfect environment to absorb that knowledge.’
Of course, since he had just swallowed an enormous force whole, he could not devote himself solely to research.
He had already turned all of Tianshan into his domain and placed barriers and magic tools in various locations, but for now, he still needed to inspect the interior periodically and engrave Hans’s presence clearly into them.
‘Well, I suppose that much must be endured.’
At his level, juggling this much was nothing.
Of course, the matter he was facing now was not quite so simple.
A research room prepared exclusively for Hans within Kaihua Palace.
On the bed placed at its center lay two corpses side by side.
One was the Heavenly Demon, the former master of this place where he now stood, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult…
“Kekekekeke—ah, indeed. With a control group, I can finally see it somewhat clearly.”
And the other was a new sample sent from Earth: the Secretary.
‘With this, I can truly begin in earnest.’
In life, they had been apostles who served the god known as the leader of the Heaven-Overturning Society, but now that they had fallen into Hans’s hands, that was a thing of the past.
From this moment on, they would be tempered into daggers aimed at the god they had once served—“godslayers.”