Chapter 245. I adapted to the light while gazing into darkness.

The breathing of the Sword Demon, Ghost Demon, and Lust Demon continued on calmly. Somehow, I had ended up on watch. From time to time, I fed the firewood the Ghost Demon had brought into the flames and stared at the campfire.

As I gazed at the flickering fire, I tried to govern the problems that reflexively arose in my heart with the aesthetics of letting go.

Like the leader of beggars with no house and no money. If the flames had begun to set fire to my madness, I would have gone running into the darkness at once and spent the whole night searching for the bastard who had been chattering with ventriloquism, but today I did not.

It was not an easy thing, but my desire not to disturb the sleeping villains joined with the mindset of letting go, and somehow I endured well enough.

Feeding the firewood as quietly as possible, I silently watched over the villains’ night. Suddenly, I checked the condition of the villains and myself.

Was this journey going well?

The words “not bad” slipped out. It was a journey I had set out on to catch Mureungja, but it did not matter even if I did not meet him. I encouraged myself and the villains, who were living with thoughts entirely different from those of our past lives, not as mad monkeys shut away somewhere doing nothing but training in martial arts.

Living just like this was not bad at all.

As I gazed at the flames, forgetting the passage of time, and governed my heart, dawn came for me as well.

The coming of dawn meant that the darkness that had hung over my heart was also gradually lifting.

When the dimness cleared and the stones, weeds, and pitch-black trees began to take shape, the Ghost Demon’s voice sounded.

“Sect Leader, get some sleep now. You worked hard.”

I looked at the Ghost Demon as he rose.

“Why aren’t you sleeping more?”

“I slept plenty. If you don’t want to sleep, at least circulate your qi.”

I met the Ghost Demon’s eyes, then remained seated cross-legged and began the qi circulation of the Hundred Battles Ten-Stage Art. Perhaps it was because I had stared at the stars and flames for so long today. In the darkness born from closing my eyes, clusters of stars drifted about, and flames danced as well. Maybe because I was circulating my qi with my mind calmly settled, a little while later, from beyond the Milky Way that was pushing away the darkness I had created, I heard an auditory hallucination.

「Hundred Battles Ten-Stage Art, bound for the sixth stage. The sixth-stage carriage will be departing shortly.」

「Third Brother, hold on tight. This one’s a bit fast.」

「Why did the carriage get so fast? Is it because the air in Juksan is good?」

「Whoa, I’m dizzy. Hold on tight! If you fall off the carriage, it’s qi deviation.」

「Of course it has to be fast. Only the road was different. The destination was always the same. Since this is a journey similar to the one you already opened with the Golden Turtle Free-Wandering Art, it’ll be faster this time. Let’s go!」

「Good. Let’s go.」

How should I describe this feeling?

Even in my dreams, I was raising hell with the Four Great Villains.

Still, because the words “qi deviation” made me feel tense, I clung tightly to the rattling carriage while holding on to my mind whenever it began to grow faint. Just how fiercely had we raced forward? At some point, lightning qi spread out from my hands, and the carriage I was holding on to was burning up completely from it. I am the sort of person who causes accidents like this from time to time. The Four Great Villains, who had been breaking through the sixth stage while riding the carriage with me, raised their voices.

「Jaha is burning the carriage with lightning qi. Escape! Dodge!」

「Where to?」

「Just escape first! Jump!」

「Confirmed.」

I suddenly came to my senses and snapped my eyes open.

“……!”

The campfire had gone out, the sun was high in the sky, and the realm of the Hundred Battles Ten-Stage Art had deepened another level. It was absurd, but it was the truth.

‘Hm, is this the sixth stage? Why did I conquer it so quickly?’

It felt as though I had experienced that time was not an absolute factor in reaching a certain realm or destination.

If one assumed that the process of accumulating internal energy through qi circulation was a journey…

There were times when one could never arrive at the destination, as if walking along parallel lines. Cases where one trained diligently yet still lost one’s way were like that. In the process, there were times when one collapsed because one could not grasp where the destination was, and that too could be called a kind of qi deviation.

But what I had experienced like a dream last night was a situation where I was swept up among clusters of stars and abruptly arrived at the next destination.

After I collected my senses a bit and looked around, the Lust Demon, Ghost Demon, and Sword Demon were sitting side by side in front of me, staring ahead.

Because my eyes were so dazzled, I stared blankly at the darkness made by the three villains’ backs and adapted to the brilliant light.

“…….”

Did darkness have to exist in order for one to adapt to light?

Only then did I discover the pack of wolves beyond the Four Great Villains, and I tilted my head.

Was I not fully awake yet?

Amid the pack of wolves were hunters wearing beast-fur garments. At a glance, they were not ordinary hunters. I could feel their aura. Strangely, swordsmen dressed as Daoists who did not suit those hunters at all were gathered beside them, and to their right, a group of wandering warriors holding various weapons was mixed in as well.

In a word, it was a complete mess.

There were times when one had to distinguish between the Black Way and the Evil Way, and this was one of those times. Rather than a Black Way faction with a unified air, a variety of all sorts of people who had to be lumped together as an Evil Sect were gathered, confronting the villains.

I asked the three of them.

“Are they the ventriloquist’s gang?”

The Lust Demon answered while staring ahead.

“Wouldn’t they be? Looks like an Evil Way alliance from Juksan. Bandits, hunters, Daoists, wandering warriors, woodcutters, and even bizarre bastards. Quite the variety.”

With my arms crossed, I asked both enemy and ally.

“What are you doing, not attacking?”

“Looks like that side is waiting for someone too.”

Only then did I rise, approach the seated Lust Demon, and hold out my hand.

“Flash Dagger.”

The Lust Demon took the Flash Dagger from his robes as if it were nothing and handed it to me. After putting the Flash Dagger into my own robes, I swept my gaze over the group from Juksan.

Perhaps because I had risen after sitting with my eyes closed, everyone was looking at me. From what I could tell, because I had been circulating my qi, the three villains had been waiting while deliberately suppressing their killing intent. If a melee broke out, I might have been injured.

I looked at the three of them anew.

‘Hm, confirmed.’

Only then did the three of them also rise from their seats and stare ahead. If we fought as we were, the riffraff of Juksan would all die here today.

I held the three villains back for a moment.

“Stand by for a moment.”

Even if the Juksan group had to be killed, it would be better for me to kill them all with my own hands. I looked at the Daoist group and said,

“Where is your master?”

“He will be here soon.”

I spoke to the hunters and wandering warriors as well.

“I am I Jaha, the one who annihilated the Namak Green Forest Alliance, crushed the One Reed Crossing River assassin group, and exterminated the Demon Cult forces at Baekeungji. At the request of the Alliance Leader, I am searching for the public enemy of murim, Seoak Mureungja. If you are captured alive and taken to the Murim Alliance, you will be given a chance to defend yourselves, and if you confess your crimes and beg forgiveness, you will not necessarily die. In particular, do not commit the folly of obeying Mureungja’s orders, attacking me, and being exterminated here on the spot. Are you saying you are stronger than the Demon Cult’s forces? You should not labor under such a delusion.”

Laughter burst out in unison from the Daoists’ side, and they said to me,

“So you’re I Jaha of the New Southern Six Dragons?”

“Then does that mean the rest of the riffraff are the Hao Sect?”

For an instant, I observed the villains’ expressions. Not only the Ghost Demon and Lust Demon, but even the Sword Demon let out a slight sigh at those words.

I looked at the Daoists.

“Who just laughed?”

“……”

Behind me, Ghost Demon drew his sword. Lust Demon laughed strangely, the way he had when he chased after the wolf, and though Sword Demon said nothing, I could feel his aura from behind as if he were drawing up his martial power.

I asked myself inwardly.

‘Is this right?’

Mureungja’s skill was probably quite high. I could be sure of that, since he had fought Mad Monk so fiercely. I had no complaints about fighting a bastard like that, but I wondered what help massacring this kind of riffraff would be to the Four Great Villains.

So I wanted to kill them all with my own hands instead.

Because if the three villains were to grow accustomed to the light, it would be better for me to create the darkness in their place. In our past lives, we had all been wayfarers who had lost our way after becoming darkness ourselves.

I spoke to the crowd that had gathered.

“……To sum it up, tell Mureungja to come out himself. There’s no need for all of you to get swept up and die. Behind me is Sword Demon, the former Left Envoy of the Demonic Cult. Our group is not Haomun.”

At that moment, someone behind me grabbed my shoulder.

Sword Demon said to me.

“Third Brother, I know you want to spare these men, but it won’t be easy. Even your exceptional eloquence does not work every time. These men have reached their time to die. I can guess why you’ve been dragging us around, but if you try to settle even a fight like this with words, then we would not be people of the jianghu. Don’t tell me you think the four of us are going to attain enlightenment. There is no such possibility.”

I looked at Sword Demon, then grinned.

“Is that so?”

As I stood still, Lust Demon and Ghost Demon passed me on either side and walked toward the troops.

Sword Demon looked at Juksan’s unorthodox alliance and said.

“Today, all of you die.”

When Sword Demon drew the Gwangmyeong Sword, Ghost Demon and Lust Demon charged forward. Had I, for a moment, become a Daoist priest overnight? At Sword Demon’s words, I came to my senses and returned to being the slightly enlightened Mad Demon.

I had forgotten that humans often don’t damn well listen.

Now Sword Demon, too, approached the Juksan group with the Gwangmyeong Sword resting on his shoulder. Lust Demon was already pouring out ice arts and fighting the mob of Daoists with brutal ferocity. Ghost Demon, perhaps sick of the wolves’ howls, was running wild while swinging his sword.

Watching the villains fight to their hearts’ content suddenly made me feel refreshed as well.

“Uhehehe.”

Was the charm of travel that it was hard to control one’s companions exactly as one pleased?

The three began to run wild as if the purpose of this journey had been fighting from the very beginning. I watched the sight with satisfaction, then wrapped the Baekjeon Ten-Stage Art around both hands. Since no one was paying attention to me, I raised the lightning qi of the Baekjeon Ten-Stage Art to the fifth stage, then infused it with the sixth-stage lightning qi I had broken through to last night.

“Oho……”

If I used Ilwol Gwangcheon here, even the Four Great Villains would be gravely wounded. But the Baekjeon Ten-Stage Art was different. They should be able to block this much. Even so, worried for my brothers, I opened my mouth and warned them.

“Everyone, be careful.”

Sword Demon, Lust Demon, and Ghost Demon, who were fighting at the front, glanced at me.

With the lightning qi I had been shoving into both hands, I created a white sphere and brought my hands together as if forging Ilwol Gwangcheon.

In an instant, a thunderous roar burst through the area, and my entire body was engulfed in a white current.

Pajijijijijijik……

‘Ah, so that’s why the carriage in my dream burned to a crisp.’

Was this what they called a precognitive dream?

Ghost Demon must have mistaken it for Ilwol Gwangcheon, because he screamed and moved away. Lust Demon was hurling curses at me while using his lightness skill. In the midst of all that, Sword Demon, seriously calm as ever, spoke with internal energy in his voice.

“It is not Ilwol Gwangcheon.”

I had already completed the Lightning Carriage (雷電馬車) created with the Baekjeon Ten-Stage Art in both hands. Since extreme yang internal energy was bursting out of my entire body as if exploding, I charged at the enemies while supporting the carriage made of lightning qi with both hands. Strangely, laughter slipped out of me. The sight of myself breaking through the cluster of stars in my dream was still vivid.

I could predict the effects of the Lightning Carriage to some extent.

It would not have the same explosive power as Ilwol Gwangcheon, but quite a few people would no longer be able to fight properly. As I ran forward carrying an enormous mass of lightning qi in both hands, even the Four Great Villains fled to avoid me, and the wolves, hunters, Daoists, and wandering warriors all began fleeing to avoid me as well.

Did I look that frightening?

Even Sword Demon, who had said it was not Ilwol Gwangcheon, was keeping his distance from me. I threw the Lightning Carriage toward the place where the largest number of Juksan’s group had gathered.

Even as it flew, the loud pajijijijijik sounded like music.

When the Lightning Carriage dropped from the sky onto someone’s head and exploded, lightning qi scattered in every direction, sending hundreds of large and small white streaks of light shooting out. Those who were fleeing collapsed, lightning qi that seemed to have dispersed surged up from the ground, and the wolves that had been clustered together flipped over at the same time, thrusting their bellies toward the sky.

Lust Demon, Ghost Demon, and Sword Demon each rose into the air while using their defensive ultimate techniques.

In an instant, the place where the Lightning Carriage had fallen was hollowed out, and the surroundings had become a complete hellscape.

Only then did I draw my wooden sword and say to the Four Great Villains.

“Let’s go.”

I had clearly spoken in a friendly tone, yet curses came back at me. If they fell to something of this level, they would not be the Four Great Villains.

They didn’t die, so it’s fine.

Why get angry?