Chapter 339. The Zixia Divine Art Was Not Unleashed.
Even as we walked blindly through the darkness…….
The Four Great Evils voiced no complaints or dissatisfaction. Normally, they would have asked me what the plan was, but because of the wraiths following behind us, they simply walked in silence.
The wraiths did not speak often either.
Probably because opening their mouths carelessly would give them a high chance of being killed by the white-haired elder.
Just because we had chosen Manjang Cliff as the place of battle…….
It was not exactly normal for the Four Great Evils and the wraiths to travel there together.
But considering that we were abnormal bastards to begin with, it was not all that strange either.
In any case, these bastards could not kill me directly. They would either capture me alive and offer me to the Cult Leader, or, as I expected, hand me over to the black-clad man.
The number of people following behind us gradually increased, but I had yet to confirm whether that black-clad man in question was among them.
As we walked on and on without end, another signal flare launched by the wraiths burst in the sky.
I stopped for a moment and watched the fireworks exploding in the night sky. Glittering stars and sparks mingled together, creating a magnificent sight.
“Wow…….”
When I stopped to watch the fireworks, the wraiths also looked up at the sky.
Someone asked me.
“Where exactly is Manjang Cliff? Is it still far?”
I answered honestly.
“It’s far. Let’s sleep somewhere for the night and set out again when the sun rises.”
The wraith who had asked let out a sigh, then spoke in a tone tinged with complaint.
“Baiye(白夜), what in the world is this? How long must we keep following him?”
I did not know who Baiye was, but I looked at the wraiths and said.
“Hey, which old man was that?”
“…….”
“Whether I die or you die, this is the final journey of our lives. You’re complaining because you can’t even follow along for this? No wonder you were pushed out of the Cult and stuck at the old main headquarters, with all that whining and dissatisfaction. You useless old bastard. If you want to die that badly, then let’s have a life-or-death duel right now. Come out…… Which bastard was it?”
Amid the silence, an unpleasant voice mixed with a metallic rasp flowed out.
“Manjang Cliff is a place the masters of old chose as the site of decisive battles. Many so-called great men fell to their deaths there. Beneath Manjang Cliff, the grass, trees, and living things must be abundant, nourished by the bodies of martial masters. It is not a bad place to die. The Gate Master does not seem accustomed to night roads either, so all of you, prepare to make camp.”
Only then did I learn that the white-haired elder’s epithet was Baiye.
Baiye continued.
“Before that, those who want to die may settle it one-on-one. Since when did any of you live by obeying my words? The dead will be used as firewood for the campfire.”
The journey to Manjang Cliff came to a temporary halt.
I asked the wraiths.
“Has that black-clad man not arrived yet?”
“Who are you talking about?”
“The one you were protecting.”
The wraiths soon closed their mouths and began making preparations for camp among themselves. I left the Four Great Evils behind and walked over to the wraiths, examining them for the black-clad man.
As I approached…….
The wraiths stared at me with startled eyes. I walked around, looking one by one at the ghostly faces beneath the moonlight, then said to a few of them.
“Prepare camp. Stop staring.”
The scrawny elder spoke to me in an incredulous tone.
“Gate Master, have you thrown your life away? You are walking around our side as if it were your own home.”
I plopped down among the wraiths and answered.
“Well, we’re going to kill and be killed anyway……. Why quibble so much?”
Baiye looked at me.
“There is a reason the Cult Leader is paying attention to you.”
Surrounded by wraiths, I looked at the Four Great Evils a little distance away.
“What are you doing? Prepare camp. Or come over here, all of you.”
The Lust Demon answered.
“You stay there yourself.”
“Fine.”
The white-haired elder and the scrawny elder came over and sat down in front of me. The scrawny elder said with a smile.
“Got you, you bastard.”
I smiled as well.
“Let’s say I’ve been caught. Have you decided?”
“Decided what?”
“Whether to offer me to the Cult Leader, or have the black-clad man you were protecting absorb me. Have you still not made your choice?”
The scrawny elder tilted his head and answered.
“How are you so well informed about the affairs of the Cult? Did Hao Gate plant spies, like those scholars?”
“Not quite.”
“This is somewhat bewildering. I feel as though my hand may move before I know it and kill you, so explain the confidence that lets you sit there like that.”
I nodded and pointed at the white-haired elder.
“This one is Elder Baiye, and you are?”
The scrawny elder answered.
“I am called Number Eight. Mostly, I am called Eighth Old Master(八老爺).”
“Wow, I don’t suppose you’re the Number Eight from the same era as Senior Sword Demon?”
“How could I be from the same era as the Left Envoy? I was the eighth even before then.”
“So the number eight was retired altogether. Strangely impressive.”
Eighth Old Master said.
“Tell me. The reason you are sitting there so boldly.”
“I should tell you.”
I looked around. The Four Great Evils were preparing to light a campfire, while the other wraiths seemed likely to pass the night simply sitting here and there wherever they pleased. In other words, the only ones trying to light a fire were the Four Great Evils.
I looked at Eighth Old Master and said.
“Before I tell you, there’s one thing I’m curious about too.”
“What is it?”
I swept my gaze over the wraiths nearby, then asked the two of them.
“Which wraith was it who massacred the people who didn’t know martial arts in that village? Quite a lot of people died.”
Eighth Old Master looked at Baiye.
“Who killed them?”
Baiye answered.
“A man called Iron Corpse(鐵屍) killed many of them.”
“Where is he?”
“He charged at the Sword Demon, had his head cut off, and died.”
“Who else?”
“War Demon(戰魔) and Flesh Demon Ancestor(肉魔祖) also went around killing.”
“Where are they?”
Baiye answered in a sunken voice.
“War Demon seems to have died when the White-Robed Scholar ambushed him just as he was about to kill Master Liuhe. Flesh Demon Ancestor was killed by the young one who uses ice arts.”
I nodded.
“I see. If martial artists were going to fight among themselves, why didn’t you two elders stop them? I doubt the two of you are weaker than Cheolsi, Jeonma, or Yuk Majo. Even among the Wraiths, you seem like exceptional masters.”
Baekya looked at me.
“Why ask such a pointless question? Why would men who properly follow orders be at the old main headquarters? They were exiled here after causing trouble even in the Divine Cult.”
I folded my arms, then nodded.
“Right.”
Pal Noya opened his mouth.
“Now then, we gave you the answer you wanted, so you should answer as well.”
“Why I’m sitting here with such confidence?”
“Yes. That is what I’m curious about.”
“I…… just……. How should I explain it? I came because I was curious what kind of people the Wraiths were. I’m the sort who can’t endure curiosity.”
Pal Noya looked at Baekya.
“That is far too reckless, isn’t it?”
The look in Pal Noya’s eyes seemed to say they should attack together and capture me right now. Baekya looked at Pal Noya, then turned his head and fixed his gaze on me.
“I don’t think that is the reason.”
Pal Noya answered in his stead.
“Then?”
Baekya stared steadily into my eyes and said,
“……It seems you’re sitting there because you have the confidence that you can kill everyone here at any time.”
Pal Noya stared at me.
“He doesn’t seem to have that level of skill…….”
“Pal Noya.”
“Speak.”
“Have you seen my skill?”
“Did killing the Four Heavenly Kings raise your confidence a little? At the old main headquarters, those bastards were ones who fetched and offered up wash water.”
“They must have been more than thirty years younger than you two, so that’s hardly strange.”
“At any rate, as Elder Baekya said, is it true you are confident?”
I shook my head.
“It is not true. There’s no way I would have such confidence.”
“…….”
The Wraiths around us laughed mockingly. Baekya still wore a blunt expression, and Pal Noya clicked his tongue while shaking his head.
Pal Noya said to me,
“Are you truly mad?”
I looked at the Wraiths around me, then at Baekya and Pal Noya, who seemed ready to attack me at any moment, and broke the flow.
“My sobriquet is the Crazy Demon.”
Pal Noya tilted his head.
“That is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“There were some who heard my sobriquet, but they’re already dead.”
Pal Noya laughed.
“Crazy Demon is a sobriquet that suits our side.”
“I know. That’s why I’m fitting in right now.”
Baekya asked me,
“Why is your sobriquet Crazy Demon?”
“My skill goes up and down. My emotions rise and fall, too. Sometimes I get depressed over nothing in particular. Sometimes I laugh at trivial things. My martial arts grow strong, then weak…… Most of the time I’m vulgar, and sometimes I’m in my right mind. I’ve stained my hands with as much blood as you people, so I’m an evildoer. But I don’t think I’ve ever killed someone who had never learned martial arts at all. Is that young man in black your disciple?”
“…….”
“Or is he perhaps a candidate for Heavenly Demon? Whether he absorbs me or I absorb him, facing the Cult Leader seems like it would be a little difficult. What do you two elders think?”
Baekya asked,
“Are you truly a Yin-Yang Body?”
“Probably.”
“It is certainly true, as you said, that even if one of you were to absorb the other entirely, it would still be difficult against the Cult Leader. Do you know why?”
I looked at the goosebumps rising on my forearms, then nodded.
“Ah, I think I know. This wasn’t the first time the Wraiths created someone like the man in black and offered him up.”
Pal Noya nodded.
“You are indeed a clever fellow. It wasn’t the first.”
“Since a very long time ago?”
Pal Noya grinned.
“Since a very long time ago. The previous Cult Leaders were the same…….”
“Now I understand why the old main headquarters exists. Some of my curiosity has been satisfied. So this was the reason you didn’t kill people pointlessly no matter what trouble they caused, but exiled them instead. Since they would eventually be fused together into a living elixir for the Cult Leader to consume anyway. This is no ordinary demonic path. You dress it up as if it were a realm of chaos without rules, but in the end, it means managers like you two oversaw all of this, does it not?”
When Baekya smiled for the first time, he looked like a toothless evil spirit laughing.
“Now that you know everything, how do you feel? Is anger surging up inside you? Do you intend to use the ultimate technique with which you killed the Four Heavenly Kings?”
The situation had come to this point because…….
In any case, it seemed the two of them had the confidence to drag me away whenever they pleased. There was no need to understand the demonic path through reason. No matter from what direction one looked into it, it was dense darkness.
Baekya said,
“No matter where you were born, you are someone who would have become a great grandmaster. I respect that point. It was because I acknowledged that one thing that I led the Wraiths and followed you to Manjang Cliff.”
I laughed alone in the dead of night.
As I kept cackling for a long while, Pal Noya, still seated, thrust out a palm strike. Without much thought, I met it with my right palm.
Thud!
Perhaps intending to capture me without killing me, Baekya immediately moved and thrust out a palm strike. I met it with my left palm.
Thud!
I realized that while I was contesting palm force with the two of them, I had become defenseless.
Pal Noya said with a laugh,
“Sect Leader, our conversation was enjoyable. Farewell.”
The Wraiths rose all at once and approached me.
“…….”
While holding on to Baekya and Pal Noya with one hand each, I felt my vision grow hazy.
“……Let us go to hell.”
The Jaha Divine Art did not unfold. Instead, although my eyes were open, a white curtain was covering the entire world. Not the entire world, of course—only what lay before my eyes. When I felt as though my pupils were freezing over, my vision blurred, and I saw Baekya and Pal Noya’s arms freezing.
I wanted to open my mouth and mock them, but my tongue had already stiffened.
“…….”
I didn’t know which Wraith it was, but when someone struck my shoulder in a surprise attack, my sight had vanished completely.
Being entirely white was the same as being entirely black.
I could see nothing.
With the Snow Robe of the Wolyeong Mujeong Art draped over me, I froze together with the old elders.
A man has his pride.
In truth, I had been prepared to die together with these Wraiths at any time.
The problem was that I, too, was in danger of dying…….
If that frightened me, my epithet would never have been Mad Demon in the first place. Dull impacts and the clang of metal continued harshly over my frozen body.
‘Hit harder. With that much, you won’t be able to cut the Full Moon (滿月).’
Since no sound came out of my mouth, I laughed inwardly.
...The Lust Demon sprang into the air the moment Third froze while thrusting out both palms, then stamped the ground once.
Third was already frozen in place while holding the wraiths fast.
The Lust Demon crouched, then shot upward as if tearing the air apart, and the instant he arrived in the sky where the wraiths were, he unleashed Moonlight Flash (月光一閃) from his entire body.
It was cold energy in the form of rays of light, the Jade Flower Ice Art exploded all at once.
On the ground, Third’s ice art spread outward, dyeing the earth white. In the air, the Lust Demon covered the land below with the cold energy he poured out through Moonlight Flash.
The Sword Demon and the Ghost Demon drew their swords as they charged forward at the same time…….
A night when moonlight ricocheted off blades…….
Everything around us turned white.