Chapter 4
Character Ruined
The elders’ complexions instantly turned pale as they watched Woon-hwi chewing away at what used to be Cheon Hwa-jin with a smile.
‘Damn iiiiit!’
‘That lunatic again!!’
‘This is exactly why we tried to drag him down from the throne!’
Again! That smile again, again!!
As the elders stared at the wicked grin hanging from Woon-hwi’s lips, their hearts sank and their rage threatened to explode.
Even in the martial world, impressions of him were very simple.
Character ruined.
Master of causing havoc.
King of grudges, and so on.
The rumors surrounding him were always the same.
—They say that every time he smirks slyly, a sect ends up getting destroyed.
—Never engage in a long conversation with him. In the blink of an eye, just with an ‘Oh? Oh!’, you’ll find yourself caught in some incident and your life thrown straight into the gutter.
That damned bastard always insisted he was the victim and the normal one, but no one ever believed his words.
If he really were normal, then what were all those disasters that swept across the martial world until now?
Especially whenever he wore that smile, storms would always break out of nowhere.
All they could do before that massive calamity was tremble and shake.
Shiver…
* * *
Thud! Boom boom!
As soon as the Wraith Pill was absorbed into my body, it exploded.
Death energy was something no living human could normally handle.
But I was different.
Since I dealt with the dead, it was closer to being a spiritual medicine for me.
I treated the death energy as if it were poison and circulated the Poison Dragon Heart Technique.
The clash between the Tang Clan’s inner energy, which had already settled in my dantian, and the death energy created an explosion that I guided toward the blocked meridians.
Many of the meridians crumbled. Hardened impurities melted away and surged through the acupoints.
My body instantly turned a ghastly blue. To anyone else, it looked like a horrifying case of poisoning.
There’s no need to describe the pain in words.
But I smiled.
Because to me, all of this was ecstasy.
「To laugh in that state……!」
「So-cheonma, you truly~」
"Enough chatter. I believe you now clearly understand what you must do from here on."
It meant that unless they wanted to end up as a mouthful like Cheon Hwa-jin, they should know to speak about the mastermind.
Some elders with weak dispositions eventually lowered their heads and stepped forward.
「They—」
「I! I will speak! So please, just stop that horrifying act, I beg you!」
「You traitors! Do you think you’ll get away with this…… Kuuaaagh!」
“What the hell are you saying, you bastard.”
Whenever there were those who disobeyed, I yanked the chains hard and smashed their skulls.
After quickly clearing out the obstacles, the information I wanted began to pour out smoothly.
If they had still been living bodies, it would have been difficult to extract information because of prohibitions or brainwashing, but once dead, none of that mattered.
It was a method I often used back in the days of ‘Yeon Woon-hwi’ whenever interrogations were needed.
So this time too, I should be able to learn a lot about the mastermind.
•
•
But after a round of repentance had passed.
“Ha!”
I let out a hollow laugh.
“The only thing they actually know is that the bastards move under the name ‘Hwe (Society)’?”
It was absurd to the point of disbelief.
Hwe.
They say Hwe.
These bastards trying to block me with that, huh?
「I-it’s true!」
「Please believe us, young lord!」
「They have always extremely refused to reveal anything about themselves!」
“Became the loyal dogs of some suspicious bastards who won’t even reveal their true identity? And then recklessly fed poison to the Heavenly Demon? You don’t actually expect me to believe that, do you?”
By now, even polite speech no longer came from my mouth.
If they wanted to be treated as adults, shouldn’t they at least act the part?
The Cult of the Heavenly Demon was a religion.
A heretical cult that worshiped its leader as a living god.
Of course, the words of the Cult Leader, the Heavenly Demon, were no different from the words of a god, and the decisions of the Heavenly Demon were treated as the will of a god, so they had to be obeyed unconditionally.
Death was glorified as martyrdom, and war became a holy crusade for spreading the faith.
It was no wonder the martial world of the Central Plains feared this fanatical group that would charge in without hesitation, even at the cost of their lives.
Naturally, for the elders as well, to harm their master, the Heavenly Demon, must have required immense psychological burden.
And yet, to obediently follow the words of an unknown group that revealed nothing about themselves—this was absurd.
「It’s true! They insisted that they, they themselves, were the ‘true’ gods! That they were on a completely different level from a mere Heavenly Demon, who was only a god in name…!」
I narrowed my eyes at the flustered elder.
“Explain in detail.”
Gulp!
The elder swallowed dryly and continued speaking.
「Th-they showed miracles.」
“Miracles?”
「Yes!」
The other elders nodded furiously.
「They displayed appearances exactly like the legendary immortals or sages! Riding swords through the skies, and with a mere gesture, they summoned wind and rain!」
“High-level sorcerers could do that ki—”
「No! Completely different! For sorcerers to do such things, it requires enormous energy consumption and long preparation time. Isn’t that so?」
“And then?”
「But they had none of that! With just a single gesture, they accomplished it all!」
“…You weren’t just deceived by an illusion?”
「Right now, we may be in such a pitiful state, our lives held in the young lord’s hands, but that doesn’t mean we’d be so blind as to not notice something like that, does it?」
At this part, I had nothing to say.
In truth, until the moment they betrayed us, these were said to be the very peak of demons who had led the Heavenly Demon Cult into its prime.
Status. Martial power. Malice. Cunning. Even the schemes in their heads—everything.
But still, to call them divine beings? How could that even make sense?
No, for an instant, something similar did flash across my mind.
…Shed Ones.
「Do you understand now, young lord? Why we had no choice but to become dogs that bark when they command it? Before divine beings, what could mere mortals like us possibly do?」
As he spoke, the elder’s face was utterly drained of strength.
And yet, the emotion lingering in his eyes was just one.
Fear.
“Unbelievable.”
A fear that outweighed even the weight carried by the name Heavenly Demon. How could that make any sense?
At the same time, the fact that the mastermind’s power far exceeded what I had expected made me tense.
Countless questions swirled chaotically in my mind.
But the conclusion that remained was only one.
—Master is in danger.
It seemed the situation was far more urgent than I had thought.
I definitely needed to figure out how much time had passed while I was casting the Origin Spirit Samsara Tribulation, and what had happened during that period.
Fortunately, the one shichen I had mentioned to Hyungsam was almost at its end.
“Good. Since it seems you’ve blabbed all the information I needed, I’ll release you as promised.”
「R-really?」
「Thank you, young lord!!」
At last, color returned to the elders’ faces, which had been full of worry.
“Yes. Into my stomach.”
「!!」
「!!」
「W-what are you saying!」
「That’s not what you prom—」
“When have I ever been known for keeping promises?”
No matter how frightening it was, they were still traitors who struck at my master’s back. Where did they think they were going?
Without even glancing back, I yanked hard on the bundle of chains I was holding.
「You damned character-ruined bastard!!」
Crunch!
Their heads twisted one after another, merging into the form of Wraith Pills.
This way, there was no need to worry about their energy scattering, and storage became very easy.
I laughed coldly.
Though in life they had been nothing more than traitors, in death they would devote their souls entirely and become loyal subjects to the Cult.
And then.
A moment later.
Knock knock.
“M-Master Ye, i-it’s this humble one, H-Hyung-sam. M-may I come in?”
“Come in.”
Hyungsam entered carrying a bundle of documents.
* * *
Two months flew by in the blink of an eye.
In the ever-peaceful Guryong Branch, strange rumors recently began spreading among the servants and maids.
—That Master Ye had been confined in the White Pavilion for over two months.
—That by the order of the Great Madam, not a single meal or drop of water had been sent inside.
—And yet, Master Ye had never once complained of hunger or thirst.
—Every day, eerie, unidentifiable screams echoed from within the White Pavilion.
Woon-hwi had indeed been locked away in the White Pavilion, in full view of all the servants, along with the Great Madam’s wrath.
Up until then, the servants expected it would play out the same as always—Woon-hwi would cry and wail, saying “Mother, I’m sorry” for days, and just when he was on the brink of death, the Great Madam would personally pardon him and take him back.
But this time, that never happened.
Not only that, he had supposedly been confined for two whole months without food or water.
How could that even be possible?
If he were a master of inner energy, maybe—but Woon-hwi, who was little different from an ordinary person, could endure at most five days without food or drink.
As a result, new rumors began to spread.
—That the real Young Master Ye had already died long ago, and the one inside the White Pavilion was a substitute the Great Madam placed there to cover up the truth.
—That it was preparation to avoid scandal during the upcoming clan head’s visit.
The rumor that Woon-hwi might already be dead.
Naturally, when Namgung Sanyeong heard this, she exploded.
“Which bastard dares to spout such nonsense!! Drag him before me at once!”
At that time, a grand event was taking place in Sichuan Tang Clan, including the main family Tanggata and several other branch families.
The clan head’s visit.
The illustrious and great Dark Lord himself was touring the Sichuan region.
The reason was simple.
—Recently, disturbing movements had been continuously detected in the Tian Shan mountain range, the den of demons. Thus, the Dark Lord intended to personally form a direct special unit, and so all branch families and divisions were ordered to gather their talents.
A special unit!
A unit commanded directly by the Dark Lord himself.
For any blood relative bearing the Tang surname, merely hearing those words was enough to make their hearts race.
If one could catch the Dark Lord’s eye and inherit even a single technique from him?
And if one could go further and become his disciple?
Then they could rise as a new star of the Sichuan martial world.
This was exactly why Namgung Sanyeong’s nerves had recently become razor sharp.
Coming from the Namgung Clan, she knew very well the weight carried by the position of clan head within the Sichuan Tang Clan.
In the Namgung Clan, there were people like the Supreme Elders or the Head of the Guardian Court who could stand shoulder to shoulder with the clan head, but in the Sichuan Tang Clan, there was nothing of the sort.
Elders, veterans, even the officials—all were nothing more than subordinates who lived and died by the clan head’s word.
The seat of the Tang Clan’s head was a throne reserved solely for the strongest of the strong!
The Tang surname was merely a requirement to participate.
Even an outsider who married into the family as a son-in-law could fully aim for that position.
It was no wonder people in the Central Plains martial world sometimes whispered of the Sichuan Tang Clan as the “Little Demon Cult.”
This was the kind of event where one could catch the eye of such a figure.
To allow someone like Woon-hwi, a mere concubine’s son, into such a sacred place was unthinkable.
Of course, there was no way that fool could ever catch the Dark Lord’s attention… but still, what if—by some impossible chance—such a thing happened?
It’s him! That Woon-hwi bastard’s backer! That damned wretch must be the one pulling the strings!
Namgung Sanyeong’s heart was swelling with suspicion, conjuring up an imaginary figure that didn’t even exist.
“Please calm yourself, Mother. I will take care of this matter.”
Just then, the doors of the pavilion where Namgung Sanyeong stood swung open, and a young man strode in with ease.
Chronicles of the Reincarnated Demon God
0 Comments