Chapter 1: Prologue: To think I have a Heavenly Demon’s Physique

“This damn… keoheok!”

A gush of blood poured out of my mouth.

The dark, dead blood soaked the front of my clothes.

“Keu-euk!”

Wiping the blood from my mouth, I pushed myself up.

But even just standing was a struggle.

It had been a long time since my right arm was severed, so it was difficult to even push myself up from the ground.

Only after collapsing repeatedly was I finally able to stand.

“Haaah….”

Looking around, all I could do was sigh.

Over a hundred corpses, not yet cold, were strewn about everywhere.

It was a scene so gruesome, it was as if a portrait of hell had been realized in the mortal world.

“Haha, hahaha, hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha―!!!”

Did they say that when a person is cornered, laughter comes out instead?

It was so absurd that a crazed laugh burst from my lips.

Where did it all start to go wrong?

Yes, it was from back then.

20 years ago.

I, a promising prodigy of the Orthodox Factions, was suffering from a qi deviation of unknown cause.

Then, a rope descended from the heavens.

The Great Divine Physician of Immortals.

As the former Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect from two generations prior, he was a divine physician whose medical skills had reached a divine realm, said to be able to save anyone.

I was fortunate enough to have a connection with such a Great Divine Physician and got the chance to have my pulse taken.

And that became the worst move of my entire life.

The Great Divine Physician diagnosed that the cause of my qi deviation was my constitution.

‘You have a Heavenly Demon’s Physique. A vessel meant to hold demonic arts was filled with orthodox arts, so of course, there would be problems.’

A Heavenly Demon’s Physique…

To think that I had a Heavenly Demon’s Physique…

It was hard to believe, but given who had made the diagnosis, I had no choice but to accept it.

‘Is there… no way to treat it?’

‘Why wouldn’t there be?’

He answered with a gentle smile.

‘Why else would they call it a Heavenly Demon’s Physique? If you learn demonic arts even now, you’ll be able to shake off that pesky qi deviation. Take this opportunity to learn demonic arts.’

‘I cannot do that.’

Why are demonic arts called demonic arts?

Aren’t they called that because one becomes stained by demonic nature and commits evil deeds?

I couldn’t abandon my humanity just to regain my martial arts.

That’s what I truly thought back then.

‘No, you must learn demonic arts.’

‘Did I not say that I cannot?’

‘That is not something for you to decide.’

‘E-Elder! Why are you doing this… Keuk!’

‘You will learn it until you’re sick of it.’

I was subdued by the Great Divine Physician and sent to the Righteous Heavenly Alliance’s secret prison, the Demonic Prison, where I was thoroughly violated, becoming a test subject for demonic arts research.

Later, when the Great War between the Righteous and Demonic Factions broke out, it was said that the Righteous Heavenly Alliance won the war against the Demonic Cult by using the martial arts created from studying me.

But even after the Demonic Cult was destroyed, my situation did not change at all.

Then one day.

The Blood Demon, who had obtained information about me, led the remnants of the Demonic Cult to attack the Demonic Prison, and I was finally freed.

‘I will definitely repay this, definitely.’

The prisoners and I pledged revenge and followed the Blood Demon.

However, it was all a plan by the Murim Alliance to wipe out the remnants of the Demonic Cult.

We were surrounded in less than an hour, and the result was the gruesome scene now spread before my eyes.

Blood Demon, killed in action.

Demonic Cult Elders, annihilated.

Asura Blood Sword Unit, annihilated.

All inmates of the Demonic Prison, dead.

The only one left alive was me.

Even then, I was barely breathing, so it was only a matter of time before my life thread snapped.

“You’re still breathing, I see.”

I turned my head and saw the one person I wouldn’t be satisfied with even if I ground him up and drank him.

The Great Divine Physician of Immortals.

The bastard who made my life like this.

Having reached the state of returning to youth in the meantime, the Great Divine Physician looked as handsome as a young man who had just come of age.

Most people in the Central Plains would not know.

That that handsome face was actually a human mask, and his true form was that of a wicked old man who committed heinous acts as if they were meals.

“You’ve done well. You did a good job until the very end.”

The Great Divine Physician said, as if I had accomplished something commendable.

“You son of a bitch…!”

I want to kill him.

I want to kill him so badly it drives me mad.

But the fact that I could do nothing was a sorrow that pierced me to the bone.

My opponent was a master who had returned to youth.

Moreover, surrounded by the warriors of the Demon Extermination Squad, the Righteous Heavenly Alliance’s most elite force, there wasn’t much I could do.

“Don’t feel too wronged. Everyone has a purpose assigned by the heavens.”

I could never agree.

How could the hellish pain I suffered for the past 20 years be the will of the heavens?

“Your role is over now.”

The Great Divine Physician grabbed my head and sent his true qi into it.

“Rest in peace now.”

“Keuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk―!!!”

An excruciating pain, as if my head was being split by an axe, washed over me.

This was nothing more and nothing less than torment.

Because for the Great Divine Physician, it wouldn’t even take a single breath to make my head explode.

‘So this is how it ends.’

This wasn’t what I wanted.

If I had known I’d be toyed with until the very end without being able to put up a proper fight, I would have just smashed my head and died sooner.

All these years, I had endured with the single-minded goal of getting revenge…….

‘What’s this?’

It was strange.

The Great Divine Physician’s true qi was not pure.

It was clearly demonic qi.

It was incomprehensible by common sense.

Even if he was a villain deserving of heaven’s wrath, wasn’t he, by title, the former Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect from two generations prior and an elder of the Orthodox Factions?

For such a person’s true qi to be demonic qi, it was something a passing dog would laugh at.

I didn’t know how it came to be, but it didn’t matter.

This might be the first and last chance this damned heaven had given me.

I have a Heavenly Demon’s Physique.

A constitution that has a knack for absorbing demonic qi.

In that case…….

‘Let’s do it.’

I summoned the last of my true qi.

“Are you sure about this? It will only be more painful if you resist.”

“Keuuueuk!”

“Your struggles are nothing but a mere….”

Suddenly, I saw the smile disappear from the Great Divine Physician’s lips.

Yes.

He must have been surprised.

Because his own demonic qi was being sucked into me.

While absorbing the Great Divine Physician’s demonic qi, I circulated my true qi according to the formula of the Explosion Annihilation Art.

Woong, woong!

Soon, my qi center and the Great Divine Physician’s qi center connected and began to resonate.

“……!”

The Great Divine Physician’s face froze over like frost.

The Explosion Annihilation Art was a demonic art aimed at mutual destruction, causing one’s true qi to go berserk and self-destruct.

So, what would happen if I used the Explosion Annihilation Art while our qi centers were connected like this?

“Don’t you dare!”

The Great Divine Physician shouted, trying to stop the circulation of the Explosion Annihilation Art.

‘Not a chance.’

I had control.

As befitting a Heavenly Demon’s Physique, I always had priority in controlling demonic qi.

Regardless of the level of our martial arts, the flow of demonic qi between the Great Divine Physician and me was now entirely dependent on my will.

“Keuuueuk!”

The Great Divine Physician hastily tried to pull his hand away from my head, but it wouldn’t come off, as if it had been a part of my body from the start.

Grasp!

I used every last ounce of my strength to grab the Great Divine Physician’s wrist.

Clank!

The iron chains dangling from my wrist wrapped around the Great Divine Physician’s arm.

“Let’s go… together.”

“……!”

“I’m too wronged to go alone.”

“Demon Extermination Squad, what are you all doing!”

The Great Divine Physician shouted urgently, but the warriors of the Demon Extermination Squad couldn’t rashly take a step.

Instead, they flinched back, busy protecting their bodies with protective qi.

They knew it too.

That it was already too late.

Woong woong woong!

Whoooooooosh!

A storm of demonic qi raged, and as if in response, the Great Divine Physician’s robe and my prisoner’s uniform began to swell up.

This is the end.

Even if he cut off my head or destroyed my qi center, he couldn’t stop the Explosion Annihilation Art from activating.

There was only one way to live.

To get as far away as possible from the one casting the Explosion Annihilation Art.

“What will change by doing this? Taking me with you won’t bring back your ruined life, will it?”

“Why wouldn’t anything change, you bastard. It’ll make me feel a little better.”

“You son of a b….”

Kwaang!

A shock, as if a thunderbolt had exploded inside my head, struck me.

My whole body burned, and a ringing sound filled my ears.

Then, the whole world seemed to turn black, and I felt nothing.

***

What happened?

I was a wreck to begin with, so that’s that.

But that bastard, the Great Divine Physician, is he dead?

He must be.

No, he has to be dead.

My life was already full of regrets; if that bastard survived, I wouldn’t be able to close my eyes in peace.

I landed a big blow at the end, so I got the bare minimum of revenge, but I didn’t feel satisfied.

It wasn’t enough.

After all I had suffered, there was no way I’d be satisfied just by making him my companion on the road to the afterlife.

But… even if I had succeeded in my revenge as planned, I don’t think my resentment would have been resolved.

I never wanted to live a life of being trampled, violated, and used.

I wanted to walk the path of martial arts my whole life, freely and to my heart’s content…….

– …Mr!

What was that?

– …Mr!

What is this sound?

“Big-brother, Big-brother!”

I opened my eyes.

Under a strange ceiling, someone was looking down at me.

I saw a face that was familiar yet unfamiliar, and unfamiliar yet familiar.

“You are….”

Dark Dragon Dang Cheon-wi.

The youngest son of the Sichuan Tang Clan’s head, the Heavenly Poison Hand Dang Seong-yeong.

He was the one I called brother when I was studying at the Heavenly Martial Academy.

But why was he here?

Why did I wake up in a place like this?

Both he and I should have been dead…….

‘Have I come to the afterlife?’

As I was thinking that, he pulled me up.

“Big-brother! Please get up! This is no time to be lying around!”

“Uh, huh?”

He forcefully pulled me, who had been lying in bed, to my feet and said with a flushed face.

“Big-brother! I have good news!”

“Good… news?”

“Yes!”

“What is it?”

I couldn’t quite grasp the situation, but I decided to listen first.

“The Great Divine Physician of Immortals is coming!”

The Great Divine… what?

I asked again, wondering if I heard correctly.

“Who’s coming?”

“Elder Cheong-ryeong, I mean!”

Wait, wasn’t that bastard the Great Divine Physician’s Taoist name Cheong-ryeong?

“The Great Divine Physician of Immortals! Elder Cheong-ryeong, the former Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect from two generations prior, has not yet ascended to immortality! And what’s more, he’s visiting the Righteous Heavenly Alliance soon!”

“That son of a bitch?”

Curses reflexively flew out of my mouth.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep