Chapter 122. I Should Have Been There to See It.

“Wh-Why is my Disguise Art!”

The surprised Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief tried to maintain the Disguise Art by raising their inner energy, that is, their demonic qi, but it was useless.

The Disguise Art, already beyond the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief’s control, was being dispelled regardless of their will, attempting to reveal their bare face.

‘It’s working.’

Seeing the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief’s Disguise Art unravel, Jin Cheon confirmed that his prediction was correct.

Heavenly Demon Command.

A special authority that one with the Heavenly Demon’s Physique gains when training in the Heavenly Demon Divine Qi.

It was a very strong control over those who had learned demonic arts.

The Heavenly Demon Command exerted a stronger influence as the caster’s realm increased, and it was said that, at times, it was possible to completely dominate those who had learned demonic arts.

Of course, Jin Cheon was still a long way from reaching that realm, but it was possible to dispel the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief’s Disguise Art and reveal their true face.

“H-How…?”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief, who had finally revealed their true form, looked at Jin Cheon as if they couldn’t believe it.

They seemed quite shocked that Jin Cheon had dispelled their Disguise Art with just a single word.

However, it wasn’t just the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief who was surprised.

“Hmm. So the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief was such a young woman.”

Surprisingly, the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief was a woman of marriageable age.

Of course, he was more surprised by her age than the fact that she was a woman.

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief had been active for several decades already.

Regardless of gender, they should have been a white-haired old person, but to be this young….

“What kind of trick did you pull!”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief growled at Jin Cheon, gripping a flying dagger in each hand.

Seeing the belt with numerous flying daggers attached to her waist, it seemed her specialty was close-quarters combat and the art of flying daggers.

“Returning to Youth?”

“I asked what kind of trick you pulled!”

“I told you it’s a trade secret. How many times are you going to ask?”

Jin Cheon had no intention of telling her the truth.

Why?

Because it would frustrate the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief even more.

“By the way. What’s the reason for the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief, who has been ruling the martial world for decades, to be so young? You seem even younger than me.”

“That’s none of your business!”

“This is your last warning.”

Jin Cheon spoke, slightly mixing in the special power of the Heavenly Demon Command.

“If you annoy me one more time, I won’t hold back any longer. To be honest, it would be easy to just kill a petty thief like you.”

“……”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief clenched her jaw at Jin Cheon’s frosty warning.

As the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief, she was confident in her thievery and movement skills, but she knew she had no chance of winning if she fought with her martial arts against the Unrivaled New Demon, an unprecedented Great Demon Head.

“Are we going to have a go, or are we going to talk quietly.”

“……It would be better to talk quietly.”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief subtly backed down.

“You should have done that from the start.”

Jin Cheon grinned, walked past the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief, and headed towards the inn.

“……Unbelievable.”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief followed behind Jin Cheon.

Right now, her mind was filled with nothing but questions.

***

Meanwhile, Sip Bang, who had been injected with Jin Cheon’s demonic qi, was moved to a nearby Righteous Heavenly Alliance branch for treatment.

Sip Bang’s condition was much better than expected.

He seemed to have fallen into a near-death state after being injected with demonic qi, but after a day or two, his condition improved as if nothing had happened.

Thanks to that, Sip Bang was able to quickly get up and resume his activities.

Inside the Beggar’s Gang branch.

“So, you’re saying it wasn’t just the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief we missed?”

“Yes, Master.”

Sip Bang nodded his head at his master, the Drunken Wind Beggar’s question.

“Jin Yeong-in… no, the Unrivaled New Demon, that bastard was with him too.”

“You pathetic fool!”

“Aack!”

Sip Bang screamed as the Drunken Wind Beggar’s Dog Beating Staff struck his head.

“Then you should have quickly set off the signal flare! What were you hesitating for before getting caught!”

“Th-That is… Uuugh!”

Sip Bang clutched his head and replied.

“The Unrivaled New Demon neutralized the signal flare, so….”

“And you call that an excuse!”

“Aack!”

“Your judgment and actions should be faster than light! How can you call yourself my disciple with such a mindset!”

“M-Master! Ugh! Uwaaaack!”

“Because of your foolishness, not only did we miss the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief, but we also lost the Unrivaled New Demon!”

“Kuaaaack!”

“There’s a limit to how much you can smear shit on your master’s face!”

The Drunken Wind Beggar was famous for his foul temper, and his disciple Sip Bang was no exception.

Since taking Sip Bang as a disciple, he had never hesitated to beat and curse him.

“Keo, keoheok!”

Sip Bang, who had been beaten for a while, clutched his own neck and writhed in agony.

“Where is this beggar bastard trying to play tricks? How dare you act up in front of this master!”

“M-Master! Keuk! H-Help… me… Keoheok!”

“Hmm?”

“Keuk, keueueuk!”

The Drunken Wind Beggar’s face stiffened.

He realized that Sip Bang wasn’t faking it, but that his condition was genuinely serious.

“Sip Bang! What’s wrong!”

“M-Master! Keuk!”

“You brat! Where and how does it hurt!”

“Kereuk, kereureuk!”

As Sip Bang suddenly had a seizure, the nearby Beggar’s Gang members swarmed over, wondering what was happening.

But that was a losing move.

Wooung!

Suddenly, Sip Bang’s body began to swell up greatly.

“Th-This is!”

The Drunken Wind Beggar’s eyes widened as if he had sensed something upon seeing Sip Bang’s condition.

If his guess was correct, this was….

“Everyone, get away!”

The Drunken Wind Beggar hurriedly stepped back and roared.

“Get away from Sip Bang quickly, you beggar bastards!”

But it was already too late.

“M-Master… Keuk! Save m….”

Those were the last words Sip Bang uttered in his life.

Peeeeong!

Sip Bang’s body exploded, and the true qi gathered in his dantian burst out all at once, engulfing the Beggar’s Gang members who had flocked around him.

The power of the explosion was so terrifying that even the Drunken Wind Beggar, who had hastily retreated, was swept up and suffered tremendous damage.

If that was the case for the Drunken Wind Beggar, it went without saying for the other Beggar’s Gang members.

“Uwaaaaaaaaack!”

“My arm, my aaaaaarm!”

“Uuuuuuuuugh!”

Having an arm or a leg torn off by the aftermath of the explosion was a minor thing.

For those who were close to Sip Bang, their upper or lower bodies were blown away without a trace.

Even the Beggar’s Gang member who was closest to him was no different from Sip Bang.

His body had been blown to smithereens, to the point that even his corpse was difficult to recognize.

Delayed Explosion Annihilation Art.

A technique where demonic qi is injected into the enemy’s body, causing the Explosion Annihilation Art to activate a few days later.

From the victim’s perspective, it was an extremely vicious demonic art that unwillingly activated the Explosion Annihilation Art, causing them to self-destruct and inflict enormous damage on those around them.

The reason Jin Cheon had simply injected demonic qi into Sip Bang and let him go was to use this Delayed Explosion Annihilation Art to kill not only Sip Bang but also the surrounding enemies.

***

Seuk.

Sitting in the inn, Jin Cheon smiled as he sipped his wine alone.

“You seem pretty happy that I figured out your identity?”

Jin Cheon answered the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief’s question.

“Don’t misunderstand. You’re just the Monkey King in the palm of Buddha’s hand, so why should I be happy?”

“What…?”

“Being happy about a caught fish is something only amateurs do.”

“Then why were you smiling?”

“Well.”

Jin Cheon gave a meaningful smile.

“Because I was thinking about the bastards who should be dying right about now. Ha. I should have been there to see it. It’s a real shame I couldn’t see it with my own two eyes.”

“……”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief couldn’t understand Jin Cheon’s words at all, so she just frowned.

What on earth was he talking about….

“So what did you steal from the Shijiazhuang Family?”

“I told you I can’t tell you that.”

“Do I really have to spell it out for you that the situation has changed?”

“Th-That is.”

“It seems you want to retire and become a public enemy of the Murim, running for the rest of your life. The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief must have a lot of enemies.”

“Are you threatening to reveal my identity?”

“Yes.”

Jin Cheon nodded his head as if it was obvious.

“You should have listened when I was being nice. Why do you make people tired?”

“……”

“Cut the chatter and tell me what you stole from the Shijiazhuang Family.”

“A secret manual.”

“Which one?”

“Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi.”

“The Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi… isn’t that a martial art of Hegemon Fortress?”

“That’s right.”

The Demonic Dao Heaven, the sky of the Demonic Dao, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

The Righteous Dao Heaven, the sky of the Righteous Dao, the Righteous Heavenly Alliance.

And the Unorthodox Faction’s Heaven, the sky of the Unorthodox Faction, Hegemon Fortress.

The world called these three powers the Three Heavens under the Heavens.

The Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi was a supreme martial art of the Unorthodox Faction’s Heaven, that is, Hegemon Fortress, known to be learned only by the successive lords of Hegemon Fortress.

“Was that Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi in the Shijiazhuang Family?”

“Yes.”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief nodded her head at Jin Cheon’s question.

“It’s not the original. To be precise, it’s half.”

“Half?”

“Half is at Hegemon Fortress. What I stole is the other half.”

“Why did you steal it? Surely you weren’t thinking of learning the Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi yourself.”

“Are you looking down on me right now?”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief’s eyes filled with venom, thinking Jin Cheon was looking down on her.

“Fix your eyes.”

Jin Cheon warned the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief.

“I’m not looking down on you, I’m saying that a martial art of the level of Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi can’t be learned just by stealing a single secret manual. If you could learn such a supreme martial art from a mere secret manual, every Tom, Dick, and Harry would be a master. That half-manual is probably just a summary of the core principles of the Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi, or perhaps a cipher to interpret the summary, right? Am I wrong?”

The reason Jin Cheon said that was because, without a doubt, he was the person who had dealt with the most supreme martial arts in this vast world.

When he was researching demonic arts in the Demonic Prison, he had dealt with not only demonic arts but also the advanced martial arts of the Righteous Faction, regardless of Taoist or Buddhist schools, and after returning to the past, he had learned the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the greatest martial art under heaven….

“You’re right.”

As if she understood Jin Cheon’s meaning, the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief fixed her eyes and nodded.

“Hmm.”

Jin Cheon seemed to think for a moment, then asked the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief.

“Was it because of a request from Hegemon Fortress?”

“…!”

“No matter how skilled the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief is, you couldn’t have known that the secret manual for the Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi, and only half of it at that, was in the Shijiazhuang Family. How many people in the world would know that half of the Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi’s secret manual was missing.”

“You’re smarter than I thought. I thought you were only good at killing people.”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief said, as if seeing Jin Cheon in a new light.

“More than that.”

Jin Cheon went a step further and stated his thoughts.

“You said the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief doesn’t take requests, yet you stole the Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi secret manual at the request of Hegemon Fortress? They have a weakness of yours. Am I wrong?”

“……You’re right.”

“It must be family.”

Jin Cheon said flatly.

“Otherwise, there’s no way you would have taken such a risk to steal the Nine Heavens Hegemon Qi.”

“……”

“Go ahead and tell me. I’ll listen.”

Jin Cheon took a sip of alcohol and waited silently for the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief to open her mouth.

Having a weakness, no, family, held hostage by Hegemon Fortress was something that wouldn’t be possible unless one’s life was incredibly twisted.

Knowing that it was not an easy story to tell, Jin Cheon gave her time.

After a short while.

“……It’s actually nothing special.”

The Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief opened her mouth with a bitter smile.

“I was just terribly unlucky.”

Finally, the Heavenly Evasion Divine Thief began to unravel her story to Jin Cheon.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep