Chapter 358: Upheaval (1)

-The main body could suppress the demonic nature. If what you say is true, then that human named Cheon Yura must also have originated from the main body.

“……!”

-However, I don’t see any reason why the main body should do so.

Though it rested its chin on one paw, the small black wolf looked unbelievably cute….

“Are you saying a divine beast would defy its master?”

At my words, Yorang let out a mocking snort.

-Hmph! That’s not what I meant. Rather, aren’t you the one who should consider devouring that demonic nature?

“What?”

Me, devour Cheon Yura’s demonic nature?

-You are the closest being to the main body’s prime throughout history. You carry a fragment of the main body within you, and eventually even bound its soul.

“Hmm….”

-You should have self-destructed long ago, unable to handle that power. But it seems that unidentified ‘light’ at your core is holding it back.

Even having reached the Transcendent Demon Realm, the power of the Heavenly Demon Founder far surpassed even that realm.

Naturally, with my current potential, it wouldn’t be strange if I had reached the Supreme Demon Realm.

-Then there’s no need to worry about what comes after. Devour it all. You shall become the new Demonic Immortal and restore balance to this world.

The creature showed no emotion of wanting to regain its power or seek revenge.

Instead, it was urging me to ascend to the position of an absolute being and fulfill a task.

‘Besides, it’s become quite rational now compared to earlier.’

Was it because the corrupted demonic qi disappeared due to that lady’s influence?

Unlike its earlier frenzy, it now seemed calm and composed.

‘Balance, huh….’

Hearing that word stirred up a buried curiosity.

“There’s something I’ve been wondering.”

-What is it?

“What exactly are you?”

-What kind of nonsense is that?

“Exactly what I said. Heavenly Evil and Earth Saint—I know those two existed in the past, but you suddenly appeared separate from them.”

-……

“You’re neither Heavenly Evil nor Earth Saint. Then what are you really?”

If you were a completely separate being, that’d be one thing—but there were subtle overlaps.

-The main body is…

After a brief pause, Yorang opened its mouth.

-If I were to explain it in terms understandable to mortals, I would be something akin to a child of those two beings.

“A child?”

-It’s not an important fact… but when Heavenly Evil and Earth Saint perished together, the resulting aftermath gave birth to the main body. I am a being more aligned with Earth Saint.

The little wolf’s eyes, recalling the distant past, briefly turned moist.

-All the Immortals who followed them fell asleep with them, yet for some reason, only the main body was able to remain active.

-Also, the main body had a sibling born on the same day, aligned with yang. Together, we guided the foolish humans to prepare for a distant future.

“Wait… don’t tell me…”

At that moment, a certain thought surfaced in my mind.

“You—were you one of the mythical founders of the ancient Sun and Moon Divine Sect?!”

Twins descended from the heavens. Rahu (나후) and Ketu (계도).

They were mythical beings said to have founded the ancient Sun and Moon Divine Sect during the Warring States era.

-Who knows. I’m not sure about that. My sibling and I fell asleep not long after, and when I awoke again, I was alone.

“You awoke again?”

-The main body had long existed devoid of ego, functioning only on primal instincts. My ego awakened again only after my host went berserk.

Yorang pointed at Hwan Seong with its short leg.

-To be exact, those people awakened my ego and separated me from the host.

“Hmm….”

-Whatever the case, the host likely didn’t meet a good end. From the host’s perspective, a part of their essence was torn away.

Unconsciously, I turned my head to look at Hwan Seong.

“…….”

His face, as I looked at it, was a perfect mask of emotionlessness.

He had completely hidden every trace of emotion.

And I knew that he was also trying to bury the pain of the past along with those emotions.

“…Senior Brother.”

Just as Hwan Seong was about to speak—

I preempted him.

“I won’t ask anything.”

“……!”

“Though I’m the youngest who inherited Demonic Immortal’s legacy, I did not share in your and Master’s pain. I don’t have the right to speak arrogantly.”

Hwan Seong couldn’t say a word.

“Just… please don’t blame yourself too much. It’s very late, but I, your junior, will set everything right.”

“…….”

After a moment of silence, Hwan Seong bowed his head deeply.

“I’m sorry. I’ve shown you an unworthy sight as a Senior Brother.”

As he finished speaking, Hwan Seong’s form began to blur.

“Senior Brother?!”

He waved a hand lightly, as if it were nothing.

“This place has fulfilled its role as a sealing ground. As a remnant thought, I no longer have a reason to exist.”

Hwan Seong said to me:

“If you go a bit further north from here, you’ll find the grave we made for our Master.”

“……!”

“But Master’s relics are not there. His will still clearly influences this world.”

Though I had inherited many fragments left behind by the Heavenly Demon Founder—

They had not all yet been reclaimed.

“We, in truth, did nothing but fail.”

“Senior Brother….”

“I ask you, Junior. Please, to the will of our Master, who may still linger somewhere in this world…”

He closed his eyes and asked me:

“Grant eternal rest.”

“Take this.”

Hwan Seong handed me a round artifact that fit in one hand.

“It’s a tool that detects our Master’s energy within a hundred li radius and tells you the location. It should be helpful to you.”

This type of detector was an object I had encountered several times in my previous life.

“It’s a device that looks like it could even detect a dragon pearl.”

“Hm? A dragon pearl?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Realizing I had said something ridiculous, I shook my head quickly.

Hwan Seong ignored my nonsense and gave one last piece of advice.

“There might be the Junior Brother So outside, but if possible, it’s best not to run into him. Honestly, the Junior Brother So these days… hmm, he’s a bit dangerous.”

“…Is that so?”

Hearing Hwan Seong speak like that made me a little concerned.

‘I left Gu Chil and the Underworld King Unit behind…’

According to Hwan Seong, he could still distinguish friend from foe for now, but if his temper was provoked, there was no telling what could happen.

“Farewell.”

“It was an honor to meet you, Senior Brother.”

I watched the completely fading thought of Hwan Seong with a complicated feeling.

The moment I stepped out of the entrance of the Heaven of Sacred Spirits—

“Gu Chil?!”

“Y-Young Master… s-save me….”

I was horrified to discover Gu Chil on the verge of death.

“Don’t tell me, by Senior Brother So Jeong?”

I hurried over to Gu Chil and checked his condition.

Then tilted my head slightly.

‘Hm? He’s in better condition than I expected?’

Currently, Gu Chil was in a state of extreme exhaustion with all his internal energy and stamina completely depleted.

It was nearly identical to the state I had been in after performing Heavenly Demon’s Dominance.

‘This is…’

I sensed something familiar—an aura of death deeply embedded in Gu Chil’s dantian.

‘This is similar to the energy that brat So Cheon used?’

Could it be that Gu Chil had inherited Senior Brother So Jeong’s martial insight?

Just then—

“Lord.”

One of the Underworld King Unit approached and bowed before delivering a report.

“Outside, an envoy from the Cult has arrived.”

“…An envoy from the Cult?”

When I stepped outside, I saw an envoy confronting So Soryu.

“Hm, I had a hunch, but I never imagined the headquarters of the Evil Refining Sect would be in a place like this.”

“You…”

The moment I saw the figure standing at the entrance of the Evil Refining Sect, a smile tinged with killing intent spread across my lips.

“Did you come here because you wanted to die?”

The envoy shrugged his shoulders.

“Let’s not be so harsh. After all, I’ve come as an envoy of the Heavenly Thunder Corps.”

“So if I bury you here and report that you were killed by bandits, that should do the trick. Especially since this is outside the Sect.”

At those words, the man quickly knelt on one knee and laughed obsequiously.

“Have you forgotten that I once swore loyalty to the Demonic Faction Lord?”

“……”

Just how many vipers were hiding behind that pathetic smile…?

“Han Mubaek, what business brings you here?”

Sure enough, Han Mubaek.

I didn’t know how he had found our location, but he had come as an envoy of the Heavenly Thunder Corps.

“I came to report an incident that occurred in the Murim while the Lord was away.”

“Something happened in the Murim?”

The one month of peace I had guaranteed hadn’t even passed yet.

And something happened already?

If anything could have happened…

“Did the Evil Overlords of Heaven declare war or something?”

“Hmm, no.”

“No?”

“The Evil Overlords of Heaven… actually came crawling to the Cult with utmost humility. They brought an enormous tribute and said they wanted to maintain good relations going forward.”

“…What?”

To bathe the four directions of the Cult in blood.

If Cheon Juchun had that kind of plan, then the new Evil Overlord of Heaven, who was clearly his underling, would have undoubtedly picked a fight with the Cult.

Han Mubaek gave a wry smile.

“The new Evil Overlord of Heaven, the Blazing Heavenly King Lee Jaseong, turned out to be quite the schemer.”

“What do you mean?”

“After proposing a new agreement to the Cult, the Evil Overlords of Heaven immediately mobilized their forces and began invading Sichuan Murim.”

“…!”

I frowned upon understanding those words.

A very cunning move.

Given the strength of the Evil Overlords of Heaven, taking Sichuan Murim was certainly within reach.

However—

“The Cult allowed that to happen?”

Even if they came groveling, turning a blind eye to an invasion of Sichuan was another matter entirely.

If the Evil Overlords of Heaven took Sichuan too easily, the balance of power could be disrupted.

“They proposed to give up Hanzhong and the surrounding area to the Cult free of charge after conquering it. They said they would expand southward from Chengdu instead.”

“Hanzhong, huh…”

“As you know, it’s the gateway and key route into Sichuan. If the Cult can take that, it will be a massive advantage. Most importantly, just above Hanzhong…”

“Is Xi’an, the central city of Shaanxi.”

If that happened, the Cult could pressure Mount Hua and Jongnam geographically without even using force.

‘That’s an offer the Cult wouldn’t be able to refuse.’

They were offering Hanzhong drenched in blood on a silver platter—there was no reason to decline.

Even if I had been present at the meeting, I wouldn’t have been able to object to this.

“Oh, and one more thing. There’s a report that a new Lord has been appointed in Evil Path Castle.”

So they finally decided on a successor to that Gam Unbi?

“…Who is it?”

“They say he’s a much younger guy than expected. He calls himself the Heaven-Embracing King… but his name wasn’t among the known successors of Evil Path Castle.”

“He must be from the Heaven-Defying Society.”

Han Mubaek shrugged.

“Well, probably. I don’t know the internal affairs over there, but according to the intel, he killed all the existing Four Saint Banners and took the seat of the Lord.”

In Evil Path Castle, there were four top-tier warriors called the Four Saint Banners, comparable to the Six Righteous Dragons of the orthodox side.

Each one was practically a candidate for the next Lord, and I had met one of them in the past.

‘I saw that guy Mukhon from the Namcheon Baek Clan before. Don’t tell me he died too?’

Regardless of martial skill level, he didn’t seem like someone who’d go down so easily…

‘Evil Path Castle will almost certainly cooperate with the Evil Overlords of Heaven to drench the southern Murim in blood.’

It was an ominous turn of events.

“Is that the end of your report?”

At those words, Han Mubaek’s lips curled into a sly grin.

“Of course not. If that were all, I wouldn’t have come here myself.”

He shrank his body dramatically and whispered softly to me.

“There’s been an unsettling movement detected within the Cheon Clan.”

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