Chapter 387: Declaration of War (3)

Heavenly Demon’s Dominance.

This technique manifested in a completely different form from when it was used as a slash.

But in essence, it was the same in that it tampered with the laws of the world.

A martial artist from the Cheon Clan murmured as he watched the rapidly transforming world.

“The sun… shouldn’t have set completely yet…”

A golden sunset that was just beginning to fade.

That sunset vanished in an instant, and pitch-black darkness enveloped the surroundings.

The Council of the Seven Elders, including Fourth Elder.

And all the martial artists of the Cheon Clan.

Were rendered speechless by the colossal miracle before their eyes.

“Th-this… can a human really create such a sight?”

There were martial masters who could split rivers, collapse mountains, and pierce the skies.

But no one had ever shrouded the world in darkness.

If such a being existed, then only one in this world.

“The… Heavenly Demon…”

Everyone’s gaze naturally turned to the being who had brought forth this miracle.

And the one who now stood at the center of their attention—

‘Damn it, this is so hard I could die…’

He was desperately maintaining a dignified expression, enduring to sustain this phenomenon.

‘It worked out as expected, but… after today, I’ll be bedridden for a while.’

In truth, Heavenly Demon’s Dominance, when deployed this way, was merely a flashy display with little practical use.

No—there was some.

Within this domain, conventional martial arts lost their effectiveness, while demonic techniques had their power amplified severalfold at minimum.

Much like the Demonic Spirit-Soul Qi Stream.

In short, this action was basically just digging my own grave by strengthening the enemy’s forces.

“M-my power… it’s overflowing…”

“A-aaah!”

The martial artists of the Cheon Clan, unable to control the sudden surge of energy, let out moans bordering on ecstasy.

Well, it was unpleasant to hear moans from a bunch of grown men…

But thanks to that, no one blocked or interfered as I approached Fourth Elder.

Step. Step.

Fourth Elder looked at me with trembling eyes as I came within striking distance.

I wondered what I looked like in his eyes right now.

Perhaps the shock of Heavenly Demon’s Dominance had stunned him, but I could see no fighting spirit in him.

I called out his name.

“Fourth Elder of the Council of the Seven Elders. Cheon Yeonsin.”

“……”

“To be honest, I thought about this a lot. You were originally Ma Chulsoo’s prey, after all.”

Ma Jinyoon, the youngest of the Ma Clan and former holder of the Heaven-Slaying Star.

Fourth Elder, standing before me, was one of the three Elders who ambushed him.

“Even if Yura officially ascends to the seat of the Heavenly Demon, you would never obey her.”

Fourth Elder didn’t reply to that.

But his silence was effectively an affirmation.

“I will take your head. Your existence is nothing but a hindrance to Yura’s reign.”

After a brief silence, Fourth Elder finally opened his mouth.

“From the start… was there never any chance of victory…?”

He lowered his head and gritted his teeth.

“Why… would the heavens assign someone like you, not even human, to her side?”

Not even human.

It was practically a declaration of how the Cheon Clan viewed Cheon Yura.

“Not human, huh?”

“Yes!”

Fourth Elder shouted with certainty.

“She has the appearance of a human, but is ultimately an artificial being. Yes… she’s more like a ‘manufactured human’.”

“……”

The inferiority complex Cheon Yura once carried.

But now, bringing it up was meaningless.

Fourth Elder asked me,

“What… will you do with the Cheon Clan?”

“Who knows.”

I reached out and grabbed Fourth Elder’s head.

Then applied pressure.

Crack! Crackle!

“……Kuh!”

The sound of a skull being crushed echoed as Fourth Elder let out a pained moan.

I looked down at Fourth Elder, now bent at the waist, with a cold gaze.

“If you’d just said you hated her because she had the Blood Cult’s blood in her, I might’ve let it slide.”

The bastard had a real knack for pissing people off.

What? Manufactured human?

Did he really have to stir up trouble over an insecurity she might not have overcome yet?

“I was originally thinking of giving you a chance, just once, like she asked… but I changed my mind.”

“Gaaaaah! Gahaaaak!”

“Anyone in the Cheon Clan who thinks like you will be slaughtered to the last. If the entire Cheon Clan harbors such thoughts, I’ll destroy them all.”

“G-Grand Duke!”

“More importantly.”

I grit my teeth as I looked at the horn slowly emerging from Fourth Elder’s temple.

“A piece of trash who sided with those freaks to become something beyond human dares speak the word ‘human’?”

Watching him begin to transform into his Awakened Body in desperation made his words all the more laughable.

Crack!

I shattered Fourth Elder’s skull and killed him on the spot.

A death too empty to call him a Extreme Demon Level martial artist.

I looked down at Fourth Elder’s corpse as brain matter dripped down.

‘Thanks for transforming into an Awakened Body on your own.’

No matter how favorable the atmosphere, under normal circumstances, I couldn’t have crushed his skull.

But Heavenly Demonic Divine Art in and of itself was a natural counter to the Awakened Body.

Transforming into it in this space only weakened one’s own power.

“F-Fourth Elder!”

“I-it can’t be…”

With Fourth Elder—the de facto leader—dying so emptily, the atmosphere grew impossibly heavy.

Despite their overflowing power, the martial artists of the Cheon Clan didn’t dare come at me.

“All of you—”

“Please wait a moment, Grand Duke.”

“……!”

I slowly turned my head toward the familiar voice that rang out from the distance.

A handsome man with refined features, dressed like a scholar.

“L-Lord!”

“Lord!”

Fifth Elder and Sixth Elder’s faces lit up with joy at the arrival that seemed like salvation itself.

“Well now, you’ve stirred up quite the scene in a very flashy way.”

Cheon Jumyeong, who was to be inaugurated as the Clan Leader of the Cheon Clan, appeared before me with Third Elder Cheon Rain in tow.

***

Shaanxi Province, Xi’an.

Residence of the Black Lotus Union.

The Gongdong and Mount Hua alliance, nearly on the brink of annihilation due to the betrayal of the Jongnam Sect, was saved at the last moment by the sudden appearance of the Black Lotus Union.

Thanks to that, the Black Lotus Union was treated with a certain degree of formality upon entering Xi’an, and they were allowed to reside in one of the most prestigious areas of the city.

Even within that, the top floor of the most luxurious pavilion—restricted only to the highest-ranking executives.

“My waist! My waist!”

From that place, a woman’s wailing shriek rang out every day.

“Eun-ah. Right there… just a bit more… oh, that’s it!”

“Stop talking like some creepy old man.”

Smack!

Jegal Eun lightly smacked Baek Sang-ah’s thigh in response to her continued whining while applying ointment to her back.

“Aaaaah!!”

It was a light touch with no internal energy behind it.

But Baek Sang-ah screamed as if she had been stabbed with a red-hot iron skewer.

“It hurts! I said it hurts!”

Her shrieks were unbelievable for someone said to be a Peak Master Level martial artist.

Jegal Eun clicked her tongue at the pitiful state of the senior she once respected.

“Shouldn’t you have recovered by now? It’s been a whole month already.”

Baek Sang-ah trembled all over while desperately hugging a pillow.

“I-I can’t help it. Both I and Master So Cheon… our qi and blood are completely twisted up, we can barely move…”

“Hmmm…”

“My entire nervous system has become too sensitive. So don’t touch… urghyaaagh!”

She was already reacting on her own without being touched.

Jegal Eun sighed and turned her gaze toward the bed next to them.

There lay So Cheon, completely wrapped in bandages, lying motionless.

“The physician said it wasn’t life-threatening…”

“But that doesn’t mean the internal damage just disappears.”

“Well, true…”

His dantian wasn’t shattered, and most of his external injuries had already healed.

The bandages were merely a cover—So Cheon’s strong will to rest manifested in physical form.

The problem was, it had been an entire month of this, and for Jegal Eun, it was frankly exhausting.

“They say a few jars of wine stored in the underground cellar for the subordinates suddenly went missing…”

Flinch.

At those words, So Cheon’s shoulder twitched slightly, but he showed no other reaction.

‘So it really is an act.’

It wasn’t the first or second time, and Jegal Eun had more or less given up by now.

She changed the subject.

“The Heavenly Demon Cult has contacted the main branch of the Black Lotus Union. They’re asking for detailed information about the recent battle.”

“The Heavenly Demon Cult? Which branch?”

Even if it was from the same sect, the answer she had to give would change depending on the sender.

“The Heavenly Demon Pavilion.”

“Knew it—it’s Young Master Jin.”

Well, no other faction would be interested in external matters like this.

“Tch.”

Baek Sang-ah sighed and hugged her pillow again.

“What’s with the sigh? Just tell them the truth.”

“I’m just worried it might cause unnecessary concern. Besides, those two are probably neck-deep in internal conflict right now.”

“…You’re so uselessly kind.”

Foolish… no, not quite.

Though still as wild as ever, her nature was thoroughly good-hearted.

‘Hard to believe someone like her still hasn’t found a partner…’

She stared sharply at So Cheon, who still lay there with a look of ease, as if without a care in the world.

‘I was holding out a bit of hope, but… there’s no way I could hand her over to that.‘

A good person, but not quite a complete person.

It sounded odd, but that was her own evaluation of So Cheon.

“The front line remains in a lull. Since then, the Evil Overlords of Heaven haven’t made any notable moves. However…”

She gently bit her lip.

“That monster that fought with my sister and Master So Cheon… that will be the real variable.”

The monster with black wings that suddenly descended from the sky—Gunggi.

Baek Sang-ah and So Cheon fought an overwhelming battle with that monster for a time that didn’t even amount to a full daeng.

The fight was so intense that, despite it taking place in the middle of the battlefield, almost no one actually witnessed Gunggi.

At Jegal Eun’s words, Baek Sang-ah shook her head.

“At the very least, that thing won’t show up again on this battlefield.”

“That’s a relief… if true.”

“More than that, I still can’t shake what it said before disappearing.”

Jegal Eun recited the words she had heard a month ago.

“‘The minions of evil shall awaken’?”

“…Yes.”

Gunggi, who had driven both Baek Sang-ah and So Cheon to the brink of death in less than a daeng, had suddenly halted his assault.

–Time is up.

–That was a delightful fight. To think that warriors like you still exist in such a declining age.

–Soon, the minions of evil shall awaken.

–I hope you manage to survive to the end.

Leaving behind those words, Gunggi had vanished without a trace.

And once Gunggi disappeared, Evil Overlords of Heaven Lord’s, Lee Jaseong, for some unknown reason, also ceased fighting and suddenly withdrew.

The Plum Blossom White Sword and the Elders of Mount Hua were still intact, so they hadn’t been killed, but it had been a truly dangerous moment.

“Unni. What did that even mean…”

Jegal Eun’s question never reached completion.

Knock knock.

“Yeonju, are you in?”

It was Seo Muwon, working as one of the Three Armies of the Black Lotus Union.

“We’ve just received an urgent report from Hyeol Jae’s side.”

Seeing Seo Muwon’s grave expression, Jegal Eun’s face hardened.

“Don’t tell me… has Evil Overlords of Heaven begun their advance?”

“No. That’s not it.”

The information Seo Muwon brought was, in fact, closer to good news.

“The Murim Alliance has finally begun to move.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief. We might finally get a breather…”

“But there’s a problem.”

With Seo Muwon’s next words, not only Jegal Eun but even Baek Sang-ah widened their eyes.

“The Murim Alliance… has declared war not on Evil Overlords of Heaven, but on the Heavenly Demon Cult.”

“…What did you just say?”

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