Chapter 453: A New Sky (4)

“This… what is this…?”

The only exception I made, Cheon Hyeonbaek, blankly turned around at the sudden disappearance of multiple presences.

Where his gaze landed, the two elders of the Extreme Demon Realm, who were no different from his own brothers, had also fallen into a sleep resembling unconsciousness.

With a trembling voice, he asked,

“What… what did you do?”

I answered Cheon Hyeonbaek’s question kindly.

“Eighth Form, Bright Net Martial Sword.”

The eighth technique of the Bright Net Ten Swords, each one transcending principles.

“You could call it a type of Heart Sword.”

“Heart Sword? I cannot comprehend that.”

“What is it you cannot comprehend?”

“Even if it is a sword of Sword Intent, our bodies have transcended the Extreme Demon Realm. Even if we cannot overcome it, it should not be impossible to respond.”

“Who said it was a sword of Sword Intent?”

“…What?”

“You must differentiate between Heart Sword and Sword Intent. The two are strictly separate concepts.”

Though both are such high-level martial principles that they are commonly accepted as the same in the Central Plains, strictly speaking, the Sword of Intent is merely an intermediary stage before reaching the true Heart Sword.

I turned my gaze and asked the Sword Demon, who had gone stiff.

“Sword Demon, did you see it?”

“To a certain extent…”

The Sword Demon lowered his expression with a heavy sigh.

It wasn’t that he had shrunk in fear—it looked more like he was desperately trying to analyze what had just happened.

“Sword Intent… originally has no form. To manifest it in a physical form and wield it—that is the Transcendent Demon Realm. But in the strike just now, I felt no physical force at all.”

His eyes narrowed.

“It couldn’t have simply been well-hidden…”

After pondering briefly, the Sword Demon let out a sigh and shook his head.

“This one… I’ll have to experience it myself to get a sense of it. Please show me next time.”

“Hoho, sure.”

Being someone who knew how to separate official from personal matters, the Sword Demon didn’t dwell on it.

I turned my gaze back to Cheon Hyeonbaek.

“Will you continue? I trust you won’t call the scratches from falling over ‘wounds’.”

“…Huuu!”

Cheon Hyeonbaek closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

An absolute, undeniable defeat.

There was no room for rebuttal.

Thud!

At last, his knees hit the floor, and his forehead followed shortly after.

“I, Cheon Hyeonbaek of the Sun Mad Demon Lord, pay respects to the Heavenly Demon of the new era.”

“Will you accept all the conditions I’ve mentioned?”

“There is nothing to accept or not. The word of the Supreme One is absolute.”

More obedient than I expected.

“Good, I like your promptness. As announced beforehand, I will accept any challenge if there are objections. However, you must personally manage the public sentiment of the Cheon Clan so that no impure movements arise.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

At that moment, Cheon Hyeonbaek, still bowing his head, showed hesitation.

“Heavenly Demon, there is something I must tell you.”

“What is it?”

“The reason our clan could not respond to the Supreme One’s visit was partly due to internal chaos… but there was another reason.”

“Another reason?”

Cheon Hyeonbaek, with a face clouded by concern, led me somewhere.

“I shall guide you. Please follow me.”

Cheon Hyeonbaek led me to an old, decrepit manor at the outskirts of the Cheon Clan’s domain.

“This place…”

Overgrown weeds and dilapidated buildings.

Just a glance told me it had been abandoned for over a decade.

What was stranger was that corpses, presumably of the Cheon Clan’s martial artists, were strewn about.

“To not even have retrieved the corpses… this must have been quite an intense battle.”

I examined the wounds on a fallen Cheon Clan warrior and furrowed my brow slightly.

“…An Awakened Body?”

“Yes, I see you recognized it right away.”

Upon closer inspection, the traces of battle and the positioning of the corpses all pointed in one direction.

The far end of that direction.

I pointed toward a passage leading underground and asked,

“What’s in there?”

“What’s in there… even I do not know.”

“What?”

“To be exact, with my shallow insight, I cannot accurately identify what is in there.”

Cheon Hyeonbaek’s face was filled with unease.

“First Elder will explain it.”

“…!”

I issued the order without hesitation.

“Command the Guardian Lions and secure the area.”

“By your command.”

The Sword Demon, true to his nature as a born martial artist, bowed his head calmly without showing any curiosity.

Leaving the Guardian Lions behind, I proceeded underground.

I arrived at the end sooner than expected.

‘Smaller than I thought.’

If I had to compare, it was about the size of the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader’s exclusive training chamber that Yura used?

Of course, that alone was at least twenty jang in all directions, but compared to the previous location where the Divine Demonic Vessel had been studied, it was an insufficient scale.

And at the far end of the space—

“Welcome, Supreme One.”

“…First Elder.”

First Elder, seated in a wheeled chair, quietly bowed his head.

And behind First Elder—

There was a massive glass capsule containing something.

‘That’s…’

I frowned upon seeing what was inside the capsule.

It wasn’t just my imagination that made me think the figure within hadn’t fully matured.

“You’re alive… What a great relief.”

“Hohoho… it must be that this old man’s life is unusually tenacious. On the contrary, I apologize. This old man failed to control the Cheon Clan and caused this situation…”

First Elder’s face was filled with guilt.

“I heard you were struck by the Heaven-Destroying Poison. No matter who had been there, the result would have been the same.”

Even with my consolation, First Elder shook his head.

“Even so, as the Leader of the Seven Elders, I must bear responsibility. I intend to relinquish all things for the rest of my life and atone for the Cheon Clan and the Cult. I beg for your permission.”

“I will prepare a seat for you at the Elder’s Hall. Please assist me as much as you can until Yura returns.”

First Elder was Yura’s strongest supporter and someone who had actively promoted my position.

Even after losing his martial arts, his commitment to fulfill his duties to the end made him a true elder and a paragon within the Cult.

“Thank you, Supreme One.”

“By the way, what is that behind you? I have a rough guess…”

That thing was none other than a massive quadrupedal monstrosity with the face of Cheon Juchun!

First Elder answered with a grim expression.

“The Four Atrocities, Docheol. Or more precisely, a failed specimen that could not fully transform into Docheol…”

“A failure? Who said that?”

“The Cheon Clan Leader… or now rather, the great sinner Cheon Jumyeong. More precisely, he said it would become a failure. He saved me, secretly brought me here, and entrusted me with guarding it.”

“Cheon Jumyeong…”

Cheon Jumyeong had truly prepared much.

What was amazing about him was that he had achieved most of what he intended with a single life.

“The Heaven-Defying Society must have tried to retrieve it.”

“Yes. Fortunately, we succeeded in protecting it… but in the process, Third Elder Cheon Rain was killed by the enemies.”

“Hmm? Cheon Rain?”

At the unexpected name, I tilted my head slightly.

‘Cheon Rain is dead?’

Only then did I realize I had completely forgotten about him until now and awkwardly shrugged my shoulders.

“A regrettable loss. A noble sacrifice.”

“……”

First Elder looked at me with a strange expression.

Even I must not have looked particularly regretful.

Cheon Rain was a master of the Extreme Demon Realm, but due to grudges from a previous life and more importantly—

‘Of course. Probably didn’t want to be involved in anything dangerous, so he skipped the mission of the Seven Elders and ended up dying here.’

He wasn’t someone I felt sympathy for.

‘Good riddance. Better to leave the Great Elder seat vacant than give it to that man.’

Currently, the corpse of Great Elder Cheon Yeongha, who died near Soaring Demon Peak, was being recovered, and preparations for a funeral of the highest honors were underway.

I would’ve had to give the now-vacant Great Elder seat to him, but if he’s dead, I can no longer keep that promise…

“The Four Atrocities, Docheol…”

I slowly approached the glass capsule.

Still sensing a significant spiritual nature from it, it was clear the creature possessed tremendous value in sorcery.

But I had no need for it.

I reached out to destroy Docheol.

Crack!

Just as a crack began forming on the glass capsule containing Docheol—

“Supreme One. Please wait a moment.”

“……”

Sensing a familiar presence behind me, I withdrew my hand for a moment.

Even the world’s greatest stealth technique couldn’t fool my senses.

Unless they never appeared ‘there’ in the first place.

“Heavenly Researcher?”

“Clan Leader…”

An old man as decrepit as Nine Yin Blood Claw Wang Garak.

The Lord of the Supreme Demon Palace, Heavenly Researcher Cheon Mujae, appeared before me.

“It has been a long time, Grand Duke. No, I must now call you the Heavenly Demon, Supreme One.”

Heavenly Researcher bowed deeply before me in full prostration.

“First, allow me to congratulate you on your victory. The Grand Heavenly Lord has retreated, leaving behind only one loyal subordinate. In truth, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult shall now return to its golden age under the Supreme One’s leadership.”

“Enough of the compliments. Why are you here?”

“It is because of that.”

He raised his finger and pointed at Docheol.

“May I have that?”

“…You want it?”

For a brief moment, in the air, my gaze and Heavenly Researcher’s intersected.

“Though it is incomplete, the corpse of a member of the Four Atrocities holds a value thousands of times greater than ordinary demonic beasts. More than anything, within that lies the essence of Docheol, though not fully matured.”

“And so?”

“If you entrust it to me, I shall craft the finest divine relic for the Cult.”

I remained silent at those words.

Heavenly Researcher bowed once again and spoke.

“That divine relic shall be bound solely to the Supreme One. It will not belong to the Cheon Clan, nor to anyone else. Separate from the treasures of the Heavenly Demon Pavilion, it shall be a divine relic that will glorify your prestige throughout the world.”

“……”

“……”

Neither I nor First Elder could speak.

A divine relic…

Certainly, if Docheol were used as material, a tremendous artifact could be made.

However—

“You bastard… you finally show your true nature after all this time.”

Crack! Crack!

The sound of grinding teeth came from First Elder’s mouth.

A sidelong glance showed an expression on First Elder’s face that could hardly even be called hatred.

I lightly rested my hand on First Elder’s shoulder and shook my head.

He had lost his martial arts. If he let his fury boil, his health could suffer.

“Let me ask one thing first.”

“Ask what you will.”

“You haven’t forgotten that… it is your son, have you?”

As the words implied—

The Four Atrocities, Docheol—more precisely, Cheon Juchun, who had become the host of Docheol—

Was none other than Heavenly Researcher’s biological son.

And now this man was declaring his intention to process his own son into an ‘object’.

In that situation—

Heavenly Researcher’s reply was truly something.

“More precisely, he was my son.”

“……”

“I don’t see any particular issue. He ignored my words and betrayed the Cult. If he can atone in death, it is not a bad end for him.”

Upon hearing Heavenly Researcher’s logic, I fully understood First Elder’s anger.

Within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, which operated under iron-blooded principles, those words might seem reasonable.

But it was absolutely not something a father should ever say to his child.

I silently stared at the back of Heavenly Researcher’s bowed head.

‘So that’s why Cheon Taejong warned me to watch out for Heavenly Researcher.’

At a glance, he seemed neutral and acted with some restraint, but—

That wasn’t the case.

The essence of this man, once separated from the restraint known as Cheon Taejong, was no different from his runaway son, Cheon Juchun.

‘They said he might be useful if handled well…’

But it seems I cannot afford to leave such a variable before the final battle.

“Denied.”

“…Why?”

Heavenly Researcher lifted his head.

His eyes were filled with nothing but pure confusion.

He and I locked eyes for a long moment.

Staring vacantly, he gradually realized the true intent in my gaze, and his face turned ashen.

“Y-you can’t be…!”

The man desperately tried to fold space to escape my grasp.

In the past, I wouldn’t have been able to properly counter such a technique, close to divine sorcery.

But now, it was different.

“I forbid your movement.”

The moment I uttered those words—

Phuok!

Heavenly Researcher spewed blood from his mouth.

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