Chapter 7: Young Cult Leader Exchange Ceremony (2)

“You’re hiding your true strength, aren’t you, you bastard.”

The moment those words came out, my heart—which had barely managed to calm down—started pounding madly once more.

“I am giving it my all, though.”

“If you’re really going all out, how could you take my killing strike like that without even a scratch? And not a single counterattack?”

Ah.

Only then did I realize the mistake I had made.

I had been so focused on defending against her killing strike that I inadvertently blocked it too perfectly, even deflecting her sword entirely.

Cheon Yura’s anger was gradually turning into killing intent.

“How dare you deceive me by not using your full strength?”

I desperately tried to explain myself.

“That’s not it! It’s just that your offense was so intense, I couldn’t find the chance to mount a counterattack!”

“Don’t spew nonsense!”

Cheon Yura once again charged at me with her sword raised.

Surprisingly, this time she didn’t use a killing strike but applied a standard sword technique, scattering a flurry of sword attacks.

‘Her offensive is softer than before. At this level…!’

This time, I shifted into an offensive stance and began countering her strikes.

‘If I keep this offense-defense exchange going, I should be able to naturally lose without suspicion!’

Earlier, I had been too focused on defense because she was relentlessly aggressive. But now that I was unfolding offensive techniques, she would surely begin to notice the immaturity in my attacks.

There’s no way she would miss such an opening, and once she did, it would naturally lead to my defeat.

“Haaap!”

I honestly deployed the first form of the Ten Heavenly Record Demonic Sword, Heaven-Flaming Flow.

A single strike combining a feint and a true attack, mimicking the flickering flow of fire.

‘Against a novice, this flow would confuse them and land successfully. But to an expert, it’s nothing but an enticing bait!’

Come on, counter it!

Sure enough, Cheon Yura smoothly deployed a flowing sword move and deflected my attack with ease.

Then, just like she had done against Ma Jinyoon earlier, she immediately countered toward my wrist—

Fwoosh!

…Huh?

I paused for a fraction of a second.

From the tip of Cheon Yura’s sword surging toward my wrist, black energy was streaming out in tendrils!

Wait, no way—

Sword Qi!?

‘No, this crazy woman—!’

At this rate, she was going to sever my wrist!

She had only used the back of her blade against Ma Jinyoon, but now she was using Sword Qi against me!?

I frantically altered my technique.

This insane woman seriously intended to cut off my wrist!

Claaang!

With a harsh metallic clang, my body was flung backward.

Of course it was—taking a direct hit from Sword Qi, even if blocked, would naturally send me flying.

“Guhk!”

A wrenching feeling twisted through my gut as bile surged up my throat.

If I had made one wrong move, I might’ve vomited everything I’d eaten that morning.

Cough! Cough! Hack!

As I clutched my chest, struggling to calm my overturned stomach—

“As I thought.”

Cheon Yura slowly approached me.

“You were hiding your strength, planning to fake a loss.”

What?

A chilling coldness pressed down against my skin.

“How dare you.”

Shwing!

“You think you can deceive me?”

Cheon Yura looked down on me with a voice colder than death itself.

From past experience, I could tell—

She had reached the peak of her fury.

‘Damn it.’

My whole plan had completely unraveled. That Sword Qi from earlier wasn’t just a casual strike—it had been her way of testing my true intentions, and I’d walked right into her trap.

In this state, Cheon Yura really might try to kill me.

“Young Master!”

Outside the arena, Gu Chil tried to rush in after watching the situation unfold.

“Please stop.”

But before he could, Sa Biyeon stood in his path.

“Step aside!”

“Anyone not invited to this exchange duel cannot interfere.”

Infuriated, Gu Chil began to emanate a wave of murderous intent toward her.

No matter how prestigious her family was, if she wasn’t at Young Cult Leader level, there’s no way she could survive if a Top-Class Assassin from the Divine Ghost Unit charged her.

But this was the Lesser Demon Hall.

Immediately, the experts from the Law Enforcement Court surrounded Gu Chil and suppressed his killing intent.

“Kh… Kghhk!”

As Gu Chil’s head was about to be taken, I urgently shouted out.

“Stop, Gu Chil!”

“Young Master!”

“This is something I must resolve. Don’t ever interfere.”

Using my sword as a cane, I slowly stood back up.

“Oh?”

At that, Cheon Yura let out a cold laugh.

“Finally decided to get serious?”

I replied with a blank expression.

“I have never not been serious.”

“This bastard, even to the end!”

An overwhelming surge of aura erupted from Cheon Yura’s entire body.

But I truly wasn’t lying.

I had never been anything but serious. It was just that my seriousness hadn’t been directed toward winning.

“If you wish to deceive me so badly… then I’ll grant your wish and kill you.”

Fwhoosh!

Sword Qi gathered once more on Cheon Yura’s blade.

I, too, adjusted my stance to respond to her formation.

I focused everything on Cheon Yura’s sword.

‘If I can’t block that, I’ll really die.’

Shff… shff…

As she slowly drew her sword horizontally, a surprising thing happened—a trail of afterimages flowed from her sword’s path.

This meant that she was truly enraged, and it was no different from a signal that she fully intended to kill her opponent.

‘Heaven-Slaying Demonic Sword!’

The moment I recognized the identity of that sword technique, my grip on my sword tightened instinctively.

Of course, it couldn’t compare to the peak of her prime when she wielded twelve different unique swords, but even so, this was still the technique hailed as the strongest sword style of the Demonic Faction.

Cheon Yura quietly called out the name of the technique.

“Six-Spirit Demonic Path.”

‘Here it comes!’

Cheon Yura’s sword drew six separate trajectories through the air.

It was proof that her mastery had not even reached Minor Completion, let alone Great Completion.

But even so, that didn’t mean I was capable of confronting it head-on in my current state.

‘I have to either evade or redirect it—no matter what!’

Six strands of Sword Qi shot toward me, sealing off every possible direction of retreat.

If I held anything back, I would die.

The moment that thought flashed through my mind, I responded with my own surge of Sword Qi.

In my past life, just reaching the verge of being a First-rate Martial Artist wouldn’t have been enough to pull this off—but this wasn’t my first life.

Fwoosh!

“Y-Young Master!”

“Heeey?”

Gu Chil and Sa Biyeon, who had been watching from the sidelines, gasped in shock.

But I didn’t have time to listen to their reactions. My arms and legs were already moving instinctively to preserve my life.

“Huuaaah!”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Claaang! Clangclangclaaang!

Desperately, I blocked, evaded, and twisted my body to deflect the attacks.

No matter how vicious a technique may be—if you can withstand it head-on, a path to survival will always open.

Some of the Sword Qi I couldn’t fully deflect grazed my body, drawing blood—

But in the end, I managed to block Cheon Yura’s assault with all my limbs still intact.

“I blocked it!”

I cried out in triumph, thrilled that I had successfully fended off all six strands of Sword Qi.

“What do you mean, blocked?”

Slaaash!

A ‘black pillar’—on a completely different level from the previous Sword Qi—shot straight at my throat.

‘No way.’

I stared blankly at that black pillar of energy—no, at the Qi Projection.

No matter how much of my former instincts I had awakened, I couldn’t dodge this.

Damn it.

Qi Projection at the age of eighteen?

I already knew that Cheon Yura at this point in time had surpassed the Master Level, but still—this was just too much.

I sensed the end of my third life approaching and closed my eyes.

And just like that, the sound of my head being sliced off—never came.

“Hoh hoh hoh.”

Was I hearing things?

The voice of a middle-aged man laughing echoed in my ears.

“You got a bit too heated there, Yura. Were you trying to bring down the entire Cult?”

‘That’s… not an illusion?’

Still with my eyes closed, I instinctively tightened the muscles in my neck. They responded. Which meant—my head was still attached.

Realizing that, I slowly opened my eyes.

“That was close, junior brother.”

And what I saw upon opening them was—

The side profile of a middle-aged man who had blocked Cheon Yura’s Qi Projection with a single finger.

***

Cold sweat poured down my back—I must’ve really been on the verge of death.

‘Am… am I alive?’

Swallowing hard, I looked at the figure before me.

He wore a black long robe adorned with ornate cloud patterns, and between them, a black dragon ascending toward the heavens.

That robe, akin to the dragon robe of a Central Plains emperor, was a special garment allowed to only one person in the entire Heavenly Demon Cult.

“…!!”

Only then did I recognize who it was.

Startled, I dropped into a proper stance and knelt on one knee.

“Heavenly Demon Descends, All Demons Prosper! I pay respects to the true Supreme One of the Cult!”

The one who had saved me from Cheon Yura’s Qi Projection—was a man of tremendous status.

No—he had to be.

He was the 28th Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult, the current Grandmaster of the Demonic Faction.

Only the third in over a thousand years of Cult history to earn the title of Supreme One.

Heavenly Demon, Cheon Taejong.

He nodded slightly in response to my salute.

“Yes, junior brother of the Jin Clan. This is our first time meeting face to face, isn’t it?”

“Y-Yes, that’s correct.”

Across both past and present lives, I had never spoken this closely with the Heavenly Demon.

“Although… I don’t dare accept the title of junior brother. Please feel free to address me however you wish.”

“Haha, such a stiff fellow.”

The Cult Leader turned his gaze toward Cheon Yura.

“How long do you plan to keep that Qi Projection active?”

“Ah.”

Only then did Cheon Yura come to her senses and withdraw her energy.

Still, to block the Qi Projection of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art—said to be the mightiest power under the heavens—with just one finger…

He truly hadn’t earned the title of Heavenly Demon for nothing.

At any rate, as the situation began to settle down, the Cult Leader sternly reprimanded Cheon Yura.

“You nearly started a civil war within the Cult today.”

“T-That’s…!”

Cheon Yura stammered, clearly flustered, but the Cult Leader continued without pause.

“If the Cheon Clan and Jin Clan were to clash, their supporters would inevitably join in, and the Cult would lose a quarter of its total strength. And then, wouldn’t the Murim Alliance come storming into Ten Thousand Mountain, thinking this was their chance?”

Well, he was exaggerating a bit.

It wasn’t like the Asura King, Jin Gun-ak, would declare war just because his child lost their head.

Of course, it probably didn’t sound like that to Cheon Yura, who was on the receiving end of the scolding.

“In the end, your actions today nearly brought the Cult to ruin.”

“…!”

Cheon Yura’s figure trembled with rage and shame.

“Apologize. At the very least, since this is a mess that can still be cleaned up, you should take responsibility yourself.”

No matter how similar their clan statuses might be, she was still the Young Cult Leader.

In this cult of strength, the Heavenly Demon Cult, it was unthinkable for a strong one to bow to a weaker one.

But the Heavenly Demon was the one person who held the authority to make the unthinkable happen.

“T-This!”

Cheon Yura’s eyes, brimming with humiliation and shame, turned toward me.

“I—I’m sorry.”

“N-Not at all, Young Cult Leader.”

Wow.

I really just got an apology from Heartless Demonic Empress Cheon Yura.

Of course, it went without saying—there wasn’t an ounce of sincerity in that apology.

Behind those humiliated eyes, a fury burned so intensely, it looked like she wanted to devour me whole.

“Hm. That attitude of reflection—I like it.”

Whether he noticed that seething rage or not, the Cult Leader seemed quite satisfied with her apology.

“But the fact remains that junior brother’s life was in danger. Naturally, a simple apology isn’t enough.”

“C-Cult Leader!?”

“To make up for the disgrace you showed in today’s exchange duel, wouldn’t it make sense to continue seeing each other regularly?”

“…!?”

Wh—What kind of bullshit is that!?

Both I and Cheon Yura were so dumbfounded, we could only open and close our mouths silently.

Then the Cult Leader turned his head to look at me.

“The Jin Clan has raised their successor well. What’s your name, junior brother?”

I quickly knelt again and lowered my head in respect.

“Allow me to properly introduce myself! I am Jin Yeomyung, first son of the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan, Cult Leader!”

“Good, good.”

For some reason—though I couldn’t begin to guess why—the Cult Leader seemed to be in a very good mood.

He looked at me and asked,

“I must say, now I’m curious. Why would someone with your level of talent show up in a place like this?”

My tongue froze mid-sentence as I reflexively tried to answer.

‘Talent? Don’t tell me this man was watching the duel between me and Cheon Yura from the very beginning?’

Damn it, this old man…

“I’m humbled by your praise, Cult Leader. I simply answered the call to fulfill my duty as the first son of the Jin Clan.”

“As the eldest son, wouldn’t that make you the Young Clan Head? You’re not telling me you don’t know the laws of the Cult, are you?”

According to the Cult’s laws, the heads and junior heads of the Six Great Demonic Clans—or those designated as their successors—were forbidden from becoming the spouse of the Cult Leader or Young Cult Leader.

It was a law enacted to prevent power from concentrating too heavily in one faction.

“I lack the talent for that position, so the role of Young Clan Head has already been designated to my younger brother.”

“Lack the talent, you say?”

The Cult Leader blinked slowly.

Yeah, I’d probably react the same way if I saw someone under twenty wield Sword Qi and then heard them say they were lacking in talent.

“Haha, yes. Lack of talent. I see. I understand completely.”

Yet for some reason, the Cult Leader didn’t pry further into that statement.

Instead, with a mischievous smile, he asked me this:

“Surely… you didn’t fall for our Yura enough to give up your position as Clan Head, did you?”

…Are you insane?

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