Chapter 197. Demonic Cult (1)

Immediately after encountering that man’s face. The first thing that came to mind was a question.

I had the experience of encountering that man in the future.

However, that was an event about seven or eight years later.

And that man had the same face as now even then.

Naturally, I thought he would be younger.

An age range a little over thirty (Irip). I was looking for him thinking of the pretty boy face that would make several women cry.

But why does he have the exact same face as then even now.

That man who met eyes with me tilted his head and asked.

“Do you know me?”

Thanks to that answer, rather, I became certain.

The misty fog stuck in my head clears.

It was the exact same voice I heard in the past life.

When I was swinging the sword under the scorching sun in midsummer.

With the voice of that bastard babbling about cicadas while disturbing my training.

“Are you looking for bastards to become cicadas even now?”

Then the man covered his mouth with the fan and laughed lightly.

“Cicada. Interesting.”

Perhaps because the memory of the past became vivid. One possibility came to mind.

Turning my head slightly, I looked at the colleagues.

As if they felt some signs, all colleagues were ready to pull out weapons anytime.

Among them, the one my gaze headed to was Junior Sister Baek Hyang.

A father wielding violence while drunk. That father sold Junior Sister Baek Hyang for gambling debts.

Wandering through the red-light district, she obtained the Absorption Art one day and grew into the Lust Disaster through that Absorption Art.

And in this life, the Lust Disaster does not exist.

Because I saved Junior Sister Baek Hyang.

I thought so.

“I was stupid.”

There are guys spreading the Absorption Art.

A figure who mastered the Absorption Art completely did not appear.

Then the bastards would have gone out to find others suitable to learn the Absorption Art.

The fact that that guy visited here today seemed to be probably the same logic.

Because there were women kidnapped or sold unfairly here too.

As I continued the deduction about Junior Sister Baek Hyang, another possibility came to mind.

The Lust Disaster was a public enemy of the Murim, but there was no one who knew her real face.

Because she learned the Bone Shrinking Art and Appearance Changing Art in addition to demonic arts.

Then where did that Bone Shrinking Art and Appearance Changing Art come from?

The answer was obvious.

That bastard also must have learned the Bone Shrinking Art and Appearance Changing Art.

Just as I was about to check this. Junior Sister Baek Hyang, perhaps feeling my gaze, turned her gaze slightly and asked.

“Senior Brother. Is it that person? The person you mentioned last time.”

“Was that bastard the one who said he would give power while talking about cicadas to you?”

Following Junior Sister, even the Tang Clan bastard throws a question.

Just as I was about to answer something to this. That bastard opened his mouth first.

“Hahaha. Now that I see, you are people whose reputation is widespread in the Jianghu recently. Sword Phoenix. Adamant Sword. Cold Flower.”

The bastard pointed at my colleagues one by one with the fan.

“And even the Ghost Sword.”

Lastly, the one the bastard’s fan headed to was exactly me.

“However, it is truly strange. I have never met you, yet you say you have seen me.”

The bastard tilts his head as if puzzled.

“Would you try telling me? Just when did you meet me?”

It was a truly harmless face, but the reality was not so at all.

A bizarre sight reflected in the two eyes opened wide to check the bastard’s Appearance Changing Art and Bone Shrinking Art.

Very unpleasant energy, dark and sticky, was knotted in the bastard’s qi center. It was completely different from the bright colors of other martial artists.

It was to the point where it looked like a fallen black imugi coiled inside his qi center.

It was so. That was the same as that of an imugi waiting for the day to become a dragon and ascend to heaven.

Looking at just the total amount of energy, it was a level that overwhelmed me and then some.

Among the guys I saw directly, it was internal energy second only to the Fighting Venerable.

It looked like he had more internal energy than the Dalai Lama of Potala Palace, who would have accumulated profound Buddhist internal energy for at least seventy years.

Only after seeing that monster-like internal energy did I realize.

That my deduction was wrong.

That bastard did not hide his appearance by unfolding the Appearance Changing Art or Bone Shrinking Art.

The reason that bastard has the same face as seven or eight years later.

That was precisely because the bastard was a master who already succeeded in Body Reformation and reached the Heavenly Ladder Realm.

Martial artists who achieve Body Reformation and escape human limits have slower aging.

Just looking at the Fighting Venerable, it was so.

It had been long since that old man’s age passed a hundred, and his lifespan also didn’t have much left.

Nevertheless, the outward appearance was around seventy (Gohi).

That bastard’s appearance looking a little over thirty (Irip) must also be probably the same logic.

Taking a step toward the bastard willingly, I answered the bastard’s question.

“Try recalling your memory well.”

Additionally, I sent a sound transmission to the colleagues.

– Keep your positions. You must absolutely not approach that bastard.

During the three years and four months I was kidnapped by the Fighting Venerable, the colleagues grew unrecognizably.

But nevertheless, I had to say this.

That bastard was not an opponent the colleagues could deal with.

So I had to narrow the distance with the bastard.

So that the bastard could not target the colleagues by any chance.

At my answer, the bastard laughs lightly.

“Then where did you hear that cicada story?”

At the bastard’s question, I gave an answer willingly.

“I heard it from the Moon Lord of Red Moon Falling Flowers.”

Then asking the bastard conversely, I examined the bastard’s reaction.

“I want to ask instead. Why have you been doing such things?”

“What things are you talking about?”

“What is the reason for going around passing on the Absorption Art or wicked sorcery to people.”

I had to continue the conversation long somehow.

It wasn’t because I was afraid of that bastard.

If it were up to my heart, I wanted to rush in right away and kill that bastard.

But before that, I had to obtain as much information as possible from that bastard somehow.

It was decades ago that the Moon Lord of Red Moon Falling Flowers obtained wicked sorcery and demonic arts.

If the guy who met the Moon Lord and that bastard were the same person, it didn’t make sense.

Because then that bastard’s age would be at least over seventy.

No matter if that bastard succeeded in Body Reformation, he couldn’t have that appearance even after aging that much.

It meant there were guys doing the exact same thing besides that bastard. And that consistently from a long time ago.

I had to find a way to approach that group through that bastard.

If there was a problem, it was that that bastard’s realm was extraordinary.

Suppressing him alive seemed almost impossible.

No, it was a level where I couldn’t even guarantee victory if we fought.

So controlling my anger as much as possible, I asked the bastard again.

“Do you know how many tears of blood innocent people shed because of the things you bastard committed?”

Even amidst asking, anger soared automatically.

The current reality wasn’t the problem right now.

I knew the future.

Even the Lust Disaster was created because of that bastard.

The group called Red Moon Falling Flowers led by the Killing Demon was also created because of the bizarre sorcery that bastard spread.

The Lecher bastards I killed were so, and the Choi Manor Master was so.

Just how many people lost their lives falling victim to that Absorption Art and wicked sorcery?

The Jianghu of the future, which was only dark with villains running wild, might be because of that bastard.

At my question, the man laughed lightly.

“It seems there is some misunderstanding.”

“It’s useless to pretend not to be.”

“You are jumping to conclusions alone again. I did not force them. I never made them learn it by force either.”

The bastard added with a benevolent expression.

“I just informed the pitiful larvae who wanted to undergo eclosion of the method. The choice was theirs.”

Pointing in all directions with the fan as if giving a speech, the bastard said.

“They say the world is survival of the fittest. However, who decided the strong and the weak? Did the Heavens decide?”

Even at the end, he pointed at the sky with the fan.

“Those abandoned by the Heavens. Those who had to live as the weak. Is giving them a chance to become the strong such a big mistake?”

My mouth corners went up.

Right. If it were the past me, those words might have resonated greatly.

Because I was also weak. Because I wanted to oppose the strong.

But to the current me, it sounded just like bullshit.

It wasn’t because I became strong.

I saw the end of the bastards who learned demonic arts or wicked sorcery clearly with my own eyes.

The Lecher bastard who was caught and killed while kidnapping girls crazy with lust.

The Choi Manor Master who absorbed energy recklessly and rather danced like a puppet to that energy.

The Red Moon Falling Flowers assassins who lost emotions and moved only as ordered.

The things these bastards were doing were not acts of giving power to others.

Even in the past life, there was no one who handled that demonic art perfectly except the Lust Disaster.

Junior Sister Choyeon of the past life. The Killing Demon also reached a terrifying realm, but had his emotions removed to overcome the side effects of the demonic art.

No. The assassin who reached the same realm as the Killing Demon even after suffering such things was only the Killing Demon alone.

They tempt saying they let you overcome talent with demonic arts, but if you don’t have talent, you couldn’t overcome the side effects of that demonic art.

Thinking about talent, suddenly one possibility came to mind.

To probe this, I asked the bastard.

“Giving a chance to the weak. Then do you distribute that demonic art even to those without talent?”

“Hahahaha. Isn’t that natural?”

It was a lie.

The bastard did not pass on the demonic art to the past me.

Saying I don’t even show the possibility of eclosion, he left just like that.

But I didn’t bother to mention this.

Instead, I mentioned another story.

“Amazing. To distribute demonic art that allows one to become strong rapidly to those without any connection indiscriminately.”

“Huhu. Doesn’t that mean I am that benevolent?”

Thanks to the face of the bastard intoxicated with himself, I became certain.

Pretending to help others, but a face treating those others as inferiors.

Furthermore, a face treating them as test subjects or something.

It was a familiar face in many ways.

“Now that I see, it was an experiment. That demonic art you bastards spread around. It wasn’t perfect yet.”

The wicked sorcery these bastards spread is the same.

‘Instead of becoming strong quickly, there are side effects.’

I considered it just a natural logic.

But it wasn’t.

The reason these bastards spread demonic arts.

That was to find a way to reduce side effects.

Those who go crazy with side effects.

And those who overcame the side effects of demonic arts.

Through the process of these people growing. Or the process of going crazy, they must be refining the demonic arts and sorcery.

These bastards were not seeing people as people.

Neither the bastards who went crazy with side effects.

Nor the innocent victims who died at the hands of those crazy bastards, they had no interest.

Whether my deduction was correct, the bastard’s face crumpled momentarily.

With a face full of annoyance, the bastard sighed.

“Haa. The Beggar’s Gang’s signs were strange recently. Now that I see, you gave some information to the Beggar’s Gang.”

At the same time, the black imugi coiled in the bastard’s qi center raised its body.

Dull black and sticky energy stretches out in all directions rapidly.

That heavy energy pressed down on my body.

Furthermore, it was stretching out toward the colleagues in the rear.

I pulled up energy from my qi center willingly.

Resisting the bastard’s energy, I took a step toward the bastard again.

I roughly grasped these bastards’ purpose.

What remained was where the remaining trash excluding this bastard were.

“To experiment on people while hiding your identities cowardly. You bastards are quite scared.”

I said this to provoke the bastard again, but unfortunately, it didn’t work.

The bastard who looked at me steadily laughed lightly.

“Rather, it turned out well. If I kill all of you, there won’t be any chasing in the future.”

At the same time, dozens of trajectories were embroidered in the air.

Whizz!

And tearing those trajectories apart, dozens of strands of feathers flew in.

They were feathers stuck in the bastard’s fan.

Swinging the Master’s Blade, I unfolded the Moonlight Coiling Sword.

The sword screen colliding with the feathers fluctuated.

The internal energy loaded in each feather was considerable. It was power stronger than even the Tang Clan bastard’s hidden weapons.

Even a few strands of feathers passed by grazing the space the Master’s Blade didn’t reach.

“I, I will protect!”

Fortunately, Nam Geon protected the colleagues by taking them with his body.

But it wasn’t just a good situation.

“Kugh.”

Nam Geon, who achieved the Diamond Indestructible Body, was enduring groans while gritting his teeth tightly.

However, I had no time to pay attention to Nam Geon’s pain.

Whoosh!

While blocking the feathers. At some point, the bastard was rushing in with a sword pulled out.

It was also because of this that I had no composure to strike away the feathers that flew toward the colleagues.

That bastard digging in in an instant swings the sword.

Enhanced Qi with a feeling sticky beyond black was lingering on the bastard’s sword at some point.

I also swung the Master’s Blade wrapped in Enhanced Qi against it.

BOOM!!

An explosion bursts out, and wave energy swirls.

“Ho-oh?”

With an expression saying it’s interesting, the bastard swung the sword repeatedly.

Every time the two swords collided, my teeth ground automatically.

My acupoints, muscles, and joints shake at the bastard’s enormous internal energy.

But the grinding of teeth wasn’t because of that.

That dull black and huge internal energy was not accumulated by a normal method no matter how I looked at it.

“You bastards are worse than trash!!”

Demonic art is slightly more developed than the demonic art those bastards spread around.

Probably energy obtained through a slightly safer demonic art.

And to accumulate that much internal energy, it seemed he had to devour at least hundreds of people.

The moment I realized that fact. A certain possibility came to mind.

“Now that I see, you were hiding in the Outer Regions!!”

Immediately after my words ended. The bastard’s face, which was relaxed, crumpled properly.

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