Chapter 32
Part 7 – A Realm Beyond Humanity
"What do you believe demonic qi is?"
The aged Immortal, now fallen and reduced to the inheritor of the Jeamjincheongyeong, asked Yeon So-hyeon.
"Demonic qi...?"
Yeon So-hyeon stroked his chin.
"To be honest, there is no form of energy that has been studied less thoroughly than demonic qi. Aside from the fact that it is overwhelmingly powerful yet so vicious that it corrupts a person's very nature, almost nothing about it has been discovered."
Perhaps the demonic practitioners of the Demonic Cult knew more.
Yet even the Luoyang Sword Family—renowned for obsessively collecting every scrap of knowledge related to martial arts—possessed precious little fundamental information about demonic qi.
Even Yeon So-hyeon, whose mastery of martial scholarship had reached a level approaching that of a grandmaster, knew almost nothing about it.
The old man chuckled.
"People believe that, just as martial artists wield qi, demonic practitioners merely wield demonic qi. They place the two on the same level."
He shook his head.
"That is a profoundly mistaken way of thinking."
"Is that so?"
The old man raised one hand.
Dark demonic qi gathered around it.
"To begin with... this is not an energy that originates from the world in which you exist."
Yeon So-hyeon's brows twitched.
There were several fields that, by their very nature, could never truly be researched.
Ghosts.
The underworld.
Talismans.
Curses.
Daoist arts.
Immortal arts.
Buddhist dharma.
Immortal techniques.
Things regarded as existing only in mankind's imagination.
Such disciplines were collectively referred to as mysticism or metaphysics.
"Demonic qi is an energy that flows into this world from the Outer Cosmos—a realm beyond the perception of mortal beings."
Yeon So-hyeon could not fully comprehend the statement.
But he understood its implication.
"Demonic qi is the power that erodes... corrodes... and distorts our universe—our reality itself."
***
The bonfires the Heukgol Sect had lit throughout their headquarters in preparation for night combat...
Began to darken.
Flames becoming darker.
It was something that should have been impossible.
Yet it was happening.
Even the torches in people's hands could no longer properly illuminate their surroundings.
Shadows deepened.
Night grew darker.
"..."
One by one...
Groans escaped the mouths of the Heukgol Sect members.
The wounds they had forgotten moments ago returned with unbearable pain.
The fear born from their instinctive desire to live returned.
The sorcery Geumju had employed collapsed helplessly before the demonic qi emanating from Yeon So-hyeon.
Clutching wounds both great and small, the Heukgol Sect members slowly began backing away.
The howling wind was as cold as a blizzard.
Their entire bodies felt frozen solid.
And above all...
They were terrified of the gaze of the white mask looking down upon them from atop the tower.
"Tch..."
Geumju forcibly suppressed the primal terror rising from the depths of her soul.
Exploding with her own aura, she infused her voice with internal energy and shouted,
"Anyone who runs dies! Fight!"
But her voice achieved the exact opposite of what she intended.
"R-Run!"
"A demon! A demon has appeared!"
The Heukgol Sect's battle lines collapsed as though they had never existed.
Fear completely paralyzed their reason.
Without exception...
They fled.
Some threw away their weapons as they ran.
Some screamed the names of the gods they worshipped.
Others, in their panic, didn't even run toward their own headquarters—
Instead, they fled directly toward the very enemies they had been fighting only moments before.
***
"W-What should we do?!"
At the Hyeonwol Pavilion command post, an aide who had finally regained his senses cried out.
Se-ah answered immediately.
"Everyone, hold your current positions!"
Even had she not given the order...
Most of them had already lost the will to fight.
Even Hyeonwol Pavilion's elite operatives—battle-hardened veterans of countless missions—could no longer bring themselves to strike down those fleeing past them.
But...
Yeon So-hyeon—
The inheritor of the Jeamjincheongyeong—
Had no intention of allowing them to leave.
"The curtain has already risen."
"It would not do for the actors to leave the stage as they please."
During his previous raid on the Heukgol Sect, he had deliberately left a few survivors alive to spread fear throughout the organization.
There was no longer any need for that.
[Stop where you stand.]
His will infused itself into the demonic qi.
The words, transformed into a true Word of Command, mercilessly began eroding reality itself.
One of the fleeing Heukgol Sect thugs suddenly stumbled and collapsed.
Tears and mucus streamed across his face.
He looked down.
A pale white hand had seized his ankle.
"Uwaaah...!"
He kicked desperately with his other foot, trying to shake it loose.
But...
Dozens more white hands erupted from the ground.
They seized both of his legs.
[Die where you stand.]
The instant those words fell...
The weakest-willed were the first to die.
Blood burst from every opening in their faces as they collapsed headfirst onto the ground.
Instant death.
Those with stronger wills resisted for only a brief moment before the blood vessels in their brains ruptured.
Their hearts exploded inside their chests.
One after another...
They fell dead.
Against the Word of Command imbued with the demonic qi of the Jeamjincheongyeong...
Ordinary people without even a trace of internal energy stood virtually no chance of resisting.
The Heukgol Sect members who had filled every alley collapsed and died in an instant.
"...Great Primordial Heavenly Venerable..."
Faced with the utterly unreal spectacle, Hyeonwol Pavilion's field commander instinctively called upon his god.
He had spent more than half his life fighting on the brutal northern battlefields.
He had witnessed countless bizarre phenomena believed to be the work of the shamans of the northern tribes.
He had seen grains of rice in his meal transform into writhing maggots after a rain-soaked battle.
He had seen mysterious plagues cover soldiers' bodies in grotesque boils.
But none of those horrifying curses...
None of them compared to what was unfolding before his eyes.
"L-Look over there!"
Se-ah turned toward where her adjutant was pointing.
"The bodies...?!"
Not only Se-ah , but everyone watching found it impossible to believe what they were seeing.
From the dense darkness covering the ground...
Pale white hands emerged.
They seized the corpses scattered across the battlefield and dragged them away.
The bodies slowly sank into the darkness beneath them—
Into their own shadows.
Growling sounds echoed from the shadows that devoured the corpses.
Some of the shadows even seemed to howl.
Confronted with a scene that overturned all reason and transcended common sense itself...
Several members of Hyeonwol Pavilion collapsed to their knees.
Some vomited.
Others burst into tears.
T-This is...
At last...
Se-ah understood why no corpses had remained at any of the sites where the Dark Heavenly Venerable had attacked the Heukgol Sect.
Just what...
Her trembling eyes lifted once more toward the top of the tower.
"Pray!"
The monster in the white mask burst into wild laughter.
"Pray to the indifferent heavens!"
"I have come in answer to the cries of those innocent souls whom you tormented and murdered!"
His laughter seemed to shake even the thick clouds covering the sky.
The surviving members of the Heukgol Sect—those who had barely managed to remain alive—
All met their deaths the moment that laughter reached them.
Se-ah 's knees nearly buckled.
She somehow managed to stay standing.
Before seeing him with her own eyes, she and Hyeonwol Pavilion's senior members had made countless analyses.
He must be a master...
Or perhaps someone standing just before the Wall.
Surely he had many exceptionally capable allies.
Some had even argued that the rumors surrounding him were greatly exaggerated.
None of those analyses mattered.
None of those predictions had been remotely correct.
That being...
Had completely transcended common sense.
"...So that is the Dark Heavenly Venerable."
That...
Was the true face of Yeon So-hyeon—
The Luoyang Sword Family's ridiculed eldest young master.
***
Geumju had absolutely no intention of waiting to be slaughtered.
"What the hell are you idiots doing?! Attack him!"
Until now...
None of the martial artists serving the Heukgol Sect had stepped forward.
They had all been waiting for this very moment.
"Move! All of you!"
Dozens of martial artists belonging to the Heukgol Sect, together with the black-market martial artists they had hastily hired, simultaneously activated their movement techniques.
They leaped from rooftop to rooftop in overwhelming numbers.
The sight alone was enough to chill one's blood.
"The Heukgol Sect had that many martial artists?!"
Se-ah stared in disbelief.
"It appears to be twice the number our intelligence reported."
Even the field commander could not hide his shock.
With that many martial artists...
Even if their opponent had surpassed the Wall, they still possessed enough strength to challenge him.
Not to mention...
Geumju herself was still there.
The Dark Heavenly Venerable possessed unfathomable, reality-defying powers.
Even so...
His enemies' strength was by no means insignificant.
"We have to help—"
"There's no need, my lady."
The one who stopped Se-ah was Gyu.
Supported by several operatives, she slowly approached.
"Gyu!"
"I've returned safely."
Gyu smiled faintly.
She looked utterly battered.
Yet surprisingly...
Her injuries did not appear life-threatening.
Helping her sit down, Se-ah asked,
"What do you mean there's no need?"
"That... no..."
Gyu shook her head, correcting herself.
"The Dark Heavenly Venerable is a real monster."
"But Geumju has already reached the realm of a Master—"
"No."
"Please... trust me."
Looking into Gyu's eyes...
Se-ah felt a chill.
This was the same Gyu who had stood proudly before Geumju.
The same woman who had refused to retreat even with death staring her in the face.
Yet now...
Deep within her eyes...
Lurked unmistakable terror.
"For him..."
"It doesn't matter whether someone has crossed the Wall or not."
"I know."
"I've seen countless masters."
Everyone nearby had fallen completely silent, listening to Gyu's every word.
"If I were to fight him..."
She gave a hollow smile.
"Someone like me..."
"Wouldn't even qualify as an opponent worthy of a single move."
"What do you—"
Before anyone could finish asking...
An overwhelming surge of killing intent exploded behind them.
Compared to this...
Everything they had felt until now seemed like nothing more than child's play.
The killing intent radiating from the Dark Heavenly Venerable erupted like a storm.
"L-Look!"
Everyone turned toward the tower where he stood.
Every jaw dropped.
The martial artists who had swarmed to the top of the tower unleashed a merciless barrage of attacks all at once.
Yet...
The ones sent flying were them.
No one even saw the Dark Heavenly Venerable attack.
Whenever something resembling a flash of black lightning flickered—
One martial artist from the Heukgol Sect was hurled from the tower.
Arms and legs exploded apart in midair.
Entrails scattered across the sky.
The summit of the tower became engulfed in a crimson mist of blood.
"H-He's really a monster..."
At someone's whispered remark, Gyu slowly shook her head.
"No."
Her voice remained calm.
"This is only the beginning."
She added quietly,
"He hasn't even begun to show his true strength."
No one could find a response.
They simply stared at the tower.
It was no battle.
It was a one-sided massacre.