Chapter 033. To the North (3)
Thirty years ago from now, the Murong Clan was annihilated.
Murong Gang was the last survivor, the second son of the Family Head at that time, and a Peak Realm expert who had cultivated the Murong Clan's swordsmanship.
The reason he, who was a primary target for execution, could survive was because…….
Wi Cheon-rak, a Cardinal of the Yin God Cult, faked his death and spirited Murong Gang away.
The last successor of Murong wanted revenge to wash away blood with blood,
And Wi Cheon-rak needed a hunting dog he could control at will.
The interests of the two coincided in their own way.
Wi Cheon-rak wanted to cover the world with monsters, and Murong Gang also wanted to dye the Gangho with blood.
Therefore, Murong Gang willingly accepted Wi Cheon-rak's baptism and became a Half-Demon, no longer human.
Furthermore, he had reached the extremity of the Peak Realm purely through martial enlightenment.
Murong Gang was a genuine monster who could easily defeat three or four Butcher-level Half-Demons.
"......Heh, assassination of the Namgung Young Family Head, you say."
Murong Gang was quite satisfied with Wi Cheon-rak's order this time.
The Namgung Clan, which occupies a seat among the Five Great Families.
Those bastards were the faction that took the lead more than anyone else in orchestrating the annihilation of the Murong Clan. There was no way killing their successor wouldn't be delightful.
He intended to torture her until she begged for death.
He hoped that while dying in that pain, she would feel even a little bit of the despair that Murong Gang himself had felt.
As he enjoyed the cruel imagination, a low and ominous muttering flowed from Murong Gang's mouth.
He manifested the sorcery passed down from Wi Cheon-rak.
WHOOOOOM!
At the same time as an ominous light flowed from Murong Gang's vermilion eyes, his vision began to change.
The world seen through the eyes of the Yin God Cultist planted in the northern plains disguised as a bandit is shared with him.
'Let's see how you petty things escaped from the Butcher's grasp.'
Murong Gang thought, his eyes flashing.
However, he did not know.
That when he looks into them, Someone could also look into him.
* * *
Since obtaining the ability of predation, Dam Jeok-san had truly made great strides.
Just simply 'seeing' had reached a level incomparable to before.
The Predator's Eye and the incompletely opened Mind's Eye.
Two techniques, difficult to possess even one of, dwelled within Dam Jeok-san.
And that created a result no one expected.
For a moment, Dam Jeok-san felt his vision shaking madly.
A sensation where eye techniques mix, allowing him to see what he shouldn't have been able to see originally.
The existence lurking deep within the bandit's pupils revealed its form intact in his vision.
Vermilion eyes harboring thick killing intent and grudge, A body forged well like a single sword,
Demonic energy flickering sharply as if to cut human skin.
'It is that guy.'
An executive of the Yin God Cult who took over the task the Butcher failed.
Dam Jeok-san felt a strangely familiar feeling upon seeing him.
He definitely saw him before.......
He didn't face him directly.
It is highly probable that it was a portrait.
'Ah.'
Only then did Dam Jeok-san remember where he saw the opponent.
Records in the library of the Martial Sovereign Castle. Among them, the record about the annihilated Murong Clan.
That is certain.
The aura or feeling seen from the appearance is completely different. But setting aside that strange atmosphere, the contours of his features matched completely.
The second son of the Murong Family Head, his realm at the time was a Peak Realm expert.
The corpse was confirmed, but there was a note that the search continued for quite a while because there were dubious parts.
The second son of the annihilated Murong Clan threw himself into the Yin God Cult.......
It is a plausible story. He is probably burning with a desire for revenge against Murim.
Just as those who lost their families and relatives by monsters burned with a desire for revenge against monsters.
He didn't know when he was just pointing the blade of hatred, but receiving it in return was not a very pleasant thing.
'But, does Murong Gang know?'
Dam Jeok-san thought while recalling the records he saw in the library back then.
—It is the Yin God Cult that instigated the defection of the Murong Family Head, the Heavenly Cultivation Sword Lord.
The one who wrote the memoirs was the previous Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle.
According to that memoir, there was a high probability that the Heavenly Cultivation Sword Lord's defection was not voluntary.
A despicable trick by the Yin God Cult to weaken solidarity and strength through internal strife.
'If that is the case, the target Murong Gang should take revenge on is.......'
Dam Jeok-san shook his head upon thinking up to there.
Even if everything written in that memoir is true, nothing changes.
Looking at Murong Gang's vermilion eyes, the bastard was already completely encroached by demonic energy.
He has crossed a river of no return.
Therefore.
Even if Murong Gang's entire life is filled with despair and deception, Dam Jeok-san must cut him down. There is no need for complex words like duty or obligation. It is for him to survive right now.
'......First, I must hide the cards we hold from the bastard as much as possible.'
Dam Jeok-san thought as he looked around the bandit group.
The number of bastards is ten in total.
Except for the one presumed to be Murong Gang's spy, all the rest are at a level not escaping the third-rate.
Even that spy, the aura revealed is at best only at the first-rate level.
However, he could pierce through what the bastard was hiding.
'He stuffed a massive amount of demonic energy into his dantian.'
That bandit is a pure human, not a Half-Demon.
He cannot possibly take out the demonic energy in his dantian and use it like internal energy.
"......Does he intend to use him as a bomb?"
Dam Jeok-san muttered, crumpling his face.
If a human harboring that much demonic energy dies violently in an instant, even a Peak Realm expert cannot completely let down their guard. A method that might be much more efficient than training martial artists.
However, it is a method inhumane to a vicious degree.
Although the Martial Sovereign Castle also uses human lives like consumables depending on the occasion.
That is an existence created to be consumed from birth. But that bandit will accept that fate meekly.
That is the end of one who has fallen into fanaticism.
Although what can be expected from the Unorthodox factions who perform human sacrifices like eating meals, feeling uncomfortable was unavoidable.
[Listen well.]
Dam Jeok-san sent a telepathic message to those following him.
[Those are not ordinary mountain bandits.]
Sending telepathic messages to three people simultaneously is more difficult than thought. Because it is like swinging three swords at once. However, Dam Jeok-san continued the telepathic message with a calm look.
[One among them is a spy of the Yin God Cult.]
The one furthest back, crouching as if he were a foolish rookie.
Take care of the rest excluding him. As quickly as possible.
[Alright, I will take the left!]
Namgung Yeon reacted first.
[Martial Artist Jang, you take the right.]
[Gyeong-won, you break through the front while covering me.]
After Dam Jeok-san subsequently gave different orders to the two people, he drew his sword.
Ta-at—
The moment Dam Jeok-san kicked off the ground—
His figure became a streak of light and stretched forward.
At the same time, the weapons of Namgung Yeon and the Black Panther Spear flashed, harboring vivid light.
CRUNCH! SLASH!
The two are martial artists who have reached the complete Peak Realm.
The bandits, who had never even learned proper martial arts, died without even putting up a fight against the two people's charge.
"E, Experts!!"
One of the bandits shouted in astonishment.
"I, I told you not to mess with guys holding swords!"
Although called a bandit group, they are nothing but a disorderly mob holding sharp objects.
Those who plunder and sell off those weaker than themselves.
Therefore, they usually do not mess with those who look like Murim people.
It is a sort of unwritten rule.
However, Dam Jeok-san's party looked very shabby due to continuous battles and urgent travel...... and Namgung Yeon's beauty was too outstanding. A beauty never seen once in a lifetime. At the moment they were blinded by lust and their bodies heated up, the rookie instigated them.
That they can do it. Since he came from the provincial capital of Shanxi, he knows, and just looking at the weapons they carry, it's clear they are nobodies with nothing special.
Smirk.
A cold sneer appeared on the lips of the rookie—the Yin God Cultist—who had instilled the courage to die in vain into the bandits.
How laughable is this. The folly of humans coveting what does not befit their station.
The Cult's teachings are right. They must be purified.
Thinking so, the Yin God Cultist began to slowly release the compressed demonic energy pressed firmly into his dantian.
Violent energy that a human cannot handle runs wild. Veins stood out clearly all over his body, and his skin swelled as if it would burst.
As if his body would explode.
With just this power, he probably cannot kill the wicked things of Namgung.
However.......
'Please, may this humble one's martyrdom be of help to the Cult......!'
As he resolved so and was about to explode the demonic energy—
SLASH!
A silver flash flickered, and a burning pain was felt on his nape.
At the same time, his vision inverted.
He saw his own body crumbling, having lost the body.
Why on earth?
The bastard could not even know the cause of his own death.
Because Dam Jeok-san thrust his sword at a speed transcending his cognition.
A Fast Sword that truly reached an extreme realm.
The difference in level was too stark.
"Tsk......!"
However, Dam Jeok-san clicked his tongue as if something was unsatisfactory.
A little, just a little late.
The bastard lost his head, but his body was already on the verge of running wild.
"Still, it is fortunate that the sorcery was broken."
The moment the Yin God Cultist's head was cut off, the path connecting the bastard and Murong Gang was also cut.
The reason he insisted on a tactic excluding variables even though dealing with a disorderly mob.
Now he could reveal all his cards without being conscious of Murong Gang.
For example, things like the ability of predation.
Dam Jeok-san's left hand touches the Yin God Cultist's chest.
WHOOOOOM!!
Following his will, the ability predated on the demonic energy.
A level far insufficient to raise his status.
Since explosion was the purpose, the purity is low and murky beyond compare.
However, if even this is filtered by the ability and transformed into internal energy, it is an amount that would take a full month of breathing exercises to accumulate.
Dam Jeok-san dusted off his hands with satisfaction and turned around.
He completely achieved the intended purpose of dealing with them as quickly as possible without exposing his full power.
Namgung Yeon and the Black Panther Spear had also completely collapsed the bandits long ago.
There was no way a bandit group that merely engaged in pillaging with rusty weapons could handle them, who were Peak Realm experts.
"Young Master Dam......!"
Namgung Yeon ran towards him with a voice full of worried signs.
She detected the unusual movement of demonic energy that occurred centering on the one Dam Jeok-san cut down.
It was an intense demonic energy to the extent that she felt a sense of crisis that the area might be blown away if things went wrong.
But as if she was mistaken, hadn't he suppressed the movement in an instant?
How on earth?
Namgung Yeon was dumbfounded by the event beyond her understanding.
There was only one thing she could know in this situation.
That Dam Jeok-san could not have blocked that explosion without paying any price.
He looks fine on the outside, but he must be suffering from severe internal injuries right now.
After a very brief hesitation, she took out a luxurious chest from her bosom.
Looking at the structure and appearance, it seemed suitable for putting precious spiritual medicine.
However, resolution dwelt in Namgung Yeon's eyes.
Dam Jeok-san endured crises several times to protect her, with whom he had no particular interests.
Namgung Yeon also had to repay the dedication he showed.
"......Please take this. It will be of minor help to your internal injuries."
She said as she handed the chest to Dam Jeok-san.
* * *
The last survivor of the annihilated Murong Clan.
The right arm of the Yin God Cult Cardinal Wi Cheon-rak.
A madman continuing a wretched life solely under the single thought of revenge, Murong Gang.
"......?"
He was now blinking his eyes with a quite perplexed look.
He was fully prepared to appreciate what card Namgung Yeon had hidden—
But the connection was cut off just like that before he even saw anything.
There are two cases where such a situation might occur.
One is the case where a sorcerer exists on that side and severed the connection between Murong Gang and the Yin God Cultist.
Another is the case where the Yin God Cultist died before even recognizing his own death, destroying the sorcery itself.
Murong Gang instinctively realized.
That the current situation occurred due to the latter case.
"Did you think you could survive just because of that?"
Heat as hot as lava boiled in his vermilion eyes.