Chapter 50 : This Humble Woman
Flame Demon, Bukgung Son.
Looking at the alias alone, it seemed to mean a demonic practitioner who used fire.
-I have heard of it before.
At that moment, the Sword Venerable, who was facing Bukgung Son, spoke up.
‘Do you know the Flame Demon?’
-The Flame Demon is his alias in the Demonic Cult. The alias they call that bastard in the Western Regions is.
Fire Spirit Demon Emperor.
-Ah, I think I have heard that alias too.
If even the Cold Snow Demon Queen had heard of it.
“He is a person from quite a long time ago.”
-At least one hundred and fifty years must have passed since then.
-You can consider him a demonic practitioner who burned down the Western Regions in the past.
A demonic practitioner who caused the Great Fire Demon that burned the great desert of the Western Regions.
I stared at Bukgung Son, who was holding the Fire Spirit Jade.
-He is from the Demonic Cult, yet he carries around two souls of the North Sea. He is an interesting fellow.
I had the experience of meeting the Ice Soul Spear Saint attached to the Ice Crystal once.
If the Flame Demon was a similar case.
“Are you guarding the Fire Spirit Jade so it doesn’t go berserk?”
-Kuhahaha!
At the words that he was guarding the Fire Spirit Jade, the Flame Demon burst into mad laughter.
Ziiiing-
At the mad laughter that made my ears ring, I frowned.
Snap-
The laughter stopped.
-It is the opposite.
“By opposite, you mean…….”
-Seeing as the Fire Spirit Qi has been removed from the Young Palace Head’s body.
Woong- Woong-
The Fire Spirit Pill I created reacted to the Flame Demon’s words.
-Even though a lot of time has passed, I will give you a chance since we are from the same hometown. Go back.
“I cannot go back until you tell me with what intention you are trying to make the Fire Spirit Jade go berserk.”
If I had met the Flame Demon without meeting the Living Jiangshi, I might have just gone back.
However, currently.
Since I knew that the Flame Demon was trying to make the Fire Spirit Jade go berserk, I had to grasp the truth.
Why?
‘Because Hyeokryeon Geuk must have passed through here.’
I had to know what that bastard was plotting at the Potala Palace.
-Do you want to die?
The Fire Spirit Qi spewed from the Fire Spirit Jade shot out.
Swoosh-
The Fire Spirit Qi that flew in like that was absorbed the moment it touched me.
-…….
“I apologize, but it seems I possess a higher hierarchy of energy.”
-Ha.
Soon, the Flame Demon’s eyes changed.
-There was a body much more suitable than the Young Palace Head.
-Dodge it!
-Rage!
The Flame Demon, having thrown away the Fire Spirit Jade, rushed at me.
And to block him, the Sword Venerable and the Demon Queen blocked my front.
Kwaang!
A tremendous explosion sound burst out.
-I wondered where I had seen you, and it turns out you were the old folks of the North Sea!
-This guy is aiming for your body!
-He was putting the Fire Spirit Qi into the body of the Potala Palace’s Young Palace Head to resurrect!
Resurrection? Sacrifice?
“You mean it is a demonic art.”
Certainly.
If one utilized the Fire Spirit Qi possessed by the Fire Spirit Jade, it seemed possible to unfold something like a Grand Method.
In other words.
‘Ultimately, it means I have to get rid of the Flame Demon to cure Cheon Deung-jin.’
Detaching the Flame Demon attached to the Fire Spirit Jade seemed to be the urgent priority.
I quickly approached the Fire Spirit Jade while the Sword Venerable and the Demon Queen held the Flame Demon down.
-What are you doing…….
“Do you want my body?”
My body, which was an Extreme Yang Body, might be the body the Flame Demon coveted the most.
-You, what are you trying to do right now…….
-Are you crazy?!
I started to suck in the Fire Spirit Qi through the Fire Spirit Jade.
Yang energy was already overflowing, but as I pushed more Yang energy in here,
A maddening pain arrived.
-Kuhahaha! Foolish! Thank you, this seat will use your body well!
The Flame Demon, Bukgung Son, shook off the Sword Venerable and the Demon Queen and rushed toward me.
And the moment the Flame Demon’s hand touched me,
Swoosh-
The Flame Demon, Bukgung Son, was sucked into my body just like that.
***
‘Now this body is mine.’
The Flame Demon, Bukgung Son, thought so.
He was someone who tried to prevent the invasion of the Potala Palace based on the pact with the Heavenly Demon during his lifetime.
However, the moment he was deployed to the Potala Palace holding the Fire Spirit Jade, he became a prisoner of the Fire Spirit Jade just like that and his soul was bound.
Afterward, his physical body was destroyed, and in a situation where only his soul remained, Bukgung Son struggled to survive somehow.
The successive Palace Lords of the Potala Palace began to treat the Fire Spirit Jade brought by the Flame Demon as a sacred object.
Thanks to that, Bukgung Son was able to grow his power in the depths of the Potala Palace.
As time passed and he recovered his power to some extent, Bukgung Son wanted to regain a physical body.
However, unlike his disappeared body, his soul had changed to become no different from the Fire Spirit Jade itself.
To have a body in this situation, a vessel to contain the soul was needed.
Fire Spirit Body.
He needed a person who could fully accept the Fire Spirit Qi he harbored.
So he put the Fire Spirit Qi into the body of the Potala Palace’s Young Palace Head.
If he survived, he would become a vessel.
If he died, he just had to find the next batter.
But,
‘A human possessing a body more suitable than the Young Palace Head appeared.’
He had no choice but to drool.
A supreme body possessing the Extreme Yang Body, no less.
Since he had currently entered inside his body.
Now, he just had to take over this body.
But,
“What is this? Why can’t I see him?”
No matter how much he looked around, it was because he could not find Hyeokryeon Yeom, the owner of this body.
Then,
-It was truly an insignificant existence.
Bukgung Son looked up at the sky.
The shadow of a gigantic existence was looking down at Bukgung Son.
“What…….”
It is an unbelievable situation.
It seemed as if the gigantic Hyeokryeon Yeom had placed Bukgung Son on his palm and was looking down.
“This makes no sense!”
Bukgung Son gasped in shock.
Black figures walked stomp, stomp toward him.
Those were three blurry black shadows.
The first figure was an afterimage of a mage wearing a robe from another world.
Following behind was a young man of sturdy build swinging a single bat resting on his shoulder.
Lastly, a man with black fire burning.
Those three gathered as one to create a single figure.
Hyeokryeon Yeom.
He was the owner of this body he had coveted and entered.
“This place is my Mental World. It is not a place a forgotten ghost like you, who lived barely one life, can overcome. Unless you are ‘me’.”
Like that, Hyeokryeon Yeom hid his appearance again and his voice rang out.
“Flame Demon, you made the wrong choice.”
Flashing in the east, flashing in the west.
This time, Hyeokryeon Yeom walked out from the front.
Flutter-
A butterfly started to flap its wings.
“This is my territory.”
At least in this territory, it was a space where everything Hyeokryeon Yeom had thought of could be realized.
Flutter-
The butterfly landed on Bukgung Son’s shoulder.
“I am sorry, but it is my victory.”
Fwoosh!
A massive flame engulfed Bukgung Son.
“Kuaaaak!”
Bukgung Son, swallowed by the fire demon, screamed.
Hyeokryeon Yeom whispered while looking at him.
“Now, if you want to live… answer my question. Hyeokryeon Geuk. Have you ever met the eldest son of the Demonic Cult Leader here?”
***
-It was a needless worry.
-How can your mental power be stronger than the Flame Demon?
The Sword Venerable and the Demon Queen asked me while looking at Bukgung Son’s burning soul.
“It seems the time I have lived was just a very little bit longer than the time the Flame Demon lived.”
From the beginning, I had no intention of letting Bukgung Son live.
Furthermore, I actually didn’t know how to extinguish the Soul Destroying Flame, the fire that annihilates a soul once attached.
Thankfully, Bukgung Son answered my question well.
Thanks to that, I was able to get my hands on the information I wanted.
‘To think Hyeokryeon Geuk and Bukgung Son had joined hands.’
Bukgung Son had believed the proposal to invade the Central Plains in cooperation with the Demonic Cult in exchange for help in seizing the Young Palace Head’s body.
Watching Bukgung Son’s burning soul, which had been deceived by Hyeokryeon Geuk, I recalled the memories of past lives that no one knew.
It was because the steadfast mental power accumulated while living through multiple lives saved me.
Especially the Mental World Realm created through meditation accumulated while ruminating on past lives was solely my ‘World’.
Fwoosh-
The Flame Demon, Bukgung Son, perished like that without obtaining a new body.
Float- Float-
I picked up the Fire Spirit Jade floating in the air and looked at the sky.
“By the way, how do I get out of here?”
Since I fell underground, do I have to climb back up; the moment I was worrying.
“Young Master Hyeokryeon!”
Rumble.
From far away, something like a door opened, and Cheon Deung-jin revealed his appearance.
“Young Palace Head?”
“What a relief! You were safe! I was so surprised when I heard you were driven into the Fire Spirit Land!”
I felt a sense of him running urgently.
“Thank you, I was actually worrying about how to get out, but there was an exit door.”
“Let’s go! Ah, that is…….”
Cheon Deung-jin swallowed a gasp at the sight of me holding the Fire Spirit Jade.
“It is fine. It is safe.”
The Fire Spirit Jade no longer spewed out Fire Spirit Qi.
“Now the Fire Spirit Jade will not make the Young Palace Head suffer.”
Cheon Deung-jin nodded while looking at the Fire Spirit Jade whose threatening appearance of spewing Fire Spirit Qi had disappeared.
“Really… thank you.”
“If you are thankful, could you help me a little?”
“Yes?”
I smiled looking at Cheon Deung-jin.
Although meeting the Flame Demon through the Fire Spirit Jade was actually beneficial to me,
‘I should still get paid for being used as he pleased.’
***
I moved to the Palace Lord’s Hall to meet the Potala Palace’s Palace Lord, Cheon Jeok-pa, while talking with Cheon Deung-jin.
“Young Master!”
“Captain!”
“Are you alright!”
As we returned to the Palace Lord’s Hall.
Voices welcoming me were abundant.
“Somehow, it feels like I haven’t seen you in a long time.”
I saw Wi Ji-yeong, Baek Mu-yong, and Tae Un-seo surrounded like prisoners by the monks of the Potala Palace.
Clack-
At their behavior of blocking with staffs as if they couldn’t approach me, the Small Snow Squad members sent gazes at me.
What those gazes meant was,
-If you just give the order, we will take care of these things and go to you, Captain!
That meaning.
But I shook my head with a relaxed expression even after seeing that sight, as if I knew this would happen.
“Jin-ah! What are you doing!”
At that moment, the Potala Palace’s Palace Lord, Cheon Jeok-pa, and the Guardian Monk, Arhat, frowned seeing the appearance of Cheon Deung-jin returning with me.
“Palace Lord, it seems I have a lot to talk about with you.”
The Jiangshi that was standing guard over the Fire Spirit Jade in the Fire Spirit Land.
And even the flame ghost that was attached to the Fire Spirit Jade.
Could Cheon Jeok-pa really not have known about this?
I subtly placed my hand on Cheon Deung-jin’s shoulder while saying that.
Flinch-
I felt Cheon Deung-jin’s trembling flinch.
If someone saw, it might look like I was taking Cheon Deung-jin hostage.
“You bastard! Won’t you put that hand down!”
The reaction returned more intensely than I thought.
This was similar to the feeling of Seol Baek-ho, the Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace, breathing fire from his eyes upon seeing me with the Young Palace Head, Seol Ye-rin.
‘Men can put their arms around each other’s shoulders.’
I took my hand off Cheon Deung-jin and spoke straightforwardly.
“You see, I suffered quite a lot in the Fire Spirit Land. So, I have many things I want to ask the Palace Lord, and also, I think I need to take the Young Palace Head back to the Ice Palace to completely cure him.”
Having said that, I signaled toward the monks of the Potala Palace with my eyes.
Because the story I was about to tell from now on was not a story that would be good for them to hear at all.
“Dismiss them.”
“However, Palace Lord.”
“Hurry!”
“Yes, understood.”
At the instruction of the Guardian Monk, the monks of the Potala Palace tried to leave the Palace Lord’s Hall.
“Wait. Please return my subordinates.”
“I will.”
“……?”
Cheon Jeok-pa returned the Small Snow Squad members more meekly than I thought.
The Small Snow Squad members also wore puzzled expressions, perhaps not knowing they would be released this easily.
Perhaps having seen my questioning expression, Cheon Jeok-pa spoke.
“It was a process needed to decipher whether you had been defeated by the guy inside there or not. I am sorry for committing a discourtesy to a benefactor.”
This… the thought occurred that conversation might work better than I thought.
“Then…….”
Just as I was about to pour out the questions I was curious about.
“Before we start the story.”
Cheon Jeok-pa cut me off.
“Jin-ah.”
“Yes, Palace Lord.”
“Show respect to the benefactor.”
“Yes.”
“……?”
At Cheon Jeok-pa’s instruction, Cheon Deung-jin, who was standing next to him, looked back at me.
“I offer my gratitude once again for curing the Young Palace Head of the Potala Palace, this humble woman.”
“……?”
This humble woman?
……This humble woman?!
At the words that Cheon Deung-jin was a woman, I looked at Cheon Deung-jin with an astonished expression.
-Hm? Were you unaware?
-Oh my, I thought you were doing that while knowing everything.
The Sword Venerable and the Demon Queen started to giggle seeing my expression.
Those voices did not reach my ears.
It was because, in that instant, Seol Ye-rin’s cold expression came to mind.