Chapter 1963 - Return of The Mount Hua Sect

Chapter 1963. Let’s Die. Mount Hua. (3)

Common sense would tell you it was only natural.

Demonic art is a general term for martial arts that become stronger through abnormal methods. If orthodox art pursues the righteous path, and unorthodox art pursues convenience, then demonic art pursues the paedo of becoming stronger by any means necessary.

[Paedo. 패도(覇道). Literally “the Way of hegemony.” A path that seeks power and dominance through force, without being bound by the righteous or proper way.]

A martial art that pursues nothing but becoming stronger, even at the cost of accepting some side effects. That was demonic art.

The problem was that the side effects demonic art was willing to endure weren’t something that could be described with the word ‘some’. Those who learned demonic art gradually lost their humanity in proportion to how strong they became.

They became quick-tempered, cruel, and narrow-minded.

These were the ordinary demonic person that the world spoke of.

They were the ones who, by now, were commonly called demonic cultists.

Then what, exactly, was a bishop?

A bishop was an existence that had overcome the shortcomings of such demonic art.

It was a title given to those who had crossed the wall of despair that a demonic person would inevitably encounter someday and reached talma.

[Talma. 탈마(脫魔). Literally “escape from the demonic.” A state in which one transcends the fundamental demonic nature and limitations produced by demonic art. Here, reaching talma is the defining condition for becoming a bishop.]

That was why there were three kinds of demonic person within the Demonic Cult: the Heavenly Demon, the bishop, and the followers of the cult.

But there would surely be those who didn’t belong to any of those classifications.

Those who stood at the most characteristic point of demonic art, commonly called the “Wall of Extreme Demonicity.”

[Wall of Extreme Demonicity. 극마의 벽(極魔之壁). Literally “the wall of extreme demonicity.” The ultimate barrier inherent to demonic art: a practitioner can rise to the highest point attainable through demonic art, yet cannot transcend the final boundary required to reach talma and become a bishop.]

Those who had reached the highest place they could through demonic art, yet had failed to cross a single wall and therefore couldn’t become bishop.

Baek Cheon slowly opened his mouth.

“An uppity cultist or a half-baked bishop.”

A red light leaked through the long bangs of the demonic cultist.

“Which one should I call you?”

At Baek Cheon’s question, he subtly twisted the corner of his mouth.

“I don’t care what the unbelievers of the Central Plains choose to call me. But.......”

The cultist’s great sword scraped the floor with a kak.

“But the words ‘half-baked bishop’ are rather irritating.”

“Truth is always bitter to the ear, after all.”

“Haha.”

The cultist gave a short laugh and shrugged.

“Well, perhaps that’s true.”

At his readily accepting attitude, Baek Cheon stared at the man standing before him with a strange look in his eyes. A demonic cultist should ordinarily be raging at this point, threatening to kill Baek Cheon.

As though he’d noticed that question in Baek Cheon’s eyes, the demonic cultist spoke.

“You don’t need to look at me like that. I hate Central Plains people and taoists, but there’s one thing I do like.”

“......And what’s that?”

“People I can actually talk to.”

The demonic cultist casually pointed his thumb behind himself. His gesture was relaxed.

“As you can see, the situation is like that.”

“.....I hate that I can actually sympathize.”

Baek Cheon thought he understood what the man meant.

The bastard before him was clearly retaining his reason. Exactly how much, he still couldn’t tell, but at least it was obvious that he could speak like a human and think like a human. In that sense, he had to be considered to possess, at the very least, the minimum requirements of humanity.

If someone like that…… had to live surrounded by people who, no matter how much they might be his comrades, could no longer continue to exercise reason? How painful would that be?

“But I don’t think there’s any need for us to become your refuge. If you’re looking for people you can talk to, aren’t there people above you too?”

“Above? Hahaha! You Central Plains people really don’t know anything.”

“Hmm?”

“The ones who are truly out of their minds are over there. More so than those pieces of shit behind me.”

Baek Cheon squeezed his eyes shut.

‘Damn it.’

He hadn’t realized that being able to communicate could matter this much. Wasn’t it enough, by itself, to make him feel a subtle sense of familiarity toward the enemy he’d only just met?

To shake off that feeling that kept rising and clinging to him, Baek Cheon spoke with as much hostility as he could muster.

“So…… what is it you want to talk about? You dog of the great Heavenly Demon.”

“That is quite an insolent remark.”

The cultist immediately shook his head.

“There’s no way we could dare claim to be His dogs. That would be far too glorious a position.”

There wasn’t the slightest trace of sarcasm or jest in those words. That fact sent a chill down Baek Cheon’s spine.

“As for the question of what I want to talk about.... Well, I don’t know. What could you and I possibly talk about?”

“We can ask questions.”

“Ask?”

“Yes. I have a question..... How many people like you are there in the Demonic Cult?”

The cultist who’d been asked the question let out a quiet chuckle.

“How many….. What a ridiculous question.”

“What’s so ridiculous about it?”

“Look, Central Plains man.”

Demonic energy like dark storm clouds poured from the cultist’s body. It was so dense that it seemed to choke the air. Even before the oppressive suffocation caused by the demonic energy itself, the force contained within it bore down upon Baek Cheon.

“This is the power of one who has reached the demonic wall.”

[mabyeog. 마벽(魔壁). Literally “demonic wall.” The ultimate barrier encountered by those who cultivate demonic art. In this context, it is the wall that separates those who have reached the extreme of demonic art from those who can transcend it and attain talma.]

It sent shivers down his spine.

Of course, it couldn’t compare to the irresistible might radiated by a bishop.

But if you asked which one felt more threatening, it was actually this one. A person naturally fears a blade pointed at them before they fear a mountain collapsing before their eyes.

“We call those who’ve reached the extreme by numbers.”

“Numbers?”

“Becoming a bishop means earning the right to have a name called. We didn’t earn names. But we can escape being mere nameless cultists. That’s why we’re numbers.”

The cultist bared his teeth and laughed.

“You asked first, so this time I’ll ask in return. Which number am I?”

“.....Thirty?”

“Hahahahahahahaha!”

The cultist shook his entire body as he laughed. It seemed Baek Cheon’s answer was so amusing that he couldn’t contain himself. Then, with laughter still lingering on his face, he said,

“A little off.”

“A little?”

“Yes. You don’t need to remember it. You’re going to die anyway. But I’ll tell you. My number is 4-9-1.”

[Saguil. 사구일(四九一). Literally “four-nine-one.”]

Baek Cheon’s eyes widened.

“The four-hundred-and-ninety-first Extreme Demon of the Seventh Heavenly Demon Vessel. That’s me.”

[Geukma. 극마(極魔). Literally “extreme demon” or “extreme demonic practitioner.” A practitioner who has reached the highest extreme attainable through demonic art but has not crossed the Demonic wall to attain talma.]

[Cheonmagi. 천마기(天魔器). Literally “Heavenly Demon Vessel/Instrument.” Here, it denotes the Seventh Heavenly Demon Vessel, the specific classification or generation under which the Geukma are numbered.]

“Four hundred…?”

A chill swept through Baek Cheon’s entire body.

If this man was the four-hundred-and-ninety-first.... didn’t that mean there were nearly five hundred people who had reached this realm?

“That makes no…..”

“Don’t be frightened. Of those five hundred or so, barely more than ten have managed to attain the position of bishop.”

A blood-red light burst from 491’s eyes.

“And fewer than twenty are probably still alive without being devoured by the demonic wall.”

“.....Devoured?”

“Heh.....”

491 let out a laugh. It seemed to contain several emotions mixed together.

“You don’t know. You can’t know. How desperately I’m welcoming you right now.”

“......”

“You call the Demonic wall the Wall of Despair, don’t you? Hahahahahahah! That’s one hell of a name. Because that’s exactly what it is. For one who has reached the Demonic wall, there are only two paths left. Break through it, or fall.”

491’s face suddenly twisted into that of a terrifying fiend.

“To break through, you need it. More blood, more lives, more deaths..…!”

Baek Cheon clenched his teeth against the demonic energy 491 was releasing. It was a dreadful madness, enough to make his mind fly apart if he lost his concentration for even a moment.

“A cultist can’t covet the life of another cultist. And we can’t set foot in the Central Plains. Do you understand? Do you fucking understand! You think you can understand our lives, lives in which we longed to become stronger, yet that very growth ultimately meant falling!”

“Crazy bastard….”

“Haha! But fine. It doesn’t matter anymore. Because now, you’re standing before me!”

Through the strands of hair fluttering in the force of his energy, 491’s eyes could be seen.

What dwelled in those eyes was….. an unbearably intense desire, the appetite of one who had been starving for a very long time, the will to survive of one hanging from a precipice, something close to the desperate shriek of someone watching their own child fall into a well.

And at that moment.

Udeudeudeug!

491’s left arm began twisting on its own. Bones crunched, flesh tore, and blood sprayed in every direction.

“…..W-What?”

Baek Cheon involuntarily took a step back. He didn’t know whether this was some form of demonic art he was unfamiliar with, or an attack carried out in some other manner.

But after watching for a moment, he realized that wasn’t the case.

“Kkuuuuuu.....”

491 clutched his own arm and trembled all over like an aspen. The cold sweat that had instantly covered his face was enough to tell Baek Cheon just how horrific a pain the man was enduring.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

491’s face repeatedly twisted horribly, then relaxed again. It wasn’t simply because of physical pain. The man was resisting something now. And that something was probably…..

‘Being devoured.’

It wasn’t a metaphor.

Those who couldn’t cross the wall didn’t simply remain there, stopped in place. Unable to withstand the demonic art and madness filling their bodies, they literally fell.

Either they lost their reason and became a true monster, or they forgot even the martial arts they had accumulated until now and became something no different from the ‘pieces of shit’ he himself had called them.

“Heh....... Hahahahaha!”

Suddenly, 491 burst into a mad laugh.

KWAAANG!

With a tremendous explosion, a wave of qi swept in every direction. It was an utterly violent, murderous presence. 491 spewed streams of pitch-black demonic energy as blood-red light poured from his eyes.

At the same time, his twisted arm rapidly began returning to its original form. It was a sight impossible to believe even while watching it with one’s own eyes.

491 smiled brightly as though speaking to someone else and said,

“It’s okay. It’s okaa...ay!”

Then his gaze locked onto Baek Cheon.

“They’re right in front of me. Right in front of me now, the ones who’ll be devoured in my place!”

For an instant, Baek Cheon felt every hair on his body stand on end.

“Hwaaaaaaagh!”

With a scream beyond even description, 491 charged at Baek Cheon. A large but tattered dao. It came flying viciously and collided with Baek Cheon’s sword.

KAAAAAAANG!

A tremendous force beyond imagination.

Had he not added the softness he’d learned from Heo Do to his technique, his arm would have been crushed by that single strike.

But the attack didn’t end with one blow.

Grrrk! Grrrgrrk!

491 continued pushing Baek Cheon back with his dao still pressed against his sword. No, even saying he was pushing him wasn’t enough. 491 was simply continuing to charge straight toward Baek Cheon. Because Baek Cheon’s sword stood in his path, Baek Cheon was being driven backward wholesale.

Chwaaaak.

Baek Cheon’s feet scraped against the ground as he was repeatedly driven backward. Even as he planted his feet with all his strength and braced himself, the speed at which he was being pushed back only continued to increase.

‘This is…..’

For an instant, the emotion of fear appeared in Baek Cheon’s eyes.

“Keuaaaaah!”

Even while driving his dao forward, one of 491’s hands kept reaching out as though trying to seize Baek Cheon.

An utterly unreal hunger. Merely facing it from this close was enough to make it difficult for Baek Cheon to endure.

“That’s enough, damn it!”

Baek Cheon twisted his sword. There was no need to oppose the other’s strength with strength alone. That was the path Baek Cheon was walking.

Swish.

491’s body was drawn along the sword as Baek Cheon twisted and redirected the force. At that instant, Baek Cheon drove a powerful palm strike into 491’s side with his left hand.

THUD!!

It was a blow powerful enough that it wouldn’t have been strange for every rib to be crushed. But the moment his strike landed, Baek Cheon instinctively sensed that something had gone terribly wrong.

The palm force had definitely struck 491. The powerful sensation in his palm proved it. No matter how much of a demonic cultist the opponent was, even if he were a demonic person who had reached Extreme Demon, he was ultimately human. There was no human who couldn’t be broken by being struck.

But there was one more thing.

A demonic person was human, yet not human. Therefore……

Grab.

491 simply seized Baek Cheon’s hand where it was embedded in his side.

“Kuh.....”

Demonic cultists didn’t stop even while their own bodies were being split in half.

Whoosh.

Baek Cheon’s body rose into the air. In an instant, the vast sky filled his entire field of vision.

Strangely, he felt that the sky was unbearably beautiful, and then Baek Cheon’s body was slammed into the ground at a terrifying speed.

KWAAAAAANG!

A sound that shouldn’t have been able to come from a human body resounded thunderously across the dry earth.

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