Volume 2 Chapter 7 – Demonic Realm Beyond Humanity

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“What do you think demonic qi is?”

The old immortal, who had fallen after becoming the chosen one of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens, asked Yeon So-hyeon.

“Demonic energy…?”

Yeon So-hyeon stroked his chin.

“In truth, there is no energy whose research is as poorly conducted as demonic qi. Although it is overbearing and powerful, little has been revealed about it other than the fact that the energy itself is extremely evil, ruining a person’s character.”

Perhaps the demons of the Demonic Cult might possess slightly more information about demonic qi.

Even in the Luoyang Sword Family, which was famous for fanatically collecting all information related to martial arts, fundamental materials regarding demonic qi were woefully insufficient.

Even Yeon So-hyeon, who had reached a realm close to a grandmaster in the field of martial studies—that is, the academic study of martial arts—knew very little about demonic qi.

The old man chuckled.

“People think of it on the same line, saying that just as a martial artist handles qi, a demon handles demonic qi, but that is an extremely erroneous way of thinking.”

“Is that so?”

The old man raised his hand and summoned demonic qi.

“In the first place, this is not an energy originating from the world in which you exist.”

Yeon So-hyeon’s eyebrows twitched.

Originally, there were several fields in which fundamental research could not be properly conducted.

Such were the fields considered to exist only in people’s imaginations, such as ghosts, the afterlife, talismans, sorcery, Daoist magic, immortal magic, Buddhist laws, and immortal laws.

In some quarters, such fields were called occultism or metaphysics.

“Demonic energy is an energy that flows in from the outer universe, which mortal beings cannot dare to observe.”

Yeon So-hyeon could not fully understand those words, but he could grasp the context.

“Demonic energy is a force that erodes, corrodes, and distorts our universe and reality.”

* * *

The flames of the bonfires, which the members of the Black Bone Gang had lit here and there in preparation for the night battle, grew dim.

For flames to grow dim was something that could not happen by common sense, but such a thing was taking place.

Even the torches held in their hands failed to light the surroundings properly.

The shadows grew thicker, and the night grew deeper.

“Urrrgh…”

One by one, groans leaked from the mouths of the Black Bone Gang members, who until recently had been consumed by madness beyond bravery.

From the wounds they had forgotten, terrible pain returned.

The fear originating from the desire for life returned.

The sorcery Geum-ju had used vanished in vain due to the demonic qi originating from Yeon So-hyeon.

The members of the Black Bone Gang gradually stepped backward, clutching their large and small wounds.

The fiercely blowing wind was cold as a blizzard, and it felt as if their entire bodies were freezing.

And above all, the gaze of the white mask looking down at them from atop that tower was terrifying.

“Tch…”

Geum-ju suppressed the primal dread and fear rising from within her heart.

She strongly generated a qi wave and shouted, infusing it with internal energy,

“Anyone who flees dies! Fight!”

However, contrary to her intention, her resounding voice produced a completely different effect.

“R-Run away!”

“It’s an evil spirit! An evil spirit has appeared!”

The battle line that the members of the Black Bone Gang had formed collapsed like a sandcastle, as if it had never existed in the first place.

Fear paralyzed their reason, and they began to flee regardless of who they were.

Some threw away their weapons and ran, some cried out the names of the gods they believed in, and some even fled not toward their own main base, but in the direction of those they had been fighting sword-to-sword just moments ago.

“W-What do we do?!”

In the command post of the Crescent Moon Pavilion, at the question of the adjutant who had come to his senses, Se-ah shouted,

“All personnel, hold your current positions!”

Even if she had not shouted that, the majority had already lost their will to fight.

Even the elite combat agents of the Crescent Moon Pavilion, who were tempered through real combat, did not feel inclined to do anything about those fleeing past them.

However, Yeon So-hyeon, the chosen one of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens, had no intention of letting them go quietly.

“Since the curtain has risen, the characters must not exit as they please.”

In the previous raid on the den, he had left a few alive by a hair’s breadth to grow fear within the Black Bone Gang, but now there was no reason to do so.

[Stop in your tracks.]

His will was carried by the demonic qi, and the voice that became a command ruthlessly eroded reality.

A Black Bone Gang thug who was fleeing with a face covered in tears and snot tumbled on the spot.

He could see a white hand gripping his ankle.

“Aaaargh…!”

He kicked at that hand with his other foot to shake it off.

However, dozens of hands that rose immediately after grabbed his lower body.

[Die in that spot.]

No sooner had the words finished than those with weak mental strength began to pour blood from the five orifices of their faces and slammed their heads into the ground.

It was instant death.

Even those who resisted slightly died one after another as the blood vessels in their brains ruptured and their hearts burst.

It was close to impossible for ordinary people without internal energy to resist a command laden with the demonic qi of the Scripture of Controlling Darkness and Shaking the Heavens.

The members of the Black Bone Gang who had filled every alley died and fell in an instant all around.

“…Primeval Lord of Heaven.”

At that unrealistic sight, the field commander of the Crescent Moon Pavilion called upon his deity.

He was someone who had spent more than half of his life serving in that harsh northern battlefield.

He had seen bizarre phenomena suspected of being cast by foreign sorcerers several times.

He had seen the grains of rice he was eating in the rain after a blood-drying battle turn into maggots before his eyes, and he had seen the entire skin of soldiers afflicted with unknown diseases become covered in boils.

However, none of the terrible sorceries he had seen was as bizarre and terrifying as the phenomenon unfolding before his eyes.

“L-Look over there!”

Se-ah looked in the direction the adjutant pointed.

“The corpses are…?!”

Not only her, but everyone watching the sight could not believe their eyes.

White hands rising from the dense darkness cast on the ground were pulling down those who had died and fallen.

The corpses pulled in that manner sank into the darkness of the ground, into their own shadows.

Growls were even heard from the shadows that had devoured the corpses.

Some shadows also seemed to be wailing.

At that sight which twisted the natural order and transcended common sense, several members of the Crescent Moon Pavilion collapsed on the spot.

Some vomited, and some burst into tears.

‘Th-This is…’

Upon seeing that, Se-ah was able to realize why absolutely no corpses remained at the sites of the Black Bone Gang that the Dark Venerable had raided.

‘How on earth…’

With trembling eyes, she looked back at the top of the tower.

“Pray, pray to the indifferent heavens!”

The monster wearing the white mask burst into wild laughter.

“I have descended here at the call of the innocent people whom you tormented and who died!”

That laughter seemed to shake the thick clouds covering the sky.

The survivors of the Black Bone Gang who had barely managed to stay alive all met their deaths at that laughter.

Se-ah’s knees wobbled, but she barely held out.

Until she saw him in person, she and the key figures of the Crescent Moon Pavilion had conducted many analyses.

He must be a master, or the owner of a great martial art at a level close to the wall.

Helper figures with excellent capabilities must have provided much assistance.

Some also said that the rumors must have been highly exaggerated.

However, no prediction or analysis was of any use.

That was an existence completely out of the ordinary tracks.

“…That is the Dark Venerable.”

That was the true appearance of Yeon So-hyeon, the ridiculed Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family.

* * *

Geum-ju had no intention of just sitting back and taking it.

“What are you bastards doing idling around?! Attack immediately!”

In the first place, none of the unorthodox martial artists possessed by the Black Bone Gang had stepped forward.

It was all for this moment.

“Everyone, move!”

Dozens of martial artists belonging to the Black Bone Gang and unorthodox martial artists who were urgently invited generated their movement techniques and revealed themselves simultaneously.

The sight of them flocking, crossing from roof to roof, was enough to make one’s hair stand on end.

“There were that many martial artists in the Black Bone Gang?!”

Se-ah was astonished at that sight.

“It seems to be twice as many as our information.”

The field commander also could not hide his surprised expression.

With that number of martial artists, even if the opponent was a master who had crossed the wall, it was a force sufficient to match them.

Besides, wasn’t Geum-ju also on that side?

Although he was the Dark Venerable who used bizarre abilities whose origins could not even be guessed and which departed from the natural order, the opponent’s strength was at a level that could never be taken lightly.

“We must help…”

“There is no need for that, young lady.”

The one who stopped Se-ah was Gyu.

Se-ah rejoiced at the sight of her appearing while supported by agents.

“Gyu!”

“I have returned safely.”

Gyu showed a faint smile.

Although she looked a mess, her injuries did not seem very severe.

Supporting Gyu to sit on the ground, Se-ah asked,

“What do you mean there is no need to help?”

“That, no…”

Gyu shook her head to correct her words.

“The Dark Venerable is a true monster.”

“But on that side, there is even Geum-ju who has reached the realm of a master…”

“No, please believe me.”

Looking at Gyu, Se-ah felt shocked.

Gyu was someone who had shown such a confident appearance even in front of Geum-ju.

She was someone who had not backed down even an inch before imminent death.

What was nested deep in her eyes was a fear so dense it could not be denied.

“He is an existence for whom crossing the wall or not is meaningless. I can tell. It is I who have seen numerous masters.”

Everyone around was listening to Gyu’s words.

“If I were to confront him…”

Gyu wore a hollow smile.

“Perhaps someone like me would not even be able to withstand a single move.”

“What on earth does that…”

When someone tried to ask Gyu again, tremendous killing intent erupted behind them.

As if the killing intent up to now had been child’s play, killing intent was exploding with the Dark Venerable at the center.

“L-Look over there!”

At someone’s shout, everyone’s gaze directed toward the tower where the Dark Venerable stood.

And their mouths fell wide open.

“……!”

Those who climbed the tower in an instant launched ruthless attacks all at once, but they were the ones who got blown back instead.

The Dark Venerable’s attacks could not even be seen properly.

Every time something like black lightning flashed, a member of the Black Bone Gang was blown out of the tower.

Limbs scattered through the air, and intestines fluttered.

The area near the top of the tower was to the point of being covered in a hazy red mist of blood.

“H-He’s a real monster…”

At someone’s words, Gyu shook her head.

“Not yet. From what I see, it is only the beginning.”

Gyu added,

“He has not even shown his true ability yet.”

At her calm words, everyone was lost for words, merely looking up at the tower.

It was a one-sided slaughter.