The feeling he used to have toward the Corps Commander—he felt it now from the human standing before him.“I—I’m feeling fear… toward a human?”Impossible.CRRK-.The freak clenched his sword hard.He swung straight at Yeon Cheon Baek.SKREEE-.With a chilling scream, space split open right in front of Yeon Cheon Baek and a blade thrust out of the tear.TWANG-.KRAK-.Yeon Cheon Baek flicked it with his index finger and shattered the blade that came flying to his nose.The freak’s eyes widened.He hadn’t seen wrong.That human was actually breaking the attacks of the Demonic Time-Space Sword.With nothing but an index finger.Not even he could do that. Not even his superior, the Corps Commander, could.Which meant that human was stronger than the Corps Commander.Absurd.A human, this strong?Unbelievable.While he reeled, Yeon Cheon Baek’s figure blurred toward him.“—Hhk!”He’d been so startled he’d blanked for a heartbeat, and that was all it took.For some reason, he felt that letting this human get close would be fatal.HOOOH-.Magi began to surge and billow off the freak’s body.A first.He had never shown his true power to a mere human.The rolling magi was drawn into the Demonic Time-Space Sword.VMMMM-.Sated with a vast flood of magi, the sword began to tremble.He leveled it straight at the closing Yeon Cheon Baek and thrust.PWAAAH-.A black lance fired at Yeon Cheon Baek.Yeon Cheon Baek slipped past it like it was nothing.In that instant—The freak snapped his blade sideways.WHOOOM-.The black lance curved with the blade and homed straight back toward Yeon Cheon Baek.It was about to cleave Yeon Cheon Baek clean in two when—A white light rose from Yeon Cheon Baek’s hand.CHAAANG-.Black energy and white energy smashed together, shockwaves blasting out in all directions.WHOOOM-.KWO-WA-WA-WA-.“Tch!”He couldn’t believe it.A human had blocked his attack.SHRRRK-.“Huh?”Something even more unbelievable happened.Yeon Cheon Baek’s white energy split the freak’s black energy cleanly in two.The backlash crashed into the freak himself.“Ghhk!”For a heartbeat he almost lost his grip on his sword.His body rocked—And a shadow loomed.Yeon Cheon Baek was suddenly right in front of his nose.The freak tried to whip his sword up, but—“Sleep a little.”THUD-.“Ghah!”The human’s strike made his mind go blank.But he didn’t pass out.He endured by sheer superhuman force.Yeon Cheon Baek’s expression turned… intrigued.“Oh? You tank that? Your body structure really isn’t the same as humans’.”He’d struck to suppress him by point-sealing a vital, but the creature had endured.Maybe that wasn’t a vital—for this species.Curiosity lit Yeon Cheon Baek’s eyes.He tried point-sealing somewhere else.THUP-.“Kh…!”It hurt him, but he still didn’t black out.That settled it.A demon’s body was different from a human’s.He’d had a rough idea, but confirming it this clearly was another matter.Yeon Cheon Baek’s eyes turned black.Writhing in pain, the freak saw those black eyes—His body shuddered.“H-How can a human… u-unfold the… Heavenly Demon Eye?”“Heavenly Demon Eye?”“W-Was I wrong?”The freak faltered.“So in the Demon Realm you call this the Heavenly Demon Eye?”The freak said nothing.From the name alone, Yeon Cheon Baek guessed it: that thing called the Heavenly Demon also turned his eyes black.“Fine. I’ll confirm that later from this ‘Heavenly Demon’ himself. For now, I’m examining you first.”Examine?What?As Yeon Cheon Baek stared at him with those blackened eyes, the freak felt a prickling, queasy alarm.He tried to bolt in that opening.Then—THUD-.ZZZING-.A tingling shot through his whole body and he locked up.At the same time, Yeon Cheon Baek’s voice reached him.“Oh! Pressing here point-seals you. Definitely different from humans.”He had unfolded the black eyes to feel the creature’s internal energies in detail.Then, tracking those flows, he pressed where he guessed a meridian gate would be.He had no idea what function that gate served.He’d simply pressed it—and it point-sealed the thing.Valuable intel, stumbled on by luck.Yeon Cheon Baek grinned.Now that the creature was suppressed, he could wring out as much information as possible.His gaze fell to the sword in the creature’s hand.He wanted it.It was the perfect present for Yeon Woo Jin.He reached for it—when the face carved into the hilt snapped its eyes open.Its mouth moved.“Pathetic wretch. To be seized by a mere human. You are not worth keeping alive.”A chilling voice poured out of the sword.Catching on an instant late, Yeon Cheon Baek moved to shield the freak.Too late.The blade punched through the creature’s body.“Grrrk.”Greenish blood streamed from the freak.Even as he was slain, he laughed.“Kh… heh. Looks like… your plan… didn’t go… your way… huh? The Heavenly Demon… descending soon… to this world… will avenge me… human. Remember it… The day our Heavenly Demon… steps into the world… is the day your human race… is annihilated…”FLOP-.“Tsk.”There’d been so much to learn.Yeon Cheon Baek glared at the sword.The face carved in the hilt chuckled and spoke.“I have memorized your face well. A human, this strong? Noted.”Yeon Cheon Baek’s strength had now been reported to the Demonic Cult.“Take the sword, if you like. Consider it my gift to commemorate meeting a strong human. Heh-heh.”“Who are you?”“You think I’d tell you? Take your time finding out.”“When are you coming into the world?”“Heh-heh. You think I’d tell you that, either? Take your time finding that out as well.”With that, the face carved into the hilt set and went still.Yeon Cheon Baek picked the sword up.It showed no reaction.He breathed /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ energy into it.VMMMM-.Just an ordinary sword.Apparently, if the wielder wasn’t a demon, it couldn’t exercise its true function.He kept it anyway.Yeon Woo Jin would surely figure something out.He looked down at the dead freak.The corpse was rotting away in an instant, and he couldn’t help but knit his brows.He turned his head toward Maeng Jong, Buk Mu Gyeol, and Ya Yul Geuk—Maeng Jong still stunned, Buk Mu Gyeol and Ya Yul Geuk wearing the expected “of course” expressions.“Tsk, tsk. Pathetic things. The three of you couldn’t handle one of these?”“O-our apologies.”“So how are you planning to fight the Demonic Cult? I can’t stick to your side every minute.”“We’ll devote ourselves with greater rigor.”“Aish… Now I see why our Woo Jin is so desperate to make people stronger.”Yeon Cheon Baek shook his head.“Our Woo Jin is the one suffering for it.”At first, he’d thought Yeon Woo Jin was making a fuss.No matter how strong the Demonic Cult was, did they really need to go that far? He’d wondered.After today, he understood why Yeon Woo Jin stayed on edge and ran himself ragged to harden people.He’d just watched so-called Mythic Realm experts flounder, unable to take down a single demon.Granted, that demon looked like one of the more capable ones—but still, the gap was too wide.And who knew how many like that the Demon Realm held?The demon was strong, yes, but that bizarre sword had widened the gap even further.They also failed to respond properly to an attack that could pop out from nowhere.Without the sword, in raw terms, they’d have been roughly even.Yeon Cheon Baek had always believed that once you rose high enough, you didn’t need weapons—but thinking it through, a strong man with a good weapon only becomes that much stronger.“Doesn’t Martial Deity Heaven’s armory have a few decent weapons tucked away?”Stroking his chin, Yeon Cheon Baek looked at Maeng Jong, Buk Mu Gyeol, and Ya Yul Geuk.Feeling the weight of that gaze, all three lowered their heads.“Tsk, tsk. Not all Mythic Realm is equal. Well? Having experienced it firsthand, do you grasp how paltry your strength is?”“Yes.”At Buk Mu Gyeol and Ya Yul Geuk’s answer, Maeng Jong stayed silent.He wasn’t even in the Mythic Realm.And yet he’d gone on thinking highly of himself.He was the frog at the bottom of a well.Shame burned his face.“I’ll tell Woo Jin later and have him toughen you up too.”Maeng Jong couldn’t help but wonder.Who was this Woo Jin who kept coming up?From the way Yeon Cheon Baek spoke, it felt like Woo Jin was the one he trusted and relied on more than anyone.That a monster like this relied on someone else—That was the strangest part.He was curious, but this was not the mood to ask.Yeon Cheon Baek spoke to him.“What are you doing? Clean this up.”“Y-yes, understood.”“We’re departing as-is, right now. Pull yourselves together. You’ve felt the Demonic Cult’s strength—prepare against it thoroughly on your own.”“Yes!”He had much to do.Kidnapping his daughter hadn’t been enough—their guests had been humiliated to their faces today.He would pay the Demonic Cult back for this disgrace.“Here. Catch.”Yeon Cheon Baek tossed something to Maeng Jong, who was swearing vengeance.“What is this?”“Feed it to the ones you trust. It’s good for the body. They have to circulate qi immediately after taking it to absorb it fully—make sure of that.”Maeng Jong opened the leather pouch Yeon Cheon Baek had given him.A refreshing fragrance slipped into his nose, and vigor flooded his body at once.If the scent alone did this—He could feel, instantly, how tremendous the elixir was.And it wasn’t just one or two pills.Maeng Jong looked up at Yeon Cheon Baek in shock.“Y-You’re really giving this… to me?”“Bulk up. Get stronger. Otherwise how are you going to be of any use when you fight the Demonic Cult later?”“U-understood.”“Aish, tsk-tsk. We’re off.”“Yes. I’ll prepare thoroughly so you won’t be disappointed, elder.”At Maeng Jong’s words, Yeon Cheon Baek waved a hand and started walking.“See you next time.”“May fortune favor you until then.”Buk Mu Gyeol and Ya Yul Geuk gave Maeng Jong a parting nod and hurried after Yeon Cheon Baek receding in the distance.As they vanished, Maeng Jong’s face hardened.He spoke to his subordinates at once.“Today is the day our Southern Wilds were shamed! We will repay this humiliation to the Demonic Cult!”“We will repay it!”“From today, there is no ‘Central Plains’ and ‘South’—we are one!”“We are one!”“From now on, our enemy is the Demonic Cult!”“The Demonic Cult!”“Everyone prepare! For a decisive battle with the Demonic Cult!”“Atten—tion!” ****Balho, having confirmed Yeon Cheon Baek’s existence,Summoned his strategist, Maa, and told him about the man.“We were fools to look down on humans. There is one as strong as me.”At Balho’s words, Maa replied,“That is likely One Martial God, Yeon Cheon Baek—called the Martial Deity in the Central Plains.”“Right. Him. One Martial God, Yeon Cheon Baek.”“That is why I sought to set Martial Deity Heaven and the Central Plains at odds—to bleed Martial Deity Heaven’s strength.”“I knew he was strong, but not like this. I didn’t expect Yo Sugang to be unable to even mount a proper attack.”“He is an exception. Aside from him, the rest are feeble humans.”“My thought is that Yeon Cheon Baek and Yeon Woo Jin—those two—need to be eliminated as soon as possible. I have a feeling they’ll be the biggest obstacles to our Cult.”Balho looked at Maa.“Using the Frontier factions to throw the Central Plains into chaos is meaningless now. We need a different approach. Do we go ourselves?”“No. I prepared something else for the case the Frontier failed.”“What is it?”“There is one power the martial world is most wary of.”“Martial Deity Heaven?”“No. The Imperial Palace.”“The Imperial Palace?”“Yes. Under the pact of noninterference between court and rivers-and-lakes, the two do not encroach. But if the right pretext arises, a war between the two could begin.”“Don’t fail this time. Make it certain.”“Understood.”“If you fail again… Maa, I don’t think I could forgive you.”At Balho’s words, Maa nodded.“If I fail again, I’ll lay down my head.”“Good. I’ll trust you—one last time.”

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