Chapter 200

First, Jaseong dashed out into the street to eradicate the enemies near Black Union City.

The vicinity was already a scene from hell.

Jiangshi with pale faces and unfocused eyes wandered the streets, uttering eerie sounds.

"Keuaaah!"

A jiangshi that spotted Jaseong let out a beastly roar and charged at him.

Jaseong didn't even bother to draw his sword.

He simply waved his hand lightly.

Puh-eok!

With a single gesture, the jiangshi's body turned to dust and scattered.

The energy of one who had reached the Profound Realm was already beyond ordinary human understanding.

It was absolute strength that could purify and erase evil energy just by touching it.

Just then—

"Mom... Mom, please...."

From the corner of a collapsed house came the sound of a child's crying.

When Jaseong turned his head, there was a boy about five or six years old, stepping backward to escape from a woman who had become a jiangshi.

Half of the woman's face had decayed and turned putrid, yet the child was still calling her "mother."

"Mom, it's me... Please come to your senses...."

But the mindless jiangshi raised her sharp claws toward the child's neck.

In an instant, Jaseong folded space and snatched up the child.

With his other hand, he pressed a palm to the woman's forehead.

"I'm sorry. May you find peace in the next world."

Golden immortal energy flowed from Jaseong's fingertip.

The woman's body became pure white light and vanished without pain.

"The world is over...."

An old man, sitting under a collapsed pavilion, murmured in a daze.

"Even the immortals have abandoned us. All that's left in the Central Plains is death."

A woman lay bleeding, weeping softly, while a young man, overcome by despair, gripped the broken hilt of a sword and stared into emptiness.

Throughout the streets sounded only the screams and laments of those whose will to live had been broken.

Jaseong lifted his gaze to the sky.

A vast black cloud that seemed to have surged from the Ten-Thousand-Mountain Range was obscuring the sun.

The entire Central Plains was being engulfed by demonic ki.

Jaseong's fist clenched with a grinding sound.

'Heavenly Demon... I will kill you without fail. I will tear you apart!'

Within Jaseong's eyes, black flames and golden radiance burned at once.

At that moment, the Right Protector, Gal Seo-ryeong, approached Jaseong.

The instant he saw her, Jaseong asked,

"Right Protector, which battlefield did Lee Rin and Gu Janghu head to?"

"Luoyang. That's the last bastion of the righteous-sect coalition. The leading figures of the orthodox side, including True Person Cheongho of Mount Hua, as well as experts from the unorthodox faction, such as Heavenly Black Sword Venerable of the Black Star Sect, have all gathered there. Together, they are fighting for their lives against the Demonic Cult, the Blood Cult, and the endlessly surging jiangshi army."

"Then I must head straight for Luoyang."

"Kiruruk!"

Mansul, who had spent a hundred years with Jaseong in the Room of Time, cried sharply from his shoulder.

The creature, whose tail had now grown to nine, was exuding mysterious spiritual ki from its body, having finally reached the realm of the legendary Celestial Fox.

Although it no longer spoke human language, determination, just like Jaseong's, shone in its eyes.

"Right Protector, continue to defend this place."

Just then, as Jaseong was about to take off with movement form—

Step— step—

Suddenly, a man walked out from the alley across the street where Jaseong stood.

"Let's have a word."

A low and hoarse, yet strangely authoritative voice. Both Jaseong and Gal Seo-ryeong turned their gazes at once.

From amidst the shadows of the alley, a man slowly emerged.

A middle-aged man with a huge great blade strapped to his back.

His whole body was covered in scars, his clothes were tattered, but the aura surrounding him was as sharp as a blade.

The moment Gal Seo-ryeong saw him, her eyes widened with shock.

"S–Sect Leader?!"

Yes.

The man who had suddenly appeared was none other than the previous Hao Sect Sect Leader, believed to have died after plummeting down a cliff due to the vile concerted assault of former Murim Alliance leader Namgung Cheon-rui and the Sichuan Tang Clan head, Tang Tian-yue.

"Sect Leader... You're alive?"

"Barely... I just returned from the threshold of hell."

The former Sect Leader approached with a bitter smile.

Gal Seo-ryeong could not hide the turmoil in her heart.

The lord she thought dead had returned, but they had already appointed Jaseong as the new Sect Leader.

But then, Jaseong spoke words that caught them all off guard.

"... Sect Leader, your dantian is shattered."

Having trained in the Room of Time and reached the Profound Realm, Jaseong noticed the change immediately.

At this, the former Sect Leader smiled bitterly and answered,

"That's right. My dantian is broken. I am now a cripple, unable to use martial arts."

"... You mean, Sect Leader, you've become a cripple?!"

Gal Seo-ryeong asked, almost shrieking.

But the former Sect Leader calmly continued.

"Scarlet Lotus Hall Lord—no, I should now call you the true owner of the Hao Sect."

"......."

"Remain where you are. I am nothing but an old man who finds even walking difficult now. What's more... your martial arts have already long surpassed the strength I once had at my peak."

"......."

"Don't look at me that way. I'm just a ghost about to vanish into the darkness. Even so, the reason I dragged my body this far is because there is a secret I must tell you."

The look in the Sect Leader's eyes turned grave.

He stepped close to Jaseong and lowered his voice.

"First, about my origins. In truth... I've harbored a secret all my life. I... was the hidden disciple of the previous Heavenly Demon."

What— Did that mean the former Sect Leader was from the Demonic Cult?

Even unflappable Jaseong's expression changed at this confession.

"In my youth, I was chosen as the last disciple of the Heavenly Demon and was taught the Demonic Heavenly Art. That's the reason I wielded martial arts that shook the Central Plains at such a young age."

"........"

"But I saw with my own eyes—the mad, brutal crimes pursued by the Demonic Cult. The senseless slaughter of innocents and the horrific sacrifices of children..."

Jaseong asked,

"Is that why you betrayed them?"

The former Sect Leader shook his head with a bitter smile.

"I am not such a righteous man. When my master, the former Heavenly Demon, was killed by a joint assault of the Ten Great Experts of the orthodox factions and the Demonic Cult collapsed, I simply realized there was no longer a reason to remain there."

"......."

"So I concealed my true identity and sought refuge in the Hao Sect, rising to the position of Sect Leader while employing martial arts other than the Heavenly Demonic Art."

"... That's why you kept your identity so extremely secret. If word got out, both the orthodox and unorthodox sides would have destroyed the Hao Sect."

At these words, the former Sect Leader quietly nodded.

"The Demonic Cult is a sect that moves with the Heavenly Demon as its absolute center. If you cut off the head, tens of thousands of cultists, even the jiangshi armies, would collapse instantly."

"Who is the new Heavenly Demon?"

"The new Heavenly Demon, who now ravages the Central Plains, is Cheon Gwang-hwi, the previous Heavenly Demon's eldest disciple."

"Cheon Gwang-hwi...."

"He was my elder disciple-brother. He was infamous for being cruel and vicious. But however he managed it, he has become even stronger than our dead master."

... It must be thanks to the opportunity bestowed upon him by the ascended Heavenly Demons that Sword Immortal Lü Dongbin mentioned.

"Right now, Cheon Gwang-hwi is staying at Baima Monastery near Luoyang, absorbing the internal energy of the experts of the orthodox factions. He's sucking out the life force of hundreds with the Heavenly Demon Great Star-Absorbing Art, becoming a monster. He must be stopped before it's too late."

Jaseong nodded silently.

Thanks to the information from the suddenly reappeared former Sect Leader, the objective was now clear.

"If anyone can save the Central Plains from ruin, it's you. Now go. There's no time."

Jaseong bowed deeply in respect.

Then, without further delay, he leaped into action.

Sasak!

With a stomp, the earth shook explosively, and he shot skyward in movement form.

Mansul, with nine swaying tails, followed close behind.

Luoyang.

It was toward that place—where all grudges, hypocrisy, and the pinnacle of demonic evil converged—that the prodigy of the Red Light District raced like a flash.

* * *

Jaseong sped toward Luoyang as if flying through the heavens.

Shuaaaak!

Each time his movement form sliced through the air, the very atmosphere shrieked.

His lightness skill, at the level of the Profound Realm, far surpassed any human boundary.

Rather than running on the ground, he seemed to fold space and dash through it—a true art of shrinking the earth.

What would have taken an ordinary expert several days, Jaseong crossed in only a few minutes.

The wind scraped his face like knives, but Jaseong's eyes did not blink.

His gaze was fixed only to the west—on Luoyang.

'Baima Monastery... That's where the Heavenly Demon is waiting.'

Cold determination reflected in Jaseong's eyes.

'Lee Rin, Gu Janghu... hold out a little longer. I'm coming now.'

Jaseong skimmed over rooftops and tree branches.

But the sights of the Central Plains he witnessed during that brief flight were nothing short of appalling.

The once beautiful rivers and mountains were engulfed in crimson flames, peaceful villages reduced to ruins belching black smoke.

Everywhere, jiangshi hunted the living and members of the Demonic Cult delighted in slaughter—a veritable hell on earth.

"Uwaaaah!"

"Help! Please!"

The cries carried by the wind struck Jaseong's ears.

They weren't mere sounds.

They were the screams of those dying, entwined with resentment and suffering.

Jaseong's fist turned white as he clenched it tightly.

'Heavenly Demon... the last, greatest evil remaining on the Celestial Realm's Kill List....'

The root of all this tragedy.

The one who stole the lives of his eldest brother's family and nephew, and now sought to devour the entire Central Plains—absolute evil.

'... I will kill you, no matter what. Even if it costs me everything.'

Jaseong's hand gripped the Wicked Flame Sword at his waist.

The black hilt resonated with its master's rage, humming quietly.

Soon after,

Jaseong arrived at his destination.

"Kiruruk!"

Mansul, perched on Jaseong's shoulder, cried sharply and pointed below.

Its nine tails stood on end.

It had sensed powerful demonic ki.

Jaseong looked down.

There, near Luoyang, at the foot of Songshan Mountain, stood the massive Baima Monastery.

The birthplace of Buddhism in the Central Plains, a thousand-year-old ancient temple.

But now, not a trace of the Buddha's mercy could be found there.

"......."

A frown creased Jaseong's brow.

The sight of Baima Monastery was tragic.

The grand roof tiles of the main hall had been shattered, statues of the Buddha that once smiled serenely were decapitated and lay scattered on the ground.

From every corner of the Dharma Hall, fiendish red flames leapt skyward, black smoke rising in columns, and above it all, the blood-red flag of the Demonic Cult fluttered ominously.

But the most horrific scene was at the center plaza of Baima Monastery.

Hundreds—no, thousands—of corpses were piled up like mountains.

Monks in robes, warriors of the orthodox sects, peasants who had fled for safety—everyone.

Their blood pooled into a massive pond, above which flocks of crows gathered.

A sacred place had become a demon's lair.

Cheok!

Jaseong landed in the main yard before Baima Monastery's grand hall.

His feet touched earth drenched in blood.

When he looked up at the roof of the main hall, he saw another man standing there, apart from himself.