novelraw Chapter 247 : Heavenly Demon Tang Sewoon (1)
Chapter 247 : Heavenly Demon Tang Sewoon (1)
Chapter 247: Heavenly Demon Tang Sewoon (1)
“What…?”
Disbelief surfaced on Buk Ri-seung’s face as he looked at Tang Sewoon.
While investigating the matters of the Heavenly Suppression Unit, he had reviewed countless facial-scar records submitted by his subordinates.
Moreover, though the other party had not known it, he himself had once approached in concealment and confirmed the man’s appearance from close range.
Yet the being before his eyes now had the same face, and yet looked like an entirely different person.
It could not be that another’s soul had entered his body overnight—there was only one possible explanation.
Saaaah!
Chwaaaah!
The aura scattering from him was something that even Buk Ri-seung himself, who had reached the extreme peak of the Manifestation Realm, could not even begin to compare to.
In that instant, Buk Ri-seung’s heart pounded violently.
‘Don’t tell me… he’s reached the Life and Death Realm…?’
The Life and Death Realm.
An unknown domain that one could not even imagine. And to reach that realm at such a young age?
If even Buk Ri-seung, the Great Protector, was like this, then the demonic martial artists who had followed behind him were completely at a loss upon seeing Sewoon.
Like beasts facing a natural predator, it was difficult for them to maintain even a shred of composure under the overwhelming pressure.
‘I can’t waver! If nothing else, I must keep my head clear!’
Buk Ri-seung forcibly steadied his trembling mind.
The sense of duty he had carried as the Great Protector who had safeguarded the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult for a long time supported him.
‘Even if he possesses the martial might of the Life and Death Realm, that does not automatically make him our master. I must doubt, and doubt again, until the truth is revealed.’
Facing Sewoon squarely, Buk Ri-seung opened his mouth with solemn authority.
“…What kind of staged farce do you think you are playing?”
His voice was grave beyond measure, laced with a chilling anger.
Yet Sewoon offered no response to his words.
“……”
His gaze merely swept calmly across all the demonic martial artists present, including Buk Ri-seung.
At Sewoon’s arrogant silence, Buk Ri-seung felt his patience reach its limit.
“Do you truly believe such cheap tricks can deceive the eyes of our Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
It was then.
A low voice flowed from Sewoon’s lips.
“My greeting was late.”
“…What?”
Within that voice was a distant, transcendent weight—something unmistakably otherworldly.
Buk Ri-seung could not hide his confusion at the unexpected reply.
And soon, that confusion transformed into fury.
A greeting was late?
Veins bulged on his forehead.
How dare he spout such nonsense while imitating their exalted master.
He roared in rebuke.
“You wretch—!”
Swoosh.
However, Sewoon paid no heed to Buk Ri-seung’s reaction.
Slowly, ever so slowly,
he extended a single index finger and pointed it at them.
Then, with excruciating slowness, he curled that finger inward.
Kwarrrrr!
Kwagagaga!
In that moment, a colossal pressure poured down as if space itself were screaming.
A weight beyond imagination crushed down upon the bodies of the demonic martial artists.
That formless, intangible aura transformed into a burden surpassing all reason.
Was this what it felt like for the Great Sage Equal to Heaven to be pinned beneath the Five Elements Mountain?
“Keugh!!”
“…!!”
All of the demonic martial artists prostrated themselves, flattened against the ground as if bowing in worship.
No matter how much they drew up the energy throughout their bodies, it was futile.
Before that overwhelming weight, their flesh could not resist and was forced into submission.
Only Buk Ri-seung alone remained, kneeling on a single knee, wringing every ounce of strength from his body to endure that immense pressure.
‘There was nothing… nothing at all to see…?’
Even so, he was merely ‘enduring’—he had not overcome it.
At that moment, Sewoon’s cold gaze turned toward Buk Ri-seung.
“Th-this… what… is this…?!”
The pain was so great that Buk Ri-seung could not even form his words properly.
Yet Sewoon declared in a voice that did not waver in the slightest.
“If you have seen your master, then that is the proper posture.”
“!!”
At those words, Buk Ri-seung felt as though all the blood in his body had frozen solid.
…Surely not. Surely not?
The pupils of Buk Ri-seung’s eyes trembled violently, as if struck by an earthquake, as he stared at Sewoon.
But at that very moment, the thoughts within Sewoon’s mind—looking down upon him—were completely different from what Buk Ri-seung imagined.
‘My apologies for our first meeting. But first impressions are the most important, so please bear with it.’
Sewoon was thinking this inwardly.
The demonic cultists were different from ordinary martial artists.
Within their unique Demonic Path, the law of survival of the strong was etched deeply.
And for a group that harbored fanatical devotion toward the Heavenly Demon, this level of pressure was necessary to instill an unquestionable misconception.
He had chosen the fastest and most efficient method to inherit the legacy his master had left behind.
It was then.
[Ohhh, junior brother! Your acting has improved again already? You really look like the Heavenly Demon!]
A familiar voice echoed within Sewoon’s consciousness. It was a secret telepathic transmission from Nameless, who was hiding nearby.
Tch, I told you to keep quiet.
Sewoon’s head throbbed at Nameless’s frivolous admiration.
[Please shut up.]
But of course, Nameless’s telepathy continued.
[Heh heh, just a little more and, like you said, we could swallow the entire Demonic Cult without spilling a single drop of blood, couldn’t we?]
That was right. The plan Sewoon had explained to Nameless and Seori afterward was precisely this—to devour the Demonic Cult whole.
And impersonating not the Heavenly Demon’s descendant, but the Heavenly Demon himself, was the fastest way to consume the cult entirely.
‘Master, I will spare them, but I need to dominate them in my own way. Please understand, just a little.’
Sewoon sent that message within his consciousness to the departed Heavenly Demon, then refocused on his performance.
He reassured himself that all of this was an inevitable process to stop the Blood Demon.
Ssssss!
Chwaaaah!
Sensing that continuing the pressure any longer would result in deaths, Sewoon slowly began to withdraw his aura.
“Cough, keh.”
“Huuk, huff. Huuu.”
Only after the immense pressure vanished did the warriors of the Demonic Cult finally gasp for breath, their faces drained of all color.
Here and there, demonic warriors who had lost consciousness lay collapsed.
Buk Ri-seung also barely managed to brace himself on one knee and rise.
Unlike the others, his complexion had not turned completely pale, but his entire body was drenched in sweat, and his flesh screamed in pain.
Even so, Buk Ri-seung’s eyes remained fixed firmly on Sewoon.
Buk Ri-seung slowly opened his mouth. His voice was a mixture of awe and confusion.
“Just what… what exactly are you…?”
Sewoon looked quietly at Buk Ri-seung.
Now then—what kind of tone had his master used?
He answered while imitating the manner of speech the Heavenly Demon had once used toward him.
First, he lowered his voice into solemn gravity.
“Child, if you already know the answer, why do you ask?”
“……!!”
Buk Ri-seung was an elderly man with hair gone white from age.
If someone addressed him as a child, did that mean this being had lived a far longer life?
“Truly… you… no, you are….”
Buk Ri-seung could not finish his sentence.
It was partly because his heart was pounding like mad—
“That is correct.”
Kugagagaga!
Chwaaaah!
—But more importantly, because Sewoon began to release an aura utterly different from the one he had emitted before.
In an instant, extreme Yin cold energy filled the entire Ice-and-Snow Cave.
That pure, snow-white yet terrifying demonic qi was something no follower of the Divine Cult could possibly fail to recognize.
“A… ah….”
“……!!”
It was the very source of the demonic power they had worshipped and revered.
‘Ice-Heaven Demon Divine Qi—!’
The martial art of the Heavenly Demon, which had vanished together with his disappearance, was being reenacted once more.
At that moment, Sewoon spoke softly.
“I am the Heavenly Demon.”
His voice carried an absolute majesty powerful enough to shake the entire space.
“……”
Buk Ri-seung could not utter another word.
His heart howled as though it were about to burst.
In the eyes with which he looked up at Sewoon were mingled reverence and the overwhelming emotion of the Demonic Cult’s destiny—passed down for hundreds of years—now standing before him.
Thud.
Buk Ri-seung bent his remaining knee and fully prostrated himself before Sewoon.
Thud.
Thump.
As he completed the ritual gesture, all the demonic warriors behind him, including the Sura True Lord, fell to their knees in unison and bowed their heads.
The eyes that had wavered like reeds in a storm were now filled solely with absolute loyalty and worship.
“We have waited… far, far too long.”
The voice that burst from Buk Ri-seung’s mouth was far too fervent to belong to an old man.
Tears of emotion streamed down his cheeks like rain.
“Kuhhk, my master…!”
Weeping, he bowed his head deeply before Sewoon.
That overwhelming emotion spread to the other demonic warriors as well.
“Divine Demon, eternal for a thousand ages! All demons bow in reverence!”
“Divine Demon, eternal for a thousand ages! Divine Demon, eternal for a thousand ages!”
Thunderous cheers from the demonic cultists filled the interior of the Heavenly Demon Cavern.
Their cries, bordering on screams, seemed as though they would pierce the ceiling and soar into the heavens.
All the cultists revealed their fanatical worship toward the Heavenly Demon who had returned.
Standing before them in the guise of the Heavenly Demon, Sewoon quietly observed the scene.
‘…This is beyond imagination.’
He had anticipated an intense reaction, but witnessing it firsthand far exceeded his expectations.
After a brief silence, when the cheers finally subsided, Sewoon spoke again.
“The long years of waiting have come to an end.”
“……!”
“I have returned. A new history shall now be written.”
“Formal obedience response! The servants of their master shall illuminate that path!”
“Divine Demon, eternal for a thousand ages!!”
Once more, a thunderous roar erupted, as though the cavern itself might collapse.
Sewoon waited calmly until even that madness-tinged fervor faded, then continued.
“I shall tell you why I vanished just as the Demonic Dominion of the World lay before me.”
At his words, all the demonic warriors held their breath.
The tale that would follow was not mere history to them, but living myth.
“I saw the future. A world filled with blood and death.”
“……!!”
A strange sorrow seeped into Sewoon’s voice.
Fragments of the ruined world he had failed to protect before his regression flashed through his mind.
The demonic cultists interpreted his words differently and listened all the more intently.
“All life was annihilated, and only ruins remained—a hellscape realm.”
“Ah….”
Confusion crossed the faces of Buk Ri-seung and the other demonic warriors who let out low gasps.
“How… how could the world forged by the Divine Demon become such a place?”
“Was it because, after our master ascended, we who remained on this earth were lacking?”
They had never doubted that if the Heavenly Demon had unified the world, a paradise of the Demonic Dominion would have unfolded.
If the world had instead collapsed, they concluded it must be their own fault—never their master’s.
Sewoon slowly shook his head.
“No. It was the result of an evil fiend that descended after I departed.”
At the word ‘evil fiend,’ a chill ran across the faces of the demonic warriors.
To think that some filth had dared to defile their master’s will.
At that moment, an unusual light flared in Sewoon’s eyes.
“And so, I cast off the shackles of countless eons, defied even the order of the world, and returned once more.”
“Ohhh! Divine Demon, eternal for a thousand ages!!”
The demonic cultists erupted in fervor at the revelation that the Heavenly Demon had transcended death itself and descended once again into the present world.
To them, this was the reappearance of myth and a narrative of salvation.
“Sons and daughters of the Divine Cult. I shall issue my command.”
“Command us in anything!!”
“If it is what our master desires, these servants shall gladly offer our bodies and everything we possess!!”
Buk Ri-seung shouted as he bowed his head deeply.
All demonic warriors followed him, prepared to offer their very lives.
Sewoon’s gaze gleamed coldly.
“The Blood Cult.”
Killing intent flickered in the eyes of the demonic warriors at the name of the enemy.
“And the evil fiend that will plunge the world into ruin—the Blood Demon. We shall erase it from this world forever.”