Sword God Reborn

Chapter 288 : What are you going to do?

The Seven-Star could not understand why he was alive.

'Why only me?'

His body trembled as he recalled what had happened that day.

He was scared. The fear that was deeply engraved in his bones was as vivid as a living creature.

His heart pounded violently, and a cold sweat ran down his back.

Everyone was dead. Except for him.

The Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero, Cheon Mubaeck.

He, who had appeared out of nowhere, was literally a disaster.

Did an earthquake give a warning and shake? Could you predict a flood?

That's right. It was an unpredictable natural disaster.

'A human cannot stop it.'

Even the great Heavenly Demon could not stop a flood. Of course, he himself would survive in the flood.

He could not stop an earthquake that shook the ground, and he could not stop a huge storm that blew away not only a centuries-old giant tree but also a palace-like house.

It was a disaster.

That was what the Seven-Star had felt.

'What else could it be but a disaster?'

His subordinates who had fallen without even being able to scream.

It was so futile that he had even wondered if he were seeing a hallucination.

A few skilled guys had hurriedly formed a formation and had blocked him, but they were just humans in front of a disaster. Humans under an erupting volcano, humans swept away by a flood, humans caught in a storm.

Cheon Mubaeck had just cut.

He had cut, slashed, and swung his sword.

There were no varied techniques, no flashy movements, and no intense feeling.

All the series of processes were simple.

Movements that only a trainee who was learning the sword for the first time would do.

But he could not block a single one.

Although he had clearly seen the trajectory, his body had frozen. As if he were a human who could do nothing and was helpless in front of a great disaster.

He was not sad that his subordinates had died. Because he was a demonic person.

The emotions that came to him were only fear and confusion.

"Why was I the only one who was spared?"

He could not hold it in and the voice came out of his mouth.

A question that was so frustrating that he had only been repeating it in his mind.

And the one who had answered the question was an unexpected person.

"It's good to be alive, what are you so curious about?"

"...Elder Ghost Demon!"

The Seven-Star's eyes widened.

The Ghost Demon, who he had thought was dead all this time, had appeared in front of him, alive and well.

And here, where he was caught by Cheon Mubaeck.

In an instant, the Seven-Star's mind was spinning.

The Ghost Demon had gone out to catch Cheon Mubaeck and had lost contact.

After that, the rumor that the Blood Buddha had died at the hands of Cheon Mubaeck had spread, so it was a common theory that the Ghost Demon had also died. Wasn't that the reason why the Blood Demon Valley had been scattered and had been absorbed by the Mad Sect?

The Seven-Star's face, who had grasped the situation in an instant, hardened.

"Have you betrayed the demonic path?"

A rough, growling voice.

If his internal energy had not been sealed, if his hands and feet had not been tied, a fighting spirit that seemed as if he would have immediately struck out and crushed his head flowed out.

The Ghost Demon let out a bitter laugh.

"Betrayal? Me, who was born in the demonic path and grew up as a demonic person?"

"Then why are you alive? And aren't you begging for your life next to the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero?"

The Ghost Demon's expression hardened and he shook his head.

"I am trying to protect the demonic path."

"That's ridiculous. You're sticking to the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero, the great enemy of the demonic path, and you're saying you're protecting the demonic path?"

"If it goes on like this, the demonic path will be destroyed."

"......!"

The Seven-Star's eyes, who had been speechless for a moment, widened.

"The end of this great war is destruction. It's clear."

"Are you saying the demonic path will lose?"

"It can't even be compared to losing. Even forty years ago, we were defeated by the Azure Sky Sword God, but the demonic path survived. But now, it will disappear without even leaving a handful of ashes."

The Seven-Star closed his mouth.

What kind of absurd and ridiculous statement was this?

The reason he could not refute it was because of the Ghost Demon's expression.

Although the Seven-Star had assisted the Ghost Demon for nearly thirty years, he swore that he had never seen such a face.

Even when he had confronted the great Blood Buddha, it had not been to this extent.

Hardened eyes, a stiff face, a trembling corner of the mouth.

'The demonic path will be destroyed?'

The prediction of defeat itself was absurd.

Although the Blood Demon Valley had collapsed helplessly, the foreign demonic path was so powerful and huge that it considered such a Blood Demon Valley as just one of its subordinate organizations.

Although the crazy guys of the Mad Sect were fighting on the front lines, it was not all of them.

The root and the foundation of the demonic path.

A single sect that had first bloomed the name of the demonic path and had continued to monopolize and produce the Heavenly Demon.

The core of the Demon Sect had not even started to move in earnest yet.

And yet, they had already occupied Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan, and now Shanxi Province was just around the corner.

In this situation, was it even possible to predict a defeat, and even to say that the defeat would be an annihilation?

But without caring what the Seven-Star was thinking, the Ghost Demon raised his voice.

"I am just moving to stop that. Unless a new demonic path is created, the name of the demonic will surely be erased from the martial world, from the world!"

The Ghost Demon's pupils flashed.

Originally, it had just been an ambition. A greed. The desire to become the Heavenly Demon. The desire to become the peak of the demonic path. So he had cooperated with Cheon Mubaeck. Even though he knew what Cheon Mubaeck wanted.

But the more he watched, the more he looked at Cheon Mubaeck, the more the Ghost Demon trembled with fear.

"He is the only one who can truly destroy the demonic path. He has a formidable skill, a brilliant mind that is hard to understand, and above all, he has a heart of iron and a venomous spirit that is stronger than anyone in the world!"

The Seven-Star was silent. The Ghost Demon's voice was trembling uncontrollably. He knew well what that emotion was.

Was it ten years ago?

He had seen it. The Ghost Demon being so scared. The great Ghost Demon, who couldn't even breathe and was going crazy as if he had a fit of madness.

In front of just one person.

'The Heavenly Demon...'

He had shown such an emotion while prostrating himself before the supreme being of the demonic path, the Heavenly Demon.

The Seven-Star swallowed hard.

'Is he feeling the same fear from the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero?'

And the great Ghost Demon?

The Ghost Demon's tone became hotter and hotter.

"If we don't cooperate with him, he will really burn everything of the demonic path from its roots. He's that kind of guy. Yes, if it were just that, it would be better. But look! At those figures!"

The Ghost Demon stretched out his hand.

In the direction he pointed, he saw a group of martial artists gathered together, cleaning their swords.

He knew them well.

Weren't they the martial artists of the Spear and Sword Sect that the Seven-Star himself had attacked?

"They're gathering. To him. The Righteous Alliance that the Fighting God Gwak Yong has created will just follow the footsteps of the past Martial Arts Alliance. It will surely change into a federation that represents the great sects and protects their own interests. But that person is different!"

"..."

"He has the power to gather everyone. Just as the Azure Sky Sword God had in the past. Look. At the faces of those martial artists. Don't you have any thoughts after seeing them?"

The Seven-Star quietly looked at the faces of the martial artists. Cheon Mubaeck was standing far away with his arms crossed, looking at a distant place, and the sight of the martial artists glancing at such a Cheon Mubaeck.

How much time had passed?

The Seven-Star realized what the Ghost Demon was saying.

"Ah..."

It was not just a simple liking, but an awe as if they were looking at a being above the clouds.

He felt a strong sense of déjà vu. They were faces he had seen somewhere.

"The Heavenly Demon..."

It was the expression that the demonic people showed in front of the Heavenly Demon. An emotion.

The Ghost Demon smiled bitterly.

"The Heavenly Demon is a representative and an incarnation of a god to us. If he says something, we cannot refute it and can only follow. He is such an existence. But look at that person. What kind of existence does he look like to the orthodox martial world?"

"..."

The Heavenly Demon of the orthodox path.

Realizing that fact, the Seven-Star let out a groan without realizing it.

What if a person with a strong will to destroy the demonic path had the authority, respect, and power to move the entire orthodox martial world at will?

"And that's not all! The Righteous Alliance is no different from what he has created. It means that the great sects of the orthodox path, represented by the Nine Sects One Faction, are in his hands!"

"......!"

Only then did the Seven-Star have the same expression as the Ghost Demon.

"Such a guy, wants to destroy the demonic path. And on top of that, even the Sword Venerable has joined him and is trying to wipe it out from the world! Do you think he can't do it?"

"..."

The Ghost Demon let out a bitter laugh and said. The tone of his voice, which had been rising like crazy, suddenly became calm.

"So I have decided. I will save the demonic path. Even if it is just a foreign sect, which is what that guy wants, I will save the name of the demonic path."

"Elder..."

"I will protect the demonic path."

The Seven-Star looked at the Ghost Demon with a complicated gaze.

* * *

"He's giving a great speech, isn't he?"

At Neung-heo's words, Cheon Mubaeck woke up from his thoughts and turned his head.

Cheon Mubaeck chuckled.

"Leave him be. He's just struggling to live."

"That old man is pitiful."

"Pitiful? He's a man full of old greed."

"Isn't it all what you intended, my lord? You're deliberately eliminating all the guys in the Blood Demon Valley remnants who have a strong influence from the Ghost Demon."

Well, that was a natural thing. The Ghost Demon was just a figurehead. The leader of the newly born Blood Demon Valley on the surface.

The core of the newly created demonic path would be occupied by the Sword Sect.

A demonic path made up of a new type of demonic people who pursued only martial arts and the sword.

The demonic path, a foreign sect that Cheon Mubaeck was thinking of.

So could he let the demonic people, who had a strong influence from the Ghost Demon, gather?

Cheon Mubaeck was appropriately dealing with them and was only sparing the demonic people who could be absorbed by the Sword Sect.

"Then why did you spare that Seven-Star guy?"

"The Ghost Demon is quick-witted, isn't he? Although he has no choice but to keep the Sword Sect close, are the Sword Sect guys who listen to his words? So he's trying to create his own royal guard."

"So why did you let him do that? According to your plan, my lord, shouldn't the Ghost Demon be thoroughly cut off from his limbs?"

"Thoroughly?"

Cheon Mubaeck chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. Neung-heo was bewildered at the very calm reaction.

"For what?"

"What?"

"For what do I have to be so thorough?"

"Well..."

"What if that Ghost Demon guy has a change of heart and raises a rebellion?"

"Let him do it."

"...?"

"Then what can a guy like him do?"

Neung-heo's mouth fell open for a moment.

Cheon Mubaeck really didn't seem to care. An attitude that it didn't matter at all even if the Ghost Demon raised a rebellion. The confidence that he could suppress him in an instant was clearly revealed.

'No. That's not it.'

Neung-heo was quick-witted. Seeing the faint smile on Cheon Mubaeck's lips, a guess flashed through his mind like a thunderbolt.

'Could it be on purpose...?'

The Ghost Demon was just a figurehead, and the core of the new demonic path would be the Sword Sect, which would absolutely obey Cheon Mubaeck's words, as he had said before.

But you couldn't ignore him just because he was a figurehead.

Because he was the Ghost Demon. Because he was the second-in-command of the Blood Demon Valley and the leader of the Dark Sect.

But to just eliminate him would certainly be a problem.

Weren't they the demonic people who were gathering, looking at the Ghost Demon's face?

If the Ghost Demon were to be eliminated, Cheon Mubaeck would soon become their enemy.

'So is he deliberately giving him a pretext to eliminate him?'

To even incite him to raise a rebellion?

If he was such a greedy person, it was clear that he would have other thoughts if his own royal guard became strong.

Whether it was the demonic path, the orthodox path, or the black path, one rule was the same.

The one who first pointed a sword at me was an enemy.

And the fact that cutting down such an enemy was also a natural providence.

Then wasn't Cheon Mubaeck inducing it to that point?

"......!"

Bururu!

As his thoughts reached that point, Neung-heo trembled.

"Why are you trembling?"

"Ah... it's nothing."

"You're bland."

Although Cheon Mubaeck had turned his head as if it were nothing, a cold sweat ran down Neung-heo's back.

'How far does he see, how far does he think, and how far does he move?'

To be honest, Neung-heo did not completely trust Cheon Mubaeck's past life.

But he did not deny it either.

The reason was simple.

'Because at that young age, he could not have such a scheme and a mind.'

Perhaps it was a reasonable reason.

At that moment, Cheon Mubaeck uncrossed his arms.

"It seems a reaction is coming now."

"What?"

Neung-heo's head moved, following Cheon Mubaeck's gaze.

(End of Chapter)