The Grandson of the Heavenly Demon

Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

6. Battle in the Forest (3)

Upon reaching the 3rd Stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, what Jeong-min felt was a pain as though his heart were being wrung out.

Crackle! Crunch-crunch-crunch!

It felt as though every nerve in his body was being severed. As if paralysis were setting in.

"—!"

As Jeong-min suddenly twisted his body, Heo Do-yun, standing across from him, furrowed his brow.

Is now actually the moment to strike?

Why is he doing that?

While Heo Do-yun pondered the question briefly, Jeong-min struggled to suppress the pain.

The reason Jeong-min was writhing in agony was none other than that—something crawling up from the extremities of his left hand, creeping along his forearm. The Demon Vein.

The Demon Vein is running wild!

Jeong-min bit down on his lip until it bled, clenched his teeth, and channeled all of his demonic energy into his heart.

Then he began slowly pushing back the Demon Vein that had drawn close to his chest.

It did not yield so easily—like trying to push back a blizzard. Yet Jeong-min endured, little by little, forcing the Demon Vein to retreat.

The Demon Vein, driven back to his shoulder, sank down to his forearm, then to his palm.

At last, when it reached the tips of his fingernails, Jeong-min brought his left fist crashing—bang!—into the ground.

"—!"

At that sight, Heo Do-yun swung his Snake Sword, if belatedly.

Sword Snake—Oil Net Halt Formation!

The Snake Sword's blade stretched out in all directions, flying toward Jeong-min as if to swallow his entire body whole.

But Jeong-min, still crouching, traced a line across the ground with his foot.

Shadow Stabilization Formation.

Fwip!

The blades then struck the boundary of the Shadow Stabilization Formation and scattered into pieces.

Huuuu

Jeong-min exhaled a long, deep breath and rose to his feet.

"My, my. Feels like I just took a trip to the afterlife."

As Jeong-min shook out his left hand, his fingernails fell away and clattered to the ground one after another.

His left hand was instantly drenched in blood. Demonic energy was filling the places where the nails had torn away.

Demon Vein. Now that the Heavenly Demon Divine Art has reached the 3rd Stage, you're trying to consume my body entirely.

It had nearly reached his heart. Had he been even a moment slower, Jeong-min might have breathed his last.

It was fortunate he had suppressed it quickly—but what if something like this happened again?

At this rate, he would die before ever understanding the true nature of the Demon Vein.

Which meant reaching the 4th Stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art would also be out of reach. If the 3rd Stage was already like this, how could he ever get to the 4th?

I need some kind of countermeasure.

Jeong-min recalled once more the story from the depths of his memory—something he had thought of the last time the Demon Vein ran wild.

I should be able to resolve it once I go there before long.

If I do not enter hell, who will enter hell for me?

A story he had heard during his past life as Muyeong. He had only heard it in passing, so he wasn't certain, but the memory was beginning to resurface now.

What was it again—something about the Descending Evil God…

"—!"

Fwip!

Before Jeong-min could collect his thoughts, Heo Do-yun's Snake Sword came lunging at him again.

Jeong-min leapt backward to evade, and Heo Do-yun's expression filled with wariness.

"You—what was that strange art you used just now?"

"Ah. This."

Jeong-min looked at the Shadow Stabilization Formation he had drawn at his feet.

Heavenly Demon Divine Art, 3rd Stage—Shadow Stabilization Formation.

"Well, what do you think it might be?"

"Stop that insolence. A worthless little child like you."

"And who exactly is it that's being bested by that worthless little child?"

Jeong-min gripped his sword again with his left hand. His right arm still had its tendons severed and could not properly hold anything.

He raised the sword coated in Demonic Energy Hardening vertically.

"Come in and find out for yourself."

"How insulting. How dare a wretch like you, to me, the Great Forest King—"

"Save the tired speech and shut that mouth of yours. If you're not coming, then I'll come to you. Every word out of you sounds like something I've heard somewhere before."

At those words, Heo Do-yun seemed to feel a prick to his pride; the veins on his forehead bulged.

Let's end what needs to be ended.

Jeong-min infused the blade with the profound principles of the Nameless Sword Art.

Nameless Sword Art, 3rd Form—Lantern Flame.

Shing—

For just an instant, a sound rang out as though a silk thread had pierced through skin.

Heo Do-yun felt it. Something was happening—he didn't know what exactly, but something was happening from within this Hyeok Jeong-min.

This isn't the time to go easy.

Well, not that he had ever gone easy to begin with.

He raised his hand. Then he poured all of his green internal energy into the Snake Sword until the entire blade became one with Heo Do-yun himself.

Sword Snake—Serpent Weasel Visceral Lock.

Then I too shall answer with my ultimate art.

The Sword Snake's final form, Serpent Weasel Visceral Lock—honing the blade razor-thin to pierce the enemy's vital point!

A blade that sinks deep.

Slash! Shhick!

The Great Forest King's Snake Sword reached into Jeong-min's chest and stabbed him through the solar plexus, sending blood streaming from his mouth—or so Heo Do-yun had to watch play out in his mind.

"Kheuk, kheuk."

At the very least, that was the future he had seen.

"Kheuk… kheuk…"

Heo Do-yun collapsed face-first onto the ground. Blood poured from his heart and mouth like an ebbing tide.

Jeong-min sheathed his sword.

The blade is nearly shattered.

The fault of Heo Do-yun's Snake Sword.

Fierce and swift. But if there was a flaw that led to his defeat, it was that Jeong-min had reached the 3rd Stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

Had Heo Do-yun unveiled his killing blow even a little sooner, the one lying defeated would have been Jeong-min.

"I'll need to find a new sword quickly… ow."

Jeong-min winced, his body creaking with pain.

Still the aftermath of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's 3rd Stage, and the recoil from using the 3rd Form of the Nameless Sword Art.

Someone once said that family means sacrifice.

That may be true, Heo Do-yun.

But my thinking is a little different.

Family doesn't mean sacrificing for each other—it means protecting each other.

It cannot be one-sided.

Wanting to protect one another—isn't that what family truly is?

For Jeong-min, who had never built a family of his own in his past life, the answer still felt distant.

And yet, sensing that he was finding his way toward it, a quiet smile formed on his lips.

.

.

.

Heo Do-yun had been a mercenary.

A mercenary who had roamed the battlefield!

But now, with the Central Plains restored to peace and the Martial Alliance maintaining de facto rule, there was no place left for a mercenary.

At best, his daily life had been reduced to beating up local ruffians and escorting the wives of wealthy households.

He wanted to swing his sword. He wanted to see blood!

He wanted to escape this dull, purposeless life!

And so, Heo Do-yun became a bandit. In the mountains, there was always something to cut down.

Reveling in the joy of it, he sliced through bandit after bandit, and before long, people had taken to calling him the Great Forest King.

He had risen to that title through the swordsmanship he had learned on the battlefield and in the wild.

Even so, he was not arrogant. Without conceit, he diligently honed his swordsmanship.

But…

But why?

Am I lying on the ground…?

That was Heo Do-yun's last memory.

He thought he might have heard cheers just before death.

What Heo Do-yun had heard was the truth. In reality, the few remaining Heavenly Demon Cult members were indeed crying out in triumph.

"Waaaaah!"

"Heo Do-yun is dead!"

"The bandit leader is dead!"

The sound spread in an instant to the far end of the plain.

It was only natural for the bandits to back away in bewilderment.

Damn.

The Great Forest King is dead? For real?

Then it's over.

The Forest Bandits numbered in the thousands, but at the end of the day, they were still bandits.

There was no such thing as loyalty among them. Many had never even met before today.

"Tch!"

"We're running."

At that moment, a group on one side could be seen throwing down their swords and fleeing. The reason they discarded their swords rather than keeping them was to show that they had no more will to fight.

"Let's go too."

"What? But there are only a few dozen of them."

"So what? The Heavenly Demon is standing firm and the Great Forest King is dead! I'm getting out of here."

Beginning with them, another group also fled.

On another side, others revealed different intentions.

"So that means the position of Great Forest King is vacant right now?"

"We're heading to Xizang! First one there gets it."

Many placed their hopes on what was now an empty throne.

And like that, the thousands of Forest Bandits scattered in all directions in an instant.

All that remained on the plain were the cult members who had fought to the very end.

"Haa. Haa."

"W-we won."

"We drove out the bandits! It's all thanks to the 3rd Young Master!"

"Long live Jeong-min, the Young Master!"

"Long live!"

A few hundred had driven out a few thousand.

The cult members praised Jeong-min, and the Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un also approached and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Jeong-min."

"Grandfather."

"How…… it's impossible. How could you have reached the 3rd Stage in such a short time?"

He already noticed.

Jeong-min smiled faintly.

"Isn't it thanks to the one who sowed the seeds being exceptional?"

"Did you reach the 3rd Stage in the middle of the fight? So you used Demon Accumulation and the Great Absorption Method."

"Yes."

As expected of the Heavenly Demon. You saw through it immediately.

Hyeok Je-un laughed.

"Even so, to achieve such a thing in such a short time…… A fine field indeed. A Heavenly Martial Physique in our family! Hahaha!"

Hyeok Je-un's face was plainly brimming with delight.

He didn't look like someone whose face was soaked with blood.

And so, with the death of the Great Forest King, the Battle of the Forest Bandits came to its conclusion.

Or did it?

No. It's not over yet.

Jeong-min looked up at Tianshan.

Climbing back up this Tianshan, which stretched endlessly toward the heavens, would itself be a task—but not everything was over quite yet.

2 people who were not here weighed on his mind. Hyeok Jang-ho and Hyeok Mun-ha.

"I can only hope my 2 older brothers take care of things properly."

He trusted them.

But worrying was still unavoidable.

Brothers. Please, let there be no harm done to you.

.

.

.

The buildings of the Heavenly Demon Cult's Main Hall on Tianshan were entirely deserted.

Every cult member save for a handful of household servants had descended to Dongji to fight in the great battle against the Forest Bandits.

But from one side, there were those climbing up toward Tianshan.

"Hoo. Damn, it's absurdly high."

"Indeed it is, Brother."

Those with the green sashes tied at their waists—the symbol of the Forest Bandits—were none other than a Forest Bandit strike squad.

The strike squad leader, Jang Hap-jung, gripped a torch and dry branches tightly in his hands.

"Right, move quickly."

At Jang Hap-jung's order, the Forest Bandits dispersed. Soon after, the death cries of household servants being cut down by Forest Bandit blades rang out from all directions.

As even those dying screams fell silent, Jang Hap-jung held out the torch to the Forest Bandit standing beside him.

"Light it. Start with that building over there—the Library Pavilion—then work your way to the Demon Dragon Pavilion on this side."

"Yes!"

They had already obtained a map of the Heavenly Demon Cult's Main Hall. The Forest Bandits scattered through the many separate buildings.

Then they scattered dry branches across every corner, and set the torch to them.

The flames shot high in an instant.

Whoooosh!

What the strike squad had been ordered to do by the Great Forest King Heo Do-yun was nothing other than this—burn down the entire Heavenly Demon Cult Main Hall.

"Hehe. Since this land will belong to us Forest Bandits, shouldn't the buildings of those vicious cult members be brought down?"

Jang Hap-jung muttered so to himself and smiled with satisfaction.

Just as he was wiping the sweat from his brow, someone was seen ascending Tianshan from the opposite side.

"Who goes there!"

Jang Hap-jung called out and drew his sword with a shing. It was a massive broadsword of enormous size.

The 2 young men who had climbed up from the other side wore expressions of utter bafflement.

"Jeong-min was right. They really are setting fire to things."

"'Who goes there'—anyone who heard that might think this was their home."

They were none other than the brothers of the Hyeok Family—Hyeok Jang-ho and Hyeok Mun-ha.