novelraw Chapter 23 : Preliminary Round (2)
Chapter 23 : Preliminary Round (2)
The Divine Demon Tournament is not simply a competition held among the rising stars.
On a small scale, it is a competition to select the best rising star of the era, and on a large scale, it is also a place to prove the prestige of the strongest faction of the era.
Countless renowned masters come to the Heavenly Demon Cult to watch and participate in the Divine Demon Tournament.
And they pay their respects to the Heavenly Demon.
The Heavenly Demon receives their respects as if it were a matter of course.
A feast of submission held nationwide, so to speak.
The first to break the order was the Heretical Path Alliance, which boasted a history and tradition of submission.
The heretical factions, whether large or small, had never once had their influence broken in the past.
They survived even in the era of the Orthodox Faction.
And they were still surviving in the era of the demonic path.
Through countless eras, they had learned the best way to survive. That was to thoroughly hide their own beliefs if they could not become the best.
Because they had been vividly watching since ancient times that a bamboo that does not bend will one day break.
The Heavenly Demon Hall.
Five giants are paying their respects to only one person.
The five who are currently bowing their waists were of the same generation as the sect leaders of each faction, and they possessed a martial prowess that would not be strange even if they were to call the elders standing on both sides of the Lord's Hall their sworn brothers.
Nevertheless, they were bowing their waists with all their might.
When you bow, you bow for sure.
This was the reason why the Five Heretical Factions, who reigned as the weakest of the demonic path, had maintained their lineage until now.
"The Heavenly Demon Cult never treats its friends poorly. Raise your heads."
"The broad tolerance of the Heavenly Demon Cult is nothing short of admirable every time I encounter it! And this is our small token of sincerity!"
The King of the Green Forest, who was in charge of one axis of the Heretical Path Alliance, was the first to speak in a gruff voice. However, unlike his rather lighthearted behavior, the things he had brought to the Heavenly Demon Cult were by no means light.
Under the guidance of the King of the Green Forest, numerous A-frames came in. On them were spiritual medicines that could be obtained from the mountains, so much so that one's eyes would widen just by looking at them.
"Oh!"
At the exclamations of the Heavenly Demon Cult elders coming from both sides, the King of the Green Forest was relieved and relaxed his stiff expression.
'Fortunately, it seems to have worked this time too!'
An A-frame that would raise the heated atmosphere was entering the Lord's Hall.
"No!"
"That is!"
The long-awaited reactions!
The last A-frame revealed itself in front of the Heavenly Demon. On it were three white ginsengs that were emitting a faint cold energy.
Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.
It was inferior to the ten-thousand-year snow ginseng, which was called a legendary treasure, but it was proud to be the best among the snow ginsengs that could be obtained at present.
Because those three roots were what the Green Forest had found after searching the entire mountain.
"The friendship between the Green Forest and the Heavenly Demon Cult will remain unchanged in the future."
When the long-awaited words finally came from the Heavenly Demon, the King of the Green Forest bowed his waist low.
"The Green Forest will do the same!"
Now, for the next ten years until the next Divine Demon Tournament, it was publicly proven that the Green Forest would be under the protection of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
The King of the Green Forest was relieved by the fact that he had earned peace for the Green Forest for the next ten years, and now, he stepped aside and leisurely waited for the next feast, which was now someone else's business.
The King of the Yangtze River Water Fortress stepped forward.
The King of the Yangtze River followed exactly what the King of the Green Forest had done before. As expected, numerous A-frames came in. In the process, the A-frames that the King of the Green Forest had brought were being moved somewhere in the Heavenly Demon Cult one by one.
"Oh!"
In the meantime, at the exclamations of the elders, the King of the Yangtze River also let out a sigh of relief.
A pungent aroma spread throughout the hall.
What the King of the Yangtze River had brought was none other than alcohol.
And a whopping several hundred barrels of it.
A feast of alcohol that could be drunk for several years!
There were very few martial artists who disliked alcohol.
Pop!
When the lid of the last jar that came in was opened, a different aroma from before filled the hall.
It was cool and refreshing.
"It is a liquor in which a thousand-year-old polygonum multiflorum has been soaked for a hundred years!"
Compared to the thousand-year snow ginseng from before, it was inferior, but it was certain that the thousand-year-old polygonum multiflorum was also an extremely precious spiritual medicine.
On top of that, the labor of over a cycle of time was added!
When its value was calculated, it was on par with the thousand-year snow ginseng.
Gulp!
The sound of swallowing saliva could be heard loudly from here and there.
"It's a fantastic aroma!"
"My mouth is already watering!"
At the continuous reactions of the elders, the King of the Green Forest's face crumpled, and a smile spread across the King of the Yangtze River's face.
"The friendship between the Yangtze River Water Fortress and the Heavenly Demon Cult will remain unchanged in the future."
The King of the Yangtze River, who had finally heard the words he wanted to hear, let out a sigh of relief and retreated to the side where the King of the Green Forest was.
Everyone's eyes were glued to the jars that were being taken out all at once, but their eyes naturally went to the one standing in front of the Heavenly Demon next.
Was it because the previous two had too much of an impact?
Everyone had expectant eyes.
The Master of the Underworld gives a light bow. Unlike before, he did not bow his waist completely, and the King of the Green Forest and the King of the Yangtze River clicked their tongues, but the Master of the Underworld did not pay them any attention.
"I have brought information."
What the Master of the Underworld had brought, unlike the other two before, was just a single piece of paper.
However, the Heavenly Demon's eyes, who saw it, could not be taken off the paper for a long time.
"Is this content really true?"
"If I were to offer a falsehood, my head would fly off, so of course it is true."
"The friendship between the Underworld and the Heavenly Demon Cult will remain unchanged in the future."
"Please feel free to use the Underworld as much as you want in the future."
The King of the Green Forest and the King of the Yangtze River were very displeased with the Master of the Underworld, who had paid his price with just a single piece of paper, unlike themselves who had poured in a fortune.
But what could they do? The Master of the Underworld smiled brightly at the two and stood next to them.
The next turn was the master of the assassination guild, the King of Assassins.
What the King of Assassins had brought was just a single wooden box.
Although they had not yet confirmed what was inside, everyone in this room had a rough idea of what was inside.
The assassination guild and a wooden box. What comes to mind is probably a head.
The important thing was whose head was inside.
"I couldn't come empty-handed, I'm not good with words, and this is all I know how to do."
The King of Assassins opened the wooden box himself.
And he picked up what was inside with his hand and held it up for everyone to see.
"Oh-ho! You caught that guy?"
"Where on earth did you catch that rat?"
For now, the elders' reactions were not bad compared to before.
What was held in the King of Assassins' hand was one of the former great pillars of the Orthodox Faction.
Officially, the Martial Alliance is currently completely disbanded.
But their remnants were still hiding like rats and causing riots from time to time.
The logic they were putting forward was the pursuit of the just right to reclaim their land.
Though it was a shitty reason from the perspective of the one being attacked.
The Heavenly Demon makes a light gesture.
Then, without any sign, the head burst into flames. In an instant, the head turned to ash, and only a musty smell indicated that something had just burned.
"The head of the Taeju, one of the ten pillars of the former Martial Alliance."
The Heavenly Demon continued.
"The friendship between the assassination guild and the Heavenly Demon Cult will remain unchanged in the future."
Nod. The King of Assassins, who had bowed his head briefly, moved to the side.
Now, only one person remained.
The leader of the Ronin Association, the King of Ronin, stood in front of the Heavenly Demon. He took out a book from his bosom.
At that moment, the elders' eyes sparkled.
If it's a book that would excite a martial artist, there's only one.
A martial arts manual.
"We ronin don't have a wide mountain like the Green Forest, a wide river like the Yangtze, a lot of information like the Underworld, or unity like the assassination guild. We are all different. Instead, we do whatever we are told."
In the Ronin Association, there was a request classified as one of the eight great mysteries.
If even one of them were to be solved, it would be something that would cause a very large ripple effect.
And the book the King of Ronin was holding now contained a clue that might solve one of the long-standing difficult problems.
"It is a map with the location of the Divine Thief's secret cave drawn on it. I don't know if it's real or fake, but I offer it to the Heavenly Demon Cult."
The one who was called the Divine Thief or the number one thief under the heavens.
The reason he came to be called the Divine Thief was when he robbed the imperial palace's martial arts library.
One day, the imperial palace suddenly put an absurd bounty on the Divine Thief. At this, people instinctively knew.
The Divine Thief had stolen something from the imperial palace.
But no one knew what the Divine Thief had stolen. The imperial palace was also keeping its mouth shut.
That was 100 years ago.
The Divine Thief was dead and gone, but the many legends he left behind were still being talked about at drinking parties.
A map with the location of the Divine Thief's secret cave.
If this was real, it was a treasure too great for the Ronin Association to hold. But if the target was the Heavenly Demon Cult, it was a different story.
The Heavenly Demon, who had glanced at the map, said.
"The friendship between the Ronin Association and the Heavenly Demon Cult will remain unchanged in the future."
The King of Ronin let out a sigh of relief and stepped aside. And the five masters of the heretical factions, having finished their business, left the Lord's Hall.
Outside the Lord's Hall, there was a person waiting for his turn with a dead-looking face, and the King of the Green Forest saw him and laughed gruffly, saying a word.
"Aigoo! To think I'd see you here! It's been a while. Heh heh."
At this, the person outside glared at the King of the Green Forest.
In the old days, it might have been different, but the gaze of a mere fallen being was not threatening at all.
"Look at those eyes! They're alive!"
Grind!
The sound of grinding teeth.
At that moment, the huge door of the hall opened, and a voice came from inside.
"Next, come in!"
"Amitabha."
The Divine Monk, who had recited the Buddha's name once, the highest-ranking member of the Orthodox Faction and the former abbot of the Shaolin Temple, went inside.
He looked at the Heavenly Demon who was sitting on the seat of honor and looking down at him, and he put his head on the ground and murmured.
"Thank you for calling this humble monk to such a precious place."
There is no such thing as a bamboo that does not bend in this world. Such things only exist in imagination.
The Divine Monk of the Orthodox Faction once had to make a decision.
Would he break and be completely annihilated?
Or would he bend and survive disgracefully?
The decision the Divine Monk made was the result of him being here now.
He had survived. He had pledged his submission disgracefully and miserably.
And so, the Heavenly Demon finally stopped the slaughter.
"It's been a while, Divine Monk."
At the Heavenly Demon's words, the Divine Monk raised his head.
In his eyes, the image of the previous Heavenly Demon still lingered. He was truly a monster, not a human. The person in front of him now was not him.
However, the nightmare was not over yet.
The Divine Monk recited the Buddha's name in his heart.
'Amitabha. I cannot fathom it.'
He had recently surpassed the Transformation Realm. This could be said to be a great fortune for the Orthodox Faction's martial world. On top of that, the invitation from the Heavenly Demon Cult came at just the right time.
He thought it was a golden opportunity, and he came himself.
To gauge the reduced gap.
But the gap was better when he didn't know. Between himself and the Heavenly Demon, there were countless walls that could not be overcome.
One second was enough for hope to turn into despair.
And the Heavenly Demon seemed to have guessed the reason he had come.
"Why? Did you think you could pull me down if you could see me?"
'Amitabha. Is that a monster?'
Just then, the door burst open! and two figures came inside.
The confident stride was clearly different from the masters of the Five Heretical Factions who had just left, looking around cautiously.
Their stride was full of confidence. The Divine Monk vaguely realized that it was a confidence that only those who had dedicated their entire lives to martial arts could have.
Because he himself had been like that.
The two figures acted as if they knew him.
"Bald monk! You're still alive?"
"I guess the air in the mountains is good?"
"Ugh...!"
The Divine Monk did not welcome the two's acquaintance, but he had no choice but to stay still. However, unlike the Heavenly Demon in front of him, the martial prowess of the two was not so shocking. To be honest, he thought he could take them on.
On the other hand, was it more surprising that those two had reached the Soul Detachment Realm?
The two did not pay their respects to the Heavenly Demon, but greeted him.
"Hehehe. This time, our Soma will definitely win."
A characteristic, unlucky laugh.
One of them was the Blood Demon.
"Heheh. Blood Demon! You must have gone completely crazy after being humiliated last time. The protagonist of this Divine Demon Tournament will be our So-pyeong!"
An attitude that was not at all inferior to the Blood Demon's.
The huge saber on his back was his identity.
Because in the martial world, the only one who carried a saber weighing over a hundred geun like that was the Sura Lord of the Sura Divine Cult.
And so, it was no exaggeration to say that all the top masters of the martial world were gathered here now.
A whopping four martial artists of the Soul Detachment or Profound Realm.
But the Heavenly Demon was not impressed at all.
The Heavenly Demon was not physically tired, but mentally a little tired from the endless stream of people who had flocked to him since early in the morning.
He had met almost everyone he needed to meet.
Now, he was thinking of dismissing this gathering. Just then, a report came up to the Heavenly Demon.
-He has applied.
"Sura! I told you our Soma will win!"
"Bullshit! Our Yang-pyeong will win!"
The Heavenly Demon suddenly cut into the two's conversation.
"The victory belongs to the Heavenly Demon Cult!"
At the unexpected outburst, everyone in the hall was at a loss for what to do.
A silence fell.