novelraw Chapter 57 : The Empty Lord (1)
Chapter 57 : The Empty Lord (1)
Thud.
I walked towards the first elder.
The first elder extended her hand towards me and did something.
"D-don't come!"
I could feel a strange sensation entering my body. I flicked away the dissonance that was trying to enter my body. And with the sensation I had just felt, I could tell how the first elder had touched my senses.
'A twist in the order.'
Filling the great meridians with internal energy starts from the first great meridian.
'The first elder had twisted this order by touching the minor meridians.'
Instead of filling the internal energy from the first great meridian, it would fill from the second or third great meridian, or it would skip the third, fourth, and fifth great meridians after the second great meridian and go directly to the sixth great meridian.
'And by using the minor meridians, she makes himself mistakenly believe that she is properly filling the internal energy from the first great meridian.'
Therefore, the first elder's sensory confusion works better on people who have pierced many great meridians, that is, people with a higher realm.
The means to play with become endless. Especially in my case, where I have one more great meridian than others, it would have been a field day.
Well, for me, who has achieved the Reversal of Heaven and has completely reversed the order of the great meridians, playing with just the order is now nothing more than child's play.
"H-how are you moving! Ma-ryong should be dead!"
Looking at it this way, the first elder, the Illusion Demon, as she had said, had a rather unimpressive physical ability.
At best, the end of the Peak.
It was just surprising that she had entered the Demonic Zenith with such a physical ability.
'If we only look at the talent for handling the minor meridians, it would have to be seen as being in the top three of the martial world.'
Therefore, it is now visible.
Now that I have entered the Demonic Zenith and have understood the principle of the first elder's handling of the minor meridians to some extent.
I could understand why the first elder had made such a choice.
Although I had also felt it early on, the balance between the great and minor meridians was important. If the balance was broken in either of them, one side was bound to collapse.
The first elder was born with a weak great meridian side. On the other hand, her minor meridian side was far superior to others. In recent years, she had almost cultivated her ability to the extreme, at least in terms of the minor meridians.
Perhaps at some point, one side had begun to collapse at a tremendous speed.
It was obvious at a glance which side that was.
'It must have been the great meridian.'
Because it was weak from the beginning.
For the first elder, the only escape route turned out to be the entrance to hell.
She must have been afraid to watch herself go back to the past. She must have watched herself grow weaker day by day.
To deny that, the first elder would have done everything she could, and the last thing she had reached, with the feeling of wanting to grab even a straw, would have been betrayal.
'Because she would have believed even a passing quack if they had said they could fix it.'
Since I had also gone through the same process, I knew all too well what that frustration was like.
Perhaps the me of today could have solved the physical defect that the first elder had.
A simple change of perspective.
The first elder was one whose minor meridians were superior to others. If she could control others' minor meridians, wouldn't it have been a piece of cake to just detach her own minor meridians and attach them to the great meridians?
Well, the idea of doing this itself is ridiculous.
If I hadn't regressed, I would have never tried it in my life.
And there was no need to tell this fact to the first elder, who had tried to kill me.
"Don't come any closer!"
Thud.
The first elder stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, crawling.
"H-how are you moving! You're the one who should be crawling due to sensory confusion!"
The first elder threw her sword to keep me from approaching. The sword, which had no power at all, was no threat to me. After that, she kept throwing things like sand and stones, but as expected, they were no threat.
"He was definitely dead! I saw it with my own eyes!"
Thump!
The first elder, who had been continuously backing away, was blocked by a pillar. Then her attitude changed abruptly.
"S-save me. I'll never betray the Heavenly Demon Cult again. Huh? It's true! I'll do whatever you say!"
I raised my sword.
"If you were me, would you save the guy who tried to kill you?"
I swung my sword.
And the sword was deflected.
Someone suddenly appeared.
"That's enough. I quite like this guy's ability."
"The sheep mask?"
"I need to hide my identity."
The sheep mask held the first elder. I, of course, had no intention of letting the first elder live, so I swung my sword again with the intention of cutting him along with the sheep mask. Just then, the sheep mask lightly swung his arm.
A tremendous wind pressure came over me.
"Cough!"
I had suffered an internal injury. If I hadn't raised my internal energy to protect myself for a moment, I might have died.
'This guy is strong. Beyond imagination.'
As soon as I got up, propping myself up with my sword on the ground, I was about to rush forward with all my might. Just then, the sheep mask's tremendous momentum came over me.
"That's enough."
'I'm going to die.'
A fear I had never felt before in my life.
When I met the eyes in the mask, I had the illusion of looking into a bottomless pit.
This pressure.
'It's similar to when I faced the Heavenly Demon.'
This meant that the sheep mask was a master who had risen to the Soul Detachment realm.
"Hmm... I want to kill you right here, but if I were to recklessly mess things up in his territory, his anger would come upon me."
The one wearing the sheep mask stared at me intently.
"Is it still worth killing?"
I had a hunch.
That I could die even from a light gesture of the one wearing the sheep mask now.
"Alright! I've decided. I'll let you live for now. Looking at you now, it seems you're not worth killing."
The one wearing the sheep mask took the first elder and left as he was.
Thud.
I collapsed on the spot.
Yang So-pyeong, the first elder, and the sheep mask are connected as one.
'If that person is also a member of the third force?'
In the future, the martial world will surely face a great chaos because of that person.
'Should I inform the Heavenly Demon Cult of this fact?'
No! The sheep mask's eyes and ears must already be all over the Heavenly Demon Cult.
If I were to return to the Heavenly Demon Cult like this, I would be placed under their surveillance, and there was a high possibility that I would be killed without anyone knowing.
Even if I were to survive by luck, I would have to live my whole life in fear of when I would die.
Therefore, returning to the Heavenly Demon Cult, where I don't know who their spies are, was the worst choice.
'The sheep mask just said it was his territory.'
In other words, it had to be seen that the sheep mask was afraid of the person called 'he'.
Is 'he' here 'the Heavenly Demon'?
Or it could be someone else from the same third force.
For now, I continued to think under the assumption that it was the Heavenly Demon.
But the information I had now was too poor for that.
'I need more information.'
But if I were to reveal myself openly, they would surely hide as they had before.
In fact, I hadn't noticed their existence, both before and after my regression, until they had revealed themselves.
In the current situation, a person whom they did not know was needed.
It had to be a completely new person.
Only then could I avoid their suspicion.
And it had to be someone with enough skill to make it difficult for them to kill. At the very least, it had to be someone who could get themselves out of a crisis situation.
In the current situation, the most suitable person for this condition was my junior sister. But my junior sister had already been revealed to the Heavenly Demon Cult.
There was a very high possibility that my junior sister was also under their surveillance. If I were to tell my junior sister this fact and she were to show a strange movement, they might try to kill my junior sister as well.
I couldn't let my junior sister, who might become the strongest force to resist them in the future, die.
My junior sister must be saved.
And within the Heavenly Demon's fence, they wouldn't be able to do anything suspicious.
If this is the case.
'Is it only me?'
A person who is most suitable for the above conditions and has a certain level of skill.
The moment I return to the Heavenly Demon Cult, I will be under their surveillance again.
To do something, now was the best time.
Was a honey-sucking life so difficult?
What was certain was that as long as they existed, it was impossible to live a honey-sucking life.
Because every time I met someone, I had to suspect if they were the person who had come to kill me.
'My life's greatest goal, for a honey-sucking life, their existence will surely be a huge obstacle in my life.'
To be honest, I have no feelings for them. The problem was that they were trying to kill me.
'Of all the many people, why are they trying to kill me?'
Do I have a secret of birth that I don't know about?
'No way. My family is a family of the lowest of the low, gamblers and courtesans for generations.'
Could it be that my father had scammed them out of a large sum of money? If so.
-How about it?
'Dad! You're amazing!'
Whether it's for a good reason or a bad one.
The best choice I could make now was one.
'For the ultimate honey deal, I...'
I chose the one among the scattered corpses that was most similar to my body shape.
* * *
Murong Seryeong ran.
Figures wearing demon masks appeared and blocked her way.
Slice!
Without a moment's hesitation, Murong Seryeong cut them down.
Slice!
They didn't just take it either. Their martial prowess was surprisingly outstanding. But Murong Seryeong did not slow down, regardless of whether she got a scratch on her body or not.
'I have to go quickly!'
The longer it took, the more dangerous Yoo Jae-ha was.
As that came to mind, Murong Seryeong felt an unknown frustration and fear welling up. Her mind went blank. Her feet, which were kicking off the ground, became even more fierce.
She didn't know how many she had cut down.
It seemed that she had killed at least twenty.
In proportion to that, the wounds on her body had also increased.
Especially the cut on her side was deep.
The blood that had flowed from Murong Seryeong's body was creating a long line where she had passed. But she did not stop.
Finally, Murong Seryeong arrived at the main gate of the Heavenly Demon Cult. Creak. The gate opened, and a familiar woman was visible.
"Unni?"
The one on duty at the main gate today was Yoo Su-a.
Murong Seryeong was grateful to the heavens that the first person she had discovered was Yoo Su-a. Forcing open her eyes, which were constantly trying to close, she barely opened her mouth and said.
"He... is in danger..."
Right after, Murong Seryeong fainted.
Yoo Su-a knew who 'he' was the moment she heard it. Yoo Su-a gave Murong Seryeong a simple treatment, just enough so that she wouldn't die, and then immediately kicked off the ground, following the bloodstains on the ground.
With each step, a corpse wearing a mask was visible.
It was easy to tell who had killed them.
Yoo Su-a moved her feet even faster.
The bloodstains led into the mountain and were cut off in front of a certain building.
Yoo Su-a burst open the door and went inside.
Inside, countless corpses were scattered here and there.
Yoo Su-a rummaged through all the corpses and checked their faces.
Fortunately, her senior brother was not there.
Just then, two huge qi waves erupted from one side.
Crash, crash, crash!
The two qi waves were colliding with each other. It seemed that a fight was taking place.
And one of the two was very familiar to Yoo Su-a.
"Senior brother!"
Yoo Su-a immediately kicked off the ground.
The place she arrived at, someone was standing with their back turned, looking down at the ground.
Her senior brother was lying there, not moving at all.
"S-senior brother?"
The one who had turned his back took out a piece of tinder from his bosom, lit it, and then threw it at her senior brother and ran away.
"Senior brother!"
Yoo Su-a immediately kicked off the ground. She drew the sword she had and threw it with all her might at the one who was running away.
Slice!
She had aimed for the heart, but it had only grazed his right arm. This showed that that person's martial arts were by no means low.
Yoo Su-a no longer chased after that person and extinguished the fire that was on her senior brother.
Although the clothes he was wearing and his skin were all burned, it was definitely her senior brother's.
His body shape was also a perfect match for her senior brother.
However, his face was burned and had changed so that its shape could not be recognized, but every other part was telling her that it was her senior brother.
And her senior brother had already lost his life.
"Senior brother!"
Yoo Su-a cried out loud.
"I'll kill you!"
She swore that she would definitely find and kill the one who had killed her senior brother.
Meanwhile, the one who was running away was clutching his right arm and letting out a big sigh of relief.
He had really thought he was going to die when the sword had come flying from behind. He had been able to dodge it by twisting his body. And yet, if it had been cut a little deeper, his arm would have been cut off.
"In my past life, my stomach was pierced, and in this life, I almost became a cripple. For now, I'll have to hide in the safe house that only I know from my past life and watch the situation."
So far, everything was going according to plan.
And so, the safe house he arrived at, there was someone.
"Who are you?"
There was definitely no one in his past life.
The plan went wrong right away.
(End of Chapter)