Chapter 235 : Using the Fake to Confuse the Real (2)
Chapter 235: Using the Fake to Confuse the Real (2)
It was the moment Seo Dongtak hurled his axe and severed the enemy’s neck.
None of the five noticed it, but there were three more shadows nearby that had perfectly concealed their presence.
[This is truly absurd. The Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect joining hands with bandits?]
[Hmph, foolish Central Plains people. To think they’re being toyed with by nothing more than a fake treasure map.]
[Junior Brother, what are we doing? Do we strike immediately?]
Naturally, those voices belonged to Nameless, Seori, and Sewoon.
Anticipating that a fierce battle would soon erupt, the two sent a telepathic message to Sewoon. However, Sewoon remained silent, calmly fixing his gaze solely on Gal Cheonwi through the Eye of Spectral Perception.
A strange light surfaced in Sewoon’s eyes as he caught a subtle change.
‘Found you.’
Even though the man had fled all the way here while concealing it to the very end, Sewoon finally detected it.
The source of energy writhing within the man’s physical body.
It was unmistakably demonic qi.
‘This is an aura I’ve definitely seen before my regression.’
And it was the power of someone Sewoon remembered.
Although he had not stood on the front lines of the war against the Blood Cult like the White Path Union or the Anti-Blood Alliance, Sewoon had often clashed with remnants of the Demonic Cult.
—You filthy heretics!
—By the command of the exalted Demon God, I shall mete out punishment upon you!
Because on occasion, fanatics of the Demonic Cult—those who revered the Heavenly Demon as their sole god—would break their silence and appear to attack the Blood Cult.
And the existence before his eyes was one of them.
When the Blood Demon proclaimed himself the god of demons and began washing the Central Plains and the martial world in blood,
the actions of the Demonic Cult, which had remained silent until then, split into two paths.
Either they continued their silence as before, waiting for the true Heavenly Demon to descend once more,
—My name is Naeng Cheonhwi.
—I am the one who will send you, who dared falsely invoke the name of the Demon God, to the side of the true Demon God.
or, like Naeng Cheonhwi before the regression, they denied the Blood Demon himself and went on a mad rampage.
The reason Sewoon remembered this man so clearly was because their battle had become a crucial turning point.
‘Yes, it was about a year before the final day.’
One year before meeting his death at the hands of the Blood Demon.
It was a time when he was striving relentlessly to surpass the peak of the Manifestation Realm.
While heading toward Henan under the Blood Demon’s orders, Naeng Cheonhwi appeared.
The man who emerged out of nowhere single-handedly slew the Soundwave Lute Demon who had been traveling with Sewoon, and annihilated the Blood Cult’s combat unit as well.
In the end, left alone, Sewoon fought a life-and-death battle with him, and by relying on the power of Reverse Heaven Qi, barely managed to kill the opponent, who was only at the early stage of the Manifestation Realm.
Afterward, Sewoon took a curved jade emitting a mysterious light that had been hanging from the man’s neck.
‘That became one of the core materials that played a decisive role in completing the Invisible Dagger, which had been failing repeatedly.’
Because Naeng Cheonhwi met his death before Sewoon could ask what the curved jade truly was, its true nature remained unknown to the very end.
‘The curved jade used to emit a unique qi wave. Since I feel nothing now, it seems he doesn’t have it on him this time.’
It was unfortunate, but unavoidable.
There were simply too many differences compared to when they had met before the regression.
Sewoon half-lowered his eyelids.
Having confirmed the presence or absence of the curved jade, the next step was to precisely measure Naeng Cheonhwi’s current martial prowess.
‘He’s still at the early stage of the Manifestation Realm. Was that the wall of his realm?’
From the Twin Death Ghosts to Seo Dongtak and even the Orthodox Sword Master, none had surpassed the extreme of the Transformation Realm.
Since the gap between the Transformation Realm and the Manifestation Realm was incomparable, Naeng Cheonhwi would not face any danger at all here.
For now, it was confirmed that there were no variables.
Sewoon began to think.
Naeng Cheonhwi was an existence of the Demonic Cult.
An existence of the Demonic Cult was using a treasure map to create chaos.
Since the Demonic Cult would never casually reveal the Heavenly Demon’s legacy to outsiders, this was clearly meant to lure someone using this information.
At last, Sewoon reached a conclusion.
‘The Demonic Cult is using a fake treasure map to lure me.’
He now understood the entire situation.
But once his thoughts reached that point, Sewoon’s mind abruptly veered in a completely different direction.
Once again, a scheme—one that had tormented countless enemies—was rapidly being constructed in Sewoon’s mind.
‘If the Demonic Cult is trying to lure me, then this actually works in my favor.’
Considering the urgent situation where Shaanxi might be attacked by the Blood Cult at any moment, the best response would have been to ignore Naeng Cheonhwi before him and move toward the location engraved on Seori’s treasure map.
However—
‘Instead, I’ll make use of you.’
This was a golden opportunity.
An opportunity to thoroughly exploit the hidden strength and power of the Demonic Cult, which had remained silent during the war against the Blood Cult before the regression.
Just as Sewoon completed his plan—
[It looks like a life-and-death battle is about to break out. What should we do?]
[Leave it to me. This lady will wipe them all out.]
Telepathic messages arrived from Nameless and Seori.
The two seemed eager to annihilate everyone before the pursuers climbed up and things became bothersome.
[Everyone, stay quiet. I’ll handle this alone.]
Sewoon ordered them to wait.
Nameless tilted his head in confusion.
[Huh? There are a lot of pursuers. Wouldn’t it be better to finish things as quickly as possible?]
[No.]
[What matters here is what kind of ‘image’ I show.]
[……??]
What kind of image, and to whom?
Nameless and Seori could only blink their eyes in unison.
Ignoring them entirely, Sewoon stretched out both hands.
Shrrrk.
Whish!
Threads of the Heavenly Net poured out like tangled yarn, wrapping around his hands at an incredible speed.
In no time, the form of black gloves was completed over Sewoon’s hands.
But that was not all.
Shraaaa!
‘Go on. Run wild to your heart’s content. Ice Wheel Thread.’
The energy within Sewoon spread chaotically into the surroundings, and in an instant, a massive environmental transformation took place.
The destructive aftermath of the Ice Wheel Thread, strengthened even further after absorbing all the power of the ice crystal brought by Seori.
Within the snowfield that had frozen white—
Step.
Sewoon calmly walked straight into the battlefield.
‘…Just who in the world is that man?’
The suspicious individual, who bore the appearance of an utterly ordinary merchant, could not discern his true identity at all.
But one thing was certain.
This absurd change had been created by that man.
Crunch!
Seo Dongtak tightened his grip on the axe handle and spoke.
“Who are you?”
“…….”
But the opponent gave no answer.
From the moment he appeared, he simply fixed his chilling gaze on a single person—
Naeng Cheonhwi—without looking elsewhere.
At that moment, the mysterious man opened his mouth.
“It truly was a clamorous summons.”
“……!”
A remark utterly out of place.
Yet for reasons he could not understand, Naeng Cheonhwi felt his heart suddenly drop.
‘W-What? Why am I…?’
Though he forced himself to appear calm on the surface, he could not even part his lips in response to the man’s words.
The instant he met Sewoon’s eyes, he felt as though his entire body were being dragged into a deep mire, pulled somewhere beyond his control.
He did not know it, but the reason was simple.
Swoooosh!
The power contained within the Silver Moon Great Axe, the divine artifact of the Faint Silver Heavenly Demon that had become the origin of the Ice Wheel Thread, was unconsciously disturbing his qi.
All demonic practitioners of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult could never defy the power of their master, the Heavenly Demon.
The four sensed something amiss with Naeng Cheonhwi.
But unable to discern the reason, they could only feel puzzled.
Then, Seo Dongtak let out a furious roar.
“I asked who you are! Speak at once, or—!”
Step.
Ignoring him completely, Sewoon took another step forward.
“Is this truly the form you desired?”
“……!!”
Thud.
As Sewoon’s words continued, Naeng Cheonhwi, seemingly grasping something at last, lost strength in his legs and collapsed to the ground.
At the sudden sight, all four revealed their shock.
‘What is it? What in the world is that?!’
‘Who is that man exactly—wait! Ice arts?!’
‘Then could he be… from the North Sea Ice Palace of Shanxi?!’
The Twin Death Ghosts and the Orthodox Sword Master guessed Sewoon’s identity as a demonic practitioner of the North Sea Ice Palace.
‘How dare he! This bastard dares to ignore me?!’
That was, of course, except for Seo Dongtak, whose eyes had turned red with rage at being dismissed.
The thick veins bulged on his brow as his words were brushed aside.
“Tch, enough. He’s just a bug who doesn’t know his place, crawling here to covet the treasure map.”
“W-wait! Stop, Fortress Lord Seo!”
“It’s too late, Malco!!”
Bang!
Boom!!
As Seo Dongtak stamped down with true force, a thunderous roar echoed as if the earth itself were shattering.
The Green Tiger Heaven-Shaking Qi that had raised him to the Transformation Realm surged through every meridian, and in a single step he arrived before the mysterious man.
Shriek!
Rumble!!
With a deafening crash like lightning falling from the heavens—
“Die!!”
Shraaaa!
With the intent to cleave the mysterious man in half from head to toe, Seo Dongtak’s ultimate technique, Axe of Myriad Heavens, was unleashed.
Destructive energy surged violently, yet the mysterious man did not make the slightest movement to evade.
He merely looked at the axe blade that had reached his very eyes and murmured,
“A great axe… a nostalgic weapon indeed.”
Seo Dongtak could not grasp the meaning of those muttered words.
But—
‘Ah… ahh…’
Only Naeng Cheonhwi trembled violently, letting out a stifled groan.
Then it happened.
Tap.
“?!”
Seo Dongtak’s eyes shook violently, as though struck by an earthquake.
So did the eyes of everyone watching, including the Twin Death Ghosts.
No one saw how it happened, but the mysterious man had stopped Seo Dongtak’s cleaving strike by pinching the axe blade between his thumb and index finger.
“A weapon far too extravagant for its master.”
“W-What?!”
Seo Dongtak trembled, unable to comprehend the situation unfolding before him.
Yet the axe did not move an inch.
‘Why… why?!’
It felt as though Mount Tai itself had descended upon his axe.
Shudder.
At the same time, Seo Dongtak’s body—built like two strong men combined—began to tremble violently like a quaking tree.
“Therefore, I shall take it.”
“Ah.”
Crack.
The mysterious man took the Great Axe from Seo Dongtak’s grasp.
Then, pointing a finger at him, he said,
“You may vanish now.”
“……!!”
Swoooooosh!
Crack—crackle!
At the same time, a horrific sight unfolded.
There had been no detectable change in qi whatsoever—
“W-Wh—?!”
“What… what is that?!”
“Th-that—what is happening?!”
Seo Dongtak’s entire body was freezing solid, turning pure white like the snowfield itself.
Sensing his end, Seo Dongtak turned his back on the mysterious man and tried desperately to flee.
Crack—crackle!
But his feet were already fused to the ground, frozen solid like ice.
‘N-no…!!’
Crack!
In the end, without even managing to utter a final word, he met a pitiful and futile death.
‘W-What… what in the world is this?’
For the first time in his life, fear shone in the eyes of the Zhongnan Sect’s Sect Leader, the Orthodox Sword Master.
But regardless of his terror—
Shing!
“Now then, let us move on to the next.”
With a cold smile, Sewoon lifted the axe he had taken.