Chapter 181 : Hall of Subduing Demons
Hall of Subduing Demons
"Something to do? What are you talking about?"
Baek Il-gang halted in his tracks and asked. With his brow deeply furrowed, he spoke rapidly.
"I know you have a deep grudge with him, but right now, we are completely in his domain. I'm saying the timing isn't right!"
"I understand."
Jeong-un nodded.
The man had vanished into the darkness, and even now, countless lifeless corpses were rising from the ground.
The thick, straight sword strike—bursting energy—Jeong-un had just unleashed had carved an open path, but even as they spoke, the gap was quickly being filled.
"That's why I must stay."
"Young Hero Yu!"
"If you head straight in the direction I sent the sword strike, you'll find a door different from the entrance we came through. Cross that threshold. That is the Gate of Life."
Jeong-un's voice brimmed with certainty.
It was because he had already grasped the structure of the formation here.
He had identified all the elements of the formation's true ki by shattering them through a cultivated power wave just a moment ago.
Anyone deeply versed in formations would have been aghast by this.
To analyze a formation's structure by detonating a ki wave?
It was truly unprecedented.
"......!"
At that moment, Zhao Gang, who had been listening anxiously to Baek Il-gang's and Jeong-un's conversation, widened his eyes.
If they could locate the Gate of Life, it meant they could also find the core of the formation.
Zhao Gang hurriedly spoke up.
"What do you plan to do if you stay?"
"I will kill him."
"That's not it."
As Zhao Gang spoke firmly, Jeong-un looked at him with a perplexed expression.
Zhao Gang continued with a steely face.
"Endure and safeguard your body. By now, father should be nearby. We'll exit and return with reinforcements. Hold him here until then. Killing him comes after."
"... Understood."
Jeong-un nodded.
Zhao Gang must have wanted to get his sister Zhao Yeong-ryeong out quickly.
Yet, Zhao Gang waited for Baek Il-gang's and Jeong-un's dispute to end, and even promised to return.
Then Jeong-un spoke to Baek Il-gang again.
"Hurry up and go."
"Young Hero Yu!"
"You promised to safely bring them out, didn't you?"
"......!"
Baek Il-gang's gaze unconsciously moved to Zhao Yeong-ryeong.
His eyes carried complex, subtle emotions. He knew that man had used Zhao Yeong-ryeong to lure Yu Jeong-un.
In truth, it was a miracle she had survived. Conversely, it meant the man had no particular interest in someone like Zhao Yeong-ryeong.
He found no need to kill her after using her.
But if a similar incident happened again, could anyone guarantee she'd survive?
No one knew.
Memories from childhood welled up in Baek Il-gang's mind before he realized it.
"......."
For a moment, emotions flickered across Baek Il-gang's face.
Eventually, he slowly spoke up.
"I will definitely return, so stay alive."
"Understood."
With that, Jeong-un once more swung Dragon Sky, sheathed in golden bursting energy.
The long, descending arc stretched in front of him, then shot forward as a beam of light.
It was a single strike that once again split the already narrow passage.
"Who's worrying about whom?"
Baek Il-gang let out a small, wry chuckle at the sight.
That was the end of it.
Without hesitation, he turned his back on Jeong-un and dashed off in the opposite direction.
Once a decision was made, moving swiftly without delay was everything.
"......."
Jeong-un also tore his gaze away from their receding figures and turned around.
Although they were surrounded by a huge number of jiangshi in this place, in truth, these fiends were not the strongest.
His companions would break through and find the Gate of Life.
Ta-ak.
As he took a step forward, he instantly performed a lightness skill, almost as if flying.
He headed toward the palace-like building, easily swinging his sword to slash down jiangshi as he advanced.
Hwaaaak.
Beyond the shattered threshold, the chilling energy emanating from within was incredibly thick.
Even ignorant commoners who knew not a single move of martial arts would have instinctively hesitated to enter.
Tadak.
Thus, he stepped inside again.
"......."
The scene he had first seen was gone, with darkness all around.
Even though light from outside spilled in, everything was enveloped in blackness.
Even the sounds from outside suddenly fell silent.
It was a silence verging on oppression. When he looked back, the door had closed at some point.
Even the debris of the broken entrance had fully restored itself.
With a composed expression, Jeong-un calmly surveyed the area and stepped forward.
Kung!
With a hefty thud that echoed loudly, he delivered a forcible stride brimming with cultivated power.
The effect of Powerless Steps had risen as his level improved. From the sole of his foot, a ki wave spread swiftly outward.
Saaaak—
Thick dust that had lain piled up was swept away as if by a strong gale, and in an instant, the darkness began to recede.
It was a truly mysterious sight—as if energy was regulating the realm of light.
Then, a voice sounded from the front.
"Is it all over?"
The black throne was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, it appeared as if the entire main Hall of the capital's pleasure house had been transported here.
The man sat right at its center with a table spread with food and wine before him.
"What are you doing? Come, sit."
The cult leader smiled and invited Jeong-un to sit.
"......"
Jeong-un stood still, watching.
Despite the ever-shifting environment, he maintained focus, calmly sending out a wave of ki to scan the man and his surroundings with not a shred of carelessness.
"Being cautious is good, but really, I just want to talk—"
Ta-ak.
Before the man could finish, Jeong-un moved forward.
Without sheathing Dragon Sky, still held low, it drew a painted trajectory.
Even before taking a step, the energy riding his veins surged fiercely.
Pushing off the ground, his foot sent a wave of ki blasting backward.
Paaang!
It was as if not his sword, but his body's form itself had become wrapped in golden light.
The afterimage stretched long, creating a trailing tail of light.
In a flash, he closed several sheets of distance and arrived directly in front of the man.
Saaaak!
A strike like a flash of light swept horizontally.
The table set with wine in front of the man shattered into fragments, flying through the air.
Through the debris, Jeong-un met the man's gaze.
Was the man oblivious to being cut?
The corners of his lips arched up into a curve, as if forming a smile.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the scene in front of his eyes changed.
'It's certain.'
Jeong-un whispered internally as he turned his gaze toward where the man had reappeared in the distance, leaning on a balcony railing and looking down on him.
'This isn't martial arts. He's being aided by formation spells.'
A formation blending reality and illusion was enabling the man's strange movements.
Even the natural energy circulating here seemed to flow for the man's benefit.
The source of that deceptive movement was the same.
Seeing the flow so clearly now, Jeong-un was utterly convinced.
The man spoke in a leisurely tone.
"How many times do you have to check? Your intuition is right. Here, you cannot cut me down."
"......."
"If you're thinking to buy time until your companions escape, you needn't bother. I'll leave them unharmed. You must have noticed I didn't kill that woman?"
"What's your aim?"
"Aim?"
The cult leader smiled, his lips curling smoothly upwards.
Then he leapt-nimbly over the railing and landed softly.
Fwik.
With a single wave of his hand, the table that had been smashed in the previous attack reassembled itself perfectly in place, its shattered pieces forcibly snapped back together.
This was clearly not a skill forged from martial arts.
"Think about it. How many times have I spared your life until now? Don't you think you ought to grant me a chance as well, given that?"
"......."
"Or just keep slashing at thin air if you want. I'll wait until all your energy is spent."
Jeong-un stood quietly, staring at him.
The man's words were not wrong.
Back from the Divine Physician's cave to the cliffs of Mount Song, the man had many chances to kill him but didn't.
Jeong-un had chased the man this far precisely because he wanted to know why.
'Most of all, right now...'
While watching the man closely, Jeong-un continued to use his ki sense to survey the surroundings.
The answer lay in the flow of energy.
He instinctively realized this.
As the man said, even if he kept charging and swinging his sword, he'd likely just slice up empty air.
'To kill him, I must break the core of the formation.'
The formation comprised eight gates, including the Open Gate, rest Gate, and, recently discovered, the Gate of Life.
The place he was in right now was the Gate of Death. The man must also have realized Jeong-un had figured this out.
Still, there was a reason Jeong-un entered here.
The flow of energy here moved in a circular pattern, as if centered directly on the Gate of Death.
That must mean the formation's core was here.
At that moment, the cult leader said,
"Truly, you won't sit down?"
"... Speak from there. I'll give you a moment."
Jeong-un let his sword hang low and spoke slowly, standing calmly at a distance.
Seeing this, the man chuckled and went on.
"Aren't you curious?"
"What do you mean?"
"The foundation of your current growth. That cultivation pill the old man left."
"......"
Jeong-un fell silent. Indeed, the Immortal Spirit Pill had played a huge part in who he was now.
It had rapidly increased his inner energy, which was otherwise lacking compared to his keen ki sense and innate martial talent.
He didn't even know how he had ingested it. He simply awoke after passing out, feeling unknown inner energy settled in his dantian.
'It wasn't the man's intention.'
The man had meant to kill him—he'd said so himself, and looked regretful after seeing the Immortal Spirit Pill.
That meant the man also encountered something unexpected.
"That cultivation pill was a required reagent for my formation. The old man used an alchemy method known only to him to forge a supremely pure pill. It was essential to the formation I'm trying to enact."
"A reagent for the formation?"
"But you consumed every last bit of it. In its incomplete, tampered form as the old man had intended. In a way, it worked for me too. The energy, which would have simply dispersed into the air, instead was preserved—only its vessel changed."
"What are you talking about?"
Jeong-un tipped his head and questioned, his brow now furrowed. The words sounded deeply meaningful.
"The formation I intend to wield demands extremely refined ki. In vast quantities. Just like the inner power now residing in your body."
"... So that's why you kept me alive."
Finally understanding the man's intent, Jeong-un muttered in response. Then, as if realizing something, he asked,
"You, the one who stole Shaolin's brazen bell...?"
"Yes, that was also a reagent for the formation. The bell endured the Tendon Changing Classic of Shaolin monks for centuries, imbued layer after layer with the prayers of tens, hundreds of thousands of the ignorant. Not even their elder abbot knew its true worth. It's quite amusing, really."
Jeong-un recalled when Elder Mu Jung had ordered Do-un to fetch any old iron bell as a replacement.
Indeed, it seemed they had no lingering regret for the already-lost brazen bell.
Others felt the same. Many thought the man had merely done it to disgrace Shaolin.
'It was a reagent for the formation...?'
What kind of formation could possibly require such materials?
Jeong-un unconsciously clenched his fist, sensing the prelude to something deeply unusual.
Then, the man spoke again.
"And..."
The cult leader smiled at Jeong-un.
"The final piece remaining for me is—you."