Chapter 8
Chapter 8:
3. Sword Energy Hardening (2)
Bandit Headquarters, Main Hall.
There were bandits rushing through the gate breathlessly, without even checking their wooden passes.
"Huff, huff, wh-where is the General Chief!"
The foremost bandit urgently requested a direct audience with the General Chief.
General Chief Heo Do-yun lived in a house carved into the mountain. Today had been a rare moment of family time, so his expression when he received the report was far from pleasant.
What Heo Do-yun heard at the end of the audience was that the Heavenly Demon Cult had killed Bae Hang-yeop.
And that they had issued a declaration of war.
"……"
Seventy-Two Forest Bandits' General Chief Heo Do-yun had long, fine hair that belied his title, and a slender frame compared to other bandits.
Of course, that slender frame was delicately packed with muscle, and there was not a single person who doubted he was the General Chief.
"So. Hang-yeop is dead……"
Heo Do-yun looked down at the white snake coiled around his neck.
When the snake bared its fangs and lunged at him, he immediately tightened his grip and seized its jaws shut.
"For those who don't know their place and run their mouths, cutting out the tongue is the finest punishment. Isn't that right?"
"General Chief. Now that the Heavenly Demon Cult has issued a declaration of war, we cannot sit idle."
One of Heo Do-yun's aides spoke in agreement.
Heo Do-yun gave a slight nod.
"Before I founded the Forest Bandits, I was a mercenary. When the war ended and I was denied recognition for my contributions—when I became a bandit—it was Hang-yeop who stayed by my side."
"General Chief……"
"I'm not angry. I simply miss him already."
Heo Do-yun's eyes drooped half-shut. Tears seemed to roll down, one by one.
Then he quietly issued his orders to the circle of officers surrounding him.
"Call in every Forest Bandit spread across Xinjiang and Xizang."
"A-a full-scale war?"
"General Chief. That is dangerous."
"General Chief, please reconsider."
Several officers raised objections, but Heo Do-yun continued as if he hadn't heard a word.
"This is the moment we take Tianshan. Those Qinghai Escort Bureau bastards were getting uppity as well—this works out just fine."
Great Forest King Heo Do-yun.
He was a man who always made good on his words.
His officers knew that truth better than anyone.
"Then how much time shall we allow?"
To the cautious question, Heo Do-yun nodded as though he had already decided.
"One month. We strike them then."
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Thud!
The door to the closed-door confinement slammed shut.
The Heavenly Demon Cult stood at the peak of Tianshan. And beneath the Main Hall were several confinement chambers.
The Punishment Cells.
Jeong-min had entered the darkest, most damp of the Punishment Cells.
"Huh. Can't see a thing."
His voice echoed and hummed.
Inside the confinement chamber where he couldn't see an inch ahead, Jeong-min calmly stretched one hand upward.
The ceiling was barely a fraction higher than his own height. The clearance was low.
Jeong-min moved his feet. One step, two steps—at the end of it, he realized that one side of this confinement chamber was roughly ten paces long.
Cramped, stale air, damp, and utterly dark. Not even a single bite of food would be provided.
"……"
In the deep, thick darkness, Jeong-min—broke into a slow grin.
"This is perfect."
Was there any more ideal space for training in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?
It was enough to make him wonder whether Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un had handed down the confinement sentence on purpose, to get Jeong-min to temper the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
"Huuu."
Jeong-min let out a long breath and sat down at the very center of the chamber.
A month was long, yet it would pass quickly. For the sake of training, there was not a single moment to waste.
'The Forest Bandits will be planning to strike the Heavenly Demon Cult at any time.'
They would gather every Forest Bandit from Xinjiang—and if possible, from Xizang as well.
That would take roughly a month. About the same time as when Jeong-min would be released from confinement.
Jeong-min might have to fight the Forest Bandits the moment he walked out of here.
"So there's no time to spare even for rest."
Jeong-min rose to his feet at once.
His calves had recovered well enough by now, and the muscle soreness had nearly faded.
And it was precisely at that moment, just as Jeong-min was about to begin his training.
"—?!"
Suddenly, Jeong-min's left arm began to move on its own.
Then it wrapped around his own throat and started to choke him.
"Kgh?!"
This force? This energy?
'The Demon Vein!'
The Demon Vein had gone berserk.
Jeong-min barely managed to pry his left hand away with his right.
The Demonic Energy lodged in his left hand began to surge, radiating a faint and dark light.
The Demon Vein that had been crawling up his left arm like a hatched pattern crossed his elbow and was about to reach his shoulder.
'Should I cut it off?'
In a split-second decision, Jeong-min raised the blade of his right hand.
If he didn't sever his left arm now, his entire body might be consumed by the Demon Vein.
But—
'No.'
That wasn't the answer.
Jeong-min circulated the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's 2nd Stage, which he had just learned, throughout every corner of his body.
Even waves are silenced before a tsunami. Jeong-min sought to raise a tsunami within himself—to subdue the wave that was the Demon Vein.
"Ugh."
Hoooooo!!
Hoooooo!
Hoooo—
Hooo……
At last, the Demon Vein quieted.
Jeong-min exhaled slowly and stopped his circulation. The recoil sent him dropping hard onto his rear.
"Huu. That hurt."
Jeong-min looked down at his left arm. Of course, the dark made it impossible to see.
"Hmph. So you're trying to hinder my growth? Go ahead and do your worst."
Demon Vein. Don't think you're safe either.
I'll make you mine soon enough.
"Hss. Wait. This Demon Vein thing……how is it that……"
Something felt like it was about to surface in his memory.
Back in his past life as Muyeong, Jeong-min had definitely heard of symptoms similar to this somewhere before.
After turning it over in his mind, Jeong-min pulled out a certain story buried in a distant corner of his memory.
'Hmm.'
'That 'story' he had heard in a past life.'
Whether it was true or not, he couldn't say—but if it was true, then—
'Wasn't it said: "If I do not enter hell, who will?"'
If I do not enter hell, who will? If not I, then who shall descend into hell.
Jeong-min intended to plunge his own foot into hell willingly.
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The Training Grounds of the Heavenly Demon Cult were quiet today.
The Cult Members were each diligently sharpening their forms, but there was no one to instruct them.
Instead, a first-rank Cult Member was directing the third-ranks.
"Right, again—one. Hey!"
—Hey!
"Two."
—Hey!
While taking the first-rank Cult Member's shouts, the third-ranks whispered among themselves.
"Haven't the Cult Leader and the Elders been nowhere to be seen all day?"
"Same goes for the young masters of the Hyeok Family."
"There are ominous rumors going around lately."
At one Cult Member's words, the third-ranks' gazes turned that way.
"Ominous rumors?"
"Haven't you heard? They say the Forest Bandits spread all the way to Xizang are gathering right now to swallow Tianshan."
"First I've heard of it. How do you pick up news like that when you're cooped up here?"
"There are ways. You know, thanks to that reckless Third Young Master……"
The one puffing himself up over such a trivial thing was irritating.
Just then, the first-rank Cult Member on the platform looked over and bellowed.
"Who is talking during training!"
"S-sorry!"
"The rest of you get an extra hour of training as punishment."
"Eek."
And the seemingly absurd conversation those third-ranks had shared was not wrong.
The Annual Event Hall of the Heavenly Demon Cult's Main Hall.
Under normal circumstances it was the hall where the training achievements of the children in the Training Grounds were observed at year's end—but today, it had become a conference hall for the entire Main Hall.
"Those with sharp ears will have already heard. The information that the Forest Bandits are moving."
At Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un's words, the Elders seated in parallel rows reacted.
Some stifled a low groan; others sat in silence.
There was an order to the Elders' rows. The closer one sat to Hyeok Je-un, the higher their rank, the greater their ability, and the keener their discernment.
The further one sat, the lower their rank, the lesser their wisdom, the poorer their judgment.
The Third Elder, seated third-closest to Hyeok Je-un, called out.
"We must hold the Third Young Master accountable."
The starting point of the argument was the destruction of the Hyeok Family's name.