Enshrinement as a God

In the darkest dawn before the sun rises, when even the insects and beasts of the field are not yet awake, the morning in the Hermit's Valley, which was covered in a thick fog, made one's nose and throat sting with the unpleasant smell of sulfur.

Although an ordinary person would surely frown and cover their nose, a boy here was taking in the fog full of the smell of sulfur with an emotional expression.

"Hoo... ha... hoo..."

As the fog came in, his throat stung.

Although the smell of rotting eggs pierced his nostrils, he felt so good that even this felt sweet, thinking that it was the smell of freedom.

"Agong, are you really not going to say a single word to this old man?"

From behind Agong, who was coming down the mountain, Tongtian's voice was heard.

Tongtian, who was coming down the mountain as if sliding like a ghost, called Agong again with a gentle voice at Agong's attitude, which was as cold as the chilly morning temperature.

"Agong."

Stop!

Agong, with his hand tightly gripping Tonglin, turned to Tongtian.

Although his anger did not easily subside, as Tongtian gently soothed him and continued to talk to him, he felt his anger gradually subside without realizing it.

Agong, pulling himself together from his heart, which had been weakened by loneliness, glared at Tongtian with a fierce expression.

"How long was I trapped?"

"Trapped? You brat, this is called seclusion training."

"Since it wasn't of my own will, it's no different from being trapped!"

Perhaps because he was hurrying his steps, the fog was gradually thinning, and a familiar landscape began to come into his eyes.

As Agong, as if he were angry again, moved his feet, Tongtian hurriedly followed him.

Although he had seen it taking at least two years for Agong to cultivate enough strength to leave the Heavenly Demon Cave, this was a very fast achievement.

The reason why Tongtian was kindly asking the grumbling Agong was that although he had a mind to soothe the sulking Agong, he was also curious about what Agong had experienced inside the Heavenly Demon Cave.

When Tongtian had made the Heavenly Demon Cave by imitating the Heavenly Demon Pavilion, he had built the entrance and surroundings of the cave using the strange stones that were often seen in the outer heavens of the Hermit's Valley.

The stones, which absorbed and also repelled qi, would gradually take on a bright light when they received a certain amount of qi, and they had the property of breaking when they exceeded their limit.

Tongtian, whose residence was near the Heavenly Demon Cave, had seen the light emitting from the Heavenly Demon Cave and had guessed Agong's achievement and had revealed himself.

"No matter how I think about it, I think your way of raising a disciple is wrong, master."

As if he were wronged again, Agong stopped his steps, leaving the Mountain Sea Tavern, which was beginning to be seen in the distance.

Although he was angry, since the bond between master and disciple was a scary thing, he had the thought that he might let it slide like last time.

"Hmm... I've never heard such a story from the disciples I've raised in my sect..."

Tongtian was a little surprised at the fact that Agong had pointed out his teaching.

Although he had the thought that perhaps his disciples who remained in his sect had also swallowed such words, Tongtian did not feel that he had done anything wrong at all.

"I don't know who that senior brother is, but it must be because he was afraid of you, master, since you are so strict, that he couldn't say it!"

"Are you not afraid of me?"

Agong, who had raised his voice in excitement, hesitated for a moment at Tongtian's question.

Perhaps because he had first met Tongtian with the feeling of a friendly grandfather, the fact that Tongtian was the notorious cult leader of the demonic cult did not really resonate with him.

In fact, if it weren't for this incident and the incident in the prison before, he was also a person who was kinder to Agong than anyone else on a normal basis.

"I don't know."

"A human being, in order to find a way out, must first be blocked by a dead end. As a result of that, didn't you achieve a great success in just four months and appear like this?"

"F-four months?"

Although he had thought that it had just been a little over a fortnight, Agong's eyes widened in surprise at the words 'four months'.

Come to think of it, it was not that the weather had become chilly because it was morning, but it was clear that the season was changing.

"My goodness! How could you lock me in a cave for four months?"

"What's four months? If you hadn't finished your practice, I could have left you there for ten years."

"You're saying that knowing that there was only enough grain pills in there for a year, right?"

"If you concentrate on practicing martial arts, it's enough to eat for two years. Come to think of it, it seems the grain pills suited your taste quite well."

"Ugh!!"

Agong, unable to contain his anger, grumbled and then strode back to the tavern.

Since he was stubborn and wouldn't listen, he felt as if he were facing the wall of the Heavenly Demon Cave again.

Tongtian, knowing that if he let him go like this, Agong would go back to the tavern sulking, lightly moved his body and blocked Agong's path.

"Even if you're in a bad mood, what kind of manners is this to your master?"

Although Agong had not wanted it, since the Heavenly Demon Pavilion was a treasure mountain and treasure house that only the cult leader could enter in the Divine Cult, for an ordinary martial artist, it was no different from receiving a grace and a fateful encounter that was not enough even if he bowed to Tongtian and kissed his feet.

Agong, at the sight of Tongtian, who had changed his strategy and was scolding him with a strict voice, was intimidated for a moment.

Although Tongtian had been secretly refining his qi, just a part of it was enough to intimidate Agong's mind and body.

But unlike in the past, Agong unconsciously raised his internal energy and began to resist Tongtian's pressure.

Tongtian, feeling a purple radiance flash in Agong's eyes for a moment and his momentum revive, showed a different color in his eyes and nodded as if satisfied.

"Now that you have abandoned the miscellaneous martial arts of the Taoist Lingbao and have come to practice the number one divine art of the demonic cult, you must spur on your training even more in the future and not bring shame to this master's name."

Agong, as his whole body was full of energy, had a much more comfortable expression, but he asked back as if it were strange.

"Abandon the martial arts of Master Lingbao?"

"Since you have come to practice the Manifest Demon True Art completely, how can those miscellaneous martial arts or understandings remain?"

The Tongtian Cult Master, who was laughing heartily, seemed very satisfied.

If the Taoist Lingbao were here now, he would surely be jumping up and down as if his tail were on fire in anger.

"To dare to compete with the number one divine art of the demonic path, the greed of that old fox was too much."

At the sight of the satisfied Tongtian, Agong scratched the tip of his nose for a moment.

Although he had practiced the Manifest Demon True Art in the Heavenly Demon Cave, it was not that he had forgotten or abandoned the Nine Gates True Scripture he had been learning.

This was because when he circulated his energy, the qi that had been moving according to the Heavenly Demon Heart Art at first would eventually operate according to the incantations of the Nine Gates True Scripture.

But to say that he was using the Nine Gates True Scripture was also strange. When he displayed a move, its flow would follow the Heavenly Demon Heart Art, and when his energy ran out, the qi would flow again according to the Nine Gates True Scripture, so he could not grasp it.

Although he had the thought that it would be okay to honestly say this since Tongtian was so happy, Agong was still not over his anger at Tongtian.

"But I'm still learning the Nine Gates True Scripture, you know?"

"What did you say?"

The face of Tongtian, who had been laughing cheerfully, turned cold at Agong's retort.

The fact that Agong had not abandoned the Nine Gates True Scripture meant that the training in the Heavenly Demon Cave had failed.

If so, it also meant that the rapid increase in Agong's martial arts was not the achievement of the Manifest Demon True Art but of the Nine Gates True Scripture.

As the face of Tongtian, which had been cheerfully relaxed, turned as scary as a demon in an instant, Agong flinched and stepped back without realizing it.

"Say that again."

If Tongtian's voice, which had been soothing Agong until just now, was like a grandfather soothing his sulking grandson, this time, he asked as if interrogating Agong, like a prison guard dealing with a prisoner.

"Although I learned the Manifest Demon True Art as you said, master, I did not abandon the Nine Gates True Scripture."

"No, that is impossible."

The heart art, which can be said to be the foundation of martial arts. Moreover, if one were to circulate the heart arts of supreme martial arts separately, one's blood and qi would be twisted, and one would fall into a state of qi deviation.

As Tongtian spread his hand and tried to grab Agong, Agong, startled, displayed his footwork without realizing it and moved, avoiding Tongtian's hand.

The steps of the supreme one of the ten thousand demons.

Tongtian recognized at once that it was the Heavenly Demon Reigning Steps. But it was not a dignified and heavy footwork, but somehow a little frivolous and had many small steps. It was clearly not the complete footwork of the Heavenly Demon Reigning Steps.

The subtleties of the Nine Palaces Divine Steps that Agong had been displaying in his daily life were being displayed through the Heavenly Demon Reigning Steps.

'Th-this, what on earth is this strange thing?'

Tongtian, who had discovered that the divine art of the treasure, which had been passed down for hundreds of years, was being displayed strangely, felt a chill run down his spine.

Although there could be differences between individuals in the ultimate art of the supreme depending on the practitioner's understanding, the Heavenly Demon Reigning Steps that Agong was showing now had its original form changed, and it had become a completely separate martial art that was difficult to even call the Heavenly Demon Reigning Steps anymore.

"You brat! What on earth happened in the Heavenly Demon Cave?"

"You locked me in such a place first, and now you're getting angry?"

As Tongtian extended his hand to take a pulse right away, Agong, in rebellion, stepped on his footwork again and swung his hand wildly to avoid being easily caught.

"You dare to resist me with the Heavenly Demon Hand!"

Tongtian lightly shook his sleeve and showed the 'true' Heavenly Demon Hand.

In an instant, dozens of hands spread out under the sky.

Agong, like a fish caught in a net, twisted his body to avoid Tongtian's hands, which were falling towards him from all directions, and rotated Tonglin as if wrapping it around his neck.

As Tonglin rotated, a sharp sword membrane was created, and a purple energy spread out, enveloping Agong.

Although the achievement that Agong had made so far was great, the opponent was too bad.

Tongtian lightly tore apart the sword membrane that Agong had displayed as if tearing paper.

Although Agong gritted his teeth and rotated Tonglin again, Tongtian, ignoring the troublesome spider web, extended his hand towards Agong's neck without hesitation.

Grab!

"Kuk!"

The Heavenly Demon Hand that Agong had practiced the longest also looked strange now.

Although it was the Heavenly Demon Hand, a sharp edge was flowing in it, and it felt as if a sharp sword were brushing past the back of his hand.

Although his martial arts had clearly improved and Agong's skills had also deepened that much, since the Manifest Demon True Art that was being displayed was so strange, for Tongtian, it was a dumbfounding matter.

Tongtian, who had subdued Agong's pressure points with a powerful force, immediately began to take a pulse through Agong's blood and qi.

"Something is seriously wrong!"

As Tongtian had intended, Agong was clearly practicing the Manifest Demon True Art, and his energy was circulating according to the incantations of the Heavenly Demon Heart Art. But on the other hand, since the qi was moving according to the incantations of the Nine Gates True Scripture that Agong had been learning, it was a matter that the heavens would lament.

'Could it be that the incantations of the two divine arts are being used together?'

The two divine arts, which had completely different energy circulation methods, were moving together and flowing through Agong's eight extraordinary meridians.

This purple energy that was rising like a haze from Agong's whole body was surely the proof.

Tongtian's face was distorted with anger.

The fact that he could not erase the traces of the Taoist Lingbao even though he had opened the Heavenly Demon Cave and had passed on all the incantations of the Manifest Demon True Art was an insult to himself, a master of the demonic path, and also a blasphemy against the number one divine art of the Divine Cult.

Tongtian's plan to make Agong a pure master of the demonic path in the end and a living witness to the defeat of the Taoist Lingbao was collapsing miserably.

"Is the heavens interfering with our contest?"

Tongtian let out a short sigh.

Although it was a matter that had started in response to the Taoist Lingbao's fighting spirit, in the end, neither he nor the Taoist Lingbao had expected that the end would be like this.

If they were people who knew nothing, they would have been happy and surprised that a new divine art had been born from the fusion of the ultimate arts of the righteous and the demonic paths, but from Tongtian's perspective, he could not do so at all.

The demonic path is the demonic path.

The righteous path is the righteous path.

The two forces could never be mixed and could not coexist.

An eternal and unchanging absolute divine art.

The Manifest Demon True Art had to be the symbol of that power, and no ultimate art in the world could dare to defile the purity of the Manifest Demon True Art.

Since he had once been the cult leader of the Divine Cult and the demonic cult, this was an even more unacceptable result.

Therefore, if Agong were to operate the Manifest Demon True Art and the Nine Gates True Scripture at the same time in the end, Tongtian might have to make an unwanted choice in the end.

"It's not too late. Abandon the martial arts of the Taoist Lingbao that you are learning."

Tongtian let go of Agong and looked at him with a troubled gaze.

(End of Chapter)