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Chapter 329: Arrival at the Demonic Gate (3)

The first encounter with the Jang family occurred when I had just crossed my teenage years.

I had been reluctantly thrust into the position of Gu Family’s Lesser Clan Leader by my father.

As I gradually began to make my presence felt in the Central Plains, I decided to discard the obligations he had imposed on me.

It was probably around the time when I attended the Dragon Meeting with my newly acquired title, still in the Late-Stage Talents phase.

Not long after, I would be known as a disciple, eventually ascending to become one of the absolute power holders, Peng Woojin.

But unlike him, once I took on the title of Lesser Clan Leader, I didn’t seem to enjoy the same privileges accorded to those in my position.

To put it more simply,

I was the Gu Family’s Lesser Clan Leader, infamous for my lack of ability and my dog-like personality, just finally revealing myself publicly for the first time.

At this point, Gu Hibi had already earned the title of Martial Master, and Gu Yeonseo was beginning to showcase her extraordinary talents.

Yet, it was my presence they scrutinized the most.

A paragon of negative traits, I appeared to wear the blood of the Ho Clan thickly, even if it meant I lacked other talents.

Amidst a generation abundant with Late-Stage Talents, feelings of inferiority and self-loathing consumed me,

as I attempted to conceal my inadequacies, surrounding myself with thorns to hide from the glaring jeers of others.

Just as everyone’s attention was tinged with disdain,

that was when the Jang fellow approached me.

“Good to meet you.”

There he was, with a gentle smile and handsome features, radiating a warm voice that left a positive impression on everyone.

In many ways, he stood in stark contrast to myself.

He introduced himself as Taesaeng of the Jang family.

“Who are you?” I asked, taken aback.

With a sheepish grin, he continued, “I’m just a Lesser Clan Leader, but they call me Shin Yi. I look forward to working with you.”

Shin Yi.

Even though I’d been living in isolation from the world, I had at least heard of that name once or twice.

In recent years, amidst the chaos of Demon Beasts flooding the slums, whispers of a martial artist rescuing people had filled the air.

He was the son of a clan leader and a promising Late-Stage Talent, rumored to soon take the position of Deputy Lord in the Sword Team.

If that were to happen, he would likely secure the youngest position.

That much was clear; he represented the hope held by the Late-Stage Talents in the Central Plains.

The Shin Yi of the Jang Family.

That was how our meeting unfolded.

Ironically,

it was only years later that I realized the entire situation had been masterminded by him to elevate his own reputation.

After the perilous events of the Demonic Gate,

with the emergence of the Heavenly Demon,

I didn’t have long before meeting my destiny, succumbing to the Demon within me.

Not long after, while the Central Plains were engulfed in flames, he would come to seek me out.

“It’s been a while. Should I call you by your title now?”

I had no interest in conversing.

I was bent on tearing his throat out amidst the fiery madness.

“Do you know about the So Sword Sect, and her condition?”

Suddenly, my hands, which had intended to strangle him, halted in mid-air.

The allure of the burning face of the Sword Demoness suspended my instincts.

My fingertips, ignited with flames, danced dangerously close to his neck.

Yet, I couldn’t do it.

As he registered my struggle, a smile broke out on his face.

That grin felt like a dagger to my heart.

That was the start of my fresh hell.

Crack-!

The void opened up in front of me, mouth agape as if swallowing the world whole.

Inside, a chaotic swirl of colors spun wildly.

The pressure from within stirred up dust on the distant ground.

After some time, something was ejected from the darkness.

Boom! Thud-!

The entity that tumbled out landed hard on the ground, sending shockwaves through the vicinity.

Moments later,

“Cough… hack…!”

A figure emerged through the dust.

It collapsed on the ground, gasping for air, unmistakably human.

“Wha— this…!”

Their expression was awash with shock, eyes widening in disbelief, as they fumbled and frantically scanned their surroundings.

“Impossible… This can’t be happening!”

For a brief moment, the trembling young man took in the scene, before shouting through chattering teeth,

“Damn…! How the hell… was I brought here… because of that bastard…!”

Amidst all the cursing, another figure emerged from the dust cloud.

Unlike the one supine on the ground, this person appeared merely inconvenienced, rubbing their chest in annoyance.

“Will you shut up? I’m about to puke here.”

Gu Yangcheong’s words drew Jang Seonyeon’s eyes sharply towards him.

“You little…”

“Oh, it’s been a while since you cursed. Quite refreshing.”

Jang Seonyeon, who had been lying down, bolted up and charged toward Gu Yangcheong.

He rapidly drew his sword, but Gu Yangcheong stepped in front and pressed down hard on the hilt, preventing it from being unsheathed.

“Ugh…!”

The force of his palm was formidable; the sword wouldn’t budge.

Jang Seonyeon, forced to resort to his left hand, swung wildly in an attempt to free his sword.

—Swoosh!

But Gu Yangcheong’s hand had already slapped across Jang Seonyeon’s cheek.

A sharp sound echoed through the air.

Crash!

As if hit by an invisible force, Jang Seonyeon flew across the air, landing hard on the ground.

“Grrk!”

Still dazed from the impact, blood trickled down Jang Seonyeon’s lips.

“You lack skill. Charging in like that, did you expect me to let it go?”

“Huff… huff.”

Gu Yangcheong snickered as he watched Jang Seonyeon sobbing blood,

slowly making his way towards him.

His hands still held steady on his chest, seemingly unfazed.

“It’s been a while; it’s not easy to adjust back.”

This was the first time I had entered the Demonic Gate since my return.

My body was yet to adapt, causing a wave of nausea to swell within.

In the past, I had to lie down for some time after being expelled.

This time, however, mentally, I felt stable enough to endure it.

Meanwhile, Jang Seonyeon, struggling to get up, fell prey to my next attack.

With a swift kick, I knocked him out of balance.

“Urgh!”

“Stay still, you look better like this.”

“You…!”

Jang Seonyeon’s gaze turned venomous as he glared at Gu Yangcheong.

His previously expressionless eyes now burned with fury.

“What in the world…! How could you have moved?”

“I moved, obviously. Just made a move.”

I answered while stifling a chuckle.

The question he posed was about how one could move on the Demonic Gate, and asking it struck me as rather foolish.

I was aware that other martial artists couldn’t move there.

Having witnessed it myself and seen various ‘Sleeping Dragons’ and other martial artists stuck stiff in place.

I alone could move freely amongst those immobilized.

Why was that? To be honest, I had never contemplated the reason,

I simply knew I could.

This lifetime would undoubtedly be no different.

As I felt the energy from the recently encountered Demonic Gate, I was certain of it.

I believed this life would mirror the last.

“You seemed to think I couldn’t move, but what led you to believe that?”

“Because you—!”

“No, you mean you think Cheol Jiseon can’t move on the Demonic Gate. But honestly, you’re too naive to take that at face value.”

“…!”

The revelation of Cheol Jiseon’s name escaped my lips, causing Jang Seonyeon’s eyes to widen.

“How do you know that…! You… you knew!”

He seemed to grasp that I was already aware of Cheol Jiseon’s capability to open the Demonic Gate,

and that he had attempted to kill me using it.

“That isn’t quite important. What I said holds greater weight.”

“How could you…”

“What I mean is, how could you be so sure?”

His inquiry held another implication,

as if he had stumbled upon the precipice of something far greater.

Cheol Jiseon having such power, and the characteristics of the Demonic Gate he opened.

Jang Seonyeon, who never believed anything without personal experience, couldn’t have felt the risks associated with Cheol Jiseon’s actions.

He must have found some other source of information about that guy’s presence and powers.

Crunch-!

The sound of grinding teeth echoed in the air.

“You’re pushing me to the brink, aren’t you?!”

“What am I doing to you?”

“If I’m going to die, shouldn’t I die alone? Why drag me into this?!”

What a shameless, absurd complaint to make.

Even if Jang Seonyeon was beyond hope,

he wasn’t foolish enough to utter such a thought.

Perhaps it was a sign that the situation had truly spiraled beyond control.

Jang Seonyeon wasn’t completely in the right frame of mind.

That much was obvious, as we stood in the realm of the Demonic Gate.

I glanced around, taking in the bizarre sight.

The sky was red. It neither looked like night nor the rosy glow of dusk, and certainly not the clear blue skies above.

No, the sky was drenched in a deep crimson hue,

and the land beneath our feet lay stained with decay as if long dead.

The trees that barely resembled trees were mostly long-rotted dead wood.

This place was laden with an inherent strangeness, detaching it from the reality we once knew.

Just beyond the Demonic Gate,

the very essence of this land screamed

of the realm that many called the Demonic Realm.

‘Thank goodness.’

And…

‘Thank goodness I finally arrived here.’

This was the place I had long desired to reach.

In my past life, I had struggled for years in the aftermath of the Demonic Gate catastrophe,

separated from countless Late-Stage Talents, suffering through it all.

Amongst the types of Demonic Gates recorded by the Martial Alliance,

this was one that fell outside all known categories.

Though it bore the name Demonic Gate,

the name of this place resonated with the concept of a fabricated world.

A place that aligned all too well with the truth of our world.

Typically, the chances of traversing a Demonic Gate and making it back alive were practically nonexistent.

Even the Sword Demon had return only after contracting a deadly illness.

This was the nature of the Demonic Realm.

A place innately dangerous,

and in my previous life, the reason the Late-Stage Talents managed to escape was due to my relentless efforts to survive.

Had I failed, they too would have remained trapped here, forever unable to return.

To Jang Seonyeon, this realm likely seemed like such a harsh Demonic Realm.

Though it indeed felt similar.

“I— I! I, Jang Seonyeon…!”

Jang Seonyeon shouted, losing his composure in a fit of emotion.

It was quite the spectacle.

I had thrown disdain upon the time he carried an air of composure, wearing a gentle smile as if benevolent.

Yet…

I wanted to see such a display! Was it too late for this?

Or was this not the Jang Seonyeon I remembered, but rather the one reborn, spiraling into madness?

Whatever it was, it didn’t stir me too much.

“I must! Become the pillar of the Central Plains…!”

“Ah, while you’re pondering that, could you just shut up for a second?”

His incessant rambling was grating on my nerves.

I stomped down on Jang Seonyeon’s ankle, crushing it.

Crack!

“Graaah!”

His shriek echoed through the air.

Truth be told, this was a much more pleasing sound.

“Why are you whining? Didn’t you want to be rid of me? I came as promised.”

“You…”

“Oh, you’re unhappy I came along?”

With a chuckle, I stomped down once more.

“Graah!”

“That’s what you should have considered. If you had gone alone, you could have been lonely, but I came to accompany you.”

Finally, with gritted teeth, Jang Seonyeon attempted to unleash his energy upon me.

He seemed to regain his senses after the pounding.

His energy was far more refined than before.

Despite his injured ankle, his sword was still quick.

What should I do? Should I break his wrist next?

Just as I extended my hand to strike, Jang Seonyeon, poised to swing, hesitated.

“Huh?”

I paused instinctively at his sudden reaction.

What’s wrong with him?

Before I could ponder further, Jang Seonyeon began to shake uncontrollably.

“…Why, why can’t I use my powers?!”

He stuttered through trembling lips, looking at me with wide, panicked eyes.

“Why…! Why won’t the Divine Spirit respond…? Divine Spirit!” He looked skyward, practically pleading.

To say he was behaving oddly would be an understatement.

“Are you… abandoning me?!”

As I watched him, perplexed by his erratic behavior, I let my energy flow freely.

The Blood Qi I had derived from the Blood Demon surged.

“Ah, I see.”

After a brief moment of experimentation with my energy,

it became clearer why Jang Seonyeon was reacting this way.

“The Blood Qi won’t move.”

As the energy obeyed my commands, I attempted to influence the other forces within me.

The Demon Energy behaved similarly for sure.

The Taoist Qi seemed to flow, and my energy naturally did as well,

but the Blood Qi and Demon Energy wouldn’t budge.

They were utterly unusable.

‘Why is that?’

Parting from what I could normally wield, I wondered about the reasoning behind this.

Yet nothing came to me.

Now, I needed to focus on a different concern.

“Whatever it is, we do have some business to attend to now, don’t we?”

Jang Seonyeon flinched at my words.

Having arrived this far, I could guess the plotting in his head.

“What… what do you intend to do…?”

“Well, seems like you’re still just a kid after all.”

“?”

“Showing fear so early on is rather amusing.”

Assuming he lost a piece, he could present himself so ineptly in a situation,

an act his former self would have never dared commit.

That indicated to me he remained in a state of underdevelopment.

More so, it was a testament that he was a different man altogether in this life.

‘Boring.’

My hard-won thrill had simply waned.

Of course, it wasn’t as if I would let up.

“When I kill, I have a few rules to stick to. Do you know what they are?”

I had no intention of sparing him.

At my words, Jang Seonyeon looked at me, eyes wide with confusion.

“The first is that if I plan to kill you, I aim for a single strike. It’s cleaner that way.”

I wasn’t a maniac like the Sword Demon,

so I preferred to keep any unnecessary antics to a minimum.

“The second rule is, if I must use fire, I always start with the head.”

In cases where igniting my flames led to the situation,

or if someone truly irked me, starting from the top was my go-to.

As I released the incantation,

the Fire Burst ignited in the palm of my hands.

I could see Jang Seonyeon’s eyes shake violently as he witnessed the flames.

“Do you know what the third rule is?”

Just as I started speaking, Jang Seonyeon suddenly infused a tremendous amount of energy into his sword and launched an attack.

I had to give credit where it was due. Rather than escape, he had chosen to stand and fight.

The fact that he deliberately stomped on the ground meant he knew the situation,

but perhaps that realization wasn’t very significant.

As Jang Seonyeon’s sword swung toward me, I dodged easily and continued speaking.

“It’s to start by burning the feet.”

With Jang Seonyeon’s ankle already compromised,

his posture faltered, rendering his energy not as intimidating as it could be.

“Slowly, letting the flames take their time. That way, you can avoid immediate death and prolong the agony.”

I would carefully target less vulnerable areas, steering clear of anything vital.

To inflict pain without causing his spirit to fade.

“Graaah!”

As he cried out, Jang Seonyeon thrashed about, desperately swinging his sword in defiance.

I could sense the terror brewing in him.

Surveying the openings and the emotional turmoil evident in Jang Seonyeon’s eyes, I sighed softly.

Reaching out, I extended my hand towards him.

It was unhurried and deliberate.

I reached my target.

The moment it made contact—

I struck swiftly.

And right through the tangled mess of his swordplay, my hand found its way to his Lower Dantian, delivering a precise blow.

The sound was short, yet piercing.

Something shattered within.

“Gah…!”

A silent scream escaped Jang Seonyeon’s lips, his body slackening as I ensured he wouldn’t lose consciousness.

“Now that you’ve heard the first three rules, keep your ears perked because—”

The sequence I had delivered would stay sequential.

“I’m going to use them on you, but in reverse order. Ready for that?”

I intended to employ a new method on Jang Seonyeon.

“I have a lot more to tell you. Do hurry up and answer; it’s quite bothersome to control this.”

To be blunt,

each step of this plan would ultimately lead to death.

I held no options for sparing him.

In the end, even if he aimed to pull a stunt that could kill me as my entrance to the Demonic Gate,

hope for survival was non-existent for Jang Seonyeon.

This time, I had never anticipated giving him any leeway.

As I gazed at Jang Seonyeon’s still trembling form,

I reached my hand out.

 

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