So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon?

Chapter 348 : Chaos (2)

Roughly fifteen minutes ago.Hyeokryeon Seon-ah deflected a sword strike from one of the Emei Sect's nuns, only for another nun's blade to come flying in right after. She threw herself sideways and barely dodged it.

That had been way too close. She gritted her teeth.

She was being pushed to her limit, and it wasn't just because she had to fight while keeping her Demonic Art hidden.

Thanks to that brutal reality check courtesy of Jeong Hyeon, her sense of self that’s been fused together with the side effect of her Demonic Art was shaken badly.

—Brother belongs to me. He has to be mine.

'But if I stay weak like this, Brother will never acknowledge me as a woman.'

Her fragile sanity and her Demonic Art’s alter ego had previously worked together because they shared the exact same goal of winning Il-mok's heart. Lately, though, they'd been at war with each other every single day.

—

'Are you crazy? There's no way Big Brother would ever love a monster who slaughtered the people he cares about.'

For someone already suffering from severe Heart Demons, being thrown into this chaotic battlefield was pushing her sanity right to the edge of the cliff.

She was already heavily restricted by the rule that she had to suppress her Demonic Art, and now that very Demonic Art was also throwing tantrums.

Affected by her alter ego’s tantrums, it was no wonder her movements were getting tangled up.

Cornered by the nuns' combined assault, Seon-ah finally reached her limit. She began pulling her internal energy from her dantian and was about to unleash one of the ultimate techniques of the Blood Fox Crimson Claw Art.

Out of nowhere, Jin Hayeon brutally smashed her left palm into the ribs of one of the nuns flanking Seon-ah.

"Get a grip on yourself."

Tossing out that reprimand in a completely deadpan tone, Jin Hayeon immediately launched herself away to go save someone else with the exact same apathetic attitude.

Without even realizing it, a soft, genuine chuckle slipped past Hyeokryeon Seon-ah's lips.

Even though she had been fighting against her side effect's psychotic whispers every single day, this was the first time in a long while that the two halves of her mind were in complete agreement.

Hyeokryeon Seon-ah hated Jin Hayeon.

That was just the way things were.

Their very first meeting had been a disaster.

Jin Hayeon had been the one who told Il-mok to abandon Seon-ah with that resting bitch face of hers.

To a young Hyeokryeon Seon-ah, who had been heavily isolated from the rest of the world, Il-mok was her one and only salvation. And Jin Hayeon had been the one standing in the way of that salvation.

Even though eight years have passed since that day, nothing has changed.

Even now, Jin Hayeon remained Il-mok's right-hand woman and the subordinate he placed his utmost trust in.

At least, that was how it looked from Seon-ah's perspective, and she constantly felt like she was failing to measure up to her.

'What's so damn special about being born seven years earlier than me?!'

If she had been the one born seven years sooner, things would have turned out differently.

But funnily enough, Jin Hayeon's existence was sometimes useful to her.

By watching Jin Hayeon, Seon-ah could figure out exactly what she needed to do to earn Il-mok's favor.

In that split second she spent glaring daggers at Jin Hayeon's back, another wave of Emei nuns ferociously charged at her.

Right as she deflected a strike, the demonic voice in her head started shrieking again.

Hearing that headache-inducing screech echoing in her mind, a smile that reeked of bloodshed slowly crept onto Seon-ah's face.

'You're right. Every bitch standing in my way needs to die. But do you know who the biggest obstacle is right now?'

Maybe it was because she was asking herself that very question. The blade-wielding nun's eyes reflected Seon-ah's own face back at her.

‘It's you, you worthless bitch.'

Seon-ah drove her crimson-stained nails forward, striking to kill herself.

Determined to tear her own weak self to shreds, Hyeokryeon Seon-ah ruthlessly plunged her crimson-stained claws toward the self that’s reflected in the nun’s eyes.

As the dying nun's face contorted in agony, the expression seamlessly blended with Seon-ah's own reflection.

It looked exactly like the psychotic voice in her head was finally screaming in pain.

There is a famous dialogue in Buddhism.

It said that if you meet Buddha on the road, kill him.

It meant that if anything stood in your path to true enlightenment—even the sacred teachings of the Buddha himself—you had to ruthlessly cut it down.

And in this moment, Seon-ah had made her own vow.

She would kill her old self, simply because she was a useless burden holding Il-mok back.

She lashed out with both hands at the nuns whose eyes still held her reflection, killing herself over and over in every face that looked back at her.

With her own hands, she began tearing apart the shell called Extremity that had been wrapped so snugly around her.

The alter ego let out a piercing shriek inside her skull, and part of the shell that had encased her entire body cracked and fell away.

"Hah."

Feeling as though a suffocating weight had finally been lifted off her chest, Hyeokryeon Seon-ah let out a relaxed sigh.

"I feel like I finally can breathe again."

Despite her face being completely drenched in the blood of her enemies, her eyes held a sense of tranquillity.

***

Meanwhile, roughly fifteen minutes had passed since Il-mok had started aggressively darting around the battlefield, exchanging rapid blows with the forty-eight nuns of the Demon-Exterminating Tiger-Subduing Formation.

‘Now.’

Il-mok finally spotted his opening and hurled his Ascension Sword like a javelin.

Lethal Sword Force furiously swirled around the blade as it rocketed forward at an unbelievable speed.

"Do you honestly think such a cheap trick will work?!"

Empowered by the Formation, an Emei’s Elder enveloped her own blade in Sword Force and swung hard to bat the projectile away, but the Ascension Sword suddenly twisted its trajectory mid-flight.

Standing in the center, Il-mok was calmly waving his left hand with his index and middle fingers extended like a sword hand seal and telekinetically guiding the soaring sword's path with flicks of his wrist.

The sword slipped through the gaps between the nuns like a loach darting through water, and instantly appeared right in front of the weakest middle-aged nun holding the edge of the Formation.

Startled, she shoved both palms out in a desperate counter.

Without losing a single ounce of momentum, the Ascension Sword completely pulverized her hands and buried itself deep into the nun's heart.

"Ugh..."

As the nun whose hands and heart had been pulverized collapsed to the ground with a bloody gasp, chaos ensued.

"Die!!!"

Seeing that Il-mok was now empty-handed, the deeply enraged nuns charged at him all at once.

Instead of meeting their blind fury head-on, Il-mok pushed his lightness skill to the absolute maximum and vaulted high into the sky.

Desperate to kill him, the nuns wildly swung their weapons and thrust their palms into the air, unleashing a chaotic barrage of Sword Qi and palm winds at his airborne figure.

Il-mok used Sky Walking to dodge the barrage, and at the same time launched himself toward the spot where the nun he'd just killed had been standing.

Now that he had successfully cracked open a hole in their perfect Formation, it was time to tear that hole wide open.

'When it comes to tearing a formation wide open, there's no better trick than this.'

The memory of the Potala Palace surfaced in his mind.

Il-mok pulled a dagger from inside his robe and began drawing his Qi up from his dantian in massive waves.

The Qi solidified into Sword Force, and then the Sword Force began coiling around itself, looping and twisting until it formed a single ring.

Sword Halo (罡環).

It was his attempt at mimicking the technique Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang had used in the battle at the Potala Palace. Il-mok swung the dagger hard at the ground near the fallen nun.

An earth-shattering explosion instantly vaporized that entire section of the battlefield.

The two nuns caught in the direct blast radius were blown into so many bloody chunks that it was impossible to even recognize them as human anymore, while two other nuns caught in the shockwave had their limbs violently torn off, leaving them bleeding out on the verge of death.

Having successfully eradicated five enemies in the blink of an eye, Il-mok rapidly propelled himself backward while simultaneously casting Sword Kinesis.

Responding to his will, the Ascension Sword that had been launched far into the distance came flying back into his hand.

Wielding his sword once again, Il-mok turned around, only to be met with the sight of the remaining nuns charging at him with faces resembling wrathful demons.

It was to be expected.

With five key members dead, the Qi binding the Demon-Exterminating Tiger-Subduing Formation had completely shattered. But if anything, the killing intent rolling off the survivors had only grown thicker and more suffocating.

"Huu."

Il-mok let out a tired breath.

Not because of their pressure, but because of how rapidly his internal energy had been drained.

He'd already been burning through it for over an incense stick's worth of time fighting the Formation, and then cast multiple techniques using Sword Force on top of using Sword Kinesis.

Fortunately, his empty gas tank wasn't really a major issue.

All he had to do was use the Ascension Sword to steal the Qi he needed to refuel.

As Il-mok's Ascension Sword cut through the torso of a first-generation Emei Sect disciple, the blade greedily drank down her blood.

Within a split second, the sword converted that fresh blood into Blood Qi.

Fueled by that stolen Blood Qi, the Ascension Sword effortlessly lopped off the head of the very next nun who lunged at him.

In some ways, the Ascension Sword was a weapon built specifically for slaughtering the weak.

And right now, with the Demon-Exterminating Tiger-Subduing Formation shattered, every last nun of the Emei Sect was exactly that to Il-mok.

"This... can't be..."

The women who had come at him with the faces of demons belatedly understood the truth.

They weren't demons. They were just wandering ghosts waiting to be exorcised.

And then a familiar voice roared into Il-mok's ears.

"YOU DEMONIC BASTARD!!!!"

That roar came from Abbess Jinqing.

The old nun was charging at Il-mok with blood-red tears streaming down her face.

Il-mok watched her coming and clicked his tongue before swinging his sword to meet her.

"Tsk. I see you at least have the capacity to care when your own family dies."

Steel rang against steel as their swords clashed, one explosion of sound after another.

Sword Force kept pouring out of Abbess Jinqing's blade in an unbroken stream.

Strange.

From what Il-mok could tell, Abbess Jinqing hadn't actually reached the level where she could control Sword Force this freely.

But as he watched the old nun's already heavily wrinkled face rapidly age and wither with every single sword clash, Il-mok quickly deduced exactly what was happening.

‘She's burning through her Innate Life Force without any care.’

A sudden thought crossed his mind, prompting Il-mok to speak as he casually parried her frantic strikes.

"If the Emei Sect is so precious to you, how come you never realized that the people you slaughtered were just as precious to their families?"

Unlike the Potala Palace's retarded pair of monks who had turned tail and run the moment things went south, Abbess Jinqing was fighting with her life on the line. Because of that stubborn resolve, Il-mok genuinely felt that she was at least slightly better than those Tibetan monks.

"Die, you demon!!"

But Abbess Jinqing wasn't listening. She just kept screaming.

"I'll curse you! I'll curse you even in death!! Even if I rot in hell!! I will curse you!!"

It was only then that Il-mok realized that she'd already lost her mind.

"Tch."

Clicking his tongue in mild disappointment, Il-mok casually threw out a feint to bait her heavy attack, effortlessly stepped to the side, and cleanly lopped her head off her shoulders.

"Sect Leader!"

"How dare you!!!"

Abbess Jinqing's death tore a fresh wave of screams out of the nuns still standing.

The ones who had been stunned into submission by Il-mok's slaughter suddenly caught fire again. They came at him with the same recklessness as their Sect Leader, burning through their Innate Life Force without any thought for the cost.

Watching their desperate suicide charge, the anger hidden deep inside Il-mok bubbled so much that it almost made him laugh out of sheer frustration.

"Unbelievable."

The Emei Sect had been the ones to pick a fight with the Maitreya Cult who were just trying to feed starving peasants; the Emei Sect had been the ones to use dirty political tricks to drive them out; and the Emei Sect had been the ones to launch the first ambush to murder them all.

And yet here they were, acting like the victims, making their last stand as if they were the ones who'd been wronged.

"Fine. If that's what you want, I'll gladly play the villain for you."

To answer their killing intent in kind, Il-mok raised the Ascension Sword without hesitation.

And so, countless red flowers bloomed across the sky.