Great Master Jeonghyeon's palm spread open. The Buddhist order's signature golden internal energy blazed brightly, yet his straightforward palm technique was utterly unrefined.
But this was what Shaolin martial arts had always been.
Within the light, pushing movements lay an irresistible force, and the energy that followed the Buddha's will burned away all manner of wicked things.
…And the one who had ascended to an incomplete Harmony Realm by sacrificing someone else's life and his own sanity erupted with Demonic Qi, swinging his fist in opposition.
"AAAAAAARGH!!!"
A bestial scream devoid of even a fragment of reason. The red light in his eyes, the mark of Qi Deviation, flickered as black Aura condensed around his fist.
For one who could not even hold a thought for long, let alone steel his will, such a thing should have been impossible.
But this was the domain of the Heavenly Demon, and the Heavenly Demon had, through some means, bound together their shattered remnants of Intent.
Condemned to relive the hell of their past until the moment their lives were cut short, yet in exchange granted the ability to reach their enemies—such was the fist of the Demonic Cultist.
There was no great Mystery, no flash of Enlightenment, not even a trace of personal mental imagery, yet its Power was more than sufficient.
KWAANG!
A palm technique radiating golden light clashed with a fist wrapped in black Aura.
A brief contest of strength. But before long, the black began to be swallowed by the gold.
It was only natural. Even if it was not a proper one, the power of the Harmony Realm was not to be underestimated.
But the one opposing him, Great Master Jeonghyeon, had ascended to the Harmony Realm through orthodox means and, after long years of Training, stood among the very highest of absolute masters.
In the end, the fist that had been slowly bending was pushed back completely, and the golden palm technique pressed down on the Demonic Cultist's chest.
As the profound internal energy burned the demon from within, the Demonic Cultist vomited black blood and collapsed.
The eyes that had been flickering with bloodlight closed, the aura that had gleamed with Ink Color faded away, and what remained in that spot was not a vengeful spirit but an ordinary corpse.
"…Namu Amita Buddha."
It was the moment Great Master Jeonghyeon uttered a brief Buddhist invocation.
The final breath that flowed from the fallen Demonic Cultist's lungs. The imagery contained within it flowed into Great Master Jeonghyeon.
An imagery shattered into pieces so fragmented that even guessing the timeline was difficult. Great Master Jeonghyeon, who barely managed to piece together that disjointed story, could understand.
That the Demonic Cultist he had just struck down was originally an ordinary merchant who had lived in the village at the foot of Mount Song.
That the family had all been lost to a rogue monk who, though imprisoned in Shaolin's Prison, had ultimately escaped.
No, to be precise, they had been killed by the blind attacks of Shaolin's martial monks who had come to capture the rogue monk.
He resented Shaolin's mercy in imprisoning the rogue monk rather than killing him. He resented Shaolin's complacency in letting the rogue monk slip away. He resented the martial monks of Shaolin who spoke of saving all living beings yet never looked beyond their own walls. And he resented the scholar monks of Shaolin who, when questioned, only evaded responsibility with convoluted words.
He hated Shaolin.
The moment he realized this, Great Master Jeonghyeon could understand. How these people, so thoroughly broken, could wield such Aura.
And how that Aura was refined to an extreme degree, just like the Heavenly Demon's Demonic Qi.
"They placed their trust in him, and the Heavenly Demon willingly bore the burden."
The Demonic Cultists had offered up their grudges—the demons that had gnawed at them their entire lives—to the Heavenly Demon.
And the Heavenly Demon embraced this burden in their place, giving his own power in return.
To put it crudely, the Demonic Cultists provided the raw ore, and the Heavenly Demon refined it into a sword and handed it back to them.
This was likely made possible by the Demonic Qi of the Heavenly Demon that blanketed the entire surrounding area, as well as the formation that must have been set up somewhere.
Each time one of the Demonic Cultists collapsed around him, the shattered mental image of someone's heart embroidered the air.
Not enough to stain the world, but enough grudges to disrupt one's concentration.
Great Master Jeonghyeon, having shaken off the negative emotions that were not his own, drew up his internal energy once more with a short sigh.
For the sake of resolving their grievances later. And to prevent yet more victims from being born.
He needed to hold onto the blind Demonic Cultists who had cast away even their last remaining vengeance.
Once more, a golden dawn light blooms within the dark sky shrouded by Demonic Qi.
Great Master Jeonghyeon simply wielded his martial art with a heart full of great compassion and mercy.
Because he believed that was the path a disciple of Buddha must walk.
***
Peng Woo-jin and Eon Ga-hye stood back to back, unleashing their martial arts against the endless tide of attackers.
A fierce saber strike split an opponent's torso along with his weapon, and a bizarrely twisting Fist Strike was something a Demonic Cultist who had lost all reason had no way to see through.
Though they were only at the tail end of the Peak Realm, the combined Exchange of the two was in no way inferior to other Transcendent Peak martial artists.
"Ga-hye! One more's coming your way! It's the one with the Chain Sickle!"
"Don't worry, Paeng Clan! This much is nothing…!"
Eon Ga-hye's body instantly stiffened like a corpse as she caught the Chain Sickle wreathed in Demonic Qi. It wasn't anything like Protective Qi or the Indestructible Vajra Body.
But it was enough to boast of being impervious to blades and swords.
Pit.
Even after catching the sickle wreathed in Demonic Qi, a slight scratch was all she suffered.
Seizing that opening, Peng Woo-jin's strike, lifting his thick greatsword, split the Demonic Cultist in half.
Sweok.
"Are you alright, Ga-hye?"
"Yes. Complaining at a time like this wouldn't be right."
Demonic Qi seeped through the wounds. Perhaps because it carried the Heavenly Demon's energy, it was fairly pure Demonic Qi, and for a moment the flow of energy twisted.
But she managed to suppress it before it reached Qi Deviation. A bit of internal injury was unavoidable, though.
Eon Ga-hye steadied her posture with a composed demeanor and urged Peng Woo-jin on.
"Go. Take the lead. There are still many enemies to face."
"…You're right. Our benefactor is fighting up there, so we should be of some help."
The two pressed their backs together again, cutting down the Demonic Cultists that swarmed them one by one.
The Paeng and Eon Clans had been practically at each other's throats, but Peng Woo-jin and Eon Ga-hye loved each other. They had fallen in love.
And having been used by the Demonic Cult, they nearly lost their lives—and worse, nearly had their clans kill each other meaninglessly.
But Cheon Hwi and Tang So-wol saved them from the Demonic Cult's schemes and reconciled the Paeng and Eon Clans.
A benefactor of their lives, a benefactor of their clans. That was reason enough for the two to fight.
That is how karmic debts work in the martial world.
***
Heo Soye's killing intent blankets the battlefield. Her martial level is still only Transcendent Peak, yet the killing intent she emits is enough to make even the Harmony Realm martial artists fighting alongside her flinch.
That is what a Heavenly Killing Star is.
A monster whose every emotion and every thought is channeled into killing.
Those who had been granted incomprehensible talent to carry this out.
Because their constitution piled up karmic sin of killing indiscriminately, friend or foe, they were beings that had to be killed or imprisoned the moment they were discovered.
"You've gone too far. Pull yourself together, miss. That one's an ally."
"…Ah. Thank you."
At Jang Inam's single word, Heo Soye instantly suppressed the killing intent she had been letting run wild and turned her sword's tip.
Not toward the nearby allies, but toward the Demonic Cultists in the distance.
Since learning how to handle killing intent from Cheon Hwi, Heo Soye had become able to control the power of the Heavenly Killing Star to some extent.
But that alone was not enough. She needed the help of someone who could face her killing intent and feel goodwill instead of reflexive hostility or fear, and only then could she regain her reason.
And surprisingly, Jang Inam was carrying this out well.
Mugol Hoin was Jang Inam's nature, but enduring the Heavenly Killing Star's dreadful killing intent was the result of acquired effort.
Having learned the knack of channeling killing intent from Seomun Hwa-rin long ago, Jang Inam had continued his training without pause and reached where he was now.
The only man who could hold the leash of the uncontrollable monster called the Heavenly Killing Star.
Yet Jang Inam himself neither entertained such thoughts nor felt proud.
He merely felt gratitude that a clumsy act of righteousness, born of a passing kindness in the past, had returned to him as a lifetime of happiness.
"…The atmosphere at the Heavenly Demon Hall feels off. Killing intent… no, something stickier than that is swirling around."
"Don't worry, my lady. Didn't Cheon Hwi promise? That he'd find a way if we bought him time."
"Yes. That's right. …Then shall we go buy some more time?"
"Good. We must leave a slightly better world for our children."
Heo Soye once again drew out the killing intent she had momentarily suppressed.
The Demonic Cultists, who should have lost their reason, still had their instincts intact, and their movements had become noticeably sluggish.
Two swords shot out like arrows toward the dulled targets.
Heo Soye and Jang Inam. The reason the two of them fought was for the one they were grateful to, for each other's future.
And for the new family that would soon be born.
Tang So-wol's sleeves fluttered as iridescent poison that shifted colors with every moment stained the surroundings.
A poison she had not rested on despite being born with the Poison Spirit Constitution, but had researched and researched again over a long period of time.
This poison completely dissolved the unstable meridians of the Demonic Cult and collapsed them from within, and also reacted with the poison applied by other Tang Clan martial artists to aid them.
Though it could not heal the wounds of her allies, it could make them forget their pain.
Everything was done solely according to the will of Tang So-wol, the master of the poison.
A thousand changes, ten thousand transformations.
That was the extreme of the poison art that Tang So-wol pursued, and she had reached this point not only through her own efforts but with the help of countless others and heavenly fortune as well.
Though her martial level remained at Transcendent Peak, she was influencing the battlefield no less than her father, the absolute master Tang Jincheon.
At this very moment, Tang So-wol was clearly orchestrating the battlefield.
"…!"
A Demonic Cultist collapsed, black blood streaming down like tears. Unable even to scream, his faint gurgling faded, and then he lay still.
And flowing into Tang So-wol were faint fragments of mental imagery.
"Ugh."
The content was disjointed, the scenery blurry, but the emotions were intense.
Others who had reached the Harmony Realm had firm mental imagery and strong Intent, so they were not greatly affected.
And those who remained below Transcendent Peak, whose upper Dantian had not yet opened, could not even sense the fragmented imagery of resentment left behind by the Demonic Cultists in the first place.
It was a rather serious problem for Tang So-wol, who had reached the pinnacle of Transcendent Peak and, using the past self she had seen in Cheon Hwi's memories as a guidepost, had achieved a passable level of accomplishment.
Tang Jincheon, who had been guarding the surroundings, caught Tang So-wol as she staggered in the middle of her fight.
"So-wol!"
"…I'm fine, Father. It's just that this one had some direct pain mixed in, so I was startled."
The resentment Tang So-wol had just encountered had nothing to do with the Tang Clan.
But it was a memory of barely escaping after being tortured in the name of an experiment by some Unorthodox Sect martial artist who dealt with poison.
Thanks to her Poison Spirit Constitution, Tang So-wol had never once been poisoned in her life, so this was an unfamiliar sensation and a meaningless illusion.
The mental imagery filled with original poison was not her own, and she would never be poisoned in the future either.
Even so, there was no helping the fact that her concentration wavered at this very moment.
The poison that Tang So-wol had spread wide across the battlefield trembled, and a lag appeared in the precise, swift changes.
However, this did not last long.
Having regained her balance, Tang So-wol lightly pushed Tang Jincheon away and stood on her own two feet. Then she looked up at the sky… more precisely, at the Heavenly Demon Hall where Cheon Hwi and the others would be.
"Young hero Cheon will soon bring down the Heavenly Demon, so I suppose I should attend to my own affairs."
"…Yes. This father will help you."
The gap in realms between Tang Jincheon and Tang So-wol was clear, but the fact that they were both Poison Humans was the same.
The father and daughter joined forces and began spreading poison across the battlefield once more.
Unlike Seol Ri-hyang and Seomun Hwa-rin, she couldn't fight alongside him, but Tang So-wol was supporting Cheon Hwi in her own way.
The reason she fought was for the Love that even now pulsed in Cheon Hwi's heart alongside her own.
It was while Tang So-wol steeled her resolve, melting away the surging Demonic Qi and cutting down Demonic Cultists one after another, that it happened.
KWAANG!
With a thunderous roar, the Heavenly Demon Hall shattered, and above the wreckage and the faintly dispersing white chill, a one-armed demonic fiend stood tall.
More precisely, it had been there all along—she had only now been able to properly perceive it.
"Ah…?"
The moment Tang So-wol realized something was wrong, the one-armed fiend shrank its massive frame and regenerated its lost arm. And then.
Kaga-kagak!
Once again, the demon's fist swept through the sky, tearing apart the blackened heavens and shattering the world.
…And then, Cheon Hwi and his companions—who should have been sent flying upward—came falling down from the sky.
"Young hero Cheon!"
To save Cheon Hwi, who had fallen among the Demonic Cultists, she hurled herself forward, recklessly unleashing every drop of poison in her body.
And then she saw it.
The broken Black Iron sword embedded in the ground. And Cheon Hwi, his heart pierced through—just as Tang So-wol had been before the regression. The Love flowing out of him, mingled with blood, fading into nothing.
"Ah."
She collapsed to the ground with a flustered expression and examined Cheon Hwi's condition.
Thanks to the tenacious vitality of a Harmony Realm martial artist, he was still clinging to life. But with his heart already destroyed, there was no way to save him.
Sensing his impending end, Cheon Hwi squeezed out every last bit of strength and whispered.
"Li…ve."
"…No. How could I live without you, young hero Cheon?"
Ignoring the Demonic Cultists surrounding them, she simply pulled Cheon Hwi into her arms.
"Didn't I tell you? That we would die together, and live together."
"…"
Cheon Hwi silently surrendered himself to Tang So-wol's embrace.
It was over.
If Cheon Hwi died, there would be no one left to bring down the Heavenly Demon, and if the Heavenly Demon could not be brought down, no one would escape this place alive.
Despite all their flailing, in the end, Cheon Hwi and Tang So-wol had failed to surpass the Heavenly Demon.
.
.
.
.
.
That would have been the case, ordinarily.
Wooong—
Tang So-wol opened her eyes, which she had briefly closed, at the sensation of her pinky finger burning hot.
There, a knot glowing deep green.
A thread of poison energy connecting her ring finger to Cheon Hwi's ring finger.
A poison left behind by the Poison Lady before the regression, salvaged by Cheon Hwi, and delivered to Tang So-wol.
"Ah."
Tang So-wol realized what she had to do.