Because the Heavenly Demon's martial level is so shocking, people often forget, but the Demonic Cult was never a particularly strong organization.
They train their martial arts diligently, yet few possess talent, and among the arts they practice, none are of the higher path.
No, that's wrong. It's not that there are few—there are none at all. The only high-level martial arts I saw in the Demonic Cult before my regression were those established and taught by the Heavenly Demon himself.
In truth, this is only natural. To say one holds a grudge against the entire martial world is to refuse to belong to the vast current that is the martial world itself.
Having never inherited the martial scholarship that the Central Plains have cultivated over the ages, it is inevitable that no profound martial arts could emerge.
But they had to grow stronger.
And so they practiced demonic arts with severe side effects… and embraced sorcery with open arms.
Perhaps it was because, unlike the Central Plains martial world which rejected sorcery, the Demonic Cult continued to develop it.
Even if their martial arts were lacking, when it came to sorcery, the Demonic Cult surpassed the level of the Central Plains. The seal was part of that, so it was only natural that even Tang Jincheon couldn't do anything about it right away. But.
"I believe I might be of some help with that."
"What?"
Tang Jincheon furrowed his brow with a puzzled expression. He probably thought I was spouting nonsense, but I was being sincere.
The seal was one of the highest-level techniques among the Demonic Cult's sorceries. In fact, I recalled that the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance had struggled quite a bit with it.
Which was also why it was the first sorcery to have a countermeasure developed.
"Given my background, I have at least a passing familiarity with these kinds of sinister tricks."
"Don't think that being from Zhejiang Province will let you get away with anything."
"Then how about giving your prospective son-in-law a little trust?"
"That's not exactly pleasing either… but it's better than before."
Tang Jincheon nodded. Though he said that, he wouldn't be disappointed.
I had merely memorized the countermeasure as I was taught, but the solution itself was crafted by the most renowned figures of the Central Plains.
The Jegal Clan, famed for their formations; the Buddhist and Taoist sects bearing the power of Pasahyeonjeong; and the Sama Clan, who—while not quite matching the Demonic Cult—were adept in sorcery.
If the Orthodox-Unorthodox Alliance had never been formed, these three would never have joined forces. I decided to trust them.
The inn room farthest from the entrance, reached by following the Tang Jincheon. There, the old man I had seen before was tied to a chair.
His clothes were shabby, but there was no blood on him and no part of him seemed missing—outwardly, he hardly looked like someone being interrogated.
That, however, did not mean he looked normal.
His eyes were vacant and unfocused. His voice endlessly muttered something unintelligible. Drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.
He looked as if his mind had already collapsed long ago. To a stranger, it would have seemed like tormenting a helpless old man.
"Drop the act. No one in this room is going to be fooled by that cheap imitation of yours."
"My, my… what a pity.
His eyes were still unfocused, yet they stared precisely at me. His tone was listless, but there was no hesitation in it.
I shrugged at that sight and continued.
"Surely the renowned Poison King couldn't possibly ruin someone to the point where they can't even speak, even by accident. And even if that were the case, you would have fixed them up again."
"You pretend not to, but you're quite the flatterer."
"I'm only stating the facts."
"See? You're still buttering me up right now."
The old man's brow furrowed deeply at the sight of our light banter.
"Disgusting… An elder of the Orthodox Sects, thinking of teaching a child who hasn't even grown up yet not just how to kill people, but how to torture them as well… The Tang Clan's reputation…"
"Shut up."
I pressed an acupoint on him to shut his mouth. It wasn't difficult, since his Dantian was already shattered and he had no internal energy left.
"Either way, you'd just recite your self-destructive doctrine — that martial artists are a bunch of murderers, that martial arts should disappear from the world."
"…"
"I don't want to hear your tearful stories or your twisted thoughts. What matters is that I and my people nearly died because of a Demonic Cultist who crawled all the way into the Central Plains."
"…"
The old man glared at me as if he wanted to kill me. I brushed off his gaze as if it were nothing and placed my hand on his chest.
There are two ways to place a seal.
One is to inflict great pain when the sealed person attempts to do something forbidden. Godok is a representative example of that method.
The second method is a powerful suggestion that inscribes a specific command into the mind. It is applied through Seophonsul or a special ritual, and because the technique is so complex, very few people can use it.
And the Demonic Cult, oddly enough, was said to have used both methods at once.
Not that they placed two separate seals, but that they wove the two into one, creating an even tighter seal.
If the Godok was removed, the suggestion would activate and the victim's heart would stop on its own. If the mind grew clouded, it would restore clarity and keep the suggestion from wavering.
But if the mind was shattered in an instant, the Godok would necrosis the heart outright.
Of course, if both were suppressed simultaneously, the seal could theoretically be removed without any problem… but.
How could anyone accurately gauge when a person's mind began to cloud, and when it became clear again?
Constitutions differ, mental fortitude differs, and as just demonstrated, one could feign being overwhelmed to sow confusion.
So I had deceived Godok and layered suggestions over his mind, listening to some complicated explanation or other… but honestly, I hadn't fully understood it.
I only knew what I had to do.
Following my hand, my energy burrowed into the area around his heart. His meridians had completely dried up, likely due to his shattered Dantian, but I forced my internal energy in anyway.
"…!"
Was it because I was forcibly widening his meridians, or because someone else's internal energy—not his own—was entering his body?
His eyes flew wide open, as if it were quite painful. It didn't matter. He was bound so tightly he couldn't even twitch a finger, wasn't he? There was no risk of my concentration wavering.
My internal energy raced along the forcibly widened meridians. As I smashed through the obstacles that blocked my path, blood began to trickle from the old man's seven orifices.
If I dragged this out, the bleeding would worsen and he would die. So I found the acupoint in my memory in a single breath and extended my internal energy toward it.
Puhwok!
The old man vomited blood roughly. But his gaze was vacant, and his heart was beating slowly yet steadily.
Releasing the seal alone wouldn't have caused this—the Mihondok he'd inhaled must be taking effect belatedly.
"Hoo."
Only then did I remove my hand and turn toward Tang Jincheon.
"It's done now. Since I've touched the Noehaehyeol, he'll either die or become an idiot in about a quarter of an hour. You'll need to finish the interrogation by then."
"…It was that easy?"
Tang Jincheon asked back with a dumbfounded expression. I decided to show him with actions rather than words.
I drew my sword and thrust it toward the old man's eyes in a single breath. The tip stopped just before touching them. Yet he showed no reaction at all.
But he responded immediately to a question that wasn't a sword.
"State your name and your position in the Demonic Cult."
"Yeo Neung-hak. I serve as Captain of the Vicious Hounds of the Divine Cult…"
He muttered blankly. Tang Jincheon nodded with difficulty.
"Impressive. This is the first information about the Demonic Cult we've heard. I'll need to verify more, but it doesn't seem like he's lying. How exactly did you do it?"
Unlike the clumsy act he'd put on when he first arrived, Yeo Neung-hak was now drooling blood-tinged saliva naturally, and Tang Jincheon was startled by the sight.
I sheathed my sword and shook my head toward Tang Jincheon.
"I'll tell you everything later, so let's focus on the interrogation for now. We don't have much time."
"Ah, right. You said about an hour? That's a bit tight for digging out everything. Let me think…"
Tang Jincheon paused to choose his words, then continued with a stern expression.
"What was the reason you targeted the Tang Clan and So-wol?"
"…I heard she could interfere with the grand plan."
"Grand plan? Surely the Demonic Cult Leader didn't order you to harm a young lady of the Tang Clan?"
"No… The Cult Leader merely expressed concern. Acting on it was my own decision."
"Hmph. Your own decision, was it. Well, I suppose no one would give such an order unless they had guts the size of a mountain. So what is this grand plan of yours?"
"The destruction of the martial world. It is the ultimate plan to carry out each of our revenges."
"Tsk. As always, the Demonic Cult bastards are suffering from delusions."
Tang Jincheon clicked his tongue. He clearly did not believe the Demonic Cult was capable of such a thing.
In truth, at this time, anyone would have thought the same as Tang Jincheon. That was only natural, for the Demonic Cult had already drawn their swords toward the Central Plains several times, crying out for revenge.
Only to be forced back to the Shiwan Dashan Mountains every time, never once managing to push past the Qingcheng Sect.
It was true that the Qingcheng Sect was a powerful, great sect, and that its Taoist martial arts were especially practical in real combat, but…
It was not so great as to be counted among the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.
Even the occasional Demonic Cultist expert who slipped into the Central Plains by avoiding the Qingcheng Sect was not of any remarkable level.
In other words, the Demonic Cult was considered to have power comparable to, or slightly below, that of the great sects.
However, the current Demonic Cult had the Heavenly Demon.
He wasn't yet worthy of being called the Heavenly Demon, but he was a mad monster who might one day reach the Harmony Realm, or perhaps even beyond, through demonic arts.
The Demonic Cult's invasion that I remembered was about fifteen years from now. To think they were already working behind the scenes despite having plenty of time left.
Tang Jincheon dismissed it as a delusion, but it sounded different to me.
He didn't seem to be flaunting the arrogant alias of Heavenly Demon like in my previous life, but… he had already risen to the position of Cult Leader, and after preparing for a long time, he would attack the Central Plains.
After that, Tang Jincheon continued to ask Yeo Neung-hak various questions.
Whether there were other companions, the current state of the Demonic Cult, and whether they had any targets other than the Tang Clan.
Yeo Neung-hak, subdued and forced to the ground, answered the questions obediently, but… perhaps it was because he was only a captain at best. The information he possessed wasn't all that impressive.
The interrogation continued, strangely lacking in substance. As nearly an hour was about to pass, instead of saliva, bloody foam began to trickle from Yeo Neung-hak's mouth. The next question would likely be the last.
Whether he'd had the same thought, I stepped up beside Tang Jincheon, who was pondering what to ask, and spoke.
"Father-in-law. Would it be all right if I asked the last question?"
"Hm? Ah, you're here. Right, right. It was you and So-wol who took down those bastards, and it's thanks to you that we can interrogate him like this."
"Thank you."
I gave a brief bow and stood before Yeo Neung-hak. I looked down quietly at the man whose eyes were half rolled back, then asked.
"What level has the Demonic Cult Leader reached?"
"The Cult Leader's level is… kruk."
After vomiting a mouthful of blood, Yeo Neung-hak's body trembled violently as he spat out the words.
"He has reached the Ultimate Demon."
That was Yeo Neung-hak's end.
I let out a sigh as I looked down at his corpse.
"The Ultimate Demon. So that's it."
It was the realm commonly known as the Harmony Realm.