Chapter 360

I didn’t know how much time had passed.

Time crawled for me, while the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s rushed by as swift and violent as the Yangtze’s current I had seen a few weeks ago.

One thing was certain: even now, at this very moment, time kept moving.

Thud!

I saw neither a windup nor the movement itself. By the time I realized the Western Heaven Demon Lord had taken a step, my head had already snapped back.

Before I could even regain my balance, the sound of splitting air pierced my ears.

Shhk, thud! Thud-thud-thud!

Shoulder, chest, stomach.

Palm and fist, each laden with internal energy, hammered my upper body in fluid succession.

My bones shifted with sickening cracks, and agony washed my vision white. I gritted my teeth.

Crk.

A molar shattered, and for a brief moment, my mind cleared.

“Raaaagh!”

Whoosh!

With a cry squeezed from the depths of my lungs, I swung my fist.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord caught my hopelessly slow, wide-open punch and clicked his tongue.

“You still have strength left?”

“……!”

Crack!

Even muscles and bones hardened like steel were nothing more than kindling before the Western Heaven Demon Lord.

His hook-like hand seized my wrist and twisted. Flesh and bone were crushed together.

The bones in my already broken left arm splintered, sending horrific pain through me.

“Gaaaaaagh!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll summon some skilled healers to treat you later.”

“Go… fuck yourself!”

I thrust my still-usable right arm at the Western Heaven Demon Lord as he wiped the blood splattered across his face.

White Flame’s spearhead, wreathed in faint Spear Energy, stabbed toward his lower body.

Whoosh. Clack.

But the spearhead was stopped with absurd ease.

Not by the Black Dragon Armor or Body-Protecting Qi, but by the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s bare hand.

“Futile.”

His hand, wrapped in ink-black Force, tightened around the spearhead. The faint energy gathered there vanished as though swallowed by darkness.

“Give up. The outcome won’t change.”

With those quiet words, the Western Heaven Demon Lord yanked on the spearhead.

I clung desperately to the shaft as it tried to slip from my flayed, blood-soaked grip.

Searing pain surged through me, but it was bearable.

Pain was something I’d endured more than enough of, both in the past and now.

Whoosh, crash!

I tumbled forward with the spear shaft. A handful of dirt entered my mouth and mixed with the blood.

The ice-cold, foul-smelling floor of the underground prison somehow felt more comfortable than ever.

I’m sleepy.

If I closed my eyes now, I felt as though I could fall asleep immediately.

Maybe after dreaming one long dream for days on end, I would wake up in the modern world instead of Murim.

A plush seat on a private plane bound for Sichuan, China, would be fine. So would my room at Hope Goshiwon, steeped in the musty smell of a bachelor living alone.¹

Maybe all of this is a dream.

I had been through too much in the space of little more than a year.

From F-rank Hunter Jin Taekyung to the Third Young Master of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. From a disgrace who dragged his family’s name through the mud to the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi.

I had witnessed brutal wars and countless deaths. I had met so many people.

Jin Wikyung, who absolutely doted on his younger brother, and Jin Mukyung, who would have loved to kill his. Hyuk Mujin, who had shared life and death with me while always remaining at my side. Cheongpung, who was both my friend and my rival.

And…

Old Master.

My eyelids, which had been slowly sliding shut without my realizing it, stopped.

That’s right. The Fire King, Jeok Cheongang.

He was behind me, and I stood before him.

That was why I could neither fall nor run away.

That arrogant bastard. Taekyung, go on ahead.

H-hyung!²

I’ll catch up soon.

Three years had already passed, but I would never forget what happened that day.

I had failed to protect the people precious to me, and I had survived through their sacrifice.

Yet even after gaining power beyond anything my past self could have imagined, I had repeated the same mistake.

What do you think? The Dance of the Fire God and Demon. Pretty damn incredible, isn’t it?

Jeok Cheongang had been smiling then.

That smile held the joy of avenging his closest friend—and the relief of protecting one little brat he couldn’t tell was his disciple or his enemy.

“Yes. It’s incredible…”

A small voice escaped through my torn, swollen lips.

The floor of the underground prison no longer felt comfortable.

Feeling its bitter cold and stench, I began to push myself up.

I braced my still-usable right arm against the floor and supported myself on both knees.

My body felt ready to break apart at any moment, and every movement was slow, but I refused to give up.

When I finally stood upright on my trembling legs, the first thing I encountered was a pair of deeply sunken eyes.

“Impressive. Almost foolishly so.”

Thud!

My nose broke, and my head snapped backward. But I did not fall or stagger back.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s hand held my shoulder like a shackle.

“How many times must I tell you? It’s already over.”

Crunch.

The bones in my shoulder were crushed. The spear shaft slipped limply from my weakened grip.

Horrific pain should have followed, but what I actually felt was faint and distant.

“If you’re waiting for help, you’ve miscalculated. The Sichuan Tang Clan will be destroyed. No, it may all be over already.”

Crack!

This time, it was my legs.

Both shins—the only parts of me still intact—broke at once, and I lost my balance.

Ironically, the only reason I remained upright was that the Western Heaven Demon Lord had not let go.

“Who could possibly come to your aid as they did in Henan? The Sword Saint, who won’t hear this news for another half month? The Sword Saint’s successor, who is likely fighting desperately even now? Or perhaps…”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord turned his head.

Beyond the empty underground prison, shattered and collapsed by our clash, his gaze settled upon a tightly shut iron door.

“Your master, who still hasn’t regained consciousness?”

“Cough.”

“Nothing will change. Today, the Tang Clan, Qingcheng, and Emei will be destroyed. And all of you…”

“Cough!”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s words cut off.

A sticky liquid of dirt and blood covered his face.

He clearly had not expected someone with all four limbs crushed to do such a thing.

For one fleeting instant, he froze with his hand around my neck.

I drove my head forward with every ounce of strength I had left.

Thud!

The heavy impact snapped the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s head back.

My internal energy had run dry long ago, and my severe Internal Injuries made it difficult to move even a single finger. I did not know where that strength had come from. I did not even know myself.

And…

It’s not like I have time to think about it anymore.

That had been my final act of defiance.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord rubbed his reddened forehead and let out a quiet laugh.

“You truly are… a dangerous man.”

I answered in a faint, unfocused voice.

“I should’ve cracked your skull.”

“If I hadn’t raised my Body-Protecting Qi at the last moment, you might have.”

“You monstrous bastard.”

“Hah. It feels strange hearing that from you.”

Unfathomable emotions flickered through the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s eyes as he looked at me.

At first glance, they seemed like anger. At the same time, they felt almost like admiration.

Before I could make sense of them, an unexpected roar rang out.

Rumble-rumble-rumble, boom!

The sound had come from neither me nor the Western Heaven Demon Lord.

The underground prison.

The entire vast space, thousands of feet across, shook. Fist-sized stones fell from the ceiling, and cracks spread across the ground.

The noise and tremors soon subsided, but a deep furrow appeared between the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s brows.

“…I’d better hurry.”

The instant he muttered those words and glanced at the ceiling, heaven and earth flipped.

A moment later, a slight impact traveled through my back.

Boom!

A wall.

He had thrown me against it.

“Cough.”

As I spat up blood, his calm voice reached my ears.

“Sit there for a while. I’ll be back soon.”

“You…”

“If you’re still alive by then, I’ll take you with me. If you happen to be dead…”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord paused before continuing.

“That wouldn’t be so bad either. You’re a dangerous man.”

“W-wait.”

I reached with all the strength I had left toward the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s retreating back.

I had to stop him. I had to keep him from capturing Jeok Cheongang and the Divine Physician.

But not a single part of my body would move as I wanted.

“Cough. Bleegh!”

Dark-red blood gushed from my open mouth.

The chunks mixed in with it were…

Damn it. Pieces of my organs.

It was neither my first time seeing such a thing nor an unexpected sight, but crushing despair weighed down my entire body.

My limbs were crippled, and I had suffered a fatal Internal Injury.

In my heart, I had already thrown myself into the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s path. But with my arms and legs crushed, I couldn’t take a single step.

“Ah.”

I raised my head blankly with a groan.

The corridor where the Western Heaven Demon Lord had disappeared stood empty.

The place, devastated by our clash, was filled with traces of craters large and small, collapsed walls, and other destruction.

The prison where prisoners had still been confined half a day earlier was now strewn with bent bars, fallen rocks, and things like broken chains.

The sight made me realize it.

It’s over.

I had fought, and I had lost.

I had tried to stop him, but I couldn’t. I had tried to protect them, but I had failed.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord had been telling the truth.

The kind of luck we had seen in Henan would not happen again. The Tang Clan, Emei, and Qingcheng were headed for destruction, and Cheongpung could not handle them all alone.

He’ll probably die or be captured.

I wished he would run instead, but that would never happen.

That was the kind of person Cheongpung was. Even drenched in blood, he would return to the underground prison to save his Benefactor.

I stared into the darkness beyond, where the exit lay, and laughed weakly.

Damn it…

It all felt like my fault.

Cheongpung. Jeok Cheongang. Even the Divine Physician, who had been dragged into this mess for no reason and would suffer because of it.

At least Hyuk Mujin and Gung Gibang had not come with me. That was the only thing I could be grateful for.

Rumble-rumble-rumble.

A slight tremor ran through the ground, accompanied by a roar that seemed to rise from the depths of the earth.

The sound announcing the end of the match.

There had been no need to go twelve rounds like in boxing. I had fallen after only three, and I would probably die soon.

I’m sorry. All of you.

The capsule’s instruction manual had contained one simple rule.

If you die in the Murim, you die in reality, too.

Everything I had built while traveling between those two worlds was crumbling little by little, just like this underground prison.

“I never thought I’d die like this…”

My vision blurred. The pain throughout my body and the sounds reaching my ears slowly faded away.

Then, just as I was about to slip free of every sensation, an old man’s face suddenly appeared before me.

A chain with marks where something had torn it away.

An unusually tall body, so gaunt that every bone stood out.

I called to him in a feeble voice.

“…Heavenly Power Demon.”