Chapter 362

The Western Heaven Demon Lord spoke with a laugh.

“I admit it. You are supernatural powers incarnate.”

He had crushed all four of Jin Taekyung’s limbs with his own hands and inflicted severe Internal Injuries.

Crippled? He would have been fortunate if that were all. His wounds had been more than enough to kill him.

And yet the young man, Jin Taekyung, had survived.

He had returned to stand before the Western Heaven Demon Lord with his limbs restored without a single scar and even greater internal energy than before.

Even dozens of sorcerers working together couldn’t achieve a recovery like this.

If this wasn’t supernatural powers—an outright miracle—what was?

The Western Heaven Demon Lord trembled with a sudden surge of excitement and wonder.

Seeing him like that, Jin Taekyung cocked his head and sneered.

“What? Thinking about dying soon making you need to piss? Why are you shaking so much?”

“Do you know how many years I have lived?”

“No. Don’t want to, either.”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord nodded.

“Of course. To be honest, I don’t know myself.”

“Are you an idiot?”

“As I grew older, counting the years began to feel meaningless. Had I gone on living as I was, I might have grown so weary of the boredom that I chose death.”

“Can’t you die now? I’m serious. I’d even get down on my knees and beg.”

“I’m afraid I’m enjoying myself more than ever. Today, I met you, just as I once met the Lord of Heaven.”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord smiled brightly once more.

For him, the past several decades had been tedious years of endurance.

He missed war and blood. He yearned for something he had never experienced before.

Something new that even the Poison King and the Heaven-Shaking Venerable Nun had failed to provide.

The young man before him possessed the very thing the Western Heaven Demon Lord had longed for.

“I have only one request.”

The corners of the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s mouth stretched wide.

With his face grotesquely twisted into a smile, he resembled a fiend from the Lotus Sutra.¹

“Try to hold out as long as you can.”

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

The ground shook violently.

Black qi streamed from the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s entire body, bearing down on everything around him.

The absolute master, possessed of power that could shatter heaven, brought down his darkness-shrouded sword. Ink-black Sword Force surged forward, erasing the space in its path.

Whoooooosh!

“I’ve got one request, too.”

The young man, Jin Taekyung, tightened his grip on his spear.

Blue flames enveloped the spearhead, illuminating the darkness like sacred fire.

“Try to die as fast as you can.”

KABOOM!

A deafening boom shook heaven and earth, and a massive impact traveled down the spearhead.

Krrrk!

A thrill rushed through me as I stared at the ink-black Sword Force clashing with White Flame.

I have a good chance of winning.

That single exchange was enough to convince me.

Sword Force against Spear Energy.

Ask which was superior, and ninety-nine out of a hundred people would answer Sword Force.

The last one would probably give you shit for asking something so obvious.

But…

This is doable.

During my first battle with the Western Heaven Demon Lord, every exchange had inflicted an Internal Injury and forced me back.

But the immense internal energy the Heavenly Power Demon had given me through Transmitting Internal Energy Across the Body changed everything.

I had retreated only one step.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord had once seemed impossibly distant. Now he was close enough to touch if I reached out.

“Internal energy sure is nice, huh? Don’t you think?”

Zzzzzzt.

My absurdly massive Spear Energy showed no sign of dimming, even against the ink-black Sword Force.

Beyond our crossed weapons, the Western Heaven Demon Lord regarded me with open admiration.

“I guarantee there has never been a Peak master like you in the history of the Murim.”

“Of course not. They probably didn’t have more than three jiazi² of internal energy.”

I looked him straight in the eye and added,

“Or an ability like this.”

Before I had even finished speaking, I was already issuing a command in my mind.

Assign fifty points each to Strength and Agility.

Internal energy wasn’t the only thing the Heavenly Power Demon had given me.

Ten Level Ups had healed every injury on my body, and I still had all the Stat Points that came with them.

Whoooooosh.

A dazzling halo of light enveloped my entire body.

The change, perceptible only to me, took place in an instant.

Now it was time to see the results for myself.

“Put some real strength into your ‘don’t-go.’”

“Don’t-go?”

“Your asshole, dumbass.”

I was going to make him shit himself.

Clenching my teeth, I poured strength into the hand gripping the spear shaft.

Grrrrrk.

What were my stats now?

I didn’t know the exact numbers, but one thing was certain.

At the very least, this body had already gone far beyond the limits of a human being.

The smile vanished from the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s face beneath the overwhelming pressure.

“This is ridiculously crude…!”

“Way to hit me where it hurts.”

It was crude enough to leave anyone speechless, but it was also brutally effective.

The spear, which had been slowly giving way beneath the Sword Force, began to tilt ever so slightly toward the Western Heaven Demon Lord.

If my martial arts aren’t enough, I’ll make up the difference with my body.

It was a method only I could use in this world.

At the same time, it proved that the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s martial arts stood far above mine.

“Ha!”

Krrrk!

The instant a sharp shout burst from the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s mouth, his sword traced a strange arc and coiled around the spearhead.

He was redirecting my attack with the principle of Four Ounces Deflecting a Thousand Catties.

The spearhead plunged into empty air, releasing an explosion of compressed air.

As I staggered, the Western Heaven Demon Lord thrust out his hand.

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!

Invisible, formless qi.

I couldn’t see it, but I could sense it—where it would strike and when.

With that realization, my body flowed into motion.

I bent backward until my back nearly touched the ground.

Pfft!

Five strands of Finger Qi shot from the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s hand and grazed my philtrum.

Blood sprayed, filling my nose with its coppery smell.

By the time I sprang upright with a carp-leaping maneuver, the ink-black Sword Force was already slicing diagonally across my body.

Whoooooosh! Shhk!

It missed me by a hair and tore through space.

That alone brought down a pillar three zhang³ away and split the bars of the underground prison like tofu.

We were too close for me to swing my spear.

But I already knew what to do.

Inventory open. Store.

White Flame vanished from my hand, and I thrust both arms toward the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s chest.

Whooosh!

Scorching heat mingled with my breath.

My palms, imbued with the power of Flame Divine Palm, shot forward. At the same moment, the Western Heaven Demon Lord released his sword.

His hands blurred as he slammed both palms into mine.

KABOOM!

The instant our four palms, each carrying tremendous internal energy, collided, a violent gale erupted around us.

The rocky ground caved in, and the force of the impact blasted apart everything nearby.

But the real struggle had only begun.

Hngh!

I smothered the groan rising in my throat.

An immense wave of energy poured through our locked palms and intertwined fingers, making my vision swim.

What the hell is with this bastard’s internal energy…?

I currently possessed a full three jiazi² of internal energy.

In terms of sheer internal energy, that was more than enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Sect Leaders of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families.

But the Western Heaven Demon Lord—the monster standing before me—was on an entirely different level.

This is insane.

Hissssss.

The heat gathered in my hands slowly faded as darkness devoured the flames.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord spoke in a low voice.

“There is no need to feel so aggrieved. A tower easily built is just as easily toppled.”

“……!”

“You are merely a strong child. Such is the limit of those who have failed to cross the wall.”

Limit?

That single word made my teeth clench.

I had heard it until I was sick of it.

A bastard raised without a father. A bastard from a poor family. A bastard doomed to remain an F-rank Hunter until the day he died…

Every cutting remark anyone had ever aimed at me had come with the same word attached like a tag.

Even now, after everything I had accomplished.

“I swear, I’m going to…”

A question mark appeared over the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s face at my suppressed voice.

Holding back the endless torrent of his internal energy, I forced out the words like a groan.

“I’m going to circumcise that mouth of yours.”

“……!”

It didn’t take long for the question mark on his face to turn into an exclamation mark.

I ground my teeth and summoned every last bit of strength I had. My body, which had been sliding backward, began inching forward.

Then I slowly bent the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s interlocked fingers.

Crack!

Bones shifted out of place, and his brow furrowed.

“When it comes to brute strength, you may well be the best under heaven. But this is as far as you go.”

Crack-crack-crack! Thud!

It happened in an instant.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord stepped on empty air, launched himself upward, and drove his knee into my face.

The bridge of my newly healed nose caved in, and several broken teeth spun through the air.

I hurriedly pulled my hand away and wiped the blood covering my eyes.

“Ghk!”

“Your limit is clear.”

Whoosh—bang!

A fist hurtled toward me with a violent crack of displaced air.

I raised an arm to shield myself, but the shockwave ruptured my eardrums.

As I staggered, punches and kicks rained down.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

Chest. Stomach. Legs.

The relentless barrage battered my entire body.

But unlike our first battle, I neither let his attacks land so easily nor fell beneath them.

I’ve already been through this once. I won’t let it happen twice.

I reached into a pale afterimage and caught something solid.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s arm—the part even the Black Dragon Armor left exposed.

Without the slightest hesitation, I twisted it.

No.

I wrung it out like wet laundry.

Krrrk!

His skin tore, and shards of splintered bone burst through.

No matter how great the master, he could still feel pain. The Western Heaven Demon Lord let out a stifled groan and threw a punch.

His movement was duller and rougher than before.

There was no reason I couldn’t avoid it.

Bang!

Compressed air exploded half a span⁴ from my face.

I shot out my arm like lightning and caught his fist.

That was when I saw it.

“Huh?”

Something familiar caught my eye, and I froze.

A ring set with a small gemstone that radiated a mysterious light.

It was almost strange that I hadn’t noticed it sooner.

Why does he have the Myriad-Poison Ring…?

In that impossibly brief instant, a thousand thoughts flashed through my mind.

And after the flash of insight came the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s attack.

Crack!

I had let myself get distracted in the middle of a fight. Of course I couldn’t dodge it.

The blow sent me tumbling across the ground. I staggered back to my feet, clutching my ringing head.

I had taken the hit, but I couldn’t stop laughing like a madman.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord frowned.

“Why are you laughing? Have you lost your mind?”

“Lost my mind? You’re the crazy one, dumbass.”

Still laughing, I waved the object in my hand.

See this?

A fresh new Item, still warm after being stored in my Inventory and pulled right back out.

“What are you going to do if you lose something important? Huh?”

“……!”

A host of emotions flashed across the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s face when he saw the Myriad-Poison Ring.

Shock. Surprise. Confusion.

Then anger.

He looked down at his suddenly empty hand and spoke in a heavy voice.

“How?”

“Who knows? Maybe it’s those supernatural powers you love so much.”

A single brush had been enough.

The Myriad-Poison Ring had left the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s hand and been safely stored in my private vault—the Inventory, where no one else could reach it.

Now I slipped it onto my middle finger.

“You can tell it’s a sacred treasure. Look at that shine. Pretty, isn’t it?”

“Give it back. It is not something the likes of you can possess.”

I raised my middle finger at the Western Heaven Demon Lord.

“What do you think? Looks good?”

“……!”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord trembled with rage.

His usual composure had vanished without a trace.

Seeing him like that finally confirmed it.

“The Myriad-Poison Ring. This was your objective from the very beginning.”

The moment I saw the ring on the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s finger, the first thing that came to mind was the Green Jade Buddha Staff, the sacred treasure of Shaolin Temple that the Blood Lord had stolen during the massacre at Shaolin.

“I figured there had to be something special about it when that bastard clung to it even while running for his life… What, are you people collecting orbs? You think a dragon will appear and grant you a wish if you gather seven?”⁵

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s eyes darkened.

“I told you to give it back.”

“Yeah. Fuck off.”

I waved the middle finger wearing the Myriad-Poison Ring right in his face.

At the same time, I muttered inwardly.

Inventory open. Store.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s eyes widened as the Myriad-Poison Ring vanished without a trace, as though erased by an eraser.

“You…!”

Rumble-rumble-rumble.

The qi around him churned violently.

The sword he summoned with Seizing an Object Through Empty Space flew into his grasp.

Tss-tss-tss-tss!

Ink-black Sword Force blazed around the blade, fiercer and more violent than ever.

“This is the last time. Hand it over.”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord was no longer the same now that he had lost what mattered most.

His mind was shaken, and a shaken mind made for a shaken sword.

That might be enough to turn the tide.

“I’ll give you my final answer, then. No.”

The moment the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s eyes sank deeply at my answer—

“You brought this upon yourself.”

At those emotionless words, the ink-black Sword Force coiling around his blade shot forward like an arrow.

But its devastating power wasn’t aimed at my arms, my legs, or my neck.

At the far end of the ruined corridor stood the treatment room.

“No!”

I launched myself forward with a scream.

The muscles throughout my body, swollen to the point of bursting, shrieked in pain.

The internal energy I desperately dragged up clawed at my heart meridian.

But none of that mattered.

As long as I could stop it.

As long as I wasn’t too late.

Old Master!

With the cry trapped inside my throat, I kicked off the ground once more.

KABOOOOOM!

In a world slowed to a crawl, a deafening roar like heaven splitting apart filled my ears, and a blinding flash swallowed my vision.