The Southern Heaven Demon Empress was certain.
Give her the time it took to drink a cup of tea, and she could end this tiresome battle. That was all the time the brat she wanted to tear apart and his beast had left to live.
But as she raised her hand to strike, that certainty cracked.
Kwoooong—!
A vast rumble rose from somewhere. At the same time, the air rippled and the wind stopped. Sensing the powerful wave of qi coming from beyond the thick darkness, the Southern Heaven Demon Empress clenched her teeth.
This is…!
A master. One strong enough to resist the demonic qi’s influence.
The thought and her response came in the same instant. Realizing something had gone wrong, she released the internal energy gathered in her remaining hand and shouted—not toward the approaching master, but toward the person she had to kill before it was too late.
“Kill him!”
Kwooooooosh!
A vast palm force tinged with murky light tore through the air. It was not the only thing hurtling toward Jin Taekyung.
Nearly a thousand humans and beasts—mutants made more vicious and powerful by the demonic qi—lunged together with a chorus of shrieks.
Pap-pap. Shhhhhk!
—Krrk, kraaaah!
Teeth harder and sharper than steel glinted in the darkness. The mutants charged with strength and speed far beyond what their bodies had once possessed, while the palm force streaked above their heads like a meteor.
All of it bore down on the two figures standing in the dark beneath a faint glow.
No. It was meant to tear apart the one human who had dealt the Southern Heaven Demon Empress an insult she could never wash away.
Jin Taekyung watched it come. The corner of his weary mouth twisted.
“Too bad. You’re already too late.”
“……!”
Only a shichen1 ago, those words had come from her lips. Now they came back to her, thick with mockery.
Boom! Fwoosh!
The darkness on either side burst apart as though the demonic qi itself had exploded. Green Force, the color of forest and leaves, surged through the opening and smashed everything in its path.
No—it tore into them and devoured them.
Like a wild beast.
Krrrunch!
The earth shook. Compressed air burst outward, sweeping away the wind laced with bitter demonic qi. The green Force ripped the limbs from the mutants rushing in on every side, then opened its jaws toward the immense palm force.
Kwaaang! Rumble!
Light mingled where the attacks collided. After a deafening roar that made it seem as though the sky itself had split apart, a terrifying shock wave shook the surrounding space.
Beyond it, the Southern Heaven Demon Empress stared wide-eyed at her palm force as it faded away helplessly.
They canceled each other out?
Who was she?
One of the Lord of Heaven’s most loyal servants. A master he trusted enough to place Southern Heaven in her hands. In her own eyes, she was among the greatest and most exalted beings beneath heaven and earth.
Jin Taekyung had cost her a considerable amount of strength, but she could still tear an ordinary Supreme Peak master apart in moments.
And yet their attacks had canceled each other out.
She did not want to believe it. But she was not stupid enough to deny what had happened before her eyes, nor did it take long to guess who had arrived.
It has to be him.
Fist Force of that magnitude. The massive figure taking shape through the settling dust.
Her voice came out cold.
“…Yayul Cheok. The Beast Miao King.”
Boom!
She swept her sleeve aside. The wind from it cleared the dust, revealing a giant of a man whose half-gray beard hung like an old tiger’s mane.
Behind his towering frame, a young man leaned against the massive body of the White Tiger.
“You’re late. Very late.”
Jin Taekyung’s voice was faint. The Beast Miao King answered calmly.
“I’m sorry. I came too late.”
“I almost died out here.”
“That won’t happen.”
He thrust out a hand as fast as lightning.
Bang.
The sound was like a drum bursting. Jin Taekyung’s body jerked, and the guardian spirit hurriedly caught him as he started to collapse. It bared its teeth on instinct, but Jin shook his head and opened his mouth.
“Urk. Ueeecch!”
Shwaaaaaak!
Dark red blood poured from him, soaking the guardian spirit’s broad back. Feeling the hot, dead blood run through its fur like vomit, it muttered.
“What a wonderful feeling.”
“……!”
“Don’t look at me like that, large human. I am—”
The guardian spirit was about to continue addressing the wide-eyed Beast Miao King when Jin Taekyung pushed himself upright. Having spat out the dead blood, he sounded much more alive.
“Not exactly the best time for introductions, but say hello. This is Whitey. I just adopted him.”
“Adopted? How dare you!”
“Oh. So Whitey’s fine?”
“You bastard!”
Jin grinned as the guardian spirit bristled, forgetting the danger around them. Then the Beast Miao King suddenly swept both hands outward.
Boom!
Green Fist Force struck a murky palm force in midair. At the same instant, the transparent spearhead that had hung limp moved.
Slash!
A dozen or so mutants trying to exploit the opening were cut apart before they could scream.
Another group rushed at Jin’s back as he briefly staggered. They saw the enormous forepaw waiting for them.
Whoosh! Crunch!
Blood spurted like a fountain. Severed limbs tumbled across the ground.
The guardian spirit let out a low growl. Jin stood back-to-back with it, raised White Flame, and pointed its spearhead in one direction.
“And the fucking bitch who interrupted while someone else was talking… You know her, right?”
The Beast Miao King nodded. An ugly old woman was reflected in his dark eyes.
“Yes. The Southern Heaven Demon Empress.”
His voice seemed to boil with anger that could not be hidden.
Countless mutants still surrounded them. The demonic qi had taken their original forms from them, but they were the tribespeople of this land—the people he had cherished more than anyone.
No. Had cherished was wrong. He still did.
The ache that had started in his chest the moment he saw them was proof enough.
I hoped I wouldn’t be too late.
He had run until he could hardly breathe, wringing every last measure of strength from himself to get here. Then he had seen the Nanman Beast Palace in the distance, engulfed in darkness and flame, and known.
He was already too late.
To reach this place, he had passed more than mountains and plains, rivers and valleys.
He had seen a hellscape.
It brought back fragments of the Great Faction War, that horror from decades ago, and cut his heart to pieces. The bodies of tribespeople who had failed to escape lay crushed beneath fallen buildings. Streets that had rung with music and laughter not long ago belonged to surging darkness and fire.
And now the one most responsible for that hellscape stood before him.
“I swear this as the Palace Lord of the Nanman Beast Palace.”
Fire blazed in his reddened eyes. There was no trace of the man who loved a drink and good company, who laughed heartily when he had had his fill.
Decades ago, he had led ten thousand warriors north against the Demonic Cult’s Hundred Thousand Demonic Disciples and earned his place among the Ten Kings. Now that giant spoke in a voice cold as steel.
“I will tear your limbs apart piece by piece.”
Jin poked his head out from behind the Beast Miao King’s broad back.
“Thought I’d save you some trouble. I’ve already cut off one of her arms.”
He was still pale, but color was returning to his face. The hand around his spear no longer trembled. He drew a deep breath and stepped forward.
Scuff.
Just one step.
The mutants crowding every side flinched, but none dared charge. Their reason had been paralyzed, yet the mutation had sharpened their instincts. They sensed the change in the air.
They sensed, too, that the master who should have ordered them forward had fallen silent.
Their instincts were right. For the second time since coming to Nanman, the Southern Heaven Demon Empress felt threatened.
This isn’t good…
Ordinarily, she would have snorted at the thought. The Beast Miao King might be one of the Ten Kings, but he could not have closed the gap between them.
Now things were different.
Jin Taekyung’s One Strike had been powerful enough to freeze her with fear for an instant. It had cost her an arm and much of her strength. With her in this condition, the Beast Miao King was a threat.
Jin had recovered a little strength with his help, and the guardian spirit still held considerable qi. The mutants were no match for either of them.
But they were not the only reason her unease kept growing.
Why? Why haven’t they appeared?
Like the Western Heaven Demon Lord, who had died in Sichuan a few months ago, she commanded a sizable force: roughly five hundred subordinates. Perhaps not enough to be called an army, but they were handpicked fighters, hidden from Nanman’s people and held ready for precisely such a situation.
Yet—
They still haven’t come.
More than half a shichen1 had passed since the rift opened. Only the Masked Man had appeared on time.
By now, over half her force should have crossed through the Moving Formation engraved on the mirror she had given Baeksang. The rest should have sealed the Outer Palace gates from outside.
Even if something went wrong with the Moving Formation, they should have shown up somehow by now.
She pressed her lips together. Then the ground beneath her feet began to tremble.
Creak. Creak-creak.
A faint smile touched her face. Her subordinates had finally arrived.
She had selected every one of those five hundred fighters herself. They practiced demonic martial arts, and the demonic qi would make them stronger still. No matter how many beasts remained in the Outer Palace, they could not block their way.
“Tear my limbs off? You?”
She let out a short laugh. Seeing Jin Taekyung’s and the Beast Miao King’s faces stiffen, she could not help laughing again.
“I’ll admit it. You fought better than I expected. No—no one could have imagined it would come to this.”
She kept the rest to herself.
But now it’s over.
As though nothing had happened, she began to walk lightly forward. The taut air seemed to ease. Then the Beast Miao King spoke.
“Someone did.”
“What?”
“Someone foresaw this. He walked a path he couldn’t turn back from and tormented himself with guilt, but he never gave up hope. Not until the very end.”
She blinked, unable to make sense of it.
The Beast Miao King spun like lightning and drove out a fist.
Kwoooooosh!
Green Force punched through the darkness, carving a path.
Along it came the reinforcements who would decide the battle’s outcome.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
A company clad in white garments and armor emerged. The man at their head bowed to the Beast Miao King.
“Wang Ho, Commander of the Baekcheon Unit… pays his respects to the Palace Lord.”
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