Dokma Jeghal-hwi – 6

The gray smoke cleared, revealing the Black Heaven Cult’s main gate.

The Black Heaven Cult’s main gate, once noisy with the sounds of clashing metal and people grappling, was now as silent as a tomb.

Even the sounds of crickets and birds that used to cry at night were still.

It was a scene as if time had been sliced away with a sword from an ancient myth.

Everything alive had fallen to the ground, and the once imposing buildings of the Black Heaven Cult looked worn and decayed, as if they had been struck by the harsh winds of time.

On the ground, the Cult’s People and the Azure Dragon Unit’s members were sprawled out together.

“Gurgle…”

Some were foaming at the mouth, others vomiting black blood before dying.

“Aaaaaaagh!”

Some, still clinging to life, writhed in burning agony.

Unspeakable pain assaulted every sense they possessed.

“Kyaaaa… Ack!”

The Chief Manager personally ended the lives of the surviving Cult’s People.

They were poisoned by his own Poison Art, and there was no way to save them.

He moved alone in the midst of the carnage he had created, standing solitary.

“Ugh…”

Somewhere, he heard the sound of a living person. No, it was the sound of someone dying.

The Chief Manager moved his feet and approached the sound, his teeth clenching as he recognized the face.

“Ch.. Chief Manager. The Young Cult Leader…”

It was Maehwa, still clinging to life.

Her face half-rotted, she wore a relieved expression even in her agony.

“I’m sorry.”

He repeated the words he had said while giving rest to the other Cult’s People.

At the Chief Manager’s words, Maehwa slowly shook her head.

“I had so much… to teach Yeonhwa…”

-Thwack

Without hesitation, the Chief Manager pierced Maehwa’s heart, and she vomited black blood before closing her eyes for good.

The aura of the living was no longer felt.

The Chief Manager stood blankly in the field of corpses.

“I’m… sorry.”

The tears that had been falling drop by drop now formed a stream, running down his chin.

He looked around.

This was supposed to be the Black Heaven Cult he had cultivated.

But today, it felt foreign. The Chief Manager had no memory of such a desolate Black Heaven Cult.

“Ah…”

Those who had shared joys and sorrows with him, protecting the Black Heaven Cult, were dead.

He had killed those he had believed to be his family with his own hands.

That fact pierced his heart.

Jegal Hwi, a member of the Jegal Clan’s collateral line, was a being created by design.

The Jegal Clan’s obsession with creating a being that effectively fused the Martial arts of various clans and sects led them to carry out inhumane experiments.

To create a Poison Devil surpassing the Poison Clan of Sichuan Tang.

That was the Jegal Clan’s Poison Devil cultivation plan.

However, it was impossible to catch up with the knowledge the Tang Clan had accumulated over decades in a short period of time.

Therefore, many reckless experiments were carried out.

Countless poisons were introduced into his body, and he had to sleep in jars filled with poisonous insects.

He had to eat the Inner core of snakes and spiders, and he was forcibly injected with Inner Force all day long.

Breaking through those vicious experiments, Jegal Hwi became a Poison Devil.

An imperfect one.

His skill in surpassing the Tang Clan’s Poison Devil was proven, but it was not stable.

Poison spread every time he moved, and the plants withered with every breath he took.

Moreover, the poison that began to gnaw at him from the inside soon threatened Jegal Hwi’s life, and the Jegal Clan, recognizing the danger, banished him.

Abandoned by his clan, Jegal Hwi was more pained by the fact that he had been abandoned than by the pain of the poison tormenting his body.

As he waited for the end in a secluded place, someone appeared before him.

–

What are you doing here?

–

Y-You should get away from here. You’ll be poisoned.

–

This level of poison is nothing to me.

The overbearing woman grabbed Jegal Hwi’s hand and pulled him up.

At that moment, a certain energy scanned his body.

–

Your balance is broken. Tsk.

–

Wh-What are you doing…?

He tried to resist weakly, but the hand holding him did not budge.

Soon, the vitality of his body returned, and the feeling that his body was about to explode subsided.

–

I’ve kept you from dying for now. You’ll probably… live for another month or so.

–

Only a month?

–

Yes, a month. But if you learn how to control the power within that time, you won’t die.

–

Please, tell me how.

–

Then follow me. I’ll save your life, and that life is now mine.

–

May I ask for your name?

–

What’s with the ‘esteemed one’? Just call me Heavenly Demon.

For several years, he blindly followed the Heavenly Demon.

As promised, the Heavenly Demon not only taught him how to control the poison, but also passed on Martial arts.

Moreover, people gradually gathered to follow the Heavenly Demon, forming a group called the Black Heaven Cult.

The people of the Black Heaven Cult cherished each other and treated each other like family.

Was it the feeling of comrades meeting at the end of their lives? Jegal Hwi wondered.

Before he knew it, Jegal Hwi, who had risen to the position of Chief Manager, made a vow.

To make our home a better place.

The Azure Dragon Unit led by Lee Hang arrived at the Heavenly Demon Palace.

“It seems Thunder Sword was right, the Heavenly Demon is definitely not here.”

Indeed, if the Heavenly Demon had been here, they would have died before even climbing this mountain.

He didn’t know where he got the information, but Thunder Sword was certain that the Heavenly Demon was not here.

“Good. Then find the man named Kang In-ho as planned.”

At Lee Hang’s words, the members scattered and searched the Heavenly Demon Palace.

They broke furniture and rummaged through the floor, looking for any secret doors.

He was said to have no Inner Force at all, so he wouldn’t be caught by sensory perception. Searching directly like this was crude, but it was a faster method.

“There were no suspicious traces.”

“Same here.”

The search continued for a while, and the members who had come up empty-handed gathered before Lee Hang.

“We’ve only searched the Heavenly Demon Palace. Move to another…”

As Lee Hang was about to order them to move to another palace, he turned around, sensing Killing intent grabbing the back of his neck.

Emitting an ominous purple aura, the Chief Manager staggered towards them.

“How… We definitely captured him. Could it be… Poison Art…”

Shattering the calculation that he wouldn’t use Poison Art where his people were, the Chief Manager appeared before them.

The Chief Manager growled in a rough voice, his soulless eyes of Poison Devil Jegal Hwi reflecting the figures of the unwelcome guests.

“Don’t break our home anymore.”

In that growl, there was a pitiful lament.