Chapter 349: Heavenly Demon (3)

Kuuuuuuung.

Countless black energies burst forth from the person in front.

Wi Seol-ah had to shudder facing that energy.

How could it be so ominous?

And what is this power pushing back such energy?

Wi Seol-ah harbored a question about the white energy constantly erupting from her body.

If you ask why she didn’t know what it was, even while using it.

It’s probably because this power isn’t currently being used by Wi Seol-ah.

[What are you doing right now?]

In a way, they might be the same.

But the current Wi Seol-ah was in the position of a spectator.

From the moment that unknown figure appeared.

The control over her body had passed to someone else.

Swish! Swish!

Flashes continuously occurred.

Every time the sword blade, coalesced with white energy, cut through the air, the energy brushed past, leaving deep traces.

The aftereffects of those traces were so strong, it even gave the illusion that dimensions were twisting.

She could feel the body’s movements.

Even though she’d lost control, she could feel how her legs moved, what her hands were doing.

Wi Seol-ah could feel everything, including the direction of her gaze.

How the internal energy flowed, what the sword path was like.

She could see all those minute movements.

It was different from the swordsmanship her grandfather had taught her.

‘It’s similar, yet different….’

Clearly, the framework was the Moon-Worshipping Sword Dance.

The flow of internal energy was the same, and the sword path moving accordingly was definitely her grandfather’s Moon-Worshipping Sword Dance, but…

The sword unfolding from her fingertips felt slightly different.

Just as she wondered where she’d felt this before.

‘…This.’

She recalled.

The strange sword path she’d received instruction in from the Hwasan Sect.

The bizarre sword she’d wielded under her teachings.

The form felt then had a resemblance to this.

Then what is this energy?

This, too, was similar yet different from the golden energy that unfolded according to the inner cultivation technique.

Looking at the flow of internal energy, it seemed the same, but…

The energy was deeper.

And much warmer.

-Focus and feel it.

A voice reached Wi Seol-ah’s ears.

Only then could she recall again what situation she was facing.

Admiring the swung sword.

Mesmerized by the beautifully unfolding energy, she had momentarily forgotten.

[Unni…!]

-I didn’t want to show you this way.

Even as she spoke, the sword continued to move.

The wildly waving black energy still seemed endless.

At first, it seemed overwhelming, and seeing the desperate quantity of energy rendered one speechless, but…

The woman did not stop.

-Are you scared?

Flash (閃).

As she slashed the sword down, light flashed.

The cascading black energy faltered.

It was a fleeting moment, but the woman took another step forward.

-Do you remember the words, ‘Realize the essence of the Moon-Worshipping Sword Art’?

She remembered. The words that the essence of the Moon-Worshipping Sword Art wasn’t in the moon.

The fact that she was bringing this up now…

Did it mean this power was the essence of the Moon-Worshipping Sword Art?

-No.

The woman denied it.

-Do not lose your way by being mesmerized by this power; the essence must be found by yourself.

The white energy protecting her surroundings as she turned her body…

At a glance, it seemed to take the form of wings.

It was a power that the current Wi Seol-ah surely couldn’t display.

Wi Seol-ah looked past her gaze at the being emitting black energy.

It was a face identical to her own.

How could that be?

Her mind was filled only with questions.

With an expressionless face, only her purple eyes shone.

With a single wave of its hand, immense energy continuously erupted, frequently pressing down on the surroundings.

The sword tip cut through the air again, blocking the energy, but…

This time, it couldn’t block it all, scattering it around.

Had she reached her limit?

Seeing that, Wi Seol-ah spoke.

[Unni…. Give it back, please.]

She had said she wouldn’t take it carelessly like this.

Yet here she was, being willful again.

The swung sword and the energy accumulated there were at an admirable level, but…

This was a different story.

-Sorry.

The woman offered an apology.

-You must not like me taking your body so freely…. But right now…

She thought this was for him.

The woman thought it couldn’t be helped this time, but…

[That’s not it.]

Wi Seol-ah spoke as if to deny this.

[If you do more…. You said it was the last time. That if you did more, you’d disappear.]

-…!

[You can’t do that.]

At Wi Seol-ah’s words, the woman inwardly let out a small exclamation.

It was because the words were different from her expectations.

-…Are you worried about me?

[Can’t I be?]

It was something she had said once.

That because she didn’t have much strength left, using the body like this was reaching her limit.

She had said she could only do it about one more time.

And that time was now.

And. This was what the woman had wished for.

If she could use it for him, she wouldn’t hesitate at all.

If she were to vanish like this, she knew she would receive punishments unimaginable due to the karma accumulated in her soul until now.

But the woman didn’t care.

She couldn’t repay what he had done for her now.

She couldn’t even reveal her existence, but…

If she could save him, and save the future time he had…

She meant it was fine, no matter the cost.

In such a situation, she hadn’t expected to receive worry from Wi Seol-ah.

[If you go on like this…. You’ll disappear, Unni. Is that okay?]

She wouldn’t be able to see him anymore.

The question of whether that was okay.

At those words, a slight smile flowed from the woman even as she swung the sword.

-You are very different from me.

Because she was quite different from herself.

That was actually good.

-That’s enough.

If she had met him differently.

If things had been even slightly different back then.

It was the same as meaning she might have become like that too.

-I hope you find happiness.

Please do.

Though she couldn’t, she hoped Wi Seol-ah would be able to.

Live the life I couldn’t experience.

The woman truly wished for that.

[Unni…?]

-I have one request.

The woman spoke carefully.

-Please don’t hate grandfather too much. He had his reasons. You, at least… don’t hate him.

[What are you saying?]

Wi Seol-ah spoke, sounding bewildered, but…

The energy was intensifying.

Only then could Wi Seol-ah vaguely sense…

That the energy the woman was currently using wasn’t just coming from her dantian.

It was from a place much deeper than that.

Because it was drawn from such a deep place, she knew that if the current Wi Seol-ah tried, she wouldn’t be able to reach it at all.

Where was she drawing it from?

After using this energy, what would happen to Unni?

Strength was gradually being infused into the sword.

The process was incredibly intricate and perfect.

The steadily accumulating energy had no flaws.

It meant perfect application.

Perhaps sensing that energy, the opponent also tilted their head, looking puzzled.

Their expression seemed closer to intrigued rather than feeling a sense of crisis.

Were they curious about what would happen next?

[Unni…! Stop…!]

The woman recalled.

What would happen to her after using this power?

She knew she would receive fitting punishment for the karma she had accumulated, but…

She just didn’t know what that punishment would be.

More importantly.

Could she eliminate that being with this?

‘Impossible.’

It was impossible.

The woman knew all too well that it wasn’t a being that could be dealt with by such means.

Because ‘she’ herself was the same as the opponent.

She would know better.

But.

‘Even a little damage.’

Buy time.

She could buy him more time than now.

What was infused into the sword now wasn’t just energy.

Because she couldn’t touch the innate vital energy harbored within the body.

She had poured in her existence and karma.

It would be right to say she had embraced her soul.

One thrust.

It was endurance for that, but…

Woong-

“…!”

The woman had no choice but to turn her head, leaving the steadily accumulated energy behind.

The direction was where he was collapsing.

It was the same for the Heavenly Demon.

Even the Heavenly Demon, who had maintained the same expression continuously.

Somehow looked somewhere with greatly enlarged eyes.

Then, suddenly.

“…Huh… Huk.”

Someone groaned. Wi Seol-ah reacted immediately to the sound.

Surprisingly, the source of the groan was the Heavenly Demon.

---

The demonic energy constricting my entire body.

Unlike the internal energy being blocked and the body being made to decay.

The pain I felt now was slightly different.

Was it called resonance?

As if to inform me that the master of myriad demons was the Heavenly Demon.

The demonic energy mingled within my body was reacting to the Heavenly Demon before my eyes.

Was that all?

The demonic energy began to rampage within my body as if intending to return to the Heavenly Demon.

Showing defiance as if it would burst my body if I didn’t let it out.

Even though my body had reached Hwagyeong.

Does merely containing demonic energy in my body ultimately make me a meaningless existence to the Heavenly Demon?

Then what should I do?

In front, Wi Seol-ah confronts the Heavenly Demon, engaging in battle.

Paejon, who is behind, is not in a state to intervene.

The moment the Black Night Palace Lord regains strength, both Wi Seol-ah and I will be in a difficult situation.

This means Wi Seol-ah might be killed.

It’s not worry about who will stop the Heavenly Demon in the future if she dies.

It’s simply that I hate it.

Her dying.

Even more than my own death.

Therefore, I had to escape somehow.

So how do I break through this situation?

It’s a simple story.

If the demonic energy is rampaging, wanting to return to the Heavenly Demon.

I just need to firmly contain it in my body, making it lose the will to return.

Not just stashing it away in a corner of my dantian like now.

It meant making it one with my body.

This means…

My body becoming Demonized (魔人化).

The very thing I had avoided so much from the moment I contained demonic energy in my body, the thing I tried not to become even while using demonic energy.

It meant shattering it myself and crawling into it willingly.

I let go of the strength that was somehow holding back the rampaging demonic energy.

Grrrr.

Immediately, I felt the demonic energy go berserk like madness.

It’s painful.

It felt like someone was stabbing wildly inside my body.

Even while feeling such pain, I actually maximized the demonic energy further.

Kiiiaaaah!

I felt an illusion of something wailing inside my body.

It felt as if the demonic energy was letting out a monstrous shriek.

I made it move along the acupoints.

The direction wasn’t the dantian.

The destination was the heart.

[Grrrrr!]

A sound reached my ears.

The beast brat, who hadn’t responded no matter how desperately I called earlier, belatedly crawled out.

I wondered if it felt wronged for only coming out now.

But that wasn’t the case either.

‘Is it you?’

I asked it.

‘The one holding back the demonic energy so it wouldn’t return.’

[Grrrrr….]

Even though demonic energy had been contained within my dantian until now.

The reason I hadn’t felt pain, and Demonization hadn’t progressed.

‘You were blocking it, weren’t you?’

I had thought it was due to the purifying power of the Nine Flames Wheel Technique.

But recalling my past life made me think differently.

Back in my past life, when I fell into the Heavenly Demon’s clutches and became a demon.

The reason I wasn’t imbued with madness, unlike others.

I had just thought it was a special circumstance.

But if the World Tree said that, from the very beginning of my past life, there was already a beastly fellow inside my body.

Perhaps, wasn’t this guy blocking him?

Not that the one sleeping inside me had only just woken up.

Wasn’t it just that I hadn’t noticed?

And even now.

As my level rose and the influence of demonic energy deepened each time.

The reason this guy’s appearances decreased was ultimately…

Wasn’t it because he was blocking my demonic energy from going berserk?

Such thoughts occurred to me.

I wondered if the purification was also this guy’s power, but…

That remained unknown.

One thing I could be somewhat sure of.

‘You don’t want me to become a demon.’

[Grrrrr….]

‘Right?’

It’s that this guy doesn’t want me to become a demon.

I didn’t know if that was truly the case, but at least, that’s what I thought.

But.

‘Sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible.’

Even if he doesn’t want it.

I guess I had to do it eventually.

Wasn’t it just that I had been postponing it?

I had said I would use everything given to head towards my goal.

I had only postponed it simply because I didn’t want to become a demon, recalling my past life.

If I did that.

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to return to normal.

That’s why I hesitated.

Geugeuk.

The demonic energy spread throughout my body, moving more violently.

As the oppressive force loosened, it began to rampage as if it owned the place.

I diverted the flow of the demonic energy, released throughout my entire body, towards my heart.

The energy burrowed in instantaneously.

Not all the demonic energy obeyed, but most of it flocked towards my heart.

The veins all over my body stood on end.

It was incomparable to the pain I felt in my past life.

Back then, the Heavenly Demon was the one bestowing a stigma to make me a demon.

Was it because now I was using my strength to become a demon myself?

I couldn’t be sure of anything.

Now, I just had to endure.

I opened my eyes, feeling like they would burst, and looked at the Heavenly Demon.

If I became a demon like this, even if I could endure for a while, I would eventually end up under the Heavenly Demon’s command.

‘Then it’s the same.’

If that happened, a situation no different from my past life would unfold.

Therefore, I took a slightly different approach.

It was something I had been constantly repeating in my mind since some time ago.

From the point I realized the Demonic Path Heaven Absorption Technique had stuck to my body even after experiencing regression.

As my level rose, and after the time I gained the ability to turn others into demons.

It led to the present.

That I was gradually able to do the things the Heavenly Demon did as my strength increased.

It felt like someone was pushing my back, suggesting I could take the Heavenly Demon’s place.

Isn’t that truly disgusting?

The possibility that the situation I’m experiencing now might contain someone’s will.

Even though the Heavenly Demon was breathing right before my eyes.

‘Could that really be wrong?’

It wasn’t enough to answer for myself.

Was it because all circumstances were pointing that way?

I also started thinking that perhaps I could be like that.

Is the Heavenly Demon truly the master of this demonic energy?

How can the energy extracted through monsters belong to the Heavenly Demon?

Is it because he is the master of myriad demons?

Even if there are demons now, how many are there?

Kiiiaaaah!

The demonic energy confined in my heart continues to rampage.

As if wanting to return to the Heavenly Demon.

‘No. I have to do it differently.’

I need to change my thinking.

Not that it’s returning to the Heavenly Demon.

It’s trying to move because it found a better vessel.

‘I fed and housed them all this time. And these bastards…’

Thinking like that is ridiculous.

The Heavenly Demon told me.

That the power was his.

No. To be precise, that’s not it.

Since I possess it, it’s my power.

If he thrust something I never asked for into my hand.

He should at least handle this much.

I have no intention of giving it back.

Give it back? It’s my power now. I won’t let go of anything I possess.

Kiaaa…!

The demonic energy continues to fluctuate violently.

Especially since it refuses to connect with the Heavenly Demon.

I grabbed and pulled it tightly.

The intense pain increased, and it felt like I would burst any second, but…

I don’t care.

‘Shut up and listen.’

If the world demands something of me.

I was willing to comply this one time.

‘Just because I stay still, do they think I’m some kind of sucker?’

It took over a spot in my body as it pleased.

And now it’s trying to go there the moment the Heavenly Demon appeared?

I can’t let it do that.

Kkuuuuk.

I grabbed all the rampaging demonic energy and stuffed it into my heart.

I could feel it moving violently continuously.

If I couldn’t endure it even slightly, my heart might burst and I could die, but…

It was hopeless to back down now.

I wove it densely and slowly, stuffing it in tightly.

In the past, my body wouldn’t have been able to withstand it.

But since my body had reached Hwagyeong, I could barely endure it.

This was just like…

It felt as if it had been waiting until I reached Hwagyeong.

It fit the situation and timing too perfectly to dismiss it as mere delusion.

If this was true.

What did the unknown existence want from me?

‘Perhaps, are they telling me to become the Heavenly Demon?’

That’s a ridiculous thought. When there’s such a crazy being right before my eyes.

For me to be the Heavenly Demon, of all things.

That’s a terrifying thing to say.

And completely nonsensical.

Amidst this, I vaguely felt something.

As the demonic energy accumulated in my heart, I saw a transparent line connected to my body.

This was connected to the Heavenly Demon.

My entanglement with the Heavenly Demon in this life hasn’t been long, so what is this line?

Was it a mark indicating the demonic energy in my body was connected to the Heavenly Demon?

The question didn’t last long.

What this line, possibly an illusion, meant.

Why it was connected.

Whether it was indeed related to the Heavenly Demon.

Whether that was true or not.

I reached out my hand.

And grabbed the connected line, severing it.

Tuk.

The line came undone so easily.

“…!”

At that moment, the Heavenly Demon’s gaze turned towards me.

Could it be that it felt the line being severed?

Kugugugung!

Immediately after the line was severed, a change occurred in the demonic energy held in my heart.

The demonic energy I had barely managed to contain instantly spread throughout my entire body again.

The difference from before was.

The demonic energy that had accompanied intense pain now felt warm.

Primarily, it seeped into my dantian.

There, it mingled with the internal energy that had been residing there.

Unlike the time I used the expression ‘devouring internal energy’.

This time, it was slowly mingling.

The demonic energy, combined with the internal energy, instantly surged into the middle dantian.

There was no obstruction.

It was incredibly smooth and even felt natural.

As if filling withered traces, after filling the middle dantian completely with demonic energy.

The destination was only one place.

The upper dantian.

Towards the frozen, unknown space formed upon reaching Hwagyeong, the demonic energy once again led my body.

Its movement was like a tidal wave.

It was an incredibly fast speed in a fleeting moment, but…

I could feel exactly how the demonic energy was moving.

With such a distinct presence, how could I not know?

Demonic energy filled the upper dantian.

Then, a hot heat filled my eyeballs.

“Haa….”

The intense pain had long since disappeared.

I exhaled, filled with an unknown ecstasy.

There was no time to savor the prelude.

Then, I pushed myself up.

The Heavenly Demon was looking at me.

Its distinct purple eyes were directed towards me, but…

What I felt now wasn’t fear or dread, but an inexplicable sense of kinship.

Hwareuk.

Facing it, I ignited flames with my fingertips.

It was a flame created not by internal energy, but by demonic energy.

Perhaps that’s why, a black flame tinged with purple light bloomed.

“Ah, fuck.”

Seeing it, I spat out a curse.

I hadn’t wanted to become a demon, even to avoid this, but…

Ultimately, I ended up containing these fucking flames in my body again, so how could I not curse?

Setting aside the fact that I had finally become a demon and the Heavenly Demon standing before me.

I made one resolution while looking at the flames.

If I wasn’t going to die here.

At the very least, let’s not get an idiotic nickname like in my past life.

Ironically, that was my top priority right now.