Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 497.15 – Side Story 4 Part 4

Madman (4)

“Ugh…”

A gaping hole in the center of his chest.

The condensed energy had precisely pierced through his heart.

Black blood suddenly gushed out from the hole that had momentarily been visible all the way through to the other side.

Whoosh!

The Ten Martial Arts Madman Cho Jin-geuk clutched the wound on his chest and staggered, then gritted his teeth and barely endured.

“Your endurance is quite impressive.”

Grr!

At Heavenly Demon’s voice ringing in his ears, Cho Jin-geuk, filled with rage beyond pain, raised his head and glared at his face.

‘!?’

But upon seeing his face, Cho Jin-geuk’s eyes wavered.

It was because of the beautiful, delicate face that looked to be barely twenty years old no matter how he looked at it.

‘So young?’

He had thought that the current pinnacle of the martial world would be at least around his age or older.

But seeing Heavenly Demon’s extremely youthful appearance, he couldn’t help but be quite shocked.

If that face had become younger through some kind of body transformation technique, he could understand, but if not, it would be utterly dispiriting.

[Hahahahaha! Finally, a martial genius with the qualities of the world’s strongest has been born in our Cho family!]

[Young Master’s martial talent is beyond what any later generations could match!]

[You’re saying the Family Head corrected all these many secret manuals? Ha! You truly were born with the qualities of a great grandmaster!]

Except for when he had confined himself to control his killing nature, he had lived his entire life hearing only extreme praise.

This wasn’t just something said because blood is thicker than water.

His father, the retired family head, and the family retainers were all astonished every time they saw his martial talent.

He was truly a born genius. That’s what he was.

‘I am the heaven-ordained world’s strongest.’

He had lived with such self-confidence.

But what on earth was this situation?

They say there’s always someone better.

This monster-like guy is even stronger than that Mujeok bastard who gave him his first defeat ever, saying there’s another sky beyond the sky.

It was impossible to even gauge his capabilities.

“Haa… haa… You bastard…”

He can barely speak.

Having already been utterly defeated by overwhelming power, even saying anything feels futile.

‘Damn it.’

Everything feels so dispiriting.

He had sublimated his killing nature into martial arts even while confining himself, but that time has become meaningless.

What if he had returned to his family back then?

Would such an absurdly unfortunate event not have happened?

Amidst this, Cho Jin-geuk suddenly thought of his family and felt choked with regret.

Though he had been defeated, the Blood Killing Qi Technique not only brings their family back into the world but sublimates killing intent into martial arts.

Yet it felt bitter that he couldn’t pass on this realization to his family before dying like this.

If this just disappeared, unless someone with great grandmaster qualities like himself appeared, the Jinchang Cho family might have to live suppressing their killing nature for dozens of generations, no, perhaps forever.

‘That… would be more tragic than death.’

Throb throb!

Thud!

Unable to endure the pain in his heart, Cho Jin-geuk finally fell to his knees.

Kneeling thus, he kept his gaze on Heavenly Demon and said:

“I’ve lost. Haa… haa…”

To these words, Heavenly Demon replied in a dry voice:

“When did we ever compete?”

Clench!

Cho Jin-geuk’s fist, clutching his chest, tightened.

With his heart pierced and death a certainty, he had tried to show an attitude of acknowledging defeat in his final moment.

However, the opponent hadn’t even considered him a match from the start.

As someone with strong self-pride, he felt greatly insulted, but he couldn’t refute this at all.

The gap in martial prowess was that large.

Clenching his fist and swallowing his anger, Cho Jin-geuk spoke with difficulty:

“What excuses could the loser make? But as a fellow martial artist…”

“Stop.”

‘!?’

At that moment, Heavenly Demon cut off his words.

Then, gesturing with his eyes towards the chains on Cho Jin-geuk’s ankles, he said:

“Those. Where did you get them?”

“Cough cough…”

At Heavenly Demon’s question, Cho Jin-geuk’s eyes glinted.

As expected of a martial artist, did he recognize these?

The chains binding his ankles were something he had discovered in a deep cave in Mount Tian that he had entered by chance.

[How can this be?]

The highest grade iron that martial artists desire most could be said to be Ten-Thousand Cold Iron.

But this mineral surpasses even that.

Thinking that these peculiar iron chains that couldn’t be cut even by internal energy and even absorbed qi could restrain him for a while, he had taken them and sought out the best blacksmith in Xinjiang.

As expected, the blacksmith was amazed by this strange iron.

The blacksmith boasted that if weapons were made with this, they could create the finest martial equipment in all of Central Plains.

But Cho Jin-geuk didn’t have it made into weapons.

Rather than weapons, he needed chains that could restrain himself right then.

Anyway, once he completed his internal energy technique and was freed, it wouldn’t be too late to make weapons then.

The only regrettable thing was that there wasn’t enough of this strange iron to make all ten weapons for handling the Ten Martial Ways.

‘It’s a shame, but I could make a request in exchange for this.’

He wanted to give this to his family too, but not as much as the Blood Killing Qi Technique or Ten Martial Ways.

So Cho Jin-geuk spoke with difficulty:

“Cough cough. If I give you this, could you grant one request as a fellow martial artist?”

“Who said I needed that? Tell me where you got this from.”

At Heavenly Demon’s words, Cho Jin-geuk frowned.

He had thought Heavenly Demon coveted this special iron, but he was speaking as if that wasn’t the case.

No, could it be that he thinks there’s more of this iron?

If that’s the case…

Then the sound of fingers snapping rang in his ears.

What is he doing?

But then,

“I found this iron in a deep underground altar in a cave where a group on a pilgrimage, saying their holy land was here, fled as I killed them while seized by killing intent.”

‘!?’

Wait, why did I answer that?

As he was bewildered, Ma Ra-hyeon rushed in and punched him in the face.

Whack!

“Ugh!”

Ma Ra-hyeon’s eyes burned fiercely as he looked at Cho Jin-geuk, whose head had turned from the blow.

The group on a pilgrimage that Cho Jin-geuk mentioned.

They were the Fire Faith Order believers led by his father, Priest Mayera.

“You casually mention something you took after killing my father?”

“Father?”

“You son of a bitch!”

Filled with rage and killing intent, Ma Ra-hyeon didn’t stop there but grabbed Cho Jin-geuk’s collar and madly pummeled his face.

Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!

Though no internal energy was used, Ma Ra-hyeon’s strength as a martial artist was different from ordinary people, so with each punch, Cho Jin-geuk’s face was terribly mashed, his nose bone collapsing and teeth breaking.

Crunch!

He was striking so hard that even the eye socket broke and bone fragments pierced the eyeball, but Heavenly Demon stopped this.

“Stop for a moment.”

Heavenly Demon’s order was absolute, so no matter how consumed by revenge he was, Ma Ra-hyeon stopped immediately.

Ma Ra-hyeon’s fists were completely stained with the bastard’s blood.

Drip drip!

“Ugh…”

What was truly amazing was that despite being hit like this, since the blows weren’t infused with internal energy, Cho Jin-geuk was still breathing.

It could be called a tenacious life force, to still be alive even with his heart pierced.

Heavenly Demon snapped his fingers again and asked Cho Jin-geuk, who was groaning with his face mangled:

“Where is that place?”

At this question, Cho Jin-geuk was so angry that he had not the slightest intention to answer. However, regardless of his will, his mouth was cruelly answering:

“Ugh… On the middle slopes of the second highest mountain range to the southwest… Haa… haa…”

As soon as he finished answering, Cho Jin-geuk screamed madly:

“What! What sorcery have you used?!”

“I heard your answer well.”

At Heavenly Demon’s reply, Cho Jin-geuk was dumbfounded.

Just what is this guy?

It seemed he had mastered not only martial arts but also strange sorcery.

How could there be such an absurd case of making someone speak their inner thoughts at will, disregarding the person’s own will?

He had intended to ask for the Blood Killing Qi Technique and Ten Martial Ways’ formula to be passed on to his family in exchange for the location of the iron he had found, but all of this had become useless.

Perhaps such a request would have been meaningless from the start.

‘Damn that mixed-blood bastard.’

He considered Cho Jin-geuk his enemy, so even if he asked as a martial artist since he was going to die anyway, there was no way he would grant the request.

Realizing his own foolishness, Cho Jin-geuk closed his eyes, seemingly giving up on everything.

Perhaps it would have been better to hope that his family would discover the cave where he had confined himself to train.

Though he hadn’t left the completed formula, he had engraved some records of the Blood Killing Qi Technique’s breathing techniques and traces of the Ten Martial Ways on the cave walls.

‘Please. Find that and repay this someday…’

Breathing heavily, he gradually lost consciousness.

But Heavenly Demon’s voice reached his ears as he was dying:

“Does this person have family?”

“The Jinchang Cho family in Gansu province is his family, sir.”

“Is that so? Then it’s not over yet. Right Guardian, mobilize as much of our cult’s forces as you want and wipe out their entire lineage.”

‘What!?’

Cho Jin-geuk was so shocked by Heavenly Demon’s order that he opened his eyes despite having closed them.

However, what his eyes saw was the sole of Ma Ra-hyeon’s foot.

“Watch from hell. I’ll send them to you one by one.”

“You bas—”

Whack! Crunch!

His face, which had been spewing anger, was crushed under Ma Ra-hyeon’s foot.

Though he had wanted to accomplish it entirely with his own strength, Ma Ra-hyeon shed tears thinking of his father, perhaps feeling his grudge somewhat resolved by avenging him like this.

Drip!

Meanwhile, at the same time.

Someone landed from the sky in front of Cheong-ryeong, who had been waiting not far from the cave, wearing thick fur clothing.

Thud! Rumble rumble!

The landing was so massive that the surrounding ground shook.

The being was a huge monkey with a purple face and white fur, wearing armor decorated with snake patterns – the White Ghost King.

Grooowl!

At the appearance of this being exuding tremendous demonic power, Cheong-ryeong hurriedly drew the sword at her waist.

Shing!

But then, the White Ghost King prostrated himself before someone next to her with a great shout.

“Mistress! You’re safe!”

She was none other than Iron Fan Immortal, the Great Spirit Beast of Plantain Leaf Peak.