CLS-Chapter 540

Chapter 540:

‘Heavenly Demon?’

Did he just say Heavenly Demon?

His throat involuntarily swallowed dry saliva.

Heavenly Demon—why would that name come up here?

“So then…”

Jang-il looked at Wei Yan-ho with eyes that showed he couldn’t understand, then opened his mouth.

“Are you saying this place is the Heavenly Demon Cave?”

Even as Jang-il spoke, he could feel himself becoming bewildered.

Heavenly Demon Cave.

Who was the Heavenly Demon?

There were too many words that could describe the Heavenly Demon, but there was only one phrase that could express him most perfectly.

The Greatest Demon of All Time.

Since the concept of demons first appeared in the martial world, countless people had proudly called themselves demons, but none dared to place themselves before the Heavenly Demon.

Even the Giant Demons who shook the world, even the Demon Heads who boasted of being the greatest under heaven, could only show respect to the Heavenly Demon and never dared to approach his status.

And for good reason.

The Heavenly Demon was both the beginning and the end of demons.

The one who elevated the Demonic Cult from merely a religion to its current status was none other than the Heavenly Demon. Before the Heavenly Demon, the Demonic Cult was nothing more than a heretical cult on the frontier. It was the Heavenly Demon who transformed that heretical cult into the Demonic Cult of the world.

Until the peerless genius called Sword Emperor appeared, no one could deny that he was the greatest person of all time. Even in the Central Plains, where people gritted their teeth at the mention of the Heavenly Demon, no one dared to claim that anyone stood before him. They simply desperately ignored his existence and treated him as if he didn’t exist.

That was the kind of person the Heavenly Demon was.

The place where that Heavenly Demon was said to have stayed last was precisely the Heavenly Demon Cave. It’s said that in the Heavenly Demon Cave, the Heavenly Demon left everything of himself for future demon practitioners.

But this place is that Heavenly Demon Cave?

‘That can’t be.’

Jang-il frowned.

Who was the Heavenly Demon?

He was the leader of the Demonic Cult and was called the greatest demon under heaven even in his time. Of course, the scale of the Demonic Cult back then might not have matched what it is now, but even so, with just the wealth plundered by invading the Central Plains, he could have lived quite richly.

But the tomb of such a Heavenly Demon is this shabby?

That was impossible.

Moreover…

“You seem to be mistaken about something—during the time the Heavenly Demon was active, the Demonic Cult wasn’t located in Xinjiang.”

Wei Yan-ho was staring at the wall without answering.

“So this can’t be the Heavenly Demon Cave.”

Wei Yan-ho’s head slowly turned toward Jang-il.

“Heavenly Demon Cave?”

“Right. This isn’t the Heavenly Demon Cave.”

“What’s the Heavenly Demon Cave?”

Jang-il realized that his and Wei Yan-ho’s understanding had diverged.

“You said the Heavenly Demon was here, right?”

“…Yes.”

“The place where the Heavenly Demon last stayed is called the Heavenly Demon Cave. This place isn’t the Heavenly Demon Cave. Besides, the Heavenly Demon Cave is from a thousand years ago…”

“No.”

Wei Yan-ho firmly cut off Jang-il’s words.

“Not a thousand years ago. He was here until recently.”

“What?”

Jang-il’s eyes filled with suspicion.

The Heavenly Demon was someone who died a thousand years ago. But how could he have been here until recently? People can’t live for a thousand years. Even immortals probably couldn’t live for a thousand years.

“The Heavenly Demon is already dead.”

“That’s probably true.”

“Then how could he be here?”

Wei Yan-ho shook his head.

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know whether it makes sense or not.”

Wei Yan-ho glanced at Jang-il and said.

“But you feel it too, don’t you?”

“…”

Jang-il closed his mouth.

Yes, he felt it too.

That something terrifying had been in this place.

“I don’t know if the one who was here is the same person as the Heavenly Demon known to the world. But there’s no other way to express the one who was here except to call him the Heavenly Demon.”

Everyone nodded at Wei Yan-ho’s words.

They felt it too.

Even though the person had left this place, he was an existence that threatened everyone with just the aura he left behind.

How strong would one have to be for that to be possible?

It was an experience none of them had ever had before. How immense a presence and how strong a power would one need to have to leave their aura in a space?

Jang-il looked around with trembling eyes.

If there were no special devices in this place, if this was really possible just by someone staying here, then how else could the one who stayed here be referred to except as the Heavenly Demon?

Even now, the pressure bearing down on their bodies was terrifying.

Jang-il had no choice but to agree with Wei Yan-ho’s words in the end. Even if the one who was here wasn’t that Heavenly Demon of the past, at least someone who approached the level of that Heavenly Demon had been in this place.

Certainly.

“Just what…”

While others were feeling eeriness, the emotion Wei Jeong-han was experiencing was shock.

“Yan-ho.”

“Yes.”

“You said the Heavenly Demon was in this place?”

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho said firmly.

“Can you guess how strong he was?”

Wei Yan-ho slowly shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho sighed.

“This is my first time experiencing such a case, so I can’t guess how strong one would have to be to create this phenomenon. One thing that’s certain is…”

As he paused slightly, everyone’s gaze fixed on Wei Yan-ho.

“I can’t win against him.”

“Absolutely?”

“Yes. I absolutely can’t win. Not as I am now.”

Wei Yan-ho bit his lip slightly.

He was getting stronger.

Wei Yan-ho was getting stronger so fast that sometimes even he felt frighteningly scared of how strong he was becoming. But no matter how strong he became, there existed masters in the world who overwhelmed Wei Yan-ho.

And the one who had been in this place wasn’t an existence that could be expressed with just the word ‘master.’

‘Perhaps…’

There was only one existence that could inspire this much awe in Wei Yan-ho.

Baek Mu-han.

His master, the one called Sword Emperor.

The current Wei Yan-ho was a different person from when he first emerged from the cave. Even ten Wei Yan-hos from that time rushing at once wouldn’t be able to face the current Wei Yan-ho.

Yet still, to Wei Yan-ho, Baek Mu-han remained an incomprehensible existence. No matter how much he climbed and climbed again, he couldn’t even step on his shadow… No matter how much time passed, no matter how much the world changed, no one would ever be able to approach Baek Mu-han’s realm.

Baek Mu-han was that great, and therefore all the more awe-inspiring.

But now Wei Yan-ho was feeling a power in this place that could be compared to that Baek Mu-han.

Different from the clear and vivid presence that Baek Mu-han showed—gloomy but overwhelming, and domineering.

‘Is it really the Heavenly Demon?’

The words his master had said came to Wei Yan-ho’s mind. To be precise, it wasn’t his master but Wei Yan-ho’s deduction borrowing his master’s appearance.

The Heavenly Demon was the only existence that Baek Mu-han said could be compared to himself. If it were such a Heavenly Demon, he could similarly follow everything that Baek Mu-han could do.

If Baek Mu-han left his thoughts to posterity, there’s no reason the Heavenly Demon couldn’t do the same. Even if the form and method were different, surely the Heavenly Demon could also leave his will to future generations like Baek Mu-han.

‘He was here?’

That Heavenly Demon?

But why?

Baek Mu-han used such a troublesome method because his twisted personality put him in a situation where he couldn’t pass on his martial arts to the Baek family.

But the Heavenly Demon wasn’t Baek Mu-han.

He was someone who could treat all Demonic Cult members like dogs. What would such a person lack that he would use this method?

It was incomprehensible.

What was certain was… whether the one who was here was that Heavenly Demon, or someone else new who deserved to be called the Heavenly Demon… certainly a tremendous existence had been in this place until recently.

“You can’t win?”

Wei Jeong-han’s face hardened.

“Not even close?”

“Yes.”

Wei Jeong-han bit his lip slightly.

Wei Yan-ho was strong, certainly.

If he continued to get stronger like this, he thought that someday he might be comparable to the Great Demon Emperor, the strongest existence he had ever seen. But Wei Yan-ho spoke so firmly?

‘How about the current Yan-ho?’

Could he be compared to the Great Demon Emperor?

Wei Jeong-han shook his head.

The Great Demon Emperor was one who drove the entire martial world into terror. His strength was on a different dimension from even the Demonic Cult’s bishops. It took the combined attack of the martial world’s greatest masters to barely stop him.

No matter how strong Wei Yan-ho was, it didn’t seem like he could block the combined attack of Sword Extreme, Sword Immortal, and Sword Sovereign. To put it coldly, wasn’t Wei Yan-ho unable to handle even the Mad Soul Demon Emperor alone?

But would Wei Yan-ho be helplessly defeated by the Great Demon Emperor? With Wei Yan-ho having become much stronger than when he faced the Mad Soul Demon Emperor, and having obtained an incredible divine weapon?

At least he would be able to exchange blows and match him. It couldn’t be called such a desperate difference as Wei Yan-ho was saying now.

Then the something that existed in this place was stronger than the Great Demon Emperor, who could be called the symbol of the Demonic Cult?

Wei Jeong-han could finally understand.

The one who had been incomparably strong.

The leader of the Demonic Cult.

Yet who called himself a puppet.

‘Jeok Mok-u…’

He seemed to finally understand why the one who seemed capable of doing anything in the world as he pleased called himself a puppet, why what he wanted to obtain was freedom.

If there had been someone called the Heavenly Demon in this place, if he had been an absolute master that even Jeok Mok-u couldn’t oppose, then the actions of Jeok Mok-u that had been completely incomprehensible until now could be explained.

“But then why didn’t the one who was in this place step forward in the last war?”

“There must have been a reason he couldn’t step forward.”

“A reason?”

Wei Yan-ho shook his head.

“I don’t know what that reason is. What’s certain is that he was in this place for quite a long time. Long enough for his aura to be imprinted like this. But now he’s able to leave this place. What that means is…”

Wei Yan-ho didn’t bother to continue his words.

But everyone could guess what words would follow.

“We need to inform the Righteous Alliance of this fact immediately.”

He didn’t know what help informing them of this fact would be, but knowing would be better than not knowing. At least then they could prepare mentally.

“Yan-ho.”

“Yes.”

“If the one who was in this place is as strong as you suspect…”

“…”

“Does the Central Plains have any chance of victory?”

Wei Yan-ho didn’t answer.

And that was enough.

“I understand.”

“It might be better not to inform them…”

Wei Jeong-han smiled at Wei Yan-ho’s words.

“When the Demonic Cult first invaded, none of us thought we had any chance of victory.”

“…”

“It was the same during the last rampage of the Demonic Cult. No one thought we could win. But we eventually blocked them.”

Wei Jeong-han’s voice was firm.

“The moment victory disappears isn’t when our forces fall behind. It’s when we give up. If we don’t give up, there’s always a chance of victory.”

“…Yes.”

At that moment, everyone’s heads turned sharply.

The cave began to echo. Someone had entered the cave.

“For now… surviving comes first.”

Those who faced each other and nodded quickly returned the way they came and began running through the cave using lightness techniques.

Beast-like cries pierced into their backs.

“There they are! There! Catch those wicked bastards and tear them to pieces!”

The demon practitioners quickly pursued them all.