Chapter 1213 – 1213. Ascending To The Light
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Dragon Fist.
The flustered bastard reacted a beat late to my attack. The attack landed squarely. The Dragon Fist struck the shadow’s abdomen. The shadow flew backward, crashing into the wall.
The shadow stood up from the ground as if nothing had happened. It didn’t seem to be a fatal blow. I was satisfied that his momentum had been shaken.
“The demonic art you use is definitely the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. But it’s not the Heavenly Demon Divine Art I know. Did you modify the existing Heavenly Demon Divine Art? Or… is it another Heavenly Demon Divine Art…?”
The shadow said. Even amidst that, the shadow’s demonic energy writhed, trying to seize the surrounding space. I felt it during the fight earlier. The characteristic of his Heavenly Demon Divine Art was assimilation. It slowly eroded the opponent’s power, gaining an advantage in compatibility.
But with my Heavenly Demon Divine Art, I could easily withstand his demonic energy.
“Hand over the White Yang Flower and die.”
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Heavenly Demon Sword, Demonic Wind.
I swung my blade. A black wind blew, flying towards the shadow.
The shadow thrust his sword forward. From the tip of the sword, a dark demonic energy flickered like a candle, then suddenly expanded to become a shield. A sword barrier. The black wind was blocked by the sword barrier and disappeared.
I wasn’t disappointed. I didn’t expect him to fall for such a simple attack from the start.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step.
I moved forward.
With each step I took, I felt the surrounding space being dominated by me. I soon encroached on the shadow’s space. I couldn’t seize his space all at once. But I could feel the dominion slowly shifting to me.
I grinned. As expected, his demonic energy couldn’t assimilate my demonic energy.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Heavenly Demon Sword, Ninefold Triple Kill.
I simultaneously stabbed the shadow’s head and both shoulders.
The shadow’s body moved as if sliding. He didn’t move his legs. It was a strange movement, as if someone invisible was pulling the shadow.
“What was that? Is it a spell?”
“It’s more than the Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step.”
“That’s all?”
“It’s just a part of the Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step.”
I continued my attacks. The shadow moved like a ghost, dodging all my attacks. Then, at some point, the shadow doubled. They were so identical that it was hard to distinguish the real one. What was even funnier was that they each moved in different stances.
‘There was no feeling of using a spell. It’s the power of a magical artifact.’
There’s no need to panic. In this world, the art of creating clones is closer to immortal techniques. It’s not a spell that a mere magical artifact can contain.
‘Even Mireyeong can’t create a clone that’s completely identical to herself. At best, a clone would only exert about 30% of the original’s power.’
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Heavenly Demon Sword, Return to Heaven.
I rotated my sword aura, swinging it in all directions. The rotating sword aura tore apart the surrounding space. Again, my sword didn’t hit the shadow. The shadow’s footwork, which seemed to slip through space, was hard to adapt to.
The shadow’s body multiplied again. From two to four.
‘It’s not a clone technique… is it a deceptive technique like shape-shifting?’
But the multiplied clones were each taking different actions.
As I stood still, the clones multiplied further. From four to eight. From eight to sixteen. Before I knew it, the shadows had surrounded me. I looked around, then realized something and was surprised.
“You seem surprised.”
“……Is this your Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step?”
The shadow didn’t answer. And that was also an answer.
The shadows rushed at me simultaneously. They occupied all sixteen directions. The ceiling was blocked, and I couldn’t dig down into the ground. The only option I had was to counterattack.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step, Wave Form.
I stepped on the ground. A wave of energy spread out in all directions, engulfing the shadow clones. The shadow clones hit by the energy wave flickered like a candle in the wind and disappeared, leaving only one shadow aiming for my back. Unfortunately, it was too late to avoid his attack.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Vajra Demonic Dragon.
I pushed my body’s durability to the limit. The shadow’s sword slashed my body twenty-two times in a short moment that wasn’t even a second. Even with the Vajra Demonic Dragon activated, my skin was torn, and blood splattered everywhere. But there were no fatal wounds. I had endured his attack.
The shadow chuckled, looking at me standing like a Vajra warrior.
“You endured that? …Unbelievable.”
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Vajra Demonic Dragon, Reverse.
I released the damage accumulated in the Vajra Demonic Dragon towards the shadow. The shadow’s body jumped up from the explosive energy.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art, Heavenly Demon Palm.
I struck the shadow’s abdomen with the Heavenly Demon Palm.
“Kuh-erk!”
The shadow’s back bent as he crashed to the floor.
“I can finally find out your identity.”
I approached the shadow, raising the Fiery Lotus Flying Dagger. The red blade of the Fiery Lotus Flying Dagger was wrapped in a dark sword aura.
First, I needed information. I planned to cut off the shadow’s limbs and interrogate him to find out information. If necessary, I would even get help from Mireyeong.
The shadow was calm even in this moment of crisis. Feeling a slight unease, I was about to swing my sword immediately.
Crack!
A strange sound came from my body, and pain surged. I almost dropped my sword, staggering and barely regaining my stance, I looked down at my body. From the skin that had been torn by his attack earlier, dark demonic energy was rising.
“…What did you do?”
“I used a hidden trump card.”
He raised his left hand and clenched his fist. Demonic energy burrowed into my body. It was too late to use the Heavenly Heart to shake off his demonic energy. His demonic energy had already reached my heart.
“You can feel pride. You and your Heavenly Demon Divine Art were impressive enough. You weren’t careless either. You just didn’t have information about me.”
The demonic energy that had burrowed into my body gripped my heart and destroyed it.
‘I can’t just be defeated…!’
My consciousness grew faint. It was the sensation of death I had felt many times. I held onto my consciousness. Crackle, the current of lightning stimulated my body. Feeling a sense of ease compared to before, I gripped my sword and shoved it into his head.
“……Amazing. I didn’t expect to encounter a variable like you so soon. But the variable that is you will no longer exist.”
The shadow melted away and disappeared. In the place where the shadow had been, a black heart was throbbing, pierced by the Fiery Lotus Flying Dagger.
I distorted my face.
It was a deception from the start. The shadow was a clone from the beginning.
‘…No. Rather than a clone, it’s more like an avatar. His real power is much stronger than the shadow.’
I should be glad it wasn’t the real one. If he had come in his true form, I might have died without even being able to counterattack.
Thud. I lost strength and collapsed to the floor.
[Death Resistance has been activated. You will not die for the next 15 seconds.]
[Using Full Recovery.]
I opened my eyes again. The wounds all over my body had disappeared. I couldn’t feel the demonic energy that had burrowed into my body either.
I reflexively looked around. The cavern was a mess from the battle. And in the corner, Cheon Yu-un was collapsed, unconscious.
I frowned. The problem was how to handle the aftermath.
‘First… I’ll take the White Yang Flower.’
Next was Cheon Yu-un.
There were two options: leaving her as she was and leaving, or taking Cheon Yu-un with me.
The former would make things easier for me. The latter would require me to erase all traces of the battle, which meant destroying the cavern. But I could gain Cheon Yu-un’s trust.
‘I can use Cheon Yu-un to naturally ascend to the upper echelons of the Heavenly Demon Cult. I can’t kill Cheon Yu-un.’
Cheon Yu-un was still useful.
‘It’s annoying, but I’ll take Cheon Yu-un with me. That way, I can gain her trust.’
I took Cheon Yu-un and descended Mount Baek. Of course, before descending, I destroyed the cavern to erase the traces of the battle. As I dragged Cheon Yu-un by the arm, I was lost in thought.
‘The shadow. His identity is definitely the Regressor Heavenly Demon.’
If not, it couldn’t be explained.
The problem was that he was a bit different from the Regressor Heavenly Demon I knew. The protagonist of the Regressor Heavenly Demon’s novel, [Heavenly Demon’s Revenge], wasn’t originally the type of person who would use such methods. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art he used was also different.
‘Even if it’s different from the original, he’s definitely the Regressor Heavenly Demon. He knew that Cheon Yu-un would obtain a fortuitous encounter, and he also knew the real face of the Flame Jade Stone. In other words, he has already regressed in this world.’
Fortunately, he didn’t know me. That meant he hadn’t encountered me before his regression.
‘…I have the Leisure Life App. It’s highly likely that I didn’t exist in his pre-regression world.’
Then the situation is explained.
Why the Regressor Heavenly Demon uses different powers than the original? The setting of this world is Xianxia. I don’t know what level he was at before his regression… but if you consider the setting of this world, it all makes sense that he uses strange powers.
‘More important than that is his goal.’
The protagonist of [Heavenly Demon’s Revenge] was the strongest in the world, but the world wanted his death. He was betrayed by his subordinates and fell into a trap set by external forces of the Heavenly Demon Cult, and died.
‘There’s only one Heavenly Demon Cult in this world. The original settings of the Possessor Heavenly Demon and the Regressor Heavenly Demon conflicted, and the background setting of the Possessor Heavenly Demon was applied to this world.’
You can tell just by the fact that Cheon Yu-un is maintaining her position as the Little Heavenly Demon.
‘The Leisure Life App must have automatically resolved the setting conflicts. The original settings of [Heavenly Demon’s Revenge] are almost non-existent. Even if they remain, they must have changed.’
But there was one thing that didn’t change. The most important setting, that the Regressor Heavenly Demon had regressed.
‘The Regressor Heavenly Demon’s goal… must be revenge. The important thing is the target of his revenge. In the original story, he destroyed the Heavenly Demon Cult and everything else, but… it’s different now. He was trying to take the elixir while secretly moving, hiding his true form using an avatar.’
The Regressor Heavenly Demon was accumulating power. It’s estimated that his true form is already at the Three Stars level or higher. Yet, he’s moving quietly.
‘If a powerhouse of that level moved openly, rumors would have already spread. Does that mean even the Three Stars level is not enough?’
Perhaps the Heavenly Demon Cult is just a small part of his revenge targets.
‘What level did he reach before his regression? And who are his revenge targets?’
My head throbbed. Even if I used my head, the answer wouldn’t come. The answer to all these questions would only be known by the regressor himself.
However, what was certain was that he had no intention of killing Cheon Yu-un right away. I didn’t feel any killing intent when he attacked Cheon Yu-un. Perhaps Cheon Yu-un wasn’t a target of revenge. Or maybe he was planning to use Cheon Yu-un and kill her later.
‘Things were going well until I killed the Heavenly Demon of this world, Shin Jong-woo… things are getting complicated.’
But besides the Regressor Heavenly Demon, there was another variable left.
The Reincarnated Heavenly Demon.
What the hell is that bastard doing? Just thinking about it stressed me out.
‘Ah, I definitely have to get laid with Yeon-aeha tonight.’
Sex is the best in times like these.
