Grand Waterway, Deepest Core.
The vast underground space, shaped like a gourd, was filled with the Demonic Cult’s Demonic Qi. Whether ordinary human or one who practiced internal energy, anyone who came into contact with or observed it would inevitably have their flesh eroded, their mind corroded, becoming nothing more than a madman. This was also why the members of the Demon Subjugation and Heresy Annihilation Corps, who had long tracked the Demonic Cult, had become half-crazed.
And the Demonic Cult hidden in Luoyang had made this place, the deepest core of the Grand Waterway, the root and foundation of their Demonic Qi.
However.
“Wh-What…?!” The aberrant being trembled.
Gooooooooooh—.
The Demonic Qi surging from the Venerable One of Dark Heavens’s body was conversely eroding the Demonic Cult’s Demonic Qi, which filled the space so densely it felt suffocating.
“You bastard—!”
The aberrant being was formed from the fusion of countless corpses. The mouths of the corpses fused to its existence opened, sucking in the surrounding Demonic Qi. That inhaled Demonic Qi was then concentrated in the orifice that could be called the aberrant being’s mouth and fired towards the Venerable One of Dark Heavens.
The impact shook the gourd-shaped core space uncontrollably. Even the massive Grand Waterway system underlying almost all of Luoyang vibrated as if struck by an earthquake. So immense was the power of the projected Demonic Qi…
Geugeugeuk, geugeugeugeuk. .
..that the aberrant being itself was pushed back by the force, its hundreds of feet scraping against the floor, kicking up sparks.
But.
The Demonic Qi of the Scripture that Commands the Dark and Quakes the Heavens, with the reins of the Yang Cultivation Art completely released, surpassed all imagination. “Is this paltry amount all you have?”
Amidst the thick dust and swirling vortex of Demonic Qi, the Venerable One of Dark Heavens’s azure ghost fire flared.
Flash.
A stark white hand shot out. It grabbed the lower jaw of the aberrant being’s massive, gaping maw and, rip, ripped it clean off. This was strength beyond mere grip. Just as the Venerable One of Dark Heavens had walked while tearing away all the corpses forming the passage, he now ripped the corpses forming the jaw from the colossal body as if plucking them out.
Puhwaak—!
Black blood, long devoid of life, spurted like a fountain from the torn surface.
“Geu-wooooo—!”
What pain could the already dead, dried-up, rotten nerves of corpse clusters possibly feel? Yet the aberrant being howled, feeling horrific intense pain. It was proof that it was being conversely eroded by the Scripture that Commands the Dark and Quakes the Heavens’s Demonic Qi.
Kung, Kukung.
The colossal body stumbled backward from the agony, the movement alone making the underground space tremble.
“Inciting those ignorant and unenlightened souls, deceiving the world and misleading the people, trapping them in suffering, unable to live or die.”
Thud!
The Venerable One of Dark Heavens scrambled onto the colossal body on all fours, sneering from atop its head.
“Yet you yourself wail from such paltry pain?”
This time, it was the upper jaw. The claws formed of Scripture that Commands the Dark and Quakes the Heavens’s Demonic Qi dug deep into it.
“Kkeuaaaaaak—!”
“Kraaaaaa—!”
The corpses constituting the aberrant being screamed in agony. Had an ordinary person been present, the screams alone would have burst their eardrums and concussed their brain. But to the Venerable One of Dark Heavens, they were merely… singing.
Thud.
Planting his feet firmly on the head, the Venerable One of Dark Heavens grabbed the upper jaw and began to rip it away. Rip. As more power flowed into his feet braced against the colossal body, the corpses beneath them were crushed, screaming.
“Geuaaaaaak—!”
The corpses forming the upper jaw clung desperately to each other, trying not to be torn away, but… Slash—! .
..as the Venerable One of Dark Heavens bent the upper jaw back and pulled, the limbs of the tightly fused corpses snapped and flew off. Waists were torn out, chests ripped open, spilling forth eternally rotting entrails.
“Eu-oooooooo—!”
Only then, snapping out of its agony, did the aberrant being slam its massive hands together towards the Venerable One of Dark Heavens atop its head, as if clapping.
Kwaang—.
The air shrieked at the tremendous force, and the underground space shook. The impact was so powerful that the corpses forming the giant hands were instantly pulverized, raining down messily onto the floor.
But.
“Claiming to overthrow the Central Plains Nation and destroy the world,” the Venerable One of Dark Heavens was already gone from that spot, his voice echoing from below. “Is this paltry resentment and resolve all you amount to?”
The corpses forming the lower body reached out, trying to grasp even the hem of the Venerable One of Dark Heavens’s robe, but…
“Kkeuaak!”
…instead, the hands that touched the robe began to burn away.
“Resenting the suffering you yourselves received, trying to make even the innocent cry out,” the Venerable One of Dark Heavens dashed low, between the colossal body and the ground. Each time he lashed out with hook-like hands… “Pouring out directionless fury, begrudging those who strive to live righteously even in this moment.” …whatever they caught was ripped away indiscriminately. Chunks of the legs supporting the aberrant being were torn off.
“Eu-eu-aaaaa—!”
Finally, having lost more than half of its numerous legs, the aberrant being could no longer support its own immense weight.
Thump—.
The colossal body collapsed where it stood, crushing its remaining legs beneath its bulk.
“Unable even to support your own weight… yet you dare speak of the weight of the world with those mouths.”
“Venerable One of Dark Heavens—!” At the Venerable One of Dark Heavens’s blatant mockery, the enraged aberrant being roared through its torn-off maw. “Not yet! I…!” The faces embedded in its torso screamed along with it.
“We are not finished yet!”
“It doesn’t end like this!”
As if in response to those voices…
“Geu-woooo!”
…monstrous cries echoed from the passages connected to the deepest core.
“Wooooo!”
New corpses began to fall from the ceiling. The aberrant being swallowed the rain of falling corpses through its throat-hole entrance. As what looked like an esophagus gulped the bodies down…
“How lamentable!”
“How resentful!”
…lost legs grew back, corpses sprouted and fused. The already massive body grew even larger, forming a new maw resembling that of a beast.
But even seeing this grotesque spectacle, the Venerable One of Dark Heavens merely snorted.
“A futile effort.”
The aberrant being formed giant fists and repeatedly slammed the ground. The floor shattered, walls crumbled, blood and flesh splattered. But among them, not a drop belonged to the Venerable One of Dark Heavens. The ghost fire originating from the white mask stretched out long like a beast’s tail, and the aberrant being merely destroyed the floor and walls.
“Venerable One of Dark Heavens!” hundreds of voices screamed simultaneously. “Let’s see how long you can maintain that Demonic Qi!”
Flashing azure teeth, the Venerable One of Dark Heavens retorted, “Let’s see how long you can maintain that body.”
Black blood spurted, flesh and entrails flew. Reality, twisted by Demonic Qi, strangely continued to pour corpses through the passages. The aberrant being constantly absorbed those corpses to maintain its size and regenerate, yet, bafflingly, the Venerable One of Dark Heavens’s Demonic Qi showed no sign of diminishing.
“Eu-wooooo—!” With a monstrous roar, the aberrant being… Thump—! …slammed its fist onto the ground once more.
“Heup!” But this time, with a low grunt, the Venerable One of Dark Heavens met the giant fist head-on. A boom like a Heaven-Shaking Lightning bolt rocked the world, and the colossal arm simply exploded, scattering into pieces.
‘Impossible!’
Screaming incomprehensibly through hundreds of mouths, the aberrant being realized. The Venerable One of Dark Heavens’s Demonic Qi wasn’t diminishing; rather, it had only been increasing since the beginning.
“How is this possible…?!”
The pillar-like leg containing the mouth that asked was blown apart again.
“Just what are you…?!”
The shoulder containing the mouth that asked was shredded to pieces. Screaming in agony through its four limbs, through its entire body, the aberrant being understood. The opponent, the being called the Venerable One of Dark Heavens… its Demonic Qi wasn’t simply eroding its own. It was devouring all of its Demonic Qi. And growing stronger because of it.
This wasn’t a battle.
It was being eaten alive.
“Kkeuaaaaaa—!” The aberrant being squeezed out its remaining Demonic Qi, instantly regenerating four arms, and simultaneously struck the floor and walls.
Kwakwakwakwang!
The walls of the deepest core, already half-crumbled, began to collapse entirely. As the walls supporting the immense pressure of the earth above shattered and fell, the soil and rock beyond began to pour in like a tidal wave.
‘Must escape!’
The aberrant being scrambled up the collapsing wall. With its tattered body, scattering corpses into the air.
‘Must escape from him!’
It began its flight for survival. Slithering its colossal body upwards against the cascade of falling walls and earth from the collapsing ceiling, the aberrant being jammed its head into a passage—the same one Yeon So-hyeon had entered through.
“Geuaaaak!”
As it forced its absurdly massive form into the narrow passage, the corpses forming its outer layer, its very body…
“Aaaak!”
…screamed as they were peeled away like skin.
Thud, Thud.
But the aberrant being somehow succeeded in crawling into the narrow passage and immediately began scrambling frantically. The corpses caught against the narrow walls were ground away, diminishing its body mass, but the aberrant being didn’t stop.
It couldn’t stop.
‘Why did I ever mistake him…?!’
Because the Venerable One of Dark Heavens also wielded Demonic Qi, it had mistaken him, thought it understood him, thought it knew him.
“Kkeuaaaak!” Intense pain shot through it. He had caught its torso, still outside the passage, and was tearing it apart.
“Euwaaaaaaaaaaak!”
The walls of the passage it desperately clung to were ripped away, thud thud.
Though its own body was overwhelmingly larger, it felt as if a giant was pulling it from behind. But its desperate resistance paid off.
Snap—!
Finally, unable to withstand the opposing forces, its torso snapped and broke away.
Chew, chew. Hearing sounds like something being chewed behind it, the aberrant being, now less than half its original size, crawled desperately onward.
‘He wasn’t one of us…!’ He was a Demon, but a Demon that consumed Demons.
His appetite was endless. Behind it, as it stretched its body long like a snake, writhing and crawling frantically through the passage, the Venerable One of Dark Heavens followed, tearing apart the remaining torso. He let out manic laughter, ripping through its body like a counter-current, steadily approaching its head. The remaining body parts were being torn off from behind. Eaten. Unlike itself, losing mass and Demonic Qi, he only grew stronger.
“Kehahahahahaha!”
That thing.
The Venerable One of Dark Heavens.
Was not their kin.
It was their natural nemesis.
‘He is our absolute opposite…!’
It was… terror.
“Euwaaaaaaaak—!”
The scream cut off there.
Puhwaak—!
Because the last remaining head had been ripped apart. The Venerable One of Dark Heavens, having torn through the torso and followed the throat upwards, had finally reached the head.
“Kkeueoooook….”
Drenched head to toe in black blood and rotten entrails, the Venerable One of Dark Heavens held the last struggling corpse in his hand. The Venerable One of Dark Heavens’s mouth stretched wide, forming a smile.
“Finally caught you.”
A bloated body, like several people fused together, with a toad-like face. Though it was a corpse, still rotting in real-time… the Venerable One of Dark Heavens knew its identity precisely.
“Geum-jil.”