Chapter 335

Chapter 335
## Chapter 335

Golden Island Sect (2)

The Shaolin Temple, following the departure of the Demonic Cult.

“Bring the casualties over this way!”

“Amitabha… May your soul find eternal peace…”

Unsurprisingly, the Shaolin Temple had borne the brunt of the devastation.

A vast number of defending monks had fallen, and even the scholars who focused purely on scripture were caught in the crossfire and sustained severe injuries.

To make matters worse, Zhu Gang-in, the royal bloodline who had been placed under their protection, was snatched away by the enemy.

The senior monks of the Shaolin Temple were in complete disarray, urgently convening an emergency council.

‘The gathering of the Murim Alliance is bound to be called off. Everyone will have to return to their respective strongholds once the medical needs are met.’

While the crowd busied themselves with the chaotic aftermath of the raid, Hugo stood lost in contemplation until a figure approached him.

“Young Master Ha, I found you.”

It was Namgung So-ran, the young lady of the Southern Palace Clan. Though her attire and hair were somewhat disarranged, she was completely unharmed.

She neared him with measured steps, exhaled slowly, and offered a profound bow.

“Please forgive my delayed respects. I want to express my deepest gratitude for rescuing me. My life would have ended there if not for your intervention.”

Her voice carried a far more grounded and quiet weight compared to her typical bright spirits.

It was entirely natural. She had just watched numerous peers perish—people she had been laughing and talking with only moments prior. For a sheltered noble lady, the shock must have been overwhelming.

“Think nothing of it. I merely did what was required of me.”

Hugo replied with measured courtesy, keeping his demeanor modest.

As their conversation continued, a crowd began to form around the pair.

Every single person gathering shared a distinct commonality.

They had all received Hugo’s life-saving aid during the crisis.

“I owe you my life, savior.”

“Your martial arts were breathtaking! For a moment, I truly believed an immortal had stepped down from the heavens!”

“A debt of blood cannot be easily repaid. Should you ever require my sword, you need only ask.”

Unlike the rest of the martial artists, Hugo had remained unaffected by the bizarre, debilitating method deployed by the Demonic Cult. Consequently, he had fought at full strength, shielding the younger generation of warriors who had barely attained the Master Realm.

In the heat of the conflict, he had even broken through to the absolute peak of the Master Realm, delivering a performance that left everyone in awe.

Naturally, individuals harboring personal agendas began to edge closer.

“Do you intend to journey back to the Zhuge Clan, Young Hero?”

“Our clan would be deeply honored to host you, if only to show a fraction of our appreciation…”

It was a highly predictable turn of events.

Hugo—or rather, Ha Seung-hoon—was a spectacular prodigy, a singular marvel who had achieved the pinnacle of the Master Realm while still in his early twenties.

In a world where absolute strength dictated respect, it was only a matter of time before factions attempted to win his favor.

Furthermore, he held no official ties to any major sect, merely staying as a visitor with the Zhuge Clan.

If a faction could successfully claim him as their own…

Ambition flickered in the eyes of the onlookers.

Securing such a talent would exponentially elevate their clan’s standing and military might.

The young women present were particularly driven.

‘If only I could capture his affection… ’

‘This could be the deciding factor in my brother’s fight for succession. And perhaps… ’

He possessed unmatched skill, flawless virtue, and a remarkably striking countenance.

Without any family obligations tying him down, he was the ultimate prospect for marriage.

A quiet, charged rivalry rippled through the young women as they vied for his focus.

Observing this, Namgung So-ran took a deliberate step forward, positioning herself closer to Hugo as if shielding him from their intense scrutiny.

As the unspoken competition played out, the surrounding youths shifted their focus back to the terrifying reality of the assault.

“It fills me with dread. The return of the Demonic Cult… surely this isn’t the conclusion of their campaign?”

“I fear it is quite the opposite. This is merely the opening salvo. I only hope the upcoming destruction can be contained.”

“To think they dared strike at the heart of the Shaolin Temple itself. Their preparations must have spanned years… The future of the entire Murim world looks incredibly bleak.”

The dialogue shifted naturally toward the perpetrators of the violence, the Demonic Cult.

Anxiety regarding the days ahead weighed heavily on everyone’s tongue.

It was the logical response to such horror, yet…

‘…It has actually already concluded.’

Hugo, possessing the sole knowledge of the truth, could only offer a strained, secret smile.

He kept his thoughts to himself as the martial artists debated defenses and potential maneuvers.

There was no plausible way to break the news to them.

How could he explain that the supreme Leader of the Demonic Cult, who had just unveiled this grand conspiracy, was already a corpse?

‘Well, they will certainly remain on high alert for the foreseeable future… but things will stabilize in due time.’

The true source of the impending doom had been cut down before the firestorm could truly spread.

Granted, the masters of the righteous sects would spend sleepless nights worrying over the Demonic Cult’s hidden stratagems… but a state of hyper-vigilance was far superior to utter annihilation.

‘Regardless, that isn’t my primary concern right now.’

Hugo’s gaze grew focused and stern.

While decoding the intelligence he had wrestled away from the Heavenly Demon, he had discovered a crucial element of the Demonic Cult’s grand design.

‘My upcoming movements must be adjusted based on this. I need to establish a link with the Golden Island Sect… ’

The Demonic Cult, which had remained hidden in the darkness ever since the slaughter within the imperial palace, had finally been driven to move because of them.

To be fair, they had never truly stopped operating in the shadows, orchestrating hidden conflicts and swallowing up lesser organizations like the Blood Cult…

‘…And I urgently require more data regarding the Dragon’s Children.’

The frail, sickly youth, Zhu Gang-in—the imperial scion who had sought refuge within the Shaolin Temple.

The absolute priority of the Demonic Cult’s offensive had been his abduction.

The attempt to wipe out the righteous path during the gathering had merely been a secondary convenience.

‘The Dragon’s Children, Zhu Gang-in… and then there is… ’

He recalled another individual plagued by the exact same mysterious condition.

‘Zhuge Hyemi.’

…It appeared an immediate return to the Zhuge Clan was mandatory.

Without a single moment of delay.

—

The speed and ruthlessness with which Hans had erased the Heavenly Demon was a monumental feat.

It was equivalent to striking down the ultimate boss of an online game during the opening guide level by utilizing administrative overrides.

For the Heavenly Demon, it was an incredibly shameful downfall… but from Hans’s viewpoint, it was a flawless, maximally productive resolution.

Nevertheless, the volume of data he could harvest from a broken foe was fundamentally restricted.

‘Sifting through the consciousness of a master who has touched the Mysterious Realm has its definitive thresholds.’

Even when dealing with the Heavenly Demon Emperor previously, he had only managed to salvage scattered fragments of memory after flooding the target’s physical vessel with deep abyssal energy.

And the current Heavenly Demon possessed even greater might.

Granted, Hans had reached new heights of power since that past encounter, and the addition of the Orb of Mind significantly amplified his cognitive intrusions…

‘That grandmaster of the Heaven’s Turn Society… he truly is an absolute nuisance.’

The divine aura saturated within the Heavenly Demon’s flesh had actively resisted his mental probing, restricting him from exerting his full capabilities.

Despite his enhanced immunity to the Master’s divine properties, thresholds still existed.

It merely lessened the spiritual feedback; it did not entirely neutralize the interference. It proved highly inefficient for such precise, surgical mental extraction.

‘At the very least, I didn’t come away empty-handed.’

Following an exhausting endeavor, he managed to secure a few vital threads of awareness.

A primary revelation was that the Heavenly Demon was far from a mere tool utilized by the Heaven’s Turn Society; he was an original Earthling pioneer who had taken root in this realm ages ago.

‘Decades in the past. He leveraged his distinct capability to carve out a foundation, subsequently dedicating himself entirely to traditional martial paths to brace for the inevitable day the system’s assistance vanished.’

The strategy, reconstructed from the shattered pieces of memory, was marvelously calculated and disciplined.

It perfectly illuminated the reason behind the sheer volume of high-tier combatants within the Heaven’s Turn Society.

Hans let out a sharp click of his tongue, turning his head in sheer amazement.

‘It resembles… a specialized grant foundation for cosmic antagonists. I can only ponder how many more they have stationed across different realms.’

They had explicitly poured resources into prospects who exhibited the perfect traits and raw potential.

Furthermore, he uncovered the supreme value placed upon the individuals known as the ‘Dragon’s Children’.

He had long suspected their unique nature… but the reality uncovered from the Heavenly Demon’s mind blew past his initial hypotheses.

They maintained a direct link to the Creator Deity overseeing this specific realm.

‘…Then again, even a detached divinity wouldn’t remain completely passive while their domain crumbles into dust.’

They were the designated champions selected by the Creator Deity of Ganghwange.

They were vessels of salvation, brought into existence to realign the spiritual currents of the world, which had fallen into chaos ever since the theft of the Dragon Heart.

He was unable to grasp the finer mechanics due to the fractured state of the Heavenly Demon’s mind… but Hans remained unbothered.

“Heh, time to set off.”

He could simply squeeze the answers out of a different source down the line.

“My first stop will be their central base.”

He had finally laid hands on a definitive thread toward mending the fabric of Ganghwange.

The cult wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of abducting the Dragon’s Children without a catastrophic objective in mind. He needed to strike before they could initiate any irreversible procedures.

‘I will reclaim Zhu Gang-in while I am at it.’

He had no intention of hunting down the specific retrieval squad.

They would naturally gravitate back to their main sanctuary. He merely needed to precede them or meet them there.

‘The precise spatial coordinates elude me, but… the general territory is clear. I will track them down.’

Furthermore, the Heavenly Demon Cult’s fortress represented the grandest and most formidable gathering of dark practitioners in Ganghwange, meaning it would be packed with premium physical remains perfectly suited for fabricating high-grade jiangshi.

Not to mention the abundance of elite artisans skilled in the craft.

“Hah, achieving two goals with a single stroke.”

A dark, dangerous smile spread across Hans’s face. Having calculated the vector and distance of his trajectory,

*Swish—!*

…he launched into the heavens, leaving nothing but a concussive tear in the air behind him.

Resting securely within his pocket dimension was the physical form of the man who had, until moments ago, reigned as the unchallenged sovereign of martial power in this world.

—

Yungjung Mountain, the ancestral domain of the Zhuge Clan.

A colossal, imposing shadow—Harley, the Mad Demon—materialized at the base of the peaks.

“Damn it, I missed the action.”

He scanned the immediate environment and let out an annoyed hiss.

He had sprinted across the terrain by executing 「In the Hero’s Footsteps」, yet the shattered topography made it abundantly clear that a cataclysmic force had already torn through the region.

Toppled trees, shattered boulders, the blackened, smoking ruins of the woodlands, and countless gouges left by sharp blades covered the earth…

The intricate defensive arrays designed to safeguard the mountain path, stretching from the base all the way to the primary structures of the Zhuge Clan…

‘…all completely compromised.’

Harley’s gaze narrowed to slits.

He accelerated his advance, his massive strides falling heavily against the dirt.

Cutting through the lingering scent of ash and scorched timber, a highly distinct aroma hit his senses.

‘The smell of fresh blood.’

Alongside it came the unmistakable odor of mortality—a suffocating blend of terror, grief, and lingering malice.

Reaching the crest of a nearby ridge, he directed his gaze toward the primary compound of the Zhuge Clan.

‘There is… a substantial number of heartbeats remaining. They successfully held the line.’

He could identify the spiritual signatures of recognized figures hurrying back and forth across the estate.

Though they had paid a steep price in blood, they had lived up to their reputation as masters of fortification, successfully repelling the invaders from their home.

‘Yet, I cannot locate the presence of Zhuge Hyemi. Is she concealed within an isolated subterranean vault? Or perhaps… ’

…Perhaps the raiding party had secured their target and opted for an immediate withdrawal?

Remaining highly alert, he kept his position, monitoring the perimeter like a predatory beast with every sense amplified.

The survivors inside were operating under extreme paranoia following the ambush.

It would be highly counterproductive for an outsider of his massive, unmistakable build to simply stroll through the front gates.

‘Wait a moment.’

*Sniff—*

Suddenly, his highly sensitive nose caught a volatile anomaly.

A faint, unrecognized scent drifted through the chaotic cocktail of battlefield trauma and stagnant blood.

His physical reflexes triggered instantly, throwing his body forward like a bolt of lightning.

*Swish—*

He obliterated a distance of several miles in a fraction of a second, plunging his massive hand deep into a dense thicket.

*Clang!*

“Gah?!”

A defensive barrier shattered into splinters, and a middle-aged figure wrapped in torn, traditional vestments was dragged out into the open, completely suspended by Harley’s iron grip on his collar.

Harley pulled his lips back into an unsettling, wide grin, exposing rows of razor-sharp, terrifying teeth.

“State your name. Why are you lurking in the brush? Do you belong to the trash that just slaughtered this estate?”

“W-who… what manner of creature are you?”

“Hmph, your tongue moves far too slowly. Perhaps a severed limb will improve your speech.”

“W-wait! Hold your hand!”

The ordained priest, his complexion completely drained of color, gestured wildly with his hands as Harley voiced his cold intent.

“This is an egregious misunderstanding! My origins lie with the Maoshan Sect… that is to say, the Golden Island Sect! I possess absolutely no affiliation with the Demonic Cult! We stand on entirely opposing sides!”

“What? The Golden Island Sect?”

“Ah… You clearly do not belong to our order… But are we not… of a similar nature? Surely we can resolve this through civilized discourse…”

Harley halted his advance, briefly knocked off balance by the sudden flood of unfamiliar names and titles.

The captive priest, interpreting this brief pause as a sign of compliance, let out a massive gasp of relief and hurried to explain further.

“Whew, I am known as Qingguan, operating directly under the authority of the Azure Dragon. I was executing a regional reconnaissance when I stumbled upon the assault targeting the Zhuge Clan, and I was preparing to convey this intelligence back to my superiors…”

He laid heavy emphasis on the title ‘Azure Dragon’, treating it as an unassailable shield of authority.

Naturally, such a name held absolutely zero weight to Harley, who possessed no context for the hierarchy of this world.

Instead, he stared down at the middle-aged spiritualist with a calculating, dangerous light dancing in his eyes.

‘Of a similar nature… Well, now… this is quite a revelation.’

The underlying essence radiating from Qingguan was fundamentally distinct from the typical human inhabitants of Ganghwange he had crossed paths with.

It indicated that this individual was also a monstrous entity, masking his true form to operate seamlessly within mortal civilization.

It was an incredibly fortuitous cross of paths…

‘Excellent. This streamlines my objective significantly.’

Harley’s face warped into a dark expression of amusement, his eyes shining with malice.

He ran his tongue over his teeth, a raw, predatory urge surging from deep within his chest.

“Eek! I… I assure you, I am entirely unpalatable! I am a creature of the inland waterways, meaning my flesh is incredibly… muddy and foul!”

It required a considerable amount of explanations to finally dismantle the panic.

It became readily apparent that this particular hidden entity was exceptionally… easily frightened.