Chapter 457

Chapter 457
## Chapter 457. Seeds of Evil (5)

—

It arrived like a passing illusion. A bizarre vision where a pale serpent consumed a crimson frog. Mystics might offer a few fabricated readings, but if related to a commoner, it was a fantasy that would only prompt the reply, “Is that so…… by the way, did you finish all your exercises for the day?”

Consequently, he kept it to himself. No, he was unable to share it. For it was nothing more than an illusion. Moreover, it would unexpectedly appear at an hour even he could not predict, only to fade away into stillness for a lengthy period. At times it would dominate his sight for hours, and at other moments it would present only a transient glimpse.

‘It feels unpleasant…….’

The illusion that had abruptly returned today. A vision where every pavilion of the estate was engulfed in flames, and everyone perished. If he recounted this tale, people would wear displeased countenances. For his kin had committed no offenses.

“Young Master, is something troubling your mind?”

The boy, who possessed greater intellect and received more affection than others, was capable of perceiving the emotions of those around him far quicker than his peers. As a result, he showed them great care.

“It is nothing. I merely experienced a peculiar dream…… look out.”

*Jjaeng-geurang—*

An instant before the handmaid could grasp it, the image of a vase situated on the cabinet tumbling and smashing into fragments was briefly visible.

“Goodness, that startled me……. Young Master, how were you aware?”

He recognized that the premonition was nothing more than a passing illusion, but fearing the handmaid might suffer injury, he reacted instinctively.

“Just…… well, it seemed unstable from earlier.”

“I shall tidy it up swiftly. Truly, this is quite a problem. You do not seem to be resting soundly of late…… Ah!”

The delicate digit of the handmaid, from which bright blood spilled after being sliced by a shard of the shattered stoneware.

“…….”

That was an occurrence he had not foreseen. An illusion that had not appeared to him.

“Are you unharmed?”

“Oh my, Young Master warned me away as though you foresaw it, yet I went and injured myself so clumsily, haha!”

“…….”

Witnessing the fractured vase was also nothing but a ‘fluke.’ Therefore, he refrained from speaking pointless words regarding the vision he had perceived during the night hours. For he had been taught that a gentleman must remain accountable for his speech. He understood perfectly well that regardless of how adolescent he was, he could not evade accountability.

“Young Master…… you are merely five winters old?”

Indeed, he was perhaps a bit too tender.

The earnest protection of the estate’s people, their gentle expressions, the unwavering devotion of his kin. In a favorable setting, malevolent illusions are swiftly dismissed. To elevate the reputation of the lineage within the Jianghu by bettering himself day after day for the sake of those he cherished. Contemplating the duty he was meant to fulfill, there was no occasion to lose his wits to a foul vision that ‘merely surfaced on occasion.’

“Your perception is a boon from the heavens. And he who has been chosen by the heavens must surely utilize that strength to assist others.”

“I shall remember it, Father.”

After the comforting palm of his sire caressed his brow, the foul vision was readily cast aside.

“A pale serpent has been located at Mount Cheon-yong!”

“How could such a divine beast be spotted by a mortal?”

Even if an event he had witnessed somewhere on occasion precisely manifested.

“They say it perished after being tainted by venom while consuming a dark frog.”

“…….”

He did not connect a scene that had been nothing more than a passing illusion with actual events. It was merely a coincidence. Furthermore, it did not invariably correspond to the vision flawlessly.

“It is a peculiar matter.”

He simply dismissed it as a peculiar matter. And then.

“Y-Young Master!!!”

That passing illusion.

“The Sect Leader…… q-quick, go into hiding…… *Keu-heok*—”

Manifested as an absolute certainty.

The mind that had been centered entirely on Yong So-ah becomes vacant.

‘Why in the world is there demonic energy…….’

It is no trick of the senses. It is unmistakably demonic energy.

“Have you mastered the Solar Qi?”

In that instant, Yong So-ah materialized like a portrait through the blaze that had enveloped him.

“In truth, you are an incomprehensible creature.”

The Taiji Thirteen Styles lunged forward with ferocity.

*Kwang!*

When I desperately elevated the Red Light Sword to intercept, he instantly rotated the blade and thrust toward my torso. I retreated two paces and deflected the course of the Whirlwind Sword using the Ascension Blade and the Red Light Sword, yet the course was not entirely diverted.

*Jji-jik—*

The blade, which had sunk deeply while shredding my uniform and leaving a superficial gash, swept upward as though to sever my arm.

“Has the anticipated strategy dried up? Or have you ceased calculating altogether?”

I cannot even fathom how the bastard detected it.

“…….”

As he uttered, I could no more calculate his forms. Even when I attempted to analyze the forms, I was entirely unable to concentrate. For I lacked any inkling of what on earth was transpirng at the Geon-cheong Hall.

‘It is not demonic energy of the intensity I encountered within the Silent Forest.’

It was demonic energy characteristic of a Seed-Blood within the Demonic Cult. It was not an intensity that the Mosan Sect practitioners could confront. No, even if all the Black Coffins who had arrived to liquidate the Mosan Sect struck in unison, they would be utterly outmatched.

For the moment, I released the energy of the Sun Lord to create space between us.

*Peo-peo-peong!*

Yong So-ah neutralized the energy of the Sun Lord concurrently with widening the distance between us, and subsequently obstructed the path toward the Eight Directions Stone Heaven Gold Lock Formation.

‘Blast it…….’

He comprehended that after breaking away from him, I would advance to the Geon-cheong Hall.

“Do you imagine you can break away?”

My teeth grind together involuntarily.

“Can you not perceive that presence!”

Yong So-ah’s gaze shifted toward the Geon-cheong Hall with detachment and then reverted to me.

“If you are so distressed, withdraw from this matter even now.”

It is preposterous.

“Are you suggesting you will execute Sect Leader Gu Song-baek in the center of this chaos?”

An uncommon flicker of sentiment was visible across Yong So-ah’s features.

“Because that…… remains the primary objective.”

To the bastard who intended to slay Gu Song-baek regardless of whether a fiend materialized or not, the sole phrase to utter was—

“You lunatic son of a bitch……”

There was only this.

*Ggook—*

Even though I merely braced my lower legs with inner force.

“Do not imagine you can shake me loose.”

I felt as though a monumental barrier had manifested and hemmed in the vicinity. As the oppression intensified, desperation flooded in. What would occur if I shattered that barrier and pressed forward? Would he attempt to intercept me? Or would he depart to eliminate Gu Song-baek?

Unlike him, I am unable to perceive what lies ahead, so I am compelled to select which catastrophe I will endure. Just as in my previous existence. I desire to select nothing, yet even though it is a choice by compulsion, invariably. I must bear the consequences. This is the obligation of the helpless. A cruel decree imposed upon the frail.

“Taste my……”

the instant I am consumed by that decree. Ultimately, I must bear the consequences for every catastrophe I neglected to select.

“C-ck……!!!”

A colossal conflagration exploded from the Red Light Sword. The intensity and pressure wave, which rippled as widely as if the domain itself were distorting, were discharged directly toward Yong So-ah.

*Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!*

At the point of Yong So-ah’s Whirlwind Sword, atmospheric currents commenced sketching Taiji patterns. The conflagration that burst forth after I channeled my inner force dispersed in the course he intended along his blade.

Softness Overcoming Strength (*Yu-neung-je-gang*). The delicate laws of nature become unnatural when they attain a pinnacle. The conflagration that ought to have converted the adversary into a crater of embers now dissolved into fragments along the Taiji atmospheric currents.

Splendid sparks bloomed in every direction as though a grand celebration were being observed, and Yong So-ah, who had nullified all forces to naught, immediately executed a palm strike.

*Ku-reu-reung*

Did he foresee that I would discharge the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm as well?

*Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-khwang*

Precisely as it had at the Demon Spirit Plateau, the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm, which ought to have surged in a direct course, had its course violently altered like a torrent whose channel had been bent. Succeeding that, the Mysterious Heaven Seven Stars Sword manifested to obstruct me as I dashed ahead.

*Kwaaaa-ek—*

The Whirlwind Sword, whose path was bent after being deflected by the Predator Gauntlet, gashed my upper leg.

*Seu-geok—*

I employed the technique Mo-yong Gang had utilized to strike the air and fracture the wall with the force of the ‘Flipping Cloud Flying Body’ and advanced forward. Amidst the intensity, the embers, and the noises of detonation, Yong So-ah’s detached tone was audible.

“Senseless.”

His Whirlwind Sword lunged toward my core. As though he had been anticipating it.

*Poo-ook—*

Along with the noise of striking through flesh, blood sprayed. My lifeblood, which had hovered above his crown, fouled his uniform once more. The Whirlwind Sword, coated in blade-qi, was seized in my grasp. I likewise guarded my palm by enveloping it with inner force, yet I could not prevent my palm from being lacerated.

*Pook—*

The Whirlwind Sword drove through my palm and struck near my core, but fortunately, the Thousand-Silk Treasure Robe prevented my core from being transfixed. Yet preventing is preventing, and the agony is unavoidable.

“You…… wretched bastard!”

Unleashing an oath, I jarred his blade away and struck the air once more with the recoil.

“!”

Yong So-ah’s gaze, as he positioned himself for resistance, narrowed slightly.

“Go to hell!”

I immediately hurled my person into the Eight Directions Stone Heaven Gold Lock Formation.

*Peo-peong—*

Navigating the patterns of the Eight Directions Stone Heaven Gold Lock Formation, I advanced straight for the Geon-cheong Hall.

“Ugh—.”

I perceived agony in my torso, and when I inspected the gash, it was considerably deep. When I reflected that my core would have been transfixed if not for the Thousand-Silk Treasure Robe, my spirit felt chilled.

“Confound it, that gaze…… he genuinely aimed to slay me. Deranged bastard.”

A demeanor where any sort of conflict of the soul that a mortal possesses had vanished. Furthermore, even though he was an adherent of the Righteous Path who esteemed honor and ought surely to possess some contrition, there was no pause whatsoever in his blade.

“Just what did those Wudang adherents cultivate?”

If Yong So-ah felt like an unattainable entity in my previous existence, the Yong So-ah of this existence did not feel like the same mortal at all.

“Deranged bastard…… utterly deranged bastard…….”

Yet there was no occasion to discharge my fury with oaths toward Yong So-ah. For the demonic energy was turning increasingly concentrated as I advanced toward the Geon-cheong Hall. The distinct oppressive aura radiated by demonic energy was unmistakably that of the Mad Demon Seed (*Gwang-ma-jong*), a Seed-Blood.

What motive would there be for a fiend of the Seed-Blood tier to unexpectedly descend from a cloudless sky?

‘……Subduing Demon Madman (*Bok-ma-gwang-in*).’

Evidently, a token deposited in the Central Plains by the Demonic Cult. The Demonic Spirit Transformation (*Ma-ryeong-hwa*), which ought customarily to manifest only during the Grand Conflict between Orthodox and Unorthodox, had manifested for some reason.

The sequence of occurrences that had been incomprehensible were understood to a certain degree. There was an individual among the Black Coffins who carried the Demonic Spirit Transformation. Those who carry the Demonic Spirit Transformation labor for the Demonic Cult while remaining oblivious to the reality that they are fiends. Since they have forgotten they are fiends, they possess no perception of being a fiend. They labor for the Demonic Cult without even recognizing it themselves.

Conceivably the individual who placed the Mosan Sect on the Extinction Registry and the one who directed the enterprise was one of the Black Coffins. For then the sequence of occurrences would be logical. If the Tribunal or someone else had detected something anomalous in the interim and halted the enterprise, they would have been capable of uncovering the Black Coffin who manipulated the Extinction Registry through a scrutiny. Naturally, that Black Coffin would have perished while frantically proclaiming his guiltlessness. Without it ever being exposed that he was a fiend. For the Subduing Demon Madman is an entity utilized in that manner.

The reason why the state of affairs attained this juncture was due to Yong So-ah. For Yong So-ah, who ought to have overseen the Black Coffins, concluded that Gu Song-baek had to be slain due to the future he had witnessed.

“Confound it…… is he truly witnessing the future accurately……”

Then this reflection unexpectedly occurred to me.

‘Then did Yong So-ah remain ignorant that a fiend was concealed among the Black Coffins?’

Recalling my recollections, I scrutinized Yong So-ah’s countenance when the demonic energy was initially perceived. It was an astonished countenance to assert he understood beforehand, and he took a path that was not understood to assert he remained ignorant. If he had understood beforehand…… shouldn’t he have resolved the fiend prior to Gu Song-baek?

‘But why…….’

Given Yong So-ah’s disposition, it makes no sense that he understood yet neglected to execute him. Yes, it absolutely makes no sense. In that scenario, in that scenario…….

‘If he remained ignorant.’

One alternative scenario of probability manifested itself. It was not that he adopted the preposterous path of executing Gu Song-baek even while recognizing there was a fiend among the Black Coffins—but that he genuinely remained ignorant.

“Ha……! To imagine there would be a fellow whose cognitive framework is as challenging to comprehend as a Jwa-dae-gi.”

In that instant.

*Kwang! Kwang!*

The noise of collision audible from the rear rattled my senses. The noise of devastation produced by Yong So-ah, who was charging while shattering the Eight Directions Stone Heaven Gold Lock Formation, whether to obstruct me or to execute Gu Song-baek.

In the vanguard.

“Hmm? Jin, Jin So-un?!”

The Black Coffins who were attempting to advance toward the Geon-cheong Hall after navigating through the Eight Directions Stone Heaven Gold Lock Formation were assembled in a cluster.

“Slay that fellow!”

I suspended reflections regarding Yong So-ah for an instant. For the present, the urgency was to reach the Geon-cheong Hall and intercept the fiend.

*Chwa-reu-reu-reu-reuk.*

The Red Light Sword expanded like the ribs of a screen.

*Woo-oong—*

The Red Light Sword, retaining blade-qi, was segregated into dozens and hundreds and descended like a downpour over the crowns of the Black Coffins.

“Keuaaa-ak—”
“Keuaaa-ak—”

Before the lifeblood that surged like a geyser could even reach my uniform, I traversed the Eight Directions Stone Heaven Gold Lock Formation like a solitary shaft.

‘Hold out just a fraction longer……!’

The internal heat in my torso turned increasingly vehement, and my mind descended as chilly as frost.