Chapter 160 - Taking It Offline (4)

'Th-this is impossible...!'

Geum Jang could not believe what was happening. His bloodstained palm, and the finger effortlessly stopping it. A slender finger that looked as though it would snap in his grip had easily blocked his palm strike.

Such a feat was impossible without an overwhelming disparity in martial prowess. That meant the gap between this woman and him was as vast as that between heaven and earth.

"... Hah!"

But Geum Jang refused to give up. Denying reality, he attacked again.

They said masters could gauge the gap between themselves without even crossing swords. Yet he sensed nothing from this woman. She felt like an ordinary civilian.

Geum Jang was in the Transformation Realm, and not merely at its threshold, but in its middle stages. Having undergone a complete transformation, he could perfectly control the internal energy that had once bucked like a wild horse.

Besides, what was the state of the martial world today? Had the Blood Demon's bloody exploits not dragged everyone's standards down? His fight with the martial artists just now had confirmed that this was no mere rumor, but the truth.

Geum Jang could only reject the situation before him, which made no sense either emotionally or rationally. Otherwise, he would have to admit that the woman before him was stronger.

WHOOOOSH!

His bloodied palm shot toward her face again, so swiftly that the sound of the air tearing was distinctly audible. Yet the woman moved her hand, still smiling beneath her horsehair hat.

TAP.

As before, she placed her index finger against his bloodied palm. But this time she did not stop there. She moved her finger slightly to the side. To reiterate, she moved it slightly. By her standards, at least.

SWISH!

Geum Jang's hand swept past her face. That was not all. Whether he had failed to control his own momentum or she had done something to him...

CRASH!

Geum Jang fell in a thoroughly undignified heap. He was not merely on his knees; both his hands were planted on the ground as well. As he struggled to make sense of this unbelievable turn of events, the woman looked down at him calmly.

"I told you to kneel, not crawl like a dog."

"..."

"Stand again. Then kneel and pay your respects to Heaven—"

WHOOSH!

Her command was cut short. Geum Jang had launched a spinning back kick from all fours. Unlike before, he did not roar in fury. His expression was cold and composed instead.

The surprise attack seemed to catch even her off guard. She drew her head back slightly, narrowly avoiding it. In that instant, Geum Jang sprang forcefully away from her.

"Arrogant wretch. But you have reason to be arrogant."

Geum Jang addressed her in a calmer voice than before. At his response, she tilted her head slightly, as though surprised. Her hat hid her expression, but her lips twisted a little.

"Some fools believe mastery of martial arts is all there is to combat. That will be your downfall."

Geum Jang had survived the Righteous-Blood War, which had claimed countless supreme masters. There was one reason he had survived: objectivity.

If an opponent's martial prowess surpassed his, he accepted it immediately. With a monster like the Blood Demon standing above him, swallowing his pride was nothing. His specialty was using that exceptional objectivity to find a way to defeat his opponents by any means necessary.

As the old saying went, it was not the strong who survived, but the survivors who were strong. Geum Jang, survivor of the Righteous-Blood War, embodied that principle.

"You talk too much. First..."

The woman smoothly raised her slender hand. Tension settled over Geum Jang's face at the gesture. Then she took a step forward. Literally, just one step.

WHOOSH!

"...!!!"

Geum Jang's eyes bulged. Though she had taken only one step, she was right in front of him. Such overwhelming prowess seemed to ignore the constraints of space entirely.

'S-shrinking the Earth to an Inch?!'

While he reeled in shock, she slowly extended her raised hand.

"I should tear out that tongue of yours first."

Her words snapped him to his senses, and he reacted. A cornered mouse could bite a cat to death. Without even realizing he had likened himself to a mouse, Geum Jang swept his leg like a whip. He planned to knock her off balance first, then look for an opening.

SWISH!

His leg whipped toward her ankle with blinding speed. She did nothing until it was about to connect. Just as he exulted inwardly, certain he had her...

THUD.

Somehow, she had raised her foot slightly and blocked him with ease. At the same time, she thrust her raised hand toward his mouth. Geum Jang had not entirely ruled out this possibility, and he retreated.

SWISH!

The moment he drew back, he swept his leg upward, kicking up a thick cloud of dust that obscured her vision.

Cowardly? What did cowardice matter in a fight to the death? Just as one could be proudly honorable, one could be proudly dishonorable. It was not the strong who survived, after all. The survivors were strong.

BOOOOM!

Taking advantage of the obscured vision, Geum Jang unleashed a palm strike. This time, rather than striking directly, he projected his internal energy. An enormous palm-shaped mass of energy hurtled toward where she had stood. Befitting the name "Blood Hand," even that palm was dyed blood red.

CRAAASH!

The palm, laden with tremendous energy, swept through her position and destroyed every structure behind it. Like the gorilla suspected of being the Blood Demon's successor, he had carved out a new path.

But what mattered most to Geum Jang was whether the woman had survived. As he scrutinized the devastated area...

"Are you finished?"

"!!!"

Her voice came from behind him. Startled out of his wits, he instinctively launched an attack behind himself.

SHUNK!

"Ghurk?!"

But he was too late. Before he could attack, something forced its way into his mouth and seized his tongue firmly. Flustered, Geum Jang stared ahead.

Her hat must have been blown away in the aftermath of his attack, for her face was fully exposed. Her lower face alone had suggested beauty, but her unveiled appearance surpassed anything he had imagined.

A peerless beauty. A lovely flower blooming in the highest heavens.

Geum Jang was briefly spellbound by her beauty and nobility before belatedly noticing the state of his body.

'M-my internal energy...!'

He could not use his internal energy, even though his pressure points had not been sealed. All she had done was grab his tongue. Geum Jang was bewildered.

"You seem surprised. Understandably so. You cannot use your internal energy, after all."

"Ghhrr..."

"Now, let me tell you the only way you can live."

The woman, the Heavenly Demon, commanded him once more.

"Kneel."

"..."

"Kneel, and I shall spare your life."

Geum Jang's answer was already decided. Being unable to use his internal energy was no problem. His dantian was still intact. There was a secret art he had intended to save for the very last resort. Even sealed pressure points would not matter. This art operated independently of them.

"Heheheh..."

"Hmm. You seem to have something to say."

Hearing his laughter, the Heavenly Demon let go of his tongue. With it free, Geum Jang spoke through a vicious smile.

"Still as arrogant as ever. This is why cats get bitten to death by mice."

"..."

"Blood Cult! Remember this day! For I shall spill my blood upon this ground!"

With that grim declaration, Geum Jang concentrated all his energy in his dantian. He would use all his internal energy as gunpowder, with his dantian as the detonator. Normally, more than half of Shaanxi would have been engulfed in the immense explosion. Yes. Normally.

"...?"

Geum Jang was puzzled. Why was his secret art not activating? He had definitely gathered energy in his dantian for it. Yet now he could not feel any of it.

"Is this your dantian? As red as blood. Or is that because it actually is blood?"

"... Huh?"

Instead, agonizing pain flooded his lower abdomen. Geum Jang stared blankly at her left hand.

Even he had never seen a person's dantian with his own eyes. A dantian was, after all, a gathering of formless energy, not a physical object. Yet the Heavenly Demon held a crimson mass of energy in her hand.

And his lower abdomen? Looking down at the source of the agony, he found a hole.

CRUNCH!

The Heavenly Demon closed her hand, effortlessly crushing his dantian. Geum Jang could only blanch at the sight.

Objectivity was both his strength and his weakness. He accepted his situation in its entirety. He knew. No attack, no defense, no desperate struggle would work. She truly was a heaven above heaven.

"Did you call yourself a mouse? I beg to differ."

The Heavenly Demon smiled serenely. To Geum Jang, it looked like the smile of a reaper. Then she seized him by the throat and spoke.

"You are merely a wretched insect."

"..."

"I have no interest in insects that bite people."

The Heavenly Demon, Yu Sowol, pronounced her verdict.

"I simply exterminate them."

CRACK!

Geum Jang's neck bent at a right angle. Yu Sowol carelessly tossed aside his corpse, having toyed with him until his death.

SPLAT!

His body tumbled onto the bloodstained ground.

She looked around. Realizing it was over, the people in hiding began cautiously creeping out. Their eyes held a multitude of emotions: terror, fear, awe, and more.

"..."

Without a word, Yu Sowol turned away. Then, as though nothing had happened, she vanished in an instant, leaving behind only the hat she had dropped.

Once she too was gone, those remaining spoke in trembling voices.

"What... what did I just see...?"

"I-I do not know either."

The situation had been so bewildering that everyone was busy asking what had happened. Normally, they would have exchanged their thoughts, but...

"Th-there is a post on the forum! Someone seems to have recorded a video!"

"I-is that true?"

"Yes! Take a look, quickly!"

This was a world with a forum. Everyone hurried to log in and examine the Heavenly Demon's martial prowess.

"Good heavens...! Such power...!"

"Is that beauty truly the one known as the Heavenly Demon?"

"The registered user Heavenly Demon was the real Heavenly Demon?"

"Don't be ridiculous! She must have come to catch the impersonator!"

An explosive new topic had landed on the forum.

* * *

For this offline fight, Yu Sowol had accepted Wi Seorak's advice. It went roughly as follows.

She would go not as the registered user Heavenly Demon, but as the actual Heavenly Demon. She would seek out the person sullying the Heavenly Demon's name. Whether they showed up or not, either outcome would suit her.

It did not matter whether her opponent came. She had the justification of coming to mete out heavenly punishment to those who sullied her name. Still, Wi Seorak had advised that things would be simpler if her opponent did come, especially if he was a genuine Blood Cult remnant. She could dispose of him herself and boldly make her declaration.

Then what would become of the registered user Heavenly Demon? Wi Seorak had offered no answer to that. It could not be helped. Someone had dared tarnish the Heavenly Demon's name; whether they lived or died was no concern of his. Yu Sowol agreed with that point herself, so she had said nothing further.

'He didn't seem to have the slightest suspicion we were the same person.'

Contrary to her belief, the perceptive Wi Seorak knew everything. Precisely because he knew, he had offered no advice on that front.

After thinking it over, Yu Sowol had come up with her own solution. Thus, this whole affair was like a play she and Wi Seorak had staged together. The problem was that her opponent was not an actor in their play...

'It doesn't matter.'

Especially not with someone who treated human lives like insects. She might call herself the Heavenly Demon and possess an arrogant disposition, but she was at least a ruler who valued life.

Even on the forum, she graciously let it slide when people mocked her for sounding like a crotchety old martial artist. As someone had put it, she was simply a little starved for "attention." Her inherent nature leaned toward goodness.

Title) Is the registered user Heavenly Demon the real Heavenly Demon?

(Video of Yu Sowol toying with Geum Jang)

Are the user Heavenly Demon and the real Heavenly Demon the same person? Seriously?

└ Bullshit. No way that's true.

└ If the actual Heavenly Demon used the forum, everyone in the Demonic Cult would have a heart attack;;

└ Damn, she's really pretty though lol

└ Pretty, sure, but she's also strong as fuck;; Look at her playing him like a dog.

└ Won't this get deleted? It's a bit graphic.

└ It does, but anonymous users keep reposting it.

└ Hell yeah lmao. Those Blood Cult fuckers couldn't get past the Heavenly Demon!

└ Is the Heavenly Demon a god? Is the Heavenly Demon a god?

Title) The user Heavenly Demon isn't the real Heavenly Demon.

Heard what that Heavenly Demon said. She came to catch whoever was tarnishing the Heavenly Demon's name.

└ You friends with that Heavenly Demon?

└ Not friends, but I'm in the Demonic Cult, so I heard the rumor. She was going to catch whoever was tarnishing her name.

└ Fair enough, makes sense for the Demonic Cult. Bet they didn't expect her to actually show up lmao

└ Is the Heavenly Demon popular in the Demonic Cult?

└ Fairly popular. Doesn't really meddle in anything, and life's reasonably good.

Title) Mod, explain yourself.

What were you doing while the real Heavenly Demon came here? Sitting back doing nothing?

└ Just called in the Heavenly Demon and did nothing lmaooo

└ Heavenly Demon Summoning Technique. Scary stuff.

└ Heavenly Demon Summoning Technique, fucking lmaoooo

└ Isn't that even more impressive? lmaoooo

Above all, this attention. Just look at the topic setting the forum ablaze. Both as the Heavenly Demon and as a person, Yu Sowol could not be more satisfied.

Normally she would need to explain herself... but why bother? All she had to do was sit back and watch, deleting posts along the way. She could say her duties as moderator had delayed her explanation.

└ Wild Grylls) That's not Heavenly Demon. She's not even using the sword I gave her.

└ Is that sword distinctive?

└ Wild Grylls) Yeah. Stands out like hell.

└ She beat him up barehanded. Would she need a sword?

└ Wild Grylls) Maybe? Still, she uses a sword, but she wasn't carrying anything.

And now there was even unexpected support from Grylls. Yu Sowol was pleased with it all.

'Truly satisfying.'

Of course...

"I'm pretty sure that's the real Heavenly Demon. Is she that bored? She's surprisingly young, huh? That's probably because of her realm too, right?"

Having experienced a more advanced internet culture, Grylls had already caught on to some extent.