Episode 336: Return to the Demon Sect
About thirty li from the main headquarters of the Justice Alliance lies a place known as Dragon Gate Mountain.
The mountain earned its name from the many jagged cliffs that resemble a dragon ascending to the heavens.
In the midst of this rugged terrain, a lone figure landed gracefully.
Thud!
Narrowing his eyes, he gazed at a cave nestled halfway up the mountain.
“This should do.”
He had stumbled upon this cave after wandering around Dragon Gate Mountain for quite some time.
Just then, a woman descended lightly behind him.
It was none other than Hongmyo, also known as Seoraehyang.
She stared at Jeokmurin with a somewhat entranced expression, her cheeks flushed with a mysterious allure.
She approached him with a breathless excitement.
“Hongmyo, I’m sorry.”
Jeokmurin spoke slowly, taking a step back.
But Seoraehyang seemed not to hear him, her eyes filled with a seductive intensity as she continued to gaze at him.
Finally, the two of them entered the dim cave.
Drip. Drip.
The sound of water droplets echoed faintly from deep within the cave.
Jeokmurin stopped at a relatively flat spot on the ground.
Seoraehyang halted in front of him as well.
The sunlight filtering in revealed the curves of her body in a faint silhouette.
Rustle. Rustle.
She began to undress slowly.
Her pale, smooth skin was soon exposed.
Jeokmurin watched in a daze for a moment before lowering his head.
“I’m sorry… but there was no other way.”
“Haa…”
Seoraehyang let out a breathy sigh as she moved closer.
The two were now so close they could feel each other’s breath.
Jeokmurin bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.
He had no desire to be with her like this.
Yet, seeing her bare form stirred an undeniable desire within him.
Caught in a whirlwind of guilt and longing, Jeokmurin slowly raised his hand to embrace her delicate shoulders.
In that moment,
“Haaang!”
Seoraehyang let out a soft moan and clung to him.
This was due to the effects of the Soul-Destroying Poison and the Absolute Solitude Pill.
But her moan only served to further ignite Jeokmurin’s desire.
Unable to hold back any longer, he pressed his lips to hers.
As their kiss deepened, Seoraehyang began to undo his clothing.
His firm chest was soon exposed, and she slid down onto it.
“Hngh!”
Whatever she did, it made Jeokmurin clench his teeth to stifle a groan.
“Hongmyo…!”
Jeokmurin could no longer resist.
This was a union that had to happen.
He decided to focus on the fact that he was saving her, rather than the guilt.
Their breaths grew hotter and more intense.
Jeokmurin, having discarded his clothes, laid Seoraehyang on the ground and kissed her again.
His hands traced her slender neck, her soft chest, and her narrow waist.
Though his touch was rough, her body accepted it with incredible softness.
“Haaaah!”
Seoraehyang’s moans grew louder and more fervent.
And so, their passionate union slowly reached its peak.
**
“Huff, huff, huff!”
Covered in sweat, his breath came in ragged gasps.
Sabigang surveyed his surroundings with half-open eyes.
The ground was littered with dismembered corpses.
Yet, no blood flowed.
They were already dead.
Slaughtering the long-dead did not result in bloodshed.
This made the scene all the more grotesque.
Despite the mountain of bodies, there was no trace of blood, as if they were just a pile of eerie dolls.
The problem was that too many of the dead were still moving.
It felt as if every dead soul in the world was converging on Sabigang.
“This is annoying.”
Sabigang muttered in frustration.
If only he could use magic, he could incinerate them in an instant.
But due to Cranion’s curse, he couldn’t use mana.
He had to rely solely on his inner strength, and martial arts were not as effective for wide-scale destruction as magic.
Just then, Natas’s voice echoed from above.
“That’s a load of crap. How is this peaceful?”
Sabigang retorted with a smirk, causing Natas’s skeletal face to contort.
With a wave of Natas’s hand, the dead surrounding Sabigang let out a collective roar and charged at once.
“Come on! I’ll crush you all!”
Sabigang shouted defiantly, gripping his sword tightly.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
His form flickered from east to west, moving with the grace of a dancer.
In a state of pure focus, he moved instinctively, his senses honed to a razor’s edge.
How long had he been weaving through the dead, cutting them down?
Thud, thud. Thud, thud!
“Damn it… again!”
Green-tinged raindrops began to fall from the sky.
And soon,
Sssshhhh!
A toxic rain poured down.
Sabigang quickly summoned his protective aura.
Pshhh! Pshhh!
The rain pelted his aura, creating a thick mist.
Naturally, the already dead were unaffected by the toxic rain.
Whoosh, slash! Whoosh, slash!
A gust of wind would send their bodies flying, severed from their lower halves.
“Huff, huff, huff…!”
Fighting while maintaining his protective aura was exhausting.
“Damn it! I’m reaching my limit.”
It was then that a voice resonated within his soul.
Startled, Sabigang looked up.
Natas still hovered in the sky, looking down at him.
“Wasn’t that voice his?”
The voice echoed in his mind again.
“Who are you?”
He asked, slicing through a charging corpse with a diagonal slash.
The voice replied once more.
“What nonsense are you spouting? Who are you? Where are you?”
The voice answered nonchalantly.
“Devoured…?”
Sabigang repeated, bewildered.
He had no idea what it meant.
The voice echoed again.
“What kind of nonsense is this?”
Sabigang growled, gritting his teeth, as Natas’s eyes narrowed in the sky.
Ignoring Natas, Sabigang focused on the voice in his mind.
“So, how do I get out of this mess?”
“What a useless…”
The voice hesitated, trailing off.
Sabigang grinned.
“A dragon, huh? So you’re saying I devoured you at some point…”
“Still, if you’re inside me, wouldn’t it be a problem if I die?”
“You’re just a stubborn dragon who doesn’t listen!”
Sabigang cursed, slicing through another charging corpse.
Panting heavily, he asked,
“Just tell me one thing. How do I crush that guy?”
“And yet, you can’t use your power because of that same demon, can you?”
The dragon’s voice flared up.
“Enough. If you know a way, tell me. Otherwise, just perish with me.”
“I know that. The problem is, I can’t remove or destroy it.”
Sabigang chuckled bitterly.
For the past year, he had tried everything to rid himself of the cursed Cranion.
He had scratched at it until his collarbone was visible and even tried stabbing it with a sword.
But the cursed pendant remained embedded in his body, unscathed.
The dragon’s mocking laughter echoed.
“Funny. Even a perfect dragon ended up bound to me, didn’t it?”
“Either way, thanks to that decision, you’ll perish with me. You chose to acknowledge a lowly human’s body. In the end, you brought about your own demise…”
Suddenly, Sabigang paused and looked up at Natas in the sky.
A thought flashed through Sabigang’s mind like lightning.
“There is no such thing as a perfect being.”
As he muttered to himself, the dragon’s voice echoed in his head once more.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier if you’d just told me earlier?”
Sabigang twisted his lips into a smirk.
“You’re willing to self-destruct over that? Well, thanks for the inspiration!”
With a swift kick off the ground, Sabigang shot forward like an arrow.
“Raaaargh!”
Two corpses lunged at him with a monstrous roar.
Swish, slash!
A flash of light, and the upper bodies of the charging corpses were severed and sent flying.
Sabigang propelled himself off the ground again, leaping into the air.
Crash!
He stomped down hard on a corpse’s head, channeling his inner energy to launch himself skyward.
Whoosh!
He squeezed out the last remnants of his energy, performing a mid-air step.
Natas’s eyes narrowed in disdain.
In an instant, Natas drew a sword swirling with dark energy from his waist.
Swoosh!
Simultaneously, Sabigang’s blade descended in a diagonal arc.
Shing!
The blade narrowly missed, slicing through the air.
Natas’s face twisted into a grotesque expression.
Whoosh!
The sword, enveloped in dark energy, hurtled toward Sabigang.
In that fleeting moment,
Crash!
“Ugh!”
Sabigang gritted his teeth, his brow furrowed in concentration.
Natas’s eyes widened in shock.
Astonishingly, Sabigang had caught Natas’s sword with his bare hand.
Though he had activated his protective energy, blood streamed from his palm, unable to withstand the dark force.
With a surge of strength, Sabigang twisted the trajectory of the oncoming sword.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
Sabigang, his eyes half-open, glared at Natas’s skeletal visage.
“Self-destruct.”
Natas’s eyes widened even further.
In the next moment,
Crack!
Natas’s sword plunged between Sabigang’s collarbones.
A fracture spread across the cranium buried in his clavicle, and a dark crimson energy erupted explosively.
Boom!