Zhang Sanfeng, The Heavenly Demon, Heuk-am (2)

Just as Yi-gang had explained, Zhang Sanfeng and the Heavenly Demon truly met the Immortal Divine Sword.

Then where did they meet him?

It was hard to call it a “place,” but one thing was certain. It was neither the mortal world nor the Heavenly Realm.

Just as Buddhas each have their own Pure Land, some ancient great gods also possess worlds of their own.

The Immortal Divine Sword was in such a place.

Baek Seong-cheon, the Immortal Divine Sword, was merely an enlightened soul, never a great god and never an immortal.

How he could be in a space like that, and how he could even summon Zhang Sanfeng and the Heavenly Demon, who had been hiding from the Heavenly Realm’s eyes?

At the time, they couldn’t know.

The Immortal Divine Sword was a different sort of person from what Yi-gang had heard.

He knew he was bold and hearty, but he never expected him to be that calm, and that warmhearted.

Somehow, he knew many secrets of the world.

The Immortal Divine Sword told them secrets that would consume causality just from being spoken aloud.

Zhang Sanfeng was left speechless.

Even the Heavenly Demon could not dare to be arrogant.

“I see. I see indeed. It is a dreadful and sorrowful thing.”

Zhang Sanfeng spoke his thoughts honestly.

The Immortal Divine Sword grinned.

It was not the relaxed smile of someone who already knew the secret.

At that oddly sheepish smile, Zhang Sanfeng asked a question.

“Do you truly believe your descendant can accomplish all of it?”

It would have been a sorry thing for Yi-gang to hear, but Zhang Sanfeng said it anyway.

The Immortal Divine Sword’s answer was neither crisp nor confident.

In short, he would help as much as he could.

Even if it meant preparing for his own eternal annihilation.

That was how the conversation ended.

Zhang Sanfeng and the Heavenly Demon returned once more to the edge of the Heavenly Realm.

There, they met Bodhidharma and spoke with the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

After that, Zhang Sanfeng and the Heavenly Demon waited for the day they would descend to the earth.

One day, Zhang Sanfeng muttered as if to himself.

“I was envious.”

“Of what?”

“Of the Immortal Divine Sword.”

And Zhang Sanfeng let out a thought unbecoming of a Taoist.

“If I had descendants too. If I had a grandson like that.”

The Heavenly Demon snorted.

“Useless talk. Blood ties are nothing but an illusion humans made. They have no value at all.”

“It is nature’s law for a father to try to kill his child, and for a child to try to kill his father. Don’t you see it in how beasts live?”

It was not a baseless statement.

If anything, it might be the order of nature.

But was that something the Heavenly Demon should be saying, when he had carefully kept the dead Crown Princess Consort’s shoes, his own mother’s shoes, as a keepsake?

Zhang Sanfeng barely restrained himself from pointing it out.

It would clearly lead to a quarrel with the Heavenly Demon.

He could not help staring, but the Heavenly Demon seemed to interpret it differently.

“…That man made a vow.”

“A vow? What, something like saving this world and its people?”

At the sudden topic, Zhang Sanfeng asked back.

“No. That cannot be a vow. A vow to save the world. That is a Buddha’s vow, not a martial artist’s vow.”

“Then what?”

“A vow to watch over his descendants.”

The Immortal Divine Sword had made a vow.

A vow to help Yi-gang, and the Baek Clan’s descendants.

That vow was extremely personal, but if it succeeded, it would save humanity and the world.

Zhang Sanfeng clicked his tongue as he recalled the Heavenly Demon’s vow.

“Why did you, Zhao Guang, make such a vow? Tsk tsk.”

The Heavenly Demon frowned as if displeased.

His vow was to kill Zhang Sanfeng and ‘transcend.’

Having felt the limits of being a martial artist, a human, the Heavenly Demon wanted to kill Zhang Sanfeng and leap beyond those limits.

But instead, that bound the Heavenly Demon’s feet.

They were archenemies in life, and even in death they acted like archenemies.

But what use was any of that now?

The Heavenly Demon couldn’t kill Zhang Sanfeng, and so he couldn’t transcend. The vow had become a shackle.

“…Tsk!”

The Heavenly Demon only clicked his tongue.

At the absurd thing Zhang Sanfeng said next, he glared.

“Maybe I should make a vow too?”

“What? Do you think anything becomes a vow just because you babble it out?”

The Heavenly Demon grew angry at the ridiculous remark.

Few could stay calm before the Heavenly Demon’s anger, but Zhang Sanfeng was one of them.

“What’s the problem? Hmm, I mean…”

Zhang Sanfeng muttered without caring.

“My vow is…”

Drip.

Blood ran down Zhang Sanfeng’s forehead as he stood.

His head must have cracked. There was quite a lot of blood.

The blood that ran down his face wet his beard and lips.

It tasted salty.

How long had it been since this happened?

Paradoxically, Zhang Sanfeng felt alive right now.

Facing death was a good way to truly feel life.

If he died while descended, that would be true death.

Eternal annihilation, leaving not even a soul.

Zhang Sanfeng’s gaze flicked toward the Heavenly Demon.

There was a gaping hole in the Heavenly Demon’s chest.

Even so, he was not dead yet, but it was clear he could no longer fight at full strength.

His gaze swept the other side now.

Yi-gang was barely getting to his feet there.

He looked relatively fine, but Zhang Sanfeng’s expression wasn’t good.

Yi-gang’s breakthrough attempt had been astonishingly timely, and fast.

But Heuk-am had repelled the joint attack of the Heavenly Demon and Zhang Sanfeng while also stopping Yi-gang’s breakthrough.

‘It’s bleak.’

Honestly, it was.

The difference in power was tremendous.

Chiyou. Chiyou the Heavenly King.

Hearing his identity made it understandable.

Chiyou, the ancient king of the Eastern Yi, was a legendary war god who contended with the Yellow Emperor among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

That ancient god had now even obtained causality.

It felt like despair was darkening his vision.

Zhang Sanfeng looked up at the sky.

Of course, all he saw was the sealed ceiling.

This entire cavity was Chiyou’s, no, Heuk-am’s domain.

Within that range, Chiyou could become tougher than anything, and faster than the wind.

Zhang Sanfeng gently closed his eyes.

It might have seemed like madness in the midst of life and death, but he did so.

What was he thinking?

No one knew.

“Zhao Guang-!”

He shouted like a thunderbolt.

The stiffened Heavenly Demon lifted his head.

“You strutted around like you were something, and now you got hit once and collapsed!”

“B-Bullshit…”

The Heavenly Demon spat profanity in a voice on the verge of dying.

Zhang Sanfeng said with a smile.

“Step back. I’ll handle it!”

And he started running toward Heuk-am again.

Heuk-am calmly took a ready stance.

Zhang Sanfeng turned his eyes to look at the Heavenly Demon’s face, then turned again to look at Yi-gang’s face.

Yi-gang tried to move with him, then stopped.

In that brief opening, Zhang Sanfeng conveyed words.

Not voice transmission, but a technique like Heart Speech of Wisdom Light, sending an image within the mind.

The Heavenly Demon across from him received the same.

Then Heuk-am and Zhang Sanfeng collided.

Light flashed.

Zhang Sanfeng’s fist art, as the grandmaster of Tai Chi, was enough to face even Chiyou.

But the gap in power was already clear.

Even with the Heavenly Demon, they could not handle Heuk-am, so Zhang Sanfeng alone would struggle.

Heuk-am knew that well too.

“Disappointing.”

He clearly took Zhang Sanfeng’s actions as desperation, or reckless stubbornness.

But Zhang Sanfeng didn’t reply at all.

He too was someone who once devoted his soul to the martial path.

To Heuk-am’s incoming palm strike, he unfolded Non-Act Daydream.

Originally, it was a peerless supreme ultimate technique that scattered not only physical force but even fighting intent.

Within Heuk-am’s domain, even a Supreme Ultimate Technique could not fully redirect that force.

Zhang Sanfeng’s left shoulder was driven back.

A cracking rupture sounded.

Even so, he extended his right hand and tapped Heuk-am’s chest.

There was no sound, but Heuk-am’s back burst open with a pop.

But only his clothes had torn. Heuk-am’s assault didn’t lose momentum at all.

It was the moment another clash was about to happen.

Yi-gang launched himself toward the exit once more.

It was clear he meant to seize the opening and break through again.

Heuk-am clicked his tongue. The intent was too obvious.

He moved both arms like lightning.

Supreme Ultimate Techniques were not something only Zhang Sanfeng had.

The ferocity of Black Cloud Great Heaven Palm overwhelmed Tai Chi.

Like the time he pierced Yinglong’s scales long ago, Heuk-am sharpened his hand and struck at Zhang Sanfeng.

Whether Zhang Sanfeng redirected it or dodged, this time he meant to kill him so he couldn’t do any more pointless tricks.

Then the unexpected happened.

Zhang Sanfeng didn’t even try to dodge or redirect.

Heuk-am’s two hands pierced straight through Zhang Sanfeng’s chest.

It was a fatal wound beyond question.

Unlike the startled Heuk-am, Zhang Sanfeng seemed to have intended this.

He gripped Heuk-am’s forearms with both hands, the very arms piercing his chest.

“Got you, you bastard!”

Blood sprayed from Zhang Sanfeng’s mouth as he shouted.

His eyes burned, and the hands gripping those forearms were hot. Heuk-am was greatly startled.

In that time, Yi-gang could escape.

Kkudeudeuk-

A tremendous power was flowing in from Zhang Sanfeng’s hands.

Was he trying to force it into a contest of internal energy?

If Heuk-am had been human, he would have suffered internal injuries from this brute act.

But Heuk-am wasn’t human.

Kwaak!

Even against Zhang Sanfeng’s mutual-destruction attempt, he could rip his arms free and pull back.

“Such a useless act…”

“Keuheu.”

Zhang Sanfeng staggered back.

Because he had forced his internal energy into a frenzy, blue bruises spread along his veins, and two holes gaped in his chest.

It was more fatal than the Heavenly Demon’s.

As proof, after a few steps back, he finally dropped to his knees.

Blood poured like a waterfall from his mouth and wounds.

“Did you throw away your life just to let that brat escape? I suppose I should tell you how futile it is.”

Heuk-am said it as if deeply disappointed.

It was true. With the Heavenly Demon and Zhang Sanfeng both neutralized, chasing down Yi-gang would be nothing.

Heuk-am flinched and stiffened.

Zhang Sanfeng was still smiling.

“You too are old. Should an old man block the new ones?”

For some reason, Heuk-am felt displeased.

No, was it unease?

Because he couldn’t tell the source of it, Heuk-am declared the end.

“If you have nothing more to say, let’s end it.”

He had no intention of wasting time on someone about to die.

Heuk-am was going to blow Zhang Sanfeng’s head apart in one blow.

But Zhang Sanfeng spoke not to Heuk-am, but to the Heavenly Demon.

Since when?

The Heavenly Demon was standing behind the kneeling Zhang Sanfeng.

Like a dead corpse, he looked down at Zhang Sanfeng without any emotion.

“I have seen many things, and turned away from many things. I thought that if I didn’t look at filth, I would become clean, but I didn’t realize I was stepping in the mire. I tried to gather up water already spilled, but what truly had to be done was to fill new water. I didn’t even know that, and I turned away from the world once more, saying I would become an immortal.”

Heuk-am and the Heavenly Demon both fell silent for a moment.

“I committed a great sin against you, my archenemy and my friend. I do not ask for forgiveness.”

Zhang Sanfeng’s tone gradually shifted from honorific to familiar.

“You will see. In my place, see it all with your own eyes!”

How could such vigor remain in Zhang Sanfeng’s dying body?

Looking down at Zhang Sanfeng’s booming voice, Heuk-am raised his hand.

He was about to take his life.

But the one who moved was not Heuk-am, but the Heavenly Demon.

Heuk-am could tell what had happened.

The Heavenly Demon cut Zhang Sanfeng with a hand blade.

He cut precisely at the back of the neck, taking Zhang Sanfeng’s life.

He had killed the companion who had been leaving him final words just moments ago.

With a thud, Zhang Sanfeng collapsed.

He, who was dead, didn’t move anymore.

Even the blood that seemed like it would pour endlessly no longer flowed.

Heuk-am glared at the Heavenly Demon at this bewildering turn.

The Heavenly Demon looked down at Zhang Sanfeng and murmured darkly.

“Didn’t I say that such a thing isn’t a vow.”

Heuk-am had no way of knowing what that meant.

But one thing was certain. Something had happened.

A cold wind swept through, and all the torches went out at once.

Even the luminous pearls embedded in the ceiling lost their light.

It was pitch-black darkness, yet for some reason, the Heavenly Demon’s figure could be faintly seen.

Heuk-am noticed a line of light running down the Heavenly Demon’s cheek.

And the hole in his chest.

Light was also pouring out from that hole.

A round halo rose behind the Heavenly Demon’s head.

The ill-fated Crown Grandson was cast into the abyss of demons by others’ will.

He clawed his way up himself and became the strongest, worst demon.

“Vow…”

By opposing an immortal like Zhang Sanfeng, he surpassed the human realm.

He vowed to challenge fate by killing his archenemy and transcending, but he couldn’t.

But cruelly, his one and only archenemy and friend had thrown away his own life.

A vow that could not be fulfilled was finally fulfilled…

“…It was fulfilled.”

In that instant, the Heavenly Demon transcended the rank of a heavenly god.