Chapter 596 – Gathering the Night Sky (5)

Ming Cult Northern Branch.

About four thousand li north from Juyong Pass of the Ming Dynasty’s Great Wall. It was established in Seokgwon Territory, a major city at the northern edge of the demon realm, and was now effectively the Ming Cult’s main headquarters.

However, most of the people of Seokgwon Territory did not know that beneath their feet lay a vast underground cavern. It was even harder to imagine that the Ming Cult existed there.

The fact that the Northern King ‘Gluttony’ who originally ruled Seokgwon Territory had been killed by the Ming Cult’s Three Desolate Dark Lords was also kept strictly secret.

The same was true of the fact that Gluttony King’s Great Warrior had been defeated in a single move by the former Hwangbo family head.

Even the fact that mechanical formations connecting the underground cavern to Seokgwon Territory were installed everywhere.

Kugugung—

At this moment, the pulley rising beyond the stone walls of Seokgwon Territory’s outer fortress was one such device.

Made by the Ming Cult’s dwarf clan members, it connected the surface with depths of easily hundreds of zhang.

There were mysteries there that neither Han Chinese nor even the imperial Ming tribe could imitate. Naturally, it was architectural skill worthy of being called divine engineering.

Thus, on the wide platform’s railing ascending to the surface, there was a handsome young man leaning against it. Together with five black-robed figures monitoring him.

“This is taking quite a while. How frustrating.”

He wore fine jade-colored silk clothing and had a bold impression.

His face was leisurely despite the black-robed figures emanating inhuman aura like icicles formed in caves.

Divine Hand Light King Hwangbo Gon.

The grandfather of ‘Ungrateful Traitor Lazy Flame Dragon,’ a former master who had escaped from the Flood Dragon Formation when Desolate Day Extinction Jeong Yeon-shin was black rank.

He had lent a hand in the Ming Cult’s secret domination of Seokgwon Territory. Yet he was such a mysterious absolute master that he still had to be monitored by the Ming Cult.

“I thought it was too deep when coming down… It really does keep going up endlessly. Unless one is a lightness skill master worthy of discussing supremacy under heaven, it would be difficult to escape this main headquarters without this divine engineering pulley. Isn’t that right?”

The black-robed figures—that is, the demons who had learned the Ming Cult’s orthodox demonic arts—did not answer.

Saaaa—

The cliffs that darkly surrounded all directions endlessly swept downward. Demons clinging like spiders to the layered crevices with Wall Gecko Arts.

The black-robed figures on the platform were not all there were.

This was why Hwangbo Gon spoke of the difficulty of escape. It was a structure where one would inevitably be pursued at the speed of void-treading steps.

It was a separate world created by the Ming Cult’s demonic arts and the dwarf clan’s architectural skills.

A structure where the great sorcery formation that Young Heavenly Demon Invincible had personally constructed supplied air, warmth, and demonic energy to the underground cavern.

The space itself was overwhelming.

But Hwangbo Gon also had considerable insight into living alone in such a separate world.

“I’ll finally breathe outside air after a long time. To think five days of deliberation are needed just to go out for a trip. Are demons all sluggards?”

He mocked the black-robed figures with practiced soliloquy.

“You fellows must have forgotten what the sun looks like, but I know it well. There’s no better side dish than drinking sunlight in a wine cup.”

Then.

Geuggeung—

The pulley that had been pulling up the platform suddenly stopped, then began lowering again. Without even reaching halfway up.

Wrinkles formed on Hwangbo Gon’s brow.

“What are you doing?”

“It seems they’re pulling from below.”

One of the black-robed figures answered lowly.

“So why?”

“Something special must have happened. We can’t know from here.”

“These demonic energy dregs…?”

Regardless of Hwangbo Gon’s cursing, they returned downward again. The steel cable of the pulley connected to the platform was forcibly constraining the former Hwangbo family head’s freedom.

“Damn Ming Cult dwarves… Their craftsmanship is uselessly good.”

Cursing the dwarf clan members who had entered the Ming Cult was brief. Hwangbo Gon soon found himself facing a group in the underground cavern.

He asked the leading old woman as if spitting out the words.

“What is it?”

She was one of the Ming Cult’s Fu Ghost Emperors.

[TL Note- Fu means to assist, to tutor.]

Meaning a ghostly teacher.

It had been long since the four demons who raised Young Heavenly Demon Invincible were called emperors.

They were the wet nurses who were reviving the Ming Cult and had once been dignified teachers of the Cult Leader. Thus they were Fu Ghost Emperors.

She said.

“There’s work for the family head to lend a hand with.”

“I’m the former family head.”

“The Hwangbo family was annihilated. So senior has been dragged down to the present generation. Unless that poppy addict of the Ice Palace achieves Transcendent Martial Art.”

“……”

Hwangbo Gon stared intently at the old woman before his eyes.

She wore a scarf woven from white fox fur and draped black robes.

Grayish lightning faintly flickered and disappeared around her body. Due to the Lead Lightning Demonic Art, a rare study that handled lightning energy.

She was Thunder Emperor among the Fu Ghost Emperors.

A person who, if her body’s vigor was maintained, might someday approach the Golden Thunder Master of World Tree in the distant future. Of course, this was a story told only to those who knew World Tree’s guardians.

Hwangbo Gon slowly spoke.

“My grandson achieving Transcendent Martial Art would be faster than you coveting the Golden Thunder Master. That fellow has even achieved Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown with that body. His qualities are different.”

“That’s only if he doesn’t die young.”

Thunder Emperor continued speaking calmly.

“I’ll advise senior. If you came to beg for medical arts from the Cult Leader, beg like a beggar should.”

Came to beg for medical arts.

That was why the former Hwangbo family head had entered as a guest of the Ming Cult.

An absolute talent from the lineage of the First Heavenly Demon.

If Young Heavenly Demon Invincible, who had comprehensively studied the arts of the omnipotent founding patriarch, could create something where sorcery martial arts and medical arts were integrated. Such was his thinking.

Even if his grandson received the fruit of World Tree by heavenly fortune, he judged that the boy would die before becoming an absolute master capable of withstanding its medicinal effects.

“Such manner of speaking. Did you put poppy in your mouth?”

Hwangbo Gon sneered. But Thunder Emperor remained consistently indifferent.

“Our cult’s initiation ceremony has been ruined. By intruders.”

“Intruders?”

“Divine Sword Group Acting Leader, Beggar Sect Leader, and the imperial Yu Xiong-gong. All are far from perfect condition. If senior lends a hand, we can bury them in this land. This is our cult’s main headquarters after all.”

Hwangbo Gon’s eyes had narrowed as soon as he heard the words Divine Sword Group Acting Leader.

“…Are the identities of these uninvited guests certain?”

“Indeed. The sorcery formation spread throughout this cavern was personally created by the Cult Leader. Not only does it create a livable environment, but we can also know the intruders’ locations and appearances.”

“Livable my foot.”

Even while saying this, Hwangbo Gon was feeling a tremendous invisible force. The demonic energy rippling like a spider web throughout the underground cavern.

‘Sorcery formation…’

It was a formation that more than sufficed to nurture the Ming Cult members’ innate demonic energy. Connected to all sorts of mechanical formations, it could also activate traps like Sword Forest Hell.

Ming Cult Leader Young Heavenly Demon Invincible.

Even absent from this place, her presence was monstrous.

One skilled in all sorts of miscellaneous arts. This was precisely why Hwangbo Gon had briefly joined the Ming Cult.

It had actually seemed plausible. The prescription that had been in Young Heavenly Demon Invincible’s hands when she briefly visited the Heavenly Demon Treasury.

—It might not be completely impossible even without Ice Crystal. At least the head is intact.

Of course, it was a draft.

Scorching Divine Meridian was a constitution where the eight extraordinary meridians and all body meridians boiled with heat. It couldn’t be cured with simple writing.

Young Heavenly Demon Invincible said she would think about it once and gave Hwangbo Gon a VIP room. It was the moment the former Hwangbo family head became a guest of the Ming Cult.

While Divine Hand Light King Hwangbo Gon was thus reminiscing about the past, he moved to a secluded cave with Thunder Emperor and about twenty demons.

Though he might have been different as Warrior Divine Hand Light King, grandfather Hwangbo Gon had no choice.

Though everything would be resolved by completely extracting the Ice Palace Master’s energy center, he couldn’t kill his daughter-in-law to save his grandson.

“Stop here.”

Thunder Emperor said. While backing against a place blocked by a large iron door.

A door with strange spirituality bound to it at first glance.

Saaaa…

It was definitely a type of dharma treasure. Wasn’t dark mist rippling on its surface?

‘Moreover, it’s Dark Iron. The thickness is unimaginable…’

It couldn’t be opened by human strength. It was the intuition of an absolute master’s upper energy center.

The iron door felt connected to the power flowing from the Cult Leader’s formation, so it wouldn’t be scratched even by considerable ultimate techniques.

Unless one intended to collapse the cave, it couldn’t be forced open.

“Did Dwarf smelting energy work go into this too?”

When he asked, Thunder Emperor surprisingly nodded readily.

“Indeed. Unless true energy is infused according to the set pattern, it will never open. The secretly guarded formula is the key.”

Hwangbo Gon didn’t know exactly where this place was either. The Ming Cult’s new main headquarters was a vast underground city.

“What exactly is this place used for?”

“Heavenly Demon Treasury.”

“What…?”

“All demonic art secret manuals under heaven are stored here. A place where even old people’s experience becomes meaningless. If one could only enter inside, senior’s knowledge would expand infinitely.”

Thunder Emperor concluded indifferently.

Demon.

It was an extremely sweet word. It was also an attempt to completely recruit Hwangbo Gon.

Naturally, Hwangbo Gon felt this too.

Swish.

But he only silently took out a small gourd from his bosom. It was a time when alcohol was needed.

He briefly muttered.

“Heaven-Defying Martial Classics Buried in Demon Cult.”

Arts that go against natural order are buried in demon cult lands. It was an old maxim and natural law.

“…Did the Ming Cult Leader grow up with this much knowledge from the start?”

Hwangbo Gon said while glancing back at the round iron door. For the first time, Thunder Emperor’s answer contained the faintest emotion.

It was pride.

“The environment is more important for geniuses than for ordinary people. The Cult Leader had already experienced the Thirteen Evil Sects comprehensively in her youth, but ultimately returned to the Heavenly Demon Treasury. Because there was no place like this.”

A place where traces of past giant demons were preserved.

The Cult Leader’s years were here. It was a story she could tell because she had raised her.

“The intruders are coming straight here. If I, my subordinates, and senior buy time briefly, they’ll be blocked here.”

At those words, Hwangbo Gon chuckled and asked.

“Don’t you know their caliber? No matter how much the Cult Leader’s formation helps, do you think they’ll be blocked here?”

He was an old veteran of the martial world.

He had no choice but to know how mysterious the techniques that absolute masters like Desolate Day Extinction or Sword Star, who had experienced countless battles, came to master. The word extraordinary would be fitting.

But Thunder Emperor remained calm. The black-robed figures she had brought were the same.

“Bright Demon among the Dark Silent Twin Demons, and naturally the Three Desolate Dark Lords as well as other Fu Ghost Emperors will arrive soon. Since the passage is narrow, our cult’s martial army cannot enter.”

“Wouldn’t a place like the Heavenly Demon Treasury be guarded layer upon layer with formations from the start? There wouldn’t be just one or two absolute formations surrounding the vicinity. Just what I’ve heard includes that deadly Divine Demon Soul-Severing Formation…”

“They’ve all been broken through.”

“What?”

“According to our cult’s Brain Demon Department’s calculations, they’ll arrive soon. Prepare now.”

As Thunder Emperor said this, orange sparks began flickering from her body. Along with intense friction sounds like crackling.

Her disciples—that is, the twenty-odd black-robed figures—also took similar stances.

Internal energy armor.

Otherwise known as protective energy.

“Heaven Silk Steel Armor…?”

Hwangbo Gon muttered unconsciously.

“No, they’ve added the mysteries of Heaven Silk Steel Armor to the Ming Cult’s Rakshasa Protective Energy. How was this possible? The Northern Kings of Bright Wind Spirit wouldn’t have given out Heaven Silk Steel Armor…”

“The Cult Leader makes it possible.”

Thunder Emperor’s composure clearly originated from there. The fact that she had personally raised the ‘Heaven-Mocking Invincible One’ would also be a major reason.

Kwaaaaaang!

Suddenly the stone wall opposite the iron door collapsed widely.

Thickly spreading dust clouds. The sound of stone fragments rolling on the floor also echoed. Thus a party appeared through the dust.

The first to speak was an old beggar.

“What those fellows are wearing… doesn’t seem to be Heavenly Demon Divine Armor, but its hardness is indescribable. If possible, it would be better to break their protective energy first.”

“Watch your mouth. My two hands can’t support you, you know?”

The boy general carrying Beggar Sect Leader Divine Beggar Zhu Guang crookedly said. The sight of a child in armor carrying even a gaunt old man with his small body.

He was carrying people front and back. Two old men had relied on the boy general’s short legs to come.

The remaining one was a barehanded absolutely handsome youth.

His waist alone stood straight.

“Desolate Day Extinction.”

The moment Thunder Emperor muttered lowly, her pupils were completely filled with Jeong Yeon-shin’s appearance.

He had suddenly charged in. It was terrifyingly fast advancing footwork.

“That’s right, that’s how you use your soles! I only taught him once…!”

While Divine Beggar Zhu Guang excitedly shouted beyond his shoulder.

“Move aside.”

Desolate Day Extinction Jeong Yeon-shin reached out his hand toward Thunder Emperor.

Swish.

He immediately grasped her shoulder. At the same time, thunder sounds swirled in his grip with a rumbling. It truly seemed like it would melt protective energy.

[Heaven Breaking.]

The echo that instantly filled the cave with rumbling also carried such intent. The will to strip away bothersome things first.

Thunder Emperor’s eyes widened.

‘Dharma power…?!’

Pueoeoeoeoek—!

Her entire body shattered like a shell.

It was instantaneous.

The fragments of her body that shattered thus mixed with blood spray into hazy palm wind, and the palm technique’s energy waves that still had strength left burst out in all directions carried by it.

Thunder Emperor’s disciples were naturally swept up in it.

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

“Heok…! Heoeoeok!”

Screams as if from the underworld.

The black-robed figures crumpled beyond recognition along with their protective energy.

Soon futile gasps were squeezed from their abdomens, and it was only an instant until the hissing smoke filled the cave.

They had intended to melt protective energy, but the people melted instead. It would be because they were demons.

“……”

Hwangbo Gon stared down at the flesh fragments clinging to his trouser hem. Then he slowly raised his gaze.

The cave dyed dark red in all directions.

Jeong Yeon-shin stood in the middle of a hellish scene.

His impression was quite different from when seen in the Flood Dragon Formation. His facial lines were somewhat more graceful, and his eyes had a restrained feeling like a treasured sword sheathed. There was also an air of enlightenment somewhere.

How much had he been worn down by the trials of the martial world?

Now the youth seemed like an old man. His temperament was so despite his appearance.

Step.

He slowly moved his steps. Straight toward the iron door. Even without wearing a sword, his identity as Divine Sword Group Leader stood out.

“Senior Hwangbo, have you been well?”

Jeong Yeon-shin greeted with a bow.

“You too… look good.”

Hwangbo Gon wasn’t just making empty words. At least Jeong Yeon-shin as a warrior now seemed perfectly flawless.

“Is that so?”

Jeong Yeon-shin, who faintly raised the corners of his mouth, approached the iron door. As if he had guessed the reason the former Hwangbo family head was in the Ming Cult.

Hwangbo Gon hastily stopped him.

“Look here, if you don’t find the key formula, this place might collapse…”

Gugugugugugung—!

It was the sound that arose as soon as Jeong Yeon-shin touched the groove carved in the center of the iron door.

His innate energy perception swept the traces inside the door and extracted the energy circulation path in an instant. As if he had experienced the exact same thing before.

The door split in a straight line with heavy rumbling.

The Heavenly Demon Treasury opened absurdly easily.