Chapter 366
What do you think it would feel like to face a Bishop of the Demonic Cult?
Right now, it might not feel real to you.
Hm?
You're asking if someone like me would feel fear toward a Bishop?
That's an interesting story.
I don't know what you mean by "someone like me," but even I became like a mouse before a cat when I saw a Bishop right in front of me.
Think about it.
Now I swagger around calling myself the Grand Elder of the Beggar's Sect, but back then I was nothing more than a little beggar.
My exploits?
That came later.
Back then, I was just an inexperienced beggar. But when a Bishop of the Demonic Cult appeared before my eyes, how do you think it felt?
Right.
It felt like an executioner's blade had reached my throat. With my whole body bound tight.
Now?
Well, I don't know. Certainly if it were now, it wouldn't be the same emotion as back then. I may have just grown older, but I do have experience now, and my attachment to life isn't what it was then.
But there's one thing I can guarantee.
Even the current me would have no choice but to freeze up if I encountered a Bishop-level demon.
Yes, it would be hard for you to understand.
After all, I'm someone who could steam and eat the current Sect Leader of the Beggar's Sect.
But conversely, that's how terrifying and frightening the Bishops of the Demonic Cult are.
My heart truly trembled.
Hm?
Wei Yan-ho?
Hmm…
That's one of the things I still wonder about.
Does that bastard really have any sense of fear?
I don't think so.
* * *
"Mad Demon?"
Wei Yan-ho asked with his eyes wide open. Then the old man who had introduced himself as Mad Demon quietly nodded his head.
"It's not exactly a refined name, so I'm a bit embarrassed, but that's what I'm called."
"A crazy demon?"
"That's right."
"Whoa."
Wei Yan-ho looked the old man up and down.
Then he rested his chin on his hand and fell into thought.
"Why are you doing that?"
"I'm thinking."
"About what?"
"From the outside, you don't look like someone who'd be called Mad Demon… If you're called that, it either means you have tremendous personality problems, or your martial arts are extremely violent."
"Probably so."
"So I'm wondering. Is it your martial arts that's the problem, or your personality?"
"Which do you think would be better?"
Wei Yan-ho answered nonchalantly.
"At first I thought having personality problems would be better than being called crazy about martial arts, but thinking about it more deeply, that doesn't seem right."
"Why?"
"Someone who's reached the level of a Bishop in the Demonic Cult couldn't possibly be weak. Whether your martial learning is rough or refined or crazy, you'd be strong anyway, so what would it matter?"
"Heh heh heh heh."
Mad Demon laughed as if delighted.
But the hearts of those watching this scene were sinking even colder. The person now showing such a benevolent smile was the very same one who had just emitted that incredible aura.
'Anyone can see it.'
Jang-il clenched and unclenched his fists nervously.
A Bishop of the Demonic Cult. And Mad Demon at that.
That alone was enough.
That person was definitely the Mad Blood Demon.
In the past, during that terrible war, the Mad Blood Demon who single-handedly killed all one hundred sword masters of Mount Zhongnan.
'Damn it.'
Every pore on Jang-il's body stood on end.
To him, the title Mad Blood Demon was something that existed only in myths. Though it had happened only twenty-some years ago, those twenty years felt like an incredibly distant past to Jang-il.
But that specter from the past had come back to life and appeared before them.
'Can we handle this?'
The calculation wasn't difficult.
Absolutely impossible.
Of course Wei Yan-ho was strong. Wei San-ho was strong too. Among those here, there wasn't a single person who was weak for their age.
Even so, it was impossible.
The Bishops of the Demonic Cult were beings who could easily kill not only the sect leaders of major sects at the time, but even the supreme masters of each sect. In today's terms, they were masters who surpassed even Sword Immortals or Sword Venerables. To face such a person with only those present here?
'It's like a dream!'
Perhaps this was the moment Wei Yan-ho had spoken of—'when in doubt, run away.' The moment he heard the words Mad Demon, everything became uncertain. It was the moment when his confidence that Wei Yan-ho could handle any opponent, no matter how great, disappeared.
'But why?'
Why couldn't Jang-il run away?
If it were the old Jang-il, he would have run without looking back. Taking Jin Ye-ran and fleeing would have been all he could do. That would have been a perfectly reasonable and rational thought. His being here was nothing more than a hindrance.
But now Jang-il's feet were stuck to the ground as if glued there, not moving an inch.
"I'm not very knowledgeable, so I don't know well, but I heard that being a Bishop in the Demonic Cult is a tremendous position."
"It's nothing so great. It's just a position you naturally rise to if you live long enough in the Divine Cult."
"If you survive, that is."
"Right. If you survive."
Considering how amazing it was to grow old in that Demonic Cult without being pushed out, one could see how absurd Mad Demon's casual remark was.
"What brings someone like you all the way to this remote place? This is a place full of people who break out in hives just hearing the word 'demon' from Demonic Cult."
"Didn't I say? I have something to confirm. I have the troublesome habit of not trusting other people's words until I see with my own eyes. Even if it's the word of another Bishop."
"So have you confirmed it?"
"Yes."
"Then you can leave now."
Mad Demon burst into laughter.
Not because he was dumbfounded, but because he was truly delighted. It seemed like he hadn't seen anyone speak to him this way in decades.
"Right, you're correct. I can leave now. However, I can't just return empty-handed. I can't just waste my food, so if I've confirmed with my eyes, shouldn't I now follow orders?"
"Is there someone who can give orders to someone like you, sir?"
"Yes."
"How scary, this place called the Demonic Cult."
"It is a scary place."
Just listening to the conversation, it sounded like a neighborhood grandfather and a young child talking. But everyone here knew this wasn't just conversation.
Blade edges were being exchanged with every word.
"What do you need to take?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure if it's right for me to say this."
"Why?"
"The person involved would find it hard to accept. So it seems better to handle it with force first."
Wei Yan-ho pursed his lips.
"Really, an elderly person with no dignity. A Bishop of the Demonic Cult no less, coming here dragging along a bunch of kids, and now you're going to use force too?"
"What can I do? That's the job I was given."
"You should protest! Using force at your advanced age!"
This time Mad Demon didn't play along with Wei Yan-ho's banter. He just looked at Wei Yan-ho quietly with meaningful eyes.
"It's really strange."
"…What is?"
"You're too different from your father. Your father was a frightening man. But you don't seem to resemble your father at all."
"I hear that a lot."
"It would mean something a bit different. The father you all see and the father I see are different people."
"Huh?"
Mad Demon chuckled.
"That's enough conversation. I seem to have gotten too excited about mixing words with another person for the first time in over ten years."
"I wouldn't mind chatting a bit more."
"Hu hu hu hu."
Mad Demon smiled.
"You're as cunning as your father. But this is as far as it goes. I know what you're aiming for, but support won't come as quickly as you think. And even if support does come, the children I brought aren't to be underestimated, so the weak ones from Henan won't be able to help you."
"Aw."
Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue.
"You're incredibly perceptive."
"When you get old, the only thing that grows is your perception."
"It doesn't seem like only your perception has grown though. Your strength seems tremendously increased too."
"How do you know that?"
"Well, you know how it is. From what I heard, you used to go back and forth with the strong people from before, but looking at you now, sir, that doesn't seem to be the case. If those people weren't lying, then you must have become tremendously stronger."
Mad Demon readily acknowledged Wei Yan-ho's words.
"It's probably half and half. I don't know who you're referring to, but even during that war era, I never once felt that the martial artists of the Central Plains were strong. They were no match even then, but now the gap has probably widened even more."
"Mm, it seems so."
"So what will it be? Will you obediently listen to me?"
Wei Yan-ho scratched the back of his head.
"Eh, well, honestly…"
Wei Yan-ho looked back once, glanced at everyone, and sighed.
"To be honest, I don't want to fight with someone as strong as you, sir. But unfortunately, as you said, our father is too different from me."
"Hmm?"
Wei Yan-ho grinned.
"No matter how awkward the situation gets, if I do what a Demonic Cult elder tells me to do, father will come at me with his sword, foaming at the mouth about restoring the family honor and wanting to cut off my head. Rather than watch that man foam at the mouth, it's better to just brawl with you, sir."
"Huh?"
Though he said it in a roundabout way, this was clearly a declaration that he would fight him. It was something that even the leader of a major sect wouldn't dare say lightly, and this brazen fellow was saying it.
"Definitely."
At the same time, Wei San-ho stepped up to support Wei Yan-ho.
"We were taught that it's better to submit to a neighborhood dog than submit to the Demonic Cult."
"It's extreme, but still."
"But following even that extreme teaching would be a child's duty."
Swish swish swish.
Wei San-ho's sword slowly emerged from its sheath.
Swish.
At the same time, Peng Dao-ji also drew his blade and pointed it forward.
"If I had known this would happen, I would have taken it easier with training. I'm dying because I have no strength."
"Amitabha, I agree."
Mu San also quietly took his place beside Peng Dao-ji. When the four people filled the front completely, Jang-il stepped back slightly to take his place next to Jin Ye-ran.
When Jin Ye-ran looked at him with strange eyes, Jang-il protested as if wronged.
"Hey, that bastard ordered me to do this. It's not because I don't want to fight."
"I didn't say anything."
"And honestly, compared to those four, I'm no different from a civilian. If I fight alongside them, I'll just get in the way."
"I said I didn't say anything."
Jang-il beat his chest.
And Mad Demon was quietly watching that scene with emotionless eyes.
"Times really have changed a lot."
Mad Demon laughed heh heh.
"I don't know if it's because you haven't experienced it, or because it wasn't properly passed down. Well, then I'll have to teach you again. The weight of the name Divine Cult. Yes, the weight… How dare, how dare!"
At that moment, a terrifying demonic energy erupted from Mad Demon's body like a storm. His eyes instantly turned blood red as he flashed them and shouted.
"Bastards like you dare to defy me! I'll kill you all!"
Wei Yan-ho looked at that scene and sighed.
"He really is a crazy old man."
And now he had to fight that crazy old man.
With his life on the line.