Chapter 323 : Ask the King of Hell
Jin Seong-un and the others briefly looked at one another.
All of them were visibly bewildered.
The fake Moon Command Sect Leader, Cheon Bi-yeon.
Her face was not one one could easily forget. Rather, it possessed features so exquisite that one might only encounter such beauty once in a lifetime.
Yet she wore that exact same face while speaking as though referring to an entirely different person.
Jin Seong-un narrowed his eyes as he looked at her.
‘It’s the same qi.’
The essence was identical to the qi Cheon Bi-yeon wielded.
However, the atmosphere and nature of it were different.
If Cheon Bi-yeon’s presence had been seductive and secretive, then the woman before them felt violent and savage.
Not only her qi, but even her expressions and mannerisms reflected that difference.
“So you claim you’re a separate existence?”
At Jin Seong-un’s question, the woman casually brushed aside her tangled hair and cast him a glance.
As her hair cleared away slightly, she looked even more identical to Cheon Bi-yeon.
“What an ill-mannered child. I asked first, did I not? Where is Jealousy?”
She referred to Cheon Bi-yeon as Jealousy.
Jin Seong-un pushed aside his confusion and answered calmly.
“I don’t know. If I did, I would’ve killed her already.”
“A mere insect like you?”
Her eyes widened.
Then she burst into laughter as though she had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
“Hahahaha!”
The qi contained within her voice thundered throughout the surroundings.
Paeng Ji-yak, unconscious against a tree, twitched faintly. In a situation where there was no means of defense, facing such savage qi was incredibly dangerous.
* Young Master Seo.
At Jin Seong-un’s voice transmission, Seo Yu-gyeom subtly moved and stood before Paeng Ji-yak protectively.
Seeing that, the woman snorted.
“So in the end, you truly know nothing. Then you’re all worthless. In that case, be devoured.”
With those words, the woman rose to her feet.
She had blocked the Fire Dragon Escape Sword Jin Seong-un swung with full power, yet she did not possess even the slightest wound.
Rather, every time she breathed, the faint qi scattered through the air was steadily absorbed into her body.
‘As expected, it’s similar to Women’s Moon Qi.’
Internal energy that accumulated naturally even without deliberate effort.
Both Noble Enchantress’s power and the Nine-Tails’ power seemed fundamentally different from ordinary cultivation methods.
Pointing his sword at her, Jin Seong-un asked,
“If she is Jealousy, then what are you?”
“Ask the King of Hell.”
The woman’s figure vanished instantly.
Everyone, including Jin Seong-un, heightened their senses to the limit and guarded their surroundings.
Then—
SHRAAAK-!
She suddenly appeared behind Moyong Hyeon.
Yet Moyong Hyeon himself seemed completely unaware someone stood behind him.
“Young Master Moyong!”
Jin Seong-un warned him immediately, and Moyong Hyeon reflexively twisted his body and swung the Northern Star Sword.
CLANG-!
One of the defining traits of the Moyong Clan swordsmanship was Reversal.
Quite literally, returning what had been turned aside.
When facing weaker opponents, it filled them with despairing helplessness. But against stronger opponents, it was entirely different.
To redirect an attack at all, one first had to endure its force.
“KUHUK!”
Unable to fully withstand the woman’s qi, Moyong Hyeon vomited dead blood.
At the same moment, Jin Seong-un’s sword and Seo Yu-gyeom’s Heaven-Slaying Dagger attacked simultaneously from both sides.
SHRAAAK-!
Rather than retreating backward, the obvious choice, she spun gracefully between them.
The Heaven-Slaying Dagger sliced through empty air, while Jin Seong-un’s sword merely severed a few strands of her hair.
“Hah!”
The woman laughed as though amused.
As the two blades failed to fully cut her down and merely grazed past, a completely defenseless opening formed between her and Moyong Hyeon.
Jin Seong-un clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘……Damn.’
Seo Yu-gyeom also realized the situation.
The two urgently redirected their weapons, but the woman’s hand moved even faster.
CRACK-!
Her long fingers mercilessly wrapped around Moyong Hyeon’s throat. At the same time, her eyes turned violet.
“Ghhh…….”
A twisted groan escaped Moyong Hyeon’s lips. In an instant, his internal energy began draining from his body at a terrifying speed.
SHRAAAK-!
Jin Seong-un’s Sword Flux slashed toward her wrist as though to sever it completely.
She finally released her grip and retreated backward, licking her lips regretfully.
Strength left Moyong Hyeon’s legs, and he collapsed onto the ground.
“It has been a long time since I tasted such exquisite cuisine.”
The woman closed her eyes briefly and savored Moyong Hyeon’s qi. She did not look remotely like someone facing three masters above the Peak Master Level.
“Are you alright?”
At Jin Seong-un’s question, Moyong Hyeon steadied his breathing for a moment before forcing himself to nod.
In that brief instant, nearly ten percent of his internal energy had been drained away, though it was not enough to threaten his life.
However, at that speed, Moyong Hyeon too could become a dried corpse in the blink of an eye.
The woman looked at Moyong Hyeon’s pale face with amusement.
“You didn’t entirely dislike it either, did you?”
Moyong Hyeon’s expression stiffened.
As she said, it had not been painful. Rather, it felt strangely similar to sharing intimacy with a woman.
He could now understand why she was called the Lust Demon.
Of course, because the process involved having his very life drained away, instinctive revulsion and disgust naturally accompanied it.
The woman grinned.
“If even you are this delicious, then I wonder how much more stimulating those other two will be.”
Her eyes gleamed as she alternated her gaze between Jin Seong-un and Seo Yu-gyeom.
Meanwhile, there was one man being entirely ignored.
Seomun Ak flared up indignantly.
“I’d probably taste even better.”
“…….”
Everyone present stared at Seomun Ak for a moment before quietly turning away and pretending they had heard nothing.
Seomun Ak charged forward, Scarlet Fist Aura blazing around both fists.
“Die!”
He deliberately shouted as loudly as possible while attacking.
It was meant to alert anyone nearby.
* Louder, if possible.
Jin Seong-un’s voice transmission brushed past him.
Though he did not know the reason, causing loud commotion was Seomun Ak’s specialty.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM-!
Each clash between the two caused Seomun Ak’s Scarlet Fist Aura to explode with tremendous noise.
It flashed repeatedly like fireworks at a summer festival.
* Young Master Seo.
Seo Yu-gyeom had reached the point where he could understand Jin Seong-un’s intentions without even hearing the full explanation.
He slipped through the continuously exploding Fist Aura and swung the Heaven-Slaying Dagger as flamboyantly as possible.
Silver Saber Flux resembling moonlight mixed with crimson Fist Aura resembling fireworks, creating an overwhelmingly dazzling spectacle.
Despite being pressured by masters surpassing the Peak Master Level, the woman not only failed to panic, but laughed while receiving their attacks.
Her deep shining eyes reflected the splendid scene, and her interest only deepened further.
That was the moment Jin Seong-un quietly moved.
Naturally, she had not completely lost herself in the spectacle and noticed his movement.
Fire Dragon Escape Sword.
Brilliant flames wrapped around the single iron sword.
When Jin Seong-un finally joined the battle and swung his blade, countless flashes filled the battlefield as though the festival had reached its climax.
All those exchanging blows were masters surpassing the Peak Master Level, so none relied solely on sight. Each instead spread out their senses to track the others.
That was exactly what Jin Seong-un had aimed for.
His qi still remained in place.
But his actual body had already moved behind her.
The Divine Thief’s Technique of Exchanging Two Forms became several times more effective whenever vision was obscured.
Jin Seong-un’s palm pressed against her waist.
The woman flinched violently and hurriedly tried to turn around, but before she could, Jin Seong-un’s other hand tightly gripped her shoulder.
“You fool.”
Far from panicking, she instead placed her own hand atop the hand gripping her shoulder.
Just as she had stolen Moyong Hyeon’s essence, she intended to devour Jin Seong-un’s qi as well.
Her eyes turned violet, and Jin Seong-un’s qi began flowing toward her.
Yet Jin Seong-un’s expression remained calm.
Then she realized why.
‘The… the vessel……!’
She was absorbing his internal energy at a terrifying speed, yet the sheer size of it was monstrous.
Ordinarily, this would have been a tremendous blessing for her.
But the scale was far too excessive.
Instead, an instinctive fear of the unknown overwhelmed her.
Realizing this through a flash of intuition, she urgently tried to pull away.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Seomun Ak’s immense strength crushed down upon her left shoulder.
Meanwhile, the recovered Paeng An-cheol subtly joined the battle and pressed down upon her right shoulder as well.
The two large men forcibly restrained the slender woman.
Seo Yu-gyeom and Moyong Hyeon also surrounded her, pointing their blades toward her vital points.
“…….”
Her eyes sharpened viciously as she glared at them all.
Yet she could not move even an inch.
Jin Seong-un leisurely began circulating Women’s Moon Qi.
Original True Face Art.
More precisely, one of its applications.
Because of that, unlike the Original True Face Art itself, it could not be unleashed instantly and required some time.
‘There’s no point in trying to cut her down.’
He had already confirmed that fact through Cheon Bi-yeon.
In that case, there was only one method left.
To utterly destroy everything.
Women’s Moon Qi approached her dantian.
Contrary to his vague expectations, it was not particularly different from an ordinary person’s dantian.
Like flowing water, his Innate Qi entered it.
Beginning from the root, it spread through every pathway simultaneously until it reached even the finest meridians throughout her body.
Three hundred sixty-five acupoints.
He intended to destroy them all at once, along with her dantian.
At that point, she too seemed to realize Jin Seong-un’s intentions and struggled frantically.
Yet four martial artists—a master above the Peak Master Level and three Peak Masters—were restraining her entire body with all their strength.
“Let me go!”
“As if.”
Seomun Ak instinctively answered back before suddenly feeling his strength weaken slightly and shutting his mouth.
By then, Jin Seong-un’s qi had reached every one of her acupoints.
And for a brief instant so fleeting that no one except perhaps Seo Yu-gyeom could notice—
Jin Seong-un’s eyes faintly turned red.
Into the technique that should have been performed solely with Women’s Moon Qi, he subtly mixed Blood Demon Qi.
CRRRRACK-!
At once, grotesque sounds erupted from throughout her muscles as her entire body twisted violently.
She opened her mouth wide in what should have been a scream, yet not a single sound emerged.
Like a monster driven purely by survival instinct, she convulsed wildly, and even the four men restraining her staggered from the force.
Regardless, Jin Seong-un circulated his qi even more fiercely.
Cutting and severing held no meaning.
But Blood Demon Qi was not mere destruction.
It was closer to conceptual violence that returned all things to nothingness.
Three hundred sixty-five acupoints shattered.
The meridians connecting them like rivers ruptured helplessly.
At the same time, her body collapsed to the ground like a puppet with severed strings.
Finally, the Women’s Moon Qi and Blood Demon Qi completely filled her dantian before exploding within it.
JEEEEONG-!
A massive explosion of qi devoured the surroundings.
Everyone, including Jin Seong-un, raised their qi defenses and retreated backward.
Meanwhile, Paeng An-cheol stumbled and fell from sheer shock. Seomun Ak grabbed him by the collar and hurled him backward.
Everyone widened the distance and waited briefly for the thick dust cloud to clear.
For an instant, Jin Seong-un’s senses did not doubt her death.
As long as she possessed something resembling a dantian within her body, all her life force should originate there and from her Innate Qi.
Destroying that should kill any existence.
It absolutely should have.
Yet qi began flowing once more.
Not from her dantian, but from two entirely different locations.
Her head and her heart.
The places commonly called the upper dantian and middle dantian.
Those were not true dantians, but merely the most important crossroads through which qi passed.
Yet she was using the upper and middle dantians as though they were genuine dantians.
As if she possessed three dantians.
Soon, qi began restoring her acupoints, meridians, and lower dantian.
After twitching for some time, she slowly rose and looked toward everyone.
Jin Seong-un narrowed his eyes.
“……Absurd.”
The words escaped him naturally.
How could one possibly kill such an existence?
Only a single method surfaced within his mind.