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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Heavenly Demon vs. North Sword Sect (2)
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"Isn't that Jin the Great Hero, the sect leader of the North Sword Sect?"
"Why is the storyteller suddenly looking for you?"
"Wait. Isn't the storyteller... Sogang over there?"
As the North Wind Swordsman Jin Sa-gong, a rare sight in an ordinary inn, stepped forward, the customers began to murmur.
Above all, there were quite a few people here who knew Sogang's face.
"What? Who?"
Then the warriors under Jin Sa-gong, the core forces of the North Sword Sect, began to step up.
They ranged from low-tier first-class to upper-tier first-class, the full force that Jin Sa-gong could muster now that his nephew Jin Ung was gone.
Their momentum was so ferocious that the moment they advanced, the crowd split wide open all the way to where Sogang and the Heavenly Demon sat.
"Oh ho. So it's you lot."
The North Sword Sect warriors, finally catching the culprit's tail, swaggered forward with smug grins.
"Sogang. Watch closely."
The Heavenly Demon sensed the traces of last night's beating on Sogang, along with the fear lingering in his eyes.
And so...
Smooth!
He picked up one end of the long wooden chopsticks he'd been using and immediately unleashed his hand technique.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
Demon Spirit Finger of Worldly Chaos
[Thrown wooden chopstick pierces vital points]
The Demonic Cult's supreme martial art, originally a finger-flicking technique, was used to lightly hurl the wooden chopsticks.
Others might scoff at using mere chopsticks against first-class masters, but the result was astonishing.
Pfshhhhwip!
Incredibly, the core forces of the North Sword Sect, marching in a neat line through the cramped gaps between the inn's tables...
Each one a first-class expert boasting skills superior even to Great Power Sword Suppressor Jin Ung—their hearts and vital points were pierced clean through by the wooden chopsticks in a straight line.
Kukukukung!
The truly shocking scene was yet to come.
The Demon Spirit Finger of Worldly Chaos technique behind the thrown chopsticks was so powerful that five or six first-class masters collapsed like crumbling stone statues without even a proper death cry.
The sight was utterly horrifying.
"...!!"
It was so shocking that the inn's customers, who had gathered for the spectacle of a fight—the most entertaining show in the world after watching a fire—froze with mouths agape, doubting their own eyes.
And rightly so. In this region near North Sea Star City, aside from the absolute power of the North Sea Ice Palace, no sect was stronger than the North Sword Sect.
Yet to see their elite forces wiped out with a single wooden chopstick... it was beyond astonishing—it was utterly unreal.
"They don't want to know the truth or have a conversation. They just want to oppress us from their arrogant belief that they're absolutely right. The Demonic Cult's policy on that is simple: converse if they seek dialogue, meet force with force if they crave violence."
The Heavenly Demon spoke sternly to Sogang, whose jaw was on the verge of dropping in shock.
His words rang true.
Had the North Sword Sect approached courteously for talk, the Heavenly Demon's response would have differed.
'Is this really the same person from just moments ago?'
Sogang, who had seen the Heavenly Demon's innocent playfulness until a heartbeat ago, now doubted if this merciless killer was the same man.
"Th-this can't be!"
More shocked than anyone by this unbelievable outcome was, naturally, Jin Sa-gong himself.
He had watched in real time as one-fifth—no, two-fifths—of his sect's forces vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving him so dazed he nearly vomited.
"Who... who the hell are you?"
Jin Sa-gong's attention shifted from the storyteller Sogang to the refined, sharp-eyed man beside him.
To the Heavenly Demon.
"Me? I'm the great one before whom all ten thousand demons prostrate themselves flat on their faces..."
The Heavenly Demon, just as in the past, was about to reveal his identity without hesitation when asked!
Grab!
A hand shot out and clamped over the Heavenly Demon's mouth.
Its owner was none other than Sogang.
Smooth!
Daring to touch his noble face, the Heavenly Demon glared at Sogang with terrifying eyes.
Had Sogang not helped him with stories, he might have been executed on the spot.
"Heav... No, Young Master. You mustn't reveal that name carelessly."
Sogang mustered his courage despite the deadly glare and spoke.
"Why not?"
The Heavenly Demon realized Sogang's intent was to help and withdrew his fierce gaze.
"Because... it'll just make things tiring."
Sogang was right.
The Demonic Cult was gone, truly exterminated, with no trace left—not even the Heavenly Demon. Yet there were still hordes who hated him or coveted his arts.
Thousands alone sought to kill him or steal his inner energy and techniques.
"Doesn't matter."
But despite Sogang's consideration, the Heavenly Demon brushed it off.
"Pardon? Why..."
"This seat is the supreme of past and present, peerless and unique. If it tires me, I simply clean them up."
Sogang had overlooked one thing.
The Heavenly Demon was the great leader before whom all the world's wicked demons bowed flat—the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate.
For him, such provocations, envy, and jealousy had been constant companions since birth.
The way to overcome them was the same then as now.
Kill those who approach with foul intent. Kill and kill again.
"Th-that's..."
Faced with a mindset utterly alien to ordinary folk, Sogang recoiled in complete shock.
Yet the Heavenly Demon pressed on undeterred.
"I am the Heavenly Demon."
He revealed his identity plainly to Jin Sa-gong, leader of the North Sword Sect.
Jin Sa-gong blinked in surprise at the unexpected words, then furrowed his brow and retorted.
"You mad bastard!"
Jin Sa-gong thought the Heavenly Demon was mocking or toying with him.
To the current martial world, the Heavenly Demon was the Demonic Cult leader who vanished after the fourth generation, and the First Heavenly Demon was dismissed as long dead.
"You dare mock me, the North Wind Swordsman?!"
Believing himself ridiculed, Jin Sa-gong flew into a rage and unleashed the North Sword Sect's martial art.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
North Advance Super Wind
[Signature ultimate technique of North Wind Sword Art]
His signature ultimate technique, the pinnacle of the North Wind Sword Art.
Kwaaaaang!
Jin Sa-gong's strike flowed fiercely along the blade of his razor-sharp sword.
True to its origin in the fierce, powerful winds from North Sea Star City, the technique was relentless.
Moreover, Jin Sa-gong was a super first-class expert—superior to first-class, yet just shy of the pinnacle realm.
Even without reaching the pinnacle, super first-class masters could pass as experts anywhere in the Central Plains martial world.
Ooooo!
As the sharp North Wind Sword Art unfolded, many gasped in awe, thinking the brat claiming to be the Heavenly Demon would die on the spot—when...
Grab!
The plot thickened.
The even more astonishing scene unfolded now.
Incredibly, the Heavenly Demon remained in place, guzzling soju like a madman.
He simply lifted his wooden chopsticks as if picking up food and caught Jin Sa-gong's sword strike.
"Impossible!"
"We've seen masters catch flies or bees mid-flight with chopsticks..."
"But blocking a super first-class expert's full-powered strike with chopsticks?!"
Even locals born and raised in North Sea Star City, who had witnessed many marvels, had never seen such a sight.
The North Wind Swordsman Jin Sa-gong's blade—famed for experience if not pinnacle skill—caught like a side dish on chopsticks was shocking, a humiliation for Jin Sa-gong himself.
"Eeeeek!"
Gnashing his teeth, Jin Sa-gong tried to slice down at the Heavenly Demon, who chopsticked casually with one hand—but for some reason, his sword wouldn't budge.
No, it wasn't just refusing to move; it was frozen solid, immovable.
'My god!'
Too late, a thought struck Jin Sa-gong.
This brat-like youth might truly be the Heavenly Demon—the First Heavenly Demon.
"I... I only wanted to ask about my nephew Jin Ung's death..."
Only now did terror overwhelm him: he had dared point his blade at an unfathomable being.
As he hastily tried to make excuses...
Crack!
Like the pop of roasted nuts...
Kuuuung!
💥 CRITICAL HIT! 💥
-Jin Sa-gong Defeated
[Spoon to the forehead]
Jin Sa-gong's body crumpled forward helplessly.
Undoubtedly, even he wouldn't know what technique killed him.
Perhaps he died without realizing it.
"Make your excuses in the afterlife."
With those words, the Heavenly Demon dusted off his hands.
He turned his gaze back to his soju as if the North Sword Sect and Jin Sa-gong meant nothing anymore.
Slurp!
Resuming his meal so casually shocked the onlookers deeply.
To ordinary folk, the deaths of North Sword Sect warriors and the North Wind Swordsman were major events.
But to the Heavenly Demon, it was merely swatting a few flies.
Would anyone stop eating from shock after killing flies?
That was his stance exactly.
"Heavens!"
For Sogang right beside him, though, it was truly horrifying.
Honestly, with Great Power Sword Suppressor Jin Ung, things had been chaotic, his condition poor, half-fainting when he met the Heavenly Demon.
Now, fully alert, watching clearly—it was hard to believe even with his own eyes.
'What? How?'
To Sogang, whose own martial arts were barely third-class, he couldn't even see how or with what Jin Sa-gong was struck.
Only when he saw Jin Sa-gong's face smashed pathetically on the inn floor did he realize.
"A... spoon?!"
Looking closely at the Heavenly Demon casually slurping soju, he saw he ate without the soup spoon needed for broth.
The soup spoon for hot broth had a large bowl and short handle.
And that missing spoon from the Heavenly Demon was embedded squarely in the center of Jin Sa-gong's forehead.
"Se-sect Leader!"
The North Sword Sect warriors, losing their leader so absurdly and suddenly, wailed throat-shreddingly for the dead—but the departed wouldn't return.
"Kuhuhuuk!"
In the end, they gave up confronting the terrifying unknown youth.
Witnessing the North Wind Swordsman and key forces die to chopsticks and a spoon with their own eyes sapped their will to fight.
"..."
Sogang watched the sobbing North Sword Sect warriors with mixed feelings.
Noticing, the Heavenly Demon spoke.
"Sogang. Do you regret it?"
"Well..."
Sogang hesitated but answered honestly.
He had wanted revenge on the North Sword Sect, to repay the violence and wounds he suffered.
But seeing this scene now, his heart wasn't at ease.
"This is the merciless, heartless world of the jianghu. Without me, what would have become of you?"
"That's..."
Those sharp words pierced Sogang's chest like a dagger, leaving him silent.
"The law of the jungle, ruthless jianghu. Where strength is law and might determines truth—that's the martial world. I won't die or be tormented by others' hands. If I must die, then rather..."
The Heavenly Demon, shedding any trace of innocence, exuded a fearsome aura as he continued.
"I'll slaughter every soul in this world to survive."
Shiver!
Hearing this, Sogang trembled involuntarily from shock and intimidation.
Smirk!
The Heavenly Demon glanced at the frozen Sogang and smiled again.
"Still, keeping your hands blood-free like you is the best way."
Sogang sensed the Heavenly Demon had a clear backstory.
A tale forcing him into the Demonic Cult, turning him into a demon.
"By the way, do you know where my sword is? I'm picky—can't use anything else well."
The Heavenly Demon suddenly recalled something.
"Sword? Ah! You mean the Heavenly Lord Demon Dragon Sword, your beloved weapon and the finest in the world?"
"Yes! That one! Perfect, but when I woke up, it wasn't near Eternal Ice."
As a fervent follower of the First Heavenly Demon, Sogang knew well.
"The Heavenly Lord Demon Dragon Sword is currently in the North Sea Ice Palace."