The news about Lucian granting the winner of this tournament the technique of the Heavenly Demon Art fired up the demonic martial artists. For such people who pursue strength above all, this is a heaven-sent reward. All the martial peaks and above martial masters began to list their names, hoping they could win.
And just a month later, the tournament was held with higher-ups of the Demonic Cult participating. They held it in the training ground. Inside this vast training ground, in the middle part lay a big stage. And in the audience booth, two people were observing this competition; they were Ma'wang and Lucian.
There's no need for Ma'wang to participate; after all, he already learned the Heavenly Demon Art. In the participants' booth, a hundred and thirty-two people are participating. One hundred people are in the Peak Realm. These people's chances are at the lowest, but the reward is the Heavenly Demon Art; for them, this is definitely worth a try. While thirty people are in the Heavenly Realm, these people's chances of winning are around fifty percent. And lastly, the two members who are in the True Immortal Realm! Yes, two! This makes the Heavenly Demon Cult forces have four True Immortal Realms, the pinnacle of humanity!
Those two are Bao Feng, the previous leader of the Evil Factions, and surprisingly, Mo Haryun. Seven months ago, when Lucian was still inside the Heavenly Demon Archive, Mo Haryun broke through the True Immortal Realm and is now one of the Demonic Generals.
The first match is between Seo Hwa-rin and Fang Wa. They're both in the Heavenly Realm, and when the battle erupted, their battle prowess was the same. Fang Wa is a demonic martial artist of the Heavenly Demon Cult who survived the war, while Seo Hwa-rin was previously a member of the Evil Factions.
The result was that both of them were unable to continue fighting; thus, these two were taken out from the participants' list. But of course, their fight isn't something to laugh at; both parties are terrifyingly strong. Sadly, they're eliminated.
And of the one hundred demonic Peak Realm martial masters, only three of them survived until the very end. Those people are Mo Yun, Cai Ren, and Jin Wei. These people had the tenacity of beasts; they survived until the very end and made it to the top of the Peak Martial Masters Realm.
On the other hand, in the Heavenly Realm, nine people managed to pass this first round. Those are Shuo Tian, the master of the Shadow Pavilion; he was previously one of the five generals, but Mo Haryun took his place after he became a True Immortal. Han Zhe, one of the five generals and a pavilion master of the Iron Fist Hall. Yao Lian is also a pavilion master of the Poison Hall and one of the five generals. Zhan Xuerong was previously one of the five generals, but he gave it up for Ma'wang. But now that Ma'wang is already the vice leader, Bao Feng took that position. Ling Yue, one of the five generals and a pavilion master of Resonant Sounds. Matheus, Jin Hyeon-ryu, Qiu Lang, and Lan Xue.
And between the battle of Mo Haryun and Bao Feng, it was held outside in the vast plains; after all, both of them are in the True Immortal Realm. The fight was bound to be disastrous, so fighting in the base is just akin to asking the base to be destroyed.
In the battlefield.
"KIEKEHEKIEKIKK!! Old man, do you still cling to life?~ Step aside! I shall stand beside master Lucian, so begone! Kriekkekekik!!" Mo Haryun said as he began to attack without waiting for the signal.
"Tch! Dog of Lucian!! You dare provoke me, when I have mastered this realm for ten years?! You court your own death!"
They began fighting; cracks appeared in the earth whenever their blade and fist collided. Compared to Mo Haryun's looks and his personality, his swordsmanship is gentle and refined. After all, he was once the disciple of a righteous sect—that was after he slaughtered them.
His swordsmanship was so refined and gentle, but every hit carried the fury of his strike.
"Hiekekkrkeiek! Old man, your time has long passed! Why still cling to this mortal world?~ Let this young one send you to your grave! Krikekeikkekek!" He continued to taunt Bao Feng, but he just ignored it.
Bao Feng used his technique and attacked Mo Haryun. This man primarily used bare-handed martial arts as he trained in external arts; his body is as tough as a diamond, and even if he failed to block Mo Haryun's sword, his body only suffered light injury.
This battle's result is already decided. Although Mo Haryun is talented on par with Lucian, Bao Feng has a lot more experience. Mo Haryun isn't Lucian, who has previous life experiences, so this is a natural result. Above all, Mo Haryun has only stepped into the True Immortal Realm seven months ago. Thus, the result ended with Bao Feng winning this fight.
The competition continued, but how can those people even beat Bao Feng??? It takes 100 Heavenly Realm martial masters to defeat one True Immortal Realm, and now that Mo Haryun is gone, he has a smooth sailing winning the competition.
Ma'wang, who's watching the competition together with Lucian, asked worriedly. "Is it truly wise to bestow the Heavenly Demon Art upon that bastard, Cult Leader? He hails from the Evil Faction...."
"What nonsense are you spouting? Evil Factions, Righteous Alliance, or mere mortals... even the beasts of this world. All exist beneath my command." Lucian replied confidently.
"Ah..." Ma'wang could only look at this young man; he can't fathom what this guy is thinking at all.
After the competition, as Lucian had already mastered the Heavenly Demon Art, the lesser version of "Heavenly Demon of Shadow", he personally taught Bao Feng. Bao Feng is also a formidable character, so he easily got it. He even revised it to suit his bare-handed technique. Lucian only needed to teach him for a month and gave him a copy of the Heavenly Demon Art. After all, Bao Feng is also a genius of his own. Anyone who reaches True Immortal is a genius of geniuses. After all, this is a pinnacle realm for humans; you need insane talent to reach this. It usually only has one to two True Immortals per era, but this time, a lot of them emerged—six in total if we count the previous Righteous Alliance leader and the Wudang Sect leader.
Lucian lazily sat on his throne while reading the "Heavenly Demon of Shadow." At night, he would cultivate, and every morning he would practice the Heavenly Demon Art and fuse his understanding with the "Heavenly Demon of Shadow," making the Heavenly Demon Art stronger and stronger. He would then write down his newly found understanding in a book every day. This has been going on now for a month after the competition finished.
The hall opened as a pale guy with long straight hair, which he didn't even bother to tie, and his eerie dead eyes walked in. He looked exactly like a ghost. "Kiekekekikek! Masterrrr!~ Have you changed your mind? Are you finally considering teaching this cute and loyal dog of yours?~"
Lucian just looked at this man. He's been like this for a straight month now. After losing in the competition, he then straight up begged Lucian to teach him. After all, his technique is gentle—it doesn't suit him at all. It's shocking that he reached the True Immortal Realm with complications between his technique and his personality. This person is Mo Haryun.
Mo Haryun is already one of the five people Lucian is considering bringing with him, and to Lucian, Mo Haryun is the only person he trusts in this world. So he actually wants to teach this person the Heavenly Demon Art, but he knows this art is just a lesser version. He wants to perfect the "Heavenly Demon of Shadow" and teach it to Mo Haryun and Ma'wang, but his learning pace turned out to be slower than he previously anticipated. One month passed, and he only managed to decipher one-fourth of the book. To others, it might be shockingly fast already—after all, we're talking about the power of a Demon, a higher being, and not just anyone—but it was actually strong. To him, this is disappointingly slow.
"Why do you seek strength? You're already strong." Lucian was actually curious about Mo Haryun; he had never asked him anything about his life before, nor his reason for following him. To him, it was just natural that Mo Haryun should follow him, but maybe out of boredom, he asked Mo Haryun.
"Ehhh???? Hiekrkekik! Is the Leader curious about me now? Sorry, but I'm only interested in beauties~" Mo Haryun answered playfully.
Lucian shot him a warning look.
"Tch! Boring! Very well… As I swore when I became your subordinate, I would witness your fate—whether you ascend to glory or fall in ruin, I shall watch with my own eyes! Yet now… your strength grows at a terrifying pace. You become distant, beyond my reach. Should I falter and waste away… you would cast me aside. As a martial artist who set you as my goal, that day shall never come!" This time, Mo Haryun didn't laugh at all.
Twenty years ago, when he was still seven years old, he was once a thief. Without parents, he was forced to live in the streets and steal food for his everyday life. And one day, he stole something from an elder of a righteous sect in the Central Plains, but instead of beating him up like the others did, this old man didn't scold him and instead brought him to a fancy restaurant and let him eat. After being treated nicely, he begged this old man to take him in, even just as a servant.
But this old man refused, and took him in as his grandson instead. At that time, Mo Haryun became a member of that sect. As a kid, he was happy and thankful to the old man, and surprisingly, he had a talent for swordsmanship—so terrifyingly that even the old man was shocked. But this old man didn't take in Mo Haryun because he saw his talent; he simply took in a child who had nowhere to go.
Mo Haryun, who was a beggar before he became the grandson of that elder, faced discrimination from the other sect members. They tormented him under the excuse that he just got here because of his connection. Mo Haryun was a shy and timid kid, so instead of whining to his grandfather, he just took it all—the beatings he received from his fellow sect members—and his only way through this hell was the smile of his grandfather, the man who took him in. So he buried himself in books and in the training ground every day, to the point that even the sect leader of the sect took interest in him.
When the sect leader found out about his talent, he wanted to take him in as his son, but Mo Haryun's grandfather strongly disagreed with it. He knew what kind of man the sect leader was; although they were a righteous sect, not everyone is righteous here, and he genuinely treasured Mo Haryun.
He then told Mo Haryun not to accept the sect leader's offer, and of course, Mo Haryun followed it. To him, he didn't care about becoming a sect leader or anything. He just wanted to spend time with the elder. The sect leader was, of course, very displeased with this.
Five years have gone by, and Mo Haryun is now seventeen. His talent was a heaven-defying one; he was now in a Peak Martial Realm and as strong as the sect leader. A seventeen-year-old in a Martial Peak Realm is unheard of! So, the sect leader's greed intensified.
He judged that if the elder was gone, Mo Haryun would naturally accept him, so he planned the assassination of the elder. The elder, who went on a mission given by the leader, was suddenly 'ambushed' and died. Mo Haryun, who heard this news, died inside. Although he didn't care for other things outside, it didn't mean he wasn't aware of the situation. He was then consumed by madness as he began to slaughter his whole sect while laughing. After that, he disappeared from the world.
Ten years later, he participated in the Dragon and Phoenix Competition because of Lucian. He, who always wandered around and picked fights with strong people, got bored. After he became a Heavenly Realm martial artist, no one in the same realm could match him. He felt boredom after realizing that he was unmatched in this world and began to train lazily until the point that he didn't train at all. That is, until he saw Lucian beheading someone in the Dragon and Phoenix Competition. This guy was younger than him, yet stronger than him. His fighting spirit burned, and he entered the competition.
And when they fought, he was defeated like nothing. Lucian didn't even use his full force to defeat him. For someone who thought that he was unmatched in this world, he realized something: he's not as impressive as he thought, and surprisingly, this kid told him to be his subordinate. He wasn't even asked for his opinion; he was just told to be his subordinate. He felt a strange excitement inside him—he knew this kid was crazy. Real crazy, crazier than him. So he followed this kid willingly.
Later on, he noticed this kid's ambition was astronomically high. He's aiming to defy the heavens itself. With that, he promised himself to stay by this kid's side to watch if he achieved his goal or, just like any other... fall miserably.
He's not staying out of loyalty to Lucian; he's staying with him because he knows that with this child around, his life won't be boring anymore.