Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 497.17

Chapter 497.17 – Side Story 5 Part 2

White Ghost King (2)

Realizing he couldn’t stop Mistress Iron Fan Immortal from trying to take her own life no matter how he tried, the White Ghost King hurriedly shouted at Heavenly Demon:

“P-please stop!”

It was almost a pleading cry, but Heavenly Demon showed no particular reaction.

Rather, he just stared with an indifferent gaze, as if completely uninterested.

Meanwhile, Iron Fan Immortal’s blood vessels were bursting one by one due to her demonic power, and blue blood spurted out from various places.

Splash! Splash!

“You damn bastard! At this rate, the mistress will die! Please stop!”

At the White Ghost King’s desperate cry, Heavenly Demon merely shrugged his shoulders.

He seemed intent on letting her die.

‘This bastard!’

Thinking this wouldn’t do, the White Ghost King’s choice was to kill Heavenly Demon, who was controlling Mistress Iron Fan Immortal at will.

“Forgive me, Mistress!”

Whack!

The White Ghost King struck the back of Iron Fan Immortal’s neck as if to knock her unconscious, then urgently flew towards Heavenly Demon.

Whoosh!

“I’ll kill you!”

As the White Ghost King charged recklessly, Heavenly Demon smirked and said:

“If you kill the master connected by a tie, the spirit servant will die too.”

Crunch!

As soon as those words fell, the charging White Ghost King planted his two feet on the ground and barely came to a stop.

“What?”

“It’s exactly as you heard.”

At Heavenly Demon’s words, the White Ghost King’s expression twisted in complexity.

He had wondered what kind of technique was being used to restrain and control Mistress Iron Fan Immortal at will, but he was bewildered by the mention of a spirit servant.

Wasn’t that a method used by ancient immortals or diviners in the past?

He had thought it only worked on lower-ranked lesser demons, so how could it be used on the mistress?

As he wondered, it was at that moment.

The White Ghost King saw Heavenly Demon pointing somewhere with his finger.

Whack!

Then he noticed Iron Fan Immortal piercing her chest with her sharpened nails.

At this sight, the White Ghost King knelt on the ground and planted his head down.

Thud!

“I surrender unconditionally! Please, save the mistress!”

“Well…”

‘This bastard!’

He had tried to somehow put out the urgent fire and save Iron Fan Immortal, but this guy was truly vicious.

If she really died, his shield for protection might disappear, but coming out like this meant he had more hidden cards?

After pondering for a split second, the White Ghost King finally,

Crunch!

“Ugh!”

Grabbed his right shoulder with his left arm and tore it off.

The White Ghost King, having torn off his arm, took off the Spirit Demon Great Treasure Snake Scale Armor he was wearing and threw it in front of Heavenly Demon.

Thud!

“If you want, I’ll tear off my remaining arm too, so please just save the mistress.”

His choice was to save her.

Though he wanted to choose the path of revenge without being swayed by this bastard, if he did that, he would incur the wrath of Young Master Hong Hae-a and Lord Great Strength King.

So he had to save Iron Fan Immortal somehow.

As the White Ghost King discarded his armor and even tore off his arm, taking a completely surrendering stance,

“Iron Fan Immortal, stop.”

Heavenly Demon withdrew the order for her to take her own life.

Since it had been an order to end her own life, Iron Fan Immortal, who had momentarily lost her cognitive ability, looked at her hand with a bewildered gaze.

It was at that moment.

Whoosh!

The White Ghost King’s cheeks, who was prostrated on the ground, puffed up greatly.

Then,

Boom!

As the White Ghost King blew towards the ground, a gale swept through, shattering the ground and sending debris and dust flying everywhere.

It was enough to obscure the view ahead.

Not missing this moment, the White Ghost King flew towards Cheong-ryeong at tremendous speed.

‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!’

You tried to do something to me by taking the mistress hostage, so in return, I’ll capture your woman and make you feel the same pain.

Just as the White Ghost King’s huge, rough hand was about to snatch Cheong-ryeong in one go, at that moment.

Slash!

A sharp sensation brushed past his arm.

With that, the White Ghost King’s left arm, which had been reaching forward, lost strength and fell to the ground.

Thud!

‘What?’

Heavenly Demon was already standing right beside him, having swung his sword downward. Before he could even see him approach, his arm had been cut off, and as he was bewildered, Heavenly Demon’s foot kicked up into the White Ghost King’s chin.

Crack!

The pain reverberating in his jaw was transmitted straight to his brain, and the White Ghost King’s massive body soared upwards.

The height reached as much as ten jang.

Launched into the air, the White Ghost King fell straight to the ground without even properly regaining his senses.

Boom!

‘What, what is this?’

This was already the second time.

Following being flattened on the ground earlier, this was the second time he had been laid out on the ground.

Though not as much as his lord the Great Strength King, he had prided himself on having one of the toughest bodies among lesser demons.

Yet his arm had been cut off so easily.

This wasn’t a matter of being careless.

Even in the war against the ancient immortals in the past, there were few this strong.

Step step!

As he was at a loss for words at Heavenly Demon’s strength, the sound of footsteps reached his ears.

Soon, Heavenly Demon’s face looking down at him came into view as he lay on the ground.

“Just who the hell are you?”

“That’s not important.”

“I’ve never seen an immortal like you even in the past—”

“Cut the useless talk.”

“What?”

“Join me.”

“Join? Wait, you don’t mean—”

Snap!

As he tried to hurriedly get up, Heavenly Demon grabbed his face and pushed it down to the ground.

Crunch crunch crunch!

‘What kind of energy is this?’

Despite the difference in body size, the White Ghost King couldn’t move an inch under the tremendous pressure pushing him down.

Looking at him like this, Heavenly Demon finally formed a hand seal with his left hand and chanted a technique.

Iron Fan Immortal watched this scene with a dazed look.

Because she immediately realized what Heavenly Demon was trying to do.

Crackle! Whoosh!

***

An underground cavern completely dyed red and filled with scorching heat.

This was a place called the Lava Cave, existing hundreds of jang deep beneath Mount Tian.

Located far below even the cave with the Spirit Fire Altar called the holy land of the Fire Faith Order, the heat here was beyond imagination. Ordinary humans would be roasted or burned just by touching the air, let alone entering.

In this tremendous heat, someone was sitting in meditation, accepting it as if it were nothing.

Whoosh!

It was a beautiful young man with red hair and a flame-shaped tattoo burning from his right forehead to his cheek. He was Hong Hae-a, the lesser demon born between the Great Strength King and Iron Fan Immortal.

Whoosh!

Flower-shaped flames were blooming around Hong Hae-a as he sat in meditation. This was a kind of alchemy called Samadhi True Fire.

This alchemy of accepting flames and handling them as energy was an internal alchemy difficult even for immortals to master, but Hong Hae-a had learned and mastered it long ago.

Whoosh!

Around Hong Hae-a were flames of five colors, indicating he had reached the highest realm of Samadhi True Fire.

However, Hong Hae-a was not stopping here and was trying to reach a new realm.

Hiss!

At some point, a flame bud had formed above Hong Hae-a’s head, but unlike the other flames, this one had an ominously black color.

As Hong Hae-a repeatedly exhaled, the bud gradually opened, trying to bloom.

But this wasn’t easy, and,

Drip!

Hong Hae-a’s face was now drenched in sweat.

His complexion even repeatedly brightened and darkened, showing how difficult it was to master this new realm.

After cultivating for a long time, Hong Hae-a stopped and regulated his breathing.

‘It’s difficult.’

It hadn’t been long since he discovered this flame that allowed him to pioneer a new realm.

Hong Hae-a called this flame the Abyss.

It was a flame containing all kinds of darkness.

He wanted to fully contain this and make the sixth Flame Flower bloom, but it wasn’t easy.

Though he was a lesser demon, Samadhi True Fire was strictly closer to immortal techniques, so trying to bloom an almost opposite nature caused severe repulsion with the five Flame Flowers.

However, if he succeeded in this, he would reach complete transcendence.

‘The harmony of immortal and demon.’

It wasn’t far off.

If he achieved this, he would no longer be bound by the constraints of immortals.

It was then.

At that moment, the space in the center of the cavern overflowing with heat rippled, and one area bulged up.

Seeing this, Hong Hae-a shook his head.

‘So he found out after all.’

He had thought that since he had created a formation with techniques, they wouldn’t be able to find his existence for at least a few months, but it seemed a capable person had come, already discovering this location.

Hong Hae-a stood up.

As soon as he did,

Crack!

The cracked space tore open and a figure appeared.

It was a black-robed man of considerable size, carrying what looked like a spear on his back.

As soon as he saw him, one of Hong Hae-a’s eyebrows raised.

Though he was hiding his identity with black robes, Hong Hae-a immediately recognized who he was by the aura he emitted.

“This is unexpected. For someone of your caliber to come out.”

At Hong Hae-a’s words, the black-robed man who had appeared by tearing through space answered in a cold voice:

“You have some nerve to say that after what you’ve done.”

“Well, I can’t deny that. I suppose you’re the best choice, since clumsily interfering with the mortal world unlike before would get you swallowed by the natural order.”

“If you know, it would be best to obediently receive the arrest.”

“How could I do that? I haven’t even achieved my purpose for coming here yet.”

Hong Hae-a’s gaze briefly turned somewhere.

It was towards the other side of the lava flowing like a river, where pillars of fire were swirling.

The Great Strength King, who had become a killing stone, was there in the center. As if noticing this, the black-robed man also glanced there, then said:

“You know well it’s something you shouldn’t do, Hong Hae-a.”

Whoosh! Clang!

With this warning, he drew the spear on his back.

As he did, a blue spear shaft was revealed, and the blade at the tip split into three, changing into a trident form.

Just below the blades of this trident, something like a black fur curtain fluttered.

Seeing this, Hong Hae-a’s flame-like eyes sparkled.

“I see that’s the famous treasure said to devour souls, the Soul-Destroying Trident, received from the Jade Pure Grandmaster.”

“If you know, you should also know how dangerous this is.”

“Of course. But the treasure I have is no pushover either.”

Hong Hae-a snapped his fingers

Whoosh! Swish!

Two huge wheels with sharp blades attached emerged from the hot lava.

As soon as he saw the two wheels, glowing red from the lava and spinning fiercely, the black-robed man clicked his tongue and spoke:

“That Heaven and Earth Wheel doesn’t belong to you.”

The Heaven and Earth Wheel.

It was quite renowned even among immortal treasures.

Known for being extremely dangerous.

And the owner of this treasure was also quite famous.

Woong!

At that moment, someone else appeared through the torn space after the black-robed man.

He was a general with a sturdy build and a grizzled beard, holding what looked like a model of a pagoda in one hand.

The sturdy general who appeared rebuked:

“That belongs to my son!”