Woon-seong threw Jwa Do-gyul to the ground. He then tipped the manâs chin up with his foot.
Tuckâ
âAhhhh!â
Screaming, Jwa Do-gyul slammed against the wall. The man screamed and muttered, lifting his head. âTh-That canât beâŠâ
That was the first time Woon-seong had heard the manâs voice after all the screaming.
Woon-seong smiled.
âYeah, it cannot be. The dead cannot come back alive. The disciple of Nok Yu-on, Hyuk Woon-seong, I am sure you killed him. You canât keep loose strings like him alive, can you?â
Woon-seongâs gaze turned to Jwa Do-gyulâs left hand, which was missing two fingers.
On that day, on his and his masterâs last day, he had cut those two fingers off himself. Woon-seong smiled brightly upon seeing the gap, while Jwa Do-gyulâs stiffened.
âWretched demons.â
That was something Jwa Do-gyul remembered. He had said it himself that day, while killing a despairing Woon-seong.
While Jwa Do-gyul was frozen, Woon-seong continued talking.
âSo it is not possible. I have ascended to the throne of the Heavenly Demon, and you will suffer in my hands here today, and you will be killed. None of this should have been possible.â
Woon-seong shrugged.
âBut what can I do?â
Jubbuck-
Woon-seong moved. It was towards the direction of Jwa Do-gyul, who was still slumped against the wall.
âBecause it is all your fucking fault.â
Jerbuck- Jerbuck-
Everytime Woon-seong stepped, the distance between him and Jwa Do-gyul would draw closer.
Jwa Do-gyul tried to run away on his arms, since his leg had broken.
But there was a hard wall behind his back; there was no where to run.
Realizing his situation, Jwa Do-gyul had no other option but to go crazy.
âAhhhh!â
Kuang â Kuang â
A mighty stream of energy gushed from his hand. A brilliant force blew over Woon-seong.
âDonât come! You evil spirit, you devil! â
Jwa Do-gyulâs hands shook; he looked seconds away from pissing himself.
Woon-seong reached out towards him.
Feng- Feng-
The energy Jwa Do-gyul had blasted collided with Woon-seongâs energy, dissipating like fog.
So Woon-seong continued to gradually approach Jwa Do-gyul.
Though Woon-seong had reached Semi-Divinity, Jwa Do-gyul was still a martial artist at Absolution.
Even Woon-seong should not be able to defeat Jwa Do-gyul so easily.
But the current Jwa Do-gyul had lost his mind. Even before he feared being chased down, he had already been affected by fear of Woon-seong.
The manâs mind had already collapsed.
Woon-seong reached out again and grabbed the man.
He then tried to move his other hand.
At that time, Jwa Do-gyul opened his mouth:
âS-Spare me.â
Woon-seong paused.
Spare you? Is that what you want? Woon-seong scoffed. The thought had never once crossed his mind. I canât believe you are begging me to spare your life. No matter how obsessed you are with life, your heart canât be this ugly.
Woon-seong stared at the man.
Not knowing what Woon-seong was thinking, Jwa Do-gyul continued to plead.
âPlease, please spare me.â
Woon-seong spoke: âDo you have no conscience?â
Woon-seongâs grip tightened.
Wing â
His fingers dug into Jwa Do-gyulâs body.
âEven if all of the other dirty and hypocritical men asked for their lives, you cannot ask me to spare you.â
Wooduk-
Woon-seongâs fingers were digging into the manâs flesh, drawing blood. The nasty stench filtered into his nose.
âI am offended.â
âDamn it!â
Jwa Do-gyul cursed, swinging towards Woon-seongâs chest. It was an attack that did not take into consideration Woon-seongâs hold on his body.
Kuang â
The explosion sounded and Woon-seongâs chest shook.
No matter how strong you think you are, you canât take a blow so close to your heart! âHehe,â laughed Jwa Do-gyul.
ButâŠ
Wengâ
Woon-seongâs grip tightened. The dust from the explosion dissipated and parted to reveal Woon-seongâs slightly scorched palm.
Jwa Do-gyul had hit Woon-seongâs palm, not his chest.
Woon-seong grinned, as if the scorched palm didnât even sting. âYes, it would feel good to kill me. So you still have a conscience!â
Woon-seongâs laughter felt like the frozen waters of the North Sea. He moved his hand as he laughed.
Wengâ
His hand was now half dug into the manâs body.
âAhhh!â
Jwa Do-gyul screamed; Woon-seongâs hands showed no mercy.
Before inflicting more pain on the man, Woon-seong stuck his hand into the robes and pulled out the documents.
Those were the same documents that listed all of the factions that collaborated with the Cult of the Inverted Sky, Jwa Do-gyulâs own involvement in the Inverted Sky.
A document that, if known to Murim, would cause a large wave of chaos.
âIâll be taking this.â
Woon-seongâs voice made Jwa Do-gyul scream.
No, he tried to scream.
âOhm no! Thatâs myââ
But no sooner than that, Woon-seongâs fingers dug even deeper.
âAghhhh!â
Jwa Do-gyul flailed about. Various types of pain, including the flipping and compressing of bones, or the stretching and tearing of muscles, coursed through his body.
âAargghhh!â
It was the same âCrushed Bones and Squeezed Musclesâ Woon-seong had used on Mae Hong-sung and several others.
Suffering hard to endure, it swallowed Jwa Do-gyul.
Weng, weng.
Tuk, tuk, tuk.
Bam, bam.
Something broke, split, then broke again.
Nevertheless, Jwa Do-gyulâs life had not been cut short.
Even though Iâm suffering so much, Iâm still alive!
âMake it stop!â Jwa Do-gyul screamed, twitching backwards.
He fainted.
Woon-seong would not accept that.
Takâ
With a flink of his finger, Jwa Do-gyulâs body trembled and the man woke up.
âAhhh!â
Seeing that, Woon-seong coldly murmured, âI told you I will not have you dying too easily.â
Jwa Do-gyul struggled with the pain.
Everytime, he would faint to escape the pain.
Shickâ
And every time, Woon-seong would flick his finger, and Jwa Do-gyul would wake up screaming.
Within this agonizing cycle of pain, Jwa Do-gyulâs spirit was gradually destroyed.
His eyes faded and he foamed at the mouth.
By the time those twisted limbs finally stopped trembling, Woon-seongâs hands were caked in Jwa Do-gyulâs blood.
ââŠâŠâ
Jwa Do-gyul, who was whole in neither shape nor mind, did not dare open his mouth, even though the pain of torture had disappeared.
A living corpse.
A body that only breathed.
Was there a better word for describing Jwa Do-gyul?
Woon-seong looked at the crumpled form of Jwa Do-gyul under his feet.
This has been a scene a long time in the making.
Ten years, it is finally the moment to release all that venom.
But then, why is it so frustrating?
Why are the corners of my heart not refreshed?
Woon-seong slowly raised the White Night Spear.
Revenge leads to more revenge, and the end of revenge is hopeless nothingness.
âFucking bullshit.â
Woon-seong wasnât sure if or why he was frustrated. It just felt like he was doing what he had to do.
However, there was this feeling of irritation that remained in the corner of his heart.
After clicking his tongue, he raised the White Night Spear high.
But, I still have to do something.
Puchiâ
Thwackâ
With the sound of a cut, Jwa Do-gyulâs head flew into the air. It then fell to the floor, bounced once or twice, then rolled into a corner.
Blood soaked the floor.
âMaster.â
Woon-seong closed his eyes.
Have I successfully achieved vengeance for Master Nok Yu-on?
It was then.
Tuk-Tuk-
Something rolled over and touched Woon-seongâs foot.
Looking down, it was a head.
Woon-seongâs eyes twitched.
A severed head had rolled over by itself.
That wasnât all: it seemed to be squirming by Woon-seongâs foot.
It was a frightening sight.
Woon-seong stared at it in silence.
Finally, the head flipped over, so that the face was turned towards Woon-seong.
Red pupils were revealed.
Looking into those eyes was like making eye contact with the devil king in the Underworld; it washed the world in eeriness.
Intimidation Qi rose.
Just like how Woon-seongâs Intimidation Qi stimulated the opponentâs fears, those red eyes also stimulated a manâs fundamental terrors.
Though Woon-seong was not aware of this fact, the Intimidation Qi had reacted to something similar to itself.
Woon-seong had not realized it, but when he looked into those eyes, he felt a twinge of fear.
And so his Intimidation Qi had reacted. It showed itself to confront the fear its master felt; it didnât like that its master felt fear!
The aura of those red eyes intertwined with the spirit of the Intimidation Qi. Fear and horror ran wild, slamming into each other.
At the same time, Woon-seong swallowed a small sound. Thanks to the Intimidation Qi, fear he didnât even realize he felt dissipated.
But the important thing was that just for a moment, Woon-seong had been terrified of those red eyes.
I did not feel fear from the Sword or Buddhist Stars.
Woon-seong bit his lip. The bitter taste of blood flowed into his mouth.
At that moment, Woon-seongâs mind was startlingly clear.
Woon-seongâs gaze and those red pupilsâ crossed each other in the air.
The severed head of Jwa Do-gyul curled its lips and offered a terrifying smile.
âYou remembered.â
At that voice, Woon-seong froze again.
The dead talked.
That did not make any sense.
That was why Woon-seong was frozen for a moment.
Ah. Thereâs someone controlling it.
Woon-seong quickly relaxed. He realized that someone was controlling Jwa Do-gyulâs severed head.
He did not know who it was or what they were doing, but the puppeteer must have been somewhere far away.
When Woon-seong came to that conclusion, the head spoke again.
âThe next time we meet, I will kill youââ
Fur-Seok-
That was it.
Woon-seong lifted his foot and stomped on the head. Shattered pieces of skull and brains splattered.
I see.
Now he understood why he did not feel relieved.
Thanks to the talking head, he found the answer.
There are still too many people left to kill.
His revenge was not finished.
I have only killed one Jwa Do-gyulâŠ
Woon-seong clenched his fists.
Maybe I should rewrite the list in my booklet.
And of course, at the top of the newly written list would be the name of the emperor, or the man who now wore the skin of the emperor.