Chapter 701
“My hunting dog. Very carefully tamed.”
The Southern Demon Empress’s low, resonant voice fell, and the masked man stepped forward at the same time.
In the murky haze of settling dust, his approaching footsteps carried not the slightest hesitation.
As his silhouette gradually sharpened, a groan slipped from my lips.
“…Fuck. What the hell is that now.”
It wasn’t a question asked in a daze, hoping for an answer. I already knew.
Rebirth.
Those two words explained the grotesque spectacle unfolding right in front of me.
Crackle, squelch.
Shattered bones reconnected. Flesh and blood welled up.
Each time the darkness—writhing like a living serpent—swept over the masked man’s entire body, his wounds sealed shut and new power seeped in.
A power that defies the heavens…?
Defying the heavens.
A sight that seemed to spit in the face of Heaven’s Will and the natural order.
As the Guardian Spirit released a telepathic sigh like a lament, the masked man, his recovery complete, twisted his grotesquely bent elbow.
He snapped the freshly mended joint himself, forced it back into place, and let it heal again.
It should have been an act steeped in agony, yet he didn’t even twitch an eyebrow. Watching him, I finally put my finger on the unease that had been gnawing at me throughout the fight.
‘That bastard… doesn’t feel pain.’
No matter how dulled someone’s senses were, they should still feel something.
But the masked man never once groaned or screamed.
Not when a dagger had sunk into his chest. Not when his elbow was crushed. Not even when he took the Flame God Palm head-on, heat so fierce it could scorch the air itself.
‘What the hell did he do?’
Did he pump himself full of some kind of anesthetic?
Swallowing down a bitter sound, I stared at the emotionless eyes above the mask—when something small and snow-white stepped onto the damp earth.
Squelch.
From sky to ground, landing as lightly as a feather, the Southern Demon Empress smiled faintly.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. No, you probably weren’t that surprised, were you? You saw it once in Henan.”
Grrr.
With a low growl, the massive figure—bloodstained in places—dragged itself upright.
But its ragged breaths were nothing like before. If we fought now, defeat was guaranteed.
Stepping in front of the Guardian Spirit, I opened my mouth.
“Yeah. The Blood Lord. That crazy bastard was the same.”
“A pity. If you hadn’t met the Blood Lord back then, I could’ve watched you panic right about now.”
“If my guts were that small, I’d have died a long time ago.”
“Is it because you’re young? Can’t help the bravado.”
Bravado.
What the Blood Lord showed during the Shaolin Blood Festival had definitely been shocking—but not enough to make me lose my mind.
For that, I’d seen and lived through far too much in the modern world where I was born and raised.
“Think whatever you want.”
Something in my calm reply must have caught her attention. The Southern Demon Empress furrowed her brow.
Her narrowed eyes swept me from head to toe, then she slowly licked her red lips.
“I don’t know whether you simply have big guts, or whether there’s something no one knows about… but it is strange. I think I’m starting to understand why the Heavenly Lord takes an interest in you.”
“Interest?”
As I echoed her, I began circulating my internal energy—slowly, subtly, so the Southern Demon Empress wouldn’t notice.
The monster in front of me was overwhelming on her own, and now there was also a drugged-up freak who felt no pain. I had to recover from the internal injuries I’d taken earlier, even a little. I needed time.
“Come to think of it, the Great Snow Demon—that old man—was spouting the same kind of nonsense.”
“Oh my? You still think it’s nonsense?”
The Southern Demon Empress took a step forward with a faint smile. I tightened my grip on the spear shaft and answered.
“I wish it were nonsense.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want attention from some crazy old man, whether it’s the Heavenly Lord or whoever else. Same goes for the crazy bitch right in front of me.”
Swish, flick!
A sharp sting burned across my cheek. I’d dodged her Finger Wind by a hair’s breadth.
The Southern Demon Empress exhaled in relief.
“Phew. I almost killed you. You dodged well. Better than I thought?”
Praise from an enemy, in a situation like this.
It was disgusting. Still, it taught me two things.
First: even if that monstrous woman went all out, as long as I kept damage to a minimum—like just now—I could hold on.
Second: if she killed me, the Southern Demon Empress would lose more than she gained.
Drip, drip.
Instead of wiping the blood running down my cheek, I tightened my grip and shot back.
“The Heavenly Lord. That old man’s more interested in me than I thought, if you’re worried about killing me.”
“I’m starting to get a rough idea.”
“Why you just watched me in Hubei Province.”
The Southern Demon Empress’s martial prowess was immense. Even among everyone I’d seen and fought so far, the ones I believed could stand against her were few.
‘At the very least, one of the Ten Kings. Or higher.’
Just facing her, I could feel it.
Excluding Jeok Cheon-gang, treated as an exception even among the Ten Kings, the Southern Demon Empress would rank among the strongest in the world today—easily within the top ten.
‘And yet, nothing happened. Even though there were dozens—hundreds—of chances in Hubei Province.’
The question that had lodged itself in my chest the moment I realized who she was.
Why did she let me live?
Because I wasn’t worth killing? Because it amused her?
I didn’t know the details, but I was certain it wasn’t that. I was Jeok Cheon-gang’s sole disciple—the Fire King—and a descendant of the Blazing Fire Sect.
If she took me, she could lure Jeok Cheon-gang and kill him, removing a major obstacle to Dark Heaven’s plans. Even if that failed, she could still wring the Blazing Fire Sect’s divine martial arts secrets out of me.
There were plenty of ways to pry open a mouth.
Torture. Torture. And endless torture.
But the Southern Demon Empress did neither. She didn’t kill me when I’d been completely fooled by her, and she didn’t abduct me.
She simply watched from right in front of me—then vanished without a trace.
Like a watcher acting under someone’s orders.
I wet my parched lips.
“Why? For what reason is the Heavenly Lord showing this much interest in me? Even though there are others more deserving than me.”
Yet the Southern Demon Empress’s lips, tightly sealed for who knew how long, didn’t part.
After a brief silence, she spat out a short answer.
“What could a trivial being like you possibly know? The will of the omnipotent and majestic one…”
A trivial being.
I stared at her rigid face, not missing the sunken look in her eyes—or the way she bit down hard on her lip.
At the same time, a thought flashed through my mind, turned into words, and spilled out.
“You… don’t know, do you?”
“……”
I saw it clearly: the violent flicker in her eyes, just for an instant.
Then a sneer broke from my lips.
“Idiot.”
“…What?”
“I said idiot.”
“You trivial, idiotic old hag.”
That single line lit the fuse of the Southern Demon Empress.
Kwaaaaaah!
A storm of immense energy swept across the area.
As layers of pitch-black darkness coiled around her body, the Guardian Spirit—having steadied his ragged breathing—sent a telepathic message.
– If you were going to do it anyway, couldn’t you have stalled a bit longer?
I did regret it a little. But there was no other choice.
– We had to end this before the humans and beasts left in the Inner Palace finished mutating.
Who would fall, and who would remain standing—that was a story for later.
I sent my reply to the Guardian Spirit, who still hadn’t fully recovered.
Are you really the Guardian Spirit? Stop acting like you’re about to collapse and fight with everything you’ve got.
– How dare you insult me. Three hundred years ago, I wouldn’t have suffered such humiliation from a mere human.
I’m sure. That crazy bitch probably wasn’t even born back then.
“…Damn it.”
The Guardian Spirit, spitting a vulgar word unbefitting his name, bristled his fur.
Glancing at the two figures closing in from front and back, he muttered.
– The situation has become more difficult.
Wow. That’s a fact I genuinely didn’t know. As expected of the Guardian Spirit—you’re amazing. Thanks for letting me know.
– Let’s each take one. The human male and the human female. Choose.
Then I’ll take the male.
What the hell is this bastard’s conscience made of?
The blue-white eyes staring at me seemed to ask that. Even in this dogshit situation, I snorted, let out a thin laugh, and moved.
Straight toward the Southern Demon Empress.
Thud.
Maybe it was the tension.
My footsteps sounded unusually loud. A corner of my heart turned icy as I met her gaze—crimson, blood-red.
“You intend to face me? Someone like you?”
Her voice was cold enough to chill bones. I drew a deep breath and answered.
“That’s disappointing. Trivial beings should help each other survive, shouldn’t they?”
“Choose.”
“Kill me and get fucked by the Heavenly Lord.”
“Or die nicely right here.”
Cough, spit.
Spitting out phlegm mixed with dead blood, I raised the spearhead.
A voice unlike my usual one—cold, unfamiliar—forced its way from my throat.
“For your information…”
“I’ll fight until I die.”
Whoosh, bang!
The Flame Fire Path.
A single streak of flame shot forward, scorching the air.
And at the end of that blazing line stood a monster shrouded in deep darkness.
Screech, crash!
—
Boom!
The world shook with a tremendous shockwave.
Jin Taekyung swung his spear down, splitting the ground as terrible heat erupted.
The Southern Demon Empress barely slipped aside. Then she extended her hand.
Kwaaaaah!
A palm strike packed with unprecedented energy collided with a spear that advanced like a beam of light, cleaving through space.
A violent clash of forces.
But the difference in power was obvious.
Whoomph!
Compressed air detonated—and one body was hurled away.
Joy flickered in the Southern Demon Empress’s eyes.
‘That bastard is nothing.’
Jin Taekyung’s martial prowess had advanced to an absurd degree. So much that you could doubt he was the same boy she’d met in Hubei Province—so much that you might even think the greatest obstacle in this grand scheme wasn’t the Beast Miao King, but Jin Taekyung.
But…
‘I have grown even stronger.’
She could feel it.
As the demonic energy pouring from the ‘Gate’ thickened, the Southern Demon Empress’s power swelled with it, that unprecedented force surging through her entire body.
Even now.
Tap!
One step.
Her figure vanished like a ghost—and reappeared in midair.
She plunged down like a meteor.
Jin Taekyung, half-buried in the ground, widened his eyes.
Crunch, squelch!
The hard earth crushed like mud. Jin Taekyung barely dodged and snapped his sleeve.
As if summoned from thin air, daggers flew in—a storm of steel.
The Southern Demon Empress slipped past them with ease and shot her hand forward like lightning.
Slash!
A graze.
But fingers curved like hooks tore through his martial uniform and raked open his thigh.
Splurt!
Blood burst out, and Jin Taekyung’s body twisted.
Smiling brightly, the Southern Demon Empress brought her hand down—hand blade poised.
Swoosh!