The Ruler of Darkness

A few weeks ago.

Hodu Village, a wooden shack.

Yeon So-hyeon stood in the middle of the desolate wooden shack.

Through the loose gaps of the crude shack, the deep light of the sunset seeped in, dyeing the interior.

“…I am ashamed.”

The two leaders of the Hodu Village Orphanage lowered their heads towards Yeon So-hyeon.

“As you said, we went to check. But as you can see, the situation had already unfolded.”

Yeon So-hyeon asked in a low voice.

“The corpse of the child, the younger sibling of that discharged soldier?”

The shaman of the Fairy Sect rubbed her wrinkled lips for a moment, choosing her words, and finally exhaled an answer like a sigh.

“…The neighbors ‘damaged’ some parts, but we managed to gather the remaining parts and give a proper burial.”

Yeon So-hyeon gazed at a small cauldron pot rolling on the floor, reddened by the sunset.

Naturally, there were no traces of the thin porridge that had been in it.

Those who claimed to have damaged the corpse of the discharged soldier’s sibling would have licked and devoured even the spilled remnants on the dirt floor.

“….”

He discovered neatly gathered pieces of a broken wooden statue in a corner of the floor.

“…This.”

He crouched down and picked up the head part of the statue.

“The younger sibling of the discharged soldier made it.”

“The child was named Yeong… With a talent for carving, even some of our people remembered.”

“…I heard the child was very kind and gentle.”

“Alone, the child supported the family until the older brother returned from the Northern War….”

Yeon So-hyeon listened to their words while carefully gathering all the fragments himself.

Then he bent his waist and exited through the low entrance of the shack.

Outside, white smoke was drifting along with a pungent smell.

A group of Fairy Sect shamans had gathered and were performing a ritual, setting fire to firewood at the place where the ‘ashes’ of the discharged soldier were found.

“….”

Yeon So-hyeon threw the fragments of the statue, said to have been made by the child named Yeong, into the blazing pile of firewood.

The flames reflected in his eyes were burning fiercely.

***

The flames of that day were burning in Yeon So-hyeon’s eyes as he stared at Yang O-dan.

Beyond red, they were burning blue, more fiercely, more intensely.

Even though Luoyang was filled with people content with a single warm bowl of porridge that day.

Even though Yeon So-hyeon had endured, painstakingly prepared, and carried out his plan.

Even though he had directly fed them more than enough ‘food,’ soothing, coaxing, and catering to them.

There were those who never knew satisfaction.

Moreover, beyond not being satisfied, there was someone who already harbored ulterior motives and plotted treachery behind his back.

‘If it were up to me, I’d want to slaughter them all right here…!’

[Kill them!]

The voice of Dark Heavens Scripture echoed in his head, becoming a resonance.

As if responding to that voice, Yeon So-hyeon’s mouth opened wide, revealing the awl-like teeth filling it.

“Ugh, urgh…!”

Yang O-dan’s mind snapped awake from the pain of his restrained body parts being crushed.

It was not the time to be entranced by the bizarre phenomenon and abnormal bloodthirst that clouded his mind.

‘At this rate, I’ll be defeated!’

He needed to create distance.

While restrained by the overwhelming strength, he couldn’t utilize proper battle techniques or take proper stances, but it didn’t matter.

His realm, his accumulated experience, found the answer without wasting a moment, skipping the process.

“Hup!”

A single breath.

The majestic internal energy surging from his danjeon rapidly concentrated along the meridians of his right arm in just one breath.

If he were an ordinary martial artist, the amount of internal energy concentrated in a single moment would have been enough to instantly destroy all the meridians in his right arm.

But he was no ordinary martial artist, was he?

His palm, placed on Yeon So-hyeon’s abdomen, seemed to glow white-hot.

And before the opponent could sense the abnormality and react, the concentration of force reached its peak.

The Yang Family’s Secret Transmission,

Thunderbolt Heavenly Cannon.

An explosive technique unleashed while in close contact with the opponent, without a stance or distance.

It was the moment when the skill known as Short-range Cannon was perfectly executed by the hands of one who had reached the realm.

‘Now!’

The opponent’s strength that had been restraining him loosened for a single moment.

And in that instant, his right hand had already gathered more, stronger internal energy than before.

It was an unbelievable method of internal force utilization.

Thunderbolt Heavenly Cannon, Triple Shots!

Befitting its name, the Thunderbolt Heavenly Cannon erupted with ear-splitting roars, shaking the surroundings as if an earthquake had struck, while Yang O-dan swiftly distanced himself from the opponent like a beam of light.

He executed five extreme footwork techniques and somersaulted twice in the air before landing on the ground.

“Phew!”

Taking a deep breath and operating his breathing technique, his boiling meridians instantly regained tranquility.

At the end of his gaze, through the dust, he saw the silhouette of Yeon So-hyeon standing.

Behind him, the aftermath of destruction stemming from the internal energy attacks unleashed four times unfolded.

The floor of the garden was torn apart in four lines, as if struck by the traces of a giant, and along those paths, aged garden trees were completely shattered and scattered.

The fine dust of the garden poured down from the sky like rain, and grass and leaves fluttered in all directions as if they had encountered a typhoon.

“….”

Unable to withstand, a few trees were uprooted and collapsed with loud noises.

However, on the face of Yang O-dan, who had demonstrated such formidable power, shock was etched.

‘This is impossible…!’

His technique was executed flawlessly.

But the result was not.

The Thunderbolt Heavenly Cannon, which had reached its peak, was not merely a short-range cannon that could only be used at close range.

It was a ‘penetrating force’ that concentrated all the impact on a ‘single point’ within the opponent’s body.

If it were a ‘normal result,’ the opponent’s body should have been shattered by the force erupting from within.

But what was the result he was witnessing now?

As if the opponent had ‘drained everything away,’ only the surroundings were destroyed!

Moreover…

“Ugh!”

Yang O-dan choked and spat out black blood from his mouth.

Without even properly sensing it, the opponent’s move had struck his abdomen.

“What in the world…!”

“Is this all you’ve got?”

The voice from the other side, like boiling molten iron, cut off his words.

The dust settled.

“Pathetic.”

There, standing firm in the same spot without receiving any impact, Yeon So-hyeon’s figure was revealed.

“Do you even remember the last time you properly engaged in real combat?”

Behind Yeon So-hyeon, who stood shrouded in black energy like an ominous figure, the scenery gradually distorted.

“Can you recall the last time you shed blood and sweat in training?”

The trees twisted as if screaming in pain, and the lush undergrowth writhed as if wailing.

The sky was gradually darkening.

‘I’m sure I’m still protecting my upper danjeon…!’

Yang O-dan’s eyes blinked rapidly.

With each blink, the opponent’s face alternated between looking like the Swordless Yeon So-hyeon and a ghostly figure.

By that point, he should have felt that something was going seriously wrong.

Already, the demonic energy of Dark Heavens Scripture was seeping into his bones, as if mocking the protection of his upper danjeon by internal energy.

What exactly was happening to Yeon So-hyeon, what was happening to himself?

He had no mental composure left to question or argue.

“Just because others praised you for transcending the wall, did you think that was everything?”

“Stop spouting nonsense!”

Yang O-dan, whose sore spot was hit by Yeon So-hyeon’s words, exploded in rage.

“This Yang O-dan hasn’t even begun yet!”

Furious, Yang O-dan stomped his feet, and a pole that had been precariously leaning near him shot into the air and was sucked into his hand.

It was an iron pole used to hang lanterns and illuminate the depths of the garden filled with trees.

“Hah!”

As he swung the iron pole around his body, a whirlwind stirred, dispersing the black energy that had settled like fog.

“I don’t know what bizarre antics you’re pulling…!”

Although he merely held an iron pole, it was as if his entire body had become a divine spear, exuding an unprecedentedly sharp aura.

“Let’s see if you can still boast in front of this Yang Family’s spear!”

Indeed, when it came to the Yang Family, it was the spear.

And when it came to the spear, wasn’t it the Divine Spear Yang Family?

Moreover, his twisted left hand and struck abdomen were also rapidly improving in condition due to the circulation of his true energy.

“Ridiculous.”

However, the opponent in front of him paid no attention to such things.

“Throwing so many young lives to the front lines…”

The ‘something’ enveloped in black energy rising high into the sky, with its form distorted, mocked Yang O-dan.

“Not on the front lines, not at the northern headquarters…”

The image of a monster baring its awl-like teeth and Yeon So-hyeon’s mocking appearance alternated rapidly.

“The spear of someone who stood in front of a map in the safe imperial palace, thousands of miles away, waving a command baton.”

The trees that had grown tall as if shooting into the sky twisted together in the air, completely blocking the sunlight.

Yang O-dan shouted as if having a seizure.

“Shut up!”

The ultimate technique of the spear was unleashed from the hands of the former Yang patriarch.

It was a spear strike so powerful and profound that the previous perfected form of the short-range cannon seemed laughable.

That spear strike ignored distance, shook the atmosphere, overturned the earth, and pierced the opponent as if disregarding the passage of time.

No, it seemed to pierce.

“?!”

Yang O-dan’s iron pole was held too easily in the opponent’s black grasp.

“Hah!”

He twisted his body, shook, and exerted force to pull out the pole.

The iron pole, caught in the opponent’s hand covered in sharp claws engulfed in black flames, screamed.

But no matter what technique he employed, it refused to budge.

“Argh!”

Blood dripped from where his severed ears had been.

As Yang O-dan shook his head and struggled, blood splattered everywhere.

But Yang O-dan, exerting his energy to the limit, couldn’t even feel it.

The thin, feeble rays of sunlight that had remained disappeared as the sun turned its head away.

Night fell upon the vast and luxurious forest garden.

“Yet, the spear of a bastard who pursued personal gain and self-preservation rather than the army’s victory is inferior even to a mere reed stalk.”

Yang O-dan startled and released the pole, retreating.

As if by some sorcery, the iron pole melted like candle wax, flowing into the thick black smoke settled on the ground.

“D-damn it…!”

Leaping and creating distance, he hurriedly pulled out another pole from the side.

Even before he distanced himself, several of his fingers had already disappeared, but he didn’t even feel it.

‘Not yet! It’s not over yet!’

The realm of being one with the spear, which was absolutely not a lie, had not abandoned him.

Yang O-dan was bothered by the cold sweat that he couldn’t control.

But he had no leisure to wipe it.

In fact, it wasn’t even cold sweat, but his own blood flowing from his long-torn forehead.

The hand holding the iron pole trembled precariously, having lost several fingers.

“In the face of the resentment and grievances accompanying tens of thousands of deaths, mere realm is meaningless.”

The pain in his head intensified as if it would split at the voice of twisting metal.

“Bleurgh!”

He now literally vomited chunks of crimson entrails.

The pain that had remained in his abdomen, which he thought was nothing, had already torn his insides apart, infiltrated by the demonic energy of Dark Heavens Scripture using the principle of penetrating force.

“Ugh…”

With the last remnant of his pride as a martial artist, he somehow raised his head.

Yang O-dan’s pupils, rapidly contracting and relaxing, reflected the opponent’s face.

A screaming white mask replacing the original face.

Even though the mask of the craftsman, lamenting the inability to open his eyes and face the world, had no eye holes.

Ghostly blue flames were rising from the eye sockets of that distorted mask.

As if representing the wide-open eyes of those filled with resentment, those who had been dragged into the war, those who had to lose their lives because of that war.

Now perfectly revealing its magnificence, the practitioner of Dark Heavens Scripture,

“The great sinner, Yang O-dan.”

Sovereign of Dark Heavens spread his hands, with long black claws growing from his fingers, darker than the night.

“It’s time for you to pay for your sins.”

Then, black thorns shot up from the demonic energy flowing on the ground.

“Aaargh…!”

A heart-wrenching scream erupted from Yang O-dan as the thorns pierced through his entire body, rising into the sky.

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