Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1769

It felt like his jaw had vanished.

Those who master martial arts must ultimately become friends with pain. Not only when they are attacked by an enemy, but sometimes even when they are the ones attacking, they must endure pain.

Changwang was also accustomed to pain.

However, the pain this man inflicted was somehow different from the pain he had understood so far.

Throbbing.

The demonic energy that had penetrated his jaw created a terrible pain, as if scraping at his nerves. But Changwang did not have the luxury to turn away from that pain.

He was coming.

Kang Jin-ho, spewing demonic energy, was flying towards him, spreading that energy like wings. The blood-red light emanating from his eyes stretched behind him, creating a grotesque and eerie sight.

Seeing that, Changwang smiled faintly.

Look.

Wasn’t it as if a grim reaper was chasing him?

‘Death…’

He had never feared death for a single moment in his life. What he feared was not death itself, but his absence that would result from death.

Those who still have things to do cannot die.

Crack!

Changwang’s hand dug into the ground. Having succeeded in stopping his flying body, Changwang glared at Kang Jin-ho, who was flying towards him.

“You look like you’re having fun.”

Kwaaaaaang!

The Red Dew that Kang Jin-ho swung cleaved down on Changwang.

Changwang’s knees buckled as he crossed his hands to block the sword.

Continuous attacks followed!

The sword, imbued with immense power, was swung countless times in an instant. The afterimages of the sword covered Changwang’s entire body, creating a scene as if a giant beast’s mouth was swallowing him.

But Changwang did not back down an inch even while watching that scene.

Changwang, who had dug his back foot into the ground up to his ankle, wildly swung his hands and unleashed pure white force like a storm.

Black sword energy and pure white force.

The two distinctly contrasting energies collided in the air.

Lee Hyun-soo gritted his teeth.

“What the hell is going on?”

“…I can’t see it either.”

Wiggins glanced at Bator’s expression. But it seemed that Bator also couldn’t grasp all of those attacks.

Attacks that could split mountains and shatter the earth with a single sword or palm were exchanged dozens of times in the blink of an eye.

A battle that was faithful to the basics, devoid of flamboyance and elegance.

That was why it was an even more unbelievable sight.

And what surprised Wiggins even more was that Changwang was facing Kang Jin-ho without backing down an inch in that battle.

‘He wasn’t this tough, was he?’

To clash with Kang Jin-ho in a battle of strength was something even Hongwang, who boasted the greatest inner power in the world, would find burdensome. Yet, Changwang, who was not even Hongwang, was choosing a head-on confrontation.

And he wasn’t even being pushed back.

‘But I can’t understand it.’

This wasn’t Changwang’s style.

Why on earth was Changwang doing such a reckless thing?

Kwaaaang!

And at that moment, Changwang paid the price for that recklessness.

Changwang, who failed to properly block the powerful blow from Kang Jin-ho, bounced off the ground like a skipping stone.

Kooong!

Changwang, who was slammed into the ground and then dragged for a long time as if someone was pulling him, lay sprawled out, looked at the sky once, and then slowly raised his body.

His eyes, covered in dirt, showed no signs of excitement or anger.

“…Hey, Demon King.” Changwang opened his mouth calmly.

“Don’t you think it’s absurd?”

Kang Jin-ho’s sword pointed towards the ground.

“Absurd?”

“Yes, absurd.”

Changwang put his hand in his pocket. Then, he took out a completely crushed cigarette and frowned.

“What bad luck.”

Changwang, who threw the cigarette on the ground, stared at Kang Jin-ho and said,

“How long do you think I’ve been waiting to swallow this Central Plains [the heartland of China]?”

“Ten years? Twenty years?”

Changwang shook his head.

“No. From the moment I decided to live as a martial artist, I have lived only looking at this moment. To defeat the other kings and take this Central Plains, this martial world, into my own hands.”

Kang Jin-ho took out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth. Then, he threw the remaining cigarettes to Changwang.

“A smoker’s courtesy.”

Changwang, who received the cigarettes, chuckled and took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and snapped his fingers to light it.

White smoke slowly flowed from his mouth.

“Everything was perfect.”

“Slowly, but the world was flowing as I wanted. I waited and waited. I endured and endured. And so, after decades, this moment finally came.”

Kang Jin-ho quietly stared at Changwang.

As if asking what he wanted to say.

“But then you appeared.”

“And in just a few years, you trampled, overturned, and destroyed all the situations I had created.”

Changwang laughed softly.

“Don’t you think it’s absurd?” When Kang Jin-ho looked at him without answering, Changwang shrugged.

“Of course, I’m not an egalitarian. Equality is a non-existent concept, and I have no intention of chasing such a pipe dream. The world is unfair from the start. But…”

Changwang’s eyes shone coldly.

“That unfairness is at least within the laws of this world. But what are you guys? What the hell are these returnees [people who have returned from another world or time]?”

Changwang’s voice gradually rose.

“Suddenly popping out of nowhere, acting like you know everything, what do you think you returnees are doing?”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

It was a desperate cry from someone cornered, a statement that could be dismissed… but Kang Jin-ho didn’t think it was entirely wrong.

From Changwang’s or the other three kings’ perspective, it was understandable that they would feel wronged. Kang Jin-ho had suddenly dropped into the world they were fighting in, disrupting the balance of the world.

But Lee Hyun-soo didn’t seem to think so.

“You’ve done all sorts of cowardly things and now you’re talking big!”

“Cowardly?”

Changwang turned his head to look at Lee Hyun-soo.

“What’s cowardly?”

“Do you even need to ask?”

“Of course, I’m asking because I don’t know.”

Changwang laughed softly.

“The cowardice you’re talking about is probably this. That I committed acts that violated the rules. That I used firearms when martial artists were fighting. That I mobilized troops and controlled civilians…”

Lee Hyun-soo glared at Changwang without saying anything.

“But is that really cowardly?”

“True cowardice is…”

Changwang looked at Kang Jin-ho and laughed softly.

“It’s like a human who should have died as trash, escaping the laws of cause and effect and returning again.”

“You…”

“Shall we exclude what is against the rules? I’ll fight only with the Changwang faction. No, I don’t even need the Changwang faction. I’ll fight alone. Then can you handle me without the Demon King?”

Lee Hyun-soo couldn’t answer.

Because he knew he couldn’t.

“The cause of all this isn’t me. It’s that damn bastard. If it weren’t for that guy, this much blood wouldn’t have been shed. The number of martial artists who have died since that damned bastard appeared is dozens of times more than the number of martial artists who died in the decades before the Demon King appeared.”

Changwang took his gaze away from Lee Hyun-soo and looked at Kang Jin-ho.

“You are distorting the world.”

“You, those damned returnees, are distorting the world and driving it to hell! Do you understand what I’m saying? Do you understand what you’re doing!”

The energy emanating from his eyes was incredibly eerie.

But Kang Jin-ho didn’t change his expression even while receiving that gaze.

“It seems you don’t know…”

“It’s not like I wanted to end up like this.”

Kang Jin-ho’s voice lowered.

“And…”

Kang Jin-ho, who deeply inhaled the cigarette smoke, looked at Changwang with emotionless eyes.

“I told you. If you hadn’t touched me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“China, the martial world. I’m not interested in any of that. You created this situation with your greed. If you had just left me alone, I wouldn’t have cared if you ate China or the world.”

Thud.

Kang Jin-ho, who threw the cigarette on the ground, stomped on it.

“So stop whining. Because nothing will change even if you do.”

Changwang twisted his lips.

“A man who constantly talks about martial artists is blind to his own absurdity.”

“Don’t be mistaken, Changwang.”

Kang Jin-ho smiled, baring his teeth.

“I’m not that great, so I’m not interested in what you’re saying. Whether I’m an absurd guy or a coward, it doesn’t matter.”

“So stop talking and come at me. It was a short relationship, but it’s been annoying, so let’s end it now.”

Changwang smiled faintly and raised both hands.

“Don’t be mistaken. It’s not because I’m afraid of you that I said these things.”

“I know.”

“I won’t lose to you.”

Changwang gritted his teeth.

“Now, the Central Plains, the martial world, none of that matters anymore. I can’t accept your existence. No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I crave it, I can’t accept that there is an existence that I can’t do anything about. I can’t accept that that existence is a bastard like you, who is full of absurdity!”

If Changwang had been defeated and killed by Hongwang, he might have laughed.

He might have lamented that it was a pity.

But not Kang Jin-ho. To him, Kang Jin-ho was an existence that fate, which should not have existed, had suddenly thrown into the world to stop him.

For Changwang, who had endlessly pioneered his own life in whatever way, Kang Jin-ho was an existence that was incompatible with him.

“Bugs must be erased. I will kill you and end this absurdity, Demon King.”

Kang Jin-ho curled up the corners of his mouth.

“You can’t do it.”

“Maybe I can’t as Changwang.”

Changwang curled up the corners of his mouth.

“But I will kill you. Not as Changwang, but as a human.”

As if no answer was needed, Changwang flew towards Kang Jin-ho like a beam of light. His disheveled hair fluttered, and a storm raged.

At the same time, Changwang’s hands emitted a dazzling white light. The inner power, raised to its extreme, gathered and gathered again.

Kang Jin-ho also grabbed the Red Dew and Blue Dew and met Changwang.

Instincts were telling them.

The moment this fight ends, one of them will surely die.

One was one of the three kings who had ruled China for a long time.

The other was the former Demon King who had returned from the Central Plains.

But now, such formalities were meaningless.

A human who had thrown everything for a single purpose throughout his life and a human who had finally found what he had not been able to find throughout his life.

Humans clashed to protect what they could never give up.

Kwaaaaaang!

Wounded bodies spewed blood, and twisted muscles were torn apart, but the two did not back down an inch and bared their teeth at each other.

“Maaaaaaawaaaang!”

“Ooooooo!”

Kang Jin-ho’s sword and Changwang’s hand strikes tore, cut, and crushed each other’s bodies.

The blood that the two had shed began to flow slowly, slowly across the floor.