Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 703

How should this scene be described?

How could he possibly express what he was witnessing?

Li Xiaowei realized just how crude human language was. No words could convey the shock he was experiencing.

His jaw trembled.

Was it from fear?

Yes, it was.

But this fear was not the ordinary kind that everyone knew.

He had lived a long life.

Having witnessed the descent of the Demon Lord with his own eyes, he could die tomorrow without any regrets.

Considering that the fear humans generally feel stems from the repercussions of harm that might befall them or from the fear of death, Li Xiaowei had no reason to be afraid.

Yet, he was trembling.

He was terrified.

‘I was wrong about the Demon Lord.’

He was not a savior.

Li Xiaowei had thought that the reason to worship the Demon Lord was because he was a being who would save them. Zhang Min seemed displeased with Li Xiaowei’s thoughts, but he didn’t explicitly deny them.

That subtle difference.

Li Xiaowei now understood where that difference came from.

The Demon Lord was not a savior. He was a dominator, a ruler.

The demons were merely appendages, existing only to worship the Demon Lord.

Li Xiaowei stared at the scene before him with a horrified gaze.

It was burning.

Everything was burning.

The twisted and broken mountain of scrap metal was burning, spewing out thick black smoke. It was as if a wildfire had broken out. And within that mountain of steel, it wasn’t just broken cars that were burning.

The people who had come in those cars were also burning along with them.

And in front of it all, the Demon Lord was calmly making a phone call.

He was not the same as before.

The embodiment of terror.

He was terrifying, yet so fitting of the title ‘Demon Lord’… He was not the devilish figure, seemingly made of accumulated black malice, that he had been before.

If the Demon Lord was still in that form, Li Xiaowei wouldn’t have dared to even look up at him.

Yet, his majesty had not diminished in the slightest.

When Li Xiaowei first saw the Demon Lord and Bator, his protector, his gaze was drawn to Bator. But now, he didn’t even notice Bator.

The Demon Lord was exuding a terrifying presence that pushed even his massive physique out of sight.

Look at him now.

Even after wading through the midst of slaughter and battle, he was calmly giving orders.

He didn’t know who was on the other end of the phone, but they must be feeling the same way as Li Xiaowei.

Worshipping and fearing.

The natural feelings when facing a ruler.

However, unlike Li Xiaowei’s thoughts, Kang Jin-ho’s voice lacked strength.

“…I told you, I didn’t kill them all.”

[Master, I think I told you several times that I shouldn’t kill them all… Of course, it’s your decision, but we need to catch a couple of them to find out who’s behind this…]

“There’s no need to find out who’s behind it. It’s obvious…”

[I know they’re Japanese. But not all Japanese are the same. We need to find out which faction is at the center and how they managed to get into China. There’s a lot of information we need to find out…]

[And… well, it’s good that you’re having fun… Master, I’ve been debating whether to say this or not, but I think this might happen often in the future, so I’m going to say it. Please don’t be offended.]

“…What is it?”

[Is it normal for your speech to change like that when your mind is filled with demonic energy? Can’t you just use your normal way of speaking? It’s not like you’ve transformed or anything, but your speech is a bit… Well, actually, it doesn’t sound awkward when you say it, but it’s a real pain for me to hold the phone and translate it while lowering my voice.]

“…I’m sorry.”

Kang Jin-ho raised his hand and rubbed his face.

Thinking about Lee Hyun-soo, who was translating Kang Jin-ho’s words while holding the phone in Korea, he realized he had done something terrible.

[I know you graduated from middle school a long time ago, but do you really have to…]

“I said I’m sorry.”

Kang Jin-ho’s face flushed red.

‘I can’t fix it, can I?’

The demonic energy flowed in and out of his body through the Baihui point [the acupoint at the top of the head]. The Baihui point was located in the middle of the head. When demonic energy was used, a different kind of energy filled the brain.

As a result, side effects occurred.

Some went completely mad and fell into a killing spree, but if one properly mastered demonic arts, the side effects could be minimized.

But…

‘Why does it have to be my speech that’s the side effect?’

When he got angry and the demonic energy boiled over, or when he unleashed a certain amount of demonic energy, a different way of thinking and speaking would take over him. It wasn’t just once or twice that he had kicked the blanket after realizing what he had said.

And now he had done it in front of others.

He had even made someone translate it.

It was something he could never do if he was in his right mind. But even Kang Jin-ho was not completely free from the control of demonic energy.

That was why such a disaster had occurred.

“Yes, Master. That was a bit much. It wasn’t even a humiliation play. I was listening, and it was a bit much.”

Bator, who had carried out Kang Jin-ho’s orders, had returned to his usual self. And with it, his sarcasm had returned as well.

What was truly amazing about Bator was that he walked the line so perfectly. His words alone were nothing special, but the way his eyes curved and the way he was holding back a smile made Kang Jin-ho feel annoyed.

But it was too subtle to just lash out at him.

“How are you going to clean up this mess?”

“Clean up?”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head.

“You’re not thinking of just leaving it like this, are you? It’s going to be a huge mess. Even though China is a place where rough things happen all the time, an incident like this will be international news.”

“Hmm…”

Kang Jin-ho looked at the pile of burning cars and nodded.

“Can’t we use those guys? They seem to be professionals at cleaning up.”

Kang Jin-ho pointed at the demons, and Bator nodded in agreement.

“Demons are definitely professionals in that area. They’re not very useful anywhere else.”

Bator glanced at the demons, who were still trembling in fear, and frowned.

“But Master, you know now, right? I don’t know what you expected from them, but they can never meet your expectations.”

“Are they trash?”

“I know I have to be careful with that word. But with my common sense, I can’t figure out how to use them. They need to have at least the basics to be taught or used. They’re not even as good as the martial artists in Korea. And they’re old.”

Kang Jin-ho sighed. Bator’s words were not wrong. There was only one thing different…

“They can be taught.”

“Them?”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“Demons are different from ordinary martial artists. Demonic arts are also different from ordinary martial arts. They can be mastered quickly. And demons can overcome the limitations that martial artists inevitably face as they age.”

“Hmm, then that changes things a bit. You’re saying that they can become stronger depending on what you do?”

“More than you can imagine.”

“It’s hard to believe, but I have no choice but to believe it.”

Bator stroked his chin.

‘I don’t think I need to doubt their loyalty.’

The way the demons looked at Kang Jin-ho was like the way children looked at a strict father. It wasn’t just the look of someone looking at a superior.

‘Are they in a similar situation to me just by learning demonic arts? It seems a bit different from me, though.’

If he had to say, it seemed that the obedience they felt was stronger. Even though Bator usually rebelled a bit, it seemed like if Kang Jin-ho ordered them to jump into the water and die, they would find the nearest water and jump in right away.

He could understand why Kang Jin-ho was so calm when he went to find the demons, who seemed to have no connection to him. Whether they were trash or waste, it was right to use them if they were beings who would absolutely obey him.

“I think I need to have a conversation with them first?”

“You should.”

Kang Jin-ho started walking towards the demons, who were still trembling. Bator’s eyes flashed sharply as he followed behind him.

‘He’s gotten stronger.’

He was not the same Kang Jin-ho he had faced before. Perhaps he hadn’t used his full power when he faced him, but even considering that, Kang Jin-ho was growing stronger exponentially.

‘Is this the power of demonic arts?’

All martial arts had walls.

If you work hard, you get stronger?

That was a dream. All martial artists had to break through walls to move forward.

Even returnees were no different.

But Kang Jin-ho was getting stronger with every breath, as if walls didn’t exist.

It was unclear whether this was a unique trait of Kang Jin-ho or a trait of demonic arts.

‘It’s probably both.’

Kang Jin-ho would have grown stronger quickly even if he hadn’t learned demonic arts. And Kang Jin-ho’s personal guard was now breaking through the walls that they had been blocked by in the past.

If they were given a little more time, Bator couldn’t even imagine how much stronger they would become.

Then what about them?

Bator’s eyes fell on the demons who were bowing their heads to Kang Jin-ho.

If they pledged their loyalty to Kang Jin-ho and were reborn as true demons… what would happen?

What would happen if the demons, who were said to be like cockroaches that kept popping up no matter how many you killed, and whose only advantage was their numbers, possessed true ‘strength’?

Bator’s face hardened.

He thought it was a pipe dream.

To face China and Japan with just the General Assembly [likely referring to a group or organization]?

No matter how strong Kang Jin-ho was, it was impossible. It was like throwing an egg at a rock.

But what if he could completely take control of them?

And what if he could turn them into the true ‘demons’ that Kang Jin-ho spoke of?

The line between dream and reality was blurring.

He had no choice but to work hard to achieve the impossible goal because of his loyalty to Kang Jin-ho, but at this moment, that impossible goal had come down a little.

‘The world might really change.’

Perhaps the scene unfolding before his eyes was more significant than he thought.

If everything went as Kang Jin-ho intended, wouldn’t someone in the future say that this moment was the moment history changed?

Thinking that, he got goosebumps.

‘The Three Kings won’t stay still.’

If the information that Kang Jin-ho was here didn’t reach them after such a big incident, they wouldn’t deserve to call themselves the Three Kings. They would find out about Kang Jin-ho’s existence soon.

Then how would they react?

‘At least it won’t be boring for a while.’

Thinking that this trip to China might be a little longer than he thought, Bator followed behind Kang Jin-ho.