Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 706

Li Xiaowei was in a very precarious situation right now.

His lower back had been aching for a while now.

Come to think of it, it was only natural. He had driven like a madman from Beijing to this place, all to join the Demon Lord as quickly as possible. And ever since meeting the Demon Lord, he hadn’t been able to get off the floor.

Even if he was a martial artist, Li Xiaowei was an old man who could drop dead of natural causes any day now. There was no way his back could withstand such a grueling schedule.

Moreover, he hadn’t been able to relax even for a moment.

Li Xiaowei slightly turned his head. Just a little.

Even though he knew the passenger seat was blocking his view, and that the people sitting in the back didn’t care at all, his movements were extremely cautious.

He could see Ju Gang driving.

‘Just as I thought.’

Ju Gang’s face, who was driving, was also stiff. It seemed that even Ju Gang, who had been serving him, couldn’t be free from the overwhelming presence that Kang Jin-ho had displayed.

‘This is bad for my heart.’

Li Xiaowei slightly raised his head and looked at the rearview mirror.

He could see the people in the back seat through the rearview mirror. Just in case, they had mobilized a van. The three people from Korea were slumped in their seats in the back of the van.

Kang Jin-ho, Bator, and Jang Da-jing.

Looking at the three people’s calm faces, Li Xiaowei sighed inwardly.

‘Aren’t they shaken at all?’

Just now, countless lives had been lost.

Those who had escaped the panic were making desperate attempts to flee, and Kang Jin-ho didn’t bother to pursue them. If one had to be precise, there were more people who had escaped alive than those who had died there.

But even so, the number of people who had died there was not small.

Even for Li Xiaowei, who had seen countless years, countless wars, and countless deaths, such a number of deaths was not a common occurrence. But how could they be so calm?

‘Because he is the Demon Lord.’

The answer was already known.

The Demon Lord governs demons. And he governs death.

Perhaps, to him, the death of others was a natural thing that didn’t require any particular attention.

At that moment, Kang Jin-ho slowly opened his eyes. Their eyes met through the rearview mirror.

“The cleanup?”

Li Xiaowei swallowed hard and replied.

“I’ve instructed the men to clean up thoroughly. They are quite experienced in these matters, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Experienced…”

Kang Jin-ho leaned back in his seat and said.

“Does that mean they’ve done this kind of thing often, or does it mean they’ve cleaned up after others often?”

“Both, Demon Lord.”

“Both?”

“Yes.”

Li Xiaowei lowered his head, as if he was a little ashamed.

“Demons are not treated as proper martial artists. That’s why they do whatever they can.”

“Even cleaning up after the righteous sects?”

“Demon Lord.”

Li Xiaowei said in a slightly trembling voice.

“I don’t know what you think of the righteous sects. But in my humble opinion, I can only assume that you don’t think well of them. But Demon Lord, we had to do that to survive. We had to clean up after the hateful righteous sects, and we had to crawl between their legs to survive.”

“Survive, huh…”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

He too had a time when he had to survive no matter what. If he had chosen death to protect his pride back then, Kang Jin-ho wouldn’t be here now. So how could he blame them?

“Is it a necessary evil?”

“Yes. That was our position. They are annoying enough to want to get rid of, but they are useful enough that we can’t kill them all. We had to overcome countless hardships to get that insignificant position.”

Kang Jin-ho closed his eyes without a word.

‘Have they fallen this low?’

There was no doubt. They were the descendants of the Demonic Cult he had been in. The Asura Cave, the Red Tower, and the Blue Tower proved that fact. But even if he and Cheongma had disappeared at the same time, was it possible for them to fall so completely?

“I have a question.”

“Yes. Please command, Demon Lord.”

“When I met Jang Min before, I heard that the Demonic Cult had lost its essence.”

“That is correct, Demon Lord.”

“But I don’t understand. You maintain such a large number, but you’re saying that no proper demonic arts have been passed down?”

“It’s embarrassing, but… that’s the truth.”

Kang Jin-ho frowned.

“What is the highest level of demonic art currently being passed down?”

“The highest level, you say?”

“I’m asking what is the strongest demonic art you have learned.”

Li Xiaowei hesitated.

The question wasn’t difficult, but answering it was not easy.

“If you ask what the strongest martial art is… I can’t answer.”

“Why not?”

“There are strong martial arts. But those martial arts are extremely unstable, and they easily take away the personality of those who learn them. So, we only pass on martial arts that have been verified to be relatively stable.”

“I’m asking what that unstable martial art is.”

Li Xiaowei swallowed hard.

“We have those who have been verified learn the Blazing Sky Piercing Palm and the Asura Supreme Art.”

“Blazing Sky Piercing Palm?”

Kang Jin-ho frowned. He had never heard of those martial arts.

“What did you learn?”

“I learned the Blazing Sky Piercing Palm. But my mastery is not deep. I stopped training when I felt my personality was being destroyed when I barely passed the third level.”

Kang Jin-ho nodded.

“Recite it.”

“Recite what?”

“The incantation.”

Li Xiaowei glanced sideways. He was burdened by the fact that he had to recite the incantation in front of Ju Gang. But Kang Jin-ho was firm.

“Do I have to say it twice?”

“Ah, no!”

Li Xiaowei immediately began to recite the incantation. As a result, it was revealed that Li Xiaowei’s agitation was meaningless. Before he could even finish reciting four lines, Kang Jin-ho shook his head.

“That’s enough.”

“Demon Lord, I…”

“No, it’s not that.”

Kang Jin-ho leaned back deeply into his seat.

‘It’s just the Blazing Fire Art…’

A hollow laugh escaped him.

Blazing Fire Art.

The Demonic Cult had worshiped fire since it was called the Fire Worshiping Cult in the past. That’s why they wanted the basic martial arts that the cult members learned to have the properties of fire. As a result, the Blazing Fire Art was created.

The qi cultivation technique [a method of cultivating internal energy] that ordinary cult members, who were not even called demonic soldiers, learned was the Blazing Fire Art.

‘And it’s been corrupted.’

If they had learned the Blazing Fire Art of the past, there would have been no need to discuss stability. In the Demonic Cult, the Blazing Fire Art was a basic martial art, a life martial art to improve the health of the cult members.

In terms of stability, there was no need to mention it.

Perhaps that was why.

They had crammed various things into the Blazing Fire Art. Thanks to that, the destructive power had increased a little, but the stability had dropped to a precarious level.

‘Was that the best they could do?’

This was a more serious problem than he had thought.

If the best martial art they were currently learning was the Blazing Fire Art, then they didn’t even deserve to be called members of the Demonic Cult. If it were the Demonic Cult of the past, they wouldn’t even have been used as cleaners in the main headquarters.

숭무 (Sungmu) [숭 (Sung) means to worship, and 무 (mu) means martial arts. It refers to the Demonic Cult’s core philosophy of worshipping strength].

The essence of the Demonic Cult was simple. To worship power. Those who had power had everything. That was the same as saying that those who were weak had no rights.

The cult encouraged such tendencies, not just the cult members.

Kang Jin-ho hated it, calling it inhumane, but he couldn’t deny that such a trend had allowed the Demonic Cult members, who were just outsiders, to survive in the Central Plains [the heartland of China].

The Demonic Cult was that much of a worshiper of strength. If the Demonic Cult members of that time saw the current state of these people, how would they feel? If they knew that their descendants had fallen to the point where they were learning something that couldn’t be called demonic arts and couldn’t be called members of the Demonic Cult?

Wouldn’t they shed tears of blood?

‘Something feels off.’

Even though the righteous sects had suppressed the Demonic Cult after he and Cheongma had disappeared, it was definitely strange that they had fallen to this state.

The Demonic Cult was not strong because of him and Cheongma. Even before he had joined the cult, the Demonic Cult was a force that no one in the world could look down on, and after he joined, it grew wings and was called the best in the world.

No matter how much he and Cheongma had disappeared, how could they be so disorganized?

Moreover…

‘Are there no demonic arts left?’

Excluding the basic arts, there were more than a hundred demonic arts that the Demonic Cult members learned. Their power and diversity were by no means inferior to the 108 techniques of Shaolin [a famous Buddhist monastery known for its martial arts].

But they were saying that all those martial arts had been lost.

‘Is this something that can happen naturally?’

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.

If the Demonic Cult had completely perished, he could have understood. But there were people who were secretly learning demonic arts, and yet all those martial arts had been lost?

‘Impossible.’

Kang Jin-ho’s face hardened.

They could be weak because the true meaning was not being passed down. They could have lost their momentum because there was no leader. But he could say with certainty that there was no way that all those demonic arts would not be passed down when so many Demonic Cult members remained.

Just because the martial arts passed down to the leader had disappeared, it didn’t mean that all the demonic arts that others had learned would disappear.

‘There was intervention.’

Kang Jin-ho was certain.

There was someone who had created this situation. Someone who had thoroughly eliminated the demonic arts. There was definitely someone who had burned the demonic arts so that they wouldn’t be passed down to future generations and had professionally killed only those who had learned the demonic arts.

“Where is Jang Min?”

He felt like he needed to talk to Jang Min about this. He had lived the longest, so he probably knew the most.

“Elder Jang Min is waiting for the Demon Lord.”

“Is that so?”

“He shed tears when he heard that the Demon Lord had come to China. He said that everything would finally be back in place.”

It was Bator who answered Li Xiaowei’s words.

“Cried?”

“That old man… he was really good at roasting people, but he cried? I thought he would be lucky if he didn’t swear.”

“…He’s not that kind of person.”

“Well, we’ll see when we see him.”

Bator chuckled.

“It’s interesting, but… Master, you must keep one thing in mind. If you get pierced by an arrow before you can even spread your wings properly, then wings are useless. This is China, and the land you are stepping on is the land of the Red King.”

“I know.”

Kang Jin-ho leaned back in his seat.

As Kang Jin-ho closed his eyes, a scene from the past flashed through his mind.

Thousands of Demonic Cult members, clad in red and black clothes, bowed to him in unison.

만마앙복 (Manmaangbok) [Ten thousand demons bowing in submission].

To recreate that scene, he had to at least make them worthy of being called demons.

‘It won’t be easy.’

But it wasn’t impossible either.

Kang Jin-ho quickly calculated the things he had to do in the future.