Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 723

“Master.”

At Bator’s call, Kang Jin-ho opened his eyes.

“What is it?”

“Master, you look tired.”

“Hmm.”

If someone else had said that, he might have brushed it off. But he couldn’t deceive Bator’s keen eyes.

“It seems I’ve accumulated some stress with all the things I have to worry about.”

“Hmph.”

Bator spoke with a hint of displeasure.

“I know that Master is envisioning a grand plan. But in the end, it’s Master who wields the brush. If your health suffers while creating that picture, it cannot be completed.”

“…It’s not that bad.”

Kang Jin-ho waved his hand dismissively.

Then, without realizing it, he smiled wryly.

‘I’m getting nagged from all sides.’

This was the biggest difference between his previous life and his current one.

In the past, when he was known as the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign, no one dared to speak frankly in front of him.

It wasn’t that Kang Jin-ho had forbidden honest opinions or punished those who voiced them, but such an atmosphere had naturally formed.

‘It’s probably because of Cheongma [a former subordinate].’

Currently, Kang Jin-ho didn’t have a clear second-in-command. This meant that there was no intermediary to go through before speaking to him directly.

But in the past, he had Cheongma, a steadfast second-in-command, and most of the matters that needed to reach Kang Jin-ho were handled by Cheongma.

From Cheongma’s perspective, it was an act of kindness to reduce Kang Jin-ho’s burden by taking on more work, but as a result, it ended up shielding Kang Jin-ho from the realities below.

In the end, Kang Jin-ho was isolated from his followers. All that remained for him were the gazes of a few fiercely loyal individuals and the general followers who respected him but couldn’t hide their fear.

‘I was foolish.’

He must never repeat that mistake again.

Kang Jin-ho also couldn’t predict what kind of results the current changes would bring to the Demonic Cult. [a martial arts sect]

It wasn’t impossible for things to go in a positive direction, but believing that things would somehow flow positively was just wishful thinking.

As with all things in the world, change is bound to be accompanied by growing pains.

No matter how much a change is moving in the right direction, it’s impossible to avoid confusion in the process.

‘And I can’t even be sure it’s the right direction.’

He had made it sound plausible to Jang Min, but in truth, Kang Jin-ho wasn’t sure that this was right either. He just believed it was right.

Power and coercion are useful right now. For Kang Jin-ho, who had to accomplish everything in the short term, the easiest way was to take only those who would follow him to Korea, train them rigorously, and then push them to their limits.

There was no need to worry about economic circumstances, nor was there any need to worry about their well-being. Even if they all died after being used appropriately, he could extract more than he had invested in them.

But what would be left then?

He didn’t want to spout the obvious nonsense that the process was more important than the result now. The result was incomparably more important than the process.

Only when there is a result can the right and wrong of the process be questioned. If you can’t produce a result, no one will care about the process.

Kang Jin-ho wasn’t pursuing the correctness of the process.

He believed that even if it was difficult right now, it would bring better results.

Even though the basis for that was extremely weak.

Knock, knock.

At the sound of the knock, Kang Jin-ho turned his head.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Jang Min came inside.

“My Lord Demonic Sovereign.”

“Yes, let’s go now.”

Kang Jin-ho slowly got up from his seat. In the meantime, Jang Min and Bator exchanged glances.

“You were lucky, old man. Next time, it won’t end as easily as last time.”

“A big guy who can’t live up to his size. There’s no one as pathetic as a human who doesn’t admit defeat.”

“Defeat? You’ve been through a situation where you should be grateful that your bones are still attached, and you call that a defeat, now?”

“Did you say you were Mongolian?”

“…Huh? So?”

“Be grateful. I turned you, a Mongolian barbarian, into a panda, the symbol of the Central Plains [China]. That eye patch suits you well. Hahaha!”

“You old geezer!”

“You big barbarian!” Kang Jin-ho slightly raised his hand. When their gazes met, Kang Jin-ho slowly opened his mouth.

“I acknowledge the saying that men need to establish a hierarchy.”

“I also acknowledge the desire to settle things even if it doesn’t end in one go, and I also acknowledge the childish desire to simply prove that I am stronger. Because I’m the same.”

“My Lord.”

“My Lord Demonic Sovereign.”

“However.”

Kang Jin-ho’s voice slightly lowered.

“That too must be done with consideration for time and place. If a person can’t distinguish time and place, they are no different from beasts. Do you understand what I mean?”

“…I understand.”

“Yes, My Lord Demonic Sovereign.”

When Kang Jin-ho spoke in a low voice, both Jang Min and Bator flinched and held their breath.

“If you are eager to show off your strength in front of me one more time, I will personally show you how insignificant that strength you boast of is. Do you understand?”

Bator and Jang Min both couldn’t open their mouths.

They weren’t expressing their dissatisfaction with Kang Jin-ho through silence. They couldn’t even open their mouths due to Kang Jin-ho’s overwhelming presence.

Bator looked at Kang Jin-ho with trembling eyes.

‘He’s gotten stronger again.’

It was already a known fact that Kang Jin-ho had become stronger. Hadn’t he already said with his own mouth that Kang Jin-ho was getting stronger at an astonishing rate?

But this presence was beyond even Bator’s expectations.

Bator clenched his fist tightly.

If he and Jang Min were to fight Kang Jin-ho now, could they really win?

If they were to have a life-or-death battle, not a sparring match?

If he fought with Jang Min, who was equal to him, could they really defeat Kang Jin-ho?

His head shouted that it was possible.

But his instincts were sending a warning.

‘How is this even possible?’

Bator couldn’t understand the existence of Kang Jin-ho at all.

Getting stronger wasn’t like recovering emergency funds hidden in a room. No matter how strong he was in the past, strength wasn’t something that could be created with the mind.

The obvious processes of physical training and regeneration of senses had to be accompanied.

Think about it.

If someone who has climbed a mountain once climbs that mountain again, they will climb it more easily than before. But just because they have climbed a mountain once doesn’t mean they can fly up that mountain.

In the end, no matter how much experience you have, you have to climb the mountain with your own two feet.

Can you climb several times faster than others just because you’ve climbed it once?

That is realistically impossible. If that were possible, the world would already be ruled by returnees.

In reality, there were more returnees who couldn’t regain their past strength. The reason was simple. There was no need to work as hard as in the past.

Returnees who had become accustomed to the comfort of the modern world didn’t feel the need to become as strong as they had in their past lives.

And there were also those who had given up martial arts as a reaction to their past lives being too difficult.

It was natural.

Military arts weren’t something that became more efficient the more you learned them. It wasn’t a concept where you could accumulate even a little experience just by investing time, like in a game.

If you actually sent people who thought they could easily get into a prestigious university if they could go back to the past to study again, they would never achieve their goals.

Just because your body becomes younger doesn’t mean you can do the effort you don’t do now.

Rather, there were many who couldn’t even dare to walk that path again because they understood better than anyone how much they had to give up, how much effort they had to put in, and how much pain they had to endure to become stronger.

But what on earth was this person?

Bator had never seen Kang Jin-ho do any particularly intense training. He spent most of his free time meditating, but if you could get stronger through meditation, who would do hard training?

Yet, Kang Jin-ho was getting stronger at a terrifying rate.

It was just for a moment, a very short moment.

But the small difference between Kang Jin-ho and Bator had now grown so large that he couldn’t even think of catching up.

‘How much stronger is he going to get?’

He understood.

If Kang Jin-ho was ‘that’ Demonic Heavenly Sovereign.

If he was that unprecedented demon who created the dark history of the Demonic Realm, he had to be strong. He would naturally be strong and get stronger.

But wasn’t this too fast?

Was it okay to catch up so quickly to the martial prowess he had achieved over decades in his past life?

Then what would happen after he regained his past martial prowess?

Bator’s face contorted. Fighting spirit boiled up inside his body.

‘I haven’t given up yet.’

There was no change in the fact that he would devote his loyalty to Kang Jin-ho.

But as a martial artist, he couldn’t remain defeated by Kang Jin-ho. This was a matter of Bator’s pride as a martial artist.

Unlike Bator, Jang Min seemed to be moved by feeling Kang Jin-ho’s strength with his whole body.

Looking at his trembling figure, he felt a strange surge of emotion.

“M-My Lord Demonic Sovereign!”

“…Don’t look at me with those eyes.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Jang Min looked at Kang Jin-ho with a gaze full of admiration.

‘Indeed, he is the Demonic Sovereign.’

When he first saw Kang Jin-ho in the past, Kang Jin-ho’s strength was extremely weak. He was sure that he was the Demonic Heavenly Sovereign, but he also wondered if someone so weak could really lead the revival of the cult.

That’s why he tried to attach guards around Kang Jin-ho as soon as possible and spread his martial arts to the Demonic Cult.

But now Jang Min was certain.

‘It was blasphemous.’

From the moment the Demonic Sovereign descended, there was no plan he could make. All plans were now under his jurisdiction. Only the Demonic Sovereign could determine the direction of the Demonic Cult.

Because this person was the true Demonic Heavenly Sovereign.

He would probably soon regain the martial power that made him a myth. And then he would lead the revival of the Demonic Cult.

Then the name of the Demonic Cult would be engraved in the world again.

Just like when he existed in the past.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

As Kang Jin-ho walked ahead, Bator and Jang Min followed behind him with solemn faces. Like vassals following a king, like bodyguards protecting a king.

A white-haired martial artist following Kang Jin-ho, and a martial artist with a huge body that was nowhere else in the world. It was a sight that would make anyone exclaim in admiration.

But unfortunately, there was someone who couldn’t enjoy this scene that looked like it had come straight out of a painting.

“Th-There, there….”

Jang Da-jing reached out blankly. His hand, which couldn’t grab anything, slowly went down.

“I, I’m here too….”

Don’t treat people like they’re invisible.

Jang Da-jing got up weakly and followed the three people outside. Being treated like an invisible person was sad, but he didn’t want to be left alone in this place where there was no one.

Actually, it was a bit scary.

“L-Let’s go together.”

Jang Da-jing hurriedly chased after Kang Jin-ho.