Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 751

Entrusting (2)

What is the most important of human senses?

Most people would say sight. Humans are visual creatures. Their senses are mostly focused on sight. Depending on what they see, humans experience extreme emotional highs and lows.

The same goes for feelings of ominousness.

Most of what people call ominous is based on visual information.

Dark shadows, collapsing ruins, or people who give off a strange feeling.

But Hong King was not someone swayed by sight.

The goal of a martial artist is to become one with nature. Everything that is visible is nature. If gloom and vitality are both part of nature, there is no need to be swayed by the appearance of nature.

That’s why he didn’t fixate on what he saw.

He judges the world through senses other than sight.

But at this moment, that very fact was becoming a liability.

Eeriness.

If he had to put the sensation he was feeling into words, it would have to be eeriness.

It was a different feeling from the fear he had felt from Kang Jin-ho until now.

Slowly, very slowly, the demon raised its body.

In the middle of the split sea,

The demon staggered as it rose.

Each and every one of those movements was painfully etched into Hong King’s eyes.

‘What is going on?’

It’s Kang Jin-ho.

What he saw was undoubtedly Kang Jin-ho.

But his senses were screaming that it wasn’t Kang Jin-ho. Sight and senses clashed. Even Hong King, who would normally side with his senses without hesitation, was now hesitating.

How could such a thing happen?

The person in front of him was clearly Kang Jin-ho. But it wasn’t Kang Jin-ho?

Confusion.

Terrible confusion began to torment Hong King. But even that confusion didn’t last long. The space where the confusion had been was quickly filled with ominousness and pain.

Only then did Hong King look down at his wound.

He had been cut.

White bone was exposed through the deeply split wound. It was such a severe wound that he had to think back to when he had received it.

Even so, Hong King’s gaze did not linger on the wound. The physical wound was fatal, but it was not as fatal as the being in front of him.

He could see it.

That thing, which was Kang Jin-ho but could no longer be called Kang Jin-ho, was turning its head towards Hong King like a clunky wooden doll.

Twitch.

The moment their eyes met, Hong King’s body flinched.

He understood.

Why Hong King was defining that being as different from Kang Jin-ho.

The unknown fear he had felt from Kang Jin-ho still existed. But there was something that Kang Jin-ho didn’t have.

The moment his eyes met the man’s, Hong King’s nose was assaulted by a terrible fishy smell. It was like a beast baring its sharp teeth and growling in front of his neck, a raw, untamed wildness.

The raw feeling of a beast, as if it would bite his neck at any moment, was making Hong King back away.

The clunky Kang Jin-ho finally stood up completely. Then, he slowly tilted his head left and right. As if a person in a new car was lightly stepping on the accelerator to check the car’s condition, Kang Jin-ho was moving his body here and there, testing his limits.

As if this body was new, or as if he was moving an unfamiliar body.

Every single one of those movements was extremely ominous.

“Kuh…”

Finally, Kang Jin-ho’s mouth opened, and a low, heavy, and eerie exclamation flowed out.

“Damn it, finally…”

Kang Jin-ho raised his hand and wiped his face. Kang Jin-ho roughly wiped the seawater flowing down his face and splashed it onto the ground, then raised his head.

‘Different.’

It was certain now.

Different. Definitely different.

The look in Kang Jin-ho’s eyes was completely different from before. Kang Jin-ho was a being who exuded terrible demonic energy, but his eyes were always lowered.

But now, Kang Jin-ho’s eyes were gleaming wickedly. Because of that, even though it was the same face, his impression had changed drastically.

“You are…”

The moment Hong King was about to say something, the split seawater crashed down on them all at once. Hong King closed his mouth and floated his body up. Waves crashed several times, and the water sprayed white foam.

Even in the midst of that chaos, Hong King did not take his eyes off Kang Jin-ho. The pressure that Kang Jin-ho would suddenly approach and stab his neck while sneering kept his eyes fixed on him.

Kang Jin-ho didn’t bother to stand on the sea. He was submerged in the seawater up to his knees, and he raised his head to look at Hong King.

“Who are you?”

He couldn’t help but ask.

It was a foolish question, but he couldn’t move without asking it.

And Kang Jin-ho’s mouth, who received that foolish question, slowly opened.

“Ha… Hahaha…”

A low laugh began.

But that laugh did not remain low.

“Haha… Hahahaha! Kehahahahaha!”

A maniacal laugh echoed.

Even the sea trembled in fear at that maniacal laugh, which was thick as if it contained blood, close to a scream. Hong King even felt oppressed by the excessive madness that seemed to be able to be touched.

Hong King, of all people.

‘What on earth is this?’

Who was he?

He was Hong King.

He was one of the three kings who ruled the Central Plains [a region in ancient China], and he was a man who prided himself on being invincible under the heavens. More than ten thousand people would give their lives at his command. He was, in the truest sense, a king. A king who ruled the world.

Such a Hong King was now holding his breath in the presence of that being.

It was not something that could be understood with the head.

Kang Jin-ho bared his teeth.

He, who had been growling like a beast, grabbed Hongru [likely a sword or weapon].

“Who am I? You asked who I am? Me? Who am I? Who am I? You moron! Who am I?”

It was a scream.

Hong King was overwhelmed by the scream that Kang Jin-ho was emitting.

Emotions flooded towards him like a torrent.

Anger, frustration, sadness.

It was an emotion that could not be defined in a single word. There was strength, but it was a haphazard emotion without direction that kept pouring in endlessly.

“Who do you think I am?”

The anger contained in that voice was not something Hong King could handle.

The world was trembling.

Each word echoed, and the sea responded to his words with a hum. It was as if he was shouting to the world.

“You…”

“Shut up.”

Kang Jin-ho, or rather, the Kang Jin-ho who was not Kang Jin-ho, opened his mouth in an eerie voice.

“What does that matter?”

That was right.

None of that mattered. What mattered was that the other Kang Jin-ho was now clearly hostile to Hong King.

“I’ll teach you what’s important.”

Thud.

Kang Jin-ho shook off Hongru and took a step towards Hong King.

Then, Hong King took a step back without realizing it.

Hong King’s face hardened in an instant.

‘Backing away?’

The reason Hong King was flustered was not because he had backed away. He had already experienced backing away from the previous Kang Jin-ho. It was not something to be particularly surprised about.

The reason he was flustered was because of the process of backing away.

It wasn’t because he was afraid of that being that he backed away. It was because he was trying to force his knees, which were bending on their own, to straighten, that he had unknowingly backed away.

His knees were bending?

His knees?

Hong King’s face was stained with humiliation. He was a being who made others kneel, not a being who bent his own knees.

He was a king.

How could a king kneel to anyone?

“You, you bastard!”

His emotions, riddled with anger and shame, finally exploded.

The inner energy that had been boiling in his dantian [an energy center in the body, according to traditional Chinese medicine] gathered in his fist. Without delay, Hong King put all his power into his fist and unleashed it forward.

A dazzling white pillar of energy stretched out, pushing the sea to the left and right.

Look.

This was his power.

His power that even pushed back nature!

With this power, who should he be afraid of? He would never…

“Weak.”

At that moment, a low voice clearly reached his ears. Even though the released energy was emitting a roar that could destroy the heavens and the earth, that small voice was ringing in his ears like thunder, piercing through the roar.

Fwoosh!

A sound of something being cut was heard.

At the same time, the pillar of light he had emitted was corroded by jet-black sword energy. The sword energy cut through Hong King’s burning fist energy like cutting rotten radish, and even cut through Hong King’s body.

Swoosh.

The feeling of flesh being cut.

The sensation of flesh being lightly cut without any resistance.

Hong King could not help but shudder.

What on earth was happening?

“Weak.”

Kwaaaaaang!

Before he could even realize what had happened, Hong King’s body was sent flying like a cannonball.

Splash! Splash!

His flying body cut through the seawater and repeatedly crashed into the bottom and bounced back up. Like a skipping stone bouncing on the water, Hong King’s body bounced up several times.

“Ugh… Ugh… Uwaaaaaaah!”

Hong King, who barely grabbed the bottom and raised his body, screamed as he looked at the sky.

Anger that seemed to paralyze his reason.

The blow that had flown into his face before he even realized it had landed under Hong King’s eyes, instantly covering his entire face with blood.

The king, whose face had been struck by an invader, was furious. The king, whose authority had been violated and whose abilities had been denied, could not help but be furious. But that anger did not know where to go.

“A king?”

An eerie voice.

A voice that made one’s spine tingle just by hearing it, and at the same time, a voice that made one feel humiliated by the mockery melted into it.

“Someone like you?”

Thud!

A shock that felt like his mind was flying away was applied to his back. Hong King could not even scream and was sent flying again.

As he repeatedly crashed into the seawater, Hong King flailed his arms and legs with uncontrollable anger.

This was mockery.

This was clear mockery.

How else could one explain a swordsman grabbing someone by the back and kicking them without even using a sword, if not as mockery?

“Uwaaaaaaa! You bastard!”

Hong King suddenly raised his body. Then, he hurriedly turned his body around. That guy was now…

At that moment, the strength drained from Hong King’s body.

He had thought that he would chase after him and strike him, but Kang Jin-ho was standing exactly where he had been sent flying.

He had stuck a sword into the ground and was leaning on it with his elbow.

“Did you say Hong King?”

“Y-you… you…”

To Hong King, who was speechless with anger, Kang Jin-ho’s thunderous voice fell.

“Hong King, a king… You dare call yourself a king with such skills. I’ll tell you, what a king is. What qualifications a person who calls himself a king must have.”

Kang Jin-ho, who had been leaning diagonally, straightened his body and pulled out the Blue Ru that he had stuck into the ground.

Then, he bared his teeth and smiled.

“…With your life as the price.”

Like a hungry wolf that had found its prey, Kang Jin-ho slowly approached Hong King.

The moonlight was shining down on him wickedly.