The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 235

The Divine Doctor of Primacy (236)

Suddenly, Bukgoong Jeong felt something chilling and sharp hurtling towards his chest with incredible speed. Instinctively, he retreated.

He swung both palms to deflect the unexpected attack.

Clang!

A deafening explosion ripped through the cold air, sending a figure flying.

It was Bukgoong Jeong.

Like a kite with a severed string, Bukgoong Jeong tumbled awkwardly across the ground after being thrown a considerable distance.

“Ugh!”

Bukgoong Jeong spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered to his feet.

His arms hung limply.

Even the ultimate martial art he had so much confidence in proved useless.

He barely managed to defend his chest, but the impact had shattered his wrist bones.

Han Seolhwa, on the other hand, remained still, as if she hadn’t even exerted herself.

Bukgoong Jeong swallowed a groan at her calm demeanor, masking his pain.

He had heard rumors about her, but he never imagined she would be this powerful.

“……”

A heavy silence fell over the arena.

The warriors of the Bukhae Ice Palace were intimidated by Han Seolhwa’s overwhelming presence.

Bukgoong Jeong, the strongest warrior in the Ice Palace besides the Palace Lord, had been defeated in a single exchange!

Han Seolhwa raised her eyes and scanned the crowd.

The warriors of the Bukhae Ice Palace flinched and stepped back as their eyes met hers.

Then, in a heartbeat, Han Seolhwa’s gaze locked onto a specific point.

A sharp and eerie laughter erupted from within the ranks of the Bukhae Ice Palace warriors.

“Kahaha. See? I told you they already knew we were coming.”

Bukgoong Jeong’s face paled as he saw two figures pushing through the crowd.

A corpulent middle-aged man swaggered out from among his subordinates.

His hair, like a lion’s mane, hung loosely, and thick streams of blood-red light emanated from his eyes.

He chuckled continuously, as if highly amused.

Beside him, an old man walked shoulder to shoulder, appearing frail and gaunt, as if he would collapse at the slightest touch.

Despite his appearance, he carried a massive broadsword on his shoulder that looked to weigh at least seventy pounds.

He kept his mouth tightly shut, his eyes fixed on Han Seolhwa with a sharp glint.

“I told you to leave it to us. Why did you have to make things difficult for yourself?”

Bukgoong Jeong groaned at the middle-aged man’s grating voice.

“The Six Demonic Lords……”

Only then did Han Seolhwa recognize the identities of the unwelcome guests.

The closest aides to the Demonic Cult Leader, once known as the Ten Guardians of the Faith.

Four had perished during the Righteous-Demonic War, leaving only six, now called the Six Demonic Lords.

She never expected two of them to appear here.

The corpulent middle-aged man smiled meaningfully as he stared at Han Seolhwa.

After a moment, he spoke.

“This is a bit disappointing. Looks like it won’t even be my turn.”

He chuckled, assessing Han Seolhwa’s martial prowess.

“The Chief Assistant is good at everything, but he’s too cautious. I told him there was no need to send both of us……”

The old man carrying the greatsword responded.

“It’s not that he’s timid, but that he’s thorough. Hasn’t everything come to pass as he predicted?”

Unexpectedly, the old man used honorifics, while the younger-looking middle-aged man spoke informally.

The middle-aged man burst into hearty laughter.

“Hahaha. That’s right. Nothing ever escapes his predictions. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that woman would come to the Bukhae Ice Palace alone.”

Han Seolhwa silently observed the two men.

She was inwardly taken aback by their dismissive attitude.

However, she also understood. The two men possessed a formidable presence that even she couldn’t ignore.

Experts.

Especially for experts like them, the outcome was often decided before a fight even began.

They understood this instantly.

In the realm of experts, variables were minimal, and the battle was merely a formality to confirm the inevitable result.

“Anyway, you won this bet. You got lucky.”

The gaunt old man chuckled at the corpulent middle-aged man’s words.

“It’s not luck, but a stronger belief in the Chief Assistant.”

“Hmph! Nonsense! Don’t think I don’t know you just didn’t want to lose to me? How could you have known that such a big fish would be caught with such worthless bait?”

Han Seolhwa was speechless.

It seemed they had even placed a bet on her actions.

“In any case, you could call this a windfall. We can rub this victory in the faces of those Central Plains bastards.”

Beheading the Ice Jade Immortal, who shared fame with the Five Greats [the most powerful martial artists in the Central Plains], would be a significant victory.

More than anything, it would serve as a clear declaration of war against the Central Plains.

The middle-aged man, meeting Han Seolhwa’s gaze, grinned.

“Ah, excuse me. I’m late with the introductions. I’m Ma Yeong-gi of the Demonic Realm, also known as the Flame Demon. This is Mo Gyugwang, the Sword Demon.”

Han Seolhwa paused.

The Flame Demon, Ma Yeong-gi, who had just introduced himself.

She had heard tales of him.

If his words were true, he was an old rogue nearing a hundred years old, despite his appearance.

His demonic art, the Extreme Extinction Flame Wheel, was renowned as one of the most powerful Yang-based techniques in the world, rivaling the Three Yang Divine Art of the Taoist Triad that Beom Gye-wi had mastered.

In terms of martial arts compatibility, he was her polar opposite.

Moreover, the Sword Demon Mo Gyugwang was by no means an easy opponent.

The Three Annihilation Strikes, a swordplay consisting of only three moves, had claimed the lives of countless experts, comparable to Shaolin’s Dharma Three Swords, one of the best sword arts in the Central Plains.

Above all, the two men’s energy surpassed anything known in the Central Plains.

‘Indeed……’

Even after the Righteous-Demonic War, the martial landscape had changed drastically.

They wouldn’t have remained idle all this time.

The confidence in their expressions and words was understandable.

Even with their current aura, the skinny old man called the Sword Demon surpassed her.

Han Seolhwa finally spoke.

“I wonder……”

Ma Yeong-gi and Mo Gyugwang exchanged glances, a hint of bewilderment in their eyes.

The strongest experts in the Central Plains were currently known as the Five Greats, but during the Righteous-Demonic War, there were eight renowned figures called the Eight Stars of the New Era.

Among them were the Blood Hand Venerable and the Hwasan Divine Sword, now recognized as the Five Greats.

Both of them had fought these experts several times.

They couldn’t understand the current situation.

At a glance, Han Seolhwa’s energy and presence were clearly inferior to the righteous experts of that era.

She was clearly at a level that one of them could easily handle.

She must know this herself, yet Han Seolhwa’s expression remained calm.

As expected.

“I wonder which side is the lucky one?”

With those words, Han Seolhwa slowly raised her right hand.

Tsutsutsutsu.

Pristine white energy erupted from her entire body.

The energy rippled and writhed in the air.

It rapidly congealed on the palm of her raised hand.

Eventually, it solidified into a dazzling small crystal.

A crystal of coldness that emitted a blinding light.

Bukgoong Jeong exclaimed in astonishment.

“Ice Essence!”

The sacred object of the Bukhae Ice Palace, lost for a long time due to Han Seolhwa.

As the name suggested, it was the condensed essence of extreme Yin energy, revealing its true form after a long time.

Like a man possessed, Bukgoong Jeong rushed towards Han Seolhwa.

However, Han Seolhwa neither stopped him nor avoided him.

She even extended her hand, as if inviting him to take it.

Bukgoong Jeong easily snatched the Ice Essence.

“Finally!”

A feeling of overwhelming joy filled Bukgoong Jeong’s eyes as he held the Ice Essence with both hands.

But his eyes widened.

“……!”

His pupils filled with bewilderment and astonishment, replacing the joy from before.

Jjeok.

A terrible cold, beyond description.

The frost started at his fingertips and rapidly climbed up his arm, instantly covering his entire body.

“N, no……”

His last breath.

The cloudy vapor mixed with it scattered into the air along with his life.

Bukgoong Jeong had already suffered internal injuries from Han Seolhwa’s attack.

With his control of true energy in disarray and his internal energy unbalanced, he couldn’t withstand the cold of the Ice Essence.

Nevertheless, his body reacted instinctively.

That was how irresistible the Ice Essence was to the warriors of the Bukhae Ice Palace.

As expected.

Even after witnessing Bukgoong Jeong freeze to death, the people of the Bukhae Ice Palace didn’t waver.

Instead, they stared at Bukgoong Jeong’s corpse with dazed eyes, as if in a trance.

They were fixated on the Ice Essence held in the corpse’s hand.

Conversely, Ma Yeong-gi and Mo Gyugwang’s eyes narrowed.

“I see why that person sent both of us.”

“We were too complacent.”

At first, they wondered what she was doing.

They knew the story of Han Seolhwa stealing the Ice Essence, the sacred object of the Bukhae Ice Palace, and absorbing its energy to transcend the mortal realm.

They couldn’t understand why she was willingly handing over the Ice Essence she had absorbed with such difficulty.

But now they realized.

She hadn’t absorbed the energy of the Ice Essence.

Instead, she had confined it within her body, suppressing its power.

It was no longer the time for jokes.

The Han Seolhwa before them was not the same Han Seolhwa they had known.

Her presence, freed from its constraints, was becoming unbelievably stronger.

It was too late, even as the Chief Assistant’s advice to never let their guard down echoed in their minds.

They had missed a golden opportunity with their eyes wide open.

“Let’s make a move before it’s too late.”

At Ma Yeong-gi’s words, Mo Gyugwang nodded, holding his greatsword horizontally.

They both shot forward.

But……

“Let’s reclaim our Palace’s sacred object!”

At someone’s shout, the warriors of the Bukhae Ice Palace rushed towards Han Seolhwa.

“Those idiots!”

An exclamation of bewilderment escaped Ma Yeong-gi’s mouth.

While they were distracted by the unexpected turn of events, piles of snow soared from all directions, and the warriors of the Bukhae Ice Palace swarmed towards Han Seolhwa like black ants.

The number easily exceeded three hundred.

And they were all skilled warriors.

Although individually they couldn’t match Han Seolhwa’s martial prowess, their combined power focused on a single target.

Rumble!

A terrifying pressure rose like a cloud.

A massive cloud of mist, infused with the Bukhae Ice Palace’s ultimate martial arts, engulfed Han Seolhwa.

Instantly, the air surrounding Han Seolhwa froze.

The cold spread out like an explosion.

Han Seolhwa raised her hand and drew a line across the space in front of her.

The distance to the surging warriors was still considerable, so her hand didn’t directly touch them.

Instead, an eerie energy, sharper than any blade, took its place.

The mist that touched that energy vanished as if it were an illusion.

A clear trajectory cleared away the mist created by the combined attack of hundreds.

Seoeok.

The warriors of the Bukhae Ice Palace felt something sharp and cold tear through them.

A rain of blood followed the arc that Han Seolhwa had drawn.

“……!”

They stared at Han Seolhwa with dumbfounded eyes.

After a moment.

Thud.

A figure collapsed.

One by one, the warriors of the Bukhae Ice Palace who had attacked Han Seolhwa collapsed, spitting out blood.

The only person standing was Han Seolhwa.

A look of bewilderment appeared in Ma Yeong-gi’s eyes.

Suddenly, Han Seolhwa’s figure had vanished.

“Behind you!”

At Ma Yeong-gi’s sharp cry, Mo Gyugwang swung his greatsword without turning around.

His gaze followed the sword’s trajectory.

‘Damn it!’

Mo Gyugwang’s heart sank.

A chilling gaze, concealing cold fury.

He was momentarily overwhelmed by the terrifying murderous intent swirling within it.