The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 411

The sky began to lighten with the approach of dawn.

Dan Akseon, who had been meditating in a lotus position, slowly opened his eyes.

It was then that Cho Akryang, who had been standing guard by Dan Akseon’s side, spoke.

“You’re rushing.”

Dan Akseon smiled wryly and rose to his feet.

“I want to catch up, even if just a little.”

“There’s no need to be impatient. The level you’ve already reached is far beyond what can be achieved through effort alone. There’s no point in being anxious; it won’t help.”

In fact, Dan Akseon had reached the ranks of a master at an exceptionally young age, unprecedented in history.

“You don’t have to face the Heavenly Demon directly. We won’t just stand by and let that happen.”

“I know. I’m just trying to do what I can while I have the time. At least, I don’t want to feel that same helplessness again.”

Dan Akseon, picking up Mukryong [his sword], steeled his resolve, recalling the time he had clashed with the Heavenly Demon.

As he swung Mukryong, pouring sweat, he suddenly felt a rush of heat, startling him.

He turned to see Beom Gyewi engrossed in something not far away.

In Beom Gyewi’s hands were swords and blades, heated red-hot.

They were weapons that the Demonic Cult had failed to retrieve and had left behind.

Clang!

The weapons in Beom Gyewi’s hands screamed in unison.

He was using his strength to compress the red-hot metal into one mass.

Crimson molten metal dripped from Beom Gyewi’s hands as he wielded the Samadhi Fire [a mystical flame controlled by inner energy].

“What are you doing?”

At Cho Akryang’s question, Beom Gyewi wore a nonchalant expression.

“I just felt like my hands were empty.”

After swinging the completed iron clubs a few times, Beom Gyewi smacked his lips as if disappointed.

“Tch. This isn’t the feeling I wanted…….”

“Can’t you wait? They’ll bring you one when they get a chance.”

At Cho Akryang’s nagging, Beom Gyewi burst out in anger.

“Who knows when I’ll run into that bastard again? I have to smash his head in next time!”

Still upset about being pushed back by the Heavenly Demon, Beom Gyewi huffed and puffed.

Cho Akryang shook his head at the sight.

The fragments of Beom Gyewi’s broken Daechojagon [his signature weapon] were all collected and entrusted to the Shinma Merchant Guild.

Mukbi, the head of the Mukga Blacksmith in Namchang, who had forged Uncheol to create Mukryong for Dan Akseon, readily guaranteed that he would personally recreate the Daechojagon.

Han Seolhwa cast a disapproving glance at him.

“Still relying on weapons.”

“What?”

At Beom Gyewi’s outburst, Cho Akryang chuckled.

“What can you do? If you lack skill, you have to rely on weapons.”

Beom Gyewi looked dumbfounded.

He couldn’t believe that the man who had split the Cheongang Demonic Wall [a powerful defensive formation] with his sword at the crucial moment was saying such a thing.

Beom Gyewi glared at Cho Akryang and Han Seolhwa with a resentful expression before turning his head towards Dan Akseon.

“Did you hear that, Dan Physician?”

“Yes?”

“What he just said was an insult not only to me but also to Dan Physician, who never lets go of Mukryong.”

At those words, Cho Akryang and Han Seolhwa paused.

“Hmph! Let’s go, Dan Physician. We don’t need to move with those humans who look down on us.”

Seeing the three bickering over such trivial matters, Ga Dudal secretly sighed.

He had been dragged here somehow, but he was still desperate to run away.

A few days later.

Dan Akseon and his party arrived at a mountain bordering Xinjiang [a region in China] and gazed at the village visible in the distance.

It was a village identified as one of the Demonic Cult’s strongholds.

“As expected. There’s no sign of life here either.”

At Dan Akseon’s words, Cho Akryang sighed softly.

“A scorched-earth tactic, huh?”

A scorched-earth tactic to exhaust the enemy by eliminating all resources they could use.

Still, just in case, they entered the village, but nothing remained in the ruins.

The houses were all burned to the ground, leaving only debris, and even the wells were filled in.

“This is the third time already.”

At Dan Akseon’s words, Cho Akryang nodded.

It had been a month since the bloodbath at the Kunlun Sect [a famous martial arts sect].

Since then, Dan Akseon and his party had not encountered any members of the Demonic Cult.

Beom Gyewi grumbled under his breath.

“Then what do we do? There’s nowhere else to track them down.”

After a moment of thought, Dan Akseon looked up and turned his gaze to Ga Dudal.

“There’s one place left.”

“……?”

Ga Dudal, who had been wearing a puzzled expression, soon realized something and turned pale.

“N, no way……? Is it not?”

Dan Akseon smiled wryly and nodded.

“Since things have come to this, there’s no other choice. Surely, Ga Ahjussi [a respectful title for an older man] knows the location of the Demonic Cult’s headquarters, right?”

“T, that was so long ago that my memory is hazy…….”

Ga Dudal tried to evade the situation by deliberately slurring his words, but he burst into tears at Dan Akseon’s next words.

“Please. Guide us there.”

Ga Dudal felt faint.

It was true that he had entered the Heavenly Demon’s Main Hall and brought back the fan, but that was only possible because their defenses were weak at the time.

Most of their forces were concentrated in the Central Plains to fight the Righteous-Demonic War [a conflict between good and evil martial arts factions].

Nevertheless, he had faced several near-death experiences.

But no matter how much he explained, Dan Akseon was not in the mood to listen.

Ga Dudal looked at Cho Akryang pleadingly.

Fortunately, Cho Akryang opposed Dan Akseon’s opinion.

“That’s too hasty a decision.”

Han Seolhwa was against it, of course, and even Beom Gyewi agreed with Cho Akryang’s opinion.

“It’s dangerous.”

“Yeah, Dan Physician. No matter how angry you are, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

At everyone’s concern, Dan Akseon smiled quietly.

And he drew a clear line.

“Don’t worry. I’m not saying we should charge in right away. I’m just saying we should approach as carefully as possible and gather information from a distance.”

Since the Heavenly Demon and other key figures of the Demonic Cult were gathered there, the security would naturally be tight.

If they could capture some of them and find out the Demonic Cult’s movements and information, they could gain a slight advantage in the upcoming battle with the Demonic Cult.

After a moment of thought at Dan Akseon’s explanation, Cho Akryang slowly nodded.

“That might be possible.”

At those words, Ga Dudal sighed deeply.

“Haa……. Are we really going?”

Ga Dudal reluctantly started walking, feeling the gazes pouring down on him in silence.

* * *

It took ten days for Dan Akseon’s party to arrive at the remote location in Xinjiang where the Demonic Cult’s main base was located.

“Once we cross that mountain, we’ll see their main base.”

Ga Dudal had been relying on his past memories to move along the safest route possible.

Perhaps that was why they had not yet encountered any members of the Demonic Cult.

But from here on out, they had to be very careful.

It was a place where Demonic Cult members could pop out at any time.

After moving in the darkness, concealing their presence, Cho Akryang, who had been moving while spreading his senses, paused and stopped the group.

“This is…… a formation?”

“Huh? There wasn’t anything like this last time?”

As Ga Dudal looked puzzled, Dan Akseon’s eyes lit up as he surveyed the surroundings.

“It’s a rather elaborate formation. Entering itself isn’t difficult, but our presence will be revealed.”

Dan Akseon was quite knowledgeable about formations.

He had grasped the basic principles based on the Honcheon Miri Formation [a complex array of energy] left in Shinma Valley.

He had also used this knowledge to solve the problems of the Hyungsan Sect.

“Then let’s go around.”

Dan Akseon agreed with Cho Akryang’s words.

It was a formation that was extraordinary at first glance.

‘This is like…….’

As he carefully observed the formation, Dan Akseon realized that the arrangement and flow of the formation surrounding the area felt somewhat familiar.

After moving for a while, being careful not to touch the formation, they saw a village in the distance.

It was a village of considerable size, unlike what one would expect in such a remote location.

“Those villages are located to the east, west, south, and north, centered around the main base.”

“Are all the humans living there members of the Demonic Cult?”

Beom Gyewi asked back with a surprised face.

The village in front of them alone seemed to have more than two thousand households.

And there were three more such villages.

Even roughly estimated, it was a scale ranging from at least ten thousand to as many as twenty thousand people.

“Yes. There is a huge space inside the valley located in the center of the villages, and the main halls where the core forces of the Demonic Cult reside are lined up, led by the Main Hall of the Cult Leader located deepest inside.”

Dan Akseon nodded at Ga Dudal’s explanation.

With terrain and building structures that were no different from a natural fortress, it could become a tomb if their retreat was blocked.

“It would be dangerous to approach any further. Let’s circle around and look for an opportunity.”

As he carefully observed the village, he noticed houses that were clearly built in a hurry.

It was clear that this was due to the Demonic Cult members who had withdrawn from each stronghold.

That night.

“The security is quite tight.”

Dan Akseon received Cho Akryang’s words as he scouted the area while hiding.

“They must not be letting their guard down against us either.”

Indeed, the surveillance network spread throughout the Demonic Cult’s main base was second to none.

It was only thanks to the Shinma Three Venerables [elite warriors] and Dan Akseon that they were able to get away with it; anyone else would have been caught long ago.

Of course, Ga Dudal, who was a born thief, was an exception.

“There’s no point in dragging this out any longer. We need to decide on a target now.”

The Shinma Three Venerables nodded in agreement at Dan Akseon’s words.

The only reason they had been able to deceive the enemy’s attention so far was thanks to the pitch-black darkness surrounding the area.

But even this would be useless when the sun rose.

“We only have one chance.”

Surely, the Demonic Cult would realize that their people had disappeared when the sun rose.

As such, the task of searching for a target to extract information from was more cautious than ever.

But then.

“Huh?”

Beom Gyewi, who had been staring intently at the people coming and going around the village, rubbed his eyes and looked at the front again.

“Those guys, aren’t they those spaced-out brothers from back then?”

The place Beom Gyewi was pointing at.

“The Sammol Twin Oddities [a pair of eccentric brothers].”

“Ah! Those guys from back then…….”

Dan Akseon exclaimed as he belatedly recognized the opponents.

The twin brothers who had handed over the Gujiseonyeopcho [a rare medicinal herb] under Beom Gyewi’s threat when they first set out on their journey to visit the Murim Alliance [a gathering of martial arts clans].

The two men, whose extremely different appearances made the word ‘twins’ seem out of place.

But there was one more person besides those two.

It was a bizarre old Taoist with an eerie feeling, wearing colorful, blood-red clothes.

The two brothers, Wang Yeom and Wang Gyeol, stood side by side in front of and behind the old Taoist, moving together as if they were escorting him.

“Those guys will do.”

They were more cunning and brazen than anyone else.

They were selfish enough to willingly join the Demonic Cult for their own safety, and they were quick-witted enough to do so.

Also, since they had been absorbed into the Demonic Cult for a long time, they would know a lot.

“Huh? They suddenly stopped?”

It was then that the bizarrely dressed old Taoist, who was staring at the place where they were hiding, caught his eye.

And Beom Gyewi jumped out at the same time.

It was because an ominous incantation suddenly flowed from the old Taoist’s mouth.