The Heavenly Demon Left No Martial Arts Behind

Chapter 2: The Six Pillars of the Cult

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The space around him trembled harder with each passing second.

'....'

Yu Gyeongseong knew it instinctively; the Formation was reaching its limit, straining against forces it could barely contain.

'It won't hold much longer.'

There was no time to calmly think things through. He needed to decide what to do, and he needed to decide now.

His eyes fell to the secret passage that had opened in the ground, and without hesitation, he moved.

Had he already thought this through? In one swift motion, he grabbed the guard's corpse from where it had collapsed on the floor. Then, still holding the blood-dripping body, he leaped straight into the secret passage.

With enemies closing in from all sides and only one escape route, it seemed like the obvious choice.

But then...

Barely a moment later, he came shooting back out of the passage.

He emerged lighter than before, then launched himself to one side in a blur of movement. His body moved like wind itself, so quickly it seemed he'd vanished from existence. He didn't even leave a single footprint behind.

Crack—

And the moment he did so, the sound of something shattering filled the air.

An instant later, the pursuers burst into the space like a violent gust of wind.

"Where is he?"

"There's a secret passage!"

Even while rushing forward, these masters took in the entire scene at a glance.

Blood pooled across the floor.

"He couldn't fully block the hidden weapons!"

In that moment, the pursuers thought they had it figured out.

Was it because he'd been carrying the target? His condition seemed worse than they'd expected. With injuries that severe, there was no way he'd slip through their fingers. It was only a matter of time before they caught him!

They could see the trail of blood leading straight into the hole in the ground.

Their decision came quickly. Like competitors in a race, they dove into the secret passage one after another. It took barely a single breath for all of them to disappear below ground.

How much time passed?

It definitely wasn't very long before shouts echoed up from the tunnel.

"What!"

"He's... dead!"

"What about the target?!"

“He is not in sight!”

Right at that moment, a ghostly presence appeared near the passage entrance once more.

Yu Gyeongseong casually squatted down, positioning himself in the exact spot where the guard had been.

His hands moved without hesitation and the sound of mechanisms activating rumbled through the ground.

Grrrrrrrumble—

'...!!'

The pursuers sensed something was wrong and frantically turned back. But the metal door had already nearly closed. By the time they reached the entrance, they couldn't even see a shadow of their target.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The sound of their futile attempts echoed loudly.

Yu Gyeongseong rose lightly to his feet.

'Good. It worked.'

That’s the reason why he’d watched the guard closely when he tinkered with the door’s mechanisms earlier. Though he'd only seen how to open it and had to close it this time—making him half-doubtful it would work—operating it in reverse had turned out to be the right method.

He'd also calculated the timing of the door's opening and closing. Even factored in how fast those masters could move. That's why he'd placed the corpse at just the right spot inside the passage before returning.

Now that he'd trapped the pursuers, he had some breathing room.

Naturally, the guard's words drifted back into his mind.

[A rebellion has broken out!]

Then... why had they brought him here instead of the Cult Leader?

And then there were the words the guys trapped down there had yelled.

'The target...'

The certainty in that word was unmistakable.

Why were they after him?

'...?!'

Yu Gyeongseong flinched, then immediately launched his body away. He moved so fast it looked like he just vanished into the night.

And then—

In that very instant, someone appeared out of nowhere.

Thud.

Is this what you'd see in someone who'd reached the pinnacle of lightness skill? By the time you felt that storm-like presence, he was already standing tall in the space. Even the sound of his feet touching the ground barely registered.

'....'

Yu Gyeongseong hadn't gotten far. He'd suppressed his presence right where he was. This was because his sense of alarm had skyrocketed the instant he felt the being’s existence, even before he laid eyes on him.

His inner self, which hadn't wavered even a fraction until now, told him everything. It let him know just how dangerous this person was.

How should he describe this being?

An Absolute Master?

Yu Gyeongseong, who had only just managed to hide in time, felt his body react instantly. The moment his will commanded, and his body obeyed. His heart began beating very slowly, very faintly. His body temperature dropped rapidly. Even his already shallow breathing slowed to an extreme degree.

Whatever little presence he had left just... vanished.

In this state, he observed his opponent.

What caught his eye first wasn't the man's appearance, but his aura.

His gaze swept the surroundings with sharpness. Beneath thick eyebrows were two small eyes that seemed to be slanted sharply. Yet the pupils within them burned with fierce intensity. Anyone who met that gaze directly would have to look away.

But in this moment, he knew one thing.

'He hasn't found me.'

It seemed unlikely, but he'd succeeded in hiding.

With a bit more ease settling in, Yu Gyeongseong resumed his observation.

After a quick look around, he turned his attention to where all the noise was coming from. He looked down at the secret passage sealed by the metal door. At first glance, his appearance seemed ordinary. Short in stature but built like a brickhouse. His neck was impressively thick. His face was broad with prominent cheekbones. He'd shaved all his hair except for a topknot, and his mustache was bushy, but he had no beard.

'Middle-aged, maybe?'

Though Yu Gyeongseong took in every detail of his appearance, nothing particularly came to mind. What interested him more was—

'His weapons are just... two daggers?'

Then again, for a guy who could move that fast, a couple of small knives were probably all he needed to get the job done.

But... a couple of daggers probably aren’t the best tools for breaking down a massive metal door, right?

The man just stood there silently, giving no indication whether this guess was right or wrong.

'I seem pretty fast myself, though...'

Looking back at his own movements from earlier, he'd been quite nimble, hadn't he? But he still didn't really know how fast or how far he could run. He couldn't be sure if he could outpace this man.

'Hmm... should I keep hiding?'

Since he hadn't been discovered, wouldn't that be better? Just as he was thinking that—

He picked up more presence.

'...?!'

And just like that, five shadows descended into the space as if materializing from thin air. They were so fast that you heard their voices after you saw them arrive.

"Flying Demon! What are you doing here? Where's the target?"

Every single one of them had a tremendous presence.

They felt equal to that middle-aged man who'd arrived first.

'All of them...'

...are Absolute Masters.

A deep, heavy look came over his eyes.

In that moment, Yu Gyeongseong realized who they were.

[The Six Pillars of the Demonic Cult—the Sect Masters.]

'....'

The Masters of the Six Demon Clans had appeared.

And they had come for him.

***

As if he'd known they were coming, Flying Demon turned around calmly.

Then a well-built middle-aged man with a powerful appearance spoke up. He looked so powerful, you’d think he was one of those Vajra Protectors who were said to escort the Buddha.

"Where are the kids?"

In response to Rock Demon's question, Flying Demon tilted his head toward the banging metal door.

"Seems they're in there."

"The Cult Leader's guards' secret passage?"

"Must be."

"Why are they making all that noise? Did they secure the target but can't get out because of the mechanism?"

"Who knows?"

Then, another guy who’d been off to the side stepped up. His mouth was firmly shut as if there was nothing worth saying. He had such an ordinary appearance that even if you passed him on the street, you wouldn't remember him.

The middle-aged man uncrossed his arms. He carried no weapons. Just his bare hands.

Whoooosh—

But in that instant, a sinister grey energy rippled ominously from his hand. Following his gesture, a Hand Aura (手罡) as dark as the abyss itself extended and struck the metal door directly.

BANG!

A calm voice that didn’t match his vicious attack came from the man, Crushing Demon.

A casual tone that didn't match the viciousness of his attack flowed from Crushing Demon's lips.

“Huh. They made this thing pretty tough.”

Was he annoyed it didn’t break on the first try?

The energy—if you could even still call it hand-aura—condensed into his hand and spiralled like a giant drill before slamming right into the metal door.

CRASH!

Despite what the guard had said about it, the thick metal door was destroyed in no time.

The other five watching acted as if this was completely expected.

Shortly after, the pursuers climbed out of the passage. They bowed respectfully to the Six Demons and hurriedly reported.

"We broke through the Formation and followed him. He went into that secret passage, and we found a dead guard inside. But there's no trace of the target."

They laid the corpse before them.

The Six Demons just stared at it.

But then—

Woosh—

The corpse suddenly rose into the air.

The guard's body spun around and around as it hovered.

The Six Demons began to speak.

"Our kids didn't kill him?"

"He was struck from behind."

These weren't ordinary wounds. Under what circumstances would a master of this level die like this?

"Did one of his own people kill him?"

"Now that you mention it... there was one more missing from the guards besides this one. Out of twenty, we only dealt with eighteen."

A man who looked somewhat too young to be called middle-aged spoke.

"So that remaining one killed this guy and escaped with the target? But why would they fight each other?”

At that, the other Six Demons members growled.

"Mind Demon!!"

"Are you going to play dumb now?!"

"You think you can brush this off so easily?"

But Mind Demon responded calmly.

"What are you talking about?"

Then another guy, a middle-aged man, flashed a grin, showing off his white teeth. His face was just as pale as theirs, but he was tall and sporting both thick golden hair and a thick beard.

“This dead guard here. He was working for you, wasn't he! Trying to sneak the target away on your orders!”

"Ha! Illusion Demon! What kind of bullshit is that?! Are you high on your own illusions? Your imagination's running wild."

“Hah. So this guard just happened to break free from your Mystic Control. Is that what you are saying? Also, don’t think we don’t notice you using your Spiritual Power on our own men to help him escape!”

“I did it because he was carrying our last hope. What if the target got hurt?”

“Bullshit. You think the strongest warrior of the Heavenly Demon Cult would get hurt that easily?"

Illusion Demon basically called bullshit on that, but Mind Demon just kept playing innocent and shot back a reply.

"I couldn't be sure if the Great Law had been properly inherited!"

But none of them looked like they were buying it.

"So... the one remaining guard executed the traitor? After noticing his colleague was taking orders from Mind Demon?"

"Seems that way."

Then Rock Demon suddenly spoke up.

“Wait a second… how did the door close?”

"Hmm?"

Now that he mentioned it, something was odd.

The subordinates, who had been standing in silence, immediately answered under the gaze of the Six Demons.

"When we broke through the Formation and arrived, the door was open. Even after we entered, it didn't close right away. But then, right when we found the guard's corpse, the mechanism suddenly activated."

What a convenient story. Did that mean the target hadn't entered this secret passage at all and then closed the metal door?

The Six Demons looked around. But they didn't sense any particular presence.

Naturally, their eyes turned to Flying Demon. Since he'd arrived first, they needed to hear his judgment.

Understanding the meaning in those gazes, he started to talk.

“I heard the mechanism working on my way here. From the time the noise stopped until I arrived… it was about the time it takes to draw one breath.”

In that time frame, this entire area should have been within Flying Demon's detection range. Yet... someone hid themselves in that brief instant? Without leaving any trace?

Rock Demon spoke up.

"Does the mechanism close automatically after time passes?"

Mind Demon quickly added.

“Then what about it not opening from the inside?”

“It was probably designed that way. A one-way door to stop intruders from getting in. You'd need to know how to operate the mechanism to open it."

"Hmm..."

It made sense, but something felt off.

Then Crushing Demon stepped forward, looking around at the other Six Demons.

"Let's move. The kids are tracking him, but the longer this drags on, the worse it gets."

He also believed there was no possibility of anyone being nearby.

The Six Demons members nodded in agreement. They knew they had to be decisive now. A moment's hesitation could ruin everything.

Swish—

Just then, the tall woman who'd been standing quietly raised her hand, stopping the other Six Demons from moving.

She had pale skin, large eyes, and a high-bridged nose. Her long golden hair had been flowing on its own since earlier.

“What’s wrong?”

The group turned to look at her.

Under their gazes, Life Demon's white teeth gleamed against the darkness.

"Found him."