Chapter 116. A Burning Flame
“Humans are very weak things.”
The creator of the Shura Environment.
The Heavenly Demon, Hong Sunwon, put a cigarette in his mouth and spoke loudly.
“The weakness of the human body? This is another matter altogether. Mentally, humans are very weak things.”
Cho Ryu Hyang listened quietly.
The usage of the Shura Environment was already in his head.
If he was right, this man would teach Cho Ryu Hyang something entirely new entirely.
“Gongson Chun Gi, was it?”
Hong Sunwon rubbed his chin as he smiled.
“He should know. After all, it’s something that you only get to see once you become that strong.”
A red eye appeared above Hong Sunwon’s head.
‘That is…’
He had seen it in the past.
It was the same thing that Gongson Chun Gi had used.
When Cho Ryu Hyang stared at the eye dumbly, Hong Sunwon opened his mouth.
“So you can see it. Did you want to know the true form of the Shura Environment? This is it.”
The superhuman area.
The ability to make an area around oneself completely his.
It was an ability to absorb all information of a surrounding completely into one’s head.
The ultimate form of using one’s senses.
“I don’t like to admit it, but the ability that Gongson Chun Gi uses is probably similar to this one. Since he’s quite talented as well, he probably figured this out on his own. But he’s way too crude in his ways. And since his ability has a bunch of random things mixed into it, it’s not pure either. That man is just disappointing in every way.”
The Heavenly Demon continuously insulted Gongson Chun Gi.
At the same time, the red eye above his head slowly descended downwards.
“The Shura Environment is powerful, but it is only completed once its user opens up the superhuman area. Once this is completed, the user becomes something akin to a god.”
Cho Ryu Hyang nodded.
There’s nothing scarier than someone being in total control of an area around oneself.
“Since your body is weak, you’d only be able to imitate it, but… there’s no going around it. You’ll have to get more and more experienced as time passes.”
What Cho Ryu Hyang learned from the Heavenly Demon would save his life in the near future.
* * *
Hwaryeong, the assassin.
Once she felt her vision go dark, she gave up on everything.
She realized that she had failed.
Her mission was compromised, and now that she was caught, she’d have to kill herself.
After all, it was entirely possible that she could be tortured for information.
‘That can’t happen.’
As she tried to bite down on the poison pill in her mouth,
She suddenly realized that her body could not move.
Not even a hair on her body could move.
She couldn’t even close her eyes.
All of the sudden, a white hand appeared amongst the darkness.
And for some reason, the white hand was the only thing she could see clearly.
The hand searched the area carefully, then grabbed onto her clothes.
She was dragged outside and was rendered immobile immediately.
“You mustn’t kill her, young lord.”
“I know.”
Hwaryeong despaired after seeing the young boy in front of her.
Her target had neutralized her himself.
“We’ll interrogate her later.”
Cho Ryu Hyang left Hwaryeong to Lim Hak Gyum and stood back up.
Kang Sebin and No Jin Nyung.
The two’s fight was reaching a climax.
Kugagaga-!
The two closed in and immediately moved back out after each attack.
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The two’s speed were increasing as more time passed as well.
‘If I get pressured here, I die.’
Both of them were thinking the same thing.
Tukakaka-!
Cho Ryu Hyang watched the two fight, then turned back.
‘It’s beginning.’
The formation was beginning to beat rhythmically.
The formation, which had been working slowly like a newborn baby, was suddenly picking up its pace.
The final form of the formation.
The form that was made only to kill.
‘Heaven-killing fire.’
As Cho Ryu Hyang thought of the word in his head,
The dark aura that came from No Jin Nyung’s body darkened further.
At the same time, black lightning bunched up in his fists.
‘This is it.’
Things were finally escalating.
Kang Sebin’s face turned serious as well.
Krr-
A red light spilled out of his sword and began to vibrate.
This would decide the result of the battle.
The moment a red gang qi appeared from Kang Sebin’s sword, No Jin Nyung made his move.
He was moving straight forward.
Regardless of what the enemy was doing, No Jin Nyung was charging straight in. Cho Ryu Hyang knew this move well.
‘The Steps of The Heavenly Demon.’
Cho Ryu Hyang could immediately tell why No Jin Nyung’s Heavenly Demon Technique was incomplete from the man’s footwork.
Kang Sebin grinned as he looked at No Jin Nyung’s aura and stabbed.
No Jin Nyung did not dodge.
Instead, he began to move even faster.
Kang Sebin’s eyes narrowed.
Stab-
Kang Sebin’s sword struck No Jin Nyung’s hip.
It was undoubtedly a critical wound.
But No Jin Nyung didn’t slow at all.
‘This man…’
No Jin Nyung wasn’t planning on dodging from the start.
Sacrifice the flesh and strike the bone.’
As Kang Sebin’s eyes widened, No Jin Nyung’s fist hit his stomach.
Baaang-!
A heavy impact sounded.
‘Kuh!’
He couldn’t even scream.
Kang Sebin’s legs turned weak, and his vision shook.
Krrr-!
His spine made a horrifying noise as it bent forwards.
No Jin Nyung saw Kang Sebin fall powerlessly on the floor and grinned.
“I told you, didn’t I? That I’d pull off your damn spine. If you act like a coward in a fight like this, this is what happens.”
No Jin Nyung grinned once more and turned around.
Cho Ryu Hyang smiled when he saw No Jin Nyung’s face that practically asked for a praise.
“You did well.”
“Hehe, it was nothing.”
No Jin Nyung tapped Kang Sebin with the tip of his foot and smiled.
He was hurt, but the fact that he won made him happy.
When he raised his hand to finish the man, Cho Ryu Hyang stopped him.
“We’ll let this one live.”
“What?”
Why?
Cho Ryu Hyang opened his mouth.
“I need someone to spread a rumor.”
“Rumor?”
“Yes, a rumor.”
The moment Cho Ryu Hyang touched his glasses, the formation shook, and a giant crack spread on the floor.
Craack-!
“Hah?!”
When everyone stepped back in surprise, Cho Ryu Hyang calmly spoke.
“We need someone to spread the fear. We need someone powerful to spread that word.”
The formation began to burn with flames.
It wasn’t hot, but the illusion of having the flame near made one feel hot.
“Get all the people of the Alliance here and wake them up. They need to see this as well.”
The church’s experts moved quickly.
They moved the experts of the Alliance to a place where the formation could easily be seen and woke them up.
They watched the formation with a delirious mind.
There was only one thing in their heads.
Fear.
They could see the experts of the North Sea Ice Palace and the Nanman Beast Gate burn in the flames of hell.
Cho Ryu Hyang’s eyes shone when he saw this.
There were those who were actually getting through the formation in this time.
‘Gu Hui… and Juk Hyul Myung?’
They were truly amazing people.
It was possible to go through the formation, now that all the complexity of it was disappeared.
But one needed immense power to do so.
Otherwise, one would just die a horrible death.
Cho Ryu Hyang walked slowly.
He had let go of those he was supposed to kill, but he was calm.
The place where he stopped was in front of the experts of the Alliance.
Cho Ryu Hyang took off his glasses.
“I am the heir of the Heavenly Demon Church, Cho Ryu Hyang.”
“……”
He was a seemingly weak child.
A child who seemed extremely fragile was standing in front of tens of experts, but they could not even dare say anything.
After all, the boy was the disciple of the feared Gongson Chun Gi himself.
“I know you came here to do something unpleasant. Normally, you’d die for attempting something like this, but I’ll let you go only for today.”
“…..!”
“But I still need you to pay the price of your soul.”
Soul?
What did the boy mean?
Could a soul even be given a price?
Once everyone’s faces stiffened, Cho Ryu Hyang looked over them carefully.
“I will look forward to seeing how much your clan would be willing to pay for you.”
The voice that said this was quiet.
But the response this brought was great.
After all, this would tell each and every expert here how much their own families cared about them.
Once the experts realized this, they became enraged.
“Just kill me, you damn dog!”
When one of the experts said this, Cho Ryu Hyang nodded.
“If that’s what you want, then sure. But you’ll have to pay the price for saying that.”
“Pay?”
Cho Ryu Hyang looked at the expert carefully.
His eyes were as cold as ice.
The expert trembled when he looked into those eyes.
“If you wish to die, I shall kill all of your comrades from your clan with you. Killing one or killing all would give us the same amount of disdain from the society anyway.”
“…..!”
The surroundings turned quiet.
The child in front of them was being completely honest.
“I only want one thing from you. Stay dead. Don’t do anything until your clans try to contact you. In fact, it might be better for you all to just act dead. After all, I’m doing my best not to kill you right now.”
It was a straightforward threat.
But no one could say anything in response.
The heir of the church.
The boy had the power to back his words.
And in this world, power was law.
Cho Ryu Hyang looked over at the flames and spoke quietly.
“This is only the start.”
He endured too much.
He refrained from killing, just because he didn’t want to see blood.
But now, things have changed.