1291——————==

Soul of the Evil God

I spent some time gathering myself. It wasn’t until about a half-moment later that I realized my strength had somewhat returned and I was ready to fight again. It might not seem like a long time, but thinking of it in a real-life battle, I’d be dead hundreds of times over, which sent shivers down my spine.

“Whew. Shall I go?”

I entered the Dimension Door that the Asura had gone through. The fact that they hadn’t come out in a full half-moment likely meant they were still fighting or dealing with post-processing.

As I expected, I saw villagers from Soeul Village moving around, checking on ‘auction items’ they were preparing to move. A quick glance showed dead otherworldly beings scattered here and there, along with a few human experts. I approached the closest one, Extreme Tiger.

“Extreme Tiger. Is everyone okay?”

“Ah, Grand Master!”

When Extreme Tiger shouted, everyone turned in our direction and began to come over, with Extreme Tiger saying, “No serious injuries. A few people got slight wounds, but they are recovering with Qi techniques, and Master Hyuncheon is standing guard.”

“Just slight wounds! Who got hurt?”

“Soeul.”

The Assassination Squad Leader?!

I flinched, and Extreme Tiger seemed ready to point out where to go. It was in a secluded building; when I rushed over, there was the Squad Leader Soeul, with a few holes in his abdomen, enduring his pain while practicing the Qi Regulation Technique, and Master Hyuncheon was standing guard with a sword ready.

“Hey!! How did Soeul get stabbed?!”

Master Hyuncheon, who was standing guard, answered, “He took the hit while covering Bangil during battle.”

“…Bangil? Where is Bangil?”

“Dokgo Seong took him away.”

“……”

Somehow, I had a hunch. If it was Dokgo Seong, he was likely giving Bangil a lesson for his inexperience, hence why Soeul took a hit. Naturally, with the Thunder God Lineage, there would be some scolding or rough treatment, but I thought this wasn’t the time to worry about that. I looked at Soeul with a complicated expression and said,

“So, just a slight wound, huh? He got stabbed but somehow avoided the fatal acupoint. Is it fortunate that only his body got punctured? But still, if he got stabbed, that’s not just a minor injury.”

Extreme Tiger spoke nonchalantly, “He himself said it was just a slight wound, so we’ll let it slide. It’s not unusual for martial artists to get stabbed.”

“…….”

Extreme Tiger, no matter what, is still part of the Thunder God Lineage.

With a bitter smile, I approached Soeul and infused him with my powerful energy.

Hooowww!!

“Alright. Let’s focus the Qi on the blood that activates life according to the essence of the Hua Tuo’s Eight Needles….”

This method would boost the body’s natural healing capabilities, stopping the bleeding and healing the wounds faster. Although usually a simple emergency technique, I could see Soeul’s complexion quickly returning to normal due to my immense Qi. Continuing his own Qi healing had also been a great help.

Finally regaining his senses, I spoke to him, “Why did you cover for Bangil?”

“His technique was lacking, and he was surrounded by the Wind Spirit Sect experts, which put him at risk of dying.”

“I’m not talking about that. Your technique is from the Black Dao, specialized for assassins in the Black Night Gate. The essence of an assassin doesn’t involve protecting others.”

Without changing his expression, Soeul replied, “Because I was told that if I contribute to Soeul Village, my grudges would be wiped away.”

This punk, is he referencing that time?

Though I understood what Soeul meant, I responded with an angry expression.

“Don’t interpret it your way. Don’t settle your debts on your own!”

“At least I’d have some emotional debt to the Village Chief.”

“You little…. ”

I gritted my teeth but, unlike before, I couldn’t just hit the Squad Leader Soeul in front of everyone. Given that I couldn’t achieve good reputations as the Village Chief by hitting him for no reason, I reluctantly held back my fist and said, “Don’t die before I do. Got it?”

“Is that a command?”

“A command? Sure, let’s call it a command. Ugh.”

“Understood.”

I realized that Squad Leader Soeul didn’t rescue Bangil out of pure goodwill. He’d have to kill twice for me later, which I already knew would be exhausting. To make it difficult for me to punish him later, he deliberately took that hit to show the villagers his loyalty, making it harder for me to lay hands on him.

Everything was ultimately a setup to make it hard for me to demand unreasonable tasks from him later.

‘Why’s that assassin thinking so hard? Damn it.’

Regardless, if I wanted to mess with him, there were ways, but he seemed like a stubborn survivor. I mean, at such a young age, he’s called a genius among the Central Plains assassins? Making a punk like him pay back for my past life’s debts is going to be tough.

While I was internally irritated, the cautious Extreme Tiger spoke up, “Grand Master, actually, the Dharma Guardian of the Wind Spirit Sect and the Asura are currently in battle.”

I jumped slightly, startled by the news.

“What?! Why are you telling me this only now?!”

“The Asura told me not to inform you until there’s a clear victor in the one-on-one fight. But I couldn’t not tell you…”

“Damn it. So they’ve been fighting for half a moment?!”

“Yes. The two went to the mountains because it was too cramped here.”

“……”

I felt a sense of unease.

‘Even though Cheon Woo-jin can use the Infinite Qi technique, if he truly goes all out, it should create disasters. If he’s been fighting for half a moment against an Asura-level expert, I should’ve felt that tumultuous shift in energy!’

Yet beyond the mountain, silence prevailed. Feeling suspicious, I told Extreme Tiger, “It’s too dangerous. I’ll go alone. You guys should rescue the captives from the prison and get them through the Dimension Door if I don’t come back after half a moment.”

“Understood.”

Boom!

I quickly flew over the mountains. Moments later, I discovered a desolated area on the other side and spotted the Asura standing among the ruins.

“Asura!! Are you okay?”

The Asura waved at me, saying, “I’m fine. But don’t get too close.”

“Why?”

“Still going wild… Ugh!”

Boom!

In that moment, the Asura, poised to strike, activated the Intent Heavenly Pillar and detonated a massive ball of dark tentacles flying towards him. The tentacle was incredibly powerful—strong enough to ensure a hit against anyone below the Absolute Realm—but I was startled and stared at the ‘something’ in front of the Asura.

‘What the hell?’

An…?

A pitch-black egg the size of an adult male was standing there, with bulging veins everywhere, appearing strangely alive. It remained silent, but the front of the egg had an eye glaring at us, which felt eerie. Of course, I’d seen such glaring eyes countless times in battles with otherworldly beings, so I wasn’t particularly shocked.

‘Those tentacles just spouted from that egg….’

I asked the Asura, hoping I was wrong, “Asura. Don’t tell me that black egg is Cheon Woo-jin?”

The Asura answered with a bitter smile, “Yeah.”

“Damn!! What the hell? Why’s the Dharma Guardian…”

As I panicked, the Asura continued, “I almost killed it with the Nirvana of the Absolute in about 50 seconds, but the moment I went to behead it, it suddenly transformed like that. Now it’s shooting tentacles at everything in sight. I can’t leave because I don’t know how it will develop.”

“…….”

“It’s become a demon beast. As you can see.”

I found it absurd and replied, “That’s nonsense. The Infinite Qi skill draws energy directly from the Throne! How can it become a demon?”

“Hmm. Definitely something that wouldn’t happen when viewed through your previous life’s memories. This implies that during the time you didn’t interfere in this life, something changed.”

“Changed?”

“Right. Someone modified Cheon Woo-jin and implanted demonic powers to suppress the resistance of Infinite Qi…. Damn it!”

Boom!

The Asura’s face turned tense as he swatted away another tentacle. Despite appearing to handle it effortlessly, that tentacle was powerful enough that even someone at the Absolute Realm needed utmost concentration to repel it. If facing it for half a moment, it would naturally be frustrating.

The Asura glared at Cheon Woo-jin, now turned into a black egg, and said, “Whoever did this to Cheon Woo-jin, they need to be eliminated. That thing is beyond the realms of what the people from the Martial Arts World can handle.”

“Does Nirvana of the Absolute not work on it?”

“No. By looking, it seems like the black egg doesn’t have an incredibly tough resilience, so it might work… but I don’t know what will come out if that egg breaks, so I have been waiting for you.”

“…….”

“Shall we start soon?”

I pondered over the Asura’s words. If, just as the Asura said, breaking that black egg resulted in an even stronger monster, that would be a nightmare in itself. But I soon steeled myself and stated, “What else can we do but die? Save the Nirvana of the Absolute.”

“You’ll do it?”

“Yeah.”

Suuuuu

I took my stance. Focusing with my eyes half-closed, I captured the moment as another tentacle reached out to attack me and the Asura.

‘Here it comes…’

Not missing that fleeting moment, I sharply raised the Intent Heavenly Pillar and executed the Ultimate Technique. A flash leaped from my sword sheath.

Infinite Slash

In the next instant, my body barely evaded the tentacle’s attack while I effortlessly sliced through the black egg. While using the Nirvana of the Absolute would’ve been more certain in terms of power, my Infinite Slash had a relatively less energy loss, which was why I decided to eliminate the black egg myself.

Boom!!!

A massive burst of dark blood erupted. That dark blood was unpleasantly black and repulsive, and simultaneously, the egg’s eye thrashed violently and shrieked, expelling its contents in horror. In the following moment, the black egg began to dissolve into a wicked, amorphous chaos and slime, moving as if it were alive.

Slump! Slump!

Observing that horrifying scene made me feel incredibly uneasy. As I calmly waited to retaliate if it attacked again, that chaos soared into the air, disappearing beyond the sky.

Whooooosh

The chaos that vanished beyond the sky never reappeared.

“……”

“……”

What in the world was that?

Scratching my head, I felt the lingering confusion of having faced an unidentified foe.

“I expected a Dragon Person or something to pop out.”

I didn’t feel sorry for Cheon Woo-jin, now vanished into chaos. And since he was the one who killed Miho in the past, I couldn’t help but think it served him right. Mangnyang wanted me to rescue him if possible, but given this outcome, wasn’t it just his unfortunate fate?

“Let’s head back for now. This is a problem we can’t grasp on our own.”

“Hmm? Wait a moment.”

I noticed something had fallen where the black egg had been convulsing moments ago. I looked closely, and it seemed to be some rock fragment. The rock gleamed with a faint light and appeared to contain a significant amount of spirit energy.

‘Suspicious….’

I should take this with me.

Afterward, I joined forces with the experts from Soeul Village and spent half a day releasing all the auction items from their cages and freeing the captives inside. The number was several times more than the humans in Great Thunder Valley, numbering in the hundreds, which added a considerable crowd. As I lightly checked their appearances, they seemed to be of various nationalities and looks, seemingly caught from all over the world.

“First, we’ll put everyone into the Wooden Armor, then we’ll move the items. Everyone, prepare to leave this place.”

“Understood.”

I thought I could carry all the items and humans in one go, but I decided to split the load for now. This was because the advice from Saint Germain came to my mind before coming here.

‘Don’t pack it too tightly.’

If I stuffed both the humans and items from the slave market in, I had a feeling the space within the Wooden Armor would exceed 80%. While I wouldn’t stuff it to the brim, it still felt risky. I preferred avoiding danger whenever possible, so I intended to keep it below half.

Whoooosh

One by one, everyone started to exit this auction dimension. After a couple of trips, I was able to transfer everyone to Soeul Village. Seeing everyone had safely arrived, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Whew.”

Finally, after the reincarnation, I successfully broke the otherworldly slave market and rescued the people!

I called an assembly of important figures from the village. Although the operation had succeeded, there were matters to reflect on. Mentioning Cheon Woo-jin, I took out the strange stone I had brought and said, “This is presumed to have come from the body of the Dharma Guardian, Cheon Woo-jin. What do you all think it is?”

“Hmm….”

“Not sure, Village Chief.”

The villagers took turns examining the stone, wearing puzzled expressions. Even Mangnyang seemed to be clueless. After a moment, Saint Germain, having fiddled with the stone for a while, widened his eyes and exclaimed, “Th… this is… why is this…?”

“Saint Germain. Do you have any idea what this is?”

“Seriously… this came from inside a human, and it turned them into a black egg?!”

“That’s what it seems…”

“Ah… oh no… how could such a heinous act…”

After a brief silence, Saint Germain finally clasped his head and muttered, “Village Chief Baek Woong. This is… the Crystal Stele. We refer to it as the Emerald Tablet in the Western Regions.”

“……?!”

“How utterly tragic…. Haha….”

What?!

Surprised by this revelation, I listened as Saint Germain spoke in a gloomy tone.

“Someone… broke the taboo and destroyed the Crystal Stele, dragging the god of magic, Hermes Trismegistus, into this world’s cycle. Cheon Woo-jin transformed because of this.”