Chapter 182

When they stepped outside, they found a middle-aged man standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his expression stern and dignified. He wore a long robe that looked as though it had been dyed in fresh blood from head to toe.

His unfocused white eyes and the long scar running between them gave him a vicious appearance.

All around him lay Heavenly Yin Gate disciples, writhing in pain. Apparently, they had already suffered at his hands.

“W-what is the meaning of this?”

“Are you the Gate Master?”

“I am!”

“These children refused to take me to their Gate Master. I was going to kill them, but since we’ll soon be one family, I restrained myself. You should train them better.”

“That is for me to decide! It is not your place to tell me how to run my gate!”

Hyeol Sagwang wasn’t afraid.

After all, the real Four Divine Demons were standing right beside him.

“Oh? How long has it been since a man dared stand so proudly before me? I like you. I like you very much. I am Hyeol Jingwi, the Blood-Calamity Divine Guard, one of the Sichuan Divine Cult’s Four Heavenly Divine Guards. I hear your name is Hyeol Sagwang. Is that right?”

“It is.”

“Hahaha. We even share the same surname. There is much about you that pleases me. Now then, would you care to satisfy me a little more?”

“Have you come looking for the protectors who visited us?”

“Hahaha. I knew I liked you. Quick on the uptake. If it were up to me, I’d take you back to the cult and keep you at my side. Yes, that’s why I’m here. Where did those men go?”

Hyeol Sagwang looked toward Jin Muryang.

Jin Muryang grinned and stepped past him.

“You mean the triplets?”

As Jin Muryang approached, Hyeol Jingwi frowned and thrust out a hand.

Something red shot toward Jin Muryang’s face.

He merely tilted his head aside.

KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—

A violent explosion erupted behind him.

“Oh? You dodged that? You must have some skill after all. I suppose you wouldn’t have dared stand in my way otherwise.”

“You don’t seem to have even that much skill. If this is all you’ve got, waiting for you was a waste of time.”

“Oh? Did you kill the protectors, perhaps?”

Jin Muryang answered with a cold smile.

“Haha... Well, now. I came here expecting nothing more than a casual errand...”

Hyeol Jingwi’s expression turned cold as his white eyes gradually filled with red.

“Looks like I’ll finally get to enjoy myself properly.”

He grinned and flicked his tongue across his lips.

The sight was grotesque.

Jin Muryang shook his head.

“Don’t smile like that anywhere else. I’m afraid you’ll show up in my nightmares.”

“Heh heh heh. You have quite a tongue on you too. I wonder whether you’ll still be able to wag it like that later. We’ll see.”

“There’s something I want to ask.”

“What?”

“Where is the Sichuan Divine Cult?”

“Hahaha. Do you truly expect me to tell you?”

“Good. It wouldn’t be any fun if you told me that easily. And don’t expect me to give you the first move.”

Jin Muryang’s figure shimmered.

In the next instant, he was directly in front of Hyeol Jingwi.

“Begin.”

The instant he said the word, Jin Muryang punched him under the chin.

CRAAACK—

Hyeol Jingwi’s body lifted off the ground.

Jin Muryang’s leg swept through a half-moon arc and slammed into his side.

WHUMP—!

CRASH, THUD, RATTLE—

JOLT—

After tumbling gracelessly across the ground, Hyeol Jingwi sprang back to his feet.

A thin line of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, but he didn’t appear badly hurt.

“Huh? You got back up from that.”

Jin Muryang stared at him in surprise, then rolled his shoulders and swung his arms around.

“Have I gotten weaker?”

Hyeol Jingwi laughed at his bewilderment.

“You hit fairly hard. That last one even rattled me a little.”

“What, were you born tough? Or is it a body-hardening art?”

“Both.”

Hyeol Jingwi’s figure blurred.

A moment later, he appeared right in front of Jin Muryang.

He copied Jin Muryang exactly, punching him under the chin.

CRAAACK—

Then his leg traced the same half-moon arc and smashed into Jin Muryang’s side.

WHUMP—!

CRASH, THUD, RATTLE—

Jin Muryang rolled across the ground just as Hyeol Jingwi had.

Unlike Hyeol Jingwi, however, he did not immediately leap back up.

“Hahaha. Well? Now you understand the difference between us.”

Apparently believing his own attack had been far more effective, Hyeol Jingwi laughed in satisfaction.

Jin Muryang slowly rose.

“I’m disappointed.”

“What?”

“I had such high expectations. I said I’m disappointed. Is this really all you’ve got?”

“What did you say?”

“The only reason I didn’t get up right away was because the disappointment hit me harder than your attack. Is that it? Don’t you have anything more exciting?”

Had Jin Muryang wounded his pride?

Hyeol Jingwi charged without another word.

PA-PAT—

CRAAACK—!

His fist slammed hard into Jin Muryang’s face.

At the same instant, fierce flames erupted from his fist.

“Blood-Flame Endless Fist!”

FWOOOOSH—

Crimson fire engulfed Jin Muryang in an instant.

And from within the rolling flames, Jin Muryang smiled.

A chill crawled over Hyeol Jingwi’s entire body.

KWAANG!

Jin Muryang stomped the ground.

The flames wrapped around him blasted away—

and Jin Muryang vanished with them.

Hyeol Jingwi was just about to turn his head and search for him when—

PFFFT—

He felt a sharp sting in his forearm.

Looking down, he saw that his sleeve had already been sliced open and blood was spreading across the fabric.

When he raised his head, Jin Muryang was standing there with a dagger in hand, smiling.

“Tell me where the Sichuan Divine Cult is. Do that, and I’ll make this less painful.”

Hyeol Jingwi ground his teeth.

“You think I would tell you that?”

“I’m telling you I’ll hurt you if you don’t.”

“Pain means nothing! For the sake of the Four Divine Demons, I would gladly endure any amount of it!”

At those words, Jin Muryang’s expression softened.

“Wow... That was actually kind of touching. Damn. Now you’ve put me in a difficult position.”

The man was willing to endure pain for his sake.

How was he supposed to torture someone like that?

Jin Muryang had never encountered such a bizarre situation before and genuinely had no idea what to do.

“Hey, hey. Let’s keep him alive if we can.”

“Yeah. Let’s spare him.”

Apparently Ye Yahyeon and Baek Ryeongso had heard Hyeol Jingwi as well.

Would he reveal the Sichuan Divine Cult’s location once he learned the truth?

Jin Muryang spoke to him.

“Don’t endure pain for us. If you really want to do something for us, just tell us where the Sichuan Divine Cult is.”

“What kind of bullshit are you spouting?!”

“I’m one of the Four Divine Demons. You’re acting like you’d do anything for me, so prove it. Where’s the Sichuan Divine Cult?”

“You bastard! How dare you impersonate the great and exalted Four Divine Demons! Unforgivable!”

Jin Muryang was speechless.

He was one of the Four Divine Demons, so he had said he was one of the Four Divine Demons.

Yet the man refused to believe him.

But killing someone who worshipped him felt wrong, and torturing him now felt strangely unpleasant.

“Damn it. You’re making this awkward. Seriously.”

Then a good idea occurred to him.

“If you know the Four Divine Demons so well, tell me about the Ghost-Annihilating Divine Demon.”

“Hmph! Open your ears and listen well! The Ghost-Annihilating Divine Demon is the god of assassins. His martial art is the Seven Kills of Yama Art! No one has ever seen how that martial art is executed or how its forms unfold. Do you know why? Because everyone who witnessed that magnificent art died!”

Jin Muryang sighed.

“This is driving me insane.”

The bastard was telling the truth.

No one who had seen his martial art had survived.

Even if Jin Muryang demonstrated it now, Hyeol Jingwi would have no way of knowing whether it really was the Seven Kills of Yama Art.

Jin Muryang vigorously scratched his head.

How the hell was he supposed to prove it?

Jeok Wigang, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.

“If the real Four Divine Demons appeared before you, how would you recognize them? None of you have ever seen them in person.”

Hyeol Jingwi snorted.

“I have no reason to answer your question.”

Jeok Wigang grinned and turned to Jin Muryang.

“Grab him.”

“What are you planning?”

“We’ll make the truth come out of his mouth.”

“Ah!”

Right.

There was sorcery.

Jin Muryang beamed at Hyeol Jingwi.

“Now you’re going to tell us everything you know.”

“Hmph! Try catching me before you run your mouth!”

PA-PAT—

WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP—

“URK!”

Jin Muryang appeared behind Hyeol Jingwi in an instant and sealed his pressure points.

“Subduing you was never difficult. I was just playing with you.”

Hyeol Jingwi stared at him in disbelief.

Jin Muryang turned to Jeok Wigang.

“Got him. But these people are seriously strong, Elder Brother. If it were anyone else, I’d probably believe their story too.”

Jeok Wigang nodded.

“Exactly. They’re no ordinary bunch. That just makes me even more curious.”

He immediately recited a mantra.

Hyeol Jingwi grimaced as a strange sensation suddenly seized his mouth.

“How can you tell whether someone is truly one of the Four Divine Demons?”

At Jeok Wigang’s question, Hyeol Jingwi’s mouth began moving on its own.

“Portraits of the Four Divine Demons are displayed throughout the Sichuan Divine Cult. We spend every waking moment looking upon their honored faces. How could we possibly fail to recognize them?”

Hyeol Jingwi’s eyes widened in horror.

His mouth was moving completely on its own—and worse, it was telling the truth.

He thrashed desperately, eyes bulging.

“So if you saw them in person, you’d recognize them?”

“I... suppose so?”

Hyeol Jingwi felt as though he was going mad.

Why was his mouth doing whatever it pleased?

“Hey. Go back to your real appearances.”

At Jeok Wigang’s words, Jin Muryang, Ye Yahyeon, and Baek Ryeongso nodded and sat cross-legged.

Their skeletal structures twisted.

Before long, all three began transforming into entirely different men.

The moment Hyeol Jingwi saw their changed appearances, he froze in shock.

The men from the portraits he had looked upon every single day were standing right before his eyes.

“Confirm whether they are the men in those portraits.”

At Jeok Wigang’s question, Hyeol Jingwi’s mouth opened.

“Yes! They are! They look exactly like the portraits!”

Jin Muryang frowned.

“Well? Believe us now? We really are the Four Divine Demons.”

Hyeol Jingwi’s mouth opened again.

“A-are you truly the Four Divine Demons?”

“I keep telling you we are. What kind of worshipper refuses to believe us even after meeting us in person?”

Hyeol Jingwi’s trembling gaze moved from one man to the next.

No matter how many times he looked, they were unquestionably the men in the portraits he had seen every day.

He couldn’t believe it.

He had always thought he could die without regret if he were granted even a single chance to see them.

And now three of the Four Divine Demons were standing before him.

Hyeol Jingwi kept staring at them, still unable to accept what he was seeing.

Jeok Wigang snorted softly and released the sorcery.

“Believe it or don’t. Do whatever you want now.”

Jin Muryang looked at him.

“Aren’t we going to their cult?”

“What for? It’s obvious they won’t believe you even if you show up in person. Actually... maybe I should just go there and blow the whole place away.”

All three men flinched at once.

“What? Y-you’re really going to destroy it?”

“If we leave them alone, who knows what they’ll do while using your names?”

“But... isn’t all this happening because they simply admire us too much?”

“Exactly. How am I supposed to beat people to death for liking us? I can’t do it.”

“Fine. Then you three stay here. I’ll go by myself.”

They didn’t like that either.

They were curious about the Sichuan Divine Cult too.

“No... We’ll come with you.”

Jeok Wigang chuckled at the conflicted expressions on the three Divine Demons’ faces.

“They don’t even recognize you when you show them your real faces. What exactly do you find so endearing about them?”

“It does hurt my feelings a little.”

At Jin Muryang’s words, Hyeol Jingwi abruptly threw himself flat on the ground and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“FOUR DIVINE DEMONS! DIVINE DEMONS BENEATH HEAVEN!”

The sudden thunderous cry made everyone jump and turn toward him.

“You scared the hell out of me!”

“What was that? Why all of a sudden?”