Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1366. Proving (1)

“Uwaaaaaaah?!”

Chang Piljae shielded his head while rolling around in the dirt.

The shockwaves from the explosions threatened to rip out his eardrums. At the same time, his innards tumbled while his head grew numb from the loud buzzing.

This is f*cking insane!

The world tumbled and messily distorted in his view.

Chang Piljae was also someone who lived in a not-ordinary world. Some might say he resided in the hidden shadows of the surface world. His job was all about risking his life to extract information. A life of constant and fierce struggle!

But this development easily exceeded his paygrade. And then some!

Crazy sons of b*tches?! We are in the middle of a public road, goddamn it!

His spinning view caught the sights of black smoke and billowing flames. They weren’t shooting some action movie or something here, so how?! Who could’ve imagined that they would see such a spectacle in reality?

Despite tumbling around on the hard, cold ground, Chang Piljae didn’t feel any pain. But that was how shocked and flustered he was by this situation.

What about the aftermath? Could the ones involved handle the blowback from unleashing a torrent of anti-tank missiles in the middle of China?

Maybe they did this because this was China? Even if that was true...!

Even if China was incomparably better at controlling its masses than, say, South Korea, could it perfectly suppress its citizens? Especially in an era like this? That didn’t seem likely.

In that case, what was this?

Did they really determine that they must eliminate Kang Jin-Ho despite the risks?

Seriously?!

Craaack!

Chang Piljae felt one of his bones break just then. He couldn’t help but wonder if any bones in his body were still in one piece after going through so much.

“Urgh...!”

Chang Piljae supported his body with both hands while trying to get up. Although he’d love nothing more than a good lie-down, insisting on staying on the ground could really cost him his life.

When he finally forced his creaking body to stand, though... The sight greeting him was a devastated road.

“Huh...”

A stunned gasp left his lips. Was this a nightmare or reality? He couldn’t tell at all. Then again, he hadn’t been able to do that for a while now, so...

“Assembly Master!”

Chang Piljae sobered up from his stupefaction when Lee Hyeon-Su’s loud yell registered in his hearing.

...! Right, Mister Kang is in there!

Only then did Chang Piljae remember that Kang Jin-Ho was trapped inside all those explosions.

No, hang on. That’s not true anymore.

Those missiles could rip through even the armor of tanks. In that case, how could a flesh-and-blood human being survive in that maelstrom of flames and destruction?

Even if Kang Jin-Ho was a powerful martial artist, there was simply no... 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Before Chang Piljae could finish his thought, powerful gusts of wind blew in, and the dark flames burning like gates of Hell slowly receded.

“...?!”

Chang Piljae’s eyes opened super-wide. That was because Kang Jin-Ho was still standing tall on the road where flames still raged.

A-any injuries? Nothing? B-but, how...?

Kang Jin-Ho slowly lowered his arms from his face, then casually killed the flames clinging to his body.

Chang Piljae could not close his agape mouth. How did this make any sense?

How could a... a human survive all those explosions? Even if Kang Jin-Ho was Korea’s strongest martial artist! Even if he was closer to a bona fide monster than an actual human being! That level of firepower should have been enough to destroy most monsters!

But that man survived the attack with his bare body?! As if nothing had happened here?

Even the Blood Demon stared at Kang Jin-Ho in sheer shock, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.

Ra-tatatatata!

That was when five attack helicopters broke through the darkness of the night and entered the scene. The gusts of winds generated by their rotors angrily swept the surroundings.

What the hell...?

Chang Piljae had a hunch that he’d never forget this scene for the rest of his life.

A man stood all alone in the middle of the dark road. And then, there were five helicopters hovering above, as if to threaten this man.

Yup. I have never seen anything as remarkable as this. Not even in big-budget movies!

This spectacle was so memorable that he briefly forgot what was happening here.

“Aren’t you a human being, too...?”

Those words didn’t come out of Chang Piljae’s mouth. No, they came from the agape mouth of the Blood Demon.

“But, it... Uh... Mm.”

The Blood Demon spat out a loud groan.

“The Heavenly Beginning, the Crimson End... I always thought it’s just some cliched nonsense...”

Honestly? He was in shock and awe.

He knew that helicopters wouldn’t be enough to kill Kang Jin-Ho. The rockets these vehicles came equipped with boasted an overwhelmingly superior destructive power than firearms, but they were much slower than bullets.

Kang Jin-Ho was someone who could spot incoming bullets and dodge them. In that case, would it matter how many missiles were fired when they couldn’t even hit their targets?

However, as long as they could hit...!

That should be enough to kill Kang Jin-Ho. As long as he was hit somehow!

That was what the Blood Demon thought, but this situation demonstrated how painfully wrong his calculations were.

Well, he sure is a damn monster.

The Blood Demon sensed cold sweat caking his palms.

“...This is why I didn’t want to come here in the first place.”

While muttering that, the Blood Demon licked his lips.

Here was an opponent, no, a monster, the likes of which he had never fought before. That man was the legend of the demon cult, the one he heard about so much that it now felt like they were long-lost friends or some such!

Tap, tap...

Kang Jin-Ho finished killing off the bits of flames burning on his shoulder, then shoved his hands inside his pocket to pull out a packet of cigarettes. His expression seemed so indifferent just then.

What? In this situation?

A hint of fluster spread across the Blood Demon’s face.

However, Kang Jin-Ho still mouthed the cigarette and lit it up as if nothing important was going on here. He even leisurely puffed away the unhealthy smoke, too!

“Fuu-woo...”

The smoke escaping him along with a soft grunt quickly scattered from the winds generated by the rotors. Despite the helicopters noisily hovering above, Kang Jin-Ho’s attention was still fixed on the Blood Demon.

His voice cut through the noise to reach the Blood Demon’s hearing.

“You’ve done something rather amusing.”

“...I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it.”

The Blood Demon’s tongue, which had always been hyperactive, suddenly felt stiff. Unmoving. He didn’t want to admit this, but the Blood Demon was in a panic mode right now.

Kang Jin-Ho continued to mutter indifferently. “Now that I think about it, your lot used to do this back in the day, too. If it was for your survival, you didn’t even hesitate using various poisons and even artillery.”

The Blood Demon’s expression crumpled. “Why bring that up now? Are you going to accuse me of being cowardly?”

“...”

“You don’t know enough to run your mouth off as you please, mister. For us, nothing matters more than surviving. We don’t care how we do it as long as we do it.”

“I never thought of those methods as cowardly, though?”

Kang Jin-Ho deeply sucked in the cigarette smoke, then smirked softly.

The Blood Mara Cult’s mentality didn’t differ too much from Kang Jin-Ho’s back then. He, too, knew how stupid it was to bring up cowardice and whatnot while fighting enemies to death.

What he wanted to say was something else.

“But let me point out a contradiction in your statement,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“...Really now?”

“Yeah. If you had been serious about surviving...”

The corners of Kang Jin-Ho’s lips curled up to reveal his white fangs. Even the Blood Demon stumbled back reflexively at that chilling smirk reminiscent of an apex predator.

“...You shouldn’t have appeared before me.”

His Crimson Destiny abruptly tore through the air.

Paaaaaaaahang!

As the ear-shredding noise ripped through the air, demonic qi extending from the sword instantly reached one of the helicopters.

Ka-gagagagak!

That violent noise, akin to ripping metal apart! It was obvious where it had come from. The helicopter, now ripped apart exactly in half, lost its ability to stay in the air and crashed to the ground. At the same time, Kang Jin-Ho made another move.

Seemingly assimilating with the darkness itself, Kang Jin-Ho’s figure dashed toward the Blood Demon. He was so fast that, for a moment there, it was as if his body had stretched like a string.

“Stop him!”

The pair of dark shadows on the Blood Demon’s left and right rapidly rose back up before blocking Kang Jin-Ho’s path. The Dark Jiangshis ferociously swiped at him with their crimson claws.

However, never mind slowing down, Kang Jin-Ho grinned even more happily away while gripping his sword tightly. It was as if he was enjoying himself too much right now!

Slice!

...And then, the Crimson Destiny clad in demonic qi proceeded to cut down everything in the world. Whether that was metal, humans, or monsters people thought no longer existed in the modern era...

The Crimson Destiny and Azuremourne didn’t discriminate and cut, tore, and split everything apart!

As the sharp whistling noises resounded, the two treasure blades chopped and dismembered the Dark Jiangshis standing in Kang Jin-Ho’s way. As if that wasn’t enough to satisfy him, he kept slashing and cutting with his weapons.

After turning the Dark Jiangshis into chunks of meat, Kang Jin-Ho created a powerful gust of wind with the flat side of his blades and blew away the chunks.

Tumble, plop!

The chunks landed on the ground and writhed away. However, the attacks this time seemed effective, judging from the Jiangshis not recovering like before.

The Blood Demon’s expression fell. Even though those creatures should be tougher than reinforced steel...!

A Dark Jiangshi’s power was already a proven quantity. Its toughness easily exceeded average reinforced steel, yet before Kang Jin-Ho’s swords, it was worse than a piece of paper!

No wonder the Blood Demon’s expression had stiffened so much. And it stiffened even more when Kang Jin-Ho, now done with eliminating the Dark Jiangshis, began walking toward him. That creepy smile was still etched on Kang Jin-Ho’s face.

Ba-dump!

The Blood Demon urgently pressed his chest down.

Was this fear? Now there was an unfamiliar emotion to him. He had exorcised all emotions from himself, after all.

But Kang Jin-Ho’s existence was more than enough to recall the long-forgotten emotion called fear in the Blood Demon.

The eyes of the Blood Demon quickly grew bloodshot.

“Those were amusing toys, but...”

Creaaaak...!

Kang Jin-Ho leisurely closed the distance, his Crimson Destiny scraping against the ground.

“But I’ve dealt with such things plenty of times before.”

For the Blood Demon, this would be his first time fighting Kang Jin-Ho. However, Kang Jin-Ho had fought the Blood Cult several times in the past.

The Blood Cult relied on bizarre creatures and illusions that messed with the victims’ minds.

Funnily enough, though, countering these tricks was surprisingly straight-forward. One only had to rely on their overwhelming brute force to crush everything!

If one slash wasn’t enough to keep the enemies down, all Kang Jin-Ho had to do was cut them down the second time. However, if the second time was still not enough... Just cut them down thousands of times!

Kang Jin-Ho cocked his head. “Do you have anything else up your sleeve?”

“...!”

No hints of a smile remained on the Blood Demon’s face now.

“We must be wary of the demon cult. It might be nothing but an organization of trash right now, but the descent of their demonic master will lead the cult to its former glory...”

The Blood Demon muttered to himself before abruptly rubbing his face.

“Damn. And I thought that warning was nothing more than needless worries of old farts.”

But the existence before his eyes amply proved that their warning was right on the money.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t respond and kept closing the distance, but the Blood Demon still asked anyway, as if he was never interested in getting permission.

“What are you planning to do in the current era?”

Kang Jin-Ho’s steps slowed down a tad.

The Blood Demon theatrically spread his arms wide. “Do you see?”

“...?”

“This is the era we live in now. No matter how strong you think you are, fighting against an entire country? That’s impossible. Martial arts are simply too inadequate to win against the relentless march of science. But you... Why do you and your group still persist with mastering martial arts in this day and age? And even try to go against the country?”

Sincerity was evident in the Blood Demon’s voice just then. He wasn’t trying to buy time here. No, he genuinely wanted to hear Kang Jin-Ho’s thoughts regarding this quandary. Unfortunately for him, however...

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t have any clever things to say to him.

“So what?”

“I’m... sorry? What?”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked his brow. “What does that have to do with me?”

“...?” The Blood Demon’s eyes powerfully quaked.

“Stop deluding yourself. I have zero interest in things like that,” said Kang Jin-Ho. “Eras flow along on their own. I’m not some fated saint who will carry the era on his shoulders. And I’m not a leader who will build a new future for martial artists. I’m just a man who follows a simple set of rules.”

Creeeaaaak...!

Kang Jin-Ho’s swords continued to scrape against the ground. As if he was about to pass judgment!

“And one of those rules is... Anyone who dares to attack me will die.”

Kang Jin-Ho’s smirk deepened.

“It’s simple, isn’t it?”

“...!”

The Blood Demon’s expression stiffened like a stone statue’s. He suddenly had a hunch that maybe he and everyone else had made terrible mistakes when assessing who Kang Jin-Ho was!

“Remember that. Because that’s the reason for your death today.”

That was when pitch-black demonic qi gushed out from the ground below Kang Jin-Ho’s feet. It soon enveloped his entire body, and he pounced on the Blood Demon like the creature from the netherworld.