Chapter 142: A miracle happened in the Demon Cult (5)

The black smoke that was endlessly coming out from the Heavenly Demon's body…

The darkness continued to come out to the point that people couldn't help but question if there was an end to this darkness.

It also instilled fear in the hearts of those watching.

The Blood Cult.

They were astonished and scared at the fact that the Blood Cult was able to put so much of this dreadful thing inside the Heavenly Demon, the leader of the Demon Cult.

However, those emotions soon subsided.

Ruuuumble-

The sky roared once again.

No matter how much this darkness tried to dye the bright day with its color, no matter how much it fiercely aimed for the breaking formation…

Baaaaaang—!

A rose gold fiery thunderbolt fell down from the sky and completely burned up the darkness.

"This, this is a person's power?"

The Cleave Saint, one of the Martial Arts Alliance's top executives, was so focused on what was happening in front of him that he didn't even realize that his voice was shaking.

"I, it does seem that way, Senior Cleave Saint."

The Beggars' Gang's Elder Ho Song Yi barely managed to respond while stuttering.

"This must be young master Kim-nim's true strength-"

Elder Ho was blankly talking while his attention was completely focused on the fiery thunderbolt that was gobbling up the endlessly bursting darkness.

It was beautiful.

Originally, a thunderbolt was supposed to be something that was violent and unpredictable.

Fire was also violent and always on the attack, greedily burning everything up.

However, this fiery thunderbolt he was looking at was extremely beautiful.

Despite getting chills from its violent nature…

Despite being scared at its greed toward swallowing up this endless darkness…

It was phenomenal and so beautiful.

"Sage Demon-nim, people are approaching."

The Sage Demon slightly frowned after receiving the report from his subordinate.

"I thought I made it clear for nobody to approach?"

He had told everybody to not even come near this place just in case something happened.

"They are mainly commoners. The elderly and children."

The Sage Demon stopped scowling and let out a sigh.

"I see. Even I cannot take my eyes off of it so I'm sure it is the same for others. However, do not let them get any closer."

"Yes sir."

His subordinate left. The Sage Demon scoffed in disbelief after seeing that even his loyal subordinate barely managed to take his eyes off of the fiery thunderbolt.

'The Heavenly Demon said that young master Kim has not studied martial arts but has a different kind of power.'

For that power to be so extraordinary…

Fire and thunderbolt.

They were powers that had nature itself in them, but it was not nature.

This rose gold colored thunderbolt was not something that existed in nature.

This difference made it very clear that this was young master Kim's power.

"Ah."

A large amount of black smoke suddenly shot up from the Heavenly Demon's body.

It shot out endlessly as if it was a black imugi ascending to the sky.

That large amount of black smoke charged toward the formation.

There was only one phrase that came to mind while looking at that.

"The last struggle-"

And it looked like that last struggle was coming to an end as well.

Baaaaang—!

There was a loud explosion and a rose gold thunderbolt shot down from the sky once again, making the black smoke completely disappear.

Black smoke was no longer coming out of the Heavenly Demon's body.

The rose gold thunderbolt was subsiding.

Crack, crackle.

A rose gold light wrapped around young master Kim's body and fluctuated around him.

Everything was now silent.

However, nobody dared to make a move.

Crack.

Crack.

Crack!

The eight foundation stones all cracked and broke in half.

Pss-

The formation broke and the half-transparent barrier disappeared.

"It doesn't look like we will need a shield! We will just watch like this for a bit!"

The Sage Demon listened to the words of the dark blue eyes and blankly nodded his head.

He didn't even realize that Raon disappeared.

He was just astonished at the fact that the formation had disappeared but nobody had gotten hurt.

"Sage Demon. Snap back to your senses."

The Right Guard walked up and spoke to him.

"You know the important part starts now."

"Of course."

The Sage Demon snapped back to his senses.

'The first stage has ended.'

They would now enter the second stage.

This stage was more important and he needed to focus.

"I will stand guard."

"I will also stop people from approaching."

The Right Guard and the Sage Demon decided on their roles and looked at Cale and the Heavenly Demon with anxious eyes as they moved to fulfill their roles.

The formation was broken but Cale was still seated at the center of the round platform.

He did not pay any attention to the rose gold light wrapped around his body.

His hand wrapped tighter around the divine item from the Fire of Purification.

The heater was dyed red and was working stronger than ever before.

– You're okay, right?

Cale nodded his head at the cheapskate's question.

– I'm okay as well. There's still plenty remaining.

The combination of the divine item and the Fire of Destruction with seventy two percent of its seal removed was amazing.

Dead mana. Their ability to react to dead mana was quite strong.

The divine item seemed to treat dead mana as its sworn enemy.

"Hey."

Cale spoke to the Heavenly Demon.

"Lead the way."

The hand that was touching the Heavenly Demon's back… Cale closed his eyes and focused on the sensation in his hand.

He felt an aura different from the aura of the dead mana he had felt until now.

It was not unfamiliar.

It was the dark red aura that the Heavenly Demon used before.

– Here I go.

The rose gold light flowed down Cale's shoulder and arm and into his hand.

It then entered the Heavenly Demon's body.

Cale had his eyes closed but he could make out a line.

This line was made by the dark red aura that was wrapping around his rose gold light.

'Is this the meridian?'

Was this line the meridian where the internal ki supposedly flowed through?

Cale was curious for a bit but quickly stopped focusing on it.

'Shit.'

The Heavenly Demon's aura that was pulling his rose gold aura was weaker than he had expected.

Cale finally realized that the back that his hand was on was completely drenched. The body he was touching was extremely cold as well.

It seemed serious.

'He pushed himself too much.'

The Heavenly Demon seemed to have used more of his powers than expected.

It made sense since neither the Heavenly Demon nor Cale expected there to be so much dead mana inside his body.

It was also not regular dead mana but modified dead mana.

'Can I keep going?'

The Heavenly Demon's aura was so weak that Cale had to think about that.

The cheapskate chimed in at that moment.

– Cale, try putting more power into the divine item.

'The divine item?'

– It is the Fire of Purification. Since its true nature is based on purification, shouldn't it strengthen a tired body?

'Hooo.'

It sounded reasonable.

– And it is the aura of a god so I don't think it would be harmful to this Heavenly Demon kid. If it looks like it is going to be harmful, you can always withdraw it.

'Wow.

This sounded logical too.

It's rare to hear you saying such smart things.'

– Ahem. I am indeed a bit smart.

Cale immediately put more of the Fire of Destruction into the divine item.

Crackle. Crackle.

The divine item crackled.

Smoke started coming out of the now red heater.

It was red smoke.

The smoke that had been used to purify jiangshis in the past flowed up Cale's hand and headed toward his other hand.

"Mm."

– This is it!

Cale moved the red smoke toward the Heavenly Demon.

Finally, the red smoke entered into the Heavenly Demon's body.

Cale had his eyes closed but he felt as if he could see it.

He could feel the red aura move past the rose gold aura and seep into the Heavenly Demon's dark red aura.

It was at that moment.

"!"

Cale flinched.

– Huh?

The cheapskate sounded anxious as well.

The line that the dark red aura had been making…

The line he believed was the meridian suddenly started overflowing with strength.

To be more accurate, the line was getting clearer and more defined.

– I see!

The cheapskate gasped in admiration.

– There must have still been some dead mana inside this child's body! Even if he sent it all out, the dregs, the traces that it existed before remained inside the veins and other places of the body!

About 99.9 percent of the dead mana was released through the black smoke but the small traces still remained in the Heavenly Demon's body.

– That was why this child, who was already weak after using so much of his strength, could not use his powers properly!

– The dregs remained to block the path or make them smaller!

Furthermore, there were probably not many gaps for Cale's power to go through either.

– But the power of purification burned up all of those dregs and waste, allowing his body to be filled with strength again and function properly!

– Cale, this is great! I finally see a path!

The cheapskate was shouting with excitement before he suddenly stopped.

– Huh?

He then became anxious.

– Huh? Huh? T, this is not good!

Fuck!

Cale scowled.

– Why is it sucking out so much of your strength?!

Cale did not have the time to pay any attention to the cheapskate's anxious voice.

'What is going on all of a sudden?!'

The Heavenly Demon's body was fiercely pulling in the red smoke and rose gold aura.

No, it was basically sucking it out at this point.

'Holy crap!'

The problem was that Cale was the start of both of those powers.

– I didn't expect something like this!

'Me neither!'

Cale had not expected this either.

He didn't expect that the Heavenly Demon's body would suck out his aura so much.

However, he could not stop this.

The Heavenly Demon's body was shaking but he could feel warmth on his back.

Cale could see it clearly because his eyes were closed.

To be more accurate, he could feel it.

The way that the line was quickly spreading all over the Heavenly Demon's body meant that the meridians were getting healthier.

Cale felt as if he was charging down a hill at extreme speeds while on a carriage that could not be controlled.

That was the best comparison of how the Heavenly Demon's dark red aura was leading Cale's auras to all parts of his body.

Cale had to use more power the more detailed the meridians became, but…

He could not stop because it felt like he was going in the right direction.

'Control the speed a bit!'

He just wished that this guy would slow down a bit.

Unfortunately, the Heavenly Demon could not talk right now.

'I can't talk anymore either!'

Cale was in no condition to talk either.

It was because he also needed to use more focus and power as it continued.

'This is bad.'

Cale was slowly becoming more anxious.

He thought that it was worth trying but he felt as if he would cough up a lot of blood after this.

He had a terrible thought that a worse situation than when he used a significant amount of strength to purify Namgung Tae Wi was going to happen.

'Wait, if it is this hard purifying just the Heavenly Demon while protecting his dantian, how am I going to purify the other living jiangshis?'

He was about to have a headache but he couldn't even think about that.

'Mm!'

Cale's aura finally reached the Heavenly Demon's lower dantian.

If it was a line that he felt until this point, it was now a sphere of sorts.

However, the inside of that sphere was not smooth.

The moment he realized that this was the remaining dregs…

"!"

– Cale, be careful!

The Heavenly Demon's body pulled out more aura from Cale.

It then started to swallow the dregs inside the sphere.

– It seems like this child, the Heavenly Demon, can't stop it either!

Cale could feel that too.

It felt as if the Heavenly Demon was controlling the speed as much as possible.

However, his body was doing this out of instinct to survive.

The reason the Heavenly Demon's body was shaking was most likely because he was trying his best to control the speed.

The problem was that even that controlled speed was too fast.

No, the problem was that it was getting even faster!

'Fuck!'

The force that purified the lower dantian raised its head.

Cale felt as if he knew the direction the aura was headed toward.

'It must be to the heart!'

That was where the modified dead mana was first implanted and the source of how he became a living jiangshi.

The large aura changed direction to head toward its final enemy.

– Cale, you have to be careful! It is problematic if you use too much of your power but if things go wrong, this child's body might not be able to handle the strength of your aura!

– If things go wrong, this punk's body might explode!

– He might break down into pieces!

'Don't say such dreadful things!'

Cale wanted to shut the cheapskate's mouth up. However, he did not have the strength or the focus to do that right now.

He needed to focus on what was going on inside the Heavenly Demon's body right now.

'It's moving.'

The large aura finally headed toward the heart.

As that happened, the rose gold light and red smoke continued to endlessly be sucked into the Heavenly Demon's body.

A combination of immense auras that could not even compare to what was present when the black smoke was being purified earlier was heading toward the heart.

Cale felt as if he could see the heart that was dyed black and beating grotesquely.

That heart thumped strongly.

"Ugh!"

A groan came out of the Heavenly Demon's mouth for the first time.

– Cale, it seems to be its last struggle!

The heart shook in fear and thumped strongly to oppose the approaching aura, but…

– Kahahaha! This large aura is something that would make even the World Tree run away!

Similar to the cheapskate's crazy comment, this power was not something that would lose to such trivial struggle.

Cale was certain.

'This is going to succeed.'

The dantian and all of the meridians were purified cleanly and healthily.

He could also suppress this heart and purify it.

This experiment was a total success.

The results were clear.

However, Cale got scared for the first time in a long while.

'I should be okay, right?'

However, nobody answered that question.

-....

The cheapskate was silent and the strong aura showed no signs whatsoever of listening to its master's small concern.

The strong aura swarmed over the heart.

"Ugh!"

"Ugh!"

Cale and the Heavenly Demon… The two of them groaned at the same time.

Crack. Crack.

The ground started to crack with the two of them seated at the center.

The ground was made with the strongest stone that could be found in the Central Plains, however, it was cracking as if it was an egg.

The Heavenly Demon's body was shaking.

The heart was the body's center and its core.

The dead mana that had been there opposed this vehemently. It was as if it didn't want to disappear like this.

However, the rose gold light pushed down and suppressed the black aura.

The red smoke did not miss that opening and seeped inside it.

It moved in the direction the Heavenly Demon's dark red aura guided it through and swallowed up the black aura.

For both Cale and the Heavenly Demon…

This moment, every minute and every second felt ten times as long.

After some time passed like that…

"Ah."

The Heavenly Demon subconsciously gasped and opened his mouth.

"Mmph!"

He threw up some ash-colored liquid.

After vomiting the ash-colored liquid a few times, he slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his hands.

It was over.

He had survived.

No, in fact-

I've become healthier.'

The meridians throughout his body and his heart were beating.

The small amount of rose gold aura that remained in his heart was endlessly moving around his heart as if to protect it.

The Heavenly Demon urgently looked behind him after sensing that rose gold aura.

"Human!"

The moment he heard a child's shout…

The Heavenly Demon could see it.

He saw the body of the person who was so white and pale tilt to the side.

And that person's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears… All orifices of his face had dark red blood coming out of them.

He was especially coughing up a significant amount of blood from his mouth to the point that he could not even breathe properly.

"Kim Hae-il!"

The Heavenly Demon extended his hand toward the falling person.

The body he grabbed was extremely cold.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]