So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon?

Chapter 347 : Chaos (1)

The moment Il-mok's arrogant reply left his lips, Abbess Jinqing's expression twisted and she issued the command."Exterminate!"

The forty-eight nuns surrounding Il-mok moved in perfect unison. Their Qi wove and shifted around him as they fell into Formation, and the condensed pressure bore down on Il-mok from all sides.

"Haaah!"

"Offer up your head, you demon filth!"

Several nuns positioned at key points of the Formation charged forward and swung their swords at him, while the nuns directly behind them thrust spears through the gaps to cover their blind spots perfectly.

Il-mok simply let the crushing pressure of the Formation wash over him and moved with unhurried calm as he deflected the nuns' assault.

'Just as I thought; compared to the Vajra Lama Formation, this is child's play.'

The internal energy of the women holding this Formation fell short of that of the lamas, who had cultivated their power through the Art of Yin-Yang Harmony. And the Formation itself was short on numbers too, with forty-eight against the Vajra Lama Formation's seventy-two.

That said, it wasn't so flimsy that he could just smash through it in one go.

When he was trapped in the Vajra Lama Formation, he was together with his allies, and among those allies was Hyeokryeon Cheon-gang, who had reached the Realm of Truth.

Unlike that time, he now had to weather the Formation's full force by himself, which made his current situation not that easy.

Even so, Il-mok was entirely unshaken.

He was certain that he could break the Demon-Exterminating Tiger Subduing Formation all by himself.

It wasn't just because his skills had grown since then. That confidence came from having survived the Vajra Lama Formation once before.

‘At the end of the day, a human is still just a human.'

When you have forty-eight different people trying to move in perfect harmony, it's only a matter of time before someone slips up and makes a fatal mistake.

And on top of that, with forty-eight different people all at forty-eight different levels, there had to be a weak link somewhere.

Il-mok held firm against the pressure bearing down on him and kept moving, darting and slashing in every direction. Part of it was to slip through the nuns' relentless attacks, but the bigger reason was to force the Formation to react and shift.

Every time he moved, the nuns composing the Demon-Exterminating Tiger Subduing Formation had no choice but to chase after him and reposition.

'I just need to find the one who reacts the slowest.'

That would be the crack in the Formation.

As he kept moving with watchful eyes scanning every angle, his gaze briefly met Abbess Jinqing who stood firm at the rear.

Even caged inside the Formation, Il-mok looked completely unrattled, and for some reason, that look sent a chill down Abbess Jinqing's spine.

'Did he really fight his way out of the Potala Palace's Vajra Lama Formation?'

She had written Il-mok's words off as bluster, or maybe the kind of nonsense someone spouts just to get a rise out of their opponent. Because if he had actually survived the Vajra Lama Formation of the Potala Palace, there was simply no way he'd still be breathing.

‘Right. It's just bravado. What could a lowly demon possibly know of our Emei Sect's Demon-Exterminating Tiger Subduing Formation?’

She forced the unease down, but a nagging regret still gnawed at her.

‘I should have called the secular disciples from the start.’

Her original plan had been to strike Maitreya Luminous Cult with the Emei Sect's forces alone, then mop up the survivors using the secular disciples and the smaller sects that had fallen under Emei's banner. She had assumed that a misfit like the Maitreya Luminous Cult openly defying Emei head-on was simply out of the question.

With that assumption in mind, she had expected them to run, which was exactly why she'd led only Emei's direct disciples here for what amounted to a surprise attack.

‘Enough. Stop getting distracted.’

She gave herself a sharp mental rebuke and shook her head to chase the dark thoughts away.

‘The Demon-Exterminating Tiger Subduing Formation will not fail!’

She'd managed to wrangle her thoughts back under control, but her back was already cold and damp with sweat.

***

While Il-mok was holding his own against the Demon-Exterminating Tiger Subduing Formation alone, the rest of the group left at the rear had also clashed with the Emei nuns.

"Fist Phoenix! Stand down now and I'll let you walk away with your life!"

The Emei Sect’s Elder shouted as she threw a punch, and Hwangbo Yeon met it head-on.

"How could anyone who calls themselves righteous turn a blind eye to evil!"

"Watch your mouth. How dare you call our Emei Sect evil!"

The old nun's face twisted into something almost feral as she unleashed the Tiger-Subduing Vajra Fist in full force.

She had been assigned to deal with Hwangbo Yeon from the start. The Emei Sect had fought in the final battle against the Blood Cult, so they had a decent read on the one they called Fist Phoenix.

That was why Abbess Jinqing had handed Hwangbo Yeon off to this Elder, who had already reached the Supreme Peak Realm, with the order not to kill her.

So while Hwangbo Yeon and one of Emei's finest traded blows in their corner of the battlefield in what could barely be called a duel rather than a death match, a real life-or-death fighting was happening right next to them.

Il-mok had cut down well over a dozen nuns in an instant before getting caught up in the forty-eight-strong Demon-Exterminating Tiger Subduing Formation, but that still left roughly half the nuns free.

And true to Emei's reputation as one of the great Orthodox Faction’s sects, each and every one of those women was at least First Rate, with more than half having reached the Peak Realm.

On top of that, Maitreya Luminous Cult's fighters were forced to hide their Demonic Arts as they fought, which left them barely keeping their heads above water.

Except for three of them.

Ouyang Mun's blindingly fast saber cleanly carved through the air, producing a sickeningly crisp slicing noise as a nun’s head flew into the air.

The nun who had just watched her junior's head get lopped off came flying at him with murder in her eyes.

The sword she swung at him crackled with Sword Qi, but Ouyang Mun sidestepped it without much trouble and opened a gash across her ribs in the same motion.

He'd spent his days in Lanzhou in relative peace, but he hadn't stopped training. He was a man whose talent had made even Jin Hayeon jealous back in their days at the Hall of the Demonic Way, and somewhere along the way, he had broken through the Extremity stage.

Still, Ouyang Mun didn't chalk it up to talent alone.

‘Thank you, Wifey.’

He believed with his whole heart that he owed all of it to Dam Bin, now his wife.

And it wasn't just because she had already conquered the Extremity stage and passed down her wisdom to him.

'I promise I'll make it back home alive. Just hold on a little longer for me, Wifey!'

After getting married and having a kid, the feelings of heavy responsibility and peaceful stability completely anchored his mind and brought balance to emotions that had always been at the mercy of his Demonic Art.

That's right; fueled by his overwhelming love for his wife and child, Ouyang Mun had literally been reborn.

Or, at the very least, he was entirely convinced he had been.

"It is truly a pity that all of you ladies have spent your whole lives entirely alone without ever experiencing the majestic power of true love!"

He was a man so drunk on the wonders of romance that he completely lacked the self-awareness not to preach about marriage to a mob of celibate Buddhist nuns.

(TL Note: Ouyang Mun you insane bastard, lul)

"You little—!"

"How dare you insult us like that!"

"Someone cut that filthy lecher down right now!!"

Grossly misinterpreting his wholesome advice as targeted harassment, the Emei nuns charged at him with literal murder in their eyes.

"Whoa, hold on! I'm already a happily married man! You ladies need to go find yourselves some other nice gentlemen to chase!"

"Why, you—!"

"I swear to Buddha I'm going to rip that bastard's tongue straight out of his mouth!!"

Facing a tidal wave of attacks from the enraged nuns, Ouyang Mun's footwork quickly started to get messy. Even having broken through the Extremity stage, he still had to keep his Demonic Art hidden, so his movements were bound to get muddled.

He was pushed into a corner before long, and as he was on the verge of unleashing the Phantom Flash Demonic Saber, a sound cut through the chaos.

Appearing out of nowhere, Jin Hayeon brutally slammed her palm on the side of a nun who had been about to drive her spear through Ouyang Mun.

"Shut your mouth and focus on fighting."

She shot Ouyang Mun a cold glare as she pulled him out of trouble, then quickly got her hands moving again.

To be perfectly honest, she couldn't care less if Ouyang Mun dropped dead right here, but there was no way she'd let Dam Bin become a widow. Not after Dam Bin had taught her so much back when she was still lacking.

For a short while, she covered Ouyang Mun's blind spots and shoved back the swarming Emei nuns. Once she confirmed that he had regained his footing and wasn't going to instantly die, she decisively launched herself into somewhere else.

She ruthlessly smashed the spine of a nun trying to flank Ju Seo-yeon, instantly freezing the woman solid using the bone-piercing Yin Qi of her White Hand Demonic Art.

"Senior Hayeon!!"

Ju Seo-yeon looked up at her with shining eyes, and Jin Hayeon snapped back without so much as a glance.

"Focus!"

Acting as though her job here was completely done, Jin Hayeon instantly blasted off to go save another struggling cultist.

"She's just so cool..."

Right as Ju Seo-yeon stood there utterly mesmerized by her senior's aloof and haughty exit, an Emei disciple thrust a spearhead straight at her face.

The side effect of the Mad Spirit Wind Demon Spear she'd trained in was a tendency to lose focus, and the closer Ju Seo-yeon got to the Extremity stage, the worse Jin Hayeon's proud bearing hit her.

But by some miracle, the horrific tragedy of Ju Seo-yeon getting her face skewered like a kebab did not come to pass.

It was because an arrow flying in from somewhere had pierced the forehead of the nun who was thrusting the spear.

"..."

Even as she let out a quiet sigh of relief, Jeong Hyeon didn't stop moving her feet for a single second.

Snatching a fresh arrow from the quiver strapped to her thigh, she seamlessly nocked it and drew her bowstring, taking aim at another cultist in danger.

The arrow she loosed skimmed past her own comrades and arrowed toward an Emei nun. The nun was skilled enough to just barely whip her sword around in time to deflect it, but the look on her face wasn't exactly relieved.

"Ugh."                                 

The reason she groaned was that the split-second distraction of deflecting the arrow gave the cultist she was fighting enough time to recover his balance and launch a brutal counterattack.

For a good while after that, Jeong Hyeon acted as an absolute menace and kept firing arrow after arrow to constantly save her struggling allies.

"I'm going to kill that little bitch first!!"

Realizing that the enemy archer was the biggest thorn in their side, an Emei’s Elder violently batted away the cultist in front of her and launched herself into the air using her lightness skill.

Arrows came at her in rapid succession the moment she was airborne.

But the Elder was a master in her own right; she easily swatted Jeong Hyeon's arrows out of the sky with her blade.

Yet, right at the exact moment the old nun's boots were about to touch the dirt—

A massive iron-like short spear arrow came hurtling at her.

"Ugh..."

The Elder barely managed to block the bolt, and a thin trickle of blood seeped from the corner of the gritting nun's mouth.

But with bloodlust burning in her eyes, the Elder paid the pain no mind and launched herself at Jeong Hyeon again.

Jeong Hyeon broke into movements to put distance between them while loosing arrows at the Elder the whole time as she fell back.

The chase went on for a stretch.

"You little bitch!!"

The moment the furious Emei Elder screamed, another arrow from Jeong Hyeon came streaking in.

By now, the Elder had somewhat adjusted to the rhythm of those arrows, so instead of batting it aside, she tried to dodge it with the minimum movement possible in order to close the distance to the archer.

"Hmph."

She stepped to the side with a confident snort, and then her eyes went wide.

The arrow she thought she'd dodged had curved and buried itself in her side.

"How... did... "

The nun coughed up a mouthful of blood as the arrow punched through her organs, and before she could process what had happened—

Jeong Hyeon's next arrow punched clean through the elder's forehead.

With the Elder who had been gunning for her dealt with on her own, Jeong Hyeon finally let out the groan she'd been holding back.

"Ngh..."

She was still a long way from reaching Transcendence, which meant every time she forced an arrow to change course, the strain on her mind was immense.

Throbbing pain pressed in on her temples, and she pressed the heel of her right hand against the side of her head as she lifted her gaze to scan the battlefield.

She knew she could never forgive herself if one of her comrades died just because she took a break over a stupid headache.

"..."

By some miracle, the defensive line hadn't crumbled while she was busy getting chased by that crazed Elder.

"The power of love is mighty!!"

Ouyang Mun was still running his mouth and drawing the aggro of the nuns, while Jin Hayeon was trading blows with the most powerful nun of the bunch.

The occasional flash of Sword Force wreathing her blade made it clear this woman was a seasoned expert at the Supreme Peak Realm.

Impressive as it was that Jin Hayeon was going toe-to-toe with that exceptional Elder while holding back her real strength, the problem was that with Jin Hayeon tied up, the others were slowly starting to get pushed back.

".... Okay."

Desperately trying to breathe through the blinding headache, Jeong Hyeon nocked another arrow and lined up her sights.

Right at the exact split second she was about to let the bowstring slip from her fingers.

An earth-shattering explosion erupted from the center of the Demon-Exterminating Tiger-Subduing Formation where Il-mok was trapped.

A tremendous explosion tore out from the direction of the Demon-Exterminating Tiger Subduing Formation, where Il-mok was being held.