Chapter 139: Jaseung, Changes

Lee Jaseung’s techniques and movements were the same.

But the results were different.

Crack.

The head of the Eternal Life Buddha snapped to the side. Before the furious Golden Buddha could regain its stance, Lee Jaseung’s follow-up attack struck.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The crimson Asura dagger pierced the twisted side of its face again and again.

Lee Jaseung’s body spun like lightning, and this time he thrust the Dream Phantom dagger forward.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Where the Asura had pierced, the Dream Phantom now tore through, releasing icy blue frost.

The rapid strikes of heat and cold in succession made the Golden Buddha stagger.

The throwing dagger attacks that hadn’t worked before were now landing solidly.

Having reached a higher realm of martial arts, the flow of his Qi had become far smoother. Even as he pushed two entirely different Qi forces to their extremes, his internal flow carried the burden with ease.

Swoosh! Crack!

Lee Jaseung spun a full turn in midair and unleashed a merciless kick at the staggering Golden Buddha’s face.

Its jaw shattered, and the Golden Buddha slammed to the ground.

Lee Jaseung turned smoothly.

The four Buddhas charging from behind froze. From the beginning, they’d held only a single kind of emotion.

Rage, hatred, malice, and the will to kill.

But now, unbelievably, they felt something new.

Turbulence.

They were unsettled. That turmoil was turning into fear.

Behind Lee Jaseung, the Golden Buddha was rising again.

Ssssss.

Golden ripples surged around its face, and in an instant the shattered jaw was restored.

Even so, Lee Jaseung neither flinched nor raged. His lips simply curled upward in a cold smile.

Fwoooosh.

The Golden Buddha began releasing Demonic Qi. Taking its cue, the four Buddhas unleashed their Demonic Qi as well.

Until now neither the Golden Buddha nor the four others had shown any Demonic Qi.

Because it was the Eternal Life Buddha, the core of the Three Great Demon Protection Arts, it had been able to display overwhelming divine power without showing it.

Now the Eternal Life Buddha had begun to exhale that energy.

Lee Jaseung answered their change.

Swooooosh!

From his body burst an aura that seemed like it would explode.

Ordinarily, Demonic martial arts stood higher than Orthodox martial arts. With equal skill, Demonic martial arts had the advantage.

That was also why the Unorthodox Faction had never fully overcome the Demonic Cult. It was a limit of their nature.

But now, the aura Lee Jaseung radiated overwhelmed their Demonic Qi. Even though they had unsealed their power, the Golden Buddha and the four others didn’t dare rush him.

It was Lee Jaseung who moved first.

Leaving the Golden Buddha behind, he flew through the air and closed on the White Buddha in an instant.

Dodging its attack lightly, he drove his fist into it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The repeated shocks made the White Buddha stagger, its head whipping side to side. Lee Jaseung’s arm drove under its armpit. Before it could react, he unleashed a grappling technique.

Whirl. Slam!

The White Buddha soared helplessly through the air and crashed into the ground. Normally it would’ve risen quickly, but this time it stayed down, stunned.

The attack didn’t end there.

Lee Jaseung yanked its arm. As he gritted his teeth and poured on strength—

Crack!

The White Buddha’s arm tore off.

“Graaaah!”

It howled, not in pain but in pure fury.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Lee Jaseung stomped its face mercilessly until it was crushed beyond recognition.

Watching this, the Golden Buddha and the remaining three exuded an even stronger Demonic Qi.

Thud.

Lee Jaseung tossed the severed arm before the Golden Buddha.

“Go on, bring it back to life.”

The instant golden light flared from its eyes, Lee Jaseung’s body shot forward toward the Golden Buddha.

Crash!

His knee smashed into its face.

The Golden Buddha toppled backward. His speed and power overwhelmed it.

The golden radiance flowing to the White Buddha returned into its body, repairing the face that had just been caved in.

Perched on top of it, Lee Jaseung looked down with cold eyes and said,

“Yeah, you should keep that for yourself.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

* * *

“Are you ready?”

In the darkness, Jang Wonso spoke. His eyes gleamed with ecstasy.

Before him stood Jo Yehyang, naked, her body covered in strange patterns, dozens of needles stuck into her.

“Yes, I am ready.”

“Receiving the innate true Qi of the Myriad Yin Orb will bring you unbearable pain. But once the great method is complete, you will be the greatest under heaven.”

“For the great cause, I gladly give this body.”

Her face shone with loyalty. She had clearly accepted sacrifice. She would give her life for Jang Wonso, the man who had raised her and trusted her.

She was noble, but Jang Wonso was not.

Once she absorbed the innate Qi of the Myriad Yin Orb, she would indeed become the strongest master alive.

He had already taught her martial arts rooted in Yin energy. The more Yin Qi one held, the more terrifying their power became.

But there was something she didn’t know.

When the method was complete, she would lose her reason. She would become an empty shell that could make no rational decision, nothing but a puppet obeying Jang Wonso’s every command.

Jang Wonso was not a man to leave a subordinate with greater martial power than him free just because of loyalty.

A wicked smile twisted his lips.

Once the ritual ended, he would use her to annihilate every power behind the scenes. He had prepared for this day for years, even allying with the Demonic Cult.

‘They will pay for treating me like a puppet.’

And then he would become the true ruler of the Orthodox Faction’s Jianghu.

Just then, a subordinate shouted from outside. His voice carried an urgency strong enough to shatter Jang Wonso’s dreams.

“There is a huge problem!”

* * *

Jang Wonso stared at the temple hall in horror.

“Uuuugh.”

A sound spilled from him that was neither scream nor sigh.

Before his eyes unfolded a sight he had never imagined.

The sphere was shattered, fragments strewn everywhere. The Golden Buddha and the other four lay wrecked, broken across the floor.

He collapsed on the spot.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

He couldn’t believe it. Seven long years of preparation, all destroyed. He could only pray this was a dream.

He had left for only the briefest time, to prepare Jo Yehyang for the ritual.

His eyes turned bloodshot, killing intent bursting from him.

In a voice darker than that aura, he spoke.

“You told me this great method could never be broken, didn’t you?”

His tone was calm. At the peak of fury, his emotions had gone cold.

Standing several steps behind him was the Elder Demon Lord. He too stared at the ruined hall in shock.

“Did your Cult Leader come and do this?”

The question was only natural. The Elder Demon Lord had said only the Leader of the Asura Demon Sect could break this method.

The Elder Demon Lord could not answer. Perhaps it really was possible that happened.

But it wasn’t the Leader. Beyond lacking a reason to do so…

“It wasn’t our Leader.”

If it had been, the Buddhas wouldn’t have needed to be destroyed. The Leader could’ve stopped them without damage. There was no reason to ruin the Demonic Cult’s precious great method.

The Elder Demon Lord stepped into the hall and examined the Golden Buddha. At what he saw, he gasped.

“How could this be?”

The Golden Buddha was utterly ruined. Its face was smashed beyond recognition, its body punctured with dozens of wounds. Like the shredded corpse of a man stabbed to death.

Alright, fine. Everything is fine and all! But then why!

“Why hasn’t it regenerated?”

He couldn’t understand. The Golden Buddha had always regenerated. Even if its head was severed or its body crushed, it came back at once. That was why it was called the Eternal Life Buddha.

“Just why?”

The Eternal Life Buddha, known to be breakable only by the Cult Leader, had been destroyed.

The Elder Demon Lord had reasons to ally with Jang Wonso. First, he desperately wanted the item Jang Wonso had offered as a condition. Even if this incident created political burdens, he had to have it.

Second, there had been a way to deal with the master Jang Wonso’s great method would produce. Within the Demonic Cult, existed Demonic arts that countered those based purely on Yin. The more Yin Qi, the stronger they became. And so the woman created by this method would not have been invincible.

That was why Jang Wonso was worth using.

But someone had ruined it all.

“This wasn’t broken by normal means.”

“If not normal, then how?”

“This… was smashed apart by overwhelming force. The method was completely ignored.”

The heart and head of the Eternal Life Buddha had been melted. Not even searing heat could melt it.

But when Lee Jaseung alternated extreme cold and extreme heat, the statue weakened rapidly, until it was destroyed beyond the power of regeneration.

Hundreds of years worth of opposing Qi, Yama’s Dagger Arts, and his close combat martial arts on top of it. No wonder the Eternal Life Buddha couldn’t withstand it.

The other four Buddhas were no different. Their forms were so ruined they could hardly be identified.

Lee Jaseung had utterly annihilated them, beaten them so thoroughly that his earlier losses were erased completely.

Jang Wonso trembled with rage, ready to explode. Years of effort were gone. He wanted nothing more than to smash his fist into the Elder Demon Lord’s face a hundred times over.

But the man was Vice Leader of the Demonic Cult. Doing that would end his own life. No matter the fury, he had to stay composed.

Grinding his teeth, Jang Wonso said,

“How will you take responsibility for this?”

The Elder Demon Lord had no answer. Even if he had ten mouths, he wouldn’t have been able to explain.

Jang Wonso roared with venom.

“Whoever it was, I’ll tear that bastard to pieces!”

Only his furious cry echoed through the temple hall.