Chapter 87: Reversed (逆) Swastika (卍)
Judging by the internal energy he possessed, Yul Han should not have felt cold even if he wandered the Northern Sea half-naked, yet he was sitting close to a campfire, warming himself.
Profound Demon approached him and bowed his head.
“Thank you, Vice Cult Leader.”
Yul Han looked quietly at Profound Demon with red eyes, then nodded.
“It seems you’ve made up your mind. I will support Profound Demon’s challenge.”
With those words, the Vice Cult Leader’s gaze returned to normal.
After using Ghost Eyes to confirm whether Profound Demon’s words were true or false, it naturally disappeared.
‘Complete mastery!’
Realizing the Vice Cult Leader’s condition, Profound Demon’s expression grew heavy.
He had understood that Ghost Eyes now activated not by deliberate intent, but rely from the thought, ‘Is this the truth?’
If the control was that natural, Profound Demon believed the Vice Cult Leader himself was probably unaware of it.
To reach that level only days after obtaining Ghost Eyes was sothing that could not be explained by normal ans.
In the end, it ant that it was connected to the face of the Blood Shadow Demon Venerable that Profound Demon had briefly seen when the Vice Cult Leader was unconscious.
‘If the Founding Ancestor’s will truly reached the Vice Cult Leader… then why? Why him?’
To be honest, Profound Demon had not accepted the Vice Cult Leader’s words about challenging the Cult Leader because he understood them.
He was curious about the thoughts of the Vice Cult Leader, who knowingly spared his life.
And why only now? Why did the Founding Ancestor’s soul and power dwell not in Profound Demon himself, but in the Vice Cult Leader of the Bright Cult—his sworn enemy?
Yes. That was it.
It wasn’t because he feared he would die aninglessly if he refused, nor because he didn’t want to die so pointlessly.
That was not the reason.
Firming his resolve as he pushed down his weakening heart, Profound Demon bowed his head.
“I will do my best.”
Watching Profound Demon and the nodding Vice Cult Leader in turn, Iron Demon asked,
“What is it? What are you supposed to work hard at? Vice Cult Leader, you didn’t secretly teach only that bastard sothing, did you?”
Yul Han smiled at Iron Demon, who asked with wide eyes.
“No. He rely had sothing troubling him, so I shared my thoughts.”
“Troubling him? Hey, you? Since when do you have worries? You’re famous for not caring about other people. What is it? Tell this big brother. I’ll solve everything for you.”
“It’s nothing.”
At Profound Demon’s cold reply, Iron Demon shot him a sideways glance.
“You told the Vice Cult Leader though……”
Despite Iron Demon’s grumbling, Profound Demon remained silent. Poison Demon quietly ca over and sat beside him.
“Is it because of Hyangha?”
“W-What are you talking about?”
As Profound Demon jumped up, Poison Demon gave him a aningful smile.
“There are rampant rumors that you’ve fallen for Hyangha among the courtesans in the cult. Why? She refused when you suggested settling down?”
“Y-You lunatic!”
Flustered, Profound Demon glanced at the Vice Cult Leader. As expected, a red light flickered in the Vice Cult Leader’s gaze as he looked at him.
“Ah…!”
Startled, Profound Demon let out an involuntary groan. He clearly saw it—the faint smile that brushed past the Vice Cult Leader’s lips.
The man who had raved about vengeance and waited decades for it……
Avoiding the Vice Cult Leader’s gaze, Profound Demon lowered his head deeply.
Unaware of his turmoil, Iron Demon patted his shoulder.
“It’s fine. All n are like that.”
Profound Demon’s head lowered even further.
Jiulong was a dead city.
The buildings still stood in the bleak streets, but they were completely empty.
They said that the governnt troops who rushed in imdiately after the incident had collected and burned thirty thousand corpses in Jiulong.
The problem was that Jiulong’s population had exceeded one hundred thousand.
Not a single survivor from the Jiulong bloodshed had been found to this day.
In other words, in a city where over a hundred thousand people had lived, a storm of blood had swept through, yet only thirty thousand bodies were discovered.
It ant that over seventy thousand people—or their corpses—had vanished without a trace.
The governnt troops did not investigate this at all. They rely disposed of the bodies and withdrew in haste.
While staying in the city, soldiers kept collapsing after seeing ghosts, and far too many troops fell ill without reason. Fear drove them away.
Yul Han and his group walked through the streets of Jiulong.
To voluntarily seal one’s acupoints and block the sense of sll required at least Peak Master Level.
The Bright Cult martial artists leading the way were all at Peak Master Level or above, but the Mount Dian group was different.
Though composed solely of first-generation disciples, only around ten had reached Peak Master Level or higher.
As a result, most of the Mount Dian martial artists covered their noses and mouths with their sleeves.
It was because of the foul stench filling the entire city.
“It slls like rotting corpses.”
At Iron Demon’s words, Yul Han nodded.
“They said the bodies were burned, but this level of stench is hard to understand. Investigate it. If you follow the sll, you may uncover the secret behind the missing seventy thousand.”
At Yul Han’s instruction, Iron Demon signaled to the squad leaders. Five squad leaders imdiately dispersed.
They went to search for any corpses that might have been left sowhere.
Agreeing with Yul Han’s reasoning, Ghost Immortal also ordered the Mount Dian martial artists to search for abandoned bodies.
Around fifty Mount Dian martial artists split into pairs and scattered throughout the city.
Two first-generation Mount Dian disciples, Daoist Gi-il and Daoist Gi-cham, searched a place that had once served as the city’s governnt office.
They had chosen it because the sll was particularly strong, but even after searching dozens of rooms, they found no corpses.
“This is enough to make ghosts wail.”
At Gi-il’s words, Gi-cham nodded.
“Indeed. I even checked under the beds, but there’s nothing.”
“Then where on earth is this sll coming from?”
It was an incomprehensible phenonon. The stench was far too strong to be explained as residue from corpses the governnt troops had cremated.
Just as Gi-il was about to leave empty-handed to search elsewhere, he stopped and stared quietly at the courtyard of the governnt office.
Seeing this, Gi-cham asked,
“What is it?”
“That—what does it look like to you? At first, I thought they were just items left in the courtyard, but the more I look, the stranger it feels.”
“What? Those things lying around the courtyard? That was a weapon rack, and that over there is a fra used to bind criminals for cudgel punishnt.”
“I’m not asking about their function. It’s their placent. Doesn’t it look like they’re drawing sothing?”
At Gi-il’s question, Gi-cham stared at the courtyard for a mont, then leapt up onto the roof.
Gi-il followed him up, and they looked down at the haphazardly arranged objects.
“Well?”
“It looks like a swastika, but the direction is a bit strange.”
“You’re right. It is a swastika—but it’s reversed, isn’t it?”
“Was it arranged like that on purpose?”
“On purpose?”
“If it weren’t intentional, they couldn’t have been placed that neatly, could they?”
At Daoist Gi-chil’s words, Daoist Gi-il, who had been staring at the courtyard, nodded.
“That’s true. Then why would they arrange it like that?”
“I don’t know, but it gives a bad feeling.”
As Gi-chil spoke, Gi-il suddenly jumped down into the courtyard.
He began moving the objects lined up there.
First, he shifted what had been used as a weapon rack, and afterward he moved the fra used to bind criminals for cudgel punishnt.
As a result, the once nearly perfect swastika shape beca distorted.
Even so, nothing happened.
Watching from the rooftop with tense eyes, Gi-chil felt his strength drain away.
“Tch. Guess it’s aningless. Let’s go. We should search sowhere else.”
At Gi-chil’s words as he leapt down from the roof, Gi-il nodded.
Soon after, the two left the governnt office.
And then……
Rustle. Rustle.
The bare earth began to heave, as if sothing were trying to break through from below.
At first it happened in only one spot, then split into several, and eventually the entire wide courtyard of the governnt office churned.
Samyeong was a squad leader under Profound Demon. Though formally belonging to the Bright Cult, in truth he was a successor of the Blood Cult who followed Profound Demon.
That said, unlike Profound Demon, he was not a traditional Blood Cult mber. He had rely been drawn in by Profound Demon, whom he trusted and followed.
He was now searching for corpses with utmost diligence.
There was a reason why he and the two other squad leaders under Profound Demon were moving with unusual fervor.
They had heard that the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult had realized Profound Demon’s true identity.
When they heard that the Vice Cult Leader even knew Profound Demon had tried to harm him while he was unconscious, they nearly fainted.
After all, there was no way the Vice Cult Leader would not know that they themselves had been guarding the door at the ti.
That was why all three had spoken of fleeing back then.
And yet—
At Profound Demon’s ntal Voice Transmission, the legs of Samyeong and the other squad leaders under him went weak.
Given the Vice Cult Leader’s abilities, they all knew that escape was impossible if he truly decided to hunt them down.
In the end, the squad leaders had no choice but to follow the Vice Cult Leader’s will, just as Profound Demon said.
They were not to touch their comrades.
The target was to be limited to the Cult Leader alone.
They had to abide by these two conditions.
Profound Demon spoke as if that alone would suffice, but the three squad leaders—who had crawled through the very bottom of the world—knew better.
The world was not so romantic.
They had seen far too often how people deed useless were discarded without value.
So they chose to struggle to survive.
They decided to prove to the Vice Cult Leader that they were worth keeping alive.
They judged that the first proving ground was Jiulong. If they uncovered a hidden truth or found the missing corpses here—
They believed they could demonstrate their worth to the Vice Cult Leader.
Thus, Samyeong and the two other squad leaders gave it everything they had.
In the process, Samyeong, like Daoists Gi-il and Gi-chil, encountered a reversed swastika.
This one was even more blatant than the one at the governnt office.
In the broad courtyard of a massive estate—apparently once belonging to a local magnate—the swastika had been carved by digging an inch deep into the ground.
Tilting his head, Samyeong crushed part of the swastika with his toe.
Thinking so kind of Formation might activate, he lightly destroyed it and quickly retreated, remaining tense—but nothing changed.
Seeing that, he crushed the swastika further, yet there was still no reaction.
In the end, deciding he had been frightened for nothing, Samyeong spat out phlegm and left the estate.
After he left, the wind blew through the courtyard.
The fairly strong wind scattered the soil of the swastika he had crushed, and from the hollowed-out depression—
Thud.
A finger popped out.
The sight of the finger thrusting up from the ground and wriggling was grotesque.
Swastikas were found everywhere.
So people passed by without noticing, while others tried to destroy them like Daoists Gi-il and Gi-chil or Samyeong.
But none of them witnessed any imdiate change.
However, after they left for other places, changes began at every site where the swastikas had been damaged.
anwhile, a Mount Dian Daoist erased the swastika drawn on the well cover at the very center of the city.
He disliked the swastika because it had been drawn in reverse, defying the natural order.
As the swastika was half-erased, the sunlight that had been beating down on the cover suddenly vanished.
The sky the Mount Dian Daoist looked up at was completely black, covered by dark clouds that had gathered out of nowhere.
In an instant, day turned as dark as night, and the city—already thick with ghostly energy—beca so eerie it was downright chilling.
The first to sense the city’s abnormality was Profound Demon, who had been cultivating the Black Demon Art.
It was because the internal energy of the Black Demon Art—said to draw upon the demonic energy of the underworld—vibrated violently.
Seeing the look in Profound Demon’s eyes as he turned inward, Yul Han realized that sothing was wrong, and his eyes turned red.
Through Yul Han’s reddened vision, things that had been invisible before began to appear.
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