Those receiving the food became endlessly reverent in their posture.
Even those who had harbored complaints accepted the food without saying a word.
There was a separate reason Namgung Yeon and the others had taken time to prepare the ingredients and package them properly.
They had divided the food into two kinds.
One was meant to fill their starving bellies right away, while the other was meant to be stored in their dwellings and eaten later.
Naturally, the reason he had divided it this way was to sort out the demonic cultivators.
“What is wrapped in lotus leaves can be eaten right now.”
“Thank you kindly.”
“You will be blessed, my lord.”
The innocent civilians hurriedly filled their starving stomachs.
He had put in plenty of rice, then placed minced meat in the center.
And there, he had mixed in a little bear gall powder.
It was not as though demonic cultivators did not feel hunger.
They were lying low here while awaiting orders.
Naturally, they must have been enduring on less food than usual.
For martial artists, meat was an extremely important food.
They had more muscle than others, and thus needed to use more calories as well.
Namgung Yeon watched all of them eat in a rush.
And one more thing.
He watched the behavior of demonic cultivators who had seen blood.
“Hey, why don’t you share that?”
“Pardon?”
“Little one. That looks like a bit much for you to eat, so how about sharing it with this uncle?”
“B-But...... this is food I’m going to give my mother.”
Those people coveted the food of a child who spoke clearly.
Before long, their skin began turning red.
Their breathing grew rough, and a nauseating stench reeked from them.
People naturally distanced themselves from them, to the point that a small empty space formed.
“Now, now. You would be better off giving it to this uncle. Did you not receive enough food already?”
“......”
He could see the terrified child hesitating.
The way he trembled showed that he was agonizing over what to do.
The man whose skin had turned red could not even endure that brief moment and strode toward the child.
“You little bastard-. Why aren’t you answering when an adult is talking to you!”
“Ghk!? L-Let me go!”
“Now, hold on! Is this not too much? What are you doing, taking even the food a child is going to eat?”
“What the hell are you!”
CRUUUNCH—!
Something terrible happened.
The one who had grabbed the child by the collar and lifted him high used martial arts on the man who had approached to stop him.
“GRAAAAAAAGH!”
“Kheh heh heh. Listen to your uncle. Hand that over right now.”
“......”
A slum resident whose arm had been torn clean off.
The man, now revealing his ferocity without hiding it, flashed eyes dyed blood-red.
The child’s crotch began to wet.
Just how deeply had terror consumed him for him to react like that?
‘Now.’
At that moment, Namgung Yeon moved.
Here and there, the revolting scent of blood reeked.
They had lived here like parasites, sucking blood and raising their martial arts.
Without even knowing they were dwindling one by one, the Namgung Clan had merely been thrown into chaos both inside and out.
First, he would clean up Hefei.
To do that, he had to clean up the deepest, filthiest place first.
“Manho.”
“Yes!”
“From now on, kill everyone whose skin turns red.”
“......As commanded!”
Manho moved like an arrow.
Jingle-.
Namgung Yeon, too, began moving with the Demonic Spirit Sword in hand.
It was time to harvest the fertilizer.
***
Namgung embraced nature.
No, it tried to reign over it.
What he had realized after living countless lives.
It was the fact that the Namgung Clan’s martial arts were created from an extremely human perspective.
The Namgung Clan was arrogant.
So arrogant that it sought to conquer nature.
That nature revealed itself exactly in its sword and internal energy cultivation method.
Just as it did now.
[Azure Sky Great Evolution Divine Art]
Whenever he began a new life, he always felt an intense sense of disparity.
All the internal energy that had once filled him vanished completely, and the sword forms that had split mountains and seas with a single strike could not even properly cut down one person.
However, the time held in his consciousness had piled up layer upon layer, making Namgung Yeon’s sword even firmer.
“Grrrrrk-!”
From above to below.
From left to right.
Each time a silver flash gleamed, a frail body was split in two.
Namgung Yeon’s sword was simple but powerful.
He stamped with Tremor Stomp, held the sword with both hands, and swung it.
The path of the sword was simple, and the technique was not much different from the Three Powers Sword Art, but the power of the years contained within it was by no means weak.
“KRAAAGH!”
“......”
“R-Run!”
The innocent commoners scattered in every direction.
Now, the only ones left were Namgung Yeon and Manho.
And the demonic cultivators surrounding them.
Those who, under the influence of realgar, could no longer hide their demonic energy.
What could they do?
What demonic cultivators did best.
It would be killing every witness to silence them.
“Grrrrrrr......”
“Kill hiiiim!”
With cries like beasts, the demonic cultivators poured toward Namgung Yeon.
He did not think about his back.
Manho must have grown during this time as well.
Nam Hoho had not yet learned martial arts properly, so he was of no help, but Manho was different.
CRACK—!
The demonic cultivator’s hard skin broke.
Listening to their cries reminded him of the burning slums.
“GRAAAAAAAGH!”
“Cry louder.”
The Demonic Spirit Sword broke through skin and cut muscle and bone apart.
The sight of the blade trembling as it greedily devoured demonic energy pleased him greatly.
<How could we not have known there were demonic cultivators in such a place!>
<The slums were not your responsibility!>
<What are you talking about! This is clearly your territory!>
The calamity flooding out from the lowest place had begun with complacency.
This had happened because everyone had pushed it onto someone else and tried to pass along responsibility.
As a result, it led to the death of the mistress of the Namgung Clan.
Was it because of the flow of heavenly fate?
No matter how many times he regressed and how many times he tried to change the outcome, fixed destiny did not twist easily.
His mother’s heart had always been pierced by someone related to these slums.
‘This time, that situation will not occur.’
If you can pierce her, then try.
The mother you bastards will have to face will become a master unlike any other in the world.
A gleam flashed in Namgung Yeon’s deep, emotionless eyes.
The emotion that had arisen for the first time in a long while was surely anger.
He trampled the seed of calamity that had been sprouting in the lowest place.
Without a shred of hesitation, Namgung Yeon’s sword cut down the demonic cultivators.
By the time the street was dyed with blood, the one who appeared to be their leader finally arrived belatedly.
He had probably been hiding because of the commotion and then emerged.
“So you’ve finally deigned to show yourself.”
“......”
“Quietly offer me your neck, demonic fiend.”
“Are you the one who made things like this?”
Can you not tell by looking?
Namgung Yeon did not bother to answer.
He merely raised the Demonic Spirit Sword, from which blood dripped steadily.
Rumble-.
The opponent’s entire body turned red.
‘Still, he has reached the level where he can maintain his reason.’
Between first-rate and peak.
A stage where the mind and body had only just stabilized enough to preserve intellect.
Among demonic cultivators, they called it the entrance of Extreme Demon.
No.
That was not right.
‘A true Extreme Demon is not trash like that.’
“I’ll kill you-!”
No lengthy words were needed.
Namgung Yeon’s eyes flashed, and he bared his teeth as he ran forward to meet him.
Crackle-!
A very faint current of lightning sparked from the tip of his sword.
***
The conditions for choosing a demonic cultivator to infiltrate Hefei were extremely strict.
They had to evade the eyes of the Namgung Clan’s masters, and they had to possess enough martial force to command the area to a suitable degree.
People who satisfied these two conditions were not easy to find, and the one they had barely managed to find was [Yi Baekcheon].
Between first-rate and peak.
A martial artist trained enough not to run wild even after awakening demonic energy, and one who did not possess too much demonic energy.
Some might say that a bastard who was not even a peak martial artist could not accomplish anything.
‘But I accomplished many things!’
He had seized control of the slums near Chaohu Lake.
In secret, he had been raising the demonic cultivators beneath him through human sacrifice and the taking of blood.
He had also seized control of the nearby martial hall and monitored the enemy’s movements.
But what exactly was this bastard?
CRAAASH—!
He had not been careless.
From the beginning, he had tried to kill his opponent with his full strength.
However, he no longer knew how many exchanges they had already crossed.
Namgung Yeon disappeared like a phantom and appeared like a ghost to attack.
Because his power was weak, he had not inflicted a fatal wound, but damage was steadily accumulating.
Shhk-!
The sword grazed past by a hair’s breadth.
One had to remember.
Demonic cultivators bled too, and a sword was a deadly blade simply by being held.
Humans were beings who inevitably died without blood.
Namgung Yeon swung his sword steadily to kill a person.
“You rat-like bastard......”
“......”
He did not say anything useless during battle.
He merely observed how he could kill his opponent more effectively and swung his sword.
Producing the greatest effect with the least strength.
That was Namgung Yeon’s combat method, devised in order to survive.
Calculation.
He calculated the gap between his opponent’s movements and his own.
Immediately afterward, he grasped the movement of the technique and found an opening.
‘You will die slowly. Regardless of your martial realm.’
Watching his enemies’ expressions while dodging by a paper-thin margin was truly exhilarating.
Some would go so far as to call this a nasty hobby.
<Clan Head, you bestow despair upon your opponents.>
Namgung Yeon did not particularly deny it.
With what feeling had those who shattered his family, his friends, his home, and his foundation polished their martial arts?
They must all have devoted their entire lives while believing themselves to be right.
To shatter the lives, ideals, and dreams of such bastards was precisely Namgung Yeon’s justice.
Jingle, jingle.
The Demonic Spirit Sword continued devouring the demonic energy that tried to encroach upon the surroundings.
“Why, why can’t I hit you?! Why!”
“Try harder.”
“Fine....... Let’s see how far your arrogance goes.”
Yi Baekcheon rolled his eyes, searching for something to covet.
Then he reached out to take in the demonic energy of those who had died and fallen.
It was a characteristic possessed by those who had learned impure demonic arts.
That was absorbing the remaining demonic energy from corpses nearby.
The price was terrible, but it allowed one to obtain powerful strength instantly.
However, there was one fact he did not know.
“Huh!?”
“Why, can you not absorb it? Is the clever move you barely thought of nothing more than sucking blood from the dead?”
Namgung Yeon smiled coldly.
Yi Baekcheon’s face was plainly filled with confusion.
Of course it was.
Because all the demonic energy left behind by the demonic cultivators had been devoured by the Demonic Spirit Sword.
No matter how much energy he released, he would not be able to absorb a single trace of demonic energy.
Namgung Yeon’s sword moved.
To trample the calamity blooming in the lowest place.