Cheongun remained suspended in the air for a moment at the center of the demonic cultivator city, quietly looking down at the inner city.
His eyes gleamed vividly under the effect of the Wide-View Talisman.
Warning alarms rang incessantly, and the sounds of impacts suggested that two Foundation Establishment cultivators had clashed.
His divine sense couldn’t reach inside the city, so he could only observe the situation with spiritual vision.
Part of him wanted to lower his altitude and get a better look at how Ise was fighting.
But then the demonic qi within the Dharma-Transformation Dantian of one of the cultivators disappeared.
In that brief instant, Ise had eliminated the Foundation Establishment cultivator.
‘He’s fast.’
The speed at which he dealt with him was astonishing.
It hadn’t been long since the battle began before the Foundation Establishment cultivator was dead.
The Qi Condensation demonic cultivators who rushed in afterward were nothing more than one-stroke opponents to him.
Watching Ise hunt the demonic cultivators at a speed that almost made it difficult to believe his eyes, Cheongun clicked his tongue in amazement.
A communication talisman shot up into the air from inside the city.
Cheongun immediately fired his Formless Sword Qi, shooting down the flying communication talisman.
Then Ise reached a location where three Foundation Establishment cultivators had gathered and began another battle.
“…”
Once again, the city rumbled.
The outer walls shattered, and the Arts that had been unleashed exploded outward.
Wondering what was causing such a commotion, the demonic cultivators in the outer city began gathering near the city one after another.
Cheongun frowned.
The Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators who had realized an intruder was present attacked simultaneously.
Yet the two Foundation Establishment cultivators fell one after another at regular intervals.
‘He can even fight three against one?
That’s absurd.’
Cheongun’s hand unconsciously gripped the edge of his sword scabbard.
He was also considered exceptionally talented among Foundation Establishment cultivators, but he had no confidence that he could win such a reckless battle against several opponents at once.
No, even if he could win, there was no way he could decide the outcome this quickly.
Just how much had he grown?
An unbearable desire to compete flared fiercely in Cheongun’s eyes.
At last, the demonic cultivator who ruled the city escaped from the inner city alone.
Cheongun could only be grateful to him.
Now he would finally be able to witness Ise’s battle directly.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator fled with all his might, almost as if begging the flying cloud artifact to save him, and Ise leisurely emerged before beginning his pursuit aboard the flying cloud.
Cheongun had thought there was nothing left that could surprise him, but his eyes widened once again.
The flying cloud Ise rode was fast on its own, but such speed was useless if one’s flying skills were poor.
Perhaps his control of divine sense had reached an extraordinary level, because even while flying like an acrobat, he continuously and simultaneously fired Arts.
‘And that insane speed of casting Arts hasn’t changed either.’
He fired countless Arts without any preparation, almost as though he were wielding magical artifacts.
The thought of that tremendous magical power being directed toward him made Cheongun shiver with excitement.
A Wood-attribute cultivation technique extended from Ise’s hand, forming vines that bound the fleeing Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator.
The city lord demon beast cursed and blasted violet demonic qi from his palm.
Ise’s flying cloud twisted smoothly and evaded the blast of demonic qi.
It was powerful enough to make even Cheongun flinch, yet Ise remained completely steady, moving only as much as necessary to escape the blast’s range.
Then, incredibly, Ise pulled the magical artifact being operated by the Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator toward himself using telekinesis.
‘He’s pushing away the energy another cultivator is controlling and overwriting it with his own telekinesis?’
Cheongun had never even heard of such a thing.
To repel another person’s energy and seize control of it?
“You damn bastard!
What the hell are you?
Where were you sent from?
Tell me right now!
Let me go!”
What happened next was even more astonishing.
The distance between the two had closed completely.
At that moment, Ise’s Small Axe swept through the air as quickly as a sword wielded by a sword cultivator.
Despite the attack clearly containing no spiritual qi, the Small Axe cut cleanly through the Foundation Establishment cultivator’s neck in a single stroke, as effortlessly as slicing tofu.
“…”
It was a formless energy invisible to divine sense.
There was definitely something contained within it.
It was somewhat similar to the Tyrant Sword Sect’s Formless Sword Qi, yet different.
But Formless Sword Qi couldn’t slice through a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s body so cleanly.
What if that Small Axe were aimed at his own neck?
The thought sent a chill down his spine.
‘Four times.
That’s quite the generous assessment.’
If everything Ise had shown just now wasn’t even all of his strength, then Cheongun was certain he would lose all ten times if they fought ten times.
After eliminating all the Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators, Ise began flying over the city and hunting the demonic cultivators who had gathered.
His skill at picking out targets one after another and hunting them in an instant was anything but ordinary.
He seemed to possess abundant experience not only fighting opponents of similar cultivation realms but also hunting large numbers of lower-level cultivators.
He scattered Wind Blades mercilessly, like a sword cultivator spreading Formless Sword Qi.
Fast and powerful.
“I’m surrendering!
I surrender!”
“Please spare me, Senior!”
No one resisted.
The moment the Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators who ruled the city fell, the will to fight had already been broken.
But the Wind Blades Ise launched did not stop.
Rather, the moment someone shouted for mercy, they only attracted more attention and were sent to the underworld first.
Heads hung throughout the city like the spines of a hedgehog.
It was excessive for the actions of a chivalrous man, but even that seemed mysterious and impressive in Cheongun’s eyes.
After realizing that Ise did not forgive those who surrendered, several demonic cultivators attempted to escape.
‘I should at least pay the price of admission.’
His eyes had been treated to quite the spectacle, so now it was time to do his part.
At last, Cheongun moved his flying sword according to the movements of the spirit beast’s wings.
He shot toward a Qi Condensation demonic cultivator who entered his field of vision like an arrow.
***
Ise’s Twin-Curtain Spirit-Domain Sealing Banner was driven into the ground.
A formation that sealed demonic qi spread out as though swallowing the entire city, then gradually contracted.
Ise took out the Spirit-Detecting Mirror and checked to see if anyone had concealed their demonic qi with a Concealment Talisman and hidden themselves.
No new points appeared, so it seemed he had dealt with everyone.
‘I overate.’
An enormous amount of demonic qi had accumulated inside his demon core.
It was nearly twice as much as the amount he had obtained hunting in the Great Heavenly Demon Mountain.
He had also accumulated more internal energy than necessary when breaking through to the mid-stage Foundation Establishment Realm, so if he simply gathered spiritual qi from now on, he might even be able to aim for the late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm.
Ise patted his stomach, which wasn’t even bloated despite having eaten his fill.
A mountain of Storage Pouches was piled up before him.
If he sold everything, they would probably fetch at least 100,000 spirit stones.
‘Nice.’
If earning spirit stones could be this easy, he wouldn’t even need to farm.
Of course, doing something like this more than twice would be difficult because the risks were too great.
Ise glanced at the ordinary people lying facedown on the ground, trembling so violently that they couldn’t even raise their heads.
He hadn’t harmed them with the Heavenly Flame Flower, so they should have no trouble surviving.
He put away his weapons and spoke to an ordinary person nearby.
“A new city lord will arrive soon, so don’t cause a commotion and take care of cleaning things up.”
“Yes, yes, Elder…”
The ordinary person answered tremblingly without even daring to look at his face.
They looked as though they couldn’t understand what had happened to them at all.
Ise withdrew his gaze from the ordinary people and sent a voice transmission to Cheongun.
– Did you miss anyone?
– None.
A satisfactory answer came immediately.
Even so, the survivors might have used Escape Talismans, so it would probably be best to leave quickly.
– There’s so much demonic qi here that no cultivator will want to come, right?
– Don’t worry.
Something like this disappears quickly after a single purification ritual.
– I see.
It seemed the Northern Continent also had cultivators like the shamans of the Great Exorcist Order.
Ise roughly gathered up his spoils and was about to leave when he felt something strange.
He raised his head.
Artificial dark clouds were forming in the sky.
They looked like black smoke, like the smoke produced when burning scraps of junk.
Looking more closely, he saw mist rising from various places throughout the city and gathering into the dark clouds.
The resentment escaped from the corpses closest to him and was sucked toward the dark clouds.
The resentments were gathering together.
This was the first time Ise had ever witnessed such a phenomenon, and he stared blankly for a moment.
After an instant, Ise shook his head and came to his senses, then began tracing the cause of the phenomenon.
It was probably because he had hunted too many demonic cultivators without performing spirit expulsion afterward.
There was a type of Foundation Establishment evil spirit known as the War-Torn Calamity.
He had heard that it occasionally appeared when war broke out and large-scale massacres occurred.
‘…I didn’t expect this.’
Since he had performed spirit expulsion after most hunts, he had never experienced what happened when this much resentment was left behind.
The calamity continued growing larger until it became as enormous as a black dragon.
“Exorcising evil spirits isn’t my specialty, but…”
Even so, since this calamity had only just taken form, he should be able to deal with it now.
Calamities were weakest when they were first born, and they gradually grew by feeding on resentment until they spread like a plague.
He couldn’t allow it to cause unnecessary damage to nearby cities.
While Ise took out the ritual objects he used to exorcise evil spirits from his Storage Pouch, Cheongun hurriedly landed on the ground together with Bisan.
“Are you all right?
What the hell is that?”
“An evil spirit.
Looks like I hunted too many demonic cultivators at once.”
“That’s vicious.”
“Tell me about it.”
After creating so much resentment, you’d think they’d have the decency to die properly.
What kind of attachment and resentment could they possibly have left behind to create an evil spirit even after death?
It was almost laughable.
Ise took out a Foundation Establishment Spirit-Expelling Talisman and attached it to the Vajra Pestle.
The Vajra Pestle was only a Qi Condensation treasure artifact, so its performance was somewhat disappointing, but the Foundation Establishment Spirit-Expelling Talisman should multiply its effect.
He used Size-Altering Art to enlarge the Vajra Pestle as much as possible.
The gigantic club floated into the air.
Then Ise tempered primordial qi at its tip and recited the Spirit-Expelling Incantation.
He couldn’t afford to fail to kill it in a single strike.
The Foundation Establishment Spirit-Expelling Talismans were expensive, and he had only two of them.
The calamity in the shape of a black dragon finally seemed to notice Ise’s presence and turned its enormous head toward him.
Two bloody points of light faintly flickered within the black mist.
“Griee… ee… e…”
“Gaaaaah…”
Its gloomy voice rang out like it was squeezing the eardrums.
The enormous Vajra Pestle swung down in a single motion, following Ise’s will.
A tearing shriek reverberated throughout the city.
The calamity split in two.
But it did not disperse.
Still screaming, it began flying toward Ise.
The exertion caused veins to bulge across Ise’s entire body, and he raised the Vajra Pestle he had just swung and struck again.
Two streaks of light collided.
The calamity soon dispersed like mist before being sucked into Ise’s body.
Demonic qi, resentment, and the calamity’s spiritual body all surged into him at once.
It was the final resistance of a Foundation Establishment evil spirit.
If Seoryeong had been by his side, she would have immediately performed a Heavenly Rite to send the evil spirit’s remnants back into the abyss.
But this time, he had to handle it alone.
Black smoke hissed out from every opening in Ise’s body, like smoke from a lit cigarette.
Seeing this, Cheongun and Bisan became frantic and shouted, asking whether he was all right.
But their voices did not reach Ise.
He was simply pushing away and purifying the energies trying to invade his body through his spiritual qi.
Ise recited the Spirit-Expelling Incantation inwardly once more.
‘Enough.
Disappear.’
He bit his lips hard and continued his cultivation circulation, but the calamity’s evil resentment refused to be driven out.
At the moment when he began to fear that he might be swallowed by the calamity if this continued—
A certain energy that had been sleeping deep within Ise’s body stirred.
It was that auspicious energy that had burrowed into his body together with the Soul-Return Body-Entering Art in the Dark Heaven Secret Realm.