178 Chapter 1066: Want to Try Killing Me? (Part 1)

It was as if a glass mask shattered with a cracking sound.

The calm disguise that hid the underlying hatred crumbled. Witnessing the instant transformation of the Heavenly Executioner's face, Chung Myung burst into laughter.

The reason why Chung Myung didn't fall for the seemingly well-packaged lie that could have easily deceived others was very simple.

'He's not that kind of guy.'

Chung Myung knew who the Heavenly Executioner was.

The Heavenly Executioner he remembered was someone who showed no mercy, not only to enemies but also to allies. Literally, the Heavenly Executioner (天殺) was someone who embodied killing.

Even if a hundred years had passed, his fundamental nature would not have changed. So, why would the Heavenly Executioner, with such a nature, just release everyone here and withdraw over such a trivial reason?

'It's not even funny.'

If so, there was only one reason. There was one reason to keep them alive while talking nonsense.

And if he took that into account, everything worked out easily.

"Why? Did I say something wrong?"

Chung Myung sneered. It was an obvious provocation, but the Heavenly Executioner seemed to quickly regain composure. Apparently, he hadn't wasted the past hundred years.

However, Chung Myung had no reason to be disappointed. He had already confirmed everything he needed to know.

The answer to the lingering question that had been bothering Chung Myung all this time.

How does the Heavenly Demon return to the world?

'It's no different from me.'

It was something he could guess at, but couldn't be sure about. The answer to that question was revealed in the Heavenly Executioner's response.

"He's coming back?"

Chung Myung chuckled and laughed.

"I'm curious. What does that really mean? Or perhaps…"

Chung Myung's meaningful smile stabbed the Heavenly Executioner.

"Is it just a belief without a solution?"

The expression vanished from the Heavenly Executioner's face. However, Chung Myung could read enough from that face—the emptiness that fanatics who had lost their god possess.

Chung Myung had also returned from death.

What should be noted in this process is that before becoming aware of himself as Chung Myung, he had lived in this world as Chosaam.

The crucial point was this.

If the Heavenly Demon, even the Heavenly Demon, goes through a process not much different from Chung Myung's?

'The Heavenly Demon... It means he might be living in this world as an unnamed villager.'

What if, in that state, if he were to be attacked by the demonic sect? If the practitioners who couldn't recognize him as the Heavenly Demon attacked him, what would happen?

Would the body of the Heavenly Demon, who was in danger, regain his status as the Heavenly Demon and wake up like Chung Myung? Or would he just die as a nameless mortal without being able to wake up?

It was an unknown. One thing for sure is that the latter possibility could not be ruled out no matter what.

And... judging by the Heavenly Executioner's reaction, it seems they had no way to find him until the Heavenly Demon awakens.

Unlike the Palace of Potalap, which developed the position of Banseon Lama to discover the Dalai Lama's reincarnation, they had no other option than waiting.

'So, the Demonic Sect can never attack the Central Plains.'

Demonic sect members who cannot confirm the existence of the Heavenly Demon cannot kill people. Those they can kill are only those who were already alive before the Heavenly Demon's death.

But how many of those people were left in the world now?

As time passes, the members of the Demonic Sect will have no choice but to refrain from killing. If not, it might create a horrifying situation for the demonic sect, where they end up killing the resurrected Heavenly Demon with their own hands—a crime that those who support Heavenly Demon cannot repay even if they die a hundred or a thousand times.

That's why someone like the Heavenly Executioner rushed here in a frenzy.

To prevent the massacre caused by Danjagang.

It was too trivial a task to come all the way here just to stop a young bishop named Danjagang. The weight of the two characters in the name "the Heavenly Executioner" was too heavy. What the Heavenly Executioner tried to stop was not just Danjagang's deviation, but the act of massacre itself.

"Ha, ha, ha ha."

Chung Myung laughed as if he found it absurd.

"It must have been difficult."

"...."

"While saying that everything living in Central Plains must be killed and destroyed, you must also ensure that they are never killed. Is there anything more ridiculous than this?"

The Heavenly Executioner's face twisted in agony.

"Yes, it must have been hard to say. Saying that the Heavenly Demon might be living somewhere as an unnamed villager is denying the completeness of the Heavenly Demon. It's painful to accept the burden of pretending that the incomplete one is complete."

"Shut up...."

"Poor you. To think that the grace given to you is just an endless wait...."

Chung Myung chuckled.

"To have a pitiful life where you can't even lift a finger against the enemies who killed your god in front of you."

"ENOUGH!"

The Heavenly Executioner shouted like a fierce demon, but Chung Myung, without blinking an eye, mocked him.

Even if others didn't know, Chung Myung knew. What the Heavenly Demon meant to the followers of the demonic sect.

Even if the probability that killing Chung Myung would harm the Heavenly Demon was one in ten million, even if it was just a possibility like picking one grain of sand from the vast desert, they would dare not lay a hand on him.

Unreasonable faith. That was the essence of the demonic sect.

"Are you angry?"

That's why Chung Myung mocked them. Those pathetic fanatics, even though they knew the Heavenly Demon so well, they were foolish people who couldn't see the essence he possessed.

Step by step, Chung Myung approached the Heavenly Executioner. Past Baek Cheon, past Un Geom, without hesitation.

And the faces of the Mount Hua disciples who saw this scene began to turn pale.

'He... he...'

'That crazy bastard!'

But no one dared to gather the courage to stop him. The confrontation between Chung Myung and the Heavenly Executioner. It was impossible to interfere at this moment.

Unaware of the feelings of those watching from behind, Chung Myung simply walked on nonchalantly.

Step by step.

And finally, he stood in front of the Heavenly Executioner. No, saying he stood in front of him was an understatement. At a distance where they could almost touch each other, Chung Myung faced the Heavenly Executioner, twisting the corners of his mouth.

"Then try to kill me."

"Uh...."

"Try to kill me."

The Heavenly Executioner's body began to tremble. It was the inability to control the surging anger to an extreme degree.

Perhaps in his heart, he had already smashed Chung Myung's head hundreds of times or more. However, the Heavenly Executioner's hand couldn't move at all.

Heavenly Executioner (天殺).

A being born with the fate of instinctively craving blood and death. For him, enduring murder was no different from enduring a person's burning thirst.

The Heavenly Executioner endured the long, agonizing thirst for over a hundred years without taking a sip of water.

Fierce faith. No, at this point, it was a more fitting term to call it a sublime faith.

"Why?"

But to Chung Myung, that faith meant nothing.

Chung Myung whispered softly into the Heavenly Executioner's ear, as if tempting a monk in meditation like a demon.

"Want to try killing me?"

"..."

"Hehehehe."

The Heavenly Executioner couldn't even move because he was afraid that Chung Myung, who was already in a mess, might die from his aura. He couldn't even live freely. Chung Myung laughed at him passionately.

"Why? Can't do it?"

The Heavenly Executioner's hand twitched. His trembling hand moved violently for a moment but repeated the process of returning to its original position. Tears of blood flowed down his reddened eye corners.

"You filthy... filthy unbeliever...."

"Yeah. I'm a filthy unbeliever, huh?"

Chung Myung exposed his teeth while laughing.

"And you, you're a moron who can't even kill a piece of shit unbeliever."

Chung Myung's mocking laughter pierced the eyes of the Heavenly Executioner.

"Isn't that right?"

The Heavenly Executioner glared at Chung Myung with a demonic face. Between his cracked lips, red blood seeped out. It wasn't blood bitten from his lips but the energy that couldn't endure the severe aging and reversed.

In that moment, Chung Myung reached out, grabbing the Heavenly Executioner's neck.

"Listen well, you moron."

Chung Myung forcibly pulled the Heavenly Executioner's head towards him, glaring into his eyes and growling.

"Don't talk big as if you're something just because you can't even lift a finger. Get lost. Just breathing the same air as you demonic sect bastards makes me sick."

"Shut... up...."

After finishing his words, Chung Myung pushed the Heavenly Executioner, who he had pulled, away.

The Heavenly Executioner once again retreated without any resistance. His face was covered in anger, hatred, and disgrace. The cursed expression on his face was worth seeing. The Heavenly Executioner forced his mouth open with difficulty.

"You... You will definitely..."

A severe curse flowed out.

"You will surely regret this. On the day when He descends, I will personally TEAR you apart without leaving a trace. NO! I will make you BEG for death from your own mouth! Definitely! I will put everything on the line, even if I have to! I will bring you and Mount Hua UNBEARABLE pain! ABSOLUTELY!"

"..."

"No matter where you run, I will FIND you, and I will make you SUFFER in a way that you can neither live nor die! REMEMBER, disciple of Mount Hua! YOU will deeply understand the intensity and depth of the WRATH of the sect!"

A vitriolic speech, as if alive, vividly conveyed the venom to Chung Myung. However, even after hearing the venomous words that seemed to spew out from hell, Chung Myung only coldly laughed.

"Oh, really?"

Laughter flickered in the eyes looking at the Heavenly Executioner.

"That's just your wish. But there's one misunderstanding."

"..."

"No need to go through the trouble of finding us. If, by any chance, the Heavenly Demon returns, and you step on the Central Plains once again..."

A cold declaration flowed from Chung Myung's mouth.

"You will be the first to face Mount Hua."

The eyes of the hate-filled Heavenly Executioner and the chilly gaze of Chung Myung clashed fiercely in the empty air.

"So, get lost now, you stupid bastard. Tremble in fear on the cold land where even the traces of people can't be found, waiting for the day when you might return while dying. That's the only way to prove your faith."

With these words, without waiting for a response, Chung Myung turned away without a trace of regret.

Even while seeing Chung Myung's back, the Heavenly Executioner couldn't stretch out his hand to strike. He just shivered as if he might explode at any moment.

"...What is your name?"

It was a question that the Heavenly Executioner had managed to come up with in the midst of such intense hatred that it felt like his head was going to explode. Chung Myung smiled strangely without even turning his head.

"Chung Myung."

"...Chung Myung?"

"Why? Is it strange?"

"..."

"It's good for a foolish person like you. You'll never forget it."

Heavenly Executioner nodded with a cold gaze fixed on Chung Myung.

"The sect... will remember you."

The image of the Heavenly Executioner staring at Chung Myung with eyes like a demon from hell soon disappeared as if it were an illusion. The disciples of Mount Hua who finally felt his presence completely vanish slumped weakly in their places.

Thud.

Baek Cheon, who had thrown away all dignity and sank completely, looked at Chung Myung walking casually towards them with a soulless face. He murmured an expression that represented everyone's feelings.

"That... that crazy bastard...."

No one could bring themselves to refute those words.