Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon

What were the symbolic martial arts that made the Heavenly Demon into an Orthodox nightmare?

If you were to ask this question to the martial artists of Zhongyuan, you would probably get two answers: 

‘Millenia of Heaven Annihilation’ and ‘Reigning Step’. 

All parts of the Divine Art of the Heavenly Demon boasted transcendent strength, but these two moves were particularly special. 

Millennia of Heaven Annihilation had become famous because of Woon-seong. 

According to a widespread rumor, Woon-seong used Millennia of Heaven Annihilation and blew up the entire Qaidam Basin, giving onlookers the illusion that meteors were falling from the skies. 

In consideration of that, the Millennia of Heaven Annihilation had recently become a signature move of the Heavenly Demon. 

What about the other Heavenly Demons?

Originally, it was the Heavenly Demon’s Reigning Step that made the Heavenly Demon such a nightmare. 

Many people in the Orthodox faction would probably still be more devastated to hear about the Reigning Step than anything else. 

The Reigning Step was just that powerful and terrible a skill. 

And that same Heavenly Demon’s Reigning Step was currently unfolding on Mount Qilian. 

An overwhelming amount of energy crushed the mountainside. 

The martial artists who were oppressed by the energy felt like the Heavens and earth were weighing down on them. 

That was just the beginning. 

Once Woon-seong’s foot started to move, flames started to descend, forcing all those beneath him to submit or die. 

Huge balls of flame fell towards the ground. It was clear that with them so large, even the Demonic Army would be greatly harmed. 

He has to be crazy! Sa Ryong-hui screamed in his head. 

At that moment, the flames paused in the air. 

Fwoom!

The falling pieces of flame gathered in the air, forming clumps. 

This torrential fire-rain merged into about twenty massive balls of flame. 

These fireballs absorbed the surrounding smaller ones and ballooned in size. The air rumbled as these plummeted towards the ground. 

Rrrrrrrrrrrrr—

As they fell, they looked like massive pillars of fire, reaching towards the Heavens and exalting the Heavenly Demon. 

Except, that still didn’t explain the fireworks. 

But, back to the Heavenly Demon’s Reigning Step. 

These tremendous pillars of fire struck the iron rods, bashing them deeper into the mountain like hammers to a nail. 

Where there was a rod, there were ripples inside the earth. 

Carried by these iron rods, the power of the Divine Flame permeated the area. The earth began to tremble, in tune with the rippling of the iron rods. 

Rumble—

The first tremor was not so great. 

However, the force pressing down on the iron rods grew, forcing the natural energy residing in the ground to constantly collide with the Divine Flame. 

And as a result,

Kuang!

The whole mountain began to crumble. 

The Qilian Destruction Plan; the plan to destroy Mount Qilian.

Woon-seong caused a landslide. 

Kuakua—

Shua—

The mountain shook and groaned as it collapsed. Immediately after that, a pile of rocks rushed down the mountain side. 

Kuakuakua—

Bam, bam.

Down below, loud noises echoed across the field. 

The sound seemed to be coming from the top of the mountain. 

Sa Ryong-hui noticed the wave of rocks and trees coming towards them. It was still far, but given the speed, it would soon be upon them. 

Is that something a human can do?

The soldiers were filled with fear as they saw a wall of dust rushing down.

Yoon Ye-ryong loudly exclaimed, “The Heavenly Demon is insane! He’s trying to wipe out the enemies and his allies all at once! Even if he’s a cultist, that’s insanity! That’s definitely a demonic being who shouldn’t exist in this world!”

Yoon Ye-ryong’s exclamation made the Blood Tears Mask Demon smile, though you couldn’t tell because of the mask. “Our Lord is not insane.”

Yoon Ye-ryong almost spat out blood. “Fuck, you’re all insane!”

Even at that moment, the landslide was raging towards the Orthodox and Demonic soldiers. 

There was very little time left. 

What should the Orthodox soldiers do?

A landslide above and 20,000 demonic soldiers below!

What a terrible situation! Making a quick decision, Sa Ryong-hui ordered, “Move aside. Run towards the forests, but do not go down! There must be a place where the landslide won’t be so bad!”

If they tried to run down, they would be swept away by the coming landslide. But if they ran towards the sides, they could potentially escape the landslide’s scope. 

In that regard, Sa Ryong-hui’s judgment was not wrong. 

Now, if only someone wasn’t controlling the landslide. 

“Excellent!” exclaimed Sang Gwan-chuk from the top of the mountain as he watched Woon-seong move. 

Soon, the avalanche of rocks began picking up speed, flooding down towards the battlefield. 

Now that Woon-seong had caused a landslide, it was Sang Gwan-chuk’s turn to make a move. 

Sang Gwan-chuk began to gather his qi.

Hoo! Hoo!

After a few seconds, he burst the ball of energy apart, emitting a strange sound at a special frequency. 

And there were certain things that responded to that sound. 

The iron rods. 

The role of those iron rods was not just to channel Woon-seong’s energy into the ground. 

These twenty iron rods trembled, rippling with a new kind of energy. 

Sang Gwan-chuk had just put the landslide which Woon-seong caused under his control. 

“Haha!”

Of course, it wasn’t an easy thing to do. Despite being one of the Demonic Masters, it was never easy to completely control a force of nature. 

Someone put their hand on Sang Gwan-chuk’s back. 

It was Woon-seong. 

Through his palm, energy from Woon-seong’s core flowed into Sang Gwan-chuk’s body. An overwhelming amount of qi suddenly gathered around the Strategist. 

“Focus.”

Sang Gwan-chuk heard Woon-seong’s voice and nodded, moving his hands. 

Kuang—

The landslide shifted. 

The iron rods under Sang Gwan-chuk’s command controlled the landslide, pulsing to direct the flow. It was like a fence, corralling the rocks. 

Krrrr—

Following the guidance of the iron rods, the landslide swept over the mountainside. 

Seeing how the landslide seemed to be chasing them horizontally across the mountain, Sa Ryong-hui was dumbfounded. They’re controlling the landslide!

Yoon Ye-ryong suddenly remembered what he had said before the battle: “Mankind cannot control landslides.” 

Now, the Cult of the Heavenly Demon had thrown his words back at him. 

“Ahhhh!”

“Help!”

The Orthodox soldiers were swept away by the landslide. Some people were running around and avoiding the flood of rocks, but they weren’t able to do it for long. 

“Ah!” Sa Ryong-hui made a desperate noise. Now I know why the demonic were so vigilant despite the chaos.

It was because they were guarding themselves against the landslide, so that it would only attack the Orthodox soldiers. 

I was wrong, he lamented. 

To avoid the mudslide, they should not have run towards the side. 

Even if there was the possibility of death by sword, they should have stuck to the demonic soldiers. 

At least that way, they wouldn’t be swept away by the landslide. 

It would have been less shameful to die fighting the demonic. 

Peng Hak seethed, “This damn—” before being drowned by dirt. 

The Tang clansmen were no exception. 

“Aaah!”

“Uack!”

As the rocks swept through, they ferociously resisted, but the result remained unchanged. 

One large piece of rock smacked into them and the two went unconscious, immediately being swept away. 

“Tang So-bong, Tang So-bong! Miss Tang?!”

Sa Ryong-hui hurriedly reached for them, searching through the rocks and dirt, but was unable to find a trace of them. 

The same was true of Iron Swordsman Yoon Ye-ryong. A huge wave had swallowed him, along with his horse. 

Hiiiing—

The horse screamed in fear, but it was soon buried in the dust together with its rider. 

And lastly. 

Kuakuakua—

A piece of stone the size of a wall slammed into Sa Ryong-hui, sending him down too. 

Krrrr!

The landslide was a complete catastrophe. 

Of course, the landslide that swept through Mount Qilian was not a natural phenomenon, but a man-made one. 

The landscape of Mount Qilian, which had been hit by said disaster, was a hellscape. 

The ground seemed to have been turned inside out; unexplained debris and trees were strewn across the mountainside, tangled with broken rocks and mud. 

There were also hundreds of bodies littering the ground, many half buried in the mud. 

Few had survived the landslide. 

It was useless to ask how the others had been lost. Some had been crushed by rocks, others drowned or were torn to pieces. 

Additionally, the survivors trembled, traumatized. 

But there were still survivors among those who had been swept away. 

The stronger martial artists had escaped death, despite the massive injuries inflicted upon them. 

For example, Tang So-bong and Peng Hak had made it out. 

Yoon Ye-ryong and Sa Ryong-hui were also exceptions. 

“Cough!”

Sa Ryong-hui scrambled out of the dirt and spat out the sand filling his mouth. 

His dantian was empty and his arms and legs were trembling. 

Near Sa Ryong-hui, Tang Han-mae and Tang So-bong also crawled out of the dirt. 

They didn’t look very different from Sa Ryong-hui.

No, they were actually worse off. Their wounds were much more severe. 

Both of Peng Hak’s legs seemed to be broken; Tang Han-mae’s breathing was uneven, as if her ribs were broken. Tang So-bong’s arms seemed to have been broken at weird angles. 

Yoon Ye-ryong appeared some distance away. As the ground trembled, an arm appeared first. Soon after, his head appeared and he muttered, “I survived?”

At that, everyone who came out trembled. 

It wasn’t very hard to remember that a landslide had just hit them. 

Hearing Yoon Ye-ryong’s words, they realized that they had indeed survived. 

Sa Ryong-hui looked around him, where half a dozen bodies were buried in the mud. 

His allies had been slaughtered.

Should I grieve or rejoice at this situation, knowing I have survived while others did not?

Realizing he had made it, Sa Ryong-hui was thrown into a whole different state of confusion. 

Then something cold was pressed to his neck.

It was a blade. 

“The order is to capture all survivors.”

A voice colder than the metal entered his ears. 

The Charred Dragon Unit, who had led the charge, began to surround the survivors.