“Kkuuuuh-huk!”

Cai Kechang loudly gritted his teeth as the heavy weight pressed down on him from above.

He eventually yelled out, “Uwaaahk! God daaaaaamn it!”

“Wait, Director Cai! You need to keep your head down!”

The clash between Kang Jin-Ho and the Crimson King generated a shockwave capable of blowing everything away in the blink of an eye. Obviously, run-of-the-mill martial artists would never withstand such an impact.

Unfortunately, Cai Kechang's level was no better than the so-called run-of-the-mill martial artist. What had protected him from the shockwave this time was the human barrier created by his personal guards.

Just as the shockwave reached them, the guards around him threw themselves on top of him and pushed him down, then used their own physical bodies to absorb the impact force.

Even then, Cai Kechang still felt his innards tumble and distort from the shockwave. The familiar acrid metallic taste tried to well up from his throat.

Cai Kechang's eyes became bloodshot.

'Just... Just what the hell am I doing in this place?'

This powerful humiliation made a mess of his mind. Cai Kechang rocked up here full of bravado about killing Kang Jin-Ho, but he failed to do anything of importance. All of his plans proved useless, and his predictions and anticipations missed their mark by a wide margin.

That wasn't all, however. As if his failure was set in stone from the get-go, the Crimson King suddenly showed up here, too.

Tears of blood trickled out of Cai Kechang's eyes. To think he had become a subordinate who underestimated his master's infinite wisdom! To make matters worse, Cai Kechang even got in his master's way whenever the latter came up with the correct course of action! What good was such a rotten, useless subordinate?

What crushed Cai Kechang's heart even more wasn't his failure, though. The way he saw it, he was destined to fail from the beginning.

What could a mere human like him do when two giants were fighting each other? When their battle rocked the heaven and earth?! The only thing humans could do was stand back and spectate in awe. That was all.

Even if Cai Kechang's plan had been a success... Even if he had accurately estimated Kang Jin-Ho's capabilities and strength ahead of time, would Cai Kechang be able to stop his target?

No, that didn't seem likely.

Despite being pressed down by a bunch of men, Cai Kechang still resolutely shook his head. This event had already gone past the point where strategies and careful planning could have made a difference.

Ants could try everything in their power but would never stop an elephant. Just like that elephant, Kang Jin-Ho was not an existence that the resourcefulness and combined effort of ants like Cai Kechang could deal with. And Cai Kechang's blunder this time was not realizing that cruel fact sooner.

“Get off me!” Cai Kechang indignantly waved his arm when the shockwave passed him by. At this rate, forget the deadly shockwave killing him; he might get crushed to death by the weight of the ones on top of him instead!

Unfortunately for him, the reply he got was firm and resolute. “Keep your head down, sir!”

“I told you to get off me! Goddamn it! I need to see the situation first to...”

“Another shockwave is coming! Stay down, sir!”

Cai Kechang reflexively went down to the ground again when that piercing cry stabbed him in the ear. There was no time to think. His body reacted first, even before his brain could do anything. As it turned out, his body's judgment was correct.

The ground began rumbling ominously. Then, it began rising and falling rapidly as if an earthquake had begun!

Cai Kechang's body also rose into the air before falling down several times to match the ominous quaking. Naturally, he was being crushed by incredible pressure and weight at the same time!

While the ground angrily pushed up at him, human bodies crushed down on him. No wonder it felt like massive hammers were mercilessly pounding on every part of Cai Kechang's poor body!

“Ahhhk... Ouch... Urghkk...!”

The only thing he could do was gasp out weak screams that weren't loud enough to relieve the pain he felt. His consciousness nearly faded away after the impact force flushed all the thoughts out of his mind.

Eventually, the second shockwave died down. Cai Kechang's fingertips unsteadily trembled as everything regained their calmness.

'Am I... Am I still alive?'

Powerful dizziness washed over him and made it difficult to confirm his survival. Some things were twitching and moving on top of him, but Cai Kechang was too exhausted to confirm his own survival through such sensations.

“...Director Cai, sir! Can you hear me?”

Someone urgently addressed Cai Kechang while helping him up to his feet. Cai Kechang bit down hard on his tongue. The sharp pain filled his mouth, quickly followed by the vivid taste of blood. That brought life back to Cai Kechang's eyes.

He used his free hand to urgently rub his face and slap his cheek to reawaken his senses. After sobering up a bit, Cai Kechang opened his eyes wide and tried to scan his surroundings, but...

“...!”

What he saw was... Hell. Pure Hell on Earth!

Everything and everyone had been swept away. The location where everyone used to stand was now an empty field. This didn't seem surprising, considering everyone got flung away regardless of whether they were still alive or not.

Cai Kechang wasn't sure whether those people currently shoved in the distant corners and craters were still alive or corpses, but... They were thrown back by at least one hundred meters, and Cai Kechang could see their limbs and bodies subtly twitching and writhing.

After a quick survey of the situation, Cai Kechang realized that his side had suffered far greater losses this time.

'...Vator!'

That shockwave was intense enough to break bones and squeeze blood out of human bodies. Demonic cultivators facing such an impact without protection would've been killed instantly. However, many of them managed to survive after Vator had taken on some portions of the shockwave.

Yes, they probably suffered fractures and broken bones here and there. Still, they should thank the heavens for being able to live for another day.

On the other hand, Cai Kechang's people didn't have anyone like Vator to absorb a portion of the shockwave.

“Son of a b*tch...!”

Cai Kechang growled in anger and despair. Half of his personal guards were no longer in the world of the living. More tears of blood trickled down Cai Kechang's cheek.

He could barely hold himself back from this anger and resentment. If there had been no one nearby, if this situation allowed him to relax even for a second... Cai Kechang would have gone down on his knees and cried his eyes out. Unfortunately, he was not granted such leeway at the moment.

Cai Kechang hurriedly looked around until he spotted the two martial artists still colliding against each other, with the vast ocean serving as their backdrop.

Pitch-black demonic qi billowed into the sky. Pure-white fist light blanketed the ground.

The righteous and demonic, the black and white... What a visceral contest it was!

Cai Kechang thought he was watching a scene of a heavenly deity and an evil god vying for the right to swallow up the world of mortals!

He shuddered in fear at the collision of the two incredible powers.

***

KAAAA-BOOOOM!

The fist strike, seemingly powerful enough to shatter the heavens, targeted the frail human body in front of it. All the blinding rays of light gushing out of the Crimson King's fist were generated by his strengthening qi.

That wasn't the fist qi the size of a house coming out of the Crimson King's punch, but the legendary fist light! And it wasn't just a one-time occurrence, either.

Every single punch he threw surged and rumbled with house-sized fist light—even those attacks that looked like he was just fooling around!

This scene was shocking enough to make all the spectators go slack-jawed.

Besides, where could such a shocking amount of qi be stored in a human body? This situation was as unbelievable and unrealistic as it could get.

No one should be able to resist such fierce might. Trying to fight back against such a nonsensical power with a human body made up of frail flesh and bone was an exercise in futility.

Even so... Kang Jin-Ho still fought back!

Wuuuuooooong!

Kang Jin-Ho's blade gleamed coldly under the moonlight, only for his pitch-black demonic qi to engulf the weapons. As if a black snake was coiled around the blade while its tongue flicked around, the demonic qi swirled around the weapon and hissed noisily.

It wasn't merely coiled around the blade, however. The demonic qi... was figuratively burning, too!

In between the licks of demonic qi covering the sword, pure-red streaks of Kang Jin-Ho's strengthening qi revealed their ominous presence. Those two energies coiled and entwined with each other to dance and slither around Kang Jin-Ho's weapons.

The Crimson Destiny couldn't handle all the internal qi being poured into it without an end and began flexing and twisting around. And then... Kang Jin-Ho powerfully swung it.

Slaaaaaaash!

His sword, permeating with demonic qi, sliced right through the incoming fist light. One by one, Kang Jin-Ho cut down all the incoming attacks with the precision of high-end machinery. Every time he cut, a pure-white line cracked open briefly on Kang Jin-Ho's face.

That line... was him baring his fangs in a toothy smirk.

His wrists were creaking and groaning as if they would break at any time now. Whenever his sword sliced apart the fist light, an immense impact force was transmitted in full throughout the rest of his body. That was because cutting down an attack wasn't the end of the attack itself.

Even now, the leftover force from each of those attacks was diligently eating away at Kang Jin-Ho's body and energy.

“Kek...!”

Yet another subtle smirk formed on Kang Jin-Ho's face. The Crimson King was indeed a monster!

Many people called Kang Jin-Ho a monster up until now, but the real monster was someone else. And the Crimson King fully deserved to be called a monster for his qi reserve alone.

Not even Shaolin's Hui Ren, renowned for possessing the greatest qi reserve under the sun, could freely gush out qi like the Crimson King had done.

The Crimson King's dantian seemed like an infinite well that never ran out of water no matter how much one drank from it. As proof, strengthening qi gushed out of the Crimson King seemingly endlessly!

This level of strength seemed too unbelievable even for Kang Jin-Ho. And he smirked deeply at this gargantuan power that made fun of all the things Kang Jin-Ho had accepted as common sense.

It felt like his body was about to get crushed to powder. Every time he sliced apart the incoming fist light, Kang Jin-Ho's feet sunk into the ground up to his ankles. All the bones in his body screamed from the abuse. And he stopped wondering about how much of a mess his innards must be by now.

Even then, Kang Jin-Ho couldn't stop himself from smirking for some reason. Despite the barrage of fist light, a devilish smirk continued to distort his face.

This situation... was not bad. Indeed, it wasn't bad at all!

All this pain, all the blood he lost, even all these crazy fist lights pounding on him in an effort to turn him into powder...

None of these things were 'bad'. In all honesty, Kang Jin-Ho was having a great time instead.

Steam billowed from Kang Jin-Ho's mouth every time he exhaled. His body was burning up, causing a cloud of boiling steam to escape from his pores.

'Yes, this is it!'

How much did he miss this!

Kang Jin-Ho thirsted after peace. He wanted to live 'normally' like everyone else. He told himself that that kind of life would be enough. However, doing so didn't fulfill him.

No matter how peaceful life had become, no matter how much he tried to convince himself by saying his family and friends made him happy... This emptiness inside Kang Jin-Ho couldn't be filled.

Oh, how much did he miss this heightened sensation!

How much did he miss this battlefield! A battlefield where life and death were in a constant struggle! Where killing intent collided against more killing intent!

“Kek... Kekeke!”

Even though Kang Jin-Ho tried to suppress himself, cackles continued to leak out of his mouth. He had finally found a worthy opponent.

Finally, an enemy Kang Jin-Ho thought he'd never encounter in the modern era had shown up before him! And now, he must risk his everything to fight!

Knowing this, how could he not enjoy this situation?

Jolts of electricity ran down his spine. Kang Jin-Ho's eyes became more bloodshot as more demonic qi gushed out of his figure. Even if he hadn't consciously willed it, demonic qi automatically engulfed him like armor. And then, crimson streaks of light burned brightly where his eyes should be.

Stomp!

Kang Jin-Ho took a step forward. Then, another step. With his demonic qi armor, he advanced forward even as fist light continued to slam down on him.

As if to indicate that the Crimson King had noticed this change, his fist light attacks became even heavier and fiercer. In a way, they resembled pure-white streaks of meteor falling from the night sky. In some other way, they also looked like large snowflakes quietly falling on a Wintery night.

Within this white space, a pitch-black demon silently advanced forward... While emitting ominous crimson lights from his eyes, while a chilling smirk was etched across his face visible beyond the wavering demonic qi. From that smirk alone, it was clear what Kang Jin-Ho's intentions were!

What a shockingly monstrous and bizarre spectacle it was.

KA-BOOM!

The fist light blew apart after colliding with Kang Jin-Ho's sword and disturbed his demonic qi armor. Like flames dancing against strong winds, all the demonic qi unsteadily wavered around before settling back down on Kang Jin-Ho's figure.

Creeeeeeeeak!

The creaking Crimson Destiny and Azuremourne seemed to know what their master was thinking about as they started making ghostly wailing noises.

Kang Jin-Ho's swords were actually screaming! Quite literally, they were screaming like specters.

The crimson heavenly deity floating in the sky continued to hand down his judgment on the abominable devil crawling on the ground. However, this devil continued to resist and reject Heaven's judgment and slowly, oh-so-slowly advanced forward.

...As if he was an Imoogi coiled up in a hidden place in the shadows, waiting for that one opportunity to ascend to the heavens![1]

This spectacle was no longer taking place in the mortal realm. The best way to describe it would be a scene straight out of a myth of gods and monsters, a legendary tale from ancient times that had been passed down verbally through generations.

The Crimson King and Kang Jin-Ho were bringing that legendary tale into reality right at this moment.

The battle between righteous and demonic, the good and evil...! Two massive bundles of power that made everyone calling this world their home shabby and uninspired... continued to clash without a rest!

While destroying each other's bodies, while ripping apart their minds, while crushing down on their everything!

“Kang, Jin, Hooooo!”

Suddenly, even brighter rays of light exploded forth from the Crimson King's fist. So bright was this light that anyone daring to look would've been blinded for the rest of their life!

The light that illuminated the night sky like the midday sun majestically slammed down on Kang Jin-Ho.

1. An Imoogi is a fantasy creature often appearing in Korean literature, usually depicted as a huge black snake. According to the legend, it must wait one thousand years before ascending to become a full-fledged dragon. ?