Humans forget.
Humans who have swallowed the poison of time slowly forget everything: what they learned, what they heard, even what they experienced.
That is why humans can challenge again.
Even those who have experienced heartbreaking failure can challenge again because of forgetting, and those who have suffered excruciating pain can move ahead again because they forget.
Perhaps the majority of the dazzling progress humans have made has been a gift brought about by this 'forgetting'.
However, at this moment, everyone in Black Ghost Tower painfully realized:
There are things in the world that must never be forgotten. Things that must be remembered no matter the price to pay… which they had now forgotten.
Kwaaaak!
This incomparable black vortex seemed to deeply, deeply suck in the hearts of those who witnessed it with their own eyes.
"Uh… uh…"
They were out of breath. A thick, oppressive aura pressed down on them. It was as if they were submerged in the deep sea.
Even the elite of Black Ghost Tower, even Desolate Gold Elder, known as the jewels of the Black Ghost Tower and the best swordsmen in the Evil Faction, were speechless at the incredible sight before them.
'This… is Demonic Arts?'
First, his body began to tremble as he felt this strange sense of crisis.
It wasn't simply because the man was strong. This was something different. The sight unfolding before his eyes now seemed to deny all the paths of martial arts he had known until then.
Justice, Evil, and even the Outside the Wall sects—all martial arts held an essence of their own.
What should they call that Martial Arts? No, that strange thing isn't even worthy of being called Martial Arts.
Kuaaaak!
The sound of the swirling demonic qi tearing through the air sounded like someone's desperate scream.
Black smoke billowed out and swirled around like a storm, enveloping the High Priest on all sides. The wind swept up, uprooting trees and turning the ground upside down.
Before they could resist the qi, they had to crouch down to avoid being blown far away by the wind.
But at that moment, something strange happened that made them doubt their eyes.
Among those who were at a loss, the two people in the lead began to be gradually sucked forward.
"W-what!"
The warriors were shocked at the gravitational force they felt from ahead of them.
The qi swirling like a storm was clearly pushing them away. However, their bodies were being pulled forward and forward, ridiculously. The fate of those who hesitated for a moment, unable to respond to the absurd situation, was extremely harsh.
"U-uh?"
The two in the lead, who had been forcibly moved ahead, were eventually sucked in at this incredible speed, like they had thrown themselves at the enemy with all their might.
Until then, they hadn't even figured out what was happening, but then, they saw it. A vortex of black demonic qi was spinning fiercely, welcoming them.
It was like a dark mouth.
"Eu-eukkkkk!"
A desperate scream burst out from the mouths of those who sensed their fate. The storm of black demonic qi soon devoured their bodies.
Kwakwakwakk!
Cut. Tear. Slash.
No words fit. If they had to express it in crude language, the word 'torn apart' would be the most appropriate one.
The human body was too weak to withstand that tremendous demonic qi. The bodies swept by the storm instantly turned into a handful of flesh. The crimson blood was caught in the vortex of black demonic qi and soared up endlessly. It seemed like the entire sky had been dyed red.
Thud.
The scattered blood splattered on the ground. It literally rained blood.
Those who watched the entire scene with their eyes wide open were unable to even breathe and just took the blood falling from the sky with their entire bodies.
'What… is this?'
This couldn't be understood at all.
They couldn't hurriedly gather together and do their best, but even so, these people gathered there were the best of Black Ghost Tower, the ones brought up with care. They were the elite of the elite, comparable to any sect in the world.
They turned into a handful of blood in an instant without even being able to resist. It was a sight they couldn't understand or accept with their common sense.
However, there was no way they wouldn't believe it. The heat of the blood flowing down their faces made it impossible for anyone here to escape from reality.
"S-stop…!"
Swishhhh!
At that moment, three black blades shot out from the black storm and sliced through the body of the person who was about to shout.
"…."
Not even feeling the sensation of his body being cut, he lowered his head with a blank expression and looked down at his body.
Crack.
Long red lines began to be drawn vertically on his body.
"That…."
Crack!
His body split into four pieces and collapsed to the ground.
Thud.
This deep, dull noise rang out repeatedly. It was the sound of a body that had been cut down hitting the ground. The eeriness of that sound was incomparable to anything they had ever experienced in their lives.
"Uh, uh-uh…."
At that moment, another person floated into the air and was sucked into the black demonic qi storm.
"Uh, Uhhhhhhh!"
A desperate scream echoed. The one who saw the storm of demonic qi fiercely approaching his nose screamed as if he would puke out blood from his mouth at any moment.
But at that very moment, the storm of demonic qi, which seemed like it would swallow his body at any moment, disappeared as if it had been washed away.
Although his life was saved for now, he couldn't be happy about it. A man was standing in the place where the demonic qi that had been blocking his vision like a black curtain had disappeared.
Crackle!
He grabbed the face of the man that Dan Ja-Kang had sucked in with his hand.
Woong. Woong. Clench!
Then, he slowly began to tighten his grip. The fingers, which had penetrated the man's face, made a clear set of five holes.
"Kua… euk. Ugh…."
The one caught by Dan Ja-Kang desperately clawed and grabbed the hand holding his face.
"Ku…ruk. Gurgle…."
He scratched Dan Ja-Kang's arm, groaning in fear that his head might explode at any moment.
The sight of a warrior, trained in martial arts and an elite of the Black Ghost Tower, desperately clawing at his arm made the onlookers feel even more despair.
"…to these insignificant things."
Dan Ja-Kang, with his face contorted, applied more strength to the hand holding the man's head.
Burst!
The head finally shattered into pieces, exploding all around. The body, now headless, fell helplessly to the ground like a rotten bundle of straw.
Every time the heart, which hadn't yet stopped, beat, red blood gushed from the corpse's neck. The blood dyed Dan Ja-Kang's bloody robe even redder.
Crack!
Dan Ja-Kang, who had trampled the convulsing corpse, slowly approached Black Ghost Tower.
The face of Desolate Gold Elder, who had watched everything unfold, lost all color.
His heart, which had always stayed calm, lost control at that moment and began to make dissonant sounds.
'What is he? A monster?'
The warriors with him were the elite of Black Ghost Tower, raised with great care. They were the elite of the elite, created by investing a great deal of time and money. Yet, this monster was trampling them as if crushing bugs with his fingers.
'How can someone like that…'
Everything was exaggerated.
People always add a little bit of falsehood to what they see. So, stories passed down through word of mouth are often distorted and changed by added falsehood, eventually becoming completely different from the original.
He thought that the story about the Demonic Cult, which had dyed the Central Plains in blood a hundred years ago, couldn't escape that rule.
If there were a hundred elite warriors of the Black Ghost Tower along with Desolate Gold Elder, they could deal with a small number of enemies at any time.
Even if the worst happened, if they could take some damage, they would be able to escape and plan for the future.
But he faced the enemy right now.
That legend, the terrible smell of blood flowing from the past, had now faded to the point of being nothing. That smell of death was so vivid that it couldn't be denied.
There was not even an exaggeration in the story about the Demonic Cult.
Thud. Thud.
As Dan Ja-Kang gradually approached, the elite of Black Ghost Forest shouted involuntarily.
"S-Stop him!"
"There is just one opponent!"
"Surround him and fight!"
Desolate Gold Elder was frozen in place like a stone statue.
He was the one who understood everything in the world and calculated everything too. But the ghost of the past, which was now manifesting before his eyes, was impossible to define. He didn't know what to do.
Even in the midst of all this, those who didn't even have the skill to estimate the size of their opponent began to move according to their instincts. Like a locust raising both forelegs towards a fiercely running cart.
Compared to the demonic qi vortex, the current high priest looked no different from an ordinary warrior, so he rushed at them, drawing out their qi.
One could call it courage. However, courage that goes beyond one's limits is foolishness.
The high priest slowly extended one hand towards the warriors who were rushing at him while screaming.
Kuaaa!
With a cracking sound, the Black demonic qi blade, which shot out from his fingertips, tore the limbs of those rushing at him into a hundred pieces.
Swish!
Flesh and blood poured down like rain.
Strangely, he didn't feel afraid. It was more a sense of unfamiliarity than fear. The death the high priest created was so different from the death they normally witnessed.
Step. Step.
Death dyed the land a vivid red. The high priest walked on the land without care.
And at that moment, the frozen mouth of the great lord opened.
"You…"
All the sights he had seen so far had led him to one conclusion.
"You… are the Heavenly Demon of this time?"
Step.
The moment those words came, Dan Ja-Kang's feet, which seemed like they would never stop, came to a halt. His face, which had been calm all this time, contorted for the first time.
"… What did you say?"
"I asked if you… were the Heavenly Demon."
"Sigh…."
A hollow laugh escaped Dan Ja-Kang's mouth.
"Hahaha."
"…."
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
His laughter grew louder and louder until it reached the level of madness.
Everyone stared blankly at him with tired eyes.
Dan Ja-Kang, who laughed so hard that he even shed tears, soon coughed dryly, then glared at Desolate Gold Elder with a completely different face.
"How dare… a savage, who is worse than a bug, speak that glorious name with his filthy mouth?"
"…."
"You…"
Crack.
Dan Ja-Kang gritted his teeth and shouted with a face that said the devil had descended.
"You will die in the most excruciating pain in the world!"
Then, he exploded with vicious momentum and rushed straight at Desolate Gold Elder.