Chronicles of the Reincarnated Demon God - Chapter 19

Chapter 19 – Parasitic Vulture

Murky fog suddenly filled the training ground.

「Junior Lord!」

「This is—」

The ghosts sensed the energy coming from the fog and kicked up a fuss.

I knew very well what this was.

Ghost Fog.

A sorcery that forcibly dulled one’s senses and detection abilities.

It was generally used to erase traces of the caster, to aid them in quiet assassination.

It seemed that Namgung San-yeong had finally arrived at the source of the toxic cinnabar she’d been feeding me.

‘They finally took the bait. That took too long.’

I forcibly held back the smile threatening to creep onto my face.

Did she think I hadn’t known that the ghost I sent out would be easily exposed?

Captain Spider had been bait.

Bait to catch these bastards hiding like rats.

If I could figure out the identities of my enemies without getting caught? That would be the best-case scenario.

But if I got caught? It would be fine since I could just lure them out here.

No matter what happened, it was a win for me.

Although Captain Spider had been sacrificed, I didn’t feel any guilt. He was one of the traitors who had resulted in my death.

Of course, he had worked diligently since, far more than I’d expected, so I had a reward in mind for him.

I looked at Tang Gyu-jin, adorned with the Blue Ghost Face, and smiled. “Big Sister, could you help me a little?”

“??”

Tang Gyu-jin looked confused.

‘All right, then for the first time in a while, shall I use a magic tool?’

***

Mu Ga-il was an unorthodox-class warrior and the pride of the Black Bone Ghost Valley.

Unorthodox-class warriors were a type of advanced jiangshi whose body was strengthened by drinking specially created wicked water. Then the soul of a martial arts master possessed the body as a knowledge ghost to steal their techniques from when they were alive.

“I don’t really like being called to clean something up, but it’s been a while since I went on a hunt. I’ll enjoy it! Fufu!”

Unorthodox-class warriors like him enjoyed killing unaffiliated sorcerers and stealing their magic tools.

Due to this, Mu Ga-il was quite excited.

The necromancy he had just seen was a decently advanced sorcery, as his master had said.

Since there was no way such a skilled user would be in this shabby manor, the opposing sorcerer was probably handling a high-quality magic tool.

If he could just obtain that magic tool, his abilities could be improved significantly!

‘Maybe I can go beyond the realm of an unorthodox-class warrior and aim for the level of a spirit-class warrior, just like my master…!’

Woosh!

He suddenly appeared on the roof of the main building, where he could look down on the White Pavilion.

“My dear parasitic vulture, let your cries call forth the ghost fog.”

Kieeek!

The vulture sitting on his arm let out a long cry.

Parasitic vultures were bird monsters said to live in cemeteries and eat corpses.

The vulture’s cry muddled the senses of the living, dulling their minds to lure them to their grave.

Hypnosis, brainwashing, witchcraft, and even excellent combat capabilities. With its myriad support abilities, it was a high-ranking beast jiangshi. Even the Black Bone Ghost Valley only possessed four of them.

Mu Ga-il was planning on using this to trap the White Pavilion in ghost fog. Then, under the cover of the ghost fog, he would secretly approach Woon-hwi, poison him with toxic cinnabar again, and drag him to the temple.

Naturally, he didn’t need to worry about being detected by other masters.

The Bramble Ghost Fog Formation.

This formation, which would let the parasitic vulture more easily spread its ghost fog, was already being activated over the entire White Pavilion.

As long as it was intact, even masters wouldn’t be able to notice the presence of an intruder. And even if they somehow did, it would only be after his work was done and he had left.

“Then let’s go.”

Once he deemed that the ghost fog had thickened enough, Mu Ga-il lightly leaped toward the White Pavilion.

Dash.

Ghost Shadow Step.

Using the signature stealth technique of the Black Bone Ghost Valley, Mu Ga-il was able to easily enter the interior yard.

‘As expected, he’s confused.’

Mu Ga-il smiled coldly as he saw Woon-hwi looking around in confusion in the midst of the ghost fog.

“What’s going on? Is it a formation?” Woon-hwi stabbed at his surroundings with the spear in his hand.

However, rather than disperse the ghost fog, it only got murkier.

‘Try as you like, nothing will change.’

Unlike Mu Ga-il, Woon-hwi couldn’t see more than three centimeters in any direction.

His senses were muddled as well. It was laughable seeing him struggle like a mouse that had fallen in water.

Mu Ga-il quietly moved behind Woon-hwi.

As he reached out to try to touch the paralysis point on Woon-hwi’s back…

Suddenly, Mu Ga-il felt chilling ghost ki behind him.

“Ehehe! Got you!”

“!!”

He instinctively flicked to the side just as the ghost fog was cut where he had been standing.

“…Qingcheng Sword Energy?! How can a Taoist of the Qicheng Sect, who is not even a necromancer—”

Tang Gyu-jin, who had hidden at Woon-hwi’s command, smiled, and her eyes flashed with sharpness. “Why should I answer a thief like you?”

She instinctively knew that Mu Ga-il had been sent here by Namgung San-yeong.

Fwip, fwip!

Tang Gyu-jin repeatedly swung her sword.

Each strike made her sword flash as sword energy cleaved through the ghost fog and even threatened the parasitic vulture.

The parasitic vulture began to panic.

Kieek! Keek!

Mu Ga-il quickly let it fly into the air before stepping back.

Everywhere he had stood was marked with deep indents.

“You!” shouted Mu Ga-il. “If you’re a Qincheng Sect Taoist, you must be Young Lady Tang Gyu-jin! Why are you in the White Pavilion? I don’t believe you are the necromancer!”

“Ehehe. I don’t know what you’re talking about? We’ll talk after I beat you up!”

Slash.

The sword energy flew toward his neck.

Enough was enough!

Mu Ga-il quickly drew his sword plastered with yellow talismans, which he used to block the attack, and he used this opportunity to create distance between them again.

At least, he attempted to create distance. The problem was that Tang Gyu-jin chased after him with an unescapable ferocity.

She was using the Flying Flowing Step.

“Nope!”

“Damm it—”

Bang, ba-ba-ba-bang.

Mu Ga-il swung his sword as hard as he could to try to get Tang Gyu-jin off of him.

It was the Demon Sealing Sorcerous Sword, a sword technique mixed with the dark arts that unorthodox-class warriors often learned.

However, Mu Ga-il couldn’t activate any sorcery to attack. He had to focus only on defending against Gyu-jin’s sword energy.

The client this time was Namgung San-yeong.

Nothing good would come of hurting her daughter here.

His master, who treated clients better than even the creator, would be enraged if such a thing happened.

Clang, clang, clang!

“Eheheheh.”

As the fight continued, Tang Gyu-jin’s gentle face began to twist more and more.

The joy exuding from her eyes was filled with the desire to capture Mu Ga-il and kill him.

At this point, even Mu Ga-il could not just stand and take it.

“Argh! I was going easy on you because of Benefactor Namgung! But if you continue like this, even I won’t stay still!”

“!!”

It was only for a split second, but Tang Gyu-jin flinched.

‘So Mother really…?’

The unorthodox-class warrior didn’t waste the split second Tang Gyu-jin gave him. He tore off the bundle of talismans that had been covering his sword, exposing a black blade that began to suck in all the ghost fog.

Shwoo.

Woosh!

The Bramble Ghost Fog Formation didn’t simply erase the unorthodox-class warrior’s presence.

It also amplified the spiritual power held in the sword multiple times over.

It looked as if the ghost of a giant had appeared behind the Unorthodox-class warrior.

Ghostly Amplification Technique.

An attack amplification technique used only by unorthodox-class warriors.

It amplified the souls of the masters who were forcibly made to possess the bodies of the advanced jiangshi.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Mu Ga-il swung his sword down with force.

Each swing was so powerful that it felt like a giant was swinging his sword.

Having lost the initiative, Tang Gyu-jin ended up being put on the back foot.

Her Blue Radiant Sword looked as if it would break at any moment, it was bending so much.

‘Why are you hesitating, Tang Gyu-jin? You knew from the start that Mother would do this. What matters now is capturing this guy and figuring out who’s behind all this. You need to stop Mother from continuing down this path!’

Tang Gyu-jin solidified her shaking heart.

Since this man was able to create ghost fog, which the Qingcheng Sect considered anti-Tao, Mother must have made contact with a powerful unorthodox sect.

The problem was that she didn’t know what their connection was with the Namgung Noble Clan.

As a successor to the Nine Dragons Branch Family and a Taoist of the Qingcheng Sect, there was no way she could overlook this.

The unorthodox path might have even deeper roots in the orthodox path than she had ever imagined.

“I will erase your memories with the Oblivion Art soon enough, Young Lady Tang, so please stay still for now.”

“You can try,” she said, her voice cold.

At that, Mu Ga-il furrowed his brow. “Really, both the mother and daughter are quite frustrating!”

Woosh!

Mu Ga-il absorbed much more of the ghost fog, and as he did, the ghost standing behind him became larger.

Boom!

A huge explosion was unleashed, creating some distance between them.

「Catch him! Just leave his head and his heart, you can rip apart and eat the rest!!」

Mu Ga-il commanded the parasitic vulture, flying high in the sky to avoid the Qingcheng Sword Energy, to quickly finish their business here.

Woon-hwi had only been standing in a corner all this time, unable to even think about helping Tang Gyu-jin. It seemed he was frozen in fear.

Kieeek!

The parasitic vulture let out a joyous cry as it flew down like an eagle diving toward its prey.

「Please let this lowly one go!」

「I will go! Please let me go first!」

The ghosts had been causing a fuss this entire time, saying they would bring me the Fangshi Practitioner.

They were trying to gain my favor because they didn’t want to end up like Captain Spider.

However, I didn’t order them to do anything. I just observed the battle with my arms crossed.

I was curious how much skill Tang Gyu-jin could show in a real fight, and I wanted to confirm whether she would take my side against Namgung San-yeong.

Most importantly, I was curious who was behind this assassin.

Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult for me to figure out his identity.

There was only one place that utilized unorthodox-class warriors and parasitic vultures.

‘The Black Bone Ghost Valley. It’s the Black Bone Ghost Valley!’

I felt like I’d just reeled in a big fish.

At best, I’d thought it might be the Namgung Noble Clan. Who could’ve expected that I would catch the tail of the Seventy-Two Evil Clans?

Even though the Cult was going through a civil war, the fact that these guys were out here in the central plains meant there was a high likelihood they were connected to the Society.

I needed to think deeply about how to deal with them creatively, especially because the Black Bone Ghost Valley had connections with “Yeon Woon-hwi.”

But suddenly, the parasitic vulture dove down as if to hunt me.

It seemed that they thought I wasn’t moving because I was frozen in fear.

「Hmm, unfortunately, it just had to aim for the—」

「I almost feel sorry for it.」

Swoosh!

It flew directly at my face, its sharp claws outstretched.

「Agreed. Isn’t the cost of nurturing one parasitic vulture the same as multiple years of the Black Bone Ghost Valley’s operating fees?」

I uncrossed my arms, and purple light flashed from my eyes like will-o’-the-wisps.

Fwoosh!

「Losing all that in one blow will be quite painful for them, no?」

When the parasitic vulture covered my entire vision, I unleashed the mystic power stored in my upper dantian.

Screech!

With the ear-piercing scream of a ghost, an evil ghost appeared behind my back, infused deeply with poison ki.

Violet Mystic Eye – First Stage

Evil Ghost Advent

“On the ground. Now.”

—!

The fierce parasitic vulture’s face suddenly turned pale, as if it had met its natural predator.

It dove straight into the ground at full speed.

Thud!

Shiver…

Oh, I hadn’t expected it to do that. Its head was probably hurting pretty badly.

「No, having it stolen right before your eyes will be more painful. You nurtured it with all your might for so long, only for it to be taken by someone else!」

「I suppose so? Ehehe! Jiangshi are practically powerless against the Ghost King! There’s nothing they can do. It’s their fault for being stupid and not recognizing the junior lord. How pitiful, tsk tsk.」

The ghosts shook their heads as they looked at the unorthodox-class warrior.

The jianghi created in the Black Bone Ghost Valley were all oddities created from the dead.

Since they were all some type of ghost at their core, they naturally couldn’t avoid my authority.

This was why the Black Bone Ghost Valley had been powerlessly looted by me in the past.

When I gave an order, all they could do was shake in place.

It could never have been different for this parasitic vulture.

In the eyes of the parasitic vulture, I was probably a huge wicked beast that could devour it at any moment, a beast merely wearing the skin of a human.

“This… just… how…?”

Of course, knowing none of this, the unorthodox-class warrior just looked at me in shock.

I continued to sneer at him as I tapped the shivering parasitic vulture’s legs with my foot.

“Hey! Do you want to live?”

At my call, the parasitic vulture pulled its head out of the ground and raised it slightly.

Its eyes rolled to the left, and its face was drenched in sweat.

Nod, nod…

“Okay, I’ll give you an opportunity.”

Krrk?

“Bring that to me before I count to three. One, two—”

Krrrk!

Instantly, the parasitic vulture flew like lightning toward the unorthodox-class warrior.