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However, to say he was still stuck in reality? And that unbelievable thing was really happening, not a part of his feverish dream?

Yu Zihao admitted that, yes, he already knew all that. How could he not?

However, would knowing the truth change anything?

If someone dared to say that to Yu Zihao, he\'d grab that idiot by the throat, yank the victim\'s head close, then quietly whisper into their ear.

He\'d say, "Look! Look at the crazy sh*t happening before you! But you wanna talk about what now? Reality?! Stop spewing horsesh*t, you dumb piece of sh*t!"

How could something like that happen in reality?!

Evil was supposed to be formless. Tales of evil could be found in every part of the world, but none described the physical form of evil itself.

However, behold! Evil\'s physical form was right here! Right where Yu Zihao was!

That horrifying sight described what evil was better than every language existing on Earth.

Behold how pitch-black it was as if it wanted to suck in everything in this world! Look how eerily dark it was! And that darkest of darkness wavered and danced like tidal waves! And this thing wasn\'t simply existing there like a statue, either.

This evil growled angrily. Menacingly. As if it\'d pounce at a moment\'s notice to chomp, stomp, tear apart its targets and howl in ecstasy!

\'What the f*ck is that thing?!\'

Yu Zihao was obviously a member of the martial world. Thus he knew quite well that half of all things humans considered unrealistic happened all the time in his neck of the woods. For instance...

Humans might not be able to fly, but they sure could leap very high into the air. And they might not be able to survive underwater, but they could at least last for around a day.

Martial artists constantly tip-toed on the boundary separating logical and unrealistic. In a way, one could even say that things like logic and realism held no meaning to martial artists.

Even then, what Yu Zihao was witnessing right now was still wrong. This event already transcended past the level of being judged by stuff like logic or laws of physics.

Quite literally, that was fantasy coming to life. It was despair itself! Indeed, this was a banquet of despair that his soul, not his eyes, reacted to first!

"Uh... Euh...?"

Yu Zihao\'s jaw unsteadily shook, his teeth escaping from his control to violently and noisily clatter.

Overpowering? No, this event was more than that.

Obviously, that demonic cultivator had to be strong. Unsurprisingly so. If a man capable of inducing such a phenomenon was weak, who in this world would be qualified enough to call themselves strong?!

Still, what was happening here wasn\'t as straightforward as that.

Yu Zihao wasn\'t shivering in fear from the opponent\'s strength. It was something far more primal than that.

A puppy that had never encountered a tiger would instinctively tuck its tail in and start wetting itself after a mere sniff at tiger fur. Not because it knew what it had smelled just then. No, its instincts... Its soul was reacting to the fear ingrained deep within.

Yu Zihao\'s soul was urgently screaming at him to fear that thing before his eyes and that he must flee with every ounce of energy stored in his body!

"Ah...!"

Others were reacting similarly to Yu Zihao. Even Cai Kechang couldn\'t stand still and staggered, eventually regaining his balance after a while.

Cai Kechang urgently held his face with both hands.

\'Demonic cultivators!\'

The term "demonic cultivators" got thrown around often and without much care. But today, Cai Kechang was getting a first-hand lesson on why they had the prefix "demonic" attached to their title! And no, it wasn\'t merely because they utilized demonic cultivation methods.

Martial artists relying on orthodox cultivation methods weren\'t referred to as orthodox cultivators, and the practitioners of evil and heretical methods weren\'t called heretical cultivators, either. Only those mastering demonic arts held the privilege of using the "demonic" prefix.

Cai Kechang should\'ve realized the significance of that earlier. Those who mastered demonic arts didn\'t become martial artists. No, they gradually became... demons!

\'Just look! Look at him!\'

Cai Kechang was convinced Kang Jin-Ho wasn\'t a martial artist. No, he was quite literally a demon. A demonic human!

Without resorting to a dramatic hyperbole like that, how could he describe who... or what Kang Jin-Ho was?!

Cai Kechang stabbed his trembling hands into his pockets. He must not look shaken up in this place. Even if everyone else was plunged into the pit of terror and fear, he must stay calm. Even if he wasn\'t calm inside, people must get the impression that he was. Wasn\'t that what being the leader was all about?

Who would want to listen to the commands of a clearly-terrified man? Absolutely no one, that was who!

Cai Kechang sucked in a deep breath and roared out, "Do not panic, all of you!"

Thankfully, Cai Kechang\'s voice didn\'t tremble like his hands. Although he couldn\'t tell if it was only in his head or if the others also heard it that way! For now, he had no choice but to believe he didn\'t sound shaken up.

"Do not get fooled by that appearance! He\'s still a human being! A mere mortal!"

Even as he said those words, Cai Kechang was almost tempted to rip out his own tongue. Couldn\'t he have said something better? To think he\'d say the one producing such a shocking phenomenon was a human like everyone else, so they shouldn\'t get scared! Would such a persuasion even work?!

His brain used to be a well-oiled machine, but it was creaking like a rusty bicycle chain today. Even then, he knew now was the time to be stubborn. He must say something. Anything. Before his men lost their will to fight from the sheer terror, Cai Kechang must say something to distract them, even if he had to make a fool out of himself.

"That is...!"

Cai Kechang got ready to say something else, but then...! His not-all-that-large eyes shot wide open.

\'It\'s... coming?!\'

Pitch-black demonic qi gushing out of Kang Jin-Ho began to surge and flood toward everyone.

No one could tell what might happen if that demonic qi touched them. It was understandable since this event had completely transcended their common sense by a long way already. Even so, they could instinctively tell. They knew they must not let that demonic qi touch them!

Even a three-year-old kid would know that, though! They would know how ominous and dangerous Kang Jin-Ho\'s demonic qi was!

"Back away! Hurry! Evade!"

"Get out of the way! Hurry!"

An utter pandemonium broke out. People with functioning eyes and limbs fearfully and chaotically tried to run away from all the demonic qi gushing out of Kang Jin-Ho. Even the demonic cultivators nearby grew terrified and tried to distance themselves, even if that involved grabbing and yanking back and clinging to the people around them!

"Let me go! I said let go!"

Naturally, what followed were vicious responses of people freeing themselves from their clinging comrades.

"N-no!"

In the meantime, demonic qi engulfed them. And then... utter darkness!

Darkness, with not a speck of light seeping in, blanketed the world around them.

"Heeeeek?!"

All those who failed to escape in time were engulfed in this tar-like demonic qi. Crushing pressure similar to swimming in the deep sea suffocated the victims. They struggled like crazy to escape, but all they could do was flail ungainly like a swimmer caught in the undertow.

"S-save me...!"

The pressure intensified. They couldn\'t see anything. They couldn\'t hear anything, either. In the blink of an eye, everything around them simply vanished. Even the feelings from their fingertips, and the sticky sensations on their skin... They all vanished instantly!

Darkness was the only thing remaining. Everything was pitch-black!

Even the existence of the ground beneath their feet became fainter.

"Kkuh...!"

The victims tried to scream loud enough to blow their vocal cords, but they couldn\'t even hear their own voices. Blinded and deafened now, they could only pitifully flail away as if they were sinking against their will deep into the bottom of the ocean.

This fear! Fear so crippling that it could drive them insane washed over their senses.

Losing one\'s senses meant one would also lose their confidence. After all, humans needed to know their feet were touching the ground to know they were still standing on a solid footing. And they needed to see to figure out their location. They needed to hear to feel assured. And they needed to smell to cast a sidelong gaze at the world.

In that case, what would happen if they couldn\'t see, hear or smell? What if they tried desperately to touch their surroundings only to feel nothing?

Would they be able to convince themselves they were still alive? No, it\'d be hard to do so.

Even the clear-as-day sounds of heartbeat grew fainter and distant. It became almost impossible to confirm if their hearts were still beating.

This fear, it... It was in another realm altogether compared to other types of fear!

Even though some of the victims screamed and thrashed about while rolling around on the ground, they couldn\'t hear anything or even sense their bodies touching the hard, cold earth below.

It was as if the world had become a void. A void of pure emptiness!

If there really was Hell, this must be it. Instead of this place, it\'d be more preferable to be cast into Avichi, the Buddhist hell where the sinners were stripped of their human skin and dumped inside eternal fire!

At the very least, they would feel pain inside Avichi, now, wouldn\'t they! Which was something this dark space didn\'t permit. They were trapped inside a complete sensory deprivation. And this was far worse torture than anything these people could imagine.

They were driven to the edges of madness. In the proverbial blink of an eye, too!

***

"Get back! Hurry!" Cai Kechang cried out in alarm.

\'There are no movements?!\'

Martial artists who got engulfed by the flood of demonic qi were not breaking through and leaping into freedom as expected. Considering the victims were proud warriors of the Crimson King\'s faction, this development was very worrying.

No one sane would feel safe and secure inside that ominous-looking space. If Cai Kechang was in their shoes, he\'d have tried to escape the demonic qi before it could touch him, even if it meant he\'d have to sever his own leg to do so. In that case, why hadn\'t anyone escaped yet?

This situation was making Cai Kechang even more scared and sick to his stomach.

\'How is this even possible?!\'

Cai Kechang wasn\'t an idiot. Even if it looked as if a devil had descended into the world of living, Kang Jin-Ho obviously wasn\'t a real devil. In that case, this phenomenon was created through Kang Jin-Ho\'s martial arts. How was that possible, though?

Regardless of how strong Kang Jin-Ho was, could he actually create a miracle like this? Was it even possible to spread his qi over such a wide area and swallow up highly-trained martial artists like this?

No! It shouldn\'t be possible! But that impossible thing was unfolding right before his eyes.

Logical and illogical were getting tangled up into one. Fantasy was now existing together with reality. And Cai Kechang couldn\'t decide what was what.

Kang Jin-Ho was a world apart from every opponent Cai Kechang had fought until now.

\'Do you want me to kill myself from shame, you abominable bastard!\'

If the situation wasn\'t so urgent, Cai Kechang might have pulled out all of his hair by now.

So, that was Kang Jin-Ho, a man Cai Kechang thought so little of. A man Cai Kechang firmly believed he could kill at any time he wanted.

Even when Cai Kechang admitted there wasn\'t much he could do, in the corner of his mind, he always believed the geographical location had saved Kang Jin-Ho\'s bacon!

Yes, it was that Kang Jin-Ho.

\'And here I am, stupidly believing all that crap!\'

Cai Kechang was really tempted to go back in time and viciously stab his own tongue and rip it out for uttering bullsh*t like that. Just what possessed him to say all that nonsense back then? Even though he had eyes, he couldn\'t see the truth. Despite having a functioning brain, he couldn\'t think.

Kang Jin-Ho was a monster!

A creature that could be judged according to common sense was no longer worthy of the label: monster. No matter how strong a monster was, if its strength could be explained and understood, it would no longer remain an indecipherable mystery. In that sense, calling Kang Jin-Ho \'monster\' seemed way too appropriate.

He could not be judged or understood, after all!

"Kill hiiiiiiiim!" Cai Kechang roared loudly.

Since they couldn\'t flee, that left them with only one option.

There was no need to understand anything here. A dead man didn\'t require understanding from his fellow still-breathing people, after all!

Cai Kechang\'s desperate-sounding roar prompted the Vermilion Blood Squad to charge right back at Kang Jin-Ho, their swords gleaming sharply under the moonlight.

"Cha-aaaaaht!"

They fearlessly flew right in. A dozen-plus white meteor streaks charged toward the demon king gushing out black demonic qi. This scene wouldn\'t have been out of place in a legendary heroic tale!

Demonic qi flooding the floor writhed like a living, conscious creature. Each strand shooting toward the incoming Vermilion Blood Squad members was like a wriggling monster.

Like a small volcano erupting... Demonic qi pounced on the martial artists in white duds.

The members of the Vermilion Blood Squad desperately resisted by swinging and chopping with their swords, but many quickly succumbed helplessly at the leech-like tenacity of these demonic qi strands. Of course, that didn\'t mean every member was defeated.

Those who succeeded in evading the demonic qi strands gritted their teeth and kicked the air to finally reach Kang Jin-Ho\'s position.

STAB!

The sharp noise of a sword penetrating something eerily echoed in the air.