49. Not a Single Good Eye Among Them
The six martial artists weren’t mere novices. They were both bodyguards and watchers for the Shandong Seven Shadows. If they’d been lacking, the Hwangbo Clan would never have recruited them in the first place.
Each was a first-rate martial artist. When six first-rate martial artists attack together, even a top-tier expert would be forced to retreat.
Even the White-Eyed Demon Lord hadn’t anticipated this situation.
Only Muhwa swung his sword as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
There was no mercy in Muhwa’s blade. He stabbed and sliced through anything in his path. Wrists and heads rolled across the floor.
The two remaining martial artists hesitated, shuffling backward.
When Muhwa took a step forward, they retreated two steps.
Anyone could see—they looked like prey cowering before a predator.
Behind them, the White-Eyed Demon Lord clicked his tongue in irritation.
“You fools. Not a single scratch, and you’re backing off like cowards?”
In a flash, the White-Eyed Demon Lord swung his fist. Crack! The head of the retreating martial artist burst like a watermelon. The last survivor’s face turned ghostly pale.
Whether they charged at Muhwa and died, or retreated and were killed by the White-Eyed Demon Lord, the outcome was the same.
The choice was simple. They couldn’t go against their superior’s orders.
After all, they lived in a strict, top-down organization.
The martial artist bit his lip and lunged with his sword.
In the face of crisis, he drew out every ounce of strength. The force at the tip of his blade tore through the air with an Air-Splitting Roar.
Muhwa twisted his body, predicting the path of the thrust. The sword sliced through empty air. Muhwa’s blade then severed the attacker’s arm. Blood spurted like a fountain. Just as the man’s mouth opened in a scream, Muhwa shoved his sword into it. Instant death.
“Tch, they were actually useful… Namgung is Namgung, after all.”
The White-Eyed Demon Lord clicked his tongue, hands clasped behind his back. There was a hint of emptiness in his voice.
Muhwa shook the blood from his sword and glared at the White-Eyed Demon Lord.
His eyes, cold as ice, held a quiet fury.
“You’re truly despicable.”
There are plenty of hot-tempered martial artists in Murim. Not all righteous sects are calm and composed. The Hebei Peng Clan, the Mt. Hua Sect, even the Namgung Clan itself are all rumored to be fierce and ruthless.
But to push your own subordinates to their deaths, to crush their heads—that’s the act of a demon.
Among the martial sects, nothing is more foolish than treating your followers’ lives as expendable.
Only groups ruled by fear and obsessed with destruction would act like this.
Blood-Iron Fiend, Honam Island… and now these people, too.
Muhwa’s expression remained cold and composed, but inside, he was deeply troubled.
Something was happening in the martial world.
Right under the Namgung Clan’s nose.
“Tch. I guess there’s no helping it now. I didn’t want to dirty my own hands.”
Before he even finished speaking, the White-Eyed Demon Lord lunged. A streak of white light shone vividly in the darkness. Muhwa, startled, swung his sword.
Clang!
…When did he draw that?
He’d had his hands behind his back, but the source of the light was a long sword.
Muhwa hadn’t even seen it. He hadn’t even realized the man was armed.
Clang, clang, clang! After several exchanges, Muhwa finally focused his Internal Qi and enhanced his vision. The sword was painted pitch-black from hilt to tip.
Muhwa bit his lip. It was a small detail, but in this darkness, it made a huge difference.
A meticulous opponent.
Muhwa calmly parried, keeping his eyes on the White-Eyed Demon Lord.
If the opponent was careful, Muhwa would respond in kind.
Meticulous people are dangerous. They notice and exploit even the smallest details. But they have a fatal weakness: they get so caught up in the little things, they miss the bigger picture.
Whoosh!
“…Huh?”
The White-Eyed Demon Lord, who had been pressing the attack, suddenly faltered.
I’ve walked right into it.
He gave a bitter smile. He’d thought he was reading all of Muhwa’s movements, gradually closing in.
But a sudden chill swept through him, snapping him to his senses.
It’s a trap. If I keep going like this, I’ll lose strength and get my head cut off.
The White-Eyed Demon Lord admitted it to himself.
He’s stronger than me.
His whole body burned with renewed heat. He was a field operative, personally overseeing affairs in a whole province, yet he couldn’t overcome a single Namgung Clan leader.
So this is why the organization ordered us to avoid Anhui Province at all costs.
The White-Eyed Demon Lord realized it was too late to retreat.
No, he steeled his resolve even more.
This one… he’s a Hidden Person.
His eyes glowed a faint red.
A Hidden Person in the Namgung Clan? How did I not know?
Maybe he hadn’t known before, but now that he did, he couldn’t let it go.
I have to capture him.
If someone of this caliber is a Hidden Person…
After receiving the King’s ritual, what kind of being would he become…!
Just imagining it made him tremble. The White-Eyed Demon Lord’s breathing grew rough. He hunched, animal-like, a foul stench emanating from his mouth. A bestial growl rumbled from his throat.
That’s when Muhwa sensed something was wrong.
Those blood-red eyes were not normal. Sensing danger, Muhwa tried to retreat, but the White-Eyed Demon Lord unleashed a torrent of Internal Qi.
Clang!
“…!”
Muhwa’s face turned pale. The endless Internal Qi transmitted through their locked swords. Muhwa didn’t dare break away. He had a vision of deadly fangs sinking into his throat the moment he let go.
Their faces were so close, they could feel each other’s breath. Bloodshot eyes, a face on the verge of bursting, tears of blood streaming from ruptured veins, bulging blue vessels…
What is this?
Just a moment ago, he’d been an opponent Muhwa could handle.
Now, every instinct screamed at him to run for his life.
Damn it. My Internal Qi…!
If it came down to a contest of Internal Qi, Muhwa would lose. The realization shocked him. He racked his brain for a way out.
That’s when it happened.
—Drop your sword.
“…!”
A voice echoed in his mind.
‘Master Sun?’
Sun Wukong’s sudden Transmission of Sound was an unexpected command.
But there was no time to think.
—Drop it. Are you still clinging to your sword?
Muhwa bit his lip. He had never once let go of his sword.
It was a matter of pride as a martial artist, and as a member of the Number One Sword Family Under Heaven, the Namgung Clan.
But Muhwa made his choice. For some reason, he felt he had to obey the voice in his head.
Clang!
The White-Eyed Demon Lord lurched forward as Muhwa released his sword and threw himself backward. The Demon Lord’s eyes widened in shock. In that instant, Sun Wukong’s voice poured into Muhwa’s mind.
—Stomach, bend your waist halfway, stomp his instep.
Muhwa’s fist slammed into the Demon Lord’s abdomen. He lowered his stance and stomped hard on the man’s foot.
The sequence of movements flowed as naturally as water.
—Stay low, keep your steps light.
Sun Wukong’s instructions kept coming. Before the White-Eyed Demon Lord could swing his sword, Muhwa’s fists kept landing, one after another. The tide of battle turned in an instant.
Wham! Wham! Wham!
Even Muhwa felt chills run down his spine. Every martial artist trains in basic hand-to-hand combat, but unless you specialize in fist or kicking techniques, the difference in skill is obvious.
Muhwa had only learned fists and kicks as a supplement.
What is this?
These were his own movements, yet he’d never trained them seriously. Still, his body moved as if he’d practiced them for years. It was a powerful sense of déjà vu.
Muhwa wasn’t the only one who noticed something strange. The White-Eyed Demon Lord’s eyes spun wildly. He couldn’t keep up with Muhwa’s movements.
“Gah!”
Where had this sudden change come from?
Even as he was pummeled and spat blood, the White-Eyed Demon Lord scanned his surroundings.
Whoosh—!
He unleashed his secret technique: Hundred Eyes at the Edge of Heaven.
As the name suggested, his senses expanded to take in everything around him, as if he had hundreds of eyes open at once.
His field of vision widened, covering every direction.
That one…!
Then, far off, he spotted golden hair draped over a tree branch.
Sun Wukong.
That’s him…
The self-proclaimed Great Sage Equal to Heaven, as mentioned by the Nine-Brain Elder. The White-Eyed Demon Lord instantly realized that Sun Wukong was behind Muhwa’s sudden change. This suspicious figure meddling in the Namgung Clan’s affairs…
The White-Eyed Demon Lord instinctively knew Sun Wukong was the greater threat.
He shook off Muhwa and leapt into the air. Channeling Internal Qi into his toes, he shot across the ground, closing the distance to Sun Wukong in a flash.
Boom!
Before his remaining energy ran out, he had to kill that one. If he killed Sun Wukong, Muhwa would be easy to handle!
The tiny spot of golden hair filled his vision.
As he drew closer, Sun Wukong’s face, which had been just a dot, now filled his entire sight.
He could see every feature, every expression…
Huh?
The moment he saw Sun Wukong’s face clearly—
The White-Eyed Demon Lord realized he’d been tricked. By his own instincts.
“With all those eyes, not a single one sees straight, huh? Multi-Eyed Fiend.”
A white grin flashed in the darkness.
* * *
Demon Bestiary
Name: Multi-Eyed Fiend
Alias: White-Eyed Demon Lord
Type: Centipede Demon
Martial Strength: Among the Heavenly Soldiers, rank of Fifth Commander
Demonic Power: High-level demon
Cause of Death: Tried to devour Tripitaka using the Seven Pillars, but was caught by Sun Wukong and had his head smashed to a pulp.
* * *
As expected, the same old trick.
Sun Wukong clicked his tongue.
It was the same with the Blood-Iron Fiend and the Demon King of Chaos. When cornered, it was as if their souls awakened, and their past lives as demons showed through the Flaming Golden Eyes.
The White-Eyed Demon Lord was no different.
He seemed to be losing to Muhwa, then suddenly the situation changed.
A flushed face, bulging veins, bloodshot eyes.
It’s like something inside them bursts.
They get wildly excited, and their Internal Qi pours out like a waterfall.
By now, Sun Wukong understood what was happening.
It’s like they’re awakening their past lives.
For a moment, their Upper Dantian bursts open, and the potential sealed in their soul erupts.
If they all use this technique, someone must have taught it to them.
Their leader.
A glimmer of interest appeared on Sun Wukong’s face.
Someone who knows they were demons in a past life.
Someone like Sun Wukong himself, with his Flaming Golden Eyes—there’s something about them.
Well, only someone like that could recognize Tripitaka’s reincarnation.
Sun Wukong had realized the White-Eyed Demon Lord’s true nature when he used that technique.
Once they enter that state, even someone like Muhwa would have a hard time.
In the past, this demon had toyed with seven spider demons in the palm of his hand.
No matter how skilled Muhwa was, it would be tough to face a demon who’d awakened even a fraction of his past life’s power.
Sun Wukong was about to jump in, but paused, lost in thought.
There was something about Muhwa’s movements. Through the Flaming Golden Eyes, the soul’s actions looked familiar. That’s why Sun Wukong sent his instructions—just as he had done with the Ho Family Head before.
But there was a difference. With the Ho Family Head, Sun Wukong had given the optimal instructions for the man’s current movements.
With Muhwa, he wasn’t guiding him to the best moves for now—he was drawing out movements that existed only in Sun Wukong’s distant memories, from a long, long time ago.
And Muhwa followed those moves with surprising grace.
Most of all…
I can see it.
Beyond the Flaming Golden Eyes, a faint shadow.
It was coming into focus. Sun Wukong couldn’t help but smile.
So that’s it. The fact that he follows my Transmission of Sound means he trusts me—he’s let down his guard.
We’ve grown closer, and I’ve earned his trust.
Just like with Zhu Bajie, his wariness has faded. In that state, the outline of his soul becomes visible.
Ah, this is getting interesting.
He was certain now.